I Am Hunger - Odium

Ilium - Genetic Memory

Incest In Heaven - Misbegotten

Ion Vein - Ion Vein

K.A - Gestation...

Krigere Wolf - The Ancient Culture to Kill

Lapis Lazuli - A Justified Loss

Legions Of Crows - Stab Me

Livarkahil - Signs of Decay

Luctus Hydra / Beelzebuth / Tirano - The Beginning of Hate

Band: ANDROMEDA

Country: Sweden

Title: Manifest Tyranny

Label: Inner Wound Recordings

Year: 2011

Style: Progressive Metal

Review:

Ok, I admit it, I'm not a Progressive Metal scene follower but honestly I'm continously trying to enlarge my horizons by listening to as different music as it is out there and of course trying to understand it too. Andromeda should be a well known name for all of you following this scene most probably by their 2 CDs out on Century Media and other 2 on Massacre Records. They have now reached in the Inner Wounds Recordings' roster, a Swedish label who seems to capture more and more great names and also rising stars of the niche. This is Andromeda's 5th full-length released both in CD version and a limited wooden-box edition for the die-hard fans. This band's music is absolutely enchanting: melodic, metallic, catchy, expressive, intricate, but all in perfect dose. I'm not so captured by Melodic Prog Metal, but Andromeda manages to keep it manly and powerful and still within the borders of emotional music. Excellent musicians, excellent compositions, an album you should definitely check out if you're like me into this "sport" of discovering new territories outside of the Extreme Metal ones.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9.5/10

Contact:

Band: ANTIPOPE

Country: Finland

Title: House of Harlot

Label: Violent Journey Records

Year: 2011

Style: Progressive Black Metal

Review:

Antipope is new to me, that has been happening a lot lately!  Antipope plays a style of Doom Metal mixed with Black and a bit of even progressive or Gothic sounding metal...All rolled into one big metal pancake...From the start Antipope shows that they aren't prone to staying within any certain boundaries.  Elements of darkened emotions and symphonic structure make this release so cool to hear.  There are even times when the groove takes the music to a feeling of Death or old school doom.  Antipope have created a dark and passionate release added with the painful bellowing of the vocals which adds to the saddened, but evil feel of the music.  Tracks like "Communion" and "To a Passer-by in Black" show all the different influences this band has.  I liked and so will fans of extreme Doom with added trimmings of sub-genre metal.  A total of 11 tracks is plenty of material to get used to hearing Antipope in your background.

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

Contact:

Band: ANTROPOPHOBIA

Country: Russia

Title: Scream in Emptiness

Label: BadMoodMan Music

Year: 2011

Style: Atmospheric Black Doom Metal

Review:

Antropophobia is from Russia and formed in 2007.  From what I understand this band is a mix between Doom, Black Metal, and a bit of Thrash here and there.  Pretty good stuff though.  Everything in this release is Atmospheric and Ambient all the way.  Symphonic as well, but things never get boring, it is like being in a trance and falling into this doom and gloom hole with the background of evil playing on my stereo.  Antropophobia is going to make their way through the Black Metal underground as long as the music keeps interesting and dynamic like this.  Every track has its own identity with the style and feel of the music.  The vocals are drone which adds to the depression of the music.  "Scream in Emptiness" definitely adds to the genre of interesting metal!  An emotional punch in the head added with the depressing thoughts of never seeing the light of day, this band plays some good metal.  Fans of the atmospheric doom/Black Metal music will enjoy this release.  "Lucifer's Scream" and "When the Dark Angel Cried" really show what Antropophobia can do with their time and effort!  "Scream in Emptiness" is the release and it is worth the money to get.

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

Contact:

Band: ARS MORIENDI

Country: France

Title: Du Trefonds d'un Etre

Label: Archaic Sound

Year: 2011

Style: Atmospheric Black Metal

Review:

This band is not the usual brutal, sick, and twisted metal that I am used to reviewing, this is more like ambient, symphonic, and depressive happiness all at the same time if that makes any sense. Sometimes misery loving company isn't always as sad as it seems, sometimes worse! Anyway, what I'm getting at is that in this music things are so well put together and the emotion in the music is felt so tightly, I loved this. This is a release that can make a person feel whatever they are thinking with the Ambient passages in the background. Ars Moriendi have been making this happen since 2001 and it seems they are getting quite good at it. There are a total of 5 tracks at a bit over 50 minutes of playing time! Fuck, we are talking an average of ten minutes a track! So for fans of the most extreme in Symphonic and Ambiance mixed with their very atmospheric and darkened sense, this release will take things to the next level in a mental stage. Black Metal and Doom Metal can mix well together when played like this, add the other extremes and what you get is Ars Moriendi!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

