Nuclear Blast

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    Kataklysm – Heaven’s Venom (2010)

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    After listening to the band’s EP “The Mystical Gate of Reincarnation” we were highly impressed by the sheer brutality that oozed from that release. Fast-forward almost two decades, several band member changes and a handful of uninspired releases (mostly everything they did in the 00 decade) and now we get “Heaven’s Venom”, a very inspired release that immediately turned our heads and made us focus 100% on listening to this solid release.

    While the band is not as ‘brutal’ as on their earlier days, they have matured enough to be able to pull of Melodic songs with brutal blastbeats and not even break a sweat. During the ten tracks presented in this release, the listener is treated to a rollercoaster ride through melody and brutality unlike another found in an ‘older’ Death Metal band this year.

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    Malevolent Creation – Invidious Dominion (2010)

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    Legendary American Death Metal band Malevolent Creation is finally back with another hard-hitting face-pounding release that will blow you away. “Invidious Dominion” is yet another powerful release in the band’s 23+ years in the business, marking the return of Jason Blachowicz to the band (for the 2nd time).

    If you are a Death Metal fans and have never heard of this band before, you are either 18 years old, or a complete poser and you need to stop reading… maybe not, but there is plenty of research you need to do in order to call yourself a Metal head. Anyways, the band feels completely rejuvenated and they totally kill on this release. Each of the 11 tracks are fast paced and as brutal as ever.

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    Blind Guardian – At the Edge of Time (2010)

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    For the some fans of the band “A Twist in the Myth” was a somewhat mediocre release, but with “At the Edge of Time” they return as powerful as ever. With a very epic release, Blind Guardian shows no signs of succumbing to mediocrity and will blow you away with around 60 minutes of pure unadulterated Power Metal with some Symphonic and Progressive elements.

    As you can expect, the songwriting on “At the Edge of Time” is both inspired and magical. With only a few sub par sections, all 10 songs in the regular edition of the CD are pure Blind Guardian magic. Being a bit more epic than on their last release, we finally get powerful songs that will have you chanting as you prepare to march into battle.

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    Decrepit Birth – Polarity (2010)

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    When people usually tell me that X band sounds like Death, I usually chuckle and leave before I call that person ignorant and have a heated debate on how that band NOT even closely sounds like Death. Today somebody told me that Decrepit Birth sounded a bit like Death (musically), so I again chuckled and proceeded to end the conversation, however I had “Polarity” on my review queue so I decided to entertain this thought for a bit and have an open mind about this American band.

    To my amazement, “It sounds like Death (the band)” is the best statement to describe Decrepit Birth and their monumental third full-length album “Polarity”. Featuring 11 songs of pure Death metal wizardry, I haven’t heard something as brilliant as this album in quite a while and haven’t enjoyed a (Technical/Progressive) Death Metal since the last Death albums. And since I was not a huge fan of Chuck Schuldiner’s terrible vocals, Decrepit Birth greatly improves over Death in this department.

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    ReVamp – ReVamp (2010)

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    Floor is back!!, and she is back with a vengeance. Two years have passed since After Forever went caput, and ever since the announcement of ReVamp was made, people were expecting nothing less than a great release from Floor. ReVamp’s self-title debut is nothing short of what ever people expected from this all-star project.

    With Floor on the driver seat she recruited guitar wizard Waldemar Sorychta and keyboard maestro Joost van den Broek. Composing the 14 songs presented on this album with these two musicians (and Koen Herfst on drums), she has gone back to the times when WE used to like After Forever. With a more Gothic Metal oriented sound and not focusing on her experimentation with a more ‘Heavy Metal’ style of singing she used in the last few AF albums.

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    Sabaton – Coat of Arms (2010)

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    With all the Power Metal bands these days trying to sound extremely technical, overly symphonic, or like space cowboys, Sabaton does their thing in a more traditional fashion. The band’s sound is bombastic but not overdone; the band saves up their musical prowess to focus on catchy rhythms and cohesive song structures.

    The band’s main characteristics are Joakim Broden’s deep and powerful vocals that can easily compete with Morgan Freeman’s ability to narrate the shit out of anything he is given. We also have the brilliant bass guitar line crafted by Par Sundstrom, a very particular sound (at least for us) for a Power Metal release. Both of this things will undoubtedly make any band that posses them a far superior band than the norm.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Soilwork – The Panic Broadcast (2010)

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    Ever since “Natural Born Chaos”, the real Soilwork died for us. However, the band has been constantly improving in terms of their ‘new’ Metalcore/Modern Metal/Rock sound. And with the return of Peter Wichers to the band in 2008, they are closer to being very good again. With “The Panic Broadcast” the band combines all the previously mentioned genres in a very interesting way not sounding extremely Metalcore-ish, not sounding too much like a rock band either.

    We are sure that Soilwork will gain a considerable amount of followers in the USA and markets where Metalcore is highly accepted with “The Panic Broadcast”. The band’s latest release is very well designed to fit into so many categories, that most people will end up liking this release (except for old Soilwork fans). Using a wide variety of vocals, Björn Strid does the Modern Metal screams very well and the clean Metalcore-ish sections even better.

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    Rhapsody of Fire – The Frozen Tears of Angels (2010)

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    Four years have passed since the band’s last release “Triumph or Agony”, and now they are band with a vengeance. “The Frozen Tears of Angels” is one of the band’s best albums in their whole trajectory. With the same line-up since 2002, Rhapsody of Fire has recorded what is set to be the Power Metal album of 2010. Move over Avantasia, Rhapsody is back to take the 2010 title of best Power Metal album.

    Featuring their extremely symphonic sound, the band takes us inside their fantasy world with over 50 minutes of impressive musical compositions. The band’s sound is more bombastic than ever, and with their impressive array of vocal arrangements, brilliant keyboard sections, and guitar acrobatics, the band will surely please all of their fans and followers of the genre.

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    Tarot – Gravity Of Light (2010)

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    The charismatic Marco Hietala brings us the ninth full-length release of his first band: Tarot. While this band is widely recognized in Finland and Europe, the band has been relatively unknown in the USA. With Marco’s popularity increase since he joined Nightwish in 2001, and his work with Northen Kings, Tarot is finally getting the worldwide spotlight they deserve.

    Playing Heavy Metal, Tarot is a band that has always released good albums over the years. “Gravity Of Light” is another one of their solid releases and if you like Marco’s voice, you need no other reason to get this release (even though he does not sign as much as we wish). The band’s music has always been ‘standard’ and we might even argue that feels a bit tired after nine releases that sound very much alike.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Pain – Cynic Paradise (2010)

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    We really do not understand the point of re-releasing for the USA an album that has been out for almost a year in Europe, but hey, it’s Pain and Cynic Paradise is indeed a very solid album that we loved since it came out (in Europe!). With their intoxicating Industrial Metal, Pain is the brain child of Peter Tägtgren and is considerably different from any of his other projects.

    “Cynic Paradise” has taken even more electronic/techno influences than before and it’s pushing the boundaries of Industrial Metal quite far with its pop-ish influences in songs like “Follow Me”, which by the way has vocals provided by Anette Olzon from Nightwish. As a very versatile musician, Peter Tägtgren shows that he can do very bombastic music that will please people that are usually repulsed by his other projects (people that do not listen to metal).

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