REVIEW: ZAO - PARADE OF CHAOS

 

ZAO - PARADE OF CHAOS (Solidstate Records, 2002)

Produced by Barry Poynter, Jesse Smith and Scott Mellinger

Recorded at Poynter´s Palace

Cover Art by Asterik Studio

Tracks: 1- The Buzzing, 2- Suspend / Suspension, 3- Parade of Chaos, 4- Angel Without Wings, 5- Killing Cupido, 6- Free the Three, 7- Man In the Womb, 8- A Pirates Prayer, 9- The Ballad of Buddy Bigsby, 10- How are the weak Free?

Zao is back!! This time more violent than ever! Here we have the crushing riffs that were in their previous releases but this time the screams are louder the riffs are heavier and the sound is bigger !! Here we have this trio of devastating guys that melt your brain through the ten tracks of this CD. Here we have the drumbeats from hell that lives the listener banging his head. This are songs that were meant to be played live. I imagine a Zao concert with hundreds ofmetalheads moshing and jumping along with the songs. The songs here have a lot of interesting changes and guitar arrangements that make the result really powerful and interesting and also the songs have a lot of catchy choruses that you can scream along !! A must.

Favorite tracks: "The Buzzing", "Angel Without Wings" and "Man in the Womb"

Contact: www.solidstate.com

REVIEW: VINTERRIKET - ADVANCE FROM "KÄLTE" 7" EP

 

VINTERRIKET - ADVANCE FROM "KÄLTE" 7" EP (Parasite Records, 2002)

Produced by Vinterriket

Cover Art by Vinterriket

Tracks: 1- Der Schrei Der Leere; 2- Züngelnde Winterflammen

Here we have this two track CDs with two strong compositions by Chris. This compositions are from february and march of 2002 so they are the newest material from Vinterriket. On the first track we have some raw parts with screaming and blast beats combined with a lot of keyboards passages and interludes that give a lot of identity to Vinterriket´s music. This way to mix darkness and violence in the same compositions is an art that Vinterriket has developed in a really great way. The second tracks is kind of more introspective and melancholic and shows us a more atmospheric side of Vinterriket´s music (here Chris screams but the screams are mixed lower letting us listen much more the eerie keyboards phrases and interludes). Let there be darkness with Vinterriket´s music!!

Favorite tracks: Both tracks are beautiful works of art.

Contact: www.vinterriket.com or www.parasiterecords.org

REVIEW: VINTERRIKET - PROMO 2002

 

VINTERRIKET - PROMO 2002 (Neodawn prods., 2002)

Produced by Vinterriket

Cover Art by Vinterriket

Tracks: 1- Fragments Eines Schatten, 2- Tötendes Licht, 3- Am brennenden nördlichen Firmament, 4- Stumme Wintersnacht, 5- Forge of Souls (Graveland Cover)

Here we have Vinterriket´s new promotional CD. This consists in some tracks taken from different releases like splits or 7" and a Graveland cover. Here we can see that Vinterriket has achieved their own style with raw guitars and a lot of keyboards (in fact I think the keys are the main element here adding a lot of atrmosphere to the tracks). Chriostopher ´s voclas have a more dominant role here than in the previous material that I had listened before and he sings melancholic melodies through all the recording and screaming when its necessary. And that is the main thing here: melodies with a lot of darkness. This is definitely a release for lovers of darkness and music with a lot of interesting arrangements.

Favorite tracks: The five contained here are great

Contact: www.neodawn.de or www.vinterriket.com

REVIEW: VARGSRIKET - SATANIC EXECUTION COMMANDO VARGSRIKET

VARGSRIKET - SATANIC EXECUTION COMMANDO VARGSRIKET (Records, 2002)

Produced by Vargsriket

Recorded in February 2002

Cover Art by Grym

Tracks: 1- Black Orders, 2- Luciferian, 3- My Blood- My Enemy, 4- Vargsriket, 5- Prologue To Honour, 6- Minions of Satan, 7- Oath of Blood, 8- Sanguinem Sacrificim, 9- Antichristian Battle Tune, 10- Hater of the Nailed One, 11- Willing to Compromise; 12- impale the Bastard

Here we have this band that is a legend in the black metal realm. There music is full of hate and extremely fast in some places and more climatic in others (like in "Sanguinem Sacricim"). Here the main thing are the guitar riffs combined with some hyper fast part with blast beats and a lot of crushing rhythms all over the tracks. Also here we have some interesting interludes with dense atmospheres and some spoken vocals. What I liked a lot here is the bass guitar which is mixed really loud and helps the devastating result of this CD (it gives a lot of power to the riffs because they accentuate a lot of them). The vocals are screaming in the black metalstyle and they spit lyrics about hatred of god and war to cristianity. Lovers of black metal will enjoy this one with no doubt!!

