Food Metal - James Perry

Genre: Food Metal
Label: Independent 

Alum, sodium, zinc, etc... I get plenty of metal in my food. Now if I can just manage to get some food in my metal... wait, what? Native Californian and sometimes New Zealander James Perry?! Why are you putting your guitar in the oven? Ohhhhhhh...

Food Metal apparently started off as an exercise in song writing and snowballed into a legitimate project (think Tim Lambesis's Austrian Death Machine only with no celebrity impersonations and less attempted matricide). This self-titled offering is a savory selection of songs that blend hard rock, metal, gastronomy and humor together to make an album that's not heavy on calories, but heavy where it counts. 

Mr. Perry borrows from a multitude of subgenres before butchering them, marinading them in his own distinct style, broiling them and finally serving them up on Food Metal's sonic smorgasbord. 'Fries' takes bit of a slower paced thrash approach (For Whom The Bell Tolls), while 'Pass The Beets' finds James in more familiar territory (for me at least) with a slower, more melodic (almost pop-y) tune. But, in terms of balls out headbanging, the cake surely goes to 'Where The Hell Is My Food'. Jame's vocals, dirty rollin' riffs and lines about being pissed off about shitty customer service fit perfectly together here. 

My only complain here is that I felt a bit like Oliver Twist towards the end. "Please Sir, may I have some more?" (Ok, not an apt comparison since James would gladly give an orphan all the metal he/she could handle and I'm a fully grown ragamuffin.) I guess I should ask him if he plans on serving seconds in our forthcoming interview?  

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Abjection Ritual - Futility Rites

Genre: Dark Ambient, Nightmare Fuel
Label: Malignant Records - 2015

Do you want to have an awful night? If so, listen to Abjection Ritual's 'Futility Rites' while you're alone. My night went from me being bored beyond belief to the point of going, "Man, it's been so long since I wrote a review, I should dust off the ol' 'In' pile and see who I owe muchas disculpas to," to jumping at every sound in the apartment that, before listening to 'Futility Rites', I could identify as the refrigerator, the cat, the other cat and the stupid pipe that rattles under the floor whenever someone in our apartment row flushes their toilet...

After having my optimism obliterated, my self-esteem shish-kababed and my dreams dashed on the sonic rocks laid out by Abjection Ritual (three tracks in, which has got to be some kind of spirit breaking speed record), the malnourished nihilist side of me began to dig for scraps. It was hungry. It wanted more 'Futility Rites'. It had to dig past a unpleasant layer or two before it could feast, however.

It's mostly just the vocals. They were great at shaking me up a bit when I first encountered them (my notes read "Raw. Fucking. Hatred."), but they began to wear on me as the album progressed. I enjoyed the occasional soundbite from the odd televangelist (and the heart attack from 'Objects of Wrath') as well as the tonal respite that came with 'Cum Immersion', probably the least threatening, though still unnerving track offered. 

If I haven't made this clear yet, allow me to be blunt; this album is the very definition of intensity. To listen is to jump head first into the deep end of the derelict, dark ambient/death ambient pool. But in the end, if you have the emotional and mental fortitude, the 'Entropic Embrace' of 'Futility Rites' will welcome you into the 'Tabernacle Of Teeth And Tongues'...

abjectionritual.bandcamp.com