Other

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Grnd_0 – Destroyer / Creator (2008)

    cover

    “Destroyer / Creator” begins like any other Death Metal release, but after the first song you start to realize that this is not your average release. Grnd_0 have several elements in their sound that sets them apart from many Death Metal bands. I hear some resemblance to Nevermore’s music when I listen to “Destroyer / Creator” but other than that, this band blends many elements very well together.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Dakrya – Monumento (2008)

    cover

    Dakrya is a Greek band that packs a lot of punch in a small package. And by this I mean that their sound is very varied and dynamic. “Monumento” is a very rich release that features a band that has many musical influences. Listeners will never be bored by this release since every song is a bit different from each other.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    The Gathering - The West Pole (2009)

    cover

    When Anneke left the band many people, including me, where wondering how the band was going to continue. Anneke’s peculiar vocals were one of the things that propelled this band into worldwide recognition. And while I liked their early Death/Doom Metal music, this band’s different direction grew on me over the years. "The West Pole" Is the band's newest release with their new singer Silje Wergeland from Octavia Sperati fame.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Ministry – Adios…Puta Madres (2009)

    cover

    After almost 30 years of musical career Ministry leaves us with “Adios…Puta Madres”, a live album from their last world tour. There are limited amount of things that one can say about a live album, and I’ll be sure to cover all of them. First off, Ministry featured a pretty solid line-up during their last tour and this is reflected in the performance of all songs featured in the album.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Visions Of The Night – Nocturnal Militia (2007)

    cover

    If you want brutal, you’ll get brutal, if you want blazing fast guitars, you’ll get blazing fast guitars, if you want monstrous drumming, you also get them. All of these elements and more are packed in “Nocturnal Militia”.  This war and occultism inspired outfit from Canada are here to stay and haunt everybody with their album. This album does not lack energy and brutality in any aspect, the production is crystal clear and the music is like a round of AK-47 shots.

    While the band style is more death metal oriented they have certain elements of black metal that make it an interesting mix of genres. The twelve tracks on this release are enough to keep moshing the whole time. And you will certainly want more.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Autumnia – O’ Funeralia (2009)

    cover

    This release is one of the finest Death/Doom metal albums I’ve heard in a few years. Their music is an ode to sadness, because it creates a great depressive feeling that this music should create. Autumnia is a two man band from Ukraine, and for this release they enlisted the help of other three musicians to record piano, bass guitars and violin.

    Everybody that knows me knows that I’m a sucker for a good Death/Doom metal release, and this one will make its way to my favorite albums list. Fifthly minutes of pure depressive music make this album a brilliant, much needed release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Stille Volk - Nueit De Sabbat (2009)

    cover

    I've been listening to Stille Volk since the 1997, and they have most of the time releases good albums (except [Ex-uvies]). They are very consistent with their Medieval Folk style, and they don’t have any traces of Metal anymore, but still makes for a nice and different thing to listen.

    This two man band provides a great variety of wind and string instruments that are perfectly complemented with Patrick's vocals and several bagpipes. All songs are very consistent of the style of Stille Volk and will surely please all their fans. All instruments from what I can tell are very well played and they mix together perfectly.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Kekal - Audible Minority (2008)

    cover

    I've been listening to Kekal since their early Black Metal origins to their transformation into Avant-Garde Metal. I've never been a big fan of their newer releases, however you can see some brilliance behind their music. "Audible Minority" was released on-line for free, and an official label release came to light in December 2008. I'm not an expert in Avangarde Music, but I can still find releases that I like and ones that I don’t.

    Kekal's latest release is one that after listening for several times, I'm not able to get into it. There are many elements floating around that do not fit well as a whole. Many of the samples are just annoying in my opinion, and the vocals just make them worse. While there are some nice jazzy parts, they just suddenly transform into a drone noises and the magic is lost. The only song I liked was "Against", all the rest have nice parts but nothing else.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Black Sun Aeon - Darkness Walks Besides Me (2009)

    cover

    I first heard of this band when I got a CD sampler from Stay Heavy Records during Tuska 2008. Black Sun Aeon is one of many projects from Tuomas Saukkonen, and like all of this projects, it's brilliant. Having 'formed' just in 2008 this album showcases the musical creativity of Tuomas. The release is dark and heavy, a perfect combination of Death and Doom Metal.

    This album also features an array of guest vocalists that give different dimensions to this album. It was great to hear Tomi Koivusaari from Amorphis growling again (in Chapter 4), Ville from Moonsorrow (Chapters 5 and 7) and Mynni from Sotajumala in 3 songs. The guest vocalists provide their powerful vocals to an already great combination of clean and harsh vocals provided by Tuomas and Mikko.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Tracedawn - Tracedawn (2008)

    cover

    I was blown away by this band's first release. Their sound is so well defined and technically amazing. Every track of this album has been greatly constructed and shows a high level of musicianship. And amazingly enough most band members are under 21 years old!

    The band's sound has some resemblance to Into Eternity, but it has a more symphonic sound to it. The vocals are a very well balanced mix of clean and harsh vocals that don't get too annoying or sound bad at all.

Pages

Recent Image Galleries