Hi, Maelstromers,

I was hoping to get this issue out sooner. It took us two months to put out our previous issue, and we at Maelstrom had been shooting for a return to a monthly format. The result of course was an issue that took even longer.

I just moved in to a killer apartment, so this process has thrown my routine off. At any rate, here it is, Issue #9 of Maelstrom. It's not as big as Issue #8. We should have had at least 11 interviews, but a whole bunch of bands either flaked, lost our interview questions, or just fell off the face of the planet. At least we still have five quality discussions with some interesting artists.

First up is a conversation with Proscriptor McGovern of Absu. We also are featuring this issue a chat with Angela Gossow, the new vocalist for Arch Enemy. Also to be found in these pages are interviews with Fuck...I'm Dead, Frozen Shadows and Knut. Also look for four live reviews, including the US Immortal tour, as well as Vader and Malevolent creation live reviews.

In terms of album reviews, we are trying to keep the numbers as high as we can, and we've got about 70+ for you to look through. The Condor experienced some tumult at his workplace where a water pipe broke, destroying his workstation and much of his personal stuff, so unfortunately his excellent contributions will be on hiatus for one issue.

New in the Maelstrom camp is Melike Gunalp, who has been helping out with the web design while Steppenvvolf works on his master's thesis in physics. Thanks, Melike! We hope to soon have a really nice navigational side bar up on the site.

Enjoy,

Roberto Martinelli

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

If you get the new Seth (see review below) and like it, you can place Anorexia Nervosa's new album on the shelf alongside. This French black metal band has unleashed a super album of blistering speed and surgical precision delivered with a high-tech production.

For most of the album, Anorexia Nervosa unleash total fury upon the listener in the form of tight rhythm guitar and bass riffs and melodic keyboard flourishes, with relentless, impossibly fast drumming. Add in the vocals and the result is sort of like a hyper-speed Cradle of Filth minus the lame theatrics that band throws in that cheapen the often good quality of the music. The material pretty much always rips along, reaching the most intensely scathing delivery on the sixth song "The Altar of Holocausts," but also features some rests, like on the track that consists entirely of a classy piano (a real piano, too) solo.

This album, with its polished production and arty presentation, may not be for every black metal fan, but it should be. Ok, it's not "necro" or "cult," but New Obscurantis Order is a great album of the genre as it contains some fantastic black metal compositions. It may not be on the absolute tip of the cutting edge creatively, but it's not too far beneath the kind of quality work of the new Emperor. Vive la France!

review by: Laurent Martini

Yet again a band that has so much potential but that loses itself in its loudness. Anorexia Nervosa's music is fast. Real fast. In fact it's almost hard to tell when one chord changes to the next. The lyrics are great and sometimes chilling as in "Chatiment de la rose" and "Black Death" when we are told of our inescapable end. And what should be Anorexia Nervosa's unique strong point - songs sung in French, English and German - fails to be of any interest as it is not only hard to understand what singer Reidmarr is saying, it's hard to know what language he's saying it in. And it's too bad. This album could be quite good if not for its lack of vocal range.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

This album really isn't very good. Think of the kind of stuff Dimmu Borgir was putting out on their slower, early albums and now imagine what the members would sound like if they were slightly retarded and used a drum machine. Let me really drive the point home by mentioning that accordion is heavily used. This accordion, along with a very unimpressive keyboard, play an especially large part on the second half of the disk in which I can't help but imagine some dorks prancing about in horrible tights while gaily playing lutes.

But all is not lost, for there is still hope that ...Niemals Kroenender als was einst War will succeed as a work of retarded genius. Unfortunately, it falls pretty well short in that respect, too. While the programmed drums are very clumsy and actually seem to make mistakes now and again, and the songs are rife with really weedy keyboard and accordion melodies, it's not charmingly and unintentionally ridiculous enough to merit you spending any money on it.

 

review by: ~Eternus~

Ever wondered if there was a sequel to Transilvanian Hunger? Well wonder no longer because here it is! This is Armagedda's first full-length album, having previously just released a demo and a split cassette, so they are relatively unknown. They hail from Finland and are signed to Akhenaten's (Judas Iscariot) label, Breath of Night.

Akhenaten gets my respect for signing and releasing such a great band. Basically, if you've heard Darkthrone before (and who hasn't?) you will know roughly what to expect: raw guitars with relatively simple, repetitive but effective cold riffs; galloping drums that occasionally slow down hence creating a brooding, menacing atmosphere and vocals that sound like they are from the most bitter, evil and inhuman being. Well, Armagedda bring back fond memories for me from when I discovered those earlier Darkthrone albums: great riffs, amazing vocals that could be Nocturno Culto-circa Transilvanian Hunger and just an overall great ice-cold atmosphere.

Along with Winterblut (reviewed in issue #8) and Hate Forest this would be third on my to-buy list. Take heed of my words!

review by: Roberto Martinelli

If you've heard the wintry, lo-fi minimalist black metal of Darkthrone, you've heard Armagedda. Even the vocals sound like Nocturno Culto's. The only thing that Armagedda doesn't quite nail down is the production, which is a bit full considering what they're trying to do. If you dig Darkthrone clones, you'll like The Final War Approaching. As far as I'm concerned, I feel that there are already plenty of Darkthrone albums available, so there's no need to listen to this.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

This is a pretty tepid album. The music is ok, and provides for a decent black metal-styled atmosphere, punctuated by some sorta folky/pagan-y/forestlike melodies. The main detractor here, aside from the lack of immediacy of the compositions, is the drum sound. By sound alone, the battery appears to be a drum machine with that loathsome clickety-clack timber that actually detracts from the power that drums are supposed to provide. It's only after carefully listening and noticing the parts where the drummer slows down and speeds up in his blast beat that one notices it's in fact a human. We're also not sure if we're supposed to snicker at the word "Celtiberian." Is that like some mix of Celtic and Iberian? Does that really exist? Don't bet that this album will inspire anyone to find out.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

You can file this Polish band in the dime-a-dozen black metal bin. The sound is reasonably appropriate for a cold and harsh black metal band, except for the sound of the toms, which sound like they're wrapped in cotton. Also, it seems that the drummer only knows one fill. While this may have worked for Bolt Thrower, it does nothing but contribute to the predictability of Besatt's music.

The fast parts on Hail Lucifer are in the early Immortal style. The slow parts are super re-hashed as well. That's the main culprit here: it's an ok album, but you've heard these semi-melodic, atmospheric riffs done so many times before that you really have to be a black metal lunatic to justify paying 10+ dollars on this.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

This long running atmospheric goth band returns with its first ever stab at a concept album. The story isn't entirely clear, but is has something to do with "a darkly romantic tale of a bride-to-be's decomposition and emotional restructuring, together with accounts of the bachelors who have wooed and lost her, all narrated by the mysterious Schavanger."

On the positive side, Black Tape for a Blue Girl continues to create some of the finest pieces of ethereal, melodious music. This band's pieces of massive, shimmering waves of sound from violins, keyboards and electronics are awesome as ever. However, the band still can't seem to shake the cheesy elements that have caused some wincing on previous albums.

Black Tape for a Blue Girl is tops on our list of "great bands that really should be all-instrumental." The Scavenger Bride even further illustrates this point: Things start off majestically with an instrumental intro, but then plunge downward with the first track that features vocals. But it's when the male vocalist starts singing about the toilet being backed up and being strung up like roasted meat that maximum cringing occurs. It's too bad, because if you concentrate really hard to ignore the almost entirely poor vocals, you'll find that the music underneath is quite nice, featuring the interesting array of cultural influences that have really made Black Tape for a Blue Girl what it is.

Oddly enough, while band leader Sam Rosenthal's vocals have improved somewhat over his past works, the supporting vocal cast's delivery and quality has degraded. Add to this that The Scavenger Bride has the greatest amount of vocals I've ever heard on a proper Black Tape... album, and the overall end result is regrettably a negative one. Despite some wonderful parts, the bad far outweighs the good, especially considering you can get a whole lot more of the good stuff on excellent albums by this band such as The Lush Garden Within and Remnants of a Deeper Purity.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Metalcore is cool: Heaven Shall Burn, Mastodon, Caliban, Knut... we at Maelstrom have become fans of these bands that take the best of the worlds of metal and hardcore, and fuse them together. If you too have found you enjoy this style, by all means add Bloodjinn to your list.

Bloodjinn's label may have been entirely foolhardy in pasting a fat sticker on the cover of Leave this World Breathing decreeing the album as being "the Master of Puppets of the '90s." It's really a stupid comparison. While I'm not the biggest Metallica fan, I certainly understand the weight that is intended by the promotional statement, and there's no way that this album is in that caliber, much less even musically similar in the least.

Musically, Bloodjinn sounds like the U.S. incarnation of Heaven Shall Burn, but with a technical side that is a bit more like Knut's. The intensity can't match the levels of either the aforementioned bands, but that's not to say that Bloodjinn isn't pissed off. Certainly helping in this aspect are the aggressive, likeable riffs, and the bass drum that is produced to have that wrench-to-the-base-of-the-neck thud. The drumming is largely deliberate and muscular, with a good amount of double bass rumbling and about five total seconds of blast beats.

Bloodjinn try to include a soft, melodic song with "The Last Cry." It almost works. The singing and tune of it are quite nice and stand out entirely from the rest of the album, but the whole thing is practically ruined by a drum sound that is far too loud during the soft parts of the song.

The last song is quite a long one and features some clean male and female vocals, which are not bad. Overall a very recommendable album. Why can't nu metal be like this? Then we could like it.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

This album of the ever different and mysterious French black metal project Blut Aus Nord is its most minimal, but by far its most haunting. What you get are six tracks that are all named "The Fall." In the ever-lasting Darkthrone tradition, the tracks on The Mystical Best of Rebellion consist almost entirely of that tried-and-true, danceless black metal beat, in this case courtesy of a drum machine. Unlike Darkthrone, however, the sound isn't thin, but rather cavernous and enveloping. Add to this some of the most stirring, droning, hypnotic, mind-altering black metal sounds coupled with frightening vocals, and you've got an irresistibly compelling album.

In terms of minimalism, this album may set a new standard. Not only is whatever that is pictured on the cover or written on the back faint and hard to read, but the booklet consists of six pages of total black! The whole thing seems to have been the intention of whoever is responsible for the record, as two sentences, "This is the decadent work of another non-musical art" and "dedicated to the memory of Vindsval," are clearly legible.

The Mystical Beast of Rebellion may be non-musical in one point of view, but it nearly sets a new standard for music that is as cold and harsh as it is moving and, yes, beautiful. Even for grizzled black metal veterans, this album by Blut Aus Nord (as well as the band's totally great but utterly different Fathers of an Icy Age) will command attention when played.

 

review by: Matt Smith

Although I enjoyed Caliban's solo album more due to its versatility and the many different elements they use that aren't generally found in metal (acoustic guitar parts, melodic female vocals, and even a little electronic influence), this split album with Heaven Shall Burn was pretty impressive. Caliban's sense of timing is perfect, the guitar riffs stay interesting, and the vocal style is rich and intense. They also draw their sound from multiple metal sub genres (mainly death and hardcore), making their style pretty unique. The complexity of the rhythms and time changes Caliban uses are often amazing, while frequent hard grooves give you something to nod your head to.

However, Heaven Shall Burn's portion of the album impressed me even more. It begins with Samuel L. Jackson's pre-murder Bible quote from "Pulp Fiction." From there, a slow groove begins and before too long a softly-spoken quote leads into a more intense part of the song. Within the five minutes of the first track, Heaven Shall Burn takes the listener on an emotional journey, changing tempo and style several times. Unpredictability seems to be their only formula - Heaven Shall Burn is hard to define, but it's some of the best stuff I've heard. Hardcore-sounding vocals are blended well with great drumming and guitar work, and each song stays interesting until the end. Frequent changes in their sound ward off repetition quite effectively. I don't have a bad thing to say about this group.

 

review by: Abhishek Chatterjee

Yeah, this is old. Almost two years old, actually. But seeing that this is one of the best grind albums ever, it's always better late than never to sing the praises of good brutal grind. Brilliant, disgusting and brutal are not terms that co-exist very often in any genre of music, but Cenotaph have managed to get the mixture just right.

The vocals are downright disgusting. Pure retching sickness combined with those deep grunts that will make your neighbours look at you with suspicion and fear whenever you step out of your house. All the instruments are played with perfection. The riffs shoot past you in a blur, slow down suddenly to make you headbang like a maniac and then speed away suddenly as if nothing happened. Timing changes abound, each of them smoother than the curve of your girl's ass. This is a huge, huge step up from their previous effort, Voluptuously Minced: each song is crammed with deliciously twisted riffs and mind-boggling fills and breakdowns played with dizzying syncopation.

The drumming is the proverbial icing on the cake, or rather the maggots on the corpse in this case. Though not the fastest blasting ever, Cem more than makes up for it with his drum riffs. Yes, "riffs" is the best way to describe what he plays. He seems to be magically able to alter his beats for every riff that guitarist Coskun plays. And on top of this, every now and then there are wonderful bass fills that serve to highlight the all round capability of this band. Also, the production is one of the best I have ever heard (this album was re-recorded twice to get the perfect sound). Each song is a fucking masterpiece so I can't really point out anything other than warn you that if you don't own this you are liable for summary execution.

 

review by: Roberto Martinellli

Chaostar's eponymous debut was one of the most pleasant musical surprises I experienced in recent years. Where so many black metal bands try to play up some symphonic or operatic angle to their music or go so far as actually trying to meld opera with metal, Chaostar is the real deal. Forget Therion and its junk. Chaostar, which is a side project of Greece's Septic Flesh, features the world-class voice of Natalie Rassoulis, who fronts a cast of dozens of musicians. Where so many bands suffer by using synthesizers to mimic acoustic instruments, Chaostar always uses the real articles. Mix acoustic instruments when acoustic instruments are supposed to be played, electric instruments used properly, drums, Rassoulis and an amazing choir, and you've got one of the best-kept secrets in the metal section of your local store.

