Pagan Reign - “Sparks of Glory and Resurrection of Past Domination”
(Russia, More Hate Productions, Pagan/Black Metal, 2003)
I’d like to start off this review by mentioning that it’s good to see Russian bands starting to produce quality Pagan black metal to match their Baltic neighbors. Tver`s Pagan Reign didn’t make a good start with me due to the absolutely horrible artwork that adorns this release. It looks like something your kid would do at school. The band photos aren’t great either, looking slightly too much like Monty Python and the Holy Grail for its own good. Still, it is wise to discard these elements when listening to the music, which is wonderfully ethereal. The music is not `dark` at all, but is rather up-tempo with a joyous feeling; frenetic guitars interweave melodies that are influenced equally by traditional metal and Russian folk music; the keyboards add a magical, mysterious element to the sound and are nicely pushed back in the mix, letting the guitars do the talking. Pagan Reign have a fine grasp of dynamics, as this CD varies from thrashy breaks to more melodic and epic moments with some acoustic/folk elements. The vocals are pretty good too, harsh screams are mixed with the `Viking` style that is common on these releases. Possibly my favourite track on here though, is the instrumental “Array” which seems to perfectly capture the mood of this album. A very interesting release, particularly to fans of Skyforger, Obtest and so on; I absolutely adored this work and if this review sounds appealing, you would be very wise indeed to check this band out.
Contact: morehate@pisem.net
Playing time: 41:48
Review by Jamie Smith
Pantheist - "The Pains of Sleep"
(U.K., Serpent's Lair, Funeral Doom, 2006)
Next creation of this well-known in narrow circles band, focused on composing funeral songs, fulfilled by viscous sorrow, melancholy and pressing the mind philosophy of demise's inevitability. You have a something to think about, isn't it? Well, as I supposed, "The Pains of Sleep" is a new piece of concentrated doom metal, predominantly, severe, but not tedious as loads of bands, working in the same way. It's because guys from Pantheist did not limit themselves by ascetical kit of instruments and impression's facilities, when the guitars just saw up the veins and nerve's remainder. A massive or even tremendous support of keyboards and organ samples might be found here, which is really great, especially regarding things with latest one. Also special singing like monks (pre-last song performs on Dutch language), make a "sacred" atmosphere of religious liturgy, which help to create mourning and serious atmosphere, assessed on powerful sound of guitars and thunderous growling, which splits the pre-religious essence of mentioned factors. Is the Devil into the church?! The band could get a very good recorded quality and sound's decorum. Sometimes, some moments bore a bit (as "Envy Us"), but it is just one exception. Clean voices are great as well, especially on "For Funerals to Come" and the spectrum of voices, which we was listening to is wide, in whole.
In booklet the band tell shortly what each of songs was dedicated to. I want to mark a work of label, which made this album real. A thick, quality booklet, the CD itself with gold covering - all this make pleasantly album's examining; everything on a high level.
And only one thing I disliked - a video clip (media addition) which has recorded at one underground concert in Belgium. Hell, it looks very ugly, just like a personal video recording. Hey, guys, I don't want to watch fan's backs! As for my opinion, the live video have to be finished carefully as well, not be a raw piece of frames, or otherwise not be added throughout media section. Finally, "The Pains of Sleep" is a cup of bitterly tea, intended to true melancholic persons and funeral procession followers, he-he.
Contact: www.pantheist.co.uk
Order: www.serpentslair-prod.com
Playing time: 62:11
Review by Sulpher
Paranoia Inducta / Moan - “Body of Steel”
(Poland, Beast of Prey, Industrial Ambient, 2005)
Presented here on this 3'' CD-R are two industrial noise ambient projects from Poland. As usual coming from Beast of Prey you should expect quality and is delivered here...
The first track is “Peine Forte et Dure” by Paranoia Inducta, industrial ambient with a good song structure, it has some electro influences too, but not brought in front but kept somewhere in the back, making this song more accessible. Second comes Moan with a more minimalist song based on industrial noises, quite haunting, giving me the feeling that I sit in my backyard where at not only 50 m is a coal mine and sounds like the ones “induced” by Moan are to be heard all the day from there. This is already sold out...was limited to 155 copies...Look on Beast of Prey Catalogue because they are having new releases out!
