REVIEW: MYSTERY BLUE - DEMO 2002

 

MYSTERY BLUE - DEMO 2002 (Independent, 2002)

Produced by Mystery Blue

Recorded at JAM MUsic

Cover Art by Mystery Blue

Tracks: 1- Dark Visions, 2- Roller Coaster Ride, 3- Angel

A climatic acoustic beginning on "Dark Visions" with the powerful voice of Nathalie singing at the top of her voice. Mystery Blue is not a new band, they have been recording since the eighties with a lot of effort and really good taste. Their music is pure heavy metal and Nathalie gives agreat feeling to the songs (sort of a Doro Pesch but he sings a little bit higher in some places). IN the second track called "Roller Coaster Ride" they are closer to thrash with a lot of speed and extremely heavy riffs. One thing that I liked a lot are the killer guitar solos which are a trademark of Mystery Blue´s musicbecause they are played with really good taste and add an interesting feeling to the songs. Now I await their new full length which I think will be loved by heavy metal maniacs. And check Nathalie´s vocals which are killer!!

Favorite tracks: The three contained on this demo

Contact: www.mysteryblue.com

REVIEW: MORIA - MÖRKRETS INBROTT

 

MORIA - MÖRKRETS INBROTT (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Moria

Recorded at Moria´s Homestudio

Cover Art by Moria

Tracks: 1- Ödets Vind, 2- Åtrå Efter Liv, 3- Slavavals

Here is Moria´s new offering. And this is a really good one !! It is just that it lives you wanting more!! The music on this three tarck CD is amazingly climatic, even with extremely heavy and raw guitars. This is because the musicians in Moria know really well how to combine guitar melodies and how to create this dark atmospheres that are the trademarks of the Moria´s sound. Another of the main points here are the vocals, which are essential part of Moria´s music: here we have brutal male vocals that sometimes are harmonized by a clean female voice or by a cleaner male voice, this gives a lot of contrast to the music and add a lot to the dark atmospheres created here. Another thing that I liked is the use of some keyboards that most od the times does somber chord progressions and sometimes add some sad melodies. One thing that I have to remark is the good sound that this recording has despite being home recorded. A must for lovers of darkness.

Favorite tracks: The three are great tracks!

Contact: http://back.to/moria or www.mp3.com/moria

REVIEW: MIDNIGHT SYNDICATE - VAMPYRE - SYMPHONIES FROM THE CRYPT

 

MIDNIGHT SYNDICATE - VAMPYRE - SYMPHONIES FROM THE CRYPT (Entity Productions, 2002)

Produced by Midnight Syndicate

Mixed at Mandala Studios

Cover Art by Keith Parkinson

Tracks: 1- Awakening, 2- Graveyard, 3- Unhallowed Ground, 4- Crypt of the Forsaken, 5- Winged Fury, 6- Blackest Rose, 7- Ravages of Time, 8- Catacombs, 9- Unseen Eyes, 10- Undead Hunters, 11- Ancient Comes, 12- Dusk, 13- Spectral Masquerade, 14- Vampyre

Here is the new Midnight Syndicate album....and I have to say that I have been awaiting this release anxiously. After listening to their previous recording "Gates of Delirium" which was a masterpiece I didn´t know what this guys could do to do a better album...and they ahve surprised me with this "Vampyre....". This is a darker release than the previous one and all the elements that make Midnight Syndicate a unique and original band are here. For those who don´t know the band, listening to this guys music is like listening to a movie soundtrack (if you close your eyes you can imagine the whole situation), there are plenty of changes and feelings on this recording. The orchestration here is superb as are also the compositions, really complex and full of different moods and atmospheres. Midnight Syndicate have become one of my favorites and they are a classic band!! A must.

Favorite tracks: All the CD is a masterpiece as it was the previous one !!!

Contact: www.midnightsyndicate.com

REVIEW: MELECHESH - AS JERUSALEM BURNS...AL´INTISAR

 

MELECHESH - AS JERUSALEM BURNS...AL´INTISAR (War Is Imminent Productions, 2001)

Produced by Melechesh

Recorded at Y.S.Studios - Jerusalem

Cover Art by David Roberts

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Sultan of Mischief, 3- Assyrian Spirit, 4- Planetary Rites, 5- Hymn to Gibil, 6- The Sorcerers of Melechesh, 7- Dance of the Black Genii, 8- Baphomet´s lust, 9- Devil´s Night, 10- As Jerusalem Burns...Al´Intisar, 11- Desert Pentagram (bonus), 12- Malek Al´Nar (live in jerusalem 1996) (bonus)

Directly from Israel comes Melechesh. This is a recording from 1996 from this raw black death metal band with some eastern influences (specially in the lyrics). The sound of this recording is extremely raw, specially on the hyper fast guitars and the blast beat drums (maybe the ride cymbal is a little bit loud in some places covering other frecuencies). There are interesting mid paced parts which I think the band should use more in order to give more variation to the tracks contained here. I find interesting when the band slows down a little bit and plays some sort of interesting eastern sounding melody as it happens in "Assyrian Spirit" after the balst beats. This CD comes also with a video CDR track with the song "Hymn to Gibil". The vocals on this recoprding are of the screaming type used by black metal bands adding a lot of hatred and dark feelings to the tracks.

