Album Reviews

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Kolp – The Outside (2012)

    cover

    Providing a hefty dose of Black Metal structures with some punishing Doom/Sludge riffs, today we have Hungary’s Kolp and their sophomore release titled “The Outside”. Delivering eight tracks clocking around 40 minutes, the band leaves a deep wound with their razor sharps songs filled with interesting tempo changes and cavernous atmospheres.

    If you like to jump into conclusions, one would immediately discard this band as another run of the mill raw and kvlt BM band with the opening moments of “There Was No Place to Hide”, the first song of this release. Upon further inspection, the guitar distortion sounds a bit off if we are thinking of regular BM, and the Doom/Sludge vibe that suddenly inundates this song makes it quite interesting to listen to. The following tracks keep up with this style, nicely shifting from BM hellish sections into droning passages of powerful riffing and martial drumming.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Nox Illunis – Metempsychosis (2012)

    cover

    Two years have passed since the release of the excellent “In Sideris Penumbra” and today we finally get Nox Illunis latest release titled “Metempsychosis”. Keeping up with their brutal mixture of harsh Black Metal with a heavy dose of melodic elements, this is one release you do not want to miss. Hailing from Italy, this band impressed us with their previous record, and they have surely improved with this one.

    Firing away on all cylinders, this release opens with the crushing “Sfera Prima: Del Risveglio Dal Sonno”. This very brutal track immediately starts with a massive wall of sound built by the demonic drumming and powerful riffing. The vocals are as oppressive as always and they give that extra level of brutality to the already super aggressive music. However, it is the perfectly placed melodic passages that make this song (and album) one fine piece of work.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Chaos E.T. Sexual – Ov (2012)

    cover

    Arriving from France, today we have a very unique record titled “Ov” that mixes all kinds of different influences ranging from drone/doom to Industrial to Trip Hop in a very tight package that is very sexy and intoxicating. Chaos E.T. Sexual is a three-piece from France that has a very hypnotic sound that relies on distorted guitars (shoegaze-ish at some points), catchy beats, and some drone-ish elements that are all perfectly timed and combined to create engaging songs that never get boring.

    Opening with the powerful “Kolmogorov Falls”, this track establishes a very intoxicating mood thanks to its enthralling Trip-Hop elements. The band never loses sight of the heavy side of things and the guitars nicely pummel their way through most of the duration of this track. The dynamic “La Moneda” allows things to move a bit faster and with even catchier sections, this track really engages the listener and hooks him to the band’s sexy sound.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Spectral Lore / Locust Leaves – Split (2012)

    cover

    Keeping busy this 2012, the one man project Spectral Lore delivers another excellent Black Metal release with their split album with fellow Greeks Locust Leaves. Continuing with their highly refined brand of music presented in their latest full-length “Sentinel”, they deliver a crushing 15-minute track that covers half of this excellently packaged release on Order of Theta Records.

    Immediately delivering their aural assault, Spectral Lore opens the split release with a crushing track titled “Duty”. For the span of fifteen minutes the band’s excellent guitar work gives us that Primordial vibe, but with a heavier Black Metal orientation. The singing is as brutal as ever, but it’s the small details the song structure that makes this track engaging. With a several tempo changes, epic atmospheric keyboards, and a pulsating bass guitar line, the band shows again their strength in crafting restless tracks that are very diverse and engaging.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Midnight – Complete and Total Hell (2012)

    cover

    After not getting enough of Midnight with their debut full-length release “Satanic Royalty”, this compilation delivers 21 catchy songs that spawn all their pre full-length debut years (eight years and several EP’s and splits). Hailing from Cleveland (WTF), this band is one of the catchiest and most engaging Black/Speed/Heavy Metal bands these days, no other Black’n’Roll band comes close to them.

    Covering their complete early catalogue (minus few tracks), this release shows an interesting progression in the band’s sound (and recording quality). Track like “All Hail Hell”, “I Am Violator”, “Long Live Death”, and “Endless Slut” have that nasty sound and a very sleazy vibe to them, just like one would expect from a truck driver hanging out at a high-school female volleyball game.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Red Moon Architect – Concealed Silence (2012)

    cover

    After blowing us away with their youtube trailers for this album, we had to reach out to the band’s label and try to get hooked up with this release to enjoy its excellence and communicate it to the masses. Red Moon Architect’s debut full-length titled “Concealed Silence” could not come at a better time when similar bands like Swallow The Sun, Black Sun Aeon, Insomnium, etc. are paving the way for more Finish Melodic Death/Doom acts to get recognized.

