Massacre Records

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    Mandagora Scream - Volturna (2009)

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    Founded by Morgan Lacroix, Mandagora Scream is an Italian Gothic Metal/Rock band that has been around since 1997. The band's main characteristic is Morgan's unique voice, that once you hear it once, it's almost impossible to not recognize again.

    If you are thinking that Mandagora Scream only has to offer Morgan's vocals, you are deeeply mistaken. The band creates a very dark atmosphere in all their albums and "Volturna" is no different, the enthralling keyboard arangements mixed with electronic elements set the stage for a layering of different vocal tracks and very basic, but effective, distorted guitars.

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    Echoes Of Eternity – As Shadows Burn (2009)

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    While many people decided to trash Echoes Of Eternity debut album “The Forgotten Goddess”, I was very surprised why a band would get trashed by attempting a very interesting mixture of musical genres (Gothic and Progressive Metal) and achieving a very good debut album.

    The riffs on the band’s debut album were not the most original or complicated out there, also they were pretty repetitive but they still managed to get the job done in creating an original sound for a band that was breaking into the scene.

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    Narnia - Course Of A Generation (2009)

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    Narnia is a Swedish band that features a very impressive lineup of musicians and has been around since 1996. The main difference between “Course Of A Generation” and “Enter The Gate” is the change of vocalists they made, bringing German Pascual to their lineup.  

    The main reason Power Metal is not one of my favorite musical genres because plenty of releases in this genre sound very alike. And “Course Of A Generation” is the perfect example. While the music is very good and the overall album production is stellar, it feels like I’ve heard the same songs somewhere else, there is nothing new or innovative about this release. That being said, we will assume that there are no other Power Metal bands in the world, for the rest of this review.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Macbeth – Gotteskrieger (2009)

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    This review is about the Germany Heavy Metal band called Macbeth, not to be confused with the other 5 or so bands with the same name. This band has been plagued by bad luck causing them to split 2 times.

    It’s been three years since their self titled last album, and with “Gotteskrieger” the band return with a very interesting album, that differs from most Heavy Metal releases that I’ve heard in the last few months.

    “Gotteskrieger” can’t be labeled as a traditional Heavy Metal release since the guitar riffs for most of the songs are not very traditional, each song has elements from many other genres that make the band’s sound very dark and fresh. The only ‘common factor’ between the songs are the vocals. They are very raspy but Heavy Metal sounding.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Rebellion - The Clans Are Marching (2009)

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    Rebellion is a German Power Metal band that has some ex members of Grave Digger in its ranks. “The Clans Are Marching” is a short EP released 1 month before their next full length album. This EP features 4 songs that will leave all fans of the band and the genre hungry for more in anticipation of the new album.

    While I’m not a huge fan of Power Metal, I can recognize a quality release when I hear one, and this EP is top notch in my book. The band is known for releasing high quality albums and this one is not an exception.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Eternal Tears Of Sorrow – Children Of The Dark Waters (2009)

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    After being blown away by the promising new track from this album that was included in their single “Tears Of Autumn Rain”, I was expecting this album very much, since the band usually takes a while to release albums.

    “Children Of The Dark Waters” was well worth the wait of 3 years, the album picks off where “Before The Bleeding Sun” left off with the track “Angelheart, Ravenheart” and it never lets go. The band’s unique symphonic sound is one of my favorite things about the band and I must say that they have improved it since the last album.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Graveworm - Diabolical Figures (2009)

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    After listening to three very sub par records from this Italian band, they blow us away since track one (“Vengance Is Sworn”) of this new album. I was starting to loose faith in this band since being very disappointed with their weird musical style switch since (N)Utopia, I was a very big fan of their earlier work like “As Angels…” and “Scourge Of Malice” so when the bombastic sound they had took a hit into a more Melodic Death/Black metal I was not digging it.

    With “Diabolical Figures” they go somewhat back to their more Symphonic side of music, but not loosing their brutality and aggressiveness that has been featured in most of their albums. The catchiness of most songs in this album is stellar and would have any fan of the band head banging from start to end.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Inmoria - Invisible Wounds (2009)

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    Inmoria hails from Sweden and the band features members from Tad Morose and Morgana Lefay, after reading this I was very interested in listening to “Invisible Wounds”, they debut album.

    While the whole album features a very interesting mixture of Power and Dark Metal, and the keyboards create haunting melodies that are perfectly complemented by choirs, it lacks depth and after listening to 4-5 songs it becomes a bit dull and repetitive.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Nachtgeschrei - Am Rande der Wel (2009)

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    Nachtgeschrei hails from germany and they play Folk rock/metal. This band has some clear similarities with In Extremo, but they manage to have a sound of their own. This release features a more rock oriented music, than their previous album “Hoffnungsschimmer” and while this is not necessarily bad the band might loose some followers over this.

    “Am Rande der Wel” features song very catchy songs and nice mixture of metal/rock guitars with bagpipes and very distinctive vocals. The album kicks of with two great songs (after the intro): “Musipili” and “Herz aus Stein”. The rest of the songs do sound very similar, but if the music is good (like in this case), then this is not a problem. There are many parts that are perfect for sing-along moments during live performances.

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