REVIEW: WITCHCRAFT - NO ANGEL OR DEMON

 

WITCHCRAFT - NO ANGEL OR DEMON (Primitive Art Records, 2002)

Produced by Jens Henriksson

Recorded sometime in Space and Time

Cover Photo by Maria Andersson

Tracks: 1- No Angel or Demon; 2- You Bury your head

I have reviewed a lot of doom junkies and stoner rock bands but none of them sounds so "seventies" than Witchcraft. This band seems to have taken their guitars and Fender amps and crank them to create this sounds like some band typical of the seventies. The feeling of the two tracks contained here is really psychodelic and they have interesting melodies which also takes you back to the early seventies era of heavy rock. The guitar riffs are really rhythmic and fit pefectly with Jens Henriksson drumbeats which are almost hypnotic. Fans of seventies rock or stoner or doom will surely like this single. Also the vinyl helps a lot to the total product taking you some years back in time. A great band.

Favorite tracks: Both tracks are really good.

Contact: www.primitiveartrecords.com

REVIEW: WINGS OF FURY - ENIGMA OF LIFE

 

WINGS OF FURY - ENIGMA OF LIFE (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Wings of Fury

Recorded at ARE U Recordings

Artwork by Miriam Dammers

Tracks: 1- The Poem of Truth (intro), 2- Hogmanay Night, 3- Shattered Paradise; 4- the Last Words; 5- Drowning Visions (Outro)

First of all, I have to remarjk that the guys in Wings of Fury told me that they have evolved a lot since the recording of this demo and that they have improved a lot too. Well, I would like to listen their new material because this demo is really a great one !! One thing that I find incredible are Miriam Dammers vocals...they are amazingly clean and they have a lot of power (plus a great technique with a lot of inflexions and vibrato). I liked a lot the way in which the keyboards are used to support Miriam´s vocals creating along with the guitars the main axis of the compositions contained on this CD. The sound can be a little bit better specially mixing the snare drum a litlle bit louder (in the recording the hi hat and cymbals cover it). This is with no doubt one of the recordings of the month.

Favorite tracks: All the CD. If you want the perfect mix between creative heavy music and beauty then Wings of Fury is your choice.

Contact: http://clik.to/wingsoffury or www.wingsoffury.f2s.com

REVIEW: WIGRID - HOFFNUNGSTOD

WIGRID - HOFFNUNGSTOD (No Colours Recs., 2001)

Tracks: 1- Leere, 2- Ort der Einsamkeit, 3- Die Enstehung; 4- Schreie der Verzweiflung; 5- Das Sterben Eines Traumes; 6- Hoffnungstod; 7- Der Weg in Ein Anderes Dasein

Wigrid plays old school death metal in the vein of the first Burzum records with vocals that are really screaming (maybe they should be a little more loud on the mix to achieve a better result)and anguished ones. The music here is really raw and with some changes going from blast beats to some more mid-paced guitar riff. The drums are faster than hell in many parts and in others they play some primitive pattern that fikts the guitar riff in a good way. There are tracks that I like better, as for example tracks number three and four which have more arrangements and have more interesting parts (also "Das Sterben eines Traumes" is their most accesible song with an intro that is really melodic yet distorted). A must for lovers of extremely dark and raw black metal. A must for Burzum fans.

Favorite tracks: "Die Enstehung"; "Schreie der Verzweiflung" and " Hoffnungstod".

Contact: www.no-colours-records.de

REVIEW: VEDIOG SVAOR - IN THE DISTANCE

 

VEDIOG SVAOR - IN THE DISTANCE (Paragon International, 2001)

Tracks: 1- Pavel, 2- Ipsoq Dav; 3- Silex; 4- Curled Up Stars; 5- W; 6- Suffused

Vediog Svaor...a strange name...and a great band. It is amazing the quality of some bands that are appearing in the underground...and Vediog Svaor is one of the best. Their music is really climatic and the compositions are well developed with a lot of melodic phrases while having an extremely heavy sound (some guitars combined with programmed drums are almost industrial....but much heavier). Also it is interesting the big difference that exist among the tracks contained here. While "Ipsoq Dav" is extremely climatic full of clean guitars; "Silex" is totally chaotic, raw and fast with crushing guitars and subrepticious breaks. Tracks like "Curled Up Stars" or " Ipsoq Dav" are extense (over ten minutes each) and they give the band enough space to explore new possibilities. There are a lot of screaming vocals that accentuate the anguish feeling of some parts and also spoken ones that are realy eerie. Amazing album.

