Album Reviews

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    Medicated – Ways to Make You Fall (2010)

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    It is very interesting to receive albums made in 2010 (for 2010) nowadays and to notice the slight differences in the genres and how they have evolved since then. Today we have Finland’s Medicated and their Melodic Death Metal EP titled “Ways to Make You Fall”. In this four song release we can nicely notice how Melodic Death Metal was highly influenced by bands like Scar Symmetry and older Amoral, but since then it has kind of switched into a more clean vocal harmony driven genre.

    In “Ways to Make You Fall”, the band delivers a hefty amount of harsh screams paired with melodic and catchy chorus sections, just exactly like Scar Symmetry and similar bands where doing back then. The band has a very strong core and the guitarists deliver excellent riffs and melodic sections that sound like they come from any ‘big name’ band. The opener “Ways to Make You Fall” delivers a hectic pace with catchy riffing. The super catchy chorus section is very well crafted and immediately has you headbanging to it, thus achieving what any good Melodic DM song has to do.

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    Earth – Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II (2012)

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    As a perfect continuation/extension of their acclaimed (and excellent) “Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I”, Earth is releasing the second part of this masterpiece in 2012. The new album titled “Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II”, keeps the very hypnotic sound of the first one and extends it for over 45 minutes more.

    With a very whimsical approach to music, Earth continues to break the molds and produces five tracks of brilliant atmospheric quality that almost nobody else can pull off. The minimalist nature of the band’s compositions will have you at the edge of your seat waiting for what is next and you will react to it. Moving away from the Drone/Doom Metal the band used to execute, this record feels like a right of passage into a more mature and different age for Earth.

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    Grave Siesta – Grave Siesta (2011)

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    Making its way from Finland, today we have Grave Siesta and their self-titled debut full-length release. In this album the band cruises through 45 minutes of very unique and diverse sounding Doom Metal that seems to not take any particular shape, but sounds crunchy enough to be noticed. The band formed in 2010, and with a couple of demos under their belt they unleash this very solid freshman effort that will surely get them some attention.

    With a hefty dosage or Stoner Rock, Psychedelic Rock and a Doom Metal core, the band opens this release with the punishing “Work Enslaves”. In this track the guitars immediately pop-out and the typical Finish-sounding vocals appear. The bands vocalist Taito Halonen sounds very similar to M Mystons from the Finish Rock outfit Mystons. There are some screams that definitely sound different but fail to make an impression in this track. “Barbaric” has a more traditional Doom feeling to it and delivers more excellently crafted guitar riffs. The vocals again shine thanks to the Southern feeling to them, greatly enhancing the gritty sound of the song.

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    Demonic Death Judge – The Descent (2011)

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    Rounding up the promo package we received from Inverse Records, today we have Demonic Death Judge and their highly entertaining mixture of Sludge Metal with Black Metal. Before you start frowning in disgust, you actually have to give this band a chance and listen to their very original musical approach. The only band we can think that plays something in this alley is Glorior Belli on their last album “The Great Southern Darkness”.

    Opening with “Nepal”, the band fully explodes into some crunchy riffing and very hellish vocals. While this combination might sound odd at first, it slowly grows on you. The guitar work is very traditional Sludge/Southern inspired and the atmosphere feels this way, but the vocals gravitate towards another area. There are some very good acoustic melodies thrown into the mix that makes this song even more appealing.

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    Alcest – Les Voyages de l'Âme (2012)

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    Flying high on the success of their classic “Écailles de Lune”, Alcest has managed to tour the world and still found time to record “Les Voyages de l'Âme”. In this new release, the band efficiently re-hashed “Écailles de Lune”, toned down the Black Metal aspect of things, and still delivers 8 brilliantly atmospheric tracks. However, the ‘originality’ or ‘something different’ factor is lacking a bit with this release.

    Opening with “Autre Temps”, Alcest makes it very clear that their sound is untouched and delivers a very ethereal track. The vocal harmonies are as heavenly as possible and they beautifully contrast the powerful guitars. The bass guitar and drums are also very well incorporated and perfectly mixed to be in the background of the atmospheric elements.

