A TRIBUTE TO THE PRIEST (Nuclear Blast/Century Media Latina , 2003)

Idea By: Andy Siry

Tracks: 1- Hell bent For Leather (Annihilator), 2- Metal Gods (Primal Fear, 3- Delivering the goods (live) (Skid Row w/Rob Halford), 4- Riding on the Wind (Witchery), 5- Screaming for Vengeance (Iced Earth), 6- Jawbreaker (Siebenbürgen), 7- Breaking the Law (Hammerfall), 8- Electric Eye (Benediction), 9- Painkiller (Death), 10- All Guns Blazing (Silent Force), 11- Dreamer, Deceiver (Steel Prophet), 12- Never Satisfied (Armored Saint), 13- Green manalishi (Therion), 14- Diamonds and Rust (Thunderstone)

Cover Art by Thomas Ewerhard

Here we have a tribute to Judas Priest in the line of the two voulmes that Century Media released in the mid nineties. Here we have many metal bands from many different styles that have been influenced by Judas Priest in a way or other. Plus the good thing here are the new songs and the rarities, like for example Annihilator´s version of "Hell Bent For Leather that was released in 1993 as a bonus track in the japanese version of their "Set the World on Fire" album. Many of the bands have chosen to give their own personality to the Priest song that they are covering and they have succeeded like for example Benediction or Death. It is weird to listen Siebenbürgen doing "Jawbreaker" in their own black emtal way. That sounds really well. Well, here is a tribute that would be liked by any Judas Priest fan if they lsiten to it with an open mind. 

Favorite bands: Therion, Benediction, Death and Siebenbürgen

Contact: www.centurymedia.com.br or www.nuclearblast.de

ADORNED BROOD - ASGARD (Moonstorm Recs., 2000)

Produced By: Adorned Brood

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- A God Ruled Time, 3- Asgard, 4- Black Beasts, 5- Twilight in Midgard, 6- Pride Was My Desire, 7- The Ambush, 8- Magic Nights, 9- Mighty Swords, 10- Arrival, 11- Die Wiederkehr

Cover Art by Moonstorm, Adorned Brood and Aike Arndt

 Recorded at Soundstation Studios

An acoustic intro with flute opens this amazing album before getting into the more metallic world of Adorned Brood. Pagan melodies are combined here with pure metal, but everything here is done to create this arcane music full of enchanting vocals combined with screams. And on every track here there is the beautiful sound of the flute combined with the guitars that give Adorned Brood their unique sound. The tracks are extremely heavy and at the same time they are really memorable. The riffs are original as well as the melodies, there are some black metal shades here and there but Adorned Brood manage to create their own sound, thanks to the combination of great male and female vocals (Ingeborg is great!) and the heavy riffs and drumming. One of the albums of the month.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.moonstorm.de or www.adornedbrood.de

ADORNED BROOD - ERDENKRAFT (Moonstorm Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Adorned Brood

Tracks: 1- Welcome our Friends, 2- Totenmarsch, 3- Ledenslied, 4- Old Great Master, 5- Erdenkraft, 6- Der Fluch, 7- Göttersehnsucht, 8- Enchantment, 9- Liar, 10- Jenseits Des Horizonts

Cover Art by Lina Brodesser

 Recorded at Soundstation Studios

Many things have changed since the release of "Asgard" to the release of this album. Here the compositions have become more complex, full of melodies and with better arrangements,Her the contrast between Ingeborg Anna´s and Frost´s vocals reaches its climax. The guitars sound clearer and harder here making a big contrast with the more climatic parts. There is an incredible mix of heavier parts with more climatic moments and this band knows how to make a perfect transition between them. The guitar melodies reach their highest points of inspiration in tracks like "Liar" (there is a part with programmed drums here ???) or "Der Fluch". This is one of those albums that you will miss a lot if you don´t have it and you will find marvellous works of art in it.

Favorite tracks: All the CD.

Contact: www.moonstorm.de or www.adornedbrood.de

ALL PARALLELS - YOU WON´T FEEL A THING (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Nick Sampiello, Mark Schleicher and All Parallels

Tracks: 1- Marrow, 2- Load a gun and kill Me, 3- Hex, 4- Nymphomaniac, 5- That´ll Never Be Me

Cover Art by Sue Cox

 Recorded at New Alliance Studios

Here we have a band that has a lot of power in their guitars with some elements of punk music and at the same time has a lot of pop sensibility in their melodies, specially in the vocals. Here we have a band that creates songs from beginning to end with a simple and effective song structure delivering riffs and vocal melodies (there are interesting vocal harmonies here). The recording has good sound specially on the guitars that sound powerful while retaining a lot of the catchy parts and hooks essential to All Parallels music. Here is All Parallels, a band that has the potential of being in the charts if they are correctly promoted. 

Favorite tracks: "Marrow", "Hex" and "Nymphomaniac"

Contact: www.allparallels.com

ARCHMAGES - MY LAST ESCAPE (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Archmages

Tracks: 1- Getting Free, 2- Come, 3- Unavoidable War, 4- Yearning, 5- Alone Again

Cover Art by Martin Müürisepp and Mauno Meesit

Here we have this excellent band coming directly from Estonia. This band has created five songs with really good arrangements and many melodies that have a lot of feelings in them. One of the main things here is the great intereaction between the guitars that play from distorted riffs to clean arpeggios, the bass (that makes interesting arrangements through all the recording, the keyboards (Tuuli´s keayboards give a lot of spirit and melancholy to the tracks) and the excellent Volli´s vocals that are one of the essential elements here. The vocals give taht heaviness in the places where the songs need power and the melancholic feeling that combined with the keyboards add sadness and some dark feeling to Archmages music. A must.

Favorite tracks: All the tracks

Contact: www.metal.ee/archmages

ARTRACH - THROUGH ARCHWAYS OF DARK (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Artrach

Tracks: 1- Into the Valley of Shadows, 2- Legionnaires Pray, 3- Reborn, 4- Curse of the Gladiator, 5- the One, 6- Through Archways of Dark, 7- Admiring the Serial Killer

Cover Art by Artrach

 Recorded at Midas Studio

This CD opewns up with a climatic intro called "Into the Valley of Shadows" before getting into the heavier compositions like "Legionnaries Pray". Here we have a band tghat have many elements of power and heavy metal and at the same time have a progressive side with many changes, many arrangements and interesting keyboards. The vocals are clean but are extremely powerful and add heaviness to the songs (and this guys can also reach interesting high pitches without sounding like a whinning girl). But the main thing here is the combination of the complex guitar riffs with the technical drumming and the bass arrangements that combined with the keyboards give the trademark of the band or what we can call the Artrach song. This is powerful progressive music!!!!

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: diego.denorme@pandora.be

ASGAROTH - RED SHIFT (Peaceville Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Asgaroth

Tracks: 1- Naked Eye, 2- Lured Decoy, 3- Cyphred, 4- Bluntness, 5- Buried, 6- Mindscape, 7- Descent to Dion, 8- I, Befouled, 9- 6 Bloodmarks, 10- Sharpedge Solitude, 11- Red Shift..., 12- Video tracks. Naked Eye

Cover Art by Asgaroth

This is one of the most powerful releases of the year! Comin directly from Barcelona, Spain, the guys in Asgaroth have surprised us with this powerful album full of devastating guitars and incredibly heavy parts. But what gives Asgaroth their complete identity is the mix of the crushing guitars with the keyboards that play great melodies and arrangements on top of this rhythmic base. There are also amazing guitar solos that contribute a lot to the dark feeling that all the album has. The vocals are brutal and they fit perfectly the music (and as all the album is really well mixed you can appreciate each of the parts and each of the mukltiple changes that Asgaroth´s music has along with the great vocals). You must have this one!!

Favorite tracks: All of the CD. One of the releases of the year.

Contact: www.peaceville.co.uk

ASTARTE - QUOD SUPERIUS SICUT INFERIUS (Black Lotus Recs., 2002)

Produced By: the Magus

Tracks: 1- Reign Unfold, 2- Inflamed Paradox, 3- Oblivious Darkness, 4- Incarnate Legend of Mummy Queen, 5- In Velvet Slumber, 6- Deep Down the Cosmos, 7- Astarte, 8- Sickness, 9- Quod Superius Sicut Inferius, 10- Crossing the Wounded Mirror of Death, 11- Man

 Recorded at Praxis Studio

Directly from Greece comes this amazing female fronted black metal band witha lot of faster than hell parts and interesting melodies that give a lot of personality to Astarte. Here the band delivers riff after riff and combine them with dark melodies and a lot of keyboards thta orchestrte the compositions. The vocals are really extreme, specially in the parts where the band delivers blast beats and ultra fast riffs. The guitars in "Inflamed Paradox" let the listener breath for an instant before getting into the brutal world of this band again. The keyboards add a dark atmosphere to each of the compositions here and also add heaviness to the songs. There are whispering vocals in many places and that is essential to create the atmosphere that this amazing band wants. The sound is really good and makes things dfarker and heavier. A must.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.astarte.cjb.net

AUREA - COMING OUT (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Aurea

Tracks: 1- Prelude, 2- Intro in Hell, 3- Dead Angel, 4- Inside, 5-Phoenix Knight, 6- Phoenix of Fire, 7- Symphony of Life, 8- Nefer Tary, 9- Doors of Oblivion, 10- Falling Higher

Cover Art by Aurea

An acoustic intro with beautiful arpeggios and a female voice leads us into the metal world of Aurea. This band starts with full power on "Intro in Hell" delivering crushing riffs over a rhythmic drumming (with interesting double bass in many places). The main thing here is that the riffs are memorable and tehre are many great changes in the rhythms that makes you listen them carefully. There is a heavy power metal / thrash metal influence but the riffs and rhythms are different from what one is accustomed to listen. The vocals are clean and sometimes operistic with good technique and the singer does not abuse the high pitches, perferring to use vocal harmonies that go beyond that. The sound of the recording helps a lot to the heavy sound of the band because of the clean production. Pure metal lovers check Aurea!!!! 

Favorite tracks:

Contact: eclipse25@libero.it

BINDING - RELICT (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Binding

Tracks: 1- Busy Dying, 2- Relict, 3- Bitter Spirit, 4- Absent One, 5- Girl U Want, 6- Busy Dying - remix

Cover Art by Binding

Binding is a twoi man band whose sound is really heavy and at the same time has an industrial side that makes them sound really tight and adds a cold feeling to the music. The main thing here is the great combination of distorted guitar with programmed drums and synth effects that give that machine-like feeling to the compositions. The vocals fit perfectly the music with their melodies that sound really weird against all this heavy music. One of the greatest things here is the variations of rhythms that this guys have achieved and that make really interesting all the compositions. The guitars sound extremely distorted and have a processed sound that fit the music perfectly. I really liked this album a lot and it has a lot of originality in the compositions.

Favorite tracks: "Busy Dying", "Absnet One" and "Bitter Spirit"

Contact: www.the-plague.com/binding

BLASTMAT - MCMLXXXIV (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Blastmat

Tracks: 1- Donkey Bomb, 2- Friendly Fire, 3- Cum One, Cum All, 4- Taliban Fight Song (live), 5- Under Control, 6- 1984, 7- Lives for Lies (live), 8- Church and State (live), 9- Medicated Man, 10- Just Another Song

Cover Art by Blastmat

Here we have Blastmat´s new album, full of direct and effective riffs in a punk / hardcore vein. Here we have the energy of this band that surprised us last year with their powerful previous album. Here we have simple songs played with a lot of energy and whose main goal is to make the listener mosh with their music. Here we have interesting and rhythmic drumming designed for headbanging and we have raw guitars that play a lot of chords and riffs over the rhythm section in order to achieve this powerful sound. The vocals are really punk and they fit the music perfectly as also does the sound that is really good and at the same time unpolished. Here we have a band that amkes powerful hardcore / punk with really good taste.

Favorite tracks: "Cum one, Cum All", "Under Control" and "Church and State"

Contact: www.blastmat.freeservers.com

BLESSED - LAST BREATH BEFORE THE FLESH (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Blessed

Tracks: 1- Fixation, 2- Segment, 3- Come Fire

Cover Art by Blessed

 Recorded at Studio Unholy

Here we have three tracks from this pówerful death metal band full of fast guitar riffs, double bass drumming, extremely guttural vocals, some blast beats here and there and multiple breaks and tempo changes. The guitars are really low tuned and that gives a devastating feeling to the three tracks contained on this CD. The vocals also have some special effect that gives a darker feeling to them, sort of a machine like feeling that when combined with the fast music gives a cold sensation of death and hatred. The sound of the recording is extremely brutal, specially on the guitars and the drums that are the core of Blessed´s music. This is an album that exhudes brutality on each note, from beginning to end.

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact: http://go.to/blessed

BLOODY RAIN - HALF DECADE (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Bloody Rain

Tracks: 1- Speed Up, 2- Dark World, 3- Where is Paradise, 4- The Forest, 5- I Hate Myself

Cover Art by Bloody Rain

Here we have a band that creates heavy rock tunes with many elements of pure heavy metal delivering five tunes with a lot of hooks in the vocals and a lot of rhythm in the guitar riffs. Here they deliver powerful guitar riffs over a good rhythmic base that shines specially on the drums. Sometimes the vocals seem a little bit processed as in "Dark World" and that adds a great cold feeling to the music and that makes things even heavier. There is some use of clean guitars that shine with arpeggios and melodies. There is influence of heavy metal, rock, punk and some alternative music too and the band mixes this influences succesfully to create their own music. This is a band of what I would call the new wave of german heavy rock and her they show their powerful tunes with really good quality.

Favorite tracks: "Dark World", "The Forest" and "I Hate Myself"

Contact: www.bloodyrain.de

BOETZ - BOETZ (Balls Out Records, 2002)

Produced By: Ernest Robert Boetz

Tracks: 1- Southern Tears, 2- Oh Hell Yeah, 3- No Damn Good, 4- Lorion

Cover Art by Ernest Robert Boetz

Here we have Ernest Boetz back with his new album full of rocking tunes witha southern feeling. Here we have a man that mixes different influences to create his own music. Here we can feel as in his previous "Call to Arms" album songs that are like a kick in the butt with their rocking power. Here we can feel influences of Kiss, AC/DC, Motorhead and some southern bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd for example. This is the perfect music to listen with a cold beer in your hand and cranking the volume up. The four songs are extremely rhythmic and rocking and they have been recorded with a really good raunchy sound that makes things even better. The tracks have a direct structure that makes you sing easily the choruses while listening to them Here you have fun and powerful music guaranteed!!

Favorite tracks: The four

Contact: www.boetz.com

BRISTOL MEYERS SQUIBB (Independent., 2002)

Produced By: Bristol Meyers Squibb

Tracks: 1-Antadis Prozone, 2- The Odysselium Complete, 3- Mydriase Arret Active, 4- Solariphobia / O Cold Sweat Night, 5- Sup Correlative Transfert, 6- Tormentor, 7- B Fiction

Cover Art by Boris Doussy

This is a band that features in its lineup Boris Doussy and Sebastien Rivet from Solaris. But Bristol Meyers Squibb is completely different from that band. This band is more industrial with more processed and distorted vocals and guitar riffs that are really cold and give a mechanicla feeling to the band´s music. Imagine bands like Einsturzend Neubauten or others in the industrial style but with a more distorted sound and a darker atmosphere and with more processed and extreme vocals. Here we have a band that clashes your brain with their fat guitar sound combined with electronic drums and processed voices that are designed for a science fiction post hecatomb movie. Lovers of extreme industrial should check this band. 

