REVIEW: CHRISTIAN DEATH - LOVER OF SIN

 

CHRISTIAN DEATH - LOVER OF SIN (Candlelight Records, 2002)

Produced By: Valor

Tracks: 1- You Should Have Died, 2- Unspoken, 3- Stone Cold, 4- The Vision, 5- Darkness Walks With Me, 6- No Shame, 7- Paradox, 8- Where the Dead Sleep, 9- Eulogy Cathedral, 10- Lamb to the Slaughter

Cover Art by Valor

Here we have a classic band whose sound has been an inspiration for bands as different as Type O Negative and Morbid Angel. But the good thing about Christian Death is that they have not become stagnant musically as many other classical bands have. As you can listen on this new recording the band has taken many modern sounds and adapted them to Christian Death´s music. Here you can listen fast parts in a black metal way, then climatic and atmospheric passages like on "Stone Cold" and you have the omniprescent vocals of Valor and Damond Jinya (who also sings in Savatage). Then there are the keyboards arrangements done by new member Maitri that are essential to Christian Death´s sound. This is classical band that must be listened in order to know that this bands can evolve too and make always great albums like this "Lover of Sin" with its heaviness and darkness.

Favorite tracks: "You Should Have Died", "No Shame" and "Where the Dead Sleep"

Contact: www.candlelightrecords.co.uk

REVIEW: CHANGELING - NEVER SAY NEVER

 

CHANGELING - NEVER SAY NEVER (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Changeling

Tracks: 1- Newborn, 2- Prayer, 3- Losery, 4- Crazy, 5- Five-Six, 6- Warning, 7- Saved, 8- Oskorei, 9- Emdee 2

Cover Art by Shava

Recorded at  Basques Audio Productions

Changeling rocks! This band has really a lot of energy in their songs and here they deliver nine of them with a lot of power. The music of this band is a mix of hard rock, metal and it has some alternative touches (mainly from bands like Alice in Chains, that is the darkest bands). One thing that gives a lot of identity to the band´s music are the vocals of Alexandre Duran who sings with a lot of energy and adapts the voice to the mood of each of the songs and who also made the visual and musical concept of the band. One thing to remark is that all the songs here are memorable, they have catchy riffs, choruses and melodies that leaves you singing all the songs after the CD is finished. Each of the song has also riffs that are designed for live shows with great energy ...and that is the main point here: extremely energetic heavy rock. Check it !!

Favorite tracks: "Newborn", "Crazy" and "Warning"

Contact: www.geocities.com/changelingrocks

REVIEW: CALMSITE - DEADWEIGHT

 

CALMSITE - DEADWEIGHT (Independent, 2002)

 

Produced By: Jani Loikas

Tracks: 1- Payment in Full, 2- Grace the Doll, 3- Heavy Breeder

Cover Art by Calm Site

This MCD left me wanting more Calm Site music. The music here is death metal with a lot of melody and guitar arrangements. Every thing, every note here is designed to create a good son. And that is what sets Calm Site apart from any other death emtal band, their songs. The compositional skills of this guys are extremely well developed and they have created three dark opuses here that get immediately the listener´s attention through the melodies and riffs (the riffs are really rhythmic and catchy). The sound of the recording is good but I think this guys should mix a little bit higher the rhythm guitars in order to give even more heaviness to their music. If you like melodic death metal with many ideas (including some rocking riffs) then you should check Calm Site.

Favorite tracks: The three. Don´t miss a step from this guys!!

