Formicarius - Lake Of The Dead EP (CD Review)

01.Lake Of The Dead
02.Under Darkness
03.Cosmic Keys

Lord Saunders (Vocals/Guitar)
Hægtesse (Vocals/Bass)
Nazarkardeh (Guitar)
Morath (Keyboards)
Aelle (Drums)

First conceived in the Winter of 2014, FORMICARIUS craft elaborate tempests of black metal that hit the listener like a finely sharpened sword to the skull: ornate yet destructive.
Elements of death and symphonic metal are called upon to reinforcethe gargantuan sound that can be heard on single Lake of the Dead.
Unsurprisingly, Formicarius are not a collection of upstart amateurs,instead featuring members of De Profundis, Premature Birth, Phyrexia and Maxdmyz: no strangers
to UK extreme metal.

Epic symphonic intro to 'Lake Of The Dead' launches into some furious drumming and complex riffs. This is perfectly under-scored by the keyboards, which dont intrude too much into the mix.
A typical black metal gruff vocal style, but one that you can make out the words, cuts through the music and keeps your attention.

'Under Darkness' takes you on a melodic journey of keyboards and guitars, and here i am nodding my head along to this nice sounding music then all of sudden it explodes into a full on black metal attack.
Some nice little timing changes make this 3 minute song feel longer and more epic, very clever, oh and a nice little breakdown with a mini bass solo as well!

Finally (already?) 'Cosmic Keys' another clever and well structured song, the keyboards stay slow and melodic allowing the rest of the band to draw on their various extreme and black metal backgrounds to create a monster of a song, a good reminder than once upon a nightmare british black metal used to be something worth listening too and if the album lives up to this little EP, then dear reader there is hope for the future!

Rating 10/10
For fans of: Dimmu Borgir, Phyrexia, Satyricon, (Early) Cradle Of Filth

Aeternum (UK) - Through Death We Ascend EP (CD Review)

01.Beyond The Valley
02.As The Last Kingdom Burns
03.Non Serviam
04.Sons Of The Fading Dusk
05.The Light Bearer
06.Invocation

Elliot Beaver (Vocals)
Adam Vom Grima (Guitar)
Zurab Melua (Guitar)
James Patterson (Bass)
JG (Drums)






Formed in early 2011 by a group of experienced young musicians, Aeternum are a five piece Blackened Death Metal band based in London featuring members of 'Phyrexia' and 'Reaping Havoc'.

Brought together by their shared influences of Dissection, Behemoth, Necrophobic and Belphegor as well as a love of classic Black and Death Metal, they create a sound based on a combination of both genres’ hallmarks; ethereal melodies woven into crushing guitars, driven by pounding drums and inhuman growls and screams.

Currently gearing up for live shows and this impending first release.

Dark and doom laden cello and funeral drum makes up the intro 'Beyond The Valley' which leads into something much heavier 'As The Last Kingdom Burns'.

Superb musicianship and what a production, in particular the screaming evil vocal attack would make a certain Mr Davy shit his goth pants!

'Non Serviam' keeps up the pace, with a dark, rythmic and brooding nightmare of classic british Black Metal, fuck sake the drums absolutley destroy the speakers (Mind you they are set on 100!!!!) the melody that the guitarists manage to put throughout this song is outstanding.

Oh and again some superb acoustic guitar leads into 'Sons Of The Fading Dusk' the bass riff behind it helps build to that screaming creshendo that you know is coming, and fuck me does it come with all the daemons of hell armed to the teeth with armageddon in mind.
Seriously the delivery on this just scream power and musical precision on a world class level.I tell you this that acoustic breakdown half way through the song is placed just right and long enough to take a breath!

'The Light Bearer' has a riff not a million miles away from Maidens 'The Trooper' but apart from that there are no more comparisons to Harry's band.
Riff madness, hyper speed and satans vocal coach giving it his all.
Some great powerchording giving this a headbanging quality, tho perhaps a free neckbrace at gigs for the front 2 rows??

Finally another awesome riff kicking off another awesome song,'Invocation' is a power laced monster that has a great rhythm running throughout and again a touch of Maiden in the guitarwork but retaining brutality and power.
Nice weird guitar sounding riffage half way through giving this one another dimension.

That music of this standard is being made by Aeternum, people who are prepared to work hard at creating original, entertaining, well crafted and expertley executed "Metal", is something to be very proud of.






