Returning with their first recording since Nightfall in Middle-Earth, a 2-song EP to hold fans over until the imminent release of A Night at the Opera, Blind Guardian are back to remind everyone why they are the true masters of their craft. The 14-minute title track is an epic piece of symphonic Power Metal vast in scope and grand in scheme. The musicianship displayed on this song is absolutely staggering. Huge, sweeping guitar-melodies shower the landscape painted by this tale and are the perfect accompaniment to the godly, unequaled voice of Hansi Kursch. A host of guest-musicians creates an operatic ethereal atmosphere that only adds to this song’s magnificence. A subdued melodic, acoustic-based piece entitled “Harvest of Sorrow” follows and further proves the unfaltering capabilities of this band. To top it all off, they were kind enough to include the CD-ROM video of “Born in a Mourning Hall.” Hell yes, this EP is worth every penny!

Bethlehem is yet another band that has embraced the electronic age. This album is overflowing with samples, bleeps, blips and every other annoying mechanized sound they could produce. Other than a few tracks that have similarities to material by Katatonia, nothing manages to generate any interest for me. Lyrics sung completely in German don’t help matters either. This album comes with a second disc which contains various instrumental works composed by different members of the band. This disc is even more electronically-enhanced than the first! I hope this will be the last time I ever have to listen to such music, but Ray seems to enjoy torturing me. [You and everyone else! -Editor]

This band hails from Spain but sounds very much in line with the Norse style of keyboard-laden Black Metal. In a way, this album reflects what Emperor and Dimmu Borgir where doing almost 10 years ago. There are a few extras thrown in on top of all that but ultimately, this sounds very old hat. The inclusion of more Folk oriented stuff later on seemed kind of strange, but at the same time, that stuff worked better for them in terms of defining their sound than the obvious Emperor / Dimmu Borgir worship that comprised the bulk of this album. The songs themselves were okay for the most part with only the last couple standing out at all (mostly from the Folk parts). I think that this band is still trying to define their sound and this makes …from the Celtiberian Woods much more of a mixed bag than it should have been. The production on this album was not the greatest either. Someone should kick the studio engineer’s ass for fucking up the drum tones. The snare sounded like a metal garbage can lid and the bass drums sounded like someone was flicking a light switch on and off. Not only that but the guitars were buried and the bass was barely there too. Give these guys a decent studio budget and a couple years to develop their style. They still have a ways to go.

For the uninformed, Benediction has lost longtime frontman Dave Ingram to Bolt Thrower. This new singer is okay, he sounds like a cheap imitation of Ingram. Songs like “Suicide Rebellion” and “Suffering Feeds Me” are filled with classic Benediction hooks, while other tracks like “Diary of a Killer” and “Easy Way to Die” fail due to cheesy groove and the vocalist’s butchery. Overall, I’ve got mixed feelings here. Without a doubt the last Benediction album I’m reaching for when I get the urge.

Fast symphonic Black Metal that really suffers due to the strange mix. The drums are super loud, which isn’t surprising, but the guitars are totally buried behind them and the keyboards and vocals. It makes this sound as if there almost aren’t any guitars at all sometimes. Honestly, I kind of like it anyway, but a different mix, with monster guitars killing everyone in earshot would have turned this from good to great.

Blutsabbath, Belphegor’s second release [originally issued in 1997 -Editor], has a much more noticeable Black Metal presence than its predecessor The Last Supper. Whereas the vocals on that album were primarily brutal Death grunts, the vox on this effort are mostly Black Metal shrieks. The material, overall, is similar to that of Marduk or Dark Funeral. Of course, there is still that raw, primitive brutality and relentless speed that was present on the first release. This is probably my least favorite of Belphegor’s three albums, but that’s simply because I prefer Death Metal to Black Metal. This is still a heavy motherfucker of an album though, and I would strongly suggest buying all of this band’s releases.

Took enough labels to get this released in the good old USA, huh? God damn. Anyway, this is another great Black/Death Metal release from the mighty Behemoth. Awesome production and so on. You know the story. The US version also has four bonus tracks and fairly reduced packaging to make up for them, I guess.

