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Belphegor - Walpurgis Rites – Hexenwahn
(Nuclear Blast)
By: Dave Schalek |
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The always solid Belphegor return with yet another solid
full-length, this one entitled “Walpurgis Rites – Hexenwahn”
and released on Nuclear Blast Records. Yes, I’ve described
Belphegor in this manner before, most recently in my review
of “Bondage Goat Zombie” from just last year, but the
description is apt and relevant once more.
Belphegor have found their niche with their brand of
blackened death metal with Satanic-laced sexual sadism
undertones, and “Walpurgis Rites – Hexenwahn” largely
continues the band’s sound and lyrical themes. There have
been a few changes, however, with longtime guitarist Sigurd
leaving the fold, and a few different musical elements are
included on |
“Walpurgis Rites – Hexenwahn”, rather than just
straightaway blasting. The brutality is there in spades with
rapid fire chords and all out blasts (that familiar
Belphegor “sound” and the rough, albeit crystal clear,
production) but there are a couple of slower tracks with a
degree of groove, some vocal tricks from Helmuth, and,
believe it or not, the odd moment or two of well placed
melody and acoustical guitar. Also surprisingly, a couple of
tracks have an epic feel to them, which is definitely not a
signature element of Belphegor’s music. As is the case with
a veteran outfit, the disparate elements come together in a
cohesive way, resulting in a well-written album with plenty
of brutality, catchiness, stellar musicianship, and
foreboding atmosphere. Hell, the cover art is awesome, as
well.
Belphegor will probably remain critically underrated with
“Walpurgis Rites – Hexenwahn” (especially with imminent
releases from some heavyweights), but this is an excellent
album from hard working veterans. Highly recommended.
www.belphegor.at
| www.myspace.com/belphegor
| www.nuclearblastusa.com
| www.nuclearblast.de |
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Blackout - Evil Game
(Metal Mind) Review by Metal Mark |
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I know that I saw this album cover at some point in time in
the back of a stack of albums. It didn't impact me enough to
buy it at the time, but something about must have made an
impact because I remembered it. I knew nothing of the band
or the music, but then I saw that Metal Mind was re-issuing
it so I was interested. These guys were from Holland and
originally came together as Godzilla back in 1983. They also
started out their existence playing pop-rock. However, they
soon decided that this angel was not working for them and
they switched to metal. Good thing for us because a year
later they knocked out this album. Even though they are from
Holland, they still play a style similar to what was going |
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on in the UK around the time. They may be a little more into
melodies, but this is still a straight on assault of metal
and hard rock not far off from NOWBHM acts. I can hear some Scorpions, Judas Priest and
even a little Van Halen in their sound. Nothing completely
different, but they fit in with the huge majority of metal
that was pouring out of the time. I was instantly hooked
even though I had heard this style many times before. They
don't overstay their welcome and blend together a sound that
pulls from both the late 1970's and the early 1980's yet
they do not sound dated. I wish I had known how good they
were back then when I viewed the black and white cover with
the green snakes facing one another. At least the good folks
at Metal Mind have re-issued it complete with a lyric book.
So now I can enjoy this gem that I flipped past those many
years ago. |
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Chord - Flora (Neurot Recordings)
By: Dave Schalek |
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Here’s an unusual experiment in drone from a quartet from
Chicago called Chord. Only very loosely connected to metal
(Pelican guitarist Trevor de Brauw is a member), Chord
consists of four guitarists with each musician assigned a
single chord to play during each track on “Flora”, the four
song debut full-length on Neurot Recordings. It is then up
to each guitarist to fully explore that chord and bring out
of it as much dynamics as is possible. Then, integrate those
sounds with those of the other musicians. Huh.
OK, before you roll your eyes and move on, the effect
actually works as an interesting exercise in harmonic driven
drone. Obviously, this sort of thing is going to mostly
appeal to |
fans of Sunn O))) and the like, but “Flora”
manages to hold your interest as each track builds from
subtleties to a crescendo, and then fades. In addition,
there’s a surprising amount of variation with a couple of
lulling, soft tracks interspersed with crushing heaviness in
the others. In order for the music to work as well as its
does, a quartet of guitars is definitely needed to weave a
kaleidoscopic tapestry of sounds.
Sure, most of “Flora” sounds very similar to Sunn O))), but
is subtly different to avoid merely being some sort of
copycat. I found Chord to be enjoyable enough, though, and I
recommend “Flora” for the barbiturate driven drone crowd.
www.myspace.com/dronecollective
| www.neurotrecordings.com |
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Despite - In Your Despite
(Black Label/Tractor Productions) Review By Steve Earles |
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The Gothenburg sound is very much a two-edged sword. It’s
instantly recognisable, but you have the long shadow of the
mighty At The Gates hanging over your heads. What makes this
release work for me, is the primal punky fury invested in
its metal, it has a strong streak of Disfear running through
it, as evidenced on album opener Mindplague. The production
is outstanding as you’d expect. On tracks like ‘Rain’ with
it’s eerie discordant chords and brooding intro, the band
shift away from their influences, which is as it should be
if a band is to forge ahead and make its own name. Beast In
The Cage continues in this epic vein. Mechantical is very
adventurous and would not feel out of place on the |
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soundtrack to a Terminator movie. Crehate has a marching
bulldozer of a riff, like Mek-Quake pulverising a trembling
city into the ground. Rise Above (no, not a tribute to Mr
Dorrian’s mighty label of doom), but a grinding oppression
lurcher of a track. Album closer No Fucking Way speaks for
itself! A fine sincere album from a band we will be hearing
more of.
www.despite.se |
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Fair Warning - Aura
(Metal Heaven) Review by Dave Baynham |
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Although German melodic rockers Fair Warning put out their
first album on WEA in 1992 this is only their sixth release.
