Abysmal Depths - The Pain Shows in Dead Woods
Algor - Hierofánia
Apontokation - Awakening the Beast
Apontokation - Bloody Carnival
Azziard - Vesanie
Beast Conjurator - Strange Aeons
Black Sound Empire - Sisma
Bliss of Flesh - Beati Paupers Spiritu
Boisson Divine - Enradigats
Calth - Fight for a New Become
Dead Reward - Crossing Over
Deathquintet - Godwork
Drudkh - Eastern Frontier in Flames
Dumno - Cen Atebertas
Dwell - Ash Tombs
Everlasting - March of Time
Ewigeis - Abgrund
Eye Of Solitude - Canto III
Flash Of Aggression - Seed of Hate
Frigoris - Wind
Gortal - Deamonolith
Grieving Age - Merely the Fleshless We and the Awed Obsequy
Himonas - To the Battlements
Hokedun - Vanished Away in Tranqulity
Irdorath - I Am Risen
Ithilien - From Ashes to the Frozen Land
King Carnage - Ounce of Mercy, Pound of Flesh
Lifeless - Godconstruct
Lorelei - Ugrjumye Volny Studenogo Morja
Lux Occulta - Kolysanki
Moder - Ewiger Tod
Morar - Chants Of Ossian
Mournful Gust - For All the Sins
Mystons - Black Matter
Nacom - Crawling Human Souls
Nervosa - Victim of Yourself
Odradek Room - Bardo. Relative Reality
Orob - Into the Room of Perpetual Echoes
Oruga - Oruga
Plateau Sigma - White Wings of Nightmares
Revelations of Rain - Deceptive Virtue
Shadows Ground - Suicide Propaganda
Shall Be The Conqueror - The Healing
Slowrun - Prologue
Sordid Clot - Subspecies
Strange Facts In The Scalpel Case - Dead, But Not Beyond Reach
Sxuperion - Whoreshipping The Depths
The Negation - Paths of Obedience
Throaat - Puke on Your Grave
Thugnor - Scrolls of Grimace
Thyruz - Svik
Toolbox Terror - Bind Torture Kill
Unholyath - End of Humanity
Various Artists - Where the Past Is Alive
Vin De Mia Trix - Once Hidden from Sight
Band: ABYSMAL DEPTHS
Country: Mexico
Title: The Pain Shows in Dead Woods
Label: Metallic Media
Year: 2013
Style: Depressive Black Metal
Review:
I've already met this band when they were named Du Temps Perdu and were featured on a split CD with 3 other bands, and at that time their music sounded quite interesting but the recordings quality was awful. In the meantime they've changed band name and managed to release their debut album on the same label, Metallic Media. 9 tracks plus intro and outro, more than 50 minutes of music, much better recording quality (still raw and underground-like), a much improved meeting with this band. They play some sort of Ambient Depressive Black Metal with simple compositions, old-school '90's type of keyboard backgrounds, rusty atmospheres and repetitive structures. Fans of this genre might like this a lot but I consider it still lacks an own identity, there are so many similar bands around nowadays... The only point that could make them stand out is the fact they are a real full line-up band, not a one-man project, but apart from that the music is not special.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7.5/10
Contact:
www.facebook.com/abysmaldepths
www.metallic-media.blogspot.com
Band: ALGOR
Country: Slovakia
Title: Hierofánia
Label: Hexencave Productions
Year: 2013
Style: Black Metal
Review:
Oh, it's so refreshing to "stumble upon" a band like this one that doesn't limit itself to copying other's work and actually tries to find new ways of expression but at the same time following traditional patterns as guidance. Although the band was formed in 1998 I don't think I've heard of them until now; this is their second album to date, an album made of 9 tracks totaling 55 minutes and released by Hexencave on Digipack CD. The band plays a fast and atmospheric type of Black Metal typical to the Czech scene (I'm not that familiar with teh Slovak scene though), and beside the correct execution and the fierceful vocals, the technical abilities, the intelligent compositions and the often dreamy interludes make from this album a real gem. I have enjoyed this album a lot and warmly recommend it to you too, here we have a band that will soon try to break some barriers of this genre, that's my feeling.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9.5/10
