Band: ANCHONY

Country: Germany

Title: In the Asylum

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2010

Style: Thrash Metal

Review:

Anchony is a band with 5 years of experience with the same, unchanged line-up and that can be deducted from their music, too. As said Ancony were formed back in 2005 as a quintet but unfortunately they have changed vocalist this year, Alex being replaced by Marco. "In the Asylum", their debut album, was recorded in December 2009 so it has the vocal contribution of Alex on it. From what I can understand from this album, Alex was quite a new-school oriented guy as his vocals seem to be wanting to go more on the "core" side and the band, on the contrary, wanted a more "old-school" sound, but I stress that this is only my personal conclusion, don't know if it's the truth. Alex does a good vocal work on this album, with lots and lots of variations, and I'm sure his former band mates are grateful for that. "In the Asylum" is a very aggressive piece of Thrash Metal with lots of technical virtuoso displays but still keeping the "old-school" sound and compositon as the main path. The two guitars are metallic, fat sounding and catchy, with lots of breaks, solos (some are absolutely killer!) and rhythm changes, the bass seems to be an essential part in Anchony's music, very "upfronted" and incisive, and the drum work follows a normal Thrash Metal pattern representing a perfect backbone for Anchony's music. There are 10 tracks featured here lasting for 40 minutes, but this is an easy listening, you get to the end in no time and that means it's catchy and not boring at all, so I can recommend this to the thrash Metal maniacs out there. Although selfproduced, the CD benefits of a flawless production and presentation making it worth your money. I'm curious how the band sounds with the new vocalist.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: ASTRAL SLEEP

Country: Finland

Title: Angel

Label: Solitude Prod.

Year: 2010

Style: Doom Metal

Review:

Astral Sleep is a band from Finland formed in 2004. This EP is the follow up to their 2008 debut album released by the same Solitude Productions, so it seem there's a good bond between the band and this label. The strangest thing about this album is that the 3 tracks on it have the same name, "Angel", but they also have the same lyrics, only the music differs. From the presentation listed on the cover it seems this EP is done as a joke and they certainly don't seem to feel their Doom music at all, or at least that's the impression I get from my first encounter with Astral Sleep, this "Angel" EP. The music is very good, indeed, I especially liked the Death Metal influenced first track, the vocal parts are complex enough and the whole band seem to have a good approach on exploring new musical territories (and they have the skills also), but because of their presentation and the childish lyrics ("Angel you worship Satan, but Satan does not need it" - wtf???) I can't take this seriously...

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: BRULVAHNATU

Country: Canada

Title: Last Living Dream

Label: Eternal Obscurity Records

Year: 2010

Style: Ambient Black Metal

Review:

Strange name for a strange project, Brulvahnatu was started in 2007 and have released so far no less than 10 demos and 1 full-lenght album. "Last Living Dream" is its second album, a 3 tracks effort lasting for almost 60 minutes, so we're dealing with quite long tracks here. The music is well built, I couldn't label it as simple Black Metal or Ambient Black Metal because it also has lots of elements from other genres, but what I can say is that the compositions are interesting, catchy and not boring at all. There's also a weak point of this album: the sound is really awful, during the fast parts, when drums and guitar riffs kick in, you'll have a hard time understanding what's happening. During the slow, softer parts of this album you'll get a better "feel" of Brulvahnatu's music, but that's about it. Also the vocal part, deep growls somehow hidden in the background, supported from time to time by desperate screams, more hidden than the growls, will cause you problems in case you'll try to read along the lyrics. Recorded in proper conditions this album would have been great, but in this case I can only see it as a rehearsal demo... Too bad, as the tracks are good and the presentation of this CD is very professional: 20 pages booklet with lyrics, artwork and pics.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: CHAOSSVORN

Country: Sweden

Title: Chalice of Black Flames

Label: Abyss Records

Year: 2010

Style: Black Death Metal

 

Review: 

Chaossvorn is an excellent Swedish band, and they propose to us, with their debut cd "Chalice of Black Flames”, a really intersting music!! The duration of this opus is aproximatly 15 minutes, but 15 minutes of melodic hate!! At first, we can listen a very good production, tainted by the legendary Swedish touch.. the three compositions are finely structured, the guitars are present without being deafening, while having this massive and aggressive focus! Earlier, guttural voices, sometimes black, bring their share of hate and no compromise!

We can, through this mini cd, imagine what could be an album.. a longer burst of catchy riffs, intertwined with tempos ranging from semi grind, to post punk, cyclic up sometimes dooms heaviest.. This is, in any case, the feeling given to me by these three titles!

