Astrakhan - A Tapestry Of Scabs And Skin EP (Review)

01.Cupids Fist
02.Blinded By The Diamond Planet
03.Rest In Depths
04.The Pillarist


Dustan Toth (Vocals/Bass)
Adam Young (Guitar)
Rob Zawistowski (Vocals/Guitar)
Jerome Brewer (Drums)

Formed in 2012 in Vancouver, this riff-laden quartet are offering up a limited edition 12" vinyl four track EP to end their year with a bang.

Featuring two tracks that were previously release as a digital EP, they've also added two brand new, never released, tracks to make up the A Tapestry of Scabs and Skin EP. Recorded with producer Jesse Gander (3 Inches of Blood) in two sessions totalling eight days, the results are, say the band, "doomy, pyschedelic, sludgey and progressive".

Quite an intresting little Ep, a mix of styles that seem to justify their comment about it's sound and influence.
Great vocals roar out over a solid wall of sound, full of excellent guitar riffs and pounding drums.

Whilst the opening track has a commercial feel of say early Queens Of the Stone Age, the next one 'Blinded By The Diamond Planet' with its clever timing changes has modern progressive influences like those of Mastodon.
'Rest In Depths' has that doom/sludge feel, some great bass playing holds this one together and some pretty heavy riffs lurk in the mix.
For 'The Pillarist' just add a touch of doom to what i just said, mind you towards the end it gets faster and heavier.

Rating 8/10
For fans of: Kylesa, Mastodon, Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Melvins

Endzeit - Years Of Hunger EP (CD Review)

01.Inception
02.Hunger
03.Godless
04.Life
05.The Dawn No More Rises

Schwarz (Guitar/Vocals)
Polaris (Guitar)
Pyry (Bass)
Samuli (Drums)

Hailing from Finland the band formed in December 2012 and began writing ‘Years of Hunger’,intentionally set out to be a raw black metal project.

The band state that, "Lyrically the songs deal with a futureless life in a post-apocalyptic world. References to religious contexts can be found, yet reflecting a godless narrative. The inspiration to embed the decay of life, the decay of happiness and the absence of a future into the band’s musical and lyrical concept was triggered by the decay of the city of Detroit where modern capitalism has failed. Only haggard human shadows now dwell in the smouldering rubble."

I shall ignore 'Inception' as its just another pointless intro set out as a first song, why bands still continue to do this i have no idea.

'Hunger' starts us off in the right way though and delivers a full on no frills Black Metal assault on the ears.Heavilly drum driven and with an evil growl vocally this does indeed harken back to the early days of Norways finest.

What else can you say the next ones 'Hunger', Godless' and 'Life' are pretty much the same, now with some bandfs and styles this could be seen as a bad thing, however in this case it's perfect, the sound and feel of each songs remains true to the genre, perfectly produced and executed.

The final track, which in many ways is a giveaway as to their influence, is a cover of Dark Funerals 'The Dawn No More Rises'.
This captures their sound perfectly, they manage to make it their own, which is not an easy thing to do.

This is a solid EP, they have not gone down the route of over the top guitarwork and screaming vocals, avoided the "symphonic" route that many have taken in the wake of Dimmu or Cradle, this is authentic old school Black Metal.

Rating 9/10
For Fans Of: Dark Funeral, Marduk, Mayhem, Darkthrone, Carpathian Forest

Dissorted - I EP (CD Review)

01.Bloodshed Divine
02.Eaten Alive
03.The New World
04.The Somnambulist
05.Operation Observation


Mirco (Vocals)
Dillon (Bass)
Florian (Guitar)
Martin (Drums)
Sebastian (Guitar)

German band formed in 2004 playing melodic thrash metal connecting fast, neck breaking riffs influenced by Exodus and Testament mixed with traditional bands like Iced Earth and Megadeth, always focussing on their own, yet recognizable sound.

This would appear to be their first release after 10 years together.

Seems the one band they didn't mention in their short biography was 'Anthrax' because the first track 'Bloodshed Divine' has a real early Anthrax feel, solid drumming powerful riff and shout it out vocals, perfect!

