AIDEN - NIGHTMARE ANATOMY

Line Up:

Nick - bass

Jake D. - drums

Wil - vocals

Angel - guitars

Jake W - guitars

Music by Aiden

Lyrics by Aiden

Tracks:

1- Knife Blood Nightmare

2-The Last Sunrise

3-Die Romantic

4-Genetic Design for Dying

5-Breathless

6-Unbreakable

7-It´s Cold Tonight

8-Enjoy the View

9-Goodbye We´re falling fast

10-THis City is far from here

11-See you in hell...

Aiden´s music can be defined as a combination of many different styles. The most evident ones are rock, metal, punk and gothic. The songs here are powerful but the mian thing is that they have melodies that turn them into potential hits because of the memorable choruses and Wil´s memorable voice. The guitars are loud and aggressive and they sound compact playing killer rhytmic riffs that are the trademark of the band´s music. The rhythm section is solid and delivers a good basement for the rest of the band to deliver their music. I have to remark the good sound that this recording has that givesthe music a much more powerful feeling. Pay attention cause maybe you will soon listen Aiden´s music in the radios or in music TV.

Recorded at Robet Lang Studios

Produced by Steve Carter

AKIYAMA / KAHN - TILL WE MEET AGAIN

Line Up:

Tetuzi Akiyama - acoustic guitars

Jason Kahn - percussion, analogue synthesizer

Music by Tetuzi Akiyama and Jason kahn

Tracks:

1- Akiyama / Kahn

2-Akiyama / Kahn

3-Akiyama / Kahn

4-Akiyama / Kahn

5-Akiyama

6-Kahn

7-Akiyama / Kahn

8-Kahn

9-Akiyama

Here we have interesting duets and solo pieces by two masters improvisers. I have to say first of all that my absolute favorite pieces of this albums are the duets oines where this musicians reach their compositional and improvisational climax. It is amazing to listen Kahn construct the atmospheres in tracks like the opening one while Akiyama delivers sounds with his acoustic guitar. Akiyama uses some nteresting arpeggios and lines to fit perfectly what Kahn does with the synth and percussion, using slides too in order to achieve the perfect feeling for each improvisation. Compared to albums from other improvisational artists this one has the characteristic of being a really atmospheric and calm album where both musicians experiment with different textures but without showing how many sounds they can put within a second. THis is an ideal album to lsiten with the lights out to feel each of the sounds that this guys have created here and enjoying the ethereal world of this amazing duets.

Produced by Jason Kahn and Tetuzi Akiyama

Line Up:

MIsanthrop - vocals

Niddhogg - guitars

Aargandvain - guitars

Trakon - keyboards

Desideria - bass

Hordas - drums

Music by Amok Vedar

Lyrics by Amok Vedar

Tracks:

1- Verfall

2-Schwarze Flut

3-Glückseligkeit

4-Menschenstaub

5-Sine Nomine

6-Glaubensfluch

7-Wiedergeburt

8-Feuersturm

9-Suizid

Amok Vedar is a band from Germany that evolves with each album. When comparing this one to the previous one you can find true evolution in the compositions and also in the band playing. There are more technical parts on this album than in the previous one showing that the band has improved and rehearsed a lot in the meantime. This band has been accused of being similar to Dimmu Borgir and that is pure bullshit I can find the Amok Vedar sound on this album and they have achieved a unique sound in their music, very different from the norwegian band. Just check "Schwarze Flüt" to see how this band goes beyond most bands of the style. The tunes are extremely fast and climatic keeping the underground black metal spirit but adding more good musicanship to it. The keyboards contrast heavily with the fast drumming and the fast guitar riffs giving the dark spirit that the music here has. The vocals are really black metal showing aggression and fitting the darkness that the rest of the band creates. The album has a loud sound that I really liked because it allows the listener to listen perfectly each instrument. Amok Vedar is a band that evolves on each release and as the good wines becomes better with time.

Recorded at TTS Studios

Produced by J.R.F. and T.W.

AMON AMARTH - FATE OF NORNS

Line Up:

Johan Hegg - vocals
Olli Mikkonen - guitar
Johan Söderberg- guitar
Ted Lundström - bass
Fredrik Andersson - drums

Music by Amon Amarth

Lyrics by Amon Amarth

Tracks:

1- An ancient sign of coming storm

2-Where death seems to dwell

3-Fate of Norns

4-The Pursuit of Vikings

5-Valkyrias Ride

6-The Beheading of a King

7-Arson

8-Once Sealed in Blood

Amon Amarth have established themselves in their own brand of death/ black metal creating albums like this one. That is albums that have aggressive and dark tunes with some influences of viking metal but also with some death metal riffing that is their trademark. The tunes are well developed as always, being close to the ones in theiur previous album in quality and sound, showing that the guys are effective,a aggressive and at the same time are tight as hell. The rhythm section is really solid as always delivering the fast rhythms and the multiple aptterns that each song here has. And the vocals are loud, clear and really extreme as always being one of the trademarks of the band. My absolute favorite track is "Where death seems to dwell" a tune with aggression but also with killer drumming and an interesting guitar background melody. I have to remark the good sound that this album has, specially on the guitars and the drums making this one mof the best mixed Amon Amarth´s album. A band that ahs become already a classic of extreme music!

Recorded at Berno Studios

Produced by Amon Amarth

ARCH ENEMY - DOOMSDAY MACHINE

Line Up:

Angela Gossow - vocals

Sharlee D´Angelo - bass

Michael Ammott - guitars

Daniel Erlandson - drums

Music by Arch Enemy

Lyrics by Angela Gossow

Tracks:

1. Enter The Machine
2. Skeleton Dance
3. My Apocalypse
4. Carry The Cross
5. I Am Legend/Out For Blood
6. Mechanic God Creation
7. Machtkampf
8. Slaves Of Yesterday
9. We Are One
10. Taking Back My Soul
11. Opium
12. Hybrids Of Steel

Well, well, here we have the new Arch Enemy album. As always this will ahve people saying "Oh, this is not like thefirst two albums" and bullshit like that. Well, wake up !, bands evolve and transform themselves. And Arch Enemy´s quality is always ina high level. Here you have Michael Ammott´s superb riffing and also you have that rhythmic tandem composed by Sharlee and Daniel that delivers extremely aggressive rhythms all the time. I really like Angela´s vocals and for me they have become an essential part of Arch Enemy´s sound giving a lot of identity to the band´s music.The sound is huge having that powerful sound in the guitars and also in the drums that sound almost like if you were standing besides the PA system of the band. A classic band that delivers good albums with strong compositions.

Recorded at

Produced by

ARROWS LOUNGE - SONIC THRUST

Line Up:

David Rain - vocals

Gary Adoryan - guitars

Peter Dohy - drums

Kris Rain - guitars

Music by Arrows Lounge

Lyrics by Arrows Lounge

Tracks:

1- Face the Sky

2-Your Eye of the Storm

3-Down.Here.Paradise

4-As Long as you Can breathe

5-Worstward Ho

Recorded at Cowshed Studios

Produced by Arrows Lounge

Line Up:

Gier - vocals

Ketz - bass

Swart - guitars

Baal - guitars

Hysteria - keyboards

Ork - drums

Music by Atritas

Lyrics by Gier, exc 7 and p by Dr. Knill

Tracks:

1- Evil Calling

2-the Devils Throat

3-Black Sunday

4-Mongrel monument

5-Thou Shalt Suffer

6-Where Witches Burnt

7- My mortal Flesh

8-Narrow refuge

9-I´m the Vanity

10-Last Sheep Smashed

Atritas is a band that delivers an extremely dark type of balck metal with strong emphasis on the contrast between the aggressive guitars, vocals and drumming and the majestic keyboards. Coming directly from Switzerland this band shows how to create interesting black emtal tunes with really good musicianship and with multiple arrangements that make this band really original. The guitar riffs here are aggressive and fast but the band uses also many guitar arrangements that add a more melancholic feeling to the music. The vocals are of the black metal style fitting well the music. And there is also a type of voice that is deeper and that is used in the darker aprts to emphasize the atmospheres. The band sounds really well rehearsed and that becomes evident when they do some killeer tempo changes in tunes like "Black Sunday". The cover art fits really well the music of the band being dark and enigmatic.

Recorded at Iguana Studio

Produced by Atritas

AUTUMN - BLACK WINGS

Line Up:

Sergey Berdyshev - drums

Marina Kogan - vocals

Arseny Samenikhin - keyboards

Felix Vigorov - bass

Yury ketov - vocals, guitars

Grigory Shubin - guitars

Music by Autumn

Lyrics by Autumn

Tracks:

1- Aurora Postera

2-Radi Etih Glaz

3-The Conqueror of my heart

4-Hungry Heart

5-Black Wings

6-Hymn to the insane

Coming directly from Russia this band delivers here 6 tracks of pure melancholy and sorrow. Here every note is played to fill the lsitener with sadness. The music has elements of doom but it goes well beyond this style adding also some elements of gothic and folk too.Here we have plenty of clean guitars that interact with bass lines that develope melodies all over the tunes. There are also acoustic guitars that embellish the tunes making them shine with melodies and dark passages. The vocals are of the type that is used in pagan metal bands to emphasize the mood of the compositions. This voice is deep and delivers arcane melodies that will surprise the listener with beauty and sadness. There is also a female voice whispering and adding a different texture to the music. The keyboards have an essential role here embellishing each passage while the guitars develope melodies that will reach your heart for sure. Pure sadness.

Produced by Autumn

BALDER - DEMO 2005

Music by Balder

Lyrics by Balder

Tracks:

1- Elvidnir

2- Magician, musician and Poet

3-Moon

Extremely dark and climatic music is what this one man band delivers here. Three tracks played with acoustic instruments and with a whispering voice that sounds extreme at times giving sort of a black metal feeling to the music and mysterious in other parts giving a deeper feeling to the tunes. the tracks here sounds like recorded live in a rehearsal room in one take and that gives a spontaneous feeling to the music. This is a musician that delivers here three tracks full of darkness and surprises because of the strange way in which the tunes are recorded.

Produced by Balder

BATAKLAN - JUST A BLAZE

Line Up:

Bert - drums

Claude - bass

Phile - vocals

Tim - guitars

Music by Bataklan

Lyrics by Bataklan

Tracks:

1- Just a Blaze

2- The Klan Pt. 1

3-Doesn´t it seem

4-Creation of a dark side

5-All venom Spread

6-One Eye Taken

Bataklan is pure speed and aggressiona nd that is evident from the first seconds of "Just a Blaze" when the band enters at full speed delivering all their aggression. Phile´s vocals are intense and of the agonic type giving that deathly feeling to the music. Here we have multiple riffs changes and alos amny breaks and tempo changes that give a structure to the compositions that needs of good technical skills to be played as tightly as this band does. The guitars are loud and the riffs are complex emphasizing the heaviness of the music and not only the speed. The rhythm section is tight as hell and they are a duet of death delivering the multiple rhythms that are created here. The sopund is raw and direct making this album an experience in brutality. Pure aggression and brutality.

Produced by Bataklan

Line Up:

Dan Briggs

Blake Richardson

Tommy Rogers

Paul Waggoner

Dustie Waring

Music and lyrics by

 Between the Buried and Me

Tracks:

1- All Bodies

2-Alaska

3-Croakies and Boatshoes

4-Selkies: The endless Obsession

5-Breathe In, Breathe Out

6-Roboturner

7-Backwards Marathon

8-Medicine Wheel

9-The Primer

10-Autodidact

11-Laser Speed

Between the Buried and Me is a band that goes beyond all style but always keeping extreme aggression to deliver it to the listener. Here we have a band tat has elements of death metal, also some black emtal runs, some hardcore rhythms and also some pure heavy metal or power metal arrangements.Obviously the band has extreme technical skills that allows them to play multiple tempo changes, breaks and multiple arrangements such as some melodies and harmonies and also some thrash metal riffs. The vocals are really extreme, msotly of the death metal style but not too much guttural preferring to use a more direct and bestial style of voice. There are incredible solos created by the guitars and the keyboards that show a lot of virtuosism. This band is extremely original and they deliver really complex and bizarre arrangements all voer the eleven tracks that this album has. One of the albums of 2005.

Recorded at The Basement Studios

Produced by Between the Buried, Jamie King and Matthew Ellard

BLACK ANGEL - FROM THE DARKNESS

Line Up:

Hector Corpus - all instruments, vocals

Music by Hector Corpus

Lyrics by Hector Corpus

Tracks:

1- Rites

2-From the Darkness

3-Apocalyptic War II

4-Enter Two Forces

5-The Sect

6-Possessed Minds

7-HArlots of Satan

8-Slaves of Evil

9-Condemneds

This band combines pure thrash metal riffs with a black metal voice creating tunes thata re full of aggression and darkness. There is a combination here of fast riffs with rhythms that could be used in a moshpit and also with fast balck metal runs and blast beats. The vocals are extremely black metal giving the more extreme feeling to the music. The guitars cosntruct also some melodies here and there that have an old school black metal feeling sort of in some old Bathory tune. And the guitars have a really raw sound that is not out of place in a primal band like this one. The sound is moody and maybe with a better mix in the guitars the result could be even more aggressive. A release with a lot of variations between compositions and moods.

