Album Reviews

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    Fallen Tyrant – No World to Win, a Life to Lose (2013)

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    Delivering pummeling waves of punishing Black Metal, today we have Germany’s Fallen Tyrant and their debut full-length “No World to Win, a Life to Lose”. With eight tracks and over 35-minutes of crushing music, this release is one of the most devastating BM albums of the year, paired with Watain’s latest opus.

    The album opens with a very traditional and at moments Black’n’roll-ish “Fallen Tyrant Rising”. This track immediately unleashes the powers of the band and showcases their killer riffing and powerful vocals. Reminding us of newer Gorgoroth and other bands like Lord Belial, the punishment continues with the killer “Exaltation” and “Bortrykkelsen”. The band also has a melodic aspect to their BM and you can how crafty they can get with tracks like “To Finnmarken”.

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    Tarja – Colours in the Dark (2013)

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    Three years after “What Lies Beneath”, iconic singer Tarja finally returns with another bombastic release titled “Colours in the Dark”. Ever since her departure from Nightwish, Tarja has constantly been delivering amazing releases filled with her characteristic vocal style and expertly crafted with world class musicians to produce some of the most exciting and lush Symphonic Rock/Metal releases of the last few years.

    Opening with the engaging “Victim of Ritual”, we get an excellent balance between catchiness, operatic singing, and explosive musical arrangements. Surrounding herself with musicians of the caliber of Mike Terrana and Max Lilja (ex-Apocalytica), Tarja manages to create very elaborate songs that fit her vocal skills perfectly and allows them to shine to the max. This release is filled with very energetic tracks such as the melancholic “Lucid Dreamer” and the engaging “Never Enough”. Other songs take darker and more classical approach like the excellent “Mystique Voyage”.

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    Merkstave – Merkstave (2013)

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    Undeground Funeral Doom legends from the US Northwest finally see the ‘proper’ release of their demo materials with this monumental self-titled LP release. With three songs clocking in at a total of 44 minutes of gut-wrenching Doom, this release has that raw and analog vibe of bands like Thergothon. As the songs were originally released on tape, we are unsure if these versions are newer recordings or just re-mastered originals, but what we are sure is that they are as crushing as you can get.

    Opening with the behemoth “Lament for Lost Gods Pt.1”, the band starts on a very tranquil and slow paced stage. Their sound is very consistent to bands like Shape of Despair and such, but it differs with the usage of mournful clean vocals and some Black Metal-esque screams. “Lament for Lost Gods Pt.2” nicely continues the flow of the release with sparse guitars at the beginning, slowly leading up to some very harsh and brutal sections. The band does a great job in creating very well timed speedups that nicely contrast the passivity of the general flow of things.

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    Scout Paré-Phillips – Fields of Ash (2013)

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    Being very far from your average Infernal Masquerade release, today we have Scout Paré-Phillips and her 7” release “Fields of Ash”. Featuring two haunting tracks, this very short but effective release will grab you attention since the first minute and will never let go. Being a member of The Sterling Sisters, Scout Paré-Phillips manages to craft two very unique songs that cannot be missed by any fan of Neo-folk music with mesmerizing female vocals.

    The opener track is “Fields of Ash”, a nearly three minute tune that starts with beautiful acoustic percussions and ethereal vocals. The simplicity behind this mesmerizing track is perfect for the excellent vocal melodies and basic instrumentation. The second song, “In the End”, takes a more dramatic twist and enables Scout’s vocals to shine through the melancholic acoustic guitars. This track has a considerably darker edge and a very relaxed soothing vibe.

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    Fleshgod Apocalypse – Labyrinth (2013)

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    Bigger, better, quicker, and more grandiose seems to be the objective of Fleshgod Apocalypse and their monumental release “Labyrinth”. Having blown people away with the combination of dramatic orchestrations and extreme technical abilities in “Agony”, the band is ready to deliver an even more impressive and monumental release with this album.

