REVIEW: DISPARAGED - DEATHTRAP

 

DISPARAGED - DEATHTRAP (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Disparaged

Tracks: 1- Bloodstained Hands, 2- Souvenir, 3- Serpent´s Tongue, 4- Confide in me, 5- Salvation

Cover Art by Oli Studer

Recorded at Assburn Studios

This release is really brutal!! It has many elements of death metal and black metal and a really modern sound (including programmed drums) that give a machine-like feeling to each of the songs. The songs are fast with furious riffs that are designed to crush tyhe listener´s brain and ultra fast parts (including blast beats in some parts, check "Confide in Me"). The sound of the guitars is devastating and when combined with the extreme vocals they make the brutal Disparaged sound with extreme violence. I have to remark the good sound that this recording has (including the programmed drums that are difficult to mix to make it sound really well). Here we have five songs that deliver brutality and energy with interesting musicianship. 

Favorite tracks: "Souvenir", "Serpent´s Tongue" and "Salvation

Contact: www.disparaged.ch

REVIEW: DISGUISE - IMPETUS MALI / MORS FIDEI

 

DISGUISE - IMPETUS MALI / MORS FIDEI (Independent, 200)

Produced By: Disguise

Tracks: 1- The End of Mankind Is Arrived, 2- The Unchangeable Truth, 3- Impetus Mali / Mors Fidei, 4- the Calice of Death, 5- Puppets in the hands of fear, 6- A Dreary Night of November

Cover Art by Disguise

How to mix in a really good way extreme brutality with interesting compositions? Well, maybe listening to Disguise´s music will give you an answer. This band plays what I would call black/death metal with a lot of keyboards ideas that add originality to each of the compositions. Here you have extreme vocals (a mix of guttural vocals and of the type used in balck metal bands) mixed with fast riffs with twisted guitar ideas (as you may listen in "The Unchangeable Truth (2:35)) and many keyboard melodies and passages that give the darkest feeling to each of the songs while at the same time contrasting with the guitars and adding interesting arrangements to the compositions. I would define Disguise´s music as the perfect balance between what is extreme and brutal and what is subtle and original.

Favorite tracks: "The Unchangeable Truth", "The Calice of Death" and "Puppets..."

Contact: disguise666@hotmail.com

REVIEW: DFA - WORK IN PROGRESS LIVE

 

DFA - WORK IN PROGRESS LIVE (Moonjune Records, 2002)

Produced By: D.F.A.

Tracks: 1- Escher, 2- Caleidoscopio, 3- Trip on Metró, 4- La Via, 5- Pantera, 6- Ragno

Cover Art by Leonardo Pavkovic

Recorded Live at Lehigh University´s Zoellner Arts Center

This is a live recording from this great italian progressive band taken from their presentations in June 2000 in the USA. Here we have a band that is full of complex ideas, arrangements and incredible melodies. The guys in DFA shows on this record that the incredible musicianship that tghey achieve in studio is also achieved live. Starting with "Escher" you will hear the guitar and keyboards playing melodies before the complex drumming enters. It is incredible the way this four musicians interact without missing a beat and always creating new melodies and taking the songs to new boundaries. The shortest track here is more than six minutes long and I really liked the longest tracks here because each minute brings you new ideas from this great italian band. Lovers of original ideas in music will surely love DFA.

Favorite tracks: The six

Contact: www.moonjune.com

REVIEW: DEVOURED - NECROBSCENITY

 

DEVOURED - NECROBSCENITY (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Devoured

Tracks: 1- Orgasm in Blood, 2- Take Her From Behind, 3- She, the Vampire, 4- Barbarian Sodomy, 5- Maniac

Cover Art by Devoured

Recorded at The Noise Factory Records

Ultra brutal death metal with devastating sound and guttural vocals. Hyper fast riffs with some open chords in many parts as in "She, the Vampire" that give a lot of hooks to the tracks. Double bass drumming with extreme precission. This are some of the features that Devoured´s music has. Combined with a really good mix and sound gives us one of the most brutal releases of the years. The main thing here are the brutal as hell guitars with fat sound that throw here and there some pinch harmonics adorning the riffs and adding a lot of musicality to this bestial band. If you like bands that are extremely brutal but at the same time have originality and a good sound then you will surely like Devoured

Favorite tracks: The five.

Contact: www.devoured.be.tf

REVIEW: DEINONYCHUS - MOURNUMENT

 

DEINONYCHUS - MOURNUMENT (My Kingdom Music, 2002)

Produced By: Marco Kehren and Markus Stock

Tracks: 1- Pluto´s Ovoid Orbit, 2- Odourless Alliance, 3- Salus Deceived, 4- Odourless Alliance, 5- Tantalised in this Labyrinth, 6- The Crimson Tides - Oceans of Soliloquy, 7- Selek from Menes, 8- A Misleading Scenario, 9- The Obscure Process of Metamorphus, 10- Arrival in Mesopotamia, 11- Ancient Dreams, 12- Ascension-the 40th Day After Easter

Cover Art by Marco Kehren

This is Deinonychus fifth album and the band continues in the melancholic and extremely dark path that they have marked in their history. Here we have their most climatic release full of slow guitars and amazingly obscure keyboards that develope black atmospheres full of darkness and sorrow. For those who have not listened the band before here you will find Marco Kehren´s agonic vocals and sublime compositions full of arrangements and sadness. The sound of the recording is really good and I have to remark that this guys have made a great version of Candelemass "Ancient Dreams" that will be really great for fans of the swedish band.