Favorite tracks: "The Odysselium Complete", "Solariphobia" and "B Fiction"

Contact: doussyb@hotmail.com

BRUTAL DELUXE - MISTAH KURTZ...HE DEAD! (Dream Catcher Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Mike Buchanan

Tracks: 1- Crime and Punishment, 2- Psycho Industrial Da Da, 3- S.(ADO) M.(asochistic) N. (arcissist), 4- Mother Morphine, 5- Everything you Know is Wrong, 6- Slackfreak, 7- Swim, 8- Life Sentence, 9- Symbiosis, 10- The book that changed my Life, 11- Aardman, 12- Flycatcher, 13- Discipline

Cover Art by Mark Wilkinson

 Recorded at New Rising Studio

Here we have this band that has elements from many styles but whose main feature is the extreme heaviness of their songs. This guys some riffs thatc ould be death metal, some vocals that could be doom or some that could be stoner, some guitars that sound more rhythmic and interesting drum patterns that give a lot of heaviness to the songs. One of the main thing here besides the crushing guitars are the vocals that are used in a really original and weird manner giving a lot of identity to Brutal Deluxe´s music playing with rhythms and melodies without hesitation. The sound of the recording is really good, specially on the devastating guitars that sound really heavy and that crush the listener´s brain with their power. Heaviness guaranteed. 

Favorite tracks: "Crime and punishment", "Life Sentence" and "Flycatcher"

Contact: www.dreamcatcher-records.com

CADA CROSS - CORONA BOREALIS (Low Frequency Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Georg Laakso

Tracks: 1- The Northern Crown, 2- Among the Stars, 3- Kings of Grim, 4- Morningstar, 5- Learn the Dark, 6- Flaming Ember, 7- Bring out Your Dead, 8- Forest Remains Victor, 9- Wreath of Seven Stars, 10- Turmion Taival

Cover Art by Timo Tyynismaa

 Recorded at Watercastle Studio

An atmospheric intro full of keyboards and epic melodies leads us directly into the first track of this wonderful album. Here we have the exact dose of melodies, the exact mix of hyper complex and technical riffs with brutal fast parts, the perfect combination of incredible keyboards (Antti does not only play chords progressions but he also does incredible solos and arrangements through all the tracks), heavier than hell guitars, excellent female vocals mixed with brutal male vocals. All of this combined and delivered with an excellent mix is what Cada Cross is about. I would define their music as a combination of brutality, melancholy, melody and technicallity done with amazing musicianship and a lot of quality. One of the albums of the year. 

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.lowfrequencyrecords.fi

CAMORRISTAS - CAMORRISTAS (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Camorristas

Tracks: 1- Scheisse Erlebt; 2- Suicidal, 3- Fünfzehn Blonde, 4- Camorristas (spanish), 5- Camorristas (german)

 Recorded at Boritocore Studio

Here we have a band with a great sense of humor in their songs and with a really heavy sound combined with influences from other styles such as death metal and hardcore. I really liked the combination of different guitar sounds, such as extremely heavy guitars combined with clean passages, such as in "Suicidal" and the many vocal styles that the band has, going from really melodic to heavier shouts. The guitar riffs are memorable but what gives a lot of identity to the music here are the choruses that are sung with many voices in a really raw way and that make the songs really memorable. This band has excellent lyrics witha lot of humour and they even have made a version in spanish language of the track called "Camorristas".

Favorite tracks: "Camorristas", "Suicidal" and "Scheisse Erlebt"

Contact: www.camorristas.de

CANCRENA - IN THE FLESH (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Cancrena

Tracks: 1- New type, 2- Celebral Biopsy, 3- Baby Impertinent, 4- Black Cat Dies, 5- Systematic Death Terminal Breath, 6- Sarajevo Burns, 7- Criminal Contamination

Cover Art by Cancrena

This is brutal music at its top level but with strong emphasis on catchy riffs insterad of simple speed. Here we have hyperdistorted guitars that play interesting riffs and dissonant arrangements through the seven tracks contained on this CD. The drumming si fast and the drumms sound raw, specially the snare drum that sounds really up and also I have to remark the killer double bass drumming that there is through all the album. The sound is raw and unpolished and that makes thing even more brutal (the guitars are not buried in the mix and the drums can be heard perfectly as well as the guttural vocals). Pure brutality.

Favorite tracks: "Celebral Biopsy", "Black Cat Dies" and "Sarajevo Burns"

Contact: www.cancrena.tk

CAUSE FOR EFFECT - ALBUM (Bucho Discos, 2002)

Produced By: Cause for Effect

Tracks: There are 42 tracks of pure insane madness !!!!!!!!!

Cover Art by Ari Tenhola

 Recorded at Fusion Reactor

Here we have 42 tracks from this mad two man band from Tampere, Finland.  IN fact the music here is like grindcore/ death metal but without guitars. Yes, this is bass guitar and drums and they are played with a lot of musicianship. In fact the guys in Cause for Effect call their music grind fusion, and that moniker fits perfectly their music because they have elements of grindcore such as blast beats in many places and guttural vocals, but at the same time they have mixed it with other styles, thanks to the differnt rhythms that are played here and the arrangements that Tuomo plays on his bass guitar which go from pure metal and grind to funky to jazzy lines without hesitation. The recording has a really good sound and you don´t miss the ultra distorted guitars and you listen the bass lines which are original and really technical. A must for those who want originality.

Favorite tracks: This CD is really original and this guys are completely mad. I like all the CD

Contact: http://listen.to/cfe

CHRIS BURN ENSEMBLE - HORIZONTALS WHITE (Emanem Disc, 2002)

Produced By: Chris Burn

Tracks: 1- Horizontals White, 2- Verticals Blue, 3- There Were Five in Eight, 4- Noght Time Nostalgia, 5- Still Life on May Day

Cover Art by Martin Davidson

 Recorded at the Red Rose and the Conway Hall

Here we have the lattest offering from the Chris Burn Ensemble. This time this musicians deliver a lot of spontaneous music but putting more emphasis on silences and experimentiong a lot with them and with sustained notes (as can be fully heard in "Horizontals White",a track that is over twenty minutes long and where the ensemble delivers all their improvisational skills). There is here plenty of experimentation with sounds and this guys go to the most extreme side of experimentation playing with their instruments and trying to break new boundaries while interacting among them with real musicianship. Lovers of improvisational and spontaneous music will be delighted with the Chris Burn Ensemble.

Favorite tracks: "Verticals Blue", "Night Time Nostalgia" and "Horizontals White"

Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

CROPMENT - BRAINDRAIN TIMESLAVERY (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Cropment

Tracks: 1- Fear of Death, 2- Oppressed and Contaminated, 3- Seeds of Sickness

Cover Art by Marco Gemmet

 Recorded at Zodiac Studios

This album starts ina re ally brutal way and continues extremely brutal yil the end. Here we have three tracks with ultrabrutal death metal in its rawest form. Here we have blast beats and many others things that have made the stykle famous. Here we have guttural vocals and screaming vocals and more rhythmic riffs in many places that add a lot of heaviness to the compositions. Each riff here is designed to deliver brutality and bestiality to the listener´s brain and they succeed on this. Palms go to the killer drummer who is a double bass beast adding a lot of brutality to the songs. Plus, we have to remark the really good sound that this guys have achieved here. A bestial release.

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact: www.cropment.com

CRUSTACEAN - INSANIAC (Cold Blood Industries Recs., 2003)

Produced By: Crustacean, Harrie Wijering and Mark Ter Braak

Tracks: 1- Arena, 2- Random Terror, 3- Psycho 2001, 4- Satanizer, 5- Deathtrap, 6- Soulsucker, 7- Bloodshot, 8- Lost (Head), 9- Penance, 10- Redeemer, 11- Foul Usurper, 12- State Necropolis

Cover Art by Richard Schooten

 Recorded at Harrow Productions

Here we have a brutal band with thrashy vocals !! yes, that is a band that plays music that is closer to death metal, because of the guitar sound and the riffs but uses vocals that fit perfectly a thrash metal band combined with the more guttural ones. There is amazing double bass drumming through all the recording and there are hyper fast riffs and rhythms through the twelve tracks. Palms go to the incredible drummer who is a beast behind the drumkit don´t missing a beat while going really fast and making some technical patterns in many places. I have to remark also the extremely clear sound that the recording has that makes the compsositions even more brutal! The guitars are clearly mixed and that helps a lot to distinguish the good quality of the riffs and the arrangements that each track has.

Favorite tracks: "Arena", "Satanizer" and "Bloodshot"

Contact: www.coldbloodindustries.com

D´HIVER MORT - PALINDROME (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: D´Hiver Mort

Tracks: 1- Spring, 2- Breeder, 3- The Harrowing, 4- Summer, 5- A Season for War, 6- Butterfly, 7- Autumn, 8- Fall, Winter, 9- xi auriel kree (dust and the miserable wind), 10- Persephone, 11- Wynter

 Recorded at Deadworld Studios

Here we have a release that can not be fully described her with words. Here we have a band that consists on Synthea on guitars, vocals, keys adn programming and Fearsore who does bass, keys, vocals and guitars. The music has elements of black metal but goes beyond the style because of the heavy use of electronics and because of the vocals variations. The guitars are heavy and raw and contrast heavily with the programmed drums that give a machine like feeling to each of the compositions here. The compositions are complex and allows the musicians to explore a lot of sides of their musical personality making each composition extremely interesting for the listener. Everything here is designed to leave you with a dark image in your mind (check the beginning of "The Harrowing" and feel chills going down your spine while listening the whispering vocals and the electronics. A must for lovers of something new.

Favorite tracks: The whole CD is really eerie and wonderful

Contact: www.dhivermort.com

DARK FORTRESS - PROFANE GENOCIDAL CREATIONS (Red Stream Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Dark Fortress and Pytten

Tracks: 1- Introduction, 2- defiance of Death, 3- Passage to Extinction, 4- In Morte Aeternitas, 5- Moribound Be Thy Creation, 6- Through Ages of War, 7- Blood of the Templars, 8- Warlord (Face the Angel of Pestilence), 9- Battles Rage in the Infernal depth, 10- A Fortress Dark

 Recorded at Grieghallen Studios

Black Metal!!! Pure black metal, done in the norwegian way with dark arrangements and everything done to create extremely dark compositions full of hatred and despise of god. Here we have really fast guitars combined with keyboards chord progressions that when combined create the extremely obscure sound of the guys from Dark Fortress. The riffs are fast but are interacting with more rhythmic ones that give identity to the band. There are many types of vocals here, from the typical black metal vocals to more whispering ones, to cleaner ones, to female ones. There are amazing guitar melodies and solos such as the one in "Passage to Extinction" done with really good taste. Everything here is black as hell and done with really good musicianship in order to create extremely dark passages that are Dark Fortress trademark. Lovers of black metal will be delighted with this release.

Favorite tracks: "Passage to Extinction", "Through Ages of War" and "Morte Aeternitas"

Contact: www.redstream.org

DARKSIDE CHAPEL - THE BLEEDING WINDS OF WINTER (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Dark Side Chapel

Tracks: 1- From a blackened past, 2- The Bleeding Winds of Winter, 3- Lying in Torment, 4- Midnattsol, 5- Tears of the Withering Lord, 6- Covenant in Flames, 7- Eternal Dusk, 8- ...with Winters Coming

Cover Art by Dark Side Chapel

Extremely climatic and dark metal is what this two guys deliver on this demo. Here we have darkness through the eight compositions and this guys rely heavily on the keyboards and some guitar melodies to achieve this effect. The vocals also help to create this extremely black feeling. The sound of the recording is not really good and I would recommend the musicians to mix everything louder and then, after having everything louder, then making the guitars a little bit more on the front in the mix, then they will achieve a more powerful, yet dark as hell sound. The ideas here are original and really well developed and I think this guys have created really good compositions here that with a better mix would be better appreciated. For lovers of the dark ....here is Darkside Chapel.

Favorite tracks: "The Bleeding Winds of Winter", "Midnattsol" and "Eternal Dusk"

Contact:

DEADWAIT - JUDGED BEFORE DEATH (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Deadwait

Tracks: 1- Brutality, 2- 3 Seconds, 3- Judged before Death, 4- To hell, 5- Fuck you and Die, 6- Swell, 7- Born into hate, 8- Put´em in the basement

 Recorded at Underground Sound Prods.

Here we hae a bband that have amde an interesting mix of brutalith in two ways: first of all this guys have taken death metal riffs and more rhythmic stuff and thrown it into their compositions, then they have added some elements of brutal bands such as Crowbar, Pro-pain or Sepultura and added new sounds to them. Then they have accelerated the mix and give the music a faster twist. Then you have an idea of how Deadwait sounds. Here we have a band that is extremely brutal and that have really brutal vocals without being guttural. In fact this band has taken death metal and hardcore and added other metallic touches to find their own sound. The sound of the recording is really clear and that adds a lot to the brutality of the music. Locers of the most brutal will like this one. 

Favorite tracks: "Brutality", "To hell" and "Born Into Hate"

Contact: www.deadwait.8m.com

DER EREMIT - MAGMA-PRANA (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Gian

Tracks: 1- Magma, 2- Du und ich, 3- Kuchen, 4- Dämon, 5- Mantra, 6- Tränenbecher, 7- Mahnmal, 8- Jemand, 9- Asche, 10- Jammertal, 11- Fleischberg (muttermilch II), 12- Buttermilch, 13- Wasser und brot, 14- Erfreulich, 15- Du und ich (electro edit), 16- Magma (borg drone remix), 17- prana, 18- Nuklearwinter (short-edit), 19-Geschenk

This band is really amazing! Their compositions have extremely electronic elements and they use them in a really special way that none has used before. Just listening to Magma gives you an idea of what this guys are doing: heavy guitars, programmed drums and electronics, eerie vocals that fit the music perfectly, many arrangements and everything gives us a really machine like feeling that suprises on each track. The lyrics are in german language and that adds also a great feeling to the music. There is use also of violins in tracks like "Magma" that give melodic touches (sounding really eastern in some places). Here we have a band that explores new things on each note that they play and that is not afraid of exploring new territories in music. A must

Favorite tracks: This CD is a masterpiece

Contact: www.dereremit.com

DESCENT INTO MADNESS - IN THE DARKEST HOURS (Independent , 2002)

Produced By: Descent Into Madness

Tracks: 1- In the Darkest Hours, 2- Thoughts of a Fool, 3- I Cannot Believe, 4- The Poison Inside, 5- Winter´s Garden, 6- Tomorrow

Cover Art by Descent Into Madness

 Recorded at Sugar Hill Studios

Here we have pure metal with elements from other styles such as death metal. Plus we have an incredible mix of male and female vocals that makes each of the tracks here a unique experience (Courtney Claibourne has a very sweet and delicate voice that contrasts with Tom Spencer´s lower range vocals, and some choruses are really catchy and give another dimension to the songs). The musicians here have a lot of technical skills and they put all this skills on each of the tracks to create this six magnificent compositions. I have to remark the excellent guitar solos that Alexander Kamburov plays on the songs here, he has a lot of technical skills and at the same time a lot of feeling. This is with no doubt one of the best albums of the month.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.descentintomadness.com

DESPISE - CONFINEMENT IN DECREPITUDE (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Despise

Tracks: 1- Room 101, 2- Mutual Assured Destruction, 3- Separated Entity Alteration, 4- Confrontation, 5- Despiseremix

Cover Art by Despise

 Recorded at Studio Hostivar

Brutality at the most extreme level. Here is Despise, a band that plays extreme brutal grind with many death metal influences, specially on the guitar riffs and the fat sound that the guitars have. The guitars are really low tuned and that is essential for the heaviness of this band. There are some pinch harmonics in the guitar riffs that add variation to the compositions. The vocals are extremely guttural as the style requires to make the things the most extreme and bestial as possible. The sound is good and the guitars crushes your brain with the riffs and the drums with the blast beats. This album is recommended for lovers of utter wild brutality!!!!

