REVIEW: JEFF KAISER - 17 THEMES FOR OCKODEKTET

 

JEFF KAISER - 17 THEMES FOR OCKODEKTET (pfMENTUM Records, 2002 )

Produced By: Jeff Kaiser

Tracks: 1- Dirge, 2- Clad Like Birds, 3- Amplifying Their Parallels, 4- Nothing May Be Taken Naturally, 5- Even With Diagrams, 6- One Absolute Material, 7- Figures of this In-Between, 8- Figures to Be Actualities, 9- Figures With Wings, 10- Coincidentia Oppositorum, 11- Where His third Eye Could Be, 12- Fulfilled By the Reflected Image, 13- There is No profit from Dreams, 14- Into that Nothing Between

Recorded at Ventura City Hall

Jeff Kaiser is a great musician (he pays trumpet here and conducts the music) whose skills as improviser and spontaneous musician can be fully listened on this CD. IN fact this recording features live appearances by the Jeff Kaiser Ockodektet that is a group of great musicians who interact really well (on this recording you can not believe that this guys are improvising). Again we have here the great Ernesto Díaz-Infante playing the acoustic guitar and many other great musicians like Scott Walton on Contrabass or Richie West on drums. It is really amazing listen this guys playing, specially in the moments that they play all together like having a score and in fact they are improvising. The songs here go from atmospheric soft ones like "Clad Like Birds" to almost chaotic ones like "Even With Diagrams". An excellent showcase of spontaneity and improvisation. 

Favorite tracks: "Clad Like Birds", "Figures with wings" and "Coincidentia Oppositorum"

Contact: www.pfmentum.com

REVIEW: INSIDE CONFLICT / JUDOBOY - SPLIT CD

 

INSIDE CONFLICT / JUDOBOY - SPLIT CD (Plainfield Recs., 2002 )

 

Produced By: Plainfield Recs.

Tracks: Inside Conflict: 1- Black Amber, 2- Beheaded Viper, 3- War Inside My Head, 4-Compulsion, 5- Dawn. Judoboy: 6- Sublime, 7- SiPrecieuse

Recorded at Local #2 and Walnut Groove Studio

Inside Conflict plays brutal death metal with a really modern sound (incredible mix) and some hardcore influences that add a unique element to the band´s sound. In fact this last influence is really subtle because this band delivers total brutality through their devastating guitar riffs and their hyperguttural vocals (even in the cover of Suicidal Tendencies "War Inside My Head"). One thing that this guys have and is really positive is the huge guitar sound (they have nothing to envy to famous bands like Machine Head for example).

Judoboy is not as good as the previous band and they make a big contrast with Inside Conflict. The first thing is the difference in quality of the sound that in this two tracks is a bit muddy. Then the compositions are brutal but they don´t have the same degree of intensity that the other band has. One good thing is that here we have some atmospheric elements when the band slows down a little bit. And also we can appreciate some interesting drumming such as the one in "SiPrecieuse".

Favorite tracks: "Black Amber", "Beheaded Viper" and "Compulsion"

Contact: www.plainfieldrecords.com

REVIEW: IN FLAMES - REROUTE TO REMAIN

 

IN FLAMES - REROUTE TO REMAIN (Nuclear Blast/Century Media Brasil, 2002 )

Produced By: Daniel Bergstrand

Tracks: 1- Reroute to Remain, 2- System, 3- Drifter, 4- Trigger, 5- Cloud Connected, 6- Transparent, 7- Dawn of a New Day, 8- Egonomic, 9- Minus, 10- Dismiss the Cynics, 11- Free Fall, 12- Dark Signs, 13- Metaphor, 14- Black and White

We reviewed Dark Tranquility´s last album above, so now we have to review the other kings of the Gothenburg sound. And those are the guys from In Flames. The In Flames albums used to be very similar one to the other, but this is quite different, this is more direct and at the same time has more melodies (and most of the melodies have been made by the vocals). Also there are some breaks and changes that are closer to what Dark Tranquility would do (with clean guitars and stuff like that). It seems like In Flames have changed a little bit their style adding some new elements like the mentioned before or the choruses in ths style of bands like Sentenced. There are also some weird sounds like the ones in "System" that are new for In Flames. It is good to see that this band is evolving and finding new ways in which to express their feelings without forgetting their roots and style.  

