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    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Pandemonium - Promo 2010 (2010)

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    As a little taste before the release of their highly anticipated full length “Misanthropy”, Pandemonium has unleashed their 2010 promo with two ‘un-official’ versions of the songs from said album and a few video clips. Packaged in a nice digipack version, this promo will surely generate more expectation after listening how crushing the two ‘advance’ tracks sound.

    “Black Forest” gives us a very dense and atmospheric track that showcases brutal drumming sections tightly coupled with dark and desolate Black/Death riffing. The vocals are truly haunting, maintaining a very deep and decadent sound to this song. The overall atmosphere of the track is very effective and features a very good improvement over anything presented in the band’s last album “Hellspawn”.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Within Temptation – The Unforgiving (2011)

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    After all the selling out the band has done over the years and Sharon doing songs with Armin Van Buuren, I personally wanted to listen to this album to see how the band would keep their Metal fans, but still pushed forward with a more ‘commercially friendly’ sound.

    With the first single, “Faster”, the band was on way to a completely disastrous album in my opinion since this song is another ‘dance’ anthem with catchy electronic elements and chorus sections. The rest of the album however, is a very different story. While there are obviously ‘pop-ish’ elements in this release, there are also many more elements of “Mother Earth” and “The Silent Force”, than in the band’s last shit-sandwich “The Heart of Everything” release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Vreid – V (2011)

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    One of the best parts about writing about music for so many years is to be able to see the progression of musical genres and bands. Because of this, we can safely say that Vreid has set a new bar for creative experimentation with Black Metal. While the band maintains its raw power and aggression, they also focus on the melodic aspect of their music by infusing elements from Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.

    In “V”, the band goes beyond the traditional Black’n’Roll and creates something with so much more depth that will surely puzzle a bunch of people at first. But once you start peeling the layers out of this album, you will unravel a modern wonder in terms of musical creativity.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Empatic – Gods of Thousand Souls (2010)

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    Hailing from Poland, today we have Empatic and their super catchy Thrash infused Death Metal. The band’s debut album shows a promising band with an interesting sound and potential to be even better.

    The album starts with the brutal “Green Mile”, since the first 20 seconds the band let’s you know they mean business. An interesting thing to notice since this song is the band’s Melodic DM/Groove influences that make this release even more interesting to listen to. With “G.O.T.S” the band goes into full Death Metal mode and this song provides us with catchy hooks, powerful drumming and strong vocals.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Nox Illunis – In Sideris Penumbra (2010)

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    With all the shit Black Metal that inundates the Metal scene this days, it is very pleasing to find (well, receive) bands like Nox Illunis and their melodic no-bullshit approach to the genre. This Italian band belts out 7 tracks of Melodic Black Metal that will crush your soul from the first minute of “In Sideris Penumbra”.

    Before you discard them for being melodic and go and listen to your kvlt BM albums, bear with us for a few more paragraphs. The band’s music might be melodic in nature, but the blasts of blistering riffing and monumental drumming is what makes their melodically driven songs very appealing for ALL Black Metal fans.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Tangent Plane – Project Elimi (2011)

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    Hailing from Germany today we have Tangent Plane and their undercooked second full-length release “Project Elimi”. The band plays Progressive Heavy Metal with some nice elements, but with an overall dullness that will put you to sleep after a couple of songs.

    We usually don’t go around trashing bands, but this album feels like it needed more time to fully develop into a better one. The band’s musical abilities are very good, but they lack creativity and emotions behind the 8 songs presented in this release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Fireforce – March On (2011)

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    Keeping the Heavy Metal flame alive, today we have newcomers Fireforce and their debut album “March On”. With the old-school vibe oozing from this album since the first riff, the band will surely take you down memory lane with a very fitting soundtrack.

    For 12 tracks, Fireforce will take you on a cliché ridden Heavy Metal trip that will surely please fans of this genre that never have adjusted to more modern sounding bands. The band does a great job in creating that traditional Heavy Metal vibe, but does nothing to add something of substance to the genre.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Anniversary Circle – Saturated Feathers (2010)

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    Having formed around 20 years ago and never release a debut album is something that can be considered quite a feat and probably should be in Guinness book of World Records. For Anniversary Circle, this fact has only gained them more rep in the underground scene and made “Saturated Feathers” and even more special release.

    With a mixture of influences ranging between Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Cure, Joy Division, Killing Joke and many others, Anniversary Circle sounds a bit dated but this is exactly what makes them very effective an appealing for us.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Augury – Concealed (2011)

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    Today via Sonic Unyon we have the re-release of one of the best Progressive Death Metal releases to ever come from Canada. Augury’s “Concealed” debut album was highly acclaimed by critics and fans alike back in 2004 and with this re-release we get to enjoy this masterpiece with even better sound than before.

    Augury is known for their very impressive Progressive Death Metal sound that easily rivals any big-name European band of the genre. In this re-release we have the original 10 tracks featured on the 2004 edition alongside with 2 tracks from their 2006 demo that landed them a deal with Nuclear Blast Records.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Deep Desolation – Subliminal Visions (2011)

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    All the way from Poland today we have Deep Desolation and their crushing debut full-length release “Subliminal Visions”. Mixing Black, Death and Doom Metal the band manages to pull it off graciously with a monumental sound and very well crafted songs.

    We have to admit that whenever we get something labeled Black/Doom metal, it usually sucks and it’s a pain in the ass to review since we have to listen to the full CD at least 3 times. With “Subliminal Visions” it was very relieving that we actually enjoyed the CD on the first spin and we ended up loving it the next few times. The band’s take on the genre mixing comes from an aggressive perspective rather than drowning the listener with slow Doom riffs and Black Metal snarls that will make you start snoring.

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