Album Reviews

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    Death Angel – Relentless Retribution (2010)

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    The year 2010 has been a year in terms of Thrash Metal releases; we had Exodus, Forbidden and Death Angel drop some very impressive records this year. “Relentless Retribution” showcases Death Angle mixing some of their older elements with more groove-oriented hints, creating a very powerful sounding album, probably their heaviest material to date.

    Led by Rob Cavestany and Ted Aguilar’s guitar work, the band never runs out of catchy riffs, powerful rhythmical section, and intense solos, all the elements of a traditional Thrash Metal release. Most songs have a very traditional approach to them having the Death Angel signature in every riff and melodic passage, without losing the occasional tempo increase, perfect for headbanging all night long.

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    Jumalhämärä – Resignaatio (2010)

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    Hailing from Finland, today we get one of the weirdest yet thought provoking releases of 2010. Jumalhämärä and their first full-length release in 14 years “Resignaatio”, come baring gifts with their highly deranged and experimental approach to Black Metal. The band combines elements of post-rock/metal, progressive metal, jazz, and Black Metal in a fashion that is not been achieved up until today. This band makes Solefald and such bands look rather straight forward and dull in their approach to music in comparison to what we find in “Resignaatio”.

    As an underground band for 14 years, Jumalhämärä is ready to take the stage and what better introductory card than “Resignaatio”. Opening the album with “Ecstasy in Blood – A Ballad”, for the first few minutes you might think that you are in for another raw mind-fucking BM release, but once you start noticing the different distortion, you will hear that there is something weird here… little do you know that after 5 minutes this song will explode into a full-on Post-Rock/Metal piece that will make your head hurt.

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    Grave Digger – The Clans Will Rise Again (2010)

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    Celebrating 30 years of the band’s existence, Grave Digger comes at us with one of their most impressive releases in their career. With “The Clans Will Rise Again”, the band goes somewhat back into their “Tunes of War” era and continues to sing about Scotland. Since the first song with the bagpipes, you get the feeling this album will be nothing short from epic.

    Chris Boltendahl vocals are as characteristic as always and greatly keep the Grave Digger sound alive. As the only remaining original member, he brings to the table all the experience of kicking ass and taking names over the span of 30 years. The rest of the band does a great job in capturing the old-school vibe of the genre and keeping it fresh with interesting keyboard sections and brilliant guitar riffs/solos.

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    Jaldaboath – Rise of the Heraldic Beasts (2010)

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    Everything that has to do with the Templar Knights has been of great interest for us in the past, so when we heard of this band playing ‘Templar-inspired Metal’ we quickly jumped in and started listening to “Rise of the Heraldic Beasts”. To our disappointment, Jaldaboath is a terrible band, we can’t really pinpoint if it’s the stupid lyrics (like on “Axe Wielding Nuns” for example) or the terrible simplistic music and vocals (i.e. “Hark the Herald”).

    Just imagine a bad mix of Alestorm and Nekrogoblikon, with a lot less inspiration and a lot more repetition. Half the songs on “Rise of the Heraldic Beasts” are very repetitive and get to be very annoying after a few songs. The terrible vocals of songs like “Hark the Herald” and “Axe Wielding Nuns” really kill the mood created by a few nice keyboard arrangements and catchy rhythmical sections.

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    Katra – Out of the Ashes (2010)

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    The lovely Katra is finally back with a 100% new release (the last album “Beast Within” was mostly songs from her debut album but translated from Finish to English). Katra is now also a full-fledged band not only a female solo artist with hired ‘monkeys’ to play the rest of the instruments like on her last album. With this ‘permanent’ band, Katra’s sound is more Metal and even more cohesive than before, making “Out of the Ashes” and excellent release that will surely be in our top 10 Symphonic/Gothic Metal albums of 2010.

    Featuring ex-members of Nocturn, October Falls, and many other Finish bands, Katra’s new band is actually very proficient musically and greatly incorporates Metal elements with more straightforward Rock elements. This will surely make “Out of the Ashes” accessible to both Metal and non-Metal fans alike, since it’s smooth and flows very nicely, never being too aggressive or weak.

