UPDATE 1 2007
Many of these reviews should have
been put up a while ago. I try to write
really good reviews, but I am also a full-time grad student at a university
that has been labeled “new ivy” which demands so much of my time and energy. I am also a family man. Juggling these responsibilities have been difficult. Hopefully the results below are worth the
wait. I have now enlisted the help of my
firstborn, Criticalnate, who is well into his teen
years and also a metal aficionado in his own right. He helped me with a few of the reviews below
(he often has input anyway), and he totally wrote the Moonspell
review. He did a good job. We can expect more from him in the future.
One note, I have attempted here to
be even more critical with my reviews.
They are—like all other reviewers’—still inescapably idiosyncratic. No matter how scientific we may try to be
about our reviews, it always comes down to “loved it” or “hated it” (Guys on
Film, In Living Color).
Reviewed this time:
Ambition, Anderson Laine Readman
Project, Autumn Black, Axel Rudi Pell, Bible of the Devil, Blanc Faces, Chain
Collector, Clark, Dead Man in Reno, Destruction, Estradasphere,
Eyes of Ligea, Hostility, Infernum,
Insomnium, Keep of Kalessin,
Kreator, Moonspell, My
Dying Bride, Tony O’Hora, Place Vendome, xRepresentx, Saxon, Seventh Cross, Skyforger,
Society 1, Soul’s Harbor, Stonegard, Suffocate
Faster, Tenebre, Thy Disease, Time Requiem,
Torchbearer, Tristania, Vader, Unleashed, Xashur.
AMBITION s/t (12 tracks. 57.6 mins). LOCOMOTIVE
Rating: 7. Country
of origin:
If
80/90’s rock is your thing … if bands like Mister Mister,
Whitesnake, Kansas, Foreigner,
and Toto make you wax nostalgic, then you will love this trip down
memory lane. Instigated by Frontiers
Records president, Serafino Perugino, this album is a
study in AOR. It features the smooth
rock crooning voice of Thom Griffin (Trillion) and features Fabrizio Grossi (Glenn Hughes,
Starbreaker, etc) as producer with Joey Carbone as co-songwriter.
I can appreciate the professionalism of this album, its musicians,
producers, and
ANDERSEN
LAINE READMAN PROJECT “Three” (10 tracks. 36.5 mins). LOCOMOTIVE.
Rating: 8. Country
of origin: multiple. Release date: Available now.
Composed
primarily of Royal Hunt keyboardist Andre Andersen and two vocalists,
Paul Laine of Danger Danger
and David Readman of Pink Cream 69, and of course
augmented with Bjarke Hopen
(guitar), Kenny Lubcke (background vocals), Kaj Laege (drums), the Andersen Laine Readman Project deliver 10
tracks of
AUTUMN BLACK “Beneath the Shadows” (12 tracks.
38.4 mins). THROWDOWN RECORDS.
Rating: 7.5. Country of
origin:
Autumn
Black joins the onslaught of modern metal bands who
lean towards thrash and Swedish death metal stylings
in the vein of In Flames minus keyboards. They have a very tight, machine-gun style of
riffing with blast beats at full gallop much of the time. The double-bass
drums, in fact, are incredibly fast at times.
This aspect of the band is very enjoyable. Vocally, however, my “old-fartiness”
tends to dislike the constant screech of the hardcore styled “singing”. Of course, like most modern metal bands
Autumn Black also has melodic singing in most of the choruses. I like a good death growl or raspy power
metal vocals, but the hardcore screech is not aesthetically pleasing to
me. Other than that, I would say this is
a decent debut album with some good songs.
AXEL RUDI PELL “Mystica” (10 tracks. 58 mins). SPV.
Rating: 6.5. Country of
origin:
Once
again ARP and band deliver a nice combination of German power metal which
highlights Pell’s shredding guitar solos.
You basically know what to expect.
It is good for what it is, and lots of people eat it up. But I must express a little dissatisfaction
with German power metal bands like this one for two reasons: a tendency to be stuck in the 1980s and
cliché lyrics. There is no denying the
talent of this band, but the formula is a little too familiar.
