January 2007 Reviews

AHAB: THE CALL OF THE WRETCHED SEA-NAPALM RECORDS
The similarities between Ahab and another Moby Dick loving quartet start and abruptly stop at the band’s moniker and subject matter. Musically Ahab are an atmospheric evoking Doom crew with a penchant for a snail’s pace. Not at all limiting, ‘The Call of the Wretched Sea’ provides enough variations on a theme to keep all fans of things extreme rowing along. This is heavy as all fuck and just a good album, totally looking forward to hearing more. www.napalmrecords.com Ray

AMORPHIS: ECLIPSE-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
Energized with new vocalist Tomi Joutsen, the psychedelic hipsters just evolve and endure: the clear vocals, naturally melancholic/whiny, contrast well with the growls used sporadically. This is a) stoner rock for metallers, b) classic rock-influenced metal, c) 70s-organ/keyboards-drenched flowery bluesy rock metal or d) all of the above. Things are back on track, despite the singer change. The guitar sound is recognizably theirs and the old rock/organ/70s feeling is pretty unique in their craft. www.amorphis.net www.nuclearblastusa.com Mauricio Araniva

BABYLON MYSTERY ORCHESTRA: THE GREAT APOSTASY
Subtitled “A Conspiracy of Satanic Christianity,” is a concept intelligently worked out and critiques religion as control. Says, “produced, written, arranged and performed by Sidney Allen Johnson” and is an interesting release, especially since it is the work of one person. The music is dark, in mood and in subject matter: an eerie mid-paced, monastery-like atmosphere. Whereas many bands criticize religiosity and its institutions with lyrics reduced to simplicity, Mr. Johnson has done some history research. Not really goth rock, not really dark metal, but has that general feel: the vocals are sung in a low, male tone and the guitars and drums are mid-paced, not too complex, driven more by mood than showmanship. www.babylonmysteryorchestra.com Mauricio Araniva

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY: SHOT TO HELL-ROADRUNNER RECORDS
Shot to shit, anyone? This is a horrible, horrible album, I can’t even believe I made it through one listen, fuck, make it stop! I know how bad professional song writers are looked at in the music world, but Zakk needs to hook up with one. This album sounds thrown together, yeah so do a few other Zakk albums, but this one is begging for some help or quality control.
www.zakkwylde.com =Tom=

BLEEDING KANSAS: DEAD UNDER DÉCOR-ABACUS RECORDINGS
“Hardcore with a nasty twist” is the sound: screamy vocals, which may annoy some and the chugging breakdowns. Actually, the songs are one big, winding, twisted breakdown with some pauses and mellower moments. Considerably heavy at times, but still sounding hardcore, this is remarkably rock ‘n’ rolly. www.bleedingkansas.net Mauricio Araniva

BRAND NEW SIN: TEQUILA-CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS
I never really gave Brand New Sin the time of day. The stuff I heard was always a little short of being good and they were miles away from being original. A friend of mine was super into ‘Recipe For Disaster’ even went as far as to make me a comp with a few of their songs on it. Those grew on me, and now comes this. ‘Tequila’ just sounds a million miles from what I remember them sounding like. The production suits their sound (raw, rock with good Metal) just right, not too slick but then not lacking anything either. As good as the songs are and believe me there’s some true ass kickers here, the thing that holds it all together is Vocalist Joe Altier. Pipes born of 70’s Rock radio Altier’s swagger and throw down just kept me interested the whole record. “Old”, “Did Me Wrong” and “Motormeth” are good starting points for anyone who likes to FUCKING ROCK! Congrats B.N.S., well fucking done. www.brandnewsin.com =Tom=

BY BLOOD ALONE: ETERNALLY-JERICHO HILLS RECORDS
In this four-song, 22-minute release this goth rock band presents an interplay between two main elements: mellow soft rock and upbeat rock. The group, from Massachusetts, serves a debut that references The Gathering, Lacuna Coil, etc. The sound quality is not “big time,” but decent, like a good demo. People liking to find out about lesser-known goth rock are probably the most interested demographic. www.bybloodalone.com Mauricio Araniva

CACTUS: V-ESCAPI MUSIC
Long story short, I had no idea of this band before reading about them in Classic Rock sometime a year or two ago. Johnny Vomit was kind enough to hook me up with a few of their back catalog so at least I had some background on these guys before I hit play. If you didn’t, I’m sure there are some crazy reviews of ‘V’ floating around. With ‘V’ you get a group of guys who still got it, the ability to get together and play the style of ROCK that gets em off. It’s definitely classic in sound but modern as far as sound. The two meet somewhere in between to create a foot stomper, head bobber and mostly beer drinker kind of rock. Essential? Well depends on your love of classic rock-n-roll. Definitely quality shit no matter how you look at it. www.cactusrocks.net =Tom=

CELESTIIAL: DESOLATE NORTH-BINDRUNE RECORDINGS
Some music gets slower and slower until it’s a downright slow-motion-turtle-sloth pace. The vocals are guttural, but they are not aggressive. Instead they sound like they are far, far away in a cave in the distant past in a land from prehistory. The percussion (drum machine?) plays slowly enough to allow time to go buy and cook a turkey, return and you won’t have missed a beat. This is an exaggeration, but only slightly. Imagine: the sound of the beach (the intermittent waves = “drums”) accompanied by some occasional distant guttural vocals. The songs: there are pauses in between the long periods of cave/beach/forest death doom sounds, but it all basically sounds very similar. http://crionicmind.org/bindrune Mauricio Araniva

CELTIC FROST: MONOTHEIST-CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS
I’ve been through the wringer with this album. First I hated it, then I loved it and then I saw it live! Since then I’ve accepted it as a full on victory for Celtic Frost! While they perhaps invented the weirdo vibe within their music since the beginning, ‘Monotheist’ takes the cake as far as creating a new dimension for the album and the album only. While it seems I’m saying the greatest things about the album, that’s not to say there’s a few things that simply do not click with me. Those songs are dead center of the track listing and really seem to go on forever. However if you make it through that you’re rewarded towards the end. It picks up pace and escapes into the neverworld. I don’t know too much about bands like Bauhaus or Dead Can Dance so I couldn’t tell you if ‘Monotheist’ takes things from those bands, but if this is all original from the mind of Tom Fischer, the next album will be purely epic. www.celticfrost.com =Tom=

CHEMIKILLER: EVIL SPEAK-AUTOPSY KITCHEN RECORDS
Even the most ardent of fans would only last a listen or two to the debut Chemikiller album. It’s not a musical issue as much as a vocal one. Lifelong Metal maniac Ramrod is the one man killing machine behind Chemikiller and unfortunately with one man bands, they do the vocals too. I know I’m not even telling Ramrod something he doesn’t know, but it’s just a harder listen than most due to the volume of his vokillz and their sound too. The music is definitely mid 80’s prime underground inspired, Mfate, Venom, Metallica etc. Musically very cool.
www.autopsykitchen.com =Tom=

COMMUNIC: WAVES OF VISUAL DECAY-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
These seven compositions, adding up to almost an hour, seamlessly cover the broad points that encompass traditional heavy metal, polished thrash and progressive metal: the guitar work is, most of all, clear and crisp (not downtuned/chugging) with riff/shred moments abundant, as well as nicer, slower when necessary. The singing is classy, but not “metal cheesy” nor annoyingly high. It has a certain elegance that makes it refreshing. Metal from Norway that is talented, progressive, complex, with longer songs, thrashy, a bit melodic (not “happy melodic”) and still headbanging. Note: the riffs, and especially the singing, do recall early Nevermore. www.communic.com Mauricio Araniva

COULDRON: FOUR WINDS-SELF RELEASED 5 TRACKS
Back in 2004 I was floored, simply crushed by the debut offering from Couldron. I remember it like it was yesterday as I love being blown away by a band I’ve never heard before. Well two years down the line I’m sitting here and wondering if I’ve got déjà vu because here we go again. ‘Four Winds’ picks up where the S/T left off, it’s dense in delivery and the apocalyptic vibe still there, this band is really putting together some quality Metal. Similar in some ways to the classic Godflesh colder sound, Couldron definitely mix things up as their stuff while rooted in the Doom aesthetic is anything but simplistic or predictable. www.couldron.com =Tom=

CRONIAN: TERRA-CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS
Made up of two people, Øystein G. Brun and Vintersorg, both from Borknagar ( Mr. V. is in, like, 800 other bands), but this project does not sound like B., just to clarify. Guitars, bass, programmed drumming and lots of “symphonics” result in a slow to midpaced endeavor. Spacy at times, atmospheric often and with V’s unique vocals, clean and growled, the material is pretty mellow. If you don’t mind it slow and moody, the release is explorable. Remember: no blasting speed this time. www.cronian.com Mauricio Araniva

DAGOBA: WHAT HELL IS ABOUT-SEASON OF MIST RECORDS
From the first song, it’s plain this bunch from France loves four bands: Pantera, Sepultura, Fear Factory and Machine Head. The guitar is chunky, chuggy and the vocals definitely in the Chaos A.D./Cavalera style. For this reason, it has not yet evolved enough to find its own sound. There’s some electronica in the background and clear vocals, making it pretty trendy for the younger audience not too familiar with the group’s influences. www.dagobaonline.com Mauricio Araniva

DAYLIGHT DIES: DISMANTLING DEVOTION-CANDLELIGHT RECORDS
The focus of these eight compositions, lasting more than 50 minutes in total, is general somberness. These requiems, to their advantage, are not so slow, but run at a steady, middle course highlighting the band’s vision of melancholy and despondency shrouded in dark melodies. The tracks are carried by pleasantly gray, easy to recall notes; the drumming keeps active company to the guitar; the vocals, despite being “growled,” though not wrathfully, are appropriate and fit the funereal aesthetic (occasional clean singing appears). This is probably the form of deathly doom with the widest appeal due to midpaced and still gloomily song-orientation. www.daylightdies.com Mauricio Araniva

DEADHOLE: CURSE OF THE GHOUL-DEMO/ACID VICTIM RECORDS
Sounds like death metal, but this copy is defective. It plays only an instant from song number one. The others don’t play. www.freewebs.com/acidvictim Mauricio Araniva

DEAD TO FALL: THE PHOENIX THRONE-VICTORY RECORDS
Whoa! What happened to these guys? Last time I really remember listening to themwas a few years ago on their first Victory album and they were pretty good, nothing ground breaking but totally listenable core type shit. ‘The Phoenix Throne’ is either 1,000 steps forward or 100 depending on what the last album sounded like. This is pretty fucking crazy, not in a lame Dillinger Escape way either. This is more precision like damage versus the haphazard, very effective and complex without being too “thoughty”. Hard to compare their sound to anyone, it’s a little barky, but totally fitting vocals over some original heavy music. Worth a listen or two for sure. www.deadtofall.com =Tom=

