There are a few obvious problems with Upside’s Jim Beam and the American Dream. The title is long and ridiculous, yet it certainly informs you of what you are to expect from this album.

As you might guess from the bull skull artwork (the band’s from Texas), Upside take the southern-sounding riffs and metalize them. They specialize in verse / chorus songs that are the general length for radio play. Strangely enough, the band sounds like Nickelback at times. Despite this, I found myself tapping my boot along with the music!

The drums have plenty of little eccentricities that you can notice if you pay close attention, and vocalist Ben Mosier supplies a powerful yelled style of vocals, yet not exactly a scream. Sure, he provides screams as well, but very rarely throughout. The songs are pretty straight-forward, but the guitar riffs sound totally fun to play.

Jim Beam and the American Dream is really better than the first impressions would have you believe. Upside may not be original in the least, but they can take objectively uninteresting elements and make enjoyable tunes from them. (6/10)

Now we're talking hardcore! Even if it is true that most reunions suck, it is not so with 108. Those who knew this band from the mid-‘90s, as well as those who have never heard of them before (like yours truly) will be equally amazed.

How to describe the 34 minutes of A New Beat From a Dead Heart without sounding too ecstatic? Let's try it this way: Know all the new metalcore bands with all the same riffs, sound and senseless lyrics? Most of today's audience actually confuses that with hardcore. Now imagine the opposite. This is harsh, brutal, varied, passionate, punishing and pretty serious stuff. The guitar knows no mercy. The vocals are angrier than Tom Araya at his best. The songs vary from high speed to steadfast mid-tempo, but with some quite dramatic quieter, pensive parts just waiting to erupt into another outburst of brutality. This is how hardcore should be done. No breaks, no time to breathe.

Although they have been away for more than a decade, 108 sound as tight as if they have been here all along. It's astounding to hear how many wild ideas Vic Dicara can squeeze out of his guitar: dissonant melodic patterns, scratches, evil riffs, out-there-somewhere wails and plain old powerchords never cease, and never sound the same between two songs. There's still a certain "don't care" punk attitude to 108, as well as the primitive sound, but with the prevailing use of trademark hardcore chords and all the technical difficulties and changes, this is one musically well educated, experienced… and damn nervous punk.

Anyone used to crisp sounding modern "hardcore"… listen and learn.

The same goes for the bass guitar, well audible and at times distorted to a full, sharp, painful sound. This is the way to go if you want your ideas to be noticed. If you have any.

And 108 actually have some things to say. Seeing a song title like "Bibles + Guns = The American Dream?" would probably make anyone open the booklet and investigate a little further. Yes, there are things to be found in there. "Hey, president, perpetuate war, tell them what they're dying for. Any lie will do because good dogs do what you train them to. Priests, popes, politicians, killing to be known." This was just a random excerpt. Let's try one more: "Martyr complex, not about harm reduction. All about us versus them. Are you looking for a war to win, or are you looking for a change?" Shortly, the lyrics are brilliant and thought provoking, and there's no way of not noticing them with Robert Fish / Rasaraja delivering them in such a passionate, throat-ripping fashion.

108 are devoted Krishna believers, and some used to tag them Krishnacore. To some bystanders, it might be a bit strange, if anything, because it's known as a non-violent religion. Well, this time Krishna kicked some ass. (8.5/10)

What . . . in . . . the . . . name . . . of . . . all . . . the . . . holy . . .

Oh, nevermind — that’s just my ENTRAILS falling to the hardwood floor.

The brutality and purity of Amputator’s black thrash cannot be overstated, and with this latest release, Deathcult Barbaric Hell, they’ve pretty much outdone themselves. Fresh off a split with New England neighbors Baphomet’s Horns, the infernal duo sound pretty much the same as on previous abortions. It’s hard to fathom that this amount of pummeling thickness comes out of just two people. This band’s unflagging blastmort and downright OBSCENE distortion raise them to the highest echelons. Trust me, if you dig good old Hellhammer still, you’ll want to check this shit out.

You can see where this is going with songs like "Rape Kill Annihilate," "Massacrre Bloodhate," "Feasting of Vermin." Jeez. But the Repulsion cover "Slaughter of the Innocent" should really draw a few demons towards this inferno. Superb and mandatory. (10/10)

For a guy mentioning "Burzum, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Merzbow, Aphex Twin and Eric (sic) Satie" as his primary influences, The Yawn of the New Age sure is disappointing. He mentions a master of electronical minimalism, the creator of modern Japanoise, one of the most influencial IDM bands ever, and one of the best French composers to ever live, so Zweizz should be much better than it actually is.

The problem is, The Yawn of the New Age starts with some really horrible songs, so most listeners can and will press stop before the good stuff appears. The first two or three songs are black metal-influenced borefests that are way too far off to appeal to either Stockhausen-enthusiasts or metalheads, and they don't really show anything worthwhile. Unless cheap gabber is your thing, you should skip them.

Now, after those first few songs, it magically gets better. The fourth song is a NES-sounding Immortal cover song that's about as catchy as something so bizarre permits. Song five is a creepy example of modern musique concrete, whereas song seven is something like a B-class sci-fi movie soundtrack. It's kind of inexplicable how a guy capable of mimicking Stockhausen, or even Ligeti's most adventurous stuff, can at the same time structure the CD in one of the worst possible ways.

In the end, The Yawn of the New Age is a good album with some horrible tracks and some great ones; an album that will surely be a hit-or-miss with inexperienced people, while people with more varied taste will probably understand for what it is: nothing exceedingly weird, but definitely a good try. Now, with those influences, Zweizz should have been much, much better. It could work as a gateway band, though, for those that haven't heard good 1930-1980 avantgarde. (6.6/10)

Canadian, sorry, Vinland, Anti-Christian Kommando, are so "true" that there's no point in trying to find faults. The sound job is very... well... nah. Who wants to waste time on mixing and mastering anyway? The guitars are recorded, full stop. The drums, the bass and the vocals are recorded. Can you hear them? Yes, you can. It's in mono, and that will suffice. Need anything more? Go elsewhere.

Trying to find mistakes in V.A.C.K.'s musicianship is pointless as well. From slow to blastbeats, nothing is too accurate, but the trio obviously plays in time, to an extent. Like it matters. And Morbid's vocals are just monotonous hysterical screams, sounding like Varg Vikernes but failing in the diversity compartment. But that's not the point, either.

What IS the point is V.A.C.K.'s "tr00 kvlt" charm? In spite of being exposed to all the sloppiness and apparent lack of taste, the curiosity takes over and L'ombre de la Solitude ends up as a very interesting listen. What will be the next simple riff? Oh, THAT one. And for how long will Morbid keep on doing this? Forever. Doesn't it hurt? And when will they do the next break? A blastbeat? All the time. Can they play at all? Yes, they probably can, but they don't want to. Of course that would mean commercial pretentiousness, and we don't want that. The only remotely technical guitar part is the thrashy riff on the last track, "Freres de Sang," but it's over so soon that V.A.C.K. probably were ashamed of it.

The drums, played by Dark Massacre (and you really need to know that the third member's name is Norske) aren't too bad, in reality. There are different rhythms and scattershot crashes aplenty, but thankfully when he's playing fast you can't hear the snare or the bass drums. No, no. We don't want our drummer to show off, do we? If he's going to go wild and brutal, he can, but he has to hit the damned things bleeding hard if he wants to be "true" (and audible). Perfect.

It doesn't get much more underground than L'ombre de la Solitude, really. Even their label name — Rusty Axe Records? Cool. It's just that V.A.C.K. are some 15 or 20 years too late with this. But, if you are one of the chosen few, and you know what you like, just pretend it's 1987 and read the rating as an 8/10. Otherwise, it's... (5.9/10)

Also an interesting feature of Vidres A La Sang is that all of their lyrics are performed in Catalonian. Granted, you can't really tell what people are saying when they scream and growl, but it's cool nonetheless.

Endins starts out with a brief period of sharp ambiance which leads into a fiery torrent of speed, littered with blastbeats whenever possible — which ends up being a lot of the time.

Endins is a great example of blackened death metal. Yet as far as substance goes, Vidres A La Sang have really raised the bar. The riffs are entertaining and energetic, and the solos, which are placed tastefully within each song, are pulled off with a lot of skill and grace. Even though the band deals on a large spectrum of emotions, there are no emo screams or cries to be found. Endins is creatively brutal and has a tendency for internal beauty. (8.9/10)

Many magazines are saying this is a throwback to ‘80s thrash metal. I have no idea what the hell they were listening to, because when I listen to this album, it sounds much more like a simpler Black Label Society (minus the whole biker bar sound that Zakk Wylde has going) — only with a lot more crossover elements.

The disk itself isn’t bad, but City of Kings suffers quite a bit, most notably from the fact that the music here is incredibly simple. Now I’m not saying that technicality is needed to display emotion through music — this isn’t true at all; what I am saying though, is that the simplicity presented in the music, in conjunction with the flat tone of the instruments, does not give life to any of the tracks on City of Kings — and ultimately, this makes the entire album sound dull and spiritless. Aside from that shortcoming, City of Kings is also pretty weird and inconsistent on some levels.

It’s weird because the album really does cross over the genre line quite a bit. For example, one song will have a strong heavy metal riffing structure with a few thrash influenced leads here and there, but the song after that will sound like a stoner rock / heavy metal hybrid song with a lot of extra groove to it; then it will kick into another song that’s all of a sudden laden with thrash riffs with some really awkward stoner yells and leads. This wouldn’t have been so weird if the band was able to approach each song with a certain sound that would have remained consistent throughout the album, so one could easily proclaim that this is a heavy metal album, or that this is a thrash metal album. That is not what we have here, though; instead it seems that the bands myriad of influences couldn’t be used effectively in the creative writing department, so entire sections of songs don’t flow like one would typically expect; this isn’t very noticeable due to the very close relationships of the genres the band likes to dabble in, but many songs still have a coerced fluidity that one wouldn’t normally find in such a song. The album isn’t bad, but it isn’t that good, either; it is however, definitely better than the majority of radio acts out there (4.7/10)

Before I wrote this review, I thought about mentioning that the ‘80s are over. But the song that’s playing right now ("(Goin’ Down to the) Edge of Town") sounds nothing like an ‘80s song. The genres this album most resembles are classic rock and blues. Somehow Salen and his crew have managed to take the least appealing parts of both genres and mash them up. You may want to check it out if you really, really love classic rock. If you don’t, steer clear. (3/10)

I could nap to this album. Not because it is boring (it’s not). But the melodies are so gentle, so soft. As soothing as NPR talk shows, but with more interesting content. The sound is country-influenced folk, and when I say "country-influenced," I mean that the influence is subtle and slight. There is more than a hint of bluegrass in the mix as well, but the vibe is much more relaxed.

A deviation from the soporific darkness of the album in general is "Let’s Hope for Esperanza," a song about falling in love with one’s maid. It is easily the most bizarre song on the disc. First, the punning title (let’s hope for hope?). Then, the refrain "floss my soul, Esperanza." Not the most compelling imperative. Fortunately, the rest of the album sticks to a formula that works. Don’t try to listen to this disc to keep yourself awake on a long drive, but do put it on to swing in a hammock and perhaps to drift off into dreamland. (7.5/10)

Totem came forth and began writing material for release in 2007 on I Hate Records. First, they released this Totem EP on April 27th, and now they're already working on a full-length album after having done some work for a split 7" with Pagan Altar.

Totem’s doom is strange enough, and follows a path between the psychedelic and the moaning vocal ways of Ozzy's Sabbath days. (In June of 2007, Totem changed their name to Jex Thoth.)

Totem has a nice, raw sound that you would expect to encounter emanating from a garage, complete with the amateur female vocalist! Totem follows the old Sabbath ways religiously, and often build on big sludge-stuffed passages that would make the old folks who initially listened to Sabbath in their youth proud. For the youngsters today who enjoy Sabbath, they will most-likely enjoy the Totem EP as well... The folks who prefer the modern era of doom probably won't enjoy this one too much, however. It's all about that classic sound and the vintage vibes.

The song Totem did for the Pagan Altar split, "Stone Evil," is worth getting this EP alone. The die-hard fans of Sabbath should check out Totem’s EP, and keep an eye out for their future endeavors, which seem very promising in this regard. (7/10)

The Re-issues is one of the most deceiving releases ever made in the history of music, and I'm not exaggerating. The booklet talks about it as a hardcore band, the first 11 songs are really good hardcore, and then... you're hit in the face by a boring rap-influenced metal band. It's not a personal thing against hardcore or metal or anything, it's just that most bands can't just randomly change styles and sound good. At least Token Entry can't.

