Secular Plague - Secular Plague review

Year : 2012
Genre : Punk
Label : Zorch Factory Records
Origin : France
Official site : > - here - <

France's Secular Plague is a straight-out Sex Pistols re-incarnation that brings to you the original fishnet-covered tattoo ethos in larger than life-, shorter than a short sharp shock fashion. The album, while at heart is a proud and eloquent representative of the good old punkish "We Just Fail to Give a Shit" musical narrative, the steepest-, and pretty much only requirement of the genre is steadily met by the band, which is none other than to establish an organic connection of stone cold raw meat charisma between the instruments AND the lead singer, for whom the ensemble of the aforementioned elements serves as a legitimate - in Sex Pistolsian sense - musical backdrop. Don't be afraid, and be nothing else, either : the album sounds exactly as a Sex Pistols record should. Aggressive, clubroom-intimate, reeking a mood by which a bouncer's fist in your face is as likely as a second (third??) tongue in your mouth is, and the disc sure takes you into the deepest depths of the underground "nitelife", pardon "me French", you worthless gimp. Read on to find out more about this super-orthodox punk release.

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Cattle Decapitation - Monolith of Inhumanity review

Year : 2012
Genre : Deathgrind
Label : Metal Blade Records
Origin : United States
Rating :  9.0 / 10

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Cattle Decapitation's Monolith of Inhumanity is the evolution of deathgrind as it describes the devolution of humanity. The album sounds to me like a concept record AND a totally-completely ripe at that, with strong and relentless focus kept on the subject matter it seeks to thoroughly examine and immerse the listener into. The subject matter is none other than the title of one of the tracks suggests, as well. It is "A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat" - AKA you and me - and the suggested anti-value of said construct - human - if and when it suddenly would choose to reject the aspiration of self-development altogether, submitting instead to stimulate its physical senses, exclusively. In a nano-nutshell, that is the concept reigning at the core of the de-evolution of human, and the latest Cattle Decapitation disk indeed is a testament of this process written in blood to the surface of the titular Monolith of Inhumanity. The concept itself is a probable tribute to Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, see : - quite literally - 2001 - a Space Odyssey. How many weeks you think it would take to degenerate a perfectly valid high tech civilization to a shit-and-garbage heap the aggressive neo-neanderthal/enthusiastic Noise Shaft reader depicted on the cover ravages on? 28 weeks? Days, maybe? A superb thing about the whole affair is that it does not rely on cartoon lyrics - "I will beat you to death with the severed head of your child, as a start" and whatnot - and emerges instead to strike up a relevant narrative tone, courtesy of exigent, provocative thoughts, and I dare say that the lyrical content is strong enough to make the music bend to the will and power of its fueling thought-sentiments. Read on to find out more about this.

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Kreator - Phantom Antichrist review

Year : 2012
Genre : Thrash Metal with an Epic Power Metal tint
Label : Nuclear Blast Records
Origin : Germany
Rating : 8.8 / 10

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I would never-ever be miserable enough to withhold myself from giving a perfect score of 10 out of 10 to the latest-to-date album of one of the greatest Teutonic thrash metal bands of known history, had said band - Kreator - been persistent enough throughout to bring the top tier form it declares in titular track "Phantom Antichrist". As noted, the disc starts out in nuclear fashion, revealing top of the food chain thrash eloquence, and it never "sinks" below a steady 8.0, figuratively and bumptiously speaking. The "problem" is something else, if it is a problem at all, that is.

I feel that this Kreator delivery is more peaceful-, and less entangled in the hilariously sick sonic aggression the band is deservedly renowned for. This shift in the direction might seem "just logical" (?) when following such a stupendously and sublimely angry release as 2009's "Hordes of Chaos" is. Still, I won't hide the fact from you that I personally love "my Kreator" angry and furious, and I accept that the Teutonic thrashers reveal more pronounced affections towards a little bit tamer type of metal in 2012. A tamer type of metal that borders on power metal on numerous occasions. Read on to find out more about this.

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GyZ gives you the song : Psi Hypo. Listen in HD please.

