This is the second album from Swedish/UK death metal band Pale King.
Brought to us by current and ex-members of bands such as Heads for the Dead, Just Before Dawn, Those Who Bring the Torture, Wombbath, Ashcloud, Henry Kane, Ursinne, and Gods Forsaken, Pale King know a thing or two about death metal. Continue reading “Pale King – We Are but Memories (Review)”
This is the latest EP from Faustian Dripfeed, a Norwegian melodic death metal band.
Having enjoyed the band’s debut EP Between This and Death, it’s great to catch up with Faustian Dripfeed once more for this new EP. Continue reading “Faustian Dripfeed – Faustian Escapades (Review)”
Obriy are a Ukrainian death metal band and this is their debut release.
Old-school and full of huge grooves, this thunders out of the speakers with enviable presence and chunky, heavy riffs. Continue reading “Obriy – Altar of Utopia (Review)”
This is the debut EP from Nowegian melodic death metal band Faustian Dripfeed.
You never quite know what you’re going to get when something is described as melodic death metal, as frequently it ends up being something that has little or no actual death metal content. Well, this is certainly not the case with Faustian Dripfeed. Continue reading “Faustian Dripfeed – Between This and Death (Review)”
This is well-written Death Metal with some nice melodic streaks thrown in for good emphasis.
The band have gone for a song-oriented approach that is part Swedish Death Metal and part Modern Death Metal, not a million miles away from Illdisposed’s 1-800 Vindication in some ways; frequent infectious melodies with a firm heavy backbone to stop things from ever veering into Melodic Death Metal territory.
Gian frequently trade off crunchy, heavy riffs with melodic passages, all the time retaining an overall muscular presence.
The vocals are deep growls and angry shouts for the most part, but I must say that I was completely unprepared for clean vocals to appear on the second track Bloodstorm! They are performed extremely well and only appear on this song, but for a band who have a firm Death Metal sound with blast beats aplenty I was quite taken aback. Their scarcity works in their favour though, as when they do appear it’s just another aspect of the melodic delivery that appears among the brutal carnage that their music alternates between.
Gian have created a very enjoyable album that delivers something that’s an uncommon treat; songs that are equally brutal and melodic but without falling into the trap of losing their bite.
This is one to definitely check out.
Resistance are a Belgian Death Metal band and this is their fifth album.
This is brutal and heavy music designed to destroy. Resistance play Modern Death Metal with a hint of Deathcore in places, but only a hint.
The recording is clinical and polished with everything sounding clear and strong. The band play their tunes tightly and use all of their available tools to go straight for the throat.
Resistance’s sound combines the surgical riffing of Decapitated, the groove of Grave and the modernity of Job For A Cowboy. It lends for a very strong sound that isn’t restricted to any one of those three styles as it borrows from all.
The singer has a throaty roar that sounds every bit as muscular as the music. Not dissimilar to the singer of Grave, he provides a catchy Death Metal voice to work alongside the infectious riffing.
And this is an album of riffs. Heavy, groovy, blasting riffs. They dot Resistance’s landscape like bomb craters and leave just as much of a mark. A large amount of consideration and thought has obviously gone into these songs and the result is very enjoyable indeed.
Quality Death Metal from Belgium. Listen at full volume.
This is Austrian band Mandatory’s second album. They play Melodic Death Metal/Metalcore.
Mandatory play clean Melodic/Modern Death Metal with some Thrash elements thrown in.
Catharsis comes across as mixing elements of Lamb of God, Illdisposed, Darkane and Arch Enemy…kind of a cross between the European melodic style and the North American modern Metalcore style.
Their melodic sensibilities are finely honed and this is mixed in with heavier moments.
The vocals are mainly deep growls but some spoken word sections and melodious cleans are used occasionally too. These are kept to a minimum though and are not overused.
Mandatory’s sound is big, clean and crisp, as you would expect for a band of this ilk. The songs play out quite nicely and the slightly-longer-than-average length of the tracks mean that the band take the time to explore where and what they want to.
Have a listen.
Wonderbox Metal 