REVIEW: SOMNUS - THROUGH CREATION´S END

 

SOMNUS - THROUGH CREATION´S END (Root of All Evil Records, 2002)

Produced by Somnus

Tracks: 1- The Gate of Wolves, 2- Warlock´s feast, 3- Dawn of Spirits, 4- Tribunal of Woe, 5- The Deceiver, 6- Lament for Winter´s Passing, 7- Creation´s End, 8- Unfullfilled Prophecy (live), 9- CD ROM Bonus Track

Somnus new album starts powerfully with "The Gate of Wolves" at full speed with all the elements that have made the music of the band known in the underground scene. Here are the guitar riffs which are complex and have some swedish death metal influence, here are the brutal vocals combined with the excellent female vocals, here is the drumming with heavy use of double bass and ride cymbal patterns (really original way of playing). And above all here are the keyboards and the guitar melodies and solos. And if the drumming the heavy riffs and vocals are the skeleton around which Somnus music is constructed, then the keyboards and the guitar melodies and solos are the flesh and soul of it. The complexity of the songs is essential for Somnus sound as also is the sadness and darkness that everything transpires here. A must.

Favorite tracks: Every single note played here

Contact: www.rootofallevil.com

REVIEW: SIC SEED - AKA THE DEVIL BABY

 

SIC SEED - AKA THE DEVIL BABY (Sinternational Recs., 2002)

Produced by Sic Seed

Tracks: 1- Subliminal Envy, 2- Disconnect, 3- Last Right

Here you have three tracks, a little bit more than nine minutes of pure bestiality. The music here is pure brutal death metal with some modern metal influences from the heaviest bands of the genre. Powerful double bass drumming (with some modern metal influences in some of the rhythms tat make more powerful the music than a blast beat would do), a bassist that is really tight and has a really clean sound that fits really well with the guitars and the drums, guitars that are heavy as hell and an ultra wild and screaming vocalist that adds a lot of the brutality to the bands music. I hope this guys release soon a longer CD because their music is ideal to listen at full volume and we want more of their songs!

Favorite tracks: The three.

Contact: www.one40.com/sicseed or www.sinternational.net

REVIEW: SHE´S GORE - SHE´S GORE DEMO 2001

 

SHE´S GORE - SHE´S GORE DEMO 2001 (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Thanit

Recorded and mixed by Thanit

Cover Art by Thanit

Tracks: 1- God on Fire, 2- Fuck me, fuck my dog, 3- Hair in Teeth, 4- Fuck With Hate, 5- Wet Dream may Cum, 6- Tonight

Here we have another project from thanit Thepsitrakon who is also a member of Deathguy (whose CD we review on this issue too). The music here is brutal death with no subtle elments and some grindcore touches in some parts. Here we have extremely brutal death metal riffs played at super speed and with guitars that are tuned really low in some places. Here we don´t have the melodies from bands like Deathguy because this is a pure brutal holocaust demo. The vocals are extremely guttural (not at the point of some grind bands where you can not discern if it is the vocals or another noise) and add a lot of bestiality to the tracks. Maybe the mix is a little bit low for my taste (specially the drums) but I think that Thanit can solve this problem easily. For lovers of utter brutality.

Favorite tracks: "God on Fire", "Hair in teeth" and "Tonight"

Contact: thepsitrakorn@hotmail.com

REVIEW: SHELLYZ RAVEN - DESOLATION

 

SHELLYZ RAVEN - DESOLATION (War is Imminent Prods., 2000)

Produced by Shellyz Raven

Tracks: 1- Falling, 2- Lady of Shadows, 3- Heavenly Torment, 4- Sweet Sister Torment, 5- Desolation, 6- Frost, 7- Forlorn, 8- Nihilist, 9- Monochroma

Shellyz Raven is aband in the vein of bands like The Gathering ("Nightime Birds" era), full of keyboards, with heavy guitar riffs and a great female vocalist (with this middle pitch voice that don´t abuse the higher notes). In fact, here we have nine songs that rely heavily on the keyboards passages along with the crushing guitar riffs which are the axis along which spins Shellyz Raven´s music. The songs are really well constructed and have many elements that catch inmediately the lsitener´s attention and don´t let it go until the end of the recording. First of all are the enchanting vocals, then the riffs that are really open so the keyboards can develope progressions and melodies over them along with the vocals. I habve to say that the mix is really good, specially on the keyboards and vocals which are essential here.

