2015

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    The Grammers – Journey (2015)

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    Instantly a top contender for the catchiest and most engaging release of 2015, today we have Finland’s The Grammers and their release “Journey”. Delivering 11 tracks of vibrant Hard Rock, this band has a very playful and engaging sound that instantly grabs your attention.

    Expertly selected to kick off this release, “Journey” has a superbly engaging chorus section that will stick in your head for days. The track is quite moody and very well crafted, similar to the approach that Crimson Tears used to take in their music. As the band pummels through the catchy “Brother” and the superbly executed “Hey Mama”, we instantly notice the band’s very positive energy and great deal of fun they seem to have when delivering such lively songs.

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    Santa Cruz – Santa Cruz (2015)

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    Comprised of 80% talent and 20% attitude, Finland’s Santa Cruz keep the Glam Metal flame alive with their superbly catchy music and intense stage presence. With the greats of the genre getting older and older and (finally) retiring from the scene, it is ups to bands like Steel Panther and Santa Cruz to keep this part of musical history alive and the Finns are doing a great job in keeping up with their part. In their self-titled sophomore release, the band takes their sound one step further with richer music that further develops their sound.

    Opening with the hyper catchy “Bonafide Heroes”, we get a certain Bon Jovi vibe from the singer/guitarist Archie. Of course there are killer guitar solos and excellent show-off parts in this song, but the kicker is that nothing sound extremely retro or copied, but rather the band has made it their own and further expanded it with current musical trends and styles. As the insane guitar leads keep appearing on tracks like “Velvet Rope” and “My Remedy”, the band quickly establishes a high-octane mood with their superb music. Johnny and Archie do a killer job in delivering amazing guitar sections in this release.

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    A Forest of Stars – Beware the Sword You Cannot See (2015)

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    Delivering their most impressive offering to date, today we have A Forest of Stars (AFOS) and their fourth full-length release “Beware the Sword You Cannot See”. Further expanding their already very theatrical and unique sound, AFOS has crafted a very complex masterpiece filled with string instruments, solid percussions, and a very hearty foundation of Metal to pull everything together.

    Opening with the chaotic “Drawing Down the Rain”, has a very schizophrenic feeling that it only gets more bizarre as the release goes by… and we love it. The bands heavy riffing and pummeling drums lay the perfect foundation for the plethora of extra instruments and multiple vocal styles that this seven person outfit delivers. With a distinct feeling of getting lost in somebody’s dark mind, tracks like “Hive Mindless” and “Blaze of Hammers” continue punishing the listener with abstract sounds and very cinematic atmospheric elements.

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    Helrunar – Niederkunfft (2015)

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    Germany’s Helrunar is by far the least imaginative and most straightforward band in the Lopus Lounge stable of great musical acts. However, there are some decent moments and redeeming qualities that make this band good enough for us to review them over countless others we receive every day. Featuring eight track and around 56 minutes of music, this album marks the band’s first full-length release in nearly four year.

    The album’s opener, “Niederkunfft” nicely provides a window to the band’s musical approach and unluckily everything else will sound quite familiar. There are some nice chilling elements here and there like the creepy atmosphere and the closing of “Totentanz”, but the vanilla tracks like “Der Endkrist” leave a lot to be desired based on Prophecy productions/Lopus Lounge standards. Other pieces like the doomy “Devils, Devils Everywhere!” have nice riffs but some very silly passages that quickly reduce the listener’s desire to stay engaged in the music.

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    Crest of Darkness – Evil Messiah (2015)

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    Hailing from Norway, Crest of Darkness delivers us with their latest offering: “Evil Messiah” a 20-minute EP filled with the band’s signature old-school(ish) Black/Death Metal. Featuring 3 normal songs and a cover of Alice Cooper’s “Sick Things”, this release is quite entertaining and a good follow up to their 2013 release “In the Presence of Death”.

    Opening with the super catchy “Evil Messiah”, the band grabs your attention with a certain retro sound that is not very common these days. The main driver of this track is the crunchy guitar riffs that make it well suited for headbanging to it. Things get Thrashier with the intense “Armageddon”, a song that reminds us to old-school Thrash from the Bay area but with harsher vocals.

