Music Appreciation Thread

[Howie]

Eh, I'm not too good with this reviewing stuff

You're a hell of better than me writing reviews, so keep 'em coming. This thread mustn't die.

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Darkane - Layers Of Lies (2005) - http://www.darkane.com/



Swedish Darkane plays melodic Death Metal (surprise!) like a million of other swedish bands. Darkane sounds pretty much like any other melodic Death Metal-bands as well, for example early/good Soilwork. Layers Of Lies is my first experience with them.

I'm a bit surprised, really. Layers Of Lies seems to mix Metalcore with melodic Death Metal, but the thing is; it actually sounds quite good. I assure you, this ain't nothing like Soilwork's newest album, even if they're both quite similar in style. The vocalist makes use of both harsh and clean vocals, which both sounds quite good, even though I don't like clean vocals in melodic Death Metal. The instrumental work is also solid, the drummer is very talented though he seems to "abuse" the cymbals too much. The bassist and guitarists also does a fine job. The production is crystal-clear.

Layers Of Lies starts of with an symphonic intro called "Amnesia Of The Wildoerian Apocalypse" (whatever the heck that means). It then fades into the superb track "Secondary Effects", and after that, an even better track called "Organic Canvas". "Fading Dimensions" is a slow-paced track that makes use of clean vocals far too much than it should. The title-track, "Layers Of Lies", is without a doubt the best on the album. A short acoustic-guitar opening suddenly turns into a superb song with a quite good chorus. The vocalist sounds at times like Warrell Dane from Nevermore on this song.

Not everything on this album is good. As I've already mentioned, "Fading Dimensions" is a quite bad track, along with "Maelstrom Crisis" and "Vision Of Degradation". The album starts out good and ends mediocre (the last track "The Creation Insane" is pretty damned good though). All in all, fans of the band and genre will probably like this. Worthy a purchase.


Rating: 7/10

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Sex Machineguns - Heavy Metal Thunder (2005) - http://www.sexmachineguns.com/



Sex Machineguns (a parody on Sex Pistols, I guess?) hails from everybody's favorite country, at least mine, Japan. They play fast and very thrashy Heavy Metal with somewhat (OK, I lied. Very.) cheesy japanese vocals. To many persons this will seem like a pretty damned boring and generic band at first, but give them a few chances and you'll discover that Sex Machineguns is one of the best damned bands you've listened to lately. Well, at least I did.

Sex Machinegun's newest album titled Heavy Metal Thunder (which supposedly is the basis for both an anime-feature and a Square-Enix produced video-game), and as Japanese-English titles usually, the title doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Anyway, Sex Machineguns work on Heavy Metal Thunder is flawless. The vocals may be really cheesy (at least when he tried to sing some lines in english), but they sound pretty good. High-pitched Rob Halford-like screaming is always appreciated, especially when done without a flaw. The instrumental work is also great, the guitars screams out riffs and solos constantly, the bass stays in the shadows (but at least it's there) and the drumming is good as well. The production is crystal-clear.

The album is split into 11 different songs, one cheesier than another. It starts of with "Heavy Metal Thunder", which is without a doubt the best song on the album with it's high-pitched screaming and catchy chorus. "Dansetsu No Catchball" is also one catchy and fun tune which reminds me of a great song I fail to remember the name of, but I suspect it's Metallica of some sort. Same thing goes for "Yakiniku Party", a fast thrash-influenced track (note; the vocals in this track reminds me of the Black Metal-parody band Sportlov at times, strangely enough). Skipping a few track, you'll get to the oddly named track "Panda-Chan", which isn't as memorable as the other tracks on the CD, but it still worth mentioning for it's weird, out of place name. "Fumidai Shouko Undou" is another fast and thrashing song, it's chorus is catchy as hell. The longest song on the album, "Frankenstein", sounds almost identical to Iron Maiden's "The Number Of The Beast" in a few parts, just in it's own special way. A great track.

"What about the rest you didn't mention!?". Well, it's worth mentioning that there's no track below "decent" in this album, so all the tracks are worth checking out. If you have a fetish for J-Rock/J-Metal, happen to like everything japanese or would like to try out something new, give Heavy Metal Thunder a shot.

Rating: 8/10

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Amon Amarth - Versus The World (2002) - http://www.amonamarth.com/



Whenever you hear the name "Amon Amarth" or see the cover for Versus The World, you may think "generic Viking Metal" or "boring Melodeath". Wrong. It's not at all viking-metal, it's melodic Death Metal, but not just usual melodic Death like mid-In Flames or Soilwork, it's quite different. I can't pinpoint the differences in words, but they're there.

Versus The World is amazing. I just had to let that out. Every fucking song on this album is fucking awesome. Amon Amarth has created one of the best fucking albums ever with Versus The World. Amon Amarth's style is different from others, it's not brutal, it's not very speedy, it's just awesome. I have no other way of describing it. The vocalists vocals tears up your ears with his stunning vocals, the guitarists riffs and solos creates an unique atmosphere, the same goes for the bassist and the drummer's drumming is fucking awesome (that's two words I've overused in this review...).

The album consists of 9 different songs. All of them are mainly about vikings (Save Us O' Lord From The Wrath Of The Norsemen!). The lyrics are also great, so make sure you read the lyrics as you headbang your way through the album. Versus The World starts of with "Death In Fire", which is probably the second best song on the album. You just gotta love the guitar-solos in the middle of the song (especially that 5-second long one, I for some reason get the chills from hearing it). Next song is more fast-paced than other songs on the album, and it's called "For The Stabwounds In Our Back". It's fast and furious, that's all I can say. Now, to the best song (I'll skip the rest. I can't describe their awesomeness anyway). "Thousand Years Of Oppression". It's not without reason it has become one of my favorite songs. It's slow-paced, melodic and raging. Seeing that song live is one of my dreams. Hear it. Now.