Favorite tracks: "Lady Of Shadows", "Desolation" and "Monochroma"

Contact: www.unholycross.com

REVIEW: SAXORIOR - SAXOT

SAXORIOR - SAXOT (G.U.C. Prods, 2002)

Produced by Kai Uwe Schneider

Recorded at Polygamstudio

Cover Art by Saxorior / Tibor Pallagi

Tracks: 1- Welcome to Another World, 2- Roots of Time, 3- Misguided Promise, 4- Battle of Wittekind, 5-Vicious Circle, 6- Hic Nulla Pax, 7- Fire of Retaliation, 8-Siegfried (Oberture frei nach R. Wagner), 9- Tubular Bells (frei nach Mike Oldfield)

This is one of the albums of the year!!! This CD starts with an epic intro full of keyboards and orchestration before getting into one of the best combinations of brutality and epic melodies that I have ever heard. Imagine for example a band with the riffs of Carcass (era "Heartwork") with some elements of pure heavy metal and death metal and add to it a lot of keyboards for this epic feeling that I have mentioned before and you will have a little idea of what Saxorior´s music sounds. Add a huge guitar sound and a great drumming with lots of double bass parts and you will be closer. Then you have different types of vocals one that sounds lower than the other and that helps a lot to the feeling. Also you can add to the mix two free versions: one of Richard Wagner´s "Siegfried Oberture" and the other one to Mike Oldfield´s "Tubular Bells" both in epic and heavier than hell versions and then you will know how is the sound of one of the best bands I have listened.

Favorite tracks: A masterpiece. Each tracks is amazing!

Contact: www.saxorior.de or www.guc-area.de

REVIEW: SATARIAL - HEIDENLARM

 

SATARIAL - HEIDENLARM (Beyond Prods., 2002)

Produced by Giovanni Indorato

Cover Art by Sephiroth Graphics

Tracks: 1- Lover of the night, 2- Russian Traditional Song, 3- In the Flame of Sabbath, 4- Russian traditional Ballad, 5- Satarial, 6- Satarial untradition Ballad, 7- Do not Baptize my land, 8- Russian Traditional Ballad, 9- The Cup of Heady Pain, 10- Russian traditional Song, 11- Divine Race

I have listened some music from Satarial before, but this is much better.In fact here we have a great mix of metal music with ancient music and sounds. It is great to listen to "Lover of the Night" with the heavy guitars and the flute and keyboards playing melancholic melodies over them while the deathly vocals clash against the female operistic vocals creating a great feeling. One thing that I liked a lot from this recording is that they have mix Satarial´s music with some traditional Russian songs that have a great ancient feeling on them and helps a lot to create the atmosphere that Satartial wanted to create on this album. The sound is amazingly clean and the guitars are really well mixed as well as the other instruments....you can hear every instrument perfecly in a re ally clean way! I can say with no doubt that this is one of the albums of the month!

Favorite tracks: The whole CD is great!

Contact: www.beyondprod.com

REVIEW: SACRIFICIAL - AUTOHATE

 

SACRIFICIAL - AUTOHATE (Mighty Music, 2002)

Produced by Asmus Thomsen

Recorded at Riamuf Studio

Cover Art by Frederik Risom

Tracks: 1- Angel Eyes, 2- In Front of Turmoil, 3- Out of Touch, 4- Confrontation Zone, 5- Victimized, 6- My Kingdom Arise, 7- Away With the Skies, 8- Unadapted, 9- Soul Sale

Here we have one of the best sounding bands of the month (and maybe of the year). This band proves what I been saying for a long time. A band with a perfect crystal clear mix like the one that Sacrificial has sounds much more brutal than bands that sound much more dirty. Here we have a powerful drum that creates heavier than hell rhythms while the guitars play devastating riffs that combined with the bass guitar creates this world of death/thrash metal that Sacrificial plays. Here we have a vocalist that spits with a lot of hatred the vocals through the nine tracks that make this powerful CD. The tracks are fast wbut speed is not the main thing here because I think the band reaches its heaviest point when they play some sort of breaking or some rhythmic riffs that are maybe slower but have a lot of heaviness. If you want a brutal band with great sound then Sacrificial is a good option for you.