DEATH BREATH: STINKING UP THE NIGHT-RELAPSE RECORDS
When I was younger and obviously a lot dumber I’d have such anger with someone who “sold their scene out” for a different style of music. One of Nihilist/Entombed’s founding members, drummer Nicke Anderson left the band in 1997 and I remember being upset. I thought he was a sell-out or whatever for putting together the Rock-n-Roll band Hellicopters, the more Stooges/MC5 band he’s been in since then. So when the announcement of this Death Breath album hit I was pretty excited. Although I didn’t know if he still had in him, I’m fucking thrilled he does. ‘Stinking Up the Night’ is right out of a Autopsy/Nihilist jam session circa 1989 and has absolutely nothing to do with today’s current Metal scene! For fans of the original Swedish assault, before they pro-tooled their sound, mastered the art of shredding and felt the need to add gasp! Melodic vocals to every fucking song! Pure and unadulterated Death Fucking Metal! After listening to this album I remind myself how funny it is I actually had time to give a fuck about someone doing a different style of music. Oh yeah, if you’re a fan of this album, do yourself a favor and check out the two albums by Murder Squad. =Tom=

DECAPITATED: ORGANIC HALLUCINOSIS-EARACHE RECORDS
There’s no denying the power of the Polish youngsters, fuck, anyone with ears and eyes can attest to their dominance on record and as of late, on stage. ‘Organic Hallucinosis’ is another slab of technical mind blowing Death Metal with little room for experimentation but knows it’s ultimate goal, to destroy. This is the first album featuring new vocalist Covan and if this worried some of you he sounds really good and his vocals are not a huge difference from the previous albums. Musically it’s a mind fuck of riffs and rhythms almost progressive in their chaotic delivery and it’s just a well done record on all fronts. www.earache.com =Tom=

DEICIDE: THE STENCH OF REDEMPTION-EARACHE
Deicide is a tricky one. Legendary in just about every way, the Florida quartet are an extreme band in every sense of the word. And their albums are either extremely good (“s/t”, “Legion”, “Once Upon the Cross”) or extremely bad (“Insineratehymn”, “In Torment In Hell”) no luke warm here. So with news of the Hoffman brothers leaving/quitting I’m not sure anyone thought the best was yet to come from the boys. Well it has! It’s quite shocking to say and pronounce, but this is the best thing this band has done in eleven years! ‘The Stench of Redemption’ is the sound of a band reborn and ultimately possessed to crush. These are words I haven’t used to describe Deicide since 1995 but it’s true. New members Ralph Santolla and Jack Owen bring a musical flair to the band and mesh with rhythm section Steve Ashiem and Glen Benton like they’ve been here since day one. Killer record guys, don’t piss off the new guys and you’ve got several more years of tormenting gods and goddesses alike. Songs like “The Lord’s Sedition” and “Not Of This Earth” are so fucking intense, this is must own American Death Metal. www.earache.com =Tom=

DIECAST: INTERNAL REVOLUTION-CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS
“Here comes the gay part!” Fucking tons of gay shit right here. Killswitch Engayge type stuff all over the fucking place here. Funny, I coulda sworn to have seen Diecast some years ago and they weren’t this weak. I don’t know what I hate worse, the chugga, chugga STOP! Or just all the gay melodic color by numbers? I don’t know shit about Skipknot, but track 2 rips them the fuck off. NEXT. www.bhcdiecast.com =Tom=

DIRTY RIG: ROCK DID IT-ESCAPI MUSIC
When Dirty Rig released their debut album a few years ago it was a solid release but listen after listen it was totally missing something. The songs were there and the live show was fucking going off, but the “X” factor wasn’t there and without it this band was going to just disappear. Well it’s a whole new ballgame as they’ve returned with an even better collection of songs and a new singer, ex-Warrior Soul headcase Kory Clarke. The Jack Daniels soaked vocal chords of Clarke add the final ingredient to the Rig and with any luck it’ll be all uphill from here. ‘Rock Did It” comes at you every way possible from the balls out of “Suck It” to the Stones-ish “Just A Star” to the hook laden “Throw Down” this album just kicks ass. “Cities, Scenes & Thieves” another one of my favorite tracks is just shit I’m not hearing from anyone now-a-days. Like the debut, “Rock Did It” comes with a slamming live DVD, what are you waiting for? www.dirtyrig.com =Tom=

EDGUY: ROCKET RIDE-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
A division of moods of this “midpaced-heavy-metal-with-hard-rock-moments” is as follows. The midpaced but rocking, terrific tracks: “Sacrifice,” “Rocket Ride,” “The Asylum” and “Out of Vogue.” They will please those enjoying albums before the German stars distanced themselves from power metal with “Hellfire Club”. The “big time rock”: “Wasted Time,” “Save Me” (a ballad) and “Superheroes” are updated versions of Whitesnake, Def Leppard, etc. They are very poppy. “Matrix” is midpaced hard rock, not really metal. Not bad, but ultimately suffers from boringness because it lacks energy. “Catch of the Century” is upbeat, poppy, rocking glam. The goofy moments are: “Trinidad” which is silly rock, like Aerosmith, Van Halen, etc. The last number is the unfortunately-named “Fucking with Fire,” more glam. www.edguy.nu Mauricio Araniva

ENFORSAKEN: SINNERS INTUITION-CRASH MUSIC
For reasons unknown, nothing Enforsaken has released has hit me as hard as their 2001 EP “Embraced By Misery.” This is not to say their material has been sub par or anything, but maybe it’s something else altogether. Maybe it was like seeing a support band kill with a 25 minute set and then boring you to death when they headline and play for an hour. Less is more? Anyway, sadly ‘Sinners Intuition’ is the bands swan song and it’s a shame. Opening the album with a potent 1-2 punch is “Witness To The Fall“ and “Blacklist Assassin” two strong as hell songs that set the tone for the entire album. Melodic Death/thrash is a crowded fucking place these days and if you don’t live on the road I’m not sure you’re going to make a dent in the scene. Enforsaken may be gone for now, but they leave a small body of work that one day may get the recognition it deserves. Let’s hope so. www.enforsaken.com =Tom=

THE EVERSCATHED: RAZORS OF UNREST-OPEN GRAVE RECORDS
You know how you can throw on some Swedish DM and know the second it’s put on it’s Swedish
Death Metal? Well that’s the way I am with Southside Chicago Death Metal. The Everscathed are a new name to most but within feature several veterans of the Chicago area scene and what they deliver is pretty classic. Death Metal with straight forward Heavy Metal aesthetics delivered by one of the better natural Death voices you’ll hear this year, not at all overbearing or lame, I think they’re worth a listen. Song wise The Everscathed definitely come from the early 90’s era and throw together some well written material throughout these ten songs, which all sound really good together almost like a concept album. “Halted Glory”, “Wounds Of Confusion” and “Surgical Theater” are the meat of this album and show some cool, almost progressive ragers. It’s cool, don’t expect it to reinvent the wheel or blow your head off and I think you’ll fucking dig it. www.theeverscathed.com =Tom=

GRAVE: AS RAPTURE COMES-CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS
I don’t think anyone in 1991 was saying “can you imagine these guys in 2006” but holy fucking shit….if they did they’d be right. You should, make that NEED to hear this record. Grave deliver blow after blow of pure Swedish Death, this is truly the sound of the apocalypse! “Battle Of Eden”, “Burn”, “By Demons Bred” are just massive compositions of Metallic proportions. Killer shit guys, very impressive, this rules! www.grave.se

GRENOUER: TRY
These three songs show that these men from Russia are not out of the loop with whatever is cool at the moment. They say that they used to play “brutal death metal” when that was popular. Now, they demonstrate that they have been listening to bands with techno, breakdowns and chuggy sounds. Moshy at times, emo at other moments and chugging along often, the group does what they do in an ok manner. Inevitably, the music responds to whatever particular trend is stronger and reflects those influences in its output. www.grenouer.com Mauricio Araniva

THE HAUNTED: THE DEAD EYE-CENTURY MEDIA
I would never be mistaken as the biggest fan of The Haunted. Over the years I can count on one hand the better than average songs I heard from the band and just could not get into many of their albums. ‘The Dead Eye’ is the follow up to their much talked about ‘REvolveR’ as that was their first foray into a more subdued structure. ‘The Dead Eye’ continues along this path but to my ears, succeeds on many levels, all I can say is it’s about time. It’s about time they ditched the Slayer-wanna be Thrash. I think the band knew they’re capable of much more and prove it again and again on ‘The Dead Eye’. Melodic musings by Peter Dolving have never sounded better as the band nails more than their fair share of impressive moments. www.the-haunted.com =Tom=

I: BETWEEN TWO WORLDS-NUCLEAR BLAST
Let’s get right to it…I’m not impressed. In fact, I think had Immortal not called it quits a few years ago they would’ve arrived at something very close to ‘Between Two Worlds’ on their own. There was no “need” for the group to disband only to return with a different name with much hoopla. ‘Between Two Worlds’ is just another blackenedeath-n-roll album featuring “elite” names and sure it’s above average music but there’s a LOT of above average bands around. =Tom=

JOHNNY VOMIT: EXTREME CHAMPIONSHIP DRINKING-NGS RECORDS
When someone mentions a Chicago drinking institution some may bring up Harry Caray’s or Mother’s or even the Exit but the first name that pops into my mind is JOHNNY VOMIT! In existence for decades it seems to have taken that long for the band to be captured properly on tape and it’s about fucking time! Johnny Vomit is Chicago’s answer to any band who truly don’t give a fuck about anything other than having a good time. Similar in ethics as legendary bands like Murphy’s Law and the Mentors, JV play no frills Metallic Punk with lyrics straight out of an alcohol induced blackout weekend. You know the ones, a bag of this a bottle of that a case of those and a box of rubbers...yeah, well if you’re headed out for some fun like that, this is your soundtrack. Musically this is the best the band has ever sounded, recorded by Chicago heavyweight Sanford Parker, ‘Extreme Championship Drinking’ accomplishes the goal of having a kick ass album but without losing the essential vibe. Songs like “Bottom Feeder”, “Plastic Vac Bac Girl”, “What The Fuck”, “Flophouse”, “Fuck” and “Hippieocracy” and perhaps my favorite “Breadbag” all prove the lyrical slant may be “light hearted” but this is a dangerous band no question about it. www.johnnyvomit.net or www.ngsrecords.com =Tom=

JUNGLE ROT: WAR ZONE-PAVEMENT MUSIC
I’ve been a fan of this band for well over 10 years now so I’m always glad to get to hear new shit by them. By now they’ve become almost an institution in the Mid-West Death Metal scene, they’ve been around forever and have always preserved throughout all the trends and ups and downs the business has thrown at them. So with that being said I’m happy as hell to report ‘War Zone’ is 100% Jungle Rot. Death Metal from the early 90’s delivered with balls out intensity and of course those catchy fucking JR riffs. If you’ve never heard the band but somehow have an opinion of them, check out tracks like “Savage Rite”, “Cut In Two”, “Ready For War” and hear what they’re capable of. Killer nod to the old school with a revamped “Killing Spree” closes out another slab of pure Death Metal from a band that just won’t quit. www.junglerot.net =Tom=

KATATONIA: THE GREAT COLD DISTANCE-PEACEVILLE RECORDS
The problem: this has constant interruptions in the music. In each song, sometimes even during the chorus, so when the vocalist is actually singing, a voice interrupts to say, “You are listening to the song (insert title) the forthcoming Katatonia album The Great Cold Distance.” This happens at least twice during the tracks to mutilate, interrupt and silence by a male voice talking, cutting in and intruding. It’s difficult to imagine that musicians would appreciate the presentation of their art in this form. www.katatonia.com Mauricio Araniva

