Bhayanak Maut - Man (CD review)

01.I Am Man
02.All Glory To The Beard
03.Genosis
04.Stage 1 - Trema
05.Perfecting The Suture
06.It Knows
07.Bhayanak Maut
08.Stage 2 - Apophany
09.Now, Creation. Forever, Destruction.
10.Stage 3 - Anastrophy
11.XOXOXO
12.For Science
13.Princest
14.Stage 4 - Consolidation
15.Iku
16.Light Shall Conquer
17.Stage 5 - Residumm


Aditya Nair (Guitar)
R. Venkatraman (Guitar/Samples/Keyboards)
Ishaan Krishna (Bass/Guitar)
Rahul Hariharan (Drums)
Sunneith Revankar (Vocals)
Vinay Venkatesh (Vocals)

Guests:

Abhishek Kamdar, Kuber Sharma, Ishaan Krishna, R. Venkatraman and Rahul Hariharan (Additional Voices on ‘All Glory to the Beard’)
K. Venkatesh (Spoken Word on ‘Genosis’)
Eshwari Pandit (Spoken Word on ‘Perfecting the Suture’ & ‘Princest’)
Shalaka Pai, Eshwari Pandit & Anisha Singhi (Cheerleader shouts in ‘XOXOXO’)
Abhishek Kamdar, Kuber Sharma, Ishaan Krishna, R. Venkatraman, Rahul Hariharan, Sahil Makhija, Eshwari Pandit & Anisha Singhi (Additional Voices on ‘Iku’)

From Bombay, India "Bhayanak Maut" (Hindi for 'Terrible Death') formed in 2003.
They have produced 2 albums so far, 'Malignant' and 'Metastasis', this new album'Man' is the last piece of their "life-cycle of cancer" trilogy, with, and i quote; "Man is the biggest cancer to have ever existed."

This album comes complete with a 118 page story book.

Starting with some sound effects and samples as an intro (but forming part of the first song, hooray!!), 'I Am Man' becomes a heavy death metal influenced workout and that is the main sound you get from the majority of the songs, heavy, agressive, elements of technical guitar and drum playing and growl vocals.

So each piece titled "Stage" are short melodic instrumentals, this divides up the story into chapters as per the book.

Finally we get to 'Stage 5 - Residumm' one song and its 31 minutes long! except taht there are huge chunks of silence and then short bursts f music and finally at the end its like a song being played backwards and forwards at the same time, its weird, but intresting, if not a bit annoying when it keeps going quiet.

This is one helluva monster of a concept album, you will wait a long time to hear something this good for a long time, why? because music tends not to be made this complex with that amount of thought behind it.

Rating 10/10
For Fans Of: DevilDriver, Cradle Of Filth, Mastodon, Fragarek, Xenochord

Oppression - Scars 1988-1990 (CD Review)

01.A Majesty, A Joker
02.Alone
03.For No Reason
04.Within Six Walls
05.Punishment From The Gods
06.No Day After
07.Oppression
08.Into The Dark
09.Immortal Objector
10.Parasites


Lare Nieminen (Guitar)
Marco Holstein (Guitar)
Janne Nuotio (Bass)
Harri Luoma (Drums)
Mika Luoma (Vocals)
Santtu Laakso (Vocals on tracks 5-10)

Re-issue of all the demos & 7”EP recorded between ‘88-’90 by the finnish thrash metal band with a technical edge inspired by bands like INFERNÄL MÄJESTY and CORONER.

Well if you want a cd of poor sound quality average, plodding thrash metal, mid paced and sludgey, by a band you have never heard of, then this is the cd for you.

Only good track here is 'Within Six Walls' and thats because some thought appears to have gone into it, from a nice acoustic start to various timing changes creating some intresting sounds and musical variation, otherwise you have to wonder why a record company would even bother with this when there are hundreds of talented bands out there who deserve a chance to get an album to the masses.

