Death Rock, maybe like Cemetary, but with even worse Pop vocals, and some Techno tendencies. This doesn’t deserve a longer review.

This is not an easy album to describe. DT seems to be channeling the spirit of Cemetary’s Godless Beauty, but perhaps a little more consistently aggressive, despite the use of acoustic guitars layered over the top of everything else. This band’s current Thrashy approach to darkness takes a few listens to really appreciate, but after a few listens, I was glad I gave Haven the time.

This is release number 4 for Dark Funeral - their second EP. Dark Funeral actually surprised me on this one because unlike previous efforts, they actually slow down a little! That in itself is a big change for this band as they made a name for themselves based on their psychotically fast playing and nonstop mayhem. This EP’s sole original track (the other four are covers) shows this change, and boy, was it shocking. The other tracks, the cover tunes, vary in speed according to the original songs. Though I tend to be down on bands that try to cover King Diamond, Dark Funeral’s rendition of “The Trial” was pretty good due to the fact that instead of growling or screaming in traditional Death or Black Metal fashion, they used a female vocalist to handle King’s falsetto. This sounded more natural for this particular song as the falsetto was the part of a accused witch at a witch trial. The other covers, “Dead Skin Mask,” “Remember the Fallen” and “Pagan Fears” (Slayer, Sodom and Mayhem respectively, in case you’ve spent the last 15 years listening to Pantera [and if so, please die -Editor]) are all completely faithful to the originals in timing and execution. All the songs are good, but considering Dark Funeral’s past performances (their ultra-fast playing being the key feature here), it sounds a bit strange to hear these guys play this slow. An added bonus for all you folks out there with computers, Dark Funeral has also placed a video for “An Apprentice to Satan” on here. The video is just them playing the song live and there are no flashy video effects or opportunities to make fools of themselves a-la Immortal’s first video (I forgot which song it was for but it was off their first album and was it fucking funny!). Fans of Dark Funeral will want this one and it was well worth the money I spent on it.

Probably the coolest thing about Dark Faith’s new album are the front and back covers. There are lots of naked women on them. That’s what makes it cool. Their brand of Black Metal, on the other hand, isn’t so great. I swear that I’ve heard all of this before - just from different bands. This doesn’t totally suck major donkey dicks (well… maybe they do, now that I think about it), but Dark Faith has a serious problem in the originality department - not to mention a few others. And the singer… This guy needs to stick some bass in his voice because he sounds like Donald Duck during a Satan-induced psychotic episode. That in itself takes this down a few because it doesn’t sound evil. It sounds stupid. It’s also fucking annoying. The guitars have that “we decided that our guitars needed absolutely no lower end” sound. This would have benefited from a thicker, heavier guitar tone and a singer with a lot more bass in his voice. Dark Faith shows a little promise but I truly believe that it’s much too early to tell for sure. Back in the early days of the scene, a band would have spent years doing demos before ever releasing an album. With the proliferation of labels and the ease in which you can release pro quality stuff, we see a lot of shit like this flooding the market. This band isn’t ready to be releasing a full-length album yet. They don’t have their own style, they don’t have their sound worked out and they seriously don’t have enough good songs to make shelling out money for their album worth it. My suggestion to the band is to spend the next couple years working on your stuff. Play a bunch of shows and rehearse like hell. Do demos and get feedback from labels, zines and your peers. Don’t put out another album until you’ve at least got an idea which direction you’re going to go and how you’re going to progress.

I’d say that this “Gothic Metal” was all Gothic and no Metal, but it’s really not even Gothic. All we have is minimalistic drums and some chick singing. Maybe they want to be Dead Can Dance, but I hope not, because this is a pretty pathetic attempt.

The guys at Dark Realm (Sadistic Intent, as far as I know) sure know their Death Metal. Damnation is probably one of the best Death Metal bands in Poland, though still second in comparison to Vader. This is their fourth release (third full-length album, they also have an EP called Coronation). But in comparison to their previous releases, this definitely took a downward turn when it comes to production. In short, the drums are way too loud. If I wanted to listen to a snare drum all afternoon, I’ll go to my friend’s house and watch him practice his drumming. When I listen to Metal, I want to hear guitar riffs, not the psychotically fast drumming. I don’t know what it is these days but this stupid trend must stop. Having loud-ass drums does not make a band sound more brutal or heavy!!!! Musically, this is much more in the vein of Morbid Angel than Vader (though Vader do a lot of Morbid emulating themselves) and could probably pass themselves off as old-school Florida Death Metal. If it wasn’t for the sound on this album, I would probably have given it a higher rating as the music is that fucking good. When the guitars aren’t getting buried underneath the snare, they really get you head banging and the blood racing. These guys must fucking kill live because it sure sounds like it here. Get those guitars up next time!!!

Perhaps one of the most underrated bands in the Death Metal scene today, Damnation have returned with their third full-length effort, Resist. This release sees Les stepping down from his spot in front of the mic and marks the debut of vocalist Raven, whose voice fits the band’s style perfectly. These technically proficient musicians from Poland really know how to hammer out some complex yet memorable tunes. The guitar-sound is heavy and also gives the music a somewhat eerie atmosphere. The highlight of this release, though, has got to be drummer Varien’s performance. His blasts and fills are jaw-dropping! The production appropriately complements the drum-sound as well. The songs themselves vary in structure and complexity, but all possess speed, aggression, and brutality. Damnation have always delivered chaotic, challenging, and adventurous music. They are easily one of the best bands to ever come out of Poland.

Galloping German Power Metal in the vein of Helloween and Gamma Ray. Also contains some melodic tracks ala Angel Dust. The vocals are pretty standard for this style, but when this guys hits the high notes he reminds me of King Diamond! The production is excellent, but the cheesy artwork has got to go! While not in any way groundbreaking or innovative, For My King is still a very good example of quality German Power Metal. If your CD collection contains releases by any of the aforementioned bands in this review, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this.

These guys have built quite a following since their debut masterpiece, Blasphemy Made Flesh, and it’s certainly well-deserved considering the overwhelming talent they possess and display with fervor on every LP. Musically, this album is a perfect blend of all the patented formulas these Grind freaks have employed on previous gems. I am taken down memory lane by Flo Mounier’s insane high-precision blasting. No one grinds harder than Flo. The vocals are a little different this time - still very abrasive, but more of a from-the-gut Barneyesque garble with a Kataklysmic defiance of typical patternization. It struck me a bit odd at first, but was made all the easier to get used to by the ferocious Death/Grind behind it. This shouldn’t upset.