As one reads the inserts provided with this train wreck of a split, one will notice the bleeding heart, liberal stance that made clear by Balboa's dedication of its material to the illegal immigrants in China and the United States. After reading that, one has his or her ears systematically raped one track at a time, first by Balboa, then by Nitro Mega Prayer.

There really isn't any point to these recordings but to rampantly plagiarize and scream rhetoric about politics, lifestyle, or personal issues.

Balboa's vocalist needs to be taken out back and given a good ol' Texas ass kicking, simply because he's failed at being a hardcore frontman, which has to be the easiest job in the music industry today: you go up onstage, scream your lungs out, thrash around, and repeat for the rest of the setlist. Somehow, such requirements seem to be too much for this vocalist, as his yells are monotonous and slurred to the point of ridicule.

The lyrics are sparse and even then it's impossible to follow along with the horrible vocals. There's really not much to say about the actual music of this band. It’s made of the same riffs that you could hear from any other hardcore band out there today, except muddied and more annoying than the Coldstone Creamery servers breaking out into song and dance every time they get a tip.

The only decent offering that this band produced was their third track, "Renga," which is appealing only because the track is an instrumental, although sadly stealing again from hardcore itself as well as emo. Balboa’s at any kind of intelligible music is pathetic in and of itself, with their best feature being the ability to keep time with a metronome in the studio as they record.

Nitro Mega Prayer's side of the split started off with some awesome jazzy licks that keeps a steady flow throughout the album. All in all, the music wasn't half bad, thanks to the near dominant Japanese jazz vibe throughout the three tracks. The only thing that dragged this band down was their vocalist, whose squawky vocals bring back vivid memories of one of my friends ex-girlfriends, who seemed to be in a constant state of PMS and decided to announce it to the world as loudly as her pissed off mind would allow.

Unfortunately for Nitro Mega Prayer's vocalist, she can't seem to do more than yell the same pissed off, monotonous, tone-deaf pattern over and over and over and over throughout all three tracks. Had Nitro Mega Prayer been an instrumental band, they might have been many times better, and actually a good band. (Balboa: 1/10, Nitro Mega Prayer: 4/10)

Aisling's hometown, Trieste, is an Italian city bordering with Slovenia and Croatia. After World War II, there was a dispute about whether it should become a part of Italy or Yugoslavia, and as in the end it became Italian. It also became a destination where the whole of the former Yugoslavia (including this writer) went shopping for Italian shoes, car parts and glossy Italian porn magazines. However, Aisling are here to tell us that Trieste has been founded by a Celtic tribe around 500 BC. You live and learn. They also inform us that their music is a reflection of their strong bond with the spirituality of their ancestors, quickly adding that no political ideologies stand behind their concept. Fine. And they call their music "Pagan Celtic folk extreme metal." Okay...

Another value-for-money release from Einheit Produktionen, this CD brings us Aisling's self-titled 2001 debut and the three-track 2002 EP, Trath Na Gaoth (meaning Season of Winds), both digitally remastered.

Now I'm not sure what being Celtic means, but Aisling (ashlig = dream-like vision) have translated it into atmospheric, symphonic, nature-loving, but fast and damn loud black metal. After a quiet intro with piano and keyboards, the second track, "The Oracle of Dehumanization," properly scares you with a guitar sound so ridiculously over-the-top that it makes your teeth buzz. The overall production is thunderous – sometimes you can't even hear the snare drum – but still you will notice quite silent but effectively placed pianos, flutes, cellos, acoustic guitars or keyboards playing cascades of bell-like sounds reminding you of falling rain. The singer's rasps are hollow but in unpredictable places and sometimes aided by clean vocals or whispers.

But loudness, blastbeats and epic aural assaults are only a part of this experience: the songs effortlessly turn into quiet ambiental passages and back, losing nothing of their impact. Long, imaginative and fairly complicated, there is only one problem with them: after you've listened to Aisling several times you probably still won't be able to remember a single thing from it. There are really no memorable riffs and the loud parts tend to sound all the same. But that doesn't have to be bad: it's really all about the layers of atmosphere – and looking at the artwork with snowy and foggy forests, it does make sense.

Trath Na Gaoth brings some changes: the drummer does some experimentation, new rhythms are explored and there's a new singer with slightly less hollow screams and a more basic delivery, but the atmosphere is intact. And the lyrics become serious. Where on Aisling, they were just vague references in English to the old times, lost wisdom, nature and dehumanization of the modern world, here they are more elaborate. "Laoidhan Fogharach Na Oudhachas Agus T-Aisling Agam" is a nice ambiental instrumental piece with narration in... well, THAT language.

"Music is mysticism," says the booklet. If you're going to try to listen to Aisling logically and with concentration you might not get much mysticism but relax, turn the lights off and just let them fill the space around you – they could surprise you. (6.7/10)

Speaking of the globalization trend, Aborym has become a multi-national band featuring members both from Italy and Norway (and in the band's short history, there has been also a member from Hungary), some of which are semi-superstars such as Bard "Faust" Eithun (drummer on Emperor's debut full length album and co-star in Varg Vikernes' story: "the night I had slaughtered Euronymous, and it was easy too").

On the vocal duties presides a member of the Norwegian band Mysticum (which has released the excellent In the Streams of Inferno album way back in the mid nineties, which shares, when reflecting on it, many characteristics with Aborym's aesthetics) whose pseudonym is so utterly ridiculous, it will not be mentioned here (you have always got The Metal Archives website for good old gossip and curiosities such as these…);

All in all, a half Norwegian, half Italian outfit. The best part is that Malfeitor Fabban, who had been the main screamer for the magnificent 2001 grand opus Toward the Dusk by the unique entity called Void of Silence, is still a part of Aborym. However, he's taken the bass guitar part this time. Why he's not the vocalist on Aborym's albums is a mystery; however the vocals on this album are managed skillfully and with accordance to the overall feel it emanates – a high-pitched screaming devil screened through an electronic gadget of sorts, which in turn transforms it into a heinous, alienated sonic hatred.

Still being unromantic bastards, Aborym's Generator – the band's fourth full length effort – is somewhat of a devolution from their vision of nihilistic machinery and inhuman industrial apocalypse in the sense it is a more "organic" album and owns less of that "synthetic" quality that has been the band's trademark throughout their musical development – a sound that has been perfected on their almost-revolutionary 2003 masterwork, With No Human Intervention.

The aspired dichotomy displayed by the complex relations between the industrial, machine-like, cold sound of the old Aborym coupled with real musicians playing real instruments (the incorporation of a real drum kit and a drummer instead of a machine, et cetera…) and the maturation of a mysterious, almost-symphonic and – in a peculiar manner – Gothic vibe radiating from this album, have all led the assembly to compose a piece that, even though by no means a step forward in the band's evolution in terms of perfecting their unique brand of harsh and cold electro-black metal (so wonderfully executed through the aforementioned With No Human Intervention), it is however a solid and mature work of art with many a quality with which it is adorned. It leaves the trance / electronica and industrialization / synthetics in the shadows of the vitriolic metal on display, almost in nuances and hints.

The outcome is astoundingly refreshing and results in an attack on the senses with a healthy dose of novelty. One fine album Generator has turned out to be and a final proof to the talent of those individuals whose fourth album showcases their ability to produce good music within the realms of radical metal without the need of over-abundant electronica and that in the end, the use of such has never really been a filler to the music or a poor excuse for any alleged lack of talent; with enough patience the beauty of this album unfolds, the undercurrent pseudo-operatic melodicism is revealed and as the album progresses, it binds together with the extreme metal therein and integrates into a beast of beauty and corruption. (8.9/10)

Ouch. Did someone take a bunch of ancient Deep Purple and Uriah Heep tapes, cut them to pieces, randomly stick them together (inadvertently some of them backwards), played the result at four times the original speed and record screaming and 1960s sci-fi effects over it?

Nearly so. Philadelphia's An Albatross (What? Next we'll be getting bands named If Coyote or When Elephants?) call their music "psychedelic sonic orgasm" and their third release – I'm sure you wanted to know the other two were called Eat Lightning, Shit Thunder and We Are The Lazer Viking – is just that. Being only 27 minutes long and having 18 tracks with titles longer than the actual songs, Blessphemy is a cacophony of polyrhythms, sudden changes and synthesized grindcore. You may start shouting "The Locust" – maybe, but a hippie one with a more melodic '70s vibe and matching keyboards.

For a second, An Albatross might remind you of one thing and then of another but naming them and all the things in between would be impossible. The moods range between pompous, atmospheric, drunken, epic, jazzy, psychedelic, rock and roll, progressive, grind, hilarious and most of all spastic, with sonic convulsions almost being a trademark, but there is no way of knowing which will come where and you can be damn sure Blessphemy will make you dizzy. Dissecting the songs to pieces, it is obvious that they were written with a purpose and not just as an exercise in throwing in random pieces of music, and as a whole the album works. You will also find that you have many favourite parts and it will not matter that they last for maybe five seconds.

Blessphemy begins with a cheesy keyboard intro and ends with an applause and chirping of birds. You can listen to anything in-between at your own risk. Don't even try while intoxicated, you might get hurt. (7.7/10)

Five years after their last album, Dim Carcosa, Belgium's black metal veterans Ancient Rites have returned with a new album and some line-up changes. Now they are a seven-piece band, featuring three guitarists, a drummer, a keyboardist and a bass player, as Gunther Theys has decided to concentrate only on his vocal duties.

On Rvbicon, Ancient Rites didn't hesitate to engage all the instruments, add layers of orchestration and include a number of session musicians while attempting to bring you one of the loudest and most bombastic albums you've ever heard.

And it begins well with "Crusade," a short Oriental intro speeding up and setting the theme for the second track, "Templar." Blastbeats, drum rolls and whirling guitars are flying around and changing directions. Two bass drums are racing against black metal guitars and listening to more Eastern guitar melodies, pompous keyboards, and narrative vocals. You might even be tricked into thinking that this is a louder and better version of Bal-Sagoth, or maybe a black metal incarnation of Blind Guardian. It isn't.

In spite of all the work Ancient Rites have done with the orchestrations, arrangements, production, recording and mixing, the music itself is pretty basic and at most times predictable, symphonic, old-school speed metal. There are surprises here and there, such as female vocals on "Thermopylae" or "Ypres," and clean singing in another language (sounds like Portuguese, but I'm not an expert) on "Brabantia." But really, Rvbicon just cries for more inventive or memorable song structures.

And then there is the singing. A couple of spoken parts aside, the rest of the time Gunther is whispering. Seriously. Whispering. Maybe he wanted to sound like one of those introductions to epic movies but after a song or two, he just sounds like a sports commentator trying to depict all the excitement of a game of chess. Really, almost any other type of singing would have been more suitable for Rvbicon, especially because the lyrics aren't bad at all, dealing with glorious battles of old, from Ancient Rome to the World War I.

Ancient Rites might have crossed their own Rubicon – but the success isn't as glorious as it could have been. (5.9/10)

Between the Buried and Me are currently the phenomenon amongst the metalcore scene, and with good reason. Victory Records group have chosen to follow up their genius Alaska album with a release aptly titled The Anatomy Of..., which to an extent pays tribute to the formative songs of Between the Buried and Me's career.

There's no denying Between the Buried and Me's mastery when it comes to metalcore, and it's a given that albums of this nature are hit or miss.

Vader pulled it off effortlessly with their cover album, The Future of the Past, and then you have bands that go the Six Feet Under way and butcher everything they play. Unfortunately, Between the Buried and Me have almost completely lumped themselves in with the Six Feet Under camp.

Listening to some of the songs on this album will make any long-time metal, rock, or even Depeche Mode-fanatic grind their teeth until their enamel begins to smoke.

The cheesey synth and complete ignorance to tone resembling any sort of the original songs makes nearly ever piece of music on this album, save for the Motley Crue cover, sound like some average metalcore band rehearsing a demo tape. It's fucking ridiculous to hear a complete classic like Pink Floyd's "Us and Them" and even Pantera's "Cemetary Gates" ruined because of the band members making slight changes to their music and turning the mix into something more metalcore friendly.

They left all the reverb off of "Us and Them," and as any David Gilmour-fanatic knows, he either always had triplets or reverb on, and it's not exactly a mystery. The tone on Pantera’s "Cemetary Gates" is the most obnoxious thing you will ever hear.

The worst thing about this album is that Between the Buried and Me are making money by butchering music from bands that we all love and grew up to. Do not support this bullshit. (3/10)

review by: Roberto Martinelli

It’s a toss up what sucks worse, an entire album of one band covering other bands’ songs, or a bunch of bands you’ve never heard of (and never will again) covering one famous band’s songs. The answer, of course, is clear. The worst is Six Feet Under covering an entire AC/DC album, song for song.

The Anatomy... seemed dubious, indeed. But it’s actually really great.

Queen had major talent, and about as many horrendous songs to counterbalance it. "Bicycle Race" has got to be one of the worst. But Between the Buried and Me somehow make it great. Now I love that song.

That’s the knack of this album, making originals better somehow. It’s the only way a record of this type can be any sort of success. Think of how Obituary took "Circle of the Tyrants" and beat Celtic Frost with its own creation. The Anatomy... is like that, but multiple times.

Between the Buried and Me is indeed the champion of metalcore. Superb musicianship, great songs, and excellent vocals. If just about any other metalcore outfit tried to pull any of the songs here off with their so-uniformly-atrocious its-an-accepted-genre clean vocals, you would see a counterpoint review saying Ryan was too kind.

Somehow, this album works. Really, really well. Ok, Sepultura’s "Territory" seems to go on too long, a bunch of the songs might be from bands of whose albums you own nary a one, but it’s superbly executed and highly enjoyable. I can’t believe I’m wholeheartedly recommending this record. (7.5/10)

review by: Joshua

With gaps of three to four years between releases, Boards of Canada certainly take their sweet time making records. But when the results are this good – so lovely and shimmeringly gorgeous – complaints are nothing more than a selfish indulgence. In fact, we should be grateful for holding this CD in our hot little hands and with that comes the perverse notion that the two Scotsmen who comprise Boards of Canada rely on your gratitude, as well. In a nice way, that is.

"Chromakey Dreamcoat," the first proper track, sets the tone by mixing an electronic wash of disjointed melodies with intrusive static and spare, isolated guitar notes that have you imagining a lonely kid secreted away in his bedroom playing along to the faint murmur of a song that he’s picking up on an AM radio station that’s barely in range, the signal fading in and out in an undulating and unpredictable beckoning that always falls short of total clarity.

