REVIEWS ARCHIVE - F |
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FAIR WARNING
"Brother's Keeper" (Frontiers Records - provided by Zink) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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I first got to know of Fair Warning on a road trip in California with three of my best friends, and before that, I always had a kind of reserved attitude towards hard rock. But that was just until I heard the subliminal voice of Tommy Heart and the abnormally well-composed songs and melodies that characterizes Fair Warning so. Now, more than 5 years after their last album, the German melodic hard rockers are back with a collection of the absolute best melodic rock songs I've heard since I first laid ears to the band. Tommy Heart sings as good as ever (by that implying that he is to find in my list of all time top five vocalists), and the music is as well-composed, well-performed and melodically catchy as you would expect. FW kept and refined the typical Fair Warning style on "Brother's Keeper", and the music is a bit more powerful and heavy compared to their previous releases, but this just adds positive to the overall impression of the cd - melodic hard rock when it's best.
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Martin
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FALCONER "The Spectre of Deception" (Metal Blade Records - provided by Target distribution) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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FALCONER is back with their 3rd album "The Spectre of Deception" without out the "hero of all time"; Mathias Blad! I'm sorry to inform all FALCONER fans, but this is not FALCONER any longer! I have never thought that I should write a comment like that, but sorry to inform you all that this is the absurd truth of this fairytale. 3 new members have been added to the FALCONER staff: Anders Johansson (guitar), Peer Johnson (Bass) and Kristoffer Göbel (Vocals?). It has struck my mind on several occasions, while I was listening to this album, that if you are such a well respected band, why then choose a "singer" who nearly can't sing? There a more than a hundred great singers out there in the Swedish country, so why have they chosen one who can't sing? There is no doubt whatsoever that FALCONER is nothing special any longer, they are now to be found between all the other average power metal bands, or below the average. The music still remains the same as the previous albums - it is so easy to recognise it's the same band, even though that Mathias Blad is nowhere to be found here any longer ... just in a much less interesting version. I do believe that Stefan Weinerhall has emptied for ideas, as some of the new tracks sounds exactly like some of the old tunes back to their debut album! The music on"The Spectre Of Deception" occasionally is more well-written than most of the previous disc "Chapters of a vale forlorn", but as you've probably guessed by now, it doesn't matter anything, as it can never be the same without Mr. FALCONER; Mathias Blad.
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Benjamin
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FALCONER
"Crime vs. Grandeur" (Metal Blade - provided by Target) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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Yes I have once been a great fan of this band… But let me state that it was then, when Matthias was the singer in this band. But nevertheless this shouldn't really affect my opinion on the bands music - should it? Actually yes - since this new album sucks big time, and there is no way I will change my opinion on this. When I first heard it, it was on the car stereo and I thought "okay the sound is not that great here compared to the stereo in my apartment", so I decided to put it on at home … The disappointment was even greater when I realized the rubbish that I had to waste my precious time on. I'll rather put on a cleaning CD and hope to hear something better :-)
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Benjamin
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FALKENBACH "Ok Nefna Tysvar Ty" (Napalm Records - provided by Target Distribution) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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Falkenback is back after being away for six years (even though I haven't heard of them before, hehe!) Falkenbach is known for playing viking metal, which they indeed do! The music is the same for chords trough a whole album supplied with some quite good fill ins such as, choir arrangements and flutes etc. But who ever said that the Vikings sounded like a cat in pain?? That is what I associate the vocals with! This album becomes very boring after 4 minutes of listening it appears to be a repeat of it self over and over again, again, again, and again and again once more time. I do know that viking metal never have been my strong side, but I'm pretty sure that this can be done a thousand time better. This is simply a total waste of precious time.