Contact:
www.algor.wbl.sk
www.hexencave.wz.cz
Band: APONTOKATION
Country: Spain
Title: Awakening the Beast
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2011
Style: Death Metal
Review:
Debut demo from this Spanish quartet Awakening the Beast features 7 tracks + intro. Unfortunately because of the weak sound it fails to impress, but at least it introduces a band that likes to offer catchy and quite complex compositions with occasional influences from lots of other genres. The tracks are good, not boring at all, but if I was in their place I'd re-record them in a better studio, the sound on this release is so thin it's a real shame. Also I have no idea why track 3 gets cut off way before it was supposed to finish. Anyway, as a conclusion these guys seem to handle their instruments pretty well so I wouldn't be surprised to see them building a name for themselves soon. Traditional Death Metal fans should keep an eye on them.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 6/10
Contact:
Band: APONTOKATION
Country: Spain
Title: Bloody Carnival
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2013
Style: Death Metal
Review:
New demo from these Spanish Death Metallers, Bloody Carnival is made of only 2 new tracks and an intro. The sound is much more powerful than on their debut so the listeners will relate better to what the band offers: mid-tempo to fast paced traditional Death Metal with almost comprehensive growling vocals, semi-technical guitar riffs, and a good rhythms section. The band seems to emphasize on creating catchy choruses and I think that's the good way to go. They have still some way to go in order to create an own style, but the potential is there.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7/10
Contact:
www.facebook.com/pages/APONTOKATION/180125972031603
Band: AZZIARD
Country: France
Title: Vesanie
Label: Mortis Humanae Productions
Year: 2014
Style: Black Death Metal
Review:
Mortis Humanae unleashes a new demon of the French scene, a band founded in 2001 that has already released an album in 2009 and a couple of demos before that, so not a debutant band as they used us with. Azziard are Black Death Metal or better said a very brutal and ugly Black Metal heavily influenced by Death Metal (especially on guitars) and they are offering us here 8 tracks totaling 41 minutes. Devastating music, well crafted and executed, cold, distant and sombre music for fans of brutal Extreme Metal only; the excellent sound quality does help a lot. One of the most professional releases from this French label yet and things are constantly getting better over there. Worth your time.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8.5/10
Contact:
www.azziard.com
www.mortishumanae.com
Band: BEAST CONJURATOR
Country: Brazil
Title: Strange Aeons
Label: Old Goat Corpse Productions
Year: 2013
Style: Death Metal
Review:
Brazilian quartet founded in 2009, Beast Conjurator agreed to re-release their previous works (a demo and an EP) on tape limited to 150 hand-numbered copies, so what we get here are 10 tracks totaling half an hour or old-school Death Metal. Their music sounds like the final steps of transition from Thrash to Death Metal, a thrashy Death Metal I'd say, built on fast paced rhythms, nice flowing guitar riffs, solid bass lines and growling vocals. The band doesn't have an own identity yet, but this casette is pretty entertaining for old-school (end '80's) Death Metal fans.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 6.5/10
Contact:
Band: BLACK SOUND EMPIRE
Country: Italy
Title: Sisma
Label: Noisehead Records
Year: 2013
Style: Post Metal
Review:
Black Sound Empire are from Italy and on their Facebook page they warn us they play Post metal and we, the fuckers, should deal with it... mmmkay, but guys, do you really think that's so important it needs to be stressed?
