Review by Chris Pratl on May 2, 2018.

Chicago legends Cianide have a long and lasting lineage attached to them. Around these Midwestern parts, these guys are far past local legends; they pretty much help define what our city manages to employ in terms of quality metal. When the tagline “Metal Never Bends” is uttered in many a metal show or social gathering of like-minded folk, you can attribute that to the legend that is Cianide. If you are unfamiliar with their back catalog, I strongly urge you to rectify this yesterday – you won't be sorry.

Yes, I'm a fan for many, many years, but I also would never espouse the virtues of any band I didn't feel worthy of such adoration and praise. From the beginning with 1992's The Dying Truth up through the present day, there is nary a blemish on such a storied career. I won't sit here and go through the band's history; I encourage and implore you all to do that if you enjoy quality death metal with doom influences devoid of inane 'bells and whistles' and gimmicks posing as nuance. These guys are, in short, as real a deal as it gets.

So, death metal in its wonderfully chaotic live setting isn't your thing you say? I may submit for your consideration the limited, albeit worthy offering of a live soundboard cassette (yep, they still exist!) of the band's show at Reggie's Rock House here in Chicago on July 21, 2017 simply titled Reggie's Chicago – July 21, 2017 on Headsplit Records. You are (mis)treated to 12 tracks of homegrown death/doom, the likes of which can't be matched around these parts. If you have never had the sick pleasure of witnessing this band live (or even hearing their studio efforts), you are not only missing out, you are wasting precious time. In the nearly 50-minutes of stage time herein, you hear a solid, unrelenting foray into the cellars of Sabbath-like death metal from whence many a 'doomy' dirge has been disseminated. This trio manages to create a definitive wall of sound that can't possibly be denied. What you will find here on this live offering is a full-set of fast-to-slower, gut-squeezing death with vocals that don't follow the typical blueprint; the gruff vocal is a throaty persistence that both utilizes the tone to near perfection and enunciates well so that the gamut of degradation and scorn can be taken in accordingly.

While there is a small amount of production-polish associated with bringing this live show to a logical release standard, the intensity and brutality of tracks like “Desecration Storm” or “Death Dealer” are still felt in the core of your stomach. Further, the 'polish' doesn't take away from the music itself: a solid mesh of airy thickness and clarity, something very tough to capture on a death metal live release without subtracting or adding too much of one or another. Everything here is what you might expect to see and hear when you see Cianide live: a galloping jaunt through an air of Chicago metal in its purest, unadulterated form. There isn't any need for technical perfection or overly-anal attention to minuscule detail; the band never puts out a half-assed product, which is why their catalog is as solid and respected as it is. This little live addition, limited or not, is just another notch in the aged, brilliant bullet belt.

I cannot state just how important a band like Cianide was and is to my personal metal education growing up on the now-plague-like streets of Chicago; they provided a strong soundtrack to my youth that has managed to carry over into my middle-age, most likely ending up in my damaged memory bank when I take my last breaths on this cursed plane. Yes, the local connection is a worthy notation for someone in my position, but I could write novels listing the bands from these streets that are long forgotten to time. Cianide comes around once a lifetime; they are as important to us here as Incantation is to Johnstown or Possessed to San Francisco. The local pride is strong, of course, but the music is exemplary and resonating – no amount of personal geography can embellish that point.

Rating: 9 out of 10          

Review by Chris Pratl on February 13, 2019.

As the year winds down amidst a musical torrent of relatively middle-road releases for me, Sweden once again seems bent on proving to the rest of the metal world that they are producing more than just rehashed black metal and copycat 90's death metal. 

The ring has seen its share of traditional metal bands pop up in recent months and, for the most part, they have been very apt at creating a solid case for sanctioned mimicry. That said, Air Raid finally produces its first full-length release after a pretty solid EP in Danger Ahead, itself a full-speed ahead foray into the dusty din of heavy metal antiquity. Try as they might, the younger generation couldn't kill this sound with a book of matches or a stained goblet of gore. 

Night of the Axe provides exactly what you think it might: a crunchy blueprint into past architecture that calls upon the likely culprits in Judas Priest and Saxon while standing tall next to modern heavyweights as Steelwing or Spellcaster. The vocals are a throaty rasp that takes full advantage of the clean bellowing that I personally grew up on, and it's done without benefit of overplaying a vocal hand. There are no bells and whistles to overcompensate for a lack of anything; there are even moments where I hear some Warrel Dane tones to Michael Rinakakis' delivery. This is particularly noteworthy in “Dying Man”, which has all of the earmarks of viable heavy metal brashness from any given era. 