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Benjamin
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FARMER BOYS "The Other Side" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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A mixture of Faith No More, Pet Shop Boys, Coldplay and Metallica…does that sound strange? Well, it actually sounds pretty good. Of course there's not the gay'ish thing of PSB and not the self-sufficient "look at me, I'm crying in this video too" Coldplay bullshit in this release, but it nevertheless sounds as if Farmer Boys have been influenced by a lot of different genres in composing their music. The mixture is definitely their strong side, as there are not any extremely talented musicians, standing out compared to the others. It's a matter of teamwork for this band, and they succeed in that. The lead singer uses a lot of choir voices and it's like throwing candy in my throat. I'm digging it a lot, as it's not the typical ViIiIiIiIiIbrato jerking-off. I'd like to hear the next album of Farmer Boys and find out if they can make some songs that stand a little more out from the typical rock/heavy metal song that they do on this album. For now, I'll have to do with "The Other Side"
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Lars
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FATAL FORCE
"Fatal Force" (MTM Music - provided by Zink) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Any album with Mats Levén on vocals deserves praise - that's a given!!! What we have here is a Danish / Swedish project band, molded somewhere between melodic hard rock and a bit of neo-classical metal (imagine 220Volt, Pretty Maids and Malmsteen running full-force into each other). It's quite good songs, with a strong clean production and definitely close to perfect in the musical ability department, but the main issue with this album is that it's all heard before, and when looking at what other great releases these guys have done before (especially Levén on Abstract Algebra, Krux, Malmsteen - and Enevoldsen on Section A) this disc just falls short on those. A little bit more imagination and daring attitude in the songwriting next time around, and I'll be clapping my greasy hands with joy.
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Claus
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FATE
"A Matter Of Attitude" (MTM Classix - provided by Target Distribution) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Hehehe, this album has CLASSIC status written all over it. Man, I remember those times back in 1987 when this was first released. I played this album over-and-over again, I loved all of it back then, and especially the songs "Summerlove", "I Can't Stand Losing You", "Farrah" and "I Won't Stop" were true classics of those days. Hearing it in a remastered version 2004 is a nice experience, and it brings back a lot of fun memories of me and my classmates in high school having parties, getting drunk and trying to pick up girls. Those were the days J The good thing about this, is that even 17 years down the line, the album still is up to par with what else has ever been released in the melodic pop-metal genre, and although I actually find "Scratch And Sniff" to be the best album in the Fate catalogue, "A Matter Of Attitude" is one of those disc you just shouldn't pass by. In order to make the album even more attractive, 2 bonus tracks from the 1992 demo (actually an entire album never released) has been added. An old girlfriend of mine used to have that album on cassette, but I honestly can't remember the tunes there - although I am pretty certain that these 2 songs have to have been among there. Now we can look forward to the re-union disc of Fate hopefully coming out in the next half year or so.
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Claus
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FEAR FACTORY
“Transgression” (Roadrunner – provided by Bonnier/Amigo) - 2½ out of 5 points – |
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First song sounds cool….second song sounds like Fear Factory without any melody. 3rd song sounds like Fear Factory without any melody. It has become all about Burton C. Bell, shouting as hard and aggressive as possible, and FF has lost the touch they used to have. It is a little bit like Pantera on their latter CD’s, where a once fantastic singer destroyed his own legacy. I am not saying that Bell has ever been a fantastic singer, but he definitely has had THE touch for atmospheric and melodic vocals. It seems as if most of the material on this album is just small boxes without glue to hold them together…a little bit like Metallica’s latest offering that was a lot of riffs put together by the producer. And then suddenly keyboards are entering the scene, and a song that sounds like Blink 182 or some other obscure new American youth group. It simply doesn’t hold water. Fear Factory 2005 sounds like a less version of themselves. It’s not interesting anymore. The CD comes with a bonus DVD, that features the album in enhanced audio version (how strange is that???), 2 video’s for the songs “Spinal Compression” and “Moment Of Impact” and a documentary that shows the making of the album. I’m not impressed and I don’t think the old fans of FF would be so either.
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Lars
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FEAR MY THOUGHTS
"Vulcanus" (Century Media - provided by EMI) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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What a great disc this is! From Germany comes the band Fear My Thoughts, who I admit I've never paid any attention to prior of receiving this wonderful album. Musically FMT are seated nicely between modern metal-core, progressive death metal and the more melo-death style known from such bands as In Flames and Soilwork, but with a bit of that German thrashy attitude that raises the energy level just a notch. At times the band goes in a very progressive direction (just listen to "Culture Of Fear"), and it really suits them - this is where they separate themselves from the standard "metal-core" bands out there, not only by quality but also by originality. Another point that really deserves to be mentioned is the very interesting way that the keyboards are incorporated on this album; the band doesn't have a keyboardist, but when recording the album Kim Olesen (from Anubis Gate) came over and contributed with a lot of interesting parts. This adds a very unique sound to the band, something that almost reminds me of some sci-fi movie soundtrack. For those who likes bands such as Into Eternity or the aforementioned Soilwork/In Flames, "Vulcanus" should hit right home.
