cd0402b

REVIEWS - APRIL 2004

VII GATES - FIRE, WALK WITH ME (Sound Riot Records, 2003)
	Produced By: Richard Bengtsson
	Tracks: 1- Bounded by Hatem 2- The Saviour, 3- Seconds Left to Live, 4- Under the Crossed Bones, 5- So Far Away, 6- Tormented, 7- Love Ballet, 8- A Dark Room of My Mind, 9- Like a Rock, 10- The Madman Inside
Mastered at Digital Audio Studio	Recorded at
From Sweden comes the storm in the form of the powerful and magnifiscent VII Gates !! This guys deliver on this album pure heavy metal with a really powerful guitar sound and with elements of other styles such as power metal, progressive metal and also some thrash in some of the guitar riffs. One of the main things here is the contrast between the climatic keyboards and the heavier than fuck guitars. The good thing is that the band uses more rhythmic riffs than most of the bands in the style that prefer playing fast runs or gallopings. Here we have great guest musicians: Kee Marcello (Europe), Chris Amott (Arch Enemy) and many more. One thing to remark is the good sound that this band has and that gives clarity and power to them at the same time. Plus, I have also to remark the good job done by the singer here that knows how to be powerful and also how to deliver good melodies with his big vocal range. Pure metal the way it must be done !!!
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.sevengates.se or www.soundriot.net

ABIURA - PROMO 2003 (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Abiura
	Tracks: 1- Soundtrack for a dead end, 2- I Join the Endless Line, 3- Nel Nome del Padre
Cover Art by Abiura	Recorded at Audiostudios Studio
A keyboards intro opens up this three song promo from this italian band delivering a haunting melody. After a while comes the band with full power playing clever guitar riffs in a brutal death metal context. One remarkable thing is the combination of really good riffs with clever double bass drumming. And here you can feel also some thrash metal influence in this deathly guys music. Specially in riffs like the one at 2:30 in "Soundtrack for a dead end". This guys deliver here three powerful death metal tracks with a raw sound that combines crushing guitars with drumming full of hihat and with some blast beats (such as the ones in "I join..."). Here are also some technical tempo changes and rhythm breaks. The vocals are really extreme in the most brutal death style. This album is totally recommendable to those who love the most brutal styles in metal.
Favorite tracks: the three	Contact: www.abiura.com or www.std-distro.cjb.net

ACRIMONY INC.- PROMO CD II SUMMER 2003 (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Acrimony
	Tracks: 1- Idee Fixe, 2- Gallows Bird, 3- Sun/dawn/obsession, 4- Expiry
Cover Art by Acrimony
What a killer album !!! The guys in Acrimony Inc. Have managed to achieve excellent four tracks on this recording full of death metal done with good technical skills that allowed them to do passages full of multiple changes and arrangements. I would not hesitate to call the music here progressive death metal because of the multiple ideas, arrangements and harmonizations that are all over this recording. It is great to feel the contrast between the heavy guitars and the orchestrating keyboards. There are some oriental melodies here and there that add a spcial feeling to the music of this album contrasting with the extreme vocals. Plus the recording has a really good sound emphasizing each arrangement that ahs been done here. A must.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: http://acrimony.cjb.net

AMETROPIE - BEI STURM UND MONDENSCHEIN (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Klaus Spangenberg and Ametropie
	Tracks: 1- Die Hexe, 2- Im Dunklen Samt von Traurige Nacht, 3- Ruf des Raben, 4- Des Lebens Elexier, 5- Bis in Alle Ewigkeit
Cover Art by Tobias Schmücking
Ametropie has succesfully combined elements of black metal and death metal into their own style taking elements from both this styles and succesfully fusing them into their own compositions. The main thing here is the combination of guitar riffs with a killer guitar that delivers good dark melodies through all the album. Plus, the keyboards have here are essential to deliver the most climatic parts changing from chord progressions to haunting melodies like in "Im Dunklen Samt..." The vocals give the more extreme feeling to the music adding a black emtal feeling to the music. The vocals are mixed a little bit high for my taste, and I think that maybe burying it a little bit more in the mix and putting the guitars a little bit highr would give more power to the band. THis is an album full of ideas that takes influences from inimaginable sources and create a really dark style of music full of feeling and imaginative passages.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact:

ARACHNOVORE - GRAVE STONE (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Arachnovore
	Tracks: 1- Grave Stone, 2- Impaled Ripper, 3- Blood Sucker, 4- Incoming Evil Forces, 5- Past Scripture, 6- Black Mind, 7- Fog of a Fantastic War, 8- Coming from Hell
Cover Art by Arachnovore	Recorded at Bertrand´s home studio
Bertrand Cunin is the main brain behind this aggressive project that we have in our hands now. Starting at full speed since the first second, the album fastly sets into an aggressive death metal feeling with guttural yet obscure vocals (her he is using a reverb on the vocals that adds them a really dark feeling). There are multiple changes in speed and rhythm here but there is a good use of repetition in riffs and breaks that gives a lot of coherence to the music here. There is use of programmed drums here and that adds a cold feeling to the music that Arachnovore does, creating and interesting environment here. The sound is raw and a little bit muddy, and I think that a better mix could do really well to Arachnovore´s music, specially mixing a little bit up the guitars. Really aggressive deathly music.
Favorite tracks: "Blood Sucker", "Black Mind" and "Coming from Hell"	Contact: www.arachnovore.fr.st

ARAFEL - THE WAY OF DEFENDER (Sound Age Productions, 2003)
	Produced By: Arafel
	Tracks: 1- The Birth, 2- Ten Shots, 3- The First Battle, 4- On the Dark Way, 5- The Ice, 6- Requiem
Cover Art by Arafel
An acoustic guitar intro starts this album. But soon comes a blasting black metal discharge. Then the clean guitars return and after that the music turns into great black metal with interesting keyboards arrangements. This combination of brutality and grimness with excellent arrangements is the trademark of Arafel´s music. Plus, they know how to deliver an extremely dark sound in their music. Don´t get me wrong. here there are plenty of blast beats and also interesting viking metal elements, but Arafel is a really original outfit. The guitar riffs are cleverly developed (much better than most of the extreme black emtal bands) with intensity and amazing dominion of the atmospheres. Plus the songs are long and that allows this guys to develope really well the compositions. The album has only a vicdeo clip of the track "The Ice". Pure black dark metal with good ideas!!
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: soundage@online.ru

ASH AND ELM - ASH AND ELM (2 TRACK CD) (Catharsis Music, 2003)
	Produced By: Ash and Elm
	Tracks: 1- Gods of Sin, 2- Blood Culture
Cover Art by Ash and Elm
Starting at full speed with "Gods of Sin" with a catchy yet extreme rhythm, this amazing band succeeds in delivering their blend of modern thrash metal. This is an interesting showcase of how thrash and metal music have evolved. Here we have a band that plays some thrashy rhythms and they combine it with interesting vocals that know how to deliver the feeling that the music here needs, sounding sometimes pure metal and sometimes more extreme. At teh same time there is a really modern sound in the guitars that gives a lot of up to date sound to the music here. And there is also a death metal feeling in some of the parts here. There is a big difference insound in both tracks. I prefer the second track where everything sounds louder and more devastating and where the guitars sound lower tuned and more in your face (I think that mixing the first track like this one could be a good idea). This band is really a good one and leave you wanting more music from them.
Favorite tracks: Both	Contact: www.ashandelm.com

ASH AND ELM - ASH AND ELM (Catharsis Music, 2003)
	Produced By: Ash and Elm
	Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Blood Culture, 3- Beneath the Sun, 4- Visions from the Past, 5- Vlad, 6- Time Scar, 7- Fire Hardened
Cover Art by Ash and Elm
A short intro with an interesting melody opens the gates to the Ash and Elm realm. A place full of metal riffs and great melodies and good musicianship (killer rhythm section + killer guitars). A palce full of heavy guitars and good musicianship. And also a place full of aggression in their ultra heavy thrashing rhythms and its heavy as hell guitars. As I said in the rpevious review here you have the best showcase of how thrash metal has evolved, taking elements frokm other styles, modernizing itself and taking teh shape of this crushing band. This album has a really huge sound and that helps a lot to the band to sound as heavy as they want. This album is devastating and at the same time full of ideas that keep you paying all the attention possible to each of the movements that this band does. This album is a good example of how metal must be done.
Favorite tracks: All the CD.	Contact: www.ashandelm.com

ASTRAL DEMISE - EON +1 (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Astral Demise
	Tracks: 1- My Horizon, 2- Nova´s End, 3- Future Embraced, 4- Serene, +5- Engaging the Void
Cover Art by Astral Demise
Astral demise is the creature of Phil Eros-433 Almaraz who is the only composer and brain behind the music here. Here you have very raw music done in a black metal style but with emphasis in the rhythms instead of the speed. There are some keyboards and programmed drums that give a special feeling to the music, orchestrating the more climatic moments. Phil is good in combining the more extreme vocals in the fastest parts with more singed ones in the atmosphereic parts when the compositions need them. The guitar sound is extremely raw here, giving a really extreme feeling to the compositions. But I think that the main thing here is the combination of this raw guitars passages with th more climatic ones where the keyboards are the main ingredient. This is really obscure music with some experimental shades which I think would appeal to any lover of blakc metal with an open mind.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: astraldemise@hotmail.com

BASILISK - IN THE ROOM OF LIGHTS (Independent, 1997)
	Produced By: Basilisk
	Tracks: 1- Excellent Nothing, 2- Blindensee, 3- Worte des Lorns, 4- In the Room of Lights, 5- Desperation, 6- Und Auch der Himmel Brennt
Cover Art by Basilisk	Recorded at S.W Tonstudio
This is quite an old release from this german band but since we have received also their newer music we have decided to review both albums here. Basilisk´s music is extremely climatic taking elements from bands like early Tiamat or early Anathema and putting it together with their own sound whose combination of heavy guitars and orchestrating keyboards are the essence of Basilisk´s music. The music here is full of atmospheres with an emphasis in the dark side of the music specter. The track "Worte des Lorns " is for my taste the hit of this album with a catchy guitar riff combined wityh extreme vocals. And the combination of the rhythms with melodies and the extreme vocals is the essence of Basilisk´s music and that is extremely evident here on this album with six really well developed songs that are powerful and haunting at the same time. The lyrics in the tracks in german add a differrent feeling that sounds good when sung in the heaviest parts. A really good work.
Favorite tracks: "Worte des Lorns", "In the Room of Lights" and "Desperation"	Contact: www.basilisk.de

BASILISK - ...BETWEEN LIGHT AND SHADOW (Independent, 2001)
	Produced By: Basilisk and Fred Rapp
	Tracks: 1- Dämmerung, 2- Leaving Sun, 3- Vampire, 4- Sense of Words, 5- Dark Side of the Moon, 6- New Harmony, 7- Dorothea, 8- Fantasy
Cover Art by Rudy	Recorded at Rappiat Mobile Studios
This is Basilisk´s latest recording and sure it is a really good one ! Starting with the crushing yet climatic "Dámmerung" the band shows how much they have evolved since their previous "In the Room of Lights". The compositions are better developed and the sound is much much better, specially on the guitars that sound more powerful and heavier. The compositions here have that extremely dark feeling that Basilisk´s music has and here are very important the keyboards that deliver dark chord progressions over the heavy guitar riffs that sound sometimes pure metal, sometimes thrash metal, sometimes more deathly. The band uses mid paced rhythms and sometimes slower ones to develope the atmospheres that they want to transmit to the listener. The most extreme side are the vocals thata re really growling iun a doom metal way and sometimes combined with epic lines. The guitars deliver also interesting melodies and arrangements that fill each space that must be filled in order to make this music really unique. This is a must have.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.basilisk.de

BENEATH - TIME HYSTERIA (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Beneath
	Tracks: 1- Tides of Time, 2- Entrapment, 3- Reasons Undefined, 4- Time Hysteria
Cover Art by Zdzislaw Beksinski	Recorded at Studio Eight
This is technical melodic heavy/thrash with some elements of death metal in some arrangements. And surely the band has done a really good work here, specially the guitars that deliver original riffs making each of the tracks really memorable. The vocals have a lot of variations here going from sort of an eighties thrash style full of power and anger to full death metal screams within the same composition. There are also some guttural screams here and there. But the main thing here is the combination between th crushing guitars and the solid rhythm section which is the essence of the band. The band surely knows how to combine aggression with more atmospheric moments and that becomes evident while listening to each of the compositions on this CD. There is some use of acoustic guitars but the trademark here are the heavy and constantly changing guitars that define Beneath´s sound. This is a totally recommendable album.
Favorite tracks: The four.	Contact: http://welcome.to/beneath

BESESSEN - SCHLACHTHOF (Twilight- Vertrieb, 2003)
	Produced By: Besessen
	Tracks: 1- Kannibalischer Selbstmord, 2- Der Schlachthof ist kein Spielplatz, 3- Der Schwarze Schaft, 4- Fellfresse, 5- Deformiert, 6-Mordende Opfer, 7- Blinde Suche, 8- Ferfall, 9- Brecher
Cover Art by Hartworks	Recorded at Rosenquarz Tonstudio
Thius is an album of pure brutality. Yes, the main thing here besides the good quality of the music is that every little piece of music here has been designed in order to smash your brain. Here there are a lot of huge guitar riffs played with a really huge sound that klobotomy your brain with their heaviness. There is a lot of fast drumming but the good thing is that this guys combine the fastest parts with a lot of technique that allows the drummer to create great passages with his double drumming, with the ride cymbal and with the toms making things even more intereting rhythmically speaking. The band is tight as hell, and you have to check the guitar work combined with the bass to feel how they pound your soul track after track.The track "Der Schlachthof..." has a lot of old german thrash influences and is sort of a mix between Sodom and brutal death metal. And I think that adds a lot to the music because it gives a lot of identity to Besessen´s music and gives variation to the feelings in each of the compositions. This is pure brutal death with some thrash influences that are the essence of this bestial band.
Favorite tracks: "Kannibalischer Selbstmord", "Deformiert" and "Mordende Opfer"	Contact: www.band-besessen.de

BLACKLOUD - 6^TH 6^TH 6^TH (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Jimbo Burton
	Tracks: 1- Future Shock, 2- Circular, 3- Artificial light, 4- Lucid, 5- Dusting, 6- Formation, 7- Scrubble Dubbed, 8- Derangement, 9- Black Ball, 10- Guns, 11- Tanker, 12- War Chief
Cover Art by Jimbo Burton
Jimbo Burton is the main brain behind this amazing band / project. The music is completely centered around the bass guitar and Jimbo has been capable of developing twelve interesting compositions that always surprise with the many ideas that he shows. Here we have a distorted bass in some tracks and in others a bass that is cleaner (or, as in "Circular", a bass with a lot of flanger), and that is the centre of the compositions along with Kimbo´s vocals that are really weird. The compositions here are really original and there is a lot of boundaries breaking through this album because Jimbo has no limits in his creative mind and you can see it here with the many different rhythms that he makes and also in the way he programmes the drums, sounding really mechanical at times, and more fluent in other places. This is pure experimentation from this unconventional musician from whom we would like to listen even more music.
Favorite tracks: "Tanker", "Black Ball" and "Lucid"	Contact: www.blackloud.com

BONE CRUSHING ANNIHILATION - BONE CRUSHING ANNIHILATION (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Bone Crushing Annihilation
	Tracks: 1- Hatred, 2- The Rage, 3- It´s Time to Riot, 4- Truth to Reality, 5- Homicidal Suicide, 6- Bring it enemy (Time for revenge), 7- Live to Die, 8- Fuck Off, 9- Slash, kill, repeat..., 10- Losing My Mind, 11- Non-Existent
Cover Art by Bone Crushing Annihilation
An eerie bass passage opens up "Hatred" the first track of this brain smashing recording. And every note, every riff, every beat here is conceived in order to crush the listener with its brutality. The name of the band is really appropriate: Bone Crushing Annihilation. And that is what they do from beginning to end here: they crush your whole fucking body with their aggression. The guitar riffs are really low tuned and they are like a wall of sound smashing over your head. The rhythms are fast but there is no abuse of speed here preferring to concentrate in more rhythmic and heavy parts. And there is originality in the guitar riffs, in the sense that they are not a bunch of fast notes thrown together but they are really well developed. The vocals are really guttural as this style of music demands and there are alos other screaming voices more in the grindcore vein. The sound is muddy and I think that a better mix could give even more direct in your face sound to the music of this devastating band. This is what I call music designed to smash your skull into pieces.
Favorite tracks: "Hatred", "Homicidal Suicide" and "Live to Die"	Contact: http://B-C-A.tripod.com

BOTTOM - FEELS SO GOOD WHEN YOU´RE GONE (Man´s Ruin Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Bottom and Billy Anderson
	Tracks: 1- Hell.of.a.life, 2- Forever Gone, 3- X on Yr hed, 4- Love Song 2 no 1, 5- Got Meth, 6- Deathspin, 7- Meatbuzz, 8- Tower:xvi; 9- Angermeistar
Recorded at Sharkbite Studio
If I were a recording label I would sure try to sign this band. Why? Because they have everything to be a top name in the heavy rock/metal scene. They have the crushing riffs with an interesting rhythmic quality and they have good melodies that stick into your mind in the first listening. Plus they have a really versatile singer who knows how to fit the mood of the music perfectly. And they have some seventies influences really well disguised into their own sound. Each of the tracjks here is memorable and you can follow the cleverly constructed choruses that have great hooks. The sound of the band is good with that seventies feeling that I said before in the guitars but with a more modern sound in them that makes them heavier. A band destined to be in the top.
Favorite tracks: "Hell.of.a.life", "Deathspin" and "Got Meth"	Contact: www.mansruin.com or www.bottommusic.com

BUGEN HAGEN - EXPULSION (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Bugen Hagen
	Tracks: 1- It Shall Never Be Done, 2- No Breeding Ground, 3- These things must be ripped in the bad, 4- Horror Channel, 5- Selfish Nation
Cover Art by Bugen Hagen	Recorded at Soundlodge Studios
Devastating from the first riff, this band that plays what can be called modern death/thrash metal blasts you with "It Shall Never Be Done", a track with plenty of crushing guitar riffs and with interesting drumming that includes several double bass passages and original patterns that emphasize the heaviness of the music here. The guitars combine fast riffs with more rhythmic ones that are the essence of BugenHagen´s music. There are really extreme vocals that fit perfectly the music of the band and that create their own feeling. And it is like the music here has an eighties feeling but played with a much more modern sound that makes the tracks more crushing. There are a lot of technical skills here because there are multiple changes in tempo and some breaks that have to have good musicianship in order to be played correctly. A Really good band coming directly from Moormerland, Germany.
Favorite tracks: "It Shall Never Be Done", "Horror Channel" and "Selfish Nation"	Contact: www.bugenhagen.de.vu

CALAMUS - A FEW LINES IN MIND (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Markus Ball
	Tracks: 1- Who´s Gonna Lie to Me, 2- All Fear, 3- Devil´s Run, 4- Heal All Pain Video
Cover Art by Calamus
Acoustic guitars open this album before a calm climatic voice starts delivering the lyrics. Then the heavy guitars enter creating a heavy basis for the song. Then the singer changes moods and starts adding more power to fit the rest of the band. And that is what Calamus is about: pure energy unleashed but with a subtle side that shows the listener multiple feelings contained on the band[s compositions. The three tracks on this MCD are memorable and have that sort of seventies feeling which is a trademark of the band. The songs leave you wanting more from this band whose goal is creating good memorable songs …and surely they have achieved it
Favorite tracks: the three	Contact: www.calamusic.de

CALAMUS - THESE DAYS (Cargo Records, 2003)
	Produced By: Markus Ball
	Tracks: 1- Heal All Pain, 2- Golden Dreams, 3- These Days, 4- Devil, 5- In Between, 6- Your Highway, 7- The Blind Man, 8- On the Run, 9- Shitkicker, 10- Hold Me, 11- Still Holding On, 12- Under My Thumb
	Recorded at Decadance Studio
This is pure rocking music with a mix of new music and seventies influences. With a really versatile singer that knows how to give the exact feeling to the music that the band is playing, Calamus is an experience of rhythmic guitar riffs with some stoner rock sounds and also with some alternative influences on them. But the guitars sound heavier than in most of the bands of the style. Here we have twelve tracks (eleven plus a cover of "Under my Thumb") that have memorable melodies and choruses that will surely stick in your brain really soon. The recording has the sound that it has to: fuzzy guitars with distortion and drumming with a lot of ride cymbal and interesting hihat work. Lovers of rocking music with a lot of energy will surely like Calamus.
Favorite tracks: "The Blind Man", "Devil" and "These Days"	Contact: www.calamusic.de or www.cargo-records.de

CALVARIUM - THE SKULL OF GOLGOTHA (Dynamic Arts Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Calvarium
	Tracks: 1- Three Nails and the Hammer of Satan, 2- Horns of Hate, 3- Jumalviha, 4- Death Worship, 5- Siunatum Surma, 6- Morbid Hordes Revenge, 7- Herramme on Saapuva, 8- Dedication in Misanthropy, 9- Suicide Manifesto
Cover Art by Calvarium
Calvarium is a fucking finnish black metal machine and they show it here through this nine unholy tracks full of blast beats and fast riffs and also with some darker than hell melodies that give a different feeling to the music here. The combination of the rawest parts with this melodies played at a fast pace is a trademark of Calvarium´s music. Screaming extreme vocals are what you will find on this album and they fit perfectly this blackest of all musics. The sound is raw but really well mixed making each instrument sound compact and precise even in the fastest parts (here the merit is also of the band that is realy tight). There are some thrash elements here too and this combination of this parts and the fastest black metal ones is essential here too when combined with the more epic and melodic parts to create Calvarium´s identity. Black metal for unholy souls !!!!
Favorite tracks: "Horns of Hate", "Morbid Hordes revenge" and "Dedication in Misanthropy"	Contact: www.dynamicartsrecords.com