Anyway, as far as I know this is their debut album, a 9 tracks effort that presents us a band that has no problems throwing in any and all genres they could think of and that makes their music quite interesting. The guys are good instrumentists and intelligent I might add, intelligent enough to create such a complex blend and still keep their music easy flowing. Cool stuff. They remind me of a combination of Deftones with another Italian band I remember reviewing back in the early 2000's and liking it a lot (even if it was NuMetal) and a good dose of Modern and Melodic Hardcore, quite an interesting result. I have deeply enjoyed the "Cheval" track with its sax addition and I hope these guys will consider adding the sax as a permanent instrument sometimes soon. Interesting and worthwile album, but I would only recommend it to you if you're in constant search for new stuff and you're highly open-minded.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8.5/10
Contact:
Band: BLISS OF FLESH
Country: France
Title: Beati Paupers Spiritu
Label: Non Serviam Records
Year: 2013
Style: Blackened Death Metal
Review:
With more than 15 years of playing and many released demos, splits and EPs, french black act "Bliss of Flesh" release their second album "Beati Paupers Spiritu" consisting of 9 tracks and 48 minutes of playing. The moment you hear it you can feel the mixture of influences in the music and vocals from the brutal vocal with the
rythm guitars that gives you the taste of death metal to the more clean with snake back vocals and lead guitar lines that takes the album to a more of atmospheric black side which France has contributed to greatly in the last few years. Some of the tracks really got my attention in this album starting with "A.M.E.N.” which it's intro really got my ears with its black taste moving to a more death taste and it goes like that along the track and offers some really good guitars work and powerfull vocals that you never can set still while listening to it and without doubt it was the most interesting track for me in the album. The middle part of the album with tracks as "On the Paths to Expiation" and "Forgotten Epitaphs" offer a really different taste from the first tracks on the album with more doomy inspiration like the violin line and clean guitars in the start of "Forgotten Epitaphs" before the more intense lines take the lead and mixing it in the middle between every thing which felt to me a little lost and some times too much. The final tracks as "Possessed" take us back to the more intense black sound that they offered in the start which felt to me more flowing with these guys sound and style and gave me some rush before the album ends. The quality of the recording is good in general but some of the violin parts specially with the heavy guitar rythms could have used some more attention and felt kinda lost between the lines. I enjoyed listening to this album and banging my head against the wall in many parts and "Bliss of Flesh" definitely shows some great ideas in this release but felt to me it could have used some more time
to get their influences in order, and i hope next release shows more clarity regarding their music style and how they integrate their ideas in the tracks. but however this is still an album which all black metal fans will enjoy listening to.
Reviewed by Tarek
Rating: 6.5/10
Contact:
Band: BOISSON DIVINE
Country: France
Title: Enradigats
Label: Brennas Music
Year: 2013
Style: Folk Metal
Review:
Boisson Divine is, on their way, one of fresh blood of european folkmetal bands, formed in 2005. This band from Gascony i France attempts to successfully to connect french/celtic folk with traditional heavy metal and some pieces of punk-folk. Two guys Adrian Gilles and Baptiste Labenne released in May 2013 very good debut album (8 years after formed!), which captures the atmosphere of the French coast. All lyrics in French, with a lot of folk instruments motifs: accordion, bagpipes and more, very melodic and powerfully stuff, I was pleasantly surprised to can hear mix of old Helloween’s and Iron Maiden’s drive with breton/french/celtic folk sounds. Good idea, respect!
Reviewed by Vilcin
Rating: 8/10
Band: CALTH
Country: Bulgaria
Title: Fight for a New Become
Label: Satanarsa Records
Year: 2009
Style: Black Metal
Review:
An old release that is probably still available through Satanarsa, this is Calth's debut album. I like the Bulgarian scene and a lot of its bands so I was quite curious to check what we have here. Unfortunately Calth's debut album is a major disapointment, I had a hard time going through all these 9 tracks and in the end I can't say the 40 minutes were well spent, not at all. The recording is low quality, and both the drum programmings and the guitar riffs are annoying as hell. The only thing that could have saved a bit from total desaster could have been the vocals. Erilyne, the only man behind this moniker (also involved in many other one-man-projects or full line-up bands) manages to transmit his feelings through the vocal part but unfortunately the awful sound corrupts that too. Calth recently released its second album and hopefully it is much better, I wouldn't recommend this one at all.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 3/10
Contact:
Band: DEAD REWARD
Country: Brazil
Title: Crossing Over
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2013
Style: Doom Metal
Review:
Since this is their first release and it features only 2 tracks I thought Dead Reward was a new, young band, but actually the band was formed in 2005. I have no idea what did they do or how can any band be active for almost 10 years before releasing 2 tracks on an EP, that's a mystery. So yes, Crossing Over is made of 2 tracks totaling 20 minutes of '90's type UK Doom Metal with Death Metal influences, or better said a bit more energetic than usual Doom Metal. I like the 2 tracks a lot, they just opened my appetite for My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, and I really believe this band has a bright future but only if they'll start releasing more stuff. The areas the band needs urgent improvement, in my opinion, are the clean vocals (not when the guy recites, that's good, but when he tried to sing) and the dry, pointless addition of female vocals (either they add a girl with attitude or lose this idea). To sum it up we're presented here with a very good band with definite potential, it's up to them if they'll succeed or not.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8/10
Contact:
www.facebook.com/deadreward
Band: DEATHQUINTET
Country: Sweden
Title: Godwork
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2013
Style: Modern Death Metal
Review:
Deathquintet seems to be the same as Sargatanas Reign, a band that was active from 1997 released 2 albums (one on regain and one on I Hate Records) before deciding to quit in 2008. In 2012 four of the former Sargatanas Reign members decided to reunite and with the help of a new vocalist formed what now we call Deathquintet, a Modern Death Metal band. This debut album unfortunately fails to impress through its music or sound; the music, although well executed and reaching all templates of this genre, has nothing to stand out, and the sound is way too dry for this genre, you'll have the constant feeling something's missing. The vocalist seems to be unsure if he wants to go "core" or traditional and so on a few tracks he screams his lungs out (even some inhaled vox are tried), and on some other he goes for the traditional comprehensive growls and screams type of vocals. in my opinion this indecision makes the album even less effective. Since the guys have so many years of activity underbelt hopefully the next release will hit harder, the potential must be there for sure...