    The album kicks off with dramatic operatic vocal arrangements and over the top orchestrations on “Kingborn”. This single opening makes the last Dimmu Borgir album sound like a bunch of kids playing with Protools. In this track the band also delivers their signature Technical Death Metal with hyper fast riffs and killer drumming. “Minotaur (The Wrath of Poseidon)” eases into the picture with a more standard approach featuring killer growls mixed into the rich sound of the band. Don’t be fooled since there are also plenty of memorable melodic passages mixed in between all the brutal sections and lush arrangements.

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    Deadlock – The Arsonist (2013)

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    The ever evolving Deadlock arrives with their latest offering “The Arsonist”. In this album this German outfit delivers 10 tracks and around 40 minutes of their signature passive-aggressive Melodic Metal filled with the sweet vocals of Sabine Scherer. Adding some Groove elements into their already rich sound, the band sounds as catchy and heavy than ever in this release.

    Opening strong with “The Great Pretender”, we can instantly hear the new Groove influences in the band’s sound. We also get the first glance of the band’s new male vocalist: John Gahlert, their older bass guitarist. Keeping the mixture of harsh screams and female vocals, the band’s vocal approach is quite diverse and entertaining. The band’s catchiness is as always present on the killer “I’m Gone”, featuring one of the best chorus sections of the whole release.

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    Autumnblaze – Every Sun is Fragile (2013)

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    The killer releases of summer of 2013 keep piling up with Autumnblaze delivering the long awaited “Every Sun is Fragile”. With an ever changing musical style, the German outfit delivers a very heartfelt Depressive/Post-Rock album that is filled with amazingly catchy songs and very melancholic atmospheres. Pushing their sound even further than on “Perdition Diaries”, fans of Green Carnation to Gothic Rock outfits will love this release instantly.

    Markus Baltes has really pushed the band’s sound over the years but with the opener “New Ghosts in Town”, the listener will immediately know how far they have gone now. There are almost no harsh vocals, and the music is mostly on the Rock side of things, however, there are still some Metal influences present. This track is quite dramatic and thanks to the imposing clean vocals the overall atmosphere is quite dramatic. As heard on “Invisible Fields”, the band guitars are still quite catchy making the music perfect for some heavy duty headbanging.

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    Winterblood – Herbstsehnsucht (2013)

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    Making its way from Germany, today we have Winterblood and their debut full-length “Herbstsehnsucht”. Mixing Black Metal with some Doom elements, this Post-BM release is one tough cookie to crack. At first some things seem a bit rough, but once you get the whole picture of the album it comes together nicely in a very unconventional way.

    The album starts with the mysterious opener “Nur der Tod hat mir Erlösung gebracht”. In this track the band nicely builds up to some brutal sections with harsh screams. While the music is well-crafted, the drums are programmed and sound a bit fake in some points. We are usually very picky about this, but most of the time you can’t tell them apart. Taking the opposite approach, “Mit jedem Abschied wird Erinnerung geboren” starts very heavy and slowly mellows out as it concludes. The atmospheric sections have some Drone-like elements and really help setting up a dark and cavernous mood.

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    Acacia – Tills döden skiljer oss åt (2013)

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    Just when you think you have almost heard everything under the sun, it comes a truly moving release like Acacia’s debut full-length “Tills döden skiljer oss åt”. Melancholic and depressive are adjectives that barely start to describe the mood and atmosphere of this soul (and spirit) crushing album. Formed originally under the name of Livsnekad, this Swedish outfit manages to deliver 61 minutes of truly moving music that we will do our best to try to do justice while describing.

    The solemn piano opening of “Död mans mask” really builds anticipation and once the clean vocals come on, the mood suddenly gets even darker. As “Förnimmelsens lund af längtan” opens, the riffs remind us a bit of bands like Draconian and Desire with a certain atmospheric touch of My Dying Bride. Being huge fans of Death/Doom Metal, the growls are up to par to any of the heavy hitters of the scene, a very important element to contrast the atmosphere of the music. The Black Metal influences kick in and elevate the music to a whole new level, featuring extremely contrasting brutality with a highly atmospheric content. As the song winds down, we get some nice Post-Rock/Depressive Rock final minutes that serve as a relaxing culmination to this excellent track.

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