Spooky Fingers 05

Odds and ends.

Appearances are deceiving on Writhing's self-titled, self-released EP. Canvassed with typically blasphemous artwork by Jon Zig, the Detroit-based ensemble pounds out a tough six tracks of death-sounding Thrash bred from bay area brutes Exodus and Metallica with a partial influence from later icons The Haunted, though given the age and experience of the band's members, Writhing winds up sounding a lot closer to the genuine article and far more sincere. Jarhead grunts combined with more natural vocals gives these tracks greater distinction, beefed up with quality mastering by Peter In de Betou (Entombed).

From the unlikely city of Long Beach, California, Volahn's Dimensions del Trance Kosmiko provides a late surprise in the year, proving Black Metal a kind of aberrant spirit unbound by terrestrial origin. Featuring a member of California's Ashdautus, Volahn proffers music as chemical agent, appropriately christened with the otherwise anesthetic-sounding title of "Black Twilight." Sardonic and slaying, lilting acoustic passages are strangled by jagged, tar-colored chords, headache rhythms ringing amid horrible, lamenting groans. A little poison now and then, and so it goes. Seven tracks on cassette.

More cunt blunt Death Metal courtesy of Razorback Records. Equal parts riff factory and used video store, Patrick Bruss's Crypticus latest effort, They Called Me Mad! dishes out 12 new tracks wrapped in code-era comic book ambience and leaning towards a style comparable to that of old-school masters Deceased. Meanwhile Finland's Hooded Menace (a reference to cult Spanish filmmaker Amando de Ossorio's Blind Dead films) brings things way down with a gloomy bit of Candlemass-influenced Doom on Fulfill The Curse. They've got it down all right, but it's a bit same-sounding with the lack of vocal range. A tremendous cover of Fabio Frizzi's Manhatten Baby theme nearly overshadows the rest of the album.

[Todd DePalma]