REVIEW: FALCONER - CHAPTERS FROM A VALE FORLORN

FALCONER - CHAPTERS FROM A VALE FORLORN (Metal Blade, 2002 )

Produced By: Falconer

Tracks: 1- Decadence of Dignity, 2- Enter the Glade, 3- Lament of a Minstrel, 4- For Life and Liberty, 5- We Sold Our Homesteads, 6- The Clarion Call, 7- Portals of Light, 8- Stand in Veneration, 9- Busted To the Floor

Cover Art by Jan Meininghaus

Recorded at Los Angered Studios 

Falconer is a band of pure power/heavy metal with many changes in the guitar riffs and the rhythms. They use a lot of parts with double bass drumming (they have achieved a killer sound with the drums). The songs here have an epic feeling on them that is achiueved through some melodies and through the choruses. One thing that I liked from Falconer is that they don´t sound like a German band (tey are from Sweden) as most of the bands in the style do lately (as an example of this take bands like Freedom Call which sound extremely german), and the singer uses his middle range really effectively (yes!! He don´t abuse the high pitches!!). The guitar player prefers to use original riffs and changes of moods instead of the typical one note runs and galloping that some bands in the style overabuse. Falconer is a good option for people looking for something different in the realm of pure heavy metal.

Favorite tracks: "Decadence of Dignity", "For Life and Liberty" and "Stand in Veneration"

Contact: www.metalblade.com

REVIEW: F.O.B. - BLAME?

 

F.O.B. - BLAME? (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: F.O.B. and Petr Houska

Tracks: 1- Convertable Arrival (intro), 2- Child No More, 3- Vomit the Soul, 4- Bad Morning, 5- Bastards from Hell, 6- Hypocrisy - Morgoth´s Net of Lies, 7- Flowing Waves of Life (outro)

Cover Art by F.O.B.

Recorded at Kovarik´s Barn

Technical and ultra brutal death metal is what we have here. Plenty of arrangements and rhythm changes the music of this band is extremely bestial, specially due to the guttural vocalist that gives an extreme feeling to each of the songs that we can listen on this tape. The thing that I liked more are the guitar arrangements, thata re original and creative within a brutal death metal context. The sound of the recording is good and lets us appreciate all the guitar parts, the drum patterns changes and the extreme vocals. This guys have no mercy and through all this album they will melt your brain while you listen thei crushing compositions.

Favorite tracks: "Vomit the Soul", "Hypocrisy" and "Bastards from hell"

Contact: fob@seznam.cz

REVIEW: EVENFALL - CUMBERSOME

 

EVENFALL - CUMBERSOME (Century Media Recs. , 2002)

Produced By: Boban Milunovic

Tracks: 1- Rawish; 2- Frontloader; 3- Dogma; 4- Entre Dos Tierras; 5- In Absentia Christi; 6- Overcast Sky; 7- Cumbersome; 8- Vangelis Mundi; 9- Unworshipped; 10- Conspectu Mortis II

Cover Art by Carlos del Olmo Holmberg

Recorded at Boom Room Studios

Here is the follow up to "Still In the Grey Dying" and Evenfall has become really soon in one of my favorite bands. Why? Because of the quality of their songs. First of all I love Roberta Staccuneddu´s vocals which contrast with the more deathly ones by Ansgar Zöschg. Roberta has an angelical voice and has a lot of inflexions in her vocal range which allows her to sing the more difficult melodies in a great way. Thumbs up also for Max Boi who plays the keyboards that are essential to Evenfall´s music: He makes excellent chord progressions and amazing melodies through all this album. The music atmosphere is really dark and the main risponsibles here are the guitarists who play dark melodies through all the tracks and also play heavy rhythms that make Evenfall´s music completely original when combined with keyboard calm melodies. A must for everybody!!!!

Favorite tracks: The whole CD is amazing !