Contacts:
Paranoia Inducta: adestroyer@op.pl
Moan: Moan@Moan.pl
Label: www.beastofprey.com
Review by Cătălin Carlaonţ
Parasophisma - “A variable Invariability...”
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The story of Parasophisma is a pretty strange and sad one. The band split up two times already since it was founded in 1994 by Dalibor Figura (songwriter, drummer, singer & designer) - in fact it looks like he is Parasophisma, all the other members being just session musicians. Two EP’s were released before the second “resurrection” took place this year with a new line up: “Sole Light Point in void Tangle of luminous Rays of incompatible Directions” in 1994 and “One of neverending possible Progressions and Variants, which rise maybe...” in 1998 (both of them are now available together on CD-R). Strange titles, especially for albums, but I suppose they’re not after money or high chart positions. I’ve read that they never were that successful but nevertheless one of the most respected Czech Metal bands.
The material on this debut CD, which has the longest name I know (possibly a chance for an entry in the “Guinness Book of World Records”?) was recorded in the so called second generation back in 2000 but they didn’t manage to release it until now. This year it was re-mastered and the Czech label Zero Budget Productions finally released it.
It’s very hard to find the right words for this review, in almost 50 minutes Parasophisma are presenting us a pretty original mix of almost all Metal genres. The self description is avant-garde experimental Doom/Death Metal with influences of Jazz, Big Beat and other styles of music including solo and backing flute parts and male & female vocals. Strange... but quite true. Some bands I think of when listening to this album are Primus, (older) Metallica, Megadeth, Mike Patton’s projects and maybe some experimental Black/Death bands, but in my opinion most of the time it’s comparable to Dog Fashion Disco, another strange band which never had the success it deserved...
You can find here plenty of ingenious riffs and ideas, great complicated progressive songs, performed by very talented musicians. I don’t know much about the skills you need to play stuff like this but these guys are obviously above average. They’ve explored every possible Rock scenario on this album on a high technical level. The singer is able to do all kinds of vocals and also has the balls to sing in unusual ways, from clean vocals (sometimes high pitched, sometimes distorted) to Black Metal screams (fitting to the short but intensive blast beat parts) there is every variation including some Patton-like experiments (just not that crazy)... Also, the flute and the few female vocals are making the songs pretty special.
It’s hard to pick a favorite, each track seems to consist of several different ones but I think I like the over seven minutes long opener and the third track (imagine a mix of Megadeth’s “Rust in Peace” spiced with flutes, acoustic parts and male & female vocals) most.
The very good production which allows you to enjoy every instrument and a nice design are making this CD complete. The only negative point could be the difficulty of the tracks, most of the “common” Metal listeners won’t have the patience for this album, but I think this is what makes it even more interesting. Check them out!
Here’s the whole album title and the tracklist, I think in this case it might be interesting:
“A variable Invariability varied in Dependency on Variations caused by the Invariability of Invariability remains the same when all the Variations of Fractals of Delight have been done”
1. The Contrariety of Someone’s generally recognized “common Thoughts“
2. Infiltration of impossible Ways of Attainment
3. The vain Effort of Pedanties
4. Slave’s Laughter of Hypocrisy, Dissimulation and daily Life
5. Paralogism & Sophistry
6. Tips and Tricks for successful attaining one’s Goal (for Women only)
7. The Law of double Negation/Song of a thirsty Dog
8. Who rejoices is happy, who saddens not rejoices
9. ...with Accuracy exceeding the Possibility of its achieving...
Contact: www.parasophisma.com
www.myspace.com/parasophisma
Playing time: 47:15
Review by Dr.Winter
Patologicum - ”Hecatomb of Aberration“
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Patologicum was founded in 2000 by (former) members of the local underground like Abyss or Deformed. This is the debut album of “Polish Mortician” (like the press use to call them) besides some split contributions and demos.
The style they play is obvious when you hear the name - brutal goregrind in the vein of Mortician, Impetigo, Dead Infection, Gut or early Carcass, as sick as possible with gargled vocals and songs about diseases and extreme sex (I wonder if they have lyrics anyway, I can’t understand a word, but on the other hand no vocal effects were used, as far as I know, so it’s quite an impressive performance - with or without the effects, who cares?)