KREAGAN: THREE SONG DEMO
“Wish” is a rock ballad supposed to make you cry. The Massachusetts group has assimilated well glam, such as Skid Row and Poison. The other two songs are more traditional heavy metal, for fans of 80s Iron Maiden sweet-guitar melodies. Good, especially for fans of old school 80s traditional hard glam rock. www.kreagan.net Mauricio Araniva

KRISIUN: ASSASSINATION- CENTURY MEDIA
Holy shit! This, my friends is DEATH METAL. Brazil’s pride of all things extreme prove even old dogs can learn new tricks as it’s apparent ‘AssassiNation’ is the best album of their career. Yeah, those are strong words as these guys have given us mind blowing releases like ‘Black Force Domain’ and ‘Conquerors of Armageddon’, as much as those albums kick ass, there’s something so, just devastating about ‘AssassiNation’. While the world was watching the latest color- by-numbers Swedish Metal act get more attention that a tit flashing Hollywood whore, the Krisiun brothers were growing as songwriters. There’s so many moments of this disc where Krisiun seem to effortlessly blend their jaw dropping speed with some of the catchiest, yet extreme as fuck, parts. I can’t break it down song by song, this is a bit of a relic in the world of Death Metal, a full album where each song is as good as the last and there’s no compromise in sight. It’s funny. I used to lump Krisiun in with bands like AngelCorpse, Hate Eternal and their 1,000 mph clone bands with little substance other than sheer speed. ‘AssassiNation’ is a listening experience as it shows the World how it’s done. To The Death! www.krisuin.br =Tom=

MAROON: WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE-CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS
Oriented towards the concert experience with breakdowns often, this hardcore outfit from Germany provides a considerable melodic thrash factor to their expertly performed, if not all too innovative, material characterized by strong dose of double-bass drumming, speedy guitars, shout-growled vocals. In addition, each song has the more melodic aspect, through solos or licks and some cleaner vocals. To top it all off, the breakdowns serve as transitions to a change of pace or are there with an eye towards creating a mosh pit. The breakdowns are pretty formulaic, the songs memorable, plus, the band has a knack for core. www.maroonhate.com Mauricio Araniva

MASTERY: LETHAL LEGACY-SPINERAZOR RECORDS
I’m so far behind in reviewing I’m just now putting pen to paper for ‘Lethal Legacy’ the debut by Mastery. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past year and a half, Mastery are an instrumental band who I believe never found the right singer. Well no real loss here as Mastery are quite the shit when it comes to song writing and performance. They fucking smoke to put it gently! Exodus and Metallica, classic great Metallica does come to mind several times while listening to this album, that people is a good thing. Pure Thrash Metal, nothing more, nothing less, that’s just one of many reasons to pick this up. Fucking awesome! www.masterymetal.com =Tom=

MASTODON: BLOOD MOUNTAIN-WARNER BROTHERS
I really, really enjoyed the hell out of this album. Congrats to the band for making some through provoking music and keeping it wrapped up in the weirdness that is them. Great record.
www.mastodonrocks.com =Tom=

THE MURDERSQUAD T.O. / H?LLUUS: RISING CRUST-WOUNDED PAW RECORDS
This split’s protagonists share a similitude of street social punk protest focusing critique on the imperialist war/presence in the Middle East and the political ramifications thereof. In addition, both criticize apathy, greed, religiosity, nationalism and such matters germane to those issues. The music itself is rather noisy, attractive punk metal fueled by a tendency for the rambunctious. There are slight distinctions in their interpretations of heavy, speedy, near-thrash, rumbling punk with growled and screaming vocals, but both are fun and enjoyable. This is, genealogically, a continuation of the punk identified with Discharge, Siege, Electro Hippies, early Extreme Noise Terror, Unseen Terror, etc. Just imagine growled, obnoxious punk. www.woundedpaw.com Mauricio Araniva

NACHTMYSTIUM: INSTINCT DECAY-BATTLE KOMMAND RECORDS
I know a lot of people seem to up this guy’s ass these days, but at least the music is pretty much worthy of the hype. Balancing the primal attack of yesteryear Blackened Hell with the modern progressions of all things extreme Nachtmystium succeed in delivering a full album of closely knit tracks. ‘Instinct Decay’ has almost a familiar feeling to it but the over all sound is well balanced and not chaotic as some of their peers making it a multiple listens kind of album, which to me is rare. Clueless when it comes to modern Black Metal but this I like. www.battlekommand.com =Tom=

NAPALM DEATH: SMEAR CAMPAIGN-CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS
If every band out there would do what I like to call a “napalm death” and put out better albums than their previous releases, the Metal scene would be an even more so an unstoppable force. Birmingham’s Napalm Death do just that! Since their ‘Enemy of the Music Business’ release from 2000 this band has returned almost yearly with a greater album than the one before. 2006’s ‘Smear Campaign’ is not the exception to the rule, it’s a motherfucker of an album delivered by the best in the business. There’s classic ND shit all over it as well as some nods to their formative years, when it’s all said and done there’s faster and more extreme, but Napalm Death are still the kings. Long may they reign! www.naplamdeath.org =Tom=

NECROPHOBIC: HRIMTHURSUM-CANDLELIGHT RECORDS
One thing’s for sure, it takes time for Necrophobic to release an album but when it’s done it’s always total fucking quality! ‘Hrimthursum’ the bands fifth full length finds the band taking several leaps and bounds from what we heard on 2003’s ‘Bloodhymns’ and the results are fucking solid! True they’re not as upfront as those 2003 hymns of destruction, but I have a feeling ‘Hrimthursum’ may be the better album. The songwriting as well as approach have vastly improved making this an album that improves with time. Swedish Death/Black/Thrash is another crowded scene but the cream rises to the top and with any justice Necrophobic will someday be looking down at you. www.necrophobic.com =Tom=

OBLOMOV: MIGHTY COSMIC DANCES-DEEPSEND RECORDS
The most unique aspect here is the songs “Lost between Emotions” and “Starsend” with its soothing saxophone element in the middle of speedy/blasting dark metal. These antagonists from the Czech Republic seriously believe they specialize in astronomy metal. In reality, the ears are subjected to grim/black/gremlin vocals and tight, tight, often speedy, somewhat technical thrash with some melodic passages. “Nostalgic Idealization,” a blasting, thrashy affair, has a nice melodic solo, for example. The potential is here for something wonderful in the future, if the solos keep pushing things forward and if the saxophone becomes more than an occasional, sporadic factor. As it is, this is competent and interesting, though not excellent. They should be less shy with the things that make them different. www.oblomov.cz Mauricio Araniva

THE OBSESSED: LUNAR WOMB-METEOR CITY
For a lot of people the Obsessed seemed to appear out of nowhere with their 1994 album ‘The Church Within’. Old timers obviously know of the early pre and post SST years and of course ‘Lunar Womb.’ Their pre-Columbia release also documents the time spent with Kyuss’ Scott Reeder on Bass is a fuck of an album. This re-issue is a work of art in the packaging dept as it gets the royal treatment (notes, lyrics, pix etc.) and definitely sounds better than I remembered my copy sounding. www.meteorcity.com =Tom=

ONE MAN ARMY AND THE UNDEAD QUARTET: 21ST CENTURY KILLING MACHINE-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
Ex-The Crown vocalist Johan Lindstrand returns with simple midpaced thrash with growled vocals. Parts of the soloing is melodic, mildly interesting. Overall, however, this is just too plain, too basic with its constant mid-tempo rhythms. The drumming and riffs don’t offer anything interesting. In short, this is disappointing. Sounds like a project. They need to step up the energy in a serious way. www.onemanarmy.tv Mauricio Araniva

PLACE OF SKULLS: THE BLACK IS NEVER FAR-EXILE ON MAINSTREAM RECORDS
While the future of Place of Skulls is always uncertain, one thing is for sure. When they (he) gets things together for a record it’s something to celebrate, this is the case with ‘The Black Is Never Far.’ Victor Griffin returns with an album of his most extreme material to date, both musically and lyrically. Musically it’s classic Griffin, riffs galore and intertwined with some of the best rock solid grooves this side of the Mississippi. Lyrically he goes right for it, while some of the Christian stuff got to me in the past (see the ‘Nailed’ album) for some reason these positive words strike a chord in me. Maybe it’s because the music is that good? Not totally sure but fans of Sabbath, Pentagram, Trouble etc. would be wise to check this out. www.placeofskulls.com

POLIDICKS: MUTENATION-WOUNDED PAW RECORDS
Nasty, fast punk rock with angry gremlin witch vocals: good attitude, but the music is sloppy and loose angry garage rock. They need to rehearse more and get tighter, tighten up the drumming and guitar to make this more frantic and raging. www.woundedpaw.com/polidicks Mauricio Araniva

PSIONIC-4-SONG PROMO
This group relies on techno sounds and industrial components to add their heavy, mid-tempo, chugging robot futuristic sounds. The vocals sound robotized and the music in general has a cyber goth dark rock mood to it. The music is more in line with dark techno, industrial, goth than metal. Imagine Fear Factory taking their industrial, techno elements in a heavier, chuggier, darker form and making songs in that vein. www.psionic.info Mauricio Araniva

RETRIBUTION: S/T-PEACE OR DIE RECORDS
Guys, it’s called a demo. Do one with your best 3 or 4 songs, send these out to everyone. Take notes on what the reviews say and then try again with another batch of songs. Retribution have self released a 10 song full length and it doesn’t deserve to be. Somewhere in the bio they mention getting rid of 3,500 demos but I can’t see it. This stuff is just too “local”, the drummer cannot play anything other than a handful of beats…fuck. The solos are really fucking cool, that I’ll give em but the rest is just not ready. www.retributionmetal.net =Tom=

SATYRICON: NOW, DIABOLICAL-CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS
Such a concoction of simple, pounding heavy rock guitar, with basic, midpaced drumming, led by scowled, frowning, tongue-lashing vocals creates songs repetitive, uncomplicated and effective songs. In all seriousness, this does sound more in line “Enter Sandman” or “Sad but True”, from a darker, angrier angle. This black ‘n’ roll is easy to remember because there is practically no blasting in the album proper and no complexity in the guitar. No solos, just straight ahead riffs. It depends on the particular audience to decide whether the repetitive nature of the music is a problem. The more adamant about older, proper black metal, like The Shadowthrone or Nemesis Divina, will find more difficulties assimilating this, whereas the Volcano consumer should be comfortable. One of my favorite albums of the year. Super simplistic, catchy and effective Blackened Rock-N-Roll !!!! =Tom= www.satyricon.no Mauricio Araniva

SCAR SYMMETRY: PITCH BLACK PROGRESS-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
They are sedulous about outdoing Soilwork’s “Natural Born Chaos”: the growling can get very low, guttural at times, then screechy at others, though it does stay gruff in general; the clean singing sounds expertly done, even to the point of sounding poppy; plenty of solos and thrash and shredding; the drumming is creative and varied, speedy and midpaced (but no blasting). The cynical will correctly notice a formula at work; however, the strength is the genuine good songwriting abilities, the talent and how they bring together the components. This is their second one. Their previous Symmetric in Design was very, very good, too. www.scarsymmetry.com Mauricio Araniva

