REVIEW: SLAYER - GOD HATES US ALL

 

SLAYER - GOD HATES US ALL (American Records, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded at Warehouse Studios. Mixed by Sean Beavan

Produced by Matt Hyde

Artwork by Louis Marino.

Track List: 1- Darkness of Christ, 2- Disciple, 3- God Send Death, 4- New Faith, 5- Cast Down, 6- Threshold, 7- Exile, 8- Seven Faces, 9- Bloodline, 10- Deviance, 11- War Zone, 12- Here Comes The Pain, 13- Payback

Slayer is back after "Diabolus In Musica" offering us the same musical violence as always, but this time with a few surprises. Yes, Slayer has incorporated a more modern sound to his music, even adding some touches of modern metal here and there. But don´t worry, that does not mean that Slayer has become a less heavy band...NO! they are heavy as always but they ha modernized their style (they have evolved....this is a word that some people fear a lot !!) . The speed is here, the always anguished and demonic vocals of Tom Araya are here too, the frenzied guitars of Kerry King and Jeff Hanemann are in all the tracks as wild as always. And Paul Bostaph is as always a drumming nightmare with his hyper speed double bass filling all the spaces. Well, what else can I say? This is Slayer, as heavy as always but with some differences.

REVIEW: SILENCER - KOZMOS

 

SILENCER - KOZMOS (NTT Records Group, 2000):

Technical data:

Recorded at Hellhole, January 2001.

Track List: 1- Mourning Star, 2- Kozmos, 3- Easter Island, 4- Missing Hope, 5- Industrial Command

Well, what we have here??? This is heavy/thrash metal in the vein of old school thrash (I mean bands of the late eighties) but with a really modern sound and some nineties influences too. I liked a lot the vocalist who has a lot of strength and sings with a vocal range that is completely appropriated for the band´s music (he does not abuse of the high pitched vocals, prefering to use a more mid range type of vocals which fit much better...I think he is somewhat close in range an inflexion to Anthrax´s John Bush but quite more aggressive). This type of bands are sorely missed in the metal scene nowadays, because they have good riffs, great guitar solos and thundering drums. It is good to see that Silencer´s songs despite being powerful have enough hooks to let the choruses and melodies stucked in your mind. They have excelent atmospheres for example in "Easter Island" which is an instrumental interlude and in the beginning of "Missing Hope" (thumbs up for the guitarists in the vein of old Annihilator). Favorite tracks: "Mourning Star" and "Missing Hope". Contact: www.silencer.cc

REVIEW: SIGNS OF DARKNESS - BEYOND THE AUTUMN LEAVES

 

SIGNS OF DARKNESS - BEYOND THE AUTUMN LEAVES (LSP Company, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded, at Music House Studio.

Mixed by Mark, Wouter, Joris

Artwork by Mighty Kris Verwimp

Track List: 1- Prologue, 2- Ad Noctum, 3- The Last Shinning Moon (Beyond the Autumn Leaves), 4- Poet Winter, 5- Intermezzo, 6- She´s the mirror´s opposite end, 7- Stars in the Nocturnal Sky Are a Thousand Screams in the Ruined Rosegarden, 8- The Sadness of Night, 9- Epilogue

Black metal with a female vocalist (Sarah) who makes a big contrast with male voices. The original thing about Sarah is that she sings different from most of the female singers out there. In fact, she uses a lot her middle range and does not use too much vibrato on his voice.The band has a killer drummer which allows thm to do the really fast parts without missing the tempo. It is good to see that Joris, the bassist and vocalist knows how to make hooks together with the guitars in order to create interesting parts along with his vocals. There are some parts of clean guitars with an omnipresent keyboard/piano that makes Signs of Darkness Music really melodic and obscure, yet heavy. The music has a lot of changes and that is good for my ears that find it more interesting (check the bass interlude at 2:41 of "Poet Winter" followed by a real melodic part, just to have a sample). Favorite tracks: "The last Shinning Moon...", "Poet Winter" and "Stars in the Nocturnal Sky,..". Contact: www.lsp-company.com

REVIEW: SEYMINHOL - NORDIC TALES

 

SEYMINHOL - NORDIC TALES (Independent, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded, mixed at Kirk Prod. Studio by Gilles "Warrior" Kaufmann.

