Lanthanein - Nocturnalgica EP (CD Review)

01.Lágrimas De Luna
02.Nocturnálgica
03.A Orillas Del Silencio
04.Lacrimosa Et Gementem


Marili Portorrico (Vocals/Choir Arrangements/Programming)
Juan Mansilla (Vocals/Guitar/Bass/Programming)

From Argentina, they are a gothic/doom metal project that had been around for a while but eventually surfaced at the beginning of this year to bring us an EP of Classical music inspired music.

Nice piano and church bell intro to 'Lágrimas De Luna', quickly turns into a nice symphonic goth song, and whilst the vocals are great they are not in English, so i have no idea whats she's singing about.

'Nocturnálgica' is a different beast, the agressive intro complete growl male vocal works well but soon decends into standard symphonic/goth.The operatic vocal duet does lift this one, but still dont know what they are singing about!

With a wide selection of different instruments used on 'A Orillas Del Silencio' at least there is plenty to listen too from its neo folk meets progressive to that symphonic style again, and still no sig of doom.

Finally 'Lacrimosa Et Gementem' just sticks with the symphonic goth again.

Rating 7/10
For Fans Of: Valentine Wolfe, Epica, Tristania

Bearstorm - Americanus (CD Review)

01.Glacial Relic - Riparian Forest
02.De Soto
03.Little Portals To The Greater Sadness
04.Why We Can't Have Nice Things
05.Glacial Relic II


Michael Edwards (Vocals)
Jay Lindsey (Bass/Midi/Synth)
Patrick DeRoche(Drums)
Kelsey Miller (Guitar/Fiddle)
Greg Bates (Guitar)

Bearstorm formed in 2008 in Richmond, USA by metalheads with backgrounds in classical and jazz performance as well as country and old time music. The goal has always been to push outwards on the normal limits of writing, performing, and storytelling.

Haunting, swirling, minimalist and progressive at the same time, retains the oft-mocked "grim and frostbitten" vibe while simultaneously expanding into infinite horizons. An hypnotic and harshly beautiful, tantalizing, mesmerizing progressive Black Death Metal swirl.


'Glacial Relic-Riparian Forest' kind of reminds me of eddie van halen guitar work over a mid paced rhythmic rock backing, the vocals however are very rough and more suited to death/black metal, yet there are no black/death metal elements to the music.
A strange mix with this epic jazz/prog/stoner/technical music and growls for vocals, really does not do anything to make this easy to listen too.

Yeh this just dont fit with me, such amazing music, technical brilliance, highly melodic very well structured, beautiful elements blend with stylish guitar and bass work, each song has so much in it, very very good, but the vocals are wrong, too harsh and needed some variety to break the endless growls.

Could have been a 10 out of 10!

Rating 7/10
For fans of: Coffinfish, Mastodon, Words Of farewll, Vermord, Pure Negative

Intestinal Rot - Consuming Fermented Bile (CD Review)

01.Deep Fried & Vomit Filled
02.C.H.U.D
03.Consuming Fermented Vile
04.Re Inventing Mankind
05.Drowning In Mucous
06.Cranium Crushing Cannibals
07.Japanese Dolphin Slaughter

Z. Smith (All Instruments/Vocals)

One man grind band from Canada. this mini album was recorded in 2010 but has now secured its first release on give praise records.


Fast as fuck with super piggy grunts mixed with screams to create a wall of noise that may have some actual chords or riffs, but you cant make it out because everything is played so fucking fast, oh but wait a chord and a breakdown, a hit of a snare and then its Arggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ugh, argggggggghhhhhhhhhhh again.

And this isnt even that 60 second burst stuff, oh no these fucking songs go on for 4 minutes plus, until the last few which are thankfully short, at least 'C.H.U.D' has a soundtrack from some movie at the beginning as do a few others.