SILENCER: DEATH PIERCE ME-AUTOPSY KITCHEN RECORDS
According to the info sheet this is a re-release of the 2000 debut by Silencer and this band was the original suicidal Black Metal Lonely Guy band, you know the one who shrieks the crazy language only he understands over badly recorded Black Metal? Supposedly one man bands like Xasthur and Leviathan owe their trip to the brain behind Silencer Nattramn. You be the judge, I’m not a fan of this style, I don’t even know of anyone into this style to get their opinion of it.
www.autopsykitchen.com =Tom=

SKINLESS: TRAMPLE THE WEAK, HURDLE THE DEAD-RELAPSE RECORDS
Ain’t it a bitch when you find out the album you really liked was hated by the band? Well I don’t know if it’s hated but regarded as “not totally their style” was their 2003 album ‘From Sacrifice to Survival’. From what I remember it was maybe too produced?? So I went into ‘Trample The Weak…’ a little hesitant knowing not only did they change vocalists but they were going for a different kind of album and it is. Way dirtier and raw as all hell ‘Trample The Weak…’ does just that, this is an assault as much as it’s an album….my god…listen to the title track….fuck yeah!!! Without it reaching a point of absurdity this is just as brutal as it gets. Skinless re-invented for the 3rd time, again it works. www.relapse.com =Tom=

SLAVE TO THE SYSTEM: S/T-SPITFIRE RECORDS
If classic rock fans form bands today they sound like this. The vocalist for this project was the singer for Brother Cane. Other references are latter day Pearl Jam or Velvet Revolver, basically, bands that just play old school rock. This is performed well and at times the vocals recall Audioslave. It sounds pretty genuine, too. www.slavetothesystem.com Mauricio Araniva

SONATA ARCTICA: FOR THE SAKE OF REVENGE-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
This live cd/dvd sounds like an honest recording of a traditional heavy/power metal formation from Finland that has been gaining a larger audience with each release. The dvd is longer than the cd, which only has a portion of the entire set of the dvd recorded in Japan. The dvd’s “extras” has nothing interesting, just the usual, discography, a boring “documentary,” etc. The live performance is a professional one, while still acting a bit silly on stage, during the keyboard/guitar solos/tradeoffs, etc. The midtempo, slower songs sound like hard rock with sweet melodies. The speedy songs are more metal, but still with a pop sensibility. The group does well their mix of rockers and midpaced songs. No point in listing the tracks they play in this early 2005 show. They’re all good. The dvd has some 17 songs, the cd 13. www.sonataarctica.info Mauricio Araniva

STRAPPING YOUND LAD: THE NEW BLACK-CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS
The psycho scream funny farm robot fry chicken master Devin Townsend delivers a lemon hot battery acid salt loony bin barrage of strange and comical metaljazzspazzthrash. “U Suck” and “Wrong Side” are the most intense and catchy. “Antiproduct” is a lounge jazz metal number, sort of weird. “Monument” is layered with background studio sounds. “Hope” is another simple track backed up with more studio symphonics. “Far beyond Metal” is gang-shouted vocals, etc. Overall, Devin screams and sings, while the guitar is pretty simple, nothing complex and relies heavily on studio technology to sound bigger. More than anything, this is supposed to be fun, funny, simple, mosh-friendly, etc. Devin can release albums like this every month, which he seems to do anyway. www.strappingyounglad.com Mauricio Araniva

TERROR 2000: TERROR FOR SALE-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
Just a big ketchup fiesta of beer and speedy moronic thrash with lyrics about metal and Kerry King, King Kong, the Cookie Monster, barbecue and stupidity in general. This project is fast, fast and tight, with screaming, growled and wacky vocals. It’s the opposite of overproduced and serious. This is a joke with tequila on the side and vodka for dessert. Soilwork’s vocalist is the screamer here, except that here he sounds like a numskull. www.terror2k.cjb.net Mauricio Araniva

TERRORIZER: DARKER DAYS AHEAD-CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS
Another album where it took me several listens to see exactly what was going on. Following up ‘World Downfall’ was never going to be an easy thing, several of these tracks have been around in demo form for years and truthfully I almost didn’t want to like this as I’ve held ‘WD’ in such high regard. When the brilliance of this album hit, it was fucking intense! Simply put, Terrorizer 2006 is a fucking monster of a band no matter how you slice it. Performances here range from mind blowing to full on excellence (Sandoval, I’m looking at you amigo!) and it’s all wrapped up, delivered with freight train power.
www.terrorizer.us =Tom=

THREAT SIGNAL: UNDER REPRISAL-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
When performed in front of a younger audience in 2006, say, into Shadows Fall or Lamb of God, this type of material will be received well because the overriding characteristic of this cast from Canada is the things that capture the sales, magazine coverage and airplay: (1) the mid 90s Pantera/Fear Factory and hardcore influence, meaning chugging guitar, and (2) the scream/shouted vocals in conjunction with clean singing, popular with core, as well as with bands like In Flames. The sound of the band’s metalcore is very professional and booming. On the other hand, there’s too much of a formula going on and the lack of original ideas is a problem. www.threatsignal.com Mauricio Araniva

TWELFTH GATE: THRESHOLD OF REVELATION-SEASON OF MIST RECORDS
Patience is necessary with this traditional metal high-pitched wailing, lots of time changes, guitars that twist and turn, drumming that is playing a song as much as it is showing off. The first listens can sound downright annoying and headache-inducing. Talk about serious metal. Nevertheless, repeated listens reveal that, in fact, there is a real coherence, that the songs do flow and that the considerable talent is put to good use. Furthermore, more listens bring forth all sorts of things not obvious earlier on, which only encourages more listens. After a while it becomes apparent that there is lots of thrashing going. Technical, progressive power thrash like this goes over some people’s heads the first few times they hear it, but the person that enjoys dedicated musicality will note this 40-minutes-plus album gets better each time. www.twelfthgate.net Mauricio Araniva

VITAL REMAINS-HORRORS OF HELL-CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS
Something I will always be a fan of is labels releasing classic demos. Especially when they’re done this well, it’s win-win. Vital Remains are of those old-school “demo bands done good” story’s and their “Reduced To Ashes” from 1989 is here as well as 90’s “Excruciating Pain” demo and their “‘Black Mass”’ 7” appearance. Sound is as hellish as ever but plays easier knowing the tape won’t snap. Good shit with great liner notes, full lyrics, photos…the whole works.

ZOROASTER: ZOROASTER-BATTLE KOMMAND RECORDS
At the time of this writing, I worship this band. About a week ago I got to see them perform at the Empty Bottle and they were so goddamn fucking heavy it wasn’t even fucking funny. I was just speechless at how fucking bombastically heavy this Atlanta trio was and how, crazy as it sounds, makes this EP sound kinda weak. Yeah, if you’ve heard the EP you know it kicks ass, there’s nothing weak about it, right? Well see the Zoroaster live and let me know what you think. Like the second coming of the heaviest trios (EWiz, Sleep, Warhorse, dopesmoking era Melvins etc.) in the universe, this band fucking rules. www.thezoroaster.com =Tom=

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM: DIADEM OF 12 STARS-VENDLUS RECORDS
Remarkable work, set within raw black metal, which despite its deceptive categorical limits, opens up a musical dexterity and variety that is a wonderful surprise. The four long songs take up 60 minutes and deliver, of course, lots of blasting and grim vocals, which interacts with twisted melodies, some clean singing, low growling, serene moments that, within the 13-minute-plus framework of the compositions, impress. It is true that with this type of songs there is no quick, immediate satisfaction. It’s in the long term that the songs begin to make more sense. If it’s not too offensive or hackneyed to state it thus, they carrying out with black metal the spirit of what Opeth realized with death metal. www.wolvesinthethroneroom.com www.vendlus.com Mauricio Araniva

METAL DVD

DIMEVISION: THAT’S THE FUN I HAVE VOL 1-BIG VIN RECORDS
Very mixed feelings on this one, yeah it’s cool it came out as I was a big fan of the Pantera home vids…who wasn’t? But I guess I was expecting a little more. Sure there’s the firework shit which which some of it is great, the personal footage of his talking to the camera was cool and a solo or two is fine. But it also contains a lot of filler, non eventful footage and just falls a lot short of the previous releases featuring the man. A good tribute that, to me could’ve been great. Where’s Tongs?? Hopefully Vol. 2 will be better. www.bigvinrecords.com

VA: THE REALM OF NAPALM RECORDS-NAPALM RECORDS
A label that’s been fighting the good fight for some time now is Napalm Records. It seems year after year bigger and better things are coming out of and happening for the label this and this year was no exception. ‘The Realm’ is a DVD/CD package featuring a slew of videos by their bands [Leaves Eyes, Lacrimas Profundere, Hurtlocker, Atrocity, Tyr] as well as a Leaves’ Eyes special and a handful of live performances on the DVD. The audio is a sampler of their somewhat current roster and if you’re a fan of the darker, more majestic what more could you ask for? www.napalmrecords.com

MACABRE: TRUE TALES OF SLAUGHTER AND SLAYING-SEASON OF MIST/DECOMPOSED
What can be said about Chicago’s legendary Macabre that hasn’t been said already? Well feel free to use it at anytime during this review of their first official DVD release. ‘True Tales of Slaughter and Slaying’ is based around a main show from Holland in 2005 and accented with a nice selection of bonus footage. The main show is not only visually pleasing (clear, not jumpy totally professional) but the 5.1 surround is a nice touch as this sounds amazing. The editing is fairly quick and took a few songs to get used to but works in their favor as Macabre are many things but I don’t think anyone’s ever accused them of being too energetic on stage. The set list does a good job of covering all the classics including “Serial Killer”, “Zodiac”, “Ed Gein” and a ton more. The bonus footage is an entertaining montage of back stage footage which ranges from decent to goddamn fucking strange, it’s Macabre, what do you expect? www.murdermetal.com

BRONX CASKET CO: HELLECTRIC-CANDLELIGHT RECORDS
It's nothing to get excited about, unless you want more Danzig, Type O Negative or goth rock. It sounds like bunch of guys trying to be dark, mysterious and romantically "evil". Maybe I'm intolerant with silly old men singing about "little dead girls", but this music just sounds like a side project, something put together in between down time from the real bands (Overkill, Seven Witches, etc). They cover the song "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. It does sound gothy, yes, like Type O Negative covering the song. The voice sounds deep, etc. They did away with the guitar solo, one of the few mildly interesting things by Skynyrd. Bronx Casket Co. makes the song just plain boring. Diehard Overkill and Seven Witches fans expecting headbanging heavy metal will be surprised, pleasantly or unpleasantly. www.candlelightrecordsusa.com Mauricio Araniva

