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And Their Eyes Were Bloodshot - Prologue EP
(Small Town Records) Review by Steve Green |
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These guys are around the corner from me in Worksop. And
although they are about 35 miles away from me, this EP is so
friggin' crushing, I doubt they'll need a bank of speakers for
me to hear it if they played it in their backgardens.
This EP is not a happy affair. It's a downtrodden slab of
experimentation and drudgery, with 5 tracks being squeezed in,
in under 15 minutes. And whether you like this release depends
on whether you enjoy being repeatedly bashed around the head
with a sledgehammer. Pulverizing, is an understatement. I know
Worksop ain't the jolliest of places, we bought our hearse
from there, and that was a miserable fucking vehicle, but |
something has seriously pissed off this band. Imagine Iron
Monkey slowed right down and on mogadons, with a generous
helping of gin to wash it down with. The only partial
respite is the energetic beginning to the wonderfully titled
Read. Write. Stab. Fight. But that soon descends into the
gutter, were the previous songs reside.
Utterly depressing.
www.myspace.com/atewbs |
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Aortan - Aortan (Aortan Music) Review by AJ Carlile |
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As an admittedly rather unimpressive guitar player, I always
find myself
amazed when listening to the likes of Joe Satriani, John
Petrucci and fellow
virtuosos. So when I received the recent release from Aortan,
a
self-described “One man, guitar instrumental experiment” I was
intrigued, as
I’m sure you can imagine.
Diving into waters dominated by the aforementioned guitarists
is bound to
draw comparison, which may find Aortan slightly lacking,
admittedly. But
such comparison is really quite unfair, as Aortan is
undeniably talented,
and some of the tracks on his latest album would be heralded
as great if
performed by a better-known guitarist.
As you would probably expect from an album of this nature,
there is a lot of
variety, from lighter tracks like ‘Deviation’ or ‘Subliminal’,
to the dark
sounding ‘Swallow the Pill’ or the very heavy sounding ‘Ctrl
Alt Dlt’. But
almost all of them are a treat to listen to. (‘Halcyon’ being
the exception
– a short and wholly unremarkable track.) But having said
that, I do |
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have one major gripe with the album. At only 29
minutes long, it’s simply not enough time to show off the full
extent of his
skills. If you’re a fan of the guitar though, I’d say it’s
still worth
looking into.
www.myspace.com/crabathormusic |
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Blynd - The Human Touch EP (Self
Release) Review by Steve Green |
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We
get cds from all over the world, but I think this is our first
cd from Cyprus, which is pretty cool as we receive loads of
visitors from the island.
First up, this is self financed and very much a home, possibly
live, recording. The sound is rawer than hell, but the fuzzy
edge kind of adds a little something, the same way something
over produced usually detracts from your general listening
pleasure. Taking that into consideration, I really like this
release. Blynd are a Thrash based band and the tribal-ish
drums on opener Take What Is Yours, reminds me of Sepultura,
when they were good, with the bulk of the song reminding me of
the NWOBHM, mainly because of the simplicity |
of the sound. And there ain't nothing wrong with that. And the
songs are catchy too, especially One Tear For Glory, which
after a VERY familiar intro, which is escaping me right now,
(but I've a sneaking suspicion that it's Motley Crue's Girls
Girls Girls), settles down to a very cool metallic vibe.
I think the more traditional Metal tone, with a touch of
Thrash is about the place to pigeonhole Blynd. I really like
the groove they've got going on and the while they aren't
creating anything new here, they do have a certain something
that makes this EP really enjoyable. This is trend-free music
that is played from the heart. I just hope next time that they
can afford a decent production, because their music deserves
it.
www.blyndband.com |
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De
Profundis - Beyond Redemption (Self Released)
Review by
Chris Davison |
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I always try and reserve some praise for British bands, not
just because I'm (relatively) patriotic, but also out of a
sense of sympathy. Our metal community is notoriously trend
conscious, with the so-called metal fraternity sometimes
feeling more like a fashion parade than a scene united from a
need for truly extreme and experimental music. Against a
backdrop that allowed the nu-metal abortion to gestate well
beyond what it should have done, I often feel that it takes a
great deal more good luck and hard work for the Brits to
“break out” than many of our European cousins. We don't have
the cultural cache of being Scandinavian, we don't have the
denim and leather retro-coolness of our southern |
hemisphere friends, and let's face it, the yanks think we're a
joke.
All that rant aside, it's refreshingly nice to be able to
actually praise a British band simply on the basis that
they're really good. In this case, De Profundis aren't just
good – they're probably one of the most exciting things I've
heard from a band at the demo stage since I joined the staff
here at Live4metal all those moons ago. It's also nice, being
a doom fan at heart, to be able to point to a band that in
their own way are every bit as extreme and “out there” as
anything that the death metal or black metal crowd has to
offer.