Favorite tracks: "Assyrian Spirit", "Dance of the Black Genii" and "Baphomet´s lust"

Contact: www.unholycross.com

REVIEW: MAELSTRÖM - MAELSTRÖM

 

MAELSTRÖM - MAELSTRÖM (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Alexandre Cegalla

Recorded at Edengard Studios

Cover Art by Leviathan

Tracks: 1- Sea of Darkness, 2- Maelström, 3- Obscure, 4- Lilith, 5- Eternal Curse, 6- Every, 7- Despair, 8- The Visionary Hope; 9- Faust, 10- Bleak, 11- Insane, 12- Shadows, 13- Legions of Hades, 14- Forever in my Mind, 15- The reverse of life

This is one of the albums of the month!!! A beautiful acoustic guitar plus keyboards open this Maelström CD sending us directly into the world of this band. In fact this is a one man band (Alexandre Cegalla does all the composition and he plays guitars, keyboards and does all the vocals here ) with two guest musicians on bass and drums. I would call the music here "progressive climatic melodic heavy death metal" just to give an idea of what you can find here: heavy riffs in sort of a heavy metal fashion but with a bigger sound, a lot of climatic pa´rts with a lot of keyboards and acoustic guitars (check "Obscure" and see the beauty of Maelström´s music), then you have a voice that is guttural in some places but in most of the recording is in a sort of Therion (Theli-era) type of voice. The mix of the album is really good, maybe the drums can be mixed clearer but that doesn´t affect the final result. A must for all metalheads

Favorite tracks: All the CD is great!

Contact: www.maelstrom.com.br

REVIEW: LUCIFUGUM - INVADE

 

LUCIFUGUM - INVADE (War is Imminent Productions, 2000)

Produced by Lucifugum and Climent Monserrat

Recorded at Panorama Studios

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Nocturnal, 3- Those Chaos from the Giants; 4- The Dark Eyes of Satan, 5- Ethereozul, 6- Where the Ancient Thoughts Pass the Dead Sky, 7- Moongrinder, 8- Holocaiust from the Blazed Lands, 9- In Satan we trust, 10- Vers La Nit

Lucifugum is a pure black metal from Spain (even if in some aprts they have some death and thrash touches). After the orchestral and atmospheric intro the tracks on this CD are raw and fast with amny changes within the same song. Another of the main features on this CD is the use of many differnt types of vocals: some screaming, some more guttural, some distorted, some spoken, some shouted, some melodic ones....and this gives a lot of diversity to the music. There are many melodic parts done with the guitars (I would like them to mix louder the guitars so this melodies will be on top of the mix and be the main ingredient of the band´s sound) . The drummer is extremely fast and does a lot of great double bass drumming while the bassist follows him and at the same time does interesting arrangements (as in"Those Chaos from the Giants"). Here we have a good option for thoise who like black metal and want something different.

Favorite tracks: "Nocturnal", "The Dark Eyes of Satan" and "Moongrinder"

Contact: www.unholycross.com

INTERVIEW WITH NECROMEMISIS

 

1. Do you like your music being labeled brutal death metal or do you think that it is too narrow?

Yes and no, yes because we do incorporate a lot of aggressive and intricate stuff in our songs, but then again we do have some melodic parts too, we don't want to be held to just writing a certain style of music all the time, we like to experiment with a lot of different styles of music, black, death, grind, hardcore, etc.

2. How has the "Demo 2002" been doing since its release?

Since the release of our demo it has been doing really well, we have a pretty good following out here because of it, we have been sending it all over the place, to people in other countries, radio shows, fanzines, etc… just who ever wants a copy, It is being played on some radio stations out here, 89.9 KUNM; Tomb Stone Rock, (very brutal radio show) and also on 104.7 The Edge on there local hour, and our shows seem to be getting bigger every time we play.

3. How did your music change when Bill left the band and was replaced by Wayne?

When Wayne came into the band, we think that the music has gotten more and more technical and intricate with every new song that we write he is very unique in his style of lead playing, as you will see on our next CD. He is a really good fit for us.

4. How important is having a good technique with your instruments for Necromemisis music?

It is extremely important to have a good technique with our instruments so that we can pull off some of the intricate and technical stuff, that we incorporate within our music.

5. How were the songs in "Demo 2002" composed?

They were composed in 2001, they had been written by all four of us, Ian Andres, Nick, and Bill, all of us pretty much knew how to play different instruments, so we just through all of our idea's together, and in July 2002 we went to a local studio (Third Eye Creations) and recorded our demo.

6. Do you have new material to be recorded?

Ever since the release of our demo we have been playing a lot of shows, but as of late we have written some new songs, and we have a lot of other idea's that we are working on, we are going to be recording here pretty soon, the new material is very sick and brutal, and should be available soon, check the website for updates.

7. Which is your equipment live and in studio?

All equipment is used both live and in the studio:

Ian: Marshall VS100 Head with a JCM 1960 Cab, L.T.D. Viper Guitar, and B.C.

