Violent Hammer/Riders Of The Wasteland/Hells Headbangers/2020 CD Review

  Violent  Hammer  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  on  this  recording  plays  war,  black,  death  metal,  crust  and  grindcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "Riders  Of  The  Wasteland"  which  will  be  released  on  May  29th  by  Hells  Headbangers.

  A  very  fast  and  raw  war  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats.  Elements  of  grindcore  are  also  added  into  some  of  the  faster  sections  of  the  music  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  bestial  growls  as  well  as  the  riffs  also  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  the  music  also  shows  a  lot  of  90's  era  death  metal  influences.  Black  metal  screams  are  also  utilized  at  times  along  with  the  guitar  solos  and  leads  also  being  done  in  a  very  chaotic  style.

   A  brief  use  of  power  electronics  and  noise  can  also  be  heard  and  some  songs  also  add  in  touches  of  crust  and  thrash  metal  and  the  whole  recording  also  sticks  to  a  heavier  musical  direction.  The  production  sounds  very  raw  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  war,  death,  violence  and  darkness  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Violent  Hammer  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  war,  black,  death,  thrash  metal,  crust  and  grindcore,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Death  Squad"  "Screams  Of  Agony"  "(Trapped)  In  Depths"  and  "Prophet  Of  Darkness". 8  out  of  10.

http://violent-hammer.bandcamp.com/album/riders-of-the-wasteland

Violent Hammer Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Violent Hammer is primitive death metal from Northern Finland. We were active 05-08, split-up and re-formed the band in '11 with a new vocalist. The original drummer left the band pretty soon after the re-formation and we had another guy filling in for a year or two before we kicked him out. We tried bunch of other guys and it didn't work out so K.S. switched from bass to drums. Pretty soon after that we found a new bass player and a lead guitarist and things have been running smoothly after that. Violent Hammer is Janne guitar / Joonas vomits / Kalle drums / Lasse guitar / Late bass.

2.Recently you have released a new demo, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
The new stuff is more primitive. The older stuff wasn't that technical or anything but we have stripped down all the unnecessary influences and overall regressed in every aspect. We recorded the demo ourselves and having more experience on that departmant has really paid off.

3.This is the first demo to be released in 7 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
We split up after the 2nd demo. We had plans about full-lenght and ep etc but those plans never realized. With the original lineup we didn't do any gigs or anything.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with
the newer music?
The lyrics mainly deal with topics such as war, death and agony. We play death metal and lyrics are very death metal.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Violent Hammer'?
Violent Hammer is a musical entity that will violently hammer your face in.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Thus far we've only played 3 gigs (1st with another drummer). The ones we've played with the current lineup have been slightly chaotic on the alcohol department. There's no stage performance per se; only screams, hate, pounding and blood.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
None at the moment.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black and death metal?
The feedback has been positive. We sold out the 1st pressing of the demo in a month or so and most of the pressing was sold outside Finland. Haven't seen any reviews yet but judging by the amount on people begging for free stuff we're at least somewhat known, ha!

9.Are any of the band members involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?
Kalle plays drums in Ydintuho (raw punk deathstrike from the trenches, ep coming soon), Lasse, Janne & Late have a swe-death metal project, demo coming sooner or later and Joonas "sings" in noise/grind band.

10.When can we expect a full length album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
The slower parts are slower and fast parts are faster than on the demo so there's a bit of variation of some kind. No drastic style changes or anything, still primitive death metal hammering. We still have to write at least 3-4 tracks before we start recording. After that it's up to Shadow Kingdom.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Our influences are 80's - early 90's death / black metal (Venom, Hellhammer, Bathory, Possessed, Blasphemy, Beherit, Archgoat, Grotesque, Sarcofago etc), 80's grindcore (Carcass, Blood, Repulsion etc), 80's UK/Swedish hardcore / crust (Discharge, Crude SS, Extreme Noise Terror etc) and early thrash metal (Slayer, Sodom, Destruction etc). Todays playlist includes Onslaught - Power from Hell, Chaos UK - Studio Outtakes 81-83 7", Foreseen 7", Ataque Frontal 7", Necros Christos / Teitanblood split 7", Deathstrike - Fuckin' Death. Mainly raw metal and hardcore punk.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
Literature, computer games, satanic power lifting and alcohol.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or
thoughts?
At the moment we're working on tracks for the upcoming 1st full length on Shadow Kingdom Records and that's about it. Thanks for your interest.

http://shadowkingdomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/more-victims-demo-2014

Violent Hammer/More Victims/Shadow Kingdom Records/2014 Demo Review

   Violent  Hammer  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  primitive  form  of  blackened  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  demo  "More  Victims"  which  was  released  by  Shadow  Kingdom  Records.

  A  very  old  school  blackened  thrash  metal  sound  starts  off  the  demo  along  with  some  blast  beats  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  screams  a  few  seconds  later  and  the  band  also  bring s in  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  a  great  amount  of  80's  and  90's  black  and  death  metal  influences.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  added  into  the  music  they  bring  in  a  very  chaotic  war  metal  sound  to  the  music  and  the  faster  sections  also  bring  in  a  primitive   bestial  black/death  metal  sound  at  times  and  as  the  demo  progresses  a  small  amount  of  melody  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  at  times  the  vocals  also  bring  in  a  depressive  black  metal  feeling.

  Violent  Hammer  takes  all  of  the  primitive  elements  of  war,  black,  death  and  thrash  metal  to  create  a  musical style  that  is  very  raw,  heavy  and  brutal  from  beginning  to  end  of  the  recording  and  there  is  never  a  weak  or  soft  moment  to  be  heard  anywhere  on  this  demo,  the  production  sounds  very  raw  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  violence  and  war  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Violent  Hammer  are  a  very  great  sounding  bestial  blackened  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  demo.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Army  Of  the  Damned"  and "Life  After  Nuclear  Genocide".  8/5  out  of  10.

 http://shadowkingdomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/more-victims-demo-2014