REVIEWS ARCHIVE - A |
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ABANDONED
"Thrash Notes" (Dockyard1 - provided by VME) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Abandoned plays German thrash metal without too much technicality. It reminds me of a lesser version of Paradox, or a mixture between Slayer, Running Wild, Metallica and Exodus. It's fast and it's furious, but it seems as if Abandoned lacks the final 10% in getting into the upper league of thrash composers. I suspect it to be a result of the band not being tight enough, but it's hard to say. The vocals are not really good enough for this kind of music. Yes, it's aggressive, but the voice lacks that certain nerve that is always found within thrash music. Nevertheless, I see some kind of future for this band, if they can evolve and find their own path of development within this way too abandoned genre.
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Lars
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ABSOLUTE STEEL
"Womanizer" (Black Lotus Records - provided by VME) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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Crap! What a f****ng stupid release. Sometimes I wonder if record label executives have any sense whatsoever when they pick out a new band to sign. Absolute Steel is supposedly some kind of a tribute band to the eighties hard rock / glam / metal scene, and on this (their second disc - who on earth would let such a horrible band release 2 (!!!) albums?) they've gone for something that can best be described as a mixture of 5% quality hard rock (Motley Crue, Fate), 5% quality metal (Accept, Manowar) and 90% pure crap. Probably one of the most forgettable releases of this year, if it wasn't for the fact that the last 2 tunes on the album (both instrumental songs; "Deliverance" and "Opus Suite") actually are really good, and sounds like Malmsteen on speed meets Steve Vai or Mattias IA Eklund.
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Claus
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ABYDOS
"Abydos" (InsideOut - provided by Target Distribution) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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The lead singer of Vanden Plas (Andy Kuntz) has created an alter ego (or it said something like that in the bioJ) As Vanden Plas has always been a bit Dream Theater inspired, so is Andy and his ensemble. It's very obvious, but at the same time, you'll find inspiration from various other artists in here, such as Angra and the overwhelmingly feeling of 70'ies rock opera's - Jesus Christ Superstar, etc. It's a strange mixture, but it actually works in the sense of creating diversity on the disc. The songs are very far apart, but still held together by the voice of Andy. He has been performing in a lot of musicals during the last 2 decades, and it shows in the grandiose theatrical choir arrangements, and the almost avantgarde kind of musical writing. STILL!!!, there's something bothering me, and I can't seem to put a finger on it. It might be the fact that when you do this special kind of theatrical music, you definitely need more than the one voice to carry the vocal side of it all the way through? It might be that there's not enough aggressiveness in the sound? It might be that it's simply too grandiose for my simple ears? I don't know, and I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt to Abydos, and let the album grow some more in the future. Now, that I really have to come up with a review it might be too high, but I do suspect that this album will grow on me.
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Lars
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ACCÜSED, THE
"Oh Martha!" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Hard core has never been a favorite genre of mine, let's get that straight right away. I did listen to some M.O.D., some Crumbsuckers and some Gang Green back in my "skater-days", but that's years ago. In this day and age, hard core is as exciting to me, as running naked on the highway trying to avoid oncoming cars. So with that in mind, it's no surprise that The Accüsed's new disc (another part in their story of Martha Splatterhead) gives me absolutely no kick, no spark or nothing just as simple as a slight interest in listening to the full 28 minutes this disc lasts. I guess it's quite welldone for the genre, but it's got way too much punk influences to appeal to me.
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Claus
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ACHERON "Tribute To The Devil's Music" (Black Lotus Records - provided by VME) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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Hehehe, this album is FUN! What we get here is the American death/black metal band Acheron (who've been around for years, releasing a billion albums, but never got out of the underground status) covering, or should I say trying to do covers of, the biggest and most influential bands in heavy metal. We've got the Black Sabbath cover opening the album, the Kreator, the Iron Maiden, the Judas Priest and the Mercyful Fate tunes in there, and if that's not metal enough for you, well then what about Bathory, Death, Kiss, Venom, Celtic Frost and Motorhead? All those bands on one disc? Well, it is a cover album, meant as a tribute to all the great bands that influenced Vincent Crowley and his devil worshipping lot, and as such it's quite cool. Some songs are of course better than other, and some of them Acheron accomplished to demolish totally, but I'll go as far as to say that all in all Acheron did a quite okay job with this. Now, the only thing that irritates the Hell out of me (sorry for the expression - this unholy music seem to be getting the best of me), is the fact that the band decided to do a cover song of THEMSELVES to end the album with ... how stupid is that? Acheron might be quite cool for what they do, but there's no way they can be as good as any of those bands mentioned (except of course Motorhead, who we all know is the worst band ever to walk the surface of the earth!). My guess is that it's a stench of irony that floats through on that one, and that it's Vincent Crowley's way of saying, "don't take everything so damn serious" … if that's the case, then fine - this album sure is fun.
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Claus
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ACHERON
"Decade Infernus 1988-1998" (Black Lotus Records - provided by VME) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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Damn me to Hell - this album is an example of how old school blasphemous black metal sounds like done the American way. Nothing against the USA, but these guys never had a grip on what black metal was all about, and this "best of" compilation from Acheron does nothing but reassure me that black metal was, is and always will be a European thing. If you really want to listen to old school black, then listen to Hellhammer (Switzerland), Venom (UK) or the entire Norwegian wave of Mayhem, Dark Throne etc. Acheron on the other hand sounds more like a slow downed old school death metal band with a bit of Motorhead (hehe - worst band ever!) inputs here and there. Apparently this compilation is done to satisfy the hordes that were never able to get hold of this old material in the first place. But I'm wondering if there really is a "horde" for them out there, or if the band and label should have just stuck to printing up 666 copies to give out to their closest friends and coven-members.
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Claus
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A.C.T.
"Silence" (Inside Out / SPV - provided by Target) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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A.C.T. has been an insider-tip for the progressive metal/rock fan for the past few years, and now with their 4th album they've finally landed a deal on the #1 label for this kind of music, Inside Out. A.C.T. is one of these bands that really aren't easy to describe, which of course can be viewed as both a positive and a negative thing for the band's commercial value - I chose to view it as a positive :-) Imagine a place where the happy-happy 70's pop-tunes of City Boy, the pomp-rock of Supertramp, the symph-prog-touch of Saga and the technical metal of Dream Theater all melts into one and exists in unison with each other -I know, it sounds really stupid to blend these things together, almost as stupid as seeing a one-legged man take part in an ass-kicking contest - but seriously, this is where you'll find A.C.T.!!! Compared to the 3 previous releases, it seems as if A.C.T. have decided to cool it down a bit with the metal-attitude and that makes "Silence" come across a bit more soft / mellow, or perhaps even more prog-rock than expected. Not that there's something wrong with that, it doesn't always have to be metal, but it all does seem a bit more calculated (which really isn't something you would have imagined from such a unique band) and more fitting to the current profile of Inside Out (yes, there's not much prog-METAL over the label these days). Ok, I'm not going to sit here and judge the band/label relationship, so let's just say that A.C.T. has decided to opt for a more relaxed approach this time. Still, there's plenty of quirkiness in the songs at hand, and with the perfect understanding for blending technical progressiveness with huge pop-like melodies, A.C.T. is one of the more interesting bands in the scene right now. Remember, it's not for everyone - but it's definitely deserving of more than just an insider-tip for the so-called "elite".
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Claus
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ACTPA "Seabie Chera" (CD-Maximum - provided by CD-Maximum) - 1½ out of 5 points - |
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HAHAHAAHA what is this??? "I think it is Melodic Hard Rock from Russia", "How can you tell?", "Well it is very simple, put on the record, and laugh your balls off!!!". Fair enough I should not judge this record so harsh just because their lyrics are in Russian "but it sounds awful"! Actually the musicians are quite good, it appears occasionally when you listen to the album "which is pretty damn hard". The opening number is a really good high tempo, melodic and great catchy choruses! "But wait there is more:" nope my mistake! This is just below the standard that we are use to in the European countries. The only thing that is worth listening to, are the superb solo's that appears on this album....