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 6/10
Contact:
Band: DRUDKH
Country: Ukraine
Title: Eastern frontier in flames
Label: Season of Mist
Year: 2014
Style: Pagan/Black Metal
Review:
„Eastern frontier in flames” was released in January 2014. New Drudkh’s album is kind of unique compilation of Depressive black metal from Ukraine and other slavonic countries with folk influences. Two first tracks are new stuff – one instrumental („Fallen Into Oblivion” and typical to Drudkh’s kind of pagan/black sounds track „Fallen”. Long and very, very depressive... The remaining 5 songs are covers taken from legendary pagan black metal from Poland and Czech Republic. From Poland: Sacrilegium (two tracks „Tam Gdzie Gasnie Dzien”, „Recidivus”) and Hefeystos („…W Krainie Drzew” ) and from Czech Rep.: Master’s Hammer („Indiánská Písen Hruzy”) and Unclean („Ten, Ktery Se Vyhyba Svetlu”). Drudkh have always been an enigma, not only for me... However album creates an impression of collection old tracks, which wasn’t released earlier - but sounds good. Cover of this album is very interesting: motif of highland robbers in woodcut are taken from known Polish artist, Wladyslaw Skoczylas (1883-1934).
Reviewed by Vilcin
Rating: 7/10
Band: DUMNO
Country: France
Title: Cen Atebertas
Label: Atavism Records
Year: 2013
Style: Black Metal
Review:
Mysterious project from France founded in 2011, Dumno recently released their debut demo tape on Atavism Records, tape limited to 150 hand-numbered copies. We get here 5 tracks of (mostly) mid-tempo Black Metal with low tuned guitars creating an apocalyptic ambiance, but with vocals that are very much hidden in the back somewhere failing to impress. Some hints of melody here and there, a cover of Hate Forest's "L'ancienne Race", and a declared Pagan approach, those are the elements that stand out on this demo, but all in all I'm not convinced to play it again, sorry. Give it a try yourselves maybe it sticks to you better.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 6/10
Contact:
Band: DWELL
Country: Denmark
Title: Ash Tombs
Label: Deadbangers Prod.
Year: 2013
Style: Doom Death Metal
Review:
Young band/project of 2 members of Church Bizarre, Dwell recently released its debut demo, a 3 tracks effort totaling 20 minutes of guitar driven Doom Death Metal, melodic, gloomy and also aggressive as it should be. The second track is a droning Ambient instrumental piece, not very connected with the rest of this demo, I'm not sure what was the point of it beside adding a few more minutes to the whole package. On the other 2 tracks though the band tends to exploit the Death Metal side more than the Doom one, but all in all this debut demo is enjoyable, entertaining and provides a nice escape into underground old-school Death Doom Metal the way it was done 2 decades ago, and listening to this demo as a tape adds more of that "nostalgic" feeling.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7/10
Contact:
Band: EVERLASTING
Country: Russia
Title: March of Time
Label: Solitude Productions
Year: 2013
Style: Funeral Doom Metal
Review:
Probably Funeral Doom Metal is one of the most hermetic styles out there, it'doesn't allow much space for coming up with your own thing and you have to be really slick to break some boundaries. Everlasting created a nice little debut album here but their lack of experience is quite obvious: the album has some sublime moments and touches of genius, but it is also sprinkled with dull, overused typical passages that should be eliminated in the future. I have probably enjoyed the vocal part the most, but there's definite potential in every instrument so as a debut album I'd say March of Time reached its goal and presented us a band to raise some eyebrows and spark some interest for upcoming releases.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7.5/10
Contact:
Band: EWIGEIS
Country: Germany
Title: Abgrund
Label: Nebular Winter Productions
Year: 2011
Style: Black Metal
Review:
I think this is a one man band from Germany started, as per Metal Archives, in 2008. This is their second demo to date, a demo featuring 3 tracks and lasting for 15 minutes. Traditional fast paced Black Metal with nothing impressive or out of the templates of the genre, but well played and quite enjoying if you're not looking for anything original. The atmosphere Ewigeis create is cold and raw, quite fit for this music, and the sharp shrieks are actually very good, but the overall impression at the end of the audition is of a dry, blunt Black Metal with no ambition to do better...
