REVIEW: WATCHMAKER - KILL, CRUSH, DESTROY

 

WATCHMAKER - KILL, CRUSH, DESTROY (Wonderdrug Recs, 2001)

Produced by Cokederler

Recorded at New Alliance Studios

Tracks: 1- Broken by Refraction, 2- Dummy Test, 3- Mournful Visage, 4- Salt fertile Earth, 5- Watchmaker, 6- Flowers of Evil, 7- Invert and Crush, 8- Arise in Might, 9- Like Saturn Devouring his Children, 10- Gunscope Transplant, 11- The Darkness of Mere Being

Wow!!! I did not expect this ...I thought by looking to the cover art of this CD that this was going to be some kind of industrial or modern metal band with politically correct lyrics. But in fact Watchmaker is an extremely fast band of death/grind metal. Their songs are fast and they have that extremely anguished vocals that make the music more effective. The guitars go at the speed of light with interesting riffs that change now and then giving diversity to the material. The drums use some blasnt beats here and there but I think the durmmer prefers to accentuate the different parts in another way. This is an eleven tracks CD with no mercy for your ear!!! Full speed and hatred in this release!!. Favorite tracks: "Mournful Visage", "Flowers of Evil" and "Raise in Might". Contact: www.wonderdrugrecords.com

REVIEW: VOID OF SILENCE - TOWARD THE DUSK

 

VOID OF SILENCE - TOWARD THE DUSK (Nocturnal Music, 2001)

Produced by Rich D - Nocturnal Music

Recorded at Massive Arts Studios

Artwork by Temno un art ( gleams@tin.it )

Tracks: 1- A Mild from hate, 2- Elemental pain, 3- Deamons from my Imagination, 4- Extasy in the Spiral, 5- My Proivate Hell, 6- Nigredo: Panic Malediction

Extreme doom/death metal. The music here is heavy in fact it is heavier than hell!!!!! Heavy and slooooowwww.....in fact this is really doom!! In the vein of the almighty Evoken, I hear also some Saint Vitus here and there. There are a lot of keyboards here that help to make things darker. And also there are some shrieking vocals combined with others that seem to be that of a gregorian chant....and that makes Void of Silence´s music much more sad, more obscure. Everything here is done in order to depress the listener, in order to make their souls cry with those heavy guitars and those deathly vocals coming from the grave. Favorite tracks: "Elemental pain", "My Provate Hell" and "A Mild from Hate". Contact: www.nocturnalmusic.net .

REVIEW: VIRGIN BLACK - SOMBRE ROMANTIC

 

VIRGIN BLACK - SOMBRE ROMANTIC (The End Recs, 2002)

Produced by Rowan London

Recorded at JR Recording

Photography by Samantha Escarbe. Layout by Camren Harm

Tracks: 1- Opera de Romanci (I:Stare), 2- II: Embrace, 3- Walk Without Limbs, 4- Of Your Beuty, 5- Drink the Midnight HYmn, 6- Museum of Iscariot (I-Stagnation, II-Death, III-Procession), 7- Lamenting Kiss, 8- Weep For Me, 9- I Sleep With the Emperor, 10 A Poet´s Tears of Porcelain

I must congratulate The End Records because of this excellent release!!! Opening with an amazing orchestral part with cello and eastern sounding vocals (in fact this made me remind of the soundtrack of a movie called "Before The Rain" which is a Macedonia/UK coproduction). Then suddenly all explodes and the orchestration is joined by an extremely heavy band on "Embrace"!! This is the perfect combination between ethereal music and extreme heaviness (this is why I think that being heavy doesn´t mean necesarilly to be at full speed all the time). Excellent guitarist...she is Samantha Escarbe and plays very interesting riffs with a very loud sound, she creates melodies and also gives space for the keyboards and the drums to breath. One of the best releases that I reviewed this month. Favorite tracks: "Museum of Iscariot", "Weep for Me" and "Walk Without Limbs". Contact: www.theendrecords.com

REVIEW: VELOCIDAD ABSURDA - FISICO TORTURA EMOCIONAL

 

VELOCIDAD ABSURDA - FISICO TORTURA EMOCIONAL (Independent, 2001)

Produced by David Diaz

Recorded at Silco Estudios

Art taken from the film "Aftermath"