BIBLE
OF THE DEVIL
“The Diabolic Procession” (9 tracks. 42.8 mins). CRUZ DEL SUR.
Rating: 5.5. Country of
origin:
This
band has a very retro feel. They seem to
be a combination of 80’s heavy metal and power metal. Listening to this band takes me back to my
teenage years when I could pick up a random heavy metal album at the store and
it would sound something like this. I
didn’t know that this band was already established with a lengthy discography,
but I can readily hear why they are popular in Europe but relatively unknown in
the
BLANC
FACES “s/t”
(12 tracks. 52.5
mins). LOCOMOTIVE.
Rating: 8. Country
of origin:
Blanc
Faces is self-consciously a rock/metal album inspired by the 1980s. Fans of Journey, Survivor, and especially
Foreigner will love this band. Vocalist
Robbie Le Blanc has a White Snake, Van Halen (with
Sammy Hagar), Richard Marx, and Eric Carmen feel. His brother, Brian, sings background and
plays bass. This band has connections to
Toto,
CHAIN COLLECTOR “The Masquerade” (10 tracks.
47 mins). SOUND RIOT.
Rating: 8. Country
of origin:
Something
close to “supergroup” is a good term to begin with
for describing this band. Chain
Collector consists of Kjetil Nordhus
of Green Carnation and Trail of Tears (vocals); Svenn Aksell Henriksen
formerly of Apostasy and Dismal Euphony; Goran
Bomann of Carpathian Forest, Opus Forgotten,
and Neon God; Anders Kobro whose long resume includes Carpathian Forest, In
the Woods, Green Carnation, etc.; and Kjell
Jacobsen also of Neon God. It is
as if you could take the top ten or twenty metal musicians in
Rating: 8. Country
of origin:
I
actually enjoyed listening to this CD a lot, but it is not my usual fare. It is very pop oriented and radio
friendly. It’s not even prog-rock, just rock.
But given that this band is from
DEAD
MAN IN
Rating: 7. Country
of origin:
Honestly,
when I heard the vocals I immediately prejudged this band to be a Lamb of
God, modern metal clone band. I’m
not sure why the style today is monotone screams versus the good ole screaming
and wailing I grew up on, but it is (with the exception of a very short part in
“The Devil Made Him Do it”.
Nevertheless, I found that the music of this band more than makes up for
the tasteless vocals. DMIR’s guitar work is an excellent combination of riffs and
solo work, while the drumming is also excellent in my opinion. It is easy to see why this band was signed
and why Candlelight is really pushing this band. Other than the vocals I could really enjoy
this band.
DESTRUCTION “Thrash Anthems” (15 tracks.
74 mins). CANDLELIGHT
Rating: 9. Country
of origin:
Destruction
has been one of my favorite bands for a long time. Even now the Mad Butcher E.P., Eternal
Devastation, and Release From Agony make their way into my CD
players several times a year (and yes, I do have the Sentence of Death
E.P., and Infernal Overkill!). So
I really have a frame of reference when talking about this band. I was really excited when Schmier
rejoined the band in 1999. But the first
two resulting albums created a sense of cognitive dissonance for me. Here we had a band whose work in 80’s thrash
was unparalleled in my opinion (though many will argue that Coroner was
equal to the task). Their raw, highly
treble oriented music dazzled the senses with super fast riffing and Schmier’s idiosyncratic squeals. Now in the 21st century they had
returned with a very death metal production.
Low end heaviness replaced the high end shrill. Admittedly, Schmier’s
vocals were better. But overall the
whole thing was different enough to make an old timer confused. But with last year’s Inventor of Evil,
Destruction seemed to strike a really good balance between the old and the
new.
Such is the case
with this newest offering, Thrash Anthems, a collection of thirteen
Destruction classics along with two new ones.
The newer production style of the band (Peter Tagtgren’s
famous touch) is still there. But now we
get to hear it with the band’s older tunes.
