REVIEW: DREAMSFEAR - PRELUDE TO DESTINY

 

DREAMSFEAR - PRELUDE TO DESTINY (Independent - 1998): This is an irish quartet with a style that is a cross between power, heavy and thrash metal. The riffs are those that yopu could expect from a band of this style (the guitars have a fat sound that brings us to mind thrash metal) but the vocals are different since they are a little more growling and they made me remind some eighties thrash metal band. (Listen for example to "Ruins" (3:46) to know what I am talking about). This MCD has four songs, which have a duration that allows a lot of variations to happen within a same song (the shortest song is "Bleak Horizons" with 5 minutes 54 secs.) There are riffs in the vein of Metallica ´s "Ride The Lightning" or "Master of Puppets" and a lot of use of twin guitars (it has been a long time since I last heard this, IT IS REALLY COOL!!!!). The only point agains this CD is the sound that is a litle bit confusing in some parts, but that can be solved with a good sound engineer and a good studio (it is just a matter of money). I hope to listen something more from this guys in the future (that will be out at the end of this year). They deserve an applause for playing a style that is not commercial and for the effort that they make. Favorite tracks: "Bleak Horizons" and "Burning Bridges". Contact: dreamsfear@hotmail.com or http://members.tripod.com/~dreamsfear/index.html

REVIEW: DREAMCHILD - LA FEE VERTE

 DREAMCHILD - LA FÉE VERTE (Independent - 2000): An a capella female voice opens this record with a short song called "The Stolen Child" that takes us to the spectacular "La Fée Vertewith Cheryl Wanner´s voice getting into each space of your soul, thanks to her power of expression. Dreamchild is a duo formed by Cheryl on vocals, harp, bass and kalimba and, Frank Gerace on guitars. The result is an introspective work with a permanent search for climatic textures. Through all the songs we can see the combination of instrumentation and the diferent states of mind that the songs transmit, ("Capacochea" for example transmits to me something like desolation, while "Nimueis a more dynamic song with some percussive touches). Dreamchild is a really creative outfit with a music that we can describe as céltic/experimental/ambient…something original!!! The distinctive element are Cheryl´s vocals full of inflexions (to give you an idea is like a mix between Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance), Björk and Francesca Nicoli (Ataraxia). I hope to listen more from this duo in the future because they caught my atention from the beginning to the end of this CD. This is for those who search originality (they also include a Beatles, "Cry baby Cry"). Favorite tracks: All, Contact: www.dreamchildmusic.com or seahorse@us1.channel1.com  .

REVIEW: DISARRAY - A LESSON IN RESPECT

 

DISARRAY - A LESSON IN RESPECT (Eclipse Recs. - 1999): This is Disarray´s third recording, the first two are "Widespread Human Disaster" and "Bleed" (they also have a live single from 1997 "Spreading the Death Plague"). Their music, which they like to call, aggro-metal, can be described as death/hardcore metal with a modern guitar sound. It can be felt in all the recording that this guys are looking to do an impact through the power and setrength that the tracks have. So, in songs like "Piss" they unleash all their anger, even if this is not one of the fastest tracks in the CD. In moments they look like old Sepultura or Crowbar, but this guys have some hardcore touches that this other bands don´t have: you can see that in "Mindless", "Loss of Tolerance" or "Black Truth". For the lovers of rare things, this CD has a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd´s classic "Free Bird" done Disarray-style, that means with a completely different feeling, really good. Contact: www.eclipserecords.com.

REVIEW: DEMENCIA - THE LAST TRIP

 

DEMENCIA - THE LAST TRIP (Independent - 2000): This guys from San Nicolás, Buenos Aires, Argentina present us their new opus "The Last Trip" which has an intro and seven songs, five of them in studio and two live ones. Recorded in a four track portastudio, the tape has a fairly good sound (a lot of bands get a worse sound in professional studios). Dementia´s music is a kind of black metal style (eventhough their lyrics are not about satanism or paganism) with a lot of technical skills. So, in tracks like "When God Cried" we have melodies, breaks, tempo changes, and speed riffs. I thinkl that they also have some influences of good old tharsh metal, as I can see in the guitar riffs of Guillermo Tinarelli and Juan Pablo Gaitan. The live tracks are "The Last Trip" and "Lost in Indifference" (we have also their studio versions here) and sound stronger live than in studio (eventhough the sound quality is poor here), showing that the band shows its most energetic side to their audience. Favorite tracks: "When God cried", "The Last Trip" and "Lost in Indifference". Contact: demenciademencia@hotmail.com

REVIEW: DEFILED - UGLINESS REVEALED

 

DEFILED - UGLINESS REVEALED (Deathvomit Recs./Baphomet Recs. - 2001): Defiled is a band that comes from japan and this is their second recording, and the first one for Deathvomit/Baphomet. A strange introduction with guttural sounds takes us to the first, "Lies for a Lie", and we find a great band of death metal with riffs that aim more to power and potency than to speed, like the last four or five Morbid Angel albums (it is really interesting the work of the bass player in this CD, and we can hear him perfectly because of the great mix). One thing that call my attention was the number of intros that this CD has (seven to be precise) one before each of the first seven songs. The sound is really good and I think that this guys have to use a lot their technique to do complex riffs. It seems that this band is very wellknown in Japan and it has supported bands such as Vader and Impaled Nazarene. The most interesting thing about this band is their quest for originality (specially in the guitar riffs). Contact: Deathvomit Recs: www.deathvomit.com

REVIEW: DEAD AGAIN RECORDS - PRICK PRODUCTIONS : THE DEAD PIT COMPILATION

 

