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3HM - Three Headed Monster (Melissa
Records) Review by Steve Green |
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Before you run off to the next review when I tell you what
sort of music 3HM play, please let me explain fully. 3HM are
an instrumental band... and this album isn't full of self
indulgent wank, this is more of an instrumental Thrashfest.
This is an instrumental albums that draws on all of the best
instrumental songs you've heard by the likes of Metallica,
Iron Maiden and Megadeth and overall, I think this is a very
interesting album.
Without a singer as a focal point, I have found myself saying
this bit sounds like so and so, and this bit is pure, insert
band of your choice. That's not to say I think that 3HM are
ripping anyone off. It's just that apart from a few samples,
it's the lead guitars that get most |
of your attention. But if you want a couple of reference
points, then Metallica seems to be the biggest influence. But
how many Metalheads can honestly say they don't like Orion and
The Call Of Ktulu? Elsewhere, Varan had a bit of an Iron
Maiden feel to it, as to parts of other songs. And finally, if
you are a fan of Megadeth's monumental instrumental, Into The
Lungs Of Hell, then you are going to enjoy what 3HM have to
offer.
I'm always weary of instrumental albums as they are usually so
self indulgent and so one dimensional. I really like what 3HM
have produced and this cd comes highly recommended for those
looking for something a little different.
www.myspace.com/3headedmonster |
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Asking Alexandria – The Irony of Your Perfection
(Hangmans
Joke)
Review by Samuel Munch-Petersen |
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This heavy-set band find themselves part of the United Arab
Emirates, having formed in Dubai in 2003 and also part of the
Nottingham ‘rock scene’. Being labelled as a hardcore-screamo-come-emo
band you’d think it hard to find something nice to say about
them, being ‘emo’ and all, but to be honest I don’t mind them
that much. With influences like Chiodos, Alesana, Underoath,
Bless the Fall, A Day To Remember, Bullet For My Valentine,
The Devil Wears Prada, Atreyu, Killswitch Engage, As I Lay
Dying, From First To Last, From Autumn To Ashes and My
Chemical Romance it’s easy to see where they get their
hard-hitting sound from. At the same time having My Chemical
Romance under your belt as an influence is somewhat a black
spot on that ever so clean starchy collar. However, it’s hard
not to like them. Their music is heavy, dark and yet
mystically melodic with some definite slasher guitar movements
and triplet pedal work being predominant throughout this
album.
Their first release was an EP entitled Tomorrow.Hope.Goodbye
and was self released. In 2006 they signed up with Sonicwave
Int. and later but moved on to Hangmans Joke in 2007 after
having received some sort of following. 11,667 plays to date
on Myspace and they’re pushing everything they’ve got into
this album with the hope of making it big out there. Tracks to
watch out for on the album that come across better than the
rest (and it’s a pain to write these since they’re so fucking
dramatic and ‘poetic’) are; Writing Her Ballad, Bite Your Lip
and Fake It, Numb in a Matter of Screams, Bullets in a Music
Box and Friends Before Angels. These tracks standout for
their ferocity and their moving and emotive motions when you
think of music in the sense of light and wind, they flow with
a very gentle ease whilst also being a punch in the nuts from
an old woman with glasses made of bone, which when you get to
Numb in a Matter of Screams you’ll find it’s more of a mellow
electronic buzz than a song as such. According to unknown
sources (except that of their Myspace page) Asking
Alexandria’s live shows are “visceral, gut punching” and
“accomplished, [with a] fresh new sound” (thanks to the
Harvard system of referencing).
If you’re into the kind of music that has quite repetitive
riffs/vocals and beats but at the same time could be your cup
of tea if you think of all those black-swoop haircuts and
studded black belts on tight-as jeans worn by the most
anorexic people alive, bar those starving for real in third
world countries, then by all means take a shot at Asking
Alexandria, since they might appeal to your ‘darker’ side.
www.myspace.com/askingalexandria |
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Beyond Fallen
- Mindfire (Melissa Records) Review by AJ Carlile |
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Mindfire is the latest release from American heavy metallers
Beyond Fallen;
Steve Jasuilewicz and Mike Johnson on guitar, Chuck Donahue on
bass, Tom
Carden on the drums and Joe Karavis providing vocals.
