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Eden’s Curse - The Second Coming
(AFM Records)
By: Joe Florez |
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This is a new melodic hard rock album that spans two
continents. The lead singer is from the U.S. and the rest of
the guys are stationed in Germany. The most recognizable name
in here for me is Ferdy Doernberg who is the keyboardist for
Axel Rudi Pell. For the group, it’s record number two. What is
interesting is that Eden's Curse utilities what they call the “Curse
Choir” through out the album and it features underground heavy
weights David Redman (PC 69), Carsten Schulz (Evidence One)
and Doogie White (Yngwie, Rainbow, Cornerstone) and this disc
is produced by the supremo Dennis Ward. With that said, let’s
jet off to this offering, shall we? |
Right off the back, they
fire on all cylinders with the 70’s style keyboards, a thumpin’
rhythm section that is infectious as hell and riffs that will
keep your heart pumpin’ and the vocals have a slight evil feel
them on “Masquerade Ball.” This is melodic rock at its finest.
It’s smooth and energetic to the max. “Angels & Demons”
features Pamela Moore on vocals. Don’t remember her? She was
the woman on Queensryche’s Operation Mindcrime. She hasn’t
lost her touch at all and the boys continue to rock the house.
After keeping the fire burning hot with mid tempo to upper
tempo songs for eight tracks, a ballad is inserted with “Man
Against The World.” It’s pretty powerful vocally and Ferdy’s
nimble finger work is quite frankly equivalent to Elton
John’s. Seriously!
Eden’s Curse may not be re-inventing the wheel,
but they sure know how to deliver the goods in spades. It may
be simple rock music, but they do it right without ever
slacking off. From top to bottom, you are dealing with some
serious fun rock. For fans of TNT, Evidence One and bands you
can find on the Frontiers label.
www.afm-records.com
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www.stuartthestarfish.com/edenscurse |
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Eighteen Wheels Burning - Tweak'd Out, Strung Up & Redlined
(Meteor City)
Review by Metal Mark |
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Eighteen Wheels Burning are a power trio who take the fuzzed
out sounds of the late 60's-early 70's and drag them into the
present. Their music is based more around big swirling grooves
than heaviness, although there is enough of both to go around.
Instead of hitting hard from the get go these guys tend to
make their approach more of a slow and steady push. They know
how to bring the jams though as they often work themselves
into a good frenzy of sounds in the middle of a song. The
drums have an under produced quality to them like they were
recorded live in a basement. The other instruments have a
similar tone and the bass really gets it's due in the
production as well because you can hear and |
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oftentimes even feel each note. I would say the influences
include but are no limited to Hendrix, Sabbath, Blue Cheer,
Grand Funk Railroad and early Kiss. That's the good about the
band and there is a lot to like, but I wasn't exactly doing
cartwheels over the music or at least not the whole time. They
know how to rip it up plus the tone of their music is very
cool. Still I feel that there are a number of occasions where
the flow of their music is stiff and doesn't move as easily as
they would like it to. There are parts of every song that I
like, but they produce a number of average and tedious
passages as well. There are some moments where they just
shred. Yet in between those bursts of fire are also times
where the music can be dull and just meanders around waiting
for some sparkle to come and save the song. An above average
album for sure, but not one consistent enough to put on my "A"
list. |
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Endless Blizzard - Remember Your Death
(Blackmetal.com Records)
By: Dave Schalek |
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Endless Blizzard, a one man black metal project from
California, pretty much lives up to its name on “Remember Your
Death”, the debut full-length from the project on
Blackmetal.com Records. Not exactly groundbreaking, Endless
Blizzard, the output of one named Roskva, is basically an
amalgam of “Panzerfaust”-era Darkthrone, an old school vibe
similar to “Morbid Tales”-era Celtic Frost, and perhaps the
odd moment or two of early Satyricon for chilling effect.