I will continue to follow this band, and I invite any big fan of Swedish metal to support Chaossvorn! They are signed to Abyss Records, which is not innocent .. this label is deemed to sniff out promising bands and I think that once again we can trust them!

Reviewed by Alrinack

 

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Band: CREMATORIA

Country: Denmark

Title: Embodiment of Brutality

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2010

Style: Thrash Death Metal

Review:

The 5 bad boys from Denmark are back this time with their debut EP, a 4 tracks effort that brilliantly continues the work started with their last year demo, "Demolish". "Embodiment of Brutality" keeps the same path, a solid Thrash Death Metal sometimes brutal as hell, sometimes melodic, but fat sounding, groovy and powerful in both cases. The melodic parts, although few, remind me of the Old-School Scandinavian Death Metal scene so i think that's a great addition to Crematoria's music, and I really hope they will keep this path and don't turn into a Deathcore band after a few releases. Also the guitar solos are great but I would have liked more of them on thise release, why not using all what's best at its best? Anyway, the production is flawless, I don't see how a label could have done better than this, but I really hoep these guys get signed by a big name as they need someone to promote the shit out of this music. Higly recommended to any Death Metal fans out there.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: D'LA COKE ET DES PUTES

Country: France

Title: Fast Fashion Generation

Label: Rewolucja Records

Year: 2010

Style: Grindcore

Review:

As much as I don't like this band's name, I love their album's title, "Fast Fashion Generation" is an awesome name for a band that's using social-inspired (or anti-social?) lyrics. DCEDP were formed in 2003 and since then they have been featured on multiple compilations and splits. This is their debut album, an 18 tracks album lasting for about 37 minutes and treating us with a mix of Fast Grind, Punk and Hardcore played with lots of irony and humour. Simple but effective guitar riffs (quite catchy I might add), two vocalists (using screams as main vox and growls as background support from time to time), fast as hell rhythm section and lots of samples from all sort of movies, news, basically anything that could add their expression, I especially like the sample from track 4: we must cultivate the difference and not the indifference. So I guess DCEDP's main weapon is the lyrical part of it, too bad the lyrics are not included in this CD's booklet. Good sound (the tracks were recorded, mixed and mastered in Japan), good production, a good release for the new wave of Grindcore bands.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: INVASION

Country: USA

Title: Orchestrated Kill Maneuver

Label: Pillbox Recordings

Year: 2010

Style: Trash Death Metal

 

Review:

Invasion, already with one group name, we know what to expect, the message is clear! You want hate, violence, blood and iron, it is served on a platter! and how board! "Orchestral kill maneuver" is a joyous savagery! A tribute to the bloody war! This group is recalling some "Impaled Nazarene" the American way! The riffs are as scathing a burst of AK-47, piercing, aggressive, the battery is heavy, loud voice not to mention rabid, which transcend all! The constant changes in tempo throughout each songs only increase the atmosphere heavy, oppressive, the respite only at the end of the last title! And these killers are prolific! 12 tracks of fury glorifying art murderer! The music of Invasion, collects personally, all the elements that I love, subtle thrash passages, rhythmic guitars very black / death, good grinds big killers, a voice mingled with alternating cavernous growl, and the cries Sick! The war declared this group to the whole earth, not flash, quite the opposite, and not forget anyone! Followers of the Anti-humanity personified, you swept away in terror that pours INVASION, weapons cheek blast!!!!!!!!

Album to get an emergency! really very good!!

Reviewed by Alrinack

 

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Band: MAAX

Country: USA

Title: Six Pack Witchcraft

Label: Abyss Records

Year: 2010

Style: Thrash Black Metal 

 

Review:

Maax defines as being heavy trash black metal, this is not fake, listening to "Six Pack Witchcraft", several sensations through me! This sound makes me think both pleasantly Venom, that the album times by Slayer "Undisputed Attitude"!

An intro and 4 songs quite enjoyable, this album does not transcend the style, but good use the classic elements of the genre! Their "trash'n roll" is leading to, feel like blaster, scream.. you can feel their influence easily, this fine blend of different musical movements, makes this album attractive ..

I recommend it, waiting to see what will result the life of the group ....