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Claus
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FEINSTEIN "Third Wish" (Magic Circle Music / SPV - provided by Scanbox Entertainment) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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This is definitely not a bad album - in fact, it's quite nice. A blend of old school Rainbow, Dio and just a little bit of Maiden here and there. That it has a Dio feel to it, shouldn't really surprise you that much, seeing that David Feinstein is in fact Ronnie James Dio's cousin, the one who Dio back in the 70's had the band ELF together with. This is music that could as well have been released 20 years ago, and nothing wrong with that … it's just not something NEW and ORIGINAL. But hey, who cares as long as it's good :-) On vocals we find John West (Artension, Royal Hunt), and as we all know by now, John has one of the really great, soulful voice in heavy metal, and on this CD John has the chance to really show off, since the music isn't exactly taking up much room on the disc. Unfortunately John for some reason I have no idea about, sings out of tune on several places throughout the disc, and it distorts from the picture I had in my mind of John as a brilliant singer who could do no wrong. Oh well, it's actually not that bad, and 95% of the notes are right on the money, showing that John really can deliver. Just too bad about the other 5%. A strong classic hard rock disc - just don't expect anything earthshaking. |
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Claus
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FILII NIGRANTIUM INFERNALUM
"Fellatriz Discordia Pantokrator" (ProCon Media - provided by ProCon Media) - ½ out of 5 points - |
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So Harry Potter decided to form a thrash/black metal band, right? Well, this Portuguese band with the rather obscure name of Filii Nigrantium Infernalum flew in on the Hogwarts Express to join in the magic at Hogwart School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Not only is the band name absolutely stupid, the title of the album impossible to say (unless you're a drunken bastard like professor Dumbledore), but also the music is ridiculous beyond all comprehension. To be totally honest, I'd rather play a game of Quidditch at the Queerditch Marsh, cast a spell of sectumsempra on Draco, transfiguering the chessmen, or fondle up Hermoine's perking tits, than be caught listening to this rubbish. Hokus Pokus Filigranum my bare ass…
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Claus
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FINNTROLL
"Nattfödd" (Spikefarm Records - provided by VME) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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This is a joke, right? How did Finntroll become a successful band in the last couple of years? Are there really people who thinks it that good? Okay, obviously I'm in the minority on this one, as I see Finntroll playing on every festival, people talking about them on message boards and even the band getting great reviews of their releases. And honestly, after listening to "Nattfödd" a good deal of times, I'm now beginning to see the charm of it. It's melodic, it's fun, it's folk mixed with metal and a good deal of polka (!!!), and the band actually can play their instruments. Sometimes it becomes too experimental, and the band loses the melody of the song, but sometimes it's actually not as bad as I suspected, and although I'm never going to be a fan of this genre, I do find "Nattfödd" quite a nice little disc.
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Claus
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FIREBALL MINISTRY
"Their Rock Is Not Our Rock" (Century Media Records - provided by EMI) - 1½ out of 5 points - |
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Old-school rock 'n roll metal. Quite simple, quite boring. The lead singer's voice is nothing less than horrible. He sounds a bit like he has been drinking a liter of gasoline, but with the effect of stopping air coming from his stomach, forcing him to sing the entire album with his throat (guttural singing has never been a choice for normal singers). It's kind of Pee Wee Herman with a male voice. I'm sorry, but this album simply hasn't ONE single highlight, where you get the wauw feeling. It's flat and doesn't get anywhere.
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Lars
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FIREBALL MINISTRY "The Second Great Awakening" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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This must be one of the most boring albums, Nuclear Blast has ever released. The music is a mix of Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, but without the outstanding talent that these bands had. Fireball Ministry is going into a future oblivion if they keep up the boring attitude on their albums.
