
|
99 HOOKER´s - GENERICA |
|
| Label: Pax Recordings |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U.S.A. | |
|
Line Up: Ross Bonadonna - music Michael Evans - drums Donald Miller - guitars Jim Pletcher - DJ 99 Hooker - sax, vocals,etc Shazade Ismaily - bass Ray Sage - drums Mark Marinoff - reeds, jew harp |
|
|
Music by 99 Hooker Lyrics by 99 Hooker |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Frida Kahlo Klezmer 2- Voodoo U Luv 3- Cross Hairs 4- Hystory of Dumb Fuck 5- Tom Waits for No One 6- Route 666 7- Block Buster 8- The Word Became Flesh 9- Guys are Useless 10- Dream Sequences |
This is clever experimental music combined with melodies that make the listening of this album not as difficult as in many spontaneous music or experimental recordings. The tracks here are original and I specially liked the way in which the winds are used emphasizing certain parts. And the main structure that this compositions have are of pure jazz, used in an uconventional manner Some parts of the recording reminded me of old Frank Zappa (and some to Primus, mainly due to the vocals) but everything here has a lot of originality and the compsoitions are cleverly constructed in order to surprise but at the same time not to confuse the lsitener. Pure experimentation. |
| Cover Artwork by: 99 Hooker | |
|
Produced by 99 Hooker |
Contact: www.paxrecordings.com |
|
A PERFECT MURDER - UNBROKEN |
|
| Label: Victory Recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: | |
|
Line Up: |
|
|
Music by Chausse and Bouchard Arrangements by A Perfect Murder |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Jaded 2- Possessed 3- Time Bomb 4- Speak Without Faith 5- Slave to the Clock 6- Unbroken 7- No Truce 8- Eye for an Eye 9- Savior 10- Bouc Emmissaire 11- Die With Regret 12-No Pulse in my Veins 13-Another Day, another Plague |
A Perfect Murder starts fast and heavy smashing the listener´s brain with . Starting at full speed with "Jaded" before getting into a slower yet heavier pace, the band soon shows how capable of unleashing pure aggression they are. the vocals screamed at the top of the lungs are an essential feature here as the guitars that deliver riff after riff with machine like precission. there are some interesting and catchy melodies in "Possessed" that stick in your mind while tearing you down with the sheer power of the riffs. The drums reminded me a little bit to Fear Factory´s Raymond Herrera, and that is a high standard because they have a killer sound and are played really proficiently. The album is really well mixed and that is essential to achieve the level of intesity that the band wants. Pure aggression. |
| Cover Artwork by: Olfactiv | |
|
Recorded at Studio Nico Produced by Eric Rachel and A Perfect Murder |
Contact: www.victoryrecords.com |
|
A18 - DEAR FURIOUS |
|
| Label: Victory Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: | |
|
Line Up: Tom Stretton - bass, drums Mike Hartsfield - guitars Issac Golub - vocals |
|
|
Music by A18 Lyrics by A18 |
|
|
Tracks: 1- The Massive 2- Fire in the Hole 3- Stab you through Everything 4- Gravelines 5- The Soundtrack to a Glamorous Goodbye 6- Jailhouse rob 7- Misery Street 8- Dear Furious 9- Beating a Dead Horse 10- Marco Polo 11- Heartbreak Affiliated 12-We All Fall Down |
Sirens and alarms open this recording before A18 enter with their heavy riffs and their combination of modern metal with hardcore. The music here has rhythmic guitar riffs that are the essence of A18´s sound. This riffs are played with a really big guitar sound that gives a lot of power to the music. There are fast parts here but the emphasis is given to the heaviness of the rhythms, which are emphasized by the use of crash cymbals by the drummer, who is really solid here. the vocals are sort of a mix between the one used in bands like Biohazard and the classic hardcore voice, that is, not a clean one but not extremely guttural, more of the shouting type. One remarkable thing here is the good sound that the band has achieved by mixing correctly the album. Pure energy. |
| Cover Artwork by: Facey | |
|
Recorded at For The Record Studio Produced by Paul Miner and A18 |
Contact: www.victoryrecords.com |
|
ACHERON - DECADE INFERNUS 1988- 1998 |
||
| Label: Black Lotus Recs. |
|
|
| Year: 2004 | ||
| Style: Satanic death metal | ||
|
Line Up: Vincent Crowley - bass, vocals Stacey Connoly - guitars Kyle Severn - drums |
||
|
Music by Acheron Lyrics by Acheron |
||
|
Tracks: CD1: 1- Thou Art Lord 2- God is Dead 3- Slaughterization for Satan 4- Blessed by Damnation 5- Immortal sigh 6- Let us Depart 7- Satanic Erotica 8- One with Darkness 9- Fuck the ways of Christ 10- Lifeforce 11- The Enochian Key 12-Six Six Six 13-Enter Thy Coven 14- Final Harvest 15-Ave Satanas 16- Prayer of Hell |
CD 2: 1- Out of Body 2-Alla Xul 3-To thee we confess 4-Shehamforash 5-Purification Day 6- Hekal Tiamat 7-Seven Deadly Sins 8-Cursed nazarene 9-Necromanteion Communion 10-Baptism for Devilyn Alexandra 11-Legions of Hatred 12- Unholy Praises 13-Summoning the Master 14-Voices Within 15-Undead Celebration 16- The Entity |
This is a 2 CD set featuring 36 tracks of pure Acheron music. Here you will find tracks from their first ten years of career, from the sheer brutality of the starter "Thou Art Lord" from 1991s "Rites of the Black mass" to the "Those who Have Risen" album. that is the rawest side of Acheron. Here you willf ind plenty of their satanic death metal that have made them already a classical band from hell. You can see here the evolution taht the band has suffered since their first recording that had a more typical death metal sound to the tracks from teh "Anti God - Anti Christ" album or the "Those Who Have Risen" albums with bette sound and with teh Acheron sound completely developed. This is a 2 CD set that appeal to any lover of the band and also to those ho don´t know the band because here they will find representative tracks from this classic bestial band. A must. |
| Cover Artwork by: Timo Wuerz | ||
|
Produced by Acheron |
Contact: www.black-lotus-recs.com | |
|
ACHERON - REBIRTH: METAMORPHOSING INTO GODHOOD |
|
| Label: Black Lotus Recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U.S.A. | |
|
Line Up: Vincent Crowley - vocals, bass Michael Estes - Lead and rhythm guitar Kyle Severn - drums and words |
|
|
Music by Acheron Lyrics by Vincent Crowley |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Chaos Invocation (intro) 2- Church of one 3- Xomaly 4- Bow before Me 5- The kindred 6- A Long time ago 7- Golgotha´s Truth 8- Betrayed (A Broken pact) 9- The 9th Gate 10- |
Acheron is a classic band that releases crushing album after crushing album and delivers here his latest offering previous to the 2CD compilation that shows many moments of their history. As always, Acheron shows the devastating riffs that are their trademark combining fast and more rhythmic ones in order to give identity to each track. Showing that Vincent Crowley´s extreme vocals (another of Acheron´s signatures) have become even more powerful with time (and they are better mixed than say in their clasic "Rites of the Black Mass"), the band delivers here nine tracks of pure satanic death metal with a lot of tightness and well rehearsed song structures. I find that the drums are better mixed on this album than in the previous releases of the band making things even more devastating. And here there are also the clever technical guitar solos that add a different flavor to the tunes while retaining all the aggression tat the band has. A powerful release from a classic extreme band |
| Cover Artwork by: Timo Wuerz | |
|
Recorded at Mars recording Compound Produced by Acheron |
Contact: www.black-lotus-recs.com |
|
AFTER DARK - AFTER DARK |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2003 | |
| Style: | |
|
Line Up: Wolfi - keyboards Ronny - bass Micha - drums Chris - guitar, back. voc. Heinz - vocals Alex - guitar, vocals Markus - solo guitar |
|
|
Music by Gerlich/Zürl Lyrics by Gerlich/Zürl |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Don´t Look Back 2- Du Bist So Kalt 3- After Dark 4- Die Nacht 5- Sentimental Suicide 6- Run Away 7- Liebestaz 8- Never Know Why 9- There´s no Time 10- Human Ignorance |
Starting with a climatic riff in "Don´t Look Back", the people on this german band soon gets in their style that we can call "dark metal". That is, a band with heavy guitar riffs, climatic vocals, sometimes more gothic, sometimes more extreme, sometimes more pure heavy metal, and always with a dark feeling in their music. The music here has plenty of dark melodies (some of the eastern type in tracks like "Run Away") and that, combined with the heaviness of the riffs are After Dark´s signature The keyboards here play a prominent role adding many textures and arrangements to the music and also some interesting interludes within some ofm the compositions. The drums have a very particular sound, specially the snare drum that has a very short sound. After Dark is a bad that have cleverly combined darkness with power and with melodies that soon stick in your mind. |
| Cover Artwork by: After Dark | |
|
Recorded from August-November 02 Produced by Michael Mainx |
Contact: www.afterdarkband.de |
|
AFTER FOREVER - INVISIBLE CIRCLES |
|
| Label: Transmission Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: | |
|
Line Up: Floor Jansen - Soprano Bas Maas - guitars, vocals Luuk Van Gerven - bass Sander Gommans - guitars, vocals Lando Van gils - keyboards Andre Borgman - drums, ac. guitars |
|
|
Music by After Forever Lyrics by Floor Jansen |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Childhood in minor 2- Beautiful Emptiness 3- etween Love and Fire 4- Sins of Idealism 5- Eccentric 6- Digital Deceit 7- Through Square Eyes 8- Blind Pain 9- Two Sides 10- Victim of Choices 11- Reflections 12- Life´s Vortex |
A band that I always liked is After Forever. For me this band is the optimal point of melodic arrangements and heaviness in this style of music. What amazes always is the combination of Floor´s voice, always enchanting and really pure technically with Sander growls that give the doom/death metal feeling to the music. Also amazing are the keyboards arrangements combined with the heaviest of riffs that give an idea of a perfect combiantion between power and death metal. There is a good combiantion between epic feelings and dark atmospheres which are the essence of After Forever´s music. Everything is done in memorable compositions full of killer musicianship. Those who know the band from the "Prison of Desire" times will surely see the evolution that they had, constructing better compositions and arrangements. The perfect combination of melody and aggression. |
| Cover Artwork by: Carsten Drescher | |
|
Recorded at Excess and The Gate Studios Produced by Hans Pieters and After Forever |
Contact: www.transmissionrecords.nl or www.afterforever.com |
|
AGE OF SILENCE - ACCELERATION |
|
| Label: The End Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Norway | |
|
Line Up: Kobergaard - guitars Hellhammer - drums Lazare - vocals Eikind - bass Winer - keyboards Extant - guitars |
|
|
Music by Winer (1-7), Extant (8-10) and Kobbergaard (9) Lyrics by Lazare (1-8,10) and Kobbergaard (9) |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Auditorium of modern movments 2- Acceleration 3- the Concept of Haste 4- A Song for D.Incorporated 5- The green office and the dark desk drawer 6- The flow at 09:30 am 7- Of Concrete and Glass 8- 90º angles 9- I no longer know if I am Mad 10- Synthetic, fabricated, calculated |
THis is with no doubt progressive extreme metal. Maybe we can calll it progressive dark metal. Here we have amazing musicianship coming from the minds and souls of Hellhammer (Mayhem and countless other projects) and Winter (Winds). The music here is complex, full of keyboards that orchestrate and arrange everything. The vocals are clean and really ethereal, not of the typicial metal form, sounding aggressive but not distorted and using phrases tahta re completely different to the ones used by most of the bands (it reminded me somewhat to the processed vocals in Cynic´s "Focus" album). There is plenty of virtuosism and interesting song structures here and this guys are experimenting within the realm of metal music. A must for any metal lover. |
| Cover Artwork by: Travis Smith | |
|
Recorded at Toproom, Westhill, Animal Bag Studios Produced by Age of Silence |
Contact: www.theendrecords.com |
|
AINA - DAYS OF RISING DOOM / THE METAL OPERA |
|
| Label:Transmission Recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: netherlands | |
|
Line Up: |
|
|
Music by Aina Lyrics by Aina |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Aina Overture 2- Revelations 3- Silver Maiden 4- Flight of Torek 5- Naschtok Is Born 6- The Beast Within 7- The Siege of Aina 8- Talon´s Last Hope 9- Rape of Oria 10- Son of Sorvahr 11- Serendipity 12-Lalae Amèr 13- Rebellion 14-Oriana´s Wrath 15-Restoration |
This "Days of Rising Doom" is a metal opera with all the elements that you can imagine that this type of music must have. Done witha power metal feeling in the guitars and the keyboards, Ain manages to create a good work full of arrangements and melodies that make this release extremely memorable. There are infinite arrangements done with keyboards, with guitars and with voices that give that sensation of operistic music to the compositions. The voices are clean and do not abuse the high pitches as many others do on this type of music. There are plenty of symphonic arrangements in the choruses and in the orchestration. The album has a realy good sound and that is good because this kind of releases can be ruined with a bad sound quality. The classical music of the future. |
| Cover Artwork by: Aina | |
|
Produced by Aina |
Contact: www.transmission.nl or www.theendrecords.com |
|
AKOMPILATION VOL.1 |
|
| Label: Akom Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: italy | |
|
Tracks: 1- UN-Kind "veil" 2- NOWHERE (no) "Sait Whore" 3- MAINLINE "One by one" 4- SIR PSYCHO "Take a Stand" 5- REDEFINE! "Buone Mani" 6- EIKASIA "Hello" 7- FE...DUP "LAst dy of my life" 8- MEDIA SOLUTION "pejote" 9- TIMOTHY "Louder than over" 10- MUCULORDS "Brutulords/cepli" 11-ENTITY "Unfulfilled Promises" 12-LAST RITES "Mind´s Prison" 13-NOWHERE (MI) "Alone" 14-JUGLANS REGIA "Freddo" 15- SIN DRIVEN TIDE "Back to Daylight" 16- GERMINALE "Disordine" 17- CRUNCH MOB "Son of Sam" 18- GRIV "Vuoto Momento" 19- ACTION MEN "If you´re Happy" 20- PANIC ROOTS "Panic"
|
|
|
This is a compilation from the new label Akom Prods. that here brings us twenty different bands from the underground. We have reviewed some of them in the past, for example Nowhere and Juglans Regia. Here we have from modern metal as the one that Un-Kind does to the mix of modern metal and hardcore that Nowhere (no) delivers here or the pure metal by Sir Psycho or the death/grind of Muculords. there are differences in sound depending on the band, and i prefer the more aggressive bands that have a huge sound, like Entity whose music is fast and aggressive with deathly vocals, or the more climatic ones, such as Eikasia that delivers climatic metal with female vocals. this is a compilation that has band for lovers of all styles and I think that despite some differeneces in quality and sound you will not be dissapointed by listening to this killer compilation album. We hope that Akom Prods. soon starts proiducing more albums of killer extreme bands. |
|
| Cover Artwork by:Akom Prods. | |
|
Produced by Akom Prods |
Contact: www.akomprod.com |
|
ALASKA FIRE - FALLING FIRE |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Germany | |
|
Line Up: Alex Fire - vocals, guitar Sany Di Noia - guitars Benjamin Lohm - bass, vocals Sven Hahnlein - keyboards, vocals Gareth Lathan - drums |
|
|
Music by Alex Fire and Alaska Fire Lyrics by Alex Fire/Chris Marsh |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Out of the dark 2- Release me 3- Oblivion 4- Absolution 5- Seal of the Soul 6- Forces Unite 7- Hard to breathe 8- When Heavens Shine 9- Lead Me the Way 10- Falling Fire 11- Criminal Outlaw 12-Right Out of Here |
Alaska Fire is pure metal with killer riffs with a climatic element that is created by the omniprescent keyboards. thereare some power metal influences in tracks like "Release Me" but they are cleverly mixed with more original riffs such as the one that is combined with the keyboards at 00:36 of this track. There are good guitar melodies and solos in the music here. And that is a high point of this album. There is a combination of pure metal and progressive feeling in the vocals, sometimes harmonized and sometimes more aggressive. The rhythm section is really solid and the good thing is that they leave space for the guitars and keyboards to develope their ideas. The sound of the recording is a really good one, specially on the guitars, that sound really strong (you can see this in its climax when the guitar is left alone doing some of the most crushing riffs). This is pure metal with powerful elements and clever arrangements. |
| Cover Artwork by: Alex Fire | |
|
Recorded at Fire Riser Studios Produced by Alex Fire |
Contact: www.alaskafire.de |
|
ALBATROS - ALBATROS |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: | |
|
Line Up: |
|
|
Music by Albatros Lyrics by Albatros |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Blues for Drugged Love 2- Great Deciver 3- Just for You
|
Pure rock is what Albatros plays with some bluesy influences and with a huge seventies and sixties influences. The first track is a showcase fo the style that the band makes, being really raunchy and puire blues with guitars that sound like coming from good old tube amps.Second track si more climatic with a bass line that does some interesting arrangements. The vocals are of the type that this music needs, with that bluesy feeling and with sort of an alcoholic feeling that fits the music perfeclty (as singers like Bon Scott or Brian Johnson fits AC/DC´s music). Pure rock n roll wit bluesy influences. |
| Cover Artwork by: Albatros | |
|
Produced by Albatros |
Contact: www.albatros.nu |
|
ALGOL / SHROUD OF DESPONDENCY - WHISPERS FROM AN EMPTY ROOM SPLIT |
|
| Label: Paragon Recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: USA | |
|
Line Up: Shroud of Despondency: Rory Heikkila - all isntruments
Algol: Dalkiel - vocals, guitars, keys Samath - bass Razaell - guitars Xos - drums Cthulu - keyoards |
|
|
Music by Algol / Shroud of Despondency Lyrics by Algol / Shroud of Despondency |
|
|
Tracks: ALGOL: 1. Why Have
You Forgotten Me?