Lyrics :

digital

nothing to do
with the pale moonlight
nothing to do
and no one to do it without

virtual construct
hey, look at the lady go

psi psi hypo
hey, look at the lady
she's gonna tear out your spine
tonight I don't want to dream

give me some 
some peace of mind
let me know
what you're about

time to test your reflexes

digital

psi psi hypo
she's gonna tear out your spine

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The Cult - Choice of Weapon review

Year : 2012
Genre : Old School Epic Rock with Modern Production values
Label : Cooking Vinyl
Origin : United Kingdom
Rating : 9.2 / 10

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The Cult's latest to date full length delivery is unleashed on consensus with an anatomy that is super-easy to decipher and appreciate right on the spot. The Choice of Weapon LP is crystal clear in its intent to showcase what the game it wants to play is all about, and this is none other than to cult - oops. - ivate music which, while ultimately weighs in as a rather exigent "new breed-prototype" of old school epic rock, comes with masterfully beefed up production values that both satisfy recent day standards, but remains superfaithful - oxymoron - to the mere ethos it seeks to praise and express.

Thank God & Co., this package is serious enough about said determination to succeed fulfilling it magnificently, which also is the stupendous story of this special contribution. The first word that comes to mind while inspecting this baby is "totally", and the second is "legit". The disc exhibits zero wizardry, and reigns with the same amount of any need for those, concentrating instead on the top tier songwriting that brings to mind an elegant and efficient mixture of compositional tactics. Not at all surprisingly, the hyper-orthodox-, massively guitar centered instrumentalization is the steady choice of weapon for Choice of Weapon. Sorry about that. Guys, let's talk about the music.

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Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pandora's Piñata review

Year : 2012
Genre : avant-garde, experimental, jazz, tropical, metal, swing, opera
Label : Candlelight Records
Origin : Sweden
Rating : 6.5 / 10

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Introductory note : this review was written by a latex gimp who had no information and related awareness of the existence of the Devil Swing Orchestra whatsoever, and, as such, this here criticism below of said ensemble's latest delivery primarily is constructed on the highly false assumption that DSO is a commercially engineered band that just popped into existence under the Sun to bank in on current experimental trends, which obviously is not the case at all, at all. While the review remains in the form it was originally shaped into as by he gimp, the reading of the comments to the article is highly recommended for the full experience.

SPECIAL!! Discount is applied to a wide selection of tools you can hit the gimp with! SPECIAL!!

With its latest delivery to date, Diablo Swing Orchestra emerges to claim a piece of the cake that is conceptualized and grandiosely realized by Canada's Unexpect, ALAS!, the tremendous intent behind this particular record represents a fuel tank of relevantly tamer full capacity than that of its focal inspirator. Do you think that it is unfair to compare this disc to Unexpect's Fables of a Sleepless Empire? Then kindly, take a look at the track titles, I'm begging you : Unexpect : Unsolved Ideas of a Distorted Guest. Diablo Swing Orchestra : The Exit Strategy of a Wrecking Ball. Cool, huh? Mine will be : The Parallel Lamentations of an Entangled Gas Giant. Look for it here, later on.

DSO's latest is a commercially engineered market-reaction to linked Canadian release in the sense that it shows mixed results - from stellar to tepid agony - at bringing you the rampant consistency that is necessarily "expectable", given its experimental, rabid opening tendencies. Do not judge a book by its cover. The fabric of this full length shows quite a few spots which on it loses all origin of steam and evident elegance it had earlier, and, while I realize that it is not a mandatory expectation to be steamrolled all the way through, I personally still tend to think that this kind of music looks best when it does that, anyway. Can't handle it anymore? Give it a thorough rest and come back with a fresh set of ears to be blown away again. Pretty pretty pretty please with strawberry syrup and chocolate confetti on top, don't try to serve me out with ball-lacking headvoice man-singing about your stock-emotional torments after a superb song just to deviate from a much more relevant narrative ethos, I'm begging you. Notice : this temper of music, when it reigns in its relentless premiere juggernaught-form, is only one story under technical death metal in its aggression, and not at all under it when scrutinized from the aspect of super-complexity.

As such, without further introductory sentiments I'm going to tell you right away that I think this release, with a set of mildly but steadily distorted ambitions-, a non-proper concept of its own functions and some non-tasteful genre incorporation - more on those in a second - weighs in as a tolerable disappointment. Not that there is any other kind of disappointment, in the long run. Read on to find out more about this legendarily overdirected and overambitious album that wants to be twice as relevant as it ever had the promise to.

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Phobos Corp - Felicity EP review

Year : 2012
Genre : Symphonic Epic Metal
Label : Independent
Origin : Germany in the way of Greece
Official site : > - here - <

Phobos Corp is a symphonic metal project mainly fueled by the similar spiritual calibration you will find yourself being the witness of whenever you soak ears into the earthy and ethereal machinations of such mainstream epic/goth ensembles as Nightwish or Within Temptation. (Did you notice yet how the Within Temptation song "Faster" is a blatant ripoff of Chris Isaak's  evergreen "Wicked Game"?)

