D.R.I. / Nasty Savage / Cro-Mags

https://grpunkflyers.notopia.dev/flyers/1467/

As a musician, sometimes you just want to blow off some steam with a fun, low-stakes side project, free from the genre trappings or expectations of your main gig. Karloff is a band born of such an impulse, serving as the vehicle for Graveyard Ghoul’s Tom “Tyrantör” Horrified to deliver some vintage metal/punk. The band’s last full-length, 2021’s The Appearing, was an enjoyable but unimpressive throwback to the halcyon days of punky heavy metal with a blackened twist. Now Mr. Horrified and his team storm back from the grave with another fist-swinging slab of tight, nostalgia-soaked riffage, built to crack open some beers and rattle your damn crypt to rubble. Can Karloff rise above their debut, hit harder, and unleash a truly skull-splitting dose of heavy metal warcraft?

From the moment you press “play,” it’s clear that Revered by Death is bursting with punk energy and metal spirit. Opener “A Pessimistic Soaring” wastes no time before hitting you square in the face with a simple, but effective power chord riff panned to one channel before the full rhythm section bursts in. We get a tasty, phased-out guitar lead before landing on a fun, punky verse riff, complete with blackened rasps about “a world consumed by darkness.” This sets the stage nicely for what Karloff is all about: no-nonsense, kitschy retro metal/punk with plenty of energy. Their bread-and-butter is like if a less-gaudy Midnight crashed into the punked-out thrash of early Nasty Savage and sprinkled it in a blackened layer of late-era Darkthrone. When it all comes together, the result can be oodles of fun. Karloff isn’t reinventing the wheel, but they’re definitely spilling some beer on it and decorating it with fake cobwebs and candles.

Revered by Death by Karloff

A lot of Revered by Death’s charm comes from the no-nonsense attitude on display from Karloff’s members. At their best, the riffs have the sort of quality of alcohol-fueled basement jams, with Tom Horrified providing some flavorful leads to spice things up and laying down punky power chords that find a sweet spot between uncomplicated and straight-up ignorant (“Crown Cult Fate,” “Die Wiederkehr der Dunkeleit”). H.T Steinbrecher’s drum performance is effective and workmanlike, rarely veering into blastbeat territory and keeping things classy with variations on rock beats, aided by the occasional d-beat (“Prince of Parasites”). Karloff maintains their core metal/punk sound across much of the album, but a few effective variations help to keep things fresh. “When the Flames Devour You All” is a mid-tempo, blackened banger, with swirling black metal arpeggios meeting sludgy power chords, and “Elisabetha’s Revenge” continues this thread, amping up the cinematics and dynamics to make for a memorable closer. Throughout it all, there’s a distinct sense of personality that helps maintain a sonic cohesion.

My only real complaint with Revered by Death is that some tracks aren’t quite as tightly executed as others. Karloff largely hit the mark, and none of the songs are complete stinkers, but some of the B-sides fail to get the blood pumping as effectively. At 4-minutes, “Regicide” is a tad longer than average and lingers on its main riff for its entirety, lacking a lead or meaningful variation to keep things interesting. “On Weathered Altar” is a surprising turn towards instrumental horror ambience and lands smack in the middle as an interlude that runs for about twice as long as it should. These aren’t total deal breakers, but on a short album, they feel longer than they otherwise would and distract somewhat from an otherwise solid package.

With Revered by Death, Karloff has delivered a lively batch of blackened metal/punk rippers. Nothing here will boggle your mind, but the band’s distinctive attitude and kitschy execution are plenty entertaining. The next time I want to feel like I’m in a metal party scene from an 80s horror movie, I’ll crush a beer can on my forehead, pull out my ripped jeans, gel my mullet, and throw on some of the best tracks from this latest Karloff.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Website: facebook.com/karloffpunk
Releases Worldwide: January 23rd, 2026

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#BraveWords–WhereMusicLives
FORBIDDEN Announce First Show In 15 Years For Los Angeles; NASTY SAVAGE Confirmed As Support

https://bravewords.com/news/forbidden-announce-first-show-in-15-years-for-los-angeles-nasty-savage-confirmed-as-support/

#Forbidden #NastySavage #LosAngeles #HeavyMetal #SoCal

Interview: Nasty Savage’s Ronnie Galletti talks band’s return with ‘The Jeopardy Room’

#NastySavage #RonnieGalletti #Interview #TheJeopardyRoom

https://metalinsider.net/interviews/interview-nasty-savages-ronnie-galletti-talks-bands-return-with-the-jeopardy-room

