Arcadia – Roy Philip Nohl (2010)

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Hailing from Italy, today we get a very interesting release that manages to blend several genres of metal into a very original sound. Arcadia does a great job in combining Hardcore, Melodic Death Metal, and some hints of Progressive Metal/Rock, allowing the band sounding like none other in the scene.

Before you can even think about it, the answer is: yes, there are some Metalcore-ish elements in “Roy Philip Nohl”. However, these little hints of Metalcore are greatly utilized to the band’s advantage; they use the breakdowns to weave new sounds and elements into their already well crafted songs. We really like how the band uses some breakdowns to create epic chorus sections that never sound faggy (i.e. “I Sold Drugs to Little Red Riding Hood”).

Rootwater – Visionism (2010)

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Featuring the characteristic vocals of Maciej Taff (of Black River fame), we get a very solid hard-rocking album that will surely bring back your memories of when System of a Down didn’t suck. Following a similar approach than SoD, the band evolved around a charismatic singer and some folk influences, however Rootwater never overdoes the folk stuff and moves into a Melodic Metal territory with songs like “Visionism”.

“Visionism” marks the band’s third full-length album and probably the best one to date. Recently Rootwater has stopped ‘operations’ since Maciej has to undergo therapy for illness and this sucks since “Visionism” is a very solid album that would have taken them further than their previous albums.

Mekong Delta – Wanderer on the Edge of Time (2010)

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With a newly revamped lineup (since the last album), Mekong Delta is finally back with their Thrash infused Progressive Metal. Ralph Hubert as the only remaining original member, Mekong Delta comes out of the shadows to release a very solid album with “Wanderer on the Edge of Time”. For somebody that has been doing music since the 80’s we could only expect nothing but the best and Mekong Delta delivers on this promise.

Recruiting Martin LeMar of Tomorrow’s Eve on vocals and Alex Landenburg of At Vance on drums, the band sounds like nothing has been really lost since their last album “Lurking Fear”. With fifteen tracks and around 50 minutes of music, “Wanderer on the Edge of Time” is arranged in a manner that allows the listener to get fully immersed on the musical experience provided on this album. All the “Zwischenspiel” or interludes (5 in total) in this album allow the transitions between tracks to be simple and elegant.

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