CENTINEX: WORLD DECLENSION-CANDLELIGHT RECORDS
Centinex in Swedish means: quality songs of memorable, blazing, often blasting, buzzsaw-guitar and traditional gruff growling. It's a bit puzzling how such a harsh musical approach results in creative pieces that are easy to understand, to get into. Definitely interesting is also the fact that there are no melodic guitar solos or the usual musical strategies designed to hook in the listener. The main tool at work here is just sheer muscle. The 38 minutes that make up this release continue to demonstrate more than amply that Centinex can keep up the quality of the songs for the whole time of the release. This is, in fact, a nonstop barrage of quality buzzsaw guitar with hooks, in the riffs and in the solos. The vocals are, by far, strong total gruff death, just so you know. The drumming is monstrous: it sounds, at times, like those fills and blasts have two drummers working. At certain spots, from a physical standpoint, it's very intense because it's not just speed, but the other things that are going on besides the pounding. There is a whole lot of old school Swedish death going on here, a lot. However, whereas that style tends to be nonblasting, this blasts often. Also, the drumming is excellent, the riffing is urgent and this music is just more intense and exciting than a band like Dismember. This band has been laboring for years, largely unnoticed, but you'd be surprised by the quality and songwriting ability of this bunch. "Blood Hunt" from about 1999 was interesting, "Diabolical Desolation" from about 2002 was awesome. From then on, this band has been developing in a huge way. www.candlelightrecordsusa.com Mauricio Araniva

COLD COLOURS: THE BURDEN OF HOPE-ROOT OF ALL EVIL RECORDS
The music is slow and plodding, keyboard background, downtuned, gloom and doom melancholy. The singing is on the soulful, midrange side, not screaming, growling, yelling, air raid siren or anything abrasive. Not to compare, but point to out a vocal feel: later Paradise Lost, Creed, The Doors, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Life of Agony, Nevermore, etc. I'm not saying that "this is as good as" anything, but merely that the vocals are done well, and at least on this recording, sound very competent and compliment the music well. The music is not about shredding or headbanging or moshing, but about creating a mood of sadness, the already mentioned melancholy. "What? Why I would listen to music that makes me feel that way? I listen to music to feel good, man!" Two things: one, if you don't like slower paced albums that sound sad, you’re right, this is not for you. Instant joy, I think, is not on the agenda with this band. Two, the point of this music, as I understand it, is catharsis. www.coldcolours.com www.rootofallevil.com Mauricio Araniva

COLLAPSAR: COLLAPSAR-ESCAPE ARTIST RECORDS
The band has no vocals and no bass player. So, it's all guitars and drums, then! It's loud, aggressive, abrasive, riff after riff coming at your ears, jamming the jams, pounding energy, but in a very coherent manner. This is not melodic, though there are some brief, mellower moments. The speed of the drumming is fast paced, but very rhythmic, so it's not crazy speed. The feel that comes to mind is that of a jamming progressive instrumental energetic rock band with hard jazzy moments. The band utilizes some synth, which is more apparent in the slower, spacier parts. Narrow-minded music fans will not like this: no vocals, first of all. The music is neither metal nor hardcore, but more like rocking guitar-driven jazzcore. However, the band does have songs. www.escapeartistrecords.com Mauricio Araniva

DISLOCATION: INEXORABLE DEVASTATION-PRO-PULSE RECORDS
Not fancy: it is difficult to be lavish when the whole purpose of the music is to achieve a mosh-friendly guttural, blasting, chugging death. Even though there is constant blasting happening, the band uses a tiny bit of melody and some breakdowns, as well as little things to make sure the songs are not one-dimensional speed. A love of Suffocation is pretty obvious throughout the album, but more variety in their brutality. However, unlike said band, Dislocation is strictly minor league death. This is a band singing in French, with some English here and there, but it sounds all the same: animal growling with no discernible language. There is really not much to say, except that the band is just keeping it real, guttural and brutal. www.propulserecords.tk www.dislocationdeathmetal.tk Mauricio Araniva

EPHEL DUATH: PAIN NECESSARY TO KNOW-EARACHE/ELITIST RECORDS
Some people want to hear something in-your-face weird, antisong-oriented, and deliberately made to challenge your tolerance for nonlinear structures. If you think that you are one of those people, you are about to find out whether you are for real or not. Jazzy mellow guitar, then jazzy drumming, then wacky guitar sounds, annoying space technology-type of sounds. Then there are mellow pauses of bass and faint guitar, jazz guitar sounds, funky bass, stop/start. Mini drum solo, stop/start, silence, mellow guitar, then finally senseless screaming, now the lounge mellow rock and yelling converge. Several stop/start moments, the yelling and the music don't fit, but they keep trucking anyway. Another pause, mellow, spacy guitar and nonriffs are spewed out, the yelling seems to jump into this thing at random. The yelling followed by pauses and mellow soundscapes is common. The guitar breaks into very brief jazz solos, bells ring, more bells, silence. At any rate, this is called "Few stars, no refrain and a cigarette" and "Crystalline Whirl". Do you know what the radio sounds like when you are flipping through all the stations? Well, this will give you a similar sensation, except that in this case all the stations play tripped out jazz, mellow jazz, jazz rock, jazz metalcore. Weird stuff. Are they trying to make the most ridiculously annoying album ever? www.earache.com Mauricio Araniva

EXODUS: SHOVEL-HEADED KILL MACHINE-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
Where I stand on Exodus albums: I like "Bonded by Blood," but I don't care too much for "Pleasures of the Flesh". "Fabulous Disaster" has some truly excellent songs and guitar work, but it also has not so hot stuff, like "Cajun Hell". I wish some of those songs weren't on there. "Impact Is Imminent" is a furious, shredding force of mediocre songs; just not so good. "Force of Habit" is an album that I bought and got rid of pretty quickly, if I remember correctly. It had no power, as far as I was concerned. Nowadays I only own "Bonded". I was not expecting much from this album. I actually did not like it at first. However, after several listens, I have changed my mind: this is a powerful, exciting, fresh, roaring work with strong, quality songs. True, the song titled "Going Going Gone" has a dumb name that made someone I know say "How lame!" upon reading the title. The screamer, Rob Dukes, does sound a bit like Steve Souza, but he sounds way more committed, more genuine than Mr. Souza. Lee Altus, known for his work with Heathen, a bunch of Exodus-inspired thrashers, has now joined his favorite band. I think this album shows that it's a good idea to have him here. Paul Bostaph is a monster on drums here. Overall, there is an abundance of energy and thrashing power on this release: dazzling solos, shredding riffs and good songs with very little melody. The band sounds re-energized. It's ugly, blunt, unsweetened thrash. www.nuclearblastusa.com www.exodusattack.com Mauricio Araniva

HORSE THE BAND: THE MECHANICAL HAND-KOCH/COMBAT RECORDS
One song is called "The House of Boo". Another one is named "Octopus on Fire". Still another answers to "Soaring Quails". The first one is titled "Birdo". I think it's funny that so many rock musicians come up with lame lyrics and titles in some sort of attempt at being pool hall poets and red neck bar Shakespeares.
The music here is some sort of whacky hardcore, funky screamcore, comic relief punk rock with some 70s melodies to show that the guitar players can do solos. They have the stop/ start, abrupt rhythm changes to comically annoy you. Does this sound like something in which you would be interested? Mauricio Araniva

HYPOCRISY: VIRUS-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
Forrest Gump's mama says that Hypocrisy is like a box of cholocates: you never know what you're going to get. This band keeps changing from album to album. The only thing you are sure to expect is that some form of growl, downtuned metal. OK, so let's see the box: "Warpath" opens in a blasting black metal manner. It hits instantly: vocals, blast beats, riffing, all good. "Scrutinized" is fast paced, but not blasting: heavy, pounding, groovy and melodic. So far, so good: "Fearless" is even more melodic and simpler. The growling is sounding good and the guitars are harmonizing. It's a catchy, make-you-feel better song, still downtuned, though. "Craving for Another Killing" is a total Immortal, black metal worship. Of course, the drummer is Horgh (real name: Bobby Earl Wacklespoodle). He even does the total Immortal fills. "Let the Knife Do the Talking" is a slow, chugging track. I don't care for it because it's pretty basic with nothing to make your ears stand up. "A Thousand Lies" is a growled, melodic death ballad. Not bad, I guess, but it just doesn't rock. "Incised before I've Ceased" is a much better song: mid paced, but the drumming has more going on, more action, the riffing is creative. It even has a brief neoclassical part. The vocal lines sound good. "Blooddrenched" is faster, brutal gruff number that seeks to bring back the energy of the first two songs. The band doesn't sound as committed on this one. I suspect that this is filler material. "Compulsive Psychosis" is midpaced, but I'm not totally convinced that this is not filler material, as well. The soloing on this is slower, more felt and it's surprisingly good, but the riffing is play-on, chugging stuff. "Living to Die" closes the proceedings. It's an "epic" (keyboards) sounding, crawling, with a simple melody repeated over and over. It has a spoken, narrated vocal part along with some semiclean vocals. It's effective in achieving a somber mood. www.hypocrisy.com Mauricio Araniva

LINEA 77: AVAILABLE FOR PROPAGANDA-EARACHE RECORDS
This band plays poppy punk rock with an "attitude." Has nothing to do with metal at all. Supposedly they are rock stars in Italy. By the sounds of it, the mall punk rock eyeliner kiddies will love this, if they hear it. www.earache.com Mauricio Araniva

LORD BELIAL: THE SEAL OF BELIAL-CANDLELIGHT RECORDS
Who is Lord Belial? Lord Belial is different. Why are they different? They play their black metal in a pretty courageous and gutsy manner. It's often going slow to mid-pace, though there are moments of blasting speed. However, the fact the music often goes at a crawling, mid-pace means that they have to come up with good songs not to bore the listener. Whereas speed can numb the listener, slowness can bore the listener. At first, I wasn't crazy about the idea of this music, but now, after several listens, I understand what they are doing: to make songs memorable, dark, doomy, melodic in some places, by letting the strength of the songs carry the music, not the blastbeat or keyboards or anything. Sounds pretty raw, basic black metal, but played well and without fear of letting the guitars, the riffs and the solos command center stage. Who would have thought that doomy raw black metal with occasional bursts of blasts would work so well? I am surprised, impressed and interested. I think I need to find out whether the previous four releases are as good as this one. www.lordbelial.com Mauricio Araniva

LUCIFIXION: AS EVIL AS ME
The band says that this e.p. is a prelude to their full-length album. This is three songs of midpaced, chunky growl metal with clean, operatic vocals and some mellow passages. I have heard these three songs some seven times. More than anything, this is the kind of music that is a triumph for the band for having the organization and will power to write songs and record them. Being, in and of itself, is a victory. However, this music does not get me excited because there is nothing great about it, just a bunch of guys and gal getting together putting together some decent jams. www.lucifixion.com Mauricio Araniva

