REVIEW: APOPHIS - HELIOPOLIS

 

APOPHIS - HELIOPOLIS (Morbid Records, 1998):

Technical data:

Artwork by Joachim Scheffler

Track List: 1- The Serpent God, 2- Choirs of Bitterness, 3- Reincarnation of the Serpent God, 4- Tear Down Your Walls, 5- Resurrection, 6- Ein Meer Aus Tränen, 7- Dominion, 8- Behold His Arrival, 9- Nobody Will Miss You

Some issues ago I interviewed this German band and they seemed to me a very interesting death metal band. Now, while listening to their music I am not dissapointed, they are powerful and they have very good skills as musicians to make their music very interesting to the listener. One good thing that I listen of this band is that I feel that they have worked a lot on their guitar riffs making some of them very glorious in the vein of some very technical band s like Megadeth in their "Rust in Peace" album but all in a death metal context (I mean, with a heavier sound and a lot of brutality added). That is, this guys have learned a lot from other styles and from their influences and then they have transformed, adapted and thrown everything into their music making it sound very original. This is also one of the CDs of the month. Contact: www.morbidrecords.de 

REVIEW: ANTROPOFAGUS - ALIVE IS GOOD, DEAD IS BETTER

 

ANTROPOFAGUS - ALIVE IS GOOD, DEAD IS BETTER (Beyond Prods., 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Paolo Valenti and Antropofagus at Lord Studio

Photos by Jose Taglia

Track List: 1- Fucking a Baphomet Made of Flesh, 2- 1: Chainsaw Sterilizing, 3-L´aldila...e tu vivrai nel terrore

Here is Antropofagus new MCD (with a cover art that is a tribute to Carcass "Symphonies of Sickness"). There are three tracks here and the music is a pure holocaust, pure grind. But the guitars sound much clearer than in any grindcore album (almost like an industrial band...they are mixed quite loud here). The drums are well programmed trying to make it sound more natural and it makes some interesting break and passages. There are plenty of hyperfast guitar riffs and vocals that are extremely guttural, everything surrounded by a horror film atmosphere with voices, noises and sounds that are extracted from movies of the genre. Favorite tracks: "Fucking a Baphomet Made of Flesh" and "Chainsaw Sterilizing". Contact: www.beyondprod.com

REVIEW: AMEN - WE HAVE COME FOR YOUR PARENTS

 

AMEN - WE HAVE COME FOR YOUR PARENTS (Virgin Records, 2000):

Technical data:

Produced by Ross Robinson

Track List: 1- OK Killer, 2- Refuse Amen, 3- Justified, 4- The Price of Reality, 5- Mayday, 6- Under the Robe, 7- Dead on the Bible, 8- Too Hard To Be Free, 9- Ungrateful Dead, 10- Piss Virus, 11- The Waiting, 12- Take My head, 13- In Your Suit, 14- Here´s the Poison

New Metal, Modern Metal. Call it as you like. This style has become a one on its own, loved by some people and hated by others with the same intensity. Here comes Amen, a band that practices this style but in its most aggressive form as it is shown since the beginning with the short and explosive "OK Killer" . In fact they are not taking influence from bands like Korn, etc. I think they have some Machine Head influences (even though the music is completely different, specially the vocals) because of the guitar riffs that are more hardcore crushing with some artificial harmonics here and there. I prefer the bands that are like Amen to those that have too much hip hop in their music. A powrful album. Favorite tracks: "Refuse Amen", " Under The Robe", "Dead On the Bible". Contact: www.amen-us.com

REVIEW: ALGAION - GENERAL ENMITY

 

ALGAION - GENERAL ENMITY (Wounded Love Records, 1998):

Technical data:

Recorded at W.E.T. Musikstudio

Recorded, Mixed and Edited by Lollo Öberg

Track List: 1- Inductio, 2- General Enmity, 3- No Will Without Fire, 4- Unstained Progress, 5- Nature Red in Tooth and Claw, 6- An Impending Disaster, 7- Mangod Hold The Sceptre, 8- Lies of Human Value, 9- the Angel of Decease, 10- Indifference Beyond Misanthropy, 11- It´s Darker In the Present, 12- The Root of Inhumanity, 13- Conclusio