Mindfire
features
heavy guitars from start to finish, which lend themselves well
to the
overall sound. And the solos are of really good quality, with
perhaps no
better example than the instrumental track ‘Fields of Honor’.
However at
times it seems they’re thrown in for the sake of it, which
just seems to
disturb the track as a whole. Perhaps the best example of this
is on ‘Closer
to the End’, where the slow pace is interrupted by a short but
speedy solo |
towards the end. Beyond Fallen could perhaps benefit from a
little more
subtlety in pace change, and a bridge here and there.
Mindfire also sports rugged half-spoken vocal stylings, which
work
adequately with the heavy sound. But when the pace is slowed
and made a
little more melodic, such as the intro to the aforementioned
‘Closer to the
End’, his voice seems somewhat lacking. After several listens,
I had thought
Karavis’s vocals would grow on me, but while some may like
this gruff sound,
it just doesn’t sit well with me.
Mindfire is a collection of some decent heavy metal tracks,
and overall a
reasonably good album. Some people may find it well worth the
money. But
personally, I’d be inclined to give this one a miss.
www.beyondfallen.com |
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Blut Aus Nord - Odinist: The Destruction Of Reason By
Illumination (Candlelight Records)
By: Dave Schalek |
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Had I been writing at the time, the positively mind blowing
masterpiece “The Work Which Transforms God” by French
avant-garde black metal masters Blut Aus Nord would have
easily resided at the top of the heap for the year 2003. To
these ears at the time, the completely disjointed song
structures, strange mix of tempos, layered atmospherics, and
even the song titles such as “Procession Of The Dead Clowns”
were very fresh, and there were certain passages of that album
that I simply couldn’t get enough of. Recognizing the talent
present within this established band, Candlelight Records
signed Blut Aus Nord and immediately distributed the album and
the entire back catalog to a much wider audience. |
Needless to say, I waited with baited breath for the
follow-up, 2006’s “MoRT”.
Unfortunately, “MoRT” failed to rouse my interest with its
long passages that take cues from the more avant-garde moments
and tracks of “The Work…” at the expense of a black metal
base. Admittedly, though, I may have suffered from
overinflated expectations, and I’ve only listened to the album
a couple of times over the last year. Perhaps realizing a self
indulgent error, Blut Aus Nord quickly releases a new album,
entitled “Odinist- The Destruction Of Reason By Illumination”.
“Odinist…” is immediately apparent as an album that is much
more straightforward. Gone are the overly long, drawn out
atmospherics without a hint of guitar work and, in place, are
the dreamy, riff laden, disjointed tempos that have come to
typify Blut Aus Nord. This is back to basics and “Odinist…” is
filled with those layered riffs, whispered rasps that are very
muted, and odd moments while still remaining firmly within a
black metal firmament. A bit more laidback with a slower
tempo and a thinner production than “The Work…”, “Odinist…”
features some excellent, atmospheric guitar work that, at
times, sounds as if the guitar was being played with a bow
rather than being picked, case in point being the awesome
title track. In addition to the guitars, the slow tempos of
the drums have that disjointed feel similar to that of “The
Work…”
Essentially, those of you waiting for the true follow up to
“The Work Which Transforms God” will breathe a sigh of relief
as “Odinist…” is the album worth waiting for. Is it as good as
“The Work…? Time will tell.
www.blutausnord.com
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www.candlelightrecords.co.uk |
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Canobliss - Liberation of Dissonance
(Self Release) Review by Steve Green |
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I'm probably going to be a bit harder on Canobliss than I
should be. For an unsigned band, releasing their first self
produced album, I should be applauding them for the great job
they've done. But they're so close to getting it absolutely
right, I just think they need a little outside influence (not
necessarily from me) to dot the i's and cross the t's. And
then, they'll be ready to roll.
Everything I received from the band was utterly professional.
