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This release from Hangover is a tribute to one of Punk’s weirdest figures GG Allin, all the tracks featured here being cover version of his songs. The style is simple and in your face punk with metallic influences, from Rock’n’Roll to OI! to pseudo folk (Son of Evil) you can find it all here presented on this short MCD. Even tough not mind blowing you can order this short tribute if you need some metal-sounding cover versions of GG Allin. Contact: www.stukasound.net
A very good piece of thrash metal! If you like old school thrash filled with lots of moshing riffs, high speed guitar solos, good refrains this one is recommended for you. The songs are all good examples of how a thrash metal band should play, and I’ve almost forgotten here, all the songs are at high speed. The only negative point is the production which is not so clear, but for a debut demo this is more than good. You’re not allowed to miss it. Best songs: “Overlord” and “Metal Massacre”. Playing time: 21:00
Hailing from Denver- Colorado, Havok tries to gain its place in the modern thrash metal area with a very good combination between classical thrash metal, some power metal lines and a vocal score that could be the most important difference between this combo and its predecessors, bands such as: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Pantera, Testament, Overkill, Exodus, Suicidal Tendencies or Motorhead to mention but a few!
“Unfortunately” this band is from the Czech Republic, if they were from the United States (for example), Hazydecay could be a “big thing”! They are playing since 1996 with some line-up changes, but for the last 6 years the band has been Adam on vocals, Lee (7string guitar), Minno on drums and DeeAce on bass. After a promo single (2003/2004) Jewelz of Concrete was released in June 2004.
Heiden was founded in 2003 as a project by members of Svardenvyrd, Demogorgon and Cemetery Gate and became a regular band in 2005. ”Tinne“ is the second release, which was recorded in less than a week in 2005. It’s supposed to be a full-length album, though it has only seven tracks - including an intro. Contact: www.heidenhorde.com
This CD is more of less a split release between bands that have or had something in common with the Austrian cult black metal band Abigor. Hellbound, the opener of this split CD plays atmospheric black metal mostly mid-tempo but with some blast beats from time to time, and it has a strong Abigor influence, in fact you have the feeling that you listen an Abigor (mid-era) CD, and you certainly can feel some Burzumesque influences here and there, although the music is not that cold as in Burzum’s case. The lyrics are written by Jyade Cythrawl and talk about her experiences with the occult/ancient rituals, unfortunately I don’t have them to tell more about, and anyway Jyade Cythrawl is the person behind Ancient Legacy Press and Black Magic Market so check the websites out to see her points of view upon world. Second is Amestigon which features the mastermind Silenius, the man behind bands such as: Abigor, Summoning, Pazuzu, Kreuweg Ost, Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, and some other members who featured in some of his projects. Their music is a crossover between fast parts and more melancholic ones; also some acoustic parts are to be found like in the middle of the song “A Long Paths End” , keys are used but just to create intro’s or outro’s , the best song from their side is in my opinion : “Unleashed” the track that closes this split CD, this song has a great atmosphere. This split may still be available so if you’ll have the chance and you want to discover two good black metal bands don’t hesitate to buy this. Playing time: 48:44
Despite of not a big population, Finland has bringed to the world whole pleiades of talented musicians and we may get such an opinion that there are something like a conveyor, which makes Finns with guitars into hands. Hellbox is another newborn band, a creative potential of them allow take an attention on it. Lads has decided to dig into old school thrash metal and even earlier – since we can found some rock’n’roll moments, squeezed by skull-crushing riffs. But I can not say here is too much Mötorhead roots, after all here is a cruel sound and we can find more similarities to Pungent Stench (brutal voice in combination with guitar themes). Hellbox’s riffs are intensive and pushy, keeping severe mid tempo like Celtic Frost. During listening to this CD, I’m as if dipping into fucking old good times, where thrash was popular and kicked asses. (By the way, several songs of this shooting here band were kept good positions in Finnish musical charts!) And surely, band’s image confirmed it: torn jeans, tattoos, beer, a will, impressing aggressive protest. A spirit of riot is still alive! And have to add: Finnish guys, leaning to classical roots, could find own way in music. The old times just coming back and will kick your mainstream asses up! Playing time: 34:19
Born in the good days of thrash/ death metal movement, (was founded in Gainesville back in 1984), Hellwitch is back with the long awaited Omnipotent Convocation; an album we’re looking for since a while, marking band’s second coming in the extreme metal scene after many years behind the stage.
