Album Reviews

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    Dark Tranquillity – We Are The Void (2010)

    Dark Tranquillity in it’s almost 20 years lifespan has managed to create some of the most iconic Melodic Death Metal albums of all times. The band has also paved the way to the hundreds of clones that try to play Melodic DM with the famed Gothenburg sound but fail miserably at. With “We Are The Void” they present us their latest offering in their career and it’s a solid but somewhat empty album.

    The band has always been pushing the boundaries of the genre in every release they have produced. Since the early days they have been bending musical boundaries, and in the last decade they have been probably the only true Gothenburg Melodic DM band left.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Voices Of Destiny – From The Ashes (2010)

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    Have you ever wondered how angles or sirens would sing?, if I had to guess it would be pretty darn close to Maike Holzmann, the female vocalist of Voices Of Destiny. I’m a huge fan of Gothic Metal and I’ve heard countless bands but only a few female singers have enchanted me, and Maike is one of them.

    Voices Of Destiny hails from Germany and for such a young band (formed in 2004 and have only released one demo), they kick ass at playing the ‘traditional’ Gothic Metal with the ‘beauty and the beast’ vocal approach. But don’t be fooled, this band is nowhere as formulaic as this statement might sound.

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    Demonica – Demonstrous (2010)

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    Featuring Hank Shermann from Merciful Fate fame, Demonica is here to capitalize on the current revival of Trash Metal. And they do a great job at it, kicking ass in every direction this album takes.

    You can hear some Slayer-style vocals (which are not my favorite), but the best element in this album is the guitar riffing: it’s amazing. If you are not a big Trash Fan you should get in on the action right now, since there are many brilliant albums being released these days.

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    Catamenia – Cavalcade (2010)

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    Back in the day Catamenia used to play Melodic Black Metal and was considered just another band in the bunch. We have slowly seen how this band has been evolving into a more complex beast and it has been shedding its skin release after release until now.

    “Cavalcade” shows a finally mature band that plays a very interesting sounding ‘Blackened’ Power Metal. You still get the Black Metal shrieks, however the music structure is very Power Metal like, and its brilliant. The band finally polished its sound and after interesting releases we finally get a great one.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR (2010)

    Orphaned Land has the very daunting task of creating an even better release than “Mabool”, and they have somewhat succeeded in this almost impossible task. The band has refined their music greatly, and while this release is very good, they are miles away from the complexity and intricacy that “Mabool” offered us.

    “The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR” is a great release and it brings the Middle Eastern Folk influences that the band has showed in the past to be the main focus of this release. I love when bands use different elements in their music as a complement, not as a main gimmick in order to create shock value.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Varg – Blutaar (2010)

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    Hailing from Germany we have Varg, a new coming band into the very competitive and crowded Pagan Metal genre. “Blutaar” is the band’s second full-length release and it shows great maturity in their music, making it a very strong sophomore effort.

    The band currently on the line-up of the European Pagan Fest shows their skills at creating aggressive Pagan Metal songs that will surely have people moshing from beginning to end. While other bands of the genre focus more on having different instruments used in their music, Varg emphasizes on using a straight forward powered by aggressive guitar riffs and elaborate drumming.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Negură Bunget – Maiestrit (2010)

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    Negură Bunget hails from Romania and their musical style has evolved into a completely autonomous beast that many try to emulate but nobody can quite get. The mysticism behind the band’s sound creates chilling passages that freak out even the bravest metal heads of the world.

    Maiestrit is a re-interpretation of the band’s legendary album “Maiastru Sfetnic”, plus two unreleased acoustic versions of two tracks of this album. As you can expect from the band, you get a master piece in Atmospheric Black Metal that is definitely better than the original incarnation of these songs.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Heathen – The Evolution Of Chaos (2010)

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    Eighteen years have passed since the band’s last full-length “Victims Of Deception” and legions of fans were left hungry for another release of this amazing band. After releasing an EP/Best Of compilation the band presents us with “The Evolution Of Chaos”, a brilliant masterpiece that every Trash Metal fan, and even every metalhead in general has to listen.

    Featuring 11 tracks of Trash Metal brilliance we don’t think there will be another album this year that can rival what Heathen has managed to do with “The Evolution Of Chaos”. Clocking around 70 minutes, this album is one of the best releases we have heard in quite a while.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Immolation - Majesty and Decay (2010)

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    In terms of Death Metal, Americans have been showing the world how it’s done in the past 20 years. And Immolation’s “Majesty and Decay” is another fine example of why this gene was so popular and has not gone away in the States.

    “Majesty and Decay” features an Immolation, that like wine, it’s only getting better with age. The band has never lost it’s edge and every release they put out is around the same level as the last one. Something extremely rare in the DM scene since you have the ‘big players’ of the scene like Cannibal Corpse and Six Feet Under releasing shit albums every once in a while.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Eluveitie - Everything Remains As It Never Was (2010)

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    After their acoustic album “Evocation I - The Arcane Dominion” we finally get a new ‘metallic’ release and it’s a great one. Eluveitie has managed to craft its sound to a near perfect fusion of Folk music with Melodic Metal.

    While playing music in this style is not original by any means. Eluveitie does it with such grace that blows the competition out of the water. The eight piece Swiss band has released their most mature album to date and it can only get better from here.

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