REVIEWS ARCHIVE - N |
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NAER MATARON
“Discipline Manifesto” (Black Lotus Records – provided by VME) - 2½ out of 5 points – |
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Hurray, this must be the happiest day of my life - not just one, but 2 (yes, TWO!!!) black metal albums from Greece coming my way - hurray! Naer Mataron is the first of the two that finds it’s way into my CD-player, and surprisingly I can’t help but get caught up in the atmosphere of this disc. It kind of reminds me of the days in the early/mid-nineties when I listened to old Dark Throne, Satyricon etc, and actually enjoyed it. Yeah, the aging process took away my lust for this genre, (especially due to it’s satanic imagery and the corpsepaint and bulletbelts), and today I barely touch any black metal albums, except if it’s by some of the bigger names or if it’s something that I once really dug (you know, the “classics”!). The songs on “Discipline Manifesto” tends however to go on for too long, and the aforementioned atmosphere that they had created especially due to the constant power-riffing, gets lost in repeated boredom. Too bad, because Naer Materon actually had some appeal that made me care about them … and not just for 20 seconds at a time.
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Claus
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NAHEMAH
"The Second Philosophy" (Lifeforce Records - provided by Lifeforce) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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LifeForce is a label that has this special ability to sign awesome "up-and-coming" metal bands, and here they are with yet another one. Nahemah is the name, and even though they have released two albums prior to this one, I have never heard of this Spanish band. Maybe because they both were self-financed?! Anyways, let's get to write something about the album at hand: I am told (or the info on the back says.) they play a mixture of epic and melancholic death metallers Opeth, melodic death metallers Dark Tranquillity and experimental indie rock band Mogwai. I can compromise and say there is a bit of Mogwai in the compositions at rare occasions, just as well as I can say I hear a tiny bit of old Dark Tranquillity. I do, however, hear a lot of Opeth in it. Spanish Nahemah undoubtedly listen to a lot of Opeth, but unlike Opeth Nahemah puts the main focus on melancholy and atmosphere, where Opeth are more epic and heavy. Imagine Opeth mixed with late Katatonia and then some Ayreon like keyboard parts ala The Universal Migrator pt. 1. The compositions are solid, bold and not like anything I have ever heard before. Nahemah consists of very talented musicians that know their own abilities, which makes room for a much bigger focus on the song writing. I have not quite yet absorbed this album 100% but I can honestly say that there are no bad songs on this album. They keep you concentrated all the way. Finally we have a band that knows when their atmospheric parts begin to get boring and change to something heavier. The only reason I am not giving these guys a complete high is that they just lack that last "it", and that they just need to take their music to very last level. Nahemah is for fans of doom, death and atmospheric metal, and just intelligent music should be forced to check out Nahemah as there are so many hours of interesting and intriguing listening material on The Second Philosophy. Good job Nahemah.
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Mads
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NAHEMAH "If The Midnight Star Is Burning" (CD-Maximum - provided by CD-Maximum) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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What we are dealing with here is a bunch of very talented black metal musicians with a fantastic melodic musical sense. Nahemah's debut album, "If the midnight star is burning", turns out to prove that not all black metal bands are nothing but a joke, as Nahemah deliver high class guitar riffs, harmonies and solos with feeling and depth. As support for the melodies provided by the guitars, the keyboard is an extremely dominating instrument that gives the music a gloomy and atmospheric touch, and as a keyboard player myself, I think it is just fine :-) All in all the music is well thought technical music, just the way I like it. Unfortunately, Nahemah also has a vocalist that sounds like he had been drinking sulfuric acid just before recording the vocal parts for this album. It is just that horrible, and, quite frankly, it really pisses me off, because you can't ignore the vocal and just enjoy the great music. The vocals are too annoying. The music isolated is worth at least 3 points maybe even 4 but the vocals pulls it down two points, hence the 2 points. Also I have to mention that this cd is poorely produced, and at times it can be difficult to catch all the details in the music, and that ruins the overall impression.
