Band: AASGARD

Country: Greece

Title: Nekriki Mistagogia

Label: Lower Silesian Stronghold

Year: 2011

Style: Black Metal

Review:

I got a bit confused when listening to this EP's intro, an excerpt from the movie "300", the connection of a major Hollywood flick with a raw Black Metal band somehow din't make sense to em, but then I thought these guys are from Greece and want to praise the glorious Hellenic past, and then I thought about the band's name, what does it have to do with Greece? And even at this moment I can't come up with a plausible answer... Anyway, this 6 tracks EP presents us a good Black Metal band that plays its music the old-school way, without compromises, fast, grim and vicious as it should be. Their music is melodic and aggressive at the same time, the melody being transmitted by the guitar leads, and the aggression being made of organic, primitive drumming (good stuff) and distorted, almost industrial-sounding Black Metal screams. Too bad it's almost impossible to read the lyrics listed in the booklet because of the fonts used, without them it's absolutely impossible to understand what this band is singing about. A fair 23 minutes of devastating Black Metal that won't make the Greek scene ashamed for having this band.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7/10

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Band: ACROSOME

Country: Turkey

Title: Dementia Praecox

Label: Dusktone

Year: 2011

Style: Depressive Post Black Metal

Review:

Depressive? Yes, because it's slow, hopeless, tormenting and cold as hell. Post Black Metal? Yes, because it kept only a few traces from the new type of Doomy, Ambient Black Metal. Acrosome is a Turkish duo with one of the guys being DY from Zenith Maudlin, a band I have recently reviewed and I pretty much liked. "Dementia Praecox" is thier debut EP, 8 tracks in 24 minutes, an effort based mostly on creating grim, demented, and depressing atmospheres rather than showcasing instrumental skills. Actually their technical abilities are very well hidden here, as the music is simplistic on guitars and drums (when present) and based on synths and desperate screams. I'm not impressed or pleased at all by this release, sorry, but that doesn't mean it's shit, not at all, it's better than countless others but still nothing more than average.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 6/10

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Band: AD NOCTUM PROJECT

Country: Chile

Title: Der Reich der Dauern Land

Label: Pagan Forces Records

Year: 2011

Style: Folk Dark Ambient

Review:

Humberto Escobedo, the guy behind the Black Metal bands Tirano and Amun Kar, started this project in the '90's as a metal band, but decided to continue by his own some years later, under the Ad Noctum Project moniker. In 2010 Tamara Picardo from Uruguay (also known from her work with Upon Shadows or Asbel) joins Humberto and so the project becomes a duo with Tamara taking care of the vocal parts and Humberto playing the instruments. This new Promo EP I have here is a 4 tracks effort plus a bonus track taken from ANP's demo from 2008. The music is more into a qvasi-medieval atmosphere rather than a Folk one, so I'd loose the Folk mention in its description. Based on acoustic guitars and vocals, ANP's music is calm, warm and not depressive at all, it inspires more of a nostalgic feeling. Tamara I think has only a few lyrics, but her voice (on multiple layers) is an excellent addition here. The whole is quite simple and repetitive in composition, but not bad at all, recommended if you're in for something different than your daily dose of extreme metal. I would really like them to add more instruments (like flute, piano or such) on the next release, there's where this music leads my thoughts.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7.5/10

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Band: ATROPOS

Country: Poland

Title: Crucifiction

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Melodic Death Metal

Review:

this Polish band has been alive since 1994, so they are slowlyu but surely approaching 20 years of activity, although their name is not so well-known outside Poland, I think. They have released 2 full-length albums, the second in 2001, and since then it has all been quite quiet. Until now when the band released 2 EPs, both at the same time. "Crucifiction" is a 6 tracks work recorded, mixed and mastered 6 years ago but released officially only now. Melodic Death Metal based on solid and powerful rhythm section, with lots of grooves, but also old-school elements, melodic guitar lines on multiple layers, heavy guitar riffs and a vicious, raw type of vocals. It made me think of a combination of Lunatic Gods, Lux Occulta and a bit of Pan.Thy.Monium, so think of a beginning of the 2000's type of melodic, doomish Death Metal filled with emotions. Very good work, I have enjoyed it a lot!