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    Unsun – Clinic for Dolls (2010)

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    With a world-wide release of October 11th, today we get Unsun’s second Gothic Metal/Rock album “Clinic for Dolls”. Hailing from Poland, this band features on the country’s most renowned Metal guitarist Maurycy Stefanowicz (Mauser) from Vader, Christ Agony and Dies Irae fame. Rounding up the two-person permanent lineup from the band, we have Mauser’s wife Aya. In the album liner notes we have that ex-member’s Heinrich (bass guitar) and Vaaver (drums) still contributed to this album.

    Unsun, plays a very straight forward Gothic Metal that is easily identified by the powerful guitar riffs and sweet vocals from Aya. The band’s sound is nothing revolutionary and at some points gets a bit monotone, but by the standards of the genre, “Clinic for Dolls” is a very solid album.

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    Noctis Imperium – Nihil (2010)

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    Out of the hundreds of bands we receive every month, we have three main categories for them: great, terrible, and average. Noctis Imperium is one of those that fit exactly in the average category, there is nothing really wrong with it, but there is also nothing impressive to this band. The songs are catchy and brutal, but asides from this you can fast forward in between songs and everything will sound the same.

    Hailing from Venezuela, the band does a solid job in creating energetic Death/Black Metal songs. The band’s guitar work is pretty solid and catchy, and the solos are very well placed in the songs, we venture to say that the guitars and drumming (courtesy of Nicholas Barker) are probably the strongest elements of this band, since the rest falls on the ‘nothing out of the ordinary’ category.

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    Therion – Sitra Ahra (2010)

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    The legendary Therion is back with yet another very solid release that will please all fans of Symphonic Metal. As you can expect, Christofer Johnsson  does a great job in creating very epic songs that feature amazing choir sections, brilliant vocal solos, and the overall Therion sound. The only downside of this album is that you get more of the same and nothing else, so if you are a huge fan of the band this will surely please you to no end.

    Featuring 11 tracks, “Sitra Ahra” takes you into a very majestic journey into the bands unique world. You will get that the riffing and guitar solos is very simple to what we are used to get from Therion since the “Vovin” album. Keeping things simple and catchy, songs like “Kings of Edom” will greatly made you remember the “Vovin” era of the band. The choir sections of this song are great, and fit the overall pace of the song.

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    Return to Earth – Automata (2010)

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    With a very interesting and hard to peg sound, today we have Return to Earth’s second album “Automata”. Featuring ex- The Dillinger Escape Plan and current Coheed & Cambria’s drummer Chris Pennie, the band is ready to step in a bigger spotlight with this very solid sophomore release.

    “Automata” features 16 songs that range from weird sample/loopy stuff to full-on hard rock anthems that will stick to your head like duct tape. The album’s flow is very interesting since you wouldn’t expect such different songs to come together as they do here, the interludes between groups of songs (the tracks “1.0”, “2.0”, and “3.0”) create a very efficient separation of ‘movements’ in this release.

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    Revolution Renaissance – Trinity (2010)

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    “Trinity” is the swansong release of Revolution Renaissance, a band formed by Timo Tolkki after his departure from Stratovarius in 2008. This release features a vibe very similar to Stratovarius back in the old days, and for over 45 minutes, we get treated to some brilliant simple-yet-elegant Power Metal songs that never sound dull or pretentious.

    Love him or hate him, Timo Tolkki is one of the best guitarists that Metal has produced over the years, and his music songwriting abilities are equally impressive. Most of his stuff with Stratovarius and Revolution Renaissance previous albums are proof of his abilities (except for his terrible last two ‘solo’ albums). In “Trinity” he sticks to the basics of traditional Power Metal, with epic vocals (courtesy of Gus Monsanto), catchy guitar melodies, brilliant solos, super tight drumming, and subtle keyboard arrangements.

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