Nuclear Blast

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    Arsis - Starve For The Devil (2010)

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    Filling the void left by an awesomely technical band but with horrible vocals like Arch Enemy we have Arsis. Arsis for the people that don’t know them yet, play Technical Melodic Death Metal in the same vein than Arch Enemy does, but with a more suitable vocal sound that does not get annoying after a couple of songs.

    Hailing from the USA, Arsis is not new to the metal scene they have been around since 2000 and have released three full-length albums before their latest opus “Starve For The Devil”.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Exodus – Shovel Headed Tour Machine (Live At Wacken And Other Atrocities) (2010)

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    The legendary band Exodus finally releases a DVD that is worth watching well I’ve only got to listen to it so far, but from the audio quality and the quality of the performance I assume is pretty good.

    The DVD only features 11 songs; something that I feel is not enough considering their impressive discography. But they are more than enough to leave you wanting more and trying to catch them live, especially with master drummer Nick Barker on their most recent tours.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Mnemic – Sons Of The System (2010)

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    Opening the year 2010, we already have one album that immediately was written down in our album of the year list. This is something that has not happened quite often, but with Mnemic’s “Sons Of The System” we are astonished in terms of the quality of this release.

    Having heard Mnemic’s transformation over the years, this album took us by surprise, since it’s more melodic and straight forward. While the band maintains some of their signature trademarks they are opening up to a whole new world thanks to the vocal abilities of Guillaume Bideau.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Epica – Design Your Universe (2009)

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    “Design Your Universe” is probably one of the most expected albums of 2009 based on the momentum Epica has been building up since the release of “The Divine Conspiracy” two years ago. This momentum has been helped with endless touring and a live album released in the mean time.

    This album clearly shows that Epica’s success was not a matter of chance or anything and that the band is here to stay. “Design Your Universe” is a good improvement over “The Divine Conspiracy” and a worthy next step in their career, since this album is somewhat better than their previous releases. But here comes the ‘but’ in this last statement; the band does not offer much new in terms of ‘freshness’ to their sound.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Belphegor - Walpurgis Rites – Hexenwahn (2009)

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    Every time I listen to one of Belphegor’s albums I’m blown away with the ability Helmut has of refining their already brilliant musical style. For those living under rocks or new to metal, this Austrian band plays a mean mix of Death and Black Metal that will put all other bands attempting to do this to great shame,

    “Walpurgis Rites – Hexenwahn” is the band’s latest opus and a very worthy follow up to the bizarrely named “Bondage Goat Zombie” album. Belphegor is one of those bands that are like whiskey, they only get better with time.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Nile – Those Whom The Gods Detest (2009)

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    Two years have passed since their “Ithyphallic” album and now Nile is back and is ready to blow people away with “Those Whom The Gods Detest”.  The band is as brutal and technical as ever with this new release.

    Featuring ten tracks of technical Brutal Death Metal “Those Whom The Gods Detest” is set to be one of the fastest and most brutal albums of this 2009. The intensity of the band’s music is what hooks me into listening to the bands albums since their career started back in 1993, and it show no signs of ever slowing down.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Hypocrisy – A Taste Of Extreme Divinity (2009)

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    Hypocrisy is back for years after their last studio album “Virus” and it was worth the wait. “A Taste Of Extreme Divinity” in my opinion and also in Peter Tagtgren’s opinion (check out our interview with him HERE) is the band’s most brutal album to date.

    The band has managed to keep their own signature style when it comes to guitar riffs and vocals and with this album they managed to take the BPM’s up a notch creating a monstrous release that will make your ears bleed.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Scar Symmetry – Dark Matter Dimensions (2009)

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    After Christian Ãlvestam left the band, I was very excited since I always like the band’s music but his vocal range was a bit annoying obscuring the band’s great musical abilities. The band now has two new vocalists that are each in charge of only one style of vocals. Roberth Karlsson from Pan.Thy.Monium fame now handles the harsh vocals, and newcomer Lars Palmqvist is in charge of clean vocals.

    “Dark Matter Dimensions” in my opinion is a far better album than “Holographic Universe”. It features 50 minutes of brilliant Gothenburg style Melodic Death Metal, you will find yourself playing this album over and over. The band has only been getting better since their first full length “Symmetric in Design”.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Vader – Necropolis (2009)

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    When it comes to bands playing Death/Trash Metal in these days, my band of choice has always been Vader. They have managed to release very solid albums since 1993, and while not extremely ‘different’ from each other, they are still pretty brutal and melodic at the same time.

    The only problem I’ve had with Vader over the years is that when I see them live, they are always sub-par compared to their albums. The production on the albums makes their music sound better, or they are just stuck with a shitty sound engineer when playing live, since I’ve seen them several times over the years and I’m always dissatisfied with their live sets.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Immortal – All Shall Fall (2009)

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    “All Shall Fall” is one of the most expected Black Metal releases from this legendary band. Seven years have passed since their last album “Sons Of Northern Darkness” and this release continues EXACTLY were they left off.

    For some people this might be just perfect, and to some extent it is, but you would imagine that a band would learn something new after that amount of time. All band members have been playing in different bands and should have provided a creativity boost to this album.

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