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| AFTER DEATH – RETRONOMICON (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Mario van Dooren |
| Style: Melodic/Weird/Occult Death Metal | Running time: 1:14:38 (Tracks: 14) | ||
| I already reviewed a CDemo of this band way back in 2004; “Reviving the Gods” (see Archive CD/DVD reviews). After Death is the brainchild of ex-Nocturnus drummer/singer Mike Browning. Mike toured Europe last year with this band under the Nocturnus name because he still had the rights to tour Europe under that name; outside of Europe the name Nocturnus is claimed by other ex-members. After Death is not that spectacular as Nocturnus was for me years ago but still this band makes an original type of metal and also like in the older Nocturnus days; they use a lot of keyboards in their music which is quite unique for a deathmetal band! The songs of the “Reviving the Gods” Cdemo are also on this full length album and it suits me that it all sounds much heavier than during their 2004 period. The album is filled with 3 demos because after “Reviving the Gods” the cd also contains the “Secret Lords of the Chamber Below” & “Vibrations” demo recording but all mixed much better than the original stuff. This is a very nice 'compilation' but no fast-food for die-hard deathmetal fans; this is stuff for fans with a wider musical horizon….Check them out!! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.afterdeath666.com
Recordlabel: http://www.iron-pegasus.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/afterdeath |
81/100 |
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| AGE OF EVIL - Get Dead (MCD) | USA | February 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 25:29 (Tracks: 6) | ||
| AGE OF EVIL is a very young and talented metal band from Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.A.. The band exists of the brothers Jeremy Goldberg (vocals, rhythm guitar; 19 years old) & Jacob Goldberg (bass; 18 years old) and the brothers Jordan Ziff (lead guitar; 18 years old) & Garrett Ziff (drums; 20 years old). According to their biography, in 2007 AGE OF EVIL already released "Living A Sick Dream". This EP "Get Dead", which is my first acquaintance with AOE, features six tracks, which are "Cruel Intentions", "Get Dead", the covers "Slave To The Grind" (SKID ROW) and "The Hellion/Electric Eye" (JUDAS PRIEST) and live versions of "Eye For An Eye" and "Glimpse Of Light". Weakest link, in my opinion, are the vocals of Jeremy Goldberg, although he sings "Slave To The Grind" pretty good. But especially on their own material, he sounds a bit moderate to me. And man, what a great guitarist Jordan Ziff is. Just listen to his fantastic solo's, awesome. It's just like Yngwie Malmsteen is playing on "Cruel Intensions". In my opinion the only songs of their own material which are less are the two live ones. "Cruel Intentions" and "Get Dead" are fantastic, and both covers versions on this EP are very good. My only complain is, why put two covers and two live songs on an EP instead of 4 other songs of themselves? Very interesting band, and I think with a very good singer AGE OF EVIL will make a big improvement. But a very nice self released EP. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.ageofevil.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/ageofevil |
77/100 |
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| ANGER AS ART – Disfigure (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Mario van Dooren |
| Style: Oldschool Thrash Metal | Running time: 42:57 (Tracks: 10) | ||
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Anger as Art's founding member is Steve Gaines - a thrash metal veteran associated with Abattoir, Bloodlust, Tactics, Bitch, Dreams of Damnation, and others. In
2004, a demo CD under his own name was released and in 2006 followed by the first CD under the AAA name; “Callous and Furor” which I reviewed in February 2007 already. During that release I had as only complain that AAA used to much hardcore/crossover elements in their music. Luckily the new album is more thrash than his predecessors. Also productionwise this album is a big step forward and I hope the band will get the support they deserve! The line up has changed a lot but with William Rustrum - and now joined by legendary rhythm section Dave Chedrick and Angelo Espino (both ex-Hirax), Anger As Art will be bringing their brand of anger inspired thrash metal to the world this year. I really love this album and I will try everything to get this band over to Europe ASAP!! Hopefully I can manage to add them to one of my upcoming events in The Netherlands. If you re into oldschool thrash, think of bands like Overkill & Nuclear Assault, you should check these guys out ASAP!! Great album on which I couldn't find one moderate song; all songs are full speed straight in your face classics!!! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.angerasart.com
Recordlabel: http://www.osmrecords.net MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/angerasart |
90/100 |
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| ARNAUD KRAKOWKA – Parallel Dimensions (CD) | The Netherlands/France | February 2010 | Ronny Elst |
| Style: Instrumental Rock / Metal | Running time: 36:02 (Tracks: 8) | ||
| Arnaud Krakowka is a French guitar player and composer. Arnaud is originally from the South of France but currently lives in the North of Holland. He was originally inspired by classic rock bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix. Classical music and especially the Baroque genre, changed his way of considering music and composing. The instrumental rock scene also had a big impact on him. All these influences made him the original and versatile guitarist/composer he is today. Arnaud played in several bands and recorded also some demo's. In March 2009 Arnaud created his own recording studio in his house and started working on his first solo album. He recorded, produced, mixed and mastered eight of his own compositions. “Parallel Dimensions” is a journey through time and universe. Main influenced which can be heard on his 8 instrumental compositions are especially James Byrd, Uli Jon Roth, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Jason Becker, Marty Friedman and Jimi Hendrix. So most of the time neo-classical guitar playing, without being too shredding, but sometimes also some psychedelic Hendrix stuff. Arnaud certainly is a very gifted guitarist, and “Parallel Dimensions” is an excellent debut solo album of him!! | |||
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MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/arnaudkrakowka |
86/100 |
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| AS MEMORY DIES - Transmutate (CD) | Italy | February 2010 | Sammy De Maere |
| Style: Melodic Death Metal | Running time: 49:28 (Tracks: 7) | ||
| Transmutate is a melodic death metal band with progressive influences. They started in 2005 in Italy and have recently released their debut Transmutate. It appears the band took it's time to make an album that went through an entire creative process cause this just sounds kind of weird to me. The album had a mix of all different styles and switches between agressive parts slower more subdued pieces. Overall this is an album that will definatly need more than a few spins to completely get. Of course to have the patience for these few spins isn't given to all and I as well had trouble listening to it completely in one go. Main reason for this are the vocals that I just can't get used to. The fact that overall I'm not that big of a progressive fan is of course something not to be overlooked. All in all these are fine musicians who made an album that is worth checking allthough it's not my cup of tea. | |||
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Visit Their Website: http://www.asmemorydies.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/asmemorydies |
61/100 |
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| BLAZING CLASH – Blazing Clash; Princess of Rock (MCD) | Italy | February 2010 | Mario van Dooren |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 18:15 (Tracks: 5) | ||
| Blazing Clash in a heavy metal band from the Milan area in Italy and it was formed in late 2007 by some guys who knew each other from school. This is the bands first CDemo which was recorded in 2008/2009. There is not much special the write about this band's biography but musically they are worth checking out if you are also into real true metal with speedy songs and good musicians! This is food for fans of the mighty 80's metal scene! The songs all contain catchy melodies and driving rythms and will stick in your mind for sure! Its not all sounding original but its well performed! The band is looking for a label and im sure they will find one soon (Pure Steel Records wake up!!!). Expect a mix of bands like; Saxon, Manowar & (early) Hammerfall. Nice debut demo! Fav. Songs: 'Made up to be a Monster' & 'Princess of Rock'. | |||
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MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/blazingclashmusic |
75/100 |
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| CHILDREN OF BODOM – Skeletons in the Closet (CD) | Finland | February 2010 | Dennis van Dommelen |
| Style: Melodic Death / Power metal. | Running time: 1:06:01:26 (Tracks: 17) | ||
| I am not going to beat the bush. I normally hate cover CD's, don't think that they give anything extra to the already existing songs. Only thing that is interesting are the influences of the artist(s). What music made a big impression in their youth? Children of Bodom (COB) are no exception to this. With a large variety between the chosen covers the biggest contrast in the songs are Alexi Laiho's vocal interpretations. “Rebel Yell” (Billy Idol) is almost sung with the same voice as Billy while in other songs like for example “Aces High” he uses his screams throughout the whole song. Musical wise I think the covers COB did taken from pure heavy metal bands (W.A.S.P.-Hellion and Iron Maiden – Aces High) fit the band best. This said because on studio albums the band used a lot of influences from these bands. They are simply more familiar with this kind of music. But that doesn't say that there aren't more interesting covers on this CD that aren't heavy metal soaked. “Somebody put something in my drink” from the Ramones has some good results and a great guitarsolo in it. “Don't stop” from the Scorpions can also be seen as a winner mainly because of the good COB synthesizer style parts in it that made this one of the best covers where the real spirit of cOB wanders through. “Silent Scream” from Slayer and “Mass Hypnosis” are ruined by the vocal interpretation by Alexi who tries to sound like Tom and Max but hopelessly fails. Last song on this album is Ooops…I did it again by our cocaine snorting girlfriend Britney Spears. A daring choice that put a smile on my face but not much more than that. Conclusion is that COB convinces on some songs but go wrong with others. Personally I will never buy a cover CD but I can imagine that if you're a big COB fan you will at least be curious to hear what this sounds like. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.cobhc.com
Recordlabel: http://www.spinefarm.fi MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/childrenofbodom |
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| COLD TRUTH – Do Whatcha Do (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Jordy Brouwers |
| Style: Bluesy Classic Rock | Running time: 54:38 (Tracks: 13) | ||
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'Do Whatcha Do' is a new album from Cold Truth, a quartet from the Nashville area (Tennessee, USA). Although they call themselves veterans, Do Whatcha Do is just their second album. Cold Truth released their first (untitled) album in 2003, since then there have been no changes in the line-up of the band. Nowadays, the band consists of: Thane Shearon (vocals/guitar), Kurt Menck (guitar), Abe White (bass) and Matt Green (drums). The band is still unsigned, so they have no financial support to record an album. Nevertheless, the production of the album is very good and and the sound is professional. The music style on the album can be described as classic rock with a bluesy rock `n` roll touch. When you listen to the songs, you can hear the influence of the `70`s, but with modern accents. Guitar Player Kurt Menck is the main composer on this album. He is involved in all the compositions of the songs but also the other band members have delivered their contribution. The album contains mostly up tempo songs, but it contains also slower songs (ballads) like Peace with Me and Whisper to Me. On the third song of the album, If that Ain`t Enough, Ed King (Slide guitar) and Nancy Roark (Backing Vocals) have a nice guest contribution. In my opinion, there is no “filler” on this album; it remains on quite a high level. Guitarist Thane Shearon is responisble for the lead vocals and it has to be said that he is really a great singer. His voice suits Cold Truth's songs perfectly. It can be compared with Paul Rogers (Bad Company and Queen). "Do Whatcha Do" was my first acquaintance with this band but I can recommend this album to everyone who like classic rock with a bluesy touch. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.coldtruth.net
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/coldtruthmusic |
81/100 |
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| DARK ILLUSION - Where The Eagles Fly (CD) | Sweden | February 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Power Metal / Melodic Metal | Running time: 44:48 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| "Where The Eagles Fly" is the second album of Swedish Power Metal band DARK ILLUSION. The band was formed way back in 1982, but they called it a day in 1985. In 2003 the band reformed again and they released a 4 track EP called "For Just Another Night". The debut album of DARK ILLUSION, called "Beyond The Shadows", was released in 2005. To me, this album is my first acquaintance of these Swedish rockers. DARK ILLUSION, who exists of Thomas Vikström (vocals), Thomas Hultqvist (guitar), Pontus Egberg (bass) and Johan Kullberg (drums), guarantees some high quality melodic Power Metal. When listening to "Where The Eagles Fly", the band reminds me very much of the early EUROPE, but also bands like ECLIPSE, AT VANCE comes in mind. Anyway, Vikström (formerly of CANDLEMASS (1992-1993), FIRESTORM (1998-2004) etc. and since 2009 also the vocalist of THERION) is a fantastic singer and the other members of the band are good musicians as well. The level of the songs is pretty much the same. Most of the songs are up-tempo and very catchy. "My Heart Cries Out For You", "Dark Journey", "Pay The Price", "Destiny's Call", "Running Out Of Time" and "Only The Strong Will Survive" are all fantastic songs and also my favorites. It's not really innovative and original, but who cares. "Where The Eagles Fly" is a perfect album for anyone who's into melodic Power Metal. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.darkillusion.se
Recordlabel: http://www.battlefieldrecords.se MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/darkillusionswe |
83/100 |
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| DARK SENSATION - Trendkill (CD) | Belgium | February 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Hardcore / Metalcore / Thrash / Death Metal | Running time: 42:04 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| DARK SENSATION is a four piece band from Brussels, Belgium who are playing a mixture of Hardcore, Metalcore, Thrash and some Death Metal. The band exists of Bruno Giannoccaro (vocals), Christophe Sturbois (guitar), Nicolas Brynin (bass) and Jonas Sanders (drums). DARK SENSATION was formed in 2002, and in 2008 these guys released their EP "Fall Of Duty", which got good reviews in the press. "Trendkill" is the debut album of the band and was released on September 28, 2009 on the brand new Belgian label Ultimhate Records. Well, if you like bands like PANTERA, DEVIATE, HATESPHERE or LAMB OF GOD, then you'll have to check this band out. "Trendkill" features twelve brutal songs and was produced by the band themselves and Matt Demit, who's also doing some guest & backing vocals on the album. There's just one instrumental on "Trendkill", which is called "Interlude". The vocals of Bruno are very varied, screaming, brutal, grunts. DARK SENSATION is really a band that will be very popular with the young generation. The best songs on "Trendkill" are "Glass Full Of Hate", "Undying", "Trendkill", "My War" and "The Soul Within". Together with SPOIL ENGINE, DARK SENSATION is one of Belgium's promising bands. Fantastic debut album. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.myspace.com/ultimhaterecords
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/darksensationband |
80/100 |
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| EMPYRIA – The Long Road Home (CD) | Canada | February 2010 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Progressive Metal | Running time: 43:08 (Tracks: 12) | ||
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Canadian band Empyria has been around for ages. Formed in the early 90s, the group has released numerous demos and full length releases of high quality music without breaking the underground boundaries. After 7 years of silence, “The Long Road Home” is finally ready for the world to listen. Empyria delivers artistic progressive power metal primarily influenced by fellow countrymen Rush with a strong dosage of Queensryche. What pleases me the most is that Empyria is not another Dream Theater copy as most of the contemporary prog groups are but shows a great personality sticking to the progressive metal values as these where forged during the mid 90s. Musicianship is supreme; all four members are extremely talented in their fields but the vocal performances of Phil Leite and the guitar work (especially the solos) of Michael Kischnick stand out. During all these years I neglected Empyria for reasons other than their musical proposition. This cd made me a fan. Don't make the same mistake as I did. Give Empyria the chance they deserve. Give it now and you will be rewarded. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.empyriaproductions.com
Recordlabel: http://www.nightmare-records.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/empyria |
80/100 |
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| EVERYTHING BURNS - Home (CD) | United Kingdom | February 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Alternative / Rock / Hardcore | Running time: 46:36 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| "Home" is the debut album of EVERYTHING BURNS, a fantastic newcomer band from the UK. The band was formed in the mid of 2007 and exists of Tim Kellow (vocals), Chinn Lawlor (guitar), Vince Finch (guitar, vocals), Phil W. Charles (bass) and Jez Marshall (drums). The band describes their music style on their MySpace page as Alternative and Rock, but I would add Hardcore to it as well, because this fantastic band reminds me very much of one of my all time favorite hardcore bands IGNITE. Really, the music, the vocal lines etc., it all sounds a lot like IGNITE. Kellow is a fantastic singer, who's voice sounds very much like IGNITE's Zoli Teglas, although he's sings brutal as well. The band exists of fantastic musicians, the album has a very good production, and I like all the songs. There are in my opinion no weak songs on "Home". Songs like "Scars", "Home", "I'd Die For You", "Beautiful Disaster", "Left For Dead", "Don't Run" and "This Is War" are all just a pleasure to listen to. EVERYTHING BURNS is the discovery of the month to me. Superb album, which is a real recommendation for anyone who likes IGNITE too. Great work guys. Hope the band will make a tour through Europe, and will do some shows in Holland too. Shows in venues like 013, Tilburg or Effenaar in Eindhoven, Holland would be awesome. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.risingrecords.org
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/everythingburnsband |
90/100 |
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| FORCENTURY – Vanguard (CD) | Denmark | Febraury 2010 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Power Metal | Running time: 49:45 (Tracks: 9) | ||
| Denmark is famous for producing quality metal bands. Newcomers Forcentury are no exception. In its debut the band delivers melodic power metal flawlessly executed and well produced. The good thing about Forcentury is that its music is not that typical ultra fast and happy power metal but it's mostly mid tempo and dark, perhaps like a lighter version of the more aggressive Manticora or a more elaborate version of Dream Evil. As most bands that serve the power metal genre, Forcentury will not change the face of metal music. But this is not the matter anyway. What we need is good music and this band surely offers some exciting musical moments. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.forcentury.com
