Coph Nia - That Which Remains
Although there are occasionally some other elements, such as kind of whispered talking, what might be ritualistic chanting, and a great scream at the beginning of “Doppelganger,” this is mostly Dark Ambient. Really dark. It’s all too easy for this sort of thing to just fade into the background, but That Which Remains absolutely refuses to let go of your attention, and remains creeping around at the edges of your mind, occasionally bursting into the forefront.
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Cold Mourning - Lower Than Low
Heavy and Doomy in more or less the pre-Groove style of Cathedral, Cold Mourning is a very good, but not awesome, band. That’s hard for me to write, but it’s true. What’s also true is that these guys are cool as Hell, and so is Game Two’s main man, Conan. I’ve listened to this dozens of times, trying to find more I could say about it, so that I’d be able to provide a longer review, but other than that the band is good and Doomy, there’s little to really make them stand out. And, honestly, there are even a few seconds where the vocals are overdriven and occasional other things I’d consider to bring this down somewhat. Still, a totally worthwhile release, but simply not the perfection for which I was hoping.
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Cold Colours - Somnium XIII
Cold Colours play a strange blend of Gothic / Industrial Metal. Try to imagine Fear Factory with heavy Goth overtones. This is just a little too weird for me. I doubt the average Death/Black Metal fan would find anything of interest here either.
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Coffin Texts - Gods of Creation, Death & Afterlife
This is some really good “old-school” sounding Death Metal. Bands like Immolation, Bolt Thrower, and Morbid Angel come to mind. The songs for the most part stay in the mid-paced range. There are moments, however, where they stomp on the accelerator. There are also some fairly impressive displays of technicality. The lyrical content resembles that of Nile in that they incorporate ancient Egyptian themes. This makes the album that much more interesting. Some serious thought went into both the lyrics and the song-writing. The album finishes off with respectable covers of Slayer’s “Crypts of Eternity” and “Disturbing the Priest” by Black Sabbath. Gods of Creation, Death & Afterlife is solid and heavy from beginning to end. An excellent debut for Coffin Texts.
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Cianide - Divide and Conquer
Is it even possible for Cianide to make a less than perfect album anymore? Okay, I have to admit that I suppose I am a little biased. I mean, I’ve known Cianide for a decade, and I also did the graphic design for the CD version of this album. But these things aside, Divide and Conquer will absolutely kick your ass from beginning to end. Always a band to concentrate on awesome riffs, with this new album, Cianide has delivered a flawless catalog of memorable brutality. And also a textbook example of good (evil) old Death Metal perfection. It’s no surprise if you’ve ever read any Metal Curse back issues that the new Cianide album would get a ten, but they might very well be the first band to ever deliver three flawless albums in a row.
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Noam Chomsky - Case Studies in Hypocrisy
You know, I really should stop listening to this guy. Ignorance is bliss and every time I listen to Noam Chomsky, I get a little smarter and a lot more cynical and depressed. If you are a patriot and believe firmly in the fact that USA is a good and just nation, then you’ll want to avoid this, and other pieces of Dr. Chomsky’s spoken word and written material, as if it were the plague. Like his previous albums, this is a whole lot like listening to a lecture from a university political science class. It’s some pretty heavy stuff and all of it bashes the USA. The purpose of this CD is to make you think for yourself and to not trust everything the government tells you to believe. If you listen to this and can still honestly say that you believe the US government is kind, just and truthful, then I want the drugs you’re on.
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Children of Bodom - Follow the Reaper
Pretty Euro Thrash with Black Metal Kreator vocals and lots of (often dorky) keyboards. It’s very precise and well played, but although there is a lot to like about this, it just seems kind of sterile, I suppose. And the W.A.S.P. cover, which should be raw, is so slick and exact that it’s sterilized and has lost all power and interest (believe me, I’ve listened to the original recording of “Hellion” enough).
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Chalice - Chronicles of Dysphoria
You know, I might be one of the few Metal burnouts in the scene today that has a soft spot in my blackened heart for a really good female vocalist. And Chalice has a good one. Though I still think Kari Rueslatten is the best female vocalist to have ever fronted an Atmospheric Doom Metal band, Shiralee acquits herself well and doesn’t disappoint in the least. In fact, the whole band pulls out a really, really good album. The sound of Chronicles of Dysphoria is both crushing and atmospheric, usually at the same time. Imagine the crossing of My Dying Bride and Autumn Tears and you get a good idea what Chalice sounds like. All the songs are solid and the production is great, allowing the guitars to be heavy as fuck yet allows the keyboards to be equally audible. This album is one of the few I’ve heard lately that actually evokes an emotion out of me (not that I have none, it’s just rare that a band is able to emotionally move me with their music). After listening to this album for a while, I found myself getting all Gothic and melancholy - which is when I realized how good of an album it was. Chalice has the recommendation of this beast.
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Chained and Desperate - Eleven Angels in a Circle
This is a very cool combination of various Metal styles. Musically, it’s Thrashy melodic Death that can also be very atmospheric and Doomy. The vox are raw, but sort of more in a Black Metal way. I’m not sure how much they’re charging for this 40+ minute disc, but you’d be nuts to miss it.
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