Band: AD NOCTUM PROJECT

Country: Chile

Title: The Last March

Label: Terror Records

Year: 2009

Style: Dark Ambient

Review:

This is a project of Humberto Escobedo, the man behind the Black Metal band Tirano as well. From what I understand from their Spanish written bio it seems Ad Noctum Project was founded as a real band with full line-up back in 1996 but from different reasons Humberto remained the only one to take care of this moniker so now it's a one-man project. "The Last March" is a full-length made of 14 tracks Dark Ambient that are totalizing a bit more than 35 minutes, which is not a usual thing in this scene, usually Dark Ambient bands/projects tend to compose long tracks. What can I say about ANP's music? Well if there's a segment for Old-School Dark Ambient music as there's one for Black or Death, ANP would fit in for sure. We're dealing with quite simple keyboard lines with effects that were used 10-15 years ago, without vocals, with some simple as well, but very enjoyable acoustic guitar parts. "The Last March" succeeds to reach its goal, to create a calm, meditative atmosphere, although using simple means. Thumbs up for that. 

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: ADVERSARIAL

Country: Canada

Title: All Idols Fall Before the Hammer

Label: Dark Descent Records

Year: 2010

Style: Blackened Death Metal

Review:

Man, this band is great, extremely technical and furious, but this album is a glorious failure! Why would anyone release such good compositions with such a raw (you can read poor) sound? I'm sure old-school followers (like myself) will appreciate it and will consider this as a "true" element, but this band deserves much more, they deserve to be heard not only by a certain strip of Extreme Metal fans... 

This is Adversarial's debut album, an 8 tracks effort lasting for almost 40 minutes. The music on it it's great, very interesting guitar riffs and leads supported by a furious rhythm section and a cavernous vocalist. It catches your attention right from the opening track and keeps it high until the end, so musically speaking this is an awesome release, but the sound will satisfy only old-school, raw Extreme Metal followers. 

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: ANAL CUNT

Country: USA

Title: Fucking A

Label: Patac Records

Year: 2010

Style: Punk Rock'n'Roll

Review:

After announcing that this year Anal Cunt will release the Wearing Out Our Welcome album this year, Seth Putnam decided to split this album in two, Fucking A and The Same Old Shit that will be released later on this year. Fucking A is a collection of 10 tracks lasting for half an hour, a mix of rock'n'roll with punk and a bit of Seth's grind madness on vocals, and The Same Old Shit will be a collection of Noise Grind tracks, so a lot different than this one. Although not so aggressive for Grindcore standards I'm sure everyone in the Punk Noise Grind community will welcome this new Anal Cunt album. I would say it's a very drunk, high and puking version of AC/DC, this album will become an instant classic. I'm curious what will be the new style for the band now that Josh Marting left the band and AxCx will continue as a duo. 

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: ASTARIUM

Country: Russia

Title: Dethroned of Impostor

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2010

Style: Symphonic Black Metal

Review:

This is Astarium's second full-lenght album, I have here the selfreleased version, but Victory By Fire Records from Holland also released an edition of it. I guess there are no real differences between the two editions as both of them have the same 6 tracks lasting for around 40 minutes. I won't present the band here as it's already featured in the Blitz Quitz section, so you can check it out for more info.

"Dethroned of Impostor" is Symphonic Black Metal based on keyboards lines and a very synthetic guitar sound. Usually I hate this kind of sound on guitars (feels like they are programmed like the drums, and maybe they really are, it's not mentioned anywhere), but SiN, the man behind Astarium, did a good job here not to sounmd too synthetic, or better said more synthetic than it already is. The music is catchy enough, the compositions are solid and mature, the atmosphere overall is dark, cold and quite haunting, the rhythms vary from melodic mid-tempo to fast and ultra-fast, so this is an album I would give another spin, but still SiN has to improve the synthetic sound and maybe find a guitarist capable to play his compositions... I don't know how many black metallers are willing to embrace this sound...