MASTERPLAN: AERONAUTICS-CANDLELIGHT RECORDS
Feel-good music is what Masterplan is. A Helloween offshoot, Masterplan’s music is supposed to make you feel a certain way. The guitar harmonies are sweet, the double-bass drumming gives the upbeat riffs power and energy, the singing is good and the songs are sharp, clean, melodic and memorable. It will put you in a better mood when you are driving to work. Instead of cursing out the driver who just cut you off (on purpose, of course, because that person is in a worldwide conspiracy to make your life miserable), you can listen to Masterplan and you'll feel better. There are 10 songs of supercatchy, melodic, sugary, rocking power/heavy metal: flashy solos, power guitaring, double bass drummering and classy singering. Songs 1, 3, 7, 9 are the fast ones. You can do aerobics or jog to those. 2 and 6 are slower love songs, but they are not, in my opinion, power ballads: more like slower to midpaced. 8 is also midpaced. All these three songs have big-time-rock-star vocal performances, but this is true for the whole album. 8 is probably the weakest track and the worst song is still solid. 10 is the longer song which brings the whole album together: this 9-minutes-plus piece starts out slowly and builds into a great, undeniable song. www.candlelightrecordsusa.com Mauricio Araniva

MINDGRINDER: RIOT DETONATOR-CANDLELIGHT RECORDS
The most attractive quality here is the ability to know what to do and doing it at the precise moment for the most effect. For instance, the blasting on the first four songs is carried out at certain points for maximum intensity; the hook-oriented soloing seems to reach out at the perfect moment, while the drum fills, double bass and tight thrashing riffs carry the non-blasting parts. In short, these songs sound very well composed: tight, but still unclean and raw. The riffs have huge Slayer-esque proportions: there is a forward motion to them that is exciting. I find that this sounds lively, energetic. The vocals have brief guttural, growled parts, but most of the time they are, I guess, I'd have to say "shouted," but it's not screaming nor growling. The vocals maybe have a crus/tpunk, old, early grind feel. At any rate, they fit the music very well. Song five is a nice, clean, serene acoustic-sounding interlude of about one minute, followed by a faster mid-paced number which, again, has well-placed blasting. Seven is a midpaced number that's monotonous compared to the rest of the album. Eight is "interesting": it sounds inspired by Morbid Angel's slow songs. The next number ends the album (35 minutes) and it's a thrashier, more grinding track, not to end things in a slow fashion.
In other words, the orientation is towards hooks in the riffs and on the first four songs the band is very convincing, which is some 17 minutes of music. The rest of the album is less so, but by no means mediocre. It remains to be seen whether they can capture the excitement and keep it going for a full album. www.candlelightrecordsusa.com Mauricio Araniva

MONOLITHE: II-CANDLELIGHT RECORDS
Say, man, you ever been hanging around the house, just chillin, and in between breaks in the doing-nothing sessions, you sit back, and ask yourself: I wonder whatever happened to that girl in middle school who used to wear all those Led Zeppelin shirts? Boy, she hated Pearl Jam so bad! Or: whatever happened to all those bands that were called Tormentor back in the day? Or: who is the absolute slowest, most slothful, darkest, doomiest, melancholiest, twistediest (forget dictionaries!), antispeediest metal band ever? Well, Jack, see, I think I have your answer right here: Monolithe. This album is one song that is 50 minutes long. I think we have a hit on our hands, kids! This is slow! If you thought the first Paradise Lost was slow, wait till you hear this. Candlemass and Obiturary are hyperspeed blasting compared to this! Ok, enough of my stupidity. If the lack of speed is not a concern for you, and especially if you love slow, dark doom with growled vocals, you should at least give this a chance because they are in their own world. www.candlelightrecordsusa.com Mauricio Araniva

MY RUIN: THE BRUTAL LANGUAGE-ROVENA RECORDINGS
From a metal point of view, this is of no interest. On the other hand, the young rock kids that walk around the mall might find this interesting. It has the I-don't-like-you attitude. One song is called "Touch Me I’m Sick". Another one is called "Summer of Hell". See what I mean? It's loud, cool, hip, trendy, etc. The music actually offers nothing particularly good or different, it's just the usual loud rock. With lots of television, radio and magazine coverage, the rock kids will be interested, like they get interested in anything that the media tells them they need to be interested in. Enjoy. www.myruin.com Mauricio Araniva

NASHVILLE PUSSY: GET SOME-SPITFIRE RECORDS
Red necks and trucks, whisky and beer, bars and fights, and sleaze and mud is what these rock hicks bring to your town. Oh, hillbilly-rock-good-for-nothing-shit-for-brains is what this is, boy. This band should please fans of Foghat, Ted Nugent, Molly Hatchet and Lynyrd Skynyrd. With songs like "Lazy White Boy" and "Meaner than My Mama", you know this has got to be stupid-happy pig-in-mud southern-style rock. Metal fans need to steer clear of this. Well, except for maybe fans of Black Label Society. This group has the right attitude for this kind of stupid, stupid fun music. This ain't meant to be heard when you be sober and at home. It's for bars where the customers are named Earl, Bubba, Mo, etc. Goes well with Nascar, barbecues, fry chicken, greasy fries, beer, "My Name Is Earl", "The Dukes of Hazzard", hunting, swamps, alligators, beavers, possum sandwiches, mud pies, living room snakes, "The Water Boy", "Joe Dirt", Jeff Foxworthy, grits, molasses, ZZ Top, Texas, Louisiana, rodeos and Tennessee. Call your girlfriend Norma Jean Widdletack and tell her that you have been saved. www.spitfirerecords.com www.nashvillepussy.com Mauricio Araniva

ORANGE SKY: UPSTAIRS-GRANITE RECORDS
From a land far, far away from the world center of rock music comes Orange Sky: from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, in the Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Venezuela, which is located in northernmost South America. You may need a map. Don't be embarrassed if you don't know your Caribbean geography.
This cd comes with a dvd, too. The dvd has a little bit of information about the band, Trinidad, etc., as well as bit of a live performance, which is pretty rocking and animated. Orange Sky's music covers a lot of ground. It has the heavier, banging, metal moments, which are done well and sound good, actually. More often not, the band stays in the heavy rock perimeters, allowing it to explore other feelings besides all-out energy. There is an organic, upfront feel to the songs that makes them different from each other. From a metal viewpoint, "Escape" and "Tug of War" are the most interesting because they are the most kicking tunes, but this is not a metal band per se. The whole album is done well and it has enthusiasm. www.theorangesky.com Mauricio Araniva

PARADISE LOST: PARADISE LOST-PARADISE LOST/DARK ELEMENT RECORDS
Just by the fact that this band in the past has made two albums that I enjoy very much--1991's "Gothic" and 1995's "Draconian", both excellent in their own way, I'm bound to be interested. There are 14 songs (54 minutes). I would say that the music from about the time of "Draconian" to "One Second" is here. The up tempo, upbeat, heavier, somber songs, like "Let Me Drown," "Spirit," "Accept the Pain," "Forever After," All You Leave Behind," "Grey, " and "Close Your Eyes," have a pretty immediate appeal. I don't know that you have to like metal to like them, because they are relatively heavy, but not harsh on the ears at all. The music is pretty straight forward and catchy, the sound is great, nice and clean, lively. The guitars have a simplistic charm to them and the vocals of Nick Holmes sound full, in the midtone range with some upper midtone parts. Sometimes I think that Holmes has the voice that James Hetfield wishes for. The overall feeling is melancholic, good and uptempo without sounding overly sweet (power metal) or cheesy (goth). I think I won't be the only one who appreciates the idea of not using sweet melodies to make a song memorable. This has dark groove running throughout it. The slower songs have lots of grey charm about them, like opener "Don't Belong" or "Shine." On the other hand, "Over the Madness" is a pretty doomy affair. Paradise Lost, as a musical entity, still has much to offer. They cannot please all their fans because the music over the years has changed a lot. The growling, like on the debut and "Gothic," stopped a long time now, but if you don't treat music like some sort of orthodox religion with absolute rules, then you will find the group making worthwhile music. Still heavy and somber, memorable and not overly complex, the guys have lots of good ideas on this album. www.paradiselost.co.uk Mauricio Araniva

RAM-ZET: INTRA-CANDLELIGHT RECORDS
Annoying. I find several things that annoy me about this album. I get the feeling that the elements that bother my ears are the very factors that make this music what it is. In other words, the music is supposed to be this way and I'm the one with the problem. See how that works? The guitars are often going very fast, they are hard, chunky, heavy, so and so forth. Not bad, actually, and together with the drumming, when the music is going full force, it's pretty cool. The other elements of the sound consist of techno keyboards and tempo changes and high operatic singing and angry little monster screeching. The information I have says that people from The Kovenant and For My Pain are involved with Zet, the leader of this project. Thus, this is a bit weird, but not that strange, in truth. This is not really goth, because, basically, it's way more aggressive and harsh. There is no "dark romanticism" here, dark harsh pyscho metal, maybe. What annoys me is the high operatic vocals. To me, it does not fit to have the speedy, shredding riffs with nice, smooth, operatic, Nightwish-like vocals. Makes me make irritated faces. I feel like they are trying too hard to be artistic. The black metal-like vocals grate on my ears, too, because of the screechy screaming. Hey, some people want to listen to metal that annoys them. Welcome to the ball. www.ram-zet.com Mauricio Araniva

RUMPELSTILTSKIN GRINDER: BURIED IN THE FRONT YARD-RELAPSE RECORDS
Is one to assume that if you decide to give your band a stupid name, then you must be a joke band? Is there a quicker way to say the name of the band, like just calling it "R.G." or "That Band"? Further still, what is the plan with such a genius name? Some song titles are: "Stealing E.T.," "Orange and Black Attack," "The Day Merman Met Todd 'The Harpoon' Wilson," "Unleash the Troll," etc. After repeated listens, I find it a bit surprising that a band that obviously can thrash this well decides to play some sort of hobo bum funny thrash. While the playing is not out of this world, it is spectacular in places, like at the end of "Grab a Shovel (We've Got Bodies to Bury), with the flashy soloing. The playing is tight, actually, and in the previously mentioned "The Day Merman…" there is a nice acoustic break, followed by cool noodling. I don't listen to music to laugh because I don't find humor in music, so maybe that's why this doesn't sound so funny to me. Fans of the well-known and popular category of shredding, speedy smelly hobo bum garbage dump eater thrash will surely want to run to the store to hear the newest sensation!! www.rumpelstiltskingrinder.com www.relapse.com Mauricio Araniva

SCAR SYMMETRY: SYMMETRIC IN DESIGN-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
This opens with "Chaosweaver," an example of the melodic aggression that this band is all about: solid gruff vocals and good clean singing. "2012: The Demise of the 5th Sun" follows: the simultaneous vocals sound great and the groove is excellent. Masterful guitar solos and drumming. "Dominion" is simpler, immediate and quite a bit more melodic, thrashier, metal ear candy. "Underneath the Surface" is midpaced, heavier, with some screechier vocals, then comes "Reborn," a speedier, upbeat number with probably the catchiest chorus line in the whole album. "Veil of Illusions" features a crunchier, pounding, midpaced feel with a more extended solo, then "Obscure Alliance" brings a more circular, repeated riffing pattern, while "Hybrid Cult" has more varied, darker more twisted vocal approach and the nice, clean chorus breaks up the growling. Come to think of it, this chorus is another good one. "Orchestrate the Infinite" has the most mellow, Opeth-like part and the guitar riffing is probably the simplest, overall. The chorus is the song here. "Detach from the Outcome" is the most straight-up aggressive, midpaced song. The clean singing is not a big factor here. In that sense it's odd, which is interesting because the next "Seeds of Rebellion" brings the speed back to a higher point, along with melody. "The Eleventh Sphere" closes: the gruff, black-ish and the clean vocals are in full force. The heavy riffing is sweetened with background synth and hooks, as is the whole album.
Not too original, true, but the band, which is one of those Swedish bands with people from other groups (Carnal Forge, Unmoored, Theory in Practice, etc.), does very good work in this 48-minute, 12-song release. www.scarsymmetry.com Mauricio Araniva