The Felicity EP comes to you with a covert art that brings to mind the highly disturbing movie Martyrs, while the music on this 16 +- few secs EP is a riskless-, easily approachable and easily accessible symphonic metal build with both less intimidating and less beefed up production values than the latest Nightwish contribution weighs in as, for example. Read on to find out more about this.

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Panorama

GyZ gives you the song : Panorama. Listen in HD please.

Lyrics : - instrumental -

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Mr. Fastfinger - In Motion review

Year : 2012
Genre : Instrumental Rock
Origin : Finland
Label : Mad Guitar Records
Official site : > - here - <

Mr. Fastfinger is a mainly instrumental-, massively guitar centered affair armed with a bravely-, eloquently expressed fascination towards the experimental language of Frank Gambale and Steve Vai, primarily. Think of jazz fusion that has the superb capacity of not taking itself lethally serious, BUT being relentless and scientifically serious at - well - not being serious. To put these contradictory phrases into more easily decipherable perspectives, think of the following compositional behavior : the music on the disc claims and praises the liberty to submit to any sort of dainty harmonic passage for a brief-but-sufficient amount of time, - I dare say that the harmonic passages always are elegant on the disc, in fact, I think they get better and better as the delivery progresses - yet the high frequency solo detail that the disc equally is about, has a highly adorable tendency to go top-of-the-heat quality on super-numerous occasions, when you scrutinize them from the angle of "mere" melodic power, and, from the angle of the articulated technical maturity and rigor they are executed with.

"Mountain Mover" is a definite highlight for me to showcase these traits, for example. I think this track makes Frank Gambale a happy man. See? He did not comment so far, suggesting to me to sit on an umbrella and open it. If you are familiar with the vastly significant experimental contributions of said virtuoso, - Steve Vai's Flexible Leftovers and Gambale's Coming To Your Senses both especially come to mind when having ears soaked into this stimuli - then you already have a silhouette for an impression to fill out later via an actual listening experience. Read on to find out more about this.

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Slash - Apocalyptic Love review

Year : 2012
Genre : Hard Rock
Label : Dik Hayd
Origin : United States
Rating : 7.0 / 10

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The music of Saul "Slash" Hudson has evolved nothing at all since the Guns 'N Roses days, and it wasn't even in the need to, as he is without a doubt one of the most relevant contemporary blues/hard rock guitarists whose playing you can identify out of a dozen imitators. And I deliberately am refraining from offering any more ambitious number descriptors than a "dozen" when comparing Slash's playing to majority consensus, because, though I still consider him 101% legitimate-, - I guess now he is relieved greatly - I don't really consider him to be a player with an adventurous, daring musical vision who seeks to explore awesome boundaries like Paul Gilbert does with tracks like "Echo Song" for example, or Steve Vai with his piece "Massacre" from 1984. Yeah, I dare say one bar from "Echo Song" excites me much more than this here new Slash Guns 'N Roses solo album in its tepid, sweat-and-smoke reeking hard rock platitude entirety.

Popping this baby into the goodol' playa' immediately turned me into a teenager armed with an acoustic guitar and an agenda, making me recall how I listened to Guns 'N Roses in 1742, in the company of a bottle of whiskey when both it and I were left alone in the house, and how I could not walk straight and fell over like a sedated sloth upon I stood up, realizing I became shitfaced drunk in the listening process, but the rabid enjoyment of the Use Your Illusions G'NR albums prevented me from realizing that up to the point which from on I should have been exhibiting legitimate motor functionality.

To tell you the truth, I have almost nothing to say to you about this release other than this is verbatim Guns 'N Roses' Appetite for Destruction from 1988. Not a tad worse, not a tad "better", and not at all belonging to any other production ethos than that fueling the aforementioned premier inspirator. The album sounds like the 1988 album from top to bottom, I'm not kidding you. Total AFD warfare. Read on to find out more about this old school Guns 'N Roses release or feel free to skip it altogether as you won't be missing out on a single fricking thing of true relevance, I'm afraid.

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Promotional Spot : Mr. Fastfinger - In Motion

Year : 2012
Genre : Instrumental Rock
Origin : Finland
Label : Mad Guitar Records
Official site : > - here - <

Press release :

Mr.Fastfinger, the guitar Sensei, is back with a new adventure. New album “In Motion” is beyond a classical instrumental rock album. Energy, expression, feeling, emotion and guitar! “In Motion” are 12 compositions that flow perfectly together. The careful selection of glorious musical themes alternates with very intense, fast and emotional guitar solos, very loud riffs with tribal percussion, ambient keyboards and an amount of exotic instruments unmatched in the instrumental rock genre.


