REVIEW: OSH - RED UNIVERSE

 

OSH - RED UNIVERSE ( Independent, 2002)

Produced by Osh

Cover art by Osh

Tracks: 1- I.C.I.; 2- Hideaway; 3- Schreispiegel; 4- Crisis; 5- Worldsaw; 6- For Me; 7- Less Beloved Daughter; 8- Mantra; 9- Wilderness; 10- And Always the Deep Red Sea; 11- Helsingør; 12- Threshold to an embrace; 13- No Limit

Osh is an extremely heavy band, and that does not mean that they are at full speed all the time. In fact the guys in Osh prefer to concentrate on riffs that sound much heavier being more rhythmic and prefering to play power chords instead of one note runs riffs. Also they have make very clever arrangements in all their tracks (as an example you can check the beginning of "Hideaway" with clean guitars before entering the heavy riffs...then in the heavy parts they have a lot of changes and dissonances going on here and there making the songs really interesting. There is a lot of variety in the vocals too...sometimes heavier, sometimes screaming, sometimes more melodics, sometimes operistic, sometimes in a tone that would not be out of place in a Mike Patton album and sometimes harmonized. But the main thing here is the originality in the arrangements ( you can check the bass in some places of "Hideaway" to see an example of how this guys use their great technical skills to make great songs). If you like originality and a lot of variations in a CD where no track is similar to each other then Osh is a great options. One of the CDs of the month

Favorite tracks: All the tracks are amazing, weird and fantastically played.

Contact: www.osh-metal.de

REVIEW: ORDAINED - THE RESURRECTION OF MORTIMUS GRIMLEY

 

ORDAINED - THE RESURRECTION OF MORTIMUS GRIMLEY (Sinternational Records, 2001)

Produced by Ordained

Recorded at D_Dungeon Studios

Cover by Scapegoat

Tracks: 1- Mortimus Grimley (2001 Mix); 2- God of Nothing; 3- All in Vein

This is a three song CD by this heavy band!! And I see some progress when compared to "The Second Coming", their previous release, specially in the sound which is much better. This time the band continues doing what they know best: excellent riffs with interesting solos, thrashy rhythms and over all this musical wall The Reverend´s anguished vocals spitting the lyrics. There are really climatic passages like the beginning of "God of Nothing" with clean guitars before getting into the heavier parts. The mix here is really good, I liked specially thebass and guitars mix which make the instruments fit perfectly to create a heavier than hell environment. This is a good MCD to await for the new Ordained CD!

Favorite tracks: The three tracks contained here.

Contact: www.ordained.net

REVIEW: ORDAINED - THE SECOND COMING

 

ORDAINED - THE SECOND COMING (Sinternational Records, 2000)

Produced by James K Faw and ORdained

Recorded at The Sanctuary

Cover art by Scapegoat

Tracks: 1- The Ordained, 2- Caught in a Trap, 3- Let there be Death, 4- Beloved, 5- Sealed with a Fist, 6- Lowly Little Pawn; 7-Sanctum Secorum; 8- Destroyer, 9- I Am the One; 10- Perversery Rhymes; 11- Lunatic; 12- Punk You!; 13- Golgotha

How powerfully starts this CD !!! A drums passage and then the guitars enter in a really heavy way. In fact Ordained´s music has a lot of eighties thrash metal influences, (specially on The Reverend´s vocals) but with a really modern sound in the guitars and drums. And this is a combination that is needed in the world of metal music. Why? Because the heavier bands don´t have thais influences and play in a different way and most of the eighties band have changed their sound. So, it is really good that a band like Ordained takes this music one step forward and make a crushing CD like this one. The music here has a lot of variations, breaks and changes, and interesting guitar arrangements (using many different ruiffs within the same song) that contrast with The Reverend´s high pitched vocals. It is good to listen this band with a lot of originality in their music !!

Favorite tracks: "The Ordained"; "Sealed With a Fist" and "Perversery Rhymes"

Contact: www.ordained.net

REVIEW: NECRONOM - A DARKENING PATH

 

NECRONOM - A DARKENING PATH (Winterthorn Records, 2001)

Produced by Winterthorn

Recorded at Toad Hall

Cover Art by Gustav Dore (1860)

Tracks: 1- Deadface: A Tale of Purity; 2- Sanctuary; 3- Shepherd to the Faithless: a) Alone in the Rain, b) Quandaries of the Spirit, c) Vermis Rex; 4- In the Arms of Nepenthe; 5- Ex Tribas Lunaes

This is Necronom second album and it is, at the same time, the second part of the trilogy of tears. The music is heavy and distorted while at the same time being very climatic (Christopher Howard Lincoln is the mind behind the music contained on this CD and also he is who construct the darkest atmospheres within here). The music has many touches of death metal, specially on the vocals and uses a great combination of heavy guitars and orchestrating keyboards (this is fundamental for the Necronom sound that gets you through a river of sadness while listening to the music. The keyboards are really well composed and creates the environment to develope all the music). There are interesting calm parts, specially in the complex "Shepherd to the Faithless" with its three parts. This release comes in a dark digipack format that is very coherent with the darkness of Necronom´s music. A must !!

