Compilation CD's are a tricky beast, being so dependent upon the quality of each individual band to make it a worthwhile investment in time and money. Fortunately, once I saw that this bad boy came courtesy of the metal madmen at Diminished Fifth records, the monstrous purveyors of East Coast metal mayhem, I rested comfortably knowing I was in good hands. Just take a look through the peacedogman reviews of various Diminished Fifth artists like IRON GIANT and GALLACTUS and you'll see what I'm talking about. Throw in a bevy of underground metal tracks with a whole host of those being previously unreleased and my attention was fully piqued.

What we got here is a veritable opened bleeding vein of all things metal, ranging from the 3 INCHES OF BLOOD-esque NWOBHM meets thrash of COFFIN BIRTH to the violent assault of death metal brutality of bands like HELLACAUST and BLACK MOOR. At 19 tracks and a full hour in length, it's too much to detail each band here. Suffice it to say, my personal tastes diverge more towards the sludgy quasi-stoner metal of IRON GIANT and GALLACTUS and the freaky metal meets funk of SOMETHING DELICIOUS, but there's really nothing weak here. No matter what brand of headbanging gets you off, you'll find something to pump some blood to your member. For you completists, the previously unreleased tracks come from ANTHESIS, ORCHID'S CURSE, CEPHALECTOMY, UIGG, GALLACTUS, UNHALLOWED EXISTENCE and ARCHAIK.

To these ears, some of the death metal gets a little repetitive, but in the end, D5R do an admirable job of chronicling the vibrant East Coast Metal Scene. Horns high!

- Severin

OFFICIAL SITE: www.diminishedfifthrecords.com

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