Album Reviews

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Ichabod – 2012 (2009)

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    With the waves of bands playing Stoner Rock/Metal with Psychedelic influences we have a hard time finding something worth listening to. Ichabod solves this problem for us with 2012, their 3rd full-length album in 11 years of existence. The band does a good job in reminding us what this genre is all about with their grooviness and heaviness.

    Hailing from Massachusetts, the band has the traditional American sound of this genre. They also do a great job in capturing the moodiness of stoner rock and making it their own. However, in whenever the band uses clean vocals they sound terrible; the singer really needs to get some lessons before attempting them again. The harsh vocals are good enough for a release of this kind.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Haken – Aquarius (2010)

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    Having formed back in 2007, Haken sounds like a band that’s been around for decades. Attempting to dethrone Dream Theater, Haken is here to blow us away with their impressive first release. The band comes close with a very good progressive Metal/Rock Jazzy album with “Aquarius”, but the only problem is that they sound too much like DT and IQ.

    “Aquarius” is a monumental 72 minute long release that is very impressive and every Prog fan should check this one out. In a few years Haken has done what it has taken 10-15 years to other bands. The band has polished their sound greatly and they can compose monumental 16 minute songs that will keep you engaged the whole time, with not a single dull moment.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Black Breath – Heavy Breathing (2010)

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    Relatively unknown Black Breath is ready to storm the scene with their very aggressive release “Heavy Breathing”. The band combines Trash, Death, and Crust-punk in a very random way, producing a very powerful sound that will grab you by the throat since track one.

    For a relatively young band, Black Breath does a great job in having a perfect Crossover sound that only a few bands can pull off. All songs feature great intensity and relentless riffing, showing their Trash meddle. “Heavy Breathing” is a very solid first effort from a band that shows great potential for the future.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Cathedral – The Guessing Game (2010)

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    Five years have passed since the band’s last effort “The Garden of Unearthly Delights” and Cathedral has returned with another brilliant release with “The Guessing Game”. Having been around for 20 years and evolving unlike any other band of their time, Cathedral breaks the mold of Stoner/Doom Metal music by adding more progressive and psychedelic elements to their already diverse sound.

    Lee Dorian and folks have never made a single album that had disappointed us and “The Guessing Game” is no exception to this rule. Released as a in a double CD, we have over 80 minutes of brilliant music that will surely please Cathedral fans. While the band is less ‘Doomy’ than before, they do a great job of combining Doom Metal riffs with a wide variety of instruments and sounds.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Jon Oliva’s Pain – Festival (2010)

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    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
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    Arryan Path – Terra Incognita (2010)

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    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
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    Lethal Saint – Lethal Saint (2010)

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    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)

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    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
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    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)

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    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.

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