| MUSIC REVIEWS (June 2002) |
| ADEMA - SELF-TITLED (12 song CD) ARISTA RECORDS I'm sure many of you have heard of this band by now. They play a really good heavy driving style of Metal-Core. The music is real grooving all the way through the whole album. I liked the crunchy rawness in the guitar sound that reminded me a lot of the Metal bands of the early 90's. The rythm section has a solid Hardcore type sound to it, which I liked a lot. This is the strong point of the bands sound. The vocalist is the half brother of Jonathan Davis of KORN. He sounds slightly like him in most areas, but he tweaks it a bit to get his own sound. If your into bands like KORN, SPINESHANK or AMEN, you'll most likely get into these guys. A very cool debut release!!! - www.ADEMAONLINE.com AEON - DARK ORDER (6 song CD) DEATH VOMIT RECORDS Holy Shit!!! These guys are amazing! This disc blew me away from beginning to end. No surprise here, that these guys hail from Sweden & play some very aggressive Death Metal. These guys don't have that typical Swedish sound though. Thier music is very fast paced brutally violent & extremely good Death Metal. The vocals are very harsh & throaty sounding Death growls. These guys reminded me of a lot of the older DEICIDE albums & maybe a little old MORBID ANGEL, just much heavier. I really got into this disc a lot. It took me back to when I 1st really got into Death Metal!!! AMON AMARTH - THE CRUSHER (10 song CD) METAL BLADE RECORDS These guys are one of the better bands on METAL BLADE RECORDS. If you want some extremely brutal & extremely well played Death Metal, these guys deliver. Their Death Metal sound is a little different than the normal. You can hear some powerful influences in Thrash Metal, especially in the guitars & some of the drum beats. The drums actually reminded me of Charlie Benante's of ANTHRAX & S.O.D. style. There are some good breaks between the high speed adrenaline & even some nice grooves. The music has a great rythm to it, that keeps pushing you forward. This is a must for all Death Metal fans!!! - www.AMONAMARTH.com / BOOKING@AMONAMARTH.COM ANTITHESIS - DYING FOR LIFE (9 song CD) NIGHTMARE RECORDS This Cleveland, Ohio 5 piece play some great old school Power Thrash Metal music. Their music leans more towards the Power Metal side, but has a very original sound to it. At times the music is very technical & involved, while at others it's straight forward Thrash. I hear the Thrash attacks in some of the guitars & also in the drums. The vocalist sways his sound between the two above styles. They have a sound that reminds me of some great acts like FLOTSAM & JETSAM, HELLOWEEN, MERCYFUL FATE & even some DESTRUCTION. A great album for fans of 80's Thrash Metal scene!!! - P.O. BOX 88 / NOVA, OH. 44859 / ANTITHESIS@INTOMENTAL.COM / www.ANTITHESISMUSIC.com / www.intromental.com/ANTITHESIS BEHEMOTH - THELMA 6 (11 song CD) OLYMPIC RECORDINGS This is an intensely furious Death Metal band that has unleashed another great album. This is very aggressive & in your face Death Metal at it's best. Some of the elements in their sound present here are very dark & disharmonic. Some of the sounds have a cold majestic sound as well. There is pure violent adrenaline pouring from this band. the drums are super fast, massive guitars & a solid mid ranged dark Death growls to top it all off. There is no wonder these guys are one of Poland's most extreme & better Death Metal acts!!! BEYOND FATAL - SYMPHONY OF DYING CRIES (10 song CD) These guys hail from my home state of Pennsylvania & play some really good crushing Death-Core music. The music is a solid mixture of Death Metal & hardcore. The music is more on the Death Metal side, but played in a very cool grooving hardcore style. There is a good mix of slow & fast rythms along with hooks & breakdowns. The vocals are done in a lower Death Metal style growl & also a higher almost Black Metal style growl. These guys are really good & will grab the attention of fans into hardcore, Thrash, Death & even Black Metal. This is a band really worth checking out & should be watched carefully cause they are