REVIEW: SUICIDAL WINDS - VICTIMS IN BLOOD

 

SUICIDAL WINDS - VICTIMS IN BLOOD (No Colours recs., 2002)

Tracks: 1- Victims in Blood, 2- Dimension of Death, 3- Morbid Temptation, 4- Storms of Hell, 5- satanic Wrath, 6- Force of Darkness, 7- Ashes from a Past Life, 8- Outbreak of War, 9- The Mangler, 10- Lord of Abyss, 11- Meaningless Life

Here we have death /thrash metal directly from Sweden and full of energy and hate! This is the second album from this swedish guys and this one is extremely brutal. The influences that I find are from early Kreator and Destruction. Killer riffs with interesting drumming all over the CD. Here we have a band designed for headbanging and crushing you live (I think that a Suicidal Winds show must be devastating). I like a lot the thrash influences that this band has that makes their music sound different than most of the bands that are playing brutal death metal. The vocals are screaming ones and closer to the ones of Mille Petrozza. This band is a great exponent of this tyle and you can see it through this recording.

Favorite tracks: "Victims in Blood"; "Morbid Temptation" and "Ashes from a Past Life".

Contact: www.no-colours-records.de

REVIEW: SORROWSTORM - CAVERNS OF GRIEF

 

SORROWSTORM - CAVERNS OF GRIEF (Dysmorphic Recs., 2002)

Produced by Sorrowstorm

Tracks: 1- Breed the tyrants; 2- Nocturnal Apparition, 3- Enslaver of Hateful Souls; 4- The Arduous Warpath; 5- Caverns of Grief; 6- Chanting the Last Passages

Sorrowstorm is a christian black metal band created by Phil from Encryptor. He is the main musician behind both bands and here he has the opportunity to show a more melodic sound, specially because the compositions contained here use a lot of keyboards passages and a lot of interesting melodic guitar lines. There are rotten vocals all over the recording but sometimes they use some clean vocals in the form of ethereal chants that are really well developed on this recording. They also use a more guttural voice that is closer to the one used in Encryptor. The guitar riffs are really technical in some places and they give a lot of variation to the tracks contained in "Caverns of Grief". I liked a lot this band and I hope to listen more from them very soon.

Favorite tracks: "Nocturnal Apparition"; "The Arduous Warpath" and "Chanting the Last Passages".

Contact: www.sorrowstorm.com

REVIEW: SOMBER SERENITY - SINGULAR

 

SOMBER SERENITY - SINGULAR (Medusa Prods / Dragon Design, 2002)

Recorded at Little Dream Studio

Artwork by Mike Schindler / Dragon Design

Tracks: 1- In Solitude Divine, 2- Tragedy Star, 3- Goddess of light, 4- The Severance, 5- The Sufferer, 6- Last Scion of Winter, 7- Swallow the Sun, 8- Nemesis, my Childe

How great is this album!!! It starts with a clean guitar and then all of a sudden the crushing guitars enter along with clean vocals... then other voices scream the lyrics. This band has found a great equilibrium in their music and combine perfectly melodies and atmospheres with crushing riffs and drum beats. Take some Anathema, add some Paradise Lost then some bands like Katatonia and Opeth, mix it with a little My Dying Bride and you will have only an approximation to Somber Serenity´s sound. There are heavier tracks like "Tragedy Star" (pure deathly vocals....even more guttural...and then enter some heavy metal riffs...amazing!). The main feature here are the compositions of this guys which are perfectly developed. This guys also have hooks in their songs and that is really important. This band will be a classic in the near future.

Favorite tracks: The whole Cd is amazing. A classic . A perfect blend between heaviness and darkness.