Produced by Hector Corpus

Line Up:

Vince DeVicenzo - vocals, guitars

David Crabtree - bass

Jeff Kmiec - drums

Music by Vince DeVicenzo

Lyrics by Vince DeVicenzo

Tracks:

1- Every LittleTHing

2-Can´t Let Go

3-Desire

4-You´re Better Off Now

5-Stars

6-Gypsy

7-Baby

8-Shallow

9-Fantasy Girl

10-War

11-Cherry

12- Magic

Pure rocking tunes is what Blue Rage delivers here. The compsoitions her are memorable, maybe because of the well constructed song structures that soon stick intop your mind. This power trio shows that they are really solid in delivering good tunes with a cetain heavy metal feeling in them.Vince De Vicenzo´s voice is truly original and personal with a certain Biff Byford sound. And he delivers good melodies in the music making the songs even more memorable. That is evident in tunes like "Can´t Let Go" where he delivers good powerful lines. The rhythm section delivers good rocking patterns over which the guitar unleashes good riffs. And if you like more calm tunes you have "Stars", a sort of mid tempo with clean guitars, memorable vocal harmoniesand  a good guitar solo, full of feeling that will stick in your mind due to the melodies. The sound of teh recording is crystal clear and that makes the listening more enjoyable. Good rock and roll with powerful tunes !!!

Recorded at Soto Sound Studios

Produced by Blue Rage

BLYND - EMBRACED AND ABANDONED

Line Up:

Andreas - bass

Konstantinos - guitars

Koumis - drums, vocals

Music by Blynd

Lyrics by Blynd

Tracks:

1- Circle of Life

2-Embraced and Abandoned

3-My Sanctuary

4-Eternity

5-Blynd Visions

"Circle of Life" opens climatically with clean guitars and some background atmospheres that shows that Blynd is a band that can unleash heavy tunes but keeping a dark atmosphere in the compositions. Heavy guitar riffs are combined here with melancholic and climatic vocals showing a band that is really solid and heavy. The drumming is intense and fast, setting the pace of the tunes while the guitars add the heart and soul of the music. There are tempo changes here that are one of the essential elements in the music, showing good musicianship besides aggression. The vocal lines are carefully developed comstructing passages that turn into a climax on each compositions. the bass surprises with some slapping in tunes like "Circle of Life" adding complexity and changes to the music. the band is well rehearsed and it has good technical skills. Five tunes that leave you wanting more from this killer band.

Recorded at Mario Mashturis Studios

Produced by Blynd

BORGOGNA - OUTBOUND

Line Up:

Tomas Borgogna - vocals

Pierpaolo Buzzi - guitars

Luca Bordin - bass

Roberto Milani - drums

Music and lyrics by Borgogna, Buzzi, milani, Bordin (1-3), Blanco, Borgogna, Buzzi, Milani (4) and Borgogna, Ghelma (5)

Tracks:

1- Too much Love

2-Power

3-Two times is Tough

4-Leave Me Alone

5-Angel

Here we have the new album from Italy´s Borgogna. The band continues in the path of pure hard rock with strong eighties influences and killer melodies. The guitar riffs are strong and direct being the soul of the band´s music. Borgogna´s vocals are strong and melodic but full of power too making this a band that can play without the top bands of the style without being ashamed. One of the best things here is that everything is about songs and each song has enough melodies and hooks to stick into your mind, specially the choruses. I have to remark that the band has improved in sound having this time a much better mix than in their previous release, specially in the guitars and the drums. Pure killer rock !!

Recorded at American Coffee Studios

Produced by Borgogna

BRUTART - ARAB DREAM

Music by Brutart

Lyrics by Brutart

Tracks:

1- ISrafel

2-Sarajevo 94

3-She´s Lost Control

4-They Don´t Know

Brutart delivers a style that can be defined as a mix between pure metal and death metal and including some oriental sounding guitar melodies. The guitars play intrincated melodies and also heavy riffs that have a lot of aggression and at the same time add a dark atmosphere to the music. The riffs go from fast rhythms to more rocking ones but all of them played with a huge sound. Tracks like "Sarajevo 94" are more dense and contrast with teh faster ones (but they keep the eerie eastern atmosphere that the msuic here has). The vocals are of the best type that can exist for an extreme band, that is close to, for example, Gorefest.The cover of Joy Division´s "She´s Lost control" adds a bonus to the music because it is really different from the original version. The sound is direct and loud adding more aggression to the band´s music. An aggressive yet original release.

Recorded at DB Recordings

Produced by Brutart

CANDLEMASS - CANDLEMASS

Line Up:

Leif Edling - bass

Messiah Marcolin - vocals

Mats Björkman - guitars

Lars Johansson - guitars

Jan Lindh - drums

Music by Leif Edling

Lyrics by Messiah Marcolin

Tracks:

1-Black Dwarf

2-7 Silver Keys

3-Assassin of the light

4-Copernicus

5-The Man Who Fell from the Sky

6-Witches

7-Born in a Tank

8-Spellbreaker

9-The Day and the Night

10-Mars and Volcanos

Produced by Candlemass

CARPATHIAN FOREST - DEFENDING THE THRONE OF EVIL

Line Up:

Tchort - guitars

Hellkommander Nattefrost- vocals

Bloodperverter - guitars, b. vocals

Vrangsinn - bass

A. Kobro - drums

Music by Carpathian Forest

Lyrics by Carpathian Forest

Tracks:

1- It´s darker than you think

2-Skjend Hans Like

3-The well of all tears

4-Put to Sleep Like a Sick Animal

5-Hymne to Døden

6-Ancient Spirit of the underworld

7-Spill the blood of the lamb

8-One with the earth

9-Christian incohernt drivel

10-The old house on the Hill

11-Nekrophiliac / Anthropophagus Maniac

12-Cold Murderous Music

Produced by Carpathian Forest

CESSATION OF LIFE - THE GLORY OF THE WORLD IS PASSING

Line Up:

Chris Violence  - vocals

Travis Anderberg - guitars

Justin Harrison - bass

Ron OStlund - drums

Music by Cessation of Life

Lyrics by Cessation of Life

Tracks:

1- Blindsight

2-In Vain

3-The Second Death

4-Stick With Me

Cessation of Life delivers here four tracks of pure powerful metal with certain modern thrash / speed metal influences. The music here is powerful and carefully constructed and the band delivers powerful guitar riffs and interesting rhythms that makes each of their compositions a killer experience in crushing metal. The vocals are really strong, reminding me to John Bush in some aprts but always having a lot of personality and giving an extra push to the band´s music. The guitars are the core here constructing powerful riffs that crushes the listener with their intensity. "IN Vain" is their most aggressive track here full of speed and brutal vocals. ANd it is evident that the rhythm section is extremely tight while listening to the double bass drumming, to the crushing bass lines and to the breaks and tempo changes. The sound of the recording is loud and cleargiving extra points to the band´s music. Pure power and aggression !

Recorded at Media One Studios

Produced by Cessation of Life and John Seymour

CHAOS CREATION - DEDICATION FOR ANNIHILATION

Line Up:

Toni Huhtiniemi - guitars

Arto Vesander - drums

Aleksi Ahonen - vocals

Julle - bass

Music by Chaos Creation

Lyrics by Aleksi Ahonen

Tracks:

1- Allu´s Speach

2-Primal Uprising

3-Arms of Oblivion

4-D.F.A.

5-Mindfuck

This band is pure thrash metal with strong eighties influences. I have to say that I really dig this type of music and I feel the metal world needs more bands of this style. The music has influences of bands like Exodus, Overkill and classic bands of the thrash emtal style. Here we have fast and furious guitar riffs played really tight and we have also intense drumming with all teh elements of the style. The vocals are raw and aggressive as this style must have and they add a lot fo aggression to the overall result. The choruses are of the shouted type in the vein of "Bonded by Blood" or "Pleasures of the Flesh" . This has the favorable consequencve of having really memorable choruses shouted at the top of this guys lungs. The band sounds tight and well rehearsed and that is essential in the style to have good results. The sound is good and raw and it has that eighties feeling, maybe adding some bottom end to the guitars and the bass could add even more aggression to the music. Pure thrash the way it must be done.

Recorded at Joutseno Mediapaja

Produced by Chaos Creation

CHIRLEISON - A WHISPER

Music by Chirleison

Lyrics by Chirleison

Tracks:

1- Medea

2-A Whisper

3-Canzone Per Anceo

4-Rosary

5-I Doni

6-Reveil

7-Autrefois

8-Delicate Magnetism

9-Strings

Chirleison is a band full of melancholic melodies whose compositions are full of beautiful arrangements and passages that need of really good musicianship to be effective. It is amazingthe female voice that we have here, cause it goes direct to your heart and can make you feel pure melancholy. The vocal work is extremely important on thi release, spcially the use of harmonies. And the vocals deliver incredible melodic lines here constructing the heart and soul of the compositions. There is also plenty of acoustic guitar her played with really good taste and creating the exact atmosphere to let the voices do their job. There are also keyboards that deliver chord progressions and passgaes hat develope the dark and sad mood that most of the compositions her have. An album that is a must have to any music lover.

Produced by Chirleison

COAL MINE CANARY - COAL MINE CANARY

Line Up:

Andi - vocals

Hu:f - guitars

Sven - guitars

Uwe - bass

Krumb - drums

Music by Coal Mine Canary

Lyrics by Coal Mine Canary

Tracks:

1- Bad Attitude

2-Soul Tattoo

3-Your Way Isn´t Mine

4-Walking on Wounded Feet

5-Dreamland

6-Noisy Room

7-Before

8-My Private Handkerchief

9-Unbelievable

10-Fly Away

11-I Am the One

12-Holding On

13-Love is A Battlefield

"Bad Attitude" opens up powerfully this release with a killer riff that shows that this band is an extremely aggressive heavy rock band. THe band has that rhythmic type of riffs that bands like Black Label Society have. That is, extremely rhythmic riffs with a certain southern feeling in them and played with a huge guitar sound. I have to remark the role of the singer here that is extremely powerful delivering crushing vocal lines. Here we have a rhythm section that is extremely solid and that delivers powerful rhyythms always leaving place for the guitars and vocals to do their job. I have to remark that this band developes carefully each of the songs here constructing thirteen memorable tunes that you can listen over and over again and you´ll never have enough. The sound is raw and I specially liked the way the guitars sound, huge and with a lot of bottom end. A must have for those who love the combination of hard rock with heavy metal done with good musicianship.

Produced by Uwe Hein

COLD COLOURS-HAVE YOU SEEN THE GHOST OF JOHN?

Line Up:

Jutta - guitar, vocals

Sanna - bass, vocals

Sami - drums

Music by Sami (1), Jutta (2) and traditional (3)

Tracks:

1- Still

2- Iggypopgoeshell

3- Haunting Bells

"Still" opens this recording with an hypnotic beginning where the drums and the guitars construct a repetitive passag that leads to a really interesting guitars and to the wonderful vocals delivered by Jutta. I would like to describe Cold Colours with just one word: beauty. And I can add more words to continue describing it: enigmatic, full of textures. The music here transports you to the ethereal world of this finnish bands whose music is powerful and original . Jutta manages her vocal range to fit perfectly the music adding a lot of personality to the band. Sanna does interesting rhythmic lines with the bass fitting well the drums and the guitars alike and constructing a killer botom end for the music. "Iggypopgoeshell" is a different tune that starts rocking and then turns into a more hypnotci part showing the different sides of Cold Colours musical personality. Three tracks left us wanting more

Recorded at

Produced by Cold Colours

DARKEST HATE WARFRONT - SATANIK ANNIHILATION KOMMANDO

Line Up:

Lord Mantus - strings and programming

Devasth - vocals and programming

Music by Darkest Hate Warfront

Lyrics by Garhard III

Tracks:

1- Infernal Baptism (intro)

2-Order of Battle

3-Satanik Annihilation Kommando

4-Satan´s Kult of Terror

5-Scourge of Wormkind

6-Final Solution

7-Dirty Fullfillment

8-POssessed by Fire

9-Purification BY Hatred

10-The Aftermath (outro)

11-

One of the most bestial black metal bands on Earth, Darkest Hate Warfront unleashes here eight tracks plus an intro and an outro full of unholy blasphemies, fulkl of ultra fast drumming and faster than the speed of light guitar riffs. Here we have pure black metal vocals delivering aggression and darkness with no mercy for the listener. the blast beats are an essential part of the music here and they are all over the compositions. The band sounds tight and really over the top and there are really interesting double bass parts like the ones in 2:40 of "Satan´s Kult of Terror" where the guitar delivers a dark melody that adds a different feeling to the music. the sound of teh recording is raw but really loud giving a more extreme feeling to this devastating band. Pure crushing black metal that devastates the listener with pure aggression.

Recorded at Fast Forward Studio

Produced by Mantus and Devasth

DAY SIX - PROMO 2005

Line Up:

Dolf Van Heugten - keyboards, b. vocals

Jacobus Lodewijk - drums

Nick Josephu - bass, b.vocals

Robertus Fransiscus - guitars, vocals

Music by Day Six

Lyrics by Day Six

Tracks:

1- Age of Technology

2- Lost Identity

THe opening of this recording can not be better, with a strong guitar riff and plenty of keyboards. Day Six is a progressive metal band so you can expect plenty of  amazing musicianship here. And thi guys do not dissapoint delivering good compositions full of clever arrangements created mainly by the guitar and the keyboards. Here we have powerful guitar riffs and interesting melodies created with heavy and also clean guitars showing killer musicianship. The rhythm section is solid and the good thing is that it is really well mixed allowing you to listen everything the bass is doing (the role of the bass is essential here) and the different drums patterns. And the vocal lines are superb adding a dramatic feeling to the music and showing all the different types ofvocal harmonies that this guys can do. The tunes are complex and full of arrangements that show all the skills tha this guys have. A promo that leaves you wanting to listen more music from this amazing band..