And now we have album #2, and it may even surpass the first one. It seems that Threnody is not a concept album like the debut, which was about some dark crisis on a space station. Since the action has been removed from the cold of space, the feel of Threnody is much less atmospheric. The feel of the album has largely lost that "emergence from the vampire's crypt" feel that the first one has and has replaced it with more experimental and progressive elements.

Chaostar has gotten on the right track by totally eliminating whatever harsh or cheesy vocals that were present before and has gone entirely with Rassoulis and the backup choir. The cutting down on the sometimes silly dark ambient aspects and the improvement of the melodies and compositions lead to the superiority of this album. The last track, however, is quite curious in how it sounds like some sort of pop goth tune fronted by male vocals. This isn't to say it's not good, but doesn't fit in at all. Let's hope the interview with Chaostar member Christos Antoniou (hopefully in this issue) will shed some light on this.

If you've heard Septic Flesh and were less than enthused, then you should still give Chaostar a try. Both projects are entirely different, with Chaostar being clearly the better of the two.

 

review by: Abhishek Chatterjee

I enjoy Cock and Ball Torture's music, but only in small doses. They have this knack of coming up with some real groovy riffs, but I have never got around to sitting through a complete spin of their previous full length, OPUSS(Y) VI, since their slow/mid paced chugga chugga riffing started molesting my attention span way before I reached even the halfway mark. So, I was quite relieved to discover this was a 15 minute, 6 song MCD, made up of a song from the upcoming Sadochismo album, three brand new songs and two covers (Mucupurulent and Ahumado Granujo).

Musically, Cock and Ball Torture haven't strayed an inch from their style. Combining some really catchy riffs with Sascha's processor drenched diarrhea gurgling vocals, this is something all porno grind enthusiasts would willingly have a stroke for (pun very much intended). The guitar sound is thick and heavy sounding as always and the rumbling bass tones sound more impressive during the (infrequent) blasting sections. "Tampon Removal" and "Barefoot & Hungry" attracted my attention the most, and though things were getting a bit boring towards the end, I might just play this when I'm in the mood for some heavy groove infested grind.

 

review by: Matt Smith

Wow, these guys are relentless. The first few tracks of Jane Doe are fast and hard as hell before track four introduces a slower bass groove. Then it's back to Jacob Bannon's high-pitched screaming (though sometimes it sounds more like choking), accentuated by the not-so-great production's emphasis on treble and the abrasive guitars.

It sounds like drummer Ben Koller is trying to beat his set to death, hitting beats as fast and hard as possible. Really, this is how it stays for almost the entirety of the album. Fast, hard, and loud. Not only was I impressed by the quality of the music, but with the fact that they could keep up the intensity through one SONG let alone the whole CD. Bannon just doesn't quit: his screaming not only sounds like it's ripping his vocal chords out of his throat, but it go on from beginning to end with few breaks. Truly hardcore. Although I have no idea what he's talking about, I'm pretty sure he means it.

 

review by: Matt Smith

Corn on Macabre is a pretty standard punk-influenced hardcore band. They use the typical formula of short, fast, intense songs with a not-so-rich vocal style on top of everything else. Billups just screams into the microphone while the guitars and drums rattle away. The entire CD is under 15 minutes long, so you can definitely sit through it. However, the 15 minutes may be better spent reading a book or listening to a more technical band with more experience under its belt. It's fast-paced and entertaining, but not particularly impressive.

 

review by: The Condor

Wow. It's kind of hard to believe this band is from Florida. They sound so European. Or Scandanavian. Right down to their label Breath of Night (isn't that an American label? - Roberto) and the burning church artwork. And it's not just that, the sound is buzzing and primitive, blazing necro black metal. Super distorted drums and heavily reverbed vocals, raw buzzsaw guitars, and lots of galloping midtempos.

None of the blast beats approach light speed, instead they stumble angrily along until they disintigrate into haunting overblown dirges, with the super hot recording causing the drums to blur into rib cage rattling rumbles and huge bursts of downtuned guitar spreading out into warm distorted blankets of fuzz. You can even hear snare rattle and guitar buzz and all sorts of ambient sounds. Makes it so much more intense and immediate. And some of the riffs are actually (gasp) downright catchy, But thankfully, the production is so raw, and the sounds are so prickly and sharp, that even the catchiest songs on Storms... bore through your soul like dark grubs crawling and clawing their way hellward.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Sometimes the music of this black metal band works. The vocals are as deliciously scathing as any in the business, and the production matches the vitriol that the members put forth in their craft. However, some of the stuff is really lame. I'm especially thinking of the song "Satanachia," which is built around a very pop sounding beat. It's jaunty and ridiculous, and drags down the aura of raping evil that the band is trying so hard to achieve.

Overall, Storms of the Black Millenium (it seems that some people still can't spell millennium right) is a good black metal album, but the presentation is far superior to the actual substance.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Since my review of Dark Moor's second work, The Hall of Ancient Dreams, in issue #4, that album has grown on me more and more, going from a thoroughly enjoyable power metal record to one of my favorite records ever. Looking into the band's first album, the deplorable Shadowlands, it was hard to believe it was the same group.

And now the highly anticipated new album by this Spanish happy power metal band is here. Once again, Dark Moor shows that it is improving in huge leaps from album to album. I was worried when I heard that the new album would be faster, as I imagined some horribly boring and uniform Helloween clone-styled thing. And while the fast songs are faster, it is to their credit. The Disney metal aspects that were very strong on The Hall... are still to be found here, but are toned down. Dark Moor is also stepping away from sounding a great deal like their idols Angra. Every track on this record, from the fast songs to the slow ones to the interconnecting instrumentals, totally rules.

The Dark Moor sound that was strongly established on The Hall... remains intact here, but has been improved upon in all imaginable facets. The aspect that carried The Hall... the most was the terrific vocal melodies, but the underlying riffs were a bit plain in comparison. On The Gates of Oblivion, not only are the riffs far more interesting to enjoy in themselves, but it's possible that the vocal melodies are better as well. While I called the rhythm guitar and drumming a "bed of lettuce for the delectable items on top" in the review of The Hall..., I'm happy to report that this is no longer the case, as there is far more to listen to in both departments. It's great how the band is spicing up and punctuating its music with different percussive and melodic accents. The production has stepped up with the compositions: the record sounds fuller, allowing the harmonies to be more powerful.

The album wraps up with an adaptation of Mozart's "Dies Irae," to awesome effect. If you can, make sure to get the digipak version of this album, as it contains a completely worthy bonus track called "The Shadow of the Nile." The pacing and flavor of this track rounds the whole experience off wonderfully.

Make no mistake, Dark Moor is very, very wanky. However, to the power metal enthusiast, it's nothing short of triumphant. The songs are about Colombus' voyage, Edgar Allan Poe, and fantasy themes that aren't tired and re-hashed. What is nevertheless undeniable is the tremendous musical and songwriting talent of this band. If you flip out for metal with classical scales everywhere, godly solos, massive melodies, great singing, infectious drumming, supreme harmonies and huge appeal, then get this no matter what. I can't stop listening to this.

 

review by: Jez Andrews

Thrash is far from dead. In fact, there is currently a joyous celebration of the scene that once ruled the world, so to speak. The celebration was started by the 90's death metal acts that began to show signs of the musical influence of their teenage years. In Flames, Dismember, Arch Enemy, Entombed, to name but a few. It was ignored for a number of years, as was practically every band that stuck to their true metal guns. Hip hop infected the scene, the legends seemed to be kept in a low profile state, Carcass split up, Sepultura lost the killer thrash sound that had done them so proud, and the trendy new sound of 'metal' was fast becoming little more than a selling point.

But if the past year or so has taught us anything, it's that not everything has gone completely to shit. All I can say is thank fuck for the beasts that have arisen from the Germanic and Scandinavian regions. Indeed, we have witnessed a new brand of thrash that blends seamlessly with death metal: recent offerings from Lock-Up, The Haunted and Dew-Scented being the most notable up to now. But Dimension Zero are here to show us that the troops are gathering.

Composed of former members of In Flames, Luciferion, and Marduk, this is a band that exude brutality and sheer excellence. I love this album. It's not a landmark in any genre, but Dimension Zero know how to satisfy the thirst for headbanging fodder. Guitarists Jesper Stromblad and Glenn Ljungstrom have clearly brought the melodies of In Flames with them, but have created something so much heavier at the same time. The presence and sound of vocalist Jocke Gothberg (ex-Marduk) is a bit difficult to explain. Though undeniably an effective force within the group, the material on Silent Night Fever is a far departure from his black metal days. Ah, well, to each their own...

There isn't much more I can say about this offering. I would recommend it to anyone with or without a pulse.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

This band is from Sweden and plays melodic metal. To its credit, Dream Evil's style is not cotton candy sweet and happy, thereby avoiding the rehashed trappings of the majority of like bands from Europe. Unfortunately, this distinction is nowhere near enough to make Dragonslayer anything of a compelling album.

The most cursory of looks at the band's latest album tells the potential buyer all he or she needs to know. Would it be possible to think up more inane heavy metal names as "Dream Evil" and "Dragonslayer"? Indeed, what you see is what you get, as every song on this album makes even the most staunch of metal supporters wince. The lyrics are sooo cheesy. Unlike triumphantly cheesy bands like the godly Lost Horizon, Dream Evil's lyrical content is so tired and sickeningly lame.

There has got to be at least three songs about slaying dragons. This concept alone needs to be retired. There's also a really sappy, out-of-place rock ballad ("Losing You"), and a horrendous, frighteningly catchy tune called "The Chosen Ones." The repeated, group-sung, meaningless fantasy lyrics about being the chosen ones due to armor being painted with blood from slaying dragons is very poor. When things can only seem to get better, the band turns up the inane dial a notch with awful songs like "Heavy Metal Jesus" and "Hail to the King" (which is also about giving credit to some metal version of the Christian savior.)

What a monumental pity this whole band is. The musicianship and production are wasted. Dream Evil has a really good singer (Niklas Isfeldt, who did some guest vocals for Hammerfall), a great drummer (Snowy Shaw of King Diamond fame) and some wonderful - if not total copycat - Malmsteen-style guitar solos. Would somebody please get these boys a better name and write them some decent songs?

 

review by: Laurent Martini

There is no safety in numbers. Eighteen songs of crap is still crap.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

While Laurent's review in fact is the most effective way to inform you about the quality of Gravity Clock, that responsible side of me makes me want to add that The Driven play some kind of heavy metal that's pretty close to stoner rock. The music is indeed heavy, but the singing is very poor and the songs are uninteresting. Now please re-read Laurent's interview again to have it summed up for you a final time.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

The term "black metal art" gets thrown about quite a bit. You know it's too much when bands like Enthroned start talking about what they do using these words. However, calling what Eikenskaden does on The Black Laments Symphony art is truly fitting.

Eikenskaden is doing something akin to what Ulver did on Nattens Madrigal in terms of the sheer harshness of sound. The Black Laments Symphony sounds like it was recorded with microphones cranked up to maximum volume and held way too close to the instruments. The result is sound that is almost brittle: as if every hit of a drum or note played is shattering some fragile, geode-like crystal. Nothing else sounds like this record.

But the intrigue doesn't end there, for this record is just as much about actual musical compositions as it is about how these compositions sound. Eikenskaden delivers an entire album of soaring, melancholic melody broken up by relaxed moments of lonely piano. If you're familiar with the main theme to Albinoni's "Adagio" (which is adapted on this record on the track "I'll Dance this Adagio with the Spirits") you have an idea of the caliber of stuff you can expect throughout. The intense musicianship sounds a bit like Nattens Madrigal in terms of equaling the quality of the guitar soloing, but also reminds me of Ulver's Bergtatt in terms of marrying such a wide variety of emotional worlds. However, Eikenskaden is a good deal more complex and FAR weirder.

Start with a theme of running water that runs throughout the record and some deliciously odd black metal vocals with a sort of drowning, robotic like effect on them. Then throw in song titles like "There is 666 Trees in My Forest," "I'll Go for a Walk on My Grave," "She's Waiting for Me Behind a Tree" and "I'll go for Another Walk on My Grave." Are you interested yet?

Look, everything about this record embodies cultdom, cultdom that goes so far beyond mere lo-fi recording values and minimal, gay melodies dressed up to sound evil. The Black Laments Symphony, with its strange values, captivating melodies and unique flavor of obscurity, is nothing short of a musical and artistic masterpiece. Totally essential.

 

review by: Laurent Martini

You know football season is just around the corner. Time for teams to sign up all those undrafted free agents and talk about the player's intangibles and upside. So where am I going with this? OK, Elektrik Mistress is bad, yes, but they have intangibles and upside. There are moments of creativity on this album, a few seconds when an amber of a distinct and very cool sound emerges, like in the music breaks in "Shining Star" and the intros to "Vertigo" and "Deceit." And although Kurt Kuthe's lyrics are unimaginative, he has quite a distinct vocal range, which he shows intermittently on certain songs. So let's let Elektrik Mistress learn the playbook for a year or two and check back with them at that time. Perhaps that free agent will become a star after all.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

My curiosity was piqued when I heard that this Italian band played a Dimmu Borgir-style of black metal, but threw in some weird breaks and was far more technical. Well, that may have turned out to be true, but the result is not one that I'm happy with.

The album can't seem to get out of its own way. While the musicianship and technicality is indeed impressive, Ephel Duath, in its effort to make something really dense, has lost sight of the idea that writing enjoyable music is paramount to succeeding as a band. The band throws in everything plus the kitchen sink. At first the music kind of passes by, and you are encouraged with the sense that you'll need to listen to this a few more times and let stuff sink in (like with the new Emperor.) However, after repeated listens the music reveals itself as merely lacking passion - a complex, technically flavored bland.

