Live 4 Metal - Reviews

69 Chambers - War On The The Inside (Silverwolf) Review by Steve Green
	This is the sort of album that offers up very little middle ground, kind of like the Alestorm situation. It's definitely a love 'em of hate 'em affair. For the majority of listeners it'll be the poppier, ie commercial side of Nina Treml's vocals that will be the deciding (X) factor. As far as the musical side of 69 Chambers is concerned, it varies from hard hitting, guitar driven Rock/Metal to something a little more serene and that's the exact same path the vocals follow, but when the vocals take a turn for the softer side, it's all too much, even for someone with wide-ranging tastes such as myself. I'm not saying that I dislike their music, it's more of a case that what they've created doesn't really match up with my own personal
tastes. I can appreciate a lot of this album, apart from the more melodic aspects, which don't really gel with the rockier parts, in my humble opinion. I feel 69 Chambers need to decide whether they want to be a rock band or a pop band, because as it stands, the rock side is very good, but the more commercial side appeals to a completely different set of fans. And unfortunately I'm not one of them. www.myspace.com/69chambers

Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agorapocalypse (Relapse Records) By: Dave Schalek
	I last paid attention to Agoraphobic Nosebleed (ANb) with “Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope”, an album that is about the most insane, drum machine driven, over the top exercise in hilarious grindcore that could ever be produced. Convinced that ANb had reached an apex with that release, I never bothered with any follow up material (or anything prior, for that matter). Essentially, I viewed ANb, rightly or wrongly, as a one trick pony. The product of guitarist/ drum programmer Scott Hull, ANb has now come back in 2009 with a full-length follow up to “Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope” entitled “Agorapocalypse” and released on Relapse Records. Frankly, I was expecting another
sample driven, all out assault of at least 40 tracks of around 1000 bpm as the average speed. Not the case. Instead, “Agorapocalypse” is very reminiscent of “Crossover”-era D.R.I. with a bottom heavy, sludgy production, a generally mid-paced gallop, hardcore style vocals, and only 13 songs spread out over an average full-length. In fact, the production places so much emphasis upon the bass that the guitar becomes somewhat buried in the mix at times. One of the big questions going into a drum machine release is the organic quality of the drum sound. “Agorapocalypse” could have just as easily been recorded with a human drummer, as the drumming with this type of speed, roll patterns, and so on, is well within the grasp and ability of a competent musician. The drums are so organic sounding, in fact, that I initially had a hard time believing that “Agorapocalypse” was recorded with a drum machine. Further adding to the confusion is a drum solo of sorts that any competent extreme metal musician could’ve easily have pulled off. At any rate, in the end, “Agorapocalypse” isn’t anything special, but ends up being an update in the crossover genre with a modern sound. The musicianship and songwriting are adequate, but with competition from label mates Mumakil, Brutal Truth, and others recently releasing albums in the grindcore genre, “Agorapocalypse” becomes lost in the shuffle as an average album at best. The album art is outstanding, though. www.myspace.com/agoraphobicnb \| www.relapse.com

Archaic - The Time Has Come to Envy The Dead (Vic Records) Review by Chris Davison
	The Hungarian Archaic, not the French outfit of the same name, fact fans. Ah, the whole world it seems has gone thrash mad. This is not all a bad thing. I might be the resident miserable bastard on the site, forever bemoaning the lack of true spirit in this whole thrash revival thingyme, but in the main, it's heartening to hear exciting new music coming out from the most unlikely of sources. Archaic are a seriously accomplished band, composing great, writhing thrash tracks with plenty of aggression and attack, with a true knack for writing lightspeed, writhing serpentine riffs that turn and spin throughout the sprawling tracks on offer here. They also
have a nice knack for dark, brooding dynamics and an almost horrific twist on thrash songwriting with the likes of the impressively incisive “Cornu”. The production is absolutely crystal clear, with the deathly vocals being a perfect contrast to the clear, beautifully played guitars. The bass work is as it should be – pounding and driving, while the drumming occasionally blast-beats into death metal territory with some ferocious double kick drum action. The Cd also comes with a couple of multimedia videos, apparently, though I couldn't get the sodding things to work. Still, as your computers are probably more “swoosh” and “fssshzle” than mine, that won't be a problem for you now, will it? www.vicrecords.com