Rich NJ Mockingbird

Wayne: Johnson 300 Head, VGH 412 Cab's, Jackson Warrior, Reverse Dinkey 7

String, Digitech DSP Whammy Pedal.

Andres: Carvin 500 Head, Hartke 4x10 Cab's, Ibanez bass

Nick: Pearl Export Series Drums, Zildjian & Paiste Cymbals, Evans Drum Heads,

Alesis D4, with DDrum Triggers, and Vic Firth Drum Sticks

8. How was your experience opening for bands like Soulless or Gorgasm?

Excellent, Educating, and Exciting.

9. Which are the band's main influences?

We have a lot of different influences, Deeds of Flesh, Gorgasm, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, and Slayer, just to name a few…

10. Something more to add? 

Keep it sick and very brutal, and thanks to all the sick muthafuckers out there who support the scene, and fuck off to all who oppose.

Check our Website for updates,shows, merchandise, etc…

www.necromemisis.homestead.com/necromemisis.html

Contact: necromemisisevil@cs.com

REVIEW: LOL COXHILL & VERYAN WESTON - WORMS ORGANISING ARCHDUKES

 

LOL COXHILL & VERYAN WESTON - WORMS ORGANISING ARCHDUKES (Emanem Disc, 2002)

Produced by Martin Davidson

Cover Art by James Ensor

Tracks: 1- The first duet of Worms, 2- The Second Duet of Worms, 3- Organ interlude, 4- The first Archduke Duo, 2- The second Archduke Duo

It is always amazing to listen a recording where Lol Coxhill takes part. And on this one he plays with another great musician as Veryan Weston is. This incredible duets of piano and soprano saxophone are an amazing experience. The good thing about Coxhill and Weston playing is that despite experimenting a lot they always achieve a certain melodic quality to all their tracks. It is like a stop and go process ...you have experimentation, then melodies, then experimentation again. And this type of experimentation brings a lot of different sensations to the listener and paint different pictures of this duets music. It amazed me how Coxhill achieves all the dynamics that he does on this CD: in fact he goes from extremely soft phrasaes to stronger ones, to almost thrashing his instrument (listen for example to "The Second Duet of Worms" to see what I am talking about). The good thing about listening great musicians like Coxhiull and Weston is that you always find something new in their music to learn from.

Favorite tracks: "The first Duet of Worms", "The Second Duet of Worms" and "The First Archduke Duo"

Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

REVIEW: LIVING SACRIFICE - CONCEIVED IN FIRE

 

LIVING SACRIFICE - CONCEIVED IN FIRE (Solidstate Records, 2002)

Tracks: 1- Imminent War, 2- Symbiotic, 3- 3x3 We Carried your Body, 4- The Poisoning, 5- Send Your Regrets, 6- Subtle Alliance, 7- Into Again, 8- Separation, 9- Black Seeds, 10- Ignite, 11- Distrust, 12- The Martyr, 13- Reach for the Sky

Here is Living Sacrifice new album. And here we have thirteen tracks of pure energy and power!! Comparing to their previous album that was also devastating, this one has more killer riffs and amazing rhythm passages. For those who don´t know the band, Living Sacrifice is the perfect mix of death metal, modern metal and thrash metal. They use a lot of different feelings, speeds and rhythms in order to be original on each atrck and deliver their ultraheavy music. And here is no exception: the thirteen tracks are mindblowing....from the killer drum passages to the huge guitars that deliver riff after riff making a lot of changes that make songs extremely interesting. The sound of the recording is really good and allows us to listen every instrument on this recording!! A great new release from this classical band!!!

Favorite tracks: "Imminent War", "The Poisoning" and "Subtle Alliance"

Contact: www.solidstaterecords.com

REVIEW: LINES - LINES IN AUSTRALIA

 

LINES - LINES IN AUSTRALIA (Emanem Disc, 2002)

Produced by Martin Davidson

Recorded at Ultimo ABC Studio 227, Sydney

Cover Art by Jim Denley and Martin Davidson

Tracks: 1- Lines in Australia, 2- Marks on the Sand, 3- Bush Onion Story, 4- Smokey Country, 5- Wurrkadi, 6- Seen from Above, 7- Bell Flower, 8- Ghost Gum

This is great spontaneous music!! Lines is a five piece band consisting on some interesting musicans: Axel Dörner on trumpet, Jim Denley on flutes and alto sax, Philipp Wachsmann on violin and electronics, Marcio Mattos on cello and electronics and Martin Blume on percussion. And this guys let the improvisation flow through all this recording session that they did on February 12th ,2000. It is great to see the interaction between this musicnas, specially I liked the way Mattos creates sounds with his cello while Blume makes some noises and sounds with his percussion. The good thing here is that this musicians play a lot with sounds and silences, so there are parts where al instruments rmain in silence whil one plays a phrase and then let the other instruments play and breathe. People who like experimentation and spontaneity will sure love this. People who has not listeend this type of music before will find this interesting (even if they will have to pay attention to don´t miss a sound played here)

Favorite tracks: "Marks on the Sand", "Wurrkadi" and "Seen from Above"

Contact: www.emanemdisc.com