Band: ANGUISH

Country: Sweeden 

Title: Through The Archdemons Head

Label: Dark Descent Records

Year: 2012

Style: Doom Metal

Review: 

Anguish's debut release "Through The Archdemons Head" is a classic style Doom metal album that will apeal mostly to fans of glory period Candlemass , Solitude Aeturnus and the like. Anguish pay tribute to the classic Doom style with a very solid album that clocks in just under an hour. The band sludge on around the same tempo for most of the album crushing the listener with their slow sludgy riffs and melancholic guitar harmonies. The album dosen't really showcase much varation or to many stand out moments but is a very solid and quiet enjoyable Doom album. The production is good with a thick heavy guitar tone and a good mix. The only down side is that the vocals do not match up to the music and only really amount to a meh, there not too bad but certienly not the most special vocals I have ever heard. That been said it dosen't hinder the enjoyment too much. Big fans of Doom will love this particuarlly if you like classic riff based Doom bands, If you are only a casuall listener of Doom It's not going to blow you away. "Through The Archdemons Head" is a pretty solid debut from Anguish and I could see them doing much bettern next time round. Recomended to fans of Doom Metal. 

Reviewed by Daniel Alderson

Rating: 7/10

 

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Band: ATANAB

Country: Colombia

Title: Black Magic

Label: Mighty Hordes Productions

Year: 2010

Style: Black Death Metal

Review:

Atanab seems to be a veteran band of the Colombian underground since they were formed back in 1993 and released 2 albums prior to this one. This "Black Magic" was released at first in 2006 but for some reason they decided to re-release it 4 years after, in 2010. I guess the differences between the 2 editions are the additions on this one, a multimedia part that will please their supporters. The music is quite generic type of Black Death Metal with nothing to stand out except for the vocals type which I personally don't like one bit, at least the voice on the intro is absolutely ridiculos, except of getting you in the mood for some mystic atmospheres it makes you laugh... The instrumental part is ok: fast, well executed and not monotonous at all, but I cannot pass over the squeaky vocals...

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 6/10

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Band: BAHRRECHT

Country: France

Title: Nuit de Neige

Label: Ketzer Records

Year: 2011

Style: Black Metal

Review:

Bahrrecht is new to me, but not to the Metal Underground. A French band that began in 2001 and has since created a couple of demos and now a full-length release. Now these guys are a simple band to figure out in that they play their style of extremely raw Black Metal without all the added symphonies, electronics, and operatic vocals and whatever else a lot of these newer metal bands do today. Bahrrecht keep things easy and primitive, like the old school days of black Metal when Beherit and Dark Throne were running rampant through the early underground.  Fans of very raw and cold Black Metal will certainly love Bahrrecht's "Nuit De Neige" because everything is total darkness with nothing but a cold feeling throughout the whole release. There are a total of ten tracks giving about 40 minutes in length of Black Metal for all the underground to enjoy. I'm not going to get into how they are old school and all of that stuff because the record is pretty self explanatory when you listen to it. Bahrrecht keeps it simple and completely primitive so fans will not be disappointed. If you're a fan of the old school Black Metal way of life then check out Bahrrecht and hopefully you will agree that things are kept dark, cold, raw, and miserable!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 7/10

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Band: BASANOS

Country: Austria

Title: Cracking the Sledge

Label: Noisehead Records

Year: 2011

Style: Groove Thrash Metal

Review:

Basanos hails from Austria and play a hardcore/thrash style of groove metal!  All the old school influences are in the music from the old days, along with the progressive movement of modern playing added in for good measure.  Angered vocals mixed with a raw, but good production makes this a good listen.  "Cracking the Sledge" is a good release for fans of Hardcore/Thrash Metal.  If you are a fan of Hatebreed, Hatesphere, or even Pantera then checking out "Cracking the Sledge" is a good idea for you.  Basanos has a killer way of releasing the anger and passion that comes through metal and music.  "Cracking the Sledge" is one of those releases that can be self-explanatory in the lyrical sense.  The music matches the words spoken through the emotion of the songs.  What else can I say, Basanos has made a pretty kick ass record that pretty describes how they feel about the world and almost everybody in it!  "Cracking the Sledge" does just that giving a crushing pounding to whomever listens to it.  This has a total of eleven tracks with a playing time of 44 minutes of pure hatred metal.  Basanos is on their way to achieving something big in the metal genres of today, and hopefully they will continue to keep the anger that so very well makes this release something interesting to listen to!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

