REVIEW: OPQUE - RESOLVE

 

OPAQUE - RESOLVE (Root of All Evil, 2001)

Tracks: 1- Caged, 2- Level, 3- Cut Throat, 4- Crossing, 5- Stripped of My Guilt, 6- Surface Pain, 7- Awaken, 8- Delt Fraud, 9- Stolen, 10-Strain, 11- Transformation

This album starts powerfully with "Caged" a great deth core piece. And this is the style that Opaque plays with influences of death metal, hardcore and modern metal. The fundamental thing here are the ultra crushing riffs. The vocals are powerful in the vein of bands like Pro-Pain or Crowbar. The choruses are screaming ones. There is a really good drummer here and a lot of hardcore influences and of modern metal bands like Machine Head. There are some industrial riffs in "Cut throat" and the guitars have a strong sound here. I would define Opaque´s music as a powerful and loud experienceMy favorite tracks: "Crossing", "Surface Pain" and " Delt Fraud". Contact: www.rootofallevil.com

REVIEW: ON THORNS I LAY - FUTURE NARCOTIC

 

ON THORNS I LAY - FUTURE NARCOTIC (Holy Records, 2001)

Produced by On Thorns I Lay

Recorded at Magic Sound Studios - Bucharest

Artwork by Spiros Antoniou (Set)

Tracks: 1- Infinity, 2- Future Narcotic, 3- The Threat of Seduction, 4- Feed her Lust, 5- Love can be a wave, 6- Ethereal Blue, 7- Heaven´s Passager, 8- Desire, 9- Back to that Enigma, 10- the K Song

One of the best bands that I have listened from Greece. This band has evolved and changed a lot since their latest album. This time their music is more ethereal, more melodic and has a lot of orchestrations. Don´t worry they are still heavy, they have not become a techno band. In fact they have added a gothic flavor to their music and a lot of keyboards. Also the vocals by Claudia J that contrasts with Stefanos ones are depressive and melancholic...but the band also uses some interesting choruses that complement their music perfectly. A really good CD. Favorite tracks: Future narcotic", "Feed her Lust" and "Back To that Enigma". Contact: holyrecords@wanadoo.fr

REVIEW: OBLITERATE - THE FEELINGS

 

OBLITERATE - THE FEELINGS (Erebos Productions, 2000)

Produced by P.Kusy and V.Bujnak and Obliterate

Recorded at Esprt Studio, April 1999

Cover by Ladislav Jusko, Obliterate

Tracks: 1-Abnormal indolence, 2- Life´s Attitude, 3- naive Mind, 4- Longing To Die, 5- Indian Holocaust, 6- Waiting for Nothing, 7- World of Unlimited Facilities, 8- Boundless Violence, 9 - Let´s Stop Violence, 10- The Anger, 11- Inane

Brutal death metal from Slovakia! The music here can be classified like that but the band has some hardcore edge and some modern metal influences in the way they make their riffs (not hyper fast...they are really elaborated riffs). Plus they have a killer drummer behind giving their music a good kick forward! The lyrics are very interesting covering different social topics like violence, racial problems, etc. The vocals are guttural but all the lyrics can be understand perfectly and the vocalist uses his voice along some riffs to make some rhythms more interesting and adding power to the part where he is singing, not merely shouting. The overall sound is good, I would have mixed a little bit louder the guitars but this is a great release for fans of brutality. Favorite tracks: "Life´s Attitude", "Indian Holocaust" and "Boundless Violence". Contact: www.erebosproductions.com

REVIEW: NECROPLASMA - BLACK FUNERAL HORNS

 

NECROPLASMA - BLACK FUNERAL HORNS DEMO II (Ketzer Distro, 2001)

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Goat Sodomy Eternal, 3- Slaughter of the Light, 4- Awakening from Beyond, 5- Black Funeral Horns, 6- Witching Hour (Venom Cover), 7- In Bitterness and Depression, 8- Outro

ultra fast and raw black metal. Even if Necroplasma is a band from Sweden, the music here is pure black metal in the Norwegian way. One thing that surprised me here is that the bass is clearly mixed...you can hear it in the fastest parts without having to listen very carefully and in some of the tracks it plays some interesting arrangements while still following the guitars. Bands like Mayhem or Dark Throne or even old Bathory came into my mind while listening to this recording....The vocals in this recording are in the vein of the darkest bands in the black metal scene. This CD includes a cover of Venom´s classic "Witching Hour" in a really good version. Favorite tracks: "Black Funeral Horns" and "In Bitterness and Depression" and "Witching Hour". Contact: http://www.welcome.to/ketzer

