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Anal Stench – Red Revolution
(Metal Mind) Review by Chris Davison |
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Anal Stench are a veritable who's-who of the Polish metal
elite. Formed by members and ex-members of such illustrious
outfits as Decapitated, Crionics, Thy Disease and Sceptic,
this is their second album which has just been re-released by
those awfully nice chaps over at Metal Mind. A concept album (of sorts), it's also a little different to the Polish death
metal that you may be used to. Intrigued? Read on, dear
reader, read on.
Now, before I start proper, let me confess that I have a bit
of a love affair with Poland. My wife's family come from Lodz
in that beautiful country, and on every visit I have been
surprised to see just how hungry for metal the fans are out
there, and just how hard working |
the bands are. Anal Stench take some of the elements that you
might associate with death metal from that nation: technical
ability, unrelenting brutality and crystal clear production,
but add to it a seldom heard influence. Anal Stench, to my
ears at least, owe a sizeable debt to Sepultura, with much of this album sounding
like the boys from Brazil circa their “Chaos AD” days, if
they'd have decided to go back to the musical proficiency of
Arise, and listened to the new breed of death metal. The
tribal beats are written so large here in the rhythm section that
you could be forgiven for thinking that the Cavalera brothers
had packed up and moved east!
Red Revolution is based around all things Soviet. Coming from
a band born of an ex-communist state, this makes it an
intriguing listen. From the lyrical and musical bombardment of
“Charnobly Hydrogenic Bomb” to the lurching destruction
wrought by “Go Gagarin, Go!”, this is a searing indictment of
the communist regime that certain political factions would
love to see inflicted upon Europe again. With a furious guitar
attack, and hoarse but eminently decipherable dual vocals,
this is some heavy stuff. Turn this up loud and stand in front
of the speakers, and you'll feel like the lone protester stood
at Tianamen Square, the fiercesome music rumbling at you like
a hard, merciless tank. There's a palpable industrial
influence on some of the tracks, with the drumming and riffing
combining in a machine like fashion, without having to resort
to electronic trickery. Catchy, well played and possessed of a
punchy production, owning this is like giving shelter to a
defector: you'll find that you'll feel better for having them
in your house, and it'll tell you some horrible home truths.
Darkly sarcastic, this album shares the same sense of humour
as me – which is to say, you may find it an acquired taste. Me? I find it excellent.
www.metalmind.com.pl/index.php?jezyk=en |
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Crowning Glory - Path To Glory
(Self Release)
Crowning Glory - Dead Mans Paradise
(Rise Above Records) Review By Strawb |
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It is 1979. The NWOBHM has burst on to the scene and every day
someone has a new band we must all listen to. I have a waist
size that allows me to purchase from normal people’s shops. I
wear a denim waistcoat - no patches, but lots of enamel
badges; much easier to change and, after all, only girls sew.
And the vinyl on my turntable as I comb my flowing locks is
Def Leppard, and their tune Wasted.
No, in fact this is 2008, my waist size is not open to
discussion, the denim waistcoat will now fit only Mrs. S and
my hair is rapidly trying to emigrate to anywhere but the top
of my head, so the comb has long since retired. The CD in the
system appears to be the same. |
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But this is not the case, the notes in the opening are
similar, but the words are totally different, because what I
am in fact listening to is Sea Of Dead Dreams, the excellent
opener on this EP. Crowning Glory would have been a talking
point back in the day and certainly are worthy of being one
now. These four young men originate from the village of Londinium, down south somewhere. They have
a penchant for the sort of music I purchased with my hard
earned when I first began toiling for it, and the sort many of
the readers of this site liked from their parents collections.
But they have the advantage of modern production and almost 30
years of back catalogue to be influenced by. So pioneers they
ain’t, but fine purveyors they certainly are. There are three
studio tracks and two live ones on the EP, and from them the
live performance sounds particularly polished. Information
states that they have already performed on the same bill as
Orange Goblin and Panic Cell, so the chances are a fair number
of you will already have caught them on stage. They are also
listed on the line-up for Bloodstock 2008. Throughout all of
the tracks the instruments are well-played, the songs crafted
and structured, riffs plentiful and catchy, and as a result I
for one have Crowning Glory on my list of must-see bands for
this year. Dead Mans Paradise is released as a single on
17.03.08 and will be a fantastic starting point for those who
are new to the band, and a worthy addition to the lucky ones
who already have a collection building. I feel that if the
market conditions are right Crowning Glory will be huge, so
listen to what is on offer and I’ll see you at the gig…..
