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Analysis Of Bison Kills - Vantage MCD (Sound
Devastation) Review by Steve
Green |
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Analysis Of Bison Kills were previously known as Tear Gas and Plate Glass
and were reviewed a couple of times on this very website, shit, I suppose
4 or 5 years ago. Well, apart from the change in band name and the
addition of a couple of new members, they've changed style too. Gone are
the days of Doom and Sludge, bar the occasional riff or two, and they've
got for a more technical feel and a more lighter sound, although the
vocals are still primed to shred the lining of Nathan Dick's throat.
I've no idea what genre you lump this in, as I don't really listen to this
kind of thing unless we get sent it, but it's the usual Isis, Neurosis
school of hypnotising you with long drawn
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out songs that slowly work their way into your good books.
Here the whole band show how clever they are by noodling away in a dreamy fashion and before long, you are starting to
really get into it, although I'd never had myself down as a shoegazer before.
With this new name and new direction, AoBK have moved from the sewer to
infinitely more palatial surroundings.
www.myspace.com/bisonkills |
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Aura - A Different View from the Same Side
(My Kingdom Music)
review by Sam Thomas |
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As a child, I remember being told by some aged relative or
another that “Just because you can do something, that doesn’t
mean that you should do it”. Either Aura have never received
that sage advice, or they have chosen to ignore it, at least
when it comes to cramming 67 plus minutes onto a CD. Now,
there's nothing intrinsically wrong with long CDs, but
sometimes less is more. And sometimes overlong equals
overblown meanderings disappearing up your own proggy arse.
Yes, it’s a prog album. Influenced by the usual suspects
(Dream Theater). Actually, that’s not quite true. The band
cite DT as being an influence amongst others, but I’m not sure
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I can really recognise any traces of them, or indeed any of
the other bands so mentioned.
In fact, this is a load of self-indulgent widdle. The big
problem that Aura have is that they equate prog with creating
long, aimless tracks, whereas, to my ears at least, the idea
of prog is to create long tracks with a drifting loose
structure, which may be so cleverly put together that it seems
aimless, but it isn’t aimless. To my mind, this is rather like
an Italian cut-price version of Threshold, but playing in the
Vauxhall-Opel league (or whatever it’s called these days)
rather than the Premiership.
Until you get to the seventh track, “Feelings”. Now this track
is so good that it had us looking through the sleeve notes to
check whether it was a cover version (it isn’t). It has
everything that the preceding twaddle lacks – structure,
direction and catchy lyrics. Giovanni Trotta sings his heart
out, and you can imagine this being performed live (lighters
would run out of fuel by the track end). It’s a strange piece
where everything seems to come together, one of those tracks
that is just so inevitably, perfectly right that it makes me
wonder if Aura might really have it in them to produce
something amazing next time around.
This particular album definitely didn’t do it for me, but I
can see real potential here, which is a rare enough thing that
it should be encouraged.
www.myspace.com/auraonline
| www.mykingdommusic.net
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Demolition Hammer - Necrology: A Complete Anthology
(Century Media)
By: Joe Florez |
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One of the greatest tragedies in death/thrash history is that
DH never got the recognition that they deserved. The three
discs that came out between 1990 and 1994 have been long out
of print and go for some decent money. Thank God Century Media
had the balls to re-release these three discs in a
comprehensive two disc package with brief liner notes. The
down side was that the band didn’t contribute anything liner
notes wise, updates on what they’re doing now or any treasured
photos. I guess you can’t win ‘em all, right? At any rate,
these re-mastered pieces of plastic remain just as deadly as
in the past. Thanks to the slow rise of alternative music in
the early 90’s, these guys become nothing more than a cult |
classic because if they came out today they would decimate the
scene with ease. Enough side tracking and onto the releases.
