REVIEW: HATEFUL - AFTER THE LAST BREATH

 

HATEFUL - AFTER THE LAST BREATH (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Hateful

Tracks: 1- Relieve the Despair, 2- Premature Death, 3- Inner War, 4- After the Last Breath

Cover Artwork by Daniele Lupidi

Recorded at Centro Musica

Hateful is a technical yet brutal death metal bands with great use of melodies in the guitars that contrast with the raw sound that this recording has. The band prefers to use more rhythmic riffs instead of faster ones (in fact in tracks like "After The Last Breath" they use some really slow riffs that sound even heavier) and also they like creating a lot of atmospheres through the guitars. There are influences of bands like Morbid Angel but this band is more climatic than Trey Azagthoth´s band. One of the main thing here are the guitar solos that add melancholic melodies and a certain virtuosism to the tracks. The sound is really raw and maybe with more time in the studio the band can explore more the way in which they want to sound. Death metal lovers check this one

Favorite tracks: "Relieve the Despair" and "Inner War"

REVIEW: HAND OF DOOM - DREAMS OF RESURRECTION

 

HAND OF DOOM - DREAMS OF RESURRECTION (Gemini Recs., 2001)

Produced By: Hand of Doom

Tracks: 1- Dark Side, 2- Winter Days, 3- Dreams of Resurrection, 4- Deep Waters, 5- King of Beasts, 6- Just Another Days, 7- Tears of Eternity, 8- Ancient Spirit

Cover Art by Roberto Zoppi

Recorded at Elfo Studio

Hand of Doom is a really good band coming directly from Italy. The music here has elements of heavy metal, thrash metal and some death metal. The main thing here are the good compositions with many different riffs within each song and multiple rhythm changes that add complexity to Hand of Doom´s music. In fact you have to check the first track here called "Dark Side" to see what this guys can do in eight minutes. The essential thing here is the combination between heaviness and melody, between wild vocals and melodic ones, between the crushing guitars and the somber and beautiful keyboards. This is one of the bands that I think will be a big number in the near future.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.handofdoom.it

REVIEW: GREAT VAST FOREST - BATTLETALES AND SONGS OF STEEL

 

GREAT VAST FOREST - BATTLETALES AND SONGS OF STEEL (Evil Horde Recs., 2002 )

Produced By: Great Vast Forest

Tracks: 1- Intro/The Kings of power, 2- Pagan kingdom, 3- Wolvesclan, 4- The Gate Behind the Mountain, 5- Masters of the Old War, 6- Cold Souls of the Forest, 7- Majestic South, 8- Stormtroops, 9- Imperial Moon, 10- Outro/ ...and of blood was covered the hill...

Cover Art by Michel B.

Recorded at Studio Hagnna

Here is this CD from this band whose style I would call war metal or battle metal (nothing to do with Bolt Thrower´s music). I expected some hyper fast black metal but instead I have found something new here. Here we have a music that is not straightforward black metal and not even death metal. Here we have guitar riffs that can be of both styles or maybe even of bands like old Venom (but with a guitar that sounds much more huge). Then comes the keyboards and the melodies: the keys are esential here doing a lot of the background (I would like them to be mixed a little bit higher) and the vocal melodies are specially interesting because they are not common on this style (in fact they make a great contrast with the more black metallish vocals). The fastest parts are devastating and extremely raw but the things that are fundamental for Great Vast Forest is the combination of this raw parts with the more epic ones. As I said in the Azaghal review the packaging here is of great quality. This is blasphemic music with an epic side!! 