Favorite tracks: "Room 101", "Separated Entity" and "Confrontation"

Contact: www.despise.webpark.cz

DESPONDENCY - WOMB OF SHIT (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Despondency

Tracks: 1- Womb of Shit, 2- 9 mm Headfuck, 3- Viral Humanicide

Cover Art by Thomas Westphal

 Recorded at the Soundloge Studio

One of the most brutal release ever. Here we have a band that plays at full speed and have an excellent drummer with a lot of doubleb bass drumming (and a sound that is really clear, sort of the one used by modern bands like Machine Head or Fear Factory, but used in a much more brutal way....this guy is fucking amazing). Here you have blast beats combined with really guttural vocals (almost grind in many places) that are used rhythmically to enhance the guitar riffs. Here we have a band that destroys your brain with each of the three tracks that this MCD has and has no mercy for you. The sound of the recording is really good and I have to remark again the drums sound which is awesome. Here you have a band that will melt your ears and brains with their bestial as fuck music !! 

Favorite tracks: The three. Pure bestiality.

Contact: deadllm@web.de

DESTROYING DIVINITY - ..:CREATED... (Grodhaisn Prods., 2002)

Produced By: Destroying Divinity and Stanislav Valasek

Tracks: 1- Created for the past, 2- To Destroy..., 3- Forget, 4- Bloodbath, 5- To Rot For Your Dreams, 6- the Fated ones, 7- Materialization of Death, 8- Possessed by their Icon, 9- Silent Death, 10- The resurrection of the Eternal Return, 11- The revenge of Tormente Souls, 12- Being Crushed BY Insanity

Cover Art by Deather

 Recorded at Studio Sopa

Nbrutality combined with dark atmosphere and twisted melodies is what we have here. Yes, here we have a band that can play at full speed most of the time but their main goal is utter brutality. Here we have on one recording two recording sessions, one from 2001 and another from 2002 and here we can see the evoluciotn that this band had on that year time span. The newer tracks are even more brutal and have a different sound where the guitars are mixed louder and sound more bestialo. The vocals are extremely guttural (and there is also a screaming type too) and that is essential to Destroying Divinity´s music because the vocals are used as another instrument. I really liked the combination of fast riffs with more rhythmic ones and I think the band has to use more of this ones to create their own sound. Here we have a band that is brutal from beginning to end.

Favorite tracks: "To Destroy...", "Silent Death" and "The revenge..."

Contact: www.grodhaisn.cjb.net

DETONATION - AN EPIC DEFIANCE (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Detonation

Tracks: 1- The Dawning (intro), 2- An Epic Defiance, 3- The Prophecy unfolds, 4- Sword Carved Skin, 5- Forever Buried Pain, 6- Crawling Through Vile, 7- The Collision of Despair, 8- Deserving Death, 9- Voices Beyond Reason, 10- Lost Euphoria Part II, 11- The Last of My Commands, 12- Starve

Cover Art by Niklas Sundin

Dutch thrash-death beasts Detonation are back with their first full length album. As I said while reviewing the band´s previous release, this is an excellent band with a lot of technical riffs, really fast parts and intrincated arrangements. Plus here we can listen them with a much better sound that enhances all the efforts and make each of the compositions more powerful and beautiful. Here we have a band that combines in a great way heavy riffs with amazing melodies and through this way they have discovered their unique sound with a lot of originality and identity. Here we have the drummer that does not miss a beat, the guitars that play riff after riff, the bass that makes endless pounding arrangements and the vocals that spit the vocals with all the energy. This is a band that will be one of the top bands in the style in the future. You must listen this. 

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.detonation.nl

DISSECT - BARE CRUST (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Dissect

Tracks: 1- Jeesuslaulu, 2- Moottoripää, 3- Hyvinvointi, 4- Niskavalo

Cover Art by Lea

 Recorded by J. Perhonen and Dissect

Here we have four tracks of this savage band from Turku, Finland. Their music has a lot of hardcore influences and they have a chieved a really raw MCD with a lot of punk attitude mixed with a heavier sound and a lot of raw, noisy guitar riffs. I really liked the way they sing some of the aprts with two vocals making unisons and screaming the same phrases. The guitar riffs are totally hardcore in the good old style of bands like No Use for a Name or the first Agnostic Front albums. The four tracks here are extremely wild and have many fast parts but at the same time have enaough hooks on the choruses and the riffs to keep the listener paying a lot of attention to the compositions. Lovers of hardcore will surely like this one.

Favorite tracks: "Jeesuslaulu", "Hyvinvointi"

Contact: dissect@surfeu.fi

DOOMMAKER - BLITZKRIEG EP (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Doommaker

Tracks: 1- Blitzkrieg intro, 2- Blitzkrieg, 3- Our Demise

Cover Art by Doommaker

Here we have a band with furious riffs in the death/thrash metal vein. Here we have this guys whose music is really aggressive and has that eighties thrash feeling that combined with modern influences gives this interesting recording. There are two tracks here and they leave you wanting more from them because of their raw energy and their interesting changes and arrangements . Here we have a band that combines interesting riffs with fast drumming and a more extreme voice that gives the music that death metal feeling that the band wants to achieve. There are some interesting melodies that give a special twist to the compositions and add identity to the band. Here is a young band that I would recomment to those who like that special copmbination of thrash and death metal that here shows good results.

Favorite tracks: Both

Contact: www.doommaker.com

DOWNFALL - MY LAST PRAYER (Low Frequency Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Downfall

Tracks: 1- Hateshades, 2- Sweetest Wrath, 3- Hollow Mind, 4- Time To pay, 5- My last Prayer, 6- Torn Apart, 7- Soul Searching, 8- Revelation Black, 9- Dark parade, 10- Withered

Cover Art by Timo Tyynismaa

 Recorded at Watercastle Studio

When I looked at the cover I thought this was going to be a gothic band or something in the style, but I was wrong. Downfall is a band that plays pure heavy rock with many metal touches that give a lot of power to the tunes here. The guitars make a combination of riffs and melodic arrangements that add personality to the songs, while singer Jani Peippo sings with a really clean voice that make intersting melodies to give that special feeling that Downfall´s music has. The band has a certain eighties flavor and at the same time has a really modern sound that makes things more attractive. The song have a lot of hooks in the choruses and Peippo is risponsible of a lot of the melodies that spin in your head for hours. Here is a good option for those who like something new with classical elements.

Favorite tracks: "Hateshades", "Time to pay", "Soul Searching"

Contact: www.lowfrequencyrecords.fi

DRACENA - LABYRINTH OF DARKNESS (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: Dracena

Tracks: 1- Craving, 2- Labyrinth of Darkness, 3- Under a Bloodred Sun

Cover Art by Mia

 Recorded at Terrordome

Dracena is a darker than hell band with many death metal (in the guitar riffs) and black metal (in the voices) touches. Here we have Mia on guitar and vocals creating great rhythmic riffs with her guitar and spitting the lyrics full of hate in a real black metal way. The combination of Mia´s guitars with Emma´s axes is essential for the band´s music as also is Mojjo´s drumming that leaves a lot of space for the other instruments to shine. The tracks have that dark atmosphere that is essential to this style of music and Dracena have managed to make their music darker than hell thanks to their riffs and the anguished vocals. The sound of the recording is raw and unpolished and that gives a more underground feeling to the tracks here. This band is a good combination of styles whose main ingredient is pure darkness.  

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact: dracena.mia@telia.com

EMINENT SHADOW - WARRIOR OF THE CENTURIES (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: Eminent Shadow

Tracks: 1- Intro....Battle Fields, 2- Warrior of the Centuries, 3- Martyr of Time, 4- Puppets from true real me, 5- Dying Moment, 6- A Personal Legend, 7- Asgard (Reign of Supremacy)

Cover Art by Mauricio Jr.

 Recorded at Jams Studios

Here we have a really dark band. After an opening with an orchestrated intro this guys deliver a sort odf death metal combined with some doom and melodic parts that is extremely dark and where every note, every beat is done in order to make things more obscure. Here we have multiple melodies that are essential for developing the melancholic and sad feeling that this band has created. Combining this sad feeling with the powerful guitars and the guttural vocals, the guys in Eminent Shadow have developed a musci with a lot of feeling that deserves a lot of listening to find all the elements that are in the compositions. I have to remark the excellent work that the drummer and specially the bass player have done on this recording adding a lot of fury to Eminent Shadow´s music. Lovers of dark feelings should check this band.

Favorite tracks: "Warrior...", "Martyr of Time" and "Dying Moment"

Contact: eminentshadow@ig.com.br

ENORMITY - INHERENT ENSLAVER (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Enormity

Tracks: 1- Better without Reserve, 2- Nails (in your rib), 3- Mr. Bland, 4- Chained in Distress

Cover Art by Mr. J

 Recorded at Neo-Studio

Here we have four tracks from this deathly finnish band. Here we have death emtal played with a lot of technical riffs and many changes in the riffs that make each track really interesting. Here we have a drummer that is amazing with the double bass and plays extremely fast patterns with a lot of precission. We have guitarists that play riff after riff adding a lot of arrangements along with the bass. And then we have the screaming and guttural vocals that are so necessary in the style to add brutality. The sound of the recording makes the band even more powerful because it has a really good mix. I would recommend this band to those who like some complexity along with speed and good guitar arrangements.

Favorite tracks: "Better Without Reserve" and "Chained in Distress"

Contact: www.enormityband.cjb.net

ETERNAL OATH - RIGHTEOUS (Greater Art Recs., 2002)

Mixed By: Fredrik Nordström

Tracks: 1- Preserve the Emotions, 2- Into the Dreamscape, 3- Dreams of the Silent, 4- Righteous, 5- The Destiny Forsaken, 6- Crown of Emptiness, 7- And I Close My Eyes, 8- Eternal, 9- Undeceived World, 10- The Tears for Time

 Recorded at Studio Fredman

Here we have one of those bands that leaves you wanting more and more. Here we have death metal with fast riffs that are very catchy and that are combined with keyboards creating a very distinctive sound.  We have vocals thata re really brutal but are at the same time clear and accentuate a lot the music and makes it even more brutal. Here we have guitars that are really technical and create riffs that are original and also create melodies and arrangements that need a lot of musicianship. There are some amazing keyboards passages combined with heavy guitars. The songs are really well constructed and you only have to check the first track "Preserve the Emotions" to see this. This is a band to don´t miss a step in the future. Also, we have Fredrik Nordström´s mix that is really spectacular and makes the band shine through all the recording. Plus we have here a cover of Paradise Lost´s "Eternal" done at a slower tempo in the beginning . One of the bands and records of the year

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.eternaloath.com

EVAN PARKER / GEORGE LEWIS - FROM SAXOPHONE AND TROMBONE (Psi Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Dave Holland

Tracks: 1- One, 2- Two, 3- Three, 4- Four, 5- Five

Cover Art by Margaret Parker

 Recorded at Art Workers Guild

Here we have this recording from May 1980 in which this two amazing musicians and improvisers interact as if they had rehearsed a lot of time what they would play on this concert. Here we have from melodic sax and trombone lines to the most demential improvisations where both musicians explore the boundaries between sound, melody and noise without hesitations. Here we have some interesting experiments like for example in "One" where Lewis plays some "wave" lines with his trombone while Parker does interesting sounds all over them creating a deep atmosphere with strange variations. Everything here is pure exploration and this two musicians are excellent in trying to discover new possibilities for their instruments. Improvisers and musicians will surely learn a lot from this recording.

Favorite tracks: "Three" and "Five"

Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

EVAN PARKER / PAUL LYTTON - COLLECTIVE CALLS (Psi Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Evan Parker

Tracks: 1- Peradam, 2- Cat´s Flux, 3- Shaker, 4- Left of the Neo-left, 5- Lytton Perdu, 6- Voice Fragment, 7- Some Mother Blues, 8- What´s Left of the neo-left

Cover Art by Alan Johnston

 Recorded at the Standard Essence Co.

On this wild recording we have Evan Parker deliver his sax lines against Paul Lyttons percussion. Here we have a lot of variations within each of the eight compositions and the intensity of the recording increase as time passes. Lytton´s chaotic while technical percussion lines contrast against Parker´s sounds and phrases that sound more contained in some places and completely unleashed in others. This two musicians have a lot of interaction among them and they know how to create lines that go beyond all musical standards. This is a showcase of what this two men are capable of doing and the experimentation that they deliver on each of their compositions.

Favorite tracks: "Shaker", "Lytton perdu" and "Some Mother Blues"

Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

EVOHE - NON SERVIAM (Indepedent, 2002)

Produced By: Evohe

Tracks: 1- Rotten Angel, 2-Funeste Révélation, 3- Satanic Phobia, 4- Sargathanas, 5- Evil´s Grace

Cover Art by Dentiste

This CD opens up with a calm intro before getting into the brutality of "Rotten Angel", a track with multiple riffs and rhythms and a black metal feeling, specially on the vocals. This is the style that I call atmospheric death/black metal, because of certain melodies and moods that give a climatic feeling to the compositions and because of the mix of black metal feeling and certain death metal riffs and arrangements. Here we have screaming vocals and a sort of spoken one that contrasts heavily with the first. There is also a guttural voice that interacts with the other two types of voices. The drumming is ultra fast and there are many blast beats here that help to get that black metal feeling. The sound of the recording is good and at the same time really raw and that adds to the atmospheric feeling of hatred and sorrow that the compositions have.

Favorite tracks: "Rotten Angel", "Funeste Revelation" and "Evil´s Grace"

Contact: evohe@freesbee.fr

FAR FROM EVEN - FAR FROM EVEN (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Far From Even and Peter Humphries

Tracks: 1- Can´t Communicate, 2- Trip In, 3- Trip on a Wire, 4- Backache, 5- Headache, 6- Drop Me, 7- Up to Your Level, 8- Whistle Blower, 9- It Burns, 10- For the Record, 11- Instead, 12- Care

Cover Art by Far From Even

 Recorded by Peter Humphries and Matt Coulter

This is a really good band!! With a lot of the power thet metal has, a lot of modern touches, interesting song structures and amazing rhythms. There is plenty of guitar riffs with wah wah and effects here adding a rocking touch (with some alternative and stoner parts) to Far From Even heavier music. The vocals are really good (this guy Justin Mac Nair is really good in what he does) and have a lot fo variation making each song different from the other and you can enjoy a lot this album. Also another extra points for this band is the great sound that they have, specially on the guitars and bass that give a lot of power to the riffs and the music. Lovers of heavier than hell rock and songs with a lot of choruses and hooks should check this band

Favorite tracks: "Trip In", "Headache" and "Whistle Blower"

Contact: www.farfromeven.com

FORNICATION - PROMO (Independent., 2002)

Produced By: Fornication

Tracks: 1-

Cover Art by Fornication

 Recorded at Skyr Studio

This band plays pure perverse black metal with raw guitar sound but instead of playing ultra fast blast beats they prefer to play other heavier riffs with more rhythmic quality on them. The vocals are full of anguish while they deliver the sarcastic and perverse lyrics that this band has created. The guitars play heavy riffs that are different from the one note progressions that many black metal bands play. The drummer is really intense and plays interesting patterns through all the tracks. I have to remark the good guitar work here delivering riffs with a lot of space for the vocals and the drumming to be creative. The sound of the recording is good and I would mix a little bit more clear the guitars to make them even more effective. This is a crushing release for black metal lovers.

Favorite tracks:

Contact: http://fornication.bm.free.fr

FREUND HEIN - COINCIDENTIA OPPOSITORUM (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Freund Hein

Tracks: 1- Clouds are gone But Whre´s my Sun, 2- Drudenfuss und mumenschanz, 3- I Like Your Way of Hurting Me

Cover Art by Freund Hein

 Recorded at FFW Studios

After their previous "Subversive Revolution" here come the new MCD from this guys from Austria. And their music has evolved since their previous effort. Here we have songs that have this brutlity that Freund Hein delivers and that have also this machine like sound that the band has when combine the guitars with keyboards and some other sounds. Here everything has that great feeling and the songs are memorable specially because of the riffs that are rhythmical enough to be kept in the lsitener´s mind. The melodies in "Drudenfuss..." also are really well placed in the composition and are essential for making this track one of the most memorable on this MCD. The sound is really good and that helps to make things even more bestial and to achieve the feeling that the guys in Freund Hein wanted to transmit. A band with a lot of identity !

