Reviews
The Maltese doom metal outfit Nomad Son, has been formed under the guidance of the Bass player of the Veterans doomsters Forsaken, Albert Bell with the addition of the members of the Heavy Rock band Frenzy Mono. The quintet started as a jamming project but later on became a proper band and now they release their debut album “First Light, through the Italian Label Metal On Metal.
Tomas Lindberg has never let me down. Along with Kristian Wahlin and Johan Osterberg, they created probably the best Great Deceiver album till now. Far from the noisy, experimental sounds of their first days, they now deliver a great combination of d-beat hardcore, Swedish melodies and metal aggression. Great vocals, Tomas’ lung as expected, ultra heavy guitars and impressive songs in their entity. Imagine At The Gates, Isis, Kylesa and Skitsystem jamming in a room together! Reminded me a lot of the early days of Darkest Hour, with a more “progressive” aesthetic.
hero Destroyed come from Pittsburgh to kick us off our place. Their debut for Relapse does much more than that. Stepping on what Mastodon created with “Lifesblood” they take metal one step further. Certainly a good choice for the label, Hero Destroyed seem to be our new hope. But back to the music now. What we have in this ep is sharp breakdowns, ultra crunching vocals, great bass playing, nice and –in your face- guitars. A very nice combination of aggression and technical parts. Personally, it reminds me of the first days of Converge and Soilent Green. Their start is good.
\r\nΑ strange mixture of rock and metal elements, with lots of melodies and also an important difference from the classical forms of the two previously mentioned musical scenes; that’s the general idea of what we are about to hear. The history of band begins in 1999 in Norway as a one-man project, while the line-up is completed a little later and the group has a full composition. With a few changes following, we have the release of the album “Solitude 24/7”. The title of course is enough in order to give someone an idea about the mood of the album.
My first contact with the Greek outfit Heathendom was at Up The Hammers III Festival. I dare to admit that despite the difficulties the faced on stage, (we lost the lead guitar for a while) Heathendom, was one of the bands that really impressed me. I recall that I was impressed by two different facts, the vocals and the riffage of them. So the time has come for the band to release their first album, “Nescience” on the Italian label on Metal On Metal records.
\r\nThe Mystery… A group from Germany with a new album (I think it’s their fifth) and 15 new tracks in it. Although they exist since 1996 I had never heard any of their previous works, so I cannot say anything about them. But now that I have listened to ‘’Soulcathcer’’ I think I will spend more time to learn things about this band and I advice you to do the same. \r\n
\r\nA really pleasant surprise and the most appropriate way to start the day under the best conditions. Compared to the albums that I have received lately, this one is really something. It is melodic, it has heavy outbursts, hard rock background, and progressive passages, all through a gloomy mood to which the lyrics contribute a lot as well of course. In other words a musical direction based on “fresh” approaches and ideas that which escape the classic definition of certain words, but we have to use in order to describe with words the enchanting atmosphere of some albums.
The following release after “Lifestream Corrosion” for the Finnish black metal outfit Gloria Morti is at last a fact. The album comes under the title “Eryx” and is only the second full length release of the band, despite the fact that its existence begins back to 1999.
I ve been always believe that Italy is a great source of metal bands, and with such releases I believe that this is a fact for true. So, Silenzio is an outfit from Pavia and their first demo, “Demo 2007” really impressed me.
\r\nThe Italians play progressive metal in the vain of Shadow Gallery, Enchant and early 90’s progressive metal bands. Very technical playing, but not boring all the way, with many great melodies and melodic vocal lines, the vocals doesn’t sound like the most of the Italian bands.
Through these last couple of months the Finnish Doom Metal outfit Reverend Bizarre despite their break up, they meet once again in the studio to record some new material and cover songs, for a “packet” of new releases, one of these releases is this split 12’’ along with the best doom / stoner outfit of our time, the British Electric Wizard.