Tag: Paradise Lost

The Gardnerz – It All Fades (Review)

The GardnerzThe Gardnerz are a Swedish Doom/Death Metal band that comfortably straddle both genres, taking the best of both for their nefarious purposes.

As a stylistic starting point; think of the old-school Anathema, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, etc. sound, and for a more modern reference point think bands like Eye of Solitude. Powerful Metal that embraces both the past and the present to deliver a portal into another world where this band stride as giants and lord of their strange world.

The songs immediately suck you into their orbit and transport you to the environment that the band portray.

Vocals are varied and consist of growls, shrieks and clean singing, all used to great effect and helping to cement the atmosphere. The singer is adept at switching styles quickly and effectively, enhancing the feeling of the songs and working with the music to create inspired slabs of Metal that you can’t help but be carried away by.

This EP contains 5 original songs of emotive, darkened Metal and a surprising and very-different cover of Darkthrone’s Transilvanian Hunger. 

The Gardnerz have created an EP that is chock full of great tracks and enough talent to put lesser bands to shame. What are you waiting for?

Sol Negro – Dawn of a New Sun (Review)

Sol NegroThis is one Hell of a Death Metal album. Sorry, I mean Black Metal. Oops, I mean Doom Metal. Hang on, I mean Progressive Metal…

Sol Negro have a very curious sound that will have people who enjoy pigeon-holing bands running for the hills in fear. They have aspects of Black, old-school Death and Doom in their sound and yet somehow manage to sound independent of each genre, creating something that effortlessly takes aspects of different sources and melds them together into an album that really is a bit different and a bit damn special. The closest vibe I can think of I suppose is a Celtic Frost-esque one.

The songs have an instant timeless feel to them as if you’ve always known them, yet you can tell that it is not an album to tire of easily. Repeated plays bear this out; there is depth and longevity here. The songs contain straightforward easily-accessible passages, but can quickly turn more progressive and emotive at the drop of a plectrum. No easy feat.

The vocals are accomplished and tread a fine line between Black Metal and old-school Death Metal. The old-school vibe permeates the music as well, with the riffs and bass reminding of Death at points before venturing into more Black/Doom/Prog territory on others. Regardless of what they’re playing and how, the overwhelming feeling is that yes; you are indeed listening to a Metal album through and through, and one to be proud of.

These tracks are even strong enough to stand side-to-side with a Paradise Lost cover, which is performed to a very high standard and sits more than comfortably with the original material. This band know their stuff; just listen to the start of They Came From Darkness for example. Phew!

An extremely top-rate album that I’ll be listening to for some considerable time to come. Do yourself a favour and pick this one up.