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Martin J
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NAIL WITHIN "Nail Within" (Listenable Records - provided by VME) - 2½ - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Once again, I'm stuck in ambivalence. Nail Within is a band from Israel with fantastic musicians, delivering a bunch of very aggressive and cool songs, but with the problem of the lead singer/screamer, being the cause for major headaches for me. I simply do not like when all lyrics are presented for me with a screaming blood gore attitude of "who can shout the most"!! That kind of leaves me with a problem, coz I really dig this aggressive touch of the band. It reminds me of a mixture of Slayer, Invocator and some of the Swedish death scene. If the lead singer would have the decency of singing or just humming once in a while, I'd definitely be further interested in this cool band. Now, I have to rate it with 2½…however, if you should be into this style of shouting and screaming on top of aggressive metal, I have set the rate to 4. This is because I - no matter my own taste - am very aware of the fact that this is quality within the genre. One last thing: Do NOT make a promo copy that won't play on the pc, when you put a video clip on the last song…not very clever!
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Lars
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NAPALM DEATH
"Smear Campaign" (Century Media - provided by EMI) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Napalm Death is unquestionable one of the frontrunners for extreme metal, and they have been grinding their axes for (too?) many years now. I really liked albums like the debut and genre-creating "Scum" and the more technical "Diatribes", but in the last 10 years Napalm Death has been way too generic, despite an obvious desire to renew their sound. I mean, I really respect they do that, I just don't think they are successful in their quest, if you know what I mean?! Their new album "Smear Campaign" is no exception, and even though there are some bright moments, these are quickly forgotten, and are absolutely not what could be expected by these legends. This time around they invited Anneke Van Giensbergen of the Gathering to do some guest vocals, and Napalm Death also experimented a bit with the vocals and even a few quite neat rhythm changes, but to be honest it all comes down to be in vain, since after listening to "Smear Campaign" you feel that the album is useless. There is too far between the good parts, and the rest sounds like one big mess, and I am a tolerant guy who can even listen to Berzerker. Bottom line is that "Smear Campaign" just isn't anything near what I like about Napalm Death, nor does it have anything remotely memorable with the exception of "Identity Crises" which sounds like a horrible Celtic Frost rip-off, which amused me quite a bit. To not make this review all bad, then I must give a thumbs up to drummer Danny Herrera who delivers top notch grind drumming.
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Mads
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NARNIA "The Great Fall" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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Two years has passed since their last album "Desert Land" and now they are back with "The Great Fall" which has been improved a lot since their previous album. Even Christian Rivel (singer) formerly known as C. Liljegren has improved on this album, but he still doesn't has what it takes to lift up the music to a higher level "actually it is more reversed". The music is better written then before a lot of melodic tunes and power chords that sometimes takes away your breath! But beyond the great guitar play from Carljohann Grimmark, the music still misses some atmosphere, but of course with one song in exception "The Great Fall Of Man" but that particular song, has a facelift from no other than Eric Clayton (Saviour Machine). This is without any doubt Narnia's best album so far, but they are still prevented to reach the high level caused of Rivel's poor performance.
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Benjamin
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NASTY SAVAGE "Wage Of Mayhem" (Massacre Records - provided by Nordic Metal) - 0 out of 5 points - |
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This is so ridiculous that I won't waste my time. Mini album, with old demo songs from the 80'ies + 2 new songs that sounds like they are also done back then…Do not buy if you have just the slightest musical sense….
