The downtuned and dirty guitar work in “Nuclear Salvation” sounds like the album will be one furious slab of death metal. Grewe’s vocals sound like a combination of Martin Van Drunen and John Tardy, and no doubt Shane Embury’s NAPALM DEATH influence is quite prominent in these songs. Laureano blasts away as he normally does, but unfortunately, he’s limited to the basic death metal staples – double bass, a few blasts, and never has the chance to breathe and come up with his own fills and flair like he did with NILE or ANGELCORPSE. When the band is blasting with aggression, things are on the up and up, but when they try hard to slow it down on tracks like “Boundless” and “Abortion Stew,” the songs hit a wall and become dull rather quickly.

“The Essence of Neglect” has glimpses of promise, but almost everything sounds like recycled riffs of death metal past, and other bands have done it better. “Rituals of Bloodshed” gives way to a few catchy riffs, and “Facemask” definitely keeps the album afloat, but the rest of the album falls flat. The bland instrumental outro, “Abandonment,” does nothing to wash the disappointed taste out of your mouth, and for an album that lasts 40 minutes, the songs feel a lot longer than they really are.

While LOCK UP and BLOODBATH are excellent supergroups, not all supergroups are created equal. The members of INSIDIOUS DISEASE are all amazing in their respective real bands, but this creative outlet is just hype for their record label to sell albums. (Century Media Records)

“United Hate” thrusts the album into motion with comparisons to 2000’s Envenomed album immediately coming into mind. Vocalist Brett Hoffman’s vocals are in strong form, enunciating all the words, while retaining the raspy, unique voice he’s known for. The vocal patterns are kept simple and catchy, and fans of former drummer Dave Culross need not to worry as Rios emulates his predecessor’s style to a T.

Invidious Dominion includes decent tracks such as “Slaughter House” and “Target Rich Environment” but overall, everything sounds more like a continuation of their last few albums. While certainly not expecting amazing riffs as found on their landmark album, Retribution, MALEVOLENT plays it safe by sticking to their meat and potatoes formula with decent riffing and fast drumming, but nothing that distinguishes them from their earlier work.

Hoffman’s lyrics, while simple, revolve around real life events which happen around the world and not the juvenile lyrics Blachowicz came up with when he was fronting the group. “Born Again Hard” and “Corruptor” displays the post In Cold Blood era MALEVOLENT sound but it’s something we’ve heard before in their previous efforts. The title track closes everything out with Hoffman’s trademark extended yell, which is a pleasant surprise to know he’s still got it together.

While one must applaud MALEVOLENT’s longevity and the fact that they are still unleashing some furious and violent metal, anyone can almost predict what the album will sound like without listening to a note on the album, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, nothing interesting comes out of it. Invidious Dominion is not a bad effort in any way, but at the end of the day, there are other albums that are more interesting. (Nuclear Blast Records)

The 32-stop tour kicks off November 5th in Worcester, MA. Advanced tickets go on sale Wednesday, September 15th.

Confirmed dates as follows:
11/05/10 The Palladium – Worcester, MA
11/06/10 Northern Lights – Albany, NY
11/07/10 Recher Theater – Towson, MD
11/08/10 Terminal 5 – New York, NY
11/10/10 The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
11/12/10 Mr. Smalls – Pittsburgh, PA
11/13/10 Royal Oak Music Theatre – Detroit, MI
11/14/10 House of Blues – Chicago, IL
11/15/10 The Rave – Milwaukee, WI
11/16/10 Cabooze – Minneapolis, MN
11/18/10 MacEwan Ballroom – Calgary, AB – CANADA
11/19/10 Edmonton Events Center – Edmonton, AB – CANADA
11/21/10 Rickshaw Theater – Vancouver, B.C. – CANADA
11/22/10 The Knitting Factory – Spokane, WA
11/23/10 Roseland Theatre – Portland, OR
11/24/10 Showbox SoDo – Seattle, WA
11/26/10 The Knitting Factory – Reno, NV
11/27/10 The Fox Theater – Pomona, CA
11/28/10 The Regency Grand Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
11/30/10 House of Blues – Las Vegas, NV
12/01/10 Rialto Theater – Tucson, AZ
12/02/10 Marquee Theatre – Tempe, AZ
12/03/10 Sunshine Theatre – Albuquerque, NM
12/04/10 Gothic Theater – Englewood (Denver), CO
12/06/10 House of Blues – Dallas, TX
12/07/10 House of Blues – Houston, TX
12/09/10 Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH
12/10/10 Electric Factory – Philadelphia, PA
12/11/10 Town Ballroom – Buffalo, NY
12/12/10 Sound Academy – Toronto, ON – CANADA
12/13/10 Metropolis – Montreal, QC – CANADA
12/14/10 Imperial – Quebec City, QC – CANADA

Visit DIMMU BORGIR‘s official site for all the latest tour info: http://www.dimmu-borgir.com

Ominous is scheduled for release on October 25th worldwide through Nocturnal Art Productions/Candlelight Records. The official iTunes EP will be available October 4th.

Abrahadabra drops October 12th via Nuclear Blast Records.

Follow the band online:
http://www.facebook.com/dimmuborgir
http://www.myspace.com/dimmuborgir
http://twitter.com/dimmu_borgir

Additionally, the band will be heading out on tour with HELMET. Here’s what Sacha Dunable (vocals, guitars) had to say:

“It’s hard for us to believe that we’re finally done recording this album after months and months of stress and late nights. Here’s a summative look at the process of making this album. If you would have told me at 15 years old that I’d be touring with HELMET, well, I’d probably think that was really cool. Now, it’s happening, and I still think it’s really cool. INTRONAUT is very much looking forward to this tour.”

