REVIEW: SACRED SIN - TRANSLUCID DREAM MIRROR

SACRED SIN - TRANSLUCID DREAM MIRROR (Demolition Recs., 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded at 13th Cave Studios.

Produced by Jose Costa and Sacred Sin

Engineered by: Pedro Miguel

Cover Art: Mike Schindler / Dragon Design

Track List: 1- Translucid Dream Mirror, 2- La Clef des grands misteres, 3- Ravish the Soul, 4- Sukunft Kenntnis, 5- Gift of Second Sight, 6 - Maleficent Genii, 7- Extra-natural Mediator, 8- Mei Lacrimæ in Tenebræ, 9- Transmutation, 10- By the Wyvern we flowed, 11- Prelude to phenomene, 12- Unbridled hate, 13- The shadow of gate.

Can we call this music Progressive Death Metal? I think so !! But this is really progressive...listen to the keyboards and Imagine that in Dream Theater...they would not be out of place...but here they are applied to a death metal band...Amazing!!! And they give a lot of originality to Sacred Sin´s music. Another thing that makkes this recording special is the amazing sound. The band recorded this CD on their own studio and it was engineered by the guitarist Pedro Miguel who seems to have known what he wanted when he did his job (one thing that got my attention is the sound of the bass drums, really tight, almost electronic). I will mention some things that you can find on this album: melodies, twin guitars, harmonies, breaks, acoustic passages, tempo changes, keyboard passages, speed, unholy heaviness, some female vocals, lyrics in english, german, french and latin, great guitar and keyboard solos...you have everything on one CD. One of the albums of the month. Favorite tracks: The whole album. Contact: www.demolitionrecords.com or http://welcome.to/sacredsin

REVIEW: REV 99. - TURN A DEAF EAR

 

REV.99 - TURN A DEAF EAR (Pax Recordings., 2001):

Technical data:

Produced by 99 Hooker & Ernesto Diaz-Infante.

Engineered and Mixed by Ross Bonadonna, 99 Hooker

Art Design by 99 Hooker

Track List:1- Local Bomb, 2- Pavement Jam "Hey Your Car´s On Fire", 3- Olde Tyme Unnatural Rock ´n ´r oll, 4- Your Title here, 5- Spank My Piano, 6- We Should´ve Known, 7- Possum Ridge Paralyzer

This is a group of demented geniuses doing improvised music in an spontaneous way: 99 Hooker on chaos poetry and electrified sax, Ernesto Díaz-Infante on amplified acoustic guitar, piano, toy piano and glockenspies, Chris Forsyth on electric guitar, Akio Mokuno on G3 Powerbook (???) and Ross Bonadonna on studio manipulation. The result is experimental an funny at the same time, specially the chaos poetry ("Where is your accent from? CNN?"). The variety of instruments and the way they are played does not allow me to identify completely who is playing which part but the whole improvisation sounds really good. Who said that improvisational music was boring and for serious people?. Favorite tracks: "Pavement Jam...", "We Shoul´ve Known" and "Local Bomb". Contact: www.paxrecordings.com

REVIEW: PURGATION - REALM OF THE DEAD

 

PURGATION - REALM OF THE DEAD (Independent, 2000):

Technical data:

Recorded at Digital Traxx - La Place, Louisiana

Track List: 1- Watching the World Die, 2- Eulogy (Part II), 3- Slumber, 4- Realm of the dead

It is funny to see how sometimes certain stereotypes can fool you. One of this stereotypes says that if you have a CD with a really dark cover featuring some dark painting including some diabolic figures, then you must be looking at a black/death metal CD. But here we have that really dark cover artwork and the music is completely different from what I expected. In fact what we have here is great hard rock with some grunge and stoner influences. The first track "Watching the World Die" reminded me of old Soundgarden ("Louder Than Love" era). Crushing guitar rhythms and twisted vocal melodies are the main features here. Riffs that reach heaviness using power chords instead of one note speed lines. Drums that are played giving a lot of space to the others instruments to breath. The good thing about this CD is that it is not hard rock, it is not grunge, it is not stoner rock, it is not hardcore, but has things of all this styles. Favorite tracks: "Watching the World Die" and "Realm of the Dead". Contact: www.purgation.com and www.mp3.com/purgation

REVIEW: PROPHET - BROKEN PROMISE

 

PROPHET - BROKEN PROMISE (Independent., 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded /Mixed by Jukka Puurula at MD-Studios in 6 days.

Produced by Aleksi Ahokas and Sami Kikkalainen

Mastered by J.P. Mönkkönen at CD-Iinja

Layout and Graphics by Prophet and pervohenkka@hotmail.com

Track List: 1-From Nameless Oracle, 2- Angel´s Retreat, 3- Damnation of Reiomontum, 4- Thinking..., 5- Born to be King of Innerself.