SHROUD OF DESPONDENCY 6. The Many
Words Never Penned |
An enigmatik intro opens up ths part of the recording that corresponds to Algol. I have heard comparisons with Arcturus but I have to say that despite similarities Algol is much rawer taking elements of the most extreme black metal and combining it with atmospheric passages. the good thing about Algol is the feeling of darkness that they perspire on each track that makes their music really unique. And another trademark is the combiantion of fast parts with good climatic parts (my favorites bewcause they give a lot of identity to the music here (and they have good musicianship in order to do all this passages in a really correct way). Then comes Shroud of Despondency with longer compositions where many ideas are developed clverly. Starting with a dissonant clean guitar in "The Many words..." the band soon gets into an interesting combination of the extreme music triunvirat: black metal, doom metal and death metal. The tempos here are really doomy in some parts and that leaves space for developing climatic ideas. The sound is a little bit muddy and I think that the guitars should be mixed a little bit louder and the drums with a little bit more of reverb in order to sound more powerful. The music has many arrangements that turn Shroud of Despondency into a trully original band. A split CD for lovers of darkness unleashed.
|
| Cover Artwork by: Paragon recs. | |
|
Produced by Paragon recs. |
Contact: www.paragonrecords.net |
|
AMBROSSIA - PRESSORCE THROUGH SPATE |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2003 | |
| Country: Switzerland: | |
|
Line Up: Hugo Schelbert - drums Ralph Gwerder - guitar Peter Stöckli - vocals Daniel Inderbitzin - bass Markus Betchart - guitar |
|
|
Music by Ambrossia Lyrics by Ambrossia |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Spate 2- OK! Death Metal 3- Blood on Knife 4- Bloody Bloodering In Bleeding Blood 5- Seven Pieces 6- Suppository Peg for Knock-Knees |
Ambrossia plays technical death metal with brutal parts. There are really good rhythmic parts on tracks like "OK! Death metal!" with clever bass guitar work, using phrases and breaks that are typical of the style but played really tight. There is use of clean guitars in the beginning of "Blood on Knife" but most of the time the band delivers agression with multiple tempo changes and song structures that need good musicianship in order to be palyed really correctly. And the vocals are really deathly, of the guttural type giving more death metal feeling to the tracks. In a certain way this guys have taken elements of nineties death metal and taken them to a more modern sound creating the Ambrossia sound. This is brutality but done with really good musicanship. |
| Cover Artwork by: Hoss | |
|
Recorded at Demonenbrut Studios Produced by Reto Ehrler and Ambrosia |
Contact: www.ambrossia.ch |
|
ANAAL NATHRAKH - THE CODEX NECRO |
|
| Label: Mordgrimm Recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U.K. | |
|
Line Up: Irrumator - all instruments V.I.T.R.I.O.L. - vocals |
|
|
Music by Anaal Nathrakh Lyrics by Anaal Nathrakh |
|
|
Tracks: 1- the supreme necrotic audnance 2- When humanity is cancer 3- Submission is for the weak 4- Pandemonic Hyperblast 5- Paradigm Shift - Annihilation 6- The Technogoat 7- Incipid Flock 8- Human, all too fucking human 9- The Codex Necro
|
One of the most bestial releases of the year, the band displays full agression with fast chainsaw-like guitar riffs and extreme screaming vocals. Ultra fast rhythms are the essence here and this guys are always surprising with their sheer bestiality. The keyboards add some orchestration to the music distinguishing it from many other bands of the most brutal side of metal. It is good to listen how this guy manages to deliver some harmonies over the mayhemic aggression of the rest of the band. With no doubt this is one of the most brutal releases of 2004 !!!!!! |
| Cover Artwork by: Mick Kenney | |
|
Produced by Anaal Nathrakh |
Contact: www.anaal-nathrakh.tk |
|
ANKH - EXPECT UNEXPECTED |
|
| Label: Metal Mind Recods |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Poland | |
|
Line Up: Michal Pastuszka - guitars, keys, prog. Piotr Krzeminski - guitars, vocals Krzysztof Szmidt - bass, keys, voc. Adam Rain - drums Michal Jelonek - violin, voice
|
|
|
Music by Ankh Lyrics by Ankh |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Expect #1 2- the trick 3- Love Supreme 4- Moonlight Drive 5- Expect #2 6- Loop Slow vocal Mix 7- On the Way 8- Never 9- I want you 10- Expect #3 11- You and Me 12- Hiding Place 13- Escape 14- Blue 15- Loop Fast Violin Mix 16- Unexpected |
The music that Ankh does can not be defined as common metal. It has certain elements of the style but goes beyon the normal structures. It surely is introspecive and climatic with many expereimental features. Some of the music reminded me of "Discipline"-era King crimson, specially track "Love Supreme". There is plenty of virtuosism in many places and there are incredible rhythms in many places that seem really hard to play and also to follow. There are plenty of electronic sounds too which are an essential feature in Ankh´s music. The key concept here is experimentation with no boundaries within a heavy context. This is boundaries breaking music that is much needed always and it has a lot of energy in the compositions due to the use of some heavier rhythms. A killer release. |
| Cover Artwork by: Piotr Kruckzek | |
|
Recorded at B-Ton Studio Produced by Michal Pastuszka and Krysztof Doctor Szmidt |
Contact: www.metalopolis.pl or www.ankh.art.pl |
|
APOKATASTASIA - WAITING FOUR |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2002 | |
| Country: Switzerland | |
|
Line Up: Daver the Braver - Violoncello, E-Cello, Growls, Choirs, whispers Dario Ronos - drums, glasses, sick noises Kürsti Saihttam - bass, psychedelic stuff Milan Salridas - Guitars, steps, breaths, sounds of madness |
|
|
Music by Apokatastasia Lyrics by Apokatastasia |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Apokatastasia 2- Psycho Wood 3- Different Landscapes 4- Empty Flower |
Apokatastasia is a really original band. You just have to know that there is plenty of violoncello in the music and you have to listen the predominant role that this instrument has in the music here to know they are extremely original. Their music has elements of pure heavy metal, of black metal and even some death metal. And this guys are extremely tehnical and they are superb musicians. You will be surprised with the combination of guitar riffs and cello melodies that are the essence of the band. Each composition is carefully developed with multiple rhythms, parts and arrangements. All the compositions havce in them a dark feeling that is constructed by the different instruments, adding also feelings of sadness and sorrow in some parts. There is use of acoustic guitars combined with deathly screams here and Apokatastasia surprises on each minute of this recording. This four tracks left me wanting more from this amazing band and I hope they record new material really soon so this urge can be satisfied. One of the recordings of the year. |
| Cover Artwork by: JBauer, Milan & Kursti | |
|
Recorded at Tectorial Studio Produced by Apokatastasia and This Schweizer |
Contact: www.apokatastasia.ch |
|
ARACHNOVORE - DEATH OR SERIOUS INJURY |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: France | |
|
Line Up: Bertrand Cunin - all instruments |
|
|
Music by Bertrand Cunin Lyrics by Bertrand Cunin |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Intro 2- Accident 3- Coming from Hell 4- Fear 5- Grave Stone 6- Hell Visions 7- Incoming Evil Forces 8- Nature 9- Past Scripture 10- Blasphemator 11- Outro |
A short acoustic guitar intro leads us directly into the mayhemic "Accident", an original death metal track with complex rhythms and riffs that are not the typical used in the most brutal of metal styles. Some of the tracks on this album where contained on the MCD "Grave Stone" that we reviewed some time ago, and I have to say that the new material shows a good evolution of this one man band (Bertrand Cunin is the only man behind this death metal monster). The vocals are really guttural and they constrast heavily with the riffs that are not of the ultra speed type,a dding heaviness in a different way than the one that is expected. the sound of the recording is raw and I think that a better mix can give even more brutality to the music. The programmed drums give an eerie feeling to the music and I think Bertrand wanted this to be heard because he added really fast rhythms played by the drums such as in "Coming From Hell". Pure brutality with original elements. |
|
Produced by Bertrand Cunin |
Contact: www.arachnovore.fr.st |
|
ARCANA - THE NEW LIGHT |
|
| Label: Cyclic Law Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Sweden | |
|
Line Up: Peter Bjärgö Ann Mari Thim Stefan Erikson Ida Bengtsson |
|
|
Music by Peter Bjärgö Lyrics by Peter Bjärgö |
|
|
Tracks: 1- The Opening 2- Reminiscence 3- Source of Light 4- Fade Away 5- Wound 6- Lament 7- Prophecy of the Inevitable 8- Eclipse of the Soul 9- Like Statues in the Garden of Dreaming 10- Through the Grey Horizon 11- Wings of Gabriel |
This is an album of rarities of this amazing band led by the imagination of Peter Bjärgö, the man behind all this compositions. There are plenty of unreleased demos here from Arcana´s ten years of existence and here you can feel the evolution that the music has suffered through time. There is plenty of orchestration here created mainly by keyboards and one of the points that Arcana´s music emphasizes is the solemtnity of the compositions that are cleverly constructed allowing different textures to appear through them. Bjärgö is amazing in constructing structures for the compositions that through repetition and change keeps the listener´s attention on them and awakens the imagination. Yes, each of this compositions seem to have been created in order to be the score of a movie. You can almost imagine different landscapes and situations. This is pure musicianship and creativity by the hand of the amazing Peter Bjärgö and Arcana. |
| Cover Artwork by: Ia Bjärgö | |
|
Mastered at Erebus Odora Produced by Peter Bjärgö |
Contact: www.cycliclaw.com |
|
ART NOIR - FLÜGEL |
|
| Label: |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Germany | |
|
Line Up:
|
|
|
Music by Art Noir |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Schlag Zwölt 2- Atem 3- Unter Deinen Flügeln 4- Hilflos 5- Dukle Sterne |
This is a release that explored the darkest atmospheres possibles that can be achieved with the use of unconventional musical forms. On this release you will not hear conventional instruments, maybe some keyboards, but theya re not used in the way that they are expected. Here everything is done in order to create soundscapes full of darkness and ethereal qualities. Sometimes you feel like if you are watching a movie where everything is suspense and darkness and thi is the soundtrack of that kind of movies. The keyboards here create chord progressions and atmospheres that surprise with their eerie quality and that transport you to a desolate world of obscurity. The five compositions here explore this galaxies of dark ounds and you will not escape to the enchanting nature of Art Noir´s music. The soundtrack to your darket fears. |
| Cover Artwork by: Art Noir | |
|
Mastered by Dierk Budde Produced by Jan Hendrik Weber |
Contact: www.artnoir.net |
|
ASRAI - TOUCH IN THE DARK |
|
| Label: Transmission Recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Netherlands | |
|
Line Up: Margriet Mol - vocals Rik Janssen - guitars Manon Van der Hidde - synths/ violin Martin Rooy - bass, back. vocals Karin Mol - drums
|
|
|
Music by Asrai Lyrics by Asrai |
|
|
Tracks: 1- In front of me 2- Pale light 3- Whisper 4- Restless 5- Touch in the Dark 6- Tower 7- Dream 8- Child 9- Garden 10- Shadows |
This is an album full of powerful female voices and full of climatic elements that put them in the altar of those bands that can transmit plenty of dark feelings within their music. Asraim reminds in some parts to the most powerful tracks of The Gathering (like in "Whisper", for example), eventhough there are many differences in style between this two bands. The main difference is that Asrai is a much darker band with darker ideas and arrangements. I have to remark the role of Manon´s keyboards that add a feeling of sadness to the music and when combined with Margriet´s vocals the music arrives to the climax. Another trademark of Asrai´s sound are the heavy riffs and rhythms that contrast heavily with the more ethereal parts. This album is a must have for any metal lover. |
| Cover Artwork by: Carsten Drescher | |
|
Recorded at The Excess Studio and Beautiful Lake Studios Produced by Roman Schonsee |
Contact: www.asrai.net or www.transmission.nl |
|
ATREYU - THE CURSE |
|
| Label: Vicory Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: | |
|
Line Up: Dan Jacobs - guitar Alex Varkatzas - vocals Brandon Saller - vocals, drums Travis Miguel - guitar Marc McKnight - bass |
|
|
Music by Dan Jacobs, Travis Miguel and Brandon Saller Lyrics by Alex Varkatzas |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Blood Children (An Introduction) 2- Bleeding Mascara 3- Right Side of the Bed 4- This Flesh a Tomb 5- You eclipsed by Me 6- The Crimon 7- The Remembrance Ballad 8- An Interlude 9- Corseting 10- Demonology and Hartache 11- My Sanity on a funeral pyre 12- Nevada´s Grace 13-Five Vicodin chased with a hot of clarity |
The sound of a heartbeat that soon turns into a lcimatic opening gives place to the aggressive sound of Atreyu´s music. If I had to define the music of this guys I would have to say that they are sort of a mix between aggressive pure heavy metal, some death metal and modern metal styles. the combination of guttural vocals with the clean ones (that bring to mind some of the most powerful moments of Rob Flynn) is one of the main features here. There are influences of new metal too, but they are cleverly mixed with other styles. It is remarkable the use of melodies here and that is one of Atreyu´s trademark: the combiantion between extreme aggression and melodies which turn each composition into really unique. A powerful release. |