While I'm not quite good at describing this album musically, all I can say about Versus The World is pretty much "Buy it". Do it.

Rating: 10/10

[theskald]

I don't know how many fans of Japanese bands are here, but i thought I'd reccomend one.



Scoobie Do can easily be described as a funk band with a mix of bluesy guitar and soul-like vocals. To be honest, this isn't their best album, and it can get a bit monotonus, but some songs really stand out. The title song--the first on the album--is beyond catchy, I've listened to it way too many times and I'm still not sick of it. You can sample it here: http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/scoobie/
Of course, you'll only dig it if you like funk and blues and don't really mind listening to singing in a foreign language. To anyone that cares, I believe they composed for the Gungrave animated series. Worth a quick look, at least.

Rating: 7/10 (though the band itself has even better albums out there).

[Howie]

Rage - Welcome To The Other Side (2005) - http://www.rage-on.de/



Rage is slowly, but surely becoming one of my favorite Power Metal-bands. Albums like Soundchaser and Unity must be tried by any fan of the genre, but what about Welcome To The Other Side, the album released a year before Unity? Is it as good?

While it's not as good as it's follow-ups, it has without a doubt many qualitys and surely is worth a listen. Welcome To The Other Side sounds pretty much like any Rage album when it comes to the vocals, they're very unique. A strong german accent and the almost digitized-sounding vocals is what makes it so unique (not a very good description, but you'll figure it out once you hear it). The instrumental work also sounds pretty much like before, even if the whole line-up (except from Peavy, the vocalist) had to be replaced as the rest left to make a pop called "Sub7even", weird but true. The guitar-work is pretty good, the bass is better than before and so is the drumming. The production is also rock-solid.

Welcome To The Other Side has, believe it or not, a total of 17 songs! If you remove some rather uninteresting intros and interludes, you get 14, but still, it's a lot of songs, so not every song can be great. "The Mirror In Your Eyes" is the first great song we encounter on this album. A typical Rage-track with a great, singalong chorus. "Welcome To The Other Side" is also a great track. It starts off heavy with guitars blasting into your ears, then it changes into a small acoustic part and then it changes into the heavy part again. Confused yet? Typical Rage, you'll get used to it. Another good track is "Riders On The Moonlight", once again, typical Rage. Also, it's worth to be mentioned that track 4 - 7 is called "Tribute to Dishonour", wether or not this is supposed to count as one song, I'm kinda unsure of.

Despite it's length and number of songs, I'm unable to find anything really bad on this album except from it's useless interludes. It has a few standouts as mentioned above. An album worth checking out if you like Power Metal.

Rating: 7/10

[theskald]

I can't believe no one's reviewed this yet, I know I'm not the only Gorillaz fan here.

Gorillaz: Demon Days



Pointless history time: I'm no expert on the band, but I'm a big enough fan to know some interesting facts. The cartoon band that played a strange rap/hip-hop/rock/alternative style was the brain-child of Damon Albarn, frontman for the Blur--a very good band in my opinion--and the cartoonist Jamie Hewlett. Gorillaz began as a side project, but the popularity of the band was unexpected, so Albarn's invested more time into it--because of this, there are some Blur fans claiming he killed their favorite band (can't say I agree).

The main members have the nicknames 2D (Albarn, vocals and keyboard), Murdoc (bassist, not sure of his real name), Noodle (Guitar, don't know her real name), and Russel (Drummer, Cass Browne). Even with four members, a basic principle behind the band is to have many different artists take part. The first album only had a few non-members, rappers Albarn liked, but this one has many more guests (including Dennis Hopper, wierd)--that's probably why it took so long to come out.

This album is pretty different from their self-titled one, they went for a more flowing sound on a lot of the songs. Of course Albarn's unique vocal style only allows for so much change, so it's not so different that fans of the first album, such as myself, will be disappointed--far from it.

The big hit on the album is "Feel Good Inc.," and there's good reason for it's popularity. The guest in this one was De La Soul, a rap group I'm not familiar with, but their hip-hop rant style with a consistent chorus (that consists mainly of "ha ha ha ha haaaa") doesn't disappoint (if you are, like me, a rap fan). Another possible reason for the popularity of the song is the similarity it has to "Clint Eastwood," their first hit. Albarn has more varied lines--with a creepy, zombie-like verse accompanied by a distant chorus that sounds like it's coming from an answering machine--but the feeling of the rap is almost exactly the same.

However, there are many more excellent songs on the album, I honestly found every one to be enjoyable. My personal favorites are "Green World," a song of nothing but Albarn's despondent side, and "November Has Come," a song with rap of a different flavor, more relaxed and matter-of-fact.

Fan or not, I'd reccomend this to anyone, Albarn's created something very different and it has little to do with the cartoon asthetic of the band.

Overall Rating: 10/10

[Howie]

Demons And Wizards - Demons And Wizards (2000) - http://www.icedearth.com/dw/



Take Iced Earth's key guitarist and Blind Guardian's vocalist, mix them together, add a few other members. What do you get? Iced Guardian? Blind Earth? Hell no, you get Demons And Wizards. I'm pretty much against most of these kinds of "supergroups" or whatever you call them, but with Demons And Wizards, it actually works.

Demons And Wizards contains the best from Iced Earth mixed together with Blind Guardian. Jon Schaffer's amazing guitars never fails to amaze me (well, except from on Touched By The Crimson King by the same band, but let's not talk of that...), his thrashy-style of playing is fucking superb, the vocals of Hansi Kursch has always been brilliant in my ears, and it remains so on this album (it's his accent that makes it so "special"). The others does a pretty impressive job, though the drumming might seem a bit annoying at times (I blame the production for this).