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Benjamin
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ADAGIO
"Dominate" (Locomotive Music - provided by Target) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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Stephan, the man behind the name of Adagio, has provided us all with a new album that has to live up to our expectations from his previous masterpiece "Underworld" which still is an album that is on everybody's lips. Out is David Readman due to some conflicts between Adagio and David's management … in other words, he was told to choose between Adagio and Pink Cream 69 - end of discussion. Well enough gossip, and onto the review of the new album. The new singer Gus Monsanto does not reach David to his socks, his voice when he gets up on the high tones sounds like he is being forced to something that doesn't suit him at all. The music is nothing compared to "Underworld", the production is boring and unfinished in so many ways, the neo-classical elements has been downsized on this album and instead been focused on the more "progressive" elements. This should be something that would have suited me well, but not exactly. I know that this might sound a bit corny, but nevertheless the title-song from the TV series Fame has been destroyed; the interpretation of the song has been totally misunderstood. Don't get me wrong this is not a bad album, but everything taken in consideration compared to the previous album, this is just NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
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Benjamin
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AERIUM, THE
"Song For The Dead King" (Black Lotus Records - provided by VME) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Who would have known that Russians are capable of playing Metal instead of drinking vodka all the time? The Aerium plays a mixture of symphonic, gothic & atmospheric metal, with an operatic female vocalist in front. The music is quite okay, and well written, but please tell me what happens with all Black Lotus releases, since they all have a production that is worse than release-able? Well enough of Black Lotus, the production really stinks and I would dare to say that this album could have had greater success than I can predict them now. Secondly the female vocals on the album becomes to operatic, but it is easily becomes too much of what you can stand to hear in the long run. I hope that they will be able to write such music in the future, and then perhaps with a better production we will be able to hear a class act in the future, but for now it is simply not good enough.
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Benjamin
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AES DANA
"Formors" (Oaken Shield / Adipocere Records - provided by Adipocere) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Folk/celtic influenced black metal isn't really my thing… I mean, I do like folk/celtic music and I occassionally do like black metal - but the mix is just too weird for my taste. I don't see why these 2 styles should be mixed together, as they don't really compliment each other enough to validate the blend. Well, apparently Aes Dana seem to think it fits, as do a lot of other bands these days (Waylander, Korpiklaani, Cruachan, Skyforger, Finntroll etc), and if they are happy with it, fine for them. To me it sounds way too disjointed, and especially the typical black metal parts doesn't hold much interest for me. However, the use of tin whistle and bombarde (a traditional instrument from Bretagne, that has the same drone-tone as the smaller bagpipes from Britain), is quite well-done and makes up for what the rest of the music lacks in creative input. I guess this is what a band made up of members of Enslaved joined forces with Davy Spillane would sound like …
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Claus
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AFTER ALL
"This Violent Decline" (Dockyard1 - provided by VME) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Here we have some really decent thrash!!! After All is a great mixture of Slayer, Forbidden, Metallica, Exodus and Testament. At first, the voice of the lead singer sounds strange, but after a couple of tunes it seems to fit the music perfectly, like a mixture of Russ Andersson (Forbidden) and Chris Boltendahl (Grave Digger). The music is greatly composed and is riff upon riff, but with a focus on keeping the song structure together, so you can also remember the songs after the album is finished. Great solo's, tight drumming and a crunching production (it can't go wrong with Fredrik Nordström and Tue Madsen!!). After All reaches straight into my thrash heart and this band could be facing a great future, if fans of the aforementioned big bands would give this disc a chance. You will not be disappointed.
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Lars
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AGATHODAIMON
"Serpent's Embrace" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Let me start by saying that black metal actually can be quite listenable, and some black metal bands actually know how to write catchy and melodic songs. Agathodaimon is such a band. Not only do they deliver very interesting and appealing songs, they also managed to get a modern and up-to-date sound. "Serpent's Embrace", as their latest release is called, consists of a range of metal genres spanning from black metal (duh!), power metal, thrash metal, nu-metal to the oh-so-popular Swedish death metal genre (In Flames, Soilwork etc.), thereby saying that the band make use of both traditional black metal and clean vocals. The album even includes a ballad with female vocals … and no distorted guitars either! And might I also ad that the frequent use of keyboards set the mood quite outstanding on this album. Thus, if you are into raw punching, melodic and at times very aggressive metal, Agathodaimon would be a good buy. Unfortunately I think the standard drops from song to song, and when I get to the last track, I'm actually happy that the CD is finished. But then I hear the disc from the top, and yet again get filled with an urge to bang my head in metal joy, and around and around it goes.
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Martin J
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AGENT STEEL "Order Of The Illuminati" (Scarlet Records - provided by VME) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Oh fuck yeah!!! The music of Agent Steel kicked my ass so hard back in the 80's that I walked around headbanging like a duracel or energizer bunny all of my youth. In the nineties, I went back to my old Agent Steel albums once in a while, and every time I found new things in the albums that just made me love 'em even more. In 1999 the band finally got it's act together, and reunited (although originally singer John Cyriis wasn't aboard), for the great "Omega Conspiracy" album, that showed us that even in modern day times a good thrash/speed metal album can find it's fans. With a couple of years silence (mainly due to search for new label and some discussions with John Cyriis about who had the rights to the band name), the Agent Steel guys have lined another motherfucker of a heavy metal disc up for us, which they've called "Order Of The Illuminati". From the first song "Avenger" till the ending tones of "Human Bullet" this album is the musical equivalent to a wilderbeast stampede on the African savannah. Full power/speed/thrash metal in the vein of Testament, Megadeth, Iced Earth, Annihilator, Jag Panzer, Anthrax, Helstar and so on … All of the guys in Agent Steel are great musicians, but the guitar duo of Juan Garcia and Bernie Versailles is simply stunning, and the vocals of Bruce Hall are a major force in Agent Steel ´03. He sounds like a young Bruce Dickinson or Matthew Barlow, with a very cool personality rearing it's head now and again when he puts his voice on display here. Man, this album is great. For everyone who loves thrash/speed metal in the 80's, or for those who love the power metal of the 90's - this is what you should buy. For the rest of you … go get it anyway, you won't regret!!!
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Claus
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AGE OF NEMESIS
"Psychogeist" (Magna Carta/Mascot - provided by Target) - 1½ out of 5 points - |
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Hungarian Dream Theater clone. Horrible horrible singer…! The music is a semi-light version of progressive masters Dream Theater, and as such, they perform pretty well, without being even close to the original's mastery, but when the band has a lead singer that is constantly out of tune and on top of this also has an extremely irritating voice, it makes want to use this disc as decoration on the walls of the local youth club discoteque. What can I say? I can't listen to the entire disc in its full length as it is so innerving that my ears are on the verge of falling off in astonishment that the band hasn't used a proper vocal producer???? As if it's not enough, the accent of this Hungarian English is so bad that it totally ruins the rest of my patience. How on Earth can a record label give an ok to this? I'd send the singer on a tonal course and have him record his vocals under the control of a producer that could kick his ass once in a while…or at least just pitch the man. The technology of today allows even the worst singing Popstars/Idols contestant to sing in tune on a song recorded in a proper studio. USE that technology for your lead singer next time and make him take some English lessons. Then you will definitely get a higher point from here.
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Lars
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AGONY
"My Turn To Die" (I.F.A Records - provided by I.F.A Records) - 1 out of 5 points- |
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Agony is a band that have been around for 12 years, and the members have a history of demo's, recordings and live performance in different bands, but the fact is that their somehow long history and band experience can not be heard in any way on this album. They play an odd combination of 90's death/goth/metal with atmospheric keyboard, and it is hard to make a comparison to other bands, so does that mean it is original? NO!!! It seems like they struggle to find their own style, the music is untidy and without structure, there is absolutely nothing exciting about it, even though they try to be experimental. The guitars are predictable and the keyboard is just following a simple pattern, their attempt to add female vocals during a throat infection or is it clean male voice (??? - can't hear the difference), to vary the grunts just points out that the confidence in the band is high, but once again they fail horrible, and again you are left with a smile of confusion thinking what was that? Anyway I had a bad feeling just seeing the front cover and the title " My Turn To Die" uhhhh how scary ...... and when reading they are from Czech Republic , I knew what was waiting for me , the only fair judgment is 1 for an attempt to try.
