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    Evenoire – Vitriol (2012)

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    Making its way from Italy, today we have Evenoire’s debut full-length release titled “Vitriol”. Featuring a Gothic Metal sound with some Folk elements, Evenoire manages to sound a little bit different than ‘traditional bands’ giving them a small edge over the competition. With 9 tracks of music, “Vitriol” is a very solid debut effort that while having some minor issues, shows that the band is ready to be heard.

    With a very ethereal opening track titled “Vitriol”, the band sets a very lush fantasy-like atmosphere that generates high expectations for this release. This is nicely continued with the very classically inspired “Days of the Blackbird”. The band’s singer Elisa "Lisy" Stefanoni has a very sweet voice that has that natural retro sound at times, when bands had regular singers on not extremely trained ones, but she can also do all the classical stuff very graciously.

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    Oceans of Night – Domain (2011)

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    Keeping up with the Progressive Metal/Rock releases we received recently, today we have Oceans of Night’s second full-length release titled “Domain”. This duo from the USA deliver and action-packed 63 minutes of pure Progressive/Power Metal excellence divided in 10 tracks. Featuring multi-instrumentalist Scott Mosher and vocalist Scott Oliva, this album delivers a hefty dosage of crunchy guitars and very well crafted atmospheric elements that sets them apart from the rest.

     The opening track “Domain” clocks in at a massive 17 minutes, signaling the beginning of a very rich and diverse journey through the music of Oceans of Night. In this track the crunchy guitars are a notable difference from your traditional prog music, and the atmospheric keyboards add a futuristic tone to the overall track. Oliva’s vocals are excellent, filled with emotion and nicely bringing the lyrics to life. The drumming is very well structured, and while neither of the band members play the drums, they brought in a session drummer to have that natural sound.

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    Abandoned Stars – Opening Act (2011)

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    Hailing from the land of “Sheep, single malt and haggis” as the band so eloquently describes it on their promo pack; today we have Scottish Progressive Metal newcomers: Abandoned Stars. With their debut EP “Opening Act”, the band delivers 4 very well crafted radio-friendly tracks that will surely get them noticed in the scene and generate interest in their future debut full-length release.

    With a style similar to bands like Dream Theater, Rush and Yes, but with more modern and mainstream elements, the band makes a great impact in terms of songwriting and musicianship with “Opening Act” that demands the attention of the followers of the genre.

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    Wild Wet – Cocktail in Bloodshed (2011)

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    Making its way from Italy to our PO BOX, today we have Wild Wet and their debut release “Cocktail in Bloodshed”. As a perfect example of ‘when vocalists’ go wrong, we are very sorry that Wild Wet’s very melodic and entertaining music is tarnished by the terrible pronunciation and pitchy-ness of the vocalists ‘abilities’. While the vocal harmonies are ok, the actual person pulling the trigger is just plain bad.

    After getting over the bad impressions of the singing, “Cocktail in Bloodshed” is not a bad album musically speaking. After the intro “After I Came”, this Italian sleaze/Glam Rock outfit does a great job in crafting appealing music for the opener “Before you die”. The guitar and bass guitar are petty solid and create a very fun and engaging atmosphere. The drumming is spot on and the overall feeling of the music is very entertaining indeed, but we have to listen to somebody howling in the background and this just kills the mood.

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    Earth Burnt Black – Harrowing Catharsis (2011)

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    With a very interesting and rich sound, today we have Earth Burnt Black’s debut full-length “Harrowing Catharsis”. The band pretty much throws everything in the frying pan and delivers a very well tasty dish of well crafted and different sounding music with a nice and clear production on top of it. These types of albums are the ones we wait for at Infernal Masquerade since the combine so many different things and still manage to sound very well and powerful.

    The “Intro” track immediately gives you the feeling that this will be a Doom Metal release, but this quickly changes in the next song. “The March” features hard rocking guitars and clean vocals to start, clearly breaking away from what is expected from the intro. However, not long enough the Doom and Grooviness come back and the band delivers interesting brutal sections with both growls and screams mixed in between some more clean vocals. While this might sound completely chaotic, it actually works very well with the melodic aspect of the song.

