REVIEW: HESSION / WHARF / FELL - IMPROVABILLY

 

HESSION / WHARF / FELL - IMPROVABILLY (Bruce´s Fingers, 2002 )

Produced By: Hession/ Wharf/ Fell

Tracks: 1- Between the Clock and the Bed, 2- Enter, Leave, 3- The Interior of Sight, 4- Self Portrait with Burning Cigarette, 5- The Angel of Hearth and Home

Cover Art by Jo Fell

Recorded at Darkside Studio 

Here we have this recording of three masters of improvisation and experimental music. The CD starts with a fast tune with superb drumming and a lot of interesting experimental sax phrases. Then we have the incredible double bass lines that can beheard through all the recording (Simon Fell not only uses the double bass to create lines to support the sax melodies and phrases, but he also uses the instrument to create sounds that are beyond what one could think can be expressed with it). There are tracks that are more chaotic and others that are closer to jazz standards (like for example "Enter, Leave"). It is amazing how this three muscians can develope a lot of original ideas within a song format. This CD is a must for lovers of experimentation.

Favorite tracks: "Between the clock...", "Enter, Leave" and "The Angel..."

Contact: www.brucesfingers.com

REVIEW: GRAYSCALE - WHEN THE GHOSTS ARE GONE

 

GRAYSCALE - WHEN THE GHOSTS ARE GONE (Sound Riot Recs., 2002)

Mastered at Finnvox Studios:

Tracks: 1- The World Today, 2- A Dead Season, 3- Gray Singer, 4- Squeeze, 5- The Fire Inside Me, 6- Absent, 7- Shape in the Shadows, 8- Cast Aside, 9- When the ghosts are Gone

Cover Art by Francesca Di Leandro

Recorded at LaLa Records

The opening with "The World Today" lets us into the world of this finnish band. Their music can be defined as extremely arranged gothic metal. I am saying this because this band has some elements of gothic music, specially on the vocals and at the same time has a heavy guitar sound and multiple arrangements on the keyboards and the guitars that add a new dimension to each of the nine tracks that are on this CD. The dark feeling is all over this recording and this feeling is created through each melody that is done on the songs. The sound of the recording is really good and that makes the darkness even darker and the sadness even more evident. A must for lovers of dark styles.

Favorite tracks: "The World Today", "The Fire Inside" and "Cast Aside"

Contact: www.soundriot.net

REVIEW: GRAND ALCHEMIST - INTERVENING COMA CELEBRATION

 

GRAND ALCHEMIST - INTERVENING COMA CELEBRATION (Sound Riot Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Rune Thoen and Grand Alchemist

Tracks: 1- Faced (intro), 2- A Nailed Visual Effect, 3- Down Again, 4- Incurable Longing, 5- Approach (Open the Shell), 6- Intervening Coma-Celebration, 7- Sensemachine, 8- Psyche and a Flower to the New Lifetime, 9- Minds Delusion Sleeps for Creation, 10- Solemn and Sophisticated, 11- Under my Shallow Skin, 12- Snap Up the Raw of Existence

Cover Art by Sigurd and Rune Thoen

Recorded at Studio Elg

Here we have one of the best bands to come from the underground !! The music of this band is really amazing and each of the tracks that are on this CD has wonderful arrangements (incredible keyboards on all the songs!!) and interesting guitar riffs that add heaviness (as the deathly vocals do) while retaining the beauty and darkness of the band´s sound. Each of the songs here has an obscure epic feeling that is achieved thanks to the excellent keyboards arrangements that are fundamental to Grand Alchemist´s sound. The drumming here leaves a lot of place to the guitar but at the same time does a lot of interesting work (check the double bass in tracks like "Down Again"). Each composition is extremely well developed and has many ideas and changes that make the music here extremely interesting.

