REVIEW: HIMINBJORG - HAUNTED SHORES

 

HIMINBJORG - HAUNTED SHORES (Red Stream Recs. 2001)

Tracks: 1- The Aves, 2- War, 3- The Haunted Shores, 4- Of Desire and Lust, 5- The Eternal, 6- Lonely, 7- The Voices of revenge

Himinbjorg is a killer band that is always on the edge between black and death metal with incredible song structures and amazing melodies (I love the way one of the guitarist plays them while the other makes this heavy riffs that are the core of the tracks contaied here). And here lies the main element in Himinbjorg´s music: they are not doing hyper speed and furious riffs all the time....they prefer diversity adding slow riffs in a lot of parts and some clean vocals followed by some melodies. Then they change to faster rifffs and more brutal vocals. But they are not afraid of using this diverse styles. And this is one of the main points here: Diversity (checkas an exmple the track "War" and listen the way they combine from screaming vocals to vocal harmonies in a few seconds). There are a lot of clean guitars here and there (like on "The Haunted Shores") that embellish the songs. If you want great metal with a lot of ideas then check Himinbjorg. One of the best CDs of the month. Favorite tracks: The whole CD. Contact: www.redstream.org

REVIEW: GHOULS - PROMO 2000

 

GHOULS - PROMO 2000 (Independent, 2000)

Produced by Ghouls

Recorded at Outer Sound Studios

Tracks: 1- Divine Chosen, 2- I´m The Living Swear, 3- Eternal Damnation

Crushing death grind, directly from Italy. The music here is pure death metal in its most purest form without any mercy for the listener. In fact it starts at full speed on the first track and it continues like that through the three tracks contained here. The main thing here is power and brutality and this guys achieve it through their fast riffs and killer drum patterns. The vocals can be screaming ones or more guttural depending on the riff that is played behind (in the fastest they use the screaming vocals and when they turn more rhythmic they use the guttural one). For fans of extreme brutality. Favorite tracks: "Divine Chosen" and "I´m The Liing Swear"

REVIEW: GHOLES - EXTRAIT CD 2000

 

GHOLES - EXTRAIT CD 2000 (Independent, 2000)

Produced by Gholes

Tracks: 1- Who Would Die for Me?, 2- Same, 3- Dried Up Tears

This is metal done with excellent musicianship that I would label killer death metal with some black metal touches and with interesting keyboards and melodies (in fact I loved the combination of the melodies done by the guitarists and the ones made by the keyboards giving the tracks a unique atmosphere and feeling). Both guitarists are excellent here and they shine through their solos and complex riffs that are the core of the tracks here. I would love to listen more music from this band. Favorite tracks: The three contained on this CD. Contact: GHOLES, 125 Rue Circé, Les Comores III, (34090) Montpellier, FRANCE

REVIEW: FINIDI - LIFE IS A PRISON

 

FINIDI - LIFE IS A PRISON (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Finidi and Aki Peltonen

Recorded at Studio Sound Doctor

Tracks: 1- Screams of Wrath, 2- I am You, 3- Things that Exists

Furious death metal with killer riffs and vocals that reminded me in some places to early Enslaved material (despite the completely different music that they play). This is what I call death/thrash metal because of the influence that both of this genres have in Finidi´s musc (cool solos nad guitar riffs come directly from mid eighties thrash but with a modern sound an ellaborated in such a way that fit perfectly Finidi´s style....the guitarist is killer). There are multiple changes within the same song structure giving a lot of diversity within the same track. A great effort of this finnish band. Favorite tracks: "Screams of Wrath" and "Things that Exist". Contact: www.geocities.com/finidi_11/website.html

REVIEW: ESQARIAL - DISCOVERIES

 

ESQARIAL - DISCOVERIES (Empire Recs., 2001)

Produced by Esqarial

Recorded at Fonoplastykon Studios

Artwork by Lud

Tracks: 1- World in Flames, 2- Kill all of them, 3- Travel in Lust, 4- Sacred War, 5- Nightmare, 6- Unreal, 7- Atlantis, 8- New Land, 9- True Lies, 10- Guitar Explosions

Extremely technical death metal. I must admit that this is one of the styles that I like most. And Esqarial is a great exponent of this kind of music. Using riffs that need to have a lot of knowledge of the instruiments to be played correctly. And this music needs a lot of rehearsal to make the band sound really tight. And Esqarial is really tight, going from extremely melodic parts to parts that are technically complex and then going to a crushing and more simple rhythm structure. All within the same song. In fact I think that the award to best musicians of the year go this guys with no doubt and specially to the guitarists which are responsible of the excellent riffs and the killer solos that are on this recording. There is also a multimedia part on this CD: an excellent one. This is one of the CDs of the month. Favorite tracks: The whole album is amazing. Contact: www.empire-records.com.pl

REVIEW: EMBRYONIC CELLS - NECRO-REVELATION

 

EMBRYONIC CELLS - NECRO-REVELATION (Independent, 2001)

Recorded at Roaside Studios

Artwork by La Vache Folle

Tracks: 1- Necro revelation, 2- Guilty Crowd, 3- A Next Day

It is a pity that this CD has only three tracks. How well this guys combine their aggression and heaviness in the vein of Carcass with more atmospheric passages (created in a very intelligent way by the guitarist who has a great knowledge of note placement). The drummer is really a good one and knows how to play from straightforward rhythms to more complicated ones without difficulties. There are two types of vocals on this recording: one more guttural and other more screaming and that helps to add more variation to the tracks (even if the tracks are vary different one from another because of the great guitar work). If you like this type of death metal, then this is your band. Favorite tracks: The three contained here.

