Avulsed - Eminence in Putrescence
While very intense Death Metal, the music is not always up to the extreme sickness of the gurgled vocals - but what could be? Excellent playing, stunning production, memorable songs, and vox that would make a vulture puke. They occasionally inject a little Doom into their gory Death-fest, too. It’s an unbeatable monster breathing radioactive fire on the competition.
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Avatar (Belgium) - ...Memoriam Draconis
First of all, so there is no confusion, this is not the Thrash band from my neighboring Illinois. I think that this Avatar have been listening to Emperor’s In the Nightside Eclipse quite a bit, since they do their level best to invoke the same sound and feeling, and as with all imitators, they pale in comparison to the original. However, in this case, the masters are so awesome that even some of those who have taken a great deal of influence from them can be impressive. Such is the case with Avatar. Perhaps this can help to ease the agony in waiting for the new Emperor masterpiece.
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Atman - Like Pure Unawaited Magic
These guys have an interesting, if not exactly compatible, female back-up singer. Her vocals really distract the listener from the music, as they are usually not in the same key. The music is fairly traditional Death, but the vox and drums are mixed noticeably too loudly, so sometimes the guitars get kind of buried, which is a real shame, since (when distorted - there are many clean parts) they have a pretty heavy tone. I’m also not convinced that they are all playing in tune with each other. It just sounds kind of thrown together. And before I forget, the regular vocals have a weird screechy, nasal quality, which I don’t like, but they’re better than the chick’s off-key operatics. Not too horrible, but certainly nothing I haven’t heard 100 times before, and 10 times better.
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Asgaroth - The Quest for Eldenhor
It’s fairly uncommon for a Black Metal band to use a drum machine [Well, it was back in 1996! -Editor], but Asgaroth is shining example of how to make technology work for you. Amid the (for the most part) simple, yet very effective, riffs there are tons of keyboards, a few possibly Cronos-inspired bass slides, and the most tortured vocals I’ve heard recently. An emotional, and in many ways, majestic release, which is occasionally also a bit experimental.
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The Art of Butchery - My Pleasure Is Your Pain
Fans of Cannibal Corpse style brutal Death should be certain to experience the Art of Butchery. These sick bastards maim for nearly a half hour straight. It’s utter brutality from the first murder to the last. As an added plus, the production is raw and disturbing, but very clear. And the vox are truly impressive, ranging from the lowest of gurgles to deep growls to high shrieks - sometimes multi-tracked on top of one another. In the midst of all this insane horror, Art even remember to make the songs memorable, in fact very much so, by splicing the extremity together with some catchy simple riffs, and some technical workouts.
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Arcturus - Aspera Hiems Symfonia
What happens when you take Ulver’s singer (Garm), the drummer from the legendary Mayhem (Hellhammer), and team them up with a somewhat lesser known guitarist, and bassist? I wouldn’t have guessed that they would make a melodic, atmospheric, keyboard-laden “Symphonic” Metal album. This sounds like they should be signed to Holy Records, if you know what I mean. I’m thoroughly impressed by the excellent writing and the flawlessly technical playing. I wonder how many people will call Arcturus the first Black Metal “supergroup.”
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Arcana - Dark Age of Reason
Dark Wave Ambient with beautiful female vocals. Haunting and majestic. I may not know a lot about this kind of music, but I know what I like.
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Apraxia - Return to the Ancient
The lengthy intro aside, this is about 40 minutes of Metal that combines some elements of Death, Black, and Doom, with a touch of Folk to create a unique style. This wasn’t always awesome, since they do so many different things (especially with the vox), but it’s interesting.
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Apoplexy - Infection
Brutal, memorable, technical Death Metal. Excellent production. In fact, everything about this full-length release is excellent. I know this is a short review, but when something kicks this much ass, what more do you need to know, other than to check it out?
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