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact: www.freundhein.com

GOLDENPYRE - NECROTERRORISM (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Pedro Mano and GoldenPyre

Tracks: 1- Mourning Relief, 2- Filthy Potion, 3- Corrosion of the Future, 4-Mesmerising Aphrodite

Cover Art by Diaboliih

 Recorded at Grave Studio

Here we have a band whose music is dark death metal. I have put the word "dark" before death metal because here we have a darker than hell atmosphere going on through the songs despite the brutality of the band. Everything here, starting with the cover art is designed to creat a dark atmosphere and a lot of heaviness on each composition. The guitars are extremely heavy and are the essence of GoldenPyre´s music. They play brutal riffs and sometimes add some open chords or melody to give the listener a break and to change a little bit the feeling of the song. I liked a lot the many rhytmical riffs and the drumming in tracks like "Filthy Potion": The vocals are guttural enough to make the band really brutal death metal but at the same time add a lot of darkness to the compositions, specially when used over the slower riffs. A must for lovers of brutality. 

Favorite tracks: "Filthy Potion", "Mourning Relief" and "Mesmerising Aphrodite"

Contact: www.goldenpyre.cjb.net

HEAVE - FEARS COME ALIVE (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Heave

Tracks: 1- Fears come Alive, 2- hey, 3- Playing With Fire, 4- Blood on My Hands

Cover Art by Heave

Here we have a band that plays heavy music, difficult to define because it has elements of heavy metal but played with heavier guitar sound. Also they have parts in which the bass plays along the drums with no guitar while the vocals sing tits enchanting melodies. I have to remark that the band has a great singer with a big vocal range that is essential for Heave´s music, sounding somewhere in between heavy / power metal and thrash/speed metal (there is some screaming and high pitches that reminded me the style). There are excellent guitar riffs, specially on the heavier parts, played with a good sound and every track here has many parts. The compositions are well developed and they have a structure that allows the listener to cling to the songs and keep them in their memories. Here we have metal with elements from different styles but with good musicianship and originality.

Favorite tracks: "Fears Come Alive" and "Blood on My Hands"

Contact: www.heave.nu

HIDROLOGY - ASLEEP (Independent , 2002)

Produced By: Hidrology

Tracks: 1- Senseless, 2- Crawling into the Dark, 3- No Rules, 4- Sunshine, 5- Boromir, 6- Taking Over the Machines, 7- Asleep, 8- Closeness, 9- Waiting for a Feeling, 10- Mental Condition

 Recorded at H Homestudio

Here we have one of the best bands from Argentina !!! Yes, this amazing progressive metal band comes directly from my home country and I am saying proudly that they have nothing to envy. There are amazing keyboards in all the compositions that are essential to Hidrology´s sound. This keyboards, combined with the heavy guitars and the great sax lines give a lot of originality . This CD has been recorded with a lot of effort and this guys have achieved a great sound that makes each of the instruments shine. I have to remark the vocals of Federico Cristante that fuit the music really well and does not abuse the high pitches. I will strongly recommend this band to lovers of progressive, heavy and power metal with ideas. 

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.hidrology.com

HONEY FOR CHRIST - HONEY FOR CHRIST (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Honey For Christ

Tracks: 1- Forging Iron Will, 2- Movements Below the Surface, 3- The Heretic Hook

Cover Art by Honey For Christ

 Recorded at Einstein Studios

Here we have a band that have fooled me in the beginning!!! Yes, they start with a fast guitar riff with a sound that could be death metal and then comes a vocalist with a wider range singing really good melodies over them in a more heavy metal vein!! I really liked that!! Who says that pure heavy metal has lost its originality? Here we have a band that have developed their own sound by mixing some styles and adding them their own personality and a dark feeling in order to achieve the sound they had in their minds. Here we have three great tracks that leaves you wanting more Honey for Christ. It is essential here the good guitar riffs that are different from what one expects and the great vocalist that is full of feelings and transmits them while he sings (and also when he growls in death metal style such as in some parts in "Movements...". And it surprises me that they have recorded this threee tracks in just one day. They must rehearse a lot becvause they sound really tight. A must.

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact: www.honeyforchrist.co.uk

HROSSHARSGRANI - SCHATTENKRIEGER (CCP Recs., 2002)

Produced By:

Tracks: 1- Einleitung, 2- Das Flammende Auge, 3- Zweiter Schattenzyklus, 4- Im Feuer der Rache, 5- Dritter Schattenzyklus, 6- Ein gar Stolzes Heer, 7- Vierter Schattenzyklus, 8- Schattenkrieger, 9- Strahlend Schwarz, 10- Fünfter Schattenzyklus, 11- Donnerschlag, 12- Die Schatten Trügen, 13- Sechster Schattenzyklus, 14- Wenn Winters Sang und Klang Verstumint, 15- Oh Schatz, 16- Siebenter Schattenzyklus, 17- ...Krieg Entbrannte (Nacht der Helden)

Cover Art by

 Recorded at CCP STUDIO

An opening leads us into "das Flammende Auge", a track  full of heavy guitars and an amazing keyboards line that is repetaed in many parts of the song in order to get fixed in the listener´s brain. Here we have magnificent keyboards mixed with powerful guitars that are essential for Hrosshargsrani´s music. This band has a lot of epic touches in their music and that makes the sound real unique when combined with the male vocals that are really clear while powerful (some sound close to Therion but the scope of Hrossharsgrani´s music is completely different from that band). Plus here we have a great combination of male and female vocals that are essential to create the climaxes in the songs. The music on this album has a lot of atmosphere combined with energy and everything here has really good sound wth a great mix. The lyrics in german add a lot to the general feeling and identity of the band. This is one of those albums that you can not miss.

Favorite tracks: All the CD is a real work of art

Contact: www.ccprecords.com or hrossharsgrani@a1.net

HUMAN RITUAL - OFFERING (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Human Ritual

Tracks: 1- Less than Human, 2- Behind the Faces, 3- Mansect, 4- this So Called Life

Cover Art by Travis Komalcheet

 Recorded at Chapman Studios

This amazing band takes the heavier things of bands like Machine Head, Biohazard, Prong, Pantera and others, they mix them and then they regurguitate it in the form of their own music. Here you have those riffs that are extremely heavy and when combined here with the bass and the drumming we have one of the heaviest bands on Earth (you have just to check "Mansect" tosee what I am saying). The sound of this recording is FUCKING HUGE !! and I would really love to see this band live someday because I think that would be a heavier than fucking hell experience. The singer, Brad Oliver is extremely versatile and goes from singing melodic lines to screaming at the top of his lungs without hesitation. This is an album destined to be a classic in metal (I hope this guys remember this review when they become extremely famous).

Favorite tracks: The four songs are completely destructive and they annihilate your brain !!!

Contact: www.humanritual.com

HUTT - MISERAVEL (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Hutt

Tracks: 1- Patriota?, 2- Polvora, Pipoca e Sangue, 3- Epitafio (O Seu), 4- Bub, 5- Miseravel Mundo Novo, 6- Nada de Respostas, 7- Memoria Curta, 8- Meu problema Sou Eu, 9- Bozus Cristo, 10- Pensa Logo Dexiste

Cover Art by Hutt

Here we have an extremely fast and noisy band full of grind blast beats and extremely guttural and distorted vocals. This guys have no mercy!! They crush your brain from the first second to the last of this ultra brutal album. The guitars are really disrtorted and the mix is extremely raw helping the music to sound really energetic and unpolished. The faster tracks are really bursts of energy that makes your brain melt with the blast beats and the hyper fast riffs. There are also some rhythmic riffs that I would like the band to use more often because they are the most devastating. The sound of the recording is raw and unpolished but that does not lessen the level of aggression and the intensity that Hutt´s music has. Grind/death lovers rejoice with Hutt!!

Favorite tracks: "Patriota?", "Bub" and "Nada de Respostas"

Contact: hutt1@hotmail.com

HYPONIC - BLACK SUN (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Hyponic

Tracks: 1- Labyrinth of Ignorance, 2- A False Legend, 3- The Last Divine, 4- Third, 5- Vile, 6- Black Sun

Cover Art by Kin

 Recorded at Hyponic´s Band Room

This band plays death metal with excellent guitar riffs, guttural vocals and interesting mid paced parts like the ones in "A False Legend" that add a lot of atmosphere and variation to the songs. What I really liked here is the guitar sound that is extremely heavy but at the same time very clear and effective. Kin and Roy play open riffs that allow some melancholic sounding melodies to develop in tracks like "Third" with really good taste. And this band really knows how to combine this melodies with sheer brutality as they show in tracks like "Vile". This is a good mix of fast death metal, some doom riffs and melancholic melodies that give a dark feeling to Hyponic´s music.

Favorite tracks: "A False Legend", "Black Sun" and "Vile"

Contact: hyponic@asiamail.com

ICED EARTH - TRIBUTE TO THE GODS (Century Media Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Iced Earth

Tracks: 1- Creatures of the night, 2- The Number of the Beast, 3- Highway to the Hell, 4- Burnin for You, 5- God of thunder, 6- Screaming for Vengeance, 7- Dead Babies, 8- Cities on Flame, 9- It´s a long way to the top, 10- Black Sabbath, 11- Hallowed Be Thy Name

Cover Art by Axel Hermann and Travis Smith

 Recorded at Schaffer Sound Studios

The guys in Iced Earth decided to make this tribute to the bands that influenced them and specially the leader Jon Schaffer. Here we have classic songs from bands like Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Blue Oyster Cult, Alice Cooper and Kiss covered by Iced Earth in their own way (very similar to the original versions). I liked a lot the heavier tracks eventhough the AC/DC tracks are amazing as the original songs are, and I liked a lot the more metalic feeling that Iced Earth gave to songs like "Creatures of the Night" or "God of thunder". This is a really good tribute to classic bands that we all love and whose songs are always good to listen to.

Favorite tracks: "Creatures of the Night", "The Number of the Beast" and "Screaming for Vengeance"

Contact: www.centurymedia.com.br

IMAGIKA - AND SO IT BURNS (World War III Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Uwe Luis & Imagika

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Chaos To Murder, 3- Fallen One, 4- My Dominion, 5- Atrocity, 6- Hell, 7- It Burns, 8- Annihilate, 9- Darkness has Come, 10- Fade Away, 11- the thief, 12- When, 13- Unheard

Cover Art by Darkworld 2000

 Recorded at Prairie Sun Studios

This band crushes you from the beginning: a short acoustic guitar intro leads directly into the first track that is a thrashing tune full of heavy guitar riffs and vocals that somewhat reminded me to the guy that used to sing in Cacophony. How heavy guitars can sound? Listen to "Chaos to Murder" and find the answer. Here you have a band with no mercy delivering riff after riff in sort of a mix of heavy metal and thrash metal that was sorely missed in the metal scene. Imagika gives metal music a new and fresh breath of air taking old elements and mixing them and creating their own sound with modern guitars and crushing drums. The vocalist here is really versatile and he knows how to fit the guitars and the songs perfectly. I have to remark the sound of this recording which is one of the best that I have ever listened!!! One of the recordings of the year.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.ww3music.com

ITALIAN EXPERIENCES III (Path of Experiences Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Path of Experiences Recs

Tracks: 1- Il male Che mi Fa (Dianira), 2- Too Easy for You (Living Dream), 3- Libera Nella Mente (Falling Silence), 4- Equilibrium (Spellcraft), 5- Distruzioni per l´uso (Ali perdute). 6- Raccontami (Gamila), 7- Brucia (Kardia), 8- Attimo (Fucktotum), 9- Radioactivity (Nuclear Devastation), 10- Shut Up (Meschalina), 11- Overture 2002 (Bright Corner), 12- Ten Methods to Die (Hollywood Vampyres)

Cover Art by A&A

Here we have a compilation featuring twelve italian bands from many different styles. Here we have from the rock of bands like Living Dream to the pure metal of Falling Silence with crushing riffs and lot of heaviness and many modern touches. Then we have also Spellcraft´s extremely climatic composition with many clean guitars and interesting arrangements that suddenly turns heavy. Also we have Ali Perdute with their music full of ancient melodies and dark atmosphere. There are bands like Kardia that sound really modern with "Brucia" and the crushing chorus of that song that add a new metal sound to the compilation. Fucktotum is more heavy metal with atmospheric parts and whispering vocals. Nuclear Devastation is pure grind at full speed and Meschalina is heavy rock with catchy riffs, some rapping and some electronics. Here we have a compilation that is a good showcase of the many different styles that are making their music in the italian metal underground.

Favorite bands: Spellcraft, Kardia and Bright Corner

Contact: http://spazioweb.inwind.it/pathofexperiences

IVORY MOON - PROMO 2002 (Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Ivory Moon

Tracks: 1- Hell, 2- Valhalla, 3- Lord of Mountain

Cover Art by Ivory Moon

Ivory Moon is a progressive band that has conceived here three compositions full of melodies, tempo changes and arrangements. Plus we have a lot of energy that is focused in the heavy guitars that the band uses. There is an excellent vocal work with male vocals singing complex melodies through all the songs and there are a lot of epic choruses that fit perfectly the music and give a lot of quality to Ivory Moon´s music (I think that this vocals are essential to the Ivory Moon sound). Here we have three tracks that never stop surprising the listener because of the many different arrangements and phrases and the many changes in mood and speed. Ivory Moon has a lot of musicianship with many technical skills that are essential to play this tracks correctly. This is a band with many ideas that they put into theior compositions and with excellent musicianship.

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact: http://digilander.iol.it/ivorysite

KABBAL - SYNTHETICALLY REVIVED (Diamond Prods., 2002)

Produced By: Kabbal

Tracks: 1- Extra Sensorial Journey, 2- The Great massacre (Verset 666), 3- Wisdom of the graves, 4- Life Surge, 5- Epitaph of the Older Ones, 6- Trihedron, 7- Scientific War, 8- La Citée de Marbre

 Recorded at Update Studio

This is a really brutal release but at the same time the band hasa lot of musicianship and they seem to have rehearsed their music a lot because they sound extremely tight: the band plays multiple bestial riffs on each track sounding original by avoiding cliches of the death metal genre. In fact, the band has a lot of identity in their music and they achieve this result with the mix of rhythms tahta re not really common in death metal as well as mixing them with faster parts, and also through the guitar melodies and the amazing changes. This band has a lot of musicianship and the guys here have a lot of technical skills, because their music is complex and they play it extremely well. Here you have a really good sound that makes things even better. Kabbal is a band that plays brutal music but with a lot of imagination and originality. 

Favorite tracks: "Wisdom of the Graves", "Life Surge" and "Scientific War"

Contact: www.diamond-prod.com

KALIBAN - THE TEMPEST OF THOUGHTS (Low Frequency Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Kaliban

Tracks: 1- Orchard, 2- Carnal Cage, 3- the Angel, 4- Forever in Bloom, 5- The Crimson Ark, 6- Call of Siren, 7- My Songs Silent, 8- Time To Burn

Cover Art by Timo Tyynismaa

 Recorded at Astia Studio

This album opens up with an acoustic guitar introduction that is really climatic and delicate before getting into the heavy riffs in the style of heavy metal or power metal bands. Then comes the guttural voice that surprises the listener. This vocals are really in the death metal vein. The guitars change then and turn into more death metal type of riffs, they become more complex, more in the vein of bands like Dark Tranquility but more dynamic and faster. There are many solos that are delivered with really good musicianship that is essential for Kaliban´s music. The songs here have a good structure and they have many hooks and catchy parts done with the guitar riffs. The sound is really good and that makes things even heavier and clearer. A must. 