| Cover Artwork by: Justin Borucki, Jason Link and Alex Varkatzas | |
|
Recorded at Plumper Mountain Studio Produced by GGGarth |
Contact: www.victoryrecords.com |
|
BAG LADY - 8: KLAATU BARADA NIKTO |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Netherlands | |
|
Line Up:
|
|
|
Music by Bag Lady Lyrics by Bag Lady |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Fuck Off Back home in Stereo 2- Succeeding is not enough; others must fail 3- Desire, the rose 4- eryKahBadu 5- My garage is big enough for the both of us 6- All my friends are assholes 7- The last stab in the back hurts the most 8- Why don´t you love me anymore? 9- Theme Song 10- Suckaap 11- Da 12- 71% death is not the answer 13- Consume and Swallow everything 14- Three minute song |
Extremely experimental, yet heavy music is what you find on each Bag Lady release. And this one is not the exception. Their music has heavy guitars and at the same time they experiment with every sound that they blast on each composition. The keyboards here are not used in the way you are accustomed to (that is to orchestrate or embellish), instead they are used to create manic passages of dissonance and odd sounding harmonies. The vocals are of several types, but mainly of the screaming one, such as in "Succeeding..:", a track with fast drumming and an atmospheric part in the middle, or they are of the more melodic yet climatic one as the one used in "Fuck off...". No track is even similar to the other and each of them is carefully developed to be extremely dissonant and experimetnal but yet retaining all control over the music. There are electronic elements in tracks like "Desire..." and they add other element that you have to follow to see how well each arrangement is developed. Bag lady is experimentation taken to its limits. |
| Cover Artwork by: Tiemen Seinstra | |
|
Recorded at Fröhlich & Plaisie Studio Produced by Poul Sven de Haan and Tiemen Seinstra |
Contact: www.baglady.nl |
|
BATTALION OF FLIES - BLUE LIPS, COLD KISS |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: | |
|
Line Up: Craig Costello - vocals, guitars Nord Idessane - bass, b. vocals Nick Tolley - drum |
|
|
Music by Costello, Idessane, Tolley Lyrics by Costello, Idessane, Tolley |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Lsd 2- Drift Away 3- Weight of the World 4- Open Wide 5- Air 6- Ghost 7- Unclean 8- Box 9- Slipping Down 10- Tumshie |
This is climatic rock with heavy guitars. Starting with the powerful "LSD" the band soon shows what they are capable of doing: heavy guitar riffs with a lot of pure rock attitude and some alternative influences in their sound. The vocals reminded me a little bit to Stone Temple Pilots, even if the music is much heavier but similarities end in just the range of the voice. The compositions here have a lot of hooks and each of them is trully memorable, specially their choruses. And that is the essence of Battalion Of Flies: the clever construction of tunes with a lot of energy and memorable melodies. The seventies influence here adds a great flavor to the music and also I found out some stoner rock elements. All this conjunction of influences make Battalion of Flies a unique band full of energy and interesting tunes. |
| Cover Artwork by: Claire Thacker | |
|
Recorded at Split Level Studio Produced by Neil McNaught and Battalion of Flies |
Contact: www.battalionofflies.com |
|
BBQ OF BRUTALITY - LINCOLN LOVE LOG / A.F.M. / DIONONESISTE 3 way split |
|
| Label: Torture Music Recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: Experimental Extreme music | |
|
|
|
|
Music by Lincoln Love Log / A.F.M./Diononesiste Lyrics by Lincoln Love Log / A.F.M./Diononesiste |
|
|
Tracks: LINCOLN LOVE LOG: 1- Too penetrate 2- BBQ Lust 3- Dark Basement 4- In my Sewer A.F.M. 5- New violence 6- Backbone 7- One Minute War DIONONESISTE 8- Madre Surrogato 9- Vocineiri 10- inane 11- Poena Damani |
Lincoln Love Log opens this split CD with their ultra distorted guitars getting into a mid paced track. Lincoln Love Log´s music is really extreme and at the same time has an experimental quality on it. here their music explores the heavier side of the band. The vocals are extremely distorted and are used like another instrument to add heaviness to the music. The rhythm go from mid paced in "Too Penetrate" to faster and wilder in "Dark Basement". Then comes A.F.M. with a more straightforward type of death metal with extremely distorted guitars and more typical riffs and rhythms. their music is really brutal and they show through three tracks that using some midpacved riffs they can be as brutal as any faster band. Diononesiste returns to the more experimental side of this split. Here the main brain is Daniele Brusaschetto whose music we have reviewed before. And in Diononesiste he explores the heaviest side of his musical personality. there are mny parts played really fast here but the guitars do not play the usual type of riffs, preferring to create dark atmospheres while the drums blast beat. There are some female vocals in "Madre Surrogato"? Yes, and after that Diononesiste turns again to brutality. Experimentation with madness !! This is a split that guarantees at the same time brutality and experimentation |
| Cover Artwork by: Gregg Metzger | |
|
Produced by Torture Music Recs. |
Contact: www.torturemusic.com or http://lincolnlovelog.home.insightbb.com or www.danielebrusaschetto.com |
|
BELLADONE - ALIÉNATION |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: France | |
|
Line Up: Grek - guitars Jimmy - bass Klass - drums, b. vocals Seeb - vocals Dany - guitar, b. vocals |
|
|
Music by Belladone Lyrics by Belladone |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Aliénation 2- Ici Ou Ailleurs 3- Ironie du Sort 4- So Sexy (l´intimité) 5- Le Plaisir des plaies 6- Un gout amer 7- La raison 8- Le désir |
Belladone has combined elements of pure metal with more modern elements that are evident in the vocals, sometimes more of the shouting type, sometimes more of the type that follows certain rhythms in order to emphasize them. And this guys know how sometimes adding a melody within the aggressive context helps the tunes to be memorable while retaining the power tht the more brutal parts have given to the composition. The guitar riffs here have a really direct sound constructing interesting walls of sound against which the lyrics are spitted. I have to remark the good sound that this recording has, specially on the drums and the guitars making things even more powerful. A really energetic release. |
| Cover Artwork by:Belladone | |
|
Recorded at Studio Synchronia Produced by Belladone |
Contact: www.belladone.net |
|
BESTIA - HALLUTSINATSIOON |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: | |
|
Line Up: Tarmo - vocals Andres - guitars Reivo - bass Arts - synth, ac. guitar Rainer - percussion |
|
|
Music by Andres (1-5,7,8,10), Reiner/Reivo (11), Aurelius/Andres (9), Beleth (6) Lyrics by Bestia |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Hallucination 2- Phantom in the rising fire 3- The werewolf 4- The Whisper 5- Once we´ll return unbound 6- Shadows at Toonela 7- Third grave from the left 8- A Day to realize 9- Finding the Runes 10- An Alternate Way of Dying 11- Asynchronous Laughter |
The last release that I listened from this band from Estonia was their 2002 demo, and I have to say that they have evolved a lot since then, specially soundwise. Their music combines cleverly elements of black metal, death metal and also some thrash metal in some of the rhythms. There are interesting rhythm and riff changes on each of the tracks here. And the keyboards add a different dimension to Bestia´s music.Some parts reminded me to a faster Arch Enemy, specially when the guitars leave more space for the vocals to spit their aggression, but Bestia has its own identity. On this recording they have achieved a good mix that makes their efforts more concrete and their music more in your face and powerful. For my taste Bestia is the band destined to show to the world how metal in Estonia is done: with fury and power. |
| Cover Artwork by: Andres | |
|
Recorded at Guano Studios Produced by Olavi Eikla and Bestia |
Contact: www.metal.ee/bastia |
|
BLAKE- STARBRINGER |
|
| Label: Ranch / Spinefarm |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: | |
|
|
|
|
Music by Blake Lyrics by Blake |
|
|
Tracks: 1- To the Stars (intro) 2- Starbringer 3- Call Her Name 4- Evil Remains Evil 5- Walk In 6- Circles of light 7- Other Side (Intermission) 8- Beggars Farm 9- Crawl 10- Son of Fire 11- Black Spirit 12- Junkie is Coming 13- Dark Side of the Planet (outro) |
After a short intro called "To the Stars" slowly enter some drums before the whole band starts attacking the first song. The compositions are pure rock with heavy guitars that deliver clever riffs with a definite seventies feeling in them and sort of a dark feeling. The rhythms are really open and the rhythmic section leaves plenty of space to the guitars for developing the riffs and arrangements. The vocals reminded me to Glenn Danzig but with a seventies or stoner feeling that distinguishes him and fits better the music of the band. The sound of the recording is raw and clear as this pure rocking band needs making the guitars sound low and powerful and at the same time keeping the raw feeling that this kind of music must have. Pure darkness within a rock context.. |
| Cover Artwork by: | |
|
Produced by: Blake |
Contact: www.spinefarm.net/ranch |
|
BLUE COLLAR - IS AN APPARITION |
|
| Label: Rossbin Prods. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: Experimental music | |
|
Line Up: Nate Wooley - trumpet, flughorn, voice Steve Swell - trombone, voice Tatsuya Nakatani - percussion |
|
|
Music by Blue Collar
|
|
|
Tracks: 1- 2- 3- 4- 5- 6- 7- 8- |
Eight tracks of pure experimentation is what you will find on this album. Here we have three musicians thata re experts in generating passages of pure spontaneity with their instruments (trumpet, trombones, percusion). Here everything is spontaneity and we have a myriad of instrumental lines that go from chaothic to really tight playing. The three musicians here play a lot not only with notes but also with silences generating different atmospheres that go from madness to really dark ones. there is heavy experimentation with sounds and noises and that is a trademark of Blue Collar´s music. Each moment you will find a new surprise within the realm of this guys music. Voices are used as another instrument generating more passages of spontaneity and clever musicianship. This is experimental music in its best level. |
| Cover Artwork by: Luca Roux | |
|
Mastered by Tatsuya Nakatani Produced by Nate Wooley |
Contact: www.natewooley.com or www.rossbin.com |
|
CALMSITE - THE ERECTOR |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Finland | |
|
Line Up: Juha Lehtonen - guitar Petri Seitsonen - vocals Ville Virtanen - guitar Esa Mäkinen - Bass Jukka Pentinnen - drums |
|
|
Music by Calmsite Lyrics by Calmsite |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Recharger 2- Melting the Frost 3- Asskin 4- Striped Stiff 5- Payment in Full 6- Mudwhip 7- Skinning Service 8- Dienasty 9- Concrete Prayer 10- Ashtrayman |
A band always progressing is the way I can describe Calmsite. On each release they show new tracks that sound better and better. This is their longest release up to now. Their music is death metal with pure metal riffs preferring to emphasize powerful rhythms instead of simply speeding up. They are not afraid of adding guitar melodies that are their trademark (just listen "Recharger" to see how this guys create interesting lines and solos). The deathly vocals give the death metal feeling to the music but Calmsite goes beyond this style. The songs have the potential of being a metal hit, since they are really memorabl (again, for example, check the riffs in "Reecharger" or the melodies in "Asskin" and you will see how soon they stick in your mind). The sound of the recording is really good, specially on the guitars that sound aggressive and powerful as it musty be in the style and they are cleverly mixed when one guitar is doing a melody and the other one is playing rhythms. A must have. |
| Cover Artwork by: Calmsite | |
|
Recorded at Cursed Studios Produced by Jani Loikas |
Contact: www.calmsite.com |
|
CASSIOPEIA - SHEILA |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Germany | |
|
Line Up: |
|
|
Music by Cassiopeia Lyrics by Cassiopeia |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Sheila (part one) 2- Sheila (part two) 3- Mara
|
This ten minutes long recording shows us a world full of beauty guitar arpeggios and sad melodies that surfaces on each of the compositions presented here. The three tracks are extremely climatic. One of the main things here are the guitar melodies, such as the ones in "Sheila (part one)" that give that sence of loneliness and at the same time adds that gothic atmosphere to Cassiopeia´s music. The voals are of the clean type and they are also essential to the main feeling of the music. "Sheila (part two)" is quite different combining distorted guitars with the more melodic ones adding more power to the music. The ideas here are really original and it i surprising to feel the sadness that the whole music transmits to the listener. A really atmospheric release. |
| Cover Artwork by: Cassiopeia | |
|
Produced by Cassiopeia |
Contact: www.cassiopeianet.de |
|
CASSIOPEIA - RESTING DEEP UNDER WATER |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Germany | |
|
Line Up: |
|
|
Music by Cassiopeia Lyrics by Cassiopeia |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Resting Deep under Water 2- Whenever the rain is falling down 3- Forever and Ever (1998 A.D.)
