Xenochord - Absinthe (Cd Review)

01.Confession
02.Absinthe
03.Delirium
04.Sunday Morning
05.Refuse To Obey
06.Greed
07.Gasping For Air
08.Maimed By Love
09.To The Living


Csabi Toth (Guitar)
Tomi Szabo (Vocals)
Gabe Nagy (Lead Guitar)
Joe Matrai (Bass)
Pete Aplin (Drums)

Guests:
Tilman Wolff-Moore (keyboards/sampler)
James McIlroy (solo on Greed)


Drawing on influences as diverse as Classical music to Black Metal, Xenochord have been creating original and complex "Progressive Death Metal" since 2007.
Describing themselves with a simple statement, "British Standard - German Quality - Scandinavian Style - HUNGARIAN PRIDE", the latter refering to their heritage.

Perhaps another important element to their music is a love of 'Absinthe', a quality to be admired from all perspectives!

Their debut album "Absinthe" is due out shortly and was mixed and produced by Tilman Wolff-Moore (Spitting Blood/Chaosanct/Samsas Traum) & James McIlroy (Cradle Of Filth/Chaosanct/Order Of Apollyon) who also makes a guest appearence on the track 'Greed'.

'Confession', Generic and brutal kick off to introduce you to a different breed of metal, sure it has the growling vocals and speed you would expect but this is in a class of its own.

The title track and a way of life, 'Absinthe' from the second the synth intro starts it creates this almost symphonic and rhythmic mood, its slow and pounding and intoxicating and is a fitting tribute to the true king of spirits.

With the mood now set 'Delirium' arrives, a perfect song in every way.The synth and bass intro reminisent of Faith No More's 'Epic' opens up to sweeping guitar solos then fires into devistating power and drum driven agression.
The lyrics are something to behold as well : "I can hear the trees talking, In the blooming desert, I can see the flowers walking, High over the mother earth,
Deep under the silted sea, Sun is shining with dark light,With closed eyes I can see, I can touch the screaming clouds".


'Sunday Morning' always a live favourite, awesome melodic guitar into powerchord structures to die for.

'Refuse To Obey' has an awesome atmospheric sampling intro and superb synth sounds intertwined with a fast becoming trademark of power, deathly vocals and melody.

'Greed' displays furious drumming, simplistic rhythm guitar, moves into a fear factory hi tech metal section and yes an awesome display of riffage from Mr McIlroy.

'Gasping For Air', dark and brooding, once again proving that superb musicianship and expert production can help create pure aural pleasure.

You would not believe the beauty of the pure symphonic intro to 'Maimed By Love' it's up there with 'Therion', then comes the full on metal attack, solid bass and drum work again punctuated by powerfull rhythms and outstanding solos and not forgetting that vocal attack.

Ending with something completly different the song 'To The Living' has another atmospheric intro and fantastic guitar from gabe, but instead of kicking in to a metal piece sticks with orchestration and spoken word, setting an ambient and calming end to a devistating album of sheer brilliance!

STU

Rating 10/10

For Fans Of : Cradle Of Filth, Celtic Frost, Meshuggah, Fear Factory

Cradle Of Filth Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa (Cd Review)

01.The Cult Of Venus Aversa
02.One Foul Step From The Abyss
03.The Nun With The Astral Habit
04.Church Of The Sacred Heart
05.The Persecution Song
06.Decieving Eyes
07.Lilith Immaculate
08.The Spawn Of Love And War
09.Harlot On A Pedestal
10.Forgive Me Father (I Have Sinned)
11.Beyond The Eleventh Hour


Dani Filth (Vocals)
Paul Allender (Guitars)
James McIlroy (Guitars)
Dave Pybus (Bass)
Ashley Ellyllon (Keyboards/Backing Vocals)
Martin Škaroupka (Drums)

Guests:
Lucy Atkins (Vocals)
Dora Kemp (Backing Vocals)
Mark Newby Robson (Orchestration)
Andy James (Guitars)

Choir:
Ruth McCabe
Tim Cutts
Craig Miller
Philippa Mann
Dora Kemp
Anna Asbach-Cullen


Love them or hate them the one thing you cannot do is ignore them!
Since forming back in 1991 the Suffolk band have crossed boundaries of black metal and
goth to extreme metal, courted controversy by design and accident, made outstanding
albums and some which should never have seen the light of day!

The last few albums have been pretty average to be honest, but with James McIlroy
once more in the fold i have high expectations of a worthy follow up to the awesome
Nymphetamine album from 2004.

The concept behind the album is the demon Lilith, the first wife of the Biblical Adam.

'The Cult Of Venus Aversa' starts with some cool harpsicord and orchestration and we are introduced to Lilith then comes those trademark blast beats and a screaming Dani.
Its clear from this beginning that some time has been spent working on their sound to create something worthy of the name.

Keyboards and orchestration once again lift the next song, 'One Foul Step From The Abyss', and the next few songs move along with the same level of production and care, each song complimenting its predecessor.

