Toxoid - Aurora Satanae (CD Review)

01.Baphomet Enraged
02.Feed My Wrath
03.Demon Lust
04.Mystical Misanthropy Doctrine
05.Aurora Satanae
06.Thy Infernal Defloration


Adnan Khan (Guitar/Vocals)
Sagar Sidhanti (Drums)
Paul Marandi (Bass)
Angad Singh (Guitar)

Formed in India in 2012, they are the self styled "Indian torch bearers" , carrying forward the Norwegian / Swedish legacy of the most authentic, ritualistic, satanic underground black metal. Toxoid is on a quest to establish the devil's empire, and overthrow all which is not real. 

Fucking hell, this really does sound like early Norwegian black metal, its one of those things you have to take a double check on just to make sure you are playing the right cd!
Everything about this is perfect in sound, style and composition from the riffs to the blackend screams!

Rating 9/10
For Fans Of: (Early)- Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Darkthrone, Marduk

Itnuveth - The Way Of The Berserker (CD Review)

01.The Learning (Intro)
02.Legacy Of A Dead Wolf
03.Death We Are
04.Skoll
05.Black Henbane
06.Chaotic Chasm
07.Northern Demons
08.Lif In Hoddmimis Holt
09.Lianne

Lianne (Vocals)
Volundr (Guitar/Bass)

1st album by this spanish band formed by Volundr (SVIPDAGR) and Lianne Krossburner (EDENKAISER) where they play a raw and melodic Pagan Black Metal.

Weird intro, but still pointless to have it as a seperate track, anyway 'Legacy Of A Dead Wolf' kicks in and already i can hear the problem, we have great guitar and good evil sounding vocals and the shittest drum machine sound ever with horrible tinny cymbal tink tink sound!

The drum actually sounds a bit better on 'Death We Are' but it really does kill the darkend vibe!

Even the doom composition of 'Skoll' with its awesome guitar sound is killed by the machine.

Look guys sorry i cant go on, this is such a shame, you have put in the work, created great vocal and guitar stuff, but the drum machine is fucking it up!

Rating 5/10

Bloodbound - Stormborn (CD Review)

01.Bloodtale
02.Satanic Panic
03.Iron Throne
04.Nightmares From The Grave
05.Stormborn
06.We Raise The Dead
07.Made Of Steel
08.Blood Of My Blood
09.When The Kingdom Will Fall
10.Seven Hells
11.When All Lights Fail

Patrik Johansson (vocals)
Tomas Olsson (Guitar)
Henrik Olsson (Guitar)
Anders Broman (Bass)
Fredrik Bergh (keyboards)
Pelle Akerlind (Drums)

Swedish power metal band formed in summer 2004 by Tomas Olsson and Fredrik Bergh. Quickly they recorded a demo and got a contract for Europe and Asia instantly. The debut “Nosferatu” was released in 2006 to critical acclaim. Consequently they played shows with bands like Sabaton, Arch Enemy, Pretty Maids and Evergrey. But 2006 was also characterized by line-up changes which didn’t pass unnoticed, particularly as singer Urban Breed left after the tour to focus on his solo project.
But soon Michael Bormann (ex-Jaded Heart) was found to fill the gap and so the second album “Book Of The Dead” was recorded and released in 2007. But shortly after the release, it became obvious - Michael´s other obligations did not leave him enough time for him To play the already booked shows they could convince Urban Breed to return to the band. And it became more than some gigs. Urban stayed for another tour supporting HammerFall and recorded the next album "Tabula Rasa“ with the band on which more modern and hard elements have been added to their sound. Numerous festival shows as well as another tour with HammerFall followed.
But in 2010 the band parted ways with Urban Breed again. On their search for a new vocalist the remaining members luckily found Patrik “Pata” Johansson (Dawn Of Silence).

Oh here we go again another pointless intro, so i'll skip that and move to a song, now i dont like power metal but this is pretty good, the song 'Satanic Panic' does a pretty solid Iron Maiden impression but then moves more into Accept terrotory with some vocals that Rob Halford would be proud of.
It has a huge chorus as well !

Now 'Iron Throne' has more than a touch of Therion about it mixed in with some pretty hyper speed metal drumming.
Same for the next track as well, but 'Stormborn' is a bit on the epic ballad side and not for me.