It works well with most of them, though with some it altered the sound
enough that more than once I actually had to think for a minute which song I
was hearing. But this is not all. The band has actually changed some of these
songs. The most obvious is the new
version of “Curse the Gods,” my all-time favorite. They have actually slowed the song a bit—and
I actually like it. There is still, in
my opinion, an effort by the band to sound more death metal, and this is really
obvious on “Curse the Gods,” but they have not compromised in terms of
riffing. And again, Schmier’s
vocals sound much better these days. But
really, the band’s biggest improvement is in the drumming department. Back in when Destruction originally recorded
these tunes they had a drummer who was not “a metal drummer” (Schmier told me this in an interview in 2000). I never really noticed this then, but now you
can really tell as the drums on these re-recordings are chock full of galloping
double-bass. Overall I think Destruction
have preserved the essence of their original style while updating their
sound. With Inventor of Evil and Thrash
Anthems I think I have been able to reconcile myself to this
synthesis. And if the future will bring
us more new songs like “Profanity” and “Deposition (Your Heads Will Roll),”
then I can once again feel excited about this band’s next release.
Also included: Reject Emotions,
Invincible Force, Cracked Brain, Bestial Invasion, Tormentor, Unconscious
Ruins, etc.
ESTRADASPHERE “
Rating: 9. Country
of origin:
There
is very little that can be referred to as “metal” in this band’s music, but
they are definitely on the right label.
Along with groups like Giant Squid, Unexpect,
and Virgin Black, Estradasphere goes well
beyond the regular confines of conventional “popular” music, demonstrating a
more sophisticated approach to musical composition. They do not simply layer instruments or
overload the songs with diversity, they actually
create coherent, appreciable songs that you can proudly play for anyone with
any taste in music. No one will dispute
their musicality; there is something here for everybody. Nevertheless, the skill the band demonstrates,
plus their penchant for non-commercial musical structures, makes them best
suited for a record label that either specializes in metal (especially prog. Metal) or modern jazz. I am glad they made their way onto The
End.
As
to describing the music, it is easiest to say, “all over the map.” But my favorite song is “The Terrible Beautypower of Meow.”
It begins with soft violin music then evolves into a 1960s movie
soundtrack with surf guitar. Clearly
there is some Brian Wilson/Beach Boys Pet Sounds influence here
(I would bet money on it!). In fact, to
borrow one of Brian Wilson’s own terms, each of these tunes may be thought of
as a “pocket symphony.” I do not think
that would be out of line. Nevertheless,
some of the sounds on this album, particularly the heavy drumming and
electronic effects in such songs as “The Unfolding Pause on the Threshold,” are
heavier and more modern than
EYES
OF LIGEIA “A Fever Which Would Cling to Thee
Forever” (7 tracks. 48.5
mins). PARAGON RECORDS.
Rating: 8.5. Country of
origin:
Appropriately
the band name comes from Edgar Allen Poe.
This band’s music carries the atmosphere of 1960’s horror
movies—especially the ones with twisted sickos and
dungeons. It is a combination of doom
and black metal which sounds like it was recorded in a musty, rat infested
dungeon. Though elements
of their music reminds of Burzum and Xashur on the one hand, and Agalloch
and Aphotic on the other, I would have to say
that they really don’t sound exactly like anyone. The music is really interesting and
atmospheric (imagine a brooding Vincent Price destroying the house of Usher). Song titles include suggestive themes such
as: “A Strange and Fitful Presence,” “As
the Ravens Descend from the Tower,” and the title song. Whatever it is, it is way cool.
HOSTILITY “Uncompromised” (12 tracks. 56.9 mins).