Featuring guests: Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), Thomas Blug and Timo Kämäräinen.
CD also includes a special fretboard game. And a secret link to access jam tracks and transcriptions to inspire your practicing and playing to new dimensions!

In Motion is released by Elektrik Pyjamas and distributed by the Mad Guitar Records.

Follow this link to check the album out. Read more!

Impiety - Ravage & Conquer review

Year : 2012
Genre : Black Metal
Label : Agonia Records
Origin : Singapore
Rating : 8.0 / 10

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Impiety is one of the Great Ancients of black metal warfare as far as I know, as the Singaporean ensemble has been around since 1990. Their previous output consisted of one monster length track of 39 minutes, yet this particular fresh installment the current review is about employs the more orthodox method, giving you eight songs for 48 minutes of minigun-intensity.

Indeed, the package slaughters silence down with the assets you see expressing themselves on the cover art. Witness the instruments of relentless destruction waged by Mr. Baphomet, reigning on his throne of infinite punishment and steady pestilence. Judging by the expression on your excuse for a face, you must be one legendarily lonely motherfucker. This is one of the pleasant occasions when the music sounds exactly as you would expect it to sound like based on the cover art of the album. I already was talking about miniguns, and not because I am a weapon lover, - I never in my life have shot a weapon so far, and I do not feel the urge to do so, either - but because of the overall temper of this delivery. Read on to find out more about that.

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Garbage - Not Your Kind Of People review

Year : 2012
Genre : Alternative Rock with a Darkpop tendency
Label : STUNVOLUME
Origin : United States
Rating : 8.5 / 10

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I never knew the music of Garbage, yet "I knew it" instinctively, the same way I knew Type O Negative, despite never hearing the music of Peter Steele prior 2010. It was enough to see the face of Peter Steele to "know" his music, and it was enough to see the face of Shirley Manson to "know" her music. Finally, when I did hear Type O Negative, it was the legitimate feeling of the music I was HOPING to hear from Mr. Steele, and hearing his stuff is super-rewarding to this day.

Now was the time to me to check out if my preconception of the music of Garbage was legitimate or not, and it sounds/seems to be pretty close, once again. Opening track "Automatic Systematic Habit" rains down on me as I expect to feel when a woman in her prime is incoming with a rant you have no chance whatsoever to interrupt. And you don't even want to, anyway. The song strikes a tasteful, lush balance between Abba, Kidney Thieves, and openly nods both to muscular-, steroid-based super-bloated dance production standards and gentle synthpop affectations. You are given very little-, if any chance to reject it on bases worth taking serious. Read on to find out more about this disc.

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Vexxus - Binary Reflection review

Year : 2012
Genre : Groove Thrash Hybrid
Label : Independent
Origin : United States
Rating : 8.8 / 10

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Vexxus is an independent groove/thrash hybrid hailing from Hell in the way of the United States of America, and, while their debut "Binary Reflection" is a release that comes to you with high octane garage-charisma production values, the notion I just told you makes said contribution one of the most likable pieces of the current year so far, in my opinion. The guitars are smartly limited in their mean intentions to occupy all that much sonic volumetrics, - a production strategy similar in character to that of Pharaoh's - focusing instead on rendering the guitar anatomy "just sufficiently enough" so you are able to make out the spiritual message no problem, IF you are serious about it. Yes, surprise, surprise : sometimes you need to look for the music, and this baby right here delivers it aptly, once you are serious about paying attention to it. Guys, let's talk about this record.

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Fluorescent Lipstick - STD Statistic

GyZ gives you the song : Fluorescent Lipstick - STD Statistic. Listen in HD please.

Lyrics :

look out, you're hurting yourself again
entangled and twisted
in deathly deviations again
fluorescent lipstick, your name on a fence
the mood of a crowbar
what's the difference

I'm baffled by your every smile
you brought them Marilyn Monroe style
and when I apply your favorite lipstick on your face
how good it would be if you'd be alive instead

fluorescent lipstick
fluorescent lipstick
you're STD statistic
the rest of you is putrid
the darkness in the room
is hiding in your gloom
fluorescent lipstick
I don't want you without it

baby, I'm in no haste
I'm gonna put on your very best face
a little something to emphasize and praise
a little something to conceal and erase

and oftentimes I do wonder
what's left of you to remember
and when I'm losing myself against penumbrae
on your face
I take a glimpse and I'm right there on your retinae

fluorescent lipstick
fluorescent lipstick
you're STD statistic
the rest of you is putrid
the darkness in the room
is hiding in your gloom
fluorescent lipstick
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Dragonforce - The Power Within review

