MP3: Deathchain - The crawling chaos

Finnish metal acts Sotajumala and Deathchain have a new split CD out now via Cobra Records and the label was kind enough to send a copy my way. Conceptually speaking, it's a fun idea: two bands, one original song plus one Iron Maiden cover each. In execution however, all is not well. Things start off poorly with Sotajumala's "Sinun virtesi", a typical modern death metal track with clicky drums (heavy on the blasts, 'natch), burpy vocals and your usual swarm-of-bees guitar tone. Totally pointless, totally boring. Their Maiden cover on the other hand ("Prowler"), is excellent, no doubt helped along a fair extent by the appearance of one Paul Di'anno on lead vocals. Stop and ponder how sad it is that the dude is now reduced to doing karaoke covers of his old band's songs and the luster starts to dim, but he does actually sound remarkably good still, near 30-some years down the road. Deathchain doesn't fair nearly as well with their take on "Purgatory" -- they're way too stiff to approximate Maiden's trademark gallop and guest vocalist Tommi "Tuple" Salmela (Tarot) pretty much sucks. All is not lost though, Deathchain's one original cut ("The crawling chaos") is a total black-thrash rager in the vein of Grotesque or The Crown. All razor sharp riffs and harsh vocals -- definitely bodes well for the band's forthcoming album. I love Maiden and all, but this one song is the winner by a longshot.

Deathchain - The crawling chaos

Cobra announces new releases

Cobra Records has confirmed two new releases on the horizon -- first up is The Man-Eating Tree, the new band from ex-Sentenced drummer Vesa Ranta, who will be releasing their debut full-length "Vine" in September. Samples here. Second is a split between Finnish extreme metal acts Sotajumala and Deathchain which will feature one new song plus one Iron Maiden cover each, with Deathchain taking on "Purgatory" and Sotajumala covering "The prowler" with guest vocals from OG singer Paul Di'anno. That release will be available on April 28.

Toture Killer is stoked: renown death metal growler Chris Barnes (Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under) has joined the band as their new vocalist and will make his debut with the band on the new album "Swarm!" which will be released via their new label Metal Blade. And they also got artist Wes Benscoter who has worked with other bands such as Mortician and Vehemence to handle the cover. The band will continue to perform live in Finland with Sallinen who contributed vocals to the band's recent split 7" with Sotajumala, but I do believe they plan to tour internationally soon. Read more: http://www.torture-killer.cjb.net/

Finnish music blog Lupatarkastaja posts a new mixtape compiled by Timo Häkkinen of the bands Atakhama, Sotajumala and Wherevictimslie: http://lupatarkastaja.samizdat.info/2005/05/19/luuvitosen-vippi-4-timo-hakkinen-atakhama/