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: BASSOOKAH

Country: Holland

Title: Promo 2010

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2010

Style: Drum'n'Bass Grindcore

Review:

I have no idea why they decided to call their genre as Drum'n'Bass Grindcore but anyone can call their art however they like, that's not my business. It seems the band started out as a solo project of Kanza and this Promo actually includes 4 tracks recorded in 2009 by him. The rest of the tracks, 9 are recorded by Xormic alone and 1 is a live recorded track, so I guess they compose and record on their own and when to play the tracks live they get together as a band. Regarding this Promo, it contains 14 tracks and lasts for les sthan 9 minutes. Bassookah is: techno-like drum-machines combined with some occasional blastbeats created with the same drum-machine, fast guitar riffs and low-tunned growls. Not boring stuff but you have to be a fan of such a combination to really enjoy it.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: BYFROST

Country: Norway

Title: Black Earth

Label: Painkiller Records

Year: 2010

Style: Thrash Black Metal

Review:

Exactly one year ago I have reviewed their debut EP, a self released effort back then. Now it's time for Byfrost's debut album, out on Painkiller Records from Holland. It's no surprise at all that they got signed, Byfrost is a really good band with a quite original sound, although compared with Immortal's new works by many. Their mix of Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal and Epic Black Metal is their trademark. Byfrost is a band you'd like to listen to both when you're at home or driving your car (be carefull if you're one of those who forget about pushing the pedal too much), their guitar riffs are very catchy and supported by a powerful, mid-tempo rhythm section and a proud vocal part they create an epic, noble atmosphere on all the 8 tracks composing this album. If I think this is only their debut album and they already show such maturity and coherence in compositions, I can say that if they will keep doing what they do, we'll have a new star in World's Thrash Black Metal. Maybe those are big words for Byfrost, but I really like what they do and I think with the help of a serious label (as Painkiller is), they will proove worthy of such a future. There's a huge potential in this band and that potential is only 70-80% shown on this release, so if I were to rate this album I would rate it 7 or 8 just because I'm sure these guys will do much more. 

Ok, enough with the praises, the only weak point of this album would be that sometimes the music sounds like it would need 1 element (instrument) more, but that can be fixed on a next release. 5 tracks on this CD are new and the other 3 are taken from their debut EP but I guess re-recorded as the overall sound is quite curdled and unified. The addition of acoustic guitars on the last track is a good idea, it fits well with the rest of the music.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: CLEANSE YOUR DEMONS

Country: Canada

Title: Demo

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2010

Style: Doom Thrash Death

Review:

Cleanse Your Demons is a supergroup of the Canadian extreme metal scene being composed by members (or ex-members) of bands like: Pestilence, Soulstorm, Crawl, Overthrow, Monster Voodoo Machine. This one is their debut demo, a 3 tracks effort lasting for 16 minutes, promoted by the guys who released the Glorious Times death metal book. About CYD's music I can say it's very powerful, fat sounding Thrash Death Metal heavily influenced by the old-school Doom Metal scene as well. For me the vocals are the best thing inhere, on the same path as Martin van Drunen or Marc Grewe were, killer vox! The whole music on this demo is interesting and catchy, and although the structures make it sound modern it has a tasty old-school flavor. The drum cymbals sound a bit annoying at times and I would say that's the only thing I like less on this demo. The rest is absolutely great, I have enjoyed it a lot and hope you will too, it's available for free download so try it, you have nothing to loose.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: CRYOGENIC IMPLOSION

Country: Ukraine

Title: The Demons Come Again

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2008

Style: Brutal Death Metal

Review:

Ukrainian band Cryogenic Implosion was founded in 2007 and this demo is their first and so far their only official release. "The Demons Come Again" is a 4 tracks demo (actually 3, the first one being an intro) lasting for a bit more than 13 minutes. Cryogenic Implosion presents us their way of combining technical death Metal with Brutal Death Metal and Old-School Death Metal, so a bit from each. A good combination I might add, very fat sounding, aggressive and without making overuse of elements, or maybe only of those low-tuned vocal sounds. It's fine and even recommended to have such vocal sounds in your Death Metal band here and there, but when used everwhere it gives the impression the vocalist is trying too much, it doesn't sound natural. I think the guy can add more variations in his vocal style and so making their music more catchy. I'm curious what this band will release next, I think they have the necessary skills and it's already time to come up with something new after 2 years...

