Azmodan - Evil Obscurity
The vocals on this are fairly brutal for Black Metal, but they also have a tendency to be understandable - a trait that you don’t usually find when a band employs the deeper growling style. There are lots of atmospheric parts as well as female vocals, both of which give this album sort of a “horror movie soundtrack” quality at times. I first thought that this was a concept album due to the fact that first two songs are both about the demon Azmodan (the lord of sin, according to the lyrics) but the rest of the songs are unrelated. All the songs, except the third, clock in at around 6 minutes, with the first two tracks taking up the first twenty minutes of the CD! Azmodan are not only proficient but memorable as well.
(0) Comment(s)
Arkhon Infaustus - In Sperma Infernum
Great Lords of the Abyss this is horrible! Usually, when I see gratuitous naked women on an album cover, I get suspicious about the actual quality of the music (the worse it is, the more gratuitous nudity on display). In this case, my suspicions were not only correct but I actually underestimated how raw and chaotic this would turn out to be. If this recording started life as a rehearsal tape, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least. The production values on this are almost non-existent and the sound is rougher than getting dragged down a dirt road behind a speeding truck. Maybe I’m just not “evil” enough to appreciate the grimmer than grim sound of this band but I swear that Beherit’s Oath of Black Blood album sounded a whole lot better. In terms of music, In Sperma Infernum sort of mirrors the style of early Beherit or maybe a little of Bestial Summoning where the key factor to the music is the absolute chaos and raw, primitive sound. With this kind of a “production,” my guess is that Arkhon Infaustus wanted to add to the chaos and if that was the case, it certainly worked. Oh yeah, this is also “limited” to 666 copies so if you love that “chaotic” Black Metal sound, you’d better hurry.
(0) Comment(s)
Arckanum - Kampen
As with their above-reviewed album [1997’s Kostogher -Editor], this starts off with some “atmospheric/ambient” jerking off - nearly 5 minutes worth this time. After that, we get an hour of the same standard, fuzzy, thin-sounding Black Metal as described above. This time, the promo CD is stripped of all the real version’s packaging, so I’m saved from trying to read the lyrics.
(0) Comment(s)
Archontes - The World Where Shadows Come to Die
After an ominous, dark into, the Helloween-inspired Metal starts up, and as expected this Russian band delivers a fine dose of energetic, technical precision.
(0) Comment(s)
Achiral - Dark Waters
This Black Deathrash is often really good, but the plethora of vocal styles can be distracting, as they might range from clean female vox, to raspy Death style, to something like Macabre’s more insane moments, but not as cool. The packaging and production are both completely professional, however, and the music is probably evil enough to override any problems there might be with the vocals, which is far from always, anyway.
(0) Comment(s)
Archangel - Natural Born Messiah
Weird combo of Goth Rock, Industrial and melodic Metal.
[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.]
(0) Comment(s)
Archaean Harmony - Resentment of an Evanesce Aeon
Musically this Black Metal band is just fine. In fact, it’s great. They’re fast, intense, and can be majestic at times, and are also not afraid to slow things down and try some different ideas. And you can not only hear the basslines, but they’re sometimes very well done, which is almost a first for this style. The vocals are appropriately raw and screechy, but although plenty evil, they’re also the problem. Most of the time, this guy seems be cackling with no attention paid to the music at all. If they could bridge the chasm between vocals and music, AH would be unstoppable, and are honestly pretty close anyway.
(0) Comment(s)
Arch Enemy - Stigmata
This is Michael Amott’s new band, and he sounds better and more intense than he has for a long time. Intense Thrash.
[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.]
(0) Comment(s)
Apophis - Heliopolis
Nicely played and fairly memorable Death Metal. This is good, but for whatever reasons, it doesn’t strike me as being great.
(0) Comment(s)
Page 249 of 388 pages « First < 247 248 249 250 251 > Last »
