Band: TANTALOS
Country: Germany
Title: Ab Luce
Label: Naturmacht Productions
Year: 2010
Style: Black Metal
Review:
Black Metal as depressing as the most schizophrenic story being told! Tantalos is another Black Metal band I have never had the chance to experience, but now I have and they are pretty damn interesting…Depressive style metal with a definite doom edge along with the grave vocal style adds a certain bleakness to the music. "Ab Luce” gives 8 tracks totaling 43 minutes of metal. If Ambient Black Metal is your thing then Tantalos will satisfy the urge. All tracks like "Tristitia” and "Dionysos” show the quality of the music by Tantalos, certainly all the tracks are well worth the taste though. As I said earlier, this genre is foreign to me in different ways because I am used to the cold, raw, primitive style of Norway’s early generation of Black metal. Check them out, maybe you’ll kill yourself before the album ends!
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 8/10
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Band: TERRORTORY
Country: Sweden
Title: The Seed Left Behind
Label: Discouraged Records
Year: 2011
Style: Thrash Death Metal
Review:
Thrash Metal smashing your head like damn sledgehammer, and Terrortory doesn’t waste anytime when it comes to unleashing The Seed Left Behind upon the metal world. Right from the start there are no idle moments, it is straight up Thrash Metal! Anyway, Terrortory play the good old school thrash metal sound with some good melody and angry vocals. It is almost like feeling the pain of the vocalist when he sings and the music pounding through the pain. Terrortory are a very good Thrash Band with influences stemming through Hatebreed and possibly Agnostic Front mixed with a style of death metal as well. I could be wrong, but hell…These guys unload when they jam their music! Catchy and cool riffs as Thrash Metal has it along with the brutal atmosphere. Check out tracks like "Dereign” and "The Destroyer” for some added bonus! Terrortory is a good Thrash Band and well worth the time to listen to their newest opus The Seed Left Behind.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 8/10
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Band: THANATHRON
Country: Poland
Title: Hiarra
Label: Moon Records
Year: 2009
Style: Black Metal
Review:
Honestly I don't know how well known this band is in the underground Black Metal scene, but it should be a popular name at least in their homeland since Moon Records decided to re-release all their demos from 2003-2006 on one tape. There are 24 tracks presented here totaling almost 80 minutes of raw, old-school Black Metal recorded for different releases, so the volume difference between each of them is understandable, although I like the sound of their first demo better than the rest. Thanathron is fast, raw, aggressive, demonic and keeps their style uncompromised by influences from other styles. Although there are some melodic guitar riffs on the second part of thsi tape this doesn't mean they are getting softer, the overall music is very aggressive. Recommended to fans of organic old-school Black Metal.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7.5/10
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Band: THANATHRON
Country: Poland
Title: TH: Horde
Label: Moon Records
Year: 2010
Style: Black Metal
Review:
A new Thanathron release on Moon Records, this time a demo from 2010. Thanathorn's own touch to Black Metal could be the very aggressive type of vocals supported by growls here and there, and the organic sound they manage to keep on their recordings. This demo has a very good sound, the listener is able to easily follow any and all instruments on it, and the compositions have improved in complexity since their 2003-2006 demos. The overall atmosphere is darker this time and I can say for me it was a real pleasure listening to these 7 new tracks from Thanathron. This demo was also released on CD but on a limited edition of only 25 copies so by now I'm sure it's sold out.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8.5/10
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Band: THE BURNING
Country: Denmark
Title: Hail the Horde
Label: Massacre Records
Year: 2010
Style: Thrash Death Metal
Review:
Well, some good ass Groove/Thrash/Death Metal right here people…The Burning certainly have taken things to the "mainstream” of metal so-to-speak. After all these years of covering metal one thing I know for sure is that when a metal band makes a first video for one of their songs then they are definitely moving the right direction, even if mainstream popularity isn’t what the band was gunning for. Some bands lose their minds during their success, and some bands do not. The Burning has not lost a thing, nothing but brutal talent with these guys. Killer riffs with a straight-edge sound added with that killer feeling of thrash Metal and Groove laden music! Angry vocals mixed in gives me a great fucking rush when I play this release. "Hail the Horde” is a shitload of good metal with nothing to despise. 12 songs totaling almost 50 minutes of brutality mixed with Thrash! Awesome stuff, and I can’t wait for the next release! Check out tracks like "Hail Horde”, "Godless”, and "Bait the Hook”.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 9/10