So, the first half, Jaybird, is good, no matter how you look at it. Old-school hardcore mixed with skate punk mixed with old-school straight edge. It's not great as in "holy shit, this is so awesome!" but it really is good. It has a heavy ‘80s feeling with some pretty sweet vocals and some good riffs going on. It's quite like Necros, but more skatey. The good part is that Token Entry don't take themselves seriously, so it all comes out fun and fresh. And don't forget the brilliant "Born to Be Wild" cover. Jaybird is hardcore like it just doesn't get made anymore.

But just when you're waiting for another 30 minutes of fun punk, Weight of the World comes to remind you that not all style changes work. Definitely, changing skate punk / hardcore for rap metal doesn't work. So, for the next half an hour you'll be wondering just why the hell Token Entry changed their style for something so cheap and commercial. Nothing about Weight of the World seems to fit. The vocals are obviously forced, the riffs lack the groove they should have, the songs are all alike, and it goes on and on forever without going anywhere.

If the production's the best thing about it you can find, and it isn't even that good, then you might realize why I say that the second half of the album is horrible. But it's even more horrible because it's frustrating: It's like seeing Bad Brains playing pop punk or Dead Kennedys playing death metal. Not good. Well, unless you like highly commercial, low grade Faith no More-like bands. Minus the talent part, of course.

So, The Re-issues is almost worth it just because of Jaybird, but you'll be better off skipping the whole Weight of the World and remembering Token Entry as "that really fun skate punk/hardcore band." Actually, you'll be forced to. Just buy Re-issues and say it's your copy of Jaybird. (8.4/10 and 2.2/10, respectively; 4.9/10 collectively)

Throneum and Revelation of Doom are two black / death metal bands (with a strong penchant for thrash) with a mission; what that mission is however, I honestly don’t know. This split clocks in at a little over 37 minutes, and features only four original songs (two by each band). The other nine songs end up being covers of some world renowned thrash, death, and black metal bands.

Both bands sound similar in their production of dirty and remorseless atmosphere. Revelation of Doom, though, is by far the tighter sounding of the two bands, sounding more comfortable playing their genre with a ferocity that isn’t matched easily (or, to be precise, mostly not at all) by Throneum. This however brings up a personal question that could only be answered by Throneum themselves: With the Destruction cover being the best piece of material released on the split, why not play metal more in the vein of blackened thrash?

This split is really a tribute split, with the band showing their respect to the old school by covering their material the best they can; this works in some instances, and doesn’t in others. In the end though, the real question is whether you want to buy an album of covers or original material? (5.2/10)

Progrock Records has been host to some pretty strange stuff, yet The Third Ending actually conforms to the genre label of "prog rock." When the self-titled album starts out with the song "Eleven," it is deceptive enough with a simplistic acoustic repetition and tame vocal performance during the verse that could imply any series of bland tangents. However, the chorus enters with a large sigh of relief; a drawbar organ, high, soaring vocals, and a memorable set of key changes.

The Third Ending have presented something similar to Dark Suns' Existence, a brand of progressive rock with a tinge of metal coated with a frosty dose of emotion. Main vocalist Nick Storr can reach a higher range yet doesn't drop too low, and maintains an overall feeling of youth in his performance.

This Australian foursome have hit the nail on the head and pursue a musical proficiency that is technically years beyond their age. They must have taken a time machine or something... The surprise is that this is a debut album! The Third Ending take most of their influence from classic prog rock groups and expand on that with modern production and musicianship. The zany, unintelligible artwork may frighten you away, and the opening of the album was strangely uninteresting, but quickly takes a massive turn for the better, making this an album to remember. (8/10)

I liked Sylvan's previous output (2006's Posthumous Silence, featured in our 45th issue). On Presets, the German band recreates everything but the magic.

If you'd like a clearer illustration, the Presets version of Sylvan sounds like a crossbreed between Porcupine Tree, Coldplay and whatever American soft rock band that is currently on MTV duty.

The opening song, "One Step Beyond," is a microcosm of the album. The way the natural harmonics enclosed bass lines lay the ground for the disruptive melody were lifted (quite obviously) from Porcupine Tree's "Hatesong." Furthermore, while the song is catchy and detailed, it eventually becomes as sickening as a TV commercial, sounding like a deliberate artifact rather than a sensitive, real life scene.

I'm not trying to dismiss Presets as a whole, as it is a decent release that includes some catchy songwriting as well as some more elaborate schemes ("Former Life," for example, has the potential to be on a Blackfield album, if only it sounded more full of intent). The album does border on being expendable, though, especially since there are two fine, new Steven Wilson releases around (Porcupine Tree's "Fear of a Blank Planet" and Blackfield's "II"). (5.5/10)

If you have never heard of this band, then I’m not sure where you’ve been living. What we have here in this EP are four previously unreleased tracks, two of which are covers of Agnostic Front and Negative Approach. The rest of the songs on the album are, to no surprise, live recordings of a recent gig (this time at Fenix, Seattle).

All the tracks have that good production that fits the foul mouthed, politically incorrect humor that many have grown to love, and the live tracks show the band being as uncouth as usual. If you are a fan of old punk / hardcore hybrids with a huge dash of early grindcore — then by all means you’ll probably like this disk. But remember, this majority of songs on this album have been released before — but if you are a diehard fan of the band, then the extra four unreleased tracks will be something you’ll want to get your hands on. (7/10)

Sometimes you’re in the mood for something a little mellow. But if you put on that Elliott Smith album again, you’ll want to slash your wrists. You can’t listen to Smog again because you’re tired of his voice. And you don’t want to delve into the depths of Arab Strap or Low. You’re thinking mellow, not dirge. Washington, DC’s Stamen & Pistils may just fit your mood.

Think folky, but not the stuff you hear on NPR stations during off hours. Now imagine that Kieran Hebden got his hands on the songs and tweaked a few of them, just a little bit, not enough to be intrusive. I present you with Stamen & Pistils. Occasionally dark, definitely mellow, but interesting enough to keep you listening. Standout tracks include "Quiet County," which treads close to Low territory but does not fall over the side; "A Death in Ronkonkoma;" and the atmospheric and slightly creepy "Hands Washing Water." I will be listening to this album for a while; it rewards repeated listens far more than it impresses the first time through. (8.5/10)

Mr. Mick was, if only in its concept, an ambitious effort. Stackridge built the album (the last one before the band dissolved) around a poem by Steve Augarde (who later turned it to a book) about an elderly man and his saddening rise (or in fact decline) to stardom as king of the dump, but the album was eventually shaved by the record company, leaving out the music-backed narrations and trading one song with another, more accessible one.

Angel Air packed both the 1976 released version and the original band version, and it's really good to have both here — the former for a more comfortable, easily flowing listening experience, and the latter for a more insightful one.

Musically, Mr. Mick is another step in the band's evolution towards round songs rather than epics. Compared to the highly orchestrated songs that were featured in the band's 1973 release, The Man in the Bowler Hat, the tuneful songs here (of which the pseudo-cathartic "Fish in a Glass" really stands out) are served in a more straightforward rock vein. There are still highly competent keyboards and sax playing, at times ("Save a Read Face" and the brilliant, moody instrumental "Coniston Water") resulting in an aura that isn't a far cry from Van Der Graaf Generator, albeit more placid. (7.5/10)

With a name like "At War With Self," I was expecting more metalcore jackassery; fortunately, the band is made up of musicians from such bands as Gordian Knot and Fates Warning. What is showcased here is some highly technical, progressive metal that will undoubtedly knock you on your ass when you hear it for the first or fiftieth time.

The instruments are crystal clear, and have a beautiful, organic tone. The guitar can be precise at one moment and utterly chaotic at another; leads that appear out of nowhere are common, and usually soar into the highest heavens, only to later plunge right into the ambient background melody generated by the synths. The bass is very strong, and completely on par with the guitar, and is never buried under the rest of the instruments as it is in many metal releases. Drums are completely on their own ground, sometimes they give room for breath for the guitar and bass to flirt and dance, become prominent or not; other times, though, they fuel the insanity by throwing percussive beats timed in calculated algorithms giving no respite to the technical insanity that follows the guitars.

It’s odd to find, though, that the largest dynamics found on the disk do not typically come from the role played between each instrument, as that changes wildly within each song. Instead, the amazing not-so-subtle dynamics come from the usage of each instrument in-between the smackings of clarity and disorientation. The perfect example of this would be the track "Martyr," with its large buildup and natural flustered sound.

Although mainly an instrumental band, the vocals that are incorporated into this album are undeniably perfect for the songs you find them in. The vocal duties switch between various musicians, and each vocalist you hear has a distinctively different voice that really adds to the overall character of the album.

Although the album has the atmospheric quality that I can only describe as "madness" at times, the music still maintains to be incredibly relaxing — in this respect, Acts of God is in its own right a audio masterpiece. I highly recommend this album to anyone who actually enjoys instrumentation as done by progressive guitarists. (9/10)

Diabolic Impious Evil is one of the best albums I’ve heard in years. The Polish four-piece Azarath is just bloodthirsty. Each element is strong; combined, they’re devastating. The sheer speed is the first thing to grab your attention: Blasting, rolling drum lines pummel your ears, and an aggressive growl yells percussively about Satan. The clear, deep production is perfect for showcasing the true ability of Azarath.

Despite the skillful drumming, the guitars are the best ingredient in Diabolic Impious Evil. They tackle verses with force, fast-picking their way through the intricate drums before plunging into a momentary, aggressive groove. Then an impossibly fast, melodic solo breaks out, followed by a new verse, even quicker and more evil than the last.

The vocals add great support to Azarath’s instrumentation, but they’re nothing you haven’t heard before. The drum-and-guitar combination, though, is one of the most energetic and brutal you’re ever likely to hear. Always shifting and changing at breakneck speed, there is no room for repetitiveness or mediocrity. Each note hits tight and fast, and with a power that will turn your head. How their fingers survive after giving their guitars such a severe beating I can hardly imagine. Nor can I imagine a metal fan who won’t like this savage, skillful offering from Azarath. (9/10)

Be'lakor have produced The Frail Tide out of their own pocket, and have released it themselves, which is quite astounding considering how masterful it is. The Australian five-piece seem to be following in the tradition of grand bands like At The Gates to Amon Amarth, and even a bit of Iron Maiden thrown in there for good measure. You definitely hear it when the guitarists form a harmonized string of solos!

Vocalist George Kosmas nearly sounds like an exact duplicate of the Amon Amarth vocalist apart from his higher screaming range. The songwriting is epic and almost of a neoclassical nature — at times it even sounds like an old Castlevania soundtrack from the first Nintendo system! This is not a bad quality, as Castlevania kicks ass, and neo-classically influenced death metal as a whole is pretty fresh territory.

The only real nag about The Frail Tide is the keyboards. The piano sounds ridiculously fake, and the strings that they use are also a bit stale and lack some good equalization and reverb. Despite this, Be'lakor is destined to become a revered member of the death metal community with their hefty chops mixed with beautiful progressions and solos. If they can do this well on their own, it's impossible to imagine how awesome Be'lakor could be with a label. (8.5/10)

I can't really say that Westminster & 5th is groundbreaking, but it's certainly original. It doesn't sound like the immature, "Hey, let's see how many times we can say 'fuck' in the chorus"-Suicidal Tendencies, while they do have their punk moments. Beowulf’s riffs and choruses are well thought out, not avant-garde, but not random powerchords either. In fact, the guitar playing is quite weird, although derived from the same crossover style of the eighties. And, you know, even the punk parts sound quite different than what you'd normally expect. Maybe it's the fact that Beowulf obviously have actual musicians in the band, and not just powerchord-abusing teenagers. Don't get me started on those.

Westminster & 5th is fun, and that's all that needs to be said about it. It doesn't stay much in the same place, every song introduces something new, the guitar tone changes sometimes, it doesn't really have any filler... summarized, it's crossover like it should have always been. It has the perfect balance between punky and metal parts, it doesn't descend into immaturity, the vocals are good (for a change in the genre), and you can hear the bass. While that should be true for all crossover bands, we all know it's not.

