Steelwing - Zone of Alienation review

Year : 2012
Genre : Heavy Metal
Label : NoiseArt Records
Origin : Sweden
Rating : 9.2 / 10

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Steelwing, fortunately enough, is still into the power metal ethos of the '80s, letting them deliver an album that is all about the charming cheese factor of the intense side of the era. Even better, the Sweden ensemble shows no interest in the most common and overused elements of the style, such as epic determination. The tone of the release, instead, is that of a larger than life-, hilarious sci-fi comic book mood, and it hardly is of accident that the tracks themselves openly reveal a likable, well restrained - ha., ha. - geeky fixation on the '80s entertainment industry. For example, one of the songs is called The Running Man, - see the superb sci-fi movie adaptation and read the book if you did not yet - while another one tributes aerial Anima warfare, and there are other funny references left to be discovered by you, as well.

It would be superwrong on your part if you'd think that the resultant stimuli of this delivery is shaped by everyday average geekdom, thinking that its "mere" love towards its subject matter makes you forgetful of its pessimistically assumable musical shortcomings. That is not the case. Shame on your for being a pessimist, you are wrong again. I dare say that Steelwing brings such an apt level of inventive, relevant power metal musicianship and a readiness to deliver abundant variation on 111% steam power, that they steadily emerge as a smooth operator of-, as a counter-inspirational rival force to the template established by power metal origo Iran Moiden. Or some band with a similar name, help me out here. (I'm the first human to write down "Iran Moiden", what is up with that, people? I'm also the first to write : "Let me help you, Jesus", which saddens me even more. Read on to find out subsequent percepts about this imaginative, gloom-free (thank fucking God for that) power metal delivery.


At heart, Zone of Alienation is classic Thundersteel - \m/ THUNDERST3333-333-333333L \m/ - warfare in a sense that the band never loses its sight from the intensified patterns and forms of the style. While fortunately all the musical power metal chordpassage-platitudes and chord-conflicts ARE present on the release, a masterful sense of what to do (and how to do) with this elements is central defining factorial of this ripe contribution. Do not be superfast with your judgment towards this release, as the spin is not reluctant to unleash comic book cheese cannons on you right after its tasteful atmospheric intro, and I, for one, was hesitant to appreciate the initial cheesebomb into my face. Moments later, my mood was converted without any opportunity given to lament if to reconsider. That is the primal charm of this release, I think. It brings extremely straightforward and rigorously realized musical ideas along the power metal compositional niche, but not for a second it seeks to depress you. I have nothing against the vocals herein, in fact, the singer dude is able to surprise you on quite a few occasions with awesome, pretty much unrealistically high pitched power metal veils, which is nothing short of epic, in my opinion. "Look, I have no balls, but I lack them epicallyyyyyyyyy!"

On another complementary note, I especially am satisfied with the melodic and instrumental content of the outing : the music is - the following is an inept but proper way to put it - "unusually" melodic on this spin, which is a certain trait to behold gratefully. The band, first and foremost, brings what legit, real deal paua metal has to bring at immediate threshold value, and with this act, it is efficient to register as nothing less than its "mere" self right away, but there is a fine catch to behold yet. Regardless how the results are totally satisfactory already, the band members always seek and find a way to put a little something extra to make it more melodic, more entertaining than what the basic fabric offers on its own stable merits. As result of this, the basic fabrics emerge as grateful sonic constructs on their own, having been skillfully and impertinently flattered by playful, yet sober deviations from their primer characteristics.

The LP produces an intimate-, and simultaneously intense sound that exhibits both a hilarious retro vibe and the polished freshness of contemporary production standards, refraining wisely from the raw, bombastic nuclear - oops. - sound other releases choose to cultivate. All in all, Steelwing - Zone of Alienation is a release I can't fathom how you could be disappointed by. One highly recommended, exigent, fun listen for sure.

Rating : 9.2 / 10

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Woods of Ypres - Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light review

Year : 2012
Genre : Intense Funeral Doom
Label : Earache
Origin : United States
Rating : 9.3 / 10

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On December 21, 2011, founding member, lead vocalist, guitarist of funeral doom band Woods of Ypres, David Gold, 31, dies in a car accident near Barrie, Ontario. I personally hope Gold's spirit remains active in a dimension the consensus percept of reality has no immediate access to without a turbo pineal gland, yet, one thing is for sure : Gold's spirit also is projected to this plane of (meta)physical existence, as necessary result of the latest Woods of Ypres LP, titled Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light. My first experience with this band was/is their official video of their song Mount Pleasant Cemetery, and I remember how I found it both intriguing and hilarious that the narrator sings about his own funeral, but, as viewer/listener of his uncompromisingly bitter musical report, here I am, being subjected to an elegiac meatspace-rant filmed in full HDRI gloom-glory, despite how the physical shell of the singer was "burieeeeeeed in Mount Pleasant Cemeteeeeryyyy" already. (And "the sadness was overwhelming." [and not little, you know?]).

The song probably is a ghost song of some sorts, necessarily resonated by a meatspace human while performed. The meatspace-narrator, one is invited to assume, attempts to channel the sentiments of the wannabe-narrator-ghost, which is bending to the will of the commanding spiritual system that demands a status report of its infinite suffering. Moral of the s(t)o(r)ry is frightening enough : suffering demands talent. Not surprisingly, this Woods of Ypres album is a fresh collection of attempts at exhibiting noteworthy spiritual suffering for your semi-perverted joy of continuous self reference, and you will need to read on to find out how it all turns out/in for this band in 2012.


I generally am not too big of a fan of music comparison, when you attempt to describe what you hear by enthusiastically naming earlier inputs of similar sonic character, thereby wanting to smuggle immediate merit to your argument. This almost always is the easy way out. Luckily, consensus reality does not give a nickelfuck with two lost holes in it about my sentiments regarding this issue, because, quite frankly, this album renders a huge amount of tasteful tributes to its numerous inspirators.

Opening track "Career Suicide" is a surprising build without any doubt. The song and David Gold both seek to dial in a mood-, a modal behavior reminiscent to Type O Negative and Rammstein, and you can add a little bit of early Anathema - think "Sleepless" era - on top, too. As the release lets you know hastily, the early Anathema feeling is one of the most important dispositions of this full length, one that consorts with the Type O Negative soulset amidst a natural flow of beneficiary chemical reactions. The delivery is more mid-tempo peacefulness and morose meandering than hefty rampage with ballsy grit, and, even when it IS hefty, it conveys its intensity along the elegantly risky register of the Anathemian "killing me softly" tenderness. The album is not at all on steroids, nor is in the need to be in order to come through as evidently relevant sonic data. The relatively fragile, yet absolutely tasteful production values all give a slick underground club feeling to the LP, which lets it communicate the messages along that special "You got me burning" emotional field of the first Terminator movie. Subtract the disco from "You got me burning", and worship the pure toast blackened leftovers, as that is what this album is about, lover.

In essence, the darkest charms of the '80s is here, fueled by contemporary emotion, realized in full comic book sonic glory, and the only minor caveat I care to mention is David Gold's notable urge to mime a variety of performers. He mainly seeks to imitate the sub-bass vocal style of Peter Steele, which is a real risky thing to do unless you sport the unquestionably near-divine charisma of Steele, at minimum. The results are quite frightening, but hilarious, too : David Gold's rendition of Peter Steele sounds more like the fronter of Crash Test Dummies, and I have nothing further to add to this.

Mind you that this pseudo-negative aspect I have just been telling you about, is not an excruciatingly daunting percept to endure, - it is fun, in a puzzling kind of way, instead - and it would be unjust to regard this trait of the release as a true annoyance of it. There really is nothing at all to dislike about this record in my opinion, as it is nothing short of inventive, honest sorrowful music, top to bottom. No filler songs, no alibis. The commanding mood of the disc seeks and tolerates no self-indulgent cultivation of stock-joy or instant, cheap comfort-hope. The music of this slitherer contribution drops on your skin as black velvet, yet this black velvet brings the elegance of sporting calming guarantees of the lack of a danger with venom hidden above it. Woods of Ypres is not out there to bestow cuts on you, thank God & Co. Woods of Ypres' latest studio album is out there to convey a special kind of underground retro gloom, one Peter Steele silently approves of. Steele did not object. This record is a truly pleasant surprise with no blemishes or notably weaker segments I care to mention, and I recommend it with a poker face and great satisfaction. Once again, if you are a fan of Type O Negative and early Anathema - even better : both - then this baby is immediate ear-treasure for you.