|
Clean arpeggios open up this newest Cassiopeia release and here are again their trademarks: the clean guitars, the melodies, the sad vocal melodies and the keyboards that create the background over which the music is developed. The compositions here have a similar style to the ones in "Sheila" and I wonder if all this compositions have been originally meant to be together because they seem to follow a similar concept. The sound of the recording is really deepn and clear and the music is fully appreciated. The track "Whenever the rain si falling down" speeds up a little bit but always keeping the tempos over which Cassiopeia are more comfortable. And here again we have those haunting melodies that soon transport you to a darker world. This is a really good climatic release. |
| Cover Artwork by: Cassiopeia | |
|
Produced by Cassiopeia |
Contact: www.cassiopeianet.de |
|
CELESTIAL DAWN - CELESTIAL DAWN |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Germany | |
|
Line Up:
|
|
|
Music by Celestial Dawn Lyrics by Celestial Dawn |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Queen of teh Damned 2- Celestial Dawn 3- Full Throttle 4- Behind the Mask 5- Echoes 6- Hereafter
|
Celestial Dawn is one of those bands that keep pure heavy metal alive with their compositions. Full of riffs reminiscent of Judas Priest and classical bands of the style, the guys have managed to create six tunes that show a progress when compared to their previous recording and show power and intelligence in teh arrangements. I woul not be surprise to see Celestial Down playing with a crowd of people making them the horn sound and shouting the choruses of their songs because one of the elements that are essential here are the choruses which are really memorable. The recording has a raw sound that I think can be improved by spending more time in the studio but the overall result of this recording is really good. I can say while listening to this recording: heavy metal is alive and kicking !!! |
| Cover Artwork by: Celestial Dawn | |
|
Produced by Celestial Dawn |
Contact: www.celestialdawn.com |
|
CELL DIVISION - TSUNAMI / HYPNOTIZED |
|
| Label: Thunderdome |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Switzerland | |
|
|
|
|
Music by Cell Division Lyrics by Cell Division |
|
|
Tracks: 1- The limetrip 2- Anodyne 3- Hypnotized 4- Alien Fantasy 5- Ra 6- Emperor 7- Fingerprints 8- Farewell 9- Peculiar 10- Backstage Hypnotized: 11- Hypnotized (radio edit) 12-Hypnotized (zeraphine remix) 13-Hypnotized (Kartagon remix) 14- Fingerprints (Covah remix) |
THis album has a good combination of distorted and powerful guitar riffs with an ethereal feeling that comes mainly from the female vocals that create melodies in adifferent way from which you are expecting. There are multiple melodic arrangements here, done mainly by the aforementioned voice and by synths and keyboards, while the guitars play fast riffs with a heavy soundleaving space for the rest of the band to add their arrangements. But the main thing here for my taste are the vocals adding a different feeling on each track. There are some interesting remixes here which show how different the same track can sound adding approaches to Cell Division´s music. A good ethereal release. |
| Cover Artwork by: Cell Division | |
|
Produced by Cell Division |
Contact: www.celldivision.ch |
|
CHAINSAW - SMELL THE SAW |
|
| Label: Worldchaos Prods. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Netherlands | |
|
Line Up: Yanni - guitars Aike - vocals Magnus - bass Don - drums |
|
|
Music by Chainsaw Lyrics by Chainsaw |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Master of Fate 2- Nightmare World 3- The Butcher of Bagdad 4- Route 666 5- the Blood of Civilization 6- Roadrage 7- Lay Down and Die 8- Burned Alive 9- She Just Wants to get Laid 10- Dead and Buried 11- Never Surrender |
It is always good to listen to old good thrash metal. The guys in Chainsaw have definitely taken many elements of eighties thrash metal and develope them into their own sound. Their music has influences of bands like Destruction, Sodom, Exodus and I even find some Venom i their style too. But don´t get me wrong, Chainsaw is not a copy of this bands but an original outfit on their own right. Their music is fast and rhythmic and has that shouted choruses that are essential in the style. The guitars sound raw and deliver riff after riff changing many times the speed and tempo of the track. The drumming is solid, creating the necessary rhythms for the songs to be developed. Plus, the voices are really thrash with that european flavor that makes european thrash so special. A must for lovers of this never forgotten style. |
| Cover Artwork by: Chainsaw | |
|
Recorded at Voodoo Sound Studios Produced byChainsaw |
Contact: www.chainsaw.nl or www.world-chaos.com |
|
CHAOSTAR - THE SCARLET QUEEN |
|
| Label: Holy Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: | |
|
Line Up: |
|
|
Music by Chaostar Lyrics by Chaostar |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Birth of a Vampire Lullaby 2- The Scarlet Queen 3- Crimson order 4- Embrace 5- I am...the Assassin of gods 6- The Soul of the Depths 7- Vampire renegades 8- the pleasure Dome 9- The Arab Merchant 10- Rex Mundi 11- Vampire´s Illusions 12- When Death Dies |
An incredibly orchestrated release full of incredible harmonies (vocal and instrumental ones) and a myriad of arrangements and harmonizations. Some years ago I read in some magazine a quote saying "the classical music of the future" when referring to some band....and I have to say that this quote fits perfectly Chaostar´s music. Yes, this is the classical music of the future!! The female vocals are cleverly harmonized creating sort of an operistic feeling to the music (incredible vocals). It is amazing to listen the multiple arrangements that the music here has. If you close your eyes you can imagine yourself sitting in an enormous theater watching this musical piece tht has nothing to envy to the classical compositors of operas of this style. this is with no doubt one of the recordings of the year and one of the most perfect albums I ever listened. |
| Cover Artwork by: Chaostar | |
|
Produced by Chaostar |
Contact: holyrecords@wanadoo.fr |
|
CROPMENT - SPIRAL OF VIOLENCE |
|
| Label: Fast beast Entertainment |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: switzerland | |
|
Line Up: Claudio Furrer drums Stephan Fehr - guitars Adrian Vogel - guitars René Barthoulot - vocals Patrik Wawrzyniak - bass |
|
|
Music by Cropment Lyrics by Vogel (2,7,8) , Furrer (3,5) , Barthoulot (4,6,9,10) |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Stream of Justice (intro) 2- Bloody Innocence 3- Day by Day 4- Ethic Genetic 5- Cold as Blood 6- Atheistic Thoughts 7- Spiral o Violence 8- Hypnotic Mass Suggestion 9- The Age of Terrorism 10- Nuclear Holocaust 11- Fear of Death (live) |
A climatic acoustic guitar intro in "Stream of justice" starts calmly what turns fastly into the brutal death riffing machine that is Cropment´s trademark. One signature of the Cropment sound is the multiple rhythm and tempo changes that each of their compositions have going from fast to slow and doing multiple breaks. This guys surely have a lot of technical skills in order to play them correctly. The sound of this recording is much more effective than in their previous album, specially on guitars and drums. And the guitars are the essence here delivering multiple riffs with a huge and brutal sound destined to crush the masses. The vocals sound guttural but clear adding even more brutality to the music and spitting with fury the lyrics. A band tat is always progressing and becoming more powerful. |
| Cover Artwork by: www.g-r-a-a-l.com | |
|
Recorded at Crackords Studio Produced bySerge Spign and Cropment |
Contact: www.cropment.com |
|
CRYSTAL BLAZE - DREAMS |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: Finland | |
|
Line Up: Lauri Koskenniemi - guitars Max Obstbaum - vocals Lari Sorvo - keyboards Gustaf Standertskjöld - drums Mikael Grönroos - guitars
|
|
|
Music by Crystal Blaze Lyrics by Crystal Blaze |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Dreams Beyond 2- It´s not the End 3- Mirror
|
This is what I call pure metal done in the good way. Crystal Blaze has achieved a good recording of pure heavy metal with the epic feeling that the style must have and without using the cliches that some bands of the genres have, such as the runs with guitars and keyboards. Here we have plenty of melodies and plenty of virtuosism in the guitar and in the keyboards delivering melodies, arrangements and solos on each track. Plus we have a singer who uses a lot the middle ranges without abusing the high pitches. The songs have memorable choruses (of the type that you sing with your fists in the air in a live show) and that is essential for this type of music, because it needs this element to get their epic or majestic sound. Some parts reminded me to Stratovarius but there are not that much similitudes with their country fellows. This is pure metal that leave you wanting more after the three tracks on this album have ended. |
| Cover Artwork by: Jack Tomalin | |
|
Recorded at MusaMuusa Produced by Crystal Blaze |
Contact: www.crystal-blaze.com |
|
CYNICON - CYBERNETIC |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: | |
|
Line Up: |
|
|
Music by Cynicon Lyrics by Cynicon |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Cybernetic 2- Astral luminance 3- Neutronomicon 4- Intergalactic 5- Presence 6- momentary 7- Enlightenement
|
This album opens up powerfully with track the title track, a compositiojn that mixes cleverly death metal with thrash metal and with a really modern sound on the guitars that have a killer sound. Let´s say that maybe thrash metal has evolved a lot and taken elements from more extreme styles and has taken the form of Cynicon, a band that keeps the flame of the style burning. The vocals fit perfectly the music spitting the lyrics while the rest of the band crushes the listener with multiple rhythms and guitar riffs. There is some swedish death metal influence but they are mixed cleverly with other influences that make the music here original and powerful creating Cynicon´s own sound. The songs are well developed and each of them is like a perfect circle were everything fits perfectly. Thrash metal done in the new way by a great band ! |
| Cover Artwork by: Cynicon | |
|
Recorded at Produced by Cynicon |
Contact: www.cynicon.com |
|
DARTH - BUTTFUCKED BY DESTINY |
|
| Label: Crude Entertainment |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Germany | |
|
Line Up: M. Klinkmann - guitar Ralle - drums A. Zietek - vocals D. Alberti - bass |
|
|
Music by Darth Lyrics by Darth |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Wall of Ignorance 2- Empire of the Lie 3- I Should be dead 4- Forbidden Happiness 5- Age of Depression 6- Self-Exorcism 7- Buttfucked by Destiny 8- Amok 9- Koma |
Brutality from begginning to end is what the guys from Darth deliver on this labum. Starting with the cover art this album exhudes brutality from every note, from every riff. The music is death/thrash metal because this guys have some influence of both styles and they have blended them together achieving a really bestial result through the nine compositions. Brutal guttural vocals are a trademark here, screaming the vocals at the top of the lungs and giving that deathly feeling that the music here has. The rhythm section prefers to use fast rhythms but not blast beating, doing some thrash tempos and letting place for the guitars to develope the fast riffs that are fundamental here. The sound of the recording is raw but effective....really right in your face. A release that features brutality on every second. |
| Cover Artwork by: S. | |
|
Recorded at K-Sound Studios Produced by M. Klinkmann |
Contact: http://darth.here.de |
|
DENY THE URGE - SUBSEQUENT CONFRONTATION |
|
| Label: G.U.C. Prods. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Sweden | |
|
Line Up: Jens Fricke - vocals Henrik Osterloh - guitars, vocals Sven Nothdurft - bass Olaf Dannenberg - guitars Kai Ludwig - drums |
|
|
Music by Henrik Osterloh Lyrics by Henrik Osterloh except (2,7) by Jens Fricke |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Prelude 2- the Awakening 3- Dying World 4- Redemption 5- Ground Zero 6- Monster Inside 7- Lambs to the Slaughter 8- Sanctuary Denied 9- For all These...
|
This is pure brutality and speed with interesting rhythmic work that adds more heaviness (if that is possible) to the band´s music. There is good technical work, specially in some melodies that show a different dimension of Deny The Urge´s music and at the same time make the tunes memorable. There are many double bass drumming parts done with a lot of technique and precission that are essential to transmit the brutal feeling that the music here has. The album has a direct yet clean and well mixed sound and I think as I say in many reviews that achieving this good sound the band gains more in brutality and power because each rhythm, each riff that is played is like a kick in you fucking brain. Deny the Urge smashes the listener without mercy on each beat, on each composition. A band that developes their sound to kill !!! |
| Cover Artwork by: Kai Ludwig | |
|
Recorded at Puresonic Studio Produced by Deny the Urge |
Contact: www.denytheurge.com or www.guc-area.de |
|
DONTHEMADNESS - PUSH |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: | |
|
Line Up: Don the madness Cooper - guitar/bass/keys Rich Tresner - bass/vocals/keys Ben Litz - guitar |
|
|
Music by Donthemadness Lyrics by Donthemadness |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Push 2- Behind your Back 3- That´s the Way 4- The memory Lives On 5- My Decision 6- The minds Eye 7- Lightning Strikes 8- Number Eight |
Really distorted guitars open this album playing an intense riff before the amazing keyboards enter. This is pure metal with good arrangements. The combination of classical metal structures with electronics as in "Behind your Back" (maybe a way that the band can explore even more? I think so) is a point that got my attention really soon. There are good guitar solos in "That´s the Way" that brings to my mind killer 80s metal. The vocals fit the music well adding some more melody to the music. The sound is raw and maybe a little bit more polished could give even more impact to the band´s music. A great metalrelease with good songs !!! |
| Cover Artwork by: Donthemadness | |
|
Recorded at Dime Zero Produced by Donthemadness |
Contact: djcooper@comcast.net |
|
EGO LIKENESS - WATER TO THE DEAD |
|
| Label: Noir Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U.S.A. | |
|
Line Up: Donna Lynch - vocals, piano Steven Archer - guitars, programing, keyboards, vocals Justin Sabe - keyboards, noises Adam Goode - bass Tim McCracken - keyboards, piano David O´Donell - drums |
|
|
Music and lyrics by Archer/Lynch/Ego likeness, except 5 by Archer/Lynch/Ohtagaki/Didiot |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Water to the Dead 2- 16 Miles 3- Above the Soil (Isabel´s Version) 4- Isabel 5- Mandala 6- The Brech 7- Hurricane 8- Axis 9- Travelling Sun 10- Wolves 11- Wayfaring Stranger |
This is a release that really surprises because it looks like you are going to listen to a pure gothic album but instead you will find much more interesting rhythms and amazing vocal melodies played over faster and catchy rhythms. The main thing here, though, are the electronics that create phrases, rhythms and arrangements through all the recording, contrasting with the distorted guitars that add energy adn power to the mix. There are los more introspective and slower compositions such as "Above the Soil" which makes a change in the feeling of the album. Another essential feature are Donna Lynch´s music, sounding sometimes aggressive, sometimes more ethereal but always fitting the music really well. A good release showing good musicianship and many ideas flowing in the tracks. |
| Cover Artwork by: Lauren Simonuti | |
|
Recorded at Angelfall Studios Produced by Ego Likeness |
Contact: www.egolikeness.com or www.ferret.com/noir |
|
ELVIRA MADIGAN - BLACK ARTS (RE-RELEASE) |
|
| Label: Black Lodge Recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Sweden | |
| Line Up: Marcus H. Madigan: - keyboards, guitars, vocals, bass, drums programming | |
|
Music by Marcus H. Madigan Lyrics by Marcus H. Madigan |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Drakens Tårar 2- Djävulen på Engsöslott 3- Köttets Makt Och Kvinnans Svek 4- Gwenhwyfar 5- Multna Sidor ur Min Dagbok 6- Mab 7- Sorgekvädet 8- Svartnatt 9- Ulv 10- Svartkonst och Tusenskrönor 11- Aterbesök (repris) 12- Venus |
This is the rerelease of Elvira Madigan´s first album, the one previous to the "Salem" one. The elements that were in "Salem weere also here but in a not so evident way. Here you have melodies but you have more extreme moments in a more black metal vein than in the newer recording. And this combination of melodies and brutal moments are the trademark fo Elvira Madigan´s music. The voices here are really black metal in the screaming type and there ius plenty of dark atmospheres here. If you don´t know Elvira Madigan I would recommend to start with the "Salem" recording and then ceck this out because it is a little bit darker. Meanwhile, we are awaiting the new album from this amazing Marcus Madigan !!! |
| Cover Artwork by: Luis Royo | |
|
Recorded at Madigan Studios Produced by MArcus H. Madigan |
Contact: www.elviramadigan.com or www.blacklodge.se |
|
ENCRIMSON´D - AGRARIAN MENACE |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U:S.A. | |
|
Line Up: Shaun Koelsh - guitars Jared Mason - drums Chris Danecek - bass, vocals |
|
|
Music by Encrimson´d Lyrics by Dancek, except Amber Shades by Mason |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Red Boar Inn Revolt 2- The Piper´s Tale 3- Old Man 4- My Feast 5- Amber Shades 6- As Echoes Down Fall |
Encrimson´d plays a music that is within the realm of death metal but with innovative ideas in the rhythms and in the riffs which are fast and sometimes not as you may expect in other bands of the style. In fact, there are many parts and riffs that would not be out of place in a pure black metal band. The tracks are long and that allows the band to develope really well their ideas, including the special rhythms that the band plays in many parts. And there are also some climatic parts like the one at 4:39 of "Red Boar Inn Revolt" where the band shows another side of their music adding atmospheres and slowing down a little bit. The vocals are really extreme but are not of the typical guttural type preferring to use other voices closer to black metal and others more anguished ones. The sound is a little bit muddy for my taste (specially the drums that are a little bit buried in the mix) and I think that with a better mix this band can sound even heavier. This is extreme metal with many good ideas flowing. |
| Cover Artwork by: Andrew Danecek | |
|
Recorded by Justin Schwartzbauer Produced by Encrimson´d |
Contact: www.encrimsond.com |
|
ENSLAVIOR - RED WHITE BLACK ´N ´ BLUE |
|
| Label: 2-K Tiranny recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U.S.A. | |
|
Line Up: Frank Raab - vocals, guitars DrumminDave Oswald - drums, vocals Steve Barnoski - guitars, vocals DomiNek Bacigalupi - bas, vocals |
|
|
Music by Enslavior Lyrics by Enslavior |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Out 4 Blood 2- Inner Struggle 3- Null Void 4- Salty Dog 5- Red White Black´n´Blue 6- Seed of Hate 7- Kurvers 8- Kalo taro 9- Entombed 10- Empty Soul 11- P.O.W. (Piece of Work) |
Enslavior´s music is quite difficult to label in only one category of metal music. This is due to their mixing different influences in order to achieve their own identity. Here we have plenty of parts played really fast that would not be out of place in an extreme death metal band, plus there are some riffs that are more rhythmic and are essential to add even more heaviness to Enslavior´s music. And this rhythms are played with a really modern sound in the guitars that are really well mixed. The vocals are in a really good mid point between clean and extreme and that allows the band to sound extremely heavy and at the same to have impact and also some melody in many parts. There are some short solos that show that this guys can be brutal yet tasteful in their playing. the sound is really good and the instruments are clearly mixed. This is power unleashed with good musicianship. |
| Cover Artwork by: Ostwald Enterprises | |
|
Recorded at Grizzly Studios Produced by Enslavior, Grizzly Studios and Darknight prods. |
Contact: www.enslavior.com |
|
ESTONIAN METAL COMPILATION 2004 - THE BEAST RELEASED |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: | |
|
Tracks: 1- HERALD "My judgement cometh" 2- MUST MISSA "Patuoinas" 3- ECHOSILENCE "Utopian reality" 4- SYMBOLIC STATE "Close to the rays" 5- MANATARK "The Serpent`s tongue" 6- CONNECT&CUT "Lies Around Me" 7- LOITS "Tuleristsed" 8- IGNORABIMUS "Tibet" 9- KANTOR VOY "Past teh Doorstep 10- METSATOLL "Hundi Loomine" 11- BESTIA "Hallutsinatsioon" 12-EAST TRADING WANG "Marketized" 13- HORRICANE "Coup de grace" 14- THARAPHITA "Metsudes, soodes ja rabades" 15- RECYCLE BIN "Fucking Hardcore Software Developer" 16- MEINARDUS "Cristendom´s Perdition" 17- WHISPERING FOREST "Gothic Scripts and Keltic Runes" 18- LOOM "U-Turn" |
|
|
Eighteen tracks from eighteen of the most extreme bands that this country has. And there are plenty of different styles here from all the metal specter. From the pure thrash metal full of eighties ifluences that Herald delivers here, to the brutal music of Bestia. From the primitive thrash of Must Missa to the amazing progressive metal of Echosilence. All metal styles are represented here and the good thing about this compilation is that it gives you an idea of how each of the bands sound so you can choose your favorite to continue researching about them. This is a good sample of the Estonian metal scene, a scene taht is becoming bigger every day and whose bands have a lot of quality and good musicianship. |
|
| Cover Artwork by: Mart Kalvet | |
|
Mastered by Sve Varkel at Guano Studios |
Contact: www.metal.ee/estpromo2004 |
|
FARAZ ANWAR - ABSTRACT POINT OF VIEW |
|
| Label: Lion music |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Pakistan | |
|
Line Up: Faraz Anwar - all intruments Fahad Kahn - drums on "Last Summer" Meekal Hasan - bass on "Last Summer" |
|
|
Music by Faraz Anwar Lyrics by Faraz Anwar |
|
|
Tracks: 1- through the Passage of Time 2- Maze 3- Prophet 4- Don´t ever let your spirit Die 5- Last Summer 6- Why?