There are 12 songs on this album (10 if you exclude the intro and the outro), and all tracks are damned good. Nothing "just decent" here. I could write a fucking story about how good every song is, but I think I'll skip that for now. I'll still mention a few standouts; "Heaven Denies", "Blood On My Hands", "The Whistler" and of course, the best track on the whole album, possibly the best track made in the year of 2000; "Fiddler On The Green". It's about how death took away 2 children (see the coverart). In the beginning of the song until about half of the song is done, Hansi songs about this "Fiddler", with an acoustic guitar accompanying him, then Schaffer blasts of with his guitars (the acoustic guitars are still playing). A bad explanation of an awesome song. Don't miss it.

Demons And Wizards is a superb Power Metal-album you must not miss, especially if you like Iced Earth or Blind Guardian.

Rating: 9/10

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Morbid Angel - Covenant (1993) - http://www.morbidangel.com/



The legendary American Death Metallers Morbid Angel is responsible for superb albums like Altars Of Madness (possibly one of the greatest albums I've ever heard) and Blessed Are The Sick. In 1993, they released their third full-length (or fourth, if you count Abominations Of Desolation) called Covenant. Though it's not as good as it's predecessors, this seriously kicks ass.

Morbid Angel's Thrash Metal-influenced Death Metal-style (I found no other way of describing it) is still here. Trey's amazing riffs and solos makes Covenant what it is, without Trey, Morbid Angel wouldn't have been Morbid Angel. Dave Vincent's vocals are still as solid as ever, and the drummer's arms and legs must've hurt while he recorded Covenant, he does an amazing job. To sum it up; the trio does a fantastic job. The production of the album is quite good, especially for an extreme Metal-album in the early 90's.

Covenant contains a total of 10 songs. None of the songs are bad, NONE. Not even just decent. Even freaking song is awesome, and if I have to mention some; "Rapture", "The Lion's Den", "Blood On My Hands" and the groove-ish "God Of Emptiness" (which supposedly is going to be covered by Nu Metal-band Korn). Pick it up if you got money. It's worth the price.

Other albums by this artist:
Altars Of Madness - 10/10

[Soeru]

Decrepit Birth - ...And Time Begins


If this Decrepit Birth's sound were to be summed up into 3 words, they would be "pure chaotic brutality". This relatively new band from California released their first album "...And Time Begins" in 2003, and have already toured with the likes of Deeds of Flesh, Severed Savior, and played with Suffocation on more than one occasion.

Strangely enough, "And Time Begins" is a fitting title for this album. One would think that the beggining of time was a period of immense chaos, well this is exactly that. I have never EVER heard so many riffs, tempo changes, blastbeats, and double-bass rolls in one song before! And this is coming from someone who has been exposed to a lot of death metal and grind. Each and every song played with UNBELIEVABLE speed and accuracy, unlike anything you've ever heard(and if you've ever heard anything faster than this, seriously let me know).

It would be unfair to compare this band's sound to other bands of their genre, but if you need some similar titles, I'd say this band sounds like Suffocation or Wormed on speed and ecstasy, with the drummer only minutes away from an overdose. Severed Savior-like stuff. Anyone familiar with "brutal death metal" knows that this breed of death metal features several time signatures and different parts in a song, so you could say that every 15 seconds or so of a song is a song in itself, lots of surprises and twists. But this band does this almost excessively, giving it an incredible feeling of chaos, yet still sounding organized, never arrythmical(to the experienced ear). The deep slow heavy palm-muted riffs are there, but not a whole lot of tremolo riffs(those fast repetetive machine gun riffs), but you won't really notice it. It's actually a good thing, some DM bands just use machine gun riffs too much. There are TONS of weird spooky technical riffs up and down(think of the beggining of Suffocation's song "Surgery of Impalement"). A lot of surprising spine-chilling squeals from the guitars in between riffs, and lots of more palm muted riffs(think slow "tun-tun-tun" stuff, like Wormed) here and there. Unfortunately there are no solos, some neoclassical stuff like what Suffocation like to do would have been fitting, but I understand that it would be extremely hard to play a solo fast enough that it would actually flow with the riffs and drumming. I'm extremely impressed with the riffs themselves, so I don't need any fucking solos to keep me happy.

The vocals... hmm, nothing completely new from what a death metal fan has heard before, but they sound nice and not annoying at all. Mostly low smooth growls like early Decapitated and Severed Savior. Yes, in fact, the vocalist sounds quite a bit like the early Decapitated, without much enunciation on the lyrics. Speaking of the lyrics, they have a rather original concept. In a way, it's weird imaginative stuff like Wormed. Some songs can deal with something very abstract, others talk about the cycle of time and space, mankind's ultimate destruction/extinction/realization that he is futile or some shit(this makes it feel a lot like Wormed, just without the galaxy-universe-travel stuff thrown in, but some astronomical stuff is mentioned in many tracks...). Very cool and oddly fitting to the music.

They did a very nice job on the recording, the vocals and instruments seem to be at a perfect volume level. Maybe the guitars should've been kept a little louder to hear the riffs a little more clearer, but then again that might distract from the percussion...

Once again, the drummer is incredible, he seems to have an inhuman concept of time and rythm, not to mention a beefy set of muscles and ligaments, as the drums NEVER slow down on this album, only for slight half-a-second pauses at times. The beats and rythms are straight forward death metal stuff, nothing extremely weird like Wormed, but so fast that it really sounds unlike anything else I've ever heard before. One of the most amazing things the man does is a full-speed blastbeat(think Vital Remain's "Dechristianize", only faster!) ON TOP OF A FULL BASSDRUM ROLL!! Not a lot of very prominent cymbal work(if you like that, go listen to Wormed), but the thin hi-hat thing always goes with the blastbeats. I firmly believe that this drummer is faster than Cryptopsy's, no shit.

