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Avenger of Blood - Death Brigade
(Heavy Artillery) Review by Metal Mark |
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Las Vegas based Avenger of Blood are yet another entry in the
current “old style thrash revival” that has become so popular
as of late. They contributed two tracks to the “Speed
Kills…again” compilation a few months ago and those songs
showed the band’s potential. They bill themselves as being
influenced by German speed metal bands and that’s fairly
accurate. The sound on “Death Brigade” is very much comparable
to the early of Kreator and Destruction even down to the
vocals. I would also there is a slight touch of some
non-German influences as well, primarily early Dark Angel and
perhaps some “Hell Awaits” era Slayer. The sound of the drums
and even the overall slightly under-produced sound has this |
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album sounding like it could have been done in 1985 or 1986.
Now I loved a lot of German speed metal bands back then, but I
don’t quite see the point of doing something that was already
done two decades ago. Avenger of Blood are easily more intense
and perhaps more focused than some of the other current bands
who are attempting to resurrect this form of music. However,
they still seem to fail to bring much to this sound that
separates them from their influences and they don’t really add
anything either. I think that’s the hang-up for a lot of fans,
the fact that these bands are just copying a style that was
rather thoroughly done a long time ago. If these bands don’t
add anything new to the sound then there is no real reason to
listen to this instead of pulling out old albums by Slayer,
Kreator and all the rest. So far none of these new thrash
bands have been able to add much of their own. Still Avenger
of Blood have contributed a very tight album that will at
least initially appeal to thrash fans. |
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Backdraft – The Second Coming (GMR)
Review by Strawb |
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Have I mentioned I am old[er]? If not, I suspect a number of
the readers of this site have parents of my age, so I make the
following statement as a compliment: this album reminds me
very much of some of those that I was weaned on in the early
to mid-70s. It ain’t on vinyl and production values have come
on in leaps and bounds since the day, but the time of mullets,
tight denim jeans and patch covered jackets is here again. And
it is here with a Deep South sound.
Backdraft first formed in the last millennium and recorded
their first album in 2001, and after promoting it, took a
break before reforming in 2005 and beginning the long trek to |
releasing this platter. So this album harks back to the days
when one of the main influences of the majority of bands was
the blues, and this is reflected in the contexts of many of
the tracks. My copy of this CD has really great packaging. And
the tracks have a theme or tell a story. And there is a lyric
sheet included, but you really don’t need it. So are we on the
way to Strawb heaven, then? The Second Coming certainly builds
the first few steps on that particular stairway. In the way of
such bands, a number of the tracks reflect personal
experiences; Backstabbin’ Bastards is a reflection of some, if
not all of the bands experience in the music industry. I can
see why there is no reference to the person Cannonball was
perpetrated upon. This really is a refreshing eleven-track
step back in time for those of us who were there, and a chance
to widen the horizons of those who were not. Reading the
above, you may well expect the five of them to originate from
Alabama or Texas, but in this area as in so many others
Backdraft continue to surprise - they originate from Sweden.
The internet will tell you more at
www.backdraft.se or
www.myspace.com/backdraftse |
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Nato - Kill The Fox To Foil The Plan
(Rising Records) Review by Steve Green |
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There's no point trying to look up Nato (the band) on Google, as all
you are going to get is a load of shit on the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization... A lesson to all new bands, find a name that'll get you
found easier on Google. Anyway, this form of Nato are from my Cornish
homeland and it's just a shame I can't be a little kinder to them.
Things started off very well as The Last Goodbye is a storming track. Yep,
it's modern as fuck, but that doesn't stop it kicking ass, that is until
the clean (and I mean seriously sugary) vocals make an appearance and the
aggression is wiped out in one wimpy vocal injection. Look, I know I'm
from a different generation to the newer bands coming through and I'm
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old enough to be their Dad, blah blah blah. But if you are
going to be Metal, then you play by the fucking rules. When
it's done well, clean vocals thrown into a deathly mix can
work, but when they don't gel AT ALL, then why the fuck
bother?