Favorite tracks: "My Blood - my Enemy", "Sanguinem Sacrificim" and "Hater of the Nailed One"

Contact: www.vargsriket.com

REVIEW: THY PRIMORDIAL - THE CROWNING CARNAGE

 

THY PRIMORDIAL - THE CROWNING CARNAGE (Candlelight Records, 2002)

Produced by Tommy Tägtgren

Recorded at Abyss Studios

Tracks: 1- Subterranean Carnality, 2- Genuine Hatred, 3- Icon Retribution, 4- The Crowning Carnage, 5- Worldecay, 6- Purveyor of Chaos, 7- Changing the Mortal Disguise, 8- Menace of Human Waste, 9- Destroying the Idea of a God.

This is pure fucking holocaust black metal!! Here you have a black metal band that goes at full speed and full of hate all of the time. And they got what they deserve: the production of Tommy Tägtgren and the sound of the Abyss Studios that have multiplied ten times the power of the band. Yes, here the guitars are devastating even in the fastest riffs and you can hear them perfectly (they are not like a buzz in the speakers as in some releases that are not well mixed). Here you listenm perfectly the voices spitting their lyrics with their denial of god. And also here you have a killer drummer that can play great fills and blast beats making the music more agressive. This is raw black metal with great sound.

Favorite tracks: "Genuine Hatred", "Icon Retribution" and "The Crowning Carnage"

Contact: www.candlelightrecords.co.uk

REVIEW: THUNDERCORE - SAMPLER CD

THUNDERCORE - SAMPLER CD(Independent, 2002)

Here we have this powerful band that plays extremely violent metal with heavier than hell riffs and brutal vocals adding a lot of rhythms to their music through the syncopated drumbeats.. This guys have a lot of hardcore feeling too in their music and they know how to deliver it with some brutality in order to make it sound really heavy as hell. The production of the CD is amazingly good, specially on the guitar sound that is really fat and gives a lot of identity and power to Thundercore´s music. This is a six song CD sampler from this powerful band and I read that they are giving the final touches to their new recording which would really like to listen to soon.

Favorite tracks: Tracks number 1, 3 and 4

Contact: www.thundercore.com

REVIEW: THRONE OF CHAOS - MENACE AND PRAYER

 

THRONE OF CHAOS - MENACE AND PRAYER (Spinefarm Records,1999)

Produced by Tapio Pennanen and Throne of Chaos

Recorded at La-La Records

Cover Art by Kyösti

Tracks: 1- From Clarity To Insanity, 2- The Scaffold Scenario, 3- Cold Bits of Fire, 4- Bloodstained Prophecy, 5- Menace and Prayer, 6- Syntethia, 7- Opus Void, 8- Divanity, 9- Never in a Dream, 10- Towards Glory

This was quite an old release but because of its quality I decided to review it. This guys are from Finland and they have developed a style that I would called dark heavy power metal. That is: their music has elements of death metal in the voices (a screaming vocalist) and at the same time the music is really epic with a lot of elements of power metal such as the keyboards solos and the melodic riffs that are composed to sing with the fist in the air. Plus, here there are interesting thrash riffs along with fastest parts. The musicians here are really technical proficient (it is incredible how in Europe you have that many bands with great musicianship). Here you have a good option if you are bored from the same styles. This is different.

