Album Reviews

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    Freitod – Regenjahre (2012)

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    Delivering a very interesting combination of Black Metal with some Gothic/Dark Metal elements, today we have Germany’s Freitod and their sophomore release “Regenjahre”. This journey through seven tracks and 52 minutes of brilliantly crafted music is a very unique one since the band keeps a perfect balance between harsh and aggressive Black Metal brush strokes and highly melancholic overtones creating a lush Post-Black Metal experience.

    The album start with the title track and the band immediately sets the mood with excellent guitar work and a very catchy pace. The melodic aspect of Freitod is excellent and on tracks like this one they use it perfectly. Combining crushing harsh vocals with dreamy Gothic Metal/Rock clean vocal sections the band creates a very unique and melancholic atmosphere. The band further uses these tools to contrast the brutality of their Black Metal roots with their lush melancholic side, and tracks like “Der Traumsturm” and “Neue Wege” are clear examples of this.

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    Peacemaker – 3 Song Sampler (2012)

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    Hailing from the UK today we have a very entertaining and highly effective Doom Metal band named “Peacemaker”. With their debut 3 song sampler/demo, the band shows they have the riffing chops to craft engaging Doom Metal tracks that do not put you too sleep. Keeping their sound very traditional and compact, this band is one of the most promising up-and-coming Doom bands we have heard this 2012.

    Opening with a riff very reminiscent of My Dying Bride, “Dead Man’s Keys” opens this short but sweet release with a bang. The band does a great job in creating catchy riffs and introduces very well timed tempo changes during this song. The vocals perfectly fit the music, and keep the band away from the traditional whiny or growling vocals, but rather good spoken sections and some harsh screams that are not too intense to overshadow the song’s musical foundations.

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    Sylosis – Monolith (2012)

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    Greatly improving on their already impressive 2011 release “Edge of the Earth”, today we have Sylosis and their latest album “Monolith”. In this eleven track beast of an album, the band further refines their killer ‘Melodic Thrash Metal’ sound with even better crafted songs and heaps of killer guitar riffs. The band’s mastermind Josh Middleton has done a great job in crafting a very unique sound that is familiar to Metal fans, but it is also completely different from everybody else in Metal.

    Setting a melancholic mood with the opener “Out From Below”, Sylosis quickly delivers the usual dosage of Thrash Metal riffs that nicely transform into brilliant melodic passages, particularly the brilliant closing to this song. There are a few hints of ‘Modern Metal’ included in tracks like “Fear The World” and “What Dwells Within” that give the band a Gojira kind of edge, not bad, but maybe alarming in the future.

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    Ophidian I – Solvet Saecium (2012)

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    Hailing from Iceland, today we have the latest entry into the newly popular (again) world of Technical Death Metal. With “Solvet Secium” as their debut release, this Icelandic band sure has a solid statement to make through crazy guitar sections, hyper-fast drumming, and thunderous growls. For all of us that are not fed up with the countless Obscura, Necrophagist, Spawn of Possession, etc. replica bands that have popped out in the last few years, Ophidian I is a highly respectable entry into the genre.

    Opening with a very Obscura-esque bass guitar wizardry on “Mark of an Obsidian”, the band’s musical journey begins with a very well balanced brutality-meets-technical-magic song. The growling is hellish and the furious drumming is just brutal as fuck. “Shedyet” keeps the magic rolling with an eerily familiar melodic section that any fan of Technical DM will recognize. This is one of the few problems with have with “Solvet Saecium”, while there are very cool and highly-technical section, there are also a lot of things that feel ripped off straight from Obscura and the previously mentioned bands, taking away from the band’s merit.

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    As I Lay Dying - Awakened (2012)

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    After being impressed (in a good way) by their previous release “The Powerless Rise”, As I Lay Dying returns with another cookie-cutter Metalcore release that might please the crowds of Mallcore kiddies, but not the Metal veterans. Having developed excellent songs for their previous album, it is kind of a bummer when a band waters down their music for the sake of record sales and pleasing crowds. As I Lay Dying has some musical chops, but in this release they just opt for the easy way out and deliver eleven tracks full of fluff that surely have a bunch of high-school kids cheering for them.

    While we have outgrown our hatred for Metalcore, we still hammer releases devoid of creativity and this is one of them. Since the opener “Cauterize” the band opts for a weird mixture of Scar Symmetry-meets-Soilwork approach that really sounds like the band is trying to be somebody else. The clean vocals are pretty ok, but the way they are used is already Scar Symmetry’s forte, and when you add breakdowns to the mix… it just makes us want to vomit.