going to explode!!! - BEYOND_FATAL@HOTMAIL.COM / www.BEYONDFATAL.com / http://BEYONDFATAL.iuma.com CADAVER INC. - DISCIPLINE (11 song CD) EARACHE RECORDS These Norwegian Metal heads play some extremely good Death Metal. This band is the brain child of Original CADAVER guitarist Anders Odden. The band also features members of DIMMU BORGIR, AURA NOIR, DODHEIMSGARD & HYDRHDR. The music is a mixture of aggressive raw Death Metal & hyper speed Black Metal. The music is extremely intense all the way through. The drummer here is amazing, fast, tight & very good! The vocals are a groggy & harsh sounding Death Metal growl, but more on the higher end & closer to Black Metal. At times the music goes from super fast, to a more grooving sound, which I really liked a lot! This is a great debut from this band, that I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot from! - www.CADAVERINC.com CIRCLE OF DEAD CHILDREN - THE GENOCIDE MACHINE (17 song CD) NECROPOLIS/DEATH VOMIT RECORDS Wow! Here's another great band to come out of my home state of Pennsylvania. These guys play some real aggressive style of Death & Grindcore. The bands structure is built on Grindcore, but there are many other influences here as well. You can hera some Hardcore, Crust, Black & Death Metal plus some Noise as well. These guys remind me of BILE, but only coated with lots of Death Metal. There is such a good variety in this bands sound that all fans of extreme music can enjoy. The vocals are low gutteral Death growls & high pitched Grindcore vocals mixed. There is much old school sounds as well as new school Grindcore. These guys are great!!! Join the Circle!!! You'll be happy you did!!! DARKFALL - FIREBREED (4 song CD) This is a 5 piece out of Austria that play good Death Metal with lots of style. The music is played very tight technical & is well structured. They have a well balanced mixture of old school & new school Death Metal with some Thrash Metal groove thrown into the mix. There are some nice atmospheric parts as well. The vocals have an early Death Metal style when Thrash & Death Metal were merging together. These guys are a great band & everyone should check them out!!! - ETSCHMAYERSTR. 22 / 8700 LEOBEN / AUSTRIA / DARKFALL@GMX.AT / www.METALWORLD.at DISGORGE - FORENSICK (15 song CD) NECROPOLIS/DEATH VOMIT RECORDS Most of you into the underground scene have heard this sick band from Mexico already. These guys have been creating repulsive Death Metal for quite a few years now. This album takes you into some of the filthest & extreme depths of Death Metal. This band takes you lower & sicker than ony other. There is inhuman like gurgling Death growl vocals accompanied by some great grinding Death Metal. As sick as the music sounds the lyrics are just as equally sick. This is not a band for everyone, but is still a great band. This album also contains some live tracks from a split 7" they did with the band SQUASH BOWELS! - P.O. BOX 1-310 / QUERETARO, QRO. 76001 / MEXICO / DISGORGE_MEX@HOTMAIL.COM / DISGORGEROT@NETSCAPE.COM / DISGORGE@VOL.COM.MX DRACO HYPNALIS - NOBLENESS OF THE STORM GATHERER / ROMANTIC LOVE - HOPELESS ANXIETY (10 song Cassette) (Available through BEOWOLF PRODUCTIONS!) The first side of this split cassette release is from the band DRACO HYPNALIS from Czech Republic. They have the 1st 6 songs & play some very melodic Death Metal with touches of Black Metal. There is strong Black Metal influences in the vocal styles as well. The music is very technical at times also. It's hard to believe this is only a 3 piece. Side 2 is the band ROMANTIC LOVE also from Czech Republic. This is a 3 piece that plays some Grind influenced Death Metal with a few other influences shining through. They have some very classical atmospheric parts tossed in too. The drums is where I hear a lot of the Grindcore sound coming into play! There is a mix of vocals styles that switch from growling to a higher pitched scream. It's hard to believe this is a 3 piece as well! - K. SUETLE 490/84 / ZLIN 760 01 / CZECH REPUBLIC / DRACOHYPNALIS@SEZNAM.CZ / DRUZBA 1273 / HULIN 76824 / CZECH REPUBLIC |