| MUSIC REVIEWS Page #2 |
| CHILDREN OF BODOM - FOLLOW THE REAPER (10 song CD) NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS Finland's melodic Death Metal act have returned with their 3rd release. This new album combines the elements of their 1st album "Something Wild" & their 2nd album "Hatebreeder". This album contains a glorious mixture of heavy, raw, a riff happy edge & technical Metal acrobatics. The vocals are more defined & go from melodic Gothic styles to Death Metal growls, lost of majestic & amazing keyboard compositions to set the atmosphere of the band. There is an all around better sound, structure & musicianship heard through out this release! - www.COBHC.com CIRIBUS - DECIMATION IS INEVITABLE (? song cassette) This is some raw, in your face Death Metal. The vocals have a low gutteral sound mixed with more screaming higher pitched vocals. There is even some almost spoken word like vocals as well. The music itself is raw aggressive Death Metal with lots of blast beats & breakdowns. There are some hooks here & there also. There was no address inside the demo cover, so if you come across this & your a brutal Death Metal fan then pick this up! CORVUS CORAX - THE ATAVISTIC TRIAD (5 song CD) DARK SYMPHONIES This is Doom/Gothic stylings dipping it's black roots into the waters of Black Metal. It's fast with a lot of keyboard work reminding me of DIMMU BORGIR without the technical guitar work nor as brutal on edge & intricate drum work. Screechy vocals change up on occasion, nothing breath taking. The album only contains 4 songs but total playing time is almost 45 minutes. Very long songs. The 1st track is over 15 minutes long. (JENN) CRADLE OF FILTH - MIDIAN (11 song CD) KOCH RECORDS How can I review this & be unbiased? These guys are my favorite Black Metal band. I have nothing bad to say about this band or release! This is a great CD. If you like what they have done on "Dusk..." & "Enslaved", you will dig this one. I actually like this a little better than "Dusk...", it is heavier, I think! - www.CRADLE-OF-FILTH.co.uk (JENN) CREMATORY - BELIEVE (12 song CD) NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS Hailing from Germany, this band should be familiar to most Death Metal fans. This is their 8th album to date. The band incorporates elements of Goth & Black Metal into their sound. there is a duel vocalization with low dark Death growls mixed with higher & more melodic Goth type vocals. there are also some clean vocals in the mix too. The music itself empowers lots of influences crossing from Power Metal all the way up to Black Metal. This is a more advanced & well arranged album that tops all their other releases! DARKWELL - SUSPIRIA (10 song CD) NAPALM RECORDS This is some extremely well done Death Metal from this band out of Austria. The music is very fast & very intense sounding Death Metal. There are some Thrash & Speed Metal influences coming through, but only in the guitars. At times I can also hear some slight Black Metal sounds in the keyboard & female backing vocals. For the most part this music is high speed energetic & in your face Death Metal. This band has gotten much better since their last release. - EMAIL: DARKWELLGOTHIK@GEOCITIES.COM / http://DARKWELL.cjb.net / AN DER FURT 2 / GOZO INNSBRUCK / AUSTRIA DEFYANCE - TIME LOST (9 song CD) NIGHTMARE RECORDS This band has been together for about 12 years now. These guys play some well constructed Power Progressive Metal music. There is a really nice clean sound to their music. They combine melodic rythms, classic Metal riffing & clean Heavy Metal vocals. There is enough heaviness to pull in some aggressive fans & lots of power to pull in the pure Metal heads. If your into bands like FATE'S WARNING, QUEENSRYCHE & RIOT then you'll love these guys. - EMAIL: DEFYANCE@DEFYANCE.COM / http://www.DEFYANCE.com / 1495 PARK ST. / KNOXVILLE, IA. 50138 DIKTAT - SELF-TITLED (5 song cassette) (Available through BEOWOLF PRODUCTIONS!) This is a straight forward Death Metal act based out of France. The music leans more towards the Death Thrash end of the music spectrum. The high speed drumming pulls the music back up to a solid Death Metal sound a lot through out the demo. The vocals are mid ranged Death growls that sometimes go really deep & gutteral! If you took old INTERNAL BLEEDING, mixed in some old INSATANITY & then tossed is some old CANNIBAL CORPSE, you'd have a good idea of what these guys sound like! - EMAIL: NICOLAS@MUSICIENS.COM / http://DIKTAT.ifrance.com / 66, GRANDE RUE / 91940 ST. JEAN DE BEAUREGARD / FRANCE DESOLATE - EVENTIDE OF THE ORB & HEAVENS (8 song CD) X-RATED RECORDS Um...I don't like this. This is a little different sounding. The vocals were killing me into liking this. They are a Death/Black Metal band, but the vocals in the background were a little weak. I couldn't really figure out what they are totally, but the sheet I have on them says Epic Death Metal. So, if your into that style of music, then get this!!! - EMAIL: EBDBYDES@SF.ICN.BG / www.geocities.com/vienna/opera/9062/index.html / P.O. BOX 2737 / 1415 SOFIA / BULGARIA (JENN) EMPYRIA - THE LEGACY (7 song CD) NIGHTMARE RECORDS Here is a Power Metal masterpiece from this 4 piece out of Canada. "The Legacy" is the 3rd album release from this band & is an amazing one at that. There is a lot of experimantation in the Progressive Metal areas of this band. This is a very technical & involved Power Metal act. The vocals remind me of a more melodic & better controlled mix of Rob Halford from JUDAS PRIEST & the singer from SLAUGHTER. Fans of DREAM THEATRE will eat this up!!! - EMAIL: EMPYRIA@HOTMAIL.COM / www.recordmall.com/EMPYRIA / 945 BLACK STOCK ROAD / PORT MOODY, B.C. / CANADA V3H 3S3 ENSIGN - FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH (4 song CD) NITRO RECORDS This is an EP from this Hardcore Punk band. This is basically to hold you over till their full length release. This 3 piece outfit really packs a good punch. The guitars have more of an up beat Punk feel to them, at least to me, while the drums & bass are fast hard hitting & driving Hardcore beats. The vocalist tends to stay more towards the harsh Hardcore style, but I hear some melodic Punk styles at times too. I was actually a little surprised to find this album on NITRO. It seems much harder than most of the stuff the have released!!! ENTOMBED - UPRISING (15 song CD) SANCTUARY RECORDS/METAL-IS What can be said about ENTOMBED that you haven't heard already? These guys are one of the biggest Metal bands to ever emerge out of Sweden. The guys have changed their sound a little on this release. They used to be head on Death Metal, now the guys have more of a Death Rock sound. All the Death Metal elements are still there, it's just that they have added a more rocking sound to their style too. They almost sound like old CARCASS mixed with MOTORHEAD! Still a worthy release for all ENTOMBED fans to pick up!!! - www.ENTOMBED.net FETUS EATERS - VOMIT CORE (21 song CD) These guys are sick, sick, sick! I love it! Their music is very insane, intense, out of control, chaotic...umm...Vomit Core! They combine lots of elements of Death Metal, Grind-core & Noise covered in thick layers of brutal sarcasm. I've heard their past releases & this one is by far the sickest to date. They remind me of GROINCHURN, A.C. & some SANITY'S DAWN all rolled together, but all with some more noise & humor. Die hard Vomit-Core fans will truely love this band & release! - EMAIL: KEVINFETUS@HOTMAIL.COM / www.geocities.com/FETUSEATERS / -P.O. BOX 6488 / BURBANK, CA. 91510-6488 |