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Guest review by Anders Jensen
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AKERCOCKE "Choronzon" (Earache - provided by Target Distribution) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Apparently Akercocke is the most satanic metal band in the world, at least if we have to believe the band biography sent to me together with the album. Ok, fair enough … so with that in mind I'm supposed to do a review? Holy crap, I guess I better write something good about the album, unless I want to be put under some satanic spell, right? All jokes aside, this is some wild and crazy stuff - more brutal than most other death metal bands of later years, and with the most vulgar vocals I've heard since ... well, ever?! The atmospheric parts are cool, and I like the fact that the band actually have achieved to put lots of melodies into the songs although trying to make them damn extreme and brutal. The sound is good - how could it be anything else, with Neil Kernon in the mixing chair? - and there's a good definition between all instruments, and the drum sound is really impressive. Now, here are the things that wonders me: - what's up with all the soundtrack-talk between songs? - who is the chick with the big boobies on the backcover? - who is the chick with the nice ass on the frontcover? - what's up with this "English gentlemen" image? - if Akercocke is a monkey in Faust, can it be spanked? - did mixing this album make Neil Kernon a devilworshipping, goatmolesting Satanist instead of that nice person he normally appears to be? - and, the most important question, will I too become a child of the night now I've listened to this album? |
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Claus
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ALEXA
"Alexa" (MTM Music - provided by Zink) - 1½ out of 5 points - |
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Another of those "MTM Classic" re-releases of old obscure hard rock albums that noone needed back when they were originally released and now 15-20 years later even less will have a "need" for it. Okay, joke aside, I actually find it quite cool of MTM to dig out those releases that they (the A&R people at MTM) find to be of interest for the hard rock audience who were unaware of these titles originally. The problem is that a lot of these titles were obscure for one reason alone - that they just didn't hold up to the level set by other bands in the same period. Alexa is one of those female-fronted bands (or solo-project … I don't really know) that sounds like 800 other bands around the Bay Area hard rock scene at the end of the 80's. Simple, clichee-filled hard rock with a woman in front sounding just like I would sound like after drinking 3 bottles of Jack D and smoking 50 Marlboro's. It's not good, it's not bad - it's just something I don't need, and most likely you neither.
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Claus
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ALKEMYST "Meeting In The Mist" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Out of France/Italy hails Alkemyst……I find myself asking, what the Hell is going on with this new French invasion of power/prog bands??? This is the debut album of this mostly French quintet. They are using the lead singer from Secret Sphere, and he's doing a fantastic job, not unlike his performance on the first 2 SS albums. Cool choir voices and a distinguished voice, that stands out among the millions of mediocre singers out there today. The music is a mixture of Helloween, Iron Maiden and Rhapsody……I know that the band would probably beg to differ, but these are the influences that I can hear. It all leads to the fact that they sound a lot like….you guessed it: Secret Sphere!!!! A little more Helloween power from the 80'ies here, but nevertheless it reminds me of the symphonic power scene from Italy. A thing that bothers me with this release is the snare drum and the bass drums. They are WAY too high and too present in some way. The rest of the production is pretty cool. Warning: This CD begins with a song called "Spells & Elixirs". Now, I guess you got the point :-)
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Lars
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ALLEN – LANDE
“The Battle” (Frontiers Records – provided by Atenzia) - 3½ out of 5 points – |
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This is quite an interesting concept – take 2 of the world’s best (or at least most well-renowned) singers in metal, put them up on an album where they have 6 duets, and 3 songs each on their own. Russell Allen from Symphony X (and Arjen Lucassen’s Star One project) and Jorn Lande from Masterplan (and 100 other projects). All music was composed by Magnus Karlsson from Last Tribe, and musically this is light-progressive metal / AOR somewhere in the vein of Royal Hunt meets Masterplan. In other words, this is not the most demanding music, but it has enough melody and intensity to give plenty of room for the “big voices” to come across. Since this is named “The Battle” you can’t help putting the 2 voices up against each other, for a final judgement on who’s the best. Man, this is an unfair competition, seeing that I’ve always loved the voices of these two guys. As I’ve always told my friends, I am totally in love with Russell’s voice every time I listen to him sing, but the second the album is done, I’ve completely forgotten how his voice sounds. Weird, huh? It’s just that I don’t feel he possesses the same kind of personality as Jorn does. So that also makes it clear that once “The Battle” is over, the voice I have spinning in my head is Jorn’s. Listen to songs like “Silent Rage” and “Another Battle” and you’ll see what I mean – the parts with Jorn singing are just more distinct than the ones with Russell. Well, enough about that, since I’m almost kicking myself in the head thinking about what I just wrote … I really really do like Russell’s voice, and in many ways I wanted to appoint him as the winner of the battle … but, Jorn takes this one home!
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Claus
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ALLEN, RUSSELL
""Russell Allen's Atomic Soul"" (Inside Out / SPV - provided by Target) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Dream Theater did "Scenes From A Memory", and now Russell Allen (front man EXTRA ordinaries in Symphony X) has done "Scenes From A Rehearsal Room"…meaning that this sounds like a bunch of songs that are halfway finished and need another year of jamming, before being released. What a load of crap we are witnessing here. All the rock and roll parts that are very "no go" in SX has been dragged out of the closet here, and Mr. Allen has obviously sought to bring back the 70'ies rock, and make his own voice as strained as possible on top of it. It DOESN'T work! Russell IS trying to create a song that sounds like a mixture of "The Accolade" and "Through The looking Glass", but it sounds like a second hand version of the other songs, and doesn't have the kick and beauty that those songs have in SX. The rest of the album is a round of songs, reminiscent of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath (Dio era) and the rest of those artists from when most of us were kids. I agree that it's cool to try something new sometimes, and maybe Russell wants to show the world where he got his influences, but all we want is a new Symphony X album. We have heard the 70'ies Hard Rock done better by all the original artists. I guess you should give this album a chance, if you are a fan of the Hard Rock I mentioned here.
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Lars
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ALL SHALL PERISH
"Hate - Malice - Revenge" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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All Shall Perish (ASP) is what I would describe as good old-fashioned Death Metal and let that be with an even bigger D! My memory leads me back to a mixture between Cannibal Corpse, Dismember, Napalm Death and elements of At The Gates!! Well at least these are some of names that I remember from the period when Death Metal was at it highest! The music is nothing that I listen to now, but I would dare to say that ASP are very bold of making a release like this, and it not many Death Metal bands who has the balls to think back to the beginning of the 90's and rewrite history once again! This is actually a release that is fascinating in so many ways, and yet so old fashion that it leaves you with an odd impression? In other words this is a quite okay Death Metal release.
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Benjamin
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ALOGIA
"Secret Spheres Of Art" (Locomotive Music - provided by Target Distribution) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Alogia is a new interesting band from Serbia, and yes it do appears that metal also exist there! Alogia consists of members from a Death Metal band called PSYCHOPARADOX, which I believe that no one have heard of before! Nevertheless Alogia plays what I would define as Progressive metal, with a lot of interesting influences from their native music, and of course Heavy Metal. The music is quite okay, but nothing that makes me go nuts about, but there are some moments when you can hear that they are talented musicians! But their singer could take some lessons in a singing class to improve his voice as it is very out of tune compared to the music! But this is one of those bands that could improve so much with a class production.
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Benjamin
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ALOOP
“Global Crisis” (Edgerunner Music – provided by VME) - 3 out of 5 points – |
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A Danish band playing thrashy metal core, and actually doing quite an okay job? What a surprise ... Aloop comes from Aalborg, which seem to be the number 1 place to be in the Danish metal scene these days; Mnemic, Anubis Gate, Mercenary – just to name a few of their fellow Aalborg-citizens. Aloop creates a quite good disc somewhere between Killswitch Engage and Devildriver infused with a good deal of old school thrash – nice blend and well done. The production is courtesy of Jacob Hansen (Mercenary, Invocator, VolBeat, Raunchy etc), so we know that aspect is taken well care of. Overall “Global Crisis” is a strong disc, and shows a band with a lot of potential, but I do wish that the band would loose some of the old school thrash elements and focus more on the melodic parts of their metal core, as these are what works best for them. Bo Larsen has a good enough voice to carry a higher blend of rough/clean vocals than he utilizes now, as the rough singing (that tends to make the band sound more like a death metal act in some places) just takes up too much space on “Global Crisis” – a better blend of this next time, and Aloop are on the right way to something big.
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Claus
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AMARAN "Pristine In Bondage" (Listenable Records - provided by VME) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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The first thing that came to my mind when I put on Amaran's second release, "Pristine in Bondage" was: "Wow. They sure want the guitars to be heard"! This is a very guitar oriented band and the characteristics of the musical style are pounding heavy riffs and with very melodic and, occasional, quite technical guitar parts as well. Unfortunately the guitars tend to drown the clear female vocals, which is very much a shame because it seems that the female vocalist has a really good voice for this kind of melodic heavy metal - you just can't hear her, and the vocals are more in the middle of the music than on top of it. It is actually quite hard to go into musical details with "Pristine in Bondage" as it is perfectly clear right from the start that the band wants this to be a guitar oriented album. Not like Malmsteen or Steve Vai or what have you of cliché guitar virtuosos, but rather like a mixture of the way Children of Bodom and Kamelot compose their riffs, still without sounding anything like these two bands. I can only recommend to give this album a try.