Having listened to Algaion´s first album, I have two things to say: 1- they are much better on this album with better compositions and better sound, 2- They have changed a little bit their approach using more often heavy metal riffs (without loosing their black metal roots in the process)and using more arrangements in all their tracks. The two minds behind the banda have developed the way to create great tracks without loosing the heaviness of their music. How subtle are this guys in some parts, and how ethereal in others, and how heavy through the whole album. The guitars are sounding much better this time than on the last album nd also the drums have improved a lot. A great improvement from a great band. Contact: wounder@tin.it 

REVIEW: ALASTOR SANGUINARY EMBRYO - ETERNAL TEARS THROUGH ASMODEO´S BLACKENED FLAMES

 

ALASTOR SANGUINARY EMBRIO - ETERNAL TEARS THROUGH ASMODEO´S BLACKENED FLAMES (Independent, 1999):

Track List: 1- Blackart Masterpiece, 2- Through Asmodeo´s Blackened Flames, 3- The Four In Unisono, 4- Eternal Tears, 5- The Universe´s Pillars Fall

In this new work from Alastor Sanguinary Embrio from Costa Rica, they show a lot of improvements when compared to "The Howling Creatures of Night". Opening like on tthat demo with an acoustic guitar intro ( this is in the vein of some works from Fernando Sor). The band shows here that the two years that separate this new work from the prior one were not spent in vane. They show that they have worked a lot to achieve better songs with better sound (the keyboards here are fundamental for the new tracks and they add interesting phrases to them). The music is still black metal but it has become more complex and they have become more subtle in certain arrangements. Well, since two years have passed since this CD I hope that they will release something new one of this days. Favorite tracks:" The Four in Unisono", "Eternal Tears". Contact: www.zonaunderground.com

REVIEW: ALASTOR SANGUINARY EMBRYO

 

ALASTOR SANGUINARY EMBRIO - THE HOWLING CREATURE OF NIGHT (Independent, 1997):

Track List: 1- Odio, 2- Poetry For Thy Glory, 3- My Fields Are unholy, 4- Through a Valley of Night Souls, 5- Where No Light Can Reach, 6- Sanguinary Embryo, 7- Ridin Thy Darklands, 8- The Infinity of Luciferian Wings, 9- Beyond my Unconscious Deep, 10- Quimera

An acoustic guyitar intro called "Odio" opens this demo from year 1997 from this band of Costa Rica called Alastor Sanguinary Embrio and lets us into their world of black arts. Inmediately after that, the band gets into the darkest black metal in a style similar to bands like Marduk or Gorogoroth. The most interesting thing here are certain riffs like the ones at 1:30 in "Poetry For Thy Glory" that are more rocking and are not commonly used in black metal and give more variations to the tracks, The sound of the whole recording is crude and primitive but allows the appreciation of the guitar riffs that are fundamental for the band´s music, specially those that are more elaborated. Favorite tracks: "My Fields are Unholy" and "Ridin thy Darklands". Contact: www.zonaunderground.com

REVIEW: AGES GONE - AGES GONE

 

AGES GONE - AGES GONE (Independent, 2000):

Technical data:

All tracks except "Psychjam" recorded at Jancee Warnick´s Studio by Jancee and Ages Gone

"Psychjam" recorded in Baron / Ages Gone rehearsal room by Ages Gone

Cover by Heike Ruschmeyer

Track List: 1- Intro, 2- 10, 3- 7, 4-9, 5- Bessy meets Ages Gone, 6- , 7- Fickpart, 8- Psychjam, 9-8

This is a very strange band. Starting in the first track as a death metal band with some keyboards and noises that differntiate them from the standard, they evolve through the different tracks into something muchweirder where the keys and pianos and more predominant. The vocals are like the ones in a death metal band, and there is also another type of vocals more like an anguished man. There are interesting guitar solos and a certain jazz influence in many of the tracks here (check the killer solo in "7") and that gives a lot of originality to the songs too. I like the way the keyboards , played by Martin Rascher, start to be predominant in the compositions interacting with the heavy guitar riffs and the bass (there are some really interesting bass patterns like for example in "9", not only in the beginning but through all the song). This is a killer band to don´t miss a step, I think that we can expect more wonderful music coming from them in the near future. One of the albums of the month. Favorite tracks: the whole albumContact: www.agesgone.de

REVIEW: ZEENON - AGAINST THE WORLD

 

 ZEENON - AGAINST THE WORLD (Independent, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded in Gordon Studio August 2000.