Favorite tracks: "System", "Drifter" and "Transparent"

Contact: www.centurymedia.com or www.nuclearblast.de

REVIEW: I.N.R.I. - HYPER BASTARD BREED

 

I.N.R.I. - HYPER BASTARD BREED (Cold Blood Industries , 2002 )

Produced By: I.N.R.I.

Tracks: 1- More Ruthless than the Devil, 2- The Depth Society, 3- Shoot, Hammer and Crush, 4- Terrorfreak, 5- Masturbate, 6- Hyper Bastard Breed, 7- Candidate for the Fuck of God, 8- The Resonance of Triumph, 9- Annihilation, 10- The Glorythrone, 11- Spawn of Abraham, 12- This World´s End, Wipe Out !!, 13- You´re Mighty Privilege, 14- Hell is Rising, 15- The All Consuming Darkness

Cover Art by Jacek Wisniewski

Recorded at Franky´s Recording Kitchen

A hyper brutal release from this devastating band. From the first second of this release the guys in I.N.R.I. unleash all their violence in the brain of the listener reducing it to ashes!! The tracks here are hyper fast with brutal vocals of the screaming and guttural types (really clearly mixed, you can understand the lyrics with no problem). There are fast guitar solos in many of the tracks and fast drum rhythms with double bass and interesting work with the cymbals. This guys have made a good balance between the heavy rhythmic parts and the fastest parts with drumbeats that are almost blast beats. The sound of the release is really good and enhances a lot the music of this bestial band!!

Favorite tracks: "Masturbate", "The Glorythrone" and "Hell is Rising"

Contact: www.coldbloodindustries.com

REVIEW: HYPNOTHETICALL - IN NEED OF A GOD?

HYPNOTHETICALL - IN NEED OF A GOD? (Spreadit Agency, 2002 )

Produced By: Fabio Lentola and Hypnotheticall

Tracks: 1- The Silent Masquerade, 2- Odour of Sanctity, 3- Like a Lamb To the Slaughter,

Cover Art by Hypnotheticall

Hypnotheticall´s music is difficult to describe but it sure is pure metal!!! The riffs and guitar parts as well as the rhythm section remind me sometimes to thrash metal and sometimes to technical death metal . That is, riffs that are fast and powerful and need a lot of technical skills by the musicians to be played. Then comes the singer who is extremely melodic and at the same time ethereal, melancholic and in times deppresive (this guy is killer in creating melodies with his middle range and in some places like in "Odour of Sanctity" he uses a mopre deathly type of vocal). There are excellent clean/acoustig guitar passages that add a different feeling to the songs and there are also many guitar melodies and solos. This guys deserve soon a label to release more of their great songs !!!

Favorite tracks: The three. A killer release

Contact: www.hypnotheticall.com

REVIEW: HOLY MOSES - DISORDER OF THE ORDER

 

HOLY MOSES - DISORDER OF THE ORDER (Century Media, 2002 )

Produced By: Andy Classen

Tracks: 1- Intro; 2- We Are At War; 3- Disorder of the Order; 4- Break the Evil; 5- Deeper; 6- Hell on Earth; 7- I Bleed, 8- Blood Bond; 9- 1.000 Lies, 10- Princess of Hell; 11- Verfolgungswahn; 12- Heaven vs. Hell

Cover Art by Stephan Hagenow

Recorded at Stage One Studio

Here is Holy Moses new album!!!! After last year´s "Master of Disaster" MCD which marked the return of Sabina Classen´s band to the arena !! Now we have this "Disorder of the Order" With twelve brutal tracks with many ideas going on through each of the songs this another Holy Moses masterpiece ("the track "Disorder of the Order" is a new classic!!). This new era of Holy Moses has an interesting change in the guitar sound that has become more brutal. Sabina´s vocals are as brutal as ever and this time he changes it a lot through all the track (in some of them she seems to be in real pain and in anothers she is full of anger and hate !!!). I liked a lot Julien Schmidt´s work on drums which is really brutal and has a great sound through all the recording. Also a welcome addition is Andreas Libera on bass who supports in a great way the bottom end sound of the band. A devastating release from this crushing band !!! 

Favorite tracks: All this CD is an extreme experience of brutality. One of the records of the month

Contact: www.centurymedia.com or www.holymoses.de

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