As one of the best Symphonic Power Metal projects in the world, Avantasia is one of our favorite bands and we anxiously waited for this live release. However, we only got the promo for the CD tracks and they don’t really show (in our opinions) the real sound of Avantasia.

We all love the brilliant production and the countless guest appearances in the albums, but somehow in the live setting we get a much stripped down version of Avantasia. Having a less bombastic and more straight-forward sound, “The Flying Opera” mostly showcases Tobias Sammet’s singing abilities and some pretty solid Heavy Metal tracks.

The tone is set to heavy with Gates of Slumber’s latest album; the riffs crawl along at a sludge-like tempo with an eeriness weaving in and out of the pattern. Moving away from their usual theme of swords and sorcery and into the real world was a wise choice for their part as well the pick for new drummer, J “Cool” Clyde” Paradis. His drumming has a vibe to it that sounds like it made even vocalist Karl Simon and bassist Jason McCash step up their game a bit.

The Progressive Viking Metal kings mark their return with “The Lay of Thrym”, and as we can hear it is a pretty convincing one indeed. Two years have passed since “By the Light of the Northern Star”, and with this new album the band picks-up exactly where they left of and continue their onslaught with very well crafted Viking epics.

If you are not a stranger to Týr’s older works, you will definitely love “The Lay of Thrym”, however, if you are new to the band, this will be a very good introduction into the magical sound behind this very talented band. In the 10 tracks presented in this release, we are treated to very intricate guitar work, catchy clean vocals, and full songs that grab your attention and keep it for the duration of the release.

The Scottish Pirates are finally back with another epic of pirates, wenches, and drinking, but they seemed to have added time travel to the equation this time. In “Back through Time”, Alestorm delivers 11 tracks of exactly the same thing they have been doing for the last past years: catchy, wacky, and irreverent Pirate Metal.

We all know that the band is not the most talented one when it comes to making the most complicated and elaborated songs out there, but they have managed to find a niche that allows them to be enjoyed by thousands of Metalheads (including us). If you are not aware of the band’s previous releases, this is a band you will either love or hate, no middle ground.

Origin has arrived with their highly anticipated follow up to 2008’s “Antithesis” and with brand new vocalist Jason Keyser joining the ranks as well they prove to be an unstoppable force of brutality. The onslaught of double-pedal drumming and shredding riffs joined by death metal growls and shrieks is enough to make your head explode like that one scene in Scanners but is it enough to hold your attention? These are all highly talented musician but there is the repetition factor that might turn off the listener.

Finally! And American act that can rival European bands in the lands of dark Folk/Neo-Folk music. Aerial Run’s latest offering “Valleys of the Earth” delivers a very engaging and ethereal album that will surely gain them some comparisons to: Ulver (very early), Empyrium (a bit less dark and lush), The Moon And The Nightspirit, and similar bands.

The album starts with the very somber “Amends”, this track nicely features lush acoustic guitars and very depressing vocals. While the album is not reeking of originality, all compositions in this release are very pleasing a ranging between different moods. The album nicely builds up and around track six; we have ‘faster’ paced sections that unsettle the flow (in a good way).

Our favorite Industrial Metal degenerates are back with a very pleasant release with “Perstechnique”. After being blown away by them live (read here). We are huge fans from this completely under-rated beast of a band. The band’s previous releases intoxicate fans with brilliant dual-vocal attacks (courtesy of MC Raaka Pee and Spellgoth) and super catchy electronic elements (courtesy of RunQ of Tarot and Eternal Tears of Sorrow fame).

In “Perstechnique” the band reinforces their position as one of the best bands of the genre and hopefully this leads to world domination (and touring). There are a few songs in English and while the rest are in Finish, we don’t really care since the music is so catchy and intoxicating. The beats of tracks like “Grand Ball”, “Hanska” and “Hellhound Earth” are just magical.

Leading our monthly pile of ‘WFT?’ releases today we have Italian OvO and their sixth full-length ‘album’ named “Cor Cordium”. If you are one of those snobs that likes a bunch of random shit put together connected through some sort of ‘theme’ and pretends to fully ‘get it’, then you will love this release. For us, normal Metal (and some Experimental/Avant-garde stuff) this is exactly what “Cor Cordium” is: a bunch of random shit put together.

Elitist unleashes a brand new fury among the masses with a combination of death and black metal and sludgecore. Hailing out of Portland, Oregon the quartet takes you through the depths of despair with Josh Green’s screams of anger that’s only met by a blazing hatred of screeching guitars and pummeling drum work.