This is the debut album from Behind Your Fear, a Gothic/melodic metal band from Germany.
Featuring current and ex-members of bands such as Crimson Moon and Flowing Tears, Anthropocene provides us with 47 minutes of quality tunes. It succeeds in taking cues from the past to deliver a satisfying interpretation of an older style. Continue reading “Behind Your Fear – Anthropocene (Review)”
Seventh Storm are a metal band from Portugal and this is their debut album.
Featuring an ex-member of Moonspell, Maledictus contains 58 minutes of quality metal music that’s been well-crafted by its creators. Continue reading “Seventh Storm – Maledictus (Review)”
Veil of Conspiracy are a melodic metal band from Italy and this is their second album.
The promo blurb states that the 45 minutes of material on Echoes of Winter is for fans of Katatonia, Opeth, and The Morningside, which is a good starting point for Veil of Conspiracy’s sound. I’d also add that fans of bands such as Amorphis, Paradise Lost, Deathwhite, Moonspell, My Dying Bride, and Anathema will find much to like here. Continue reading “Veil of Conspiracy – Echoes of Winter (Review)”
Deathwhite are a melodic metal band from the US and this is their second album.
Ever since 2014’s Ethereal saw the light of day, I’ve enjoyed watching Deathwhite flex their creative, melodically-charged muscles. Solitary Martyr arrived a year later with a quality delivery, and by the time that 2018’s For a Black Tomorrow came around, it was clear that Deathwhite’s early promise was not squandered at all. Well, it’s now 2020, and the band have returned with 49 minutes of new material. Continue reading “Deathwhite – Grave Image (Review)”
Deathwhite are a melodic metal band from the US and this is their debut album.
Having enjoyed Deathwhite’s material on 2014’s Ethereal and 2015’s Solitary Martyr, I was pleased when their obvious talent was recognised by Season of Mist. I’ve enjoyed witnessing them develop as a band over the years, and now we finally have Continue reading “Deathwhite – For a Black Tomorrow (Review)”
Tor Marrock are a Gothic Metal band from Wales. This is their second album.
Tor Marrock play Gothic Metal with a plethora of different influences; Black, Death and Doom Metal are all represented to various degrees. The tracks are an interesting combination of these influences and make the band quite hard to pigeonhole in some ways.
For reference points I’d say an unholy mix of Type O Negative, Celtic Frost, Paradise Lost and Moonspell. Essentially it’s an Old-School Peaceville sound updated with a few different elements from some of the aforementioned bands and genres.
The songs are quite catchy and are quite accomplished in the verse/chorus technique. You could almost sing along, if you fancied trying to keep up with the usually gruff tones of the vocalist.
Some of the songs are quite upbeat while others take a slower, more maudlin route. I find I slightly prefer the latter, although the former is almost as good. Songs like Christ Betrayed have the best of both worlds, making this track one of my favourites.
The songs are stripped back and simplified; it’s easy for Gothic Metal bands to pile on the keyboards and other sounds/effects for quite an ostentatious sound, but Tor Marrock have gone for a basic and raw sound, (relatively speaking), making the most of the standard instruments to colour their emotive palette.
Tor Marrock are doing something a bit different with their take on Metal and this relatively short album, (36 minutes), is an individual and charismatic take on the genre.
The 69 Eyes are from Finland and play Gothic Rock.
This is a pretty epic Best Of album, spanning 28 tracks across 25 years. Most bands will never be that prolific.
I haven’t actually heard The 69 Eyes before but they’re certainly a band I’ve been aware of.
As is the case with Best Of albums like this it’s essentially a greatest hits package, and the quality of the songs reflect this.
It shows a remarkable consistency over the band’s long career. Times, style and fortunes may shift and change, but a good song is a good song regardless.
These are catchy, memorable, Gothic-infused Rock songs with personality and choruses aplenty.
The singer has that kind of deep, charismatic voice that is essential for this kind of music and it’s easy to see why he has captivated so many hearts over the decades with his vocal performance.
There is a lot of music on this release, almost 2 hours in total. But even given the constraints of the genre there’s a decent amount of variety here, with everything from up-tempo rockers, moody slower songs and outright ballads getting a chance to shine. The band have suffered no shortage of inspiration over the years, that’s apparent.
From my own point of reference, they combine elements of HIM, Ashbury Heights, Mono Inc., Paradise Lost, Tiamat, Type O Negative, Moonspell and Sentenced; although I’m well aware that it’s probably the other way around in reality.
With such a wealth of riches in one package, if this is your kind of music then it’s hard to go wrong with The Best of Helsinki Vampires.
I’m sold. Sign me up.
Lying Figures are a Death/Doom band from France and this is their second EP.
Funereal riffs and Doom melodies are a firm basis of these songs. The winding melodies and dirge workouts pervade the EP like a miasma of misery.
Screaming and growling vocals are used alongside sorrowful cleans to provide a multitude of vocal textures, including a Gothic feeling from the cleans.
The overall feeling is of a band taking the Death/Doom formula and updating for the modern era; whilst it is recognisable as Death/Doom, the band have tinkered with the style enough so that it has a contemporary feel to it.
The songs provide a relatively laid back take on the genre as well, even when the harsh screams and growls are taken into consideration. It’s Doom Metal easy listening, but in a good way. The aggression that they have is contained and channelled appropriately and the songs benefit from this focus of intent.
Lying Figures take elements of bands such as Amorphis, Moonspell, My Dying Bride and Katatonia and fuse them into their own work. Suffice to say, if you like the aforementioned bands I imagine you’ll like this too.
This is an enjoyable EP that bodes well for the future of the band. Let’s see what they do next.
Wonderbox Metal 