With very few bands coming out of the small country of Lithuania, it is to our great pleasure to witness the quality and excellent musicianship behind Mandagora’s “Carnal Cage”. Being the band’s first release in seven years, it kind of seems that it was stuck in Melodic Death Metal limbo, allowing this album to sound like the good old days of the genre. With this old-school vibe and a pristine production, this album is our favorite Melodic DM release of 2012 (so far).

Opening with some funky Middle-Eastern sounding riffs in “Masquerade”, the album sets of on a very well defined path of excellent melodic passages and riffing wizardry. Reminding us a bit of older Dark Tranquility and Dark Lunacy, the band nicely opens with an excellent riffing onslaught the song “In Doubt”. The tempo changes are very well introduced and the drumming is just right, the growls are your typical ‘manly’ melodic DM growls, allowing the music to sound both powerful and very melodic. There is a particularly awesome bass guitar section that made this song even more amazing for us.

Delivering one of the darkest and most evil sounding releases of 2012, today we have Necrovation and their self-titled sophomore release. With nine tracks and around 45 minutes of crushing brutality, each of the tracks in this release features a very dark and cavernous atmosphere that is rarely matched by anything we have heard this year and reminds us of the crazy atmospheres created by bands like Shinning (Sweden) and Bethlehem.

Delivering the first blast full of hate with “Necrovorous Insurrection”, this release opens with a bang. Featuring an old-school raw Death Metal vibe, the Swedish influences are extremely clear in this epic track. The quality riffing makes this song even more enjoyable, and the crystal clear production makes brings the full experience to your speakers. The intoxicating rhythms of “Dark Lead Dead” make this very weird song extremely intoxicating indeed.

Delivering 11 tracks of hard-chugging Death Metal, today we have Italy’s Antagonism and their debut full-length “Digging Past Sounds”. In this release, the band uses traditional Death Metal structures with a few hints of more modern grooves thrown into the mix. While release drags a bit after a while, the songs presented here are a nice tribute to some of the crushing DM tracks we loved from the 90’s.

“Skinhunter Kill(ing)” delivers a very cool Dissmember-like opener and provides high hopes for this already entertaining release. The riffing is relentless and the drumming is superb, the growls are very typical and nicely fit into the vibe. “Sick AIDS” keeps things rolling with some more chugging riffs and very well crafted drum patterns, but “No More” is a song that nicely breaks the monotony with some nice tempo changes and even tighter drumming.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.