Band: ABISMO

Country: Chile

Title: Promo

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Sludge Doom Metal

Review:

Abismo hail from Chile and they play total Doom Metal.  Nothing to different from what the genre offers, totally depressing Doom sounding metal with the lyrics of Occult, religion, and suicidal darkness.  There is not much more to say really, it is simple Doom Metal in the way Paradise Lost or Cathedral was playing it back in the early 90's with "Forest of Equilibrium" and "Lost Paradise".  I like Doom Metal so this did it for me.  Don't expect anything fancy, just metal in a depressing manner!  There are only 3 tracks on this promo, but those 3 tracks equal 26 minutes of Doom.  Check them out, you might like putting a bullet in your head after the promo finishes playing.

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 7/10

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Band: ABOMINATION

Country: USA

Title: Tragedy Strikes

Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Year: 2011

Style: Thrash Death Metal

Review:

Remember the good old days of Master, Funeral Bitch, Funeral Nation, Deathstrike, and these guys?  I sure do and things are still fucking jamming with Abomination.  "Tragedy Strikes" deals with the tracks recorded over the years such as the first disc which has recordings from 1988 and 1991.  The second disc has 1987, 1991, and 1999.  This pretty much gives us most, if not all, everything that Abomination has recorded in the past.  There 36 tracks in all totaling 1 hour and 15 minutes of playing time.  Brutal, primitive, raw, and fast is what fans get and that is okay!  All the tracks are an entire career of awesome metal from these guys and nobody will be disappointed.  There isn't much I can really say about Abomination, they are self-explanatory in the metal underground and are legends as well.  So for die-hard fans of Abomination and their career of sickness should check out "Tragedy Strikes" for all your metal needs! 

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 9/10

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Band: AEGEON

Country: Finland

Title: Entrance to the Gardens of Death

Label: Mortis Humanae Productions

Year: 2012

Style: Black Metal

Review:

One man band from Finland, Aegeon presents us its debut EP, a 4 tracks effort totaling a bit over 20 minutes. Unfortunately the sound on this one is very raw and chaotic, and even if that's what Lord Aegeon, the man behind this project, had in mind before recording it, I still think it wasn't a good choice because for example there are some interesting guitar leads that are completely hidden by the drums and guitar riffs. The good thing about it is that it shows quite some appetite for intricate compositions, and although the whole is extremely cold and brutal, there are some parts where the atmosphere prevails, spooky, horror-filled atmosphere that is. Unfortunately this EP failed to capture my attention, but it's better than a lot of other such releases nowadays, it sounds much more organic, so if you're into uncompromising, brutal Black Metal, give this one a listen, you might enjoy it better than I did.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 6.5/10

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Band: AK-11

Country: USA

Title: Legendary, Demonic & Invincible

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Black Metal

Review:

AK-11 is a band that is brand new to my ears, a Black Metal project by one man who seems to be angry, passionate, and evil in music.  There are a total of 6 tracks on this demo and each track delivers a sound similar to the old days of Dark Throne or Burzum, maybe I am wrong, but I feel an old school Norwegian thing as part of the element in this music. April 2011 began the formation of another evil entity like AK-11 and the metal he makes is enough to convince me!  Fans of the old school Black Metal scene will certainly enjoy this new project at hand.  Tracks such as "The Cleansing Stream" and "Sniper's Glory (Satan Guides my aim)" are just 2 of 6 Blackened tracks to be heard.  Check this band out and the disappointment of nu-metal will wash away!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

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Band: ALTARS OF DESTRUCTION

Country: Finland

Title: Gallery of Pain

Label: Violent Jurney Records

Year: 2010

Style: Thrash Metal

Review:

Too bad I didn't get a hold of this band earlier, man they fucking jam!  Altars of Destruction comes from the obscure part of the Metal Underground in Finland.  Finland is known for some of the most brutal and evil bands playing today.  one of those bands is A.O.D.  A.O.D. unleashed "Gallery of Pain" in 2010, but I didn't get it until now.  I am hoping that their future releases will return to this style - bruising, brutal, fast, and heavy.  Altars of Destruction deliver the technical Thrash Metal in that old school sense, along with the heaviness of the band, these guys really kick ass.  "Gallery of Pain" is exactly that, a painful mosh experience that garners the anger and passion that a Thrash Metal should have.  Good fucking groove and heaviness!  A.O.D. are a kick ass Thrash Band with future potential and I truly hope that whatever comes next pounds my skull like "Gallery of Pain".  Their current release has 9 tracks totaling just over a half hour.  Songs like "Cross the Line of no Return" and "Gallery of Pain" just jam.  Hearing this record will make you want to start kicking asses and moshing every motherfucker in the wrong path!  Altars of Destruction deserve to get out of the obscure neighborhood of the Metal World!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 9/10

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Band: ANACHRONAEON

Country: Sweden

Title: The Ethereal Throne

Label: Stygian Crypt Productions

Year: 2012

Style: Melodic Death Metal

Review:

Anachronaeon is a Melodic Death Metal band from the grand country of brutality itself - Sweden.  A technical and progressive movement into the future of the Metal Underground.  Technically proficient is one thing, but the passion of the vocalist, and the way everything melts together throughout the record is awesome.  I have never been into this genre of metal too much, but I know when I like a band.  These guys kept the production feeling old school, along with the metal as well!  I don't know what else I could possibly say about Anachronaeon because their music speaks for itself!  This will be the fourth full-length release for them and every time things keep getting better and fucking better with the music they churn out.  So fans of the Old school Melodic Metal of Sweden, and the rest of the world should check out "The Ethereal Throne" and really listen to it, you'll love it!

By the way, they have a track called "Mary" on YouTube for people to get a listen to what will come with the rest of the album.  There is also a trailer for the upcoming album as well.

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 9/10

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Band: AXECUTER

Country: Brazil

Title: Bangers Prevail

Label: Infernö Records

Year: 2011

Style: Heavy Speed Thrash Metal

Review:

Axecuter hailz from the warmer part of the world, Brazil.  Certainly Brazil is well-known for the obvious reasons - Sepultura, Sarcofago, Ratos De Porao and on and on.  Axecuter is a relatively young band, but that does not show in their music.  I must say that the aggressiveness and anger filling throughout the 3 track opus really impresses me. I hear old school influence from the days of Norway's Black Metal purge, and I also noticed the Thrash Metal elements mixed in with other aspects of the metal genre.  There are three very good tracks here.  Axecuter is going to make some killer fucking metal in the future as long as they keep down this path.  The production is damn good, not to mention the feeling I get when I hear the vocalist, angry and...More angry!  Anyway, if your a fan of the old school sounding Thrash/Black Metal stuff then Axecuter is the perfect choice for you.  "Banger's Prevail", "The Axecuter", and "Rites of Decibels" are the three songs on this EP.  Not a bad start for Axecuter with "Banger's Prevail". 

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 7/10

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Band: BEREFT

Country: UK

Title: Bereft

Label: Mortis Humanae Productions

Year: 2012

Style: Ambient Black Metal

Review:

I'm not sure if this CD is regarded as a demo or a full-length album as I only received a promo copy with no additional info whatsoever, but for sure the length for a debut album is there: 9 tracks totaling more than 65 minutes. Bereft is a quite new Black Metal project on the UK scene being formed in 2010, but things are looking bright for this one man band, it already appeared on a compilation on Black Candle Records and now Mortis Humanae is releasing its first CD, selftitled. The sound on this release, although raw and unpretentious is much better than a lot of many others in this genre. Bereft plays a cold, desperate and evil enough Ambient Black Metal based on repetitive guitar solos, but with the addition of Doomy riffs here and there and also some interesting solos which is not so usual in this style. So I like the fact that Seere, the man behind this project, decided to mix the dark ambient side of music with a bit of technical abilities on the instruments. Honestly I find this CD much better than I have expected and gladly recommend it to you too, Bereft is definitely a name to keep an eye on from now on, but in the meantime hurry up and get this CD, it's limited to 100 copies only.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8.5/10

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Band: BLOODDAWN

Country: UK

Title: Opus Dei

Label: Panzerfaust Productions

Year: 2011

Style: Black Metal

Review:

