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Samothrace - Life’s Trade
(20 Buck Spin Records) By: Dave Schalek |
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Holy shit, where the fuck did this come from? Samothrace (an
island in the Aegean Sea, by the way), a trio from Lawrence,
Kansas, are playing some of the best stoner-influenced doom
I’ve heard since “III” by Acid King. Absolutely out of
nowhere, the band’s debut full-length, “Life’s Trade” from 20
Buck Spin Records, arrives in my lap, and my jaw has just
dropped at how insanely catchy this album is with blues
driven, sludge-induced riff after riff blowing my mind.
Sleep and Acid King are definitely the templates here, as
Samothrace are instant masters at the catchy riff played at a
slow pace with plenty of strummed, mild guitar melody in |
place to introduce those riffs. When fully in place, the
backbone riffs of “Life’s Trade” just crush everything in
their path, and obviously set the pace and tone of this
four-song opus. “Life’s Trade” draws heavily from influences
running the gamut from the aforementioned Acid King and huge
amounts of Sleep, early High On Fire before the pace picked
up, Bongzilla, and
even a few doses of Earth, particularly with some of the
strummed guitars. Complimenting the heavy riffs are deep
growls and howls that are a bit in the background, a crushing
percussion, a deep bass, and a nice melancholy touch that
shies away from European influences and, instead, embraces an
American blues-based sound.
Needless to say, I’m highly impressed by “Life’s Trade”, as
too often in this genre many bands come up short in the riff
writing department, the genre’s obvious cornerstone. Not so
with Samothrace, who may just inherit the throne left vacant
by Sleep. That’s a tall order for a band with merely four
songs recorded, but the future looks bright indeed for
Samothrace. Buy or die.
www.myspace.com/samothraceproject |
www.20buckspin.com |
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Sanctus Infernum - Self
Titled (Solitude Productions) Review by Chris
Davison |
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Well, this is a turn up for the books! Solitude Productions,
that bastion of Eastern European doom / death unleash this, an
American band onto the metal markets! From the none-more
diabolic hotbed of...erm...Kansas, come the unique sounds of
Sanctuc Infernum. I'm going to say right from the beginning
that I am going to be raving about this, because it reminds me
of the best parts of one of the most revered heavy metal bands
of all time, but they're also practically ploughing an
unfurrowed path. Confused? You will be...
In a sense, this brave four piece defy genre conventions. My
first inclination is to say that they are a death metal band,
but they're a death metal band that play extremely slowly. |
Now, the more pernickety among you will be raising an
inquisitorial finger, and pronouncing, “Aha! Doom / Death
then?”. No. This is not some lace-lined, hanky-weeping gothic
nonsense. This retains all the malice, spite and occult feel
of all the best early death metal, but slowed down to an
insane, warped pace. OK. Here's where I make the reference to
the old death metal band. Actually, what I'm going to
reference is the chorus to Morbid Angel's “Blessed Are The
Sick”. You remember how sick, how fucking wrong that sounded?
I can remember thinking that it was the true sound of a band
that had somehow invoked the old ones, in all their warped
un-glory. Sanctus Infernum have produced an entire album that
drags this strange, skewed, downright nasty sound from your
speakers.
The guitars are dredging up dirty, mangled riffs from the most
brackish of musical swamps, while the drums produce a dread
inspiring, constant doomy vibe. The bass work ties in tandem
with the drums, beating the rhythm of a blackened heart. Best
of all though, are the delightfully mental death vocals of
Ricky Vanatta. They seem to be the human vocalisations of an
animal, channelling the beyond via his vocal chords. The
pacing and production of the album is bloody brilliant – it's
a thick, gravelly, unkempt record that seems hand hewn from
some kind of diabolic granite. I honestly can't get enough of
it. Slow death metal is the past. Slow death metal is the
future. Viva Sanctus Infernum.
http://solitude-prod.com |
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Tears of Mankind - Silent Veil
of My Doom (Solitude
Productions) Review by Chris Davison |
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Russian doom is big. I mean, Russia itself is pretty immense,
but the doom scene there seems to be full to overflowing to be
honest. Tears of Mankind are another quality outfit (well,
maybe outfit is a bit of a misleading description, but more of
that later) from the apparently endless doom-mines at Solitude
Productions. I have actually heard the previous Tears of
Mankind album, and it was a pleasant surprise to get this
through the post. I did think that being Russian, there might
be a fair bit to be upset about, though these days, on
reflection, with the western economy in seeming free-fall,
dishonest wars being fought in our name and being reliant on
Russian energy, it's perhaps more surprising that they aren't |
more cheerful!
Tears of Mankind are a one man band. Phil Skobelin plays all
instruments and provides all vocals, as well as writing and
producing the album. I tend to think that this might be
through the magic of modern production methods, though the
mental image of a one-man-band kind of set up being used (you
know, bass drum attached to leg by a piece of string,
harmonica strapped to the mic-stand, etcetera) while quality
doom / death is being created does give me an ironic chuckle.
Sonically, this falls squarely somewhere between classic My
Dying Bride and Anathema circa the Silent Enigma, being both
gravely, sombre and not without emotional content. I must
mention that the wonderful minimalist CD inlay, with
photographs of fields and wilderness fit perfectly with the
heavy but tastefully spartan soundtrack contained on the shiny
disc. The title track, for instance, contains growled vocals,
deep, mournful guitar tracks and rumbling bass, but also gives
way to passages containing the sound of wind rattling across
the steppes. It may well be clichéd to some, but it made the
hair on the back of my neck stand up with the mental images
that the atmosphere and timbre of the music produce. This is a
much more mature and engaging collection of music than
“Without Ray of Hope”.
