REVIEW: THE FORSAKEN - MANIFEST OF HATE

 

THE FORSAKEN - MANIFEST OF HATE (Century Media , 2001):

Technical Data:

Recorded and Mixed at Abyss Studios, August 28 - September 15, 2000

Engineered and Produced by Tommy Tägtgren.

Cover Art / Design: Mike Bohatch.

Track List: 1- Seers Hatred, 2- Deamon Breed, 3- Betrayal Within Individuals, 4- Collector of Thoughts, 5- Soulshade, 6- Intro/Manifest of Hate, 7- Dehumanized Perspective, 8- Truth of God, 9- Incinerate, 10- Inseminated by The Beast

Why do you think that so many great bands come from Scandinavia? Is it a cultural reason? Is it the climate? Is it the history of their nations? I don´t know what really is but here is another great band from those lands, this time directly from Sweden. The band has a sound that is not that much original (I would call it like a more modern Gothenburg sound ) and they have the amazing Tommy Tägtgren mixing and producing this recording and that gives them an extra point and extra clarity in the way their instruments sound. This is one of those releases that have no mercy for the listener, going at full power from the beginning with "Seers Hatred" to the end with "Inseminated by the Beast". I find some similarities with At The Gates, and with Dark Tranquility ("The Gallery" era) but those similarities are not so evident. Perhaps they should emphasize riffs like the ones i"Betrayal Within Individuals" that are trully original and the twin guitar solos. Favorite tracks: "Collector of Thoughts", "Dehumanized Perspective" and "Incinerate". Contact: www.centurymedia.com

REVIEW: BRUTAL MIND "DEMO 2001" / KRATER "HELL"

 

BRUTAL MIND "DEMO 2001" / KRATER "HELL" (Independent, 2001):

Track List: Krater - Hell: 1- Hell, 2- Clinic Death, 3- Darkness, 4- Fleshless Sorrow, 5- We aur sol suls to the Devil, 6- Hell - BG, Krater 1991.

Brutal Mind: 1- Die, 2- Gutringer

Michael from Bulgaria is the brain behind these two projects (one of them, Krater is from the beginning of the nineties and I think it has split up) whose music can be described as progressive/ experimental death metal. Krater´s music is full of great epic keyboards. It is interesting to see Michael´s vocals to be so different from what one is accustomed to listen. Brutal Mind has a more modern sound with some heavy metal touches in the guitars (to define it, the track "Die" has guitars that are sometimes heavy metal and sometimes black metal). In Brutal Mind the vocals are more guttural and the speed is one of the main features along with some tempo changes. Also there are some interesting influences of bands like Celtic Frost or the first Coroner in the guitars too. I would like Michael to use the heavy keyboards that he used to put on Krater´s music into Brutal Mind too .

 

REVIEW: BESTIA - DEMO 2001

 

BESTIA - DEMO 2001 (Independent, 2001):

Technical data:

All instruments (except drums) and vocals recorded in home studio - March/May 2001

Mixed by Volly and Andres

Track List: 1- Intro, 2- Viirastus töusvas tules, 3- Igaveseks koos, 4- Läbi halli udu, 5- Igaviku laps, 6- Esoteric Madness.

Bestia is a band from Estonia dedicated to black metal in its purest form. Raw guitars, screaming vocals, hyper fast tempos are some of the charachteristics of their music. Apart from this items, they use two things that are remarkable: riffs that are more rhythmics (as the one that starts "Igaveseks Koos" )and lots of hyper fast guitar melodies. In fact some of the riffs would not be out of place in a heavy metal band. Another thing to remark is that when they use this slower riffs, they use extremely dark tonalities in order to enhance the atmosphere of the songs. The overall sound is pretty good but I think that this guys in a Studio can do much better. This CD is total blackness guaranteed (and it ends with an ambient/electronic track called "Esoteric Madness"). Favorite tracks: "Viirastus Töusvas Tules" and "Igaviku Laps". Contact: www.zone.ee/bestia

REVIEW: BACHUS - DOMINE SPIRITUS

 

BACHUS - DOMINE SPIRITUS (The Flaming Arts, 1999):

Technical data:

