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    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Todtgelichter – Angst (2010)

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    One of the most interesting (at least for us) German Black Metal bands has to be Todtgelichter and their near-Avant Garde Black Metal style that is not easy to fully digest. Making their highly anticipated return with “Angst”, the band dropped the kvlt BM logo for a modern ‘urban’ one and has an even weirder look than before (imagine blue man group but in full white outfits).

    “Angst” takes the listener through 54 minutes of pure brilliance with perfectly interwoven influences of Post-Black Metal and Post-Rock elements alongside traditional Black Metal elements. From the first song in this release (“Café of Lost Dreams”) you can tell that this release will be special and different since it starts very Black Metal minded but the guitar work is heading in a separate direction.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Before the Rain – Frail (2011)

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    Featuring none other than Gary Griffith (ex-Morgion) on vocals, today we have Before the Rain and their killer sophomore album “Frail”. It’s a rare occasion that we actually take time to listen (let alone review) albums that somebody else recommends to us since we are very busy listening and reviewing everything we get from labels and PR companies, but “Frail” caught our attention since the first song and it’s too good of an album to not tell people about it.

    Four years after their impressive “...One Day Less” debut release, the band comes back with a revamped lineup and a richer and broader sound. Taking full advantage of Gary’s vocals, the band’s sound shifts between traditional growls and clean ‘regular’ doom style vocals. The music is a lot better crafted and the hopelessness feeling given by the melodic passages is as good as it can get.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Beyond Light – Eclipsed Sun Path (2010)

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    Up in our review queue today we have Beyond Light and their debut full-length release “Eclipsed Sun Path”. After a few demos (available on their site), this one man band was finally given a shot through Sun and Moon Records. Featuring over 40 minutes of music, “Eclipsed Sun Path” shows an interesting band that could have done much better.

    After your cliché introduction track, the album really starts with “Blackened Sunlight” a 6 minute epic that changes from Black Metal to atmospheric weirdness to more cohesive melodic section. This track also showcases some of the shortcomings of this release like the very dull drumming (probably drum machine or such) and the linear songwriting.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    A Winter Lost…Weltenende (2010)

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    All the way from Romania’s Sun and Moon Records we received an album from “A Winter Lost”, a Canadian band. While the band’s style is far from original, they manage to craft 6 songs of pure unadulterated raw and grim Black Metal that will send you into a suicidal mood immediately.

    For almost 30 minutes “Weltenende” will take you back to the times when Black Metal was raw and simple. The band utilizes a few atmospheric elements to add eeriness to their music like acoustic guitars and female vocals, but the overall simpleness of the music is what makes it more effective.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Seven Thorns – Return to the Past (2010)

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    Seven Thorns, a relatively unknown Power Metal band from Denmark delivers a very solid sophomore release with “Return to the Past”. While people will be too busy bashing them for their similitude to hundreds of bands in the genre, we have to say that their music is kick ass and their sound is very professional, enough to overcome the lack of creativity.

    The band quickly establishes a hectic pace with “Liberty”, a crushing track that showcases the band’s talents. The first thing you will notice is the excellent Power Metal vocals of Erik Blomkvist, probably one of the overall highlight of the album. Next up, we have the blazing fast guitars and catchy riffing that allows each of the 9 songs presented here to be completely memorable.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Mhorgl – Antinomian (2011)

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    Featuring a very well produced mixture of Raw and Melodic Black Metal, today we have Mhorgl and their second album “Antinomian”. In this release the band takes full advantage of a crystal clear production and defiles it their sick and twisted mixture of melodic and old-school Black Metal in a very effective way.

    With a relentless sound, the band graciously presents 8 tracks of pure destruction that will please all fans of Black Metal. Since the crushing opening track “Nocturnal Blasphemy”, the band will surely blow you away with their sharp riffs, tight drumming and hellish vocals.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    As Likely As Not – Stand Up and Nerve (2011)

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    Hailing from Italy on The Execution Kollective Records today we have As Likely As Not and their debut full-length “Stand Up and Nerve”. Labeled as a mixture of Melodic Death and Metalcore, the band delivers a somewhat uninspired release that bridges both genres but fails to deliver in the important aspects.

    The band does a solid job in not being too Metalcore, but they also forget some of the important elements of Melodic Death Metal, like the killer guitar work and wide variety of blazing riffs that other bands tend to focus on. While “Stand Up and Nerve” is not the best album ever, it has some moments and shows some promise from this young band.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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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.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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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.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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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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