The rest of the album is more or less what i said for track one (proper).
So then a power metal album i like!!!

Rating 8/10
For Fans Of: Iron Maiden, Hammerfall, Judas Priest, Accept, UDO

Primus - Primus & The Chocolate Factory (CD Review)

01.Hello Wonkites
02.Candy Man
03.Cheer Up Charlie
04.Golden Ticket
05.Lermaninoff
06.Pure Imagination
07.Oompa Augustus
08.Semi-Wondrous Boat Ride
09.Oompa Violet
10.I Want It Now
11.Oompa Veruca
12.Wonkmobile
13.Oompa TV
14.Farewell Wonkites

Les Claypool(Bass/Vocals)
Larry LaLonde (Guitar)
Tim Alexander (Drums)

Additional Musicians:
Mike Dillon (Marimba/Percussion)
Sam Bass (Cello)

Back after 20 years the original line up of the mighty Primus! with an album of songs by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse from the Willie Wonka film.

Les Claypool explained: "The idea was to combine the Frog Brigade and Primus, and do this record. "I think like a good portion of the planet, we were all pretty put off by the remake of the 'Willy Wonka' movie - the Tim Burton version. I really wanted to pay homage to a film [1971's 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,' starring Gene Wilder] that was very important to me as a kid and very influential to me musically. So that's what we did. And as opposed to just going in and recording the songs and playing them the way they are in the film, we twisted them up a bit…twisted them up a lot."

His comment about the Burton version is intresting seeing as the original Wilder film was disowned by Dahl who felt that they had messed with his script too much and i have heard that he felt the music was a bit "Too much" at times, leaving the family to work with Burton on putting right many of the wrongs from the original.
Also it has to be said that the music that Primus have produced here would be better suited to the Burton version.
But enough of these words and it doesn't matter anyway, i like both versions and this album is brilliant.

The second the music starts you know you are listening to Primus, the bass, the werid music structure and sounds, when we get to 'Candy Man' oh come on we all know the words which makes for singing along quite easy, except the music is far from upbeat, happy and is far from straight forward, again its the weird rhythms and strange sounds, use of instruments, then comes Claypool's vocals, odd, almost sinister, the vibe here is more clive barkers candyman rather than a nice shop keeper!

'Cheer Up Charlie' has a clockwork beat that is so un-nerving that even the melodic vocals cannot make you want to cheer anybody up, its dark and depressing, i think Dahl would have loved it.

Some pretty strange slide guitar keeps 'Golden Ticket' bouncing along, the bassline is hypnotic and the vocals are quite vaudervillian in delivery.

After a five second keyboard tune we come to the awesome, weird, disturbing and nightmare inducing 'Pure Imagination', what can i say, it has that clockwork beat again and the vocal follows the bass in perfect harmony.

The first "Oompa" piece comes next, they all sound the same just with differnt lyrics, all good and keep the humor with the vocalisation.

'Semi-Wonderous Boat Ride' is a very psychedelic, avant-garde piece, great vocal effects over weird sounds.

Slightly country meets rock n roll guitar riff runs throughout 'I Want It Now' and some nice keyboard thrown into the mix.

'Wonkmobile' is another avant-garde aural nightmare mainly created with vocals and vocal effects over a simple thwack of a cymbal.

Finally we end with some more psychedlic rock plus obligatory weirdness.

That Primus are still a force when it comes to making intresting, original and entertaining music in an age where almost every band just release the same old stuff with that 'Its just enough' attitude, its nice to know that some do care about what they release.

Oh and if you see them live, they are selling Primus Chocolate bars!!!

Rating 10/10
For fans of: Frank Zappa, BB Blackdog, Residents, Fearless Flying Frog Brigade

Lordi - Scare Force One (CD Review)

01.SCG7: Arm Your Doors And Cross Check
02.Scare Force One
03.How To Slice A Whore
04.Hell Sent In The Clowns
05.House Of Ghosts
06.Monster Is My Name
07.Cadaver Lover
08.Amen’s Lament To Ra II
09.Nailed By The Hammer Of Frankenstein
10.The United Rocking Dead
11.She’s A Demon
12.Hella’s Kitchen
13.Sir, Mr.Presideath, Sir!