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Lars
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NASTY SAVAGE "Psycho Psycho" (Metal Blade - provided by Target Distribution) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Florida's thrash metal outfit #1, Nasty Savage, is back!!! After a 15 year hiatus, Nasty Ronnie and cohorts return to torment our dreams with some psyched up thrash metal of the groovy and somewhat technical kind. This is what Slayer, Testament and Exodus would have sounded like if they had been all blended together, graced with the typical Florida death metal sound, and twisted up in a technical, almost progressive, way. I loved "Indulgence", and "Abstract Reality" and "Penetration Point" were also really strong discs. Seeing that they are back now, warm my heart, but also make me question the need for this reunion - are there really many people out there who remember Nasty Savage? Oh well, who cares - I remember them, and I can easily hear that it's the same band (although older, and perhaps less technical), and same insanely weird high-pitching vocalist on "Psycho Psycho". I feel there's a bit more groove to this new disc, and it actually suits the band. So, for all those who like old school thrash metal - this one is "da bomb" :-)
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Claus
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NATTEFROST
"Terrorist (Nekronaut Pr.1)" (Season Of Mist - provided by VME) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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I guess this band has set out to be the saviour of the entire black metal scene, right? I graced the debut album with a 1 out of 5 point review, and even admitted to be one of the narrow-minded pricks that just didn't understand what the fuzz was all about. Well a year later and after being exposed to quite a bit of talk on the metal scene about Carpathian Forests frontman Nattefrost's quest for being the worlds premiere anti-christian terrorist, I must admit I'm beginning to lose some of my narrow-mindedness. Hold on - don't think I've given in and become a goat-sacrificing-robe-wearing-corpsepainted-cross-inverting-satan-worshipper … HELL NO … I'm still the same pussy as always, that says my prayers each night before going to bed, and even say grace at the dinner table (okay, if you believe any of that, you're even more narrow-minded and stupid than me). But yeah, I've begun to appreciate the directness in both music and lyrics of Nattefrost's little project here. I mean, come on, who wouldn't appreciate songs such as "Dinsadansdjeveldyrkaar!!!", "Satan is endless, Satan is timeless", "Nekronaut (Cunt Cunt gimme some)" or my personal favorite "Preteen Deathfuck"?
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Claus
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NATTEFROST "Blood And Vomit" (Season Of Mist - provided by VME) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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"Probably the best album in the world. True primitive narrow-minded black metal" … this is actually what it says on the CD!!! And who am I to argue with that? At least the "primitive" and the "narrow-minded" statements are right on the spot. If you thought that Ulver's "Nattens Madrigal" or Dark Throne's "Transilvanian Hunger" were the greatest examples of primitive black metal, well then this is gonna rock your world. Caparthian Forest vocalist Nattefrost is the main man behind this project and with titles such as "Sluts Of Hell", "Satanic Victory", "Nattefrost Takes A Piss" and "Ancient Devil Worshipping" I guess we all know how serious we're going to take this. Narrow-minded? Hell yeah!
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Claus
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NECRODEATH "Ton(e)s of Hate" (Scarlet Records - provided by Target Distribution) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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Black thrash metal … or should I say trash metal. Necrodeath newest record is a violent and aggressive piece of shit. It contains nothing but simple and boring guitars, unmelodic, dull and monotonous songs. There is an unbelievably lousy production on "Ton(e)s of Hate" - especially on the drums, and to finish it all, Necrodeath have some of the lousiest black metal vocals. I'm really sorry, but I just can't keep my objectivity when it comes to this kind of totally uninspiring black/thrash metal - not even if Necrodeath apparently are one of Italy's most successful extreme metal bands.