4th full-length album of this UK based project, and from what I can hear on it they haven't changed their style that much. If you're familiar with their earlier released you'd know what to expect, but if you're not you should know this is some of the most chaotic and noisy Black Metal acts around. This should be a real attraction to most of the fanatics of this genre, but the draw back element in their music is certainly the drum programing. It gets to apoint where you have a hard time understanding what's happening over there. With a better production they would express better their ideas, it doesn't need to have the filthiest and noisiest sound to portrait your hatred and aggression, and they seem to really have good ideas when it comes to composition and also to the vocal spectre. Too bad for this horrible sound.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 5.5/10

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Band: CARELESS

Country: USA

Title: Coalition

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2012

Style: Heavy Metal

Review:

Careless were formed in the mid '80's, but broke up before being able to release anything of importance. They got reunited in 2008 and worked hard for this debut album, "Coalition", album that could easily be a stepping stone to their well deserved success. This album is simply fantastic, it sounds and feels like it's right out the '80's, a perfect mix of Iron Maiden, Dio and Kiss atmosphere. This one sounds so organic that I think this is the first time I am sorry I don't own this on vinyl, but hopefully they will release it on vinyl as well sometime soon. I have this CD for a few months already and I was thinking why I haven't reviewed it already, and the answer is I've started reviewing it a few times and it always got to a point where I forgot about writing anything and just enjoyed the music, that's how good this "Coalition" full-length effort I think it is. Of course there will be a lot of critics that will say we already have a Maiden or a Kiss, why listening to something that's stuck in those '80's days, but I don't give a shit, this is an awesome album, I am really looking forward to even more releases from Careless as soon as possible.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 10/10

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Band: CRUEL FORCE

Country: Germany

Title: Under the Sign of the Moon

Label: Heavy Forces Records

Year: 2011

Style: Black Thrash Metal

Review:

Cruel Force have a distinct sound of Thrash Metal, like the old school days, but they also have a mix of evil elements from the influence of Black Metal as well.  Germany certainly has their share of brutality, sickness, evil, and Thrash.  Cruel Force delivers a Blackened Thrash Metal opus that drives home a feeling of old school Power Metal/Thrash Metal.  All of this adds up to damn interesting release.  Songs like the title track, which has a heavy Black Metal influence as well as Power Metal, and "Obscure Evil", which delivers a most definite Thrash Metal attack that can crush a skull from a mile away!  Other tracks like "Chants of Mayhem" and "Black Oath of Death" really kick some fucking ass.  Cruel Force is a mix between a Power/Thrash Metal band added with a touch of Black Metal and Death to make "Under the Sign of the Moon" a most awesome add to any metal-head's collection of underground brutality!  10 tracks totaling 42 minutes of metal should suffice the sickening fetishes of an underground disciple of metal! 

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

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Band: DEEP DESOLATION

Country: Poland

Title: Subliminal Visions

Label: Quid Est Veritas Productions

Year: 2011

Style: Doom Black Metal

Review:

If you think a combination of Doom with Black Metal isn't as aggressive as your regular Black Metal playlists, think again, Deep Desolation is an example, a band that mixes perfectly the groove and minimalism of old-school Doom with the cold and dark atmospheres of Black. This is their debut album and although it's no groundbreaking discovery, it definitely portrays a new Polish act with great potential. If I said minimalist in the first phrase it doesn't mean I can stay 100% behind it because Deep Desolation are spicing things a lot with rhythm changes, intricate guitar riffs and desolate guitar leads, plus a cavernous vocal that brings damnation on everything. Supporting this mayhem they even added some background keyboards that honestly reminded me of the ones Nocturnus used back in the days. Sick release, sick band, recommended for old-school followers!