Also, Westminster & 5th is not really old school, not even production-wise, as it's really clear-sounding and not the usual muddy, "we recorded it at our our garage" thing. There are almost no Metallica or Anthrax influences, at least not as obvious as in other crossover bands. I mean, it IS thrashy, and it IS punky, but it doesn't sound like a replica of either genre's most famous bands. Beowulf are a modern, serious, crossover band, like they all should be.

If you've lost all faith for the genre, get this. If you haven't, then you most probably have already bought the album. (8/10)

Black Bonzo is another recent example of a contemporary band taking the ‘60s / ‘70s prog rock sound and modernizing it. Imagine Genesis or Pink Floyd, but with much fuller production. The production works well for Black Bonzo, with the main players being the vocals and keyboards.

Also, like the Knights Area CD we reviewed last issue, Black Bonzo is remarkably sissified. In fact, it’s even more wussy than the Knights Area disk. The singer sounds like he was stolen from a competent but (of course) gay European power metal band and then had all elements of power and metal lobotomized. The songs often come across as the progressive rock version of the Mother Goose and Grimm hour. Also, those seemingly steam-powered keyboards are really something fruity to behold.

Ok, enough at the expense of poor Black Bonzo, because their songs and album are actually quite good. The tracks are catchy and memorable, and Black Bonzo pulls off its style and intent with aplomb.

Marry the album cover art and the name "Sound of the Apocalypse" with what’s actually going on in these songs, and you’ll not know what to think. Yeah, it’s not a tongue-in-cheek joke, the songs do actually deal with deluge and Armageddon, but if you’re used to the association of the theme with groups like Marduk or Krisiun, Black Bonzo’s sound will be most incongrous, indeed. (7.2/10)

Black Light Burns is an "American rock supergroup" consisting of the lineup of Wes Borland (formerly of Limp Bizkit, Big Dumb Face, Eat the Day), along with Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle), Josh Eustis (Telefon Tel Aviv) and Josh Freese (The Vandals, A Perfect Circle, Nine Inch Nails).

There's a reason Cruel Melody only sold 6,000 copies in its first week of release: It sucks and is a flop. But furthermore, it's the debut release from an American rock supergroup. The words "American rock" in that phrase should be in bold font. It implies such bands as Limp Bizkit for one thing. It's not quite as grand as British rock, or any other country's rock for that matter. If they had rock in Zimbabwe, it would be better than this.

Long story short: The American mainstream is musically inept. It's a sad reality that we must live with everyday. One week you've got Lindsay Lohan, the next week Paris Hilton... the rock bands shuffle between popularity as well. Silver Chair, Nickelback... Granted, Limp Bizkit is somewhat of an older one. My generation grew up with the stuff in the ‘90s just as future generations will grow up with chick punk and techno (to accommodate the futuristic appearance)... I digress.

Granted, Black Light Burns is better than Limp Bizkit, but that doesn't take much. Cruel Melody is riddled with electronic drums, and plenty of studio magic. The one upside is that the vocal contributors put in a good performance, like the yelled chorus on "Lie," but they really aren't enough to salvage Cruel Melody. We can only hope Black Light Burns does better next time, as Borland is already working on the follow-up. (3/10)

No one goes out and buy an expensive DVD of a band they’ve never heard of, and you can’t truly explain the content or sound quality on the DVD as it will more than likely be very different from previous studio releases; so, because of this, the reviewer must take on a new point of view for a successful critique — that of a fan.

Salvation is kind of an odd disk. Sure, it has a nicely shot main stage recording of Byzantine, a music video, backstage footage, guitar and bass tutorials, and some nice bootlegged recordings, and it definitely going to be a pretty cool collectors item amongst fans.

The main feature is different from many other music DVDs in that there isn’t actually an audience present. The band members themselves are playing inside of a small (but well decorated) room recording what could be labeled as a live practice session of their most recent material. The sound quality isn’t too bad, but it isn’t the best either; it has a garage quality sound in that the guitars and bass sound a little bit thinner than normal, and the drums also have a bit of a lackluster sound — however, everything is still clearly audible, and the band really does put their all into it. Although this does create a very intimate moment between the band and the guy or gal sitting opposite the TV, it does lack the excitement and intensity of a live performance without the addition of the audience.

This is where the additional bootleg material comes in, as it is live, intense, and full of other people. This is for those fans that have never gotten to see Byzantine live, as it will at least give them an idea of just how the band interacts with the audience — the sound quality isn’t the best, but you have to remember that this was probably recorded on some shitty camcorder anyway. All together there are six recorded songs from an ’06 tour that are sure to get the blood pumping.

The two tutorials vary greatly in mission; while Chris Ojeda actually glosses over many guitar techniques that he uses for the band, Skip Cromer pokes fun at everything and everyone with his holier-than-though attitude. Both are still pretty good bonuses and will be enjoyed by fans.

The DVD is great and more than a worthy purchase for fans of the band, but if you don’t know who Byzantine are, then it would be best to check out some of their albums first. (For fans only 7.5/10)

Cadaveria was formed with vocalist Cadaveria and drummer Marcelo Santos of ex-Opera IX fame. Rather than epic, symphonic black metal, Cadaveria specializes in song-based, catchy, gothic blackened metal. You could call the group a more focused and refreshed version of Cradle of Filth, complete with womanly screams and female clean vocals. That is really where the comparison ends, however, as Cadaveria are notches above modern Cradle of Filth.

In Your Blood is really what black metal would sound like if it was written for radio play. It's got a rockin' side like you'd hear from modern Darkthrone, Chrome Division, or even Satyricon — mixed with metalcore breakdowns and chorus styles, and last but also least, the rough black metal part. "Anagram" is a rougher one with some blastbeats and vocalist Cadaveria's shrill screams, but also has a very melodic chorus. "100,000 Faces" is a heavy opener, but it is also tarnished by the ridiculous screams. Not as ridiculous as say, Dani Filth, but still pretty silly.

On the whole, In Your Blood is a cool foray into gothic metal from these two ex-Opera IX musicians. It definitely follows a different path, and if enough people hear this, Cadaveria could become pretty popular. The scene is open for this kind of thing, and now is their chance. (7.5/10)

Comatose Vigil? A tad redundant, yes? Sheeit. It’s bad enough that the black metal hordes keep dropping linguistically and conceptually screwed-up band names into my lap, but now the doom metal branch has seen fit to send me the titularly challenged as well? Well, hallelujah, I’m bored and "Oprah," er, I mean, "Dog the Bounty Hunter" isn’t on for another half hour anyway.

And to add to the chuckle factor, the Comatose ones have graced us with not one, but two versions of the single’s title track: one in English, the other in Russian. No, that’s not the funny part, the duality even makes sense; the English serves to appeal to a broader fan base and the Russian acts a shout-out: "we’re true to our roots and will never forget the motherland and the hearty constitution of our loyal brethren that gets us through the harsh winters year after year." What makes it rib-ticklin’ is that each version is for all intents and purposes identical as the vocals are so guttural, processed and slurred — imagine a worker demon with a really bad bout of indigestion and brain fever — that they could be in Esperanto and extolling the virtues of coffee enemas, and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Damn, but I do love metal.

All hilarity aside, Narcosis is a fairly involving slab of funereal doom, full of slow motion riffs, somber keyboards that alternately lead and follow the track’s deliberate pace, the aforementioned sulfur-drenched vox and an ambient break that cedes to howling wolves before tromping off into the mist. These guys clearly know their way around the genre and the superb production renders their journey towards despair all the more immediate and inevitable. (7/10)

The Dark Illuminati is as good as it is cheesy. Well, unless you really believe in Crowley or you're too used to this kind of music. But of course, the cheese doesn't only come from the whole "magic spells and weird names" things, the music's like that too. Imagine an hour or so of synthesized orchestra, other misc synths, martial vocals, ritualistic drums; it all adds up to humongous quantities of cheese. But you know what? Coph Nia managed to turn all that cheese into something not only listenable, but enjoyable too.

Coph Nia comes from the most martial sector inside dark ambient, similar in a way to In Slaughter Natives, but much more song-centered. That's precisely what turned The Dark Illuminati from a cheesefest into a sometimes sophisticated, sometimes amateurish, dark-ambient-yet-not album.

To be honest, I didn't like the choice of cover songs, but Coph Nia managed to turn them into something good, albeit not as good as the originals… mainly because you can't turn a Rolling Stones song into something like ambient (unless you're The Residents, but that's a whole other world) or even worse, neofolk-ish dark ambient, without making it sound at least a little bit awkward. And the cover songs do sound more than just a little bit awkward (well, except the Rolling Stones one, which is, no contest, the most awkward cover ever made). But they were listenable. And you might wonder just why I'm talking about covers before talking about anything else: because in The Dark Illuminati, they stand out the most.

Now, as for the actual songs, they are actually quite good... just that there are not many of them here. Think of them as Death in June gone dark ambient. The most important aspects of Coph Nia’s music are ritual percussion and martial vocals. And they are done well, without being excessive, but really shining when they are there. But they don't use just those two elements. Female vocals, structured songs, well done choruses, a cello, a realistically sampled orchestra (trust me, that says a whole lot about the band) with an actual notion of music theory, and a good production. However, Coph Nia are also a band capable of writing a boring, pure dark ambient, 15-minute track that goes nowhere until the 10:00 mark, a subpar Rolling Stones cover and some obvious filler segments.

Not overly bad, not overly good, but definitely recommended if you think Cold Meat Industry isn't just pointless "whoooosh" sounds. And even if you like that, the first track is just that plus random orchestration, so you might enjoy it too. (6.2/10)

Alright, no. I mean, no. If your album's boring already in the first track (hell, even the first riff) you should change, somehow. And I mean radically. Seriously, we don't need any more "melodic hard rock" bands (actually, "nu melodic hard rock," in this case) unless you're just too freaking good.

And Crushed isn't. My Machine is one of those CDs you just can't wait to be over. It's boring. Really, really boring. Boring to the point of you not really paying attention to whatever the hell the guitarist feels like playing, boring to the point of you getting surprised if you headbang during one or two riffs. Boring like guys talking about the status of the economy in South Africa-boring.

Objectively, musically, and technically, My Machine isn't really bad. It's just lowest common denominator hard rock. Like something you'd listen to on the radio, when they just need to fill some odd 9:00AM program. Sure, Crushed have riffs, and sure, they are not illogical or downright bad — they are there, just like everything else. It all feels fragile, almost artificially held together, like something that was forced to be. A forced cover, forced vocal lines, forced riffs, forced choruses, forced structures. It really is forced... none more so than the "heavy" nu-metal parts.

Good parts? Well, the good part is that Crushed are not so horrible. After all, we've all heard and seen hundreds of worse nu-something and hard rock bands. And at least Crushed is not accidentally hilarious, as opposed to Staind and all their whiny nu-metal kind. They just play music, the kind of music that you won't remember the next day, but it is music. It's not awkward or bad in the traditional sense of the word. It just fails conceptually, so everything else being lowest common denominator just comes naturally. I guess the only good thing is their vocalist, as he's good at actual melodic singing. But who am I kidding? You just won't notice that. Unless you actually care about South Africa's economy.

Describing My Machine technically would be a waste of time. You just need to know that they use and abuse powerchords, that their rhythms are normal hard rock ones, that they happen to love Linkin Park-like vocals (no rap, at least) and that they adore sounding like Filter. Like a generic copy of Filter. Like a generic copy of something you've heard on TV some years ago and you just can't name. (4.2/10)

After nearly a decade apart, Damnation AD is back with more metalcore that, unfortunately, doesn’t showcase much progress. Despite In This Life or the Next being decently executed, there isn’t anything in it that really stands out. The high, throaty vocals are monotonous in both tone and rhythm, the drums pound out uninspired, moderately paced beats, and the guitars lines are repetitive and mediocre. The time signatures don’t change, there isn’t much range in tempo, and after listening to a few songs you pretty much have the band figured out. No real surprises, no satisfying technicality — just a band leaning too hard on a simple formula.

Damnation AD does still have an edge to it, though — the vocals still have energy and conviction, and the tinny distortion adds a harshness that brings some worth to the album. But it can’t make up for a musical foundation that is both immature and unimaginative. (4/10)

The Secrets of the Black Arts is considered a classic of Swedish black metal; the album that put Dark Funeral on the map. I felt I needed it — it’s on my want list on lala.com — but now that the re-issue has landed, I’m scratching my head.