Nasty Savage – Jeopardy Room Review

By Steel Druhm

I did NOT have a brand new Nasty Savage album on my bingo card for 2024, or ever for that matter. I was a big fan in the 80s, finding the belligerent, over-the-top attitude of unhinged frontman/WWF wannabe Nasty Ronnie to be the perfect match for the band’s oddball blend of trad-metal and thrash.1 Their 1985 debut was like a loony hodge-podge of Venom, Manowar, and Mercyful Fate, with the Floridian bruisers trying to settle on the right tone and style. 1987s follow-up Indulgence was a tougher, meaner hombre full of technically precise thrash with proggy accents. 89s Penetration Point took the prog elements and pushed them further to join the wave of bands experimenting with tech-thrash in the late 80s like Watchtower and Toxik. After that the joy ride ended and the band imploded. They reformed to drop a respectable comeback in 2004 and then promptly folded again. An album 20 years later is a big surprise because Nasty Savage never seemed like it was made up of guys destined to live long, healthy lives. Nasty Ronnie was a trailer park psycho living with alligators and the rest of the band was equally sketchy. And yet Jeopardy Room finds Ronnie very much alive and kicking supported by an all-new lineup of unsavory riff-raff.2 What will a Nasty Savage album sound like in the modern age? I was a bit scared to find out, honestly.

After a short intro piece, the title track roars out with a shockingly ageless sound very much in line with their Indulgence era. Fiery caveman thrash is the rotgut of the day with Ronnie grunting and shouting over aggressive riif chaos just like in the olde days. In fact, Ronnie sounds exactly the same, which is crazy. It’s a classic Savage track with the same kind of burly, bullying thrash riffs and concussive force I depended on during gym time in my angry teens. “Brain Washer” is a big dose of low-brow speed that pays big, dumb dividends with Ronnie hysterically shouting “Brainwasher, Brainwasher!!” like an inmate at Arkham Asylum. It also weaves proggy ideas through the thuggish brutality in a way where you don’t even notice them at first. “Witches Sabbath” is a throwback to the debut where they dabbled in Mercyful Fate and King Diamond influences, going for a moody, mysterious atmosphere complete with horror movie keyboards. It’s cheesy and ham-fisted but somehow ends up working and those riffs are pure Sherman/Denner.

Jeopardy Room is a classic Savage album in that it tries to represent all the stages of their too-short career. You get the trad and thrash and prog, but thrashers dominate the day. “Blood Syndicate” hits especially hard toward the album’s conclusion as furious, weighty riffs run wild and Ronnie roars like an enraged silverback as a woman reaches ever closer to climax in the background for whatever reason. Classic Savage. Sure, not every track hits the mark. “Schizoid Platform” tries to balance hog-defiling speed and prog with awkward results, and “Operation Annihilate” is rudimentary idiocy but still fairly entertaining. The overall balance favors the nasty, as most tracks are good with a few rising higher. It’s a motley collection of metal zingers by a real motley crew of ne’er-do-wells and it’s surprisingly spry and energized.

The big surprise here is Mr. Nasty himself. Ronnie sounds like he’s been in cryofreeze since the mid-90s. His husky baritone bellows are still stuffed full of toxic masculinity and goonism and he’s highly effective. He foregoes the King Diamond-esque high-pitched falsettos he employed in the past but I don’t miss them. He’s still a massive presence behind the mic and he can probably still toss a few wimps ass-over-teakettle into the rotpit. New guitarist Dave Orman does an excellent job mimicking the axe styles of original members Ben Meyer and David Austin, which is no easy feat as they always had a very distinct and usual approach. His riffs are thick, razor-sharp, and oppressive with a slightly proggy flare often present even in the most thrash-tastical cuts. He’s slick as shit without departing from the mission statement of kicking poser ass. The whole band is tight and polished, making Olde Man Ronnie sound like an angry 20-something again. Kudos.

I didn’t expect much from Jeopardy Room, but it’s a fun and forceful throwback to the band’s early days of drunken excess and alligator humping. It reeks of 1987, warm beer, and moist BO, which means it smells like Nasty Savage sounds. Give this a loud, angry spin and rock the double-wide. After that, go discover or re-discover their classics and get swole.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: FHM Records
Websites: nastysavage.com | instagram.com/nastysavageband
Releases Worldwide: October 11th, 2024

#2024 #30 #AmericanMetal #FHMRecords #HeavyMetal #JeopardyRoom #NastySavage #Oct24 #Review #Reviews #ThrashMetal