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    Psycroptic – The Inherited Repression (2012)

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    In a time when all the Technical Death Metal bands are graded base on how many notes they can whip out in the least amount of time, it is nice to listen to a band that actual focuses on how well the songs listen and structures them around melody and not technical level. Australia’s Psycroptic presents us their fifth full-length release “The Inherited Repression” with a high level of maturity and musicianship.

    Pummeling through nine tracks, “The Inherited Repression” keeps the focus on the melodic aspect of things and the nice technical details are mostly playful elements that increase the band’s appeal. With some hints of the great Death, the band delivers waves of excellently crafted riffs and a less annoying version of Chuck Schuldiner-styled vocals. This is immediately evident with the opener “Carriers of the Plague”, a track where the guitar work is very elaborate but the song is also very catchy and effective. We particularly love the melodic passages that get repeated through the song, and the massive drumming as well.

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    Herem – II (2011)

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    Delivering six crushing Death/Doom Metal tracks, today we have Herem and their very well crafted second full-length release titled “II”. For around 45 minutes the band delivers excruciatingly painful and devastating music unlike any other band these days. Mixing a beefy Death/Doom sound with some Sludge influences and some experimental elements, the band reminded us a bit like Frothy Days Longing, an American band that played a similar style and was also led by a female growler.

    Opening with the hypnotic “Heavens”, the 90’s Death/Doom sound is immediately present and while the growls sound a bit different than you typical ones, Valendis Suomalainen does one hell of a job in sounding very brutal and powerful. The riffing is very powerful and the production perfectly accentuates the distorted guitars. The experimentally ethereal entrance to “Earth” generates a very interesting atmosphere that is nicely ‘culminated’ with powerful riffs and some very deep and disturbing (in a good way) growls.

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    Iron Fire – Voyage of the Damned (2012)

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    Led by the multi-faceted vocals Martin Steene, Iron Fire delivers the latest mash-up album with “Voyage of the Damned”. Featuring a plethora of vocal styles and ridiculous amounts of layering and studio magic, this release actually sounds very dynamic and highly efficient. The band’s Power Metal trademark is clearly evident but it is all the ‘extra stuff’ going on that makes them truly unique and different.

    The real album opener “Enter Oblivion OJ-666” features over the top keyboard arrangements graciously overdone by extremely over the top vocals. Martin goes back and forth between styles never sounding dull, and in a weird way we actually liked it a lot. The somewhat more conventional “Taken” showcases the ‘serious’ side of the band and delivers a very powerful and well crafted track.

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    The 11th Hour – Lacrima Mortis (2012)

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    Seems like the extremely talented Ed Warby still wants to sing and his (again) god-awful vocals adorn this release, but luckily the music is heaps better than on the band’s first release “Burden of Grief”. The mood in “Lacrima Mortis” is a bit darker thanks to the more ‘gothic’ elements introduced in this release as well as the deep growls of Pim Blankenstein Officium Triste. The riffing is also more dynamic and keeps the attention away from the horrible singing.

    With the opening track “We All Die Alone”, The 11th Hour starts with a desolate piano section accompanied by violins that will make you drop anything else you are doing and focus on this release 100%. The riffs are majestic in the sense that they transfer those juicy depressive emotions we love about Doom Metal. Ignoring the crap-tastic clean vocals, this song is very powerful and melodic. The My Dying Bride-esque “Rain on Me” quickly follows and by this time you know that “Lacrima Mortis” will be one hell of an album.

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    The Kandidate – Facing the Imminent Prospect of Death (2012)

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    Opening 2012 for Napalm Records today we have The Kandidate’s sophomore release “Facing the Imminent Prospect of Death”. The band plays and inferior version of label mates Hatesphere’s Groove infused Thrash Metal. While not entirely bad, “Facing the Imminent Prospect of Death” is an album devoid of any originality and it is as vanilla as you can get.

    Featuring the original Hatesphere singer Jacob Bredahl, this release indeed sound a bit like older Hatesphere without the constant improvement they offered through the years. The crunchy opening track “Death” delivers pretty solid riffing and a very catchy nature, but it kind of feels a bit cold for an opening track. The music gets a bit better in the next track, but it never really picks up. We have some nice powerful riffs that circle around the songs a bit too much and never really hooked us into liking the tracks.

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