This is the second EP from UK Stoner Metal band Strauss.
Their début EP was an great listen, and Luia follows up on the promise that their first outing showed.
Once again, this is riveting, rocking stuff. Heavy, fuzzy and with just the right amount of angry drive, Strauss proceed to deliver 5 tracks of involving music that takes in the Stoner genre and adds an extra layer of Metal to it.
There seems to be more of a modern twist to the songs this time, as evidenced by some of the less-typically-Stoner riffs and inventive vocal patterns.
Speaking of the vocals, once again these are a focal point. Whether shouting with passion, crooning with a cleaner style, or anywhere in between, the vocalist hits all the right marks and delivers a performance worthy of the music.
The songs are well written and the band seem to be slowly erring towards longer songs, which is never usually a bad thing in a band as it allows for more ideas to be developed and greater space for exploration.
Two EPs and two wins. This bodes well for an eventual full-length album. Here’s hoping.
Fangs of the Molossus are from Italy and play Doom Metal. This is their début album.
This is orthodox Traditional Doom Metal with a healthy sprinkling of psychedelia to add to the charm.
It’s an authentic and faithful take on the genre and the band do it justice.
Their sound is suitably occult and the songs have a jammed vibe that is loose enough to sound natural but structured enough to not be sloppy.
This is slow and ponderous Metal with classic melodies and some quality guitar-work and riffs. The rhythm guitars work up a good atmosphere and some of the extended lead/solo work is exquisite.
The vocals are quite low in the mix and work as atmosphere-enhancers and an extra instrument rather than being the focal point as they are in most bands.
An enjoyably sullen album to stick on and kick back to. Recommended.
Mindscar are from the US and this is their début album. They play Death Metal.
This is an interesting release. The band play Death Metal that’s brutal and is not without technicality, yet also features a good amount of melodic and atmospheric sections and even clean vocals on occasion.
It’s a winning combination. The blasting brutality of the Death Metal core mixes surprisingly well with the more restrained, melodic parts.
The band seem to be talented musicians and there are no shortage of solos or technical wizardry.
The more atmospheric sections have the aura of Nile or Behemoth if they experimented with background clean vocals a bit more. They definitely have an exotic flavour to these parts and it’s great to see a band spread their wings to incorporate wide influences as well as the more traditionally brutal aspects of their sound.
They’re not afraid to show their Classic Metal heritage either, with a few riffs that would do Iron Maiden proud lurking here and there, albeit heavied-up some.
Sort of a cross between elements of Behemoth, Nile, Atrocity, Orphaned Land, Melechesh, Gorguts and Misery Index. Quite an eclectic mix in some ways when you see it written down, but when you hear it it all slots together quite naturally.
You’ve gotta love an Extreme Metal band who are willing to push the boundaries a bit. Kill the King fuses blasting extremity with melodic abandon and exotic atmospherics to great effect. Importantly they get the ratio correct. It’s mainly heavy and brutal, contains a good amount of flashy solos and leads, with the more atmospheric sections used sparingly for maximum effect.
This is the début album from Russian Grindcore band Smothered Bowels.
9 tracks in 21 minutes; Smothered Bowels waste no time with bringing the brutality and the blasting heaviness.
Featuring extreme pignoise vocals in addition to the odd incoherent scream, this is Grind that combines Goregrind and Deathgrind into one heaving mass of bloody chunks.
The Death Metal influence is apparent from some of the riffs and the occasional guitar solo. This is combined with the brutal extremity of Goregrind to create an album that teeters on the Death Metal brink but never quite fully converts.
There’s enough blurring between the similar genres to provide Smothered Bowels with an interesting foundation on which to lay their house of carnage.
The songs make use of Death Metal’s dynamics and Grind’s blasting insanity to create tracks that recall the top quality work of bands like Circle of Dead Children and Plague Widow. Both are firm favourites of mine so that’s a high compliment.
Smothered Bowels have put together a really enjoyable release that avoids the trap of one dimensionality by employing good songwriting and an impassioned bludgeoning.
An impressive first foray into the Grindcore underworld. Hopefully this will not be overlooked, and doubly-hopefully the band’s next release will be even better, as this is pretty damn good already.
Kafirun are from Canada and play Black Metal. This is their latest EP.
After their enjoyable début release Death Worship, Kafirun return with more True Black Metal to assault the masses with.
Kafirun play their Black Metal extremely well. It’s authentic, pitch-black and full of malevolent feeling.
The songs are like hymns to darkness and the relatively varied and emotive vocal delivery leads the sermon in ritualistic worship.
There’s a touch of Mayhem and Deathspell Omega to their Black Metal assault, both in the vocals and music.
The band have a really good sound – it’s raw enough to have the Black Metal aesthetic without it detracting from the overall performance as it’s also thick and balanced enough to be an enjoyable listen.
It’s only a short EP at 21 minutes in length, but each track showcases the band’s songwriting skill and passion for Black Metal.
Kafirun have shown us once again that they’re ones to watch. Keep it up!
Corpo-Mente are from France and this is their début album.
Now this is something a bit different, a bit special.
This is exotic, sensual music that combines Dark Rock, Trip-Hop and Electro Avant-Garde.
This is powerful stuff that grips from the start with its highly individualistic sound.
The songs seem to slip and slide through the musical landscape and they seem to pulse with a deeply vibrant internal heat. The way the album moves through the running time is almost carnal in nature.
The vocals are operatic in nature and yet somehow still manage to remain intimate and personal. The singer has a strong voice and is extremely talented at what she does. She injects personality and charismatic inflection into the singing which results in the music avoiding the trap of rather faceless, impersonal operatic vocals that some bands who employ them can sometimes fall into.