VOLTAIC RECORDS
Rating: 8. Country
of origin:
Though
some will be tempted to lump Hostility in the modern metal category—and with
some justification—I would rather think of them as an American death metal
band. And just when you think you have
got them pegged, they do something really cool and unique. You first notice it in the middle of song
three, “Death as Leverage” when the band hits a modern fusion jazz guitar riff
with Carcass-like heaviness. This
probably hints more at a progressive streak in the band’s musical orientation
than an interest in jazz. This
observation is verified in later parts of the album when the band hits on some
very odd timings which are, I think, reminiscent of
bands like Believer. The song
titles and vocals lend to the hardcore, and thus, modern metal (= nu-metal +
thrash) appellative. I could deal with a
bit less of the hardcore vocal style, however.
Whatever the category, though, Hostility are
creative and interesting—and HEAVY!
INFERNUM “The Curse” (7 tracks.
31.5 mins). SOUND RIOT.
Rating: 6.5. Country of
origin: . Release date:
Available now.
This
short black metal release falls into the primitive sub-genre in my
opinion. Even so, they do have keyboards
and occasional female vocals. Their
overall sound, though, recalls Darkthrone,
Judas Iscariot, and a whole horde of other primitives. Speed is not the key, atmosphere is. The guitars create a black metal
“wall-of-sound” while the real sense of movement comes from the early Bathory inspired drumming. The keyboards, where they appear, create a
sort of understated organ sound. “Pagan”
is a particularly memorable song, though the clean vocals—again, inspired by Bathory’s Viking epics—could be a lot better. But the riff and slowness of the song shows
that the band has creative potential.
And the song, “Epitaph” is a potential classic and should be included on
a compilation CD somewhere.
INSOMNIUM “Above the Weeping World” (10 tracks.
52.9 mins). CANDLELIGHT
Rating: 7. Country
of origin:
By
now we are getting quite used to the “Gothenburg sound” which is more and more
becoming the “Scandinavian Death Metal sound” by means of its expansion beyond
KEEP
OF KALESSIN
“Armada” (10 tracks. 49.9
mins).
CANDLELIGHT
Rating: 9. Country
of origin:
KoK have made a huge leap into excellence. With Armada
they have changed from an average black metal band to a spectacular black metal
band. (I admit that I do not have their
last release, an E.P., but I do have the first two albums). Vocalist extraordinaire, Attila Cshir, has never sounded better in my opinion. Though “originality” may still be an issue to
some listeners, who could complain when the band has pulled off a stunning Emperor
IX Equilibrium-like album? But I
would argue that the band does demonstrate some creativity in subtle ways with
fresh sounding riffs, lots of energy, and a total black metal attitude. In less subtle ways the guys show their
creativity with
KREATOR “Enemy of God Revisited” (DVD).
SPV
Rating: 10. Country of
origin:
I
will just have to say that this is a superb DVD. Even someone who does not care for Kreator would have to agree that this is so. (Fortunately, I have enjoyed the band for
quite some time, though their lack of diversity in subject matter can get
tedious) Kreator
are a veteran band who have recently revitalized
themselves with two fresh sounding releases, Violent Revolution and Enemy of
God. This DVD features a full set from Kreator’s 2005 Wacken show. Among the songs played were: Enemy of God, Pleasure to Kill, Violent
Revolution, Extreme Aggressions, Terrible Certainty, Betrayer, and more. I would have liked for Toxic Trace and Blind
Faith to have been included, but even so, the show is very professionally done,
and the band is very tight. Having seen
the band in concert the previous year (Violent Revolution tour), I can say that
they have one of the clearest, crunchiest sounds of any metal band I have
seen. The DVD also features a set from a
German television show where they play Reconquering
the Throne, Renewal, and three others.
Also featured are five video clips which include Enemy of God and the
making of Enemy of God. Finally, the DVD
contains a Dolby 5.1 surround version of the album. All told, this one is a great deal.
MOONSPELL “Memorial” (14 tracks.
64 mins). SPV
Rating: 8. Country
of origin:
Reviewer: Criticalnate!
While not being very familiar with Moonspell’s
material, I should say that “Memorial” is overall a very dramatic album, which
appears to be expected of any Moonspell release.
