Album Reviews

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Jon Oliva’s Pain – Festival (2010)

    cover

    With the Spotlight shining on the Bay Area Trash Metal scene once more we have legendary bands releasing their finest releases to date like Exodus and Heathen. We also have other bands resurrecting like Forbidden, all this activity has made other bands like Kaos want to make another push to establish themselves as major players of the scene.

    Kaos has been around since the late 80’s releasing demo after demo until their first album saw the light of day in 2000 with “Vision Beyond”. After that the band signed to Relentless Records in order to release “Kaos Among Us”. Fast-forward to 2010 and we get the band’s latest offering with “The Pits Of Existence”, an album that clearly captures the old-school feeling and it’s marked to push Kaos into the spot light.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Arryan Path – Terra Incognita (2010)

    cover

    Arryan Path is the second band we review from Cyprus this week and this one is a way better than the last one we did. The band plays Epic Power Metal with some hints of Middle Eastern influences like Orphaned Land does.

    “Terra Incognita” is the band’s second release, and it’s a pretty solid one. This album comes to us as a surprise, especially after the last 10 Power Metal albums we have received sound exactly the same. Arryan Path has a very unique feeling to their music and this is what makes them stand out from the rest.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Lethal Saint – Lethal Saint (2010)

    cover

    In our playlist we find ourselves today with Lethal Saint’s self-title debut album. After doing some research we find out that the band hails from Cyprus and they formed back in 2006. As you would imagine from the cover of this album, the band is plays old-school Heavy Metal, a style that has been gaining a second round at the spotlight and many bands are jumping in to capitalize on this movement.

    “Lethal Saint” features 12 songs and over 70 minutes of music, a feat that seems very impressive for a band’s first release. However, the overall impression is that this release is a hit and miss festival, there are good songs, and then some very bad ones. The common factor that brings this band’s debut release to a low score of 70 points is the off-key vocalist.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Silent Fall – Otherwise (2010)

    cover

    Hailing from France we have Silent Fall, a band that recently changed their name from Winterland and play a mean combination of Melodic Power/Heavy Metal. In the same vein as compatriots Adagio, the band specializes in bombastic melodies filled with intricate guitar and keyboard arrangements.

    The big name Japanese band called Versailles is the first comparison that comes to mind once we started listening to “Otherwise” the band’s first full-length release. While Silent Fall is less theatrical than Versailles, the vocal sound and the overall song structure is very similar. And if you know who Versailles is, you know that a comparison to them should not be taken lightly.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Kaos – The Pits Of Existence (2010)

    cover

    With the Spotlight shining on the Bay Area Trash Metal scene once more we have legendary bands releasing their finest releases to date like Exodus and Heathen. We also have other bands resurrecting like Forbidden, all this activity has made other bands like Kaos want to make another push to establish themselves as major players of the scene.

    Kaos has been around since the late 80’s releasing demo after demo until their first album saw the light of day in 2000 with “Vision Beyond”. After that the band signed to Relentless Records in order to release “Kaos Among Us”. Fast-forward to 2010 and we get the band’s latest offering with “The Pits Of Existence”, an album that clearly captures the old-school feeling and it’s marked to push Kaos into the spot light.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Flagellation – Incinerate Disintegrate (2007)

    cover

    Coming from Sweden we received Flagellation’s EP “Incinerate Disintegrate” and after doing some research on this band we noticed that disbanded back in 2009. We assume the band is trying to re-group and gain momentum again since we got this EP in 2010, if not it’s the first release we ever get from the grave.

    Funny note aside, Flagellation plays Death Metal in a very brutal and stylish way, something that we haven’t heard much in a while, especially since Zyklon disbanded. The band (at the time of the EP recording in 2006) features members from Loch Vostok, Wuthering Heights, as well as many other Swedish bands. Musically, Flagellation was onto something big in 2007 when the EP was released.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Condemned To Live – Nuke First…Ask Questions Later (2009)

    cover

    Every once in a while we get tired of listening to over produced albums Death Metal that sound so good that sometimes we even forget we are listening to Metal, something that has to be brutal and aggressive, not pretty sounding. For those occasions we have found the perfect solution: Condemned To Live’s debut album “Nuke First…Ask Questions Later”.

    The band hails from San Jose, California, and it’s formed by a very peculiar group of individuals (so they claim). Featuring a Porn Star and a Cannabis Cup participant as the most notable one, the band plays Death Metal with some Grind and Black Metal influences. With 8 tracks and 35 minutes of music they have a solid calling card with “Nuke First” and hopefully will allow them to generate enough buzz for them to keep releasing albums like this.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Post Mortem – Message For The Dead (2009)

    cover

    As one of the first underground Death/Trash Metal bands in the USA, Post Mortem has left a handful of cult releases, most notably “Coroner’s Office” back in 1986. The band never reached its full potential and being in hiatus for most of the 90’s due to internal conflicts we are left only with pieces of what could have been an even more influential band.

    Reforming back in 2003 with their “Coroner’s Office” line-up the band was set for a comeback, only to be set back by the death of John McCarthy, the band’s vocalist. Fast-forward several years; we get “Message For The Dead”, the band’s long awaited latest release. A release that is a tribute to McCarthy and to apace the longtime fans of this band.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Since Yesterday – Artificial Truth (2010)

    cover

    It has been a very international month here at Infernal Masquerade reviewing (and receiving) albums from all over the world. Since Yesterday hails from Ankara, Turkey and they are planning a massive global take over with their superb debut album “Artifical Truth”.

    As an avid reader of Infernal Masquerade you should know that we do not like the majority of the mainstream Metalcore band and albums. However, we are truly objective when we get any releases for reviewing purposes and sometimes we get true gems that will surely take by surprise the genre and will shake out the established bands of their grandeur pipe dreams of super stardom.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Exortum – City In The Dead Mask (2009)

    cover

    This month we find ourselves reviewing another band from the country that makes up 1/5th of the world: Russia. Hailing from Moscow we have Exortum, and band that plays Melodic Death Metal with plenty of clean vocals and even some breakdowns (but not in a really bad way).

    The band’s four song EP is called “City In The Dead Mask”, yep, that is what is called. But don’t be fooled by the odd WTF title, the band’s music is very good, in fact the album could be called “Raping Clowns” for all we care and this will not take anything away from the quality of this band.

Pages

Recent Image Galleries