Album Reviews

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Norse – Hellstorm (2010)

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    Hailing from Australia, today we have Norse, a young band that plays Viking/Melodic Death Metal with a vengeance. These Aussies are ready to break shit and waste no time in doing so with the Amon Amarth sounding first track “Hellstorm”. All through the album the same level of intensity is consistent, and we completely love that.

    The band is heavily influenced by Amon Amarth (and similar Nordic mythology influenced Black/Death Metal bands) as we can tell from the way their music sound, the cover art, and the song names. But make no mistake and think that Norse is just a cheap clone of previously mentioned bands; they are pretty good at creating original music that stands by itself.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Exodus – Exhibit B: The Human Condition (2010)

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    Two years have passed since the so-so “Let There Be Blood” and now we have Exodus back in full swing. The band has managed to produce a very impressive album with “Exhibit B: The Human Condition” that it reminds us of their earlier days, but with that modern edge that the band has been incorporating into their sound.

    This new release is both more Melodic and Brutal, but the best part is that it sounds like Exodus all the way, no filler songs, no disconnection between track, “Exhibit B: The Human Condition” is a brilliant album from start to end. The listener is in for an impressive Trash Metal riff-a-ton courtesy of Gary Holt and Lee Altus.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Salem - Playing God And Other Short Stories (2010)

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    Hailing from Israel, Salem is a very ‘diverse’ band that plays a combination of Death/Gothic/Doom Metal and it’s pretty good at it….. until now. “Playing God And Other Short Stories” is a very, very weird album that will either get on your nerves after the first three songs or you will totally love it. We are kind of in the middle since we think some songs are good and others are dreadful.

    The first thing you will notice is the mixing on the drums is way high and makes them sound weird, plus the band does use some weird drumming structures on their songs (so we think) making it sound like a drum circle on crack. In other words, we think the percussions are extremely overdone in this release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Master – The Human Machine (2010)

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    The legendary Master is back again with “The Human Machine” and it’s ready to blow some heads off with their traditional old-school Trash/Death Metal aural assault that we have been witnessing since the band first started, back in the 80’s. Note: If you don’t know who the almighty Master is, then you need to get your Metal facts straight and do some research before you continue to listening to Metal music.

    “The Human Machine” features the gritty sound that we all love from the Death Metal records produced in the 90’s and sadly is probably one of the best things that the album has to offer. By no means “The Human Machine” is a bad album, but it just sounds a bit stale from what we have been used to hear from Master, and even “Slaves to Society” is a far superior album than this one.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Dark Age – Acedia (2010)

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    Apparently we had this little gem of an album sitting on our ‘to review’ folder for quite some time and it just recently got its deserved play time. We really regret not having enjoyed this fine release when it was released since it features a very interesting combination of Melodic Death Metal with what you can call ‘pop metal’ influences.

    This German band has been known for releasing ‘average’ Melodic Death Metal bands, but until this release they will either standout more or be hated by their previous fans. Fusing electronic elements and clean vocals we get a bit of a ‘pop metal’ feeling to this album, and while this prevails through most of the album, the underlying foundations of the music are very much like their earlier stuff: melodic riffs and catchy song structures.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    The Abominable Iron Slot – The Id Will Overcome (2010)

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    Hailing from several cities across the USA we have The Abominable Iron Slot or is it The Indomitable Iron slot?? Since they keep changing it we kind of lost track of it, but apparently the CD has the first name on its cover. Anyways, the band plays Sludge/Stoner Metal with as much inspiration as you can get from watching paint dry.

    We usually like good releases in the Sludge/Stoner metal genre, but “The Id Will Overcome” is definitely not one of them. Using a massive amount of recycled riffs through this album, we feel the band’s inspiration was almost not existent and they just chugged out whatever they could come up in a few minutes.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Twilight – Monument To Time End (2010)

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    Being revived back in 2009 by Black Judd (Nachtmystium) and Wrest (Leviathan, Krieg) we have Twilight, no relation to the gay vampire fest currently destroying America’s youth. The band featured members of several American Black Metal bands, and now it includes Sanford Parker (Minsk), Stavros Giannopolous (The Atlas Moth) and Aaron Turner (ISIS), making it a true ‘all-star band’.

    As the main characteristic of all the musicians in Twilight, we have that all of them have created music that is both fresh and different in the American Metal scene. The unison of such minds comes to life with “Monument To Time End” in a very interesting way, making Black Metal take a whole new dimension.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Year Of No Light – Ausserwelt (2010)

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    Around the same vein as Ufo Mammuth, we have Year Of No Light, and band that does great justice to its name by playing mesmerizing Ambient Doom with Shoegaze influences that will take you in a dark voyage with a considerable lack of light. Hailing from France, this band has a very crushing sound, mostly due to the fact that they have three guitar players and two drummers, one of the richest line-ups we have ever seen in a band.

    “Ausserwelt” is a 48 minute journey into a dark and desolate place that features a very rich and powerful soundtrack. With 4 tracks the band manages to create a super thick atmosphere that only a handful of bands are capable of. This album is not for the weak of mind and will surely blow yours away with every listen you dedicate to it.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Masterplan – Far From The End Of The World (Single) (2010)

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    After a one album absence we have Jørn Lande back on the vocals for Masterplan, and this single shows a nice preview on how good the band’s next release “Time To Be King” will be. Featuring two versions of the title song and another cut from the upcoming album, we have to say that this single is short and sweet, and it will create great expectations for the full-length due out on the end of May.

    With the band’s original line-up sans Uli Kusch, “Far From The End Of The World” is an epic track that will surely be one of the best of the album, since we think it can’t get better than that. Featuring a fast pace melody and epic keyboards to start, we are again introduced to the brilliant voice of Jørn Lande at its finest.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Woe Of Tyrants – Threnody (2010)

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    In the vein of Black Dahlia Murder and such bands today we have Woe Of Tyrants, an American band that has great potential. “Threnody” is the band’s 3rd full-length album, and starts very similar to whatever bands like BDM sound like, but the album takes a monster transformation with the sixth song called “Bloodsmear” into a brilliant Melodic Death Metal band that sounds like few others.

    As the first five songs where passing, we were about to chalk up this release to another BDM sounding band that does not offer much in terms of innovation, but boy we where wrong. The first songs feature furious Death Metal with some slightly impressive technical aspects, but then the music gets very melodic with the use of lush keyboards, brilliant rhythmical parts and blasting solos.

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