9 New Reviews 4/14/2013
Svart Crown- Profane-CD/Digital (Listenable)
So we have a real interesting one here. I would call this Dark metal just but the mix of sounds that Svart Crown is presenting the listener. At the heart of it all is a strong mix of Post Black metal and Progressive Death Metal with a very bombastic Melodic element going on but the over all tone is that more minor tones that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. There is a complexity here that you only hear with bands that dare to expand beyond the traditional and verge into the unknown. This is the direction bands like Emperor ,Dark Funeral or even Ulver were taking before they either ended or moved on to less metallic pastures. Svart Crown have a more going on in a single song the some bands have on a complete album. I'm going to use the term that I use from time to time this is thinking man's metal as it takes from the Ambient, Industrial and Avantgarde to make this one hell of a massive POST METAL RELEASE!!!!
http://listenable.net/
Carved- Dies Irae-CD/ Digital (Bakerteam)
Dear Bakerteam I'm in the process of reviewing the Carved album Dies Irae and the band seems to have a bit of multiple personalities going on here at times they want to be Testament then they seem to have a strong live for Iron maiden and Manowar and in same song they seem to have found a love for hardcore and 90's Earache/ Nuke Blast Death metal all at the same time. I swear if Volbeat was a death metal band they would be called Carved . They should write a thank you to Rob Flynn of Machine head as they take a large stylistic side from them. Is there a genre Symphonic Power Death Thrash ( I didn't think so...) Thank you for another band blurring the lines to a point that Metal is so wide that almost any band can use the term now ... Carved you talents are just the beginning and I really look forward to future on how you will impress us all.
Birth Ad- I Blame you- CD/ Digital ( Unspeakable Axe)
Thank you Dark Descent for creating this sub label you are taking me back to late 80's/ early 90's with Punk and Metalcore . If you a fan of DRI, MOD, Mucky Pup Leeway, Madball and Cromags this is the album for you short and to the point track with the pissed off side of crust punks and Thrash metal damn this album just make me want to circle pit and throw on my hoodie and skate shorts. There is nothing more to say here . Get this or continue to feel dead inside this is just what the doctor ordered.
http://www.darkdescentrecords.com
Gravewurm- Infernal Minions-CD/ LP ( Hells Headbangers)
I guess I'm just not Kult because this sounds like a really bad demo tape that was recorded on a boom box at a rehearsal or off a bad soundboard of a live show . Maybe that is the point. I love raw thrashing black metal but I just don't get the point of this album at all. Hell's Headbangers has some killer releases I guess this is lost on me . I don't want to listen to this after 2 tracks. Next please..
http://www.hellsheadbangers.com/
Spiritual Beggars- Earth Blues-CD/ Digital (Inside out Music)
I'm going to be very up front. I normally hate this kind of retro rock but damn is Spiritual Beggars are not catchy as all get out. If your into Deep Purple, Hendrix, Monster Magnet, Little Caesar and more modern bands like Badlands, Liquid Jesus and Volbeat. Love the 70's arena rock elements going on too. At times I want to say they sound like the best parts of Journey and Foreigner . So glad I check out this epic slab of great rock and roll. I really need to hear more by them but with members of Carcass and Arch enemy I should have given them more a change. I know they are tagged Stoner rock but they are so much more and really have more of a hard rock arena element going on then stoner as its not fuzzed out is just epic and massive. Love this release really love it .
http://www.insideoutmusic.com/
Heaven Shall Burn-Veto-CD/Digital ( Century Media)
Blackened Death when done well can not be touched my any style think of bands like Marduk, Hypocrisy and Dissection then add elements of full on Tech Metal like Meshuggah , Gojira and The Red Chord. Heaven Shall Burn is just this band and the music is uplifting as power and destructive. At times all I hear is Gothenburg Metal worship from Dark Tranquality and Soilwork.. Century media as massive sound and created release. This is the way metal is suppose to sound and be produced. The melodic elements with brutal vocals and wall of drumming is just driving my ears into over drive. They even add the small electronic elements into this that all Modern Death metal does these day. Heaven Shall Burn is not retro or cloneish what they are is remembering a time when music was a spark in their lives and making sure the next generation gets that as well HORNS UP !!!!!!!
http://centurymedia.com/
Woe- Withdrawal-CD / Digital (Candlelight)
Woe is one of those bands folk they really give me chills in the Post Black metal/ Avant metal scene I know they feel they are something a cut apart and I have to agree. This is the same way bands like Dawn from Sweden and Fen and Code from the UK do as well. There is clearly something in the minds of this band that just terrifies me and excites me all at the same time. Chris Grigg mixed the elements that just work for me Post Rock, Avant Dark metal and USBM in a way that you feel that this is more theatre of the mind then just an album of music and words. This is a long form DVD waiting to be made. Genius and Madness are brothers eternal and Mr Grigg crossed both realms on Withdrawal. Maybe because Chris actually has a band this time out and its not just session members Woe has taken their sound to the next level I can not really put my finger on it. Woe again has a very indie punk spirit to in the way its arranged sometimes you need to let the chaos shine and with this album Woe is one of the best experimental black metal acts in America if not the world today. I respectfully say fantastic work Woe fantastic.....
http://candlelightrecordsusa.com/
Hessian- Manegarmr-CD / Digital (Southern Lord)
Southern Lord so we meet again and its another album of sounds of a time a feel is lost and that is the War/Death metal sound. Yes Hessian you love Entombed, Dismember, Bolt Thrower and Panzer Division . We get it , We love it, We want more. Southern lord is becoming to me what Earache and Nuclear blast were in the mid 90's the home to bombastic, Grind, Death and Hardcore/ Extreme Punk. Were Southern Lord was a Doom/Black metal home early on they have found this sound and style and its working for them . There are Black and Doom elements in Hessian so it all fits like a puzzle but War/Battle metal is what this band is . You can hear the rockets and tanks rolling over a scorched earth with Manegarmr. I look for to more of this band and to see what Southern lord has up its dirty long sleeves...