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Lars
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FIREWIND
"Allegiance" (Century Media Records - provided by EMI) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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I absolutely loved Firewind's last album. One album later and a new lead singer/drummer, the band is not improving in my opinion. The music is a bit more laid back and relaxed and built up totally around the voice of Apollo Papathanasio (the band probably won't agree with me), and no matter how good a singer Apollo is, he is facing the same problem as Jörn Lande and the other singers that can't get enough of themselves. I believe this is Apollo's 6th band (several of them at the same time), and for Mark Cross, it must be the umphtienth band now? Don't misunderstand me - this album is definitely one of the year's best heavy metal offers, but I still believe that Chitty Somapala's voice fit the music much better than Apollo's and I have never like Mark Cross' playing style, as I find it too simple. I can't really put a finger on anything, regarding the guitars as Gus G is one of those multi talents that deliver every time he touches his instrument, and I think it had helped his song writing that he's no longer in all the other bands that he used to be in. No more leftovers and B-side songs. Well, to sum it up: if you like your melodic heavy metal to be fat, rich on melody, well produced and well written, you won't be disappointed by this release.
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Lars
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FIREWIND
"Forged By Fire" (Century Media - provided by Target) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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What a nice surprise, coming from Firewind. A band with a ridiculous band name, but with a really cool disc to offer. Imagine a mixture between Lost Horizon, Judas Priest and other power metal acts in that genre, with a lead singer sounding like a mix of Hansi Kürsch, Rock n' Rolf, Claus Meine and Peavy from Rage. It is the first time lead singer, Chity Somapala has sounded that aggressive. It really suits his singing. I am impressed at how Firewind manages to hold up the energy level throughout the whole album, as many bands fail miserably to do nowadays. The songs are very varied and have screaming twin guitars, with solos tighter than the American election between Gore and Bush in 2000. The drumming is kept in the power genre, but some progressiveness has crept in once in a while. All in all, a perfect blend that should interest all power metal lovers. Firewind has gained a lot of respect and success in Japan, and it is really well deserved. Let's hope that the Europeans will follow.
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Lars
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FIREWIND "Burning Earth" (Massacre Records - provided by VME) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Firewind is finally back with their new album "Burning Earth" and this is even better then their previous album. Although Gus is a very busy with his performance in various bands he still has the energy to write such a great album as "Burning Earth". The new album is groovy, melodic and power metal to the bones. The title track "Burning Earth" is a one of those worth to be mentioned with a lot of great guitar parts and a great sing along chorus! But one thing is sure that Firewind can do a lot better then what they show on this album.
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Benjamin
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FIRSTBORN, THE
"The Unclenching Of Fists" (ProCon Media / Equilibrium - provided by ProCon Media) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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I must admit that this album has gotten me confused … I can't really figure out how to describe it - parts of it is old school death metal, some of it is black metal, some parts are classic heavy metal and even others are "world music" (in lack of a better word). I haven't heard such a diverse album of high quality since Orphaned Land's "Mabool" (although nowhere near the sheer class of that disc), and to me that's quite an accomplishment. Whereas Orphaned Land, Nile and Melechesh all draw on the middle-eastern influences in both music and lyric (be it Greek, Mesopotamian, Hebrew or Arabic), The Firstborn chooses to go even further east … to Tibet … for their inspiration. Lyrically the album is based on the "Bardo Thödol" (the Tibetan "Book Of The Dead"), and as such is quite an interesting read. I do wish however that vocalist Bruno Fernandes had been more careful about his pronunciation of the words, since his black metallic screams are almost impossible to decipher. Musically The Firstborn also lends heavily from the far eastern folk music, and it really suits the music well. With a couple of more albums under their belt and a refining of their styles, in order to blend the different elements better, The Firstborn will become one of the most original and refreshing bands on today's metal scene … I can guarantee you that!
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Claus
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FISSION
"Crater" (Napalm Records - provided by Target Distribution) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Benny Hägglund and Andreas Hedlund? Who are these guys? Well, it's Vintersorg (Andreas) and the drummer from the Vintersorg touring-band (Benny), creating some of the best thrash metal I've laid my ears on in a long time. Thrash is supposed to be raw, energetic, chaotic, but at the same time filled with melodies and atmosphere, and that's exactly how Fission is all about. Don't expect this to be a Slayer or Metallica or Testament style of thrash metal album though - no, cause that's not Fission. Instead it's a very adventurous form of thrash metal with a progressive touch to it. In some way I'll say that it falls in the same category as KillSwitch Engage and Into Eternity (although it doesn't sound like any of those). This has commercial appeal written all over it, and if Napalm Records are able to promote it properly it should sell loads and loads of copies. Great disc with wonderful melodies, thrash metal furore and killer vocals by "Mr.Love-him-or-hate-him" Vintersorg.