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Martin J
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AMBITION
"Ambition" (Frontiers Records - provided by Zink Music) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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This is actually really good - sometimes an AOR album can actually capture my interest for more than a split second - Ambition is one of those. Based around vocalist Thom Griffin (who used to be in Trillion a trillion years ago … ok 25 more likely), but also with guest vocal appearances by Joe Vana (Mecca) and Jean Michel Byron (ex-Toto), Ambition creates a brilliant look at melodic rock with lots of great vocal performances, crunchy guitars and a real nice production to top it all. This is one of those albums that sits nicely between the chairs of melodic hard rock (think Harlan Cage and Harem Scarem) and pomp rock / AOR (think Balance and Toto). Songs such as "Shaping Fate & Destiny" and "Hold On" are really great tunes, and I find myself liking this album quite a lot - I'm sure you would as well, if you have just a slight liking to this style of music.
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Claus
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AMON AMARTH "Versus the World" (Metal Blade - provided by Nordic Metal) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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This new release from Amon Amarth is their fourth under Metal Blade. It's a very powerful and well-produced melodic death metal album. Though "Versus the World" clearly has a flawless production, the song writing is disappointingly stereotype and predictable. Some more things, which I dislike about "Versus the World"; the drum playing is so mechanical that no elements in the playing will surprise the listener, and the double bass drum is especially annoying with its mindless ticking. The second thing is the vocal, which naturally is a death vocal but holds no interest for me; it lacks soul and intensity. All in all, a somewhat disappointing release from an otherwise promising band.
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Martin P
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AMORPHIS
"Eclipse" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Amorphis, is a band which I believe doesn't need any further introduction to the Metal Scene. Nevertheless, they are now out with the brand new release "Eclipse" which is actually a quite good and listenable release. The music remains the same as their previous albums over the past many years by now, but HELL yeah this is actually close to superb. See this would have been a close to 5 if they just would have putted some more aggression into to some of the songs, to give the music a bit more edge, but why should they - that just do what they are best at Melodic Rock Death.
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Benjamin
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ANCIENT RITES
"Rvbicon" (Seasons of Mist - provided by VME) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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I remember when I first heard Ancient Rites a few years ago, I thought that this was quite an interesting black metal band, and when I then found out they were from Belgium they became even more interesting. They are probably the only more or less successful band to come out of Belgium. Ancient Rites have been part of the black metal scene since 1989, and despite having released some very good black metal, they somehow never achieved the same success and their Scandinavian colleagues. "Rvbicon" or most likely "Rubicon" is a very good release that, like its predecessors, is symphonic black metal in the vein of Dimmu Borgir. Personally I think they are of a better quality than Dimmu Borgir, but that is just a matter of opinion I guess. The sound is thick and packed with grandiose symphonic elements and crunchy riffs and destructive blast beats, supported by a very good vocalist, taken the genre in consideration of course. The album does suffer a bit from a lack of memorable moments, which is a shame because it is filled to the rim with great stuff that is very enjoyable, but as much I enjoyed listening to it as quick did I forget it. On this album they try out with some more clean vocals than before, and this time also in German. And without dragging them down on this, I must say I cannot stand the German language being sung, simple as that. There is actually not much to be said about this album other than if you want some really good high quality symphonic black metal, while waiting for the next Dimmu Borgir and Old Mans Child then Ancient Rites - "Rvbicon" most likely is something for you.
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Mads
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ANDROMEDA "II=I" (New Haven Records / Century Media - provided by Nordic Metal) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Prior to this release I wasn't aware of the existence of Andromeda, formed by Swedish guitar virtuoso Johan Reinholdz, but with this, their second full length release, I'm sure I will always look at Andromeda as a must in my cd collection. Reinholdz demonstrates technical skills that make commercially acclaimed guitar heroes like Carlos Santana, Mark Knofler, Eric Clapton or whatever you wanna call 'em, sound like they're choking on their own instruments - along with a lot of heavy metal guitarists as well for that matter! Besides that, Reinholdz have very successfully managed to come up with some great memorable melodies. Of course you need the right backup to form a complete album and make it a whole, and the rest of the musicians in Andromeda match Reinholdz perfectly with their individual capabilities on their respective instruments, not to mention David Fremberg on vocals who does a tremendous job with his multifaceted voice. An amazing result of a combination like that is "II=I". To me, a progressive journey through the heavy metal universe I live in. I have to accentuate 2 songs as my favorites: the instrumental "Morphing into Nothing" and "Parasite". Two fantastic tracks that might as well could have been composed by Dream Theater or Pain of Salvation (my two absolutely favorite progressive artists, by the way). So do not hesitate to buy Andromeda's "II=I" if progressive metal is your kind of thing.
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Martin J
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ANGELZOOM
"Angelzoom" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - ½ out of 5 points / 4 out of 5 points - |
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Hmm, well, hmmm and again hmm, I think that I could go on for hours finding out what my feeling is for this album, but first a little bit of background. Angelzoom is Claudia Uhle also known as the voice of X-Perience. Claudia has been the fascinating voice of the German pop scene. And songs such as "Neverending Dream" and "Magic Fields" are what are to be described as timeless classics. The name Angelzoom is borrowed from one of the songs from X-Perience, the album is a dedication of Claudia's emotions and feelings. The album is very hard to describe, as there is almost no instruments represented throughout the whole album, even though it is worth to mention that APOACALIPTICA are featured on this album. The album in general is to be described as a mixture between ENYA and ERA or as Nuclear Blast has described it: Ambient, Electro, Classic, Mystic, Dark, Dream and pop. I do not know how I should grade this album; it is very hard as this is a bit of a surprise for me that NB has signed a non-metal act. I have decided to give two different grades the first one is the one that represent metal the other one is if I have to look at this album from an objective point of view.
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Benjamin
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ANGRA
"Aurora Consurgens" (Steamhammer/SPV - provided by Target) - 4½ out of 5 points - |
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Is it possible to deliver so much fantastic music again and again? Obviously it's no problem for Angra. "Aurora Consurgens" begins where "Temple Of Shadows" left off - 5 musicians in their absolute prime are able to compose music containing so much power, energy and quality that it makes no sense. Angra should be on every metal fan's wish list, both their albums and concert wise. These guys play the trousers off most of their colleagues in the music business. Just listen to the main guitar riff in "The Voice Commanding You" or the chorus for "Window To Nowhere" and you HAVE to bow in the dust for this amazing band, and these are just 2 highlights among many on this piece of fine art that is "Aurora Consurgens". So why don't I grant it a 5 if it's such a masterpiece? Simply because of the fact that the lyrics on the album are not nearly as interesting as on the previous one, and that one was definitely a 5. Anyway, this shouldn't remove your focus from the message of this review….BUY THIS ALBUM NOW! BUY! BUY! BUY!
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Lars
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ANGRA
"Temple Of Shadow" (SPV / Steamhammer - provided by Target) - 5+ out of 5 points - |
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The Gods of melodic power metal are back with an even stronger album than "Rebirth". There is no doubt that the kings from Brazil always have had a special place in my heart, and with this album they even prove that, there is room for a lot more of them. On this album Angra have been so bold that they have dared to add a more progressive style to their music, which only uplifts the album twice as much. I could go on forever praising the brilliancy of this album, but instead I'll let the grading do the talking.
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Benjamin
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ANGRA "Rebirth World Tour - Live in Sao Paulo" (NTS Records - provided by NTS Records) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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One of my absolute favorite bands through the time, are now back with a complete live record. I have never thought that I would become an ANGRA fan again since Andre Matos left the band! I always thought that he was ANGRA with his unique singing. But please someone correct me because I've been wrong, and what's even worse is that my best friend tried to convince me that Edu Falaschi was better a lead singer then Andre Matos, and unfortunately I was wrong;o) The reason for my disbelief became confirmed back in 2002 Wacken Open Air Festival, where Edu didn't convinced me 100% but now I'm more then convinced. Edu even performs better live then Mr. Matos ever did, back when he was a part of the band. There is no doubt in my mind when I say that ANGRA are some of the best musicians within the genre of Progressive and Power, and this is once again to be confirmed through this marvellous live cd that I have in my hands right now! I could list down all the songs from this limited edition of Angra Live in Sao Paulo, but I won't instead I would recommend all ANGRA fans to go out and purchase this fantastic band live cd.
