REVIEW: DAVID COVERDALE - INTO THE LIGHT

 

DAVID COVERDALE - INTO THE LIGHT (EMI, 2000)

Produced by David Coverdale

Artwork by Stylorouge

Tracks: 1- Into the Light, 2- River Song, 3- She Give Me, 4- Don´t You Cry, 5- Love is Blind, 6- Slave; 7- Cry for Love, 8- Living on Love, 9- Midnight Blue, 10- Too Many Tears; 11- Don´t Lie To Me, 12- Wherever You May Go

After the disolution of Whitesnake David Coverdale started a solo career focused on songs that sound more bluesy than the one of his previous band. The tracks contained here are more related to the "Northwinds" album or to the Page/Coverdale one than to the last albums that Whitesnake did. This is mostly because of the guitar sound: Earl Slick is a really bluesy guitar with a lot of early blues influence (and Led Zeppelin ones too). In Fact, I must say that I prefer Adrian Vanderberg, John Sykes or any of the other latest Whitesnake guitarist (Steve Vai obviously!) that used to give a more modern sound to the tracks (listen here "Too Many Tears" that despite being a ballad has this element and it is composed by Coverdale and Vandenberg). One step more on Coverdale´s career.

Favorite tracks: "She Give Me"; "Too Many Tears" and "Slave".

Contact: www.davidcoverdale.com

REVIEW: DATAKILL - L´ODIO

 

DATAKILL - L´ODIO (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Datakill

Recorded at Underground Music Studio

Artwork by Datakill

Tracks: 1- Stress, 2- L´Odio, 3- Pensaci Bene, 4- Tutto Quello Che Vorrei, 5- Fascist Pig

This band is very powerful. Their music is modern with certain touches of bands like Sepultura, Prong and some Pro-Pain. They mix this modern side with some hardcore attitude that makes the music really aggressive. The sound of the recording helps a lot to the final result, making the tracks heavier and the riffs much more effective. I like the way Lorenzo plays this riffs, with a lot of strength and using a lot of natural harmonics in tracks like "L´odio". It is weird to listen the lyrics in Italian Language. There are really interesting melodic vocal lines like the ones in the chorus of "L´Odio" that give a lot of hooks to the songs. A powerful release that includes a cover of Suicidal Tendencies "Fascist Pig".

Favorite tracks: "Stress", "Pensaci Bene" and " L´Odio.

Contact: datakill@libero.it

REVIEW: CRUSHING BELIAL - MMII - DEMO 2002

 

CRUSHING BELIAL - MMII - DEMO 2002 (Independent, 2002)

Produced by Crushing Belial

Recorded at 158 Studios

Artwork by James and Simon

Tracks: 1- Burning The Shroud of Azrael; 2- Cleanse the Ears With the Blood of Martyrs; 3- Vengeance Ordained in Grace

How brutal can a band be? Well, Crushing Belial is extremely bestial, in fact they are brutal as hell. Their music is sometimes brutal death metal, sometimes doom (like on the beginning of "Cleanse..." and sometimes pure grind!! The drummer must be an octopus to play the blast beats that can be listened in "Burning The Shroud of Azrael" and also some of the other druum patterns. The guitar riffs are powerful and I prefer the heavier ones like the one at 2:02 of "Burning...". There are three tracks here that show what this band is capable of doing and how extreme they are. I liked a lot the contrast between some parts of all the tracks . I would like this band to have a better sound, which is a little bit muddy here, but that can be solved with more time in the studio. A crushing release !!!!

Favorite tracks: The whole CD. It is so bestial that it hurts.

Contact: www.crushingbelial.co.uk

REVIEW: CROWBAR - EQUILIBRIUM

 

CROWBAR - EQUILIBRIUM (Roadrunner Recs., 2001)

Produced by Keith Falcout and Kirk Windstein

Recorded at Festival Studios

Artwork byJohn Buttino

Tracks: 1- I Feel the Burning Sun, 2- Equilibrium, 3- Glass Full of Liquid Pain, 4- Command of Myself, 5- Down Into the Rotting Earth, 6- To Touch the Hand of God, 7- Uncovering, 8- Buried Once Again, 9- Things you Can´t Understand, 10- Euphoria Minus One, 11- Dream Weaver

Crowbar is one of the heaviest bands to come out in the early nineties. Since their debut album they have been crushing listeners with their powerful riffs and neck breaking drums patterns. Also in the side projects that involve members of this band they have achieved great results like in Down. Kirk Windstein spits the lyrics at the top of his lungs as always. This time some of the tracks are slower and heavier having added some more deppresive quality to their music. The music here is full of anger, hate and anguish. If you want to try something different that is not death metal, black metalor grind, then check Crowbar for extreme heaviness.