Recordlabel: http://www.forcentury.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/forcentury |
78/100 |
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| GOREAPHOBIA – Mortal Repulsion (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Dennis van Dommelen |
| Style: Death Metal. | Running time: 48:23 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| Hey, look they finally released an album! Goreaphobia was a band that operated in the shadows of the great names in the late '80 early '90's. After constant line up changes with Chris Gamble being the only consisted member the band broke up in 1993 but reformed in 2004. To me the band sounded like the little brother of Incantation and with the line up changes there are some more similarities. Maybe John McEntee (Incantation) thought the same and contracted them on his label Ibex Moon and got them so far to record a full length. Finally, after all these years. “Mortal Repulsion” brings us back to a time long gone. The general style of the album is closely related to the New York style of death metal. The clear emphasis is on brutality and dark emphasis like Incantation and Immolation. The production is far from polished, but actually fits the record very well. It's best described as 'necro', sounding a lot like the reverb-soaked horror of “Onward to Golgotha”, albeit with little better definition on most frequencies. It's rough and grainy, but everything is perfectly audible, though there is some apparent inconsistency in the volume of the percussion - an obvious product of not triggering anything except maybe the bass drums. The guitars don't ever stray too far away from tremelo picking based riffs, but they are usually very catchy and memorable. The bass is pretty audible, which is nice, but for the most part, it just follows the guitars around anyways. The drums are definitely one of the major highlights of the album - always complimenting the riffs, knowing when and when not to play blasts, and most importantly, playing some really interesting rhythms during the slower sections. The vocals are good - low grunts and snarls that are nearly impossible to understand. Occasionally the vocalist does some higher pitched screams, which are nice for variety's sake. With its almost 50 minutes “Mortal repulsion” has a lot to offer. Goreaphobia obviously does not break new ground with this release. I don't think that this ever was/is there intention. Pure old school death metal is what you get, and I love it! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.goreaphobia.com
Recordlabel: http://www.ibexmoonrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/goreaphobia |
80/100 |
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| GRAND DESIGN – Time Elevation (CD) | Germany | February 2010 | Mr. Globetrotter |
| Style: Hardrock | Running time: 49:13 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| The new Def Leppard from Sweden has risen. Or that is what the band and the record company would like you to believe. Swedish vocalist Pelle Saether managed to form a band that would be doing music in the style of Def Leppard, Scorpions and Europe. The musicians all come from bands I have never heard of; now that does not mean anything, but I must say, the album really grabs hat 80s sound. Especially the pompous drums remind me a lot of that era. Compositions are OK but do not reach the magnitude of Def Leppard's song material although they really try hard to sound like them, with the choirs, melody structures and all that. I must admit, that when you are into the mentioned bands, you will most probably like Grand Design. But I doubt if there are a lot of music lovers that will actually cause a big breakthrough for these guys. Maybe a shame, because they did a great job…all these guys need is a true new hype around classic rock, and I for one would like that, too. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.metalheaven.net
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/granddesigner |
77/100 |
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| HOD – Serpent (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Dennis van Dommelen |
| Style: Black Metal | Running time: 36:47 (Tracks: 7) | ||
| Second release from the Ibex Moon label this month. HOD consist of ex members from semi-legendary Thornspawn and even a member from the cult act Necrovore. The music HOD plays on their debut album “Serpent” could easily been recorded in the '90's when American black metal didn't mean shit (Absu not included) The absurd thin produced black metal has some nice riffs here and there and the vocals don't suck but is never memorable nor majestic. The sound of the drums is weak when a blast beat is played. Only hitting the snare drum and constantly at the same pace. Vocals sound like Deathspell omega and are about the only above average I can think of listening to this album. It is o.k. to be old school but this just sounds like there wasn't more time or budget in the studio. With a better production and more practising I would like to give HOD a second change. For know they're just the band with the Necrovore member in it. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.ibexmoon.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/hodtheband |
58/100 |
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| JACOB'S DREAM – Dominion of Darkness (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Mario van Dooren |
| Style: Melodic US Metal | Running time: 1:17:40 (Tracks: 13) | ||
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I already reviewed the bands 3rd album ”Drama of the Ages” in August 2005 and that album was the first album with their new singer Chaz Bond who replaced David Taylor in 2003. David Taylor had a typical voice which gave the band a special sound but I loved “Drama of the Ages” album also a lot! Chaz Bond was a good replacement so I was not complaining! Last year I also saw the band live twice during their Headbangers Open Air show and the afterparty @ the Ballroom in Hamburg, Germany. Live I was very disappointed in Chaz's voice which didn't sound that good live as I was hoping for. After I spoke to the band backstage and told them my opinion they handed me their new album (self released) over and that's why im reviewing it now finally! For a self produced/financed album it sounds awesome again and Chaz is singing great again, just like he did on the “Drama” album!! This is again typical US powermetal in a way I love it most! Powerful songs; great compositions, great musicians and a very good singer! Hopefully he can convince me next time they are playing in Europe live because im looking out for it already! Great album guys! Compliments! Lately I heard that the band signed to the RetroActive Records which is a religious label and I think Jacobs Dream did a good deal with that! Go get this album ASAP and if you don't know the band yet; order all of their 4 albums!!! You will love it!! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.jacobsdream.info
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/jacobsdream |
88/100 |
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| JON OLIVA'S PAIN - Festival (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Sammy De Maere |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 55:05 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| As a Savatage fan I was always of the opinion that everything Jon Oliva touched turned to gold. That was until I heard his previous Global Warning record. I really didn't like that one but even Jon can make a record I don't like so I was looking forward to the new one. To me he made up pretty well with Festival. The album starts of with Lies, a fast track that has a nice rough tone to it. Afterwards the cd turns more to slower songs with a sound that comes close to Savatage itself. Overall Jon knows how to write good songs and he surrounds himself with great musicians who can create quite an epic sound. A must have for all fans of the Mountain King. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.jonoliva.net
Recordlabel: http://www.afm-records.de MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/jonoliva |
80/100 |
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| KATATONIA – Night Is The New Day (CD) | Sweden | February 2010 | Dennis van Dommelen |
| Style: Depressive Rock | Running time: 48:38 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Katatonia is one of those bands that made such a perfect evolution. Started as a doom/death metal band, slowly progressing to a more depressive rock/metal act in the late 90's and naturally evolving to the sound they created on the last two albums. A sound that I think appeals all kinds of music lovers. From alternative to doom metal. So how does this new record sound? “Night is the new day” is a well chosen title for the new record and embroiders further on the sound from their previous album “The Great Cold Distance” but with more nuances in the songs. At times there are some careful progressive elements that snuck into the songs. At these moments the band sounds a bit like Opeth. And though I know that the leadsinger of Opeth (Mikael Akerfeldt) was in Katatonia in the early days I think that Jonas' his voice has a little too much in common in these parts. Maybe a bold statement because Mikael helped to create the Katatonia sound but it is something that hinders me in some parts. This is the only complaint I have of a further great album. Katatonia are masters in creating atmosphere and “Night is the new day” is full of it. But its not all atmospheric and calm . Heavier parts can be heard in the opening song “Forsaker” and in the song “Nephilm”. Combined with the atmosphere this is in my opinion the strength of Katatonia. Listening to “Night is the new day” is a very cathartic experience. There are moments that echo longing and guilt, dreams, imagination, as well as a faint glimmer of hope and contentment. There are few albums I know that could make me feel that way. Whenever I listen to music some songs reel me in while others just touch me and others do completely nothing. But with this album everything just seems to fit and flow so well. To be consistently moved with almost every song is a great fact that Katatonia has accomplished so well. Without the vocal complaints I have, this is a near perfect album that is a fine listening experience these days, while the winter falls over the land. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.katatonia.com Recordlabel: http://www.peaceville.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/katatonia |
90/100 |
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| MARGATE - On The Other Side (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Alternative / Rock / Punk | Running time: 39:04 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| MARGATE is a three piece band from Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. and was formed in 2003. The band exists of Alex Helbig (lead vocals, drums), Doug Mitchell (guitar, backing vocals) and Steve Weil (bass, backing vocals) and their debut album "Songs In The Key Of Awesome" was released in 2006. So, "On The Other Side" is the second album of this talented trio and was released in August of 2009 on their own label Room57 Records. All three members of the band have played in rock bands before for over a decade. This album features 10 songs, which are mostly all excellent compositions with fantastic melodies. Sometimes I had to think of bands like ALL, HÜSKER DÜ, BAD RELIGION, SOUL ASYLUM etc. "On The Other Side" is an easy listenable album and very accessible. Drummer Helmig has a great voice. This is just a pleasant album with fantastic songs like "In My Life" (superb), "Time & Time Again", "Saved It", the very catchy "Believe In Steve", "Circles", "Unchecked Aggression" and the titletrack "On The Other Side". I'm sure MARGATE can get a lot of airplay on alternative radio stations with this material. If you like good alternative rock music with a punky edge, then you'll have to check out this interesting band. Well done guys, because "On The Other Side" will still visit my CD player regularly. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.margatemusic.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/margate |
82/100 |
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| MIA HOPE – We are just Satellites (CD) | United Kingdom | Februari 2010 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Mathcore | Running time: 54:57 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| Haling from Berkshire, Mia Hopes just delivered their first album which they describe as: 'Melodic, epic, progressive metal/math-hardcore. The band was founded a couple of years ago and in 2007 they released the E.P. 'The Collapse of Etymology,' which was nicely reviewed at the time. After a few line-up changes, the band begun recording their debut album. 'We are just satellites' contains songs with great variety, spherical instrumental parts and a lot of aggression. No, let me rephrase that: a LOT of aggression! This band sure knows their classic influences, but is also looking at today's music and trends. Fans of the previous mentioned styles may find this interesting. I like it, except for one thing and that is the vocals. The same screams go on and on without any diversity. Pretty annoying, but hopefully they will work on this with the making of their next studio effort. I surely hope so, because the band has a lot of potential. No doubt about that! | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.myspace.com/risingrecords MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/miahope |
75/100 |
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| M.I.C. - Made In China (CD) | China | February 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Rock / Pop | Running time: 31:56 (Tracks: 9) | ||
| M.I.C. (MADE IN CHINA) is a four piece band from China and the line-up of the band on this album "Made In China", exists of Yvon Serré (vocals, guitar), Billy Ren (bass), Chris Yang (drums) and Mark McCleod (keyboards). According to the band's MySpace page the current line-up exists of Yvon Serré (vocals, guitar), Angela Renzetti (guitar, backing vocals), Huang Hong Liang (bass) and Zhao Qian (drums). Anyway, this album "Made In China", which was already released in 2008, features 9 songs and to be honest, most of the songs really don't impress me. Songs like "Take A Look", "Rock & Roll", "Give Me Cash" and "Let's Do It" are so simple and to soft. The only two songs which are really good compositions are "I Don't Need You" and "Can't Let Go". To me, these two songs are the best of the whole album. Their second album "Out 2 Rock" will be officially released in February 2010. I've listened to some samples of this second album on their MySpace page, and there's a slight improvement. But this album is not really meant for me. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.yvonserre.com/mic
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/madeinchine |
55/100 |
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| NINTH CIRCLE – The Power of One (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Power Metal | Running time: 51:36 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| Ninth Circle hails from California, U.S.A. and this is the second cd the band produces in a ten year period. It is of course a self financed effort. It is more than clear that traditional power metal outfits in the States struggle to stay alive against all trends and amidst commercial indifference. Bands like Ninth Circle are the driving force of the underground; their high quality works keep the genre alive. It is very encouraging to see that there are still some bands out there who want to reproduce the early Queenryche feeling, the traditional U.S. power style that produced so many great albums and overlooked demos in the 80s and 90s. Iron Maiden is also a major influence here (hence the “Trooper” cover version that could have been avoided in my humble opinion) but not an overwhelming one. Well all you classic power metal enthusiasts out there you know what to do… | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.ninthcircleworld.us
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/ninthcircleworld |
79/100 |
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| NOSTRADAMEUS - Illusion's Parade (CD) | Sweden | February 2010 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Power / Heavy Metal | Running time: 52:43 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| You can say a lot of things about Nostradameus, but not that they're lazy. With the release of six albums in nearly ten years it is fair to say that they're rather productive. Over the years, the Swedish band has gained a lot of attention with their music in the best heavy/power metal tradition. With every release they seem to reveal their own identity more and more. The first albums like 'Words of nostradameus' and 'Prophet of evil' were a lot more traditional than the latest record 'Pathway.' This contained a somewhat more heavy approach and thrash metal influences. Especially the riffing. On 'Illusion's Parade,' the album that is being reviewed right here, the band once again went a little bit further. You can notice this right away with the openings track 'Walk of pain' that, by the way, has a very strong and catchy chorus. The rest of the album offers heavy/power metal songs with a more prominent place for thrash metal riffing this time. Off course the Nostradameus way, so never really brutal, but yet very melodic. I think that with this development the band brings more depth and variety into their music. Special mentioning goes out to the vocals because they are, once again, very beautiful and really suiting the music. Also the more experimental vocals in the heavier parts are a big plus. The music is never bad, but I experience the same problems that I've also had with the previous Nostradameus records. And that is the lack of memorable songs. sure, 'Walk of pain' and 'The mariner' are great and well written, but generally the music doesn't stick with me. But that's just me. Notstradameus is a well known band and I am sure that this album will find it's way to the fans and enthusiasts of the genre. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.afm-records.de
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/nostradameus |
75/100 |
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| ORPHEUS – Orpheus (CD) | Norway | February 2010 | Kees Schijven |
| Style: Hardrock / Heavy Metal | Running time: 40:19 (Tracks: 8) | ||
| Orpheus once was a high school band, and was revived late fall 2002 when founding members Kristian Drivenes, Audun Haberg and Thor Richard Isaksen met again on one of Norway's leading music schools. They shared an interest in bands like Iron Maiden, In Flames and Guns 'n Roses, and started jamming with those bands as references. With new members they made it a guitar-heavy band, counting three guitarists. A drummer, bassist and vocalist were found quickly. The line up changed a lot during the years, a female singer was selected for vocal duties, a new bass player and drummer, Torgeir Nilsen, joined the band. This line up recorded an EP in 2005, which received some good reviews in the media. Three years later, only Drivenes and Nilsen are left from former line ups. Band members have come and gone, but this core persisted, and now they found a stable line up and released their debut album through their own record label Sidehorn Records. I didn't know what to expect seeing that this is a female fronted band, but this certainly isn't a gothic 'metal' act of which there are too many already, actually this is really refreshing sounding Hardrock Heavy Metal, which I haven't heard too much lately. ORPHEUS has some serious Maiden influences in their music, great twin guitar harmonies and some galloping rhythms here and there, all with modern sound and influences, definitely not sounding old and dusty! Great song structures and compositions, sounding fairly original actually, songs like 'Fuck Me Over', 'Constructing' and 'Mr. Manipulative' proof their skills, and are really convincing. I love the guitar work on this album, also the production is good, certainly for an own release. The sound of ORPHEUS is fresh with a great energy flow to it, they certainly got my attention, great debut from a promising great band! | |||
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MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/orphmo |
83/100 |
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| PARIS KEELING – End Of Ride Revisited (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Mr. Globetrotter |
| Style: AOR | Running time: 59:03 (Tracks: 16) | ||
|
Paris Keeling is, in contradiction what people may think, not Kelly Keeling's brother. No, Marty Paris is a good friend of Kelly's and the both of them work together a lot. Actually, they work with the five of them on this “ project” , and all five of them are renowned musicians. For this album, Paris and Keeling sought and got cooperation of Carmine Appice, George Lynch, Don Dokken, Al Pitrelli and Erik Norlander.
