REVIEW: PESSIMIST - SLAUGHTERING THE FAITHFUL

 

PESSIMIST - SLAUGHTERING THE FAITHFUL (Lost Disciple Recs., 2002)

Produced by Erik Rutan

Tracks: 1- Requiem, 2- Baptized in Blasphemy, 3- Summoned to Suffer, 4- Embodiment of Impurity; 5- Slaughtering the Faithful, 6- Infernal Abyss, 7- Metampsychosis, 8- Resurrected Torment, 9- Stripped of Immortality

This must be one of the most expected underground releases of 2002. Pessimist is one of the most brutal death metal bands ever seen. Their crushing riffs and drum beats (with a lot of blast beats) that are a trademark of this band and that were all over "Cult of the Initiated " and "Blood for the Gods" are present on this release too but multiplied. One thing that has helped a lot has been the production of the great Erik Rutan (Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal) who has made the guitars even more bestial and the drums clearer achieving this brutal recording !! I liked a lot the sound that the lead guitar has in the solos which is not typical of death metal bands . It is more clear and it helps to make better solos than a rawer sound that would ruin the faster ones. All the tracks contained here are designed for the mosh pit and gives you the feeling of banging your head to a wall of sound !! Amazing brutality on this release!

Favorite tracks: "Baptized in Blasphemy"; "Summoned to Suffer" and "Slaughtering the Faithful".

Contact: www.lostdisciple.com or www.pessimist.com

REVIEW: PENANCE - ALPHA & OMEGA

 

PENANCE - ALPHA & OMEGA (Martyr Music Group, 2002)

Produced by Maria Abril

Recorded at Stoney´s Polar Bear Lair

Artwork by Mike Smail

Tracks: 1- Wizards of Mind, 2- New Machine, 3- See the Light, 4- Eden Fallen, 5- Reraching, 6- Love Dies, 7- Cold, 8- Drown Me in a Sea of Empty, 9-Misery Song

Penance is a classic band that mixes doom, heavy rock and metal into their own style, making albums like this one that are destined to be classics of the style like Trouble´s "The Skull" or "Psalm 69". It is no surprise that Penance´s drummer played in Cathedral´s great "Forest of Equilibrium" album (in fact Penance released their debut album on Lee Dorrian´s label). Now, 10 years later here arrives "Alpha and Omega" with the addition to the lineup of Mary Bielich (November´s Doom, Em Sinfonia) and Matt Tuite (Wickerman, Mustache). The sound is great with a lot of rocking riffs and interesting ideas that make each of the songs clearly original and unique. The great thing about Penance is that they know how to do each track different from the other adding new ideas, melodies and riffs. The guitars have that seventies sound that is a charachteristic of this band and of those mentioned above, really well mixed (along with Mary´s killer bass and the rocking drums). A must for fans of the style.

Favorite tracks: All this CD is really crushing. It leaves you asking for more Penance!!

Contact: www.martyrmusicgroup.com or www.penancemusic.com

REVIEW: PAWNSHOP - CRUISE´MATIC

 

PAWNSHOP - CRUISE´MATIC (Beard of Stars Recs., 2002)

Produced by Pawnshop and Øyvind Grødem

Recorded at Mansion Studios, Stavanger

Artwork by Sindre Kristoffersen

Tracks: 1- Blissed Out, 2- Mean Machine, 3- las Vegas, 4- Space Cadillacs, 5- Coma Cluster, 6- Thailand, 7- baby Bitch, 8- Cruise´o´matic; 9- Year of Pleasure, 10- Living Zombie

A really rocking band full of songs with great choruses and powerful guitars. The guitars are distorted and have that seventies sound charachteristic of this style of music and they are hypnotic in tracks like "Las Vegas". The drumming si really heavy with a lot of interesting patterns that make the result even more rhythmic (the bass player sounds really good playing simple and effective lines along the drums). We have here a versatile singer with a lot of seventies influences. The result here is rock (or desert rock as some people call it) in its purest form with many guitar solos (I like the way the bass does the foundation of the song when the guitar player makes the solos). This is a really tight band that seems very well rehearsed. If you like the style I really recommend this one.

Favorite tracks: "Year of Pleasure"; "Space Cadillacs" and "Baby Bitch.