Tour dates are as follows:
10/8 Denver, CO – Bluebird Theatre
10/9 Fort Collins, CO – Aggie Theatre
10/10 Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room
10/12 Chicago, IL – Double Door
10/13 Cleveland, OH – Peabody’s
10/15 Columbus, OH – Skully’s Music Diner
10/16 Detroit, MI – The Magic Stick
10/17 Toronto, ONT – Lee’s Palace
10/19 Montreal, QUE – Studio
10/20 Boston, MA – The Middle East
10/22 Baltimore, MD – Sonar
10/23 New York, NY – The Gramercy Theatre
10/24 West Chester, PA – The Note
10/26 Charlotte, NC – Tremont
10/27 Nashville, TN – 12 and Porter
10/29 Houston, TX – The Scout Bar
10/30 Austin, TX – Red 7 10/31 Dallas, TX – The Loft
11/2 Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad
11/3 Tucson, AZ – Club Congress
11/5 Los Angeles, CA – The Key Club

“After six awesome and crazy years with DARK FUNERAL, I have decided to leave the band. It’s my own decision to leave one of the best bands/friends in the world, but I feel that I need to move forward in life and do something else music-wise. There are absolutely NO hard feelings between DARK FUNERAL and myself. We are and will continue to be good friends! I want to thank the band and all the fans all over the world. You kick ass everywhere I’ve been playing with the band. I thank you all. May the dark forces be with you.”

Guitarist and band leader Lord Ahriman posted the following message regarding the recent activity:

“Ave! The dawn of a new dark era has risen, and a new hellish chapter has begun. Despite the circumstances, I must say that the band and I are extremely motivated and excited to start a new chapter in the saga that is DARK FUNERAL. We already have some killer plans for the future. And all I can say at this point is that we’ll be moving forward with full force and without mercy.

“Those of you who’ve followed DARK FUNERAL since the beginning in 1993, surely know that this is not the first time we’ve undergone a major lineup change. And whatever some people may have thought or whined about, no one can deny the fact that I/we’ve always succeeded in recruiting new and amazing musicians to move forward and reach new heights with the band. There is absolutely no doubt in our mind that this will again be the case.

“On August 21st we performed our last show with Emperor Magus Caligula at the Summer Breeze Festival in Germany. Since this was a very special performance in many ways, we not only put on our biggest pyro show ever, we also captured this gig with 10 cameras (including one crane). So you can be sure to expect a DVD release from this killer show in the near future. More info regarding the DVD will come in due time…

“Since parting ways with E.M. Caligula, it come as no surprise to the rest of us, that B-Force would follow the same path and throw in his towel too. So I wish to thank him for the six fantastic years he’d been with us on bass. It’s been a pleasure indeed working together.

“We have already found a new and totally amazing bassist; a bassist who lives and breathes DARK FUNERAL in its purest form. And we couldn’t be more honored to have him onboard. We will however wait until everything is settled before we present him to all of you, so please be patient.

“Since announcing the departure of Caligula, we’ve been overwhelmed with vocal applicants. Among them are a couple of very strong candidates. However, since we feel no hurry to fill the position, we’ll continue the search to make sure that when we eventually hire someone, it be someone who totally blows away everything in his path.

“If you do believe that you have what it takes for the job, we are still accepting vocal applications. Send us a brief introduction and some AUDIO/VIDEO files/links of your vocal performance to: vocalist@darkfuneral.se.

“From now until we have found and installed a new vocalist, we will keep ourselves busy rehearsing and working on material for a new full-length. Rest assured that as soon as the new lineup is complete, we’ll continue to tour the world in usual DARK FUNERAL manner. More news to come…”

Distortion was at deliciously high volume, though better, sound-wise, from the back of the venue. Up front, house right (where I was) was overpowered by Michio Kurihara‘s guitars providing an unfortunately unbalanced mix of BORIS‘ wall-of-sound.

The band closed with the almost 20 minute “Untitled” track off their latest full-length of new material, Smile. The house lights came on during the epic, but the band played on… and loudly.

Check out some snapshots from the show…

BORIS‘ tour ends tonight after they play The Glass House in Pomona. Then they will head to New York for the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival where they and SUNN O))) will be performing their Altar album in its entirety, and again at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple on September 7th. (which I, @roycifer, will be in attendance).

As much as the band have demonstrated just how insanely proficient and talented they are at their respective instruments, there are times on the new album when you feel as if they’ve gotten even better. Just the opening riff of the album with its lighting speed notes and precision is enough to make you shake your head. One aspect of the brilliance that lays on The Obsidian Conspiracy is the band’s ability to take a commonly used metal riffing style, tempo, etc. and give it a fresh, inventive, and invigorating stamp on it. As much as there are these young metal bands being touted for their technical prowess, few bands aside from latter era DEATH, DECAPITATED, or NILE can touch NEVERMORE’s absolutely intense, technical brilliance.

While it may or may not be obvious, Warrel Dane is one of the best (clean) vocalists in one of the heaviest bands in metal. His charisma and his ability to make all his memorable vocal lines sound absolutely natural and potent is something that should never be underappreciated. He may be one of the last of a dying breed.

If you want to know what defines “modern metal,” The Obsidian Conspiracy is exhibit 1. (Century Media Records)