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Claus
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F.K.Ü.
"Sometimes They Come Back … To Mosh" (Head Mechanic - provided by Head Mechanic) - 4½ out of 5 points - |
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What can I say? This is the kind of music I grew up listening to in the late eighties - the mosh-metal, skate-core, thrash-metal … call it what you will, but this is for a me a trip down memory lane filled with the smell, the taste and the attitude of us young guys on the parking lot with our skateboards, our bermuda-shorts, the long hair waving in the wind, and most of all the unadultered youth. Ahhh … With their second album, "Sometimes They Come Back ... To Mosh", Swedish band F.K.Ü. (yes, it is an abbreviation of Freddy Kruger's Underwear) seem to be caught in a mosh - or in a timepit - that should have ended 15 years ago, but some guys just won't grow up and become responsible men, and thank god for that. The music on display here is 110% DRI, SOD, Anthrax, Tankard, Exodus, Agent Steel, Nuclear Assault, Testament and every other amazing thrash metal act from the late eighties. Throw in a good deal of Swedish alco-humour and you end up with this awesome album. The only reason I'm not giving this disc the perfect 5 is simply, that I still haven't been invited by the band to star in their next videoclip - I was made for that role, trust me … imagine me, a 34-year old man with fast-descending hairlines and a "little" beer-belly moshing around in old school bermuda shorts. Dude, that would be the coolest video in the entire world. Till they do that clip, I'm gonna hold the last half point here … Thank you F.K.Ü. for taking me back to that time of my life, when everything was so much easier than now. The next drink is on me - from one (not so anonymous) Moshoholic to another :-)
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Claus
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FLOWER KINGS "Unfold the Future" (InsideOut - provided by Nordic Metal) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Well, progrock is here to stay, an FK is the living proof of that. But why the hell do they have to overdo it? FK play their songs in a very superior way, and they know their instruments like the back of their hands, but as much as that can be an advantage, it can turn out to be a big disadvantage, and unfortunately that's the fact in this case. "Unfold the Future" is a double cd with more than 140 minutes of bluesy, jazzy and rock 'n' rollish progrock, and that's just too much. If the double cd was reduced to just one, it would have been okay, but the music is too monotone and in my opinion there is a total lack of balls and punch. Sure, the music is well played and tight, and the individual tracks are mostly quite distinct, but I personally need some power and energy to keep me awake while listening to it.
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Martin J
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FLOWER KINGS, THE
"Adam & Eve" (InsideOut / SPV - provided by Scanbox Entertainment) - 1 out 5 points - |
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I don't really like this band - honestly, I don't. They are undoubtedly skilled musicians - great with their instruments, and amazingly great at recreating the sound of old-school Yes. But therein lies also the problem; The Flower Kings are so focused at writing neo-prog anthems of the long sort (2 of the songs are 20 minutes epics) that has to sound like Yes, Genesis or Kansas, that it becomes utterly boring, and simply can not keep my interest (or even worse, can't keep me awake) throughout the entire disc. Yes were great, so were Genesis and Kansas. The Flower Kings is a rip off, and a very boring one as such.
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Claus
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FORD, LITA "Greatest Hits Live!" (SPV Records - provided by Nordic Metal) - ? out of 5 points - |
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Back in the 80'ties she was one of the very few rocking women with this typical American hard rock sound, and in this Ozzy revival we have currently, maybe she can profit as she had a duet with him on "Close your eyes forever" which went top 10. Music wise it's as simple as it can get with a mixture of early Bon Jovi and Heart which nowadays puts it in the nostalgia box as it doesn't stand the test of time to convince any youngsters today. However her vocals are still a pleasant encounter, which I'm sure, still could fit a good rocking outfit today. As a live album the sound quality is really good, so for pure nostalgia or a Lita Ford fan this CD is worth the money.
