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    Dotma – Sleep Paralyses (2011)

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    Arriving from the Metal promised land: Finland, today we have Dotma and their very impressive debut full-length album “Sleep Paralyses”. Having had a great month in terms of Gothic Metal releases, we are still completely blown away by the quality behind this monumental release.

    Filled with great musical arrangements and emotive vocals, “Sleep Paralyses” quickly became a fixture in our regular Gothic Metal play list due to its catchiness and beautiful female vocals courtesy of newcomer Johanna Lesonen. The band’s music has some Power Metal tendencies, but the overall sound after all the vocal layering moves towards the Gothic Metal genre.

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    Ruled by Reason – The Dawning of Dystopia (2011)

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    For people like us that like to put things into genres, bands like Ruled by Reason pose a serious issue since we can’t really figure out where they fit. This new coming band from the USA has influences from Deathcore, Metalcore, Melodic Death Metal, and countless other genres, so all we can say is that the band’s music is not Black Metal, not Doom Metal, not Viking Metal and definitely not Gothic Metal, but rather a wide variety of more modern genres (the –core shit) and some Melodic DM influences.

    Moving on to better use of our words, “The Drawing of Dystopia” features 8 hard hitting tracks that will sure please all fans of music with melodic guitars. Yes, the Metalcore/Deathcore influence is the dominant elements of this release, but the band’s guitar acrobatics (like on the “Dr. Jekyll…” track CoB solo rip-off) gives them an upper hand over all the crappy bands in the scene.

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    Human Improvement Process – S.T.A.R.S (2011)

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    Advertised as blending Deathcore with dubstep and electronic elements we immediately started listening to this release to figure out how can a band make Deatchore even worse by adding our current number one ‘musical’ enemy: dubstep. To our disappointment we figured out that the band not only does not have ANY dubstep elements, but it also has very few electronic elements in their sound.

    While we are not great fans of Deathcore we can recognize a good release when we listen to one and “S.T.A.R.S” is half-way there. The band has great guitar parts and superb clean vocals but everything else in-between feels too artificial and slapped together. Even the ‘dubstep’ intro that has no metal elements in it feels like a plot to appeal to a different market.

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    Odd Dimension – Symmetrical (2011)

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    Jumping out of the blue, today we have a very promising Progressive Metal band with the name of Odd Dimension. Hailing from Italy, this ‘new band’ is ready to make a strong introduction with their debut album “Symmetrical”. Featuring 47 minutes of music, this release is one of the strongest Power Metal releases of 2011 we have received so far.

    Featuring lush keyboard arrangements, powerful singing, solid guitar work and tight drumming, this band has all the elements needed to be successful in such a competitive genre. One of the best elements of “Symmetrical” has to be the solid songwriting abilities that the band has, since ‘everybody’ can be great at their instruments, is how they put the songs together that separates a great band from the rest.

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    Quicksand Dream – Aelin: A Story about Destiny (2010)

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    When we first started listening to this album we noticed that it sounded a bit dated and ‘older’ for some reason, little did we know that it was originally recorded in 1999 and very limitedly released back in 2000.  Taking that into consideration, we are even more amazed on what sound this band had back in those days and can’t help but wonder where it would have taken them back then.

    If you are a fan of Epic Heavy Metal and you like bands like While Heaven Wept, Equinox ov the Gods, Fates Warning, etc, then Quicksand Dream will surely grab your attention. The band mixes Heavy Metal elements with some Psychedelic rock influences and the overall Epicness of the band’s sound is greatly enhanced by the vocals of Göran Jacobson.

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    Dirk Diggler - Dirk Diggler (2010)

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    Hailing from Israel today we have a very perky porno-grind band called “Dirk Diggler”. While we are not huge fans of gridcore in general, we can recognize when a band is pretty good at creating chaos and decadence with their music and Dirk Diggler excels at this.

    Featuring the traditional porn samples, Dirk Diggler blows in your face 14 tracks of crushing gridcore that can be compared to Pig Destroyer, Anal Cunt and similar bands. Track after track the band provides a hefty amount of riffs and bestial vocals to please the most ‘demanding’ fans of the genre.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Brutally Deceased – Dead Lovers’ Guide (2010)

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    Hailing from the Czech Republic, today we have the neck-breaking music of Brutally Deceased and their debut full-length release “Dead Lovers’ Guide”. Many new bands attempt to play ‘old-school’ Swedish Death Metal but fail miserably, however Brutally Deceased excels in this department very nicely and created 33 minutes of retro-DM that fans of the genre will love.

    With a very solid production, “Dead Lovers’ Guide” will drill your ears for nine very catchy tracks. The band’s music has just the right feeling to believe you are back in the early days of Grave, Dismember, Morgoth, but has the 2010 studio clarity.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Svartpest – Mjodfest (2010)

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    With a story that reads like a soap opera (according to the press kit), today we have Norway’s Svartpest and their latest release “Modfest”. In this album we get 7 tracks of a mixture of Black Metal with some Viking/Folk influences that feels somewhat a bit undercooked, but decent enough to make an ok album.

    Taking 3 songs from their 99 demo (with the same title), the band gives us a total of 7 tracks that dramatically vary in quality, but have a few decent ones to call this album a ‘lukewarm’ success. We have nothing against such releases, but we think is kind of lame to rehash older songs for newer releases (unless you are a band with a long (and recognized) trajectory).

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Liktjern - Kulde, Pest & Død (2011)

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    Hailing from Norway, today we have another Black Metal band popping out of the woods. Liktjern has been around since 1996 but due to tons of line-up changes and everything you can imagine, the band has never released any music until “Kulde, Pest & Død”, a very raw and ‘traditional sounding’ Black Metal MCD.

    As we are reviewing this album during a winter storm, we can surely state that this kind of Black Metal is just right for these moments. All 4 songs are raw and basic, a simplistic but rather traditional approach to the genre, but then again who said Black Metal is supposed to be pretty.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Macabre – Grim Scary Tales (2011)

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    The masters of deranged music and sick and twisted lyrical content are back with their first full-length release in eight years. “Grim Scary Tales” is consisted of 14 tracks, each referring to a killer and their atrocities, which make for 50 minutes of very interesting tracks that vary between Death Metal, Grindcore, Technical DM, and overall madness.

    With the opening track “Locusta”, Corporate Death and Nefarious deliver a brutal two prong bass guitar and lead guitar attack that will render the listener unconscious due to the high intensity of the song. Moving over we have the completely insane “Nero’s Inferno”, a piece that sounds straight out of a circus formed by psych patients.

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