“Tortured Existence was their first offering in 1991 and damn
were these guys fast and even somewhat technical. “.44 Caliber
Brain Surgery” is a track that hits you upside the head
leaving you with an excruciating headache for months. The
riffs are furious, the shredded vocals will upset your mother
and the drumming from the now deceased Vinny Daze (pronounced
Da-zay) was nothing short of unrelenting. This was
unapologetic thrash with little to no melody and was raw as
hell. If you liked your music unpolished, then this was/is for
you. Killer six string solo action is showcased during
“Neanderthal” and it will definitely have you doing windmills
till you give yourself whiplash. Bottom line here is this,
pick any track on here and you are bound to thrash till death.
A classic!
We now move quickly onto “Epidemic Of Violence”,
which was the first time I heard the band and to this date,
the coolest long sleeve ever made which my friend owned. Jesus
Christ! “Skull Fracturing Nightmare” which starts out the show
will level you to the floor in an instant. Even to this day
when I hear this track, I can’t think of anything in this
genre that can compare to these lethal riffs, deadly drumming
and painful screams from hell. The song is an instant classic.
Once again, there was nothing original nor did they reinvent
the wheel. They simply ripped it to shreds. Time Bomb comes in
1994 and would be the last we ever hear of the band. Lots of
things changed here which made most fans angry. First off, the
band became a three piece and Vinny left the fold. That’s a
detrimental blow right there alone. Only one original member
was left in the band and the band opted for a more groove
oriented sound. “Under The Table” offered a lot of funky bass
lines and groovy guitar licks while the singing remained
intact. “Power Struggle” had more of an alternative metal feel
cause it just didn’t move quite as smoothly as the earlier
material. “Mindrot” probably was the closest thing to their
roots, but this too just didn’t make the grade. Most of the
songs on here opted for a more mid range vibe even though some
of the riffs and drumming picked up the pace, but in all
honesty never caught on. This record is a tough listen, but
what can I say.
Overall, if you think you know thrash or
appreciate the genre, then this should be picked up. Quite
frankly, this deserves to be snuggled right in your collection
next to Kreator, Sodom and Destruction and yes Slayer and
Exodus too.
www.centurymedia.com |
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Destruction - D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N.
(Candlelight Records USA)
By: Dave Schalek |
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In a sea of retro-thrash imitators, you can reliably count on
Schmier and company to deliver the goods with yet another
solid thrash metal album in the form of “Devolution” (I don’t
want to type the capitals and the periods again; although, I
should note that each track’s title corresponds to each letter
in the album name). The band’s fifth studio album since the
reformation, “Devolution” is an album that has a great deal of
diversity this time around. Storming out of the gates with the
frenetic title track, Destruction quite nicely vary the tempos
throughout and feature very tight, focused musicianship on
“Devolution”, possibly the band’s best effort in that regard
since “All Hell Breaks Loose”. In addition to |
the usual all out thrash assaults with plenty of speed, there
is also a lot of groove present as well as a few moments of
melody, resulting in an album that, at times, moves beyond the
stereotypical frenetic thrash.
The trend of musical guests that were prominently featured on
“Inventor of Evil” continues here with appearances from Gary
Holt, Jeff Waters, and Vinnie Moore in the form of some very
liquid soloing, producing some contrasts with veteran Mike
Sifringer. In short, Destruction have become somewhat of an
example of elder statesmen in thrash metal, with numerous
others dropping in to provide additional contributions.
“Devolution” showcases the mature Destruction as still being
very much on top of their game with an excellent, diverse
album. For a trio of forty, or nearly forty, somethings,
Destruction still blows away plenty of bands half their age,
which you would expect to be much hungrier than veterans. In
addition, Destruction continue to attain a huge sound, all the
while as a trio that seems light years ahead of many of the
five-piece imitators out there.
