Reviews
\r\nSammath is a dutch band and this is their third release. Their music could be described as militant black metal and the lineup is consisted only by two people, J. Kruitwagen on guitars, vocals, bass and Koos Bos on drums. "Dodengang", as the cover with heads and tanks and the song titles let us assume, it’s about topics of war and death.
Probably I’m not the most suitable man to review the German’s Craving, due too my absence for the Black / Death metal scene for the last couple of years, but their sound sounds familiar to me.
\r\nThe “Demo 2006” is a mixture of Classic blast beat black metal, death metal and thrash metal (German scene). The think that really impressed me is that there are no keys in this CD, the keys that have transformed the glorious black metal scene to Goth / soundtrack metal crap. (Every one of us knows these bands)
Dug Pinnick is the bassist / singer of King’s X, an under ratted band by the fans and the media as well.
\r\nThe Second\r\nOfficial release from the Dutch Delphian entitled “Unravel” which album has\r\nbeen released some time ago. So, their music belongs to the label “I play\r\nwhatever I can bun I’m female fronted band.) They tried to be progressive but\r\nthey had a major failure on this effort. The repeated so – called riffs just\r\nassure me about the luck of inspiration that the band has. Also I noticed that\r\nprobably the vocals are in a different tone than the other instruments.
\r\nThis German Hamburg-based band comes forth with its third release, entitled "Schemen". An exceptional most of the times black metal output with a spooky, hair-raising atmosphere and an inferior sound.
\r\nFrom the very first song of the cd, I thought I was traveling in a time machine about twenty years ago, when there were too many albums based on 3-4 accords and a typical production, which most of the bands nowadays avoid even in their demo cds. Hemoragy comes from France and they play old school metal, with “dusty” riffs/Sodom-like thrashy parts and Motorhead-like vocals. Even the artwork refers to another decade and it just fits perfectly with the album. Surely, there are many fans of this “genre”, and I think they will just love it. \r\n
\r\nAfter “Uncreation” which was their debut album, Benedictum is back with a new release. The band consists of five members and comes from California, and some fans may already be aware of them due to the impressive covers of “Mob Rules” and “Heaven and Hell” from their debut album, which can also be found on youtube as live performances. Raw heavy metal, incredible guitar riffs, fierce rhythm section, and astonishing vocals by Veronica Freeman. Describe what, the powerful and passionate voice, or how much expressive it is?
\r\nDecayed (formely Decay) comes from Portugal and the band was born in August 1990 playing at the time a mix of Black, Thrash and Speed Metal. After a demo ‘…Thus Revealed’ in 1992 and a 7”EP ‘The Seven Seals’, they released their splendid debut CD ‘The Conjuration of the Southern Circle’, which demonstrated a sound advancement further into the realm of Black Metal and being the greatest Black Metal release ever made in Portugall.
\r\nNecromantia were (and still are) one\r\nexceptional chapter in the Greek Metal Scene. They were formed back in 1989 and\r\never since they didn’t need to sound like anyone else. All their albums present\r\nsomething different, yet with the common feature of extreme darkness. It’s been\r\n7 years since the band released it’s last album (IV: Malice) and 2007 is the\r\nyear for their next step with "The Sound Of Lucifer Storming Heaven".\r\nThe new album was released through Dockyard 1, the new record\r\nlabel of the band.
The Demo “The Day Of The Raven” is the first demo / promo by the Italians, Black Raven. I thing that is widely known that almost every effort made by Italian Bands is at least considerable, just like this Demo Cd. The Music style is just Heavy Metal, nothing more, and nothing less. Five Tracks of solid and pure heavy metal, that in specific parts needs to be more improved, but in general is a very good effort. “The Day Of The Raven” seems like an oasis in the dessert of atmospheric etc metal.