Album Reviews

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Lost In Alaska – Time of Solution (2012)

    cover

    Making its way from Russia, today we have Lost in Alaska and their head-smashing Deathcore sound. Delivering a three-song EP, this band has a sound similar to The Black Dahlia Murder, Oceano, etc., so you know it is pretty intense and well-crafted. For all fans of endless moshing to Core music, this is one release you don’t want to miss.

    Opening with commanding guitar work, “The Inevitable Changes”, immediately shows the band’s heavy sound. As the sound warms up, the drumming is pretty solid and the vocal layering is quite crushing, allowing them to sound very brutal. The tempo changes are well-placed and help the song not sound extremely repetitive.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Mandibula – Sacrificial Metal of Death (2012)

    cover

    With a crushing and think as fuck sound, today we have one-man army Mandibula and the CD release of their 2010 demo “Sacrificial Metal of Death”. The band plays homage to the greats of the 80’s namely Celtic Frost, Venom, Bathory, etc. with a very retro and dirty sound that will wake the dead from their graves. Featuring nine eardrum crushing tracks, this release is as raw as you can get while still being able to distinguish everything that is going on.

    Opening with an intro similar to Mortician releases, the band sets a very dark and disturbing mood since the get go. Once the riffing comes through, you can hear that this is not your typical ‘pretty Metal’ release since everything is very raw and a bit garbled up, thanks to some cheap (or intentionally cheap) production. The raw vocals remind us of Hellhammer at times, and ultimately add a great deal of authenticity to the bands killer old-school music.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Dream Circus – Land of Make Believe (2012)

    cover

    For fans of commercial alternative rock with some grunge influences, today we have Dream Circus and their debut full-length “Land of Make Believe”. Not being our main cup of tea, this release delivers 10 tracks of catchy music that we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s playing on the radio when we go to a supermarket or something like that. This Portuguese band does a solid job in creating effective guitar-driven tracks, but ultimately fails to grab our attention due to its very traditional nature.

    Rocking hard since the opener “Make Believe”, the band nicely sets a very enjoyable mood with soaring vocals and well-crafted guitars. Not challenging themselves too much, the band goes through tracks like “So Long”, “Crown”, “Going Down”, and “Poison” with a rather simple, but effective, musical structure. James Powell’s vocals are probably the best thing worth noticing since they are very good and similar to what mainstream bands sound like.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Via Sacra – The Road (2012)

    cover

    Arriving all the way from Portugal in a very cool glossy packaging box, today we have Via Sacara’s “The Road”. In this release the band delivers ten tracks of excellently crafted Progressive Rock/Metal with very epic keyboards and anthemic tracks. Since the opening track of the release, the band does a very solid job in crafting catchy Rock melodies that at some points have a slight Heavy Metal vibe.

    With epic chorus lines, songs like “Lost World” have a very powerful sound and nicely bring together all the elements we love about Rock and Metal. The band also has a nice commercial edge to them making their songs very accessible and enjoyable, while still maintaining some heaviness in their sound. One of our favorite track is the constantly changing “Souls of Fire”, in particular the last few minutes when after some epic vocals the music gets a bit Post-Rockish, totally brilliant in our book.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Ragnarok – Malediction (2012)

    cover

    “Holy Shit” are the first words that come to mind after listening to the latest essay in Black Metal brutality from Norway’s Ragnarok. Under the name of “Malediction”, this band unleashes their latest savage release that will blow you away since the opening riffs. Featuring ten tracks of relentless Black Metal, this is by far one of the most brutal releases we have ever heard. With the addition of Bolverk on Guitars, the band is as brutal as it has ever been in this release.

    Opening with the piercing “Blood of Saints”, the band unleashes their riffage attack very early in the album and never lets go. With crystal clear BM riffs and blazing drums they attack the listener in every single waking moment of this release. HansFyrste again does a great job handling the vocal duties and you will be hearing his demonic screams in your nightmares for days to come. Using very traditional BM structures on tracks like “Demon in My View”, the band takes advantage of their polished musical skills and excellent production to bring their destructive sound to life.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    The Furor – Sermon of Slaughter (2012)

    cover

    Making its way from Australia, today we have The Furor’s latest EP titled “Sermon of Slaughter”. Being very truthful to its name, this pummeling release features four high-octane Death/Black Metal tracks that remind us of a cleaner and better produced version of bands like Impiety. Funny enough, the mastermind behind this one-man band is Disaster, Impiety’s drummer since 2011 or so.