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9/10

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Band: DOG FACED CORPSE

Country: Iraq

Title: Demo 2012

Label: Salute Records

Year: 2012

Style: Death Metal

Review:

Iraq has unloaded a new piece of brutality into the Metal Underground, Dog Faced Corpse has given the world a new demo.  So how is it?  Brutal and sick, just the way the fans love it.  The demo consists of 4 brand new tracks showing what the band is capable of doing.  Capable of brutality, capable of keeping the sickness throughout the demo with mixed melodic touches and technical ego.  For a self-financed production I am impressed by Dog Faced Corpse.  Mayhem, murder, and chaos seems to be the lyrical content of the band and playing a brutal type of Death Metal with added ability is a plus.  All in all, after everything clears what is left is a hell of a fucking band that can play Death Metal as efficiently and as progressively as some of the veteran bands in the Metal Underground.  Tracks like the bonus track, also the title track as well, is awesome.  "Dog Faced Corpse" shows the old school influence with elements of a more newer sickness in the music.  All the tracks will get a fans attention, all are worthy songs to listen to.  Bands like Hate Eternal, Decapitated, and others show in their style of playing.  I loved it and I cannot wait until some more material is released from Dog Faced Corpse.  

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

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Band: DRUNKEN BASTARDS

Country: Hungary

Title: Horns of the Wasted

Label: Hells Headbangers Records

Year: 2010

Style: Thrash Black Metal

Review:

Hungary has been unleashing a berate of metality throughout the metal years in the underground.  For instance, according to the famed metal archives, Hungary has 916 bands documented so far on the archives!  916 bands in Hungary, all of them playing a precise genre of metal.  Drunken Bastards has taken the road to Thrash Kingdom.  Thrash Metal is what you get when you hear these crazy motherfuckers.  In 2004 Drunken Bastards was created and with the intent to make the craziest metal in the country!  Bands like Tankard, Murphy's Law, and EvilDead will certainly come to mind when "Posercrusher" is played on your cd player!  Old school mentality with old school metal makes for a great listen.  As long as Drunken Bastards areplaying this raunchy shit I will always be a fan!  So for fans of the old school Thrash Metal/Crossover Hardcore metal should check these motherfuckers out.  I am completely biased with this review, but who cares, I love em!  "Horns of the Wasted" belts out killer tracks like "Toxic Patrol" and the ever crazy "Baptized in Speed and Blood". 

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 9/10

Contact:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr%C3%BCnken-Bastards/207430989273473

Band: ECLIPSE

Country: Ukraine

Title: Triumph of the Pain

Label: Metal Scrap Records / More Hate Productions

Year: 2011

Style: Brutal Death Metal

Review:

There were and still are countless Eclipse bands out there but here we have the Ukrainian guys with their second full-length album, " Triumph of the Pain". Basically this could be categorized in the new wave of Brutal Death Metal, but still it has lots of old-school elements and the best thing about it, it somehow kept the old-school atmosphere, the idea that Death Metal has to be horrific and inflict damage, not to be based exclusively on personal instrumental skills and execution speed. So yes, I have enjoyed this release and I'm only sorry it lasts for only half an hour. Recommended for the ones of you in search for old-school type of Brutal and Dark Death Metal, these Ukrainian guys deserve more attention.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9/10

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Band: EKOVE EFRITS

Country: Iran

Title: Conceptual Horizon

Label: Hypnotic Dirge Records

Year: 2011

Style: Depressive Black Metal

Review:

One man band from Iran, pretty odd, isn't it? I mean there's no everyday news you get to hear about a Black Metal band from Iran. Ekove Efrits already reached its third full-length effort, an 11 tracks album totaling more than an hour. What we get here is some avangarde melodic, depressive and ambiental Metal that could be labelled as Progressive Black Metal, too. Count de Efrit, the man behind this project, is almost the same level of creativity and skill as Vaerohn from Pensees Nocturnes and that is reflected on this very interesting album that if it had a better sound production it would have been a sparkling 10 for sure. Sometimes the mix of instruments gets hard to follow and understand because of this poor mixing, but all in all the music is very interesting, very well thought and mature composed. Thumbs up for this Iranian project, a real hope for this overpopulated Ambient Black Metal scene nowadays.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8/10

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Band: EMPATIC

Country: Poland

Title: Gods of Thousand Souls

Label: Wydawnictwo Muzyczne Psycho

Year: 2010

Style: Death Thrash Metal

Review:

„Gods of Thousand Souls” is the one full length album of Polish death/thrash metallers Empatic from Ostroleka (Central Poland). This material is just the compilation of thrash and death metal elements. Fast and furious guitars – taken from thrash. Guitars’ solos – taken from death metal. Vocals – taken from the thrash and death frontier zone – this vocal was born in Deathland but now this vocal live in Thrashland but as a deathmetal ethnic minority, heh...  This album is just 11 kicking ass track included one OMD’s cover – „Enola Gay”. The proportions death-thrash vary over time, at the beginning „Gods...” is a deathmetal album, at the end – this is almost pure thrash. As a positive curiosity you have to know, that Empatic’s album was released with financial support from Munticipal Government of Ostroleka City.