The album is only 30 minutes long and contains 9 tracks... The only complaint I would make is that if you doze off for even 2 seconds(highly unlikely), you'll quickly forget what song you're listening to. So in a way many of the tracks do sound similar, but that's only because they're so damned fast that your brain won't be able to process so much information so you'll probably end up remembering one or two parts from a song even after listening to the album 10 times. It's incredible uncatchy, but so damned enjoyable. I did memorize most of the riffs in Wormed songs despite being so many riffs, but it's so hard to keep up with Decrepit Birth. I think that really makes them special. However, I should also point out that it's not just showing off instrumentation... The album does have a "feel", you just have see past the brutal songs, let it flow into your ears and let your imagination take over.

I can't even name favorites from this album, because I can't remember what is what. So I'll say that the CD is one whole song channeled through nine tracks, each divided into dozens of awesome parts. Amazingly I was never bored for a single second during any song, except for the outro which is just some ambient sounds playing.

This band has taken my concept of heavyness to a new level. Now I feel like back when I first got into extreme music, always looking for faster and heavier bands, but for some time I hadn't found anything substantially heavier than what I listened to(so I started to worry less about heavyness). Much like Wormed, this band really amazed me as much as a Korn fan would be amazed by Behemoth or something.

If Wormed was a thermonuclear bomb, Decrepit Birth is a fully automatic artillery base that can take down fucking military tankers, utterly relentless devastation. If you're looking for quite possibly the fastest most extreme band in existence, look no further, this is Decrepit Birth. I would highly reccomend this album to any fan of extreme music, even if you don't like brutal death metal all that much, but just to get a taste of just how far a band can push the definition of music. You will be impressed, no matter what scene you belong to.

9.3/10

If I ever manage to remember what all the songs sound like, I'll give this a perfect rating. It's really up there.

[Howie]

Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor (2005) - http://www.nevermore.tv/



It's been two years since the Amercian Groove/Thrashers in Nevermore released their rather underproduced, but good album Enemies Of Reality, and they're finally ready with a new album This Godless Endeavor, read on to find out my opinion on it.

This Godless Endeavor is different from Enemies Of Reality. It's "groove-ish" sound is still there, but it's less "present" on this album. Nevermore decided to focus more on melodies and their technical abilities, but the "groove-thrash" is there, they've not completely lost their original sound. Warrel Dane's vocals sounds as great as they've always been, the guitarists does one hell of a great job, the riffs and solos is top-notch, the bassist also does a quite impressive job and the drummer... well, Van is on my top 10-list of drummers after hearing this, does that tell you anything? Now, to the most "important" part; the production. Is it as horrible as on the first version of Enemies Of Reality? No. Actually, the production is pretty good, so I doubt there will be any re-masters of this album in the future.

There's a total of 11 songs on this album, and they range from "Decent" to "Fantastic" in quality, but nothing under the "Decent"-line. "Born", "Acid Words", "Bittersweet Feast" and "This Godless Endeavor" are all fantastic songs that alone makes this album worthy a purchase. "Psalm Of Lydia" isn't as amazing as the forementioned songs, but it's great solos makes it worthy a listen. Also, fans of the groove-style Nevermore will dig that song. "Sell My Heart For Stories" is pretty much the worst song on the album, but it's a decent ballad and the mid-solo is pretty good so it's not horrible.

A worthy album from Nevermore. Spend your money and smile listening through the album.

Rating: 8/10

Other albums by this band:
Dreaming Neon Black - 7/10

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Jack Frost - Wannadie Songs (2005) - http://www.jackfrost.at/



From Austria hails Jack Frost, which plays a very, very depressing type of Doom Metal (as if that genre wasn't depressing enough). They've released several albums in the past, one of them being Self Abusing Uglysex Ungod, which is indeed a strange name. Now they're back with another gloomy and depressing album not surprisingly called Wannadie Songs.

Wannadie Songs is actually a quite decent album, even if I'm not a huge fan of the genre they're playing. The vocalist does a quite nice job, even though he sounds pretty much like any other vocalist in Doom Metal, just without the growling. The instrumental work is pretty much fine overall, the slow, melodic guitar-work is fine, the bass is fine and the drumming also works good, though he must've been bored as hell when they recorded this. The production is crystal-clear.

This album consists of 9 songs, all of decent quality. The depressing lyrics about death and suicide is well written even if the subject is starting to get old ever since Sentenced started writing about it. Anyway, as said, all of the songs are pretty much decent, but there is a standout track which is more fast-paced than the others called "Me And Dark And You", which reminds me a lot of newer Sentenced.

If you have a "thing" for depressing and gloomy music, you can't go wrong with Wannadie Songs. If not, stay away from this one.

Rating: 6/10

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Freak Kitchen - Organic (2005) - http://www.freakkitchen.com/



Take some Pantera (Cowboy's-era), mix it together with Down and Black Label Society (remove the Sludge) and add some groove to it. Put it in the oven for 30 minutes. Congratulations, you just made yourself Swedish Freak Kitchen's Organic. Well, that's how at least I see it.

Organic is best described as "Experimental "Southern" Heavy Metal", whatever that's supposed to mean. Their style of playing varies from song to song (check out Becky, in the last few seconds they makes use of blast-beat drumming, for some odd reason.) and everything is extremely radio-friendly, though this is just a good thing for this album. The vocalist sounds great and his style fits every single song on Organic. The guitarist(s) does a flawless job with both solos and rythm and the drummer also does a brilliant job. The production is also crystal-clear.