An excellent album that fits nicely into Destruction’s
discography, I can’t help but compare the invigorated
“Devolution” to the tired sounding “Death Magnetic”. I invite
you to compare the two albums from bands from the same chapter
in the history of metal.
www.candlelightrecordsusa.com
| www.destruction.de |
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Exit Wounds - Exit Wounds
(No Escape Records) Review by James
Young |
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Thirty songs in twenty-three minutes could only mean grindcore,
and Poland’s Exit Wounds make the kind of racket which
embodies the anti-music nature of the genre. Musically akin to
the likes of Napalm Death’s Scum, whereby tracks are only
recognised by a standalone riff before descending into
complete recklessness, this is certainly an acquired taste,
but for those who can handle it, quite a treat. One of the
advantages this release has over some bands of the genre is
the stellar production job, which makes each instrument
juicily audible (except of course the bass, which seems to be
lost in most grind albums). Bahama and Paluch’s vocals are
therefore wonderfully clear, coming across as |
completely deranged, yapping as if they were freshly picked
from the nearest mental hospital and fed a kilo of acid.
Whilst one vocalist opts for the screaming route, the other
has more of a demented spoken voice, and when juxtaposed, they
make a formidable psychotic force. In amongst the sporadic
noise that the band manufactures, there are some more coherent punkier
numbers, which tend to surpass the one minute mark, namely
‘Hand Of The Dictator’ and ‘Wipe Out Frustration’, which lend
a crusty edge to the proceedings, which serves to split up the
furiousness of the remaining tracks. The longest of the tracks
is the three minute instrumental ‘The Hook’, which stands
alone in that it’s the only track which slows things down
marginally, combining samples, chugging riffs and mid-tempo
double bass drumming to provide a much need breather before
the last track which brings the album to a violent close.
This is the kind of album which even the moat seasoned grinder
will feel shaken up by. The listener is simultaneously
repulsed but captivated by the sonic terror which is captured
on this disc. And that makes it textbook grindcore - no more,
and certainly no less.
www.noescaperecords.com |
www.myspace.com/exitwoundsgrindcore |
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Level C - Self Titled
(Locomotive) Review by Metal Mark |
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This all female band from Cleveland have been in existence
since 2002. This is the band’s debut and I gave it a few spins
and kept coming to the same conclusion. Almost every track
begins with a short burst of something loud and heavy. Yet in
turn almost every track immediately tones down and the music
shifts down into a low gear. It’s loud, real loud, but it’s
just a shame that volume seems to be more of a focus than
having a structure that really attempts to accomplish much.
It’s as if they just dying to get at the instruments strap
them on and then turn the volume all the way up. Yet after
that last step they hadn’t really considered what to do next
and there’s a lot of standing around just trying to hide
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wall of loud, basic and ultimately predictable music. The best
part about this band is undeniably the vocals of Christine
Maynard as she possesses a strong set of lungs and a fair
degree of presence. Although there are a few points where she
comes across as trying a bit too hard, but that could be that
much of the responsibility of creating any momentum has fallen
on her shoulders. Level C has put forth an album that does
very little that you have never heard before and not enough to
make you want to hear it again.
www.myspace.com/levelc
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Lord Agheros - As A Sin (My Kingdom Music) Review by Steve
Green |
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Sometimes, the best way to find out if you'll like a certain band is to
simply listen to the music. Everyone has a different opinion on how bands
sound, and that situation is no different with this album. The label call
it "arcane ambient black", the myspace page for Lord Agheros describe it
as "gothic/black metal/ambient" and I think, while it does contain Black
Metal vocals, musically this follows an ambient path which flirts with
wide ranging influences which stretch from the New Age sound of Enigma,
the bombastic sound of Summoning, the film score influences of Ulver,
through piano led classical music, to opera and Gregorian chant. There's
even a dark nursery rhyme to be heard during Dancing In
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The Dark!!! But whatever your take on the music of Lord Agheros, I hope it's to your
liking. Obviously an album of this type should come with a warning. The
Black Metal purists will run a mile from this, as will the majority of the
traditional brigade, simply because I think this leans more towards
Enigma, than to any other band. Personally, I own 4 Enigma albums and a
couple of DVDs, so this is right up my street. It's a wonderfully
atmospheric piece of music that fits in well with the forthcoming autumn
weather, and it's also a great piece of music to chill out to, so
obviously this comes highly recommended to those with broader tastes.
www.myspace.com/lordagheros
| www.mykingdommusic.net |
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