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Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With The Stars
(Candlelight Records)
By: Dave Schalek |
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For many, France’s avant-garde Blut Aus Nord peaked with
2003’s mesmerizing opus “The Work Which Transforms God”.
Playing an extremely disjointed, haunted form of black metal
with strange touches, hence the avant-garde tag, Blut Aus Nord
catapulted themselves to the forefront of metal’s
consciousness with an album that graced more than a few Top
Ten for the year lists, mine included. The two subsequent
full-lengths, “MoRT” and “Odinist”, however, were rather
poorly received, although I really liked “Odinist”, which was
released in 2007.
“MoRT” and “Odinist” seemed to demonstrate that Blut Aus Nord
were struggling to |
reinvent themselves after their masterwork, yet weren’t quite
able to find their footing. All of that has changed with this
year’s “Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With
The Stars”, released on Candlelight Records. Blut Aus Nord
have regained their poise once again with a very impressive
album that shows the band changing their sound slightly, and
excelling. The quirky time changes and drum patterns of “The
Work Which Transforms God” and its successors have been
replaced by tempos found in more traditional forms of black
metal, varying from a mid-pace to a few blasts. The haunting
guitar work has been given a facelift with plenty of flowing,
dreamy riffs that are quite catchy, somewhat unexpected from
Blut Aus Nord, and huge doses of psychedelic melody that
wouldn’t be out of place in stoner metal. Adding nicely to the
mix are some acoustic touches with some quiet guitar and muted
keyboards. The result is an album that is a dreamy version of
traditional black metal, yet still retains enough avant-garde
touches to identify the sound as that of Blut Aus Nord.
With the release of “Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With The
Stars”, Blut Aus Nord appear to be entering a new phase in
their career. Time will tell whether or not this album will
grace many Top Ten lists for 2009, but, so far, it is a strong
contender for such a distinction to these ears. Buy or die.
www.candlelightrecords.co.uk
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www.e-c-h-o-e-s.com/ban/index.html |
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Deathchain - Death Eternal
(Dynamic Arts Records) review by
Sam Thomas |
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Death Eternal is the fourth full length album from Finland’s
Deathchain, and, in the nature of bands Scandinavian, features
a new band member, Cult, replacing Bobby Undertaker on guitar.
This particular death/thrash epic starts off at an absolutely
breakneck speed (in fact, when I listen on headphones, I’d
almost swear I can hear galloping hooves in the mix somewhere)
and then just gets faster.
There’s almost the occasional let up, but it’s more the
opportunity to have some absolutely shredding guitar against a
backdrop of noise than an actual slowing down of pace. The
drumming on this album is first-rate (it must be: drums are
one of those things that I know |
you have to have, but I don’t generally pay too much attention
to, so for me to be aware of them they must be kinda outstanding.)
Possibly the most fascinating thing about this album was a
curious phrase within the press release, where the music was
described as “adding more hooks to soup”. I think that what
was meant by this was that the album as a whole is as catchy
as it gets, which seems to be a trait that applies to Finnish
bands generally, whatever their genre. The raw vocals are
overlaid on the frantic drumming, whilst every now and then
the purest guitar sound comes to the fore, in a breathtaking
display of technical competence that is truly awe-inspiring.
It’s far from being the kind of mindless guitar wank that you
so often get: it’s actually a perfect part of the music as a
whole. But then, I guess that’s what allows this to be
categorised as death metal rather than indulgent bollocks.
This is a very competent release, with some very catchy bits.
And after all, as the band themselves say on fourth track
Plaguethrone, “a world without death is a world without life”.
Hold that thought, guys.
www.deathchain.com
| www.dynamicartsrecords.com |
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Lions Share - Dark Hours
(Blistering Records)
By: Joe Florez |
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I have to say that it’s a real shame as these Swedes haven’t
made as much of an impact as they should have because they
deliver pure melodic old school metal in the best way
possible. The band has been in existence since 1988 and
releasing their debut in 1995. I think poor distro and
promotion buried this band, but the one thing they did was
forge ahead no matter what the cost. I did follow these guys for
quite some time until 2001 for their Entrance release. I had
no idea there was a new record in 2007. They never broke up,
but were on hiatus. I was on hiatus from the band as well, but
I didn’t listen to LS until now with their latest offering.