Contact:

Band: ASTRAL WINTER

Country: Australia

Title: Winter Enthroned

Label: Immortal Frost Productions

Year: 2011

Style: Black Death Metal

Review:

Debut album of this Aussie band founded in 2008, "Winter Enthroned" is composed of 9 tracks totaling almost an hour of Black Metal, the majestic type of Black Metal, filled with good Epic Power like guitar leads and riffs all over. Unfortunately the bad sound ruins almost everything on this release and you constantly feel like you're listening to 2 different CDs simultaneously, an Epic Power release and an underground Majestic Black Metal one. It's a shame because these guys really show great potential and good skills, especially on guitars (fantastic passages all the time). Oh, wait, now I have browsed this CD's booklet and it seems this is a one man project, so how the hell he managed to compose such a good music and at the same time with such a dismembered sound? So much potential and so much work to still do...

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7/10

Contact:

Band: ASTROFAES

Country: Ukraine

Title: Dying Emotions Domain

Label: Negative Existence

Year: 2011

Style: Black Metal

Review:

Astrofaes hails from the Ukraine and I am not familiar with this band, yet. "Dying Emotions Domain" was originally released in 1998, but was also re-released in 2001 and 2008 respectively. In 2011 a re-mastered version was released as a digipack by Negative Existence. Astrofaes delivers a brand of primitive sounding Black metal with an almost technical edge added to the music. Astrofaes has been jamming evil metal since 1996 and things have obviously not changed. Remastered or not, "Dying Emotions Domain" delivers the goods as far as old school sounding darkness. From the start there is no letting up and things stay very cold, raw, and primitive. What else can I say, this album is something familiar to the fans of Astrofaes so getting the product and hearing it will do much better than reviewing it countless times, at least I feel that way. For the fans who are planning on getting Astrofaes should check out  tracks like "Fiery Mysticism" or "Necromantical Screams". So check them out if you want the old school feeling back in your brain!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

Contact:

Band: AUTOPSY

Country: USA

Title: All Tomorrow's Funerals

Label: Peaceville Records

Year: 2012

Style: Death Metal

Review:

Well what can I say that wouldn't be biased about Autopsy?  Since they formed in 1987 Autopsy has taken their style of music to an extreme level of bloody, vicious, doomy, evil, darkened, hardcore, thrashy, brutal, and just fucking sick, to a height of legendary status.  Every single ep Autopsy has ever made was remastered and put into this beautifully putrid compilation by the band.  Besides the remastered metal, Autopsy added some new tracks to the release as well, so the world gets the best of both worlds as far as I am concerned.  For newer fans the material from back in the day is great for them to start with, and for the hardcore fans of yesteryear there are the brand new tracks to listen to.  "Mauled to Death", "Mutant Village", "Deadhole" and "A Different Kind of Mindfuck" are just a few of the 22 tracks on this compilation.  Over 1:12 minutes of playing time and man this shit is awesome.  There is absolutely nothing more to be said about this release except that it is well worth every fucking penny I spent on it to keep it!  Fans will certainly enjoy this and may the world enjoy "All Tomorrow's Funerals".

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 10/10

Contact:

Band: AVENGER

Country: Czech Republic

Title: Bohemian Dark Metal

Label: Deathgasm Records 

Year: 2012

Style: Black Death Metal

Review:

Czech’s death-black metallers released two albums this year. One of them is CD called „Bohemian Dark Metal” and this is mean just „Old Czech’s Dark Metal”. 37 minutes of wild, deeply – energetic and/or slow-fast changes of atmosphere playing. This album is more „world black metal” than the newest Master’s Hammer album – just black/death without characteristic czech’s folk or slavic folk motifs. Nihil novi, but from technical point of view – very good material. 

