Album Reviews

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Tarot – Gravity Of Light (2010)

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    The charismatic Marco Hietala brings us the ninth full-length release of his first band: Tarot. While this band is widely recognized in Finland and Europe, the band has been relatively unknown in the USA. With Marco’s popularity increase since he joined Nightwish in 2001, and his work with Northen Kings, Tarot is finally getting the worldwide spotlight they deserve.

    Playing Heavy Metal, Tarot is a band that has always released good albums over the years. “Gravity Of Light” is another one of their solid releases and if you like Marco’s voice, you need no other reason to get this release (even though he does not sign as much as we wish). The band’s music has always been ‘standard’ and we might even argue that feels a bit tired after nine releases that sound very much alike.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Great Awakening – Hit n Run (2009)

     

    Jumping on the Trash revival bandwagon we have Great Awakening from the USA. Having formed in Florida in 2006, the band does a great job in bringing the good-old days of Trash back. Great Awakening’s music is very decent for a Trash Metal release, but they do not offer any edge that would allow us to consider them a force to be reckoned with.

    Their 2009 demo titled “Hit n’ Run” showcase 3 very decent songs Trashy songs that have the old-school vibe, but are missing some soul and originality to them. While we don’t expect every band to re-invent the wheel, we do expect some level of originality when it comes to playing a genre that has been around for over 20 years.

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    Scarred – Haunting Memories (2010)

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    Next up we have Scarred and their Power Metal music with “Haunting Memories”, their latest EP. Hailing from the USA the band does a great job at incorporating influences from Metal Church and even the all-mighty Savatage into their sound. The album features 24 minutes of nicely composed songs that sound fresh compared to what most Power Metal bands are doing these days.

    Without exploiting the ‘let’s play as fast as we can’ approach, the band creates solid songs that feature ‘slower’ but crushing riffs. Sometimes they even sound a bit like Doom/Stoner Metal bands, and we totally dig this different approach to a genre that is full of virtuosos showing off.

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    Sabbath Assembly - Restored to One (2010)

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    With a highly elaborate theological foundation we have Sabbath Assembly, a gathering of musicians featuring Jex Thoth. Following the ideologies of Process Church of the Final Judgment a cult from the 60’s and 70’s, Sabbath Assambly’s “Restored to One” is a ‘re-charging’ of this cult’s hymns and brought to the general audience in form of psychedelic rock songs.

    We love anything that has to do with theology, and especially stuff about cults so “Restored to One” is a very interest release for us. The whole idea of having three great gods of the universe in Jehovah, Lucifer and Satan, sound like a crack-pot theory that my friend would cook up during an acid trip. However, not all ideas behind the Process Church were as crazy as this one.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Thulcandra – Fallen Angel’s Dominion (2010)

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    Fronted by Steffen Kummerer from Obscura, today we have a very impressive band from Germany. Thulcandra comes with the slogan of “the heirs to Dissection’s throne” and this could not be any more accurate. The band excels at making Death/Black Metal music unlike anybody these days.

    The influences of Dissection and Emperor are clearly present, but the band takes this further with their own technical abilities. For a band that has been together since 2004, and has never release a full-length, “Fallen Angel’s Dominion” is an impressive achievement.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Necronomicon - The Return Of The Witch (2010)

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    After an absence of 6 years, we finally get a new release from Canadian Necronomicon. Since the impressive “The Sacred Medicines” the band has been lurking in the shadows, but finally they make their big label debut with “The Return Of The Witch” out on Napalm Records.

    Necronomicon combines straight-up Death Metal with some melodic influences. However, the band sounds nothing like all the Melodic DM bands these days. Their music is very brutal and less flashy than other bands. They have also added some minor Black Metal influences in the riffing, but nothing major and it’s just to enrich the band’s brutal sound.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Enforcer – Diamonds (2010)

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    After a very well received “Into the Night”, Enforcer is back with their 80’s inspired Heavy Metal, and with “Diamonds” they manage to pick up where they left off two years ago. The band is clearly very influenced by the 80’s and they sound exactly if they traveled through time in order to show us how it was done back then.

    While some people might call them posers, we have to say that if the music is done correctly and it has the same feeling, then it does not matter that Enforcer is a flashback band, they kick ass and take names. Showcasing a perfect balance of Heavy/Trash Metal from the 80’s “Diamonds” is a pretty solid album that will make you want to dig out your favorite tapes and LP’s from those glory days.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Vektor – Black Future (2009)

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    With the logo calling for similarities from Voivod we were expecting a soulless clone of this band, but instead we found a very good Progressive Trash Metal American band that is set to make a name of their own. Hailing from Arizona, this quartet does a great job into mixing progressive elements with old-school Trash that will blow you away.

    While there are some Voivod influences, “Black Future” is an album that clearly stands out from all the ‘new’ Trash Metal releases these days. The riffing is the main driving force behind this release, but it’s perfectly crafted around complex song structures that are unlikely in many Trash releases.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Jewish Juice – Hidden Into Rotten… With a Black Flame of Light (2007)

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    Hailing from Italy we have Jewish Juice. This Italian band plays a mean combination of Trash/Death and Black Metal. “Hidden Into Rotten” is the band’s second release and shows signs of a good band that needs to mature a little bit. The album mixes 3 very chaotic tracks with two tracks that are very solid, showing the band’s future potential.

    The band’s musical style needs to be refined a bit more since the combination of genres is sometimes annoying since there are several Death metal oriented tracks mixed with Black Metal songs, and we would prefer that those things are either properly combined or just pick one genre. This is usually the problem we find with beginner bands, they want to do many things but they can’t merge them together properly.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Jewish Juice – Soaring Above Death (2009)

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    After listening to Italy’s Jewish Juice second release “Hidden Into Rotten… With a Black Flame of Light” we were very interested to listen if the band’s talent was going to be consolidated into creating a better release than “Hidden Into Rotten”. For our general surprise the band has done a great job in maturing and crafting their own sound and not needing to throw a bunch of shit together in order to sound brutal or different. With “Soaring Above Death” we get 5 songs that really show what this band is capable off.

    In “Soaring Above Death”, the band has come to terms and decided to go with a Black Metal foundation that has Death Metal influences, but it’s never chaotic and badly constructed like on some songs of their previous release. The vocals still vary between growls and BM screams, but they feel more uniform and never get to be obnoxious.

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