CEREBRAL EFFUSION - VIOLENCE IN MOTION (Unmatched Brutality Recs., 2004)
	Produced By: Angel, Xabi and Cerebral Effusion
	Tracks: 1- Bloody Ecstasy, 2- Dismembered, 3- Forthcoming Cannibalism, 4- The Inescapable Bond of..., 5- Unnatural Disturbed Flesh, 6- Homicide and Justified Medicine, 7- Violence in Motion, 8- Human Butchery, 9- Sodomized by Daddy
Cover Art by Eöl	Recorded at Tala Studios
Pure brutality. Everything here is brutal. From the gutiars that deliver incredibly fast riffs to the blast beating drums, to the heavier aprts thata re slower but much heavier even than the faster ones. Cerebral Effusion is a demolishing band full of brutality and with ultra guttural vocals. The voices are so guttural that they sound almost grindcore, almost as a low tuned instrument. There are plenty of rhythm changes and tempo changes that make the compositions really complex in many places. Plus, I have to remark the good sound that this recording has, specially on the guitars that have a huge sound and the drums that sound almostlike a machine because of its precission. Lover of brutality can have an orgasm here !
Favorite tracks: "Forthcoming...", "Violence..." and "Human Butchery"	Contact: www.unmatchedbrutality.com

CHAMBER - YOU AND WHAT ARMY (Independent, 2002)
	Produced By: Chamber and Tommy Joyner
	Tracks: 1- Dropping Like Flies, 2- Spirit Veering Black, 3-Bottom Feeder, 4- I Man God, 5- Madness, 6- 12 Pack, 7- Heavy Loads Unlimited, 8- Mad 9V, 9- Strong Like Us
Cover Art by www.rizzio.net	Recorded at MilkBoy Studios
The first track "Dropping like flies" is a brutal metal hit!! With this screamed chorus that sticks in your maind and the heavier than fuck, yet slow rhythm that is played below the composition is easily reminded after you have listened to it once and I think it is a perfect track for a live show because it sounds brutal yet controlled. And this band is like that: brutal but solid as a rock, really aggressive on every chord, on every beat on every rhythm that they play. The compositions are really well developed, specially the rhythms are the core of the music here changing from riff to riff fluently. The band knows how to be brutalwithout needing to speed up, preferring to play crushing guitar riffs that are the essence of the band. The vocals are brutal, yet clear giving and eighties extreme feeling (sort of a Venom feeling) that sounds original while spitting the lyrics along the modern sounding riffs. The guitar sound is really brutal and the mix is a really good one. Chamber is a band whose music deserves to be listened by a huge audience, specially live because they must be devastating.
Favorite tracks: "Dropping Like Flies", "Madness" and "Heavy Loads Unlimited	Contact: www.chamberarmy.com

CHILDREN OF BODOM - HATE CREW DEATHROLL (Spinefarm Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Anssi Kippo
	Tracks: 1- Needled 24/7, 2- Sixpounder, 3- Chokehold (Cocked´n´loaded), 4- Bodom Beach Terror, 5- Angels Don´t Kill, 6- Triple Corpse Hammerblow, 7- You´re better off dead, 8- Lil´Bloodred Ridin´Hood, 9- Hate Crew Deathroll, 10- Silent Scream
	Recorded at Astia Studio
Here is the latest Chilren of Bodom recording and here you can see tat the band si always exploring the path that made them famous. That is the combination of pure power metal with death metal elements and extreme vocals. That is, the band is really solid and makes memorable songs album after album, and I think that they have developed their own sound and style. Janne Warman´s keyboards are becoming increasingly essential here being, along with the technical guitars, the main element in Children of Bodom´s music orchestrating each part and adding a particular sound to the band. The tracks are complex and this guys are becoming each time better musicians in morder to play this technical parts fluently. Thisis another milestone in the path that Children of Bodom has created and that continues to explore with each new album.
Favorite tracks: "Sixpounder", "Triple Corpse..." and "You´re better off dead"	Contact: www.spinefarm.fi

CLAYMORE - RELEASED (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Claymore
	Tracks: 1- Released, 2- Dying in a Dream, 3- Master of Wishes, 4- Beast in the Crowd, 5- Me Personal War
Cover Art by Claymore
Directly from Bulgary comes this climatic band whose music can be defined as brutal yet subtle. The addition of omniprescent keyboards is essential here because they create incredible passages through all this recording. The guitars add heaviness with the riffs and also melody with some beautiful and dark lines that they deliver through all the compositions. The vocals here are really guttural and contrast heavily with the melodic work that the band does through the five tracks contained on this CD. I would like to call Claymore´s style "orchestrated death metal" because of the incredible arrangements that fit really well even in the most brutal parts and because of the good technical skills that the abnd has in order to develope really well the compositions. The sound of the recording is extremely raw, specially on the drums adding a different feeling to the band´s music. I would like the band to mix much louder the guitars to make sort of a wall of guitar riffing in order to fit better with the keyboards. This is with no doubt a band with incredible compositions that will be liked by any lover of dark music and also for lovers of really good musicianship .
Favorite tracks: "Released", "Master of Wishes" and "Beast in the Crowd"	Contact: claymore_band@yahoo.com

COERCION - LIFEWORK (Animate Records, 2003)
	Produced By: Coercion
	Tracks: 1- Man vs Man, 2- Push and Hold, 3- Consumed, 4- Four Walls, 5- Passive Tool
Cover Art by Nyman	Recorded at Studio Lowpoint
Pure brutality from the first second to the last !!!! this recording was conceived to melt your brain through the five tracks that it contains. Here we have extremely heavy guitar riffs that are at the same time fast and really aggressive and that sometimes turn into more rhythmic ones that are the heaviest on earth. We have a really solid drummer who emphasizes each of the rhythms played here with his open drumming full of patterns done with the ride cymbal, full of breaks and full of really fast drumming. The vocals here are really extreme being guttural but clearer enough for you to follow the lyrics. The recording has a raw sound, specially on drums and that adds a wild feeling to the music here. The songs are well developed and sound like a Panzer Division over your fucking head. This utter brutality in almost seventeen minutes of crushing music !!
Favorite tracks: The five	Contact: www.coercion.tk or www.animate-records.com

CONCEPT - PRIMAL ORIGINS (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Archibald
	Tracks: 1- Earth Consumed, 2- Ruins of One, 3- Biogenus (Sepsis), 4- In Shadows Dwell
Cover Art by Tomos Brangwyn and Archibald	Recorded at Cybershrine Studios
Man, this really extreme and creative at the same time. The music, and specially the vocals are really extreme sometimes screaming at the top of the lungs and sometimes extremely guttural. The music here has a really mechanical feeling that combined with the heavy guitars and the orchestarting keyboards gives the Concept trademark. The programmed drums are sometimes fast doing blast beats and sometimes more rhythmical, more in the industrial vein (specially when combined with the ultra distirted guitars). And the guitars create from smashing riffs to interesting arrangements, adding eerie melodies in some places giving a complete idea of a futuristic and desolated world. The sound is good with that industrial feeling thta I mentioned before, due to the combination of programmed drums and really distorted guitars. There is experimentation here but everything si done with a lot of coherence. A smashing cybernetic album.
Favorite tracks: The five	Contact: www.conceptshrine.com

CRADLE OF FILTH - DAMNATION AND A DAY (Sony Music, 2003)
	Produced By: Cradle of Filth
	Tracks: 1- The Promise of Fever, 2- Hurt and Virtue, 3- AnEnemy Led the Tempest, 4- Better to Reign in Hell, 5- Serpent Tongue Pt 1, 6- Serpent Tongue Pt 2, 7- Carrion, 8- Presents from the poison hearted, 9- Doberman Pharaoh, 10- Babalon A.D., 11- Mannequin, 12- Thank God for the suffering, 13- The Smoke of her burning
Cover Art by John Coulthart	Recorded at Parkgate Studios
I never understood why people and journalists acclaimed Cradle of Filth as such a great band. I agree that "Dusk and her Embrace" was a good black metal album, but I didn´t find an element that could distinguish them from any other of the thousands of good bands of the style. Who knows? Sure the band has good songs and good orchestrations in many of them but I find that most of their material is quite similar. On this album we have more of the more rhythmic riffs that I would like the band to play more oftne in order to find their own sound. There are also the omniprescent shrieks of Dani Filth (I would like him to do something differently now, ten years after their first album). This album has a really good mix that allows each instrument to shine. This is an album recommendable for lovers of this band and also for those who have never heard their music before (there are seventeen tracks here but I only got the names of twelve of them).
Favorite tracks: "Hurt and Virtue", "Better to reign in hell" and "Carrion"	Contact: www.cradleoffilth.com

CRUSHING CASPARS - FULL FLAVOUR (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Crushing Caspars
	Tracks: 1- Good Morning, 2- Caspars Attack, 3- All For Me, 4- Provocation, 5- Bloodshot Eyes, 6- Your Mind, 7- Palefaces, 8- P.R.Asshole, 9- Circle, 10- Doglike, 11- Gravity, 12- Company, 13- Isolated, 14- Phoney, 15- Remember, 16- Time to Go
	Recorded at Blue Hospital Studios
Fucking powerful music, mix of metal, hardcore and punk. Sort of a Motorhead but with more power than their latest albums (this guys have "the eye of the tiger"!!). The songs here are short and effective being really well constructed and designed for the mosh pit. The guitars sound huge and they play really straight in your face riffs while the vocals spit with anger the lyrics.. sort of a more variated Biohazard in some of the tracks. The voices are killer with lots of choruses and interesting harmonies in someparts and with brutality in others. The rhythm sectio is solid as a rock and really direct. One remarkable thing on this album is the really good and in your face sound that the guitars and the drums have making each track really powerful as they deserve.
Favorite tracks: "Caspars Attack", "Palefaces" and "Doglike"	Contact:

CRYPTIC WARNING - INTERNALLY REVILED (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Cryptic Warning
	Tracks: 1- From Cathalyst to Catharsis, 2- Chainsaw Sacrifice Ritual, 3- Internally Reviled
Cover Art by Evan Duplessis	Recorded at Second Story Studios
This is a brutal trio coming directly from Boston, Massachussets and the style that they played can be defined as a mix of modern thrash wkith some death metal elements. Their music is technical and this guys have the essntial skills that are needed to make all the compositions sound tight and solid. There are interesting guitar solos here that when combined with the riffs develope interesting compositions that are devastating yet have a lot of quality. I have to remark that this album sounds raw and powerful, almost like played live (when the guitar does the solos the bakground consists in the bass and drums so you can have a good idea of how this band sounds in a live concert). There are some eighties thrash influences here in the multiple tempo and patterns changes whioch I liked a lot and this is the essence of Cryptic Warning: the multiple riffs and breaks and the technical changes. The vocals are clear and brutal, occassionally throwing a guttural part into the music. This is a really powerful trio whose music is at the same time brutal and imaginative.
Favorite tracks: the three	Contact: www.crypticwarning.com

CRYPTIC WARNING - LIVE ON WERS (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Cryptic Warning
	Tracks: 1- Set 1: From Catalyst to Catharsis -Rite of Initiation - Snakestrike, 2- Set 2: Charred Earth - Caught Beneath Conscience - Chainsaw Sacrifice Ritual
Cover Art by Cryptic Warning	Recorded at
Here we have the opportunity to listen how this brutal band sounds in a live environment. Here you can feel the groove that this band delivers on each of the tracks here while changing from brutal to powerful and then back to brutal again. Their mix of brutal and death metal reaches its climax in tracks like "From Catalyst to Catharsis". The sound here is a little bit muddy and a better mix could have made this even more powerful. Each of the compositions here sounds full of power and there are no overdubs here. This is exactly how the band sounds live (you can listen that only the rhythm section remains while the guitars is doing some nice solos. The vocals sound even more brutal when played live than in the studio recording. There are also here some of the Cryptioc Warning´s trademarks such as some technical breaks done by this great drummer. A good display of violent and interesting music.
Favorite tracks: "From Catalyst...", "Chainsaw..." and "Charred Earth"	Contact: www.crypticwarning.com

DAATH - FUTILITY (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Eyal Levi
	Tracks: 1- The One, 2- Placenta, 3- Filter, 4- Child Says, 5- Infestation, 6- Concentrate Living, 7- Blender for the Baby, 8- Slow, 9- Just for a Second, 10- Crystasis
Cover Art by Michael Kameron	Recorded at Hairy Breakfast Prods.
A curious intro opens up this album with acoustic guitars that give such as an oriental feeling before getting directly into "Placenta" a track with weird fast riffs (really crushing ones) and extreme vocals that spit the vocals in a completely different way than would do any other. It is excellent the idea of combining this crushing guitar riffs with oparts with clean guitars that deliver interesting melodic passages on each track. Plus there are synths creating orchestration, arrangements and adding some electronic elements to Daath´s music. All the compositions here have multiple changes within them showing the imagination and inspiration of this guys that goes beyond what you could have heard before. Besides, the album has a really good mix that makes clear each of the arrangements, each of the phrases that they deliver through all the album. One of the albums of the month.
Favorite tracks: The whole album	Contact: www.daathmusic.com

DARK DISCIPLE - UNHOLY HATE GORE (Morbid Records, 2004)
	Produced By: Dark Disciple
	Tracks: 1- Jesus Loves You, 2- Serving the Priest, 3- Annihilation of the living, 4- A thousand corpses, 5- Vile Infection, 6- Reign of Terror, 7- 666 Stab Wounds, 8- Human Killing Machine, 9- Welcome to Purgatory, 10- Unholy Hate Gore

Favorite tracks: "Vile Infection", "Human Killing Machine" and "Serving the Priest"	Contact: www.morbidrecords.de or www.darkdisciple.com

DEAD REMAINS -DEATHLESS TORTURE (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Dead Remains
	Tracks: 1- Slimy Sins, 2- Deathless Torture, 3- Misanthropic Paradise, 4- Reptile, 5- To Love a Dying Victim, 6- Lycantroph, 7- Da Vinci, 8- Zodiac
Cover Art by Dead Remains
This is a really brutal album and you have to know it just by watching the cover art. And when you listen the first riff you will certify that Dead Remains is a really extreme abnd full of deadly ideas and with rotting compositions that will blast you with just one listening. Here you have plenty of double bass drumming, many fast rhythms (the rhythm section sounds really tight and solid) and also you have devastating guitar riffs played with an extremely fat sound that acts like a wall of sound when you turn up the volume. The vocals here are really in the death metal way: that is guttural and screamed, acting almost like another instrumenbt to spit the brutality directly in your face. The sound of the album is not really good and I think that a better mix could give even more brutality to this amazing band. Plus the cover of Macabre´s "Zodiac" adds the final touch to this bestial album full of death metal aggression changing the feeling but keeping it extremely brutal.
Favorite tracks: "Deathless Torture", "Misanthropic Paradise" and "Lycantroph"	Contact: www.deadremains.de

DEATHCHAIN - DEADMEAT DISCIPLES (Dynamic Arts Records, 2004)
	Produced By: Deathchain
	Tracks: 1- Chaos Wartech, 2- Rabid Vultures, 3- Poltergeist (The Nemesis), 4- March of the Thousand Legions, 5- Carnal Immage, 6- Undertaker, 7- Skeletal Claws, 8- Carrier of Pestilence, 9- Deadmeat Disciples

Pure utter brutality is what this killer band delivers from begining to end here. Full speed is one of the ingredients here and crushing guitar riffs is other. Here we have brutal vocals with different sounds (one more guttural, the other more of the screaming type) thata re cleverly combined in order to achieve the most brutal result possible. I have to remark the excellent sound that this recording has making each note, each beat shine with utter bestiality. Everything here is designed to devastate the listener and I have to say that this guys have succeeded at it. Pure bestiality
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.dynamicartsrecords.com

DEATHFROST - DART OF SETH (Independent, 2004)
	Produced By: Deathfrost
	Tracks: 1- Venite Belzebuth, 2- Killed In Action, 3- Herd of Pigs Possessed by Demons, 4- Idle Brain, 5- Dart of Seth , 6- Rubber Gloves, 7- CAMONOBEWEHNE, 8- I Love the Dead, 9- Idle Track (early version)
Cover Art by Deathfrost
We reviewed Deathfrost´s previous labum some issues back and here we have their new recording. As always, their music is powerful and raw with really extreme vocals (they are always distorted adding a really extreme feeling to each of the compositions. Here we have a combination between ultra fast tracks like "Venite Belzebuth" and others that are really climatic and kind of slower such as "Killed in Action". Deathfrost´s trademark is teh combination of the wildest moments with more climatic ones and here we can listen to many lof this changes in mood. The music is experimental and original, specially the guitars that deliver many interesting riffs that are the core of the music here. The sound of the recording is extremely raw and that is the way the band likes to sound in order to be more extreme. This is pure bestiality with interesting original elements.
Favorite tracks: "Killed in Action", "Dart of Seth" and "Idle Brain"	Contact: http://nav.to/deathfrost

DEGRADE - FEASTING ON BLOODY CHUNKS (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Degrade
	Tracks: 1- Blunt Needle Lobotomy, 2- Degraded into Worms, 3- Proud to Kill, 4- Feasting on Bloody Chunks
	Recorded at Studio Mätverket
Directly from Sweden comes the technical brutality of Degrade’s utter bestial death metal. With one of the most guttural vocals that you can find in the underground Degrade has managed here to blast your brain into a fucking liquid solution through four tracks full of brutal riffs and incredibly fast drumming and brutal vocals. The sound is raw and direct and gives the energy that the guitar riffs and the faster than the speed of light drumming deserves. One of the main ingredients here are the ultra guttural vocals that spit the blasphemic lyrics that this album has. This guys are devastating from beginning to end and they will not rest until they have turn you into dust .This is extreme aggression at its most brutal level.
Favorite tracks: the four	Contact: www.degrade.tk

DEMENTAL - TALES OF ALIENATION (Independent, 2004)
	Produced By: Demental
	Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- At the Gate of War, 3- Creatures Indesirables, 5- Cirrus, 6- Virtual N.D.E., 7- Possession Bestial, 8- The Lost Legion, 9- Experimentation Temporelle, 10- Visionary Man
Cover Art by Melanie Simard
After a climatic opening with the intro, clean guitars enter and are later combined with heavier ones in order to show the destructive music of Demental. The music here is fast with some melodic elements that for me are the essence of Demental´s music (and sets them apart from all the other bands in this brutal style). There are death metal vocals here sometimes more guttural (almost grindcore in many parts) and sometimes of the more screaming type spitting the vocals and adding a really extreme feeling to themusic. One of the main tings here are the multiple rhythm breaks and changes (as you can listen in "At the Gate of War" where the band goes from slow to fast and then go into a break and then into an almost grind part . there is a lot of rehearsal here and that is evident in the perfect way that this tracks are played even in really difficult parts. This is brutality done with good musicianship and original ideas that are taken to the extreme and developed in order to always surprise.
Favorite tracks: "Possession Bestial", "Cirrus" and "The Lost Legion"	Contact: www.demental.com

DEMON REALM - A LEGEND OF POWER (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Demon Realm
	Tracks: 1- Spheres of Conquest, 2- Assuming the Form, 3- Pandaemonium Incarnate, 4- I Am Hate, 5- Flow Through the Black Stars, 6- For the Sin of Ages, 7- Thy Altar of Darkness, 8- Burning Hate, 9- The Coming, 10-Darkness Is, 11-We Take the throne, 12- The Path, 13-
Cover Art by Demon Realm
A dark epic intro opens this album with some ignote melody combineed with some drums. After a minute or so enters this ultra aggressive and extreme black metal band spitting their curses at full speed with their chainsaw like guitars and their ultra fast riffing. Here there is full speed guaranteed and also realy anguished vocals. There are blast beats in many places and you can feel the blasphemy that this ultraaggressive band delivers on each of the thirteen tracks contained on this album. Nothing can save you from the stampede that this band creates on each track: the guitars burn your soul with the fast riffs and the screams finish the work reducing your brain to dark ashes. The sound is extremely raw and I think that the vocals are a little bit up in the mix (or the guitars should be louder). This is pure unholy black metal with some interesting thrash passages and a really raw and direct sound.
Favorite tracks: "Pandaemonium Incarnate", "Burning Hate" and "For the Sin of Ages"	Contact:

DIS - FORCES OF GREED (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Dis
	Tracks: 1- Forces of Greed, 2- Overload, 3- Disillusion, 4- Remembrance, 5- Point of No Return
Cover Art by Linda Dielemans	Recorded at Studio Brooklyn
What an amazing band !!! This band has succesfully mixed really technical death metal (the vocies are death metal but the music goes well beyond this style) with electric and acoustic violins and with many interesting melodies. It is amazing to listen the violins creating melodies and arrangements full of beauty in a context of aggression as the one this band delivers. Plus this band has a lot of technique in their playing and you can see how good musicians they are through the five tracks. In the track "Remembrance" there are guest female by Sehna Peelen which I find really heartful plenty of feelings and that fits perfectly the music of the band. This album is really a must have to see how well interesting arrangements can be combined with heaviness and how a band can deliver five tracks with clever harmonies and great technical skills. A must.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.disbrotherhood.nl

DODECAMERON - KALIKANTZARO´S WRATH (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Dodecameron
	Tracks: 1- The Sign of the Dodecameron (intro), 2- The wrath of Kalikantzaro´s Disciples, 3-The arrival of evil essence over ancient fields, 4- The twelve eves of darkness (the Dodecameron), 5- Might and Honor (Declaration of War), 6- The Beginning of the long and Dark Way (outro)