Favorite tracks: The whole CD. Amazingly atmospheric and climatic metal album!!

Contact: www.paragonintl.cjb.net

REVIEW: UNTIL DEATH OVERTAKES ME - SYMPHONY I "DEEP DARK RED" & SYMPHONY II "ABSENCE OF LIFE"

 

UNTIL DEATH OVERTAKES ME - SYMPHONY I "DEEP DARK RED" & SYMPHONY II "ABSENCE OF LIFE" (Independent, 2002)

Produced by U.D.O.M.

Recorded at Templa Libitna

Tracks: CDI: 1- Silent Dreams; 2- They never Hope, 3- In the Light of Dying Summer, 4- Never Again, 5- Careless, Painless, Far Away, 6- Towards the Emptiness

CD 2: I- This Dark Day; 2- In the Mist; 3- Absence of life, 4- And Death Took Her smile Away

This two CD set is really amazing: it contains two great compositions (one on each CD) subdivided in various parts. This two compositions are "Symphony I: Deep Dark Red" and "Symphony II: Absence of Life". The first one is a really dark composition with a lot of keyboards that create the environment where the two musicians involved here develope their multiple musical ideas. There are some distorted guitar chords (for example on "Never Again"), but the main thing here are the keyboards that set the scenary for this guys. There are also some sound effects here that turn things even more oppressive. Also the slow percussion (programmed drums) is created to emphasize this feeling.

"Symphony II: Absence of Life" starts in a more melodic way with "They Never Hope", with some clean guitar. And again you will have the dark feeling with some melodies and some guttural vocals (think them as a complement for the music, in fact they are not looking for brutality here). A masterpiece.

Favorite tracks: The two CD set is a masterpiece of dark and atmospheric music with excellent compositional skills and great musical knowledge.

Contact: http://listen.to/udom

REVIEW: TOTIMOSHI - MYSTERIOSO?

 

TOTIMOSHI - MYSTERIOSO? (Berserker Recs., 2002)

Produced by Alex Newport

Artwork by Elizabeth Mc. Grath

Tracks: 1- Float, 2- Screwed, 3- Cellophane, 4- The Bleed, 5- Dirt Farmer, 6- Vitreol-a, 7- Oblivion, 8- Horselaugh

What a powerful release!! Totimoshi is a strange name and the music that this band plays is like a mix between gothic, punk, stoner and metal. The main feature here are the powerful guitars (with a really fat sound that makes the riffs devastating) with interesting riffs that go along the drums in a really great way. Another feature is the vocalist who is versatile and knows how to accentuate certain phrases to achieve a better result being really tight with the rest of the band. The good thing is that this band sounds like Totimoshi and not as any other band from a similar style. An original release full of crunchy chords and interesting ideas.

Favorite tracks: The whole CD is an example of crushing and devastating music.

Contact: www.berserkerrecords.com

REVIEW: TONY WREN / LARRY STABBINS / HOWARD RILEY / MARK SANDERS - FOUR IN THE AFTERNOON

 

TONY WREN / LARRY STABBINS / HOWARD RILEY / MARK SANDERS - FOUR IN THE AFTERNOON (Emanem Disc, 2002)

Produced by Martin Davidson

Recorded by Steve Lowe

Tracks: 1- A Soft Day, 2- Game of Two Halves, 3- Where are the Snows, 4- Rough Crossing, 5- Blue Dark, 6- Embarrasment of Witches, 7- Transcension

This is a kiler quartet: Tony Wren on double bass; Howard Riley on piano; Larry Stabbins on sax and Mark Sanders on percussion. This guys create some of the greatest spontaneous music I have ever heard. They have the musical skills and technique to achieve a great result. It is amazing to listen to Stabbins sax runs played over Riley´s piano arrangements. I think this is one of the ensembles that I feel more interconnected between them in order to achieve great results. Sanders is a killer percussionist and he is risponsible of adding a lot of twisted rhythms to the musical compositions contained on this CD, while Wren adds a lot of bottom end and arrangements to the music. This is one of the best improvisational CDs I have ever heard.

