| MUSIC REVIEWS (September 2002) |
| A BREED APART - ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN COMPILATION (14 Song CD) HATECORE/NOT GONNA SAY RECORDS This is a very good compilation Cd that features lots of great Hardcore bands. The bands play a mixture of old school & new school Hardcore. There are 10 bands & 14 songs, so some bands have more than 1 tune. Some of the bands include HATED AND PROUD, CLENCHED FIST, INSULT 2 INJURY, 100 DEMONS, COMBAT 84 & 5 others. This is a great release that introduced me to some new Hardcore bands I've never heard before. I hope this label puts out more releases like this one! - P.O. BOX 612 / HAMMOND, IN. 46320 / NGSHC@NETZERO.NET / www.geocities.com/jcore00/Not_Gonna_Say_Records.html ALL ELSE FAILED - ARCHETYPE (15 Song CD) NOW OR NEVER RECORDS Wow! These guys are incredible!!! This band that hails from my area of Philly is amazing! The band just plows through a few different styles & grabs what they want from each to create their own style. The music has a strong foundation in Hardcore, but I can see some Punk, Death Metal & Emo shinning through as well. There is a lot of anger & bitterness intwinded in their sound too. The music goes from a full on Hardcore sound into a Death Metal like style then backs off into an Emo-Jazz like jam session. This band is very, very good & deserves much attention. They remind me of a well meshed together mix of CANDIRIA & THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN! This album is a must!!! - P.O. BOX 100 / UPPER DARBY, PA. 19082 / www.ALLELSEFAILED.com BIOHAZARD - UNCIVILIZATION (13 Song CD) SANCTUARY RECORDS What can I say! This is the latest offering from my boys from Brooklyn. These guys have always been one of my favorite bands & I had the pleasure of interviewing these guys & they were very cool! This album sees the guys sticking to the formula they have always done, mixing Hardcore & Metal & doing it better than anyone else. There is a lot of heavy grooving songs here with fast paced aggressive beats along with good breakdowns & hooks. They seem to have gone back to their sound of the first two albums a bit more, which I believe to be their best releases. There are a lot of guests on this one including members of SLIPKNOT, SEPULTURA, SOULFLY, PANTERA, CYPRESS HILL, HATEBREED, TYPE-O-NEGATIVE, SKARHEAD & more. "Uncivilization" is a good representation of old & new BIOHAZARD. This one will please their old die hard fans from the beginning & the newer more recent fans equally!!! - www.BIOHAZARD.com BITCH AND ANIMAL - ETERNALLY HARD (13 Song CD) RIGHTEOUS BABE RECORDS I wasn't really sure what to expect from this NYC based duo, but it wasn't this that's for sure. They play a very stripped down raw style of Punk Rock with some other influences tossed in. Some of the music has a Folk Blues acoustic sound to it which was actually my favorite part of their sound. Some of the vocal stylings of Bitch are Folk, Punk, Rap & Pop sounding, but some how they work them altogether well. Their music has lots of sexually charged mixes of socially conscious & politically daring performance art, coated with comedic wit & a provocative twist. Half of this album was produced by Ani DiFranco. It's bands like BITCH AND ANIMAL that make me love the New York music scene so much! - www.BITCHANDANIMAL.com BLACKMORE'S NIGHT - FIRES AT MIDNIGHT (17 Song CD) SPV/STEAMHAMMER RECORDS This band is the brain child of guitarist Ritchie Blackmoore & his companion & vocalist Candice Night. The music is done in a real Renaissance styled Metal/Rock sound. This is the 3rd release from this band. This is a slight change for Ritchie than his previous bands, DEEP PURPLE & RAINBOW. The music blends the sounds of Rock, Folk & 16th century melodies in homage to the music of the Renaissance era. To accomplish these sounds they use acoustic & electric guitars, string sections along with Renaissance instruments like the hurdy gurdy, bagpipes & more. The atmosphere captures elements of romanticism, passion, mysticism & enthusiasm. Candice Night's angelic voice just adds to this already great band. This isn't going to be for everyone, but many should give it a chance, especially fans of Goth & atmospheric Balck Metal. This is great & will get much