Reviewed by Vilcin

Rating: 8/10

Band: AVENGER

Country: Czech Republic

Title: MCMXCII - MMXII

Label: Parát Magazine

Year: 2012

Style: Black Death Metal 

Review:

This is a compilation album released for Czech’s Parat Magazine, the second Avenger’s CD published in 2012. Album include the best of Avenger tracks taken from years 1992 – 2011. Good album for fans who doesn’t know Avenger very well and interesting for collectionners. Fans of traditional death black sound will be very perverse delighted ;)

Reviewed by Vilcin

Rating: 8/10

Band: BLASPHEMY RITES

Country: Poland

Title: Hideous Lord

Label: Pagan Records

Year: 2010

Style: Black Death Metal

Review:

Blasphemy Rites are one brutal and angry Blackened Thrash/Death Metal band; "Hideous Lord' brings about the most angry and hated feelings from the vocals and music all at once and it is great!  From start to finish Blasphemy Rites doesn't ever let up, blasting drums and screeching vocals mixed with a wild hatred of guitar and "Hideous Lord" has been born.  "Apocalyptic War" and "Dethroned Emperor" are just a taste of the raging piss coming out of Blasphemy Rites.  Fans who love sadism and hatred for the human race will love this release, along with the added alcohol fueled Thrash and Death that comes out of the metal and everybody will suck their own dick once this record has stopped playing!  So for fans of angry and hated feelings of music should get into these guys real fast!  Blasphemy Rites has an original approach with certain aspects of their music and hopefully this will be noticed by many besides myself!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

Contact:

Band: BLAZE OF PERDITION

Country: Poland

Title: The Hierophant

Label: Pagan Records

Year: 2011

Style: Black Metal

Review:

Blaze of Perdition aren't some "wet behind the ears" Black Metal Band trying to make a point, Blaze of Perdition are an accomplished Black Metal band that have unleashed a second full-length offering entitled "The Hierophant".  Something I find interesting about this band is the fact they have two vocalists going at the same time.  So for the second release Blaze of Perdition take things to the extreme as far as Black metal goes.  None of that Ambient or symphonic stuff, it is all raw and primitive metal through and through.  Speedy and Angry, elements of early style Norwegian Black metal is upon "The Hierophant".  This an angry piece of darkness that will take the listener into a void of cold metal.  With a total of 9 songs at 46 minutes, this is plenty of time to weld into this awesome Black metal extreme!  Fans of the old school style mixed with a newer sound and production will certainly get into Blaze of Perdition's second full-length release "The Hierophant".

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

Contact:

Band: BLOOD MORTIZED

Country: Sweden

Title: Bestial

Label: Nocturnal Blood Records

Year: 2011

Style: Death Metal

Review:

Blood Mortized is known as a capable Death Metal band and I can see why.  I checked out this latest offering from the band and I liked it.  Blood Mortized is nothing new, but what they do play is technically proficient metal added with the anger in vocals and heaviness with the brutality.  A simple death metal release that takes the band in a good direction.  Sweden has sure had their share of killer Death Metal bands over the years, bands that need no mention in this review, but Blood Mortized will soon make their way into the status of these other Swedish bands if they keep making good brutal metal like this.  The weird thing here is that this is limited to only 100 copies on tape as far as I know, but hell...That's okay.  In a nutshell we have some good Death Metal, nothing that hasn't been done already but good enough to take notice of that is for sure.  A total of 14 minutes for three tracks should be enough to give the Metal Underground a taste of the future.  Check out Blood Mortized and see what you think yourself, I like them. 

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 7/10

Contact:

Band: BLOODRIDE

Country: Finland

Title: Crowned in Hell

Label: Violent Journey Records

Year: 2011

Style: Thrash Metal

Review:

Bloodride formed in 2000, and has since unleashed their brand of speedy old school Thrash Metal with the heaviness to go with it!  Fans of the old school days of death/thrash metal mixing together will certainly enjoy this release.  "Crowned in Hell" comes at a time when the influx of Thrash Metal bands has returned to smother the Metal Underground with so much metal that there is "no more room in hell"!