Also working against this band is how you get the notion that you've heard some of these riffs before, like on the song "The Danza" (is that like Tony Danza?), which rips off a riff from Children of Bodom's Hatebreeder, for example.

Being of the Dimmu Borgir/Cradle of Filth school, Rephormula is chock full of music that will make evil black metal heads check their gag reflexes. The band is trying to play up the angle of being some sort of black metal/opera hybrid, and so you'll find lots of stuff that makes you think something horribly evil is going on in the nursery. It seems that this army of rag dolls possessed by evil is what the band was shooting for: only now did I notice that the art on the back of the CD has a photo of some fairly creepy-looking puppets.

The final stake in the heart of the success of this band, however, is the drum sound. It's impossible to tell if it's a machine or a real drummer playing drum triggers. The drum work is complex, which makes the notion that someone programmed it all very impressive. However, every percussive sound is synthesized, and the choice of sounds is totally punchless. In the end, this is the perfect summation of this album.

So Ephel Duath gets an honorable mention for effort and execution, but failing marks for presentation. Incidentally: In case you happen to have a digipaked album by this band and for some reason want more, be warned that Rephormula is merely a repackaging of that album (with some really dubious song titles like "The Blow's Rhymers"), plus two remixes and some demo "opera" stuff. One of the remixes is courtesy of "Homo Homini Loops." Of course it's in very bad taste to call bands "gay," but the overwhelming evidence makes that you can't help but wonder if they're doing this on purpose. Yuck.

 

review by: Matt Smith

I couldn't find out much about this band's history on the internet (their website was full of broken links and contained mostly pictures, and not many websites dedicated to Fleshless exist), but according to their website, they are from the Czech Republic and "powered by drum machine."

It's too bad I couldn't find out more about them, because I really liked Grindgod. This is some of the better death metal I've heard, and adding a bit of grind didn't hurt. Naturally, the drums are right on. Good guitar melodies merge impeccably with crunchy riffs and each song is great until the end. Deep, well-blended vocals add a lot to Fleshless' sound as well. There are some great, complicated rhythms that come out of the combination.

However, the same combination (with little variation) persists until the end of the CD. Not that each song sounds the same, especially with all the variation Fleshless puts into each track, but the guitars stay in the same range throughout and Vladamir (the vocalist) seems to only be comfortable within a very limited range, as well.

The lyrics are about what you'd expect: choppy English painting gory pictures in detail. Real Cannibal Corpse-type-stuff. It definitely stays interesting for one CD, but they should do a little experimentation with their sound before their next release. I am absolutely convinced that Fleshless would put on a great show, and I'll be keeping an eye open for a "Midwest appearance." Although not exactly revolutionary, Fleshless has made some more great death metal to add to the collection.

 

review by: Abhishek Chatterjee

Fleshtized are like a genetically modified version of Morbid Angel. Less guitar histrionics (but with the same aura of technical brilliance), more brutality (the blast beats are intense!!), but altogether, the influence of Morbid Angel on Fleshtized's music is undeniable. The solos even have the same killer tone as in Gateways to Annihilation. But mind you, the music on offer here has nothing in common with that album except the aforementioned point.

The blast beats are so furious I can picture the skin peeling off the drummer's hands as he relentlessly mauls the snare. Some of the songs, like "Everything Dies" and "Feral Earth," are absolutely free flowing, without any fixed structures and with abrupt transitions from chaotic noisy sections to experimental dissonance (ala Gorguts).

The guitarist also handles the vocals, which is pretty amazing considering the level of technicality on display here. His tortured snarls fit the music quite well, a fact amply demonstrated on the title track. The Morbid Angel cover at the end ("Rapture") is a fitting finale to this brutal death metal album. Excellent.

review by: Laurent Martini

As the needle drove deeper into his vein, he slipped further and further away. And by doing so music lost one of its strongest voices. When Shane MacGowan left the Pogues an irreplaceable void was left. MacGowan is now reduced to singing bad covers of his old hits and the Pogues slowly flickered out. Thankfully there is always a second coming. Drunken Lullabies, Flogging Molly's sophomore album (or third if you count their self-produced Alive Behind the Green Door) proves that they are no fluke.

Starting where their debut, Swagger, left off, the album is a mix of old and new songs played with such sincerity and energy there leaves no doubt that Flogging Molly is a worthy successor to the Pogues. From the political "Rebels of the Sacred Heart," to the irony of "If I Ever Leave this World Alive," to the ballad "Death Valley Queen," to the Poguesish "Another Bag of Bricks," these songs will make you want to dance, cry out 26+6=1 and grab your closest mate and embrace.

Another of the band's strengths comes from its array of personalities. Singer Dave King can turn a simple phrase into something wrought with wit and meaning, bassist Nathen Maxwell looks and plays like he should be with the Sex Pistols, mandolin and banjo player Bob Schmidt (the male heartthrob) is brit-pop cool in his suit, and fiddle player Bridget Regan (the female heartthrob) can make her instrument sound louder and stronger than any amplified guitar. Not forgetting Hensley on accordion, Schwindt on drums and Casey on guitar they are a motley looking crew when you seen them but they play and speak as one loud voice. And that voice is one of the best ones in music today.

Under appreciated because of lack of radio or TV play, don't let this band pass you by.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

The Forsaken lives up to its being from Sweden by delivering fittingly mind-blowingly tight music that's played at ludicrous speed. That's right, just like the ship in "Spaceballs." Just listen to this album for a bit and you'll feel like Dark Helmet, frantically holding on to a railing while the world accelerates out of control.

When you listen to so much of this type of music, it's easy sometimes to lose sight that what the musicians are doing is amazing. Even in terms of the kind of technical quality we've come to expect out of Sweden, The Forsaken is impressive. Every song is a total ripping orgy of blistering blast beats and lightning rhythm guitar.

The real highlight of the album, however, is the guitar solos. While the riffs of the songs on Arts of Desolation can get tired, the delicious and original leads are a real pleasure to listen to.

And so this leads us to the album's negative points. As mentioned before, the riffs aren't exactly the most enjoyable. It may be because of the extreme speed with which they are played, but somehow I don't think so. Arts of Desolation suffers the most when considering the 11 tracks on the album as songs. As such, they're not very interesting. Of course, as self-indulgent exercises in musical velocity and precision, they work just fine. I think Krisiun fans especially will want to own this.

Some will lose their mind over this album, but if you're like me, you need a little more than constant lightning speed 4/4 songs whose main objective is to overwhelm you with savagery alone to keep you interested.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Dans les bras des immortels is a huge improvement over Frozen Shadows' previous work, the MCD Empire de glace. The songs sound much more focused and enjoyable. Frozen Shadows is about halfway between old Emperor and old Immortal; there is even a song that ends in that abrupt Immortal style we've come to love. One song that is on Empire de glace is re-done here, and even it sounds better than before.

I remember being really into Dans les bras des immortels when I listened to it on my diskman while walking through the woods. My headphones accentuated the melodies and the punchy snare drum, allowing me to get swept up in the epic torrent that Frozen Shadows has put together. On the stereo the album is lacking, and the dirty, buzzing production doesn't let you soak up the atmosphere as it's intended. There is a nice clean, calm part near the end of the record that doesn't suffer from this problem.

Frozen Shadows is a band that will be really good if it continues on the path it's on. There are still a few things to work out in terms of production, but noting how well the band is coming along, I don't see how the next one won't be even better.

 

review by: Abhishek Chatterjee

New to the Fuck...I'm Dead experience? Remember, before you play this CD you need to brace yourself properly. Grab onto anything solid and immobile and stuff a sock in your mouth so you don't swallow your tongue. This three-piece Aussie band will make you relearn all concepts of intensity.

Now a lot of people may say that it isn't very hard to be intense when you program a drum machine to play at the rate of a trillion beats per second, but perhaps what these people don't realise is that it's a hell of a tough job to come up with riffs that seem to match the insane speed of the drum machine. Even the vocals are of the high-speed kind, with Jay screaming his guts out like a maniac on fire.

This CD contains 23 tracks, the first 15 being brand new, six from their split with Sanity's Dawn and the last two taken from a live show. The guitar work is pretty special: fast tremolo riffing intertwined with moshy grind parts and plenty of ear piercing harmonics. Songs that caught my attention the most include "A Fraction of Death" and "Colon Commando" with their great riffing, the melodic "Toilet Tantalizers" and the brutal "Licky Webster." Disorientingly brutal, this CD has to be heard to be believed.

 

review by: ~Eternus~

Following on from last issue's two Hate Forest mini CDs that I enjoyed immensely comes this, the first full-length album, marking Hate Forest's first release for British label and distro Supernal Music.

What makes Hate Forest unique are the grim, barked vocals created by some sort of life-hating monster. They work very well and make a change from the usual and occasionally generic, high-pitched screams of other bands. To these vocals have been added some performed in a more traditional, screaming black metal style. I don't think the screamy vocals add too much, nor are they really necessary. The only positive thing is that they bring the barks, which are relentless and full of hate, to the forefront of one's attention.

The riffs have improved a lot, as has the general song writing. I could throw around many a name of inspiration for this band, but I really think Hate Forest's music speaks for itself. In a genre littered with so many pathetic bands, it's nice to hear a relentless, hateful piece of evil in the year 2002 that rips you from your city dwellings and drags you deep into the forest, ravages and defiles you with no mercy. One last thing to point out is that the simple, black and white photographs of forests and swamps in the CD booklet are really well laid out. Hate forest stick to their no band photographs, no interview obscurity - but maybe some lyrics could be printed in the booklet next time? Go find this monster and pray to your god that you can tame it.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

This awesome German metalcore outfit has released a follow-up to their scathing, pummeling Asunder. We reviewed that album last issue, so you might want to look back on it, as this new album is basically more of the same. If you're feeling super lazy, Heaven Shall Burn plays an angry, mostly mid-paced form of death metal and hardcore. Sometimes the band sounds like Bolt Thrower with short hair and a hardcore screamer. The overall vibe is on par with the pissed off attack of Slayer's best moments. At other times acoustic guitar is thrown in to the mix to give a semi-breather from the angst.

At the forefront of the passionate delivery is the vocalist, who delivers exemplary screams punctuated with some growls here and there. I could listen to this guy scream all day. The last track on the new album features all melodic singing. It's quite good. Will this be the future of this band?

If you are familiar with this band, Whatever It May Take isn't quite up to the sheer level of ferocity or interest of Asunder, but it's definitely in the same league. You'd be doing yourself a favor by checking out any of this excellent band's work.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Arve Henriksen is one of the members of Supersilent, the experimental/ jazz/ ambient project that we interviewed in issue #7. And while Helge Sten, Supersilent's main man, also plays a hand in this work as the producer, there are hardly any similarities between the two projects.

Arve Henriksen the band is enamoured with the simple, minimalist beauty of certain aspects of Japanese traditional culture and the meditative and calm energy that these aspects put forth. What this translates to musically is a lot of relaxed flute and noises like the running water of a delicate stream. Stones tap together quite a bit, and with the mix of the other sonic elements you get definite images of a Japanese rock garden during the beginning of spring, when the pink cherry blossoms begin to fall.

While the mood and imagery is conveyed effectively, there isn't much that is compelling or of any real tangible substance to this work. Perhaps it is again because I am largely burned out on Japanese culture from three years in Tokyo, where I got to see how diametrically opposite contemporary Japanese culture is to this idealistic image of traditional Japanese culture.

Regardless, this record lacks something. Call it urgency: most of the tracks come and go without much aplomb, but at the same time they totally lack the soothing beauty that Henriksen seems to be aiming for. It's calm, yes, but it's not emotive. Is this because we're dealing with the possible shortcomings of this album being a Norwegian's tribute to traditional Japanese culture, or is it just not my bag?

review by: Laurent Martini

Sometimes artists' belief in themselves or what they are doing is so strong that it can sway an audience and its opinion of the product, and that is exactly the case for High on Fire. When I looked at the album and read some of the lyrics I thought I was encountering another band in love with the Medieval Black Forest and its unicorn riding gnomes. As unimaginative as some of the lyrics on Surrounded by Thieves are, High on Fire goes to them and their music with such ferocity that I was taken aback. They were able to achieve what I though was missing on Root's latest Black Seal: an awesome sound and great vocals.

This band plays loud and fast and could care less about anything else. So if you're looking to rock and rock hard for a good 40 minutes or so, then I highly recommend Surrounded By Thieves.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

The second offering of this Norwegian quartet sounds a lot like their first: slow to mid-paced black metal with basic rock rhythms. The end result reminds you pretty strongly of what Carpathian Forest would sound like with a reduction of fury and psychosis. Add in a bit of the sound present on Darkthrone's Total Death, and you've got a pretty good idea what to expect.

Comparing the two, Phantom is superior to Masterpiss of Pain (review in issue #4) in its production and riffs. With that said, there isn't a whole lot of difference. If you were into the first one, you'll really like Phantom. Also cool is the booklet that comes with the CD. The main guy in Khold still has that extra large Turtleneck of Evil pulled up high to cover the lower half of his face. This time around, he's posing in a field. It looks totally cool and sinister. Nice.

 

review by: ~Vargscarr~

King Diamond. Anyone who's familiar with any of his work knows what to expect - the man is one of the best examples of a musician true to his art and his genre. Starting his career in the late '70s with the Deep Purple/Alice Cooper influenced Black Rose, and since releasing a never ceasing stream of albums either with Mercyful Fate or his eponymous project ever since; he knows what he likes to play, and hasn't deviated from his calling to produce some of the very best (and weirdest) technical occult/horror themed Heavy Metal accompanied by his unique vocals ranging from the highest falsetto shrieks to gnawing, incomprehensible belches when the mood calls for them.