Favorite tracks: "Glass Full of Liquid Pain", "Command of Myself" and "Uncovering".

Contact: www.roadrunnerrecords.com

REVIEW: CRADLE OF FILTH - BITTER SUITES TO SUCCUBI

 

CRADLE OF FILTH - BITTER SUITES TO SUCCUBI (Spitfire Recs., 2001)

Produced by Doug Cook

Recorded at New Rising Studios

Artwork by John Coulthart

Tracks: 1- Sin Deep My Wicked Angel, 2- All Hope in Eclipse, 3- Born in a Burial Gown, 4- Summer Dying Fast, 5- No Time To Cry, 6- The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, 7- Suicide and Other Comforts, 8- Dinner at Deviant´s palce, 9- The Black Goddess Rises II, 10- Scorched Earth Erotica

Many people hate Cradle of Filth...I still don´t understand why. Despite liking or not their music, this band is really solvent in what they do. In fact their music is really atmospheric (despite some scream abuse made by Dani) and there is an interesting work in the keyboards arrangements.. I find this CD much more orchestrated than for example "Midian", and it has a really good sound that few bands can achieve. On this recording you can see the evolution that Cradle of Filth has gone through since the beginning because there are some old tracks here like "The Principle of Evil made Flesh", clearly rawer and with less orchestration.

Favorite tracks: "All Hope in Eclipse"; " Suicide and Other Comforts" and "The Principle of Evil made Flesh".

Contact: www.spitfirerecords.com

REVIEW: CIRCLE OF NERO - MASSIVE OBLISS

 

CIRCLE OF NERO - MASSIVE OBLISS (Independent, 1999)

Produced by Circle of Nero

Recorded at Walton Recording Studio

Artwork by Chad Michael Ward

Tracks: 1- Church of the Pagan God, 2- Mother Doom, 3- Massive Obliss, 4- Dark Side of Eternity, 5- Walls of Pain, 6- Million Miles Away, 7- Thorizine Dreams, 8- Moon Quake, 9- Hear My Cries, 10- The End

A beautiful intro with some chants and clean guitars open this CD, getting into the first track that is pure heavy metal, in fact it is really progressive heavy metal, with many changes and a vocalist that uses a medium range with some gothic reminiscences which I like more than many of the high pitched guys out there (I don´t know why I feel some Candlemass in some parts....great!!). There is a great guitar work here in the vein of guys like John Petrucci or Savatage with interesting solos (even using a whammy pedal on "Mother Doom"). The sound is really good (it can be a little better on the drums, and maybe it would be a good idea to add some bottom end to the guitar too). This guys have many ideas and they combine a lot of them on each track giving an atmosphere of complexity to the songs. If you like elaborated metal this is definitely for you.

Favorite tracks: "Dark Side of Eternity", "Moon Quake" and "Church of the Pagan God".

Contact: www.circleofnero.com

REVIEW: CATAMENIA - ETERNAL WINTER´S PROPHECY

 

CATAMENIA - ETERNAL WINTER´S PROPHECY (Massacre Recs., 2000)

Produced by Catamenia

Recorded in Tico Tico Studios

Tracks: 1- Gates of Anubis, 2- Soror Mystica, 3- Blackmension, 4- Kingdom of Legions, 5- Half Moons, Half Centuries, 6- Forever Night, 7- Dawn of the Chosen World, 8- Eternal Winter´s Prophecy, 9- In the Void, 10- The Darkening Sun, 11- In the Capricorn´s Cradle

I must say that I really like Catamenia. This band mixes perfectly their ultra raw black metal with the elegance and melody of the keyboards played by Heidi Riihinen. To give you an idea, is like listening to a much colder Dimmu Borgir with more melody and interesting passages and with a darker feeling. This guys know how to arrange their compositions in order to make them sound in a powerful way. The orchestrations are getting more relevant on each release of the band and on this one they are up in the fron contrasting a lot with the music that the rest of the band does (it is really interesting how in some parts Mika Tönning seems to follow the keyboards with his vocals). This album is a really must for lovers of dark metal. Favorite tracks: "Dawn of the Chosen World", "Gates of Anubis" and "Kingdom of Legions".