Rating 7/10
For Fans Of: Last Days of Humanity, Foetopsy, Brodequin, Pustulated, Excoriation

King Leviathan - The Shrine (CD Review)

01.Intro
02.Wormwood
03.Born Of The Blackest Hearts
04.Skin From Bone
05.Madness Made Divine
06.The Shrine


Adam Sedgwick (Vocals/Guitar)
Rob Kuhler (Guitar)
Sam Forrester (Bass)
Danny Yates (Drums)

From Brighton, devout worshipers of Speed, Violence and The Occult, have spread madness from their inception. With their new EP "The Shrine" about to hit May 31st there is no sign of stopping. With "The Shrine", every second of speed, aggression, and riotous fun is to be savored.
They liberally blends many different styles of Metal and Hardcore into an intense, fiery stew. Riffs with roots firmly planted in the great American Thrash and European Metal traditions peel out of every single song, bolstered by a rhythm section, and featuring solid drumming, that is relentless.

The frenetic pace so characteristic of the genre is kept the entire way, the delivery tight, yet not without the feeling of spontaneity. Creating images of the house that you and your beer-bong buddies proceeded to trash when the neighbour kid's parents left for the weekend.

Intro as a seperate track? Anyway to the first song 'Wormwood' a solid thrash workout with a mixture of death metal and clean vocals, the latter sounding much better, one thing though a horrible snare drum sound, way to tight and tinny for my ears, shame as it spoils this for me.

'Born Of The Blackest Hearts' has a nice clean and powerfull vocal, the music is solid thrash and has a great solo in it, the drums drive the song along, but that snare drum is killing this!

Up next 'Skin From Bone' with its power metal guitar riff over solid drum pedal work is first class, when the speed increases and the death metal vocal comes in this is one that harkens back to the early days, all is going well till that fucking snare again, bang bang bang it goes like a toy tin drum.

Im afraid that the last 2 again just suffer from that snare sound, maybe its the drummer in me, great music well put together, great vocal style.

Rating 7/10
For fans of: Sylosis, Savage Messiah, Slayer, Evile, Revocation

Moanaa - Descent (CD Review)

01.Sunset Growing Old
02.Repulsive
03.Lit
04.Zero
05.Lost In The Noise
06.Ion ...
07.... Mill
08.Away                          

Lukasz 'cHooDy' Kursa (Guitar)
Michal Pilik (Guitar)
Damian 'Cichy' Olearczyk (Bass)
Marcel Lekawa (Drums)
Maciej Proficz (Vocals)
K-vass (Vocals)

Polish post metal/doom styled band, formed around 2008.

If 'Sunset Growing Old' is going to set the standard, then this is going to be one helluva album.Nice acoustic start then moves into prog/jazz style, laid back and rhythmic almost hypnotic, then turns into a screaming death metal monster, did not expect that and yes there is a hint of doom metal as well before almost sounding like an old Pink Floyd track and then some neo prog to end with, all that in just 7 minutes!

Next track 'Repulsive' sticks to doom inspired slow and sludgy death metal, 'Lit' almost does the same until that jazz/prog guitar and rhythmic drum pattern comes back in for a while before taking the volume down with a simple guitar riff, as this builds towards the end some great vocals and backing vocals mix with more agressive instrumentation.

'Zero' returns to the neo-prog style with melodic vocals, but as i have come to expect with this, the pace and style changes bringing in that death metal vocal over near metalcore riffs.

'Lost In The Noize' at 9 minutes is a fairly straight forward doomish death metal piece, not much in the way of style variations, though does have a few intresting little breaks here and there.

'Ion' and 'Mill' is one song broken into two seperate tracks, why im not sure the first serves as the intro and continues right through to the next piece, which is another great mix of death metal followed by neo-prog rhythms.

Finally 'Away' starts with lots of echo guitar effects soon joined by a basic drum beat and downbeat vocals, while the guitar brings a little power to the piece this is a borderline gothic/doom song and its 4 seconds shy of an amazing 10 minutes!