There’s nothing new here, no proper trademarks, in the main the same thing hundreds of bands did before but it’s o.k. It’s fun to listen to it, and song titles like “Vaginal Pus(sy)”, “No Meat, No Eat” or “Massive Neck Injection by infected Junkie” (some of them even spelled wrong :P) can only make you smile. Presumed you’re a little sick and enjoy this kind of humor ;)
Also you can find the obligatory samples between the songs, which are sometimes longer than the songs themselves and placed a little wrong, or can anybody tell me what the “I see dead people” sample has to do with a song called “Genital Vapor”?
However, those trifles are not unimportant and make this release very likeable in a way... What I also like about this record is the fact that the hyperspeed drums are real! The instrumental parts are technically very well done, here and there some great midtempo riffs AND it’s not a tangle like in so many cases! As I’ve mentioned, it’s not new but it’s the first release, in the meantime they got a lot better! Anyway, this one’s recommended to underground freaks in any case!
Contact: www.patologicum.prv.pl
Playing time: 28:47
Review by Dr.Winter (04/07)
Patologicum - "Promo 2006“
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This is a 3 track demo that was recorded for promotion, the band is currently searching for a new label. They’ve changed the style from brutal gore grind to death /grind. The songs are still brutal, there’s still enough gore, the riffs are better (even if the debut had some cool ones as well), the drums are louder... In the main the whole production is more powerfull and professional (if you can call it that). Their slogan “open minded grindcore” seems to fit better now.
Maybe the Polish samples (which are apparently not taken from movies) are not placed right here, but on the other hand they sound pretty strange... so it’s not that bad at all, they just interrupt the listening pleasure...
But one thing still bothers me: The vocals! If they were more diverse, the whole thing would be close to perfect! They are almost the same as on the debut „Hecatomb of Aberration“ (2003), gargled and unclearly. I like this kind of vocals very much, but some grunts and screams (like Haemorrhage does them for example) would fit very well in and together with the instrumentation it would be the right dose of aggression! I’m looking forward to the next album! Give them a chance and check out this promo!
Contact: www.patologicum.prv.pl
Playing time: 07:41
Review by Dr.Winter (04/07)
Penitent - “Songs of Despair”
(Norway, Beyond... Prod, Ambient / Black Metal, 2002)
This is a very strange kind of music. Some kind of ambient driven black metal, mostly ambient but with some escapes into black metal, the black metal atmosphere is also given by the vocals of Bernt Sunde. Church organs, piano, violin (computer generated, like the ones on Burzum`s Daudi Baldr`s), electronic beats, synthesizers, black metal vocals, distorted guitars reunite to create a music of an unique shape. I don’t know if this kind of music will please the black metal or ambient listeners, it’s very hard to get into it. The artwork is marvelous, it’s pure art, and there are a lot of medieval motives! Also the lyrics are of very good quality, the ones I like the best are: “Ancient wisdom of the forest”, and “Despair”.
Contact: karsten@neokunst.com
Review by Cătălin Carlaonţ
Perishing Mankind - „Fall of Men“
(Austria, Black Lagoon Records, Modern Death/Thrash, 2005)
Well, Austria never really had an 100% original extreme metal act (except for Pungent Stench and Summoning maybe) but that’s my opinion and not a reason to dislike a well done mix of what has already been...
Perishing Mankind are from my town here in Styria, called Leibnitz. I know most of the band members for about eight years now, I saw them live a couple of times and had some discussions with them, especially with Paul, the bass player, so I think I know what their principles and beliefs are... nothing new, the same (true) metal story, most of the time ...but I’ll do an interview with them later, if they collaborate after reading this ;)
For a debut album „Fall of Men“ sounds pretty good to me... though I have constantly deja-vu’s... like I said, it’s a mix of styles and bands we all should know. Metallica meets In Flames, BUT (!) much more dirty and with angry vocals, and for this reason it seems interesting to me, they are trying anyhow to bring something new in the sound they liked since their childhood....
Hardcore/Thrash with some complex arrangements, I'd say. The production is perfect, you can recognize every instrument very well (except for the bass, but almost every band has the same problem...) and again, I’m surprized about the knowledge and skills they have due to the fact that it’s the first album after releasing only a demo, and they’re quite young too... Most of the positive credits are going to Holger, the one who’s got the crowd in his hands when they’re playing live, the singer... Screams, growls and clean vocals in all kind of depths and heights, you can feel his huge appetite for what he is doing! (maybe the clean parts sometimes sound too much like Autumn Clan, also a band from Leibnitz, which they seem to like very much, but obviously he can do more with his voice... maybe next time)
So, we have eight studio tracks and a live one (which at first I thought it’s a Metallica cover) in constantly high quality, lyrically they move between frustration and sickness... broken love, broken promises, broken system, but hey, it’s a cold world... even in Austria! ;) Fits in the concept. The detailed artwork on 8 pages is also made with love just like the homepage...
