REVIEW: HYPNOS - THE REVENGE RIDE

 

HYPNOS - THE REVENGE RIDE (Morbid Recs., 2001):

Technical data:

Produced, by Harris Johns.

Track List: 1- Raven´s Opera D´Moll,2- Crystal Purity of Treachery, 3- Evil Awaken, 4- Regicide, 5- Journey Into Doom, 6- Endorsed by Satan, 7- Spider-Werk, 8- I am the Wind, 9- lost, 10- Heroism of New Era

Hypnos is today one of the main bands in the Czech death metal scene. And they deliver this style with extreme brutality and technical quality. This time they had the help of the great Harris Johns in the production (who produced Kreator among many others). Fans of death metal in the style of Morbid Angel (that is complex and with a great fat guitar sound with a lot of fast parts) or Deicide will love this release. It has all the elements required: a Wall of sound guitar, guttural vocals (Bruno is also the bassist...and bass can be heard really well thanks to the great mix) ,fast guitar solos with good note placement (not only a bunch of whammy bar noises), double bass drumming (excelent sounding drums), complex rhythms. Recommended for deathmaniacs. Favorite tracks: "Crystal Purity of Treachery", "Regicide" (this track is a classic of death metal!!!) and "Spider-Werk". Contact: www.morbidrecords.de

REVIEW: HOLOCHAUST - VALLEY OF MISERY

 

HOLOCHAUST - VALLEY OF MISERY (Independent, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded and Mixed at.MD Studios by OKI

Cover Artwork by Jan Helin, Timo Nässi

Design and Layout by.

Track List: 1- Beyond The Violence, 2- Valley of Misery, 3- I Wanna Lie

This is a three track mini CD from this finnish band. The style is thrash metal in the old vein with some heavy metal touches and a more modern sound. The one good thing here is that vocalists like Doomer are sorely missed in the scene nowadays...singing somewhere between Chuck Billy (Testament) and James Hetfield (Master of Puppets-era). Also there are guitar solos and acoustic guitar intros that are not so common nowadays as they used to be (check the intro of "Valley of Misery" with vocals closer to a mix between Glenn Danzig and Fernando Ribeiro (Moonspell). This is to prove wrong all those who say that "Thrash is dead"...Music is subject to a lot of tendencies...who can say if tomorrow thrash will be the main style again and Holochaust one of the bands destined to the top?. Favorite tracks: "Valley of Misery", "I Wanna Lie". Contact: http://go.to/holochaust or www.mp3.com/holochaust

REVIEW: HOLLENTHON - WITH VILEST OF WORMS TO DWELL

 

HOLLENTHON - WITH VILEST OF WORMS TO DWELL (Napalm Recs., 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded and Mixed by Martin Schirenc at Vato Loco Studio.

Mastered by Akeem Koehler at Indiscreet Audio.

Cover Concept and Layout by Martin Schirenc.

Track List: 1- Y Draig Goch, 2- Woe To The Defeated, 3- Lords of Bedlam, 4- To Kingdom Come, 5- The Calm Before the Storm, 6- Fire Upon The Blade, 7- Conquest Demise, 8- Conspirator

What a CD !! A perfect combination of brutality, originality and arrangements. From the start with "Y Draig Goch" the band starts showing interesting arrangements (specially on the keyboards and samples section that sound like coming from a movie soundtrack)...and who we have behind this madness?? Yes, it is Martin Schirenc himself!! For those who don´t know him he was one of the brains behind Pungent Stench one of Austria´s main metal bands in the late eighties and early nineties.  But the music here is completely differnt from the one that he used to do with his old band, here everything is done to create this kind of baroque death metal, full of ornaments, complex harmonies, outstanding arrangements while retaining the brutality, that is manifested mainly through the heavy guitars and his vocals. Martin has reveales himself as a great composer here and he is in charge of all the instruments except for the drums. The lyrics are done by his wife Elena. A future classic. Fabvorite trcks: The Whole album. Contact: www.napalmrecords.com

REVIEW: HAISHA / MIZUKO - SPLIT CD - HAPPILY NEVER AFTER

 

HAISHA / MIZUKO - SPLIT CD - HAPPILY NEVER AFTER (Crucial Blast Recs., 2001):

Track List: Haisha: 1- loser, 2- Secondary Survivor, 3- My Hands, 4- Moral Coma, 5- Gutter, 6- Sinking the Sky, 7- Thrash Hero, 8- Faggot, 9- Damaging Noise, 10- Limerance, 11-Twerp, 12-Being Different, 13- Ass Explodes, 14- Knocking, 15- Breathing Ghost, 16- The Revenge of Mr. Dill, 17- Moral Majority, 18 - Pissing Blood.

Mizuko: 1- Traitor, 2- Suffocating in Radiactive Gas, 3- Happily Never After, 4- Xob, 5- Hated in Cyberspace, 6- Raping a Dead Girl, 7- Keep Sleeping Dreamwhores, 8- Subjective Human Core, 9- Societal Collapse, 10- Azbongazeeowzhi, 11- The Light at the Edge of the Neuroverse, 12- Razing the Sky, 13- Frail Tranquility.