Rating 5/10
For fans of: Thrash metal demos

Coffinfish - I Am Providence (CD Review)

01.Zadok Allen
02.The Expedition
03.Watchers
04.Against Life
05.Staring At The Abyss


Czapla (Guitar)
Jasiek (keyboards)
Kolek (Drums)
Lobo (Vocals)
Michal (Bass)
Prymas (Guitar)

From Krakow, The band was formed back in 2011. Since then they have constantly continued evolving, developing a unique style, inspired by tales of weird fiction and the mysteries of the Ocean, Space and the human mind.
Described as a hybrid of post metal/experimental and sludge influenced by the work of H.P.Lovecraft, they released thier first EP in 2013.


Crashing waves and and we are off with 'Zadok Allen' in comes a doom guitar chord and then this most amazing keyboard sound, pure 70's British Prog, what could come next?

'The Expedition' is a different beast, a strange mix of technical metal played slowly at various tempos with numerous different vocal styles, elements of death metal and Progressive rock.

Up next is 'The Watchers' and its 12 minutes long, slow keyboard pulse and looped guitar chords create a gothic rock ambience, then the drums start to pump out this hypnotic rhythm, it starts to get into full swing when the guitar knocks out this proto thrash riff, but they somehow pull it back and bring back that old school keyboard.
Really great vocal starts nice and melodic and then gets more and more agressive as the song progresses, sorry have to mention those keyboards again because there are nice little patterns created in the mix, as this song goes on it at times sounds almost like a death/doom band.

More atmospheric sounds, almost drifting away to somewhere nice then 'Against Life' screamed through the speakers and im back in front of the laptop writing this!

'Staring At The Abyss' another epic 12 minutes, manages to somehow be everything, melody and agression, doom and prog and everything in between, stunning mix, production and musical perfection by some very talented players.

Rating 10/10
For Fans Of: Mastodon, Tool, Stone Circle, Words Of Farewell

We Butter The Bread With Butter - Wieder Geil (CD Review)

01.Ich Mach Mit Medien
02.Exorzist
03.Anarchy
04.Berlin Berlin
05.Bang Bang Bang
06.Mir Mehr
07.Rockstar
08.Thug Life
09.Warum Lieben Wir Nicht Mehr
10.Zombiebitch


Marcel Neumann (Guitar)
Maximilian Pauly (Bass)
Paul Bartzsch (Vocals)
Can Özgünsür (Drums)

"Wieder Geil!“ finally showcases the German fourpiece they way it always wanted to be perceived. Forceful and equipped with the bounce of all bounces.
So says their record company anyway, i'm slightly concerned about reviewing this one sent to me, silly name, great album cover, facebook page says they have over 298k of likes, but then i have also seen the word "metalcore" and am wondering if this is going to be a load of shouty scene kid music?

Well 'Ich Mach Mit Medien' starts off quite well a sort of techno metal sound much beloved of the old nu-metal guard, add in some punchy guitar and then, err wait euro techno dance drum n bass now its more chase and status than linkin park!

After a lot more of the same, all by the way in German, we come to one in English called 'Thug Life' which is another hi-nrg techno rave thing with samples and electronic vocals.

Yep, well then, definatley not my kind of music at all, so i wont go any further, this to me is neither one thing or the other and brings nothing new to the table that the likes of KoRn and Skrillex have not already done very well or some of the cross over music created by Rammstein.

But when it comes to metalcore and unfortunatly i get to hear a lot of it, this one is towards the top of the pile, its well produced and they execute their music with precision.

Rating 7/10
For fans of: Enter Shikari, Asking Alexandra, Finish Him, The Browning

Oktor - Another Dimension Of Pain (CD Review)

01.Another
02.Conscious Somatoform Paradise
03.Dimension
04.Mental Paralysis
05.Of
06.Hemiparesis Of The Soul
07.Pain
08.Undone


Piotr Kucharek (Vocals/Bass)
Jan Rajkow-Krzywicki (Vocals/Bass/Guitar)
Jerzy Rajkow-Krzywicki (Vocals/Bass/Guitar/Keyboards/Drums)

The Polish doom death metal band formed way back in 2003 and are now finally ready to present a full-length album after the years of artistic activity, several successful mini albums, compilations and participation in A Tribute to Skepticism! The long tracks alternate with exquisite piano preludes, as if inspired by Frederic Chopin, demonstrate the diversity of ideas: classical dense riffs and low-tempo interludes, a variety of vocals (from clean to growl), alterations of mood and rhythm … Clean sound of all instruments underlines the high quality of musicians many-years-long searching for their own style.