The result is a really nice listening experience, with very diverse musical styles. Opening track “ Tears Of Heaven” starts out quite heavy, and it seems Kelly Keeling really outdid himself writing tracks for this album. “ Free” and “ Morning Song” are wonderful and sensitive ballads which showcases his softer vocal capabilities. He also wrote “ Color Blind” with Don Dokken; knowing that Kelly and Don toured together last year with an acoustic set, this song sounds like a logical result of it. George Lynch co-wrote “ These days”, and this song is a nice combination of melody, George's typical strangeness in writing which makes this a strange one to listen to but after a few times it really feels great. “ Don't Disturb The Occupants” was actually taken from the Japanese release of Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus project, and I wonder why it is on this album. Finally, Paris and Keeling perform Jeff Lynne's “ Telephone Line”. For fans of melodic rock and appreciation for old-fashioned musicianship, this is a great album! I have always loved Kelly's voice, besides the fact that he is a great guy, and I really enjoyed this album which will probably spin in my cd player quite often. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.pariskeeling.com
Recordlabel: http://www.sergeentertainmentgroup.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/pariskeeling |
85/100 |
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| PLUTONIUM ORANGE - Volume (CD) | Finland | February 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Alternative Rock / Metal | Running time: 38:43 (Tracks: 9) | ||
| PLUTONIUM ORANGE is a Finnish band existing of Samuli Liekkinen (vocals, guitar), Juha Raivio (guitar, backing vocals), Antti Sjöblom (bass) and Pasi Pasanen (drums). They describe their sound as melodic Stoner Metal. Well the Stoner sound is hard to find if you ask me, to me it's more melodic alternative Rock/Metal. Anyway, "Volume" is the debut album of the band and features 9 songs. Before this album, the band had released the following demos "Fruit Of The Doom" (2000), "Volume" (2001) and "Waiting For The Gun" (2002). The songs on "Volume" are catchy and have some fantastic grooves, but the problem is that most of the songs pretty much sound the same. About the vocals of Liekkinen, well, he's not a bad singer, but I can imagine that his voice irritates you. It's just you love it or hate it. Anyway, I can listen to it. To me, the best songs on "Volume" are "One Of Us", "Killer By The Road", "Waiting For The Gun", "Wet Trails", "Bring Out Your Dead" and "Unstable/Unreal". "Volume" is not a very notable album, just a nice one. But I've heard worse albums. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.firebox.fi
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/plutoniumorange |
75/100 |
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| PROZAC DAISIES – Krazzy (MCD) | United Kingdom | February 2010 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Hard Rock | Running time: 20.51 (Tracks: 5) | ||
| Prozac Daisies (nice name by the way) sends us a mini with no other information than that they promote themselves by pushing their interpretation of a song called “8675309/Jenny”. Well, I must have been living under a well hidden rock, somewhere in a desert because this song doesn't ring any bell to me. No information about the band however, so let the music do the talkin'. Prozac Daisies brings us a fine portion of heavy rock supported by a cello. And that can be seen as a big plus. The cello gives their music a damn fine heavy layer and it lifts the songs to a higher level. Cover “8675309/Jenny” and “Khalifornia” are damn fine songs and scream to be played on the radio. Catchy as hell guided by that nice, heavy cello, nothing wrong with it. The ballad “Even Don't Give Up On Me” can't convince me by the way, but “Superstitious” and “Krazzy” keep u the good work. A perfect heavy soundtrack for on the road. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.prozacdaisies.com
Recordlabel: http://www.fullentertainmenmusic.com |
78/100 |
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| RAZOR FIST – Metal Minds (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Kees Schijven |
| Style: Thrash Metal | Running time: 39:25 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| RAZOR FIST originally formed in 2005 and already released one album before 'Metal Minds', their debut album 'Razor Fist Force' came out in 2006. Razor Fist is a young speed/thrash band that plays the oldschool way, with a typical high pitch vocalist, one either loves or hates. Their music is fast and furious from beginning to the end, full of energy and power. When I put this one on, I couldn't stop listening this is really great stuff, if you are into this kind of metal, and I am! This album breathes the eighties speed thrash atmosphere like no other, with a good production for this music and time. It's a real enjoyable album, if you can dig the shrieking voice of T.K. Xanax, some very nice guitar riffing and compositions, which comes best to live on a stage. Although they are not the most original heavy metal band out there, but then again who is these days, they do what they do best delivering their heavy as fuck thrash/speed metal, with thunderous drumming and fast and furious riffing, and the high pitch vocals, which I like, but I can imagine there are people who are not gonna get into this kind of singing. Overall I can only say it's a great album, I love it, songs like 'Metal Minds' , 'First Strike' or 'Runner' , they all get stuck in your head. This young new band, doing it the oldschool way, is one for the books in my opinion, as said not the most original, but what they do, they do so good! | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.puresteel-records.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/razorfistmetal |
87/100 |
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| ROTENGEIST - Fear is the Key (CD) | Poland | February 2010 | Corinne van den Brand |
| Style: Thrash / Death Metal | Running time: 34:14 (Tracks: 3) | ||
| Rotengeist from Poland started in 2005 and are Piotr Winiarski on guitar/vocals, Aleksander Partynski on bass/ vocals and Ziemowit Gawlik on drums. At first they had difficulty finding a vocalist but after 2 years they decided to give the guitar player a try and I must say, he`s doing a fine job although he doesn`t vary a lot. In 2006 they recorded their first demo but I never heard it. As far as I know they only played gigs in Poland. Too bad, I would like to see them. This cd is a pleasure to listen too. Varied enough to keep me entertained for half an hour. Pretty good sound. It`s not spectacular or something groundbreaking but I like it. It`s well written and decent played thrash metal. I don`t really hear the death part in here but that`s no problem. These guys can play and I like the interaction with the two singers. These voices really complement each other. But I wonder if they sound the same live because I think they really need a second guitarist too get the same sound as the cd But overall it`s a good cd, worth checking out. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.rotengeist.pl
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/rotengeistband |
83/100 |
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| SARAH JEZEBEL DEVA – A Sign of Sublime (CD) | United Kingdom | February 2010 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Metal / Rock | Running time: 38.02 (Tracks: 9) | ||
| Sarah Jezebel Deva, better known as Cradle of Filth's female vocalist and other projects like Therion, Angtoria etc. has found herself ready to surprise us with a solo album. She made contact with Ken Newman for a co-writer ship and enlisted Dave Pybus (Cradle of Filth, ex Anathema), Martin Powel (Anathema, My Dying Bride, ex Cradle of Filth) and Max Blumos (ex Trigger the Bloodshed) for the instrumental presentation of her music. As she says by herself, the music has no genre, it's a bit of everything and not for the narrow minded. Well, it has become a varied album which contains overall heavy rock with some trips to opera, gothic etc. The album opens with instrumental “Genesis” and is a spheric, gothic opener. Follower “A Sign of Sublime” is a pretty good track, with a very nice video, which does justice to Sarah's voice and the chopping drums of Max. After this warm welcome, follower “She stands like Stone” doesn't grab me at all. Unfortunately this turns out to be representative for most of the rest. On-going songs with vocals that sound quite tedious and drums which sound to dominate. It's all produced well and there's really nothing wrong with the skills of the musicians but it just doesn't make my balls tickle. Surprisingly enough Sarah has put two brilliant songs on this album that make's it worth listening to. “The Devils Opera” is really a epic film score, opera like track and can compare with the best Epica songs. Last song “Daddy's Not Coming Home” is a very good ballad with damn fine vocalwork of the mistress herself. Here she proves what she is capable of. Making up the balance; the disappointment dominates. It's just another average album that's worth listening to a few times. I think Sarah can do much better than this one. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.risingrecords.org
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/jezebeldeva |
65/100 |
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| SEASONS LOST - After The Storm (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Metal / Progressive Rock | Running time: 55:47 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| SEASONS LOST is a metal band from Florida, U.S.A., and was formed in 2005. The band exists of Shaie Mason (vocals), Parker Tindell (lead guitar), Anton Foresta (rhythm guitar), Andy Uhilien (bass) and Mark Ellis (drums). "After The Storm" is the band's debut album, and was released on 5/9/09 by the band themselves. Mason is a good singer who's vocals are very varied. Most of the songs also have fantastic harmony vocals. What notices me, is that the album has four semi ballads on it, which are "The Big Empty", "Dry Ground", "Forever" and "Taken Away". These are good songs, but personally I prefer the heavier songs like "To Hell And Back", "Borrowed Time", "Skeletal Remedy" and "Graveshifter", which are my favorite songs of "After The Storm". But the songs are good compositions anyway, the musicianship is fantastic (especially guitarist Tindell and Ellis, who's a fantastic drummer) and the production of the album is good. Some songs have a slight Progressive Rock touch as well, like "Skeletal Remedy", which reminds me a little bit of DREAM THEATER. "After The Storm" is just a good album. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.seasonslost.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/seasonslost |
80/100 |
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| SOUL DOCTOR – Way Back To The Bone (CD) | Germany | February 2010 | Mr. Globetrotter |
| Style: Hardrock | Running time: 48:59 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| We all know Tommy Heart as vocalist of Fair Warning, also from Germany. Unfortunately, the last album Tommy did with that band was a disappointment to me, so when I got this Soul Doctor record, I hoped Tommy would do better. Soul Doctor has never been the innovative band coming up with new things or song structures; although I think that they are often mislabelled as influenced by AC-DC, these guys still maintain a high quality of non-original, uncomplicated hard rock. Highlights to me are the quite original sounding “ Can't Stand Losing”, “ Times Of Yesterday” and “ Heartache Heartbreak” which would have been a great radio single in the times that singles still were a way to sell extra albums and to draw attention to a band. Anyway…Tommy is in great shape, and unless you are a sucker for originality, this album is very pleasant. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.souldoctorrocks.com
Recordlabel: http://www.metalheaven.net MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/souldoctorrock |
75/100 |
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| STEVE MORSE - Prime Cuts Volume 2 (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Jordy Brouwers |
| Style: AOR Rock | Running time: 44:32 (Tracks: 10) | ||
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Record label Magna Carta has the tradition to release Prime Cuts Series from different artists who have been signed by them. Prime Cuts volume 2 is, as can be seen in the title, the second Prime Cuts featuring master guitarist Steve Morse. The album contains 10 songs taken from Steve's Magna Carta recordings. Steve Morse is active in the music industry for decades. He has released albums as a solo artist, he has his own The Steve Morse Band but he was / is also active as a member in famous rock bands like Deep Purple, Dixie Dregs and Kansas. And don't forget his guest contributions on albums from Liza Minelli, Steve Walsh and Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater). The album Prime Cuts volume 2 contains songs which are composed by Morse himself, but it contains also covers from other bands like Yes, Jordan Rudess and Rush. For people who are not familiar with his work (something I can't imagine...), this album is a really nice introduction to his work. As can be heard on the album, Morse has so much skills and he is so talented, that he can play all kinds of styles, from country to jazz and rock to prog. All these styles can be heard on this album. It contains heavy rock songs, but also a touchy song like Mood for a Day where Morse plays only the acoustic guitar without other musicians. The album ends with a really nice cover of Rush (Red Barchetta), with an excellent guest contribution of James LaBrie (Dream Theater). It has to be said that all the other musicians on this album are also very talented. This album does not offer new music for the die-hard fans, but it is a nice compilation for people who want to check out Morse's music. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.stevemorse.com
Recordlabel: http://www.magnacarta.net MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/stevemorse |
90/100 |
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| SWORN AMONGST - Severance (CD) | United Kingdom | Februari 2010 | Corinne van den Brand |
| Style: Thrash metal | Running time: 43:39(Tracks: 10) | ||
| This straight forward thrash metal band with some hardcore influences from the UK gets their inspiration from the 90`s american groovy thrash bands and the guys are, Liam Liddell on guitar/vocals, Rob Ellwood on bass, Johny Harper on drums and Jonny Barker on guitar and they are formed in 2002. They played their first gig in 2004 and they won second price in a Kerrang competition. In 2007 they signed with Rising records and they released their first album in 2008 called 'And so it Begins'. I don`t really enjoy this album. It`s to average. Nothing groundbreaking. It`s all well played and Liam has a strong voice but I heard it all before. Some refrains are pretty lame (We fuck the system). I think they have to grow a lot but they have potential. Maybe create an own sound although I know that`s not easy .Maybe the album was better if the production was a lot better, it`s to frail. I`m sure a lot of people will enjoy this band but I`m not one of them. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.swornamongst.co.uk
Recordlabel: http://www.myspace.com/risingrecordsuk MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/swornamongst |
70/100 |
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| TEMPESTA – Rivolglio il mio Futuro (MCD) | Italy | February 2010 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Thrash / Heavy Metal | Running time: 24:19 (Tracks: 5) | ||
| A couple of weeks ago I went on a short trip to the capitol of Italy, Rome. By the time I got back I was pretty proud of myself for picking up some of the Italian language. That quickly changed when I received the monthly package from Mario with the new Tempesta in it. I coulden't understand the lyrics at all! This goes for the band's website as well. Luckily I understood Metal so the review could be done anyway, but with a little handicap that is the language. Tempesta is a three piece thrash metal band from… you've guessed it… Italy. Being around for almost twenty years now, the band released several demo's and played with bands like Vision Divine and Eldritch. Their latest effort 'Rivoglio il mio futuro' is my first acquaintance with the band. This demo offers five tracks filled with old-school thrash metal riffing and melodic power metal parts. This has proven to be an excellent combination since there are no weak songs on the record. Not very original, but with catchy songs like this you can't really complain about that. Tracks like 'Rabbia tra I denti' and 'Parole come fucili' sounds like they were written over twenty five years ago during the second thrash metal movement. On the other hand, 'Ne schiavi ne padroni' could easily be a nineties metal song from Stratovarius. The bottom line is that Tempesta has managed to create a very interesting demo that is worthy to be heard outside of Italy. A big issue is the language though. I'd rather listen to English, but musically there is nothing wrong with this release. For the enthusiast of old school Thrash and Heavy/Power Metal. | |||
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MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/tempestaband |
80/100 |
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| THE DUST CONNECTION – TRAILS (CD) | The Netherlands | February 2010 | Mario van Dooren |
| Style: Progressive Metal | Running time: 1:13:19 (Tracks: 14) | ||
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The Dust Connection was formed after the split of symphonic metal formation Forever Times. The band already released a self produced Cdemo in 2003 which received very good responses in the metal press. This album was recorded in 2008/2009 in the recording studio of drummer Robert Spaninks and it counts me that the album sounds awesome! The Dust Connection plays symphonic/progressive metal but dares to experiment with elements from other musical genres. The band plays music which is a bit comparable with bands like Evergrey, Fates Warning & Threshold but I also hear influences from bands like Faith No More ('Path') I had the luck to be scheduled as DJ during their CD release party last week at the 013 venue and I can already tell you that the band is also live a must see/hear; incredible!!! I was already praising the last album of Dutch progmetal band Cirrha Niva a few months ago but this album is equal to that album; The Netherlands can be proud of such great talented progressive metal acts!!! Keep an eye on these bands; they will both become great! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.thedustconnection.com/
Recordlabel: http://www.rockinc.nl MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thedustconnection |
90/100 |
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| THE ARGENT DAWN - A Blank Eternity (CD) | United Kingdom | February 2010 | Sammy De Maere |