Year : 2012
Genre : Extreme Powercheesemetal
Label : Essential Music (UK)
           Roadrunner Records (US)
           3Wise (Australia)
           JVC Victor (Japan)
           TriOptimum Corporation (Intergalactic)

Origin : United Kingdom
Rating : 8.0 / 10

Buy it now

Dragonforce's The Power Within is the shameless-, unconditional and utter embracement of power metal cheesefest galore, however done with such religious diligence that said gesture demands more respect than any mockery. I dare say that this particular release emerges and defines a new genre, that which I, as miserable latex gimp music critic, - look, this is the third time I link Latex Gimp Retro Ultra Fusion Power today, bitches - deem the very first

Extreme Powercheese Metal

release of this particular Universe. I realize that I might be vastly wrong about this notion, and there indeed might be other installments of similar character already available to the public, but I personally never heard one so far, so I'm taking a bit of a risk herein. In case my (related) deficits are obvious to you, then please leave a comment of the essential releases of similar traits, so consensual awareness can develop further on by your gesture. The behavior of this LP is so clear as a dragon-crystal - \m/ metal heeeeeeeart! \m/ - and you will need to read on to know more about it. Guys, let's talk about the music.

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John Harrison - None Like You EP review

Year : 2012
Genre : Christian Soft Rock Worship Music
Label : Independent
Origin : Australia
Official site : > - here - <

Your free will and its premiere thought patterns do not necessarily need to be constructed and operated through a Christian belief system to recognize that Australian John Harrison's worship contribution "None Like You" represents a tame and exigent shape in consensus when inspected through the lenses of what it wants to do.

It, of course is entirely up to the individual to see if she/he needs a belief system at the core that has a comforting plug and play answer to each and every issue, yet, the album undoubtedly reigns complete and "relatable to", regardless if you admire the fact that it is openly out there to embrace an anthropomorphic image of God or do not. Your opinion, this time, does not matter, and it does not have to. See? The agenda of the contribution is to administer finely constructed Christian worship music, and it satisfies this criteria trustily and steadily. Read on to find out more about this disc.

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Rahat - A Seraph's Gift review

Year : 2012
Genre : Hip Hop
Label : Independent
Origin : United States in way of Bengali
Official site : >- here - <

Buy it at Bandcamp

This review starts out with a brief bio of Rahat, taken from the official site. Here it is : "Rahat is a Bengali Hip Hop artist from The Bronx New York. He has been rapping for fun since Middle School as a way to impress his girlfriends, but it quickly evolved into a way of life once he saw how effective it was as both a form of stress relief and a way to tell the stories of his life and situations growing up in The Bronx."

Rahat's full length hip hop declaration has a multitude of smartly limited ways of registering in you, and the way you accept the stimuli is largely - in fact, primarily - dependent on the nervous system you happen to approach it with. What I personally like about the delivery is the super-tame cyberpunk vibe it sounds to exhibit throughout all in the audio-spirit of the classic video game Killer Instinct. As prestigious as said title is, it needs to be mentioned that the music production standards have been tamely evolving since then, yet the Seraph's Gift CD emerges valiant enough to disregard this, embracing the '90s synthpop ethos like there is no tomorrow, nor yesterday. Read on to find out more about this.

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Industry Standard - Circling Overland

GyZ gives you the song : Industry Standard - Circling Overland. Listen in HD please.

This is a track about how the world government of a parallel universe decides to wage war against its own people, enlisting the most ego driven and power hungry individuals of the population to pilot thought-controlled mobile weapons of mass destruction in exchange for a new form they will allegedly be given later, after they have accomplished the near-complete eradication of the planet population.

Lyrics :

we've promised him a new form
and now he's on a quest
he's getting the hang of it
with every single breath
the kill on his mind
the kill in his hand
he is industry standard
and he is circling overland

they promised me a new form 
and now I'm on a quest
I'm getting the hang of it 
with every single breath
the kill on my mind 
the kill in my hand
I'm industry standard 
and I'm circling overland

we've promised him a new form
and now he's on a quest
he's getting the hang of it
with every single breath
the kill on his mind
the kill in his hand
he is industry standard
and he is circling overland

they promised me a new form 
and now I'm on a quest
I'm getting the hang of it 
with every single breath
the kill on my mind 
the kill in my hand
I'm industry standard 
and I'm circling overland

mom? mom?

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