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Angel Of Eden - The End Of Never (Lion Music)
By: Joe Florez |
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Roger Staffelbach is a guitar wiz who is also in Artension,
which is a highly underrated power prog band. Well, since
there hasn’t been a new disc in a long while, Roger has
decided to craft his first solo offering in the form of AOE.
WOW! The list of folks on here is more than impressive. You
get the lead singer and drummer from AOR group Evidence One.
Bass extraordinaire Steve Di Georgio plays bass on here and
Mistheria tickles the keyboard. On top of that, there are
guests on here. More elaborating to come soon.
The title track
is an absolute whirlwind of neo-classical/power metal of the
highest order. I am not all that familiar with lead vocalist Carsten’s
voice, but I do know from what I heard |
before, he doesn’t get as wild as he does here screaming and
singing with all of his might. The drums are relentless yet
performed with class and precision. Roger just absolutely goes
off with his six stringer as he shows no mercy and lays it all
on the line here showing just what he’s made of. The solos are
tough as nails and are aggressive as hell. The real treat here
is guest lightning quick finger work on the black and white
keys from Axel Rudi Pell‘s Ferdy Doernberg. This is just the first of
several appearances on here. He’s smooth and fast and is all
about the flashiness. Think of Yngwie recording something
similar to this now. This track is fueled with plenty of
energy. “Dreamchaser” shows Carsten giving it all with his
lungs. It’s passionate, emotional and the real deal. Here’s
another song that refuses to let up. “Return Of The Pharaoh
Pt. I” has former Manowar shredder Dave Shankle supplying a
solo on this instrumental. Fellow Artension band mate and
another under-rated singer John West lends his voice to “The
Battle Of 1386.” This one is epic sounding thanks to the horns
utilized here. The neo-classical elements are gone, just
to shake things up a bit. There’s ten great tracks on here and
then the final cut is a cover of Yngwie’s “You Don’t Remember”
which sounds remarkably like the original and the voice has a
Mark Boals ring. In the end, Rog and company pull no punches
and create a product that should make Rhapsody Of Fire, Yngwie
and anything in the neo classical power genre very happy. This
is an essential purchase.
www.lionmusic.com
| www.angelofedenband.com |
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Caliginous - Reap the Atrocity (Self
Release) Review by Crin |
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Here we have a black cd, wrapped in a black sleeve, it is
numbered 4 out of 150. The black and white presentation is
archaic; the overall picture just has to be…..can you guess??
You got it in one, raw, corpse defiling, bone yard edifice
cracking, night howling Black Metal. Now, after spending a few
days deciphering the logo, [I never got no promo sheet from
the bearded one, ED] I managed to reap the word Sanguinous.
Nope, that’s not it… Another night later and I finally reached
the secret name, its, Caliginous. The word means, dim, obscure
or dark, and that is more than apt as I was about to discover.
One man bands are traditionally purveyors of clichéd Black
Metal, they are innumerable as |
this modern age makes the D.I.Y
musical montage an easy option. From this innumerable ocean of
solitary visionaries a few will surmount the floundering
masses to reach cult status. Bathory, Falkenbach, Graveland,
are some of the very few. Of the rest, nameless obscurity
awaits with unforgiving ruthlessness where musical dreams are
smashed against the mocking rocks of nothingness. Caliginous,
will more than likely descend into these bleak depths, not for
being bad, just for being in an age where this particular
style of punitive Black Metal is ten to a dozen, plentiful and
thus harder to shine.
