2010

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Disfigured Dead – Visions Of Death (2010)

    As with the current re-make and ‘bring back the old stuff’ trend that plagues Hollywood these days, we have a similar trend when it comes to music. We have Trash Metal coming back, old-school Death Metal returning, and etc, etc, etc. Disfigured Dead play, like you can guess from the album cover, ‘old-school’ Death Metal like in the early days of Cannibal Corpse, Incantation, etc.

    The band has no single piece of originality to it, BUT they mimic the ‘old-school’ sound to perfection. This makes Disfigured Dead attractive to some of us that sometimes are looking to hear something from back in the day, but are tired of spinning the same CD’s we have in the last 10-15 years.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Perversor – Demon Metal (2010)

    Hailing from Chile, these old-school inspired metal heads propose a very traditional sounding mix of Black/Death and Trash Metal. Heavily influenced by Hellhammer, Possesed and old Mayhem, this band will blow you away with their latest EP “Demon Metal”.

    Featuring only 17 minutes of music this release flies by with all its brutality and will leave you wanting for more. With their old-school logo, album cover, and sound this band will take you on a backwards journey to the lat 80’s.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Bestial Mockery - Christcrushing Hammerchainsaw (2010)

    With “Christcrushing Hammerchainsaw” Hell’s Hedbangers has re-released one of the best underground albums of Black/Trash Metal ever made. Bestial Mockery was a Swedish band that played Black/Trash Metal in the vein of Venom, Sodom, Bewitched and Bathory.

    The band never reached wide acclaim or recognition, but all their releases hold a special place in all the fans of old-school Black/Trash Metal. Featuring 26 minutes of music in 10 tracks, you know you are into a wide ride from start to finish. The album starts with pure aggression and never stops.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Armored Saint - La Raza (2010)

    Armored Saint is one of those bands that haven been on and off like as many times as a hooker drops her underwear in a month. However, every time the band comes back they either release a kick ass album or tour. “La Raza” is the band’s latest offering that continues the band’s tradition of releasing very solid albums that make people remember them once more.

    Featuring John Bush from Anthrax fame and Joey Vera from Fates Warning fame, you know you have a pretty solid band only by hearing these two names. The band plays straight up ‘classic’ or traditional Metal, and they do so which such grace that only a handful of bands can pull this off.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Fates Warning – Parallels (Re-Issue Special Edition) (2010)

    Almost 20 years after the original release of “Parallels” we get a great re-issuse that features a bunch of goodies that will please ALL the fans of this legendary band. And to top it all there will be a few select reunion shows to support this re-release, so be ready to travel in order to catch a glimpse of the band live.

    This re-release features the full original album completely re-mastered and sounding more impressive than even. The extra CD features 8 live tracks (that have great audio quality) and 6 demo versions of tracks from “Parallels”. We particularly love the demo tracks, which allow you to get a more in-depth insight of how the band intended the tracks to sound originally, before going to the studio. They also allow you to discover little differences here and there.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Gamma Ray – To The Metal! (2010)

    “To The Metal!” marks the band’s 10th full length release in over 21 years of existence of Gamma Ray. So far the band’s journey has been very solid, filled with epic releases like “Land Of The Free” and “Somewhere Out in Space”. This new album, while pretty solid, is not near the quality of those releases.

    With ten songs and around 50 minutes of music, these Germans show that they still have what it takes to create a good release. The album feels a bit disconnected at some times and half the songs are short from memorable, but still very good compared to other bands in the genre.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Aenaon – Phenomenon (2009)

    After a very enticing intro, Aenaon does not waste any time in showing what they are made off. The second track opens furiously and shows the true beast hiding within the Aenaon moniker. You can clearly listen to the Zyklon, Emperor and Behemoth influences in this band.

    However, they are not just another clone of the previously mentioned bands. They just take all the best elements of them and fuse them with such grace that the 24 minutes that this EP presents will leave you with an extreme thirst for more.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Sokrovenno - De Rerum Natura (2009)

    The shit-storm of bands like Agalloch, Negura Bunget and Wolves in the Throne Room has finally reached monsoon status, and now it’s harder than ever to pick out the good bands from all these clones popping out of every dark corner in the world. Luckily for us, Sokrovenno is a very good band that this storm has produced.

    Hailing from Italy, this “Philosophical Pagan Black Metal” band is actually one of the best we have reviewed this month. Alongside the new albums from Negura Bunget and Alcest, “De Rerum Natura” is one of our favorites this year when it comes to the “Atmospheric Dark/Black Metal” genre combination.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Machines Of Grace – Machines Of Grace (2009)

    Originally started ad Wicked Witch, Machines Of Grace features Zack Stevens (ex- Savatage and ex-Trans-Siberian Orchestra) alongside Jeff Plate (current Savatage and Trans-Siberian Ochestra member) alongside Matt Leff and Chris Rapoza, both from Trigger Effect. Listening to this line-up you know you have a super group with Machines Of Grace.

    Their self titled debut album was released barely one year after the band got together in 2008. Featuring 14 songs and over 55 minutes, the band makes a very solid statement by creating very catchy and well delivered Hard Rock/Heavy Metal sounding songs that most people can identify with.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Arise – The Reckoning (2010)

    Surrounded by very confusing information, I found stuff back from April 2009 indicating the release of this album. The album was also recorded back in 2007, according to the band’s website. We have “The Reckoning” an interesting but kind of flat release that mixes Trash and Death Metal.

    The band claims to have influences of Carcass, At The Gates and Hypocrisy. While this is somewhat true, they are missing the heart behind these legendary bands. Arise plays decent music and creates decent songs, but nothing more exciting than this.

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