REVIEW: LIVING SACRIFICE - CONCEIVED ON FIRE 2 SONG ADVANCE

 LIVING SACRIFICE - CONCEIVED ON FIRE 2 SONG ADVANCE (Solid State Records, 2002)

Tracks: 1- Subtle Alliance, 2- Send Your Regrets

Here we have a sample of what the new Living Sacrifice album is going to be. After the powerful "The Hammering Process" we have this powerful new offering (not yet, it will be on the streets in September 24). We have here all the elements that have made Living Sacrifice a top metal band but with a better, bigger sound. The two songs here are heavy as hell and have many modern elements that Living Sacrifice know how to play in a really great way without loosing their power. I await the new album to see the complete result. I think this will be a killer one!!!!

Contact: www.solidstate.com

REVIEW: LIVIDITY - ...TIL ONLY THE SICK REMAIN

 

LIVIDITY - ...TIL ONLY THE SICK REMAIN (Morbid Records, 2002)

Produced by Scott (Broken Hope)

Recorded at Mercenary Digital Studio

Tracks: 1- T.L.C. (Tigh Lil Cunt), 2- Coated With My Semen, 3- Unrelenting Homicidal Obsession, 4- A Woman´s Place is On my Face, 5- Second Cumming (Pussy Lover Part II), 6- Snack Size Tits, 7- Anal Autopsy, 8- Fetal Scabs, 9- Conception Through Ingestion

Here we have the new album of this porn death psychos called Lividity. Their music is devastating...they crush the listener´s brain and ears with their deathly guitar riffs and fast and furious drum beats (full of blast beats). Here we have the maniac guttural as hell vocals that make the music even heavier and more deathly. The sound of the recording is really good and makes the instrument shine (in fact what I find great is that each of the instruments can be heard really good, even the bass guitars). There are nine tracks here that from beginning to end will not have mercy for you. This band knows how to be really heavy even in the slower parts as the ones that are on "Coated with my semen". Music for crushiung your brain into pieces !!

Favorite tracks: "Snack Size Tits", "T.L.C." and "Fetal Scabs"

Contact: www.morbidrecords.de

REVIEW: LANDGUARD - A PERPETUAL GAME

 

LANDGUARD - A PERPETUAL GAME (Independent, 2002)

Produced by Landguard

Mastered at Zappin Studios

Cover Art by Landguard

Tracks: 1- A Game Begins..., 2- A Perpetual Game, 3- Wizard of Time, 4- Mindscape, 5- Ivory Mask, 6- A Perpetual Joke

Landguard is an excellent progressive metal band. Their music is heavy and at the same time has many complex arrangements done by all the musicians that are of superb quality. Here we have many changes in the vein of Imags and Words-era Dream Theater with multiple guitar and keyboard solos and an excellent vocalist that does not abuse the high pitched notes preferring to give a warm touch to Landguard´s music with his use of the middle range. This band is amazingly clean in their sound and they have an excellent guitarist who knows how to play different riffs and incredibly melodic solos while retaining the heaviness with his guitars. The rhythm section is extremely tight and plays in a great way the many changes in Landguard´s music. This is a band that I think will be a really famous name in the progressive metal world. A must.

Favorite tracks: The whole CD is a jewel

Contact: www.landguardweb.com

REVIEW: KORN - UNTOUCHABLES

 

KORN - UNTOUCHABLES (Epic Records, 2002)

Produced by Michael Beinhorn

Recorded at Conway Studio

Cover Art by Eric White

Tracks: 1- Here To Stay, 2- Make Believe, 3- Blame, 4- Hollow Life, 5- Bottled Up Inside, 6-Thoughtless, 7- Hating, 8- One More Time, 9- Alone I Break, 10- Embrace, 11- Beat it Upright, 12- Wake Up Hate, 13- I´m Hiding, 14- No One´s There

When Korn first appeared in the scene they were welcomed as the new blood in metal....then came success with their second and third album and then people started to hate them and the whole new metal scene (this is a bag where they have put bands like Korn, Papa Roach and a million more, I don´t know why because they are very different). Fuck em!! I think that Korn brought a new style that is their own to a scene that was becoming stagnant . And they show that they have not lost their energy on this album "Untouchables" which is much heavier than "Follow the Leader" or "Issues" . Here we have all the elmente sthat have made Korn famous but with less catchy choruses and some more interesting riffs. The recording has fourteen tracks and also a multimedia track.