Sounds of storms and an eerie keyboards intro with haunting melodies and orchestration leads us directly into the mayhemic world of Dodecameron. Here you will find pure black metal full of hatred and with the extreme dark feeling that this kind of music must have. The band surely knows how to go fast as many parts here have incredibly fast riffs and hyper fast drumming. But I think that here the essential instrument are the keyboards that orchestrate all the compositions and that add the darkest of feelings to the music here. The main influence here are the norwegian black metal scene bands but this guys have their identity as they deliver interesting tempo changes and breaks before getting into full speed again. The vocals are really extreme and the sound here is raw yet clear enough to make the guitars powerful and to be fully audible. A good thing is that the drums are mixed loud enough to give the music that powerful punch that this kind of drumming gives. This is pure black metal for lovers of the darkest side of metal !!
Favorite tracks: "The wrath...", "The arrival..:" and "Might and Honor"	Contact: www.dodecameron.netfirms.com

DRASTIQUE - PLEASURELIGION (Beyond Prods, 2003)
	Produced By: Chris Buchman
	Tracks: 1- Senses, 2- The Succubus, 3- Legacy of Fascination, 4- Perfect Nothing, 5- Maria Magdalena, 6- Immortal Beloved, 7- Voyage Dans la Femme
Cover Art by Jan Saudek	Recorded at Unearthly Studios
This is with no doubt one of the recordings of the year. Yes, the quality of each of the compositions of this album is overwhelming. Every musical piece here is clkeverly orchestrated and at the same time here we have heavy guitars that add a lot of power to the music. This guitars are almost death metal ones and at the same time there are multiple double bass drumming parts. One of the main things here is the excellent vocal work with male and female vocals (Fay has a really beautiful yet dark voice that gives a lot fo feeling to the music). There is plenty of orchestrations and melodic arrangements here that contrast heavily with the heavier (where there are some interesting extreme voices). There are two elements thata re essential here besides those already described: 1- the keyboards that orchestrate each of the compositiones, 2- The dark feeling that all this album has and that shows us the esence of Drastique´s music. A masterpiece.
Favorite tracks: all the CD	Contact: www.drastique.com or www.beyondprod.com

DRUNK MOTHER FUCKERS - FUCK YOU (Very Different Recordings, 2003)
	Produced By: Very Different Recordings
	Tracks: 1- My Friend?, 2- I´ve Lost, 3- Black Skies, 4- Designated Loser, 5- Fuck the Job, 6- Big Daddy, 7- Little Preppy World, 8- Hittin´the Bottle, 9- Broken Down Old Dog, 10- Paper Wings, 11- No Labels, 12- August Blue, 13- Designated Loser (reprise)
Cover Art by	Recorded at - I´ve Lost,
This band is pure heavy rock with a big influence from seventies band, specially in the sound of the guitars and in the song structures. This band has created here thirteen memorable songs full of catchy riffs and full of guitar solos that reminded me a little bit of Ted Nugent. The songs are really well developed with some of them being heavier like "I´ve Lost", with many guitar arrangements and multiple ideas but with a lot of coherence that can make you sing the choruses along with the band. As I said before, the sound is really seventies and the recording and mix has been done in that way, keeping the seventies spirit of the music....and I really liked that. This is a sorely missed style of bands and I think they give a lot of fresh air to the rcking scene.
Favorite tracks: "Black Skies", "Hittin the Bottle" and "NO Labels"	Contact: www.verydifferentrecordings.com

DUNKELGRAFEN - ORIS DIABOLIS (Miriquidi Prods., 2003)
	Produced By: Dunkelgrafen
	Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Eldorado (der Sinsternis), 3- Throne of the Old Gods, 4- Mythos Vlad Tepes Dracul, 5- Black Demon, Shaitan´s Warrior, 6- Beltane, 7- Oris Diabolis, 8- Portrait of an Antichrist, 9- Whore Babylon, 10- Outro
	Recorded at Black Flame Studio
Dunkelgrafen delivers here eight tracks, an intro and an outro of pure climatic black metal. Despite the raw nature of Dunkelgrafen´s riffs and the extreme vocals, the band manages to create interesting dark passages through all this recording. And that is the nature of the band: using riffs that are not ultra fast, they create atmospheres that transport you directly into the deepest of hells. There are harmonized riffs such as the one at 2:35 of "Eldorado" which I found origianl and cleverly played in this black metal context. There is some old school influence here and there but everything here is done in order to give a feeling of sorrow and darkness. There are also clean guitars in the middle of some of the compositions adding even more to taht feeling. The sound is good yet raw, specially on the guitars. Pure black metal with strong emphasis in the dark arrangements.
Favorite tracks: "Eldorado", "Mythos Vlad..." and "Portrait of an Antichrist"	Contact: www.dunkelgrafen-band.de.vu or www.miriquidi-productions.com

DYING PASSION - VOYAGE (PROMO) (Metal Breath Prods., 2003)
	Produced By: Dying Passion
	Tracks: 1- On the Road, 2- Microcosmos, 3- Pilgrimage
Cover Art by Dying Passion
Full of climatic parts and aggressive passages the music of Dying Passion is a challenge to the senses because of the multiple arrangements and atmospheres that it has. Each of the different harmonizations done with keyboards, guitars or violins is cleverly used here in order to make the listener open his mind to this climatic music. Combining heavy guitar riffs that add a lot of power with climatic female vocals (this woman that sings in "Microcosmos" is amazing, full of feeling). On this promo I have three tracks of púre amazing musicianship and each of this three tracks is a masterpiece. If I do an extrapolation I have to say that Dying Passion is one of the best bands that I have ever listened to, full of melancholy and power. An extraordinary band and release.
Favorite tracks: the three. A masterpiece	Contact: www.volny.cz/metalbreath

ECLIPTICA - THE LEGEND OF KING ARTUS (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Ecliptica
	Tracks: 1- Introduction, 2- In the Name of England, 3- Artus and Excalibur, 4- Wizard of the King, 5- Guinevere, 6- Camelot, 7- Into the depths of darkness, 8- Morgana Le Fay, 9- Warrior of Death, 10- Intimate of the king, 11- The queens confession, 12- the holy grail, 13- Prepare for war, 14- Return of the dragon, 15-the end, 16- Avalon (my spirit never dies)
	Recorded at The Factory Studios
As you may have suspected this is a conceptual album telling us the tale of king Artus from England and of Excalibur his powerful sword. The music here is pure heavy metal with eopic melodies that are the essence of Ecliptica´s music. Markus Winkler is the main brain behind the music here and he has done a good job. He plays the guitars here and he also programmed the drums that sound quite odd but effective. The other members of teh band are Alfred Gollubich on bass and many talented vocalists, both male and female (each one is associated with one charachter of the story), that give different feelings to the music. The songs are really well developed and are really interconnected with a lot of coherence in order to give form to a unique piece. The sound of the recording is a little bit muddy and I think that mixing guitars louder could be a good idea in order to make them shine. Maybe with a better sound the band could sound more powerful. A good piece of pure metal with good ideas and incredible melodies.
Favorite tracks: "IN teh name of England", "Warrior of Death" and "Return of the Dragon"	Contact: www.ecliptica.at.tt

EDENBRIDGE - APHELION (Massacre Records, 2003)
	Produced By: Lanvall
	Tracks: 1- The Undiscovered Land, 2- Skyward, 3- The final curtain, 4- Perennial dreams, 5- Fly at Higher Game, 6- As Far as eyes can see, 7- The whispering gallery, 8- Deadend Fire, 9- Farpoint Anywhere, 10- Where Silence has lease, 11- Red Ball in Blue Sky
	Recorded at House of Audio Studios
Here is the newest work by this power progressive metal band. And this album is really close to the previous "Ahrcana" but it has for my taste a better sound. The songs are really well crafted as always with that power metal rhythms and the multiple arrangements that give that sort of progressive feeling to the band. And as always we have the enchanting voice of Sabine Edelsbacher adding her fierce power when the song needs it and her sweetness when the composition needs more introspective parts. The guitars sound heavier than before and that is a really positive point in my view (Lanvall plays killer riffs and amazing melodic arrangements). And I have to remark the tight and extremely well rehearsed that this band is (specially the rhythm section). This is a band that really carries on developing their own way.
Favorite tracks: "Skyward", "As far...:" and "Deadend Fire	Contact: www.edenbridge.org

ELITE - KAMPEN (Paragon Recs., 2004)
	Mastered By: Thomas Bardsen
	Tracks: 1- Berserkerens Manifest, 2- Tusen år i lysets vold, 3- Brent av Lyset, 4- Kampen for vårt Norrønne rike, 5- Trollkvinnens sang, 6- Fanget i Vrede
Engineered by Ort Solbakken
This is what I call viking metal !! That is music closer to black metal but with some epic quality that makes it more magnificent than bands of this dark style. The lyrics are obviously dealing with vikings, ancient mythology and paganism. The guitars are really fast and the band is really extreme but at the same time knows how to turn into darker passags or more melancholic sections like the beginning of "Tusen år..." There is some classic metal influences in riffs such as the one in "Berserkerens Manifest" (with some Black Sabbath sounding taken to the extreme) and that adds a different feeling and contrast to the faster ones that are closer to black metal. The sound of the recording is good yet raw and the instruments are mixed really loud, so you can listen almost like ina live performance. This is extreme metal done with good musicanship and taking to the darker extreme !!
Favorite tracks: "Tusen år...", "Brent..." and "Trollkvinnens sang"	Contact: www.paragonrecords.net

ENEMY - LIFE IS A DREAM - RAW DEMO (Independent, 2004)
	Produced By: Enemy
	Tracks: 1- Lord of Darkness, 2- Consecration of Time, 3- Madman, 4- Cold Heart, 5- Scared, 6- Red Devil, 7- The Unexpected
Cover Art by Zovot	Recorded at Empire Theatre
Good catchy songs played with a lot of heaviness in the guitars are what Enemy has specialized themselves into. Yes, this songs are really heavy sounding with crushing raw guitars, with clever drumming and with good vocals that fit perfectly the mood of the compositions. There is some eighties influence of bands like Vicious Rumours here and I liked that a lot because combined with a more modern sound as this band does, the result is devastating. There are many changes in riffs and the songs change feelings in many parts before getting into the main choruses again. The sound of the recording is raw but I think this is a raw demo of teh final product (and even as raw as here the music is excellent !!!!). This is pure metal with elements from other styles and I really liked this combination. Pure metal
Favorite tracks: "Lord of Darkness" and "The Unexpected" and "Cold Heart"	Contact: www.enemy.szm.com

ERCKLENTZ / NEUMANN - OBERFLÄCHENSPANNUNG (Charhizma Recs., 2004)
	Produced By: Charhizma Recs
	Tracks: 1- Pünktlich, 2- Der Kleine Farmer, 3- Pruh, 7- Rost, 5- Oberflächenspannung
Cover Art by www.anjaweber.com	Recorded at Steim Amsterdam
This album opens up with some electronic sounds and it soon gets into full experimentation mode where Sabine Ercklentz and Andrea Neumann construct incredible structures with a myriad of sounds and noises. Ercklentz works here with trumpet and electronics and Neumann with inside piano and mixing desk (quite weird!!!). The result are five incredible spontaneous compositions where this two incredible musicians develope idea after idea witha lot of spontaneity, with improvisation, combining rhythmic qualities of the instruments that they play with sounds that are almost ambient. The music here is not easy to understand but you can not help to be fascinated with the way they have constructed this amazing musical pieces. Really spontaneous and boundaries breaking !!!
Favorite tracks: "Der Kleine Farmer", "Rost" and "Pruh"	Contact: www.charhizma.com

EVIL BARDS - THROUGH THE MASK OF SOLITUDE (Mae Prods., 2003)
	Produced By: Rig
	Tracks: 1- Child of Arrogance, 2- Black Clouds, 3- Rose fo Tears, 4- Don´t Follow My Way, 5- Cloud, 6- Introspection, 7- My Ego´s Neglect, 8- H.O.I.
Cover Art by Rhae	Recorded at Hob Studios
Starting with full energy since the first guitar riff, this band shows that they are really solid in playing their style of technical melodic death metal. Why am I saying that they play such a style? Because the band has incredibly technical riffs with some influences of pure heavy metal. At the same time they have really aggressive death metal vocals and they know also how to develop good melodies in their compositions in order to make them extremely memorable. And they use female and clean vocals too!!! The band sounds really tight and well rehearsed and that is extremely evident in the multiple arrangements that they deliver on the eight tracks that this album has. The sound of the recording is really clear and that is essential for this type of music in order to make each sound really compact and each orchestration fully audible and enjoyable to the listener. This album is a must have.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.evilbards.com

EXSECRATOR - AWAKENING OF THE ABYSS (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Exsecrator
	Tracks: 1- Christian Agony, 2- Desecrated Catacomb, 3- Devour My Soul, 4- ...And Darkness on his face, 5- Christian Agony (video)
	Recorded at Blue Train´s Studio
Brutal as hell but yet technical this badn succeeds in four tracks to blast your brain with their aggressive brutal death and at the same time to surprise with good arrangements, harmonizations and interesting rhythms and pattern changes . There are interesting two guitar harmonies in some fast riffs such as the ones in the beginning of "Christian Agony". The voicals here are of the most guttural kind that you can find anywhere (in fact they advice in the booklet that there is no vocal armonizers used here). The sound is raw but the guitars sound really huge creating devastating passages that will surprise with its aggression. The band sounds really tight and that is essential here, ijhn a kind of music that is designed to crush you. A devastating release.
Favorite tracks: "Christian Agony" and "Devour My Soul"	Contact: www.exsecrator.tk

EYEKON - TABULA RASA (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Eyekon
	Tracks: 1- Omen, 2- Tabula Rasa

Two tracks on this CD are enough to show to the listener the power of this band. And also here you can see how well the compositions are constructed in order to show the listener a good combination between powerful and climatic moments. Anders keyboards are essential in order to achieve the atmospheres that the band wants to deliver through the tracks. And the guitars add the much needed power when they are distorted and also some climatic parts when they are clean. I have to remark the role of the singer here that is to add a lot of feeling to the music through his good middle ranged voice, fiting really well the music of the rest of the band. There is virtuosism here in the keyboards solos and in the multiple changes that this progressive band has. The only problem here is that two tracks leave you wanting much more from Eyekon…and we will have to wait until they release their newer stuff. We want more !
Favorite tracks: Both	Contact: www.eyekon.nu

FIRESTORM - BACK FROM HELL (Independent, 2004)
	Produced By: Firestorm
	Tracks: 1- Resurrected, 2- Back from hell, 3- Tears of fire, 4- Heading for Tomorrow, 5- Paralyze my Fear, 6- War, 7- Understand, 8- Sunny Lane, 9- Final Contest
Cover Art by Firestorm
A short intro sends us directly into the pure metal world of this Austrian band. Full of energetic guitar riffs and memorable melodies this band knows how to develop interesting compositions whose choruses will surely stick into your mind after the first listening (jut check the title track and you will see what I am talking about). I have to remark the versatility of the singer here who is aggressive or subtle as the composition needs the vocals to be. The music has a certain eighties metal feeling which I liked a lot since it has not been used since that era and I think that this band manages it very well. There are good guitar solos that show the technical skills that the lead guitarist here has. The album has a good sound that gives extra points to this pure metal release. Lovers of classic metal will surely love this one.
Favorite tracks: "Resurrected", "Tears of Fire" and "War"	Contact: www.thefirestorm.com

FOR MY PAIN - FALLEN (Spinefarm Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: For My Pain...
	Tracks: 1- My Wound is Deeper than Yours, 2- Dancer in the Dark, 3- Queen Misery, 4- Sea of Emotions, 5- Rapture of Lust, 6- Broken Days, 7- Dear Carniwhore, 8- Bed of Dead Leaves, 9- Autumn Harmony, 10- Tomorrow is a Closed Gate (Dead for so long)
Cover Art by Travis Smith	Recorded at Tico Tico Studios
For My Pain is Nightwish´s Tuomas Holopainen side project. And I have to say that despite some similarities in some of the arrangements this band has many different elements when compared with Tuomas other band. Where things in Nightwish are bright and majestic here the arrangements show a more melancholic side. Juha Kylmänen is a really versatile vocalist and his voice adds a lot of feeling to each of the compositions here changing mood when the song needs it. There are also some female vocals completely different from the ones that Tarja Turunen could do. The guitars sound really heavy and this combined with Tuomas everorchestrating keyboards are the heart and soul of For My Pain´s music. Plus, the infinite melodies that you will find here show a path where the composition develops the main ideas. The mix of this album is really perfect, sounding quite similar to the latest Nightwish albums. Here we have another showcase of the talent of this mastermind called Tuomas Holopainen.
Favorite tracks: "Dancerin the dark", "Rapture of Lust" and "Autumn Harmony"	Contact: www.spinefarm.fi

FORTISION - FORTISION (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Fortision
	Tracks: 1- Winds of the Black Hole, 2- Forgotten Wisdom, 3- Imperial, 4- Dimension Door of the Sky, 5- Katharia, 6- Frozen Memories, 7-
	Recorded at DSP Studio
Fortision is a band whose music transports you into the darkest of worlds through their black metal riffs and arrangements. Starting with an intro and getting into "Forgotten Wisdom" the band shows that their music is extremely dark and melancholic, yet really extreme. The band has fast tempos and also mid tempos where things get more climatic. Tracks like "Imperial" are pure speed and unholy screams that will surely take you into dark forests while you listen to the music. There is a lot of brutality here but the main thing are the dark atmospheres which are omniprescent through. There is some use of clean guitars in "Katharia" that emphasizes all the darkness. Plus, there are a couple of hidden tracks here that follow the same path. Pure black metal with great dark atmospheres.
Favorite tracks: "Imperial", "Dimension..:" and "Frozen Memories"	Contact:

FROZEN SHADOWS - HANTISES (Holy Records, 2004)
	Produced By: Frozen Shadows
	Tracks: 1- As Old as Time Itself, 2- Des Siecles d´Epitaphes, 3- Battered Souls, 4- A L´Ombre du mal, 5- Through Fields of Mercilessness, 6- Darkness Enfolds, 7- Strangled by Fear, 8- Towards the Chambers of Nihil
Grim fuckin black metal from Canada !!!!!!!! This is pure raw and unholy black metal designed to crush your brain with their powerful riffs and with the fast drumming delivered here. One thing that sets Frozen Shadows appart from other bands in the style is their sound that is clearer and more powerful despite being raw as hell. One trademark of Frozen Shadows music is the use of climatic riffs that despite being really brutal they deliver darkness that is essential for the band´s music. The drumming here is fast but the drummer prefers to create interesting patterns instead of doing simple blast beats (as an example you can check the beginning of "Battered Souls"). There are certain elements of classic bands like Celtic Frost in some of the riffs and that adds a different perspective adding a more thrashy sound to the band. The vocals are really extreme and conrtast heavily with the more climatic parts. This is pure black metal done with a lot of quality and with strong emphasis in the dark feelings.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: holyrecords@wanadoo.fr

GUN BARREL - BATTLE-TESTED (Limb Music, 2003)
	Produced By: Piet Sielck
	Tracks: 1- Battle-Tested, 2- We Believe in Nothing, 3- My Last Ale, 4- Roll of the Dice, 5- Rebel Tune, 6- Lonely Rider, 7- Party in the Hall of Fame, 8- Lover Like a Gun, 9- Scream of the Killer, 10- The Raven, 11- Save my Heart from you, 12- Death Knell Dance
Cover Art by Marc Klinnert
Fucking pure heavy metal the way it must be done !!! Heavy guitars playing interesting rhythms and with catchy choruses and melodies that make each song instantly recognizable. Here we have a band that has a distinctive german flavour in their music. Startiing with the title track, a song destined to be a classic, this band has created here twelve interesting compositions that will stick in your mind with its metal fury. The vocals are sort of a mix between Running Wild´s Rock´n´Rolf with some thrashy overtones. The band is really tight and extremely well rehearsed and you can see this in the solvency of each of the songs here. The sound is really good, specially on the guitars that sound heavy with sort of an eighties feeling. Here you have the purest of metal music !!
Favorite tracks: "Battle-Tested", "Roll of the Dice" and "Scream of the Killer"	Contact: www.limb-music.de

GUSTAF HILDEBRAND - STARSAPE (Cyclic Law Recs. , 2004)
	Produced By: Gustaf Hildebrand
	Tracks: 1- Eta Carinae, 2- Dead Transmissions, 3- Journey to orion, 4- Worlds of A Distant Sun, 5- The Cygnus Loop, 6- Descending into the silent depths
	Mastered at Studio Erebus
This are pure soundscapes of atmospheric sounds and climatic phrases full of an eerie beauty. Here Gustaf Hildebrand has composed strange passages full of sounds that seem to come from another dimension or from distant planets. There is heavy use of electronics and a lot of experimentation within a context of dark sounds. The music here is ideal to listen with thelights out because it transports you soon to unknown places. Hildebrand has shown here a lot of good compositional skills and musicianship that allows him to transmit that cold distant feeling that he wanted to. This is pure experimentation with a strong emphasis in the dark atmospheres. Original and open minded release.
Favorite tracks: "Eta Carinae", "The Cygnus Loop" and "Descending..."	Contact: www.cycliclaw.com

HALFORD - CRUCIBLE (Metal Is Records / Sanctuary, 2003)
	Produced By: Rob Halford
	Tracks: 1- Park manor, 2- Crucible, 3- One Will, 4- Betrayal, 5- Handing out bullets, 6- Hearts of Darkness, 7- Crystal, 8- Heretic, 9- Golgotha, 10- Wrath of God, 11- Weaving Sorrow, 12- Sun, 13- Trail of Tears, 14- She, 15- Fugitive