Cover: Gregory Lê

Track List: 1- Part 1: Immortal Lords, 2- Part 2: Berserker, 3- Part 3: Back of Thunder, 4- Part4: Into the winds of Chaos

A classical guitar introduction opens this CD from this French band of heavy metal, before getting into a slow part with some melodies that lead into a heavier segment. The singer Kevin Kazek shows here that he is a really clean vocalist (with this I meen that he can do some intrincate vocals without distorting his vocal range....in fact one of the main elements of Seyminhol´s music are the vocal harmonies). He is in the vein of singers like Timo Kotipelto from Stratovarius but with a vocal range that relies heavily on the middle range instead of the higher pitches. This MCD has four tracks and the lyrics are about Nordic Culture, really epic. Talking about epic...the tracks here have a lot of qualities that make them sound really epic, like the guitars that play melodies and the rhythms that are thought to sound very omnipotent (I like that the guitars have a really raw sound not typical for the style). Favorite tracks: "Part 1: Immortal Lords" and "Part 3: Back of thunder". Contact: www.chez.com/seyminhol

REVIEW: SEPTICEMIA - HOPELESS AGE

 

SEPTICEMIA - HOPELESS AGE (Independent, 2000):

Technical data:

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Michael Bösl, Thomas Löffler and Septicemia.

Recorded, mixed and mastered at Crossfade Studios, Vien.

Cover: Bobby Spiess

Track List: 1- Intro, 2- Enter Me, 3- Distress of Night, 4- Hopeless Age, 5- Coming of Chaos, 6- God Save The Queen, 7- Deeper, 8- Origin of This World, 9- Get through the Opposite, 10- Possessed by Bloodlust, 11- Morbid Cry, 12- The Arrival

Septicemia is a band that comes from Austria and they make an interesting blend of very technical black and death metal (also there are certain slow parts almost doom on "Hopeless Age"). I find since the beginning of "Enter Me" a band completely compenetrated in their riffs that are sometimes fast as hell and sometimes more mid paced adding a thrash flavor to the songs here (like some of the riffs that you can find in"Distress of the Night" for example). IT is interesting how this band changes rhythms very often within the same song, but that doesn´t mean that they play one riff two times and then they change it. No, they have a lot of ideas and they develope them into the tracks that we can listen here, that is they have a perfect connection among their ideas using a riff or drum pattern until they decide it has to be changed or transformed into another idea. The vocals here are guttural adding the perfect atmosphere to the tracks. I would like the band to mix the whole recording with a different drums sound that sometimes is a little bit opaque (I like the way the bass is mixed, you can listen it even in the fast parts). This is a good option for death metal fans looking for great ideas. Favorite tracks: "Hopeless Age", "Origin of this World" and "Possessed by Bloodlust" (killer opening riff). Contact: www.septicemia.start.at

REVIEW: SATANIC SLAUGHTER - THE EARLY DAYS: DAWN OF DARKNESS

 

SATANIC SLAUGHTER - THE EARLY DAYS: DAWN OF DARKNESS (Necropolis Recs, 2001):

Technical data:

Tracks 1-12 Recorded at Unisound Studios with Dan Swanö

Tracks 13,18-21, 24 recorded at Unsound Studios, 1995

Artwork by.José Montemayor

Track List: 1- Immortal Death, 2- Forever I Burn, 3- Dark Ritual, 4- Into the Catacombs, 5-Breath of the Serpent that Idles The Cold World, 6- On Black Wings, 7- Nocturnal presence, 8- Legion of Hades, 9- Divine Exorcism, 10- I´ll Await my Lord, 11- Embraced by Darkness, 12- Domine Lucipheros, 13- Intro, 14- Hatred of God, 15- Servant of Satan, 16- Satanic Queen, 17- Demons Feast, 18- Forever I burn, 19- Legions of Hades, 20- Breath of the Serpent, 21- Immortal Death, 22- Land of the Unholy Souls, 23- One Night In Hell, 24- Dark Ritual, 25- Forever I Burn