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    Enslaved – RIITIIR (2012)

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    After blowing us all away with the excellent “Axioma Ethica Odini”, Enslaved returns with another excellent release that builds up on their previous albums and further refines their sound. With their very Progressive sound, the band has managed to expand the reach of the Black Metal genre into new and uncharted territories, and “RIITIIR” is the perfect vessel to explore these waters.

    Continuin the “Axioma…” vibe, “Thoughts Like Hammers” features intricate guitar work perfectly adorned by several singing styles. The chorus section of this track is magical, both musically and vocally. With such a very well-directed aggressive sound, the band perfectly fuses in their Progressive elements with the harsh vocals and pounding drums unlike any other band we’ve heard. Moving into funkier and more melodic territory, “Death in the Eyes of Dawn” nicely keeps the album flowing with excellent guitar work, a wide variety of vocals, and a very mellow tempo.

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    Witchcraft – Legend (2012)

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    The Swedish Psychedelic rockers of Witchcraft are finally back after five years since their last release, with a heavy hitting album titled “Legend”. In this highly anticipated release the band delivers nine tracks of excellent Psychedelic Rock that will propel them back into the top ranks of this re-emerging genre. Labeled as one of the bands that propelled the revival of the genre back in the mid 2000’s, Witchcraft shows their musical quality in every compelling song that they present in this release.

    Featuring a heavier sound since the opener “Deconstruction”, the band delivers powerful Doom-ish riffs that are nicely adorned by Magnus Pelander’s excellent vocals. The Psychedelic vibe is immediately present with the funky guitar work and the drumming nicely rounds things up. Things really pick-up with the super catchy “It’s Not Because Of You”, indeed a very well-crafted track that features excellent vocals, intricate guitar work, and a super catchy chorus section. There is no doubt that this track is the indisputable first single of the release.

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    Laburinthos – Augoeides (2012)

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    Delivering a very unique and melancholic release, today we have Avantgarde Music’s latest signing Laburinthos and their debut release “Augoeides”. Featuring five very unique sounding tracks, this band crafts a blend of Gothic Rock with some excellent Dark Wave influences that they eloquently call Labyrinthine BlueWave. With very emotive vocals and a depressive aura, this band reminds us to the likes of The 3rd and the Mortal, Yearning and those types of band’s from the late 90’s.

    Opening with the very dramatic “The Great Brothel of Mankind”, the mood is set quite well with such a rich and complex piece. The lush keyboards greatly adorn the well-paced bass guitar and the guitar work. The vocals are very theatrical and fit the music quite well. With even more powerful keyboards, “Crucified Among My Loves” delivers a very interesting tempo changing track. This song reminded us of the initial use of keyboards in Death/Doom Metal from the early 90’s by the Dutch bands, like The Gathering, Etherial Winds, etc.

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    Situs Magus – Le Grand Oeuvre (2012)

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    Outputting a combination of hateful and weird Black Metal similar to Deathspell Omega and Xasthur with some hints of older Blut Aus Nord, Situs Magus delivers their first chapter with the name of “Le Grande Oeuvre”. Intended as a one piece release, this album is split into five movements that showcase the band’s ability to create wicked atmospheres and delivers gut-wrenching screams accompanied by twisted riffing.

    Hailing from France, this new band has a very well consolidated sound for being the new kids on the block. Immediately after the intro, the band’s power is felt by the very dense “Oeuvre au Noir”. Crafting a very depraved and thick atmosphere the band delivers a very grim Black Metal feeling underneath all the atmospheric events. The riffing is quite traditional and the singing is as good as you can expect it, but the pacing of the track is what makes Situs Magus quite interesting.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Manii – Kollaps (2012)

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    Featuring the original members of Manes, today we have Manii and their crushing ‘slow’ Black Metal that brings us back to the early days of Scandinavian Black Metal but will a depressive/suicidal edge that makes the songs slow and punishing at the same time. Manes is one of those clear examples that shows that too much experimentation and weird shit going on in one release takes things a bit too far and alienates people. With Manii this two man band goes back to the basics with raw screams, piercing riffs and well-crafted drumming.

    Thankfully for the older fans of Manes, there is still some hints remaining here and there, but the new band’s focus is more on the atmospheric side of thing. Crafting thick and memorable atmospheres is a craft that seems to escape many of the newer bands but on “Kollaps” this is never the issue. Opening with the martial “Skoddeheim”, the band really sets a very slow and painful tempo, reminding us in times to Shining (Sweden) and Bethlehem. The atmospheric elements are bone-chilling and the overall pace of the track makes the vocals sound even more depraved and powerful.

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