In fact it’s probably because they started when they did
that this is the case. What happens when you produce lush,
lovingly crafted US radio friendly stadium rock, with a
massive Bon Jovi influence just as grunge starts to pull the
carpet from under the whole genre? Answer, Fair Warning sell
boat loads in Japan and have a loyal fanbase on mainland
Europe. After two albums with WEA they have changed record
labels a bit, including one album ‘Four’ on Frontiers. In
2000 the band split up, partly because of the number of side
projects band members were involved in. However they |
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returned two and a half years ago with the album ‘Brothers
Keeper’ and are now on Metal Heaven Records. The new album,
‘Aura’ is full of emotive, well played, classy material
topped off by powerful vocals from Tommy Heart. The upbeat
tracks are majestic and exhilarating. There are a lot of
ballads, both power and otherwise on this record. Often the
tracks have an epic feel, if a little overcooked at times.
Yet at the core of all of the songs there are catchy tunes.
In the mid to late eighties this would have been the
soundtrack to a summer and would have had a huge mainstream
crossover.
www.fair-warning.de
| www.metalheaven.net |
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Griftegard - Solemn. Sacred. Severe
(Van Records)
Chris Davison |
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Firstly, let me say that I have absolutely no idea what
Griftegard means. Apologies, therefore, to any of our
Swedish readers. What I do know, however, is that Ola
(ex-leader of the infamous I Hate Records roster) plays in
this particular outfit. Now this has raised a question or
two in my mind regarding impartiality. Long time readers may
be aware that the chances are that whenever I have reviewed
an I Hate records album before, that I have creamed myself
(metaphorically) over the quality of their doom releases. I
have, therefore, had to steel myself appropriately in order
that I bring you nothing but as |
objective an opinion as I am able to in regards to this six
tracker from Van Records.
As you may expect, this is a doom record. This should not be
any kind of massive surprise to any half-educated metal geek
(such as you, of course, gentle reader). In the grand
tradition of good, quality epic-doom, this has the resonance
of religion all over it. From the tolling of the bells at
the beginning of the CD, through to the ringing quality of
the riffs and reverential tones of the clean vocals, this
speaks to the ear in the grandest tradition of doom. Pitched
somewhere between the more accessible Reverend Bizarre
oeuvre, the early Cathedral pacing and liberal dashes of
Candlemass drama, this is a most impressive debut. It is
not, however, destined to be a “quick listen” any time soon,
though of course that particular observation may be on the
way to being the most superfluous one written in a review on
this particular august organ! With track lengths weighing in
at average somewhere around eight minutes, there is plenty
of time for you to become acquainted with the music
contained within. Most impressive of all is the guitar work
– which manages to make even the most ponderous of those
massive leaden riffs alive through melody and tasteful lead
guitar work. Everything else is where it should be –
particularly the clean, mournful voice work.
The production is spot on, with plenty of attack and punch
being evident alongside the crystal clarity of the
instruments. In terms of song writing, this is a band that
doesn’t shirk from repetition as an instrument in religious
worship. Griftegard have produced a minor masterpiece in
orthodox doom – as with religion itself, this is addictive,
mind-altering stuff that should not be exposed to the weak
minded. www.van-gbr.de |
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HateFX - The Holy Frail
(Green Bird) Review by Steve Green |
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HateFX are one of those bands that remind you of a million other bands,
yet at the same time, the way they blend everything together makes them
seem kind of unique. A lot of the bands they've played with are geared
towards a younger, modern audience, and that's probably where the bands
fanbase lies, but there are enough other ingredients, such as Industrial
flourishes and a patented US Metal style groove, to keep the more
seasoned Metalhead happy. Frontman G, has achieved success in his native
Chile with the band Dogma before his move to the US and he seems
extremely comfortable behind the mic stand. His style is a fucker to pin
down, but I've sort of got him somewhere between the
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more melodic style James Hetfield uses these days and the raspier tones of Machine Head's
Rob Flynn. And I'd be tempted to thrown Burton C Bell into there
somewhere as well. And the music reflects upon this style, with elements
of Thrash, Industrial and more straight ahead Metal vying for supremacy.
The Holy Frail isn't exactly groundbreaking, but I cannot help but like
it. Good stuff.
www.myspace.com/hatefx |
www.hatefx.com
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Ioannis Anastassakis - Orbital
Attempt (Wild Rose Angel
Productions) Review by Steve Green |
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Whenever an instrumental or guitar orientated instrumental album drops
through the letterbox, I'm instantly filled with dread. Mainly as
there's a good chance it'll be nothing but self indulgent wank. Hoping
to buck that trend is Crete born guitarist Ioannis Anastassakis, who has
a fine pedigree having been taught by the likes of Steve Vai, Vinnie
Moore and Marty Friedman, amongst countless others. Bolstering the
chances of this being good album even further is the inclusion of
Firewind keyboard wizard Bob Katsionis, who I'm a big fan of.
And despite this being a note perfect album, I'm just not feeling it.
Having programmed
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drums instead of a live drummer has a lot to do with it, I'm
sure, but while I can say that the man is a genius on the fretboard, there's not enough here to keep me interested. 11 tracks with
a running time of 74 minutes is a hell of a lot of instrumental music to
take in one sitting, especially with a couple of tracks hitting the 8
minute mark and one reaching a sleep inducing 11 minutes and 24 seconds.
So the man can play his ass off, that's for sure, but I cannot stomach
this self indulgent "stuff" and I'd much rather hear his talents used to
better effect in a proper Metal band.
www.myspace.com/ioannisanastassakis
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