http://southernlord.com/
Morgengrau- Extrinsic Pathway-CD/ Digital ( Blind God)
Old school Death metal and Morgengrau are not screwing around. There are no frills here just hammering riffs, manic drumming, low end bass rumbles and Guttural female vocals that will make you tear up to remember when death metal was new and just down right skull crushing. This is not the ultra low burp metal variety. Extrinsic Pathway has melodic passages and stellar solo the remind me of bands like Brutality, Aspyx, Grave and Death... Morgengrau even have the 90's Death metal production that you feel in love with on Incantation and Immolation albums the lower end turned up and the guitars muddy a bit just to make the album sound a little darker then it should and could. Death metal is back with bands like Bloodsoaked and Morgengrau and its good to see.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Morgengrau/112541632142818
Gravewurm- Infernal Minions-CD/ LP ( Hells Headbangers)
I guess I'm just not Kult because this sounds like a really bad demo tape that was recorded on a boom box at a rehearsal or off a bad soundboard of a live show . Maybe that is the point. I love raw thrashing black metal but I just don't get the point of this album at all. Hell's Headbangers has some killer releases I guess this is lost on me . I don't want to listen to this after 2 tracks. Next please..
http://www.hellsheadbangers.com/
Spiritual Beggars- Earth Blues-CD/ Digital (Inside out Music)
I'm going to be very up front. I normally hate this kind of retro rock but damn is Spiritual Beggars are not catchy as all get out. If your into Deep Purple, Hendrix, Monster Magnet, Little Caesar and more modern bands like Badlands, Liquid Jesus and Volbeat. Love the 70's arena rock elements going on too. At times I want to say they sound like the best parts of Journey and Foreigner . So glad I check out this epic slab of great rock and roll. I really need to hear more by them but with members of Carcass and Arch enemy I should have given them more a change. I know they are tagged Stoner rock but they are so much more and really have more of a hard rock arena element going on then stoner as its not fuzzed out is just epic and massive. Love this release really love it .
http://www.insideoutmusic.com/
Heaven Shall Burn-Veto-CD/Digital ( Century Media)
Blackened Death when done well can not be touched my any style think of bands like Marduk, Hypocrisy and Dissection then add elements of full on Tech Metal like Meshuggah , Gojira and The Red Chord. Heaven Shall Burn is just this band and the music is uplifting as power and destructive. At times all I hear is Gothenburg Metal worship from Dark Tranquality and Soilwork.. Century media as massive sound and created release. This is the way metal is suppose to sound and be produced. The melodic elements with brutal vocals and wall of drumming is just driving my ears into over drive. They even add the small electronic elements into this that all Modern Death metal does these day. Heaven Shall Burn is not retro or cloneish what they are is remembering a time when music was a spark in their lives and making sure the next generation gets that as well HORNS UP !!!!!!!
http://centurymedia.com/
Woe- Withdrawal-CD / Digital (Candlelight)
Woe is one of those bands folk they really give me chills in the Post Black metal/ Avant metal scene I know they feel they are something a cut apart and I have to agree. This is the same way bands like Dawn from Sweden and Fen and Code from the UK do as well. There is clearly something in the minds of this band that just terrifies me and excites me all at the same time. Chris Grigg mixed the elements that just work for me Post Rock, Avant Dark metal and USBM in a way that you feel that this is more theatre of the mind then just an album of music and words. This is a long form DVD waiting to be made. Genius and Madness are brothers eternal and Mr Grigg crossed both realms on Withdrawal. Maybe because Chris actually has a band this time out and its not just session members Woe has taken their sound to the next level I can not really put my finger on it. Woe again has a very indie punk spirit to in the way its arranged sometimes you need to let the chaos shine and with this album Woe is one of the best experimental black metal acts in America if not the world today. I respectfully say fantastic work Woe fantastic.....
http://candlelightrecordsusa.com/
Hessian- Manegarmr-CD / Digital (Southern Lord)
Southern Lord so we meet again and its another album of sounds of a time a feel is lost and that is the War/Death metal sound. Yes Hessian you love Entombed, Dismember, Bolt Thrower and Panzer Division . We get it , We love it, We want more. Southern lord is becoming to me what Earache and Nuclear blast were in the mid 90's the home to bombastic, Grind, Death and Hardcore/ Extreme Punk. Were Southern Lord was a Doom/Black metal home early on they have found this sound and style and its working for them . There are Black and Doom elements in Hessian so it all fits like a puzzle but War/Battle metal is what this band is . You can hear the rockets and tanks rolling over a scorched earth with Manegarmr. I look for to more of this band and to see what Southern lord has up its dirty long sleeves...
http://southernlord.com/
Morgengrau- Extrinsic Pathway-CD/ Digital ( Blind God)
Old school Death metal and Morgengrau are not screwing around. There are no frills here just hammering riffs, manic drumming, low end bass rumbles and Guttural female vocals that will make you tear up to remember when death metal was new and just down right skull crushing. This is not the ultra low burp metal variety. Extrinsic Pathway has melodic passages and stellar solo the remind me of bands like Brutality, Aspyx, Grave and Death... Morgengrau even have the 90's Death metal production that you feel in love with on Incantation and Immolation albums the lower end turned up and the guitars muddy a bit just to make the album sound a little darker then it should and could. Death metal is back with bands like Bloodsoaked and Morgengrau and its good to see.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Morgengrau/112541632142818
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