The album’s hour length enters and exits through a haze of varying transparency and opacity. Simple melodies carry so much more than their sparseness implies. Uncomplicated beats speak volumes with their minimalism. Infusions of background crackling, noise, tape hiss, and scratchiness add grainy texture to the glassine surface. Everything sounds as if it’s disintegrating as it’s simultaneously regenerating.

Each track creates a surreal tableau with one foot firmly rooted in reality. "Satellite Anthem Icarus" evokes the simple pleasure of being lost in a dream while "Dayvan Cowboy" finds one haunted by ghosts who only long for human touch or a whisper of recognition. The penultimate track, "Tears From the Compound Eye," inhabits the melancholic space following the news of a death, carrying emptiness and loss while chasing the bittersweet wistfulness of time shared; it fades into "Farewell Fire," a mournful coda that drifts you towards sleep, exhausted, but holding on to the fragmented swaths of memory that keep you from falling headlong into despair.

The beauty of Boards of Canada’s music is its childlike perspective constantly at odds with an adult’s incessant moodiness. Every track is a snapshot of a sorrowful image captured in a moment of multi-hued sunbursts and color schemes that offset the gravity. The images are far too bright and immediate, yet you revel in that brightness knowing that it pushes down at the misery always reaching for the surface. (8.5/10)

This Italian quartet has a strong death/thrash style that should carry wide appeal, especially among fans of mainstream American metal. Fast-picked grooves are the rule on War Against the Almighty, and deep distortion emphasizes the group's heavy sound. Braindamage's drumming is rhythmically diverse, and is probably the most interesting single element present on the release. The guitars are thick and in-control, and haunting melodies mix with sludge to create many different moods. The vocals consist of a percussive, throaty yell that sounds more fitting for an East-Coast hardcore group than a thrash band, but it sounds pretty good overall.

Braindamage's formula does get tiresome by the end of the album, however, and there are certain sections that just don't fit. Some sung vocal lines are pretty bad, and the simplistic song structure becomes tedious before War Against the Almighty is even halfway through. The band borrows too heavily from unchallenging nu-metal stock. Though not a bad album, I would keep looking. (5/10)

"Sci-fi deth rock"? If your reaction to that, even without listening to the album, is "what the fuck?" then you're sane.

But let’s analyze anyway. "Sci-fi": there's absolutely no sci-fi whatsoever in Casket Architects’ music. Sure, maybe the lyrics, but they don't matter that much when you're trying to create a genre. "Deth rock": let's hope they aren't referring to death rock; if so, they’re really asking for Rozz Williams to rise from his grave and beat the hell out of them. "Sci-fi deth rock"? Doesn't make any sense at all. And no, even if they say they do, they don't have any ‘70s industrial/noise elements at all.

But anyway, besides something as meaningless as its categorization, Dance on the Death Nerve is actually pretty good. Casket Architects go from modern hardcore to old school hardcore in seconds, including also poppish punk segments, lots of Dead Kennedys-influenced riffage and The Vines-like garage rock. While it can't be called an original concept, it's lots and lots of fun while it lasts, which is not that long.

Dance on the Death Nerve’s technical side is nothing too amazing, but it has its moments. Mostly, it has four or five types of rhythm riffs over and over again, with the same drum patterns. Outside those riffs, however, the leads are quite original and catchy, sometimes even neoclassical-sounding. The vocals are at times too generic, but for the most part fit and is varied enough to not bore the listener. The drummer does some nice tom rolls but that's about it. Also, the production emphasizes the bass guitar enough to allow some sonic originality for Casket Architects, but it's mostly a difference in sound, as it plays almost equally what the guitar does.

The album has, however, a big flaw among smaller ones: it's way too short. Only 18 minutes make Dance on the Death Nerve a teaser. Also, its insufficience of variation makes its replay value fairly close to zero, so don't expect it to pop up in your CD playlist too often. It's not lacking quality, but two or three things undermine the whole experience.

For hardcore enthusiasts and anyone wanting less than 20 minutes of fun, go ahead and get it. For people needing an album to satisfy their craving for weird hardcore, I'd suggest getting the Mabus full length, also reviewed in this issue. Not a bad effort at all, though. (6/10)

Star Trek replicators.

Right-click "copy," then "paste."

The Clone Stamp function in Photoshop.

The Twilight Zone episode with... See? I could have easily made a joke. But I am not going to. This isn't even funny.

Someone out there must be buying this because Kingdom is Cataract's fourth album. And why they are paying the full CD price for what sounds like one song repeated 11 times is beyond me. Maybe it's because of Cataract's intensive touring. Or maybe being a Swiss metalcore band makes them somehow appealing?

Exotic? Better try: basic, repetitive, boring, generic, boring, uninventive, formulaic and let's not forget – boring. Cataract have somehow forgotten that songwriting does not equal riff-writing.

Every song starts with a Slayer-meets-The Haunted opening, goes on for a while and then turns into one of those slow metalcore parts where the singer screams pieces of wisdom like "No escape! No escape!" "Your life! Your life!" or "Reach! For the crown! Reach! For the crown!" And that's not all – his vocals are too loud and without any variation, making him sound like a schoolboy reading a recitation. A couple of times he does go "Bleahhh!" and those are actually the highlights of this album.

Sure, the sound is devastating. Some of the riffs are good. But why bother when the most interesting part of Kingdom is the thanks list with all the bands they have played with. Which means that you'll probably see them live – and here's a hard-boiled hardcore phrase you can shout at them in-between songs: "Must! Try harder! Must! Try harder!" (2/10)

"Hey, they are like Nevermore!" – these were the first words one of my friends said when he saw Communic's "Conspiracy in Mind" video. And regardless of what the press might try to tell you – or hide – there is no point in denying that Norway's Communic owed much of their quick success to the fact that, on the first sight, their music resembles something between Sanctuary and Nevermore's debut, with slight references to The Politics of Ecstasy. But Conspiracy in Mind is not entirely without an identity of its own – and it isn't half bad, either.

The First track, "Conspiracy In Mind," is full of typical mechanical Nevermore riffs. When Oddleif Stensland's singing begins you might want to check the booklet to see if there are any guest vocalists on the album, or maybe if Warrel Dane has relocated to Norway – the vocals are that similar.

But before you've started thinking that you know them, on "History Reversed" things change and Communic become progressive – and quite emotive. The songs vary from seven to 11 minutes in length and brim with changes, simple and effective guitar melodies, slow, clean parts with delicate guitar effects, underlying keyboards, crushing mechanical riffs (which are now no longer primary parts of the songs but highlights), and with all the contrasts, they still maintain a constant flow. There really isn't a dull moment on the album.

Stensland – who also plays the only guitar in Communic – sounds warm, sometimes vulnerable, and on "Ocean Bed," even disturbing. You can instantly identify with his vocal lines.

The most notable thing about Conspiracy in Mind is a constant atmosphere of deprivation and yearning – and, a rare treat these days, sincerity – believe it or not for a "clone" band. If you're not into all that "emotions stuff," don't worry – the riffs are still perfectly headbangable, the musicianship is remarkable and the sound is clear and powerful, just like... ahem. That other band.

It seems like Communic has covered all the bases without even trying hard. A surprisingly accomplished, if somewhat unoriginal, debut by a promising band. (8/10)

Something horrible happened to Communic. Maybe because the success came too fast. Maybe because they were lead to believe that they could do no wrong. Maybe they were reading the reviews. Maybe because Waves of Visual Decay came only a year after the debut. Or they were playing live and observing which parts received most enthusiastic responses from the audience. Or it's because Nucear Blast offered them a seven-album deal? Maybe they just wanted more cash – whichever it was, this time, writing the album they over-calculated.

I could imagine that the songwriting process for Waves of Visual Decay went something like this: "Hey, they said there were too many clean parts!" Now there are just a few, and the drummer uses them for exhibitionism. "They said we were progressive..." The songs are still between six and nine minutes long, even more complicated but boring.

Most of the time the tempo doesn't change, they are stuffed with a bunch of similar mechanical riffs that really don't go anywhere and tracks like "Fooled by the Serpent" get broken even before they've properly developed. And along with pointless complication, Communic have also "discovered" another "progressive" gimmick – adding another beat to the bar. And did it quite often.

"They said we sounded like Nevermore but noone really complained..." Oh, no. Listen to Waves of Visual Decay for any given 10 seconds and you'll think it IS Nevermore, but a poor one. There are two mandatory slow tracks and if I told you that one of them is called "Watching It All Disappear" and sounds like Nevermore you could probably write it yourself. "They said the vocals were good but too emotive..." Sure, now Oddleif Stensland sounds totally like Warrel Dane and even ruins the parts where he should've calmed down by trying to sound bitter.

Sometimes the singing doesn't connect with the riffs and, worse, once he starts singing his vocals are all over the place, without giving the other instruments a chance. When does he breathe?

People who say they like their metal to be melodic and technical will say Waves of Visual Decay is good, but not one of them will listen to it more than five times. Better try the debut, Conspiracy in Mind, instead. At least it had some honesty – and that is the one thing you can not manufacture. (3.3/10)

review by: Roberto Martinelli

I haven’t delved into Waves of Visual Decay nearly as deeply as Mladen has, but I can confirm that Communic’s sophomore album falls far short of the debut. It sounds like that first album, but the decaf version. (5/10)

If for the sole reason that Darkness Eternal’s George Velaetis handles all organic (i.e., real musical instrument, electronica-free) instruments by himself, does he deserve a certain praise and definitely even some greater respect than most. This underground veteran has created with Misanthropic Annihilation one of the most menacing, ear-tearing, soul-crushing albums of recent times. This album is so heavy, it actually forces the listener to turn down the volume due to extreme inconvenience it generates with its surgeon's blade-wielding sharp sounds and the bloody, morbid, buzzing chainsaw guitars, distorted all the way to hell and back.

Velaetis offers his vision to heavy metal and by doing so, also a clue as to his own enormous talent as a song-writer and musician. This assembly of nine tracks showcases an assorted assembly of abyss-dark, brutal-yet-melodic death metal hymns that do differ from one another but all share the same core qualities: the magnificent production; the never-neglected sense of melody, be it twisted, hinted, blurred or muffled by the metallic terror of the overall sound; progressiveness and the ever present feel that there are many molds and dogmas within this genre that should be broken and indeed are broken throughout the songs; the motley stylistic approaches, sometimes hyper-speed songs, sometimes the songs drag to an almost funeral pace. All that embodied within this work, makes this particular album a phenomenon by its own merits.

What's more, it has finally succeeded in breaking the boredom barrier most brutal death metal bands suffer from. Even though Velaetis' vocals do sound somewhat generic in the context of this sub-genre (but adequate enough for this specific recording and NOT your usual ridiculous cookie monster blabbering), the music compensates on that fault, big time. Misanthropic Annihilation is the best brutal (yet not generically brutal by any means) metal release for quite some time and surely the best for the year 2006 in that particular section. If Mortician had actually been much, much more progressive and added a sense of melody and genuine darkness (other then the horror flick intros) into their retarded-yet-extremely-sharp sound, you'd have had a slight, inadequate, remote idea of what this behemoth of an album sounds like. Good work. (8.5/10)

Daughters. Remember this name. Why? Daughters will be the next Dillinger Escape Plan.

Their Hydrahead full-length is the strangest album you will hear all year, bringing metal and aspects of various -core bands into an aural funk that's nothing short of frightening and maddening in the bare basics. What's going on within Hell Songs is a mad scientist concoction of psychopathic-ward patients who happened to get a hold of some recording equipment. The end result is a schizophrenic ride through the types of psyches that modern society will give you medicine for.

On Hell Songs, The Daughters have managed to bring grindcore into a completely new level, sounding like they're from the Mike Patton school of spastic, morbidly obscure and strange music.

Structure? What structure? This is almost beat poetry for life-sentence inmates. A constant uneasy atmosphere surround the album from the second you hear the initial noise and vocals of their lead singer slur and stumble from his mouth into the mic. Oh, random horn sections, anyone?

Hell Songs is a frightening display of avant-garde being turned into the utopian John Zorn view of completely free-form everything. This is not just a merger of jazz and grindcore, or anything of the sort. This is the integration of music into that feeling that you get whenever you think people in a mental institution might know something you don't. Work that will soon have a cult following. (10/10)

Hey, Darkest Hour put out another new album. They've gotten softer.

No, wait. It's Deadsoil, and the album is Sacrifice. Well.

Y'know, Glass Casket just put out an awesome new release! You'd think that after We Are Gathered Here Today and losing some of their members to Between the Buried and Me, it would be a little hard for them to keep it up, but no, Desparate Man's Diary is still the same Glass Casket that punished us in the beginning.

Oh, yeah, Deadsoil. Right. Um. Awkward melodies. Drenched in clean vocals. Garage-sounding production. Structures beat to death by all of their counterparts.

Sacrifice is a failure on a massive fucking level. (1/10)

It’s been a while since Decapitated cemented its name in the lexicon of bands to watch in the world death metal scene. From Poland? You’re already halfway there. Regardless, each successive album by these wunderkinds is increasingly original and noteworthy.

Orgamic Hallucinosis is better than any Decapitated record that has come before. The songs are more distinct from one another, and the rhythms and riffs provide a bit more breathing room, giving the music more depth. You know a death metal album is a success when you like the whole thing, but have songs that are your clear favorites. Mine’s the second track.

Here’s more proof of how big an impact Cryptopsy’s second vocalist, Mike DiSalvo, had on his scene. He still gets ripped on by some people as being negatively described as "hardcore." Sure, you can see it, but his vocal rhythms were some of the most interesting, particularly considering what he had to do them over. Anyway, Decapitated’s Covan definitely takes a page from the DiSalvo manual, providing similar hard-edged and relatively coherent vocals to the super technical and churning music. And it all fits. This CD will fit into any death metal fan’s collection. (8.5/10)

Although UK power metal band Dragonforce’s third album is very inhuman, as the skills of Herman Li are unmatched, it is not the rampage we had originally hoped for. With a name like Inhuman Rampage, you'd expect the heaviest, most brutal riffing imaginable from these guys mixed with their high-speed solos that make every other band look bad, and for the most part, that is what you will receive... A blistering – yet not grim, nor kvlt in any way – thunderous roar of Dragonforce's special brand of speed-power metal.

At first listen, one would think that the first track, "Through The Fire And Flames," is very complex, although when one listens closer, it is not truly so. We'd like to state that the song is amazing, as is the shredding, though with such a superb album, one must surely dig deeper. The song is very dense with solos and various leads, including guitar noises that sound like they’re straight out of a video-game. Think Nintendo, stuff like Pacman, Digdug, Burgertime, etc... You won't find any Halo 2 sounds but they do great at the primitive bleeps and bloops. What else could a person ask for, seriously?

