Album Reviews

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    Ibridoma – Night Club (2012)

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    Making its way from Italy, today we have Ibridoma and their second full-length release “Night Club”. Playing a very traditional and catchy brand of Heavy Metal with some Power Metal elements, this band delivers eight hard hitting tracks that will have you chanting and headbanging from start to end. If you are a fan of old-school Heavy Metal, this is one of the best releases we have heard this year.

    Opening with the epic “Eagles from the Sky”, the guitars start pounding away while the very charismatic vocals of Christian Bartolacci make their presence felt. His vocals reminded us of a mixture of Geoff Tate and Geddy Lee, very firm and well delivered making them one of the flagship elements of the band’s sound. Not only featuring solid vocals, the riffing on “Cold Light of Moon” is also very well crafted, and the drums are nicely crafted to be always present but never overbearing.

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    The Sea Charmer – Cimmerian Repose (2012)

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    Presenting a very interesting musical approach, The Sea Charmer delivers their two-song ‘demo’ “Cimmerian Repose”. Mixing Progressive elements with some Hardcore and even post-rock/metal hints, these two songs are quite interesting to listen to. Hailing from the Czech Republic, this young band managed to catch our attention immediately with some witty melodic passages inserted into their more ‘modern’ Metalcore antics.

    Opening with “Trigger the Grief”, the track sounds a bit Post-rock/Metal-ish from the get go, but the clear hardcore/metalcore influences quickly sink in. We particularly hate this way of half-assed ‘singing’, but sounds a bit tolerable in this song. The clean –core singing is ok, and considerably better than the ‘harsh’ screams, this also sets the mood a bit different than what one would expect. The music is quite excellent, and even the core-ish guitars seem to work well with the atmosphere. The epic closing made us get all rattled up, too bad it was just to complete this track and it wasn’t taken advantage of (we hope to hear more of this from them in the future).

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    Devilish Impressions – Simulacra (2012)

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    Making quite an impact since the first song, today we have Poland’s Devilish Impressions latest release titled “Simulacra”. Being properly released through Lifeforce records this July, this is one of those albums that combines so many different elements in a very cohesive and successful way, making it super diverse and extremely exciting.

    “Icaros” opens with release with a mixture of Vintersorg meets Dimmu Borgir atmosphere, thanks to the hefty use of synths and the awesome clean vocals. Setting the bar this high, the band also delivers pretty solid melodic Black/Death-ish music that is very direct and well crafted. The atmospheric side of things keeps making this album very appealing in “Legion of Chaos”, but it is the massive drumming and heavy riffing that ultimately makes this song super catchy and effective.

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    Miseration – Tragedy Has Spoken (2012)

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    The man with the 20 (or so) different bands Christian Älvestam, delivers yet another excellent release in the Death Metal category. Mixing elements of Technical Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, and the rawness of pure Death Metal, “Tragedy Has Spoken” is a very brutal release that has many different facets to it, making it quite an enjoyable release to dissect over a few dozen spins (or more).

    Ripping through the opener “Stepping Stone Agenda”, we immediately know we are in for a devastating release since the guitars deliver waves of aggressive riffs and the vocals are extremely brutal. Christian’s vocal talents are undeniable, and when it comes to do extreme screaming, there are only a handful of people that can be as aggressive and versatile as he is. The drumming is also pretty well crafted and hyper fast, truly crushing indeed.

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    D.E.R – Quando A Esperanca Desaba (reissue) (2012)

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    The brutal reissue of D.E.R’s 2008 “Quando A Esperanca Desaba” comes to us through Polish label EveryDayHate. Featuring 16 tracks of head crushing Gore/Death Metal this is one of those heavy has hell releases that should be in everybody’s collection when you want to get the party started (and the neighbors extremely pissed at you).