Internet users will find all you need at
www.crowninggloryuk.com |
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Island - Orakel (Vendlus Records)
By: Dave Schalek |
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Germany’s Island is a somewhat progressive death metal band
with folk influences and alumni that have rotated in and out
of such notables as Klabautamann and Valborg. Island has been
around long enough to release two EPs, “Orakel” and “Island”
from 2004 and 2005, respectively, resulting in a total of nine
songs. All of the songs have been re-packaged here as a
re-release, simply entitled “Orakel” once again, but with
different art work. Given that this is three years after the
last EP, some doubt remains as to whether Island is still
active and this is a just a retrospective of the band’s entire
output.
At any rate, the music presented on this re-release consists
of some progressive and folk/ |
classical elements overlaying a nominally death metal base. I
say nominally since, although there are bursts of speed and
gruff vocals, the overall feel of “Orakel” is far away from
death metal of the Florida, Swedish, etc., etc. varieties.
What’s present on “Orakel” is a rough version of, perhaps,
Atheist and other like-minded progressive bands, but without
the jazz tendencies. Instead, a folk/classical style with
acoustical guitars and some muted keyboards is employed that
wouldn’t be out of place on an Opeth album. In addition,
somewhat strangely, the vocals are almost a carbon copy of
those of Alchemist, the Australian progressive band.
The result is a somewhat disjointed, jarring affair that would
work to greater effect, in my opinion, with a beefier
production. Although clear, there’s a somewhat hollow sound to
the guitars that I tend to find a bit annoying. In addition,
although well played, the mix of styles is not pulled off very
seamlessly and I’m left as somewhat ambivalent towards “Orakel”.
Although not a bad album, I can’t say that I’ll be revisiting
“Orakel” with any sort of regularity, though. Eh.
www.vendlus.com
| www.islandband.de |
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Loathe - Darkest Night of the Soul
(Self-released) Review by
Luke Goaman-Dodson |
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Loathe, from Malta, apparently all have widely diverging
musical tastes, and it’s fairly obvious from listening to this
EP.
While very strong when it comes to the death/thrash aspects of
their sound, the more melodic, metalcore-ish moments will turn
off most extremists out there, except those with a closet
taste for MTV metal. Sometimes it just gets a bit comical,
such as the weird, Police-style singing on the final track, or
the anguished cry of “nobody told me that it would get
so-fucked-uuuuuuuuuup”, on the aptly titled ‘It Will Get
Worse’. The lyrics are mostly clichéd, darkness-and-pain type
stuff, although occasionally a little bit weird – for
instance, the line |
“demons fuck me every day”, which reminded me of an unpleasant
horror story I read when I was about 11. But enough of my
personal issues.
‘Darkest Night of the Soul’ is a bewildering listen, which
sounds impressively brutal at points, and like a teenager’s
tantrum at others. As you can probably tell, some of the
band’s influences are not really my cup of tea, so if your
taste in metal lies towards the likes of Killswitch Engage,
then this may well be for you. Sadly, it’s not really for me.
www.myspace.com/totaloathe |
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Majestic Downfall/Ansia - Split cd
(Solitude Productions) Review by Steve Green |
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When it comes to Doom, then Solitude Productions are fast
becoming the masters in discovering great new talent. Here
they present a split cd which features, Majestic Downfall, a
Mexican one man band with a passion for 90s UK Doom and an
Italian outfit, Ansia, who favour a more sparse, somnolent
approach.
A quick bit of research reveals that the Majestic Downfall
side of the cd is actually the 2007, The First Abyss demo, but
if you've not heard the band, or the cd before, then you are
in for a treat. This is well played Doom, with Deathly vocals
and is just about on the right side of sombre. It sure as hell
isn't about sunshine and flowers, but it is melodic |
enough, and catchy enough to appeal to appeal to more open
minded Metalheads, rather than just Doomheads. Just imagine a
slightly happier version of My Dying Bride.
