2013

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    Forlorn Chambers – Unborn and Hollow (2013)

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    Founded in 2012 and already with a killer demo out in 2013, Forlorn Chambers is one very promising Death Metal band from Finland. Featuring three tracks, this release shows a very mature band with a knack for melodic passages and killer drumming. Having a vibe combining Swedish Death Metal with some more Melodic elements, we are quite shocked about how good this mysterious band in.

    Opening with the crushing “Unborn and Hollow”, this demo starts on a very high note due to the excellent quality of the band’s music. The drumming is superb and the riffing is very well structured, the vocals are a bit odd for the way the music sound but they have that old-school vibe similar acts like Nebiros (Mexico) and such. Thanks to the killer production, this track (and the rest) sound exactly like something that any big-name Scandinavian band would be able to produce.

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    Ov Hollowness – The World End (2013)

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    The Epic Post Black Metal Canadian outfit Ov Hollowness brings today a hefty dosage of piercing riffs and crushing vocals with “The World End”. For the duration of the 10 tracks in this release, this one-man band manages to socially abuse the listener with punishing guitar work surrounded by an excellent atmosphere and very well paced melodic headbanging sections. If you are a fan of guitar driven Black Metal, this is one release you don’t want to miss.

    Immediately blasting away with “Abstractive”, the band immediately reminded us of bands like Agrypnie that push the boundaries of the genre by taking it to different directions. The guitar work is not your typical tremolo-picking abuse festival; it is more centered and melodic allowing the melodies to flow better while maintaining a very brutal and crushing sound. There are also tracks that are quite aggressive for the more purist fans of the genre, and they can be nicely sampled with “Grey”.

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    Russkaja – Energia! (2013)

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    In the same vein of truly unique and completely bizarre bands like Diablo Swing Orchestra and the Leningrad Cowboys, today we have Austria’s Russkaja and their latest release “Energia!”. Featuring 12 tracks of ‘Russian Turbo Polka’ music as the band describes it, any fan of truly experimental and very unique music will be creaming their pants with this bizarre musical output. Combining Polka, Metal, Ska, Rock, Jazz, and Funk, this release is anything but standard and predictable.

    Open the release wide open we have the catchy “Energia!” a track so engaging that we are sure some people will immediately start dancing. The band’s sound resembles some of the Ska we have listened to in the past, but with a higher intensity and heavier guitars. “Barada” sounds like old Russian Rock songs that we had the misfortune of listening to on the net, but the band adds the wind instruments to keep it interesting and very catchy.

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    Përl – R(a)ve (2013)

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    With a very unique and aurally pleasing sound, today we have France’s Përl and their release “R(a)ve”. Distributed through Apathia Records, every time we get a promo pack from them we are always in for a very unique musical experience thanks to their excellent taste in bands and releases. Playing a quite interesting combination of Progressive Rock/Metal elements with unique atmospheric elements and lead by a very strong female vocalist, Përl delivers eight very different and engaging tracks in this release.

    Opening with the very elegant and mysterious “Tidjan”, the band’s unique sound immediately highlights the sultry voice of Aline Boussaroque. The blend of progressive elements with distorted guitars is quite unique and very well-spaced to allow the vocals to truly shine in this song. Playful tracks like “Fusce Deliria” show the band’s abilities to craft intricate melodies with super catchy passages and funky vibes. The lounge-like “Insomnie” is quite a hypnotic track that focuses more on Aline’s vocals and the band’s atmospheric elements, creating a very unique listening experience.

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    Pombagira – Maleficia Lamiah (2013)

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    Delivering a very unconventional musical experience, today we have Pombagira and their fifth full-length release “Maleficia Lamiah”. Playing a very sonically pleasing combination of Stoner/Psychedelic and Doom Metal, this two person outfit delivers 2 tracks and over 41-minutes of brilliantly crafted music that has the vibe of a mystical jam session.