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8.5/10

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Band: ATROPOS

Country: Poland

Title: Inhabitant

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Melodic Death Metal

Review:

Second EP released this year by Atropos, "Inhabitant" was recorded, mixed and mastered in 2008, and contains 4 tracks in only a bit more than 12 minutes of playing. Compared to the "Crucifiction" EP, this one is a bit more aggressive and fast, and incorporates more influences from the new school of the Polish Black Death Metal scene, but still the melody is not lost completely, and the music is as complex as the one from the previous reviewed EP. The vocals parts are more flexible this time, and the addition of synths as background support here and there seems to be a good plus to the band's music. Still, to be honest, I like "Crucifiction" more, maybe because it featured more feelings than technical displays, and also the sound is a bit more airy on the first one. Anyway, knowing both EPs are selfproduced, I can only congratulate the band for its professionalism. I hope they'll get the attention they deserve.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8/10

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Band: BLOOD POLLUTION

Country: Russia

Title: Cheap & Loud

Label: Atomic Carnage Records / Wings Of Destruction

Year: 2011

Style: Thrash'n'Roll

Review:

Third album of this Russian band, and my first encounter with their music, "Cheap & Loud" is a 10 tracks effort totalizing 27 minutes of dirty sounding Thrash'n'Roll. The sound is like a combination of rehearsal and live although it was studio recorded, but I guess that's how they wanted it to be, an '80's influenced recording. The guitar riffs are really entertaining, very energic and headbanging-friendly. The vocals are recorded in that "I don't care how it sounds, let's just do it" fashion so don't expect anything fancy here; I like them, but such a music would have deserved some more hooks in lyrics, something to remember after listening to the album, but unfortunately there's nothing. After listening to the album you can only remember the good guitar lines and solos and that's about it. The musical execution has lots of mistakes, but that makes it honest and organic. A Thrashy version of Motorhead I'd say.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 6.5/10

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Band: BODYFARM

Country: Holland

Title: Bodyfarm

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2010

Style: Death Metal

Review:

Hey, a new Death Metal band from Holland, that's cool, these lands usually produced some of the ugliest monsters this genre has nowadays, so it's a pleasure for me getting to know a new Dutch act.

Bodyfarm was formed in 2009 and this is their first EP, produced by themselves, although this year they were picked up by the US based label Abyss Records who re-released this EP. There are 5 tracks inhere totalizing 18 minutes of aggressive old-school Death Metal, the genuine type of European type Death Metal I would say. The sound is fat as a damn hippo, the guitar riffs are heavy as bulldozers, the vocals, although not varied at all, are both aggressive and comprehensive, the drummer makes a good effort building complex structures and the bass line is good but not as incisive as I would have liked it (maybe because of its volume). The tracks are all great, catchy, but I'm not so fond on the fast punkish sounding parts  especially on the last track (good stuff, but very overused by now), so I won't miss them if they were out on the next release and maybe replaced with more heavy mid-tempo compositions like on the rest of this CD. Anyway, this is a great hope coming out of Dutch lands, recommended stuff!

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8.5/10

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Country: Italy

Title: Etrom

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Death Metal

Review:

Italian based Carnal Gore are back, this time with their debut full-length, unfortunately (or fortunately?) self-released. Compared to their 2009 promo CD, the band lost most of it's Thrash Metal parts, but still kept some riffs from this genre, so their now Death Metal sounds pretty fresh and aggressive, not brutal, but aggressive. Their major influence now if the American school of Death Metal, adding on top of that a hint of Technical Death Metal. The sound is crystal clear, organic and I'd say faultless. The music ranges from mid-tempo to fast rhythms based on an avalanche of catchy guitar riffs, groovy drums, a powerful bass that's offtenly making its presence in front of the other instruments, and above all a very good voice. It might be a good thing Rob, the vocal, tries to be as versatile as he can, this brings more variety to the whole package, but honestly I prefer his growls rather than his pig squeals attempts. All in all this brings nothing new to the genre, but it's a fine, entertaining Death Metal release correctly executed, so give them a try if you're in search of a 100% Death Metal release that won't bore you. 

