Review by Felix on December 11, 2023.

Do you agree that this band’s name is misleading? Instead of the promised suicidal winds, these Swedes always love to unleash a homicidal storm. Sometimes they fail while doing so, but “Misanthropic Anger” belongs to the better releases of the horde. Nevertheless, there is reason to criticize this 7”, because its playtime is ridiculous, even for this format. And things don’t get better with regard to the fact that almost one third is just a Beherit cover.

But let’s ignore the (missing) quantity, because quality is what really counts. (How many times has this sentence already been written?) The dudes show their typical hideous face and give us three ugly black / death bastards. If the miniature songs of the B side would be a bit longer, we could speak of conservative patterns. Anyway, they are stormy and brutal enough for a little venomous infusion. Fortunately both tracks benefit from the gapless sound which offers both a truly dark touch and a tight interplay. Well, the latter is probably a matter of course. Swedish musicians without great manual skills are probably no Swedes at all.

The title track fills the A side due to its excessive duration of almost three minutes. It’s somewhat sad that it does not last longer, because the guitar lines are strict, coherent and aggressive. No frills, no experiments, no risks, Suicidal Winds stay within their comfort zone in order to deliver some uncomfortable, ugly tones. The double bass and the bass guitar add value to the track and the same must be said about the solo. “Misanthropic Anger” with its clearly defined lines and chorus is one of the really good songs of this Swedish horde with the unknown current status. Too bad that the songs of the B side are over before they have begun.

Rating: 7.1 out of 10

Review by Felix on December 11, 2023.

Do you agree that this band’s name is misleading? Instead of the promised suicidal winds, these Swedes always love to unleash a homicidal storm. Sometimes they fail while doing so, but “Misanthropic Anger” belongs to the better releases of the horde. Nevertheless, there is reason to criticize this 7”, because its playtime is ridiculous, even for this format. And things don’t get better with regard to the fact that almost one third is just a Beherit cover.

But let’s ignore the (missing) quantity, because quality is what really counts. (How many times has this sentence already been written?) The dudes show their typical hideous face and give us three ugly black / death bastards. If the miniature songs of the B side would be a bit longer, we could speak of conservative patterns. Anyway, they are stormy and brutal enough for a little venomous infusion. Fortunately both tracks benefit from the gapless sound which offers both a truly dark touch and a tight interplay. Well, the latter is probably a matter of course. Swedish musicians without great manual skills are probably no Swedes at all.

The title track fills the A side due to its excessive duration of almost three minutes. It’s somewhat sad that it does not last longer, because the guitar lines are strict, coherent and aggressive. No frills, no experiments, no risks, Suicidal Winds stay within their comfort zone in order to deliver some uncomfortable, ugly tones. The double bass and the bass guitar add value to the track and the same must be said about the solo. “Misanthropic Anger” with its clearly defined lines and chorus is one of the really good songs of this Swedish horde with the unknown current status. Too bad that the songs of the B side are over before they have begun.

Rating: 7.1 out of 10

Review by chrisc7249 on May 9, 2022.

For as much as I love technical death metal, it's no secret that, in any genre of music, bands start to sound the same after a while. There's nothing wrong with bands sounding similar, but, when someone breaks the mold and you get a band that's truly unique, it's a special experience. Peripheral Cortex, from Germany, is a relatively new act that fuses mathcore and technical death metal to create one of the most bizarre sounds in the genre's history.

God Kaiser Hell is a sweet blend of viciousness, technicality and experimentation. Firstly, the vocals are all over the place. The low growls aren't too brutal, but they get the job done - the high pitched screeches are insane. This guy sounds like a madman when he screams out hysterically, sometimes at random over the various tracks. There's clean metalcore singing, which would turn me off 9 times out of 10, but has actually grown on me in the context of this record. There's spoken parts, falsettos, you name it, it's in here somewhere.

Instrumentation is this album's high point, however. It has an almost video game-like feel, similar to The Beast of Nod, but this is an entirely different monster. I guess the best mish mash of bands I could come up with to describe this would be Archspire, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Unhuman, and First Fragment. Yes, this is that all over the place. The riffing isn't necessarily mind blowing, but the lead guitars and fretless (?) bass makes up for the mediocre riffing plenty. There's whirling dissonance, explosive melodic sweeps, breakdowns and, of course, sick pinch harmonics.

As one could imagine, the individual performances are incredible. Every band member is a master of their instrument, and their songwriting plays to their strengths for the most part. Rarely do you get a breather from the relentless onslaught of wankery and extraterrestrial vocals. This creates what could easily be perceived as just a wall of notes, but with repeated listens, a pretty good tech death record is revealed with plenty of fun and intriguing ideas.

Ultimately, it is a hard album to digest and I'm not even sure I've let it sink in enough just yet. But, about 15 listens in, I can firmly say this is one of the most unique technical death metal albums I've heard in a long time. This is definitely not for everyone, but those who don't mind wankery and are looking for something "quirky" and different might find some enjoyment in checking out this beast. Not for the faint of heart.

FFO: Unhuman, Atlantis Chronicles, Shadow in the Darkness

Favorite song: '#Selfiewithgod'

Rating: 7 out of 10