REVIEW: PAUL NELSON - LOOK

 

PAUL NELSON - LOOK - PROMO CD (Independent - 2001):  Virtuoso guitarist Paul Nelson (Liege Lord) unleashes melodies and chops through all the song that compose this promo CD called "Full Blast". Nelson is a great guitar player as has been shown in his work with the beforementioned band and countless collaborations with diverse artists. This song is reminiscent of the shredding fever that was popular in the eighties. I can listen to shades of Joe Satriani, Vinnie Moore and Steve Morse but with a lot of personality in Nelson´s sound. Legatos, speed picking, sweep picking,are predominant aprt of Nelson´s style. I would like to listen the complete work because this guy has a total dominion of his instrument, creating passages full of virtuosity, melodies and good taste. Contact: Liegelord2@aol.com

REVIEW: MURDER SQUAD - UNSANE, INSANE AND MENTALLY DERANGED

 

MURDER SQUAD - UNSANE, INSANE AND MENTALLY DERANGED (Pavement Music - 2001): Death metal the way it used to be in the beginning of the nineties ! Including that muddy sound that was present in the first releases of Entombed, Dismember and Carnage. This is a side project of four famous musicians whose main bands are Entombed (Uffe Cederlund and Peter Stjärnvind) and Dismember (Matti Karki and Rickard Cabeza). The result is similar to what this guys did in the first recordings of the above mentioned bands but with a clearer sound and more experience in the composition of death metal songs. Album opener "Slowly Burnt to Death" is a clear demonstration of what you can find in this recording (and it makes me remember a song from ex Entombed/Therion member Lars Rosemberg´s project when he came to Argentina). Speed, growls, hyper fast leads, deathly slow rhthms, is like watching a catalogue of the best features in the death metal genre (and they sound extremely swedish too). Favorite Tracks: "Twisted High", "The Return of the Rotten" (both musically and lyrically) and "Bloodfreak". Contact: bloodfreaks@hotmail.com

REVIEW: MORGUL - SKETCH OF SUPPOSED MURDERER

 

MORGUL - SKETCH OF SUPPOSED MURDERER (Century Media - 2001): Jack D. Ripper is a strange character and is the only member behind Morgul´s music (the band started as a duo in the early nineties). I think I can define his music as being dark metal with great keyboard orchestration, multiplicity of vocals (clean, high pitched screams, etc.) He introduces the album with the song "Violent Perfect Illusions" with a keyboard melody, orchestration and accentuation done perfectly. What I liked a lot of this Cd is the mixture of standard death metal with all this classical music passages and eastern and folk melodies. The originality is omniprescent in this CD and he dares to do a Kiss cover (that could be a sacrilege for some death/black metal close-minded fans) "She" (I think here the sound is not as good as in the rest of the album maybe is because the guitar riffs and keyboard bases are not as dense as in the other songs) in a very strange version. There are also some pieces with great piano and keyboards like for example "Truth, Liars and Dead Flesh" that for me is the darker song on the CD (the piano melody remembers me of some english horror movies soundtrack from the sixties). My favorite songs: "Of Murder and Misfortune" (with some blast beats than by an electronic drum), "Truth, Liar and Dead Flesh" and "Once Again" (an industrial/death/black experiment). Contact: www.centurymedia.com and http://home.no.net/morgul

REVIEW: MIDNIGHT SYNDICATE - GATES OF DELIRIUM

 

MIDNIGHT SYNDICATE - GATES OF DELIRIUM (Entity Prods. - 2001): The music that Midnight Syndicate developes can be called the soundtrack of a very dark and atmospheric horror movie, because this is the way they are composing now. "Gates of Delirium" is Midnight Syndicate´s fourth recording and is really amazing! The concept of this CD is the story of a madhouse from last century called Haverghast Asylum. The compositional skills of Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka are very mature and they are emphasizing the textures and atmospheres through all the albums with a load of keyboards and samplers. Plus there are voices from the characters of the story that really transport the listener into Haverghast Asylum. Twenty one great gothic and dark songs/passages composethis recording where I would point out the magnificence of "Haverghast Asylum" with its sad melody, the persecution like atmosphere in "Halls of Insurrection" or the orchestration grandeur in "Residents Past". The whole album is really amazing an they have become one of my favoirte bands because of their musical and compositional skills. This is an album to listen with the lights out and letting your imagination flow. 