|
With melodies played with really good taste and full of feelings Faraz Anwar shows his technical skills in the vein of early Tony Macalpine and with influences so different as Greg Howe and Steve Morse. There are plenty of classic metal influences as there are also of jazz and fusion styles. Faraz phrasing is amazing, challenging imagination with articulated lines and long solos that blows the listener away with the virtuosism. Faraz´s own influences are here in many eastern sounding compositions such as "Prophet", really heavy, yet melodic. Faraz has achieved what no many can...to blend technical phrases with soulful compositions delivering killer tracks through all this album. A virtuoo to keep an eye on. |
| Cover Artwork by: Faraz Anwar | |
|
Produced by Faraz Anwar |
Contact: www.lionmusic.com |
|
FINNTROLL - VISOR OM SLATET |
|
| Label: Spikefarm Recs. |
|
| Year: 2003 | |
| Country: Finland | |
|
Line Up: Tundra Trollhorn Katla Wilska B. Dominator Skrymer Somnium |
|
|
Music by Tundra (1,4,11), Trollhorn (2,5,6,10), Wilska (9), Skrymer (7) and Fintroll (8) Lyrics by Katla and Wilska |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Suobengen Sija 2- Asfågelns död 3- Försvinn da som fyser 4- Veripuu 5- Under Varje Rot Och Sten 6- När allt blir is 7- Den Sista Runans Dans 8- Rov 9- Madon Laula 10- Svart Djup 11- Avgrunden öppnas |
Now that they have a new album on the streets I am reviewing this previous album by the finnish dark masters Finntroll. With tracks that are not common for the band such as "Asfågelns död" the band surprises as always creating the dark atmosphere that is their essence and at the same time hitting with their aggression. As always, there is good musicianship here with use of acoustic guitars and orchestrationsand with that special type of voice that Finntroll has. there is plenty of nordic folk here in tracks like "Försvinn..." and that is an essential element of Fintroll´s music: the combination of atmospheres, folk roots, keyboards orchestration and uncommon song structures giving the feeling that you are listening to ancient beings playing this music. There is plenty of imagination here and perhaps this is the best way to describe Finntroll´s music: imagination with plenty of atmospheres and dark feelings. |
| Cover Artwork by: Skrymer | |
|
Recorded at Hästholmen Produced by henri Sorvali |
Contact: www.spinefamr.fi or www.fintroll.net |
|
FOREFATHER - ENGLA TOCYME |
|
| Label: Angelisc Enterprises |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: England | |
|
Line Up: Athelstan Wulfstan |
|
|
Music by Forefather Lyrics by Wulfstan |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Engla Tocyme 2- Into the Forever 3- Iron hand 4- Fifeldor 5- the Swan´s Road 6- Forever In Chains 7- The Fate of Kings |
Here is the latest albums from this original band that always shows new elements in their music combining climatic elements with heavy guitars. The title track si the one that opens this album and it has a vocal melody that is truly memorable in the beginning making the track really memorable. The guitars plays riffs that have some dark metal influence but tat are a trademark of Forefather´s music. And the vocals are extremely original knowing how to be heavy and at the same time how to be climatically enough to transmit the feelings that this duo wants the listener to receive. On this album it seems to me that the tracks re more accesible than in previous ones, sounding like hits many of them (this guys surely know how to make things extreme and memorable at the same time). A release that combines cleverly good ideas and heaviness. |
| Cover Artwork by: Reload Design | |
|
Recorded at the Croft Produced by Forefather |
Contact: http://members.aol.com/Forefatherfyrd or http://members.aol.com/AngeliscE |
|
FUNERUS - FESTERING EARTH |
|
| Label: Sonic Death Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U.S.A. | |
|
Line Up: Brad Heiple - guitars/vocals Jill Mcentee - bass John Mcentee - guitars Kyle Severn - drums |
|
|
Music by Funerus Lyrics by B.Helple (tracks 1,3,4,5,6,9) and Jill Mcentee (tracks 2,7,8) |
|
|
Tracks: 1- In the trees 2- Dur 3- Stagnant Seas 4- Suffering Life 5- Nebulous Existence 6- Polluted Excess 7- Shade 8- Web of Deceit 9- Festering Earth |
Funerus is a really brutal band full of guttural vocals and fast rhythms. The good thing in Funerus is that they combine faster moments with more mid apced ones that for my taste are the ehaviest ones of this recording, sucha s the one at 1:40 of "Dnr". There is clever drumming here in the sense that there is good use of double bass and the drummer creates interesting patterns with the ride and the snare, and he also plays extremely fast tempos. The band sounds well rehearsed and tight. The sound of the recording is crushing, specially guitars and drums that sound fat and with the kind of sound that is needed to devastate the listener. This is pure brutality the way it must be done. |
| Cover Artwork by: Genet Marketing | |
|
Recorded at X Studio Produced by Funerus and John Mcentee |
Contact: www.sonicdeath.com or www.funerus.com |
|
FUNGOID STREAM - CELAENUS FRAGMENTS |
|
| Label: Furias Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
|
Country: Argentina |
|
|
Line Up: Joseph C. - all instruments Simon O. - all vocals
|
|
|
Music by Joseph C. Lyrics by H. P. Lovecraft |
|
|
Tracks: 1- The Book 2- The Key 3- The Howler 4- Celaenus Fragments 5- The Window |
Fungoid Stream is pure doom metal. Their music has that slow quality that is essential in this style and they use keyboards and clean guitars in order to create parts full of sorrow and darkness. Here we have five compositions that are over eight minutes long and each of them developes into a pure doom metal work with slower than hell riffs and graveyard like melodies. The band has two types of sounds: one that is used in the cleaner parts that is really bright and other one that is used in the heavier parts that is really distorted and sometimes muddy, reminding me to the early works of bands like Evoken. There are also some passages where the keyboards are left alone and this are the most painful parts with the saddest of feelings. The lyrics are based on H.P.Lovecraft´s texts adding some of the madness and darkness that all the work of this writer has. Pure motherfucking doom !!!!! |
| Cover Artwork by: Fungoid Stream | |
|
Produced by Eduardo Mallada |
Contact: www.orionmusicfurias.com.ar |
|
GARWALL - BLACK BEAST |
|
| Label: Holy Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: France | |
|
Line Up: |
|
|
Music by Garwall Lyrics by Garwall |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Pride 2- Mass of Worms 3- The Seventh Seal of Consequences 4- Abyssus Abyssum invocat 5- Garwall 6- Veni Vidi Vici 7- Les Ecorchés 8- Black Beast
|
Garwall´s music is difficult to describe. It is sure a really extreme kind of metal and it has elements of black metal and death metal and also some heavy metal ideas in some of the riffs, but at the same time they go beyond this styles adding constantly multiple arrangements with the guitars, changing from riff to riff and adding melodies. This guys surely have to be really technically proficient in order to play this music as tight as on this album. Starting with "Pride" the band shows how they can add more and more changes on each composition and at the same time remaining brutal as hell. The vocals are really extreme and is one of the trademarks of this band. Can we cal this progressive black/death metal? It might be described like that because this guys use a lot of technical skills to play each of the tracks and at the same time they are pure brutality unleashed. Do you want originality and bestiality at the same time? Then check Garwall ! |
| Cover Artwork by: Garwall | |
|
Produced by Garwall |
Contact: holyrecords@wanadoo.fr |
|
GFK - IF LIBERTY ISN´T GIVEN IT SHOULD BE TAKEN |
|
| Label: G7 welcomming Committee Recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Canada | |
|
Line Up: Jessy Baron - vocals Sonny Létourneau - bass Rémi Verreault - guitar Michael Beaudoin - guitar André Verreault - drums |
|
|
Music by GFK Lyrics by GFK |
|
|
Tracks: 1- The End of Our Contribution to Modern Slavery 2- Rethinking Basic Antiracism 3- Globaliverne 4- Time and Space Compression 5- Years of Feminism Destroyed 6- Matthew Sheppard, Carlos Giuliani... 7- Prison of Life 8- Power is invisible until you provoke it 9- Todo para todos 10- Religious Icons are creations of men 11- Direct actions is more than wearing a Che guevara Shirt |
A good combination of death metal with modern metal with rhythms that are brutal but at the same time changing from fast to mid paced is what we have on this album. Plus, here we have many keyboards creating arrangements that are extremely original, doing chord progressions below some of the heaviest riffs and creating memorable moments. Thius type of arrangements are GFK´s trademark and they give a lot of identity to the music of this band The vocals are really extreme of the screaming type. GFK has combined succesfully brutal moments with more climatic ones that are the essence here. The guitars sound is really huge and that is an essential feature here. I have to remark the good sound that this recording has making this an experience in mayhemic brutal music. Here we have a release plenty of aggression but at the same time with interesting atmospheres. |
| Cover Artwork by: Jeff Viel and Chris | |
|
Recorded at Labs Studios Produced by GFK |
Contact: www.g7welcomingcommittee.com |
|
GLORY IN DECAY - ONE BODY, TEN PIECES |
|
| Label: Kill Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U.S.A. | |
|
Line Up: John Corpse Keith Christhunter
|
|
|
Music by Corpse/Christhunter Lyrics by Corpse/Christhunter |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Planetary Slaughter 2- Sawing Through Arteries 3- Realm of Mutated Cannibals 4- Kingdom of Chaos 5- One body, ten pieces 6- Bloated Corpse 7- The Papal Kidnapping |
Death fucking metal!!!! Done in the rawest form possible and with the most guttural vocals on Earth. "Planetary Slaughter" opens this album with full spped and programmed double bass drumming at the speed of sound and showing one of Glory In Decay´s trademark: the combination of heavier than hell riffs with programmed drums (some bass drum patterns or some ride cymbal are played at inhuman speed) and rhythms that being fast ort slow are always thought for killing the listener with their sheer brutality. The vocals here are used like another instrument following some ehythms or doing lines that emphasize the brutality of the music played by this killer duo. the sound of the recording is raw, and I would have mixed a little bit louder the rhythm guitar in order to make things even more bestial. This is music designed to surprise with intense brutality. |
| Cover Artwork by: Glory in Decay | |
|
Recorded at WROX Basement Studios Produced by J.Corpse |
Contact: http://gloryindecay.com |
|
GRENDEL - SOMETHING TO REMIND |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Finland | |
|
Line Up: Mikko Virtanen - vocals Mika Kivi - guitar, b. vocals Jussi Kraft - guitar Kari Martikainen - bass Jarkko Piipari - drums Juha Terrilä - keyboard |
|
|
Music by Grendel Lyrics by Mikko Virtanen |
|
|
Tracks: 1- The Times of Agony 2- Something to Remind
|
Grendel is pure metal with a good combination with elements of different styles. There are plenty of keyboards here that add a dark yet epic feeling to the music...and I think this combination of epic and dark soud is a trademark of Grendel´s music. The vocals are of the middle range type delivering killer melodies and fitting perfectly the style that the rest of the band plays. But there are also more extreme vocals that are used to emphasize certain phrases or parts which need of a heavier approach. Two tracks are enough to see the power that this finnish guys are capable of doing, but they leave you wanting more from this guys,and I hope soon listening more from this powerful guys from the north. |
| Cover Artwork by: M. Virtanen and Ville Olaskari | |
|
Recorded at Sonic Pump Studios Produced by Grendel |
Contact: www.grendelband.cjb.net |
|
GUTTURAL SECRETE - ARTISTIC CREATIONS WITH CRANIAL STUMPS |
|
| Label: Unmatched Brutality Recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: Brutal Death Metal | |
|
Country: U.S.A.