| Style: Death Metal / Deathcore | Running time: 33:35 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| When the first deathcore bands started to get known outside their own hometown I was really enthusiastic about this new sound in the death metal world. Finally we had a nice mix between death metal and hardcore without the sappy clean vocals that most metalcore bands tend to throw in. Unfortunately once the genre became really popular and more and more bands started releasing albums it became clear that the enthusiasm of most bands served to cover up the complete lack of originality in their music. Because of this trend I was pretty sceptical when trying out this cd of The Agent Dawn. The band is fairly new and is releasing their debut in February. The bring a mix of modern sounding brutal death metal and deathcore which unfortunately lacks the before mentioned originality. The same structures and breakdowns keep returning and you just get a feeling that you heard all of this before. Sure the guys bring a tight sound and it all fits together great but I just don't hear anything new and that is sad. If you're still liking the new cd's of the major deathcore bands you don't seem to mind the missing of something new and you should check these guys out because they seem to perform great but if you're not, or no longer, into the whole modern death metal business, just stay away. There's again nothing new to be found on this record. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.risingrecords.org
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/theargentdawnuk |
60/100 |
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| THE MURDER OF MY SWEET - Bleed Me Dry (CD promo-single) | Sweden | February 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Gothic / Metal | Running time: 10:33 (Tracks: 3) | ||
| Another single I got from Mario of the Frontiers Records label is "Bleed Me Dry" of Swedish female fronted band THE MURDER OF MY SWEET. The line-up of the band exists of Angelica Rylin (vocals), Daniel Palmqvist (guitar), Johan Niemann (bass), Andreas Lindahl (keyboards) and Daniel Flores (drums). "Bleed Me Dry" is the first single of their debut album "Divanity" and it's a fantastic Gothic song with orchestration and choirs. The song is featured twice on the single, the regular version and an instrumental version which is also fantastic. The third track of this single is titled "Sands Of Time", which makes this single extra interesting, because it's a non album track. Angelica is a very good singer, she has a fantastic voice. It all reminds me very much of our own Dutch Gothic rockers WITHIN TEMPTATION. Anyway, "Bleed Me Dry" is a very interesting single, which makes me curious about the complete album "Divanity". | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.themurderofmysweet.com
Recordlabel: http://www.frontiers.it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/themurderofmysweet |
85/100 |
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| TORCH – Dark Sinner (CD) | Sweden | February 2010 | Mario van Dooren |
| Style: True / Heavy Metal | Running time: 51:24 (Tracks: 15) | ||
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A small band history: Torch was formed 1980 by Chris J. First, Steve Streaker and Claus Wildt. Stefan Wedlund did the vocals but soon Dan Dark joined the band to do the voice. The band released their debut EP "Fireraiser" in 1982, and shortly after that they toured around Europe and did some festivals with as well as Motörhead as the German heavy metal band Warlock. After nearly twenty years of silence Dan Dark started to plan a couple of reunion shows. Dan contacted the other guys in the band to see if they were up for it but unfortunately it seemed that due to various things Dan was the only guy who had the time and effort, to put the band together. He had the idea of putting the band together again for a long time and he wouldn't give up the dream of playing the old songs again to the fans. Dan contacted the bass player Alx Jonsson (Fatale Smile), the guitarist Tomi Peltonen (Griffen) and the drummer Kristian Huotari (Scaar) to see if there were any interest in playing some good old heavy metal, and hell yeah, they were fucking ready to do it. The crusade has only just begun so prepare yourself for the metal ride of your life. So far the history of the band. The band exists already for a couple of years in this line up now and is doing some shows once in a while. I saw the band a couple of years ago at the KIT festival in Germany and they really kicked some serious ass! That was also the reason that I booked the band for the first edition of my own Mario's Metal Meeting festival but after some struggles with singer Dan Dark I decided to kick them off the bill. This will be of no influence at all to the review of this “new” album because musically I still like the band very much!! Torch has now re-recorded 13 classic Torch songs and 2 new songs, 'The Dark Sinner' and 'We Will Fight', both in the typical Torch tradition! And it all sounds awesome productionwise! Except for one song; Rage Age, the complete first album has been re-recorded on this Dark Sinner album. We also have “Fire Raiser” (Fireraiser) and Thunderstruck (Electrikiss ). This is a very nice compilation album and hopefully it will bring the band new fans around the globe! Hope that the band will release some new stuff soon because these re-recordings long for more……… If you don't know the band than you can compare their music as a mix of Accept, Judas Priest, AC/DC & Tygers of Pan Tang. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.torch.se
Recordlabel: http://www.mausoleum-records.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/torchmetal |
75/100 |
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| V.A. (Various Artists) - Jam on Guitars (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Mr. Globetrotter |
| Style: Guitar | Running time: 71:56 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| This album is for fans of guitar playing but keep in mind that there are several styles involved in this album. You will hear Michael Lee Firkins doing 60's rock, Steve Morse doing blues, and the list is long; I will mention Alex Skolnick, Oz Noy, Chris Poland, Cameron Williams and Ed Wynne from the Ozric Tentacles who does, in my opinion, the best track on this album together with Steve Morse. BUT that is all a matter of taste, as we all know and learn to appreciate the style of these guitarplayers. If you are into guitar playing in different styles, this cd will most probably please you. Is it rock or metal? Definitely not. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.magnatuderecords.net
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75/100 |
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| V.A. (Various Artists) - Prog Around The World (CD) | Various | February 2010 | Jordy Brouwers |
| Style: Progressive Rock | Running time: 61:05 (Tracks: 12) | ||
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The album “Prog Around The World” is an album which contains twelve songs from bands which are (or were) signed by the record label Magna Carta. This record label is specialized in Progressive Rock. The album contains songs of bands from all around the world, from Israel to Hungary, America to Sweden. The Netherlands is represented by Lemur Voice with Intuition from their debut album Insights. Unfortunately, the band broke up in 2000 due to musical differences. A lot of famous musicians co-operated on the album, like Jordan Rudess and Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) and master bass player Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel). Also members from Nickelback are present. My personal favourite songs on the album are Elevation (The Hideous Sum Demons) and the opening track Moron Face from Martone (Canada). I expected also a lot from Holes (Liquid Trio Experiment) but this song is a little bit disappointing. It's a little bit too “strange” for me. One of the advantages of collection albums is that you're able to get acquainted with much new music of different bands, only listening to one single album. The songs on the album are not all new released songs and the prog styles differ a lot. It contains very jamming, “difficult” progressive rock songs (like Holes – Liquid Trio Experiment) but also very heavy prog (Spiritual Jewel – Khallice). It's very difficult to award points to a collection album, but I did my best. The album gives a nice overview of the different progressive rock styles. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.magnacarta.net MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/magnacartarecords |
78/100 |
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| W.E.T. - One Love (CD promo-single) | USA/Sweden | February 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: A.O.R. / Melodic Rock | Running time: 8:36 (Tracks: 2) | ||
| Finally, Mario got something again of the fantastic Frontiers Records label. Okay, this is just a single instead of the complete album of W.E.T., which is a project between three musicians, namely Robert Sall from WORK OF ART (lead guitar), Erik Mårtensson of ECLIPSE (guitar, bass & keyboards) and the well known Jeff Scott Soto of TALISMAN on vocals. Soto, is a fantastic singer and is of course best known as the singer on YNGWIE MALMSTEEN's albums "Rising Force" (1984) and "Marching Out" (1985). But Jeff also worked with a lot of bands/artists on albums and tribute albums. Anyway, the drums was played by Robban Back and Magnus Henriksson also did some lead guitars on several songs of the album as well. The two songs on this single are "One Love" and the beautiful ballad "Comes Down Like Rain". And actually, it's an enhanced single, so both videos of these songs are on this silver disc as well. This is a nice single, but to get a better impression of the album, I've listened to some other songs on their MySpace page, like the fantastic "Invincible", "I'll Be There" and "Just Go", which are all three a bit heavier songs. Anyway, I can recommend W.E.T. to anyone who is into high quality melodic rock with fantastic vocals. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.jeffscottsoto.com
Recordlabel: http://www.frontiers.it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/wetrocks |
80/100 |
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| WISZDOM STONE – Rise (CD) | USA | February 2010 | Mario van Dooren |
| Style: Melodic / Progressive Metal | Running time: 56:358 (Tracks: 10) | ||
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This album is already waiting for a long time for a review on MMM, simply because I wanted to do the review on my own and than things make take a little more time (Busy as always)….but finally here it is! Ray and Brian know each other from school and formed the band several years ago. They decided to record a CD on their own and bring in various artists to perform on it. About a month after they started tracking the material in their home studio, Ray bumped into Mike Stone of Queensryche at the Guitar Center. Mike and Ray have known each other for years and after a little catching up, Mike offered to sing on a few songs for them. The guys originally entered Mike's recording studio with the intention of recording 4 songs, but due to his busy, busy schedule they were only able to finish two "Eyes Open" and "Without Faith" before Queensryche went back on the road. They were hoping to finish tracking the other two songs when Mike returned, but Queensryche decided to start working on Operation Mindcrime II and it was at that time that they realized that Mike just did not have the time to be bothered by them. It was time for a vocalist search and so they finally found Andre. After catching one of Andre's shows with a local cover band, Ray asked Andre if he would be interested in singing on a few songs for them and he said he would give it a try. The first song sent to Andre was "Unforgiven" and the guys found out very quickly that Andre had "IT".
Originally Brian and Ray wanted to put out a CD much like Avantasia that would feature many different vocalist, but after working with Dre' they knew they wanted him to be the voice of WiszdomStone. After a few EP's they decided it was time for a full length album. Though they received interest from several record labels the band chose to finish the FULL length CD on their own, so they would not have to compromise one note. The bands first FULL length CD "RISE" was FINALLY finished and was officially released in June of 2009. Well here it is and damn it was worth the wait! This album has it; a great production; excellent musicianship, good lay out and (for me personally very important) a very powerful singer who fits prefect to their melodic metal with prog elements! If you are a fan of bands like Jag Panzer, Metal Church, Seven Witches, Mystic Prophecy & Kamelot than you should check these guys out immediately! This is really great power/progmetal and i'm curious when the band will be picked up by a good label (Nightmare Records wake up….). | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.wiszdomstone.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/wiszdomstone |
90/100 |
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| WITH CHAOS IN HER WAKE - Treason | United Kingdom | February 2010 | Sammy De Maere |
| Style: Death Metal / Deathcore | Running time: 33:35 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| As I've said before I used to be a fan of deathcore when the first bands arrived in the death metal scene. After some time I decided that once the new hype was passed all was left were the same songs, the same structures and the same long band names. In this whole scene it's very hard to find a true gem between the hundreds of bands who all share the same lack of originality. Unfortunately the new English band With Chaos In Her Wake are, to me, considered to be categorized with the same bunch of bands without the originality, or perhaps the talent, to try anything new. It's sad that these days you know when the scream will start, when the grunt will take over and when the breakdown will begin and end just because you already heard a few deathcore albums. If you're still into the hype, do check them out. The guys seem good enough musicians but if deathcore was never something for you, or if you're just as tired of it as I am don't waste your time on it. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.risingrecords.org
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/withchaosinherwake |
55/100 |
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| 101 SOUTH – No U-Turn (CD) | USA | January 2010 | Jordy Brouwers |
| Style: AOR Rock | Running time: 42:37 (Tracks: 10) | ||
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During 1999, Harlan Cage keyboardist Roger Scott Craig assembled a couple of musical friends (mostly of the L.A. session scene) and formed 101 South. One of these session musicians was Gregory Lynn Hall who is responsible for most of the vocal performances on the different albums which are released by 101 South. Some of the quest musicians are very well experienced and played with artists like Nina Hagen (Billy Liesegang (guitar)) and The Alan Parsons Project (Ian Bairnson (guitar)). In 2000, 101 South released their first album entitled 101 South. This album was followed two years later by Roll of the Dice. Both albums were welcomed quite well by the press. It`s not easy to find (a lot of) information about the band, the website is very basic with almost only some links to facebook and myspace and these links contain also not much information to read more about the band. "No U-turn" is my first acquaintance with the band and my first impression is that the band is influenced by bands like Journey and Foreigner. Listen especially to the first song, 'When you`re in love'. My personal highlight on the album is the fifth song (End of the Game) with nice guitar work and a good vocal performance. Also the last song of the album (Blue Skies) is quite nice and becomes more special because of the guest appearance of Chris Thompson (Manfred Mann's Earth Band) and Alan Kroll who plays the saxophone. It has to be said that the second part of the album is better than the first part. The composition of the songs on the second part is better and they are also a little less predictable. On the first part, I always have the feeling that I`m waiting for some fire-works and my attention sometimes strays off... The music on "No U-turn" is not spectacular or innovative, but it`s is qualitative quite good because of the co-operation of some quite good musicians. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.101south.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/101southband |
71/100 |
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| 5m3 - 5m3 (CD) | The Netherlands | Janaury 2010 | Corinne van den Brand |
| Style: Grind / Metalcore | Running time: 34:13 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| This Dutch band from Eindhoven, Holland started out in 2000 after Infected Entrails broke up. At first they had a drum computer and where know as the grindcoreband Gutfuck.When they found a real drummer the music changed into extreme death/grind. In 2001 they recorded a primitive, self-produced 9 track demo. Since guitarist Tom left the band in 2002 and was replaced by Bart the line up hasn`t changed anymore. 2 Demo`s follow in 2003 and 2005. After writing new songs they decided the name Gutfuck wasn`t suitable anymore and they changed their name into 5M3. They call their music grind/metalcore but it`s more a mix of several styles like death metal,thrashmetal, grindcore, metalcore with a lot of tempo changes and to my opinion a superb drummer. Without drummer Fjodor the music would be very boring. He really kicks ass!! That guy really makes this cd worth listening. Very technical parts followed by blastbeats and all very tight. The guitarists Marco and Bart really play very decent guitar but the production of this cd could have been a lot better guitar wise. The sound is not brutal enough. It sounds too ordinary while grindcore has too sound very philthy.Too bad. Singer Yuri has a typical voice that is really suitable for grindcore and he has a good grunt but it`s starting to bore after a while. He varies enough with screams but they are not as good as his grunt. Now and then they sound really stupid. But I don`t know how serious this band is. If I look at the titles: 'Receding Hairline Blues' or 'Don`t feed the Animals' they seem to have a lot of humour and I can appreciate that and then the vocals are appropriate but else.......oops!! Nice cd but maybe a bit too much styles in every song. Not for the average grindcore lover but if you like more technical, varied extreme metal worth checking out thanks to the drummer. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.5m3.nl
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/5kuub |
72/100 |
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| ATRITAS - Celestial Decay (CD) | Switzerland | January 2010 | Dennis van Dommelen |
| Style: Symphonic Black Metal | Running time: 52:01 (Tracks: 10) | ||
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Two years ago I reviewed Atritas album: “Medium Antigod” which I thought was a very mediocre release. With “Celestial Decay' the band has made a huge development. Gone are the weak drums, the bad song structures and the amateur production. What Atritas present here is mature black metal like Dark Funeral with symphonic elements. The songs are thrilling and full of variation like it must be with this kind of music.