Track: 1- Dracunculiasis, 2- Fisico Tortura Emocional, 3- Psicotica Asfixia, 4-Revienta y Destruye, 5- Ecos de Tortura, 6- Concilio de Odio, 7- Pensamiento Unico

Extremely brutal death/grind coming directly from Spain. With hyper speed in their riffs and a really guttural vocals, extremely rotten. There are some melodies in the vein of Autopsy´s "Mental Funeral". There are some twisted riffs and all the vocals are in spanish. I can describe this music in many ways but one word is better: brutal. The sound is fairly good and it helps to make the results better than in bands of the style that have a much worse sound. The plams here go to the guitarist and to the blast beat maniac drummer. Favorite tracks: "Dracunculians", "Revienta y Destruye" and "Pensamiento unico". Contact: velocidad@able.es

REVIEW: TWO WITCHES - AGONY OF THE UNDEAD VAMPIRE: PT II JUBILEE EDITION

 

TWO WITCHES - AGONY OF THE UNDEAD VAMPIRE: PT II JUBILEE EDITION (Actcom Recs., 2001)

Produced by Jyrki Wytch

Recorded at Harasoo and MSL Studios

Art by Jyrki Wytch

Tracks: 1- Ahony, 2- The Hungry Eyes, 3- the Omen, 4- Dead Dog´s Howl, 5- We All Fall Down, 6- Nightmare, 7- Fetish Dreams, 8- Mircalla, 9- Dreams, 10- Maybe Next Year, 11- Dreamworld, 12- Dead Dog´s Howl

This is a retrospective of songs from a classic gothic band...Two Witches. Many of you will know this band because it had in its lineup Anne Nurmi, singer in Lacrimosa. Here Anne played keyboards and did some vocals. But the main brain here is Jyrki Wytch. The sound of Two Witches is strongly based on the keyboards, in the guitars, sometimes clean and sometimes dirty, and in the vocals contrast between the female ones and the male ones that give sort of a dark feeling here. Musically the band is pure gothic rock nad this is one of the best exponents in the story of the genre. Favorite tracks: "The Omen", "We all Fall Down" and "Winter". Contact: www.actcom.fi

REVIEW: TRIBUTE TO AEROSMITH - NOT THE SAME OLD SONG AND DANCE

 

TRIBUTE TO AEROSMITH - NOT THE SAME OLD SONG AND DANCE (Roadrunner Recs., 2000)

Produced by Bob Kulick

Design by Chuck Wright

Tracks: 1- Back in the Saddle, 2- Rag Doll, 3- Chip Away the Stone, 4- Last Child, 5- Sweet Emotion, 6- Dream On, 7- Walk this Way, 8- Draw the Line, 9- Same Old Song and Dance, 10- No Surprize, 11- Toys In the Attic

There is no rest for Bob Kulick!!! He is always organizing this tribute albums with all his friends,a nd now is the turn of Aerosmith to be tributed. The results are sometimes better and sometimes worse. For example on "Rag Doll" the music is great but I don´t like that much the vocals (I think is Ted Nugent singing here). "Sweet Emotion" is really similar to the original version with a lot of strength. And there is an apotheotic version of "Dream On" with Ronnie James Dio on vocals and Yngwie Malmsteen on guitars...I think this is the best trcka here...other people that have a participation on this CD are: Jeff Pilson, Frankie Banali, Stephen Pearcy, Jack Blades, Tommy Shaw, Tim Bogert, Steve Lukather and many many more. For lovers of tribute albums. Favorite tracks: "Dream On", "Draw the Line" and "Toys In the Attic". Contact: www.roadrunnerrecords.com

REVIEW: TIERRA SANTA - SANGRE DE REYES

 

TIERRA SANTA - SANGRE DE REYES (Locomotive Music., 2001)

 

Tracks: 1- David y el Gigante, 2- La Ciudad Secreta, 3- Pegaso, 4- Juana de Arco, 5- La Sombra de la bestia, 6- Dos Vidas, 7- La Armada Invencible, 8- El Laberinto del minotauro, 9- El Amor de mi Vida, 10- Mi Tierra, 11- Sangre de Reyes