|
|
|
Music by Guttural Secrete Lyrics by Guttural Secrete |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Slit into Succulence 2- Ejaculating Obesity 3- Incestuous Refiguration 4- Visected in Vaginal Bile |
There are a couple of labels that release the most bestial brutal death metal releases on earth and Unmatched Brutality is one of them. Guttural Secrete is one of the most bestial bands in the label delivering here four tracks of sheer agression with no mercy for the listener. There is speed here but this is not the main feature even if it helps to the overall brutality of the recording. The main thing here are the crushing rhythms that are everywhere in the compositions and whose essence is the huge sound that the guitars have and the interaction with the rhythm section that is essential to achieve the brutality that this band has. A thing to point out is the good sound that the recording has tat helps a lot to achieve a bestial sound, so much needed to deliver this utter aggressive music. Also, here we have Malignancy´s Danny Nelson doing guest screams in a couple of tracks. This is pure bestiality delivered to humanity. |
| Cover Artwork by: Jamie Bailey | |
|
Recorded at Upfront Studios Produced by Guttural Secrete |
Contact: www.unmatchedbrutality.com |
|
HAUATAGUSED KARJED VOL.1 |
|
| Label: Hexenreich Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Estonia | |
|
Tracks: 1- Hord "Sabbath ov Diabolik Prokreation" 2- Meinardus "Nightfear 3- Bestia "Libahunt" 4- Irdhing "Reeturlus" 5- Testicle Vomit "Drink of Gods" 6- Realm of Carnivora "Triumph the Armageddon" 7- Project I.M.P. "Industrial Symphony" 8- Morigan "Angels are Burning Like Candles" 9- Kamaloka "Belated Fear" 10- Irdhing "Söjamaras" 11-Bestia "Hallutsinatsioon" 12- Crom "Zov Nastupajushei Tmy" 13- Damien "Ride the Dragon (Bring the Sword)" 14- Pluribus Impar "Igavesed Lapsed" 15- Project I.M.P. "Melting" 16-Testicle Vomit " Hungarian Awn" 17- Mater Tenebra "Fearlord" 18- Realm of Carnivora "Tösta Möökja Tervita Sarvikut"
|
|
|
This month we have yet another Estonian metal compilation and this one focuses more on the msot extreme side of metal with emphasis on death and black metal. this album is a good sample of good quality band from the most extreme underground. Here we have thirteen band whose music can blow the listener away with sheer intensity (despite some differences in sound that make some bands more powerful than others). From the mid tempos of Meinardus to the speed of the almighty Bestia here you have every type of extreme metal. A good sample to start to know the metal scene of this amazing country that every day brings new bands to the extreme metal scene. |
|
|
Produced by Hexenreich recs |
Contact: http://fr.ee/hexenreich |
|
HORRID FLESH - SUICIDE ORDER |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: France | |
|
Line Up: Julien - bass, vocals Riko - guitars FK.v - drums |
|
|
Music by Horrid Flesh Lyrics by Horrid Flesh |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Undefeated 2- Skinless Factor 3- In Lament´s Term 4- Sword of Sin 5- Antithesis of Conception 6- Dogma Division 7- -/-/-/ |
Starting with an energetic intro called "Undefeated", the guys from Horrid Flesh soon show what they like to do: pure death metal with brutality but without forgetting the good arrangements, specially on the guitars. Here we have many tempo changes, from fast to more midpaced (for my taste this are the heaviest riffs in all the recording). And here we have also really guttural vocals, sounding as almost another instrument creating mayhem in the music. I have to remark the good role of the rhythm section that does not leave any space without filling and blast you with tyheir fast rhytms. The sound is extremely raw and I think that maybe with a better mix this guys can sound even more devastating than on this "Suicide Order" (that would be a death metal armageddon). This is a brutal release designed to blast your ears. |
| Cover Artwork by: Alain L. | |
|
Produced by Horrid Flesh |
Contact: http://horridflesh.acrocyanose.com |
|
JAW - JAW |
|
| Label: Reversed Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Canada | |
|
Line Up: Kevin Kornelsen - drums Jason Dokken - guitar, vocals Pablo Reidel - bass, vocals Emmanuel Olarewaju - manipulations |
|
|
Music by Jaw Lyrics by Emmanuel Olarewaju |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Kin 2- Confettirains 3- Sympathy 4- Forty Four 5- The Calm
|
One word came into my mind while listening to this guys: anger. Yes, pure anger unleashed is the feeling that this recording transmit. The main reason for this are the really extreme voclas that are used by Jason Dokken in most of the recording (cleverly combined with clean vocals that change a little bit the mood but keeping it powerful) in some parts bordering death metal as in the middle of "Confettirains". You wnated heavy guitars? You have plenty of them here, really well mixed in order to make them heavier and louder. The rhythms go from frantic to calm and back to demented again giving each track a feeling of devastation-peace-destruction that is the essence of Jaw´s music. The album is really well mixed but this five tracks (four and a spoken interlude) leave you ready and willing for their next recording. Pure energy. |
| Cover Artwork by: Emmanuel Olarewaju | |
|
Recorded at Studio 11 Produced by Rob Shallcross |
Contact: www.xjawx.com or www.reversedrecords.com |
|
KARMAKANIC - WHEEL OF LIFE |
|
| Label: Regain Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Sweden | |
|
Line Up: Jonas Reingold - bass, add. keyboards Göran Edman - Vocals Zoltan Csörz - drums Krister Jonzon - electric and ac. guitars |
|
|
Music by Jonas Reingold Lyrics by |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Masterplan Pt. 1 2- Alex in paradise 3- At the Speed of Light 4- Do U tango? 5- Where the earth meets the sky 6- Hindby 7- Wheel of Life 8- Masterplan Pt.2 |
What a good album is this one !!! Having Göran Edman and Jonas Reingold I expected classic metal but I was completely wrong. The music here starts with the almost-instrumental "Masterplan Pt. 1" a fourteen minutes long combination of experimental progressive music with the heaviest King Crimson. Full of keyboards and arrangements done by guitars bass and drums, each of the tracks constantly surprises. Göran Edman´s vocals are sometimes irrecognizible because they soudn really different from what we are accustomed to The album is produced by Jonas Reingold and that surely adds a good sound to the music here as we know from previous release by this killer bass player |
| Cover Artwork by: Sofia Petersen | |
|
Recorded at Reingold recording Studio Produced by Jonas Reingold |
Contact: www.theendrecords.com |
|
KILL YOUR MANAGEMENT VOL.5 |
|
| Label: Psychophonic Recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U.K. | |
|
CD Compiled by Dan Peach for Psychophonic Recs.
|
|
|
Tracks: 1- Razorwire "Dipole" 2- No Signal Input "Suppression" 3- Pro Jekt "I Know You hate Me" 4- Rateofdepress "Why I Can´t Sleep" 5- Gafftape "Insideout" 6- MeyerCurve "Truth in Hollow Words" 7- Tears of Aske "Desperation" 8- Roachville "Visions of Hate" 9- Headhunglow "Soundtrack to a Riot" 10- Headpress "The Words of Others" 11- Limbic Riot "Crushing A Fake" 12-Beneath Utopia "No Escape" 13-Nothus "Altercate the Opposite" 14-Magas-Eye "Hetredoxy" (live) 15- Pirrus "Nineyearplan" 16- Project Valkyrie "Soul Searcher" 17-Rawdeal "Away from Me" 18- The Dofgems "Jump the Mile 19- Ginger Wig "Menstrual Girl" |
|
|
A compilation with nineteen powerful bands, some of them more extreme, some of them more melodic. Starting with Razorwire, a band that we are reviewing this month and whose mix of modern metal with some hardcore delivers pure energy, the compilation has bands mostly of the modern metal style with huge guitar sound, such as Rateofdepress, a band that is extremely powerful. There are bands like Pro Jekt whose music is like techno metal because it has plenty of electronics (with even dancing beats) but some distorted guitars too. And there are others more of the commercial type, such as Gafftape whose track can be even a hit in metal. This is a good compilation from bands that I have mostly not known before. A killer compilation |
|
| mastering by: John Webb | |
|
Compiled by Dan Peach |
Contact: www.psychophonic.co.uk |
|
KOLDBRANN - NEKROTISK INKVISITION |
|
| Label: Desolate Landscapes recs |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Norway | |
|
Line Up: Mannevond - vocals, guitars Kvass - guitars, bass Fordeselve - drums and goatbell Jonas aus Slavia - guitar, bass |
|
|
Music by Koldbrann Lyrics by Koldbrann |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Fortapelse i Svovel og Helvetesild 2- Kaosmanifest 3- Koldbrann 4- Liturgi i Dissonans 5- Fra Allfars Veg 6- Korpus Sepsis 7- Den Endelige 8- Phlegetons Bredder 9- Inkvisitor Renegat |
Koldbrann is pure blasphemic unholy black metal done in the rawest form that is possible. Really distorted guitars with blast beating drums is the main characteristic here. There are also many tempo changes that add the darkest feeling here making things even more obscure. There is some thrash influence in the slower parts where the band developes raw riffs but with a different feeling than the msot black emtal ones. Voices are in an intermediate point between death and black emtal sounding dark and aggressive. the sound is a little bit muddy and I think that a clearer sound can make things even better for this band. Pure blackness unleashed over the world. |
| Cover Artwork by: Koldbrann | |
|
Recorded at Den nekrotiske Kammer and Nekrotrygd Studios Produced by NGZM and Koldbrann |
Contact: http://koldbrann.cjb.net |
|
LILITU - THE DELORES LESION |
|
| Label: the End Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U.S.A. | |
|
Line Up: Corey Long - drums Derek Bonner - vocals/guitar Jason piona - guitars Shane Bell - bass |
|
|
Music by Lilitu, except 4 by J.Piona and 7 by Derek Bonner Lyrics by H.D.Bonner |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Only the End of the World Again 2- Even the Vultures Have Moved On (A tragic Love Story) 3- The Delores Lesion 4- Ether 5- Follow Through 6- Desolation Breeds 7- Dark Haired Girl 8- Fragments of My Reflection |
This album surprises from the first riff, being a great combination of pure aggression with interesting arrangements that include melodies, solos and technical parts. There are killer guitar solos and really good technique in the playing that is essential to deliver each phrase correctly in the way that must be done to impact the listener. This release is full of climatic elements and interesting atmospheres, that combined with the heavy riffing and the fast rhythms create Lilitu´s unique identity, The combination of extreme and clean vocals is essential to reach the feelings that Lilitu wants to transmit, that combination of aggression and melancholy, that fusion of powerful screams and ethereal melodies. One of the releases of the month. |
| Cover Artwork by: Travis Smith | |
|
Recorded at Ledbelly Sound Studio Produced by J.Piona and Lilitu |
Contact: www.theendrecords.com |
|
LOST DETOUR - CAUSE AND EFFECT |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: | |
|
Line Up:
|
|
|
Music by Lost Detour Lyrics by Lost Detour |
|
|
Tracks: 1- My Assignment 2- Travesty 3- Faceless One
|
I would call the music that this band plays something like progressive extreme metal. I mean, their music has clean vocals as well as some death metal vocals but the rest of the music is closer to heavy metal with multiple arrangements and melodies gflowing through all teh album. Each track here is long enough to let all the ideas of the band flow. "Faceless One" uses acoustic guitars that contrast heavily with the huge guitars. the album is full fo feeling, specially the aforementioned "Faceless One" that has a sad melody played in some parts which is truly memorable and is for me THE SONG with capital letters. A must have. |
| Cover Artwork by: Lost Detour | |
|
Produced by Lost detour |
Contact: www.lostdetour.com |
|
LUPERCALIA - FLORILEGIUM |
|
| Label: Equilibrium Music |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Italy | |
|
Line Up: Claudia Florio - soprano, choirs Riccardo Principe - guitar, synth, dulcimer |
|
|
Music by Luperalia Lyrics by Lupercalia |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Tribe 2- Ouroboros 3- Aegypto ad Siciliam 4- Personent Hodie 5- Sub Specie Aeternitatis 6- Praga 7- Rebis 8- Kundalini 9- Curtis 10- Axe 11- Formis Melara Sanctus Filix 12- The wind that shakes te barley 13- Pilgrim´s Chant |
An amazing release with elements of ancient folk music but taken to moernity through the use of some synths. The music here has some eastern flavor in tracks like "Aegypto ad Siciliam". Riccardo Principe is one half of Lupercalia and here he plays interesting arrangements with acoustic guitars while Claudia Florio, the other half creates amazing passages with her virtouso soprano voice (this woman can sing anything that you wnat her to sing...it has one of the most wonderful voices I have heard). There is heavy use of melodies here and there are plenty of invited musicians that contribute awesome instrumentation to this release. Some parts reminded me to the most orchestrated Dead Can Dance compositions but with more harmonies and more arrangements. This is a release of the type that surprises all the time with new melodies and with the combiantion of dark atmospheres with enchanting / ethereal melodies and arrangements. A must. |
| Cover Artwork by: Joao Monteiro and Nuno Roberto | |
|
Produced by Giuseppe Cassano |
Contact: www.lupercalia.it or www.equilibriummusic.com |
|
MAGISTER DIXIT - INFERNAL MARTYRISM |
|
| Label: Galy Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: | |
|
Line Up: W. Solstice - vocals, keys, guitars Fog - guitars, keyboards Ekinox- bass, guitar, vocals, keys Ghor - guitars, vocals Infurya - drums |
|
|
Music by Magister Dixit Lyrics by Magister Dixit |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Souldrilled to infernal martyrism 2- the stone has spoken... 3- Rebellion of the unholy mindfucked 4- The hunchback 5- Hyldeon´s destiny (the curse of Azagath pt 5) 6- The Mitgon Race (the curse of Azagath pt 6) 7- Civilizations of the new days 8- Join the circle of eternal thoughts |
This is pure black metal with some death and thrash elements in a smaller proportions. Lets say that Magister Dixit´s music is 80% black metal, 15% death metal and 5% thrash. THeir music has plenty of blast beats and fast rhythms and also has some climatic moments with keyboards such as in "The Mitgon Race...". The vocals are pure black metal enhancing the dark effect that the music has with screams and dark vocalizations. There are some interesting solos and good musicianship that allows the band to deliver some technically difficult passages. Plus some dark melodies are essential to give that sense of uniqueness that Magister Dixit´s music has. Let the reign of darkness begin....Magister Dixit has arrived. |
|
Recorded at Radicart Studio Produced by Magister Dixit |
Contact: www.magisterdixit.cjb.net or www.galyrecords.com |
|
MANIFEST - THE ART OF WAR |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Norway | |
|
Line Up: Ole Marius Iarmerud - guitars Alessandro Elide - drums Stian Ieknes - vocals Cato Iversen - bass
|
|
|
Music by Manifest Lyrics by Manifest |
|
|
Tracks: 1- The Art of War 2- Dead End Spiral |
Manifest has a strong quality: each rhythm that they play sounds extremely heavy. The guitars have that big sound taht makes them be like a wall of sound. There is plenty of thrash metal influences here but they are combined with death metal and modern metal (in the sound) creating this explosive combiantion that is Manifest´s music. The vocals are really extreme, not as guttural as in brutl death metal but extremely bestial. There are killer solos in tracks like "The Art of War" (I think the band should do even more solos because they know how to do them correctly) The recording has a mix that is between raw and polished giving the sensation of a band that spends a lot of time in the studio and achieve a sound close to how they sound in a live situation. We want more from them soon. |
| Cover Artwork by: Phin Airique | |
|
Recorded at Godt Selskap Produced by Manifest |
Contact: www.manifest-rock.com |
|
MANNHAI - THE EXPLODER |
|
| Label: Ranch Recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Finland | |
|
|
|
|
Music by Mannhai
Lyrics by Mannhai |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Mr. Out of Sight 2- Lonesome 3- Broken Chains 4- Rock to the Top 5- TNT Mountain 6- Two Roads 7- Behind the Trees 8- Error ´67 9- Heads Against the Stones 10- Black Water Swan |
This is heavy rock with clear seventies influences. The music here is full of melodies and it sure sticks in your mind after the first listening. There are climatic parts where the clean guitars are used in order to add a more intimistic feeling o the music. I would like the band to distort a little bit more the guitars and add some more bottom end in the sound to gain more power in the riffs. The sound of the recording is raw, in the stoner rock fashion, despite that the band is not playing that style, being closer to hard rock. Pure rock´n´roll with some heavy elements that have to be developed even more. |