Favorite tracks: "The Scaffold Scenario", "Menace and Prayer" and "Towards Glory"

Contact: www.spinefarm.fi

REVIEW: THE SILENT SHINING - THE FIRST ATTACK

 

THE SILENT SHINING - THE FIRST ATTACK (Indepedent, 2001)

Tracks: 1- Ophidian - Dreaming The Hereafter, 2- Dweorgesblod - look through the Emerald, 3- Astray - Universal Truth Divine, 4- Ordo Draconis - The Conjuration Complete, 5- Secrets of the Moon - Orion in the Wintersky, 6- Anthropolatri - Ognnenyi Veter, 7- Immemoreal - A nightmare Scenario, 8- Moonsorrow - Ukkosenjumalan Poika, 9- Iscariot - Wrath, 10- Lost Dreams - Burning Eyes, 11- Nebular Mystic - As I Blow My Candles, 12- Temple of Tiphareth - What ahs to be done (666), 13- Meads of Asphodel - Watchers of Catal Huyuk, 14- Pest - Ära

Here is this compilation that includes sixteen dark metal bands doing great songs. Here we have more famous underground bands like Immemorial, Ophidian or Moonsorrow along with other names that are not as known but as musically great as them as Dweorgesblod or Temple of Tipharet. All the bands are in the vein of complex black metal and I like the beginning with Ophidian doing their music in a great way. All of the bands here have in ytheir tracks some orchestration and interesting arrangements (some of the bands have more and some that are more raw have less). I would recommend this CD to people who don´t know the bands on it or to people who have not heard this style of music before and that will have here a good sample.

Favorite tracks: This is a great compilation CD and it is great to introduce people to the music of this bands

Contact: moongleam@planet.nl

REVIEW: THE KNUTS - PALAST DER WINDE

THE KNUTS - PALAST DER WINDE (Independent , 2000)

Produced by The Knuts

Cover Art by Alexander Görisch

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Die Mutter aus Kalkutta, 3- Popo-Club, 4- Geschwitzt, geschlitzt, gespritzt, 5- Palast Der Winde, 6- Summer of (66) 69, 7- Da ist was faul...Johannes Paul, 8- Hacken Bis Zum Abkacken, 9- Bodo Tanzt Den Pickelnascher, 10-Daddy Cool, 11- Die Teppichmilbe, 12- Der Bauer und das Liebe Vieh, 13- Du stinkst, aber Ich Liebe Dich, 14- Der Einsame Angler am Sumpfe Der Menschwerdung, 15- Land Der Liebe 2000, 16- Ballade of Rosi S., 17- Eine Neue Leber ist Wie Ein Neues Leben

Looking at the cover you don´t give much for this guys music. But listening to the CD is completely different. That is death metal with a lot of hardcore touches and interesting guitar riffs with many great melodies like in the song "Popo-Club" (so, don´t get fooled by the cover of this CD). The music here is powerful and raw with great work by the guitarists who work really well and develope the songs along with the drummer who does a lot of double bass drumming and also hits a lot his cymbals in order to add more heaviness to the tracks. The singer is in the vein of Sodom´s Tom Angel Ripper but a little bit more deathly. Tracks like "Geschwitzt..." are pure energy and almost grind in some parts (there are some really short tracks with grind bits). A really multiphacetic band full of power.

Favorite tracks: "Popo-club", "Der Bauer und Das Liebe Vieh" and "Eine Neue Leber ist Wie Ein Neues Leben"

Contact: theknuts@web.de

REVIEW: SYSTEM OF A DOWN - TOXICITY

 

SYSTEM OF A DOWN - TOXICITY (American Records, 2001)

Produced by Rick Rubin and Daron Malakian

Recorded at Cello Studios

Cover Art by Mark Wakefield

Tracks: 1- Prison Song, 2- Needles, 3- Deer Dance, 4- Jet Pilot, 5- X, 6- Chop Suey!, 7- Bounce, 8- Forest, 9- Atwa, 10- Science, 11- Shimmy, 12- Toxicity, 13- Psycho, 14- Aerials

Here we have this band that is a sensation in the metal world and here you understand why. In a world full of Korn´s clones and bad copies and power metal repetitive bands here we have a band that is original and really powerful at the same time. Here we have Daron´s guitars that are crushing and at the same time melodic in many places, then you have the amazing Serj Tankian´s vocals which are the heart and soul of System of a Down´s music adding a lot of interesting melodies to the powerful music. Surely you have seen the "Chop Suey!" or "Aerials" video on MTV and many places. Well, here you have fourteen tracks in a similar vein.

Favorite tracks: "Aerials", "Needles" and "Bounce"