Nuclear Blast

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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”.

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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.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Sonata Arctica – The Days Of Grays (2009)

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    Sonata Arctica is a band that has been constantly changing since its formation back in 1999 and have consistently released quality album no matter what changes they make to their sound.

    “The Days Of Grays” is the band’s latest release and it’s very bombastic and emotional in nature, Tony Kakko is probably one of the best metal singers these days, and in this album he has another killer performance that will surely satisfy all of the band’s fans. His vocal range is amazing as always and his ability to transfer emotions into the lyrics and music is unrivaled.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Echoes Of Eternity – As Shadows Burn (2009)

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    While many people decided to trash Echoes Of Eternity debut album “The Forgotten Goddess”, I was very surprised why a band would get trashed by attempting a very interesting mixture of musical genres (Gothic and Progressive Metal) and achieving a very good debut album.

    The riffs on the band’s debut album were not the most original or complicated out there, also they were pretty repetitive but they still managed to get the job done in creating an original sound for a band that was breaking into the scene.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Amorphis - Skyforger (2009)

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    Amorphis are back after 2 years of touring and promoting their highly successful album “Silent Waters”. This finish band is back with a perfect follow-up album with “Skyforger”. Capitalizing on the strengths of “Silent Waters” and using Tomi’s great vocals to the full extent they provide us with their highest quality release of to date.

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