| Cover Artwork by: Mannhai | |
|
Produced by Mannhai |
Contact: www.spinefarm.fi or www.theendrecords.com |
|
MASSMURDER - SLAUGHTERED FOR SNUFF |
|
| Label: Unmatched Brutality Recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: Brutal death metal | |
|
Line Up: Ramon - drums Paul - bass, vokills Jan - guitars |
|
|
Music by Masmurder Lyrics by Jan |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Corpse Copulation 2- Slaughtered for Snuff 3- Homicidal Whore 4- Fleshfeast 5- Meatcleaver Massacre 6- Cadaver Disinterment 7- Soaked in Semen 8- Perverse Molestation |
This is the uttermost bestial release. Don´t beg for mercy because this guys will not have it with your ears and brains. Blast beats, ultrafast riffs played with a characteristic brutal death metal tone are delivered through the eight tracks that this album has. The band sounds extremely tight and the compositions are carefully developed to make each second an experience in bestiality. And the tightness of the band is fundamental here to distinguish brutal as fuck from chaotic....and the band is walking this subtle edge, never falling into chaos due to their good musicianship. As I said in the beginning of the review this is the uttermost experience in brutality. Check this album and be blasted away. |
| Cover Artwork by: Mike Bohatch | |
|
Recorded at Excess Studio Produced by Massmurder |
Contact: www.massmurder.nl or www.unmatchedbrutality.com |
|
MISANTHROPE - MISANTHRO-THERAPIE: 15 ANEES D´ANLYSE |
|
| Label: Holy Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
|
Country: France |
|
|
Line Up: |
|
|
Music by Misanthrope Lyrics by Misanthrope
|
|
|
Tracks: 1- Ttan Fall 2- Inspiration 3- Le Bestiaire Souterrain 4- Emmurement 5- Estampe Geopolitique 6- Amour Anthropophage 7- L´Antichrist 8- Trimes, Tyrannie 9- Contemplation 10- Chair Organique 11- Bassiste de Coeur 12-Conte Fantasmagorique 13-Exsilium Existentia |
This is one half of a two disc set containing rarities, covers, etc. that comes also with a DVD conatining many surprises from this classical extreme metal band from France. For those who doesn´t know the band their music is melodic death emtal done in a really original way that sets Misanthrope appart from any other band of the style. this first CD is a studio album with catchy riffs that are the essence of Misanthrope´s music and clever arrangements that are another trademark. The tracks are complex and each of them is really memorable due to the guitar riffs thata re played here. The guitars soudr eally huge and that adds aggression and power to this almighty band. Misanthrope is already a classica and you knw what to expect from them: killer compositions played with really good musicianship and witha lot of agressiona dn power. |
| Cover Artwork by: Misanthrope | |
|
Produced by Misanthrope |
Contact: holyrecords@wanadoo.fr |
|
MISERIA - SILENCE WITHIN |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Finland | |
|
Line Up: Jani Kantoniemi - vocals Virpi Loukkola - vocals/guitars Päivi Korpi-Käkelä - keys Anssi Kaunismäki - drums |
|
|
Music and Lyrics by: Päivi and Virpi (1,2,3,5) Joni and Virpi (4) |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Silence Within 2- Whispering Cry 3- Myself to Seal 4- Soulbound 5- Into despair |
Miseria has become one of my favourite bands since I lsitened their previous release "The Night of Fetus" some months ago. And on this release the band is more solid, with better compositions and with a different feeling in their songs....while "The night of fetus" was darker this one is more ethereal, more intimate. The combination of clean male and female vocals reaches here a climax making each song trully memorable due to the abundance of melodies and arrangements. The good thing about Miseria is that they have combined succesfully elements of different metal styles and turned them into their own sound taht is truly original. The sound is another improvement that this band had,being crystal clear and allowing each note to be perfectly heard. A band that deserves the best !!! |
| Cover Artwork by: Tomi Kauhajärvi | |
|
Recorded at Fantom Studio Produced by Miseria |
Contact: www.turn.to/miseria |
|
MITTERNACHT - THE RAISE OF THE SECRET CITIES |
|
| Label: Furias Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Argentina | |
|
Line Up: Friedrich Curwenius - all instruments, vocals |
|
|
Music by Friedrich Curwenius Lyrics by Friedrich Curwenius |
|
|
Tracks: 1- The Sighting of the city 2- Fall and Raise 3- The Apparition 4- Synthetic Fallen Angel 5- The Tide of Rotten Souls 6- Lux Fare the Light Carrier 7- The raise of the Secret cities
|
After "The Desolation of Blendestein" here comes the new Mitternacht album. This album has some progress when compared to the other one and that is mainly because it seems that this time more time has spent in achieving a good sound and that is evident in the sound of the keyboards. Curwenius has achieved here passages of interesting atmospheres, sometimes more epic, sometimes darker but always effective and interesting. Curwenius speaks the vocals giving birth to an interesting history through the lyrics. Some parts reminded me to Of the Wanderer and the Moon due to their dark nature and atmosphere but the album is really original. As always the drums are programmed and played really fast in many parts, adding a heavier feeling to the music. As I said before this release sounds better than the previosu one and mantains the good compositional levels. If you like atmospheric metal you will surely love this one. |
| Cover Artwork by: Mario Buccino | |
|
Produced by Eduardo Mallada |
Contact: www.orionmusicfurias.com.ar or http://listen.to/mitternacht |
|
MONDGESÄNGE - CARLOS PERON/ ART NOIR/ PERLENTAUCHER / WOSCHOFIUS |
|
| Label: Nachtwaertz |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Germany | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tracks: 1- Mondgesang (Woschofius) 2- Tetliys (Art Noir) 3- Im tempel des Schwarzen Mondes (Carlos Peron) 4- Mondfinsternis (Perlentaucher) |
Four tracks of pure experimentation
with atmospheres and other climatic elements is what we have here. Each
track is created by killer artists whose compositions are imposible to
predict . Woschofius starts the first of this four long composition with
many layers of keyboards that create dark textures that intertwine heavily
one with another. Then comes Art Noir with an ambient type of composition
but adding some percussion in the background and some keyboard melodies tat
make the track a really original compositions and at the same time memorable
even if it is almost 20 minutes long. This is an album full of dark atmospheres with really open minded artists and amazing compositions. |
|
Produced by Nachtwaertz |
Contact: www.nachtwaertz.com |
|
MORS IN TABULA - PROMO CD 2004 |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: | |
|
Line Up:
|
|
|
Music by Mors in Tabula Lyrics by Mors in Tabula |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Blood Path 2- M/K Ultra 3- Eye of the Abyss 4- Noctifer |
This is a band that cosntantly surprises with their combination of death metal vocals and guitars with structures that are not typical of that kind fo music being more progressive. In fact, I think that I would not be wrong if I say tat this is progressive death metal. But the main surprise comes with the heavy use of keyboards that are essential in all the compositions here being Mors in Tabula´s main trademark. There is really good musicianship on this recording and that musical proficience allowed Mors in Tabula to develope one of the recordings of the month full of aggression but at the same time full of tasty solos, arrangements and harmonizations that go beyond any style. |
| Cover Artwork by: Mors in Tabula | |
|
Recorded at Produced by Mors in Tabula |
Contact: www.morsintabula.com |
|
MOUNT WASHINGTON - MOUNT WASHINGTON |
|
| Label: Reify Recordings |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: Experimental music | |
|
Line Up: Martin Blume - percussion Jeremy Drake - acoustic guitar Tucker Dulin - trombone Wolfgang Fuchs - Sax, clarinets Chris Heenan - alto sax, bass clarinet Anne Le Baron - Harp Torsten Müller - contrabass Philipp Wachsmann - violin/electronics |
|
|
Music by Mount Washington Lyrics by Mount Washington |
|
|
Tracks: 1- 2- 3- 4- 5- 6- 7-
|
I always like this sort of recordings full of spontaneous music and experimentation. This is a place where you will find countless musical ideas and compositional structures that are not of the type that one is accustomed to listen to. And in albums with many of this great spontaneous musicians the ideas get multiplied exponentially. Here we have any kind of sound that is possible to extract from the instruments of this musicians and tere is also clever interaction between them. From pure almost noise phrases to more melodic ideas, to atmospheric parts, this guys explore many moods in order to achieve great experimentation. You have to be pretty open minded to enjoy this release but I think that giving this guys a chance they will surely impact you with their great musicality and their imagination with no limits. |
| Cover Artwork by: Patrick Wilson | |
|
Recorded by Wayne Peet Produced by Chris Heenan and Jeremy Drake |
Contact: www.reifyrecordings.com |
|
NATIONAL CEMETERY ORCHESTRA - PRINCE OF ROSH |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U.S.A. | |
|
Line Up: Karl Nix - all instruments |
|
|
Music by Karl Nix Lyrics by Karl Nix |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Destroyer of Nations 2- In the Valley of Hamon-Gog 3- Dark clouds Above 4- The Black hand 5- Prince of rosh 6- A Farewell to Friends |
The National Cemetery Orchestra always surprises with the music that is delivered on each recording, mutating, changing and delivering heaviness in different ways. I found this "Prince of Rosh" the heaviest of the recordings of this project up to now. Starting with "Destroyer of Nations" one of the heaviest tunes combining heavy guitar riffs with dissonant melodies. There are multiple changes ina tmosphere here and some parts are played with clean guitars adding deep feelings to the music. There are also melodies like the ones in 2:40 of "Destroyer of Nations" that add a mysterious twist to the music here. And this twists are essential in the music here because each of the tracks are long enough to allow Karl nix to develope many ideas within each of them. The programmed drums do not affect the final result making the recording sound heavy (the guitars have a really raw yet effective sound) and not too machine like. The National Cemetery Orchestra is originality guaranteed. |
| Cover Artwork by: Jason Powell | |
|
Produced by Karl Nix |
Contact: kenix@aol.com |
|
NEGATIVE CREEPS - MUTUAL ANNIHILATION |
|
| Label: Black Lotus Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Greece | |
|
Line Up: M.K. - vocals J.B. - guitar P.F. - guitar G.K. - bass T.S. - drums |
|
|
Music by Negative Creeps Lyrics by Negative Creeps |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Inflammatory Scourge 2- Post Homicidal Depression 3- Human Crossbreed 4- Mutual Annihilation 5- We Come for your ass 6- Lateral Losses 7- Methods of Dissonance 8- Lapitation of the Murine Race 9- Creeping Human Parasite 10- Eyeball Drilling |
Violence is the second name of this band coming directly to destroy you with their Slayeresque tracks. The music here are pure burst of aggression full of rhythms that are designed to demonstrate utter heaviness and with extreme vocals that are in the middle of lets say Sepultura and brutal death. The guitars also deliver manic solos the way Jeff Hanneman or Kerry King would do, that is with violence and chaos. One remarkable thing is the sound that this guys have achieved, specially on guitars and drums (great double bass sound) which makes things even heavier. Negative Creps is a band whose music sounds really like in a live situation but with the advantages that a good studio gives you. Pure aggression |
| Cover Artwork by: Set H | |
|
Recorded at Zero Studio Mastered at Zero Studio |
Contact: www.black-lotus-recs.com |
|
NEITHER - NEITHER |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Style: | |
|
Line Up: Steve - bass Amanda - keyboards Shawn - vocals James - guitars Russ - drums
|
|
|
Music by Neither Lyrics by Neither |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Autumn Death Cycle 2- Farewell to the Flesh 3- Halo of Insects |
A death metal outfit that combines aggressive moments with more climatic ones. Crushing guitars develope multiple brutal riffs with speed and rhythmic qualities creating a wall of aggression that is Neither´s trademark.The keyboards here create the atmospheres and the drums and guitars add the brutality.. An ultra guttural voice gives the most extreme feeling here taking the band to the most brutal death metal realm. The sound is a little bit primitive, specially on the drums, and a better mix will givbe Neither better results here, but that does not stop the band of doing their brutal music with a lot fo intensity. Track "Halo of Insects" sounds different from the others as if it was recorded in a different session but the overall sound of the recording is extremely brutal. Brutality unleashed over the lsitener with good ideas. |
| Cover Artwork by: Neither | |
|
Recorded at Corpus Callosum Studios Produced by Neither |
Contact: www.neitherband.com |
|
NORTHER - DEATH UNLIMITED |
|
| Label: Spinefarm Recs. |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Finland | |
|
Line Up: Petri Lindroos - vocals, lead guitar Jukka Koskinen - bass Tonni Hallii -drums Kristian Ranta - lead guitars Tuomas Planman - keyboards |
|
|
Music by Ranta- Lindroos (1,3) Ranta-Lindroos - Planman (2,4,6,7,8,10,12) Koskinen - Planman (5) Lindroos - Planman (11) Planman - Ranta (9) Lyrics by Ranta (2,7,8,12) Lindroos (3, 11) Koskinen (4,5) Planman (6,10) |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Nightfall 2- Deep inside 3- Death unlimited 4- Chasm 5- Vain 6- A Fallen Star 7- The Cure 8- Day of Redemption 9- Beneath 10- Hollow 11- Nothing 12- Going Nowhere |
After reviewing their previous "Mirror of Madness" I was really anxious to listen what was coming next after that masterpiece. And here comes this "Death Unlimited". And they have taken their music one step beyond sounding more aggressive and with even better arrangemenets. Just listen to the majesty of "Deep Inside" and see how this band can easily blow away other bands like Children of Bodom. the combination of heavy guitars with the orchestrating keyboards are Norther´sa trademark, then the solos....what can I say!! They are full of virtuosism and show what this guys can do. The compositions are really cleverly constructed and Petri Lindroos vocals are spitted against a demolishing rhythm section and overwhelming riffs. And they are carefully developed going up to a climax that will make you have metal orgasms while listening to it. One of the recordings of the year !! |
| Cover Artwork by: Miiikka Tikka | |
|
Recorded at Astia Studio Produced by Anssi Kippo |
Contact: www.norther.net and www.spinefarm.fi |
|
OF INFINITY - THE ESSENCE OF INFINITY |
|
| Label: independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U.S.A. | |
|
Line Up: Alessandra Zinicola - vocals, piano, synths Nazareth Sando - guitars, electronic drums Kurtis Kyllo - bass |
|
|
Music by Of Infinity Lyrics by Of Infinity |
|
|
Tracks: 1- the Voice Without 2- Shadow of a Lie 3- It´s Only forever |
The music here is powerful and at the same time really introspective. And is a music designed to awaken different feelings in the listener. Melancholy, sadness, beauty, this are only a part of the emotions that will surely appear in your mind while listening to this amazing release. One of the main things here are the keyboards that embellish each of the tracks with many arrangements and chords progressions tat orchestrate each of the three tracks that the album has.. Alessandra´s voice creates passages that combine dark melodies with a feeling of etherel beauty. Her singing has a lot of technique and at the same time is full of passion and feelings. The heavy guitars add power to this mix making the songs powerful while really beautiful at the same time Of Infinity has achieved a really good sound in this release with really crystal clear production. And this good sound makes the final result even better. A masterpiece that leaves you expecting their next release. |
| Cover Artwork by: Of Infinity | |
|
Recorded at The Annex Produced by Of Infinity |
Contact: www.ofinfinity.com |
|
ON A DEAD MACHINE - ON A DEAD MACHINE |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U.S.A. | |
|
Line Up: Brian Link - vocals Ed Harris - drums Adam Lucchesi - guitar Hans Amelang - bass |
|
|
Music by On A Dead Machine Lyrics by On A Dead Machine |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Cancer 2- A Million Helicopter and one dollar 3- You First |
Three tracks are enough to confirm what we realized about this great band while reviewing their previous recording: this band surely knows how to combine really aggressive moments with melodic parts that are really catchy. Here you have really screaming extreme vocals combined with clean melodic ones that are the essence of OADM´s music.On each of the three compositions here you can listen several eruptions of aggression with crushing guitars and the mentioned powerful guitars, followed by calmer parts where OADM deliver´s heartful lines full of feelings. This is really modern metal with many interesting ideas and it shows how well can be combined ideas with different levels of intensity and aggression in order to achieve good compositions and good results. |
