This is the first song with me as part of Berserker. I sequenced drums on the track.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 05, 2012
Posts Tagged ‘Berserker’
June Recap
Communal Grave – Black Harvest
This is Communal Grave’s third original (released to the public, that is) and boy, does it kick ass or what? This was originally supposed to be on GmH Record’s Underground Chaos compilation but I don’t know what happened, and the band ended up releasing this track online, as a sort of promo for their upcoming album “Solace in Violencia.” The band actually played this track live before, I think in the CotC last year also. But whatever, I’ll get straight to the point here. With tight riffage, a sexy solo, solid drum programming and catchy as fuck vocals, Black Harvest classifies as a definite mosh anthem. Right from the start, this track will have you banging your fuckin’ head and pumping your fists in the air and I can only imagine the chaos that would ensue if this song would be played live again in this current, completed format. The production is the best the band has achieved yet, marrying a crushing psuedo-brutality with knife-like precision, the best examples being the kickass break in the middle and the way the solo cuts through the guitar tone easily. But there are a couple flaw with it. The vocals – as I said before on the band’s facebook group and to Nabeel on MSN some months back – feel like they were recorded with Moiz standing right next to a brick wall. Now, instead of the vocals going forward, instead feel ‘blocked’ and the sound waves go around and cover the instruments slightly, like a piece of cloth. Mind you, this is not the only flaw with this song. The vocals, to be perfectly honest, feel somewhat devoid of emotion and kind of lazy despite being catchy. Anomaly had one of the most emotional vocals I’ve ever heard from a Pakistani band and Blinded by Deceit had some incredible low range vocals, just full of brutality. But the vocals here are just catchy, nothing else, which was probably the point. The solo, despite being mind-numbingly awesome, just feels out of place with a slightly wrong timing. The band’s sister group, Cardinal Sin, also seems to have this problem with the guitar solos – they just don’t seem to blend in with the music despite being awesome and not doing anything wrong and having the right tone etc. After some repeated listens, however, you’ll get used to it and it won’t seem weird in any way, though. The song is dragged on in the end through the hilarious grunting/breakdown combination and it’s the only flaw in the song which does not have a positive side to it, in my opinion. Last, but not least, even though it’s probably not too important, the lyrical contect here just doesn’t match up to their last two originals but then again – who cares? The lyrics are easy enough to sing along to, and doesn’t take anything away from the music at all. Overall, this song is just damn fuckin’ good at what it aims to do. And what does it aim to do, exacly? Rattle your goddamn’ heads, that’s what! 8/10
Dementia – Sworn Annihilation
Though the band started out as a metalcore tinged melodic death/groove metal band, they have evolved into a modern thrash metal band with this song. The music here is not unlike the recent works of Exodus, Machine Head and to an extent, Shadows Fall (which many people describe as ‘neo-thrash’, which is old school thrash fused with modern metalcore and groove metal influences). The song doesn’t take long to kick in, after a horror style intro that just SCREAMS ‘old school.’ What follows throughout the song is a clear homage to Testament’s ‘The New Order’ and ‘Practice What You Preach’ as the riffage sounds really similar to those albums, but the added groove touch brings Testament’s ‘Low’ to mind, especially with the extreme metal-esque vocal delivery. The solo is just crazy, I’m not going to dwell on it because Taureg Tariq explained it very well in his review. Production-wise, this is probably the best production I have EVER heard on a Pakistani metal song. The guitar tone is sharp but clean, and has that old-school ‘thin’ feel, giving it a razor-blade sort of feel. However, the solo feels kind of muted, maybe they should have increased its volume somewhat. The same goes for the drums, which are by the way, very tight and clean as well. Overall this is one beast of a song and should fuckin’ inspire Dementia’s peers in the Pakistani metal underground to step up to the plate in terms of production and catchy but crafty songwriting. This is not just Dementia’s best song yet, this is the best song I’ve heard this year, tying in with Odyssey’s ‘With Him, Came Destruction’ and Soul Vomit’s ‘New World Holocaust.’ Though, I have to admit, I doubted this bands’ capablities before, I was proved wrong by this song and I hope they can follow up with equally awesome material! 9/10