Recorded at Atom Bomb Studios, January 1999

Engineered and Mixed by Evgeny Shmuletsov

Produced by Sombre Productions

Track List: 1- Dies Irae, 2- Sederunt, 3- Primogenitus Mortuorum, 4- Nemen Mi Mors, 5- Orgy/Part II, 6- Scirlin, 7- Morrigan, 8- Adonai, 9- Apocalypsis, 10- Calvary

A climatic intro with some whispering vocals leads us into "Sederunt", a slow and atmospheric black metal track full of keyboards and whispering voclas with electronic drums and no guitars. In fact the main instrument here are the keyboards and that turns this work into a more original one. The keyboards are used to create dark atmospheres and to enhance the different kind of vocals that are used throughout the release. This one must be listen to see the constant experimentation that some bands do. Contact: valkalac@mail.ru

REVIEW: AZRAEL - DIMENSION IV

 

AZRAEL - DIMENSION IV (Locomotive Music, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded in Studio Supersonics, Granada.

Produced, mixed and mastered by Mario Gutierrez and Josue M. Martin

Cover art: Carlos 10

Track List:1- En el Umbral, 2- Sacrificio, 3- Nada que Temer, 4- Sentencia, 5- Mujer de Hielo, 6- La Luz de Ishtar, 7- La Noche Cae, 8- Incierta Realidad, 9- Tres y el Apocalipsis, 10- En la Otra Dimensión.

Directly from Spain arrives Azrael´s forth album....this one is called "Dimension IV". An eerie introduction leads us into "Sacrificio" in the vein of the strongest power metal. The strangest thing that this band has are the choruses which sound really Spanish. Another thing that got my attention is the guitar sound that is really heavy (heavier than in most of power metal bands) and the drums are mixed in a way that makes them sound really pure, specially the hihat. Thanks god this band does not use too much the galloping rhyhms that most heavy/power metal bands (specially europeans) use nowadays. There are some interesting ideas, specially on the guitar solos and in some keyboard phrases. Favorite tracks: "Nada Que Temer", "Mujer de Hielo" and "La Luz de Ishtar". Contact: www.locomotivemusic.com   

REVIEW: ALTAR - RED HARVEST

 

ALTAR - RED HARVEST (Crash Music., 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded at Franky´s Recording Kitchen.

Produced by Peter De Koster, Berthus Westerhuis and Marcel Verdurmen

Artwork by Kelder and Kleijer.

Track List: 1- Sick, 2- The Stress Factor, 3- Spikes and Pain, 4- On the Throne, 5- The Unbeliever, 6- Red Harvest, 7- Generation X, 8- To my Friends (RIP), 9- Punishment for Decency.

Directly from the Netherlands here it comes one of the most emblematic bands from that country. Their music goes along the death metal paths with a more modeern touch that brings them also close to bands like Sepultura or Fear Factory. But this band puts more emphasis on brutality and in certain tracks like "The Stress Factor" on speed (this track has an excellent guitar phrase played over the chorus) and rhythm (killer double bass drumming in some tracks), without forgetting to add melodies here and there to spice up the results (as in the beginning of "Spikes and Pain" just to give an example). A really potent album from this band that has also the fame of being a great live act. Favorite tracks: "On the Throne" (melodies over a blast beat?!?!?!), "Red Harvest" and "Punishment for Decency". Contact: www.crash-inc.com

REVIEW: ACID DEATH - RANDOM´S MANIFEST

 

ACID DEATH - RANDOM´S MANIFEST (Black Lotus Recs., 2000)

Track List:1- Perfect Enemy, 2- Random´s Manifest Pt. 1, 3- Psycho love, 4- Sense of Annihilation, 5- Curse of Flesh, 6- In Sorrow, 7- Random´s Manifest Pt. II, 8- Misery colored yellow-black, 9- Teach To Kill, 10- Future Deadlock, 11- Random´s Manifest Pt. III, 12- W.A.R. (Wrong and Right)  