Mr.Lordi (Vocals)
Amen (Guitars)
Ox (Bass)
Hella (Keyboards)
Mana (Drums)

According to Mr. Lordi the material on the new record is more experimental than before. It’s not a theme or concept record, per se, but there is a red thread that runs through the songs.

”The overall sound of the band is more modern, too, and we’ve tried out some new tricks here and there. The basic Lordi building blocks are still present, so there’s no shortage of melodic hooks in the songs"

Lordi’s last two albums were made in Nashville under the watchful eye of legendary producer Michael Wagener. This time the band wanted to do it differently and recorded the album with Finnish veteran producer Mikko Karmila.

So another album and another intro which goes straight into the first song, so why set it out as track 1 in the first place??

'Scare Force One' doesn't exactly blow the speakers, its fairly typical Lordi, melodic middle of the road rock.

While 'How To Slice A Whore' may pick up the pace, the rough vocals grate and the music remains average.

The rest of the album goes nowhere at all, so much for wanting to make a "Different" album, only the single 'Nailed By The Hammer Of Frankenstein' has any real merit with its take on Wednesday 13's horror rock.
This is not and will never be an album a brilliant as 'The Monster Show', strikes me that for all the talk they are doing what many bands do and just "do enough" to get by.
Scare Force One remains stuck on the runway with little chance of ever taking off.

Rating 7/10
For fans of: Wednesday 13, Alice Cooper, Kiss, GWAR

Orion - On The Banks Of Rubicon EP (CD Review)

01.Oh Sweet Ebullition
02.Devoured Existence
03.Astral
04.My Dying Prayer


Vigneshkumar Venkatraman (Guitar/Vocals)
Ashwin Kulkarni (Guitar)
Anshuman Bhattacharya (Bass)
Pritesh Prabhune (Drums)

A progressive death metal band from Mumbai formed in 2009 who attempt to forge a link between Opeth and Cannibal Corpse.

A very melodic start to 'Oh Sweet Ebullition' and this is sounding more like euro technical power metal, then it switches to a slow pounding riff with death metal vocals, weirdly this one keeps changing pace, getting increasingly technical with complex drum patterns and guitar work.The vocals also chnage to highly tuneful (well for a minute or so anyway), then a mix of everything i just said as we head to the end of this opening song.

'Devoured Existence' sticks with that tech power metal vibe and death metal vocals, the next song 'Astral' is a different beast though.
Almost doom to start with it then turns into an american sounding heavy metal song, at times reminiscent of Soundgarden, half way through it suddenly becomes Cannibal Corpse and then finally returns to the melodic heavy metal sounds.

'My Dying Prayer' is modern speed metal tinged once more by the death metal vocals.
All in all this is a great EP and for a band who somehow wanted to find that link between Opeth and Cannibal Corpse have managed to do so via a power metal technical route.
One to watch!

Rating 9/10
For Fans Of: Opeth, Xenochord, Cephalic Carnage, Biomechanical, Mastodon

Chaos - Violent Redemption (CD Review)

01.Ungodly Hour
02.Torn
03.Game
04.War Crime
05.Saint
06.Heaven's Gate
07.Blacklash
08.Merchant Of Death
09.Self Deliverance
10.Cyanide Salvation
11.Violent Redemption


Jaagaa Xplosion (Vocals)
Nikhil Wartooth (Guitar)
Vishnu Flycouncil (Bass)
Manu Krishnan (Drums)

Chaos from India, are reputed for the loud and heavy music that they've been playing since forming in 2004.
Known for their tight and aggressive performances live, the quartet garnered impressive reviews for their debut release, Violent Redemption. The music is fast and frenetic with the aggression not compromising the inspired quality of the musicianship that seeps out of every track. Takes one back to the early 80’s where a few bands were coming together in the Bay Area in San Francisco.

After a pointless intro a proper song, 'Torn' begins, very authentic early 80's Thrash/Speed, every instrument is played at full speed, the vocals shout it out loud and the guitar solo is screamingly perfect!

After some more of the same comes 'Saint' a slower paced powerchord heavy song, very reminiscent of Metallica but without the arrogance, and a nice bluesy solo towards the end.

'Heavens Gate' while musicially is still looking backwards, the songs structure is more up to date, some clever timing changes keep this song intresting and is by far the best track on the album.


Rating 7/10
For fans of: Metallica, Exodus, Testament, Flotsam & Jetsam, Evile