Love him or hate him, his music is undeniably consistent in terms of intent; but even the most devout fan must admit that his back catalogue has its ups and downs. However, since no two King Diamond/Mercyful Fate fans can agree on much beyond the fact that everything the two bands produced in the 80s is stunning, it's very difficult to take recommendations of his latter work seriously.

For my part, while I think literally every King Diamond album is worth owning; I find The Eye - beloved of many - deeply weak, though saved by a handful of great tracks. The same can be said for the less generally well regarded Graveyard as far as my taste goes; though the album sandwiched between these two, The Spider's Lullaby, which has a reputation as the worst example of all of the King Diamond band's output, is one of my favourites. Some like pink salmon, some like brown squid. Most are agreed that 1998's Voodoo was a nice return to a more aggressive form and features some excellent songs, but the album was over-padded out with filler tracks towards the end, and was never a measure of the flawless studio albums of the '80s, which were succulent as a well cooked pork loin and twice as filling, unless you were homeless and needed real food.

House of God was the first King Diamond release of the new decade, and featured a very back-to-basics style of songwriting, and a very odd guitar sound barely qualifying as Metal at all so little was it distorted. The drumming however was weak - not enough to spoil the album, but about as basic as was humanly possible. Like linoleum or the colour grey, it was adequate but unimpressive. However, the songs were stunning; and most importantly consistently great from beginning to end. It was no Them; but for my money it was King's best release for years.

So after this vast and rampant introduction, and now you know exactly where I stand on previous King Diamond releases, how does Abigail II compare? Well that all depends on what you're comparing it to. As far as I'm concerned, it's musically superior to House of God. The music is catchier as well as being more complex (for example King told me a while before the album's release that in one part there are three guitar solos playing simultaneously) and the vocals measure up with memorable harmonies and wonderful use of King's full range. Although I feel House of God has a certain charm that this album lacks (so far), it cannot be denied that this is technically the best music King Diamond has made since Conspiracy - the drummer has clearly used Mikky Dee's work one the first four King Diamond albums as inspiration for a number of his cymbal patterns; and though some have said the drums sound triggered (listen for the slightly mechanical - though wonderful - double bass pedal work) the jury is still out as far as I'm concerned; and the fact that I can't tell for certain proves how little this suspicion effects enjoyment of the music. Andy LaRoque is the Star Wars trilogy of Heavy Metal guitar players.

Of course Abigail II isn't as good as Abigail, Them or Conspiracy - but did anyone honestly expect it would be? The point is it measures up as a sequel, proving itself only slightly less good than the original Abigail than Conspiracy proved itself as a sequel for Them; which is high praise indeed. No, it doesn't sound like an '80s King Diamond album; but it does have that same distinct feel to it possessed by House of God, which links these albums of the '00s to the original and best of the 80s; that indefinable quality that King somehow lost or failed to capture on his '90s releases.

Some seem to think this album is a huge disappointment and far less good than House of God. Personally, I can't understand this viewpoint. To my ear, if you like one you'll like the other; and though I could accept some people saying these two recent releases aren't worth owning when compared with the Fatal Portrait to Conspiracy albums, I will say I think they're the closest thing a fan is going to find to those original releases from the entirety of King's subsequent output (after Mercyful Fate's In the Shadows). Oh, and the 'female' vocals of eighteen year old Abigail heard when the character cries after the rape and laughs after regaining her insanity and feeding said rapist broken glass are in fact King Diamond with his voice altered to sound feminine - I can only say that armed with this knowledge the more one hears them the more disturbing they become, like listening to Aghast or looking at Nico McBrain's face.

 

review by: Matt Smith

I don't have much to say about this album. This is mainly because the album doesn't say much for itself.

Oracle plods along at essentially the same medium-slow tempo (andante, maybe?), laying down some 4/4 crunchy (and overly simple) guitar riffs and uncomplicated drum lines with some growling mixed with singing. Every song uses essentially the same formula, making Oracle that much more boring. Each song may contain one or two changes within it, but the frequent repetition just makes me want to stab my ears out with a sharpened pencil. They could be over before they start for all I care. Solos consist mainly of feedback and other guitar noise.

The lyrics are similarly boring and useless; they're basically spouting cliché "tormented soul" bullshit. It's cryptic enough to possibly be considered "deep" by those who don't think about them. This is an excerpt from "Pain:"

Just stop it..
Just stop it...
Red dress serpent and you'll stay here!
You deserve nothing at all...
You knew that life was a game...
You deserve nothing at all...
YOU MUST ENDURE YOUR OWN PAIN!

Ugh. The whole album is full of this banal, melancholy crap.

Kittie initially became popular a few years ago when they caught some airplay on "hard rock" radio stations with the likes of Slipknot and Korn. They've toured with Ozzfest, Pantera, Skinlab to further their "underground" metal careers when all they're really doing is watering down death metal to make it more palatable to the mass audience with their melodic (though uninteresting) vocals, rock tempo, and streamlined, nu-metal image. All they're missing is a rap vocalist - then they could sweep MTV, too. And don't even get me started about their butchery of Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell." Why do musicians feel it necessary to ruin classic songs these days? If you remake a song, shouldn't it improve in some way? Sigh...

A female metal band may be novel, but Kittie has a long way to go before they're any good. If they weren't already well known they'd probably work a little harder, though. We'll see how long they stick around, though hopefully it won't be long enough for another album.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Ouch. That was a harsh review, Matt. Well, I can't say I disagree with you.

What the sound of hard and heavy music played by a band whose members all have breasts is certainly a major factor in the listener's curiosity. And indeed, Kittie is very heavy. In that respect, the band delivers. And so it seems for the first minute or so that the album might be pretty interesting, too. Oracle benefits from a nice, full and hard-hitting production. However, by the time the second song ends Kittie's formula has become stale.

The songs on Oracle are very formulaic. Either they are straight growled, or introduced by some clean singing and then growled. You can predict what's going to happen ages before it does. In their own respects, the vocal styles themselves are pretty good, but when applied to banal drumming and riffs making up simplistic songs that were generated from a cookie-cutter, you get tedium in the extreme.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

I love Knut. I was converted by their previous work, the self-titled EP that we reviewed last issue. I was treated to super intense, hard hitting and heavy hardcore fronted by exquisitely piercing screams. The new record does not disappoint in the least.

In fact, Knut may have beefed up its heaviness on this one. Whatever happened, you can be sure to expect great musicianship with cool rhythmic work. This record is loaded with great arrangements and technicality. Look out also for the excellent, semi-hidden false ending of the last, 20-minute track. Challenger sets the intensity dial to 11 from the pressing of the play button. I'm not even much of a hardcore fan, but I can wholeheartedly recommend these guys.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

The most compelling reason to own this split album is that the wacky old guy on the cover is holding a carrot. A carrot: that's gotta be amongst the things that can be classified as "least metal things in the world" along with pink shoelaces, polka dots and aerobics classes.

Unfortunately, the appeal of the album goes downhill from there. Lugubrum may be the more likeable of the pair of Belgian bands featured here, but its music is made up of really tired riffs in the vein of early black metal Darkthrone. In terms of cult sound, some may enjoy it, but the compositions are of little, if any, interest.

Finsternis is just total shit. It's slop and you'll need to invest some time in order to appreciate the differences between tracks. There's really not much reason to spend money on half of an album that is tepid at best, regardless of how enjoyable the cover is.

review by: Laurent Martini

The extensive liner notes in Aquellos Desgarradores Gritos Llamados Silencio explain that Luna In Caello deals with "feelings, the fears, the dreams, the pain of the individual." Perhaps they do, who knows. As the album is not sung in English, it's hard to feel a connection with some of the feelings that the song title suggests like "Doubt, Sorrow, and Shadow." Yet the music is great and sometimes can be very moving just by itself.

As Luna In Caelo was started as an artistic project by historian Alejandra Araya and designer Daniel Davila they must be given some slack and some time to grow as they did not set out to be musicians first. Some of the best bands in the last two decades, The Talking Heads and Blur, were started as artistic projects and the difference between their first output and even their second is amazing. Compare Talking Heads 77 and More Songs About Buildings and Food and you'll see a world of difference. So stay tuned. If you're into great music and soft spoken lyrics (and you don't mind not knowing what is being sung) this might be for you.

review by: Laurent Martini

Everyone should buy this album! The riffs on March of the Fire Ants are the absolute best opening riffs I have heard in a very, very long time. Listening to that made me an instant fan. And the band does not disappoint with the rest of the album. Remission is filled with the best music I have heard in years in any genre. Take Anthrax at its best, Slash at his finest, and Mick Mars at his most melodic and you have Mastodon.

This album is a dream for all guitarists but there is a downside: all lyrics are screamed out. Although this works well for certain songs like "Crusher Destroyer" and "Trampled Under Hoof," it is a complete miss with others. "Ol'e Nessie" is perhaps the best song on the album with the band creating an amazing 2:32 minute intro but as the lyrics, and thus the screaming, start the mood that is created is destroyed. The band needs to pay more attention to the vocals and how they can match and synch up with the music better. Despite that this album is a definite buy.

 

review by: Matt Smith

This 20-minute track is traditional Mogwai - a slow, rock beat underlies some slow, pretty melodies on the guitars. Like much of their stuff, it is pretty repetitive, but it's supposed to be. I think the idea is that slight variations in tone or sound should keep someone entertained for 20 minutes despite the one short line that is repeated throughout. Well, there is one point in the middle where the drums stop and the guitars play softly for a couple of minutes, only to go back to the same melody. It gets a little harder late in the song, but it fails to maintain my interest. The ending takes several minutes, and it's just feedback and noise from the guitars.

I've been much more impressed by other songs I've heard from Mogwai. The band is great for fans of emo and other indie-rock (maybe even doom?), but this particular track sounds a bit too much like "Mogwai as jam band" for me. The lack of structure or musical complexity Mogwai displays in this particular endeavor just doesn't cut it for a song as long as this one.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Montany is so close to being a recommendable power metal band, and yet so far. The glaring, weakest link is the singer, who is average at best. Sort of sounding like Bruce Dickinson at times, with that nasty sort of feeling that Axl Rose has, Montany's singer is far below the talent levels of his bandmates.

It doesn't help that many of the lyrics are pathetic. The worst moments come on the opening song in which the frontman wonders about where the aliens are, and if they're coming back from the sky. I'm shuddering as I write this.

But how's the music? Well, it's not too bad. At some points, it's downright enjoyable. Some of the classical music-based guitar and keyboard riffs are very nice. The solos, while not entirely original or memorable, are very well played and a pleasure to listen to. The mix and choice of tones is also pretty good. Still, Montany has a bit to go in order to write an album of which the songs are different enough to warrant making the whole thing an hour in length. Still, there is definite hope for this band. All they need is a bit more song separation and a new singer, please.

 

review by: Laurent Martini

Ah, the concept album. The downfall of so many bands. Here No Return tells the story of Ninkiki who creates an android that develops self-awareness and decides to infiltrate a military lab. First off, bands need to learn that a successful concept album needs to be based on a simple story line. Take Sgt. Pepppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, considered to arguably be the best one ever. Concept: a good old time British band. That's it. Real Simple. No "2001: A Space Odyssey" meets "War Games." No "Weird Science" meets "Biodome."

A convoluted concept means a terrible album and Machinery is real bad. The drum track seems the same on every song, strange synthesized sounds appear at the most unexpected times (to give that sci-fi feel, you see) and the lyrics make no sense as they try to tell this tale worthy of "Mystery Science Theatre 3000." No Return is supposedly taking thrash metal where it's never been before. Unfortunately they're taking it in the wrong direction.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Sorry, Laurent, but I'm going to have to take issue on you with your opinion. Sure, the concept of this record is no doubt completely convoluted, and stupidly so. However, the album totally rips.

Machinery is an album of amazing thrashy technicality and precision. The production is uncommon (and great) and the members can really play. Its high energy level and reasonably fresh take on the genre keeps it interesting throughout. Then add in an excellent cover of Death's "Secret Face" to round off a satisfying listen.

No one should ever buy an album because it has a good story. That's what books are for. What can go wrong is if a lame concept comes across in the lyrics or music, thereby ruining the record. In this case, if you didn't know going in that there was some silly story behind all the songs, you wouldn't be able to figure it out by listening to the album. This is definitely an album to pick up if you see it used, and maybe even one ot consider paying full price for.

review by: Jez Andrews

I was intrigued by this album for one reason alone: The music of Nonexist is driven along by the blasting power of Dark Funeral drummer Matte Modin. However, let me first state that this is NOTHING like Dark Funeral.

I became more and more intrigued by the band after taking my first listen. There are many elements to the music that gave a real buzz to hear. Heavy doses of old school death metal, and yet, something altogether more complex than first thought. The rhythmic twists and turns of "Eaten Alive" and "Ebony Tower" reminded me very much of Meshuggah. The vocals of Johan Liiva are like a bizarre cocktail of those of Marduk, Carcass, and Entombed, which I found to be highly entertaining.

The music itself on Deus Deceptor inspires many changes of mood. One moment speed metal, the next, the kind of riffing that wouldn't sound out of place on a power metal effort. And a lot more besides. In fact, I would rank this as one of the most inventive extreme metal albums it has been my pleasure to hear over the past year or so. All the experimentation is flawlessly executed, and at the same time, the band stay true to the heaviness that runs like a river through each track.

I think it's worth mentioning that this was among the last few albums to be mixed at the famous Abyss studios before the man Tagtgren decided to close the doors and take a break from it all. I would not, however, say that this has any kind of typical Abyss sound. So many influences, and yet something that is all theirs, unique in many respects. Closing track "Divided We Fall" is one of my favourites from this collection of decadent assaults on the eardrums, with a verse that just defies all principles of rhythmic simplicity.