Rating 9/10
For fans Of: Valerian Swing, Words Of Farewell, Marillion, King Crimson

Solstice Coil - Commute (CD Review)

01.New Eyes
02.Forget You Ever Saw Us
03.Shuffle The Cards
04.Her Silent Silhouette
05.Anywhere
06.The Bargain
07.Acid Bath
08.Meltdown
09.An Oldie (But Your Kids are Gonna Love it)
10.Nowhere

Shir Deutch (Vocals/Guitar)
Opher Vishnia (Guitar/Vocals)
Shai Yallin (Keyboards/Vocals)
Mihael Galperin (Bass)
Yakir Fitousi (Drums)

Founded in late 2001, Solstice Coil are one of the most veteran bands currently operating in Israel’s progressive rock and metal scene. Dedicated to the notion of combining intellectually challenging music with reflective lyrics and high production values, the band draws its influence from artists such as Radiohead and Dream Theater.

The band's debut album, 'A Prescription for Paper Cuts' (2005), was well received by the global progressive rock community.
In 2011 they released their sophomore album, 'Natural Causes', under US-based label Melodic Revolution Records. Natural Causes fared well with the critics, receiving dozens of favorable reviews that cited it as a formidable follow-up to the band's debut album.

In 2012 the band embarked on its first tour of India, playing various festivals including the NH7 alongside Megadeth.
After returning from India, the band commenced work on developing songs for its third album, where they take a stab at the epic while mixing classic progressive rock influences with heavy metal tendencies and even some elements of electronic music. Titled 'Commute'it is the first studio album to feature bassist Mihael Galperin and drummer Yakir Fitousi.

So 'New Eyes' is an intersting mix of styles, on the one hand it has that Industrial/Goth sound of Static X, but then it's Neo-Prog section id more aking to Marillion or Muse, very rhythmic and jazzy at times and a guitar sound that i could imagine Carlos Santana producing.

More Industrial meets electro this time for the keyboard driven 'Forget You Ever Saw Us', again an intresting mix of influences and styles are utilised to create their overall modern neo-prog sound.

At times 'Shuffle The Cards displays prog/folk elements, overall though it does stick with 80's prog style, however the high pitched keyboard sound does not reach my ears in a good way, no such problems with 'Her Silent Silhouette' which is by far the best track so far, its classic modern prog, strong vocals backed with clever rhythms and timing chnages and a great keyboard solo.

'Anywhere' is a nice spanish acoustic guitar instrumental, but it doesn't seem to go "Anywhere" and maybe could have done with a second take as there are a few too many squeaks on the strings, it does however lead into another great song 'The Bargain' with its eastern influence this harkens back to late 70's prog, reminiscent of Pavlov's Dog, especially with the guitar and piano sound and the vocal delivery.

Were it not for the techno drum beats at the start you could be forgiven for thinking that this may turn into 'Enter Sandman' such is the style of the guitar riff, overall this song has a darker edge and while the vocal and composition could be 80's 'Yes' there is a definate heavy metal feel to this.

After the last song, this one 'Meltdown' just brings the whole thing down, a very slow moving downbeat song, guess this is where their Radiohead influence comes in.

Okay so 'An Oldie' just sounds like the middle section of an old Hawkwind song circa 1975, solid drum beat and keyboards, nice, but what was the point of it?

Finally 'Nowhere', this one pulls back any doubts of their ability, has it all great vocals, heavy bits, slow bits, nice keyboards, various guitar sounds, ends the album on a high!

Rating 8/10
For Fans of: King Crimson, Valerian Swing, Moanaa, Marillion, Yes

Fuck Off - Hell On Earth II (CD Review)

 Albert (Vocals)
Pep (Guitar)
Victor (Bass)
Ferrán (Drums)



Formed in 1986 from Barcelona, FUCK OFF were Thrash Metal pioneers in Spain the 80’s first releasing a 7” EP in 1987 followed by two albums “Another Sacrifice” (1988) and “Hell on Earth” (1990).
After this, the band split up, reformed in 2010 guitarist Pep Casas with a completely new line-up and backed by also former vocalist Joe in some shows.

The band began writing new material, in 2012 the “A Different Sacrifice 1987-1988” CD came out and they recorded their long awaited 3rd album “Smile As You Kill” in the purest tradition of 80’s Speed/Thrash Metal with the mastering skills of Swedish mastermind Dan Swanö and cover art by greek artist Gerasimos Kolokas. This album was released in September 2013.