Reviewed by Vilcin

Band: ENGRAVED DISILLUSION

Country: UK

Title: Embers of Existence

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Modern Melodic Death Metal

Review:

For a self-produced debut CD, this "Embers of Existence" shure looks and sounds fuckin' awesome and that's a clear statement of the band's intentions and potential. 10 tracks totaling 43 minutes of modern Death Metal, mostly focused on the melodic side of it rather than borrowing as many "core" features as they can, although those are present as well, so here's a new key point for Engraved Disillusion: would satisfy both the modern metal listeners as it's full of rhythm breaks, fresh guitar riffs, versative vocals, fast drumming (triggers included), and the more traditional listeners (as I am) because it doesn't abuse those modern elements and has quite a few features reminding of the Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal, and the music has an overall honest attitude, there are feelings in this, not only technical, robotic instrumental abilities. All in all here's a CD I like and although it doesn't come up with any hits, it's worth the 43 minutes of your time for sure. Recommended!

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8.5/10

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Band: FORTERESSE

Country: Canada

Title: Crépuscule d'Octobre

Label: Sepulchral Productions

Year: 2011

Style: Ambient Black Metal

Review:

Black Metal has come in all forms, but from Canada comes a bleak form of cold Black Metal from back when Norway was defending the honor of Black Metal music by burning down churches across the country!  Well, this is a reminder of how cold, dark,, and primitive a Black Metal band can be during the present day of 2012.  Forteresse delivers a brand of Black Metal that is nothing fancy, just evil and cold all the way through.  Nothing else really needs to be said about the release except for fans of the old school Black Metal ventures will certainly like this, hopefully...6 songs totaling 44 minutes of primitive darkness.  Canadian Black Metal sure has a way of staying dark throughout the Metal Underground, but with tracks , which by the way are written in French, like "La Lame Du Passe" which translates to "The Blade of the Past" and "Enfants Du Lys" which means "Children of the Lilly" I think I got them right, but if I didn't do not be offended please!  I am not a French major in any way!  Black Metal in the sense of the old school metal days is what delivers unto the masses of Black Metal fans from Canada's own FORTERESSE.

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 7/10

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Band: FROM THE VASTLAND

Country: Iran

Title: Darkness vs. Light, The Perpetual Battle

Label: Arx Productions / A5 Production

Year: 2011

Style: Black Metal

Review:

The second CD from an Iranian band (well, one-man-project actually) I review this week. From The Vastland presents us its debut full-length, a 10 tracks effort totaling 47 minutes. First of all I have to say I don't like the drum-machine effects this guy used; too synthetic, too robotic for my taste and even for this kind of music, but since he's the only one composing and playing music under this moniker using a drum-machine is quite a normal thing. I only hope he improves it on the next release. The music is quite catchy, raw, aggressive, mid-tempo to fast rhythmed but also melodic and expressive, so if you're into old-school Black Metal you might enjoy this. There's nothing new or original except maybe for the lyrical approach, so if Sina, the man behind From The Vastland, doesn't continue and improve on his music, this might as well be another Black Metal CD doomed to collect dust on a shelf. His guitar skills and compositional ideas are good, but he need to start building from that.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7/10

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Band: GRIM

Country: Italy

Title: Masturbating Zombie

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Hard'n'Heavy

Review:

This band definitely has built themsemselves a cool image that will act like a magnet for those of you into Horror and especially zombie related themes, but the album title sounds pretty stupid to me. I have to admit this album's look, being a zombie themed digipack, makes it worth buying even without listening to their music, a nice piece in anyone's collection. Now about the band's music, it's a quite fresh sounding Hard Rock combined with a few Heavy Metal elements here and there, it's entertaining, catchy and energetic, so after all I guess we have a winner here. Although being a trio, Grim doesn't have much empty spots in their compositions, it all sounds cleverly thought and played flawlessly. All tracks inhere are radio friendly, so I think these guys have done their homework thoroughly, and although this is quite generic American type of Hard'n'Heavy, their horror-infused theme is great. The only things I'm not happy about on this CD are the title and the choirs parts that are quite mediocre sounding. A thumbs up for this band and a recommendation for you.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8.5/10

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Band: GUTWRENCH

Country: Mexico

Title: Domain of Pure Putrescence

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Doom Death Metal

Review:

Founded last year, this trio presents us their debut demo, a 2 tracks (+intro+outro) totaling a bit less than 10 minutes, so we only get a small glimpse of what are they all about. Gutwrench is definitely an old-school band playing minimalist Doom Death Metal, the one that makes you remember the best horror flick you saw lately. I'll start with what I don't like on this one: the length would be the first as 10 minutes are not enough, then the drum-machine is very annoying, and ending with the very simplist compositions, very primitive and lacking originality big time. The pros for this demo CD would be the sick but still comprehensive cavernous vocals, the totally devoted image and absolutely nightmareish atmospheres they create, and the balls to release something and show it to the world although they were not 100% prepared for it. If they work a bit more on compositions and have a better drumming part on the next release we might see a new rising star in the old-school Doom Death scene.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 6/10

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Band: HARMONY IN GROTESQUE

Country: Russia

Title: Painted by Pain

Label: Arx Productions

Year: 2012

Style: Atmospheric Dark Death Metal

Review:

This album took me by storm, after a couple of listenings I can say I'm totally hooked and enchanted by it. This is the perfect description of how I like my Doomy Gothic Death Metal to sound like. Harmony In Grotesque is not a new name on the scene (they were formed in 1998 and released another album prior to this one), but a new name to my ears, and I'm so glad I had the chance to stumble on their new CD, thanks to Alex from Arx Prod for this.

"Painted in Pain" is one of those albums that offer you so much diversity on one hand but still keep the whole "package" catchy and entertaining. Basically H.I.G's music is built on an Atmospheric Dark Metal skeleton, but there are many influences (and they are good influences) from other styles, many tempos and different atmospheres, and what I like the most is the organic sound they used, nothing seems synthetic or out of place. Violins, flutes, keys, melodic and melancholic guitar leads, avantgardish guitar solos, jazzy female vocals, strong, powerful hoarse male vocals, clean male vocals, acoustic guitar parts, metallic rhythm section, engulfing, deep atmospheres, all of these are mixed skillfully in an album that I can say right now will reach my top 10 for this year, it's 1 hour long and I still crave for more! Maybe I'm a bit too enthousiastic on this, but I really encourage you to give this band a chance, you might have the same surprise as I had...

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 10/10

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Band: HEKSERI

Country: USA

Title: Hekseri

Label: Time Before Time Records

Year: 2011

Style: Black Death Thrash Metal

Review:

This one here is an interesting band coming out of Boston, USA. It's not everyday you stumble upon a female fronted extreme Thrash Death Black Metal band, and Hekseri is certainly doing justice to the word extreme. 2 girls and 1 guy compose the actual line-up of Hekseri, and although they are using drum programmings, they sound pretty organic and old-school. Normally I would be annoyed by the drum machine, but in this case they have mastered it properly and it sounds like a normal drummer. The music is fast, aggressive as hell, blasphemic and manages to express some real feelings, and that's the best thing on Hekseri I think. I have enjoyed this album a lot, and would recommend it to all of you old-school extreme metal followers out there, Hekseri might rise to a cult status in the scene if they will continue to release such albums (well, I guess I am still nostalgic for a band like Derketa was). My fave track on this album, and the track I think would become an anthem for the band: "Invoking The War Goddess", give that one a listen asap.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9/10

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Band: HERESIARCH

Country: New Zealand

Title: Hammer of Intransigence

Label: Dark Descent

Year: 2011

Style: Black Death Metal

Review:

New Zealand is a place that I am not familiar with, music wise either.  Hell, some of the bands I listen to hail from this place and I probably have no idea about it, not yet!  We will start with Heresiarch and the opus they have unloaded into the Metal Underground.  "Hammer of Intransigence" is a Blackened/Death metal brutal opus with a touch of grinding sickness.  Black Metal/Grindcore/and Brutal Death Metal are all over this one folks!  Heresiarch are sick and they show it.  I almost felt like Exit Wounds were gonna jump out at me after this CD ended!  The music fits the theme of the lyrics, war torn occult madness with a very sickening sound and feel!  6 tracks totaling 22 minutes of pure brutality in a grinding and Black Metal/Death Metal kind of way as I mentioned before.  Heresiarch is brutal!  Check out tracks like"Carnivore", "Intransigent", and "Conflagration".  This shit will tear your fucking head off!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

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Band: ICON IN ME

Country: Russia

Title: Head Break Solution

Label: Massacre Records

Year: 2011

Style: Groove Metal

Review:

Icon in me grew up in Moscow Russia in 2007, this is  the second album after their debut with "Human museum” in 2009. I don’t know anything about their first release so I will evaluate this album without being influenced by their old projects. First of all I can say that the sound and  the structure of their songs are modern and they are well produced and mixed. "Icon in me is a mix of different genres  going from Hatebreed to Anthrax, so it’s very difficult to precisely target them ( this is good for me ;)). Every member plays well and the voice is aggressive and other times atmospheric with clean vocal moments.  The album starts with an intro ( Suicide World) nothing original but a good start for the listeners although later it’s like cutting the expectations. I have appreciated " Face it” violent enough especially the chorus and "Nuclear Drama” where the drum player uses the blast and beat technique . The album is generally good enough to be listened but it always sounds like that something missing and most of the times some riffs are quite obvious but as there is a mix of different genres the opinion of each listener can be radically different. I suggest to see the video of the song " Un-slaved” on Youtube. If you want to listen to a good modern band "Icon in me” are waiting for you.

Reviewed by Rob Gore

Rating: 7.5/10

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Band: INBREEDING SICK

Country: Colombia

Title: Sodomized and Gutted

Label: Chainsaw Productions

Year: 2009

Style: Brutal Death Metal

Review:

Colombia sure does have its share of brutal and sick metal bands, Inbreeding Sick is no fucking exception in this case either.  Inbreeding Sick deliver a very sickening and devastating attack of Slamming style brutality.  Hell, I thought they might have been from Texas if I didn't know any better, but I do!  "Sodomized and Gutted" is a sick opus delivering 10 tracks at 33 minutes in length.  33 minutes of some of the sickest, heaviest, and brutal Colombian brutality.  The music speaks for itself, the minute I started the title track on my player that was it!  Tracks like "Sodomized and Gutted, "Chainsaw Surgery", and "Parricide Execution" just pummeled the crap out of my skull.  I don't get why it took almost 3 years for this to get in my hands, but I won't complain because I have these sick fuckers now!  10/10 just for the carnage this record delivers!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 10/10

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Band: KATAPLEXY

Country: USA

Title: Mind Deterioration

Label: Self-released

Year: 2011

Style: Brutal Death Metal

Review:

Holy Fuck, these guys are brutal!  Chicago has delivered a bunch of metal to the underground over the years, and brutality such as Lividity, Burnt Offering, Mortar, Cianide, Sindrome, Broken Hope, Macabre, and many others...Kataplexy is a sick band unloading the goods from early Death Metal styles of Deeds of Flesh, Disgorge (Mexico), and old school brutality like Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse.  There are 8 tracks of unrelenting sickness at a high rate of speed that is enough to crush your fucking face with a truck tire!  "Intermission Zamboni Disfigurement", "To Rid the Human Race", and "Cryptic Slaughter" are just a few of the tracks that will endure you to pain.  Anyway, enough bullshit...I love this band, and the fact that they are also from Chicago could possibly make my review biased, but who gives a fuck the band deserves the promotion!  Released December 10, 2011 relatively new to the brutal underground so enjoy it.  Not much more needs to be said - Brutal, Sick, Destructive, and fucking awesome Chicago Death Metal Sickness!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 10/10

