Other

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Et Moriemur – Cupio Disolvi (2011)

    cover

    Keeping the quality Death/Doom Metal flag alive, today we have Et Moriemur and their debut full-length “Cupio Disolvi”. This Czech band delivers nine melancholic tracks that narrate nine different stories of people that took their own life. With the band’s highly melancholic and emotional sound, “Cupio Disolvi” not only transmits depressive feelings via the lyrics, but also with such beautifully crafted emotional music.

    “Deliverance” opens this release with a slight folk edge that feels a bit weird for the concept of the release, but the song soon starts warming up. The growls are great and the overall pace of this song is very well crafted to provide an interesting ride. With 2 minutes remaining on the track, the band goes into a passage that reminded us a bit of Lacrimosa but with manlier clean vocals and some excellent Doom weeping guitars.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Aura Noir – Out to Die (2012)

    cover

    The self-titled ugliest band in Metal, Aura Noir, finally returns with a powerful new release titled “Out to Die”. Comprised of eight Black/Thrash Metal pieces, the band is ready to reclaim their throne and riff listeners into submission. With their signature down-and-dirty sound, the band delivers a very solid effort that will please all their fans and keep their legacy ugliness rolling.

    Lead by Apollyon (of Immortal fame), the band pummels through extremely catchy songs without any dull moments. Opening with the intense “Trenches”, the signature dirty Black/Thrash sound of Aura Noir is immediately present. Intense riffing and commanding drums beat the listener into submission with tracks like “Fed to the Flames”, “Abbadon”, and “The Grin from the Gallows”. The band ability to make simple yet very catchy songs is excellent, and with the vocals being strong and firm, we are more inclined to like this band more than Kreator and such.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Hour of Penance – Sedition (2012)

    cover

    With a massive and destructive sound, today we have Hour of Penance and their latest release “Sedition”. Waiving the Technical Brutal Death Metal flag, Hour of Penance delivers high intensity brutal music with a nice technical edge that puts them over their closest competition. While not as technical as Obscura, Decrepit Birth, and similar band, this release compensates with intense drumming and a more brutal feel to the music.

    After the opening instrumental, the band delivers its first punch with “Enlightened Submission”, a very brutal and crushing opening song. The growls are as deep and brutal as you can get, but the massive drumming is what immediately sticks out. “Decimate the Ancestry of the Only God” and “Fall of the Servants” keep pummeling your ears with insane levels of brutality, thanks to the hellish vocals and powerful riffs that accompany the extreme drumming.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    De Profundis – The Emptiness Within (2012)

    cover

    With nine tracks of super catchy melodic Metal, De Profundis brings us their third full-length offering “The Emptiness Within”. Combining excellent Melodic passages with Progressive elements and a hefty dosage of powerful riffing, this release has a vibe similar to the Melodic DM wave that came out of Finland in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Don’t get us wrong, “The Emptiness Within” does feature a good amount of aggressiveness, but it is all surrounded by excellent melodic elements.

    “Delirum” opens the riffing marathon with very well defined and melodic guitars, a sound that reminded us of earlier Eternal Tears of Sorrow, and similar acts. The growls are spot on and the overall mixture of melodic guitars, pummeling drums and guitar solos is just outstanding. The guitar work courtesy of Soikot Sengupta and Roman Subbotin is very well crafted and entertaining, particularly in the dreamy ‘instrumental’ passages.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    The Firstborn – Lions Among Men (2012)

    cover

    Hailing from Portugal, today we have The Firstborn and their 4th full-length release “Lions Among Men”. With a very interesting and different sound, this album is surely complex enough that it takes more than a few listens to fully sink in. Featuring a mixture of Meshuggah-like influences (on the guitars mainly) with some middle-eastern elements and some occasional Avant-garde BM styling’s, this release is indeed very well crafted, but hard to fully enjoy at first.