TNT: ALL THE WAY TO THE SUN-MAYHEM RECORDS
Tony Harnell is a very talented traditional melodic rock singer. The voice is high and clear: think 80s high vocals of the glam rock variety. Ronni LeTekro's soloing is of the guitar idol kind. Combine them and the result music that will particularly please the audience whose preferences are bands in the style of Foreigner, Journey, Firehouse, Slaughter, etc. Of course, the music is more laid back now because the guys are older now, so the lyrics don't narrate stories about making out in the back seat of a car, etc. There are rocking moments, slower moments, guitar solos and all the elements needed to have a balanced album. My personal opinion is that this band lacks power or energy. There is no kick. The rocking moments simply do not rock hard enough. There is a song here called "What a Wonderful World" and it is that old song that everyone knows. What's the point in covering this song? I have a TNT record from 1984 called "Knights of the New Thunder" on Polygram Records. One day, when I get motivated, I will get a record player and listen to the album. Having said that, it's obvious that the band thought of itself as a metal band back then. One song is called "Deadly Metal". The title track also says "Bearing the swords of steel/So black you can't see/Armored with will to survive/Taking you dead or alive/Hear the roar of our sound...” See what I mean?!
www.tnttheband.com Mauricio Araniva

UNDERTHREAT: DEATHMOSPHERE-BARBARIAN RECORDS
Underthreat is powered by the riff and the blast!! They bring the jams, simple as that. There is a fast and blasting melodic death element going on here: each song goes from solid, compact, marching riff to riff. The riffs practically have written all over them, "you really should bang your head or mosh or at least shake your head or do something." These guys probably like the faster Dark Tranquillity stuff quite a bit, but they employ the blasting speed way more often. The guitar rhythms are actually quite good, but I recognize that it's difficult to be truly groundbreaking. The band uses melody in every song, but it's not supermelodic, just catchy, thrashy, memorable. The vocals are growled (no clean vocals), though there are some higher pitch growlscreams. One thing that is important is that the band sounds motivated, excited, like they are out to prove something: that melodic death can blast and be aggressively catchy. I have a lot of melodic death albums that I listen to, but I do not have a single one that keeps up the energy this high throughout the whole album. As it turns out, if you try to be creative, there is always something interesting that you can bring to metal. Good job, good album. It's very promising and the band has already begun delivering on the promise. www.underthreat.com Mauricio Araniva

VILE: THE NEW AGE OF CHAOS-UNIQUE LEADER RECORDS
Totally dog barking vocals, blasting, blazing: nothing new, but instead the group is content to play their own, second or third rate versions of songs by Cannibal Corpse. This is nothing interesting, just the same old generic, intense growl 'n' blast. www.uniqueleader.com Mauricio Araniva

XENOMORPH: NECROPHILIA MON AMOUR-UNDER HER BLACK WINGS
How many bands have names that begin with an "X"? Blazing, hypespeed, growl 'n' churn death is what they mean. The riffing is crisp and clear, somewhat reminiscent of cold, bare bones black metal in certain places, while at the same this is combined with traditional blastdeath riffing. There is a touch of melody, but very little, like during the some of the soloing. The vocals are strong, competent guttural growling. This is promising, most of all. The songs are performed well and the band conveys the tightness and brutality very well. The most pressing question is that of originality because, it's nothing that other blasting bands have not done before. I have probably heard this album close to 15 times now because I wanted to see whether there was some greatness I was not hearing at first. Well, this is not great, but a tight, good effort with some good ideas. However, the riffing needs to be more distinctive, more creative, not just blindingly fast; they need to let loose on the soloing and just let it rip and see where it goes, like on the title track. If this is their debut and they are a young band, this is a promising start. If this is their 27th album of blasting death and they are 39 years old, then this is just another typical Xenomorph release that offers nothing different from their 11th and 14th albums ("Remember those albums, man?! Cool!"), when they hit their peak and had matured. www.freebird-records.com Mauricio

UPDATE : MAY '05

ABORTED: THE ARCHAIC ABATTOIR-OLYMPIC/CENTURY MEDIA

NEWSFLASH!!: Aborted has improved a whole lot! Their death/grind is tighter and sharper than ever and they have added small doses of melody to their attack, I have to say the future's looking good.  It's cool that this band is trying to make things a bit more interesting, instead of the usual gore.  Well, on this one, in the midst of seriously superguttural vocals and the grind riffing the melody shows up and it sounds shockingly good. Go figure! As to be expected there’s lots of blasting, hack and slash riffing, low/guttural growling and higher, midrange growls, plus the mentioned doses of melody tie things together rather nice. This CD is fun, very entertaining and performed well too. Only real downside is it only lasts 35 minutes, which is a bit too short for something this well done. www.goremageddon.be            Mauricio Araniva  

ALL SHALL PERISH: HATE. MALICE. REVENGE.-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS

This band plays brutal, mosh death metal. The vocals are growled, some guttural, some screaming. The guitar is centered on the chug and the breakdown, very much with a moshpit in mind. They are "brutal", but they don't have distinctive songs. You can't listen to this at home and enjoy it as music, but you can get drunk and mosh to it, ya, sure, ya betcha. The growling lacks personality. There are literally dozens and dozens of bands with these ok/mediocre vocals. The guitars are very simple, nothing creative. Let's get specific: if you like moshcore/deathcore that is centered on breakdowns and macho/"brutality", you should check this out. Everyone else need not look into this. It's "brutally" mediocre. www.allshallperish.com        Mauricio Araniva

 ANGRA: TEMPLE OF SHADOWS-STEAMHAMMER/SPV RECORDS

When a traditional power metal band acquires an identity that can no longer be simply compared to other, more established bands, that's when the music is interesting, and more importantly, fun to listen to. After many times now, these songs keep getting better. This is good news because this band has gone through some line-up problems, which made me wonder whether they would be able to continue making quality music. Fortunately, they have closed ranks and have become a cohesive team and have made a very good traditional, concept power metal album. Air raid siren/wailing vocals, lots of guitars and double bass drumming and songs that simply rock: Angra is tighter than ever and more ambitious, too. Plus, the range of music on here goes from fast, tight, energetic power metal, which balances well with the slower, moody songs. The album opens with three high-energy songs, all three are really catchy and melodic. However, the cool part is that the rest of the album explores different moods and succeeds at it. The use of Portuguese, some Brazilian melodies, as well as the guest spots by power metal grandaddy Kai Hansen from Gamma Ray and Blind Guardian's Hansi Kürsh makes things multidimensional. The fact that Kai Hansen is guesting should tell you about what specific type of power metal this is. Better than ever.  www.angra.net              Mauricio Araniva

 ANNIHILATOR: ALL FOR YOU-AFM RECORDS

"Dear Annihilator fans, I'm sorry for writing weak albums after ‘Never, Neverland’. I think this time you will be pleased because I tried to thrash. Really! I made this album thrashy, hard, while adding a vocalist that can scream, growl and sing. You don't believe me? Check out what that good-for-nothing jerk Mauricio Araniva says: ((I have been negative about Jeff Waters for a long time now, but this stands well next to ‘Never, Neverland’ and ‘Alice in Hell’. Jeff has once again come up with huge thrashing riffs: those swarm-of-bees-buzzing-overhead riffs and the really quick-finger soloing. Amazing, stuff, really. I have been listening to this a lot. Contained within the ten songs are fast thrashers, mid/fastpaced numbers, a cool instrumental and two ballads (!). The ballads/love songs are not only a good surprise but also good songs. Also, the singing here made me take notice because it can sound harsh/growled then traditional, as well as mellower. I hope Jeff continues with this attitude.)) See what I'm saying? Not too shabby, eh? ---Jeff Waters." www.annihilatormetal.com  Mauricio Araniva  

APOCALYPTICA: REFLECTIONS-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS

Things are changing a little, adding a few new things to this cello rock/metal. First things first: this album is rock-oriented instrumental music, but the cellos are the outstanding element, which, of course, surprises people who hear this for the first time. This time there are drums for a large portion of the album. Dave Lombardo plays drums on most of those songs. There is a little bit of vocals, too. Also, a few songs are just cellos without drums. Obviously, this band is for the open-minded public because the lack of vocals goes against all the accepted rules. This is classical music played with a rock 'n roll spirit.  The band's musical idea is interesting in itself. Furthermore, they execute it well. www.apocalyptica.com  Mauricio Araniva  

THE APOCALIPTIC RIDERS: SAMURAI-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS

There's Fates Warning, Dream Theater, Ayreon, on the one hand. On the other, there's Twisted Sister, AC/DC, Pantera. You know, two different mentalities: wanker music vs. keep it simple, stupid. Which type of band has fans that drink when they listen to music? Die Apocalyptischen Reiter/The Apocalyptic Riders are in the alcohol side of the equation. Why, with songs like "Rock 'n Roll", "Hey-Ho" and "Lazy Day", you are guaranteed not to have to think too much. The music is pretty loud, basic metal/rock, with thrash, heavy metal and some surprises here and there, like blast beats or mellow moments. In addition, some songs are in English, some in German. The lyrics point out three important things that you might not know: 1) they like to rock, 2) they like play to rock and 3) they love rock 'n roll.  If you are Mr. Serious Metalhead, you should stay away because these are guys are just  playing simple, beer hard rock. www.reitermania.de Mauricio Araniva  

ASGUARD: WIKKA-THIS DARK REIGN RECORDINGS

This band thinks they play black metal. They cover "Leather Rebel" by Judas Priest. It sounds fine, but it just sounds like heavy metal with growled vocals. They have talent, especially with the guitars, which sound like the band is dying to play traditional power metal, instead of melodic death. What I don't care for is the indecisiveness of the music. Does this band want to play heavy or death or black metal? The mixing of styles, in my opinion, does not work in this case because combination sounds artificial, it lacks a continuity of mood. It sounds too forced. www.devildollrecords.com        Mauricio Araniva  

BALATONIZER: OCCLUSED IN OTTUSITY-THIS DARK REIGN RECORDINGS

Some conversations should be reviews, like the following, with my baby brother, Juan. Juan: Hey, have you heard anything good lately?.. Mauricio: Uh…No, but I just heard a really awful band, Balatonizer. Juan: Bala-who? Mauricio: Balatonizer. It's really awful. They have this drum machine blasting the same beat in every song. The album is some 25 minutes long and it has 32 songs. Juan: What? Another Napalm Death band? Mauricio. Hey, Napalm Death is great! This is not! The guitar sounds the same, like a big blur. The vocals are very guttural, but they suck. It's low growling, but it has no energy or aggression. It's lame like Mortician or some garbage like that. It's a no-talent band. Juan: Like Six Feet Under? Mauricio: No, that band sounds very musical compared to this… Juan: Huh….Oh, hey, when is that new Slayer coming out? … [That pretty says it all: "Huh." It's not more interesting than that.] www.balatonizer.com                         Mauricio Araniva  