Rating : 9.3 / 10

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Cruciamentum - Engulfed in Desolation EP review

Year : 2011
Genre : Death Metal with Thrash Groove and Sludge tendencies
Label : Nuclear Winter Records
Origin : United Kingdom
Rating : 8.8 / 10

Cruciamentum's Engulfed in Desolation EP sounds and acts as the perfect aural narrative to wander around on the joycrusher scenery reigning supreme on the efficient cover art. It always is truly nice to witness quality analogue artwork as opposed to the shameless, z-grade Photoshop exploitation not sufficiently rare to recent day production trends. Check the pseudo-worthless cover (f)art of this toy metal release, for a gruesome example of unacceptably non-inspired visual terror reigning evident, rampant, triumphant on the unsuspecting mind of the good willed beholder.

Luckily, Cruciamentum's Engulfed in Desolation EP is not only out there to sacrifice your mom, (using your possessed body to conduct the ritual, naturally) but it also shows an uncompromising consistency in its effortless, sumptuous agenda to weigh in as an utterly humorless and - logically enough - (un)dead-serious declaration, and this commitment yields 24 minutes of anti-purified sonic intensity that registers to your receptors as more meaningful and relevant audio data than that obtainable from the largely risk free variant of routine death metal, armed with a fake satisfaction on top of the shallow act of relying on the essential components of the genre, but not even WANTING to do something evidently significant with the abused entities. Still with me? Fucking pervert. Read on to find our more about this eloquent death metal release, that which doubtless exhibits increased capacity to imbue its own genre with the eminent/lethal potentiality of a fresh breath of crimson hellfire. 


Cruciamentum's charisma, in my opinion, is rooted in the conscious decision of choosing caveman death metal as the focal field of operation, but not declining the respective charms of various other subgenres of metal, such as the hereby exhibited tendency to thrash, to groove, and, to spout sludge, even. Track number 2, called "Through Gates of Morpheus Realms" is a good example of how versatile and entertaining things can get here, as the band is ready and able to soak your ears into a myriad variation of tasteful metal stimuli, while remaining faithful at heart to the epitome of cavemanish sonic warfare I have just been telling you about. In this regard, the release is more humorless and more vile than this splendid delivery of similar character, yet, it also is a much more colorful offering than what the "older" school of death seems to relentlessly perpetuate to this very moment. As such, I admire the work for what it seeks to do, namely, to dress death into more audible colors than you most often see/hear it in.

The album's premiere shortcomings are some exhausted grooves here and there, embarrassingly flattering uninspired power chord bitchslappings, teamed up with the band's relative gravitation towards the bottommost note of the ensemble, that which is a related motor-obsession so easy to commit that it is a shame to, as well. Yes, if you are any sort of a (highly extreme) guitarist, then you feel a secretive urge that invites you to abuse the deepestestestestest note on your instrument, because that note resonates so freely and you look so badass while riding it, but, in my opinion you also want to-, you also need to cultivate a discretion in yourself that prevents a higher self from abusing consensus with the deepest note all the time whenever it looks for a new musical thought. A good example of deepest note abuse is witnessable on this release if you listen to the beginning of track 4 after the ending of track 3. You have pretty good chances of doing so naturally, too. Take heed and bear witness how these segments occupy the same sonic domain, and this always is a very mundane audio percept to be subjected to. Dudettes. Never start the consecutive song in the same key as the previous was in, I'm begging you shamelessly.

Rating : 8.8 / 10

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Avatar - Black Waltz review

Year : 2012
Genre : Melodic Death Metal with Goth and Groove tendencies
Label : Gain Music Entertainment
Origin : Sweden
Rating : 8.2 / 10

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With its fourth full length declaration, Swedish Avatar delivers a ripe vision of its own intentions. The band has been around since 2001, making a name for themselves as supporting acts beside such well established squads as In Flames and Halloween, among many others. The Black Waltz LP, as a studio delivery, exhibits very interesting central characteristics. First and foremost, the band seemingly was not at all reluctant to refrain from recent day production trends, like the super-polished sound. On the other hand, this crystal clear kind of modus operandi consorts with a unique vision of sonic balance in the mixes. The name of the game herein is the relentless set of masterfully engineered biomechanic drum, which though simply is in love with all its surroundings, always making sure that it does not hurt the sonic integrity of the other instruments. It's interesting and fruitful that I have to write such a notion, as the album I reviewed before this one, seemed to have a tendency to overwhelm its own character with hyper-bloated drums. Avatar's latest, on the other hand, is a disc produced in an exceptionally sober manner, and now is the time to talk about the music, too. Guys, let's talk about the music.


Black Waltz is a surprisingly accessible melodic death metal release, which does not at all mean that it would be out there to seek family safe commercial appeal. That is not the case at all. The song structures simply are very easy to relate to-, to grasp unto, and they are ready to address their assets and sonic commodities in a straightforward fashion, courtesy of rigorously revealed logic reigning evident in their musically competent fabric. This is not the angst driven-, neurotic melodic death metal tailor made to reflect the capricious emotional tendencies or the favorite sentiments relating to the favorite computer game of an identity crisis resident in a teenager, it, instead, is "just" serious melodic death metal, composed of legitimate musical thoughts and luscious patterns. Some of these thoughts and patterns are more elegant than others, some are platitude, but this is the minority. For the most part, this release is able to reveal elegant patterns of brute, but inventive sonic force. I like this sentence so much that I will conclude this review with it.

Black Waltz, as an LP, thank God & Co., is free of any delusions of having to satisfy certain expectations as soon as possible, so the band looks good and "just" natural when they decide to take a stroll along AC/DC-ish 4/4 fistpumping action in track number 7, "Let it burn", for example. But notice the chorus : the chorus reeks Pantera and its double barreled shotgun groove metal. The southern double barreled shotgun coated by a cobra vibe is something the album is fond of relying on, but not with an over-indulgent tendency. But, with a quite prominent one, as the very next track, called "Next Touch", equally reeks Pantera. The fabric of this 55 minutes ride sports a reoccurring affection towards Goth-, and, do not be afraid : relative pop tendencies, too. The chorus of "Smells like a Freak Show" is pop. Phil Collins would be happy to sing this. (And he would sound much fucking better, too, but no offense to the singer of the chorus, as he gives a good average performance. Sorry, you know I'm a douché sometimes, and almost always when I'm criticizing music in pink latex lingerie.)

As noted, I especially am happy with how the release is sounding, as the miserable music critic would need to look for five eternities to come up with a legitimate death metal release sounding so eminently polished and still as grouchy as this baby does. The songcraft is good, exhibiting some blemishes here and there that prevent it from being great. Example : the chorus of the 11 minute LP concluder epic, "Use Your Tongue." Yes, the lyrics are puzzling, - "hate your neighbor, know your enemy, use your tongue to clean their rooms" (W.T.F.) - yes, the instrumental breakdown is superb, but the chorus sounds like a Cure song the original band would deny that they have ever recorded it. In my opinion, at least. If you love the chorus, amen and the most honest - tautology - bliss'o mine to that, of course. Please, do not let these truly minor subjective bitchwhinings put you off of the trail of this fine release though, as, for the most part, - 90%, that is - this release is able to reveal elegant patterns of brute, but inventive sonic force. See?

Rating : 8.2 / 10

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Aborted - Global Flatline review

Year : 2012
Genre : Death Metal
Label : Century Media
Origin : Belgium
Rating : 7.0 / 10

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The fresh Aborted LP is as straightforward as its cover art in its hastiness to serve out your rudimentary death metal anticipations, and it shows no eminent desire nor ambition to deviate boldly from the superorthodox death metal formula of blast beating the shit out of silence the old fashioned way, supported by riffcraft that has a more pronounced urge to lock in a certain frequency domain than to administer riffcraft along that silly little thing called melody. Exceptions are present, but few and far between. Whenever the album deviates from the brutal side of things for a moment, the content emerges quite significant and musically more colorful than it weighs in with via its over the top comic book intensity it favors 90% of the program time. The traditional-, decently realized pig squeal vocals are oftentimes supported by metalcore screaming administered in a much more tolerable mid-tone register than the faked-ass fry screaming you hear from metalcore teenagers looking like separated sperm cells on the cover of your favorite music magazine. Talking about music, the actual audio data on this spin, as is somewhat common to the sonically brutal side of death - !!ROARR!! - metal, is not always easy to realistically relate to, because the drums often are so prominent in the mix that they show a relentless urge to command ALL under them with a row of pummeling iron fists. As result of this, the character of the sonic content with any pitch value to it, pretty much lies beneath the monumental percussion work. According to my percepts, this tendency is more prominent in the firs half of the release. Read on to find out more about this anti-neighborhood device.


