REVIEW: AURORA BOREALIS - NORTHERN LIGHTS

 

AURORA BOREALIS - NORTHERN LIGHTS (Diehard Music, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded at Nightsky Studios, Oct-Dec. 1999

Engineered and Produced by Ron Vento. Mastered at IQ Studios

Front Cover Art: Jay Marsh

Track List: 1-Thrice Told, 2- Enter the Halls, 3- Images in the Nightsky, 4- Draco, 5-Sky Dweller, 6- Hydrah, 7-Dream God, 8- Hydrah, 9- Dream God, 10- Distant. European bonus tracks: 11- War of the Rings, 12- Offerings of Jade and Blood, 13- Constellations Embellished with Chaos, 14- Aggressive Dynasty, 15 - Calm Before the Storm.

I published the review of this CD some issues back when Ron Vento sent me the CD. Now the guys in Diehard Music have issued this great album but containing five bonus tracks for Europe. The music is fast, direct black/death metal with good fast drumming with lots of double bass patterns. Interesting guitar riffs, specially the more original ones like on "Enter the Halls" (0:19) or the beginning of "Hydrah". The bonus tracks here are not so good sounding on the guitar like the rest of the recording but they have killer drumming (listen to the beginning of "War of the rings") and an interesting bass sound. Here the mix is lacking a little bit of depth on the guitars but the songs are really good ones and it shows the evolution that Aurora Borealis has gone through. Contact: www.diehardmusic.com or diehard@diehardmusic.com

REVIEW: AT VANCE - DRAGONCHASER + EARLY WORKS CENTER

 

AT VANCE - DRAGONCHASER + EARLY WORKS CENTERS (NEMS Enterprises, 2001):

Technical Data "Dragonchaser":

Recorded and Mixed by Olaf Lenk at Guitarland Studio.

Produced by Olaf lenk and Axel Thubeauville.

Artwork: Cristoph Berch

Track List:  Dragonchaser: 1- Dragonchaser, 2- Ages of Glory, 3- Crucified, 4- Beethoven 5th Sinfonie, 5- Heaven Can Wait, 6- The Winner Takes it All, 7- My Bleeding heart, 8- Two Kings, 9- Too Late, 10- Ases Death.

Early Works Centers: 1- Falling One by One, 2- Fortuneteller, 3- You´ll Survive, 4- The Guide, 5- My one and only love, 6- Tales of Mystery, 7- Out of Reach, 8- Your Love, 9- Kiss of Death, 10- Burning My Heart, 11- Memories, 12- Winter, 13- Tears of Pain, 14- Take My Heart, 15- Desperado

This is a 2 CD set containing the new At Vance album called "Dragonchaser" and the first one that was unavailable and is called "Centers". It is interesting to see in this package the evolution that the band has suffered since their first recordings. From all the power/heavy metal bands that surfaced in the latest years in the scene I think At Vance is one of the best (along with Symphony X). With the Malmsteen-like guitars of Olaf Lenk the tracks in Dragonchaser are much better sounding than the ones in "Heart of Steel", eventhough they are not so original. I prefer those tracks where originality surfaces, like for example on "Crucified" where they break part of the power metal structure favoring a more direct approach. For lovers of rarities: Dragonchaser includes an ABBA cover (it seems that this people are really fans) "The Winner Takes it All" and a version of Beethoven´s Fifth Symphony. The tracks in "Centers" are more direct in some aspects, with less arrangements and the mix is not as good as in "Dragonchaser", but you can listen perfectly Lenk´s guitar and the great vocals (that here sound sometimes like Joe Lynn Turner and sometimes like Graham Bonnett), the drums are a little bit thin for my taste here and it seems that for theirs too because they have changed that in the next recordings. Favorite tracks: " Crucify", "Ases Death" and "Ages of Glory". Contact: nems@nems.com.ar

REVIEW: ATTRITION - EPHEMERA

 

ATTRITION - EPHEMERA (INCIDENTAL MUSIC VOL.II) (Invisible Recs., 2001):

Technical Data:

Recorded on location at The Cage - March-Dec 1993.

Remastered by Martin Bowes at The Cage, January 2001.

Art: Mark P. Lomax. Design by John Bergin,

Track List: 1- The Long Wait, 2- A Great Desire, 3- The Big Lie, 4- Wetenscap (Dream #9), 5- Lang Zal Jij Leven

This Attrition CD is completely different from "The Hidden Agenda". Where in that recording rhythmic patterns and bass drum were all over the place, here you have more atmospheric sounds, and climatic work. This are soundscapes made by the total experimental brain of Mr. Martin Bowes who si in charge of all the music here. Fans of this kind of electronic music will be delighted (perhaps this will be a little dark from them because of the heavy use of keyboard chords to create obscure atmospheres and the use of industrial sounding drums). Very interesting but for open minded persons. Favorite tracks: "A Great Desire" (with noisy intro followed by electronics) and "The Big Lie" (like a science fiction movie soundtrack). Contact: www.attrition.co.uk or www.invisiblerecords.com

REVIEW: ATTRITION - THE HIDDEN AGENDA

 

ATTRITION - THE HIDDEN AGENDA (Invisible Recs., 2001):

Technical Data:

Recorded and mixed at The Cage - 1992-1993.