In an issue where we reviewed the latest Judas Priest live album we are also reviewing the last Halford album. Cool, ah? Well, after splitting from Judas Priest and doing the short lived Pantera-like Fight project Halford decided to follow this solo career that for my taste has given better results than Fight and even than some of the post-Halford Priest albums. The album opens up with the climatic "Crucible" after a short intro. This track is more climatic than the ones that were contained on the first Halford album but this album is equally as good as that one. And as the classic Judas Priest does the tracks are heavy but at the same time has that choruses that you can easily remember and sing in a live show along with the band. There is not that much innovation here but Halford is one of those people that can do eternally solo albums without becoming a parody of himself. This is another powerful album from Priest´s mainman and now we have to expect their newer material from this long awaited reunion.
Favorite tracks: "Betrayal", "Golgotha" and "Weaving Sorrow"	Contact: www.robhalford.com or www.sanctuaryrecords.co.uk

HELL-BORN - LEGACY OF THE NEPHILIM (Conquer Records, 2004)
	Produced By: Slawek and Woitek Wislowscy and Hell-Born
	Tracks: 1- Supreme Race, 2- Devourer of Sould, 3- Brimstone Lakes of Pandemonium, 4- Lucifer, 5- Phantom Infernal, 6- The Art of Necromancy, 7- Guardians of the Daemon Gate, 8- Legacy of the Nephilim, 9- Blacklight of Leviathan
Cover Art by Andrzei Zdrojewski	Recorded at Hertz Studio
Every time this guys record something new they do it better, louder and tighter. Here we have nine tracks full of pure death metal hatred. I have to remark the excellent sound that this recording has, specially on drums and guitars that are devastating. Here we have the really guttural vocals that spit with utter brutality the blasphemic lyrics tat Hell-Born creates. There are plenty of fast riffs with incredible drumming work full of double bass breaks and every element known in order to add bestiality to the music. It is amazing the sound of this album when you turn up the volume....is like listening ten Deicide´s together. This is pure brutality from an ever growing band who can crush you with their music.
Favorite tracks: "Devourer of Souls", "Phantom Infernal" and "Legacy..."	Contact: www.conquerec.com or www.hell-born.com

HER NAME IS DEATH - LOATHSOME CHRIST (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Her Name is Death
	Tracks: 1- Loathsome Christ
Cover Art by Her Name is Death	Recorded at The House of Metal
Here we have this really weird and deppressing recording. Starting with a dark atmosphere the band then turns into a rhythmic pattern full of distorted guitars and hypnotizing drumming. The sound of this recording is extremely raw and muddy and that adds kind of a mysterious feeling to the music. It is amazing how this guys develope this long composition that is almost twenty one minutes long never falling into cliches and always changing and adding new elements to the patterns so they can make them evolve into a different one after a while. This is really experimental and there are some guitar phrases thrown into the music that make the role of a human voice (the band is completely instrumental). There is also a doom feeling in the music here and that is what gives the darker than hell feeling to the composition. A really original and impressive recording.
Favorite tracks: "Loathsome Christ"	Contact: hernameisdeath@yahoo.com

HIEMPERIUM - LE DECLIN (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Jean Christophe Lefevre
	Tracks: 1- Ma Chair Pourrie, 2- Au de la des Meandres de Mes Songes, 3- Drizz Do Urden, 4- Nosferatu, 5- Creve, 6- La Nuit
Cover Art by Davch	Recorded at Undersound Studio
This band cleverly combines climatic black metal with death metal elements and even daring to add here and there some thrash parts. On this recording we have really fast guitars in many places and in other the band delivers heavier riffs in the vein of more modern metal but with a more extreme sound. The vocals are always really extreme delivering the occult lyrics that this album has. One admirable thing here is the heavier than hell guitar sound which is essential here to blast your ears into pieces. The drumming is really good preferring to add interesting arrangements even in the fastest parts instead of merely doing blast beats. Plus there are interesting guitar arrangements that add some melancholic overtone to the compositions. The band is really tight and that is evident specially in the fastest part where instead of being mayhemic the band remains solid as a rock. One essential thing here are the keyboards arrangements that add another dimension to the sound of the music. Really climatic and aggressive music at the same time.
Favorite tracks: "Au de la des Meandres...", "Nosferatu" and "La Nuit"	Contact: www.hiemperium.fr.st

HORDE OF WORMS - THE UNCREATION (Bloodbucket Prods., 2004)
	Produced By: Horde of Worms
	Tracks: 1- Burning Horizon, 2- Diabolical, 3- Rides the Conqueror, 4- Throne of Blood, 5- Serpent´s Rise, 6- Mirror of Pain, 7- Suffering and Agony, 8- Interlude, 9- Crystallized in Sanity, 10- Solar Execration, 11- Disembodied Brutality, 12- Galactic Hammer, 13- The Uncreation
	Recorded at Silverbirch Studio
This incredibly brutal duo returns with their most devastating release up to date. Here we have everything that made this band famous: from the extremely guttural vokills to the crushing blast beats done with programmed drums. Here we have the crushing guitar riffs but this time played with a heavier sound that reflects the progress that the band has achieved through their history. The sound of the recording is really clear making the compositions sound even more brutal than in the past. Brent and Alexander´s vocals are really brutal, sopmetimes more guttural, sometimes more of the screaming type but always devastating. The inclusion of acoustic guitars in some interludes and intros, an even as some arrangements is a step forward for the band, showing that they are not afraid to experiment with new sound while still being extremely brutal. This is a totally devastating album ideal to listne at full volume !!!!
Favorite tracks: "Diabolical", "Crystallized in Sanity" and "Galactic Hammer"	Contact: www.hordeofworms.com or www.bloodbucketproductions.com

HORRESCO REFERENS - ...OF OUR SOULS (Anvil Corp., 2003)
	Produced By: Horresco Referens
	Tracks: 1- ...of..., 2- Gorgeous, 3- Sarx, 4- Purity of Sex, 5- Last Letter, 6- ...our..., 7- Where Sentiments Live, 8- Deceptes, 9- the Rain, 10- Suicide Planet, 11- ...souls
Cover Art by Rash	Recorded at The Eden Studio
What a devastating release is this one !! This is a combination of death metal, modern metal, thrash metal and pure heavy metal done with a lot of powerful and with a devastating sound and amazing musicianship. As an example, take Death, add some Slayer, then put some old Kreator stuff and add the sound of bands like the heavier Testament, then you will have a small idea of how this band sound. The guitars deliver riff after riff with no mercy constructing the structure of the songs. There is a lot of versatility in the vocals that know how to develope the exact feeling that the whole band wants to transmit. There are many interesting guitar solos done with good note placement taht are like a song within the main song showing some virtuosism too. I have to remark that this album has one of the best sounds that I have listened, extremely devastating in the heavier mometns (with a killer guitar sound and amazing drums sound) and more climatic in the slower parts where you can appreciate the arrangements done with the bass guitars and also with the killer vocals. A must for any metal lover.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.anvilcorp.net or www.horrescoreferens.com

HSSH - PROMO 2004 (Independent, 2004)
	Produced By: HssH
	Tracks: 1- Les Cornes de la Muse, 2- Nordiste ou Nazi, 3- Le regre des trublions
Cover Art by HssH
Three tracks are enough to show what the man behind HssH is capable of doing: one of the most strange recordings I have ever listened. The music here cannot be labeled black metal even if there is a dark atmosphere and trollish vocals. There is a programmed drum but while most of the bands try to disguise the electronic sound that this devices have, here this charachteristic sound is really up in the front giving some sort of industrial feeling to the music. And there is a lot of experimentation with sounds and noises here too making the album really original while not an listening one. There are almost ambient passages in the three long compositions that this recording has and many experimentation with tempo changes and rhythm developing. The sound is raw, specially in the distorted guitars and in teh vocals that are really extreme. A really original release with strong emphasis on experimentation.
Favorite tracks: The three	Contact: www.666diahableries.cjb.net

HUMAN TAXIDERMY - HUMAN TAXIDERMY (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Anthony Roark
	Tracks: 1- Accelerated Negative Motion, 2- From Malfunction into Man, 3- Parasitic Twin, 4- Skin Thief, 5- The Substraction Theory, 6- Repulsed by Imperfection, 7- Paradox of the Oxygen Famine, 8- A Liquid Existence, 9- Suicide Agenda, 10- To Find Meaning in Nothing
Cover Art by Anthony Roark
Anthony Roark, the only man behind Human Taxidermy has delivered here ten tracks of pure brutality from beginning to end. Only live instruments are played here so Anthoiny plays guitars, bass, drums and does all the vocals. And here we have a combination of pounding brutal rhythms with ultra guttural vocals that give an unearthly death metal feeling to the music here. For me the main thing here are the devastating guitar riffs, specially in the more mid paced parts where the heaviness reaches it climax. There is palce here for many blast beatings parts where Anthony shows that he is really precise with the drums, plus there are multiple breaks and tempo changes thta add a lot of variation to the music here. The sound is good but raw giving a really extreme feeling to the music. Thumbs up for Human Taxidermy !!!!
Favorite tracks: "Accelerated...", "The Substraction Theory" and "Paradox..."	Contact: www.humantaxidermy.com

HUMAN TAXIDERMY / CHRONIC AUDIO ASSAULT/ THE ANTIHUMAN - SPLIT CD (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: each band
	Tracks: Human Taxidermy: 1- Forsaken and Reflected, 2- Repulsed by Imperfection; Chronic Audio Assault: 3- Hydrogen 21-cm emission from a galaxy at cosmological distance, 4- Spanish Fly; The Anti Human: 5- Shrine of the Leviathan, 6- Falling Away from Time
Cover Art by the bands
Human Taxidermy opens this split CD with full brutality and a really good riff in "Forsaken and Reflected". As I described on the rpeviosu review their music is really brutal death with even some grinding elments. Here the guitars are raw but they sound huge making each riff really powerful and aggressive. Then comes Chronic Audio Assault adding also their brutality to the recording with a more muddy sound and with more grindcore combining short bursts of speed with some more rhythmic parts (in the longer track). Finally here we have the fast riffing of The Anti Human playing a style closer to the rawer of black metals with a darker feeling in their music and with fast and raw riffs. This is a really extreme split CD with completely different bands that only have in common the extreme nature of their music. If you want extreme bands then you should check this split.
Favorite tracks: All the split	Contact: www.humantaxidermy.com

IMMEMORIAL - AFTER DENY (Conquer Recs., 2004)
	Produced By: Frost, Tadra and Szymon Czech
	Tracks: 1- Join me in Hell, 2- Angel of Sorrow, 3- Suicide, 4- Day of Anger, 5- Tanatos, 6- Corrupted by Death, 7- Wooden Box, 8- Homeless Corpse, 9- Longing for a Sin, 10- Carrion, 11- Evil Fills Me, 12-Depression
Cover Art by Arkadiusz Ruszkowski	Recorded at Selani Studio
Here is the new album from this polish band and it starts with full aggression with "Angel of Sorrow" after a short intro. Recorded with much better sound than their previous album, here you can see all the trademarks of this band but this time taken more to the extreme. Here the vocals are really deathly (Karla is amazing in doing this guttural voices) and the drumming is extremely fast in many places and aggressive with a lot of technical parts (this guy Fizyk is really amazing). Everything here is done in order to achieve utter heaviness in the music: the riffs the voices, the double bass drumming, everything. If you combine all this elements tat are characteristic of Immemorial´s music with a really good mix such as the one on this album you can only have a devastating album as this. Brutality with a lot of musicianship
Favorite tracks: "Carrion", "Suicide" and "Corrupted by Death"	Contact: www.conquerec.com

IMMORTAL RITES - ART OF DEVOLUTION (Morbid Records, 2004)
	Recorded By: Alexander Krull
	Tracks: 1- Eugenic (intro), 2- Fatal Exploited, 3- Dressed in Amazing Red, 4- Digital God, 5- United Scars Anthem, 6- Mirror Reflections, 7- Hallucinations Overture, 8- The Utter Dark, 9- Pathetic Patterns, 10- The Cadaverizer
Mixed by Alexander Krull	Recorded at Mastersound Studio
Immortal Rites is pure brutality. Just a short intro with sounds gives you the only peaceful moment of this recording. Then comes the mayhemic music of this crushing band. Do you want blast beats? Here you will have plenty of them. Do you want extreme vocals? Well, here you have ultra guttural voices and screaming vocals too giving a brutal deth metal feeling to the music. Plus on this album you will find heavier than hell guitar riffs played with a lot of speed by this tight band. There are multiple rhythm and tempo changes that gives variation to this really extreme music. Plus the recording has a really good sound that emphasizes the bestiality of this album. A blasting album designed to crash your brain as a hammer would do.
Favorite tracks: "Pathetic Patterns", "Dressed..." and "Mirror Reflections"	Contact: www.morbidrecords.de or www.immortalrites.de

INFERNO - SCI-FI GRIND´N´ROLL (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: V Fisik and Reeks
	Tracks: 1- Me vs the Incredible Hulk, 2- Radiator #4, 3- The sorrows of young Moroboshi, 4- Triumvirate, 5- Pacifico´s, 6- (Kinky Party with) the monster, 7- Disneytomb, 8- Lowest Common Detonator. And eight more tracks
Cover Art by Inferno	Recorded at Hombrelobo Studio
This is surely a weird album. They say their music is sci-fi grind´n´roll...and you will not believe me but this is an accurate description. The music has not only sci fi lyrics, but also amazing synths that plays outter space sounds and arrangements that are like the ones you can listen in a sci fi movie soundtrack, this combined ith ultra heavy drumming and a really extreme vocalist that screams the lyrics spitting his lungs on each track. I don´t know why there are only eight names in the sleeve of this album because here there are sixteen tracks full fo experimentation (some of them sound like intros or instrumental passages, such as the first track here). It is unbelievable the com,bination of the extreme distorted guitars with the keyboards and thuis sound distinguish Inferno from any other band on Earth. Really experimental and at the same time really extreme.
Favorite tracks: "Radiator #4", "Triumvirate" and "Disneytomb"	Contact: www.infernogrindnroll.com

INGRAVED - COMPLETE DOMINATION(Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Ingraved and A. Tafaro
	Tracks: 1- Necro.Sad.Instinct (intro), 2- Last Prophecy, 3- Loving Flesh (Complete Domination), 4- Domina Peccatorum (Amrita Latex Goddess), 5- Erotikrist (abyssic version)
Cover Art by Anras and S. Gianfreda	Recorded at Sound Cubed Studio
After a short climatic intro with graveyard noises comes the most bestial death metal. Full of fast drumming with plety double bass and with really loud snare drumming (this guy is devastating with his drum kit), Ingraved show you very fast that they can smash your body into pieces with their brutal music. Hyper guttural vocals are the trademark too gurgling the lyrics and reaching the boundaries in brutality. There are very low tuned guitars and raw sound in them that give sort of a live feeling to them. It is almost like a wall of sound in the guitars. There are also interesting crushing rhythms created by the riffs and the extremely tight rhythm section. Everything is done in order to devastate the listener. One word: bestial as hell !!
Favorite tracks: "Last Prophecy" and "Erotikrist"	Contact: www.ingraved.com

INSIDE - I CAN´T SCREAM (Kick Promotion Agency, 2003)
	Produced By: Inside
	Tracks: 1- At the Gates, 2- A Grace from Deceas, 3- In Silence
Cover Art by Antonio Tascino	Recorded at Jumping Spider´s Studio
This band is surely a powerful heavy metal outfit with some deathly elements in teh most extreme vocals and judging for this three track demo they deserve a recording contract soon in order to release a full length release. Here we have a band with really heavy guitar riffs (I liked specially the more thrashy parts with a lot of speed and complexity) and with a powerful female vocalist that in some parts reminds me to Chastain´s Leather Leone (a killer vocalist full of strength in her voice). Alsdo there are the more screaming type of voice that add a feeling closer to melodic death emtal to the band´s music The tracks are really well developed and I find really interesting the way in which Bruno´s keyboards are constantly orchestrating each of the tracks here with interesting chords progressions and melodies. The rhythms are complex but the rhythm section is solid and tight and manages to play the multiple changes in a really good way. The sound of the recording is raw and you can feel the power that this band delivers on each composition. An extremely powerful band.
Favorite tracks: The three	Contact: www.kickagency.com and http://inside.3000.it

INVERACITY - CIRCLE OF PERVERSION (Unmatched Brutality Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Inveracity and Grigoris P.
	Tracks: 1- Savagely Beaten, 2- Repulsed by Vaginal Reek, 3- Fistfuck Sodomy, 4- Defloration, 5- Unconscious, 6- Ejaculation over Mutilation, 7- Blood of Impurity, 8- Compulsive Degradation, 9- She Died in My Arms, 10- Eleven, 11- Multiple Homicide
Cover Art by Repulsiveecho Design	Recorded at 5 Studio and Wave Studio
This is pure death grind with ultra speed in the riffs and also in the drumming. Yes, here you will find guitars thata re chainsaws perforating your brain with their sheer brutality, and blast beats that are like a machine gun in your head. The vocals here are extremely guttural, sounding almost like another brutal instrument, really in the grindcore style. There are some slower parts that change a little bit the mood of the compositions, such as the one in 0:15 of "Savagely Beaten". And thsi slower aprts add a lot of heaviness to the tracks beside the wilder than hell spirit of the compositions. The sound is really clear and that makes things even more brutal. This is uttermost brutality and it is like an atomb bomb dropping in your ears !!
Favorite tracks: "Savagely Beaten", "Unconscious" and "Fistfuck Sodomy"	Contact: www.unmatchedbrutality.com or www.inveracity.cjb.net

INVERCAULD - TIAMHAIDH (Cyclic Law Recs., 2004)
	Produced By: Cyclic Law Recs.
	Tracks: 1- An Dorcha, 2- Cunnartach, 3- Airsnealach, 4- Stormeil, 5- Tiamharoh, 6- Corbte, 7- Duaichnioh
Cover Art by S. Canocy	Premastered at Misanthrope Studio
This is really atmospheric music with interesting elements and excelent sound. Many ideas are flowing through this compositions and it is like a constant flow of information going directly to your brain while you listen this atmospheric compositions. Good work with sounds and excellent soundscapes full of a dark mood. Here the electronci and sound elements are combined cleverly painting a dark picture in your mind. There is a lot of originality here and Invercauld knows really well how to develope this original ideas to transmit the listener the feeling that they want to. A really experimental album taht leaves you wanting more compositions of this kind and with this multiplicity of ideas
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.cycliclaw.com

IRON BITCHFACE - FUCK YOUR MOTHER´S ARM (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Iron Bitchface
	Tracks: There are nineteen bestial grinding tracks here
Cover Art by Bryan	Recorded at the slut factory
This are pure grind noise tracks full of chainsaw like guitars and noisy drumming . Here we have shorts bursts of energy that are designed to surprise and devastate the listener. The guitars are almost chainsaw like and the drumming is extremely fast. The vocals are almost like another distorted instrument generating moments of pure noise brutality. The problem here is that the sound is really low and muddy so you can not appreciate well what this guys are doing. With a better sound things could be even more effective. But you can feel the wildness of this extreme tracks. A really bestial release that with a better mix can have even more power.
Favorite tracks: "Zombie Fuckers", "Playground madness" and "5 bones"	Contact: www.ironbitchface.com

IRON BITCHFACE - HAUNTING THE KATHEDRAL (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Iron Bitchface
	Tracks: 1- Bryan, 2- Shit dildo, 3- Grindcore will be grindcore, 4- Drum solo, 5- Cat Got Sick, 6- Crows in the fog
Cover Art by Grimothy	Recorded at the kathedral, Toronto
This is a more powerful release compared to the previous "Fuck your mother´s arm". This time the guys in Iron Bitchface sound as wild as always with their spontaneous ultra grinding music. But now they have recorded it louder so you can appreciate the fast bursts of grinding noise that this guys deliver through the ten tracks that are on this CD. The tracks are really short and the ten tracks totalize a little bit over seven minutes. And everything here has this sense of humour that this guys know how to transmit on each of the short tracks here. The recording is done live in an empty room in toronto and here you can appreciate how this guys sound live: that is really wild and bestially fast. Pure grinding humour !
Favorite tracks: "Haunted black emtal...", "Crows in the fog" and "Shit dildo"	Contact: www.ironbitchface.com

ISOR - POST MORTEM PEEP SHOW (Casket Music/Copro Recs., 2004)
	Produced By: Dave Chang
	Tracks: 1- Fakes Smiles and Friendship Trials, 2- Coping with your Ginger Secret, 3- Perfecting the Vegan Death Grip, 4- Techno Sonic Sunshine, 5- We Are the People that Watch you Shower, 6- I know what Rhymes with Orange, 7- My Best Friend Takes 14 Round Magazine, 8- 18 Wheel Massage, 9- Swimming on Chief Brody´s Day Off, 10- You Can´t Make a Clown out of Cocoa
Cover Art by Isor	Recorded at Philia Studios
Some almost tribal drumming opens this album before getting into pure brutality. Here it is a band whose music has a lot of power and aggression and it is a band tat is alos full of ideas, like for example putting interesting climatic pieces before and after mayhemic parts of the most extreme bestiality. There are also parts that sound like new metal but this parts are cleverly combined. There are interesting rhythms that are the heaviest thing here: from riffs designed for the moshpit to ultra fast riffing. One of the main things here is the constant experimentation with breaks and tempo changes (I have to say that the drummer is really technical creating amazing double bass passages through all the recording) and different sounds where there is interesting use of clean guitars in many parts. Agood experimental and original album
Favorite tracks: "Techno Sonic...", "Round Magazine" and "I know..."	Contact: www.coprorecords.co.uk or www.isor.net