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.lowfrequencyrecords.fi

KAOS - VISION BEYOND (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: Kaos

Tracks: 1- Sound Mind, Body and Soul, 2- Levitate, 3- Vision Beyond, 4- Re-Creation, 5- Eye of the Mind, 6- Bloodlines, 7- Forever Friends, 8- Vivisection 2000

 Recorded at Kurt Foster Recording Services

This album really surprised me. I expected something different and this guys have delivered here a crushing mix of metal styles with some hardcore touches making me bang my head against the floor because of the power that their music has. Here we have a combination of ultra heavy guitars with a clean bass (with a lot of slapping and popping) and very rhythmic drumming. The band that comes closer to my mind is Suicidal Tendencies (when Rocky George and Robert Trujillo were in the band) but this band has heavier sound. The songs here have changes and a lot of vocal melodies that give a lot of complexity to them while always retaining the listener´s attention. The sound of this recording is really good, specially on guitars and drums. A crushing release.

Favorite tracks: All the tracks

Contact: www.kaosamongus.com

KATAFALK - STORM OF THE HORDE (Cold Blood Industries, 2003)

Produced By: Katafalk

Tracks: 1- Succubus, 2- Aesthetic Vampires, 3- Birthmark 666, 4- Cannonfodder, 5- Redeemer, 6- Storm of Horde, 7- Hatred, 8- Empty Life, 9- Operation Mindloss, 10- Rise Now, 11- One Last Flight, 12- Blind Envy, 13- Baptized

Cover Art by Wokkel

 Recorded at Sing Sing Studios

Terrible brutality from the first second of the recording up to the end of the album !!! That is what we have here! This is a band that ahs combined death metal in its most brutal form with certain thrash metal elements in order to create their own sound. The drummer here is a double bass beast and he plays really fast along the deathly guitar riffs. We have extreme vocals that fit the guitar riffs perfectly. The guitars deliver riff after riff and then change into melodies (the sound is really good, specially in the guitars and that allows tlisten to any sound clearly). I liked specially the combination between fast riffs and the more rhythmic one that turn things much heavier and at the same time give a lot of memorable moments for the listener. If you like brutality with devastating mnoments then you sure have to check Katafalk.

Favorite tracks: "Birthmark 666", "Storm of Horde" and "Rise Now"

Contact: www.coldbloodindustries.com

LEAD WEIGHT - PENETRATOR (Musica Prods., 2002)

Produced By: Yermola

Tracks: 1- . Ally (Intro). 2. 1000000 Ways. 3. Omen., 4- Last Dance, 5. Don Benefactor (Death Is An Adviser). 6- Useless, 7. Elegy (Instrumental). 8. Stalker. 9. Penetrator. 10. Disangelist (Bad Religion).

Cover Art by Grom

 Recorded at Grom Sound Base

Here we have a technical death metal band full of riffs, tempo changes and extremely aggressive music. Here we have a band that plays complicated music intertwining clean guitars with the most extreme guitar riffs and mixing everything really well. There are plenty of complex and twisted melodies that make the music even more interesting. The vocals are really extreme and contrast heavily with some of the riffs and melodies. The sound is good and raw and the guitars can be listened perfectly while doing their combination of rhythm and melody. There are two types of vocals that fit each one in some part of the compositions changing the mood of the songs really well. There are some neoclassical leads within the death metal context that sound really original and there are also some thrash metal influences. This is a really good band that you don´t have to miss.

Favorite tracks: "Omen", "Don Benefactor" and "Stalker"

Contact: http://musica.mustdie.ru

LEMURIA - THE VAULT OF THE WITNESS (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Lemuria

Tracks: 1- Two Islands, 2- Vault of the Witness, 3- Lords of Delusion Part 1: The Five Disciples, 4- Lords of Delusion Part II: The Prophecy Prevailed, 5- Salvation, 6- Lemuria´s Crypt, 7- Land´s Glorie

Cover Art by Lemuria

Here we have a band whose music can be described as black death metal with some thrash touches tat give a weird feeling to the compositions. Lemuria is a band that sound really rehearsed and they are tight as hell and at the same time they have a raw sound that makes them have a really distorted guitar sound that plays some interesting black metal riffs while the drums play rhythmic parts and some blast beats. The vocals are really grim and extreme and they fit the music perfectly making the listener feel what this guys want to transmit. There are some melodies and melodic riffs thrown in the compositions to give a lot of variations to them and they are essential for Lemuria´s sound. The sound of the recording is raw but good making all the instruments clear and powerful. Here is a band that has darkness in their minds, hearts and souls and they reflect this in their music.

Favorite tracks: Two Islands, Lords of Delusion Part I and II

Contact: www.lemuria.be

LOGAR´S DIARY - BOOK 1: IOSTROS (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Felix Gretzer

Tracks: 1- Earthdawn, 2- Lonely on the Serpent River, 3- Travelling to the Blood Woods, 4- Ti An - A Troubadour´s Ballad, 5- Demon in Kaer, 6- Travar - The Golden City, 7- Home of the Traders - Barterstown, 8- King´s Hall, 9- Iostros, 10- My Love Still Exists, 11- Deja Vu

 Recorded at Goblin and Gnomes

Favorite tracks: "Travelling to the Blood Woods", "Demon in Kaer" and "King´s Hall"

Contact: www.logar.org

LOST EMOTIONS - CREATIVE PAIN (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Lost Emotions

Tracks: 1- Bloodcurdling, 2- Freedom for My Senses, 3- To Destroy the Poetry, 4- Silent is Gold, 5- Garden of Deceptions, 6- Need of Suffering, 7- Ecxplications Psychedelic to Existence, 8- Creative Pain

Cover Art by Lost Emotion

Here we have really dark and weird music. The music here has many gothic elements but describing Lost Emotions as a gothic band is a little bit narrow. Here we have a band that has plenty of keyboards played with really good musicianship and vocals that go from being very extreme in many moments to whispering in others and very dark in many parts. The drums here sound programmed (I don´t know if they are or not) and that makes things darker. The guitars have a heavy huge sound and play interesting riffs that add heaviness and when combined with the keyboards develope the darker than hell atmosphere that Lost Emotions songs have (also the guitars do interesting guitar solos that add extra points to the music). There are some death metal elements, specially in the vocals but the essence here is the pure obscurity of the band. If you want a dark powerful band here you have Lost Emotions.

Favorite tracks: "Bloodcurdling", "Silent is Gold" and "Garden of Deceptions"

Contact: myheartispain@hotmail.com

LOST SOUL´S CRY - PROMO (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Klaas Tops and Frank Klein Douwel

Tracks: 1- Prelude Into Chaos, 2- Embracing Emptiness, 3- My Will Shall Prevail, 4- Releasing the Demons

Cover Art by Tijs Van Oiwerkerk

 Recorded at ADK Studios

After the previous Lost Soul´s Cry album that we reviewed some issues back here comes this "Promo" where we can see the evolution that this one-man-band has suffered in this time (specially in the sound that is clearer than in the previous recording) . Here the compositions are more twisted and are more elaborated. The guitar riffs have a lot of hooks and make each of the four songs here really memorable. Frank Klein Douwel has achieved a good recording with a good sound, specially on the guitars that show clearly his experimetnation within a metal context (the guitars have a raw sound that contrast heavily with the keyboards creating this dark environment in the recording). The music is close to black metal but is not typical of this style. In fact the riffs emphasize the dark atmosphere instead of only playing fast parts (even if there are some blast beats and ultra fast parts). Here we have experimentation within an extreme metal context that showcase some brilliant ideas.

Favorite tracks: The four

Contact: lostsoulscry@dolfijn.nl

LUMSK - ASMUND FREGDEGJÆVAR (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Lumsk

Tracks: 1- Nytinne två, 2- Ormin Lange, 3- I Trollehender, 4- Kampen Mot Bergetrolli

This is a recording that is very difficult to put in a certain metal style. Here we have a band with extremely heavy guitars with a lot of dense rhythms and amazing keyboards sections and melodies that give a lot of originality to the music. Plus the vocals are very different from what one is accustomed to listen to: there is a heavy voice but it is not guttural or screaming, it is a really climatic voice that sometimes is harmonized with a female enchanting voice. Tracks like "Ormin lange" are extremely original and orchestrated with excellent taste for arrangements and an extremely dark atmosphere that combined with the heaviness of the guitars give us this excellent album! This is with no doubt one of the albums of the month. 

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.lumsk.com

LUNGE - STRONG LANGUAGE (Emanem Disc, 2002)

Produced By: Martin Davidson

Tracks: 1- Planarchy, 2- Rough With the Smooth, 3- White Writeable Area, 4- No Filters, 5- Mull it Over, 6- Rothko

How far can improvisations go? Here we have four amazing musicians that show us that improvisations may have no limits. Here we have trombone lines clashing with percussion while piano phrases interact with violin lines. Here we have a lot of imagination and changes of pace (this guys use some very fast parts in tracks like "Planarchy") and rhythm with constant exploration of the new sounds that can be extracted from the instruments. It is amazing to listen electronic violins extremely high pitches combined with improvisational drums patterns that are repited again and again while creating an idea that is soon followed by the other musicians. If you like improvisation and great musicianship this is surely a recording for you. 

Favorite tracks: Planarchy", "Rough With the Smooth" and "No Filters"

Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

MALIGNANCE - REGINA UMBRAE MORTIS (Black Tears of Death Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Malignance

Tracks: 1- The Lament´s Configuration, 2- Statement of Supremacy, 3- Deadhead Lodge, 4-Regina Umbrae Mortis, 5- Horror vacui, 6- Fornicate With Pestilence, 7- Inverted Pantheon, 8- Nameless Paradox

Cover Art by Malignance

Malignance is what I call a pure black metal band: here we have raw guitars played at full speed, blast beats, screaming vocals full of anguish combined with more epic and melodic ones and an extrenmely dark atmosphere through all the compositions. There are also many atmospheric parts that transmit the desolation and hatred of god that this band wants to show. The riffs are extremely fast and interact really well with the hyper speed of the drums (this guy is a blast beat machine). There is also an interesting old school influence that shows some Celtic Frost influences, specially on "Statement of Supremacy" that is the most old school sounding track. Everything on this album is black metal and the melodies help to make things more obscure while they clash with the guitar riffs. Lovers of pure black metal with atmospheric shades will surely love Malignance.

Favorite tracks: "Statement of Supremacy", "Regina Umbrae Mortis", "Fornicate With Pestilence

Contact: www.btod.com

MASTERPLAN - MASTERPLAN (Recs., 2003)

Produced By: Andy Sneap

Tracks: 1- Spirit Never Die, 2-Enlighten me, 3- Kind Hearted light, 4- Crystal Night, 5- Soulburn, 6- Heroes, 7- Sail On, 8- Into the Light, 9- Crawling from Hell, 10- Bleeding Eyes, 11- When Love Comes Close

Mixed by Mikko Kamila

 Mastered by Mika Jussila

Here wer ave the band that Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch have formed after leaving Helloween: And here we have also Jorn lande who used to sing in Yngwie Malmsteen´s band. Then you have to know what we will listen here. That is pure heavy metal with great musicianship and amazing vocals. Here we have an extremely solid band that delivers eleven gret compositions with some neoclassical feeling. We have also ex Helloween frontman Michael Kiske doing a vocal duet in the track "Heroes". And also we have the producing of Andy Sneap that gives to the sound a heavier touch than it would have had otheerwise. Lovers of pure metal with excellent vocals and amazing melodies should check Masterplan. 

Favorite tracks: "Soulburn", "Crystal Night" and "Crawling from hell"

Contact: www.afm-records.de

MELANCHOLIC SEASONS - IN MY EYES (Independent, 2000)

Produced By: Melancholic Seasons and Gers Lücking

Tracks: 1- In Your Eyes, 2-This is Your God, 3- I am the Evil, 4-* Frozen Lyrics, 5- Just a Fucking Lullaby, 6- Drowned in Tears

 Recorded at Rawsound Studios

This is a band that plays melodic death metal with a lot of dark atmospheres and amazing guitar melodies. This guys have constructed six great compositions here full of melancholic parts and with crushing guitars while a deathly voice spits the lyrics. There are some shades of swedish death metal here but the emphasis here is on the darker side of the music. The guitar riffs are original and I like specially when one guitar plays a rhythm and the other one plays melodies that are Melancholic Seasons trademark. The sound of the recording is really good and reflects that this musicians want to transmit their music in the best way that they can. This album is from 2000 so I would really like to listen to their newer stuff to see the evolution that this amazing guys have suffered in this years. 

Favorite tracks: "In Your Eyes". "I am the Evil" and "Drowned in Tears"

Contact: www.melancholic-seasons.de

MEMORAIN - DIGITAL CRIMES (Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Harris Zourelidis

Tracks: 1- Digital Crimes, 2- Until You Die, 3- Bones, 4- Alone, 5- Turned on You, 6- Extend of Life, 7- Burning Justice, 8- Last War-Final Day, 9- Silence, 10- Visions of Darkness

Cover Art by Elias Prassas

 Recorded at Feedback Sound Studios

Memorain is a band that plays pure metal with aggressive guitar riffs and all the power that a band of the style can deliver. Here we have pure metal with interesting guitar riffs that are sometimes complex, sometimes fast and sometimes twisted. This riffs have a lot of rhythm in many parts that are designed for headbanging or moshing (I would really like to see this guys live). Memorain has a weird vocalist that fits the music perfectly with his powerful vocals and there are some shades of eighties thrash in the music here, specially in the voice and in the complexity of some of the riffs. But this eighties influences are mixed with a really much more modern sound in the guitars that makes Memorain a powerful modern band with great arrangements and solos . There are some heavy metal elements and melodies that combined with the more thrashing one are devastating. The sound of this recording is really good and that is essential to be devastated by this brainmelting band.

Favorite tracks: "Until You Die", "Burning Justice" and "Silence"

Contact: www.memorain.com

MUSICA - COMPILATION (Musica Mustdie Prods., 2002)

Produced By: Mustdie Prods.

Tracks: 1- Glazemaker: "Burning Coast", 2- Seducer´s Embrace "As the Forest Weeps", 3- Samhain "Herimos", 4- Wishmaster "Betrayer", 5- Lead Weight "For Thine is the Kingdom", 6- Radigost "B Cepaye bHTBM", 7- Hostile Breed "Paper Law", 8- Exhumation "Cursed World", 9-Vortex "Break the Fetters", 10- Requiem "TBOH CHM", 11- Elisium "TeHb", 12- Tvangeste "Damnation of Regiomontum, 13- Rossomahaar "Quarite Lux in Tenebris", 14- Absurd "Where Time Has Died Away", 15- XAMNAR CEPKEbAEBA & Forrest Gump

This is a a compilation done by great russian label Musica Mustdie and it features fifteen excellent russian bands full of power and interesting ideas. This is a showcase of arrangements, dark ideas and amazing melodies that go through styles as different as black metal, death metal and gothic. The bands here are really different one from each other, going from the full of keyboards attack of Glazemaker to the melodic death metal of Seducer´s Embrace to the more death/black operistic sounds of Samhain. Here we have a broad range of musical ideas and you can feel how good the russian scene is developing achieveing new ideas with this bands. Here is a must for any lover of metal music that wants something new and wants to dive deep into the russian scene. 

