REVIEW: NECROFLESH - PROMO 2001

 

NECROFLESH - PROMO 2001(Independent, 2001)

Produced by Necroflesh

Tracks: 1- Beyond The Dark Stars, 2- Temptation, 3- Supreme Vengeance

A super fast blast beat along with a speedy guitar riff opens this CD from this italian band. Necroflesh are lovers of the most brutal death metal in Earth and they add to the style a lot of their technical habilities. Their music is quite complex because of the breaks and the tempo changes. In fact I think that I have to remark the great work that the drummer makes here (specially in certain complicated double bass patterns). The band sounds extremely tight and it seems that they have rhearsed a lot the tracks because of the great way in which all the changes are played. I hope this band gets a deal soon and releases more material. They are really good in their style !!. Favorite tracks: "Beyond The Dark Stars" and "Supreme Vengeance"

REVIEW: MIDNIGHT SCREAM - FALLEN FAITH

 

MIDNIGHT SCREAM - FALLEN FAITH (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Mike Galiatsos and Lukas Bergis

Artwork by Chris Chiotis

Tracks: 1- Lost in the dark, 2- Veil of Darkness, 3- Twisted Soul, 4- Fallen Faith

The opening of this CD really fooled me,. It starts with a riff in the vein of some power metal bands, but after some seconds it turns to death metal !! And it sounds really good. I mean the blend of this type of riffs and the more brutal vocals typical in death metal is a good combination !! But this guys through some other interesting things too. For example some super fast riffs like on "Veil of Darkness!", and some riffs that are quite more complex and give a different feeling to the tracks. I think Midnight Scream´s music has a lot of atmosphere because of the way the guitarist interacts (as an example listen to the change in "Veil of Darkness" at 2:02. This MCD contains four tracks from a promisory brutal band. Favorite tracks. The four songs contained here. Contact: http://welcome.to/midnightscream

REVIEW: MENTAL HORROR - PROCLAIMING VENGEANCE

 

MENTAL HORROR - PROCLAIMING VENGEANCE (Necropolis Recs., 2002)

Produced by Robles Dresch

Recorded and mixed in porto Alegre

Artwork by M. Miler

Tracks: 1- Intro of Vengeance, 2- Burning Alive, 3- Genocidal Inquisition, 4-Black Spiritual Void, 5- Rising from Chaos, 6- Screams of Tiamat, 7- Flagellum Forms, 8- Anguish Seas, 9- Tortured (Bleeding for the plague), 10- Profane Spawn, 11- Proclaiming Vengeance

How brutal can a band be? I think that not much more than Mental Horror with his extreme death metal. The core of Mental Horror´s sound is the crushing wall of sound that their guitars are, the guttural vocals that are all over their tracks and the blast beats and extremely fast drum patterns that the drummer plays through all the compositions. Death metal in its purest form. This is how I would describe Mental Horror´s music. This band has no mercy and there are only a few moments where they slow down (like in "Anguish Seas, a short interlude). I would like the band to make a clearer mix, specially on the guitars that sound a little bit opaque. There are some maniac guitar solos that add more twisted feelings to the music contained on this CD. Here you have brutality in its highest level. Favorite tracks: "Flagellum Forms", "Genocidal Inquisition" and "Profane Spawn". Contact: www.necropolisrecords.com

REVIEW: MACHINE HEAD - SUPERCHARGER

 

MACHINE HEAD - SUPERCHARGER (Roadrunner Recs., 2001)

Produced by Johnny K.

Recorded at Mad Dog Studios

Artwork by P.R. Brown

Tracks: 1- Declaration, 2- Bulldoxer, 3- White Knuckle Blackout, 4- Crashing Around You, 5- Kick You When You´re Down, 6- Only the Names, 7- All In Your Head, 8- American High, 9- Brown Acid, 10-Nausea, 11- Blank Generation, 12-Trephination, 13- Deafening Silence, 14- Supercharger, 15- Hople In the Sky, 16- Ten Fold, 17- The Blood, The sweat and the tears (live), 18- Desire to Fire (live)