Favorite tracks: "Blame", "Thoughtless" and "Wake Up Hate".

Contact: www.korn.com

REVIEW: JAILBIRD - ...INSIDE NONSENSE

 

JAILBIRD - ...INSIDE NONSENSE (Geska Records, 2002)

Produced by Jailbird

Engineered at Numerock Studios

Cover Art by Franck Ackermann for Ackermann Studio Design

Tracks: 1- End Connection, 2- N.W.O., 3- White Lines 23, 4- Go Insane, 5- Delirium Tremens, 6- Majestic Sacrifice, 7- Last Pray, 8- Red Sky, 9- Mach. Syst. Ctrl, 10- Red Light Visions, 11- Heaven Distortion

Some issues back I had the opportunity of doing an interview with Jailbird and here is the review of their latest album. The music that this band makes can be labeled as industrial metal, mainly because of the sound of drums and guitars (you can not compare this band to Ministry or Nine Inch Nails because their music is completely different). Here we have electronic drums and heavy crushing guitars all in a sort of mechanical environment which I like because it gives a lot of originality to Jailbird´s music. The vocals are sometimes sung, sometimes spoken and sometimes screamed or whispered, depending on the mood that this guys want to give to their music. There are a lot of keyboards that emphasize the sound creating the Jailbird´s sound. One thing that I have to remark is the excellent sound that this recording has. If you want something with industrial sound but with true identity here you have Jailbird.

Favorite tracks: "Go Insane", "Red Sky" and "Red Light Visions"

Contact: www.geska-records.com or http://jailbird.free.fr

REVIEW: INTERNECINE - THE BOOK OF LAMBS

 

INTERNECINE - THE BOOK OF LAMBS (Hammerheart Records, 2002)

Produced by Erik Rutan

Recorded at Dimensional Sound Studio

Cover Art by Marco Jeurissen

Tracks: 1- The Elder Gods, 2- Ceremonies of Deceit, 3- ....For Thee I Bleed, 4- Hallowed Guidance, 5- Inverted, 6- Encrypting the Vehemence, 7- Divinity, 8- The Calling of the Hordes

This is a devastating release . Internecine is the project of Jared Anderson who plays guitars, bass and vocals here. He is helped by Tony Laureno and Derek Roddy (Aurora Borealis and many other bands) on drums and also he has some guest guitar solos by Erik Rutan. Also the production is done by Erik Rutan who as always delivers a great quality sound that helps Internecine to achieve the results that they want to reach. Here the guitars are extremely well mixed showing all the brutality that this death metal one man band is capable of doing in all the tracks. The guttural vocals are clearly mixed and well combined with the guitar riffs and hyper fast drumming. Lovers of brutality enjoy this CD and crank up your music equipment!

Favorite tracks: "Ceremonies of Deceit", "Hallowed Guidance" and "Divinity"

Contact: www.hammerheart.com

REVIEW: IN PECCATUM - ANTILIA

 

IN PECCATUM - ANTILIA (Independent , 2002)

Produced by Eduardo Botellio

Recorded at MM Studios

Cover Art by Joana Oliveira

Tracks: 1- Septem Aquae, 2- Everlasting Delicacy, 3- Watery Portrait, 4- Till Daylight Comes, 5- Sustained in the Nebula

"Septem Aquae", a string quartet intro opens this five song MCD before In Peccatum enters in all their magnitude to show their powerful and climatic music. The music here is dark metal with a lot of keyboards, really great guitars which play interesting and melancholic melodies (also they have killer solos). Also here are Neves vocals that fit the melancholic and dark music of the band perfectly. This is a perfect showcase of how a band can be heavy and dark and at the same time melodic and melancholic. The keyboards passages are extremely obscure and atmospheric (check 1:20 of "Watery Portrait" to see what I am talking about). So, here is what I would say to anyone that reads this review: Let darkness embrace you with In Peccatum´s music.