Unlike many other emotionally driven albums, this album has range. From the
soft but eerie introduction “In Memoriam” and other such songs like “Sons of
the Earth” and “Sanguine,” to crushing songs such as “Finisterra”
and “Blood Tells,” plus tracks in between, this album is far from monotonous.
Although the heavier guitar work doesn’t have quite the range that I believe it
could. All in all, this is a great album
that certainly deserves much more than just a few listens.
MY
DYING BRIDE “A Line of Deathless Kings” (9 tracks.
61 mins). PEACEVILLE.
Rating: 9. Country
of origin:
If
The Light at the End of the World was My Dying Brides’s
return to their rightful sound, they have done nothing since but to refine
their art to perfection. Case in point, A
Line of Deathless Kings may prove to be their finest hour since Turn
Loose the Swans. By now, of course,
they have settled into a more gothic doom sound like Angel and the Dark
River rather than TLTS’s death/doom sound,
but I do not consider any of their last four, this one included, to have become
monotonous. While this new album has
that familiar MDB sound, it appears to me to be a bit heavier than the last
two. I also notice that producer Mags has drawn out some excellent vocal performances from
Aaron and has done an excellent job with production and layering. Also contributing to the freshness of this
album is new drummer John Bennett. I
don’t know that much about drumming, but I can at least say that Bennett’s
style is noticeably different. Suffice
it to say that the space between 2004’s Songs of Darkness, Words of Light
has been well spent by the band. Do not
doubt believers, this album is gold.
TONY OHORA “Escape Into the Sun” (12
tracks. 54.7 mins). FRONTIERS/LOCOMOTIVE.
Rating: 8. Country
of origin: . Release date: Available now.
This
hard hitting commercial rock/metal has a very up-to-date sound but still
reminds me a lot of Michael Sweet/Stryper and
Dokken in terms of approach. Ohora’s clear,
dulcet-toned voice belts out some very passionate vocals atop some very
aggressive and flashy guitar playing.
PLACE
VENDOME
“s/t” (10 tracks. 45.8
mins).
FRONTIERS/LOCOMOTIVE
Rating: . Country of origin: . Release date: Available now.
Place
Vendome features Michael Kiske (Helloween,
Aina, Avantasia)
on vocals and members of Pink Cream 69 and Vandenplas
on instruments. The result is a very
80’s inspired rock-metal combination—more arena rock than metal. Whitesnake
comes to mind as a good band for comparison.
The songs are mostly about relationships (love songs), so I would call
it “chick friendly” music.
xREPRESENTx “The Truth at All Costs” (12 tracks. 24.9 mins). 1981 RECORDS.
Rating: 7.5. Country of
origin:
No,
the x’s before and after the name
are not some encoding error on my part, it is actually part of their
name/logo. Whatever the purpose for the x’s, I voted to list them in the “R” category. Anyway, not since Pro-Pain’s 2004
masterpiece, Prophets of Doom, have I heard such a concentrated and
coherent musical critique of the “War on Terror”. I like the route that many hardcore bands are
taking lately. Bands like xRepresentx are putting more thought into their lyrics and
their musicianship than earlier hardcore bands.
The vocals are the usual gruff hardcore style, but unlike many in the
field, Derek Ski’s vocals are understandable and convicting. In fact, the more I think about it, xRepresentx could be a younger version of Pro-Pain.
SAXON “The Eagle Has Landed III” Live 2
disc set. (15 songs
1.2 hrs/17 songs 1.1 hrs). SPV.
Rating: 7.5. Country of
origin:
Saxon
are alive and well as this disc demonstrates. This two disc set
features 32 tracks of the band’s trademark NWOBHM sound from their tours in
2004 and 2005 around
SEVENTH
CROSS “Scorched by the Flames of Vengeance” (11 tracks. 40 mins). CANDLELIGHT
Rating: 6. Country
of origin: . Release date: Available now.