Favorite tracks: "Sanctuary" and "Shepherd to the Faithless"

Contact: www.winterthorn.com

REVIEW: MUTALA - CARNIVOROUS DISPOSITION

 

 MUTALA - CARNIVOROUS DISPOSITION (Nocturnal Music Recs., 200)

Produced by Nicola Lonigro and Mutala

Recorded at Half Moon Studios

Cover by Mutala

Tracks: 1- The Sorcery of the Deepest Beauty; 2- On a Blind Track; 3- What Hates Will Kill; 4- Mutala Submission; 5- The Shore of the Cursed; 6- Fall of the Angel; 7- Habit to Violence; 8- Carnivorous Plants

Mutala is a brutal detha metal band but they have a lot of atmosphere in their tracks. And they achieve this through their everchanging guitar riffs and through the mix of vocals that they have in their songs (growling, whispering, spoken). Also they use in some places acoustic guitars and clean guitars which create a different feeling from the one in the heavier parts. The main thing here are the guitar riffs which are really original and greatly played and they have a lot of melodies. Plus they make excellent guitar solos !! (fans of great guitar players rejoice!!). The sound of this recording is really good and that makes the result even better. The drums are really good to making the rhythms shine in all their splendour and adding a lot of heaviness to Mutala´s track (adding blast beats when its needed or making slow patterns in the more dense parts). I strongly recommend this release!!

Favorite tracks: "On a Blind track" ; "The Shore of the Cursed" and "Fall of the Angel"

Contact: www.nocturnalmusic.net or www.mutala.cjb.net

REVIEW: MORNINGSTAR - KALEVALA MYSTICISM

 

MORNINGSTAR - KALEVALA MYSTICISM (R.I.P. Records, 2002)

Mixed by Teppo Seppänen and Ari Honkonen

Recorded at Mäkkäri Studios

Tracks: 1- Ultima Thule; 2- Pagan Funeral; 3- Metal Fever; 4- Sons of Kaleva; 5- Frozen Woods, 6- Kalevala; 7- Battleaxe/Made of Iron; 8- Throne of Doom (Divine Wisdom); 9- Attack; 10- Sinister Shaman

It seems to me that R.I.P. Records is realeasing really pure heavy metal bands...Metalucifer and Morningstar are a sample of this !! Here we have the Finnish guys from Morningstar who are a trio that plays pure metal with a really raw sound and some dark atmospheres. The vocals are not high pitched so it is not what you would call classic metal...in fact it sounds modern and has many changes that could have been done by a thrash metal band. There are many ideas going on here. As you may see in "Pagan Funeral" for example). The songs contained on this CDs are mostly from year 2000 and there are also new versions of older songs....One of the main things here is that the music has a lot of power and at the same time has a lot of hooks designed to make metal maniacs sing along the choruses with their fists in the air. Pure heavy metal lovers, rejoice...here is Morningstar.

Favorite tracks: "Throne of Doom"; "Metal Fever" and "Frozen Woods"

Contact: www.restinpeacerecords.com

REVIEW: MITTERNACHT - THE DESOLATION OF BLENDENSTEIN

 

MITTERNACHT - THE DESOLATION OF BLENDENSTEIN (Furias Records, 2002)

Produced by Eduardo Mallada and Pablo De Luca

Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Sergio E. Nuñez Stolles

Cover by Friedrich Curwenius

Tracks: 1- the Desolation of Blendenstein; 2- The Pain of Uncertainty; 3- The Crushing of Blendenstein; 4- Mist of Ravens; 5- A Tribute to the Void; 6- The Unveiling; 7- The Dawn of Uprising; 8- War Against the Void; 9- Last Battle in the Fields of Blendenstein; 10- The Desert beside Blendenstein

This is a really climatic release from this project coming from the dark mind of Friedrich Curwenius who is here in charge of all the compositions and plays all the instruments and programming. The music is certainly climatic and has a lot of melodies while reminding you to black metal style. So it is a great mix between heavy and fast rhythms and intense keyboards that make melodies through all the CD making you imagine the story that Curwenius is telling us here. The keyboards chord progression are interesting and Curwenius plays original and sad melodies over them that are the core of the tracks contained on this CD: Also there are a lot of sound effects and voices that transports you directly to Blendenstein. A must for people who likes original music done in a really professional way.