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Band: BLACKENED SYMPHONY

Country: Italy

Title: Eyes of Eternity

Label: Noisehead Records

Year: 2010

Style: Melodic Black Death Metal

Review:

Italy has spawned a band by the name of Blackened Symphony and the style seems to be a mix between Thrash Metal, Blackened Metal, and even some sort of Death or Metalcore to add to the mix.  All of this mixed together brings about "Eyes of Eternity".  Unfortunately, the band didn't really pull it off on their debut full-length.  Don't get me wrong, they have obvious talent, but it is hard to tell what is coming out of "Eyes of Eternity".  Some of the tracks have hardcore and Black metal in the same lines and sometimes the added Opera stuff makes this a bit ridiculous at times.  It seems as if Blackened Symphony are trying to mix as many genres as they can with each track played.  For instance on the track "Apocalypse of Human Creation" the tide turns from Opera to Black Metal to Hard core to Metal Core to whatever else all in one track!  It is pretty interesting, but at the same time confusing to me.  Maybe I'm just closed-minded to what they are trying to do, but maybe not.  Anyway, the rest of the release also has it's Melodic Metal parts and Thrash Metal influences as well.  Whatever they are trying to do will hopefully come out better on their next release.  All of these elements and influences happening at the same time just takes the interest in hearing this release out of my mind!  Some parts of the music fit with the vocals but other parts do not fit.  Tracks like "Mother Fuckers", and "Flash of Death" have their promising features, but like I mentioned earlier, this is hard to figure out.  The primitive production doesn't go well with what the metal is supposed to be.  All in all this is a release that should be avoided by metal fans unless you enjoy being confused by the message of the music.  Blackened Symphony has the potential to be something in the metal scene, what they could be is up to them but it isn't going to happen with "Eyes of Eternity".  For fans of these guys their are ten tracks totaling almost 42 minutes in length.  So there it is people, a band full of influence and possible promise IF they make something better than this.

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 4/10

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Band: CENTIMANI

Country: USA

Title: Aegaeon

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Death Metal

Review:

It's a long time since I've heard a Death Metal band having keyboards as permanent instrument, and such an important element it is in Centimani's music... I like these bands who are not afraid of using keyboards for the sake of not loosing brutality because some of them are really succeeding in this attempt. Centimani presents us here their debut album scheduled to be released at the end of June, an 8 tracks effort totaling 40 minutes of fast, aggressive, but also melodic and dark Death Metal. Recorded and engineered in Steve Goldberg's (Cephalic Carnage) studio, "Aegeon" comes with a good enough sound, raw and organic. Most of the time the tempo is fast, but there are also these keyboard-made atmospheric breaks that are perfectly combined so that the whole album breathes, give you the time to rest for a next aggressive attack. Actually there are some parts that are more Black Metal influences so labelling their style simply Death Metal won;t be accurate at all, there's much more in Centimani and for a debut album I think they did an excellent job, each track keeps your attention tight and prepares or better said increases your curiosity for what's to come. I have deeply enjoyed this audition.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9/10

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Band: CHAINED

Country: Sweden

Title: Chained

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Groove Thrash Metal

Review:

Chained is groovy/thrash metal band from Sweden that formed back in 2006.  Since that time a demo and what is now their second full-length release has been churned out by the band.  When I first heard this release I was almost reminded of the band "Helmet" from the early 90's except a bit harder.  Then I thought "That's fucking wrong" these guys are a bit more groove oriented than the aforementioned band.  From what I understand we have a Christian Metal band on our hands so the early days of Deliverance, believer, and Vengeance Rising come to mind with what we have here.  Chained delivers a great slab of metal no matter what concept comes with them!  This release is an almost darkened side of the Christian Metal genre and the production is great.  There are thirteen tracks of metal with a mix of groovy riffs and thrash laden metal throughout the whole release, and I am recommending all metalheads to check this out.  The potential is awesome and Chained takes their talents to the extreme leaving me wanting to hear more of what they can come up with in the future.  I personally don't have anything to say about them being a Christian Metal except that they can jam some damn good metal!  "Chained" which is also the name of the release, clocks in at one hour and three minutes in length, plenty of time for metal to be heard.  So for all you Christian Metal fanatics out there in the metal underground check out Chained and you won't be disappointed.  13 tracks of pure God Laden Metal for the world.  Never mind their religious beliefs because they can jam metal better than a lot of other bands out in the realm of this genre!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

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Band: CHAOS INCEPTION

Country: USA

Title: The Abrogation

Label: Lavadome Records

Year: 2012

Style: Death Metal

Review:

Chaos Inception is one brutal fucking band people!  They were formed in 2008 out in the land of Huntsville, Alabama in the United States and I have to say that the sickness spawned from their most recent release "The Abrogation" is just awesome!  Chaos Inception leave nothing to chance with guttural brutality in the vocal territory and killer riffs stemming from progressive to technical to almost in the space age of the metal genres...  All of this adds to a blasting piece of metal brutality that starts and ends with a plethora of pure sickness.  June 5th, 2012 is the day that this release hit the Metal Underground and every gut wrenching metal fan with a taste for serial sickness will certainly get into tracks, especially the title track which is the first song on this release, along with "Lunatic Necromancy" and "Scald Command" which ends the release on the brutal which it originally began on!  I love the Death Metal genre and I don't give a fuck what people say about today's metal bands, their are still plenty of bands making killer brutality and Chaos Inception happens to be one of those bands.  From beginning to end these guys just rip the shit out of their instruments.  A touch of old school metal influence mixed with a modern production and style of playing, Chaos Inception kicks major ass with "The Abrogation" and hopefully the future will bring out some more total sledgehammer sickness like these guys!  There are a total of nine tracks full of fury and brutality with a playing time of barely over a half hour which is great for me, and the fans!  Chaos Inception is well worth the sledgehammer that slams the skull when you listen to this release! 

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 9/10

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Band: CHORONZON

Country: USA

Title: Psychosis Ex Machina (Decay and Bloodsheed Edition)

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2012

Style: Blackened Industrial Metal

Review:

Choronzon is a Blackened Industrial Metal band that hails from one of the Death Metal capitals of the U.S. - Florida.  Choronzon is definitely NOT a Death Metal band, but like I said earlier, a definite Industrial type band.  Very hard to describe in words.  I have never heard these guys before today, but I must say that this type of style has never attracted my attention in the past.  Choronzon delivers some odd metal with added background of many sounds and instruments all mixed into this release.  It sometimes sounded like a bunch of noise with exception of the vocals which also mixed into the sounds of the background.  Maybe it is just me but I really can't understand the way this all comes out, but that is just myself.  I am sure there are plenty of fans out in metal land wanting to hear this release.  Anyway, This recording has fourteen tracks in total, all with the strange technical industrial sound of noise and metal all mixed into one.  This is one of those albums that a person has to acquire a certain taste for and I am not one of those fans unfortunately.  I am not putting down Choronzon at all, or their potential talents, but I just don't understand exactly what I am supposed to like about all of this metal/noise.  The occult is the main topic of the lyrics and Choronzon is not hiding that fact behind anything!  So, for those of you metalheads that like the Industrial side of metal with Blackened influence from the Black Metal genre mixed with a lot of other metal noise then Choronzon is for you, for you other metal fans I think you should stick to the mainstream of the metal underground!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 5/10