Considering that Quorthon is supposed to have lost much of his hearing due to an unfortunate incident involving Deicide, the Animal Militia and a bomb, this is a surprisingly good album. I wouldn’t call it his greatest achievement yet but it isn’t a dog by a long shot. The material on this album skirts the edges of Hammerheart / Blood on Ice and the Requiem / Octagon eras and includes songs that could fit in on any of those albums - at least musically. The thing that makes this such a mixed bag is that there is really no unifying theme in the musical department. On Blood on Ice, it was a concept album with all the Viking mythos and atmosphere from Hammerheart and a more epic theme. Requiem and Octagon were more Thrash / Death Metal oriented and contained more guitar-based songs. Destroyer of Worlds seems to have a concept but it doesn’t have a story involved. All of the lyrics are war related and explore different eras of warfare, from the old sword and axe carnage to the current guns and cruise missiles. As a whole, Destroyer of Worlds may not satisfy the “ancient Bathory is better” and the “Twilight of the Gods fucking rules, you’re just too stupid to understand it” crowds. It’s good music and it’s still Bathory. That’s enough for me.

Yasuyuki Suzuki (aka Barbatos) is back, this time with a solo album. Most of you Black Metallers out there will recognize his name from his other band, Abigail. This album just reeks of old Venom, Bathory and more than a little Punk Rock (not Hardcore, just Punk like X, The Ramones or The Sex Pistols). In other words, this is an album that is so old-school that it could only come from Japan. The song lyrics are pure sex, alcohol and killing shit anthems that make some pretty humorous reading. Musically, this is fast, furious and has a lot of old Punk feeling, much like Abigail. This isn’t the greatest, but it is very true to the older feeling of Metal from back in the early ‘80s. The only tracks that deviate from this are the final two, which have a sound completely different from the rest of this CD. I don’t know why they were included, but by themselves, they’re good. They just don’t have anything in common with the rest of the album when it comes to music. I enjoyed this album more for the nostalgia element than anything else and though I liked it, it isn’t something I would listen to regularly. The last two tracks aside, this is as retro as you’re going to get when it comes to old-school balls-out Thrash Metal.

This is an amazing piece of Power Metal with an all-star lineup including Jens Ludwig (Edguy) and Henjo Richter (Gamma Ray) on guitars, Markus Grosskopf (Helloween) on bass, and Alex Holzwarth (Rhapsody) on drums. Guest-vocalists include Rob Rock (Impellitteri), Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray), Sharon Den Adel (Within Temptation), and Andre Matos (Angra). The Metal Opera is an epic fantasy tale that features brilliant vocal-performances and blazing guitar-melodies backed by a barrage of flawless drumming. The band’s strong song-writing abilities give this effort a well-rounded feel, and the razor-sharp production brings the music to life in vivid color. This is easily one of the best Power Metal releases to come out in the last couple of years. Fans of any of the above-mentioned bands are advised to pick this up immediately!

See the review for Lost Atlantis. I didn’t like this quite as much, though…

I don’t like a lot of Gothic Metal, but this reissue of Artrosis’s 1998 second album isn’t too bad. It doesn’t have the aggressive drumming of a band like Darkwell, but there is some heaviness and a few interesting riffs here and there amid all the sweetness and girly vocals. I would have preferred a concentration on the heavier moments and the juxtaposition of the vocals thereto, but fans of chick singers and melodic Metal might very well appreciate this.

This is the full-length debut album for this rather disturbed bunch of Black/Death Metallers. Of course, “disturbed” is a relative term, but for those of us who don’t particularly enjoy bondage/S&M, I’d classify our leather-masked friends in this band as being a bit on the loony side. Call me a wuss if you want, I don’t find the concept of getting my skin flayed off while having sex to be very appealing. Musically, this is some fairly competent Black/Death Metal that sort of reminds me of several bands but not enough to draw a direct comparison. That’s a good thing. Whenever I can say that you don’t sound exactly like another better known band, you’re on the right track. I can hear a little Morbid Angel, a little Darkthrone and maybe a little Cannibal Corpse in their sound but as I said before, Arkhon Infaustus sounds similar without directly copying someone else’s style. There are also elements of Industrial here and there (particularly in the last track) which adds even more distinctiveness to their style. The production and sound on Hell Injection is also light years away from their debut EP, In Sperma Infernum. That EP sounded absolutely horrible and when you compare it to this album, it almost sounds like a completely different band. Osmose really scored with this band because if there was this much progress between their first release and this album, then I’m really interested in hearing what they’re going to sound like on their next release.

The forging of melodic Swedish Death Metal and Hardcore has reached a plateau untouchable by most in the suicidal beauty of Darkest Hour. At the Gates and Dissection meets Morning Again, and if that only came close to summing up the total package here. I could write volumes praising this band’s aggressive majesty and grace, but for the sake of space, I assure you wholeheartedly, this is absolutely essential.