Produced by Day Six

DEAD 7 - WE ARE THE EVIL

Line Up:

Vocals-Jesse Nicholson
Guitar/Vocals-Stevin Walker
Guitar-Chris Cox
Drums-Alex Huss
Bass-Tracy Owens

Music by Dead 7

Lyrics by Dead 7

Tracks:

1- Fold your hands

2-Told me how to live

3-Wall panel

4-Without you

Dead 7 is a band that combines violently elements of modern metal with crushing death meal parts showing that their main goal is to reach the listener with full aggression. The main thing here are the rhythms. They are constructed having the mosh pit in mind and I can assure you that this guy can make a hll of a pit in a live show. The vocals go from screaming at the top of his lungs to doing some fast rhythmic phrases that turns the music into pure violence. And the singer also can do good climatic melodic lines with a certain deppressive feeling in them. The guitars sound huge and the guitar riffs are rhythmic, interacting really well with the rhythm section and creating a wall of sound taht is a trademark of the band´s music. I have to remark that this release has a good mix that adds even more aggression to the music because the isntruments are right in your face with their crushing power. Pure aggression.

Produced by Dead 7

DECISION TO HATE - PREPARE FOR SELF-DESTRUCTION (PROMO)

Music by Decision to hate

Lyrics by Decision to hate

Tracks:

1- Destroy All Organic Forms of Life

2-Useless Life

3-God Hates His Angels

4-Black Winds of Human Ashes

Decision to hate goes for the throat from the beginning with "Destroy all..." showing an interesting combination of brutal death metal vocals with fast thrash guitar riffs. The music here is fast and aggressive with interesting guitar riffs that, as I said before, have a thrash feeling in them but with a death metal sound with more bottom end, showing complexity in the riffs besides pure aggression. NA dthe good thing here is that the band has really good technical skills and that is evident on each composition through the guitar riffs, through the drumming patterns that do not abuse speed and prefer to use more clever rhythms. The vocals are sometimes more of the guttural type and sometimes more of teh Carcass type giving a lot of variation to the music. I really liked "USeless Life" where there is plenty of double bass drumming and there are good thrashing riffs that makes this tune the best for my taste. The sound is direct and clear and adds extra points of violence to the band´s music. Lovers of death metal should check this  right now!

Recorded at Turnip-Music Studio

Produced by Deciion to hate

DESPONDENCY - KEEP MURDER BRUTAL

Line Up:

Jessie Parliman - screams, growls

Shawn Shannon - bass

Kelly O´Rafferty - guitars

Kenny Donovan - drums

Music by Despondency

Lyrics by Despondency

Tracks:

1- Designer Bloodlust

2-Post Mortem Sodomy

3-Fistsfull

4-Voluntary manslaughter

5-Lost Cause

6-Gift of Rot

7-Suicidal Slut

"Keep murder brutal" is an adecuate title for this recording where everything is about pure brutality and aggression. This band has developed here one of the ehaviest recordings of the year full of a huge guitar sound with incredible bottom end that sounds like a hammer through your brain. And when combined with the bass guitar we have a blasting sounds that can be compared with a tsunami of heavy distortion. the vocals are extremely guttural and they are combined with another voice more of the screaming type that is used in gore metal bands. The drumming is intense with good ride cymbal patterns and heavy use of the other cymbals to add more mayhem to the music. There are incredible breaks and changes in tracks like "Suicidal Slut" that show that the band is well rehearsed and really tight. The sound of the recording is raw and direct with an in-your-face sound that makes the tunes really effecive in pulverizing the listener. Pure bestiality !!!

Produced by Despondency

DITCHWATER - PROMO 2005

Music by Ditchwater

Lyrics by Ditchwater

Tracks:

1- Cloned Individuality

2-Have you Ever

3-What do you wnat from me now

4-Can´t Take it with you

Ditchwater is a band that with each new recording shows a good progression delivering their own style. When comparing this new release with the first one thta I reviewed some years ago I find a lot of improving, specially in songwriting. This guys have taken elements from modern metal and combined it with some classical bands like Anthrax and also added some rocking melodies to their music and put all of thi into good songs. Just check "Have you Ever" and try to deny that this guys deserve to have a good recording contract because they have a lot of potential. It is imposible to deny it. The combination of huge heavy guitars with amazing vocals is the heart and soul of the music here. I specially loved the climatic voice that are all over the songs here because it manages to deliver good melodies fitting really well the rest of the music. The guitars sound huge and they play a lot of chords that elave space for the voice to do its work. A band that is all about powerful songs and that on each release climbs up one step !

Produced by Ditchwater

DOWN EDGE - HUMAN LOST

Line Up:

Klaudia Santos - vocals

Christoffer Sevaldssen - guitars

Carsten Hansen - bass

Alison Davis - drums

Music by Down Edge

Lyrics by Klaudia Santos

Tracks:

1- Emergency Break

2-Waiting

3-Stop (Live)

Down Edge is a band that combines aggressive tunes with melancholic vocals. Just take elements of aggressive rock and metal, some grunge and add some gothic feeling to it and you have an idea of how the band sounds. Klaudia Santos voice is really amazing giving the more climatic and melancholic approach to the music while Christoffer´s aggressive riffs give the more powerful side to the music interacting really well with the rhythm section to deliver the essential rhythms that the music here has. I specially like when the guitar and the bass delviers similar lines giving a lot of bottom end to the music. A Track like "Waiting" have a mysterious feeling on it and here Klaudia uses a different approach to her voice being deeper and completely different to all female singers out there being really original (in tracks like the live "Stop" some vocals reminded me to Stone temple Pilots!!! That is really weird !!).Three tracks, including a live one, leave you wanting to listen more from Down Edge. A killer combination of styles !

Produced by Down Edge

DREAM THEATER - OCTAVARIUM

Line Up:

John Petrucci - guitars

Mike Portnoy - drums

John Myung - bass

Jordan Ruddess - keyboards

James La Brie  -vocals

Tracks:

1- The root of all evil

2-The Answer Lies Within

3-These Walls

4-W Walk Beside You

5-Panic Attack

6-never Enough

7-Sacrificed Sons

8-Octavarium

Here is the latest Dream Theater album and it has many similarities with the previous one "Train of Thoughts". I think that the band got back in track after the weak "Falling into Infinity". they don´t move that much from album to album but they alway surprise with good songs and virtuosism. Jordan Ruddess and John Petruccdi interact heavily as they do always (including also the Liquid Tension Experiment albums) and James La Brie does his acrobatics with his voice. The rhythm section does a master mclass in od times signatures and delivers the solid rhythms over which the melodies are developed. A band taht continues delivering good albums.

Recorded at the Hit Factory

Produced by Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci

DUSK ETERNAL - PRELUDIUM

Line Up:

Dionysus - keyboards

Melkarth - drums

Voldred - guitars

Archon - guitars

Angmar - vocals

Faethon - bass

Music by Dusk Eternal

Lyrics by Dusk Eternal

Tracks:

1- The Visions and the dreamer

2-Storming the Walls of Heaven

3-Serenity is Mine

4-Your Dark path

5-Fire Steel Will

Dusk Eternal starts with full aggression and blasphemy this release with the full speed of "Stormng the Walls of Heaven" showing that the band can be fast and aggressive and at the same time have a technical kills that set them apart from the band of the style. THe guitar riffs are raw, fast and complex being the soul of the band but there are also some interesting keyboards that orchestrate the tunes and add the dark atmosphere that this band needs. The rhythm section is solid and has good ideas as is shown for example in "Fire Steel Will" which is the most climatic tune with a great bass line and drumming that leaves a lot of space for the guitars and the keyboards to develope their ideas. The vocals are really balck emtal in the fastest parts and in the slower one they are deeper and more climatic, sort of agonizing ones fitting really well the mood of teh compositions. A blakc metal band that you have to have in mind because I think they will be a big name in the style in the future. 

Recorded at Active Studios

Produced by Dusk Eternal

ENTOMBED - INFERNO

Line Up:

L.G. Petrov - vocals

Uffe Cederlund - guitars

Alex Hellid - guitars

Peter Stjärnvind - drums

Jörgen Sandström - bass

Music by Entombed

Lyrics by Lars G. Petrov

Tracks:

1- Retaliation

2-The fix is in

3-Incinerator

4-Children of the underworld

5-That´s when I became a satanist

6-Nobodaddy

7-Intermission

8-Young and dead

9-Descent into inferno

10-Public Burning

11-Flexing Muscles

12-Skeleton of Steel

13- Night for day

I really like Entombed first three albums but I think that after "Wolverine Blues" they have stagnated a little bit in that sort of death´n´roll style that thy developed. That is not good and also not bad because there are plenty of bands that get a sound and repeat it over and over again with good results. Entombed continues being a powerful band that delivers ood songs on its style, maybe abusing sometiems of this sound. Lars vocals are aggressive as always as is evident in "The Fix is In" for example". The rest of the banc continues delivering good rocking riffs and rhythms through thirteen tunes. A classic band loved by many and ahted by others. You decide.

Produced by Entombed

EQUAL VECTOR - CHRONICLE AND A PRESENCE

Line Up:

Louie Hatzimichalis - vocals

Peter Politis - guitars

Theodore Pegousis - drums

John Katsiafliakas - bass

Vagelis Kakarougas  - drums

Music by Equal Vector

Lyrics by Louie Hatzimichalis

Tracks:

1- Reminiscence 1

2-Effigy (Standing Still)

3-Chronicle and a Presence

This is pure progressive metal full of arrangements and interesting guitar riffs that are the esence of the music here. Full of complex passages the band shows that they have plenty of virtuoso skills as is evident on the tune "Chronicle and a Presence"  But above all the good thing is that this guys manage to put all their virtuosism within eah composition and still have strong songs thata re truly memorable The vocals reminded me to Fates Warning´s Ray Alder, that is with killer note palcement, really clean voice and with interesting use of high pitches. The combination of guitars and keyboards is another essential feature here creating both of the instuments interesting melodies and arrangements through the compositions (one intro and two full ones). The rhythm section is tight and they have a lot of virtuosism in their playing that allows them to go beyond their rhythmic role and add arrangements to the compositions or do tempo changes and breaks really fluently. The sound of the recording is crystal clear with nothing to envy to top bands of thi style. We want more songs from this amazing greek band !

Produced by Equal Vector

ETHEREAL BLUE - BLACK HEART PROCESS

Line Up:

Efthimis V. (vocals)

Fokion S. (guitars)

George A. (guitars)

Miltos D. (bass)

Dimitris K. (drums)

Akis P (keyboards)

Music by Ethereal Blue

Lyrics by Ethereal Blue

Tracks:

1. Your Mechanical Ego
2. Destination: Denial
3. Despair
4. War
5. Black Heart Purification
6. Transplanted Images
7. Licking The Wounds
8. Noi, Tu, Loss?

Having the word "Ethereal" in their name I expected a really climatic band, but Ethereal Blue surprised me showing how they can be extremely brutal and at the same time have climatic arangements and really good technical skills. Imagine a really crushing death metal band having also some black metal influences and at the same time having keyboards that orchestrate all passages. Here we have really aggressive guitar rifs as the ones that open up "Destination: Denial" and at the same time we have clean ones doing rhythms and melodies in the same tune. There are multiple changes in moods and tempos on each tune showing vistuosism and a lot of imagination. And we have guttural vocals combined with screaming ones and at the same time with clean ones in the darkest passages (just check the melancholic beginning of "Transplanted Images"). The rhytm section delivers breaks and changes in a really solid way showing that they are extremely well rehearsed and that they have plenty of technical skills. One of my favorite releases of 2005 !!!!!!

Produced by Ethereal Blue

EVENTIDE - DOWN FOR REGRIEF

Line Up:

Kulla - vocals

Jimmy - bass

Igor - guitars, b. vocals

Michi - guitars

Stoffl - drums

Music by Eventide

Lyrics by Eventide

Tracks:

1- See you in Hell

2-Pain Addicted

3-Taste the Blade

4-Rebuilt the Wick

Eventiude delivers pure metal with a modern sound and with a certain thrash feeling in some parts. If you could combine bands like Brainstorm and Reckles Tide you will have a small idea of how Eventide sounds. Their riffs are pure power unleashed and they are the center of the band´s music. The rhythm section is solid as a rock and they leave space for the guitars and vocals to develope their ideas. There is eighties european metal influences here but they have been clverely combined with modern sound and a lot of identity to achieve Eventide`s sound. I have to remark the good vocalist that the band has because where others just do melodies and high pitches this guy just things his lungs off fitting the music but at the same time adding more aggression. The four songs are carefully constructed showing power and good musicianship at the same time. A pure metal release that surprises on each tune because of its intensity and aggression.

Recorded at W.I.C.C.A. Production Studio Graz

Produced by Eventide and Peter Droneberger

EVERGLOW - TURN BACK TIME

Line Up:

Cindy Baert - vocals

Alain De Block - guitars

Stephan Noens - drums

Guy Van Campenhout - guitars

Dominic Heynderickx - bass

Music by Alain De Block and Everglow, exc. 4 by Guy Van Campenhout and Everglow

Lyrics by Cindy Baert

Tracks:

1- Loneliness

2-Forever

3-Turn Back Time

4-Mystery

5-The Escape

We have reviewed a couple of years ago the previous release by this band from Belgium. And this new one is a good step forward for them. Kicking off with the powerful "Loneliness" the band shows that they are a powerful machine of aggressive metal combined with climatic moments and with Cindy Baert´s beautiful voice to make things even better. Alain and Guy have managed to sound really tight delivering a wall of guitar that is devastating showin that they are the aggressive side of Everglow`s soul. The keyboards here have created cliamtic passages that are interacting all the time with the most aggressive ones givinf that special sound that Everglow´s music has. "Forever" is the sure hit here because of Cindy´s vocals and because the chorus is extremely memorable and the song builds into a climax. The sound on this recording is direct and loud giving bonus power to the guitars and the rhythm section. The perfect combination of pure heavy metal and amazing dramatic melodies.