'The Persucation Song' slows the pace with a simplistic but catchy guitar riff and some nice piano playing.

Up next is 'Decieving Eyes' a real heavy "Satyricon" vibe echoes through this but the choral backing lets you know that this is still "COF" at full blast.

'Lilith Immaculate' manages to tick every box with what you would expect and even adds a catchy chorus!

The next two tracks return to the albums formula, but the next song 'Forgive Me Father (I Have Sinned)' is a real surprise in as much as it borders on a commercial goth/metal "single", hell Dani even sounds like he's trying to sing (dare i say) normally, and the female backing works very well, catchy riffs and keyboards.
Way better than that "Temptation" crap they put out a few years back.

Finally the breathtaking, 'Beyond The Eleventh Hour' a dark gothic/black metal sleaze fest!
Stunning lyrics are delivered by both Dani and Lucy, the music is "all out" seemingly throwing everything they have into the mix to create 7 minutes of pure classic "COF"

All in all the perfect follow up to Nymphetamine and an album to restore faith in a band that deserve attention for the RIGHT reasons.

STU

Rating 10/10

For Fans Of : Dimmu Borgir, Satyricon, Therion

NOVEMBER GIG FLYERS

Achilla, Feral, Juggern0rt, N.A.M.B Live @ Hollywood + Vine 15.10.10 (Gig Review)

N.A.M.B
Local boys from Hull, 'Not Another Metal Band' open tonights gig with a short but furious set of catchy post hardcore/screamo, nothing to fault musically (if thats your favoured style of music of course).
The band need to tighten up with their stage presence and the backing vocals need to be delivered with a bit more confidence.

JUGGERN0RT
The first of tonights London based bands, the mighty Juggern0rt bring their devistatingly heavy music with not so much a sledgehammer effect, more of being hit by a solid steel wall at mach 10!
Unlike most bands who play this style of music, the technical ability of the musicians is second to none and vocalist James can hold his growls longer than anyone!
A very professional set, delivered with style and humor, highly entertaining and such was the response to them that they had to perform an encore.
If you are in london next month you can catch them along with Feral at the Arch Enemy after party.

FERAL

Performing tonight as a three piece with guitarist Laurence playing bass after just one rehersal, you would think they had been gigging like this for years.

An absolute blinder of a set, the melody and progression on their take of melodic thrash metal sets them almost in a class of their own.

All three of them clearly put their heart and soul into the music which has been wowing audiences in london for 2 years and now has won them fans in the north.

ACHILLA

The final night of their mini tour to promote their debut single 'Arashi'.

With their usual drummer away his place was taken by Neon Fly's Boris Le Gal and his performance alone was astounding and helped give the band a very heavy edge which allowed guitarist Dan to crank it up to 11 (no he really did the amp actually had 12 on it!) and bassist Costas to pound out the bottom heavy chords.

Vocalist Martamaria stalked the stage with her unique vocals and peformance.

Clearly moving away from the early symphonic/prog influence and maturing into a full on hard rock outfit, songs such as 'Arashi' , 'Devils Eyes' and 'Wild Flower' coming across like never before and getting a very positive reaction from the crowd.

KYRBGRINDER ON TOUR!!

Hard rockin' funky, riffy, metal grooves, a keen sense of melody and an engaging appeal is what you can expect from the London based trio that is KYRBGRINDER.

Fronted by four times drummer of the year Johanne James, who is no stranger to the limelight, having played a variety of stages from small venues to major festivals around the world, treading the boards with the likes of Dream Theater, Psychotic Waltz, Breed 77, Hawkwind and Pain of Salvation. Johanne will be well known to many as the 'engine room' of Threshold, who are considered one of the leading lights of the progressive metal scene.

Johanne formed KYRBGRINDER as a means of sharing his unique style of hard driving, infectious melodic rock that refuses to be pigeonholed, appealing to a wide spectrum of fans.

KYRBGRINDER are: Johanne James on drums and lead vocals, Tom Caris on guitar and Alberto 'Albi' Flaibani on bass.

Following the release of their debut album 'Defiance' on the legendary metal label Mausoleum Records they have subsequently gigged extensively building a hard-core fanbase and an awesome live reputation.

The new album 'Cold War Technology' is now out and recieving great reviews, Now's your chance to catch them live!

http://www.myspace.com/kyrbgrinder

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kyrbgrinder/278919146030

More October Giggage!!!!

October Gigs & News

So with new albums from Cradle Of Filth and Dimmu Borgir and some great upcoming gigs, there is plenty to keep you going this month.
But to jump ahead to December 17th we see a brand new club opening up in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, it promises to bring Live bands and Dj's playing Goth/Alt/Industrial/Blackend Metal, and its free entry.

ACHILLA

Heading out on a mini tour to promote the Arashi single

SOLSIKK

Support slot to Tarja and a track on a new compilation CD!!

BIG RED PARTY TIME!


OTHER GIGS NOT TO MISS :

And Finally A sneak peak behind the creativity of FROM GREAT HEIGHT :)