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Band: KILLGASM

Country: USA

Title: Bloodbath of Satanic Vengeance

Label: Underworld Records

Year: 2011

Style: Grindcore Black Metal

Review:

Killgasm is a band I've heard a lot along the years, they were formed in 2002 and had a quite susteined activity so far, that's why I was surprised to see "Bloodbath of Satanic Vengeance" is their debut album. Regarding the music on this release, for me at least this is a curiosity, a combination of Black Metal and Grindcore sounds pretty forced and not so serious, but thses guys seem pretty into what they do and they really do it well, without falling into the nowadays "all fun grindcore". Even though they have some of the elements of the new Grind scene, their core influences are from the old-school style: fast, brutal, offensive and organic. Above all there is the Black Metal attitude, a deep anti-christian exposure of their thoughts. Although I hate the post-grindcore like screams, I have to admit the go on pretty well with the rest of the music inhere, and also with the growling, grotesque vocals that appear here and there. All in all Killgasm is a really good and inventive band you should check them out if you didn't already.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8.5/10

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Band: MURW

Country: Holland

Title: Kanker

Label: Heidens Hart Records

Year: 2011

Style: Atmospheric Black Metal

Review:

After 15 years of existence, Dutchmen MURW finally released their first full-length album KANKER. Offering only 37 minutes of astonishing musical content, the album clearly marks a shift towards quality over quantity - taking into account that their latest out of five demos offers a running time of approximately 50 minutes. Regarding MURW's musical style, this release - clearer than ever - emphasizes their role in nowadays landscape of black metal as being rather distinct. The songwriting itself represents the very manifest of what MURW is all about, being utterly rich in variety and expressing high intolerance against observing stylistic borders. Especially the latter isn't actually a common phenomenon in black metal. Being beyond easy listening, KANKER constantly evolves towards its apex throughout all four tracks. During the sparse minutes when the two-voiced guitar lines does not create an euphoric symbiosis, thoroughly arranged clean guitars substantiate a complex and transcendental atmosphere. The profound and far-reaching riffing is an interesting implementation of avant-garde, progressive, doom and even post-rock elements, with a slight tendency towards 70s psychedelic rock. Drumming follows a fairly simplistic but adequate approach, non-intrusive and generally rather slow to mid-tempo.  The majority of vocal lines would have benefited from more diversity, which MURW have - successfully, but sparsely - tried to uncover here and there, with surprisingly appropriate female vocals and a few efforts in well-done clean singing. According to the band, a focus has been set on recording quality of this particular release; however, while being way better than previous self-produced demos, there is still plenty enough room for further advancement, especially when it comes to lead guitar sound and drumming. The bassline is clear and apparent, yet lacking certain thickness. But, as it seems to be common regarding black metal, this particular measure is not key for most people - after all, the album is quite well produced. Consider it relevant or not, but all music, lyrics and even drawings have been done by a single person, the alleged mastermind of the three-headed lineup, as it was during the release cycle of KANKER, which lasted four years. Conclusively, I consider this release mature and highly advisable. It certainly reflects largely successful experimentation with uncommon and not easily reconcilable schemes within the genre, constituting in an utterly creative and melancholic, dramatic as well as psychedelic album.

Reviewed by Khaosis / Erik 

Rating: 9/10

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Band: MYSTONS

Country: Finland

Title: 3

Label: Elucaarts

Year: 2011

Style: Mystic Rock

Review:

Mystons seems to be more and more present in rock and metal media nowadays and that's most probably because of the very good PR they have. The band plays "Mystic Rock" that after listening to their music could be translated as a mix of '70's Rock with Doom Metal, Alternative and Hard Rock. Quite minimalist compositions but extremely catchy to a point where when you start listening to their CDs (no only to this "3" album) and feel a bit surprised of how simple it sounds, but at the end of them you'll have at least 1 track sticked to your mind, and that's good music. If you like your Doom Metal filled with '70's rock elements, Mystons could be the perfect choice in the nowadays over-produced scene. Organic, honest to a point it could be considered even naive, and clever, those would be the three features of Mystons' "3" album.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9/10

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