Picking up the speed on 'Eaten Alive' and hell we could be back in 1984, but thats not to say that this is an old school copy, because they throw enough of their own style to make this sound original and up to date.

'The New World' has a touch of Iron Maiden at the beginning then it picks up a treat and creates another headbanging mosh pit anthem.

I was expecting something a bit special with 'The Somnambulist' and this six minute rocker did not fail to deliver.
Clever timing changes, a huge vocal delivery and great guitarwork, definatley the stand out song.

The final song 'Operation Observation' is the least thrashy song here, a solid near early 80's german power/speed metal anthem, but some very agressive vocals thrown in over some quality double pedal drumwork to keep it up to date.

Amazing EP, why have they waited so bloody long to put something out??

Rating 9/10
For Fans Of: Anthrax, Kemakil, Elimination, Exodus, Accept

Aphonic Threnody - When Death Comes (CD Review)

01.The Ghost's Song
02.Death Obsession
03.Dementia
04.The Children's Sleep
05.Our Way To The Ground


Riccardo V (Guitars/Bass)
Roberto M (Vocals)
Abel L (Cello)
Marco Z (Drums)
Kostas P (Keyboards/Piano)
Juan Escobar (Keyboards)

Guest Musicians
Greg Chandler (Guitars on “The Children’s Sleep”)
Josh Moran (Guitars on “Dementia”)
David Unsaved (Backing vocals on “The Children’s Sleep”)

Aphonic Threnody is an international project and extreme doom collective. Founded by Riccardo (Gallow God & Dea Marica) and Roberto (URNA & Dea Marica) around the end of 2012 in London, the project was later joined by Kostas (Pantheist), Abel (Leecher) and Marco (URNA, Arcana Coelestia). While the core of the band has been enstabileshed in London, Abel co-operate the project from Hungary and Marco from Italy.

So this band is formed by members of Urna, Dea Marica, Arcana Coelestia, Gallow God, Locus Mortis, Pantheist, Wijlen Wij, Clouds and even more bands i could list, thus creating a sort of Doom Metal supergroup etc.
And this album features additional contributions from Greg Chandler of Esoteric, David Unsaved of Ennui/Necropoli on vocals and Josh Moran of Vacant Eyes.

"When Death Comes" is their first full-length album following on from the first EP "First Funeral" and the two split albums "Immortal In Death" and "Of Graves, Of Worms And Epitaphs". It's also the last album recorded by the band before Kostas left the band and was replaced by Juan Escobar.

From the haunting opening words of 'The Ghosts Song' to the majestic sweeping keyboards and guitarwork, this is a massive 10 minutes of doom inspired, near symphonic, dark and brooding music.

Coming in at just over 17 minutes is 'Death Obsession', just stunning in its beauty with mournful cello and piano then this slow, pounding drum pattern kicks in as does the powerful yet restrained guiter playing.
A dark and evil growl vocal then forces it way through creating this melancolic ambience, this is a huge piece going way beyond the normal doom genre, its almost gothic rock but with a sinister edge.

'Dementia' may have a "funeral" pace but the quality of the music keeps it alive and some fantastic guitar playing towards the end!

Playing like a lullaby from hell the start of 'The Childrens Sleep' soon picks up to a nightmare inducing vocal, over powerchords and some serious riffing.

The final track 'Our Way To The Ground' again creates this instant ambience with just a simple piano refrain, this false sense of laid back security is disturbed after a couple of minutes when the rest of the band explode through the speakers!

I have not heard Doom like this for a long time, the combination of instruments and a first class production elevate this way beyond any expectations of the genre.This is almost a hybrid of Gothic, Symphonic, Ambient rock music blended with traditional Doom elements.

Rating 10/10
For Fans Of: Necropoli, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Tiamat, Vision Bleak

Determination - Vision EP (CD Review)

01.X Rays
02.Parasite
03.Vision
04.Pestilence


Christian Reimer (Vocals)
Steffen Nevermann (Guitar)
Oliver Lusga (Guitar)
Rouven Haliti (Fretless Bass)
Martin Preising (Drums)

German band formed in 2012 as a recording project by Steffen (Ex-Weyland,Ex-Still Alive, Ex-Endless Distrust) and Oliver (Ex-Pangea, Ex-Advocatus Mortis), later joined by vocalist Chris (Ex-Pangea, Ex-Bonobos, Ex-Midgard), drummer Martin (Ex-Coroner’s Inquest) and then finally Rouven.
Of their musical style they say, "We describe our music as melodic, progressive, old-school, fat and brutal. But DEATH METAL fits best."