Machine Head is Back! Blasting with their cutting riffs and their thunderous drum beats here is one of America´s most powerful bands. Starting with a noisy intro followed by a great drums opening before the band enters with their ultra heavy and modern brand of metal. The sound on this release has made a big progress from the one in "the Burning Red" their previous albums and also Rob Flynn and company have made an effort on doing better tracks here. As powerful as always this is Machine Head´s fourth album and is one of the heaviest up to date. The great combination of crushing riffs, screams and singing vocals is omniprescent on this release as on their previous ones. If you like modern metal you should check this CD. Favorite tracks: "Crashing Around You", "American High" and " Deafening Silence". Contact: www.roadrunnerrecords.com

REVIEW: KING DIAMOND - ABIGAIL II THE REVENGE

 

KING DIAMOND - ABIGAIL II THE REVENGE (Roadrunner Recs., 2002)

Produced by Kol Marshall, King Diamond and Andy La Rocque

Recorded at Nomad Recording Studio

Artwork by Travis Smith

Tracks: 1- Spare this Life, 2- The Storm, 3- Mansion In Sorrow, 4- Miriam, 5- Little One, 6- Slippery Stairs, 7- The Crypt, 8- Broken Glass, 9- More Than Pain, 10- The Wheelchair, 11- Spirits, 12- Mommy, 13- Sorry dear

 The voice of O´Brian of the Black horsemen along with a keyboard intro starts this new King Diamond CD. The story goes along the path started by the first "Abigail" album, lyrically and also musically. I like the way King Diamond does his music with all the guitar riffs and solos. It is true that all his latest albums have been really similar but it is his own style. My favourite musician here is Andy La Rocque who is a really versatile guitarist and is the one who put the flesh in King Diamond´s song (as Hank Sherman is the one who does it in Mercyful Fate). There are not many nrew elements here. The sound is much better than on the first part (there are 14 years between one part and the other). Fans of the King will be delighted. Favorite tracks: "Mansion in Sorrow", "Little One" and " More Than Pain". Contact: www.roadrunnerrecords.com

REVIEW: JUDAS ISCARIOT - TO EMBRACE THE CORPSES BLEEDING

 

JUDAS ISCARIOT - TO EMBRACE THE CORPSES BLEEDING (Red Stream Recs., 2001)

Produced by Akhenaten

Recorded by Akhenaten

Artwork by C. Szpajdel

Tracks: 1- I awoke to a night of Pain and Carnage, 2- Bathed in Clouds of Blood, 3- Terror from the Eastern Sky, 4- Where Eagles Cry and Vultures Laugh, 5- In the Valley of Death, I am Their King, 6- With Lust and Murder for our Drink, 7- Behold the Lamb of God Descending, 8- Spectral Dance of the Macabre, 9- The Dead Burst Forth from their Tombs

Judas Iscariot has become a legend in the underground in this years. The main man here is called Akhenaten and he is risponsible for all the music contained here and all the lyrics, helped only by session drummer called Cryptic Winter. Speaking about the music, the one contained here is pure raw black metal full of hate and anger. With hyper speed blast beats and trollish vocals, in the vein of bands like Ezurate. One thing that I would like Akhenaten to do is to mix the guitars a little bit louder and maybe the drums too (not the cymbals which are clearer enough). There are super fast runs with the guitars and some riffs that are more catchy and rhythmic but the main thing here is hate and speed. Even if there are slower tracks where i think the best of Judas Iscariot lies. Lovers of the style will be pleased with this release from this cult project/ band. And maybe with a better sound Judas Iscariot´s music will be more appreciated. Favorite tracks: "Bathed in Clouds of Blood", " Spectral Dance of the Macabre" (with a really catchy guitar riff!!!) and " In the Valley of Death, I am their King". Contact: www.redstream.org

REVIEW: INKBLACK - PSYCHODRAMA

 

INKBLACK - PSYCHODRAMA (Independent., 2000)

