Album Reviews

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    Mnemic – Sons Of The System (2010)

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    Opening the year 2010, we already have one album that immediately was written down in our album of the year list. This is something that has not happened quite often, but with Mnemic’s “Sons Of The System” we are astonished in terms of the quality of this release.

    Having heard Mnemic’s transformation over the years, this album took us by surprise, since it’s more melodic and straight forward. While the band maintains some of their signature trademarks they are opening up to a whole new world thanks to the vocal abilities of Guillaume Bideau.

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    In Mourning – Monolith (2010)

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    Hailing from Sweden, In Mourning returns after their highly acclaimed debut album “Shrouded Divine”. The new album “Monolith” marks a very big step in the right direction from the band since they have greatly improved their sound and show great promise for the future.

    While “Monolith” features more experimentation than the band’s previous album, it still features a well crafted Melodic/Progressive Death Metal sound that makes this band standout from the rest. Some of the experimentation in this album is not 100% to my liking, like the screamed vocals, but the growls and overall structure of the songs make up for this.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Ihsahn – After (2010)

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    “After” is one of the first albums of 2010 that I had the pleasure of listening to, and it blew my mind from start to end. Ihsahn is clearly one of the few musicians that are true visionaries and are not afraid of bending the boundaries of music in order to share their vision with the world.

    With each album topping the previous one, Ihsahn has constantly been evolving and incorporating different elements to his music until “After” where he blended the use of the saxophone in a highly impressive way that had me listening over and over to make sure my ears were not deceiving me. This paired with brilliant musical composition skills make this album one of the most complex and intricate I’ve reviewed in years.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Troll – Neo-Satanic Supremacy (2010)

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    After almost 10 years of creeping in the dark woods of Norway, Troll is back with a new symphonic Black Metal opus that restores the momentum the band had after the release of “Universal” back in 2001.

    Featuring one remaining member of the original band, Nagash (a.k.a Stian Arnesen) the band is back with a full lineup and the purpose of kicking some major ass. “Neo-Satanic Supremacy” is less Industrial Metal than “Universal” but it sill sounds better than anything that the band released before.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Chaos Invocation - In Bloodline With the Snake (2009)

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    Chaos Invocation is a German horde that are here to make a breakthrough in the Black Metal scene. With their debut album “In Bloodline With the Snake” the band leaps over thousands of bands when it comes to the quality of their music.

    Featuring 11 tracks of total occult destruction, this German band blows all the weaklings on the scene and positions themselves with the likes of Watain, Gorgoroth and similar bands.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    The Accüsed - The Curse of Martha Splatterhead (2009)

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    With Tommy Niemeyer as the only original member to remain in The Accüsed, the band is back with their characteristic Crossover sound. While “The Curse of Martha Splatterhead” is not one of their finest albums, it’s good enough to keep the fans of the band happy.

    “The Curse of Martha Splatterhead” features 14 relentless tracks that showcase Tommy’s skills at creating riffs that transform across Trash, Punk and Harcore. A feat that not many guitarist can do, but Tommy has years of experience under his belt.

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    The Beast of the Apocalypse - A Voice from the Four Horns of the Golden Altar (2009)

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    Transcendental Creations is quickly becoming one of my favorite labels in terms of finding different music, having released A Forest of Stars “The Corpse of Rebirth”, and now they are back with “Voice from the Four Horns of the Golden Altar” from The Beast of the Apocalypse.

    The Beast of the Apocalypse is Dutch band formed in 2009, and they make a very solid statement in their first album: Primitive and Raw Black Metal is back with a vengeance. And I don’t mean this because of all the other Black Metal bands that released epic albums this year (see our top 10 Black Metal albums of 2009 list on January), but because The Beast displays natural abilities at making cold and raw BM that only the classic bands have been able to do.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Black Cobra – Chronomega (2009)

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    Black Cobra is a two man band that plays very rudimentary but effective Sludge/Doom Metal, something that newer bands have problems doing so, by trying to be ‘extra awesome’ and using assloads of different distortions and fancy recording gimmicks.

    “Chronomega” features 9 tracks of crushing Sludge Metal, now on Southern Lord, the band shows that their basic style is effective enough to trump any other release of this genre. It’s heavy, is ‘sluggish’, is lo-fi, and it’s very effective.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    The Down Spiral To Hell - The Advent of Neurosis (2008)

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    Out of the countless CD’s I get on the mail or digitally every month, I have to say that only a few standout each month, and “The Advent of Neurosis” is one of the most recent ones.

    The Spanish duo called The Down Spiral To Hell have a really demented style that is very amusing to listen to. Mixing Black/Death/Grind Metal among other genres, make this release a listening journey into the abyss. The brutal riffs with Grind style vocals set the tone for this crushing album that will leave your head spinning for a few hours after the album is done.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Megasus – Megasus (2009)

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    Featuring members of the company that developed the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games, Megasus had even some tracks featured in those games before dropping their self-titled debut album “Megasus”.

    And while the guys might be talented game developers (if they had any direct involvement in the games) they are not very talented at writing music. Hiding behind a very rudimentary sounding distortion this band has nothing else going on for them.

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