Favorite tracks: "Wolvesclan", "Masters of the Old War" and "Stormtroops"

Contact: www.evilhorderec.com

REVIEW: GRAVEWURM - DARK SOULS OF HELL

 

GRAVEWURM - DARK SOULS OF HELL (Barbarian Wrath Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Gravewurm

Tracks: 1- In Hell we Reign, 2- Evil Oath, 3- Massacre in Heaven, 4- Gravemaster, 5- Raise the Flag, 6- Vengeance we seek, 7- Carnage for the Beast, 8- Ancient Storms of War, 9- The Guardian, 10- Fighting For Evil, 11- Iron Warriors, 12- Merciless Slughter, 13- Wizards of War

Layout by Chorazaim

Strange band this Gravewurm. The first thing that got my attention is the strange distortion that the guitars have. Then come the guitar riffs which are sometimes rhythmical and sometimes slow but never similar to the ones played by black or death metal bands (in fact they are closer to a more heavy metal band or bands like for example Sodom or even Celtic Frost eventhough the music is completely different). The vocals are of the type that some death metal bands use , that is, not extremely guttural but never clean. In tracks like "Massacre in heaven" the music gets faster and rawer. The overall sound of the recording is not really good and maybe with a louder mix and different guitar distortion the music could sound better (also the programmed drums sound really weird here, specially the cymbals).

Favorite tracks: "Evil oath", "Raise the Flag" and "Fighting for Evil"

Contact: www.mp3.com/gravewurm or www.barbarianwrath.org

REVIEW: GOTHA - TAKE YOUR SOUL

GOTHA - TAKE YOUR SOUL (Spreadit Agency, 2002 )

Produced By: Gotha

Tracks: 1- Take Your Soul, 2- The Battle, 3- Banshee

Recorded at Bunker Studio

Here we have Gotha, a powerful thrashcore metal band. I have put "thrashcore" to describe their style bercause I feel they have influences from both styles (mainly thrash metal in some riffs and the solos and hardcore in the voclas and some choruses) and also from calssical heavy metal. The riffs are heavy as hell and I like a lot the arrangements that the bass player does while supporting the rhythm section (some tapping phrases and stuff like that, check "The Battle" to see this). Here we have three tracks, two of average duration and a shorter instrumental one. I hope this guys release a full length soon to listen more of their music. 

Favorite tracks: "The Battle" and "Take Your Soul"

Contact: www.gotha-thrash.com

REVIEW: GOLD FÜR EISEN - HEIMAT

 

GOLD FÜR EISEN - HEIMAT (Interregnum Musik, 2002 )

Produced By: Jörg Rainer-Friede

Tracks: 1- Heimat..., 2- Auf Der Jagd, 3- Stoertebeker, 4- Heimkehrer ´46, 5- ...und alles nur, weil Du nicht gewartet hast, 6- Deutschland, 7- Deuer! (ein Amoklauf), 8- Wieder daheim

Cover Art by Jub

Recorded at Tepa Tape Studios

Gold Für Eisen´s music is very difficult to describe. Take some elements of german bands like Sodom or Kreator, add some death metal feeling and some double bass drumming (programmed drums sound really good here), then add some choruses that sound extremely "german" and you have a small idea of what this band is about. Their music has a huge guitar sound that makes the music on this CD extremely heavy (the mix is really great and the band knows what to do in order to be heavier). There are certain strange passages like the ones in "Heimkehrer ´46" with spoken voclas and the drums in the background and the bass playing some slow phrases. There are plenty of melodies here done mostly with the guitars and this are essential for the Gold Für Eisen sound combined with the heaviest parts. This is a band that are developing their own style adding a lot of elements to their music.

Favorite tracks: All the tracks

Contact: www.goldfuereisen.de

REVIEW: FREEDOM CALL - ETERNITY

FREEDOM CALL - ETERNITY (Century Media Recs., 2002 )

Produced By: Dan Zimmerman and Chris Bay

Tracks: 1- Metal Invasion, 2- Flying High, 3- Ages of power, 4- The Spell, 5- Bleeding heart, 6- Warriors, 7- The Eyes of the World, 8- Flame in the Night, 9- Land of light, 10- Island of Dreams, 11- Turn Back Time

Cover Art by Paul Raymond Gregory

Recorded at FC Studios

In the mid eighties and specially after the "Keeper I and II" albums Helloween set the path that millions of bands would follow in the future. And one of the bands that has done it is Freedom Call. Here the band has found a sound that is a cross between Helloween and Rhapsody and has developed eleven compositions much more powerful than in their previous album. Here we have all the melodies that the style needs and must have. We have the double bass drumming, and the galloping guitars, we have the twin guitars that make solos and melodies in all the songs, and we have the hyper melodic vocals that sing melodies that sound very "german", specially when joined by other voices in the choruses. Here is Freedom Call, a band that maybe with a little bit more of identity and originality could go directly to the top of the metal world.

