Album Reviews

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    Twilight – Monument To Time End (2010)

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    Being revived back in 2009 by Black Judd (Nachtmystium) and Wrest (Leviathan, Krieg) we have Twilight, no relation to the gay vampire fest currently destroying America’s youth. The band featured members of several American Black Metal bands, and now it includes Sanford Parker (Minsk), Stavros Giannopolous (The Atlas Moth) and Aaron Turner (ISIS), making it a true ‘all-star band’.

    As the main characteristic of all the musicians in Twilight, we have that all of them have created music that is both fresh and different in the American Metal scene. The unison of such minds comes to life with “Monument To Time End” in a very interesting way, making Black Metal take a whole new dimension.

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    Year Of No Light – Ausserwelt (2010)

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    Around the same vein as Ufo Mammuth, we have Year Of No Light, and band that does great justice to its name by playing mesmerizing Ambient Doom with Shoegaze influences that will take you in a dark voyage with a considerable lack of light. Hailing from France, this band has a very crushing sound, mostly due to the fact that they have three guitar players and two drummers, one of the richest line-ups we have ever seen in a band.

    “Ausserwelt” is a 48 minute journey into a dark and desolate place that features a very rich and powerful soundtrack. With 4 tracks the band manages to create a super thick atmosphere that only a handful of bands are capable of. This album is not for the weak of mind and will surely blow yours away with every listen you dedicate to it.

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    Masterplan – Far From The End Of The World (Single) (2010)

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    After a one album absence we have Jørn Lande back on the vocals for Masterplan, and this single shows a nice preview on how good the band’s next release “Time To Be King” will be. Featuring two versions of the title song and another cut from the upcoming album, we have to say that this single is short and sweet, and it will create great expectations for the full-length due out on the end of May.

    With the band’s original line-up sans Uli Kusch, “Far From The End Of The World” is an epic track that will surely be one of the best of the album, since we think it can’t get better than that. Featuring a fast pace melody and epic keyboards to start, we are again introduced to the brilliant voice of Jørn Lande at its finest.

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    Woe Of Tyrants – Threnody (2010)

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    In the vein of Black Dahlia Murder and such bands today we have Woe Of Tyrants, an American band that has great potential. “Threnody” is the band’s 3rd full-length album, and starts very similar to whatever bands like BDM sound like, but the album takes a monster transformation with the sixth song called “Bloodsmear” into a brilliant Melodic Death Metal band that sounds like few others.

    As the first five songs where passing, we were about to chalk up this release to another BDM sounding band that does not offer much in terms of innovation, but boy we where wrong. The first songs feature furious Death Metal with some slightly impressive technical aspects, but then the music gets very melodic with the use of lush keyboards, brilliant rhythmical parts and blasting solos.

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    The Hawkwind Triad - The Hawkwind Triad (2010)

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    Providing a solid tribute to British space rockers Hawkwind we have Havestman, US Christmas, and Minsk. Released on Neurot Recordings, The Hawkwind triad do an excellent job in capturing the classical atmosphere created by Hawkwind while adding the uniqueness of each band into the mix, and fully respecting the original songs.

    One of the things we find the most interesting is that the tracks that each band performed are mixed together through the album, and it still flows like it was only one band making the tribute. Something very unique and refreshing, since tributes usually consist of several bands playing one or a few tracks and there is most of the time a huge quality gap between bands.

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    Orwell – Endeavors (2009)

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    Out of the countless new bands playing Melodic Death Metal is not hard to identify which ones are worth listening to and which ones are just products of trendsters trying to make a quick buck. Orwell from Wisconsin is one of the few that are worth listening to. The band combines the old Swedish Melodic DM sound with some Trash influences and bits of the more modern Metalcore sound.

    Delivering one crushing tracks after another one; “Endeavors” is a very powerful second release from this young American band that hopefully dethrones most of the current trendy Metalcore bands that the kiddies seem to enjoy so much. With its strong Swedish influences, Orwell demanded immediate attention from us, and will surely do the same for the rest of the listeners.

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    Wuthering Heights – Salt (2010)

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    Four years have passed since the release of the acclaimed “The Shadow Cabinet” and finally we have Wuthering Heights returning with another Power Metal masterpiece. The Danish sextet has managed not only to equal their impressive last album, but greatly improve over it with “Salt”.

    With a brilliant combination of Power, Progressive Metal, and some minor Folk Metal influences. Wuthering Heights has released a very impressive set of albums since “Within”, and have been improving constantly over time making them one of the premiere European Power Metal bands in our opinion.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Avantasia – The Wicked Symphony (2010)

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    After the lackluster “Scarecrow” we finally get the real Avantasia back with “The Wicked Symphony”, one of the two albums released by Tobias Sammet super band. As you all know the band features legendary drummer Eric Singer alongside Sascha Paeth on guitars, and Michael Rodenberg on Keyboards.

    Aside the super band behind Avantasia we have an impressive amounts of guest musicians and vocalists such as Michael Kiske, Tim "Ripper" Owens, and André Matos just to mention a few. The music in “The Wicked Symphony” is closer to “The Metal Opera” than to “Scarecrow”, making this release a brilliant example of what can Symphonic Power Metal should sound like.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Avantasia – Angel Of Babylon (2010)

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    Being the second release of Avantasia this 2010 (by one day of separation) “Angel Of Babylon” is much less bombastic and impressive than “The Wicked Symphony”, putting this release closer to “Scarecrow” because of it’s bigger hard rock influences. All the core musicians remain the same as on “The Wicked Symphony”, and the guest musicians/vocalists list is much shorter and a bit different than for the previously mentioned album.

    The first thing that came to our minds was that it was a great move that Avantasia left all these ‘weaker’ tracks in a separate release instead of putting a dent into the greatness of “The Wicked Symphony”. Having a greater Rock influence in these songs, the band looses a bit of its sonic power and goes slower than the first release, but this does not mean that the songs are bad at all; they are just ‘slower’.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    The Ocean – Heliocentric (2010)

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    As one of the most complex and intricate albums we have received in 2010, “Heliocentric” is an interesting release that will keep you guessing what’s next until the album comes to an end. The band does a great job at mixing Post Rock influences with Progressive elements.

    Compared to their previous release “Precambrian”, “Heliocentric” is less complex and shows how the band is consolidating on a sound and sticking to it. This new release does have moments when they use cello, trumpets and other things, but it’s never abused and just complements the music very nicely.

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