Take a listen. Nonexist are the way forward.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Sounding like an evil, sweaty, down on the Bayou mix of heavy rock, metal and jazz, Oxbow delivers an outstanding album. I am totally blown away by An Evil Heat.

While the individual parts of the music themselves may not be overly complex or remarkable, the way they are interwoven makes for a quite enjoyable experience. While the playing is very far from busy, the use of odd times, breaks and refreshing rhythm changes abound to keep the listener interested. The band finishes off with a 20+ minute wall of sludge noise, drone track that just puts the icing on the cake.

Saving the best for last are the vocals, which sound like Jimi Hendrix if he were a voodoo shaman. Vocalist Eugene Robinson stretches and contorts his voice into all manner of wails, howls, and grit to give yet another delicious layer. The depraved howls rattle and jar us as we are taken on a ride through a world of domestic violence and dark backwater secrets. Totally essential and already guaranteed to be one of my albums of the year.

review by: Laurent Martini

Sit down and listen up, it's story time. That's what Oxbrow's latest album seems like. Singer Eugene Robinson's stories set to background music (which ends up being problematic at some point as the music seems almost an afterthought and is not used to enhance the twisted visuals Robinson is creating.) The stories he tells are disturbing, concentrated on decay and despair, and the band's tendency to double and sometimes triple track the vocals with yells and grunts make the already disturbing imagery even more so. This is definitely an album to sit down, focus and listen to. Yet as great as some of the songs are, Robinson's yelps and screams become more of an annoyance than an enhancement of the story, something that one could do without and still enjoy the experience of this spoken poetry.

 

review by: Matt Smith

The first thing I thought when I listened to this album was, "Isis!" I quickly realized that after the first (dis)chord, the similarity ended. Actually, the slow intro to the album should have been a clue. At any rate, this is some emotional, angry, hardcore-sounding music with some interesting, often slow melodies followed by good grooves and even better fills.

Although simplistic and sometimes cheesy (especially where the vocals/lyrics are concerned - lots of lamenting old loves and what-not), Poison the Well is definitely enjoyable. A solid vocal track laid down by Jeffrey Moreira is blanketed by raw guitars and a lot of simple drumming and bass, grinding away to different, unpredictable rhythms through each song.

Each track is like a story going through different moods and action. And I swear there is a serious Meshuggah influence, most prevalent in some of the grooves in tracks three, four, and seven, which is always a good thing. It's much better than most of the "emo-metal" (as I have dubbed it - especially common with hardcore bands) that I've heard, though it's still a bit cheesy as I noted before. I especially don't like people singing in the second person. It reminds me too much of the Backstreet Boys or something of the sort to allow me any enjoyment.

 

review by: Steppenvvolf

There are things in life I will probably never get used to. Among them is how German power metal acts are inevitably praised for their new albums, no matter the content.

Releasing concept albums seems to be the big thing at the moment, and so Primal Fear didn't leave us yearning for one for too long. The result, after investing a breathtaking two months into songwriting, is the album Black Sun, the story of which is definitely worth telling. In fact, it's so hair-raising that I am not quite sure if I understood it correctly.

Missions are cool. Therefore the two Primal Fear eagles fly a mission to the black sun (yes, in space there's a vacuum and nothing much to fly around in, but we got used to Star Wars' rumbling spaceships as well, didn't we?). Don't chuckle while listening to track four("Lightyears From Home") when the birds get homesick. Anyway, they're flying an flying and, in the course of their fateful journey, even become witnesses of some alien races' clash of civilisations.

Though Primal Fear tries to convey that it's possible to land on a sun - it's not (planets are those stony things in the universe, suns in turn always stand out with their full blast of nuclear fission or fusion). One should acknowledge that, if being slightly retarded birds, they at least try to accomplish their impossible task, which makes them truly worthy Powermetal heroes.

As for the music that underlines the 57 minute journey, Primal Fear has indeed delivered a good piece of powermetal, but honestly, I could as well have listened to any other half-way well-performing band of the genre and would have got away with about the same satisfaction. There's something to it that can best be described with its similarities to propaganda: good propaganda stands out by not telling you any lies. Done to perfection, it gives you, as an outside observer, the feeling that something's wrong with the way information is presented, but there's no way to argue the falseness of any of its content. Primal Fear's Black Sun matches this pattern all too well. Technically perfect, well recorded and mixed power metal songs, but...how could I possibly persuade anyone to keeping their hands off this album?

For further amusement I suggest reading the official release info of Nuclear Blast on their web page. Apparently Primal Fear tried to play out their musical flexibility, veering to speed metal ("Black Sun"), experimental ("Revolution" and "Magic Eye") and mystical style(?) ("Mind Machine"). Whatever the latter two styles are meant to be, neither of them sounds much different to all the rest.

The best part of the album (the story) you got with this review already. Leave the rest in the stores.

review by: Abhishek Chatterjee

Here we have a Dutch band playing American style brutal death metal. Or to be more precise, Suffocation style death metal. But before you can even open your mouth to say "I've heard this before," Pyaemia proceed to kick in your teeth, rip your tongue out and strangle you to death with it.

The album starts off in a murderous fashion with "Gorging on Mucus and Bile," replete with jackhammer riffs and good solid drumming. Like their fellow countrymen Severe Torture, Pyaemia take the no frills approach to their music, but with faster and generally more interesting guitar work. Indeed, it is the guitar work that carries this beyond the realms of clichéd, heard before kind of death metal. But due credit needs to be given to the bassist too. Though the bass can't be heard too clearly over the frenzied guitar, it clearly shines through in songs like "Malodorous Rancidity" and "Cranial Blowout." The drummer puts in some severe blasting with the occasional groove beats thrown in, and also some pretty fast pedal work.

Coming back to the riffing, I still can't believe the speed with which some of the palm muted sections are played. For example, the starting riff of "Blood Spewed On My Face," which sounds a lot like the chorus part of Cannibal Corpse's "Sentenced to Burn" but played about a hundred times faster. But not all the songs are at supersonic speed and that is one of my complaints about this album. Some of the slow sections are just too boring and I hope next time around they go for a full-on assault. But, whatever the case might be, you need to get this one first.

review by: Steppenvvolf

Hey, we're going experimental again. Ram-Zet's music is best described as a sort of psycho-metal meets gothic mix. The idea of the songs is more or less always the same. They are concatenated dialogues between Zet, the band leader, and a woman. I didn't quite understand what the dialogues are all about, but it seems like one needs a certain confused state of mind to get through this psycho-sort of conversation. A masochist might want to read through their discourse, captured in full in the inlet.

So much for the point to start off. It does sound interesting, and it does have quite some promising riffs, but it never gets to what it could be. The dialogue is a very demanding affair, because the whole CD is like two styles alternating.

One of them is Zet's attempt to sound really desperate. This comes across very poorly. I can imagine what sort of air he's trying to communicate, but he just doesn't have the voice for it. So his efforts end up as hoarse shouting that gets extremely annoying in time. Think of Marilyn Manson forced to perform despite a sore throat. The music backing his plaintive cries consists largely of guitar riffs, played very choppily and likewise sometimes strongly reminiscent of Marilyn Manson.

The other style comes into play with the vocals of his female counterpart. Her vocals in turn are really nice and rather sound as if taken from a Gothic band. If there only wasn't those disturbing vocals of Zet interrupting her again and again!

The samples and electric violins mixed into the songs make for additional weirdness, but all in all sounds like a bunch of good musical ideas mixed together to the worst possible effect.

If Ram-Zet's intention was to produce a real schizophrenic album, they definitely succeeded. The arrangements constantly sound as if someone tried to dissolve oil in water. Somehow I got the impression that this CD is not the result of a band, but rather of an egomaniac projection into the music of band leader Zet. Give this band a chance - if they can shake off Zet one day.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Red Harvest plays music that incorporates black metal, industrial and sometimes techno to glorious effect.

Don't make the mistake and think this is some wussy, poser shit techno/black metal crossover. The music is very angry and evil sounding, albeit in a more high-tech way. Like on their previous record, Cold Dark Matter, this Norwegian band uses a human drummer. The guy is sick. So are the songs.

Sick Transit Gloria Mundi entertains throughout with a fine mix of instantly likeable, memorable melodies and FX manipulations. The production holds the whole thing up perfectly, further bolstering the dense and rich attack. The vocals are suitably in a black metal scream with some fuzzy effect on top of them.

If you've heard and enjoyed Cold Dark Matter, you'll really like this one. Sick Transit Gloria Mundi incorporates the various elements on Cold... to a better effect: while the black metal and industrial elements on the previous record seemed to alternate, the two are more closely and perpetually interwoven here. In other words, it seems like Sick Transit... is less of a deliberate black metal/industrial crossover, and more of a solid, singular work.

The techno element surfaces primarily on the last portion of the album on tracks like a cover of GGFH's "Dead Men Don't Rape." Again, don't imagine that this is some sort of abhorrent house music shit with inane four on the floor beats. Rather, it's a blistering and insidious torrent of black metal razors sure to please the extreme metal fan.

It seems that this issue of Maelstrom is chock full of albums that I am recommending as must haves. Here's another one. If fast, intense yet varied black metal with an industrial edge is up your alley, then get this for sure. Definitely for fans who enjoy stuff like Burzum Filosofem. And if you even like Diabolicum, you're going to lose your mind for this. This album is superbly crafted and executed. A mandatory acquisition.

 

review by: Abhishek Chatterjee

This four-song MCD is the handiwork of two demented fucks from California who have added their name to the list of bands that use drum machines and don't sound gay. Sure, no human drummer would be able to pull off stuff like this in a live setting, but who cares about all that as long as I can sit at home and be able assaulted by blasting grind like this.

The vocals are in the Cock and Ball Torture vein, though a little less processed. There are also some high-pitched shrieks like those in Lividity. The riffs seem to make a conscious effort to stay away from unimaginative grind formats. Sometimes the music even reminds me of a less schizophrenic Fuck..I'm Dead. "Abdominal Pillaging" even has this Cannibal Corpse-ish kind of riffing towards the end.

"Spreading The Stumps" is probably the best track on here with some evisceratingly heavy parts and some hints of tunefulness. The last song, "Beaten with Amputated Limbs," ups the brutality factor with the kind of blistering riffing I would expect on a Gorgasm or Pyaemia album. A bit too short, but filled with killer material (and also some hilarious samples-check out the one at the end), this is worth every penny.

review by: Jez Andrews

What can I say? Rhapsody stand for true greatness. They have proved themselves time after time, and now is no exception. Whether your cup of tea was the instant catchiness of Symphony of Enchanted Lands or the more solid chunky riffing of Dawn of Victory, the band have now brought forward a masterpiece that leaves all its predecessors trailing in the dust. I don't think you could call any of Rhapsody's ideas 'tired', but Power of the Dragonflame is still an exhilarating breath of fresh air that overshadows their entire back catalogue.

The final chapter of the Algalord Chronicles (the story that has accompanied the music of Rhapsody since their 1997 debut) is without doubt the most violent and tragic yet. That said, I still maintain that Jay Lansford hamming out the narration of this heartfelt tale does the music no favours whatsoever. But hey, there is just too much about this album that is truly bewitching for me to be picking it to pieces for a trifling matter like that.

It's pleasing to note that the sound has far more twists and turns than in days gone by. Everything is clearer and more pronounced, with some of the heaviest tracks in the band's history. The title track was what first leapt out and grabbed me by the throat. A racing heartbeat, followed by the awareness that both my arms were outstretched in devil horns. Yup, this was a fucking good album. Each and every track is bursting with passion, energy, and fire. Even those who find this kind of thing too theatrical and over the top must appreciate the brilliance that Rhapsody have now achieved. As with their recent Rain of a Thousand Flames, every band member steps into the spotlight at one time or another during this 61 minute celebration of 'Hollywood Metal.' Of all the power ballads within the entire scene of heavy metal, "Lamento Eroico" is one of my firm favourites, partly because of the very effective vocal harmonies, but also the fact that lyrics have been composed in Rhapsody's native Italian, giving the music more feeling.

One thing I must mention is that the list of thanks is missing a very important individual. James Horner's "Braveheart" soundtrack has been poached for melody by Rhapsody since Symphony... (please tell me I'm not the only one who noticed the stolen classical interlude in "Eternal Glory"!). This time around, the track "The Pride of the Tyrant" utilises the main Braveheart theme in the chorus, and it doesn't look as if any attempt has been made to disguise this. However, it has to be said that messrs Staropoli and Turilli have made exceedingly good use of their ideas in this respect.

The aforementioned cringe-worthy narration is about the closest thing I could find to a moment of weakness. Through the proud stomp of "The March of the Swordmaster" and the rich classical power metal blast of "Steelgods of the Last Apocalypse," producers Sascha Paeth and Miro have taken the Rhapsody sound into its finest hour yet.

In my opinion Rhapsody are now the undisputed kings of the power metal scene. A rash statement I know, considering the works of Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, Hammerfall, etc., but Power of the Dragonflame is nothing short of genius.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

I was psyched to get this record. I'd never liked Rhapsody, but their last album, the so-called EP Rain of a Thousand Flames, was totally great. Finally the band had made a record worthy to be called heavy metal by using a heavier production. The mix of song types also made the album engaging. Ironic that Maelstrom's two Rhapsody fiends, the tilde brothers, ~Vargscarr~ and ~Eternus~, thought it bit.

And so with the latest full-length, it seems that the tilde boys will be happy again. Objectively, Rhapsody is amazing. They play very fast and involved music that is quite interesting if you dissect it. The whole bombast and overkill that the band puts forth at all times is second to none. While Rhapsody's music could never be called tasteful, it is impressive.

The big however here is that Rhapsody is obnoxious. First off, I'm really, really getting tired of hearing songs that are enamored entirely over the idea of dragons and meaningless fantasy lyrics. Call me not metal if you want.