The Secrets of the Black Arts is very, very dull. It’s 90% blisteringly fast, but the songwriting and transitions are so mundane and repetitive that even if you’re a fan of hyperspeed blasting metal, you’ll wish the album would be over about three quarters of the way in. When the record comes to a merciful end after track 11, mental numbness is in full effect. Even forays into definite stylistic variations, like the one-riff, two-minute, Darkthrone-beat "Satanic Blood" come off as microcosms of a lack of ideas.

It’s not the format that’s suspect. Marduk made albums of single-minded songs for years. What’s amiss with Dark Funeral is that their guitar riffs are terrible, or at least terrible as far as being compositions that wouldn't serve any role other than being underpinning for a solo or a more prominent melodic theme. Listening to The Secrets of the Black Arts makes you think that Dark Funeral forgot about two to three layers of music that were supposed to have gone over the existing guitars and bass, so what you’ve got left are very bare bones, repetitive musical devices like extremely simple, interchangeable seven-note riffs played over and over with no dynamics, fills, solos... anything to make any one of these songs stick out over any other.

Dark Funeral’s drummer is tearing it up, though. He rips through his material with conviction, but, again, there is only so much the same, limited thing done over and over again can do if the music on top is lacking any apparent inspiration. The rest of the band is playing their lame parts with conviction, sure, so although the album is boring, it’s intense.

Dark Funeral was compared with Marduk incessantly during the late ‘90s. Why stop? The two dedicated themselves to being one-trick ponies, but Marduk somehow conveyed their material with a greater degree of seriousness. Meanwhile, Dark Funeral is screaming "Satan" so much that the word has lost all meaning.

The Secrets of the Black Arts is not an album that will offend black metal fans. It’s perfectly competent — even impressive on some levels, as the sound is powerful and the performances very tight — but it’s so utterly redundant that it only barely works as a historical footnote. (5.666/10)

I avoided Vobiscum Sathanas in the used bins for years. It was entirely because my friend in Crebain told me that Dark Funeral in general and that album in particular was lame, primarily because the band had blatantly ripped off a Darkthrone riff.

Years later, I still haven’t found the Darkthrone bit. Not that it isn’t there, but it must be at a point long after the active listening faculties are shut off when listening to Vobiscum Sathanas. It turned out, when I finally did hear the album, that it wasn’t half bad. Fast, ripping, not very memorable at all, but an enjoyable listen that, although you’d tune out to, you’d still dig if you liked hyperspeed black metal.

From albums one to two, Dark Funeral didn’t really change styles. It isn’t a huge improvement, but the material on Vobiscum Sathanas is clearly a cut above that found on The Secrets of the Black Arts, in that Vobiscum’s songs feel like they have a greater sense of movement as far as what the guitars are playing, thereby making the tracks have more life to them.

Still, you can probably expect to start to get antsy for the album to be over a few songs before it actually is. It’s for the same reasons: the material and the way it’s delivered is essentially single-minded. Like with The Secrets of the Black Arts, the music sounds very impressive in stand-alone sections, but as complete musical compositions, and even more so, as a collection of compositions that make up an album, it gets old, and fast. Well, not as fast as on the first album, at least.

The musicianship is, once again, spot on. If you’re really into Setherial, there’s no reason why you won’t be perfectly happy with Vobiscum Sathanas. It’s hyperspeed blasting music tinged with the particular Swedish black metal sense of melody, performed with conviction and skill. You can’t complain about the production, as it portrays the material with the power and clarity that you’d imagine Dark Funeral intended. The vocals do get tiresome in their unwavering delivery, and even though they’re mostly unintelligible, it seems apparent that the lyrics that re-visit the theme of Satan, ad nauseam, really don’t mean much to anyone.

Although it’s in a way silly to point out as fault the very things that obviously propelled a band to success, Dark Funeral could make way better albums if they gave up just a little bit on being this particularly mindless incarnation of metal extremism and excess, and worked on writing better songs. Vobiscum Sathanas, although succeeding in its core intent, is an example of that. (6.2/10)

It’s official: Dark Funeral is as dull as a complimentary dinner knife on a jet plane. Diabolis Interium is another installment of the Swedish one-trick-pony hyperspeed black metal masters.

Looking more closely, you can tell that Dark Funeral progressed from album #2 to #3, albeit within the framework of their single-minded musical goals. Most noticeably, the guitars have a bit more depth: the riffs reach a higher level of intricacy, and the use of harmony between the two guitars (it’s often easy to forget that there are two guitarists in Dark Funeral) is more pronounced. For the following statement, be sure to remember this is Dark Funeral we’re talking about: There is a greater variety of riffs on Diabolis Interium. Because of this, there is more distinction from song to song than ever before. This of course means in reality that some songs have parts that are remarkable, while most go by in a blur of redundancy.

Diabolis Interium is a great investment, especially if by "great," you mean "it’ll seem like a very long 36 minutes." Ok, ok, there are no suspect parts in the technical whole of this album. I want to like Dark Funeral, mostly because I’m a huge fan of drummer Matte Modin (who joined on this album), and because extreme metal drumming is a passion of mine. However, like every other Dark Funeral album, Diabolis Interium will leave you feeling numb and empty when it finally comes to a close. The vocals, guitar tone, and drumming style all have the same tonality from beginning to end. No dynamics lead to the feeling of standing still, no matter how fast you’re really going.

Like the other two Dark Funeral re-issues, Diabolis Interium has been re-mastered for this two-CD album. Now, it’s exceedingly odd that anyone would find it necessary to re-master an album that came out only six years before, and was hardly an underground startup to begin with. Regardless, the "new" Diabolis Interium is in fact louder, but that’s what they make volume knobs for, people. What’s more, we have a hunch that the "old" version of the album might actually sound better when turned up loud.

The other thing you get with the "new" Diabolis Interium is a second disk containing five bonus tracks (comprising four covers of King Diamond, Sodom, Slayer and Mayhem) portraying Dark Funeral "in a way you’ve never heard them before." What? You mean in terms of actually playing songs that don’t sound like thoughtless rehash? No surprise that the covers aren’t as good as the originals, but they sure are tight.

Like any other Dark Funeral album, Diabolis Interium sounds impressive in very small doses. But as a whole, it’s still not very interesting, but it is good and accomplished for what its goal is, so the score reflects that. (6.666/10)

Deathkiller is a trio hailing from Connecticut and plays a rock ‘n roll hardcore combination that is best compared to emo and screamo bands. If you like any of the previously mentioned genres, with a little bit more groove, then by all means continue reading — if not, then stop immediately and go listen to something you actually enjoy hearing… the gods know I would if I could.

Now, Deathkiller’s New England is Sinking is not at all a masterpiece, but it does bring some interesting ideas to an extremely craptacular scene. First of all, the riffs, drum patterns, bass lines, and song compositions are something that you’ve more than likely heard before. There is nothing original in the musical department that differentiates this disk from others. However, something that you will notice is that where many other bands go for a very hard-edged, aggressive sound with an overly polished production, Deathkiller has a very soft sound. This soft fuzz permeates all the instruments on this disk, which gives the guitars, drums, and vocals a quality that makes me think of the Downey-soft bear (the one in all the detergent commercials) playing music. Although this gives a pretty cool quality to the record, it also greatly hinders it; this is especially apparent when the bands aggressive passages sound like their abstentious chord progressions.

New England is Sinking is definitely music that will attract to a certain scene; if you happen to wear tight polo/athlete tees, faded tight pants, and headbang even though you have no hair to headbang with whatsoever, then you may like this. Hell, you’ll like this if you have five lip rings, an ear gauge, and your hair positioned just over your left eye (like a pirates eye patch). If this doesn’t sound like you, then by all means skip it, you wouldn’t be missing much. (3/10)

It’s one of the great mysteries how some bands seem to come into existence fully formed, either through divine or infernal interference, springing to life, a graceful and predatory animal so self assured in its abilities that self-doubt is a completely alien concept. In this respect, Ea’s debut, Ea Taesse, is one mighty behemoth in a world populated by lesser beings and woe to anyone who questions otherwise.

Ea Taesse is funereal doom of the highest order; no debates, questions, ands, ifs, buts, or hold-on-a-secs. They haven’t reinvented this (miserable) wheel, but they’ve stolen the blueprints drafted by the likes of Skepticism, Shape of Despair and Evoken, memorized all the best bits front to back, upside-down and sideways and trimmed off all the extraneous fat. Nothing shabby in that achievement, but Ea distinguish themselves further by bringing black metal sensibilities to the table. Ea Taesse is basically a symphonic black metal album on downers, like Anorexia Nervosa or Dimmu Borgir played at half or quarter speed yet retaining all the dynamics and sonic clarity.

Composed of one fifty-four minute track divided into three parts, the album serves as a soundtrack for all things mournfully grim and dismal (or "grismal," as I’ve heard a purported wise man utter from time to time). It’s a sodden march through foggy moors dotted with ephemeral beings, traipses through crumbling mansions filled with restless ghosts, tours of dusty and abandoned churches that deities have long ago forsaken, processionals through rain-swept graveyards, or meanderings through the catacombs of your own despondency.

The riffs plod along with no intent other than forward motion; no build or release. They take on a drone-like quality, hypnotic and eternal, without beginning or end. The vocals add the appropriate degree of world weariness, a raspy bellow that elicits enough energy to push out a few phrases from time to time before retreating to gather strength until called upon later.

Bleak stuff, to be sure. But what keeps the album from miring itself in wrist-slashing territory is its austere and pervasive beauty. The keyboards — minor key swells, haunted house plinkings, single note dirges, melodic progressions — have as much to do with this as the female vocals that weigh in at various intervals and are, by turn, concrete and ethereal, verging on the operatic or chorused as to resemble a plague of angels. Ultimately, though, it’s the underlying promise that there’s light shining underneath the layers of darkness and rather than succumbing to the lure of the abyss, one can celebrate and revel in the precarious dance along its edge. (8.5/10)

Above all, Everwood’s The Raven’s Nest is an album that progressive metal fans should check out. The Czech band features a substantial amount of unusual characteristics within the genre, like uncommon dynamics and approaches to songs. There’s a great deal of variety in the music on The Raven’s Nest, and all of it is executed with talent and professionalism.

However, there is something irrepressibly awkward about Everwood’s music (about as awkward as their band name... it sounds like a promotion for Viagra). You could cite the eclecticism of the album, but that’s not it. It’s more like the album comes across as a work done by a group of geeky guys with a lot of vibrant ideas, but they haven’t entirely figured out how to nail them yet. As you may know, situations like this can lead to a great deal of inadvertent charm — and there’s certainly no lack of that here — but the amount of this relative stumbling (particularly paired with the extremely long running time of the album: 15 songs in 70+ minutes) unfortunately leaves more of an impression of a trek rather than an adventure.

The most tangible representation of this dorkiness is in the Balazs Koncz’s vocals. The man has got a very strong accent, and it lends a good deal of charm to his talented capabilities. However, the times where it appears the band is trying to go for some incarnation of their perception of a more jivey, stereotypical American style, it bites them all in the butt. This is most representative on "Behind Your Smile," the album’s only really bad track — a simple, repetitive number where the vocals seem to all end in a hilarious, moaning "yeah" whose result doubtlessly wasn’t conceived as such.

The good side of Everwood’s being all over the map is that there’s a lot to discover. Most of the songs are complex and have interesting instrumental layers. There are also at least a couple fantastic songs with forever memorable choruses. The rest falls very much in-between, but thankfully more toward the side of interest and quality rather than half-bakedness. The Raven’s Nest is a lot to wade through, but it’s a record that could prove to be a grower beyond it’s initial impression of quality. (7/10)

Despite the introduction to Slay Your Kind being a horrible 30-second piece with the vocalist repeating whispered vocals with the timing of a rap song, the following track, "Road Crash Rebellion," redeems the album with brutally low growls, and plenty of thrash riffs intertwined with quicker, almost grind-like riffs.

Exterminator squeeze the genres of thrash and death together while using a raw, somewhat thin guitar tone to make some bang-worthy death thrash! "Inside The Pyramid" displays some middle-eastern influence as well, though extremely stereotypical of that sound and the concepts. The strong musicianship and production, along with the diverse songwriting, make Slay Your Kind a really exciting album.