    With a very furious start, “Conquest of Carnage” opens the release with gut-wrenching vocals and killer riffs. The band’s intensity is hype-fast, like the energizer bunny on crack. The drumming is quite solid and very diverse, something you usually never expect from one-man bands, luckily Disaster is an actual drummer. The brief moments that keyboards are introduced take this song to a whole new dimension since they greatly enhance it and serve as powerful contrast to the underlying brutality.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Forgotten Tomb - …And Don’t Deliver Us From Evil (2012)

    cover

    After a very interesting “Under Saturn Retrograde”, Forgotten Tomb returns with their very weird mixture of Black Metal, Doom Metal, and Gothic Rock. In “…And Don’t Deliver Us From Evil” they deliver seven very inconsistent songs that the more we listen to it, the less and less we like it. Unlike “Under Saturn Retrograde”, this release just feels dull and aimless until the last two tracks that are quite decent.

    Filled with dull sluggish Black Metal tracks, the first four songs in this release are a total snorefest and it is until “Love Me Like You’d Love The Death” that the band really delivers something listenable. With the extra layer of trippy melodic elements in this track, it really helps the band craft something enjoyable and quite engaging after we were about to give up. The guitar work is also worth mentioning since it is quite good.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Seed of Sadness – Seed of Sadness (2012)

    cover

    Arriving all the way from Greece, today we have Seed of Sadness and their excellent self-released debut EP. In this self-titled release, the band delivers five tracks of super catchy female-fronted Power/Gothic Metal. With a heavy emphasis on catchy keyboards and the commanding vocals of Stellaria, this band has a very enjoyable sound that most fans of the genre will immediately fall in love with.

    With the help of Bob Katsionis (Firewind) on keyboards, this band does a great job in creating lush atmospheres to lay their solid guitar work and epic vocals. Using strong and determined female vocals, Seed of Sadness has a really strong front-woman that delivers powerful performances in each track. Since the opener “Remnant of a Dying Smile”, the band blows things wide open with a highly symphonic and very energetic track that will instantly make you a fan of this band.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Killjoy Corporation – Horsefly (2012)

    cover

    Hailing from Finland, today we have Killjoy Corporation and their latest EP titled “Horsefly”. With a cover that made us think this was a Punk release, the band has a very playful angle about it and some of the other band’s ‘serious elements. One thing for sure, they mean business when it comes to their crushing and very well crafted music. Mixing Melodic Death Metal with some Groove elements, the band sounds very fresh and engaging.

    Blasting things wide open with “Bones”, the band sets a very hectic mood from the start with very powerful drumming and excellent melodic riffing. The vocals are quite ok for the genre, but the music is what makes this song entertaining. Things settle down for a bit with a crazy opening on “Infected Prey” that features the band’s ramblings at the beginning just before exploding into catchy Death Metal riffs and some growls. There are more melodic passages in this track that have some Thrash influences, reminding us of the latest Kreator and its melodic sections.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Stagnant Waters – Stagnant Waters (2012)

    cover

    With another thought provoking and totally weird release, Norway’s Advesum label brings us Stagnant Water’s self-titled debut release. In this album we have a total eight deranged musical Avant-Garde compositions that mix Industrial, Black Metal, Electronic, and Jazz elements in a very unsettling, but yet intoxicating way unlike anything you have heard before. The only band that can somewhat compared to Stagnant Waters might be the excellent Shining from Norway and their furious “Blackjazz” release.

    Opening with the Punk-ish Black Metal “Algae”, one might be steered towards thinking this release will be more like this… but one cannot be more wrong by thinking this way. There are a few furious Industrial and electronic elements in this track that immediately shift the focus of the song to a deeper (and weirder) direction. The band pretty much starts going ape-shit after the first 2 minutes with intricate expressions of weirdness and extreme brutality. “ССАЕР ЦНАПЯЛ ПНОИ ТАТ” brings some Diabolos Rising/Mysticum antics into the mix, but they are immediately outperformed by some weird/creepy clarinet and piano sections.

Pages

Recent Image Galleries