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8/10

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Band: DRAUGURINN

Country: Sweden

Title: Daudada

Label: Le Crepuscule du Soir

Year: 2010

Style: Black Ritual Ambient

Review:

I have no info on this band/project so I'll just stick to what I'm hearing on this full-length album of theirs. 6 tracks, almost an hour of tormenting, dark music that quite frankly left me numb. I guess the "ritual" part in their music description comes from the big amount of repetitive parts presented here. Unfortunately there is nothing interesting, nothing gets out of the ordinary route of this CD, and the whole is a bit too predictable for my taste. The addition of percussion here and there might change this general conclusion of mine, but not for this album, they don't make any difference inhere. The good points of "Daudada" are the crystal-clear sound and general atmosphere, extremely dark and quite powerful at times. If you're a fan of this genre you might give this a try, maybe you'll enjoy it more than I did.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 6/10

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Band: FESTER

Country: Norway

Title: Silence

Label: Abyss Records

Year: 2010

Style: Dark Metal

Review:

Fascinating album, very interesting and at the same time controversial. The closest definition I could come up with on the music presented here is Dark Metal and that's only the music has a general dark atmosphere, but you should imagine a combination of: Hard'n"Heavy guitar riffs with occasional Doomy passages, a slight Black Metal feeling here and there, melodic guitar leads, a light Thrashy mid-tempo rhythm section and vocals that mostly range within the whisperings tonalities. The album was first released by Lethal Records in 1993, so given the controversial times in Norway with all that Black Metal stir happening, it was quite odd for them to choose this less aggressive, but still very sombre style. A lesson of swimming against the currents. I like this album much more than their previous, "Winter of Sin", the band added good keyboard background and also the sound is much better.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8.5/10

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Band: GOREPHILIA

Country: Finland

Title: Ascend to Chaos

Label: Dark Descent Records

Year: 2011

Style: Death Metal

Review:

This Ep consists  in 4 songs and two instrumentals ("Intro” and " Ascend to Chaos”)  both being the introduction to the following song. The Finland band Gorephilia give us an old school Death Metal with a lot of mid-tempo in a Doom way. The Ep starts with a background echoes, screams and music that sounds like a sort of march that takes you into the second track "Death , Chaos, Doom” (in my opinion the best song) but then all the Ep becomes repetitive. The recording doesn’t have bad mistakes and create the right atmosphere, aggressive doom and death. At first impact the singer's voice annoys me because it seems random but going ahead it works in favor of the music adding more to the atmosphere of the recording. The work of the drummer is good (nothing special) and the guitars do a pretty job but sincerely I had the sensation that the structure of the songs was sometimes not studied enough. Another negative aspect in my opinion is that after listening the whole Ep you don’t have some riffs or parts in mind except for the second track. In the end this is a pretty good job  without bad mistakes and aggressive enough that may push you to see them live but they can do much better.

Reviewed by Rob Gore

Rating: 7.5 /10

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Band: GRONDHAAT

Country: Czech Republic

Title: Humanity: The Flesh For Satan's Pigs

Label: Ketzer Records

Year: 2011

Style: Black Metal

Review:

This name, Grondhaat, seems very familiar to me, but I have no idea where from because this band has been around only since 2009 and had no demos or anything before releasing the debut album I'm reviewing right now. Well, maybe it's just my immagination.

Grondhaat includes the vocalist from Trollech, but that doesn't mean there's anything in common with Trollech's music inhere. Grondhaat is fast, aggressive, cold Black Metal with satanic lyrics in English. Very good, organic, hateful atmosphere here so I guess the ones of you into raw Black Metal will really appreciate this release. Half an hour of entertaining, raw Black Metal, it was a pleasure listening to these guys' work.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8/10

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Band: HYBAN DRACO

Country: Spain

Title: Dead are not Silent

Label: Copro Records

Year: 2011

Style: Black Metal

Review:

The band started out in 2004, released 3 demos and a full-length album before the one I'm listening to right now, but I have to admit it's the first time I hear about them, most probably because they were unsigned and only got a deal with Copro Records starting this "Dead are not Silent" album. Well, here we have 10 tracks packed in a bit more than 45 minutes. I cannot say I'm too fond of their compositions, but agree on their good level of instrumental skills, especially when it comes to the lead guitarist who's making wonders inhere, most of the melodic part of Hyban Draco's music is based on his leads and fantastic solos. The Thrashy Death Metal guitar riffs are a bit rusty for what they try to achieve inhere, and they don't excell in originality either, but overall the album is catchy and clean sounding. The addition of atmospheric keyboards on the background is a great plus for their music as without them the compositions would have been filled with "dead spaces". Recommended if you're into the Melodic Black Metal made in the end of the '90's, so don't expect anything too brutal, aggressive or raw inhere. Once again, I'd buy this album only for the great lead guitar work, thumbs up for the guy in charge of it.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7/10

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Band: HYPERBOREAN

Country: Sweden

Title: The Spirit of Warfare

Label: Abyss Records

Year: 2011

Style: Melodic Black Metal

Review:

