Featuring one of the weirdest covers ever, Heirs delivers their sophomore released titled “Fowl”. In this album the band explores many different genres, manages to stitch them all together and create a truly disturbing and very complex listening experience.

We have been putting out writing this review for quite a while due to the complexity and intricacies of this very dense release. The band creates very thick layers of guitars that are nicely maneuvered to shape seven songs that are very complex and multi-layered, leaving the listener baffled at first glance.

Hailing from Germany’s Massacre records, today we have Marienbad and their debut album “Werk 1: Natchfall” released both in English and Germany languages. Being the good journalists we are, we never heard of this band before and gave it a spin before reading the promo notes and we came up to the unanimous decision this band sounded like a mixture of Eisregen and The Vision Bleak with a darker edge. To our surprise this band is formed by M. Roth and Yantit (of Eisregen) and features Allen B. Konstanz (of The Vision Bleak) on drums.

With a very dark and varied sound, Marienbad is one of the most entertaining and diverse bands we have heard in quite a while. They manage to combine dramatic vocals with shrieks, the way only M. Roth can do, with powerful guitar riffs, tight drumming and very interesting atmospheric elements. All of these ingredients create a very dark and thick atmosphere that will hypnotize you.

With all of the venom and hatred that the Swedish black metal outfit Horde of Hel lives and breathes they bring you their latest release, “Likdagg”. Delivering a relentless slab of black metal it seems like the band has taken a different direction from their last album “Blodskam”. Stripping themselves mostly of the electronic effects and distortions that they’ve used in the past, the album comes across as a raw form of pure brutality.

Keeping with their anonymity, names won’t be revealed but the vocalist delivers a powerful performance with ongoing maliciousness and aggression.

Few months before the release of their sixth full-length album, the Russian guys of the Pagan/Folk Metal Arkona decided to keep listeners a little taste of their new release with the EP “Stenka na Stenku”. In this release we have one song from the upcoming album, and five more previously unreleased tracks. The EP features just enough material to keep the band’s hordes of fans happy until their new full-length.

Opening the EP we have “Stenka Na Stenku”, a very dynamic track that shows the wide spectrum of elements that comprise the band’s sound. Masha’s vocals are as excellent as always and the festive feeling to the song makes it a very catchy and effective Pagan/Folk Metal piece. The accordion-like keyboards are very well fitting in this awesome song.

After their monumental “Wreath of Thevetat”, Finland’s best Symphonic/Melodic Black Metal band Alghazanth returns with a very interesting offering titled “Vinum Intus”. In three years between releases, the band has managed to fuse new elements into their sound and will surely take by surprise a lot of people, but they still manage to deliver a crushing release.

The album starts off very rudimentary with the straight forward track titled “A Living Grace”. In this song you can immediately notice a simpler and less bombastic sound from the band, but equally cold and raw than before (and other Finish bands like Sargeist and Horna). The keyboard hints are a nice atmospheric element added to this song. The band gets a bit more comfortable and melodic with “With a Thorn in Our Hearts”, some guitar riffs even remind us of Celestia and their melancholy Black Metal style.

After gives us four very bleak and depressive first full-length releases, Forgotten Tomb returns with an equally melancholic release but with a different sonic effect under the name of “Under Saturn Retrograde”. In this album the band moves forward to lands charted by Agalloch, Fen, etc. and creates a very rich listening experience while maintaining some of the dark emotions from the past.

The opener track “Reject Existence” is both brutal (great harsh vocals) and very melodic due to the majestic guitars and overall pace of the song. The band is not slowing down, and you can hear their earlier influences but they are now polishing their sound in a very interesting way. “Shutter” starts off very aggressive but near the middle of the track the experimentation begins and there are some excellent Doom Metal inspired sections.

Hailing from the Northern lands of Canada, today we have Syrynx and their debut EP. The band features the talents of female vocalist Mikki Straatsma (VIVEYNNE) and mixes many musical influences creating a very diverse sounding release.

Featuring six tracks, this EP ranges from instrumental pieces to very catchy Nu Metal sounding tunes with some Progressive elements. There is a clear indication that the band is still developing their own style since some sections of the songs seem very confusing and not cohesive enough. While the talent is there, we believe that some more polishing to these tracks would have made for a better EP.

Necrophagia have been the pioneers of gore metal and horror metal since the early eighties and have proven not to disappoint with their latest release “Deathtrip 69” which was actually due to be released in October of 2010 but was delayed for unknown reasons. It is now upon us and shows that they can still bring metal to the metal masses in its goriest form.

I wouldn’t classify this as death metal but it horror metal with death and grindcore metal vocals supplied by Killjoy who is also the founder of Necrophagia. “Deathtrip 69” starts out with howling winds and wrenching guitars and a voice in the background talking about the Book of the Dead before it gives away to Killjoy’s venemous barks and growls. “Tomb with a View” is catchy with crunchy guitar riffs and powerful chorus. “Suffering Comes in Sixes” begins with the quote “You can always smell a graveyard”, from one of my all-time favorite movies “The Prophecy” and continues with Boris Randall giving a brilliant guitar solo here and Shawn Slusarek gives us some crushing drumwork with methodical rhythm. “Kyra” features dual vocals between Killjoy and Amen’s Casey Chaos and it slams in your face with complete brutality.

Featuring a new vocalist (the guy from Susperia) and a different sound (mainly Southern Rock influences), we have Chrome Division and their third full-length release “3rd Round Knockout”. Featuring Shagrath on guitars, this band has gained momentum with their first two releases and their combination of Heavy Metal and Hard Rock elements. However, we foresee some difficulties in their future due to their sudden change of musical style and change of vocalist.

While the ‘Southern’ Chrome Division is not bad, it is also leap years behind bands like The New Black and similar others. “3rd Round Knockout” features 10 very catchy songs that do get a bit repetitive and dull after the first five. Shady Blue has an interesting voice, but it is not rough enough for this kind of music.

Did somebody ordered a 40 minute session of brutal Death/Black Metal? if your answer is yes, then you should definitely check out Korpius and their crushing debut album “Shades of Black” out on Maple Metal records. With a crystal clear production and engaging songs, “Shades of Black” is by far the most brutal release we have received from Canadian lands this 2011.

Crushing their way through nine tracks this Canadian foursome does a great job in keeping things brutal and straight forward. All riffs in this album a very meaty and have tons of ‘traditional’ DM hooks that will keep fans satisfied for endless hours. The drumming is also massive and the vocals are as inhuman as you can get. Both the growls and the shrieks that go into Grindcore territory at times are very well balanced to give enough power to this release.