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    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Siculicidium - Utolsó Vágta az Univerzumban (2009)

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    Finding its way to our mailing address, today we have Siculicidium and their first full-length release of crushing Black Metal. “Utolsó Vágta az Univerzumban” or “Last Gallop in the Universe” contains 6 tracks of dense apocalyptic Black Metal in the vein of bands like Inquisition and such. For 39 minutes we are taken into the dark deep corners of the bands very destructive sound.

    Before you move on to the next review thinking that Siculicidium is just another Black Metal band, you better stick around since this release features a very effective aural attack that combines both rawness and melody in a brilliant manner to produce a very old-school sounding album.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Tribute to H.P. Lovecraft - Gate 1: Yogsothery - Chaosmogonic Rituals of Fear (2010)

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    As one of the most dense and intriguing releases we have received in the last few months, today we have a tribute album to H.P. Lovecraft titled “Gate 1: Yogsothery - Chaosmogonic Rituals of Fear”. In this release we have over 77 minutes of music divided into 4 crushing tracks performed by Jaaportit (Finland), Umbra Nihil (Finland), Aarni (Finland) and Caput LVIIIm (Italy).

    With a very tense atmosphere that is composed by the Experimental Doom, Ambient, Drone and overall progressive thinking, this release takes the listener into a very trippy voyage through Lovecrat’s inspired atmospheric pieces that will haunt your dreams. With such a rich backdrop of works to focus their tracks on, the four bands that participate in this release do an excellent job in creating truly disturbing and dissonant tracks that nicely represent the Lovecraftian feeling.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Mystons – Alkaem (2010)

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    Hailing from Finland, we recently got in our PO BOX a very different and unique sounding release from a band named Myston. “Alkaem” marks the band’s second full-length release and with the wide palette of styles, Myston seems to be ready to take over the world and fans of Metal, Indie Rock, Alternative Metal, Grunge and everything in between.

    The first thing you will notice about “Alkaem” is that Mystos has a very enigmatic sounding front man with M Myston handling the vocals and guitars. His vocals will immediately make you identify this band in a second, and when paired with the very diverse and interesting sound of the band, we think the band has a winning lottery ticket in their hands.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Kenny Stewart – The Brains behind the Scam (2010)

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    With a very distracting cover, today we have Dirty Tricks lead singer Kenny Stewart’s debut solo album “The Brains behind the Scam”. Featuring 16 hard rocking tracks, Kenny Stewart takes us for a roller coaster journey with soaring guitars, and his very characteristic vocal style.

    Having self-produced the album, Kenny handles all the guitar and programming duties. And immediately you can notice that the use of ‘fake drums’ is very evident and takes some merit out of this release but can easily be compensated by the solid guitar work and singing prowess of Kenny. All tracks have a nice guitar driven structure that allows the vocals to shine and achieve the desired effect.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Manias/Sale Sangre – Blood Covered (2010)

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    As one of the most brutal albums we have received in quite a while, today we have Manias (a.k.a Sale Sangre) third full-length “Blood Covered”. Hailing from Albuquerque, the place of birth of Infernal Masquerade Webzine, this band plays conventional Death Metal / Grind with a vengeance and an eye for blood and guts, as well can see from the artwork of the CD.

    Filled with the traditional witty movie samples, “Blood Covered” features 19 tracks of pure brutality. Let it be clear that Manias it’s not all about barking at the microphone and pounding randomly at their instruments, they can actually craft pretty catchy and crushing songs that will surely be a delight for fans of both Death Metal and Grindcore.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Feu Gregeois - Mortis Regnum – 2nd Circle (2010)

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    All the way from France, today we have Feu Gregeois debut album “Mortis Regnum – 2nd Circle”. Featuring an interesting combination of lush keyboard arrangements and traditional Death/Black Metal elements, this release marks for a very unpredictable and interesting approach to the genres.

    With five instrumental pieces in this 38 minute release we are treated to a mix bag of emotions, but left very pleased with the final result. Some people might say that some of this songs are nothing but filler pieces, but they somehow manage to nicely separate the album’s ‘brutal’ tracks and keep things in perspective allowing “Mortis Regnum” to flow in a very unconventional manner.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Calm Hatchery - Sacrilege of Humanity (2010)

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    Today we find making its way up our ridiculously long review queue Calm Hatchery’s second full-length album “Sacrilege of Humanity”. While we expected a very typical and maybe even good Death Metal album, we found more that we bargained for and we completely loved this both crushing and melodic release from these Polish metalheads.

    “Sacrilege of Humanity” starts of very ‘traditionally’ with the typical catchy riffs, chugging melodies, massive drumming and growls. It’s not until the middle of the song “We are the Universe” where you start noticing an unusual amount of ‘melody’ in this song. In “Mirror Giants” the band exploits some more melodic and technical sounds half-way through the song making this piece one of the most interesting of the release, and leaving us with an even more puzzled look on our faces that comes back again with the song “Them”.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Instanzia – Ghosts (2010)

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    Also from Metalodic records, today we have Instanzia and their highly impressive debut album “Ghosts”. The band crafts their sound with very solid guitar riffing, majestic orchestrations and superb vocal arrangements that make most bands debut albums pale in comparison to “Ghosts”. However, a small warning comes with such an ambitious production: will the band be able to ever play it live with the same quality?

    Since the very enthusiastic intro “Omen”, the band quickly builds up momentum in the same vein as Edguy, Avantasia, Pagan’s Mind, etc. With “Ghosts of the Past”, the band will immediately grab your attention with their fast-paced riffing, tight drumming and very impressive vocal arrangements. The band used three different singers to create a very powerful choir that greatly improves the band’s chorus sections giving them a very massive and majestic sound, but makes us weary on how this band will sound in reality when they don’t have all this studio magic behind them.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Icewind - Again Came the Storm (2010)

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    All the way from our neighbors up north (Canada), this weekend we got a very good promo pack containing Icewind’s latest release “Again Came the Storm”. Playing an excellent Power Metal with Symphonic elements, the band’s second full-length release will surely blow everybody away.

    After reviewing all the great Power Metal albums of 2010, we are still very impressed by the quality of “Again Came the Storm” and it’s over 50 minutes of brilliantly crafted songs that will please even the most demanding fans of the genre. As we all know, this genre is very crowded with bands, but it’s quality bands like Icewind that make it prosper and continue to be one of the most impressive genres of metal.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Pandemonium – Hellspawn (2007)

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    With a killer presentation, a few weeks ago we received Pandemonium’s promo package that included their 2007 release “Hellspawn”. In a time when promo presentation does not matter for younger bands, it’s nice to see that Pandemonium’s new label Godz Ov War Productions cares enough to get their bands noticed and remembered by reviewers getting shit tons of albums every week.

    Anyways, going back to the actual thing that matters: the music, “Hellspawn” treats us with 30+ minutes of crushing Black/Death Metal that is very high in intensity and effectiveness, even though it was released ‘back in’ 2007, this album still sound very easily comparable to anything we get in the mail these days. The band’s sound very well polished and all 10 tracks are very solid.

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