REVIEW: CYBERNETIC ERROSION - MATERIALISATION OF ABOMINATION

 

CYBERNETIC ERROSION - MATERIALISATION OF ABOMINATION (Funeral Decadence Prods., 2000):

Technical data:

Recorded by Viy during 99-00

Cover Artwork by Viy

Track List: 1- Errosive Prayer, 2- Salt Iron Blood, 3- 2000 Years, 4- Black Box, 5- Limited Access, 6- Short Circuit (Materialisation of Abomination).

Viy O.D. is the mind behind Cybernetic Errosion and the only memeber who plays and programs all the instruments. The CD opens with some electronic rhythms and industrial noises before getting into the main riffs of "Errosive Prayer", an instrumental of death-industrial-electronic metal with really heavy riffs over an electronic base. After this fast first tracks...darkness takes command of the music, going into an electronic-atmospheric-gothic sounding track called "Salt Iron Blood" where we can hear Viy O.D´s vocals that are really depressing and sound great over the keyboards chords. What can we find here? Anguish, darkness, obscurity, experimentation through all the tracks (check for example "2000 years", it is like a soundtrack to a funeral...great!). I hope Viy can also release soon his other projects (they are in different veins than Cybernetic Errosion) that I would like to listen. Favorite tracks: "Salt Iron Blood", "Limited Access" and "Black Box". Contact: ulv815@hotmail.com

REVIEW: CRONOS - SUEÑOS DE VANIDADES

 

CRONOS - SUEÑOS DE VANIDADES (Independent, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded at Luka AudioEstudio, San Cristóbal.

Produced by Cronos

Photos by Carina, Malario and José María Prato.

Track List: 1- Antiguos Ritos, 2- Sueños de Vanidades, 3- A Imagen y Semejanza, 4- Nubes Negras, 5- Vuelo al Dolor, 6- Derrochando Mal, 7- Santos inocentes, 8- El Ocaso de Miles, 9- Los Dominios del rey.

Interesting release from this band from the province of Córdoba, Argentina, mixing things of heavy metal with some thrash and doom parts. This is a band that must be taking on account on the metal scene from Argentina because they are mixing influences from seventies, eighties and nineties metal delivering songs with great quality. One thing that I have to point out here is their heavy use of keyboards that on my way of thinking provides a bigger range of possibilities to Cronos music. There is a big contrast between the raw sounding guitars and the clean majestic keyboards here and soundwise I would have liked them to mix a little bit louder the snare drum that gets a bit lost in the mix. Favorite tracks: "Nubes Negras", "Antiguos Ritos" and "Vuelo al Dolor". Contact: cronosband@latinmail.com

REVIEW: CHRIS BURN ENSEMBLE - THE PLACE 1991

 

CHRIS BURN ENSEMBLE - THE PLACE 1991 (Emanem Disc, 2001):

Technical data:

Digital Recording by Martin Davidson, London, October 13th, 1991.

Editing, mastering and Design by Martin Davidson

Front cover photo from a book dating around 1890.

Track List: 1- Presponse, 2- The Piano Ate Card, 3- Pollock #82, 4- Southern Samba A Go-Go, 5- Hammer Hint, 6- Blocks and Arches.

Let´s do a list of all the instruments that we have here: flutes, saxophones, violins, cello, guitar, pianos, percussion, synthesizer and electronics, et, etc. All this instruments are used in the context of compositions for improvisers. The result is really heterogeneous...sometimes calm and melodic, sometimes crazy and noisy, sometimes more coherent, sometimes less. It is really interesting as an exercise for musicians to see how well nine musicians can interact while improvising and being spontaneous. Also it is interesting how sometimes an idea is developed in a really sort spam of time and some of them take more or less seventeen minutes to reach the climax (like on "The Piano Ate Card"). A really heterogeneous release. Favorite tracks: "The Piano Ate Card", "Hammer Hint" and "Blocks and Arches". Contact: www.emanemdisc.com   

REVIEW: CHARNEL HOUSE - SAMPLE OF MURDER

 

CHARNEL HOUSE - SAMPLE OF MURDER (Independent, 2000):

Track List: 1- Of Blood and Bone, 2-Tale of Murder, 3- No reason To Die, 4- Dance of the Dead, 5- Comatose In A Coffin. 

Is this death metal? No, but it has elemnts of the style. Is this thrash metal? No, it is more than that. In fact on this release Charnel House combines the power of death metal with thrash rhythms and riffs that are full of grooves and rhythms (for example on "Tale of Murder" there are riffs and vocals that wouldn´t be out of place in a Grip Inc. Release). Purist Death metal fans don´t worry !! Here there are some fast parts with killer fast drumming on "Dance of the Dead"!! Tharash metal fans rejoice while checking the same track in its old school thrash metal runs and guitar solos.. This guys should continue making music on this vein and emphasizing the more groovy parts. The overall sound of the recording is good but I think the guitars can be mixed better and that will give more power to the music. This guys are releasing their new CD "From Birth to Burial" too!! Favorite tracks: "Tale of Murder", "Comatose in a Coffin". Contact: www.mp3.com/ACharnelHouse

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