Album Reviews

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    Gold – Interbellum (2012)

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    After striking gold with The Devil’s Blood and their intoxicating sound, Ván Records brings to us Gold, a female-led Hard Rock band from the Netherlands. With a style similar to label mates Vanderbuyst but a little bit darker, this band delivers nine songs of catchy and well-constructed Rock songs that have a warm and fuzzy feeling that is rare these days. Thanks to the fresh and unique voice of Milena Eva, this band has a good fighting chance against a very tough competition in such a crowded genre.

    Since the opener “One of Us”, we can hear the band’s excellent abilities to craft catchy hard-rocking music, but it is Milena who steals the show with her very unique voice. With the guitar work being pretty solid, the catchy chorus sections of tracks like “Antebellum” and “Love, The Magician”, are what really hooks the listener into liking the band. “Gone Under”, shows a more playful side of the band that nicely combines the heavy guitar work with a more pop-ish vocal structure that works wonders and nicely gives the band a refreshing approach to the genre.

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    Amenra – Mass V (2012)

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    Four years have passed since the band’s last opus title “Mass III”, this enigmatic band from Belgium is finally back after a series of split releases and an EP with “Mass V”. In this crushing release the band brings their in-your-face Doom/Sludge to Neurot Recordings and delivers a release that will put them in direct comparisons to early Neurosis and Year of No Light.

    The first blow is the delivered by the monolithic “Boden” and it’s very natural and unnerving progression. When the powerful riffs finally make their appearance, the listener is well into an hypnotic trance thanks to the tracks slow progression. The screams are pretty typical of a Sludge release, but it’s the drifting guitar work that really hooks the listener into this song.

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    Vortech – Devoid of Life (2012)

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    Hailing from Finland, today we have Vortech and their super catchy Industrial Death Metal release titled “Devoid of Life”. Similar to bands like Shade Empire, the band delivers high-octane songs that feature trippy atmospheric elements that will have the listener begging for more. Perfectly blending aggressive riffs and powerful vocals with a futuristic vibe, this band is catchy and brutal as they come.

    Opening with the solid “The Black Rite”, we have a good dosage of heavy riffs and screams nicely offset by an epic futuristic ambiance. The drumming is pretty intense, a particular strong point of the band since similar acts usually use shitty programmed drums. The synths/programming of “Neurovirus” make this track quite catchy and very well crafted, keeping the intense flow of this release to the limit.

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    Saturnus – Saturn In Ascension (2012)

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    Finally!! after six years since their last release, Saturnus returns with their latest masterpiece of Melancholic Death/Doom Metal titled “Saturn In Ascension”. Featuring eight tracks, this release will only help the band elevate their legendary status as the best band of their genre. With a mixture of the elements that have made this band’s musical trajectory impeccable, the songs in this release deliver high doses of raw emotions transmitted by truly melancholic music.

    Opening with the crushing “Litany of Rain”, the band reminded us of their “Paradise Belongs To You” era with a straightforward growl fest filled with emotional riffing. The characteristic vocals of Thomas Akim Grønbæk Jensen really set the band apart from the rest and his mixture of growls and clean sections work wonders in this nearly 10-minute epic.

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    Narrow House – A Key to Panngrieb (2012)

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    Being huge fans of Doom Metal, we sometimes dabble in the realms of Funeral Doom Metal, its ugly and boring cousin. While we are not huge fans of the genre due to its mind-numbing repetition and ridiculously slow execution, some bands like Shape of Despair and Thergothon are still ok in our book. Hence today we have Narrow House and their less boring approach to the genre with “A Key to Panngrieb”. By introducing lush atmospheric elements that range from keyboards to cellos, this band really grabs ahold of the listener and keeps it engaged for the duration of the huge songs in this album.

    Opening with the crushing “Poslednee Pristanishe”, things start very well with the perfect mixture of slow and painful riffs, commanding growls, and brilliant atmosphere. The simplicity of the music is really well shrouded behind a well-crafted atmosphere thanks to the keyboards. The band does a great job in navigating through such a long song with well-placed tempo changes. The same can be said about the considerably shorter track “Psevdoriatunok”, but with a nice combination of growls and ethereal clean vocals, very reminiscent of Draconian and such bands.

