REVIEW: ASHES YOU LEAVE - FIRE

 

ASHES YOU LEAVE - FIRE (Morbid Records, 2002)

Produced By: Ashes You Leave

Tracks: 1- Free, 2- In Vain, 3- Fire, 4- Hurt, 5- Ready To Cry, 6- Don´t Forget the Planets, 7- A Crimson Shade, 8- Manservant

Mastered by Peter Neuber

This is the fourth album from this great croatian gothic doom metal band, and this new release finds singer Marina much more confident than on the previous "The Inheritance of Sin and Shame" adding new melodies and showing all her vocal skills. Ashes you Leave have consolidated their style sounding like no one else (the mix here is clear and strange and gives the band a unique sound, specaially on the drums). There are many arrangements that reflect the beautiful and dark feelings that this band wants to transmit to the listener. The guitars are heavy and we have Marta´s violins doing a lot of melodies and sometimes harmonizing the vocals with the instrument (check the song "In Vain"). The guitar riffs have become a little bit more complex and at the same time leaves more room to the vocals, keys and violin to do their job on the songs. A must for lovers of dark metal.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.morbidrecords.de

REVIEW: ASGAROTH - RED SHIFT

 

ASGAROTH - RED SHIFT (Peaceville Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Asgaroth

Tracks: 1- Naked Eye, 2- Lured Decoy, 3- Cyphred, 4- Bluntness, 5- Buried, 6- Mindscape, 7- Descent to Dion, 8- I, Befouled, 9- 6 Bloodmarks, 10- Sharpedge Solitude, 11- Red Shift..., 12- Video tracks. Naked Eye

Cover Art by Asgaroth

This is one of the most powerful releases of the year! Comin directly from Barcelona, Spain, the guys in Asgaroth have surprised us with this powerful album full of devastating guitars and incredibly heavy parts. But what gives Asgaroth their complete identity is the mix of the crushing guitars with the keyboards that play great melodies and arrangements on top of this rhythmic base. There are also amazing guitar solos that contribute a lot to the dark feeling that all the album has. The vocals are brutal and they fit perfectly the music (and as all the album is really well mixed you can appreciate each of the parts and each of the mukltiple changes that Asgaroth´s music has along with the great vocals). You must have this one!!

Favorite tracks: All of the CD. One of the releases of the year.

Contact: www.peaceville.co.uk

REVIEW: ART OF DARKNESS - MIND SUICIDE

 

ART OF DARKNESS - MIND SUICIDE (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Art of Darkness

Tracks: 1- Maniac Illusions, 2- Eclipse, 3- Totem, 4- Slaves of Reality, 5- Mystique

Cover Art by Dries Lyesen

Recorded at Nadir Studios

Brutal yet technical death metal witha lot of atmospheres is the style that Art of Darkness plays. Here they present us five compositions with brutal vocals (screaming and guttural depending on the accentuation that the guys want to give to their music. The guitars are like a kick in your stomach and they interact really well with the drums that creates some breaks and changes that are complicated to follow. But one of the main thing here are the melodies that give a lot of feeling to the songs (thumbs up here for the bassist that makes interesting counterpoints with the guitars in some of this parts). The technical skills of the band are really good because if they hadn´t a really good level of musicianship they wouldn´t be able to play this songs. Now we want more songs from them. More!!!!

Favorite tracks: The five!!!

Contact: www.artofdarkness.too.it

REVIEW: ARCH ENEMY - A COLLECTION OF RARE AND UNRELEASED SONGS FROM THE ARCH ENEMY VAULT

 

ARCH ENEMY - A COLLECTION OF RARE AND UNRELEASED SONGS FROM THE ARCH ENEMY VAULT (Century Media, 2002)

Produced By: Arch Enemy

Tracks: 1- Starbreaker, 2- Aces High, 3- Scream of Anger, 4- Diva Satanica, 5- Fields of Desolation 99, 6- Damnation´s Way, 7- Hydra, 8- Video: The Immortal

Cover Art by Arch Enemy

Here we have some unreleased tracks, covers and other rarities from this great band that recently released their album "Wages of Sin" one of the best in their career. This time they deliver some covers like Judas Priest´+s "Starbreaker" or Iron Maiden´s "Aces High" (this two versions are killer and have even more energy than the original versions). Here you have seven tracks that you will not find anywhere else in Arch Enemy´s discography and that have great sound, power and originality as all Arch Enemy´s albums have. A must for lovers of Arch Enemy, of the bands that have been covered and of original music.

Favorite tracks: "Aces High", "Damnation´s Way" and "Fields of Desolation"

Contact: www.centurymedia.com

REVIEW: ANTHENORA - THE GENERAL´S AWAKENING

 

ANTHENORA - THE GENERAL ´S AWAKENING (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Tony Fonto and Anthenora

Tracks: 1- Planet Jail, 2- Dark Horizon, 3- The Savior, 4- Gemini

Cover Art by Davide Musizzano

Recorded at Remaster Studios 

Metal !!!! In its purest form, with some power metal shades and really modern sound (and some late eighties reminiscences). That is what we have here. This four track MCD delivers a lot of energy and the songs are really memorable (this guys have composed good songs with catchy choruses and epic vocal lines that will be surely sang by metal audiences). One thing that I liked a lot are the guitar solos that are in the songs. This guys have consciously avoided the neoclassical runs and speed solos that many metal bands are using nowadays and they have instead used more original ones with a really good guitar sound. Thumbs up also for the original singer who uses his vocal ranges but not uses shrieks and techniques that have been overabused by other bands.

Favorite tracks: "Planet Jail" and "Dark Horizon"

Contact: www.anthenora.com

REVIEW: ...AND OCEANS - CYPHER

 

...AND OCEANS - CYPHER (Century Media, 2002)

 

Produced By: Tommy Tägtgren

Tracks: 1- Fragile: Pictures of Silence: Melting the Skies, 2- Picturesque: Cataclysm Savour: And the Little Things that Make Us Smile, 3- Angelina: Chthonian Earth: Her Face Form Worms, 4- Halcyon: The Heavy Silence: IN Silent Rain, 5- Aphelion: Light Evanescence: Into Extinction, 6- Opaque: The Morning I Woke Up Dead: Today is the Day, 7- Aphid: Devil Flower: Fruits of Lunacy, 8- Voyage: Lost Between Horizons: Eaten By the Distance, 9- Catharsis: End of Organisms: Absolute Purifications of Sin, 10-Silhouette: IN White Rooms: Vacant Bodies, 11- Comatose: The World Amnesia: Planet Dead, 12- Debris: The Magenta Harvest: Liquid Flesh, 13- Nail: An Odyssey in Flesh: Celebrate the New Skin

Cover Art by Shannon Hourigan

Recorded at Abyss B Studio

And Oceans is back with their new album. This time they decided to record again in the Abyss Studios and they achieved again their huge sound with things from black / death metal and that mechanical feeling that the band has in their songs thanks to the keyboards and the guitar sound (this guys have a unique guitar sound that together with the keys give this cold dark feeling to the songs). The songs are extremely weird with many dark melodies and multiple arrangements. And, as on every ...And Oceans album we have many original ideas and many interesting parts that give the band a lot of identity. This is a must for any person that loves metal music and has an open mind.

Favorite tracks: All the CD. A masterpiece as always.

Contact: www.centurymedia.com

REVIEW: ALL BORO KINGS - JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT

 

ALL BORO KINGS - JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT (Century Media, 2002)

 

Produced By: All Boro Kings

Tracks: 1- ABK, 2- Twist the Cap, 3- Just for the Fun of It, 4- Blowin Smoke, 5- It´s All Good, 6- The Rat, 7- King of the World, 8- The Party´s On, 9- Independent, 10- 12 Pack, 11- You Got It, 12- Broke, Drunk

All Boro Kings play rocking music with a lot of hooks and very modern influences.. here we have from straight rock and roll to some hip hop and rapping on each of the tracks. This band has also some punk attitudes, specially in some of the vocals. The guitar sound is rocking (I mean is distorted, but not as crushing as in a metal band). All the songs have many hooks on the choruses and on the melodies, specially the ones done with the vocals (you will be singing some of the songs while listening to them for the first time in your life). I think that many of the songs in the album can be potential hits if they are well promoted. This guys rock and they are wild while simple and catchy.

Favorite tracks: "Just For the Fun...", "It´s All Good" and "12 Pack"

Contact: www.centurymedia.com

REVIEW: ALIENGATES - DARK DAYS QUANTUM

 

ALIENGATES - DARK DAYS QUANTUM (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Aliengates

Tracks: 1- Manual for a Dark Age, 2- Fever The Mind, 3- Saintfilth, 4- Dark Days Quantum, 5- Heartless, 6- Blind Leads Blind

Cover Art by Bjoern Goosses

Recorded at Die Klangfabrik 

A heavier than hell release!!!!Fast riffs with a crushing guitar sounds, powerful and technical drumming with a lot of double bass, screaming and devastating vocals, melodic guitar solos and melodic arrangements designed to give more variation and identity to the songs. All this and more you can find on Aliengates music. Their music is death metal with screaming vocals and witha modern guitar sound that makes the results even more brutal. But this doesn´t end here: there are many climatic moments that are created by the guitars, that have eerie melodies that add a different feeling to the songs. And we have to mention the bestial singer who not only screams but he also knows how to recreate the atmosphere that Aliengates want. The sound of the recording is extremely clear and amazingly good !!!

Favorite tracks: "Fever the Mind", "Saintfilth" and "Heartless"

Contact: www.aliengates.com

REVIEW: 7TH NEMESIS - PROMOTIONAL CD

 

7TH NEMESIS - PROMOTIONAL CD (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: 7th Nemesis

Tracks: 1- 7th Banner, 2- Omega Dei, 3- Phoenix Resurrectio

Cover Art by 7th Nemesis

This is extremely brutal death metal played with a lot of technical skills and with some modern guitar riffs with pinch harmonics that are played here and there in order to add a different feeling to each part. Through the three tracks that the band presents on this CD they show no mercy for the listener, going at full speed and full brutality without hesitation. The drummer here is killer with the double bass works and with the rhythms that he creates besides the fastest parts (he prefers adding heaviness instead doing only blast beats). The vocals are of two types: the guttural one and the more screaming type, both of them adding a lot of brutality to each of the track. The thing that I have to remark is the good sound that this recording has despite being a promotional CD....this good sound also gives a lot more of brutality to the music because you can clearly feel the power of the guitars and the drums!!

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact: www.7thnemesis.fr.st

REVIEW: VORACIOUS HATE - ACT FOUR

 

VORACIOUS HATE - ACT FOUR (Independent, 2000)

Produced By: Voracious Hate

Tracks: 1- Eye For an Eye, 2- Sign V, 3- Die Plage, 4- Degree of Sadness

Cover Art by Voracious Hate

Recorded at KST Studio

I have to remark that this band has changed its name to Encounter because of the change in the music that is evident on this MCD (on the previous album this band was a straight forward death metal band). The entrance of Peter Rung on vocals has given more strength to the songs here that are pure metal !! Voracious Hate music is really heavy but yet has a lot of melodies and the addition of Peter has added new sides for the band to experiment and it also has added a lot of power, having vocals that will not be out of a place in a thrash or power metal band having a harsh voice but at the same time having a lot of melody. The guitars here sound better than in the previous album. Now I hope to listen some new stuff from Encounter soon!

Favorite tracks: The four are really good tracks

Contact: www.voracious-hate.purespace.de

REVIEW: VORACIOUS HATE - THE DEPTH OF HUMAN NATURE

 

VORACIOUS HATE - THE DEPTH OF HUMAN NATURE (Independent, 2000)

Produced By: Voracious Hate

Tracks: 1- The Depth of Human Nature, 2- Feigned Security, 3- Healed Soul, 4- Opiate of the Mass, 5- When Insanity Commands, 6- Tempting Poetry

Cover Art by A. Rung

Recorded at Atlas Tonstudio

It is amazing the decision that this band has made of changing their style (an obviously the name of the band). This album is a pure death metal album but with a lot of melodies such as the ones you can listen in "Healed Soul". In fact this band´s music is complex death metal with many melodic riffs and changes (I would really like them to do this kind of riffs in the new incarnation of the band with the addition of the more melodic vocals of Peter Rung....that would be great). This band is brutal but has at the same time really good musicianship that allows them to create this really good compositions with many changes and moods using guitars that play melodies and heavier than hell riffs with a lot of soul in them. A really good band that is evolving to new levels.

Favorite tracks: "Feigned Security", "Healed Soul" and "Tempting poetry"

Contact: www.voracious-hate.purespace.de

REVIEW: VLE - BOOK OF ILLUSIONS - CHAPTER I AND II

 

VLE - BOOK OF ILLUSIONS - CHAPTER I AND II (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: The VLE

Tracks: Chapter I: 1- Kano, 2- Freedom to Fly, 3- Behold the Night / Beyond Sunsets, 4- Timeless, 5- 3 in 5, 6- Drift, 7- Stark

Chapter II: 1- Kano, 2- the Dancer, 3- Trilogy of the I, 4- AMIntro, 5- AMTheme, 6- Scotland, 7- A Scene from a Tree, 8- In Silence, 9- Stark, 10- A Fortunate Reversal

Cover Art by The VLE

This is with no doubt one of the best releases of the year. Vle´s music can be described as Dark Experimental Soundscapes. And this is a well definition because despite being of extreme beauty, Vle´s music is extremely dark. And it really kicks ass with the dynamics of this compositions that gare made with keyboards and computers following the instinct of the composer The Vle...every musical piece here is improvised and The Vle has done a great job in creating the melodies and passages that we can listen here. Every soundscape here is completely different from the other and each one is a musical world in its own. After doing all the compositions, Michael molina recorded the real drums for this amazing release. Now The Vle has ready the third and last chapter of the Book of Illusions trilogy and I am ready and willing to listen to it. I say it again....this is one of the best releases of the year.

Favorite tracks: Both CDs are amazing. One of the best releases of the year

Contact: www.mp3.com/vle or ovle25@hotmail.com

REVIEW: VICIOUS CIRCLE - VICIOUS CIRCLE

 

VICIOUS CIRCLE - VICIOUS CIRCLE (Nightmare Records, 2002 )

Produced By: Steve Cichon

Tracks: 1- the Winner, 2- In Your Hands, 3- Never Run Away, 4- Hanging By a thread, 5- Hallucinations, 6- Rocks That Make The mountain, 7- Peace lady, 8- No mans Land, 9- Every Dog, 10- Gun To the Head, 11- What Ever You Do, 12- Vicious Circle

This CD opens powerfully with "The Winner" a really heavy tune full, of crushing guitars and the mid ranged vocals of the only composer and musician here, Mr. Steve Cichon. Through the twelve tracks that we can listen here, Cichon shows us all his potential as songwriter and guitarist going from powerful and rocking tunes to more calm songs that showcase his skills as a composer. Here we have many different moods through all the CD. A thing to remark of this CD is the really good mix and production that it has letting the listener hear every detail (specially when he uses clean guitars and after that starts a heavier part. This CD is a must for lovers of good songwriting and composition with heavy guitars and interesting soloing.

Favorite tracks: "The Winner", "Hanging By a Thread" and "Gun To the Head"

Contact: www.nightmare-records.com

REVIEW: TIME OF ORCHIDS . MELONWHISPER

 

TIME OF ORCHIDS - MELONWHISPER (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Mike Barile and Time of Orchids

Tracks: 1- Empress Curfew Inviolate, 2- Age gracefully, 3- Thread of the Dream, 4- Ulcer, 5- Laugh Track, 6- Party favors, 7- Scalex Throne: Shame of Heaven, 8- Graduation Day, 9- Son, I Saw It

Cover Art by Patrick Soriano

Recorded at Purple Light Studio

This band is extremely experimental: here you have nine tracks of experimentation with different sounds (clean guitars or extremely distorted ones), different rhythms (each of the tracks have many tempo and rhythm changes, some of them are unbelievable), different kind of vocals (from clean ones to distorted ones to screaming ones). Here we have a band that is not afraid of trying something new on each track: from atmospheres in tracks like "Age Gracefully" to brutal experimentation in "Thread of the Dream". In fact this guys also have great technical skills and they are extremely well rehearsed in order to play this material that is complex and fascinating. They don´t forget also the heavy elments in their music such as distorted guitars crushing rhythms and extreme vocals. A must. 

Favorite tracks: The whole CD. This is a must for lovers of something new.

Contact: www.timeoforchids.com

REVIEW: THYRFING - VANSINNESVISOR

 

THYRFING - VANSINNESVISOR (Hammerheart Records, 2002 )

Produced By: Daniel Bergstrand

Tracks: 1- Draugs Harg, 2- Digerdöden, 3- Världsspegeln, 4- the Voyager, 5- Ångestens Högborg, 6- The Giants Laughter, 7- Vansinnesvisor, 8- Kaos Återkomst

Cover Art by Niklas Sundin

Recorded at Dug Out Prods.

This band has established themselves as one of the main viking metal bands in the scene. I think the main point in their music is the balance between the fastest parts similar to the ones in black/death metal with ancient melodies (the keyboardist is killer). The guitarists are extremely tight and another important side of thyrfing´s music is the interconnection between this two musicians doing the riffs and interacting a lot in the melodic sections where one plays the melody while the other harmonizes or does a good riff. I have to remark again the keyboards that are essential to Thyrfing´s sound adding this ancient spirit that their music needs along with the vocals (that in the parts when they make melodies are really ethereal). Daniel Bergstrand´s production has also enhanced the results that the band got in the studio making the music shine. Pure epic viking metal !!

Favorite tracks: The whole CD. It is a future classic

Contact: www.hammerheart.com

REVIEW: THROCULT - HUNTED

 

THROCULT - HUNTED (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Dave Otero and Throcult

Tracks: 1- Kill or Be Killed, 2- Hunted, 3- Eclipse of the Blood Moon

Cover Art by Nick Jackson

Recorded at Hellion Studios

Throcult´s music is extremely dark. And at the same time they are extremely powerful. They have put together a lot of the black metl atmospheres with some of death metal riffs. In fact, the black metl side is more evident in the vocals and in some of the fast riffs (this guys have rehearsed a lot to put together the riffs so precissely being them so fast). The MCD starts with "Kill or be killed" a track with hyper fast riffs and a lot of keyboards progressions and one thing that is fundamental: a really memorable chorus. One thing that I have to mention are the keyboards: this guy is risponsible for a big part of the darkness that this recording has. In fact, when he enters with his keys doing some chord progressions or interacting with the guitars, you can feel the darknes, the loneliness and obscurity that they want to transmit (check the beginning of "Hunted"). A band to be followed closely.

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact: www.throcult.com

REVIEW: THE LAST WINTER - IRA

THE LAST WINTER - IRA (Spreadit Agency, 2002 )

Produced By: The Last Winter

Tracks: 1- Crashing the Altar, 2- Dark Immortal Eyes

Cover Art by the Last Winter

We have here two tracks from the italian band The Last Winter. Their style goes somewhere between the paths of death metal with some black metal elements and modern guitar riffs. The sound of the band is really intense, specially the guitarists that are extremely creative in the way in which they compose the riffs that are the center of The Last Winter´s music. There are a lot of parts that show that the band has a lot of technical skills, like the tempo changes, the depressive melodies, the guitar arrangements and the breaks. I would like to listen more of this band that has a lot of musical qualities and deserves a full length release right now !

Favorite tracks: Both

Contact: thelastwinter@hotmail.com

REVIEW: THE FOCUS QUINTET - 1-8 IN 1

THE FOCUS QUINTET - 1-8 IN 1 (Sachimay Records, 2002 )

Recorded By: Ross Bonadonna

Tracks: 1- Dedicated, 2- Foreward, 3- Acknowledgments, 4- Contents, 5-List of Plates, 6- Introduction, 7- Body, 8- Index

Mastered by Sasha Victory

This is a new kind of experimental band that has in its lineup two musicians that we have mentioned several times before: Ernesto Díaz-Infante and Chris Forsyth. This duo is restless and when they finish recording one CD they start making another one. This time they jhave Jeff Amal on percussion, Dan Dechellis on piano and keyboards and Anita Dechellis on voice forming The Focus Quintet. The music here is sometimes dissonant, but most of the time is very peaceful and I specially love the moments in which Anita´s voice create some atmosphere reaching notes that one is not accustomed to listen. Here we have great experimentation but it seems to me that the quintet´s main objective is to create atmospheres while experimenting (in fact some of the atmospheres have something dark in them as you can check in "Acknowledgements"). A new experimentation album by great musicians.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.sachimayrecords.com

REVIEW: TACTILE GEMMA - TACTILE GEMMA

 

TACTILE GEMMA - TACTILE GEMMA (Season of Mist, 2001)

Produced By: Rune Sørgård

Tracks: 1- Chimeras, 2- Creepy Crawlies, 3- Blackberry Jam, 4- Heal, 5- Mellow Pillow, 6- Through Your Eyes, 7- Whiz, 8- Serpentarium, 9- Miss Loona´s Speech, 10- Quite Quiet, 11- Deep, 12- Come Eclipse, 13- Blackberry Jam (1998 promo)

Engineered by Rune Sørgård

Recorded at Rune´s Place

This CD is an absolute masterpiece. Here we have the talent of Rune Sørgård doing all the compositions and playing all the instruments to create this atmospheric and climatic, yet weird release. The keyboards and programming are all over the place and we have many strange melodies through all the CD. Plus, we have Ann Mari Edvardsen (The 3rd and the Mortal) and Monika Edvardsen (Atrox) handling all the vocal duties and doing an amazing job (this women have an incredible vocal range that allows them to do all this twisted melodies that Tactile Gemma´s music needs). The combination of all the melodies and atmospheres makes this a great release with a lot of experimentation. This is an essential recording.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.season-of-mist.com

REVIEW: SUIDAKRA - EMPRISE TO AVALON

SUIDAKRA - EMPRISE TO AVALON (Century Media Recs., 2002 )

 

Produced By: Andy Classen

Tracks: 1- Darkane Times, 2- Dinas Emrys, 3- Pendragon´s Fall, 4- The Highking, 5- The Spoils of Annwn, 6- The Quest, 7- And the Giants Dance..., 8- Song of the graves, 9- Still The Pipes are Calling

Cover Art by Kris Verwimp

Recorded at Stage one Studio

Suidakra´s music goes through the path between death and black metal and adding to their music a lot of melodies and riffs that would not be out of place ina a power metal or heavy metal band and mixing them with faster ones, adding a lot of variation to their music. And the guitar riffs along with the epic melodies (done both on the guitars are the keyboards) are essential for making Suidakra´s music really original and unique (check for example "Pendragon´s Fall" to listen how epic can be a black/death metal band without loosing its power. Another feature that I like a lot is teh combination of extreme vocals with more melodic ones (this ones are done to add a lot of the epic feeling to the songs and a t the same time they complement really well the guitar and keyboard work. An essential release.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.centurymedia.com

REVIEW: STRATOVARIUS - DREAMSPACE RE-RELEASE

STRATOVARIUS - DREAMSPACE (Century Media Recs., 2002 )

Produced By: Timo Tolkki

Tracks: 1- Chasing Shadows, 2- 4th Reich, 3- Eyes of the World, 4- Hold on to your dream, 5- Magic Carpet Ride, 6- We Are the Future, 7- Tears of Ice, 8- Dreamspace, 9- Reign of Terror, 10- Thin Ice, 11- Atlantis, 12- Abyss, 13- Shattered, 14- Wings of Tomorrow

Cover Art by Markus Itkonen

Recorded at Soundtrack Studios

Century Media Brazil is rereleasing part of the history of metal with this Stratovarius release. This is one of the first albums of the finnish band. In fact of the most famous Stratovarius lineup we have only Timo Tolkki on guitars and voice and Jari Kainulainen on bass. Yes, on this album Tolkki was singing (before Timo Kotipelto entered the band) and his vocals are a little bit weaker than Kotipelto´s. But all the elements that made the band famous, such as the hooks in the choruses and the guitar and vocal melodies are present on this release. Plus, here are Tolkki´s ultra fast solos with a rawer sound and we have in the keyboards Antti Ikonen who is a really underrated keyboardist (they used to mix him very low in the recordings). This is to know the beginning of one of today´s top power/heavy metal bands.

Favorite tracks: "4th Reich", "We Are The Future" and "Reign of Terror"

Contact: www.centurymedia.com

REVIEW: SOULFLY - 3

 

SOULFLY - 3 (Roadrunner Records, 2002 )

Produced By: Max Cavalera

Tracks: 1- Downstroy, 2- Seek´N´Strike, 3- One, 4- L.O.T.M., 5- Brasil, 6- Tree of Pain, 7- One Nation, 8- 9-11-01, 9- Call To Arms, 10- Four Elements, 11- Soulfly III, 12- Sangue De Bairro, 13- Zumbi

Cover Art by Nevile and Nesta Garrick

Recorded at Chaton Studios

This is the third recording of the band whose leader and main composer is ex-Sepultura Max Cavalera. With this band Cavalera is using many ideas that were in Sepultura´s last album "Roots" such as the rhythmic riffs, the dissonant guitar solos and the ethnic drumbeats. This time we see no big changes (apart from some industrial touches that some of the songs here have) when compared to the firsrt two albums. What we find here are thirteen songs in the path that the first Souldfly album set but with a better sound. What I always find amazing is the capability of Cavalera of making songs with catchy choruses (check for example "Enterfaith"). This another step in Max Cavalera´s band career.

Favorite tracks: "Downstroy"

Contact: www.roadrunner.com

REVIEW: SOLITARY - 3 TRACK PROMO CD

 

SOLITARY - 3 TRACK PROMO CD (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Solitary

Tracks: 1- Spineless, 2- 15 Years, 3- Relentless

Cover Art by Solitary

How can we describe the songs that Solitary have recorded on this three track promo? Well, I find some things from death metal (some of the vocals), Then I find a lot of modern metal, specially on the guitar sound, the extremely rhythmic riffs (I can imagine a concert of this guys with a lot of moshing and stage diving!!!) and the crystal clear drum sound. It is really important the sound that this guys have achieved on this recording because it gives them a lot of extra power. In fact they have achieved sort of a mix of studio sound but with the energy of a live show. The vocals are of the screaming type and fit this powerful music perfectly. I think this band is the missing link between death metal and modern metal bands like Pro Pain or Crowbar. For lovers of both styles. 

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact: www.solitary.org.uk

REVIEW: SKINLAB - REVOLTING ROOM

 

SKINLAB - REVOLTING ROOM (Century Media, 2002 )

Produced By: Steve Evetts and Andy Sneap

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Come Get It, 3- Slave The Way, 4- Purify, 5- Anthem for a Fallen Star, 6- Disturbing the Art of Expression, 7- Take as Needed, 8- Jesus Cells, 9- Never Give In, 10- One of Us

Recorded at Hyde Street Studios and Trident Studios

Skinlab is a powerful band that started their musical career in the nineties and soon become one of the most powerful bands out there. With an extremely modern sound with enormous guitars, drumming that sometimes is uiltra fast and heavy with double bass and stuff like that and sometimes is more groovy they developed a style of their own. This one is his new album after three years in silence. And this is a brutal comeback...the songs are extremely brutal and this is even more evident because of the excellent mix that the album has. Here we have ten songs where the guitarists devastate you, the drummer destroys your brain and the singer buries you with his vocals which are extreme but at the same time retain some melodies for the choruses. Modern metal for the masses!!!

Favorite tracks: "Slave the Way", "Take as Needed" and "Never Give In"

Contact: www.centurymedia.com

REVIEW: SERRATED SCALPEL - SUSPENDED IN MISERY

 

SERRATED SCALPEL - SUSPENDED IN MISERY (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Serrated Scalpel

Tracks: 1- Incipient Conquest, 2- Suspended in Misery, 3- Pernicious Encomium, 4- Denudation of the Scriptures, 5- Disinformation, 6- The Emblem of Immortality, 7- I.T.R., 8- Pariah, 9- Arcane Is That Which The Gods Bestow

Cover Art by Robbie Crash

Recorded in the Ammonia Gas Chamber

Serrated Scalpel is extremely brutal. Their music is heavy and deathly as hell but they achieve this brutality and violence through different styles. While there are many fast parts Serrated Scalpels uses heavier riffs than the faster ones...in fact the Serrated Scalpel sound is done by a combination of particular drumming with the guitars and the bass adding a lot of bottom end. The drummer is killer with the double bass and at the same time he is a master in accentuating the guitar riffs. One demonstration of this is the track "Pernicious Encomium". There are also really dense parts that are much slower than the rest and allows the band to change rhythms and riffs before getting into an aggressive aprt again. Lovers of brutal bands should check Serrated Scalpel.

Favorite tracks: "Pernicious Encomium", "Disinformation" and "Pariah"

Contact: www.serratedscalpel.cjb.net

REVIEW: SERPENT ECLIPSE - THE SEVEN DESIRES AND WOLVES BLOOD

SERPENT ECLIPSE - THE SEVEN DESIRES AND WOLVES BLOOD (Void Sector Recordings, 2002 )

Produced By: Serpent Eclipse

Tracks: 1- The Seven Desires...(intro), 2- A Sorcerer´s Suicide, 3- Cosmic Waveform Alchemy, 4- Twitch of the Death Nerve, 5- Scarlet Splendour, 6- Thy Bleeding Heavens, 7- When Purity Crawls to its grave, 8- Daimon Dementia, 9- ...Wolves´ Blood

Serpent Eclipse is pure hateful black metal with interesting features. First of all we have to say that this guys go most of the time at full speed but they make a lot of rhythmic changes and have a lot of diversity in the moods of the songs. Also a main characteristic of Serpent Eclipse´s music is the use of programmed drums that give a cybernetic feeling to the music and also the heavy use of keyboards that are esential for all the tracks. The guitars used by the band are extremely raw and make an interesting contrast with the magnificent keyboards making an amazing primitive-sophisticated antagonism within Serpent Eclipse´s music. A must.

Favorite tracks: All the tracks on this CD. Amazing.

Contact: www.voidsector.com

REVIEW: SCENT OF DEATH - ENTANGLED IN HATE

 

SCENT OF DEATH - ENTANGLED IN HATE (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Moncho Lusquiños and Scent of Death

Tracks: 1- Living Structures, 2- Tortured Mind, 3- Perpetual, 4- Feeling the Fear, 5- Entangled in hate, 6- Epilogue

Cover Art by Jaime Gago and Bernardo

Recorded at Taller de Música, Ourense, Spain

How can we describe this band´s music in one word? Brutal!!!! Yes, the music of this Spanish band is brutal as a hammer through your brain!!! But, at the same time this guys have achieved a good level of technical skills here, specially the drummer with interest patterns in the ride cymbal and in the double bass. There are also blast beats for lovers of the fastest parts. The vocals are extremely guttural and there are also some of the screaming type (but the main one is the most guttural). One good thing here is that despite the brutality of the music the guitarist makes some interesting melodies and solos like the one in "Living Structures" that change the mood of the song before getting into the most brutal part again. I recommend this recording to lovers of extremely brutal music done with good quality.

Contact: scentdeath@yahoo.es

REVIEW: SALEM - COLLECTIVE DEMISE

 

SALEM - COLLECTIVE DEMISE (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Salem

Tracks: 1- Broken Yet united, 2- Coming End of Reason, 3- Slave, 4- Act of War, 5- Collective Demise, 6- Dead Eyes, 7- Feed on Your Grief, 8- Decadence in Solitude, 9- Recall, 10- Inhuman Greed

Cover Art by Nir Gutraiman

Recorded at D.B Studios

Directly from Israel comes to us the pmain black/death metal band from that eastern lands. Here is Salem. Their music is amazing!! From extremely fast parts with almost blast beats (the sound is really good and the drums are perfectly mixed) to melodic intros with clean guitars and dual guitars that play melodies (with an eastern flavor in them like on "Collective Demise"). This guys are excellent musicians and they know how to play from the simplest riff to the most difficult one without hesitation. There are female vocals that give some atmospheric feeling to the tracks while the rest of the band continues to play heavy riffs. And this is one important part of Salem´s music....the mix of climatic parts or melodies with their heavier staff (as you can see through all this recording). A must for lovers of extreme music

Favorite tracks: "Dead Eyes", "Recall" and "Act of War"

Contact: http://all.at/salem

REVIEW: RUSH - VAPOR TRAILS

 

RUSH - VAPOR TRAILS (Atlantic Records, 2002 )

Produced By: Rush and Paul Northfield

Tracks: 1- One Little Victory, 2- Ceiling Unlimited, 3- Ghost Rider, 4- Peaceable Kingdom, 5- The Stars Look Down, 6- How It Is, 7- Vapor Trail, 8- Secret Touch, 9- Earthshine, 10- Sweet Miracle, 11- Nocturne, 12- Freeze (Part IV of "Fear"), 13- Out of The Cradle

Cover Art by Hugh Syme

Recorded at Reaction Studios

Since I am a fan of Rush´s music I could not let this album pass without reviewing it. This album starts with "One Little Victory" that is one of the most energetic tracks by the band since some years ago. As always here we have the combination of distorted and clean guitars used by Alex Lifeson, and here we have Gedy Lee´s bass lines and unique vocals and also we have Neil Peart´s unique drumming style (this guy is extremely influential for progressive bands like Dream Theater or Fates Warning). The songs are more direct than in many of the later albums by the band and that would maybe be liked by fans of the "2112" or "Fly By Night" era of the band (even if Geddy Lee is using now a different vocal tonality). Rush continues to make good albums.

Favorite tracks: "Ceiling Unlimited", "One Little Victory" and "How It Is"

Contact: www.rush.com

REVIEW: RUNNING WILD - PORT ROYAL

 

RUNNING WILD - PORT ROYAL (Century Media Recs., 2002 )

Produced By: Running Wild

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Port Royal, 3- Raging Fire, 4- Into the Arena, 5- Uaschitschun, 6- Final Gates, 7- Conquistadores, 8- Blown to Kingdom Come, 9- Warchild, 10- Mutiny, 11- Calico Jack

Cover Art by Sebastian Krüger

Recorded at Sky Trak Studios

Century Media Brazil is rereleasing this classic Running Wild album. This is the album that put the band in the top of the german metal world of the late eighties. With the previous great albums "Under Jolly Roger" and "Gates To Purgatorium", Running Wild established themselves as a great power metal band from Germany. But with this "Port Royal" they made the jump to success. Here we have eighties classics like "Port Royal", "Conquistadores", "Calico Jack" or "Final Gates" that have become icons in the history of metal music. Thumbs up for the release of this classic album from this classic band 

Favorite tracks: "Port Royal", "Conquistadores" and "Calico Jack"

Contact: www.centurymedia.com.br

REVIEW: RISING MOON - AREA 51

RISING MOON - AREA 51 (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Rising Moon and Elegy Records

Tracks: 1- Can´t Die, 2- Thirst of Hydrogen, 3- To Enervate, 4- Nature Killer, 5- Sikoyg-H, 6- Searching Hate, 7- Empty In my Eyes, 8- Forgotten Future, 9-Soulrust C/2010, 10- Area 51

Cover Art by Rising Moon

Having listened the band previous album "European Aliens" I find a lot of improvements on this new album. First of all the sound is much better than "European..."...this time the guitars sound clearer and the band´s complex riffs can be listened in their full magnitude. Then the drums are crystal clear and ypu can admire the double bass drumming that this guys do on most of the tracks. The compositions have improved a lot too, having more changes and more original riffs that are perfectly sustained by the rhythm section. The vocals have become more brutal too and this is fundamental for the mix of technicality and brutality that this band has. Rising Moon is a welcomed band every time that they release a new album!!!!  

Favorite tracks: "Can´t Die", "Natural Killer" and "Forgotten Future"

Contact: www.elegymusic.com