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Martin J
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| ** DOUBLE REVIEW FEATURE ** | ||
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NEVERMORE
"This Godless Endeavor" (Century Media Records - provided by Target) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Yepp, here it finally came. The Nevermore album that I won't grade with a top-notch review. I was hoping for something better than "Enemies Of Reality", as I had only heard the Kelly Gray version, before getting this new promo. I immediately thought: "Hey, there's a lot more hit potential here". But I must admit after having heard the re-mix of EOR, done by Andy Sneap that the music on EOR is so much more complete on that album, as it has been on all the previous Nevermore albums, compared to "This Godless Endeavor". I have never really experienced thinking "what a boring song", when listening to Nevermore, but with both "Bittersweet Feast" and "Medicated Nation" from this new disc, I find myself wanting to move on to the next song. It seems as if the riffs are just not good enough for Warrell Dane to make it interesting with his odd-tune singing. This, by Nevermore standards, seems as a weak thing in the bands' spotless career. For the rest of the album, this is one big shred-fest, with a strong Warrell Dane in front of some of the finest musicians this business has to offer. Van Williams is a whole chapter for himself (as usual). Jim Sheppard is the core of the whole structure and never treads a wrong path (as usual). Jeff Loomis destroys all other guitarists' attempts to try to claim the throne of shredding … what an unusual man we have here (as usual). Finally, we have a new face, namely Steve Smyth, who has simply blended into the band, like a twisted watch in a Salvador Dali painting. When interviewing Warrell Dane, he told me that Steve actually wrote a major part of 2 songs, but it's not possible to hear which ones they are, and that is the ultimate proof that he is the right man for the job. I cannot stress enough how important it is for us all to support music that is so profoundly perfect as Nevermore's music is (ok, 2 songs are not that good, but out of how many albums now????). BUY, or I will run your lower parts through a meat grinding machine, while force-feeding your ears with this album … that will be the final product.
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Lars
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| ** DOUBLE REVIEW FEATURE ** | ||
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NEVERMORE
"This Godless Endeavor" (Century Media Records - provided by Target) - 5 out of 5 points - |
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So, 2005 brings us a new release from Seattle's Nevermore, a release I haven't particularly looked forward to since I never was a big fan of their earlier releases. The biggest problem for me was always the lack of hooks and good choruses. Guess what, "The Godless Endeavour" is packed with both, from memorable super cool guitar solos ( "Bittersweet Feast") to maybe their best choruses ever ("Sentient 6" and "Final Product"). Vocalist Warrel Dane (no he's no Dane) convinces me and sends shivers down my spine like nothing I heard in a long time. The production is flawless of course considering it's Andy Sneap behind the knobs. This is a must buy for fans of heavy, aggressive and dark metal with great musicianship. Also, if you find a cooler drummer than Van Williams, you're wrong.
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Teddy Möller / guitarist & vocalist in "Loch Vostok"
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NIGHTMARE "Silent Room" (Napalm Records - provided by Napalm Records) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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I can't mention many bands from France that have impressed me, but I assure you that Nightmare will be in my memory longer than a lot the shit bands I have to listen to as a music critic. Nightmare mixes power metal with progressive elements and ads a theatrical touch that makes me think of my all time favorite theatrical/cinematic progressive metal band, Beyond Twilight. Especially "A Piece of Paradise" sends shivers down my spine with its grand choirs and almost melancholic feel. Actually, Nightmare makes frequent use of choir arrangements that sometimes make me think of the fantastic masterpiece "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff - and it rocks!! Apart from mastering the choir arrangements to perfection, Nightmare manages to deliver some very catchy guitar riffs containing harmonies and good melodies. Also the keyboards play an essential part when speaking of harmonies in the music, which is clearly illustrated in "Sniper in the Playground" and "Travel in the Spheres of Dreams". The vocals is done by the band's former drummer(!), and he does a very decent job. At times he even sounds a bit like Jørn Lande (without have the same volume and depth, of course - only Lande have that :-) So if you like melodic power progressive metal, Nightmare is definitely worth a listen.
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Martin J
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NIGHTVISION
"Nightvision" (MTM Music / SPV - provided by Target) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Talk about mixing it up big time - according to the press-sheet the music of Swedish new comer band Nightvision should be somewhere in between Pink Cream 69, Ozzy and Magnum … quite diverse huh? Well, not really. In my opinion, this is more southern-styled hard rock, closer to the sound of Tesla, Badlands and Pride'N'Glory with a small touch of Scandinavian hard rock (Treat, 220 Volt), than any of the aforementioned. Not that it matters much how you'd like to describe or compare it, since the most important thing is whether or not you get a kick out of the songs or not - and truth be told, I did enjoy the music on display. However, the main letdown here is the voice of Peter Högberg, who might be influenced by the great Ray Gillen (may he R.I.P.!), but doesn't possess the same kind of power and voice control. Instead it sounds like Peter is struggling a lot with the songs, and his voice unfortunately cracks here and there, leaving it to be more of an annoyance than something complimentary to the music. Too bad though, as this disc had really good potential to be something better than it actually is.