Nice biog, classy wallet to house it in. The self produced cd
sounds great, the digipak cover looks superb, as does the |
back of the cover, but it's just the little things that
they've got wrong. The inside of the digipak has red text on a
garish blue background - it's impossible to read and the
combination of colours makes my eyes go funny. And I have to
confess that I hate the band name. It may not be, but it
sounds like a play on Cannabis and if others feel the same as
me, then it may hamper their career, especially in a country
with such double standards as the US. With the wankers at
Disney banning metal bands from venues on their property, I
feel a PMRC type scenario happening again. Hey, at least they
can still have guns to kill each other with.
As far as the music goes, I really like this album. Johan
Maldonado has a great set of clean pipes and his smooth tones
should appeal to more traditionalists and those that like
their Metal a little more modern. The same goes for the
instrumentation, a mixture of more modern traits laced with a
slight Thrash base and progressive elements. When Canobliss
get it right, as they do with opener Riot, then you can see
them hitting the big time. Especially if a bigger label picks
this album up for a re-issue.
I feel the band are stronger on the more uptempo numbers.
Hello just doesn't do it for me and the song drags and is
devoid of the melody that made the first four numbers so
strong. Same goes for D.I.Y.E. Sure, the song is melodic, but
it just isn't as strong as its predecessors. I think they need
to find their niche and they should run with it.
This is a strong debut album and the fact that Canobliss have
worked so hard, I'm sure makes it all the sweeter. Personally,
I think they need to work in the direction of the first three
numbers, as that, in my opinion, is where their greatest
chance of success lies. Good luck.
www.canobliss.com |
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Centurions Ghost – The Great Work (I
Hate Records) Review by Chris Davison |
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It's been a little while since I first heard The Great Work,
and at that time I was under the misapprehension that it was a
statement of supreme confidence by the band. Well, since then,
I've had the chance to do this “research” thing that the kids
seem to be so keen on these days since the invention of “google”,
and it would seem that The Great Work actually refers to a key
alchemical tome. Or summat. Anyway, I'm rather glad to be able
to give this marvellous album some more attention, because I
have been able to give it some more time, and there are hidden
depths to this album, and much like the pursuit of turning
base metals into Gold, there is something rather magical at
work here. |
Now, if you don't know Centurions Ghost, they are a British
doom band of some rather excellent quality, taking their name
from a northern brew of outrageous quality, and having a
similar intoxicating effect on the listener. Their debut, “A
sign of things to come”, was one of my favourite ever CDs to
be sent from L4M towers, and thus this second release was one
that I was really looking forward to. It would seem, however,
in the period between releases that Centurions Ghost underwent
a hefty re-staffing process, with a myriad of line up changes,
not least the replacement of the very distinctive pipes of
madman James Begleyv with Mark Scurr.
Musically, this remains well and truly planted in the doom
genre without ever feeling like it is being limited by the
conventions or rules laid down by their forebears. Whether
with the most obvious Cathedral influences of “Let Sleeping
Corpses Lie”, or in their Celtic Frost-meets-Usurper stomp of
“Black Hearts Will Break”, there are moments of pure,
inventive genius to be heard. The vocals of Mark Scurr, while
initially very idiosyncratic and at times at odds with the
music, add a peculiarly deranged and ethereal quality to the
music, which is most apt with the gloriously haunting
“Bedbound (in the house of doom)”. Elsewhere, the guitar
playing is both monstrously monolithic and gigantic sounding,
while the bass sounds like an enormous writhing beast,
providing a guttural punch that punctuates the sound. The
drumming is absolutely bang on, sounding not unlike Brian
Dixon at his absolute best, and when the band lock onto an
effective riff, they ring its bloody neck like a turkey at
Christmas.