Musically, the strangled vocals, wretched fuzzy production,
and resonant guitar strums all evoke the primitivisms of early
nineties Darkthrone and Judas Iscariot. The drum machine
doesn’t help to deepen the lacklustre sound, and although the
melodic nature to the arrangements make the tracks appealing,
it is the very robotic drum patterns that aggravate the whole
sound. The first track proper, Pitiless Aeon of the Slain, is
a gruelling nine and a half minutes of plummeting nihilism, a
track wrought with a one dimensional rhythms. As the album progresses, the tracks hit the ten
minute, seven minute, and nine, revealing the massive amount
of creative input injected into the whole Black swirling
experience, with an emphasis on numerous tempos, albeit all
tethered to the hazy low-fi production. Desolate, Christ
baiting Black Metal this surely is, but its taken from a well
trodden path.
www.caliginous.ca
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Eyes of Eden – Faith (Century Media)
Review by Ray Van Horn, Jr. |
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With his duties on guitar as well as songwriting and
production roles in such recognized names as Lacuna Coil,
Moonspell, Samael, Sentenced, Timiat, Grip, Inc. and Despair,
there’s a reason it took Waldemar Sorychta two years to
complete the debut album of this new entity that’s gained a
fair amount of buzz, particularly in the Euro metal sanctions,
Eyes of Eden. On the table, it would appear that Eyes of Eden
is yet another neoclassical or Goth metal unit featuring a
lead female siren, which has become a bit of a script,
groundbreaking as it was when Sorychta began this endeavor.
What Eyes of Eden has going for them, however, is the fact
that Sorychta opts instead to embrace classic rock and |
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traditional heavy metal on Faith, so that it has an
uncharacteristic bit of head-bobbing rawk about it, be it the
Zeppelin-esque melody of “Pictures” or the way “Star” reminds
of the choruses from Iron Maiden’s “The Clairvoyant.” Sing
along with it… it’s a time to live, and a time to die… While
initially recording Faith, original vocalist Sandra Schleret
had to bow out due to an undisclosed illness from which she’s
reportedly recovered. In steps 21-year-old Franziska Huth with
her classically-trained vocals (as well as HIM drummer Gas
Lipstick for the recording sessions) to helm Sorychta’s
would-be larger-than-life metal odes and it is his propensity
towards tunefulness that allows Huth to soar on experimental
songs like “Winter Night,” “From Heaven Sent” and “Sleeping
Minds.” The latter tune gets the benefit of atypical song
structuring that permits a gorgeous and methodical string
section to lift the pop-mindedness of the choruses with extra
elegance. For some diehard metalheads, Eyes of Eden is going
to sound like fluff, but it’s nowhere near as starchy and
bloated as it could’ve been. Many bands in this particular
subgenre are guilty of overextension through convoluted
arrangements and compensation through keyboard capture and
computer assistance. While Sorychta makes equal use of keys
and computers to sculpt the songs of Faith, he has
sophistication to his songwriting that’s held in check by
being a rock fan as much as being a headbanger and classical
music connoisseur, so much that all three components make a
song like “Man in the Flame” a neat little ditty to nod along
to. Afterwards Sorychta really shows off on the captivating
and aggressive “From Heaven Sent,” which reveals a sweeping
epic feel graced with quick acoustic strumming, rocking
electric notes and free-floating choruses. In other words,
Faith strives for ascension and because of Waldemar Sorychta’s
gifted songwriting skills, it largely succeeds.
www.centurymedia.com
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www.myspace.com/eyesofedenband |
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Fury UK – Face Of Adversity (Rocksector
Records)
Review By Strawb |
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Back from my guest spot in the world of thrash to something
somewhat milder. Three young lads are the current face of a
band which was originally formed in Manchester in 2002 and has
only just announced its current line up (October 2007). This
is their second album.
The tracks show variation in style and pace. I would look for
more powerful vocals because they seem weak for some of the
tracks - such as the opener, Krueger - but are brilliant on
others, such as Natural Disaster. The level of playing is kept
to a reasonable level but does not seem to push the
competencies of the performers. Solos and combos |
abound. It is certainly pleasant to listen to. They do try to
be different and are in no way formulaic. Breakthrough is
certainly outstanding and seems to be the track used to
promote the album, and rightly so: eclectic, professional and
catchy, it is also unique and will be easy to name when heard.