Li and Sam Totman's guitars bust out some grand soloing for about two whole minutes near the end of the song, which may be the longest soloing run on the album, which is very exciting with both of them playing a solo at a time, almost like a duel where they're both winners.

When you dig deeper to discover (and uncover) the structure of this song, you will realize that it is really not so impressive... "Blasphemy!", they shout. Hidden under the shredding and the chuggy production you will find the poor little rhythm track... Listen to the rhythm throughout the song, and you will notice that the rhythm is basically powerchords! "How could this be?!", you ask in a somewhat maniacal manner... Sorrowfully, it is true. Although the shredding is simply amazing, and the percussion is thrashy and relentless, the heavy rhythm tracks alone are pretty basic. If you removed the shredding, the song would sound very plain and not so interesting. Luckily, Dragonforce has employed two great guitarists, not to mention their amazing keyboardist – who can also shred his keyboard!

It is overwhelming how many rhythms throughout Inhuman Rampage are actually powerchords and nothing else. Sure, the guitar noises and solos more than make up for the boring rhythm, but a little more could have been put in here. We've been seeing this kind of thing done all too much lately, the forsaken rhythm track surrounded by an overly impressive arrangement from the other instruments or leads. Nobody really listens to the rhythm track when they play Dragonforce, so who cares? We can just overlook this little part of the music.

A fresh addition to the Dragonforce sound this time around is the low growls, and high screams! Some may be put off by the idea, but why should power metal be limited to only operatic, clean vocals? The inclusion of these death vocals shows some evolution and ongoing maturity from the group. It seems like a fairly logical step to include them, and although they are not so audible, they are present enough to give the fans something else to wrap their ears around. After all, if you enjoy such groups as Wintersun, the death growls sound pretty good to you by now, in fact most probably wouldn't even realize they are present in the mix on Inhuman Rampage, so good move.

Vocalist ZP Theart knows how to get it done, as his vocal lines, melodies, and arrangements are just as addictive as ever! Sure, some of the melodies unfortunately sound familiar, as if they had been done before on a previous album. But this is Dragonforce we're talking about, the vocal lines sound like Dragonforce and that is what gives them their special charm. It's amazing how this group has not done so much as far as studio work, yet their sound is so solid it can't be shaken. We all know it is Dragonforce when we hear it. The vocals are also very fun to sing along with.

The album is extremely strong for the most part until.... the power ballad rears it's ugly little head on the eighth and final track, "Trail of Broken Hearts." Filled with beautiful corn, and major-scale progressions accompanied by ZP Theart's epic vibrato. It's almost too good to be true. This is the section of Inhuman Rampage that shows the group is human after all, and even the harshest rampage must come to an end with no hard feelings after it's over. This is a huge step in the right direction after Sonic Firestorm, which itself was an instant classic. There will probably never be another band as great or powerful as Dragonforce, so get Inhuman Rampage while you can... (9/10)

review by: Roberto Martinelli

There is indeed genius involved in Dragonforce, but it’s got little to do with the music itself. Rather, it’s the public relations machine that has succeeded in promoting this English power metal group to the level of popularity that it currently enjoys.

It’s fairly wondrous that Dragonforce has attained this level of success, as essentially they are playing Euro-style power metal in its most cookie-cutter form, but speeding it up considerably. Brandon aptly points out that the solos are performed over uninteresting power chords. Power metal bands have been doing this for as long as there’s been a defined genre, and the reason for this is clear. It’s easier to solo over banality than over intricacy. Compare this work to something like Helstar’s Nosferatu, which might not have Dragonforce’s spit and polish (after all, Nosferatu was recorded in 1989), but is infinitely more musically interesting in how the solos complement the rhythms beneath them, rather than making them vulgar background noise to fill the void.

Dragonforce’s drummer has got to have one of the least desirable jobs in metal. He’s got a lot of physically demanding yet artistically void work to do: constantly rolling the double kick and playing fast beats. Even the most cursory examination will show that he essentially plays the same two dummy beats the entire record, namely the power metal industry standard 4/4 rolling double kick for the chorus, and the slightly less dense version of that beat for the verses. There is no variation. The bass player must have it even worse.

This approach to musicianship shows Dragonforce’s clear M.O. – being flash above all else. And it’s certain that if you want to extend genius to the level of proficiency that the band plays its music, you can. But the core problem is that there is little to no substance behind the band’s razzle-dazzle veneer. Dragonforce essentially has two songs: the super spastic fast one, and the token slow ballad that – despite the genre’s pitifully prolific history of tacking on a deliberately slow number at the end of an album to provide some misguided change of pace – has never felt so superfluous.

Examining this exercise in slow inaneness reveals a great deal about the band’s lack of substance, as one realizes that the group’s fast songs are nothing more than its painfully tedious slow numbers sped up to oblivion, which are single-mindedly repeated over and over throughout the course of their records.

In context, however, a nearly irrefutable case can be made that Dragonforce are masters of the style they play. Their presentation is highly calculated and pulled off perfectly considering their intent. The band’s impact is also undeniable, as we are beginning to see seeds of this style coming to fruition even over here in the fiercest of anti-happy and flashy metal bastions, the United States, with bands like Cellador (which we’ll tell you about next month). Is this good for the supporters of melodic metal? We’ll take any progress we can get.

In the meantime, Dragonforce’s Inhuman Rampage is, despite its raising the bar in its particular form of execution, nothing more than the most average of power metal records, but with a fresh coat of paint. (5/10)

Sojourn is made up of good music ruined completely by horrific, preposterous and inadequate vocal arrangements. The human vocals, being a crucial musical instrument within the mix (maybe the most important of all instruments), can elevate, transcend music to higher realms and levels, but can also, easily enough destroy the core and structure of a musical effort, be it the most amazing; if this is music that has been written also for the human voice to play its part there, then by all means, this extremely important part should be handled with care and top quality, or more accurately, in accordance with the music.

Simply put, a band should consider its vocalist to at least fit, to some extent, the characteristics and tone of sounds it plays... otherwise, it will unfortunately sound like Dreamtone. The music on Sojourn is plainly superb, and comes forth as a whole conceptual piece, epically constructed and displayed, with progressive and operatic overtones and beautiful, unique arrangements. In a nutshell, it's a grandiose progressive metal operetta, cheesiness-free, never over-the-top, colorful and exciting. However the vocalist mars all that beauty, brutally, ruthlessly. It would have been a wonderful album had the band offered it as an instrumental opus rather then what's on display here. Its being an instrumental work wouldn't have diminished it to something lesser than what it actually is, but rather have elevated it; it would at least have been much better then to make the audience literally suffer with wimpy, very weak vocals. (5/10)

Gothenburg used to be the big thing until metalcore came in and contorted it into something completely trivial. Some bands were good at making the sound work; many more were complete failures. Amongst those few bands actually still pumping out music is where you'll find Fall of Serenity.

Unfortunately, their latest release, Bloodred Salvation is a rundown of why the genre is on it's dying breath. Essentially, we've got a new album of nothing more to boast than the occasional rhythmic, thrashy swagger that does absolutely nothing but recall to mind other bands like Carnal Forge that did this album so much better.

Somehow, even MIDI keyboards happen to find their way onto Bloodred Salvation, and not in a HORSE the Band way, either.

This album is essentially nothing but an average collection of ho-hum tremolo rhythms that have been done time and time before. (5/10)

Fall of the Leafe are from Finland and play a style of music that is very much reminiscent of the Gothenburg-esque melodicism of the more mellow moments of Dark Tranquillity. In all, it is extremely hard to justifiably classify this band as metal.

Spikes, chains, bullets, leather, loudness, beer …. METAL. Fall of the Leafe are none of those things and by no means represent in any way the spirit of the genre. At times they do bring forth a heaviness, but no where present is the driving drum/bass rhythm, persistent, overdriven riffing and balls to the wall singing that makes up what I know and love as metal.

Beyond this observation, this band portrays roots that lie more in the realm of ‘80s pop music. There’s a striking resemblance to the moodiness and sorrow of The Cure. Indeed, the layered acoustic guitars and pop beat with an emotional vocal delivery puts this band more in league with the pop, rock world. Perhaps they would be comfortable with the term "heavy pop"?

In the immortal words of Manowar, "Wimps and posers leave the hall." (Gay/10)

Live at Blues West 14 is a collection of live tracks by renowned UK electric bass player Mo Foster and a revolving, modest cast of players (/friends).

Recorded mostly in small clubs during the mid ‘90s, the 13 tracks here maintain a cohesive flow, and while it is not an adventurous release, it is a highly enjoyable one. Boosting nearly all of the pieces, which originally lacked drums, are sensitive overdubs by drummers Gary Husband and Ralph Salmins.

Fun is indeed a keynote in these performances, but it is not untamed as is the case in many other jazz releases that set fun as their main goal. Instead, the enthusiasm is expressed through the catchy pieces, staying loyal to the melodic statements, which often evoke European jazz. "The Cry of The Unheard," for example, features beautiful, reflective soprano saxophone playing by Iain Ballamy (around the time of his engagement with Bill Bruford’s Earthworks) and vivid yet restrained piano by Phil Peskett, which reminded me of McCoy Tyner.

"Let’s Go on Somewhere" is also exemplary of some of the other pieces, benefitting from a seamless harmony between the piano and the bass, and decorated by the guitar of Ray Russell. In fact, Russell’s playing is one of the main attractions here, as it gets quite lyrical in places (check out "So Far Away").

The dedicated execution of his pieces, bar some minor exceptions such as the uneven performance of the Vivaldi inspired "The Four Susans," highlights Foster’s skills as a composer at least as much as his robust bass playing. A fine addition to any electric jazz fan’s collection! (7.75/10)

Dismissing Genghis Tron as merely a grindcore band would be as unfit as tagging Carnival in Coal as such. Both bands are so eclectic stylistically, they create their own inner paradox within the recording itself. Call it disco grind, electro hyper grind, crazy shit avant-grind, it does not really matter. These guys are good, extremely good.

Forget all you have ever known about left-field, experimental, extremist music; think of all the great things electronics could do to guitar-driven radical sounds; combine the whole lot into the most liquid, serpentine, unexpected, sweet-and-sour sounding grotesquery; play it loud while you're on a roller-coaster or a ghost-train going 100 MPH; What do you get? That's right: one of the best albums in existence, period. This album is, from beginning to end, pleasure par excellence. (9.99/10 – only God is perfect…)

Oh, what wonderful lunacy! Out of the vaults of Tortuga Records comes this now defunct, short-lived band's heretofore unreleased, self-titled album composed of filthy, sludgy, muddy stoner rock / metal with more than hinted influences derived from the masters of the genre – i.e. Black Sabbath themselves. Stylistically and vocally, while not as neat and aesthetically "clean" as Sabbath, The Gersch still abounds with originality, talent and musicianship in their own right, regardless of its influences.

The Gersch's music is sludge made flesh, manifested through nine superbly fuzzy and dynamically maddening tracks. This is the embodiment of anything fuzz, filth, groove and stoner galore, spiced-up with generous amount of epic quality. The vocals are uniquely laid onto this grisly-sweet, yet exquisitely rewarding, grimy musical canvas, being more then reminiscent of Ozzy Osbourne's on Black Sabbath's 1971 opus, Master of Reality. More then just Osbourne's vocals find parallel characteristics with The Gersch: the whole thing could have easily been Sabbath's version to that exact album for the late ‘90s – angrier, harsher, much heavier, faster and more dynamic then the original, even more nonchalant and in a way, less caring – a feel that most sludge-oriented bands are known to project toward the listener.

However, this very album is by no means a lesser entity then the 1971 classic mentioned above. A wonderful experience through old and new, through filthy yet epically and marvelously constructed tunes (a paradox?) of power and groove, this album is due to become an instant classic on its own merits. Mark my words. (9/10)

As we all know, Ghoul isn't the most original band name ever. There are at least six other groups with the same moniker (including the old-school Japanese hardcore band). Apparently, this Ghoul here is that it supposedly contains Impaled members and the dude from Asunder and Dystopia, but that’s about the extent of our knowledge. What we do know, however, is that Ghoul, to put it in terms even a five year-old would understand, kick ass. With Splatterthrash, you can't expect anything but pure brilliance from this major name in death/thrash.

Plain and simple, Ghoul is a thrashy Carcass worship band. "But I've heard enough of that!" you say. Wrong, until you hear Splatterthrash, you just haven't heard enough Carcass. Ok ok, it's not a carbon copy, but Ghoul was deeply influenced by them. Ghoul also show influences from other bands such as Exhumed, Impaled, and US thrash. It all makes for an explosive cocktail of gore, comedy and rifftastic goodness.

Against all odds, even as an almost completely worship band, Ghoul is original. Yes, it's a recycled idea, and yes, you'll recognize most elements, but it contains some outstanding segments you surely haven't heard before (well, in earlier Ghoul albums, but not as central aspects). The first and probably the one that'll get the most attention is the "surf metal" pieces, "Baron Samedi" and "Psychoplasm." Even if a little bit like a joke, the guitar work's still pretty good on those two songs.

Another part everyone will enjoy is Ghoul's own "Genital Grinder," titled "Into the Catacombs." Basically, it's an instrumental piece with about as many impressive riffs you can possibly fit in a 4:30 song. (Note: we are limiting ourselves to human possibilities: Dark Angel doesn't count).

Then, the really Impaled-like usage of samples in the middle of a song ("Night of the Living Dead") to make it all a little bit more theatrical is pretty sweet also, achieving perfectly what it was done for.

Splatterthrash's technical aspect is what shines. We're pretty much bombed with mosh riffs and dual vox assault (including a Jeff Walker clone, deeper growls, distorted ones and... robot vocals?). The guitar work goes from, yes, Carcass, to pure thrash, Impaled and even old school Gothenburg stuff. All the solos are memorable, all the choruses are catchy, all the drum patterns serve their purpose far better than your average band's and the riffs, oh, God, the riffs. You won't find one bad guitar part on the whole album.

We're talking about a well-rounded album by a mature band. The songs are different from each other, the riffs are unique, (unlike most modern death/thrash metal bands) and everything sounds right. The production and guitar tone are perfect.

To summarize this all: buy it. Or summon a horde of cannibal zombies to steal it for you, but do get it as soon as you can, unless you happen to hate old Carcass (is that possible?). (9.7/10)

Metal is easy. Everyone can produce it. Or, so it seems from the unfaltering stream of one-man black metal band products that come our way. A specific phenomenon of this decade and we can see it all around the world: Germany has Berserk Inc. and Kanwulf. Belgium has Solicide and Goat Holocaust. France has Mystic Forest and Vociferian. And, of course the US has Xasthur and Leviathan. And there are many others left unmentioned.