The keyboards are used mostly as a secondary instrument. They do often play quite elaborate parts but, for the most part, they are not high enough in the mix to really grasp much attention (unless you are a keyboards-in-metal-hater in which case they will hurt your ears even if they are barely audible). They are also less presented than on “Medium Antigod”. Sometimes the keyboards form a very atmospheric background (In Death”) sometimes they are more prominent ("Satanic Divinity"). This is not the most groundbreaking (read: it doesn't break any new ground) album, but it has some cool ideas and concepts. The style they play has an air of familiarity. The songs are not ripped off and not rehashed; it's just difficult to be a standout in such a crowded field. This album is a good representative of what symphonic black metal is all about. This is recommended to black metal fans, symphonic metal fans, and fans of extreme metal. Atritas has developed from a mediocre band to one playing in the premier league of symphonic black metal! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.atritas.ch Recordlabel: http://ccpcom.window.hl-users.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/atritasbs |
81/100 |
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| BLOOD REDEMPTION – Picking up the Pieces of a broken Past (CD) | Belgium | January 2010 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Metalcore | Running time: 45:43 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| Good times for the enthusiast of modern metalcore. Earlier this year Killswitch Engage and Shadow's fall gave us their new albums to enjoy. Now, a little bit closer to home, we find Blood Redemption releasing their new album 'Picking up the pieces of a broken past.' This second full length from the Belgium based band was released on Leperfest 2009. The first thing I notice are the heavy influences of Killswitsch Engage and for example As I lay dying. That isn't such a shock, because the above mentioned bands are acts that define the genre. As a band, you have to be aware of the fact that you can easily sound like a cheap copy. Luckily, Blood Redemption is well aware of this fact and with 'Picking up the pieces of a broken heart' they gave their own spin to it. So no copycats here! The band presents an album full of brutal and especially melodic metalcore. The best examples of these two aspects are probably 'Relapse' and the incredible '' More than this' which it's chorus will remain stuck in your head. The songs are well balanced as well as the vocals. Not just screaming the whole time, (which sometimes is the case in this genre) but a nice combination of screams and clean vocals at the right moments. A nice touch which makes it an diverse album. Also the artwork is worth wile to check out. Very different than you would expect with this kind of music. If you like metalcore or even melodic death, I can strongly recommend 'Picking up the pieces of a broken past.' Give this album a try and go to their Myspace for more information. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.genetrecords.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/bloodredemptionh8000 |
82/100 |
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| BOOZED - One Mile (CD) | Germany | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Speedrock / Rock | Running time: CD: 33:37 (Tracks: 12) & DVD: 1:40:36 | ||
| First of all, I always thought that "Tight Pants" (2005) was the debut album of German rockers BOOZED. But I was wrong, in 2004 the band already released "Seizin The Day" on Kamikaze Records. Anyway, I like BOOZED since that excellent "Tight Pants" album. So far I've seen them twice live (on June 29th, 2007 at The Rambler, Eindhoven and on June 8th, 2008 at De Effenaar, Eindhoven) and they really are an energetic live band. Also "Acid Blues" (2007) is a fantastic album. A couple of months ago I wondered when there would be a new album of BOOZED. So, I checked their website and saw that their fourth album, which is titled "One Mile", was already released on May 8th, 2009 on their own label Chequers74. In the meantime there has been another line-up change, so the current line-up of BOOZED exists of Markus Strothmann (vocals), Michael "Poni" Ponert (guitar), Nicolai Choczko (guitar), Tim Mischke (bass) and Klaas "Ugge" Ukena (drums). With this album, there's also a bonus DVD called "The Longest Mile - It's One Hell Of A Job", which is a documentary of the band in the studio (1:28:34). There are also three videos (8:09) on the DVD, which are "This Ain't My City", "Don't Hold Back" and "Start A War" (is also on the Russian edition of the album). And there's also a slide show of pictures on the DVD. It's a nice documentary to have seen once. About the album, well, I have to admit that the album really grows after several times listening to it. The only song I like less is "Speak By The Haze". Songs like "Circus", the quiet "Easy" and "Asphalt's Burning" are nice, but my favorite ones of "One Mile" are the opener "Save Me", "This Ain't My City", "You Gotta Go Again", "One Mile To The Moon", "Hypnotic Magnetic", "Don't Hold Back" and "Trouble". The band exists of fantastic musicians and Strothmann has a very recognizable voice. Anyway, BOOZED delivered with "One Mile" another fantastic album, but in my opinion "Tight Pants" is still their best. If you don't know them yet, but are curious…just check them out. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.boozed-rocks.com
Recordlabel: http://www.chequers74.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/boozed |
84/100 |
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| CHINAWHITE - Challenges (CD) | The Netherlands | January 2010 | Jordy Brouwers |
| Style: Progressive Rock | Running time: 66:04 (Tracks: 11) | ||
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Challenges is Chinawhite`s tenth official release. In their early days, Chinawhite released some cassettes which are not available anymore. Some of these old recordings are summarized on the album DEMO'S 1990-2005, which can be downloaded on the site. Challenges is Chinewhite`s third official cd. Chinawhite was founded in 1987. Some musicians of those early days are still present in the current line-up. In those early days, Chinawhite concentrated on playing “melodic rock with symphonic frill and groovy rythms”. They performed songs of among others Rush, Saga and Marillion. But they wanted to do more live performances so the band members decided to play also more well-known Top 100 covers. During the years, Chinawhite builded up a solid reputation and this leads to a lot of gigs together with bands like Uriah Heep and The Golden Earring. In the meanwhile, some changes in the line-up took place, Don Feltges (Lead Vocals) enters the band in 1993 and Sander Stappers becomes the new Bass player in 2003. The other members are Peter Cox (Guitar and Vocals), Rolf Vossen (keyboards) and Hans in `t Zand (Drums). The recording of the new album Challenges started in 2007 and it is released in November 2009. The songs on the album are again a step forward if you compare these to the older songs which can be downloaded from the website. Peter Cox (guitar) is responsible for most of the songs. Challenges is an album which needs more time to discover and to unravel all these compositions. One of my favorites is My Venus Rising, with nice keyboard and guitar parts. In my opinion, it is more progressive rock than symphonic rock because of the complexity that some songs show. I think it is an album to check out for fans of music from Saga, Rush etc. Something what I also want to mention is the very nice artwork! Challenges has become an album that I will listen more in the future. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.chinawhite.nl
Recordlabel: http://www.rockcompany.nl MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/chinawhitenl |
83/100 |
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| DARKOLOGY – Altered Reflections (CD) | USA | January 2010 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Progressive Power Metal | Running time: 54:41 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| The new progressive power metal supergroup is here! Criminally underrated guitar maestro Michael Harris (Thought Chamber, Surgeon, Solo, Chastain etc.) created Darkology by recruiting his brother Brian on drums, Mike Neal on bass an the extraordinary vocal talents of Kelly Sundown Carpenter (Outworld). His goal was clear. Harris wanted to create intense progressive metal with equal doses of power and melody. And he succeeded in a remarkable way. “Altered Reflections” is the album that will make all progressive metal fans scream for more. The 10 songs featured on this release (plus a videoclip for “I Bleed”) put the letter Q on quality. This is contemporary music played with respect towards its classic metal roots. Carpenter screams his lungs out on top of the brilliant riffs and solos crafted by Harris. Songs like “I Bleed”, “Aura of Xhad” and “Trance of the Gorgons” will turn many prog metal heads. Ignoring albums like this one could cause the intervention of Musical Police. So RESPECT the Metal Law and grab this one FAST! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.darkology.com
Recordlabel: http://www.rockaholicsrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/darkologymetal |
88/100 |
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| DECAYOR - Recurring Times of Grief (MCD) | Ireland | January 2010 | Corinne van den Brand |
| Style: Death / Doommetal | Running time: 32:58 (Tracks: 3) | ||
| Decayor started in 2005 in Donegal, Ireland and released a demo in 2008 called "Welcome the Stench of Betrayal". In 2009 they released this EP which was mixed and mastered by themselves. "Recurring Times of Grief" is the title of this 3 song EP and I must say the title is very apt. It starts with an intro 'Stir of Echoes' with sets the mood. First song is 'Veil of Despair'and to my contentment singer/guitarist Pauric Gallagher starts to grunt with a very deep filthy voice. But later on he switches to a more black metal voice. The song is 12 minutes of real doommetal but varies enough to entertain the real doom lover but I`m not one of them. The song is well structured though but somewhat too boring for me. Next song 'The sacred Heart is bleeding' is more to my liking. It starts out with a steady midtempo pace with good drumming from Gary Byrne. But after a few minutes when I`m about to get bored again the song changes and the drummer has an more important part and starts too drum very diverse and pretty technical. The guitar parts are not very interesting for me but that`s because I`m not a big doommetal fan. But as a whole this band knows what they are doing. This song is well structured too. In the middle part Pauric starts to sing with clean vocals and again it works out perfectly. After that you get a part with acoustic guitars and then the very good grunt of Pauric sets in. Nice! Third song "Weeping Willows" starts with more spherical guitar work and a drum and bass (Kevin Mc Closkey) part and clean vocals. This song also varies a lot with vocals and especially the drums. That`s really the plus point of this band. The very good singer and the drummer. The guitar parts are a bit too boring for me although this song has a decent solo. Real doommetal fans will certainly enjoy this band. Oh, and one advise: change the logo. It`s very ugly. | |||
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MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/decayordie |
73/100 |
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| ELIS - Catharsis (CD) | Liechtenstein | January 2010 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Gothic Metal | Running time: 48.56 (Tracks: 11) | ||
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“Move on …..” are the first words of the last track “The Dark Bridge” on this fourth full length album of Elis. Well; they certainly know how to use the right words to let the world know they're back. Since the tragic death of their sympathetic front lady Sabine Dûnser during the recordings of Griefshire, the band decided to “move on”. With new singer Sandra Schleret on board; Pete Streit (guitars), Tom Saxer (bass & additional vocals), Chris Gruber (guitars) and Max Näscher (drums), the band took their time to forge a new masterpiece which leaves no doubt that Elis definitely moves on. Calling it a masterpiece is merely my humble opinion about an album that hasn't left my cd player one single second since I got this promo about four weeks ago and I still can't get enough of it, it keeps growing further and becoming better and better. There is no doubt that those albums are the best ones. Alright, back to business. Elis is categorised as Gothic Metal but they always were on the heavier side of this genre. On this album they accelerate to a higher level, sounding more aggressive, darker, heavier and sometimes even progressive. With a perfect clear and powerful sound (by Alexander Krull/Mastersound Studio's) the result is an album full of varied, powerful, yet even catchy songs, played by very skilled musicians. Fans of the first three albums (hey, I'm one of them) don't have to fear because the band kept true to their trademark. The thing is, this one is way better ! “Catharsis” marks a period of going through suffering and pain yet coming out stronger than before. The heavier and darker approach is a positive development and Sandra brings a new air to the Elis sound with her powerful, aggressive and warm vocals. Tom Saxer's deep grunts have made great progress and are used more often. This turns out to be the most brilliant move the band has made. The bewitching contrast between Tom and Sandra along with the hard hitting guitars and fine double bass drums, all based on perfect melody lines, are forged in rousing, sometimes even epic songs in which every member of the band has enough room to accelerate. This makes it a very inspired album filled with passion and melancholy. Sandra carries the feelings of each song in her voice and she definitely makes you move. Recurring to a real trademark, the album has in “Das Kleine Ungehuer” and “Des Lebens Traum – Des Traumes Lebens” two tracks with German vocals and they prove that Sandra is as comfortable singing in German as in English. “I Come Undone” (“Elised” cover version of Jennifer Rush; would be a perfect single) and “Firefly” (brilliant riff work from Pete) represent the more melodic, catchy side of Elis. In “Rainbow” we have a strong ballad that is filled with emotions and shows the variety of Sandra's voice. My highlights however are the songs which represent the darker, harder side of the band. “Twinkling Shadow” and “The Dark Bridge” are true classics to me and belong to the finest in Female fronted Gothic Rock. These songs rock dude ! Both have the same structure and in the middle there's that brilliant deep grunting voice of Tom that floats on terrific heavy guitars. Man, that's the way I want it ! “Warrior's Tale” is also exceptional in the way the song can be categorised as a real epic. The surprise in there is the adding of the low dark gothic voice of Michelle Darkness (End of Green), who sounds like good old Peter Steel (Type O Negative) in his better days, performing a duet with the lovely vocals of Sandra. A real mighty track this turns out to be. “Catharsis” is one of the best releases this year and certainly one that makes Sabine very proud up there. On the 27th it comes out and I am getting my arse to the local music store as soon as possible to score the digi pack which contains two extra songs and a bonus live dvd of their live performance at the MFVF2007. So should you if you are interested in decent portion of fine metal! Awesome record! “Move on …..” | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.elis.li
Recordlabel: http://www.napalmrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/elisofficial |
92/100 |
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| FIREFORCE – Moonlight Lady (MCD) | Belgium | January 2010 | Ronny Elst |
| Style: Melodic Heavy Metal | Running time: 15:46 (Tracks: 4) | ||
| Fireforce is a new heavy metal band from Belgium, formed in the beginning of 2009. The strong live reputation established thanks to the band members previous projects (Double Diamond, …) immediately led to a lot of respect and interest for their new band. During their short period of existence, they already wrote 20 new songs! Four of these songs were recorded at the Midas studios in Belgium. After these recordings, the band headed for the Prophecy studios in Kempten, Germany, where R.D. Liapakis (known for his work with Mystic Prophecy, Firewind, Sacred Steel, …) acted as the band's producer. On their EP “Moonlight Lady” are 4 great heavy metal songs! The EP starts with “Born To Play Metal” a fantastic up-tempo song. Second song “Firestorm” is played in mid-tempo, continued by “Metal Rages On”, a superb instrumental metal anthem. Last song “Moonlight Lady” is another excellent up-tempo song, which kind of song I like the most. As an extra, there is the creation of the Fireforce logo and the artwork for a digipack by Eric Philippe, the famous Belgian graphic designer. The guys of Fireforce have managed to release a great heavy metal EP, the 80's way, but with a modern sound thanks to R.D. Liapakis. Great songs, superb playing and excellent vocals!! The band is currently looking for a label to support the release of their maiden EP or to seal a record deal, which can't be a problem to find one!! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.fireforce.be
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/fireforcemetal |
88/100 |
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| FRANKIE AND THE WONDERBOYS - All Fired Up!!! (CD) | The Netherlands | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Hardcore Rock 'n Roll | Running time: 30:59 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| “All Fired Up!!!” is the first full length album of FRANKIE AND THE WONDERBOYS (a.k.a. FWB), which is a Hardcore Rock ‘n Roll band from Tilburg/Eindhoven, Holland who was formed in 1998 by Frank Kimenai (bass, DEAD RIVERS, THE SPADES), Marcel de Rijk (guitar, H.A.T.E., FIRST FIGHT DOWN) and Zoltan Magyar (vocals, H.A.T.E.). During the existence of FWB there have been several line-up changes in the band. Before “All Fired Up!!!”, FRANKIE AND THE WONDERBOYS released two EP’s, namely “Frankie's First" (2001), which I reviewed for AARDSCHOK magazine at that time, and the fantastic “Fully Lubricated” (2005). On both EP’s FWB was a four piece band. But now they’ve added a second guitar player to the band, so the current line-up of FWB exists of Zoltan Magyar (vocals, formerly of H.A.T.E.), Jeroen Hoefmans (guitar), Jos Zijlmans (guitar), Mike de Kruiff (bass, formerly of HIDDEN REMAINS and current guitarist of PRESENT DANGER) and Jarno van Osch (drums, formerly of ONE INCH MEN and no related family of me). In fact “All Fired Up!!!” is a logical continuation of “Fully Lubricated”. The band recorded ten songs for this album of which one is cover version of CHUCK BERRY’s classic “Johnny B. Goode”. This classic rock and roll song was already in their live set for a long time, and I’m glad they put their fantastic own version on this album as well. The production of the album is very good (it’s recorded in the same studio as “Fully Lubricated”), and in my opinion “All Fired Up!!!” doesn’t count weak songs. Most of the songs are very catchy and really kick some ass. Songs like “No One Died…”, “Speedqueen”, “Rusty Old Ride” and “Home” are good songs, but my absolute favorite ones of "All Fired Up!!!" are "The Sunsetboulevard Moonersclub", "Get It On", “Daisy On Fire”, "Twisted", "Keep On Rocking" and of course the CHUCK BERRY cover "Johnny B. Goode". "All Fired Up!!!" is a very good album with great kick ass rock and roll songs. Good work guys, all I wanna say is…just keep on rocking. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.frankieandthewonderboys.nl
Recordlabel: http://www.crossfirecult.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/frankieandthewonderboys |
85/100 |