There is a total of 12 songs on this 46-minutes long album, some better than others, but overall, every song is listenable and has it's own qualities. The album starts of with the single "Speak When Spoken To", which is on my opinion the best track on the album. Pantera-esque riffs and vocals, very radio-friendly stuff. "Look Bored" is also a good track, which is more Rock then Metal, but still a great track. Same thing goes for "Mussolini Mind". "Becky" is probably the fastest track on the album and here they show off how great musicians they are. Another standout is the incredibly catchy "Sob Story". The album ends with "Breathe", an acoustic track which reminds me a lot Alice In Chains, especially the vocals at times. The rest of the songs are also pretty decent, but not special enough to be written about.

Overall, this is a pretty good album. It has a mouthful of enjoyable tracks and some kickass solos and riffs scattered around the album.

Rating: 7/10

[Frozen Sky]

Code - Nouveau Gloaming



Hmmm a black metal band from UK. Well I have to say I'm not the biggest fan of black metal but this album surely kicks ass. The production on this album isn't the best thing ever but isn't that the same with most black metal bands. The opening riff for "The Cotton Optic" is just orgasmic. The vocals are pretty sweet, sounds like he's being tortured. The intro of "Brass Dogs" starts of with some clean vocals, the vocals sound kinda creepy though it adds to the atmopshere. "Aeon in Cinders" one of the best song from the album. The spoken parts/chants or whatever in "Tyburn" are so damn catchy, accompanied with the riffs it's like the best thing ever. Some of the songs have a doomy feel to it. Have to say the drummer does an excellent job. The riffs sound so simple but they make it sound so good.

[Howie]

Quo Vadis - Day Into Night (2005) - http://www.quovadis.qc.ca/



The Canadians in Quo Vadis sure is talented. They play a very technical/progressive variant of Thrash/Death Metal. They're talented playing their instruments, but are they talented in songwriting? Read on.

Day Into Night is getting better and better by each time I listen to it. The complicated riffs and solos and the fast and progressive-like drumming are fucking incredible. The bassist is a bit "hidden" and "anonymous" throughout the album, but what he does sounds fine. The vocalist also does a rather OK job, though he's not present as much as he should have on the album (it seems that Quo Vadis focuses on their technical abilities instrument-wise instead of vocals). The production is nice and clear, except from some issues with the bass.

There are 10 songs on this 50 minutes long album. The album starts with a kick in the face, with the song "Absolution". Here's some really technical riffing and the drumming is absolutely perfect on this one. Next song, "Dysgenics", is a bit more mid-paced, but after a minute this song goes really fast as well. If we skip a few track, we get to "Dream", an instrumental ballad. Sure, they get to show off their abilities once again (and I guess that this is the main purpose of the song), and it doesn't sound too bad either, but it doesn't really fit in with the rest of the songs on the album and it manages to ruin it's pace. It would be a good idea to use it as an ending to the album, rather than placing it right into the middle of it. Some other mentionable songs is "On The Shores Of Ithaka" and the 2-part "Point Of No Return"-series. The rest sounds pretty much the same as the other songs.

A great album, though not without flaws. If you're into Thrash or Death Metal, you should be able to love this one.

Rating: 8/10

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Kamelot - Si�ge Perilous (1998) - http://www.kamelot.com/

Kamelot is one of those bands that people that has a similar taste in music as me, seems to love. For some reason, I can't really see what's so special with Kamelot. Listening through The Black Halo, their newest album, did absolutely nothing for me, but there was a few tracks here and there that was pretty good. How about an older Kamelot-album, Si�ge Perilous?

Oh well, Si�ge Perilous actually did less for me than The Black Halo. It's not totally bad though, just not me. Kamelot lacks of speed and an interesting vocalist (he sounds just so goddamned generic). This means the following; this album is boring, full of repetitions and somewhat mediocre melodies. The guitarists and bassist does a fine job despite of this, but the drummer sounds like a drum-machine on certain songs (and I highly doubt the use one). The production works OK. What bothers me most with this album is Kamelot's style of playing. I'm a fan of super-fast solos and riffs raging through songs, like in the band Dragonforce. Kamelot, however, plays a slow type of Power Metal with a lot of focus on vocals and cheap melodies (especially on this album).

The selection of songs on this album is rather weak when compared to their later albums. Si�ge Perilous has some good tracks, like "King's Eyes", "Parting Visions" and "Once A Dream". All three are pretty badass tracks if you ask me, but the rest is shallow and mediocre. If you want Kamelot, you're better of with buying The Black Halo instead of this mediocre album.

Rating: 5/10

Other albums by this band:
The Black Halo - 7/10

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Summoning - Stronghold (1999) - http://www.summoning.info/



Summoning is quickly becoming one of my favorite Black Metal-bands, and not without reason. Summoning's main lyrical themes is Lord Of The Rings (not very original, I know), so it's a bit more enjoyable than satanism or just plain "evilness". Stronghold is Summoning's third album, and it was my first experience with Summoning. My opinion? Read on.

Stronghold is pretty much the same musically as their without a doubt best album, Dol Goldur, but not as good though. The vocals is pretty much the same as before, typical grim Black Metal-vocals. The music pretty much rely on the keyboards, so the only guitars you'll ever hear are solos or "solo-like", pretty good ones as well. The drumming is slow-paced and fits the style of Summoning, so don't expect any blast-beats or "faster-than-hell" drumming. The production is not very good, could've been better, but it fits the style anyway.

