2012

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    A Forest of Stars – A Shadowplay for Yesterdays (2012)

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    The always riveting A Forest of Stars returns with yet another brilliant album that defies the limits of conventional music and mixes a very diverse spectrum of sounds and genres. In “A Shadowplay for Yesterdays”, the band features ten excellent tracks that will surely expand your horizons with a truly rich musical experience unlike anything you’ve ever heard before.

    Described as a concept album, this new release features the typical mixture of genres by the band, but it also sounds very cohesive and dark. The atmospheric elements are one of the biggest staples of the band and they delivers excellent sections that set the mood just right, like on the opener “Directionless Resurrectionist”. The spoken passages give that deranged vibe that we love about the band’s music. Not breaking character, the tempo of “Prey Tell of the Church Fate” is quite slow and nicely builds up to the faster Black Metal-ish sections. The drums are very good, but the atmospheric elements are the ones that shine the most.

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    Resurgency – False Enlightenment (2012)

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    Formed back in 2009, today we have Resurgency’s debut full-length release titled “False Enlightenment”. Targeted directly to fans of chugging Death Metal, this Greek band delivers 40+ minutes of excellent neck-breaking music that will have you moshing since the first song. Hellthrasher Productions again amazes us with a great ear for bands that play devastating Death Metal but do not fall in the repetitiveness and dullness that plagues other ‘bands’ these days.

    The band quickly gets down to business with the hectic “Craniums of Slain Disciples”. “Ending the Beginning” quickly moves into faster territory with crushing drum patterns, tight riffs, and subhuman growls (just what the doctor ordered). With the perfect tempo, we particularly enjoy “Black Holes of Antiverse”, a very crushing track that feels like a slow punch in the face. For the fans of blast-beats and brutal songs, “Dark Revival” has that aggressive feeling of bands like Broken Hope and Suffocation, thanks to the pulsating bass guitar line and intricate riffing.

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    Khadaver – New World Disorder (2012)

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    Our favorite two-man unit from Slovakia has returned with their first full-length release titled “New World Disorder”. With a richer and far more complicated sound since their demo EP “Beta Version”, the band delivers eleven tracks filled with crazy vocals, programmed ‘drums’ and a few interesting riffs here and there. This album does show the considerable amount of maturity that the band has achieved over the years, but it also lacks the cohesiveness of their demo EP.

    After the instrumental “Europa In Flames” intro, the band immediately sets the mood with some heavy and catchy riffs surrounded by fake drums and a very monotonous approach to things. The fake drums our one of our main pet peeves with short-staffed bands, and Khadaver falls in this category with very dull and linear patterns presented through the release. The track itself presents some cool guitar sections and even nicer electronic parts, but it is very repetitive.

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    Swallow The Sun – Emerald Forest and the Blackbird (2012)

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    Like a fine aging wine, today we have the North American promotional cycle for Swallow The Sun’s latest opus “Emerald Forest and the Blackbird”. And while we already had this release in awesome green vinyl for quite a while (available here) , we are finally writing a review for this masterpiece. With four full-length releases already under their belts, the band does an excellent job in pushing their sound into a more melancholic and even more depressing vibe that is rarely equaled by any other band these days.

    Founder Juha Raivio has managed to keep the band’s sound evolving little by little, and by keeping most of the band together since 2001 (the drummer left in 2009), they have grown very well as a unit and this album demonstrates it clearly. Opening with the very mellow “Emerald Forest and the Blackbird”, the band immediately sets a very somber and dense mood that is the exact trademark of Swallow the Sun. The riffs are very powerful and the tempo changes are perfectly introduced to keep the listener engaged in this nearly ten-minute long opener.

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    Ruin of Remembrance – Second World (2012)

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    In the days when shitty bands want to charge 10 bucks for a horribly recorded and even worse written release on the internet, it is quite refreshing to hear the amazing “Second World”, a free for download release by Ruin of Remembrance. This German band does a killer job in creating ten tracks of super catchy and atmospheric Melodic Death Metal in the same vein as Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum, and older The Elysian Fields.

    Opening with a very atmospheric intro, the magic fully comes out of its shell with the killer “Never Forget”. Dominating riffs and excellent atmospheric elements create a very melodic and dark vibe, and the pummeling ‘drums’ (we have our doubts if they are real or programmed, but we are leaning towards the second more) just craft a brilliant track. The band has no issues in keeping the intensity level very high, and with excellent and somber atmosphere like on “Birth of an Atheist”, sound that reminded us very much of The Elysian Fields and their killer release “We... the Enlightened”.