Hell, there are even a few Kerry King-esque guitar solos
tossed into the mix. In short, Endless Blizzard shamelessly
rips off all of these influences and more. |
Before you dismiss “Remember Your Death” as being merely an
exercise in “been there, done that”, however, Endless
Blizzard’s debut is actually quite good with catchy,
well-written songs, a powerful production, and generally good
musicianship. Endless Blizzard is at its best with some
catchy, rather droning, tracks along with a few organ-based
songs similar to “Sno Og Granskog” from “Panzerfaust”. In
fact, as you progress further and further into “Remember Your
Death”, it becomes readily apparent that “Panzerfaust” is the
album’s template with droning atmosphere and production very
similar to that album. However, “Remember Your Death” has a
generally faster pace, as well as the other aforementioned
influences present in the music.
As you’ve undoubtedly gathered, Endless Blizzard isn’t exactly
original, but if you’re looking for some good, traditional
black metal, you could certainly do a lot worse. “Remember
Your Death” is recommended.
www.blackmetal.com
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www.myspace.com/endlessblizzard |
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False Icons - God Complex
(13th Planet) Review by Steve Green |
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False Icons is a new project put together by John Bechdel, who has played
keyboards with the likes of Ministry, Killing Joke and Prong, although for
False Icons he also handles both guitar and vocals. Add to that, that this is
being released on Al Jourgensen's label 13th Planet, and I think you've a
fair idea already of what this is going to sound like. Industrial, dance,
electro, even a bit of space rock. Despite the mixing pot being full to
the brim, the question is though, is this any good?
To be honest, the jury is still out. I like a lot of the album. Opener
Decay mixes dancefloor beats with the mellower side of Hawkwind, while
Tranquilizer, Defective, and The Wheel
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would fit in quite nicely with Ministry's early work, albeit
with the same space rock vibe as the opener mixed in as well,
which is mainly down to Bechdel's vocals. In
fact, I
like all of the other upbeat songs. Where this album is let down is by
some of the more pedestrian songs. Mystified is pretty boring and quite
bizarrely reminds me of a monged out Happy Mondays. And it's songs like
this, where a bit of urgency wouldn't go amiss, that I start to get bored.
Lead The Way is totally directionless and is sleep inducing, as is
Deterioration, which is just devoid of any melody and sounds a complete
mess. Ok, three bad songs on one album isn't something new, but they do
tend to break the flow of the album, which does start to wear you down
after a while.
So there is a lot to like on this album, just be prepared for the
occasionally blip.
www.myspace.com/falseicons
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Forest of Shadows - Six
Waves of Woe (Firebox Records) review by Sam
Thomas |
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Forest of Shadows was originally conceived as a one-man
project by Swede Niclas Frohagen. But it’s always so much
better if you can get a mate on board (enter Micce Andersson)
and then split up again. Fortunately, all this is now history,
and Niclas is back alone, which obviously suits him well. As
you might expect from the title, “Six Waves of Woe” is a
six-track doom offering. Sadly for me, I kept getting the
title mixed up with “Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence”, but
that’s another story. And I’ll go with woe rather than inner
turbulence every time…
Possibly the most immediately useful thing I can tell you
about Forest of Shadows is that |
they covered “Rainroom” on last year’s Katatonia tribute
album. And, to save you looking it up, that’s one from “Brave
Murder Day”. We are definitely talking Katatonia-style anguish
and suffering here, with beautiful haunting melodies, tortured
lyrics and a brilliant mix of clean and distorted vocals.
Track titles such as “Selfdestructive” and “Detached” pretty
much sum things up as well. This is a really good, well-paced,
well thought-out CD, which blows me away every time I hear it.
And in common with a great number of truly great CDs, every
time I listen to it, I hear another aspect rising above the
rest. In fact, it is rather reminiscent of the way that you
can gaze out at the sea for days on end, always seeing
something different in the play of light on water.... Or, of
course, you could just lie back and let the waves of woe wash
over you…
But, like all good doom, this really isn’t depressing to
listen to at all. It’s very melancholy, to be sure, but it’s
just so well put together that you have to appreciate its
gloomy beauty.