Take away the wussy shit and this is a brilliant album. Cool
as hell guitars, in your face rhythms and gnarly vocals, this
album has it all. Unfortunately they seem to want to ruin
every song with the predictable and downright awful melodic
choruses. It's all too much for me, I'm off to play some
Motorhead.
www.myspace.com/bandnato |
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Shaman - Immortal (Scarlet)
Reviewed by Nathan Ward |
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I
was told by a reliable source that Shaman sound like Helloween
and Iron Maiden, so with me being a fan of both of these
bands, Immortal should take no time getting into. Once I had
got past the first track, ‘Renovatti’ which is an
instrumental, and heard the opening few seconds of ‘Inside
Chains’ I knew this would be my kind of album.
The album itself is power metal, all the elements are there;
the vocals, melodies, guitars, drums and keyboards. With a
slight middle-eastern feel in some of the tracks, most
noticeable on ‘Renovatti’. Some tracks have a heavier sound to
them like Helloween or Sonata Arctica, some have the Iron
Maiden style to them, one or two have an acoustic folk |
approach to them like Blind Guardian and others have a mix of
all of the above.
The vocals have the range of Bruce Dickinson but with a little
bit of Andi Deris’ (Helloween) sound, which is really
effective on a few of the tracks like ‘Inside Chains’ and
‘Strength’. The guitars are a mix of melodic and heavy riffs;
some of the riffs have a Maiden feel to them just with extra
punch to them. Solos and lead work are plentiful, some solos
are fast and melodic others are melodic. The keyboards add
more feeling to the songs without over complicating them.
There are keyboard solos dotted about the album as well. The
‘epic ballad’ song of the album is ‘In the Dark’, which sounds
like something Blind Guardian might have come up with. It
incorporates melodic acoustic and melodic riffs which work
very well. The final track on the album ‘The Yellow Brick
Road’ is an acoustic song, which is similar to Blind Guardian.
At the very end of this track, after a few minutes of silence
there is a short instrument song, which gives the image of a
fantasy forest out of Lord of the Rings.
For me ‘Immortal’ has been a great album to listen to, I
really enjoyed it. So if you are into you’re power metal this
is a must have album, it is truly fantastic.
www.scarletrecords.it |
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The Burning - Storm The Walls
(Massacre) Review by Steve Green |
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Massacre are marketing this album as Thrash. I can't say I blame them
as it is the current trend of the moment. And yes, there are most
certainly a few Thrashy moments on this album, but nowhere near enough of
the fast stuff to classify this as Thrash. The Danes do pack a mighty
punch though, and there's more than just meat and 2 veg packed into this
album. Storming The Walls has a thick, crunchy, groove-laden edge to it
and I'm more inclined to compare them to Swedish stalwarts Entombed with a
Deathly undercurrent, than the Pantera comparisons I've read about. But
whoever they sound like, I'm sure you get the general idea of where they
are coming from. The Burning also employ a modern approach, |
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thankfully without any clean singing, and it's the aggressive
vocals that keeps this away from the multitude of clichéd crap
doing the rounds right now. So I have to applaud them for
keeping it heavy. Overall though, I don't think there's enough
here to get over-excited about, despite it being a solid debut
and I don't have any complaints at all about their delivery. I
guess there are just too many slower songs and a distinct lack
of neck breakers for my liking. It feels as if the band are
playing it safe and are holding something back. There's not
enough ball crunchers such as Kill The Swine and Snakes Of
Life, both of which are great tracks. My advice for the next
album is "heavier and faster".
www.massacre-records.com |
www.myspace.com/theburningdk |
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Various - Metal Blade Records -25th
Anniversary: Live In Worcester, Ma April 28, 2007 DVD
(Metal Blade) By: Joe Florez |
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The problem I have always had with festival concert DVD’s is
that while I may like several bands on the card, but due to
time restraint and limited space available on the DVD, you
will only get a cut or two from the artist. Perhaps more could
apply if the DVD is stretched out to two or three, but then
the price of the product would drastically increase. Well, on
tap here is Metal Blade celebrating a quarter century of
making loud noise and what a better way to let the world know
what you have accomplished by throwing fifteen of your bands
currently on the roster at the New England Metal And Hardcore
festival. Long time favs like Lizzy Borden and Cannibal Corpse
are here along with Metal Blade’s answer to Coheed And
Cambria, 3. Melodic metal screamers Beyond The Embrace open
the show with a fierce tune in the form of “Plague.” It’s loud
and filled with raging riffs. The lighting is dark at times,
but you can see the guys for the most part tear up the stage
while fans take photos. The lighting improves tremendously for
their second and final song. Old school |
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thrashers Hallow’s Eve get back together for this event. The
problem with this is that the vocals sound low and muffled. I
can’t understand a damn word that is spewed out. It’s a shame.