    Opening with the album title track, “Maleficia Lamiah”, we are led into a cavernous path with sludgy riffs and well-crafted percussions. The bands style reminded us a bit of Karma To Burn and similar bands that just keep on going with intricate sections. As the track progresses, the catchy instrumental sections are quite effective and reach a very engaging climax. Before closing this 19-minute behemoth, the band goes back into some sludgy territory coming full circle on this ambitious track.

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    Soilwork – The Living Infinite (2013)

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    Suffering by the exit (for the second time) of their long-time guitarist and main songwriter, Peter Wichers, Soilwork manages to regroup and produce one of the best efforts to dates in the double album “The Living Infinite”. With all the band participating in the songwriting process, their latest release is actually very dynamic and diverse, exploring all facets of Soilwork’ sound from the last years.

    Keeping on their Metalcore / Melodic Metal path, the band immediately opens the first CD of this release with the crushing “Spectrum of Eternity”, a track that perfectly mixes intense passages with melodic sections. Björn Strid’s vocals are once again perfect in blending harsh elements with soaring clean vocals giving the music a versatile sound that many bands fails miserably at.

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    Okular – Sexforce (2013)

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    Coming along with quite a set of positive reviews for their earlier work, today we have Norway’s Okular and their sophomore release “Sexforce”. Playing an interesting mixture of Progressive Death Metal with some Melodic DM elements, this band is full of creative and unique ideas, too bad they can’t seem to really work them together in a cohesive manner. Besides the obvious musical quality, this release features guest appearances by Athera (Susperia) on seven tracks and Vintersorg on one song.

    After many listening to this promo countless times, we are torn about not really being able to like it as a whole. The album is quite complex and has plenty of layers to it, but they mostly feel like several things going in different directions and never really coming together properly. On the one hand, we have killer guitar work on songs like “Not Separate” and “Sexforce”, but some of the tempo changes are confusing and the vocals go in different directions.

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    Illnath – 4 Shades of Me (2013)

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    After their surprising transformation on “Third Act in the Theatre of Madness”, Illnath returns with a very solid release rooted on a bigger Melodic Death Metal foundation. “4 Shades of Me” features 11 tracks of superbly catchy Melodic Death Metal that shows the band nicely settling into their new career path.

    Immediately after the so-so opener “Blood Warrior”, “Gallow Hill” shows the first signs of brilliance in this release with super catchy riffing and a crushing sense of melody and aggression. The band’s growler Mona Beck does a fine job in delivering harsh vocals that if you didn’t read it was a female singer, it would be hard to figure out.

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    GloryHammer – Tales from the Kingdom of Fife (2013)

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    Lead by the whacky Christopher Bowes, GloryHammer arrives to us with an impressive dose of killer fantasy-inspired Power Metal. Showcasing his awesome songwriting skills and knack for epic orchestrations, Mr. Bowes does a great job in this new band bringing to life his alternative concept of Scotland’s medieval history. For over ten tracks the band crafts epic battle hymns and highly effective songs that will have any fan of the genre throwing away all their Blind Guardian, Rhapsody, etc. merch and CD’s to get some new GloryHammer stuff.

    After an epic intro track, “The Unicorn Invasion of Dundee” marches forward with a superbly epic chorus section and a furious pace. While the song title and probably the lyrics are as absurd as anything that Alestrom has ever recorded, the band produces killer music that sounds as good as any veteran fantasy Power Metal band. The vocal arrangements are superb and give that epic vibe that we crave in these kinds of albums.

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    Visions of Atlantis – Ethera (2013)

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    After blowing us away with “Delta”, we had high expectations for “Ethera” and the band seemed to drop the ball on a few tracks in this release making it less impressive. However, not all is lost and Visions of Atlantis manages to deliver some good and bombastic songs that make up for the ground lost by some of the inferior tracks.

    With “Delta” achieving an awesome level of explosiveness and bombastic elements, the band tries to start “Ethera” with a similar approach but introducing some futuristic keyboard sounds that don’t really work with the rest of the elements in this release. “The Ark” is a clear example of this, making it sound very disconnected. On “Machinage” near the end there are some truly horrible spoken sections accompanied by some robotic auto-tune like effects that just made us want to pierce our eardrums.

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