I’d love to be able to say that I could find something to
criticise here, but there is nothing that I can complain
about. This album has everything going for it, it’s an
outstanding example of the type of melancholy doom that
Swedish bands (or one man bands) produce so well. Beauty in a
sombre form.
www.forestofshadows.com |
www.firebox.fi |
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Kommandant - Stormlegion
(Planet Metal Records)
By: Dave Schalek |
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Chicago’s Kommandant unleash “Stormlegion”, the debut
full-length from this black metal war machine with ties to
Nachtmystium, the defunct Usurper, and others from the Chicago
area. Given the band’s name, album title, and imagery, war is
obviously the theme, further reinforced with cover art
depicting a gas-masked soldier seemingly ready to start goose
stepping. War-themed black metal is all about hate, and
Kommandant deliver a hate spewed monster of a debut
full-length, released on Planet Metal Records, with
similarities to Nokturne, another band with the same imagery,
and the all out blasts of mid-period Marduk. Featuring huge
bursts of speed with a mechanized sound right out of 1940s-era |
military industrial complex, guttural rasps, and a total lack
of melody; it’s obvious that “Stormlegion” was written to
flatten the listener with a barbarous black metal assault.
Kommandant largely succeed with their intentions as
“Stormlegion” is filled with one track after another of
violent black metal with a raw, yet catchy, edge. Over 13
tracks, however, the album does suffer somewhat in that a lot
of the tracks sort of begin to blend together as the
songwriting is undifferentiated. In addition, the production
is a bit thin for the themes being presented, and I would have
liked to have heard more explosive power to Kommandant.
Overall, “Stormlegion” is a no frills, blackened war metal
album that succeeds in its intent to pummel the listener into
submission, no more, no less. The Chicago metal scene
continues to grow with the release of “Stormlegion”.
www.myspace.com/planetmetal
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www.myspace.com/kommandantofficial1 |
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Legion of the Damned - Cult of the Dead
(Massacre) Review by Chris Davison |
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Just every now and then, a band starts to rise to prominence
that, y'know, actually deserves it. I think we are all aware
of flash-in-the-pan outfits or those mediocre bands
bankrolled into superstardom by enthusiastic PR firms. What a
genuine pleasure, therefore, that Legion of the Damned are set
to rise to the upper echelons of the extreme metal landscape
with this, their latest offering. For those of you who haven't
been surveying the horizon recently, Legion of the Damned are
a Dutch death-thrash outfit with a strong feel of authentic
80's Teutonic nastiness about their music. They are also the
most exciting band to come from the sub genre since The Crown.
Seriously. |
I didn't know that the Dutch could be this unpleasant, but
Legion of the Damned have ramped up everything since their
last release was unleashed upon the world. Lightspeed, harsh
shrill vocalled thrash is the order of the day, with a guitar
tone so sharp that the sound of it alone can cut flesh at one
hundred paces. The drumming is nothing but inhuman battering,
but it's not in the faster-than-the-ear-can-listen that the
band really impresses. They are like the aural equivalent of
facing Ricky Hatton on amphetamines while being caught taking
cash out of his kids piggybank. Once the music slows, with the
more mid-tempo thrash stomp-alongs that perpetuate throughout
the album, you'll really be in their thrall. This is seriously
addictive music; in fact, I half-expect there to be some kind
of government warning on the outside of the CD case along the
lines of “WARNING: HM GOVERNMENT SAYS THAT COMPULSIVE
HEADBANGING CAN SERIOUSLY FUCK UP YOUR NECK”. Even when
listening to the album on the tinniest speakers at work, this
is killing stuff. Channelling the spirit of Destruction and
Kreator through the experience of The Crown and Slayer, this
is merciless tune-mongery on a mission to destroy.
