Album Reviews

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    Beyond the Labyrinth – Chapter III – Stories (2011)

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    Hailing from Belgium, today we have a very solid Heavy Metal band with the name of “Beyond the Labyrinth”. While this band might not be familiar to a lot of people, they have been around the scene since 1996 and you can tell by the quality of music presented in the 12 tracks in “Chapter III – Stories”. Being the band’s third full-length release, “Chapter II – Stories” features tracks that range from power ballads, hard rocking anthems and even some mellow Heavy/Progressive Metal pieces.

    Opening with “The Girl with the X-Ray Eyes”, the band quickly sets the pace for this release by crafting a very catchy and emotional song. This song reminds us of soundtrack songs for 90’s movies. With a bit of a more current sound, “Where Kindred Spirits Meet” has a nice Progressive/Heavy Metal feel to it and the keyboards sound very good in this song. The first power ballad comes under the name of “Oceans Apart”, in this song the guitar work is quite nice and the vocal performance of Jo De Boeck is very emotional. The drumming sounds a bit funky, but the song it-self is very good.

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    Mystons – 3 (2011)

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    Almost one year since the release of the very solid “Alkaem”, Mystons returns with another nine hard-hitting songs that quickly show that their last album’s success was no fluke and they mean serious business. Dropping one band member, Mystons delivers a very powerful album that feels a bit more consolidated than the first one, and is full of catchy riffs and appealing vocals.

    Funneling a White Stripes vibe, the album opens with “Mammoth” and “Mourning Sky”, the second song in particular seems to have a very familiar riff that will surely be quickly identified by the listeners. In this two songs you can hear the traditional Mystons sound, but with a bit more of direction. The album’s catchiness continues and with “CrusHer”, we find a very hard-rocking song that immediately sticks in your head.

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    Chthonic – Takasago Army (2011)

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    The Taiwanese Melodic/Symphonic Black Metaliers of Chthonic have been around for over 15 years and with every new album they have been improving their music by huge leaps. “Takasago Army” marks the band’s latest release and it’s probably their strongest one to date. Having released their last two albums on Spinefarm records, the band has been taking advantage of better production values to deliver their crushing music to the masses.

    While there are heaps of Symphonic Black Metal bands, there are only very few that can rock out the Erhu (traditional two-stringed instrument, similar to a violin) and deliver punishing tunes with it. The similarities to bands like Cradle of Filth (vocals and symphonic elements) are evident, but this extra traditional element adds that extra originality that bands need these days to be distinguished from the rest.

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    Leprous – Bilateral (2011)

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    Having been introduced to Leprous because they are the ‘live band’ of ex-Emperor Ihsahn’s solo project, the band never ceases to amaze me with their very intricate and well crafted release. “Bilateral” marks the band’s latest and third release and it is very impressive, good enough to be the best Progressive Metal album of 2011.

    Featuring ten expertly composed songs, the band draws influences from 70’s prog and delivers a very dynamic and multi-textured album that will impress any prog listener. Particularly the synth and guitars create a very pleasant atmosphere that eases the listener through each track. The soaring vocals of Einar Solberg mixed with the backing ones create a multi-leveled attack that is as effective as any of the big-name bands of the genre.

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    Dystrophic – Dystrophic (2010)

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    Delivering five crushing blows of chaotic Technical Death Metal with Grindcore elements, today we have Dystrophic and their self-titled debut EP. For a new band, the members behind Dystrophic are pretty good at the trade and create very brutal and technical songs that will make your speakers bleed.

    Starting with the traditional intro crap, the band fully explodes to full pace with “Total Existence Failure”. The drumming is very well crafted and keeps the pace of this song super hectic and brutal. The guitar riffing is pretty decent and some parts are blazing fast making it very interesting to listen. On “Withering at the Roots” the band kicks-off with a more traditional DM approach and suddenly the pace gets insane.