Anyway, Bloodride released a killer piece of old school thrash/death for the world.  A total of nine tracks at 39 minutes in length.  Not too much, but not too little to give for something this well done.  Bloodride will join the ranks of the newer thrash bands to become a top notch draw if they ever start doing world tours!  Check them out when you have the chance because tracks like "March of the Dead", "Slave of Evil", and "Straight From Hell"will tear your fucking head off.  The metal, vocals, brutal yet technical Death and Thrash all put together in one good release from Bloodride!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 9/10

Contact:

Band: BONJOUR TRISTESSE

Country: Germany

Title: Par un sourire

Label: Self Mutilation Services

Year: 2011

Style: Black Metal

Review:

Bonjour Tristesse are new to my collection, but they are pretty morbid and dark in their approach.  2008 summoned the creation of this band and since has released this first full-length entitled"Par Un Sourire".  If you like sorrow and sadness mixed with a little despair and anguish then Bonjour Tristesse is definitely your ticket down that path!  From start to finish this man delivers a solid evil style of metal.  I like the way everything just melts together while the music is in the background.  Black Metal has never been my first choice of genre, but I must admit bands that can deliver such feeling in their music deserve to be heard a lot more.  Tracks like "You Are Joined In The Lines Duplafond" and "You're Listed in the Guide's Ceiling" (Story of Isabelle Part I) have such a gloomy approach and keep me going!  I think the hardcore fans of this style of Black Metal will certainly enjoy the depression, but other fans will have to take the time to hear this for all it is worth if they want to understand the band more.

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

Contact:

Band: CIANIDE

Country: USA

Title: Gods of Death

Label: Hells Headbangers Records

Year: 2011

Style: Doom Death Metal

Review:

We all know who these guys are, and we also know that on July 15,2011 Cianide released "Gods of Death".  This latest release takes Cianide down the path they have been on for a very long time, the path of doom, darkness, depression, and sometimes a sledgehammer hitting a person's head!  I have even heard Cianide mix it up with some thrash or hardcore elements in their music.  Either way Cianide have become the legends of Chicago underground metal since they formed back in 1988.  Nothing has changed as I can tell, the band still know how to make songs that can make somebody starve themselves before ever seeing a string of happiness again!  8 tracks made the cut totaling 39 minutes of Cianide laced metal.  I still remember when I first picked up their demos, and then the full-length "The Dying Truth" in 1992.  Today in 2011-2012 Cianide have only become more entrenched in legendary status and will obviously continue to do so as long as they keep making metal like this.  I am completely biased but fuck it, I love these guys!  Check out tracks like "The One True Death" which garners the doom and depression side of Cianide, but then there is "Desecration Storm" which unleashes the brutality and speediness of the band as well!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 10/10

Contact:

Band: COLLAPSE

Country: Italy

Title: A Mano Armata

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Speed Thrash Metal

Review:

Collapse is an old fashioned sounding Thrash Metal band from Italy, and old school metal all the way here!  Collapse brings about their first release, a 4 song demo totaling 13 minutes of playing time.  It turns  out to be a good thirteen minutes of Thrash Metal played in a speed metal fashion like Destruction, Sodom, and Kreator.  There are other obvious Thrash Metal influences here, but these guys are good at what they do.  I love the way Italian sounds being sung in Thrash style!  Speed/Thrash throughout the whole 4 tracks and fans of old school metal will love this shit.  I can tell these guys had a lot of fun making this and hopefully a full-length will follow soon after this.  "Terminator", "Speed Metal From the Grave", "The Band of Mexcal", and "Roma A Mano Armata" are the titles of the four tracks.  There are some definite Hardcore influences here as well, so if you like it raw, fast, and faster then check out Collapse and "A Mano Armata".

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 7/10

Contact:

Band: COMATOSE VIGIL

Country: Russia

Title: Fuimus, non Sumus...

Label: Solitude Productions

Year: 2011

Style: Funeral Doom Metal

Review:

Second full-length album for this Russian band that has recently (actually a few days ago) announced its split, so Comatose Vigil is no more, at least that's what they say.

"Fuimus, non Sumus..." is composed by only 3 tracks, of course, very long ones, so that the total playing of this CD is more than 75 minutes! If you don't know this band yet you should know they are deeply planted in the desolate, depressive fields of Funeral Doom Metal. This album benefits from a crystal clear sound that allows the listener to be attentive to any and all instruments or composition parts and analyze this music as he/she desires. The instrumental part is quite minimalist, but the occasional background guitar leads, keyboard atmospheres and growling vocals freshen the whole a bit giving it a mysterious aura that's worth being discovered. This is definitely recommended to connaisseurs of Funeral Doom, but I would also suggest it to the old-school Doom Death Metal followers nonetheless.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8.5/10

Contact:

Band: COPROSTASIS

Country: Bulgaria

Title: D.E.A.T.H.