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| GOV'T MULE - By A Thread (CD) | USA | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Rock / Southern Rock / Blues | Running time: 67:40 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| GOV'T MULE (pronounced GOVERNMENT MULE) was formed in 1994 and was actually an ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND side project of A.B.B. members Warren Haynes (lead guitar) and Allen Woody (bass) who've had joined the band in 1989. Haynes and Woody (R.I.P.) are playing on the ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND albums "Seven Turns" (1990), "Shades Of Two Worlds" (1991) and "Where It All Begins" (1994). I only have the albums "The Allman Brothers Band" (1969), "Idlewild South" (1970) and "Eat A Peach" (1972). The first album I bought of GOV'T MULE was "Life Before Insanity" (2000). That album was released in February and unfortunately, Allen Woody was found dead in New York City in August of that year. I also have the fantastic albums "The Deep End, Volume 1" (2001) and "The Deep End, Volume 2" (2002). Anyway, the current line-up of GOV'T MULE exists of Warren Haynes (vocals, guitar), Danny Louis (keyboards, rhythm guitar), Jorgen Carlsson (bass) and Matt Abts (drums). The album opens strongly with the superb "Broke Down On The Brazos". On this song also Billy Gibbons of ZZ TOP is playing guitar. With Gibbons as a guest musician, the song really gets a ZZ TOP sound. The next two songs, which are "Steppin' Lightly" and "Railroad Boy", are great rock songs as well. Some quieter songs on "By A Thread" are "Gordon James", "Frozen Fear", the beautiful ballad "Forevermore", "Scenes From A Troubled Mind" and "World Wake Up". Of those quieter songs only the last two mentioned are in my opinion a bit less. "Inside Outside Woman Blues #3" is a fantastic slow blues song with awesome guitar solos of Haynes. Actually, it's just a pleasure to listen to Haynes' fantastic guitar work on this excellent album. My favorite songs on "By A Thread" are "Broke Down On The Brazos", "Steppin' Lightly", "Railroad Boy", "Any Open Window", "Forevermore" and of course "Inside Outside Woman Blues #3". This is a real recommendation for anyone who's into high quality rock music with awesome guitar work. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.mule.net
Recordlabel: http://www.provoguerecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/govtmule |
87/100 |
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| GRIMMSTINE – Grimmstine (CD) | USA / United Kingdom | January 2010 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 72:54 (Tracks: 15) | ||
|
The name Grimmstine probably doesn't ring any bells but everything becomes clearer once you find out that it's a combination of the names of the two main participants; vocal legend Steve Grimmett and talented guitarist Steve Stine. These two along with the rhythm section from Sons of Poseidon form an Anglo-American coalition that came to rock hard. This project self-released this album a year ago and now Metal Heaven Records gives their music the chance to reach wider audiences. Grimmstine is a heavy metal band which respects the classic heavy metal sound but also spices it up a bit with a few contemporary elements in order to make it sound fresh and appealing to a younger audience. The bands music is somewhere between the recent Saxon material and the latest solo album by Grimmett but with crunchier guitars. Grimmett delivers his trademark performances guaranteed to satisfy all his loyal fans to the max. Give this project a chance, you won't be disappointed. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.metalheaven.net
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/grimmstine |
78/100 |
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| HELVETETS PORT – Exodus from Hell (CD) | Sweden | January 2010 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 61:40 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| Helvetets Port means “Gate of Hell” in Swedish. These four young guys started the band a few years ago. They released a demo and a 7” called “Metal Strike” (included on the cd). Their devotion to the arcane European metal of the early 80s, both in terms of music and image, made them quite popular. This is the band's debut album and I have to say that they have made quite a progress. Their early works were very amateurish. In this album they have made some steps towards writing best songs and playing decent music but they still have miles to cover if they want to produce something that combines both the true 80s feeling and the supreme musicianship of bands like Gotham City and Heavy Load which are clearly the band's main influences. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.helvetetsport.com
Recordlabel: http://www.puresteel-records.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/helvetetsport |
66/100 |
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| HJALLARHORN – Iron Clad Soldiers (CD) | Norway | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: NWOBHM / Thrash Metal | Running time: 49:59 (Tracks: 9) | ||
| First of all, I never had heard of HJALLARHORN before. This Norwegian band was already formed in 1993, but got on a very long hiatus of eleven years and finally reformed in 2004. The band exists of Dani Nilsen (vocals, guitar), Martin Krogh (guitar), Jonas Eid (bass) and Kjetil Krogvold (drums). Secondly, when I listen to “Iron Clad Soldiers”, which is the debut album of the band, they remind me very much of METALLICA and even sometimes of DIAMOND HEAD (“Blood And Black Lace”). But really, they sound so much like the early days of METALLICA. The riffs, solo's, drums, just everything. Even Nilsen, who isn't the best singer out there but just a reasonable one, tries to sing like James Hetfield. It's the same problem like EVILE's second album “Infected Nations”, which also sounds to much like the METALLICA boys. For example, the beginning of “Brigade” is a rip-off of “The Call Of Ktulu”. The production of the album is good enough. Okay, these guys can really play and are talented, but they don't have their own identity. There are only two tracks on the album which are in my opinion the best songs on “Iron Clad Soldiers”. These best songs are absolutely the fantastic opener “Battle Of Repulsion” and “Blood And Black Lace”. All other songs, like “Brigade”, “The Changeling” and “The Eye Of The Storm” are just nice. Before this debut album, HJALLARHORN had released two demo's, which are “Six Track Metal Attack” (2004) and “Trilogy Of Lightning” (2006), and I expect on these two demo's they sound as much as METALLICA as on this album. It's not very original, just nice. But if I had to choose between “Iron Clad Soldiers” or “Kill 'Em All”, “Ride The Lightning” or “Master Of Puppets”, I guess you already know my answer. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.hjallarhorn.com
Recordlabel: http://www.puresteelrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/hjallarhorn |
70/100 |
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| HOLY CROSS – Under the Flag (CD) | France | January 2010 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Power Metal | Running time: 50:44 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Holy Cross is a French band formed in 2006 and this is the band's debut album. “Under the Flag” is an album of both American and European oriented power metal. The label states Iced Earth as an influence and I agree. The band may lack the volume of Jon Schaffer's group but has many similarities in the musical department. The 10 songs may not win an originality award but the devotion to classic heavy and power metal is obvious. The singer M.Champon is quite good. He is a screamer and his accent is pretty decent. Chity Somapala (Court Jester, Firewind, Moonlight Agony etc.) also appears as guest. Overall this is a decent effort that puts the band on the power metal map. Lets hope these guys return stronger with a second album in the near future. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.holycrossmetal.com
Recordlabel: http://www.puresteel-records.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/holycrossmetal |
75/100 |
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| HULDREFOLK – Morbid Elite (CD) | Belgium | January 2010 | Dennis van Dommelen |
| Style: Black Metal | Running time: 51:23 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Belgium has a strong position on the black metal map nowadays. Huldrefolk has become one of the leaders rapidly. “Eeuwenhout was a step in the right direction but it is with this new release “Morbid Elite” where they seem to really got their shit together. The music while being fairly basic -and reminding me of early Marduk- does make limited amount of instrumentation in these days, including very sparse samples in a non-overpowering way, a militaristic drum beat that fits directly into the song, some killer and evil leads in certain spots, acoustic guitar parts as well as an outro that is muffled, eerie sounding and taken from the movie “The Seventh Seal”. One of the things that I love about this album is the natural production. It's not raw in the sense of early Darkthrone (although it certainly isn't clean), but more like an early (here we have them again) Marduk production, as if you are walking through a gloomy forest on a dark evening, watching the band perform these songs. Despite sounding this way, it doesn't come off as half assed and each instrument is sufficiently audible. The lyrics handle the themes Pest, trolls and swamps. The artwork is done by one of the members Waldschrat and contributes to the overall eerie sounding music. There is not much wrong with Huldrefolk's second release and I will think that their medieval infecting grief will conquer the world by storm! | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.ironagerecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/huldrefolk |
84/100 |
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| JUGGERNAUT - …Where Mountains Walk (CD) | Italy | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Hardcore / Metal / Doom | Running time: 58:59 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| JUGGERNAUT is an Italian band from Roma who was formed in 2006 and exists of Salvatore Blasi (vocals), Luigi Farina (guitar), Matteo Palandri (guitar), Roberto Cipitelli (bass) and Guido Penta (drums). In 2006 the band recorded the promo "Facial Sacrilege: Ballads By The Fireplace" and now their debut album entitled "…Where Mountains Walk" has been released on Subsound Records. Musically this album, which is produced by the band themselves, has some nice moments. But I don't like the vocals of Blasi, which is a mixture of hysterical screams and death grunts. What's notable is that seven of the ten songs have a running time over 5 minutes. I can't deny that the band exists of very good musicians, but it's just the vocals which is not my style. I don't have any favorite songs, that's because I just only like some parts of the songs (musically of course). I'm sure there will be people who will like this album of JUGGERNAUT anyway, but they are not really a band for me. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.subsoundrecords.it
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thejuggernautband |
64/100 |
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| KILLFLEX - Time Vs. Live (CD) | Switzerland | January 2010 | Sammy De Maere |
| Style: Metalcore | Running time: 44:26 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Killflex is relatively new band from Switzerland who, like many new bands, want to play thrash metal but end up playing metalcore instead. They have previously released one demo and 2 other albums and now they released their 3rd full length "Time vs. Life". You easily hear on this record that these guys are fan of the new Slayer and other bands who play that kind of music. They combine some thrash metal riffs with songs that are basically metal core. To make it all just a bit more core they even threw in the clean voices during some of the breaks. I know that even though I simply despise this kind of music there must be a large fan base for bands like this so these guys will get their success I guess but this just isn't my cup of tea. For fans of metalcore in general. | |||
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MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/killflex |
51/100 |
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| LEVERAGE - Circus Colossus (CD) | Finland | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Melodic Metal | Running time: 48:06 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| LEVERAGE is a melodic metal band from Finland and has released the following albums so far: "Tides" (2006) and "Blind Fire" (2008). I guess the band has been formed around 2004 or 2005, because there's no biography of the band on their official website and on their MySpace page. Anyway, "Circus Colossus" is the band's third album, and the line-up on this album exists of Pekka Heino (vocals), Tuomas Heikkinen (guitar), Torsti Spoof (guitar), Pekka Lampinen (bass), Marko Niskala (keyboards) and Valtteri Revonkorpi (drums). Although Lampinen played bass on "Circus Colossus", he quit because of private reasons. The new official bass player of LEVERAGE is Sami Norrbacka, who was already the band's live bass player during 2009. Anyway, I didn't know the previous two albums, so "Circus Colossus" is my first acquaintance with LEVERAGE. And what an acquaintance it was, because this is an awesome band. Great melodic metal with awesome vocals. Really, there's no weak song on "Circus Colossus". The album starts with the instrumental "Rise". With this fantastic instrumental it's just like I'm listening to a movie score, and I love movies scores. I'm really convinced that LEVERAGE also could make a complete movie score for a movie. Anyway, it's a pleasure to listen to fantastic songs like "Wolf And The Moon", "Movie Gods", "Rider Of Storm", "Legions Of Invisible", "Revelation" and "Broken Wings". All those songs have great choruses, fantastic solo's. I just like this kind of melodic metal. The band reminds me of bands like early EUROPE ("Wings Of Tomorrow" era), JORN, ECLIPSE, DREAM THEATER etcetera. On this album there's just one ballad, which is the beautiful short piano ballad "Don't Keep Me Waiting". Pekka Heino, who's also the vocalist of BROTHER FIRETRIBE, is an excellent singer and the rest of the band members are very skilled musicians as well. "Circus Colossus" is a real recommendation to anyone who's into high quality melodic metal. Great work guys. "Circus Colossus" made me very curious about the first two albums, so I'll have to check them out myself. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.leverageband.com
Recordlabel: http://www.spinefarm.fi MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/leverageband |
90/100 |
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| LIQUID GRAVEYARD - On Evil Days (CD) | Spain | January 2010 | Sammy De Maere |
| Style: Avant Garde / Progressive Metal | Running time: 51:00 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| When I first heard that John Walker of death metal legend Cancer formed a new band I was really enthousiastic. I checked out the other band members and found member of Mourning Beloveth and a female vocalist. So I soon realised that this probably wouldn't be a nice old school death metal album, but I was still curious what they made of it. Liquid Graveyard delivers a nice variating record with a technical mix of all kinds of styles that will intrigue a lot of people. Unfortunatly while I have to review this I'm not one of these people. Of course they are amazing musicians and in the songs everything fits perfectly together but this is a type of record for fans of the 'crazy' mixes of styles. If you horizon is broader than mine, give this a few spins and check it out completely, you may like it very much. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.mykingdommusic.net
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/liquidgraveyard |
60/100 |
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| LUCKY BASTARDZ - Hated For Who We Are (CD) | Italy | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Rock And Roll / Metal | Running time: 48:22 (Tracks: 13) | ||
| LUCKY BASTARDZ is an Italian band existing of Geppo (vocals), Paco (guitar), Evan L.A. (bass) and Mark (drums). The band started almost as a joke between smoking another cigarette and drinking some beers somewhere in 2007. Just like so many other bands, also LUCKY BASTARDZ had some line-up changes in the band (particularly with their drummers). "Hated For Who We Are" is the debut album of these Italians and was released on Swedmetal Records. While listening to this reasonable album, you hear immediately they are very much influenced by MOTÖRHEAD. So, in fact we deal with a MOTÖRHEAD clone hear. Naturally, they can't compete with Lemmy & Co., but the album counts some nice kick ass rock 'n roll songs anyway. I would say that not every song is that good, some weaker songs are in my opinion songs like "Captain Highway", the semi acoustic "At What Time - Does My Breath Stop?", "Same Shit, Different Day" (which has a short Surf part in it), "Evil's Bride" and "Another LBZ Night". Best songs are: "Devil Cum", "Bite Your Heart", "I'm A Rocker - Don't Blame Me", "Flame Rock 'N Roll", "Rotten Pussy", "Café Racer" and "Reborn Again". If you like bands as MOTÖRHEAD, PETER PAN SPEEDROCK, THE GECKO BROTHERS and FRANKIE AND THE WONDERBOYS, then possibly you will like these LUCKY BASTARDZ as well. Anyway, they are one of the few Italian bands which I like. Not an awesome album, but a reasonable one. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.swedmetal.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/theluckybastardz |
72/100 |
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| MY FIRST FAILURE – My First Failure (CD) | Germany | January 2010 | Kees Schijven |
| Style: Hardcore | Running time: 30:53 (Tracks: 7) | ||
| MY FIRST FAILURE is an aspiring young german hardcore band, which recorded their first demo “Gone for Years” in early 2006 and sold out very fast. After putting these few songs out the band started playing as many shows as they could and made a name for them selves around Germany. In late 2006 the band joined Sandcastle Records and recorded their first full length “The Color”, which was released in January of 2007. This released was followed by many shows, and now their second self titled full length to be released on Demons Run Amok. MY FIRST FAILURE is a female fronted hardcore punk band, of which there aren't so many, like Walls of Jericho, although Alexa is not as convincing as Candace of WoJ for example, it is not bad at all. She puts some emotion in the songs, which aren't your typical short and fast hardcore songs, but real nicely build up song structures and well performed too. Although the album counts only seven songs, most songs easily last about 4 or 5 minutes, which is not exactly like most (fast and short) hardcore bands make em. This is real powerful second full length album for MY FIRST FAILURE, and with some extensive touring ahead, I think they will get there eventually, I would check them out if they played in my neighbourhood so decide for yourself if you will do the same! | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.demonsrunamok.de
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/myfirstfailure |
73/100 |
