REVIEW: FLOODLAND - DECAY

 

FLOODLAND - DECAY (W.A.B. Records, 2002)

Produced By: Floodland

Tracks: 1- Enthymeme, 2- Dorian, 3- Morning Won´t Come Tonight, 4- Rainchild, 5- Dark Town, 6- Pile of Delusion, 7- Coincidence, 8- Decay, 9- Rejected, 10- First Flower After the Flood

 

Here is Floodland´s new album. After their previous two great albums that we reviewed some issues ago, here they come with their new effort. This time they have added more electronic elements in tracks like "Enthymeme" and they sound even better, with vocals that are extremely gothic and great choruses that leave you singing the ten songs that we have on this album. Each of the tracks here is extremely climatic and the keyboards and guitars are essential to create this atmosperes. Plus the guitars add power to the songs bringing each composition to a climax. The sound of the recording is excellent as it was on the previous album. A must

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.floodland.org or www.wabrecords.org

REVIEW: FIRE MAKERS - WISHMASTER

 

FIRE MAKERS - WISHMASTER (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Fire Makers

Tracks: 1- Wishmaster, 2- Aragorn, 3- Gods and Dogs

Cover Art by M. Candido

Recorded at Step Music Records

Pure heavy fucking metal!!!! Killer guitars, fast drumming, epic melodies, this and many more things you will find in Fire Makers music. This guys present us three good tracks here with heavy guitars and interesting song structure. The influences here go from Iron Maiden to Helloween to Manowar . There are interesting rhythm changes as the ones in "Wishmaster" that makes the compositions even more interesting. The guys in Fire Maker also use clean guitars as they show in the track called "Aragorn" with a climatic beginning before getting into the heavier side. The recording has a really good sound (I would mix a little bit louder the lead guitars) that makes the sound more powerful. Now I would like them to record more songs to listen more from this good italian band. Pure metal.

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact: firemakers@hotmail.com

REVIEW: FINAL CONCLUSION - ELEMENT 87

 

FINAL CONCLUSION - ELEMENT 87 (Casket Productions, 2002)

 Mastered By: Martin Barbour

Tracks: 1- Butterflies, 2- Diesel, 3- Lesson Learned

Cover Art by Final Conclusion

Recorded at Philia Studios

Here we have a MCD from this heavy band that creates interesting riffs while adding an industrial feeling to their music through some samples. Here we have incredible drumming (with a machine like drumming sound....palms to the rhythm section that is extremely tight). There is one thing that I want to remark and that are the vocals....yes, this vocals give the band a lot of identity as you can listen on each of the choruses of the three songs contained on this album. The songs are brutal and they have many death metal influences that combined with the influence of bands like Sepultura or Fear Factory create Final Conclusion´s sound. I recommend this album to those who want something new and music that is really well mixed adding power to the compositions. 

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact: www.finalconclusion.fsnet.co.uk

REVIEW: FECULENCE - PROMO 2002

 

FECULENCE - PROMO 2002 (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Feculence

Tracks: 1- Chocha Caliente, 2- Slamhog, 3- Sexual Deviant, 4- Shitfaced , 5- Sardu´s Temple of Flesh, 6- Mountains of Filth, 7-Sodomized On Sight

Here we have pure grind with some death metal elements from this porn freak guys !!!  This are seven sexual grind nightmares that feature ultradistorted guitars and bass with extreme drumming (very twisted drumming, almost spastic) and here we have incredibly guttural vocals and screaming ones that are used like other instrument. This guys have no mercy for the listener and each tracks is brutal as hell. I would like the band to mix a little bit better the drums that are a little bit buried in the mix and to mix louder the guitars to make things even more powerful. Here everything is speed and brutality in a really good combination. This is for grindcore lovers !!!

Favorite tracks: "Slamhog", "Mountains of Filth" and "Sodomized on Sight"

Contact: Humancesspool@aol.com

REVIEW: FEAR TRADERS - DRESSD IN BLACK

 

FEAR TRADERS - DRESSED IN BLACK (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Francesco Rigagnelli with Francesco Antolini and Marco Milloni

Tracks: 1- A Prelude to Sadness/Dressed in Black, 2- Judgement Day, 3- Soul Outstanding, 4- Glasswall

Cover Art by Peter Dennis

Recorded at BPA Studio

This is pure heavy metal with some thrash influences and a lot of energy in the riffs. Here we have four songs of pure metal with some progressive arrangements done by the guitars and the bass. The vocals are strangely mixed here (they seem to be low in the mix and to have some strange reverb on them) and the vocal range is not the usual for the style that this guys do (great, because I like original vocalists). There is interesting drumming work (I would like them to mix a little bit louder the snare drum and some of the cymbals....the bass drums are perfectly mixed). The guitar sound is really raw and that adds a lot of energy because the general felling here is that of a live recording. I like that this guys use riffs that are not the usual in heavy metal nowadays preferring to use simpler riffs and a lot of clean guitars and bass parts. Here we have pure heavy metal ! 

Favorite tracks: "Judgement Day", "Soul Outstanding"

Contact: feartraders@lycos.it

REVIEW: FEAR DORG - FEAR DORG

 

FEAR DORG - FEAR DORG (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Fear Dorg

Tracks: 1- Contro il Tempo, 2- Fear Dorg, 3- La Valle della Coscienza, 4- Bagliori Nel Buio, 5- Sotto il Riflesso dell´Albero (il Guardiano)

Cover Art by Angelo Andreini

Recorded at C.F.M. Studio

This italian band knows how to do elaborated songs with classical heavy riffs and interesting melodies. Here the melodies construct interesting structures where the melodies rely in order to create the epic songs that we have on this album. And the melodies are the main thing here adding a lot of power to each of the songs and making them memorable. Fear Dorg has a killer drummer that uses heavily the double bass drums in the fastest parts adding a lot of heaviness to the songs. The sound of the recording is raw but at the same time has enough quality to make the songs clear and energetic. The lyrics are in italian and that gives a strange feeling to the compositions (not to people who are accustomed to italian or spanish, but it will surely surprise english speakers). A good effort from this italian band.