Black Lotus - Harvest of Seasons (Bleak Art Records) Review by Crin
	Canadian Black Folk Metal. This is one of those Norse inspired Black Symphonic albums that, depending on your own personal take on the genre, will leave you yawning or enthralled. It is a vibrant black metal album mixed with clean folk inspired chanting and a rough clean male vocal, which made me think of older Borknagar colliding with Arcturus. Black Lotus play melodic black metal and display a fine repertoire of symphonic inspires songs, all of which will leave you more than satisfied, but that’s all you will feel as nothing is overly inspiring and no new twists are generated here. The tracks are overly complicated [Dimmu Borgir's paint by numbers style is far easier to enjoy] As the album progresses the
cleaner vocals [that are very Simen Hestnæs of Arcturus in tone] become more frequent. Another Norwegian act, Forlorn also creep into the mix here as the Viking Pagan elements of both bands share a similar full bodied atmosphere. So here lies the problem. Its nothing remotely new, nor challenging the boundaries of this massively populated genre. That said, after repeated plays there is an endearing something about this band. Maybe it’s the acclimatization to the style or maybe it’s the fact the band are so familiar in parts due to our indoctrination of the Dimmu Borgir symphonic style? Whatever it is, I would recommend it to the fans of the genre. www.bleakartrecords.com/releases_v.php?id=34

Black Sun Aeon - Darkness Walks Beside Me (Cyclone Empire) review by Sam Thomas
	Black Sun Aeon is this year’s must-have – a one-man band. In this case, the one man is Tuomas Saukkonen from Finland (Before The Dawn, Dawn Of Solace, The Final Harvest). Having produced a mere two albums with his other bands in 2008, Tuomas felt that he needed to produce something else, and Darkness Walks Beside Me is the result. Being an industrious Finn, he also got a few friends along to provide vocals, and they read like a Who’s Who of Finnish metal: Tomi Koivusaari from Amorphis, Ville Sorvali from Moonsorrow, Mynni Luukkainen from Sotajumala and Mikko Heikkilä from Sinamore. He’s also arranged to play live (again with a bit of help from his friends) but sadly only in
Finland. Darkness Walks Beside Me is an extremely apposite title for this album of dark, brooding melancholy. It’s so utterly Finnish in style (the vocals are a huge give away, irrespective of which vocalist is performing at the time), it just evokes pictures of endless freezing winter and grey miserable skies. Each track is titled “A Song for” something or other (my demise, my weakness, my funeral – see a theme developing here?) and they are all beautifully detailed works in their own right. I get the impression that Tuomas has used the assorted vocal styles of his contributors in the same way that a composer might use different instruments to produce varying effects. The overall feeling of the album is of being enveloped with layer after layer of darkness, and yet it’s not suffocating or even depressing, simply very, very bleak. The cover art continues the theme: it’s an abstract sort of design which could be flames or blood flowing over the imprint of waves in the sand. Or a picture of something utterly mundane blown up millions of times. The whole album has this theme: it’s slippery, undefinable. Perhaps the easiest thing to say is that if you like Katatonia (how can anyone not?) then you should love this. A thing of darkness is a beauty forever… www.cyclone-empire.com \| www.blacksunaeon.com