Berserker – Revenge of the Mullah
Berserker are Pakistan’s resident old school death metal worship band, taking in influences from the likes of Massacre, Morbid Angel, Entombed, Dismember among other legendary bands. Their first song ‘Atars of Putrification’ was a crushing slab of old school death metal which brought to mind a thousand zombies coming up from their graves to mutilate and decapitate all that stood in their way. Their new song, Revenge of the Mullah, improves upon all aspects of the band, including the vocals, drum programming, songwriting. And even though Berserker just basically worship (not rip off, mind you) the ‘old ways’ they have their distinctive sound, even though this is just the band’s second original. The opening riff of this song is testament to this fact. It doesn’t sound like Unleashed or Grave or whatever, but at the same time it is, it’s really hard to describe. But it definitely is old school and with a kickass chainsaw-like tone (though lacking in power, slightly). As I said before, the drum programming is really improved and along with the production, it gives the song a CRUSHING feel, and when I mean crushing what I really mean is EARTHFUCKINGSHATTERING. Yes, that’s it. Earth shattering. The problems with the tempo changes have been dealt with and the band are better than ever here. My only real gripe with the song is that it feels a little cacaphonic at times and the band still has a LOT of room to improve and evolve into a truly ugly and morbid band. The solo, for example is blatant Trey Azagthoth worship, a guitarist whom I find extremely overrated. I’ve always felt that the point of a guitar solo in death metal is not to match the uglyness of the music, but rather, to contrast with it while a the same time blending in perfectly. The solo here is just badly composed with no sense of coherency and for a short while completely kills the flow of the song, destroying it like the bully in your pre-school days would destroy your precious lego building. But whatever, old school enthusiasts like me should gobble this up even if it leaves you feeling only three-quarters full. 7/10
Jun 30, 2009
22
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Interview With Berserker!
The compact cesspool that is Karachi’s metal scene has spawned many great bands over the years. In the old days, Karachi was the birthplace of bands like Hell Dormant, Autopsy Gothic and Soul Vomit. In the last 2 years, new bands like Reckoning Storm, Communal Grave, Cardinal Sin and Ausrine have continued to push the boundaries of Pakistani metal. The beginning of 2009 brought us yet another new band – Berserker. Berserker made waves in January with their song “Altars of Purification,” and despite the sloppy production and the lack of flow between different sections in the song, the bar for brutality in Pakistan was raised. An old school sounding beast, Altars showed immense potential and fast forward almost 2 months later, The Iron Markhor’s co-founder Hassan Umer caught up with Mehtaz Sultan.
- HU: Greetings, Mehtaz! Hope everything is fine on your end. Okay, the first thing I’m gonna ask you is about the band’s name. Aren’t you afraid that people might confuse you with the Australian grindcore band “The Berzerker” ?
MS: And infernal hails to you brother!
Its weird in a way that we decided to coin the name with absolutely no thought of ‘The Berzerker’ in mind and even if we had gone over the whole though process of considering the possible confusions with the Australian Grindcore legends we still would have not changed the name.
Berserker was termed because it fit our musical direction and thinking more perfectly than any other name could have. We aim to be as brutal much along the lines of the mythological prowess that was Berserker.
We borrowed the name Berserker from this anime called ‘Fate Stay night’ where Berserker was an impregnable beast with 13 lives.
People are confusing the name but I believe with time and more original tracks out we will have a differentiated ‘Berserker’ for ourselves with absolutely no confusions with the Australian giants.
- Call me a noob, phony, fake fan, poser or whatever you want (I know how strict you Karachi metalheads are, haha) but I really don’t know how you guys got together, and I think approximately 99.9% of our readers won’t know either, so can you enlighten us humble peasants? Pretty please
Haha, no. You’re definitely one of the most dedicated pure metal heads that I can think of in Pakistan.
We started off back in our A levels in 2007 with 2 piece approach. Me and Tajammul recorded a couple of demos which are available at www.metalhordes.com by the name of ‘sanctity of faith and oblivion’. The skill level was evidently inferior but the approach was always brutal to the core.