Now, it’s not to be forgotten who set the tendency for one-man band black metal (one-man death metal hasn’t reached me yet), and that was – of course – Burzum, the murderous scoundrel from Norway who started it 15 years ago. From the same blasphemous grounds we give you Gorelord with Norwegian Chainsaw Massacre, the name of the third project from Grimfist and ex-Necrophagia axeman Frediablo. It starts misleadingly peacefully, as is usually the case with intros, as a manner of calm before the storm. Then, the whole mayhem can begin, with the sound of a chainsaw that mows through the air like a checkered Formula 1 flag, indicating that this peaceful and soothing track has come to an end and that it is time now to be either "Dying or Dreaming."

Almost immediately one can notice "nu" Metal influences, notably of stuff like Slipknot. A song like "Deathbreed," which is great in potential, even manages to remind me of old Sepultura at times where Frediablo comes close to sounding a bit like Max Cavalera on Roots. The album production is also very good, although the guitars perhaps could have been less buzzy, more aggressive and sharper instead, which would be more suitable for the aural depiction of a brutal chainsaw massacre. The drums are pretty lightweight but strong in presence. Heavy grooves are beefed up with swift double bass pedal action.

So far all this sounds pretty good, but on the other hand the lyrics are somewhat questionable and poorly written (and perhaps for that reason printed in a timid, small typesize). The complete lyrics of "The Rising of the Undead" are "Rip off their arms / rip off their heads / join us... Undead!!!" I suspect that’s something that was penned down on the back of a beer bottle label in 10 seconds. 20 perhaps if a pen hadn’t been readily available.

So Gorelord could have either made more imaginative lyrics, or have them not printed at all and let their pointless content be shrouded by the noise, which is far more entertaining. "Glorification of Violence" has vocal contributions from a writer from "Kerrang!" magazine by the name of Dom Lawson. It’s the longest of the real songs and a meritorious scream ‘n’ grunt duet.

The last song, "The Final Cut" is the subtitle of the album and as it seems a hint to this being the last Gorelord album. It’s nigh on 13 minutes long and here Frediablo gives it away a bit as far as his Burzum admiration goes, of what seems to be a pious bow to the majesty of a work like Filosofem. On that album, for instance, was a trancey and spacious instrumental even twice as long as "The Final Cut," and good for either a certain degree of contemplation, meditation or just plain and magical boredom.

"The Final Cut" is similar to this and goes on and on, but in the end I think it’s fully misplaced and frankly said a sheer waste of disc space. If it would be cutting something, it certainly wouldn’t be cutting the proverbial mustard.

Norwegian Chainsaw Massacre could be described as a pastiche of nu, death and slight black metal influences with a few nice twists.

It’s sort of amusing to see a Norwegian band reflect US metal, instead of the other way round. But if anyone out there would expect Gorelord to be as brutal and over-the-top violent and gory as – say – the latest from Cannibal Corpse, I’m afraid to disappoint you. In that sense the album is as violent as a chainsaw that has gotten stuck into a tree, and as harmful as its smokeplumes that are causing the eyes to tear.

Fact: Minus the intro and "The Final Cut," you’ll have a nice little album with 27 minutes worth of some clever death groove. It’s not much to leave an impression, but it does insofar this one-man band can lay down a proper band-sound. I’d give him credit for that. (6/10)

Every now and then, it's a pleasant surprise to hear a band playing just metal. You know, honest-to-devil, unpretentious, straightforward metal. The Northern Irish trio Honey For Christ are doing just that. They are not trying to conform to the boundaries of any special subgenre, nor trying to appeal to any special group of metal fans – hell, they are not even trying to look cool. They just play their metal from their hearts. It is not heavy, black, doom, power, thrash, death or prog. It is simply metal, and it is good.

Honey for Christ have been around since 1998, played a lot of gigs and released three self-financed mini CDs along the way. In spite of good reviews, there was little interest from the labels until they struck a deal with Rundown Records. The result is a 5-song, 26-minute mini CD called The Darkest Pinnacle of Light. Just in case you've been expecting them to change, now that they have a deal, they added "100% raw, unclean, uncut heavy fucking metal."

The first track, "Satan & Swastika," sounds exactly like Dismember – but if you expected growls, you're in for a surprise because Andy's clean singing is everything but death metal. The guy's voice doesn't really have an original colour, so he makes up for it by singing loud and unrestrained, as if his life depended on it, occasionally falling out of tune but sounding all the more passionate and convincing for it.

"The Final Transition" is a short song altering between clean parts similar to My Dying Bride and slow thrash with some typically British gothic melodies, namely Paradise Lost, but Andy's voice turns it into something original. The title track gives us more death metal with clean vocals, but by this time the idea is not shocking anymore and it's clear that Honey for Christ know exactly what they are doing. Listen to the first track again and now it's good, isn't it?

But the last two tracks reveal Honey for Christ's another side – and a potential which, if further explored, could make them much bigger than they are. Where the first three cuts were more or less standard, old-school death or gothic, "Sorrow Descending" is an eight-minute, slow, melancholic track with simplistic, clean arrangements and doomy guitar melodies painting a picture of depressive small town life, building up into an epic and bitter chorus. "Signs of Bitterness" is similar in mood and pace but a bit heavier and Andy's singing and ever-changing vocal lines bring more and more tension – until an ending with two bass drums and a "fuck you all, I don't care anymore" attitude finally releases it.

The Darkest Pinnacle of Light’s sound is simple and almost garage-like but all the instruments are loud and clear, with natural drums and guitar (also played by Andy) sounding really close to My Dying Bride. The musicianship and songwriting are tight, showing years of experience, rehearsing, gigs and polishing the arrangements over and over, changing and adding more details until the day the songs are finally released.

Honey for Christ might be living in their own time warp but they are, first and foremost, metal fans honestly playing the music they like. Give them a chance and you might find yourself listening to The Darkest Pinnacle of Light more times than you thought you would. (6.5/10)

Devoid of both an original sound and an extreme style that would appeal to metal fans, Hourcast’s State of Disgrace is a wishy-washy album that sounds like everything that passes for "heavy metal" on top-40 rock stations. And I hate commercial radio.

Each song starts with a bit of soft melody on a guitar or keyboard, lingering in a minor key that sets the scene for the pained lyrics that are to follow. Simple rock drumming soon kicks in before the super-clean, harmonized vocals take the stage, spouting some generic, entirely forgettable lines that occasionally lapse into yells as the heavy guitar chords begin.

It's a formula that I imagine would appeal to your average, not-too-picky, heavy rock fan. I may have really dug these guys 10 years ago in high school, but my tastes have gone through many stages of maturation. And since you're reading Maelstrom, odds are that yours have, too. The 4/4 rhythms employed throughout the entirety of State of Disgrace, when combined with the mediocre vocals and emotional but essentially boring guitars and drums, leave everything to be desired. The album is watered-down from beginning to end, paying due attention to the superficialities of music while completely ignoring the substance. If I were you, I would spend my time and money elsewhere. (4/10)

A Norwegian black metal outfit revolving around guitarist and songwriter Obsidian C. (once a touring guitarist for Satyricon), Keep of Kalessin have even had such luminaries as Frost and Attila Csihar in their ranks. Reunited with the original drummer, Vyl, and having a new lead vocalist, Thebon, with Armada they are here to claim their place in the Norwegian black metal elite. Which is a valid goal, not unreachable for them, and they are almost there – about two thirds of the album, to be precise.

Building their expression on contrasts between hyperspeed thrash and Swedish-styled black, Keep of Kalessin's trademark are alternations between palm-muted and legato speed-picking guitar parts, and they successfully manage to make them sound coherent without too many resemblances to the dreaded neither-here-nor-there black / death category.

To say that they are fast would be an understatement, just listen to the beginning of "Vengeance Rising" and count nearly 20 bass drum beats per second. The blastbeats rarely go below eight snare drum beats per second and on "The Wealth of Darkness," Vyl keeps the constant blasting speed throughout the song and even does tom rolls with one hand while the other one plays the ride cymbal – yes, during a blastbeat. We don't see many lunatics of that kind around. Obsidian C. has no problems in keeping up with Vyl, and exhibits a barrage of cold, hateful and majestic riffs with enviable technical ability. They are not just thrown in at random, either – some riffs are obvious straight away but some make sense only in conjunction with others.

Thrashy parts accentuate the black metal parts and vice versa, and the songs have a logical and natural progression in spite of the speed and their length, which sometimes stretches over seven minutes. Thebon's singing is another bonus – screaming, singing, preaching, shouting, melodic screaming (yes, really), growling and whatever is necessary to take the songs to another level of brutality.

And as long as Keep of Kalessin are keeping it fast and brutal, all is well. But when they try to slow down there are problems. The fifth track, "Many Are We" was probably meant to be a crowd-rallying song, but it only sounds like a NWOBHM song with a couple of blasts. It's followed by "Winged Watcher," with a too obvious slow riff repeated and rehashed too many times, with some variations and thus ruining the melodic ending that could've been epic. "Into the Fire" even has some metalcore riffs around a frightening black metal part, which also could have been great if it wasn't in the same song.

"Deluge," a nice interlude with distorted guitar over the sounds of wind, burning fire and some church bells (we're not implying anything here, really) brings some relief and leads Armada back to brutality... and then some. "The Wealth of Darkness" is a blastfest of mesmerising, threatening cold riffs and a punishing chorus but the last, title track is simply triumphant. Seven and a half minutes of constant waves of adrenalin rushes, "Armada" is the best song Dark Funeral never wrote, one of the best black metal songs EVER and if all of the others were that good Lucifer would probably grow another pair of wings. Not even the inadequate sound can spoil it...

...and the sound leaves a lot to be desired. The guitars sound like they have been overproduced and overpolished, and then re-recorded through a blanket, in other words there's no crispiness in the high end and the result is not very black metal. Overall, the sound has been compressed to the midrange with very little bass or treble for any instrument or the vocals, and furthermore the triggered drum sound is synthetic and lifeless to the point of making blastbeats sound boring (I can't believe I've just said that).

Ranging from unnecessary to utterly glorious, Armada leaves an impression of underachievement. With fewer songs and a more suitable sound it could have been a magnificently shorter CD, but it's still well worth checking out. Maybe they'll make it closer to the elite with their next release. (7/10)

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Damn it. Mladen’s points are right on the money, and yet I’d recommend this more highly. You have to understand it’s because Keep of Kalessin is one of those bands that you might have that you consider your well-kept secret, that seemed to have only spoken to you where it should have set the rest of the world on fire. It’s one of mine, like Thy Primordial and Taake.

Armada is not Keep of Kalessin’s best record. It’s their best sounding and executed record, but for this reviewer’s black metal coin, it’s Agmen all the way. The harshness and vitriol in that album’s sound is hyperspeed black metal bliss/agony, propelled by the same ubermenschian drums on Armada, but presented with more convincingly cult moxie, carried along by a ride cymbal that sounds like a million machete chops per second, into oblivion. And unlike Armada, Agmen builds to one of the most fittingly intense, pressure-then-release endings in metal CD history, right up there with Meshuggah’s climax to Chaosphere.

But this review is about Armada, a fine record by its own right. Perhaps indeed strangely and inappropriately metalcore in places, the sound is superb and perfectly biting and full. Perhaps that’s the problem, because if you perceive black metal as being cold and harsh, you won’t be able to swallow this album as being a proper part of the genre. It’s extreme, raging, and features melodies that, beyond being right at home with the genre it purports to be a part of, are actually nothing short of signature once you become familiar with this band’s work.

So what Armada ends up being is any number of the following:

– An album that makes you wonder where the hell this band came out of, all of a sudden.

– An album that seems like a damn good shot at eternal greatness, but isn’t quite there.

– An album that makes you happy that this well-kept extreme metal powerhouse is still going at it.

Combining the three through checking out Keep of Kalessin’s entire discography makes Armada’s end result all the sweeter. (8/10)

Lacrimas Profundere's lead vocalist seems to have taken a liking to Moonspell (as also is the case with Transmission, another great band from Poland). Unlike their gothic counterparts, Lacrimas Profundere's sound is decidedly shoegazer metal, twisting in catchy riffs with brilliant vocals to accent and compliment superbly simple guitar work and decent drumming.

Each song flows perfectly into the next, as an excellent atmosphere weaves into the listener's mind, although it really doesn't transport one to the raining street corner, watching as your last dollar slips through the hole in your pants and down the gutter. Nevertheless, the lack of immersion is substituted by radio rock grooves that don't suck. Tonally and production wise, there is nothing wrong with this album; the guitars are thick and with a lot of rhythmic chunk while the bass lays it on even thicker, merging into a perfect low end that keeps satisfying with every note.

If you're a Moonspell fan and looking for a more rock-based sound with better flow and groove, you owe it to yourself to check out Lacrimas Profundere. For all of you that hate Moonspell, well, that's too bad, but you still owe it to yourself to check this album out, as you'll find yourself singing along to the songs the third listen into it. (7/10)

If ever there was a heavy metal album to buy solely for the experience of beholding its production, Lair of the Minotaur’s The Ultimate Destroyer would be it. The group’s sound is the epitome of seething, crippling heaviness, brought forth with terrifying conviction and frightening aggressiveness.

I always thought Lair of the Minotaur was some weeded-out stoner band. Shut my mouth. In fact, the group goes even further by showing up Celtic Frost’s comeback. Lair of the Minotaur is heavily Frost-influenced, but it stops up all the holes that pockmarked the Swiss pioneer’s most seminal, first couple works, namely shitty musicianship and muddy sound.

The Ultimate Destroyer will kill you. In its own way, it is the very essence of heavy metal personified. Make that deified. Super organic rumbling and weight, amped up by a tremendous sense of intensely calculated bludgeoning propels the band’s simple music into some manner of two-ton bliss. And I don’t even like Celtic Frost. (8/10)

These unheralded Italians have recorded one fine mini album here. Wicked vocals are embracing the borderline between black, death and thrash metal aesthetics, and equipped with vicious sounding, scything guitars that slay with classic and ruthless riffs coupled with mid-paced-to-blasting powerful drumming, make H.A.T.E. a pleasurable listening experience for all tastes and any extreme genre enthusiasts.

Very classy sounding, H.A.T.E. is the ultimate metal idiom in the sense it embodies – and pays homage to – all authentic, and classic (albeit modern, not prototypical but indeed stereotypical), metal elements and shows what's there in this genre of music we all love and still refuse to discard after so many years of listening (and, more often then not, of so many disappointments through repetitiveness and lack of inspiration).