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Benjamin
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ANNIHILATOR "Double Live Annihilation" (AFM Records - provided by Nordic Metal) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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I was extremely skeptic, when I received this disc, as I as usual do not like live discs. I have been reviewing so many of those, and in most cases thrashed them as being far from top-notch. Well, Annihilator seems to turn this around. I was a little bit afraid about the voice of Joe Comeau, as I have never liked his singing in the band. But I must say that "live", he's 100% the man for the band. He sings all the tunes with a very great conviction, and the well-known screaming is there as well… ALICE in HELLLLLL…hehehe! The band is magnificent, and extremely tight, leaving a lot of their colleagues in the wake, when it comes to the skills on the instruments. Even a song as the new "Ultra-Motion" from the latest album becomes a fantastic song in this "live" situation, even though I hated it on the album because of the sound of the guitars. Jeff Waters and the guys have proved that the shred master should concentrate on Annihilator ONLY, and dump all cooperation with Savatage. "Double Live Annihilation" comes as a double CD, featuring 2 unreleased live video clips, and a very limited 2-CD digibook will also be available. VERY recommendable.
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Lars
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ANNIHILATOR
"All For You" (AFM Records - provided by Target Distribution) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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I have long suspected it, but now I'm absolutely positive: Jeff Waters and company are deeply schizophrenic! "All For You" is to be considered a summoning up on what Annihilator has been all about for the last 17 years. It definitely sounds like a "best of" album, since the album covers 5 or 6 different styles of Heavy Metal. We all know that Jeff Waters has been changing style more often than Italy is changing their cabinet, but on this disc, he has just written 1 song for each of the older albums, so one of them could have been on "Alice In Hell", one on "Never Neverland", one on "King Of The Kill", etc, etc. There are songs more aggressive than Slayer, songs that could have been written with the sole purpose of getting aired on Mtv and songs, where my PC actually wrote a message to me, saying "System overload, system overload…..too much sugar on the screen. I know that Waters wanted to write some kind of song to his kid or so, but this one is a little bit too much. Jeff has also brought in new musicians again (surprise!!!!!). New vocalist is Dave Padden, who's a little more varied than any of the past singers, but nonetheless not as interesting as any of the previous on the job. New drummer is Mike Mangini ("new" might be too big a word, since he is actually an old recruit that's now coming back, red.), who delivers one Hell of a job. When he interacts with Waters and the rest of the rhythm section, all Hell breaks lose. It's tightness as in chicken's asshole tightness!!!! I cannot put my finger on anything in this disc, apart from the fact that the lead singer is totally boring, and that might be the worst to happen for a band like Annihilator. I guess the Canadians are going their own way, and don't care about commercialism, so I don't expect Dave to be kicked out of the band, but let's see what happens. AFM records have by the way done something very smart to fight CD-copying/download/stealing music on the net. They have simply made a crossfade on all the songs, so you can still change songs on the number indicator, but it switches to a point, where the former song is still playing, and where it's being faded into the song you want to hear. Let's see how all the thieves on the net crack that one.
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Lars
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ANTHRAX "We've Come For You All" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 2½ - 4 out of 5 points - |
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BOOOOORING! The album that was supposed to put Anthrax back on the World maps as one of the big trendsetters, and the album that was supposed to be WAY better then their 2 previous (disastrous) albums????? That's what it says in the drums of the news…Well, this album will definitely disappoint everyone, who buys it without giving it a close spin in the record store first. It starts out with the pretty aggressive "What Doesn't Die"…. a song that is violent and pretty cool, and lifts off a "new and exciting" Anthrax album. Hmmmm. Nope, coz from song number 2, through to song number 14 (title track), it just gets more and more boring. Scott and the guys have not been able to make themselves outstanding, as they used to be in the 80'ies and early 90'ies. John Bush's vocal side is still the most interesting about this album, and God knows that he is as monotonous as a screaming clutch from a fire engine. Anthrax succeed in one thing though: to stay in the ground tone "E" for more time on this album, than I have spend jerking off to some of their previous efforts (Spreading The Disease, State Of Mind - Euphoria, Persistence Of Time, Sound Of White Noise). Only the mere fact that the band CAN actually play in ways that make my mouth water run faster than the Niagara Falls saves the character 2 in my mind.
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Lars
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ANTIQUUS
"Eleutheira" (Cruz Del Sur Music - provided by Cruz Del Sur) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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The Canadian band Antiquus delivers their second release with "Eleutheria" - an album with a title practically as stupid sounding as the band name itself. Oh well, we shouldn't judge the band on that merit alone, right? So, onto the music, which is 80's Iron Maiden in a US power metal setting - not too far removed from early Steel Prophet or Amulance (anyone remember them?). High pitched vocals, lots of guitars and good classic heavy metal anthems filled with strong melodies. Not all is pure gold (especially the boring, screechy production, which the info sheet actually praises due to the involvement of some high-profile producers), but there's plenty of power and 80's mentality to be found here, and I am quite positive towards this release.
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Claus
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AOR
"L.A. Concession" (MTM Music - provided by Zink) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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Here's another "new" album with Frédéric Slima (or is it Slama?) and his AOR band. "New" isn't the right word actually, as this is a re-release of the debut album. I wasn't overly impressed with the 4th disc, "L.A. Attraction", and this one "L.A. Concession" doesn't go down any better. It's extremely boring west coast rock (western roasted cock?) with very little punch and a very slow attitude. In fact, I was so afraid my CD-player would fall asleep already by the second song, that I had to give it a swift kick in the cojonas … not that it helped …
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Claus
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AOR
"L.A. Attraction" (MTM Music - provided by Zink Music) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Apparently French guitarist/keyboardist Frédéric Slima has a thing for AOR and for Los Angeles. Naming your band after a certain musical style (Adult Oriented Rock - or Album Oriented Rock as I've also seen it called) and using Los Angeles as part of the title of all 4 discs you've done, shows pure dedication to the "westcoast rock" scene, huh? In all honesty, I've never been a huge fan of this kind of music - sure I like some AOR such as Toto, Boston, Richard Marx and Foreigner, but most of it just goes in through one ear and out the other. With "L.A. Attraction" mr.Slima is hopelessly lost in the old-school sound of Journey, Survivor, Toto and Foreigner - not a bad thing as such, but not a very interesting one either. The music is well played, very well produced, but doesn't do much more for me than afternoon tea with my parents. If you have the same dedication to this westcoast scene as Frédéric Slima, you'll enjoy this album wholeheartedly … if not, then you might want to find something else to do for an hour than listen to "L.A. Attraction".
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Claus
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ARACHNES "Primary Fear" (Scarlet Records - provided by Target Distribution) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Arachnes is out with their 4th album, and I must say they have developed in terms of making melodic power metal. Yet the music is still a bit too traditional - we are talking power metal in the vein of …. well, every other power metal band! And by that saying that there is nothing extraordinary about "Primary Fear". Still Arachnes manage to deliver some really great melodic and technical well played guitar solos which brings the music to a higher level. But unfortunately the quite mediocre keyboard player pulls it down again. The keyboard solos are un-inspiring and too easily bought, and the keyboardist has managed to find some of the most ridiculous and annoying lead sounds I have ever heard. Also the vocals are not my cup of tea. First of all they are badly produced and totally out of level compared to the rest of the instruments, and second, the singer uses a very annoying vibrato - actually kind of like the singer of Burning Point! But even though the vocals in general are annoying, you actually get to think of James LaBrie (on a bad day of course :-) on the track "To Escape Death"!!! But as I started out this review, Araches do show good musicianship. Especially on "Thriller", which is an instrumental track with great energy and good melodies and harmonies. Also to be mentioned is "Tota Pulchra" which is simply fantastic. The song is recorded in a church with a real church-organ and composed by the Maestro F. Castelli. This is also an instrumental number and it very much underlines that the instrumental tracks on "Primary Fear" are by far the best.