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Band: DARK OPUS

Country: France

Title: Ignominious Fundamentals

Label: Battlesk'rs Productions / Necrocosm

Year: 2012

Style: Black Metal

Review:

For the underground Black Metal followers the names Bael and Haemoth may sound a bell. Dark Opus is a two men band composed of Bael and Haemoth members and founded in 2000. What's strange about this band, apart for the music (but we'll get to that in a moment), is the fact they have released their previous work in 2004, so there are 8 years of silence in the meantime. Well, this new EP is a three tracks release lasting for less than 13 minutes and dedicated only to underground, raw Black Metal followers, I'm sure. The sound is ok, but the whole mixing and mastering gives the impression of chaos, of rehearsal recordings. Pretty hard to digest, this EP has as highlights the disgusted, crude vocals and the organic sound of the instruments building a dark, satanic atmosphere that would please Black Metal demos collectors for sure. Battlesk'rs Productions released this in a nice digipack format limited to 470 copies.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7/10

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Band: DEAD NEON

Country: USA

Title: Dead Neon

Label: Ecophagy Records

Year: 2010

Style: Nuclear Doom Metal

Review:

Described by the band as "Nuclear Doom" which is a great style by the way, Dead Neon is definitely a suicidal mix of Doom Metal and even pieces of Black Metal influence, I think!  Anyway, from Las Vegas comes another unique brand of metal by way of Dead Neon and their offering "Dead Neon". I have no idea when these guys came about, but i do know that "Dead Neon" seems to be their only release as of now and it is pretty interesting metal. Tracks like "Downwinder" and "Black Ash", among others, show the degree of doom and gloom that Dead Neon possess. The Black Metal influence sure sounds great in the vocal delivery, but the influence is also throughout the ep as well. "Dead Neon" is a mixture of modern, but old school influenced industrial metal and complete depressive madness. "Wastelansque" delivers more brutal doom and the feeling of primitive production does help keep this interesting throughout the tracks. Dead Neon is definitely an acquired taste for the hardest fans of Doom Metal and even some industrial types of metal styles mixed into one release. I think this is good stuff and Dead Neon is nothing short of unique, and possibly even original which is hard to find these days of modern metal underground bands. "Dead Neon" delivers a total of ten tracks with a playing time of 27 minutes, long for an ep, but well worth the time to hear it! 

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 7/10

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Band: DEATHRONATION

Country: Germany

Title: Exorchrism

Label: Dead Master's Beat

Year: 2011

Style: Death Metal

Review:

Old-school Death Metal analog recorded - this is mentioned on both this CD and the band's website. This is the band's second demo and although it's labelled as a demo, it was released by a label, Dead Master's Beat, in professional CD format. Deathronation plays old-school Death Metal, the American type of Death from the end of the '80's - beginning of the '90's. Mostly fast paced, "Exorchrism" has also some mid-tempo parts that are really great. The whole CD is disputed between Thrashy, energetic atmospheres, and rotten, cryptic Death Metal stench. I'd say this demo is Deathronation's application for the lead wave of old-school Death Metal bands that are out there nowadays. If you're into ancient American Death Metal (Florida style) you should definitely get this demo!

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8.5/10

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Band: DEMON LUNG

Country: USA

Title: Pareidolia

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2012

Style: Doom Metal

Review:

Demon Lung is one killer Doom Metal band, at least I feel they are a Doom Metal band with other added influences from the early days.  This is my first time hearing Demon Lung and I am impressed with all of what they can do.  The production is gritty and dark, but not at all unpolished and The vocalist, being a female, isn't the usual operatic female.  She has a down-tuned style to her vocals and it fits very well with the darkness of the release.  All of this is killer, especially the way the band blend all of the emotion and riffs together to make such a potentially awesome Doom sound quality.  Demon Lung is well worth the effort to check out and the four tracks on this one makes a metalhead yearning for much more of their talent.  With only four tracks the playing time is about 22 minutes in length which is plenty of metal for a 4 track release.  Anyway, the lyrical content deals mainly with the Occult and other explicit Horror paths.  All of this matches up to one hell of a debut release entitled "Pareidolia" from Demon Lung, and I really hope that something else is in the works from these guys like a full-length album!  So check them out when you get the chance because Demon Lung is definitely one of a kind, atleast I think so.

