Anaal Nathrakh - Vanitas review

Year : 2012
Genre : Grindcore with a Melodic Death Metal tint
Label : Candlelight
Origin : United Kingdom
Rating : 8.0 / 10

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Birmingham based Anaal Nathrakh delivers a record that maintains the sonic hyper-aggressivity the formation is known for, yet a notable attraction for the clearly identifiable melodic hook is on eloquent display all throughout the disc. You'd be unfathomably mistaken if you'd think that this hardened duo of veteran silence assassins are seeking ways for the not at all mysterious preferences of the mainstream with the introduction of choruses that truly reek melodic death metal in character. The format/temper of the music still resonates relentless audio terror as it is being courted by delicious, adept variation - although the builds now claim the fortunate liberty to further compliment the flamboyant jackhammer-fray with motives that are sculpted out to reveal a catch-factor in pretty much all ten songs. Funnily enough, the musical language/affection of the disc is akin to the favorite moods of Fleshgod Apocalypse's 2011 LP Agony. The name of the game is neoclassicism orchestrated to a music production environment that can start or end a war at will. Read more or don't.

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Wretched - Son of Perdition review

Year : 2012
Genre : Deathcore with Melodic Technical and Groove leanings
Label : Victory Records
Origin : United States
Rating : 8.0 / 10

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Wretched's Son of Perdition is 38 minutes of colorful audio data that primarily is unrelenting - I suppose? - "brutal" deathcore, interrupted and spiced up smartly by groove and instrumental segments throughout its sober length. Conforming to the seemingly untold rules of the trendy-, recent day death metal album production ethos, you are free to skip the first track entirely, because it is the just-so-usual intro section that has absofuckinglutely nothing at all to do with the actual music of the release, and which you probably don't really give a shit for at heart, I know I don't. Dramatic church chorus and organ. Oh really. Reverend! Set yourself on fire and GTFO, I'll video.

The primordial direction the band is keen at taking is death metal bordering on melodic and technical death metal in parts, especially during the highly chaotic segments. Don't expect the disc to maintain the obscenely and beautifully super-complex form with such hardcore persistence as Spawn of Possession or Gorod or Blotted Science demands its unconditioned submission with, but the intent is there to offer a tribute for the more crazed inspirators here and there. Read on to find out more about this decent release.

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Tracedawn - Lizard Dusk

Year : 2012
Genre : Melodic Death Metal Alternative Metal with Disco temper
Label : Redhouse Finland Music Publishing
Origin : Finland
Rating : 6.9 / 10

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Tracedawn's Lizard Dusk is as accessible melodic death metal that it might also be regarded as a form of radio friendly discopop music. The data on this LP is crystal clear, polished glitter audio contained within the continuous guard of gigantic rhythm guitars reigning at both channels, and the name of the prey of this sonic hive-entity always is radio friendly accessibility. Nothing else, nothing less, nothing more. This is very friendly bubblegum music, dare I say, cartoon melodic death metal with a discopop temper, and the only thing that will constantly remind you of its death character, - beside the gargantuan rhythm guitars - are the growls and screams. These vocal transmissions are delivered along a deep register, and they are sounding much more convincing in my opinion, than the neurotic high pitched screaming that also is widely popular.

The discopop melodic death metal is constantly colored by segments of alternative metal interludes. These additions are rendered by clean singing, and almost always rely on wall of sound power chord structures, showing relatively mixed results in their success factor. Some of these alternative melodic chorus-hooks are decent, some are less so, and I personally did not find a single one that can measure up to an instant classic hook the Mors Subita debut LP is virtually packed full of. Read on to find out more about this release.


It is an admirable quality of this disc that it is honest and quick at revealing the central sonic rhetorics on board within minutes. The following sentence is not meant to be a negativistic one, quite the contrary. If you have heard one song from this track, you pretty much have heard every other one, as all the songs herein rely on the same template structure, on the same blueprint. The music on Tracedawn - Lizard Dusk is not "just" catchy discopop melodic death metal. It is engineered to be it, and risks are not taken, nor their nearness is tolerated. In fact, this is the first melodic death metal spin I'm aware of that might give you a sugar overdose, as result of its discopop character.