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Claus
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NIGHTWISH
"Once" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 4½ out of 5 points - |
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Is it I or have it just been too long since we have heard from Nightwish? To that question I only have one thing to say YES! As before mentioned Nightwish are back with their 5th album "Once" and after eight months in the studio I've been very anxious to hear the results of the new album! And I must admit that there are a lot of mixed feelings to this album, as it appears that Marco Hietala "sings" shout on the "Once" album compared to the "Century Child"! Mark my words that this man does not know how to sing (shout). Back to the album "Once" sounds like that they have put more efforts in this album compared to the others! The music in whole is the typically Nightwish as we know them, but the feelings, the atmosphere the whole experience through out the whole album is a great listen able enjoyment! The sound on "Once" is better then before and the extra instruments that are used in each an every number is a new and creative brilliancy from Nightwish! The track "Ghost Love Score" echoes the same high intensity as hearing the "Lord Of The Rings" soundtrack; I can imagine Toumas mastering the whole orchestra while recoding for the new album. "Creek Mary's Blood" is another great song on this album, which begins very atmospheric and hollow, later it turns into an epic mid-tempo movie soundtrack thing. I would have been my greatest pleasure to give a pure 5 for this fantastic album, but "once" again Mr. Marco has ruined that, please for any upcoming future album keep your mouth shut, and let us enjoy the sweet silk voice of Tarja.
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Benjamin
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NIKKI PUPPET
"Militant Mother" (Armageddon Music - Provided by Target) - 1½ out of 5 points - |
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"Out of the rock and metal stronghold of Hannover arises a band that sets their standards thorough charismatic vocals, polished, authenticated songwriting, razorsharp solos and heavy riffs: Female fronted heavy rock - This is what the music from Nicky Gronewold, Anke Sobek, Christos Mamalitsidis and Florentin Adolf stands for". This is what it says in the info sheet that follows with this promo for this new band was formed in 2003 by some old people. What a bunch of BS. The Charismatic vocals are standard female vocals from a middleaged woman, not bad at all, but it is nothing special at all. The polished, authenticated songwriting I am still having a hard time hearing. This band offers nothing that has not been heard 1000 times before, in 1000 other just as boring hard rock acts. The razorsharp solos are good… but again, to make yourself noticed today you have to have a bit more than those standard licks. They are very well executed; don't get me wrong, they are - like the vocals - nothing special at all. The heavy riffs are as heavy as the riffs Arctic Monkeys delivers. I think you can guess yourself to the rest. This band is boring me, and the only real good song is the Billy Joel cover- track "We Didn't Start the Fire", but I cannot say they suck, because for fans of this kind of biker hard rock or whatever you call it, I could imagine they are quite decent.
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Mads
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NOCTURNAL RITES
"Lost In Time - The Early Years Of Nocturnal Rites" (Century Media - provided by Target Distribution) - ? out of 5 points - |
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Wow I have received the early years of Nocturnal Rites (NR)!!! I do not know whether I should cry, laugh or just pretend like nothing has happened?? The last statement nothing has happened is perhaps a way of over doing it as I'm glad that NR has developed themselves into what they have become today... Only a few line-up changes have been made since their decade of metal, which probably makes them what they are today? I find it hard to grade these 2 old releases, as I believe it will be unfair for the band and all the fans of NR... This is not what I would like to remember NR for, as I know what they are capable of this day today!
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Benjamin
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NOCTURNAL RITES "New World Messiah" (Century Media - provided by Target Distribution) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Nocturnal Rites started their glory in Metal back in 1995 with their debut album "In Time Of Blood And Fire". Now they are back with a new full-length album "New World Messiah" which is a whole lot better then their previous album "Shadowland". The music on "New World Messiah" has a lot of the same classic elements as their album "The Sacred Talisman" as well as the hard nerve of "Afterlife". The track "Against The World" is a superb metal hymn, which has a great melodic chorus and a great Heavy touch on the guitars, which makes it "the dot above the i". The track "Break Away" is what I would describe as a classic Power Metal song, but still in Nocturnal Rites' own style. This album is better then I had expected, especially after the disappointing album "Shadowland". To find out more about the band check out the interview soon available on this site.