    This one man project headed by Saku Moilanen of RoutaSielu fame, opens with the commanding “Abscond”. This very Doomy track features very powerful riffs and killer growls courtesy of session musician Frans Aalto. While the first track is short and sweet, it crates the right momentum with its melodic sections giving a very Insomnium/Swallow the Sun vibe but with its own direction and uniqueness.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Silent Leges Inter Arma – Silent Leges Inter Arma (2012)

    cover

    Hailing from Germany, today we have a very interesting sounding Black/Death Metal band named “Silent Leges Inter Arma” and their self-title debut release. While this band has no ‘fancy’ elements on their music, their song writing abilities makes their sound be old school and brutal while still having some modern elements that makes them very unique sounding. If this sounds weird, just imagine Sepultura circa “Morbid Visions” with modern BM elements.

    Starting with a very average track titled “We Are”, the band kind of has a pattern in the opening songs of this release of one average track followed by a good one, seems weird it turned out this way (or we liked the album this way). “Falcon-Headed One” delivers quite powerful growls and very interesting guitar work. Here you can perfectly notice the band’s weird and unique sound that makes them different from the rest, maybe comparable to bands like Secrets of The Moon and such in terms of their guitar work.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Germ – Loss (2012)

    cover

    After Germ’s impressive debut “Wish”, released earlier in March 2012 by Eisenwald as well, we are totally blown away at how much a band’s sound can mature and such a short time and with “Loss”, this one-man project delivers 36-minutes of lush and deranged Black Metal with countless influences and a huge atmospheric component. Lead by the Aussie Tim Yatras, better known for his work in Austere, Grey Waters and Woods of Desolation, this new project brings forth an amazing musical proposal that countless bands have danced around, but never quite got it this perfect.

    Moving a bit away from the psycho-sexual electronics of “Wish”, “Loss” takes things to a whole new dimension and produces some of the best atmospheric passages we have ever heard, with some brilliantly introduced electronic splashes. Opening with the heartfelt “My Only Hope”, we get very solemn vocals and excellent mixture of piano with atmospheric elements that nicely culminates very dramatically, lush, and brutal.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Doro – Raise Your Fist (2012)

    cover

    The queen of Metal Doro Pesch is back with yet another killer release that comes very close to trumping Accepts “Stalingrad” as the top Heavy Metal release of 2012. Doro is one of the most active and fan devoted musicians in Metal and the collection of heavy hitting hits delivered in “Raise Your Fist” is a true treat for anybody that has been following her since her days with Warlock.

    Opening with the heavy-hitter “Raise Your Fist In The Air”, Doro sets the bar very high which such an energetic and catchy song. We can totally picture thousands of people raising their firsts and going crazy with this epic anthem on a live festival show. While ALL the songs in this release are excellent, the next highlight comes under the name of “It Still Hurts”, a power-ballad duet with none other than Lemmy from Motörhead. While we don’t get to hear his traditional raspy vocals, we still get a pretty unique and different side of his talents alongside Doro, what more can we ask for.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Holy Knights - Between Daylight and Pain (2012)

    cover

    Returning after a 10 year absence, today we have Italy’s Holy Knights and their very exciting release “Between Daylight and Pain”. In case you thought that there aren’t enough Power Metal bands, Holy Knights returns to deliver eight tracks that are indeed very well crafted, but sound like a ‘light’ version of Rhapsody and similar bands.

    Since the rich opener “Mistery”, the band immediately sends the message that they have great musicians, excellent production values, and solid composition skills. The bombastic elements of their songs remind us a lot of Rhapsody of Fire and their explosiveness when it comes to symphonic elements. The vocals of Dario Di Matteo remind us a bit of Fabio Leone, making them actually quite good in our book. The first few songs deliver quite a hectic pace and very well crafted guitar solos like on “Beyond the Mist”, but it is the melodic sections that make this song (and release) more appealing than your average Power Metal release.

Pages

Recent Image Galleries