Contact: www.massacre-records.com

REVIEW: CATALEPSY - BASS METAL

 CATALEPSY - BASS METAL (Independent, 2002)

Produced by Alex Mastrocola

Recorded at Alex´s Home

Artwork by Alex Mastrocola

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- the Murderer, 3- Rainbow Rising, 4- The Prophet, 5- Obsession in a Jail, 6- Shaman´s Dream, 7- Dream of Moon, 8- Androphoby, 9- Take The Power, 10- New Wave of Bass Metal

This is a weird CD. Alex Mastrocola has developed this musical experiment called Catalepsy....in fact the opnly instruments that can be listened on this recording are two bass guitars and the drums. The music is strange also because there are a lot of effects used in the vocals. The bass guitars are sometimes used as bottom end to keep the rhythm and sometimes like a guitar creating melodies. The experimentation is great here and you can listen Mastrocola´s skills with his bass. The drums are sampled and have a certain electronic feeling that makes the tracks even more weird. Mastrocola does all the vocals here in a certain heavy metal feeling. If you like unusual musicians here is one for you !!!

Favorite tracks: "Rainbow Rising", "Shaman´s Dream" and "Androphoby".

Contact: www.catalepsy.cjb.net

REVIEW: CARNIVORE - RETALIATION - REMASTERED EDITION

 

CARNIVORE - RETALIATION - REMASTERED EDITION (Roadrunner Recs., 2000)

Produced by Alex Perialas

Recorded at Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY

Artwork by X Design

Tracks: 1- Jack Daniels and Pizza; 2- Angry Neurotic Catholics; 3- S.M.D.; 4- Ground Zero Brooklyn; 5- Race War; 6- Inner Conflict; 7- Jesus Hitler, 8- Technophobia; 9- Manic Depression; 10- U.S.A. for U.S.A.; 11- Five Billion Dead; 12- Sex and Violence; 13 - World Wars III and IV (demo); 14- Carnivore (demo); 15- The Subhuman )demo

This is the exact link between the first Carnivore album and the "Slow, Deep and Hard" Type O Negativa album. In fact this is a Remastered Edition of this classic with many bonus tracks and fully remastered sound. Here you can listen the band that launched Pete Steele to the underground fame. Tracks like "Technophobia" wouldn´t be out of place in any of the Type O Negative albums despite that Steele´s vocals are more screaming than what he des in that band. There is a certain hardcore and punk feeling in many of the tracks that make the material contained here rawer and more direct.

Favorite tracks: "Jack Daniels and Pizza", "Race War" and "Jesus Hitler".

Contact: www.roadrunnerrecords.com

REVIEW: CARNIVORE - CARNIVORE - REMASTERED EDITION

 

CARNIVORE - CARNIVORE - REMASTERED EDITION (Roadrunner Recs., 2000)

Produced by Norman Dunn

Recorded at Braille/East Sound, NYC

Artwork by X Design

Tracks: 1- Predator; 2- Carnivore; 3- Male Supremacy; 4- Armageddon; 5- Legion of Doom; 6- God is Dead; 7- Thermonuclear Warrior; 8- World Wars III and IV; 9 - U.S.A. for U.S.A. (demo); 10- S.M.D. (demo); 11- Sex and Violence (demo)

This is the Carnivore debut album in a completely remastered edition that contains interesting bonus tracks, mainly demos. For those who doesn´t know the band this is Pete Steele´s band previous to the creation of Type O Negative. In fact there are certain similitudes with the early Type O material. The album opens with "Predator", a track that wouldn´t be out of place in a Venom album!!! The music here is raw (despite having a better sound than in the original recording) and almost punk in some parts. There are slower parts that make some tracks more climatic. The lyrics are always ironic and sarcastic. A piece of metal history. Check it out.

Favorite tracks: "Male Supremacy"; Legion of Doom" and "Thermonuclear Warrior".

Contact: www.roadrunnerrecords.com