REVIEW: LIQUEFIED SKELETON - RIPPED AND TORN

 

LIQUEFIED SKELETON - RIPPED AND TORN (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Liquefied Skeleton

Tracks: 1- From Within, 2- Ripped and Torn, 3- Spill the Blood, 4- Messiah

Cover Art by Gilmour Design

Recorded at Springvale Studios

Hyper fast drumming, guttural vocals, blast beats, super fast riffs, heavier than hell guitars. All this elements are present in Liquefied Skeleton´s music. Their music is hyper fast and they are goingo for the highest level of brutality a band can achieve. There are riffs which I like more like the one at 1:10 of "From Within" (I think this guys have to use more of this riffs because they are devastating). The drummer is amazing in the fastest parts and accentuates really well the rhythmic riffs while adding some double bass drumming. The vocals are guttural as hell and fit perfectly Liquefied Skeleton´s music. One thing that I have to say is that Liquefied Skeleton recorded this MCD as a trio but now they have added another guitarist so the result must be even more crushing. Music designed to melt your brain!!

Favorite tracks: "From Within" and "Ripped and Torn"

Contact: www.liquefiedskeleton.com

REVIEW: LIFE KIT - MONKEY NUMBER ONE (ADVANCE)

LIFE KIT - MONKEY NUMBER ONE (ADVANCE) (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Life Kit

Tracks: 1- The Brief Case Man, 2- A Hand pulls Me Downward, 3- Faith and Lies, 4- Draught Air

This is an advance CD of the new album from the guys of Life Kit . When compared to "Life is a Code" this one seem to have a rawer sound (I don´pt know if this is a rough mix or not) and also the songs are much more weird than the ones contained on the previous release. Here we have many changes in riffs, moods and rhythms that are more complex than in the previous album. Also it seems to me that the vocals are darker this time with more harmonies that help to this feeling. There are interesting guitar riffs (played with a strange sounding guitar, I think he is using a lot of flanger effect) that make each song more powerful than the other. I would really like to listen the whole CD because Life Kit main characteristic is that each song is completely different from the other.  

Favorite tracks: The four.

Contact: www.life-kit.com

REVIEW: LIFE KIT - LIFE IS A CODE

 

LIFE KIT - LIFE IS A CODE (Independent, 2000)

Produced By: Bush K.

Tracks: 1- Metamorphosis, 2- Life kit, 3- Bitch, 4- Laps, 5- Bonus Video clip

Cover Art by Androgyne

This is a 4 track MCD from this band that also sent us an advance of their new CD. The first thing that got my attention is how well the drums sound here (in fact this CD opens with a drum passage that sounds extremely powerful). This guys have elements of death and modern (specially in the sound and in the vocals) metal in their music. Another thing that I listen here is the eastern sounding melody that this guys play in the middle of "Metamorphosis". There are some elements closer to bands like Fear Factory (like the guitar sound) even if the rhythms are completely different. The guitars sound really fat creating with the other instruments a wall of sound. The vocalist is really versatile going from a guttural and aggressive voice to a darker type of vocals with no problem. A powerful release!!

Favorite tracks: The four

Contact: www.life-kit.com

REVIEW: LAGRIMAS NEGRAS - IN PENUMBRA

 

LAGRIMAS NEGRAS - IN PENUMBRA (Independent, 2002 ) 

Produced By: Lágrimas Negras

Tracks: 1- Distance, 2- Alive, 3- Cross of My heart, 4- El Claro al Final del Camino, 5- Morpheo, 6- Sabanath

Recorded at Estudios El Tostadero

Coming directly from Spain we have Lágrimas Negras (Black Tears) with this MCD full of dark metal that we can call atmospheric gothic death/ black metal because it has a lot of keyboards and orchestration through all the tracks, it has vocals that can be from a death or black metal band (the tracks are slow or mid paced....don´t expect blast beats here) and it also has other vocals that are clean and sound closer to gothic metal. The recording is well mixed, specially the keyboards that are essential to Lágrimas Negras music. I would like them to mix a little bit louder the guitar and lower the vocals to achieve more tightness in the sound. A must for people who enjoy climatic music with melodic elements and an extremely dark atmosphere.

Favorite tracks: "Cross of My heart", "Alive" and "Morpheo"

Contact: lagrimasnegrassoria@hotmail.com

REVIEW: LACUNA COIL - HEAVEN´S A LIE

 

LACUNA COIL - HEAVEN´S A LIE (SINGLE) (Century Media Recs., 2002 )

Produced By: Lacuna Coil

Tracks: 1- Heaven´s a Lie, 2- Self Deception

Here we have two songs extracted from Lacuna Coil´s new album called "Comalies". And they show some progress from the previous album, specially in the sound which is deeper and clearer on this new tracks. Here we have Cristina Scabbia´s powerful vocals combined with Andrea Ferro´s ones which are the trademark of the band along with big keyboards that are essential to this two tracks. I wonder if all the album is like this two tracks. I will surely like to listen to it because it must be a masterpiece.

Favorite tracks: The two.

Contact: www.centurymedia.com

REVIEW: KISS OF DEATH - PROMO 2K2

 

KISS OF DEATH - PROMO 2K2 (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Kiss of Death

Tracks: 1- House of pain, 2- Uncontrolled Reaction, 3- Stronger Than Before

Cover Art by Fabio Chiesa

Recorded at Panpot Studios

This is a three track promo with brutal tracks that I would call thrash death metal . The vocals remind me a little bit to Kreator but the riffs are completely different from those played by the german band. In fact here we have some much more modern metal influences, specially in the sound that the guitars have. There are good guitar solos which add a lot of melody to the songs and give a special feeling to them. The mix is good and that helps a lot to the songs (specially the guitars that are mixed really loud as it must be). The drummer is crushing in "Uncontrolled Reaqction" playing some unexpected rhythms and fills that give a lot of originality to the songs. Now we have to wait a full length release from this band.

Favorite tracks: the three

Contact: www.kissofdeath.it

REVIEW: KARELIA - USUAL TRAGEDY

 

KARELIA - USUAL TRAGEDY (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Karelia

Tracks: 1- Letter for an Angel, 2- Usual tragedy, 3- Blind, 4- Daddy´s Grave

Cover Art Idea by Karelia

Here we have this powerful and melodic metal band with a lot of original elements that distinguish them from every other band of the style. The guys in Karelia have achieved a way to create extremely climatic metal songs with some power metal structures in some places and with a heavy metal voice similar to the one in bands like Stratovarius combined with other one similar to the one used by the guys in Moonspell (and there are incredible epic choruses). Also there are many riffs and ideas, as well as keyboards passages that are not common in the style using tempo changes and breaks. One thing that I have to remark is the excellent quality of the sound that ....here you can listen each note played perfectly. An amazing MCD from this promisory band!!

Favorite tracks: The Four

Contact: www.cybernemo.com/karelia

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