From the accessible Majestic Downfall, we move a few rungs
down the gutter, to the despairing strains of Italy's Ansia.
Fucking hell, this is a miserable band. You'd think they lived
in a war torn and ravaged land by the absolute despondency
that they create, but no, they live in a sunny climate that's
full of beautiful women. But I guess something has really
pissed them off, otherwise their music wouldn't be so
funereal. With three songs spread over 35 torturous minutes,
this is a mightily depressing listen and not one for the
faint-hearted.
Overall, this is a very interesting release, with two
completely different bands from the Doom genre represented.
www.solitude-prod.com |
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Mord - Necrosodomic Abyss
(Osmose Productions) Review by Crin |
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Norwegian Black Metal is re-awakening at this moment in time.
Bands like Beastcraft, LJA, Taake, Koldbrann, Endezzma, Krypt,
and Deathcult being some of the few notable bands making a big
noise. Mord [formed in 1999] are the most extreme of the lot,
a head pummelling, vicious Black Metal threshing machine that
cuts through the air like a scalpel severing a tongue. This is
ridiculously fast drum work where the guitars do well to keep
up. Scathing vocal snarls add to the chaotic musical vision of
Mord. Whereas the previous album ‘Christendom Perished’ was a
blatant ear aching affair, this new opus is littered with
melodic sections that help to endear the tracks to the mind.
This sudden grasp of song craft |
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otherwise calamitous one dimensional blast attack into a more
controlled and balanced level of ferocity. If you can absorb
[and survive] the eight equally blasting tracks here, you will
either be bleeding profusely from the ears or be suffering
from a total loss of hearing. The Norwegian scene is lifting
its weary head from the dust of mediocrity, its heart is
beating once again and the true spirit of Black Metal is once
more raging where it belongs, foremost in the world and that's
not in Mexico.
www.osmoseproductions.com |
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Revenge -
Infiltration.Downfall.Death (Osmose Productions)
Review by Crin |
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This Canadian Black Necro act have had their fair share of
controversy. Elitist imagery having its negative effects on
the bands world wide respect, but having more of a positive
effect on the promotional aspects of the bands wide spread
appeal. This is insanely extreme Bestial Black Metal where the
scowling vocal rasps make up for much of the sounds
antagonistic approach. The guttural utterances being totally
aggravating to the non believer, a challenging receptive. To
the devotee. There are elements of Grindcore woven into the
Black Metal primitivism. The sound is very Americanized and
the more familiar European Black Metal atmospheres are totally
alien here. Whereas the likes of Marduk lay waste |
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with direct and endearing extremity, Revenge hack at it, rip
it apart and spit it in your face. The music is unique in its
totally perverse aural head mauling, The band have a masterful
ability of extreme creative lawlessness that feeds from no
exterior source, its existence being out on a limb. The sound
is thick, clear and utterly vicious. This is the bands third
album, and it continues the hellish onslaught of previous
works. So, for pure aural insanity set to music, you need look
no further.
www.osmoseproductions.com |
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The Chant - Ghostlines
(Shadow World Records) review by Sam
Thomas |
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“Ghostlines” is the debut album from Finns The Chant,
following four demos, and is the logical conclusion to an
almost ten year career. As you might expect, therefore, it’s
not exactly what you would expect as a debut album, in fact,
it’s very far removed from that. This is an extremely
professional, very slickly-produced little number, which makes
you think that it may very well have been worth all the effort
that has so clearly been put into it.
The opening notes of first track “Green Waters” are so
reminiscent of Katatonia at their most melancholy, “Tonight’s
Decision”, era, and although Ilpo Paasela’s vocals do
occasionally have the plaintive quality of Jonas Renkse,
they’re more often reminding me of |
other Finnish vocalists (not surprisingly, perhaps), notably
from bands such as Charon
or (early) Amorphis.
This is described by the label as “melancholic metal” and for
once I have to agree absolutely with that categorisation.