Since the whole album is stable as a rigorous product that never deviates from its aspirations, evidently flatter moments are nonexistent on it. But superb moments are hard to come by, too. My personal favorite of the album is track 4, called "The Crawl". After a nice intro from the beginning to 1:45, the album brings all things it ever will, with top efficiency. Sci-fi pop synths and high frequency sci-guitars wonder around on both channels, disciplined rigorously by a monstrous bass, while all these entities are bending to the will of monochrome cybernetic drums. Then the monumental rhythm guitars are coming in to back the vocals up. Discopop song structure with the tools of melodic death metal. It is a legit thing to do, what I'm getting at is my percept that the Lizard Dusk LP is not capable to bring this top form all the way. Let us see why.

My more bitter qualms and subsequent non-satisfaction are relating to the alternative metal hooks. I love alternative metal, too, if it is worth to be loved. But try introduce a cheap alternative metal hook to me, I will see it coming a galactic mile away. The song I have just been telling you about, equally has an alternative metal hook, and it sucks purple donkey dick, I'm sorry to hear. Yet, do not let yourself be talked off from this decent discopop melodic death delivery until you have heard a track of it. Once again : discopop melodic death metal with zero risks taken. It does not plant you into the wall like Mors Subita, but comes to you as an extremely easily accessible take on the style. Some will dismiss it as a discopop sellout, personally, as long as it sounds thoughtful and good, I don't feel the need to use such harsh words or invade such a position. Tracedawn - Lizard Dusk always sounds good, and sometimes sounds thoughtful. "Sometimes" is more prevalent than "often" though. So a 6.9 will have to do right now.

Rating : 6.9 / 10

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Swallow the Sun - Emerald Forest and the Blackbird review

Year : 2012
Genre : Melodic Death Doom Hybrid with Atmospheric Black and mild Ambient tendencies
Label : Spinefarm, Svart Records
Origin : Finland
Rating : 9.0 / 10

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The Emerald Forest and the Blackbird LP from Finland's Swallow the Sun is a delivery with such pronounced ambitions as you ever dare to witness without skepticism invading your features in the process. The release simultaneously weighs in as a full blown sonic fairy tale with all its audio capacities to efficiently caress and feed the soul, yet the whole narrative content is far from the everyday average perspective of the idealist, and, as result of this, the character of the music oftentimes gets taken through more aggressive warfare than the most tame sections of the release are consisting of. These detours are numerous, their persistence is commanding, and their occurrence especially is frequent at the beginning section of the declaration, then a pacing flows into a narrative field with more interest and fondness exhibited towards the calmer register. Be wary and/or happy, as : the spectrum of the revealed moods and musical behaviors indeed are unusually wide, and the release has ample time to make thorough use of those with its gargantuan length of 66 minutes. Guys, let's talk about the music.


Emerald Forest and the Blackbird, as an intact and complete delivery, shows the character of a masterfully produced mid-tempo fairy tale package with sections of increased intensity embedded into it to offer variation. These intense sections are not seeking to rival the hilarious comic book heft and aggression of fellow countrymen Mors Subita, in fact, they most often dress into musical patterns that dials in the percepts of intense atmospheric black metal, performed though with instruments of melodic death, all in the spirit of the super-polished sound of recent times. (Like time would give a fuck if it is recent or not.)

As hinted previously, these thorough intermissions of more intense character are "but" - logically - intermissions in the true soul of the contribution, that which is an intriguing-, natural-sounding blend between doom metal and atmospheric quasi-black ambient. The disc takes the fortunate liberty of going supermild during these segments, but it never falls to the other side of the horse, either. It is mellow, yet briskly produced delicacy-music with a sound-, yet assuaging mid-tempo character, primarily reliant on a guitar-centered tone that keeps a gracious and stone-cold sober focus on the flow of the dangerous fairy tale itself.