Recorded at Ward Van Iseqhem´s home studio

Produced by Everglow

EVILE - ALL HALLOWS EVE

Line Up:

Matt Drake - guitars, vocals

Ol Drake  lead guitar

Mike Alexander - bass

Ben Carter - drums

Music by Evile

Lyrics by Evile

Tracks:

1- Killer from the deep

2-Dawn of Destruction

3-Prophecy

4-the Living Dead

5-All Hallows Eve

6-Torment

"Killer from the deep" shows the aggression of the band from the first second showing the good interaction betwen the guitars and the rhythm section from the first notes. The music has a certain thrash feeling with fast rhythms that have a modern feeling despite a certain eighties thrash influence. The drumming is fast and intense keepign the fast tempo of the tunes here. The guitars unleash fast guitar riffs all over the six tracks contained on this album. There are some tempo changes that are welcome here making the tunes original and variated. There are fast guitar solos that show another dimension of Evile´s music and showing how you can add good solos even in the faster parts of a tune. The vocals are raw, in the eighties thrash style giving this kind of feeling to Evile The sound of the recording is huge and direct, specially on the guitars, making this album an extremely crushing experience. A trully aggressive band from the U.K. !!

Recorded at Performance Studios

Produced by Alan Smith

FEAR OF DOLLS - SHE DANCES HAPPILY TO HAPPY SONGS

Line Up:

Eric Cooley - bass

M. Violet - vocals

Greg Forschler - guitars

Joel Bergstrom - keyboards

Shaun R.  - drums

Music by Fear of Dolls

Lyrics by M. Violet (1,2,3,5) and Greg Forschler (4)

Tracks:

1- She Lives Alone

2- Sister Mary´s Scar

3-Saint Dymphnae

4-Sanguine

5-Scissors

Fear of Dolls is an extremely original band and we have proved this when reviewing their previous release "Lullabies for aborted children". This new release that we are reviewing now continues in the same path, exploring new sounds, melodies and arrangements without thinking about boundaries and typical structures. Starting with the climatic "She Lives Alone" the band shows from the beginning that their goal is to surprise and to construct dark atmospheres and dense passages with their instruments. Showing really good musicianship the band creates intrincated partts where everything is pure originality. I really love M. Violet´s voice that is delicate and deep and fits the eerie atmosphere that the music here has. THe guitars are a key instrument here constructing passages of pure distortin and then creatting clean arpeggios, depending on the mood of the songs. The rhythm section is really unconventional creating uncommon patterns through all the composition. If you are looking for something truly original with a lot of experimetnation I suggest you to check Fear of Dolls.

Recorded at Gravel Voice Studios

Produced by Fear of Dolls

FLOTSAM AND JETSAM - DREAMS OF DEATH

Line Up:

Eric A.K. - vocals

Mark Simpson - guitars

Edward Carlson - Guitar
Craig Nielsen - Drums
Jason Ward - Bass Guitar

Music by Flotsam and Jetsam

Lyrics by Eric A.K.

Tracks:

1- Requiescat

2-Straight to Hell

3-Parasychotic

4-Bleed

5-Look in his eyes

6-Childhood Hero

7-Bathing in Red

8-Nascentes Morimar

9- Out of Mind

 hidden track

Flotsam and Jetsam, a name that is a clasic since the release of 1986´s "Doomsday for the Deceiver", an album full of speed/thrash metal riffs and aggressive songs. As happened with many bands of the style after the arlym nineties they were relegated to a more underground level. That is not band if you think that by doing this they can do the music that they want without having to sound like the band of the moment. the band has achieved with "Dreams of Death" a darker sound that I find really interesting, constructing solid compositions with a sound that has evolved becoming heavier with time. the guitars sound huge and deliver crushing thrash riffs that are the main ting here along with the really intense drumming that sets the pace of the songs. The guitars also deliver good melodies and guitar solos when the sogs need it and they do it really fluently and with full power. There is an instrumental called "Nascentes Morimar" where the band shows a different side of their musical personality but they soon return to the Flotsam sound that thrashers love. A classic band that still can blow your brain with their music.

Recorded at

Produced by Mark Simpson and Tom Giatron

GAMMA RAY - MAJESTIC

Line Up:

Kai Hansen - guitars, vocals

Henjo Richter - guitars, keyboards

Dirk Schlächter - bass

Daniel Zimmermann - drums

Music by Gamma Ray

Lyrics by Gamma Ray

Tracks:

1- My Temple

2-Fight

3-Strange World

4-Hell is thy home

5-Blood Religion

6-Condemned to Hell

7-Spiritual Dictator

8-Majesty

9-How Long

10-Revelation

Gamma Ray as Kai Hansen´s previous band, Helloween, are bands that will not surprise anybody with any new elements but taht always give their fans what they want. Is that good or bad? As most of the time happens in music, that depends on the listener´s taste. I personally think that the power metal genre has been stagnant for some years now and it needs some fresh ideas to arise from the ashes. Here we have all the elements of this incarnation of the band: the fast precise riffs, Hansen´s harsh voice, the melodies that are essential in this style of music and the double bass drumming in the fastest parts. The sound of the recording is good due to the good production. A band that continues delivering music for their fans in their own style.

Recorded at Hansen Studio

Produced by Dirk Schlächter and Kai Hansen

GRINDNECKS - 460 FROM HELL

Line Up:

Jocke - vocals

Micke - guitar

Jonas - guitar

Mattias - bass

Mojjo - drums

Music by Grindnecfks

Lyrics by Grindnecks

Tracks:

1- Dead by Dawn

2-Messenger of Death

3-Retaliation

4-A Devil´s Deal

Grindnecks is pure violence unleashed starting with pure anger in "Dead by Dawn" the band shows that their ultimate goal is to crush the liatener with their fast rhythms and intense riffs in the thras/death metal vein. Here we have a band with fast guitar riffs played with a sound with a lot of bottom end that makes the overall sound a wall against which the lsitener will bang his/her head. Here we have Jocke a vocalist that is full of power and that sounds really pissed off on all tunes. Here and there we have some guitar solos that add a different feeling to the music, always fitting the overall sound. The drumming is really intense with plenty of fast passages and multiple breaks, and I loved this thrash style with heavy use of snare drum and that combination with almost blast beats. The sound of the recording is direct and extremely loud letting you feel the ferocity of thi banf like a raazor over your skin. This band is the ultimate aggression !!

Recorded at Evil Grill Studios

Produced by

GWYNN AP NUDD - 3 TRACK CD

Music by Gwynn Ap Nudd

Lyrics by Gwynn Ap Nudd

Tracks:

1- Mistake

2- Against Us

3-Fuck the Police

A slapping bass phrase opens this recording in a sort of new metal fashion before heavier guitars enter with full intensity showing that Gwynn Ap Nudd is a really extreme band. "Mistake" is a really weird opening for this recording with this rhythmic riffs that get into breaks and then kick off into a death metal tune full of innovative ideas such as some clean guitar phrases. The rhythms here are original and unconventional and the drumming is what sets up the pace here with this patterns that give a lot of identity to the band. The guitars sound huge in the heaviest parts and they also add some weird ideas such as in "Against Us" when the vocalsenter and they deliver sort of a melodic riff below then following the rhythm of the rest of the band. The tunes here are extremely original and leave you wanting to lsiten more from this killer band from Slovenia. one of the most original releaes of 2005.

Produced by Gwynn Ap Nudd

GWYNN AP NUDD - 4 TRACK CD

Music by Gwynn Ap Nudd

Lyrics by Gwynn Ap Nudd

Tracks:

1- Somnambulism

2-Psycho

3-Pussy

4-Contra

Coming directly from Slovenia Gwynn Ap Nudd delivers here four intense tracks with huge heavy guitars and intense drumming. This guys are really deathly but they play sort of a more rhythmic death metal with strong emphasis on guitars that emphasize heaviness instead of speed. there are complex rhythms here and they are played really correctly by this band that sounds extremely tight. The vocals are pure death metal being really extreme but loud and clear letting you appreciate all the lyrics. The guitars are extremely original and interact cleverly with the drumming that is solid and metronomic. The sound of the recording is loud and direct letting you feel all the power unleashed by this extremely aggressive band, with the guitars sounding right in your face and the drums and bass pounding through your brain with full intensity. A crushing band.

Produced by Gwynn Ap Nudd

HAND OF DOOM - THE GATES OF SOULS

Line Up:

Roberto Zoppi - guitars, vocals

Andrea Conti - guitars

Daniele Mulatieri - bass

Davide Feroldi - drums

Music and lyrics by Roberto Zoppi

, exc. 1 by Andrea Conti

Tracks:

1- Harmless

2-Face My Strength

3-Rain

4-My Secret Face

Hand of Doom delivers here pure thrash/death metal with fast and aggressive guitar riffs and with agonic screams. The band sounds really tight and that is essential to achieve all the aggression that this band wants to transmit to the listener. the rhythm section is solid as a rock and they deliver fast deathly rhythms at full speed with good interaction between bass and drums. The guitars deliver riff after riff, changing and evolving through the compositions showing good musicianship besides utter aggression. And the vocals here are full of anger and agression giving an even more deathly feeling to the music with the screams at the top of the lungs that this guy delivers here. If you like death metal or thrash metal you can not miss Hand of Doom because they will blow you with their aggression.

Recorded at the Hand of Doom Studios

Produced by hand of Doom

IN FLAMES  - SOUNDTRACK TO YOUR ESCAPE

Music by In Flames

Lyrics by IN Flames

Tracks:

1- F(r)iend

2-The Quiet Place

3-Dead Alone

4-Touch of Red

5-Like you Better dead

6- My Sweet Shadow

7-Evil in a Closet

8-In Search for I

9-Borders and Shading

10-Superhero of the computer rage

11-Dial 595  Escape

12- Bottled

This is In Flames latest release (well, they have a new DVD out now) and it shows that the band has set comfortably in their style of swedish death metal. This album has certain similarities with the previous "Reroute to remain" showing the technical skills of the band and all their aggression and also showing some improvement in sound as they do from album to album. Anders vocals are as always fluctuating from the lung spitting screams to the clean voices that deliver different atmospheres to the music and that makes many of the tunes really memorable. There are plenty of electronic elements in some of the tunes too but the guitars continue having that crunchy deathly sound that they got since the band´s beginnings. A band that delivers always good recordings with a strong personality and great musical skills and always evolving slightly to avoid stagnation. 

Produced by In Flames

ION DISSONANCE - SOLACE

Line Up:

Gabriel McCaughry - Vocals
Antoine Lussier - Guitar
Sebastien Chaput - Guitar
Miguel Valade - Bass
JF Richard - Drums

Music by Ion Dissonance

Lyrics by Gabriel McCaughry

Tracks:

1- Play Dead and I´ll play along

2-Oasd

3-Cleansed by Silence

4-She´strycnine

5-Nol-Solaris

6-Lecturing Raskolnikor

7-You´re not carving deep enough

8-Shut up I´m trying to worry

9-Signature

10-A prelude of things worse to come

Ion Dissonance delivers here ten tracks full of virtuosism and full of incredible technical skills.This is pure aggression and brutality but done with amazing musicianship where there are complex tempo changes, multiple breaks and incredible guitar riffing. The vocals are really extreme adding the ultimate death metal feeling to the music and showing a lot of brutality. But the main thing here is how this guys manage to deliver tightly the intrincated passages that are created here. The drums sound almost like in a band like Fear factory but playing more complex patterns and interacting heavily with the guitars and the bass. Each tune here is extyremely twisted and has many elements that makes the music here really enjoyable while you discover all the elements delivered by the band. the sound of the recording is HUGE !!! letting you feel the band whilke they rip your flesh with teir intensity. One of the best combinations of brutality and technical skills ever delivered !!

Produced by Ion Dissonance

JENNY´S JOKE - NINTH SCENE

Line Up:

MArcello Arisi - drums

Maurizio Vaiani - vocals

Pietro Marchetti - bass, b. vocals

Fabio Gatta - guitars, b. vocals

Massimo Valcarenghi - guitars, keyboards

Music by Jenny´s Joke

Lyrics by Jenny´s Joke

Tracks:

1- The Trip Song

2-A Pig in the Rain

3-Talking About her ghost

4-Girls With Black Hair

5-THe Gift

6-The First song of the year

7-Sea Horse

8-Red

9-Ninth Scene

10-Revolver

Jenny´s Joke is a band of the type that surprises with clever and climatic arrangements all the time. "The trip Song" opens up this album with clean guitars and a memorable chorus that makes you keep on singing the tune long after it has finished. The guitars are essential here in constructing the climatic passages that sometimes are more introspective and ometimes are more direct but always surprising. The melodies delivered here are another essential side of the band´s music: Maurizio Valani´s voice constructs lines that are deep and clean and that takes the lsitener into the ethereal world of Jenny´s Joke. To give you an example you have to take the most melancholic and climatic parts of the music of bands like Coldplay or Radiohead (and even the deepest R.E.M.) to have a small idea of how the band sounds like. This is with no doubt one of the most climatic releases of the year.