DEAD AGAIN RECORDS - PRICK PRODUCTIONS : THE DEAD PIT COMPILATION (2000) : As the title of this compilation says, this are 19 of the world´s sickest bands. Form legendary bands as Agathocles (Bélgium) up to others that I didn´t know about as Inner War or Grot have their place here. Gorerotted is the band in this compilation with better sound (surprisingly clean) and that amkes that their song shines in the whole CD. This is the main difference with bands such as Deepred, who are a band with great ideas but a bad sound quality. A good surprise for me was Prophecy, band that I had not listened before, iknteresting drum patterns and frenetic guitar solos are framed in their track "Tortured by Deceit". We have also the well known Inhumate with two great songs. The bands in this compilation really show that grind/death is a total standing style and that it is possible to play it with great quality and musicianship. Other bands that are on this CD are: Machetazo, Regorge, Brutal Insanity and Drogheda among others. Favorite tracks: "Gagged, Shagged, Bodybagged" (Gorerotted), "Tortured by Deceit" (Prophecy) and "Underground" (Inhumate). Contact: www.deadagain.fsnet.co.uk or promo@deadagain.fsnet.co.uk

REVIEW: DARK RITUAL - DARK RITUAL

 

DARK RITUAL - DARK RITUAL ( Independent, 2000) : Dark Ritual is aband combining elements of traditional heavy metal with elements of thrash metal, power metal and a little bit of hardcore. The band´s sound is really raw for this style of music and makes the heavier parts more heavy. It is interesting to remark that this band with better production could be really important because they have what they need to do it. I think that an important point to exploit in the future are the skills of the voclaist, who has a really interesting vocal range, specailly on the middle tonalities (in certain moments he reminded me of Glenn Danzig). This MCD has five songs, and my favorite is the second one called "Flesh", with really interesting guitar parts and some choruses kind of hardcore that give some good hooks to the song. Maybe the weak point here is the sound that buries some of the things that this guys do (I think that the hihat covers some guitar parts that would be intersting to remark). Maybe a less muddy sound in the future would help them (I kno that it is a budgetary matter and that they are going to solve that in the future). Favorite tracks: "Flesh" and "Loca". Contact: darkritual@darkritual.com or www.darkritual.com

REVIEW: CIRCLE OF DEAD CHILDREN - THE GENOCIDE MACHINE

 

CIRCLE OF DEAD CHILDREN - THE GENOCIDE MACHINE (Deathvomit Recs. - 2001): This is a Death/ Grind band in te style of extreme bands as de Exhumed, Brutal Truth or Mortician. In fact, I think that what sets this band apart from the others are two things: the guitar parts that are really intelligent and killer, specially in the slower parts (example: "The Genocide Machine" (0:20) and (0:42)), which I think should be more exploited in the future to get more identity and certain drums rhythms that are not typical from the style and that make the listener not feel that the songs are too similar. (listen for example the double bass drumming in the title track (0:46) that makes the song much more interesting that what could have been if he had only played blast beats) I like this record, specially the guitars that sound really tight and the drums (the sound is clear and you can listen all that this guy is doing behind the drumkit). There are also a couple of things that are quite strange for bands of this style, for example the experimental "Isabella´s Nightmare" with keyboards and sound effects or "Extreme Cannibal Smoke!" with a slow beginning and medium sections. Favorite tracks: "Only One Per Coffin", "Extreme Cannibal Smoke!" y "Beethoven´s Children". Contact: www.deathvomit.com.

REVIEW: CHAOS AS SHELTER - MIDNIGHT PRAYER / ILLUSION

 

CHAOS AS SHELTER - MIDNIGHT PRAYER/ILLUSION (Crowd Control Activities - 2001): Really interesting work of this band from Israel fomed by Vadim Gusis, who is the brain behind this project, helped by Vera Agnivolok (guitara in the song "Dream") and Elena Blinder (vocals on "No More Suffering") . This release consists in two CDs, one called "Midnight Prayer" full with ambient parts and full also of synthesized sounds (listen for example "Dead Sea Song" or "Et Filii (Jesus The Swordfish)" to see what I am talking about) centered in a religious thematic (I think that Vadim could explain this better), and the second "Illusion", that is maybe a little bit more accesible (not too much) and spins around the two parts of the song that gives name to the record. This second CD is also full of synthesized sounds and the experimentation is a constant. Favorite tracks: "Et Filii…", "Et Spiritus Sancti (the Gipsy Judgement 2)" from "Midnight Prayer" and "Get Back !", "No More Suffering" and "Lullaby for the Wind" from "Illusions". Contact: crowded@relapse.com

REVIEW: CAGED - DEAD END

 

CAGED - DEAD END (Meathook Recs. - 1999): A powerful recording from this band that mixes extreme hardcore with the most modern elements of heavy music. The CD opens witha n introduction Halloween movie´s style before getting in the first discharge, the song "Packed Fist". The music of this band brings me memories of certain elements of bands like Agnostic Front or the first D.R.I. together with more recent bands as Biohazard, Sepultura or Soulfly. The main characteristic of this band is the combination of the vocals of the singers, one with more growling screams and the other one more high pitched, there are also moments with clean vocals and a lot of screaming choruses. The producction of the CD is good, mainly in the drums that can be fully appreciated here, and also the bass. Maybe the guitars should be a little bit more in the front in the mix to give more impact to the music that is really good (in the beginning of "Sane" they can be more appreciated in the parts that they play in unison with the bass and drums) . Favorite tracks: "AIDS", "Hemorrhaging" and "Immortal". Contact: meathookrecords@mediaone.net o www.meathookrecords.com