Coming from the cold Scandinavian Peninsula, to be exactly from Finland, Hoath offers us its first full-length album called "Codex II Kether"! Compound in a death-black metal way of playing, like Sarcofago or Blasphemy, "Codex II Kether" incites interest through its combination between two musical genres I've mentioned previous. This material signed Hoath fits perfectly with this musical "stream" through: sound, instruments and an antichristian attitude. Front man’s voice is an usual one, so... he doesn't impressed me at all, although he sings more into guttural vocal register. Like some other albums, this product have bad or good ideas. I want to mention I very much liked the guitar who uses an unusual distort, but who creates a perfect balance between the stoner and the heavier moments. Also I'll mention that I liked a lot the extreme metal phases, also some slow core lines, but I feel something missing; the whole material becoming frequently boring. “Ground Zero” is a landscape developing from an unknown cataclysm presenting ruins and debris of steel, dust flying in the air, rust and slivers, tumbling down construction, where steel structures bend and fold like a pack of cards. A 37-minute story about the destruction of the concrete world is presented in 6 pieces in a dark ambient/industrial climate. The text above is the official description of this very strange release, taken from Zoharum’s website. Well, it might sound exciting, but unfortunately it’s not! The average length of each “song” is about six minutes which is pretty long. I think if you’ve listened to 30 seconds of each one, you can press the next button. One could argue that this length is needed to allow the listener to develop some images in his head, but there’s almost nothing happening here. Sometimes it seems like the sounds are repeated over and over again, until the next song begins. In the main each track has a sound which is pretty much distorted and played in slow motion, plus some keys that have no remarkable development, no ups and no downs. For example, in the opener “Requiem” (5.46 minutes long) all you can hear is a noisy rain-like sound and a subtle ambient keyboard. The next songs are filled with sounds of distorted waves, construction machines, insects, barking dogs and some movie samples, combined with the afore mentioned keys. The most annoying track is, “From here to Ruins” which is 6.56 minutes long! Imagine a distorted cymbal hit with a two-second echo, then a little silence and suddenly the next hit banging in your ears... over and over again! This is too wannabe intellectual! Contact: www.hoarfrost.darknation.eu
This German band is offering to us some kind of back metal in the vein of Primordial. The music is well played and if they will continue on this path maybe someday they will be “the next best thing”. The production is good enough. They combine clear and grim vocals, I can say quite well and the music is well played. Some good songs here:” My father was murdered” and “Avalon”. It’s worth o check this demo tape limited to 140 copies!
Contact: dod@beltez.net
“The satanic orchestra” Hortus Animae (- The Garden of the Soul – in English translation) started in 1997, their first release being a demo tape called “An abode for spirit and flesh”, a later release from 2000 was called “The melting idols” which was released by the band itself and it was a step further when it came to the music composed. Their latest release is waltzing Mephisto released in 2003 and featuring Diego Meraviglia known as Grom from the notorious black metal band Ancient. The music which can be found on this CD is a mixture between black metal and progressive metal (not heavy like). The tempo is alert and some passages here must be envied by the “true” black metal bands. There are lots of tempo changes to be found here and very well done, imagine a passing from a very fast black metal tempo to a waltz like one, all being done with high class. A very good song which exemplifies what I`ve sayd above : “A lifetime of obscurity”, other remarkable songs are : “Spring time death`s”, “Welcome the godless” but the surprise of the album is the cover Medley of three well known songs “Freezing Moon” (Mayhem), “Terzo Incontro” (Il balleto di bronzo) and tubular Bells <excerpt> (Mike Oldfield). This is a must have CD from a very talented band. Contact: martyr_lucifer@hotmail.com Review by Cătălin Carlaonţ
An over 70 minutes rehearsal demo tape by the one and only Alex Wieser. I think this is his main project other are Uruk-Hai, Ravenclaw, Hrefnesholt, Elisabetha, Bonemachine etc. It was recorded during 4.9.1999 and 21.9.1999, this is a limited edition of the demo so if you want to have a copy you’d better act fast , I also think that is very hard to find it but if you’ll Contact Alex he will for sure grant you a copy. This music is some kind of Summoning influenced black metal. The organ is omnipresent in the structure of the songs and the strange martial drumming makes the music unique and hard to understand. I’ve listened to this demo for a couple of times `till I’ve got the point. Some of the best songs are: “Uber Der Nebelwerge weit”, “Feuersturm”. If you’ve discovered Hrossharsgrani music through their CCP releases and you’ve liked what you’ve heard is not a bad thing if you’ll get this demo too. Not many bands are playing such music. If you’re into mainstream black metal or better if you like the usual kind of black metal you will have some problems in understanding this kind of music. If you like Summoning this is one band to check out! Playing time: about 70 min.
“From the dark ages” is more ambient like and the production is clearer. The demo has even some neo-classical parts like the ones in “.....” and there are some movie samples that create a proper atmosphere for a war black metal release. The Summoning influences are again there especially in the of drumming. There is even a cover version of Absurd’s “Mourning soul”. If you haven’t listened to this band until now this can be a good release to start with, but you’ll better check the CCP releases first! This demo is available under the Contact address from Alex Wiesser directly. Playing time: over 80 min.
This is the demo that made Hrossharsgrani sign to the Austrian label CCP. In my opinion this is their best demo; the music keeps the same coordinates as the other demos but at a higher level, especially the ambient passages that are the best in my opinion. The movie samples are well selected and placed. The song “The path between air and key” is the best here and also I can say another good song: ”Wogenbrecher” witch has cool ambient landscapes. Playing time: about 40 min.
