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| Abstract Spirit -
Liquid Dimensions Change
(Solitude Productions)
Review by Chris Davison |
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How prescient that the Russian doom mongers would write an
album concerning the ongoing debate about how British wine
measures in pubs have gone up from an average 150ml to 175ml
for the same price. I really did think that this was a
sterling commentary about the ....oh....hang on. Nope, my
mistake. Turns out this isn't a concept album around reform of
the archaic British licensing laws after all, but a
heavier-than-Crowbar-wearing-lead-boots Moscovian funeral doom
outfit out to destroy all but the most insane party spirits.
“There ain't no party / Like an S club party” sang
manufactured pop / paedophiles wet |
dream S club 7, yet one suspects that even an “S club party”
would soon resemble the aftermath of the Jonestown massacre if
Abstract Spirit were allowed to put this miserable platter on
the boom box. Abstract Spirit feature some of the band
Comatose Vigil (www.live4metal.com/reviews-505.htm),
so it may not be a great surprise to learn that once again
Abstract Spirit play insanely slow dirges filled with pain,
loss and horror. There is a palpable air of black metal in the
mix with the great washes of keyboard sounds and the vocals,
which bring to mind “Passage” era Samael in their rough but
decipherable glory. The guitars are endlessly downtuned
funeral tolls, the drums the beat to an expiring life, the
lower than snake shit vocals the sound of depression
personified.
It's not going to set the world aflame any time soon, but if
you want to put on music to either a) piss off your neighbours
or b) slit your wrists to, Abstract Spirit are just the band
to oblige. If this was the “on hold” music for the Samaritans,
I reckon there would be a lot more work for our plucky
undertaking industry. Miserable? Hell yeah. Essential? Not
quite, but good...erm....fun (?) nether the less. Pick it up
if you see it.
www.solitude-prod.com |
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Anathema - The Silent
Enigma Re-issue with DVD (Peaceville) Review by
Crin |
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The audio is the same as the 2003 re-release featuring 2 x
bonus tracks in the form of The Silent Enigma (Orchestral),
and Sleepless 96, so in reality this is a re-release of the
re-release with a dvd, making it all the more essential than
the original re-release, if you get where I’m coming from???
Anathema need no introduction. But for the mentally inept or
raving glam fan, here’s a bit of info, Anathema were part of
the solid trinity of doom formed in the North of England in a
cold bleak place, along with Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride.
Whereas Paradise Lost, literally lost their footing with the
shamefully ill advised One Second album, [the smell |
of the mainstream can destroy as easily as it glorifies] My
Dying Bride have slithered along in true uncompromising
menace, rarely venturing from their primal dirge. So what
about Anathema? The band ascended to near mainstream success
with the up-beat and solid, A Natural Disaster, in 2003, only
for the label, Music For Nations to collapse, leaving the band
to plummet from the pinnacle of wide appeal into the pit of
the underground from whence they came. From that moment, no
studio output has appeared that can be seen as a full album.
The band illustrious past is the focus of out attention here,
and this is the catalyst album that had one foot firmly in the
bleakness of the bands gloom blenched predecessor [Pentecost
III], and one foot in the glorious richness of the
forthcoming, Eternity, an album that would raise the bar for
the band and transform them into a more rock driven entity. A
quite breathtaking work at that. So what of, The Silent
Enigma? This is an album of powerful dreamy music, deathly
pale and oozing a multi-layered sensory attack. Original
singer Darren White was replaced with rhythm guitarist Vincent Cavanagh, and this new vocal strain surmounted the exquisite
doom rhythms with a moaning splendour. There is a romanticism
to the despondent arrangements and a lamenting beauty to the
aching melodies. This is pure and simple emotional Doom Metal.
The DVD features the already released live in Krakow gig in
1996. The tracks are culled from the Silent Enigma and
previous works, all of which reflect the band at the time. The
swooshing doom and emotive vocals from Vincent [albeit
subdued] are a fine testimony to the final stages of Anathemas
transition from lamenting Doom to Floydesque doom so to speak.
We also get promo videos of the tracks, Sweet Tears, Mine is
Yours, The Silent Enigma, and Hope. So for a package this is
great value, for a historical document essential, for its
musical content a must for any fan.
www.peaceville.com |
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Axel Rudi Pell - Tales Of The
Crown (SPV)
Review by Metal Mark |
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Virtuoso guitarist Axel Rudi Pell unleashes his seventeenth
release in nineteen years. That’s quite a busy schedule, but
it seemed to have been taking a toll perhaps as the last album
was a little off target. It didn’t take long for me to realize
that “Tales of the Crown” sees this band going to their
strengths which is melodic metal. The greatest influence I
hear would be 80’s Dio and Dio-era Rainbow, but a few tracks
reminded me of the Scorpions as well. Vocalist Johnny Gioeli
has a strong voice that compliments Pell’s playing style
although I am sure he tapped into his range as much as he
could have. Pell’s playing is solid and he puts the emphasis
on the rhythms. The solos are smooth and well executed |
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plus they never go overboard. The playing and structure on the
album are very tight and to the point with very few gaps. My
biggest complaint is a lack of variety in the pace that became
apparent around the middle of the album. There is a general
feeling that they hold back more than they needed to be. By
the second half of the album the band seems to be repeating
themselves and part of the sparkle begins to wear off. There
is no doubt that the ability is here, but they really needed
to open up and take some more risks. Still this an album
that’s easy to get into and most of the songs work very well.
www.spv.de |
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Cryonics - E=MCthrash
(Self-produced demo) Review by Metal Mark |
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One glance at the cover of plus the title had me persuaded
that I needed to hear it. These guys hail may from Murrieta,
California, but they sound much more like East Coast thrash
bands from about 20 years ago. I hear some Anthrax, Nuclear
Assault and some M.O.D. particularly in the vocal style. I do
not know if it was momentum or saving their best for last, but
their five song demo gets better as they go along. "Plunge to
Comatose", "Embrace the Evel" and "Toxic Avenger" are all
simple, but tight forays of thrash. They have a sense of humor
and that comes across instantly On the fourth song "Paranormal
Infestation" they stretch out more change up the tempo more.
It's also heavier than the three previous tracks and I was
pleased to hear that. They wrap up the disc with the title |
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track which is the longest and easily the best track on the
album. The band dig into this song and have the pace changes,
aggression and timing all working to their favor on this
track. So the positives about this demo is that they are
fairly tight, the vocals and some of their influences are
different from many of the other retro-thrash acts plus they
have a lot of energy and a fine sense of humor. That is a very
strong foundation that they have to build on. The problems are
the production and some lack of creativity. The sound is okay
for a demo, but the guitar is way too far behind the drums and
the vocals. I had to adjust the settings on my stereo to hear
it like I wanted to. The other problem was that although
decent, the first three songs could have used more variation.
I liked them, but if this had just included those three tracks
then I would have passed them off as just another alright
thrash band. However the final two tracks show much more
promise and the result is that Cryonic shows some real
potential and they have a few things they need to work on.
www.myspace.com/cryonicsthrash |
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Darkane – Demonic Art
(Massacre Records) review by Sam Thomas |
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This is Darkane’s first new album in three years, they’ve
switched labels (Nuclear Blast to Massacre) and they have a
new vocalist, Jens Broman (Construcdead) to replace Andreas
Sydow. So, all in all, you might expect things to sound a
little different perhaps? Confession time: the new vocalist
escaped me until I read the sleeve notes, and that’s despite
playing this back to back with 2002’s Expanding Senses. Which
is all the more embarrassing/weird because that was one of the
more distinctive features of Darkane: the vocals.
Yes, this is another enjoyable romp and/or rant from
Helsingborg’s darkest sons. In style, |
it’s
very reminiscent of The Haunted meet demented Gothenburg sound
with some extremely nice vocals varying between complete rant
and layered harmonies (think Soilwork but rather more
successfully produced). There’s also a touch of the epic about
things, starting from the first track (instrumental intro
“Variations of an Eyerush”) which would not be out of place on
a symphonic black metal album with some very nice clanging
tubular bells and even reflected in the album art (endless
figures suspended in mid-air above a forsaken landscape in an
almost Old Master style).
The larger part of the album though is tried and trusted
Darkane territory: raw, powerful ranting moving seamlessly
into harmonies and back again, sounding very like Pär
Johansson (Satariel, one of my favourite vocalists). This is a
very polished performance, despite the raw passion that it
conveys. There’s not a bad track on the album, and there’s
something wrong with you if you aren’t at the least tapping
your foot by the end of the second track. For once, the title
track, “Demonic Art” could well be the best on the album, but
the standard is so high throughout that it’s really a bit of a
mockery to pick out any single track.
This is a fine example of another Swedish band who will not be
confined to a narrow genre, but have forged their own place,
bordering on thrash and death metal but transcending the
boundaries of both to produce a truly beautiful and unique
sound.
www.massacre-records.com |
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Darkestrah - The Great Silk Road
(Paragon Records) By: Dave Schalek |
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Yet another killer slab of Continental black metal found by New York-based
Paragon Records to release upon an unsuspecting (American) audience! This
time around, the band is Darkestrah from Germany, by way of Kyrgyzstan,
with their fourth overall full-length, entitled “The Great Silk Road”.
How could I have missed this band before?! “The Great Silk Road” is my
first exposure to Darkestrah and is an awesome example of pagan/ black
metal with influences and comparisons ranging from Drudkh, Walknut, and to
Moonsorrow and beyond. Needless to say, I’m all over this one! Beginning
with a loud, majestic black metal base with |
production values similar to that of Moonsorrow’s last few releases, “The Great Silk Road” is
beautifully enhanced with plenty of atmosphere, screeched rasps, and
wonderful folk melodies from some acoustic guitar, muted keyboards, and a
mournful cello. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the cello is a
woefully underused instrument in atmospheric black metal, and is used to
perfection on “The Great Silk Road”. That’s not say that this instrument
is in the forefront of the music; not so, as the cello makes its presence
known with subtle touches in all of the right places during this five song
opus (the last song is an outro, though). Each song, with the exception of
the fifth, is quite long and nicely mixes the tempos with a mid-paced
tempo forming the backbone of most songs, although there are plenty of
blasts on “The Great Silk Road”. In short, the songwriting on “The Great
Silk Road” is top notch, no easy feat on an album that only consists of a
few songs.
“The Great Silk Road” is an excellent introduction to Darkestrah if you,
like me, were unfamiliar with the band. Kudos to Paragon Records for yet
another excellent find! Yep, buy or die!
www.darkestrah.vze.com |
www.paragonrecords.net |
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Darkthrone - Dark Thrones and Black Flags
(Peaceville) Review by Crin |
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The way this album is performed and composed is slightly different from
the
other Darkthrone releases as Nocturno Culto and Fenriz have shared all the
duty
from composition to recording with Fenriz composing guitar parts and
Nocturno
Culto singing on some songs. Similar in style to the previous, F.O.A.D,
album Darkthrone have all but removed the coarseness and low-fi minimalism
that earned them their cult status in the Black Metal
firmament. The rawness is still very much evident, the
stripped down punk like simplicity is still brazenly employed,
and yet that aura of grisly bleakness has been replaced with a
brash up-beat two tone menace. Even the cover art has crawled |
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from the black and white gloom towards a crass VoiVod ‘War and
Pain’ style visual starkness. Musically, this album is direct, unique and
very much Darkthrone. From the first track, The Winds They Called The
Dungeon Shaker, you are overwhelmed with the hypnotic nature of the
guitars, the unique vocal wailing and an altogether enjoyable musical
barrage. The use of guitar solos may give heart murmurs to the more
orthodox Darkthrone fanatic, the spacey keyboards may drive the more
satanic minded fans to an early grave, but make no mistake, this is not a
band progressing from their root form. This is a band regressing to the
primal origin of the root form itself. You can sense a Celtic Frost
backbone contorted into a punk like mentality that is fragmented into the
Darkthrone muse of today. Each track has its own vibe going on, all
tightly knit into bursts of raw energy and highly enjoyable crossover
style music. The main strengths of this release is that rare commodity of
being total unique. Darkthrone have an unmistakable sound of their own and
it propels the listening experience into euphoric levels. There are few
bands who can claim to own such individuality. Whilst Satyricon huff and
puff their way onwards, Enslaved morph forever upwards into a contorted
Floyd, and Dimmu propel downwards into Black Glam absurdity. It is
Darkthrone who single handedly drag the Norwegian Black Metal root form
into the modern age. It is quite an astonishing feat.
www.peaceville.com |
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Diablo - Icaros
(Sakara) Review by Mat Willcocks |
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Their output since 1995 is certainly plentiful, but Finnish
group Diablo are a group that appear to have not made enough
impact further afield than Scandinavia. This latest effort, ‘Icaros’,
is most notably very well produced. Not of the usual Spinefarm
Records crowd, this is released on the little known Sakara
label. Immediate comparisons are made to mid-period Soilwork,
due to the balanced use of keyboards and various triggered
riffs throughout the CD. ‘Trail Of Kings’ is an energy-fuelled
opener, exploding after the dainty acoustic intro. ‘Living
Dead Superstar’, despite its title, is not a Rob Zombie-style
romp, rather a thrashy number harking back to the days of
Meshuggah-when-they-sounded-a- |
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little-like-Metallica, albeit with a very un-Meshuggah-like widdly chorus. The double-whammy
of ‘Resign From Life’ and ‘Icaros’ keep the CD propped in the
middle, particularly due to their melodic nature, with no
significantly listenable tracks to save it at the end. Call it
pessimism on my part, but it appears Diablo are trying too
hard to appeal themselves to a wider audience, throwing in
equal parts of such varying bands as the two already
mentioned, whilst trying to replicate the most brooding
moments of Sentenced during their triumphant last moments. All
the bands that have been mentioned are well known due to their
innovation, their ability to create memorable masterpieces at
the drop of a hat without losing their vigour. Diablo, on the
other hand, are a group who possess the talent and rush, but
lack the most vital asset of all – the ability to write a
song. Great album artwork though...
www.sakararecords.com |
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Die Apokalyptischen Reiter
- Licht (Nuclear Blast) Review by Steve Green |
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I can't even pronounce their name, never
mind spell it, but I've seen the name a 100 or more times over
the years. My knowledge of Die Apokalyptischen Reiter is
simply that they sing in their native German a lot.
Actually hearing them for the first time has turned out to be
quite a pleasant experience. Opening number Es wird schlimmer
starts off reasonably heavy in a rather staunch Teutonic
fashion, but then a melodic chorus seems to spring from
nowhere. We aren't talking about some shitty Metalcore wimp
out here, but a genuinely uplifting time change, with an
utterly absorbing catchy chorus. Wow.
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Ok, fans of the band already know what to expect, but for
newbies, such as myself, it's kind of cool to hear Die
Apokalyptischen Reiter throw numerous styles into the melting
pot and for all of them to work. Part of their sound is the
more traditional Metal sound that Grave Digger have perfected
over the years, there's also Industrial, Folk, Power Metal, a
touch of Death, and stacks and stacks of melody. Hell, I even
enjoy the fact that they are singing in German, something that
I don't always warm to. As far as this album goes, they can do
no wrong.
I wouldn't normally plug a commercial site, but I've just seen
their last studio album, Riders On The Storm advertised on
Play for a bargain £2.99, so that's the first one of their
back catalogue snapped up. I just hope it's as good as this
album. Recommended.
www.nuclearblast.de |
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Eclipse - Are You Ready
To Rock (Blistering Records) By: Joe Florez |
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I am always up for a band, past or present, that can deliver
the goods in the AOR field. Eclipse is a Swedish act that
emerged onto the scene in 1999 and have two releases under
their belt. Now they are back with a new album that is pure
energy. I haven’t heard of them before, but glad I have had
this record sent to my doorstep. “Breaking My Heart Again”
puts the pedal to the metal as this one contains high octane
energy. The guitars on here burst with life. Tons of muscle is
exercised here. The singing is perfect for this style. The
rhythm section also rocks out with their cock out. Killer
background vocals utilized during the choruses. Short and
sweet solos only add that much more excitement to the |
song. Son of a bitch! “Hometown Calling” packs more of a
wallop than the opener and I am so stoked. These guys show
just how bad they want it and it’s evident. Eclipse
successfully puts no duds on this release as from top to
bottom these guys rock the house with varying tempos. You
would think that there would be some ballads, but not a single
one appears here. You can say this is dated music, but it’s
really not. It’s updated severely both musically with a modern
sound and way better production. This is more than AOR. This is melodic rock/light
metal with an emphasis on guitar licks and slamming beats.
Everything you could want from grandiose vocals to a major
arena sound is all captured here. This is another can’t miss
from the guys over at Blistering Records/Frontiers
www.blisteringrecords.se |
www.myspace.com/eclipsemania |
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