There's a lot of slower, grinding passages contrasted with bursts of speed and the occasional vent of melodic pleasure, yet there always seems to be something interesting going on at any given time. Vocalist Jacky Cuypers, who also handles guitar duties, even breaks out some nice clean vocals that, despite being totally out of character with the music, are good ear candy.

Exterminator have had a ton of line-up changes during their extensive history and minimal success, so things do look bleak for Exterminator at the moment. Considering the band have held tough since 1991, there's not much chance of them going anywhere any time soon, however. Without a label and only two full-lengths and an EP, Exterminator are a great example of what happens to a band with no financial backing or support. Hopefully this will begin to change in the near future. (7.5/10)

They should give a medal to Fall of the Leafe. How the hell can you manage to be as catchy as a ‘70s pop album while still being heavy and structurally developed? They've gone a long way since their previous album, Vantage. What was a simple (but quite effective and pretty enjoyable) band evolved into an even better and more enjoyable one, with more elements thrown in, like more prominent guitar duels, faster parts, heavier ones, screamed vocals...

Truly, Aerolithe is Vantage v2.0, but we're talking about a real new version of it, not just a re-release with some tweaks. Everything you heard in Vantage is done here, but much better in every sense of the word. The romanticist atmosphere is much better done here, the "HIM suddenly turned into a really good band" feeling is stronger, the heavy parts are heavier and the felt parts are even more felt. While Fall of the Leafe haven't changed substantially, they have certainly tweaked their style.

Pretty much all you need to know is that Aerolithe is great, no more, no less. It's well done, well produced, well played, well composed and conceptually well thought. They don't play like everyone else, but they aren't completely outlandish. They aren't too harsh, but they aren't Sonata Arctica either. I wish I had something bad to say about the album. Fall of the Leafe has perfectly adapted to their own style, so it's natural that Aerolithe is great. And I know I won't be the first one to say that their next albums should be as good, if not better. Now, it isn't for everyone, as they have a kind of quirky concept of "gothic metal", but do try it if you're not sure, and make sure to give it a few spins if you're at all into gothic. (8.1/10)

Alright, let’s get right to the heart of the matter. Do you worship Godlfesh? More specifically, do you kneel daily at the altar of their seminal album Streetcleaner, paying particular concern to the opening track "Like Rats?" Now let your mind take a flight of fancy and imagine "Like Rats" overlaid with a thick patina of grime, dirt and random fluids and helmed by a vocalist doing his damndest to channel Michael Gerald of Killdozer with only a few shredded flaps of skin adhering to his larynx. Can’t quite construct the overall image? No worries, the four degenerates that comprise Gloomy Sunday have done all the heavy lifting for you.

Seriously, the first six tracks on Beyond Good And Evil adhere to that template, bursting with mechanized rhythms (courtesy of a live drummer, go figure), colon-tickling low end in the bass department, guitar work that masquerades as ripped sheets of corrugated metal shuddering in the breeze and, of course, those really, really messed up vocals. It’s an ugly little mess, so ill-fitting and squalid that you can practically see rivulets of grease forcing their way through your speakers.

Then, come track seven and for reasons known only to themselves, Gloomy Sunday get in touch with their inner stoner and filter everything that came before through a couple of tracks of uptempo and groove-laden rockers that’ll have you thinking of Orange Goblin or Fu Manchu in the aftermath of an all-nighter, bloodied, bruised, broke and doused inside and out with bio-diesel.

Oh, but wait, it get even more head-scratchingly unsound. The final song, "Dead, Love, Autumn," begins its fifteen-minute lifespan as a repellently catchy little number, makes an abrupt leap into elongated, Neanderthal pummel, and then falls apart bit by bit, exiting via a spot of ultra-doom that might be Khanate in a positive frame of mind.

It’s a testimony to sheer perversity and determination that the band keeps it all from sinking under the weight of its collective absurdity. Beyond Good And Evil has that whole car crash thing going on: you don’t want to look, know with some certainty that you’ll witness something you’d rather you hadn’t, yet your neck cranes in that direction as if under its own volition. Lord knows we shouldn’t encourage Gloomy Sunday in their endeavors; they might produce another unwholesomely enticing piece of filth again. (6/10)

Now, this band is far more complicated in the technical aspect than bands such as Vlad Tepes, and has great production to boot (a comparable release would be Peste Noire’s La Sanie…, although Manifesting the Raging Beast is still louder and a bit cleaner). The overall impression of this album is that it was obviously made with great care, as each track is brought fully to life and made to work within the environment it is presented in; the guitars rage on in a bleak state of profundity, churning out aural maelstroms that sound of cold anger. The vocals spew forth violently, and the drums back up this fury with gloom-laden kick and snare hits.

The atmosphere on this album is phenomenal: Each song shifts and flows like the tide itself, with no abrupt ends or jagged tonality — but don’t think for one minute that this album is nothing but mid-paced depressive black metal, for within an instant the tempo can pick up, and like a hurricane breaching land, it immediately flings the listener (and whatever else is in the vicinity) to the earth to begin the relentless flagellation of skin through wind and debris.

Manifesting the Raging Beast album is damn good, and is definitely recommended for those who enjoy the likes of Shining, Zorn, Peste Noire or even Belketre. (8/10)

High Council mix heavy metal and classic rock in a mesmerizing way — and, also a touch of folk — that will beckon your attention again and again. "Samsul's Blizzard" begins with folksy acoustic riffs that are soon accompanied by the clean, pentatonic vocal styling of Bob Saunders. After a couple minutes, the heavy freaking metal makes its entrance, and it is good.

The guitar tone is fantastic, and the performances feel free-spirited and fun rather than forced and by the book. Even though the music is recorded as if it was a live performance (with the rhythm dropping out when the guitarists enter a dual harmony section), the melody never ceases, and the music remains fairly consistent throughout. The falsetto vocals sound completely ridiculous, but they are really used at a minimum.

All of the songs are about the same length: Seven to eight minutes, yet they reach this length without gratuitous repetitions. The band breaks down into medieval-sounding acoustic passages like Opeth used to do with Orchid and Morningrise, which is always a great dynamic. Motion Denied is excellent. Of course, here is yet another promising band with no label, yet High Council are busying themselves and exposing their awesomeness with live performances. (8/10)

Female-fronted metalcore is on the rise! For all of you who are so pissed off about the plethora of generic metalcore bands that seem to generate spontaneously, prepare thyself for the plethora of female-fronted metalcore bands! If you're a fan of Kittie or Walls of Jericho, here's something to check out. In This Moment don't push the envelope, but the musicians behind the band are actually quite good.

Beautiful Tragedy’s opener, "Whispers of October," introduces the album with campfire ambiance and whispers mixed with some singsong-style clean vocals. "Prayers," which is also the first single, starts out strong with quickly plucked powerchords that rise into a melodic verse with vocalist Maria's nice, smooth voice. When In This Moment aren't pursuing the catchy chorus, they have thrashier parts influenced by the likes of In Flames and Killswitch Engage.

Some of the vocal melodies are comparable to stuff from Killswitch Engage's latest, Daylight Dies (especially songs like the title track, "Beautiful Tragedy"), and some of the riffs are definitely influenced by the Colony / Clayman era of In Flames. So in short, Beautiful Tragedy is an enjoyable romp into the familiar grounds of metalcore, yet with a very small dash of Gothenburg thrown in for good measure.

As you would expect from Century Media metalcore groups, the production is clean and punchy. Even the artwork looks interesting enough to catch your attention. In This Moment may be surfing on the hood of a popular and overstuffed genre, but they do it with style and flair. (7/10)

When I see and hear bands that sound like cheap amalgamations of other more well known bands (that also have happened to have lackluster debuts as well), I cry a little inside (we’re a very sensitive bunch here at Maelstrom – ed). I cry because, bands like this will undoubtedly dominate the music scene for the next five years, because for some reason, this has been the trend for the last decade.

Enter Internal Defect, a band who claims influences from the likes of Slipknot, Mudvayne, Stained, Tool, Deftones, and (somehow) Slayer and Metallica. Now, not to be mean, but this band is not good. ***This*** is moderately paced, and has many areas where mellow arpeggiations take precedence with clean vocals overlying them; at the other end of the spectrum, ***This*** also has its lean and mean parts with screaming, jumping bass, and power chords.

Although the majority of the music on ***This*** is nothing special or new, credit does need to be given where it is due. The use of the vocalist’s clean vocals over both pedal-laden effected guitars and clean picking has a pretty good sounding quality about it, and when used between some of the various intense passages, it creates a pretty nice dynamic (this is especially shown in songs such as "Remember" and "Stray"). The bass is pretty prominent during the slow segments of the disk where it strengthens the tension between both guitars and the drums during bridges. The production values are also pretty good, as the bass is clearly audible, the guitars sound very good, and the drums and vocals are not too loud or too soft.

The main problem with this release is that this, like many other records, there is nothing new. Because of the extreme amount of bands in this scene, there isn’t much ground that hasn’t been covered. And although Internal Defect tries to show that they are unique in some respects, they fail to do so because they are just a clone of the bands that previously came before them.

If you like alternative rock/metalcore mediocrity with the addition of screams and soft clean singing, then by all means give ***This*** a listen — it permeates every compositional fiber of this record. If not, ignore it for now, because there isn’t a doubt in my mind that this will be playing on every radio station in the nation within a short period of time. (4.5/10)

Killing Joke: one of the very few bands surviving from the dark post-punk era in the late ‘70s. To this day, Killing Joke still manage to attract young fans who are curious about this band that has been referred to so often as been a strong influence on bands like Nirvana and Metallica. I am very pleased with the fact that I was given the honor of discussing this double disc, because there is no other band in my collection of which I have so many concert recordings. Not to brag about it, but it just shows how much they have meant — and to a certain extent, still mean — to me.

This release goes deeper into a very interesting, unique period of Killing Joke. After the embarrassment that was the 1988 album called Outside the Gate, which was actually a project by a couple guys in the band misleadingly marketed as a Killing Joke album, they managed to get bassist Paul Raven back into the fold. The replacement of Martin Atkins on drums proved to be a very potent addition as well. Even though to this day there are voices crying out for a re-installment of original drummer, Paul Ferguson, I consider Inside Extremities as ranking high among the top-drumming albums in their collection, certainly not to be equalled by subsequent drummers. Atkins’ style compares to Ferguson’s like an efficient steam-roller to a martial arts expert. Very different, yet both very effective. The choice for a release in this style couldn’t have been much better.

Disc 1 of this new album indeed serves like a glimpse into the shaping process of the massive work that was to become Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions. We can hear several takes of songs taken from the undoubtly many cassettes. Hearing the cuts sounds so live and direct that I can almost see the band right before my eyes, even though not having the benefit of being particulary Hi-Fi. It’s a bit of a "Behind the Music" experience. I think it should be self-evident that this release is really interesting only for those agreeing with me on the significance of said album. Otherwise, hearing three versions of "Money Is Not Our God," three takes on "Slipstream," three takes on "Struggle," may be a bit... you know... tedious.

But interesting for any Killing Joke fan must be the rare concert cut called "The Fanatic," a very good song that for reasons incomprehensible was once dismissed by Killing Joke member Geordie as sounding too much like an older one called "Wintergardens." It could have fitted neatly among the songs of the Extremities album had it been recorded in the studio.

Disc 2 was recorded live in a French venue called Le Pied in 1989, a year before Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions finally came out. It features six more live renditions of Extremities titles, along with eight from the classic period of 80-85 on a professional, live recording, featuring oldies like "Wardance," "The Wait," and of course "Love Like Blood": a song that I have always considered to be much over-rated in comparison with less radio friendly titles — misleading even, making listeners believe Killing Joke were a mere ‘80s dance band, riding high on a very short wave of success, doomed to become a sort of nostalgia act. Now they only play it when someone they know has died. When listening to intense and angry Killing Joke songs like "Extremities" and "Age of Greed," it becomes clear that they were a heavy rock band, not a dance band: a band dealing with the darker emotions of deep hatred and outrage over the injustice of greed vs. poverty. This pretty much sums up what Inside Extremities is about. It actually has a bit of a bootleg feel, but then it’ll be one of the better ones in comparison with the two bootleg boxes they also released recently. Highly recommended (but for fans only). (8/10)

p.s.: To everyone and reviewers in particular: If Nirvana nicked the riff from Killing Joke’s "Eighties," then Killing Joke nicked it from the Damned’s "Life Goes On" on their album Strawberries.