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Martin J
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ARCH ENEMY
""Live Apocalypse - DV" (Century Media - provided by EMI) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Arch Enemy has always been one of the scariest bands I have ever laid my eyes on, and all because of Angela Gossow, the female growling vocalist. She frightens me - it's as simple as that. But I still can't help myself being somewhat impressed by the fact that a woman can growl the way she does. I'm equally astonished every time I watch them live, and this, their first ever DVD, is no exception. This double DVD features more than three hours of live shows in London Forum and Manchester Academy 2, on-the-road movies, interviews, video-clips, multi-angle footage, slideshows and behind the scenes material, and let me just say that Arch Enemy is just as fantastic on this DVD as they are on their CD's and other live performances I've seen. This DVD even features the brilliant DTS 5.1 surround sound which almost gives you the feeling that you are actually there. This DVD is an absolute must to all Arch Enemy fans - and people with a taste for scary women(!).
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Martin
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ARCH, JOHN "A Twist Of Fate" (Metal Blade - provided by Target Distribution) - 4½ out of 5 points - |
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So what's the deal with this disc? Suddenly one of the "classic" metal voices from the 80's return to the scene after a 15 year long hiatus, and now we all have got to praise him as if it was the second coming of Jesus Christ? Well … yeah … ! In the case of John Arch, that's actually what I think we should do (okay, I'm not a religious person myself, so that might have something to do with it, hehe), since "A Twist Of Fate" by far is the best comeback album I've heard in many years. For those who don't know, John Arch was the original singer of progressive metal band Fates Warning, and he sang on their first three discs, "Night On Bröcken", "The Spectre Within" and "Awaken The Guardian", all of them total classics in my book, and all of them led by John's charismatic vocals. After he left the band end of the 80's nothing much were to be heard of him, except his one-off audition for Dream Theater, which later on has appeared on different CD-bootlegs that are somewhat of a gem for real fans. Now he apparently is back in the scene, which the two songs on "A Twist Of Fate" goes to prove, and alongside him, John have gathered old Fates Warning-friend Jim Matheos on the guitar, Dream Theater-drummer Mike Portnoy and Fates Warning/Armored Saint bassist Joey Vera. Quite an impressive line-up, and undeniably a line-up that immediately draws the mind towards thinking this have got to be technical and progressive metal. Well yes, that's exactly what it is, reminding a good deal of old Fates Warning ... not much of shock in that, huh? As mentioned above, we're only served 2 songs, but since both of them runs for more than 12 minutes, we end up with an EP of almost half an hours length, which is acceptable, although does leave you with a desire for more. "Relentless" is the first song, and in many ways the most accessible of the two - not only is it musically very melodic and have a nice chorus that is easy to remember, but it also lyrically and in terms of the vocal-lines draws parallels to older Fates Warning songs, and thus makes the song quite easy to grab a hold of for a John Arch fan. "Cheyenne" on the other hand took me much longer time to get into, but once I got the hang of it, I fell totally in love with that tune as well. "A Twist Of Fate" is close to being this year's best album so far, if it wasn't for the fact that 2 songs aren't enough to satisfy the fans who have been waiting 15 years on this.
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Claus
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ARCTURUS "The Sham Mirrors" (Ad Astra Enterprises - provided by VME) - 4½ out of 5 points - |
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Holy crap! What the f**k is this? When Arcturus created the extremely avantgardistic “La Masquerade Infernale” five years ago, I would have sworn that this would be their last album, since nothing could top this in the sense of combining “weird”, progressive (in the true sense of that word) metal with aggressive black metal and symphonic melodies and orchestrations. Oh well, after some years doing different projects Hellhammer and Trickster G. has reunited Arcturus and created yet another awesome piece of ORIGINAL MUSIC. Now, this time I’m sure (hehe, don’t assume too much, I know, I know…) that this will be their final statement on the metal scene. I won’t even try to describe the music, as it’s simply too weird, too diverse and too original to be described by words alone. If you’re very open-minded you definitely should check out this album, but if you already now know that you can’t sit down and give the album 20 spins or more before it’ll sit with you, then stay clear off it. I’m still trying to get my mind to comprehend what I’m listening to, while the album is playing … holy crap - what the f**k is this
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Claus
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| ** DOUBLE REVIEW FEATURE ** | ||
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ARCTURUS
“Sideshow Symphonies” (Season Of Mist – provided by VME) - 4 out of 5 points – |
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This is NOT “Aspera Hiems Symfonia”, nor is it “La Masquerade Infernale part 2” and neither “Sham Mirrors part 2”. Then again, did anyone really think that Arcturus would ever release the same album twice? Naah, but in all fairness there’s more on this album that leads me to think of “Sham Mirrors” than the past efforts of this great Norwegian band. First of all the album is much more refined and less hysterical than “La Masquerade Infernale”, less black metal than “Aspera Hiems Symfonia” and it’s also way more rooted within the progressive metal sphere. Let’s pretend for a second that I’ve never heard about Arcturus before, and my review of it would probably be something like this: “progressive metal band with lots of keyboards and a big inspiration from Pink Floyd, decides to add a touch of black metal, and ends up with an indredible diverse affair that will need plenty of listens before settling with the listener”. The sound scapes here are huge, and Arcturus seem to have gotten everything they ever wanted in terms of artistic freedom, as this album doesn’t try to please anyone except the musicians themselves. There are times when they can play it with even the best of prog-metal bands, there are times when they are as weird as Pink Floyd and King Crimson’s bastard sons In The Woods, and yet again times when they go off into black metal territory as if that was all they’d been doing their entire life. Considering that “La Masquerade Infernale” is one of my favorite “black metal” discs (strange expression regarding that album), and “Sham Mirrors” got a 4½ review from me when it was released, then why am I only going to give this one a 4-rating? Well, for one I think that Simon Hestnäs voice here has less passion than Garm’s on “Sham Mirrors”, and I also feel that the novelty aspect of this melting-pot isn’t as big any longer compared to when Arcturus first went bezerk on “AHS” and “LMI” years ago. With that said “Sideshow Symphonies” is one of the best and most unique metal albums to be released this year, and you’d do yourself a huge favour just by listening to it once.
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Claus
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| ** DOUBLE REVIEW FEATURE ** | ||
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ARCTURUS
“Sideshow Symphonies” (Season Of Mist – provided by VME) - 4 out of 5 points – |
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When I got the promo CD to write this review I thought to myself: “Arcturus, the guys that did the sublime ‘La Masquerade Infernale’ almost ten years ago, I didn’t think they were playing anymore…” A quick visit to their website made me realise I was not the only one thinking that. But, as mistaken as I was, here they are with new material. So I copied it into my portable player expecting to spend a nice afternoon hearing some old-school-technical-as-hell black-metal. First song starts, not much black-metal I think to myself… I hurry to grab the CD cover to see if I had mistaken the band again… but no, these are Arcturus, but somehow vocals are no longer that much black-metalish, far from the truth, most of the album is sung in clean vocals, the songs are not that fast and… well… as I said, if they were not Arcturus I’d say I’m hearing a more towards psycho-weird-prog-metal band. To tell you the truth, the first thing I thought was, “Hey, have ‘Winds’ (the prog side-project where Hellhammer also plays drums) released another album?” So again I run to grab the CD’s from Winds to see if there had been any member sharing or whatever, and no, apart from Hellhammer, two completely different bands. Well, not a problem, since I love Winds and Arcturus, anything sounding close to anyone of them has to be great. Having cleared this I listened to the whole album to realise that I enjoyed it a lot. The production on vocals is great; the melodies are very well crafted and fit the songs very well, always keeping that Arcturus style. The rest of the sound is very atmospheric if I can say that, thanks to the present-all-through-the-album synth’s and the highly reverberated guitars. A great production job if you ask me. I particularly enjoy “Hibernation Sickness Complete” and “Evacuation Code Deciphered” which in my opinion contains a wide influence from Floyd’s 70’s and 80’s albums. A great discovery. All the songs in the albums seem to take you through a musical journey that I don’t know how to describe. A claustrophobic sensation is present all the way through. It seems as if they wanted to create an atmosphere and take you there, well, it worked with me. The album ends with a great “instrumental” track “Reflections” and the weirdest songs of all “Hufsa”, sung in Norwegian I think (maybe I’m mistaken here, but sincerely I didn’t understand a word). In conclusion, I’d say the word that sums it all up is maturity. A great (concept?) album with great compositions, well thought and even better performed. If you expect to hear the Arcturus from years ago, well, I don’t think you will, but then again, I think the evolution they have gone through is a great one. Congratulations. A highly recommended album.
