REVIEW: EXIDIA - FROM THE DEEP

 

EXIDIA - FROM THE DEEP (Independent/ Kick Promotion Agency, 2001):

Technical Data:

Produced by Exidia

Cover Concept: Exidia

Track List: 1- Proud Now I Wander, 2- The Infection, 3- From the Deep, 4- My Suicide

This another demonstration that not only power metal bands are coming from Italy. In Fact Exidia is a band of brutal and fast death metal. This MCD has all the elements that fans of the style love: Guttural vocals in the vein of Morbid Angel, fast rhythms with crunchy power chords, double bass drumming. The sound is fairly good, in fact I would change a little bit the mix in the guitars, where the rhythm guitar is a little bit low and some leads are mixed high and that gives the sensation that they are hanging on the edge. "From the Deep" is mya favorite track here with double bass drumming and bass rhythm in the beginning before the guitars enter (also there is some interesting guitars at 0:50). For death metal addicts. Contact: www.catsoundstudio.com/Exidia or madfucker@libero.it

REVIEW: ERNESTO DIAZ INFANTE & CHRIS FORSYTH - WIRES AND WOODEN BOXES

 

ERNESTO DIAZ INFANTE & CHRIS FORSYTH - WIRES AND WOODEN BOXES (Pax Recordings, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded by Ross Bonadonna at Wombat Recording Co., Brooklyn.

Mixed by Chris Forsyth and Ross Bonadonna.

Score drawing by Ernesto Díaz-Infante

Track List:   1- NYC Journal excerpt (2000), 2- Metallic Strands…, 3- Sound is good all the time, 4- Straight to it, 5- Pulled Wires, 6- Passing one Another, 7- Knock on Wood, 8- Cut and Dried, 9- To place in, 10- Trace out motion

This is a CD full of duet experimentation between Ernesto Díaz-Infante who plays piano, acoustic guitar, toy piano and small percussion and Chris Forsyth who plays electric guitar, piano soundboard and small percussion. In fact here you will find dissonant chords played by Diaz Infante whil Forsyth experiment with sounds and noises in tracks like "NYC Journal excerpt". Or maybe Forsyth and Diaz Infante experimenting with acoustic and electric guitar at the same time like on "Metallic Strands…" where the search for new sounds and textures between the two instruments is really interesting, specially because of the interaction and coherence among them. This is a recording for lovers of experimentation. Favorite tracks: "Metallic Strands", "Pulled Wires" and "Trace Out Motion". Contact: www.paxrecordings.com

REVIEW: ENDORPHINE - ENDORPHINE

 

ENDORPHINE - ENDORPHINE (Independent / Kick Promotion Agency, 2000):

Technical data:

Recorded and mixed at Jumping Spider´s by Maddalena Bellini.

Artwork by Temno.

Track List: 1- Dust Rivers, 2- Cynic Show, 3- Nectar, 4- Dear Old Friends.

Endorphine plays extremely technical thrash /heavy metal with influences from eighties thrash bands like Annihilator, Testament, etc. Four songs are presented here, one of them an instrumental ("Dear Old Friends") full of thrashy rythms and certain elements and rhythm changes that most metal bands have forgotten (there are certain changes that I would like to listen more often in bands of all metal substyles). I must praise the work of the rhythm section, specially the drums of Peppe Iovine, that avoids certain cliches favoring an original approach to the instrument. Favorite tracks: "Cynic Show" and "Nectar". Contact: www.endorphine.3000.it or madfucker@libero.it  

REVIEW: EN DECLIN - EN DECLIN

 

EN DECLIN - EN DECLIN (Independent, 2001):

Technical Data:

Recorded live at the Outer Sound Studio

Produced by En Declin, G.Orlando, M.Pagliuso

Track List: 1- Night, 2- Time, 3- Flyer, 4- At my Suffer, 5- Still Remain, 6- Fail once for all, 7- To founder, 8- The end is mine.

Really interesting work by this italian band. Mixing death/black metal with a great combination of gothic vocals (clean and melodic) and black metal (screaming ones) voices. Intensive use of clean guitars to enhance the dark feelings, like in the beginning of " Time". One really positive point about this CD is the great sound that this band has achieved in the studio, specially the drums that are really well mixed and that allows the listener to hear all the arrangements that Cristiano Loddo makes with his instrument. Another thing that is interesting is the constant change of riffs and rhythms that are done within the songs and that makes more interesting the final result. Favorite tracks: "Flyer", "Still Remain" and "The End is Mine". Contact: casuc@inwind.it

REVIEW: DARKNESS ETERNAL - DAWN OF THE SUFFERING

 

DARKNESS ETERNAL - DAWN OF THE SUFFERING (Dark Salvation Prods, 2000):

Technical Data:

Recorded and Engineered by Stew Kirkwood. Recorded at Rabbit Hunchback Monkey Studios.

Mixed by Stew Kirkwood and George Velaetis.