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    Lapis Lazuli – A Justified Loss (2011)

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    Cranking out their second full-length release in 2011, today we have Lapis Lazuli and “A Justified Loss”. In this release the band delivers over 43 minutes of high-octane Symphonic/Gothic Metal graced by the beautiful vocals of Frida Eurenius. If you are a fan of Visions of Atlantis, Epica, Sirenia, and Xandria, you will love this release.

    After the traditional instrumental opener “Facing Demons”, the band comes at us with the bombastic “Leaving Scars”. In this song the keyboards are cranked up to 11 and provide a lush background to Frida’s vocals. While the band’s approach to the genre is very typical and traditional, the songs presented in “A Justified Loss” are very entertaining and demand a high-replay count in order to fully digest them.

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    Case in Theory – Cinematic (2011)

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    With a very well defined Progressive Rock sound, Case in Theory really makes an impact with the 11compositions presented in this very professionally crafted release. “Cinematic” marks the full-length debut of this band and its atmospheric/melodic approach to music, very similar to 3’s “The Ghost you gave to me”. Funded through kickstarter.com, this release packs a lot of punch and hopefully lands the band a label deal.

    Opening with the emotional “Mavericks”, the band showcases very ethereal and well crafted atmospheric elements. The guitar work is very engaging and the backing vocals nicely build up momentum, culminating in the hypnotic song “The Night”. In the second song of the release, the vocals of Jonathan Posadas add an extra dimension to the melodic aspect of this album. Paired with the atmospheric rock guitars and some progressive elements, this song is the perfect indicator of things to come.

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    Medicated – Ways to Make You Fall (2010)

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    It is very interesting to receive albums made in 2010 (for 2010) nowadays and to notice the slight differences in the genres and how they have evolved since then. Today we have Finland’s Medicated and their Melodic Death Metal EP titled “Ways to Make You Fall”. In this four song release we can nicely notice how Melodic Death Metal was highly influenced by bands like Scar Symmetry and older Amoral, but since then it has kind of switched into a more clean vocal harmony driven genre.

    In “Ways to Make You Fall”, the band delivers a hefty amount of harsh screams paired with melodic and catchy chorus sections, just exactly like Scar Symmetry and similar bands where doing back then. The band has a very strong core and the guitarists deliver excellent riffs and melodic sections that sound like they come from any ‘big name’ band. The opener “Ways to Make You Fall” delivers a hectic pace with catchy riffing. The super catchy chorus section is very well crafted and immediately has you headbanging to it, thus achieving what any good Melodic DM song has to do.

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    Black Skies – On the Winds of Time (2011)

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    Hailing from the USA, we have another Sludge band that sounds exactly like everybody else and that it is making its debut full-length statement with “On the Winds of Time”. So why should we not say this is total crap and skip to the next album we have to review? Well, because there is just a little something that makes them a bit interesting to listen to.

    Combining a very organic sound, this record sounds like it was recorded during a rehearsal in a live fashion. The guitars are crunchy, but not over produced and neither over stylized that you can’t really make this sounds in a natural way. The drums are very raw, and while basic and amateurish sounding at times, they sound legit and fit very well with the music.

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    Cairn – Raise the Cairn (2011)

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    Hailing from the USA, today we have a one-man band named Cairn and their debut album “Raise the Cairn”. With a heavy vibe of Primordial meets Forest of Shadows, this short but sweet EP will be enough to rattle your cage and make you want more. Featuring five tracks and around 23 minutes of music, this solo self-exploratory release is one of the most interesting and less vanilla sounding we have received in 2011.

    Opening with an acoustic section, “Magnapinna Rex, Pt I: Solstiseraph” enshrouds the listener in a mysterious cloud of powerful riffing and nice calm sections. Like we mentioned before, this particular song reminded us of Primordial instantly with this nice folk-ish and aggressive approach to music. The shrieks are very powerful and nicely accompany the guitar work. The bass guitar line is pretty active and melodic, somewhat contrasting with the rest and making it more evident. The song is nicely followed by the acoustic track “Far Passage”.

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