BEECHER: BEECHER-EARACHE RECORDS

They will probably be hailed as pure genius because the metallic emo-hardcore they play is everything and more: lots of moshy parts with the breakdowns, the high-register, screamed/child-throwing-a-temper-tantrum vocals, the occasional clean-sung parts and lots of melodic, postpunk licks, as well as a bit of offbeat parts. Plus, they definitely sound hungry and excited to be doing what they do, which always helps in getting across the emotion. Honestly though, there is a huge hardcore bandwagon that people are riding in 2005. It remains to be seen who will be left standing. There is nothing here that suggests that this is particularly great: just another "pretty good" hardcore band. www.earache.com  Mauricio Araniva

 BIOMECHANICAL: THE EMPIRES OF THE WORLDS-EARACHE RECORDS

I am still assimilating the fact that this band sounds pretty different than what I hear in metal in 2005. The futuristic, marching, robotic, machine-like element of the guitars and drumming give it a certain uniqueness. The vocals are not growled, rather they are more shouted, but sound good. There is a distinguishable Pantera/"Cowboys From Hell" feel to certain moments in the vocals, especially the end-of-verse phrasing. The guitar does also sport the above-mentioned source. However, there are plenty of high-screamed, traditional metal singing parts. If you do not like high-pitched, air-siren screaming, you should avoid this. The sound is modern thrash, but with plenty of twists, like a bit of blasting here and there, background keyboards/effects, the multiple-personality-type vocals, all of which give this a cold, labyrinthine aspect. What is different is the lack of death and black metal influences. Comparisons are often a lazy way of explaining a band's music. Let me try it here (ha!): think Fear Factory with a young Phil Anselmo and a young Rob Halford rolled into one, playing Pantera and heavier Dream Theater songs. I know that description sounds dumb because this is not a legendary band or anything. Plus, they do not sound like Pantera or whatever. They take elements and make them their own. One thing is for sure: this sounds pretty unique because the way that the influences come together and converge onto a different point of focus. Check it out if you want something different, something more adventurous, while at the same something that combines major 1990s, nondeath/nonblack metal influences.  www.earache.com Mauricio Araniva  

BLEED THE SKY: PARADIGN IN ENTROPY-NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS

These boys will obviously sell lots of cds. They got the tunes: lots of the hardcore sound, the shouting and everything hip. Of course, they got the "tough" boy musician look, too. You know what: they have been listening to lots of Hatebreed, Superjoint Ritual, Machine Head, as well Linking Park and the sound reflects it. I know they will be huge rock stars and Motorhead will end up being an opening band for them. Still, they are too derivative, too trendy. Behind the dreadlocks and the curse-word and Slayer shirts (Does everybody want to show off how "cool" they are by wearing Slayer shirts?) stands a group with very little personality. No, they are not "horrible" or whatever. The problem is that they have no real personality, nothing that says anything special about this music, except that they like bands on Roadrunner Records. It's a young band. Maybe they get better.  www.bleedthesky.com Mauricio Araniva

 BLOODBATH: NIGHTMARES MADE FLESH-CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS

Definitely an improvement on this, their third release. So far, with their first two, I found them generic and faceless, like a bar band playing "brutal" death. Well, this time the five members, who come from Hypocrisy, Katatonia, Witchery, Edge of Sanity, etc., have managed to sound like a band, not like a project. What's the difference? You can take them seriously now.  Before, I got the feeling that Mikael Akerfeldt went to the studio to growl for an hour or two on a weekend when he did not have anything Opeth-related going on. Peter Tägtgren is now the growler. The songs and riffs are better. However, having said all that, this is not great, excellent music. It's pretty good death, but it does not run with the big dogs, like Nile and Hate Eternal.  www.bloodbath.biz Mauricio Araniva  

BURDEN OF GRIEF: FIELDS OF SALVATION-MAGICK RECORDS

Well, here's another band to piss off the purists because this bunch has lots of thrashing guitars, aggression and growled vocals, which is all balanced out with melodic guitar solos. Check out "The Nightmare Within" to see what I mean. This song is pretty much a thrashing blastfest with a very Iron Maiden-inspired guitar solo. If you are thinking that this is similar to old In Flames and Dark Tranquillity or, more currently, Nightrage, you are right in that respect. Obviously, for Burden of Grief, growling and thrashing are not enemies of melodic guitar solos and melody in general. The guitars are downtuned, relatively speaking, so they sound somewhere between thrash and death metal, which is at all times accompanied by melodic riffing and soloing. The result: harsh and melodic songs that are memorable. The title track itself obviously is a good example of the old Gothenburg sound.  Therefore, I'd say that fans of melodic thrash/death (or whatever you call it) will be interested in this. Of course, the only problem (depending on your point of view) is that the question of originality is an issue here. However, there's no denying that the songs are done well by the band. Plus, they are substantially more aggressive than "Gothenburg" bands. www.burdenofgrief.com            Mauricio Araniva  

BURIED INSIDE: CHRONOCLAST-RELAPSE RECORDS

The full title of this humdinger is "Chronoclast: Selected Essays on Time-Reckoning and Auto-Cannibalism" (What? Are they edumacated and stuff?) and this is on Relapse Records. Does Relapse have a monopoly on this type of bands or what? Sure seems like it. From the sounds of it, fans of tripped-out, psychedelic hardcore (Shut up, you try explaining this!) need to check this out. This music has a really strange way of combining angry, screamed-out vocals with melancholic post-hardcore guitar work. How do they manage to make this sound good? You would think this is a recipe for a disaster. This is pretty melodic, but in a manic depressive way (Don't ask what that means?!). Let's just say that if you like the posthardcore/dissonant stuff on Relapse, you should dig this. I think explaining the meaning of life might be easier than explaining this band. www.buriedinside.com     Mauricio Araniva  

CALLISTO: TRUE NATURE UNFOLDS-EARACHE RECORDS

This was a wonderful surprise. After having heard this album a ridiculous number of times, I find that it's cool that I understand--or at least, that I enjoy--something this different (for me, anyway). Also, I think I prefer to listen to this on headphones. The fullness of the sound, the brooding feeling, the grey-skies-ness of the music really does sound better up to your ear. At any rate, this album goes to show you that if you listen to music and let the music take you places, you can find new things that are fun, even though they are different. I was so convinced this album was not good. It sounded like another boring, slow band with growled/screamed vocals. However, I think I get it now. This band is really good. First of all, the vocals are growled/screamed, but they fit very well with the doomish, sluggish, dissonant guitar work. The vocals are "mature" (I know that sounds silly) and it's not about trying to sound angry and all-macho/gorilla or whatever. The desperate (again, this word is not right) feel of the voice sounds pretty cool. The music is not fast or super slow, but it's on the doomy (it's not doom metal, though), melancholic, heavy, melodic (but not sweet) and memorable tip. Some people say this is art rock, prog rock, blah, blah, blah.. This is metal and it's not metal. It's not Slayer metal, but it certainly has a moody, dark guitar sound that, to me, does have a 70s Black Sabbath influence to it. One band that I have heard recently that has a vibe that is sort of similar is Buried Inside. These guys probably consider themselves a hardcore band, but it's not the Hatebreed/Agnostic Frost type of hardcore. This is actually more the Sabbath/Candlemass type of hardcore (say what?). This is a stupid review. Let me try it this way: here's a band that concentrates on feeling more than anything (not speed, not heaviness, not the rules), a somber, doomy, melancholic, spacy, ethereal, cloudy, trippy feeling. A basic, simple guitars-bass-drums-vocals approach (not big effects or outside tricks) with some interesting bits here and there (in some places I hear something like a saxophone, but it sounds sublime). This is definitely for the open-minded and for those that want to hear music that might open new places, new sounds. Finally, this is on Earache Records and it's definitely different than their death metal stuff. I, for one, find this interesting and I do realize that there is a scene with a lot of "posthardcore" bands and stuff, but I don't find most of those bands exciting or that creative. This is an exception, and a good one. This is about an hour long, with only a few minutes of intro/outro. www.earache.com       Mauricio Araniva

 CEPHALIC CARNAGE: ANOMALIES-RELAPSE RECORDS

This is definitely like the Rolling Stones, man. First of all, like the Rolling Stones, these songs are groovy, man. Totally. For example, the vocals are totally guttural, growled, completely incomprehensible (just like the Stones). Great stuff, really. Can people scream like this without using strong, possibly illegal substances? The growler sounds positively possessed. The thrashing, death metal, death grind guitars plus the insane blasting plus the technicality and diversity of this band is ridiculous. What's more, the clarity of this album is very surprising. You can hear the madness clearly and upfront. What's interesting is how the manage to bring in--and I'm not kidding this time--stoner rock and stuff that sounds like 70s Black Sabbath and throw it in the deathgrind melting pot and beat the living daylights out of it. Crazy stuff.  I'm thinking that these beastie boys must put on a cool show. With this album you do not get weird instruments: just lots of thrashing, grinding guitars and loud bass, obnoxiously good drumming and superguttural vocals. OK, basically, I like this because it shows that grind can be interesting and diverse. Really! Those who get this type of music--you know, the grind stuff--should hear this: a band doing something interesting with a sound that is notorious for being strictly a one-way highway attack on music.  www.cephaliccarnage.net Mauricio Araniva

 CRIONICS: ARMAGEDDON'S EVOLUTION-CANDLELIGHT RECORDS

What is cool about this band is that: 1) they play fast, blasting black metal; 2) they make their songs distinctive from one another, not relying on speed alone; 3) they add melody, but the type of melodies which are not clichéd/happy/overly sweet; it's subtle and slightly twisted. In addition, 4) the vocals are black, but there's a lot death in them, so fans of brutal death can totally get this; 5) the guitar work has plenty of creativity to spice up the huge barrage of noise. 6) The production is not garage, like those one-man projects. Sounds like a collective effort. There are a few other interesting things: they cover "The Loss and Curse of Reverence" by Emperor, which is probably the closest reference point, especially the "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk" period. This Polish band uses synth, but the guitars always dominate. The synth is strictly background feel. Very promising, but not only that, they are already delivering in a serious way. www.crionics.rockmetal.art.pl  Mauricio Araniva

 DARK MOOR: BEYOND THE SEA-ARISE RECORDS

Spain's Dark Moor has been around a while now and they are known for solid, melodic power metal. This time is no different: all the songs are packed with melody and power metal. The vocals are high, so keep that in mind. These songs probably get the traditional metal crowds singing along at the shows. It would be unfair to ask these bands to be completely original, I think. Sure, there's plenty of Iron Maiden and Helloween influence, but Dark Moor has its own sound. Do keep in mind that this is not that thrashy, it's melodic, not that heavy, but traditional. www.arisemetal.com Mauricio Araniva

  DEBRIS INC.: S/T-RISE ABOVE RECORDS/CANDLELIGHT

For some, the union of Dave (St. Vitus) Chandler and Ron (Trouble) Holzner can subject up a few mental jukeboxes in ones head. The first thing you think should be coming out of it would be something like “Born Too Late” meets “Run To the L