Mabus could be defined as an extreme, yet more structured version of Mr. Bungle and newer Ephel Duath. The genre-changing is constant and harsh, and not at all expected, as Mabus actuallys plays all those styles very well. Take those grind bands that include acoustic interludes or weird parts: you know right away that it's a parody, or at most, experimentation. In this case, however, the feeling you get is like you're listening to many bands playing their respective genre, like Naked City.

If we had to name the most important styles played on Cheers, To Doomsday Gloom, it'd be jazz fusion, death metal and post hardcore. It is not the genres in particular but the totality what makes the music a different experience from most avant-garde albums. It's a real example of musical cyclothymia that works as a whole.

Saying that Mabus plays jazz fusion well means that they are quite proficient when it comes to playing instruments. In this, no one is excluded. All of the members, including the vocalist, are skilled and impressively technical. Thankfully, Mabus is not a band of musical wankers; everything is there for a purpose. You won't find Spastic Ink-technicality here, though. A high point of the album is the usage of strange time signatures and polyrhythms, while not making it Meshuggah-riffing like many, many bands nowadays do.

As opposed to Mr. Bungle, every song on Cheers, To Doomsday Gloom isn't really different from the others. Most mix the same five or so genres so, while it's consistent quality-wise, and it's surely hard to keep up with that level, it detracts from the remarkable-ness. Also, while he's really talented, the singer sings pretty much all the time, even in parts where everyone would like to hear the instruments more, so it gets a little bit annoying sometimes. That, and insufficience of solos can get frustrating.

As Mabus’ first full-length, Cheers, To Doomsday Gloom is impressive. Fans of the genre rarely ever see so much talent and energy put into play unless it's John Zorn. Even despite the nit-picky shortcomings mentioned above, this is nonetheless an outstanding album. (8/10)

The death metal etiquette this album is engrossed with does not do well to Merrimack's aspiration to be recognized as, and I quote: "…the leaders of the French black metal revolution!" The very safe, obviously unadventurous song writing skills bestowed upon this album doesn’t help, either.

The info sheet regards Merrimack as a revolutionary, revisionist band, no less. Yeah, right. Not the most generic of the lot (but sometimes pretty close to being just that), Merrimack's best moments on this album are the slower, doom-esque parts; that is where they truly somberly shine and outshine many of their peers.

The songs are catchy enough and the production clear. However, one may wonder whether this thick, fleshy and bass-oriented production is the most adequate approach to achieving a black metal sound, if there has ever been such a thing in the first place. The problem with most black metal bands (or the self- proclaimed ones) is the fact they are extremely blast-beat-happy, which is not the best of qualities in black metal, if you ask this particular reviewer. See, black metal – genuine black metal, that is – has got a lot in common with doom metal; they both are not real subgenres of metal. Instead, they are an array of feelings: the brooding, soul searching, mind-troubling feelings both subgenres generate, these darkly toned, abstract musical entities should also have yet another thing in common: they must be played SLOWLY.

Only then are the black-doom and the doom-ish blackness resurrected and are given the power to overwhelm and devour, only then… Merrimack's Of Entropy and Life Denial could have been the ultimate black/doom manifestation, had it not been so damn fast at least half of the album's span. Even though, there are nevertheless some brilliant moments on display here, making Of Entropy and Life Denial an above average album, but certainly eons and light-years away from being anything remotely revolutionary. (6/10)

The album from Polish black metal band Mord, Christendom Perished, is not to be confused with the Striid/Xasthur collaboration with the same name.

At last there’s a decent and very well produced black metal album under my nose, done by a duo consisting of two virtuoso creeps called Nordra and Necrolucas. (Ha! – Necroroberto)

They play old school black metal while keeping an eye open for sounding contemporary. There is nothing terribly innovative here, and Christendom Perished strongly reminds me of stuff like Dark Funeral, whose latest album I discussed a few months ago.

So what’s the deal, then? Christendom Perished has been put together with such care that one could hardly tell that it’s just two individuals you hear. Some think they’re from Norway; others they’re from Poland, but as both countries have spawned plenty of decent demonbreed there is not much point in making a point of it.

As the circular saw and other industrial tool sounds indicate inbetween the tracks as well as the titles, simply called "Opus 1-7" and "9," we’re dealing with sincere workmanship. And they work hard, these folks, because these Opuses, these works, lack nothing short of intensity. Furious and fast continuous blastbeat art, nice and chunky guitar buzzing/riffing, an audible bass and evil mother-in-law screaming.

Anything left to complain about? Unfortunately, yes. Perhaps Mord should have included "Opus 8" (if there were one) instead of "Opus 9," because the last song is nothing like a proper album’s closer. It stops, and I go like: "What? Was that it?" Isn’t there some climax or conclusion of sorts?

Perhaps Mord could have done that by creating a tremendous and terrifying eruption of industrial mayhem. And secondly the absence of a lyric sheet makes me imagine how much more impact this album could have, were there some kind of interconnecting theme or storyline behind the songs, as the "Opus" titles suggest some kind of conceptual approach. Ah, well, perhaps their English is just too limited and anyone would guess it would involve probably Satanism and genocide (and machines!).

Now, I’m afraid that many will leave this album unnoticed for the aura of averageness that surrounds this release. This would be a pity, because Christendom Perished is definitely better than just average. It’s a very pleasant listen with well-structured songs, ergo, a very good debut. Check ‘em out, they’re worth noticing. (7/10)

Carpe Diem is the most complete grind album that's ever been released. Not the best, that's for sure, but by far the most varied and fun. The best way to describe it would be to say that Muculords is "Abosranie Bogom with guys who can actually pull off real riffs." If you've heard that band, you'll know that they based pretty much all their releases in weird vocal effects. Carpe Diem bases itself on that as well, but also on surprisingly catchy riffs more akin to those of goregrind, mixed with lots of brutal death structures.

The one and most surprising thing about Muculords is not the vocalist, it's the fact that they are not Japanese. It almost seems like Bathtub Shitter playing more traditional grind, mixed with some of those weird Japanese grind/noise bands and 324.

The keyword in Carpe Diem is "variation," followed closely by "fun." All the tracks are different from normal grind, and from each other, and they are all, with no exception, enjoyable. Its sample usage is absolutely delirious, being the first time in years that samples were used perfectly. Also, with titles like "Gorebaciov," you can't really go wrong. In that song in particular, a riff similar to the Tetris soundtrack can be heard, so you know you'll be getting into something odd, at least.

Based on Carpe Diem, Muculords comes pretty much to make grind even less serious and more of a joke genre, and they succeed. As totally unserious as it can be aesthetically, technically everyone in Muculords can play some tight stuff. Easily, the one that stands out is the drummer, making even simple patterns sound amazing, and having an impressive sound as well as being technical. The guitarist can play both really groovy Cock and Ball Torture-style riffs and brutal death metal, as well as a lot of different kinds of music (seriously, listen to "Gorebaciov"). The vocalist is really weird: he's good by himself, but with the added effects, he's a monster. As in most grind bands, the bass is there just to add heaviness.

What we have here is a good all-around album, without any deep flaws – other than mimicking Bathtub Shitter's aesthetics way too much sometimes and getting way too nonsensical for their own good here and there. If you're up to something technically good yet at the same time entertaining, Carpe Diem's for you. (7.5/10)

Nachtmystium are one of the more prominent artists within the United States Black Metal scope. They demonstrate a range of influences and elements that surpass the mundane and tired aspects of many who dub themselves "black metal" these days, not contenting themselves to lie within the monotony of settling for Norwegian worship or the ease and familiarity of ripping off the fore runners of the black metal genre. Instinct: Decay is demonstrative of this.

Nachtmystium’s newest album relies heavily on the familiar black metal territory of blast beats meets distorted guitar, but adds various other forms of instrumentation that adds to the overall picture. For example, synth sounds are prevalent and atmospheric sounding without creating a droning feel or dominating the guitars. Acoustic guitars are present on this recording, adding further contrast. This, alongside the effect on the lead guitar (which is quite melodic ) on track two, entitled a "Seed for Suffering," shows their professed Pink Floyd influence. The next track, "Keep Them Open," also features psychedelic-sounding guitar effects, and odd noise effects on the outro, but is at the same time more unrelenting and punishing.

The production of this release is clear but not so polished as to detract from a sense of rawness. The drums are perfectly audible, the guitars are full. The vocals are not at the forefront of the mix, but this works quite well.

Instinct: Decay is not a typical black metal release, but is full of malevolence and misanthropy, and malice unadulterated. It is at the same time transporting and entrancing. The use of synth is tasteful and adds to the overall picture. This is a release that fails to disappoint with its originality and bleak, black yet atmospheric landscapes. (9/10)

review by: Larissa Glasser

Nachtmystium may be one of the most progressive black metal units working in the United States. So much of their material annihilates expectation, particularly on this latest CD. Tempo changes, pitch shifting, croak-vokills, heavily processed lead guitar, and somewhat disquieting electronica render this band’s sound into a class by itself.

During some sequences, Instinct Decay sounds similar to Azentrius’s "black metal supergroup" Twilight, while tracks meander through John Carpenter soundtrack mode. Although I love black ambient like it’s nobody’s business, I prefer the Nachtmystium’s black metal mode. The delay-drenched, tribal interludes of "Instinct" and "Decay" were skip-overs for me, even after repeated listens (which I can live with, because they bookend the album). But vitriolic, hopeless tracks like "A Seed for Suffering," "Keep Them Open," "Eternal Ground," and "Abstract Nihilism" are spot on.

Nachtmystium’s prog elements are most evident on "Chosen by No One," "Circumvention," and "Here’s to Hoping." The riffing and Azentrius’s lead/ebow work have a twinge of ‘70s influence, and the songs often taunt the listener with irreverent experimentation. Although Instinct Decay may not be all things to all people, it is by far the most origianl black metal recording I’ve heard this year (with the exception of Striborg and Velvet Cacoon, perhaps, but they’re in a fucked-up class by themselves). (7/10)

Nadja has a rather strange background. Their appeareances on splits and the older releases were good at best, so they went mostly unnoticed in the doom scene. Unexpectedly, they started releasing one masterpiece after another, the first one being Bodycage, which has recently been re-released.

It'd be safe to say that Bodycage is the first metal album to really sound like what it's about. Bodycage's theme and music go along perfectly. Its theme is about Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva, an illness which basically turns muscles and other tissues into bone so they seem like a cage, hence the title. The three tracks found here are based on the same structure: they start with some low and almost undistorted noises from the background with guitar feedback and droning riffs, then they are distorted over time, creating the illusion of a soundcage to the initial sounds. While it might sound simple, in the actual music it sounds majestic and absorbing. Based on this, Bodycage is one of the most serious drone full-lengths ever released.

Stylistically, Nadja is one part Boris At Last Feedbacker, one part Merzbow and Gerogerigegege None Friendly. As a drone/noise band, atmosphere is central, and Nadja is quite good at it. The music's oppressive and strong. The high usage of feedback is fundamental for Nadja's sound, even more than the actual riffs, making for some really particular harmonies. The drum programming is highly effective. The guitars are another excuse just to add both noise and atmosphere, but they sound incredibly good in context. In fact, easily the highest point of the album is the clean guitar part at the start of "Ossification." The keyboards are quite striking as well, mainly used to make the music feel complete. Then, the most important part in Bodycage is the actual distortion and noises used, giving it an extreme and original texture.

As amazing as it is, Bodycage is not for everyone. Its long tracks (two 20-minute songs, one 10-minute song, plus two bonus tracks from other albums) make it hard to listen to unless you have a lot of free time or just love the genre. Also, no normal vocals are present, only background distorted vocals. Still, for the people actually into this kind of stuff, it's worth gold. (9.4/10)

If there's one power electronics artist that stands out right now, it's Navicon Torture Technologies. We've heard millions of Prurient-gone-power electronics, and Nicole 12 and Noisex soundalikes, but most of the time they are just good for background music. All those bands had pretty much the same sound except for a deeper usage of drum machines in some, or maybe one or two trace bits of originality. Now, to really catch the public's attention, you need to be different. Navicon Torture Technologies is not only different, but unique.

So how is it unique? Atmosphere. I know you imagine noise as just ear-shattering sine waves and stuff, and that might be correct for some of the lesser bands in the genre, but it's not the case here. Alright, yes, labeling your work "power romance" is a kind of cheesy way to promote your music, but when you really analyze it, it's not that far from the truth. What Navicon Torture Technologies sounds like is simply power electronics. You know, rhythmic industrial-ish noise with a really strong rhythmic base, mostly being either aggressive or plain offensive.

And that's precisely where NTT is really different to everything in the genre. It's not extreme sounding just for the sake of sounding extreme, and it all sounds, as weird as it might seem, emotional. While it can be quite awkward to listen to, it's seriously a good album.

Pure Skin is not a mix of random noises. And most of all, it's not a depth-lacking album. All the songs are good, and while some are a little bit formulaic, they are effective. Now, however, Pure Skin is not perfect. In fact, it has two really bad flaws. First, the samples. Yes, once is good, twice is ok, but when you hear women randomly screaming in pain all the time, and presented in a serious way, it gets disturbing, or at least annoying. This is the bad side of it being emotional.

The second flaw is how Navicon Torture Techonologies’ music is always based on the same style, without much experimentation or change at all. In order not to be branded as stagnating or cheap, there needs to be some change in the next releases. And they need to get rid of half the samples, really.

Despite these shortcomings, Pure Skin is one of the most interesting things coming out of the power electronics genre. (7/10)

There is something quite exciting happening here. Nomans Land is a Russian Viking metal band – and why not, when in this same issue we have Belgian Arabs, Italian Celts and Norwegian Americans? Their second release, Hammerfrost, reaped so much success that Einheit Produktionen have decided to re-issue their first album, The Last Son of the Fjord, originally released in 2000. Being a bunch of honest Vikings that they are, they re-mastered it, and since the abum was only 36 minutes long, they added 38 minutes of bonus multimedia material. And it is very much endearing if, firstly, you're a Viking at heart – and, secondly, if you do your part to participate.

The digitally re-mastered sound is loud and powerful but the clarity, added to what was initially a retro sound, has separated the instruments too much. In fact, there is just about enough space between them to make your Viking mind want to fill it. Let it loose and behold: the omnipresent folkish but noble guitar melodies will turn into flutes, violins, bagpipes or whatever folk metal gimmick you thought was necessary for such an album. Sergei's deep chanted vocals, somewhere between Moonspell's Fernando and Quorthon, will no longer have a Russian accent – it will be a heroic Nordic warrior singing no-nonsense Viking lyrics to his brothers in arms.