I think it is good for Candlelight
to give this modern metal band a chance, but I think that the band
should have done better in one vital area: the vocals. They are shrill and monotonous. They might be hardcore, they might be black
metal, it’s hard to say (I lean towards hardcore), but one thing is certain,
there is absolutely no variation in tone or pitch. This is enough to keep me from listening to
the album. On the other hand, the guitar
work is solid and enjoyable. I wouldn’t
call this band “original”, but they definitely have potential musically. With a different vocal style—or vocalist,
sorry—I could like this band a lot more.
Fans of bands that range from Shadow’s Fall to Byzantine
will probably like them.
SKYFORGER “Kauja
pie Saules” (9 tracks. 40.1 mins). PARAGON RECORDS.
Rating: 9. Country
of origin:
This
is what I think of when I heard terms like “Viking metal”, but I am not sure
(pardon my ignorance) if
SOCIETY
1 “The Years
of Spiritual Dissent” (CD 30 tracks. 70 mins. DVD ). CRASH.
Rating: na. Country of origin:
This
CD could not be more appropriately titled.
I imagine that the appeal of this band is raw, punk-ish
attitude and its connections to the porn industry. In terms of music qua music, I found
it not interesting. The DVD, however, is
longer than usual. It has lots of
interviews, stage footage, and carousing.
If you like this band already, you will consider this release a real
bargain.
Rating: 8. Country
of origin:
STONEGARD “Arrows” (10 tracks. 35.3 mins). CANDLELIGHT
Rating: 9. Country
of origin:
I’m
sure that everyone who hears a band for the first time hears different things,
especially when they hear a band like Stonegard. I say this because my description of this
band may seem a little strange or contradictory. First, from the opening instrumental, “Ghost
Circles”, and throughout, this band plays some chord-relishing, technical
instrumental sections with an Opeth-like
feel. But as for the vocal parts of the
song, the band leans towards doom/stoner rock with clean vocals and occasional
pop sensibilities. As odd as this
combination may sound, they make it sound very natural. Their ability to sound simultaneously heavy,
metal, and semi-accessible to the rock world puts them in a league with Katatonia as far as I am concerned. Whoever the vocalist is (I cannot find bios
anywhere), he is a great singer with a raspy Cobain-like voice. You can tell by
the good sounds here that this debut album was five years in the making and
produced by Daniel Bergstrand.
SUFFOCATE
FASTER “Don’t Kill the Messenger” (11
tracks. 35.9 mins) x1981x RECORDS.
Rating: n/a.
Country of origin:
I
think fans of hardcore and modern metal with find this CD to be quite
satisfying. Fans of P.O.D. in
particular may really get into this band’s hardcore meets commercial radio
style. You know,
screamed verses with actual melodic singing on the choruses. As a reviewer I try not to call anything
“bad” just because I do not care for it.
Obviously this band has some talent or x1981x Records would not
have signed them. This one is definitely
for the modern rock/metal crowd.
TENEBRE “Heart’s Blood” (10 tracks.
40.9 mins). CANDLELIGHT
Rating: 6. Country
of origin: . Release date: Available now.
Gothic
rock/metal is interesting and great mood music.
Tenebre’s Heart’s Blood is typical of
the genre as far as I can tell. Honesty
compels me to say that I do not own a lot of music from this genre (Love Like Blood, Moonspell,
certain Paradise Lost releases), but I will stand by this
assessment. The enthusiastic gothic fan
hungry for new material will welcome this addition to their collection. However, my assessment of this album would be
more positive—not that it is terribly negative—if the music did not maintain
such an even keel. If some brutal death
metal albums are just a long blur of noise, then this one is a long brood. I need the emotional roller coaster that
dynamics bring into the mix (pianissimo and fortissimo, not just mezzo-forte
throughout). The other thing that I
dislike is the artificial baritone vocals.
They work most of the time, but there are moments where you can hear
that lack of vocal training.
THY
DISEASE “Rat
Age (Sworn Kinds Final Verses)” (12 tracks. 38.9 mins).
CRASH MUSIC.