What I personally think the record looks best with, are its intense drum fills and the capricious rhythmic patterns in its climax, let alone how one of the songs features a line from Hellraiser II if I'm not mistaken, about suffering and hell. An ubiquitous urge to offer variation IS present on this spin, but, as I just mentioned, the riffcraft shows mixed desire and capacity to address its ultimate meaning via its given potential. Sometimes, when the audio fabric is not trodden over by vocals and the wartank drums, it becomes - uhm - audibly visible. Aua, I just lost a level. Yet, for a good amount of this spin, the name of the game will be uncompromising blast beat galore with no love in it at all, and this rhetorics gives you the kind of extreme music which intentionally flatters the epitome of good old fashioned noise warfare. Sir, Yes, Sir, it is great fun, but also a kind of fun I think the album tends to violate by relying on it way too fucking much. But this is a subjective matter, and these segments might weight in as the favorite segments under your roof.

It is very hard to miss the similarities between this baby and that of an output of akin character from Italy, and I would not even go as far as to deem the peak moments of this album less efficient than that disc, courtesy of the last THIRD of this album. My current opinion is that this release gets better and better as it progresses, reaching the peaking I personally noticed via its last three tracks. The music on these regions are especially well varied, and its complexity borders on technical death metal in its rhythmic and sonic complexity. The release is a safe choice if you want to bang your head against a wall until one of these elements gives in, and, with its limited share of intricate musical stimuli, it weighs in as a ride even the snob finds attractions on that are worth revisiting.

Rating : 7.0 / 10

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Jon Boling aka Skatch MC - Sincerity : The Soundtrack to Life review

Year : 2012
Genre : Rap / Hip Hop
Label : Independent
Origin : United States
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Jon Boiling aka Skatch MC comes your way with a debut LP that is quick and efficient to reveal its crystal clear agendas, and you can take this quite literally. The name of the game herein is traditional-, heartfelt 4/4 hip hop with super-polished production values, - more on those later - and one thing that hits your receptors right away to cause a pleasant extra surprise in them, is the precise vocal articulation of the whole contribution. I know, grasping the lyrics on the fly Family Guy style is not something you thought you will have to fathom (while driving by) amidst steady rap warfare, but, behold : here is a ripe hip hop release with very easily understandable lyrical content.

The primer modal characteristic of The Soundtrack to Life album is more of a laid back, peaceful demeanor, with which the LP comes through as much more authentic, than if to address the Tuesday night gunfight and the size of the premiere local female butt without end, as it is a somewhat common and safe shortcut to flatter the genre. The fact that Skatch MC puts more emphasis on mood and atmosphere than on intimidation and 9mm subterfuge, guarantees a laid back-, yet intimate, and most importantly : FUN listening experience. Read on to find out more about this decent, meticulously polished hip hop debut.


As noted, Skatch MC is not approaching you with the arrogant gloating stance so common to the style, which does not mean that he lacks a firm position on consensus issues OR the readiness to share those inputs with you. The primordial themes of the lyrical content are ranging from witty takes on the paradox nature of a global economy system which insist that the most sober goal is to consume infinitely amidst limited supplies, to the everyday life of micro communities, heavily characterized by the terribly dangerous combination of drugs and the most serious responsibilities, like having to groom a child or two.

From a compositional point of view, I honestly can say that I like what I hear, because I hear what I like, based on the related central intents of the LP. The soul of the attraction herein, of course, is the flow of the spoken word, and the meat and bone sonic structures to back those up, are decently realized studio constructs without any mispositioned will being present in them to take risks or to exhibit futile shock values. Each element the record utilizes, is realized with a steady hand and a stone cold sober mindset, and THAT is sufficient : the kick drum packs both a punch and a bite, the synths bring the grit, while the piano always steals a tint of mellow into the - mainly - friendly sonic fabrics the album is fond and efficient at utilizing.

Jon Boiling aka Skatch MC - Sincerity : The Soundtrack to Life is hip hop from the heart resonated through a spiritual stance that is very easy to relate to, courtesy of its bravery, elegant capacity and well positioned cunning of not wanting to be anything less than that.

Rating : - review requested -

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Biohazard - Reborn In Defiance review

Year : 2012
Genre : Hardcore
Label : Nuclear Blast Records
Origin : United States
Rating : 9.5 / 10

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This here latest to date Biohazard LP brings down ultraterror, fake UFOs and old school hellfire upon all who is looking for a blemish in its full musculature fabric. These guys have been around since ancient times as far as I know, and let me tell you that their game looks as intact and fresh as ever. Biohazard brings to you a type of music bordering on the shared field of venomous thrash metal and rebellious groove metal, but administers this kind of rabid sonic data with a proud finger given to recent day polishment-production wizardry. The album sounds like you'd expect a post apocalyptic band to sound when witnessing them on a stage set up on the back of a warproof truck. The sonic data is equally gritty and lush, always packing the instant charisma of a lit up barrel and a Molotov cocktail, and that what the idea is, I tend to think. Read on to find out more about this heavy duty release.


Biohazard is all about the primer elements I personally think are amidst the most important building blocks of hefty music that seeks to waste stuff to obtain great spiritual satisfaction. These guys have the capacity to deliver sets and sets of intricate musical hooks per song, and not for a moment, you are taken for a fool like on a Nickelprick LP, abusing family proof soft rock chord progressions. I'll tell you a joke : Nickelback. Now, back to this Biohazard LP. The stimulus of this album comes from the heart, and shows constant capacity to flatter the mere heft in music you most probably signed on for. This album does not disappoint, not for a second, in my opinion. An intact, aggressive sonic fabric is achieved by the sober production decisions, making the album sound honest and "real", eliminating all need to rely on the recent day stock studio sound your gecko loves to drop saliva above.

While the sound manages to strike you as something truly fresh and - paradoxically enough - timelessly old school, the Reborn In Defiance LP weighs in as super heavyweight, courtesy of the trusty musicianship and destructoid songwriting witnessable on these tracks. Tasteful variation never relents, and the band showcases an apt readiness to flatter luscious riffcraft without shame and without end, and this particular aspect is KEY, of why these guys ARE the Grandmasters of the genre, and not just decent runner ups of it. Whereas other bands would be content with the elements/sections per song they already have, you can be sure that Biozahard always will have one extra surprise/section for you, regardless of the momentary behavior and intensity the current track cultivates.

This album sounds to me as a vastly authentic and immense release, and here is why : this disc contains the exact kind of music I hoped to hear from Biohazard. They give on this LP what I was hoping to get from them, only, they shape the form of their very best music in the process. I'll be honest with you, I love this Biohazard album, and, as such, I gratefully deem it an immediate recommendation.

Rating : 9.5 / 10

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Dissentient - Black Hole Machine review

Year : 2011
Genre : Death Groove Metal Hybrid with Djent elements
Label : Independent
Origin : Canada
Rating : 9.0 / 10

Dissentient's Black Hole Machine LP is a freshly sounding variant of death/groove warfare. While the consorting intent evidently is to eradicate all on spot foolish enough to stand in the way of the organized sonic terror, the form of these rampant tendencies still exhibit a sober tendency to bow down to certain compositional dynamics, primarily taken from the ultimate meaning of raw T-rex meat groove metal, spiced tastily and rather bravely by luscious djent fixations. If you think that a groove metal/death metal hybrid with a djent affection might actually be sexy and worth checking out, then you are not just close to the related truth, but occupy the graceful center of it. Let me assure you in advance that Dissentient's delivery has all the sonic tools in its possession to make your neighbor suffer legendarily, and it is not afraid to use them, either. Read on to find out more about this fine package.