Contact: www.centurymedia.com

REVIEW: EVAN PARKER - SIX OF ONE

 

EVAN PARKER - SIX OF ONE (Psi Records, 2002)

Produced By: Martin Davidson

Tracks: 1- One of Six, 2- Two of Six, 3- Three of Six, 4- Four of Six, 5- Five of Six, 6- Six of One, 7- At Sixes and Sevens

Recorded by Adam Skeaping

Here we have solo improvisations from master musician Evan Parker. This are soprano saxophone solo improvisations that were originally recorded on June 18th, 1980. Here Parker shows all his skills in developing saxophone lines and ideas in a solo context when all the attention of the listener is on his instrument. And he also shows that he has the technical skills to play them (some of the lines played here requires a lot of knowledge of the instrument and as we know from listening some of his work, Evan has a lot of them). Here you have seven tracks in which Evan Parker explores each of the possibilities of the instrument. He plays fast and slow, really intense or soft but always deliver some new sounds that the listener will find interesting. Solo experimentation at its best.

Favorite tracks: "Two of Six", "At Sixes and Sevens" and "Six of One"

Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

REVIEW: ENIGMATIK - WHERE EVIL IS CLOISTERED

 

ENIGMATIK - WHERE EVIL IS CLOISTERED (PROMO) (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: Enigmatik

Tracks: 1- All Light has Failed, 2- Prophesies of Doom, 3- Lifeless Dimensions, 4- Enter The Realm of Enigma

Cover Art by Enigmatik

This band´s music can be described by saying that they play black metal with many atmospheric passages. I don´t know if the titles of the songs that I put on this review are correct because I couldn´t find the titles order or something like that. The band is incredibly fast in many places and they have a lot of interesting arrangements (specially on the keyboards that are fundamental to Enigmatik´s music). The fourth track (that came in a separated CD) is the one that sounds better with a different mix from the other three and this mix is the one that I liked most for Enigmatik´s music (I would mix a little bit lower the drums cymbals here and a little bit louder the keys). If you like bands like Dimmu Borgir but with a much rawer sound and interesting orchestral arrangements then you would surely like Enigmatik.

Favorite tracks: The four

Contact: www.enigmatik.fr.st

REVIEW: ENEMYNSIDE - VIOLENT BEATS

 

ENEMYNSIDE - VIOLENT BEATS (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: Enemynside

Tracks: 1- Speed killing, 2- P.O.M. (Peace of Mind), 3- In Memory Free

Cover Art by Enemynside

Wow! This MCD starts violently with "Speed Killing", a track that wouldn´t be out of palce in albums like "Master of Puppets" or "Fabulous Disaster" but with a more aggressive sound!! Here we see an interesting evolution from the guys from Enemynside when comparing with "From the Cradle To the Way". The sound here is better, specially the drums and they deliver more aggression on each of the three tracks here. There is always the amazing thrash metal style that is typical of Enemynside but on this recording the singer has shown a more violent side of his singing (check "P.O.M."). Some of the guitar riffs are complex and give a lot of arrangements to the songs. This is a really powerful release and I hope that this guys release a full length album really soon!

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact: Contact: http://welcome.to/enemynside or www.enemynside.com

REVIEW: ENEMYNSIDE - FROM THE CRADLE TO THE WAY

 

ENEMYNSIDE - FROM THE CRADLE TO THE WAY (Independent, 2000)

Produced By: Enemynside

Tracks: 1- Bad Junks, 2- (Someone´s) Past, 3- Scars, 4- The Place

Cover Art by Enemynside

Pure speed thrash metal!!!!! Yes, as I am saying really often I think that thrash metal is making a big comeback to the metal scene. But this is not thrash metal as it used to be in the mid and late eighties (even if there is a lot of influence of bands from that era). The guys in Enemynside have taken classic thrash metal and have added other more recent influences to achieve their own sound, and above all they have a singer that sings completely different than the ones that sing in ths style. The guitar riffs remind me to bands like Exodus but they are more twisted and have more breaks and a bigger sound. Some of the tracks are faster like "(Someone´s) Past" and each of them delivers a lot of aggression and a t the same time a lot of feeling through the melodies created by the guitarists and the singer (who has a lot of interesting phrases that catch the listener´s ear). Thumbs up for Enemynside !