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Band: THORNGOTH
Country: Germany
Title: Leere
Label: Folter Records
Year: 2010
Style: Black Metal
Review:
German Black Metal is always so cold and raw, I fucking love it. No disrespect to bands in the opera part of Black Metal, or Pagan Folklore, but Thorngoth plays nothing fancy…Just plain old primitive metal with an evil touch of darkness and cold feelings. "Leere” seems to be fancied by the premonition of death, mayhem, and sadness, mixed with a lot of anger. Old School Black Metal put in the ways of early Dark Throne or other acts from the days of Church Burnings and Norwegian Killings! Obviously those days have not been forgotten by anybody. Thorngoth delivers a steady progression of evil Black Metal and that is it. Fans of the other ambient, electric, or operatic stuff will not enjoy this release, this is strictly for the mongers of the bottomless pit of Black Metal. Tracks like…Well, they all begin with "Leere I” and "Leere II” and so on, with exception to the track entitled "In Der Leere”. Pure cold style of Black Metal, perfect for the sickened world we live in.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 8/10
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Band: THROMDARR
Country: Finland
Title: Electric Hellfire
Label: Violent Journey Records
Year: 2011
Style: Black Metal
Review:
10 tracks with 55 minutes of Black Metal mixed with certain Power Metal elements throughout this evil opus. Thromdarr hail from Finland, the land of evil metal! Anyway, Thromdarr put out several demos before they unleashed Electric Hellfire among the population. Definitely Black Metal, but as mentioned earlier, there are different types of metal on this release. Death Metal type vocals, Death/Power/Thrash metal riffs all the way around. Thromdarr is really cool in that they don’t sound like too many other Black Metal bands today. Almost an old school feeling here too! Thromdarr doesn’t disappoint. So fans of Melodic Black Metal with a touch of Power Metal and Death Metal will certainly enjoy the opus from Thromdarr. Songs like "Burn for Eternity” and "Oasis of Desperation” show the world what this band can do.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 7/10
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Band: THULCANDRA
Country: Germany
Title: Under a Frozen Sun
Label: Napalm Records
Year: 2011
Style: Black Death Metal
Review:
German’s Thulcandra released great album. This album is a perfesct combination beetwen technical black with little atmospheric motives and technical deathmetal. German precision and a lot of melodic parts – this is a main advantage of this CD. Just only 8 tracks – but great tracks. The last track „Life Demise” is Unanimated cover. „Under a Frozen Sun” is a god example, how to play black metal without boring and without secondariness. This is good example, how to diversify death metal by intelligent black. Big respect for Thulcandra for this album!
Reviewed by Vilcin
Rating: 8.5/10
Band: TO CAST A SHADOW
Country: Norway
Title: In Memory Of
Label: Kolony Records
Year: 2011
Style: Gothic Metal
Review:
Kind of strange…I noticed that they were formed in 1990, but a release of any type did not come out until 2005! I wonder why? Anyway, When I hear this release I am reminded of a band named Sirenia, also a band with enormously awesome vocals for a female fronted band. Not just the vocals, but the music is utterly depressing and gripping as well. Tracks like "To Cast a Shadow” and "Tormented” really strike the emotional page of my feelings for music, that is cool. Music like this can move a person in so many different mental directions. Passion, feeling, and respect are all dawned on this release. Now I have to admit that I am no expert at this specific genre of metal, but I know what I feel when I put on a record and this is it! The flowing sound of the voice mixed with the elements of heavy riffs from a power metal stage in the era of metal! None of the songs are extremely long, and that also works in the favor of the band being that people don’t have to listen to a 20 minute track trying to keep their eyes from falling out! To Cast a Shadow is perfect for the suicidal junkie on a depressed mind trip, but also perfect for the fans of melodic beauty and haunting ambience.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 8/10
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Band: UNCANNY
Country: Sweden
Title: MCMXCI - MCMXCIV
Label: Dark Descent Records
Year: 2010
Style: Death Metal
Review:
Swedish Death Mongers uncanny aren’t some new band, they are veterans of the underground and have been jamming since 1990. Unfortunately not as well known as other Swedish Death Metal bands, but they are no less talented than the rest. Uncanny unleash a compilation record containing songs from the early years of demos and a 1994 full length release entitled "Splenium for Nyktophobia”. Old School Death Metal is what we have right here, and it is damn good. I wonder why, after over 25 years of being into the underground of metal, I haven’t heard of Uncanny before? Maybe I did and don’t remember, or maybe I am just a fucking idiot that didn’t notice a good thing when I had it! Who knows and who cares. So if old school Swedish Death Metal is your thing, and I’m sure it is, then check out this new release with tracks that date back to 1989-1990 during their formation. Songs like "Timeless”, "Tales from the Tomb”, and "Brain Access” will get the blood boiling so-to-speak.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 8/10
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Band: UNLIGHT
Country: Germany
Title: Sulphurblooded
Label: Massacre Records
Year: 2010
Style: Black Metal
Review:
From Germany comes a Black Metal band by the moniker of Unlight. I like this release because it is simply Black Metal without the opera, symphonies, electric stuff, and female vocals. Nothing fancy at all here, just plain Metal. Primitive and raw comes to mind, I also hear a bit of Thrash Metal influence throughout "Sulphurblooded”. As always the vocals are evil pitched and well mixed into the music. Unlight give the fans a great taste of Black/Thrash Metal and the thrash influence is apparent within all 10 tracks. 46 minutes in length gives the fans plenty of evil and metal to go around. This release can make somebody pummel their brains in with a hammer! I really like the way Thrash is incorporated into the music, it really gives a fresh perspective on what a band can do if they mix it all up. Anyway, enough bullshit…Supporting Unlight is a good idea for the underground, it won’t disappoint. Checking out tracks like "Sulphurblooded” and "Pale Rider - Pale Horse” will give fans a great feel of the Thrash Metal/Black Metal thing I mentioned earlier.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 8/10
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Band: VALDUR
Country: USA
Title: Raven God Amongst Us
Label: Bloody Mountain Records
Year: 2010
Style: Black Metal
Review:
Another US Black Metal band taking their style from the food old days of Norway’s purge in Black Metal. I wonder what Varg Vikernes thinks of the Black Metal bands from the USA these days? Oh well, let us hear the evil from Valdur. As the Metal Archives say about these guys, there is nothing in good, but something in Paganism and Satanism. Where as I have to agree with something…The carnal desires of man is much easier to deal with than with this goodness crap of the Christians! Valdur is right up the alley of any true Black Metal fan from the bottom of the darkened Devil’s Lair. "Raven God Amongst Us” deals out some supremely catchy riffs, and in some sort of melodic way as well. The pitched screams of the vocals add to the misery of the music that comes out. This is great for anybody who wants to kill themselves in a metal way. Valdur are not a raw, cold, or primitive Black Metal band. They are melodically evil and that is just as good. Tracks like "Berserker” and "Great Abyss Unfold” will certainly gain the attention from the Black Metal underground that they so deserve.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 8/10
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Band: VENEFICUM
Country: USA
Title: In Tranquil Absurd
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2011
Style: Melodic Black Metal
Review:
"The Poisoner, the one who brings death.” Interesting as the music spit forth from Veneficum is definite poison in a Black Metal way! Another cool thing about this band is that they are from a town only an hour away from where I live which will make it easy for me to get live reviews! Anyway, Black Metal all the way right here. Not too raw and primitive as with early style Black Metal Bands, here we have some other elements of music like melodic solos and electronic parts here and there. Other than that it is pretty straightforward. Melodic Black Metal is pretty cool when all the other influence from opera and classical genres are kept out of the way. Veneficum puts in just enough melody to keep things interesting, but not too much as to keep things dark and evil. I like these guys and I hope I hear more from them. "Endurance of Aeons” shows the melody that the band has, "Despair Mechanism” dives more into the early style Black Metal, but still keeps things new school if you know what I mean. Veneficum give us 11 tracks totaling 50 minutes, plenty of time to get used to the elements in this band. Good Stuff, for sure. Illinois Black Metal bands like Terror Throne and Veneficum deserve to be brought up from the depths of sickness every once in awhile right?