Dream As One is the slower contribution, and has Bon Jovi overtones,
and I mean from when BJ were the new flavour everyone wanted
[I am old, you see]. I have been somewhat reticent in
completing reviews recently so have had this album for some
time and listened to its nine tracks extensively. I like it,
the overtones of masters of previous years with the rawness
and drive of youth is a great combination. With regard to the
new line up, the live shows seem to be based in the North
West, and based on this platter deserve to be a sellout. But
come on chaps, get a van and bless the rest of the UK with a
bit of FUKing.
On the internet at www.furyuk.com
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www.myspace.com/furyuk |
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Intronaut - The Challenger (Translation Loss Records)
By: Dave Schalek |
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Los Angeles- based Intronaut is a progressive/ ”post core”
band on par with some of the work from such notables as
Neurosis, Isis, and, to a lesser extent, The Dillinger Escape
Plan. I have to admit that my exposure to this genre is rather
limited, although I do enjoy some of the Isis that I’ve heard
over the years. “The Challenger”, released on Translation Loss
Records, is essentially an EP with three originals, five live
tracks, and a re-mix.
Although they’re from L.A., this is my first exposure to
Intronaut. As I said, though, this genre is somewhat off my
radar. At any rate, Intronaut’s version of “post core” is a
bit more dissonant and generally faster-paced than the Isis
that I’ve heard, with some frenetic, |
all over the map riffing, shouted vocals that almost segue
into metalcore, time changes galore, moments of weird
jazz-like meanderings and interludes, and plenty of
progressive song structures. At times, Intronaut is quite far
away from the shoe gazing tendencies of Isis, The Ocean, and
so forth, and is much closer to, say, Meshuggah.
As far as I am concerned, this is essentially a full album
since there’s not much difference in the quality of the
production and the musicianship from the three new tracks to
the five live tracks; that is, the live recording is so well
done that it might as well have been in a studio. The remix is
a re-working of “Burning These Days” from the band’s “Null”
EP. Not having heard the original, I have no basis for
comparison, but the style much more subtle and introspective
than the rest of the songs appearing on “The Challenger”.
Certainly, Intronaut is an intriguing entry in a genre with
which I do not have a great deal of familiarity, and I just
might find myself seeking out this band’s other releases. http://intronaut.net
| www.translationloss.com
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Irony Of Christ – The God Delusion (Self-released) Review by
James Young |
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With one of the best band names in metal, it’s a miracle
(ahem) that Bristol’s Irony of Christ hasn’t received more
attention. The problem doesn’t lie in the lack of touring –
past dates with Bolt Thrower, Inquisition and Carpathian
Forest show an effort to widen their fanbase. The real issue
here is the lack of material – they are very good at putting
out EPs, this their third in three years, and yes it is quite
long at over half an hour, but what they need more than
anything is an album. Musically, this EP is as savagely
excellent as you can get, blending a mixture of genres
including death, black and doom metal splendidly, with a
distinctly progressive flavour. The production is by no means
flawless, and at times |
resembles that of a black metal band, which can work against
the musical style - the grunts are a little too low in the mix
and the rawness can sometimes make the tempo changes a little
uncomfortable. This said, you will get used to it after a
while and only then can you appreciate the full talent of this
band.
Sascha Darwin’s vocals can turn instantaneously from a
blackened shriek to a deathy grunt, which suits the musical
diversity nicely. The tracks on this EP range from the slow
and brooding, like ‘Before There Was…’, with cleaner, more
atmospheric guitars at the start and finish, enveloping a
death-doom rumbling monster of a track, to the extremely fast
‘Carving The Holy Flesh’. ‘Stonecrow’ sounds almost completely
black metal, save for a few chugging death metal riffs which
are few and far between. The opener ‘Absolution In Flames’ has
a touch of early Akercocke to it; the riffs are almost
hypnotic, showing that the band can manage to create wonderful
atmospheres without a keyboard player. Particularly impressive
is Pete Aplin’s drumming, which is quick on the double bass
pedals, but not afraid to demolish the kit with blazing
blastbeats. One track which particularly brings this out is
‘Milites Christi’, which manages to get you headbanging one
second before annihilating you with frantic tremolo guitars
and blasts the next.