Favorite tracks: "Bad Junks" and "Scars"

Contact: http://welcome.to/enemynside or www.enemynside.com

REVIEW: EARTHMOVER - PROMO CD

 

EARTHMOVER - PROMO CD (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: Earthmover

Tracks: 1- Slow Death, 2- Autominds, 3- Soul Revenge, 4- Pointless Prayer

Cover Art by Dino Baudone

Earthmover´s music is powerful heavy metal with modern influences and melodies. This band is really focused on writing good songs and each thing here is done in order to achieve this results. Here we have powerful guitar riffs (with a great guitar sound) that give the songs the power that they deserve, then there is the rhythm section that gives a lot of place for the guitars and the singer to develope their ideas. The keyboards here help to add a lot of harmony helping the work of the guitars and adding more atmosphere to each of the tracks. And then, there is the singer, who is a really powerful one and knows that using the middle ranges and even using some more forced vocals (like in "Autominds") he can give even more strength to the songs. The sound of the recording is good specially on the guitars that sound really crushing

Favorite tracks: "Autominds" and "Soul Revenge"

Contact: earthmover@libero.it

REVIEW: DOWNRIGHT MALICE - SPIT YOUR HATE OUT

 

DOWNRIGHT MALICE - SPIT YOUR HATE OUT (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: Downright Malice

Tracks: 1- Spit Your Hate Out, 2- Cage, 3- Colored In Black, 4- Violated Forest, 5- S.M.C.

Cover Art by Didier Bauer

Recorded on 8 Track Studio by Didier Bauer 

Downright Malice is an extremely aggressive band. Their sound is really modern and has a lot of impact on the listener through teir heavy yet rhythmic riffs and through the hateful lyrics that the singer spits song after song. I find interesting that this guys have mixed this extremely heavy parts with more climatic ones as in tracks like "Colored In Black" (thumbs up for the singer who can do really aggressive parts and melodies without hesitation). The guitar sound is really heavy and modern and the riffs are not of the ones that are so fast that you can barely distinguish what they are playing. In fact the guitarist prefers to do heavier riffs with more rhythmic quality and more arrangements that give more heaviness to the songs here. Modern and aggressive metal!

Favorite tracks: "Spit Your Hate Out", "Colored In Black" and "Violated Forest"

Contact: downright-malice.didier@wandoo.fr

REVIEW: DITHYRAMBS - DITHYRAMBS 2001

 

DITHYRAMBS - DITHYRAMBS 2001 (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: Dithyrambs

Tracks: 1- Gastro-man, 2- Destitute, 3- Dampish life, 4- Sliding through the Air, 5- Shit´s Crust, 6- Final Love, 7- Shit´s Dust

Cover Art by Danijel Zezelj

Recorded at Music Viva Studio 

Dithyrambs is a classic band coming directly from Italy. Their music has elements of rock and roll, metal and elements of punk and other styles. The main goal of this band is to create good songs and they achieved this on this seven tracks that we have here. All the songs here have been recorded live in the studio and you can feel that energy that playing live gives to some bands. There are many passages where this guys play with clean guitars and give a lot of room to the Andrea Pacini, the guitarist and singer to create interesting melodies (with a definite Italian touch on them). All the songs here have a lot of dynamic parts and a lot of energy and it makes me wonder how a live show of Dithyrambs can be. I think that what describes better the music of Dithyrambs is: pure energy with different moods and parts and with a great attitude for their music.

Favorite tracks: "Destitute", "Dampish Life" and "Shit´s Crust"

Contact: www.dithyrambs.com