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: http://musica.mustdie.ru

MYON - GHOST IN PARADISE (Low Frequency Recs., 2002)

Produced By: H. Marinen

Tracks: 1- Dead of the Dawn, 2- Tournament, 3- The Quest, 4- In Me, 5- Heart of the Hollywood, 6- Follow the Sign, 7- Nostradamus, 8- Mary Celeste, 9- Avenue, 10- Ancient Rites

Cover Art by Timo Tyynismaa

 Recorded at neo Studios

Myon does pure heavy metal with some power metal riffs and some hard rock touches. Here everything is epic and full of interesting melodies. One of the best things here are the choruses that are designed to be memorable. The music here is enhanced because of the great sound that makes the keyboards shine and that is essential for Myon´s music. The combination of guitars and keyboards is the heart and sould of the band´s music. There are some Rainbow influences in songs like "Tournament " and I feel some Yngwie Malmsteen influences too. The singer is really good in the neoclassic heavy metal vein with a wide range. One thing to remark are the excellent guitar solos that shine because of the great technique and the good sound. This is pure metal !!!!.

Favorite tracks: "Tournament", "In Me" and "Nostradamus"

Contact: www.lowfrequencyrecords.fi

NAIL WITHIN - NAIL WITHIN (Listenable Recs., 2003)

Produced By: Harris Johns and Zeev Tanaboim

Tracks: 1- Emblazed, 2- Inhuman Conditions, 3- Dirty Coloured Knife, 4- Bleed Forever, 5- Under the Spell, 6- Elastic, 7- Mental Coffin, 8- My Wallow, 9- King Obscenity, 10- Impure, 11- Last Nail, 12-Video track

Cover Art by Nail Within

Here we have a band that mixes pure brutality with some complex rhythms and interesting guitar work through eleven compositions. This band comes directly from Israel (from where we have reviewed the great Salem (Ze ev Tanaboim who produces this CD is from that band). The music here has a lot of energy and they deliver riff after riff with an extremely heavy sound and a really good sound. The vocals are really anguished and they scream the lyrics with a lot of energy. The compositions are really elaborated and sometimes are complex and that adds a lot of interesting elements to the songs. The band sounds extremely tight and the sound makes things even heavier remarking the excellent guitar sound and the great drumming....here we have Nail Within, a powerful band with a lot of future !!!!.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.listenable.net . Promotion by www.theendrecords.com

NEURAL BOOSTER - GROSS NEGLIGENCE (Eclipse Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Neural Booster

Tracks: There are thirty six tracks here of pure mayhem!!

Cover Art by Neural Booster

Here we have a band that deceived us. The recording starts calmly and then goes straight ahead into hyper brutal death metal with some grind elements: here we have bestial guitars that spit riff after riff with many variations in tempo but retaining always the brutal side (the guitars sound raw and fat). What surprises me is the use of clean guitars in some places and guitars that sound differently mixed in others. The main thing here is brutality and the guttural vocals mixed with screams help a lot to the final result. There is hyper fast drumming with a lot of double bass. Here we have 21 tracks from the "Gross Negligence" album and 15 from their previous "Ignorant Indifference" where we can see the progress that the band made between those two recordings. Lovers of bestiality and extremely aggressive music will like this one a lot. 

Favorite tracks: "Crisis", "I am the Terrorist" and "False Pretence"

Contact: www.neuralbooster.com

NIGHTINGALE - ALIVE AGAIN: THE BREATHING SHADOW PART IV (The End Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Dan Swanö

Tracks: 1- Recollections, 2- Shadowman, 3- The Glory Days, 4- Falling, 5- Into the light, 6- Eternal, 7- State of Shock, 8- the one, 9- Shadowland Serenade, 10- Forever and Never

 Recorded at Soundlab and Studio Kuling B

Here we have a new recording from this band. For those who don´t know, Nightingale is oneof the bands that has in its lineup as main composer to Dan Swanö, the man that played in classic swedish band Edge of Sanity, Bloodbath and countless others (he also produced many bands in his own studio). Here the music is more melodic and melancholic than in the previous albums from the band . The music here has many arrangements and the main thing here is the combination of guitars, keybaords and the vocal harmonies. The riffs here have a lot of fast and mid paced parts but they always leave space to the songs to breath and to the vocals to develope theior melodies. There are really good guitar solos (as Swanö has accustomed us) and also interesting keyboards parts. The sound of the  recording is really good and that is essential to appreciate the great music that this album has.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.theendrecords.com

PARKER / GUY/ LYTTON - AT LES INSTANTS CHAVIRÉS (Psi Records, 2002)

Produced By: Martin Davidson

Tracks: 1- Montreuil Motion, 2- Asp Irate, 3- Threee Legged Chicken (for Vernon), 4- In Which the Moment Capsizes, 5- Jean Marc Rights the Boat

Cover Art by Roger Ackling

 Recorded at the great French Club

Evan Parker always amazes me....he is a guy that can deliver from the softest sax line to the most hysterical improvisation within the same composition and being fully coherent in his musical ideas. Here he is playing improvisations with double bass master Barry Guy and percussion machine Paul Lytton. This three guys together are really mind blowing. You will listen in disbelief the million ideas that each of the compositions here have. The combination between Parker´s phrases and Guy´s bass lines are amazingly tight while Lytton plays coordinated percussion patterns over this ideas. I really liked specially the track "Three Legged..." which is over 38 minutes long and where the improvisation reaches its climax. A must for lovers of spontaneity.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

PAUL RUTHERFORD - CHICAGO 2002 (Emanem Disc, 2002)

Produced By: Martin Davidson

Tracks: 1- Bottling Up, 2- Loliloquy, 3- Blue Bottle, 4- Bottle Out

Cover Art by Martin Davidson

 Recorded at Empty Bottle Festival, Chicago

This CD starts amazingly with a trombone solo by this master called Paul Rutherford. And this solo is over half an hour long!!! Here he plays amazing lines and a lot of atmospheric sounds that never lets you accustom to one sound before he gets into the other. Then we have three tracks where he plays in septet with great musicians such as Lol Coxhill, Mats Gustafsson and Kjell Nordeson. Here you will listen how amazingly well interact the seven musicians as if they had rehearsed the whole compositions. The listener never gets tired of this improvisations because at each moment new ideas surface on this recording.  This is a showcase of improvisational ideas and amazing spontaneous interaction.

Favorite tracks: "Bottling Up" and "Blue Bottle"

Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

PERVERSIST - IN THE GARMENT OF LUST (Perennial Quest Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Perversity

Tracks: 1- Hallucinatory Mutilation, 2- Decomposition, 3- The Terrifying Jewel of Fear, 4- In the Garment of Lust, 5- Carnivorous Visions, 6- Insane Angelic Suffering, 7- Eyes of Primitivism Closed Forever, 8- An Averted Collapse, 9- Disillusioned (rerecorded version)

Cover Art by Deather and David Hajbrt

 Recorded at Perina Studio

Death metal with a lot of brutality and complex rhythms and technical skills is what Perversity brings to us. The sound of this band brings top my mind early jewels by bands like Suffocation.  There are super fast drums patterns and some blast beats that turn the music really brutal. The vocals are guttural and also we have the type of screams that are often used in death metal. The guitar sound is really fat and loud and contrasts a lot with the drums that sound really good (even if I would mix the snare a little bit louder). Everything here is brutal and you will be blown away by this band from Slovakia. The sound of the recording enhances a lot the brutality of the band, specially making the guitar riffs clear and bestial. Here we have a band that delivers extreme brutality with rhythmic riffs (some Morbid Angel here) and a lot of speed in many parts.

Favorite tracks: "The Terrifying Jewel...", "Carnivorous Visions" and "An Averted Collapse"

Contact: www.perennialquest.free.fr

PUTRID PILE - BLEED FOR ME DEMO 2001 (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: Putrid Pile

Tracks: 1- Drenched in gasoline, 2- Remanants of Insanity, 3- Bleed for Me, 4- Merciless Homicide, 5- Held Captive for Torture

Cover Art by Putrid Pile

Recorded at Mercenary Digital

Shaun La Canne is the only mind behind this death grind beast. Here we have this one man band that has a bestial sound with many grindcore elements, blast beats, hyper fast riffs and more brutality than most of the brutal death metal bands. What makes Putrid Pile one of the most brutal bands ever are the crushing guitar riffs with really low tuned guitars that smash your brain into pieces. Here we have a lot of programmed double bass drumming that fits the music perfectly and you have this vocals that are sometimes extremely guttural and sometimes sscreaming as the style demands. But the main thing here are the devastating guitars which are essential to crush the listener into pieces. Brutality at top level with a really good sound that makes things even more brutal. 

Favorite tracks: "Drenched in gasoline", "Bleed for Me" and "Merciless Homicide"

Contact: lacanne@execpc.com

PUTRID PILE / DYSCRASIA SPLIT 7" EP (Independent, 2003)

Produced By: Putrid Pile and Dyscrasia

Tracks: Putrid Pile: 1- Drenched in Gasoline, 2- Bodies on Display, Dyscrasia: 3- Penetration Decimation (Anal Decapitation) ; 4- Genocide of the Unborn

Cover Art by Putrid Pile

Brutality at the highest degree !!! Here we have two extremely bestial bands...one is the amazing Putrid Pile with a song that was on their "Bleed for Me " demo but it has been mixed better and sounds even more brutal if that is possible. The other song "Bodies on Display is a showcase of the brutality that Putrid Pile delivers on each of Shaun´s compositions. Dyscrasia has a similar sound but the vocals are very grindcore while the guitars sound more death metal. Dyscrasia´s drummer is really a human machine whose double bass is a nightmare for the ears. The guitar riffs are extremely rhythmic and are combined with fastest parts with blast beats. I would like the 7" EP to have a couple more songs because it leaves you wanting more destructive riffs and killer drumming. A must for lovers of brutality.

Favorite tracks: The four are extremely brutal as fuck!!!!

Contact: lacanne@execpc.com or http://dyscrasia.cjb.net

RE: COOPERATION - TRANSCOLLABORATION (Uncle Buzz Recs., 2003)

Produced By: James H. Sidlo

Tracks: 1- Thing 2, 2- Thing 3, 3- thing 4, 4- And Then this, 5- Time To Spare, 6- Garage gamelan, 7- Delayed i Traffic, 8- There and Back and there Again, 9- East of Ealing, 10- Between Breaks, 11- Re: Cooperation Part One, 12- Re: Cooperation Part Two, 13- Texas trees, 14- Never Enough Part One, 15- Never Enough Part Two

 Mastered by Bob Catlin

Here we have an amazing collaboration between James H. Sidlo and David Cooper Orton. This guys here deliver a lot of guitar, bass phrases, programmed rhythms, loops and interesting atmospheres. Here they have used Sonic Foundry Acid Software to achiueve this amazing mixture of improvisation and incredibly textural compositions. There is a ver beautiful atmosphere on each of the tracks here and they have been created by this two master musicians, I really liked the way this two guys have interacted here developing new ideas at each moment of this musical pieces. Beautiful guitar phrases coexist with loops and software manipulation that deliver idea after idea changing all the time and never making the listener feel tired. Improvisation and manipulation at its top levels.

Favorite tracks: All the CD has amazing melodies and phrases. I liked it a lot.

Contact: www.unclebuzz.com

REMEMBER TWILIGHT - REMEMBER TWILIGHT (Independent , 2001)

Produced By: Remember Twilight

Tracks: 1- Mephisto, 2- Die Feder, 3- K.O., 4- An meinem Tod, 5- Liebliche Musik, 6- Siren, 7- Ruhiges Lied (live)

This is one of the best bands I have ever listened!! Here we have a perfect combination of typical metal instruments like bass, drums and guitars with violins and oboes that make Remember Twilight´s music really unique. There is no other band that sounds closer to Remember Twilight. Here everything is pure perfection, we have multiple arrangements done by all the instruments. It is incredible the melodic lines that the violins and oboe play over the heavier parts and the incredible guitar lines that are always fitting perfectly the music. Here we have a band with incredible musicianship who has developed their own sound and done it with a lot of effort to be original and to show how good composers they are. This is a must for any metal or music fan. 

Favorite tracks: All the CD !! Amazing!!

Contact: www.remember-twilight.de

REMEMBER TWILIGHT - 2002 MINI CD (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Remember Twilight

Tracks: 1- Der Wahnsinn, 2- Der Wahnsinn Lebt, 3-Vampir, 4- Das Leuchten Der Sterne

Cover Art by Remember Twilight

 Here we have this MCD with fourteen minutes more of great music with this incredible band ! The album starts softly and calm with "Der Whansinn" before getting into a heavier track "Der Wahnsinn Lebt". This MCD shows all the elements that tyhis great band has developed but this time with a rawer sound (maybe this is a rough mix). Here we have again the violins and the oboe playing phrases contrasting with the heavy guitars and drums (there are really fast drums parts here). Here we have the combination of great melodies with utter heaviness. It is great to listen to each of the fopur compositions that are on this MCD. Another time I have to say it: one of the best bands I have listened.

Favorite tracks: the Four

Contact: www.remember-twilight.de

ROGER SMITH - SPANISH GUITAR (Emanem Disc, 2002)

Produced By: Martin Davidson

Tracks: 1- Spanish Guitar A; 2- Spanish Guitar B1; 3- Spanish Guitar B2; 4- Spanish Guitar B3; 5- Spanish Guitar B4; 6- Spanish Guitar B5; 7- Spanish Guitar C, 8- Spanish Guitar D1; 9- Spanish Guitar D2; 10- Spanish Guitar D3; 11- Spanish Guitar D4; 12- Spanish Guitar D5; 13- Rhythms for john, 14- Sin Pad 1 ; 15- Sin pad 2; 16 - Union 1; 17- Union 2

 Recordings from 1980, 1992 and 1997

This is an amazing collection of guitar solos done by Roger Smith in a seventeen years time period. Here we have his good taste with melodies and his skills for improvising }on each moment of this recording. Here you will not find flamenco, despite the title of the album. In fact here you will find a lot of harmonies and strange odd note combinations and note placement done by this guitar master. There are many arpeggios that could sound closer to classical guitar lines or flamenco but Smith gives them a twist making them sound more atonal and making notes clash with dissonance in many places never losing control over the guitar lines. This is a showcase of the habilities of this guitar master in different times of his musical career.

Favorite tracks: "Union 1", "Sin Pad 2" and "Spanish Guitar D1"

Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

ROLAND RAMANAN - SHAKEN (Emanem Disc, 2002)

Produced By: Martin Davidson

Tracks: 1- Before, 2- the Next, 3- Showers, 4- break, 5- A kiss, 6- Promised, 7- The That´s that, 8- Of a Handshake, 9- Worth Remembering, 10- Forgotten

Cover Art by Brian Holmes

 Recorded at Gateway Studios

Here we have ten quartet pieces with Roland Ramanan playing the trumpet and wooden flutes over the incredible rhythm section of Simon Fell on double bass and Mark Sanders on percussion. Here we have multiple instrumental lines connecting one with each other, clashing and combining interesting sounds. There are some elements of free jazz on this recording, specially on some passages in "Before" that have that swinging quality. It is amazing how well Fell and Sanders interact developing a basis for Ramanan´s trumpet and flute lines while at the same time experimenting with new sounds and tempo changes. This CD will surely be loved by lovers of improvisation and it is also a good bridge for those that are accustomed to standard jazz and want to explore the paths of spontaneous music.