Contact: www.vinylmagic3.it

REVIEW: PAUL DIANNO - THE BEAST LIVE

 

PAUL DIANNO - THE BEAST LIVE (Spitfire Recs., 2001)

Produced by Lea Hart and Paul DiAnno

Artwork by Cürt Evans

Tracks: 1- Wrathchild, 2- Killers, 3- Prowler, 4- Murders in the Rue Morgue, 5- Women In Uniform, 6- Remember Tomorrow, 7- Sanctuary, 8- Running Free, 9- Phantom of the opera, 10- Iron Maiden

It is always good to listen Paul Di Anno sing Iron Maiden´s older songs, since this tracks were created originally with his vocals in mind. On this CD that was recorded live, he concentrates on Iron Maiden tracks from the first albums and singles. It is funny because his voice has changed with time becoming somewhat rawer and even singing the old songs he sounds different (and that makes this interesting). Anthems like "Remember Tomorrow", "Phantom of the opera" or "Sanctury" sound great and here he has a really good band backing him up (specially the guitar player who is killer). I would like him to release another live album with his more recent material in order to have both sides of the specter.

Favorite tracks: "Wrathchild"; "Phantom of the opera" and "Murders in the Rue Morgue".

Contact: www.spitfirerecords.com

REVIEW: OJM - HEAVY

 

OJM - HEAVY (Beard of Stars Recs., 2002)

Produced by Paul Chain

Recorded at Red House Recording Studios

Tracks: 1- The Sleeper, 2- Revelations, 3- You Come, 4- Tv Eye; 5- Mix-up!, 6- As I Know, 7- Strange Dreams, 8- Follow My Leader, 9- Theorem

Powerful stoner rock in the vein of Queens of the Stone Age but with a lot of identity. In fact I must say that I like mor OJM than the band mentioned before. OJM are more powerful and their songs are not repetitive. In fact one thing that I liked a lot are the guitar riffs which are really rocking and give that seventies feeling that this music must have. The guitar player of the band has very good taste and I like the way in which he places the notes in ths short solos. Also I like the drummer who hits a lot the cymbals and makes the songs more powerful while keeping the time and creating the main rhythm. The singer is really good using a lot of middle range and creating good melodies that contrast with the music. A great album from this band

Favorite tracks: "The Sleeper"; "Mix-up!" and "Strange Dreams".

Contact: www.vinylmagic3.it

REVIEW: OBBROBRIO / JAN AG SPLIT

 

OBBROBRIO / JAN AG SPLIT (La Fiera Dell´Odio Recs., 200)

Artwork by Obbrobrio

Tracks: The Obbrobbrio side has 29 tracks. The Jan Ag one has 18

How can I define Obbrobrio´s music.....in some places it is grind at ultrafast speed; then it goes in something like industrial....then they start using a cello....then they use electronics and a drum machine...and then they use a female vocal with clean guitars. A really weird band. I don´t know how many different parts they play through all the tracks contained here. The main thing here is the madness that this band knows really well how to do (maybe I would like them to do longer tracks in order to develope their ideas a little bit more). Then Comes Jan Ag which is a band that is pure grind with chaotic guitars and drumming and extremely guttural vocals. The tracks on this side are really short two and some of them have some interesting and rhythmic riffs that depart a little bit from the style. For grind maniacs and people who like strange music.

Favorite tracks: "Devil´s Grip - The Iron Fist"; "Extreme Shitting on the Monument" and " Vitu Addicted".

Contact: lafieradellodio@libero.it

REVIEW: NASTY HABITS LIVE ON 88.9 WERS

 

NASTY HABITS LIVE ON 88.9 WERS (Corrosive Recordings, 2002)

Produced by Eric Fernald and Matt O´Dette

Recorded Live at Wers, Boston

Bands: 1-Haste, 2- Origins, 3- Eighteen Visions, 4- Shadows Fall, 5- Knut, 6- Cephalic Carnage, 7- Unearth, 8- God Forbid, 9- Poison the Well, 10- All that Remains, 11- Candiria, 12- Killswitch Engage, 13- The Dillinger Escape Plan

This is a must for every fan or collector of the bands mentioned above: here there are tracks that were recorded live at 88.9 WERS studios in Boston. This thirteen tracks were recorded live and they show us the energy that this bands are capable of developing on a live situation. In fact all the songs here sound more powerful than in their respective studio versions. Here you have thirteen great bands from the heaviest styles in the world. My absolute favorite here is Candiria because I like the many changes that their music have and the technical skills that this guys have. Also I loved the God Forbid track where they show their powerful modern death metal in an extremely raw way. Bands like Knut, Cephalic Carnage or Unearth will cruysh your brain with their powerful music. I hope the guys from WERS will continue releasing this compilations of the bands that play in their Studios because they are essential for any metal fan

Favorite tracks: Candiria - "Mathematics"; God Forbid "Amendment" and Eighteen Visions "She´s a Movie produced masterpiece".