With the more progressive bands like Dam and Opeth reaching a
peak in popularity at the moment, and signing major record
deals (although they aren’t necessarily good comparisons to
this band), Irony of Christ have what it takes to make it big.
An album would be a good start, and it will be one to look out
for. The real irony here is people calling themselves fans of
progressive metal and never having heard this band.
www.ironyofchrist.com |
www.myspace.com/ironyfchrist |
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Mandrake - Mary Celste (Greyfall)
Review by Steve Green |
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It
gets harder and harder for me to sell to you, the reader, a
Gothic album. It's all been done before in this oversaturated
market and how many variations on the same theme do you really
want in your record collection? It's also a problem that most
of the leading lights have sold out and have moved over to the
mainstream.
Thankfully, Mandrake, despite the very commercial edge to
their sound, buck the trend and offer a thoroughly enjoyable
hour or so of quality Euro Goth. It has everything you'd
expect, stunning female vocals, the odd male grunt or two and
a stack of upbeat enjoyment. The album title and the nautical
artwork give me plenty of ammunition to throw a couple of |
puns in about the ebb and flow of the music and the band
riding the crest of wave, but they fit Mandrake's sound
perfectly. The majority of the thirteen tracks are bouncy,
upbeat and catchy as hell. It's only when they try a slower
number that I begin to feel a little seasick. The title track
sets the standard from the off, and they very rarely leave
that peak. Fine musicianship and even better song writing is
most definitely the order of the day here.
Being a sucker for a good female vocal, I'm pleased that
Birgit Lau has such a fantastic voice as she switches from a
powerful, I guess typically Gothic style, through a more
folk-medieval lilt, to what, in the 80s, would be considered a
pop-rock tone. But her voice only works with the more upbeat
or more powerful material. When the pace slows, I think she is
out of her comfort zone and she struggles to fit in on both
the Paradise Lost themed Fragile and the piano led ballad
Paralyzed, neither of which really do it for me. But the
slower moments are really my only quibbles, with what is
essentially a great album.
www.grau.cd |
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MCM - 1900 Hard Times (Lion Music)
By: Joe Florez |
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Once again, I have always known about this outfit, but never
had the opportunity to soak in the talents of Alex Masi, Randy
Coven and John Macaluso. These twelve tracks were recorded
live from different venues all over the place. This is
jazz/fusion/prog of the highest order and you will hear why.
The title cut is a monster of a tune thanks to the fast bass
pluckings of Mr. Coven while John throws down some seriously
difficult time changes and he makes it sound easy. The
atmosphere in the music is lush and rich with fusion sounds
capes. Masi’s guitar playing is wickedly sick here. He is
capable of shredding which gives it that metal sound and jazz
it up at the same time. This is some top musicians going to
work |
here. After throwing down two tracks of mass hysteria, ‘River
Offering” is slightly scaled back a little and goes for the
emotion route. The composition isn’t as hard to swallow as the
others making it an enjoyable piece of work. The styles of
music crafted on here run amok and never stop. “Emergency
Poncho” spices things up a little with some funk action. Don’t
worry though, because everything including the kitchen sink
still manage to work their way in here. One of the few
surprises on here is that the majority of the songs are rather
short despite the fact that all of the tunes on here are
minimally structured and go for the impromptu stage. This
release isn’t too easy to get into due to the severe
technicality on here. I think this one is reserved more for
the ones who like to study theories and off the wall time
signatures. It’s an interesting listen though just to hear
where all of their brains are at. I won’t exactly pop this in
all the time, but when I do I will enjoy the sheer genius of
it.
www.lionmusic.com |
www.lionmusic.com/cmc1900.htm |
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Palace Terrace - Flying Through Infinity
(Lion Music)
By: Joe Florez |
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This is the latest project from guitar virtuoso George Bellas.