The soundtrack of a long forgotten battle, this are I think the best words to describe this opus from Hugin`s Hrossharsgrani. Compared to the earlier demos this MCD presents a different approach to the styles ambient and Viking Metal. If in the past this project created long epic songs about Tolkien`s world now the theme is changed and they are focusing upon the Norse mythology and ancient battles when Einherjers fought under the command of Odin. There are two songs here which can be labeled as metal:” March of the Einherjer” and “the Ravenfight” the rest being an heroic type of ambient filled with lots of battle sounds (nothing new for this band which used lots of samples in the past too). The graphic concept is based on battle symbols, the front cover showing a ride of the Valkyries. Album recommended to all of you who have a fascination for battle epics. I’ve read a review where this album was compared to Manowar, well that is not true at all.
This is a new opus of this Austrian band and is a very big surprise. In the beginning they’ve played black metal influenced by Summoning, after that they’ve switched to a Viking ambient letting all black metal influences behind and now on their “third era” they are playing an orchestrated type of gothic rock with all the elements that this genre must have. When I’ve heard the first song of this CD “Einleitung<Erster Schattenzyklus>” I haven’t noticed any difference in their style but when the second one emerged from my stereo “Das flammende auge” I’ve noticed the difference, heavy guitars were there and a pseudo-orchestration interrupted by spoken parts. The peaks of this CD are the songs: “Im feuer der Rache”, “Krieg Entbrantte (Nacht der Helden)” and “Wenn Winters sang und klang verstummt”. The first two have very good vocal melodies, the best that I’ve heard from this band and the last is an instrumental piece with a nice atmosphere reminding a bit of Empyrium. Well this is enough for me to think that their future releases may be even better. One thing is that I hadn’t liked at this album is the fact that in some songs there are too many spoken passages which I think that are lowering the level of the album . Album recommended to Tolkien fans. Review by Cătălin Carlaonţ
I heard some mp3's of Human Ground's demo at the end of 2004, which were showing a band with a lot of potential. Well half a year later and this debut CD shows a band that have matured and progressed very quickly in such a short time. The basics of the music is detuned death/thrash metal with a very modern (and distinctly Scandinavian) sound. There's also a strong influence from Metallica, especially in Tarvo's clean vocals (he can sound uncannily like James Hetfield at times). But, if we are to continue the parallel, I think that Human Ground's album is much better than the slightly lame "St. Anger", for several reasons; firstly there's the production, which reveals every nuance in the sound, yet is still solid, raw and engaging; secondly (and most importantly) there are the songs. I think the two of the best tracks on the album are "Waiting" and "Wrath of Ages" which show the band in a slower, darker light as opposed to the more frenetic material from their demo, which can sound a little generic by comparison. However, it is still of a high quality, and obviously it is quite difficult to be original nowadays. I guess this album will appeal to a range of fans, from Metallica to Arch Enemy to Carcass. Truth is, most metal fans will quite at home playing this CD, yet there's enough depth and personality to make Human Ground stand out from the crowds of modern metal bands. Contact: ahto@nailboard.org
As I probably used you, a new collaboration started a while ago between our webzine and HellHeadbangers Records; and here you have the first materialization of this cooperation I mentioned above! Hunters Moon is a band I never heard before, I must to recognize, but a good one, although its constituents decided to play something in the old fashion ¨primitive ¨ epic black metal mainly influenced by the gods: Bathory, Primordial or Morrigan to mention but a few.
I can say that this is a decent demo but not a top one. The production sounds not too god(it is too high pitched) Coming to music now, you can find a mid tempo of heavy/power metal even some Bay-Area thrash influences like in the song” Designing from zero”. The best thing of this demo are the guitar lines and the rhythm of the entire CD, witch succeeds in keeping your attention alive. Not so quality vocals and drumming but this can change in the future if they will still be dedicated to music in the future. Remarkable is the cover of the CD, unique and conceptual.” But anyway” Who really care what I believe!” :) Contact: painfull@in.gr
I got this album as a CD-R with a black-and-white xeroxed info sheet, no cd case, nothing... very ugly! Also, I can’t listen to two of the tracks, because of some scratches... I didn’t expect anything positive from this band, though I knew the superbe cover from the pretty good looking website, but I was wrong! Edit: Something nice happend after I’ve written this (in January this year): Radalf (vocals, guitars) apologized for the CD-R (which was sent by the label) and sent me the original one... two times!!! I never got it... Now I finally got it from Naga Productions for free and I can tell you, it looks really great (sick and disturbing though very subtle and artistic - it doesn't have to be a forest, winter landscapes, corpsepaint and things like that to be eerie or evil!) and it’s the 8 Euros worth! I hate cdr’s and mp3’s - there’s a big difference to me, since I've listened the first time to "The Number of the Beast" while holding the (original) MC for hours in my hands... 16 years ago! Anyway, this review took me 4 months, sorry guys! Na zdraví!!! Contact: www.hyperborean-desire.com
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