How many times do you listen to an album and say, "wow, this is great... but I can't seem to focus on the music." The Lodger’s Grown-ups is the exact opposite: "Wow, this isn't really earth-shattering, but, damn, I can't seem to stop listening to it."

Grown-ups is pretty much the definition of a fun album. It doesn't really change indie pop standards, and it's certainly not technically outstanding, but all the songs seem to find a way into your head at one time or another. It's just like listening to an album full of singles by different indie pop bands: they are all catchy, but they are not all the same. In fact, The Lodger is as varied as to make you think that, maybe, it's all a big experiment and they are actually a collective of bands. A collective of high school bands, playing upbeat music, immature in a good way.

Besides all that, Grown-ups is good, The Smiths-based indie pop, with some twee touches here and there, or even post-punk here and there (quite diluted, but it's definitely there on tracks like "A Free Period"). And we really haven't seen an album that works so well with so few elements in years. Grown-ups is not an overly intelligent or even well-thought collection of songs, but every single one of them will make you feel better or at least have you dancing to the rhythms. That's where it differs from most The Smiths-influenced bands, it doesn't need to be philosophical or pseudo-intellectual; it just flows.

And that way of making everything flow is what makes Grown-ups a brilliantly fresh album, with some of the most light-hearted chord progressions and vocal lines ever found in such an "intellectual" genre like indie pop. But let us not jump into aimless pin-pointing, The Lodger is good regardless of the genre they play. In fact, it's surprising to see a band that can stand on their own while not going against everything, without really forcing themselves a label or a specific set of aesthetics, but letting it all flow musically, with the naive (but true) conviction that their songs are good. (7.1/10)

Dark Matters is intended as a companion piece to last year’s Traveling Light, but it stands taller on its own. Meitzer has refined his black ambient orchestration into a release of such sublime dread, it makes one wonder at the science of sound itself.

Overall, the compression of Meitzer’s songwriting makes these tracks sound more direct than their predecessors. Although Traveling Light is a great release, it doesn’t grab me by the short-and-curlies like this puppy. Clanging industro-drone, wailing oscillation, and abysmal sampling are, of course, component to the best dark ambient. But Meitzer’s lab of iniquity worms through the soundscape of Dark Matters like an amorous cancer. It’s all in the execution. Too awesome.

"Sidelights on the Life of Death" is creeped-out as all-ghosting Christ, right down to its rainsticks and descending sound wreckage. Moans issue from infinite caverns, scratches and gasps at the door. Yikes. "The Greatest Obstacle to Enlightenment" stalks the psyche with an insistent, Portishead-y beat, reverb-drenched jibes from faceless clinicians, and a really doomy coda. These are just a taste of a great work that should be experienced as a cohesive, self-contained unit. Essential acquisition. (9.5/10)

Memfis has a great thrash / metalcore sound that frequently breaks out of the clean, technical thrash sections that the band’s style is based on. Regular use of acoustic instrumentation and slow interludes as well as harsher, more chaotic techniques break up the orderly, melodic guitar riffs that form the meat of The Wind Up. The drumming is nimble and unpredictable, which adds a lot of strength to The Wind Up’s core. The vocals are also wide-ranging, from soft singing to rhythmic screams. The guitars are the real treat, though, with fast, diverse, accurate riffs and grooves that frequently change, seamlessly shifting a song’s mood and direction.

Despite the basic strength of the album, it is difficult not to compare Memfis to other Swedish bands on their bad days. The softer waves that crash suddenly into palm-muted harmonies are particularly reminiscent of Opeth. Memfis does build a potent atmosphere, and clearly the group has the skill to carry off all the ambitious shifts that it attempts. The Wind Up will almost surely carry your attention to the end, but it isn’t the most experimental or innovative thing you’re going to hear. I do look forward to the surprises that Memfis’ next release will hold. (7/10)

Sludgy, almost grunge-like riffs, bodacious Tool vibes, and monotonous female vocals counterpointed by harsh, throaty, feral screams... Middian’s Age Eternal’s got production and tones of a doom project, yet it's faster, and sounds more like a heavily detuned dark hard rock project. There's also some forced feedback drone thrown in there to fill a lot of time.

These long feedback drone sections will stretch on and on, yet finally build to somewhat of a climax with drums entering a slight change in the riff. There are subtle things going on in the background, like guitar solos and harmonies rising in various sections of the stereo space, which is a great touch. Age Eternal is a very dizzying experience with enough brute force to rattle the windows in your whole house if you give it the chance.

The sludgiest tracks are the opener, "Dreamless Eye," and the ending track, "Sink to the Center." The title track is situated in the middle of the album, and seems to be the most active musically. Clean guitar echoes are heard throughout the track, yet there are bursts of heavy guitar and roars from the vocalist as well. Middian have cranked out a work that is fairly simple, yet massively crushing at the same time. (7/10)

Hey, folks, it's time for generic death grind edition #5235! For this issue, we'll take a look at the new Mincing Fury and Guttural Clamour of Queer Decay album, 7.

All jokes about their name (or their utter mediocrity) aside, Mincing Fury and Blah Blah is actually a decent death-grind band. Keyword: decent. The problem is, we have enough decent Czech grind bands already.

Mincing, as I'm gonna refer to them from now on because typing their name is quite tiring, is one of those bands that are good just when they bang the hell out of their instruments. While mostly run of the mill, some fast parts are quite good, but their slow parts are never, ever good.

I guess the problem is the fact that they want to sound melodic, but they are obviously not a melodic band, so they end up often playing some cringe-inducing parts. "What the hell? How did they think that lead was good?"-kind of cringe-inducing. And when they blast... well, they are the good kind of generic. The thing is, they don't have nearly enough fast parts, but every single song has slow, boring parts. If Mincing wanted to make easy-listening grind, they did it, but what would be good about that?

Even if it's a central aspect, you can't be all rhythm when you play grind. We want noise, we want craziness and brutality — but here we just get some good rhythms and about 300 rehashes of them. And surely you know that problem pretty well if you've listened to modern death... after all, it's the same thing most bands suffer from. I mean, Mincing isn't bad, it's just too melodic and way too reliant on (not actually catchy) catchy rhythms to work, sometimes with no connection to the next rhythm whatsoever. Sure, they can obviously play fast leads, but they are not good leads, so...

7 is an album ruined by its need for self-control. And, as such, whatever good ideas Mincing had when making it (barely visible, but they obviously had them) just disappear. It's not because it's bad (albeit as mediocre as it gets), it's because it's really, really boring. Especially when it comes from a scene chock-full of brilliant bands in the same vein. Mincing need to tell their guitarist to go crazy and it should get much better. (4.3/10)

Aborted really hit its stride a couple albums ago with Goremageddon, the record that established the death metal band’s signature. While they’ve been honing it ever since, and there are small differences from album to album, these are minute and really arbitrary. What still remains clear, in the year 2007, with Aborted’s release of Slaughter and Apparatus: A Methodical Overture, is that Goremageddon will probably remain the band’s best work ever.

Slaughter and Apparatus’ progression is that it seems to have more of a melodic sense. This is probably embodied exclusively in the solos, which are probably the result of the group having a new guitarist, Sebastian Tuvi. Otherwise, it’s Aborted doing Aborted. It sounds as good as ever — actually, it probably sounds better than ever as far as the production goes. Slaughter and Apparatus is Aborted’s heaviest sounding album, while still upholding the modern death metal ideal of hearing all the instruments on the drum kit through the precise, chunky guitars.

The songs, however, while full of energy and overflowing with Aborted’s immediately recognizable style, sound like the same track over and over again. Well, it IS death metal, after all. So that’s hardly a major drawback for this genre, but keep in mind that Goremageddon has more than a few tracks that stand out and you remember. Still, if you totally dig Aborted, and are a death metal fan in general, there’s no reason why you won’t be pleased with this acquisition. (7.5/10)

"Impress me! Impress me!"

Ah, to remiss about days when bands were, well, impressive (to say the least). But The Minor Times certainly know this; after all, the piece of prestigious prose presented above is only some of the bands monumental contribution to literature (and mankind as a whole). But it’s not just the lyrics that are god-awful; oh, no… the music itself is also flat and uninteresting.

At least The Minor Times are somewhat different than the rest of their contemporaries though, but only insofar as the band doesn’t utilize the common chug-a-chug breakdown so many other hardcore bands do. What the guitars lack, however, the vocals make up for — Brendon McAndrew screams his brains out in rhythmic unison with the drums while the guitars scat around the percussive blasts.

While the music pounds on and on for the next 40 minutes or so, the listener is left with the distinct feeling that nothing has actually happened since the start of the album. Sure, every now and then something new would pop up in the band’s formula after hearing the same monotony for five or six minutes, but these changes last for such a short amount of time that it becomes barely noticeable after the third or fourth instance.

Summer of Wolves on its own is comparable to The Minor Times’ previous work — only it has much better production values. There’s no excess fuzz that will be found here as everything has a nice glossy polish: the guitars are clean, the drums are strong, and the vocals dominate the mix. But with the music’s awkward attempts at trying to convey an authentic sense of hostile trepidation and teenager angst, it’s best to buy something that won’t just take up dust on your shelf after the first listen. (3/10)

The good side of naming your band something that no one could possibly properly remember is that it’s virtually impossible that there’s anyone else on the planet with the same moniker.

Remember Disillusion, because it’s a superb black/death album. It’s made up of much use of long runs of minor key harmonies, vocals that are raw and scrapy (think of Angel Corpse), and lots and lots of blasting, tasty fills, and intermittent rhythmic beatings. The drums and vocals in particular give Disillusion much of its ferocity. Ok, the drummer tends to really overplay the slow parts, but metal doesn’t thrive on being a subtle form of music.

The production is dark but clear and powerful. The songs are cut largely from the same mold (you’ll be able to tell the difference between most), but the vibe and performances are so that you might even try to remember what this band is called long enough to tell your buds about it. (8.7/10)

Olympos Mons plays children’s metal. You know, that style generally called European power metal. It’s like hard and heavy music, but for five year-olds. It’s melodic and simple. The music is almost wholly unremarkable, but solidly played, and featuring almost entirely the same basic elements: three basic metal beats, faceless two-note riffs that are fast picked, and held-out chords for the choruses. There’s an occasional solo that reminds you that the guys in these bands can tear it up, but they generally don’t.

It’s all part of the plan, though. Children’s metal is about the vocals, and all the music is there to support that. In that way, the style works just fine. In fact, the only real melody in the instrumentation are the background keyboards, which, true to form, follow along with the vocal melodies.

So you’ve got to have a good singer or else you’re as sunk as sunk can be. Luckily for Olympos Mons (no, they’re not Jamaicans with a Greek myth fetish), their man Ian Highhill is really good.

If you’re a fan of the style, you can definitely hear signature facets unique to Olympos Mons, of course while still adhering to the genre’s tenets by the book. Highhill has a unique voice, and the way the vocals interplay with the band’s melodic constructions does not make Olympos Mons a faceless band.

With that said, Medievil isn’t as fun as the debut, Conquistador. The latter has far more hooks and memorable songs, which were more high-energy and with much better vocal melodies overall. And there were even a couple memorable riffs, too. Imagine that on a children’s metal album. Still, Medievil fits well with the signature niche that this largely Finnish band is building, and it is a good album for the genre, so pick it up if you find it at a good price, but get the first one first, and of course avoid this altogether if Euro power metal isn’t your thing, because this band won’t change your mind. (6/10)

Remember the ‘90s? The days when indie rock was called "alternative" and bands with lots of guitars and mopey singers dominated the alternative airwaves? No, I’m not talking about the pale imitations of those guys. Remember what Nirvana sounded like the first time you heard them? Or drenching yourself in a Jesus and Mary Chain / My Bloody Valentine shower? Dig, anyone? People Noise will remind you of those days, in a very good way.

Almost every song on Ordinary Ghosts is loud, but not the kind of loud that makes you run for earplugs and the nearest exit. "Turn Around," the third track on the album, and the exception to the loud rule, is the twin sister of a Radiohead song, but less whiny. It is followed by "Sedation," which quickly changes the mood from quiet and contemplative to loud. Such a transition might sound jarring in less capable hands, but People Noise know how to move between songs. My least favorite track, "The Nothing Place," is only my least favorite because it seems to lack the same sense of identity the rest of the album has. Even so, it is a solid song, if you love the guitars. Definitely check People Noise out. (8/10)

While so much of the clout-wielding worldwide press was busy falling over itself like a bunch of goons with their claims at how immensely amazing Candlemass’ self-titled, comeback album was, we told you it was about as good as boring could get.