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: DAMNED ETERNAL

Country: Singapore

Title: Diabolical Requiem

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2009

Style: Black Metal

Review:

Damned Eternal is a duo (Djevelen on vocals and drums and Ramses on Guitars) from Singapore founded in 2008. The same year they have succeeded to release a split tape with their country mates Battlestorm on Deathrash Armageddon, limited to 150 copies. I think that split got sold out and the band decided to release their 4 tracks from this split on a Demo CD, in 2009, but this is only my supposition, don't take it for real. "Diabolical Requiem" is their demo from 2009 containing the 4 tracks, no bonus added, and limited to only 66 copies. 

These two demons from Singapore are playing an obscure, raw and old-school kind of Black Metal, a style that seems to be very popular and respected in South-East Asia. This demo has a raw, unpolished sound but quite ok for their music, it allows you to clearly distinguish all elements and if you're an Old-School Black Metal follower you're certainly use to such a sound, so it makes no harm on their compositions. The 4 tracks last for 17 minutes and display what Damned Eternal is all about: mostly fast rhythms with few mid-tempo parts, blasting drums, evil vocals (combination of harsh vox with growls) and quite melodic guitar riffs that do not soften the whole demo at all, this is still a very aggressive, rough piece of Black Metal. There is also a guest on this demo, Hades, taking care of the second guitar and bass, but to be honest he doesn't have a powerful impact on the sound.

Recommended to old-school Black Metal followers. The CD comes with a nice 4 pages booklet containing the lyrics as well.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: DEMONICA

Country: Denmark / USA

Title: Demonstrous

Label: Massacre Records

Year: 2010

Style: Thrash Metal

Review:

To be honest I did not know Demonica before starting to review this album, and when I review something I play a bit of music before checking the cover, band, info. By the band's name and label I thought I was going to review a Gothic Metal band, but I was wrong...sooo wrong. Then I started to play this album and had to immediately check the band's line up just to make sure I'm not listening to a new Kreator album. The vocalist sounds so much like Mille Petrozza that it's impossible you won't have the same feeling, and the instrumental part does help in that direction, meaning this band is 100% balls out Thrash Metal, the kind of music any metalfan should enjoy: groovy, metallic as hell, headbanging-friendly, catchy and memorable. Although built on Old-School Thrash Metal patterns, demonica takes its right amount of modern (not "core") elements. When you have a look at the band's line-up you find guitarist Craig Locicero (Forbidden), drummer Mark Hernandez (Forbidden, Vio-Lence) and guitarist Hank Sherman (Mercyful Fate) not as guests but as regular/founding members the mistery is broken: that's why their debut album is out on such a big label, that's why their sound is so professional, that's why their palying is so skillful and that's why I haven't heard of them before, haha (I'm not a big follower of big names like that...). Anyway, to conclude this, Demonica is a great band (I hope it's not just a project to have some fun and make some more green paper), recommended to all Thrash Metal followers, this album really stands out for itself.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: EA

Country: Russia

Title: Au Ellai

Label: Solitude Productions

Year: 2010

Style: Funeral Doom Ambient

Review:

Ea is a mysterious Russian project whose members' names are not printed anywhere, whose lyrics are taken from ancient sacred texts in dead languages (or at least that's what they say, on my CD there are no lyrics to proove that), there's no band website, so I'm wonndering how did Solitude Prod. manage to find this band and sign them. This "Au Ellai" release is already the third album from a conceptual trilogy of the band. There are 3 tracks included with a total playing time of more than 50 minutes! Regarding the music this is Funeral Doom with slow, monotonous and melancholic sounds. Funeral Doom in my opinion is all based on feelings, on the feelings a band is able to offer through their music and Ea successfully delivers very suggestive cold, solitary and depressive emotions. I would recommend this to the genre's initiated, the profanes will have a hard time digesting it if not listened in a certain mood. The music is based on piano, keyboards and vocals (moribund, deep growls), but there are also drums, bass and guitars added to grow this feeling of desolation.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: ERYN NON DAE

Country: France

Title: Hydra Lernaia

Label: Metal Blade

Year: 2009

Style: Progressive Extreme Metal

Review:

Eryn Non Dae (END) is a strange band, a band I respect because of their underground attitude: although signed with a big label as Metal Blade is they are still handling their own promotion and don't rely entirely on Metal Blade's work as other such bands are doing. That's a good thing and I hope they will be fairly rewarded for their work. Now talking about this album, I didn't expect to deal with a new-metal kind of band, meaning a band that structures its compositions on hardcore, industrial and electronic influences, and at a first look I wouldn't like it at all, but listening to the whole album you will discover, as I did, that END is indeed based on such sounds, but drive them to extremes, the music is dark, dirty and very aggressive. Their progressive side is given by the complexity of their compositions ranging from mathematical crazy extreme metal structures to ethereal atmospheres. An interesting album recorded in 2007 and released in 2009. They are already close to release the second opus, I'm curious how the band evolved during these 3 years and my guess is we'll have a nice surprise from France soon.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: FALLEN JOY

Country: France

Title: Order to Die

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2010

Style: Melodic Death Metal

Review:

Fallen Joy is a young band from France founded last year as a quintet. "Order to Die" is their debut EP, a five tracks effort lasting for a bit more than 20 minutes. For a debut release they have certainly succeeded to do a good job, the main focus of the band being creating as much melody as possible and their guitarists' skills really helped a lot on this: repetitive but catchy and not monotonous at all guitar leads, killer guitar solos and riffs perfect for headbanging. The vocals are mostly harsh, but from time to time the vocalist adds some growls as background support. The bass and drums are less highlighted, but they do a good job adding the groove side of this EP. There are some synth parts too, creating what might seem to be the intro and outro of "Order to Die". A professional release with crystal clear sound and great cover artwork containing the lyrics as well. 

Fallen Joy seems to be one of those bands I woundn't be able to stay still at one of their gigs, and I think "Order to Die" is their ticket to a good label deal. Recommended to fans of melodic metal.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: GRAVEHILL

Country: USA

Title: Rites of the Pentagram / Metal of Death

Label: Ibex Moon Records

Year: 2010

Style: Old-School Death Metal

Review:

I've heard so much about this band lately that only the simple mention of its name somewhere made me sick (maybe I have the "mainstream syndrome"), but that may be due to Ibex Moon & Clawhammer very good promotional work. Now it's time to review this CD so I will finally hear what this fuss is all about. Well, Gravehill is definitelly a band to check out if you're into Old-School raw Death Metal, the way it was made a couple of decades ago: honest, aggressive, ugly and straight to your face metal. Their music is so catchy that I'm not wondering why Ibex Moon decided to release this CD as some sort of Best Of; it contains the band's EP from 2008 "Metal of Death" and their debut album from 2009 "Rites of the Pentagram". I doubt this band will have any success to the new wave of metal fans or to metal reviewers that are seeking for original and/or progressive tunes, but for traditional extreme metal followers to listen to their compositions is a delight. Still I don't know what's up with the 8th track, a melodic acoustic guitar intermezzo that has nothing to do with the rest of this CD and it just doesn't sound right hearing this piece of melancholy in the middle of all this aggression and brutality. Anyway, killer band!

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: HEXENMEISTER

Country: Ukraine

Title: ...And Life in Insomnia

Label: Arx Productions

Year: 2010

Style: Depressive Black Metal

Review:

From what I read on its page, Hexenmeister means wizard or warlock in German, so let's see what this Ukrainian wizard has to offer. Hexenmeister is a one-man-band started in 2004 with Bran as the man behind all instruments and vocals. This is its debut album after a demo in 2008 and a split with Bergrizen earlier this year. "...and Life in Insomnia" is a 7 tracks album lasting for about 45 minutes, 6 of the tracks being Hexenmeister's own compositions and the last one, the 7th being a cover of Ved Buens Ende's "Autumn Leaves". The first track immediately made me think of France's new Depressive Black Metal star, Pensees Nocturnes, it has almost the same sound, with the difference that Hexenmeister's music rhythm is faster, but has the same potential in composition. Moving forward, reaching the third track, the things are getting really weird: have you ever heard a combination between Black Metal and Alternative Post-Punk? Well, me neither, and this is my first encounter with such a mix; it sounds... interesting, the addition of those Garage-ish guitar leads don't make their music any less grim than any other Black Metal bands, it only give it a different rhythm pace. It becomes Depressive again after that track, but still Bran certainly let his imagination loose on this album, he mentioned Lantlôs and Amesoeurs as his main influences, but I'm not familiar with those bands, just mentioning them to help you form a better idea. The production and sound are both flawless, you won't have anything to be disapointed of. Bottomline "...and Life in Insomnia" is an album to be listened over and over, you will discover new elements every time, I myself like it a lot. Recommended to open-minded extreme metal followers.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: IRON FATE