This record, as hinted, is as much groove metal as is death metal, and it remains free of the need to address these influences/agendas on separate rhetorical channels, instead, it manages to come up with audio data striking a delicate-, but relentless balance between death, groove and the madafakin djent. The album, thank God and Affiliates, is angry like a crocodile on wardrugs and won't satisfy until you sport limbs not incorporated in it yet. Talking about "in" and "corpo", track number 3, called "Incorporeal" is a good example, in my opinion, of what the primer elements of the release are : on this particular track, you will hear the band engage various intricate rhythmic deviations from the standard 4/4 rumble without any sign of running out of legit ideas, and the way the riffcraft utilizes artificial harmonics on the guitars, is something even Dimebag Darrell would nod on. No, he did not object against the notion.

This release, 38 seconds shy of 1 full hour in its program length, comes to you more as integral sonic data that exhibits major regularities and relative similarities, and not as a release that seeks to deviate from its favorite, honest affection to punish silence ASAP in ultraviolent fashion. I personally tend to think that this disc looks utterly good with its relentless hyper-aggression engaged full paua 90% of the time. That remaining 10% still is intense music, yet, with a more tame character rendered as the core of the related data. This readiness to deviate - in thought - from sonic aggression at the climax, signifies musical maturity.

It is very easy to join in at any time to this spin, and appreciate the great variation it is ready and able to subject you for an hour. A great deal of this variation, fortunately enough, comes to you via the djent leanings of the record. The djenting, for the most part, sounds to be more melodically sculpted than what you most often hear, and that might be the result of the fact that seldom are the times that you are subjected to less than 3 guitars playing at a time. There is something extra, too : if you listen very carefully, then you will notice that the band often features a Faith No More synth in the background, but, its volume is more tame than that of the synth of Faith No More. A safe, immediate recommendation with a whole lot of quality stuff going on, and you need to be very bitter to be disappointed by this fine release, in my opinion.

Rating : 9.0 / 10

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Xipe Totec - Eztlacuani review

Year : 2011
Genre : Atmospheric Death Metal
Label : Independent
Origin : Mexico
Rating : 9.0 / 10

Mexico expects a superb year from a touristic point of view, courtesy of the 2012 apocalypse some portion of the masses anticipate. Xipe Totec's Eztlacuani is coming to you from the most authentic soul content you could possibly imagine, as this Mexican formation channels the sonic variant of the apocalyptic ancient energy steadily summoned on the cover art. If you did not yet see Mel Gibson's movie Apocalypto, - a vastly significant movie, in my opinion, and people dissing it are failing to realize what they are witnessing, seems to me - then now is the time to do so. What you - in my view - witness is a real life historic science fiction movie in which the wrath of anguish Gods indeed seems to threaten the life quality of the Mayan community. As such, this hive entity, driven by fear, accepts and follows the direction of - haha! - religion, - ahhhahahahahahaha! - that which declares that lives must be sacrificed in vast numbers to gain the mercy of the anguish entities up above. Comfy so far? I dare you to imagine that you are a Mayan woman or man with an impending eclipse above the scenery, tribal music by million drums and animalistic shouts in consensus air and in your ear, and you are being led/dragged to the top of the sacrificial pyramid with the High Priest on it, who, rest assured, will have no problem cutting your heart out, having done that 23 times in the past 30 minutes already. This horrifying experience is a part of the collective psyche, and these humans had no choice to tap out of this, to dismiss the terrible, real life 3D life experience crushing their current form of existence. They had to die by this trauma, and had to experience it emotionally and physically. Infinitely disturbing and infinitely sad thing.

I confess I do not understand a single word sung on this release, but I instinctively understand that they promise no good. To me, it is a record made both for the timeless remembrance of sacrificed Mayans, - talking about death metal, hm? - and, for the timeless remembrance of that ancient variant on the fabric of physical reality, in which you, as a living human being, indeed lack both the capacity and awareness to convince anyone that no one needs to die, it is "just" an eclipse. There are no words in use in that reality fabric to make them "understand", even if you would knew the information, you would have next to zero chance to convince the religious leaders of this collective psyche to give up on their ancient traditions, losing their face in the process. You will be sacrificed. Read on though, Lover.


Xipe Totec's Eztlacuani is a superb, authentic addition to the attractions you can properly anticipate your personal apocalypse with. This rampant spin comes to you along a traditional-, yet very well realized death metal register, soaked skillfully and tastefully in Mayan atmospheric elements. Among these, tribal drums and the Mayan flute are the focal ingredients. You got to love and fear all of them. They summon an ancient vibe that flatters a cosmic secret of timeless significance regarding mere cosmos and the oh, so casual existence, and, though the Mayan flute herein has only two favorite pitches, those two pitches will always find their way to your core, courtesy of the lack of all doubt on their part that they will do so indeed.

To make the metaphoric picture given earlier - with the pyramid and tribal drums - more precise, imagine that there is an ancient, anachronistic Mayan death metal band playing on one of the tribunals when you are being dragged to the top of the pyramid to be sacrificed. The music you hear during the process, is contained on this spin. As such, it is needless to say that Xipe Totec's Eztlacuani is both a disturbing-, but very significant spiritual ride, after which you give all grace you can to the fabric of cosmos that you are not in the position of having to die by the trauma the sacrificed Mayans had to die by.

As for your Personal Apocalypse of any other kind : if that is what you are after, than that is what you will get.

Rating : 9.0 / 10

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Lacuna Coil - Dark Adrenaline review

Year : 2011
Genre : Alternative Metal Gothic
Label : Century Media
Origin : Italy
Rating : 8.0 / 10

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Lacuna Coil attempts to bring the energy of Rammstein to channel the music of Kidney Thieves, and, as soon as someone attempts to do so, it deserves immediate attention. The key-, minor deficits of the current formation are quick to reveal themselves, as are the beneficiary soul contents and other goodies the squad is able to deliver. The best potentiality of the record lies in its honest-, nevertheless elegant bubblegum character : the structures hardly-, if ever deviate from the standard compositional technique of verse-chorus, verse, breakdown, biiiigbig chorus, yet, as long as the served elements are able to please your receivers, this template is still quite efficient. The album's most favored song length of 3 minutes - only two of 12 pieces topple this length - seems to solidify the impression that the prime agenda herein is to deliver a hefty, easily accessible Goth soulride for the whole family, your secret latex gimp in the closet, - HA! - included. Read on to find out more about this slick release.


Dark Adrenaline shows capacity to exhibit a diverse set of moods, fortunately. Opening track "Trip the Darkness" has a pronounced leaning towards a dangerous, sanely limited fairy tale register, while "Fire" - much later - is a cybernetic soulhack inviting you to rebel without a pause. The hooks are coming your way in the forms of the choruses, primarily, and they bow to no boundaries regarding the tools and sets of moods they seek to utilize to administer steady entertainment. As for the moods, a good portion of this release sounds as traditional alternative - oops! - metal to me, and, to be honest, it is great to hear an LP that does not take its Gothic sentiments to the perplexedly extremely serious. The content herein has dignity, and a good amount of hooks.

Now for the good old fashioned beating. The absence of a Free Dominguez and an Animal like Corey Taylor is regretful, as the fronters herein - one female, one man - are giving acceptable and mediocre vocal performances, respectively. Their accent is tolerable, even cute at times, yet I not always am content with the "emotional" renditions they are portraying. The male fronter has only one favorite style of singing, and that is the bluesy rasp you already had the chance to bore yourself to hell and back with, while the female singer has a more diverse set of singing rhetorics. At track 11, "Fire", the chick fronter starts out the fray in comic book Free Dominguez fashion, and must say, she does quite a decent job at that. Yet, this rabid kind of borderline intensity is a rare invitee of the release, as Dark Adrenaline has a more tame character as its prime attribute, instead of angst. This, of course, is not a blemish, rather a probable heartfelt decision of the band, and, as such, this factor should not be subjected to criticism. On occasion, Lacuna Coil is able to reveal superb mid-tempo harmonic environments, like the chorus of track 7 "I don't believe in tomorrow" : this hook reeks Slipknot's "Sulfur" without ripping it off, so : Kudos!