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 9/10

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Band: DEMONTUARY

Country: USA

Title: Of the Fallen Years

Label: Heaven and Hell Records

Year: 2010

Style: Black Metal

Review:

Demontuary are a Black Metal band from the good old USA and they surely play a darkened style of Black Metal with some added uniqueness on top of that.  It is all about War with Demontuary, whether it be down on Earth or up in the skies where the eternal battle between good and evil will always be afloat.  The metal comes out as almost polished, but still very cold in feeling and also very war-like to add some spice.  In the background we hear the keyboards, but nothing that makes it annoying, on the contrary Demontuary mix it up very well.  Tracks like "From the Depths" show what type of potential and talent these guys have and every track has its own identity in evil.  "Of the Fallen Years" is something great and has all the elements of today's modern style mixed in with the obvious influence from Black Metal in the early 90's from Norway or Finland.  Symphonic Black Metal has never been on my list of Pros for the metal scene but it seems that an exception has to be made with Demontuary.  Demontuary have touches of Death Metal influence throughout "Of the Fallen Years" that I hear and this also adds to the reasons why I like this release.  All in all Demontuary has the potential to make it to the top of the Black Metal genre with recordings like this.  Tracks like "From the Depths", "Desolation and War", and "Dawn of the Blackest Sun" take Demontuary to a height they deserve to be at.  Fans of the old school Black Metal scene from Europe will definitely get into "Of the Fallen Years" and fucking like it!  Thirteen total tracks and all of them as good as the last for the fans of Black Metal insanity!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 9/10

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Band: DESIDERIA

Country: France

Title: End the Curse

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Symphonic Gothic Black Death

Review:

France has given us a Symphonic band "Desideria", and that is not all.  Desideria adds the elements of Symphonic metal, but also influence from Black Metal and even the Power Metal genre of the old days.  There are seven members in the band with two of them being brothers.  A female vocalist with a voice that soars throughout the background and aside from the angered vocals Pascal.  "End the Curse" is not a boring listen, but a very good example of where potential and talent in the underground can take a band.  Desideria began their foray in the underground in 2004 and have since honed their craft to finally release their debut full-length 7 years later.  Fortunately for the band the only fuck up was on the digipak, the booklet has the title spelled wrong according to Metal Archives..."End the Cruse".  Other than that the atmosphere, the metal, the vocals, the band itself does a great job bringing the symphonic, and the blackened feelings all together.  An emotional feeling goes through me every time I hear her voice.  Ten tracks totaling 52 minutes of metal, Desideria will go far in their genre choice and hopefully fans will see where the talent lies ahead.  What really grabbed my attention was the fact that this was a self-released full-length by the band and it sounds damn good for that situation, to me anyway!  Tracks such as "Knight of Hope" and the instrumental entitled "The Lion's Den" will catch any fan's attention by far.  So Desideria fans should enjoy what they hear.

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

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Band: ENDNAME

Country: Russia

Title: Anthropomachy

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Progressive Sludge Doom Metal

Review:

Very interesting release this second album of Endname, a new name to my ears. They play some sort of instrumental Sludge Doom Metal based on technical structures, so complex that it becomes Progressive. The rhythms are ranging from slow to mid-tempo, metallic ones so I get the feeling their music will also be embraced by fans of other types of Metal. Some tracks are based on Doomy, repetitive riffs, while other have a more diverse approach, the low tunned guitars and bass are creating an oppressive atmosphere, but the guitar leads are bringing a bit of light making their music a bit more accessible. What can I say, I have very much enjoyed this band and I think they have a bright future if they'll keep releasing such interesting music.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9/10