Only those in the know will realize that he’s a man that gets
around because he’s been in numerous bands. Those who may have
not heard of the man should know that he is an accomplished
guitar virtuoso who’s in high demand. In addition to
showcasing his talents in his solo works, he’s managed to
throwdown his great licks for the likes of John West (Artension,
ex-Royal Hunt), Ring Of Fire and others. I think the man is
talented beyond belief, but I have never quite gotten him as
there is something missing in my eyes. Hopefully this record
will change all that.
“The Tenth Dimension” is a long and epic opener. Clocking in
at a whopping nine and a half |
minutes, you would think that this would be on fire in order
to get your attention. Instead, this is a mid pacer that is
written quite uniquely. The elements are there to be a power/prog fest
filled with shreds and high pitch screams. Instead, we have
this singer Jonathan who sings professionally as a classical
vocalist. It’s clean and he never gets overly excited with his
lung work. It’s always in control. George’s riffs definitely
have the feeling to go off, but it’s pretty much relaxed and
all in check. He does a little showboating, but doesn’t
charter into the Yngwie territory. The drums also have the
capability to go off the wall, but don’t. This is more or less
a neo-classical, progressive rock song more so than metal. The
keyboards add a touch of pizzazz that actually keep you awake.
There are some great harmonious background vocals utilized
here as well. It’s a good composition, but I was expecting a
little more oomph in this one as opposed to sounding more
classical a combo of neo-classical power prog metal.
Yes!
“Chaos Theory” is what I was expecting when I pushed play at
first. The shred action is here, the tempo is kicked up ten
fold. The double bass drumming is quick and tight while the
fingers on the keys just flail all over the place and Jon’s
signing is slightly higher, but he has more energy than
before. Jesus Christ! There is a solo on here where everyone
absolutely goes off at such a high rate of speed that “Flight
Of The Bumblebee” comes to mind. I like it and the fans will
too! By the time this record was finished, I was satisfied
with the end product. The thing is that you have to be patient
with it. You aren’t going to get the usual elements that are
associated with a Rhapsody Of Fire, Primal Fear, Yngwie and
the like. Well, at least not right away. You have to wait for
them. This is an epic storytelling concept record that
requires patience, but in the end you will be happy with this
as well. The songs are written and performed in such a way
that it’s not about any of the musicians involved. It’s about
the music and it’s all composed and performed in a classy way
that it’s not being overshadowed by spotlight hogs. This is an
intelligently written record that George has to be
congratulated on. He has gone through the trouble to make a
record that isn’t like everything else on the market. I
believe that he wants you to sit with this and try to grasp it
whether it takes one listen or many. In the end, if you
appreciate music from all walks of life then you will digest
this with no problem. A wonderful journey awaits your ears if
you are willing to put the time into this.
www.lionmusic.com
| www.palaceterrace.com |
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Paths of Possession – The End of the Hour
(Metal Blade) review by Sam Thomas |
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Given that Paths of Possession are from Tampa, Florida, and
included as one of their founder members an ex-member of
Morbid Angel it would be a pretty easy deduction to make that
their musical style is, well, Florida death metal. Except that
it isn’t. Death metal certainly, but this tends more towards
the melodic. And it is extremely good. It’s also almost
catchy. In a death metal kind of way, obviously.
The End of the Hour is the first album with this line-up,
previous outings having included a split with Dark Faith and a
self-released debut, Legacy in Ashes, in 2000. George Fisher
does a particularly good job on vocals, in a pretty standard
death style, but wisely |
remaining quiet at appropriate points to allow his fellow band
members to demonstrate their mastery of their instruments.