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Death Metal

Review:

Bulgaria has some pretty awesome Brutal Death Metal bands around these days and slowly but surely they will make themselves heard around the World, but old-school Death Metal is also making its way out of this country and I know they have some interesting names out there. Coprostasis is one of them, playing an American type of old-school Death Metal, the very incipient type of Death Metal, when it was still strongly influenced by the Punk scene. "D.E.A.T.H.", the second album from Coprostasis sounds great, even if it's executed by only three guys it sounds full enough not to bore you. Fast Death Metal infected by Punk and even old-school Grindcore elements; ugly, aggressive, energetic and catchy, this is something we're not used to come out of Eastern Europe nowadays. I know a few labels that would kill to have such a band in their roster so I'm almost sure their next album won't be a selfproduced one. A very good, professional but still organic job done by these Bulgarians, definitely recommended!

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9/10

Contact:

Band: CRYPTIC THRONE

Country: USA

Title: The Wolves Gather

Label: Victory by Fire Records

Year: 2011

Style: Black Metal

Review:

Cryptic Throne is a very raw and primitive Black Metal band from Florida at this point in time.  Their most recent release entitled "The Wolves Gather" is a true piece of cold and darkened evil.  Throughout the release there is mayhem, evil, sickness, and darkness.  A one man project with enough venom to put out half the country!  There are a lot of different styles flowing in "The Wolves Gather", but instead of getting into all of this critique bullshit I'm going to just tell it like it is - Cryptic Throne is a US Black Metal band with a feeling of old school darkness from the early days, along with sharp vocals to add to the agony.  Fans of the earlier style metal will love the fact that there aren't all of these extra symphonic and electric stuff that the newer style bands have, unless I'm listening to the wrong record!  11 tracks totaling 56 minutes of good Black metal.  Check out the instrumentals on the release as well, it is almost wild how different some tracks are from one another, you'll get the idea when hear the record.  "Swallow the Stars" is one of those instrumentals and "Ancient Hymns" is another track (not an instrumental).

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

Contact:

Band: CUNT CARNAGE

Country: Estonia

Title: World Cock

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Gore Grind

Review:

Well if you haven't figured it out yet Cunt Carnage is the obvious poster-boy for what today's Porno Grinding bands sound like.  Noise, sickness, brutality, programs, and God knows what else that is used to come up with the sick sounds that come from Cunt Carnage!  Gore-grind from Estonia is what it is and they are just fucking sick.  If you are familiar with bands like Hymen Holocaust and Plasma then you should have no problem getting into Cunt Carnage.  A bunch of sick songs with sick vocals and sick lyrics!  So fans of noisy grind about females and brutality mixed with a little sex with the dead, or living then check out Cunt Carnage.  Sick and noisy is the best and only way to describe this band.  I will let you check out the tracks yourself because some of the names of these tracks are just ridiculous! For lovers of Porno Gore Grind!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

Contact:

Band: DARK SEASON

Country: Italy

Title: Cruel Domination

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Electronic Thrash Metal

Review:

Founded in '97, these guys broke up after only a few years, but came back in 2011 with the release of this album, their debut full-length release. "Cruel Damnation" is interesting by the myriads of styles that can be found in the overall mix, from Heavy Metal / Power Metal to Thrash Metal, all supported by a strong Electronic atmosphere given by the keys and effects. It sounds a bit too happy and shiny, but if you're looking for some good melodies and a band that's not afraid to experiment Dark Season might be a good choice. I'm just curious to see if they'll have the strenght to keep working and surviving in this scene, I've seen a lot of bands trying this path in the past and very few of them are still around.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7/10

Contact:

Band: DAY OF EXECUTION

Country: Bulgaria

Title: Dead Burning to Ashes

Label: Brewery Productions

Year: 2012

Style: Death Metal

Review:

I was expecting to get the chance to listen to this debut album of Day Of Execution, I've seen them live last year and really, really liked their old-school type of Death Metal, a great combination of mid-tempo European Death Metal with fast US style Death Metal, '90's type of execution and sound. Not many of Today's kids will enjoy this organic, somehow dry type of sound, but for the mature Death Metallers this will be a blast, a very enjoyable piece of brutality. 8 tracks, a bit less than half an hour of playing, a short but effective CD that's like a breath of fresh (or putrid?) air in this nowadays' so over produced and polished scene. Catchy riffs, fat sounding rhythm section, killer guitar solos and a vocalist that altough is not too versatile, does his job perfectly adding that cavernous atmosphere to the whole. Day Of Execution is a must for any old-school Death Metal followers out there!

