Band: MARTIRIA
Country: Italy
Title: Roma S.P.Q.R.
Label: My Graveyard Productions
Year: 2012
Style: Epic Heavy Metal
Review:
This veteran group of the Italian Heavy Metal scene is back only 1 year after the release of their previous opus with their fifth full-length to date. Presented in form of a very nice digipack Roma S.P.Q.R. is a conceptual album based on the history of the great Roman Empire which is an excellent topic, especially for an Italian band. I would love to see much more albums like this one, Italians should be proud of their predecessors and prais their history much more in music too. With this topic in mind and seeing the great cover artwork this album bought me even before the audition. Regarding the music, the compositions are carefully built to express the storylines, but at some points of this CD it fails on expressing the aggression or majesty it neturally needed, some parts make you feel like something is missing, maybe an extra instrument or a more powerful production, but overall, mixed with the concept and the extra features like latin narrations, movie cuts, I'd say it reach the heards of old-school Hard'n'Heavy addicts and even some metallers into Epic Doom. I love the atmosphere on it although I would have preferred all lyrics to be in Latin, or at least in Italian rather than English. Thumbs up for the concept, atmospheres and guitar solos.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8/10
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Band: MORTOR
Country: Canada
Title: Shoot 'Em Up
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2012
Style: Death Thrash Metal
Review:
I just love the production on this second album from Canada based Mortor, the sound is so clean and it blends so perfectly with the ass-kicking guitar riffs that I'm wondering why are these guys forced to release an album by themselves (or is it their choice?). "Shoot'em Up" is an excellent combination of Thrash Death Metal and in terms of composition and sound this is one of the releases I consider closest to "Metal", to what I like about this genre. The only flaws I found could be the narrow path of the vocals (excellent vocal timbre but a bit more variety won't hurt), and the fact that there are so few of those tasty guitar solos (check "Locked and Loaded). Except for that I like everything about this album, it's not innovative to any extent but it's so damn well built. Recommended!
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9/10
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Band: NEGATRON
Country: Italy
Title: Tenebre
Label: Black Tears
Year: 2012
Style: Doom Black Metal
Review:
Wow, such a huge surprise coming out of nowhere... Negatron is the band of two former Evol members, the legendary Gothic Black Metal band from the '90's. The new offspring is quite far from what Evol used to be, but the atmosphere is quite similar, the same dark, terrifying, and more suitable for horror movies sounds that made Evol such a distinct name. Negatron labels their style as Nekro Doom Metal, but I would translate it as old-school Doom Metal combined with Black Metal and Horror atmospheres. The production is raw and organic so fans of old-school Doom Metal will enjoy it, but not all the compositions are what you would expect from legends of the Italian metal scene. The guitar riffs tend to be too repetitive and simplistic and nowadays even in Doom Metal the guitarists are trying new ways of expressing their skills, and the vocals are not as flexible as they could be. The highlights of this debut album are definitely the atmospheres created on a few tracks, the acoustic and the keyboard parts, and the great female vocals that appear here and there, tracks like Tenebre and In Handumdrehen are simply awesome. In my opinion the use of these female vocals, mixed with keboards, should be exploited more even if they clearly remind of Evol, also mixing such interludes with the whole should be curdled a bit more as on this album they seem like from a different band. Anyway, all in all it's good to see these guys back on track even if this album is quite difficult to get into.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7/10
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Band: netra
Country: France
Title: Sorbyen
Label: Hypnotic Dirge Records
Year: 2012
Style: Depressive Trip-Hop Black Metal
Review:
From my point of view the best Hypnotic Dirge artist to date, netra, is back with the second album, a followup to their highly-acclaimed "Mélancolie urbaine" debut. This time we're treated with 70 minutes of its strange combination of Depressive (Post) Black Metal with Trip-Hop and Ambient, something only the ones of you deeply open-minded will dig. Although this time there are less memorable tracks, the ones presented on Sorbyen have theior own power and identity, my fave track being the Buesy "Emlazh" with its high-class guitar performance. At some points I felt the drums being too synthetic and not fit to the music atmosphere, but overall I apprecate very much how netra makes its listeners discover another dimention, but be careful enough not to let you loose in all the melancholy transpiring from this material.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9.5/10
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Band: NIGHTCHAINS
Country: Lebanon
Title: Metal to the Bone
Label: Dead Master's Beat
Year: 2010
Style: Heavy Thrash Speed Metal
Review:
First of all I have to congratulate the story the label/band included in this album's booklet. The story is about the band's history and the Beirut incipient metal scene, after reading it you're looking at this album with totally different eyes. I'm sure this story is valid for just about every other metal scene around the world so everyone can imagine themselves in such situations: sex, alcohool & rock'n'roll, that's the only law in every incipient metal scene. This is the one and only album of Nightchains, first released by the band in 2005 and then re-released by Dead Master's Beat 5 years later, and Heavy Metal is the name of the game here. Pure, simple, honest and energetic Heavy Metal with leads of Speed and Thrash Metal influences. It's nothing innovative, but it's as pure as possible, so if you like your Metal old-school, fast and dirty, don't miss this full-length, a cult album from the Lebanese scene.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8.5/10
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Band: ODIUM
Country: Canada
Title: Burning the Bridges to Nowhere
Label: Year Of The Sun Records
Year: 2012
Style: Melodic Death Metal
Review:
Most probably because of the futurist cover artwork and the country they come from the first thought I had when browsing this album's cover was Voivod, although the music has nothing in common with Voivod's. Odium released this year their second opus on Year of the Sun Records, and although it's only their second effort this is a very tight and mature work. The band sounds as solid and fresh like they are playing together for ages. We're treated here with some top-notch Modern Melodic Death Metal with occasional technical and even progressive displays. The two vocal types (clean and growl) are blending perfectly and could be a major highlight for Odium, the guitarists display great talent and imagination, the bass lines are extremely fat and powerful and the drum lines are the backbone of this excellent band. And the best feature in Odium's music are the memorable compositions, you can find youself humming parts of some tracks way after the audition and that shows they know what they want and where they are heading to. The perfect balance between brutality, melody and modern elements is remarkable, this is an album strongly recommended for fans of Modern Metal a la In Flames.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9.5/10
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Band: RADIATION SICKNESS
Country: USA
Title: Reflections of a Psychotic Past
Label: Abyss Records
Year: 2012
Style: Death Metal
Review:
Honestly I wasn't familiar with this band before gettings their new album for review. Actually this is their debut album although the band was established back in '87. Well, now I'm very glad Abyss Records sent this material over, I have discovered a band I can say I'm a fan of now. Radiation Sickness is an old-school dirty, unpolished mid-tempo to fast paced Death Metal, the typical American way. The highlight of Radiation Sickness are the awesome vocals of Doug Palmer, this guy sounds like a combination of Obituary and Bluuurgh! if you remember them, that type of phlegmatic, sick vocals that work so well with this type of music. The instrumental part is quite ok too although I would have liked a bit more of that awesome vocals that show up here and there. The album contains also a re-recording of their 1990 EP "The Other Me - A Journey Into Insanity", so you get no less than 19 tracks although they are all short (an average of 1:30 minutes/track).
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9/10
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Band: RAZORWYRE
Country: New Zealand
Title: Another Dimension
Label: Inferno Records
Year: 2012
Style: Heavy Speed Metal
Review:
Inferno Records recently signed this band from New Zealand and here's the first fruit of their collaboration, Razorwyre's debut album. At first the sound might seem too unpolished for such a band, but as you dive deeper into their music you start to think this is how they wanted their sound to be, as old-school as possible, or at least that's what I feel. Razorwyre is pure '80's style Speed Heavy Metal with some, few, Thrash Metal influences. Their music is as energetic as it can get but there are also plenty of melodic aspects that keep the whole interesting. To me personally this album reminded of Iron Maiden, Agent Steel and why not, Razor, but "Another Dimension", although not original, has its own face, its own energy. It may sound stupid, but listening to such an old-school, honest album these days feels somehow fresh, its like a breeze of fresh air. The new wave of metalheads will ignore this album, but the old-schoolers will be delighted, that's for sure. There are plenty of great guitar leads and solos, the riffs are ok too, the vocalist is not top notch, but he can reach a wide range of tonalities and his vocals are never getting bored, and the drums and bass are both doing their job the way they should. I love this album although it brings nothing new to the scene.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9/10
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Band: SEPTEKH
Country: Sweden
Title: The Seth Avalanche
Label: Abyss Records
Year: 2012
Style: Thrash Death Metal
Review:
New Swedish band signed by Abyss Records, Septekh is presenting us here their second EP composed of 6 tracks in a bit more than 20 minutes playing time. Their music is a combination of Punkish Thrash Death Metal with Death'n'Roll with highlights being the groovy and catchy guitar riffs, the ferocious, insane vocals and the story-like lyrics. The main feature of their music is of course the groove, Septekh really like their '70's like influences thrown in everywhere, but the differences between the mid-tempo tracks and the fast, punkish ones are pretty big so now they only need to pick one and make it their own style. Also this type of music would deserve some memorable choirs that are missing here, this is music to sing along while listening to. I think this band has great potential and if you like your Thrash Metal with loads of groove try not to miss this EP.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8/10