Country: Germany

Title: Cast in Iron

Label: Massacre Records

Year: 2010

Style: Traditional Heavy Metal

Review:

Iron Fate comes from germany, was formed in 2005 and released their debut album only this year on Massacre Records. Don't know if it's a usual thing for Massacre, but it's at least strange for such a big label to sign a band that only has 1 demo out and .that demo is 4 years old... Anyway, they did the right choice as Iron Fate has everything to become a big player in the Heavy Metal scene, their debut album is good enough to raise their name high in the German scene, it has everything a Heavy Metal fan searches for: epic, proud atmosphere, metal attitude and sound, great solos (they could have been more in my opinion), a great vocalist, catchy rhythms, and memorable tracks. the 9 tracks album lasts for 40 minutes and I tell you, it doesn't leave any space for getting bored, it's very entertaining. I'm sure we'll hear much more good things about this band from now on.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: KAUAN

Country: Russia

Title: Aava tuulen maa

Label: Firebox / Bad Mood Man

Year: 2009

Style: Neo-Folk Post-Rock

Review:

I should have reviewed this CD a long time ago but whenever I started to write something up I ended up being drowned in this fabulous release and ended my day by listening to this album over and over again. I enjoy so much listening to this CD that it became already one of my all times fave although it comes from a different genre than extreme metal. Kauan is a duo (you won't believe what they manage to create!) who started as a full line-up band in 2005 and released 2 more albums before this one. "Aava tuulen maa" is a fantastic jurney through calm, peaceful and meditative soundscapes sung in Finnish language... It's not my cup of tea but I like it soooo much that I want to recommend you this album just for something different and written / sung close to perfection! Give them a try on Myspace and make up your own opinion. If I were to give grades to albums this would have been a full 10, no doubts!

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: MALEVOLENT CREATION

Country: USA

Title: Invidious Dominion

Label: Nuclear Blast

Year: 2010

Style: Death Metal

Review:

The legendary Malevolent Creation is back with their 11th studio album after a 3 years waiting since the previous one, Doomsday X, was released. "Invidious Dominion" is yet another display of bulldozer old-school Death Metal a la Malevolent Creation, an album containing 11 tracks and lasting for a bit more than 35 minutes. In my opinion the best element in Malevolent Creation's music is Brett Hoffman's vocals, I like them a lot and I'm sure I'm not the only one. This album is built once again on fast rhythms but there are some welcomed incursions in mid-tempo and very fast rhythms as well so the whole album gets interesting and keeps your attention high. The execution is flawless, but yet again what would you expect from such a Death Metal monster? 

After 23 years of existence Malevolent Creation seem to have more energy, more hate and aggression to share than ever. Maybe (to read: for sure) Erik Rutan's production on this album contributed to this energy. Although old-school to the bone this album sound very fresh, and will certainly bring Malevolent Creation some new hordes of fans.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: MISCONCEIVED

Country: Germany

Title: Resurrection - Beast - Kill

Label: Selfreleased

Year: 2010

Style: Death Metal

Review:

This is a German band that has already 17 years of existence although their presence on the metal scene is rather subtle: they have released only 3 demos and 1 EP, and "Resurrection - Beast - Kill" is their debut album (this has all the rights to be considered a long-awaited album). A good thing about this waiting is the fact that the band is formed by mature musicians and that has a good effect on their music: strong, curdled, sharp and aggressive Death Metal with a little dose of melody here and there. From the band's music to the cover's artwork and band pictures everything is professional and suggests respect so all chances are this band will be signed in no time. In a few words Misconceived is: aggressive combination of comprehensive Death Metal powerful clean vocals with screams, catchy and groovy guitar riffs supported by occasional melodic solos, very fast and pounding rhythm section (the drummer is a sick guy for sure) that constitutes the backbone of all Misconceived's music, but a sound that leaves a lot of room for more, for better... Very enjoyable album, not groundbreaking but extremely well composed and executed, recommended to all Extreme Metal followers. Still the sound could have been better...

