REVIEW: MIND WILD - SPIRIT

MIND WILD - SPIRIT (Spreadit Agency, 2002 )

Produced By: Mind Wild

Tracks: 1- Thrashers Rievocation, 2- Mindwild Spirit, 3- P.I.´99, 4- My Wild Mind, 5- No One´s Calling, 6- Inculation

Cover Art by Mind Wild

Mind Wild is pure thrash with an old school feeling and some death metal shades. Their music is fast with eighties riffs and some hardcore elements that give a different feeling to some parts. The songs are well constructed and you can imagine yourself in the late eighties thrash scene (even if this guys have a more modern sound). The sound is good and raw and it is not overproduced, so the music has this underground quality that many bands had in its beginnings (for example I find some Venom sound in "P.I.´99". There are faster parts that are closer to death metal like the end of "Mindwild Spirit". I find amazing how there seem to be a comeback of thrash metal to the underground but renewed with new sound and elments from other styles. 

Favorite tracks: "Mindwild Spirit", "My Wild Mind" and "Inculation"

Contact: mindwild@genie.it

REVIEW: MACHINE GUN KELLY - HELL´S INN

 

MACHINE GUN KELLY - HELL´S INN (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Tommy and Machine Gun Kelly

Tracks: 1- Hell´s Inn, 2- Stoned king, 3- Machine Gun Kelly, 4- On the Run, 5- Danger In the Wasteland

Cover Art by Umberto

Recorded at Nadir Studios

Machine Gun Kelly is aband whose music can be defined as hard rock, but the band has some metal elements and influences and they have also a heavier guitar sound when compared to bands of the style. Here we have five rocking tracks that contain good riffs and some punk attitude in the singing and in some bass and drums rhythms. The mix of this MCD is really polished and that makes the result even more direct and powerful because you can listen every instrument that is played here clearly. The songs have a lot of hooks, specially on the choruses that are designed to be singed along by the crowd. This is rock of really good quality

Favorite tracks: "Stoned King", "Machine Gun kelly" and "On the Run"

Contact: umberto16@supereva.it

REVIEW: LITHAM - DHAL ENNAR

 

LITHAM - DHAL ENNAR (Independent, 1999)

Produced By: Lelahel Metal

Tracks: 1- Ila Voum Eddine, 2- Secrets, 3-El Djamra, 4- Elixir, 5- Empire of Ibliss, 6- L´Kahf, 7- Chapter XIII, 8- El Litham

Cover Art by Litham

Recorded at Saad Kezzime

This is a very special recording, because it is the first metal recording done in Argelia. And it is a really extreme and good one. Litham plays some death metal with incredible arrangements and with some influences from their homeland (and that is really good and you can listen it in some of the guitar and vocal melodies). The songs are complex and this guys have the technical skills needed to achieve the compositional level that they wanted (specially the guitarist that is killer in all the solos and melodies. I hope this album and band opens up the way for other bands from Argelia and other african countries that deserve to be heard through all the world.

Favorite tracks: All the tracks. One of the best albums of the month.

Contact: www.litham.fr.st

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