Almost immediately after the release of their latest full-length album “Worshippers of the Seventh Tyranny”, Impiety returns with another aural assault with the “Advent of…” EP. In this short but sweet release, the band delivers 3 tracks of devastating Black/Death Metal with quite a decent production behind it.

The first track “Advent of the Nuclear Baphomet” delivers a crushing Death/Black Metal attack with catchy riffs and very solid drumming. The band’s sound is very clear and monumental since this 6 minute song feels like it lasts for ever (in a good way). The vocals are very typical and the new musicians (recruited in 2010) have what it takes to create very intense songs.

Hailing from Sweden and featuring members of General Surgery and a few other bands, Crucifyre comes to brand us with their ‘Satanic Death Metal’ with their debut album “Infernal Earthly Divine”. Mixing up Death Metal with some Thrash Metal elements and overal weirdness, the band manages to put together 9 effective tracks of chaos and mayhem.

The first thing we noticed is the singing style of Erik Sahlström (General Surgery), he changes the inhuman growls for a more understandable half growl/half scream approach allowing us to finally understand what the hell he is singing about. The band’s music is fairly standard for a Death Metal album, but there are very interesting moments were the music takes a ‘Thrashier’ sound.

Straight from the time capsule today we have Desultory and their latest release (and first in 14 years) “Counting our Scars”. If you are a fan of Swedish Death Metal with Melodic elements, then you should be familiar with this legendary band. If you are not familiar with them, please hit yourself in the back of the head before continue reading this review.

After two very strong releases back in the 90’s, this band had to go down the ‘artsy’ path and destroy their rep with the terrible “Swallow the Snake”. Broken up for years and now finally reformed, the band comes back with a no bullshit attitude and 9 tracks of old-school Swedish Death Metal that will redeem them from their last terrible album.

In the first few months we have received amazing Gothic Metal releases from bands like Sirenia, Dotma, Visions of Atlantis, etc, today is the turn to Imperia and their third full-length release “Secret Passion”. After a 4 year waiting period since “Queen of Light”, the band returns with a very average Gothic Metal release that while not bad at all, it just feels a bit heartless.

As we all know, Helena Iren Michaelsen (ex Trail of Tears), is a very good vocalist and her angelic voice carries “Secret Passion” from start to end. The music is good and the instrumentation is nice, but it just feels very similar to countless other releases we have heard in the past. There are no songs that made us stop and want to listen to the again immediately after there are over, and we consider this a bad sign.

One of our favorite Folk Metal/Rock bands has returned with “Ardeo” and the only thing we can’t think is that 3 albums in 3 years definitely take a toll on a band’s creativity. In this release the band deliver 49 minutes of exactly the same as on “Am Rande der Welt” and “Hoffnungsschimmer”.

We don’t really care if a band does the same album 5 different ways as long as it is appealing and engaging. “Ardeo” is half and half in both departments, the band’s sound is as appealing as ever, but it sounds exactly the same as on their previous release. In terms of the appeal, there are great moments for sure, but they are drowned by uninspired repetition.

Seven Thorns, a relatively unknown Power Metal band from Denmark delivers a very solid sophomore release with “Return to the Past”. While people will be too busy bashing them for their similitude to hundreds of bands in the genre, we have to say that their music is kick ass and their sound is very professional, enough to overcome the lack of creativity.

The band quickly establishes a hectic pace with “Liberty”, a crushing track that showcases the band’s talents. The first thing you will notice is the excellent Power Metal vocals of Erik Blomkvist, probably one of the overall highlight of the album. Next up, we have the blazing fast guitars and catchy riffing that allows each of the 9 songs presented here to be completely memorable.

Formed by members of Forgotten Tomb, today we have Joyless and their first full-length release in 10 years titled “Without Support”. In this release the band gives us 11 tunes of Psychedelic/Depressive Rock with a very dark and minimalistic approach to music.

Lead by the charming (and depressing) voice of Ida Helleboe, the band rocks out songs that will definitely fit a rainy day mood and will depress the life out of the listener. After changing from Black Metal to Depressive Rock in their amazing “Wisdom & Arrogance” album back in 2000, the band has been releasing a series of split releases culminating in “Without Support”.

Featuring a very well produced mixture of Raw and Melodic Black Metal, today we have Mhorgl and their second album “Antinomian”. In this release the band takes full advantage of a crystal clear production and defiles it their sick and twisted mixture of melodic and old-school Black Metal in a very effective way.

With a relentless sound, the band graciously presents 8 tracks of pure destruction that will please all fans of Black Metal. Since the crushing opening track “Nocturnal Blasphemy”, the band will surely blow you away with their sharp riffs, tight drumming and hellish vocals.