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 5.5/10
Contact:
Band: EYE OF SOLITUDE
Country: UK
Title: Canto III
Label: Kaotoxin Records
Year: 2013
Style: Doom Death Metal
Review:
I'm feeling quite proud Daniel, vocal and founding member of EoS, is a Romanian, I'm sick and tired of feeling ashamed of constantly hearing about other locals' criminal acts abroad.
Canto III is EoS' third album to date and is by far their best release, one that can easily rival '90's UK Doom Death anthological releases that actually built the whole scene. The music is emotional to an epic point but at the same time is as brutal as it gets, Daniel's ultra-low growls are a trademark for the band. Everything feels at the right place and time, this is an almost perfect album, all the guys are giving their best and their chemistry this time seems to be perfect! The only thing I don't like are the Italian sung lyrics on the first track, Daniel has a far from perfect Italian pronounciation and for those of you who know the language it will feel very abrasive, just like watching Hollywood movies where the leading actor tries to speak in a language he doesn't know, of course he fails miserably. :) But apart from that we're dealing here with one of the best Extreme Metal releases of 2013, no doubt! Buy it!
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9.5/10
Contact:
Band: FLASH OF AGGRESSION
Country: Russia
Title: Seed of Hate
Label: CD-Maximum
Year: 2013
Style: Thrash Metal
Review:
Polina Berezko, the young Russian lady who impressed me a few months ago with her Death Metal band, Grace Disgraced, is back this time with a Thrash Metal band and its debut album. Flash Of Aggression is far from Grace Disgraced in terms of style, they are into old-school Technical and viciously aggressive Thrash Metal but Polina's vocals are on the same timbre and surprisingly enough it works well, maybe not as good as in the Death metal band, but at least it gives the band a touch of originality. The guitarists are mighty good too, and the leads and solos are simply brilliant, and the drummer does his best, too. As a debut album Seed of Hate is a solid work recommending this young band as a promising name we all should keep an eye on. Recommended to followers of both old-school and modern Thrash Metal, both underground and mainstream, you'll discover a nicely balanced band in Flash of Aggression.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8/10
Contact:
Band: FRIGORIS
Country: Germany
Title: Wind
Label: Misanthropic Art / Hypnotic Dirge
Year: 2013
Style: Pagan Black Metal
Review:
After a selfreleased debut album in 2010 Frigoris are back, this time with an album released by 2 labels, nice progress. The band plays quite a solid modern Black Metal with loads of melodic and ambient touches but also aggressive and fierceful as it should be. I'm not sure where the Pagan part is as it's not in their music for sure, so probably the lyrics are about the glorious past, I wouldn't know since I don't know German. The album is definitely not boring, it offers lots of emotions and soundscapes to entertain you for the whole 49 minutes, the sound quality is top-notch, and the nice fact about Frigoris is that they sound like a curdled band, they sound mature and able to do even better. A recommended album for fans of Melodic Black Metal.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8.5/10
Contact:
Band: GORTAL
Country: Poland
Title: Deamonolith
Label: Pagan Records
Year: 2012
Style: Death Metal
Review:
This band is active since 1996 but for my shame it's the first time I hear about them, they aren't the most prolific band around (this is only their second full-length album), but still... Daemonolith is made of 9 tracks of old-school Death Metal, ugly, cruel, manly, solid and tight as fuck as usually delivered by Polish bands. Death Metal, pure and simple how Morbid Angel used to do a couple of decades ago, Gortal impress through their attention to details, their spot-on execution and the catchy tunes they managed to deliver on this album, so if you're into Traditional Death Metal and you haven't heard this album yet I suggest you give it a try, it might be a great surprise.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9/10
Contact:
Band: GRIEVING AGE
Country: Saudi Arabia
Title: Merely the Fleshless We and the Awed Obsequy
Label: Solitude Productions
Year: 2013
Style: Doom Death Metal
Review:
Probably the first Saudi Arabia based band I ever review. This is their second full-length album and the first one on a label, and who could have picked a Doom Death Metal band other than Solitude Productions? The album is divided in 2 parts, 2 CDs, even though there are only 5 tracks featured! Apart from the excellent cover artwork and the good sound quality the album was kinda boring; the guys have some good ideas and parts of this album are really interesting, but they are stretched and repeated way too much to stay interesting. The band's music actually reminded me of Crowbar and not only because of the similar type of vocals, but also because of the guitars. If you add to that a Doomy atmosphere and some pretty heavy Death Metal passages you'll get an aproximate image of Grieving Age. Recommended only to the most fanatic Doom Death Metal followers, more than 100 minutes of this music may fuck up your whole week.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 6.5/10
Contact:
Band: HIMONAS
Country: Greece
Title: To the Battlements
Label: Nebular Winter Productions
Year: 2013
Style: Black Metal
Review:
second release from this new and ambitious Greek label. Himonas' "To the Battlements" is their debut album released on tape limited to 500 hand-numbered copies. An effort featuring 10 tracks and totaling almost 45 minutes of traditional uncompromising, fast paced, cold as ice Black Metal. There's nothing new, nothing innovative, nothing original here, but the music is great, it's honest (at least it feels honest), quite atmospheric even without using keyboards or such, raw and at the same time crystal clear sounding, angry and sombre, a real treat for fans of unaltered traditional Black Metal. To be honest I'm quite surprised how good it sounds and how catchy it is. Recommended!
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8.5/10
Contact:
Band: HOKEDUN
Country: UK
Title: Vanished Away in Tranqulity
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2013
Style: Black Metal
Review:
Very nice DIY release with cut&paste and glue involved, I love it! Most probably it was released in a very limited edition so if you check their music online I think you should hurry up to get a piece of this debut demo. There are 5 tracks on it, and the style could be labelled as Melodic Black Metal, quite inoffensive except for the abrasive vocal shrieks, and based on a good guitar work. Unfortunately the drum program these 2 guys chose for their debut demo wasn't the best option as it gets much too synthetic and dull after a while, especially on the blastbeats parts. The whole is structured on mid-tempo rhythms and simple compositions, and again, the guitar and bass work is quite good, the duo has potential, but I'd suggest them to choose a better studio next time and maybe to start looking for a real drummer. The calm, instrumental outro was a good choice, so all in all this is a good demo that presents us a hopeful act, we'll see how serious they are in the future.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7/10
Contact:
Band: IRDORATH
Country: Austria
Title: I Am Risen
Label: Noisehead Records
Year: 2013
Style: Black Metal
Review:
Not sure what happened, but I remember these guys signing with Massacre Records a couple of years ago and now I see this third full-length album being released on Noisehead Records from their country. Probably things didn't work out between them and Massacre and they found a new (good I might add) home now. This new album is made of 11 tracks totaling more than 45 minutes, and Irdorath proves they are a solid and mature band although their style isn't the easiest to label and serve to a particular part of the public. Their music is a combination of Black Metal, Heavy Metal and Thrash Metal with a powerful melodic edge; the focus is on Black Metal, but this album is more accessible to other categories of listeners, too. I find the sound as being a bit dry, but nevertheless professional and crystal clear. The presentation of this CD (digipack with booklet including all lyrics) highlighted by an exceptional cover artwork will definitely attract a handful of extra listeners, so all in all I'd say Irdorath released a successful album.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8.5/10
Contact:
www.irdorath.net
www.noiseheadrecords.com
Band: ITHILIEN
Country: Belgium
Title: From Ashes to the Frozen Land
Label: Mighty Music
Year: 2013
Style: Folk Metal
Review:
Intro (or rather track called „Battle Cry”) was really folkish and aroused my appetite on really folkmetal... Next tracks are „nihil novi”: blackened vocals, melodic folkmetal mixed by black influences, typical rhytmes, a lot of transition from melodic playing to fast clangor... From melodic heavy folk to nostalgically/depressive way. From time to time some symphonic ideas crusted by medieval sounds stylized on celtic music. Itihilien has a idea to play folkmetal and I suppose, that it can be a good band to live gigs. Lyrics are taken from mythology, history and drinking stoties and battle stories too. Not bad debut full lenght album. We will see what will be later.
