REVIEW: ARABESQUE - ARABESQUE

 

ARABESQUE - ARABESQUE (Independent, 2002)

Produced by Arabesque

Cover Art by Arabesque

Tracks: 1- Inner Voice; 2- Last Attempt; 3- Haunted; 4- Instant Daydream

Arabesque is a band that plays what can be defined as progressive hard rock or progressive metal...They have intrincated compositions with excellent musicianship. Many of the arrangements are done by the keyboards and the guy who plays them has a lot of technical skills. There are heavy guitars doing interesting and powerful riffs and many licks that give a lot of strength to the songs. I liked a lot the combination of male and female vocals and I think that Katia Salemi´s ánd Nicole´s vocal range is extremely beautifula nad fits perfectly Arabesque´s songs. The drummer and bassist have a lot of technical skills to play this difficult style with many changes and moods. You can see this through the whole recording where the guys follow the guitars, do arrangements on their own or create intrincated rhyths or simple phrases. A great release.

Favorite tracks: The four contained here are really well devloped musical pieces. And I love Katia and Nicole´s vocals

Contact: www.arabesque-site.com

REVIEW: ANOXIA - DEMO 2002

 

ANOXIA - DEMO 2002 (Independent , 2002)

Produced by Anoxia

Cover art by Anoxia

Tracks: 1- Shaped like a Circle, 2- Without Beauty, 3- Kingdom

This guys form Denmark know exactly which is the best point for mixing heavy riffs with melodies. A great part of this is due to having four independent personalities: a great singer that goes from doing interesting melodies with his voice to doing a Cradle of Filth-like scream (this guys has a great vocal range and knows how to use it); a great guitarist that plays heavy riffs and clean guitar arpeggios (like the ones in the beginning of "Without Beauty"), a bass player with a lot of imagination as you can listen through the three tracks contained here and an imaginative drummer who accentuates in a really good way the songs. Maybe mixing the guitars a little bit louder would add some to the final result but the thing is that this three tracks leave you asking for more Anoxia !!!!

Favorite tracks: The three contained here

Contact: www.anoxia.dk

REVIEW: ANNIHILATOR - CARNIVAL DIABLOS

 

ANNIHILATOR - CARNIVAL DIABLOS (Century Media Records, 2001)

Produced by Jeff Waters

Recorded at Watersound Studios

Cover Art by Joachim Luetke

Tracks: 1- Denied, 2- The Perfect Virus, 3- Battered, 4- Carnival Diablos, 5-Shallow Grave, 6- Time Bomb, 7- The Rush, 8- Insomniac, 9- Liquid Oval, 10- Epic of War, 11- Hunter Killer

Annihilator is back and heavier than ever. Two things add a lot of heaviness to the music: 1- The guitar riffs are more devastating (while technical as always) and faster and they have a bigger sound than in all the previous albums; 2- Joe Comeau´s vocals are really powerful and they make the songs more raw and heavy. The drums sound strangely a bit raw (specially the cymbals and hihat) and this adds also to the heavier result. Annihilator has taken the elments of their first two albums, have modernized and accelerated them and add a much better sound in all the instruments and then they have come with this "Carnival Diablos". I think this is the direction which I like in Annihilator´s music: Their combination of heaviness with melodies and interesting arrangements. A lot of riffs reminded me of eighties thrash metal and I like this element to reappear in Annihilator´s music. Great heavy recording!!!!

Favorite tracks: "Battered", "Time Bomb" and "The Rush"

Contact: www.centurymedia.com  or www.centurymedia.de (Century Media Europe)

REVIEW: ANGEL DUST - OF HUMAN BONDAGE

 

ANGEL DUST - OF HUMAN BONDAGE (Century Media Records, 2002)

Produced by Siggi Bemm and Angel Dust

Recorded at Woodhouse Studios

Cover Art by Gerald Axelrod

Tracks: 1- The Human Bondage; 2- Inhuman; 3- Unreal Soul; 4- Disbeliever; 5- Forever; 6- Unite; 7- Got This Evil; 8- The Cultman; 9- Freedom Awaits; 10- Killer

Here we have the return of Angel Dust after their "Enlighten the Darkness" album. This CD m"OF Human Bondage" is their sixth album (their fourth after their reunion in 1997). Here we see Angel Dust achieving great maturity and showing us their best material up to date. The emphasis on this CD is on the strength and heaviness of the songs. This album shows us the arrival of Richie Wilkinson on guitars replacing Bernd. The guitars are as always fast and furious dropping some power chords in the choruses to meke them more catchy and letting vocalist Dirk Thurisch to introduce his great mid ranged melodies. The sound of the CD is amazing (as it was in their previous album) and here the kmeyboards are clearer than before achieving their climax in tracks like " Inhuman". This CD should be on any metal collection !!

Favorite tracks: All the CD. A great demonstration of heavy power metal the way it should be

Contact: South america: www.centurymedia.com. Europe: www.centurymedia.de

REVIEW: ALIENATION MENTAL - BALL SPOUTER

 

ALIENATION MENTAL - BALL SPOUTER (Khaaranus Prods., 2002)

Produced by Alienation Mental

Recorded at Hostivar Studio

Cover Art by Radim Dvorak

Tracks: 1- The Restricted Cerebral Capacity; 2- Screw; 3- Psychogenes; 4- Crossed Out from the List of the Dead; 5- Children of South; 6- The Scathing Feeling Inside of Me; 7- Blind Alley; 8- One of Infinity; 9- Instru-mental; 10- Apocalyptic Vision of the Future

BRUTALITY!!!!!! Here you have Brutality at full speed and with a guitar sound heavier than hell !!!! But this band uses a lot of elements that are not typical in brutal death metal: to name just a few: odd times signatures in some riffs, bass lines with a clean sound, drums patterns that are not typical of the style (despite using blast beats in many places), interesting and technical guitar solos with really good note placement. Then comes the really good sound that this recording has that remark in a really great manner the achievements that the band has made here. I liked a lot the riffs and specially the breaks where the drums remain alone with the bass playing some solo lines like on "The Restricted Cerebral Capacity". This guys have really a lot to offer to fans of extreme music.

Favorite tracks: "Psychogenes"; "Children of South" and "One of Infinity"

Contact: lolokar@mybox.cz

REVIEW: AB:NORM - INSIDE

 

AB:NORM - INSIDE (Show No Mercy Recs., 2002)

Produced by Michael Heinrich and Ab:Norm

Mixed by Guido Hoizmann

Tracks: 1- Forward; 2- Upstairs; 3- Bleed for Me; 4- Stream; 5- Next Generation; 6- The Third; 7- Fear; 8- Abnormity; 9- Inside; 10- Backward

What a drummer has this band....he is a nightmare, doing a lot of double bass patterns and being fast in the blast beats. Also he plays a lot of breaks and changes and he has a great sound similar to the drums in Fear Factory. Ab: Norm is a powerful and brutal death metal band with many arrangements (in fact the tracks here have many guitar riffs each one and that is great ). The vocals in this band are guttural and fit perfectly the violent music that this guys play. Also I have to remark tha great job that the bass player does through all the recording giving support both to the guitars and to the drums. Another thing that caught my attention is the combination of this music with the aforementioned drums sound that gives sort of an electronic feeling to the tracks and makes the song even heavier. Check this extremely brutal band now !!

Favorite tracks: "Upstairs"; "Next Generation" and "Abnormity"

Contact: www.ab-norm.de

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