Produced by Martin Bowes and Mark Beswick.

Remastered by Martin Bowes at the Cage, 2000.

Art: Mark P. Lomax.

Track List: 1- Lip Sync (Xenophobia Edit), 2- Agenda Station, 3- The Deadline, 4- This Great Design, 5- Sister Teresa, 6- The Silent Mind, 7- The Cage, 8- The Mercy Machine, 9- The Next Day (re-visited), 10- His Latest Flame, 11- Lip Sync (reprise), 12- The Third House, 13- A Wing and a Prayer.

Well, in fact I like this kind of music: electronic sounding with lots of electronic and programming that is not designed to dance and shake your body. This is done to experiment with sounds that are not so common (eventhough "Lip Sync" would not be out of place in some weird rave). The voice here reminded me in some places of the guy in Rammstein, but this was recorded when that band didn´t even exist. There are a lot of industrial sounds here butthe fundamental here is the sound of electronic drums with that interesting ganme of female and male vocals that make the sound darker. I don´t know what Attrition is doing nowadays but I would like to listen new material from them to see how they have evolved since this CD. Contact: www.attrition.co.uk or www.invisiblerecords.com

REVIEW: ARCHAEAN HARMONY - NIHILITY MUNDANE SOUL

 

ARCHAEAN HARMONY - NIHILITY MUNDANE SOUL (Solemn Music, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded and Mixed at Temple Studios, 15-18 July 1999

Sound Engineered and mixed by David Vella.

Produced by David Vella and Archaean Harmony.

Logo, Artwork and Design: C.J.Zarb

Track List: 1- Nihility Mundane Soul…Eschatology berft, l´Apostasy, 2- Metabolism Under the Ascending Moon Part I, 3- Metabolism Under the Ascending Moon Part II, 4- Venery Dreams.

Climatic black/dark metal band with really subtle elements !. This is the rerelease of the "Promo 99" from this killer band and as it says on the booklet, it is not a reflection of the new directions Archaean Harmony is working now. Main charachteristic of this recording: lot of keyboards, playing chord progressions, interludes; excelent guitars (killer melodies through the four tracks, interesting acoustics, excelent solos), played in a really subtle way, emphasizing the atmosphere of the music; some electronic drums that sound a little bit thin in some places but it helps also to generate the "Archaean Harmony sound". This is totally recomendable for fans of original music, elaborated black metal, and fans of atmospheric music too. A must. Favorite tracks: All four. Contact: http://go.to/solemn or solemusic@hotmail.com

REVIEW: AMBEON - FATE OF A DREAMER

 

AMBEON - FATE OF A DREAMER (Transmission/NEMS Enterprises, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded, Produced and Mixed at the Electric Castle by Arjen Lucassen.

Mastered by Sascha Paeth

Layout by mail@dresham.de

Track list: 1- Estranged, 2- Ashes, 3- High, 4- Cold Metal, 5- Fate, 6- Sick Ceremony, 7- Lost Message, 8- Surreal, 9- Sweet little Brother, 10- Dreamer

This is a project that originally Arjen Lucassen planed as another Ayreon album, but finally he decided to do it different when he listened to 14 year old Astrid Van Der Veen who sings through all this album. In fact her excellent vocals are close to the tone of Annekke Van Giesbergen (The Gathering) but they are used in quite a different manner. Lucassen´s music is more calm and introspective on this album than in his work with Ayreon like showing a side that he had not shown before in his other project. As always there are a lot of keyboards but here they have the role of enhancing Astrid´s vocals which are the axis around which this CD spins. Another positive fact on this album is the great sound that Lucassen has achieved this time. Favorite tracks: "High", "Sick Ceremony" and "Surreal". Contact: nems@nems.com.ar

REVIEW: AEON - DARK ORDER

 

AEON - DARK ORDER (DeathVomit/Necropolis Recs., 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded and Mixed at Courthouse Studio, Östersund, Summer 2000.

Produced by Johan Hjelm. Engineered and mixed by Johan Hjelm.

Cover artwork and layout by José Montemayor.

Track list:  1- The Return of Apolluon, 2- Eternal hate, 3- With Blood they Pay, 4- The Awakening, 5- Bloodlust, 6- Hell Unleashed.