Favorite tracks: The five tracks are real masterpieces. One of the CDs of the month

Contact: www.inpeccatum.8m.com

REVIEW: HUNOK - GESTA HUNGARORUM

 

HUNOK - GESTA HUNGARORUM (Independent , 200)

Produced by Hunok

Cover Art by Gabor Zselencz

Tracks: 1- Dead of God´s Whip, 2- Lord Almos, 3- Oath of the 7 Lords, 4- Arpad our Ancient Father, 5- 897- End of the Great Migration

Here we have this unipersonal project by Gabor Zselencz who is the main man behind Hunok and he also plays the keyboards and drums on this release. The music on this demo is extremely ambiental consisting mainly on keyboards passages and atmospheres created by Gabor in order to show his extremely dark musical taste. Here everything is done in order to create an extremely obscure atmosphere and this is achieved by the use of minor chord progressions and slow percussion in some places. IN tracks like "Arpad our Ancient Father", which is more than 10 minutes long you can listen more shades and sort of a type of guitar sound that contrasts with the keyboards. This is for people who like this type of experimentation in darkness.

Favorite tracks: The five tracks are awesome !

Contact:

Hunok c/o Gabor Zselencz

Walter-Kolb-Str. 2

60594 Frankfurt Am Main

GERMANY

REVIEW: HUMAN BLOODFEAST - DAMNED TO ROT

 

HUMAN BLOODFEAST - DAMNED TO ROT (Independent, 2002)

Produced by Stephan Fimmers

Recorded at Aexxys Art Studios

Cover Art by Hans Himmelhuber

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- I´m Alive, 3- Me in You, 4- Addicted To Flesh, 5- Follow the Floodline, 6- Orgasm Through Mutilation, 7- Twisted Desires, 8- Damend To Rot, 9- In My Head, 10- The Beast Inside, 11- Flesh Eating Mother

Human Bloodfeast is a really brutal band whose main characteristic are the guitar riffs which are extremely intelligent and well designed to make people bang their heads. Here we have guitars that are really crushing with a big fat sound and that have a lot of coordination with the killer rhythm section (they play also excellent solos which are ultra heavy and yet with a clear sound and some melody on them). There are different types of vocals here but the main one is the most guttural that accentuates in a really good manner the riffs and rhythms tat the rest of the band does. One of the most brutal bands of 2002 !!

Favorite tracks: "I´m Alive", "Follow the Floodline" and "The Beast Inside"

Contact: www.humanbloodfeast.de

REVIEW: HÖSS - DEMO 2001

 

HÖSS - DEMO 2001 (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Höss

Recorded at Selani Studio

Cover Art by Höss

Tracks: 1- In The Name of the Father, 2- Future is the Past, 3- Around the World in 80 Sec., 4- Father !, 5- I am who I am not, 6- I want to....

The first thing that got my attention from the beginning of this CD were the strange rhythmic patterns that this band uses: they are not common...in fact they are twisted and everchanging as hell!! The band has a lot of technical skills and they use then through all this recording of what I would like to call unorthodox death metal. There are a lot of strange melodies combined with killer drumming (this guy is a master of the double bass and of odd time signatures). The guitarists are really technical too playing a lot of crushing riffs perfectly tight with the drums and the adding some interesting solos or melodies in all the tracks. For fans of original and twisted death metal.

Favorite tracks: "IN the Name of the Father", "Father!" and "I am who I am Not"

Contact:

Pawel Michalkiewicz

11-130 Orneta

Dworcowa 7A/2

POLAND