This latest cd contains new songs recorded in 2014 and gathers together single tracks and demos from their 1990 album.

Have to wonder how this band ever got anywhere, i mean "I'm going to a gig tonight", really? , "Yes Fuck Off!", "Well fuck you then", well you get the idea!
Anyway to the music and the first 7 songs which are the "New" ones.

Cannot fault the quality of the music, classic speed metal style, fast, well produced and endless riffing, however the vocals are completly out, dont match the music at all, maybe he's not comfortable singing in English, maybe he cant sing, im not sure which.

Track 8 'Torquemada' is a demo from 2000, the music is just as good, but the vocals are also very good, matches the music and sung in Spanish, this is followed by an instrumental called 'Cyclone Pt IV' and is a speed metal take on Iron Maiden riffs, another good track.

Next up is the 2013 version of 'Hell On Earth' hope the vocals are better on this one, lets hit play...nope just as bad.

The rest of the tracks are from singles released in 1989; 'Embrion, witch below the belly'is a weird and wonderfull piece great vocals and some vocals with strange effects on as well, a lot of timing changes on this one, thrash and speed flow at different paces.
The other tracks are pretty good as well, even yet another version of 'Hell On Earth' which doesnt sound as bad as the other 2!

Rating 8/10
For Fans Of: Exciter, Anninhilator, Anthrax, Overkill, Sodom

Deraign - Purity In Violence EP (CD Review)

01.Broken Trust
02.Shellshocked (PTSD)
03.All Is Lost
04.Pit Of Misery
05.Purity In Violence



Daniel Vine (Vocals/Bass)
Steve Lievesley (Guitar)
Chris Clarke (Guitar)
Chalky Hill (Drums)

Austrailian band formed in May 2012, in August 2013, they recorded their first promo single 'Pit Of Misery' and two months later the band played their first gig.
The first half of 2014 was spent playing several more gigs throughout Brisbane and the Gold Coast. By May they finished writing the 5th song for their Debut E.P and were ready to record.

After a line up change and Clarke dropping the bass and moving to guitar they spent the rest of the year to prepare for gigs and hit the studio in November/ December to record their debut EP, 'Purity In Violence'.

You may have to cast your mind back sometime to the heyday of Slayer and Megadeth, when Thrash metal was this good and perfectly executed, each song full of energy, superb drumming, killer riffs and agressive vocals, well this EP does just that and for the same reasons.

To pick out 2 here i would opt for 'All Is Lost' with its superb acoustic style intro full of laid back melody and bluesy guitar that leads into a classic pounding thrash piece, a real headbanger of a track.

The other is 'Purity In Violence', starts with a great drum beat, then bursts into full on speed metal, half way through the whole mood changes for this really slow and moody guitar breakdown, followed by a really epic solo, before ending with some thrash metal.

Just a brilliant EP!

Rating 10/10
For fans of: Slayer, Megadeth, Exodus, Evile

Suffering Mind - Messiah Of Extermination (LP) / Wake - False (CD) Review

Ben (vocals)
Daro (Drums)
kuchar (Guitar)

Polish grind/death metal band formed circa 2010.

With many of these song coming in at just a few seconds, i have to say that this is a surprisingly musical album at times, more towards the punk/crust end of the early days of Grindcore.

Rating 7/10

01.Filth Addict
02.Foster
03.Vacant
04.Smolder
05.Mouth Breeder
06.Rotten
07.Bleak
08.Omnious
09.The Fix Is In
10.Presbyopia
11.Intrusion

WAKE are a grindcore band from Calgary, Canada. Formed in 2009.

Have to say the sound quality is very muddy, which is a shame because the heavy death metal styled grind they produce is pretty good, agressive and fast but also some structure to what they do.

