Album Reviews

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    The Atlas Moth – A Glorified Piece Of Blue Sky (2009)

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    Is this Sludge/Stoner Metal month? I have reviewed more albums of these genres this month than in the last year or so. The Atlas Moth is a band from Chicago, Illinois and like I mentioned they play a blend of Sludge with Stoner Metal influences.

    “A Glorified Piece Of Blue Sky” features 50 minutes of music divided in 8 tracks that guarantee a very interesting delusional ride into the band’s mind. I must say that I really enjoy an album that flows nicely from aggressiveness into more trippy songs.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Weapon – Drakonian Paradigm (2009)

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    After receiving this promo CD I was expecting and other, at best, average Black Metal band that needs to show off his evilness on the cover of the album. However, after a few times going over the CD I discovered that this Canadian act has more going on for them other than the whole satanic act.

    Having a very solid production behind them, the band manages to release a Death/Black Metal album that features an old school sound with fresh elements thrown in. The band never stays stagnant with a particular style and mixed things up in all songs, being acoustic passages and the usage of sitar and grand piano, all these elements create a very dark atmosphere that the band uses to perfection.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Sanctification – Black Reign (2009)

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    Featuring a very strong lineup and some brutal guest appearances, the Swedes of Sanctification deliver us their 2nd full-length after a 6 year gap. The album was recorded with Kristoffer Hell on main vocals, but apparently has left the band so far. As for the guest appearances we have Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Pain) and Masse Broberg (Dark Funeral) on vocals in a few tracks, and the drums where played by Nils Fjellström also from Dark Funeral.

    After reading all the name dropping you must be thinking this album will be totally amazing, and it is to some extent. If you like Death Metal and like most of your albums to sound alike, then “Black Reign” will be the best release you can find this year, since it’s brutal, well produced and excellently executed. However, if you like something a little fresher or a bit different, then this album will not please you, since the band sticks to the ‘traditional’ DM formula and never let’s go.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Pestilential Shadows – In Memoriam, III Omen (2009)

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    We get a ton of cookie cutter Black Metal bands and their ‘cult’ sounding albums, and this makes for a very tedious job of listening to their albums and producing an objective opinion on them, however there are days when we get lucky and bump into an actual release that represents the earlier days of BM with a bit of a different edge to it. Today we found “In Memoriam, III Omen”, and after doing some research of the band we figured out that the quality of this album made sense since it features several members of the great Nazxul.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Black Skies – Hexagon (2009)

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    Black Skies is a 3 man band that hails from North Carolina, USA. The band’s musical style is Sludge Metal, and they do a pretty kick ass job at playing the genre.

    Having formed only 3 years ago, the band’s sound is pretty well defined and the band has been gaining momentum since playing at SXSW in Austin, TX.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Power Pellut – Power Pellut (2009)

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    After years of getting either digital or pressed promos I got a few CD-R’s lately and I was pretty ‘scared’ about playing, since I remember few years ago, when I got a CD-R it was because the band’s usually sucked. However this month I have been impressed by all CD-R’s received, and since this album came from I’m Better Than Everyone Records, that releases only vinyl by the way, and I had just reviewed “Hexagon” by Black Skies, I was willing to give it a real chance.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Skyfire – Esoteric (2009)

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    Five years have passed after their acclaimed album “Spectral” was released and with a re-vamped lineup the band is back to blow everybody away with “Esoteric”. This Swedish band has managed to live up to the hype, and even surpass expectations with their new album.

    Simply put “Esoteric” is a brilliant album that features a very fresh mix of Melodic Death Metal and Progressive Metal that will put most bands that fuse these genres to shame. I’m a sucker for anything that is melodic in nature and this album is close to my dreams of the best combination of melody and aggressiveness with tons of more elements thrown in between.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Immundus – Haunted Memories (2009)

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    Immundus is a one man project hailing from Portugal, the project’s musical style could be defined as Dark Ambient music and it’s very eerie in nature, and it could very well be the soundtrack of a horror/thriller movie.

    Featuring ten tracks of eerie sounds with very minimalistic passages that will send chills to some people’s spines, or they will put others to sleep. If you are into Dark Ambient music, then you will be very pleased by this release, however if you do not like releases like this, then avoid the album since it will bore you to death.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Vulvark – Vulvark (2009)

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    When it comes to rawness Vulvark would get the highest marks, however the whole raw concept of the album gets a bit tired after a while and then you are left with a disconnected array of several elements that would have made for a better album under the hands of somebody more creative.

    The ten minute epic opening track and the next two made me very optimistic about how this album was going to turn out, but as the next tracks made their appearance this illusion quickly faded. Clocking at 1 hour and 6 minutes, I think this album should have been cut at track 3 and this would make a great EP. However the last 5 songs just destroyed the whole momentum the band built on the opening tracks.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Griftegård – Solemn.Sacred.Severe (2009)

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    When I first saw the name of the band I assumed they played Black Metal or something related to BM, but to my surprise this relatively new Swedish band plays Doom Metal in the vein of Candlemass and While Heaven Wept.

    “Solemn.Sacred.Sever” is the debut full length album from this band, and to be their debut release is pretty solid, but it does not have a single gram of originality in it. And while their particular style is not 100% to my liking, they still manage to pull of an album that I would not mind listening from start to finish.

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