What a surprise !! I listened the first few seconds of the first tracks and I found some catchy melody done by the vocals but in a rock way...then the whole band enters the scene and what I find is excellent gothic metal. All the tracks here were composed by Aleksi Ahokas and he knew what he wanted: heavy guitars, dark atmospheres, lots of melodies and lots of hooks for the listener. This is a great example of how a band can sound melodic without loosing strength on the way. I find some shades of the great norwegian band In The Woods in the vocals section (specially on the deppressive "I kiss and Let you Die"). An excellent production make the good points of this recording to stand out, specially in the guitar melodies. There are some guest musicians here: H. Sorvali on keyboards (Finntroll, Moonsorrow), Seppo Numela (Denigrate) on a guitar solo and Henri Vilberg (Diablerie, Triones) on growls. Favorite tracks: "I don´t believe in love", "I Kiss and Let You Die". Contact: www.brokenpromise.cjb.net

REVIEW: ODOR OF PEARS - CROWN OF THORNS

 

ODOR OF PEARS- CROWN OF THORNS (Independent, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded at Odor of Pears Studio.

Engineered and Produced by Joe K.

Graphic Design by Russell Ragar.

Track List:1- Invocation, 2-Cage, 3- Underground, 4- In Sodom Again, 5- Fuck Christianity, 6- Dildo, 7- Babies Without Faces, 8- Joan

A charming oriental melody opens the CD along with the enchanting vocals of Diana Blackwell. This is Odor of Pears, a trío consisting of Diana Blackwell on vocals, Joe K. On music and Russell Ragar on Visuals. The result is an hypnotic kind of music full of melodies where Blackwell´s vocals are the main feature and gives the music its distinctive touch. Keyboards and electronics are all over this CD creating a dark atmosphere, almost mechanical, succeeding in transmit the sensations of loneliness, oppression, darkness. I like a lot "Cage" with its keyboard bases (like vocals) below Blackwell´s voice that gets deeper for this track. The compositions here can be described in one word: climatic, or maybe atmospheric, or maybe ethereal. A must for people looking for new sensations. Favorite tracks: "Cage", "Fuck Christianity" (a future classic) and "Babies Without Faces". Contact: www.odorofpears.com

REVIEW: NO SPAGHETTI EDITION - LISTEN...AND TELL ME WHAT IT WAS

 

NO SPAGHETTI EDITION - LISTEN...AND TELL ME WHAT IT WAS (Sofa Recs., 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded in Rainbow Studio, Oslo by Jan Erik Kongshaug.

Mixed and Mastered by Thomas Hukkelberg.

Produced by Tonny Kluften, Ingar Zach and Ivar Grydeland.

Artwork by Mari Ihlebæk

Track List:1- Mir 1.4, 2- Drop the Boy, 3- Moscowskaja, 4- If Mountains Could Sing, 5- The Night, The Death and the Universe, 6- A Country Practice, 7- Spaghetti Fingers, 8- Mr. Thompson

Norwegian experimental/improvisational label Sofa Recs.has teamed musicians of great quality like Ingar Zach, Frode Haltli, Paal Nilssen-Love, Ingebrit Flaten, Ivar Grydeland and many more in an improvisational supergroup called No Spaghetti Edition. And again the music is pure madness and a search of intuitive music, sometimes really melodic, sometimes noisy, sometimes peaceful, sometimes climatic. In fact the great thing about this recording is the way in which it surprises you with sudden bursts of screams, piano and drums (as for example on the openning track "Mir1.4"). The main thing here is spontaneity and they succeed in being spontaneous on each track. Favorite tracks: "Drop The Boy", If Mountains Could Sing" and "Spaghetti Fingers". Contact: http://sofa.norcd.no

REVIEW: NOMED - FEEL THE PAIN

 

NOMED - FEEL THE PAIN - DEMO 2001 (Independent, 2001):

Track List: 1- Winds of Heart, 2- The Voice of Demon, 3- Metal Quest, 4- In the Darkness, 5- Feel the Pain, 6- Disbelief

Andre Lemesle is the main composer of Nomed´s music which we could call death/black/viking metal with thrashy and heavy metal riffs and interesting keyboards progressions and atmospheres. Which is the fundamental element here? Believe it or not, the atmospheres created by the guitar riffs and the keyboards. In fact, some of the riffs are really twisted and are accompanied later by great keyboards scales and progressions , like in the middle part of "Metal Quest". It is fascinating the contrast between this more melodic and intrincated parts with the raw and sometimes guttural vocals. I think that lemeslé is looking not only for brutality but also for originality in his work. Watch out death metal...here is Nomed !! Favorite tracks: "Metal Quest" and "Feel the Pain" (with great keyboards-piano and great guitar, sometimes doubled by the keyboard). Contact: lemesleandre@aol.com

REVIEW: NIGHTWISH - OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY

 

NIGHTWISH - OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY (Nems Enterprises, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded by tero Kinnunen at Caverock and Mikko Karmila at Finnvox - February/March 2001

Live tracks recorded by Transmix Ox at Tullikamari, Tampere, Finalnd 29/12/00

Mastered by Mika Jussila at Finnvox

Cover Image by Sami Vänskä.

