Astaroth (Austria) - Skladengott
Anyone who knows me will testify that I love obscure-as-fuck bands. I’ve got albums by bands even die-hard undergrounders haven’t heard of, and though a lot of them are bad (and I mean bad!), there are times when I come across a real gem. Astaroth is one such find. This is the German Black Metal band, not to be confused with the ten thousand other bands out there with the same name. Astaroth doesn’t do a whole lot of original things. There are no atmospheric keyboards, no female vocals, no Jazz parts, no Blues influenced guitar solos, no mosh, no core, no trends and no fucking fun. This is just flat-out Black Fucking Metal with a high ass-kickage factor, high memorability factors, even higher blasphemy content and enough Christ-hating fury to make up for the fact that none of these ideas are new. The standout track on this CD has to be “Symphony for a Requiem” (yeah, their English is pretty bad… but hey, if it isn’t your first language, you’re forgiven), for it’s creative bass work and general atmosphere. This is a very solid album and worth picking up - provided you can find it.
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Arckanum - Kostogher
Two minutes of fucking around, mumbling some kind of invocation, I’d guess, but this is mastered too low to tell, really. After that the action starts, fast and, well, fuzzy. The guitars are an utter blur, and the drums set on “grind” for more or less the duration. I cannot comment on the lyrics, since they are not in English, and even if they were, the handwritten calligraphy is too brutal to decipher unless you really strain. But the vox are suitably tortured screams and shrieks. There is some great stuff on here - the beginning of the third track comes to mind - but most of it is very standard fast Black Metal. Not bad, but certainly not great.
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Archontes - Saga of Eternity
Very expertly played (true) Power Metal from Russia, much in the same vein as newer Helloween. ‘Nuff said.
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Archie Bunker - Lucky 13
This kind of band is tough for me to describe. They play a sludgy kind of Groove Metal, but also speed things up occasionally. Maybe something like a less deranged Eyehategod, with a touch of a more Southern Alice in Chains. If you’re into that kind of thing, AB is probably great, but it’s just not a style I care much about.
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Arcanta - The Eternal Return
Desolate synths, & haunting, multilayered vocals.
[Metal Curse #11 had an additional loose page (“Last Second Additions”) inserted into the centerfold of the zine, featuring a bunch of even-shorter-than-usual “bonus” reviews of stuff that arrived after the deadline for that issue. This is one of those “Last Second Additions” reviews.]
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Arcana - Lizabeth
Fifteen minutes of depressing synth Goth. It’s eerie, haunting and ominous - everything it should be.
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Apollyn - Demo #2
If you’re a Death Metal singer and you want people to be able to understand your lyrics without a lyric sheet in front of them, you’ve likely got a problem, since growled vox and understandable vox are nearly mutually exclusive. Not for Apollyn, however. There are very few people who can accomplish sounding raw and evil and still be this - I hate to use the word “clear,” but I can clearly make out the lyrics. The music is as brutal as it should be. In fact, I’m kind of reminded of newer Cannibal Corpse, except the lyrics are blasphemous, rather than sick. All things considered, an excellent Satanic Death Metal release, with exceptionally strong vocals. Since releasing this demo, this band has changed their name to Evil Incarnate.
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Aphrodisiac - Nonsense Chamber
The title is accurate. This is mostly a bunch of sounds (a few of which could be made by musical instruments) jammed together. Sometimes a rhythm or repetitive pattern of some kind emerges, and there are some voices occasionally, but I’d be hard pressed to call this music.
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Antichrisis - Cantara Anachoreta
After the lyrically monotonous first track, this gets a bit more interesting. Antichrisis play a fairly unique hybrid of Death-style Doom and Goth. There are crushing guitars and growled vocals here, but they are often replaced by, or accompanied by, “clean” male and female vocals and various keyboards. I think that they still have a few rough edges to work out, but this is more often than not pretty cool.
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