August 2010

  • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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Shadowgarden – Ashen (2010)

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Featuring Draconian members Johan Ericson and Andy Hindenäs (Ex-Draconian), Shadowgarden is another Gothic Rock/Metal band to appear on the scene courtesy of Napalm Records. While having heavy competition on their label with Lacrimas Profundere, Shadowgarden’s Gothic Rock/Metal is good enough to make them a name for themselves and become one of the top bands in the scene.

As we could expect, Shadowgarden’s biggest appeal is the solid guitar work. The ten songs in this album feature a plethora of powerful guitar riffs and melodies, something that Johan is an expert in creating, both with Draconian and Doom:VS. “Ashen” quickly made us remember the sound of bands like To/Die/For, Charon, Entwine, etc, where the melancholy behind the music is ever present thanks to the excellent guitar work.

  • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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Blind Guardian – At the Edge of Time (2010)

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For the some fans of the band “A Twist in the Myth” was a somewhat mediocre release, but with “At the Edge of Time” they return as powerful as ever. With a very epic release, Blind Guardian shows no signs of succumbing to mediocrity and will blow you away with around 60 minutes of pure unadulterated Power Metal with some Symphonic and Progressive elements.

As you can expect, the songwriting on “At the Edge of Time” is both inspired and magical. With only a few sub par sections, all 10 songs in the regular edition of the CD are pure Blind Guardian magic. Being a bit more epic than on their last release, we finally get powerful songs that will have you chanting as you prepare to march into battle.

  • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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Malevolent Creation – Invidious Dominion (2010)

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Legendary American Death Metal band Malevolent Creation is finally back with another hard-hitting face-pounding release that will blow you away. “Invidious Dominion” is yet another powerful release in the band’s 23+ years in the business, marking the return of Jason Blachowicz to the band (for the 2nd time).

If you are a Death Metal fans and have never heard of this band before, you are either 18 years old, or a complete poser and you need to stop reading… maybe not, but there is plenty of research you need to do in order to call yourself a Metal head. Anyways, the band feels completely rejuvenated and they totally kill on this release. Each of the 11 tracks are fast paced and as brutal as ever.

  • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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Kataklysm – Heaven’s Venom (2010)

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After listening to the band’s EP “The Mystical Gate of Reincarnation” we were highly impressed by the sheer brutality that oozed from that release. Fast-forward almost two decades, several band member changes and a handful of uninspired releases (mostly everything they did in the 00 decade) and now we get “Heaven’s Venom”, a very inspired release that immediately turned our heads and made us focus 100% on listening to this solid release.

While the band is not as ‘brutal’ as on their earlier days, they have matured enough to be able to pull of Melodic songs with brutal blastbeats and not even break a sweat. During the ten tracks presented in this release, the listener is treated to a rollercoaster ride through melody and brutality unlike another found in an ‘older’ Death Metal band this year.

  • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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Meltgsnow - Black Penance (2010)

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Seven years have passed since their debut “Black Penance” and Meltgsnow is finally back with their album “Black Penance”, a very diverse, interesting but dated sounding release that will surely confuse all the people used to getting their dose of brutality form Pulverised Records. This release, while not in the traditional ‘vein’ of Pulverised bands, is very interesting in terms of older genres of music being merged together in a very unique and different fashion.

Merging Gothic Rock/Metal elements with some NWOBHM, Thrash, and traditional Heavy Metal “Black Penance” is indeed one of the most diverse sound albums we have received this 2010. Having not heard of this band before, we can’t really say how much (or little) they have changed over the years, but we can say for sure that the sound in this release gives us a late 90’s/early 00’s vibe.

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