The mid-tempo, stomping rhythm guitar will make you stand in ridiculous poses, headbang and make strange gestures with your arms, only understandable to the initiated. The intricate drumming will sound like there's no other way to do it and you'll hear choirs where there aren't any. Yes, the songs are really that good and you'll be humming them long after you've stopped listening.

If you haven't heard Hammerfrost (reviewed in issue #32), fear not. The multimedia section comprises nine songs recorded live in 2005, in their hometown of St. Petersburg. Six of the tracks are from Hammerfrost, and the other three are new. And there's even more magic here. The sound is beyond bad, the stage is so small that the band can't move, the light show is... well, Russian, and it has been recorded with – count it – ONE camera. And still the band shines. You'll feel like you're at the show, free to look at whichever bandmember you wanted, because they have nothing to hide. Maybe you'll even think you're being cheated by the luxuriously produced multi-camera DVDs by other bands. There were some line-up changes, a keyboardist has been added and Sergei (now named Sigurd) has relinquished most of his vocal duties to the new, natural born frontman, bassist and singer Hjervard, whose ravenish screams perfectly interact with the melodies. The new songs bring a couple of surprises – more speed and some energetic changes in rhythm.

You can like other similar bands just because they deal with Viking themes but Nomans Land make those subjects real and believable. The Last Son of the Fjord will put a big smile on your face and really offers a honest value for the money. There is only one thing they have failed to include – a drinking horn. (9/10)

This melodic death group from Australia put three years into Bloodline, and it is quite a polished release. Pathogen's style is clean and controlled, and the songs are well-arranged and avoid excessive repetition.

Pathogen has been compared to Opeth, and certain similarities are evident: a good blend of slow and fast sections, parallel melodies and a generally moderate, 4/4 tempo that keeps your head nodding. Swaying drum lines give way to restrained double-bass hits, and the guitar techniques are varied. But Pathogen's vocals consist almost entirely of screaming, its instrumentation gets more extreme and the acoustic presence simply isn't there. That said, I could see a lot of Opeth fans approving of Bloodline.

Obviously, the melodic-death genre has been overworked in recent years, and Pathogen hasn't done much to separate itself from the horde. Solid playing, good guitar riffing and grooves graced by the intermittent solo – all this makes for a good listen, but not necessarily a unique one.

Pathogen's tempo shifts are unusual, particularly in "Shallow," but the essence of this album has been heard thousands of times before. And by the end of the album, you'll begin to wonder if there isn't a bit of riff-recycling. Bloodline isn't disappointing in any respect, but nor is it outstanding. Pathogen clearly has potential, but it is not yet fully expressed in this solid yet unoriginal release. (7/10)

Place of Skulls comes from the USA. Their sound pretty much defines post-Black Sabbath doom, and still defines traditional doom nowadays, especially their self titled release, and, as you surely know if you're into doom, they were formed after Pentagram broke up. Yes, the same Pentagram that recorded classics such as All Your Sins. That one.

Place of Skulls is a more technical early Pentagram with more catchy vocals that preach Christianity. Do they live up to their heritage? No, but then again, how many doom bands can you name as good and influential as early Pentagram? Even so, The Black is Never Far is a display of musical maturity and quality not unlike the newer Pentagram releases.

It's certainly less Blue Cheer sounding and more of a modern metal band, but you can feel the old school vibe in the heavy riffs of The Black is Never Far, especially in the opening track, "Apart From Me."

The music is, however, nothing new. We could say Place of Skull is a tribute band to their older selves, in a more traditional, rock-like package. What might surprise you is the strong Alice in Chains influence of some tracks, and the Scott Reeder-ish acoustic guitarwork in the title track. Speaking of which, the guitar playing certainly shows that Griffin still can churn out groove laden riffs like no other. Same goes for the harmonizations and solos that are by far some of the best in the genre.

The album's higher points are, as it was expected, the really, really old-school tracks like "We the Unrighteous." On the other hand, the soul-searching, Christian propaganda tracks tend to be subpar, not because of the lyrical themes but because of the... yeah, propagandistic sound. Now, when they try to sound heavy, damn, do they sound heavy.

The Black is Never Far suffers from being too limited when it comes to heaviness, though. Griffin's heavy guitar tone is impressive, maybe even heavier than in his old band, but he just tries not to sound so extreme with his vocals and composition, so it sounds restrained. Probably because of Christianity holding him back from metal, or maybe because he's no longer 18, but Place of Skulls would be much much better as a straightforward doom metal band.

Not perfect, but still quite good, The Black is Never Far is still recommended for Pentagram fans, to see their evolution. (6.95/10)

Primal Dawn is a Dublin, Ireland-based death / black metal band. They’ve been around since 2000 and have undergone several line-up changes. They’re inspiration can be drawn from bands like Axis of Advance and Angel Corpse, but you might also think of Deathspell Omega and the mowing aggression of Deicide when taking in the Zealot EP.

Zealot is very technical, chaotic metal with a nice, deep rasp cutting through thick layers of rich guitar buzz (with audible bass). On occassion, there are some wild, atonal solos like hard punches from the death metal corner. On top of this comes a very dexterous ADHD drummer, urgent and nervous.

It’s too bad there isn’t more to Primal Dawn’s album, because it’s not only very potent stuff, it’s also sorely under-represented in Bono’s country. Primal Dawn’s last product was 2003’s three-track mini album, The Euthanasia Programme. Guess they must have very absorbing daytime jobs.

Some listeners may have their doubts about the nature of Primal Dawn’s – as they put it so nicely – "Darwinian anti-egalitarian" view on things.

Still, one may wonder who subject matter of the songs is, vaguely referred to as "the parasites," "these creatures," "the filth," and the "diseased ones" to which Primal Dawn’s hatred is directed. Perhaps it’s all much less specific and they may well and simply view anyone non-Celtic as dispicable, not just our immigrant, drooling, pedophile, gay, black, Judeo-Christian fellow man with a hunchback and wooden leg.

Take the utterly brilliant Chinese Burzum clone called Ululate.
This musical disease from the East summed up his antipathy pretty much with a title called "Human beings are bullshit, I don’t want to be with them." Primal Dawn’s lyrics may be (poetically written) bullshit, but – if possible – I’d surely be going to a gig of theirs, for the music is great. I’d have a pint of Guinness and bang a head to "Wrath of the Righteous." And it must be said: The awesome drum intro to "Silently by the Sword" alone makes me anticipate more of Primal Dawn with great eagerness, provided they’ll really get things going now. Album, please! (7/10)

Most funeral doom consists of long, drawn out chord patterns amid extremely slow, melodic lines in a repetitive fashion while low growls pour forth eulogies of sadness and loss. It's nice when you find a funeral doom band that can keep you interested throughout their entire album, with catchy yet mournful riffs, slow but flowing tempos, raw guitars, and a groove. France's Remembrance have sighted the fine line between doom/death and funeral doom, and they have erased it, merging the two genres into one masterfully done album, full of darkened, distraught misery through more than 60 minutes of atmospheric depression.

The riffs in the eight tracks are seamlessly brought together to create a swirling flow, accented by echoing percussion, foreboding keyboards, raw and impending guitars, and mournfully depressing vocals. Mixed in are the odd female vocals along with crushing piano melodies, adding a touch of beauty without straying into the boundaries of gothic metal.

As far as funeral doom goes, Frail Visions can become quite fast, although it is to Remembrance’s benefit, as it is most fitting and works marvelously with everything else.

Tracks such as "Your Insignificance" and "Where All Has Been Wasted" will leave the listener spellbound, and in reflection of failures past. There are very few words to describe what can only be felt as pure, utter, depression.

Everything about this album truly defines the genre and shows dedication and soul among the two musicians. Frail Visions is the epitome of funeral metal, and will leave you in fascination and awe. This is the level that more funeral bands should operate on.

Frail Visions is definitive, and represents what every funeral doom lover expects from a doom band, and then some. This is a masterful work of beauty, sorrow, and musical accomplishment, full of intricate and mysterious melodies that will torment you and wrench your soul from your body. Depression never sounded so good. If you want to feel sorrow and pain from the deepest of emotions, then get this album, and treasure it for a lifetime. (10/10)

What do you get when you mix traditional doom and sludgecore? The answer is: nothing special. It sounds like a good idea, but when put into practice, it feels quite incomplete. It doesn't matter that the technical part is far above average, and that the singer can do pretty much every single vocal style apart from black metal shrieks. Cast Shadows on Dragons, regardless, feels terribly incomplete, like there's something wrong and you can't find out what it is. 

The first flaw is the discordance between the instrumental part and the clean vocal style. While both are good on their own, the mix isn't really positive for Robots and Empire, being awkward to hear a guy singing like Layne Staley over fairly heavy and sludgy guitars. A style more similar to the death vocals of Goatsblood's vocalist would have been more fitting, along with the already present, typical Neurosis-like vocals.

The second flaw is the album's repetitiveness. Cast Shadows on Dragons shows only two kinds of riffing: one clean and one sludgy, so it's a matter of time before you press stop. If the riffing were really original, it’d be one thing, but it's not the case here, so it just sounds like a watered down Neurosis with faster Grief-like riffs. It's sad, because technically, the playing isn't bad at all, but being bombarded with indistinguishable riffs gets tedious, no matter how well-played they are.

The third problem is the rock atmosphere. The listener would expect an extreme, or at least hardcore-ish, atmosphere in the album, but as it is, it only feels like a lightweight attempt at making sludgecore both accesible and likable. Yes, the riffs are no doubt metal, but the production and tone sometimes make it too old-school, so it gets really confusing, really fast. That, and the Alice in Chains vocals.

As for its good points, you could say it's obvious that Robots and Empire want to innovate, and that's always a good thing when it comes to now stagnating genres like sludgecore and traditional doom. They really need to explore other genres, though.

A weak effort, but an effort nonetheless, Cast Shadows and Dragons shows potential: every element is good on its own, but the stylistic linking is poor. (3.5/10)

Sadako brings one of the more quirky releases of 2006, whipping up some rock-based metal and blending in all sorts of oddities. Their trippy world of music seems to be centered around experimentations more than it is actual music, straying from metal into the genres of trance, ambient, stoner, and others.

It seems that the record is divided half into the actual music, and half into just plain random oddities and trance beats. What little music there is displays no originality on its own. It's basically the same song rehashed and rewritten so many different times with little breaks in the music to include insanity of some sort. The guitars are stock and unoriginal, with the bass just following along and never going anywhere, just like the drums. Vocally speaking, there is way too much delay and reverb on vocals that sound like they come from a guy pulled from a radio rock band.

If Sadako released this album without all the quirks and trippy oddities, this album would be really, really bad. Bedtime Stories is a perfect example of why studying musical theory and harmony can be very helpful in not making a poor product, such as one filled with crap-sounding dialogue stolen from many a great movie, and effects to make up for musical or creative shortcomings.

But there might be some redeeming value to Bedtime Stories yet. The album is like the audio equivalent of every single psychedelic, glow-in-the-dark, stare-at-for-hours-upon-end stoner poster ever made. Other than that, Bedtime Stories will put you to sleep. (2/10)

Doom is started to garner rapid popularity in the metal fanbase. Bands like YOB, Earth, Electric Wizard, SunnO))), Corrosion of Conformity, Sleep and Kyuss have all paved the way for the new wave of doom metal bands to expand upon the precedent set by Black Sabbath. Just now, we're starting to see the fruits of various bands adhering to the doom philosophy of the slower and groovier, the heavier.

The newest product of the movement is Sahg, and they're destined to be an addition to any doom fanatic's collection with the release of their debut album, Sahg I.

Sahg's core sound comes from something that sounds like an amalgam of the more conservative doom metal bands. Imagine YOB during their Catharsis days integrated with the more liberal stoner metal groups in the vein of Kyuss, and you've got Sahg, who're in league with another new band that goes by The Sword.

There's a thick groove nudged in all Sahg’s songs, drawing back to bands like Corrosion of Conformity. The progressive edge of their music and constant water-effect on the vocals gives a nod again to YOB, while the thick and fuzzed-out bass draws comparisons to Om, but the band still let their Norwegian scene ethic shine through and give way to the occasional ominous harmony sandwhiched in between some rhythmic grooves.

Hey, the band's completely composed of Norwegian black metal scene members, featuring the drummer and bassist from Gorgoroth, strangely.

Apart from all the references to modern day doom and stoner, Sagh's selling point is the fact that at their epicenter, the band adheres to the conservative sounds of Black Sabbath, sounding wholly at home with any band from the 1970s with their amazingly thick grooves and psychedelic lead-work.

Sahg's debut album is a great into into the metal world, and a strange blow for a group of black metallers playing doom. Featuring no inherent flaws, it must be stressed to find this album. (9/10)

This Sandstone hails from Poland (as opposed to the Irish band with the same name) to supply us another dose that obeys the blueprints of progressive metal. This, however, does not diminish the accomplishment that is their debut album, Looking for Myself.

Sure, the band does not exhibit the same technical proficiency that the highest priest, Dream Theater, is adorned with. It does, however, build its songs rather cleverly, with a sense of journey that leads you through the album’s six songs without resulting in a loss of direction.

The main focus here is on the emotional level, rather than the technical one. The production seems to verify this as the sound is fuzzy rather than articulate, with drum clashes and guitar distortion that are unrestrained (or uncontrolled, if you will). The lyrics are down to earth.

Though it is a bit vulgar at times, the drumming make for the compositions’ dynamics, and lives by their harmonies. There are some highly engaging unison movements, as well as creative, unpretentious guitar and keyboard solos. These can be fully appreciated through the album’s highlight, "Birth of My Soul" (I especially like the way they incorporate vibraphone-like sounds into this track).

The lead vocalist’s accent might take a bit of getting used to, but that should not deter any fan of progressive metal from checking this album out! (7.75/10)

Releasing an album as mighty as Saturnus’ Paradise Belongs to You on a band’s first try must bring along with it a heavy burden. Everyone will expect the next albums to be as good. In Saturnus' case, after their masterpiece, they released an EP and another full-length with most of the good qualities of Paradise Belongs to You, but both were completely inconsistent and too gothic. So after disbanding and getting together again, they’ve released Veronika Decides to Die.

Saturnus nowadays feels like a collection of "what ifs?" The first track, "I Long," should be titled "what if Swallow the Sun made longer and more gothic songs with a progressive touch?" The second one, "Pretend," is pretty much "what if My Dying Bride had Darren White," and track three, "Descending" is almost "what if Anathema’s Pentecost III would have had neo-lassical-sounding riffs?" It's very good, really, but you'll recognize all the elements of it if you've heard more than 10 doom metal albums. Other influences are Draconian, Paradise Lost, and such, but not as obvious as the other two bands from the "Peaceville Three."

