Heavy Metal

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    Blaze Bayley – Promise and Terror (2010)

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    Charismatic Iron Maiden’s ex-frontman Blaze Bayley returns with his latest album “Promise and Terror”. After the second implosion in 2007 or Blaze, he formed a completely new band and modestly named it after himself (who wouldn’t!). Anyways, the new Blaze Bayley band sounds as good as ever and “Promise and Terror” is a very powerful Heavy Metal release that showcases Bayley’s vocals in almost every single angle possible.

    Featuring a very solid band behind him, Bayley is back in full form and his singing sounds as good as it did with Iron Maiden (don’t hate, he is a good singer). The feeling behind the songs is at an all-time high since some lyrics are very personal to Bayley. The overall sound of the album is also very dark and works wonders with his singing style.

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    Rage – Strings To A Web (2010)

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    This legendary German Heavy/Power Metal trio is back with yet another solid album. This band is currently celebrating their 25th year anniversary and what better way to do it with a super Heavy Metal release. Featuring Peter "Peavy" Wagner as the only founding member, the band has featured guitar virtuoso Victor Smolski since 1999 and recently (20070 added drummer Andre Hilgers. All of these musicians have heaps of experience in making solid music over the years.

    The main appeal of a band such as Rage is the ability to write epic choruses and you can’t get any better than them for this task. Keeping a very traditional Heavy Metal sound this band can change the course of a song from just ‘good’ to plain epic with their perfectly crafted choruses. While some of them might sound a bit too soft, there is nothing soft about the overall power this band displays in “Strings To A Web”.

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    Kissin’ Dynamite – Addicted To Metal (2010)

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    The current revival/rehashing of ‘traditional’ metal genres such as Trash Metal, old-school Black Metal, and old-school Heavy Metal, has been reaching the point of being extremely ridiculous. Every four out of ten releases we get have to do with some kind of new band playing old-school music. Now, it’s surprisingly shocking to us when we actually get a band trying to do something new and exciting.

    Kissin’ Dynamtie hails from Germany and they formed back in 2002 to play… ‘traditional’ Heavy Metal, what a shocker. The band actually is very good at what they do and they capture the old-school sound perfectly. Some people are calling this band the next-best thing after Edguy (for German Heavy Metal), and while we can agree that musically this band is pretty solid, they have no originality at all.

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    Skyforger – Kurbads (2010)

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    After listening to Skyforger’s new album “Kurbads” the first thing that comes to mind is: WTF. The band started out Pagan/Folk Metal with Black Metal influences, and now it’s reduced to a semi-inspired mixture of Trash/Heavy Metal with some Folk influences. “Kurbads” is far far away from what we are expected from Skyforger.

    Hailing from Latvia, it’s been seven years since the all-folk “Zobena Dziesma” album, and all these years have been wasted since “Kurbads” is downright terrible in our opinion. There are some good moments here and there, but mostly it’s just re-hashed Trash riffs with horrible vocals. The folk sections are ok, but during the band’s absence there have been great Pagan/Folk Metal releases that completely obscure this release.

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    Tarot – Gravity Of Light (2010)

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    The charismatic Marco Hietala brings us the ninth full-length release of his first band: Tarot. While this band is widely recognized in Finland and Europe, the band has been relatively unknown in the USA. With Marco’s popularity increase since he joined Nightwish in 2001, and his work with Northen Kings, Tarot is finally getting the worldwide spotlight they deserve.

    Playing Heavy Metal, Tarot is a band that has always released good albums over the years. “Gravity Of Light” is another one of their solid releases and if you like Marco’s voice, you need no other reason to get this release (even though he does not sign as much as we wish). The band’s music has always been ‘standard’ and we might even argue that feels a bit tired after nine releases that sound very much alike.

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    Enforcer – Diamonds (2010)

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    After a very well received “Into the Night”, Enforcer is back with their 80’s inspired Heavy Metal, and with “Diamonds” they manage to pick up where they left off two years ago. The band is clearly very influenced by the 80’s and they sound exactly if they traveled through time in order to show us how it was done back then.

    While some people might call them posers, we have to say that if the music is done correctly and it has the same feeling, then it does not matter that Enforcer is a flashback band, they kick ass and take names. Showcasing a perfect balance of Heavy/Trash Metal from the 80’s “Diamonds” is a pretty solid album that will make you want to dig out your favorite tapes and LP’s from those glory days.

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    Jon Oliva’s Pain – Festival (2010)

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    With the Spotlight shining on the Bay Area Trash Metal scene once more we have legendary bands releasing their finest releases to date like Exodus and Heathen. We also have other bands resurrecting like Forbidden, all this activity has made other bands like Kaos want to make another push to establish themselves as major players of the scene.

    Kaos has been around since the late 80’s releasing demo after demo until their first album saw the light of day in 2000 with “Vision Beyond”. After that the band signed to Relentless Records in order to release “Kaos Among Us”. Fast-forward to 2010 and we get the band’s latest offering with “The Pits Of Existence”, an album that clearly captures the old-school feeling and it’s marked to push Kaos into the spot light.

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    Arryan Path – Terra Incognita (2010)

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    Arryan Path is the second band we review from Cyprus this week and this one is a way better than the last one we did. The band plays Epic Power Metal with some hints of Middle Eastern influences like Orphaned Land does.

    “Terra Incognita” is the band’s second release, and it’s a pretty solid one. This album comes to us as a surprise, especially after the last 10 Power Metal albums we have received sound exactly the same. Arryan Path has a very unique feeling to their music and this is what makes them stand out from the rest.

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    Lethal Saint – Lethal Saint (2010)

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    In our playlist we find ourselves today with Lethal Saint’s self-title debut album. After doing some research we find out that the band hails from Cyprus and they formed back in 2006. As you would imagine from the cover of this album, the band is plays old-school Heavy Metal, a style that has been gaining a second round at the spotlight and many bands are jumping in to capitalize on this movement.

    “Lethal Saint” features 12 songs and over 70 minutes of music, a feat that seems very impressive for a band’s first release. However, the overall impression is that this release is a hit and miss festival, there are good songs, and then some very bad ones. The common factor that brings this band’s debut release to a low score of 70 points is the off-key vocalist.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Silent Fall – Otherwise (2010)

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    Hailing from France we have Silent Fall, a band that recently changed their name from Winterland and play a mean combination of Melodic Power/Heavy Metal. In the same vein as compatriots Adagio, the band specializes in bombastic melodies filled with intricate guitar and keyboard arrangements.

    The big name Japanese band called Versailles is the first comparison that comes to mind once we started listening to “Otherwise” the band’s first full-length release. While Silent Fall is less theatrical than Versailles, the vocal sound and the overall song structure is very similar. And if you know who Versailles is, you know that a comparison to them should not be taken lightly.

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