When I first surveyed the disc, I thought that this was an
aggressive, fist-in-the-air riff-a-thon doom release. Now,
with the benefit of many, many more plays, I can see the
dynamics at play; the subtleties of the music, such as the
welcome interlude of the acoustic “Specimen number 7” before
the Orange Goblin meets early Anathema brilliance of “In
Defiance”, and their excellent interplay. I liked this album
when I first heard it; now I love it. Oh, and I'm still the
only metal head in Britain to not have seen them play live,
thanks to my over fondness for booze and good company. Bugger.
www.ihate.se |
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Demia – Insidious (Scarlet Records) Review by Samuel
Munch-Petersen |
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“Between a rock and a hard place!” is their motto and coming
from Amsterdam it’s refreshing to see more than just coffee,
pussy and weed come out of the flat-lands. It’s a good thing
they didn’t call themselves DIMIA as that stands for the
Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous
Affairs, awesome no? In fact they were originally entitled
Cancelled, but in the latter half of this decade they have
chosen to follow the year of the dog and call themselves Demia,
to show their progress from the underworld to the overworld.
Demia were and, I’m sure to some degree, still are
predominantly an underground band |
with a large following from those fans enjoying mental live
shows with the very best in what seems to be melodic and
tragic metal-come-rock. This first full length album from them
is a first step into the wider world, where critics and fans
galore rip apart or praise, the very thing they’ve constructed
for their own sanity and love. Something so precious having
been kept in the dark and dank subworld has now come to the front for all to pursue and
devour.
Sounding a lot like Fear Factory in places, check track four;
Flaw the Immaculate, they have something of a strict and
methodical approach to the music as well as a depth that spans
speed and technicality. Yoav on vocals has some impressive
ranges whilst at the same time keeping true to the very nature
of metal and rock.
This all came about in 2006 and the key protagonists for
getting the album off the ground were Logan Mader ex of Machine Head and Soulfly alongside Lucas Banker
of Dirty Icon. The album is clean and like I’ve already
mentioned, methodical. If you’re interested in the intensity
of being burned by a flamethrower then you should turn your
face toward the likes of Demia, where you’re sure to be burned
and scorched and overthrown by their full-frontal invasive
force power that is Insidious.
www.demiamusic.com
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Demiricou - Two (Poverty) (Metal Blade)
By: Joe Florez |
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When you think of Indianapolis, Indiana, most people would
just say corn and Indy 500. While not hailing from Indy, Iced
Earth’s Jon Scaffer and David Lee Roth came from the mid west
as well. Add to this list Demiricous, who are throwing
everything into their latest offering. I wasn’t exactly seeing
eye to eye with their debut, but then again perhaps I wasn’t
listening too closely. I gave this disc a fair spin the first
time and was just knocked on my ass by what was coming out of
those speakers. It’s was pure unadulterated thrash with an
aggressiveness that will peel your face clean off. Mercy is
for the weak as “Never Enough Road” just pummels you from
pillar to post. The riffs are harsh and abrasive while the |
drumming is non stop bashing to the point where I think I hear
the skins begging for a break. There is a punk aesthetic here
without ever going or sounding like it. There is a thrash
element here combined with metal and as for Nate’s vocals, they
are simply unapologetic as he screams his way through not only
this one, but the other eleven as well. At just a little over
two and half minutes, not only were my ears assaulted to the
max, but I think I went deaf as well and the volume wasn’t
even at the half way point. “Expression Of Immunity To God”
exercises spurts of blast beats here and there, but not never
overstaying their welcome. “Knuckle Eye” shows hints of
melody, but don’t get too used to it as there is too much
raucous noise going on. Nate sounds a bit like Tom Araya
during “Tusk And Claw” and while you would never notice it,
this track is slightly slower than the rest of the disc, but
then again when you least expect it, the speed of the
instruments just come crashing in and caving in your cranium.
Basically, this is an exercise in brutality. All of the songs
on here are raw, catastrophic and old school. You can tell
that the guys were inspired by Slayer’s music and rather than
copy their style they take after their aesthetic which is
combine rapid fire notes with punk inspiration and the end
result courtesy of Eric Rutan of Hate Eternal fame is nothing
short of devastating. The music is consistent and this is
music only for the hardcore fans. If you are one of those
that wants melody in the mix better look elsewhere. This is
old school to the max. This album is so hard that I give it
the devil’s horns right through your skull. These songs are
very short and at just forty minutes, this is more than
satisfactory because any more than that would cause a
permanent migraine. Enough said!
www.metalblade.com
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