Favorite tracks: "Ages of power" and "Warriors"

Contact: www.centurymedia.com

REVIEW: FLOWING TEARS - SERPENTINE

 

FLOWING TEARS - SERPENTINE (Century Media Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Waldemar Sorychta

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Starfish Ride (for a million dollar handshake), 3- Serpentine, 4- Children of the Sun, 5- The Marching Sane, 6- Breach, 7- Portsall (departure song), 8- Justine, 9- The Carnage People, 10- Merlin, 11- Cupid of the Carrion kind, 12- For Tonight

Cover Art by Axel Hermann

Flowing Tears has the strange characteristic of being a band that can be epic and deppressive at the same time. It is this feeling that makes this band´s music so interesting. The mix of sad and enchanting melodies with the heavy guitars that leave a lot of space to develope interesting ideas is essential for Flowing Tears identity. The band has achieved a point where you listen just a few seconds and you know that it´s Flowing Tears music. And one of the things that make this happen is the powerful voice of Stefanie Duchene which is really melodic but has a lot of strength and energy to deliver. The mix by Waldemar Sorychta has again found the perfect balance between heaviness and beauty, this delicate equilibrium that Flowing tears manage so good. A must

Favorite tracks: A must. All the tracks are fabulous.

Contact: www.centurymedia.com

REVIEW: FANGORN - FANGORN

 

FANGORN - FANGORN ( G.U.C. Productions, 2002 )

Produced By: Fangorn

Tracks: 1- Paradies, 2- Pfeffer, 3- Phoenix, 4- Freudentanz, 5- Steinheit, 6- Verdammt, 7- Fluss, 8- Koma, 9- Felsen, 10- Herz, 11- Fährmann

Cover Art by Fangorn

Recorded at: Digidirt Studios

Fangorn is a band that sounds really european. With complex songs and many guitar riffs they sound like a mix of Dark Tranquility, Death, Sentenced and bands in that style. But this band has a lot of identity. With the interconection between the male and female vocals (this one are not in the vein that one is accustomed to listen to, in fact I think the range of this woman is a mezzo soprano and sounds really great here), the multiple rhythm and riffs changes. Here we have to point ourt the excelent guitar work with atmospheres, melodies and utter heaviness in the riffs. The sound of the recording is really good and make the results even brighter. Most of the songs here are sung in german and that adds a strange feeling and a lot of heaviness to the music. 

Favorite tracks: All the CD.

Contact: www.guc-area.de

REVIEW: EXSECRATUM - ADITUS

 

EXSECRATUM - ADITUS (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Exsecratum

Tracks: 1- The Mighty Frost of North, 2- Wandering Sons of the Obscure throne, 3- Northern Supremacy, 4- The Light of Unholy Souls, 5- A Breezing Vision of Damnation

Cover Art by Lord Azazel

Recorded at Silver Poddu Studios

This CD starts with some noises and storm sounds in the beginning of "The Mighty Frost of North" before getting into the purest and raw black metal. Here we have the elements of this style: fast guitars with a raw sound, fast drumming and screaming vocals. There are also the riffs in which the guitars are used to create fast melodies ovber which are spitted the hateful lyrics. One thing to remark is the full speed of this release which doesn´t slow done through the whole CD. There are some rhythm changes in tracks like "Northern Supremacy" from one fast riff to another. The sound is fairly good and maybe the guitars and drums can be mixed a little bit better to achieve a bigger black metal sound. This is a CD full of hatred and blasphemy!!!! 

Favorite tracks: "Northern Supremacy", "The Light of Unholy Souls" and "A Breezing Vision..."

Contact: exsecratum@hotmail.com