 I will do this review in two parts, one regarding Haisha and the other one regarding Mizuko.

Well, Haisha is an extremely fast and furious death/grind band with hyperfast riffs, short songs. The tracks here have differnt sound...in fact the first two have a completely differnt guitar sound than the other ones, more clear and less thin. The singer has two ways of singing...one that is more guttural in the fastest and shortest tracks and another one that is like a deathly version of Tom Araya (Slayer). There are longer tracks (which I like more) and short grindcore bursts like "My Hands". Also there are some rhythmic tracks like for example "Sinking In the Sky". Ideal if you love the style.

Mizuko start their part with a noisy introduction including some explosions-like sounds and some screams and shrieks before getting into the main part of their first track called "Traitor". The music here is completely different from the one played by Haisha. Here the music is closer to ambient and sonic experimentation. The band goes in the paths that bands like Merzbow and others explored before but adding their touch of originality in certain way of facing the composition of their tracks. Through their thirteen tracks contained here they explore countless possibilities of working with sounds deforming them in a lot of possibilities.

Favorite tracks: Haisha: "Loser", "Secondary Survivor"; Mizuko: "Xob" and "Societal Collapse". Contact: www.morenoise.com/crucialblast

REVIEW: EZURATE - INFERNAL DOMINATIO

 

 EZURATE - INFERNAL DOMINATIO (Forever Underground Recs. - 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded and Mixed by Craig Baker at Digital Audio Designs

Design and Layout by Gulg-gath Immortum.

Track List: 1- Possession of Twilight Shadows, 2- Battles of Armageddon, 3- Descending through Black Moon Skies, 4- Baptism By Fire, 5- Through Haunted Caverns, 6- Seal of the Dark Legions, 7- Season of the Witch

This recording shows us a band completely inmersed in black metal, and its more raw variations. It is ablack metal that could have been part of one of Darkthrone´s more recent recordings, it has that sound that Norwegian bands used to have. Hyperspeed riffs. That create some hyperspeed melodies over a crushing blast beat drumming and a diabolical vocal that screams the lyrics to the moon. "Posession of Twilight Shadows", "Battles of Armaggedon" , choose the song that you like most and you will have black metal there. The sound (unlike some bands that are around today) is really good. For my taste, maybe the drums are quite in the front in the mix, covering a little bit the guitars (that maybe are a little behind) and perhaps it has a litlle thin sound in the snare drum, but this can be fixed with more time and studio experience. Listen to "Baptism by Fire" or "Through Haunted Caverns" and let yourself be transported to the darkest part of your being. Contact: www.foreverunderground.com

REVIEW: GODKILLER - DELIVERANCE

 

GODKILLER - DELIVERANCE (Wounded Love Recs., 2000):

Technical data:

Recorded and Mixed at the Frozen Citadel.

Mastered at Millenium Studio

Artwork by Olivier Mogis, Duke, Olivier Labarrére.

Track List: 1- Nothing is Sacred, 2- Wailing, 3- At Dusk, 4- When All Hope is Gone, 5- Dust to Dust, 6- For My Days are Vanity, 7- Wisdom, 8- I am a Stranger in the Earth, 9- Deliverance

I still don´t know why a lot of metalheads hate electronics...is it because they make a subconscious relation with dancing music? Is it because of a close minded attitudes? I wonder what this stagnant power/heavy metal bands that flood the scene nowadays would do with the help of electronics...maybe they would sound more original.Well, I don´t know but one thing is for sure: Here we have a man, Duke, who can teach all of us how to use electronics to obtain a great result. Having changed radically hisstyle since the prior Godkiller release, he has dedicated himself to compose this amazing and climatic, yet heavy as hell album. Whay I like here is the heavy experimentation that Duke is doing in order to create the atmospheres that his mind reveals to him. Distorted guitars and clean ones are used with the same purpose too. I am really waiting the new Godkiller release to see what he is going to do next. Always surprising. Favorite tracks: "I am A Stranger in the Earth", "Wailing" and "For My Days are Vanity". Contact: wounder@tin.it .

REVIEW: FOREFATHER - THE FIGHTING MAN

 

FOREFATHER - THE FIGHTING MAN (Angelisc Enterprises, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded and Mixed at the Croft, Surrey (England).

Produced by Forefather

Design and Layout by H.R. Graphics.