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    Uhriristi – Haudankylmä (2015)

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    Arriving from Finland via France’s Mortis Humanae label, today we have Uhriristi and their punishing anti-religion Black Metal. Delivering great quality Black Metal with light use of atmospheric elements, this band perfectly fits in the intersection of bands like Dimmu Borgir/Alghazanth and Horna/Satanic Warmaster. The perfect balance of keyboards/synths and blistering riffs/drums is what makes this band be more than your average BM outfit.

    Misleading the listener with the soft intro, “Kaivo” quickly explodes into a pummeling riffing onslaught that has a certain Horna-esque vibe to it. The band’s vocalist Rutto has some well suited pipes for this type of music. The band instantly reminded us of the older days of Dimmu Borgir/Old Man’s Child as “Routahauta” and “Haudankylmä” made their appearance. The band’s sound is quite compact and they have a certain old-school vibe that keeps their music fresh in terms of the current trends in Atmospheric/Melodic Black Metal.

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    Moonspell – Extinct (2015)

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    Portugal’s greatest extreme music export Moonspell returns this 2015 with yet another very solid release that is quite diverse and engaging. Never compromising, “Extinct” shows yet another face of this outfit and delivers ten tracks of catchy Gothic/Dark Metal that is always perfectly led by Fernando Ribeiro’s extremely characteristic vocals. In a release that is sure to catch a few people off-guard, the band comes out triumphantly with a fresh an entertaining 45 minutes of music.

    Opening with the perfectly arranged “Breath (Until We Are No More)”, the band introduces some very dramatic middle-eastern influenced orchestrations and creates a very unique atmosphere in this opening track. As we progress to “Extinct” and “Medusalem”, we notice that there is a heavier emphasis on the orchestral/classical arrangements and that while the guitars are heavy, they mostly complement a very Gothic/Dark Metal structure to things. A particular thing to note is the killer solo in “Medusalem” that is nicely wrapped in other arrangements making them sound a bit like Orphaned Land for a moment.

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    An Autumn for Crippled Children – The Long Goodbye (2015)

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    Greatly anticipated for 2015, An Autumn for Crippled Children’s fifth full-length release delivers in all possible levels and takes the band’s sound even further into the depths of depressive Post-Black Metal / Blackgaze. In “The Long Goodbye” the band hones in their skills to produce nine of the bleakest tracks they have ever written clocking in at 41 minutes of pure emotional rawness.

    The opening track, “The Long Goodbye” starts off with a hectic level of intensity with Shoegazy dreamy guitars and brilliant harsh vocals. The overall tone is quite melancholic, making this track a perfect mood setting piece for what is to come. On “Converging towards the Light” we jump into a bigger atmospheric vibe with very dramatic ambiance perfectly capped by the punishing vocals of Mchl. As “A New Form of Stillness” rolls by, we get a certain Synth-pop vibe going with a very interesting melodic passage.

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    Decline of the I – Rebellion (2015)

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    The French Metal musical renaissance continues with yet another uncompromising release that pushes the boundaries of Black Metal with “Rebellion” from one-man battalion Decline of the I. As a side project from A.K. from Vorkreist and Merrimack, this is one of the most sickening (in a good way) releases of 2015 so far. Filled with craziness and odd elements mixed together, we are treated to more than 45 minutes of intense music.

    Quickly establishing this will not be your typical release with the chaotic opener “Lower degree of God’s might”, the band is off to a great start with seemingly random elements perfectly stitched together. The riffing barrage continues with the demoralizing “Hexenface” dissonance adorned with mournful vocals. “Le rouge, le vide et le tordu” delivers some interesting tempo changes that feature some cool French audio samples during its melodic interludes.

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    Code – mut (2015)

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    Always expecting the unexpected from Code, the band takes a huge musical leap with “mut”. Usually characterized by playing intricate and unconventional songs, the band will surely puzzle their listeners with this Post-Rock/Progressive Rock album that keeps the band’s unique sinister atmosphere present, but with a different packaging.

    The album starts off with the trippy and jazzy “On Blinding Larks” and “Undertone”, two tracks that are quite atmospheric and while different to what one would expect, they are quite engaging. The guitar work led by Aort and Andras is spot on, reminding us a bit of a jazzier and darker version of Anathema. Wacian further showcases his vocal magical powers with a very diverse and full of surprises performance through the album, but in particular tracks likes “Dialogue” and the deranged “Affliction”.

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