Album Reviews

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Doro – Fear No Evil (2009) – Ultimate Collector’s Edition

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    For the super fans of Doro, AFM Record put together a very special ultimate collector’s edition of the metal queen’s “Fear No Evil” release. Here we will talk about the extra goodies presented in this lush collector’s edition boxed set, but if you want the full review of the album you can read it here.

    In the first CD we get the full “Fear No Evil” and two new bonus tracks: “All we are (2007)” and “On My Own” as well as new cover art. The second CD has the “Celebrate” EP that includes 3 different versions of the song, the ‘original’ version, the version with Biff Byford (very good in our opinion) and the full Metal female version which includes some of the best female metal vocalists in the scene. This song it-self is what makes the EP worth having for any female-fronted Metal fan in the world. The remaining two songs are “The Night of the Warlock” and “Rescue Me”.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Transcending Bizarre? - The Misanthrope's Fable (2010)

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    Being huge fans of bands that push the envelope, we have been greatly surprised by Transcending Bizarre? and their latest masterpiece: “The Misanthrope's Fable”. In this release the band takes us on a magical journey through their demented collective brain and for 46 minutes be prepared to be blown away by such an intricate and dark creation.

    In a time when most bands stick to their styles or play it safe and try to emulate what everybody else is doing, bands like Transcending are clear outliers in a very conformist music scene. Evocating comparisons to the great Arcturus, Solefald, Vulture Industries, Dodheimsgard, etc, Transcending Bizarre? excels at creating truly haunting and creepy songs that have so many layers and textures, making this songs have high replay value. Just by telling you that the album features a full children choir, you can imagine how terrible deranged and beautifully chaotic such a release can be.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Soufferance, Vision - Travels into Several Remote Nations of the Mind (2010)

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    Presented in a lush A3 digi-pack format, today we have Soufferance, Vision’s full-length release “Travels into Several Remote Nations of the Mind”. In this ambitious release, Peine (the mastermind behind this project) presents us with one 65 minute long track of chilling Dark Ambient music, with the intention of taking the listener through a journey through the subconscious and the human mind.

    Having been disconnected from the Dark Ambient scene for quite a while, we have to say that “Travels into Several Remote Nations of the Mind” feels very ethereal and mystical in nature. It might be the minimalistic nature of it, or the dark atmosphere around this release, but it made us actually sit down and fully open our ears and minds to this release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Permixtio - Il Canto dei Sepolcri (2010)

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    Labeled as ‘reflective Black Metal’, today we have Permixtio and their debut full-length “Il Canto dei Sepolcri”. Some people might immediately label this as Suicidal/Depressive Black Metal, but according to the press sheet, the lyrical content of this album diverges from these themes. Whatever the actual meaning is, Permixtio shows skills that only more mature bands have, and with “Il Canto dei Sepolcri” we get a monumental emotional Black Metal release that will creep under your skin.

    After a very ‘angelic’ choir intro, the band quickly drowns the listener with the mid-tempo distortion galore presented in “Il Canto dei Sepolcri”. In this track the dense mood is set by harshly distorted guitars and a hypnotic tempo that shifts from mid-tempo melancholy to raw Black Metal merciless assaults. While most bands focusing on emotional music almost never change from a ‘drowsy’ kind of pace, Permixtio goes back into the depts. of hell and opens a few windows while crafting their atmosphere during their songs.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Chelmno – Horizon of Events (2010)

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    Hailing from Italy, today we have Chelmno and their primitive raw Black Metal. In “Horizon of Events” this Italian beast of a band presents us with 37 minutes of pure Black Metal, something that only a few bands can pull off these days. With high similarity to Mayhem, Clandestine Ablaze, older Darkthrone, Horna, etc, the members of Chelmno are very effective in creating an abrasive sound that will blow you away.

    Like a furious storm in the sea, Chelmno comes at us (and our ears) with waves of crushing BM riffs that are greatly aided by the rawness of the production, making them sound primitive and extremely brutal, just like daddy ordered. While the band’s approach to the genre is nothing revolutionary, if you are a fan of music this raw and this fast, you will never complain about the 8 tracks of destruction packed in this release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Deep-pression - 4: Void of a Morning (2009)

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    Finalized before their 2009 split, Polish Deep-pression treat us (or torment us, however you want to see it) with their fourth full-length release “4: Void of a Morning”. With a very experimental style, “Void of a Morning” feels like a soundtrack to acid trips gone wrong and has a very hypnotic feel to it, almost rending us into a catatonic state.

    After a very traditional intro, with “Night Struggle” sets a very disturbing atmosphere with dissonant guitar licks, creepy spoken vocals, and a mind numbing (in a good way) droning feeling. While the interludes between tracks don’t help much to continue the atmosphere and flow of the album, they do provide a nice (and very short) breather between the longer 9+ minutes tracks. The rest of the tracks follow a similar atmospheric elements and spoken lyrics approach, but each one has their own creepiness to them.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Windbruch - Collision of the Worlds (2009)

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    Crushing and disarming are the perfect words to describe a good Depressive Black Metal release, and these words can easily be expressed about Windbruch’s debut full-length release “Collision of the Worlds”. Being a one-man band, most of the instrumentation of this release is superbly done and perfectly arranged to create 8 tracks of pure Depressive Black Metal hatred with some hints of Post-Black Metal and even some Shoegaze elements.

    With over 43 minutes of music, I.O (the mastermind behind the band) brings us seven very emotional pieces that sort of narrate the story of a person through seven days. Each of the tracks has its own soul and together they create a very cohesive album, the only one we didn’t quite like is the Akira Yamaoka cover of “Theme of Laura”, since it just sounds too happy for this kind of release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Siculicidium - Utolsó Vágta az Univerzumban (2009)

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    Finding its way to our mailing address, today we have Siculicidium and their first full-length release of crushing Black Metal. “Utolsó Vágta az Univerzumban” or “Last Gallop in the Universe” contains 6 tracks of dense apocalyptic Black Metal in the vein of bands like Inquisition and such. For 39 minutes we are taken into the dark deep corners of the bands very destructive sound.

    Before you move on to the next review thinking that Siculicidium is just another Black Metal band, you better stick around since this release features a very effective aural attack that combines both rawness and melody in a brilliant manner to produce a very old-school sounding album.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Pyscho – Pain Addict Pigs (2010)

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    Catchy old-school ‘horror’ Metal seems to be the game plan for Singapore’s Pyscho. In their full-length “Pain Addict Pigs”, the band showcases their old-school chops in crafting Death/Black/Thrash Metal tunes with the vibrant horror movies influences that made so many bands in the past iconic to the scene.

    Featuring a very diverse combination of genres, Pyscho takes on a trip down on memory lane with their old-school approach to Death/Black/Thrash Metal, but using ‘newer’ movies for their lyrical content. For 9 tracks, the band does a great job crafting catchy and mosh-worthy songs that will get high replay value in your music playlist.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Nadiwrath – Nihilistic Stench (2010)

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    Featuring Wrath and the other session members of Dodsferd, today we have Nadiwrath and their debut full-length “Nihilistic Stench” release. In this release we are treated to some Punk infused Black Metal and judging from some of the song names, things are not taken completely seriously when it comes to the ideas behind the lyrics.

    Before listening to the album we expected something along the lines of Dodsferd’s depressive Black Metal, but we got surprised by the crushing and straight forward approach that Nadiwrath takes. That being said, the band is very ‘vanilla’ in their musical approach and might only impress a few people that haven’t been listening to Black Metal for a long time.

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