I’d like to mention an interesting thing at the end. A rather small girl (...yes, she’s pretty too, but that’s not the point) beats the shit out of the drums, in studio as well as on stage... respect!
Best songs: “Nox” and “First Fallout” but the more I listen to the cd, the more I like all of them a little more...
There are some left of the first pressing, so hurry up and buy the original before they get bigger and Nuclear Blast re-re-re-release them. I think they could make it... Good luck!
Contact: www.perishingmankind.com
Playing time: 42:37
Review by Dr.Winter
Pest - “In Total Contempt”
(Sweden, Raw Black Metal, No Colours Records, 2005)
The Swedes Pest (there are other Pest’s around like the one from Germany and the mighty Pest from Finland) brought from the bowels of hell their third full length in the middle of 2005, a mighty blasphemy of pure and unaltered black metal. Presented here are 8 tracks in the good old tradition of first wave or Norse black metal (read Darkthrone). No variation from the good old path, as stated on their bio “pure Black Metal in the old vein, no females or keyboards involved!” and this is the way it should be. Many crave for originality and thus bring worthless releases out, also many bands/individuals want to reinvent, why should you? Some might say that this is unoriginal, but who is? Look at that great dozen of bands that are trying to bring the “new” in their sound, and just sound like crap. My theory is that a band shall make out of its release a gem and if they started on a path, that path shall lead them to immortality, but just if they will polish their sound until they get to “the sound” that they always wanted to get and that takes a while and don’t step aside of the road that they started to walk on, Pest are still on the road that they’ve chosen from their first demo recording in 1998, and from then they’ve just got better and better trough their releases. There is noting new, there is nothing old, but for sure is eternal and hell yeah! This is/will be torment for your ears! Best song: “Into Deep Black Halls”.
Contact: info@no-colours-records.de
Playing time: 39:16
Review by Cătălin Carlaonţ
Phantasmagory - “Anamorphosis of Dreams”
(Ukraine, Stygian Crypt Productions, Progressive/atmospheric Death Metal, 2002)
Hailing from the Ukraine, technical death metallers Phantasmagory proved themselves worthy of the “progressive” tag by instantly confounding my expectations as to how this album would sound. I was expecting something a little like early Nocturnus or Pestilence, but I got something altogether very different. First of all, if you don't like synths then I recommend you skip to the next review, as “Anamorphosis of Dreams” is loaded with them, in some cases being the lead instruments over the guitars. Phantasmagory play in a very slow, dreamy style with occasional jazzy breaks or other unpredictable elements thrown in. It's all very balanced and measured, the guitars and synths slowly weave a soundtrack like atmosphere, which is in turns spacey and dizzying, melded seemlessly together throughout the album. The drums are clear, intricate, but don't sound overly complicated and form an excellent base for the atmospherics to do the talking. A bold and individual work.
Contact: autsun@mail.ru
Playing time: 59:30
Review by Jamie Smith
I really can't believe that Pigsty are back with a brand new album; if we take into consideration that their previous CD, ¨The Return¨, was realised at the end of 2003. Although this CD contains 9 tracks, it's very easy to notice that Pigsty are in a ceaseless improvement of their musical skills. Band members worked intensly to create a more aggressive product, and is very hard to met another band that could do the same things as Pigsty does, of course at a very high level. It seems that the czech musicians never thought that ¨spiders¨ will be an inferior album compared to their previous one called ¨The Return¨, but its technical level is a low one, being helped from time to time by its aggressivity level that will be hard to describe. The musical concept used on ¨Spiders¨ is a very interesting one, because its grindcore metal way of playing fits perfetly with some hardcore elements. This product is a very intense one, the existence of numerous rhythm changes or brakes showing us that ¨Spiders¨ could be easily considered a good product, although its technical level and skills are a bit low as I've mentioned above. Frontman's vokills are very dangerous; I could say is a better one compared to that used on ¨The Returns¨ album. Topi is very well helped by Bormann, one of the guitar players; his vocal timbre being used by many hardcore singers arround the world.
