Reviewed - 08/27/04

Voices From The Arctic Circle
[Arctic Music]

Reviewing comps can be so much fun, much like putting together a puzzle with some of the pieces being from an entirely different puzzle. For example, some of these tracks have great production and sound quality, while others sound like they were recorded with a ghetto blaster that had been covered with a few layers of blankets.

On this particular comp, there are a total of seventeen tracks, six of which are great, six of which are crap, and five of which lay in the middle. Since I don't want to write an entire essay on a CD, let alone a comp, I'll hit the highlights and the lowlights of this disc.

Let's start things out on a positive note with In Battle, who I think are definitely the best band on here. They play ass kicking death metal with a nice punch, good guitars, production and drumming. I can see people killing eachother in the pit to this band. Throneaeon (now known as Godhate) and Diabolical play some nice thrashy death metal with a good sense of rhythm and guitar work that puts most bands to shame. Denata are probably the closest thing to actual thrash on here, though they are also pretty deathy, and play with a good sense of groove to their riffing. Lord Belial play very well paced death with a good sense of melody, but are a far cry from the Gothenberg style for all you death metal purists out there. Finally, there is Portal who play fist pounding death at a thundering clip that reminds me a little bit of a heavier version of Darkest Hour.

Now for the negative aspects of this comp… Repudiate play uninspired, mediocre death metal with craptastic recording quality. Exmortem might be good with better sound quality and production, but I can't tell because everything is a little muffled on their song, but at least they have hope for improvement. Despise play spazzy, mid-paced death (not a good combination), with vocals that sound like a pig eating from a trough. Imperial Foeticide have bad sound quality, vocals that are way too low, overpowering drums and play in such a way that it makes me think the CD is skipping, even though it's playing normally. Finally, there's Latex. With song titles like Hammerfuck and Sodomaniacs, one can tell that they're not exactly intellectuals. As for the songs themselves, the sound quality is garbage and I can't tell the difference between the main riffs on the two songs. It doesn't even sound like metal; more like really, really bad crusty punk.

In the end, a comp is a comp. A game of Russian Roulette, if you will. I'd say half the chambers are loaded on this one, so be warned.