Boarders - The World Hates Me (Retroactive Records) by Julian Handley
	With the band name ‘Boarders’, and with a title ’ The World Hates Me ‘, you could be forgiven for assuming that what lies within is another wannabe skater rock band, drenched in pseudo angst. Enter the first track and you couldn’t be any further removed from the afore mentioned assumption. The band are actually an Italian thrash/white metal 4 piece that can trace its earliest conception back to the late eighties, paying homage to one of their major influences having masqueraded as a Megadeth tribute act in their native Italy.
The opening track ‘ True Rebellion ‘gently eases you in with a stabbing guitar intro, leading into a teasing rhythm before the unveiling of vocalist Egi’s amazing mostly mid octave domination, although his range is quite staggering, flitting between a scream and a snarling growl in a split second. It is of little surprise that the band nod in the direction of the ‘Almighty’ ( holy one not the band ), as they are certainly blessed with a God given talent. They play fast, energetic, intelligent, straightforward metal tinged with a late eighties / early nineties influence akin to the likes of Iron Maiden, Metallica and melodic white metallers Barren Cross. The album certainly would look to have a broad appeal to any self discerning fan of the metal fraternity, atheists aside, and whilst I don’t pander to any religious opinion I certainly rate ‘ The World Hates Me ‘ as a relevant combative and enjoyable effort. The production is crisp and fresh, with none of the eleven tracks consisting of filler material, standouts are ‘Schmetzgarten‘, ‘Deliver You Back To Hell’, a fantastic rendition of Megadeths ‘In My Darkest Hour‘ and closing the affair with the brilliant mostly instrumental title track. All in all a most satisfying debut of which the band should be most proud. www.myspace.com/music4thelion

Crescent Shield - The Stars Of Never Seen (Cruz Del Sur) Review by Metal Mark
	I had this one sitting around for a while before I pulled it out of the sleeve. I stared at the disc with all these little stars on it. I guess I was hoping that these points of light would give me some hint as to what kind of music was contained on this disc. I still had no idea what to expect as I slipped it into the player. It didn't long for me to pulled in by this LA based band. My first impression was that they reminded me quite a bit of Sanctuary. There is a similar approach in the structure and the vocals are along the same lines. Crescent Shield are not quite as heavy, but they opt to be slightly more melodic. They are obviously fans of early Queensryche and Iron Maiden too as those influences are strung throughout. The
whole style is a bit off from your classic metal medium. I say that in the best way possible. It's not all 1-2-3 from this band, there are surprises and there is a certain off the cuff feel to many of the songs. They have ability to play it out though and that's where they shine. There are definite elements of classic, progressive and other metal sub-genres, but they take them, give them a twist and make the results their own. Certainly not an album I could listen to every day, but there is a certain allure about Crescent Shield that appealed to me right away. Maybe not what I was expecting, but far more than I was hoping for. www.myspace.com/crescentshield

Enemy Soil - Smashes The State DVD (SelfMadeGod) Review by James Young
	For the grind fans out there who haven’t heard of Enemy Soil, prepare yourself for a history lesson. Virginia’s very own politically-charged psychos were one of the influential bands of the last decade, and has lent members to such renowned bands as Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Drugs Of Faith. Interested yet? So you should be! Musically, these better known bands serve as a good indicator of what to expect here - chaotically well-executed blast beating, distorted mayhem at its best. The best way to describe this would be an American version of early Napalm Death (and judging from the line-up history, they went the same way in terms of member changes). So expect walls of white noise upon walls of white noise, sandwiched between raw-sounding riffs and bass bludgeoning, all executed in a very short space of time. This DVD is a nice little retrospective of the now defunct outfit, with an hour of noise taken
from small shows recorded between 1996 and 1998, with a set from the 2001 one-off reunion show in New York. These early videos are seriously, seriously stripped down; I could have sworn some of the ‘venues’ they can be seen playing in include a sports hall and a bedroom, and there are rarely more than ten people in the crowd. I believe ‘cult’ is the word, bearing in mind these were the days before every Tom, Dick and Harry had a phone camera and uploaded any old tosh onto You Tube. The New York reunion show on the other hand seems like it’s actually being held in some kind of known venue, which is nice for the band, and the listener, as the sound quality and professionalism is far superior to the other videos. Also included on the DVD is a bunch of ten unreleased studio recordings which you can listen to against a screen saying the song title. This probably would have worked better as a bonus cd option or photo montage (especially as there is a separate photo and flyer section), but the mere fact it’s included shows that a lot of heart has gone into this release. If you’ve never heard of this band, which is pretty understandable considering the size of the venues they played, it’s never too late to catch up, and whilst Enemy Soil may be gone, the legacy certainly is not forgotten, as this DVD attests. This is a fantastic chance to take a step back in time and check out one of the unspoken greats, in a tidy little video package. Noisy! www.members.tripod.com/enemygrind \| www.myspace.com/enemysoil \| www.selfmadegod.com