As I said before, is useless to talk about the technical elements or about the musical lines, band members chosing to create an aggressive album but not a melodical one. Otyn's drums section is an infernal one for sure, his drum blasts being extremely raw and very brutal.
The lyrical concept speaks about spiders, one of the most dangerous insects on earth. I also would like to remark ¨Wake Up¨ cover version song made by Rage Against the Machine.CD artwork shows a giant spider who's probably the result of some genetical mutations. The devastating sound and the terrible production makes ¨Spiders¨ to be a product that needs no other introduction; so..., get it as soon as possible and you won't be dissapointed I assure you!
Contact: bilepr@lanskrounsko.cz
Playing time: 23:20
Review by Litocranius
Pigsty - "The Return"
(Czech Republic, Grindcore, Bizarre Leprous Records, 2003)
Pigsty second effort is in my hands now, and I really fucking love it! Probably one of the best and sickest combos signed with Bizarre Leprous Records, Pigsty could be labeled as brutal gore-grind music; a kind of extreme brutal metal music combined at a very high level with HC elements and very technical phases, he final result being an impressive one at all. Although Pigsty plays brutal gore-grind music, we can frequently hear some slower parts, very technical as I have already told you. The rhythmical section is a very good one, Pigsty drum player being one of the sickest from the Czech underground metal scene. Concerning to band guitars score, you must notice OTYN skills; a guitar player very gifted by rock music Grind Gods, probably one of the most important Grindcore instrumentalists ever. Pigsty vocal register combines very well some screaming voices, but the main attraction point of this album is for sure front man guttural score; very well inserted in the whole musical content imagined by this Czech musicians. If I'm not wrong, Pigsty lyrical lines speaks about alien abductions and mutilated animal corpses; which, transposed in this musical context, makes a unitary whole worthy of being elected as one of the best brutal gore-grind metal acts ever.
Review by Litocranius
Pigsty - "Pigs are back"
(Czech Republic, Bizarre Leprous Recordings, Death/Grind, 2005)
As the CD title say, the Czech grindcore fathers are back with the long awaited album called "Pigs are back". With a total time somewhere over 43 minutes, and a content about 13 tracks, Pigsty uncompromising CD spreads tones of hyper pure brutality and technical grindcore at a very high level. Recorded and mixed in September/December 2004 at Sopa studio from Lipov, then at J.H.S. studio from Sweden, "Pigs are back" was produced and engineered by Jary and Stana Valach. Comparing it with the previous two materials, "Pigs are back" seems to be a more interesting album, with a modern vision concerning the gore grind metal style. At the first sight this material is structured in 3 independent levels. The first of these 3 chapters is called "Pigsty", and it contains 7 tracks, one of them been called "Sensitive people love music", the Czech gore & grind masters impressing me from the very beginning. I would like to remark some interesting intros or atmospheric parts; also some vocal effects, a few of them being Gregorian chants. Concerning the vocal register you must notice that is an excelent one; been emphasized by a lethal combination made by Bormann, Ubina and Topi (the leading vocal player). The second part of the CD is called "Quadamage", the present 3 tracks been recorded in a rap metal style, with death metal vokills. We can frequently listen to alternative or industrial metal phases, very well inserted and combined with some space keyboards. At the conceiving process of these 3 tracks were invited to join the recording session a few Swedish friends, their singing manner approaching Pigsty to Brujeria on "Matando Guerros" album. The third part, and the last one, is named "Subba", and it represent a comeback to the initially method of composing; I mean gore & grind metal. If I'm not wrong, at the final chapter of "Pigs are back", which contains also 3 tracks like "Quadamage", the sound carnage gets a dramatic note. The rhythm changes are much more frequents and fast than the first chapter from "Pigs are back"; so... this album is a very good one and mature also. You should note that "Pigs are back" was an album full of guests, as: Zdenek Liska, IO, Putka or Killy, band members friends. I hope Pigsty will continue this road, and their next opuses will be at least as interesting as this one is.
