Heavy Metal

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Tangent Plane – Project Elimi (2011)

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    Hailing from Germany today we have Tangent Plane and their undercooked second full-length release “Project Elimi”. The band plays Progressive Heavy Metal with some nice elements, but with an overall dullness that will put you to sleep after a couple of songs.

    We usually don’t go around trashing bands, but this album feels like it needed more time to fully develop into a better one. The band’s musical abilities are very good, but they lack creativity and emotions behind the 8 songs presented in this release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Fireforce – March On (2011)

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    Keeping the Heavy Metal flame alive, today we have newcomers Fireforce and their debut album “March On”. With the old-school vibe oozing from this album since the first riff, the band will surely take you down memory lane with a very fitting soundtrack.

    For 12 tracks, Fireforce will take you on a cliché ridden Heavy Metal trip that will surely please fans of this genre that never have adjusted to more modern sounding bands. The band does a great job in creating that traditional Heavy Metal vibe, but does nothing to add something of substance to the genre.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Quicksand Dream – Aelin: A Story about Destiny (2010)

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    When we first started listening to this album we noticed that it sounded a bit dated and ‘older’ for some reason, little did we know that it was originally recorded in 1999 and very limitedly released back in 2000.  Taking that into consideration, we are even more amazed on what sound this band had back in those days and can’t help but wonder where it would have taken them back then.

    If you are a fan of Epic Heavy Metal and you like bands like While Heaven Wept, Equinox ov the Gods, Fates Warning, etc, then Quicksand Dream will surely grab your attention. The band mixes Heavy Metal elements with some Psychedelic rock influences and the overall Epicness of the band’s sound is greatly enhanced by the vocals of Göran Jacobson.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Grave Digger - The Ballad of Mary (2011)

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    Just a few short months after the release of the amazing “The Clans Will Rise Again”, we have Grave Digger providing us with an EP featuring 5 songs that would have been best fitted in a special edition version of the band’s previous album. However, these 5 songs provide a different (and very interesting) look to a few of the songs of the band’s latest full-length release.

    Featuring two versions of their epic ballad “The Ballad of Mary”, this EP packs enough heat to surely satisfy the band’s fans. In the first version of this song we have Doro and Van Canto providing vocal support, making this song considerably better. In the ‘extended’ symphonic version (which is actually 20 seconds shorter than the Doro version of the song) we have symphonic elements that add to this song a very acoustic/classical feeling to this dramatic song.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Doro – Fear No Evil (2009) – Ultimate Collector’s Edition

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    For the super fans of Doro, AFM Record put together a very special ultimate collector’s edition of the metal queen’s “Fear No Evil” release. Here we will talk about the extra goodies presented in this lush collector’s edition boxed set, but if you want the full review of the album you can read it here.

    In the first CD we get the full “Fear No Evil” and two new bonus tracks: “All we are (2007)” and “On My Own” as well as new cover art. The second CD has the “Celebrate” EP that includes 3 different versions of the song, the ‘original’ version, the version with Biff Byford (very good in our opinion) and the full Metal female version which includes some of the best female metal vocalists in the scene. This song it-self is what makes the EP worth having for any female-fronted Metal fan in the world. The remaining two songs are “The Night of the Warlock” and “Rescue Me”.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Grave Digger – The Clans Will Rise Again (2010)

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    Celebrating 30 years of the band’s existence, Grave Digger comes at us with one of their most impressive releases in their career. With “The Clans Will Rise Again”, the band goes somewhat back into their “Tunes of War” era and continues to sing about Scotland. Since the first song with the bagpipes, you get the feeling this album will be nothing short from epic.

    Chris Boltendahl vocals are as characteristic as always and greatly keep the Grave Digger sound alive. As the only remaining original member, he brings to the table all the experience of kicking ass and taking names over the span of 30 years. The rest of the band does a great job in capturing the old-school vibe of the genre and keeping it fresh with interesting keyboard sections and brilliant guitar riffs/solos.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Accept – Blood Of The Nations (2010)

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    The German Heavy Metal monsters are finally back with their first studio album in 14 years and with a new vocalists that while not as good as respected as Udo, he holds his own at the helm of such a legendary band. Accept has managed to combine some of their old day’s magic with a fresh sound that sounds better than anybody else in the Heavy Metal scene.

    For the first time in years we can notice that Wolf Hoffmann and Peter Baltes managed to get their shit together and craft an epic album worthy of the Accept moniker. And by recruiting Mark Tornillo as the vocalist they managed to get a vocalist that we are sure nobody, except the hardcore Udo fanboys, will be complaining about since his performance is better than expected.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Christian Mistress – Agony & Opium (2010)

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    After receiving “Ganjahovahdosed” from The White Mice last October, we can’t really know what to expect from the label 20 Buck Spin. This month we got an equally cool, but completely different release with Christian Mistress “Agony & Opium”, the band’s long-awaited debut album. Featuring 6 hard rocking Heavy Metal tracks, you will surely be blown away by the band’s effectiveness in creating catchy and powerful melodies.

    Coming from Olympia, Washington (also the label’s headquarters), Christian Mistress is surely set to take the American Heavy Metal by surprise with their guitar driven songs. The bands dueling guitarists do an awesome job in crafting the perfect back bone for Christine Davis raspy vocals. With less than 30 minutes of music the band makes a great introductory statement with this brilliant release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    RAM – Lightbringer (2010)

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    For a band that has been around over 10 years, RAM has only released two full-length albums of their brand of traditional Heavy Metal. Hailing from Sweden, if we didn’t have any information about RAM we would imagine that they released “Lightbringer” decades ago. This release features what every die-hard Heavy Metal fan dreams about: an epic old-school Heavy Metal assault that will keep you to the edge of your seat.

    “Lightbringer” presents us with 10 tracks that are highly entertaining and super diverse. There is not a single dull moment in this album since each track has enough magic inside them to make them stand out individually, and when placed together we get a top notch release that will surely turn heads left and right.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Iron Fate – Cast in Iron (2010)

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    All the way from Germany today we have Iron Fate and their debut album “Cast in Iron”. This relatively new band features an interesting ‘slower paced’ combination of Heavy/Power Metal with some Thrash elements, we say ‘slower paced’ since this band never goes to 200 mph’s and lacks a bit of the epicness that the genre calls for.

    The first thing you will notice about Iron Fate is their extremely versatile (and good) vocalist Denis Brosowski. This front-man can hit notes and resemble almost any Heavy/Power metal vocalist in the scene in a very impressive fashion. While the music behind this great singer is average, we feel that this is what brings Iron Fate down and (for now) stops them from being a great Heavy/Power Metal band.

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