Satanic Slaughter is the band that eventually gave birth to what now is called as Witchery. Sounding as a more primitive version of that band, Satanic Slaughter made its huge impact on the Swedish underground. The music is at the same time similar but rawer than Witchery´s, with those great guitar riffs that the band has and a lot of the elements of death/thrash/black metal that we are accustomed to hear on their CDs. There are 25 tracks here from different eras of Satancic Slaughter ´s career. I prefer the newer ones better because they sound much better and they have more mature ideas. As always Richard Corpse and Jensen shine with their guitars which are the fundamental ingredient here. It is a cool decision by Necropolis Records to rerelease thios recording that is a fundamental aprt of the history of swedish death/black metal. Favorite tracks: "Into the Catacombs", "Breath of the Serpent...." and "I´ll Await My Lord". Contact: www.necropolisrec.com

REVIEW: RHYMES OF DESTRUCTION - A SUN REVOLUTION

 

RHYMES OF DESTRUCTION - A SUN REVOLUTION (Shiver Recs,, 1999):

Technical data:

Recorded and mixed by Jeroen Debonnet and Rhymes of Destruction

Recorded and Mixed at SAD Studios

Artwork by Grafische Technieken

Track List: 1- Prologos - Mobilmachung, 2- Onherbergzaamheid, 3- Intermezzo#1 - Obsessed by the Cruelty of Daylight, 4- Cynische Onsterfelijkheid, 5- Intermezzo #2 - Annoying Purity, 6- Leven in Het Teken Van Vooruitgang, 7- Intermezzo#3 - The Decline of Civilisation, 8- Terugkeer Naar Het Einde Van De Cirkel, 9- Intermezzo #4 - Destruktionstrieb, 10- Chaos and Disorder: A Sun Revolution, 11- Intermezzo #5 - Birth: A Disaster Theory, 12- Vreugde

Rhymes of Destruction is a band from Belgium that makes a strange kind of music. I can not label it relating it with some particular style such as black metal, death metal, etc. Rhymes of Destruction has certain black metal riffs but the vocals are completely different from those of this style and the guitars sound fatter and completely different too. There are interesting rhythm changes here and parts full of melodies, clean guitars and interludes with whispering vocals. Also, the use of a drum machine (really well mixed) contributes to the mechanical feeling of the tracks and to a certain industrial feeling (even if the music is completely differnet from this style too). I can feel that this guys have great musical skills because of the quality of the tracks which are sometimes very complicated. Favorite tracks: "Onherbergzaamheid...", "Leven In Het Teken..." and "Terugkeer Naar Het...". Contact: http://bewoner.dma.be/rhymes

REVIEW: SALACIOUS GODS - SUNNEVOT

 

SALACIOUS GODS - SUNNEVOT (Cold Blood Industries, 2001):

Technical data:

Engineered and Mixed by Berthus Westerhuys

Produced by The Satanic Twins

Artwork by.Jacek Msniewski

Track List: 1- Nebel (Intro), 2- Manifest of the Phantoms Fasade, 3- At The Sound of the Midwinterhorn, 4- Twaeduster Facht, 5- Spirits of the Eldergods Domain, 6- Soulbite, 7- Testify My Vanity, 8- Dead, Spectral Wolfmoon, 9- Prolongation, 10- Sunnevot