Review by Litocranius
I must to thank Roman because I finally succeeded to met this well known extreme metal band coming from the Czech Republic, a very interesting combo that I've heared about only good things about 6 years ago!As you can see its new album has been named ¨Noizy Chronicles¨ and it seems to be the first official release of Plastic Grave. I'd like to tell you that band's discography contains only 2 products both of them being demo tapes; ¨A Tribute to Pennywise¨(1993) and ¨Back from the Dead¨(1999)! Concerning to ¨Noizy Chronicles¨ you should notice that it contains about 28 songs into brutal death metal with lots core elements.I'd like to remark band's fautless cover version song of a very known track played years ago by Misfits. In my point of view this album played by Plastic Grave is for sure one of the most technical recorded under the Bizarre Leprous banner; this CD abounding in extremely technical metal phases and some slowcore moments too! The great usage of the guitar is entirely explained by uts solos, breaks or inteligent riffs. Another interesting musical instrument is band drum section, who contains a furious and in the maximum alert blasts. Generally speaking Plastic Grave musical content is a very interesting one, the main contribution for the final result being the guitar playing high level! The lyrical concept was made by Endorfidozeen, which used as an inspiration source Stephen King's novels. It seems that ¨IT¨ filming constituted the main inspiration source in the writting process of ¨Noizy Chronicles¨. Band vocal register is varied one because it combines damn good sounds into guttural score with some HC tonalities and screaming howllings, the final result beinga very good one even for my taste! If I'm not wrong this CD was recorded at Hellsound studio by Jenik, the final mix being mad by Honza at the Megasound studio.As a curiosity, it seems that band members are die hard fans of Star Trek movie, called by the band members Star Drek! CD cover artwork is made by Endorfidozeen and the lay out owns to Chymoose. Finally I'd like to add that this album needs all your attention and you won't be dissapointed if you get it because this is a great opportunity to hear another kind of brutal death metal, but a very good one indeed!
Contact: bilepr(at)lanskrounsko.cz
Playing time: 75:23
Review by Litocranius
Plasma Arc Machining - "Suspension of Disbelief"
(Serbia, Self released, Electronic Rock, 2004)
I’ve received this demo last summer at the Exit Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia. There were not that much bands that I was interested in at the main stages, except for The White Stripes a little bit and Slayer (YES!!!), I missed Laibach because of the shitty conditions at the entrance... so I was at the “Metal Hammer” stage most of the time, but the bands there were not that good and over the way there was the underground stage for Serbian bands and I had the pleasure to watch the whole gig of this talented band!
I think the band that played before had the same bass player... he looked like 16, but had the skills of Rage against the Machine! ...I can’t remember, too much “Bambus” (coke and white wine) haha... However, I was impressed by the qualities of this performance, so I asked the singer (and guitarist?) afterwards for a cd. I wanted to buy it, but he gave me two for free... I think I was the only one who asked... he was very happy!
So, now that I’m a “journalist” It’s a good possibility to say thank you and share my love for this album with you...
It contains 8 tracks, all of them on a high level, super sound and production, great vocals without an accent, innovative music!
I would call it experimental rock with a lot of electronic parts, very melancholic but still “hard”... Radiohead’s “Amnesiac” is not much better! Still each track has it’s own feeling and rhythm, not the same known boring structures from A to Z. Each of them could be on a different album, for example “Johny goes to War”, my favourite, the one I’ve heard live and the reason I’ve asked for this demo: perfect electronic rock with narrative vocals. “Reasonance 1984” reminds me of the soundtrack for a weird movie, “Lily-white and Shimmering” is for the people that have understood the changes in Anathemas sound, and “Toffee” could be used for a sick ;) advertising clip for blue jeans...
Now, this is nothing for “extreme, beer drinking, head banging people”, it’s dark and clearly not pop music, not even commercial, but very sensitive and emotional sometimes. I can’t stand dancing people (they look like epileptic to me) but there are a lot of moments in this album where I’d like to try it! Maybe I’ll try it alone some day... Great work!
Contact: plasmacollapse@yahoo.com
Playing time: 44:56
Review by Dr.Winter
Primal Dawn - “The Euthanasia Programme”
(Ireland, No Salvation, Death/Black Metal, 2003)
I must say that I saw this cover on more than 3 albums until now anyway the music is that count isn’t it? In the three songs that last for about 25: 00 Minutes you’ll be taken into various musical landscapes. The first song “Behold: The man” starts with a small key intro followed by some doom metal riffs and death metal assault which follows and it ends in a black metal way with high pitched vocal, raw distorted guitars and all the stuff. To be sincere I was not expecting that after the first five minutes of pure death metal. The lyrics are of an antichristian about the false Christian beliefs. The second song “The cull” starts in a black metal way at the right time where the first ended being perfect a follower for the first song and keeps on being black metal for all its length having extreme passages and some singed melodies, the lyrics are dealing with suicide . The third song called Hills” is a death metal song with some black metal vocals and in my opinion is the best song here, the lyrics deal with the mater of change.