The record is robust, and, as mentioned, marathonian in nature. The acumen to draw a fabric of flamboyant variation all the way through this length, does not prove to be sufficient in my opinion, which prevents this LP under this roof to score above the 9.0 mark. Emerald Forest and the Blackbird is a flawless piece of art when it is riding on its very own peak moments, and it is heartwrenching to see how it subjects itself to radical suicide attempts on your helpless watch, situated behind a bullet proof glass on numerous occasions. I will give you only one example of such behavior, because my intent to attempt to degrade your initial percepts of this record is sub-mininal. What is up with the spoken words on this release? They suck purple donkey dicks, and the narrator does not sound menacing or anything like that. He sounds like he needs to clear his throat and re-record the fucking sequence to reveal the silly little thing called "performance" as opposed to revealing the silly little thing called "throat disease".

Do not let yourself be put off of this release, no matter what consensus tries to persuade you of. This particular review seeks to assure you that the content of the disc is top of the heat, and its only significant fault is its tendency to miss out on the spot it better to stop at than to fade away after. As such, Emerald Forest and the Blackbird has all the charms and charisma of a young bardess, and the only shortcoming is that the bardess relentlessly gives to you everything she has, then she gives it again and again and again until she gave you absolutely everything, and now she has no dignity left to keep. Sometimes less sound and more silence is more eloquent.

Rating : 9.0 / 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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Insomnium - One for Sorrow review

Year : 2011
Genre : Melodic Death Metal
Label : Century Media
Origin : Finland
Rating : 8.8 / 10

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With its freshest full length to date, Finland's Insomnium rains down not hellfire but a squad of Nordic avalanches on you, doing it with tremendous charm and ruthless efficiency. This record has an icy, positive, dignified "storyteller" attitude, and the whole thing reeks - in a similarly positive way - the Burzum black metal vibe, now though blown out to occupy top level aural real estate capacity. The tracks on this spin are abundant and playful musical constructs, and it is safe to say that less efficient declarations are not part of this fine inner sightseeing.

The primordial-, "Burzum-like" vibe of the release is your totally appropriate modal fix to get ripped to shreds by a pack of rabid wolves on the thin ice to entertain the withered moonlight, yet, Insomnium's One for Sorrow is clearly a record that commands you to feel reasonably good about being ripped to shreds. The LP introduces and tastefully maintains a sense of frosty, sorrowfully and frighteningly sexy fantasy narrative, - not buttbuddy nor acquaintance of cheesefestation fantasy power metal - and makes it work superbly by pulling out melodic hooks from behind every single mammoth tree you come across in this intriguing sonic forest. Guys, let's talk about the music.


One for Sorrow's most fine attribute to notice and be delighted about, is its capacity to be flamboyant and focused with heft, grit and tenderness, all at the same time. The LP has a whole lot going on along its perfect length of 53 minutes. While the general flow of things revolves around the timeless fun of well varied sonic rumbling, the complementary ingredient is a propensity to throw a cleverly placed wink to Nordic folk vibes, and let me tell you that these viking folk vibes are looking truly great when their qualities are addressed by frozen lich king guitars plugged into monolith-amplifiers.

Insomnium's latest is a highly likable piece of silence massacre, and you can't miss out and be serious about it on the dozens of fine little subtleties the tracks are packed fully with. FULLY, indeed. Most of the time, there are 3 or 4 aural layers present ONLY in the mid-range register, so you will have ample occasions to cultivate attention to the high frequency details the mere fabric of the record graces you as.

Sober accessibility coming in with tremendous heft and through myriad forms, is key factor of this release. The choruses are elegant, the death metal growling sucks your soul out through your eyes and spits it back through your ass, and the whole album has super-tight focus-, relevant melodic inventions and sober balance written all over it. All in all, Insomnium's One for Sorrow is a record with full blown potential to turn its listener to a werewolf with an agenda, and hell, what is more manly than that!?

Rating : 8.8 / 10

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