Dichotic - The Deepest Rise (2008)

Got this one in a trade.  Groovy, mid-paced thrash.  The vocals are that aggro style I hate, though they're slightly less-forced than other examples that come to mind.  In fairness, I will admit I found this a bit more palatable than say, your typical bunch of Pantera wannabes, but really, at that level, there's no great accomplishment in being less worse.  It's like rating which band member I'd most like to casually socialize with--I'd certainly pick the bassist (who looks a bit like Tom G. Warrior if he enjoyed methamphetamines and wearing bandanas) over the fat black vocalist, but when it comes right down to it, neither seem like great shakes as company.

The end of the CD actually had some nice--but all too brief--deviations from the band's normal sound.  "Delivery of Peace" starts out with a Middle Eastern flavored intro, and the final title track begins with a bass-heavy, progressive-ish intro that builds into what are the best riffs on the album.  Of course, right before the vocals kick in on both songs, they promptly go back to groove mode. When I initially looked this up before my trade I noticed most of the online comments and reviews mentioned some sort of classic metal element.  Either these reviewers' idea of "classic metal" is stuff from 1994-1996 or these were shill reviews, but there's really nothing like that present.  There are a couple instances of interesting dual guitar work or solos--it would be interesting to see the band (minus the vocalist) play in a more traditional metal setting, but there's unfortunately none of that here.

Epidemic Cause - Far East (1996)

Cost: $2.00

Picked this up off of a distro's cheapo list.  I had pretty low expectations for this going in and was still kind of disappointed.  Metal-archives listed them as "industrial death metal," so I was prepared for some sort of industrial element to the music.  Looking back, I do think I was being overly optimistic, hoping this would be like old Hellchild or Transgressor, just with a drum machine.  Even some mix of industrial and death metal might have been okay.

I can't really say there's any death metal here, though.  It's certainly industrial influenced metal, and the guitars are quite heavy, but I don't really see any coherent death metal element to the music.  In fact, what the first song brought to mind musically was Chaos A.D.-era Sepultura, not any DM.  As should be expected, the programmed drums are the primary focus of the music and are what provide the music's industrial feel.  Most of the vocals are mechanically distorted and range from heavily Japanese accented spoken vox to unintelligible vocal hysterics to shrieking.     

Innominandum - To Improve Fit for Smaller Heads (1996)

This CD has an unusual distinction in my collection because I previously owned it, traded it away, and then ended up getting the exact same copy back a few years later--I happened to buy a bulk lot of discs from the guy I had traded it to, and guess what happened to be included?

Nothing about the CD itself indicates that there's anything remotely heavy here (except for the band name, perhaps).  The layout looks like something a mid '90s alternative rock band would use.  Songtitles and lyrics are all rather nonsensical.  I remember being quite confused and concerned by the look of things since I was trading blind when I got this.  I thought it might have even been a grindcore band using that kind of imagery for irony's sake.

I think this would be best classified as death'n'roll.  Vocals are typical for the style--gruff but not to the point of being full-on death metal growls.  The guitars are downtuned, but the song themselves are rather bouncy and groovy and seem more rock than metal-based (with one big exception).  When thinking of death'n'roll, I normally associate it with more rocking, high energy riffage and '70s influences, but these guys seem to favor slower tempos, resulting in an almost doomy sound at times.  The bass line is actually higher in the mix than the guitars and that highlights the groove in their sound.  But again, it still feels very much like a death'n'roll band to me...It gets nowhere as weird or strays as far from metal as say, some of the Finnish bands who moved on from death metal and were considered death'n'roll or grind rock.

The one exception I mentioned is the last track, "Morning Wood," which has considerably more death metal influence than the other tracks, including a fast middle section that pretty much justifies me having this CD.   Still, this is a definite step down from the band's '92 demo, which was straightforward death metal (hell, they even shared the stage with Blood a few times in the early '90s!).