Lacuna Coil's Dark Adrenaline is a solid offering all in the spirit of Italian gothcybermetal, yet, with a more pronounced spiritual leaning towards the peaceful than this particular Italian beauty. Lacuna Coil's latest weighs in as a serious addition to the first month of this particular year, and, the fact that it is largely free of gloom, appeals to me greatly. A safe, immediate recommendation and I like it.

Rating : 8.0 / 10

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Enter Shikari - A Flash Flood of Colour review

Year : 2012
Genre : Whateverthefuckyouwantcore
Label : Ambush Reality, Hopeless
Origin : United Kingdom
Rating : 4.0 / 10

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Step 1. Imagine a music box filled with different albums representing each one of these genres : metalcore, post-punk, lightweight dubstep, drum and bass, trance, hell, even annoying-ass Elton John pop, inviting you to drop saliva to your favorite pink plusch hyppo you love to sleep with since you are 12. (In other words : since a year.)

Step 2. Hook yourself up with a portable mini nuke and a cup filled with the green goo of musical DNA enfusion, arm the mini nuke to 30 secs and put these things into the music box. Close the lid. Wait one minute. Put on your HAZMAT suit. Open the lid. Get the resultant hyper-hybrid of a disc. It will have Enter Shikari - A Flash Flood of Colour written on it, and your nervous system will be hijacked! Now, if you are 13 years old, it is your lucky moment to produce your catharsis-run for the honest bewilderment of all traditions, because, what you are holding in your hands is none other than your : oh, so favorite album of all remembrance. If you are past 13, then you still do NOT need to be a retrograde douché to steadily dismiss this record as

VAAAAAAAAASTLY

I mean :

VAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASTLY overrated.

This is what the cover art suggests, too, (- "V"-astly overrated - ) and it mimes a triangle only to please the highest levels of the Illuminati, I suppose. It would be supremely easy to be an utter douchebag with this release, because, frankly, as I just wrote, it sounds to me that it is the music of the rebellious acne-kit 13 years old, yet it has its share of acceptable-, even (relatively) enjoyable moments amidst the immense dosages of supremely superficial political rants administered in the copied tradition of the action figure-variant of Rage Against the Machine. Read on to find out more about this - in my opinion - overrated release.


"Spiritually", this record seems to attempt to emerge as an after-feel experiment of everything Clockwork Orange on an antitheses-register, as the band members seek to occupy the position of the Good Willed Villain, the Warm Hearted Brigand, the Good Outlaw, or whatnot. They are your popculture Robin Hoods, armed with a fraction of the talent of their role model inspirators. Unfortunately, they seem to lack the charisma of an American z-movie star who has just been denied the key role of a shampoo spot, - or maybe I fail to pick up on their charm - but, what the hell, these dudes still behave like they just pulled the galaxy out of their asses. It would be acceptable if they'd sport the collective charisma of primetime Rutger Hauer, but what I see, is angry (sex) dwarfs being pissed off at my garden. WOW! Promising sight, I must admit. Lemme bring my lé pink lingerie.

Lyrics? Oh yes, some claim that the lyrics are superb on this disc. Uhm. Naive little thoughts seeking to emerge to bombastic qualities, - doomed to Fail Legendarily, of course - like : - can't quote verbatim, thank God - "do not think that little groups can't change the world! They CAN! They DID before!" Oh dear oh dear.

The members of Enter Shikari are not quite ripe musicians yet, in my opinion, and they reign in the position of being free to conceal their deficits with pseudo-content generated by the state of the art production environment they rely on. You are, of course, free to suggest that I should chew on a flamethrower with your finger on the trigger for saying so. Currently, the Enter Shikari dudettes seem to me as enthusiastic fanboys and Kerrang! readers, indulging amidst their musical inspirations, accounting those with stock-talent levels in a professional production environment, being fixated on superficial, naive political rants about the ideological and economical state of the planet. Nothing beyond-, and nothing new when compared to what you have heard a 23423423 times before in this field.

Their flamboyancy is their biggest and greatest asset, and there are moments when they seem to go - only in character!! - Faith No More, and you know that I'm a Faith No More fangirl. I dare say that the lyrical behavior of this LP is more conscious POSE than thoughtful-, heartfelt CONTENT, and it shows no capacity I can pick up on that would offer anything above the platitudes of narrative political rants. Buuuuuuuuut. The music, for the most part, is not stellar on this release, okay?? It is, for the aforementioned most part, is above average at best, and seldom are the times it goes beyond that. You suck ancient Baphomet dick if you think it is great music all over. Same as with Meshuggah : if you don't like Meshuggah, you suck. Sorry. Deal with it.

I have little doubt that mainstream UK media will be absolutely baffled by the superflamboyant stylistic intensity brought on by these dudes, though. Mainstream UK media needs to bow down to-, and needs to worship its own products. Its own current Idols. Oh my God. What the world has come to since the brilliant-, still-kill evergreens of Rick Astley. I like Iron Maiden and Susan Boyle, too, so be quick when you kill me.

On Facebook, everyone is rockstar, therefore no one is. I feel every little group with an affection towards music, with a superb production team behind the squad, could bring the primer qualities of this release. Let me draw a parallel. The faultiness-, the tasteless pretentiousness of the dogma that everyone should be put on a TV screen that enjoys receiving cheap attention, becomes evident. Like : what the hell do you show those two idiots in the Britan's Got Talent TV show for? I show zero interest in witnessing their eventless faces and their anti-humorous, attention seeking behavior. I'm 100% sure I'm not the only one who feels this way about the matter, too, because I have asked others. I have nothing against them as human beings, of course. But don't attempt to serve them for me as elements of entertainment. They are NOT that, and they are not funny. Monty Python is funny. Mr. Bean is funny. Anything below THAT level, should be witnessed with sobriety and relentless, scientific rigor. In this day and age, the mildly talented is invited and free to invade the camera, and this is what they are doing to the inappropriate invitation of a pretentious production ethos. You are no longer free to say to somebody :  "Dude, you look like shit on screen. Only worse." This tendency is a terrible thing to witness. Why do you violate my awareness with those two?

Same thing : this is not great music, because it constantly seeks to pretend that it so much more than it actually is. This is music with promise in it, and its primer promise is its relentless urge to project myriad lights - ANY kind of light, for that matter - on itself. It is above average pop festival medley administered in the spirit of 238947237423423 different genres to serve out everyone out in a building like a cheap prostitute would do, only, this propensity can be regarded as degrading, because the elements served to you hardly are consistent in their quality.

Anyway, each song on this release is composed of about 25 segments seeking to serve out different genres like a prostitute that has been paid upfront, and none of these segments tend to last more than half a minute, tops. This album is a commercial product that is aimed to serve out the capricious appreciative "capacities" and harshly limited artistic horizons of the hormone-trodden 13 years old adolescent who thinks throwing up on a random face at a festival is a rebellious obligation that must be done once a month. As noted, the actual music is not all that sharp when witnessed for the respective ultimate worth of its myriad components, and the vocal style propagated on it makes me feel that the fronter needs a hug. Not necessarily by a bear, but. .. Just kidding. I'm looking forward for the next delivery of these dudettes, and word is, that their live shows are truly magnificent. Amen to that.

On a sentimental note : I realize that this is a harsh review, and I might write another one later on, to see if my initial views of this release have been changed. If you already have a radically different global percept of this LP than mine and you feel the urge to share it, then please feel free to educate me regarding my suspected deficits in the comment section below. Remember : I'm not against these guys, I simply think - currently - that they are vastly overrated. But I'm not 100% sure yet.

Rating : 4.0 / 10

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Mors Subita - Human Waste Compression review

Year : 2011
Genre : Melodic Death Metal with Groove and Thrash tendencies
Label : Violent Journey Records
Origin : Finland
Rating : 9.2 / 10

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Mors Subita - the band's name translates to "Sudden Death" - brings to you a fervently hefty variant of its operative subject matter, which is none other than the eloquent kind of comic book melodic death metal proposed by fellow countrymen Rainroom. The element that I think works best on the Rainroom record I just linked the review of, is virtually omnipresent on this particular LP, so my delight is considerable. (And not slim.)

