As a prefect example of super-groups that don’t really work, today we have The Shadow Theory and their first full-length release “Behind the Black Veil”. Form by Psychotic Waltz vocalist Devon Graves and featuring Kristoffer Gildenlöw (ex-Pain of Salvation) on bass, Johanne James (Threshold) on drums, The Shadow Theory boosts enough musician fire power to be amazing…well they are half way there.

Starting the album with “I Open Up My Eyes”, you immediately notice a Jethro Tull rip-off flute using mixed in with the vocals, the bass guitar line is particularly great but it can’t save a mediocre song from crashing and burning with very uninspired repetitive sections. Another thing that kills songs is the stupid lyrics of “Ghostride”, in this track just after 2 minutes you will start wondering what the hell you are doing listening to such dumb lyrics.

With a revamped lineup, Tom S. Englund and company return with what is probably the band’s best release in a few years. With “Glorious Collision” the band reaches new heights thanks to the technical brilliance and catchiness of all the songs presented in this release. As we all know over the years, Tom is great at crafting very somber lyrics and bringing them to life with his gifted vocal style.

“Glorious Collisions” feels like a much needed reboot in Evergrey to more forward with more progressive ideas and rediscover their dark and emotional sound. Since the opening track “Leave it behind”, a very mystical aura enshrouds this release and it’s never released until the end of the album, a truly magnificent accomplishment.

Deadlock, one of the most polarizing bands in the metal scene returns with yet another very diverse sound release. By polarizing we mean that people have very outrageous opinions about their musical style, some people call it Pop Metal, but we have to say their style is pretty bad ass and it really grows on you after a few listens.

Moving past their hip hop and metal track in “Manifesto”, the band consolidates their efforts in a very dynamic sounding release. Yes, there are some parts that might be considered too mainstream for ‘extreme’ metal, but in general the band has a unique sound that surely gets them noticed everywhere they play and gains them fans from all kinds of musical genres.

As the last part of a trilogy, “Andromeda Awaiting” closes of the band’s previous two albums “Nihil” and “Knell” with a very melodramatic sound of beautifully constructed neo-classical/neo-folk pieces. Produced and written by Fredy Schnyder, this album has the same cinematic feeling that the band’s previous releases have presented us and provides a peaceful closure to a 4 year writing period.

The beautiful vocals of Maria D'Alessandro adorn this release since the opening track and provide a very solemn performance that at some points (like on “II”) will give you the chills. On the other side we have some male vocals on here and there that give that extra touch to this release to make it a very personal and emotive.

Released as a compilation album “Travellers” features most of the band’s earlier works and two unreleased songs. All of the earlier songs have been re-worked and sound better than ever. If you are into Neo-folk and Avant-garde music, this is a brilliant opportunity to catch up with the band’s discography.

“Travellers” starts off with the 4 songs of the “Krähenkönigin”. All of these songs are mainly neo-folk pieces and feature no vocals. Fredy Schnyder the band’s mastermind, multi-instrumentalist, producer, mixer, and jack of all trades has done a great job in making these four songs sound even better than the first time.

Finish melodic Death Metal masters Omnium Gatherum return with their best album to date: “New World Shadows”. After their killer debut album “Spirits and August Light”, the band wondered off with some lukewarm releases and finally returned to the spotlight (for us at least) with “The Redshift”.

In “New World Shadows” the band goes into darker territory and presents us with a more ‘classical’ Melodic Death Metal sound and their own brand of guitar acrobatics and solid songwriting. With this album, the band is sure to drawn comparisons to Finish Melodic Death Metal heroes Insomnium.

Today we have in our review queue Helrunar’s latest and most ambitious offering “Sól” a double-album that features 90 minutes of Black Metal with Folk elements and a great production in the hands of Markus Stock (Empyrium, The Vision Bleak). While the band has never been quite up there with the greats of the genre, this album has enough ambition to get them more attention.

After a clam introduction, the CD1 quickly explodes into the anthemic “Kollapsar”. This song sets a very furious pace that unluckily the band is only able to keep up for some moments in the next tracks. Featuring very long songs (half of the band’s songs are over 8 minutes long) there are some moments of brilliance here and there, but they are drowned with mind numbing filler and traditional BM/Folk clichés.

After gaining widespread popularity with their “Bitter ist's dem Tod zu dienen” album, one of the first ones to introduce Folkish elements with Black Metal back in 1999, the band has been constantly experimenting and releasing more and more interesting album every time. While plenty of people never understand the path of a band like this, we have loved almost every single album this band has put out.

On “Flammentriebe”, the band returns to some of their most brutal roots and delivers one hell of an album.  Featuring 8 tracks of atmospheric neo-folk/classical metal with Black Metal attacks, Dornenreich makes it very hard for us to find a band that has done it before as graciously as them in this release. Each track is beautifully adorned with the amazing violin skills of Thomas Riesner and with Moritz Neuner back on drums, the sonic aggression never stops.

Since their 2005 return with “HEX: Or Printing in the Infernal Method”, Earth has been morphing into a shapeless entity that transfers emotions through magical musical compositions. With “The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull” the band dabbled into some Jazzy realms with some hints of Americana and psychedelic elements. But with “Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1”, the band pushes the envelope once more with a darker side to things then in their previous releases.

“Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1” is an album that features 5 tracks of sheer brilliance, the mood, the space, the tones, everything sounds just right and creates a very dark and depressive atmosphere. With the use of the cello, the band further elevates their sonic exploration into very dark territories that will fill you up with emotions and free you from your everyday worries, allowing you to fully experience the 60 minutes of music the band has laid down on this release.