GMA - Vol113 - Possessor, Zombies Ate My Girlfriend, Surreal Thoughts, Boneride, Frostbitten, Writhing Void, Waking Theo, The Flesh Trading Company, (Waning), Emmeleya

POSSESSOR
'City Built With Skulls'
SLANEY

Virginian Thrash maniacs Possessor make their short-awaited debut with 'City Built With Skulls', a solid production of classic American Thrash Metal in the style of Metallica and Slayer. Loaded with riffs and fist-burning drumming, 'City Built With Skulls' slashes its way through the silent atmosphere and explodes by delivering a feast of tasteful compositions. Rough it up and ride it bareback, this is breakneck Thrash as it should be in its modern form. For Possessor, this their moment to stand out and shine, an album that keeps the classics intact and retains its title as the original sound, 'City Built With Skulls' is not for the faint of heart (or indeed haters of old school metal).

[9] RHYS STEVENSON

ZOMBIES ATE MY GIRLFRIEND
'Patient Zero'

Possibly one of the greatest modern day bands to walk out of the South African Metal scene. Zombies Ate My Girlfriend kick off their highly-anticipated career with the face-punching EP 'Patient Zero', spewing out cursed Melodic Death Metal and lashed with elements of Metalcore here and there, the compass points south on this one as the quintet smash apart the crystal silence with what can easily be perceived as South African Metal album of the year. As bloody as the Boer war and as brutal as the realisation of penguins on the sandy beaches, Zombies Ate My Girlfriend are due to hit the international scene and fly the flag for the South African Metal scene, think you know metal? You don't know sh*t until you check this lot out!

[10] RHYS STEVENSON

SURREAL THOUGHTS
'Augmentations'

Interestingly enough, Bavarian quartet Surreal Thoughts make their return well and truly known, making their next outing their sophomore album 'Augmentations' come to life, the Progressive Death Metal ensemble demolish every instrument in sight and yet sadly fail to make the cutting edge vocals that were anticipated to be there. Whilst the riffs are great, they mask out the drums and so the production lacks any presence, so what you end up with is a perfect elemental piece minus any atmosphere. Give due the death growling is decent, but unless you have got ultra-high hearing, the lyrics without reading them are anyone's guess, anyone's guess that is if you can be bothered.

[5.5] RHYS STEVENSON

BONERIDE
'Arms Of Mercy'

Bringing back the glories of the Heavy Metal and Rock 'N' Roll sound is Finnish Heavy Metallers Boneride and their third demo 'Arms Of Mercy', whilst not exactly similar to the titans Iron Maiden, the closest you can compare this quartet is to bands like AC/DC, Motorhead and Judas Priest, the sort that require the listener to be in tight leather (if your a girl), drinking Jack Daniels and riding a Harley-Davidson across the snow-laden landscapes of Finland. As for 'Arms Of Mercy', this is a sure sign that Boneride are readying themselves to unleash something rather epic and highly extraordinary, as such this is a band to watch and well in the end they take the no-nonsense direction and remain with rock in their hearts.

[7.5] RHYS STEVENSON

FROSTBITTEN
'Nocturnal Hypnosis'

Hailing from the city of Cambridge, Frostbitten is a one-man Black Metal project and yet when upon hearing the debut album 'Nocturnal Hypnosis' unfold like a venus fly trap decapitating its prey, the inevitable sound of raw black metal spews out over the atmosphere like a poison gas murdering everything living within its detonation radius. Word of warning, turn down the speakers, for at points the album gets very loud and as such could make the listener sh*t themselves. Full of depressive shrieks, shrieks rivalling pain and music to rival the satanic Justin Bieber, no wonder this is an underground project, you probably could not find anything more kvlt.

[6.66] RHYS STEVENSON

WRITHING VOID
'Isolate'

From the dark corners of the lands of Northern Ireland arises a force so powerful, it made Southern Ireland tremble in fear, enter the band or project Writhing Void with the debut EP 'Isolate', a classic example of pure Black Metal. Loaded with some of the most evil vocals heard on overseas British soil and yet the EP carries this feeling of pure euphoria, for it has the raw sound in tune and yet somehow has a lively feel to it, quite bizarre for a Black Metal album, but who is to judge? The EP features four tracks of pure chaos, let alone the drums running wild and the vocals spitting curses at every second, 'Isolate' is probably the darkest release ever to be created in the Northern Irish Metal scene.

[7] RHYS STEVENSON

WAKING THEO
'Reborn'

So much is a-due here, the North / West Yorkshire quintet Waking Theo smash their way back into the scene with their latest demo 'Reborn' in wake of their vocalist changing, needless to say - this is the real deal. The vocals as far as one can hear, are awashed with gritty Metalcore and so bullies the band into action for a full fist-pumping smackdown. In short, the Thrash Metal elements residing in the guitar riffs and the Metalcore physique blasting out from the drums and vocals edge Waking Theo further into the scene, this material is perhaps the material to get them label attention if not major press, if this does not get attention from Metal Hammer, Terrorizer or at least Kerrang! I'll eat my speakers.

[9] RHYS STEVENSON

THE FLESH TRADING COMPANY
'River Runs Red'

Bavaria seems to be spewing out a host of excellent metal bands lately and The Flesh Trading Company is no exception, bringing to the frontline their debut EP 'River Runs Red' in what can be called a 'DVD case'. Kicking off with the 'in your face' attitude, the music punches the listener so hard it makes unarmed combat look like a hugging session. Mixing Death Metal vocals with the agile speed of Thrash Metal and the embodiment of Heavy Metal, the German quintet set themselves up to buttrape anything that stands in their way and with their EP now out in the open, this is going to only get even more nasty, let the pain commence.

[8] RHYS STEVENSON

(WANING)
'Broken Path'

Let's face it, you have to be a strong as steel sort of person to overcome the haulage of depression (Waning) throws into their 2012 EP, because its just near suicidal. Sure thats how this type of music has to be, but come one, Ambient Doom Metal without the ambience is like a guitarist without a guitar, pointless. Given due that (Waning) do piece it well together, given that as granted, but there is so much seeming to lack here, the vocals are fine, but it seems a little bland and the next release will have to be a big improvement.

[4] RHYS STEVENSON

EMMELEYA
'Opium Vision'

German Progressive Death Metal mob Emmeleya whack out their debut album on a bizarre note, 'Opium Vision' has all the elements but the keyboards as far as it can be said, ruins the overall sound. However, given due it is an acceptable album, but one that will take time for listeners to get used to. Kicking off with an almighty eleven minute track maybe the worst ordering yet, surely a build up would be more appropiate, unless Emmeleya were really seeing an 'Opium Vision', in that case the album is worth more than the opium is, it will be interesting to see where this lot go on from here.

[5] RHYS STEVENSON