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Aleix / drums in Persefone
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ARIDA VORTEX "Evil Sorcery" (CD-Maximum - provided by CD-Maximum) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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Actually I was expecting some serious bad shit here after experiencing the "Reactor" album, released by the same label, but I was a bit surprised to find that these Russian dudes can actually play their instruments pretty well. The music is symphonic speed/power metal in the vein of Gamma Ray and Helloween and the lead singer could be a new Kiske, if he loses the accent and has a producer to tell him where he's out of tune and where he's not. There's a lot of energy in this album and had it not been for the incredibly horrible sound production, I would have given it a higher rate. As it is now, the mix and recording was done in the apartment of the parents to one of the band members and that, my friends, is simply just not good enough to get more than medium rating here. The bass drums are simply horrible!!!! Get Arida Vortex signed on a good European label and get then into a studio with a well-known producer and they might get into the league of the best 20%. The dolls of the Muppet show had a better sound in their instruments than this.
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Lars
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ARTEMESIA "Apocryphal" (CD-Maximum - provided by CD-Maximum) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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When I listen to Artemesia, my thoughts go back to 1992/1993. My thoughts go back to a small rehearsal room on a boarding school in Denmark, and I am thinking back to when my best friend and I (we were 13 or 14 years old at the time) started a band called Conquer Death. We had no idea whatsoever what music was (or could be) and neither does Artemesia. Their music is characterized by ultra simple guitar riffing with no challenge at all, and with repetition upon repetition, and the fact that the band calls the music style "dark melodic black metal" just underlines the fact that these guys have no idea what they are doing with their instruments. There are absolutely no melodies in anything Artemesia is doing that a 12-year old kid couldn't produce with a rubber band and a stick. This music is simple black metal with doom touch, not worthy of anyone. It's embarrassing for the heavy metal industry that bands like this exist.
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Martin J
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ARTENSION "New Discovery" (Frontiers Records - provided by Nordic Metal) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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Artension are not green within the field of writing metal music, and with their newest release, the neoclassical progressive "New Discovery", they underline exactly that. "New Discovery" consists of 10 symphonic, classical and power progressive metal tracks where especially "Symphonic Expedition" shows fantastic classical musicianship. The music is generally characterized by the keyboard, which is playing an essential and leading role in terms of getting the music to flow. Other than that, the tracks and vocal melodies are quite mediocre, and I must admit that I'd rather listen to the voice of John West on Royal Hunt than on Artension. Don't get me wrong 'cause he is still a great singer, but Artension lacks the kind of depth and drive in the music that I find in Royal Hunt. But if you like bands such as Royal Hunt and Labyrinth, you're most likely to find "New Discovery" a good release too.
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Martin J
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ARWEN "Memories Of A Dream" (Arise Records - provided by Nordic Metal) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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"Arwen is a fresh approach to the metal scene" - at least that is how their label describe them … I'll get back to that comment soon. Arwen has no more than 8 members in the band - 3 too many in my opinion! Nevertheless Arwen plays a modern version of Angra, but just not as complete as the aforementioned. The singer Nacho Ruiz has the tendency of destroying the music, which is a shame since the music itself is quite listenable, but not creative as they stated themselves. They definitely need to consider the future of Nacho Ruiz, as he is destroying something that could be the new name on everybody's lips, but instead just remains as below average. This could have been a favourite of mine as I'm a huge fan of Angra, but just not this time.
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Benjamin
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ASIA
“Archiva 1 & 2” (Inside Out / SPV – provided by Target) - 1 out of 5 points – |
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It’s taken me forever to make this review, and unfortunately it’s not because I haven’t had the time to sit down and listen to the disc, but more that whenever I put it on, I got extremely bored after just a few songs. Too bad really, cause I’ve always thought Asia were one of the more interesting pomp-rock/AOR bands, but this release is horrible and makes absolutely no sense to me. The songs here are from the Payne / Downes era of Asia, meaning the time around the albums “Arena”, “Aqua” and “Aria” – 1987-1995 – and while especially “Arena” was a superb disc in my opinion, this compilation is useless. Why? Well, basically because it features only unreleased material, and we all know what that means – yup, songs that weren’t good enough to end up on the proper releases of the band. And, I also feel that the production differs so much from track to track that the flow is completely interrupted and makesfor an irritating listening experience. Stay away from this disc, and instead get hold of “Arena” or “Aqua” if you want to hear what Asia were up to in this period of their career.
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Claus
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ASIA
"Silent Nation" (Inside Out / SPV - provided by Scanbox Entertainment) - 1½ out of 5 points - |
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Hmmm, I don't really see why Inside Out is releasing this disc, as most of their repertoire belongs to the progressive rock/metal category, and "Silent Nations" more would fit right in with the westcoast or aor / hard rock that MTM or Frontiers releases these days. However, Asia of course did make themselves a name back in the day with pompous hard rock, often crossing over into prog-rock territory, and I guess that's what made Inside Out sign them. In many ways this isn't what I've come to expect from Asia; First up, where has the Roger Dean cover gone? How come the title isn't something with an "A" (such as "Aria", "Aqua", "Arena", "Alpha", "Aura" or "Astra")? And finally, how come there isn't much of interest on this disc? Well, I guess the first two questions can be answered with a simple "it's about time to move on and try something new", and if that's the answer, then fair enough. But I really doubt that the band wrote this disc in order to create something boring … because that would just be stupid. So the answer to my third question is probably blowing in the wind, just like this disc is … right out my window, never to be heard again!
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Claus
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ASMEGIN "Hin Vordende Sod & Sø" (Napalm Records - provided by Napalm Records) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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What a strange disc. Imagine a mixture between old-school Scandinavian folk music, some black metal and in places some classic heavy metal. Asmegin is currently being heralded as the best new thing on the so-called Viking Metal scene, and while I have no problems seeing this band fit well in with bands such as Otyg, Finntroll, Vintersorg and Einherjer, I don't really understand why people think they are "that" great. Sure, there are some really good tunes here, and the fact that Solefald vocalist Lazarre guests on several parts of the CD is of course a positive thing, however the music is way too unstructured and at times even boring, to keep my interest for long. Female vocals, clean male vocals, growling death metal type vocals and hellish, screamy black metal vocals all blend together, but not in nice way that appeals to the ears! I have to applaud the band for doing what they do, it's not an easy style to play, and when they succeed as they do occasionally, then it IS good. But it's not going to be a disc I'll spend much time with in the future - for that I need more structure and idea in my music.
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Claus
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ASPERITY "The Final Demand" (Arise Records - provided by Arise Records) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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A new Swedish power/heavy metal band - hmmm, the pool of talent seem bottomless up there. The two main guys in the band are Stefan Westerberg (drums) and Petri Kuusisto (guitars), and both of them are former members of both Steel Attack and In Thy Dreams, and apparently still members of Carnal Forge. Judging from those credits, Asperity should sound like a mixture between Gothenburg thrash/death metal and some cliché-power/true metal. Well, that is quite an untrue statement, because Asperity is really an "as-original-as-the-genre-permits-it-band"; this is melodic heavy metal with a power metal attitude and a hard rock'ish ear for melody, kind of like a mixture between Evergrey, Balance Of Power and Robin McAuley-era of MSG. Judging only upon the band name, past credits and the awful cover, this CD would have been the last thing I'd pick up, but I am glad to tell you, that it's honestly a really good CD from a band with a lot of potential. Along with Dyecrest, Asperity might very well be one of the first Scandinavian bands in recent years to create some power/heavy metal that isn't following the trend of the other 99.9%.
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Claus
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AS WE FIGHT
"Midnight Tornado" (Dockyard1 - provided by VME) - 1½ out of 5 points - |
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As We fight is actually a Danish band (good for them :-)) who won the Danish Metal Awards last year as "best live band". I can honestly say I've never heard about these guys before … which, considering I live in Copenhagen - the largest town in Denmark, really makes no sense. So, that just confirms my theory about those "Danish Metal Awards" being a big pile of horse shit where the bands nominated are related to the guys arranging the whole show in one way or another (can anyone say nepotism?). Ok, enough about that - back to As We Fight, who in all fairness should be judged upon their own merits. Musically we're somewhere in typical clichee metalcore-country, with thrashy riffs, death metal blasts and two kinds of vocal delivery (one thrashy voice and one death-grunting growler). Nothing exciting, but of course full of energy. Unfortunately all the songs sound the same, and more than once I catch myself laughing about certain parts that just sounds too clichee. Has anyone seen that video on youtube where someone decides to make fun of Trivium's "Pulling Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr"? The link is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNLDLyeepVs - now why would I post that link? Well, I seriously think that you can compare this video to the totally in-audible lyrics of As We Fight. Also you can compare the part in that video clip where the commentator says "you're a disgrace to metal, and almost as gay-looking as Avenged Sevenfold … well almost as gay" - and now compare it to the "look how tough we are"-attitude that comes blasting out the speakers when you're listening to As We Fight's "Midnight Tornado" and hold that up against the band pictures on the CD cover and on the homepage of the band ... naah, I'm not buying into this - it's just not METAL enough for me. This is the prime example of what people make fun of when speaking about "metalcore" bands, and it proves to me that eventhough the genre has it's few gems, there's just way too many mediocre bands around that makes the whole genre quite laughable in the broad view, including As We Fight.