Contact: info@midnightsyndicate.com

REVIEWS: MADDER MORTEM - ALL FLESH IS GRASS

 

MADDER MORTEM - ALL FLESH IS GRASS (Century Media - 2001): Agnete M. Kirkevaag has a powerful voice. And this is the first thing I though t when her voice appeared in the first song ("Breaker of Worlds") of this album, the second CD from this norwegian band (The first one is called "Mercury"). This woman uses her voice in a completely different way than most female vocalists do nowadays: she is really more aggressive. I mean she is energetic but he knows how to do it while singing great original melodies over the wall of sound created by the musicians. The second thing that came into my mind is the quality of the sound in this recording: is fantastic! Recorded on Studio Underground from Sweden where bands like Opera IX, Carnal Forge or Necrodeath have recorded, this CD features nine tracks of pure heaviness, pure twisted melodies and strange vocal harmonies. What the band wants to emphasize are the different atmospheres and textures that you can find through all the CD: Pure heaviness ("To Kill and Kill Again"), depression and despair ("The Cluster Children"), beauty ("Head on Pillow"). This is an amazing second effort of this promising band. I have not listened their debut but I would love to, considering the quality of "All Flesh is Grass". Favorite Tracks: The Whole Album. Contact: www.centurymedia.com or www.maddermortem.com

REVIEW: LUTI KRISS - THROWING MYSELF

 

LUTI KRISS - THROWING MYSELF (SolidState Recs. - 2001): This band´s music is really heavy, modern and climatic…the first band that comes to my mind when listening to them is Deftones, also I feel there are some shades of Fear Factory and Pantera in there but in a minor proportion. The recording has a strange introduction with some noises and effects before getting into "Black Smith" with great tempo changes in some parts. Followed by "The "Annihilat" Ion" a song with furious rhythms and vocals. Some exotic sounding melodies along with some breathing bases are thrown in "Ligh Blue Collar " one of my favorite tracks from this recording. "Patinetly Philadelphia" starts with an original riff before getting into some vocal madness and melody lines that creat an atmosphere of oppression. This band is really original and gives a needed new twist to modern metal music. My favorite tracks: "Light Blue Collar", "Patiently Philadelphia" and "An Act of My Own Volition". Contact: teresa@toothandnail.com

REVIEW: KRATORNAS- THE ONSLAUGHT OF BATTLE DEMONS, UNHOLY IMPALER - COLLECTION OF MEPHISTOPHILIS, PAGAN WINTER - INFEROS

 

KRATORNAS- THE ONSLAUGHT OF BATTLE DEMONS, UNHOLY IMPALER - COLLECTION OF MEPHISTOPHILIS, PAGAN WINTER - INFEROS (Ligum Dulum Prods. - 2000): This is a cassette that the people in ligum Dulum Prods. sent me containing songs from three of their bands, Kratornas from Philippines, Unholy Impaler from Italy and Pagan Winter from Germany. Kratornas is a really fast bands with elements of death/black metal and grindcore. They have interesting parts when they try to go slower and develop good ideas. What find strange here are some of the vocals that are two highpitched and distorted and seem an electric saw (maybe is because the sound is not really good). "Armaments of Sadism" is the song that I think Kratornas must use as a mould for new songs. Un holy Impaler has different songs and riffs with a crushing guitar sound (evethough the mix is not so good) and they have originality in their black metallish music. Songs like "Horror Village" and "Ritual tribal practice" are future classics of the underground. Germany´s Pagan Winter are graced with the better sound of the three bands here. Their music is raw black metal with fast riffs, blast beats and the vocals typical in the genre. There are also influences of bands of 80s thrash metal like Kreator, Destruction and early Sodom. Also there are some Bthory influences too, but with a faster edge like in bands such as Immortal. A great mix to my ears. Contact: ligumdulum@angelfire.com