This is, apparently, “a concept album about the surreal
horrors that one man experiences during war, death and the
beyond that warps his very existence into a demigod-like
awareness that may have the ability to consume life as we know
it”. Yes, Jim. But you really needn’t worry too much about
that. Each of these tracks stands up well on its own – it’s
more a question of them all having a loosely-linked theme, in
the manner of, say, Kataklysm. In fact, this isn’t a million
miles away from Kataklysm in terms of being that strangest of
beasts, catchy death metal. On that note, I have to say that I
wouldn’t have been at all surprised to discover that Paths of
Possession were from Sweden and produced by Peter Tätgren, but
they aren’t! Obviously, having the delightfully named Randy
Butman on bass is a bit of a give-away in that regard.
Jesting apart, this is a seriously good piece of death metal.
Paths of Possession are definitely going to be a band to watch
in the future. This will be appearing on my top ten albums of
the year without a doubt, and quite high up at that.
www.myspace.com/pathsofpossession |
www.metalblade.de |
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Riverside - Rapid Eye Movement (Inside Out)
Review by Metal Mark |
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Poland’s Riverside play a style of progressive that manages to
encompass elements of classic rock, hard rock and more modern
sounds into their rather subtle brand of progressive music.
The album has nine tracks, but is listed as being in two
parts. Tracks 1-5 make up a part called “Fearless” and Tracks
6-9 make up a part “Fearland”. Riverside really uses a lot
instruments and have many different individual tones and
textures making up each song. Yet it never feels overdone or
too far out there. Riverside knows how to play and they want
the listener to hear and feel each part yet still manage
seamless pace and mood changes many times in each song. The
subtlety of their approach actually caused me |
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to listen more closely because I had to hear exactly what they
were doing at every second. Listening closely in that manner
rewarded me with the knowledge that was creating music that
was deceptively small in stature or at least, it seemed that
way at first. Individual parts of their songs seemed so basic
at first yet they did so many parts and different kind of
parts that were easily building tracks that whose strength was
founded on the diversity of it’s many pieces. They remind me a
little of early Dream Theater and a little of Pink Floyd, but
they are developing their own sound as well. The music can at
times be haunting, flowing, pounding and almost everything in
between. The vocals are also done in different levels, but are
not quite as effective as the music. Overall they are decent,
but a perhaps a bit thin here and there. Still this an
interesting and engaging album that contains more than it’s
share of sounds and movements.
www.insideout.de |
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Von Branden - Scherben (Greyfall)
Review by Steve Green |
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Oh
what a tough one to review. I kind of liked opener Behind The
Rain, even though I thought the vocals were a bit pirate-like
and I kept expecting the singer to call out for "Jim lad" at
every opportunity. Musically it was much better, with a dark
string section, which glided the song along quite wonderfully.
The title track, which followed, I hated from the very first
second. A smaltzy saxophone, over a mundane beat, just had me
thinking of a shitty jazz club, or even a bad porn soundtrack.
And despite a respectable female vocal performance and an ok
melody, I didn't really go for track 3, Ignoranzkult, mainly
as the song was so disjointed, it wasn't able to flow the way
it should. Although, on my third listen, |
I was beginning to warm to it. And that is basically my
overall problem with this album. I have to work really hard to
get any enjoyment out of it. Just when I begin to like one
part, there's another bit that I don't like that steals away
the last piece of enjoyment. It's a vicious circle.
Who is going to enjoy this album? Well I don't agree with the
record label pigeonhole of Gothic Metal. It's a tough one to
call as Von Branden do utilize a lot of Gothic traits, such as
cello, female, piano vocals etc... But there's no melancholy,
no feeling of despair, apart from when I'm struggling to grasp
what's going on. There is the occasional glint of darkness,
such as Vergessen, which fits the bill perfectly, but there's
not enough here for me to enjoy.
I really struggled to get into this album and I don't think
I'll be the only one.
www.grau.cd |
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