Straight from the time capsule today we have Desultory and their latest release (and first in 14 years) “Counting our Scars”. If you are a fan of Swedish Death Metal with Melodic elements, then you should be familiar with this legendary band. If you are not familiar with them, please hit yourself in the back of the head before continue reading this review.

After two very strong releases back in the 90’s, this band had to go down the ‘artsy’ path and destroy their rep with the terrible “Swallow the Snake”. Broken up for years and now finally reformed, the band comes back with a no bullshit attitude and 9 tracks of old-school Swedish Death Metal that will redeem them from their last terrible album.

In the first few months we have received amazing Gothic Metal releases from bands like Sirenia, Dotma, Visions of Atlantis, etc, today is the turn to Imperia and their third full-length release “Secret Passion”. After a 4 year waiting period since “Queen of Light”, the band returns with a very average Gothic Metal release that while not bad at all, it just feels a bit heartless.

As we all know, Helena Iren Michaelsen (ex Trail of Tears), is a very good vocalist and her angelic voice carries “Secret Passion” from start to end. The music is good and the instrumentation is nice, but it just feels very similar to countless other releases we have heard in the past. There are no songs that made us stop and want to listen to the again immediately after there are over, and we consider this a bad sign.

One of our favorite Folk Metal/Rock bands has returned with “Ardeo” and the only thing we can’t think is that 3 albums in 3 years definitely take a toll on a band’s creativity. In this release the band deliver 49 minutes of exactly the same as on “Am Rande der Welt” and “Hoffnungsschimmer”.

We don’t really care if a band does the same album 5 different ways as long as it is appealing and engaging. “Ardeo” is half and half in both departments, the band’s sound is as appealing as ever, but it sounds exactly the same as on their previous release. In terms of the appeal, there are great moments for sure, but they are drowned by uninspired repetition.

Seven Thorns, a relatively unknown Power Metal band from Denmark delivers a very solid sophomore release with “Return to the Past”. While people will be too busy bashing them for their similitude to hundreds of bands in the genre, we have to say that their music is kick ass and their sound is very professional, enough to overcome the lack of creativity.

The band quickly establishes a hectic pace with “Liberty”, a crushing track that showcases the band’s talents. The first thing you will notice is the excellent Power Metal vocals of Erik Blomkvist, probably one of the overall highlight of the album. Next up, we have the blazing fast guitars and catchy riffing that allows each of the 9 songs presented here to be completely memorable.

Formed by members of Forgotten Tomb, today we have Joyless and their first full-length release in 10 years titled “Without Support”. In this release the band gives us 11 tunes of Psychedelic/Depressive Rock with a very dark and minimalistic approach to music.

Lead by the charming (and depressing) voice of Ida Helleboe, the band rocks out songs that will definitely fit a rainy day mood and will depress the life out of the listener. After changing from Black Metal to Depressive Rock in their amazing “Wisdom & Arrogance” album back in 2000, the band has been releasing a series of split releases culminating in “Without Support”.

Featuring a very well produced mixture of Raw and Melodic Black Metal, today we have Mhorgl and their second album “Antinomian”. In this release the band takes full advantage of a crystal clear production and defiles it their sick and twisted mixture of melodic and old-school Black Metal in a very effective way.

With a relentless sound, the band graciously presents 8 tracks of pure destruction that will please all fans of Black Metal. Since the crushing opening track “Nocturnal Blasphemy”, the band will surely blow you away with their sharp riffs, tight drumming and hellish vocals.

Hailing from Italy on The Execution Kollective Records today we have As Likely As Not and their debut full-length “Stand Up and Nerve”. Labeled as a mixture of Melodic Death and Metalcore, the band delivers a somewhat uninspired release that bridges both genres but fails to deliver in the important aspects.

The band does a solid job in not being too Metalcore, but they also forget some of the important elements of Melodic Death Metal, like the killer guitar work and wide variety of blazing riffs that other bands tend to focus on. While “Stand Up and Nerve” is not the best album ever, it has some moments and shows some promise from this young band.

Arriving from the Metal promised land: Finland, today we have Dotma and their very impressive debut full-length album “Sleep Paralyses”. Having had a great month in terms of Gothic Metal releases, we are still completely blown away by the quality behind this monumental release.

Filled with great musical arrangements and emotive vocals, “Sleep Paralyses” quickly became a fixture in our regular Gothic Metal play list due to its catchiness and beautiful female vocals courtesy of newcomer Johanna Lesonen. The band’s music has some Power Metal tendencies, but the overall sound after all the vocal layering moves towards the Gothic Metal genre.

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Shroud of Despondency and with “Dark Meditation in Monastic Seclusion” we can say the wait was not in vain. Featuring seven tracks of Black Metal and an atmospheric passages, the band returns with full force to make an impact on the USBM scene.

Mixed between acoustic passages, “Dark Meditations” has some excellent Black Metal sections with very creepy atmospheres that will haunt your dreams for months. A fine example of this is the use of choirs in the track “Homo Homini Lupus”, a chaotic 8 minute long track.

For people like us that like to put things into genres, bands like Ruled by Reason pose a serious issue since we can’t really figure out where they fit. This new coming band from the USA has influences from Deathcore, Metalcore, Melodic Death Metal, and countless other genres, so all we can say is that the band’s music is not Black Metal, not Doom Metal, not Viking Metal and definitely not Gothic Metal, but rather a wide variety of more modern genres (the –core shit) and some Melodic DM influences.

Moving on to better use of our words, “The Drawing of Dystopia” features 8 hard hitting tracks that will sure please all fans of music with melodic guitars. Yes, the Metalcore/Deathcore influence is the dominant elements of this release, but the band’s guitar acrobatics (like on the “Dr. Jekyll…” track CoB solo rip-off) gives them an upper hand over all the crappy bands in the scene.