The music or Primal Dawn is a qualitative one, and if they continue this way they should march among the major bands in the metal world. Good job guys!
Contact: paddy@hotmail.com
Playing time: 24:11
Review by Cătălin Carlaonţ
Psycho P. - “No Proof - No Theorem - No Example"
(
The first band I thought of when I’ve heard Psycho P. the first time (live) was Therapy?. I have no words to describe the original and intense gig they played with fun and pleasure in front of about 100 people in an underground bar in
It’s really hard to write this review but I’ll try to persuade all you rock listeners out there (at least) to listen to the songs they’ve put on MySpace. Can you imagine being depressed and self confident at the same time? It’s seldom... I think “No Proof...” is the soundtrack for this kind of feeling! The self description is postcore/psychopop, some bands I think of when I listen to this album are Muse, Radiohead, Dredg, Therapy? (most of the time), Plan E or (their compatriots) Jack Frost for example... though they still have something original!
There are no metal riffs or brutal passages here, no evil “I want to kill” stuff, but great melodies, recurring minimalist riffs and structures, a perfect melancholic voice (sometimes angry) full of passion, and wonderful sarcastic (intelligent) lyrics like only a few (bigger) bands are able to write... very poetic! There should be a passage for every open-minded rock listener out there, even if you’re into more brutal stuff!
The three members (vox + guitar, bass, drums) control their instruments perfectly and definitely have a talent for catchy song structures. The music grabs you and shakes you around, you feel the need to scream and destroy something, burn the pictures of your ex... and five seconds later it calms you down and let’s you feel like the number one (“The broken Helm”)!
It’s a complex arranged album full of good ideas (like the ingenious saxophone solo on “The Pearl” or the Jew's harp melody in “Coming down”), played with heart blood, at the latest live you can make sure of this!
A masterpiece you can listen to over and over again, without losing your
Putrevore - ¨Morphed from Deathbreath¨
(Spain, Xtreemusic Records/ 054, Death Metal, 2008)
Putrevore started back in May 2004 as a project band of Dave Rotten from Avulsed/ Christ Denied and Rogga Johansson from Paganizer/ Ribspreader; with the aim to create the ugliest and primitive death metal on Earth! Nothing new and original, just to keep the burning flame alive as they love to say! Although they have decided to call this band Deadbreath, and they have been joined by Riky from Avulsed on drums, the name will change very soon and the recording sessions on Morphed from Deathbreath that took place in November 2007 saw Davve, Rogga’s friend, on drums because Riky wasn’t able to join the band in time. In December of the same year Dave Rotten on vocals closed the recording sessions in a studio from Madrid! The album was finally mixed and mastered during April 2008, and it was released in September 2008 through Dave Rotten’s Xtreem Music Records!
Now, I’d say that this is as ugly as you can imagine; a putrid death metal that reminds me the early days when the death metal gods Incantation or Immolation were considered to play a soundtrack for the Armageddon! Extremely aggressive mostly all the time, Morphed from Deathbreath brings in front of us some skilled lines and slower parts almost in the death/ doom register a la Sad Whispering! Heavy, with killer guitar and bass- guitar attacks, Putervore’s first material benefits by a vocal score in a perfect connection with its musical content; something that we can’t hear on Avulsed materials.
Even the general sound was recorded in the same manner as it was many years ago, the final result being I’d say encouraging! I hope that a new material will saw the day- light as soon as possible because Putrevore’s musical content brought me quite a few long lost feelings about this kind of Death metal!
P.S.: take a look on the cover too and you’ll see what they mean with the so called ugly death metal; an image that brings me back in time ‘till the early days of death metal!!!
Contact: info@putrevore.com
Playing time: 32:29
Review by Litocranius
Contact: www.psycho-p.com
psychop@gmx.net
Playing time: 42:48
Review by Dr.Winter