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Band: EQUIMANTHORN

Country: USA

Title: A Fifth Conjuration

Label: Black Montanas

Year: 2011

Style: Ritual Dark Ambient

Review:

Well...Five demos and now five full-length releases later Equimanthorn is continuing their descent into the abyss of underground ambient metal.  "A Fifth Conjuration" delivers what the Occult and other tales of Ancient darkness that the metal fans of this style love to hear and listen to.  Equimanthorn is made of different members from different bands including the legendary Absu.  This release unleashes a darkness and coldness that a lot of bands wished they could even come close to.  Bands like Crimson Moon and Endura have a slight similarity to what Equimanthorn is about just to give a small idea of where these guys are heading with "A Fifth Conjuration".  Tracks like "When Skies Above Were Not Yet Named" and "The Great Deluge" which is the song that starts the whole path into instrumental darkness, Equimanthorn does a good job holding onto their brand of depressive Ambiance in the metal underground.   This is an acquired taste for metal fans, but there are plenty of metalheads out in the world that probably understand this side of the metal fence!  Equimanthorn is a definite for fans of the most depressive instrumental bands around, although there are a couple of songs that do include some vocals.  Check it out but only if you have what we call an "open mind" to metal styles...

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 6/10

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Band: ESCARNIUM

Country: Brazil

Title: Excruciating Existence

Label: Hellthrasher Productions

Year: 2012

Style: Death Metal

Review:

By the time I'm reviewing this CD Escarnium have completed their first (?) European tour which also had a date in Romania but there was no promotion whatsoever so I don't know if the gig really took place or if it was cancelled. Too bad they didn't chose a bigger city, I would have loved to see them live. 

Here I have Escarnium's debut album, a 9 tracks release totaling almost 40 minutes of low tuned, fat old-school Death Metal a la Incantation or Immolation, that type of morbid Death Metal that I was enjoying a lot in the '90's (well, I still do). Mostly fast paced, "Excruciating Existence" also has its fair parts of mid-tempo rhythms, and the whole feels like a bulldozer ready to crush your body. The idea of bringing the vocals in front of the insruments is a good one as Victor's vocals are really good, although monotone. If you're looking for innovation you won't find it here, but if you're into '90's US Death Metal you will enjoy this a lot.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8/10

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Band: EVADNE

Country: Spain

Title: The Shortest Way

Label: Solitude Productions

Year: 2012

Style: Doom Death Metal

Review:

Russian label Solitude Productions is one of the most, if not the most active Doom Metal labels around nowadays, they released good stuff but also some mediocre CDs along the way, but with these Spanish Doom Death Metallers Evadne they have really managed to bring to our attention an excellent effort. Evadne's second album to date, "The Shortest Way" will appeal to both old-school (the My Dying Bride type of grave atmospheres) Doom Death Metallers but also to the new wave of followers (Swallow The Sun type of growls and experimentation on guitars). Adding some female vocals here and there was a great choice, and there's also a clean vocals passage sung by Dan Swano himself (he also mixed and mastered the product). A perfect balance between growls and clean vocals, atmospheric guitar leads, subtle but effective keyboards, all in all this band reminds me of Mourning Beloveth, with the difference coming in shape of melody, Evadne uses much more melody creating some heavy, emotional atmospheres. Thumbs up for this band, recommended!

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9/10

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Band: EXHUMED DAY

Country: Spain

Title: The Beauty of Putrefaction

Label: Crystal Eyes

Year: 2012

Style: Melodic Black Death Metal

Review:

Third album from Spain's Exhumed Day is a varied bag of melodic black and death metal. With the typical intro and outro track excluded it is 11 track affair clocking in at just under an hour. As said "The Beauty of Putrefaction" is a varied album not just musically but also quality wise. Through the album Exhumed Day showcase their own style and most of it is pretty solid and enjoyable within the style. However the band verge into areas that are not so solid like the breakdown at the end of Postmortem (That wasn't really needed now was it guys?) That been said the band do verge on moments of brilliance like the thunderous trem picking and melodic guitar work on the opening track. The title track is also a standout with some of the albums best moments and the band were right in using that particular track as the album title track. The clean breaks on the album are most excellent and some of the bands best work is shown through them. Comparisons are hard to pin down with Exhumed Day as I feel the band are showcasing their own style with this album which is only a good thing. But In a strange way I was reminded of Chtonic in places. The production isn't the best with a pretty weak guitar tone, mostly when one guitar is isolated it really shows when there is just one guitar playing riffs when the band drop out. However the overall mix is decent and the kit sound is pretty good. Overall I feel the album verges between a strong 6 and a weak 7 hence the 6.5 score. I feel if the band go for a more consistent and shorter effort next time round they can do better and the band definitely appeal to fans of this style. Recommended to curious fans of melodic black metal.

Reviewed by Dan Alderson

Rating: 6.5/10

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Band: HAK-ED DAMM / BLACKHORNED

Country: Canada / Denmark

Title: Execrated

Label: War Productions

Year: 2012

Style: Black Metal / Thrash Black Metal

Review:

Hak-ed Damm was formed in 2007 in Canada and plays raw Black Metal.  Blackhorned is from Denmark  and began playing in 2001.  Hak-ed Damm delivers a style of primitive Black Metal without all the modern symphonic and electronic technology that some Black Metal bands have become accustomed to using in their releases.  These guys have a simple delivery of torture, hate, and anything anti-human as far as it seems.  The sound is primitive and dark, and it stays that way with every track Hak-ed Damm delivers.  Nothing extraordinary here, just another Black Metal release that seems to have been done 1000 times before.  Don't get me wrong, Hak-ed Damm are good at what they do, they just do it the same way as others have done it before them.  Blackhorned is the next offering on this split and they play a style of Black Metal as well, but there seems to be a hint of Thrash Metal here and there in their music.  Unfortunately though I can't seem to get passed the fact that there is nothing here that stands out besides the cold, dark, and raw production and style both bands have achieved.  That is a good thing being that today's technology in music allows bands to add so many orchestras, keyboards, and other items to add to their mystique.  Old school is throughout this split and that is great, but this has all been done before, and before that!  Now Blackhorned does have an influence coming from different directions like Doom Metal and Thrash Metal, but I think that they would have been more noticeable in releasing an EP or something to that effect.  This is not a bad release at all, but there is also nothing here that will stand out to impress the Underground.  Fans of the old school style of Black Metal should get into this split and will probably like it.

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 

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Band: HINSIDES

Country: Norway

Title: Universe Aspire in Mysticism

Label: From Beyond Productions

Year: 2010

Style: Black Metal

Review:

Hinsides is a Black Metal band hailing from Norway, the original land of the Blackest Metal to grow upon the metal underground.  Hinsides delivers an almost 7 minute introduction to this release by adding all kinds of sounds and dark musical thoughts.  Once the introduction ends the old style Black Metal begins.  When I hear this I think of Dark Throne or Beherit from the old days.  This is very cold, very raw, and very primitive Black Metal.  I am not the biggest Black Metal fan, but when I do jam Black Metal I love the old school Blackened style like this.  Now besides the fact of being true to old school metal there is really nothing else to go with it except for the coldness of the release.  This is a great release for the pure hatred and anti-Christian fans of Black Metal and this will certainly keep other fans of extremely primitive Black metal happy.  There are a total of eight tracks running a bit over 48 minutes in length.  For the fans of old school Black Metal...You will like this, but for those of us who were around when the beginning of Black Metal gave birth...Well, maybe this release has already been done before if you know what I mean, but that doesn't take away from the fact that this is true old school Black Metal insanity.