Well starts with a bloody piano intro as a seperate track and then gets going with the 12 minute piece 'Conscious Somatoform Paradise' and it's pretty good, nice mix of doom, melody and funeral doom like the different vocal styles from growls to clean, works well as does the beautiful slow and melancolic breakdowns with gentle classical precision.

My joy at this first proper song is knocked slightly when track 3 is another short piano filler, which as it acts as an intro to the next song, could (and should) have been at the beginning of the damn song, but anyway lets move to 'Mental Paralysis' (in more ways than one if its followed by another filler).
Now this is a  beast of a track at nearly 18 minutes, starts with this almost prog rock sound of guitar and keyboard, then the dark vocals come in and the song begins to move towards some quite epic almost symphonic doom as it goes on some stunning backing vocals are added and then it all comes to a close with some simple and atmospheric piano.

Next track, yep you guessed it: Filler, i can see a pattern here this is a four track album divided into 8 parts!
So to 'Hemiparesis Of The Soul' another slow and quite symphonic intro with great clean vocal, its when the dark vocals come in that this song gets heavy and nasty, well for a while we then gets some quite jazzy basswork and drums in the middle and a mix of styles and samples at the end.

The last 2; 'Pain' (yep filler come intro) and 'Undone' really are an odd way to end, just very very quiet piano and a near whispered vocal.

Rating 8/10
For Fans Of: Sorrows Path, My Dying Bride, Anathema, De Profundis

Lucifer - Lucifer I (CD Review)

01.Abracadabra
02.Purple Pyramid
03.Izrael
04.Sabbath
05.White Mountain
06.Morning Star
07.Total Eclipse
08.A Grave For Each One Of Us



Johanna Sadonis (Vocals)
The Wizard (Guitars)
Dino Gollnick (Bass)
Andrew Prestidge (Drums)

Following the premature demise of The Oath, Johanna Sadonis formed Lucifer.  Whilst The Oath was a much-celebrated band, she wasted no time in creating a new beast to go beyond previous limitations.That beast is Lucifer and this is their stunning debut album titled Lucifer I.
Having released their debut single, Anubis earlier in 2015, there has been a significant buzz generating around Lucifer. The anticipation for Lucifer I is high and it will not disappoint.

With the addition of Garry Jennings (ex-Cathedral/Death Penalty) as co-songwriter and studio guitarist, Lucifer have moved forward into a realm of rock music which is very rare and very special in this time. Genuine, classic, heavy, studied and passionate are just a few words that instantly spring to mind upon first listen. Lucifer's instinctive take on the very soul of early heavy metal is the electrified essence of rock’n’roll at its nascent purest. This is Magic Rock – heartfelt and holistic.

Eschewing the now well-worn clichés of the ‘occult-rock explosion’ in favour of a truthful and tempestuous re-imagining of classic 70s proto-metal and turbocharged blues, the eight songs on this band’s debut album crackle and fizz with burgeoning energy and the compelling conviction of music made for all the right reasons.

Although still firmly rooted in the fertile soil first cultivated by Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Blue Oyster Cult, Lucifer exist in a proudly liberated and limitless sonic realm, where the heaviest blues rock is a mere starting point for the band’s skyward creative trajectory.

So 'Abracadabra' is not quite the breathtaking start i was expecting, seems more like a continuation of The Oath, which was good mid seventies hard rock but pretty mainstream.

Again with 'Purple Pyramid' its just The Oath with a slightly heavier guitar sound, really not what i was expecting at all, look im not saying this is bad, far from it, this is great stuff with awesome vocals, but, ahh wait towards the end of this track im starting to get a different sound come through, more doomy, so maybe.....

'Izrael' quite a Sabbath like intro into some great bass and drum rhythms, nice harmonic vocal over it all, then it all comes together, this is more like what i was expecting, like Heart jamming with Sabbath.

And now a song called 'Sabbath', bells, slow pounding music, pure old school proto doom, stunning vocal ringing out through the speakers, oh yes this is the stuff!

