interviews

KSUB Interview

Terry McCorriston was interviewed by KSUB's Paul Brown. You can listen to the mp3 of the interview by clicking here

Or you can find it on their website... www.ksubseattle.org

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Freak Show Interview

Video conducted by Freak, from The Freak Show

www.thefreaksshow.com

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Live audio interview with Terry and Joshua [mp3 - 128kbps] Conducted May 5th 2005 at: Fenix Underground in Seattle, WA by Darksoul7.com

reviews

Scorched-Earth - "Gods, Kings, and Conquerors"

review by Scott at Live4Metal.com

I enjoyed this one, not so much because of blinding technicality or innovation in the arrangements, but because of its unabashedly old school death metal aesthetic. On Gods, Kings, and Conquerors, Seattle's Scorched - Earth play raw, old school death metal with a few black metal flourishes (mainly the primitive grooves). The arrangements are fairly basic, though not ineffective. The guitars hold a pretty good groove, but I thought the rhythm section could stand a little tightening. The drumming leans more toward the early years of death metal with some fast playing and effective fills, but little in the way of blast beat overdrive; in today's world of overly technical drumming, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Guitarist/vocalist Terry McCorriston's singing is more mid-range scream than low-end growl, not unlike Brett Hoffman (ex-Malevolent Creation). "Thy Kingdom Crushed" kicks off the album with a plodding chug, featuring a chorus that actually has some degree of melody, resulting in a tune that is more than just pure brutality. On "Helter Skelter Land," the boys move from mid-paced crunching to furious speeding with a cool main guitar riff. "Neo-Zombies" and "Iron Tyrant" are both primal speedsters, the latter of which has a Motorhead-meets-Venom feel. On the whole, my picky criticisms shouldn't be the focus here. Scorched-Earth have made an album that takes the bludgeoning musical elements of death metal and combines it with a heavy dose of evil atmosphere and nasty attitude That's good enough for me.

Scorched-Earth - "Gods, Kings, and Conquerors"

review by Chris Slack at BlizzardBeast.com

Seattle's Scorched-Earth came to exist in 1995 when founder Terry McCorriston attempted to get like minded individuals together "to fully express S.E.'s Metal of Extermination". After a number of lineup changes they released the "Thy Kingdom Crushed" demo CD in 2000. After three years the latest CD, "Gods, Kings, and Conquerors", was recorded by the current lineup of Terry McCorriston (guitar/vocals), Sanford Johnson (bass), and Josh Hanenburg (drums).

The first thing I noticed when listening to "Gods, Kings, and Conquerors" is that it actually sounds like the three piece back that is Scorched-Earth, which is cool as most three pieces seem to layer multiple guitars to (maybe) hide the fact that there are only three members. The major upside to this is that when one sees the band live they will get basically what they hear on the album. I would describe the music of Scorched-Earth as classic thrash ala Sodom/Kreator/Celtic Frost mixed with the speed (at times) of modern death metal and the rawness and blasphemic tone of war metal bands like Blasphemy and Revenge. Songs are mid to fast-paced with some near-blast speed parts added for good measure. Don't expect technical riffs and complex beats, this is violent and raw metal that's played for feeling rather than showing off the bands abilities. Standout tracks include "YHWH", a fairly brutal track with a KILLER Celtic Frost like string bending riff that's used in parts and "Napoleon, Conqueror of the Pyramids", a track that compels the listener to headbang. My only complaint is that to me the drums are mixed a little high and the vocals a little low for my liking. That could have been the intention of the band though, who's to say.

All in all this is a pretty impressive release from a band that constantly improves each time I see them play. Old school thrashers and war/black metal fans should enjoy this quite a bit. If the death metal fans can get past the rawness of the production I think it would be appreciated by them as well.

Scorched-Earth - "Thy Kingdom Crushed"

review by Metal Side

The band from Seattle play a kind of death metal that without any restrictions can be called original. In times when most bands only try to copy the patterns of older ones, it should be really appreciated when someone is looking for the own ways of expression.

But of course, not always 'to be original' means 'to be good', mostly because of the fact that many bands go in the experiments much too far, loosing the control over own music. Luckily Scorched-Earth trying something new, don't forget where the roots are. Perhaps this is the strongest side of this material: there're many elements of old thrash metal here, connected skillfully with newer sounds, closer to death metal. And again, an important remark: there's a popular trend to play the music rooted in the glorious past of the 80-thies, to copy old Slayer, Destruction, Celtic Frost and so on.

The problem is that many of the bands which have chosen such way of development, don't add anything own to the old patterns and really many of them are very boring. Scorched-Earth is able not only to worship the tradition but to develop it creatively. Although not very brutal, this music is heavy enough to call a death metal fan's attention. Riffs are good composed. If I had to complain of something, I would say that the structures of the tracks could be more diversified. More fast parts would make this music more attractive, at least for me, because more doom-orientated fans would say that the band should rather play even slower.

But don't think that telling such things, I suggest that Scorched-Earth is a boring band. Not at all. The next and last important thing about this album is that it's a material that can please fans of death/thrash metal, rooted in the 80-thies, as well as the listeners of modern death/doom.