The music is multi-textural and richly evocative of sumptuous soundscapes. It’s also filled with haunting melodies and quite beautiful compositions. There is a definite darkness here, sometimes quite menacing in tone.
With enough “hair-standing-on-end” moments to stop anyone in their tracks, this is a must. What a highly accomplished collection of songs!
If you like bands like Ulver, Lethe, Manes, etc. then this is a definite highlight to be seized.
A surprise and a pleasure; Corpo-Mente have made a firm fan here.
Hellripper is a one-man Black Metal band from Scotland and this is his first release.
If you’re anything like me, when you think of one-man Black Metal bands you tend to think of the longer, darker end of the Black Metal spectrum; crazed loners creating malevolent art that sprawls aeons of textured oblivion.
What you probably don’t think of is raw, underground, Speed Metal infused Black Metal. This entire EP is shorter than the average one-man Black Metal project’s song length.
This is ugly and primitive but not without character. The riffs have attitude and it’s like a Blackened Motörhead mixed with Impaled Nazarene or Audiopain and a sprinkling of early Kreator.
The songs are good, much better than you might think. The more I listen to it the more I think of a Blackened version of Kreator, when they first started off and were all spikes and attitude. Hellripper are cut from the same bloody cloth.
Short, loose and surprisingly catchy, Hellripper have produced an enjoyable ride through the worst part of town.
Jaded Star are based in Greece and play Melodic Heavy Metal. This is their début album.
Featuring former members of Iced Earth and Visions of Atlantis, you know straight away that this is going to be competently and professionally played before you even hear it.
This is modern Melodic Heavy Metal with a state-of-the-art recording and songs that are catchy and memorable. Electronic enhancements are subtle and don’t detract from the Metal core of the band.
I quite enjoyed Cast Away by Visions of Atlantis, but it suffered under the shadow of the mighty Nightwish. I never heard them after that. Fast forward 11 years and The now ex-singer of Visions of Atlantis has come into her own and the performance on Memories from the Future is faultless. She has a great voice that combines power and melody in the right amounts to bring these songs to life with anthemic vigour.
She also doesn’t play it entirely safe, as she injects more variety into these tracks than a lot of similarly-styled singers try to do. Commendable.
Musically you might expect Metal-by-numbers, but the sound, although professional, is surprisingly organic and fresh for a band within this genre. The musicianship certainly is first rate and there are enough leads and solos to provide a meaty feast but without becoming ostentatious as can be the case with some European Power Metal.
These songs are energetic bundles of hummable Metal that don’t commit the cardinal sins that a lot of bands of this style do – overly commercial, weak guitars, generic songs, etc. – Jaded Star avoid all of these by providing a much more personal take on a style that is, by now, well-worn at best.
This kind of music is never going to be innovative or new, but that’s not the point; there is, however, a much needed injection of individuality and true passion into the genre, as a lot of bands of this ilk can sound same-y and boring. I’m extremely pleased with Jaded Star though as they remind me of what I first loved about female-fronted Metal when I first started listening to it in earnest over a decade and a half ago, (gulp!).
Jaded Star have reaffirmed my love for this kind of music and I can honestly and heartily recommend Memories from the Future. Had your fill of this style? Weary of the same old stuff? Give Jaded Star a try and watch your passion re-ignite.
This is the début album from UK Metal band The Sanity Days.
At a first glance of the album cover, you’d be forgiven for expecting some form of modern Metalcore; how wrong you’d be! This is classic Heavy Metal mixed with a touch of Thrash Metal for good measure.
The singer has a dirty voice that sounds really good against the Metal riffs. His is a charismatic style infused with plenty of character and personality. He reminds me most of Jon Oliva. In fact, if you think of this band as a more Metal version of Jon Oliva’s Pain with a slight Thrash influence then you’ll have a good idea of where Evil Beyond Belief is coming from.
With the musicians all being veterans of other bands, there are no problems with the musicianship and performance on this release. A professional production gives everything the chance to sound first-rate and overall this is an album that makes an impression.
As with everything of this nature though, it’s the songs that really matter. The tracks on Evil Beyond Belief are catchy and memorable, making for an enjoyable album.
The songs are largely on the longer side, with, as the basis of a track, the band relying a lot on rhythms that are drawn out a bit longer than might normally be the case. This is a common idea in, say, Doom or Post-Metal, but one less explored in Heavy Metal. I find it does work here, but I imagine it would be quite an individual response. What works for me I can imagine sounding repetitive or boring to others. It’s not pure repetition for the sake of it though, and it’s frequently accompanied with quality vocals/leads/solos.
This is almost 65 minutes of quality Heavy Metal, classic in style, modern in delivery. And do you know what? It really hits the spot.
This is the début album by US Traditional Heavy Metallers Wicked Inquisition.
We’ve met this very promising band before with their previous EP Silence Thereafter. This EP was Traditional Heavy Metal mixed with Doom Metal and the band’s new album continues this theme.
This is song-oriented catchy music that should be instantly recognisable to anyone into Classic Metal. Add to that some 70’s vibes and a bit of Traditional Doom and you have a recipe for a corker of a listen.
Warm, heavy riffs are the mainstay of the band’s music and they certainly know how to write them. Gorgeous leads and solos add colour to an already vibrant package and Wicked Inquisition show they’re more than ready for the big leagues now.
The singer has a relaxed, strong voice that he carries effortlessly. It works as a focal point for the confidently-executed music and brings the songs and the multitude of riffs together.
A highly recommended listen for anyone into Heavy Metal.
This is the second EP from UK Stoner Metal band Strauss.
Wonderbox Metal 