Secondly, every song on Power of the Dragonflame rips off happy-sounding, classically inspired riffs and solos, to go along with decent vocals and liberal use of choral embellishments. It's almost as if it's all too much. The songs don't have much room to breathe and take on unique characteristics of their own. Also, Rhapsody really needs to find a more dramatic and talented singer, and bring that voice up in the mix more.

So the experience is quite numbing. The last track, however, offers the much-needed element of dynamics by containing an excellent two-minute intro by actual acoustic instruments. Plus 5 points for that. Minus 1,000,000 points, however, for the outrageous way the band persists in using that horrible man who supplies narrative. I had hoped that SOMEONE would have wised up and realized that this guy's wussy, constipated and congested voice is an embarrassment to all. But no. Again, we have to endure this dork as he goes through another frenetic crisis of 'Oh God's and 'oh, no's.

Despite all this, in the end, it would be impossible not to recommend this record to fans of the band. Rhapsody continues to deliver what they do best; and they are clearly the best at what they do.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

It's albums like Rondellus' Sabbatum that makes me proud to be a metal fan, for calling this record breathtaking would not be any exaggeration. But wait, this Estonian group is hardly a metal band at all. Rather, Rondellus performs medieval style music using only traditional instruments with lyrics in Latin delivered in a chanting-in-a-church style. So, where does the metal part fit in?

No small part of metal can in a like way evoke the same kind of feelings that being in a massive cathedral during evensong can stir: think of massive sounds that bands like Evoken or Skepticism possess. The groundwork for these bands was laid in the '70s by the doom and gloom sounds of the mighty Black Sabbath. Rondellus recognizes all these things, and thus have taken 12 Sabbath songs and medievalized them.

Don't stop reading. This is not some super happy and wanky music played by complete tossers prancing about at a Renaissance faire wearing leotards and pointy, checkered hats with bells on them. It would be the biggest mistake to somehow connect Rondellus with bands like Morgenstern, which are a total embarrassment to all. Rondellus takes Sabbath songs, translates the lyrics into Latin, and then plays them on medieval instruments. No cheese, no wankery.

In fact, Rondellus has succeeded in amplifying the wall of power that the original songs possess. Can you remember the peaceful, doomy atmosphere of the first Sabbath record? The cover picturing the strangely morbid, solitary woman before a house summed it up. That feeling is strongly present here. Two of the best moments on the disk are the choral parts of "Verres militares" ("War Pigs") and the violin rendition of the main riff to "Funambulus domesticus" ("A National Acrobat"). "War Pigs" never sounded so huge.

In many cases, Rondellus' interpretations are shorter than the originals, as the Estonian group takes the core riffs or vocal melodies and play those. So, no Iommi solos on hurdy gurdy. All the songs are from the Ozzy Osbourne era, with two surprisingly being from the mostly forgotten Never Say Die!. In addition to the tracks mentioned above, you also get: "Junior's Eyes," "Symptom of the Universe," "Behind the Wall of Sleep," "After Forever," "The Wizard," "Solitude," "Wheels of Confusion," "Planet Caravan," "A Hard Road" and "Spiral Architect."

Play this for someone who has no knowledge of metal, or, better yet, professes to hate metal. They'll have no clue as to what they're actually listening to and will probably like it. For those who love Sabbath, this masterfully performed record will give a newfound respect and appreciation. So way recommended.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

While Seth's last album, The Excellence (review in issue #2), had the sound of a quality, polished black metal album, close inspection revealed that the songs started to lose steam after around track two. The best moments of that disk came when Seth was emulating Thy Primordial.

And so Seth has moved on, on from their first disk in which the band borrowed a chapter from the book of Dimmu Borgir, to the The Excellence, and now to Divine X. This time around, you can definitely tell that this French black metal band has been enjoying their copies of Emperor's Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise. But that's not a bad thing, because it makes the album interesting. Also thrown in are some nice electronic breaks and flourishes that never cross the line by sounding like they fell off of a techno music truck.

As always, Seth's musicianship is dead on. The drums are still totally triggered, but they're mixed really upfront and powerfully. The guitar tone is well chosen. Also welcome are the vocals of lead guitarist Nacht, who fills in for the departed Vicomte Vampyr Arkames. The latter's vocals were of the black metal quacking duck variety; they sounded even sillier when he sang in French. Nacht's vocals are far more powerful and fit well. Cool.

While you shouldn't expect an album on the same marvelous plane as Emperor's last and greatest album, Divine X is a worthy disk of full-sounding black metal. The song titles may be pretty dorky, like "Addicted to Psychotropic Angeldust," "Cosmic Cursed's Shelter" and "Walk on Fire with Me," but since when have bad song titles in metal ever hindered any of us from liking an album?

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

This album could be a soothing psychedelic journey if it weren't so unsettling.

Shalabi Effect is hard to peg. It largely sounds like its been influenced by Indian sitar music, but then you'll have isolated sections, like one with break beats and another ambient part that sounds like Stars of the Lid. The percussion is mostly played by human hands, consisting of Eastern-sounding bongos. Things get creepy when whispered male voices that have been electronically altered make their way into the mix, and downright scary when the music grows to a gut-wrenching cacophony on one track.

So you can get the idea that Shalabi Effect goes here, there and everywhere. You get instances of great elements of dark ambient, ethnic music, experimental and electronica. It all comes in a cool, glossy, all cardboard digipak. For fans of Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Stars of the Lid and Thuja.

review by: Matt Smith

Although very polished and professional, marketing seems to be the only thing making Skinlab at least somewhat successful. When stripped of its production, packaging and press releases, Skinlab's music is simplistic, repetitive, and unoriginal.

The lyrics are wholly banal and attempt to be dramatic or heart wrenching or something. It's the kind of stuff I really liked when I was an angry 15-year-old: Steev [sic] Esquivel angrily sings "What's wrong with my head ... I can't explain the way I feel," and then he gets really mad and another uninspired "hard guitar riff" accompanies his yelling. No matter how much Skinlab attempts to distance itself from New Metal, talk is cheap, and becomes completely transparent when held up to the light of this bad, bad music. It's like they ripped off the simpler parts of Sepultura and Fear Factory and made a CD.

One article I was sent described Skinlab as "intelligent as they were sonically heavy." This may be true, but I described the quality of the lyrics earlier as well as the triteness of the sound. I counted '1, 2, 3, 4' at a rock tempo for almost the entirety of the reVolting Room. What could make it worse? How about adding the angry rants of their high-school aged fans who think themselves insane, but really just shop at Hot Topic too much. "Those bastards took everything ... Conformity is the driving force behind it all ..." yak, yak, yak. Looking at those shirts will get to you after awhile...

In other words, Century Media is proud of this marketable band and tries hard to make them look "hardcore." Skinlab has not only a polished website for the band itself, but for the reVolting Room as well, urging their fans to send in photos "of you revolting." Great. I see a "vandalism and tortured animals gallery" in the near future. I congratulate you if you can make it through the dragged-out, corny intro to www.therevoltingroom.com without puking. I tried six times.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Taake's debut album, Nattestid, is perhaps the most unheralded work in all of black metal. Why this album isn't talked about more is amazing. The sweeping passion of the music and the perfectly flawed, artsy production by the hands of Pytten make it one of my favorite albums ever of any kind. So it was with great excitement that I awaited Bjoergevin, the new Taake.

Damn. It's not as good. Well, the good news is that it still sounds like Taake. Maelstrom friend Wrest of Leviathan says Bjoergevin reminds him of early Borknagar. Certainly the signature melodic riffing style is still firmly in place. To the band's credit, there is a little more range of tempos on the new record. Unfortunately, the parts that are slower or more groove-intended are relatively uninteresting.

The main culprit here perhaps is that Taake has at least doubled its band members. I'm not positive about this - Taake has always been a mysterious group, with no band photos and with all lyrics and text written in that runic Middle Earth alphabet that Tolkien made famous - but the spreading out of the musical duties that was once the job of at most two men seems to have ruined the gorgeous sound of the debut album.

Nattestid was obviously written around the bass guitar. Six-string guitar was clearly present, but the scratchy way it was mixed made it a piercing, blissfully fuzzy background sound rather than the forefront instrument that it usually is in metal. Drums were likewise largely buried in the mix, making them the kind that you would sense more than you would hear. On top were the masterful, crackly shrieks of the vocals. And then, of course, were all the godly riffs and stirring melodies. Listening to Nattestid makes me feel damn proud to be a true Viking warrior even though I'm an Italian-American.

Now on Bjoergevin, with the inclusion of more bass, the cult, trebly buzz of the guitar has been sacrificed. Again, perhaps doubling the members has made each man want his instrument to be heard more clearly, maybe not. Whatever, the new album is far more standard and much less interesting. Objectively, it's a pretty good work and will certainly appeal to Norwegian black metal fans, but it pales in comparison to the album that came before it.

review by: Jez Andrews

Tad Morose have, until now, been little more to me than a band that seemed to be on all the European festival bills. Now there is a sound to put to the name, but I regret to say that I'm none too impressed with what I hear.

It's decent enough as thrashy power metal goes, but with competition being as it is, Matters of the Dark sounds almost as tired as Gamma Ray on a bad day. There is the occasional flash of guts in the riffing, but it wimps out far too much. A good sound doesn't make a good album. If there isn't the quality of song writing, then it all goes to shit. Case in point, the solid crunch of "Ethereal Soul" being brought down by a frustratingly weak chorus.

I try to pick out moments of greatness, but whenever I think I've found any, I can't help but think of all the bands who could have done it so much better. On the plus side, there is some nice solo work from guitarists Christer Andersson and Daniel Olsson.

This is an album that needs a lot more speed. The continuous plod that deadens all but "Another Way" was enough to drive me to the bottle.

The sad thing is, I can hear the clear quality of musicianship throughout Matters of the Dark, and spent much of the album thinking about how it could be better employed. The tracks have enough merit between them to show that if they have not already released a masterpiece, they have the definite potential to do so. Case closed. I'm off to listen to some Manowar with a steaming cup of English tea.

 

review by: Laurent Martini

This is a band you want to like. From the Joy Division-like coloured cover to the mysterious way in which the album is packaged and presented (there are no song titles, no pictures of the band members, no lyrics) this album screams indie cool. But it is far from.

Ghost Plants seems to be a study of sounds. The songs are a mix of ethereal music, Indian beats, and feedback. What seems a cacophony in certain songs reveals itself to be a hypnotic rhythm and what starts off as a simple tapping of what is most likely empty glass bottles turns into a very ingenious beat. With no band information given, you wonder if this is the product of one person or a group effort to deconstruct what we call "music." But no matter how many have created this, it works. It is hard to truly describe the music other than to say that Ghost Plants is the soundtrack to some of your strangest dreams.

 

review by: Steppenvvolf

I admit this album was a true shocker to me. With a slow, deep and heavy guitar plus a likewise somber and prominent bass guitar supporting Johan Edlund's melancholic voice, the first song "The Return of the Son of Nothing" takes you straight back to Tiamat's style of the albums Wild Honey or A Deeper Kind of Slumber. Already the very title "So Much for Suicide" sets the tone for something new. More rhythm-oriented and lighter guitar-work completely neglect the once so typical SOS style ("short-of suicide") of Tiamat.

If I was slightly astonished after track 2, I surely was after "Vote for Love." Imagine some Woodstock veteran, who, set on psychodrugs for years after realizing that the "make love not war" thing wouldn't make it as an alternative for harsh reality, suddenly discovered that life's not all too bad. He would have come out with "Vote for Love": an optimistic Johan, leaving the impression of having risen from the (un-)dead, backed by female background voices for the chorus.

If you have seen Vodafone's TV ads in Germany, try to remember the song they used for it - "The Truth's for Sale" comes pretty close to it. "Sumer by Night" gives an interlude of Tiamat's old style, while thereafter they rock on in melancholic happy metal style. Actually, I'd place a bet that Jo came out with "Heaven of High" straight after stumbling out of an Irish pub. Luckily he didn't invite the Kelly family for the chorus here.

Apparently, according to the release information, the album was produced in the studio where two of the band's favourite albums were produced: "Vision Thing" of Sisters of Mercy and "Music for the Masses" of Depeche mode. If trying to imagine how Judas Christ sounds like, think of Tiamat having stylistically moved to the latter two.

Any reason to buy this CD, despite melancholic hippy songs and Irish pub populars? Yes, definitely. I like this album a lot, but it is just so different from the old Tiamat material that it is hard to rate. I remember when Lacrimosa suddenly changed its style from SOS to techno. Not many fans forgave him for doing so. If you're one of those, indulging in bathing in "lost-lease-on-life" songs, you should definitely save your money for other bands from now on. Otherwise try it, some clips are given on Tiamat's website www.churchoftiamat.com/.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Trollech is a three-man band from the Czech Republic that plays folky, pagan metal. That's our best guess, as every bit of the liner notes is in a language that is not English. The album starts off with a jaunty, melodically folky hymn that sticks in your brain for quite some time afterward. It's quite silly and is liable to make you break out in a jig, but it's fun enough.

The rest of the album ranges from the folky approach found on the first track to more standard black metal melodies made up of quickly strummed, held-out notes. Trollech, like the majority of other black metal bands, can also play some likeable acoustic guitar parts.

The drums are programmed, but you won't really notice, and they sound pretty good. The vocals are also pretty good. The guy who does vocals is pretty funny. He looks like Billy Zane with a shaved head and white robes, as he stands proud above his corpsepainted and long-haired bandmates.

In the end, Trollech is merely a good album. It's played fine, but it's not especially compelling. It sort of takes good elements of various black metal genres but doesn't really validate doing so. This is really something to blow five bucks on if it turns up in the used bin.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

This band may be from Australia, but they're very keen on getting in touch with the Norwegian heathen mythos. Urgund try - they try to be hard and cool and metal, but end up sounding like the dull black metal version of Bolt Thrower.