There is nothing happy or hopeful about this, every track is
dripping with despair and misery. It would be doom, except
that the pace is rather too lively, the music just too damn
catchy and memorable. And water seems to play quite a part in
the lyrics as well, not just in a passive sense, i.e.
drowning, but also as a destructive force, destroying things
in its path. Even the artwork, which is flawless, maybe not
surprising as it was shot by Ville Juurikkala, who has worked
for Amorphis, Nightwish and HIM, depicts a child behind a
water-soaked pane of glass …
Forget that this is a debut album from an unknown Finnish
band. Get your head round the fact that this is an
outstanding, brilliant quality piece of work from a band who
will not be unknown for very much longer. You need to go out
and buy this, and you will end up playing it to death. It’s a
very compelling, highly professional collection of tracks, all
of which stand head and shoulders above the miserable
offerings produced by introverted Scandinavians who’d like to
be like Katatonia. The Chant have found their own identity,
and it’s perfect. In a melancholy kind of way, of course.
www.thechant.net
| www.shadowworld.fi |
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The Morningside - The Wind the Trees and the Shadows of the
Past (BadMoodMan Music)
review by Sam Thomas |
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I can’t tell you too many facts about The Morningside, other
that they’re from Moscow, because, sadly the sleeve notes are
all in (presumably) Russian and use the Cyrillic alphabet, so
I can’t even easily reproduce any of the band members’ names!
Likewise, most of the information on the web is also in
Russian, so no potted history this time, other than to mention
that The Wind the Trees and the Shadows of the Past is
apparently their debut album.
Sometimes when you hear something for the first time you think
“this reminds me of something, but I can’t quite think what”.
In this case, it was more like a very bright |
searchlight being turned on, dazzling me with the thought “this is so like Katatonia’s
“Brave Murder Day”. And that’s the thing. This is so much like
“Brave Murder Day” that it’s really quite weird. Even down to
the naming the album after the first three tracks in sequence
(actually on this album there are only the three tracks, plus
an intro and an outro). Nothing wrong with that, except that
by confining themselves to only the three real tracks, it does
tend to mean that they do rather go on a bit. This to me is
the problem with this album – it’s absolutely great if you
want a bit of background music – in fact, I heard something
remarkably similar the other night when I was idly trawling
through the Sky menu trying to find something featuring the
words “mega” or “crash” to watch. But I found it didn’t hold
my attention too well, and I’d quite often wander off, leaving
Steve somewhat bemused as to why he was left listening to it.
Obviously the ability to produce good music is there (although
the vocals on “The Shadows of the Past” are a bit too wimpy)
but unfortunately the ability to produce an easily accessible
album is not.
Basically, if you loved “Brave Murder Day”, this is well worth
a listen, especially if you like your tracks on the long,
meandering side. If you can’t cope with ten minute plus of
gentle not going anywhere much, this may not be the release
for you. Ironically, I came to quite enjoy the laid-back,
totally not in-your-face delicacy of this, rather against my
normal judgement.
www.solitude-prod.com |
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Vinterriket - Kaelte, Schnee Und Eis
(BadMoodMan Music) Review by Steve Green |
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Vinterriket review, take
two: I had to scrap my original review for this album as I felt I was a
little harsh on them. Problem was, and still is, the first two numbers. I
don't like them and I think it clouded my judgement a little, so let's try
again shall we...
Vinterriket are a Swiss
band that normally dabble in Black Metal and Dark Ambient. Here they
recreate some of their Black Metal songs, but in an ambient/acoustic
format. Now the ambient/acoustic description comes from the label, not
from me. I don't hear much in the way of acoustics at all.
After hearing the first two numbers, I was ready to kill this
album. On these songs, the
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keyboards dominate everything and are way too high in the mix
and the ambience of the music, is hard to find. A drum machine
fires out a constant beat, which negates the use of the word
ambient. And these two songs are simply lacking in
atmospherics and are nothing more than a poor mans version of
Summoning. By track number 3, Aura II, things do settle down
and the music sounds a lot better for the lack of clutter and
for the songs more subtle tones. From here on in, the word
ambient can be used to describe the music. And what
they serve up is ok and in places, it is actually quite
enjoyable. Unfortunately, I still think there are better bands
doing this type of music, with Summoning to Profanum being two prime examples, and Vinterriket
just aren't in the same league as them. This album is nowhere near as bad
as I thought on my first couple of listens, but I don't see myself going
back to it any time soon.
www.solitude-prod.com |
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