Now here's where Dol Goldur is better than Stronghold; the songs. Stronghold has a total of 9 songs, and these songs takes a while to chew. After the first listen, and experienced Summoning-listener would probably appreciate it, but the unexperienced would most likely shake their head in disgust. Give it some time and you'll see that this is a great album, though the songs on Stronghold is a bit more bland than the ones on Dol Goldur

The album starts of with an ambient track called "Rh�n", and the switches over to "Long Lost To Where No Pathway Goes", a grand 7-minutes (which is the average length on this album, I believe) long track, and a great one too. "The Glory Disappears" is the next song, and it's the standout without a doubt. This one is very melodic compared to most other Summoning-songs, and this is the way I'd like to hear Summoning play in the future. I could go on and on about the other tracks as well, but I'll stop here. I can assure you though, the rest is great as well.

Stronghold is worthy a purchase. It's not better than Dol Goldur, but it's better than Lugburz. Buy it and enjoy it.

Rating: 8/10

Other albums by this band:
Lugburz - 7/10
Dol Goldur - 9/10

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Deeds Of Flesh - Crown Of Souls (2005) - http://www.deedsofflesh.net/



Bands like Deeds Of Flesh is bands that I'd normally shake my head at, claiming "it's too monotonous, boring, repetetive, the vocals suck" and whatever. Brutal Death Metal has never really been my thing, nor has Grindcore. Deeds Of Flesh though, is a whole other story. They're one of the few bands brutal Death Metal-bands I like. The year is 2005, and Deeds Of Flesh is out with a new album named Crown Of Souls.

Crown Of Souls follows pretty much the same pattern as their two previous albums musically. The vocals is as good as ever, the growling is all good and flawless. The bass and guitar-work is all good, but the producer could've spend some more time with the drumming. Sure, the drumlines works alright, but the sound of them doesn't. They sound thin as hell and after a while, you'll get annoyed by it, I'm sure if it (especially if you pay attention to it). Other than this drumming-issue, the production is fine.

Crown Of Souls is pretty much like any of their two previous albums when it comes to songs, the selection is just a tad bit weaker than them. All of the songs are fast with great growling and grunting and complicated riffs a nice layer of bass accompanying it, pulsating drumming. There is pretty much no standout at all on the album (except maybe from "Forced Attrition"), since most of the tracks sounds almost identical to eachother at first listen (but you'll be able to sort them after a while). All songs are pretty good, though not better than on their previous two efforts.

I you like their previous albums, I guarantee you'll like this. No changes in style, it's the same brutal Death Metal like they've always produced. The score would've been 4 stars, if it hadn't been for the annoying drumming.

Rating: 7/10

Other albums by this band:
Mark Of The Legion - 8/10

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Nattefrost - Terrorist (2005) - http://www.season-of-mist.com/html/i...upe=Nattefrost



Carpathian Forest's vocalist Nattefrost has his own soloproject going on. Last year he released Blood & Vomit, with memorable songs like "Nattefrost Takes A Piss", an epic tale of Nattefrost going to the bathroom to take a piss. Now, the year is 2005 and Nattefrost is back again with an album called Terrorist.

Terrorist is a bit different musically from Blood & Vomit. This album sounds more like an old-school Venom-inspired Black Metal-album, without use of blast-beats (this is just in the beginning of the album though, it evolves more into a standard Black Metal-styled album later). Nattefrost takes on the heavy job of playing every single instrument (it's not a solo-effort if not, right?) and he does a pretty good job at it, but not very spectacular. His best feature is still his "grim" and "evil" vocals. The production is not very good, but it fits Venom/old Bathory-style of music.

Terrorist should have a big sticker on it's cover; "WARNING: This album is not to be taken seriously, nor is the man who made it!". If you want a typical Black Metal-album, go away, there's nothing to see here. If you want a non-typical Black Metal-album, take a look here. Nattefrost has a weird type of humor, you see. I can tell by not even looking at his lyrics that they are not about the typical Satan-theme.

The album starts of with the song "Nekronaut (Cunt Cunt Gimme More)", which sounds much like something taken from Bathory's debut. Just like at the title, and you'll realize that this isn't very serious. It continues in the same style in "Black Metal Suicide (Claws Of Perdition)", but in "Hellcommander", the simple drumming has been replaced with blast-beat drumming. "Terrorist" sounds to me like Venom, and that's not a bad thing is it? Skipping one generic and boring song, we get to "Eine Kleine Arschmuzick", which could classify as a sequel to "Nattefrost Takes A Piss". This time, he takes both a dump and a piss while elevator-music plays in the background. Sounds great? Oh yeah.

If we skip a few songs, we get to "Preteen Deathfuck", which is a high-pitched (to make the chick sound... younger) female orgasm. I could do without this, even if "Eine Kleine Arschmuzick" is almost just as tastless. We skip once again and we got to the last two songs; "Dinsadansdjeveldyrkaar!!!" (Youdamnedsatanworshiper!!!). You won't have much value hearing this if you can't understand norwegian, but it's about a guy who pisses and shits, so I take it that it's about Nattefrost himself. "The Death Of Nattefrost (Still Reaching For Hell Part II)" is the ending, and it does not make sense. That is all.

Not a fantastic album, though a funny one. Some stars for it's old school Black Metal-features and Nattefrost's twisted humor.

Rating: 5/10

[theskald]

I'm no good at discovering new bands D= Oh well, time for System of a Down: Mezmerize (jeez, I go from funk to alterna-rap to heavy metal).



I was expecting this to be worse than their first album and Toxicity as the most hyped up track, B.Y.O.B., was not that good for their music; however, I've decided that this is just as good, albeit far too short (which is probably just because I like it so much).