JACK SLATER - METZ GORE PROMO 04 (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Jack Slater
	Tracks: 1- Eisenwichser, 2- Sensou, 3- Timmy, 4- Für Elise, 5- Zerschmetterling
Cover Art by Jack Slater	Recorded at
First of all I have to congratulate this band for the amazing sound that they have achieved on this recording. It is surely one of the msot brutal I have heard in a while. The guitars sound really clear and powerful delivering complex riff after complex riffs developing new ideas on each minute of this album (this guys surely have good musical skills and technicque that allows them to play correctly each of the many breaks and tempo changes that are featured here). The vocals are really deathly and guttural, yet they are clkear and you can follow the lyrics. But the most extreme feeling is generated by the incredible drumming that this guys do and by the heavier than fuck guitars that are like a needle piercing your brain and generating an implosion on it through the five tracks that this promo cd has. The mix is really good and that is essentila for the brutality that this band must have. Pure bestiality.
Favorite tracks: "Eisenwischer", "Timmy" and "Zerschmetterling"	Contact: www.jack-slater.de

JAN KUIJKEN - VERTIGO (Carbon 7 Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Jan Kuijken
	Tracks: 1- Ouverture, 2- Primitiv, 3- Slow Theme, 4- Con Moto, 5- Tips, 6- Dual, 7- Obsession, 8- Vertigo, 9- A Romance, 10- Capture
Cover Art by Gunther Fobe
This is an album of extreme beauty in the form of ten magnidficent compositions where Kuijken shows his compositional skills and his good taste with melodies. Yet, this album is experimental and the experimentation goes through the developing of interesting atmospheres thata re sometimes sad, sometimes happy, sometimes slow and sometimes mroe dynamics reflecting many different moods. On this album Kuijken plays piano and cello and he has teamed with excellent musicians like George Van Dam on violin (he is extremely beautiful in tracks like "Slow Theme" playing this really sad melody), Paul De Clerck on viola, Dirk Descheemaieker on clarinet, Pierre Bernard on flute and André Pichal on french horn. This compositions have been created for a three dance performance by Karine Ponties and you can feel the changes in rhythm and pace that this performances should have had. This is majestic music done by a superb composer developing many ideas that will stick in your soul.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.carbon-7.com

JUDAS PRIEST - LIVE IN LONDON (SPV Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Judas Priest
	Tracks: CD1: 1- Metal Gods, 2- Heading out to the Highway, 3- Grinder, 4- Touch of Evil, 5- Blood Stained, 6- Victim of Changes, 7- The Sentinel, 8- One on One, 9- Running Wild, 10- Ripper, 11-Diamonds and Rust, 12- Feed on Me, 13- Green Manalishi CD 2: 1- Beyond the Realms of Death, 2- Burn in Hell, 3- Hell is Home, 4- Breaking the Law, 5- Desert Plains, 6- You´ve got another thing coming, 7- Turbo Lover, 8- Painkiller, 9- Hellion/Electric Eye, 10- United, 11- Living After Midnight, 12- Hell Bent for Leather
	Recorded at the Brixton Academy, London
This is the newest Priest live album and it has many similarities with the previous one ("98 Live Meltdown") since there was only one studio album between them. Here we have many Priest classics along with some newer tracks like the ones from "Jugulator" ("Blood Stained" and "Burn inHell") and the ones from "Demolition" ("one on One", "Feed on Me"). Plus we have the opportunity to listen many old classics in the voice of Ripper Owens, such as "Victim of Changes" and "Running Wild" or "Heading out to the Highway" (in a version really close to the on in 1987´s "Priest Live"). Plus we have some pearls like "Desert Plains" that you could see on the older Judas Priest live videos but that was left out of the "Priest Live" CD. This is a killer album that shows that Judas Priest is still alive and kicking in the 21^st century.
Favorite tracks: "Grinder", "Running Wild" and "Desert Plains"	Contact: www.judaspriest.com or www.spv.de

KARELIA - USUAL TRAGEDY (Drakkar Prods., 2003)
	Produced By: Renaud Hobinger
	Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Letter for an angel, 3- Torn Dress, 4- Usual Tragedy, 5- Deserter, 6- Blind, 7- Called Up, 8- Daddy´s Grave, 9- My guilty Absence, 10- Slave of Time
Cover Art by Markus Mayer	Recorded at Studio Blue Bird
A magnificent orchestral intro opens up this album. When we reviewed Karelia´s previous album we found in them a lot of potential and interesting ideas but this labum goes well beyond that. This is with no doubt one of the albums of the year. Here you have magnificent musicianship in a conceptual scheme and you have choral arrangements, orchestrations. Everything here has a feeling of majestuosity and each of the compositions here is extremely cleverly constructed with infinite arrangements and elements that add perfection to the music. Here we have a combination of pure metal, power metal, gothic metal and classical music...all in one CD, with a perfect mix in all the instruments. This si an album to lsiten over and over again because you will always find new ideas, new elements and arrangments that you hadn´t heard in the first listening. A masterpiece.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: or www.drakkar.de

KENNY WHEELER - SONG FOR SOMEONE (Psi Records, 2004)
	Produced By: Martin Davidson and Evan Parker
	Tracks: 1- Toot-toot, 2- Ballad Two, 3- Song for Someone, 4- Cases are events, 5- The Good Doctor, 6- Nothing Changes
Cover Art by Psi Recs.	Recorded at Olympic Sound Studios
Pure beautiful jazz is what we have here with Kenny Wheeler´s trumpet and the winds as main characters. Here Wheeler has found amazing jazz musicians who develope here interesting melodies and atmospheres. And you can feel that the album was recorded in 1973 because some elements reminded me to Return to Forever ("Light as a Feather" era). I have to remark the work of Norma Winstone on voice creating beautiful vocal lines that are developed along the multiple instrumentation that each of this composition has. It is really good to feel the walking bass lines being played and the clever improvisations that are created against them. This is an album full of jazz improvisations and melodies that you can listen over and over again always finding new things and never getting tired.
Favorite tracks: "The Good Doctor", "Causes are Events" and "Ballad Two"	Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

KORIHOR / ABIGAIL - ALKOHOLIK METAL BLASPHEMERS SPLIT CD (Hells Headbanger Recs, 2003)
	Produced By: Hells Headbangers recs
	Tracks: Korihor: 1- Iniquity of his Sapience, 2- Trident Sermon, 3- Hellexekution (Alkoholik instrumental), 4- Gyltas of Heofunum. Abigail: 1- Grotesque Nightmare, 2- Death of Life, 3- The Fire of Hell, 4- Lucifer Sings, 5- Confound Eternal, 6- The Ultimate Fight, 7- Ilona the very best, 8- Impotence
Cover Art by Hells Headbangers	Recorded at Polyfusion Studio (Korihor) and
This is the split of blasphemy !!!! Here we have two bestial black metal bands whose music is extremely raw and whose blackest than hell atmospheres are omniprescent on this recording. Korihor starts with full aggression with their black metal with old school thrash influences. They are really powerful and they have a raw sound, specially on the guitars and on the drums. The vocals are really extreme but you can hear the lyrics. The Abigail part of this split is really raw and with a worse sound that buries interesting parts in the mix (I would like them to mix louder the guitars to make things more effective). I think that is because their material on this split comes from a 1992 rehearsal recording and froma live concert. Despite this, you can feel the darkness that comes from Abigail´s music. In fact, they don´pt need to go fast to be heavy and dense (as you can see on "Death of Life", a really slow track). This is pure black metal adn it is also an item of collection.
Favorite tracks: Korihor: "Trident...", "Iniquity..:", Abigail: "Death of Life"	Contact: www.hellsheadbangers.com

LAST MISTAKE - FUOCO (Kick Promotion Agency, 2004)
	Produced By: Last Mistake
	Tracks: 1- A God!, 2- Take me Back, 3- ... ... ...
Recorded at KM Studio
There are three tracks on this MCD and they are enough to show what this Italian band is capable of doing: climatic and experimental music with a lot of originality, taking elements of pure metal bands and mixing them with different influences in order to achieve their own sound.There is a progressive feeling here because of the multiple changes that each track has and also because of the heavy use of keyboard in order to give the tracks a climatic atmosphere (for example in "A God !"there are moments of eastern sounding melodies mixed wit more straight forward orchestration). There is really good musicianship here and that is evident on each second of this compositions. The sound is good as most of the bands of the style has, specially on the vocals and keyboards that are extremely cleanly mixed. Pure progressive and imaginative music.
Favorite tracks: the three	Contact: or www.lastmistake.com or www.kickagency.com

LOOK WHAT I DID - MY FIRST TIME (Clockrock Recordings, 2003)
	Produced By: Chris Bradley and Look What I Did
	Tracks: 1- Cupid full of Eros, 2- Shadowboxing (to stay fit), 3- Mirror, Mirror, 4- I Beat god at tae kwon do, 5- Last Call for Rufenol, 6- Lipstick liasons, 7- My Biggest Fan, 8- House of Cards, 9- Feast of Breath and Teeth, 10- Zanzibar 1
	Recorded at Barry´s Closet
This is a powerful band who has achieved one thing that can send them to stardome: their songs are really energetic and at the same time extremely memorable. With heavy guitars reminiscent of new metal band and with a really versatile singer the band has developed ten interesting compositions on this album. There are many changes in moods along this album but the aggression is omniprescent. One remarkable thing is the good sound that this recording has, specially on the guitars and the drums. And this is essential to make Look What I Did sound even more powerful. The vocals are esst}ntial here bveing sometimes more melodic and sometimes extremely aggressive. A completely recommendable album.
Favorite tracks: "Shadowboxing", "I Beat god..." and "House of Cards"	Contact: confirmeddates@yahoo.com

MACHESCAZO - ORAL LESSONS FOR...A FAST DEGREE (STD Distro, 2003)
	Produced By: Machescazo
	Tracks: 1- Today´s Special Offer, 2- the Sad Princess, 3- Beyond the Fatal Tragedy, 4- The Unexpected Assfuck
Cover Art by Uncolored	Recorded at Squawk Studios
I expected Machescazo to be a really fast grind band. But they surprised me really well with their brutal music that combines brutal guitar riffs with guttural vocals but adding a lot of influences from many different styles. There is a good combination of fast parts with others that add more odd rhythms to the music. It is funny that "The Sad Princess" opens up with a walking bass line in the jazz tradition with clean guitars delivering interesting chord progressions before getting into the more brutal mode. But the four tracks contained on this album shows interesting ideas that combined with really good brutal sound and with interesting technical skills allows the band to show a music that is brutal yet original.
Favorite tracks: the four	Contact: www.std-distro.cjb.net

MAR DE GRISES - THE TATTERDEMALION EXPRESS (Firebox Recs, 2003)
	Produced By:
	Tracks: 1- El Otro, 2- To See saturn fall, 3- Storm, 4- Recklessness, 5- Self Portrait Not, 6- Be welcome oh hideous hell, 7- Onirica
Cover Art by	Recorded at
Mar de Grises is a band that comes from the underworld, from the darkest of graveyards. Their music has the darkest and saddest feeling possible, combining the heaviness of the guitars with the orchestration and majesty of the keyboards. The tracks here are slow and mid paced and here is where mar de Grises seems more comfortable and where they can develope their music full of anguish. The vocals are really extreme and of the guttural type but they sound extremely sad and tortured while they scream the lyrics here. The songs here are extremely well constructed and they are long enough in order to show multiple changes in mood and experimentation. And the essence here is the use of climatic elements and dissonances and also the constant experimetnation adn improvisations such as in "To see Saturn fall". This is with no doubt one of the most original albums in metal history. A masterpiece of sadness.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.firebox.fi

MARGARETH KAMMERER - TO BE AN ANIMAL OF REAL FLESH (Charhizma Recs, 2004)
	Mastered By: Christoph Amann
	Tracks: 1- As your nightly dreams, 2- I carry your heart with me, 3- Facing it, 4- Somewhere I have never travelled, 5- Open his head, baby (remix), 6- Facing it, 7- Somewhere I have never travelled, 8- Willow...c´est que j´aime, 9- The bright stones (remix), 10- the bright stones, 11- Open his head baby, 12- I carry your heart with me (remix), 13- As your nightly dreams 2, 14- Estimated population of hell circa 1976 (Old school mix)
Cover Art by Anne Gathmann	Recorded at differnt places through 2002 and 2003
Margareth Kammerer has found the way to combine really cleverly experimentation with good songs, making each of the compositions here really memorable while extremely original. Margareth developes here interesting vocal lines that have an ethereal quality in them while playing interesting arrangements with acoustic guitars. Or, as in "I carry your heart with me" she combines this kind of song structure with interesting warm trumpet sounds that deliver interesting and sometimes dissonant phrases. Each composition here is really original and you have to listen them several times in order to find all the subtle elements that Margareth uses in her music. This is clever experimentation within a melodic yet atmospheric context.
Favorite tracks: "As your nightly dreams", "Willow" and "The bright stones"	Contact: www.charhizma.com

MELECHESH - SPHYNX (Osmose Productions/The End Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Melechesh and Andy La Rocque
	Tracks: 1- Of Mercury and Mercury, 2- Secrets of Sumerian Sphynxology, 3- Annunaki´s Golden Thrones, 4- Apkallu Counsel, 5- Tablets of Fate, 6- Triangular Tattvic Fire, 7- The Arrival Ritual, 8- Incendium Between Mirage and Time, 9- Purifier of the Stars, 10- Caravans to Ur, 11- Babylon Fell (bonus track)
	Recorded at Los Angered Recording Studios
	Some issues back we reviewed a previous album from this band but this one is definitely better. Sounding much more powerful and with a better mix the band succeeds in delivering pure brutal tracks with a dark and oriental feeling on them. The guys in Melechesh cleverly create and develope interesting riffs that are evolving through all the compositions creating unique musical pieces full of power. It is remarkable the multiple changes in riffs and rhythm that the compositions of this guys have. The vocals are really extreme and they fit perfectly the band´s music. This album is really a masterpiece and it also has a great sound that allows you to listen everything perfectly. A must.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.osmoseproductions.com or www.theendrecords.com

MEMORAIN - WHITE LINE (NMC Music, 2003)
	Produced By: Haris Zourelidis
	Tracks: 1- The Real World, 2- Buried in Lies, 3- Condemn me to Obscurity, 4- Inside my Mind, 5- White Line, 6- Silent Cry, 7- High Treason, 8- My Choice
Cover Art by Elias Prassas	Recorded at Feedback Sound Studios
This is definitely a powerful album. And for lovers of eighties thrash it has a lot of elements of the style. Starting with the complex riffs and rhythms that have a lot of strength and are played really tight. there are multiple changes in rhythms and interesting drumming that emphasizes each of the parts cleverly. But the mian thing here are the guitars developing riff after riff, melody after melody, arrangement after arrangement and solo after solo. Plus here James Murphy plays really good guest solos (he is a genius). The vocals have a more modern feeling adding a different sound to Memorain´s music. I really like this style and albums like this one shows that this style of music is still alive and kicking ass !!
Favorite tracks: "The Real World", "Inside my Mind" and "Buried in Lies"	Contact: www.memorain.com

MENTATION - CIRCLE OF PERPETUAL OCCULATION (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Mentation
	Tracks: 1- Fragile, 2- Suicidal Thoughts, 3- The Perpetual Quest, 4- Prevaricator
Cover Art by Kris Verwimp	Recorded at Bolthorn´s Studio
Four tracks are enough to blow a brain. And that is the case here.....four tracks of pure brutality with multiple rhythm and tempo changes and with interesting arrangements. Mentation is brutality at its top level but at the same time they alos create clever arrangements that make each of their tracks worth exploring. Besides the death metal that is the core orf the band´s music there is also some thrash metal influences in some of the rhythms and riffs which I found interesting due to the space that they leave for the rest of the band to deliver interesting phrases and arrangements. The drumming is really precisse and there are many double bass parts here. The sound of the recording is really good yet retaining a raw quality that gives an even more extreme sound to the band. A really recomendable recording with four bursts of brutality done with good musicianship.
Favorite tracks: "Fragile" and "Prevaricator"	Contact: www.mentation.nl

MEZZANINE -C14 - HE KEEPS SILENT AND SACRIFICES HIMSELF (Break Even Recs., 2004)
	Produced By: Mark Ospavot and Mezzanine-C14
	Tracks: 1- Start Fires, 2- Knife Wielder, 3- Hard Boiled, 4- Bound and Gagged, 5- Devious, 6- Aunt Sylvia, 7- Bedroom Eyes, 8- Night Crawler, 9- Still Approaching, 10- You have the freedom to do as I say
Cover Art by Paul Ching-Bor
How can really wild rhythms be combined with really extreme vocals screamed at the top of the lungs? You have to aske Mezzanine - C14 because that is how their music sounds. They are really rhythmic in the guitar riffs (really distorted guitars in some places), sometimes faster, sometimes more chaotic, sometimes more changing, but always aggressive. And the vocalist spits his lungs while he screams the lyrics. There are also climatic moments and this kind of aprts are combined with really wild ones as it happens in "Knife Wielder". The drumming is rhythmic with heavy use of cymblas and hihat in the fastest parts. The sound of the recording is clear and powerful as the band deserves. This is an original recording that leaves you wanting more from this extremely wild band.
Favorite tracks: "Knife Wielder", "Night Crawler" and "Still Approaching"	Contact: www.breakeven.org/mezzanine~c14

MISERIA - THE NIGHT OF FETUS (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Miseria
	Tracks: 1- The Night of Fetus, 2- Air, 3- Nightmare, 4- Sweetest Pain
Cover Art by Miseria	Recorded ar Fantom Studio
What a good release is this one !!! I refuse to call this gothic because for my taste this band has succeeded in creating music that goes beyond this style. Combining heavy guitars riffs with the haunting voice of Virpi, the band delivers four powerful compositions that leave you wanting more from this climatic finish band. The keyboards make a showcase here of different atmospheres and orchestrates many of the passages adding sorrow to the music here. Everything here shines in splendour, from the vocals to the keyboards, and the rhythmic riffs give memorable rhythms where the band can deliver solid songs. There are some black metal elements in the most aggressive parts and that is where Joni´s vocals turn into a more extreme mood giving the feeling that he wants. I think that maybe the guitars could be mixed a little bit louder (I would love them to hear them that way) combining the majestuosity of the tracks with more aggression. This album is really a masterpiece.
Favorite tracks: The four	Contact: www.turn.to/miseria

MORD - MORDE (Black Attakk Recs, 2004)
	Produced By: Mord
	Tracks: 1- In the forest of the dead souls, 2- Necrophage, 3- Suicide by Fire, 4- My Godless Ways, 5- Thought on the Death, 6- Ravenous Hunger

Raw as hell black metal with really distorted guitars is what we have on this dark album. Here we have the most extreme vocals that spit blackened lyrics agains this wall of distortion that are the guitars. Mord succeeds in recreating the blackest of environments through their music and I think this is the essence of the music here: the obscurity that drips from every note, from every riff, from every blast beat and from every unholy scream. One remarkable thing here is that Mord does not use ultra speed in all the tracks, preferring to combiante fast moments with more climatic ones that are essential to get that feeling of desolation that this music must have. The sound of the recording is really raw, specially the guitars (maybe they could mix a little bit louder the snare drum and the bass drum to add more effectivity). This is pure black metal coming directly from the lungs of hell.
Favorite tracks: "Necrophage", "Suicide..." and "Thought on the dead"	Contact: www.black-attakk.de

MORTUARY - AGONY IN RED (Anvil Corp., 2003)
	Produced By: Mortuary
	Tracks: 1- Chaosphonia/Negative, 2- Another Land to Conquer, 3- Elimination, 4- Agony in Red, 5- Carnival of the lost souls, 6- Calvary, 7- Exit, 8- Fifteen Minutes, 9- Televiolence, 10- As I Lie Dying, 11- Dynamite
	Recorded at Atomic Art Studio
Mortuary!! Only the name of the band is synonim of brutality. And, inf act the music here is extremely brutal. Here we have really brutal death metal with vocals that are not extremely guttural but at the same time deliver the msot powerful voices that I have lsitened in a while. This band surely loves speed and it is amazing to feel this crushing drummer delivering this fast drumming without missing a beat. And one essential feature here is the tightness of the band. This guys areextremely polished and well rehearsed and everything here sounds devastating. It is remarkable the excellent sound that this recording has, a feature that adds a lot to the brutality of the recording making each guitar chord sound like a fucking dinosaur stomping over your head.. One thing to point out is the killer cover of The Scorpions "Dynamite" in a really deathly version that will surely appeal to all metal lovers (and after the track has finished comes one last burst of energy from this killer band)
Favorite tracks: "Another land...", "Calvary" and "As I Lie Dying"	Contact: www.anvilcorp.net or www.mortuary.fr.st

MYRK - ICONS OF THE DARK (Ketzer Records, 2004)
	Produced By: Myrk
	Tracks: 1- Blindfolded by Misery, 2- Our Age has now begun, 4- Insilence, 5- Myrk, 6- Within the burning darkness, 7- When we raised the sign, 8- I am the symbolic torture, 9- Nightwinds, 10- The Spell
Cover Art by Myrkur and Eldur	Recorded at Studio Thull
Pure black /death metal with really heavy guitars that sound bigger than in most of the bands in black metal and at the same time that prefer to play heavier mid tempo riffs instead of a bunch of fast notes as many extreme bands do. There are multiple tempo changes on each of the tracks contained on this album: from fast to slow without middle terms. But the main thing here is the combination between aggression, blasphemy and dark atmospheres that are omniprescent on each composition. And there is a really good sound that helps a lot, because the guitars are really in your face as the drums are and that gives a more extreme feeling to the music adding a really tight feeling to the aggressive music of this band. This is pure aggression with dark feelings surrounding every note that is played.
Favorite tracks: "Insilence", "Within..." and "I am the symbolic..."	Contact: www.ketzer-records.de or