Rating: 8.5. Country of
origin:
Thy
Disease come across as a cyber-influenced version of Vader. Without knowing their country of origin, my
son, Criticalnate, made the Vader connection. So this observation seems pretty solid. But because the band has a person who does
loops and samples, it is easy to connect this band stylistically to other
Euro-cyber groups like Sybreed, and maybe
older Samael (this point is
questionable). The combination is
interesting and desirable. This is NOT
death metal meets rave by any means. For the record, the album is solidly death
metal, all cyber elements in no weaken or compromise this fact. Thy Disease have found a good balance (90% death, 10% cyber).
TIME REQUIEM “Optical Illusion” (8 tracks. 49.9 mins). CANDLELIGHT
Rating: 8. Country
of origin:
I
always enjoy listening to Time Requiem, but I am not convinced that they have
ever strayed from their standard formulas.
Bands like this have high technical standards and rank above average in
musicality, but they also tend to repeat themselves. I would love to be able to play just one of
their songs on guitar, but I believe that their technical prowess—so admired by
diehard prog-metal fans—keeps them within a creative
box. So they deserve high marks for
musicianship, but for originality I would be a bit more reserved.
TORCHBEARER
“Warnaments” (9 tracks. 34.5). CANDLELIGHT
Rating: . Country of origin: . Release date: Available now.
Aside
from the fact that I am trying to decide if the album title’s contraction of
“war” and “ornaments” is clever or not, I can say that this album is a very solid
death metal composition. It borders, at
times, on black metal in the vein of, say, Immortal, but not as fast. What I like about Torchbearer, in fact, is
that they make use of many different tempos, not to mention other facets of
musicality like dynamics, keyboard flourishes at various points, and more. Underlying it all, though, is a solid, riff-oriented death metal bedrock. And the riffs are very well conceived.
TRISTANIA
“Illumination” (10 tracks.
48.3mins). SPV
Rating: . Country of origin:
Tristania have been a favorite of mine since I heard Beyond
the Veil. And I especially enjoyed Widow’s
Weeds when I acquired it because of its doomy
atmosphere. Since that time Tristania has been moving progressively towards gothic
metal and Illumination is the most clearly gothic album they have
produced thus far. At first, then, I was
a bit disappointed because, frankly, when bands “go gothic” they often become
tepid. Not so in this case.
VADER
“Impressions
in Blood” (11 tracks. 37.1
mins.). CANDLELIGHT
Rating: 9. Country
of origin:
Always
great, never disappointing, one might ask if it is really necessary to review
the latest from Vader. If you know this
band you love them—or at least you like them.
To me there is nothing cerebral about it. I just pop the CD in and enjoy half-an-hour
or so of kick-ass brutal death metal.
And this time is no different. Impressions
in Blood carry the Vader torch forward.
Of course there is nothing here to surprise you in terms of “new
directions” or “progression”, but Vader is one of those few bands that can
maintain our interest without such modifications.
UNLEASHED “Midvinterblot” (15 tracks. 46.5 mins). SPV.
Rating: 8.5. Country of
origin:
When
a band like this has been around for such a long time comes out with a new
album—especially one with 15 songs!—it would be understandable to be
skeptical. However, let me begin by
saying that from the first 3 seconds this CD started until its end I was
hooked. We know that when the terms “
XASHUR “Subliminal Genocide” (11 tracks.
71.5 mins). HYDRA HEAD RECORDS
Rating: 6. Country
of origin:
Xashur has drawn quite a lot of praise for his work. Certainly what he and others like him do is a
sub-genre of black metal unto itself. It
is definitely non-commercial, creepy, atmospheric, and interesting. But I am not convinced that it deserves quite
the acclaim it has received. Basically
here is an artist (and I do regard him as that) who knows how to layer
instruments in a studio to good (translate “dark”) effect. However, if you listen carefully, you will
notice that practically all the songs follow the same pattern whether they are
clean or distorted: chord a, chord b,
chord a, chord b and so on. He is to be
commended for making interesting sounds, but not for diversity.
THE END!