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| NO REMORSE NO RETREAT - Warbringer (CD) | United Kingdom | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Metal | Running time: 41:50 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| According to the delivered info sheet, NO REMORSE NO RETREAT is a 5 piece band who are based in England/Wales. It's a complete mystery who the members of the band are, because there are no names mentioned in the booklet of the CD. Even on their official website and on their MySpace page there's nothing about the line-up of the band. So, I can't tell you what the line-up of NO REMORSE NO RETREAT is. In 2008 the band signed to Iron Age Records and released their debut album "To Glory We Ride" (see Archive CD/DVD Reviews). To me, this second album of the band, titled "Warbringer", is my first acquaintance with N.R.N.R.. And to tell the truth, they can't really impress me with this album. I've listened several times to "Warbringer", but every time I loss my interest very quickly. That's because the songs are so simple and moderate, and I'm also not impressed by the vocals. With titles like "Fight Or Die", "This Means War", "We March", "Let The Battle Begin" and "War Age", you understand it's all about war, battles etc. In that case, the cover (of the album fits perfect with the songs. But really, this is an album which I wouldn't buy myself. If there are still people who are interested in NO REMORESE NO RETREAT, well check them out yourself. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.noremorsenoretreat.com
Recordlabel: http://www.ironagerecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/noremorsenoremorse |
58/100 |
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| NOVA ORBIS - Imago (CD) | Colombia | January 2010 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Gothic Metal | Running time: 53.36 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Hey, Gothic Metal from Colombia! Well, why not! Any kind of metal should be universal, so why not Gothic. This kind of music is very popular in South America so let's see what a local band comes up with. Novo Orbis ( which means “New World” in Latin) was formed in 2005 and the line up hasn't changed since then. “Imago” is their debut album and they certainly made it a varied piece of work. The band has no exclusive composer, so everyone has his participation in the songs. As a result of this, no song sounds the same and they present us a fine variety in sounds and lyrics which is quite impressive for a debut album. Their music, which is particularly based on the keyboards, is powerful and melodic, appropriately progressive and has his surprises in the use of many instruments. So they make us familiar with traditional instruments like “the tiple” and the “bandola”. Their quite creative, those Colombians, every song has his surprising twist and they all listen away very easily. So what's there to nag you should say. Well, the musicians are skilled enough, that's not the problem. The problem is the articulation of the English lyrics which is becoming a disturbing factor during the 53 minute long album. Ana Maria is fine singer with a good voice but the articulation is just not good enough and it makes you wonder what she is singing about. The same problem there is for the additional male vocals, done by José and Jorge. It's a damn pity for a very nice and daring debut album. So my advise is to do something about it! Maybe a switch to their own language should work out eventually. Nevertheless a promising band. | |||
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MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/novaorbis |
72/100 |
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| P.A.I.N. MANAGEMENT - Lobotomy (CD) | Germany | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Metal | Running time: 49:25 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| P.A.I.N. MANAGEMENT is a five piece German metal band who exists of Markus (vocals), Patrick (guitar), Andre (bass), Christian (drums) and Andreas (keyboards). I guess that the band was formed somewhere in 2006. These Germans already released a Demo CD "Save The Day" and the EP "Save The EP 2008". "Lobotomy" is the debut album and features eleven songs. Musically, because of the keyboards and some riffs, they sometimes remind me of THE GATHERING's "Always…" era, only not with death metal grunts. And talking about the vocals, Markus is a reasonable singer, but he's not always singing in tune (just listen to "Open Knife" for example). But the other members of the band are good musicians. There's just one instrumental song on "Lobotomy" which is simply called "Instrumental". The production of the album is good. The best songs of this album are in my opinion "I Disagree", "Weak", "Serious", "Bleed Forgiveness" and "Holy Vengeance". Nice album, but it could have a higher score if the band had a much better singer. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.pain-management.de
Recordlabel: http://www.stf-records.de |
71/100 |
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| PERSISTENCE – In Blood and Heart (CD) | The Netherlands | January 2010 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Death / Thrash Metal | Running time: 44:50 (Tracks: 9) | ||
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When you are allowed to open for the legendary American thrash band Testament, you must be doing something right. This was also the case with the Dutch metallers of Persistence and that was no coincidence. Hailing from Den Bosch, they've started the band nearly a decade ago. That the road has been far from easy was shown in 2005 when the band disbanded because of the classic line-up problems. Luckily vocalist Stefan van Vugt was able to surround himself with motivated musicians, so that Persistence could be reborn. After this, things began to work for the band. The hard labor resulted in the 2008 promo which got some nice reviews. In 2009, there was the pre mentioned Testament show and now also the release of their debut album 'In Blood and Heart.' This first Persistense full length has to grow on you. I've listed to the album for about twenty times now, so I'm not jumping into conclusion. The style is quite original so it took me some time to form an opinion about the album in general. 'In Blood and Heart' offers a variated mix of thrash/death compositions with special attention for the heavy riffs and vocals. At first, the vocals were a bit annoying, but later on I've had to take that back since they suit the music very well. Basically I can be very short about this: the song material is very well written and I believe there are a lot of original plots and turns that makes this album worth your while. Especially the second half of the album with tracks like 'Overcome,' 'Progress' and the epic title track 'In blood and heart.' In this last song, you can really hear the potential of this band. A nice first album with great potential. If they continue to grow like this, the next album just might be a big surprise. If you are into Thrash and of Death metal, be sure to check them out! Live, as well as their record. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.persistense.nl
Recordlabel: http://www.deitydownrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/persistensemetal |
75/100 |
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| RAM-ZET - Neutralized (CD) | Norway | January 2010 | Frans Neelen |
| Style: Avant-Garde Metal | Running time: 59.57 (Tracks: 8) | ||
| Post delivery; okay, there's that monthly surprise package from Mario, let's see what it brings me this time….. hey Ram-Zet; uhm read some positive things about them… never heard their music actually….. let's put it in my car and find out ……. Round one: pff, well ehm … it certainly has style with lots of interludes, freaky intermezzo's etc., but it doesn't really get me yet; it's a bit to overwhelming….. two days later ……. just finished round 5 en I am feeling very ashamed, why in earth's name haven't I heard of this band and their music before ! Neutralized is the fourth album of this avant-garde metal band. Avant-garde you say…, well it means that they combine almost everything you have heard in music, yet based on a fine heavy foundation. Mastermind Zet's screaming vocals contrast beautifully with his female colleague Sfinx who has a powerful voice which she uses in all it's varieties. Man, this woman can sing ! Their music takes some time to get used to and finding out the geniality of it. The songs are complex and overwhelming, you have to experience it, let it come to you. From Ram-Zet you can expect really everything; psychedelic, black, industrial, theatrical, paranoid, catchy, you name it, it's on it, yet forged into strong compositions. And in all the songs there is room for those sinister violin parts, brilliant. Lyrically they also stand for pure geniality. What to think of “You… you are dead, long before, you will walk through the gates of eternity…prey for them all but the Gods won't forgive you for all that you've done” from “God Don't Forgive” and “I lay down, down in earth… I am nothing, I am dirt…” from “I am Dirt”. This song is so brilliant, so damn catchy and the way the first phrase is sung by Sfinx.. ..just like she is a purring little kitty…. damn creepy. If you want me to name another just for some comparison, well I can't. Maybe in the theatrical thing I can name Jadallys, but no, Ram-Zet is Ram-Zet; highly original ! The album only provides us 8 tracks, yet it almost clocks 1 hour full of dark, breathtaking, sinister enjoyment, energetically played by skilled musicians. From the brilliant opener “Infamia”, the magnificent “I am Dirt”, the raging “222”, the addictive “Addict”, the genius “God Don't Forgive” and the ingenious “Beautiful Pain” we come by the last two tracks “To Ashes” and “Requiem”. Those last two are stretched out a bit to long for me. In “Requiem” they use the trick of a 2 minute break closing of with a, I must say, tasteful didgeridoo instrumental. Well I hate those kind of tricks, more bands do that unfortunately but I don't see any application in it. Nevertheless, Ram-Zet is a more than welcome surprise for me, delivering this awesome, addictive record, so I have to forgive them for this because the rest is so damn good. Essential for the more open minded metallers among us. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.ram-zet.com
Recordlabel: http://ascendancerecords.com/ MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/ramzetofficial |
90/100 |
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| RAPTOR SCHOOL – Redefine (CD) | USA | January 2010 | Robin van Tilburg |
| Style: Melodic Heavy Metal / Cross-over | Running time: 62:23 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| From Michigan, U.S.A. we find heavy metal crossover band Raptor School under the musical supervision of brothers Jeff and Jon Kollnot. Raptor school, formally known as Vacation Farm, is a band with a good sense of humor. On top of that, they have also managed to record some very interesting songs. The melodic guitar parts are nicely written as well as the catchy riffs. The band consists of talented musicians, but it's a shame the production is a little vague, otherwise the songs would have came out much stronger. As well as the vocals. Take for example the semi ballad 'Coverage Denied', which is not benefitting from the vocals at all. Nevertheless, 'Redifine is a nice album to listen to, but not a 'Must have' for your collection. Not bad for a first record though. Nice work guys, and surprise us with your next one! p.s. Raptor School has created one of the most the most hilarious songs title since Violence's 'Dicks of death.' Behold: 'The nipple will kill you'! Check their MySpace for more fun stuff and of course the music. | |||
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MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/raptorschool |
70/100 |
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| RHINO BUCKET - The Hardest Town (CD) | USA | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Hard Rock | Running time: 44:53 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| RHINO BUCKET is an American Hard Rock band from Los Angeles, who was formed way back in 1988 and are heavily inspired by Australian rockers AC/DC, especially the Bon Scott era. The band had released the following albums in the 90's: "Rhino Bucket" (1990), "Get Used To It" (1992) and "Pain" (1994). In 1996 they went on an extended hiatus, but reformed again in 2001. The fourth album "And Then It Got Ugly" was released in 2006. The current line-up of the band exists of Georg Dolivo (vocals, guitar), Brian Forsythe (lead guitar, formerly from KIX), Reeve Downes (bass) and Simon Wright (drums) who've played on AC/DC's albums "Fly On The Wall" (1985), "Who Made Who" (1986) and "Blow Up Your Video" (1988) but also in DIO (on the "Lock Up The Wolves" (1990), "Magica" (2000), "Killing The Dragon" (2002) and "Master Of The Moon" (2004) albums). Wright had been a member of RHINO BUCKET before (he played on the "Pain" album), but reunited with the band in 2007. So, "The Hardest Town", which was already released on May 5th 2008, is the fifth studio album and features eleven songs in the well-known AC/DC tradition. Really, the riffs, the solo's, they could have been from AC/DC themselves. Anyway, before I bought this album half November of 2008, I only had two songs of the band on soundtrack albums. "Ride With Yourself" on the "Wayne's World" (1992) soundtrack and "Soundtrack To A War: Welcome To Hell" on "The Wrestler" (2009) soundtrack. "The Hardest Town" was produced by Rick Ballard and the band themselves and sounds fantastic. A few songs are in my opinion a bit less, which are "No One Here", "Take Me Down" and "Slip Away" (the bonus track of the album). But really, songs like "The Hardest Town" (superb), "Justified", "Know My Name" (superb), "Dog Don't Bite", "Street To Street", "She's With Me" and "To Be Mine" are all awesome. Also the guitar solo's of Forsythe are great and really sound like if Angus Young is playing them. Also Dolivo sounds pretty much like Bon Scott (R.I.P.). This is an excellent album and a real must for anyone who's into AC/DC and AIRBOURNE. The band is doing an European tour from January 7th until February 20th, so go see them if you want. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.rhinobucket.com
Recordlabel: http://www.acetate.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/rhinobucketmusic |
87/100 |
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| SAVAGE BLADE – We Are The Hammer (CD) | Canada | January 2010 | Kees Schijven |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 52:08 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Savage Blade are a new band from British Columbia / Canada who just came together a year ago in 2008. This band plays classic 80s heavy metal and they not only consider heavy metal as a musical genre, but as a way of life. Their debut album ´We Are The Hammer' has been issued privately as a piece of vinyl first, before Pure Steel Records signed SAVAGE BLADE for the CD release. This album proves once more that the current heavy metal underground can still produce miraculous albums and enormous talent. Heavy Metal is still very much alive, with a lot of young bands playing the classic stuff in their own new way, but could have well have been straight from the 80s, and giving quite a few old legends a run for their money. This album is very diversified with some fast and furious, raw and heavy riffing, melodic vocals with wicked and razorsharp metal screams, and also some slower, ballad like songs and intros. The band shows through their songs whom their influences are, like Tokyo Blade “Night of the Blade”, Sweet Savage “(In) the Eye of the Storm”, Judas Priest “Stallions of the Highway” and Saxon “The Eagle is Stranded” which refer to their examples of the great NWOBHM period, in which they would fit in perfectly. Especially the high pitch vocals of Nikko, which sometimes even remind me of Jon Oliva, brings back the NWOBHM sound. SAVAGE BLADE shows a lot of professionalism and skills playing the old school in a new school way, this is really true metal, to me personally they might have done a bit more up tempo power songs and a bit less rock ballad songs. All in all it's an outstanding debut for a band that only exist for about one year, truly well done, absolutely no gimmick and a band to be taken seriously! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.wearethehammer.com
Recordlabel: http://www.puresteel-records.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/wearethehammer |
82/100 |
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| SPECTRAL – Evil Iron Kingdom (CD) | Germany | January 2010 | Kees Schijven |
| Style: Viking Metal | Running time: 47:27 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Spectral was founded in 1995 by both German “Teutonlord” Wollwert on vocals/guitar and Meik “Destructor” Meiers on drums, and eventually released three CD's between 1999 and 2004 with constantly changing members. Again in 2007 they financed and recorded another album, “Stormriders”, and shortly after that they got signed with CCP records, which released “Stormriders” in the autumn of 2007. They got a lot of positive media attention, which resulted in playing live almost everywhere. After this they went back in the studio to record “Evil Iron Kingdom”. The style of SPECTRAL's music is raw heavy riffs, many breaks and tempo changes coupled with a cold musical feeling, according to their bio. Actually it's a mix of black and Viking metal, with some melody in it and a very powerful sound, comparable with a band like for instance Amon Amarth. Latest news is that Aggressor switched from bass to guitar, where he feels more comfortable. SPECTRAL delivers a really powerful album with this “Evil Iron Kingdom”, with a lot of speed and aggression in it, but also some folk and pagan influences here and there, like in 'Embrace The Darkness', and even some thrash elements in 'Axecutioner'. I am not familiar with their earlier releases, but I know I like this one, so that makes me wanna hear their earlier work too. This is a band to keep an eye on for the future, check it out if you are into Black/Viking Metal, you won't be disappointed for sure! | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.ccprecords.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/blackvikingpower |
78/100 |
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| STAR*RATS - Screw The Consequences (CD) | Denmark / Sweden | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Sleaze Rock | Running time: 56:28 (Tracks: 14) | ||
| STAR*RATS is a four piece Sleaze Rock band from Denmark/Sweden who was formed in 2003. The band exists of Magnus (vocals), Post (guitar), Kass (bass) and Braun (drums). "Screw The Consequences", which is self-produced by the band and mixed by Chris Laney, is the third album of the band. Their previous albums are "Broken Halo" (2004) and "Rebelütion" (2006) and were recorded with another singer. This album is my first acquaintance with STAR*RATS, and I must say, it's an excellent filthy sleaze rock album. Musically they remind me of bands like GUNS 'N ROSES, SKID ROW, BON JOVI and even some ALICE IN CHAINS ("Fakin' An Inside" and "Brand New Soul"). The band exists of fantastic musicians, especially Post is a very skilled guitarist. And about the vocals of Magnus, well…he reminds me sometimes of a rawer version of Jon Bon Jovi. And it's not so strange that STAR*RATS have covered BON JOVI's "I'll Be There For You", which is a fantastic version in a more Punk style. "Lands End" is a duet together with Danish female singer CELINA REE (she's the Danish version of AVRIL LAVIGNE) and is a great song as well. Actually, I don't have any negative points about this album. This is an outstanding album which will find it's way to my CD-player regularly, because this is 100% kick ass rock 'n roll. My favorite songs of this album are "Who Cares", "I Could Die Here", "Get Nasty", "Raise Your Hands To Rock" (hey ho, let's go), "Another Tragedy", "Lands End" and "I'll Be There For You". Well done guys. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.starrats.net
Recordlabel: http://www.swedmetal.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/starratsdk |
84/100 |
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| SWALLOW THE SUN – New Moon (CD) | Finland | January 2010 | Dennis van Dommelen |
| Style: Melodic Doom / Death Metal. | Running time: 53:45 (Tracks: 8) | ||
|
In astronomical terminology, the phrase new moon is the lunar phase that occurs when the Moon, in its monthly orbital motion around Earth, lies between Earth and the Sun, and is therefore in conjunction with the Sun as seen from Earth. At this time, the dark (unilluminated) portion of the Moon faces almost directly toward Earth, so that the Moon is not visible to the naked eye.
