REVIEW: IN FLAMES - REROUTE TO REMAIN

 

IN FLAMES - REROUTE TO REMAIN (Nuclear Blast/Century Media Brasil, 2002 )

Produced By: Daniel Bergstrand

Tracks: 1- Reroute to Remain, 2- System, 3- Drifter, 4- Trigger, 5- Cloud Connected, 6- Transparent, 7- Dawn of a New Day, 8- Egonomic, 9- Minus, 10- Dismiss the Cynics, 11- Free Fall, 12- Dark Signs, 13- Metaphor, 14- Black and White

We reviewed Dark Tranquility´s last album above, so now we have to review the other kings of the Gothenburg sound. And those are the guys from In Flames. The In Flames albums used to be very similar one to the other, but this is quite different, this is more direct and at the same time has more melodies (and most of the melodies have been made by the vocals). Also there are some breaks and changes that are closer to what Dark Tranquility would do (with clean guitars and stuff like that). It seems like In Flames have changed a little bit their style adding some new elements like the mentioned before or the choruses in ths style of bands like Sentenced. There are also some weird sounds like the ones in "System" that are new for In Flames. It is good to see that this band is evolving and finding new ways in which to express their feelings without forgetting their roots and style.  

Favorite tracks: "System", "Drifter" and "Transparent"

Contact: www.centurymedia.com or www.nuclearblast.de

REVIEW: I.N.R.I. - HYPER BASTARD BREED

 

I.N.R.I. - HYPER BASTARD BREED (Cold Blood Industries , 2002 )

Produced By: I.N.R.I.

Tracks: 1- More Ruthless than the Devil, 2- The Depth Society, 3- Shoot, Hammer and Crush, 4- Terrorfreak, 5- Masturbate, 6- Hyper Bastard Breed, 7- Candidate for the Fuck of God, 8- The Resonance of Triumph, 9- Annihilation, 10- The Glorythrone, 11- Spawn of Abraham, 12- This World´s End, Wipe Out !!, 13- You´re Mighty Privilege, 14- Hell is Rising, 15- The All Consuming Darkness

Cover Art by Jacek Wisniewski

Recorded at Franky´s Recording Kitchen

A hyper brutal release from this devastating band. From the first second of this release the guys in I.N.R.I. unleash all their violence in the brain of the listener reducing it to ashes!! The tracks here are hyper fast with brutal vocals of the screaming and guttural types (really clearly mixed, you can understand the lyrics with no problem). There are fast guitar solos in many of the tracks and fast drum rhythms with double bass and interesting work with the cymbals. This guys have made a good balance between the heavy rhythmic parts and the fastest parts with drumbeats that are almost blast beats. The sound of the release is really good and enhances a lot the music of this bestial band!!

Favorite tracks: "Masturbate", "The Glorythrone" and "Hell is Rising"

Contact: www.coldbloodindustries.com

REVIEW: HYPNOTHETICALL - IN NEED OF A GOD?

HYPNOTHETICALL - IN NEED OF A GOD? (Spreadit Agency, 2002 )

Produced By: Fabio Lentola and Hypnotheticall

Tracks: 1- The Silent Masquerade, 2- Odour of Sanctity, 3- Like a Lamb To the Slaughter,

Cover Art by Hypnotheticall

Hypnotheticall´s music is difficult to describe but it sure is pure metal!!! The riffs and guitar parts as well as the rhythm section remind me sometimes to thrash metal and sometimes to technical death metal . That is, riffs that are fast and powerful and need a lot of technical skills by the musicians to be played. Then comes the singer who is extremely melodic and at the same time ethereal, melancholic and in times deppresive (this guy is killer in creating melodies with his middle range and in some places like in "Odour of Sanctity" he uses a mopre deathly type of vocal). There are excellent clean/acoustig guitar passages that add a different feeling to the songs and there are also many guitar melodies and solos. This guys deserve soon a label to release more of their great songs !!!