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Claus
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ATROCITY "Atlantis" (Napalm Records - provided by Target Distribution) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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There was a time when I thought Atrocity was a good band… but come to think of it, I probably didn't really like the sound of Atrocity as much as I liked it when they did something "unusual" for their own style. The CD they made with all the different 80's disco hits was quite cool, and the EP "Calling the Rain" with it's gypsy-folklore was really good as well. The music of Atrocity themselves on the other hand never really got to me. It was a strange mixture of death metal, groove thrash and gothic metal, and honestly, that stuff just didn't grab me. Listening to the new album, I'm once again bewildered as to what to do with this. Should I keep listening to it, or should I just throw out the disc? Well, a couple of spins more down the line, and I still haven't made up my mind. Sure, there's a market for this kind of music, but I'm just not the target-audience myself. It's too "boring" and not focused enough for my taste. And besides, vocalist Alex never had a good voice - so it's not THAT part of Atrocity that will appeal to me. "Atlantis" is not an album I'll be listening much more to, sorry.
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Claus
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ATTACKER "Soul Taker" (Iron Glory / Massacre Records - provided by VME) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Attacker is a cult-phenomena - a story about the band that just didn't want to give up. Back in the mid eighties the band released two pretty well respected albums, but then went on a temporary hold, which now have lasted almost 15 years. Finally the band have decided to give it another shot, and this is done with the album "Soul Taker", that is nothing short of a genre-typical release, that some might characterise as timeless, while other will criticize it for being stuff in time 15 years ago. Oh well, to me this is just pure old-school heavy metal US-style! Imagine a mixture of Helstar, Agent Steel, Omen, Metal Church, Iron Maiden and Jag Panzer (mind you, the style of the early albums of all the abovementioned), with a singer who sounds like a cross between Rob Halford, King Diamond, James Rivera and perhaps a bit of David Wayne - in other words, not everyone's taste, that's for sure. I'm one of the lucky ones, cause I like this :-)
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Claus
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AT VANCE
"Chained" (AFM - provided by Target) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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When I first listened to At Vance's "Heart of Steel" I clapped my little progressive power metal hands. Here was a band with an approach to music that fitted me perfectly; Melodic, powerful, at times progressive, some of the best-performed guitar passages in the world and with a singer out of the ordinary. Then I listened to "Dragonchaser", and it had the same qualities. Then came "Only Human", then "The Evil in You". They ALL had the same qualities. And guess what; "Chained" have them also, but now I see more clearly on At Vance - they haven't evolved one single bit. Sure it's still the same catchy melodies and the guitars are still some of the best performed in the world, but damn it I'm tired of At Vance making the same album over and over again. At Vance have turned in to a German version of Stratovarius or Rhapsody that also tend to go round and round on the same musical carrousel without getting nowhere. Album by album there is no question that each is a masterpiece, but it's unoriginal and too easy to just copy a successful predecessor.
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Martin J
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AT VANCE "The Evil In You" (AFM Records - provided by Target Distribution) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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When you think of any At Vance album, you know you'll get value for money, and "The Evil in You", At Vance's 5th album, is no exception. This is pure melodic power metal. The album opens with a blast, as the first song, "Fallen Angel", couldn't be picked better. It has everything my heart desires; energy, melody, power, balls and ass kicking riffs. Besides that, it is immediately clear that Mats Leven, the new vocalist after Oliver Hartmann, doesn't lower the standard of At Vance. Actually it's my opinion that Leven, with his fantastic and powerful voice, does it just as good as Hartmann even though Hartmann is a very, VERY hard man to follow. At Vance hold their roots when it comes to their eminent sense of creating good and memorable melodies in their songs - in verse as well as in chorus. And the instrument-performances are, as usual, worthy of a top grade. Especially guitar virtuoso Olaf Lenk who yet again impress with his fantastic amount of energy and feeling in his solo performances, clearly illustrated on every song on "The Evil in You" and especially on the instrumental "Caprice No. 16". Conclusively I find "The Evil in You" a very decent follow up on, what I think is the best At Vance release, "Only Human", ever, so all I can say is: "Rock on, and keep on the good work".
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Martin J
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AUTUMNBLAZE
"Words Are Not What They Seem" (Prophecy Productions - provided by VME) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Autumnblaze has set out to make the most atmospheric CD in the history of "metal". They have succeeded in boring me half to death…! Piano, drum-samples, crying vocals and bad accent have never been good ingredients for getting a metal reviewer to come up with the good stuff and therefore I shall save that for another band someday. HOWEVER!!!! - If you like the kind of music I have described above, or if you are just a total dope-head that smokes 10 grams of pot everyday and want to stone completely in divine synergy with your own brainwaves, you'll probably like Autumnblaze, coz they are not doing a poor job within the genre. The music is totally tight and well produced, and nobody is out of tune, bla bla bla. Give this disc a listen before you decide. It's a real hard one to judge. Sorry I can't be more specific.
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Lars
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AVALON
"Avalon - The Richie Zito Project" (Frontiers Records - provided by Zink) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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Richie Zito is one of those "behind-the-scenes" musicians, one of those who composed lots of hits for wellknown performers, participated in tons of albums and soundtracks, and one of those who unfortunately never found his way to the front himself. But now mr. Zito has recorded an album full of his own songs, with himself playing guitar, mandolin, bass and synthesizer. On vocals we find some very wellknown hard rock / AOR names - among other Joe Lynn Turner, Joseph Williams, Danny Vaughn and Eric Martin. This makes the album quite diverse (although all written by mr. Zito), with the best songs being the Thin Lizzy-inspired "Nightmare" (with Eddie Money on vocals), the AOR/Westcoast-ballad "Oh Samantha" (featuring Joseph Williams from Toto) - by the way "Oh Samantha" really sounds a lot like Boston's "Amanda" -, the closing "I Don't Want To Want You" (with Eric Martin from Mr.Big) and the hard-rocking "Avalon" (with Danny Vaughn from Tyketto). Not a bad album in any way, but it is a bit too uneven, mainly due to the many guest-performers.
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Claus
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AVANTASIA "The Metal Opera, pt. 2" (AFM Records - provided by Nordic Metal) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Supposedly to be one of this year' best discs (after freaking out about part 1), I must admit to find myself in disappointment land over this second opus! There aren't many riffs on this one that comes even close to the drive and force of part 1. It sounds as if der Herrn Sammet has listened a bit too much to Meat Loaf and "Puff, the magic dragon"! Most of the songs are without nerve, compared to the first one. It hasn't helped that Sammet has allowed Virgin Steele's vocalist to scream out his obscenities constantly all over the album. This guy can NOT sing, and he ruins a lot of this disc for me. Also, Sammet is very much overdoing his vibrato at certain points. His voice's wavelengths are longer than Peter Steele in slow motion, and it becomes too much. So why the 3½? Well, you cannot take away from Sammet, that his compositional skills are fantastic and that the whole concept of Avantasia is great. And you cannot put a finger on Alex Holzwarth's drumming as well as Henjo Richter's guitars or Markus Grosskopf's bass playing - just as it is a pleasure to lay your ear to the sweet and intoxicating sound of Kai Hansen and Andre Matos. If you liked the first part of Avantasia you ought to give this disc a chance. Just don't expect to go ape shit about it!
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Lars
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AXENSTAR "Perpetual Twilight" (Arise Records - provided by Nordic Metal) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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| Fantastic, unbelievable, incredible, out of the ordinary ... ? ... no, totally UNORIGINAL!! I am sorry to tell you, but the Swedish power metal machine has yet again thrown a mediocre band off the assembl |