So, it’s been eight years for me. I did read something about |
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them pumping out a new disc, but my question would be how good
will it sound? Well, since I received it there was no need to
continue to wonder as I simply had to put it in. First off,
the singer role changed as now we have Patrik Johansson and
boy oh boy does he sound like Ronnie James Dio, but manages to
have his own thing going on. All guns are blazing as the floodgates are blasted wide open with the opener “Judas Must Die.”
This is power metal of the highest order. Lars Chriss’ riffing
is unrelenting yet melodic and catchy enough to keep all fans
happy. The rhythm sections pounds away as if there’s no
tomorrow and their lives were on the line. As, for Pat’s
singing, hot damn! He brings the house down. His vocal range
goes from mid to high screams when required. He sounds evil
and pissed off, but you can understand him at all times. The
solos simply shred and I was in pure heaven. Could the energy
and excitement continue for the duration or was it a fluke?
Hell no! “Phantom Rider” continues it winning ways with more
sinister singing and riffs that would probably make Dio shed a
tear of joy. There is some keyboard work from time to time,
but it’s so faint that you will hardly notice. Besides getting
your dose of adrenalin, there’s a slower paced tune that gives
you a chance to rest your neck from the constant head banging
with “Heavy Cross To Bear” and the there are even mid tempo
numbers like “The Bottomless Pit” that still manage to pack a
wallop. Pick any track on here and you are the winner as
there’s no clunkers on here. That’s hard to do especially now a
days, but this thing just rocked out and hard too. I think the
time off from listening to this group served me well because I
was elated after all was said and done. I think for a power
meta/traditional metal disc this is some seriously dark
material, but all for the better. No happy riffs here. This is
all business. I love it and in the times we live in this
couldn’t have come at a better time. Now, if you never heard
the band before, this is the perfect place to start. All
killer, no filler!
www.blisteringrecords.se
| www.lionsshare.org |
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Lunatica - New Shores
(Napalm) Review by Steve Green |
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I'm sure it must be Eurovision time pretty soonish and here's a perfect
band for the Swiss entry. This is eardrum-friendly, sugary sweet, female
fronted "Melodic Symphonic Metal". Well that's what the back of the cd
proclaims. This really is as safe as it gets. It's as overblown as some of
the more nauseous moments in Within Temptations repertoire and it really
is a sickly listen. And again, I'm going to blame the female vocals.
Musically this is reasonably strong, with a nice Progressive meets Power
type vibe. But lyrically and melody wise, shit, even Disney would release
this as it's so squeaky clean.
I find it very hard to be objective about this album, and I really am
struggling to find
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anything positive about it. I'm not knocking the quality of
the vocals or the musicianship, which are all very good. But I
just cannot listen to this album as it doesn't possess a
backbone. Even my old granny without her teeth in has more
bite than this. Sorry, this is one to avoid I'm afraid.
www.napalmrecords.com |
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Manzana - Babies Of Revolution
(Dynamic Arts)
Review by Steve Green |
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My usual system of working out who is going to review what, is to play the
first song and then coupled with a quick look at the biog, make an
educated guess at which reviewer is most likely to like it. My normal
system let me down quite badly here as the opening song here, Wash My Sins Away,
is nothing like the rest of the album. It features harmonised male/female
vocals, with the male being slightly dominant and it reminded me of a
mixture of the Moody Blues, System Of A Down and Abba!!!! Yeah, all kind
of strange, but thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless. The impossibly catchy
Panda Girl follows, but with the angsty voice of Piritta Lumous taking the
lead. And her slightly punkish, raspy tones give |
the song a demented nursery rhyme feel, while the music pumps
out a modern groove. Which is pretty much how the rest of the
album sounds. This is commercial, although commercial with a
hard edged attitude and it's easy to see why the band are
popular in their native Finland and I guess it's now time for
the rest of Europe to catch up.
So I didn't really get the album I was expecting, but it was still an
enjoyable listen.
www.myspace.com/manzanaband |
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Mind Odyssey - Time To Change It
(Napalm Records) Review by
Dave Baynham |
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This is the fifth album from German band Mind Odyssey, the
last album ‘Signs’ was ten years ago. Partly this could be as
guitarist Victor Smolski is also a member of Rage. While some
of their previous output was closer to progressive metal ‘Time
to Change it’ has a mix of power metal and melodic metal,
although the vocals occasionally give a hint of sleaze. At times
it feels like the sort of record that Masterplan should have
made after their debut. The album is a collection of well
crafted tracks, mainly in the three to five minute range,
often propelled by some hard hitting drumming. They deliver
decent riffs and catchy melodies but don’t go on too long.