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 8/10
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Band: VEX
Country: USA
Title: Thanatopsis
Label: Horror Pain Gore Death Productions
Year: 2010
Style: Death Metal
Review:
Texas is the home to many extreme forms of metal, one of many is Vex from San Marcos, Texas. Known as a Death/Thrash Metal outfit, Vex has been churning out the metal since 1998. They seem to be a melodic, or progressive type metal band to me. Vex do make things heavy during certain tracks though. One of their songs is clocked in at 8 minutes in length! While Vex show glimmers of talent I feel they have a ways to go as far as the music goes. The vocalist didn’t seem to fit the music during certain parts of the songs. Maybe practice makes perfect in this case, this is not a bad effort on Vex’s part, but hopefully the next opus will fine tune the band. Some cool tracks to hear are "Apocalyptic Dreams” and "Eyes of Wrath”. These songs show what the band can do, but the vocalist seems to be the weak link here. Other than that this is a pretty good effort.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 6/10
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Band: VINTERSLAV
Country: South Africa
Title: Obliteration
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2011
Style: Black Metal
Review:
Angry and ruthless best describes the feeling I get when listening to Vinterslav. 42 minutes of totally pissed off vocals and Black Metal! All the way through "Obliteration” there is no rest from the bleak thoughts of Vinterslav. Yet again, we have another Black Metal gem here which is simply Black Metal with nothing fancy to add. Cold, Black, and Brutal is what describes Vinterslav’s direction. I loved it! There are 9 tracks, plenty of evil for the fans. As mentioned earlier, every track is angry. Songs like "obliteration of Humanity” and "Stench of Humanity Burning” pretty much gives the fans a good idea of what they will be dealing with! Awesome raw Black Metal from the unknown lands of South Africa, Vinterslav reminds me of the old days of church burnings and Norway! Extremely evil metal here!
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 8/10
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Band: VIRVEL AV MORKERHATET
Country: Ukraine
Title: Forsaken Hate Sickness
Label: Hellspell Productions
Year: 2010
Style: Black Metal
Review:
Black Metal in the rawest form right here! Howler is the man behind the paint, as well as guitarist Graakh. These two people make some really blackened metal, primitive and raw to the true style of old school Black Metal. Ala Dark Throne from "A Blaze in the Northern Sky” kind of thing. Black metal like this is the truest form of Black Metal. No fancy riffing, no operatic vocal styles, no female singers, no symphonies and fucking orchestras, just plain dark and cold Black Metal. "Forsaken Hate Business” leaves nothing to the imagination, from start to finish it is pure hatred and disgust all the way around! What more could you ask for besides another album?! There is an intro and an outro, that’s it people…The rest is Metal! A fine Beherit/Dark Throne added with more evil as far as influence seems to go. Tracks like "When God Is Dead”, and "Black North” the thought of hating anything Christian or Godlike is definitely on this album! For fans of old school Black Metal this is your key right here!
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 8/10
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Band: VOICES OF DESTINY
Country: Germany
Title: From the Ashes
Label: Massacre Records
Year: 2011
Style: Symphonic Heavy Metal
Review:
Voices of Destiny are a true Power Metal Band if there ever is one (of course there is!). The female vocalist in power metal bands has swept up the genre, as common place as it is these days I still love the way it goes with the metal! 12 tracks of pure melody, power riffs, and operatic beauty from the woman behind the mic, especially on the song entitled, "Bitter Visions” man her voice just soars awesome. I have mentioned before that this genre is not my thing, but I recognize ability when I hear it and Voices of Destiny are it. Who knows, maybe one day they will be talked about 20 years later as an old school entity of Power Metal! From the Ashes is a wonderfully ambient album with melodic touches and catchy riffs throughout the record. Anybody who is a fan of Power metal will certainly enjoy this release. "All Eyes on Me”, "Bitter Visions, and "Twisting the Knife” really show what this band can do, as well as the rest of the opus.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 9/10
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Band: VOLTURYON
Country: Sweden
Title: Coordinated Mutilation
Label: United Guttural Records
Year: 2011
Style:
Review:
2006 brought yet another brutal band on the Earth called Volturyon. These guys are truly brutal and technical about it as well. Sweden has a history that is pretty self-explanatory when it comes to brutality, sickness, and Black metal evil! Volturyon is no exception in this matter. 10 sickeningly ruthless tracks totaling 34 minutes for the listener. I loved it and feel that any lover of brutality will certainly enjoy Volturyon’s release Coordinated Mutilation. There is no need to get into the aspects of the opus, it is simple…Brutal, technical, buzz saw guitars, and a truly sick vocalist added with the old school feeling of when metal was first born in Sweden! All ten tracks jam, all ten tracks are sick and brutal. Enough Said!
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 10/10
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Band: WARBRINGER
Country: USA
Title: Worlds Torn Asunder
Label: Century Media Records
Year: 2011
Style: Thrash Metal
Review:
This kick ass !!! American Warbringer on the newest album connect old shool thrash, which sounds as typical, traditional German thrash with the best parts of American thrash. Assassin, old Slayer, Hirax, Kreator, Sodom in one. Typical thrash lyrics as „Living Weapon” or „Enemies of the State” is a quintesence of thrash in this album. Thrash is back, thrash is great, thrash is king. Nihil novi – and this is the pig power of „Worlds Torn Asunder”. Great, powerfully monolith. Traditional thrashers will be satysficed, I love this album too!