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#BLABBERMOUTH
NASTY SAVAGE Shares 'Schizoid Platform' Single From Upcoming 'Jeopardy Room' Album

https://blabbermouth.net/news/nasty-savage-shares-schizoid-platform-single-from-upcoming-jeopardy-room-album

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NASTY SAVAGE Announces New Album 'Jeopardy Room'

https://blabbermouth.net/news/nasty-savage-announces-new-album-jeopardy-room

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Ruthless – The Fallen Review

By Steel Druhm

Ruthless have ancient roots in the metal scene but haven’t been active enough to gain much notoriety. Their Discipline of Steel debut was released way back in 1986 when a young undisciplined Steel was living for exactly the kind of US power they deliver, but tragically, our paths never crossed. Turns out they didn’t release a follow-up until 2015 and The Fallen is their fourth full-length. Led by larger-than-life frontman, Sammy DeJohn, Ruthless have polished and streamlined their original sound and approach and the listener can expect very 80s-centric classic metal fare with elements of speed and trve metal comingling with the 80s power sounds of Helstar and Jag Panzer. That puts this so deep in the wheelhouse of Steel that it goes right through the floor into the sub-basement of Steel, but there must be a reason I never heard of these cats, right? Let us proceed with all due caution to avoid a nasty fall.

While Ruthless aren’t doing anything anyone could call innovative or original, they’re quite competent at reproducing the sound of 80s metal and making it stick. Their sound will feel immediate and familiar to anyone who metaled in the golden era, and comparisons to early Jag Panzer are especially apt. The speed metal urgency of the title track is a great table setter and Sammy DeJohn’s burly, leather-lunged delivery pairs well with the beefy riffs and punchy pace. Tracks like “Betrayal” show the band has chops, balls, and bombast and it’s impossible to hear this one without thinking of Nasty Savage, as DeJohn adopts a very Nasty Ronnie-esque lilt to his voice. This is fine by me and one should always strive to be more Nasty Ronnie than Unnasty Ronald. This one moved directly to the Grand Liifting List ov Steel before it was half over. Joining it is “No Mercy” which also punches above its weight with a sword-ready epic sound that delivers a machismo sandwich packed with protein and extra curly back hair. This stuff is surprisingly good and has been getting heavy replays in the heavy room.

Other fine moments arrive with “Thulsa Doom” where the epic trve metal vibe is amplified with thicc doom riffage for a large-scale assault on your back Gondor. This one really gets under my brain skin and I love the extra heavy vibe it imparts. “Order of the Dragon” is the best Saxon song in the last few years except it runs a bit too close to “The Power and the Glory” for its own good. I still dig it muchly though. There isn’t much filler here to complain about, though “Dark Passenger” is somewhat weak compared to its brethren, and the simmering power ballad “End Times” is decent with some surprisingly Dio-esque vocals from DeJohn, but it could be a bit tighter. At 41-plus minutes, The Fallen is a crisp little throwback album with more hits than misses and it keeps things fairly intense the entire time. Anthemic, aggressive, and lively, this is what the 80s sound was and is all about.

Sammy DeJohn is the brains behind Ruthless and he’s resurrected the band to fulfill his metal dreams of supremacy. He’s a solid vocalist with an old school slant to his delivery, and at various times I was reminded of the aforementioned metal heroes and also Jag Panzer’s Harry “The Tyrant” Conklin and Paragon’s Andreas Babuschkin. That’s a well-round gentleman and his performance is a big part of the charm here. Aiding DeJohn in his ruthless endeavors, Glen Paul delivers a solid collection of road-grading, meat-tenderizing 80s riffs of various weights and masses. The beefy chugs and crisp speed riffs are there, and he does the trve metal thing really well too. Sandy K. Vasquez plays a competent bass and gets to shine in Steve Harris-like ways at times. The band is tight and the writing is solid and mostly convincing though definitely stuck in the mid 80s.

I didn’t expect all that much from The Fallen, but I’m happily impressed by what I got and it has me going back into the past to acquire their earlier works. If you love the 80s metal sound, this will likely entertain you and earn some repeat spins. It isn’t going to change the world or draw much attention, but Ruthless can execute this select style pretty well and some of this stuff is playlist-worthy for sure. Give it a road test for old times’ sake. Stay ruthless, Sammy!

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Fireflash Records
Websites: facebook.com/ruthlessmetal | ruthlessband.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: January 12th, 2024

#2024 #30 #FireflashRecords #HeavyMetal #Helstar #JagPanzer #Jan24 #NastySavage #Paragon #Review #Reviews #Ruthless #SpeedMetal #TheFallen