The EP was recorded, mixed and mastered at their own Shredsound Studio in Rostock.
The Artwork was done by the indonsiean artist Godfinger Arts.


Right from the start 'X Rays' comes across as a very well constructed song, clever timing changes help this 3 minute piece range from pure death metal, to progressive technical standards and even a brief symphonic breakdown.
All this is held together by a relentless wall of power from the drummer and an agressive vocal delivery.

Another symphonic style opening before 'Parasite' evolves into another well balanced mix of styles, at times this one borders on modern black metal in tone.

Again i have to mention that this next track 'Vision' also has that symphonic feel, i dont know which musician is playing the synth but he is doing it very well, the atmosphere it lends to the music is excellent.
This is also the first song that the fretless bass really comes into play.

Finally 'Pestilence' shows that pure power can blend with symphonic undertones, at no point does the death metal lose its impact and yet the songs retains a melodic edge throughout.

Rating 9/10
For fans of: Winter Gate, Cenotaph, At The Gates, Opeth, Dark Tranquility

Mors Principium Est - Dawn Of The 5th Era (CD Review)

01.Enter The Asylum
02.God Has Fallen
03.Leader Of The Titans
04.We Are The Sleep
05.Innocence Lost
06.I Am War
07.Monster In Me
08.Apricity
09.Wrath of Indra
10.The Journey
11.The Forsaken

Ville Viljanen (Vocals)
Mikko Sipola (Drums)
Teemu Heinola (Bass)
Andy Gillion (Guitar)
Kevin Verlay (Guitar)

Melodic death metal band formed in Finland in 1999, this is their 5th album.
As seems to be the norm these days we start with an intro, pointless as ever as this leads straight into track 2 'God Has Fallen'.
This is melodic death metal with a definate power metal influence, to be fair the only "Death" element here seems to be the gruff vocal delivery, aside from that this is heavy drum driven power metal full of clever riffing.

'We Are The Sleep' starts with a synth techo pulse and then proceeds into near symphonic territory until that vocal comes in and destroys that nice vibe.
Full of power and speed with melodic hooks and maidenesque guitarwork.

The next song to leap out to me is 'Apricity' starting with melodic keyboards (Though would like to point out that the record company bio doesn't tell who the musician is) the song then moves into a Scorpions like heavy ballad, this is a really nice interlude of melody and precision playing.

'The Journey' has all the qualities of an anthemic battle metal song, pounding drums and shout it out and sing a long vocals.

The last song 'The Forsaken' seems to manage to throw everything from melodic piano to full scale was care of heavy riffs and that ear crushing pedal work from the drummer.

I like this album, its "Power Death Metal" which is the perfect combination of the two genres!

Rating 8/10
For fans of: Iron Maiden, Children Of Bodom, Matron, Sylvatica, Xenochord

My Shameful - Hollow (CD Review)

01.Nothing Left At All
02.Hollow
03.And I Will Be Worse
04.Hour Of Atonement
05.The Six
06.Murdered Them All
07.No Greater Purpose
08.Now And Forever


Sami Rautio (Vocals/Guitar)
Twist (Bass)
Jürgen Fröhling (Drums)
Mario (Guitar)

Begun in 1999 as a two-man studio project, evolved into a multinational machine of hate and doom based in Finland.

Eight huge slabs of funeral doom, does exactly what you want from this style of music, presenting gutteral vocals, slow pounding drums and solid chord structures.
What i also like about this is the tone of the lead guitar, it reminds me of early goth bands like Bauhaus.
This all helps to create the perfect mood, hard to pick any one track as such but 'Hour Of Atonement' and 'Murdered Them All' do leap out the speakers due to the overwhelming ambience of gloom yet tinged with great melody.

Rating 9/10
For Fans Of: Triptykon, Wolveserpent, Necropoli, Witchsorrow