Recorded at B3 Studios

Produced by Jeny´s Joke

JESS ROWLAND - SCENES FROM THE SILENT REVOLUTION

Line Up:

Jess Rowland - all isntruments, programming, videos, vocals

Colleen Nagle - drums on "The Barbie Explosion"

Chris Craig - solo guitar on "Vendicam"

Music by Jess Rowland

Videos by Jess Rowland

Tracks:

CD

1- Om

2-Bird Signs

3-Invisible / Anymore

4-I was only dreaming

5-Self-Adhesive Office Cubes

6-Valis Interlude

7-Signs

8-Vendicam

9-Happy Flowers

10- Ashcroft vs. the Space Librarians (ACLU edit)

DVD

1- Mc Donaldland is changing

2- The Barbie Exploion

3- Ashcroft vs The Space Librarians

This is a killer package that consists in one audio CD and a DVD full of the amazing compostions created by Jess Rowland. Here Rowland shows that his imagination in creating sounds and musical passages has no limit and that he can achieve great results with every instrument and also with vocals. There is heavy use of sound samples here and also of diffferent textures that can give an introspective feeling to some of the tracks here and also an industrial one to some others. The main thing here is that Rowland manages to experiment heavily while retaining coherence and creating enjoyable compositions where he delivers infinite sounds within a compositional structure that acts like sort of a content wall for the experimentation. It is amazing to see how Rowland plays with music and images in the DVD that for me is the climax of this musical package. He knows how to achieve different moods, from cray and maniatic improvisations to sad passages such as the ones in "Invisible / Anymore" or the feeling of sixties / seventies film music in the beginning of "I was only dreaming" that soon turns into a more mechanical tune due to the heavy use of electronics. An album/DVD that is essential for any lover of experimental music and innovative ideas.

Produced by Jess Rowland

JUGLANS REGIA - CONTROLUCE

Line Up:

Alessandro parogi - vocals

Antonello Collini - guitars

David Carretti - drums

Massimiliano Dionigi - bass

Music by Juglans Regia

Lyrics by Juglans regia

Tracks:

1- Il Prosimo Errore

2-Magnifica Ossessione

3-Riflessi

4-Il Vento

5-L`ultimo respiro

6-Quel che sembra...

Juglans Regia is back with another recording fullof progressive metal with virtuosism and solid songs. Here we have strong heavy guitars that deliver powerful riffs and we have really good vocal work where there are plenty of harmonies. the main thing here is the complexity of the tracks that show virtuosism but at the same time show that this guys know how to construct really good songs. There are good breaks and tempo changes all over the somngs here but always done within a song context."Il Vento" is a really extense composition full of melodies and virtuosism and with many chages that keeps you guessing what is coming next. "Magnifica Ossessione" has incredible bass work in many parts and is one of my absolute favorite tunes here. The lyrics are in Italin language so, those of you accustomed to english lyrics will find this weird, yet effective. A band that shows taht progressive metal does not end in Dream theater and the twor or three best known bands.

Recorded at Pianeta Music

Produced by Juglans Regia

The album is 5 euros or 7 dollars, post included

KATAKLYSM - SERENITY IN FIRE

Line Up:

Maurizio Iacono - vocals 

J-F Dagenais -guitars

Stephane Barbe -bass

Music by Kataklysm

Lyrics by Kataklysm

Tracks:

1. 1-The Ambassador Of Pain
2. 2-The Resurrected
3. 3-As I Slither
4. 4-For All Our Sins
5. 5-The Night They Returned
6. 6-Serenity In Fire
7. 7-Blood On The Swans
8. 8-10 Seconds From The End
9. 9-The Tragedy I Preach
10. 10-Under The Bleeding Sun

Here we have the latest Kataklysm release (they will release their newer album on February) and as always they never dissapoint. As always they are really brutal with crushing guitar riffs that follow closely the drums pace in order to make rhythms more effctive. And we have Maurizio´s growling vocals that also have a role in getting the ultra brutal sound of the band also emphasizing some phrases. Do you want double bass drumming? Just check tunes like "The Night they Returned" and you will have plenty of it. And also if you want speed you have many of it through all the tunes. Each second here is full of aggression and brutality and the huge guitar sound has a lot to do with that creating a huge wall of sound along with the bass. Lovers of this kind of precise, razor-sharp death metal will love this one.

Produced by Kataklysm

KOBOLD - SCHERBENGESCHÖPFE

Line Up:

Olli - drums

Christian - guitars

Simon - guitars

Florian - vocals

Hendrik - bass

Music by Kobold

Lyrics by Kobold

Tracks:

1- Setting to Die

2-Breathcollector

3-Scherbengeschöpfe

4-Lost

5-I Am For Ever

Kobold unleashes on this recording five tunes of pure aggression and brutality with ultra fast parts and a true death metal feeling. Every note here is played to create extremely brutal tunes. here we have some blast beats but also here we have mid tempos and slow tempos that add a dense feeling to the compositions. The band delivers a lot of tempo changes on each tunes and that makes their music even more enjoyable because it keeps your attention in the song structure. The drumming on this album is really precise with a very particular sound, specially on the bass drums (combined with the bass guitar it leads to a trully particular sound). The band is tight and they deliver intersting passages where both guitars interact cleverly and fit the rhythm section with good technical skills. The vocals are extreme, sometimes more guttural and someitmes more of the agonic type changing the mood of the compsoitions. A recording that crushes you from the first second to the last.

Produced by Kobold

KREATOR - ENEMY OF GOD

Line Up:

Mille Petrozza - guitars, vocals

Jörg Ventor Reil - drums

Christian Giesler - bass

Sami Yli-Sirniö - guitars

Music by Kreator

Lyrics by Mille Petrozza

Tracks:

1- Enemy of God

2-Impossible Brutality

3-Suicide Terrorist

4-World Anarchy

5-Dystopia

6-Voices of the Dead

7-Murder Fantasies

8-When death takes its dominion

9-One evil comes - A million follows

10-Dying Race Apocalypse

11-Under a total balckened Sky

12- The Ancient Plague

Kreator is a band that despite multiple line up changes and also multiple experimentation in the thrash realm (think about "Renewal" and "Endorama") has always kept a high degree of quality in their releases. This "Enemy of God" is a release that is closer to "Violent Revolution" than to "Endorama", going for the throat and creushing the listener from beginning to end. Mille´s voice has become more agonic with the years and that is evident here since the start with the title track. The band is as solid as always and I want to remark the guitar work that goes beyond boundaries with Sami doing really good solos on the tracks and both guitars developing the Kreator trademark riffs. A classic thrash band that continues to deliver good quality releases.

Produced by Mille Petrozza

KURGAN´S BANE - CAMOUFLAGED IN STATIC

Line Up:

Pete Laramee - guitars

Lisa Francis - vocals

Luis Nasser - bass

Jeff Laramee - drums

Music by Kurgan´s Bane

Lyrics by Kurgan´s Bane

Tracks:

1- I´m alive

2-Override

3-Mirage

4-Surface

5-Asstro

6-Time Has Come

7-Signal to Noise

8-The Spectator

9-Regret

10-Martyr

After reviewing the previous Kurgan´s Bane album and the Pete Laramee solo albums we wanted to listen more from this amazing musicians. And her they sent us their latest work where they show again all their amazing musicianship. Kicking off with "I´m alive" the band shows improvement when compared to their previous album specially in sound. Pete´s guitars sound crystal clear when used clean and really powerful when distorted (and with an amazing sound in the solos). And Luis Nasser´s bass is loud here and pounding through all the compositions showing how good he is in keeping the rhythms along with Jeff Laramee´s drumming. The drumming is intense and innovative and I really like the way in which the hi-hat and the ride cymbal are mixed, really clean, letting you feel all the arrangements created by this rhythm master. Lisa Francis voice is clean and powerful and fits perfectly the music of this progressive powerful band and adds a lot of melodies showing good taste and a lot of power giving a bonus of intensity to the music. As I said before, the sound is crystal clear and really loud letting you listen every note and every beat that is played here perfectly. A must have for lovers of good musicianship and good compositional skills !

Recorded at Secret Sound Studios

Produced by Kurgan´s Bane

LA MAMOYNIA - MONO EGO

Music by La Mamoynia

Lyrics by La Mamoynia

Tracks:

1- I stand alone

2-Ich bin Niemand

3-Nightmares i´m hiding from

4-Kenurghia Avghi

5-Ipocrisis

6-Links

7-Kammeno charti

8-And nothing more for yu

9-Agapi, ti megali leksi

10-Hated for Seeing deep in the eyes

11-Something that does not exist

After their previous La Mamoynia I knew what to expect here: truly original music full of industrial passages and heavy experimentation. Here we have the elements that are the trademark of the band but taken to upper boundaries: electronic drums, samples, industrial noises and heavy experimentation with electronics. We have the cold vocals here delivered with a lot of intensity transporting the listener to the strange world of La Mamoynia. There is a lot fo originality here and the band is comfortable in this kind of experimentation whose only limit is to have a song format in order to give coherence and structure. The keyboards played in the background in tracks like "Ich bin Niemand" add also a different feeling to the music adding some melodies to the mechanical feeling in an eerie way. the sound of the recording is crystal clear and each sample and sound is perfectly mixed showing that this guys have carefully recorded this songs. A must have for lovers of experimentation with electronics and originality.

Recorded at

Produced by La Mamoynia

LEFT IN RUIN - CURSED

Line Up:

Dann Coburn - vocals

John Dearry - guitars

Jason navarro - guitars

Jeff Uberti - bass

Ryan Vandeberghe - drums

Music by Left in Ruin

Lyrics by Left In Ruin

Tracks:

1- Hands Down

2-Medicate the Snake

3-Rib of Man

4-Labored Tenfold

5-Freestyle

6-Alcohol and Razorblades

7-Trick

Left in Ruin is a band that combines in theior music different influences raging from pure rock to punk and hardcore and also some thrash and modern metal. And they have put all this influences here in seven compositions thata re bursts of pure energy where the band delivers fast riffs and intense drumming. The guitar riffs are furious and fast emphasizing the rhythm section work and making each track an expeirence in violence. the vocals are of the extreme type and this guy seems to be spitting his lungs because of the effort he is doing to scream this lyrics. the songs are well developed with some changes that partially change the mood of the songs but always keeping the coherence and the ultra aggresive style that is a trademark of this band. A band that lovers of extremely aggressive music should check right now.

Recorded at Audiolux Studios

Produced by Left in Ruin

LIHOLESIE - VAST HOMELAND

Line Up:

Sever - all instruments, programming

Music by Sever

Lyrics by Sever

Tracks:

1- The Source

2-the Sacrament

3-Vast Homeland

4-Old Hill´s Memories

5-Slovisha

6-Getting Dark

7-The twilight thiickened with Sadness

Passages of wonderful beauty is what you will find here. This album is full of amazing folk tunes with that eastern european sound that gives you an idea of woods or huge plains with pagan people riding horses and stuff like that. Here we have Sever, a great musician who delivers here seven amazing compositions where the melodies and the rhythms transport the listener to ancient times and that also surprises wityh the amazing melodies that are carefully developed here. Keyboards and other instruments are played here in order to achieve the best result and the musicianship here is really good as it is evident on each of the tunes. This is an ideal album to listen with your eyes shut and letting your imagination flow. As I said before this is an album where the first word that comes to your mind while listening to it is pure beauty. A must.

Produced by Sever

LITTLE DEAD BERTHA - WAY OF BLIND

Line Up:

Dmitry Zamaruev - vocals

Sergey Galushko - guitars

Yuriy Sveshnikov - bass

Tatiana Voitenko - keyboards

Dmitry Paltsev - drums

Svetlana Hodyakova - b. vocals

Music by Little Dead Bertha

Lyrics by Little Dead Bertha

Tracks:

1- Without Hope

2- Raven

3-I don´t Believe

4-My Evil Wish

5-Last Way to Nowhere

6-Force and Brave

7-Way of Blind

8-Requiem

Some time ago we reviewed the previous LIttle Dead Bertha album and now we have this one that shows some progression, specially in sound that sounds louder and more compact. The music is really original as it was evident on the previous one, having that combination of death/black metal with melancholic parts full of eerie melodies. Here we have the growling and the deep gothic vocals deivered by Dmitry combined with Svetlana´s enchanting voice that shows again the contrast between the different elements that the music here has. The band shows good musicianship on all tunes and that is specially evident in the fastest parts where they sound solid and fluent. The rhythm section sounds tight and allows the band to deliver good arrangements over the main basis of the tunes. The sound i really good with a good mix that lets you appreciate all the arrangements created here and all the small phrases and harmonies that are all voer the place. A band that deserves to be one of the top names in the style soon.

Recorded at DS Studio

Produced by Sergey Galushko

LUPARA - LUPARA

Music by Lupara

Lyrics by Lupara

Tracks:

1- Dante´s Screams (intro)

2-Discrimination Pours

3-Whore of India (segue)

4-They Call me Disease

5-The old Man

6-Bells (outro)

Lupara is the baby of ex-Broken Hope main man Jeremy Wagner. Here the music is not pure death metal as in his old band. In fact I find here an interesting combination of death metal with hardcore and with modern metal that gives Lupara a really original sound. Do you want double bass drumming? Here you have it, combined with rhythmic guitar riffs whose main feature is utter heaviness. If you like extreme vocals you have here of the growling type and also some guttural roars that show the deathly part of Lupara´s music. But the main thing here are the rhythms that are carefully developed, where each note is crushing as a hammer blow to your brain. I have to remark the killer sound that this release has making it even louder and heavier smashing your skull with pure aggression. the perfect blend between metalcore and death metal !!