Rating 8/10

Inhuman Depravity - Nocturnal Carnage By The Unholy Desecrator (CD Review)

01.Exhuming The Creator For Own Expediency
02.Dismembered And Buried Instincts
03.Condemned To Monotheistics
04.Rise Of Vengeance By Bloody Torment
05.Apocalyptic Mass Murder Oath
06.Bloodthirst Of Sinners
07.Carnivorous Offering
08.Slain Dissection Abuse
09.Salvation Through Bloodvomit


Yunus Efe (Vocals)
Eren Gursoy (Drums)
Murat Sabuncu (Guitar)
Kaan Yildar (Bass)

Death Metal band Inhuman Depravity from Istanbul, Turkey, formed in late 2013, during the next months they made a 3 track demo, based on the theme that gives band’s name: ‘depravity’. Not so long after,band started to work for the debut album. Mixed & mastered by Ünsal Özata and cover artwork by Rian Oktanto.

'Exhuming The Creator For Own Expediency' starts us off with bloody long somng titles!
This has some sample from (I assume) a horror movie and then some other samples mixed in with quick blasts of music and then the rest is full on nasty Death Metal complete with a vocal style so gruff it would be impossible to sing a long with.

And the rest of the album is just a wall of brutal death metal with some serious grindcore influence in the mix.


Rating 7/10
For Fans Of: Suffocation, Severe Torture, Dying Fetus, Morbid Angel

Vintage Warlords - The Invisible Foe EP (CD Review)

01.Exodus Of Souls
02.The Invisible Foe
03.From Orange To Grey

Conor Byers (Vocals)
Thomas Haywood (Guitar/Bass/Drums)

Vintage Warlords from America are a morbid piece of rotting nostalgia full of sludgy doom-laden riffs straight from the scattered remains of death metal's humble origins. Monstrous guitars, tortured vocals, and an abandoned sense of security will overwhelm any and all in the underground who dare face the new heirs to the Doom/Death throne! Featuring ex-Abigail Williams bassist, Thomas Haywood (aka Thomas G Plaguehammer).


From its slow start 'Exodus Of Souls' shapes up to be some quality doom laden death metal, the mood changes when the furious double pedal drumwork kicks in and the vocals from hell, sudenly this is a darkend death metal monster.

More fury and some technical guitar playing elevate 'The Invisible Foe' from most other death metal bands songs, as does 'From Orange To Grey'.

Usually when bands mix the 2 genres up we get this hybrid style of Funeral Doom with Death Metal passages, this manages to combine the 2 to create a new noise.

Rating 8/10
For Fans Of: Abigail Williams, Hellhammer, Morbid Angel

Graveworm - Ascending Hate (CD Review)

01.The Death Heritage
02.Buried Alive
03.Blood Torture Death
04.To The Empire Of Madness
05.Downfall Of Heavens
06.Stillborn
07.Liars To The Lions
08.Rise Again
09.Son Of Lies
10.Nocturnal Hymns Part II (Death’s Anthem)

Stefano Fiori (vocals)
Eric Righi (Guitar)
Stefan Unterpertinger (Guitar)
Florian Reiner (Bass)
Martin Innerbichler (Drums)

Graveworm were founded in Bruneck, Italy in 1997.
Just one year later their debut album „When Daylight’s Gone” was release and the band went on tour with Crematory, Therion and Lake of Tears.
In the 18 years of their history so far, the Italian dark metallers have not only achieved to deliver quality music constantly, they have released classics if the genre such as 2003’s "Engraved In Black" with mixture of symphonic black metal elements, gothic and thrash.
More than three and a half years after their last release “Fragments Of Death“, the band returns and have reunited with founding member and former main songwriter Stefan Unterpertinger after nearly 10 years.

Been ages since i heard any Graveworm and 'The Death Heritage' is great re introduction for me, starting with soft, melodic acoustic guitar before exploding into a symphonic death/black metal masterpiece, full of agression and power this blasts through the speakers and it's welcome back!

Next one to really catch my ear was 'Downfall Of Heaven' a litle more melodic than some of the other tracks, full of power and harmony and some serious screams going on with the vocals.

Then after more speed and agression comes 'Rise Again' a brilliant song starts off so beautifully with piano and then goes hyper, then some sound effects to slow things down then back on the speed again, keeps doing this for 5 superb minutes.