Anyway, as far as modern and melodic doom/death goes, Veronika Decides to Die is far above average. It's consistent (hallelujah!) and varied, absolutely not formulaic, and it has some of the best vocals in the genre. The compositions are refined and there's no filler at all. It does, however, contain flaws. For example, as good and refined as the songs are, they aren't memorable: in some days you'll have a good idea of what the album is, but you won't remember any specific thing about it. Also, it lacks originality, referring to what was said in the first paragraph.

The technical aspect, however, is as good as it can possibly be, even containing some really good sounding bass leads. The guitar riffs are overall quite developed, mostly being old school ones with a modern touch. The guitarist's leads are also some of the best ever heard in a doom metal album: simple, yet really powerful. The drums are in the vein of Swallow the Sun's, with some really good tom work, especially on "Embraced by Darkness." The bass, as said above, is quite prominent and makes Veronika Decides to Die more rock than metal sometimes. The keyboards are more of an atmosphere maker than a lead instrument, so they won't be as noticeable as the other elements.

Veronika Decides to Die is, without doubt, a BIG step up from the two previous releases. Sure, it's no Paradise Belongs to You, but it's a sign that better things will come. The gothic element of Martyre is no longer as present, being only in one or two tracks. This time, it's an actual doom album, with some gothic influences, but not gothic-based at all. As a comeback, it deserves a lot of credit. Now, we're all expecting more originality in their next full length. (7/10)

Satyricon’s Now, Diabolical is a one-song album divided into nine tracks in the sense that all the music sounds exactly the same. One track cannot be differentiated from the next; a fact that leaves the listener with the impression Now, Diabolical is a monolithic album in the most negative sense possible.

Music-wise this is the most basic rock and roll with rough, if not croaky, vocals (think of a very, very lousy version of the mighty Swansong by Carcass; but then again, think not); emotionless, aimless and devoid of any real passion. This album sounds as if Satyricon had wished to already finalize and be done and away with their record deal that had, apparently, been uncomfortably binding them to some mainstream label and had entered the studio and assembled, out of the scraps and leftovers of its musical material, the most tedious, boring and completely rubbish-for-music album they could possibly muster.

Monotony is the name of the game here (again, monotony in its most ugly, negative aspects; monotony due to lack of ideas, not an intentional and effective monotony exercised and executed so well by other, greater bands; monotony to induce a certain atmosphere, to lend a hypnotizing character to the music…), repetitive riffing, frog-like vocals; the outcome resembles and sounds more like a grotesque polka than anything a band that had recorded gems such as Dark Medieval Times and The Shadowthrone could ever come up with. This album is an embarrassment. (1/10)

review by: Roberto Martinelli

No, sir, Now, Diabolical isn’t terribly good. It’s like an entire album’s worth of Volcano’s last song, "Black Lava," a horrendously repetitive, slow, and redundant track. All the songs on Now, Diabolical go nowhere. They maintain a tediously languid pace, never breaking out into the kind of rich dynamics that Satyricon wowed us with on albums like Nemesis Divina and Rebel Extravaganza. The songs revisit the uninspired sections over and over again, in paint-by-numbers fashion. The band doesn’t break loose until the bonus track, the only track that has any speed to it. Even then, it’s a formulaic take on a black metal ripper, but compared to the insufferable lethargy that comes before it, it’s like a release from a sentence of community service.

Tragically absent as well is the normally engaging sense of syntax in the delivery of the lyrics. Satyr’s vocals have been thankfully clear and coherent on Satyricon’s past albums, allowing the listener to delve into the man’s unique and engaging writing style, giving the music so much of its signature insidiousness. Here, though, the vocals are as cookie-cutter as the songs, providing none of the textural richness that we’ve come to expect from this normally cutting-edge band.

The good news is, Now, Diabolical at least still sounds like Satyricon. So as uninspired as the riffs and vocals may be, they are unmistakably a product of one of the most prolific black metal bands ever. The drums sound like Frost; the guitar tone is the same. And as insipid as the end product may be, it’s still got that same signature atmosphere. However, that atmosphere, as well as all the other elements on this album, are painfully just going through the motions. Now, Diabolical isn’t bad, and I believe Chaim is slamming it as hard as he is because of its being a product of one of the most highly respected bands in the genre, but it’s definitely bad for a Satyricon record. (4/10)

These Norwegians' debut is extreme and wide-ranging, incorporating black metal elements and speed into their death/thrash style. The most impressive part of Time Like Vines is the band's ability to make a coherent album out of so many incongruous, schizophrenic pieces. The blend of elemental styles plus the challenging time signatures and tempo changes She Said Destroy employs could make for a release that seems strung together with fraying thread, but the music has distinctive stylistic elements that carry throughout. Impressive and varied drumming, a distinctive growl and a certain warm, clear distortion maintain a consistency that prevents the album from getting too avant-garde.

Time Like Vines has none of the basic problems that plague many metal albums, such as repetitiveness, a lack of individual style, sloppy playing, weak vocals or bad production. Nor does the album suffer due to being in an over-saturated market – you're unlikely to hear anything that sounds quite like this album. She Said Destroy has created a unique debut that is at once listenable and challenging, and it is one that will stay in my CD player for a long time to come. (8.5/10)

Six by Silver is a typical post-grunge band, and the 10, highly melodic though still hard rocking songs on this debut are the evidence of that.

On Earthquake, the standard-formed songs enjoy a dedicated production that brings out a level of dynamics and punch that are often missing in similar releases. The band is quite tight and competent, with the vocalist and guitarist manning the forefront, as customary in the genre; both exhibit high capabilities, resulting in a dramatic, memorable offering.

The compactness of this album, which lasts for barely 32 minutes, also stands out as a merit and is a showcase for good taste.

Summing it up, Earthquake is far from living up to its title, mainly due to the band’s lack of identity; yet, it is highly recommended for fans of Creed, Nickelback and the like. Others should approach it based on their affection for the mainstream. (6.5/10)

But of course, this review isn't about "The March and the Stream," but about Ethere. So how could we explain Skepticism's style? By a simple addition: organ + slooooow guitars + some of the best death vocals ever done. While logic would say that applying the same addition to every song would prove to be formulaic, in this case logic doesn't apply: the three songs in the Ethere EP are pretty much three different concepts. "The March and the Stream" is the darkest one, and the one more similar to what people see as funeral doom these days. Ethere is a mix between early Skepticism and the new experimental Skepticism of releases such as Farmakon, containing the weirdest melodies of the album.

Contrary to many, many of Skepticism’s contemporaries, the drums are actual drums, and the riffs are actual riffs. Ethere is not "Let's just improvise some random, slow riffs over this drum machine" doom; it's composed, real and mature funeral doom. Its sound on this EP in particular was completely organic, with none of those tricks like software effects or PC generated anything.

Yes, there are many good funeral doom bands nowadays, but most don't even get close to Skepticism's brilliance, or Thergothon's atmosphere. It's not being pessimistic, but with funeral doom as we know it, it'll be almost impossible to get bands like those again.

If you're at all into doom, Ethere is a must. If you're into funeral doom, then Ethere should already be part of your collection, and most probably of your favorite albums. Easily one of the best Skepticism releases, even as an EP. (9.93/10)

Sourvein hail from New Orleans, Louisiana and bring to the depraved metal world their vision of sludgy "stoner" doom. They wear their influences on their sleeve with their ultra slow aural onslaught. Emerald Vulture is a four song EP very much representative of this.

As soon as the opening riff in the first track ("Blessed") is heard, a guitar tone screaming Saint Vitus is immediately apparent. Upon closer inspection, one Southern Lord band comes to mind :Grief. The riffing, the song structures, even the drum beats bring to mind this classic doom outfit, what with Sourvein’s ultra slow riffs that plod along, to then speed up (and I use the word "speed loosely), creating contrast using tempo dynamics.

Like Grief, Sourvein show a distinct Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus influence right down to the guitar tone. The riffs are heavy but melodic, depressive yet groove inflected. However, the vocals are a deeper, less screechy take on the depressive material aptly played by Grief.

While Sourvein owe a great deal to their predecessors (Grief in particular) they are no less a slab of slow-as-molasses, heavy-as-hell-doom metal that is just as enjoyable, if one can get over the uncanny aural resemblance… (5/10)

There's one golden rule in the world of noise: never ever mix it with black metal unless you're Abruptum or you have incredibly new ideas, and even there, try to avoid doing so. There's not much to do about it, once you start making black metal/noise, or what some call "black ambient," you'll start lacking in musical quality. And it's even worse when your cover looks like a cheap rip off of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" video. And even worse when you rip off Blut Aus Nord and release your album with a plain black booklet with nothing on it. Not cool.

Again, we'll split noise in two: actually original noise, and "let's distort everything by turning up the volume to 400%" noise (quite liberal usage of the word "noise", beware). Masonna used stuff like just saturating everything to make it noisier, but it was only one of the hundreds of different things he did, so we'll say it's actual noise. On the other hand, in the second category, we'll include Stalaggh. There's a complete lack of concept, it seems like they are just fucking around – making random noises for the sake of releasing an album and putting their faces on it. And, as opposed to Masonna, everything here is just stuff saturated just so it seems like noise. Nihilistik Terrror is the perfect example of teenager cheap noise. It's almost sad to describe the album in the same paragraph that Masonna is being described.

Nothing even remotely original can be found here, and even if it were possible to do so, you wouldn't notice anyway, as the volume is way too high. And I mean Guitar Wolf / Jet Generation-levels or more. But anyway, let's imagine what would happen if Nihilistik Terrror had a "better production," for a lack of a good term to describe the abomination they call production here. Nothing. Nothing would happen. For the most part, we'd hear retarded sounding black metal shrieks mixed with random noises and clicks. Oh yeah, maybe even a guitar sound or two. Back to the Masonna example. Yes, Masonna was completely random at times, but he had a complete understanding of what he was doing, more than merely distorting sounds to seem satanic and evil.

The sounds of you tuning your guitar have more atmosphere than the whole Nihilistik Terrror release. It might be billed as an abrasive and aggressive atmosphere, but it’s in fact a blatant lack of an aesthetic idea. (-10/10)

Despite a somewhat slow start, this re-release of And Cosmos from Ashes to Dust pummels with a thick, black ooze. Stutthof’s brand of "Hellenic" black metal produces atmosphere, heavily layered guitars, epic interludes, and dense blasting.

The work is of one Acherontass, who wrote all of the music. He employs various session musicians, and the fluctuations of style throw off the cohesion a bit. However, the atmosphere of Stutthof’s more guitar-driven material ultimately transcends the initial confusion. The songs improve as the tracks commence, evoking livid satanic ritual and moonlit mischief.

"An Invocation to Those who Have Risen" alternates between deep, narrated vocals and tortured shrieks. This brings early Sargeist to mind, while track three (some Greek phrase, sorry, I can’t read it) starts with a mournful synth introduction, then progresses into a hybrid of black battlehate with drone-y, late-era Swans repetition. However, the meat burns REALLY black during the epic, 20 minute-plus "Crossing the Ninth Gate to the Kingdom of Shadows." The song is mostly guitar-driven, and gets heavier as it moves along.

The latter portion of the CD contains Stutthof’s 1997 demo, Through the Dark Age We Are Dreaming. These four songs may be more enjoyable for the traditional black metal listener, but it is interesting to hear how during this early inception, keyboards played a more parallel role with the other instruments. The interludes aren’t as distracting as on And Cosmos from Ashes to Dust. Recommended, nonetheless. (7/10)

For those of you out there who are still planning on buying Lacuna Coil's Karmacode, save the trip to the mall and instead check out Theatre of Tragedy's Storm. This band has come a long way from their darker, more black metal-oriented, self-titled debut, and has successfully transitioned their sound to their present day goth-oriented metal.

Storm shows a passion and performance of all the members that was not seen on Theatre of Tragedy’s previous release, with a renewed flame that offers an unbroken flow throughout the album. This Norwegian sextet presents stunning works such as "Fade" and "Disintegration" that will surely prove to fans, both old and new, that Storm is a must-add for any goth/doom collection.

A noticeable difference is the marvelous production of this album compared to their last. Such a change presents more emotion in the music and proves again that Theatre of Tragedy is renewed. The music takes a page from Lacuna Coil and another from Paradise Lost while displaying their dark roots with raw atmospheric music 'midst serene female vocals and unique male vocal patterns that all sum up to the perfect follow up to Assembly, their previous album.

Another change is the presence of new vocalist Neil Sigland, who has taken the spot of now ex-member Liv Kristine. Sigland's vocals are very fitting in the music, although one would wish that he would join in and create male/female vocal harmonies.

Every musician makes their instrument heard on Storm, weaving through the mix and complementing each other with a rare grace and harmony that one will only find on select albums.

All in all, there is very little that could be done to improve this album. This Norwegian sextet has done their job, and a damn good one at that. As always, this Theatre puts on another great performance. (9/10)

More Deep Cuts tastes bittersweet. The gentle vocals are desperate. The unobtrusive drumming is thick and threatening. The atmosphere sets you at ease and then swallows you inside. Thee More Shallows’ music might be comparable to the dream rock of Mercury Rev, Grandaddy or Sparklehorse, but it is profoundly more disturbing.

The restrained, upbeat tempo of the opening "Post-Present" grows just in order to be shut down, and is followed by "Pre-Present," which introduces chamber music elements, played brightly yet ominously.

Thee More Shallows rarely break their calm, but they manage to evoke scents of chaos throughout. "Cloisterphobia" rumbles with its crescendo of lullaby timbers; and the band does explode rather unexpectedly on "Freshman Thesis" to form a stomping parade. It is a brief explosion though, setting a contrast against the thrilling singing saw that follows, and the chilling "Ave Grave."

More Deep Cuts is a lush, mesmerizing work set to test your nerves with its articulation and cleverness. Highly recommended! (9/10)

Filthy and obscure black ambient interwoven and mingled with black ritualistic metal is on display on A Shaman Steering the Vessel of Vastness, a very original recording that oozes with industrial hints, noise elements and some harsh, dark black metal harmonies. If power electronics and somber sonicscapes of militaristic, martial ambient played a sordid, callous and suffocating version of black metal, then Thralldom's music would be that megalith personifying the bizarre and the twisted.