The guys at Abyss Records seem to have a real cult for Swedish bands but who can blame them? Sweden always produced great quality bands and the ones Abyss signed up until now are pretty much cool presences in the scene. Hyperborean were formed in 2000, but this is only their debut album, so like in many other cases I think the reason for this scarce activity could be the line-up changes. The music on "The Spirit of Warfare" is quite strange, mostly mid-tempo melodic Black Metal built on old-school principles mostly, but also including a strong attempt in adding progressive touches, at least in the rythm section. The compositions are interesting and complex enough to keep your attention high all the way, but on the whole album there a feeling something's missing, there are some parts that might have worked better with an additional instrument added. It seems these guys are focused more on creating melodic and intricate passages than on the brutal and/or aggressive part of this genre. 

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7/10

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Band: KLADOVEST

Country: Ukraine

Title: Atmosphere

Label: No Colours Records

Year: 2011

Style: Black Metal

Review:

This is my first time listening to Kladovest's music, but I've heard about their second album that it was a Burzum copycat. Luckily this new full-length has nothing to do with Burzum and I would say the Ukrainian band is moving towards an original direction by their own. 4 long tracks totalizing 35 minutes, a mid-tempo to fast Black Metal based on repetitive but catchy guitar riffs, old-school sounding raw and unpolished drums, and supporting melodic guitar leads. The vocals are not so versatile, but they proove not to be boring at all. The occasional old-school Black Metal parts are really good and welcome bringing more interest towards Kladovest's music. This is certanly not a ground-breaking release, but it's one that will satisfy followers of multiple Black Metal types. Maybe that cold atmosphere based on repetitive parts can, on a certain degree, compare Kladovest to what Burzum was once doing.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7.5/10

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Band: LEGACY OF EMPTINESS

Country: Norway

Title: Legacy of Emptiness

Label: Ketzer Records

Year: 2011

Style: Symphonic Black Metal

Review:

Legacy Of Emptiness started out as a new band last year, but they were previously playing under the Ancestral Legacy name since 2000, so we're dealing here with a mature band, but still a band in search for its own identity. This is their debut album which contains new tracks, but also a few old ones from the Ancestral Legacy era, and there's where the problem comes from, meaning that the music, although absolutely enjoyable, well composed, complex and expressive, feels like it's made of tiny different pieces that have nothing in common one with another. While some tracks are more guitar oriented, others are more on the atmospheric/symphonic keyboard based side. Anyway, what's good about this is that it shows potential, such a potential to bring this band in the first line of Sympho Black Metal. Some of the track inhere are great, involving and full of feelings, so I hope those are the new ones and that they will follow the same path for the future, too. Definitely a new hope for Norwegian's Extreme Metal!

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7.5/10

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Band: LOST INSIDE

Country: USA

Title: Mourning Wept Beside Me

Label: Dusktone

Year: 2011

Style: Depressive Black Metal

Review:

Dusktone is a label I have only recently came into contact but they seem pretty serious and dedicated to their releases, but they seem not to be so inspired when it comes to picking their bands to sign. At least that's the case of both releases I have and am reviewing Today. Lost Inside is a US project of a guy called Kold, helped on this album (its 4 full-length in only 2 years) by a vocal called Surtur, also the 4th vocalist to be featured in Lost Inside. The instrumental side of this album is quite well composed and executed, creating haunting, desperate atmospheres, but the vocal part is a total disapointment. Although Surtur is not bad on his screams, he is very linear and predictible that it bores the hell out of me. On the other hand the music would be no good either without vocals, so I guess a bit more versatility and complexity on the vocal lines would do them only good. Back to the instrumental part, it is quite average on drums, but the guitars do a good job. All in all this is pretty decent, but don't expect you'll fall in love with Lost Inside's music.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 6.5/10

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Band: MIASMAL

Country: USA

Title: Miasmal

Label: Dark Descent Records

Year: 2011

Style: Death Metal

Review:

Debut full-length from the Swedish band Miasmal formed back in 2007. The debut album is formed mainly of three parts , because Miasmal has included  previous materials  so you can hear the sound changes from tracks 9 to 14 ( 9 to 10 (Ep), 11 to 14 first (demo)). This is pure classical Swedish Death metal no doubt about it , the drum is repetitive without blast and beat and most of the time with a Punkhish rhythm. The recording is pretty solid but could have been produced  better ,  the snare sometimes  seems   absent and the distorsion  is too loud ( the old tracks in my opinion are recorded better). The voice is pretty good and the guitar players do a good job especially about solos.  There is nothing new and the whole is quite simple, above all it  is very rare that it will make you feel  tense or headbanging but the atmosphere is aggressive and dark.  Finally if you want to hear something classic back to the period of Entombed and Bloodbath without contamination , Miasmal is the band for you.