Track List: 1- Over The Hills and Far Away, 2- 10th Man Down, 3- Away, 4- Astral Romance (version 2001), 5- The Kinslayer (live), 6- She Is My Sin (live), 7- Sacrament of Wilderness (live), 8- Walking in the Air (live), 9- Beauty and the Beast (live), 10- Wishmaster (live), 11- Sleepwalker (heavy version)  

This is Nightwish latest release and it consists on some new tracks like "10th Man Down" and "Away", some songs that were on other Nightwish albums like "Astral Romance" from "Angels Fall First" and a heavy Version of "Sleepwalker" from "Wishmaster", a cover of Gary Moore´s "Over The Hills and Far Away" and six live tracks recorded in Tampere.

The new tracks follow the path of the bands last studio album "Wishmaster", that is songs that are maybe more calm and introspective than the ones that we could find in "Oceanborn". The new versions of the above mentioned tracks are quite good, specially the version of "Astral Romance" which has a better sound than the one contained in Nightwish´s first album and it has the guest vocals by Tony Kakko (from Sonata Arctica) as well as in the live version of "Beauty and the Beast".

And well, the best part of this CD for me are the live tracks...they are played in an almost exact version as the one in studio, but the sound is rawer (specially Emppu´s guitar). I liked specially the version of "Sacrament of Wilderness" (a little bit faster than in "Oceanborn". Favorite tracks: "Sacrament of Wilderness", "She is My Sin" and "Kinslayer". Contact. Nems@nems.com.ar

REVIEW: MYSTIC PROPHECY - VENGEANCE

 

MYSTIC PROPHECY - VENGEANCE (Crash Music., 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded and Mixed by Music Factory Studio /Seltmans.

Mastered by Eroc´s Mastering Ranch

Produced by R.D. Lipiakis, M. Albrecht.

Cover Design: Mario Le Mole

Track List: 1- 1545-The Beginning, 2- Sky´s Burning, 3- Damnation and Darkness, 4- Welcome In the Damned Circle, 5- Dark Side of the Moon, 6- River of Hate, 7- In the Mirror, 8- In the Distance, 9- When Shadows Fall, 10- Fallen Angel

Another release from metal label Crash Music and is very differnt from the Altar one that I commented above. While the Altar release was closer to death metal and this is a release of total heavy/power/thrash metal and the first thing that got my attention is how good the CD sounds. The production here enhances the sound of guitars, drums and vocals making them sound more powerful. Power metallers will hail this release because it has all the elements of the genre but far much better done than some of those mediocres bands that are out there. And what I like more are certain thrash metal elements from the eighties that I can listen in their music such as some vocals and choruses that are certainly welcome to my ears. Favorite trcks: "Sky´s Burning", "Welcome in the Damned Circle", "In the Distance". Contact: www.crash-inc.com

REVIEW: MOONSPELL - DARKNESS AND HOPE

 

MOONSPELL - DARKNESS & HOPE (Century Media, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded at Finnvox Studios, Helsinki.

Produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa

Track List: 1- Darkness and Hope, 2- Firewalking, 3- Nocturna, 4- Heartshaped Abyss, 5- Devilred, 6- Ghostsong, 7- Rapaces, 8- Made of Storm, 9- How we became Fire, 10- Than The Serpent in my Arms, 9- Os Senhores da Guerra

It is interesting to see how Moonspell has developed their own sound and style. This time the result goes in the middlem path between "Irreligious" and " Sin/Pecado". That is it sounds heavier than "Sin/Pecado" with some screaming vocals in some parts and heavier guitars (like in "Irreligious"), but retaining the melodic and gothic side that they reached on the aforementioned release (a clear example of this is the difference between the second track "Firewalking" where the heavier parts are more evident and the third one "Nocturna" where the more climatic, lighter parts are the main feature). The music is dark as always full of melodies and with the enchanting vocals of Fernando Ribeiro greatly singing through all the recording. Also there are the omniprescent synths and samplers of Pedro Paixao that in some places reminded me of the ones in Paradise Lost´s "Host" and the heavy guitars that this time are more present in some of the tracks. Favorite tracks: "Firewalking", "Devilred" and "Than The Serpent in my Arms". Contact: www.centurymedia.com