Produced by Inkblack

Recorded by Bas

Tracks: 1- Inside Your Mind, 2- the New Brood, 3- Battle Calls

A clean guitar arpeggio playing a haunting melody starts this CD and gets heavier pretty soon witha n interesting break that turns into something that I would call trance death metal. I put the word trance because the rhythm here is slow and catchy and can put your mind into a trance with some hypnotic charachteristics. Along with some slithering guitar melodies that are played here and there to make the tracks more diverse, we have different types of vocals and good guitar riffs. I would like them to mix maybe the guitars (specially the rhythmic) and fundamentally the bass a little bit louder to add some bottom end to the music. The main thing here is depression , achieved by the melodies and atmospheres created by this musicians. Three tracks are not enough and I would like to listen more from them. Favorite tracks: the three contained here

REVIEW: HONEY BARBARA - I-10 & W.AVE

 

HONEY BARBARA - I-10 & W.AVE. (Emigre Recs., 2001)

Produced by Honey Barbara

Recorded at home in San Antonio, Texas

Tracks: 1- Famous Animal, 2- Bad Day, 3- Sleep Late, 4- Beddie Bye, 5- Beat Again, 6- Killer duds, 7- Low Birth, 8- Invisible, 9- Eye on You, 10- How Bright The Sky, 11- Pards, 12- All Fall Down, 13- Come Away, 14- Ambush Chorus, 15- Solid Return, 16- Arabesque, 17- Renata

Honey Barabara makes really atmospoheric music, where the emphasis is on the climatic passages and in the arrangements. The band is a trio in which each musician plays a variety of instruments. In fact the main thing here are the keyboards and the atmospheric. Also, there are a lot of processed guitars that make the tracks more weird. The vocals are almost whispering and they are sometimes melodic, but not in the typical way...their melodies are twisted and make the songs even more weird than before adding them. I like experimentation and here you have a lot in the keyboards, in the guitars and on percussion. Each track here is a world on its own and all of them are completely different one from each other. If you have an open mind, this is for you. Favorite tracks: " Ambus Chorus", "Beddie Bye" and " Eye on You". Contact: www.emigre.com

REVIEW: HOMICIDE HAGRIDDEN - DEAD BLACK SUN

 

HOMICIDE HAGRIDDEN - DEAD BLACK SUN (Kick Promotion Agency, 2001)

Produced by Homicide Hagridden

Tracks: 1- Dead Black Sun, 2- Arena´s Sky, 3- Constriction, 4- the Way To love

This is a band from Torino, Italy with a lot of ideas. I would call their music style as progressive death thrash metal. Progressive because of all the changes and original parts that the music contained here have. Death because of the vocals that are in the vein of later Carcass or Kreator and some Destruction. Thrash because of certain riffs and drums patterns and because of the sound, that specially on the bass sound really thrashy. There are four powerful tracks here and the rhythmic riffs played with a lot of power and strength are the main thing here. The sound of the recording is really good and it is original because they are not trying to sound like the most famous bands out there. And the clarity of the mix helps a lot to communicate what the band is trying to show. I would like to listen more from this band , maybe a full length release soon!! Favorite tracks: " Arena´s Sky" and "Constriction". Contact: www.kickagency.3000.it

REVIEW: HIMINBJORG - HAUNTED SHORES

 

HIMINBJORG - HAUNTED SHORES (Red Stream Recs. 2001)

Tracks: 1- The Aves, 2- War, 3- The Haunted Shores, 4- Of Desire and Lust, 5- The Eternal, 6- Lonely, 7- The Voices of revenge

Himinbjorg is a killer band that is always on the edge between black and death metal with incredible song structures and amazing melodies (I love the way one of the guitarist plays them while the other makes this heavy riffs that are the core of the tracks contaied here). And here lies the main element in Himinbjorg´s music: they are not doing hyper speed and furious riffs all the time....they prefer diversity adding slow riffs in a lot of parts and some clean vocals followed by some melodies. Then they change to faster rifffs and more brutal vocals. But they are not afraid of using this diverse styles. And this is one of the main points here: Diversity (checkas an exmple the track "War" and listen the way they combine from screaming vocals to vocal harmonies in a few seconds). There are a lot of clean guitars here and there (like on "The Haunted Shores") that embellish the songs. If you want great metal with a lot of ideas then check Himinbjorg. One of the best CDs of the month. Favorite tracks: The whole CD. Contact: www.redstream.org