Rating 9/10
For Fans Of: Cradle Of Filth, Therion, Curse Upon A Prayer, Nightmare

Total Fucking Destruction & FUBAR - Split EP (Single Review)

Total Fucking Destruction

01.Push
02.Song For Daniel
03.Bugs
04.Hallucinaut

Ryan Moll (Bass/Vocals)
Dan O'Hare (Guitar/Vocals)
Richard Hoak (Drums/Vocals)

From Philadelphia,formed by Richard Hoak after the demise of Brutal Truth in 1999.


Fubar

01.Nothing Or Too Little
02.Niet Gezaaid, Toch Geoogst
03.Death Or Doubt
04.Klokkenluiders
05.Drone

Luc (Vocals)
Mark (Guitar)
Joris (Bass)
Paul (Drums).

From the Netherlands, came together in 2001 as an old school grindcore band called I scream: Protest, played 2 gigs and after kicking out the only original member changed their name and recorded a demo under the name of F.U.B.A.R. It saw the light of day in the beginning of 2002.

So this is a good old fashioned split 7" vinyl EP!

Up first is 'TFD' and some short, sharpe, shocks, well full on hyper speed grind, 'Bugs' is a long progressive rock worlout, only joking it's 18 seconds of silly voices and then the last track 'Hallucinaut' is by far the ebst here as it has a great bass lead beginning before ending on the stuff that tends to go "Arggghhhhhh".

To FUBAR now, this has a slightly more punky edge to it, more early death/grind crossover delivered with real agression.

This is the kind of stuff you either like or dont like, never find an in-between audience, if it's your thing then this is a good EP to have, and once again worth mentioing that its on vinyl.

Rating 7/10
For fans of: Napalm Death, Extreme Noise Terror, Anal Cunt

Carnival Of Flesh - Stories From A Fallen World (CD Review)

01.The Beginning
02.The Promise
03.The Horror
04.The Pact
05.The Battle
06.The Regret



Dachaz (Vocals)
Dam (Keyboards)
Jake O'Bayne (Guitar/Bass)
Vojin Ratkovic (Drums)

The story of Carnival of Flesh starts in late 2002, when two guys, Dachaz and Dam, wanted to reshape the Serbian black metal scene with a sound that escapes the traditional black Metal boundaries. This sound was commonly described as a refreshing mix of heavier guitars and more mind-blowing symphonies than usual.

Many of the local media outlets recognised the potential in this sound and insisted on reviewing rehearsal materials as demos, to which the creative duo strongly opposed, since the sound was not yet what they had envisioned.

As expected, such an insane combination was not easily executed and the band suffered from frequent personnel changes over the years, until officially splitting up in 2008.

In 2014., after a long hiatus, Dachaz decided to reboot Carnival of Flesh as a studio project. Over the course of the year, the perfect conditions were created for recording: Some of the best songs from the past were hand-picked from the vault, their arrangements were updated, lyrics conceptually rewritten and some of the best personnel was engaged. Guitars and bass were performed by the infamous Jake O’Bayne, while the drums were executed by one and only Vojin Ratkovic. The album was meticulously recorded, mixed and produced by internationally acclaimed Ivan Ilic Cili. Thus, “Stories From a Fallen World” were born.

Lets begin with 'The Beginning' and to start with its sounds pretty much what you would expect from symphonic black metal, fast drums, great keyboard work, dark vocals and riffs a plenty, all you need is some epic backing vocals and sure enough half way through here they come.

'The Promise' does more of the same but 'The Horror' has a little bit more to offer, from the great intro bass work to the pounding drum pedals and chorus keyboard, this one then explodes into a more melodic and structured song, some great timing changes and a nice devil vocal effect.

'The Pact' has all of the previous elements, but added quiet bits with some acoustic instrumentation and then some very Dani Filth style vocals over great keyboard work.

Up next is a 10 minute monster called 'The Battle', love the use of a simple guitar riff picking out a few chords over the power backing.
As you would expect from a piece this long, there are plenty of breakdowns and timing changes, throwing in various new keyboard sounds and voacl styles.
Goes very quiet at one point and this awesome little bass line is played out with some demonic vocals and dark chorus backing.

