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SONATA ARCTICA COMMENT ON BILLBOARD CHART DEBUT

The members of SONATA ARCTICA have checked in from their current North American tour with Dragonforce in support of their latest release, The Days Of Grays, which recently debuted on the Billboard Top New Artist “Heatseeker’s” chart at #19 the week following its release date.  This industry chart lists the best-selling albums by new artists who have never appeared on the Top 100 of the Billboard 200.

October 2009

Editorial:

Another month has passed and we are getting close to the end of the year. October marks the month of Halloween and some of the most anticipated Black Metal releases of the year and we got coverage for most of them. You can also find plenty of interviews and more to come, so add us to your RSS feeds or keep checking back on the site because more stuff will be added during the month. Our Hellfest 2010 preview will be posted on October 14th so check back for that. Have another fine month and keep it Metal.

Interview with Merrimack
Interview with Ethereal Collapse (Ryan, guitarist and vocalist, and Dave, guitarist and vocalist)
Interview with Skyfire
Interview with Sonata Arctica (Tony Kakko)
Interview with Nazxul
Interview with Hot Buttered Anal
Interview with Edguy (Tobias Sammett)
Interview with Armory
Interview with Hacride (Adrien Grousset - guitar )
Interview with Darzamat
Interview with Echoes Of Eternity
Interview with Graveworm
Interview with Leaves' Eyes for Njord
Interview with Ava Inferi
Interview with Ensiferum

Reviews:

Sonata Arctica – The Days Of Grays (2009)
Marduk – Wormwood (2009)
Dethklok – The Dethalbum II (2009)
Merrimack – Grey Rigorism (2009)
Diablo Swing Orchestra – Sing-Along Songs For The Damned & Delirious (2009)
Ethereal Collapse – Breaching The Citadel (2006)
Ethereal Collapse – Categories (2008)
Syrach – A Dark Burial (2009)
Ahab – The Divinity Of Oceans (2009)
Canis Dirus – A Somber Wind From A Distant Shore (2009)
Nazxul – Iconoclast (2009)
Hiems – Worship Or Die (2009)
Insomnium - Across The Dark (2009)
Immundus – Haunted Memories (2009)
Skyfire – Esoteric (2009)
Weapon – Drakonian Paradigm (2009)
Sanctification – Black Reign (2009)
Pestilential Shadows – In Memoriam, III Omen (2009)
Black Skies – Hexagon (2009)
Power Pellut – Power Pellut (2009)
Vulvark – Vulvark (2009)
Griftegård – Solemn.Sacred.Severe (2009)
The Ruins Of Beverast – Foul Semen Of A Sheltered Elite (2009)
Bleeding Fist – Bestial Kruzifiz666ion (2009)
Azaghal – Teraphim (2009)

In case you missed them:
Echoes Of Eternity – As Shadows Burn (2009)
Darzamat – Solfernus Path (2009)
Theatre Of Tragedy – Forever If The World (2009)
The Devil’s Blood – The Time Of No Time Evermore (2009)
Leaves’ Eyes – My Destiny (2009)
Nervecell – Preaching Venom (2009)
Urfaust – Einsiedler (2009)
Ava Inferi – Blood Of Bacchus (2009)
Lethian Dreams – Bleak Silver Streams (2009)
A Forest Of Stars – The Corpse Of Rebirth (2008)
Impiety – Terroreign: Apocalyptic Armageddon Command (2009)
Malfeitor – Incubus (2009)
Dark Celebration - Phlegeton: The Transcendence Of Demon Lords (2009)
Migdal Bavel – De Magia Veterum (2009)
Ensiferum – From Afar (2009)
Madder Mortem – Eight Ways (2009)
Be’lakor – Stone’s Reach (2009)
Autumnblaze – Perdition Diaries (2009)
Viatrophy – Viatrophy (2009)
Onslaught - Live Damnation (2009)
Forest Stream - The Crown of Winter (2009)
Xerath – I (2009)
Imperial Vengeance - At the Going Down of the Sun (2009)
Pantheon-I - Worlds I Create (2009)
Anaal Nathrakh - In The Constellation Of The Black Widow (2009)
Obituary - Darkest Day (2009)
Glorior Belli - Meet Us At The Southern Sign (2009)

  • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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Weapon – Drakonian Paradigm (2009)

cover

After receiving this promo CD I was expecting and other, at best, average Black Metal band that needs to show off his evilness on the cover of the album. However, after a few times going over the CD I discovered that this Canadian act has more going on for them other than the whole satanic act.

Having a very solid production behind them, the band manages to release a Death/Black Metal album that features an old school sound with fresh elements thrown in. The band never stays stagnant with a particular style and mixed things up in all songs, being acoustic passages and the usage of sitar and grand piano, all these elements create a very dark atmosphere that the band uses to perfection.

  • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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Sanctification – Black Reign (2009)

cover

Featuring a very strong lineup and some brutal guest appearances, the Swedes of Sanctification deliver us their 2nd full-length after a 6 year gap. The album was recorded with Kristoffer Hell on main vocals, but apparently has left the band so far. As for the guest appearances we have Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Pain) and Masse Broberg (Dark Funeral) on vocals in a few tracks, and the drums where played by Nils Fjellström also from Dark Funeral.

After reading all the name dropping you must be thinking this album will be totally amazing, and it is to some extent. If you like Death Metal and like most of your albums to sound alike, then “Black Reign” will be the best release you can find this year, since it’s brutal, well produced and excellently executed. However, if you like something a little fresher or a bit different, then this album will not please you, since the band sticks to the ‘traditional’ DM formula and never let’s go.

  • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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Pestilential Shadows – In Memoriam, III Omen (2009)

cover

We get a ton of cookie cutter Black Metal bands and their ‘cult’ sounding albums, and this makes for a very tedious job of listening to their albums and producing an objective opinion on them, however there are days when we get lucky and bump into an actual release that represents the earlier days of BM with a bit of a different edge to it. Today we found “In Memoriam, III Omen”, and after doing some research of the band we figured out that the quality of this album made sense since it features several members of the great Nazxul.

  • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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Interview with Merrimack

Based on the recent release of their latest album "Grey Rigorism" and their winter tour with Marduk and others, we geared up to interview these French Black Metal warriors and talked about their new album, the concept behind "Grey Rigorism" and social networks among other things. Keep reading for the transcript of this interview with Terrorizt.

  • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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Interview with Ethereal Collapse (Ryan, guitarist and vocalist, and Dave, guitarist and vocalist)

After being blown away by their self-released first full length album, we decided to get in touch with the band and ask them a few questions about the band, their label hunt and future releases. We are hoping this band gets picked up by a label soon since they are one of the best melodic death metal bands we have heard from the USA. Here is what the band had to say about our questions:

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions and let’s get started:

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