Reviewed by Alrinack

Contact:

www.officialabyssrecords.com  

Band: MACHT

Country: Germany

Title: DemOne

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2010

Style: Melodic Black Metal

Review:

This band was formed in 1997 and it seems they have released their debut demo, this one I'm reviewing now, only in 2010, that means something went wrong until now, but hopefully they are now determined to keep composing and releasing stuff. "DemOne" is a 5 tracks demo with a total playing time of half an hour, so we're treated with quite long tracks here. The music is '90's influenced mid-tempo Melodic Black Metal with quite raw (but good enough) sound and lyrics in German (I find German as a great language to use for Black Metal, it's raw as hell). Simple but effective guitar riffs that create a cold and dark atmosphere supported by keyboard backgrounds. The vocal sound is too low, and I find that as the only fault of this demo, but the rest gives me the impression Macht is a very honest and straight-forward band that will satisfy any underground Black Metal followers out there. Good demo, I hope they will release more in the near future.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: OV HOLLOWNESS

Country: USA

Title: Diminished

Label: selfreleased

Year: 2010

Style: Atmospheric Black Metal

Review:

Ov Hollowness is the solo project of Mark R., a guy based in Calgary, Canada. He started this project a year ago and already managed to release a demo earlier this year and now this debut album, "Diminished", a 6 tracks effort lasting for 42 minutes. Ov Hollowness is an Atmospheric Black Metal project based on melodic guitars(multiple layers of guitars), atmospheric keyboards / effect as the background and old-school influenced rhythm section, plus a flawless vocal part. Mark has a very good voice for Black Metal, it's eerie, hoarse and desperate, but at the same time aggressive. The guitar work is the main element on "Diminished", Scandinavian-like old-school Black Metal riffs combined with lots of melodic alternative leads giving the final outcome a mysterious, interesting and catchy edge. So yes, you've guess it well, I like this project and its debut album, and if I add to that a good production, a professional look and the fact Ov Hollowness is not (yet) supported by an official label (only for distribution purposes), I can clearly say it has a good future. A very good feature of Ov Hollowness is that the tracks are not similar one to another, there's a lot to discover on this album. Recommended to fans of Ambient / Atmospheric kinds of Black Metal.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: RAVENFROST

Country: Germany

Title: Schatten Der Vergänglichkeit

Label: Victory By Fire

Year: 2010

Style: Black Metal

Review:

Ravenfrost is a one-man-band with K. as the one behind this moniker. It was formed in 2006 and has released 3 demos so far. This is its debut EP, out on Victory By Fire Records from Holland as a limited to only 33 copies edition. I think I'm right when I say this is the last release of Victory By Fire Records, in the meantime Dennis, the owner, merged it with Svartgalgh Records. K. labels his music as Depressive Black Metal, but to be honest I have no idea why he called it Depressive, Ambient Black Metal would be a better term. Ok, there's a certain dose of dispair and the mid-tempo rhythm adds on similarity with the Depressive Black Metal fields, but guitar tone and the keyboards are on a totally different track creating an Ambient Melodic Black Metal atmosphere. The guitar melodies are good, the vocals are fit for this music, and the fact that K. invited Ray Pissed from US Black Metal band Vintage Flesh to do some vocals on the 4th tracks, is a good addition. All in all this is a good EP, with raw sound (reminds me of the '80's extreme metal sound), but good enough to let you feel the atmospheres created by K.'s music. Recommended to Underground Black Metal followers.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: THE HOWLING VOID

Country: USA

Title: Shadows over the Cosmos

Label: Solitude Prod.

Year: 2010

Style: Funeral Doom Metal

Review:

The Howling Void is the project of Ryan, a guy who plays all kinds of music in his other projects: Intestinal Disgorge (Brutal Death Grind), Normpeterson (Sludge Drone Metal) and Hordes Of The Morning Star (Black Metal). In this case, with The Howling Void it was normal to try something different and so he did, this project is a demonstration of slow and grieving Funeral Doom Metal with quite a lot of melody all over the place. This is Ryan's second album with The Howling Void, a 5 tracks release lasting for almost 60 minutes. After listening to it a few times the general impression is that Ryan can create very good, haunting melodies, but it feels like he's overusing them and so it creates an impression of continuous anxiety, like you're waiting all the time for the "real music" to start. Except that, the mix of guitars and synths is a very successful one creating a desolate atmosphere, I guess like Ryan wanted. The vocals (deep growls) are not present all the time giving space to the instrumental part to lead, and that's a good thing because I think the sound on the vocals could have been better. I guess if you're a Funeral Doom follower you can try this as a melodic/nostalgic alternative.

Reviewed by Adrian

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