Prophecy Productions

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    Alcest – Shelter (2014)

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    Fully coming out of their cocoon, today we have Alcest and “Shelter”. In this album we have Alcest dropping their last remaining Metal influences and swiftly delivering a Shoegaze/Post-Rock charged Dream pop release that will haunt you from beginning to end. Listing Birgir Jón Birgisson as a producer/mixer, from Sigur Rós fame, the band takes their dreamy sound to a whole new level of awesomeness.

    With the band shedding their Black Metal feathers over the years, “Shelter” marks their biggest jump by not having any hard vocals or extremely heavy guitar parts. However, the atmospheric brilliance of the band is untouched and further explored within the eight tracks presented in this release. The journey begins with the atmospheric intro “Wings”, featuring some dreamy vocals that quickly build up the listener’s expectations. As this song blends into “Opale”, Niege leads the way with some awesomely crafted guitars and his signature clean vocals.

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    The Vision Bleak – Witching Hour (2013)

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    Born from the imagination of Schwadorf and Konstanz, this Horror Metal outfit has been terrorizing Metalheads since its conception back in 2000. Presenting their fifth full-length release titled “Witching Hour”, the band has managed to further refine their deranged sound that combines creepy atmospheric elements, powerful guitars, and very diverse vocals. Clocking in around 40 minutes, the eight tracks of this release will put you to the edge of your seat thanks to their inventive ways of creating unique musical journeys.

    Opening with the album title track, the mood is set to a mysterious and dark old-school horror movie tone. The incisive guitars of Schwadorf quickly fill the soundscape on “A Witch Is Born”, a very catchy track that is filled with weird keyboards, crazy vocals, and very solid drumming. The band has a knack for making very catchy songs that are filled with powerful guitars and odd vocal melodies that give the songs that extra creepy vibe. Other times, the atmosphere created by the keyboards (handled by both Schwadorf and Konstanz) is what crawls under your skin, like on the opening of “The Blocksberg Rite”.

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    LowCityRain – LowCityRain (2013)

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    Spawning from the ingenious mind of Markus Siegenhort (Lantlôs), today we have the very unique and retro sounding LowCityRain and their equally named debut full-length release. Featuring over eight tracks of melancholic Post-Punk/New Wave/Electro music, this is one album that you can expect to hear in a gloomy lounge on a cold and rainy night. We are quite thankful that Markus didn’t decide to switch Lantlôs direction to release this music, and he instead made this 80’s sounding project that is quite emotional and catchy.

    Opening with the superb “You Are Everyone, You Are Everywhere”, we immediately get a very gloomy vibe thanks to its dramatic atmosphere. Fans of Amesoeurs will rejoice with this track (and release), thanks to the excellent vocals and carefully crafted retro vibe. The electro elements are quite intoxicating on tracks like “Grey Views”, nicely contrasting the somber vocals. The guitar work is quite solid, creating a very 80’s vibe of bands like The Cure.

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    Empyrium – Into the Pantheon (Live in Leipzig 2011) (2013)

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    Having been a huge fan of Empyrium since their 1996 release “A Wintersunset...”, when we heard that they would be giving their first live concert in the band’s history at the 2011 WGT in Leipzig, Germany, our plane tickets and festival accommodations were booked in an instant. As one of those magical moments were a band that never played live comes together, this show was set to be a very special event. Featuring a ridiculous live line-up with musicians from bands like Alcest, Les Discrets, Neun Welten, Dornenreich, amongst others, the band’s music was surely going to be brought to life in a very accurate manner.

    Arriving at the venue almost two hours before the show, we managed to be almost at the beginning of the line. Talking with super excited Empyrium fans just made the experience even more impressive and generated even more expectation amongst all the people gathered there. The live DVD version of this release manages to capture with great precision the magic of this night thanks to the crystal clear recording of the music and the HD video that was used to capture the event.

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    Dordeduh – Dar De Duh (2012)

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    After their excellent teaser of an EP “Valea Omului” back in 2010, the expectation grew immensely for Dordeduh. Consisting of the original song writers of Negură Bunget, this band has had so much expectation leading to this release that while a very solid and unique release, it kind of falls short and feels somewhat underwhelming. While not saying this release is bad, it just feels that it took so long for what it actually is.