REVIEW: MUST MISSA - SEX BEYOND THE GRAVE

 

MUST MISSA - SEX BEYOND THE GRAVE (Ketzer Distro, 2001)

Tracks: 1- Nöiad (warlocks), 2- On the darkest paths, 3- Shadowless/To Eclipse, 4- Be afraid of my true face, 5- To Become Buried / Fuck after grave

Must Missa is a really raw band who plays sort of death/black metal style with an incredibly saturated guitar. Riffs full of speed and hate in all the songs here. The vocals are somewhat spexial being not the trollish or screaming vocal that we are accustomed to listen to in black metal bands...instead they are more screaming in places and somewhat lower pitched in other parts. The drums are really thin sounding and they should mix a little bit different the hihat and cymbals to make their sound not opaque the guitars and vocals. A really raw release!!!! Favorite tracks: "Varjuta", "Karda Mu Palet" and "Mööda Tumedaid Radu". Contact: http://www.welcome.to/ketzer

REVIEW: MOONSORROW - TÄMÄ IKUINEN TALVI

 

MOONSORROW - TÄMÄ IKUINEN TALVI (Sagitarius Prods., 2001)

Tracks: 1- The Battle for Phjola (Part I - To brother, Part II - the Realm of Red Snow, Part III - IN the Glare of Icy Lakes), 2- On the Green Throne, 3- Winter, 4- Blood of an Apostate, 5- the Moon´s Sorrow

This CD starts with an orchestrated part along with some keyboards that embellish the air. Then this subtle parts are followed by some extremely raw and fast black metal whose mainpoint is that is full of keyboards everywhere...and that is what makes Moonsorrow a special band: the quality of the keyboard player which is all over the place playing from chord progression, to arrangements to melodic lines and creating dark climatic passages everywhere. This first track, which is more than twelve minutes long is called "The Battle of Pohjola" and is really epic with a lot of battle sounds in the background and interesting breaks and changes. Is like a mini concerto on its own. And that is a really great characteristic of Moonsorrow´s music...the heavy orchestration and arrangements and the really well structured musical pieces that are part of their musical opus. Four of the five tracks contained on this CD are over eight minutes long and are really well developed. One of the CDs of the month (specially thanks to the keys). Favorite tracks: The five.

REVIEW: MIND ECLIPSE - IN THE LIGHT OF ECLIPSE COMING

 

MIND ECLIPSE - IN THE LIGHT OF ECLIPSE COMING (Independent, 2000)

Produced by Mind Eclipse

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- live in Sodom, 3- Too Dead TO live, 4- Mind Eclipse, 5- For those who born under the chaos devise, 6- Of queen that enthroned in haunted citadel of Syberia, 7- the incarnation of my sorrow, 8- Immortal images and voices of satan´s sorrow, 9- Farewell, 10- Outro, 11- Promo 2001: We Are Not Messiahs

Really raw black metal with some strange sounds!! The album opens with a keyboard intro before getting into full speed and deadly black metal. The guitars are really raw and play one note melodies in their hyper speed riffs. The band has a trollish vocalist in the vein of some norwegian bands. There are also some riffs that are more rhythmic and add variation to the CD like the ones in "Too Dead To Live"The problem here is the sound...this guys deserve a much better sound, specially on the guitars and drums (the guitars are difficult to hear in some part). I hope that with more money or some deal with a label they get the sound they deserve. The track from Promo 2001 shows a great improvement for this band. Favorite tracks: "Too Dead To Live", "The Incarnation of My Sorrow" and "Farewell". Contact: www.mindeclipse.ca or http://mindeclipse.musica.mustdie.ru

REVIEW: MIGUEL SANCHEZ - THALISMA

 

MIGUEL SANCHEZ - THALISMA (Carbon 7 Records, 2001)

