Metal

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Kenny Stewart – The Brains behind the Scam (2010)

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    With a very distracting cover, today we have Dirty Tricks lead singer Kenny Stewart’s debut solo album “The Brains behind the Scam”. Featuring 16 hard rocking tracks, Kenny Stewart takes us for a roller coaster journey with soaring guitars, and his very characteristic vocal style.

    Having self-produced the album, Kenny handles all the guitar and programming duties. And immediately you can notice that the use of ‘fake drums’ is very evident and takes some merit out of this release but can easily be compensated by the solid guitar work and singing prowess of Kenny. All tracks have a nice guitar driven structure that allows the vocals to shine and achieve the desired effect.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Lifelover – Konkurs (2010)

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    The ever so interesting Prophecy Productions are re-releasing this 2010 one of the most interesting and deranged albums in the last couple of years: Lifelover’s “Konkurs”. Featuring a wide palette of influences ranging from Depressive Black Metal, Ambient, Gothic Metal, Post-Rock, Shoegaze, and everything in between, the band created one of the masterpieces of Experimental music and now we get to have it re-issued and hopefully can reach a bigger audience.

    With the fourteen tracks presented in “Konkurs”, the band has managed to create a hauntingly majestic release that transcends the barriers of musical genres and human emotions. The overall bleak and depressive atmosphere around “Konkurs” is top notch and only bands like Lantlôs and Svarti Loghin can ever come close to it. Be it the combination of genres, or the emotional vocals, it’s left to the listener to discover how Lifelover will affect their psyche with this release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Neuronia - Follow the White Mouse (2010)

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    Presented in a lush digipack, today we have all the way from Poland Neuronia and their second full-length album “Follow the White Mouse”. With a very hard to describe style, the band manages to merge elements of Thrash, Heavy and Melodic Death Metal in a multi-textured release that is very enjoyable from start to end.

    With a very unique style, Neuronia’s music is very enjoyable since it features influences from tons of different genres and bands, keeping things fresh and unpredictable. The only thing we quickly noticed is that we are not big fans of the vocals since they tend to get on our nerves a bit, and even after a few listens. However, they are not bad at all is just a particular singing style that irritates us (the ‘main’ one from the several different ones presented in this album) from the past, but the band’s music is good enough for us to ignore this little detail.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Unherz – Uherzlich Willkommen (2010)

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    While we are not big German hard rock fans, we have to recognize that Unherz is a very good up-and-coming band that mixes traditional German hard rock elements with a Metal influences. Featuring catchy riffs and melodies, epic chorus sections, and raspy vocals entirely in German, “Uherzlich Willkommen” is a very effective debut release, and will surely gain a ton of followers for Unherz.

    While the similarities to bands like Die Toten Hosen, Unherz quickly crafts their own style by being a bit heavier on the guitars and never shy of breaking some of the ‘traditional’ guidelines of the genre. For over 40 minutes, the listener is treated to 10 catchy as hell songs that will be stuck in your head for days.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Return to Earth – Automata (2010)

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    With a very interesting and hard to peg sound, today we have Return to Earth’s second album “Automata”. Featuring ex- The Dillinger Escape Plan and current Coheed & Cambria’s drummer Chris Pennie, the band is ready to step in a bigger spotlight with this very solid sophomore release.

    “Automata” features 16 songs that range from weird sample/loopy stuff to full-on hard rock anthems that will stick to your head like duct tape. The album’s flow is very interesting since you wouldn’t expect such different songs to come together as they do here, the interludes between groups of songs (the tracks “1.0”, “2.0”, and “3.0”) create a very efficient separation of ‘movements’ in this release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Arsenic Addiction – An Undertaker’s Lament (2010)

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    With their 2009 release of “Requiem of the Fallen”, the band made a powerful statement that they are a force to be reckoned by combining powerful vocals, crushing guitars, and precise drumming with an equally interesting and interactive Victorian-themed live show. “An Undertaker’s Lament” is the bands latest release where they try to push things one step closer to national (and why not international) recognition.

    Starting with the atmospheric piece “Invocation”, Arsenic Addiction immediately shows considerable improvement when it comes to writing songs and creating catchy melodies within the first two songs in the album (“Lady Death” is the second one). Led by Lady Arsenic’s contrasting clean and growling vocals, the band has grown musically into crafting better songs that showcase her vocal abilities.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Poois – Opera House (2010)

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    Every once in a while we get albums that make us listen to them over and over in order to form an actual opinion about them. After the first spin, we knew that Poois latest release “Opera House” will be one of those albums that will take more time and effort in order to properly describe and correctly inform the listener about what they should expect with such a rich and interesting release.

    Hailing from New York, this band will surely turn everybody’s head around with confused and puzzled faces for at least a few minutes. After you get over the first weird impression about this album, you discover that Poois is actually one hell of a talented band that has constructed a very diverse and unique ‘sound’ that is showcased in small doses through the album’s 13 tracks. There is not really a ‘main’ influence other than the Metal aspect of the bands music, and this is also a stretch since they feature influences of Alternative Rock, Grunge, Progressive Rock, and other genres.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    M-16 – La Raiz De Todo Poder (2010)

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    While there is very good Metal music from bands south of the US border (Cenotaph, Mutum, Disgorge, Aglarond, Hacavitz, etc), it’s not too common to hear good Latin Metal in the USA, besides Brujeria. While most people in the USA’s Latin community are listening to Reggaeton, Shakira and similar bullshit, it’s great to hear bands like M-16 that are keeping their Latin identity and kicking ass.

    As a Hardcore/Metal band from New York, M-16 has great power in their musical aggression and they sing completely in Spanish so they say (even though some of their song names are in English, and some lyrics are definitely in English). The band’s aggressive Hardcore style has many Metal elements that makes it brutal at points, but without loosing track of the melodic aspect of Metal and Hardcore.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    U.S. Christmas – Run Thick In The Night (2010)

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    All the way from the Appalachian Mountains today we get the deeply enigmatic U.S. Christmas and their super trippy Psychedelic Rock/Blues/something else. Our first encounter with this awesome band was on the Hawkwind tribute split album, where the band completely owned Hawkwind’s songs and provided an amazing rendition of them.

    Signed to Neurot Recordings, the band delivers their fifth full-length release “Run Thick In the Night” (RTITN for short) which clocks at almost 80 minutes. With such a long album you would expect to have a bunch of wasted time, but with RTITN this is not the case. Every single sample, riff, etc, is creatively masterminded to be part of the whole experience created for this album, and before you know it the CD ends and you will want to keep listening to it for hours.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Neurosis – Live at Roadburn 2007 (2010)

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    In the eve of the band’s 25th anniversary and after a 3 year waiting period, we finally get a ‘new’ release from Neurosis, in the form of the live CD “Live at Roadburn 2007”. With amazing clarity and masterful production behind this release, you closer than ever to having Neurosis play in your living room in CD form at least (We are still waiting for a proper live DVD/Blu-ray featuring 5.1 or even 7.1 audio).

    For all of us ‘old-school’ Neurosis fans “Live at Roadburn” comes with a bit of disappointment since this release features songs from “Times of Grace” till the bands 2007 album “Given to the Rising” but nothing else from before. However, with the band’s previous live CD’s and the bootlegs we can get that fix.

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