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9/10

Contact:

Band: DESCENDING

Country: Greece

Title: New Death Celebrity

Label: Massacre Records

Year: 2011

Style: Melodic Death Thrash Metal

Review:

Descending hail from Greece and they play a style of more progressive or Melodic Death Metal with this release.  It is technical, but ferocious in delivery and the anger is all over this record.  "New Death Celebrity" unleashes a blasting production of angry technical prowess.  The vocals are hateful and brutal at times and mix well with the music.  Descending churn out 10 tracks of fiery metal totaling 45 minutes. This is great for fans of the horror genre as well as others who love the topic of violence and extreme gore concepts.  Between the music and the lyrics I think that Descending are more brutal than they sound!  This is a brutal release at times and I have heard this band called Melodic, I have used that term as well, but after hearing this release I can honestly say that the Melodic parts are far and few between.  Descending is a technical, but brutal metal band that has the capabilities to take metal to the maximum extreme if you know what I mean.  So check them out and give "New Death Celebrity" a listen, it will fuck you up!

Reviewed by Lex Luther

Rating: 8/10

Contact:

Band: DOMAIN OF DREAMS

Country: Bulgaria

Title: Domain of Dreams

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Progressive Metal

Review:

Bulgarian bands are attacking the worldwide scene nowadays, that's for sure. If a few years ago we were only used to a couple of names from my country's south neighbours, nowadays more and more bands are attracting attention, and they certainly deserve it, this country is full of metal talents.

Domain Of Dreams seems to be a legendary band in Bulgaria as they were formed in 1987 as Solaris, moniker used for two full-length albums, and changed last year, I think as a symbol of their come-back (the second album was released in 2007, so four years prior to this one). What we have here is a conceptual album I think as all tracks are based on the word "dreams", so we get 9 tales about dreams, totaling 75 minutes, quite an impressive effort. Even though at first I thought Daniel, their vocalist, is abusing tremolos on his vocals, I got used to his type of singing and actually got to enjoy it a lot. His vocals express quite some years of practice, he sounds "old", but not the rusty type of old, rather a mature, experienced type. Cool vocal lines supported by an complex instrumental part, melodic to the verge of symphonic. Each of the instrumentists take their tyme to express their skills through delicious intricate solo parts that make this album an interesting listening. The most important feature in Domain Of Dreams' music I think is the freshness, although they built their compositions on a '90's type of Progressive Metal, they somehow manage to stay actual. The only problem I see on this release is the weak cover artwork and lack of information on it, noone would buy it for this cover, and that's a shame. Great potential, by the next release they should be signed, no doubt.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 9/10

Contact:

Band: DUALITY

Country: Italy

Title: Chaos_Introspection

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2011

Style: Technical Death Metal

Review:

Duality is an Italian band formed in 2003 and after many changes (about genres and members) they have released this second EP. I don’t know how to define them because their sound is completely various and influenced by different contaminations like jazz and classic music (there is the violin too). They call this genre Avant Metal. I usually say "When I can’t define a band this is good because means they are original” but this time it isn’t so. It seem the EP hasn’t got a logic, I mean all the parts of the songs are not well connected. It’s like putting different ideas on a song without a sense. The second song of the EP is like a ballad, more like Jazz and nothing Metal in my opinion (the EP consists of 5 tracks). The music production has some problems especially about the guitar, where the distortion is too weak. In short I think that this band hasn’t found the right path because they haven’t appealed to my emotions.

Reviewed by Rob Gore

Rating: 5/10

Contact:

Band: EDAIN

Country: Czech Republic

Title: The Sulphur Breather

Label: Zero Budget Productions

Year: 2011

Style: Progressive Death Metal

Review:

This new release of Edain (following their debut album, "Through Thought and Time" from 2009) is not actually a new full-length but rather a collection of various studio recordings, covers and live recorded tracks. The Czech band doesn't excell in individual technical displays, they chose to sophisticate their compositions by multiple rhythm and genre changes. The album is not brutal although aggressiveness makes its way throughout the whole album mixed with softer avangardish parts and that makes this compilation an interesting one, a CD you'll listen multiple times to understand. I'd say this is rather an experimental release where they try to come up with new tracks as complex as possible. You don't have to be a Prog. Death Metal follower to find something interesting inhere, but you clearly have to be open minded to get it, it will certainly challenge your thinking and listening reactions. For me their new tracks were really entertaining, much more than the covers, but that's maybe because I haven't heard the originals before.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8/10

