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| MUSIC REVIEWS (January 2010) |
| AOSOTH - ASHES OF ANGELS (10 track CD) AGONIA RECORDS AOSOTH is the side project band from song writer MKM of the French Black Metal band ANTAEUS. This project's sound is more in the vein of raw old school 90's styled Death Metal. The music is kind of gritty, fast paced & harsh sounding all through out. There are some slight elements of late 80's early 90's Black Metal present in their sound as well. They have a really cold violent vibe that dominates their sound. Harsh rough gritty Death growls round out the bands sound. The project also features BST of the bands ABORTED & BALROG. They do a cover of "Inner War" by ANTAEUS on this album too. If your a fan of the original Black Death Metal genre from the late 80's & early 90's then this is definitely a band for you. www.myspace.com/AOSOTH616 |
| BLASPHEMOUS CREATION - DIABOLICAL KINGDOM (15 track CD) APOCRYPHA RECORDS BLASPHEMOUS CREATION hails from Nevada and has been delivering us some amazingly good Black / Thrash Metal since 2006. These guys just keep advancing & getting better in every aspect with each new release. On this one, their first full length release they have really honed in on their sound. They play an old school style of Black Metal that merges with classic Thrash Metal. The fast hyper tense riffing & ultra sonic drumming really drive this bands sound. There is a some what raw & unpolished sound to their music. The vocals are a groggy mid ranged Death Black Metal crossover style. If you were to turn SLAYER into a Black Metal band this is what they would sound like! A must hear for every extreme Metal fan!!! www.myspace.com/BLASPHEMOUSCREATION |
| CONFLICTED - 4 SONG EP (4 track CD) METAL QUEEN MANAGEMENT This 4 song EP is the newest release from this newer Metal act out of Canada. These guys are all veterans in the Toronto Canada music scene, but CONFLICTED has only been around since 2008. The band fuses together a lot of different elements to create their sound of Hard Rock & Metal. The music has a some what Progressive Hard Metal feel with elements of Traditional Heavy Metal & Hard Rock mixed all through out. Strong powerful clean vocals from Jason Orton round out the bands sound. If you were to combined the best parts of DREAM THEATER, RUSH, QUEENSRYCHE, RHAPSODY & my old guitarist's first band DROSS then you'd get this very talented band called CONFLICTED! Check them out! I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot from them. www.CONFLICTED.ca |
| GOAT BLEEDER - BLASPHEMOUS RITUALS (7 track Cassette) MACABRE MASTERMIND RECORDS GOAT BLEEDER is yet another band from Bob Macabre of the great CHAINSAW DISSECTION. This release is originally done in cassette format, but Bob sent it to me on CD-R for review. GOAT BLEEDER has a really raunchy old school Death Metal sound. There are some raw elements of Grindcore mixed through out with some slight touches of Black Metal at times too. Fast, aggressive riffs & blasts are all through this release. I know Bob does everything himself in CHAINSAW DISSECTION, so I'm sure he did everything here as well. Another great band from the sick mind of Bob worth checking out, but CHAINSAW DISSECTION will always be my favorite of all his projects. Check out GOAT BLEEDER & all of his many other projects too! www.myspace.com/GOATBLEEDER666 |
| INFERNO - BLACK DEVOTION (11 track CD) AGONIA RECORDS "BLACK DEVOTION" is the AGONIA RECORDS debut release from one of Czech Republic's best Black Metal bands known as INFERNO. These guys formed back in 1996 & have been unleashing some of the greatest old school Black Metal releases. The music is played ultra fast with super sonic speeds. The guitars combine elements of Black Metal with Thrash Metal & are loud & crunchy. Hyper blasts come pouring from the drums through out the whole album. Thick mid ranged & groggy Black Metal growls round out the bands raw old school style. If your into Black Metal you already know about these guys, but if not & want to hear some of the best original Black Metal music being created then you must check out INFERNO!!! www.myspace.com/INFERNO |
| JOE THRASHER - METAL FORCES (9 track CD) HME PRODUCTIONS JOE THRASHER is based in Canada and play a mixed style of Thrash Metal music. The band has based the sounds foundation clearly in Thrash Metal, but the injected their sound with other styles as well. There are many elements of Progressive, Speed, Death, Traditional, Power & Crossover all mixed with in their sound. I grew up on Thrash from the 80's so I was really digging these guys a lot! Their music remind me of a mix between ANTHRAX, ANVIL, EXODUS, DESTRUCTION, KREATOR & SLAYER. While the vocals would be a combination of EXODUS, FORBIDDEN, TESTAMENT & AC/DC. This is a highly recommended band for every Thrash fan out there. They could definitely hold their own with any of the above big names! Thrash til Death! www.JOETHRASHER.com |
| PURGATORY - PART 1 (THE EARTH) (9 track CD) Self Released PURGATORY formed back in 2006 out of Thailand and play an old school style of Death Metal. Their sound is almost done in a crossover style between Death & Thrash Metal. It reminds me of a lot of the bands back in the early 90's when these two styles were merging together. There is a cool Death groove vibe they have through out their songs. Their sound is a bit raw and aggressive. The vocals lean more towards the Death Metal side with mid ranged growls. This is the first part of a 3 part concept album. I really dig these guys a lot, because I am a huge fan of both Death Metal & Thrash Metal. PURGATORY merges these two styles perfectly. Any fan of these genres should get their hands on this release! Check them out!!! http://PURGATORYth.hi5.com |
| TEMPLAR - DARK CIRCUS (11 track CD) ROTTING CORPSE RECORDS I was very pleased to find this release in my hands. TEMPLAR hail from Australia and play some of the best & original sounding music heard in a long time. They have delivered the goods again on this new release entitled "DARK CIRCUS". The music is based in an old school Metal style, but they flavor their sound with many elements of other genres of Metal. The three biggest influences are Thrash, Death and Gothic Metal with a few others mixed within. Their whole sound in covered in a blanket of darkness which gives them a creepier element to their music. This album is light years beyond their last release & that one was amazing! Combine THE GENITORTURERS, CRADLE OF FILTH, LAMB OF GOD, STATIC-X, OPIATE FOR THE MASSES & you'd get TEMPLAR! www.myspace.com/paradoxxmuzic |
| TRUNAR - CHRISTS NOT CHRISTIANS (9 track CD) DEAD CENTER / WINGS OF DESTRUCTION TRUNAR is one of the newest young Black Metal bands out of Belarus. These guys play Anti-christian Black Metal, as if you couldn't tell from the album cover. Their music is done in a really noisy & raw old school style of Black Metal. You can feel all the anger and hatred pouring out of this band. At times you can hear elements of Thrash Metal peeking through. The vocals are mid ranged groggy harsh Black Metal growls. These guys maybe one of the newest Black Metal bands on the scene, but they could definitely go head to head with some of the masters of this genre and come out on top! Raise the horns and blast this album!!! www.myspace.com/TRUNAR |
| (11 track CD) DIE TODESRUNE RECORDS Greece's great VARATHRON are back with their best master piece to date. These guys play a great mixture of Black Metal & Death Metal that takes influences from old school & new school genres. Their sound is very technical, well structured and brutal as hell. The Death Metal elements are in the vein of late 80's and early 90's Death Metal. While the Black Metal parts pull from both old school & new Black Metal styles. There is raw cold & dark from the old & clean technical and orchestrated from the new. The vocals are done in a mid ranged groggy Death / Black crossover styled growl. These guys have been brutalizing us with there amazing music for many years now and they just keep improving and out doing themselves every time. VARATHRON is one of the best Death / Black Metal bands I have ever heard in all my years of the underground scene. If your Metal collection doesn't have at least one of this bands releases in it then it is not complete! A must own! www.myspace.com/VARATHRON |