Here is the new release from Tierra Santa and it is not a big change from their previous album "Tierras de Leyenda". In fact they have not changed a little bit. Only the sound here is better but the compositions have one BIG INFLUENCE: Iron Maiden. There are some beautiful keyboards in the tracks and I think they should use them more to make compositions with more identity. The choruses have hooks and are done in the traditional Maiden way...like hymns to sing with your fist in the air. One thing to point out: Arturo´s excellent guitar solos. Favorite tracks: "Juana de Arco", "El Laberinto del Minotauro", "David y el Gigante". Contact: www.locomotivemusic.com

REVIEW: GALILEO BROTHERS - THE DANCING LAWN

 

GALILEO BROTHERS - THE DANCING LAWN (Carbon 7 Recs, 2001)

Produced by The Galileo Brothers

Recorded at Panama City, IZMR, Culver City and the Chapel of Our Lady of All Saints, Oxford and At Eastcote Studios.

Art Direction: Austin Horn

Tracks: 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-, 9-, 10-, 11-, 12-, 13-

The Dancing Lawn is a really experiment in melodies done by a group of great musicians (thewre are so many in this recording that I can not mention them all) whose main direction is given by The Galileo Brothers. The influences here range from jazz to some blues, to some new age stuff. And there are a lot of instruments that you will not expect here like xylophone, banjo, marimbas, etc, etc. The music is very beautiful and you can fnd from some strange musical phrases that you will have to listen carefully to understand completely to really easy listening parts. There are thirteen tracks here and all are played by different musicians: this means that the music has a lot of diversity among the tracks. Each of the tracks is played by many musicians giving you the idea of little orchestras playing each of the compositions. Favorite tracks: "8", "11" and "13". Contact: www.carbon7.com

REVIEW: SWAN CHRISTY - TODAY DIED YESTERDAY

 

SWAN CHRISTY - TODAY DIED YESTERDAY (Black Lotus Recs., 2001)

Produced by Nikos Nikoloudias

Recorded at Studio 5 and Studio Live

Artwork by Set (Spiros Anton.)

Tracks: 1- Today Died Yesterday, 2- Resurrection if possible, 3- One foot in the grave, 4- here comes...!, 5- My Home (Away from home), 6- No More Everything, 7- Night Flower, 8- the Benefactor

This is a really good recording starting with a song that has a riff similar to the one on Judas Priest "A Touch of Evil" but adding to it a lot of keyboards and arrangements. Then enters an interesting vocal part accompanied only by keyboards before the whole band enters together. There are a lot of duets between male and female vocals and there are also a lot of changes in riffs and rhythms. It is interesting how this band experiments with different sounds and with silences...maybe leaving onlky the bass and drums and then the keyboards play a little phrase like in some parts of "Resurrection if possible". The guitars have a really heavy sound an they are played really proficiently making Swan Christy´s music really heavy and at the same time climatic. There are guest vocals by Ferdy from Rough Silk, Spiros from Septic Flesh and Sakis from Rotting Christ. Favorite tracks: The whole album.

REVIEW: STEVE BERESFORD / PAT THOMAS / VERYAN WESTON - 3 PIANOS

 

STEVE BERESFORD / PAT THOMAS / VERYAN WESTON - 3 PIANOS (Emanem Disc, 2001)

Editing and Mastering by Martin Davidson

Recorded at Gateway Studios, July 23, 2001

Cover by Veryan Weston

Tracks: 1- Acorn, 2-Atlas, 3- Hogarth, 4- Flaxman, 5- Fremantle, 6- Vigilant, 7- Rippleway, 8- Elgar, 9- Western, 10- Bermondsey, 11- Thornton Heath, 12- Speedwell

Amazing trio of pianists and excellent improvisers. The music here is really melodic at times and really dissonant in certain passages (I can listen a lot of diminished chords played here and there and a lot of altered chords too). It is incredible how well this three piano masters interact, doing sounds and progressions that are not common and doing certain harmonization in certain notes here and there. New boundaries are broken by this three musicians who play their instruments with a lot of love and squeeze them in order to get all the sound possibilities from them (even doing percussion on the instrument). There are alot of exotic scales played in the trio improvisations, and the duets are fantastically constructed. I specially love the moments in which the threee play all together!!. Favorite tracks: "Atlas", "Thornton Heath" and "SPEedwell". Contact: www.emanemdisc.com