Contact: www.dragondesign666.de

REVIEW: SOLEKAHN - SUFFERING WINDS

 

SOLEKAHN - SUFFERING WINDS (Imperial Maze Recs., 2002)

Produced by Solekahn

Recorded at Labyrinth Studio

Tracks: 1- A Narrow Passage, 2- Visages, 3- Senses Labyrinth, 4- Profaned Nights, 5- Entangled, 6- In Dementia, 7- Arena, 8- Beyond the Pasts

It is weird. Solekahn has riffs that sound definitely black metal (as well as some drums patterns), but the vocals are completely death metal. Plus, the guitars have a different kind of distortion...I don´t know how to describe it. The tracks contained on this CD are short (all the CD lasts 18 minutes) and the music goes along the pattern of death / black metal with a lot of rhythm changes and good guitar riffs (specially I liked a lot the slower ones). All this elements combined create a new kind of darker than hell music (I think that Khaos voclas are harmonized in tracks like "Profaned Nights" and that makes things sound really strange...great!). They also used clean guitars in someplaces like in the beginning of "Entangled" which is a really charming track. Thuis is definetly a really dark release.

Favorite tracks: "Senses Labyrinth"; "Entangled" and "In Dementia".

Contact: imperial.maze@caramail.com

REVIEW: SLOW HORSE - SLOW HORSE II

 

SLOW HORSE - SLOW HORSE II (Berserker Recs., 2001)

Produced by Martin Bisi

Recorded at B.C. Studios, Brooklyn

Artwork by Scott Sanfratello

Tracks: 1- I´m Nothing, I´m No one, 2- The Games You Play, 3- Stay, 4- Let It Slide, 5- Coming Unhinged, 6- Nameless, 7- Untitled, 8- The Last, 9- Nº9

Slowhorse´s music is Slow and rhythmic with voclas that make melodies over the guitar riffs in a really drmatic and interesting way. The CD starts with the hypnotic "I´m nothing, I´m no one" a really depressive track with a slowpaced guitar riff and an interesting bass arrangement. I find some interesting Saint Vitus influences in the music of this band (and some The Obsessed too in some guitar riffs) but the music sounds more rhythmic than in that bands. The guitars have a seventies -like sound that fits perfectly with the rest of the music. One of the main things here and that I think that the band should exploit at its maximum level are certain vocal harmonies that they use (for example in tracks like "The Games You Play") and that gives a lot of dynamics to the music. Lovers of doom and related styles ...Slowhorse is here for you!!

Favorite tracks: "Stay"; "Let It Slide" and "The Games You Play".

Contact: www.berserkerrecords.com

REVIEW: SKYMNING - ARTIFICIAL SUPERNOVA

 

SKYMNING - ARTIFICIAL SUPERNOVA (Candlelight Recs., 2002)

Recorded at Studio Mega

Tracks: 1- Synthetic Visions, 2- Shadowed / Astral Silver, 3- Shatter the World / Artificial Supernova, 4- Axoskeletal / X.T.C., 5- Suicidal Dominion, 6- Inner Cosmic Experience / Inject the Spirit, 7- Solitude, 8- Esperandote, 9- Elite

This is a really strange kind of metal....it has some elements from death metal, some from modern metal and a certain industrial sound. But this mix gives us the sound of Skymning´s music. There is a heavy work of guitars here and a really mechanichal drummer who makes things feel heavier than hell. There are really original riffs like the ones in "Shadowed / Astral Silver". The great thing in Skymning is that despite the heaviness of their music they always find some place for interesting melodies. And this melodies are the ones that you remember later and that give the tracks a lot of identity. A really great release with an original sound and a lot of interesting ideas.

Favorite tracks: "Axoskeletal/X.T.C."; "Suicidal Dominion" and " Esperandote".