Contact: www.wers.org

REVIEW: NARGAROTH - RASLUKA PART II

 

NARGAROTH - RASLUKA PART II (No Colours Recs., 2002)

Tracks: 1- Introduction...IN Stillem Gedenken; 2- Und Ich Sahe die Sonn nimmer heben; 3- Abschiedsbrief des Prometheus; 4- ...Vom Freien Willen eines Schwarzen Einhorns

Extremely raw black metal (because of the guitar sound that is really distorted, almost industrial) but yet melodic (incredible riffs with a lot of melodies). The main thing here are the atmospheres created by the guitars that contrast a lot with the screaming vocals that are typical of black metal bands. The sound is a little bit muddy but I think that this can be a little better by mixing everything a little bit louder. The fierst track is an intro that creates a dark environment in which the other three tracks are developed. There are some interesting rhythm changes, for example in the third track....in which the change is not abrupt but a progression from the original rhythm accelerated a little bit. This band is great for lovers of raw black metal with melodies.

Favorite tracks: "Und Ich Sahe die Sonn Nimmer Heben"; "Abschiedsbrief des Prometheus".

Contact: www.no-colours-records.de

REVIEW: MYTILE VEY LORTH - MYTILE VEY LORTH

 

MYTILE VEY LORTH - MYTILE VEY LORTH (Independent, 2002)

Produced by Mytile Vey Lorth

Recorded by Living Rhythym Studios

Artwork by Sharron

Tracks: 1- Visions, 2- Journey of the Demon, 3- Emotional Suicide, 4- Betrayed and Taken, 5- Beyond the Bitter Mists, 6- Burnt Waters

What a good album !!! Mytile Vey Lorth´s music goes from death to black metal to orchestral to doom all within the same track and that makes this band extremely interesting to listen to. Particularly I liked the heavy parts with Lily Davis melodic vocals because they were unexpected (usually the female singer of a black/death band sings only in the calm parts). It is really interesting that despite having many changes in the tracks the band manages to create a really coherent structure going from fast to calm, from raw to orchestrated within a few seconds. I would use a little bit more the bottom end range of the guitars and would have mixed a little bit louder the bass to have a more devastating sound (but this have the problem that some frequencies cancel one with each other so it can be very difficult to achieve). An essential band from Australia. This guys deserve to be in the top of death/black metal scene.

Favorite tracks: the five contained here, but I want more!!!!!

Contact: www.mytileveylorth.com

REVIEW: MISTWEAVER - DREAM´S DOMAIN

 

MISTWEAVER - DREAM´S DOMAIN (Medusa Prods./Dragon Design, 2001)

Produced by Mistweaver, Angel Redondo and Xavi Varela

Recorded at Talastudios

Artwork by Mike Schindler of Dragon Design

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- ...And A child Shall Lead Them; 3- A Withered Rose For the Dead in Sin; 4- the Call, 5- Ritual of Death, 6- The Night is My Guide, 7- Dream´s Domain, 8- The End is Near; 9- Into the Lake of the Burning Sulphur

Amazing band from Spain in the melodic death metal style ( some influences of early Tiamat) with extremely heavy riffs and arrangements combined with keyboards. This guys have excellent guitar riffs (they are somewhat twisted combined with the drums and the keyboards changing the structure of some of the tracks). The guitarists know how to develope excellent guitar melodies to make things more complex and interesting. The guttural vocals are a really great contrast to the more melodic background (there is plenty of keyboards for those like me who love the sound of keys clashing against heavier than hell guitars). A great surprise is the track "The Call" which is an acoustic, almost medieval piece with keyboards and flute over an acoustic guitar and the female vocals of guest musician Begoña. This track gives a little rest before getting back in full shape with the great "Ritual of Death". Killer release.

Favorite tracks: "..:And a Child Shall Lead Them"; "The Call" and "Ritual of Death".

Contact: www.dragondesign666.de