DP (as I'm sure they will hate me for dubbing them) are at
heart, I guess, a doom band, though strictly speaking they
come off as more of a doom/death band with melodic and even
black metal influences. No, really. This is engaging,
atmospheric and supremely intelligent music. From the brittle
guitar lines and really outstanding bass playing, to the
vehemently bellowed vocals – all backed up with drums that
transform from the standard doom crawl to blastbeats, this is
unmissable throughout. Opener “In contemplation of existence”
manages to cram into its mere ten minutes more twists and
turns than entire Mithras albums. The lyrics, while simply
phrased enter the headspace of the contemplative listener
perfectly. “Delusion of Life” is both brutal and alluring,
lurching from a monolithic doom stomp to a more up tempo
slap-bass driven section that simply takes the breath away.
Jazz influences, usually enough to make me want to cut my own
ears out with the nearest sharp implement actually seem to
work here, while the echoey progressive Pink-Floyd on PCP
headfuck intro that introduces “Nihilism Vortex” transforms
itself into a sprawling monster tearing itself triumphantly
from a festering cocoon. The haunting dissonance and clean
vocals of “A Caustic Vexation” give the song a truly spectral
feeling, while an engaging instrumental finishes off the
package.
Sometimes you just want to thrash. For the other times, for
the times when you need to think, to reflect and to feel, this
is the perfect music. My only gripe is that there just isn't
enough music here. I really, really like this – and I think
you will too.
www.myspace.com/deprofundisuk |
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Farsot - IIII (Lupus Lounge)
Review by Crin |
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Germanic Black Metal bounding forth like a snarling wolf with
its tail on fire. A solid production holds the rabid
atmosphere within its majestic enclaves.
This is well constructed old school Black Metal with a solid
guitar sound that lifts this from the more muggy low-fi sound
widely employed in the genre. The crushing music is still very
much rooted to the cold, moribund Black Metal ethos of fast,
bone splintering Hell on Earth, and yet there is a deep,
alluring inner warmth keeping the icebound melodies from
completely freezing.
The melody employed within each track enables a fluency of
sustained interest to be maintained through each track. With
the savage drum work melting into slower atmospheric |
sections, and then back into the inferno. Its very much paint
by numbers, and in this congested scene albums will either
come across as mediocre shit, or well crafted additions. This
album is of the latter variety, where you will have no
problems playing the album again, as it has that infectious
creative spark that ignites the songs into life.
There are many slower atmospheric sections that break up the
vigorous blackened arrangements.
The Germans have a great pedigree when it comes to Metal
music, maybe not as rich as the English, but they dwarf the
rest of Europe with ease. The Black metal scene is also a very
well represented genre.
An irrelevant bit of information
pertaining to the band members names. Vocals by, 10.XIXj,
drums by, R215K, and the rest have equally perplexing
monikers. Quite bizarre.
www.lupuslounge.com |
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Funeralopolis - Demonized (Self Released)
Review by Chris Davison |
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It's always nice to get a CD that immediately grips me from
the first sounds on the disc through to the final throes. This
is such an esteemed product. Hailing from Bergen, (and I won't
have to tell most of you where that is – and for the rest of
you, may I recommend school or google), this four piece formed
a mere two years ago, and have had line-up changes in that
short time. All of which adds up to making this demo all the
more impressive and promising.
Doom laden, accessible metal is the order of the day here, not
being too doomy to preclude the more deathly inclined to find
something to their tastes, nor too up-tempo to frighten off |
the bell bottom and slow head-shaking brigade. The opener, “A
Candle Burning” opens with aplomb after a very natty spoken
world intro, while the title track “Demonized” rumbles about
like the bastard son of Dismember, Thee Plague of Gentlemen,
Thin Lizzy (stay with me here), Katatonia and all manner of
other dark influences. The guitar sound is eerily reminiscent
of the golden age of Swedish death metal due to the super
fuzzed out sound, but obviously played much slower and with
melancholic guitar interludes and some particularly intricate
gloomy motifs breaking through the gloom. For the most part
this is mid to slow tempo stuff, but carries enough momentum
so that mainstream listeners could enjoy the rockier passages.
The vocals, while pleasingly rough are also clear and the
lyrics decipherable. The drum and bass work is of a similarly
high standard to the rest of the package, and each song is set
with excellent dynamics and composition.