Reviewed by Rob Gore

Rating: 7/10

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Band: OFFAL

Country: Brazil

Title: Macabre Rampages And Splatter Savages

Label: Black Hole Productions

Year: 2010

Style: Death Gore Grind

Review:

This album is great, it took Offal 4 years since their debut official album to release this one, but it was worth the waiting for their fans. "Macabre Rampages And Splatter Savages" is a 39 minutes effort (12 tracks) that would make any Autopsy's fans' day, and this not because Offal would be an Autopsy copycat, but because of its atmosphere, extremely fat, horrifying, gory and disgusting. The cover artwork says it all, it's a long time since I've seen such an inspired cover, so well linked with the musical content of the CD. Offal's music is both groovy mid-paced, and old-school Death Metal-like fast, and they switch at the right time. Also the guitar solos, the movie exerpts and the screaming backing vocals are positioned that way that they can only help the music, without being overused at all. Strongly recommended to old-school organic Gory Death Grind fans!

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9.5/10

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Band: PANYCHIDA

Country: Czech Republic

Title: Misic, les, bily snih ~ Moon, Forest, Blinding Snow

Label: Folter Records

Year: 2011

Style: Pagan Metal

Review:

Great! I've heard of this band before, but never had the curiosity to check out their line-up, and so I had a nice surprise to see two members are also a part of my all time fave Czech band, Avenger. Panychida is playing, of course, a different breed of metal, but the involvement of two Avenger members made me even more curious on what's happening on this CD, and I must tell you I was not disapointed one bit. Panychida is Pagan Metal, but not one of those light bands that are so famous nowadays, Panychida has deep roots in Black and Death Metal and are certainly not afraid to include those elements in their music and still mix them with a strong melodic line and also with an epic, majestic atmosphere, and the result is simply awesome, I'm glad I had the chance to listen to such an album. I don't like it, I love it, and I can clearly say it's amongst the top 5 for this year in my books. Panychida is technical to the bone, melodic, epic, proud, aggressive, traditional, emotional, fast, intelligent and above all curdled. Strongly recommended, don't miss this great piece of "paganized metal" (how they call their music)!

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9.5/10

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Band: PATRIA

Country: Brazil

Title: Gloria Nox Aeterna

Label: Monokrom

Year: 2010

Style: Black Metal

Review:

Patria was formed in 2008 and soon after they were signed by the Russian Monokrom who released them the first 2 albums and the EP I'm listening to right now. After this, it seems the band signed with Drakkar and already managed to put out a new album this year, but I'll stick to what I have here. "Gloria Nox Aeterna" is composed of 6 tracks lasting for 26 minutes. The music has, unfortunately, an extremely raw sound, and I say unfortunately because the guitar work seems very well composed and executed but I had a hard time following it. Most of the time the rhythms are fast, destructive, extremely aggressive, but there are some parts with a more atmospheric approach (although not using keys or synths) that are more than welcome, so this might be a complete release if it weren't for that very harsh sound.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7/10

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Band: PLUTONIUM

Country: Sweden

Title: Devilmentertainment Non-Stop

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Industrial Black Metal

Review:

This is one of the strangest releases I've had the chance to review lately. Swedish Plutonium is a one man band started in 2003, and this is its second full-length album, released 4 years after the debut album. A long waiting, but it was absolutely worth it, "Devilmentertainment Non-Stop" reeks of hard work and that's why it is so welcome in my reviews list, this is not one of those projects releasing 2-3 albums a month, there are so many different and complex ideas inhere that it makes you wonder how can one guy come up with such compositions. The music ranges from slow, fat-sounding rhythms, to fast, devastating Black Metal, with a desolate, industrial atmosphere overall. The best thing is when you expect the less, J. Carlsson (the guy behind Plutonium) changes rhythms, elements and instruments, so this musical jurney is fantastic, I absolutely loved it, although I'm not into Industrial at all. Recommended if you're into discovering new territories into the Black Metal sphere.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9.5/10

