Advertised as blending Deathcore with dubstep and electronic elements we immediately started listening to this release to figure out how can a band make Deatchore even worse by adding our current number one ‘musical’ enemy: dubstep. To our disappointment we figured out that the band not only does not have ANY dubstep elements, but it also has very few electronic elements in their sound.

While we are not great fans of Deathcore we can recognize a good release when we listen to one and “S.T.A.R.S” is half-way there. The band has great guitar parts and superb clean vocals but everything else in-between feels too artificial and slapped together. Even the ‘dubstep’ intro that has no metal elements in it feels like a plot to appeal to a different market.

Featuring a session member of Svarti Loghin, Srodek brings us with their second full-length “Förfall”, a total of 37 minutes of bleak and depressive Post-Black Metal. While Srodek is not as good as Svarti Loghin and genre heroes Lantlôs, this one man project does a pretty solid job in creating desolate landscapes and populates them with Post-Rock/Black Metal elements.

With the eloquent name of Nekrofucker, the band mastermind gives us 7 tracks that have a very familiar Svarti Loghin sound. While this is not completely bad, we can’t help but wonder where the creativity presented in “En Hälsning Till Döden” has gone. But it’s not all bad news since some moments of this release set it apart and make up for a good album.

Hailing from Poland today we have a very refreshing band: Made of Hate. This band plays Melodic Death Metal the true way, not the pussy Melo-Death shit that new bands play these days. With influences of older In Flames, CoB, Soilwork, etc, the band has a very guitar driven sound that does not feel like a complete rip-off of their influences, something very rare in this genre.

“Pathogen” contains 8 tracks of very solid guitar driven compositions that will have you head banging in a matter of minutes. Since the opening track “Friend” you can start to notice the riff-athon you are in for. Featuring ‘manly’ vocals the band has a strong sound that has the late 90’s Melodic DM feel all written over it.

With the current Thrash Metal revival we have seen bands like Exodus, Forbidden, etc, release very impressive albums. Onslaught brings their A-game and manages to release a pretty solid effort with “Sounds of Violence”. This album marks their best effort to date, after a long break and return to the scene in 2005.

Getting into “Sounds of Violence”, we are presented with 8 tracks and two filler intro songs. For around 45 minutes the band does a great job in bringing back the old-school Thrash Metal vibe with some more up-to-date production values. This release sounds like a million bucks thanks to the help of Jacob Hansen and allows the band to fully showcase its technical abilities and songwriting chops.

Hailing from Greece, next up in our review queue is Emerald Sun’s third full-length album “Regenration”. While Emerald Sun is nowhere near the ‘original’ category, this band does a killer job in crafting Power Metal songs with an old school vibe.

“Regeneration” features nearly 50 minutes of very enjoyable and flawlessly executed music that can surely please the most demanding fans of the genre. Of particular interest in this CD we have a cover of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding out for a Hero” song which is pretty entertaining to say the least.

Today we have a very interesting (and little known) band from Norway with the name of Pictures of Pain. The band plays a very strange mix of Melodic Metal with Heavy and Death/Black Metal influences, yes, we know it sounds confusing, but they do an average job in creating a very diverse and original sound.

“The Reckoning” marks the band’s first full-length release and they managed to fill up this CD almost entirely with 67 minutes of music. Most of the band members have ‘other band’ experience, but the only name that rings any bells is Rune Fredriksen from Thundra and session for Evig Natt, needless to say, all musicians do a great job in this release.

In the band’s most ambitious release to date, Serenity sets out to create a release around historical figures such as Christopher Columbus, Giacom Casanova, Sir Francis Drake, Queen Elizabeth I, in a very electrifying and symphonic fashion. “Death & Legacy” is hands down the band’s best release and it’s also one of the most dynamic and rich sounding albums we have received this 2011.

The overall Symphonic feeling of “Death & Legacy” is one of the main ingredients to set this release apart from your average album. However, the ingredient that really sets them apart from the rest is the amazing duets with Charlotte Wessels (Delain), Ailyn (Sirenia), and Amanda Sommerville.

After their brilliant “Konkurs”, it seems like the band ended their life and sent over some cheap copycats with “Sjukdom”. As you all might know, Lifelover is one of the most interesting bands when it comes to playing depressing experimental Metal. But with “Sjukdom” the band succumbs to mediocrity by playing the same things as on “Konkurs” and using cliché elements for shock value.

The brilliant guitar driven atmosphere is missing for most of the album, and on songs like “Expandera”, it sounds like a carbon copy of what they did on “Konkurs”. The band’s consistency is also put to question with uninspired filler songs like “Homicidal Tendencies”, where the band leads off with basic guitar riffs and the cliché samples of little kids in the middle of the song.