Some people also believe that the period that will follow after new moon will be a dark period. An excellent time to listen to the new album of Swallow the Sun. With last years “Plague of Butterflies” the band created a soundtrack for ballet that never saw the light of day. Nevertheless it was a great piece of work. “New Moon” starts of with the track: “These Woods Breath Evil” a dark opener with most like screaming vocals and some subtle, fragile guitar parts. After this we get “Falling World” with a great clean sung chorus that will haunt you for days after listening. Mikko Kotamaki delivers a great performance on this record. From high pitched screams to deep grunts to clean sung parts. The man is such a versatile vocalist and could easily compete with lets say: Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth) and Niklas Kvarforth (Shining) Not only the vocals are versatile. The music itself exposes in a big fan of influences. In “Lights on the Lake” you can hear some blast beats that beautifully contradict with the female vocals that appear at the beginning and end of the song. Great contradictions as these can be found in almost all of the songs. The title track must also be mentioned because of it great chorus. It must be rather rare if this won't be the breakthrough album for Swallow the Sun Listening to “New Moon” Is a very intense experience. It isn't an album that is very hard to entirely listen to. The music is classified as doom/death metal and although this classification is perfectly justified, the music reaches far beyond any genre limitations. It's pure emotion, art as I see it. The notes played the production, artwork, lyrics, performance, arrangements. All melt into a piece of art that is “New Moon” | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.swallowthesun.net
Recordlabel: http://www.spinefarm.fi MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/swallowthesundoom |
95/100 |
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| SYRANT – Coming Back (MCD) | USA | January 2010 | Kostas Kounadinis |
| Style: Heavy Metal | Running time: 16:40 (Tracks: 4) | ||
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Syrant is an arcane metal band hailing from the great Motor City, Detroit! These guys were part of the boiling hot underground scene of Michigan but unfortunately fell into obscurity. Now they are back with a vengeance! With vocalist Brian Thomas of Halloween fame, the band claims its fair share of metal glory. This EP is the testimony that the old dog will always perform his old tricks. And there's nothing wrong about that as long as these tricks include fiery heavy metal that bears the Motor City brand! Straight in the face American heavy metal! The quality and importance of the EP is fairly elevated by the cult performances of Mr. Thomas, a man who I had the honour of shaking hands with at the Keep It True festival in Germany. These four songs are just a part of the band's full length cd. Syrant definitely CAME BACK! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.motorcityrock.com/bands/syrant/syrant.html
Recordlabel: http://www.betarecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/syrant |
80/100 |
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| TOMYDEEPESTEGO - Chronophage (CD) | Italy | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Rock, Metal, Fusion | Running time: 47:54 (Tracks: 8) | ||
| TOMYDEEPESTEGO is an instrumental four piece band from Rome, Italy who was formed in the beginning of 2006. The band exists of Edoardo Luca (guitar), Valerio De Lucia (guitar), Daniele Lunardi (bass) and Simone Giannangeli (drums). All members have been on the Italian and European underground scene for quite a long time with bands like INFERNO, MALKAVIAN and THE PHOENIX. In 2007 they signed a contract with Subsound Records and in November of 2007 their debut album "Odyssae" was released. During the first few months of 2009 the band entered the studio again to record another full length album. This second album, entitled "Chronophage", has recently been released, again on Subsound Records. The album features, just like their debut album, again eight songs. The average running time of the songs is 5 minutes. The songs are a mix of Rock, Metal and some Fusion and have heavy parts as well as some mellow parts. The production of the album is good and especially the bass sound is great. With the heavy parts of the songs, TOMYDEEPESTEGO reminds me the most of Dutch instrumental rockers of GORE, and with the mellower/atmospheric parts of LONG DISTANCE CALLING. I think the best song of the album is "Crepuscolo (Act II, Purgatorio)", which is the longest track of the album (8:47). The shortest track "El Hombre Loco (Desde Generaciones)" (3:26) is the mellowest song on the album and is in my opinion the least of all the songs. But songs like "Dr. Disagius", "Cicades", "Controversy (Act I, Inferno)", "Milla" and "Libero Arbitrio (Act III, Paradiso)" are all great and interesting songs. My conclusion is that "Chronophage" is an outstanding album. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.tomydeepestego.com
Recordlabel: http://www.subsoundrecords.it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/tomydeepestego |
80/100 |
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| TRAPPED UNDER ICE - Secrets Of The World (CD) | USA | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Hardcore | Running time: 22:55 (Tracks: 12) | ||
| TRAPPED UNDER ICE is a Hardcore band from Baltimore, U.S.A. and exists of Justice (vocals), Sam (guitar), Brad (guitar), Jared (bass) and Brendan (drums). The band released a 5-track demo in 2007, a 6-track EP "Stay Cold" and a split 7" with DIRTY MONEY. But man, what these guys deliver on their full length debut album "Secrets Of The World" is of a high level. Believe me, the album really has a consistent overall quality. All songs are great and groove as hell. The band reminds me the most of MADBALL, but also of BIOHAZARD and BATTERY. It's really hard to pick some favorite songs, because they are all fantastic. Okay, it's not very much original sounding, but there are more hardcore bands in the world who deal with that problem. Anyway, what notices me, was that the band used a short music fragment ('Good morning Baltimore. Every day's like an open door') from the re-make version of the "HAIRSPRAY" (2007) movie at the end of "Believe", because of the fact they are from Baltimore. But I'm sure this excellent album is absolutely an open door to success. We will hear much more of this promising hardcore band. If you like the above mentioned hardcore bands, then you'll have to check out this band and enjoy of great songs like "Believe", "American Dreams", "Gemini", "From Birth", "Against The Wall" and "World I Hate". In January/February 2010 the band is doing a European tour. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.demonsrunamok.de
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/underdaice |
80/100 |
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| V.A. (VARIOUS ARTIST) - Saw VI (Soundtrack CD) | USA | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Metal / Metalcore / Hardcore / Emo / Rock | Running time: 64:01 (Tracks: 18) | ||
| This is the new soundtrack album of Horror movie "Saw VI" with actor Tobin Bell as "Jigsaw / John". The film was released on October 23rd, 2009 in North America and in Holland on December 31st, 2009. So far, I've seen all the movies and "Saw" (2004) is still the best. In my opinion "Saw II" (2005) is the least one of all the "Saw" movies. In that case "Saw III" (2006), "Saw IV" (2007) and "Saw V" (2008) are much better than "Saw II". So, I'm really curious about how "Saw VI" the movie will be. Anyway, this soundtrack album is a fantastic compilation with bands like HATEBREED, CHIMAIRA, LACUNA COIL, SHADOWS FALL, DANKO JONES, TYPE O NEGATIVE, IT DIES TODAY, KITTIE, THE FLOOD and EVERYTIME I DIE. There are just two songs on this album, which I really don't like. Those songs are "Genocide / Saw VI Remix" by SUICIDE SILENCE and the last track of the album "More Than A Sin" (JAMES BROTHERS). Well, then "Never Known" of NITZER EBB, which reminds me of NINE INCH NAILS, isn't that bad at all. Songs which are nice ones are "Your Soul Is Mine" (MUSHROOMHEAD), "The Countdown Begins" (OUTBREAK), "Dead Again" (TYPE O NEGATIVE), "Dark Horse" (CONVERGE) and "The Sinatra" (MY MY MISFIRE). But my favorite tracks of this soundtrack album are absolutely "In Ashes They Shall Reap" (HATEBREED), "The Last Goodbye" (LACUNA COIL), "Reckless Abandon" (IT DIES TODAY), "Warpath" (CHIMAIRA), "Code Of The Road" (DANKO JONES), "Ghost In The Mirror" (MEMPHIS MAY FIRE), "Still I Rise / Saw VI Remix" (SHADOWS FALL), "Cut Throat" (KITTIE), "Roman Holiday" (EVERY TIME I DIE) and "Lethal Injection" of THE FLOOD. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.trustkill.com
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| VANITY INK - More Senseless Random Behaviour (CD) | Finland | January 2010 | Ad van Osch |
| Style: Melodic Rock | Running time: 39:08 (Tracks: 11) | ||
| Although VANITY INK has a sleazy image, they are a female fronted Melodic Rock band from Finland who was formed in 2002. Since then, the band has released the following EP's "…Roadkills!" (2004) and "Vanity Is A Full Time Job" (2006) and the full length album "On Your Skin" (2007). The line-up of VANITY INK exists of Annabella (vocals), Juha Bandit (guitar), Jussi (guitar), Miki Peltola (bass) and Sam Junni (drums). On September 28th, 2009 their second album "More Senseless Random Behaviour" was released on Swedmetal Records. The album features eleven tracks, and starts with "Smell The Party", which is the first single (and video) and is a catchy song. The songs themselves are nice compositions and most of them are catchy, but they are all pretty much more of the same. The weakest songs of the album are in my opinion "Rolling Stones" and "Versus". VANITY INK has in Annabella a very good singer. The best songs of this album are "Smell The Party", "Let's Go Down", "Fine By Thursday", "A Song On The B Side" and "Rock And Roll". Not really a shocking album, just a nice one to listen to once in a while. | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.vanityink.net
Recordlabel: http://www.swedmetal.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/vanityink |
69/100 |
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| VERMIN - Define : Divine (CD) | The Netherlands | January 2010 | Sammy De Maere |
| Style: Brutal Death Metal | Running time: 38:24 (Tracks: 10) | ||
| Vermin is a Dutch brutal death metal band formed in 2002. After some of the usual changes a stable line-up was formed and a first full length album was created. The band toured some clubs and got popular in the underground scene with a show at 2006's Fuck The Commerce festival in Germany as a highlight. This year the band released it 3rd full length album "Define : Divine" and this album is a nice enough brutal death metal record. It's easy to hear that the band is a big fan of the greater brutal bands but also likes the more technical bands. This combination of influences give an album with more variation then most brutal death metal records nowadays which are simply blast beats with some riffs thrown in. Of course there is the good and fast drumming and the skilful guitar playing all nicely in support of the growling vocals, it wouldn't be death metal if it didn't have the main ingredients, but if you're tired of the brutal records without any variation what so ever, do check this out ! | |||
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Visit their website: http://www.verminband.nl
Recordlabel: http://www.deitydownrecords.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/verminnl |
68/100 |
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| WOODLAND – Dreamality (CD) | Germany | January 2010 | Kees Schijven |
| Style: Folk Metal | Running time: 59:00 (Tracks: 8) | ||
| Four metal musicians from Lubeck, Germany founded WOODLAND in 2004. After a period of developing their own style of music, they are now ready with their first effort, their debut album “Dreamality”. By listening to the album you are taken to a long path through sagas, myths and dramatic narrations. It appears Cemenntie, a raging siren, who kills everyone who stands in her light. There is also a story about Violets destiny. A young woman living in a world between dream, death and reality. You will meet bloodthirsty trolls, a less serious death nation army and sing at bonfire while the sun goes down an ode to Norway. But it's not enough to describe the music as 'Metal', it's influenced by Folk, Death and Black Metal, Doom and smooth Progressive Rock. Well according to their bio, so it sounded very interesting, made me wanna hear it all. Very extraordinary part of WOODLAND would be the voice of Koopie, far away from typical female metal vocals. Although a lot is sung by Schmidt I guess, he grunts more or less while Koopie sings with a clean voice mostly. There are some nice parts and ideas in this musical achievement, but it's not really convincing. One of the songs I like is “warriors” which has some thrashy elements in it, while the vocal parts reminds of Leave's Eyes, with the clean voice of Koopie in the choruses. Mostly the songs are not that fast and heavy, it is music you have to sit down and listen to with the lyrics in hand. Some nice guitar loops here and there, while some songs are also done in their native language, like 'Nachtgesange' und 'Abendsonne', it gets clear that the voice of Koopie is not really the strongest point of WOODLAND. But who knows with a second album what it can be, after some touring and a lot of live playing experience, they might get it right. The ideas are definitely there, some original arrangements in some songs, they just have to grow a little more in my opinion to be really convincing. | |||
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Recordlabel: http://www.ccprecords.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/metalwoodland |
65/100 |
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