Hailing from Greece, today we have the Hard Rockers of Dope Flood delivering their 3 song EP titled “A Planet on Four Legs”. With a very mainstream sound, this Greek newcomer has a very catchy sound and excellent tunes, but sounds exactly like any other Hard Rock album we get here at Infernal Masquerade. While we are not saying this is bad, the band faces a hard up-hill battle to get noticed an hopefully signed in the future.

Immediately opening “Uncertain” with some powerful riffing the band’s sound becomes evidently mainstream, with the very familiar sounding vocal style. The production on the drums and guitars also sounds like most music we hear on the ‘alternative rock’ radio stations. The song itself is very well crafted and catchy, and if consider the band is from Greece, then they sound exactly like an American band taking a crack at this genre. But if you don’t consider that, they just sound like any other band playing in a club on Tuesday night.

Usually when we get promos with two songs clocking over 30 minutes they are pretty bad. However, Deschain totally proved us wrong with their self-released Melodic Black Metal assault titled “Sea of Trees Forest of Gallows”. With minimal ‘cascadian hipster Black Metal’ influences in their sound, we are completely puzzled as how they have managed to fly under the radar with such a rich and diverse European BM sound.

Hailing from Indiana, this very young band (formed in 2008), has already two self-produced releases under their belts and with this one they are looking to storming the scene by surprise. It is rare that a band can pull off 15+ minute songs that never get dull or repetitive, but Deschain seems to not have any problems doing this. In a time when most ‘average’ Black Metal bands shy away from songs over 6 minutes, it is very cool to hear that some folks can belt out these mammoth pieces and totally rock while doing so.

Arriving just in time to be the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for Stoner Rockers, today we have Orange Goblin and their seventh full-length release “A Eulogy for the Damned”. In their first album in four years, the band returns in full-strength to deliver 10 tracks of super catchy and high-quality Stoner Rock/Metal unlike you’ve ever heard before.

Aging as a fine wine, the band shows their awesome song-writing skills that have been constantly improving over the years. Backed by the production and engineering magic of Jamie Dodd and mastered by two-time Grammy-nominated Pink Floyd engineer Andy Jackson, “A Eulogy for the Damned” has the band sounding at its best. Since the opening “Red Tide Rising”, the bar is set very high with catchy guitar melodies and very energetic vocals.

Returning from a four year absence, today we have Iron Savior and their outstanding release “The Landing”. In this release the band makes a triumphant return with 11 tracks of pure Power Metal that will have you chanting with every chorus section and headbanging to the catchy guitars. It is highly evident that only bands like Iron Savior know exactly what to do (and how to do it) in order to deliver a timeless sound that everybody will enjoy from beginning to end.

After the epic momentum builder “Descending”, the band fully explodes into Power Metal mode with “The Savior”. In this song the guitars are super catchy and powerful, but the timeless vocals of Piet Sielck take the spotlight away. The vocal melodies are very well crafted thanks to great lead and backing vocals, a staple of the genre, and something that Iron Savior excels at. While sounding like a million bucks, this song (and the whole release) is very down to basics in the sense of instrumentation but by no means sounds limited.

With a very interesting combination of atmospheric and folk elements with brutal Black Metal, Foret D’Orient delivers us their first EP called “Essedvm”. In this release the band instantly reminded us of the early Dismal Euphony releases, a feat that no band has done to date. Featuring six brilliantly crafted tracks, this Italian band delivers just the right amount of melody and atmosphere to offset the Black Metal side of things and create very emotional and powerful songs.

With a lush and epic opening track with “Campo Di Marte”, the band really generates expectation in the listener. The acoustic sections are very well introduced and nicely help in the build-up process. “Sagitta” wastes no time and delivers powerful riffing accompanied with hellish vocals, this song nicely evolves into a more melodic territories as the song progresses. The use of the harp in this song is very eerie and works wonderfully when paired with some whispers, just to fully explode into powerful riffs and harsh vocals. This hypnotic atmosphere is what we usually yearn for, and this band excels at it, too bad the song ends somewhat abruptly.

Hailing from Canada, today we have Empyrean Plague and their very well crafted Melodic Death/Black Metal that will surely grab your attention immediately. “Imprint Evidence Destiny” delivers seven aural assaults that very creatively combine Melodic Death/Black Metal with Folk and Viking Metal elements; this creates a very rich palette of sounds that even after a considerable amount of listens you will not be able to fully discover this release.

With oozing melody, the band opens the album with the 7 minute epic “Deciphering The Norse Code”. The guitar work is excellent and has that semi-rough feeling that only young bands usually have. The vocals are powerful but never overly done giving that nice contrast to the music. The bass guitar is very present and nicely balanced in the mix as well. “Imprint Evidence Destiny” continues in a similar fashion with super catchy melodic sections and very effective ‘speed ups’. The drumming is also very good and both songs (and the rest) have a wide variety of different patterns.

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.

As a perfect continuation/extension of their acclaimed (and excellent) “Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I”, Earth is releasing the second part of this masterpiece in 2012. The new album titled “Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II”, keeps the very hypnotic sound of the first one and extends it for over 45 minutes more.

With a very whimsical approach to music, Earth continues to break the molds and produces five tracks of brilliant atmospheric quality that almost nobody else can pull off. The minimalist nature of the band’s compositions will have you at the edge of your seat waiting for what is next and you will react to it. Moving away from the Drone/Doom Metal the band used to execute, this record feels like a right of passage into a more mature and different age for Earth.