    Pummeling across tracks that are less average around one minute a piece, this album blows you away since the punishing opener “O Que Foi Escrito eu Apaguei”. Thankfully the booklet comes with English translation of the lyrics, just to know what exactly is being spewed through the band’s brutal vocalist pipes. The songs are heavy and brutal with some nice melodic elements that keeps them separate and provide nice pacing between tracks.

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    Halladrol – The Last Mile on the Earth (2012)

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    Hailing from Finland, today we have the relatively unknown Halladrol and ‘their’ brand of Blackened Death/Doom Metal. Being a one man project, Halladrol actually combines plenty of influences to make quite a stir, but leave us a bit disappointed with the end results.

    Opening with typical 90’s Death Metal guitar riffs, “The Last Mile on the Earth” delivers quite a powerful introduction to this release, but also feels a bit dated in its execution. There are some pretty interesting Avant-garde elements here and there, but the rather simplistic core of the music takes away from any possible magic behind this track. The drumming is pretty intense and the vocals are ok, but there is that feeling of something missing always present in the track.

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    Haemorrhage – Loathesongs (reissue) (2012)

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    Originally released back in 2000 through Morbid Records, today we have EveryDayHate’s reissue of the incredible “Loathesongs” of the legendary Haemorrhage. Hailing from Spain, this Goregrind band has made a name for themselves through violent music and sick blood-drenched live performances. In this re-release we also get a few extra songs that weren’t available on the original “Loathesongs”, but come from the band’s vast early catalogue.

    The opener is Defecation’s “Megaton” blended with “Vestige of Earthly Remains” allowing the band quickly sets the bar very high in terms of crushing pace and aggressive growls. While not all covers in this release are ‘extremely’ good, the band does a nice job in keeping some of the essential elements in the tracks, such as in Carcass’s “Pyosisified” and its relentless riffing.

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    Ephel Duath – On Death and Cosmos (2012)

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    Genre-bending Ephel Duath finally makes a comeback since their acclaimed “Through My Dog's Eyes” released back in 2009. With their latest EP “On Death and Cosmos” the band mixes musical maturity with their typical experimentation in such a way that very few bands can pull off without sounding overly pretentious, or like total shit. Featuring three tracks, Ephel Duath is band with their crazy Jazzy mood layered with aggressive BM elements.

    Opening with the intricate “Black Prism”, the band delivers a hefty dosage of aggressive riffs accompanied by a very moody bass guitar line, perfectly blending the aggressive aspect of the band’s music with a rhythmic jazzy vibe. The drumming is quite well timed to fit the excellent tempo changes. Without abusing, you can hear some progressive hints here and there, nicely blended into the aggressive atmosphere.

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    Noisebazooka – Humped World (2012)

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    Delivering one of the most intense and brutal aural onslaughts we have heard this year, today we have Noisebazooka and their latest full-length “Humped World”. If you ever tried to picture what somebody on bath salts would sound like when trying to make music, Noisebazooka is the first thing that comes to our mind.

    Opening with a very weird sample intro, the album fully comes into full bloom with the deranged “Jaded Pleasures”. Piercing drums and hellish screams is pretty much the perfect way of describing this band. The bass guitar line is sick and twisted, adding an extra layer of weirdness to the overall insane atmosphere. The fragmentation of songs is something that we don’t really enjoy in Grindcore releases, and “Humped World” is not the exception, the band pummels through 32 tracks and delivers less than 45 minutes of music!

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    Delain – We Are The Others (2012)

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    After being shelved for several months by Delain’s European label, “We Are The Others” finally sees the light of day in North America on July 3rd, through Sensory Records. Featuring four bonus live tracks, this North American version is packed with enough material to keep the fans of the band pleased for a long time.

    Three years have passed since the highly popular “April Rain”, and with “We Are The Others” the band is looking to establish themselves as one of the premiere Gothic Metal bands in the world. Following the same musical direction, Delain delivers 12 tracks of well composed Gothic Metal with heavy Rock influences. The band does a few adjustments in terms of making their music catchier, but nothing much has changed.

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