The attraction of extreme music for me is simple: adrenaline. I can't stand bands that stop and start or cycle through four or five attempts at a hook before settling on none. I guess it's just the old punker in me.

Euphoreon Ends of the Earth (self-released)

Euphoreon understands perfectly. Matt Summerville and Eugen Dodenhoeft (from New Zealand and Germany, respectively) seem to have cobbled this album together through the modern version of tape trading--even adding guitar solos from Tommi Halme, in a further piece of patchwork--but the songs are anything but haphazard. Atmospheric keyboards (everything from piano to synth string washes) set the scenes, but the lean guitar riffs and precise, intense drumming steal the show. These songs move.

With the exception of the imported solos, there is one guitar track on each song. That guitar is generally a rhythm instrument (though generally single notes and not chords), but it transitions into a melodic force when necessary. There is bass, but it's way down in the mix. As presented, this is one lean, mean, beautiful machine.

This duo released one album seven years ago, and they are working a Kickstarter campaign to press physical copies of this disc. Indie metal across the oceans, indeed. If you're looking for some old school death metal that doesn't stint on the melody, these boys will do you a solid. I'm betting that after a couple of songs, you'll realize just how forward thinking old school can be. A blistering refreshment.

Jon Worley