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Erik
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FORTY DEUCE
"Nothing To Lose" (Frontiers Records - provided by Atenzia) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Chris Cornell obviously has a younger brother, or he is singing under pseudonym??? I don't know. All I know is that the lead singer in Forty Deuce sounds exactly (like in EXACTLY) like Cornell. Sometimes a little Eddie Vedder or Kurt Cocaine sneaks in, but that's only in the lower parts of the register. The music is hard rock that is very well done. Varied and performed with the right attitude. Solo's are ok, rhythm section is cool and the overall view is that that these guys passed the test. I'm sorry that I don't know if this is their debut or 57th album as I don't have a biography, but no matter what, the music is a nice surprise (red: this is the new band put together by singer/guitarist Ritchie Kotzen - who has released several guitar-instrumental albums as well as played guitar in Mr.Big and Poison). Only complaint from my side is that the lyrics aren't that great, but you can't have it all, can you?
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Lars
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FREEDOM CALL
"The Circle Of Life" (SPV / Steamhammer - provided by Target) - ½ out of 5 points - |
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SERIOUSLY, the Germans can't be fooled any longer…. NOT even the Germans. If Freedom Call gets just one good review anywhere, somebody is paying a lot of money for it! This is the worst piece of crap sing-along German melody contest "music" I have ever heard. I really mean it this time! This album should have been called "The Circle Of Shit"!!! Freedom Call has fallen into the pit called "Use ALL cliché's to the maximum and the audience will accept it - at least the stupid ones". This has got to stop now! To quote Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson): I'd rather have an arrow shot through my neck…WITH the note of surrender stuck upon it!!! Please stop now, Freedom Call, it's becoming embarrassing. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGH!
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Lars
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FREEDOM CALL
"Live Invasion" (Steamhammer / SPV - provided by Scanbox Entertainment) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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Get out a here…..! As I interviewed Cede from Freedom Call for his other band Symphorce I was told that his main band would be Freedom Call. I'm at a loss for words. How can a man who obviously comes up with nerve wrecking and planet destroying riffs put his name to this kind of crap? Freedom Call (if you don't know them) sounds like any other true metal band out there. That is: fast staccato - dakka dakka dakka - picking on a guitar chord, without ever getting to play a decent riff (can't even recall having heard a riff on this one). Almost all the songs begin with a quiet intro, played by various instruments like horns, acoustic guitar, piano, cello/violins, meaning keyboards of course, and all the songs sound exactly like each other…..! I guess that's what the masses want coz Freedom Call obviously succeeded in making a name for themselves. So, Cede has done the "Damn, I can't make any kind of money on doing the music with intelligence, so I better sell my soul to the lesser minded, for whom I don't have to really perform in order to sell albums", and I'm disappointed. Well, as this IS a live disc (NOT), this review's also about the production and all that. It works fine for the band production wise, and they do not play many notes wrong (read: none!!!), which proves to me that it's not a REAL live disc. It has definitely been altered in a studio after the recordings and I must admit that I find it pathetic and very ridiculous to make this kind of cheating. If your fans are real fans, they don't care about the bad sound…they want LIVE stuff….not FAKE live stuff…….
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Lars
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FREQUENCY
"When Dream And Fate Collide" (Scarlet Records - provided by Target) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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A debut band from the land of Metal - Sweden :-) But what a surprise another Power Metal band no that can be true? Joke a side, this is actually quite okay, it surprised me that Scarlet have been able to find something that is interesting. But as almost all Power metal, this easily has the tendency of becoming slight boring. Not that the ideas doesn't live in the band, they just have a way of sounding a bit like Nocturnal Rites, actually a mixture between "The Sacred Talisman & Afterlife" not a bad mixture at all, but yet again we have heard it before. Secondly the singer is sometimes out of tune that annoys me like hell!! But this could be interesting to see their next release and see what they have developed into.
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Benjamin
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FRETERNIA "A Nightmare Story" (Arise Records - Provided by Nordic Metal) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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Freternia is another Swedish heavy/power metal whom was founded back in 1998. They had only been playing for 3 months when they released their first demo "The Blood Of Mortals" which is surprisingly fast compared to the short time they had been playing together. In the year 2000 the recorded their first album "Wachants & Fairytales" which was released a year after they had finished recording, which is really poor of their old record label. Freternia is a mixture of heavy and power metal, compared to other bands they sound like: (Morifade, Hammerfall, Lost Horizon and elements of Blind Guardian) the before mentioned are only as to be compared with as Freternia still has a long way to go to reach the heights as the before mentioned. Pasi Humppi (vocals) sounds a lot like Daniel Heman (Lost Horizon) but only in a few occasions. The music from Freternia is very straightforward with only few mentionable breaks, but this is not enough for this band to among my favourites.