Recorded at Mercenary Digital Studios

Produced by Scott Creekmore and Lupara

MADAM PRESS - OUT OF THE CAGE

Line Up:

Nina Björk Eliasson - vocals

Mette Stig Nielsen - piano

Helene Jerg - cello

Lonnie Svilling - flute

Karina Agerbo - flute

Music by Madam Press, exc. 12 by Carl Bergstrøm Nielsen

Tracks:

1- Lærkekvartetten

2-Arietta

3-Amerikanske billeder

    a) Mikroskopiske Bevægelser

    b) Lyset Bagved

    c) Rytmiske Spejlinger

4- Tolv Toner

5-Flygelsonatine

6-Små skridt

7- Duet

8-Lydlandskab 1 toner

9-Lydlandskab 2 støj

10-Lydlandskab 3 intonation

11-Lydlandskab 4 klang

12- Vild Protest

13- Postludium

Madam Press is a quintet from Denmark created by five talented women whose main goal is to experiment within coherent musical structures. In fact, the first thing that struck me when comparing Madam Press´ music with other improvisational outfits was the emphasis that some of the musical pieces here have in achieving melodies and twisting them beyond recognition. That is, while other improvisational musicians try to extract sounds from their instruments this woment try to shape this sounds into some strange melodies thata re essential in their music. There is a lot of spontaneity here and that becomes evident from the first minute to the lst one of this recording. I have been gratefully surprised by the amazing voice that Nina Björk Eliasson has, using it like another instrument and adding sort of an ethnical feeling to the improvisations. Mette Stig Nielsen is an expert in adding dissonances to the music playing chords that will surely struck your ears but tht when combined with the other instruments constitute a really coherent musical form. And a lot of the better things here are created with the good interaction between the five musicians (or four in the case of the quartets) where they achieve the greatest levels of inspiration and show how you can add rhythmic phrases, melodies and sounds creating amazing musical compositions full of coherence and virtuosism.

Recorded at The Carl Nielsen Academy

Produced by The Carl Nielsen Academy

MAGNUS RISING - MAGNUS RISING

Line Up:

Aaron Hawkins - vocals

Roger Cranford - guitars

Matt Snow - bass

Brad Walsh - drums

Music by Magnus Rising

Lyrics by Magnus Rising

Tracks:

1- Levitate

2-Blood Donation

3-Hang Onm

4-THe Possession of Saul Stone´s Soul

5-From the Ashes

6-Someone Died

Opening with a sure hit called "Levitate" Magnus Rising fastly shows that their music is all about pure metal and pure powerful guitar riffs. The guitars deliver with a crushing sound rhythmic riffs that are the trademark of this band´s music. Aaron hawkins adds mlodies with his unconventional voice adding a lot of identity to the music because he has a unique type of voice to deliver the lines that the band needs. The rhythmic section is direct and solid constructing a tight skeleton over which the guitar adds the flesh of Magnus Rising´s music. Despite being a pure heavy metal band the band sounds heavier than most of the bands of the style and that is due to their use of crushing rhythms and also due to the avoidance of genre cliches. Yes, this guys prefer to use heavier rhythms intstead of galloping and runs thata re more typical. The sound of the recording is loud and direct and is essential to add more aggression to this already extremely powerful band. Pure metal unleashed in an original way.

Recorded at Record Time Productions

Produced by MAgnus Rising and KEvin Pinhorn

MALICIOUS DAMAGE - SCORCHED EARTH POLICY

Line Up:

Tony - guitars

Josh - vocals

Pat - bass

Dave - drums

Music by A.C. Tomaselli

Lyrics by Josh Herter

Tracks:

1- Flesh of God

2-Eighty- five Percent

3-Salvation (in a dying world)

4-Unrighteous Path

5-Stillborn Nation

Malicious Damage is a band that will decapitate you with their intensity without any contemplation. Their music has elements of both death metal and thrash metal and also some small hardcore elements in some specific parts. Here we have even some old school death emtal guitar riffs thata re combined with fast drumming which sounds really precise, with a programmed like sound. The vocals here are really extreme of the screaming type with some ocasional growl and also some background shut that emphasizes some of the lyrics. The rhythm section is really tight and they leave plenty of space for the guitars to develope the crushing riffs that are the main identity of the band. the sound of the recordin is huge and raw giving that old school feeling but at the same time keeping the power taht the band unleashed here. A crushing band with an old school feeling that suits them really well.

Produced by Malicious Damage

MEMBRANE - UTILITY OF USELESS THINGS

Music by Membrane

Lyrics by Membrane

Tracks:

1- Utility

2-Crash

3-Neurones

4-Virus

5-Dirty

6-Magic Hours

Membrane kicks off with the fast and powerful "Utility" with direct and aggressive riffs. The guitars here deliver rocking riffs with a huge and distorted sound that gives the music a really wild extreme metal feeling. The vocals are of the screaming type with a certain industrial influence that gives an even more extreme feeling to the music. The rhythms are extremely heavy with some new metal influence but played more aggressively than in bands of this style. And the rhythm section is extremely tight making the overall result really heavy and sounding like a crushing wall of power. the sound of tyhe recording is direct and loud with huge guitars that are the core of the music here. A powerful release with different influences that make this truly enjoyable.

Recorded at Rec Studio

Produced by Membrane

NIHILISTKRYPT - REQUIRED SACRIFICES

Line Up:

Port - drums

Orc-  growls

Doomhand - bass

Uziel - guitars, growls

Sorts - guitars

Music by Nihilistkrypt

Lyrics by Nihilistkrypt

Tracks:

1- The Summoning

2-Brainbow

3-Expired

4-Virus: Human

5-Enjoy the Violence

6-I Hate Everything

7-Thoughts of a Misanthrope

8-Rebellion Against Thee

9-Execution of the last priest

Pure brutality coming directly from Estonia. The good thing about this band is that they use guitar riffs and rhythms that are much more original than the ones used by most of the bands of the style getting closer to heavy metal riffing despite the brutality that they develope. The vocals here are extremely guttural and they give the ultra brutal feeling to the music. To give you an idea it is like crossing the most brutal Morbid Angel with bands like Dark Tranquillity or In Flames and adding also some thrash metal to the mix. The guitars work here is spectacular being original and technical at the same time and showing that this band can develope multiple ideas within each composition. there is virtuosism in the arrangements and also in the aggressive rhythms. The sound is direct and well mixed with emphasis on the guitars and the drums that sound almost like if they were right beside you. One of the albums of 2005.

Recorded at Krypt Sudio

Produced by Nihilistkrypt

NOVEMBERS FALL - BROKEN MEMORIES

Line Up:

Jonas Janssen - guitars, b. vocals

Fabian Swars - bass, b. vocals

Benjamin Marschner - guitars, vocals

Michael Zettl - drums

Music by Novembers Fall

Lyrics by Novembers Fall

Tracks:

1- Novembers Fall

2-Brutal Truth

3-Life Between Tiles

4-Warcult

5-Dropped to Death

6-Alter Ego (bonus)

This band delivers violent death/ black metal with some good arrangements and melodies that give a lot of identity to the band´s music. If you like growling vocals you will surely like this album and it is amazing to see how this guy can change from the growling voice to a more melancholic one within the same song. And there is also a screaming voice more of the black metal type. The guitars here are really good and I like that this guys do a lot of solos here and there and also some clean parts that give a darker feeling to the music. The atmosphere of the tunes is another trademark of Novembers Fall´s music being really melancholic at times, really dark in others and really aggressive in others. There are many clean passages that are extremely sad, such as the ones in the beginning of "Brutal Truth" adding a more deppressive mood to the music. The sound of the recording is loud and clear and adds some more heaviness to the music. A crushing combination of aggression and darkness.

Produced by Novembers Fall

OBITUARY - FROZEN IN TIME

Line Up:

John Tardy - vocals

Donald Tardy - drums

Trevor Peres - guitars

Allen West - guitars

Frank Watkins - bass

Music by Obituary

Lyrics by John Tardy

Tracks:

1- Redneck Stomp

2-On the Floor

3-Insane

4-Blindsided

5-Back Inside

6-Mindset

7-Stand Alone

8-Slow Death

9-Denied

10-Lockjaw

Obituary is back !!! Her we have the expected album from the death metal gods from Florida. And we have all the elements that ahve made their work so special. Don´t expect anything new. Their music is still the pure death metal that is characteristic of theband with a louder sound than in their fist albums but close to the one in "World Demise" for example. Lovers of the band will be delighted with this new release but I don´t think that they will gain new fans, except fopr death metal fans that have never listened their music. Here we have John Tardy´s agonic voice screaming the lyrics and showing that he is in top form to deliver death metal. And we have the tandem of Trevor Peres and Allen West (he was fired from the band after the Wacken concert) delivering riff after riff of deathly aggression. Obituary is back !!

Produced by Obituary

ORDAINED - SINSPIRATIONAL MUSICK - GREATEST CUTS

Music by Ordained

Lyrics by the Reverend

Tracks:

1- The Diary of Jack the Ripper

2-Sealed with a Fist

3-Mortimus Grimley

4-Flow to Hell

5-SINvocation

6-Beloved

7-Grimley´s Tale

8-Lovette

9-Film at Eleven

10-Possession is 9/10 the law

11-unholy Blasphemies - Dark Assembly Mix

12- Who was Jack?

13- All in Vein

Here we have a killer compilation of tunes from all of Ordained`s releases from 1997 up to 2004. And it is really good to lsiten the evolution of this powerful thrashing band going from the primitive almost rocking metal sounds of 1997 represented for example here by "Flow to Hell" up to the pure thrash of "The Diary..." from 2003´s "Altar Ego"  the band shows a lot of progression, not only in style but also in musicianship delivering on each release better riffs and arrangements. the reverend´s voice is always there being the core of Ordained´s music and giving a lot of identity to the music. Thirteen tracks show the different lineups that Orfained had through all the years and you can listen the differences and the musical changes when the line-up was evolving into the actual one. A great compilation of metal tunes that are a testimony of this band´s hardwork in the underground and of the good compositions taht they deliver constantly.

Produced by Ordained

PARADISE LOST - PARADISE LOST

Line Up:

Nick Holmes - vocals

Aaron Aedy - guitars

Greg Mackintosh - guitars

Steve Edmondson - bass

Music by Greg Mackintosh

Lyrics by Nick Holmes

Tracks:

1- Don´t Belong

2- Close your eyes

3-Grey

4-Redshift

5-Forever After

6-Sun Fading

7-Laws of Cause

8-For All you leave behind

9-Accept the Pain

10-Shine

11-Spirit

12- Over the madness

The new Paradise Lost album finds the band exploring the path that they have followed since their "One Second" album. THe album shows similarities with albums like "Believe in Nothing" or "Symbol of Life" and one step higher in quality than their worst album that was "Host". The band continues constructing songs that have this gothic feeling with some electronic influences but without forgetting heavy guitars. There is not that much change when compared to the latest two albums but it is the style that the band has been forging step by step. lovers of the band will surely like this one.

Produced by Paradise Lost

PESTNEBEL - IN DEN SCHWARZEN ABGRÜNDEN DER EWIGKEIT

Line Up:

Pestlord Tairach - vocals, guitars, bass

Nebeltroll - drums, b. vocals

Music by Pestlord Tairach, exc. 9 by Nebeltroll

Lyrics by Tairach, exc. 5,8 by Nabeltroll

Tracks:

Side 1

1- Aus den Nebeln der Ewigkeit

2-In den Schatten des Winters

3-Darkness in my Fate

4-The Goddess and the Blackstorm

5-Grabeskälte

Side 2

6- Goatspawn Incantation

7-Descent to teh Fogrealm

8-König Pest

9-Sunset Over the Ocean of Melancholia

Pestnebel is pure aggressive and raw black metal coming directly from one of the lands where this style has become more popular: Germany. A dark intro leads us directly into what Pestnebel does best, that is, crushing skulls with black metal ferocity. The music here is fast and furious full of fast blast beats and with chainsaw like guitars that deliver aggression with each note that is played here. the vocals are agonic, of the black metal type, and it will fill your soul with all the hatred that this guy spit. THe drumming is really fast with blast beats, double bass and a lot of cymbals use that create some mayhemic moments. The sound of the recording is really raw giving that underground black metal feeling to the recording. Pure darkness unleashed over mankind !!

Recorded at Panzerklang Studios

Produced by Pestnebel

PLAYTHING - PLAYTHING

Line Up:

Tryfon - guitars, vocals

Panos - bass

Evangeloss - guitars

Tasos - drums

Music by Plaything

Lyrics by Plaything

Tracks:

1- No reasons left

2-Number

3-Take

4-Use Me

Four tracks are enough to show all the power that Plaything can unleash. Starting with the crushing riff of "No Reasons Left" the band shows soon some trademarks: The huge guitar sound, the important role of the bass guitar and the deppressive dark vocals that contrast with the crushing sound of the guitars. The music can be described as pure metal with influences of many different styles such as grunge, stoner rock and alternative music but always with a huge amount of powerful riffing. The rhythm section is really rocking and, as I said before, the bass plays an important role creating amazing lines and also doubling the guitars to create a sound that is bigger than a tsunami wave. The vocals have a melancholic feeling in them that fits really well the music and add some melodies that make the tunes memorable. A really rocking release.