    Opening with the epic “Jind De Tronuri”, this track eclipses the band’s first EP, duration wise, since it clocks in at 16 minutes. With an excellent atmospheric ritualistic feeling, this track is quite engaging and it nicely builds up to some killer Black Metal sections with some progressive elements reminding us of Enslaved. This whole approach continues on “Flacararii”, but in this track, after the atmospheric section the band chooses to go with a very crappy raw BM part before jumping into the progressive sections. This track also shows that the band sounds a lot like Enslaved in some of their progressive parts.

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    Eïs – Wetterkreuz (2012)

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    Originally known as Geïst, today we have Eïs and their latest full-length release titled “Wetterkreuz”. As one of the most ‘straight forward’ bands on Prophecy productions, the band plays a very well-crafted blend of Melodic Black Metal with atmospheric elements that is both brutal and majestic. Featuring 50 minutes of music distributed in five tracks, the band sets a very atmospheric mood that is nicely contrasted by harsh screams, furious riffing, and very tight drumming.

    Opening with some wind effects and German spoken lines, the mood is set to creepy since the very beginning. As soon as the guitar and drums roll in, “Mann aus Stein” sounds a bit like Falkenbach, Enid (the band’s members have been/are involved with the band), etc. However, things change when some more layers of traditional Black Metal are made evident and goes back and forth between melodic and aggressive.

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    A Forest of Stars – A Shadowplay for Yesterdays (2012)

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    The always riveting A Forest of Stars returns with yet another brilliant album that defies the limits of conventional music and mixes a very diverse spectrum of sounds and genres. In “A Shadowplay for Yesterdays”, the band features ten excellent tracks that will surely expand your horizons with a truly rich musical experience unlike anything you’ve ever heard before.

    Described as a concept album, this new release features the typical mixture of genres by the band, but it also sounds very cohesive and dark. The atmospheric elements are one of the biggest staples of the band and they delivers excellent sections that set the mood just right, like on the opener “Directionless Resurrectionist”. The spoken passages give that deranged vibe that we love about the band’s music. Not breaking character, the tempo of “Prey Tell of the Church Fate” is quite slow and nicely builds up to the faster Black Metal-ish sections. The drums are very good, but the atmospheric elements are the ones that shine the most.

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    Din Brad – Dor (2012)

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    As a side project of members of Negură Bunget, Din Brad delivers very interesting and exotic Neofolk music that creates an atmosphere unlike anything we have ever listened to. With “Dor”, the band crafts 11 tracks of dark and somber music that will send chills down your spine and will make you appreciate and dig-up more about Romanian folklore and history.

    Opening with the bone chilling “Amar”, the music of Din Brad is stripped down from any Metal influences and presents traditional instruments (i.e. panpipe) surrounded a by heavy atmospheric elements and a the excellent and enchanting exotic vocals of Alma. The lush and organic sound to the band is pretty awesome since it transports you to outer worldly locations in one instant. The folkish edge of the male vocals in songs like “Poarce'n Suflet Greu Păcatu” might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but it gives that sense of authenticity to the music that many other Neofolk bands are lacking these days.

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    Arctic Plateau – The Enemy Inside (2012)

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    Delivering a hefty dose of excellent guitar work, today we have Arctic Plateau and their dreamy masterpiece “The Enemy Inside”. Gianluca Divirgilio, the man behind Arctic Plateau has a great sense of melody and through his Post-rock/shoegaze compositions delivers waves of emotions in a way that only a handful of bands can do.

    Opening with the ethereal “Music’s Like…”, this song, as most of the ones in this release, is very guitar centric and with every passing minute there is something exciting to pay attention to. The dreamy atmosphere is top notch and the melancholic vocals nicely roundup this song. The mood in the album constantly changes between dreamy and ethereal to dark and depressive, like on “Idiot Adult”. In this somber song, Gianluca does a great job in using Shoegaze elements to create a magical atmosphere.

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    Secrets of the Moon – Seven Bells (2012)

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    After releasing three EP’s since their last full-length release back in 2009, today we finally have Secrets of the Moon releasing another full-length release under the title of “Seven Bells”. In this release, the band delivers seven (duh) tracks of brilliantly crafted Black Metal that is very characteristic of the band and will never bore you.

    With its typical dark atmosphere, Secrets of the Moon nicely builds up momentum in the crushing opening track “Seven Bells”. The creepy bell sounds are excellent and the riffing is very powerful and direct, all this while the vocals are as hellish as always and the overall melodic nature of the music is outstanding. With a more direct approach, “Goathead” blasts away since the opening notes and steps up the pace to full-blown Armageddon. Again, the atmospheric parts are downright chilling and the slow building during the last few minutes of the track is just outstanding.

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