NAMELESS - NAMELESS (Kick Promotion Agency, 2004)
	Produced By: Nameless
	Tracks: 1- The Last One, 2- Centuries of War, 3- Eternal Slavery, 4- Fire Walk With Me, 5- Nameless
Recorded at Hatestudio
Pure motherfucking thrash death metal is the music that Nameless plays. Why thrash death? Because even if the main elements and also one of the vocals is puren thrash metal in the style of eighties bands such as Exodus or Testament, there are also some guttural and screaming vocals that are really death metal in their essence. One of the main elements here are the multiple changes in pace, rhythm and mood that the compositions have (as an example you only have to check the changes in "Centuries of War" where the band also shows some good technical skills). The sound of the recording is reminiscent of the eighties but the guitars sound more compact and modern than in recordings of that era. Plus everything is clearly mixed and that makes each part of the compositions more effective. Thrash til death!!!!!
Favorite tracks: "The last one ", "Nameless" and "Eternal Slavery"	Contact: www.nameless.s5.com or www.kickagency.com

NECARE - RUIN (Firebox Recs., 2004)
	Produced By: John Ackerman and Necare
	Tracks: 1- Stillborn Twilight, 2- Rite of Shrouds, 3- Desire (the dawn and the chrysalis), 4- Canto XXXIV, 5- Ruin, 6- Celia, 7- Gethsemane, 8- Waters of Quiet, 9- Touching Eternity
Cover Art by Bob Schamerhorn	Recorded at The Recording Zone
Acoustic guitars open this climatic album. Here the guitars develope slow riffs full of sadness and darkness. The vocals are really doom and the atmospheres are really dense full of dark feelings and extreme arrangements. SOme of the music is like early Paradise Lost but slower, sort of early My Dying Bride. And everything here has that cold dark feeling that the band wants to transmit to the listener. But everything with good musicianship and good technical skills that allows them to develope really well the compositions. This recording has a really good sound, specially on the guitars that sound really dense. This is an album that I would recommend to any lover of climatic metal full of sadness !!!
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.firebox.fi

NEW BREED - GENERATION NEXT (Independent, 2003)
	Recorded By: Kees Jan Kosteer and Bas Bach
	Tracks: 1- On My Way, 2- It´s all in your head, 3- Casualty, 4- Cease Fire, 5- Painting You, 6- U Kill Me
Cover Art by Noud Smeets
Really good crushing rocking songs is what you will find on this album. Powerful guitar riffs in a pure metal style are here played against rocking rhythms thath leave plenty of space for the great voice of Leonie van den Hoeven to develope the melodies thata re the essence of New Breed´s music. The guitars are really good ones and there are really good solos as the one in "It´s all in your head" where you can see the good technical skills that this musicians have. But the main thing here are the songs that are carefully constructed combining power and melody ina unique style. The sound of the recording is clear and direct making it sound like if the band were in your room playing their instruments at full volume. A really good release with memorable melodies and song and with extreme power !
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.newbreed-online.com

NOCTAMBULANT GRIMNESS - DEMO 2002 (Independent, 2002)
	Produced By: Noctambulant Grimness
	Tracks: 1- Insane, 2- The Hope that Tears Will Bind, 3- The Slumbering Gloom
Cover Art by Noctambulant Grimness
This is a really good and aggressive album. The style can be defined as a mix between black metal (the dark atmosphere, the guitar riffs, the keyboards arrangements) and death metal (fundamentally the vocals that are really guttural and not of the type that you could hear in a black metal band). This guys have developed many interesting and climatic ideas through all this album and they showed really good musicianship in order to achieve good results. The guitar riffs are essential in order to add a lot of power to the music fitting perfectly the mood that this guys want to give to the compositions.The main thing here is the combination of aggression with dark atmospheres that is a trademark of Noctambuylant Grimness´s music. The sound is raw yet good emphasizing the dark atmosphere of the recording. A good dark release with amazing atmospheres.
Favorite tracks: the three	Contact: www.nocta.nl

NORBERT MÖSLANG - LAT_NC (For 4 Ears Recs., 2004)
	Produced By: Norbert Möslang
	Tracks: 1- C11, 2- C12, 3- C13, 4- C14, 5- C15, 6- C16
Cover Art by Alex Hanimann	Recorded at Zack Studio
This is an album full of electronics and improvisation. All is experimentation with sounds and noises transformed into an spontaneous musical compositions. Here we have five tracks that will not let you breath while you await for the next sound to appear and get into the mix of each track. The textures that Möslang achieves here are essential and each of the compositions has a feeling of complete freedom and each of them, esxcept fro "C13" are long enough to get multiple ideas into work. The best example for me is "C14" that is almost eleven minutes long where you can feel Möslang creating never before heard sounds and transforming them into his music. This is an album full of spontaneity and with a lot of original ideas.
Favorite tracks: "C11", "C14" and "C15"	Contact: www.for4ears.com

O.D.M. - ENSUING DIN (Independent, 2004)
	Produced By: O.D.M.
	Tracks: 1- Wake Up, 2- Tired, 3- Conspiracy I, 4- Fail to Save You, 5- Wonderful, 6- Every Right, 7- Blank Theory, 8- Real Thing, 9- Adam, 10- Conspiracy II, 11- Juice, 12- Sake, 13- Conspiracy III, 14- 1960, 15- Deliverance, 16- Perfect Sense
Cover Art by O.D.M.
O.D.M. is a really rocking band with good songs that surely stick in your mind with their choruses. The compositions here have a great song structure and some passages reminded me of a heavier King´s X (I don´t know why, because the band is really different from taht one). There are some keyboards here and there but the main feeling are the rocking guitars and the flexible vocals that create interesting passages through all this recording fitting really well the mood of the songs. The guitars construct riffs and arrangements that are also the essence of the music here and they deliver in some places interesting but short solos. The rhythm section is solid and it is really good to see how the band changes mood fromk song to song (from straight rock in "Wake Up" to some rapping in "Tired" . A good rocking album (and a band that is a potential hit).
Favorite tracks: "Wake Up", "Real Thing" and "Deliverance"	Contact: www.musicODM.com

ODEM ARCARUM - BLOODY TARCES IN THE VIRGIN SNOW (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Boris Ascher and Odem Arcarum
	Tracks: 1- Introduction, 2- Slaves to a Dead World, 3- Behind Dead Eyes, 4-....and Thorns Became God, 5- Bloody traces in the Virgin Snow, 6- Anthem to Decrepitude, 7- Confessions of Dark Martyrium, 8- Restless
	Recorded at the Dungeon
Black fucking metal!!! Yes, this is what this guys deliver here from beginning to end. The combination of ultra aggressive elements with interesting rhythms combined with some blast beats and with some more climatic parts are the tradmark of Odem Arcarum´s music. Lord Arioch spits the vocals full of hate while C. A. Takes the drumming to the limits of speed adding bestiality to the compositions. There is use of keyboards here that turn black into blackest, adding if possible more obscurity to the music here. I liked a lot the way in which this guys combine the fastest parts wth others that use acoustic guitars and keys adding a feeling of solitude and sorrow to the music here. The sound is really raw in the heaviest parts and clearer in the calm parts. Some compositions are over six minutes and that is good for the band to show multiple ideas and to develope the compositions in an original way. Pure black metal with interesting ideas.
Favorite tracks: "Slaves to a Dead World", "Behind Dead Eyes" and "Anthem to Decrepitude"	Contact: www.odem-arcarum.de

OMEGA STRAIN - REMNANTS OF EXISTENCE (H Squad Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Omega Strain
	Tracks: 1- Hunter Squad, 2- Path of Glory, 3- Filth of the Soul, 4- Remnants of Existence, 5- Not Killer Proof
Cover Art by Daniele Lupidi	Recorded at TMB Rockhouse
A crushing guitar riff opens this album and you have a burst of the agression that Omega Strain delivers through all this CD. The music here can be defined as modern death metal. In fact I feel that the music here has a lot of death metal in the vein of bands like Morbid Angel in the crushing riffs and in some of the vocals, but also has an influence of modern metal in the more rhythmic riffs thata re devastating. There are also some climatic riffs intertwined her and there that add a different feeling to the music contrasting heavily with the faster parts. One thing to remark is the versatility of the vocalist here that creates interesting passages with the many different moods that he gives to his voice. Plus the album has a really good sound specially on the guitars and driums that are like a bulldozer stepping over your brain. This is pure aggression done with a lot of quality and interesting riffing !
Favorite tracks: "Hunter Squad", "Filth of the Soul" and "Remnants of Existence"	Contact: d.lupidi@tsc4.com

ON A DEAD MACHINE - ON A DEAD MACHINE (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: On a Dead Machine
	Tracks: 1- The Morning After, 2- Autograph, 3- Post-modern love
Cover Art by Annie Wilson	Recorded at Young Avenue Studio
This band is really difficult to label. Sure, they are really heavy, with some deathly lyrics as you can see from the beginning, but they use also cleaner voices with a more ethereal and dark feeling that for my taste is the jewel of this recording. The main thing here are the atmospheres and you can find plenty of them on each track, giving a deppressive atmosphere to each composition. The heavy guitars contrast with this clean vocals but support the more extreme ones. It is amazing to see how well developed are the three tracks here containing many new ideas and originality. The recording has a clear and good sound that emphasizes the feelings that the band transmits to the listener. A really climatic and original album.
Favorite tracks: the three	Contact: www.onadeadmachine.com

ONE STEP BEYOND - LIFE IMITATES ART (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: One Step Beyond
	Tracks: 1- Cropsy, 2- Greed, 3- Rockstar, 4- Forecast, 5-Disillusioned Friend, 6- Prelude, 7- Infinite Illusion, 8- Psycho Sexual, 9- the Beyond, 10- Thoughts Lost to Time, 11- One Chance, 12- the Game, 13- Chaos Engine
	Recorded at SoundHouse Studios
Can you believe that grindcore, funk and rock canbe mixed in any way? Well, if you are an unbeliever then you should check this album by this crazy band. One Step Beyond cleverly combines rocking rhythmic riffs with more bestial and brutal parts and with incredible voices typical of the msot brutaldeath metal or grindcore. All this is done with good musicianship and a good mix that makes things even better and more effective. There are multiple tempo and rhythm changes but the main thing here is the power of each fo the compositions. The tracks are short but really effective leaving youa stonished with the fusion of styles. A really original release full of ideas, power and brutality.
Favorite tracks: "Rockstar", "Infinite Illusion" and "The Beyond"	Contact: www.geocities.com/onestepweb

P.H.O.B.O.S. - PROTO (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Phil Cail and Fab Process
	Tracks: 1- Alienation, 2- Gregarious, 3- Nihil Credo, 4- Day of the Purifier, 5- A Dormant Dead End

Heavy Riffs with a really fat sound, mid paced drumming that emphasizes the heaviness of the music, climatic parts that sound extremely heavy. That is what you will find while listening to P.H.O.B.O.S music. The music here is really extreme but emphasizing the heaviness of the compositions and the mid paced rhythms instead of merely using speed in order to gain aggression. Here there is a combiantion of screaming and guttural voices (like doing duets) that is an essential part of the band´s music. The guitar riffs are really powerful and they are really well developed repeating parts and evolving into other parts making each track memorable yet really extreme. The guitars sound raw and dense being the main element here in order to achieve the heaviness that each track needs. This is a recommendable album for lovers of ultra heavy music without speed abuse but with utter aggression.
Favorite tracks: "Gregarious", "Nihil Credo" and "Day of the Purifier"	Contact: blacksun@parisfree.com

PANDEMONIC - RAVENOUS (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Pandemonic
	Tracks: 1- Cursed, 2- Atrocities, 3- the Scent of Fear, 4- The Tower Bell, 5- Windwalker
Cover Art by Pandemonic	Recorded at Necromorbus Studio
A crushing release since the beginning this five track CD is what I call brutal deth/thrash metal. Why? Because even if the badn goes at full speed they have certain elements of thrash metal in the more rhythmic parts (such as the middle part of "Cursed" which has many thrash metal elements) that I think give a lot of variation to their music making you always guess which riff are they playing next. To my ears there is a certain Slayer influence taken to a most extreme side here. There are multiple changes in rhythm and pace and many breaks. This is ojne of those albums that you can not stop listening to and becoming smashed with the brutality that it perspires. The sound of the band is raw but really well mixed, specially the drums (you can feel the double bass smashing your chest if played at full volume). This is really extreme metal with good ideas and really tightness in a good quality band.
Favorite tracks: The five	Contact: www.pandemonic.com

PANIC CELL - BITTER PART OF ME (Casket Music /Copro Recs., 2004)
	Produced By: Dave Chang
	Tracks: 1- Damn Self Pity, 2- Away from Here, 3- Save Me, 4- Shallow, 5- Nothing, 6- Thousand Words, 7- Bitter Part of Me, 8- Utter Madness, 9- Alive, 10- The End

A good powerful release where the main thing are the riffs full of eenrgy. Take bands like for example Vicious Rumours an add them a heavier guitar sound, then mix them with more modern metal bands and add some death metal in the guitar riffs and you will just have a small idea of the sound of this band. I have to say that the songs here are really memorable and amazingly well constructed making each of them memorable (attention that here we have some potential hits !). One remarkable thing is how good the vocalist is: he knows how to sound extremely powerful and yet sing memorable lines that will stick in your mind. Plus the album has the video of the track "Away from here" where you can see the band in action. A recommendble album !!!
Favorite tracks: "Damn Self Pity", "Bitteer Part of Me" and "Utter Madness"	Contact: www.coprorecords.co.uk or www.paniccell.com

PARADISE LOST - AT THE BBC (Strange Fruit Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: BBC Music Prods.
	Tracks: 1- Pity the Sadness, 2- The Word Made Flesh, 3- Mortals watch the Day, 4- As I Die, 5- Dhadowkings, 6- Once Solemn, 7- Yearn for Change, 8- Sweetness, 9- Embers Fire, 10- Remembrance, 11- Gothic, 12- Mortals watch the Day, 13- Widow, 14- Eternal, 15- The joys of the Emptiness, 16- As I Die, 17- True Belief, 18- Pity the Sadness
Cover Art by Steve Conner
This is a jewel for any Paradise Lost fan. Here are three different live recordings from the bands from the "Shades of God", "Icon", and "Draconian Times" tours recorded for the BBC. Here we have the opportunity to see that this band was crushing the stages since their early ages (it would be great to have a recording like this one from the "Lost Paradise" era) and that they have evolved a lot. Tracdks like "Widow" or "Pity the Sadness" (in 2 versions here) show the power that teh badn has always delivered over a stage. Thanks to the BBC mastering the album has a really good sound that will be appreciated by lovers of the band.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.strange-fruit-music.co.uk

PATHOS - PERDITION SPLITS THE SKIES (Intolerant Messiah Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Jason Balsells and Pathos
	Tracks: 1- Toward the Precipice, 2- Descent into Aphelion, 3- In the shallows Discerned, 4- Shadows of the Plague, 5- Eroding the Spires, 6- Ocean´s Length, 7- Lying Absolution, 8- Xibalba, 9- Witness the Barren, 10- Tools of Implement
Cover Art by Jose Montemayor	Recorded at Lee Stoker Studios
One of the best albums of the year with no doubt!! This album starts with a masterpiece instrumental that for my ears has sort of a celtiberic feeling on it. Then comes the excellent melodic fast riffs that this band creates on each composition that sound at the same time original, aggressive and dark. The vocals are really extreme black metal, really trollish and with some gutturality on them. There are really fast parts and you can check them as an example in "Descent into Aphelion". The brutality and blasphemy here comes along with interesting technical arrangements and with multiple changes in mood and pace. The album has a really good sound that makes the guitars be clear while they are playing complex riffs and interactions. The drumming is really technical in many parts and you can see that this guys have a lot of tehnical skills in their music in order to play each part correctly. A magnifiscent release !!
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.pathoskills.com or www.intolerantmessiah.com

PERPETUAL DUSK - INCARNATED DARKNESS (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Perpetual Dusk and Marcos Amorim
	Tracks: 1- Beyond the Ethereal Spheres of Nocturnal Domain, 2- Promised Keys to the Unholy Gates of Evil
	Recorded at DR Studios
	Directly from Brazil comes this amazing band that combines really dark moments with aggression. Opening with a piano / keyboards intro the band soon enters into full dark metal mode with fast riffs (that have some melodic quality in them) and extreme vocals. Two long tracks are enough to see the quality of this band: they have great musicianship and the arrangements are carefully done in order to recreate a dark atmosphere that is the essence oif the band´s music. The drumming is really good emphasizing the feeling that each part of the compositions have. And the guitars are cleverly developed in order to add darkness and power. The keyboards are an essential feature here adding darkness and melancholy in the musical pieces. The sound of the recording is clear and that is essential for this type of music. This is darkness, beauty and aggression combined.
Favorite tracks: Both tracks.	Contact: www.perpetualdusk.com

PISA 1980 - IMPROVISORS SYMPOSIUM (Psi Recs, 2004)
	Produced By: Roberto Terlizzi and Francisco Martinelli
	Tracks: CD 1: 1- Pisa Wind Duet 1, 2- Pisa Wind Duet 2, 3- Pisa String Duet, 4- San Zeno trio. CD 2: 1- San Zeno Quintet 1, 2- San Zeno Quintet 2, 3- Pisa Quintet 1, 4- Pisa Quintet 2
Cover Art by Roberto Massotti and Gerard Rouy	Recorded at San Zerno Abbey and Giardino Scotto
This two CD set of improvisations is amazing !! Here we have master musicians like Evan Parker on saxophone, Barry Guy on double bass, George Lewis on Trombone, Paul Lytton on percussion and many more. There are wind duets, string duets, and quintets. And it si really amazing the infinite ideas that this guys can put within a composition. Here the developing of ideas is the main thing and you can find for example Evan Parker interacting with George Lewis in the wind duets creating amazing passages full of new sounds and interacting cleverly with their instruments. But for my taste the climax of this recording are the quintets that are on the second CD where you can see all the musicians intertwining their instruments and sounding realy tight while spontaneous. A most for lovers of improvisation and for anybody that want some new ideas on music.
Favorite tracks: Both CDs	Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

PITCHBLACK - NO SYMPATHY LEFT (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Jeppe HAsenus
	Tracks: 1- The Sound of Tomorow, 2- Where the Secrets Lie, 3- Engaged, 4- Satanic Majesty, 5- As I Close My Eyes
Cover Art by Malou Christensen	Recorded at Rytmikc Konservatorium
A really good combination between death metal in its more rhythmic vein with other styles syuch as heavy metal where the band feels comfortable adding melodies. And this melodies, combined with teh more aggressive side of the band are the trademark of PitchBlack and at the same time make each of the compositions here truly memorable (in fact many of them will stick in your mind, specially the parts with clean vocals). The guitars play rhythmic riffs and in the more climatic parts they make interesting arrangements that add melodies to PitchBlack´s music (including some twin riffing and other cool harmonies). The vocals have a lot of versatily going from growling to screaming and then to clean and back again. Every composition here is different from the other making the listening of the album a trully good experience. Pure metal with complete aggression and interesting ideas.
Favorite tracks: The five	Contact: thomastrold@hotmail.com

POIRE_Z + PHIL MINTON - Q (For 4 Ears Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: For 4 Ears Recs.
	Tracks: 1- W oder Q, 2- Q oder Z
Cover Art by Alex Hanimann and Norbert Möslang	Recorded at Musique Action
What would you do if I say to you that the first track of this recording is over 39 minutes long?? You probably would judge me crazy !!!! What if I say you that here you have plenty of electronics, processed voices and multiple sounds ?? Probably you would start to get curious about this album. And then I can say to you that this album is plenty of weird experimental ideas and it allows a lot of experimentation with sounds and noises. All of this combined with a cold feeling, almost industrial that sends chills down your spine while you are listening the heavy experimentation that this five guys deliver on this creative album. This is a live recording and you can feel as if you are watching the improvisations of this master musicians. Infinite ideas are found on this album. Extreme improvisation and experimentation with an eerie feeling
Favorite tracks: Both	Contact: www.for4ears.com

PREJUDICE - DOMINION OF CHAOS (Painkiller Recs., 2004)
	Produced By: Prejudice
	Tracks: 1- Suffer, 2- Unobtusive Hatebreed, 3- Undecided, 4- Obsolete, 5- Destructive Soul, 6- Convicted, 7- Resolved, 8- Remains
A couple of years ago we reviewed Prejudice’s previous album, a showcase of brutal metal. This one is even more powerful and with more interesting arrangements in the riffs and the rhythms. That does not mean that the band has become any lighter: this album is as heavy as the previous one but her you can feel the evolution that the band has suffered in this time, specially soundwise. The guitars here are more compact and also more effective than on the previous recording. Plus the band’s main trademark, that is the multiple changes in riffs is still here and even more evident than before. The vocals are guttural and clear and they give a lot of energy to the music contained on this album. This is pure blasting power coming directly from Belgium to your musical equipment. Full volume here is a must !!!
Favorite tracks: "Undecided", "Obsolete" and "Remains"	Contact: www.prejudice.be or www.painkiller.be