I usually like to give a balanced review, but really, it's
impossible to do here. See, I'm all of a quiver over Legion of
the Damned. I tried hard to think of a small flaw, or error in
playing or production to balance the whole thing out nicely,
but the closest I can come to is that I wish there were more
songs on the CD, but to be honest, after this 11 song workout,
you'd have to be some kind of inhuman freak to have neck
muscles able to cope with the workout your head will be
having! I suppose the one minor down side is that I'm now
going to have re-jig my top ten of the year list. The voice
over chap also has a crap habit of talking during the choicest
riffs, but then, as a good, wholesome CD buying type of
fellow, you won't have that problem will you? Cult of the
Dead? Where do I sign up?
www.massacre-records.com |
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Mick Priestley's Green
River Project - Demo 2008 (Self Release) Review
by Steve Green |
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Before I add my opinion about this demo, here's a bit of
background info on The Green River Project. It's put together
by guitarist Mick Priestly, who has a bit of a Glam Metal
background. Joining him for this recording are vocalist Andy
Law, who also sings with Headrush, keyboard player Andy Brooks
and drummer Adrian Erlandsson, who should need no
introduction. Musically, this is 80s Hard Rock/Metal with an
obvious sleaze/glam influence. There's also a bit of God-like
guitar playing going on as well. You see, Mick Priestley is
probably the Worlds next guitar hero...
I shit you not, this man is phenomenal, and he's still only 24
years young. Blackmore |
inspired a certain Yngwie Malmsteen, who in turn, it seems, as
influenced our new guitar hero Mick Priestley. But being,
possibly, the next best guitarist in the World is not a
guarantee that everyone will like your music. From a personal
point of view, this three tracker is not enough to take The
Green River Project to the next level, but it ain't far off.
First track, Dig Your Grave is the weakest of the three.
There's nothing wrong with the musicianship or the vocals, but
the song writing is a tad formulaic and Motley Crue were a lot
better than this in the 80s. Saying that, the majority of the
guitar playing could quite easily have been performed by Randy
Rhodes as some parts would have fitted in nicely on the first two Ozzy albums and there's also the Malmsteen style playing which
is also out of this World. Infinitely better is Nowhere To Run,
where everything seems to fall into place. Andy Law's vocals
are perfect for the catchy chorus and the song reminds me of
Uriah Heep circa Abominog and Head First and maybe a heavier
version of the Michael Schenker Group. This song just bleeds
classic 80s Hard Rock/ Heavy Metal from every pore.
Last up is Summer - Presto, which is an instrumental based
upon music from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I remember Rainbow
doing this on Difficult To Cure back in 1981, where the title
track was based on Beethoven's Ninth. So the idea isn't
exactly a new one, but the execution here is faultless.
Final opinion: Mick Priestley is a phenomenal guitar player,
but I think he needs to move the goalposts slightly to find
the music which suits his playing the best, in my opinion. If
he does hit upon the winning formula, then he is destined to
be a household name and fame and fortune awaits.
www.myspace.com/greenriverproject08 |
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Noism - +/- (Crucial Blast Records)
By: Dave Schalek |
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If you think that “Dissimulate” by The Berzerker and just
about anything by Agoraphobic Nosebleed are too slow, boy,
have I got a “band” for you! The band, for lack of a better
term, in question is a Japanese duo called Noism, consisting
entirely of guitars and programming. The debut full-length
(actually a mini-album), entitled “+/-“, dates back to 2007,
but is re-issued here by Crucial Blast Records with new
artwork and packaging.
“+/-“ is an unbelievably mechanized mess. Consisting entirely
of blisteringly fast, smeared out guitar riffing and
programmed percussion with some added electronic effects,
“+/-“ is certainly worth a listen, but only for about 5
minutes or so. A wall of noise backed up by |
programmed percussion that blasts along at an average of at
least 500 beats per minute with no organic features
whatsoever, there aren’t really any redeeming qualities to be
found on “+/-“ beyond your initial reaction. Although original
in the sense that no one has really gone this far with
programming and with a total lack of discernible structure,
all of the tracks on “+/-“ horribly bleed together beyond any
reasonable means of distinguishing one from another. Even at a
relatively short 21 minutes, the album is basically unlistenable after a few
minutes or so.
As an artistic exercise, I sort of get what Noism are after
here; that is, a completely deconstructed wall of mechanics
with no organic elements. However, artistic intent aside,
“+/-“ isn’t really worth your while beyond idle curiosity.
Listen to the single track presented on the band’s MySpace
page if you’re interested, but that’s probably good enough.
www.myspace.com/noist
| www.crucialblast.net |
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