Imagine a neoclassical music lingo that sports the inherent elegance and beauty of its mere own nature, yet it occupies the position of wanting to obtain the hefty-heavy melodic/harmonic hook for itself as backup as soon as possible. The sense of power metalic epic determination is being put on ridiculous dosages of war drugs herein, and so the music itself impertinently taunts both hope and hopelessness until these opposing entities end up in a no holds barred fight, - hopelessness is a tough motherfucker of the delivery - and you are invited to be the observer of the puzzling event. This particular method of orchestrating fragile classical gloom and intricacy with the rumble of wartanks is a prime fascination of the whole album, and it also is the aspect that makes the wartank-ride a truly enjoyable one. Read on to find out more about this fine LP.


The behavior of the record brings to mind massive groove metal connotations via its sheet temper, yet it must be pointed out that the groove on display is operating in a more wide spectrum than "just" the neoclassical register. When it deviates from the neoclassical moods, fueled by the intent to go bluesy for a bar or two, the re-arrival of the fragile punishment always is a superb trade-off to greet, and its subsequent dismissal equates to the reinvigorated return - and related charm - of its bluesy peer.

The release has a set of favorite musical sub-attitudes it is sporting along the way, showing frequent willingness to color its numerous hooks with a thrashy temper, and looking similarly good in mid-tempo, courtesy of the smartly sculpted riffcraft that is an immediate trademark of the release. It is not an exaggeration to state that Human Waste Compression is LOADED with hooks, top to bottom. And smart, beautiful ones at that. This diligent-, at heart experimental propensity is toppled by superb choruses that are gracing your awareness as intact, super-efficient peak moments you can hop on no problem. If you don't want that, they will destroy Nibiru and Uranus. The choruses are deeply melodic in character, as result of the rich harmonic environments they are unfolding in. Talking about the summoned harmonic environments, the release weighs in as immediate super-heavyweight in that department. If you are not impressed by the inventiveness of the harmonic fabrics in tracks like SCS, Entrance to Sickness or titular Human Waste Compressor, then I don't know what to tell you. Human Waste Compressor is a good sample-song, by the way, as it immediately starts out with a tremendous fucking harmonic fabric, engaging 111% of the band's full capacity.

Don't be too swift to relate to the term "melody" in the context of this album. The fronter, thank God & Co., does not even THINK about going melodic. He gutturals/growls the momentary prime misery no problem, yet his presence is situated in a harmonic environment that always is ready and able to simultaneously reveal a fine blend between neoclassical musical beauty/fragility and groove metalish neurosis and rampancy. Full-musculature-, real deal harmonic passages and grooves full of beauty and ruthless efficiency are abundant herein. That is the central idea, and the closely related ultimate charm of the record, of course.

It's getting uncomfortable that I can't kick into this album with a clear conscience, but, hell, the track palette is pretty well varied and tolerates no bitchwhining in pink lingerie about filler songs or anything similar. The release is a stable delivery with legit-, tightly focused content all the way through, and you need to do yourself a favor, and soak your ears into two or three tracks a time to form defendable initial impressions of the massive whole of this delivery. Many have tried to create this style-, this temper of music, but not many have succeeded yet, or please educate me if I'm wrong about this. Rainroom ALMOST did, but - in my opinion - came short via a sloppily focused mid-section. Hellfrost failed legendarily. Insomnium - then again from Finland - came forth with a brilliant release in 2011, yet the One for Sorrow LP has a much more unforgiving temper than THIS baby. This Mors Subita release is a monster and it came to kill. But it has its balladistic moments, too, and those are superb stuffs, too. The efficient combination of rabid groove and neoclassical gloom brings you a release that either puts a spiky cyborgdemon with no love in it at all on your sorry hide, or, it simply makes you one. The choice is yours.

Rating : 9.2 / 10

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Plug-In - Hijack review

Year : 2011
Genre : Instrumental Fusion Rock with Metal elements
Label : Independent
Origin : France
Rating : 7.5 / 10

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Plug-in, as a full length delivery, sounds to have two focal attitudes/behaviors it seeks to entertain you along, and one of these guarantees intact sonic satisfaction, for sure : this is none other than the - initial - intent of the release to give birth to unique harmonic environments which I personally find the most relevant thing it does, yet, a good amount of this spin revolves around the act of administering quasi-competent guitar wankery on top of orthodox fusion chord progressions and risk-free harmonic passages that lack the will or capacity to surprise your receptors once they have revealed their limited charms.

Hey Cherokee Warria', this is not a problem, there are solo guitars on top, remember? Of course you remember! You have not been given the chance to forget. The release has a whole mini-army of guest lead guitarists featured on it, and, among these, I only am familiar with the name of Matthias Eklund. Mr. Eklund is from Germany, and he is a vastly talented guitarist with a unique vision of the instrument, as you can see if you take the time and check out some of his stuff for yourself. He truly does inventive, crazy, relevant things with the guitar. This is not something I can tell about each and every guest artists of this contribution, though. The extensive - I mean : exxxxxteeeeensive - solo guitar playing on the release does not have a collective body worth showing as long for as it IS shown for, as the undisturbed harmonic structures often are rode by leads that are above average solo monologues at best. Granted, I'm a snob, but, whenever the name of the game is instrumental, than so should you be, Lover, too, because why satisfy with anything else than stellar content if the potentiality to summon that, only is hindered by the sensitivity/skillset of the - ccc - artist? Read on to find out more about this decent fusion rock / metal hybrid delivery if you want.


You know the world famous solo guitarist Steve Vai? He has a profound fixation on this - kind of - drunk whale melodic rhetorics since 1312, and this spin features an extensive hommage to that particular music lingo. I find that feeling truly punishing. Luckily, the harmonies behind the drunk whale melodies are taming my torment a bit, regardless how they are directly taken from the CD outlet of a play-along magazine, I suppose. The release is a hybrid in its artistic quality, in my opinion, and sounds to cover about 1/3 longer of a distance than it could have looked more than "just" reasonably "good" along. Don't get me too wrong, please. The best parts of the release - which I think are the unique harmonic /rhythmic environments whenever it takes the time to reveal them - are of delicate entertainment value, yet, the tendency to trade in this readiness for "easy way out"-type chord progressions, seems to increase in activity as the record - hahaha - progresses.

Titular delivery "Hijack" sounds to be a good example of the top form of the record, with a warped, colorful rhythmic/harmonic fabric, toppled - for NOW - by top tier, rabid lead guitar playing. The superb bass work demands separate mentioning here, as well. While the next track, called "Conkrete" has tremendous promise, the "gift" of the promise never seems to arrive, and the build is toppled by drunk whale guitars, THEN the release is about to reveal its family friendly jazz fusion character for the first time. Seriously, the content starting from 2:50 is the kind of music I expect to hear in a guitar lesson video on YouTube. "Aaaaah, hello! Did you catch which musical MODE I was just playing in? Hello? HELLO??" Later on, the track brings in a hefty, elegant theme reeking a nice, pink Dream Theater vibe.

Next track, called "Meeting Steeve" is your auto-motor sport background music, and the whole song is superbly reminiscent to Steve Vai's song "Let's get out of here". I have a hunch that the title is a tribute to Mr. Vai. (The mid section features Vai's drunk whales, too! Fuck me running!) As for the music contained in this track, it is your everyday average auto-motor music, and it begs for your cheaply tolled appreciation so shamelessly that you will either submit and give it, or it won't get any of it at all. As for me, I can listen to this song with a poker face. (Not counting the tears.)

The remaining portion of the delivery signifies a profound shift towards the rock fusion side of things, characterized by the risk-free modal guitar playing I have been telling you about. I'll be honest with you, and tell you that I have nothing against it at all, it's only that it has nothing for me beyond its super-orthodox existence, which though is super-easy to appreciate. But don't expect crazy-ass progressive metal stimuli as the final third of this album. Expect family friendly fusion rock, and don't expect top of the heat of that, either. For that, you want to listen to the Almighty Frank Gambale. (He is your Daddy.)

Rating : 7.5 / 10

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Nazhand - Complicated Antitheses review

Year : 2011
Genre : "Blackness Music", Black Metal
Label : Metal Throne Productions
Origin : Iran
Rating : 8.5 / 10

Nazhand is a black metal act from Iran, and its Complicated Antitheses demo is as discomfortingly authentic as a local riot footage made by a cell phone - to say the least. It sure seems to be an interesting question to pose what kind of extreme music is given birth to by souls and nervous systems shaped and formed by the Iranian consensus reality, and let me tell you that the results are pretty disturbing AND culturally/sonically relevant. As far as I ""know"", - (from the media) - many natives of Iran feel a constant-, suppressed urge to leave their homeland, wanting to flee from the pseudo-democratic oppression propagated by the local government. Legislated atrocities are commonplace, administered by the power as parking tickets.