Recorded in Studios Esoteron

Produced by Plaything and Vangellis Apostolakis

PLAYTHING - THE "UNDER THE BED" DEMO

Line Up:

Tryfon - guitars, vocals

Panos - bass

Evangeloss - guitars

Tasos - drums

Music by Plaything

Lyrics by Plaything

Tracks:

1- Heaven

2-Katherine has left the bed

"Heaven" opens up this MCD with a differnet sound than the one that we listened on the previous plaything recording. This track has a huge emphasis on vocals that sound desperate in many parts and full of sorrow in others. The rhythms here are straight and direct right in your face. The second track "Katherine..." opens up acoustically and I think that here is where the Plaything sound of this recording is different than the previous one: this is completely acoustic. On "Katherine" we have clean guitar arpeggios and acoustic bass lines that embellish everything and also we have some piano arrangements. There is really good taste in both tracks and they leave you wanting to listen more acoustic tunes from this interesting greek band. An original and beautiful release with killer vocals.

Produced by Plaything

PROFANATION - DEAD BODY FUCK

Line Up:

Musicand lyrics by Profanation, exc. 5 by Exciter and 10 by Ulcerous Phlegm

Tracks:

1- Absentminded

2-The Drowning Red

3-Delicacies of Human Flesh

4-Psychopathic Serenity

5-Pounding Metal

6-Dawning Day

7-Choir of the Damned

8-Feasting on Knights

9-Dead Body Fuck

10-Consequence

Recorded at Powerrocker Studios

Produced by Profanation

Line Up:

Johnny - guitars, vocals

Danne - bass

Swaniz - drums

Dan - guitars

Music by Quadruple

Lyrics by Quadruple

Tracks:

1- Threat Within

2-Actors

3-Ideology of Death

4-Powers of Belief

5-Bound to Crack

6-Flashback

7-Way of Man

8-Pathetic

9-Wake Up in a Coma

10-Psychopath

Recorded at Roasting House Studios

Produced by Quadruple

RAINWOUND - DEMO 2005

Line Up:

Brandon S. - guitars, bass, all instruments, vocals

Music by Brandon S.

Lyrics by Brandon S.

Tracks:

1- The Task

2- Companionship

3- Rainwound

4-Oppressing the Past

Rainwound is completely different from Bradon S´s other band, Satanic Dirge. the music here is more melodic and it also has a certain black metal feeling but it has more climatic and melancholic moments showing the brighter side of the musical personality of this musician. Here we have acoustic guitars, keyboards and heavy orchestration in tunes like "The Task" showing good musicianship and innovative ideas. the compositions here are long and they give enough space to develope multiple ideas that constantly surprises the listener. Just check the calm "Companionship" that slowly builts into a melodic climax and that also uses sort of a heavy metal riff and then a more black emtal one to add aggression to the tune.The sound here is not that direct and loud as in Satanic Dirge and I would mix everything louder, specially the drums that sound a little bit in teh background. Pure originality and imagination.

Produced by Brandon S.

RAM-ZET - INTRA

Line Up:

Sfinx - vocals

Küth - drums

Zet - guitars, vocals

Jon - bass

Magnus - keyboards, b. vocals

Sareeta - violins, b. vocals

Music by Ram-Zet

Lyrics by Ram-Zet

Tracks:

1- the Final thrill

2-Left Behind as pieces

3-Enchanted

4-Ballet

5-And Innocence

6-Born

7-Lullaby for the Dying

8-Closing a Memory

Produced by Ram-zet

REBELLION - SAGAS OF ICELAND - THE HISTORY OF THE VIKINGS VOL. I

Line Up:

Music by Rebellion

Lyrics by Rebellion

Tracks:

1-In memoranduum Lindisfarnae
2-Ynglinga Saga (To Odin we call)
3-The sons of the Dragon Slayer (Blood Eagle)
4-Ragnhild's dream
5-Harald Harfager
6-Eric the red
7-Freedom (The Saga of Gang Hrolf)
8-Treason
9-Sword in the storm (The Saga of Earl Hakon, Protector of Norway)
10-Blood rains (The Saga of King Olaf Trygvason)
11-Ruling the waves
12-Canute the Great (The King of Danish Pride)
13-Harald Hadrade

This is good old heavy metal with strong eighties influences but also with power metal sound and with a modern sound in the guitars and the drums. the main influences here are of bands like Blind Guardian, Rage, Running Wild and Grave Digger (there are former Grave Digger members on this band, so this is logic). You can not deny that you are listening to a german band....they have that characteristic sound, specially in the vocals and the choruses that set this style apart from any other form of heavy metal. The guitars deliver fast riffs and also they do good solos on many of the tracks adding virtuosism to the music. I really like that this guys do not abuse the galloping and cliches of the style because this adds extra points to the overall result. The sound of the recording is really compact and every instrument is clearly mixed and the band as a whole is really tight. Pure german heavy metal of the best quality.

Recorded at

Produced by

REVULVA - SUNSET ON HUMANITY

Line Up:

Chuck  - vocals

Krisz - drums

Louicifer - guitars

Sebass - bass

Music by Revulva

Lyrics by Revulva

Tracks:

1- Swallowing death

2- Hordes of Reason

3-REvulva

4-Hate

5-Never Vote (for an Asshole)

6-G.E.G.E.

7-Polishit

8-the Real Me

9-They will cum (they will die)

10- Flames Never Die

11-The Basement Crew /Crackhead (live)

12- Ugly Eyes (live)

Produced by Revulva and Christian Donaldson

RUSTED CHAINS - DEMO-LITION

Line Up:

Jonathan Gerlach - vocals

Frank Ruppert - guitars

Johannes Appel - drums

Daniel Krischke - bass

Music by Rusted Chains

Lyrics by Rusted Chains

Tracks:

1- Scars thru reflection

2- Dedicated to Darkness

3-Tomorrow is Today

4-Decompose

5-Black Summer Days

6-Chaination

Opening with a slow riff with extremely heavy sound in "Scars through reflection" the band soon gets into a faster rhythm that shows that this band´s goal is to achieve utter heaviness. That becomes evident in the ultra dense "Dedicated to Darkness", a track with extremely dense guitar riffs and with rhythms designed to crush the listener. The band has agonic vocals full of anger that fit really well the music developed by the rest of the band. The good thing is that the band prefers to emphasize heaviness instead of using only speed, so the result is heavier and extremely aggressive. The guitars sound huge and raw with a lot of bottom end and the rhythm section uses cleverly mid paced tempos and slow parts in order to add darkness to the heaviness of Rusted Chains music. Pure heaviness unleashed.

Recorded at Crises Studio II

Produced by Rusted Chains

SADIZTIK IMPALER - SADIZTIC SYONAN- TO SUPREMACY

Line Up:

Zahwarlock - guitar

Hanael - bass

Fauzzt - drums

Fyraun - gitars

Music by Sadiztik Impaler

Lyrics by Sadiztik Impaler

Tracks:

1- Unholy Vengeance Peronification

2-Black Fucking Metal

3- Conquered by Evil

4-Warriors ov Satan

5-Sarcophagus ov the Undead

6-Rides of Perversion

7-Bestial Syonan - to Eastern predator

Pure black fucking metal in its most evil format. That is: raw, fast, bestial without mercy for the listener, full of balst beats and chainsaw-like guitars. The recording has some slower passages but most  of the time this guys put the pedal to the metal and they turn everything into pure mayhem. Influences here can be early Mayhem, early Emperor and nineties classic black metal of the rawest type. The sound of the recording is extremely raw and I think that with a better mix this compositions can be even more aggressive and effective.

Recorded at Sadiztik Dungeon Studios

Produced by Sadiztik Impaler

SAMMOHAN - SAINT OF BLASPHEMY

Line Up:

Tuomas Tuimala - guitars

Viljami Kinnunen - drums

Juhani Taivela - vocals, bass

Music by Sammohan

Lyrics by Sammohan

Tracks:

1- Chakra: Metal Altar

2-Chakra: Mystical Mountain

3-Chakra: Eye of Ra

4-Chakra: Mercenary Tiger

5-Chakra: Sex Chakra

Sammohan is a band that is not afraid of exploring new paths with their thrashing music. For doing that they use an old school thrash sound and they add some orchestrations such as in the beginning of "Chakra: Eye of Ra" or the guitar lines that are played in the same tune. But most of the time the band delivers pure aggression doing fast patterns and rhythms. Juhani`s vocals sound weird and aggressive yet fitting well the music of the band and adding a wild feeling to it. The guitars deliver fast runs and riffs that wouldn`t beout of place in albums by bands like Exciter, Anvil or even old Venom. The drumming is fast and intense setting the apce of the compositions with furious patterns. The sound of the recording is raw emphasizing the old school feeling. Pure old school thrash but with interesting ideas that this guys can explore even more in the future.

Recorded at Sounds of Manala

Produced by Sammohan

SATANIC DIRGE - BEWARE OF GOD

Line Up:

Brandon S. - all instruments, vocals

Music by Brandon S.

Lyrics by Brandon S.

Tracks:

1- Brainworkz

2-Beware of God

3-Venom

SAtanic Dirge is a one man band whose brain is Brandon S. who also is the brain behind Rainwound. The music here is black metla but with heavy keyboards and an amazingly dark atmosphere. Satanic Dirge does not abuse speed, having ultra fast parts but combined with more mid paced ones and with interesting original arrangements that makes the music here really original. The vocals are really extreme, of the black metal type and even more agonic contrasting with teh harmonic keyboards and at the same time complementing them. the keyboards are essential here and they deliver incredible atmospheric parts and also some melodic arrangements as the ones in the middle of "Brainworkz" that surprise with originality. An original and dark release that left me wanting more Satanic Dirge.

Produced by BRandon S

SENTENCED - THE FUNERAL ALBUM

Line Up:

Music by Sentenced

Lyrics by Ville Laihiala

Tracks:

01 : May Today Become the Day
02 : Ever-Frost
03 : We Are But Falling Leaves
04 : Her Last 5 Minutes
05 : Where Waters Fall Frozen
06 : Despair-Ridden Hearts
07 : Vengeance Is Mine
08 : A Long Way To Nowhere
09 : Consider Us Dead
10 : Lower The Flags
11 : Drain Me
12 : Karu
13 : End Of The Road

Here is the probable last album of this finnish band. Having witnessed the changes and progressions of the band since their "North from here" album I have to say that I feel sad because they are splitting up. In fact I like both eras of the band: the black metal one and the more gothic one that is evident in their latest three or four albums. Ville´s vocals are as good as always having power and agonic feeling that suits well the music of the band. And here we have the guitar riffs that are the essence of the band´s latest era showing that they can construct good songs with intense riffing. THe songs are extremely dynamic and memorable and they represent a good ending to this band´s career. A piece of finnish metal history.

Produced by Sentenced

SMAXONE - REGRESSION

Line Up:

Michael - vocals

Claus - vocals

Skafte- guitars, bass, synths

Brylle - drums

Music by Smaxone

Lyrics by Smaxone

Tracks:

1- I see you part 1

2-Regression

3-Freedom 2003

4-Smiling

5-Waiting

6-Bad Sensation

7-Dead But Alive

8-Afterlife

9-If you Could

10-I see you part 2

This is a band that makes strong emphasis on the contrast between electronics and distorted guitars. their music is fat ad aggressive and here the keyboards and electronics have an essential role. there are good guitar riffs here of the rhythmic type that add the heaviness to the msuic and contrasts heavily with teh electronic side of the music. The vocals are amazing being of two types: one that screams almost spitting his throat on the heaviest parts and a clean one that does the choruses and some melodic parts in the vein of Devin Townsend (and sometimes in a lower vocal range). The drumming is really intense with fast parts and aggressive patterns that sound almos like a machine. The album has a careful mix that balances well the contrast between electronics and heaviness making them sound like a whole and not as separate parts as sometimes happens in bands that do this kind of fusion. A really innovative release with killer compositions.

Produced by Smaxone

SONIC PULSAR- OUT OF PLACE

Line Up:

Hugo Flores - guitars, keyboards

Music by Flores

Lyrics by Flores, Mateus

Tracks:

1- Out of Place

2-Burning Inside Me

3-Schizophrenic PLayground

4-Always Knew

5-A Chain of Actions

6-I heard of a Place called Earth

7-Ghosts of the lost planes

8-Solitary Star

9-Instrumetal

10-Moving Engines

11-Time Has Been Broken

12- Out of Place (radio edit

Produced by Hugo Flores

STONEGARD -ARROWS

Line Up:

Torgrim Torve - vocals, guitars

Ronny Flissundet - guitars, b. vocals

Havard Gjerde - bass, b. vocals

Erlend Gjerde - drums

Music by Stonegard

Lyrics by Stonegard

Tracks:

1- Ghost Circles

2- Arrows

3- Hunter

4-At Arms Length

5-Resistance

6-The White Shaded Lie

7-Triggerfinger

8-Barricades

9-Goldbar

10-Dakest Hour

The instrumental "Ghost Circles" opens up this album before the band gets into the title track a tune with sheer intensity and ultrafast drumming. The guitars here sound huge showing ultra heaviness and contrasting with the killer vocal melodies that give a lot of identity to the music.A nd despite the utter heaviness, the band has a true rocking feeling in their music as it is evident in tracks like "Hunter". A unique element here are the vocal harmonies used in some parts adding contrast to the music and at the same time making the listening of each tune truly enjoyable. The rhythm section is solid here and intereacts really well with the huge guitars that give the heart and soul to Stonegard´s music. Calmer tunes like "At Arms Length" add a lot of variation to the music of this album showing again how you can be extremely heavy despite playing clean parts and slow rhythms. The sound of the recording is amazing and that adds extra points to the band`s music making the guitars sound louder than hell and the band sound extremely compact. A must have.