Favorite tracks: The three. A killer release

Contact: www.hypnotheticall.com

REVIEW: HOLY MOSES - DISORDER OF THE ORDER

 

HOLY MOSES - DISORDER OF THE ORDER (Century Media, 2002 )

Produced By: Andy Classen

Tracks: 1- Intro; 2- We Are At War; 3- Disorder of the Order; 4- Break the Evil; 5- Deeper; 6- Hell on Earth; 7- I Bleed, 8- Blood Bond; 9- 1.000 Lies, 10- Princess of Hell; 11- Verfolgungswahn; 12- Heaven vs. Hell

Cover Art by Stephan Hagenow

Recorded at Stage One Studio

Here is Holy Moses new album!!!! After last year´s "Master of Disaster" MCD which marked the return of Sabina Classen´s band to the arena !! Now we have this "Disorder of the Order" With twelve brutal tracks with many ideas going on through each of the songs this another Holy Moses masterpiece ("the track "Disorder of the Order" is a new classic!!). This new era of Holy Moses has an interesting change in the guitar sound that has become more brutal. Sabina´s vocals are as brutal as ever and this time he changes it a lot through all the track (in some of them she seems to be in real pain and in anothers she is full of anger and hate !!!). I liked a lot Julien Schmidt´s work on drums which is really brutal and has a great sound through all the recording. Also a welcome addition is Andreas Libera on bass who supports in a great way the bottom end sound of the band. A devastating release from this crushing band !!! 

Favorite tracks: All this CD is an extreme experience of brutality. One of the records of the month

Contact: www.centurymedia.com or www.holymoses.de

REVIEW: HATEFUL - AFTER THE LAST BREATH

 

HATEFUL - AFTER THE LAST BREATH (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Hateful

Tracks: 1- Relieve the Despair, 2- Premature Death, 3- Inner War, 4- After the Last Breath

Cover Artwork by Daniele Lupidi

Recorded at Centro Musica

Hateful is a technical yet brutal death metal bands with great use of melodies in the guitars that contrast with the raw sound that this recording has. The band prefers to use more rhythmic riffs instead of faster ones (in fact in tracks like "After The Last Breath" they use some really slow riffs that sound even heavier) and also they like creating a lot of atmospheres through the guitars. There are influences of bands like Morbid Angel but this band is more climatic than Trey Azagthoth´s band. One of the main thing here are the guitar solos that add melancholic melodies and a certain virtuosism to the tracks. The sound is really raw and maybe with more time in the studio the band can explore more the way in which they want to sound. Death metal lovers check this one

Favorite tracks: "Relieve the Despair" and "Inner War"

REVIEW: HAND OF DOOM - DREAMS OF RESURRECTION

 

HAND OF DOOM - DREAMS OF RESURRECTION (Gemini Recs., 2001)

Produced By: Hand of Doom

Tracks: 1- Dark Side, 2- Winter Days, 3- Dreams of Resurrection, 4- Deep Waters, 5- King of Beasts, 6- Just Another Days, 7- Tears of Eternity, 8- Ancient Spirit

Cover Art by Roberto Zoppi

Recorded at Elfo Studio

Hand of Doom is a really good band coming directly from Italy. The music here has elements of heavy metal, thrash metal and some death metal. The main thing here are the good compositions with many different riffs within each song and multiple rhythm changes that add complexity to Hand of Doom´s music. In fact you have to check the first track here called "Dark Side" to see what this guys can do in eight minutes. The essential thing here is the combination between heaviness and melody, between wild vocals and melodic ones, between the crushing guitars and the somber and beautiful keyboards. This is one of the bands that I think will be a big number in the near future.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.handofdoom.it

REVIEW: GREAT VAST FOREST - BATTLETALES AND SONGS OF STEEL

 

GREAT VAST FOREST - BATTLETALES AND SONGS OF STEEL (Evil Horde Recs., 2002 )

Produced By: Great Vast Forest

Tracks: 1- Intro/The Kings of power, 2- Pagan kingdom, 3- Wolvesclan, 4- The Gate Behind the Mountain, 5- Masters of the Old War, 6- Cold Souls of the Forest, 7- Majestic South, 8- Stormtroops, 9- Imperial Moon, 10- Outro/ ...and of blood was covered the hill...

Cover Art by Michel B.

