Review by Elijah on October 17, 2023.

Internal Suffering, one of the absolute KINGS of brutal death metal, returned in 2006 with their 4th full-length offering, "Awakening of the Rebel". Undeniably their best offering to date. This album alone seals the deal on why I fucking adore the hell out of this band. This record sucker punches you in the face with unrelenting brutality right from the get-go. Zero warning, face first into the violent storm.

This band is already known for their nonstop blasting brutality across every release, but with this album, it's brought to it's greatest potential thanks to producer Erik Rutan. This is most definitely my favorite work of his when it comes to his production. Internal Suffering was already rocking hard and killing it on their own, but with the appearence of Rutan to help with the production, it brought the band to much greater heights, and this album; their undethroneable PEAK. Sure, this record still would've killed it without Rutan producing it, but man, it's so great mainly because of Rutan. The thick snare and kick drum tones really fit well with the bands' style. Relentless gravity blasts, normal blasts, and double kicks are amplified in greatness due to how amazing, clean, thick, and heavy it all sounds. The production is the sole reason why I consider this album to be the epitome of absolute perfection, but even without Rutan's master craft, the drumming alone is also what I praise so much. How nonstop and in your face it is, every beat played is so clean and smooth. Seriously some of my favorite drumming of all time right here. And the fact that the master Rutan came to make it sound even better and enhance it to more perfection, makes this record so perfect and surpasses many others for me.

When you take the drumming, the overall production (mainly the drums I'm focusing on), the nasty and insane monstrous gutturals, the wizard ass riffs that sound like they're putting spells on you, you get an absolute fucking beast of a record. Awakening of the Rebel is a MONSTROUS masterpiece that stimulates and keeps the listener focused and interested the entire length through. There's not one single second on this album that isnt an absolute fucking storm, throwing many things in your face trying to kill you as you walk through it!!! A vision I picture while listening to this is a demon king (vocals) coming down from above, commanding evil spells to be put onto you, the evil spells being the wizard riffs, at a maximum intense unrelenting forceful speed (the drumming). Insane.

On Chaotic Matrix, they had a mucky and more rawer sounding production, similar to Wormed's first album for example; which is what Chaotic Matrix is known and highly regarded for. Then with Awakening they had a similar idea but in a different area; they went for a cleaner production but with amped up bass and thickness, which equals more BRUTALITY. It made EVERYTHING even more insane, and more in your face, more than before. With every release, it's quite evident that this band knows what they like and what they want when thinking about how they want their records to sound, ESPECIALLY on this album here. Boy, this perfect 27 mins of absolute fucking brutality never fails to entertain me and shock me with how brutal and insane of an album it is, every single time I listen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by JD on April 21, 2014.

The Danish band Roarback has made a landing for me to review. Reading the bios and other things before listening, I was curious. Saying they take their cues from 80’ thrash and early 90’s death… I had to sit up and take note.

Combining early Slayer with early Sepultura, Roarback is old school thrash/death metal at its best, which comes across still sounding very fresh. Despite most of the band being only in their ridiculously early 20’s, Roarback pummels you with metallic riffs that are catchy and yet heavy enough to satisfy even the most jaded of metalhead.

The opener of the album, "Peoples Hate", has this almost punk sort of attitude set in a backdrop of straight ahead thrash metal. Slashing riffs and angry lyrics seem to meld into a weapon of mass moshing that is hard to ignore. Other tracks like nasty "Face The Sun" or the brutality laden "Warmachine" - are powerful as well, sending a bold statement that old school still possesses the power to kick our asses twenty times over.

With the twin attack of guitarists Andreas Rohde and Andreas Dixø, the spat venom of Dennis Ullehus with the Bass/drum battery of Mikkel Stender and Kåre Holm-Sørensen respectively, this band is one of the best at making Old School relevant again. It needs to be heard to be enjoyed, preferably with a cold beer.

Buy! Listen…! MOSH!!! Metal minions – you have your orders.

Rating: 9 out of 10