Surprisngly the last track 'The Regret' is quiet mainstream, almost commercial sounding with a great riff running throughout.

Rating: 9/10
For fans Of: Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Therion

Carnalation - Ghosts (CD Review)

01.Drown In Silver
02.Against The Burning Sky
03.Prometheus
04.Passengers
05.Death And Rust


Jonne Soidinaho (Vocals)
Arttu Hakanen (Guitar)
Rami Rissa (Drums)
Anssi Rissa (Guitar)
Niko Mäenpää (Bass)

Carnalation was formed in 2008 at Provinssirock in Seinäjoki. It was clear from the start that the band wanted to make music that is straightforward and as brutal as possible. The self-titled first demo was recorded in the beginning of 2009.

“Doomsday Diaries”, an EP was recorded during May-June 2010, It combined elements from both grind core and death metal.

Over the summer 2011 they toured Finland and later headed out to Soundwall studio and recorded their debut album “Deathmask” with producer Peter Tägtgren (Pain/Hypocrisy). “Deathmask”.

The genre listed for this Ep is 'Alternative Death Metal', but what we get is five well executed tracks of technical Death Metal, does what you would expect, solid frantic drum driven agressive songs, gruff vocals, furious guitar solos etc.

Rating 6/10
For Fans Of: Primordium, Emeth, Kevlar Skin

Schlaasss - Slaasssch (CD Review)

01.Zéro
02.Selfie
03.La Bagarre
04.Salope
05.Crève
06.Interlude Tapin
07.Pin Pon
08.La Love
09.Paris Satan
10.Kilimandjaro
11.Interlude Minouche
12.I Want To Be With You
13.Onani
14.Interlude Tigidiyayé
15.Hippie
16.Miaou
17.Anvers



Charlie Dirty Duran (Vocals)
Daddy Schwartz (Vocals)
Le Dix (Beats/Mix)
Bonetrips (Mix)

One year after having subjected its public thanks to "Tapin Volvo", an EP with tracks as wild as the catchy title, the duo from Saint-Etienne lauches its first burning album: SLAASSSCH.

Fully recorded by Schlaasss with Le Dix aux intrus, SLAASSSCH is the achievement of a process as audio as visual that comes after about sixty concerts everywhere in France. With rough lyrics and a catchy beat, the first album of Schlaasss attracts with its 14 songs out of all music category which will blow away people who take things at face value and will delight the reckless ones. A detonation mixture for a duo that can count on many great fans. It is therefore thanks to them that SLAASSSCH has been released, after a successful crowdfunding campaign. However, Schlaasss does not confine itself to express problems with music: the visual appearance is also viral. All the titles of the album will have a video clip and the stage performances will be as fractious as passionate.

Composed of Charlie Dirty Duran (aka La Bigleuse, the one who squints) and Daddy Schwartz (aka Le Grand Maigre, the tall skinny guy), Schlaasss continues to play on paradox and disrespect through a loud music that use the senseless for serious subjects.

Two micros, some fury and kisses, fluffs and blood: this is cathartic.

A quirky mix of electro funk, pop and electronica, delivered in a fun style, with all songs sung in French i am not sure how this would break out of their home country.

This style of electro rap has a punky element to it, much in the style of Atari Teenage Riot, While other songs are more laid back and commercial, there are Industrial elements as well, all in all making a refreshing change from the usual manifactured pop crap we get forced fed here in the UK.



Rating 7/10
For fans of: Atari Teenage Riot, Lolita Storm, Sonic Subjunkies, Gangstar Toons Industry

Angakok - Angakok (CD Review)

01.Perpaluktok Aitut
02.Sacrifice
03.Collapsing
04.Aksarpok
05.Samsara
06.Avioyok
07.Dead Birds
08.Trust My Scorn
09.Empty Cup
10.Sivudlit Nertorpok


Ben (Vocals/Guitar)
Baston (Guitar/Samples)
Run (Drums)

From Belgium, Angakok are a minimalistic, loud and chaotic trio merging doom, sludge and drone influences. A first track, "Porsinauleq", is issued on R.A.I.G.'s compilation "Dirgenera Compendium II". After opening shows in their hometown for bands such as Altar Of Plagues, Monarch or Sofy Major, they released a 3 tracks demo recorded by Jeremy Stoz (Mammouth Machine) at the Pole Image studio. As result of this ep. they gets on the road for a new series of shows, festivals and contests such as the Concourt-Circuit while working on some new compositions. The result of this work is Angakok, the band's first album, recorded at the Noise Factory Studio by Gerald Jans.

