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After Death - Retronomicon
(Iron Pegasus) Review by Metal Mark |
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Something about this CD had me a little confused and it wasn't
just the odd album title. It had to do with the music, it was
this nagging feeling of familiarity with many of the songs.
Yet it took me a few plays to place where I heard this style
before. Then it came to me on about the third play of this CD.
A good chunk of the material at least musically sounds like
someone followed Kind Diamond into the studio around 87-90 and
grabbed up some mid-tempo outtakes and then held on to them
for years before slapping on some gravel like vocals and
updating the drums a little. Actually this is a project from
drummer/singer Mike Browning (Morbid Angel, Nocturnus,
Incubus) and this CD includes songs recorded by |
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different line-ups of the band from 2000 to 2006. There is
some heaviness to it, but at best it's just mildly interesting
and it's worse it's mind-numbingly dull. If your music is
going to drone rather than flow, you still have to have
something to draw people in. This is more like filler with
very little direction, it's like they are just sort of banging
around a little without any real rhyme or reason. The
production is decent, but that kind of makes the album's flaws
just all that more apparent. Obviously they got fascinated
with gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt and there are various
ramblings about mythology and such, but it doesn't matter much
since the music isn't going to keep your attention enough and
quite frankly, neither will the vocals. The ancient pharaohs
may not roll over in their tombs from this album, but like me
they won't be too excited about it either.
www.myspace.com/afterdeath |
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Barastir -
Battlehymns of Hate (Pestilence Records)
Review by Crin |
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Raw to the bone, murky Black Metal like Dead era Mayhem meets
Graveland in an ice bound cemetery. This is low fi, highly
melodic German Black Metal with a simple drum backing. The
guitar and bass are audible and both serve to steer the
minimalist compositions onwards. The overall sound has a far
more depth than the similar, though far more terrifying,
Transylvanian Hunger opus. The guitar sound has a very
authentic style, a fresh aural solitude that sweeps you aloft
in a murky haze of wonderfully icy rhythms and hoarse vocal
snarls. The simplicity for the riffs make this a very easy
album to absorb. There are no complex arrangements, no
keyboard additives. What you get is pure and |
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simple Black Metal at its base form with great songs that
emanate from a fine balance of melody and angst fuelled
aggression. Barastir
are similar in tone and primeval texture to, Graveland. Not
for the faint hearted. This cd can also be obtained from the
new distro at
www.godreah.com |
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Devathorn - Diadema (Blackmetal.com
Records) By: Dave Schalek |
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Greece has been producing some quality black metal recently and yet
another entry in the country’s ranks of raw black metal, Devathorn, debuts
with “Diadema”. A trio releasing their first full-length on Blackmetal.com
Records, Devathorn’s approach to the genre is a mild take on raw black
metal with a focus on catchy riffing and a few moments of melody. Early
Dimmu Borgir comes to mind, although keyboards are absent, but Devathorn
aren’t nearly as majestic. Instead, Devathorn focus on some simple, catchy
riffs with an overall mid-paced approach to tempo, although a few blasts
are present. In addition, rather than being thinly produced, the album has
a fairly full sound with an audible bass. |
The approach generally works well, but, once again, there’s nothing very
original or groundbreaking going on here. However, that said, “Diadema” is
a rather enjoyable entry in the genre. The album also has a few, mild
atmospherics overlaying the basic, raw black metal approach and the
overall songwriting is adequate. But, given that Devathorn have chosen to
eschew a thin production in favor of a fuller sound, the album is not
quite as powerfully produced as perhaps it should. The drums are a bit
mild and, although the focus is on the guitar, a deep, powerful sound to
the guitar is somewhat lacking.
In short, Devathorn will hold your interest if you’re into this genre, but
ultimately “Diadema” is simply adequate. Not bad, but not great, either.
www.blackmetal.com
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Endless Dismal Moan -
Ruin (Blackmetal.com Records) By: Dave Schalek |
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The horror and insanity of Endless Dismal Moan from Japan
returns with the project’s third full-length (well, maybe the
third full-length; there’s some dispute as to how many proper
full-lengths have been released) entitled “Ruin” on
Blackmetal.com Records. Not really familiar with EDM’s prior
output, the stark imagery of the cover and the costuming of
Chaos 9, currently the project’s sole member, immediately
brings to mind the similar, industrial look of Black Funeral
and the insanity of Silencer and related projects.
