Candlelight

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Xerath – I (2009)

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    Xerath has been touted as a mixture of Meshuggah and the symphonic sound of Dimmu Borgir, and this is a very accurate description of this band in our opinion. Having an amazing movie score like bombastic sound they are here to blow people away.

    Usually when a band is blown up to sound like this they end up being a big disappointment but for Xerath this rule does not apply, this band is all of that and way more, “I” is such a rich album that I had to listen to it more than ten times to fully appreciate and digest all the layers this release has.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Imperial Vengeance - At the Going Down of the Sun (2009)

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    Imperial Vengeance took me by surprise when I first started listening to this album, I honestly did not expect much from it since the only thing I knew about the band was that Charles Hedger, a live member of Cradle Of Filth plays in it.

    The band’s overall bombastic sound is what makes this release so interesting, since the 2nd track you are blown away by interesting orchestrations and deranged sounding vocals, a very original atmosphere that very few bands can pull off (like The Vision Bleak). I must say that this band is one of the weirdest and most original I’ve heard in quite a while, the band’s label for their sound is “Dark Aristocratic Metal" which sounds very accurate to me since they present a very rich Dark Metal sound.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Pantheon-I - Worlds I Create (2009)

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    Pantheon I is a five piece outfit from Norway that play traditional Black Metal with a very interesting sounding twist, they use Cello arrangements to complement their blasphemous music.

    While it’s nothing new to use <insert any instrument here> with Black Metal, Pantheon I actually achieved a very characteristic sound that not many bands trying to mix something with BM have achieved.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Anaal Nathrakh - In The Constellation Of The Black Widow (2009)

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    Be prepared to be blown away by this album since the first minute you start playing it. Anaal Nathrakh are back to their older and more brutal sound in a bestial way. I think this is the band’s more brutal material since “The Codex Necro” and it’s probably one of the best albums of the year in my opinion.

    The production of this album is amazing overlaying tons of vocal styles, fast as hell drumming and amazing guitar riffs unlike anything I’ve heard this year. “In The Constellation Of The Black Widow” rapes our eardrums with 10 furious tracks that are not recommended for the faint of heart.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Obituary - Darkest Day (2009)

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    Obituary takes us back into the good old times of Death Metal with “Darkest Day” and this is probably the weakest thing about this album. The band’s last 3 album have been pretty similar in the sense that they are trying to recapture their young years glory but coming a bit short in every album.

    “Darkest Day” is an overall improvement over “Xecutioner's Return” since the vocals sound way better than in that album, and the overall feeling of the album is closer to the band’s glory days, however it gets stale after a few songs since there are many songs with boring and repetitive riffs that drown the good songs away in this release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Glorior Belli - Meet Us At The Southern Sign (2009)

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    After listening to the big shit sandwich that “Revelations Of The Black Flame” from 1349 came out to be, I was glad that I was reviewing this album next.

    Glorior Belli is a 3 man French band that provides us with 50 minutes of well produced Raw Black Metal, and I say this because the production on this album is excellent, almost capturing the extreme rawness that badly produced Raw Black Metal usually has.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    1349 - Revelations of the Black Flame (2009)

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    I’m pretty sure this album will cause plenty of controversy since 1349 have been releasing brutally amazing Black Metal albums since their conception, and now they hit back with a very ‘weird’ experimentation album.

    1394 tries to experiment with Ambient, Black Metal and even some Drone stuff here and there, and they sound…. very different. I gave this album plenty of listens before I wrote this review since my original reaction was to be repulsed by it, but the again, I always think that bands should experiment and do different things instead of releasing the same album over an over.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Susperia – Attitude (2009)

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    Susperia has come a long way since their earlier days of being a Black Metal band, then shifting to some kind of Black/Trash Metal, and now they are 100% modern Trash Metal.

    “Attitude” is the fifth album for this Norwegian band that features Cyrus and Memnock both ex-Old Mans Child and and Tjodalv ex-Dimmu Borgir. Boasting this impressive lineup the band’s sound transformation top it’s current state has been pretty interesting and hard to understand for some people, specially for the fans of their harder earlier stuff.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Blood Tsunami - Grand Feast For Vultures (2009)

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    Blood Tsunami is a 4 man Norwegian band that features Faust, of Emperor fame, on drums. The sound of the band can be said it’s Melodic Trash Metal, but with Death and Black Metal style vocals.

    The sound of the band is very dynamic and never gets dull, all riffs in the songs are greatly written and it truly showcases the bands talents, especially since “Grand Feast For Vultures” is the band’s 2nd full length release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Havok – Burn (2009)

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    When I first looked at the cover (and the logo) I thought it was pretty odd that looked like the from the 80’s Metal releases. And to my surprise the band sounds exactly like the Trash Music of those days.

    While I don’t have anything against old Trash Metal this released seemed a bit out of place for the current evolution of Trash Metal or anything that I’ve heard recently. However “Burn” is a great album that allows us to remember the old glory days of Trash Metal, all 12 tracks are infused with the feeling and sound that Trash Metal music had in those days.

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