飯匙槍 - 竄出深土 (2018)

Country: Taiwan
Style: Melodic Death Metal
Rating: 7/10
Release Date: 7 Apr 2018
Sites: Facebook

OK, so I did say yesterday that I was wrapping up my 2018 reviews with the month of January, but a quirk of the calendar means that there's only one day left in the work week and I have requests from a couple of readers to review their band's releases from last year, so hey, why not? One more day!

Everything about Apocalypse Later is fundamentally about discovery and my reviews have focused on that since I started writing about films back in 2007. What I've found in the decade since is that it's often the unusual material that sparks the most enthusiastic response, as perhaps has been made apparent from my two most read music reviews thus far being of bands from Taiwan and Egypt, also the two countries represented today.

First up is 飯匙槍, who are a death metal band from Taiwan. I know little more about them except what their vocalist Endao told me and the fact that there are five people on the stage in the official videos. The band's name translates to NajaAtra, which is a local snake often known as the Taiwan cobra, and the EP I'm reviewing, 竄出深土, would be called Out of the Soil in English. Between them, these names highlight that they're a new band but one with admirable power.

There are four tracks on Out of the Soil, which can be streamed in all the usual places. I know nothing about the tracks except for the titles which are visible in English on YouTube. 赤目 means Bloody Eyes and the punchy nature of the song fits rather well with the footage of machine guns. How the torture fits in I have no idea, but it doesn't feel out of place. 反 means Anti and there's an official video for that one too.

My favourite track is the last one, 餓鬼降, which Google Translate tells me means Hungry Ghost. It has a number of slower sections that ought to generate a decent pit, especially given that hungry ghosts traditionally emerge from Hell during Seventh Month hungry for revenge and justice. They should get people moving! It plays well when it's slow but it plays well when it's fast too and there's a decent solo in the middle. Most of all, there are little touches that make it stand out: there's a great drum roll into a pause three minutes in and I adore the last little vocal nuance at the end. It's good stuff but then all of this is good stuff.

What the EP isn't is groundbreaking. Out of the Soil comprises a decent set of songs, more melodic than brutal but with the melodies deep enough to make them palatable to brutal fans, even if the bass isn't so low that my speakers vibrate. Each of them runs just shy of four minutes and none of them outstay their welcome, especially given that they vary the tempo nicely with some neatly intricate changes, but they do exactly what they do and they're happy not inventing something new.

If this is indeed NajaAtra's debut, as I believe it is, it ought to serve as a solid slab from which they should be able to build in the future. It seems to me like everyone in the band is capable musically and comfortable with each other and within this framework. Every one of these songs plays consistently in style and quality. Now, let's hear a full album!

And, with Galaxy Destruction Inc. and NajaAtra getting a 7/10 from me and Chthonic already on my radar, I wonder what else is happening over there in Taiwan. The Metal Archives tells me that there are plenty of active bands playing in a variety of styles. Let's see which one comes up next!

Galaxy Destruction Inc. - Sacrifice for Rebirth (2018)

Country: Taiwan
Style: Melodic Death Metal
Rating: 7/10
Release Date: 27 Dec 2018
Sites: Facebook | Instagram

I don't know a lot of bands from Taiwan, Chthonic possibly being both the beginning and end of that list, but I can now add the gloriously named Galaxy Destruction Inc. to it. They're a melodic death metal band with the sort of melodic death metal singer you might expect but there are black metal shrieks here too on the opening track and, while their Facebook page is presumably in Mandarin, it only lists one vocalist so I'm impressed with his range.

It's the guitarwork that caught my attention though. Even though there are only five tracks (plus a symphonic intro) to go on here because this is only an EP rather than a full length album, the two guitarists make their presence known. I can't name them because I can't speak Mandarin but, between them, they keep a lot of melody alive as tracks run on. Not all melodic death metal bands are this melodic. There are points too, like the beginning of Salvation, where this almost sounds like a shredder album with blastbeats.

After that, Salvation blisters on for a while but, unlike Galaxy Destruction, which kicked off the album with emphasis by blistering all the way through, this one mixes up its pace with a slower section in the middle for that sadly unknown guitarist to solo over.

While the core of Galaxy Destruction Inc.'s sound is clearly melodic death metal, it isn't afraid to mix it up. Imprisoned slows things down considerably and its subdued clean vocal sections aren't up to the standard of the growls and shrieks, but it ends with a neat groove, with a growl over clean backing vocals. Insurrection thrashes it up but finds time in the middle for what almost sounds like a Viking metal chorus. A similar thing shows up towards the end of Eden, reinforcing a folk edge to a band that otherwise don't remotely sound like folk metal.

Hey, let's go back and summarise all that! Galaxy Destruction Inc. are a melodic death metal band in the traditional Swedish style. One track adds black metal shrieks while one adds clean vocals. Two add Viking metal chants. At least one, arguably more, are clearly rooted in thrash metal. And a few tracks, especially one, feature shredding guitarwork. That's a lot of diversity for a five track EP!

The best thing about EPs is that they tend to introduce us to new bands at a shorter length (and a correspondingly lower cost). On that front, this one works because I'd never heard of Galaxy Destruction Inc. before and now I'm aware how good they are. Of course, the worst thing is that, when they work, they end far too quickly. This is a band to watch and I'll certainly be looking out for a full length release.