Khurram had been my oldest friend and a long running band mate for various experimental projects. He started to chip in with his ideas after the second demo. He worked on a demo which we decided to scrap and then later on played bass/ programmed drums for a symphonic track which we are yet to release.
The three of us were together long before any of us got into extreme metal. It’s more of a bond than a band.
- “More of a bond than a band” Looks like Berserker won’t be splitting up or face any member leaving any time soon! So, which bands would you consider your main influences? The song you guys put up online is a really killer old school sounding beast, but which specific bands really grabbed you by the throat and inspired you guys?
Definitely not!. Additions to the band are very much possible sooner or later, though.
For me and Tajammul Early Sepultra was the first real metal band that we heard and maybe that was the unrelenting sound that attracted us to extreme metal in the first place.
We moved on to Six Feet under and man, Six Feet under was one helluva influence. The thick, meaty guitars, slow tempos and the guttural growls got us into death metal and did we love it. From then on Cannibal Corpse, Necrophagist, Dismember, Entombed, Cryptopsy, Fleshcrawl, Early Behemoth, Wormbat, Nervecell.
Indian bands for me played an immense role: Demonic Resurrection, Narsil, IIIrd Sovereign etc
Pakistani Bands: Messiah, Soul Vomit, Autopsy Gothic, Hell Dormant, Corpsepyre.
There are some trails of Melodic death influences as well such as early Arch enemy, Kalmah, Fall of Serenity and tech melo death bands such as Quo Vadis m/
I hope that pretty much sums up our main influences though it is increasingly hard to name all the bands.
- Wow, never guessed you guys would be fans of melodic death metal or Six Feet Under for that matter! Anyways, your first song “Altars of Purification” had some kickass riffs and a really sweet concept but some of the tempo changes and riffs didn’t flow too well. Do you guys plan on re-recording it for a future full length release?
I for one was a huge fan of melodic death metal but interest in that genre has slowly dissipated. Safe to say, melodic death metal doesn’t move me in the same way it did say 2 years ago.
Can’t say much about the other guys, Khurram for one being quite inclined towards melodic death.
Yes, the riff changes were sudden mainly because I was programming the drums (khurram being not in the country at that time). So yes, I suck at drum programming lol.
We have some new tracks planned and we will be recording them for now with no plans of recording any of the older stuff.
- Cool, cool. So I was reading the lyrics of “Altars..” and good fucking lord, you guys must be walking talking dictionaries! How the hell did you guys come up with that stuff? Can you also interpret them for those of us with an IQ less than 21382398123?
Haha, no. They aren’t lyrics as far as I see them.
I have always been interested in morbid/diabolical poetry and penning down words is very much equivalent to picturing a landscape, a theme, characters, a storyline and then painting it all black- for the depth.
At the end of the day it is poetry that I delve in with passion.
Altars of putrification paints an extremely grim picture of temples/haven/an infernal recluse for a horde of sinister beings born to kill and plunder. The concept puts them down in one extreme end of the ethereal continuum where they lie to oppose all that is good and just.
Our music sides with that dark, sinister, evil side and narrates. The point being you can never overcome the creatures of darkness something made quite obvious by the closing paragraph.
The lyrics paints layers over layers of describing the imagery, the surroundings that make up the darkened temples.
The apparent wordplay and depth is something we learned from bands like Behemoth, fascinated by their medieval imagery.
- So, do you guys plan on hitting up some small hangouts in Karachi with gigs and shit?
Yes, we do. Discrepancies in University timings inhibits our jams but we will definitely we hitting gigs with an occasional goat slaughter to go with it xD
- Haha, awesome. Speaking of Karachi how’s the scene in Karachi? Looks pretty good, Communal Grave, Semideus, Cardinal Sin, Ausrine, Soul Vomit and other good bands from there.
The scene is good but it had seen better days back in 2002.
I love Communal Grave and Cardinal Sin is an absolute ear candy.
The new Soul Vomit track is beyond kick ass.
Live performances are restricted to Communal Grave and Soul Vomit though. It’s not a surprise though since all the other bands are projects lacking musicians to complete a live set.
There were some metal core bands playing here till last year, lol. But then again that was metal core and I won’t really care.