Rating: 10/10
For Fans Of: Behemoth, Anaal Nathrakh, Dimmu Borgir, Akercocke, Meads Of Asphodel

FACEBOOK : www.facebook.com/aeternumuk

BEST OF 2011

So its that time to pick the best of 2011, not so easy this year as it was'nt the greatest year for outstanding releases, and we did have to suffer the biggest piece of shit ever commited to disc: Metallica & Lou Reed (art apparently, yeh with a capital "F").

But there are some diamonds in the rust and here they are....

ALBUMS

01.Donkerkarnuffel - Zombie Clown Apocalypse
02.Axis Of Perdition - Tenements (Of The Anointed Flesh)
03.Vallenfyre - A Fragile King
04.Turisas - Stand Up And Fight
05.Anaal Nathrakh - Passion
06.Hamerex - Rites Of Passage
07.Arch Enemy - Khaos Legions
08.Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Blood Lust
09.Venom - Fallen Angels

SINGLES/EP's


01.Amulet - Cut The Crap EP
02.Nemhain - Murder Mile EP
03.Mortad - Pandemic Paranoia EP
04.Phyrexia - Children Of The Dawn

VIDEOS'S

01.Rammstein - Mein Land



02.Devin Townsend Project - Juular

APRIL GIGGAGE :)

Phyrexia - Children Of The Dawn EP (Cd Review)

01.1914
02.Children Of The Dawn


Elliot Beaver (Vocals)
Dan Saunders (Guitar)
Vicki Thompson (Keyboards)
Paul Nazarkardeh (Guitar)
Simon McAuliffe (Bass)
Tom Atherton (Drums)



London's Phyrexia released an ep sometime back and it was good but lacked "production" this new EP recorded, mixed and mastered by Tom Sullivan brings a quality to these tracks and allows us to hear the full might of their excellent take on Epic Black/Extreme metal.

Can i just start by saying "Fucking Hell!!!" because thats the initial reaction to '1914'.
The power that comes through the speakers its brain melting, everything about this is just 100% better than their last EP.
The vocals are agressive and stunning and the drumming absolutley slays!
Superb guitar work in different styles from shred to near acoustic, the timing changes in the music and the subtle tones of dark piano just add layer upon layer of depth.

Symphonic Death/Black metal comes once again screaming out of the speakers!
'Children Of The Dawn' is a very harsh drum driven beast, with beautiful harmony underneath the mix coming from a slower synth sound.
About three minutes in you get this fantastic guitar solo and then it slows down for some screaming vocals before that awesome drum pattern kicks back in.

At this level the band now need an album and video, time everybody knew about them!!

STU

Rating 10/10

For fans Of : Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Akercocke, Order Of Apollyon.

PHYREXIA - WORLD ANNIHILATION EP (CD Review)

01.Bladewing
02.Bloodfire Colossus
03.The Pyromaniac


Elliot Beaver (Vocals)
Daniel Saunders (Guitar/Vocals)
Paul Nazarkardeh (Guitar)
Bobby Dennis (Bass)
Rhys Sinclair (Drums)
Vicki Thompson (Keyboards)


Formed in 2007 the band play an organised blend of music which they call "Epic Melodic Dragon Metal",taking influences primarily from metal but all across the musical spectrum and beyond to create an original sound.


'Bladewing' has a classic symphonic/black metal sound, some quite good guitarwork and harmony keyboards and a nice Maidenish guitar solo towards the end.
The vocals however clearly need work unless tasmanian devil is what was intended.

Now for 'Bloodfire Colossus' the vocal is much better, still shouty and more akin to hardcore than the symphonic background would normally be used to.
The timing changes are well executed and again the guitarwork shines through and it sets the right mood.

The epic metal elements are here with 'The Pyromaniac' at times reminescent of early cradle Of Filth, but it's that vocal style which still sits uncomfortably for me.
The breakdown with 3 different guitar solos is well put together and the way the drums kick back in is very good.

This cd is good, dont get me wrong, but i really think that the music deserves a better vocal approach, its too hardcore to do the music justice.
The band clearly have the ability to produce music of a high standard and it will be intresting to see what they produce next.

STU

Rating 6/10

For fans of: Cradle Of Filth, Children Of Bodom, Mayhem