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    Mandragora – Carnal Cage (2012)

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    With very few bands coming out of the small country of Lithuania, it is to our great pleasure to witness the quality and excellent musicianship behind Mandagora’s “Carnal Cage”. Being the band’s first release in seven years, it kind of seems that it was stuck in Melodic Death Metal limbo, allowing this album to sound like the good old days of the genre. With this old-school vibe and a pristine production, this album is our favorite Melodic DM release of 2012 (so far).

    Opening with some funky Middle-Eastern sounding riffs in “Masquerade”, the album sets of on a very well defined path of excellent melodic passages and riffing wizardry. Reminding us a bit of older Dark Tranquility and Dark Lunacy, the band nicely opens with an excellent riffing onslaught the song “In Doubt”. The tempo changes are very well introduced and the drumming is just right, the growls are your typical ‘manly’ melodic DM growls, allowing the music to sound both powerful and very melodic. There is a particularly awesome bass guitar section that made this song even more amazing for us.

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    Antagonism – Digging Past Sounds (2012)

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    Delivering 11 tracks of hard-chugging Death Metal, today we have Italy’s Antagonism and their debut full-length “Digging Past Sounds”. In this release, the band uses traditional Death Metal structures with a few hints of more modern grooves thrown into the mix. While release drags a bit after a while, the songs presented here are a nice tribute to some of the crushing DM tracks we loved from the 90’s.

    “Skinhunter Kill(ing)” delivers a very cool Dissmember-like opener and provides high hopes for this already entertaining release. The riffing is relentless and the drumming is superb, the growls are very typical and nicely fit into the vibe. “Sick AIDS” keeps things rolling with some more chugging riffs and very well crafted drum patterns, but “No More” is a song that nicely breaks the monotony with some nice tempo changes and even tighter drumming.

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    Ibridoma – Night Club (2012)

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    Making its way from Italy, today we have Ibridoma and their second full-length release “Night Club”. Playing a very traditional and catchy brand of Heavy Metal with some Power Metal elements, this band delivers eight hard hitting tracks that will have you chanting and headbanging from start to end. If you are a fan of old-school Heavy Metal, this is one of the best releases we have heard this year.

    Opening with the epic “Eagles from the Sky”, the guitars start pounding away while the very charismatic vocals of Christian Bartolacci make their presence felt. His vocals reminded us of a mixture of Geoff Tate and Geddy Lee, very firm and well delivered making them one of the flagship elements of the band’s sound. Not only featuring solid vocals, the riffing on “Cold Light of Moon” is also very well crafted, and the drums are nicely crafted to be always present but never overbearing.

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    D.E.R – Quando A Esperanca Desaba (reissue) (2012)

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    The brutal reissue of D.E.R’s 2008 “Quando A Esperanca Desaba” comes to us through Polish label EveryDayHate. Featuring 16 tracks of head crushing Gore/Death Metal this is one of those heavy has hell releases that should be in everybody’s collection when you want to get the party started (and the neighbors extremely pissed at you).

    Pummeling across tracks that are less average around one minute a piece, this album blows you away since the punishing opener “O Que Foi Escrito eu Apaguei”. Thankfully the booklet comes with English translation of the lyrics, just to know what exactly is being spewed through the band’s brutal vocalist pipes. The songs are heavy and brutal with some nice melodic elements that keeps them separate and provide nice pacing between tracks.

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    Halladrol – The Last Mile on the Earth (2012)

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    Hailing from Finland, today we have the relatively unknown Halladrol and ‘their’ brand of Blackened Death/Doom Metal. Being a one man project, Halladrol actually combines plenty of influences to make quite a stir, but leave us a bit disappointed with the end results.

    Opening with typical 90’s Death Metal guitar riffs, “The Last Mile on the Earth” delivers quite a powerful introduction to this release, but also feels a bit dated in its execution. There are some pretty interesting Avant-garde elements here and there, but the rather simplistic core of the music takes away from any possible magic behind this track. The drumming is pretty intense and the vocals are ok, but there is that feeling of something missing always present in the track.