Favorite tracks: All the CD. One of the records of the year

Contact: www.soundriot.net

REVIEW: FLESHGRIND - LIVE IN GERMANY

 

FLESHGRIND - LIVE IN GERMANY (United Guttural Records, 2002)

Produced By: Rich Lipscomb

Tracks: 1- Sorrow Breed Hatred...Bleed on Me, 2- Litany of Murder, 3- Ejaculate on Entrails, 4- The Supreme Art of Derangement, 5- Anger

Cover Art by Barbie Collado

Recorded at the Fuck the Commerce Open Air Festival 2000

Fleshgrind is a band that sounds heavier live than in studio. Their brutal death grind music is here much more bestial than on their previous albums, sounding rawer and more devastating. I expected a live recording with muddy sound but this one is really clear and each of the instruments is clearly mixed and you can understand even the fastest parts. On this live recording you will find hyper fast rhythms with many blast beats, ultra distorted guitars that will blow your brain, extremely guttural vocals and all the elements that have made Fleshgrind one of the most bestial bands in the death grind scene. There are five songs on this MCD and from the first to the last you will not have rest. This guys are like a grind machine that devastates everything that is on their way!

Favorite tracks: "Litany of Murder" , "Anger" and "Ejaculate on Entrails"

Contact: www.unitedguttural.com

REVIEW: FLESH MADE SIN - MASTERWORK IN BLOOD

 

FLESH MADE SIN - MASTERWORK IN BLOOD (Independent, 2002)

 Produced By: Marc Ter Braak

Tracks: 1- Thrash is Back Pt. II, 2- Lustful Killing, 3- Tormentor, 4- A Master´s Work in Blood, 5- Taste the Knife, 6- Slicing the Throat

Cover Art by Kim Mirer

Recorded at the Harrow Studios

Recorded in the famous the Harrow Studios this six song CD is a showcase of brutal death/thrash metal. Here I can feel influences of classical bands like Kreator or Destruction mixed with newer ones. And this gives an interesting sound to the guys in Flesh Made Sin. Their music is an example of how well can merge thrash metal with its riffs and arrangements with the brutality of death metal. I would like to remark the excellent job that the drummer is making on this recording adding a lot of odd arrangements besides the hyper fast rhythms. There are crushing riffs and brutal as hell vocals that are the essence of Flesh Made Sin´s music. The sound is extremely good and that adds points to the final result. Check this amazing band from The Netherlands.

Favorite tracks: "Tormentor", "Taste the Knife" and "Slicing the Throat"

Contact: www.fleshmadesin.nl

REVIEW: FAUST - ...AND FINALLY FAUST

 

FAUST - ...AND FINALLY FAUST (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: Faust

Tracks: 1- Raping the Virgin, 2- History Losers, 3- Pig God Dog, 4- Immortality

Cover Art by Faust

Faust is a band whose music is on the limit between death metal and black metal. The vocals are completely guttural and closer to death metal while some fast parts and some guitar riffs clearly remind the listener of black metal style. This recording is very professional and has really good sound that makes each riff and every drumbeat more efective (the drums sound weird, almost mechanical). The guitar riffs are fast and brutal and melts the listener´s brain in some of the fastest parts. Also the guitars give the identity to the band through some arrangements and melodies like the ones in 2 . This band has also some interesting technical skills in order to play the breaks and changes that are on many of their tracks (there are also some interesting guitar solos). A really good release directly from Italy.

Favorite tracks: The four

Contact: www.deathmetal.it

REVIEW: FALCONER - CHAPTERS FROM A VALE FORLORN

FALCONER - CHAPTERS FROM A VALE FORLORN (Metal Blade, 2002 )

Produced By: Falconer

Tracks: 1- Decadence of Dignity, 2- Enter the Glade, 3- Lament of a Minstrel, 4- For Life and Liberty, 5- We Sold Our Homesteads, 6- The Clarion Call, 7- Portals of Light, 8- Stand in Veneration, 9- Busted To the Floor

Cover Art by Jan Meininghaus

Recorded at Los Angered Studios 

Falconer is a band of pure power/heavy metal with many changes in the guitar riffs and the rhythms. They use a lot of parts with double bass drumming (they have achieved a killer sound with the drums). The songs here have an epic feeling on them that is achiueved through some melodies and through the choruses. One thing that I liked from Falconer is that they don´t sound like a German band (tey are from Sweden) as most of the bands in the style do lately (as an example of this take bands like Freedom Call which sound extremely german), and the singer uses his middle range really effectively (yes!! He don´t abuse the high pitches!!). The guitar player prefers to use original riffs and changes of moods instead of the typical one note runs and galloping that some bands in the style overabuse. Falconer is a good option for people looking for something different in the realm of pure heavy metal.