Graphic Design by Carol Pylypow

Track List: 1- The Final Conquest, 2- Jesus Bleeding, 3- Mass Suicide, 4- Dawn of the Suffering, 5- The Burning Waters of Acheron, 6- Impeccable Doom, 7- Shadow of the Scorned, 8- Black Pentecost, 9- Abandon Divinity, 10- Unrepenting Malice.

Brutal death metal with slower parts (almost doom in many places). In fact I find that this slower parts and rhythm changes is what Darkness Eternal should exploit to distinguish themselves. George Velaetis knows how to develope some interesting guitar riffs and drum patterns. There are clear differences in the sound between the tracks: in fact, "Jesus Bleeding" is muddier than for example "The Final Conquest". One thing that got my attention is that the booklet says that the songs here were written between 1997 and 2000, so there are some differences in the material. Points to remark: use of great changes and clean parts followed by faster ones like on 1:52 from "Jesus Bleeding". I would like to listen more recent material to see the evolution that this one man band has suffered. Originality within death metal´s realm. Favorite tracks: "Mass Suicide", "The Burning Waters of Acheron". Contact: darknesseternal666@hotmail.com

REVIEW: COOPER - ACTIVATE

 

COOPER - ACTIVATE (Suburban Recs., 2001):

Technical Data:

Mixed by Frank Reijgersberg and Michael Schoots. Engineered by Frank Reijgersberg

Executive Producer: Michael Schoots

Graphics and layout: The Hague, Robert Muda

Track List: 1-Mirror, 2- Whatever Reason, 3- Hello, 4- No Clue, 5- New Age Crap, 6- Numb, 7- Too much on my mind, 8- Yeah!, 9- Doesn´t Matter, 10- Wrapped, 11- Girlfriend, 12 - Sister of Mercy.

Simple and efective rock and roll in the vein of Foo Fighters is what we have here. A lot of punk rock influences are shown here, for example on "Whatever Reason". What this guys have is a lot of pop sensibility because all the songs stick inmediately to your ear through those hooky melodies and the way the songs are created: in the style verse-verse-chorus-verse that is so friendly to the ear. Those looking for experimentation and dark atmospheres will not find them here. But if you like happy music and easy to listen songs will be delighted. Favorite tracks: "No Clue", "New Age Crap" and "Girlfriend". Contact: www.suburban.nl or info@suburban.nl

REVIEW: BY THE GRIEF - AS ONE

 

BY THE GRIEF - AS ONE (Nocturnal Music / Kick Promotions Agency, 2000):

Technical Data:

Recorded, mixed and mastered at West Link Studio - Cascina, Pisa (11/12/99-22/12/99)

Executive Producer: Richard Damien

Graphics and layout: Claudio "Baro" Baroncelli

Track List: 1- As One, 2-Revelation, 3-Fan the Flames, 4- Ray of Sun, 5- Scornriver, 6- Frail, 7- Disconnect the Power, 8- Life Functions Terminated.

Clean guitars open the first track of this CD, "As One", entering into climatic death metal after a while. The music in this CD brought images to my mind of (check this out): Testament, Paradise Lost (certain climatic guitar phrases) and Atheist (specially on the vocals). This italian quintet are extremely technical and they know how to construct a song with extreme musicianship without loosing their power. The use of clean guitars, original riffing (listen to "Revelation") and screaming vocals are the main features of this release. "Fan The Flames" is one of the top moments where the Atheist/Paradise Lost combination gets to its climax (the vocals are really original here). A good album for fans of technical metal full of ideas. Favorite tracks: "Fan The Flames", "Scornriver" (with piano touches) and "Disconnect the Power". Contact: www.nocturnalmusic.com or madfucker@libero.it

REVIEW - BETO VAZQUEZ INFINITY - BATTLE OF VALMOURT

 

BETO VAZQUEZ INFINITY - BATTLE OF VALMOURT (NEMS Enterprises, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded at Estudios El Zoológico, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Max Ditamo and Fabio Lione recorded at La Nave de Oseberg Studios and Tarja Turunen and Jörg Michael recorded at Finnvox Studios.

Mixed by Mikko Karmila at Finnvox Studios. Mastered by Mika Jussila at Finnvox Studios

Cover Illustration by Sebastián Castiñeiras.

Track list:   1- Battle of Valmourt (vocal duet version), 2- Promises Under the Rain (version without lyrics, 3- Multimedia Track

This is a preview of the Beto Vazquez Infinity debut album with different versions of songs that will be appearing on that recording. As we can see there are a lot of guests musicians here, for example Fabio Lione (Rhapsody / Athena/Vision Divine) and Jörg Michael (Stratovarius) on vocals and drums respectively on "Battle of Valmourt" or Tarja Turunen (Nightwish) on the choruses on "Promises Under The Rain" (I would like to listen to the version with the full lyrics to listen the complete results). Beto Vazquez Infinity´s material is really original, including flutes and female vocals within an atmospheric heavy metal context, played with good musicianship and plenty of ideas. I think this is fresh air for the stagnant heavy/power metal scene from Argentina. Contacts: nems@nems.com.ar

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