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    Testament – Dark Roots of Earth (2012)

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    After the half-assed “The Formation of Damnation”, Chuck Billy and company return with what is probably the best Testament album since “The Legacy” (well… maybe “Low” for us). With “Dark Roots of Earth”, the band gets the excellent drummer Gene Hoglan back and together with the mastermind behind the production of some of the best albums in the past few years, Andy Sneap, they deliver nine amazing Thrash Metal anthems with a splash of modern elements, but nothing too flashy or fancy to divert from the main genre.

    Blowing the listener away with the high-octane “Rise Up”, Eric Peterson and Alex Skolnick deliver a powerful riffing onslaught that we haven’t heard in quite a while from Testament. Chuck Billy’s vocals are as always very traditional and James Hetfield sounding. Stepping things up with “Native Blood”, the drumming finally resonates with some excellent sections in the songs chorus part. The weird mood changes in “Dark Roots of Earth” make this song sound like something that Megadeath would have released back in the “Youthanasia” era, but with better guitar solos.

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    Reserve de Marche – The Last Twenty Years (2012)

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    Making its way from Russia (literarily), today we have Reserve de Marche and their excellent combination of Progressive Rock with Post-Rock/Metal elements. With their releases titled “The Last Twenty Years”, the band delivers a very cinematic musical experience that covers many genres and will spawn many different images and landscaped in the listeners head.

    With the opener “Calorie” the mood is set very mellow and ethereal. The band chooses to deliver a calmer Post-Rock/Metal track that features excellent percussions and very well defined guitar lines. The atmosphere is very playful and with some superb progressive elements. “Le Garage” rips through with some crunchy Sludgy guitars, giving the music a completely different look than on the first track. This ‘aggression’ is nicely alternated by some progressive percussions and interesting tempo changes. So far, the band has shown great ability for combining genres, and has kept the momentum going with two very different, but equally exciting tracks.

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    Ectovoid – Fractured in the Timeless Abyss (2012)

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    With a very foul traditional Death Metal vibe, today we have Ectovoid and their debut full-length release “Fractured in the Timeless Abyss”. Reeking of old-school Incantation, Immolation, and similar bands, this three-piece from Alabama manage to bring back that heavy and cavernous feeling of crushing Death Metal to the year 2012 with such grace and brutality.

    Opening with the 1-2 combo of “Transcend Into the Moonless Night” and “Shapeshifting Mass”, the band quickly establishes a somewhat sluggish pace with brutal riffs and a very dense atmosphere. The band’s ability to create very thunderous riffs is just outstanding and will hook any DM fan immediately after two tracks. In a more playful fashion, “Dark Clouds of Consciousness” delivers excellent growls and very intricate drums, with a few devastating speed ups.

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    Septic Christ – Guilty As We Were Born (2012)

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    Keeping the Thrash Metal flame alive, today we have Germany’s Septic Christ and their latest full-length release titled “Guilty As We Were Born”. Released under Malevolence Records, this album features twelve tracks of very well crafted old-school Thrash Metal, that is a bit slower paced than what we are used to listening to, but it has that great old vibe that brings all the nostalgic memories from the genre’s hay day.

    Opening with a very deceiving melodic track that caries the album title, things really get started with  “Starstruck” and it’s intense riffing. There are a few moments in this track that we had some Metallica “And Justice For All” flash backs from a bit, but the music caries on with a more traditional Thrash edge. The band does a good job in crafting catchy melodies, and the drums are very intricate, but we feel that there is some speed missing to make this track (and most of the rest) more intense.

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    Sakatat - Bir Devrin Sonu (2012)

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    Delivering their pummeling ‘full-length’ debut “Bir Devrin Sonu”, today we have one of Turkey’s most brutal bands named Sakatat. Claiming to have political ideas behind their perplexingly brutal music, this band manages to deliver the shortest full-length release ever: eight minutes long.

    Spanning eight tracks, this ultra brutal and ultra fast release has the feeling of something so intense that you won’t even feel it’s too short. With all the lyrics and song names in Turkish, we can’t really appreciate the message behind the music, but we can say that each short tracks is as brutal as they come, reminding us of the old Agathocles, Dahmer and such bands.

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