Favorite tracks: The whole CD. One of the CDs of the month

Contact: http://listen.to/mitternacht or www.orionmusic-furias.com.ar

REVIEW: METALUCIFER - HEAVY METAL CHAINSAW

 

METALUCIFER - HEAVY METAL CHAINSAW (R.I.P. Records, 2002)

Produced by Geniezoluzifer

Recorded at Overhead Project Koblenz

Tracks: 1- Heavy Metal Chainsaw; 2- Flight of Iron Pegasus; 3- Warriors Ride on the Chariots; 4- My Way is Heavy Metal; 5- Heavy Metal Samurai; 6- Dracula; 7- Metalucifer (Part II); 8- Lost Sanctuary

Pure heavy metal!! Yes, here we have heavy metal as it was in the early eighties, full of rocking riffs, choruses full of heavy metal hooks. The most notorius influences here are Accept, Saxon and Judas Priest. The sound of the recording is very eighties, giving us a complete picture of how heavy metal sounded in that time. But Metalucifer is also adding a twist to the music making it sound their own way. There are many guitar solos with a lot of power and melody combined with great riffs and simple drum beats that make the music really powerful !! If you like classic metal in the vein of the bands that I mentioned before then you will like Metalucifer. There are a lot of heavy metal tricks in the guitar riffs which I like a lot , check for example "Heavy Metal Samurai" and feel pure heavy metal music !!!

Favorite tracks: "My Way is Heavy Metal"; "Flight of Iron Pegasus" and "Lost Sanctuary"

Contact: www.restinpeacerecords.com

REVIEW: MENTAL AMPUTATION - MASS CRISIS

 

MENTAL AMPUTATION - MASS CRISIS (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Mental Amputation and Albrecht Felsestein

Recorded at Brickhouse Studios

Cover by Jaczek Wisniewski

Tracks: 1- Intro; 2- Mass Crisis; 3- The Inexorable; 4- Equinox; 5- Visions of Demise; 6- Hybrid Nation

Mental Amputation rules!! Their music is death metal with technical riffs and a grerat sound. The main thing here is that the songs are really well composed and there are many great arrangements that make things really interesting and add a lot of variation to the tracks. Here we have musicians that have a lot of technical skills.The recording has a great sound and there are a lot of things that shine like the keyboards in "The Inexorable", the clean guitars and the drum patterns which feature a lot of hi hat and ride cymbal that are mixed perfectly. This band deserves a recording deal now to be one of the main bands in the death metal scene. As I said before....Mental Amputation rules !!!!

Favorite tracks: All the CD. The tracks are really well composed and have many ideas going on !!

Contact: mentalamputation@gmx.de

REVIEW: MANIAS / SALÉ SANGRE - IDENTITY CRISIS

 

MANIAS / SALÉ SANGRE - IDENTITY CRISIS (Deadworld Syndicate Recs. , 2002)

Produced by Manias

Recorded in Santa Fe, NM USA

Cover by Leo Gonzalez

Tracks: 1- Abacination ; 2- Domain of Forever; 3- Trapped in a Cage; 4- Homisight; 5- Ojos Sangrientos; 6- Recuerdas; 7- Blood Covered; 8- 97 Fiends; 9- Baila Sin Piel; 10- D.I. - Avulsion; 11- La Llorona; 12- D.O.M.; 13- Hijos; 14- Growth; 15- A.O.R. - A Team Theme; 16 - Unimagined Figure

This CD starts in a great way with parts of Slayer´s "Hell Awaits" before getting into Manias / Salé Sangre´s own material. Here we have ultrabrutal death metal with a lot of rhythm variations and excellent riffs that sometimes are death, sometimes are more hardcore and sometimes sound even like black metal. The vocals are guttural in some tracks and in others are more screaming ones giving a lot of variation to the tracks. The sound is ultra raw and it gives the tracks a great raw feeling adding some darkness to the tracks. There are songs that are longer than others and I prefer the ones that have more riffs and rhythm changes. This is a good sample of what this guys are capable of doing. This CD was released originally in year 2000 so I am anxious to see what Andrew Manias and company are doing now. I hope to listen more from them soon.

Favorite tracks: "Domain of Forever"; "Recuerdas" and "La Llorona"

Contact: dead1@victimas-dth.com