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Band: SCYTHIAN

Country: UK

Title: Those Who Stand Against Us

Label: Necroterror Records

Year: 2009

Style: Thrash Death Metal

Review:

Although a bit old, I got this CD for a review recently, so I gave it a few spins. This is Scythian's debut and (only until now) album, a massive avalanche of frantic Thrashy Death Metal, an album to be proud of. Just imagine a combination of Bathory, Sodom, early Morbid Angel and Mithras' atmospheric sound, an assault of extreme brutality from the start until the end of this CD. Although on my first listening the first tracks seemed to lack any types of feelings and point only for the technical side of extreme metal and the display of their personal skills (plenty of them), advancing into the core of thsi album revealed a band that's also focusing on combining sheer aggression with melody, or better said the painting of an atmospheric world. This is a complete Death Metal album, so in case you had no contact with Scythian's music so far, like I had none, I advise you get ahold of this release, it will blow you away. There would be so much to talk about regarding this, but since I'm not a fan of long, boring reviews, just take my advise and discover Scythian's music by yourselves.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9/10

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Band: SECTU

Country: Sweden

Title: Inundate

Label: ViciSolum Productions

Year: 2011

Style: Death Metal

Review:

Sectu is a Swedish band formed in 2008 and what I can say immediately: this a very good Technical Death Metal band. The album "Inundate” is composed of 8 tracks lasting more than half an hour (the 5th one is an instrumental song), atmospheric, sometimes melodic and with a sound near to perfection. Everyone does a great job, the riffs are exquisite, the voice is completely inside the sound even if it’s not so deep and the drum follows every part  very well. I have appreciated a lot how they manage the songs, mixing  aggressive groove with melodic parts, this is something I always emphasize in a band. But there is something negative for me, the way how they end some songs, more often than not they give me the impression that it’s not searched enough. Anyway this is a great band that I recommend to everyone and personally I am already a fan of them.
Reviewed by Rob Gore

Rating: 9/10

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Band: SINSTORM

Country: USA

Title: Sinstorm

Label: Satanica Productions

Year: 2011

Style: Melodic Black Metal

Review:

Debut album for this US based band, "Sintorm" is packed with 11 tracks (43 minutes) presenting us a young band with fantastic potential. The biggest problem on this album is the horrible sound, horrible for this highly technical and interesting music, it ruins the pleasure of listening to it. Don't get me wrong, it's not like it's a computer generated awful basement sound, but it's so crowded and chaotic that it makes you miss the core of this music. Anyway, passing over that, the intensity of the music Sinstorm produces is overwhelming from start till the finish, each and every one of these guys take their time to display their technical abilities and that without forgetting about adding some fantastic melodies built by the guitar leads. The vocalist is also very talented and his vicious, flesh-ripping tone fits perfectly with the rest of the music; a good thing is also the addition of growls and clean vox on the background from time to time. I only hope they will take their time to re-record these awesome compositions because it's a shame to leave them sounding like a demo, even though this is considered an album. Keep your eyes open for this upcoming act!

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7/10

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Band: SUICIDAL NIHILISM

Country: Italy

Title: Within The Insane Asylum

Label: Le Crepuscule du Soir

Year: 2011

Style: Depressive Black Metal 

Review:

Debut album of this Italian duo formed in 2006, "Within The Insane Asylum" presents us 4 tracks in almost 40 minutes of playing. The atmosphere on this release is absolutely awesome, in close relation with the lyrics and cover artwork, describing different stages of mental conditions. It gives you the feeling you're whitnessing the nights in a mental institute, very distrubing, that's for sure. The music is, on the other hand, very primitive and dull, and if you add on top of that the bad sound, it makes you think twice before buying it. So I would only suggest it to the ones of you in search of different types of atmospheres and feelings expressed through music (or in this case expressed through synths, noises and screams, whispers).

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7/10

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Band: THOTH

Country: Poland

Title: Zamglenie

Label: Lower Silesian Stronghold

Year: 2010

Style: Black Metal

Review:

Thoth seems like a super-group of the Polish Black Metal scene, it has in it's line-up members or ex-members of bands like Thor's Hammer, Dark Fury, Ohtar oe Selbsmord, but it also had the contribution of Rob Darken from Graveland or Raborym from Thor's Hammer on their debut album. "Zamglenie" finds the band as a duo, so I don't know if they are planning a full line-up again or if they'll decide to keep it as a duo. Anyway, the album contains 9 tracks with a total playing time of 35 minutes. The music on it it's pretty simple and repetitive slow to mid-tempo Black Metal, but what makes it a good album is the fact they added multiple guitar leads as the main melody-line, doomy, melodic guitar leads that quite frankly reminded me of the ones Negura Bunget uses. The keyboards add an atmospheric touch to the whole but they are too silent to make a big difference, and the vocals are like distant screams, it's impossible to follow any lyrics. Worth checking out if you're into atmospheric, melodic Black Metal.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7.5/10

