STONE CIRCLE - MYTH (Cd Review)

01.The Puzzle

02.Tempest

03.The Greatest Lie

04.A Missing Star

05.The Sky Has Spoken

06.Closed Eyes

07.Grief

Joe Ashwin (Vocals/Guitar)

James Pearce (Bass)

Tom Skelton (Guitar)

Sam Hill (Drums)

Nick Young (Keyboards)

Brighton based band who began life In 2004 as “Obsidian”. This consisted of current members Joe Ashwin, James Pearce and Sam Hill, with Tom Skelton joining in 2005 to complete the current lineup. Stone Circle (then Obsidian) experimented with many styles within rock and metal, taking influences from bands such as Opeth, Amorphis and Katatonia. They began creating a dark progressive sound of their own encompassing many moods from somber, beautiful acoustic passages to aggressive riff driven sections bringing a death metal edge to the music. Something they have continued to progress at to this day.

'The Puzzle' is a stunning opening song full of intelligent black metal influences (especially vocally) superb drumming and a highly evocative blend of instrumentation.

The next track 'Tempest' is a more melodic affair with sweeping guitars and catchy riffs, even when the songs gets heavier the mood remains easy on the ear.

There is a nice Led Zeppelin/Pink Floyd feel to 'The Greatest Lie' musically but with a great death/black metal vocal and seriously cool lyrics: "The greatest poison the world has ever seen, promoting sickness of mind", just love this song!

The acoustic passage in 'A missing star' just has to be heard at full volume, it is just perfection and sits perfectley against the full on metal onslaught which surrounds it.

'The sky has spoken' is a screaming metal headbanging epic, their trademark melodic breakdowns allowing you time to catch your breath and the stunning guitar solo towards the end demands your upmost attention.

Dave Gilmour styled guitarwork punctuates the albums melodic masterpiece 'Closed eyes', a truley beautiful song.

We end with 'Grief', a song that seems to reflect all their styles from jazzy passages to the fringes of extreme metal and towards the end with an avant-garde synth distortion.

This is nothing short of brilliant, the band have matured to a very high professional standard and created real music that challenges the listener and draws them into an exceptional aural journey.

STU

Rating 10/10

For fans of : Opeth, Amorphis, Celtic Frost, Satyricon

JUGGERNORT - FULL METAL ASSAULT EP (CD REVIEW)

01.D.O.A
02.Order Of Chaos
03.Humanity Lost...Not Found
04.The Demon Who Makes Trophies Of Man
05.Origins Of Evil


James Taw (Vocals)
Joel Hogan (Guitar)
Joe Heraghty (Drums)
Andy Hunter (Bass)


London based band who formed in 2008 with a single purpose of bring skull crunching metal to the hoardes.

'D.O.A' explodes into life with a bomb sample then full on brutality.Its shouty, in your face vocals just blast through the speakers, backed by hyper drum work, crunching riffs and basswork.

Up next is 'Order Of Chaos' drawing on black and death metal influences to create a six minute epic.

"we are just the blood on the face of destiny" is a great line taken from 'Humanity Lost'.Without a doubt my favourite track here, this one has it all in terms of great lyrics, great playing and a bass solo!!

Kicking off like "Blind" by Korn, 'The Demon Who Makes Trophies' soon evolves to a Slayeresque metal onslaught complete with a "You're all gonna die" scream of epic proportions.Coming in at over 7 minutes its yet another stand out track.

Finally 'Origins Of Evil' continues the pace, but with a cheeky melodic ending that calms you down quite nicley.

All in all a very well produced EP of stunning thrash/death influenced metal full of originality and clearley performed with style and understanding.

STU

Rating 9/10

For Fans Of : Slayer, DevilDriver, Hatebreed, Morbid Angel

9BLIND - A NEGATIVE RESPONSE TO CHANGE (CD REVIEW)

01.Promises
02.Cause & Effect
03.Immune
04.30 Unexplained Minutes
05.I Thought That You Should Know
06.Lest We Forget
07.My Heart Bleeds
08.Salt In Scars
09.Until December

Glenn Jenkins (Drums/Vocals)
Mark Seibert (Vocals/Guitar)
Scott Jones (Lead Guitar)
Joe Simms (Bass)

Edmonton based 9Blind have been tearing up the venues for sometime now and last year released a great ep, now with a new album ready to unleash it seems that the time is right for them to branch out and show the world what they are made of.

'Promises' kicks off with a very punchy riff and drum kick, but what shines through here is the melody that flows throughout and the superb vocal delivery from Mark.

A more commercial sound is prevelant with 'Cause & Effect' and the first taste that with the right backing this edge to their music could gain them huge amounts of radio play all over the world and also prove that it's not just the Americans that can make this kind of music!!

Whilst 'Immune' returns to their heavier sound i come to the first stand out track for me with '30 Unexplained Minutes', starting with a simple haunting riff it moves into a powerhouse of drums and guitars and screaming vocals, yet it retains a moody and dark element that holds the song throughout.
The chorus is catchy and is a definate singalong "Lay down your arms, it doesn't need to be this hard, i've apologised a thousand times, dont waste time chasing white lies, dont waste time proving love dies".

Sample's of Mrs Thatcher and Churchill mixed in with various other politicians under a great acoustic piece make up the instrumentle 'I Thought You Should Know, which then leads into the screamfest that is 'Lest We Forget' with its angry and aggressive delivery and an almost Corey Taylor tone when singing the line "I stare into each photograph and start to feel you crawl back, i stare into each photgraph in vain".

'My Heart Bleeds' has a slightly anthemic quality to it and again it is the vocals the pushes this above the average with great conviction.

Next up is the quite stunning 'Salt In Scars' a song which i believe almost didnt make it to the album.Mark scraems "Wake Up!" and the song moves into a brutal yet highly commercial rock song that has HIT written all over it, very well composed and top notch playing from all concerned here!!!

'Until December' closes the album with some style, a beautiful acoustic intro moves in to a ballad like song with great harmony and emotion, even a neat guitar solo and a shout it out finale is thrown in.

STU

Rating 9/10

For Fans Of : Killswitch Engage, Johnny Truant, 36 Crazyfists, Sone Sour