REVIEW: ZøRN - ZøRN

 

ZORN - ZORN (Independent , 2002)

Produced by Zorn

Cover Art by Zorn

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Manifesto, 3- Serial killer, 4- Homo Creato Dall Nula, 5- Odiami

This is a brutal band that comes directly from Italy. Their music has many powerful riffs and in some places like on "Manifesto" or the beginning of "Serial killer"they use a particular guitar sound (sort of an elecrtonic noise or something like that) that makes the song more weird. The main thing here is the heaviness of all the tracks and the combination of brutality with arrangements and interesting rhythms (check for example how this guys develope the track "Serial Killer" starting with a clean guitar intro and then guetting into a twisted rhythm before getting into the full speed part. Then they add some melodies that give a lot of originality to the songs. The vocals are powerful in the vein say of Max Cavalera and singers in that style. A strange thing is listening the vocals in italian (as I think in spanish sound weird too even if it is my main language). It is incredible to see how many great bands are coming from Italy and Zorn is one of the ehaviest I have listened.

Favorite tracks: "Manifesto", "Serial Killer" and "Odiami"

Contact: www.zornband.com

REVIEW: WATCH ME BURN - WATCH ME BURN

 

WATCH ME BURN - WATCH ME BURN (Independent, 2002)

Produced by Watch me Burn

Cover Art by Watch me Burn

Tracks: 1- Lester, 2- 3 2/3rds NUMB, 3- Roadkill

This is an extremely burtal band, specially in the screaming vocals....they are brutal as hell!!!. This woman reminds me a little bit to Holy Moses Sabina Classen because of the energy and bestiality that she uses in the vocals. In fact she is amazingly bestial through the three tracks that are on this MCD. The music is also very extreme and changes rhythms a lot , from slow to fas, then back to slow and then fast again and maybe then even faster. There is also an ultraheavy guitar sound that combines perfectly with the bass thta has a cleaner sound and contrasts with them. The drummer is hyper fast and knows how to make tight rhythm changes that are essential in Watch Me Burn´s music. But the spirit and soul here are the savage vocals which in five minutes (that is what this MCD lasts) smash your brain against the wall. Here we have intensity and brutality !!! !!! Now we want a full length CD from this savage band from hell.

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact: www.angelfire.com/mt2/watchmeburn

REVIEW: VISIONS - A TRIBUTE TO BURZUM

 

VISIONS - A TRIBUTE TO BURZUM (Unholy Records, 2002)

Produced and Compiled by Hagen

Cover Art by Klaas Lageveen

Tracks:

CD 1: 1- ABORYM : Det Som Engang Var, 2- AEIGISHJALMAR: Jesus Tod, 3- BLACK QUEEN: Inn I Slottet fra Droemmen, 4- CRYOGENIC: Dunkelheit, 5- EARTHCORPSE: Lost Wisdom, 6- EWIGKEIT: Ea 2000 - Out for the Count, 7- FORNOST: Wende Im Zeichen des Mikrokosmos, 8- FUNERAL PROCESSION: Der Ruf Aus Dem Turm; 9- JUDAS ISCARIOT: War, 10- KRIGSTROMMER: Lost Wisdom, 11- KRYSTAL: Balferd Baldrs; 12- LUROR: Key to the Gate

CD 2: 1- NOKTURNAL MORTUM: Journey To the Stars, 2- ORTHAUGR: Der Weinende Hadnur, 3- PAGAN HELLFIRE: Frijos einsames Trauern; 4-SARNATH: Stemmen Fra Tarnet, 5- SCHIZOID: En ring til a Herske, 6- STARCHAMBER: Han Som Reise, 7- THE SYRE: Black Spell of Destruction, 8- TRONUS ABYSS: Moti Ragnarokum; 9- WOLFSBURG: Ein Verlorener, vergessern trauriger Geist; 10- WOODS OF FALLEN: Beholding the Daughter of the Firmaments, 11- HERRENVOLK: Daudi Baldrs

If you say you like metal then you must have this double CD in your recording collection. This is a 23 track collection of Burzum songs played in different versions by a lot of underground bands that have given the tracks their own twist in order to give tribute to a really influential band (or one man band) in the black metal underground. The tribute starts with a crushing version of "Det Som Engang Var" played bestially by Aborym which shows you the way that all the tribute is: really climatic and extremely brutal and heavy at the same time. One thing that I liked a lot is that all tracks sound really brutal, even the calmer ones and each of the bands have added their own personality on each of the tracks, from the guitar sound, to the drums sound to the way the compositions are played. There are versions that are closer to the original and some that have been changed a lot in order to add the band personality to them. Another good thing on this tribute is that despite the number of bands the sound of the overall recording is really good and there is not a big difference on the sound quality depending on which band is playing. Buy this or kill yourself!