Occult-ish, shamanic (as the title suggests), almost improvisational music, caustic, chaotic and with no real structure, the sounds Thralldom manufacture are rare and unsettling in the oft-copycatting black metal scene, making them satisfying in these aspects alone. This album is the prototype to any musical product that's non-immediate or instant, in the sense it deserves much attention and dwelling on its ideas and aesthetics, after which the final verdict could not ever be one of indifference, but one of either extreme annoyance or utter appreciation. This reviewer chooses the latter… Fans of Ordo Tyrannis, Thee Maldoror Collective and other quality outfits of black / industrial / ambient / noise will surely appreciate this one of a kind recording; others will just vehemently hate it and dismiss it as nothing but noise… (8/10)

As far as most musical genre fusions go, the bands that fuse them are usually hit or miss, containing mostly recycled and stock riffs and tones with tired vocals that should've died years ago, along with nu metal. However, Threat Signal shows no mercy in their conquest for supreme reign and reformation among hardcore, with furious riffs combined with deadly technicality and immediate shifts from yells and screams, to angsty whines that don't really fit the presented music all that well, but works in a sort of bizarre way.

From the moment you hit play, the madness ensues, bringing forth a tremendous wall of sound, crushing and pounding into you. This musical style is great for a few songs, but then it gets boring. As far as the technical precision by the band, it's all there, as the music and songwriting is very precise, but precision is mandatory to the definition of music alone, and does not always mean that the music is good. The precise solos on the album are dull and uninteresting, and while fast, do nothing except show off the guitarists' ability to play fast, and not their ability to write well. As far as the rest of the instruments, they're pissed and furious and banal after three songs. (5.25/10)

Although Ukranian pagan / battle metal outfit Thunderkraft obviously work very hard at heaving their sound forth, the material doesn’t reach me. Despite the adequate production, Thunderkraft’s riffing often sounds too distractingly familiar to be evocative of the battlefield depicted on the cover. For the opening track, "Sun in the Bosom," I had to keep scanning the artwork for some sign of identity. If Carcass had keyboards on Heartwork, it may have sounded something like Thunderkraft. Absurd, but true.

So what’s the deal with the chugga-chugga silliness?

"Masquerade for the Blind / Prison of Souls" and "North Inside" are endurable ONLY for the sake of "Mors Triumphalis," which is an awesome oasis in a desert of lifeless groove, an indication of actual victory rather than the crap preceding it. The keyboards rescue this particular track, but they kill the next up, "Matter of Chaos." Lose the oscillators, in the name of metal. Gyah.

The next track, "Majesty and Might," is a return to how Thunderkraft SHOULD sound. For that matter, the closer "The Might of Thunder," is pretty cool, also.

Someone please tell me if I’m losing my mind. Isn’t the struggle against mediocrity supposed to involve not only effort, but also inspiration from within, rather than relying on those who went before? Thunderkraft may be the most awesome band in the Ukraine, for all I know. If that is so, and this release is just their Welcome to Hell-ish toe in the water, then the potential for growth remains. But life is short. And as such, Thunderkraft had better blow my panties off next time. (3/10)

Huh? What’s that? A Burzum outtake from Filosofem or Daudi Baldrs? No, this is the intro to The Tjolgtjarian Mass. Tjolgtjar (pronounced: Toll-Tar, and don’t ask me why) is the strange black metal side-project from the man behind Blood Cult, a.k.a. The Reverend (silence all over and hairs rising up on necks). He’s been into this for 10 demo albums, an official full-length album and a split-album.

Proceed to the "Ceremony of Tjolgtjar": an intro with a slow blastbeat with a really crappy drumsound and... Noooooooo! Not again! Not another bloody Darkthrone copycat! I can’t take it anymore! But...What’s that? That’s Smeagol on vocals! Yes, the little troll in "Lord of the Rings" going on about "My Precioussssss....". Nah, those aren’t the lyrics; it’s the sound of his voice. It’s downright... hilarious!
A matter of moments and I fall off my chair laughing. This is not what I expected.

In fact, the Reverend turns out to be at least as crazy as his bandname, which makes me think of some kind of dubious dairy drink. In fact it’s the name of a fictional and ancient race called the Tjolgtjarians, and the Reverend has dedicated several of his demos to his subject. The music is primitively recorded, but over that those crazy vocals sound much clearer and they some of the funniest black metal vocals I’ve heard in quite a while. It’s a bit like the vocals from bands like Horna and Behexen, but then even more ridiculous. The music from this Tjolgtjarian Mass consists of stuff you'd expect to hear (‘90s style black metal), some stuff you wouldn’t expect to hear, and even some stuff you wouldn’t want to hear at all.

The problem is that revealing this somehow seems like writing down a spoiler to a great RPG game in the sense that it wouldn’t stun you as much after having read about it. But OK., here we go.

Tjolgtjar is completely mad and has a true black metal theatre vibe, which prevents you from getting bored with the same old blastbeats over and over. Examples are "Nets of Communion," which is a damn cheerful interplay on acoustic guitars, and the outro part of "The Offering," which sounds like a piss-take of Metallica’s "Nothing Else Matters" (who did one themselves after having become one).

The song "Curse Upon Our Enemies" is absolutely atrocious and horrible and well among the worst-ever songs on a black metal release. Your stomach will turn and your toes will curl when you hear the sweet Japanese Karaoke-style Muzak with a couple singing a duet that starts with the lyrics "There is bird in the skyyyyyyyy, there’s the wizard’s cast spellllls..." This piece of horror is saved by "Smeagol’s" sneaksy input, but good Lord, this is hard going and very puzzling to find here.

"The Black Arts of Vruguun" (apparently some place in Tjolgtjaria) is an insane hybrid of corny ‘70s rock riffs, black metal and a Burzum-style keyboard bit at the end. A mix of styles in order to stir utter confusion to the scene. I could pick out more remarkable things, but suffice to say that The Tjolgtjarian Mass is something different for a change and convinces me that Tjolgtjar is original and witty enough to deserve more attention for his rather impressive back catalogue. I just hope that this official second release isn’t to be deemed "hi-fi" in comparison with his previous material. Go check it out! It’s quite amusing. (7/10)

Fans of Luca Turilli, rejoice! Not only has the brand new Turilli solo band album, The Infinite Wonders of Creation, been released, but we've also got an album by Turilli's new project, Dreamquest, Lost Horizons (also featured in this issue of Maelstrom). One might ask, "how could he release two brand new full-lengths simultaneously and have them both be good?"

When you hear the name Luca Turilli, the first thing that pops into your head is probably "power metal," as the man co-founded genre stalwart Rhapsody. However, The Infinite Wonders of Creation is not power metal. The sound is very epic, calculated progressive metal / neoclassical type material with very dense orchestrations and truly amazing choir layers. Check this album out as soon as possible, but don't be expecting any super-fast tempos and double bass. The music is extremely melodious and very coherent.

It might come as some surprise that Turilli’s guitar work is relatively simple considering his reputation with his main band. He still busts out with some spectacular solos, though. However, the simplicity of the rhythm guitar tracks is in fact well calculated to enhance the focus on the marvelous vocals and enhance the listening experience as a whole. Turilli really shines with his keyboard work. He usually uses the keys only for solos or leads, from the music box ("Mother Nature") to the distorted square wave solos and other "weird" synthesizer-type sounds that are actually very sparse.

The mix on The Infinite Wonders of Creation is very impressive, Sasha Paeth did a good job here, although the main vocals themselves may be mixed a bit too loud. We know that the vocals are the main emphasis in this kind of music, and power metal as well, though it would have been great to be able to turn the music up just a little bit more. If you're listening to The Infinite Wonders of Creation, however, you probably couldn't care less about the vocal volume and would blast this album loudly regardless! Turilli's arranged orchestrations are very well done as well, and have a massive, organic orchestra sound that is very pleasing to the ear. The symphonic element creates a whole area of intensity that a band alone can't reach.

You won't be disappointed with this nearly flawless symphonic prog-metal masterpiece. The music will take your breath away from start to finish. (9.5/10)

At first listen, one might not be able to immediately tell the difference between Luca Turilli's third and latest solo release, The Infinite Wonders of Creation, and this new Dreamquest, Lost Horizons. Female choir vocals are present here as well, and the lead vocals are the female operatic vocals only, which creates somewhat of a Nightwish-type sound, although the operatic female vocals featured here are a lot more operatic, and theatrical, whereas Tarja's vocals on Once are a bit plain in comparison.

There are still a few orchestral sections here and there, but the main focus seems to be on the electronic and keyboard elements. As in The Infinite Wonders of Creation, the guitar work is still not all that remarkable. If Turilli put as much work into the guitars as he did into everything else, it would be a smash hit, and since Dreamquest is a more simple version of The Infinite Wonders of Creation with some sections even sounding familiar or similar, it really seems like less effort went into this work than what should have.

Although it does have the abovementioned faults, it is still a very solid and enjoyable album. Perhaps it is true that you'll get the best impression from the first 2006 solo Turilli album you hear. Compared to The Infinite Wonders of Creation, the music is relatively corny and stagnant, and less exciting. Nonetheless, it is still a very worthwhile endeavor.

Turilli's main mistake with this release is making it too similar to his other solo release! Had he made something genuinely different, it would have been much more enjoyable, and less like a parody of the glory that is The Infinite Wonders of Creation. Of course, Lost Horizons is definitely worth checking out whether you've heard his other solo-release or not. (7/10)

Until Death Overtakes Me is well known in the atmospheric doom community for their morbid and deathly depressing dirges, filled with impending and foreboding emotions, hailing death and praying for their final days. In this third installment to their epic Symphony campaign of albums, they call us all, en masse, to bear witness to our own destruction, our own death, and how it looms like a monolith before us: inescapable, imminent, unstoppable.

Keyboards seem to play the biggest part of the band, as they are constant and foreboding, with there being very little percussion or bass to speak of. The vocals are very atmospheric, even more atmospheric than Nortt, and fit nicely in the bleak mix, one that weaves extremely depressing atmospheres and scenes of loss; a perfect album for a rainy day, depression, sickness, or a funeral. Adding still to the gloom is the extreme length of the songs, with the shortest being around four minutes, and the longest [and last] stretching for over half an hour.

While there are lead guitars, they are very sparse, with the fuzz rhythm guitar dominating, looming like a towering colossus above the keys. Although they can become annoying at times, they add a certain element of gloom and create an epic feel in the music. Lyrically, the album is amazing; such despair and misery within the odes to death, with an almost erotic feel to them.

For the avid funeral metalhead, this is one album that you must have, as well as this album's predecessors. For the rest of the world, this album may seem boring and repetitive, although that is not an excuse to not check this album out, as time may allow some growth of fondness for this work. What cannot be denied is the emotion within this music. This is the kind of emotion that would drive the world's happiest child to suicide. In such light, it would be impossible to classify this album with a number. (Monolithic/10)

In case you haven't had enough of modern Swedish melodic death metal, here's one more – but this time from Australia. Visions in Verse is Vespers Descent's first full-length album. The musicianship on display here is quite good and the songwriting quality is even more surprising – that is, until you have listened to it for several times and realised that there was nothing that stayed with you – and that you have missed about two thirds of the album because your mind has strayed elsewhere.

Vespers Descent do their best to play like their heroes – namely Dark Tranquillity at their most technical period and later-day Arch Enemy. Jacek Wolski is obviously inspired by Jeff Walker of Carcass, but forgetting to vary the pitch and being more hollow than Walker, he ends up sounding like Angela Gossow (if you like the way she sings then read this as a compliment).

There is nothing wrong with the sound – the guitars are crunchy and dirty, but if you pay more attention to them, they sound artificial, like there has been too much polishing done in the studio, or maybe some parts have been recorded once and placed wherever they were necessary. Thinking of it, the same thing might have been done to the vocals as well – there's the same laughter, three times, on "Plains of Azure Light" – or is the guy just boring? The drums have a somewhat standard triggered sound, but overall there's something missing at the top of the sound range.

The songs are varied enough but still average by-the-numbers modern death. There's a song starting with a blastbeat, an obligatory acoustic instrumental and so on. The guitar solos and fingerbreaking riffs are Vespers Descent's strong assets but after the somewhat original sixth track, "A Quantum Prayer," the interest fades away until the surprise that is the 12th track – hey, could it be that Vespers Descent actually have some fresh ideas... Oh. It's a Carcass cover, "This Mortal Coil," from 1993.

If you really have to have everything that has ever been released in this genre, you could do far worse than this, but there is nothing catchy on Visions in Verse on more than a superficial level. (5/10)

review by: Saint Jinn

Wraith of the Ropes is a band that will use many genres of music to create their sound, which centers around atmospheric doom/death in a blend that they categorize as "horror metal." Ada is extremely faithful to that dubbing, as it sounds exactly like a soundtrack to a generic ‘80s/’90s-era horror flick with distorted guitars and "Exorcist"-like vocals thrown into the mix.

The music moves along at a sludge pace, presenting an awesome sound that stays so for approximately two songs. After that it's boring, as the music never really does anything except trudge along like a zombie with a bad leg, doing nothing more than continue to trudge the same ground, making the songs repetitive.

Of course, a lot of bands in the doom/funeral scenes are even slower. However, the problem with Ada is that it's just so boring. Granted there are heavy parts with some kickass blastbeats, the vocals completely kill the music by continuing in a monotonous drawl, not to mention that the general flow of the album is basically rehashed every song. Want to make it more interesting? Get those vocals and walk them! Don't keep rasping in the same monotonous tone for an entire album. It’s mind numbing!

The unchanging uniformity of the songs and their sound are just too much for one to actually enjoy this as a musical release. If you want horror metal, go with Diabolical Masquerade, and save Ada for Halloween, where you can use it in tandem with strobe lights and fog machines in your little haunted house in your front lawn to provide a creepy atmosphere that you won't have to actively listen to. (3.5/10)

It is clear from the start that these French death-metallers know what they're doing. A crisp, thrash-inspired, occasionally melodic mix spills out along with double-bass beats and deeply distorted growls. Yyrkoon's style is percussive and aggressive overall, though the sound occasionally lightens to make way for a high guitar solo or pauses for a good groove.

Besides the clear production and modern technicality, Unhealthy Opera sounds a lot like classic death. The formula is rather simple but entirely satisfying, moving among varied verses scattered with blast beats and solid guitar grooves. Repetition and predictability are not Yyrkoon's problems – the group keeps everything moving forward in an interesting way.

But originality is certainly lacking in this album. Any fan of death has heard the whole thing before, in various forms, over the past 20 years. Yyrkoon isn't blazing any new trails, but it's still a good-sounding band with skilled instrumentalists and a great ear for song structure. Unhealthy Opera speaks to Yyrkoon's potential, as all it lacks is something truly unique. This deficit could be a deathblow in the minds of many, but you can't go wrong if all you're looking for is some new, aggressive death metal. (6.5/10)