Nazhand's music renders this rampant experience of instinctive disillusionment, anger and hopelessness with a degree of authenticity that needs and tolerates no criticism. How can be disillusionment "authentic", when you have no actual experience of the things you are lacking? You don't need to have free will to know that it is your birthright to have it. The experience of lacking freedom and free will, is the operational field of the unacceptable disillusionment, because the heart and the mind have a collective, autonomous right and natural desire to possess freedom and free will, and both instinctively know when these birthrights are radically interfered with. As such, being a rebel when your freedom and free will is interfered with, is not only your option, but your duty. Guys, let's talk about the music.


The music on this demo is sick. I have no clue why it is labeled as a demo, because it seems to weigh in as a legit full length to me, with 46 minutes of seriously fucked up sonic content, and that, of course, is a positivity. The album sounds evil and hollow, as it would seek to - in my opinion, with great success - represent all the feelings its creators have to bear and endure as result of their immediate habitual, emotional and ideological surroundings. In this regard, the music herein is a method to get rid of the slitherer spirit tar, and THIS particular rendition of it, I dare say, is one you will not easily forget. Imagine Burzum with a cybernetic tint, - Major Maxim, anyone? - subtract all beauty whatsoever, and you are third-way there.



Major Maxim thinks nothing of you.

The record primarily is a mid-tempo build with the occasional tendency to bring the pace to a restrained-but-still-steady cybernetic crawl, feeling no urge whatsoever to violate the stone-traditional rules of ancient black metal. In other words : if the band finds two strong harmonies, then they - fortunately - won't relent playing them for you until those harmonies reveal their true meaning of malevolent menace, ready and able to start to chew on your soul, which, of course, is the central idea of this Iranian spin.

I especially am content - as a proper pervert - with the vocals on the delivery : the opening track starts out with a calmly paced synth intro of relative mood-disturbance power, but, when the heavily distorted, under-a-cosmos-of-suffering grade vocals are coming in, the tone of the stimuli changes radically, and not for the pleasant. Listen the opening track from 2:09 : oh my God, this is some sick fucking vocals in a truly sick place in the fabric of the mix. The sonic data, in my opinion, is exceptionally dark, discomforting, evil and smartly paced throughout the record, as result of the combination of the cybernetic Burzum rhetorics and the most seriously warped/distorted/tormented vocals I have heard so far.

Nazhand is into what I used to refer as "specter" or "lich" black metal, as the sonic weight of the album is more of a broken spectral character than that of good old fashioned groove metal meat-mass. It's relevantly broken, beautiful ugly music that wants to know if its creator is willing yet to reinvent herself/himself when the music is over, or not. The release comes to its conclusion with an instrumental epic, and I personally am not happy with the fade-out it chooses to end up with, via arriving to a simplistic piano arpeggio. Other than that, the release does not give the sear promise of a shit if I am content or not with it, and that is what it makes it an immediate recommendation. Nazhand's Complicazed Antitheses takes you to places you are grateful you do not have to stick around at, and also places you need to check out if you are serious about your extreme music.

Rating : 8.5 / 10

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Cryptodira - The Four Quarters EP review

Year : 2011
Genre : Math Metal Death Metal with Experimental tendencies
Label : Independent
Origin : United States
Rating : review requested by the band

Get this EP as a free download from the band's Facebook page

Cryptodira's The Four Quarters EP - you got to love the crazy cover art, which, in high resolution, reveals fractal level complexity in good old C64 vector visual lingo - starts out with a deceitful arpeggiated guitar intro, armed with the function of opening the gates up on what the then-hidden primer tools of the warfare actually are : since Ceterum, I'm kind of a maniac of intentionally fucked up rhythmic grooves, and with great delight I have to realize that the opening track of this EP seems and SOUNDS to have its fair share of grudges with orthodox rhythm work, as well : the traditional flow of the music, in this case, gets more abruptly and more aggressively disturbed herein, but, never to the point that it would cause harm in the fabric-, in the character of the music, fortunately. So, this first instrumental track on the release, with its bravely abused time signature and rabid set of mean, fat riffs is a definite winner for me. Read on to find out more about this EP.


Second track, called "Asphyxiate" starts out promisingly enough, with another sonic hive-entity getting held hostage by a timehack, and this scenario sells out a one minute intro no problem. Then, a verse comes your way with metalcorish vocals, and, if you frequent these pages, then you know my generic input on metalcoresque vocals, so I will leave my related nervous breakdown at that.

The band employs compositional techniques akin to what you frequently hear in the djent subgenre: the reoccurring engagement of industrial iron cutter guitars is often used herein as a method to offer something to connect elements with, while the "body" of the flow has no problem at all finding legit instrumental directions to take your awareness to between two of these sonic outposts. And, in fact, when the metalcore vocals do not explode into a shitsniffer metalcore chorus - and they do not herein - then they are much more tolerable. The complexity offered by this song is bordering on the experimental, and this always is something a listener should-, in my opinion be grateful for, as the smartly sculpted-, at heart easily accessible yet monstrous sonic elements herein indeed serve audio content worth soaking your ears into.

Third track, "Anonymous" is a strange, relatively neurotic track, in my opinion. It sounds to me as easily the least successful on the entire EP. No wonder they did not even gave it a name. It starts out with a lost in space, superwet, reverberated guitar arpeggio, flattered by timehacked drums and an environment that bows down to this rule set. Humpty Dory so far. Not so much later, these drums engage death metal blast beats, - really? - while the fronter does not relent addressing his favorite frustrations to date. A frightening reminder of a metalcore chorus is the last hint of a stable element I feel is worth grasping after, then the build exhibits its reoccurring desire to squash me smaller and smaller and smaller with relentlessly wet sonic mass that does not sound to me as something I would bother deciphering too much, I let it fall on me noprob the way it wants to, instead. The audio data starting from 1:48 in the body of this track, for example. The charm of randomness? Nnnnnnnnno. Only the casual ugliness of it, in this case.

Track four, "Victim Complex", reminds me of a groove metal song with its start sequence, fronted by a cowboy from hell who had way too much fucking chili for the throat. The track is hasty to arrive to an interesting interlude that borders on the thin, collective field of technical death metal and thrash, then, the more tame and more assuaging groove comes back as an element to make way for further developments. These consecutive sequences are pretty tight : they once again bring to my mind thrash metal connotations, - the middle of this track diffo has a Kreator vibe, in my opinion - while surrounding the thrashy vibe with a truly interesting selection of various death metal attractions : the robust, smartly limited harmonies of melodic death are as equal ingredients of the occurrences as are the little tints of crazy-, high frequency liquid guitar riffs you anticipate from bands like Obscura or Blotted Science.

Track number 5, called "Amenity", is the one you will check out for yourself, beautiful Ladies and notably miserable Gents. Remember : Noise Shaft does not give scores for albums that are not yet in commercial circulation, because the site does not seek to super-subjectively hinder in any numeric way the chance of any sonic content reaching such status. OK, I just lied, because you won't regret checking this LP out, which you can find as a free down on the band's Facebook page.

Rating : review requested by the band

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Alcest - Les Voyages De L'âme review

Year : 2011
Genre : Shoegaze / Retirement Home Black Metal
Label : Prophecy Productions
Origin : France
Rating : 8.5 / 10

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Alcest is a musical project in which fundamental band member Neige attempts to channel messages and emotions from a foreign land he is in contact with. With the earlier body of work of this band being partly misunderstood-, many have thought that the squad's previous outings are sinister, whereas they sought to be hypnotic and peaceful - Alcest indeed moved towards a direction that reveals the respective characteristics of eloquent, harmonic shoegaze music and retirement home black metal. This latter subgenre, of course, is not entirely over-populated yet, so Alcest's work certainly sounds to be quite relevant with the tremendous charm it has the capacity to account for. The album is a super-pleasant surprise in my opinion, as it does not concern itself at all with meta-expectations, finding and sharing peaceful, caressing content that I dare say, oftentimes is of transcendental significance. I will attempt to validate my claim in the body of this Alcest - Les Voyages De L'âme review. Read on if you want or don't.