This style does not last as we return with 'White Mountain' classic hard rock all the way and a killer solo at the end.

Really like the slow and slightly psychedelic/doom of 'Morning Star', half way through this one picks up the pace with a speeded up riff akin to 'Children Of The Grave' and more killer guitar work.

The doom returns with a vengeance on 'Total Eclipse', slow, pounding and pure, that vocal once again really sings through the speakers, love it when it goes all quiet and just a simple guitar riff is playing, then the drums start up and all of a sudden the pace picks up, creating happy doom sounds!!

Having finally got into this album i find myself at the last song, 'A Grave For Each One Of Us' nice acoustic start then a doom pattern appears, but just as it gathers pace they bring it down with the acoustic again, so its up and down all the way to the end.

So i may have had some doubts, writing this review as i go along, track by track for the first time, i then went back and listend to the whole thing again and it was even better.

Rating 10/10
For Fans Of: The Oath, Cathedral, Death Penalty, Bloody Hammers, Jex Thoth

Albatross - Fear From The Skies (CD Review)

Story 1: Children Of The Cloud
01.Intro - Advance
02.The Raptorsville Fair
03.Jugglehead The Clown
04.Children Of The Cloud
05.Outro - Fold

Story 2: The Assassin's Flight
06.In The Lair Of Dr.Hex
07.A Tale Of Two Tyrants
08.The Empire Of Albatross

Dr. Hex (Bass)
Biprorshee Das (Vocals)
Vigneshkumar Venkatraman (Guitar)
Nishith Hegde (Guitar)
Varun Singh (Guitar)
Jay Thacker (Drums)

Mumbai-based traditional heavy metal quintet Albatross formed in 2009 and are a band that combines bone-chilling stories with bone-crushing metal. The band started out as the solo project of bassist Riju Dasgupta (Workshop, Old Monks) who wanted to marry his love of literature with his other love: metal.

Later on, a lineup of like-minded musicians was standardized and Albatross was born. The band released the critically acclaimed 'Dinner is You', a concept EP about cannibalism and the Kuru disease, which was mastered by Grammy nominated Swedish producer Andy LaRocque from King Diamond, in September 2010.

In 2012, Albatross released ‘The Kissing Flies’ EP as part of a split CD with American doom metal band Vestal Claret to critical acclaim. This EP features contributions from famed luminaries such as Niklas 'Viper' Stalvind (Wolf), The Demonstealer (Demonic Resurrection) and Murari Vasudevan (Rat King).

Albatross has supported legendary bands like Kreator and Wolf in the recent past and besides being a regular in the Indian live circuit did a successful three-city tour of Australia in 2013.
Since then they have been working on their debut album.

Are you sitting comfortably? then lets begin with our first story, and yes the intro starts us off with a spoken story and then 'The Raptorsville Fair' starts and it sounds like something from Nightmare Before Xmas, a very theatrical vocal over some silly fairground style rock music, then a more technical progressive metal sound kicks in, but it returns to that strange but quite awesome other style.

'Jugglehead The Clown' is more traditional heavy metal, pounding drums and maidenesque guitarwork and a more "serious" vocal, very rhythmic and catchy.

Next up is 'Children Of The Cloud' this one throws everything in from prog, death and thrash metal, lots of intresting timing changes and a fantastic vocal performance that ranges from Bruce Dickinson to Dani Filth!

The story ends on the outro with some church bells and a bit more story telling.

So from what appeared to be a light hearted first story the next one seems to be a bit darker, 'In The Lair Of Dr Hex' has this slow powerchord driven rhythm and more vocal gymnastics, the quality of the guitar solos matches anything any euro power metal player can offer, very very impressive.

The pace picks up with 'A Tale Of Two Tyrants' and once again it is the vocalist that takes centre stage here, another stunning and diverse performace from dark bass to near soprano, all over solid heavy power metal.

Opening with some beautiful acoustic guitar comes our final piece 'The Empire Of Albatross', this one is very much influenced by Iron Maiden, but this has some very good modern elements in the mix, as ever the vocalist does what he does best and also tells us a little bit of a story as well.

Rating 10/10
For fans Of: King Diamond, Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, Dream Evil, Iced Earth