Favorite tracks: "Decadence of Dignity", "For Life and Liberty" and "Stand in Veneration"

Contact: www.metalblade.com

REVIEW: F.O.B. - BLAME?

 

F.O.B. - BLAME? (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: F.O.B. and Petr Houska

Tracks: 1- Convertable Arrival (intro), 2- Child No More, 3- Vomit the Soul, 4- Bad Morning, 5- Bastards from Hell, 6- Hypocrisy - Morgoth´s Net of Lies, 7- Flowing Waves of Life (outro)

Cover Art by F.O.B.

Recorded at Kovarik´s Barn

Technical and ultra brutal death metal is what we have here. Plenty of arrangements and rhythm changes the music of this band is extremely bestial, specially due to the guttural vocalist that gives an extreme feeling to each of the songs that we can listen on this tape. The thing that I liked more are the guitar arrangements, thata re original and creative within a brutal death metal context. The sound of the recording is good and lets us appreciate all the guitar parts, the drum patterns changes and the extreme vocals. This guys have no mercy and through all this album they will melt your brain while you listen thei crushing compositions.

Favorite tracks: "Vomit the Soul", "Hypocrisy" and "Bastards from hell"

Contact: fob@seznam.cz

REVIEW: EVENFALL - CUMBERSOME

 

EVENFALL - CUMBERSOME (Century Media Recs. , 2002)

Produced By: Boban Milunovic

Tracks: 1- Rawish; 2- Frontloader; 3- Dogma; 4- Entre Dos Tierras; 5- In Absentia Christi; 6- Overcast Sky; 7- Cumbersome; 8- Vangelis Mundi; 9- Unworshipped; 10- Conspectu Mortis II

Cover Art by Carlos del Olmo Holmberg

Recorded at Boom Room Studios

Here is the follow up to "Still In the Grey Dying" and Evenfall has become really soon in one of my favorite bands. Why? Because of the quality of their songs. First of all I love Roberta Staccuneddu´s vocals which contrast with the more deathly ones by Ansgar Zöschg. Roberta has an angelical voice and has a lot of inflexions in her vocal range which allows her to sing the more difficult melodies in a great way. Thumbs up also for Max Boi who plays the keyboards that are essential to Evenfall´s music: He makes excellent chord progressions and amazing melodies through all this album. The music atmosphere is really dark and the main risponsibles here are the guitarists who play dark melodies through all the tracks and also play heavy rhythms that make Evenfall´s music completely original when combined with keyboard calm melodies. A must for everybody!!!!

Favorite tracks: The whole CD is amazing !

Contact: www.centurymedia.com

REVIEW: EVAN PARKER - SIX OF ONE

 

EVAN PARKER - SIX OF ONE (Psi Records, 2002)

Produced By: Martin Davidson

Tracks: 1- One of Six, 2- Two of Six, 3- Three of Six, 4- Four of Six, 5- Five of Six, 6- Six of One, 7- At Sixes and Sevens

Recorded by Adam Skeaping

Here we have solo improvisations from master musician Evan Parker. This are soprano saxophone solo improvisations that were originally recorded on June 18th, 1980. Here Parker shows all his skills in developing saxophone lines and ideas in a solo context when all the attention of the listener is on his instrument. And he also shows that he has the technical skills to play them (some of the lines played here requires a lot of knowledge of the instrument and as we know from listening some of his work, Evan has a lot of them). Here you have seven tracks in which Evan Parker explores each of the possibilities of the instrument. He plays fast and slow, really intense or soft but always deliver some new sounds that the listener will find interesting. Solo experimentation at its best.

Favorite tracks: "Two of Six", "At Sixes and Sevens" and "Six of One"

Contact: www.emanemdisc.com