Favorite tracks: "Of a Handshake", "Before" and "Showers"

Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

RONDELLUS - SABBATUM (Beg the Bug Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Mihkel Raud and Rondellus

Tracks: 1- Veres Militares / War Pigs, 2- Oculi Filioli / Junior´s Eyes, 3- Funambulus Domesticus / A National Acrobat, 4- Symptoma Mundi / Symprom of the Universe, 5- post Murum Somnii/ Behind the Wall of Sleep, 6- Post Aeternitatem/ After Forever, 7- Magus / The Wizard, 8- Solitudo / Solitude, 9- Rotae Confusionis/ Wheels of Confusion, 10- Planetarum Vagatio / Planet Caravan, 11- Via gravis / A Hard Road, 12- Architectus Urbis Caelestis / Spiral Architect

Cover Art by Peeter Maria Laurits

 Recorded at the Tallin Merchant Guild

Rondellus is a band from Estonia that plays their own compositions in a style that can be defined as "ancient or medieval music". In fact they play a lot of medieval instruments and how good they do it !!!  On this recording they have taken Black Sabbath´s calssics and they have changed them into the Rondellus style with lyrics in latin language and they have arranged the music for their special instruments. Here we have also Maria Staak´s (who is risponsible of most of the great arrangements here) and Miriam Andersen´s vocals that are amazingly clear, melodic and that transmit in a great way the spirit of the middle ages in their beautiful voices, specially when contrasting with Veikko Kiiver´s male vocals that are in a lower range. This recording is pure art in its best level and I have listened to it over and over again and it has become with no doubt one of my favorite albums of all time. This is a must for any lover of music in all the styles, because this album is a timeless work of art. A must!!!

Favorite tracks: All the CD is a wonderful piece of art.

Contact: www.sabbatum.com or www.begthebug.com

SABATAN - METAL LOUDER (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Sabatan

Tracks: 1- Unborn Son, 2- Terror Mind, 3- Flame in My Soul, 4- Metal Louder

Cover Art by Sabatan

Pure metal!!!! Yes, that is what this spanish band does!! Pure heavy fucking metal with many elements from power metal. Here we have riffs in the tradition of bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Helloween and bands of the style, with drumming in pure metal style. Here we have a singer that can go from middle range to ultra high pitches with no effort and whose voice fits perfectly the music of the rest of the band: We have plenty of guitar solos on this album, many of them with some neoclassical touches: ther are a lot of melodies here and most of them are truly epic making you feel like a metal warrior while you listen the songs. The sound of the recording is good and that is essential for this style of music. Pure fucking heavy metal 

Favorite tracks: "Unborn Son", "Terror Mind"

Contact: www.sabatan.es.vg

SARX - ...OF NATURAL RAGE... (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Sarx

Tracks: 1- O.N.E., 2- The Harvest Insane, 3- No Better Seasons, 4- Hymn of the Worm, 5- Multiple Personality, 6- ...OF Natural Rage..., 7- Funeral Bitch, 8- Healer

Cover Art by Olaf Sebening

 Recorded at Little Mountain Studios

Pure death metal is what this band plays. Yes, bestial, brutal with guttural vocals and screaming ones too. Here we have crushing guitar riffs, super fast drumming and low tuned bass lines. I really liked a lot the guitar riffs when they turn really rhythmic adding a lot of heaviness to the tarcks as in the beginning of "The Harvest Insane". This guys are truly devastating and that is shown on each of the eight tracks that this album has: each of them is pure brutality done with fine technical skills and making really coherent songs with multiple tempo and riffs changes. Here we have the spirit of old school death metal of abnds like early Morbid Angel, Let-Hand Path era Entombed, Carnage and many more, all mixed and regurgitated with originality in the form of Sarx´s bestial attack. Lovers of rhythmic and brutal death metal will surely like this one. 

Favorite tracks: "The Harvest Insane", "Funeral Bitch" and "Multiple Personality"

Contact: www.sarx.de

SEDUCER´S EMBRACE - SINNOCENCE (Musica Productions., 2002)

Produced By: Seducer´s Embrace

Tracks: 1- Entering Thy Gates, 2- My Embrace, 3- Silent Tears, 4- Sleep My Darling, 5-Dead Flowers Valley, 6- As the Forest Weeps, 7-Moonlight Serenade, 8- Empty Promises, 9-Seducer´s Lullaby

Cover Art by Alexey Kolpikov

 Recorded at the Black Cat Recs. Studios

A climatic acoustic introduction with keyboards leads us into the amazing world of Seducer´s Embrace music. The music here is a combination of death metal with many elements that make the band original such as the melodies that create the guitars and that are everywhere on this recording. Some of the riffs are really intrincate and complex and they need really good musicianship to be played as well as this band does. The great thing here is the combination of the amazing guitar riffs with all the melodies and the brutal vocals. There is a great mix of fast parts and sloweer more rhythmic ones. This is a great band from the Russian underground that deserves to be in the top scene because of their quality. You can purchase or trade this CD from Musica Prods.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: http://musica.mustdie.ru

SEPTIK - INCEPTION OF DECAY (Winterthorn Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Septik

Tracks: 1- Dreanis in the Witch House, 2- Conqueror Worm, 3- Cryogenisis, 4- Inception of Decay, 5- Eve of Destruction, 6- Silent Symphony, 7- In Extremis

Cover Art by Christopher Howard Lincoln

 Recorded by Greg Moormann

Here we have a re release of this classic album. Septik was a band that had a lot of impact in the underground in the early nineties and this was the album that break through the metal minds. Here we have a band that makes a really interesting kind of death emtal with elements of doom and a lot of thrash metal influences that made their style really unique. I didn´t had the original recording, so I can not say if the sound has been improved, all I can say is that the recording has a really good sound and that it sounds really actual even if it was recorded ten years ago. Here we have multiple guitar arrangements and interesting drumming that follow some thrash patterns that add a new dimension to Septik´s music. It is good that this album has been rereleased for everyone to know this amazing band that now is a classical. 

Favorite tracks: "Conqueror Worm", "Eve of Destruction" and "Silent Symphony"

Contact: www.winterthorn.com

SEPULTURA - UNDER A PALE GREY SKY (Roadrunner Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Tony Wilson and Sepultura

CD 2: 1- We who are not as others, 2- Straighthate, 3- Dictatorshit, 4- Refuse/Resist, 5- Arise / Dead Embryonic Cells, 6- Slave New World, 7- Biotech is Godzilla, 8- inner Self, 9- Policia, 10- We Gotta Know, 11- Kaiowas, 12- Ratamahatta, 13- Orgasmatron

 Recorded at the Brixton Academy

This is the live recording of a concert in the Brixton Academy in December 1996. This was also one of the lasts (if not the last) concert that Sepultura did with Max Cavalera on its lineup. Here we have tracks from all Sepultura´s career, with special emphasis on the tracks from "Roots" and "Chaos A.D.". Here we have tracks from "Morbid Visions" as "Troops of Doom" and "Necromancer" and from "Beneath the Remains and "Arise" too. This recording shows why Max Cavalera was the spirit of the band and that when he departed he took a special part of the band with him (maybe it was that the band needed a guitarist/composer to replace him instead oif only a vocalist. Anyway, this is a good testament to that lineup and a showcase of the path that Sepultura has to return to.

Favorite tracks: This CD is a good compilation of good Sepultura tracks played live.

Contact: www.roadrunner.com

SILENCER - STRUCTURES (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Silencer

Tracks: 1- Black Hole Engine (Markarian 573), 2- The Bruising Feast, 3- Structures, 4- This Mythic Image, 5- Megalith

Cover Art by Cory Poole

 Recorded at Surf Studios

Silencer is back!! At the end of 2001 we reviewed their previous work called ""Kozmos" which was a showcase of energy and pure metal !! Now, we have this "Structures" which is even better than that recording. Here we have the heavy thrash sound that is a characteristic of Silencer´s music but done with more energy and conviction with excellent compositions. This recording has been mixed really well (the previous one also had a great sound) and that allows the listener to feel the power of the guitars the storming drums and the pounding bass. Also here we have again Keith Spargo´s thrashing vocals that deliver lyric after lyric in a really wild way fitting perfectly the music that he and the rest of the band have done.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.silencer.cc

SILENT VOICES - CHAPTERS OF TRAGEDY (Low Frequency Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Silent Voices

Tracks: 1- Beyond Shadows, 2- Human Cradle Grave, 3- Tragedy, 4- Cross My Path, 5- Falling from grace,6- Glassheart, 7- the Last Sunset

Cover Art by Timo Tyynismaa

 Recorded at Tico Tico Studios

This is progressive metal at its top level. Here we have a band constantly exploring with melodies and song structures to achieve the best composition that they can and showing their technical skills with their instruments. Here we have plenty of melodies, tempo changes, solos of all kinds. And we have also a great vocalist , Michael Henneken, who has a great middle range and does not abuse the high pitches preferring to fit perfectly the song than showing his cappabilities. There are amazing keyboards (thumbs up for Henrik Klingengberg) here playing chords and melodies and solos all over the place contrasting with the heavy guitar that also has moments that are really clinatic using clean sound and arpeggios (also we have acoustic guitars on some tracks). This is a must for lovers of great compositions and amazing musicianship

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.lowfrequencyrecords.fi

SLECHTVALK - THE WAR THAT PLAGUES THE LANDS (Fear Dark Prods., 2002)

Produced By: Fear Dark

Tracks: 1- A Slumber and Death, 2- A Plea for the King, 3- From behind the trees, 4- My Last Call, 5- The Falcon´s Flight, 6- A Call in the Night, 7- And thus It Burns, 8- Burying the Dead, 9- War of the Ancients, 10- The Dragon´s Chiuldren, 11- In Paradisum

Cover Art by Kris Verwimp

 Recorded at Mailmen Studio

This CD starts at full darkened speed with " A Slumber and Death" a pure black dark metal tune full of hellish vocals and keyboards that give a lot of atmosphere to the track. Here we have a band that makes dark black metal full of climatic moments and interesting passages. Here the guitars construct melodies that slither through the keyboards line giving Slechtvalk´s music their black identity. There are female vocals that contrast deeply with the more black metal ones and that givce a sad touch to the compositions. The drumming is intense, specially in the double bass parts that are really clear and well played, sometimes slower, sometimes faster to fit the mood of the songs. A must for lovers of black metal!!!

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.fear-dark.com

SOLARIS - OUT OF REACH (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Solaris

Tracks: 1- Dismissing Memory, 2- Out of Reach, 3- Lost, 4- From Light to Darkness, 5- It could be the end

Cover Art by Solaris

 We have an extremely climatic band that combines heavy guitar riffs with many keyboards and electronic sounds to develop their own music style, sort of a mix between metal, industrial and some gothic (sopecially in the vocals with the dark atmosphere. The main thing here is the combination of the ultra heaviness of the guitars with the keyboards that create atmospheres combined with some guitar melodies. I really like the vocals here because they help to make thing darker with their anguished feeling.)The sound of the recording is really good and the instruments shine with their melancholic and deppressive riffs constrasting heavily with the vocals and complementing them. Here we have an original band with memorable tunes and a dark soul.

Favorite tracks: The five

Contact: dismissing_memory@voila.fr

SOLUTION 13 - SOLUTION 13 (Low Frequency Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Kari Vähäkuopus

Tracks: 1- Never let You Go, 2- Sink to My Level, 3- Isolation, 4- Demi God, 5- Regression, 6- Breathe, 7- Hate, 8- Grace, 9- Hallow Void, 10- No Reply, 11- Imitation of Me

Cover Art by Vesa Ranta

 Recorded at Neo Studio

Here we have more than 44 minutes of pure metal with deppressive carachteristics. The main thing here is that the guys in Solution 13 construct songs instead osf simply putting together a bunch of riffs. Here everything has a clear structure and the guys put a lot of arrangements on each parts. Melodies, solos, everything is done in order to make each song better than the previous one. There are plenty of dark melodies (many of them done by a great vocalist) that combined with the ultra heavy guitars gives the result of Solution 13´s music. The rhythms are heavier than hell but not too fast as in death metal for example. The recording is really good and the mix accentuates a lot the drumming and the guitar riffs adding heaviness to the final result.

Favorite tracks: "Isolation", "Grace" and "Imitation of Me"

Contact: www.lowfrequencyrecords.fi

SORROWSEND - ELFFEST (Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Sorrowsend

Tracks: 1- Elffest (intro), 2- through the dark cave, 3- Th Land of Golden light, 4- Sorrowsend (instrumental), 5- Last Trail, 6- Fate of Knowledge, 7- My Masquerade, 8- The Middle Earth Song, 9- Red Bloody Moon, 10- The Lost Boy, 11- The Forgotten World, 12- Fighting for the Gods

 Tracks 8-12 are from their demo 1996

This album is an amzing mix of pure blakc metal with heavy metal and darker styles with many instrumental arrangements that need of great musicianship to be done as well as this band does. I have to remark the excellent arrangements that Sorrowsend´s music has with excellen climatic moments and many instrumental passages that are essential to the identity of the band. This guys have composed here twelve excellent tracks with many tempo changes, many instrumental sections and many black metal parts. And they deliver their music with extreme musicianship achieving great quality on the recording and showing to all the metal fans that this band must be listened carefully to perceive everything that has been done here. A must.

Favorite tracks: All the CD. One of the albums of the month.

Contact: www.sorrowsend.de

SOULLESS - AGONY´S LAMENT (Worldchaos Prods., 2002)

Produced By: Soulless and Bill Korecky

Tracks: 1- Bleeding Darkness, 2- Agonies, 3- lament, 4- The Soul Scythe, 5- Empty Deadness, 6- Terror of Twilight, 7- Downward, 8- Exile, 9- Suffer the Fallen, 10- The Fleet of Fury

 Recorded at The Mars Recording Compound

Here we have a band whose style I would describe as thrash/ death metal. That is a band that has many elements of thrash metal in their riffs and in the drumming, but at the same time has more extreme vocals and there are certain parts that are at full speed as in death metal. The main thing here is that this guys sound really tight and at the same time they sound brutal. The thrashy guitar riffs are essential for Soulless sound and are the core of the music on this album. The good thing about bands like Soulless is that they have taken elements from eighties thrash and they mix them with elements from other styles and deliver their own music with a really modern sound (the mix here is really good, specially on the guitars and drums) making like a renewal of the thrash metal scene. Thrash is back and Soulless is one of the preachers of this great style!  

Favorite tracks: "Bleeding Darkness", "The Soul Scythe" and "Downward"

Contact: www.world-chaos.com

STEEL CAGE - RED BLOOD PLANET (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Steel Cage

Tracks: 1- Soullessly, 2- Biomechanoid, 3- Come Back to your Life, 4- No Evil By My Evil, 5- Original Element

Cover Art by Gianluca

 Recorded at Zapping Sound Studio

Pure unleashed energy is wahat Steel cage delivers on this five track MCD. From beginning to end the compositions here are powerful and show what this band whose styles I would describe as thrash/death is capable of. The vocals are rough and fit perfectly the powerful music of the band. Here we have a lot of influences of eighties thrash metal bands but delivered with a more modern sound. The rhythms are complex (the drummer is killer in creating multiple patterns and making the songs really everchanging). There are hyper fast parts with frantic guitar solos that add a different shade to Steel Cage´s music. Here is a recording that has a good sound and that would appeal to those who want powerful music with elements of thrash metal and some death metal aprts too. Pure energy unleashed!!!

Favorite tracks: "Soullessly", "Come Back..." and "Original Element"

Contact: www.steelcage.it

STRANGE LAND - ANOMALY (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Michael brandenburg and Strange Land

Tracks: 1- All things Considered, 2- Not for this World, 3- Unstuck, 4- Nothinghead, 5- Foundation, 6- Invisible Darkness, 7- Fatal Flaw, 8- Flight, 9- Scorpio, 10- I don´t Know You Anymore, 11- Injustice Rising, 12- Distorted Grandeur

 Recorded at Bobby Peru´s Dude Ranch

This is pure metal with some progressive touches, some hard rock feeling in many places and an excellent singer with incredible dominion of his vocal range. Each composition here has many arrangements and many different moods, going from calm atmospheres with use of clean guitars to harder parts with distortion and heavy drums patterns. One of the main elements here are the vocals and the vocal harmonies that are quite complex in many parts of this album. Here we have twelve tracks with an excellent sound and many melodies that are really pleasant to the ear and that will keep you singing the songs and tapping the multiple rhythms with your feet. 