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: OPHIS

Country: Germany

Title: Withered Shades

Label: Solitude Prod.

Year: 2010

Style: Doom Death Metal

Review:

Ophis is a German band founded in 2001, and "Withered Shades" is their second opus after 3 years of silence. Actually they even mention on the CD cover that the tracks presented here are composed between 2007 and 2010. The first thing that strikes you when you get in contact with this release is the great cover artwork made in silver color on black background; it looks absolutely great and it's a perfect visual support for Ophis' music. The four guys from Hamburg are playing a Doomy Death Metal made exclusively on "normal" instruments: drums, bass & guitars, plus vocals, of course. Although no pianos, keyboards or synths are used these guys know how to build their music to suggest grief, pain and melancholy. What we get here is 5 tracks lasting for about 65 minutes, 5 tracks into old-school Doom Death Metal, slow, aggressive and fat sounding. The good growling vocals are sometimes backed by Black Metal screams just to emphasize the whole grieving atmosphere. Good record, recommended to old-school Doom Death followers.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: PASADENA NAPALM DIVISION

Country: USA

Title: P.N.D. EP

Label: Abyss Records

Year: 2010

Style: Thrash Metal

Review:

Pasadena Napalm Division (PND) debuts with this 6 tracks EP lasting for 15 minutes. PND could be considered a Texas super-group as their members come from more known bands as D.R.I. (Texas), Dead Horse (Texas) or Verbal Abuse (California). The new band is a mixture of US school of Thrash Metal and Punk Rock, quite simple and except for the great guitar solos here and there it's nothing I would die for, actually I don't even understand if this is a real thing, a serious thing or if it is just a joke... Fast, repetitive rhythms, good recording sound, old-school attitude, an album that I would recommend only to fans of '80's Thrash Metal with a Punk attitude, don't know if this will have a good welcome from European fans...

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: THE DEAD

Country: Australia

Title: Ritual Executions

Label: Diabolical Conquest Records

Year: 2010

Style: Doom Death Metal

Review:

The Dead from Australia is a band founded in 2005, a band that has released already 2 demos, a single, an EP and a full-lenght album before releasing Ritual Executions on their own in 2009. This year Ritual Execution was re-released by the new India based label Diabolical Conquest Records. This album is composed of 7 tracks lasting for about 45 minutes of Doomy Death Metal with a dirty, sludgy attitude, an album I have enjoyed a lot. Very catchy tunes, interesting, powerful and fat sounding, with lots of grooves all over. Everyone in the band gives their best and the result is great: old-school Death Metal with a heavy Doom atmosphere and dirty sound.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: THE SULLEN ROUTE

Country: Russia

Title: Madness of My Own Design

Label: Soliture Productions

Year: 2010

Style: Doom Death Metal

Review:

Formed in 2008, Russian band The Sullen Route got to release its debut album only this year and of course the producer is Solitude Productions, a label that keeps impressiong with the quality and especially quantity of releases it releases. Back to the band, although a young one (both as a band and as individuals), it chose an Old-School path for their Doom Death Metal, meaning they use only traditional instruments (vox, drums, guitars and bass) and still manage to create some good melodic parts in their music. The mastering of the whole material could have been better, and I'm reffering to the sound balance, if listened with headphones (like I do), at a resonably high volume, it gets anoying and even disturbing at a point, but other than that it's good enough to let you discover this talented band. The vocalist, although not using varied tones, is the key point in their music (in my opinion), he gives a lot of emotion to the whole and I'm sure that if he starts to play a bit more with his voice in the future he'll do great things.