What really doesn't help is the muffled production, which restrains any hope the band had of busting out of the speakers into the listener's ear. In the end, The Graven Sign draws the worst possible review: it's not bad, just totally uninteresting.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

This Spanish black metal band's sped-up take on the style of Burzum may not be anything groundbreaking in the least, but it sounds like true black metal should. While Uruk-Hai may not be the place to start for someone getting started in the genre, nor will it be necessary for casual black metal fans to own, those who embrace this wintry, lo-fi style will be very pleased.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

On Deception of Pain, Valley's Eve plays solid, American-style power metal. This means there are no happy or "gay" parts that will offend those allergic to the established European style of this form of music. The songs here are all above average, with a few tasty bits here and there. The singer is quite good too, invoking images of what Iced Earth's singer would sound like if he weren't the biggest tool in metal. Adding to the positive things in Valley's Eve corner are a fittingly heavy production and a nice drum sound. The only thing that needs to be improved on is to write songs that give the band a flavor of its own. Despite this, Deception of Pain is a respectable power metal effort. You may want to pick it up used if you find it.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

If you like Beherit, you're going to want to get this. If you don't like Beherit, you may still want to check this out. Vermeth is a one-man black metal band. The tracks on the album are admittedly more or less the same song over and over again, but Your Ruin... is one of those recordings in which the compositions are secondary to the sound.

In this case, the sound rakes you over the course of forty-odd minutes. Vermeth captures a deeply occult sound that is buried under leagues of primordial earth. At the forefront of the mire are the raping vocals of the Black Lord Beleth Rim (pictured in the minimal packaging in a hilarious montage of his face in the middle of a Renaissance-era etching), who also manages to get some sinister, chaotic sounds out of his stringed instruments. The drums are probably programmed, but you'll be damned if you figure that out by the sound alone, as whatever sound that would tip the listener off to the presence of a drum machine are taken away by the lo-fi recording.

The painting chosen for the cover art visually sums this one up. If really evil, dirty and obscure stuff is what your bag is, then you'll be happy and grim with this one.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

They're doing some major construction on the building next to the one where I teach. It's a long-term project, and all sorts of heavy machinery has been brought in. The noise and pummeling of the pile drivers and such gets so bad that it feels like I should be applying the earthquake safety procedures that all Northern California kids learn in grade school. The funny thing about this is that I seem to be the only teacher who seems not to mind what everyone else is calling an ordeal. This is no doubt because much of the music I listen to isn't too far off the fracas that these machines make.

Vukodlak made me realize this. While Blackest Autumn may not be the most interesting, original or memorable album of black metal, it does the trick of delivering the thick and blasting goods in a suitable fashion. In terms of that evil black metal buzz, Vukodlak does not disappoint. There's also this curiously weird track at the end that sounds like an excerpt of a radio broadcast played backwards. I paid $6 for my copy of Blackest Autumn. I suggest you do the same.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

The thing that makes a compilation album compelling is if it features tracks that are exclusive. Otherwise, no matter how good the individual tracks are, once you have all the albums of the bands that you liked on the comp, you're just left with a high-priced mix CD that you could have made yourself.

Quebéc's Sepulchral Productions understands this. Amongst Waging the War's 17 tracks are seven that are exclusive. The quality of these seven is no worse than average. The good ones are: Esker, which reminds me of Azaghal but with more depth and ideas; The Burning, whose rehearsal track has a cool cavernously evil sound; Celestia; and Lord Belial, who delivers some good moments. You'll also get exclusive tracks from Veneficium, Nostra Dama and Skjull, who is typical trebly black metal but still pretty good.

What else is good is that none of the other non-exclusive tracks suck outright. Sure, there is some passable stuff like the forever boring Horna or a track off of Thy Primordial's tepid A Heresy of an Age of Reason, but if this comp turns anyone to the guilty pleasure of Antaeus or the ripping attack of Frozen Shadows or Azaghal, then that's good. You also get tracks from Negura Bunget, Ragnarok, Garwall, Demon Real, and Winter of the Black Skies.

To its detriment, this comp has that regrettable effect that comps tend to have in that the individual tracks were not written with the intention of putting them side-by-side in album format. The result of the sheer length of this short attention span format is that you get tired or at least numb to what you're listening to after about nine songs.

As always, the compilation album is best used as an inexpensive way to test the waters of bands that you've never heard. As far as that goes, this is a compilation worth having, but also has a longevity value thanks to its exclusive tracks.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

This side project of the keyboardist from Children of Bodom is like a box of Cracker Jack: sweet but made up of empty calories. There are some nice points on the album, like the odd song that features Timo Koltipelto's (Stratovarius) vocals, and some good solo work. However, a good deal of the album comes across as tedious at best and pointless at worst. It's a pretty limp offering, so you would be best advised to save your money for something else.

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

This guy wants to be Varg Vikernes sooooo bad. Look, he's even cut and pasted the creepy troll guy from the inside cover art of Burzum's Hvis Lyset Tar Oss. Also, track one is called "Leere," which is what Vikernes calls his song "Tomhet" in German. And while the music of Wigrid is expectedly total Burzum worship (read: ripoff), it's fantastic.

The secret to Wigrid's success is taking the best elements of Burzum's Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and Filosofem and mixing them together in one massive slab of cold and beautiful black metal. Yes, beauty is aptly applied here, for while the vibe is totally cold and misanthropic, the compositions have an undeniable beauty in the way the simple melodies buzz alongside the shrieking vocals in the wall of sound.

Without being able to actually hear the album, it's hard to effectively communicate that although this is exactly like Burzum, it simultaneously stands alone in its own merit. The massive fuzz of the simple music is at black metal's soothing, ethereal and hypnotic best. This is one album that really is necessary to own. Great.

review by: ~Eternus~

Whether you love him or hate him, Varg Vikernes created some of the most inspiring and influential black metal of the early '90s with his one-man project, Burzum. He was solely responsible for injecting the lost, depressed and contemplative feel into black metal music. Many bands have since tried to re-create that ancient Burzum feel. Many have failed and only a few have succeded. What is certain is that Burzum's music was influential and ultimately lapped up by the underground and so nowadays there are bands such as Abyssic Hate from Australia, Gontyna Kry from Poland and also the now sadly defunct Weakling.

Now entering into the squared circle is Wigrid. This one-man band hailing from Germany presents us with an album that basically could be a Burzum tribute. The thing that makes Wigrid succeed where others have previously failed is that main man Ulfhednir is incredible at writing riffs that contain the same tortured vison, depressed and lost somewhere in a place where time and humanity are of little relevance.

This is an album to lay back in bed to at night and let it surround you in its grey, horrible yet strangely enchanting mist of evil. This could be an album to die to. It is that depressive atmosphere and repetitive riffs, which like Burzum's earlier albums, are so torturous and harrowing to listen to. Wigrid plays on that early Burzum feel and reminds the Burzum fan of how it once was.

The vocals in Wigrid are suitably Burzum-inspired as one would expect. The vocals work well, although I haven't a clue as to what the lyrics are about, being entirely in German. Maybe some German-speaking fan of Wigrid could send me a translation?

Obviously, there are some inevitable negative aspects to Wigrid, the first being the drums. Although they do their intended job in a suitable manner, they are done by a drum machine that has a slightly annoying bass drum sound. It's not dancy sounding or anything just more a hollow thud, which just sounds too machine-like for its own good. Also, some of the riffs don't work as well as others, but overall this is a quality release on No Colours Records and I recommend the Burzum fan to take a listen.

review by: Roberto Martinelli

I actually got a little excited about this one. I read in the press release that former Yngwie Malmsteen singer extraordinaire Mark Boals was on this album, so I was happy. You may have heard Boals on Malmsteen's Alchemy. It's true that Boals is the perfect summation of all that was exuberantly cheesy and macho about 80s glam metal, but the man has got amazing pipes.

Well, it turns out that Boals is only featured on one track, and he sounds silly even for him. Truth be told, not even if he were on every track could he save this album.

The band Lana Lane, which is fronted by a female singer who's name I assume inspired the group's moniker, may be on a metal label and may be pushed as being a metal record, but don'r be fooled. Rather, Project Shangri-La is a collection of metal ballads. Not terribly good metal ballads. There's only one part on the whole disk that has double bass. Now, don't misunderstand, because double bass drumming is certainly not the ultimate measuring stick of a band's metalness (take for example Iron Maiden or Black Sabbath), but you should be getting the idea of how not metal this is.

And of course there really isn't anything wrong with not being metal. The only problem is this album isn't very good by any means. Lana Lane's vocals have some talent, but they are sort of obnoxious; like they were mixed too high or something. The soft sounds of the rest of the instruments add to the unlikable feeling. There is a definite aspect of vocal tact, restraint and dynamics that all who sing on this record seem not to understand.

When it comes down to it, the main problem is that the songs just aren't very good. When you take on the daunting task of writing an all-metal ballad record, this will make or break you.

 

review by: ~Eternus~

This band, formed in 1997, hails from Bradford in the U.K. This is their debut album, having previously released two demos, one of which I had a chance to hear a couple of years ago after having seen the band play live. I was a major fan of the live set they played back then: solid, vicious death metal with some fine vocals and some incredibly metal riffs. The demo that I heard was a tad different than the live experience as there was the unique inclusion of female vocals alongside the normal gruff male death metal vocals. It was certainly interesting but nothing groundbreaking.

Fast forward to 2002. After doing many a gig supporting the likes of Akercocke and many other bands up and down the length and breadth of Britain, The Enchanted finally releases this monster, rather unusually on their own label, Sinister Realms, perhaps evident of the lack of record company interest and support for U.K extreme metal bands?

The Enchanted offers us a fine blend of death metal here with a pagan theme. Indeed the band members class themselves as playing "pagan metal." Some of the guitar riffs are very well executed and the pace - although maybe too slow at times for my liking, compared with say earlier Deicide and Akercocke - does have a lot of variation in it and there's the inclusion of some acoustic guitar and some spoken female vocals. The male vocals are your standard death metal growls, although at times the vocalist reminds me of Cronos (Venom) and even Max Cavalera (from the older Sepultura days)

All in all, its nice to hear a band with this much energy and talent for a debut album, I can see this band become huge if they keep up the touring, they will hopefully get the recognition they deserve. If your interested in getting a hold of this alum you can order it via the bands website. http://www.sinisterweb.co.uk/enchanted

review by: ~Eternus~

This mini CD prelude to a full-length album out on the same label is a rather interesting and unusual experience. The band is from Italy and plays a unique blend of dark gothic music that has a very beautiful and yet depressive feel to it. There is little difference between each of the four tracks, they all plod along at a slow pace but it's all pieced together very creatively, with piano, keyboards and pipe organs all adding depth and charm.

The vocals are somewhat strange and are sort of a cross between deep goth-style vocals and something you may find at an opera; they do have some skill to them and are all apparently done by one man, Luigi M. Mennella, who also plays all instruments, although there is a session drummer used for track two.

Mr. Mennella seems to be attracted to S&M, death, and black and white erotic photography. I assume that the lyrics, which are nowhere to be seen, follow along to that same theme. There are lots of twinkly keyboards that remind me of both nature documentaries (particularly those ones about birds, as I can almost picture the fluttering of little wings when I listen to this CD), but also of some of the more ear-friendly Swans tracks.

Not an essential purchase because of its painfully short playing length, but En Velours Noir does show some skill and promise. I do look forward to the full length album. One to be played late at night, in solitude and reflect upon life and its charms and ills.

review by: ~Eternus~

Yet another of my CD purchasing gambles that for the most part paid off. Graven hail from Germany and this (as far as I know) is their first available release, a demo CDR recorded in 2000 on an 8-track.

So we get seven tracks each of reasonable length of fairly cold, nasty sounding black metal that maintains a fast and raging speed and doesn’t deviate from the strict black metal code of conduct. There are some minimal keyboards that highlight the tracks, but don’t seem to add too much of their intended atmosphere, which is a shame. However, there are some fine riffs to be found which recall earlier Marduk.

The vocals are pretty much what you'd expect, thoaty and similar to Rob Darken's (Graveland), but slightly more high-pitched. This demo CDR is nothing essential but is a long way from being mundane. I wonder what a better-produced, full-length album will do to this band?

review by: ~Eternus~

This Polish white power band was brought to my attention by the Raiders of Revenge split CD, which they did with fellow Poles Graveland. This marked an alliance between skinhead rac/oi music and black metal, mainly because of their similar political stance and underground music success. I wasn't expecting to like Honor as I just naturally assumed they'd play bad punk music with annoying vocals, but I have to say they impressed me on the split CD and I did not find them particularly punky, more just mid-paced metal played in a 80's style with some strong, heavy riffing and a wonderful atmosphere.

This full-length album continues the same style but is more bombastic and has a great intro reminiscent of Conan the Barbarian, very proud and majestic. The songs themselves don’t offer too much variation, but I still find I listen to this CD a lot when I want a change from black metal. The vocals are done in a unique way, with the lyrics being shouted in hoarse war-like, commanding vocals in Polish. They may not be to everyone's tastes, but they just seem to suit the music very well.

Track 10 stands with acoustic guitars creating an excellent atmosphere. Honor are something different and if you want a change from the black metal norm, they may well be up your audial alley, providing of course you aren't put off by their controversial political stance.

review by: ~Eternus~

I decided to check this album out after hearing the excellent Thor's Hammer/Dark Fury split cassette that showcased both bands talents. Thor's Hammer (not to be confused with Thorr's Hammer, the doom band from Seattle that went on the be called Burning Witch - Roberto) play a strangely catchy blend of death/black metal, although the guitar playing, sound and general riffs sound a lot more black metal to me.

