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    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Emergency Gate - Rewake (2009)

    Every time I hear and album start with the phrase: “Are you ready”, I get so irritated, since they are usually pretty bad. Well this album is an exception to that rule.

    I can’t really label this bands genre since they combine clean with harsh vocals, with some melodic death metal touches as well as power metal elements, and sometimes it even sounds like metalcore.

    I have to admit the songs are very catchy but the metalcore parts kill it for me. When the songs are more power metal or melodic death metal their guitar melodies are pretty awesome, also the drumming is pretty decent.
    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Forgotten Suns - Innergy (2009)

    There are hundreds of bands playing progressive metal these days, and Forgotten Suns are one of them. While the album is not bad by any means it just seems like I’ve heard this one before in many other progressive metal releases.

    While all the musicians excel at their instruments, it’s really hard to create a good progressive metal album, since all the elements have to blend perfectly with each other. And this album lacks that in some songs, while in some other moments they are pretty good by progressive metal standards.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Mournful Congregation - The June Frost (2009)

    This Australian band always lures me into their depressive atmosphere as soon as I started listening to their albums, and The June Frost is no exception. Released 4 years after their last full length album, it was well worth the wait.

    The album consists of 4 super tracks that take you into the depths of depression and don’t let go. At least one of the track always tries to break the Guiness world record of the longest song ever composed and here they clock one at 17 minutes, which is a tradition of funeral doom bands as well.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Ironica - Dive (2009)

    This is a CD single that contains 3 versions of the same track, the single edit, the album version and the acoustic version. This band sounds like many other gothic metal bands with the difference that the singer vocal style is more power metal oriented. They also have some great guitar solos that mix very well with the song structure.

    This band has good potential and their sound is very refined. From what I can say about this single, I’ll be definitely waiting for their full length.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Wolves In The Throne Room - Malevolent Grain (2009)

    When I first started listening to this album in the first few seconds I said to myself: “Another shitty band trying to sound like ‘true’ black metal that recorded this in their backyard and it’s going to suck”, well let me tell you I was wrong!!! While the recording itself is low quality, it actually adds to the bands general feeling and the feeling of the songs.

    The album starts like a typical low budget recording with some very ‘true’ black metal sounding distorted guitars, but when the vocals start…. they are clean female vocals, that sound really, really depressing.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Coram Lethe - A Splendid Chaos (2009)

    Coram Lethe is the Italian version of a less talented Arch Enemy. While Erica’s vocal style is quite similar to Angela Gossow, this band’s music falls short of Arch Enemy’s great guitar riffs and melodies.

    This album might be liked by Arch Enemy fans, but their attempts to sound like them will get in the way of the enjoyment process of this album. Don’t get me wrong, this album has its own merits and it’s pretty good, if we could ignore the whole Arch Enemy clone issue.
    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Northern Kings - Reborn (2008)

    The second album from this all-star Finnish band brings us 12 more cover songs from a very “unique” group of songs. The band’s adaptation of the songs is very nice in most cases, but some of them do not have a good sound. However, all instruments blend well together and are very well combined (if you ignore the fact that the songs are covers). The combination of 4 different vocalists make them have a very dynamic arsenal of vocal styles and quality, the 2 most notable voices are Marco Hielata and Tony Kako’s since their style sets them apart from the other 2 singers (Jarkko Ahola and Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto).

    While this album is a good metal cover’s album, it takes a while to adapt to, and sometimes you even need to go and see what song they are actually covering since you can’t distinguish them easily.

     
    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Within Temptation - Black Symphony (2008)

    This in my opinion was the live DVD of the year (2008), it was recorded at a concert at Rotterdam's Ahoy Arena sold out months in advance. The band performed for 10,000 or so fans with the full Metropole Orchestra a classical choir, and with Sharon changing into several costumes.

    I have previously watched the older Within Temptation live dvd’s and they don’t hold a candle to this one, production or content wise. The set list was as follows:

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