Track List: 1- Better If, 2- Between 2 Worlds, 3- Utopia, 4- Secret (of Secrets), 5- Absurd

Zeenon is a female fronted powerful metal band from Norway. Going from elements of pure metal, to distorted grunge, to some industrial touches, this band covers a big spectre. Along the five tracks contained here they show how energetic their music is, and it is interesting to listen the contrast between the heavy guitar riffs and the vocals that are different from what you are accustomed to listen (they are not growling and not soprano, prefering instead to create different melodies that are more clashing against the music...great) They have two women singing: Linn Pedersen is the main vocalist and Linda Aurland who also plays the guitar makes some counterpoint and harmonies with her (really depressing ones in some of the tracks...leaving space for some heavy guitar riffs). This band have some previous recordings that are also worth to be check if you love really heavy music. Favorite tracks: "Better If", "Secret (of Secrets)" and "Absurd" . Contact: www.zeenon.com

REVIEW: WINDS - OF ENTITY AND MIND

 

WINDS - OF ENTITY AND MIND (Avantgarde Music, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded at Toproom Studios

Engineered and Mixed by Borge Finstas and Winds

Design and Layout by Sub-Frequency.

Track List: 1- Inception Perspective, 2- In All Reflections, 3- Bloodstained and Sworn, 4- Mirrored in Time, 5- An Eternity of Dreams

Well, here we have another supergroup coming from the black metal scene of Norway. And as in most of them we have Mr. Von Blomberg (Hellhammer) behind the drumkit. The music here is dark and full of keyboards and at the same time powerful (warning: it is not black metal...it is more like a dark experimentation). The singer, Lars Eric Si, reminds me of Faith No More´s Mike Patton because of his vocal inflections in some parts and in others he sounds much darker. Here speed is not the main element (in fact the tracks are slow most of the time, except in some changes and parts where they speed a little bit before getting in the deeper parts. The only low point here is that the album is only 21 minutes long....well, we have to wait for a longer one. Favorite tracks: "An Eternity of Dreams", "In All Reflections" and "Bloodstained and Sworn". Contact: www.avantgardemusic.com 

REVIEW: VIRULENCE - A CONFLICT SCENARIO

 

VIRULENCE - A CONFLICT SCENARIO (Morbid Recs., 2001):

Track List: 1- Entrance, 2- Reptilian Triangle, 3- Painting, 4- Texture Shock, 5- Evolutionary Masquerade, 6- Cementing With Introspection, 7- Pipeline Dialogue, 8- Your Own Palestine

Do you remember the great late american band Cynic? Did you know Believer? Well, put this two bands together with a powerful an fast death metal band and you will have an idea of what Virulence sounds like. We have extreme musicianship here: that is ...the drums are not playing the common 4/4 beats most of the time and the guitars follow it in this odd tempo patterns. There are altered chords in a lot of places when the guitars are clean (I hear some Allan Holdsworth influences in this guys...great he is one of my favorite guitar players), like some diminished chords, some dominant ones. The bassist is a killer one that seems to have both a fusion background and a more metal one. Check for example the passages in "Painting " (0:15) , can I say that this tracks is a mix of Return To Forever with Cannibal Corpse or Meshuggah? I think I wouldn´t be too wrong if I say that. This is the type of bands that I like most...the onses that show many different ideas through each song and they are not afraid to show them and experiment twisting them to the limit. This album is a must for music lovers. Favorite tracks: The whole album. Contact: www.morbidrecords.de