Produced by Guy Segers and Alan Ward

Recorded at Studio Bonzai and Studio De Studio

Layout by Els Van Hemelryck

Tracks: 1- Esperanza, 2- Contigo Soñar, 3- Mi Rollo, 4- Lere, 5- Fuente de Colores, 6- Punta Paloma, 7- jam De Studio, 8- Siete Cuatro, 9- this, 10- the Heritage (Buleria)

A beautiful release. Miguel Sanchez, "el Canijo" has the gift of knowing how to mix perfectly flamenco, jazz and even some new age music. And that is perfectly demonstrated on this release where he makes a great combination of his influences. There are also some eastern sounding melodies (this feeling is enhanced because of the use of exotic instruments in this context). I like the way Sanchez plays his guitar letting it breath with arpéggios and making some interesting melodies. Also there is a great work on vocals that are closer to flamenco than to the other styles mentioned above. There are plenty of phrases done by the instruments here doing some scales (a lot of phrygian modes and harmonic minor sounds). Also there are a lot of guest musicians who help to make this album a great one. Favorite Tracks: "Fuente de Colores", "Punta Paloma" and "Siete Cuatro". Contact: www.carbon7.com

REVIEW: MEGADETH - THE WORLD NEEDS A HERO

 

MEGADETH - THE WORLD NEEDS A HERO (Metal-Is Recs, 2001)

Produced by Dave Mustaine

Recorded and Mixed by Bill Kennedy

Front Cover Photograph by Dave Cronin

Tracks: 1- Disconnect, 2- The World Needs a Hero, 3- Moto Psycho, 4- 1000 Times Goodbye, 5- Burning Bridges, 6- Promises, 7- Recipe for Hate...warhorse, 8- Losing My Senses, 9- Dread and The Fugitivr Mind, 10- Silent Scorn, 11- Return To Hangar, 12- When

Megadeth´s latest album is a step in the correct direction, that is that of albums like "Countdown to Extinction", "Rust In Peace" or "Youthanasia". That is departing from the structures used in albums like "Cryptic Writings" and "Risk". Why? Well, this sound much better...there are more guitars, more solos and the songs don´t have a structure so commonly used in metal (I think this was the problem in "Cryptic..." and "Risk"...it was simple music written by a complicated and technical band that could do more than that). New guitarist Al Pitrelli is really good in his job doing good solos in songs like "Return to Hangar" or "Disconnect". Even the first single "Moto Psycho" is closer to "Angry Again" than to "Almost Honest". I hope they continue like this and I would love to listen in the future extremely technical and heavy tracks like the ones in the classic "Rust in Peace", but with the more modern sound that Dave Mustaine and co. Are using in their new albums. Favorite tracks: "Disconnect", "Return To Hangar" and "Recipe for hate...Warhorse". Contact: www.megadeth.com

REVIEW: MARTYRIUM - IDEOLOGY OF DEATH

 

PRESS RELEASE:

MARTYRIUM - IDEOLOGY OF DEATH (Independent, 2001)

Recorded and Mixed by Erwin Hermsen

Recorded at Walhalla´s Basement on three days of May 2001

Tracks: 1- Failure Existence, 2- Enter Imaginations, 3- Stratus, 4- Abysmal, 5- Ave Solitude, 6- Mystical Journeys, 7- Ominous, 8- Eternalize Death, 9- Anguish and Despond, 10- Unleash War

This is death metal with a really mechanical sound!!! That is the first impression that you have while listening to the music on this CD. And a lot of this carachteristical sound and brutality is due to the particular sound that the drums have with an open hihat and a heavy use of cymbals. This is extremely fast and brutal death with screaming vocals and powerful guitars that play the riffs at maximum speeds without missing a beat. Some parts reminded me of Kreator (Endless Pain and Pleasure To Kill era). The sound is really good because you can listen clearly the riffs and changes and breaks despite of the speed at which this guys play their tracks. The ten tracks of this CD span the bands career from 1997 to 2001. A must for death freaks. Favorite tracks: "Enter Imaginations", "We Solitude" /this has to be their first single!!!) and "Unleash War". Contact: www.martyrium.cjb.net