Contact: http://listen.to/calmsite

REVIEW: CADAVERIC CREMATORIUM - CRY NOW, MOTHERFUCKER

 

CADAVERIC CREMATORIUM - CRY NOW, MOTHERFUCKER (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: Cadaveric Crematorium

Tracks: 1- Incredible Hulk, 2- Butcher?, 3- Love in Formaline, 4- Cerebral Liquefaction, 5- Your Cat, 6- Emorragia, 7- Cadaveric Crematorium, 8- Outrobus, 9- Cannibal Cops, 10- Hannibal Corpse

Cover Art by Archvile

Recorded at  Cadaveric Studios

Brutality is the main goal of this band and they achieve it in many ways. Not only with speed that this album has and in big quantities (including blast beats and double bass). In fact, the band uses some crushing riffs (with downtuned guitars that sound extremely fat) that are even more devastating than the fastest parts because of their extreme heaviness. The tracks here are complex and have many changes, some of them really difficult to play like the ones in "Love in Formaline" that change tempos abruptly. The vocals are extremely guttural and there are some counterpoints with the screaming voice type. The bass player is a beast behind the bass accentuating a lot the drumbeats and adding a lot of bottom end to the guitar riffs. Brutality at top level!!!!!!

Favorite tracks: "Love in Formaline", "Cerebral Liquefaction" and "Emorragia"

Contact: Ventuz@tiscalinet.it

REVIEW: BOUND AND GAGGED - FORNICATE THE GUTTED

 

BOUND AND GAGGED - FORNICATE THE GUTTED (United Guttural Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Bound and Gagged

Tracks: 1- Seven Bodies, 2- Rape the Dowager, 3- Bloody Chunks of Menstral Flow, 4- Blistered, 5- The Chrome Uterus, 6- Intentional Internal Ingestion, 7- Paraphilic Piquerism, 8- Choking and Gargling, 9- Revel In Ejaculate, 10- XX

Cover Art by Eric Ridgeway

Recorded at RMS Recordings

Here we have this band whose music is brutal as hell grind death with some technical elements. I have to explain this. This guys have super fast parts like a grindcore band and the vocals are extremely distorted as are on the style. Then they have riffs that are closer to death metal in the parts thata the drumming is not blast beats, and then this guys have technical skills that are necessary in order to play all the changes, riffs and rhythms that this guys do through the ten songs that are on this CD. But the main thing here is the extreme brutality thta each of the tracks has (and this brutality is even more effective because of the good sound that this recording has). Lovers of bestial death metal or grindcore with ideas will surely like Bound and gagged´s music.

Favorite tracks: "Seven Bodies", "Blistered" and "Choking and Gargling"

Contact: www.unitedguttural.com

REVIEW: BOETZ - CALL TO ARMS

 

BOETZ - CALL TO ARMS (Balls Out Records, 2001)

Produced By: Ernest Robert Boetz

Tracks: 1- Call to Arms, 2- Green Back Crack, 3- Weak in the Knees, 4- Rock'n'roll is Good, 5-Shinin' , 6- Getting Over You, 7- Oh Boy!, 8- Don´t Mean A Thing, 9- Wish, 10- Almost To Scotland

Recorded at Exocet Studios 

Pure heavy rock and roll is what Ernest Robert Boetz does with his band. The CD starts with full energy with the title track that features Motörhead´s legend Lemmy kilminster trading vocals with Ernest. Pure energy !!! This CD has ten refreshing songs that can remind you to a much heavier Kiss or bands like Motörhead, that is, bands that have made a religion from rock´n´roll. And Boetz is creating their own religion with this pure rock release. The guitars are loud and distorted as the style requires and the bass and drums leave a lot of space for guitar and vocals that are the main ingredients here. The compositions have a lot of power on them and the good sound that this recording has helps a lot to achieve the results that Boetz wants. Pure rock and roll done with a lot of passion and dedication!!!! If you like bands like the ones mentioned before or AC/DC you will surely like Boetz a lot !!