Favorite tracks: A must for anyone that is into metal

Contact: www.unholyrecords.com

REVIEW: UNHOLY MATRIMONY - LOVE AND DEATH

 

UNHOLY MATRIMONY - LOVE AND DEATH (Independent, 2002)

Produced by Vladimir

Recorded in vladimir´s bedroom

Cover Art by Vladimir

Tracks: 1- A Prelude To love and Death, 2- Le Philtre , 3- Following the Black Star of thoughts, 4- The Feeling of not Belonging, 5- War, 6- Vomiting Bitter Tears of Disgust, 7- La fatalité de l´amour véritable, 8- Memory must Remain, 9- Hymn de la mort d´isout, 10- Selbstmord

Vladimir Cohet is a genius. This guy has created this wonderful piece of art that is this CD, full of dark ethereal music that is a great combination of melodic atmospheric passages and heavy twisted ones. The music here has powerful guitar riffs in many tracks but the essential thing here are the melancholic melodies that are in all the tracks even in the heavier ones. The music has elments of black metal like for example some fast rhythms and the screaming vocals . there are acoustic passages like the ones in "The Feeling of not belonging which are amazing and gives a lot of originality to the tracks. I think Vladimir is really good at doing orchestrations and harmonizations of musical pieces. As an example of this I suggest listening to the track "Le Philtre" which is magnificent. Vladimir also has other musical projects that I would really like to listen soon.

Favorite tracks: All this CD is magnificent

Contact: www.unholymatrimony.cjb.net

REVIEW: TORN TO PIECES - PROMOTING ALCOHOLIC DISEMBOWELMENT

 

TORN TO PIECES - PROMOTING ALCOHOLIC DISEMBOWELMENT (Independent, 2002)

Produced by Torn To Pieces

Recorded in jena - Altes Gut

Cover Art by Benner

Tracks: 1- Madness and Silence, 2- Gory Reconstellation, 3- For A Minute, 4- Indoctrination, 5- Flesh and Beer

The music contained on this four track CD is extremely brutal, despite having some really slow passages like the one in "Madness and Silence" . This guys have a lot of elements of death metal, specially in the vocals that are extremely guttural, but the riffs are different. In fact, they use some crushing slow riff and some rocking riff too (check for example again "Madness and Silence" in the bridge of the song to see the riff that I am talking about). I think the guitars should be louder on the mix because they are essential to Torn To Pieces music and on this recording they are buried in the mix and the drums cover a little bit what the guitars are doing. I think that mixing better this release is going to be killer! (louder guitars, and lower vocals) The brutality of the music is essential in the four tracks here and I think Torn To Pieces achieves great levels of brutality through their heavier than hell riffs and guttural vocals. I think one of the points that this band should use really often are the slow passages because they add a lot of heaviness to their sound. Lovers of brutality will sure like this one.

Favorite tracks: "Madness and Silence" and "For a Minute"

Contact: www.torntopieces.cjb.net

REVIEW: TIMES EXPIRED - THE ELEMENTS E.P.

 

TIMES EXPIRED - THE ELEMENTS E.P. (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Times Expired

Recorded at Machine With Magnets Studios

Cover Art by Fred Raymond

Tracks: 1- Trust, 2- Ghost, 3- The Elements

This is a three song EP from this guys that mix elements of metal and hardcore in a way similar to the one that bands like Biohazard uses. In fact they have a very big hardcore influence that can be heard mainly through all the vocals that this guys use. The guitar sound sounds big and modern and they use a lot of rhythmic riffs that are designed to make the audience jump in a live show! The drums sound is good and the man behind the drumkit is the risponsible of doing the rhytmic patterns which are essential to Times Expired´s sound. The vocals follow the ones used in this style using two or more vocals to create the vocal lines and then more to create the choruses. Lovers of metalcore and related styles should check Times Expired.

Favorite tracks: "Trust" and "Ghost"

Contact: www.timesexpired.com

REVIEW: THINE - IN THERAPY

THINE - IN THERAPY (Peaceville Records, 2002)

Produced by Thine

Tracks: 1- Best Kept Secret, 2- Feel, 3- In Therapy, 4- Homewrecker Extraordinaire, 5- Never Learn, 6- Contact Point, 7- In Red Rooms, 8- Last better Day, 9- Deny Everything, 10- The Bar, 11- Running, 12- Bleaker Audio

Here we have this ethereal yet experimental release. The sound here has (in my opinion) shades of bands liek Anathema, Pink Floyd and some Katatonia. The melancholic vocals are essential for Thine´s sound nad also the harmonization that backing vocals do with te main ones (as for example in bands like Alice in Chains this harmonizations are fundamental). There are distorted guitars but they are used to make arrangements and melancholic melodies that add a lot to the feeling of the songs. Feelings like sadness, despair, sorrow and sensations like beauty, depression and many more are present on this CD. The songs have a lot of hooks for the listener in the choruses and despite the depressive kind of melodies you will find yourself singing the choruses along with the recording. A good option for lovers of the bands that I mentioned above.

