99 HOOKER´s - GENERICA

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.

Produced by 99 Hooker

A PERFECT MURDER - UNBROKEN

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.

Recorded at Studio Nico

Produced by Eric Rachel and A Perfect Murder

A18 - DEAR FURIOUS

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.

Recorded at For The Record Studio

Produced by Paul Miner and A18

ACHERON - DECADE INFERNUS 1988- 1998

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.

Produced by Acheron

ACHERON - REBIRTH: METAMORPHOSING INTO GODHOOD

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-

Recorded at Mars recording Compound

Produced by Acheron

AFTER DARK - AFTER DARK

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.

Recorded from August-November 02

Produced by Michael Mainx

AFTER FOREVER - INVISIBLE CIRCLES

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

Recorded at Excess and The Gate Studios

Produced by Hans Pieters and After Forever

AGE OF SILENCE - ACCELERATION

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

Recorded at Toproom, Westhill, Animal Bag Studios

Produced by Age of Silence

AINA - DAYS OF RISING DOOM / THE METAL OPERA

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

Produced by Aina

AKOMPILATION VOL.1

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.

Produced by Akom Prods

ALASKA FIRE - FALLING FIRE

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.

Recorded at Fire Riser Studios

Produced by Alex Fire

ALBATROS - ALBATROS

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.

Produced by Albatros

ALGOL / SHROUD OF DESPONDENCY - WHISPERS FROM AN EMPTY ROOM SPLIT

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?  
2. Numbing Dreams With Sad Purple Edges  
3. The Audible Drug  
4. Milk It  
5. To Sin Is Immortality 

SHROUD OF DESPONDENCY

6. The Many Words Never Penned  
7. Untouchable Comfort In The Knowledge Of Discord  
8. The Tongue Of Outspoken Lies  
9. Game

Produced by Paragon recs.

AMBROSSIA - PRESSORCE THROUGH SPATE

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.

Recorded at Demonenbrut Studios

Produced by Reto Ehrler and Ambrosia

ANAAL NATHRAKH - THE CODEX NECRO

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

Produced by Anaal Nathrakh

ANKH - EXPECT UNEXPECTED

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.

Recorded at B-Ton Studio

Produced by Michal Pastuszka and Krysztof Doctor Szmidt

APOKATASTASIA - WAITING FOUR

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.

Recorded at Tectorial Studio

Produced by Apokatastasia and This Schweizer

ARACHNOVORE - DEATH OR SERIOUS INJURY

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

ARCANA - THE NEW LIGHT

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.

Mastered at Erebus Odora

Produced by Peter Bjärgö

ART NOIR - FLÜGEL

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.

Mastered by Dierk Budde

Produced by Jan Hendrik Weber

ASRAI - TOUCH IN THE DARK

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

Recorded at The Excess Studio and Beautiful Lake Studios

Produced by Roman Schonsee

ATREYU - THE CURSE

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.

Recorded at Plumper Mountain Studio

Produced by GGGarth

BAG LADY - 8: KLAATU BARADA NIKTO