 Modern death metal in all its splendour. Acid Death, a greek death metal machine driven by an almost mechanical drum (courtesy of Costas T.). I loved the music of "Random´s Manifest Pt-1" with interesting keyboard parts, solos and a piano thrown into this death metal madness (really progressive...I wish this track would have been longer). The main element here is the antagony between the most brutal aprts and the dark melodies and experiments that this guys do through the whole recording....for example they do clean arpeggios after fast riffs or they throw a lot of clean guitars. There are also some keyboards enhancing all the results. Killer CD !!!!Favorite tracks: The whole recording. Contact: http://harmaforum.gr/Acid_Death/index_acid.html

REVIEW: NOMENMORTIS - HOW I LEARN TO BLEED... FOR THE THINGS I WISH TO FORGET

 

NOMENMORTIS - HOW I LEARN TO BLEED...FOR THE THINGS I WISH TO FORGET (Jackhammer Music, 2000):

Technical data:

Recorded at Accelerate Studios

Track List: 1- Mercy Dies Right Now (intro), 2- War Chant of the Hated Spawn, 3- maggot Tribe, 4- Tedd Deireadh - Conjunction for Armaggeddon, 5- Left there something to live for?, 6- Seen Through the Thorns of Despair, 7- Empirium of Mist, 8- Something Almost Buried, 9- Another Starblaze...Another Tragedy?, 10- Unholy Voices of Reason - Godexpeller, 11- Outcry of Senseless Sacrificed - Let me die at Last, 12- Eternal Shadow has Arrived (outro)

Death metal !! Yes, death metal in all its magnitude is what this band brings us with their latest release (they are recording new stuff now). The music here is technical death metal with an emphasis in brutality and really well constructed guitar solos . Crushing rhythms and a fat guitar sound made this release a powerful one within the realm of death metal music. Favorite tracks: "Unholy Voices of Reason...", "Outcry of Senseless Sacrificed..." and "Left there something to live for?". Contact: nomenmortis@post.sk

REVIEW: NOMENMORTIS - PROMO 2001

 

NOMENMORTIS - PROMO 2001 (Independent, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded, Mixed and Mastered between 16 may and 18 june, 2001 at Tomako´s Sound Laboratory.

Track List: 1- Mitgefangen Mitgehangen (Neckbreaking Consequences), 2- Stunning Sweetness of Revenge, 3- Steel Wind Symphony, 4- Something Almost Buried (2001 Re-recording)

Nomenmortis, one of the main names in the Slovakian death metal scene is here with a demonstration of what they are doing nowadays. The music is brutal death metal with some vocals that are similar to those used by grindcore bands (because they are really guttural). There are all the elements of the style: fast rhythms, drums at a thousand miles per hour, guttural vocals, maniac solos. I think that the band should use more riffs like some of the used in "Stunning Sweetness of Revenge" which are one of the more interesting ones here. This promo has a good sound, specially on guitars (but I think that the final result when they finish recording their new CD will be much better). It is good to see that this band is evolving in a really good way. Contact: nomenmortis@post.sk

REVIEW: SANCTIMONY - ETERNAL SUFFERING

 

SANCTIMONY - ETERNAL SUFFERING (Father Productions , 1999):

Technical Data:

Recorded at Phoenix Studio - Riga, Latvia.

Recorded, Mixed and Engineered by Janis Levits

Cover Art / Design: Artur Berzins.

Track List: 1 - Christ Church, 2- the Castle Mound, 3- Autumn, 4- the Lost, 5- Eternal Suffering, 6-The Pray, 7- First Cross, 8- Satan Fallus

This is a band of death/black metal with some doom touches that comes directly from Latvia. Their sound is pretty brutal but they have some elements to point out that I think are what this band should use more often: first of all the guitar solos, really tasty, like the ones at the end of "Christ Church", second the more interesting riffs like the one in "The Castle Mound " (1:42)...those are elements that will set this band apart from others of the style. A third point to explore are the slower parts like the one at 2:29 of the same track (with excellent double bass drumming). Full speed is what we found in the beginning of "Autumn" and when we thought this was all in that track, a slower, more atmospheric part appeared (here is another element to explore, the tasty bass licks at 1:02). I don´t know if this band is recording new material but I would like to see how they have evolved since this recording. Favorite tracks: ""The Castle Mound", "Autumn", "The Pray" Contact: Guntis@it.lv