Favorite tracks: "Best Kept Secret", "In therapy" and "In red Rooms"

Contact: www.peaceville.co.uk

REVIEW: THE NATIONAL CEMETERY ORCHESTRA - BEYOND THE SHADOWS

 

THE NATIONAL CEMETERY ORCHESTRA - BEYOND THE SHADOWS (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Karl Nix

Recorded at Spare Bedroom Studios

Cover Art by Karl Nix

Tracks: 1- Lost in a Dream, 2- Red Skies, 3- Time Bleeds Away, 4-Pergamum, 5- Nevermore, 6- Martyr, 7- Oblivion, 8- Stormfront, 9- Quake, 10- Utopia

Karl Nix has done it again! After the previous The National Cemetery Orchestra that we reviewed some issues back he has released this even more experimental CD with heavier guitar sound and a better mix. For those who doesn´t know him Karl Nix is the brain behind The National Cemetery orchestra and he composes and plays all the tracks here. The music on "Beyond The Shadows" is wilder and heavier than on "As Twilight Fades into Night". Here there are instrumental tracks as fast and furious that many black metal bands would really love playing. Some of the tracks here even have electronic blast beats!!!! Here we have as always the omnipresent feeling of darkness but this time Karl has added a lot of guitars to every track. This is a prefect mix of heaviness and experimentation by this really open minded musician.

Favorite tracks: "Lost in a Dream", "Time Bleeds Away" and "Stormfront"

Contact: www.mp3.com/NatlCemteryOrchestr or Nthrazz@hotmail.com

REVIEW: TERATISM - EX INFERNUS

 

TERATISM - EX INFERNUS (Root of All Evil Records, 2002)

Produced by Teratism

Tracks: 1- Resurrection Denied, 2- Hate, 3- Children of Scorn, 4- Resurrection Denied (live)

Here you have more than sixteen minutes of unholy black metal bestiality from this guys. Teratism is a band that have in its lineup members and ex members of bands like Theatre of the Macabre, Anal Blast, Mourning and Azrael...sort of a black metal dream team. The CD opens with an intro for "Resurrection Denied" and when the band enters the sound becomes lower (I think this guys must mix everything higher in order to make the music be listened better). The music on this MCD is pure raw black/death metal with fast guitars with one note riffs, blast beats in some parts and many dark elements. There are some slower moments but pure blasphemic black metal is the main rule here. One of the best thing here is the combination of different types of vocals (all adding brutality) .The tracks have a lot of fury and I think that with a better sound the result can be more devastating (in fact some of the tracks come from Teratism´s demo, I think they can be remixed a little bit). Black metal madness is here!

Favorite tracks: "Resurrection Denied (live)" and "Children of Scorn"

Contact: www.rootofallevil.com

REVIEW: TEARS OF DECAY - SAPROPHYT

 

TEARS OF DECAY - SAPROPHYT (Cudgel Agency, 2002)

Produced by Tears of Decay

Recorded at Audiocheck Studios

Cover Art by Thomas Westphall

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Blind Reality, 3- Tears of Decay, 4- Der Übermensch, 5- Bellum Ominum Contra Omnes, 6- Homo Homini Deus Est, Pt. 2, 7- Soul Suicide, 8- Saprophyt, 9- Kill Fuck Die, 10- Outro

Ultra brutality!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is what we have here. It is amazing how Tears of Decay has managed to express all their anger, hate and despair in one CD. Here we have all the elements that can make a release extremely brutal. Specially if you like double bass drumming here you have a master class from this killer drummer that is Dirk Bakker. Crushing fast riffs are the main thing here but there are slower temnpos like the ones at 0:40 of "Bellum Ominum Contra Omnem" that are heavier than an elephant!! The vocals on this CD are guttural at the most extreme level and also we have vocals of the screaming type. The mix is good and I would like this guys to mix a little bit louder the snare drum and some of the toms (just a little bit...to fit perfectly the guitar avalanch that Tears of Decay creates). You wanted brutality, here you have Tearsd of Decay

Favorite tracks: "Tears of Decay", "Soul Suicide" and "Der Übermensch"

Contact: www.tears-of-decay.de or www.cudgel.de