To those that don't know (living in a cave, are ye?), System is one of the most kickass heavy metal bands ever, all Armenian in descent but hailing from Califorinia. the lead singer, Serj Tankian, was once an opera singer, and as a result the range of his voice is boundless, and the lyrics always perfectly accompany the music while still being very poigniant, sarcastic, and witty (he's super-outspoken against violence and very pro-voting and so on, but that really goes for the whole band). The guitar riffs courtesy of Daron Malakian are just unbelievably catchy, and not just on the hooks--throughout every song I'm loving every second. Of course, the bass (Shavo Odadjian) serves as a great melody for the music, but I notice that in most heavy metal the baselines assist in the beat and help the drums feel more powerful. Even without bass reinforcement, though, John Dolmayan plays some awesome drums. But the thing that makes a great band is musical chemistry, how well a band works together. The Beatles, Nirvana, 311, they all had/have it, and System is no exception. The band members are all tremendously interesting, really, look them up on Wikipedia

The instant I heard Violent Pornography, I adored it, I listened to it ten times in a row before reluctantly moving on. My other favorites were hard to decide on, they're all great tracks, but I'd say Radio Video and Oldschool Hollywood are next on the list. Again, though, the whole album is more than worth buying. You know what? There's no point in me saying any more, just buy it damn you, it kicks ass.

Rating:
10/10

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Another one because I feel like it =P And guess what? It's a new-age sort of classical/techno mix =D The first Last Exile OST, music by Dolce Triad and someone named Hitomi.



This CD is full of beautiful tracks, but the most notable are the first (Cloud Age Symphony, the opening theme) and last (Over the Sky, the ending theme). These were made to be the perfect accompaniment to Last Exile, a very beautiful animated series in style, story, and presentation. The songs range from serene to forboding to plain euphoric, but they always have a feeling of grandeur that makes one think of the sky--perfect for an animated series that takes place mainly in the sky. However, even if you've never heard of the show, these are great songs.

Cloud Age Symphony covers most of the new-age and techno aspects of the cd, and it qualifies as euphoric. It's always nice to hear a techno beat that isn't the exact same old typical dance loop (you know the one). These guys went the extra mile and composed a beat that even creates melody and assists in the floating, flying feeling of the song. However, as is the wont of some composers that make music for shows--this is often so that the director can decide where to cut it off in the opening. So in the end, it's better to have the 'next' button at the ready as the song can drag on.

Over the Sky feels different, more like a fading, falling feeling, like you're slowly drifting away. The vocals are beautiful and the music well-composed to suit the sound of the singing. This one is by Hitomi, and you can tell the difference only faintly. The rest of the songs all have some great bits, but only a few are particularly listen-worthy--most OSTs are just background sound, unlike Yoko Kanno's music that can always stand alone.

It's not worth buying the whole thing just for two tracks, so I'd just download the first and last songs.

Rating:
6.5/10

[Howie]

Circus Maximus - The 1st Chapter (2005) - http://www.circusmaximussite.com/



There has been a burst of Norwegian Progressive Metal lately, and Circus Maximus is another one of these new bands trying to gain some fame. I've read pretty much only good things about their debut, The 1st Chapter and from the interviews I've read, they seem to have spent a lot of time on it. Was it worth their time, or more importantly, MY time?

Circus Maximus surely has done some really fine work here. Their instrumental style reminds me a lot of Dream Theater, and the vocals is like a combination of the Pagan's Mind and Queensr�che-vocalists, which is in my opinion not a bad thing, but a very good one. Every instrument is well played, the vocals are superb. This is very unusual for debut-bands nowadays. The production of the album has gone very well, the production is crystal-clear and there is nothing to complain about at all.

There are 9 songs on this album, and most songs are great. "Sin", "Why Am I Here?" and "The 1st Chapter" must be experienced by any fan of Progressive Metal or Rock, because these songs are amazing. I'd describe them with words if I could, but since progressive music-terms is not my thing, I'd rather not do so now. Every other songs are also great (except from "Haunted Dreams", which is just decent), but here's this albums main problem; the length. 1 hour and 10 minutes of music wouldn't have bothered me with this genre usually, but this time it does. If they'd cut down on the length of a few tracks, this album would've scored 4 and a half star, but 4 stars is all I can muster to give now.

Like Dream Theater? Progressive Rock/Metal? Buy this album now, at once.

Rating: 8/10

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... and that's the last review you'll see from me in a while, I need a summer-vacation . I'll probably start writing sometime again later, but for now, I'll just rate the albums...

[johndoe]

all these guys are great bands but does anyone listen to their local bands? u know the little no name guys that play inbetween the main attraction or 2 hours b4 the doors even open. there is some truely great music out there that really kicks ass

u know what im gonna make a thread so u can list all ur favorite no name bands.

[yachimatohime]

I'm gonna give my go on Cruxshadows, 'Fortress in Flames', thier newest album... I've been a fan of thier earliest of music makings, and still haven't seen the all so common fall in quality that some bands have... I think thier performances as well (at least within less than a year span) is still amazing, as well as involved (singing to audience, dancing, etc)... The mix of 80s electronics, with Darkwave, and industrial make it a unique experience, and very enjoyable... Lyrics also touch me most the time, which I find to be important.
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[Megalith]

Excuse me while I revive this thread with a review I wrote for...

Gjallarhorn - Nordheim (2005)



Gjallarhorn, the bastard child of the glorious DoomSword proves its consistency with this outstanding release. A release wholly dedicated and in memory of the late Quorthon has his soul engraved and reincarnated into it. Take any track off this release, and compare it to any latter Bathory songs. You'll notice the similarity between the two. Layers upon layers of guitar, the pounding war drums, the backing choir-esque vocals and the distinctive lead vocals, which is where Gjallarhorn shines far above Bathory.

The disc opens with the ambient "The Plane of Vigrid". An intro it is, with nothing too outstanding about it. But it better prepare you for what's to come. "The Day Odin Stood Still" thunders with a powerful guitar pound and is later joined by Deathmaster's outstanding vocals. Just listen to the fucking range he has. Quorthon would only dream to hit the notes he does. The song continues in a basic structure until it comes to a halt, and a very viking influenced tune takes over. An excellent opening track with plenty tempo changes, and just enough energy to keep you interested.