Recorded at Studio Hagnna

Here is this CD from this band whose style I would call war metal or battle metal (nothing to do with Bolt Thrower´s music). I expected some hyper fast black metal but instead I have found something new here. Here we have a music that is not straightforward black metal and not even death metal. Here we have guitar riffs that can be of both styles or maybe even of bands like old Venom (but with a guitar that sounds much more huge). Then comes the keyboards and the melodies: the keys are esential here doing a lot of the background (I would like them to be mixed a little bit higher) and the vocal melodies are specially interesting because they are not common on this style (in fact they make a great contrast with the more black metallish vocals). The fastest parts are devastating and extremely raw but the things that are fundamental for Great Vast Forest is the combination of this raw parts with the more epic ones. As I said in the Azaghal review the packaging here is of great quality. This is blasphemic music with an epic side!! 

Favorite tracks: "Wolvesclan", "Masters of the Old War" and "Stormtroops"

Contact: www.evilhorderec.com

REVIEW: GRAVEWURM - DARK SOULS OF HELL

 

GRAVEWURM - DARK SOULS OF HELL (Barbarian Wrath Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Gravewurm

Tracks: 1- In Hell we Reign, 2- Evil Oath, 3- Massacre in Heaven, 4- Gravemaster, 5- Raise the Flag, 6- Vengeance we seek, 7- Carnage for the Beast, 8- Ancient Storms of War, 9- The Guardian, 10- Fighting For Evil, 11- Iron Warriors, 12- Merciless Slughter, 13- Wizards of War

Layout by Chorazaim

Strange band this Gravewurm. The first thing that got my attention is the strange distortion that the guitars have. Then come the guitar riffs which are sometimes rhythmical and sometimes slow but never similar to the ones played by black or death metal bands (in fact they are closer to a more heavy metal band or bands like for example Sodom or even Celtic Frost eventhough the music is completely different). The vocals are of the type that some death metal bands use , that is, not extremely guttural but never clean. In tracks like "Massacre in heaven" the music gets faster and rawer. The overall sound of the recording is not really good and maybe with a louder mix and different guitar distortion the music could sound better (also the programmed drums sound really weird here, specially the cymbals).

Favorite tracks: "Evil oath", "Raise the Flag" and "Fighting for Evil"

Contact: www.mp3.com/gravewurm or www.barbarianwrath.org

REVIEW: GOTHA - TAKE YOUR SOUL

GOTHA - TAKE YOUR SOUL (Spreadit Agency, 2002 )

Produced By: Gotha

Tracks: 1- Take Your Soul, 2- The Battle, 3- Banshee

Recorded at Bunker Studio

Here we have Gotha, a powerful thrashcore metal band. I have put "thrashcore" to describe their style bercause I feel they have influences from both styles (mainly thrash metal in some riffs and the solos and hardcore in the voclas and some choruses) and also from calssical heavy metal. The riffs are heavy as hell and I like a lot the arrangements that the bass player does while supporting the rhythm section (some tapping phrases and stuff like that, check "The Battle" to see this). Here we have three tracks, two of average duration and a shorter instrumental one. I hope this guys release a full length soon to listen more of their music. 

Favorite tracks: "The Battle" and "Take Your Soul"

Contact: www.gotha-thrash.com

REVIEW: GOLD FÜR EISEN - HEIMAT

 

GOLD FÜR EISEN - HEIMAT (Interregnum Musik, 2002 )

Produced By: Jörg Rainer-Friede

Tracks: 1- Heimat..., 2- Auf Der Jagd, 3- Stoertebeker, 4- Heimkehrer ´46, 5- ...und alles nur, weil Du nicht gewartet hast, 6- Deutschland, 7- Deuer! (ein Amoklauf), 8- Wieder daheim

Cover Art by Jub

Recorded at Tepa Tape Studios

Gold Für Eisen´s music is very difficult to describe. Take some elements of german bands like Sodom or Kreator, add some death metal feeling and some double bass drumming (programmed drums sound really good here), then add some choruses that sound extremely "german" and you have a small idea of what this band is about. Their music has a huge guitar sound that makes the music on this CD extremely heavy (the mix is really great and the band knows what to do in order to be heavier). There are certain strange passages like the ones in "Heimkehrer ´46" with spoken voclas and the drums in the background and the bass playing some slow phrases. There are plenty of melodies here done mostly with the guitars and this are essential for the Gold Für Eisen sound combined with the heaviest parts. This is a band that are developing their own style adding a lot of elements to their music.

Favorite tracks: All the tracks

Contact: www.goldfuereisen.de