PRESENT - Nº 6 (Carbon 7 Recs., 2003)
	Mixing By: Udi Koomran
	Tracks: 1-4 The Limping Little Girl Parts 1 to 4, 5- Le Rodeur, 6- , 7-12 Ceux Dén Bas (Suite) Parts 1 to 6, 13- Sworlf
Cover Art by Els Van Hemelryck	Recorded at Noise Studio
This is what I call an indescriptible album. Yes, the variations in the different compositions are so much that you can not label this band. All you can say is that is extremely experimental. The first tracks reminded me a little bit of King Crimson (Discipline-era) but this band is not even similar to that one. Here everything is experimentation and you can fel the guitar searching new ways to surprise at each minute. It is amazing to see what this guys are capableofm doing with their instruments. The piano is restless creating multiple passages that twist and turn with the composition always mutating into something completely differeent, The rhythm section is really amazing and theya re one of those persons that you have to admire because of their technical skills and their capability of always changing. Pure experimentation with no boundaries !!
Favorite tracks: all the cd	Contact: www.carbon7.com

PROMAETHEUS UNBOUND - REFORGING PNEUMA (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Promaethean Unbound
	Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Gothic Vulture, 3- Dethroned, 4- Thanatos, 5- Astral Moonlight (at the edge of reality), 6- The Cannibal Naphidim
Cover Art by Promaethean Artworking Center	Recorded at Cellar Studio
A totally sick intro leads us into "Gothic Vulture" the first powerful track of this great death metal band. I mean, this guys go way beyond simple death metal but the vocals give a unique deathly approach to their music being powerful and guttural. But this guys can be considered progressive death metal too because of their excellent muscianship and because each of the tracks here has really amazing arrangements. Here the guitars add a lot of brutality but also interact cleverly delivering melodies and acoustic parts that change the mood of each track. Here, each composition is a world on its own and they are really well developed. There are many melodies here whose combination with the msot brutal parts are the essence of Promaetheus Unbound´s music creating many climatic passages. The sound of the recording is good making the guitars shine even in the aprts where the drumming is bestial full of double bass and at full speed. This is a must for any metal lover.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.promaetheus-unbound.com

PROMISES - FLIGHT TO FALL (PROMO)(Metal Breath Prods, 2003)
	Produced By: Metal Breath prods
	Tracks: 1- Last Letter, 2- Shadow Town, 3- Pain on the Soul Part II
Cover Art by Promises
"Last Letter" opens with some clean guitars that soon send you directly to the rhythmic riffs developed by the guys of Promises. Then come the clean vocals here that are essential to emphasize the dark feeling that the music here has. This band has some gothic elements in their music but they sound more powerful tahn the bands of the style having heavier guitars and some pure metal song structures. The drumming here is open enought to allow the guitars to change riffs and patterns and leave enough space for the vocal emlodies. There are really good guitar solos that add melody and dark feeling too to the music. This leaves you wanting to listen to the full album. A must have.
Favorite tracks: the three	Contact: www.volny.cz/metalbreath

PRONOIAN MADE - CHERUBIM (Azoth Arts, 2003)
	Produced By: Pronoian Made
	Tracks: 1- Appear and Laugh, 2- Koh-i-nor Part II, 3- Inner Circle, 4- The Storm, 5- The Secret, 6- Recurrence, 7- World Bizarre, 8- Last Respite, 9- Awedding Song (fragment)

First of all I have to say a prophecy: this guys will surely have a hit if they get a recording label with good promotion. Pronoian Made´s compositions are really dark but have a lot of melodies and hooks that make each of them extremely memorable and they are really rhythmic (just check "Koh-i-noor part II" to see what I am saying). One essential feature here is the good singer who is extremely versatile and knows how to transmit the feeling that the music needs on each part. The songs here are really well developed and they have been done in an interesting song fashion that allows the listener to follow them really closely. Plus, the recording has a really good sound, specially on the guitars that sound heavy when they have to sound aggressive and climatic when they have to deliver atmospheres, and also in the keyboards thata re essential here. A climatic release with possibilities of being one of the top bands of the style
Favorite tracks: "Appear and Laugh", "The Storm", "World Bizarre"	Contact: www.pronoianmade.com

PSEUDO BUDDHA - 3 MONTHS IN FAT CITY (Dog Fingers Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Pseudo Buddha
	Tracks: 1- September 6, 2- October 4, 3- November 1, 4- November 14
Cover Art by James Cobb
This is one of the most amazing albums I have ever heard. Here we have four amazing compositions with interesting ethereal (oriental sounding) melodies and atmospheres. Here everything is extremely grandiloquent and it amkes you feel like travelling through a nw world that you discover with each note, with each passage with each note played by the multiple instruments that you will find here. Here we have many flutes, saxes,lap steel guitar, percussion (with tablas, bongos, congas), ocarinas, and many more instruments that deliver passages of perfect musicianship. The four compositions are long and extremely well developed surprising you on each moment with the amazing melodies delivered here. This is for open minded people that can accept listening new ideas on each phrase having a lot of coherence in the development of the songs. This is a must !!!
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.pseudobuddha.com or www.dogfingers.com

PULSE 8 - DROP THE 8 BOMB (Independent, 2004)
	Produced By: Pulse 8
	Tracks: 1- The Fuse is Lit, 2- Drop the 8-Bomb, 3- What the Hell, 4- Air - (Wind Mix), 5- Raise Up Your Hands
Cover Art by Brad Borchers	Recorded at Audioasis
On las t isse we reviewed Pulse 8´s previous recording and now we have this "Drop the 8 Bomb". This album is a continuation of the previous one in a sense that it has a coherence with it. Soundwise this one is better (the mix is clearer, specially on the guitars) with clearer sound. The title track reminded me a little bit of Prong´s mid nineties albums but the similarity ends in some of the rhythms played here. Doug Carter is a versatile vocalist and he gives a lot of feeling to the four tracks (plus an intro) that this album has. The guitars give the heaviness to the music adding riff after riff developing powerful passages through all the recording. This is a good step forward for Pulse 8, a band that deserves soon a recording label to release their great compositions.
Favorite tracks: "Drop the 8-Bomb" and "What the Hell"	Contact: www.uwillpulse8.com

PUMP - AGAINST EVERYONE´S ADVICE (Neon Knights Recs, 2004)
	Produced By: Tommy Newton
	Tracks: 1- Dangerous, 2- Inside Out, 3- Wasted, 4- It´s too late, 5- Reckless, 6- Shake, 7- No fight- no glory, 8- No Fool like you, 9- I´m Free, 10- Waiting for the moment, 11- Heaven Cries (Blood Red Skies)
Cover Art by Pump	Recorded at Area 51 Studios
Eighties rocking metal is back !!!!! This band could have been in the late eighties and they would have been succesful. It is weird to see a label like Neon Knights releasing a band of the style. But, who knows...the music is rocking. And it has all the elements that make songs memorable: catchy choruses, catchy guitar riffs . Here we have eleven rocking songs that reminds me sometimes to the Michael Schenker Group, sometimes to Macalpine (in the "Eyes of the World" release). The good thing is that this guys are using a more modern sound and that takes them directly to 21 st century instead of 1988. I found this album enjoyable, specially because it has been a long time since I last listened an album from a band of this style. Rock ´n ´roll !!!!
Favorite tracks: "Dangerous", "Wasted" and "I´m Free"	Contact: www.black-attakk.de

RAJNA - HIDDEN TEMPLE (Holy Records, 2004)
	Produced By: Rajna
	Tracks: 1- Ranakpur, 2-Buried Philae, 3- He Lay He Lay, 4- Rujgir, 5- Dancing With Divinities, 6- Odyssey, 7- Kerata Breath, 8- Glorian, 9- Anakera, 10- Aswan, 11- Hidden Temple. Bonus tracks: 12- Bihar, 13- Glorian (Instrumental), 14- Odyssey (remix)
Cover Art by Rajna
Here is the new Rajna album !!! As always this band delivers incredibly climatic compositions where the main ingredient is the voice of Jeanne, one of the most beautiful voices in the extreme music scene. Musically Rajna goes along the same path as bands like Dead Can Dance but with a more eastern sounding music background and with a darker feeling in their compositions. Here there are eleven excellent yet enigmatic compositions full of melodies and enchanting arrangements plus three bonus tracks and a video of the track "Kalos Irtes". Here every note is full of magnetism and of ancient feelings coming directly from the Egypt concept that this album has. The instruments shine but always Jeanne´s vopice is the main attraction here. This album is a must and it leaves you wanting more from this band.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: holyrecords@wanadoo.fr

RAVENOUS - BLOOD DELIRIUM (Red Stream Recs, 2004)
	Produced By: The Ravenous
	Tracks: 1- Razor Blade Salvation, 2- Mordum, 3- August Underground, 4- Core Whore, 5- Baptized by Demons Puke, 6- Nightmares in a Damaged Brain, 7- Festering Beneath the Fog, 8- A Corpse is Forever, 9- Blood Delirium, 10- Spawned by Ghoul Insemination, 11- You Will Be Eaten Alive
Cover Art by Cristie Whiles	Recorded at Woowoo Studios
Here we have the new release of this ex Autopsy guys and I have to say that some parts of this album have returned me to the "Mental Funeral" times. Yes, the extreme burst of noise, the raw sound, the faster parts reminded me of the best Autopsy material and here we have also plenty of the slower doomy parts that were essential to that band´s sound. I would like the band to mix louder and clearer the guitars and the drums in order to be even more powerful. Killjoy´s and Chris Reifert´s vocals are as always really putrid and Danny Coralles guitars sound as distorted and blasting as ever. Ravenous is already a classic band that plays old school music and where there is not that much surprise but whose music is always enjoyable.
Favorite tracks: "Baptized by Demons Puke", "Blood Delirium" and "Nightmares..."	Contact: www.redstream.org

ROOM No. 13 - BORN FASTER (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Room No 13
	Tracks: 1- Born Faster, 2- Blood Too Thick, 3- Big Screen Big Lie
Cover Art by Room No 13	Recorded at Harrow Studios and The Bunker
Surely this guys have achieved their own sound: here we have heavy yet ultra rhythmic riffs in tracks like "Born Faster" that wouldn´t be out of place in a Cathedral or Entombed release (and even more rhythmical), combined with really screaming and extreme vocals that add a death emtal feeling to the music. The crushing guitars are the essence here and you can feel them smashing your brain with their power track after track. There is sort of a seventies influence in the track "Born Faster" but done with a really mdern sound and the deathly atmosphere they have turned it into a Room No 13 sound. For my taste the first tracks sounds less raw but better mixed and I think that is the way the band has to sound (tracks 2 and 3 are louder and I liked that too, so maybe talking the track"Born Faster" and pumping up the volume a little bit could be well for getting the ideal Room No 13 sound). There you can feel the open drumming that allows the ideas to flow and the guitar arrangements. A crushing release that leaves you wanting more rom this band.
Favorite tracks: the three	Contact: www.roomno13.tk

ROYAL ANGUISH - MYSTERION (Sounds of the Dead Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Matt Knowles
	Tracks: 1- One Last time, 2- Atmosphere, 3- Come Run With Me, 4- Homeland, 5- My Own Despair, 6- Haunted Whispers, 7- I Close My Eyes, 8- Autumn Sorrow, 9- Green Pastures Await, 10- I Close My Eyes (Moonlight Version)

This is surely ana amazing album!! Matt Knowles and Anthony Smith are the two members of Royal Anguish. Smith plays drums and Knowles almos t everything else. Plus here they have multiple guest musicians doing female vocals, playing violin and adding guitar solos and clean vocals. Here they have developed a masterpiece of climatic dark metal with elements of black metal, death metal and amazing orchestration. I really liked the way in which the guitar melodies are developed here, with originality, reminding me in places of old Paradise Lost but used in a completely different way. And the guitars construct many passages and the main structure of the compositions that alter are heavily harmonized by the keys or the violin. The sound of the recording is good and that embellishes a lot the compositions. This album is trully a masterpiece and I think this guys deserve to release more of their great compositions soon (I´m being selfish because I want to listen more from them really soon !!)
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.sotdrecords.com or www.royalanguish.com

SARUMAN - RIDE ON THE DARKSIDE (Black Attack Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Saruman
	Tracks: 1- The Dragonslayer (intro), 2- New Demon Spawn, 3- Take the Razorblade, 4- The Queen of the Damned, 5- Endless Winter, 6- Ride on the Darkside, 7- The Night Masquerade
Cover Art by	Recorded at
A keyboard / piano intro opens this climatic yet brutal album with some use of vilin on it before the band gets into the most brutal of the death/black metal style in "New Demon Spawn", a burst of energy and aggression . This band combines cleverly the aggression and bestiality of death metal with the obscure feeling and atmospheres of black metal. There are also some ultr rhythmic riffs such as the one at 1:02 of "New Demon Spawn" that are really thrash metal but with a deathly attitude that. The combination of brutality with the use of violins and strings is the essence of Saruman´s music and I think that gives a lot of identity to the band´s music. Plus, the use of keyboards and strings is essential to add melancholic ideas in a world of brutality such as the one Saruman delivers here. The vocals here are sometimes really of the guttural type, and sometimes more of the blck emtal type of screaming. The mix is good, yet raw allowing the band to perform their music in a fully audible way. A must
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.black-attakk.de

SAURON - UNIVERSE OF FILTH (Dark Horizon Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Sauron and Hans Pieters
	Tracks: 1- Sauron. Death.Squad, 2- Viral Genocide, 3- Vision of Murder, 4- The Cancer Above, 5- This World Shall Burn, 6- Compulsion to Kill, 7- The Filth that Breeds, 8- Into Hell, 9- Universe Turned Necropolis
Cover Art by Ludas and Joël Sta	Recorded at Excess Studio
Sauron is pure brutality in a black metal context. And one element that sets this band apart from the others in the styles is the amazing brutality in the guitar riffs and in the drumming athta are not common in black metal. The guitar riffs are really fast and devastating (the guitar sound is really good here making things more bestial if that is possible). The drumming is really intense and almost superhuman in the fastest parts. The blast beats are everywhere but despite being played at the speed of light they are tight and tidy thanks to the good technique that this drummer has. The vocals are of the screaming types but spitted with utter aggression. And the sound of the recording is really clear adding a good sound to the unholy aggression of the band. One of the most aggressive releases of the year.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.darkhorizon666.com or Eclipske@hotmail.com

SCREAMING SHADOWS - BEHIND THE MASK (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Screaming Shadows
	Tracks: 1- Leave us here, 2- Eyes of the night, 3- Come Inside, 4- I want you to burn, 5- Dark Shadows, 6- Another War Cry, 7- Pain and Tears, 8- I´ll Find My Freedom, 9- Voices, 10- The Cry of the King

This is pure heavy/power metal with influences of bands such as Helloween or even Iron Maiden. This guys have taken the best bands in the classical heavy metal vein and they have mixed them together into their own style. Here we have vocals closer to Michael Kiske´s but with some Rob Halford´s influences too (killer high pitches!!) with heavier riff and interesting twin guitar melodies. The guitar riffs are powerful and the rhythm section is really tight. There are some thrash influences too in some of the guitar riffs and some of the rhythms used here. One of the main things here are the guitar melodies and also the interesting guitar solos that show virtuosism in their playing. The sound of the recording is raw and that adds a different feeling to the band´s music because it is completely different from bands of the style that use an extremely polished sound. This is a pure heavy metal band whose name will be heard in the future.
Favorite tracks: "Leave us here", "Dark Shadows" and "Pain and Tears"	Contact: www.screamingshadows.com

SEWN SHUT - SEWN SHUT (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Sewn Shut
	Tracks: 1- Stomach for Blood, 2- Pity, 3- Victim
Cover Art by Sewn Shut
Three tracks are enough to show us what this band is capable of deliering: pure violent and aggressive metal full of double bass drumming and killer technical riffs that emphasize the heavier than fuck rhythms that are the trademark of Sewn Shut´s music. The vocals are really aggressive in a style of death metal, being clear and guttural at the same time and following the feeling of the composition. The guitars here have a really big sound that is essential for the band´s heaviness (I would have mixed them just a little bit louder...at the level of the drums). The three compositions here are really well developed showing a really tight band that knows how to add heavy riff after heavy riff and making each song a blasting experience. If you want aggression you should check Sewn Shut.
Favorite tracks: The three	Contact: www.sewnshut.com

SHE SAID DESTROY - DEMO 2003 (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: She Said Destroy
	Tracks: 1- The Eternal Burden, 2- Tourist Spokesmodel, 3- Love, loss and Failure, 4- Dead End Aorta
Cover Art by Tax Caruha
"The Eternal Burden" opens rhythmically this album from this norwegian band. The music here has incredible riffs transforming death metal into something new with influences of other styles such as pure heavy metal. The vocals are realy extreme in the death metal vein but the music goes beyond the style, always changing in rhythm and always developing new ideas within each of the tracks. And this changes plus the catchy riffs make the compositions really memorable, and also add a certain atmosphere to the tracks that I find really introspective. The band is really solid and has the technical skills that allows them to switch from one rhythm to the other fluently. The recording has a good yet raw sound and the mix is clear in all instruments giving even more power to the music. A really original release
Favorite tracks: The four	Contact: http://shesaiddestroy.norge.cc

SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION - MOON 2002 NOCTURNAL BREED (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Six Degrees of Separation
	Tracks: 1- Invitation, 2- Prayer, 3- The Whisperer, 4- Nightbreath, 5- Dream and Reality, 6- Moon and Lust, 7- Seeds of Evil, 8- Nameless Forever, 9- On wings of long slow dreams, 10- Immortal Sins / Succubus Nights, 11- Raven Comes..., 12- We shall start the fire, 13- Across the Unseen Border
Cover Art by Dr. X	Recorded at Studio Shaark
This is one hell of an amazing band !! How can you combine so perfectly heavy guitar riffs, blasting drumming and amazing orchestrating keyboards. And the keyboards here are really essential generating moments of real darkness and melancholy within each of the compositions here, even in the heavier ones. With a female voice that is extremely powerful reminding me in some places to old Chastain singer Leather Leone and sounding more climatic in other parts where the composition needs it. This woman has a big vocal range fitting perfectly each of the passages here and interacting cleverly with a male voice. The drumming here is really complex combining really fast moments with some more twisted patterns in order to achieve the great rhythms used here. And everything here has a feeling of darkness that is the essence of the band´s music. The sound of the recording is really good and that makes the results heree even more effective. This album is what I call a masterpiece.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.triotus.com

SIX FING THING - SELF-PORTRAIT AS A VENERABLE SHRUB (Dog Fingers Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: James H. Sidlo
	Tracks: 1- The basic Nobility of a small boy, 2- Logorrhea/Passing back and forth the same old fish/the bleeding heart of the blue bottle, 3- Banana tree roots with ants, 4- Theme for a collapsed blue civilization, 5- Self-portrait as a venerable shrub, 6- Slaves of Time, 7- Wisdom, 8-The Deep pain of the Dung Beetle, 9- Wisdom Returns.
	Recorded at The Six Fingers Club
This album is really incredible. Pure experimentation within a context that sometimes is rock, sometimes jazz but it is always progressive giving new directions to the music here. One of the main things here is the way in which this amazing band delivers atmospheres through all the recording while and here it is essential the combination of the sound of keyboards, guitar and sax. Each instrument performs different lines and progressions but they all mantain a coherence in the developing of melodies and passages that is the essence of this recording. I have to say that you can listen this album over and over again and you will always find something new. Some passages reminded me of old King Crimson stuff but taken to a more extreme side. This is a must for any lover of experimental music and for anyone that has an open mind and that wants to lsiten some original music with good musicianship and interesting ideas.
Favorite tracks: All the CD.	Contact: www.6fingers.com or www.dogfingers.com

SLANG - LOS LOCOS (Carbon 7 Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Carbon 7
	Tracks: 1- Slang, 2- Essaouira, 3- Bichique, 4- Crazy, 5- Espejo del Alma, 6- Do you Think I Should?, 7- Itham, 8- Wank, 9- 3 of Us, 10- Los Locos
	Recorded at Rising Sun Studio
For those who doesn´t know thm Slang plays creative and original jazz/fusion with intersting percussion (sometimes very latin) and with heavy interaction between the sax lines and the bass lines. There is a lot of experimentation here with improvised sax lines that find really melodic arrangements to do and that always catch the lsitener´s attention with new twists. The bass lines are really solid and this is a showcase that the bass can be sort of a companion but that also can be used heavily to do arrangements and melodic phrases. Each of the tracks has a different feeling and that is great for this album because you are always waiting what is coming next. Really good music with extremely good musicianship.
Favorite tracks: "Slang", "Crazy" and "Wank"	Contact: www.carbon7.com

SORATH - VIVIMOS EN PERPETUA GUERRA (PROMO) (Metal breath Prods, 2004)
	Produced By: Sorath
	Tracks: 1- The Legions of Baphomets, 2- In teh Loathsome Cradle of Wicked Christians
Cover Art by Metal breath Prods
The main element here are the clever guitar riffs that add sort of a more thrash oriented feeling to the black/death metal that this band delivers on this album. Here you have plenty of this riffs designed in order to give extreme power to the music while adding a different dark feeling to the music here. Here you have a combination of energy, brutality and darkness. One of the main things here are the dark guitar melodies that act as a separation between brutal parts giving a lot of coherence to the brutality and rounding up excellent compositions. I have to remark the good sound that this recording has, specially on the guitars and drums. A completely recomendable album to any lover of dark metal.
Favorite tracks: the three	Contact: www.volny.cz/metalbreath