Favorite tracks: "Not for this World", "Invisible Darkness" and "Injustice Rising"

Contact: www.strange-land.net

STRATOVARIUS - EAGLEHEART SINGLE (Century Media Recs., 2003)

Produced By: Timo Tolkki

Tracks: 1- Eagleheart, 2- Run Away

Cover Art by Derek Riggs

 Recorded at Finnvox Studios

Here we have two songs coming directly from Stratovarius new album, Elements Pt. 1. The first one is closer to the typical Stratovarius style of albums like "Infinity" or "Destiny" with power metal riffs and guitar solos and the choruses that have made the band famous. "Run Away" is different, here Kotipelto´s vocals sound more processed in the verses and Tolkki´s guitars use different types of riffs in some parts. On this second track they keep also the chorus style that is their trademark. I would really like to listen "Elements Pt. 1" to see how are the rest of the tracks of this great finnish band  that is really appreciated in Argentina.

Favorite tracks: Both

Contact: www.centurymedia.com.br

STRATOVARIUS - FRIGHT NIGHT (Monsters of Rock Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Stratovarius

Tracks: 1- Future Shock, 2- False messiah, 3- Black Night, 4- Witch hunt, 5- Fire Dance, 6- Fright Night, 7- Night Screamer, 8- Darkness, 9- Goodbye

Cover Art by Patrick Woodroffe

 Recorded at Finnvox Studios

Here is the re release of Stratovarius first album with Timo Tolkki on vocals. As most of you may know the style that Stratovarius was different than the one they play nowadays, even if it had a lot of simmilarities. There were more evident Yngwie Malmsteen´s influences (check "False Messiah" to see what I am talking about) and some thrash metal riffs here and there with more thrashy drumming on all the tracks. Tolkki´s vocals was rawer than Timo Kotipelto´s ones and the melodies were more neoclassically oriented. This is a good piece of metal history for lovers of the band that couldn´t find this album previously.  

Favorite tracks: "Future Shock", "Black Night" and "Night Screamer"

SYLENTWAKE - ZONE (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Sylentwake

Tracks: 1- Comment, 2- Comment: Dialogical Zone, 3- Comment: Inner Zone, 4- Comment: Abstract Zone

Cover Art by Sylentwake

 Recorded at Damstudio

This is weird!! Metal with heavier than hell guitars (with some modern metal touches in the sound and the styles of riffs) combined with sax lines and synthesized bass. The drumming style is strange and effective and gives a lot of power to the rhythm od the band. While the drums and guitars make this rhythmic parts come the synthesized parts that give a strange and dark feeling to the songs and then comes the free sax lines that are really spontaneous and make melodies and dissonances in the compositions. This album is really original (there are killer guitar parts, this guy is incredible in combining heavy parts with incredible clean guitar lines as can be heard in "Dialogical Zone". I have to remark the strange but solid work in the vocals that fit perfectly the eerie nature of the music. If you like originality you don´t have to miss this album. 

Favorite tracks: The four

Contact: http://sylentwake.interfree.it/home.htm

SYLVAN - ARTIFICIAL PARADISE (Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Sylvan

Tracks: 1- Deep Inside, 2- That´s Why it Hurts, 3- Strange Emotion, 4- Human Apologies, 5- Timeless Traces, 6- I Still Believe, 7- Around the World, 8- Souvenirs, 9- Artificial Paradise

 Recorded at Art of Music Studio

Here is the third recording of amazing progressive rockers Sylavan and starts with an atmospheric keyboard intro where Marco Glühmann vocals shine with their mid range. Here we have a band with extremely good musicianship who have created nine compositions full of arrangements and whose main feature is the combination of energy and melodies with extremely good taste. Here we have a band that have the technical skills required to play amazing melodies, solos and breaks without missing a beat. I have to remark the really good sound that this recording has that enhances the compositions making each of the instruments to shine on the mix. The compositions are really well developed and the guitars, vocals and the rhythm section interact really well through all the recording. Essential listening for lovers of good musicianship.

Favorite tracks: "Strange Emotion", "Timeless Traces" and "Artificial Paradise"

Contact: www.sylvan.de

SYMBEL - WE DRINK - HYMNS AND COUNSEL OF ANGLOSAXON HEATHENRY (Angelisc Enterprises, 2003)

Produced By: Symbel

Tracks: 1- Intro - A Chant to Woden, 2- The Screech of Deepest Wynter, 3- Saecsen Drinking Song, 4- A Journey With Oak Staves, 5- Lord of the hanged, 6- The Willing Sus Pension of Disbelief, 7- Wassel Grove, 8- Heathen I Am, 9- Sittaen Aet Symbel

Cover Art by Symbel

Symbel is the way in which Scott Arewielder express his darkest thoughts and feelings. Here we have nine tracks of pure pagan metal, full of fast riffs played with a big sound and intense melodies along with harsh vocals. The main thing here are the dark atmospheres that are created with the guitar riffs, with the melodies and also with silences, the programmed drums and some keyboards. I liked a lot the combination of the most extreme vocals with the cleaner parts that give a dark epic feeling to the compositions. The good thing here is that Scott seemed to have delivered all that was in his mind and has achieved an original recording. The melodies sound dark and ancient and are the essence of the music here giving a lot of identity to the music. An album that is really good to recommend.  

Favorite tracks: "Saecsen Drinking Song", "Lord of the Hanged" and "Heathen I Am"

Contact: http://members.aol.com/angeliscE

SYMPATHY - INVOCATION (Fear Dark Prods., 2002)

Produced By: Dharok

Tracks: 1- Invocation, 2- Fey Illusion, 3- Occupy, 4- Circle of Light, 5- Final Ordeal, 6- Cup of Demons, 7- Arise, 8- Realm of Disease, 9- Prelude and Toccata in E Minor, 10- Christus Factus Est, 11- Immolation of the Dragon, 12- Death of the Immortals

Cover Art by Jefray Arwach

 Recorded at Port Trax Studios

This guy Dharok is a genius! He has reached the perfect combination of brutality with dark atmosphere, of speed with melody. Here we have twelve compositions that are not pure death metal, that are not pure black metal and that are not atmospheric dark metal, but has elements of all this styles. Here the keyboards play sad and dark chord progressions over fast and raw guitars that deliver fast riffs. Then we have a harsh death metal type vocals delivered to add a lot of aggression to the tracks here and we have many melodies going on in the compositions and that gives a darker than hell feeling to each song. The riffs are sometimes complex, sometimes more straight ahead but they are designed to fit perfectly the music that Dharok wants to transmit to the listener. The sound is raw but good and that makes things even better. A must.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.fear-dark.com

THOMAS HELTON - DOUBLE BASS (Free Bass Productions, 2002)

Produced By: Thomas Helton

Tracks: 1- Track 1, 2- Track 2, 3- Track 3

Mastered at Double Image Studio

 Recorded live at Cafe Artiste, houston TX

Here we have over an hour of pure improvisation by double bass master Thomas Helton.This amazing musician explores in this solo recording all the possibilities of his intstrument showing at each phrase, at each arrangement that he is a master of spontaneity and improvisation. He has made an interesting mix here of melodic and rhythmic bass lines combined with exploration for new sounds. Helton constructs strange song structures using repetitive phrases in some of the tracks here and then exploring new paths with his instrument. The amazing thing here is how he manages to add something new on each moment with his use of phrases, rhythm, different pitches and sound developing. Lovers of spontaneous music this is for you.

Favorite tracks:

Contact: www.thomashelton.com

THORSHAMMER - INSPEKTOR K (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: Gersom herold and Torsten Uhlmann

Tracks: 1- L.I.E., 2- B.I.P., 3- Thorshammer, 4- Veitstanz, 5- Vollstrecker, 6- Part 1/ Part 2

Cover Art by Carsten Hopke

 Recorded live in 1994 and 1995 and in studio in 1990

What an amazing band !!! Here Thorshammer presents us six amazing compositions (five are played live) from different times in their history (when they played as Six of a Perfect Pair, Art Line and Thorshammer). Here the music is extremely progressive and extremely heavy at the same time. But above all what we have here is superb musicianship. This guys are like a much heavier version of King Crimson with other influences that they have developed into their own style. With the mix of heavy guitars, keyboards and technical drumming this guys have created the Thorshammer sound It is amazing how well this six musicians interact creating this instrumental pieces with complex rhythms, amazing melodic lines and interesting dissonances. One thing to remark too is that this recording has really good sound (specially the newer parts). One of the recordings of the month

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: www.thorshammer.de

THORSHAMMER - HEIMSUCHUNG (Independent, 2001)

Produced By: Torsten Uhlmann and Torsten Uhlmann

Tracks: 1- Von Dir, 2- Fegefeuer 1, 3- Fegefeuer 2, 4- Die Nacht, 5- heimsuchung, 6- Auferstehen, 7- Verloren, 8- Komm, 9- Wolfszeit, 10- Wolfszeit 2, 11- Thorshammer

Cover Art by Sören linke

On this recording Thorshammer surprises again, this time adding vocals to their music. The complexity of the songs is again one of the trademarks here. Here we have multiple guitar riffs and many parts and changes within each of the compositions. And we also have the experimentation with sounds and with the keyboards and the rhythm changes and breaks. The vocals are sometimes whispering, sometimes aggressive, following the feeling of the song and making the feelings deeper, nailing each of the songs into your heart and into your brain. It is amazing that this guys have no fear to explore new elements and changes on each of the songs and they sound extremely original. This CD comes on a digipack deluxe presentation, that combined with the excellent musicianship and the great sound that the recording has makes one of the best albums of the year.

Favorite tracks: All the CD.

Contact: www.thorshammer.de

VIKING - ASKUNGEN (Ash Tree Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Viking

Tracks: 1- #1488, 2- En Hjältinnas Sång, 3- Jag är inte rädd, 4- Mother, 5- Pro Aeterna Paganitate, 6- Destiny, 7- Ich Suche Deine Seele, 8- Arv Från Kaos, 9- Going to Die, 10- Speech or Non Speech, 11- The Stains of teh World, 12- The Statue, 13- Tårar i Helsingborg, 14- Don´t go round with the Jews,

This is with no doubt one of the most climatic albums that I have ever listened. Francesca Ortolani is the mind, brain, spirit and soul behind Viking´s music and here she delivers almost seventy minutes of extremely climatic music with a lot of feeling in the melodies and the lyrics.  Here Francesca shows her skills as a composer and singer that are trully amazing. Here we have fourteen compositions full of arrnagements and melancholic melodies that makes you almost weep while imaginning the lyrics that she is singing about. The keyboards are all over the compositions and are the essential instrument for Viking´s music. Here we have compositions with multiple arrangements that make the listener always to keep his attention to each melodic line, to each keyboard note, to each vocal phrase. I woul really recommend this album to any true music lover because this is music coming directly from a great heart and soul and done with a lot of originality and feeling.

Favorite tracks: All the CD

Contact: http://viking.ashtree.org

VIRGIN STEELE - VIRGIN STEELE I (Century Media Recs., 2002)

Produced By: David DeFeis

Tracks: 1- Minuet in G Minor (Remastered), 2- Danger Zone (Remastered, 3- American Girl (Remastered New Mix), 4- Dead End Kids (Remastered), 5- Drive on thru (Remastered New Mix), 6- Lothlorien (Previously unreleased); 7- Still in love With You (Remastered New Mix), 8- Children of the Storm (Remastered), 9- Pictures on You (Remastered), 10- Pulverizer (Remastered), 11- Virgin Steele (Remastered), 12- Living in Sin (Remastered New Mix), 13- The Lesson (previously unreleased), 14- Life of Crime (Previously unreleased), 15- Burn the Sun (previously unreleased), 16- American Girl (Remastered), 17- Dead End Kids (Remastered new mix), 18- Drive on thru (Remastered), 19- Living in Sin (Remastered)

  Recorded at Studio 3973

Here we have the rerelease of the first Virgin Steele album. Plus we have many surprises here as bonus tracks. Here you have all that have made the band famous: heavy classical riffs combined with some neoclassical leads in the vein of Rainbow. Plus here are the guitar solos of Jack Starr who left the band after some albums. Here we have many Virgin Steele classics remastered as the one that has the naem of the band or "Danger Zone", a rockin tune with many interesting riffs. The vocals are more like it used to be in the late eighties with some thrash or speed metal feeling in them. The songs have a lot of melody and that developed into the Virgin Steele´s sound. A classic.

Favorite tracks: "Danger Zone", "Lothlorien" and "Virgin Steele"

Contact: www.centurymedia.com.br

WARNING SF - AFTERMATH (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Warning SF

Tracks: There are three tracks here

What an amazing band!! Their riffs are heavy as hell, their vocals sound sort of a mix of a thrash metal band with the melancholy of Alice in Chains in one track (really great mix) and in some of the choruses. It is amazing how this guys manage to deliver their pure metal with speed and thrash metal influences, being powerful and at the same time showing the quality in all the melodies and arrangements that they do. Each of the three compositions here have melodies that are destined to be stuck into your mind. I have to remark the excellent work of the guitarists with their crushing riffs and their amazing fast solos. The drumming is killer and technical and helps a lot to make the compositions heavier and even more powerful. Lovers of metal have to check this band.

Favorite tracks: The three

Contact:

WORMACHINE - WORMACHINE 3 (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Wormachine

Tracks: 1- Worms Attack, 2- Welcome, 3- Freedom, 4- Creepshow, 5- Machine Arriére, 6- pir_MX

This is an extremely energetic and powerful release with many electronic elements and a lot of rhythm and tempo changes. The compositions here have an extremely dark feeling and the songs have a lot of hooks that make them really memorable. The vocals are powerful and fit the music while adding power and they are extreme in the exact proportion to make things heavier. There is plenty of electronic elements and effects that are essential for Wormachine´s sound (with a programmed drum that makes things really mechanical) and that combined with the heavy guitars create a wall of sound that devastates the listener. All the track have a dense dark atmosphere that I liked a lot and they are very powerful. If you like some band that combines all this elements, then Wormachine is definitely your band.

Favorite tracks: "Worms Attack", "Freedom" and "Creepshow"

Contact: www.wormachine.com

ZEBARGES - DE TROYES ROCK CITY (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Zebarges

Tracks: 1- Divine Insommie, 2- Le Roi d´la picole, 3- Macho Disco, 4- Priere, 5- Pour que je vive

Cover Art by Yannick

This is a band that plays a strange type of death metal with many rhythmic parts and a raw and distorted sound. The vocals are not of the style that you are accustomed to listen to in death metal bands and are much more clear. There is a big importance of the bass guitar here that combined with the programmed drums set the rhythm that the five tracks have. The tracks here are extrmeley heavy but that rhythmic quality makes them memorable (they have sort of a Sodom / Mortorhead feeling even if the style is completely different from the bands mentioned). The sound is a little bit opaque and they should mix everything a little bit higher, specially the bass (which is extremely distorted). A really weird band with originality.

Favorite tracks: "Divine Insomnie" and "Macho Disco"

Contact: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/8pm

ZEROED - DEATH NOTES (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Zeroed

Tracks: 1- Azazel, 2- Final Reckoning, 3- Enigmaeleon, 4- Metamorphosis, 5- Finis Coronat, 6- Fremdkörper, 7- Perpetuum Mobile, 8- Death Notes

Cover Art by Zeroed

 Recorded at MM Studio

Zeroed is a technical death metal bands in  which the twisted guitar riffs play an essential role. Here we have guitars that are crushing and at the same time complex. There are multiple tempo changes on each of the compositions here and multiple breaks (killer drummer !!) and everyone of this changes fit perfectly the music and connect really well with the next one making the song complex and really interesting. I have to remark the good work of the bass following a lot the guitar riffs and playing some interesting arrangements over them (I can listen this thanks to the good sound that this recording has. Here we have brutality but with many technical elements and great musicianship.

Favorite tracks: "Final Reckoning", "Finis Coronat" and "Perpetuum Mobile"

Contact: www.zeroed.net