Album Reviews

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    Cyahares – Whores of Babylon (2014)

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    Perfectly blending Middle Eastern influences into crushing Death Metal, today we have Cyahares and ‘their’ full-length release “Whores of Babylon”. This one-man battalion delivers blistering riffs and furious drumming thought eight brilliant tracks. If you like extreme brutality, melodic/folky parts and a great production, this is one album that you don’t want to miss.

    Fully exploding in the listener’s face since the opener “Thy Winds in Coordinations of My Sand Status”, Cyahares delivers waves of crushing riffs, hyper fast drums and relentless growls. The overall combination of brutal elements is pretty awesome and commands instant attention. In a similar fashion than Nile, tracks like “Temples of Fire” and “Shahnameh” perfectly blend the Middle Eastern influences into the mix, allowing the music to be both dominant and crafty.

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    Event Relentless – Cold Black November (2015)

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    Hailing from Pori, Finland, today we have a very exciting young Melodic Death Metal band named Event Relentless. On the debut EP “Cold Black November”, we are taken back to the early days of Children of Bodom with five tracks filled with no bullshit Melodic Death Metal and killer atmospheric keyboards/synth.

    Leading with the acrobatic “Duality”, the band instantly establishes a very melodic and engaging vibe. The riffs are pretty good and the and the overall combination of fast guitars and enveloping keyboards makes it very engaging and enjoyable, very similar to CoB’s earlier days. Delivering another high-octane thrill ride, we have “Beyond the Speed of Light” and its headbanging melodic passages. This track reminds us a bit more of Kalmah and their ‘slower’ paced style of melodic Death Metal.

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    Wakener – Wakener (2015)

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    Receiving music from new and promising relatively unknown bands is one of the best perks of writing for Infernal Masquerade. Today we have one of the good ones with Wakener and their self-titled debut EP. Featuring four songs and around 18 minutes of music, this release showcases a band that perfectly executes Melodic Death Metal and traditional Death Metal in a very old-school way, this allows them to stand out from the hundreds of over-the-top MeloDeath outfits that have plagued the scene in the last few years.

    Opening with the superbly catchy “Life of Fear”, we have a grainy production that perfectly captures the melodic riffs and the rough harsh vocals. The band focuses exclusively in crafting melodic passages that are perfect for headbanging, similar to what The Elysian Fields did many years ago. Continuing with the equally impressive “The Plague”, the band does a great job in crafting nifty melodies alongside tight drumming and the perfect tempo for this kind of music.

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    Deep River Acolytes – From the Voids of Chaos (2015)

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    Arriving from Finland, today we have Deep River Acolytes and their superb debut EP titled “From the Voids of Chaos”. Featuring three songs clocking in at around 20 minutes, this release showcases the skills of a promising young band. Highly recommended for people that like Sludgy Doom/Heavy Metal releases, this album will get you going on a dark and cloudy day thanks to its upbeat and playful nature.

    Opening with the incisive riffs of “Misleaders”, the catchy twangy vibe is quickly evident, even before the vocals come into play. Having established a certain vibe, the band never lets go and continues to deliver catchy sections and very well crafted tempo changes that keep things fresh and enjoyable. We particularly enjoy the psychedelic rock keyboards that are used, giving the band one extra dimension.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Monolithe – Epsilon Aurigae (2015)

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    Hailing from France, today we have Doomsters Monolithe and their fifth full-length release “Epsilon Aurigae”. Delivering over 45 minutes of atmospheric Doom Metal spread over three tracks, the band crafts a very interesting atmosphere that while being Doomy, it feels a bit different than normal. Changing a few things up allows the band to craft a unique sounding release that will surely catch the attention of fans of the genre.

    Opening with “Synoecist”, the band delivers a very straightforward and powerful 15 minute song. The riffing is quite typical and engaging while pairing perfectly with the vocals and overall atmosphere. While this track is very traditional, the tempo of it seems a bit different than what you would expect, being not as slow as other Doom bands. The second song “TMA-0” instantly brings down the mood with a gloomy combination of eerie keyboards and very sludgy riffs. The distortion seems to be a bit less oppressive than in typical Doom releases, making the music come out less dark and more upbeat (but not too much).