This release is peaceful all the way through, making use of the orthodox black metal elements in a way so those are free to reveal their secretive tender side without inviting you to call treachery. Alcest's latest offers the content through a smartly limited set of compositional techniques, and, as result of this, the band is able to deliver SOME harmonies of unique significance - more on those later - while the bigger part of this release is "just" pleasant, straightforward, tame black metal that lends you a shoulder to put a head on, and the most aggressive it will get is a funny interlude in track number 2, in which the fronter reveals the Varg Vikernes for a minute or so.

The release makes use of a "real-and-natural" sounding production environment, and scarce are the times when the data seeks to invade you with fabrics having a lot of sounds parked into them. Even when such a thing happens, the wall of sound structures of the release demand immediate recognition : a central harmony always serves the function of a lighting tower, the tides are not intimidating, and you would have a hard time ending up lost in here, no matter how hard you tried.

The music of U2 gives me the shivers, probably because of the singing that I think lacks charisma and dignity, but, strangely enough, regardless how a particular mood calibration of this release reminds me of that findable in U2, in this record, I find the mood charismatic, charming and relevant. I promised to address the moments I think this LP shows true brilliance through, and that is the track called "Beings of Light". A very simple-, but heart-wrenchingly beautiful harmonic structure submits your awareness into blissful submission, and that's going to be be good fun. Alcest - Les Voyages De L'Ame sounds to me as the precise counter-pointing of Blut Aus Nord's trilogy, that which is expected to conclude this year. Listen to this, too, because if everyone listens to Blut Aus Nord, only, than that is so anti-underground, you feel me?

Rating : 8.5 / 10

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Woburn House - Sleep Summer Storm review

Year : 2011
Genre : Atmoshperic Sludge
Label : Zeitgeister Music
Origin : Germany
Rating : 9.0 / 10

Woburn House plays a rather rare type of sludge music, and what makes this sludge special, is that it does not seek to intimidate its listener. This German group delivers caressing lightweight sonic data, coming to you through touches hidden in a glove hot as the vicinity of hellfire, and the intent never is to wear you down or to fix you into a brick wall.

Woburn House's music cunningly and willingly reigns in the position of being elegantly lost in space, yet always remains ready to give a ping of life upon request. The album's agenda is firm and original, while its sound is capable to summon - in my opinion - a truly special mood that reeks an alternate universe Type O Negative of the early '80s with Peter Steele contemplating in ambient terms. Read on to find out more about this.


The peculiar character of the music on this release is not something you can easily come across. In fact, it is safe to say that Sleep Summer Storm comes to you with a sound that has all the chance in the world to hit you as rather original, free and unmannered, and, as something you did not hear before. Sludge, and its closely related extreme buttbudy, funeral doom are subgenres that seem to utilize the method of musical intimidation without restrain : the explosion of the tuned-below-hell guitar and the crawling drums are sonic entities you are familiar with while under sludge-siege, or, if you find your awareness amidst the tidal anti-torsion fields of funeral doom. Booooosh! In other words : sludge, and funeral doom are intimidating forms of music, and what makes THIS particular release unique, in my opinion, is the fact that it is capable to summon a super-similar vibe with tender methods and instruments, while rejecting intimidation.

The songs herein are deceitful images, as is a woman who comes close to you, only to make you realize that her face, which seems so pretty from the distance, is 1000 years old. The fabrics of the tracks are not too "busy" at all, there always is plenty of room for modest, but proper variation, mainly administered by simplistic, yet efficient arpeggiated harmonies and random sonic entities that find relevant function in their respective environments. The delivery remains tender in nature, armed with its lethal kiss even when it puts its grouchier face on.

The vocal contribution sounds to me as a conscious fanboy tribute to Peter Steele, as the method the related data is expressed through is quite similar to the vocal style of the Type O Negative fronter, in my opinion. It must be mentioned though that the singer lacks the

(n)e(c)rotic deep

of Peter Steele, and, fortunately, does not even try to go for THAT pitch. He instead delivers along the similar mood register, but, on HIS natural frequency.

The Type O Negative correlation is something that the whole album baths and finds beautiful sonic pleasure in, but not with an intent to rip the mood off. Good luck ripping off Type O Negative properly by the way, as Peter Steele had - and I sure hope still has, in his favorite form of existence - an exceptional sense for brutal-fragile harmonic hooks that pull a checkmate on the awareness right away, and this methodology evidently is one that the creators of this LP are greatly enjoying from Mr. Steele, too. I have a hunch that this record might work pretty well with a variety of situations and moods, and the only viable test to the pudding fails to elude me, too. This LP easily is one of the most special releases of 2011, and you definitely should check it out.

Rating : 9.0 / 10

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Lamb of God - Resolution review

Year : 2012
Genre : Groove Metal
Label : Epic / Roadrunner Records
Origin : United States
Rating : 8.0 / 10
(score evolved from 7.0 / 10 on 2012, September 13)

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With its 2012 LP Resolution, premiere Pantera clone Lamb of God declares that it still is the devoted follower of the T-Rex. The name of the game herein is traditional groove metal with minimal - if any - deviations from and/or additions to the well established primer formulas of the testosterone Heavy! Met'll! subgenre, and, if one tiny thing could be added that seems to draw somewhat of a promise of an identity to this ancient clone band right now, - that is more pronounced than "that" of other lambs of the large clone flock - then it is the album's much welcomed raw-meat heaviness, which utterly rejects the recent day sterile plastic sound. The robust meat-charisma sonic data of this release comes to you as the primordial benefit, and, as result of its relentless abuse, as the primordial hindrance of the stimuli, as well. Because, trust me, this LP has no novelty other to offer than the legitimacy of the new autonomous pattern - which is a splendid offering on its own merits - AND the character of the sound, which kicks your ass to hell and back. If you have expected anything else than highly traditional groove metal from this band, then you are obviously deluded, and in for a gentle awakening. Read on to find out more about this super-orthodox release, if you want.


Resolution is a risk free groove metal pill with a huge dosage of decently engineered T-Rex content, and tints and tints of brilliant variants of the exact same thing. It would be unfair and unnecessary to criticize this record for what it tries to do, as the band's intent once again is to duplicate - reinvigorate, ripof... TUKK! - that which does not need any of these operations, as the thing we are talking about, still is the groove metal of the early '90s, established by Pantera. Only (much more) neurotic. Check out this great Pantera clone with no (t that much) neurotic tendencies at all.

This new Lamb of God release, one must admit, at least exhibits the characteristic of being entertainingly and semi-convincingly angry on a comic book register, and also poses the question : what is the best age of your life to cultivate and resonate your primal rage in a fashion that you look the least laughable while at it? This is a tough question. The Lamb of God dudes are quick to address the peaking of their engineered product-(r)age herein to serve out "Y"ours with a capital reverse-"WHY??" , and, as such, this LP reaches its full potentiality in superfast fashion. The release no doubt is honest like a cartoon asskick by a cartoon electronic bull in this regard, yet I have a personal percept that the mere raw charisma of the grooving rumble oftentimes is utilized as a method to escape the need to deliver a new-, autonomous groove of reality punishment for. The best moments of the album demand immediate recognition, though. I especially like the track "Desolation", with its relentless minigun grooves and capricious shifts. I love the song, OK? But what is up with the timber of the guitars? Am I the only who thinks that they would sound better with a little bit more mid-and high frequency let through? Share your input, and please know : I do not want to give you the concern troll, nor the snob with this question. My question is honest.
 
I'm not too happy with the vocals on the album, but I don't have so much against them as if I had twice as much against them then I actually have. They mostly sound "just" neurotic to me, and the only instinctively perceivable emotion of the LP is the constant fucking nervous breakdown. Sure, some of you are in for that, exactly. The vocalist's Anselmo imitation became less raw and believable, in my opinion, and I'm relatively shocked to report that his delivery sounds to exhibit metalcoresque vocalfry screaming here and there. On the other hand, one can not take away from the band that they are sounding more "real" and aggressive than the latest album of them that I am familiar with, - here. The production values of this decent groove metal release are more than enough to call it a SAFE recommendation. And that is the problem with Lamb of God - Resolution, too.

Rating : 8.0 / 10
(score evolved from 7.0 / 10 on 2012, September 13)

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