Other

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Alghazanth – Vinum Intus (2011)

    cover

    After their monumental “Wreath of Thevetat”, Finland’s best Symphonic/Melodic Black Metal band Alghazanth returns with a very interesting offering titled “Vinum Intus”. In three years between releases, the band has managed to fuse new elements into their sound and will surely take by surprise a lot of people, but they still manage to deliver a crushing release.

    The album starts off very rudimentary with the straight forward track titled “A Living Grace”. In this song you can immediately notice a simpler and less bombastic sound from the band, but equally cold and raw than before (and other Finish bands like Sargeist and Horna). The keyboard hints are a nice atmospheric element added to this song. The band gets a bit more comfortable and melodic with “With a Thorn in Our Hearts”, some guitar riffs even remind us of Celestia and their melancholy Black Metal style.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Korpius – Shades of Black (2011)

    cover

    Did somebody ordered a 40 minute session of brutal Death/Black Metal? if your answer is yes, then you should definitely check out Korpius and their crushing debut album “Shades of Black” out on Maple Metal records. With a crystal clear production and engaging songs, “Shades of Black” is by far the most brutal release we have received from Canadian lands this 2011.

    Crushing their way through nine tracks this Canadian foursome does a great job in keeping things brutal and straight forward. All riffs in this album a very meaty and have tons of ‘traditional’ DM hooks that will keep fans satisfied for endless hours. The drumming is also massive and the vocals are as inhuman as you can get. Both the growls and the shrieks that go into Grindcore territory at times are very well balanced to give enough power to this release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Across Tundras – Sage (2011)

    cover

    Usually all releases from Neurot Recordings are very interesting and Across Tundras seventh full-length release “Sage” is not an exception. Blending Psychedelic Rock, Sludge and some Americana elements, the band creates a very dense and multi-faceted album that will take a while to fully enjoy.

    Opening with the very intricate “In the Name of River Grand”, we immediately notice the majestic guitar work paired with the pounding bass guitar line. Once the vocals find their way into the song the overall atmosphere shifts to a more direct combination of Psychedelic Rock and Americana influences. Clocking in at eight minutes, this track is the perfect appetizer for what is to come in “Sage”.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Lekamen Illusion Kallet – The Second Wind (2011)

    cover

    In another addition to the ‘meh’ column of this month, today we have Lekamen Illusion Kallet (LIK) and their fourth full-length release “The Second Wind”. The band has re-emerged to release a pretty standard Black Metal meets Rock and Roll release that should fly low in most people’s radars.

    With over 40 minutes of bleak and depressing music, the band does one thing right: create a very desolate and dark atmosphere. The guitar tuning gives out a very raw and low-fi roar that is very effective in creating said atmosphere. Also, the slow tempo presented in these songs makes them perfect for an agonizing evening under very bad weather conditions.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Beto Vázquez Infinity – Existence (2011)

    cover

    ”Existence” marks the ’bands’ 4th full-length album, and it is clearly their most impressive and ambitious release to date. With a vast array of guest musicians, this release is one of THE Melodic Metal/Rock albums of the year, even though it was released in 2010 elsewhere, we pick the North American dates for our top 10 lists.

    With this double album, Beto Vázquez has managed to put together a very eclectic mix of musicians and each of the 20 songs combines powerful melodies with outstanding vocals. While the guest musician list is huge, is not as impressive as the ones from bands/projects as Star One, Ayreon and Avantasia. Most of the guests in this album, with the exception of Timo Tolkki, might be considered from the ‘B list’ of Metal, but they are equally talented and are just a bit less known that the ones on the ‘A list’ of Metal. We particularly like this approach since it allows the listener to discover lesser known bands due to the performances of their vocalists.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Cynthesis – DeEvolution (2011)

    cover

    Progressive wizards the Tipton brothers (Zero Hour) come together once more with vocalist Erik Rosvold (ex-Zero Hour) in this very ambitious project of Progressive Rock/Metal brilliance. Cynthesis debut album “DeEvolution” sets new standards for this gathering of musicians in a very trippy and atmospheric context.

    With the quality of musicians in this project there is little doubt that the music will be extremely good, and this is immediately confirmed in the opening track “The Man without Skin”. In this song we are treated to Jasun’s wizard-like guitar skills and atmospheric elements that create a very futuristic and interesting atmosphere.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Pandemonium - Promo 2010 (2010)

    cover

    As a little taste before the release of their highly anticipated full length “Misanthropy”, Pandemonium has unleashed their 2010 promo with two ‘un-official’ versions of the songs from said album and a few video clips. Packaged in a nice digipack version, this promo will surely generate more expectation after listening how crushing the two ‘advance’ tracks sound.

    “Black Forest” gives us a very dense and atmospheric track that showcases brutal drumming sections tightly coupled with dark and desolate Black/Death riffing. The vocals are truly haunting, maintaining a very deep and decadent sound to this song. The overall atmosphere of the track is very effective and features a very good improvement over anything presented in the band’s last album “Hellspawn”.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Within Temptation – The Unforgiving (2011)

    cover

    After all the selling out the band has done over the years and Sharon doing songs with Armin Van Buuren, I personally wanted to listen to this album to see how the band would keep their Metal fans, but still pushed forward with a more ‘commercially friendly’ sound.

    With the first single, “Faster”, the band was on way to a completely disastrous album in my opinion since this song is another ‘dance’ anthem with catchy electronic elements and chorus sections. The rest of the album however, is a very different story. While there are obviously ‘pop-ish’ elements in this release, there are also many more elements of “Mother Earth” and “The Silent Force”, than in the band’s last shit-sandwich “The Heart of Everything” release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Vreid – V (2011)

    cover

    One of the best parts about writing about music for so many years is to be able to see the progression of musical genres and bands. Because of this, we can safely say that Vreid has set a new bar for creative experimentation with Black Metal. While the band maintains its raw power and aggression, they also focus on the melodic aspect of their music by infusing elements from Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.

    In “V”, the band goes beyond the traditional Black’n’Roll and creates something with so much more depth that will surely puzzle a bunch of people at first. But once you start peeling the layers out of this album, you will unravel a modern wonder in terms of musical creativity.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Empatic – Gods of Thousand Souls (2010)

    cover

    Hailing from Poland, today we have Empatic and their super catchy Thrash infused Death Metal. The band’s debut album shows a promising band with an interesting sound and potential to be even better.

    The album starts with the brutal “Green Mile”, since the first 20 seconds the band let’s you know they mean business. An interesting thing to notice since this song is the band’s Melodic DM/Groove influences that make this release even more interesting to listen to. With “G.O.T.S” the band goes into full Death Metal mode and this song provides us with catchy hooks, powerful drumming and strong vocals.

Pages

Recent Image Galleries