Favorite tracks: "Game of Two halves"; "Rough Crossing" and "Blue Dark".

Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

REVIEW: THE NEW PLAGUE - SHACKLED AND ENSLAVED

 

THE NEW PLAGUE - SHACKLED AND ENSLAVED (Independent, 2001)

Produced by The New Plague

Recorded at Digit Sound Studio

Artwork by Adam Whitley and Shaun Lipsmeyer

Tracks: 1- World Annihilation, 2- Within, 3- Stormbringer, 4- Life, Death and the Abyss, 5- New Worlds, 6- The Great Unknown, 7- Pleasure Thru Pain, 8- Cult of the Dragon, 9- Pazuzu, 10- I Am Misanthrope

This is a band of old school death metal. The music of the New Plague is a blast of fury in the vein of old Morbid Angel, Left Hand Path-era Entombed and also some Venom. So as you may see this is a devastating band. There are certain thrash influences here and there too in their music. Every track here is conceived to be a deathly and powerful discharge. They are fast and brutal with great work of guitarist and drummer (great double bass drumming) who seem to be very well rehearsed and really tight (there are excellent bass passages in "Within" for example at 1:44). The vocals are guttural and fit the music that The New Plague makes perfectly adding more brutality to this powerful trio. Fans of brutal and technical death metal will surely like this one.

Favorite tracks: "Pleasure Thru Pain", "World Annihilation" and "The Great Unknown".

Contact: www.thenewplague.com

REVIEW: THE CULT - BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL

 

THE CULT - BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL (Atlantic Recs., 2001)

Produced by Bob Rock

Artwork by P.R. Brown

Tracks: 1- War (The Process), 2- The Saint, 3- Rise, 4- Take the Power, 5- Breathe, 6- Nico, 7- American Gothic, 8- Ashes and Ghosts; 9- Shape the Sky, 10- Speed of Light, 11- True Believers, 12- My Bridges Burn

Of all the bands that were popular in the late eighties and early nineties I always liked The Cult. It seems to me that this guys always prefered to do good songs than combing their hair and using make up and all that bullshit. There are two records which I don´t like that much....one is "Love" (too pop for my taste) and "The Cult" (too alternative, I thought that they were copying other bands). But this latest one goes in the path that albums like "Sonic Temple" or "Ceremony" marked. That is rocking riffs with some Led Zeppelin and seventies influences and one of the strongest Ian Astbury´s performance on vocals. Welcome back to the right track.

Favorite tracks: "Take the Power"; "American Gothic" and "Speed of Light" .

Contact: www.thecultnet.com

REVIEW: SUICIDAL WINDS - VICTIMS IN BLOOD

 

SUICIDAL WINDS - VICTIMS IN BLOOD (No Colours recs., 2002)

Tracks: 1- Victims in Blood, 2- Dimension of Death, 3- Morbid Temptation, 4- Storms of Hell, 5- satanic Wrath, 6- Force of Darkness, 7- Ashes from a Past Life, 8- Outbreak of War, 9- The Mangler, 10- Lord of Abyss, 11- Meaningless Life

Here we have death /thrash metal directly from Sweden and full of energy and hate! This is the second album from this swedish guys and this one is extremely brutal. The influences that I find are from early Kreator and Destruction. Killer riffs with interesting drumming all over the CD. Here we have a band designed for headbanging and crushing you live (I think that a Suicidal Winds show must be devastating). I like a lot the thrash influences that this band has that makes their music sound different than most of the bands that are playing brutal death metal. The vocals are screaming ones and closer to the ones of Mille Petrozza. This band is a great exponent of this tyle and you can see it through this recording.

Favorite tracks: "Victims in Blood"; "Morbid Temptation" and "Ashes from a Past Life".

Contact: www.no-colours-records.de