Reviewed by Vilcin
Rating: 8,0/10
Band: WARNUNGSTRAUM
Country: Italy
Title: Inter Peritura
Label: Nykta Records
Year: 2011
Style: Ambient Black Metal
Review:
Italy sure has its share of Black Metal and Death Metal bands, not to mention many other forms of extreme bands from every genre known to man! Anyway, Warnungstraum is one of the evil Black Metal bands from Italy. Primitive is a definite here with this release, raw and evil as well. This isn’t your typical electronic, keyboard using band. These guys use melodic sadness mixed with most early sounding influence of Black Metal. Early 90’s influence is all over Inter Peritura and it is a refreshing reminder of what Black Metal USED to sound like before the ugly head of "mainstream” took over some of the genre’s best Black metal bands. Sad, evil, dark, and Ambient is what the fans will get hearing this release and that is awesome. Check out some tracks like instrumentals "Ingresso” and "Congedo” very cool stuff. The rest are all up to the listener. Black metal at its most raw and melodically evil as far as I’m concerned.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 8/10
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Band: WAR OF CONQUEST
Country: Austria
Title: Erobringskrig Apollinarius 9889
Label: Magnificence Records
Year: 2010
Style: Melodic Black Death
Review:
Today I get across so many surprises that make me love what I do. The first in this case is rather a curiosity then a surprise meaning Magnificence Records from Austria sent me a promo kit containing 2 of their releases on tape. I have to mention that the releases are regular CDs, but they were limited editions and the label ran out of material so they decided to tape them and send them on cassette. Weird, isn't it? Than the boss of this label is none other than Hannes Wuggenig, the guitarist/vocalist of Visceral Evisceration, the '90's Austian Doom Death Metal legend (man their Incessant Desire for Palatable Flesh is still amongs my all time faves!), and he mentioned in his letter that V.E. is planning a reunion and a new album in 2012, what an awesome surprise! Can't wait!!!
Now regarding this release unfortunately I have no info on this band, but I guess this is a re-release of one (the only?) of War Of Conquest's albums. The band plays a melodic type of Metal with elements from both Black and Death Metal, based on guitar melodies and fast, aggressive rhythm section, but not excluding the calm, epic parts. Harsh Black metal-ish vocals, nice grooves on drums (although they are not live, they are drum-machines and get too synthetic at times), melodic guitar leads a la Swedish Melodic Death Metal scene and some epic, Pagan-like atmospheres here and there, very interesting music, very talented musicians, an album/band that would deserve more attention and eventually a reprint of this edition.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8/10
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Band: WINTERAGE
Country: Italy
Title: Winterage
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2011
Style: Symphonic Power Metal
Review:
This is strange, a band that has no vocalist and relies on guests for this position, it's a rare situation at least in my books. Winterage was born in 2008 and this is their debut EP, a 6 tracks effort with 4 of them being instrumental compositions. Although the line-up seems to be quite young their music is mature enough not to leave spaces for boring parts. Clearly based on the violin, Winterage's music brings nice surprises on all areas and so the music is technical, symphonic, majestic with powerful Folk touches. The only problem I see in this recording is the mastering that's a bit too raw, uncovering the small studio recording mistakes on the instruments' performances. All in all this is a good half an hour for any symphonic metal or power metal followers out there, and as a conclusion I can add I personally prefer the instrumental tracks over the ones with vocals, they are more joyful.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7.5/10
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Band: ZWARTPLAAG
Country: Holland
Title: Haatstorm
Label: Heidens Hart Records
Year: 2010
Style: Black Metal
Review:
The Netherlands have created a hell of an evil form in Zwartplaag. Now if Black metal were my number 1 choice in metal then this album would be the one I would play first! No offense to the other many Black Metal bands in the world. Old School is something I mention in 90% of my reviews because that is where the fans are at these days. Zwartplaag doesn’t do all that fancy stuff like adding keyboards, symphonics, and operatic vocals from females, or males for that fact. Raw, primitive, dark, and evil is what Zwartplaag displays with "Haatstorm”. There are ten tracks totaling 59 minutes in length which is plenty of time for darkness like "Haatstorm”. Specific songs that caught my attention were "Forgotten tower of the Moon” and "Imperial Death March”. Pure cold and raw Black Metal here for the ruthless fanatics of evil metal like Zwartplaag!
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 9/10
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