Count King of the Grey Islands as the true Candlemass comeback.

Really, it’s kind of hard to see that without a line-up featuring Messiah Marcolin (he’s out again? Should we wait a few weeks?), or at least the singer from the very first Candlemass, Johan Langquist. Your guess is as good as mine as to which is more far-fetched.

But the truth of the matter is that Marcolin’s replacement, Robert Lowe, is the great shot in the arm that this seminal doom band needed so very badly. And it’s not like Lowe is some Johnny-come-lately. He’s fronted one of the finest melodic doom bands the US has ever produced, Solitude Aeturnus. (Pssst... keep this under your hat, but the irony is that Solitude Aeturnus has made way better albums than King of the Grey Islands. Check out Adagio and listen for yourself.)

Yeah, Candlemass was pretty lame. "Heavy," I guess. But heavy in the sense that it was slow, distorted, old-school chug-a-chug guitars doing their thing in a very generic, uninspired way. And Marcolin’s delivery, while still in pretty good form, had degraded into schtick that suddenly seemed like it had far fewer dimensions than during his glory years with Candlemass... at least on that album.

Robert Lowe heads Candlemass’ bringing back the sense of doooom. Candlemass had none. That was the problem. Which was hilarious, considering it was supposed to be a doom metal album. Lowe fronts the charge of that palpably fantastical sense of darkness and foreboding (not over-the-top, at least not by metal standards) that marked Candlemass’ first four albums. You could say he isn’t the true voice of Candlemass, but it’s just as much a moot point as he’s the best thing that has happened to the group in 16 years. Remember the vibe from the vocals on Epicus, Doomicus, Metallicus? The singing was good; the delivery wasn’t going for anything extreme, but there was an unmistakable vibe that conveyed something akin to the dank inner walls of a mausoleum. Bingo with the new guy.

In Lowe’s tow are much more inspired, proper doom riffs, heavy, doom-laden drumming, richer guitar-part layering... even Lasse Johansson has regained some of that genius in his leads that he’s strangely abandoned since the early ‘90s.

The songs on King of the Grey Islands are good for the most part, and frequently approach greatness. Still, they’re not totally amazing, but the vibe from all the stuff detailed above carry them far beyond the apparent sum of their parts. Don’t misunderstand, there are many very good moments, and most of the songs are memorable or at least catchy, with only one ("Clearsight") probably erring on the unfortunate side of catchiness through annoyance. But an all-time collection of the greatest songs penned by Candlemass this is not.

Thus, if you’re going to buy King of the Grey Islands, we highly recommend you get the digipak version with two bonus songs, which are new recordings of two Candlemass classics, "Solitude" and "At the Gallows End." This allows you to (re)connect with some of Candlemass’ greatest moments, and also see how Robert Lowe can pull them off. For the most part, it’s mission fucking accomplished. Ok, the original "Solitude" is probably still the best, but "At the Gallows End" makes you remember why those press people would make such a big deal about this band, and perhaps does the original one better. (7.5/10)

One recent Saturday night I went to a Pro-Pain concert in my hometown. It was so nearby I could virtually crawl my way to it. It was at a club called The Basement that was re-located from the town center, but ironically it’s on ground level now. Then I came back at around 1:30 and lo’ and behold found the promo for the new Pro-Pain album, Age of Tyranny had arrived.

The crossover combination of hardcore, metal and R&R with bad-tempered guitar riffing, sledgehammer-style drumming, and not least the constant and ever-present scream-growls by Gary Meskill have never let down Pro-Pain’s fans. My favorite Pro-Pain album is probably 2000’s Round Six album with classic songs like "Fuck It" and "Draw Blood"... songs that will be scrapped from the set-list only when Pro-Pain will quit. And something anthemic like "In It For the Kill" may still be considered to be the definite Pro-Pain song. If you don’t like that song then just forget about the rest, but if you do, then you don’t need to worry that this nearly 10-year old song is much different to their current song style.

What does differentiate Age of Tyranny from the previous stuff is that one theme is omnipresent on the album: the war in Iraq. On the previous Pro-Pain album, Prophets of Doom, there were already plenty of hints to it, but as the madness continues, the anger is rising. Still, I hear about people in the US who are against the war are branded as unpatriotic. Then again, many think that the American military presence in the Middle East is a display of unworldliness, ergo, America against the rest of the world. Gary Meskill and co, far from being red liberal pacifist sissies, are expecting things to turn out for the worst and that a total escalation of events on a world scale seems to approach by the day. The current US foreign politics are obviously not reflecting the wish of the majority of both the US and the rest of the world.

It’s probably that for that reason the subtitle of the album is The 10th Crusade, not being only the 10th Pro-pain album but also a reference to the Crusades of the Middle Ages. This grimness is best reflected in slower key titles like "Beyound the Pale" (with unusual but well-working guest vocals of Matthew Bazilia of Icarus Witch doing the chorus. There’s even a little solo on Spanish guitar), "Impeach, Indict, Imprison" (with a slightly Sepulturesque menace) and "Iraqnam." Pro-Pain shall continue their own crusade of anger and rage. Probably not for another 15 years; but possibly for another five. But whatever happens, don’t miss them if you can see them live. (8/10)

Pownd take influence from the "classic" era of ‘70s and ‘80s heavy metal, yet they also have a lot of groove in their music as well. Usually, you hear about bands having a bit of groove, yet Pownd have sexy sounding, groovy riffs matched by Michael Duncan's groovy vocal attitude. Circle of Power is like the masculine soundtrack to a grimy Ohio bar... but now in Detroit!

The performances are solid, apart from Duncan's wacky falsetto — like that the end of "Monsters" — reminds me a bit of goofball Jack Black. However, the rock 'n' roll solo that spews forth following these falsetto shrieks is downright perfect. "The Stand" immediately takes a turn for more epic territory rather than staying in the template of rockin' goodness Pownd establishes with the few opening tracks.

There's definitely an Iron Maiden influence in there, as well as a strong Ronnie James Dio influence. Circle of Power harkens back to the more experimental stages of heavy metal, when the genre was just starting to ascend from the various depths of provocation, and will appease the metal gods. Prepare to get Pownded. (8/10)

From Razorshape.com: "Razorshape is obviously not willing to innovate into the world of metal music by adding destructured rythmics or other experimental nonsense to its art. Razorshape is all about sound, groove, and renewal of classical or oldschool metal music elements."

So, from the start you can give up on hearing anything new. The grooves, rhythms and vocals are all reverently borrowed or re-hashed from the ‘90s death sound. So if you didn’t get enough of it then, or if your local record store stopped selling CDs by Pantera or the host of other bands that were way better than this ten or fifteen years ago, go ahead and spend some money on Razorshape.

The band’s sound is respectable but entirely forgettable. Deep distortion, layered growls, varied drums and shifting guitar grooves make a solid base for an old-school death band. It’s just too bad that that’s all there is to Razorshape. Live With It is all done in a down-tempo, almost sludgy, style, which works well for bands that are more creative with their slow grooves, but Razorshape fails to pull it off and keep it interesting.

The production is good, the vocals are decent, and the instrumentation isn’t really bad, but it’s just not engaging or in any way attention-grabbing. I could see not being offended if the album was on in the background, but I would not be in a hurry to get a copy for myself. (5/10)

I don't precisely like saying that Amores Defunctus Tuus Mater fails at being a good split, but I have to. The disparity between both bands is obvious, both quality-wise and genre-wise. Dimentianon is an average, melodic, black/death band, while Rigor Sardonicous is brilliant goregrind-gone-funeral doom. While in theory that can work, the fact that Dimentianon is a squeaky clean band and Rigor Sardonicous is the musical equivalent of watching someone commit scatophagia (even if it won't make you vomit, but all the opposite) just undermines the whole experience. It's not good when a split sounds like two 7"s of strongly different quality.

And when I said that Dimentianon was average, I meant it. Dimentianon is average in every single sense of the word; it's like one of those bands that exist solely to record splits with other bands, but never do anything worthwhile themselves. Black metal, death metal, old school death/thrash, everything's there, but nothing worth the running length. They are decent, their vocals are decent, the rhythms are decent, their songs are decent (albeit a little bit too lengthy) and their riffs are decent. Dimentianon are good technically, but they haven't really cashed in on that, as their side of this split reminds one of the genre's standards far more than it should. And black/death standards aren't precisely good.

But, fear not! Rigor Sardonicous is here to save the album from sucking. They've mantained the goregrind-ish sound, but they've also added melodic riffs here and there. The result? Brutal, yet wonderful. It should be no surprise, considering you've already heard them (or so I hope), that their side of Amores Defunctus Tuus Mater is the sickest, the most brutal and the rawest. After all, they're — no contest — the most brutal band in doom right now (yes, even more than Wormphlegm's demo). Even so, they are not just brutal: they are the living proof that you can turn every single metal subgenre into doom, somehow. Rigor Sardonicous’ releases up until now showed a goregrind-gone-doom approach; this split shows both old school death gone doom and even thrash gone doom. Hell, they even managed to play a fast brutal death/thrash segment perfectly for the third track.

While Dimentianon's side is obviously lacking, Rigor Sardonicous' more than makes up for it. But, right, that's not surprising at all. Just listen to Rigor Sardonicous' side and forget the rest. (Dimentianon: 4/10, Rigor Sardonicous: 9/10)

The guitars have some static on the tone, and also have a strange, muffled body, like if there's a pillow between the amplifier and the microphone. The screams and growls are more present, and you can hear the fade of reverb on them when the guitars drop to silence. Especially in songs like "Worry," Sachta drop the instrumentation briefly before beginning another verse or different riff section. It increases the feeling of impact, and the following "hardcore" breakdown at the end of the song is extremely brutal.

Anosognosie features scattered recordings of political speeches and some other interesting soundbytes as well. The ending of "Quiet on the Lies" has some of the fastest thrashing on Anosognosie, and is a pretty powerful song despite a cheesy intro.

"Mass Grave of Ghastly Dolls" is a two-and-a-half minute interlude, but is so strange, that it easily becomes the most memorable track. The band doesn't have a keyboardist, but the piano and orchestra sounds completely real. The song is sorrowful, and features clips of a woman speaking about some horrific event.

Anosognosie, despite being nearly impossible to pronounce with a straight face, is one hell of a vicious album! (7.11/10)

Necessary Evil is definitely evil, but is it really necessary? Sure. It's always great to hear a band disregarding melody to make a gritty, mostly beat based form of brutal metal. When Salem aren't filling excess space with blastbeats and tremolos, they're falling back on tom-stuffed goodness. And if you thought it couldn't get any better than that, these Israeli madmen focus their writings on Jewish suffering and Islamic terrorism.

"Idol Worship" opens with a whammy-bar squeal similar to something that you would hear from a band like Slayer, but ends off with some incredibly fast, scale-based shredding. Songs like "Blood" crank up the grimness with subtle touches, like layering the screams with half steps of pitch shifting to make it sound demonic, and the aforementioned tom-fueled beat fests.

Salem's Necessary Evil is a great dose of blackened death, with the five-part ending piece entitled "Once Upon A Lifetime" making it the most so. The band go through time signatures, hefty riffs, and wacky melodies and sounds like Meshuggah hopped up on speed and mushrooms. Necessary Evil is a chunk of pure evil that will rend your speakers asunder. (8.666/10)

Satanic Funeral’s Night of the Goat is ten tracks of old school black metal in the vein of Beherit & Von from members of Misanthropy & Lugubre, recorded in the Netherlands and the US in 2005.

The album includes a cover from Beherit, whose black metal period lasted from the period between roughly 89-93.

I was a little wary as I noticed that the members of Satanic Funeral were also involved in the making of the US/NL project called Mord (featuring Xasthur) as their Imperium Magnum Infernalis CD was a pretty dire and unlistenable affair (and I am very tolerant towards lo-fi, even no-fi black metal, my dear fiends).

I can understand the general disdain for humans: Any humans, even black metal listeners could be the reason for bands of this ilk to have their spawnings sound like nightmares where inferiority and infernality are bound by blood, semen, Satan and treble levels set to a sharpness able to split someone’s brain in two.