Contact: www.candlelightrecords.co.uk or www.blackendrecords.com

REVIEW: SKEPTICISM - THE PROCESS OF FARMAKON - EMANATING DARKNESS

 

SKEPTICISM - THE PROCESS OF FARMAKON - EMANATING DARKNESS (Red Stream Recs., 2002)

Produced by Skepticism

Artwork by Tuomas Laitihen

Tracks: 1- Backward Funeral and the Raven, 2- The Process of Farmakon

This is a two track MCD from this extremely doom metal band !!!! This are two long tracks that allows the band to develop in a very creative way their songs (in fact one song is over seven minutes long and the other is over 10 minutes). The main aspect here is the dense atmosphere and feelings that Skepticism music creates for the listener: the music is very very very dark and slow as hell, with multiple clean guitar passages that help the music to be darker through its melodies. It seems to me that this guy knows how to create a very dense track adding a feeling of oppression and loneliness to their songs. The guitar riffs are great with some Trouble and Saint Vitus influences that contrast with the vocals that are definitely very guttural. Fans of doom will love this !!!

Favorite tracks: Both tracks are really good.

Contact: www.redstream.org

REVIEW: SERPENTS KISS - DISTANT SHORES

 

SERPENTS KISS - DISTANT SHORES (Independent, 2002)

Produced by Will

Recorded at Butterhook Studios

Artwork by Wayne and Will

Tracks: 1- Black Wizard, 2- Face the Slayer, 3- Strider, 4- Kingdom, 5- Gojira, 6- Serpents Kiss, 7- Victory, 8- Distant Shores

This is heavy metal with a lot of european sound. The riffs, the sound the drumbeats, all here is pure metal and the vocals. In fact I liked a lot the vocals because they use a lot of middle range instead of high pitched screams (there are influences of Mark Boals and Mats Leven here but only on the middle range of this singers). Also in the middle part of "Face the Slayer" there are some screams that reminded me of Exodus Paul Baloff. I like the songs because they have an interesting structure and they are well developed with great hooks in the choruses and in some of the guitar riffs. This guys deserve a better sound for their next recording and it would be great if they can find a drummer that can give a new dimension to Serpent´s Kiss music. It is always great to listen good heavy metal.

Favorite tracks: "Black Wizard"; "Kingdom" and "Victory".

Contact: william.philpot@ntlworld.com

REVIEW: SERCA - SINGULARITY

 

SERCA - SINGULARITY (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Serca

Artwork by Serca

Tracks: 1- Upload, 2- Back To Nature, 3- Morphological Freedom; 4- Side Affects, 5- Reinvention, 6- Somewhere to Fall

Do you want industrial music? Do you want weird music? Do you want experimental music? Do you want really climatic music? Then Serca is a good option for you because they mix all this elements and more. From moments extremely industrial to calm parts that are almost ambient. With influence from Nine Incha Nails to Foetus and everything in between this band makes a great job in creating this extreme kind of music. What I find really weird are the vocals that most of the time sing xtrange melodies that are not common in the style....great, because this gives a lot of originality to the music. Another thing that I liked a lot is the combination of dirty industrial guitars with clean ones. Fans of the heavy, of the strange, of the original will surely like Serca.

Favorite tracks: "Upload"; "Morphological Freedom" and "Side Affects".

Contact: www.serca.net

REVIEW: SENTENCED - CRIMSON

 

SENTENCED - CRIMSON (Century Media, 2000)

Produced by Hiilesmaa

Recorded at Tico Tico Studios

Artwork by Niklas Sundin

Tracks: 1- Bleed in My Arms, 2- Home in Despair, 3- Fragile, 4- No More Beating as One, 5- Broken, 6- Killing Me, Killing You, 7- Dead Moon Rising, 8- The River, 9- One More Day, 10- With Bitterness and Joy, 11- My Slowing Heart

I have been following this guys career since their "North from Here"album. And I liked the twist that their music got after "Amok". This latest album shows us the more melodic side of the band (eventhough they had shown it in "Frozen" and "Down"). This time the songs have more catchy choruses (die hard fans would hate this) with hooks (in the way that Paradise Lost has developed in their latest albums) and a lot of clean guitars. I liked the contrast between this melodies and Ville Laihiala´s vocals which are really powerful. This is one step forward in the career of this band that should have finished to record their new album by now.

Favorite tracks: "Fragile"; "The River" and "With Bitterness and Joy".

Contact: www.centurymedia.com