play in my CD player. - P.O. BOX 1538 / MILLER PLACE, NY. 11764 / www.RITCHIEBLACKMORE.com / www.BLACKMORESNIGHT.com BYO RECORDS - SAMPLER 2001 COMPILATION (6 Song CD) BYO RECORDS Here we have a very small, but cool CD sampler from BYO RECORDS that features some of theirbest bands. This label caters to the Punk & hardcore scene. There are 6 bands & 6 songs featured on this sampler. The bands include THE UNSEEN, PISTOL GRIP, PINHEAD CIRCUS, WELT, MANIC HISPANIC & LEATHERFACE. The bands have lots of flavor of old school & new school Punk & Hardcore. BYO RECORDS is one of my favorite & best places to find the best Punk Rock out there now! This made me want to put on my combat boots, leather jacket & grow my old mohawk back. Oi! Oi! Oi! - P.O. BOX 67609 / LOS ANGELES, CA. 90067 / www.BYORECORDS.com CIPHER - ANTIDOTE (7 Song CD) DOUBLE DOWN RECORDS CIPHER is a band out of New York that plays some very technical & aggressive Hardcore music. Some times the music almost sounds like it could be Death Metal. I really enjoyed all of the breakdowns & twists & turns that their music has. The music itself could almost be if CANDIRIA & DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN got together with HATEBREED & formed one mega group. There are two vocal styles used, one being a harsh hardcore styled scream & the other being a lower Death Metal growl. At times the Hardcore vocals almost sound like Evan of BIOHAZARD. This is yet another great band to emerge from the New York scene. Get this disc!!! - 259 WEST BEECH ST. / LONG BEACH, NY. 11561 / CIPHER@USA.NET / CIPHER@CIPHERONLINE.COM / www.CIPHERonline.com DEMIMONDE - MUTANT STAR (6 Song CD) EPIDEMIE RECORDS Damn! This is another great CD. I must be getting all the good stuff because this is another great band. This 9 piece play a very hard to describe & catagorize style of music. There are many styles combined here to create this bands sound. There are influnces pulled from Thrash, Death, Black, Goth, Techno, Industrial, Classical & more. There is a real operatic classical overtone through out thier songs. At times the music gets really gloomy & atmospheric then delves into a real cold Industrial like sound. The male vocals range from low harsh Death/Industrial vocals to a deep Black Metal growl & into an Operatic like almost Spoken Word style. The female vocals mostly stay in the atmospheric Operatic range & are done in a fantasy sounding style. This is one of the best & most talented bands I've ever heard before. Their bio describes their music as "Kozmik Post Modern Art Metal!" This band should not be looked over in anyway!!! - DEMIMONDE@CENTRUM.CZ DIABOLICAL MASQUERADE - DEATH'S DESIGN (61 Song CD) OLYMPIC RECORDS Most of you out there have already, or should have experienced the onslaught of fierce & disturbing Black Metal of this band. The main man of this band is Blakkheim of the band KATATONIA. This album is a dark outlined plan of "Death's Design" put to horrifically great Black Metal music. There are some really atmospheric & gloomy passages melted together with some very raw aggressive war like music. On this album there is a featured quartet orchestration & lots of other great muscians as well. Blakkheim pulls you into his world of horror & Metal & pounds the haunting moods into your head. There is no darkness unsearched through out this album. This surpasses any of his earlier works by far. Your Black metal collection should not be with out this disc in it! - www.DIABOLICALMASQUERADE.com ENFORSAKEN - EMBRACED BY MISERY (6 Song CD) LIFELESS RECORDS I've seen so much information, ads, articles, interviews & reviews on this band in the underground scene, but this is my 1st time actually hearing them. These guys play a very tight, fast style of old school Death Metal with some other influences shining through. The main focus is Death Metal, but every once in awhile some Thrash & Black Metal sounds tend to pop out. This band plays very tightly & aggressive & possess a lot of talent. They almost remind me of CARCASS during their "Heartwork" era, especially in the vocals & guitars. Any old school Death Metal fan will love these guys! I know I did!!! - P.O. BOX 267 / ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL. 60006 / www.ENFORSAKEN.com |