Fortunately enough, Night of the Goat isn’t such a torture session.
It’s even possible to listen to it with headphones on. Nevertheless, the razorblademonster is gleefully lurking from the basement, but those who are brave share endure.

With an old-school tape hiss sound, Anti-Human is conjuring his misanthropical buzzings. His schemes are of the simple and often used kind, but there are a few nice solo overdubs. They are accompanied by tinny drums that are for some reason held very low in the mix (except for the cymbals),

At times Satanic Funeral sounds a bit like ancient Black Sabbath (especially on "Burial Begins") leaning towards some slow ‘70s-style riffing. It’s not to say that the vocals of Striid are anything like Ozzy. I like those of Striid much better because he sounds very low, guttural and slimey, like something that is oozing down your back.
That is the thing that actually lifts this release above the mediocre, because much of it is.

The front artwork is pretty poor, with old hat stuff like a satanic figure on a throne in front of a pentagram flanked by some sinister nude chicks, all presented in a rather dull black & red combo. The title, which is almost too trite to be trve, makes me wonder whether it perhaps should be time to put an end to demonizing goats. How about demonizing lambs?

Aside from the lousy presentation (if you weren’t as lucky as getting 1 of the 10 copies that came in a DVD case with a bonus rehearsal CD-R, different artwork, a satanic bible and an inverted cross necklace) I think that this international collaboration of forces of evil from both sides of the Atlantic has been relatively successful. I’d just wish that the sound was fuller and not as transistor-like as this, but I assume the lack of low frequency was chosen in support of Striid’s creepiness. (5/10) for the regular release, (5.666/10) for the limited one.

The Special Pillow falls into the category of New Jersey rock. You know, kinda like Yo La Tengo? But not quite Yo La Tengo, though "No More Problems" could be a B-side. Tracks like "Your Dead City" move toward Sonic Youth but veer away at the last minute to keep their own identity intact. Nice guitars, verse-chorus-verse, the usual things that belong in rock songs, with a set of lyrics that scoff at hipsters: "your dead city’s called rock and roll / and your credibility’s an empty hole."

"Goodnight Morning. Hello Moon" travels farther away from identifiable influences and blazes a new trail, ranging from jazz to bluegrass to space to who-knows-what. "Fairport Airport" meanders down the road of fiddles and melancholy. Overall, this album is a collection of eclectic, appealing songs that reward more than one listening session. (7.5/10)

Tenhi’s take on the folk/rock crossover is unique. Over their career, their style has been pretty and languid, and thankfully is not comparable to the Ulver Kveldssanger approach. Airut: Aamujen continues in the Finnish group’s relaxed, placid vein, although this album feels darker and more brooding than what I can remember from their past works.

Airut: Aamujen’s mood shifts from a fairly somber, concerned mood to runs of relatively bright, cathartic beauty, of course all within the context of a low-key, acoustic record.

The main instrumentation on this album is the piano, which offers a great deal of pleasant warmth to the tracks. Drums accompany all the compositions, and, unlike Neun Welten (Tenhi’s labelmates who also play a brand of acoustic folk/rock), the drums fit in very well in the mix — offering a pulse whose absence would be a great detriment to Tenhi’s formula. The only other instrument that might be present is a bit of clean electric bass, but that might also be the piano, which offers much in the way of fullness and depth to the music.

If there is a suspect ingredient to this album, and Tenhi in general, it could be the vocals. They’re not necessarily bad at all, but they are rather uninteresting. On this album, the vocals consist entirely of very low-key singing/talking in Finnish. Most of this is done by a man, with a song or two featuring some sort of duet with a woman. Again, for what it is, it’s fine, but my gripe is that they’re probably too loud for their musical contribution. The record would probably have been better with much quieter vocals, or even no vocals at all. Some people I played the album for were into it until the vocals hit; on the other hand, my roomate fell in love with Tenhi immediately, vocals and all.

Airut: Aamujen is a reflective, often lovely album that may have a few shortcomings, but is a recommended and successful album. (7.2/10)

Trelldom is the side-project of Gorgoroth’s vocalist, Gaahl. As such, it’s not entirely surprising that it’ll remind you of Gorgoroth, but the light, relaxed version. Sure, there’s still Darkthrone beats aplenty, but compared to albums like Under the Sign of Hell or Antichrist (Gaahl isn’t on those, by the way), it’s mellow going. Very mellow... and languid. Boring, even.

That isn’t to say Til Minne... isn’t an album of recognizable quality. The three dudes in Trelldom know what they’re doing, but don’t expect the version of mid-paced blasting / trudging plod of black metal to be set upon its ear after this album. Til Minne... is a very safe record. Trelldom is clearly very comfortable in auto-pilot mode for most of the disk — listening to it can bring some enjoyment, but it won’t raise the heart rate of jaded black metal enthusiasts, although the source of the music will of course earn the band immediate cred.

There are a few standout bits, though. One is the ending of track five, "Vinternatt," where Gaahl holds out a scream as long as possible. This moment stands out as it feels like the album’s balls have finally arrived. What took them so long?

Really, the album only really gets going at the penultimate track, "Steg," where the wall-of-sound drone that black metal does well comes into effect. Trelldom starts to let its hair down on this song, the longest of the record, with odd, angular elements that yank the audience out of the largely apathetic stupor that it had probably been in up to that point. "Steg"’s got feeling and a sense of poignancy.

But the best comes last. "Eg Reiste I Minnet" is a track consisting mostly of a fiddle playing something like Viking jig music. The tone is authentic and rich, and the music endearing and fresh. This goes on for longer than a couple minutes. The track ends with some layered, chanting vocals that raise a few hairs on the back of the neck. It’s totally great, but why does it have to end so soon? Where was this creativity during the rest of the album? How about four minutes of the first six songs, and 40 minutes of "Eg Reiste I Minnet" mixed with "Steg"? Trelldom play it way too safe. Til Minne... is for the most part a forgettable album that largely runs through the motions, but those last two tracks bring it above the average, but isn’t nearly enough to call it a good record. (5.8/10)

PS: If you’ve heard the first couple Trelldom disks, Til Minne... for sure ain’t the best one. That one is still the second album, Til Et Annet, which benefits from a much more powerful and hungry sound. The music is largely in the same vein (on all three albums), but the second one does have far more memorable compositions and vocal parts. The debut, Til Evighet, is doubtlessly the least recommendable due to its very dull sound.

The Virgin Black camp had been laying low for a while. Whether they were hybernating, scheming, or doing other things, we didn’t know. We didn’t really care, either, because as much as the Australian group’s first two albums tried to be the ne plus ultra of avant-garde, progressive black metal, they were rather unenjoyable.

The third Virgin Black is as out of left field as an album can come. Requiem - mezzo forte is a heavy operatic/metal experience the likes have never been done before.

Before anything else, what makes this album work is that all instruments involved are authentic. The violins are as bona fide as the electric guitar amplifiers. The cello is as real as every layer of lead and backing vocals. This is an absolute must if any album of this undertaking is to be an all-time classic. Using synthesized classical instruments in a classical instrument setting is a sure-fire way to doom an ambitious idea.

As important as the instrumentation is the sound. Requiem - mezzo forte is sonically presented with triumphant glory. The album is one sweeping melodic movement after another. The acoustic instruments are presented with amazing depth and richness. Just as remarkably, the distorted guitars fit in seamlessly, providing much in the way of filling out the bottom end of the spectrum — a wall-of-noise of textured sound — as well as contributing to the melodic nature of the movement. The drums, while playing but a supportive role, greatly aid in the heaviness of the album by greatly inducing almost hypnotic head-banging. The vocals sound as classy as they are godly: operatic waves of crushing melody — not obnoxious cheese-fests like Nightwish or Cradle of Filth.

Lastly, the music itself. It’s like a war opera: tragic, massive, grandiose. The album does have musical ties to metal in the sense that it features electrical instruments, and also because the extremity of the melodic heaviness draws undeniable roots from the doom genre, but don’t expect an album of riffs, solos, and songs. Think more of melodic pieces. Througout Requiem are melodic themes that recur. The focus on melodic themes does lend the album with a soundtrack quality, like an invisible plot somewhere is unfolding. However, there is a distinction in what Virgin Black perform here and what I perceive as soundtrack music — a genre that I don’t particularly enjoy listening to without the movie that it was written for to go along with it. Perhaps the distinction is this: Soundtrack music is written to fit a pre-recorded story, whereas Virgin Black’s Requiem is music that tells a story on its own. Is that the same thing? Maybe. Maybe the short way to sum this up is: soundtrack music is often hackneyed and saccharine. Virgin Black’s Requiem isn’t.

When the playing of an album is always a welcome proposal to not only me but also my roommate, and when each and every time the album was played (from beginning to end), imaginations were wholly captured. I’ve jammed along to it, I’ve eaten dinner to it, I’ve had involved philosophical discussions to it. Regardless of the situation, this album has never failed to inspire, and I have a feeling it never will. In such a set of circumstances, there is no mark that is more fitting than a 10/10. (10/10)

Toxic Bonkers has an energetic, thrashy death metal sound that is classic but clean. Combining a straightforward formula and grind elements, Progress should reach beyond Poland to give the band some well-deserved international attention.

Crisp production highlights the tight instrumentation and enforces the aggressive, thrashy edge that carries the album. Well-ordered verses set a steady rhythm before brutal grooves break into the mix. Deep growls constitute most of the vocals on Progress, though high screeches regularly establish a call-and-response pattern and add to the album's intensity.

Toxic Bonkers has been around since 1993, and the group's maturity is apparent in each element of Progress, from the accurate playing to the high-quality songwriting. However, one would hope to hear more from a group that has had so much time to perfect its sound. The tempos and riffs don't often reach the extreme or experimental levels that would make Progress a real treat for fans or new listeners. The time signatures remain steady, and the beats plod moderately from one song to the next while rhythmic guitars and vocal lines count out simple percussive patterns that quickly become predictable and stale.

Progress is a solid album, but it leaves something to be desired. It should appeal to many and perhaps allow Toxic Bonkers to do some more international touring. But I am afraid it won't find its way onto many top-10 lists at the end of the year. (6.5/10)

What was original in 1950 isn't necessarily original today. But we have to listen to music considering the time it was recorded in. If we talk about Interface like it was released yesterday, we'd find it to be an extremely good album, but not really original. The thing is, it was released in 1977, when "mainstream" music (besides the whole pop thing) was (mostly) either synthetic (say, Kraftwerk's post-krautrock-era Autobahn, or even disco music) or progressive (Yes' Going for the One, for example). Just like 1968 for psychedelic, the period between 1975-1985 showed an evolution, sometimes involution, of music, with metal getting accepted as a genre, Frank Zappa's releasing some fifteen albums, and I could go on and on naming stuff. Why all this, you wonder? Just to say that Interface is not "just"' a very good album, it was groundbreaking back then, and it's still an incredible album today.

Stylistically, Interface works as a rock album, sometimes close to krautrock and progressive, but mostly an avant-prog one. Think King Crimson's Starless and Bible Black mixed with Kraftwerk's first few albums or even Can. But seriously, no matter how many bands I name, it's quite hard to really describe Interface. It's just something so great and simple yet so conceptually complex that I doubt it can be described so much without sounding cheesy. Just know that if you like any of the avant-prog movements, you'll love this one, or even if you like any ‘70s prog rock.

Where Heldon is groundbreaking is in the mix of electronic rhythms and atonal guitar leads, so much that it wouldn't be surprising to find Erkki Kurenniemi and Robert Fripp in the lineup. Lead after lead, rhythm after rhythm, it's crazy that Heldon still finds a way to surprise you again. When you think you already know the album, Interface’s ritualistic drumming hits you in the face, and if it doesn't, then the first few polyrhythms will...or maybe the Fripp-like sustained first lead on that song... or even the heavy riff after that.

That's what makes Heldon groundbreaking: they are always trying to find ways to surprise you. And really, even if they didn't, they are talented technically, with greatly varied drumming, some of the best guitar playing avant-prog has witnessed, and some serious electronic walls of sound. They really do cover all the bases. Well, except the vocal part, since they don't have a vocalist. But you won't need it, as you'll be way too busy drooling over the fantastic everything else.

Interface is an avant-prog masterpiece. Even if you’ve only taken the time to read these last lines, make sure to get it.