Lyrically and musically, Air Raid defies the odds and emerges well over the contemporaries when attempting to create music of such an empowering caliber. When I listen to this record for the second time I hear quite a bit of Grave Digger's influential take on fantasy-evoking verses throughout, but the real attention-grabber for me is the guitar solos that take the best that Scott Gorham would have offered had he joined a full-on metal outfit long ago. The riffs are crisp and glorified in all the right spots, adding the right amounts of punch, thickness and credulity to the music as it passes the ear canals with all of the trepidation of a steroid-jacked earwig vying for a safe haven. The fine production that accentuates the guitar tones pretty nicely is great, but I don't hear much bass in the mix which is unfortunate because it would have been a much heavier sound with some back end holding up the foundation, but it's a small gripe.

What I actually found wonderful was the instrumental track “Reminisce”, which literally comes right on the hells of the speedy “Call of the Warlock” and settles all of the swirling dust underfoot in slight, careful wisps of wonder. It's an absolutely inspired place to put it as opposed to the obligatory final track settlement that, while still a great track, might not have had the same emotional resonance it had easing the tempestuousness of the preceding tracks. I dig that sort of careful placement that might otherwise seem throw-away ideas. When you get to the finale in “A Blade in the Dark” the Iron Maiden feel is so incredibly vibrant that I can't help but think back to the Powerslave or Somewhere in Time eras and smile, knowing that finally someone understands that use of subtle nuances are much more advantageous than full-on thievery; this should be handed out in manuals for any new band bent on recreating the wheel past the first chapter of “Chapter One: You Can't Reinvent the Wheel”. Just go with your inspirations and create your own music, a feat Air Raid does quite well. 

Within the span of 40-minutes Air Raid takes you on a journey into heavy metal supremacy with ten tracks designed primarily to elevate your stagnated expectations beyond what you could imagine It's actually refreshing to hear such basic elements being used to their most supreme potential. If I were to say this is very much like a great 80's metal entry it would most likely unfairly date the music, so I'll just suffice it to say that this little jaunt backwards is definitely a full leap forward.

Rating: 8 out of 10

(Originally written for www.metalpsalter.com)

Review by Chris Pratl on May 2, 2018.

Chicago legends Cianide have a long and lasting lineage attached to them. Around these Midwestern parts, these guys are far past local legends; they pretty much help define what our city manages to employ in terms of quality metal. When the tagline “Metal Never Bends” is uttered in many a metal show or social gathering of like-minded folk, you can attribute that to the legend that is Cianide. If you are unfamiliar with their back catalog, I strongly urge you to rectify this yesterday – you won't be sorry.

Yes, I'm a fan for many, many years, but I also would never espouse the virtues of any band I didn't feel worthy of such adoration and praise. From the beginning with 1992's The Dying Truth up through the present day, there is nary a blemish on such a storied career. I won't sit here and go through the band's history; I encourage and implore you all to do that if you enjoy quality death metal with doom influences devoid of inane 'bells and whistles' and gimmicks posing as nuance. These guys are, in short, as real a deal as it gets.

So, death metal in its wonderfully chaotic live setting isn't your thing you say? I may submit for your consideration the limited, albeit worthy offering of a live soundboard cassette (yep, they still exist!) of the band's show at Reggie's Rock House here in Chicago on July 21, 2017 simply titled Reggie's Chicago – July 21, 2017 on Headsplit Records. You are (mis)treated to 12 tracks of homegrown death/doom, the likes of which can't be matched around these parts. If you have never had the sick pleasure of witnessing this band live (or even hearing their studio efforts), you are not only missing out, you are wasting precious time. In the nearly 50-minutes of stage time herein, you hear a solid, unrelenting foray into the cellars of Sabbath-like death metal from whence many a 'doomy' dirge has been disseminated. This trio manages to create a definitive wall of sound that can't possibly be denied. What you will find here on this live offering is a full-set of fast-to-slower, gut-squeezing death with vocals that don't follow the typical blueprint; the gruff vocal is a throaty persistence that both utilizes the tone to near perfection and enunciates well so that the gamut of degradation and scorn can be taken in accordingly.