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Band: TOSCREW

Country: Hungary

Title: Antiego

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Symphonic Black Death Metal

Review:

Toscrew is a band that has been active since 2003 but only managed to release their debut album this year, well, maybe this was the impulse they needed to start releasing some more stuff, more often. "Antiego" is a selfreleased effort available for free download also; an 8 tracks release totalizing a bit more than half an hour. To say this is Death Metal would be wrong, but to say it's Black Metal would be wrong as well, so I preffered to name this Symphonic Black Death and let's explain why: each track starts with a symphonic keyboard based vibe on it although keyboard is not mentioned as being a steady instrument in their group; the instrumental part is more inclined on Death Metal, with some elements from the nowadays Black Death scene, but it also includes some groovy Crossover breaks here and there, so it's definitely a strange monster; the main vocals are Black Metal - ish, desperate high-pitched screams that I have to admit are working quite well with the instrumental part. The main problem for Toscrew's music is the variety, or better said the lack of variety, somehow the tracks are following the exact same line and tend to become hard to follow till the end, but taken one by one they are quite good. I'm curious how this band will evolve in the future, but in the meantime I'm recommending you download this album, it's free.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7/10

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Band: TURDUS MERULA

Country: Sweden

Title: Herbarium

Label: Le Crepuscule du Soir

Year: 2010

Style: Ambient Black Metal

Review:

Turdus Merula is the project of a Korpbod member namely Disa, so we have a one woman show here. "Herbarium" is its debut album, a 6 tracks effort lasting for more than an hour of cold, apocalyptic sounding Depressive Ambient Black Metal. The highlights of this release are the atmospheric but still razor sharp guitars and the demented Disa's shrieks. The overall sound is not the best around but I have to admit it gives the music that underground, heavy and devastating atmosphere. A good release I would recommend to all UG BM fanatics out there, Disa clearly has the attitude and knowledge to take this project a step further because "Herbarium", although not a pretentious album, is an avalanche of emotions that will keep your attention tight till it ends. 

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8.5/10

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Band: TYR

Country: Faroe Islands

Title: The Lay of Thrym

Label: Napalm Records

Year: 2011

Style: Proggressive Folk Metal

Review:

New Tyr’s album is brillant! „The Lay of Thrym” included much more progressive motifs /guitar solos, broken rhytms, stylised on folklore great voices etc./ than you can heard on previous albums. However characteristic of the remaining songs is still active, two, three words and we know – this is Tyr from Faroe Islands. This band once again very good combined scandinavian folklore and legends with energrtic progressive metal. This time also playing technique was brought to perfection, these solos are kind of symphonic when you listen to it on headphones or on good CD player. Old Tyr is back in a few track too, e.g. „Evening Star” but this album is still progress, big step in the work of the team. Ols Tyr was very good of course – new Tyr is better, it is very important. I really love this material, this kind of connection heavy, prog and folkmetal... and small (but great) thrash’s piece in e.g. „Fields of The Fallen”. This album is the candidat to „The Best Folkmetal Album 2011” (like to Dalriada’s and SSOGE’s CDs).

Reviewed by Vilcin

Rating: 9/10

Band: UNFIT ASS.

Country: Hungary

Title: Absurd Reality / Flagging Water

Label: Neverheard Distro

Year: 2010

Style: Death Metal

Review:

Stop laughing! This band's name is not Unfit Ass, it's actually Unfit Association, but they decided to shorten it a bit. I'm sure there are countless Hungarian metalheads familiar with this band as it was a gem of the scene in Hungary in the beginning of the '90's, but I'm not sure how much the rest know about Unfit Ass.. It was established in 1990 and released a few demos that were very successful back then, and an album, "Pulse", in 1996, which was their last release before breaking up. Neverheard Distro released here their 2nd and 3rd demos, re-mastered, so I had the pleasure to get to know about this band. Their music is (was) a Thrashy Death Metal with lots of interesting riffs and breaks, mostly fast rhythmed, but with their catchy mid-paced parts, too. The highlight of Unfit Ass. is the vocal part, not versatile at all, but the tone is pretty neat: hoarse, rough comprehensive vocals. The rhythm section is filled with cool grooves, the guitar riffs are plenty, but a bit too overused at times, but they tend to overuse the rhythm breaks and changes a lot, maybe too much. A great release for their die-hard fans though. 