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Benjamin
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NORMA JEAN
"Redeemer" (Century Media - provided by EMI) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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Let me start this review by saying that I only have very little positive to say about the new Norma Jean, so if you are a fan band, then do yourself the favour and do not read the following rant: I had my first encounter with this band last year when they released "O God the Aftermath" which I found to be one of the absolute horrors within the metalcore genre. But my short listen to the album quickly made me forget about them. But then I get to review this album, and then you suddenly understand the meaning of the old saying "ignorance is bliss", because "Redeemer" is a painful reminder of why I never spend much time with the previous effort, and I wish I never would have gotten this album for review, hence being ignorant towards this product and band. But never the less I am a guy who listens to albums all the way through a few times before reviewing it. But in this case, I couldn't stand more than 1 complete listen before starting writing. On "Redeemer" Norma Jean plays the same style as they did on the previous effort, and that is somewhere close to screamo metalcore. And what a mayhem this is. Norma Jean does not in one single place manage to create neither a good groove nor making a good melody, so the entire album sound messy, hysterical and just completely pointless. The singer is probably one of the worst I have ever laid ears to (the singer from Atreyu takes that award), he has no tone, he has no understanding of the music that is playing for him, and he just sounds like a screaming hysterical little bitch… or a little angry high school teenager who couldn't be out skating with his friends after dark for his mom. He tries to sound angry, but he just doesn't. The bass is completely anonymous since it basically just follows the drums no matter how wrong it often sounds on the songs. The drums however is played pretty decently and actually shows a lot of potential in some particular places. A track like "Amnesty Please" is perfect example of this. The worst thing of this band is they have two completely incompetent guitar players. Their riffs are horrible and sound completely uninspiring, but the worst thing is what I consider to be their "solos" or just to be safe "leads", because they sounds crippish. "Is that a word?" you might say, and no… it isn't, because I just made it up in the lack of finding a word that describes how dreadful it is to yours truly. Imagine a 5 year old kid picking up a violin for the first time and then you pretty much have what most of their leads sound like to me. The compositions sound unorganised and sometimes messy as hell. I like, no love, surprising and untraditional compositions, but here it simply sounds like one big mess. The production however is quite good which is why I, along with the drumming, have given them an entire point instead of just a half. The production has been done by Ross Robinson whom also produced a prominent act as Sepultura, so that should say something of how thick the sound is. Anyways… needless to say that I do not care for this album, and band, at all, and I can and will not recommend this to anyone since I am completely clueless as to why Century Media signed them and to why people actually like this. Anyone who wants to enlighten me is most welcome to do so ...
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Mads
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NORTHERN LIGHT
"Northern Light" (MTM Music / SPV - provided by Target) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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What's this? Another "super-group" put together for some quick cash, or a real band? I'm not really sure about it, as it seems like MTM wants to give us the impression that Tor Talle (Norwegian guitarist / songwriter) created Northern Light as a real band, but then again it seems unlikely to me that all these musicians involved would give up their other bands or solo careers over NL. Well, anyway, that's probably not something we should concentrate on - instead let's focus on the music, as it's very well done AOR / light-hardrock somewhere along the lines of Survivor, Foreigner, Journey or even Toto. Speaking of Toto, ex-vocalist Fergie Frederiksen is one of the guys here in NL, and also other "big-shots" from the melodic rock circuit appears here, such as Tony Mills (Shy/Siam), Peter Sundell (Grand Illusion), Kimmo Blom (Urban Tale/Heartplay) and even guys like Jorn Lande (Masterplan/Ark/Jorn etc) have his hand involved with the song writing here. Overall Northern Light is quite good for what it is, but for some reason this kind of music seems so out-dated to me, that I'm getting tired of listening to the disc already after a couple of songs. I can appreciate the song writing skills of Tor Talle and his comrades-in-arms, but honestly, this music just isn't my cup of tea any longer.
