Rectified Spirit - Rectified Spirit (CD Review)

01.To Hold A Sabre
02.Bloodrush
03.Paradigm Lost
04.The Magicians Birthday
05.Rectified Spirit
06.There Is No Tomorrow
07.Where The Ashes Fell
08.Vengeance
09.Until We Expire
10.Mother

Rainjong Lepcha (Vocals)
Samudragupta Dutta (Guitar)
Dishankan Baruah (Guitar)
Himangshu Borah (Bass)
Nishant Hagjer (Drums)


Rectified Spirit from India is doing something quite daring - it's merging various styles and calling it "Libero Metal" which defies classification. It has elements of Thrash, Power, Death, even modern metal and the music effortlessly oscillates from something powerful to something that's clean and soul-touching.

Formed in August 2005, the band started performing in various gigs of the active metal circuit of their hometown. However, after a few years of being active in the circuit, some of the band members left the band due to various individual engagements, from 2009 onwards. Thereafter, founder member and guitarist Samudragupta Dutta and long term bassist Himangshu Bora reformed the band again in the year 2011 with guitarist and long term friend of both, Imtiyaz Alam. With newly associated vocalist Rainjong Lepcha and drummer Nishant Hagjer the band started performing again in the active metal circuit of their hometown. But due to sudden departure of their friend Imtiyaz Alam, on account of his pressing individual engagements, the band has newly recruited guitarist Gitartha Goswami.

What a strange album, quite stunning really, a mix of Maiden and Megadeth superficially then so many other elements layered in.
Take the opening track 'To Hold A sabre', starts with this spoken introduction over a simple guitar piece then goes into Megadeth style riffs and drums, then the vocals come in, very melodic (Ie the guy actually sings!), but then the the vocals get all mixed up with high pitched to cookie monster styles, by which time the drum pace had doubled and the guitars have slowed slightly.Towards the end throw into the mix euro power metal rifferey and finally metalcore vocals!

So that track sets the standard for the entire album, i'm not going to go through each track, take what i said about the first one then multiply by 10, look fuck reading this just go and get the bloody album!

Rating 10/10
For Fans Of: Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Queensryche, Symphony X, Judas Priest

Necropoli - i (CD Review)

01.Ashes Of My Soul
02.Inner Space
03.A Step
04.Silence Awaits Me
05.Curriculum Vitae

Rodolfo Baroni (Guitar)
Dario Fabiani (Guitar/Bass/Synth/Vocals/Programming)
David Unsaved (Vocals)

Italian band born from the ashes of the funeral doom band Damnatio Memoriae in 2011, when founder guitarist Rodolfo Baroni met Fabiani Dario, with whom he immediately started composing for a new release, due to a good working harmony.

The duet try to go beyond the classical path of doom metal, defiling it with Drone, Death, Black and Downtempo influences, and aiming to express their music with no trivial.
They work together on the guitar lines, while Dario writes the bass and the drums lines, and part of the synth arrangement,they are also joined by Ennui vocalist David Unsaved.

Fairly straight forward opening song, 'Ashes Of My Soul' treads the funeral doom path with confidence.

Black Metal blasts beats make 'Inner Space' a bit more diverse, as does some of the chugging guitar riffs.

Very atmospheric start to 'A Step' and then those doom powerchords crash in only disturbed by some frantic double pedal work, a really haunting little keyboard riff runs throughout, slightly unnearving at times.

Up next is 17 minutes of 'Silence Awaits Me', melodic and heavy to start with, this epic is broken up by solem guitar solos over synth backgrounds and some intresting timing changes.

Finally 'Curriculum Vitae' a short 4 minutes to end with, weird vocal effects over simple synth patterns to make for a very disturbing ending.

Rating 10/10
For Fans Of: Celtic Frost, Pantheist, AHAB, Boris, Cephalic Carnage

Luna - Ashes To Ashes (CD Review)

01.Ashes To Ashes

DeMort (All Instruments)

Hailing from the Ukraine, DeMort has created a 56 minute gothic/symphonic/doom masterpiece.
Whoever this DeMort is, he or she has some talent, everything from string and wood instruments to synths, guitars and drums are used to near genious levels, this is a soundtrack to a gothic horror movie that you can create in your own mind.

Rating 10/10
For fans of: Nightwish, Therion, Dimmu Borgir, Epica

Doomed - Our Ruin Silhouettes (CD Review)

01.When Hope Disappears
02.In My Own Abyss
03.A Reccurent Dream
04.The Last Meal
05.My Hand In Yours
06.Revolt
07.What Remains

Pierre Laube (All Instruments/Vocals/Programming)
Guests:
Pim Blankenstein (Vocals 'When Hope Disappears')
Andreas Kaufmann (Vocals 'The Last Meal')

East German doom project started by Laube in 2011, creating a traditional sound based on powerful harsh rhythm guitars, low accented bass and intensive solo guitars.


Starting with bells and various choral voices 'When Hope Disappears' grabs the attention straight away, soon moves into slow pounding doom with gutteral vocals.
The guitar is very melodic playing harmonies as opposed to de-tuned powerchords.
Towards the end the pace picks up, very 70's in style, then ends on more harmony.