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7/10

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Band: WAROCRACY

Country: Italy

Title: Promo 2010

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2010

Style: Death Metal

Review:

3 tracks, 12 minutes, not enough, but a good hint on what's Warocracy trying to accomplish within their music. The instrumental skills and vocal abilities are there, but the final result is somehow not curdled enough, needs a bit more work to capture the listener's attention from start till the end. Warocracy are basically a Death Metal band although you can hear influences from both Black and Thrash Metal in their music. The growling vocals are really good, the guitar solos the same, and the bass lines are incisive and powerful, so the work should be on developing some "flows" on guitar riffs (they are breaking the rhythms a bit too much now) and some more complexity and a different sound on drums, the one they used now is really anoying. At least the potential and skills are there, so I guess time will develop this band into what they aim for.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 6.5/10

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Band: WITCHGRAVE

Country: Sweden

Title: The Devils Night

Label: Metal Inquisition Records

Year: 2010

Style: Heavy Metal

Review:

From what I understand, Witchgrave is a duo, so a studio-project, quite strange for a Heavy Metal band to be a studio-project, they usually can't wait to be on the stage. Anyway, Witchgrave is by no means a Black Metal band as they are usually presented on the net, but an '80's style of Heavy Metal, from my point of view a solid combination of early Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Venom. Satanic lyrics, raw, raspy vocals, devilish image, those would be the elements connecting them to the Black Metal spirit, and if you're into early Black Metal you will certainly love this. Now on the Heavy Metal side we're treated with some very catchy guitar riffs and an energetic rhythm section that will make the listener a bit dispointed there are only 4 track in a bit more than 13 minutes here. It's great to hear such a release once in a while, not pretentious like most of the nowadays' releases, but full of honest feelings. Horns up.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8.5/10

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Band: Various Artists

Country: Russia

Title: From Russia with Hate

Label: Wings Of Destruction

Year: 2010

Style: Extreme Metal

Review:

Wings Of Destruction Prod. had this great idea to present us a few extreme metal bands from this so crowded Russian scene. I don't know if they are selling this compilation or giving it for free, but if you're interested in it, just ask them directly. Here's my thoughts on the bands/tracks featured:

Immoralist - Technical Thrash Death Metal, not bad but the drum machine (or if they are real drums, their sound) is not on my liking at all

Septory - fast and brutal Death Metal, a combination of old-school with the nowadays groove, catchy track with a good enough sound; good band

Astarium - Symphonic Black Metal with quite a lot of followers all over the World; for me it's just too synthetic, although the compositions are spectacular;

Grond - a combination of Brutal Death Metal with Old-School Thrash Death, quite simple, but with good, memorable riffs

The Rigor Mortis - US style Gore Grind with gurgling vocals, repetitive guitar riffs and mid-tempo to fast rhythms

Tiran - Technical Thrash Metal with quite intriguing rhythm changes and unpolished, rehearsal like sound; good band a la '80's

Truep - aggressive, fast Old-School Thrash Death Metal with good, rhythms and catchy guitar riffs

Cavandish - Melodic Black Death Metal with intricate rhythms; too bad the sound is quite poor as the music is very good

Blood Pollution - Thrash'n'Roll with very entertaining composition, great track for beer drinkin' parties, fast and catchy

Sanheim - rehearsal sounding fast Thrash Metal; old-school underground maniacs may like this

Death Instincts - fast to ultra-fast Death Metal with some Thrash Metal influences; the sound is a problem in their case, too

Monastery Dead - aggressive and fast Death Metal with groovy rhythms, a combination of old-school with the new wave of rhythm breaks

Grenouer - one of the most important Russian names in the Industrial Thrash Death Metal scene, great track, great band, makes you think of a more brutal version of Fear Factory

Violent Omen - fast Thrash Metal with a Thrash'n'Roll attitude and even some DeaThrash influences; '80's style again, not bad (I would have liked a bit more of those guitar solos)

Arcanum Sanctum - Melodic Heavy Death Metal, the way it was made in the beginning of the 2000's, not bad, but not original or stand alone either

Reviewed by Adrian

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