    Opening with the commanding “Lions Among Men”, you immediately know this is going to be an interesting release due to its unusual structure and sound. The very low guitars make the atmosphere sound very thick and perverse, something that you usually get on Sludge releases. With some of those middle-eastern mystical sounds at the beginning “Without as Within” continues the heavy atmosphere and expands on the bands crushing sound with some more riffing assaults and perfectly crafted slowdowns.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Gory Blister – Earth-Sick (2012)

    cover

    Making their contribution to the highly exciting Technical Death Metal scene, today we have Italy’s Gory Blister and their latest full-length release “Earth-Sick”. With a name more apt for a Grindcore band, this Italian band took us by surprise with their high energy songs and blistering drumming. Deliver 10 tracks of well executed music, this band will surely make some noise in this very crowded genre.

    Opening with the deceiving “The Breeding (intro)” track, we thought we will reviewing a Melodic Power Metal album instead. However, with “Earthsick” things get down and dirty with some heavy riffing and intense growls. The band style borders between Melodic DM and Technical DM with some very impressive speed ups, but never as intense and powerful as bands like Obscura and Spawn of Possession.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Murw – Kanker (2011)

    cover

    After releasing a few demos and a split album in a span of 14 years, we finally have Murw stepping up to the full-length arena with “Kanker”. In this very interesting release, the band delivers 37 minutes of a highly melancholic combination of Doom Metal with some Death/Black Metal elements. Mostly driven by powerful guitar riffs, “Kanker” is a very well-crafted release that deserves attention.

    Opening with the crushing “Kanker”, this release sets sail with the heaviest and most ‘Black Metal’ track in the whole album. The raw power behind the riffs and crushing vocals is very dominating, reminding us of older Death/Doom bands from the 90’s. At around 7 minutes long, this song nicely evolves into some Doom-ish melodic passages with weeping guitars and a nice overall atmosphere. Keeping things in ‘Doom mode’, “Als Sneeuw Voor de Zon” sounds like something that Mournful Congregation or Shape of Despair could have crafted.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Lullacry – Where Angels Fear (2012)

    cover

    Finally after a seven year wait, Lullacry is set to release their 5th full-length release titled “Where Angels Fear”. In this latest release, the band sounds very mature and avoids the cliché Gothic Metal or Pop-Metal release and favors a heavier and darker Melodic Heavy Metal release with just a few Gothic Metal hints. Featuring 11 hard-hitting tracks, “Where Angels Fear” is by far the best release of the band since “Crucify My Heart”.

    Being huge fans of the band’s previous releases, we are just realizing that we are old since the last album we liked from the band was almost 10 years ago. Aside from this, the band has also managed to stay pretty much intact and features the same lineup since 2002 when Tanja Lainio joined the band. This has clearly allowed them to fully develop a sound of their own and be able to produce such a mature release with “Where Angels Fear”.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Your Tomorrow Alone – Ordinary Lives (2012)

    cover

    Rounding out our most recent promo package from My Kingdom Records, today we have Your Tomorrow Alone debut full-length release “Ordinary Lives”. Mixing Gothic Metal with Doom influences, this is one of those releases that is full of emotional songs that are also very catchy and approachable by the listeners. For over 50 minutes this Italian band will surely entertain you with their well written tracks and melancholic music.

    Opening with “Renaissance”, the first riffs reminded us of EvenSong’s “Path of the Angels” release since they have a similar sound to them. Combining clear vocals with growls, the band nicely creates a very solid atmosphere and keeps things standard, without needing to go to the overly abused usage of female vocals. The atmosphere keeps getting more dramatic and emotional with the powerful “Praise for nothing”. In this track, the band uses some classical elements to add more depth to their sound and this works perfectly.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Disguise – Second Coming (2012)

    cover

    With a very interesting combination of Melodic elements and furious Black Metal, today we have Italy’s Disguise and their latest release “Second Coming”. In this eight-tracks 42-minute effort features very powerful songs that are nicely contrasted by a few keyboards and even some Black’n’roll tracks that will surely please any fan of bands like Satyricon, Dark Funeral and Anorexia Nervosa.

    With punishing riffs and a very brutal drum track, the album opens in full strength with “Fragile Certain Death”. The overall pace of this song is very typical of late Satyricon, but with an emphasis on being brutal. The atmospheric/melodic elements start being more noticeable on tracks like “I am Alone” and “The Origin of the Unknown”. In these two songs the band goes on full endurance mode with some furious speed-up sections that rival Dark Funeral’s stamina.

Pages

Recent Image Galleries