Album Reviews

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    Hypno5e – Acid Mist Tomorrow (2012)

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    After excellent debut release “Des deux l'une est l'autre” the expectations for Hypno5e were high, but with “Acid Mist Tomorrow” they set a completely different standard. The band’s brand of experimental Metal has reached new heights with the 9 tracks presented in this very engaging release. Mixing elements from Post-Rock, Ambient, Avant-garde Metal, Instrumental Rock, and traditional Metal, Hypno5e’s sound is very complex yet engaging for even the average listener.

    Wasting no time and opening with the highly atmospheric “Acid Mist Tomorrow”, we immediately felt in a movie sound track. The carefully crafted percussions and the ethereal clean guitars make for a great listen, particularly when offset by the excellent distorted guitars. The ethereal atmosphere continues with “Six Fingers in One Hand She Holds the Dawn” parts 1 and 2, with a very chilling vibe and excellent clean vocals. The crazy vocal samples in the back near the fifth minute of the track are pretty cool and give a subtle feeling of insanity.

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    Frames – In Via (2012)

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    Delivering their highly anticipated second full-length release “In Via”, today we have Frames and their cinematic brand of instrumental Post/Art Rock. If you like nice and relaxing musical trips, this album will surely be of your interest. With a striking similarity to bands like Poland’s Lebowski and God is an Astronaut, Frames is set to captivate audiences with their excellent musical abilities and melancholic songwriting style.

    Opening with the mysterious intro “Entrance”, the band fully explodes into full ‘out of this world’ mode with “Departure”. The trippy guitars and powerful bass guitar line help make this song very ethereal and transport the listener to a different place. With “Encounter” the atmosphere sets a very nice mellow mood, and the occasional beats make things more interesting. The power of the guitars is nicely used to fully develop atmospheric passages in a very brilliant manner.

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    The Firstborn – Lions Among Men (2012)

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    Hailing from Portugal, today we have The Firstborn and their 4th full-length release “Lions Among Men”. With a very interesting and different sound, this album is surely complex enough that it takes more than a few listens to fully sink in. Featuring a mixture of Meshuggah-like influences (on the guitars mainly) with some middle-eastern elements and some occasional Avant-garde BM styling’s, this release is indeed very well crafted, but hard to fully enjoy at first.

    Opening with the commanding “Lions Among Men”, you immediately know this is going to be an interesting release due to its unusual structure and sound. The very low guitars make the atmosphere sound very thick and perverse, something that you usually get on Sludge releases. With some of those middle-eastern mystical sounds at the beginning “Without as Within” continues the heavy atmosphere and expands on the bands crushing sound with some more riffing assaults and perfectly crafted slowdowns.

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    Meshuggah – Koloss (2012)

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    After the excellent “ObZen”, Meshuggah returns with their latest epic “Koloss”. In this the release not only the band builds on previous work, but it also improves their sound in a manner that makes it more accessible to people and still equally technical and brilliant. Pummeling through 10 tracks of brilliant music, this is a release that shows how well the band has matured and how much better they are than the rest of their clones.

    Opening with the ‘slower paced’ “I am Colossus”, the band makes their signature sound present since the opening minute. The brilliantly crafted drums, crazy rhythms, and strong vocals immediately identifies the band, and delivers a very strong opening track. Things start picking up with “The Demon’s Name Is Surveillance”, “Do Not Look Down”, and “Behind the Sun”, all songs filled with polyrhythmic structures and very interesting elements that makes the unique and different from each other.

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    Impiety – Ravage & Conquer (2012)

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    Recently signed to Pulverised records, today we have Impiety and their eight full-length released titled “Ravage & Conquer”. Feeling like a bag of bricks to the face, “Ravage & Conquer” delivers some of the most brutal music Impiety has ever written. Pummeling through eight furiously paced tracks, this is one release that no fan of this band would want to miss.

    Opening like an epic soundtrack to some medieval battle, the guitars blast through things and the punishing drumming indicates that Impiety has arrived. “Revelation Decimation” is the 8 minute opener that delivers waves of brutal onslaughts of hellish vocals and crushing riffs. The band’s sound is cleaner than in previous releases and the overall feeling is very chaotic and brutal… just what the doctor ordered. Steamrolling with “Ravage & Conquer”, “Weaponized” and “The Scourge Majesty”, this release is off to a very brutal and intense start, not to mention several 8+ minute long anthems of destruction.

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    Edge of Paradise – Mask (2011)

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    Delivering one of the most diverse, chaotic, and yet very interesting albums we have received this year, today we have Edge of Paradise and their debut full-length “Mask”. In this release the band features influences from anywhere between Industrial, Heavy Metal, Gothic Metal, Shred Metal and tons of things in between. If you are not confused by now, then you can’t really be prepared to open the bag full of surprises that “Mask” is.

    Opening with some dub step/Static X intro, “Falling Down” delivers the first punch in a 9 track rollercoaster ride through almost all genres of Metal. This opening track does a great job to set the stage for a very weird and diverse release that is very catchy and strongly lead by the band’s charismatic vocalist: Margarita Monet. Her vocals are quite unique in Metal since she is all over the place and has a lot of raw power behind her. “Tall of the gun” steers you into a different direction with a more Modern/commercial Metal with very heavy guitars.

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    Gory Blister – Earth-Sick (2012)

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    Making their contribution to the highly exciting Technical Death Metal scene, today we have Italy’s Gory Blister and their latest full-length release “Earth-Sick”. With a name more apt for a Grindcore band, this Italian band took us by surprise with their high energy songs and blistering drumming. Deliver 10 tracks of well executed music, this band will surely make some noise in this very crowded genre.

    Opening with the deceiving “The Breeding (intro)” track, we thought we will reviewing a Melodic Power Metal album instead. However, with “Earthsick” things get down and dirty with some heavy riffing and intense growls. The band style borders between Melodic DM and Technical DM with some very impressive speed ups, but never as intense and powerful as bands like Obscura and Spawn of Possession.

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    Huntress – Spell Eater (2012)

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    Seemingly out of nowhere, the American band Huntress delivers an early candidate for ‘2012 album of the year’ with their debut full-length “Spell Eater”. With over 40 minutes of hard-hitting Heavy Metal, the band’s attitude (and music) is as real as it can get when it comes to Heavy Metal. Led by the talented (and equally sexy) Jill Janus, this band is not your average mellow Metal female-fronted band, but rather a full-fledged war machine that will surely demolish your ears.

    Taking influences from Heavy, Black and Thrash Metal, the album opens with the crushing “Spell Eater” track. The opening riffs scream Black Metal immediately, but as the song progresses and Jill’s vocals come through, the old-school Thrash influences seamlessly appear. This high-intensity track nicely marks the pace of a very diverse and extremely well crafted album.

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    Murw – Kanker (2011)

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    After releasing a few demos and a split album in a span of 14 years, we finally have Murw stepping up to the full-length arena with “Kanker”. In this very interesting release, the band delivers 37 minutes of a highly melancholic combination of Doom Metal with some Death/Black Metal elements. Mostly driven by powerful guitar riffs, “Kanker” is a very well-crafted release that deserves attention.

    Opening with the crushing “Kanker”, this release sets sail with the heaviest and most ‘Black Metal’ track in the whole album. The raw power behind the riffs and crushing vocals is very dominating, reminding us of older Death/Doom bands from the 90’s. At around 7 minutes long, this song nicely evolves into some Doom-ish melodic passages with weeping guitars and a nice overall atmosphere. Keeping things in ‘Doom mode’, “Als Sneeuw Voor de Zon” sounds like something that Mournful Congregation or Shape of Despair could have crafted.

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