Those comparisons are not all that far off the mark as “Ruin”
is a mechanized, black/ noise soundscape of buzzing
distortion, a heavily industrialized drum sound that is
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unrelenting, a surprisingly loud bass, and completely off the
wall, nonstop screaming and moaning similar
to what you’d hear on the progeny of Silencer, such as
Diagnose: Lebensgefahr. Certainly, a bit of the look of Black
Funeral is present, but EDM is even more difficult to listen
to over long periods than even that band, if that’s at all
possible. EDM, however, is distinct from Black Funeral with a
much fuller sound and a pace that is generally faster.
Although quite fast, the drums are a bit muted throughout the
seven tracks of “Ruin”, and EDM does mix up the tempos a bit
with some slower, heavily mechanized moments that tend to hit
you like a hammer. In addition, there are some weird,
atmospherics with odd percussion and synthesizer.
So, is “Ruin” any good? Well, that depends. Those of you that
are into the bands that I’ve compared EDM to will probably
enjoy this album, but if you abhor the whole black/ noise
sub-genre, then you’d probably want to steer clear of Endless
Dismal Moan. But to that certain sect of the population,
“Ruin” is recommended.
www.blackmetal.com |
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Heidevolk - Walhalla Wacht
(Napalm Records)
Review By Strawb |
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It began with an exchange with Steve, the fine record provider
of this site: “I’ve sent you a selection, including a Pagan
Folk band from Holland that I’d normally do myself.” “Dutch
Folk Metal? I’d never have considered it a year ago.” And
therein lies the rub, because a year ago, if it wasn’t from
the 70s or in a very few exceptional cases just later than
that, then I didn’t want to know. Chris Davison, another
reviewer from the site, had been trying to broaden my metal
tastes for years and had managed some additions, but this is
hardly surprising because his collection and knowledge are
both elephantine in scope and detail. However, since becoming
associated with this fine oracle, my tastes have expanded in |
proportion to my waistline over the previous three decades.
And they now include Heidevolk, who are a six-strong band from
the Dutch province of Gelderland. The two singers vocalise in
their native tongue. A diversity of instruments are used,
including horns and [it says], mouth harps. The band uses an
interval of a perfect fifth, the thing which makes mediaeval
music recognisable because of ‘consecutive fifths’, used
particularly in the vocals. In times gone by it was taught
that this was a bad thing to use, but it certainly works here
and helps to create the band’s distinctive sound. If you are
interested, the band name translates as ‘Heath land people’.
This is their second full-length CD, and to be fair, because
of an infuriating attempt at copy protection by
Napalm Records, I as a reviewer only have the ability to
listen uninterrupted to half of the tracks, because of the
constant
voice-overs. However, I do like
what I hear. I don’t understand a word, so the topics sung of
may be earth shattering or totally inconsequential. This does
not spoil the impact of the album but may restrict the ability
to sing along. The production values are excellent and clarity
is especially good. The instruments are varied and well
played, the driving beats and riffs are there, as are the
invites to join in bellowing out the choruses. I imagine the
live act will be one involving animal skins and horns, swords
and battle axes. In the past year I have seen Korpiklaani,
Turisas and Alestorm, and all provide much the same sort of
music as Heidevolk – with national variations, obviously –
and, I have to say, the sort of concert that if the atmosphere
could be bottled would ensure that the Samaritans had a much
reduced client list. I mean, it is just such fun to be there.
I leave the closing to Mrs S., who has listened to this
platter and sums it up thus “It’s like Turisas, but just not
quite as good. However, that may be because I can’t understand
what they are singing about.”
Typing in www.heidevolk.com will get you to their site
on the internet, I then chose the English option. |
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Horns Of Anguish - Everlasting Apathy (Self
Release) Review by Steve Green |
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Influences: Black Sabbath and bands who copy Black Sabbath and do it well.
Which is fair enough, if that's who you sound like. But this trio from
Ystad in Sweden don't really sound like Black Sabbath at all, which makes
it a mystery to why they included this statement on their biog. What you
get is three long tracks, which clock in at just under the 25 minute mark,
and they flirt with Stoner Rock, to a degree, but the vocals are a lot
harsher, they include long drawn out passages reminiscent of Neil Young's
Down By The River, and the only Sabbath comparison I can make, would be
with Morgan Andersson's drumming style, which, at a push, is similar to
Bill Wards. This three tracker is mainly a jam fest, with the
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band drifting off into "the zone", no doubt aided by the odd spliff or two and
they do what they do, very well indeed.
After reading the biog before I played the cd, fatal mistake I know, I
didn't really get what I was expecting, nevertheless, this is still a cool
cd to chill out to.
www.myspace.com/hornsofanguish
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