| Cover Artwork by: Annie Wilson | |
|
Recorded at Young Avenue Sound Produced by On A Dead Machine |
Contact: www.onadeadmachine.com |
|
OVERLOAD - ...OF DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES |
|
| Label: Mad Metal Works |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Switzerland | |
|
Line Up: Zolti - guitars, vocals Mato - bass Patrick - keyboards Hägar - drums |
|
|
Music by Daraban Lyrics by Daraban |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Personal Nightmare 2- Dream 3- Broken Glass 4- Ocean of Tears 5- Time for a Change 6- Out of Time 7- The Gunslinger 8- The Prisoner 9- Death / Strangers Mind 10- Walking through the Desert 11- Waiting for the End 12- ...Of Dreams and Nightmares (Bad Trip) |
Overload is a band whose music can be defined as pure metal but with elements from other styles (such as black metal or even progressive) and heavy keyboards orchestration. The tracks here are long enough to let many ideas to be developed by the band. And the main thing here are the ideas, the melodies, the rhythm changes, the orchestrations, the guitar solos, the virtuosism in many parts, the multiplicity of feelings. There is a female voice in some parts that is good in doing a contrast wit the male one adding a different feeling to the music. At the same time the male voice uses a middle range giving to the music a dark feeling that is omniprescent through all this recording. The sound of this recording is raw and I think that the guitars are a little bit low mixed for my taste, and maybe mixing them higher can add more power to the band: A good recording with original ideas and good musicianship. |
| Cover Artwork by: Jay Jay | |
|
Recorded at Murgs and Krampf Society Produced by Overload |
Contact: www.overload-rock.ch |
|
OVERLOAD - MORBID CONSTRUCTION |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Switzerland | |
|
Line Up: Hägar - drums Gabriella Vari - keyboards, vocals Zoltan Daraban - guitars, vocals Mato Iveij - bass |
|
|
Music by Overload Lyrics by Overload |
|
|
Tracks: 1- 3bhc550001r0266 (error) 2- 2 worlds 3- Back in Time 4- The Prison in my head 5- Blood 6- Wither and Die 7- Steps 8- Father 9- The Eye of the Storm 10- Vita Nimis brevis Est. Ut Sit Res Severa 11- Shadow in teh Darkness 12- Dead |
This album starts strangely with aan electronic track with almost dancing quality. Soon enters the band with their particular pure heavy metal style. Here the arrangments are more evident than in their previous album with more place for the female vocals (this time done by the powerful Gabriella Vari) combined with Zoltan´s. There are many climatic moments such as the one in the middle of "2 worlds" where the rpogressive attitude of the band appears adding multiple arrangements to the music and also some solos. the keyboards have become fundamental now and they are heavily used on each track combined with the aggression of the rest of the band Again the drums have a strange sound in them, specifically on the snare drum but this time the mix make them more audible. This is a good metal band with multiple ideas that they have developed carefully on this release. A great combination of pwoer and melody. |
| Cover Artwork by: Jay jay | |
|
Recorded at MKS Studios Produced by Friedrich and niffeler |
Contact: www.overload-rock.ch |
|
PAIN CONFESSOR - TURMOIL |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Finland | |
|
Line Up: Mikko L. - drums Tuomas - guitar Make - vocals Wesleyer - guitars Mikko K. - bass Pasi - keyboards |
|
|
Music by Pain Confessor Lyrics by Pain Confessor |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Fiery Thorns 2- Hollow Souls 3- Whenever Dark Draws near 4- Erased of Empathy 5- Poor Man´s Crown 6- Underworld 7- Waste of good Suffering 8- Soul Eraser 9- Instinct to resist 10- Lake of Regret 11- Just Names Remain |
Directly from the lands of Finalnd comes the fast aggression of Pain Confessor. Their music is a coimbination of aggression and good technique, combining fast moments of pure death metal (mainly due to the extreme vocals) with more thrash metal ones (in some of the rhythms and some of the shouted choruses). But the main element here is the combination of the bestiality and the melodies that make each track unique. Plus here we have good keyboards that construct interesting chord progressions adding sort of a more atmospheric and orchestrated feeling to the music. There are some clean vocals too that change the mood of the song and combined with the keyboards add some epic quality to the music. I have to point out the good mix that the album has on each instrument making the result really powerful. This is a full recomendable album for any metal lover. One of teh recordings of the month |
| Cover Artwork by: Mikka Tikka | |
|
Recorded at Studio Sound Supreme Produced by Janne Saksa and Pain Confessor |
Contact: www.painconfessor.com |
|
PANICZONE - DEAD REBORN |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2003 | |
| Country: Germany | |
|
Line Up: Torsten - guitars Sulle - drums Jannis - vocals Mike - bass and screams |
|
|
Music by Paniczone Lyrics by Paniczone |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Cemetary Girlfriend 2- I´m Black Styled 3- Lost Rites 4- Dead Reborn 5- Sin Collector 6- Blood Shed 7- Black Flag 8- From the Grave |
Pure brutality with a killer old school death metal influence in some of the rhythms is what Panic Zone does. this guys have combined the spirit of the different eras of death metal into their own sound. The main thing here are the guitar riffs that develope really precise rhythms whose main feature is the utter heaviness that they have. Sometimes faster, sometimes more of the most aggressive riffs on earth. the vocals are guttural and they follow some rhythmic pattern in order to add even more aggression to the music. A solid rhythm section completes this powerful band delivering the drummer interesting rhythms in tracks like "Blood Shed" with killer use of the ride cymbal and interesting snare drum patterns. The sound is raw but effeective here. Brutal metal from a killer tight band ! |
| Cover Artwork by: Ralf Steinmüller | |
|
Recorded at Sound Factory Studios Produced by Paniczone |
Contact: www.paniczone-band.de |
|
PATRIK CARLSSON - PHRASEOLOGY |
|
| Label: Lion Music |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Sweden | |
|
Line Up: Patrik Carlsson - guitars |
|
|
Music by Patrik Carlsson
|
|
|
Tracks: 1- Jimi´s Tribute 2- The Survivor 3- Still Believe 4- Twilight Zone 5- Aeryn Sun 6- Apsilon Indi 7- High Pitch 8- Mosquito 9-Guardian Angel 10- Supernova 11- Exptoc Bossa 12- Supernova 13- Andrea It´s X-Mas 14- Lisa´s passion for heavy metal 15- Cartoon Hippie |
I expected an instrumental album full of neoclassical chops but I was wrong. Patrik Carlsson delivers here incredible guitar lines but his influences range from heavy metal to funk and jazz fusion being a real technical virtuoso but at the same time a musician full of good taste in his playing. We had a first taste of his playing in the Jimi Hendrix tribute and Shawn Lane Remembered albums but now he is in his own element delivering lines that would not be out of place in a Joe Satriani album or a Scott Henderson one (even if Patrik is heavier than thiose guys in his sound). Pure virtuosism is unleashed here in the compositions and the melodies and each track leaves you with your mouth open in disbelief while listening what this amazing guy does. There is some Steve Vai influence in some parts such as on the end of "Jimi´s Tribute" but they are cleverly disguised. This is pure virtuoso guitars with tasteful fast guitar lines and good compositions.. |
|
Recorded at Patrik´s Studio Produced by Patrik Carlsson |
Contact: www.lionmusic.com |
|
PIGSKIN - EPIDEMIC |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Switzerland | |
|
Line Up: Dani - vocals Reto -drums Sigi - bass Jeff - guitars |
|
|
Music by Pigskin Lyrics by Pigskin |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Run Down 2- Daisy Cutter 3- Facing Me 4- Epidemic 5- Why don`t you look for truth 6- Fuck your industry 7- When the devil runs 8- Coppo 9- Mountain Hill 82 10- Looking Into the Eyes 11- Since 1996 |
The killer riff that opens "Run Down" will surely show the path that Pigskin takes from beginning to end: that is killer extreme metal with modern influences and a huge sound in the guitars. Vocals that are screamed at the top of the lungs are a main feature here (with Dani arising from behind the huge wall of sound that the guitars create and showing how you can shout creating more brutality) as are the rhythms played by the killer drummer who has a really clear, almost machine like sound that gives even more power to this destroyer band. the guitars play riff after riff with the huge sound that we described before and they are the essence of Pigskin´s music showing that heavier than hell does not mean only speed. One of the most brutal releases of the month. |
| Cover Artwork by: Nici, Sigi, Dani and Pigskin | |
|
Recorded at Little Creek Studio Produced by Pigskin |
Contact: www.pigskin.ch |
|
PLATITUDE - NINE |
|
| Label: Scarlet Records |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Denmark | |
|
Line Up: Erik Blomkvist - vocals Daniel Hall - guitars Gustav Köllerström - guitars Patrik Janson - bass Andreas Lindahl - keyboards Wachen - add. synth and back. vocals Marcus Höher - drums |
|
|
Music by Platitude Lyrics by Platitude |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Dark mind 2- Trust 3- Oblivion 4- Haleyon Days 5- Catch 22 6- Avalon Farewell 7- Skies of Xenon 8- Falling 9- Aeronautica 10- Endless 11- Starlight |
The first track surprised me. Not knowing Platitude´s music and knowing that there are two keyboardists here I expected more of a symphonic rock album. But "Dark Mind" starts with a pure heavy metal riff and soon the band gets into a faster rhythm that is pure heavy metal unleashed. The keyboards add orchestration, melodies and arrangements but they do not make the music of the band softer in any way and theya re full of virtuosism. Erik vocals fit really well Platitude´s music and I specially liked that he doe not abuse high pitches using them only when it is necesary. Other thing that I liked is that the band does not use power metal rhythms and riffs preferring to use more original ones. I recommend this album to all people who likes heavy metal done with guts and good ideas. |
| Cover Artwork by: Mattias Norén | |
|
Recorded at Jailhouse Studios Produced by tommy hansen adn Platitude |
Contact: www.platitude.net |
|
RAZORWIRE - LEAGUE OF THE GODLESS |
|
| Label: Psychophonic Records |
|
| Year: 2003 | |
| Country: U.S.A. | |
|
Line Up: Chris Minney - vocals Dan Peach - rhythm guitar Charlie Cooper - drums, b. vocals Dan Carden - lead guitar Andy Pancheri - bass |
|
|
Music by Razorwire Lyrics by Razorwire |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Jettison 2- League of the Godless 3- Template 4- Spin the Wheel 5- Make it Rain 6- Lose My Head 7- Only Son 8- Trip or Fly 9- Just Another 10- Guttermouth 11- Still Waters Rising |
Starting with an awesome riff, the guys in Razorwire show that their music is powerful and can be classified as pure metal with influences from other styles. One influence that I can say that I listen in some aprts is pure hardcore, such as in "League of the Godless". There is melody in the vocals and theya re used cleverly to add even more power to the music. This guy is really versatile using melodies and even some death metal voices in the most aggressive parts. The guitars have a really modern sounding creating clever arrangements in a not typical way. The combination of melody and aggression is Razorwire´s trademark and combined with a really mdern sound they have achieved a really good result with this release. |
| Cover Artwork by: Frank Hargrave | |
|
Recorded at Framework Studios Produced by Paul Siddens |
Contact: www.razorwire.info or www.psychophonic.co.uk |
|
RAZORWIRE - PROMO 2004 |
|
| Label: Psychophonic Recs |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U.S.A. | |
|
Line Up: Chris Minney - vocals Dan Peach - rhythm guitar Charlie Cooper - drums, b. vocals Dan Carden - lead guitar Andy Pancheri - bass |
|
|
Music by Razorwire Lyrics by Razorwire |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Dipole 2- Lock Down |
This are two new tracks from this band whose previosu album we have just reviewed. "Dipole" starts in an interesting combiantion of hardcore with some modern metal influences in the voices and a good blending of melodies and powerful song structures with a lot of aggression. "Lock Down" is a combination of brutality with meldoy with rocking guitar solos. If this is the preview of their new album I would really like to listen the complete album to see the rest of the devastating compositions of this band. |
| Cover Artwork by: Razorwire | |
|
Produced by Razorwire |
Contact: www.razorwire.info or www.psychophonic.co.uk |
|
RESURRECTURIS - THE CUCKOO CLOCKS OF HELL |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Italia | |
|
Line Up: Ivan Di marco - vocals Janos Murri - guitar Carlo Strappa - guitar Gianluca Mandolesi - bass Omar Moretti - drums |
|
|
Music by Carlo Strappa/Janos Murri Lyrics by Carlo Strappa |
|
|
Tracks: 1- the Last Sun 2- The Hate 3- Living Reification 4- Inversion-Perversion 5- Sleeping Reason 6- In Art´s Death 7- Helmet Logic 8- I Corpi Privi Di Vita |
One of the first things that got your attention on this album is the good guitar sounds that the guys in Resurecturis have achieved. And then you are overwhelmed by the killer death metal riffs that they deliver. Their music surely is death metal but they have succesfully mixed the style with more modern types of metal music where the rhythms play a key role in acieving heaviness. Resurrecturis goes for the throat from the first track "The Last Sun" smashing you through all the album. And they do not use only speed, concentrating rather in the more rhythmic riffs that are the heaviest ones. The vocals are pure death metal and their main goal is adding brutality to this powerful music. As I said before the sound of the recording is really good, specially on the guitars and that is essential to achieve the brutality that the band desires. A braincrushing release ! |
| Cover Artwork by: Daniele Cudini | |
|
Recorded at Potemkin Studios Produced by Resurrecturis |
Contact: www.resurrecturis.com |
|
RUMSFIELD - TERRIBLE TIMES |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: U.S.A. | |
|
Line Up: Dean Scott - vocals, guitar, synth Eric Turner - bass Luke Scott - percussion |
|
|
Music by Rumsfield Lyrics by Rumsfield |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Black and Blue 2- Blister 3- Die Again 4- Escape 5- Grrl 6- Layers 7- New Design of Beauty 8- Mass Heart Attack 9- Soapseum 10- Stray 11- Too Late |
A good two guitar work opens this album in "Black and Blue". then comes the rest of the band with a music that can be defined as pure metal with some elements of new metal and also of modern aggressive metal bands such as Machine Head. the combiantion of aggressive vocals with more melodic ones is what sets the feeling of the part that this guys are playing. The good thing here is the huge sound that the guitars have playing heavier than fuck riffs and the solid rhythm section that plays delivers killer rhythms over and over again creating eleven smashing tunes. I have to remark the versatility of the singer which is one of those persons that can sing absolutely anything, sounding from really subtle to heavier than hell spitting his lungs in the heavier parts. I think Rumsfield is a band that we have to keep an eye on the future because they have the potential to be one of the top metal bands soon. |
| Cover Artwork by: Dean Scott | |
|
Recorded at Chalet Recording Studio Produced by Dean Scott |
Contact: www.rumsfield.com |
|
SAMMOHAN - DEMO 2004 |
|
| Label: Independent |
|
| Year: 2004 | |
| Country: Finland | |
|
Line Up: John E. Horse - vocals, bass Charles Decapo - guitars Benjam Niininen - drums
|
|
|
Music by Sammohan Lyrics by Sammohan |
|
|
Tracks: 1- Force of Gods (Shaktipat) 2- Invocation of Ganesha 3- Death Zen Magick |
Sammohan is a band whose music is dark and at the same time has a primitive, primal feeling that adds a wild sensation when you listen to this album. Some tracks sounds pure heavy metal but there are parts that are more epic in a way that a black metal band could be (even if Sammohan does not play this style). There are also some faster parts where the thrash elements surface. The vocals are pure metal with some eighties thrash influence in them which I liked a lot because I think that nowadays old good thrash is underrated by many people that only follow trends. The sound is extremely raw and I think that with better studio equipment and mix the band can be more powerful sounding. A good release that promises a lot for the future. |
| Cover Artwork by: Sammohan | |
|
Recorded at Castle village Studios Produced by Sammohan |
Contact: sammohan@jippii.fi |