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    Tiamat – The Scarred People (2012)

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    Twenty years have passed since the band’s iconic release “Clouds” first saw the light of day and very little of that band remains today. With “The Scarred People”, Tiamat continues their never ending transformation delivering eleven very catchy tunes that still manage to turn people’s heads. Which each song the band delivers enigmatic catchy melodies that will surely draw the attention of most Gothic Rock/Metal fans.

    Opening with a pair of catchy tunes like “The Scarred People” and “Winter Dawn”, the band immediately establishes their very atmospheric approach to this release. Johan Edlund’s vocals are as good as always, and his contributions in the keyboards really make up for 70% of the band’s unique and enigmatic sound. Things really start getting emotional in the brilliant “Radiant Star”, one of our favorite tracks of this release. In this song the tempo is very mellow and the mood is set very melancholic to fully create one of the best Gothic ballads we have heard in quite a while.

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    Aeon – Aeons Black (2012)

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    Delivering powerful doses of Swedish Death Metal, today we have Aeon and their fourth full-length release “Aeons Black”. In these days when we are plagued by shitty Deathcore bands and kinds trying to pull-off Technical Death Metal and failing miserably, it is quite refreshing to listen to sheer Death Metal brutality the Swedish way with meaty hooks and destructive riffs. The band sticking to their guns delivers quite an exquisite extreme experience, the way that Death Metal should be to begin with.

    Quickly throwing the first punch with “Still They Pray”, the band does a solid job in combining technical skills with catchiness. The instantaneous wall of sound created by the band can be comparable to what Zyklon and now The Wretched End are capable of outputting. The drumming is intense as hell and the riffing is totally crushing, making them a force to be reckoned with.

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    Graveyard – Lights Out (2012)

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    Sweden’s psychedelic hard-rockers return with another intoxicating dosage of classic rock with trippy stoner elements that made them so good in their excellent “Hisingen Blues” release. With such a massive appeal, this band has been resonating in most indie musical circles and has reached success up to the level of getting a spot to play on Bonnaroo and opening for Motörhead in Europe. In this new release the band continues to rock out with very emotional and mellow songs that take the band closer to musical Nirvana.

    Opening with the warm and fuzzy feeling of records from the 70’s, the band delivers instant classic “An Industry of Murder” and the funky “Slow Motion Countdown”. Both songs are filled with solid guitar work and very emotive vocals. The band also excels at bringing the mood a tad low just before lifting spirits with more intense tracks like “Seven Seven” and “Endless Night”. 

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    Spyros Charmanis – Wound (2012)

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    Delivering a truly cinematic experience via Progressive Rock music, today we have Spyros Charmanis and his full-length release “Wound”. Clocking around 72 minutes of brilliant music, this self-released album delivers delightful compositions that any fan of traditional Progressive music will love from beginning to end. Spyros ability to craft intricate songs that are both musically and technically engaging without being overly done or falling into the ‘musical masturbation’ category that many Progressive bands unfortunately fall under.

    The album opens with the intro track “Pushing The Sky”, a song that is very reminiscent of Progressive greats Dream Theater, and similar bands. With such a playful and strong opener, Spyros greatly indicates that this will be one quality and fun release. After the opener, the album ‘splits’ into three different sections of the conceptual foundations of this release. This concept basically tells the story of a fictional character through a series of experiences, too bad the artwork in this CD is very dark and we had trouble reading it unless we had a direct light source on the booklet.

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    Attempted Life – Pangaea (2012)

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    Hailing from Finland, today we have a trio that delivers quite interesting music that is ridiculously hard to pin down exactly what they play, so we will just say they play Metal. “Panagea” marks the band’s latest EP that features five very different tracks that range from Sludge to Melodic Metal to Groove Metal, and almost everything else. The only consensus we can reach is that the band has that Finish Melodic Death Metal vibe to them in most of the tracks.

    Opening with the funky vibe and hard rocking riffs. The harsh vocals only add to the overall confusion of the band’s identity, but they nicely enhance the experience. Switching from catchy riffs to melodic passages it kind of gives the feeling that this track is actually more of a jam-session than an actual song. On a more serious note, “Graveyard Bitch” has a more traditional structure and relies on powerful riffs to create a melodic atmosphere that is sometimes accelerated to mildly aggressive levels.

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