Favorite tracks: "Fear Dorg", "La Valle Della Coscienza" and "Bagliori Nel Buio"

Contact: fdorg@libero.it

REVIEW: FATAL EMBRACE - LEGIONS OF ARMAGEDDON

 

FATAL EMBRACE - LEGIONS OF ARMAGEDDON (Bruchstein Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Harris Johns

Tracks: 1- Wasmasters Revenge (intro), 2- 666 (Masacre in Paradise), 3- Legions of Armageddon, 4- Mentally Perversion, 5- Returned To hell, 6- Trapped in a Violent Brain, 7- Spellbound By the Devil, 8- Depraved To Black, 9- Wargods of Thrash

Cover Art by Mark Warma

Recorded at Spiderhouse Studio

Pure brutal death/thrash metal is the style that Fatal Embrace delivers here! The music here is violent and brutal and it has certain elements of thrash and old school death metal which I liked a lot such as certain drum patterns (check the beginning of the track "Legions of Armageddon"). The guitar riffs have a lot of rhythm and give a lot of interesting and catchy feelings to the songs making them extremely memorable. The vocals are of two types, there is one that is closer to the one that Venom´s Cronos uses in his band and the other one is more brutal and guttural and is used in many of the heaviest parts. There are fast guitar solos in the vein of the fastest thrash metal bands like Kreator or Destruction. This CD has been recorded with the production of the famous Harris Johns and that gives a lot of thrash feeling and quality to this recording. Thrash is back (this time with a big dose of death metal in many parts)! 

Favorite tracks: "666", "Returned to hell" and "Depraved to Black"

Contact: www.bruchstein-records.de

REVIEW: EVER SINCE - FIGHT THE ELEMENTS

EVER SINCE - FIGHT THE ELEMENTS (Sweet Nausea Promotions, 2002)

Produced By: Ever Since

Tracks: 1- Burning Inside, 2- Heart of Ice, 3- Brainstorm, 4- Back to life, 5- Who´ll Save Us, 6- A Letter for the Lady who Haunts My Nights

Cover Art by Jeremy In-Albon

Recorded at Studio XH-Virtual

This album opens powerfully with loud drumming and some electronics in "Burning Inside". How well combined are the multiple arrangements that the band do with the brutality that they deliver in many of the tracks. How well composed are the keyboards arrangements and the clean guitar parts. How incredibly well have been the vocals done in order to fit the music. And what a good sound this album has, specially on the killer drums (with a lot of double bass drumming). This record delivers darkness and sad feelings combined with power and energy on each of the compositions. The riffs and multiple parts are complex and the band has the technical skills needed in order to play them correctly. This is an album that you have to buy or die.

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

Contact: www.eversince.net or www.sweetnausea.com

REVIEW: ETERNAL SILENCE - THE DAWNING OF CHAOS

 

ETERNAL SILENCE - THE DAWNING OF CHAOS (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Eternal Silence

Tracks: 1- Global Castration, 2- Left To Die, 3- Fading Inside, 4- Consumed By Darkness

Here is this MCD from this band that creates a unique style: they mix extremely heavy guitars with clean parts that make the tracks really atmospheric and charming while at the same time brutal as hell. There are multiple guitar melodies here combined with the crushing guitars and the drums don´t play what the listener expects prefering to create their own style instead of copying styles. There is heavy use of double bass drumming in tracks like "Left to Die". There are death metal vocals that add brutality to the music while the guitars play violent riffs in the vein of the most brutal death metal bands. People who like brutality but want at the same time many ideas will like Eternal Silence.

Favorite tracks: The four

Contact: www.eternaldeath.com

REVIEW: ENTHRONED - CARNAGE IN WORLDS BEYOND

 

ENTHRONED - CARNAGE IN WORLDS BEYOND (Napalm Recs. / Hellion Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Harris Johns

Tracks: 1- Boundless Demonication, 2- Infernal Flesh Massacre, 3- Spawn From the Abyss, 4- Bloodline, 5- Jehova Desecration, 6- Diabolic Force, 7- Land of Demonic Fears, 8- Radiance of Mordacity, 9- Graced by Evil Blood, 10- Carnage in Worlds Beyond, 11- The Septentrional Shrine (bonus), 12- The Horny and the Horned (bonus), 13- Genocide 2002 (bonus)

Cover Art by N. Daemon and Nornagest

Recorded in Spiderhouse Studios

The black metal beasts are back!! This time with the production of Harris Johns that has given their extremely raw sound an additional touch to make it sound even more powerful. As you may know this band plays the rawest type of black metal with extremely fast riffs, blast beats and extreme vocals. This time they show us that the band can evolve without loosing quality and brutality. Here they have included the usual fast riffs and they have combined them with some old school metal riffs (as in the first track "Boundless Demonication") that add new feelings to Enthroned´s music. I have to remark that this album contains the best compositions that the band has done up to know including many technical changes and melodies that add a lot to the extreme sound of the band. The album has a killer mix that makes things even more powerful.

Favorite tracks: "Boundless Demonication", "Bloodline" and "Graced by Evil Blood"

Contact: www.hellionrecords.com