Contact:

Band: ELVENSTORM

Country: France

Title: Of Rage and War

Label: Inferno Records

Year: 2011

Style: Heavy Metal

Review:

Now let's see what this young French band is offering us on their debut CD. Talking about Inferno Record you're 100% sure you're dealing with an old-school release, and that's confirmed by Elvenstorm, they're playing an old-school Heavy Metal with loads of Power Metal influences all over, so the overall result is melodic, majestic and proud. 9 headbanging friendly tracks totaling almost 40 minutes of playing, "Of Rage and War" is full of catchy guitar riffs, fast, engaging rhythms and traditional solos and leads. Elvenstorm has a female vocalist that even if she's not breaking any boundaries or comes with anything new, is playing with good precision and quite spot on I'd say. The highlights of Elvenstorm are definitely the guitar riffs, absolutely killer traditional Heavy Metal riffs that will make this CD well worth your money. Not to forget the top notch production and crystal clear sound; good stuff!

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 8/10

Contact:

Band: ERATOMANIA

Country: Belgium

Title: Mental Suffocation

Label: Immortal Frost Productions

Year: 2011

Style: Black Metal

Review:

This is a duo from Belgium enroling also the head of Immortal Frost Productions, Surtur, on vocals, drums and guitars, so pretty much this is his project, the other member, Galgrat, helping him with some guitar parts only, and that's not a big deal since the guitar parts on this release are pretty dull and lack originality. A 3 tracks demo lasting for about 17 minutes that can only portrait the style chosen by the band, but not these guys' abilities or potential. Mid-tempo Black Metal with occasional semi-acoustic parts that would attract your attention only if you're into primitive Melodic and Depressive Black Metal, but don't search for innovation inhere. There is also a good point in Eratomania's music, and that's the drums, recorded live, they give a good organic touch to the whole demo, so thumbs up for that.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 6/10

Contact:

Band: ESPHARES

Country: France

Title: Veritas Liberabit Vos

Label: Mortis Humanae Productions

Year: 2012

Style: Black Metal

Review:

I've got this promo on CDr, although it is released on tape, and I guess Mortis Humanae only burnt half of the tape on this disc, meaning Side A of the tape titled "Veritas Liberabit Vos". Side B is actually a re-release of Esphares' 2009 demo "Par delà le fleuve de la mort...". Not sure if I'm sorry for not having the chance to listen to that side also, but after listening to what I've got, I can feel a bit of sorry. Esphares is a one man band and "Veritas Liberabit Vos" is its second demo, released on tape in a limited to 100 hand numbered copies edition. 6 tracks, almost half an hour of good quality underground Black Metal, fast, interesting and with quite a nice technical display on guitar composition and execution. it's not often you stumble across such a project that allocate that much space to guitar leads. Another interesting fact is the vocals type, rather than Black Metal screams, Mortiferiis, the guy behind Esphares, uses whispers, those types of whispers that any of you probably did in your childhood after listening to your first Black Metal bands, "Black Metal whispers" that didn't disturb your parents in the next room or your neighbors, haha. Even if it sound stupid and ridiculous, I kind of like them in Esphares music. This is actually a good release, recommended to underground Black Metal followers.

Reviewed by Adrian

Rating: 7.5/10

Contact:

Band: EXMORTIS

Country: USA

Title: Resurrection... Book of the Dead

Label: Xtreem Music

Year: 2011

Style: Death Metal

Review:

Exmortis is a band that was  formed in 1987 in Maryland and this is a MCD of 6 songs, with an Intro and Outro, so basically the MCD consists in 4 songs. Musically (I can say without doubt) is old – school Death Metal but without blast and beat technique, it’s more like the tempo of old-Kreator  or  Possesed. The sound is more for the fans of old-school and the production is fine but I think a little more bass is missing. There is nothing new and in my opinion no one song has touched my emotions deeply except for the track "Deep Red” but I assure that these guys know how to use an instrument. Anyway Exmortis will make happy everyone who want to hear something classic back to the 80s period.

Reviewed by Rob Gore

Rating: 6/10

Contact: