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Arkan - Hilal
(Season of Mist) By: Dave Schalek |
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Certainly, I’m eagerly awaiting the imminent release of
Sam Dunn’s next opus, “Global Metal” (well, where’s the DVD
release?) The reason I mention this is that the next album
slated for me to review is “Hilal”, the debut full-length from
Arkan, a melodic death metal act from France consisting of
immigrants from North Africa (this is an assumption on my
part, though, given the band members’ names and their
affiliation with Algerian metal acts). Apparently, the
interest in metal amongst Middle Eastern cultures has been
exploding in the last few years, so it would be only fitting
that the bands to grow out of that explosion are beginning to
release albums (Acrassicauda?) “Hilal” is my first real
exposure to that cultural |
phenomenon, even though Arkan are based in France.
“Hilal” would probably best be classified as melodic death
metal, albeit with a generally slower pace than their
Gothenburg- styled brethren. Crunch laden guitars, a huge
production with a large drum sound, and guttural vocals are
the basis which Arkan build upon. Melody is incorporated into
the music with plenty of Arabic folk melodies displayed
through keyboard work, as well as traces of traditional
instrumentation. A few tracks on “Hilal” are not metal at all;
but, instead, sound like Arabic folk songs with melodic
singing in the style. Further adding to the variation are a
few out and out scorchers with moments of blastbeat style
speed.
All of the disparate elements present certainly brand “Hilal”
as unique in metal at the moment, and, mostly, come together
to produce a dynamic album. My only minor complaint is that
the pure metal aspects of the album are somewhat typical of
the genre, and are simply not very memorable. However, there
appears to be a lot more to this style for Arkan, and bands
coming from the same demographic, to explore, and Arkan appear
to have the raw talent to artistically be at the forefront of
an emerging genre. I await future releases from Arkan with
anticipation.
http://arkan-band.com |
www.season-of-mist.com |
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Bloodbath - The
Fathomless Mastery (Peaceville) review by Sam
Thomas |
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The Fathomless Mastery is the third full length recording from
Sweden’s Bloodbath, whose members are mostly better known in
their other various incarnations as members of Katatonia
and/or Opeth. Having said that, Bloodbath are quite a
respectable band in their own right, carving out their very
own little niche in the world of old-school death metal with
(at least in lyrical content) a blackened edge.
One of the things that always strikes me with Bloodbath is the
sheer amount of enjoyment the guys seem to derive from working
together on this project. I guess it’s a combination of
working with a bunch of your mates and, by the very nature of
things, there’s probably less |
pressure to be ground-breaking and/or commercially (or
otherwise) successful.
Mikael Åkerfeldt is back on vocal duties, after a brief
replacement by another Swedish heavyweight, Peter Tägtgren, on
the second full-lengther, Nightmares made Flesh. It’s kind of
a strange one for me, as I admire them both tremendously, but
I do think that, with Bloodbath at least, Mikael has the edge.
But then again, if you compared Peter in Hypocrisy with Mikael
in Bloodbath, hmm, different result. Then again, Mikael in
Opeth… OK, they both make my list.
The album art is pretty much a dead giveaway for what lies
within – skeletal Belsen-like figures crawling across a
landscape ravaged by some apocalyptic event, with a high
prevalence of crucifixes around scrawny necks. Musically, this
is an old-school style assault of punishing noise with
absolutely no let-up in intensity. Even the slower passages
(as for example the bells at the end of “Mock the Cross”) are
so sinister that you never lose the feeling of being pummelled
relentlessly by the music.
This album is Bloodbath on top form, doing what they obviously
love to do – producing high quality, brutal death metal.
There’s nothing avant-garde about it: just perfectly produced
sheer brutality. Of which, we always need more in the world.
This is definitely Bloodbath’s best album to date, and that’s
not to diss any of their previous work, it’s simply that this
time around, they’re back and better than before. Treat
yourself to a helping of brutality from Sweden – you know it
makes sense!
www.bloodbath.biz |
www.peaceville.com |
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Cruel Hand - Prying Eyes
(Bridge 9) Review by Steve Green |
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You remember when Anthrax used to swap instruments on Bring The Noize?
Well the same can be said for Cruel Hand. Cruel Hand started out as a
project by members of punk band Outbreak, except that the band members
have all swapped instruments. The guitarist now sings, the drummer is now
on guitar etc... Throw in a couple of extra helpers, and a new band is
formed.
When I mentioned Anthrax at the start of the review, I didn't mean in a
musical sense at all, but Cruel Hands metallic Hardcore could be compared
to Scott Ian and co, as this is riff hungry, old school hardcore. The
problem is though, after my initial enjoyment of opener |
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Above and Below, I quickly lost interest and don't really know
why. I actually like Cruel Hands style, but nothing is really
grabbing me. I love their drive, the riffs are fired down in
angry fashion, the vocals shred, the drumming is fantastic
etc... but I'm just not joining in with the fun. Sorry guys.
www.bridge9.com |
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Hate Gallery - Compassion
Fatigue (The Unit Music Company) Review by Dave
Baynham |
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This debut CD is all about attitude. It is snarling, visceral,
trashy rock’n’roll. All but one of the tracks are between 2.30
and 3.30 the whole album is about half an hour. The band was
formed by Janne Javis on bass and vocals, who is ex Radiator,
Elevation and Queen Adreena. These days he is also in the
current line up of Warrior Soul. Hate Gallery are an Anglo
Scandinavian outfit, although the sound is often nearer to New
York punk than anything else. There is also a fair hint of
early G’n’R in both the music and the attitude of two fingers
to the world. When it works this is a rock n roll riot waiting
to happen, but at times it becomes a bit samey and feels like
it’s trying too hard. Overall it has promise and |
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suggests that they should be a blast live.
www.myspace.com/hategallery |
www.theunit.se
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Leverage - Blind Fire
(Blistering Records) By: Joe Florez |
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Hot damn! I had this record long before I knew this was
getting released in the states. Here’s the lowdown. This is a
young AOR band from Finland. The lead singer Pekka has
released two records with Leverage and two with his other band
Brother Firetribe. I just stumbled onto BF one day and decided
to listen to more on their Myspace page. I was hooked and then
found out from there that if I liked them then I should try
this band. Guess what, I hate to admit it, but I downloaded
their songs from a peer to peer site cause I wanted to know
more about them. Once I was hooked like a junkie, I sought out
to find their records and I have them all. In short, this is
fantastic AOR, the way it was meant to |
be played.
“Shadow In The Rain” is the perfect opener complete with up
beat riffs and a voice that is manly and has a slightly gruff
edge to it. Keyboards are used sparingly here and in fact you
have to listen closely to hear them. Everyone showcases just
how much energy they have as they dish this one out. As for
the solo, nice! This one hits it out of the ball park. There
is not a single clunker on here as the boys churn out ten
songs of mid pacing that never grows old or tired. There is
only one ballad and it’s saved for last. Sure, this may have
traces of the 80’s in their sound, but it’s much more modern
than ever before and it’s not clichéd by any means. These lads
absolutely show just how much passion they have for the
compositions that they play. This is music done right and if
you enjoy this genre, then you must this one and their debut
which I hope Blistering gets their hands on one day cause that
too is a gem. All killer and no filler is what this disc is
all about. Night Ranger, Survivor and Styx fans should clamor
over something like this. An absolute home run that will have
you spinning this one over and over again. I think I have spun
this one about a half dozen times and it still doesn’t get
old.
www.blisteringrecords.se |
www.leverageband.com |
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Magician - Tales of the
Magician (Dockyard 1) Review by Dave Baynham |
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As the orchestral keyboards, bombastic riffing and epic choir
of the intro track give way to the huge church organ blast
that starts ‘Prime Evil’ you just know that this disc is going
to be monumental, fantasy metal escapism. Magician are from
Porto Alegre, Brazil and this is their first full length
album. It is a fantasy concept album with echoes of early
Rhapsody. But it also has much more to appeal to the
discerning metal fan. There are a number of times when the
staccato bass over rising keyboards is reminiscent of Dream
Theater, while the neo-classical guitar is gloriously
Malmsteen sounding. The album has some nice acoustic work too.
Dan Rubin’s vocals cover a range from delicate to air raid
siren as the |
tracks demand. Although it varies between power metal in the
Angra vein, through progressive metal to the cinematic feel of
Rhapsody, there is a coherence that is more mature than you’d
expect from a debut. At its best this is a stirring triumph of
an album and if you like fantasy themed metal it is a must.
www.magician.com |
www.dockyard1.com |
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Mendeed - Shadows. War.
Love. - The Very Best Of (Rising Records) Review by Steve Green |
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Is there really any need for a "Best of" Mendeed album? Especially when
they only ever released 2 full length albums before they split up last
year. Well anyway, one has been released, so I guess it serves its purpose
if you haven't heard the band before, which I haven't.
Crap production aside, Mendeed are infinitely better than I was expecting.
Mixing ferocious modern Metal, unfortunately with the occasional bit of
gay Metalcore/Emo-ish backing vocals, breakneck speeding rhythms and with
a twist of the old school, it's easy to see why Mendeed created a bit of a
stir before their premature demise. The melting pot |
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created here has something that'll appeal to both new and old
Metal fans, although I don't think the whole package will be
to everyone's taste. The energy levels are superb and I love
the non-stop drum barrage and the twin guitar sound and the
fact that there are countless (good) ideas used throughout the
album. The only downside, for me, are some of the modern
flourishes, particularly in the clean vocals. But that's
something I'll never come to terms with. So, for those
that prefer their Metal on the modern side, with just a hint
to the past, then Mendeed are definitely worth checking out.
www.risingrecords.org |
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Neondaze - Neondaze
(Music Buy Mail) Review by Dave Baynham |
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This is the debut of Neondaze, a melodic hard rock band from
Sweden. The band is built around guitarist Lars Boquist,
formerly of Reptilian and Pole Position, who assembled the
band and is the principal song writer. However this does not
it’s wall to wall solos. The main comparisons are Def Leppard
meets AC/DC on 1980’s American radio, although ballad Caroline
sounds quite a bit like Motley Crue. This album is strong on
riffs with catchy melodies and big multi-track/harmony vocal
choruses. The guitar solos are about rocking, screaming guitar
rather than shredding. The production is so good that you
wouldn’t think this was a home produced debut, with both
guitars and vocals coming |
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through well. Lyrically, the album is pretty much boy meets
girl stuff, but that’s what the straight ahead style of the
music needs. So if you feel like rocking out to something
melodic that you can hum along to, then this is a mighty fine
example of the genre.
www.neondaze.net |
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Nightshade - The
Beginning of Eradication (Rising Records) review
by Robert Cheesewright |
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Nightshade is a Deathcore band from France. They have toured
with and been compared with Bring Me The Horizon. Their sound
shares many of the traits of the much maligned Sheffield band,
but they’re probably more comparable to All Shall Perish. It
would be easy to dismiss this album as part of a fad in the
way the first BMTH album was, but that would be unfair.
The album’s intro track is pointless, but it’s difficult to
mind because the first actual track of the album is great. A
furious start followed by some quality low-end stuff and some
good ol’ Grindcore ‘pig squeals’ at the end. The track is at
worst entertaining and at best a |
quality example of a fusion of Death Metal and Hardcore. The
album’s 11 tracks fly by in an instant, partially because some
of them lack imagination, but mostly because they’re nearly
all under three minutes long. None of them are poor songs
though. All are fast paced and well crafted. Track 8, Good
Night Darling , the longest of the album, is the most
interesting. The track is characterised by changes of speed
and breakdowns, made possible by the track’s extra length. It
is a shame that more of the tracks were not allowed to develop
in a similar way.
Despite the short tracks the album is a good one. I can
recommend it to any fan of the genre; it’s an album I’ll be
sure to continue listening to myself. Given that this album is
by no means an example of genius and the Deathcore genre
appears to polarise opinion more than many other genres
Nightshade are probably best left to those who enjoy the genre
and avoided by those who don’t.
Intrigued? Nightshade can be found on MySpace at
www.myspace.com/nightshaderegroupes |
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