2009

  • Windfaerer – Glory Bound (2009)

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    Today we find ourselves reviewing the 2 song demo of Windfaerer, an American band that plays a very interesting sounding Pagan/Folk Metal. And the only problem we find about this demo is that is too short.

    The band hailing from New Jersey, has a very polished style and when they release their first full-length (which is on the works now) will surely take the scene by surprise. The songwriting for both songs is very well alternated with mid-tempo passages to blazing fast sections.

  • Hellbastard – The Need To Kill (2009)

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    For a band that are the ‘creators’ of the Crust genre, this band disappeared for 2 periods of 10 years. And let me tell you, there are some bands that should stay dead and Hellbastard is one of them.

    With a very weird and old school sounding album “The Need To Kill” features a very awkward selection of tracks thankfully are very short. Some of them are fun to listen for a few minutes, but then they get ‘weird’ and I loose complete interest.

  • Age Of Evil – Get Dead (2009)

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    Hailing from the USA we get this very young and promising Heavy/Trash Metal band called Age Of Evil. Most band members can’t legally but a drink but they can rock the shit out of many bands of this genre.

    “Get Dead” is the band’s latest release that features 2 new songs (“Cruel Intentions” and “Get Dead”), as well as a few covers (“Slave To Grind” of Skid Row and “Electric Eye” from Judas Priest), and 2 live songs. You can clearly see the Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and even some Metallica influences in the band’s sound.

  • Bloodline - Hate Procession (2009)

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    Boasting members of Shining, Naglfar and Midvinter among other great bands we have the Swedish Black Metal monster called Bloodline. The band plays Raw Black Metal with some Industrial elements, reminding me of the legendary Mysticum at some points.

    With their impressive line-up the band does not fail short on delivering a very distressful aural assault that is not for the weak. Rooting them selves in raw Black Metal, and adding marvelous ambient elements, we get a perfect back drop that will make you have nightmares and feel what real Black Metal was all about.

  • Walken – Walken (2009)

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    The American band Walken caught my surprise when I first popped their CD on my sound system because of the interesting mixture of genres they use. The band’s sound is very diverse in the sense that you can find a big Trash Metal influence, as well as hints of Crossover/Punk Metal and very interesting melodic parts.

    Having released only 2 full-length albums in a career spanning over 10 years, I keep thinking how band’s like this are not signed and other very shitty bands have recording contracts. Featuring member of Prog-Metal/Rock Grayceon we can see how they influence the band’s music into a different direction than when the band started.

  • Aherusia – And The Tides Shall Reveal The Traces (2009)

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    In a very crowded Symphonic Black Metal scene, there are only a handful of bands that I could call original. Aherusia is one of them, hailing from Greece I personally never heard of them before, but they present us their debut full-length album “And The Tides Shall Reveal The Traces”.

    The band’s sound is very rich and presents us with a very interesting atmosphere created by the distorted guitars and a cretan lyra, an instrument that I’ve never heard before in my life. This instrument sounds like a violin/viola at sometimes and it gives the band that folk-ish sound that mainly Pagan/Viking/Folk Metal bands, but with a distinctive Black Metal edge.

  • Aosoth – Ashes Of Angels (2009)

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    Hailing from France and making its way on to my sounds system today I find Aosoth, one of the latest signings from cult Polish based Agonia Records. This band features MkM from the legendary Antaeus and BST ex-member of Aborted. This two headed monster plays as you can expect: Black Metal.

    The band’s style is somewhat old school and the music is very basic, taking a lot of elements of early 90’s Death Metal, combined with Black Metal overtones, creating a very dense and diabolical sound.

  • Sacred Steel – Carnage Of Victory (2009)

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    Not being a big fan of Power Metal, I find it hard reviewing albums of this genre, because most of them sound exactly like each other. Sacred Steel’s “Carnage Of Victory” is one of them, while the music and vocals are not bad, but it’s just something I’ve listened to before.

    “Carnage Of Victory” provides us with 11 tracks of very decent Power Metal, I must say that not every Power Metal band I’ve reviewed has the quality that Sacred Steel has. The band on their 7th studio album delivers a very solid recording and should not be ignored by fans of the genre, for non-believers of Power Metal it’s just another album that sounds the same.

  • Kittie – In The Black (2009)

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    Several years have passed since Kittie reached their highest point around 1999-2001, two albums later and plenty of lineup changes they are back with “In The Black”, released on their own vocalists label, and distributed in Europe by Massacre Records.

    I have to agree that “In The Black” is the band’s most mature record to date, since the music is better defined that before, and the album is very cohesive. But the whole gimmick of the female growling and the all-female band has gotten old. The band’s 5th release is just another decent Metal album, but nothing to write home about.

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