REVIEW: KEMET - DYING WITH ELEGANCE

 

KEMET - DYING WITH ELEGANCE (Deadsun Recs. - 2000): Exceptional record from this great band from France. A mix of doom and gothic parts with great climatic vocals, ocassional screamings and great guitars are what make this recording so special. The opening with "Immaculate is really a great beginning with clean guitars pushing through a melody that soon becomes a distorted rythm in the fashion of My Dying Bride or Anathema. The vocals in this track are awesome, sort of a cross of Pete Steele and Aaron from My Dying Bride in the clean parts but worked out in a completely different way (In fact what I like from the singer is that he can transmit the feelings which he is singing about) . In fact the second song "Cowardly yours" starts in amore death metal fashion but getting more climatic after a few seconds. In the middle part of this song there is a screaming part (sort of black metallish) with some Emperor´s shades. "Will you forgive me" has the addition of really interesting bass lines that ornaments the work of the voclas and some twin guitar harmonies that are fundamental for the harmonies. This is an album to listen numerous times because you can find something new each time you listen it. Specially beautiful are the female vocals in "Like a Musing" that make an interesting contrast with the vocalist´s vocals and the guitar solo melodie in the middle of that song. The inclussion of acoustic guitars in some of the songs really help to remark the atmospheres that are present throughout the whole album. My favorite tracks: "Like a Musing", "Immaculate" and "Insignificant". Email: gurkkhas@aol.com

REVIEW: KATATONIA - LAST FAIR DEAL GONE DOWN

 

KATATONIA - LAST FAIR DEAL GONE DOWN (Peaceville Recs. - 2001): As they always did, Katatonia manages this time to surprise you with their newest recording. The atmospheres so depressing in their previous recording are present here two but in a more subtle way: as one can see in opener "Dispossession" (sort of Pink Floyd in some places, specially in the vocals). There is more contrast between the heavier parts such as the ones present in "Chrome" and the cleaner ones ("We Must Bury You" (with great lyrics)) specially when they are put one next to each other. What amazes here is the sound that is cleaner and more up to the fron than in previous recordings…I think the production is much better here (the CD was recorded on the great Sunlight Studios from Sweden and was recorded, mixed and engineered by legend Tomas Skogsberg, Jocke Petterson and Katatonia themselves). What I like from Katatonia is their hability to make a fusion of metal, gothic, dark and experimental music to create their own style (and this have made fans form such different styles as death/black metal and gothic music to like them). Jonas Renkse vocals are as charming, hypnotic and personal as always (check as an example "Tonight´s Music") and Anders Nyström and Fred Norrman are amazing in their job of constructing the songs with rhythms and subtle melodies. Katatonia is one of those bands that never will dissapoint you. My favorite tracks: "We Must Bury You", "The Future of Speech" (great orchestration) and "Sweet Nurse". Contact: www.peaceville.com

REVIEW: INSOLENCE - REVOLUTION

 

INSOLENCE - REVOLUTION (Maverick Recs. - 2001): This intense recording of this band from San Jose, California is a welcome addition to the "new metal" scene. The sound of the band is a mix of bands like Soulfly, Living Sacrifice, Korn, Limp Biskit (also some of the vocals are similar to the ones in The Prodigy and some melodies really twisted like the ones you can hear in a band like Tool) and many more. There are also some reggae and funk influences too. This band is really tight and it looks like that it has been rehearsing and playing live a lot. "Death Threat", the song that opens the CD is a song destined to be a hit. Second song " Head 2 Head" is much more aggressive and I liked it much more because of the strength that pours out of all the song´s parts. There are fourteen songs in this CD, including one experimental/industrial/hip-hop track called "Mad Science II". The band is touring with Soulfly, so I think that those concerts willbe killer…plus it would be good to see Insolence live to see their live act that they tell is very impressive. Contact: christian@susanblondinc.com