Slow funeral doom for six solid minutes and 'In My Own Abyss' creates the perfect soundtrack for misery.

While 'A Reccurent Dream' returns to the style of track 1, the next one, 'The Last Meal', is more Black Metal with hyper drumming mixing it up with slower passages

Some really nice spoken word parts to 'My Hand In Yours', bringing yet another element to Laube's clever take on the doom genre, even some late 60's sounding guitar playing in this one.


'Revolt'could almost be a mainstream heavy metal song, quite a "nice" commercial take on Doom riffs, very catchy guitarwork, and a hypnotic drum beat.

Some prog elements to 'What Remains' at the start and then keeps the pace throughout, this one, again, has a lot more to offer than just Doom, very well put together, some striking bass work towards the end and that deep demonic vocal style all go to create something special.

Rating 9/10
For fans of: Witchsorrow, Electric Wizard, Boris, Type O Negative, Triptykon

Emil Bulls - Sacrifice To Venus (CD Review)

01.The Grave
02.Hearteater
03.Pants Down
04.I Wanna Feel You
05.Rainbows And Butterflies
06.The Way Of The Warrior
07.The Reckoning
08.The Age of Revolution
09.Sacrifice To Venus
10.Gone Baby Gone
11.Man Or Mouse
12.Keep On Dreaming
13.Behind The Sun

Christoph v. Freydorf (Vocals)
James Richardson (Bass)
Andy Bock (Guitar)
Stephan Karl (Guitar)
Manuel Lotter (Drums)

They are the exact opposite of ‘typical German’ and at the same time one of the flagships of the German music scene.
Like no other band EMIL BULLS stands for a subtle underground spirit. For the past 19 years, the band has been delivering fresh and captivating tones without repeating itself.

3 years since their last release they return with a new record deal and new sound of "Alt Metal".
Hmm "Alternative" metal, that usuallly means crappy shouty music from what i have heard, dare i click play?

So play is engaged and 'The Grave' starts and yep its shouty crap with melodic pop chorus.Maybe the next track is good?

Well sounds better so far, 'Hearteater' has good drum playing, limited shouting and a strong melody running throughout
.

Oh no not again, shouting rubbish again, desperatly trying to be "Metal" sounds like a bunch of retarted post emo kids on an Andrew W.K bender!

No no no, there is a reason this stuff is called Alternative metal, just left out "To", sorry this is crap for kids who are looking for a new reason to pretend to metal, this is scene kid music.

Rating 4/10
For fans of: Black Veil Brides, Fightstar, Five Finger Death Punch, Kerrang! Magazine

Kurgaall (Italian Black Metal Band New Album Details)

Care for a little Black Metal??
KURGAALL, the Italian Satanic Black Metal Cult released it's new album entitled VOLUNTAS LUCIFERI through Deathstorm Records. 

The track listing is: 1. Lucifer will Reign Again2. Domination of Satan3. Raping the Corpse of the Holy Virgin4. King of Blasphemy5. Infernal War6. Ego Promitto Domino7. Night of Satanist8. Demon Seal9. Skull Throne of Satan

Wanna know what it sounds like then check out their first video for the single "Night of the Satanist".

Vexilla Regis Prodeunt Inferi - Vexilla Regis Prodeunt Inferi (CD Review)

01.Chapter I: Serpents Council
02.Chapter II: Ceremony Of The Impure
03.Chapter III: Towards Battlefields
04.Chapter IV: Ravenous Apocalyptic Raids
05.Chapter V: Purification By The Sword
06.Chapter VI: Leviathans Coronation
07.Chapter VII: Nine Kingdoms
08.Chapter VIII: Hunting And Sacrifice
09.Chapter IX: Necropolis Rising

Bonus Tracks (Demo 2012)
10.Serpents Council
11.Ceremony Of The Impure
12.Towards Battlefields

Rubens Nergal(Vocals)
Jesus Inukai (Guitar)
Ignis Deo (Guitar)
Edgar Ramirez (Guitar)
Angs Balandran (Bass)
Daniel Sanchez (Drums)

Formed in 2009 V.R.P.I. is Mexico's best kept secret. With members of Necroccultus, Sargatanas, Ominous Crucifix, Supplicium and Leper Messiah in the lineup, this death metal force is stunning in its encapsulation of death and satanic heavy metal, taking into account all that we love about the genre - the darkness, the sheer intensity, the blasphemous flavour, not to mention the music.

From the horror movie styled opening of 'Serpents Council' you get the feeling that something is about to happen and yes the music does indeed explode through the speakers, yet surprisingly its quite melodic musically with some quality demonic vocals.

When the next song kicks in, it becomes a more traditional style of Blackend Death Metal, hyper drumming and screaming riffs, yet some great little breakdowns and some spoken word parts thrown in.

'Towards Battlefields' has a doom element to it, pounding drums but slow solid riffs, then short bursts of power.

Up next a short mix of samples and death metal that leads nicley into a six and a half minute onslaught, furious double pedal work, more screaming vocals and riff hell, thrown in are a few more horror movie samples, creates a great sound.

From this point on its more of the same, a well executed and produced mixture of death and black metal.

Rating 8/10
For fans Of: Necrophagia, Celtic Frost, Darkthrone, Morbid Angel, Deicide

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