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    Ogen – Black Metal Unbound (2011)

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    As we are going through our never ending queue of albums to review, today we have Ogen’s debut EP titled “Black Metal Unbound”. Without needing a very high IQ we can figure out that the Italian duo of Ogen play Black Metal. Coming seemingly out of nowhere, this two-man band delivers one of the best Black Metal releases we have heard in this 2011. Featuring intricate riffs and powerful melodies, the band does not fuck around when it comes to creating punishing BM compositions.

    “Shattered Earth Volcano” opens this album with dominating riffs and very nicely paced drumming. This song marks the beginning of a set of five tracks that encompass many styles of Black Metal all in a well executed package. Since this song we can hear the Satyricon, Old Mans Child’s, and Emperor influences all around the music, but never sounding like a rip-off.

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    Myrath – Tales of Sands (2011)

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    When we add albums to our review queue we usually add a few and spin them one after the other, in the case of Myrath’s “Tales of Sands”, we haven’t been able to stop listening consecutively to this excellent release. Featuring 11 tracks (45 minutes) of excellent Progressive Metal with oriental/middle-eastern influences unlike you ever heard before (maybe a bit like the newer Orphaned Land stuff but way better), this album will surely blow you away.

    In our endless search for unique sounding music, Myrath has instantly written their name in our very selective list. The band manages not only to produce a good Progressive Metal album, but also to fuse their own oriental influences very nicely into the overall scheme of things and create a very fresh and dynamic sound. Being a combination of their two previous releases, which we immediately went and found to make a more informed review, “Tales of Sands” shows great maturity in the band’s songwriting skills.

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    Edguy – Age of the Joker (2011)

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    After Edguy getting split-decisions (very good/very bad) in the band’s last few full-length releases, today we have “Age of the Joker”, another release that will surely polarize fans even more. It is hard to imagine that people are still expecting the older Power Metal approach to things that Edguy had in their first few albums, particularly after the last 2 releases have been heading in the same direction: 80’s styled Metal. So haters will be haters and trash this release, but if you actually give it a chance, you will find some pretty good tunes and an overall very solid release.

    The hard-rocking “Robin Hood” delivers a powerful introduction to this release. With its new psychedelic elements, this track is pretty much a continuation of where the band left off on “Tinnitus Sanctus” and incorporates the recent Avantasia sounds as well. As you can expect we have very epic chorus sections and Tobias Sammet’s amazing voice paired with very well crafted music. The buildup section around the fourth minute mark is excellent and allows the song to nicely grow.

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    Mr. Death – Descending Through Ashes (2011)

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    One year after the release of their highly entertaining EP “Death Suits You”, old-school Death Metal is back with another Mr. Death release. With a very traditional Swedish old-school DM sound, this group of Swedes deliver 10 songs of nostalgic sounding music that should appeal to all fans of older Entombed, Grave, Dismember, and similar bands.

    With a dirty and gritty sound, Mr. Death rolls through the songs in this release featuring a hefty amount of catchy riffs and headbanging moments. Since the opener “To Armageddon”, we can hear the raw distorted guitars nicely fit with the organic-sounding drumming. Most songs of this release are pretty straightforward and effortlessly re-capture the guitar/vocal sound of old-school bands with a twist of modern production values.

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    Svarttjern - Towards the Ultimate (2011)

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    Hailing from Norway, today we have Svarttjern and their crushing second full-length release “Towards the Ultimate”. With nine tracks of hectic Black Metal with some Death Metal influences, Svarttjern delivers very powerful blows in each song and has no problems mixing melody into their aural assaults.

    Featuring HansFyrste of Raganarok fame on vocals, Svarttjern will take you for a journey into the bowels of hell with very well crafted songs that do not get too repetitive as the album progresses. In the opener “Breathing Soil”, the band does not waste any time and delivers powerful guitar riffs, hyper-fast drums and hellish vocals. This song reminds us of the good years of Satyricon, and it will leave a great impression on you too.

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