Recorded at

Produced by Daniel Bergstrand

STRATOVARIUS - STRATOVARIUS

Line Up:

Timo Tolkki - guitars

Timo Kotipelto - vocals

Lauri Porra - bass

Jens Johansson - keyboards

Jörg Michael - drum

Music by Timo Tolkki

Lyrics by Timo Kotipelto

Tracks:

01. Maniac Dance
02. Fight
03. Just Carry On
04. Back To Madness
05. Gypsy In Me
06. Götterdämmerung (Zenith of Power)
07. The Land of Ice and Snow
08. Leave The Tribe
09. United
 

Stratovarius is back with its most classical line-up except for Jari Kainulainen that has been replaced by bassist Lauri Porra. The good thing is that here we have a slight change in sound getting a little apart from the classic power metal sound and the band gets a little bit heavier this time. Not that they will become  a thrash metal band but some elements that were weak in the past are now heavier (an example of this is the tune "Fight!!!"). Besides this we don´t have many changes here so long time fans will not be dissapointed with this new album. Here we have the power metal runs, the ballad and Timo Kotipelto´s crystal clear voice doing his high pitched melodies. And also here we have Timo Tolkki´s solos and Jens Johanson orchestrating keyboards. Analbum for Stratovarius fans.

Produced by Timo Tolkki

STYGMA IV - ROTTING CORPSES

Line Up:

Ritchie Krenmaier - vocals

Günter Maier - guitar, keyboards, vocals on 10

Alex Hilzensauer - bass

Herb Greisberger - drums

Music and lyrics by Stygma IV, exc. 9 by Black Sabbath and 10 by Dixon/Moore

Tracks:

1- The Edge

2-Spirits Rising

3-Mindraped

4-No reason

5-Perfect Creation

6-Terror

7-Tsunami

8-Forever

9-Heaven and Hell (live)

10- I´m a king bee (live)

Pure metal the way it must be done is what Stygma IV delivers and what tey have delivered through all their career. That is, huge guitar riffs with ultimate power, excellent vocals that go way beyond the patterns of the style, drumming that is not only galloping but emphasizing each riff and each song structure. This guys also have some progressive touches in the rhythms and in some arrangements but played with full power that makes the keyboards sound like a razor through your spine. The main thing here are the guitars that deliver amazing riffs and also interesting arrangements that give a lot of identity to Stygma IV. And the vocals are superb being much more powerful than the ones used in the style and without abusing high pitches and stuff like that. The sound here is huge, specially on guitars and the drums are crystal clear mixed letting you feel the ride cymbal and the different arrangements created by this guy. There are two live bonus tracks here of the band doing a Black Sabbath cover and a W. Dixon one showing how the band sounds live and adding extra points to this album. Pure metal in its best form !!

Produced by Stygma 4

SUBLIMINAL CRUSHER - LIFE DROUGHT

Line Up:

Tooz- vocals
Rodeath- drums
Elvys- guitar
Hatewerk- guitar

Jerico - bass

Music by Subliminal Crusher, exc. 8 by Death

Lyrics by Subliminal Crusher, exc. 8 by Death

Tracks:

1- Armageddon

2-Sense

3-History

4-Tearifying

5-Life

6-Affection

7-Outro

8-Pull the Plug

Subliminal Crusher is a band that creates compositions taht are brutal but ath the same time have a lot of technical skills that set the band apart from all the brutal bands in the scene. With emphasis in delivering technical death metal tunes the band has managed to create here seven trcks of pure aggression plus a killer cover of Death´s classic from the "Leprosy" album "Pull the Plug". the band is fast and furious and the rhythms are fast most of the time with strong emphasis on the rhythms that are devastating. the vocals are of the growling type but clear enough to let you follow the lyrics. the sound of the recording is really loud and the mix is good specially on the guitars that ahve a really lud and compact sound. The drums have some reverb in them and sound original in a band like this one. A devastating release with multiple ideas within the death metal realm.

Recorded at

Produced by Subliminal Crusher

SUBSONIC - SWEET SURPRISE

Line Up:

Music by Subsonic

Lyrics by Subsonic

Tracks:

1- Superfreaky Crazy Heroe

2- Hours

3-Mask

4-Penis Puppeteer

5-Ass of an Angel

6-The other way

7-You are alright

8-Funeral Discount

9-Let´s get naked

10-Free my mind

11-My secret lie

12 Intergalactic Tits

A killer combination of aggression and melodies is what Subsonic delivers on this album. With huge guitar sound the band delivers good rocking riffs that are their trademark and uses really modern vocal melodies (also with some rapping in some of the tracks) that are really memorable and that makes each tune to stick in your mind. The rhythms are of the rocking type with emphasis on making the tunes sound powerful and heavy giving the aggressive side to Subsonic´s music. But the main thing here are the guitar riffs that are the essence of the music here. you can imagine the band paying in a live show while listening the album and I have to say that they sound extremely powerful. The recording has a really good sound that makes the music even better keeping the guitars right in your face and letting you feel all the power of this band. A powerful release.

Recorded at Tonstudio 45

Produced by Kurt Ebelhäuse

THE ABSENCE - FROM YOUR GRAVE

Line Up:

Patrick Pintavalle - guitar, vocals

Nick Calaci - bass

Jamie Stewart - vocals

Peter Joseph - guitars

Jeramie Kling - drums

Music by The Absence

Lyrics by The Absence

Tracks:

1- Intro

2-A Breath Beneath

3-NEcropolis

4-From Your Grave

5-HEaven Ablaze

6-Summoning the Darkness

7-Shattered

8-I, Deceiver

9-My ruin

10-Seven Demons

A long intro opens up this album with good guitars delivering melancholic melodies before the storm is unleashed with "A Breath Beneath". the Absence is a band that combines clverely a lot of aggression with excellent musicianship and specially a killer guitar work. The guitars are the main thing here creating heavy riffs and also interesting melodies and solos all over the compositions. The music here can be described as something like black/death metal because it has elements of both styles but going beyond them with a lot of originality. The vocals are extremely aggressive and contrast with the guitar arrangements. the drumming is really intense and technical and this guy is really metronomic inthe tempos and extremely violent when hitting the drumkit. Each of the tunes here is carefully developed in order to make them really aggressive but at the same time to give them a lot of originality in teh arrangements. I have to remark the excellent sound that this recording has making it one of the most violent releases of the year.

Recorded at Morrisound Studios

Produced by Erik Rutan and The Absence

THRONE OF KATARSIS - UNHOLY HOLOCAUSTWINDS

Line Up:

Vardalv - drums

Grimnisse - guitars, vocals, bass

Music by Grimnisse

Lyrics by Grimnisse

Tracks:

1- Funeral Moonlight

2-Symbols of Winter

3-Skogens Kall

Three tracks show that this guys are one of the most bestial black metal outfits out there. This guys are a killer mix of aggression and dark atmospheres taken to the limits. With a definite norwegian sound the band delivers here passages that takes you to diabolic woods where darkness reigns. Influences here can be classic Mayhem, Immortal, Darkthrone and other classical bands from the norwegian scene. but the band has its own identity and that is because of their heavy use of darker than hell atmospheres that give a different dimension to the band´s music. This release is one of the darkest releases of 2005 and Throne of Katharsis is the ideal music for a satanic funeral. Pure black dark metal!!

Recorded at Nordsea with 4 track recorder and in Sound of teh Dead Recordings

Produced by THrone of Katharsis

TO-MERA  - TO-MERA

Line Up:

Julie Kiss - vocals

Tom MacLean - guitar, keyboards

Akos Pirisi - drums

Lee Barrett - bass

Music by To-Mera

Lyrics by Julie Kiss

Tracks:

1- Dreadful Angel

2-Born of Ashes

The first thing that I have to say is that the two tracks that are on this recording left me wanting more because of the good quality of this band. To-Mera features ex Extreme Noise Terror and multiple other bands Lee Barrett and Julie Kiss, ex - Without Face. And it is evident how good are the skills of this people because they deliver two really intense tunes where aggression is combined with melancholy always being really effective in transmit emotions to the listener. Julie`s vocals are enchanting in some parts, then sound sad in others or desperate or aggressive depending on the mood of the passage that he is singing. The guitars sound big and they interact with keyboards that orchestrate all the tunes adding a majestic feeling to the music. There are good solos, such as the one in "Dreadful Angel" where Lee shows his skills as a soloist and there are also som ekeyboards solos. This is what I call progressive extreme metal with experiomentation and atmospheres. I wnat to listen more from this guys because if they release an album in 2006 it can be the album of the year.

Recorded at The Peel rehearsal Rooms

Produced by To-Mera

TRANSCENDING MORTALITY - INTO THE LIGHT

Line Up:

Todd Pope - all isntruments, vocals

Music by Todd Pope

Lyrics by Todd Pope

Tracks:

1- Intro- A new being

2-On your Guard

3-Blood

4-State of Decay

5-Shallow

6-THe Emptiness

Transfigural Form is the product of Todd pope´s brain. Here we have a musical project where heavy guitar riffs interact with eerie melodies creating a unique sound that has a lot of originality and power. There is pure heavy metal here but combined with an extreme voice of the guttural type that adds a more extreme feeling to the music. And we have also some more thrash metal riffs too that make each tune an experience in aggression.  The drums are programmed and they are used in a way that does not look to hide this fact. So, the drums sound weird in many parts such as in "On your guard" where they have a strange mechanical sound that adss also some industrial feeling. The tracks are well developed and they are memorable due to the riffs and the song structures. This is pure experimentation within the realm of a one man band that emphasizes aggression and innovative ideas.

Produced by Todd Pope

TRANSFIX - TRANSFIX

Line Up:

Josh Johnson - vocals

Brian Mc Kay - guitars

Joe Amaral - guitars

Adam Field - bass

Kevin O´Meara - drums

Music by Transfix

Lyrics by Transfix

Tracks:

1-  Goddess

2-P.T.S.O.Y.F.

3-Your Rotting Body

4-This Tragedy

5-Deadearth

Transfix is a band whose riffs are the essence of the music with influences of styles like death metal, thrash metal and even some black metal in some of the guitar runs. If you like extreme, almost agonic vocals then you should check Transfix because here you have plenty of them. One point to remark here is that there are also some modern metal influences here and there in some rhythmic riffs that are used in some parts but theis influences are always taken to the extreme. Each composition here has plenty of changes in rhythm and tempo and in this aspect the band demonstrates that they are really well rehearsed and sound very tight. The drummer is fast and does good double bass drumming in some aprts and in the slower parts does some interesting patterns to adorn the pasages. The sound is loud and direct and the guitars are mixed right in your face. A really extreme release with crushing compositions.

Recorded at Euphoria Sound Studios

Produced by OScar Gouveia

VANITAS - LICHTGESTALTEN

Line Up:

Andreas Schärfinger – voc, guit
Maria Dorn – Sopran
Christoph Högl – guit
Johannes Kickinger – keys
Manuel Simoner – bass
Franz Löchinger – drums

Music by Vanitas

Lyrics by Vanitas

Tracks:

1- Endlosschleifen

2-Lebenslauf

3-Tausende Quadrate

4-Samelleidenschaft

5-Missverstanden

6-Re-Inkarnation

7-Kontrollverlust

8-Menschen...Gott...Maschinen

9-Vergangenes Kehrt Wieder

10-Relatives Freisein

Vanitas is a band whose music is one of the most melancholic experiences one can ever listen to. Reminding me in some parts to My Dying Bride but with an even darker mood in the melodies, a really versatile singer that knows how to fit the music of the band really well and with german lyrics. And there is also a female singer whose voice is full of melancholy and that interacts really well with the more extreme male one. The keyboards are here an essential instrument to construct the atmosphere that is Vanitas trademark. The tempos are mostly mid tempos that allow the band to develope their multiple ideas carefully showing amazing musicianship (the violin here is amazing). A band that delivers really clever arrangements within a darker than hell mood.

Produced by Vanitas

VASILISCK - SERPENTIS REGALIA

Line Up:

Vly Von Vasilisck - all instruments, vocals

Music by Vasilisck

Lyrics by Vasilisck

Tracks:

1- Serpentis regalia

2-From the Depths of the Swamps (in 6 movements)

3-

Vasilisck delivers here two storms of pure black metal with some industrial elements that add originality to the band´s sound. Here we have fast and dark tunes with hyper fast programmed drumming that gives sort of a machine like feeling to the music but without changing the extreme aggression that black metal must have. Raw sound is essential here to add this sort of old school norwegian black metal feeling, but at the same time the band has a more direct and loud sound than those early black metal albums had. The compositions are long and the keyboards have an essential role in many parts contrasting heavily with the extremely raw guitars. the vocals are of the extreme black emtal type with some trollish quality. To surprise more the listener there is a third track on this recording that is pure ambient and experimentation with keyboards and sounds. A dark and experimental release.

Produced by Vasilisck

VIXEN - THE WORKS

Line Up:

Marty Friedman - guitars

Kim la Chance - vocals

Paul Escorpeso - bass

Jeff Graves - drums

Music by Vixen

Lyrics by Vixen

Tracks:

1- Angels from the Dust

2-New Age Rockin Roller

3-Living in Sin

4-Escape the Night

5-Beg for Money

6-Hous of the rising sun

7-Secret of the Stars

8-Give it all you Got

9-Rocking Me Hard

10-The young and the Reckless

11-lady Savage

12-Angels from the Dust (original version)

13-Living in Sin (original version)

Here we have a rerelease of some tunes from Marty Friedman`s band previous to forming Cacophony (and obviously before entering Megadeth). Vixen is pure metal with some power metal influences and also some progressive elements in some parts. With a huge range vocalist the band delivers here four tracks full of interesting melodies and with extreme power. The guitars sound raw and huge making each of