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Band: SHAME YOURSELF
Country: Poland
Title: Wonderfuck
Label: Metal Scrap Records
Year: 2012
Style: Thrash Metal
Review:
Unlike most Polish Extreme Metal bands nowadays, Shame Yourself comes up with a fun way of approaching this style and that's good for scene variety, of course. This is their debut album, a Groove Thrash Metal American style that was (still) quite popular in the first half of the '90's, very close related to American Power Hardcore. Although very well executed, it feels like something's missing for this to be the next big thing coming out of the underground, but there's time for finding the right hooks. To me personally this album reminded of Clawfinger, Anthrax and a bit of the Bay Area Thrash Metal, too. Good technical skills, good flow, enough variety not to become boring, Shame Yourself have created a debut album that leaves hopes for better and bigger things to come, so all in all I'm not disapointed at all. This album is no masterpiece, but it's a sharp and entertaining piece of Groove Thrash Metal that will fill up pleasantly almost 50 minutes of your time. Good potential.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7.5/10
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Band: SOMBRE CROISADE
Country: France
Title: Litanie au Mal
Label: Mortis Humanae Productions
Year: 2012
Style: Black Metal
Review:
Alrinack and Malsain are back this time with the debut full-length of Sombre Croisade, a new release dedicated to their defunct friend Molasar who passed away. This continuous tribute to Molasar is a very nice thing and will get his name to a cult level in the French Black Metal underground. About the music on this debut album Sombre Croisade continue on their raw and depressive Black Metal path, but this time the difference from their previous release, the split with Suicidal Madness, is the sound quality, much better, much clearer, this being the feature I hated most on their split. The rhythms are mostly mid-tempo building heavy, oppressive atmospheres, but there are also some faster parts to increase the aggressiveness. The vocals are very expressive (although the growls are poorly recorded), the guitars are the center point of their atmospheres, and the bass lines are very powerful, the way I like them. The flaw in their production this time is the drum machine, quite synthetic for this kind of underground, organic work, and although well produced, they can be disturbing at times. So all in all we're dealing here with a depressive kind of traditional Black Metal, dark, cold and emotional, with a good underground recoring quality. Recommended for followers of the underground Black Metal scene.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8/10
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Band: SUBTERRANEAN DISPOSITION
Country: Australia
Title: Subterranean Disposition
Label: Hypnotic Dirge Records
Year: 2012
Style: Doom Death Metal
Review:
Terry Vainoras ex. InSomnius Dei and The Eternal, both bands that were signed on the Finnish Firebox Records and had their fair share of success (not enough I'd say), is the man behind this new one-man-band, some sort of continuation of the InSomnius Dei line. This is its debut album, a very, very good displey of Doom Metal that sounds like My Dying Bride gone totally experimental. And that experimental side of Subterranean Disposition is the focus point of this album and at the same time its highlight. Without it S.D. would have been just another Doom Death Metal band among the countless others. Although it may sound weird, I would label this music as old-school type of Doom Death with multiple modern and fresh influences all over, it has about everything a Doom Metaller searches for: heavy atmospheres, oppressing vocals, repetitive (but not boring), tormenting instrumental compositions, but also a shade of light here and there just to keep it interesting. Highly recommended! What puzzled me is after only a couple of spins Terry's clean vocals started to haunt me, haha, he has an excellent tone, perfect for this kind of music.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9.5/10
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Band: THY WINTER KINGDOM / PERMIXTIO
Country: Italy / Italy
Title: Gnosis / Resurrezione
Label: Black Tears of Death
Year: 2012
Style: Black Metal / Depressive Black Metal
Review:
The first to open this split is Thy Winter Kingdom with an old-school Black Metal made of distorted guitar riffs, multiple layers of vocals (from screams to growls), organic, quite raw rhythm section, and rhythms ranging from slow and doomy to fast and furious. The whole sounds pretty desolate and aggressive, but still something is missing even for an old-school style. I liked a lot the piano & violin touches, they should be added more as they are not softening up the whole, on the contrary. Permixtio's part comes with a Depressive Black Metal centered on a more Atmospheric starting point. In fact I would say this is Atmospheric Black Metal with Depressive Black Metal influences, although not the whole music is depressive, it has its epic parts, too. Although there are much more repetitive parts and the technical level is not as good as in Thy Winter Kingdom's case, Permixtio manages to create some pretty deep and attractive atmospheres inhere, and this despite the rough, unprofessional sound. The piano and keyboard backgrounds play a more signifiant role in Permixtio's music and overall I'd say the guy behind this moniker, Umbra, managed to do well.
