Various Artists - Intoxicated Volume 4
Underground Movement - 2006
By Paddy Walsh
Compilations that attempt to give insight into a particular scene can fall into the pitfalls of broad inconsistency, with the better offerings often flanked by a host of the poorer scene barrel-scrapings. If only one sub-genre is represented, on the other hand, it can be demoralising to discover that most of the bands on your BEST OF GOREGRIND XTREEEM XIV!!!! or whatever sound like carbon copies of each other. Ho hum. So it's heartening that
Intoxicated Volume 4 presents a host of bands from the Irish underground. Death metal is featured heavily, but there are cuts of classic thrash, doom and even instrumental rock to be found too. It might be worth noting that many of the tracks on this comp are culled from self-financed albums and demos, and as such the recording quality can be a little rough at times. However, what
Intoxicated... does best is showcase a variety of talent from an island not exactly synonymous with metal, and highlighting the injustice of its lack of profile worldwide.
Pogrom open proceedings in a manner not unlike early
Death, particularly in the vocal department, and as 'Dirty the Cloth' suggests, its a somewhat hilarious rage against paedophile priests. A nod to
Immolation's 'Father You're Not a Father' perhaps?
Abaddon Incarnate blast forth with possibly the best track on the cd, with stellar production values and a vicious death/grind assault that is as intense as it gets.
Mass Extinction's brand of retro thrash may seem a little hackneyed these days, but bear in mind this originally came about in 2006 and you'll quickly forgive 'em. Sure, the overused theme of nuclear holocaust is a bit predictable, but it's hard not to give a wry smile at its earnest authenticity, especially those Tom Araya-borrowed screams from the
Reign in Blood days.
Coldwar have been plying their nasty, hardcore-tinged extreme metal since 1999, and the catchy sludge they ooze is impressively dirty. Both
Morphosis and
Slave Zero offer more death metal, with the latter being the better of the two with some deft, intricate guitar work, whilst
Morphosis's brutal death metal comes across as banal by comparison. A surprising highlight emerges with
Parhelia's instrumental rock. It may sound out of place on a death metal heavy comp such as this, but they're equipped with some suitably intricate guitar displays to hold their own with. A more textured approach in the future may well land them some serious attention.
Wreck of the Hesperus rival
Abaddon Incarnate for track of the album, as 'Venomous Tentacles' unnerving take on filthy doom is sewer-dwelling nastiness at its best, somehow managing to appear both minimalist and dense at once.
With 18 tracks to be trawled through, it's quite an intimidating listen, but well worth it. Ireland's metal scene has for a long time been quite marginalised, yet with
Primordial's ever rising profile along with the likes of
Mourning Beloveth this is steadily changing. Sure, there are a couple of duff tracks here (
Chosen need to seriously work on their clean vocal approach if they're ever to become true contenders), but for the most part this is a raw, visceral yet surprisingly varied take on an ever-bulging scene.
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