And we fade straight into the second track "Blood Over Asgard". As the first track continues to fade into raven cries, the horn sounds and a sadistic evil-imbued riff greets the listener with enough might and vigor to tear him into shreds. "Blood Over Asgard" is one of the weaker tracks, but not by any means is it un-listenable. It just drags. Though the outro is worthy of note here.

"Chaos Unleashed". Oh what a fucking intro this is. The wolfcry announces the arrival of the mighty god himself. If Odin played guitar, that's exactly the kind of riff he'd play. Pure evil. This is one of the most energetic songs on the record, and perhaps my personal favourite. The chorus is pure sing-along material and extremely catchy. After two verses, the guitars head into a galloping tremolo duel showing just how verastile the songs can get. Again, as with the previous track we exit to a sludgey screeching guitar, and head into "Ragnarok".

"Ragnarok" opens with another grim riff with the devil's own signature tattooed into it. This track has the best chorus. Period. It strikes heavier than Thor's own hammer and annihlates everything in path. Pure energy and brimming epicness oozes out of it. Deathmaster's vocals shine again in this chorus. Powerful and operatic enough to drag emotions and energy from you. His performance on this track reminds me of the godly A.A. Nemtheanga of Primordial. Yes, on this track, his sheer energy rivals even that of the mighty Alan.

At last, we have "200 Years of Fury". Pure chaos is unleashed in this awesome disc closer. Shortly after all hell breaks loose, you can hear the war cries and clashing steel soar above the layered guitars. The chord progression in this track is worthy of mention, as it's perhaps the best on the album. Kudos to the guitarist whom I'd love to know, as he's not even mentioned in the lineup. What a pity. Anyway, the song continues to pound in a steady pace crushing all that tries hinder it's progression. A short solo then kicks in and is later followed by a vocal overdub of Deathmaster's clean voice and his grunts. That better get you ready for the chorus, as it's the catchiest chorus on this album. An awesome warchant over the galloping riffs. Deathmaster's operatic vocals continue to kick ass along with the sinister riffing until the song and the album come to an end.

An extremely awesome performance by Gjallarhorn. In the end, it only left me craving for more. Fans of either Bathory, DoomSword or Primordial should not hesitate to get this album. A more polished Bathory, a more epic DoomSword and a vocal and guitar performance that rivals Primordial's. Believe it. Quorthon would be very proud.

Long live the pounding hammerheart. Long live Quorthon.

[Howie]

I'm a douchebag, so I decided to write something about every weekly album again. I thought, "why the fuck not? I don't have anything better to do!".

Warmen - Accept The Fact (2005) - http://www.centurymedia.net/bands/Warmen.htm



Warmen is the solo-project of Children of Bodom's extremely talented keyboardist Janne Warman. He has done two other albums, who both has gotten mixed reviews (me myself, has only listened regularly on the song "Beyond Abilities"). The "key" to Warmen's musical style is of course the keyboards. First of, a small line taken from a movie (this has been done many times by Children of Bodom as well) extremely fast melodies and solos throughout the whole song without any bullshit vocals interrupting (which you some of you may felt while listening to Children of Bodom) it.

This style was the trademark for the two previous albums, but sadly, this style has been dropped (not entirely though, there is a pair of songs that still is in this style), and this time Warman has decided to focus on slow-paced songs with vocals. This is what makes Accept The Fact such a mixed bag. The song-styles is different from song to song, and since Warman doesn't have a vocalist, the vocalists changes from song to song (I count 4 on this one). The new style cannot be described since it's so mixed, but I'll try my best to describe them all song for song, which is the easiest way to do it on this album.

The show starts of with the title-track "Accept The Fact". This track is in Warmen's old-style, a small line from a movie ("If the public doesn't likes ones work, you just how to accept the fact peacefully"), then it blasts into a hurricane of notes blasting from Mr. Warman's keyboard. It sounds incredible, it's catchy, it's the way I want all of Warmen's stuff to be. The second track is called "Invisible Power", which is the first song with vocals on this album. The man singing is Kotipelto of Stratovarius, and despite me badmouthing his work on the new album from Stratovarius, this track isn't half-bad. It's not as fast nor melodic as the first track, but the speed is acceptable. Kotipelto sounds really good too.

"Waters Of Lethe" is the third track, and it's with vocals. It's pretty much the same style as "Invisible Power". This time it's someone else doing the vocals (I forgot the name), and he does a rather good job at it. A pretty average song, but it's not how I like to hear Warmen (as said a thousand times before, I can't repeat it enough). The fourth track named "Roppongi Rumble" is without vocals, it's a non-stop melodic Power Metal-frenzy. Not better than "Accept The Fact", but close. "They All Blame Me" is a very boring track with female vocals, which makes uninteresting to describe. Probably the worst track on the album.

"Puppet" is again with Kotipelto on the vocals, and it's not bad here either. Slow-paced yet very melodic this one. "Lying Delilah" has the guy who did the vocals on "Waters Of Lethe", and this track is without a doubt MUCH better. It's sludgy and slow, yet melodic with strong vocals and a chorus which sticks itself on your brain. "Return Of Salieri" (the second single of the album) is also an amazing track with the main-melody taken from a classic piano-performance (I might be wrong, but it sounds very similar though). Last track, "Somebody's Watching Me" is a Roswell-cover which I have described in the review of the single (quick summary; annoying, bad).

As you can see, this is a mixed bag in both styles, musical quality and vocalists. The production is very well, and the length is just about right. It's not horrible, but not terribly good either. If you've liked previous efforts from Warmen, I'm pretty sure you'll find something you like on this one.

Rating: 6/10