Admittedly you get the feeling that you’ve heard it all |
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before, but aren’t sure where from. Possibly this comes from a
hint of classical influence in the arrangements, particularly
the use of keyboards and backing vocals for atmosphere or
emphasis. Although the focus is on songs this album still has
some classy soloing. The guitar can shred, but more often is
sustain based and built on the main melody like on ‘Face in
the Rain’. The keyboards also get to solo at times such as the
jazzy dualing synth vs guitar break in the epic ‘Higher
Ground’. However the overall strength of the material is that
it combines the solos, riffing and melody to produce catchy
songs. www.mindodyssey.de
| www.napalmrecords.com |
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The Inner Party - Honky Heretics
(Self-produced) Review by Metal Mark |
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The Inner Party hail from Fayetteville, Arkansas and this is
their debut EP. However they have been playing informally for
about ten years. The sounds represented here are varied, but
not necessarily that diverse. These guys bring in elements of
punk rock, both old and new, as well as some pop and light
industrial touches too. Things kick off with the title track
which is a short down and dirty instrumental. "Drunk Fool"
follows and it reminds me of early DOA only with a dose of
fuzz slapped around the overall sound. "Untouchable" has a
similar guitar tone, but the energy is far more restrained.
It's flows well and has a more pop approach. "Walkman" is a
mid-tempo track with a low, deep sound. This song |
demonstrates the bands ability to really control the pace of
the song. I wasn't big on the drum sound though because it
sounded a little clunky. "Used Parts" comes blaring on with an
intentionally static sounding production. It's an okay song
and different, but tedious. I think since it's the middle of
the album they really needed something to revive the album at
this point and this wasn't it. "Proles Theme" gets back on
a track with a simple yet crunchy sound. It's repetitive, but
steady and loud so that helps. "Nameless" is a thick slab of
droning rock that across as ambitious at first, but perhaps
overstays its a welcome by about minute or so as it stumbles
to a close. After this there is an unlisted track which
features some low humming for a while and some spoken
rambling. Really this one was more filler than anything.
"Honky Heretics" isn't anything that you have not heard
before. At it's best it's basic, honest and to the point. At
its low points they get caught up in experimenting with
effects and forget about how to rock. It's more hit than miss
though, although most of the high points come in the first half
of the album. So here is hoping that they realize
their strengths and make the best use of their talents when
they get around to doing a full length album.
www.myspace.com/theinnerparty |
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Throne Of Katarsis - Helvete – Det Iskalde Morket
(Candlelight Records) By: Dave Schalek |
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Norway’s Throne Of Katarsis return with their second
full-length, once again released on Candlelight Records,
entitled “Helvete – Det Iskalde Morket”. I reviewed the debut
from Throne Of Katarsis, 2007’s “An Eternal Dark Horizon”,
awhile back, and gave the album a positive review for its
competent, if wholly unoriginal, take on Norwegian raw black
metal. The dutiful comparisons to Darkthrone and Mayhem were
made, and the album sort of faded in my consciousness as it
became just another raw black metal album in my collection. In
retrospect, perhaps my enthusiastic endorsement of “Buy or
die” at the time was a bit too hasty. |
So, what of “Helvete”, the second album from this duo? Have
Throne Of Katarsis progressed in any way in the two years
since “An Eternal Dark Horizon”? Well, three things stand out.
First, the musicianship is much better this time around as
frenetic, sloppy musicianship has given way towards an obvious
penchant for the band members to practice their instruments.
Second, the production mutes the bass somewhat, unlike with
the debut, and sounds very traditional; that is, with the thin
production found on the slew of albums that first appeared
from Norway in the early 90s. Lastly, Throne Of Katarsis are
now shamelessly ripping off early Emperor circa “In The
Nightside Eclipse”, without keyboards, rather than early
Darkthrone and Mayhem, as was the template for the debut. Some
haunting vocals reminiscent of Attila Csihar remain, though.
Once again, all of this is pulled off reasonably well on “Helvete”,
which is at times catchy and well written, but totally lacks
any original elements. Basically, “Helvete” boils down to
this: what you see is what you get with no frills or
surprises. This time around, I’ll simply say that you be the
judge.
www.throneofkatarsis.com
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www.candlelightrecords.co.uk |
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