SPADE SHOVEL ATROPHY - (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Spade Shovel Atrophy
	Tracks: 1- Self Inflicted, 2- Torso, 3- Mindless Lifeless, 4- New Bruises
Cover Art by Spade Shovel Atrophy
A climatic guitar riff opens this CD with a strange haunting melody that is later combined with heavier guitars that enters to add brutality in the music here. The track "Self Inflicted" starts to get faster and faster and soon it goes into realy brutal death with blast beats and guttural vocals. And that is what this guys deliver here: pure bestiality full of crushing riffs, with really intense drumming and with original ideas. Here the vocals are really guttural adding even more extreme feeling to the music. There are some melodies here and there in the riffs and that allows a small break before getting into full brutality again. The sound of this recording is really raw but with a lot of impact in the listener through the distorted guitars and the almost live drums. This is what I call a bestial recording !!!
Favorite tracks: "Torso" and "Mindless Lifeless"	Contact: spadeshovelatrophy@hotmail.com

STAN TRACEY / EVAN PARKER - SUSPENSIONS AND ANTICIPATIONS (Psi Recs., 2004)
	Produced By: Martin Davidson
	Tracks: 1- A Nice Slice, 2- Nicely placed, 3- Step, 4- Knuckle Shuffle, 5- Terms and Conditions Apply, 6- New Fork (for Newk), 7- Suspensions and Anticipations, 8- Special Purpose, 9- Skevington´s Daughter, 10- Kite, 11- Maggot
Cover Art by Caroline Forbes	Recorded at Gateway Studios
Contrasting melodies developed by both musicians this recording showsd the world of improvisations that Evan Parker and Stan Tracey can create with sax and piano respectively. Here we have eight duets and some interesting solo piece where each of the musicians can show their skills in improvising and in creating different moods and feelings. On tracks like "A nice slice" Evan Parker develops interesting slow melodies full of sentiment against Tracey´s piano chord progressions, and later thepiano shows interesting passages while Parker improvises along with it. On the solo tracks you can listen this two musicians creating on their own interesting song structures with real spontaneity. Good improvisation with a lot of melodies that can wake up different feelings on the listener.
Favorite tracks: "Skevington´s Daughter", "Terms and conditions..." and "Suspensions..."	Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

STERNENSTAUB - DESTINATION: INFINITY (Black Attakk Recs., 2004)
	Produced By:
	Tracks: 1- Darkness and Stars, 2- The Mnd´s Eye, 3- Shadows in My Heart, 4- Astronomica, 5- Distant Spheres, 6- Frozen Tears, 7- The Eternal Slumber, 8- Destination: Infinity
Cover Art by	Recorded at
Full of orchestration black metal is what you will find here. I mean, this is the sort of music that has elements of blakc metal in the extremely dark feeling and in the vocals but musically has a lot of changes and arrangements that transforms the music into a completely original concept. Sternenstaub delivers here eight tracks full of heavy guitars and passages combined with an excellent and intelligent use of the keyboards that are essential here to orchestrate each passage, to add sadness, anguish and desolation to the brutality that the guitars have already achieved. The vocals are of the screaming black metal type and are perfect for the music that the album contains. The band sounds tight and I have to remark the role of the drummer with good double bass drumming and accentuation of the riffs. The mix of the album si good, as the album needs, specially on the keyboards. A really magnificent yet extremely dark release
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.black-attakk.de

SUDDEN DEATH - DEVOURED INSIDE (Kick Promotion Agency, 2004)
	Produced By: Stefano Morabito
	Tracks: 1- Jesus 666, 2- Bloodbath, 3- The charge of the light brigade, 4- God Damn, 5- Devil, 6- Death like symphony, 7- Sudden death
	Recorded at Silent Sound Studio
What a brutal band !!! Starting with an almost grindcore part in the beginning of "Jesus 666" the band turns then into the most brutal of death metals delivering blast beats . The drummer has a good knowledge of double bass drumming and of ride cymbal passages that enhance each of the riffs played here by this crushing guitarists. There are parts that the band could use more that for my taste are the heaviest and fit perfectly the soul of te band adding even more heaviness, such as the one at 0:40 in "Blood Bath". The vocals are really guttural here adding ultra brutality to the music (I mean, the music is already brutal but when this lung growler is added things turn even more bestial). The sound is raw yet clear giving more power to the band making each instrument fully audible even in the fastest parts. One of the most extreme releases of the month.
Favorite tracks: "Jesus 666", "God Damn" and "Death Like Symphony"	Contact: www.kickagency.com

TENGKORAK - KONSENTRASI MASSA (Bloodbath Recs., 2003)
	Produced By: Krisna J.S. and I.R.S:
	Tracks: There are 26 devastating tracks here,some of them taken from the 7" split that the abnd did with Cerebral Turbulency
Cover Art by Ombat Grafhz	Recorded at Magenta Studios
This is a trully death metal bancd coming directly from Indonesia. Their music is really brutal with elements that reminded me of Napalm Death´s "Harmony Corruption" or "Utopia Banished". Here you will find crushing riffs with strong emphasis on the ones that are more rhythmic and that makes the music more brutal. You will find guttural voices that gives bestiality to each of the lyrics that are spit here. And I have to reamrk the good drumming that you will find here too: full of double bass, with some blast beats but above all with intelligence in order to play the exact rhythm at the exact time. The sound of the recording is good yet raw, specially on the guitars that sound huge making things more deathly and brutal. This is a really aggressive release.
Favorite tracks: "Asap Tebal", "Cacat Politik" and "Bencana Moral"	Contact: www.bloodbath.jp or http://tengkorak.8m.com

THE FINAL SIGN - DON´T FORGET THE HATE IS BACK (Independent, 2004)
	Produced By: The Final Sign
	Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Götterwein, 3- Fear the Djin, 4- 9 mm, 5- Ewigkeit
Cover Art by Stoffel
The Final Sign is a band that has extremely distorted guitars but at the same time knows how to manage dark atmospheres cleverly. Here you will find fast riffs and drumming that is fast but not blast beating and at the same time you will find an orchestrating keyboards whose arrangements when combined with the guitars are the essence of the music here. The vocals are of the screaming type most of the time but there are also some guttural ones in the msot extreme parts. But the main thing here is the combiantion of aggression with a dark atmosphere that turns the compositions into dark passages full of power. There are also some slower passages such as the ones in the beginning of "Ewigkeit" that makes things even darker.The sound of the recording is very very raw and I think that probably mixing the guitars and the keys louder could be a good point to follow for this band. This is a really extreme and at the same time innovative album with many powerful ideas.
Favorite tracks: "Götterwein" and "Ewigkeit"	Contact: www.thefinalsign.de

THE FUNERAL PYRE - OCTOBER (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: The Funeral Pyre
	Tracks: 1- A Gradual Awakening, 2- World of Vengeance, 3- Isengard Unleashed
Cover Art by The Funeral Pyre
Three fast and dark tracks introduce us into the world of The Funeral Pyre. This band have cleverly combined death metal riffs and rhythms witha more black metal oriented feeling creating this three good compositions full of rhythm and tempo changes. Really extreme vocals fit perfectly the feeling of the music here adding this extreme dark feeling to the excellent guitar riffs that are developed here. The songs are fast with incredibly fast drumming full of double bass passages but there is space for some melodies here and there that add a different feeling to the music. The sound of the recording is good yet raw and it is clealy mixed showing all the elments thata re characteristic of this band´s music. Pure darkness within a brutal context.
Favorite tracks: the three	Contact: www.thefuneralpyre.com

THE GATHERING - SOUVENIRS (Psychonaut Records, 2003)
	Produced By: Zlaya Hadzich
	Tracks: 1- These Good People, 2- Even the spirits are afraid, 3- Broken Glass, 4- You learn about it, 5- Souvenirs, 6- We just stopped breathing, 7- Monsters, 8- Golden grounds, 9- Jelena, 10- A life all mine, 11- Debris
	Recorded at E-Sound
Well, here is the newest release by thi8s amazing dutch band and is like a continuation of their previous albums, with some similarities to "How to measure a planet?". Here everything goes arrounf Anneke Van Giesbergen´s vocals and the atmospheres that the guitars deliver on all compositions. Anneke´s vocals is every time more ethereal finding new tonalities to explore in the songs. Here we don´t have the power of "Mandylion" or "Nightime Birds" but instead we have a more introspective sound with exploration of different textures along the compositions. What can I say about the sound? It is almost perfect: the guitars, drums and voices are perfectly and clearly mixed. This is a step in a different path for The Gathering, an always evolving band.
Favorite tracks: "These good people", "Broken Glass" and "Golden grounds"	Contact: www.psychonautrecords.com or www.gathering.nl

THE OATH - PRESAGES....& TENEBRES (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: The Oath
	Tracks: There are eight killer tracks here
Cover Art by The Oath
This band has cleverly combined elements of death metal and thrash metal into their own music. There are elements influenced by bands like Carcass or even Kreator that can be found here but the band has his own identity with their heavy and variated guitar riffs and with a drummer that prefers to emphasize the feelings instead of just playing fast parts (this guy gives a really cool feeling to the rhythms retaining all the control that is needed in order to sound heavier). The guitars play original riffs and thta is the essence of The Oath´s music, this incredible guitars that are really fluently and that know how to change from mood to mood in order to add a lot of variation to the music. The sound is a little bit muddy and I think that with a better sound the band can sound even heavier. This is really powerful music and we want more from The Oath.
Favorite tracks: Tarcks 4, 6 and 7	Contact: theoath@free.fr

THE SUTRAS - THOUSANDAIRE (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: The Sutras and Matt Saccuccimorano
	Tracks: 1- Prelude to "Thousandaire", 2- Hiatus, 3- Beat Me Up, 4- The things I Carry, 5- Black Beauty, 6- T.F.C., 7- You´re Not the Man, 8- Pregnant Again, 9- Ballrooms on Mars, 10- Theme from "Thousandaire", 11- Nepotism, 12- Montenegro, 13- Heroes Go Down, 14- Whippets of Mass Destruction
Cover Art by Anonymous	Recorded at Electric Wilburland Studio
This guys surely can have soon a hit with some of the tracks here !!! For example, the track "Hiatus" for me has the potential to become soon a hit. This guys succesfully blend rocking elements with a pop attitude creating SONGS with capital letters. Plus they have some melancholic feeling that in some parts reminded me to Pink Floyd. Plus, the compositions are original having in them many parts that are cleverly developed one into another. The combination of distorted guitars and clean ones is one signature of this band, while the clean vocals that have a definitely pop feeling is another one. But the main thing here are the memorable songs that will soon stick into your mind with their choruses and arrangements. If this band can get a recording deal soon, they can surely ahve a hit in the charts. That can be "Hiatus" or "You´re not the Man".
Favorite tracks: "Beat Me Up", "Black Beauty" and "Nepotism"	Contact: www.thesutras.com

THRONED - ...THERE WHERE THE MOON RISES (Black Tears of Death Prods., 2004)
	Produced By: Throned and BTOD Prods.
	Tracks: 1- Introduction, 2- In Front of the Golden Throne, 3- The Mist Rising from the River, 4- ....There Where the Moon Rises
	Recorded at Twilight Studio
This is pure black metal. As one can expect from this style you will have the darkest of all feelings in the music. Plus here we have many climatic parts thata re combined with the heaviest parts delivering three tracks (plus an intro) that leave you wanting more from this powerful black band. There are many fast parts like the ones in the beginning of the "...There where the moon rises" track. But the main thing here is the combination of this utter aggressive parts with the more climatic parts. And here is where the band shows all what they are capable of doing. And you can imagine this killer band on stage delivering their unholy music to the people devastating everyone. I have to remark the versatility of Astraghon´s vocals that are climatic and extreme where the composition needs it. The sound of the recording is raw but is really clear making the guitars specially powerful (many black metal bands should learn this). Pure black emtal with originality and good musicianship.
Favorite tracks: The four	Contact: www.btod.com or www.throned.ontheweb.com

TODTGELICHTER - FLUCH / SOG IN DEN WAHNSINN (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Todtgelichter
	Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Fluss der Dual, 3- Seelenfahrt, 4- Ende Einer Existenz, 5- Uralte Schatten, 6- Existenz und Nichts, 7- Die Tägliche Wandlungz, 8- Outro
Cover Art by Todtgelichter
A harpsichord intro opens up with ghostly sounds this extremely dark album. Then comes the black metal storm that this band delivers through the whole recording. There is no music that can reflect sorrow, hate and pain as well as Todtgelichter´s. Every note here is played in order to achieve the darker of musics. The guitar riffs are fast but at the same time deliver an obscure environment that is the essence of the band´s music. You can feel darkness surround you slowly and asphyxiating you while listening the music that this blasphemic guys have created. The melodies are really ethereal and full of sorrow. And this melodies set the band apart from any other band of the style. The sound of the recording is raw but the instruments are fully audible. Pure black metal with good musicianship and compositional skills for black hearts in need of a dose of sorrow.
Favorite tracks: "Fluss der Dual", "Existens und Nichts" and "Uralte Schatten"	Contact: www.todtgelichter.de

TOMAS KORBER / ERIKM / TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA / OTOMO YOSHIHIDE - BRACKWATER (For 4 Ears Recs, 2004)
	Mixed By: Tomas Korber
	Tracks: 1- Brackwater, 2- And a slice of Bread
Cover Art by Steinbrüchet	Recorded at The former state prison of sion
This is uttermost experimentation with noises and sounds. Here we have two long tracks (one over 22 minutes and the other one over 17) full of sounds that sometimes are closer to white noise and sometimes are more rhytmic and sometimes more like an atmosphere in the album. But everything here is clever experimentation from four guys that know really well how to be musically spontaneous. Here you have guitars (almost unrecognizible), electronics, mixing boards and turn tables...and everything is used to add incredible new sounds to both compositions. The two tracks start slow but get into a faster experimentation pace up to a climax. It is incredible to see how this guys remain coherent after delivering sound after sound after noise. Pure experimentation with good developing of this spontaneous tracks.
Favorite tracks: Both	Contact: www.for4ears.com

TOMB - BLACK CRYPT WORSHIP (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Tomb
	Tracks: 1- Spiritual Dominance, 2- Black Crypt Worship, 3- No longer Hidden, 4- Omnipotent Slaughter, 5- Peine Forte et Dure, 6- Rekindle the Essence of Death

This is authentic black crypt metal !! And this means that this is one of the darkest forms of music all over the planet !!. Yes, and this is not only screams and raw guitars play at full speed. In fact, many parts such as the whole "Omnipotent Slaughter" are medium paced but Tomb has managed to create this darkness with the use of sound effects, with a programmed drums that gives an extremely cold feeling to the music and with a lot of imagination in order to allow the keyboards to do this amazing atmospheres. And this obscure atmospheres are the essence of Tomb´s music making a lot of extreme black metal bands sound like commercial pop music. The vocals on this album are really extreme and they fit perfectly the rest of the music . The sound of the recording is raw but this is not an impediment for the dark atmospheres to arrive clearly to the listener. One more thing: this album leaves you wanting more from this really extreme band and I hope that in the near future I will liste4n more of their darkest than hell music.
Favorite tracks: "Black Crypt Worship", "Omnipotent Slaughter"	Contact: embalmed@voicenet.com

UNJUST - GLOW (Copro Records / Koolarrow Recs., 2004)
	Produced By: Unjust
	Tracks: 1- Paper Planets, 2- Thrown Pennies, 3- Way Out, 4- Tired, 5- Facepaint, 6- Falling, 7- Meantime, 8- Closure, 9- Knuckles, 10- Naming the Monster, 11- Notes from a Sunday Morning, 12- Capital, 13- Myrom, 14- Room 5

What wrong was I when I thought this album was calm while listening to the clean guitar arpeggios that were on the beginning of this album. Then came the heavy guitars and a combiantion of melodic but powerful vocals and really extreme ones. THis album is a good blaance between climatic moments and extremely heavy passages. One remarkable thing is the hability of the band to create memorable songs with killer riffs and good arrangements that make each song a burst of energy and at the same time a song that you can recognize easily while listening to it. There is good keyboards work here that enhances the more climatic passages and adds atmosphere to the heaviest ones. I have to remark that the album has really good sound making things heavier. A great combination of brutal and climati music !!!
Favorite tracks: "Thrown Pennies", "Closure" and "Capital"	Contact: www.coprorecords.co.uk or www.unjust.com

UNREAL OVERFLOWS - POINT OF A NEW DEPARTURE (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Unreal Overflows
	Tracks: 1- A real overflow, 2- Godforsaken, 3- The Unavoidable passage of time, 4- In Darkness I Dwell
Cover Art: Fran´s Daughter Ecography	Recorded by Jose Moldes
Clean guitars with a good leavd guitar melody opens this MCD before getting into "Godforsaken", a track full of brutality and fast drumming. And the combination of death metal riffing with more technical moments is the essence of Unreal Overflows music. The guitars add some melodies and multiple arrangements that turns the song structure into something mroe complex and everchanging. Here the vocals reminded me of Max Cavalera ...that is extreme yet clear vocals that add power to the music in every second. There is really good musicianship here and you can feel the rhythm section playing really complex parts. The sound of the recording is really good and in your face, specially the louder than hell guitars that are devastating. A must.
Favorite tracks: all the CD	Contact: unrealoverflows@yahoo.es

VALAK - FROM THE GLOOMY SKY (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Valak
	Tracks: 1- New Angel, 2- Let Commit Suicide, 3- Race through the death Part One, 4- Race through the death Part Two
	Recorded at Fear Studios
An eerie sounding intro leads us into the climatic yet extreme world of Valak´s music. And this is for sure a darker than hell world. Well, I have to describe Valak´s music I would say that it is climatic black metal with some fast parts but with strong emphasis on the dark arrangements and the sad feeling that all the compositions here have. The compositions here are long (three of the four here have more than eight minutes) and are well developed. The lead guitar is essential here and the guitarist shows how blakc metal can be done with really good taste and good note placement in order to deliver tracks full of darkness. This is what I call pure sadness and aggression
Favorite tracks: The four tracks.	Contact: www.valak.tk

WATAIN - CASUS LUCIFERI (Drakkar Productions, 2003)
	Produced By: Watain
	Tracks: 1- Devil´s Blood, 2- Black Salvation, 3- Opus Dei (The Morbid Angel), 4- Puzzles ov Flesh, 5- I am the Earth, 6- The Golden Horns of Darash, 7- From the pulpits of abomination, 8- Casus Luciferi
Cover Art by Watain
We reviewed last year Watain[s previous recording showing the blackest and rawest of metals. This time, with a better sound, Watain delivers eight tracks of blasphemic black metal with ultra fast riffs , faster than the speed of light blast beats. The guitars are reallyn fast and with the better sound that this recording has they sound heavier and I thin k this is then way the band has to follow: to make their guitars heavier , louder and better mixed each time in order to become the bestial black metal for excellence band. There are a lot of tempo changes here but always the darker than hell feeling that this band delivers remains as a signature of tis band. Unholy black metal with crushing sound
Favorite tracks: "Opus Dei", "I am the Earth", and " Casus Luciferi"	Contact: drakkar2@wanadoo.fr or www.grimrune.com/watain

WITHERING - GOSPEL OF MADNESS (Firebox Recs./Warhorse Recs, 2004)
	Produced By: Withering
	Tracks: 1- Northern Breeze, 2- Quarrelsome, 3- On Death´s Colour, 4- Two Suns, 5- Reborn, 6- Mausoleum, 7- Penance, 8- The Feeble Morning, 9- Anguish of Frustration, 10- Justification for Unavoidable, 11- Not Yet the Last
Cover Art by Withering
Comng directly from Finland this band plays meldoic heavy death metal with interesting arrangements. Their music has many points in common with bands like Sentenced and with Paradise Lost (Icon/Draconian Times era) but is more aggressive than that of those bands. With a vocalist that is really death metal and has a really growling voice, the band delivers here eleven memorable tracks full of ideas. One of the main things here are the melodies, played against a wall of sound created by the heavy riffs. This melodies give a feeling of sadness to the music and at the same time make each of the songs completely memorable making it stick into your mind. There is good muscianship here and that allows the band to play all this arrangements fluently. The sound of the recording is a realy good one making things direct and in your face but keeping the quality that this band deserves.
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.firebox.fi

ZENITH - EVILUTION (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Zenith
	Tracks: 1- Give Me Til Tomorrow, 2- Imprisoned for Life, 3- What Do Ya Want
	Recorded at Hansen Studios
This is metal the way it must be done: with original ideas, with powerful rhythms and with an open mind that allos this danish band to make a fusion of elements of different metal styles and transform them into their own music. That is why here you will find crushing guitar riffs played very rhythmically in order to make songs really heavy and at the same time you will find a really versatile vocalist who can sound melodic yet enchanting and who knows how to give a certain feeling to each of the compositions. Plu there is a combination of guttural death metal voices with more melodic ones which are the essence of Zenith´s music. Also it is good to see how the drummer plays open patterns that allows the rest of teh band to develope their heaviness on each rhythm. The sound of the recording is really good. Thumbs up for this incredible danish band !!
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.zenithmetal.dk

ZNICH - ZAPAVIETY APOSNIAHA STARCA (Independent, 2003)
	Produced By: Znich
	Tracks: There are nine tracks with russian titles. Plus 2 video tracks
Cover Art by Znich
Here we have a really original music. Their music can be described as folk metal. Yes, they have many elements of russian folklore in their music and they combine this elements cleverly with heavy guitars and powerful rhythms. And the folk element is more evident in the vocals (done with a very aprticular harmonization between the male and the female voice) and in the melodic arrangements done with flutes and other odd instrumentation. Each of the songs here is really a masterpiece full of amazing ideas and despite this multiple arrnagements the music is always powerful even adding really extreme vocals in many places to contrast with the more melodic parts. The sound is powerful yet raw and I think that this band will soon get a good recording deal. A must have
Favorite tracks: All the CD	Contact: www.znich.org