REVIEW: EMBRYO - THE SOURCE OF HATE

 

EMBRYO - THE SOURCE OF HATE (Kick Promotion Agency, 2001)

Produced by Embryo

Recorded at Far Fen Go Studios

Artwork by Giancarlo Capra

Tracks: 1- Drowning in Blood, 2- Hate Within, 3- Choice of Pain, 4- The Butcher´s Lullabye, 5- Painting the end

This is brutality and melody in the exact proportion to do an excellent album. In fact this is a MCD whose main charachteristic are the riffs that Embryo´s guitarists play with a lot of musicianship. One important thing here are the keyboards which are fundamental to give to the tracks the atmosphere that they nedd. And they add a lot of originality too. The voclas are in the vein of Kreator´s Mille Petrozza but more distorted. I really liked this band and recommend itto open minded death metal fans. Favorite tracks: "The Butcher´s Lullabye", "Choice of Pain" and "Drowning in Blood" Contact: www.kickagency.3000.it

REVIEW: DREAMLAND - UNDERWATER

 

DREAMLAND - UNDERWATER (Uncle Buzz / Dogfinger Prods., 2001)

Mixed and Mastered at Doghouse Audio Laboratory by Babdog Catlin

Artwork by James Cobb from photographs by James H. Sidlo

Tracks: 1- Sunspots, 2- I Frequency, Dream in Soundwaves, 3- Brief Moon, 4- Underwater: Pt.1 Descent, Pt. 2 Floating, Pt.3 Echolocation, Pt. 4 Deep Zone, Pt. 5 Ascent

A great electronic release from this experimental band!! I like people who are not afraid of experimenting and this is obviously the case here. This guys love experimentation! The feeling that I got when I first listened this CD was similar to the one I got when I first listened Tangerine Dream´s "Electronic Meditation" some years ago! Full of keyboards and synthesizers and there is James H. Sidlo oplaying a guitar with a distorted and processed sound that makes the music sound more complete and improvisational. In fact I think he is playing a lot of lines, some of them in a very dissonant fashion in order to break some structures and to make a big contrast with the keyboards that are doing some melodies and chord progressions here and there. Also there are some sound effects and native American flutes that make the music really eerie and that will surprise everybody. Excellent CD, really challenging !! Favorite tracks: The whole album: Contact: www.unclebuzz.com

DRAGONLORD RELEASE "RAPTURE"

 

DRAGONLORD - RAPTURE (Spitfire Recs., 2001)

Produced by Eric Peterson

Recorded at Driftwood Studios

Artwork by Travis Smith

Tracks: 1- Vals de la Muerte, 2- Unholy Void, 3- Tradition and Fire, 4- Born to Darkness, 5- Judgement Failed, 6- Wolfhunt, 7- Spirits in the Mist, 8- Rapture

For thos who doesn´t know this is Eric Peterson´s (Testament ) black metal side project. And I have to say that he has been very succesful with this style of music. This is black metal in the vein of Dimmu Borgir with a lot of keyboards and interesting ideas. And above all it has an amazing sound, specially on the guitars and drums (that in many black metal albums fail miserably to achieve a great result). There are also a lot of thrashy rhythms that wouldn´t be out of place in Testament. Peterson does all the vocals here in a great black metal fashion, and he has great mucisians like Steve Di Giorgio, Jon Allen and Steve Smyth from Sadus to make the results crushing. A great side project from Testament´s mastermind. Favorite tracks: "Tradition and Fire", "Judgement Failed" and "Spirits in the Mist". Contact: www.enterthedragonlord.com or www.spitfirerecords.com

REVIEW: DIVIDED MULTITUDE - DIVIDED MULTITUDE

 

DIVIDED MULTITUDE - DIVIDED MULTITUDE (Independent, 2001)

Tracks: 1- Dreamin, 2- Stigmatize, 3- I, 4- No Man´s Land, 5- Tale of Tomorrow, 6- Streets of Bucharest, 7- Inner Self, 8- Confused

This album has new material from Divided Multitude (four songs) and material that was contained on their first album called "Inner Self" (also four tracks). The band plays some sort of hyperprogressive metal with a lot of technical parts. The music in the first four tracks (the newer ones) is really heavy despite being complicated and melodic, specially because of the guitar sound and the drums accentuation. There are some odd time patterns here and there. The tracks are full of keyboards that combined with the guitars make the songs really interesting and powerful. The last four tracks that are from "Inner Self" are kind of more melodic (and I am surprised because of the good sound that they have). Interesting band to don´t miss a step. Favorite tracks: "No Man´s Land", "Streets of Bucharest" and "Stigamatize".