Dirty thrash punk metal freaks Demiricous decimate the stage
to screams and applause. The songs are way short and sweet and
could have had a few more tacked on here seeing that they
don’t have songs past the three minute mark. New screamers
Since The Flood and Shai Hulud pierce your ears with agonizing
so called screaming. One of the more interesting bands to
grace the stage is progsters 3 who while might not be exciting
visually, but musically they are good. The drummer and
percussionist absolutely go off on their respective
instruments. The guitarist/vocalist plays his steel strings
like a bass because it looks like he is plucking them rather
than strumming back and forth in a traditional manor. Great
change of pace. God Dethroned and Cannibal Corpse who have
been on the label for quite a while now terrorize the stage
along with Swedes Impious. Finally, traditional metal rockers
Lizzy Borden keep it true by adding melody and actual singing
to their short song list. They are the only band to be decked
out in outfits to add a little spice to their stage presence.
Wow! I wasn’t expecting a stripper/dancer to appear on stage
during the LB set. She even shows a little bit of her boobs.
Definitely the highlight here. The new bringer of noise Job
For A Cowboy, The Black Dahlia Murder and The Red Chord who
have been drawing praise for their works get to strut their
stuff. The best part on here is the interview section which
has artists from past and present talking about all things
Metal Blade and even the owner Brian Slagel is on here too
because after all, he is one of us. The biggest shock and
reason to see this is cause Metallica is on here. Yes, one of
the first bands to be on the Metal Massacre comp talks about
their days there. Overall, I don’t think that old time
listeners like myself will get into this as much as the new
kids simply for the fact that most of the bands on here are
into the metal core, screamo and pure death metal. The classic
tried and true formula of simple metal with actual singing
isn’t abundant. It’s cool though to have a quarter century of
existence documented for all eternity. The other thing that
I’m crazy about is that most folks get only time for two songs
and not more. But like I said, this is only one disc and not a
hundred. Look at the roster on the disc first before making
the choice to buy or not.
www.metalblade.com |
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Verdunkeln - Einblick In Den Qualenfall
(Van Records) By: Dave Schalek |
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The second recent offering from Germany’s black metal label
extraordinaire Van Records to land in my heap of promos is
“Einblick In Den Qualenfall” from Verdunkeln. The project’s
second full-length, “Einblick…” is a doom-laden, depressive
black metal opus that is the creative effort of two members
from the rawer black metal act, Germany’s Graupel.
Immediately, I’m struck by the melodious, dream-laden
soundscapes that emanate from this release, despite the music
being on the rawer side of black metal. In addition, a
definite “suicidal” vibe similar to notable American acts such
as Xasthur makes itself known with |
depressive atmospherics and a generally slow pace. The vocals
are much more in the foreground and are, for the most part,
typical rasps rather than the tortured shrieks of Malefic, but
the atmosphere is identical to Xasthur’s latter work.
Strangely enough, the production is rather clear, although
thin, and is not nearly as muted as, say, The Ruins Of
Beverast, perhaps the best known act on Van Records’ roster.
Consisting of six long tracks, “Einblick…” has a range of
sounds present. Besides the aforementioned concentration upon
suicidal atmospherics, there are a few odd moments that
diverge considerably from this base. Case in point is the
rather strange, upbeat to the point of being almost bouncy,
track entitled “Der Quell”. Coming across as a weird collision
between black metal and totally off base bands such as Mazzy
Star and the horribly underrated Morphine, “Der Quell” has
haunting vocals eerily reminiscent of Mark Sandman. In
addition, complementing this track, and others, are some
wonderfully muted, atmospheric keyboards. Other disparate
elements such as simple atmospherics as dripping water,
thunder and rain, and acoustical guitar work are seamlessly
incorporated.
Ultimately, Verdunkeln is treading well proven ground with
“Einblick…”, but the album is exceedingly well done and will
satisfy fans of darkly emotional black metal. Fine, indeed.
www.van-gbr.de/ |
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