Shortly after reviewing Necrodaemon Terrorsathan, I received the Mercenary Musik reissues of Belphegor’s first 2 albums. Thank you, Mercenary! The Last Supper, the band’s first album [originally released in 1995 -Editor], is a chaotic onslaught of Blackened Death Metal with a raw (not underproduced) sound. The music seems to fuse American-styled Brutal Death Metal with Australian War/Black Metal for a full-on bloody blast-fest. The fast pace rarely lets up and the aggressive attack never falters. Those of you looking for lofty keyboard-drenched atmosphere or melodic rhythms would be advised to look elsewhere.

Azarath hails from Poland and play Death Metal. Having heard that, I’m sure that you’re probably guessing that they sound a whole lot like Vader. To tell you the truth, a lot of Death Metal bands from Poland do, in fact, sound a whole Hell of a lot like Vader does. Azarath, however sounds more like old Florida style Death Metal a-la Morbid Angel or Deicide. In a way, they sound a lot like other bands that try to copy that style. This could easily have been an album by Sadistic Intent or Belphegor, for example. You have guttural low growling, higher pitched shrieks, down-tuned guitars, blasting drums and enough brutality to constitute a mass murder. Originality? None here, pal. This is almost by the numbers Florida Death Metal - only from Poland instead of Tampa. The difference between Belphegor or Sadistic Intent and Azarath is that those two bands have at least taken the sound and added a little something here and there, then dosing it up with the right amount of Hellish feeling. Azarath has the sound and some of the feeling but really, this isn’t any different than the other stuff on the market from better bands. I have about a dozen albums of this already and though I did enjoy it, I’m forced to deduct points due to unoriginality. That and the pointless “atmosphere” piece in the middle. Folks, anybody can take an old recording of “Rule Britannia” and dub some screaming woman’s voice and the sounds of someone sharpening a knife over it. The difference is that only a few people can make it go somewhere. This piece is just pointless. It doesn’t add but rather detracts from the whole feeling of the album. David Horn from S.O.D. magazine would probably be hailing this as a masterpiece, but cookie cutter Death Metal doesn’t do it for me anymore. You have to give me something more substantial. Had this come out 8 years ago, I might have been more impressed, but not today. I’ll still buy their next release when it comes out, but to quote that guy on the Food Channel, they have to “kick it up another notch.”

This has nothing to do with the black!

The least Metal of these three reissues [This one, plus In the Flowers Shade and In Nomine Noctis. -Editor], Fetish sounds like a cut-rate Switchblade Symphony, or whatever, with (occasional) guitars. There are still some parts that I like (elements of “Homini Noctis,” for example), but overall this is getting too far away from anything that I care about, and into the realm of what might be called Electronica.

“By supporting Armagedda you support the death of yourself, your family and your friends. Armagedda wants you dead.” Have you ever heard such moronic, childish bullshit in your entire life? That’s like saying, “We hate our fans and we don’t want you to buy our CD.” Maybe the band wants you to download MP3 versions of all of their music instead of purchasing it at the store? That way, you could listen to the music but at the same time, not support Armagedda. Musically, this band sounds a whole lot like Darkthrone with a bit of Dissection and a raw enough sound to give them some punch where it counts. Of all of the bands on Breath of Night, this band has to be the most generic (in terms of songwriting), but at the same time, you can tell that they have that Black Metal feeling in their music. One thing I noted is that though there are a total of eight songs on this album, the inlay only had lyrics for three. Why this is the case is beyond me. I will state clearly that two of the three songs had shitty lyrics and that “A” (the bassist. Yes, it’s just the letter “A” - kind of like “D” the Vampire Hunter) has a better command of the English language than Graav. Musically, this is pretty kick ass Black Metal in the older Norse way and though there are a lot of unintentionally funny bits in their inlay, they do deliver the goods when it comes to intense old-school Black Fucking Metal with no frills. Not the most original band but worth what you’re going to pay for their album - or the time it takes you to download their album off the Internet.

I get the feeling Arkona just didn’t have the money to do this album the way they wanted to do it. Either that or they so desperately want to keep their “underground” status that they couldn’t bear to clean things up a bit more. Zeta Reticuli has a slightly raw sound and the whole album was mastered at a low volume so you really have to crank it to hear stuff clearly. The keyboards and clean vocals are used mainly as a garnish as the guitars are the most prominent instrument. There are a lot of good ideas on this CD that make Zeta Reticuli something that you can listen to without getting bored halfway through it. It doesn’t have a whole lot of originality as all of these ideas have been done before. The good thing is that Arkona executes these things well and the resulting music is definitely a cut above average. If you like your Black Metal in the old Norse style (like early Dimmu Borgir or split CD era Emperor), Arkona is definitely your cup of tea. Just remember to turn your stereo down after you finish listening to this album because the CD you throw on next may just blow the glass out of every window in your neighborhood.