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Claus
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NOSTRADAMEUS
"Hellbound" (AFM Records - provided by Target) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Great Swedish band who once again delivers a powerful and interesting album, with balls and energy. I have to admit that Hellbound is not as good as the previous album in my opinion, but still it is one Hell of a kick in the ass. Whining twin guitars, cool rhythms and a lead singer who has a very strong personality. I can only strongly recommend you to get out and listen to this one if you are a fan of aggressive power metal.
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Lars
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NOSTRADAMEUS "The Third Prophecy" (AFM Records - provided by Nordic Metal) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Third album from this Swedish 5 piece. I pretty much like what I hear. We find ourselves in the mid-tempo Swedish melodic power metal, and the music is delivered with a pretty intense feeling. The production on the drums is somehow weak, and that ruins the picture of a perfect CD. The lead singer Freddy Persson, reminds me of a less screaming Daniel Heimann from Lost Horizon, and he is quite unique. The melodies on the album are very cool and well played, and I can't help but make a comparison to some old Mercyful Fate (in the music only). I do believe that Shermann and Denner have had their saying in the guitar development of Michael Aberg and Jake Freden (guitarists). I recommend this album to all power metal lovers out there, a lot more than the over-hyped Lost Horizon / Hammerfall albums. Favorite track: "If We Believe".
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Lars
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NOVEMBRE
"Materia" (Peaceville - provided by VME) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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Novembre are, if my memory serves me right, an Italian band … and no, I'm not gonna hold that against them (hehe) … moulded somewhere over the same scheme as Katatonia, Anathema and occasionally Opeth. Yes, you've figured it out, it's melancholic goth metal with a few hints at alternative rock and small parts of death/doom in it. Not bad, not good - just eternally boring and tragically uninteresting.
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Claus
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NUCLEUS TORN
"Nihil" (Prophecy Productions - provided by Prophecy) - no rating - |
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Nucleus Torn started out as a sideproject back in 1997 but soon turned into a real band. The band is from Switzerland, which I first thought be a very good thing since some of my favourite bands hail from this country (read Coroner and Celtic Frost). The band first released "Nihil" by their own early in 2006 in 500 copies, and they were all sold in a short period of time, which is why Prophecy have decided to re-release it. All of this sounded quite promising, but fact is that Nucleus Torn plays a very avant-garde form of music which can be described as a folk progressive rock act with black metal elements, where the last is VERY limited. They make use of flute, violin, cellos and all the instruments that belongs in folk music, but the use of traditional metal/rock instruments like guitar, drums and bass are quite limited, which makes me doubt as to why this band is promoted inside heavy metal circles, even though there are few moments that are, as mentioned before, black metallish.. The sound on this album is dark and mellow most of the way and draws some heavy references to the Norwegian avant-garde scene and sound like a mixture of White Willow, Kari Rueslåtten, early Ulver and Enslaved and also drawing some musical references to their countrymen Celtic Frost. The band plays a very interesting kind of music, but they just lack the skill of keeping me interested through some of the quite eventless long passages, which I am sure are meant as to create an atmosphere, and while they do succeed, it just bores me to tears at times. "Nihil" is supposed to be the first part of a trilogy, so I am a bit curious as to how the next albums will sound, because "Nihil" is truly unique, but still too weird and I can't help but think that the band hasn't found out in which direction they really want to go. The vocals are not good, and especially the accent with the female singer is dreadful. Anyways, what I am trying to say with this rather confusing review is that Nucleus Torn is a unique folk progressive rock band that has to be heard to understand what I am talking about. I cannot give this band a grade, since I am not sure, as of yet, if I really understand this. I am still in doubt whether if I like this album or not. And no matter what, they deserve to be rewarded for being unique in such a crowded musical world.
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Mads
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