The vocals are done by Capricornus, famed for his drum skills in Graveland. However, this is his own project with him handling both the drums competently and the vocals, which are dry-throated growls more akin to death metal. It works really well and there are even some little folky parts played on guitar found at the end of track three "…In Our Hands Alone" that add so much to the band and general atmosphere, which is quirky and remains furiously fast most of the way through. My only negative comment is the slightly short playing time, which is just under half an hour. In my book full-length albums should always be at least 45 minutes long. While being nothing essential certainly, I still find I go back to listen to Thor's Hammer every now and then, give it a go.

review by: ~Vargscarr~

When most people think of Bay Area Thrash they think of Metallica. However, back in '87 a band from the same locale named Testament released The Legacy with a more aggressive sound, better riffing, beautiful solos; and a drummer who - unlike Lars Ulrich - could play.

This is about the best non-Slayer Thrash Metal album to come out of the US in the '80s for my money. It's consistent and energetic, plus it has a haunting, occult quality that most bands of its era (in the US) only vainly tried to capture. Eric Peterson's solos are quite beautiful, constructed to invoke a very similar feeling in this music of the spectral caverns and rotting hallways painted in the mind by the vocal harmonies and instrumental melodies of Mercyful Fate and King Diamond; though the three bands' music is worlds apart; and I can't help but think of Lovecraft's literary atmospheres when listening to these songs.

Chuck Billy's vocals are archetypal of Thrash Metal; closer to manic shouted chanting than true singing (this was before he adopted the more Death Metal approach he overuses slightly on the Gathering album), with far more bite and venom than most; and lacking any semblance of melody.

Even the lyrics are wonderful, perfectly metered to fit the rhythmic vocals without trading off some of the most effective and pertinent nightmare imagery in Metal (especially Thrash - again, Testament master a stylistic musical element many bands strive for but fail to achieve): "When I was but very young / Sorcerers came to claim my mind / Leaving death and hatred to unmask. / The master of the game had won / And let his final sin be known / Killing those who stand in his path."

Anyone who likes '80s or '90s Thrash needs this album.

review by: Jez Andrews

I had been waiting for this night since I'd first seen it advertised at Christmas. I'd almost been counting off the days. Vader, one of the most awesome forces in the entire death metal scene, performing on the matchbox stage of Trillians. This was something I had to witness. Let the games begin...

As I arrived with ~Vargscarr~, ~Eternus~, and my princess, openers Centurian were blasting their wares upon the assembled Newcastle company. All I knew of them was that they were admired by Marduk, and had made quite a name for themselves in extreme metal. What I saw was fairly impressive. Coupled with the odd growl in praise of Satan between songs, it was a fine display of black/death metal. Didn't catch the song names, but rest assured that I will be on the lookout for this fiery bunch in future.

The next band were without a doubt, one of my favourite thrash acts of modern time. Being truly besotted with their new Inwards album, the live show simply HAD to be seen. But to see them up here in Newcastle was too good to be true, and when something's too good to be true, either it isn't true, or something will at least fuck things up. In this case, it was the sound. It was all audible, but there wasn't quite the balance of levels that was needed. Still, it was great to hear the bulk of the tracks from their magnificent Inwards masterpiece. Quite simply the happiest metal band I've seen in a long time, Dew-Scented came here tonight "to prove that thrash isn't dead!" As far as the material went, mission accomplished.

Vader were of course given the lion's share of soundcheck time, as the sudden double bass drum chops rattled many a ribcage in Trillians. I had missed the pleasure of witnessing a Vader live set both at Wacken 2000 and their Litany UK tour, so tonight was going to be special. And sure enough, nobody was disappointed. One of the strongest death metal acts around, they tore through the likes of "Silent Empire," "Black To The Blind," and "The Calling" with the kind of guts that only the few in extreme metal possess. I was a bit pissed off at their refusal to play 'The Crucifed Ones," but the rest of the set was just so fucking great that I didn't really have cause for complaint.

Doc's drumming was one of those things that I can't explain. The guy was just a human wonder, effortlessly blasting away, the backbone of a finely tuned machine. It was wonderful to watch the masses of hair flying everywhere at the front, and all I was wishing was for the whole thing to held at a bigger venue. It was a very intimate atmosphere, but not nearly enough space for the pit that Vader deserved.

As "Sothis" brought the set to a close, there wasn't a single frown to be seen in the place. The Polish metal giants had come, seen and conquered.

Back to top

 

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Immortal had pissed off a bunch of San Francisco Bay Area metalheads. The band was supposed to play a show after playing Southern California, but somehow the date was botched and Immortal never showed up. When I met Abbath in Norway, the same year, he swore that he would atone for this. The good news is Abbath made due on his word and Immortal were brilliant, playing two killer shows for the San Francisco audience. The bad news is they had to play with a bunch of crappy bands.

Yes, I'm coming right out and saying it: I'm including Manowar in this group. Ok, I liked Manowar when I was nine. I don't want to get into pages of rant of why I think this band is one of the most overrated in metal, but suffice to say that although they are the strongest macho metal caricature you could hope to come up with, at the same time they are just about the least metal band I can think of.

But first, the opening acts. My friends and I arrived at The Pound waaayy too early. The Pound is one of those places that stamp your hand but then for some reason don't allow any ins and outs. This is especially ridiculous as The Pound is in the middle of nowhere in an industrial section of the city. So we had to endure three full hours of atrocious metal entertainment before our heroes were to hit the stage.

First was some local act whose name I didn't catch. We saw the last few songs of theirs. They were ok at best. Heavy, and with some sort of jump metal/ rap crossover. You had to feel for the guys, 'cause even they knew they had no business being there. Towards the end of their set, the singer acknowledged this by saying that soon their time would be over and the audience would get to hear some death metal.

Woe to he who encounters Havoc Hate on a playbill. This band plays the hyper macho form of American power metal. To say that the singer is over the top isn't enough. Imagine Hulk Hogan, but make him older, shorter and with a much worse physique, and you've got an idea of what this guy is like. He further played up this comparison by doing these embarrassing macho flexing moves whenever possible. When he wasn't doing this or actually singing, he would go offstage to chug some beers. Also, calling what he does "singing" is a gross account of what he contributes to the band. Rather, "useless and obnoxious gruff vocals" would be a much better fit.

It actually got worse from there. Is there a more boring death metal band in all of existence than Catastrophic? Maybe Six Feet Under, but it's a close call. Every song that Catastrophic played sounded exactly the same kind of mundane. The only time things got any better was when the band played Obituary's "Chopped in Half," which, based on Jez's review of the Catastrophic show he saw in England, seems to be a song that the band always plays.

Dragonlord is really quite a pitiful project. If you don't know, this band is the creation of Eric Peterson, the guitarist of Testament. What makes it so awful is how obvious it is that someone who is pretty well established in a certain part of the metal scene is trying to cash in on the popularity of another metal style, namely black metal. The result is Dragonlord, which sounds like the worst Cradle of Filth has to offer. The keyboards are really atrocious, and no one should allow Peterson to attempt to do black metal vocals ever again.

It was now 11 PM. Finally time for Immortal. This was to be the night for me, as Manowar was only playing on day two of this two date concert in San Francisco, which meant Immortal was the headliner tonight. The band came out and started things off with the first and last songs from their Damned in Black album, namely "Wrath from Above" and "Damned in Black." The audience loved it.

 

Now, there wasn't much of an audience. It was really quite embarrassing. It would be kind of generous to assume about 70 people were in attendance that night. Where was everybody? Despite this, Immortal continued to put on a professional show, following up with two songs off their new album, "One by One" and "Sons of Northern Darkness." Immortal's new bass player fit in great and added a lot to the spectacle; much more than rail-thin Iscariah did when I saw this band play in Wacken two years before.

 

Abbath has a new beard. He paints it white. I wonder if he can put his corpsepaint on in his sleep. He's a real character on stage and knows how to work a crowd: he mugged and grinned hugely to the audience on Friday night. Between songs, Abbath also called out in hopes that Jeff Bescera, the singer of Possessed and the long-time idol of Abbath, was in the audience. Unfortunately, he was not.At any rate, Immortal went on to play "Solarfall," "Tyrants" and "Withstand the Fall of Time" to the rabid faithful.

Those few who were present on Thursday got a nice treat, for three quarters of the way through "Beyond the North Waves," Abbath unslung his guitar and walked off stage. He returned with a cup full of liquid and a torch. The audience turned to one another in excitement, knowing what would happen next. Abbath put on a fire-breathing show, with his third and final pass directly over the audience's heads. We got singed with burning alcohol. It was great.

Well, know Immortal's last three albums were well-represented, but how about the old stuff? Was Immortal trying to forget its roots? Well, the band obliged with two songs off of Battles in the North, namely the title track and the obligatory Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark) to finish off the set. It was a great show both nights, the only differences being that the second date was without "Beyond the North Waves" and the fire breathing. Also, there were about 300 people the second night, making the experience much less enjoyable.

The difference in attendance was greatly due to Manowar, but also probably because most people figured that it was stupid to pay $22 for five bands when they could see six the next night. Whatever the reason, The Pound was an abominable place to be the second night; hot and stuffy. Manowar's tired antics were not fun. They played some songs that made me think of cheesy '70s stereotypical metal. Maybe it was just the sight of the band's guitar player.

Manowar IS Spinal Tap, except Manowar takes itself very seriously. At least they would have us believe so. Maybe it's all just a big, elaborate joke. Whatever it may be, ridiculously long and obnoxiously noisy solos were more than enough to make me want to go home. Hail Immortal! Come back soon, and bring some good bands with you!

Back to top

review by: Jez Andrews

I had to stand in the freezing cold (finest Newcastle weather) for about forty minutes, in the company of a few scattered metallers, an aged maraca player who was complaining about paying to get into Trillians tonight, and a Malevolent Creation fan who had been to the kind of gigs that I could only dream of ("Yeah, I saw Metallica at the Mayfair...met the band...Cliff was dead two weeks later...saw Venom with the original line-up..."etc.).

Your investigative reporter here had barely cash enough to quench a thirst, so the merchandise was grudgingly avoided. My first thought as Catastrophic took the stage was "Hey, isn't that...? Surely..." And indeed it was. The great Trevor Peres of Obituary was providing the riffage for the first act of the night. Catastrophic have their moments as a live act, with a wonderful cover of Obituary's 'Chopped In Half' being the true pinnacle of the set. The music ain't at all bad, with a few luscious death metal grooves to be found in there too. Their only real weakness, as far as I was concerned, was the slightly shouty vocals, that were a little too hardcore for comfort. Still, the presence of Peres caused a buzz of discussion around the bar.

The majority of the Trillians crowd had come to see one band tonight. And that band was the now legendary death metal veterans, Malevolent Creation. This was to be a new experience for me, as I was completely unfamiliar with any of their material. Yes, I know, shame on me. Anyway, due to difficulties experienced by Kataklysm, tonight's scheduled headliners were demoted to support band. Still, at least I didn't have to wait so long to satisfy my curiosity. Very together as a live force, they delivered a set to be proud of. Once again, the vocals weren't quite death metal enough for my taste, but the band themselves were certainly impressive, and the sound was great. Drawing much of the material from the Eternal and Manifestation albums, as well as their latest release, it was a nicely executed set from beginning to end. There were only a small number of headbanging fans, but the masses still made their appreciation heard.

Finally came the turn of Kataklysm. Now touring their Epic: The Poetry of War album, through Nuclear Blast Records, the Canadians get stuck in with some serious ferocity. Vocalist Maurizio Iacono demonstrated some nice variation within the style, and the set was a good mixture of both old and new. The quality of the performance even had your dignified Maelstrom reporter shaking his mane around. They had some definite originality, I'll give 'em that. In fact, I would have to say that Kataklysm deserved the headlining spot more than the Trillians crowd would have given them credit for. The music had a few strange quirks and changes to it, all helping to keep me interested, though I can't imagine wanting to rush out and buy their recorded work. There was still something about the songs that needed a little more kick.

To sum up, an enjoyable show, but wanting that certain something special. It's death metal Jim, but not as I prefer it.

Back to top

review by: Jez Andrews

The Tut n Shive in Newcastle has played host to many local bands, and, all things considered, isn't a bad little venue (though 'little' is the operative word, it being even more cramped than Trillians Rockbar). The word has been well spread in town, but some joker still appears to have chalked up the notice 'by invitation only' on the door. Hey, the drinks are cheap, the company is great, and the gig has been hotly anticipated amongst the true metallers of the region.

Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg are, without a doubt the closest I can imagine to a live Burzum show. The band is composed simply of a bassist/vocalist and a keyboard player (who is looking somewhat bored at the best of times). The slow, droning bass riffs and the sustained, quivering keyboard commentary didn't have the most groundbreaking of effects on the assembled crowd. The occasional bursts of vocals sounded as if they were agonizing roars trapped inside the voice box of a caveman who has only now been thawed from a glacier. Not too bad as background music, but hardly something to stir the senses. However, the resulting atmosphere of impatience was just what rising death metallers Dawn of Chaos had been counting on. It was time for some real noise.

Quite how tonight's headliners have gone unsigned is beyond me. Their brutally upfront, in your face style brought the whole place to life. The stage was a mass of hair, fury, and a glorious death metal attitude, in both look and sound. The sound fit the room like a glove. Loud, raging, and deserving of so much more, Dawn Of Chaos are a rarity in these parts. With the local scene being overrun with nu-metal and hardcore, it makes a change to see a live act that crush the lot of them. . The likes of "The Faithful Defile," "Twelve Gauge Lobotomy" and a storming cover of Slayer's "South Of Heaven" received the seal of approval from all those present, and the price of drinks put a lot of smiles on a lot of faces. A flawless display of gutsy death metal from a band who are on their way, with cheap shots of vodka into the bargain. In short, a fucking great night.

dawn.of.chaos@virgin.net

Back to top