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    Haemorrhage – Loathesongs (reissue) (2012)

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    Originally released back in 2000 through Morbid Records, today we have EveryDayHate’s reissue of the incredible “Loathesongs” of the legendary Haemorrhage. Hailing from Spain, this Goregrind band has made a name for themselves through violent music and sick blood-drenched live performances. In this re-release we also get a few extra songs that weren’t available on the original “Loathesongs”, but come from the band’s vast early catalogue.

    The opener is Defecation’s “Megaton” blended with “Vestige of Earthly Remains” allowing the band quickly sets the bar very high in terms of crushing pace and aggressive growls. While not all covers in this release are ‘extremely’ good, the band does a nice job in keeping some of the essential elements in the tracks, such as in Carcass’s “Pyosisified” and its relentless riffing.

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    Noisebazooka – Humped World (2012)

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    Delivering one of the most intense and brutal aural onslaughts we have heard this year, today we have Noisebazooka and their latest full-length “Humped World”. If you ever tried to picture what somebody on bath salts would sound like when trying to make music, Noisebazooka is the first thing that comes to our mind.

    Opening with a very weird sample intro, the album fully comes into full bloom with the deranged “Jaded Pleasures”. Piercing drums and hellish screams is pretty much the perfect way of describing this band. The bass guitar line is sick and twisted, adding an extra layer of weirdness to the overall insane atmosphere. The fragmentation of songs is something that we don’t really enjoy in Grindcore releases, and “Humped World” is not the exception, the band pummels through 32 tracks and delivers less than 45 minutes of music!

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    Delain – We Are The Others (2012)

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    After being shelved for several months by Delain’s European label, “We Are The Others” finally sees the light of day in North America on July 3rd, through Sensory Records. Featuring four bonus live tracks, this North American version is packed with enough material to keep the fans of the band pleased for a long time.

    Three years have passed since the highly popular “April Rain”, and with “We Are The Others” the band is looking to establish themselves as one of the premiere Gothic Metal bands in the world. Following the same musical direction, Delain delivers 12 tracks of well composed Gothic Metal with heavy Rock influences. The band does a few adjustments in terms of making their music catchier, but nothing much has changed.

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    Unwritten Pages – Fringe Kitchen (2012)

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    Arriving from the Netherlands today we have a pretty interesting Progressive Metal/Rock release with Unwritten Pages “Fringe Kitchen”. Featuring over 65 minutes of enchanting melodies, this album is quite a musical experience from start to end. Bordering more in the ‘commercial/Mainstream” side of things, “Fringe Kitchen” delivers nine excellently composed tracks that have something for every fan of the genre.

    Setting a very cinematic tone with “Hejo”, the band quickly begins building a nice atmosphere to things. This bleeds into “Asylum Tragedy”, a mysterious progressive piece with excellent percussions and a nice futuristic vibe. Things get a bit heavier with “Intoxicating Sweets”, with the band building some nice powerful distorted guitars into their weird but intoxicating atmosphere. Having six musicians in the band that handle all kinds of different instruments, keyboards and an array of backing vocals makes Unwritten Pages sound very rich and diverse, with so many layers to pay attention to.

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    Kult ov Azazel / Teratism – Split (2012)

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    Arriving from the underground label Negativity Records, today we have the limited to 666 copies, 7” split between Kult ov Azazel and Teratism. Featuring two excellent USBM bands, this release features both bands covering Venom’s classic “In League with Satan”. Being a huge classic, both bands really need to deliver the goods in order to not butcher this excellent track.

    First up we have Kult ov Azazel giving it their best shot at “In League with Satan”. We haven’t heard from the band in quite a while since their crushing “Destroying the Sacred” back in 2009. With high expectations, their rendition of the Venom’s song is quite engaging keeping the rawness and catchiness of the original, but adding their own signature sound. With a nice Black’n’roll edge to it, this is actually one of the best covers we’ve heard from this track. The drumming is quite solid and well recorded, and the guitars are very playful and nicely rendered.

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