Track List: 1- The Fighting Man, 2- A New Dawn, 3- Together They Stood, 4- For These Shores, 5- The Call To Arms, 6- Out of Darkness, 7- The Paths of Yesterdays, 8- The Last Battle, 9- When our England Died

How can we describe the music that Forefather makes? Is death metal? Yes, but saying that is to narrow...Is it black metal? Well, they have some riffs that sound like black metal...but that is too narrow too...Is it heavy metal? Well, they have melodies, certain power metal runs here and there, but this is being to narrow too. Is it gothic? They have some vocals that could be of the style, but that is being short sighted too. Well, then how can we describe this? I think the better way is saying that they are a combination of all the styles mentioned above, really difficult, uh? But it is true...the combination of elements of all the styles is here at its maximum. And I think this is in part because of the versatility of the two members of the band: Athelstan who plays drums, guitars, bass and keyboards and Wulfstan who plays drums, guitars, bass and does the vocals. If you like recordings were each song is different from the other and have many different moods then this is the choice for you. Favorite tracks: "For these Shores", "Out of Darkness" and "When Our England Died". Contact: http://members.aol.com/AngeliscE.

REVIEW: EDICIUS - AEON

 

EDICIUS - AEON (Deadsun Recs., 2001):

Technical data:

All Songs Written and recorded at Temerraire Studios.

Track List: 1- Ogden Blut, 2- Gothic Breed, 3- Tremendous Unknown, 4- Misericordious Insane, 5- Bledemon, 6- At Mo S phere S, 7-Ravaged, 8- By Cold Anger, 9- And The Pleasure, 10- Of Death...

Really extreme black metal but with some almost ambient parts in the middle of their tracks!! Is this possible? Here we have Edicius, a trio consisting in Icon on drums, Alpha Coin on guitars and Insane on vokills, bass and synths. Well I like the contrast between the hyper fast black metal parts and the others were the synths are predominant. There are also parts in which the fast parts are accompanied by keyboards in the way that bands like Arcturus for example would do. But what is more surprising as I told before is when they start at full speed, then suddenly they stop and you have a keyboard passage, then they aceelerate again and then stop again...The overall sound is good here, specially the keyboards (I think that the drum sound could have been a litlle bit more fat to give more power to the band). Favorite tracks: "Gothic Breed", "Bledemon" and "And the Pleasure". Contact: : www.deadsun.fr.fm

REVIEW: DIABOLICAL MASQUERADE - DEATH´S DESIGN ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

 

DIABOLICAL MASQUERADE - DEATH´S DESIGN ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK (Avantgarde Music, 2001):

Technical data:

Produced by Blakkheim and Dan Swanö.

Recorded at the Sanctuary except orchestrations recorded at Trivial Studios.

Art Direction and Design by Travis Smith.

We all know what Blakkheim is capable of. We have learned that through all the Diabolical Masquerade recordings and his collaborations with other musicians. But here we have this. And this is a soundtrack for a movie formed by 20 movements divided in sixty one fragments. If we add that the other person responsible of the composition is the great Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity and multiple other projects) we obtain this wonderful release.And this is a combination of black metal, orchestra and electronics at its peak. We have fragments that are full speed black metal, others that are only the orchestra (and maybe Blakkheim´s vocals ...helped here by Dan Swanö) and others that are full of electronic experimentation. The overall result is amazing and very weird at the same time. I dont think that people who don´t like experimentation and dark melodies would love this but the more open minded people will see in this release a magnum opus. Favorite tracks: The whole album. Contact: www.diabolicalmasquerade.com or www.avantgardemusic.com

REVIEW: DEATH KNELL COMPILATION

 

DEATH KNELL COMPILATION (Eternal Night Recs., 2001):

Design and Layout by.Anubis Tatoo / Jon Echeverry

Track List: 1- Scared (Agony), 2- Crowned Child (Ancient Ceremony), 3- A Tale of Mankind (Dysanchely), 4- Vindictive (Tombe), 5- 666 (Denata), 6- Storm of the Thrashers (Incinerator), 7- Voiceless Scream (Horfixion), 8- Besmeared with Blood and Viscera (Festerguts), 9- Blackmoon´s Ritual (Stormcrow), 10- Hatt (Warlust), 11- Festering Clausura (Nefarium), 12- Diabolical Redemption (Abominattion), 13- Dreaming in Splendour (Mithras), 14- Connected with Emptiness (Throneum), 15 - Pleasure of the Blood (Hatework), 16 - Escondidos Detrás Nuestro (Prosapia)

This compilation from Eternal Night Recs from Colombia is presenting us with bands from a lot of countries from America nad Europe. We have interviewed and review CDs from some of them like Denata, Horfixion, Mithras and Ancient Ceremony. All the bands here are from the more extreme styles within the metal realm, that is death/thrash/black metal. And we have pretty interesting bands here like for example Dysanchely from Slovakia with its extremely atmospheric black metal with keyboards and a lot of clean parts (here they present their track called "A Tale of Mankind"), or we have rawer bands like Incinerator from Sweden with their crude death metal or Festerguts from Russia with their gore death metal with some female choruses. This is a good way to check bands that are growing in the underground of different countries and to have a sample of their music....that is always extreme. Other bands here are Nefarium (Italy), Throneum (Poland), Hatework (Italy), Prosapia (Argentina), Agony (Colombia), Tombe (Netherlands), Stormcrow (Italy), Warlust (Netherlands) and Abominattion (Brazil). The price of this CD is U$S 10. Contact:  et_night@mixmail.com