'Perpaluktok Aitut' is the weirdly titled first song, i say song its more of what sounds like a Native American speaking over some distortion guitar.

More traditional sludge/doom to listen to with 'Sacrifice' thoughtowards the end gets a bit more frantic.

Next we are 'Collapsing' with some slow and painful guitar chords, howevr as this progresses they throw in some speech samples from a news report (?) and the music gets a little heavier.

More weirdness with 'Aksarpok' and more speech samples over a riff this time, this is followed by 12 minutes of 'Samsara' more doom/sludge, until 5 minutes in and it gets very quiet with some simple guitar picking out a few notes, after briefly returning to the sludge and then it sort of mixes everything up towards the end.

'Avioyok' is abot one minute of sound effects, followed by 'Dead Birds' which is 90 seconds of sludge/avant-garde noise akin to the Melvins.

'Trust My Scorn'starts agin with that Native American speaking and then flows into another dark and painfull workout.

After 'Empty Cup' which is more of the same we end on 'Sivudlit Nertorpok' a very quiet atmospheric piece.

Rating 9/10
For Fans of: Melvins, Sunn o))), Earth, Blut Aus Nord

Dryom - 2 (CD Review)

01.Mertvyj Gorod
02.Risunok
03.Metel’
04.Ona

Musicians Unknown

The second work of the mysterious Russian project, which is actually the first full-length album following demo “(1)” which was officially issued three years earlier. “2” features a balanced approach to the sound level which significantly improved compared to the debut demo, while music-wise DRYOM remains dedicated to funeral doom metal with a unique atmosphere of gloomy dead landscapes of abandoned cities and vast twilight spaces of the dead nature. The unique features are brought by employment of jew’s harp and flute, which add a light taste of ethnic music translated through the aesthetics of the funeral metal.


The first of 4 huge workouts is the 13 minute 'Mertvyj Gorod', stunning beautiful guitar playing and a very dark funeral vocal, half way through the jew harp makes an appearence and i have to say it is very hypnotic, works so well and something few if any other band has used in this genre of music, as the song progresses the guitar gets more agressive and more layers are created with keyboards.

'Risunok' is 15 minutes long, that jews harp is once again put to great use, its sounds so strange to be making a big point about this simple instrument, but it just makes this music soar to a new height, the only slight issue i have with this is the Flute, it seems out of tune with the rest of the music.

At just over 10 minutes 'Metel’ is the "short" one, nice keyboard running through the whole piece and some near (slow) thrash riffs as well.

Finally a 17 minute monster called 'Ona', follows the same composition as previous tracks, except for the quiet breakdown around 8 minutes which is simple yet atmospheric guitar playing.Eventually this is brought to a torturous end with distortion and that jews harp.


Rating 10/10
For fans of: Sunn o))), Earth, Norse, Ulver, Wolveserpent, Boris, Sigh

My Reflection - Dead Musician (Single Review)

01.Dead Musician

Jenni Räikkönen (vocals)
Petja Haapaniemi (Guitar/Vocals)
Henri Vuorenmaa (Guitar)
Aki Tainio (Bass)
Petri Inkinen (Drums)

Melodic rock/metal band from finland return with a new album, this is the first song released as a "teaser".

Starts off with a copy of 'House Of The Rising Sun' played on a music box, then the music comes in, standard symphonic rock fare and you know the vocal line still has that "Rising Sun'" melody.
Some nice guitar playing helps create a folkish feel as it goes along, but overall its pretty average stuff.

5/10
For Fans Of: Evanessence, Nightwish