A rather excellent release then, and certainly one for fans of
either classic or modern day My Dying Bride, cerebral rather
than self consciously mawkish, and introspective rather than
shoe-gazingly depressive. Good work, Phil.
http://solitude-prod.com |
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The Change - The Deer Moss Murders (I Scream
Records) Review by Steve Green |
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The words "Punk Rock" and "Hardcore" are plastered all over the biog. But
don't be fooled kiddies, this is at the very melodic end of the spectrum.
Admittedly, Olle Björk's drums are from the Punk family, but Peter Bader
has much too pleasant a voice to provide the necessary anger. Hate and
fury are replaced with melody and passion, and this sure as hell ain't
Punk Rock. I'm not an expert on this genre, but the closest band I've
heard to The Change are Billy Talent, although the Swedes are perhaps just
a little rowdier. So now we've decided what sort of music this isn't,
we've now got to decide if it's any good.
Far dues to The Change, this is actually a very good album. Sure, it's as
commercial as |
hell, but at least you can feel the passion these guys have
for their music. And you can never fault a band for pouring
their heart and soul into what they do, especially on the
aptly titled "Punk Among The Punx" which sees the band finally cranking it up and living up to what the
biog promised.
Obviously this album should be approached with caution, but if you like
your music commercial, yet with a bit of fire in its belly, then The
Change are worth investigating. Find them at:
www.myspace.com/thechange |
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The Gathering - Downfall (Vic Records) Review
by Steve Green |
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Can I begin by saying that I'm not really a fan of The Gathering. I think
they are ok, but I've never gone a bundle on them. Nor were a lot of the
L4M crew, because I offered this to half a dozen writers and none of them
wanted it. But in the end, I was quite pleased to end up with the mega
double cd of early material. What this collection consists of, is the
whole of The Gathering's output from 1989 to 1993. That includes demo's, ep's, rehearsal tapes and unreleased material. 27 tracks in total, clocking
in at a colossal 140 minutes... and none of them feature Anneke van
Giersbergen. This is the time when the male vocals of Bart Smits ruled the
mic stand. |
The early work of The Gathering on disc 1 is a much darker affair than the
dreamy, wistful band they became. If you have to put this into a category,
then it would have to be Gothic. Not the female fronted genre that hadn't
yet taken over the world, but of the 80s variety. You know, Fields of
Nephilim, Sisters of Mercy etc... They were still a band who were
completely laidback, but boy was this music deep. Deep underground and
looking for a corpse to play with. It's just a shame they never stayed
that way.
As you'd expect from a compilation of this variety, the sound isn't great
all the way through. Most of disc 2 is rawer than you'd expect, with the
sound bordering on Death metal, with a stack of keyboards thrown in for
fun. But fans of the band probably won't complain because this will be the
first time they had managed to hear some of these tracks.
This will probably appeal to long time fans of the band rather than
newbies, but, if you are a fan of underground Metal from the early 90's,
then this still might appeal to you. I have to say that I really enjoyed a
lot of this, much more than I expected to.
www.vicrecords.com |
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| Verso - From Wings To
Bare Bones (Kampas Records) review by James
Young |
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Finland’s Verso have only been around for a few years, and
From Wings To Bare Bones is their first album, and hopefully
not their last. Their influences are many, ranging from
melodic death to progressive metal - styles that can be
extremely dull if dealt with on their own. Luckily for the
listener, Verso are extremely competent at blending these
styles into a brand new kind of beast, which is a breath of
fresh air for the metal world. Most striking are the vocals of
Petteri Salonen, which alternate between a wonderfully deep
clean voice to a monstrous death grunt, which brings to mind
the likes of Soilwork, Opeth, and even Killswitch Engage (who,
love them or hate them, do have an exceptional vocal range).
The |
production is crunchingly excellent, capturing the
technically impressive riffs of V-V Laaksonen and Mikko
Porvari beautifully. Sometimes Marko Mäkipanula’s bass is lost
in the heavier sections, but in the mellower parts, where it
is needed most, it can be heard in all its glory.
Whilst the sound of the band is one they can very much call
their own, the songs are distinctive in how they mix up the
genre formulas. ‘Dead Earth Coming is so far in the melodic
death metal camp, it could almost belong on a Soilwork album,
with its snarled verses and sung chorus. Slightly further down
the spectrum however, we find the likes of ‘Dark On Every
Side’, which utilises a melo-death format, but prevents it
sinking too far into this genre by using clean vocals for the
most part, with varied riffs courtesy of Laaksonen and Porvari
making for a much more demanding listen. ‘The Seasons End
Grey’ follows in the same vein, with some extremely groovy
hooks made all the heavier when juxtaposed against the cleaner
sections. ‘No Love Lost’ is the archetypal melodic death
ballad, harking back to early In Flames, but made all the more
sweeping and emotional with the clean vocals. On the other
side of the fence, we have the more twiddly technical numbers,
such as ‘Havoc State’ and ‘Weight Of Desperation’, which bring
in a more modern sound which resembles the likes of Between
The Buried And Me, whilst retaining Verso’s own unique sound.
In a couple of songs, including ‘Dissonance’, there is an
Opeth-like tendency to go schizophrenic, and switch from heavy
guitars to gorgeously mellow and sweeping prog-rock passages
at the drop of a hat.
With the right marketing, this band could be the next
sensation, being accessible to the fans who enjoy more
commercial acts such as Killswitch Engage and In Flames. It
will also certainly appeal to the underground, and especially
proggers, who are looking for some technical wizardry and
clever song-writing. Buy it now so you can brag to all your
friends that you knew Verso before they became massive.
www.myspace.com/versob |
www.versoband.com |
www.kampas.fi
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