The production is both head-smashingly heavy, while retaining
much of the shadowy atmosphere and sheer power required to
carry the music to the listener. Opening passages to songs
such as “Lost Soul” for instance carry a heavy Electric Wizard
influence, while managing to be both clearer and more
accessible than the afore mentioned volt laden magi. There are
sections where the vocals seem strangely disconnected to the
rest of the music, but as this appears to be a self financed
release, it would be churlish to criticise what is a bloody
enjoyable debut. I can only hope that this crew get themselves
signed up pronto. Simply put: I must hear more.
www.myspace.com/funerapolis666 |
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Hackman - The New Normal (Small Stone)
Review by Metal Mark |
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In some ways I think of this Massachusetts based band as the
stoner equivalent of a late 60’s power trio. They have a
rather gigantic sound that hits you right away and keeps
plugging along. Their debut consists of seven songs and I
believe there is only a total of twelve words uttered on the
entire disc. Yet despite being mostly just music, it’s not
like most heavy instrumental albums. The songs seem like very
structured and more like typical songs without vocals rather
the virtuoso style of instrumental album. What the lack of
vocals does for this album is that allows you to hear and
really feel every nuance of the music. The band largely takes
a rather straight ahead approach and the pace changes are
there, but |
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sometimes perhaps more subtle than other bands of the same
genre. The style is not exactly like anyone else as a whole.
The best comparison I would make is that they sound somewhat
like the Fireball Ministry, but more involved. Yet at other
times they also remind me of Nebula. Still I think that Hackman are
slowly defining themselves with their own style. I think that
my favorite thing about this release is that the band controls
the pace rather than letting it control them. This does
perhaps require some patience from the listener, but if you
stick with then you will be rewarded by a basic yet effective
album. Now I will admit that I was initially taken aback by
the lack of vocals, but it only took about two plays of the
entire disc for me to be won over.
www.smallstone.com/album66.html |
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Hearse - In These Veins (Candlelight
USA) review by Sam Thomas |
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“In These Veins” is Hearse’s fourth work. The Swedish trio are
probably most noted for the fact that Johan Liiva was Arch
Enemy’s vocalist before being replaced by Angela Gossow, a
fact which I’m sure they are heartily sick of each and every
journalist repeating. This album definitely fits into the
category of “we know what works for us, so we’ll do it again”.
Do not take that as a negative though, in this case it’s a
very positive thing. Hearse know what they do well, and have
polished it and refined it to a state of damn near perfection.
It can’t have been a handicap in that regard having Dan Swanö
along as producer: the production on this is so slick and
glossy that you could sell it as paint. (Yes, |
I’m back at the DIY again).
This is a big album: huge on sound, great production . How can
it be only three guys producing all this? Beats me. This is
superb death metal played at thrash tempo with some very nice
drum work thrown in. The vocals are so insistently invasive
without being irritating, mainly because one thing that Johan
knows really well is when to shut up and let the music speak
for itself. Which it does, in a completely mesmerising way.
The tracks evolve and build in a frighteningly logical
progression, hurtling towards an inevitability that is both
awesome and inescapable.
This isn’t the longest album Hearse have ever produced, but
what it lacks I length it more than makes up for in quality.
Tracks like “Crusade” just have it all: brutality, threats,
frantic pace and soaring guitars. In fact, the soaring guitars
are a trademark of the album as a whole, breaking out in most
tracks, rather like a rampant ivy entwined over the blackened
ruins of a great piece of architecture.
The cover art is also very Hearse – another of the medieval
style pictures reminiscent of certain decks of Tarot cards. It
kind of sums up the whole album, really, this is something not
a million miles away from Hearse’s previous output, just a
hell of an improvement. If you like brilliant guitars, death
vocals and insistent (and persistent) rhythms, you won’t get
any better than this.
www.hearse.se |
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Helrunar - Baldr ok Iss (Lupus Lounge)
Review by Crin |
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The broken Germanic narrative in the intro evokes that darkly
olden authenticity that all non-European bands struggle to
achieve. There is a medieval misery etched into the vocals, a
plague decimated pall hanging over the music’s chaotic
infrastructure. It is this groaning Dark Age malaise that
endears the caustic Black Metal to the ears. Like a real
primitivism that just cannot exist beyond the gothic
restraints of bands like, Hate Forest, Graveland, and their
ilk. The band draw their inspirations mainly from the
Norwegians, especially, mid era Darkthrone, Carpathian Forest,
and Gorgoroth. So the aforementioned acts immediately bring to
mind a solid, full throttle blast furnace of energetic riffs
and nail gun |
drum work.
The harsh vocal bite that rips across galloping percussion is
tempered by clean vocal chants on occasions, and carefully
implemented narratives. The brash severity of the faster
tracks are divided by more slower songs containing a more
acoustic pagan feel.
The Teutonic vocal snaps also evoke the thrashing barks of
Sodom’s Tom Angelripper, and this Sodom comparison does appear
quite often during the faster parts to this release. The
highlight of the album has to be the wonderfully arranged Schwarzer Frost, an aural swirl of battery and busy guitar
picks. Here, more than any other track does that Sodom link
become even more natural. Germanic Black Metal of the highest
calibre with a retro feel, unavoidably so via the vocal
delivery.
www.lupuslounge.com |
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