Favorite tracks: "Call to Arms", "Don´t Mean a Thing" and "Wish"

Contact: www.boetz.com

REVIEW: BARATA - REGRESSO

 

BARATA - REGRESSO (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Barata

Tracks: 1- Downnn, 2- Cries, 3- Revelation, 4- Misery, 5- 'Self' Sented, 6- Unity

Cover Art by Barata

Recorded at Threnody Studios 

Barata plays modern metal with some hardcore influences. Ultra heavy riffs that make an emphasis on heaviness and not on speed (even if "Cries starts really fast !!!) is what we have here. All of them seem to have been designed to make the crowd jump and mosh in a concert. The main element here is the heaviness and the power that each of the six tracks contained here deliver. The drums are very rhythmic as modern metal requires and they have been really well mixed. The singer is powerful and is of the type required by a band of this style. The sound of this release is really good and that is really good to achieve what this guys wanted: extreme heaviness.

Favorite tracks: "Downnn", "Cries" and "Misery"

Contact: www.barata.nl

REVIEW: BADLAND - AXIS OF CAVITY

 

BADLAND - AXIS OF CAVITY (Bruce´s Fingers, 2002)

Produced By: Simon H. Fell

Tracks: 1- Axis of Cavity, 2- Arm of The Sea, 3- Groove For Deep Branch, 4- Surface For Talice, 5- The temporal Bones, 6- Birdie, 7- The Scapula Angles, 8- Spinous Process, 9- Bow, Stick and Reed

Cover Art by Simon H. Fell

Recorded at the Steam Rooms 

This month we have many releases that feature great musician Simon H. Fell playing double bass in different formats and lineups. And we will start with this Badland review. Badland is a trio consisting of Fell in double bass, Simon Rose on alto saxophone and Steve Noble on drums. This trio takes a lot of elements from jazz and then twist them into new shapes and forms, experimenting constantly with new sounds, rhythms and musical phrases. Here we have Fell and Noble constructing a musical skeleton with their rhythms and phrases and we have Rose adding flesh to the bones. There are moments that are more chaotic like at 3:00 in "Arm of the Sea" and there are many other moments that are more relaxed. Here you have experimentation on each track, on each minute and on each second. This is music done by musicians who stretch boundaries.

Favorite tracks: "Axis of Cavity", "Birdie" and "The Scapula Angles"

Contact: www.brucesfingers.com

REVIEW: ATROCIOUS DEVOURED - GOLDEN JAIL

 

ATROCIOUS DEVOURED - GOLDEN JAIL (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: Atrocious Devoured

Tracks: 1- Hatred, 2- Killer Gods, 3- Golden Jail, 4- Live Murders, 5- I don´t Like it, 6- Murderer

Cover Art by Atrocious Devoured

A bestial band that plays extremely brutal death metal with interesting guitar arrangements. That is what Atrocious Devoured music sounds like. Fats riffs with extremely distorted guitar, drum beats at full speed with some blast beats in some of the tracks, brutal vocals. Everything here is conceived to brutalize the ears. There are some rhythmic riffs in tracks like "I don´t like it" that are designed to add more heaviness to the tracks and that are even more effective than the fastest ones. The sound of the recording is raw and direct so the band has achieved something like a "live sound" on this recording. Here you have a band with power and brutality for headbanging while listening to it.

Favorite tracks: "Hatred", "Killer Gods" and "Live Murders"

Contact: http://perso.infonie.fr/atrocious.dev

REVIEW: ASTRAY - PROMO 2002

 

ASTRAY - PROMO 2002 (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Astray

Tracks: 1- Welcome To the Cult, 2- Barbed Wire Paradise, 3- Bleeding Here

Cover Art by Astray

Astray has found the perfect way to combine the agression of styles like black metal and death metal with many melodies and arrangements. Their music brings to my mind some shades of bands like for example Primordial, that is bands that have a lot of power and aggression in their music but that at the same time they have the melodic arrangements that give a lot of quality to the songs. Here we have a great keyboard player that adds a lot of melodies and feelings to Astray´s songs giving a lot of identity to the band while the guitarists spit their riffs with total rage. The vocals are screaming ones in total black metal fashion and are fundamental to the aggressive sound of Astray´s music. If you love bands who combine really well extreme agression with quality and melodies here you have a band for you!!

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact: www.astrayband.com