While there is a small amount of production-polish associated with bringing this live show to a logical release standard, the intensity and brutality of tracks like “Desecration Storm” or “Death Dealer” are still felt in the core of your stomach. Further, the 'polish' doesn't take away from the music itself: a solid mesh of airy thickness and clarity, something very tough to capture on a death metal live release without subtracting or adding too much of one or another. Everything here is what you might expect to see and hear when you see Cianide live: a galloping jaunt through an air of Chicago metal in its purest, unadulterated form. There isn't any need for technical perfection or overly-anal attention to minuscule detail; the band never puts out a half-assed product, which is why their catalog is as solid and respected as it is. This little live addition, limited or not, is just another notch in the aged, brilliant bullet belt.

I cannot state just how important a band like Cianide was and is to my personal metal education growing up on the now-plague-like streets of Chicago; they provided a strong soundtrack to my youth that has managed to carry over into my middle-age, most likely ending up in my damaged memory bank when I take my last breaths on this cursed plane. Yes, the local connection is a worthy notation for someone in my position, but I could write novels listing the bands from these streets that are long forgotten to time. Cianide comes around once a lifetime; they are as important to us here as Incantation is to Johnstown or Possessed to San Francisco. The local pride is strong, of course, but the music is exemplary and resonating – no amount of personal geography can embellish that point.

Rating: 9 out of 10          

Review by Chris Pratl on May 2, 2018.

Chicago legends Cianide have a long and lasting lineage attached to them. Around these Midwestern parts, these guys are far past local legends; they pretty much help define what our city manages to employ in terms of quality metal. When the tagline “Metal Never Bends” is uttered in many a metal show or social gathering of like-minded folk, you can attribute that to the legend that is Cianide. If you are unfamiliar with their back catalog, I strongly urge you to rectify this yesterday – you won't be sorry.

Yes, I'm a fan for many, many years, but I also would never espouse the virtues of any band I didn't feel worthy of such adoration and praise. From the beginning with 1992's The Dying Truth up through the present day, there is nary a blemish on such a storied career. I won't sit here and go through the band's history; I encourage and implore you all to do that if you enjoy quality death metal with doom influences devoid of inane 'bells and whistles' and gimmicks posing as nuance. These guys are, in short, as real a deal as it gets.

So, death metal in its wonderfully chaotic live setting isn't your thing you say? I may submit for your consideration the limited, albeit worthy offering of a live soundboard cassette (yep, they still exist!) of the band's show at Reggie's Rock House here in Chicago on July 21, 2017 simply titled Reggie's Chicago – July 21, 2017 on Headsplit Records. You are (mis)treated to 12 tracks of homegrown death/doom, the likes of which can't be matched around these parts. If you have never had the sick pleasure of witnessing this band live (or even hearing their studio efforts), you are not only missing out, you are wasting precious time. In the nearly 50-minutes of stage time herein, you hear a solid, unrelenting foray into the cellars of Sabbath-like death metal from whence many a 'doomy' dirge has been disseminated. This trio manages to create a definitive wall of sound that can't possibly be denied. What you will find here on this live offering is a full-set of fast-to-slower, gut-squeezing death with vocals that don't follow the typical blueprint; the gruff vocal is a throaty persistence that both utilizes the tone to near perfection and enunciates well so that the gamut of degradation and scorn can be taken in accordingly.

While there is a small amount of production-polish associated with bringing this live show to a logical release standard, the intensity and brutality of tracks like “Desecration Storm” or “Death Dealer” are still felt in the core of your stomach. Further, the 'polish' doesn't take away from the music itself: a solid mesh of airy thickness and clarity, something very tough to capture on a death metal live release without subtracting or adding too much of one or another. Everything here is what you might expect to see and hear when you see Cianide live: a galloping jaunt through an air of Chicago metal in its purest, unadulterated form. There isn't any need for technical perfection or overly-anal attention to minuscule detail; the band never puts out a half-assed product, which is why their catalog is as solid and respected as it is. This little live addition, limited or not, is just another notch in the aged, brilliant bullet belt.

I cannot state just how important a band like Cianide was and is to my personal metal education growing up on the now-plague-like streets of Chicago; they provided a strong soundtrack to my youth that has managed to carry over into my middle-age, most likely ending up in my damaged memory bank when I take my last breaths on this cursed plane. Yes, the local connection is a worthy notation for someone in my position, but I could write novels listing the bands from these streets that are long forgotten to time. Cianide comes around once a lifetime; they are as important to us here as Incantation is to Johnstown or Possessed to San Francisco. The local pride is strong, of course, but the music is exemplary and resonating – no amount of personal geography can embellish that point.

Rating: 9 out of 10