An album that I honestly recommend to all Old-School Doom Death followers.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: URAN 0 / ASTARIUM

Country: Russia / Russia

Title: Katuar

Label: NitroAtmosphericum / Satanarsa

Year: 2010

Style: Industrial Dark Black Metal / Symphonic Black Metal

Review:

A 100% Russian split CD: co-released by two Russian labels, with two Russian bands (one-man-band projects), with cover texts in Russian. This is my first encounter with Uran 0, a Dark Ambient one-man-band with multiple and very powerful influences from Black Metal and Industrial Metal, maybe even Noise, instrumental only, without vocals. I would say this is a rather successful project, it's music, although mostly slow to mid-tempo, is not boring at all, is entertaining and well executed. Underground sound, raw and quite primitive, but ok for such a band. 

Astarium is another one-man-band from Russia playing dark, evil Symphonic Black Metal with strong keyboard lines, many effects ( I don't like the effects on vocals though, they are too "hidden" in the background). 4 tracks of mostly fast rhythms, nothing to make you fall off your chair but really catchy and acceptable for such a project, I like it for the atmosphere it creates, but I'm sure this guy can do more than that.

I would recommend this to Underground Black Metal and Ambient Dark followers only.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: WELICORUSS

Country: Russia

Title: Wintermoon Symphony

Label: CD Maximum

Year: 2008

Style: Symphonic Black Metal

Review:

Welicoruss is a Russian band founded in 2001 as a solo project and became a full line-up band in 2005. The strange thing about them is that they have released 2 demos (one in 2002 and another one in 2006), 1 promo (in 2008) and 1 album, the debut album (this one I'm reviewing now), all under the same title: Wintermoon Symphony... Isn't that strange? Whatever. This album is made of 11 tracks and lasts for more than 50 minutes, so there's plenty of time to get to know this band and make up an exact opinion. The sound is a bit messy sometimes and might give you the opinion there are too many instruments, but after a spin you get used to it and it becomes better. Well Welicoruss is a very good band with interesting, catchy ideas and quite good technical skills to allow them to put those ideas in practice. Of course this is not the perfect album, but it is very entertaining, complex and not boring at all, it takes the listener from symphonic, bombastic parts to folkish, even fantasy-like ones to fast and aggressive Black Metal. As you may guess it, keys and synths are a big part of Welicoruss' music, but nonetheless their music doesn't sound too synthetic. 

Since releasing this album the band has a new EP out so check their Myspace for more news if you're into Symphonic (Black) Metal.

Reviewed by Adrian

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Band: VARIOUS ARTISTS

Country: World

Title: The Underground Trilogy Vol.1

Label: Smouldering Earth Records

Year: 2010

Style: Extreme Metal

Review:

Italian Smouldering Earth Records started releasing a series of compilations designed to promote underground extreme metal bands from all over the world. The one I have is the first volume, released in June, but these guys already released a second one and working on the third volume as I write this. I'll just mention a few words on each of the 11 bands featured on volume 1.

Southern Extremity - Black Death Metal act from Italy, fast paced, a bit too repetitive and with a minus for the mixing part of this track

Diabolicon - already reviewed in Pest Webzine, great Polish Black Metal band signed on Smouldering Earth Records

Sadoplague - one mand Death metal band from Australia; crushing sound, fast rhythms, great guitar tones, but I don't like the vocals on this one

Fleischwald - Italian Grindcore one-man-band that's making a good name in the underground lately; short track, straight to the point brutal old-school Grind - great

Mortuui - obscure Black Metal act from Italy that's featured on this compilation with their one and only track, I think... not a bad start

Deafest - USA Black Metal with keyboards; good ideas on this track but the execution is not that good, especially on drums

Genocide Winter - US Black Metal reviewed before in Pest Webzine; I don't like the vocals at all and can't pass over that...

Aftenrusk - some sort of Noise Ambient Black Metal; the atmosphere is terrifying indeed, but I can't get the weird structures of this track, too avantgardish for me...

Lykauges - another one-man-band, from Greece this time. I have already reviewed this band, as well, and I still stick to my review, this is a good Black Metal act combining slow and mid-paced rhythms

Nyarlathotep - this is the Spanish Nyarlathotep (there are many bands with this name around the world); primitive, evil Black Metal, raw as hell

Vaindustry - Industrial Metal band from Finland; powerful and at the same time melodic sound, very catchy, but I don't like the vocals at all

That would be the first volume of this series of compilations released by Smouldering Earth Records. As far as I know it has a very cheap price so go buy it and support this label's innitiative.

Reviewed by Adrian

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