Powerful album from this death gods ! The first things that take your attention here is how well mixed the guitars are, specially the rhythmic ones that are a kick in your face. The sound, to give you an idea is like having a mix of Morbid Angel and Fear Factory and throwing this into a brutal death metal machine. There are some interesting lead guitars phrases thrown into this mix too (there is a killer solo in "With Blood they Pay" with good legato technique and some tapping too). There are no subtle things here, everything here is designed to crush you like a one thousand ton hammer (ten ton hammer is for Machine Head, so I think One thousand ton hammer is more apropriated for Aeon). Fans of brutality will have orgasms here !!. Favorite tracks: "With blood they pay", "The Return of Apolluon". Contact: www.necropolisrecords.com

REVIEW: 500 FT. OF PIPE - DOPE DEAL

 

500 FT. OF PIPE - DOPE DEAL (Beard of Stars Recs., 2001):

Technical data:

Produced,Recorded, Mastered and Mixed by Kris Shier for Hire and 500 Ft of Pipe.

Track List: 1- Detroit City (Never Done Me No Good), 2- 77 Burnout, 3- Not your Mule, 4- Dope Deal, 5- 420 To Go, 6- Big brother, 7- D.E.A., 8- Sunshine Superman, 9- Wear it Out, 10- We Blew the Whole Thing Up.

Stoner rock !!! Yes, this type of crude rock with psychodelic influences and drug inspired lyrics is what 500 Ft. Of Pipe does….and they do it really good ! As any band of the style should have, this band has a definetly seventies sound through all their recording. I liked a lot the guitarist that sometimes sounds like Tony Iommi because of this muddy sound that his guitar has and some licks that involves bending and legato that the Black Sabbath guitarist does sometimes. The music here is rocking and definetly takes you back to an era where the feeling was completely different from nowadays and there was a look for experimentation. A thing that caught my attention is that this is a trio consisting of a guitarist, a drummer and a keyboard/singer (his vocals are in the way of Corrosion of Conformity/Down singer Pepper Keenan) and that gives a special sound to them. Favorite tracks: "Sunshine Superman", "Dope Deal" and "We Blew the Whole thing Up". Contact: www.vinylmagic3.it

REVIEW: 2 TON PREDATOR - BOOGIE

 

2 TON PREDATOR - BOOGIE (Diehard Music, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded by Tue Madsen at the Ant-farm Studios, Ärhus/Denmark, April 2001

Engineered/Mixed/Mastered by Tue Madsen at the Ant-farm Studios

Produced by Tue Madsen and 2 Ton Predator

Art Direction and layout: Søren Granhof Schjøtt

Track List: 1- Boogie, 2- Duct Tape History, 3- Broken Bond, 4-Pumpjack pleasure, 5- Hail from Sweden, 6- Freak 2000, 7- Downright Evil, 8- 4 Tounges Strong, 9- Turning Point, 10- September Flu, 11- Last Boost, 12- Empty Chambers.

This is powerful metal in the vein of Machine Head or Sepultura but much more aggressive. Some elements of death metal and hardcore surface her and there but the interesting thing here are the rhythms that go far beyond speed. There are certain elements that reminded me of Pro-Pain but in fact this is really different from that. 2 Ton Predator has an interesting point in the vocals of Mogge who is a really flexible screamer (going from melodic lines a la Phil Anselmo to a deeper growling). A killer guitarist is another column of 2 Ton Predator with rhythmic riffs, favoring good taste. Songs like "Pumpjack pleasure" are ideal for the moshpit !! Favorite tracks: "Duct Tape Story", "Pumpjack Pleasure" and "Downright Evil". Contact: www.diehardmusic.com or diehard@diehardmusic.com  

INTERVIEW WITH SACRED SIN

Portugal´s metal scene is growing stronger every day and here we have one of the main exponents of that scene, Sacred Sin. Jose Costa, bassist and vocalist of the band talked with us:

Do you consider yourself a progressive death metal band or is this term a little bit too narrow to describe your music?

Well I always defined SS as a extreme Metal band. We have a very vast number of influences that goes from one side of the Metal spectrum to the other. We love such different bands as IRON MAIDEN, SLAYER, MERCYFUL FATE, CELTIC FROST, ACCEPT, DARK ANGEL, SAVATAGE, POSSESSED, HELLOWEEN, etc . We have our roots in the 80´s thrash, we have the intense and brutal Black / Death Metal touch, lots of atmosphear and melodic leads and different kinds of vocals as the concept of the song demands. The mixing of all this styles came in a very natural way when we are doing the songs.

What can you tell me about "Translucid Dream Mirror"?

It was recorded between December 2000 and January 2001. It includes 13 new tracks plus a cover from SLAYER «Evil has no boundaries».

Finally on this last album we had the time to do all that we imagined when recording the songs, instead of doing a more simple and direct aproach as the previous records. All the concept of our music is much more clear now because we had enough studio time to let all the ideas flow and we were carefull on the mixing so you can actually listen to all that.

