Immaculate Sacrifice:
Haunted Cruelty
(1981 - DECA87880)
Track listing:
Bloodthirsty Exultation
Lair of Fate
Sentenced to Chaos
The Disease
LustPerditionAnger
Fear Funnel
Prisoner of Desolation
Twisted Crypt of Punishment
Innocent Annihilation

I am now touring with my new band, Putrefaxxxion....at least I am when I'm not laying down tracks with my new side project, RuinBringer.

Mad Vault of Decadence
(1984 - DECA77602)

Track listing:
Desecrating The Cathedral
Extreme Hate
For The Emptyness
Aftermath of The Sodomizer
The Burial of My Flesh
Heralding The Retribution
Guilt Sphere
Brutal Masquerade Of Greed
Oppression of Sanity

I like the artwork as it reminds me of the sort of artwork Nine Inch Nails always use.

I thought Brownsville Station had already been used.

... do some of these names strike you as actually quite good? And therefore a depressing indicator that human creativity can often be trumped by computerised logarithms (albeit ones which had to be programmed by humans in the first place, I presume)?

It also brought to my mind David Hepworth's recent comment on the podcast that track names can inspire (or or dampen) your desire your listen to them. On the basis of the above examples, I'd definitely give them a fair hearing. If it wasn't for the fact that they're completely fictional.

By consulting Metallizer I was able to work out the track-listing of the new Blood Falcon Records compilation - Gateway to Doom. Fans will already have most of these tracks. Death metal novices are in for a treat.

The Degeneracy – The Hearse of my Heart

In which “the maimed carcass of love,” having been gutted and molested, apparently in that order, is paraded through the streets of The Degeneracy’s home town (a quick wiki reveals this to be Burnham on Crouch) in a midnight funeral procession.

Bombasticide – The Coffin of Hope

Only hope can save me now intones premature burial victim and Bombasticide lead singer – Joel Swemer - before ruefully admitting in the final verse: “My name is Hope, short for Hopeless.”

Torture – Fallen Lair of Blasphemy

According to Lowestoft’s Torture, it was poor foundations and subsidence that forced the residents of the Lair of Blasphemy to temporarily relocate their sacrilegious activities to other premises, while extensive repairs were carried out. Probably the best 30-second song ever written about the perils of employing cowboy builders.

Just Misery – Gomorran Ritual in the Dismal Brothel

What should have been a depraved Gomorran sex ritual is ruined by a less than adequate venue: A whorehouse whose baths “overflow with slime” and whose “rancid boudoirs reek of bestial putrefaction”.

CorrupDead - Ravished by Göbbels

What begins as a delightful evening out with the Nazi Minister of Propaganda takes a darker tone. Memorable for its barked chorus:

“Disrobe!
Disrobe!
Disrobe for the Reich!”

The Tragedy – Puppet of Carnage

Agone Vellenoweth cements his reputation as the Jarvis Cocker of Death Metal with yet another vignette of modern life in the UK. In this case an innocent seaside puppet show becomes the target of malevolent supernatural forces that eventually destroy a branch of Lidl, showering the town folk with “cheap biscuits.”

We are later instructed to “weep, weep for Brenda.”

Forsakonomican – Tome of thy Decadence

Very much the Emo foot soldiers of Black Metal. This litany of the sins of an ex-girlfriend lasts for ten minutes, but seems much longer.

“You leave your hairbrush on the kitchen table, next to the butter,” growls lead singer Knoett Halverson, his voice weighted-down with the torment of 10,000 innocent souls butchered on the blood-soaked plains of Armageddon.

Intense Vengeance – Grim Crypt of Gloom

Basildon-based Dark Metallers contemplate a dismal final resting place “Somewhere in the north of England” and extend a heartfelt plea: “Don’t let me die in Bradford.”

Apocalyticide – False Valley of Madness

Darren Pardon narrates the cautionary tale of an explorer convinced that he has discovered the “Valley of Madness,” only to realise that he has been lured by emissaries of Satan into a nameless box canyon.

Pious Blasphemy – The Crusher and the Shepherd

A lengthy exploration of a shepherd’s turbulent friendship with a demon-possessed car crusher: The deeply moving lyrics are rendered unintentionally hilarious by Robin Ellery’s balls-in-a-vice falsetto.