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Benjamin
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FRONTSIDE
"Twilight Of The Gods - A First Step To The Mental Revolution" (Dockyard 1 - provided by VME) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Frontside is an unknown band to me - a band from Poland playing metalcore (according to their press-release) inspired by bands such as Bleeding Through and Killswitch Engage. Hmmm, whoever wrote their press-release isn't hearing the same things in the music of Frontside as I am, coz' what I hear is more of a death metal release with the occasional melodic "metalcore" inputs. Most metalcore these days seem to draw their main-portion of influence from thrash metal, but with Frontside we're much more in death metal territory, akin to bands such as Dismember, Morbid Angel or even their country-men in Vader. There are a few stints in metalcore territory, especially when vocalist Auman uses his (not so good) clean voice, but most of the diversity in Frontside's music comes when they bring in a few thrashy riffs here and there (kind of Slayer or Hatesphere riffing). I wouldn't label this as metalcore at all - rather call it a diverse death metal release … and honestly speaking, not a good one at that.
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Claus
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FROST
"Milliontown" (Inside Out / SPV - provided by Target) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Another UK-progressive rock project on Inside Out? Yup! But, although this band, (like a billion other ones), takes their sound from the old-time acts, such as Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Camel, etc, this one really has something on it's own to offer … class! I am in awe of the quality with which Jem Godfrey (a newcomer on the scene) creates these small progressive hits. 6 songs, spanning from a 4 minute tune to a 26.35 minute epic - that's what we're presented with here. First song, the instrumental "Hyperventilate", actually reminds me of the debut album by US-prog metal/prog rock band Cairo, and that's not a bad thing at all. The way that Jem and his partners-in-crime (John Mitchell from Arena/Kino, John Jowitt from IQ and Andy Edwards from IQ) delivers their neo-prog tunes are just technically awesome and filled with real emotion - you can actually hear that they LOVE to play this kind of music. "No Me No You" is the second song and it has a harder edge to it - really interesting with it's strange breaks and modern sound. The shortest tune, "Snowman" is up next and it's quite clearly a song that should appeal to any fan of Spock's Beard or even old Beatles. Unfortunately I could do fine without "The Other Me" that has too much of a funk-vibe to it. Nevertheless, the last two songs, "Black Light Machine" (a 10-minute song) and the epic 26-minute titletrack "Milliontown" are just awesome - this is where the classic prog-rock of the 70's meet up with the modern day neo-prog ... Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis blended in with the sound of Arena … Overall, Frost is one of the most exciting projects to come out of the neo-prog scene in the past couple of years, and "Milliontown" is so far the best album this year from Inside Out.
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Claus
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FROST, JACK "Raise Your Fist To Metal" (Noise Records - provided by Target Distribution) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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What a horrible album! Mr. Frost has sat down and thought: "Hey - I can use all the leftovers from all the bands I have been involved with, and earn some mechanical royalties on this shit. The record label is going to release it no matter what, coz I'm a name, since I'm in a million bands….hmmm, maybe I'm not that much of a name. I better get 6237 guest musicians to appear on the album, so the audience won't notice that these songs are plain boring, should they be performed by the same line-up all during the album…then we'll just write in the bio that they took part in the song-writing. I think we're there now. I just need to convince the record label to put a ridiculous amount of money into ad's and we're where we want to be!!! YIIIHAAAAA". I'm not impressed. This sounds like shit!
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Lars
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FURIA "Un Lac de Larmes et de Sang" (Adipocere Records - provided by Adipocere Records) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Furia is out with their second release "Un Lac de Larmes et de Sang" ("A Lake of Tears and Blood"), and it is actually a quite fair album. Furia plays melodic death metal in the vein of the old In Flames, but with female-, occasional black metal- and conventional death metal vocals and it is actually very decent. But, also like the old In Flames, the songs do not divert enough from each other. If you take each song and isolate it from the others, you have some great music with hard hitting, energetic guitar riffs, but as a whole album, there is just not enough progression. Furia make frequent use of symphonic keyboard passages, and that lift the musical experience quite a bit, and also various sound effects like horses neighing and sword fights are being used to illustrate the conceptual world which Furia wants us to visit through their music. Unfortunately the lyrics are in French, so that does not help, at least me, in relating to their fantasy world.
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Martin J
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