Favorite tracks: "Angel Eyes", "Confrontation Zone" and "Soul Sale"

Contact: www.mightymusic.dk

REVIEW: SADISTIC BLOOD MASSACRE - 100% SCHMUTZCORE

 

SADISTIC BLOOD MASSACRE - 100% SCHMUTZCORE (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Sadistic Blood Massacre

Recorded at Himinborg Studio

Cover Art bySadistic Blood Massacre

Tracks: 1- Intro (Return of Texas Chainsaw Massacre), 2- Schweine massacre, 3- Shameless Exhibition of a Shaved Cunt, 4- Corpse Pulsating plate, 5- Her Masters Evildong, 6- Dildo in the Beautycase, 7- Auf´m´Rechng Gxappt, 8- What an we do with a mutilated corpse?, 9- Corpsefucker, 10- Outro (Who has killed Mr. Burns?)

Here we have this death grind band with gore and porn lyrics and an extremely brutal sound. This band has many elments of grindcore like for example the hyper guttural and distorted vocals and they have some elements of death metal in the slower parts. The songs are potent and well crafted with a lot of emphasis on brutality. I think this guys should mix the guitar a little bit louder and the drums too to sound even more brutal. I liked most when thy slow down a little bit like in some parts of "Shameless Exhibition" which sound much heavier than the fastest parts. If you are into grind and brutal death you will like Sadistic Blood Massacre´s music with no subtle elments. Brutality and intensity in ten tracks.

Favorite tracks: "Schweine Massacre", "Corpse Pulsating Plate" and "Corpsefucker"

Contact: sadisticmassacre@aol.com

REVIEW: RUNES ORDER - THE ART OF SCARE AND SORROW

 

RUNES ORDER - THE ART OF SCARE AND SORROW (Beyond Prods. 2002)

Produced by Runes Order

Recorded at Odal Sonica Maze

Cover Art by Jose Iraglia and Argento

Tracks: 1- Twisted Act 1, 2- The Night and his tears, 3- Lies in the Woods, 4- Walls Sweat Images, 5- Night Hunter, 6- A Moment of Agony, 7- Murder is a Faith, 8- Dead Inside, 9- Slaughter, 10- Twisted Act II, 11- Decide, 12- Deceit Forest, 13- Love is a Cold lie, 14- Sacrifice Murder Memories

This CD starts with the ethereal "Twisted Act 1" with keyboards and a lot of climatic parts getting into drums with deathly vocals (which are processed) and adding melodic distorted guitars to create Runes Order own brand of music. Their music is extremely dark and atmospheric with a lot of sadness in the melodies. Here the main point is the obscure nature of each note that is played ....here everything seems to be designed in order to bring anguish and sadness to the listener (even the cries sound in "The night and his tears"). There are a lot of keyboards here that play minor chord progressions while the whispering vocals say the dark lyrics. There are also more electronic tracks like "Lies In the Wood" which are perfect for Runes Order experimentation. I would call this incredible band an experimental one with a focus on the dark spectre of music.

Favorite tracks: The whole album is amazing

Contact: www.beyondprod.com

REVIEW: REV.99 - EVERYTHING CHANGED AFTER 7-11

 

REV.99 - EVERYTHING CHANGED AFTER 7-11 (Pax Recordings, 2002)

Produced by 99 Hooker and Ernesto Díaz Infante

Cover Art by Jeanine Zelkas

Tracks: 1- Christian Music, 2- The Price of Bananas, 3- Britney Spears Autopsy, 4- Everything´s been done before (remix), 5- Where´s the 3 Martini War?, 6- Radical Episcopalianism, 7- Etude Brut, 8- Iron Engineer - 99 hooker, 9- Variable Terror, 10- The Child´s Immortal Soul, 11- What happened?, 12- Iron Engineer - Ross Bonadonna, 13- Moloch in Oxygen Text, 14- Man What Are you doing here, 15- Iron Engineer - Akio Mokuno, 16- Howlers, 17- Notes on a Nervous Breakdown

Experimentation at top level and in maximum proportions! Here we have Rev. 99 which is an amazing group of musicians whose main desire is to experiment with their instruments taking their music to new dimensions and breaking boundaries all the time. Here we have musicians like 99 Hooker, Ernesto Díaz Infante, Chris Forsyth (we know what this guys are capable of doing because we have listen some of their recordings before), Ross Bonadonna and many more. Here we have a lot of experimentation with sounds but all done with a lot of coherence ....check for example "Etude Brute" to see what this guys do and how their music is always trying something new without loosing the main scheme of the song. What I like most is the use of electronics that add a new feeling to the band. If you like experimentation then you should check Rev. 99

Favorite tracks: "Britney Spears Autopsy", "Radical Episcopalianism" and "Variable Terror"

Contact: www.paxrecordings.com