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 6/10

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Band: HOLY MOSES

Country: Germany

Title: 30th Anniversary: In the Power of Now

Label: Steamhammer Records

Year: 2012

Style: Speed Thrash Metal

Review:

Holy Moses is a killer Thrash Metal/Speed metal band from Germany.  I didn't realize how long this band has been around, but from what I gather, I would say since around 1980!  Holy Shit, 1980 is 32 years ago already!  I was seven years old when Holy Moses formed and another thing about these guys is that back then they had a female vocalist which was rare in those days, and now for a Thrash Metal band.  Holy Moses has released a plethora of speed metal/thrash releases and this latest release brings upon the metal underground some damn good tracks to get into.  From the start of "Clash my Soul" through "Near Dark" until "Master of Disaster" Holy Moses kicks some major ass with speed riffs and powerful blasts along with angry vocals to make up some old school metal for the masses.  Now on "In the Power of Now" there are 20 tracks that were re-recorded and also added were two brand new tracks entitled "Borderland" and  "Entering the Now".  So for those fans of the old school metal days, even before the Bay Area thrash or Germany's thrash metal scene began, Holy Moses is your ticket and every track is worth the money to listen to at loud volume and 100mph on the open road!  There are a total of 22 tracks on this release totaling about 83 minutes of pure metal.  Fans of the old school era and new style metal genres will certainly enjoy hearing this killer release.

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 9/10

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Band: HYPOCRISY

Country: Sweden

Title: Beast of Hypocrisy

Label: Nuclear Blast

Year: 2012

Style: Melodic Death Metal

Review:

We all know that Hypocrisy has been a huge part of the Death Metal underground since the good old days of the very early 90's, actually 1990 to be exact.  Since that time Hypocrisy has unloaded 12 full-length releases, 5 ep's, 5 split releases, and some DVD and live releases, besides a couple of early demos and other recordings!  That is a lot of metal to deliver in the 22 years of the band's career.  Well, what we have this time is a Best Of compilation which most bands put out through their careers no matter what style of metal they play.  Hypocrisy has always made good metal and have always had favorable reviews with most zines and other media.  "Beast of Hypocrisy" is a pretty good best of compilation, this is certainly something that newer fans of the band should buy if they weren't into Hypocrisy in the early days of their career.  Tracks such as "Adjusting the Sun" and "Pleasure of Molestation" bring up the brutal and old school Hypocrisy sound with that guttural vocal style and super blasting of riffs and everything else that comes with the song!  Of course other tracks like "Hang Him High" and Fractured Millennium" show that Hypocrisy adds the elements of Black metal and progressive style influence into their wide range of brutality during their underground expeditions for all these years.  Either way for the fans of Hypocrisy this won't be anything that hasn't been heard before considering that the songs on this compilation begin from the 1992 release "Penetralia" and move along from there.  For the fans of Hypocrisy who started late in the band's career then checking out "Beast of Hypocrisy" is a good idea because all of the early and more recent tracks are packed into one good compilation.  Hypocrisy is a legend in the Metal Underground and this is just another chance for new fans to find that out.

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

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Band: HYPOMANIE

Country: Holland

Title: Calm Down, You Weren't Set on Fire

Label: Valse Sinistre Productions

Year: 2012

Style: Shoegaze Post Black Metal

Review:

Hypomanie's third album and second out on Valse Sinistre, "Calm Down, You Weren't Set on Fire" (strange name, isn't it?), is composed of 6 tracks totaling 45 minutes. S., the guy behind this moniker, started the project in 2008 with a Black Metal orientation and by now his project lost almost all Black Metal traces, it's an instrumental Shoegaze with few Post-Black Metal influences, and as you can imagine it's based on atmospheres, on dreamy, atmospheric soundscapes. The album feels like a journey through memories, fantasies and dreams, ranging from calm, relaxing atmospheres, to more energetic ones. I think this release is great, the only thing I don't really like are the drums, too distorted for this type of music, but the combination of repetitive, melodic guitar riffs and leads with synths is catchy and entertaining as hell. Honestly I wasn't that interested in this genre before, but now I'm thinking seriously on expanding my playlist...

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8/10

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