Cardinal sin is one band that I really fucking want to play live. They lack a drummer and I am sure they can find one, that would be m/
- Haha, everyone wants to play live with Cardinal Sin for some reason. What’s YOUR reason?
The very brutal death appeal and those sick tempo changes m/
- Haha, nice. Well, what do you think of the Lahore scene?
Lahore had a kick ass scene back with Seth then Incision.
Seth is still considered to be the tightest metal act in this country, period and Atif death to be the sickest growler/screamer.
I had a personal liking for Corpsepyre even though they generated a lot of criticism in the Lahore circuit.
That’s about it, i suppose.
- 2009 has been an awesome year for metal so far. Napalm Death, Cannibal Corpse, Cattle Decap released kickass albums and Devourment, Obituary, and a shitload of other great bands are expected to release albums this year. Which albums are you looking forward to this year?
CC’s Evisceration Plague has to be the only album that I actually after Tomb of the Mutiliated- Corpsegrinder hate, I remain xD
Other then that, 2009 is all set to be a comeback year for old school death.
The new Morbid Angel album I read somewhere about. If that is true then my expectations are to concluded right here.
The new Vomitory and Vader albums m/ m/
- Well, what does 2009 have in store for YOUR band? :p
Haha, new tracks and possibly a chance to play a gig.
More brutality, diabolical poetry and an animated video with the help of Aneeq Zaman (Ex Autopsy Gothic).
- Cool, cool. Well, I’m running out of questions, so any final words before I devour you… ermm, wrap up this interview?
Hmm, reminds me of all the Khaleej Time interviews I used to read with the final words, lol.
Fucking hate metalcore, destroy metalcore, eradicate metalcore from the face of this wretched planet.
Bangladesh pwns our and India’s ass when it comes to death metal.
Stay pale!!
The Iron Markhor would like to thank Mehtaz Sultan for taking time out of his busy schedule for giving us an interview. The Markhor fully supports Berserker and their music!
Mar 09, 2009
6
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Review: Altars of Putrification – Berserker
Altars of Putrification – Berserker (click to download)
2009 has barely even started and a new Pakistani Death Metal band has surfaced. I am beginning to think this year is going to be yet another landmark in the history of Pakistani Heavy Metal. Berserker is a two-piece death metal band from Karachi who has recently risen from the ashes of the black metal band Sanctity of Faith and Oblivion.
Their first song, Altars of Putrification exhibits strong nostalgic aestheticism and theatricality and is written in an old-school death metal vein.
The guitar-work is nothing short of pure genius and the tone, remarkably, goes perfectly with the sensibilia that defines death metal. They may not have perfectly emulated the ‘Chainsaw’ guitar tone that is characteristic of the death metal bands of the not so recent past nonetheless, Berserker have managed to perfectly synthesize the atmosphere and emotionality that the name warrants. The solo sounds a little sloppy but I am willing to overlook that on account of the sheer awesomeness that Altars of Putrification exemplifies.
The drums are sequenced and arranged accordingly but the ringy snare mars an otherwise perfect song. Mind you, the ringy snare is native to Slam Death and sounds really out of place when incorporated in other varieties of death metal. The drums are either mixed too loud or have not been properly assigned to their respective channels.
The vocals, in particular, striked me in terms of how well-recorded and well-proportioned they are for a home-recording. The vocals are definitely hoarser and the velar form of growling further beautifies an already perfect song. Mad props to Tajammul, the vocalist.
The song-structure never ceases to amaze you and although, tedious at times, it is catchy and if you abhor the over-produced and modestly-inventive faggotry that is Modern Death Metal (teh brut@lz) and adore the entrail-ripping and goat-fondling 
symphonies of Old School Death Metal, this song is for you.
It has always troubled me as to how Sanctity of Faith and Oblivion has never received the kind of response that it is liable to garner. Abyssed and Semideus are famed as the only Pakistani Black Metal bands when clearly, there are better bands out there. I will see to it that this band receives the attention that it deserves unlike its predecessor. The song is fucking bad-ass and the only thing that takes a tiny bit from the experience is the fact that the drums are too loud. I give this song a 4.75 out of 5.
Jan 03, 2009
17
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