Album Reviews

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Disgust – Crucifucked (2008)

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    Disgust is a Mexican Death metal band that likes to stick to the basics and excel at it. While they are not going to win any awards for originality, they are pretty good at achieving the same sound of Cannibal Corpse with some of the groovyness of Six Feet under. This album provides 35 minutes of pretty good old school death metal that is hard to find in new bands.

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    Ajattara - Noitumaa (2009)

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    “Noitumaa” is what I image would happen if you take a band to the forest, give them some shrooms and peyote, leave some acoustic instruments lying around, and make them record something. I’m not saying this release is bad, but it’s just very very bizarre. And what might be more bizarre is that I actually enjoyed it (and I was not intoxicated in any way).

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Autumnia – O’ Funeralia (2009)

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    This release is one of the finest Death/Doom metal albums I’ve heard in a few years. Their music is an ode to sadness, because it creates a great depressive feeling that this music should create. Autumnia is a two man band from Ukraine, and for this release they enlisted the help of other three musicians to record piano, bass guitars and violin.

    Everybody that knows me knows that I’m a sucker for a good Death/Doom metal release, and this one will make its way to my favorite albums list. Fifthly minutes of pure depressive music make this album a brilliant, much needed release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Mind Odyssey – Time To Change It (2009)

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    This band took ten years off between releases and they are surely back with a pretty good album that will attract fans of Progressive metal as well as Power / Heavy metal. The bands sound as been clearly updated to fit more recent releases of other bands of the genre. But the old school feeling is still there.

    This Germans have created a pretty good release that blends Power/Heave metal with some Progressive touches. It was probably good that they had a ten year hiatus before this release, in order to get perspective on things and come up with a very good release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Hatesphere – To The Nines (2009)

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    Hatesphere comes from Denmark with an interesting release. They mix Trash Metal with some very pronounced Metalcore influences. While this is a considerable step up from their previous release, it has something missing. The music is ok but very repetitive and the vocals have been considerably improved.

    This release is very good for a few songs, but after that it gets pretty dull and all interest is lost. I will admit that the music is very well made and the powerful guitars go along the elaborate drumming. The problem that I have with this release is that is good enough for 3 songs and the rest all sound the same. If you like your music to all sound the same then you will love this album.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Fejd – Storm (2009)

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    Fejd provides us with a very solid debut album. This Swedish band plays folk music, with almost no elements of metal, so don’t expect distorted guitars or anything like that. The most ‘metal’ aspect of the band is probably the drumming. The bands music incorporates a wide variety of medieval instruments and they all blend to perfection, creating an album very rich in different sounds.

    While I’m no expert in folk music, I can appreciate a good album when I hear one. You can clearly listen to the Hurdy-gurdie, bag pipes, and violin among several other instruments. The fusion of instruments is done to perfection creating very cohesive folk melodies that will have all the fan of medieval music dancing and chanting along the vocals.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    The Bullet Monks – Weapons Of Mass Destruction (2009)

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    I’m always surprised with the albums that come out of Napalm Records, since they have a wide variety of bands that play almost every genre in metal. The Bullet Monks play hard rock with some metal influences. This German band has a very interesting sound that will make anybody want to ride a Harley and hit the road.

    “Weapons Of Mass Destruction” is the perfect album to be listening to in a dive bar while drinking away your problems. The overall rock and roll feel of this album, with some great guitar work will have everybody asking for more.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Adagio – Archangels In Black (2009)

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    After Adagaio’s great first two releases they have fallen into an identity crisis. They have been experimenting with several different styles of music, but failing to create decent release. “Archangels In Black” represent another attempt at creating different sounding release, but their repetitive heavy sounding guitars make this release another miss from this French band.

    Adagio’s original Progressive Power metal is still present in some songs, and there are many great moments in this album, but they are drowned by the repetitive heavy guitars, and some growls / harsh vocals here and there. The drumming style has changed a bit, but you can still hear the brilliant tempo changes and the intensity from before. There are also changes that accommodate the slower style of music, but in general they are still pretty good.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Hellsaw – Cold (2009)

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    This Austrian band plays a very unique blend of Black Metal. It’s harsh, melodic and sometimes even groovy. The combination of styles makes “Cold” a very entertaining album to listen to. I must admit that I was moving my head up and down with most of the songs of this album, since they provide a prefect combination of brutality and melody that I rarely hear from Black Metal bands.

    “Cold” is the band’s third full length album and it show how they have been evolving since playing mainly harsh Black Metal to a more balances but equally aggressive style. Musically this band has a lot to offer, this two man outfit manages to create a cold and depressive atmosphere only rellying on distorted guitars and blast beats that rival any other band of the genre.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Leaves’ Eyes – We Came With The Northern Winds / En Saga I Belgia (2009)

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    This double CD live album from the German and Leaves’ Eyes will be a nice addition for all die hard fans of the band, as well as people starting to get into the band’s music. It provides a great variety of songs from all of their previous releases. The audio was taken from their performance at the Metal Female Voices Fest in 2007. And while the production was delayed, it was well worth the wait.

    Leaves’ Eyes is pretty much Atrocity + Liv Kristine, but their music is a Nordic inspired Gothic Metal, that is mainly characterized by Liv’s beautiful voice. But this does not mean the music is not good, since the band members have been creating excellent music in Atrocity for years. And Atrocity is known to experiment within the realms of metal and beyond.

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