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Kvltist – Catechesis (2015)

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    Hailing from Germany today we have two-man battalion Kvltist and their demolishing release “Catechesis”. Serving the dark lord, this band sets forth with seven tracks of soul crushing Black Metal. With tons of solid Black Metal releases in 2015, this outfit manages to standout with powerful songs filled with atmospheric decadence, making it a very solid effort.

    Opening with the blistering “The Devil’s Catechumen”, the high-octane drumming and demoralizing riffing instantly pummels through your ear drums. This band reminds us of a mixture of Inquisition, Gorgoroth and some Nightbringer, thanks to demoralizing tracks like “Devotion”, “Darkest Light from Glaring Shadows” and the melodically sinister “Eucharisty of Death Divine”. The band does a great job in creating a very dark mood thanks to countless crafty riffs and exceptional tempo changes.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Forte Ruin – Forte Ruin (2015)

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    Always excited to receive promo materials from new and upcoming bands, today we find ourselves quite entertained with Forte Ruin’s self-titled EP. Mixing Melodic Death Metal elements with some Power Metal influences, this release sounds like Children of Bodom, Tracedawn and Shade Empire had a genetically engineered baby.

    Opening with the lively Children of Bodom-esque “Alienated Humanity”, the band instantly makes an impression with well-crafted guitars and playful keyboards. The harsh vocals are very typical for the genre, but the clean vocals nicely catch the listener off-guard and have a certain Proggy vibe to them. After setting the bar high with the opener, the band continues with lush keyboards and excellent tight drumming in “45 Days”. Being quite catchy and melodic, this reminded us a bit more of Tracedawn and Kalmah, brilliantly smashed together.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Jess and the Ancient Ones - Second Psychedelic Coming: The Aquarius Tapes (2015)

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    As one of the most anticipated releases of 2015, Jess and the Ancient Ones return with their sophomore release “Second Psychedelic Coming: The Aquarius Tapes”. Moving away from their Doom influences and fully embracing the psychedelic/progressive side of their sound, the band delivers nine enigmatic tracks that will intoxicate all fans of the band and the genre. Greatly improving over their first effort, this is one release that nobody will want to miss.

    Opening with the creepy playfulness of “Samhain”, the band set a very enigmatic mood with funky samples and a truly psychedelic vibe. There are some parallels to bands like Purson, but with the signature JATO style. Jess’s mesmerizing vocals do a great job in setting a very mellow and dark mood on tracks like trippy “The Flying Man” and super catchy psychedelic anthem “In Levitating Secret Dreams”. The band truly travels in time with a very organic and natural sounding recording, allowing all the sounds captured to be truly authentic sounding.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Tine - The Forest Dreams of Black (2015)

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    Hailing from the USA, today we have the very unique and promising debut release from Tine. Titled “The Forest Dreams of Black”, this debut album delivers over nine tracks of a very solid blend of Symphonic Black/Death Metal. As a two-person outfit, this band mixes elements from old-school greats like Bal-Sagoth, Limbonic Art and Canada’s Necronomicon. As a very atypical North American release, this album is definitely worth your time.

    Opening with the pyscho sexy riffs of “Enter the Black Forest”, the band sets a very intoxicating mood. With Count Murmur handling all the guitars, bass guitar, vocals, and programmed drums, the band still manages to sound like a real band and not some dude in his parents basement. In “Horrors at Antioch”, the solid integration of the musical base-layer and Vanth’s keyboards creates a very eerie atmosphere and reminds us of Limbonic Art and some of the early days of Charmand Grimloch’s Tartaros.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Leave Scars – Chain of Redemption (2015)

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    Hailing from Belgium, today we have Leave Scars and their sophomore release “Chain of Redemption”. As with many Thrash Metal bands, this outfit has only released two albums in the decade the band has been together, and luckily for us, the eleven tracks presented here are quite polished and well crafted.

    Opening with the in-your-face riffage of “P.B.D”, the band sets quite a solid bar with a very melodic and fast-paced song. Evoking old-school Destruction and Exodus, the band plows through killer tracks like “Final Chance”, “The Faceless” and the anthem “Chains”. This last track suddenly busts out a melodic passage that completely elevates it to a whole other dimension. The vocals in this release are quite diverse as the swing between old-school Dave Mustaine (minus the whiny parts) to more mainstream Modern Metal and swing back into typical Thrash-styled screams.

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