Normally our songs had all lyrics in English, including sometimes a part in Portuguese or Latin. On this album I used different languages because sometimes I feel that a certain part or a song would sound better in that language. There are various reasons for that. Like in "La clef des grands misteres" it should be mostly in French because the inpiration came from there, with writer Elifas Lévi. In "Zukunft Kenntnis" it was a question of sound, and German language did suit perfectly in that part. But on "Malificent Genii" the part in Spanish came because the lyrics were inspired by a medieval Spanish tale. The Latin used in "Mei lacrimae in tenebrae" and "Transmutations (sphera lunae sepiternum...)" was a question of sound. And finally on "The shadow gate" the end is in Portuguese because it was written like that from the begining and I though it should be better to keep it like that.

Which do you think are the main differences between "Translucid..." and "Anguish...I harvest"?

If you listen carefully you will notice that this album is just as fast and brutal as our old songs, the main difference is that now we could have more time to produce the vocals so I could put on all my ideas, and also we gave more freedom to the keyboards to expand in our music. The overall result sounds much more dark and melodic but it still aggressive and extreme as before.

What can you tell me about the "13th Cave" Studio? Is that your own studio?

Yes we used mainly our studio the «13th Cave» owned by Pedro Miguel the guitar player and engineer of this album. Only for the drums we had to go record at «Overhead studio». We have improved a lot the studio equipment this last months, as for the recording of «Translucid» we had to rent some necessary material. At this moment the studio is much more independent and we plan to make the next album there too.

How do you see your evolution since you released your first promo tape in 1991?

Puff... we had passed through a lot since those days ! In terms of music and influencies the band is still tied to it's roots, but there was evolution in many ways. We had several line-up changes through the years and that also causes some changes in the way we sound. But if you get to listen all our albuns you easily trace the basic lines of our music style. I always intend to make diferent things in each album, yet we have big efford so that all should sound in place in our music.

Why did you choose Demolition Records to release "Translucid..."?

They offered us the best conditions, and respect our scheadule and plans for this album. We had different offers from other labels but with DEMOLITION Rec. we are free to decide upon the band and our music.

Are you touring to support the release of "Translucid..."?

Yes, we did a few shows in April, and we had to cancel some shows due to an accident we had with our van. From September to December we have more shows in Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium and Germany. Our new live show is very powerful and we have been getting great response.

I found great the inclusion of keyboards which sound like the ones they use in bands like Dream Theater doing melodies, solos and other stuff. Was this an intentional addition or is it the way the songs came out?

Thanks for your appreciation. Yes we planned to use a lot more keys on this album. We allow the keyboarder to let his inspiration flow on the songs and this is the way it came out ! We have been using keys in our music since our first recording but for this album they are not only giving atmosphear to the music, but often the keys have a independent role, expanding the songs to other horizons.

There are some guest vocalists in "Translucid..." like Carla Mourao or Leen Van Damme...Why did you choose to include them?

They sounded good for those parts. It's a question of finding the best way to fullfil an ideia for a song or a part. Beside female voices there are also other male voices that made comtribution on some songs, and for the same motive: acheive the best for each part of the song.

Do you have plans to release your material like the "Promo Tape 91", "The Shades Behind" EP or "The Other Sides" tape on CD?

Yes, as a matter of fact we do. The plan is to include all that plus both our albuns «Darkside» and «Eye'm'God» and videos in one package double-cd edition. It's all planned since Summer to be released under the name of «Mastery of holy imperial art», but so far the label have been delaying it. The package is really cool and it's to be sold at the price of a normal cd.

What do you think about other portuguese bands like Moonspell or Inthyflesh?

Moonspell is very important to our national scene. They are the biggest Metal band in Portugal, and got a lot of attention in the international scene, and that it's good for all other Metal bands here. Fortunatly we have a lots of cool bands just waiting for a chance to grow. Here the economic conditions dictate a lot of restrictions in some terms, but we got lots of promising musicians working hard to get some success for their projects.

Do you think that your music style is better received in Europe than in the USA? Why do you think is that?

The new album was distributed in the US in October, so it's still to soon to make a definite comment on that matter. Anyway, for the reactions we had so far from our older releases, usually in Europe we get the best reception.

Some final thoughts?

I want to thank you, first of all for this nice interview. All into Metal music should have a listen to our new album to check it out ! Don't loose the chance to hear our «brutalized Heavy Metal» ! Anything more about the band you can look in www.sacredsin.org . Keep extreme and stay Metal !

SACRED SIN - DISCOGRAPHY

The Shades Behind - CD

Darkside - CD

Eye M God - CD

Anguish...I harvest - CD

Translucid Dream Mirror - CD

ACTUAL LINEUP

José Costa - bass and vocals

Nuno Goncalves - guitar

Pedro Miguel - guitar

Danilo Wavick - drums

Tiago Loureiro - keyboards