Reviewed by Vilcin
Rating: 6/10
Band: KING CARNAGE
Country: USA
Title: Ounce of Mercy, Pound of Flesh
Label: BadGod Music
Year: 2013
Style: Death Metal
Review:
At first, the package made me think this is a 7"EP, but it's actually a CD in a 7"EP cardboard complete with lyrics booklet and a sticker too, definitely a release that will be among the most original-looking in your collection. Regarding the music on it we get 8 tracks (totaling 35 minutes) of old-school, rotten, macabre Death Metal; if you take a look at the cover image, well that's exactly how King Carnage's music sounds, too: the riffs are so low-tunned and oppressing I could envision them like a dying but still very aggressive mammoth hunting, the rhythms section is rusty and heavy too and the vocals are creepy and demented. I would recommend this release to anyone into ugly old-school Death Metal, it's a gem!
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9/10
Contact:
Band: LIFELESS
Country: Germany
Title: Godconstruct
Label: Old Goat Corpse Prod. / FDA Rekotz
Year: 2013
Style: Death Metal
Review:
Awesome, the new Lifeless album is a delight for all fans of old-school European Death Metal, and the band confirms being one of the leading forces of German Death Metal nowadays, in my opinion a band that should get much more attention from the fans. Godconstruct is their second album, a 12 tracks effort lasting for almost 50 minutes, a lesson in traditional Death Metal; mature compositions, the right amount of melody, crystal clear heavy as hell sound, Swedish-like catchiness, a perfect choice for fans of both fast paced Death Metal and melodic type of Death. Although old-school oriented, Lifeless' music sounds fresh and interesting, I'm sure this album will bring them legions of new fans, so don't miss it!
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9.5/10
Contact:
www.facebook.com/lifelessofficial
Band: LORELEI
Country: Russia
Title: Ugrjumye Volny Studenogo Morja
Label: BadMoodMan Music
Year: 2013
Style: Gothic Doom Death Metal
Review:
A band that seems to care about their foreign fans (or potential fans) as much as I care about the latest Kardashians' episode, the booklet, the title, everything is in Russian and of course, Cyrillic scripted. Of course this is not an isolated case, but BMM has a large distribution network outside their country too, so that's a weird decission. Anyway, what's most important is the music, so let's see what this band brings us; this is their debut album, released 10 years after their foundation. 7 tracks + intro and outro all totaling almost 50 minutes of oppressive, slow flowing, melancholic and quite old-school combination of Gothic, Doom and Death Metal, with "beauty and the beast" type of vocals where the male vocalist goes on the low growls path, and the lady seems to be an opera singer, but somehow her type of singing, although outstandingly beautilful, is not quite fit for this music. The instrumental part is melancholic, almost depressive, creating a dense atmosphere, and the high quality sound gives the listener the perfect delivery. Except for the fact that there's nothing new, innovative here, Lorelei did a great job, and fans of Theatre Of Tragedy or (old) Tristania will definitely enjoy it.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8.5/10
Contact:
Band: LUX OCCULTA
Country: Poland
Title: Kolysanki
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2014
Style: Psychodelic Avantgarde Metal
„Kolysanki” means „Lullabies”. This album is amazing (or eerie) mix of old, traditional songs from children with psychodelic/darkwave/electronic drive. I am really impressed! Lux Occulta mixed original songs taken from the villages from Eastern Poland/Ukraine/Belarus with darkened whispers recitatives and sounds taken from the post-industrial cities. This is not all – this material included some sounds taken from Parisian suburbs (accordion’s drive), a lot of histerical screams, psychodelic jazz elements, dark poetry (in Polish), ambient, cold wave, dark electro, darkvawe... This is a one of the best blends of widely understood dark music when I’ve heard. Lux Occulta just made a new quality of psychodelic music. Summary: First Lux Occulta album after several years of silence with electronic pulse, metalish darkness, Beskid borderland folklore, jazzy feeling. GREAT ALBUM !!!
Reviewed by Vilcin
Rating: 9/10