Favorite tracks: "Arrival in Mesopotamia", "The Crimson Tides" and "Odourless Alliance"

Contact: www.mykingdommusic.net

REVIEW: CROWHEAD - FROZEN

 

CROWHEAD - FROZEN (My Kingdom Music, 2002)

Produced By: Fredrik Darum and Ted Skogmann

Tracks: 1- My Angel, 2- Mad Man, 3- Eternity (drums of death), 4- Intro, 5- Fire Eye (kill You), 6- Love Letter, 7- Frozen (2002), 8- My Angel (signal krem remix), 9- The Soul is in the Dark Side pt. 1, 10- The Soul is in the dark Side pt. 2, 11- Outro

Cover Art by Simona Vinati

Recorded at Das Bunker Studios

"My Angel" opens with full energy this album with riffs that remember Paradise Lost and vocals that are closer to Anathema and Katatonia (really deppressive). Here we have a band that uses a lot of keyboards combined with the heavy guitars. While being  dark and heavy the music here has enough hooks in its melodies to attract the listener and trap him with the keyboards and vocal lines never letting him go until the album is over. Again I have to remark the strong contrast between heavy distorted guitars and the melodic keyboards that are the main feature here along with the melancholic voices. This album has an extremely good mix, specially on the keyboards that are essential here. A must

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.mykingdommusic.net

REVIEW: COHERENT LIQUID FORM - NEW EXISTENCE

 

COHERENT LIQUID FORM - NEW EXISTENCE (Archives Music, 2002)

Produced By: Lisa Dahlvang

Tracks: 1- Divergent Reality, 2- Chained, 3- Devouring Hybrid, 4- Creation, 5- Paralyzed, 6- Ignorance of Insanity, 7- One Sided, 8- New Existence, 9- Fate Whispers, 10- Solitude, 11- Sewer Whore, 12- Tyrants of the Light, 13- Extinction of the Leach

 Recorded at Logic Studios

Here we have this powerful death metal band with many dark melodies and interesting tempo changes. The good thing about this band are the many different riffs and feelings that they put together in their composition sounding extremely coherent. There are interesting syncopated drumming parts here that are followed closely by the guitarists and the bassist making Coherent Liquid Form´s sound really tight. The vocals are of the screaming type used in bands like Carcass or the most extreme Kreator (I mean, this are not vocals of the guttural kind). The guitar is the flesh, heart and soul of the music that we have on this CD, creating melancholic melodies and aggressive riffs without difficulty and adding new shades and feelings on each of the tracks.

Favorite tracks: "Chained", "Solitude" and "Tyrants of the Light"

Contact: www.imperialarchives.com/clf

REVIEW: COBALT - COBALT

 

COBALT - COBALT (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Cobalt

Tracks: 1- Angel Fangs, 2- Hammerfight, 3- Lunar Warfare, 4- World on its knees

Recorded by Cobalt

Here we have Cobalt´s brutal as fuck MCD. Here we have four tracks of pure death / black / grind metal dementia. Here we have the blast beats, the chainsaw like guitars and the screaming vocals. Everything here has also some sort of thrash influence in some of the rhythms.  There are many ultra fast parts (even if the second track is slower and more rhythmic) with extremely distorted vocals, almost grindcore. It seems that this guys are using some sort of drum device to create the blast beats and rhythms because they sound quite mechanical, specially the cymbals and that adds a special feeling to Cobalt´s music. I would like the band to mix clearer the guitars and the snare drum that are a little bit buried in the mix. Here we have an ultra brutal band with good ideas and extreme violence.

Favorite tracks: "Angel Fangs" and "Hammerficght"

Contact: www.cobalt-attack.com

REVIEW: CHILLBURN - ENEMIES OF SILENCE

 

CHILLBURN - ENEMIES OF SILENCE (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Chillburn

Tracks: 1- Supermodel, 2- Mr. Emptyhead, 3- Hit the Killswitch, 4- Sane for a Day

This guys have achieved a great thing...from the beginning I can not stop singing the chorus of the first track of this album called "Supermodel". This track is a potential hit for this guys. Chillburn´s music has many elements of pop music and many of heavy rock. The main thing here are the vocal melodies that are combined with anelectronic background and some keybaords that add a darker atmosphere to the tracks. The guitars in "Mr Emptyhead" sound powerful and at the same time really processed to achieve a distinctive sound. When combined with the electronics and the ethereal vocals one can listen to the Chillburn sound. I really liked this album and I wouldn´t be surprised if some day I found this guys on top of the rock charts. 

Favorite tracks: "Supermodel" and "Hit the killswitch"

Contact: www.chillburn.com

REVIEW: BLUEBERRYHILL - CLANDESTINE

 

BLUEBERRYHILL - CLANDESTINE (Independent, 2002)

 

Produced By: Blueberryhill

Tracks: 1- Odin´s Thunder, 2- Demise, 3- Stay as one, 4- The Free Are Alive, 5- Resurrection Calls

Cover Art by Blueberryhill

This is one of those albums that after listening to it one time you can remember each of the songs because of the catchy riffs and the choruses. Here we have pure heavy metal with a bigger guitar sound (combined with the bottom end of the bass this band has achieved a heavier guitar sound). The guys in Blueberryhill are experts in creating epic melodies with grandiloquence and they achieve this through the guitars (great melodies, solos and acoustic interludes), through the vocals and through the amazing keyboards. One thing that I have to remark is the really good vocal work with multiple harmonies and many hooks that put a mark in the listener brain that will be singing this five songs long after the album is over. Pure epic metal !!

Favorite tracks: "Odin´s Thunder", "Stay as One" and "Resurrection Calls"

Contact: www.bb-hill.com