Well, many people mention countries like Norway or Sweden to mention countries whose scenes are full of black, death and many other metal styles. But they forget two countries: Holland and Sweden. In fact, Salacious God is a killer black metal band coming from The Netherlands. And they are crushing. Having all the characteristics that have made bands like Dimmu Borgir famous but retaining certain raw aspects in their sound, Salacious Gods have achieved with "Sunnevot" a great result. This is an album darker than death, totally blasphemic, and with great musicians working at full speed. One extra point is the excellen packaging that this album has containing all the lyrics plus excellent photographs of the members of the band. Can we call this epic black metal? I think so, because of the use of keyboards to accentuate the musical passages that add an extra flavor to the tracks. An interesting point are the guitars here which play some fast lines but also some more rhythmic riffs like in 2:43 "Twaeduster Facht". Lovers of black metal here is a new demon to keep the blasphemy alive!!!!. Favorite tracks: "Manifest of the Phantoms Fasade", " Twaeduster Facht" and "Testify My Vanity". Contact: www.coldbloodindustries.com

REVIEW: REFRACTORY - BLACK MAGIC FOREST

 

REFRACTORY - BLACK MAGIC FOREST (Independent, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded at the Rape of Harmonies Studios

Produced by Ralf Müller

9-10 Recorded live at the Schloss / Freiberg

Track List: 1- Invasion, 2- Black Magic Forest, 3- Bloody Crack of Dawn, 4- Fucking Christ, 5- Deep In My Soul, 6- Hallucinations from Evil, 7- Visions of a Burning Sky, 8- History of War and Fire, 9- Black Hordes, 10- Execution

How peacefully starts this recording...with the sound of nature and an intro with acoustic guitars and keyboards. Then the keyboards volume goes up and you start listening a baby crying in the background and some voices. And then the band enters with its black metal.at half speed before getting in full speed. One important thing here are the melodies created by the guitars and the progressions that the keyboardist is doing in the background. There are two types of vocals here: one is more high pitched than the other that is similar to death metal bands. The tracks are very fast with a lot of blast beats but with original guitar riffs like the ones in "Black Magic Fores". There are great moments where the guitar plays some chords along with the keyboard with a more syncopated rhythm and the vocals adapt also that rhythmic structure ("Black magic Forest").The sound of this recording is in overall good but I would have mixed a little bit louder the snare drum and the bass drum (the cymbals and hihat are loud enough).Favorite tracks "Bloody Crack of Dawn", "Visions of a Burning Sky" and " Black Hordes (live)". Contact: refractory@gmx.de

REVIEW: RANDY COVEN - THE BEST OF RANDY COVEN

 

RANDY COVEN - THE BEST OF RANDY COVEN (Koch Recs,, 2000):

Technical data:

Produced by Randy Coven and John Stix

Produced for re-Issue by Dave Squillante

Artwork by Brad Wrolstad.

Track List: 1- Funk Me Tender, 2- Yesterday, 3- Tree, 4- Toronto Blues, 5- Manhattan Mama, 6- Great Necks, 7- Strange Cat, 8- 10000 Notes, 9- Au Privave, 10- Angry, 11- I Wish, 12- Two Girls, 13- S-Bass Secrets, 14- Minute Mouse, 15- E-11, 16- Monday

Everyone knows that Randy Coven is a great bass player...he has show this on his solo albums and in works with guys like Steve Vai or his band Holy Mother ...or even playing live with Yngwie Malmsteen. This time what we have here is a compilation of his best solo tracks...coming from his solo albums "Funk Me Tender" and "Sammy Says Ouch!". There are plenty of guest musicians here like Steve Vai ( "instantly recognizible on "Funk Me Tender"), Vito Bratta, Blues Saraceno or Al Pitrelli to name just a few. Randy shows all his skills through his compositions and through some covers like The Beatles "Yesterday" ...obviously played with bass (a great version). And he also shows that as every good musician should be, he is really open minded and knows how to play in many different styles (Check for example the acoustic and almost country "Tree"). This is music for lovers of virtuosos and instrumental music. Favorite tracks: "Funk Me Tender", "S-Bass Secrets" and "Manhattan Mama". Contact: www.randycovensite.com