Aesma Daeva - Here Lies one Whos Name Was Written in Water
Man, nothing like a long album title, huh? Female vocals and ultra-lightweight drum-machine-powered Metal bits surrounded by synths and “atmosphere” might be interesting to some, but I don’t really get it. This is very light and happy sounding and feeling, and I can’t deal with that. If I’m going to listen to something this wimpy, it had better be dark and depressing, at least.
(0) Comment(s)
Aeba - Flammenmanifest
Oh fuck am I glad that terrible intro is over. What is it with stupid intros these days? Anyway, after that annoyance ends, the fast Black Metal starts up. The production saves this from being as raw as the music seems to want itself to be, which is weird. And there are some keyboards to make things “atmospheric,” I guess. But this white noise guitar sound is grating. Why not have a thick, evil tone, instead of the thin buzz, which is thankfully sort of buried anyway? This has a lot of good moments, but with all the bands that sound like this, Abba, I mean Aeba, need something to set them apart - other than a stupid name.
(0) Comment(s)
Adversam - Animadverte
I was expecting something more from this band as their label, Scarlet, released the Aborym album. Unfortunately, Adversam are plagued by a problem that infects about 85% of the Metal scene in general. The problem, you ask? Drums. Not bad drums but overly loud drums. Adversam has drums that are so loud compared to the other instruments that I’m tempted to call this a blast-beat rap album. The keyboards are good and what little of the guitars that I could hear were OK too but when the drummer is going along at full blast, you can’t hear any of it. Adversam kind of reminds me of Dark Funeral or older Immortal but with keyboards and a little more atmosphere. Imagine the first Immortal album played at Pure Holocaust speeds. The result isn’t bad in itself. With the current mix, however, it really sounds annoying. There is so much more going on in the background that it pisses me off that I can’t really hear any of it because the drums drown out most of it completely. Next time, please turn up the guitars and turn down those fucking drums!!! I’d like to give it a higher rating, as I feel that this band really is quite talented, but the mix brings this down a whole lot.
(0) Comment(s)
Abysmal Fall - Spit in the Face of Christ
This cassette may or may not also currently be available on CD. The band mentioned that it is, but also that they are sold out… Anyway, this evil Black Death is quite well done and also pretty heavy. And in the second song, “Sadist Christ,” they scream “Jesus is cumming in your mouth” over a nice acoustic guitar part. I know they’re totally serious, but that’s such a funny thing to say that it alone would make this worth owning. But really all the songs are good, just not as awesome as that.
(0) Comment(s)
Absurd - Asgardsrei
I just loved the way Pit magazine reviewed this EP. It was a long political statement that had nothing at all to do with this EP’s music. I came away knowing next to nothing about Absurd besides the fact that they were Nazis. Yes, I agree that raiding No Colours and Darker Than Black’s offices and confiscating their stuff is stupid and that no matter what their political affiliations are, they deserve to speak their mind no matter what they have to say. If you are a music magazine reviewing a release, at least have the courtesy to tell us a little about the music. Now, about Absurd’s music… Absurd had always been the strangest Black Metal band I’d ever heard. They had more in common musically with the Oi scene than with Metal. In fact, their demos were pretty much just Oi music with Black Metal vocals and Satanic lyrics. This EP still has a lot of that style in it. There are more Black Metal parts on Asgardsrei but there are plenty of Oi influenced hooks in their songs. The most memorable parts, in fact, are these hooks. The production is quite a bit on the shitty side with the guitar being way too low for my taste. In fact, I’m not even sure that there is a guitar on this. The production is so bass heavy that what I’m hearing may really a distorted bass guitar. And that drum sound… I’ve heard drum machines that sound better than this. All the lyrics are in German and no translations are forthcoming. The fact that I could get this in America is somewhat of a small miracle in itself. This CD will probably only appeal to skins or aficionados of WP/NS Black Metal (fans of Graveland, Perunwit, Thunderbolt or Nargaroth for example) as this more interesting because of the bands Nazi ideology than because of their music.
(0) Comment(s)
Aborym - Kali Yuga Bizarre
I don’t recall ever hearing the name Aborym mentioned before so I’m assuming that they’re a new band. If that is the case, then this is a really well put together debut album! The addition of Attila Csihar (yes, that Attila!) as a guest vocalist really upped my expectations. For the most part, this is atmospheric Black Metal in the vein of Emperor or Cradle of Filth but with a distinct sound that hints at the other bands yet really sounds nothing like them. There are a lot of different ideas thrown around here and for the most part, they all work really well. The sound on this CD is fucking excellent and the only disappointment was in some of the faster tracks where the snare started drowning things out. Oh yeah, the Moonspell riff (it sounds blatantly like “Alma Mater” except that they changed the last part a little bit) also caught my attention. Other than that, this album kicks some major ass and has been firmly affixed to my CD player for quite a while now. Look for it!!!
(0) Comment(s)
Abortus - Judge Me Not
Very well-played Death Metal with Thrash influences from this great Australian band. Songs range in style from melodic to fast, and brutal vocals combine with grooving melodies to make for notable diversity. I like the production on this release, especially where the guitars are concerned. The bone-crunching riffs are extremely infectious. A highly talented band with a bright future ahead of them!
(0) Comment(s)
Abominant - The Way After
It’s good to hear a band that’s always improving. Abominant seem to be constantly refining their sound, correcting even the tiniest flaws in their Death Metal onslaught. This, their second album, sees them closing in on perfection.
(0) Comment(s)
Abigor - Channeling the Quintessence of Satan
Fast, raw, noisy Black Metal. I seem to remember this band as being more compelling and memorable, but still, this intensity can’t be denied.
(0) Comment(s)
Page 225 of 388 pages « First < 223 224 225 226 227 > Last »