Both bands have their good elements and the split is a good audition for underground Black Metal fans, but the two bands need to work more to get something more out of their music.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7/10 7/10
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Band: TOTAL HATE
Country: Germany
Title: Necare Humanum Est
Label: Pale Dominion
Year: 2010
Style: Black Metal
Review:
Total hate is the perfect name for this band! Their hateful, raw and primitive Black Metal inspires nothing more and nothing less than total hate. This is the second album of the band, but although it's released as a full-length I would say it's actually an EP since there are only 5 new tracks on it and the 6th track is actually a cover of Throne Of Ahaz' "Northern Throne", so the total playing time for the new tracks is less than half an hour. In normal acceptance this is an EP, not a full-length, but who cares after all? Their old-school form of Black Metal is excellent, this is what I call hateful Black Metal, there's nothing to be able to joke on here unlike many other nowadays bands. The rhythms are mostly fast (with complementary blast beats), the vocals are crude and grim, the guitar riffs, although quite repetitive, are quite catchy, and the bass lines are powerful. I have nothing to bad mouth regarding Total Hate and that's what I love about this band. If you like your Black Metal raw and aggressive a la Urgehal you can try Total Hate, you won't be disapointed.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8.5/10
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Band: TSUBO
Country: Italy
Title: ...Con Cognizione di Causa
Label: Eclectic Productions
Year: 2012
Style: Death Grind
Review:
What an excellent debut album the Italians from Tsubo offer us here! From its start till its end this 20 tracks material is an unrelenting spew of brutality and anger, a perfect combination of Death Metal and Grindcore with emphasis on the latter. Extreme brutality, occasional grooves, great technical skills and above all a very exciting composition work, all tracks have their own flavour, their own identity. Tsubo are reaching their 10 years of activity in 2013 and that is perfectly displayed on this debut album, I think the band has reached its maturity peak. If you're into serious (!!!) Death Grind do not miss this album, as for myself, I'm totally satisfied by it, what a killer band!
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 10/10
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Band: URUK-HAI
Country: Austria
Title: Cirith Ungol
Label: Nordsturm Productions
Year: 2010
Style: Ambient
Review:
If you know this project by now have you ever counted how many released it put out so far? Well, don't bother, you'll only loose a lot of your time, Uruk-Hai is aproaching 150 official releases!!! Crazy isn't it? From all those almost 20 are full-length albums like this one, Cirith Ungol. I knew this project as a one-man-band, but now it is actually a duo so it might become less productive, who knows... Anyway, back to this album I can say it's made of only 1 track, a track lasting for 78 minutes of Ambient music. I found it a bit too repetitive, but for my surprise it's not bad, it actually has some interesting moments and elements but quite few to make it interesting 100%. I have actually listen to it completely for a couple of times and as a conclusion I was not bored but also not many parts of it stirred my interest. It could have been a bit more majestic and expressive from my point of view, but if you're into calm and dreamy Ambient combined with screams a la Vinterriket this band might work for you.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7/10
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Band: VIVID REMORSE
Country: Spain
Title: Down to the Wire
Label: Art Gates Records
Year: 2012
Style: Thrash Metal
Review:
Second opus for this Spanish outfit, and the first one out on a professional label, I guess it's time for Vivid Remorse (good moniker) to show itself to the World. The band plays a combination of old-school Thrash Metal with more modern influences and even some Hardcore and Death Metal touches here and there, and although this might seem as a weird combination and a lack of horizon, the band actually sounds solid enough to offer a unitary impression on what they are up to. This can also be considered as a good disposition for experimenting, for offering complex structures and this might be true. Overall I felt a bit of lack of brutality but that is compensated by speed and technical execution so you can follow the composition lines rather than focusing on how extreme can they be. I'm not blown away by this album, but I admit I like it and don't have any special flaws to impute to Vivid Remorse, the more open-minded fans of Thrash Metal will enjoy this material.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8.5/10
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Band: WARCLOUDS
Country: Brazil
Title: A Disturbing Presence
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2012
Style: Death Metal
Review:
I'm not sure if this is a full line-up band or a one man band as this debut album is recorded completely by 1 guy, Bruno Schmidt, but on Metal Archives Warclouds is a three piece band. Anyway, as I said this is Warclouds' debut album, a 9 tracks effort totaling 55 minutes of traditional Death Metal, a bit of melody, a lot of aggression, an album that doesn't stand out from the rest, but a well produced and executed album. I like the fact Bruno is not stuck in a narrow genre, he's experimenting quite a lot and he does well, that's the only way to improve. Well, if you listen carefully it's impossible to say this is a one man band, Bruno managed to curdle the whole and mix all the instruments so that the music sounds compact, and it would be quite impossible to label its influences American or European, he takes a bit from everything. Good technical skills, quite ok computer programmings, very good vocals, well inserted melodic guitar leads and solos, I can recommend these 55 minutes of Death Metal to anyone without the fear of boing them, and that even if this is not the next masterpiece of the genre. I'm curious how Warclouds will develop as a full line-up band...
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8/10
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