I think there’s some kind of harmonica solo in the first song. That earns the Galactic Doughboys a one-way trip to the backyard Tron pile.

This band hails from Canada. Quebec, to be exact. As a matter of fact, Frozen Shadows makes a point of mentioning that they are from Quebec. My French absolutely sucks (much more so than my German, Norwegian and Swedish), so I don’t know much about what these guys are about. I’m assuming that they are separatists as they are a little too proud of being French-Canadian to not be nationalistic to some degree. I really couldn’t give a flying shit about their political affiliations, as the music is what is doing the talking here. The vast bulk of this album is high-speed, underproduced Black Metal in the Immortal vein, with a clear Darkthrone influence. Darkthrone played at Immortal speeds best describes this. There is one point on this album, the song “Of Pain and Insufferable Torment,” to be precise, where they get slower and atmospheric. This has to be the standout song of this album. The rest of Dans les Bras des Immortels dissolves in a blur of chainsaw guitars and blasting drums, but this one song is something that sticks in my head. If they can do more in that style, diversifying their assault, they will be a band to be reckoned with. Until then, they will be just another faceless group of corpse-paint wearing musicians with one cool song.

Ahh, here we have some evil Black Metal [Is there any other kind of Black Metal? -Editor]. In this case, five tracks worth, with a production raw enough to give this a somewhat heavy sound.

Black, technical Death Metal. These guys are pretty good. Not ultra speedy but fast when called for, and symphonic at times with a little Thrashy flavor to boot. Nice riffs. What’s not to like?

I have a great amount of respect for this long-running, battle-tested Grindcore troop from the Czech Republic, so it pains me to alert you that Defy is a total letdown for me, bordering on embarrassment. The music just isn’t as sharp, nowhere near as intense. The vocals don’t sound as good, and this may be the poorest job of drum programming I’ve ever heard. It’s erratic, jumbled, and sloppy with an overall sound that tortures the listener with its annoyance. What’s really sad is that this band has been churning out solid underground releases for about a decade without ever really breaking through. To my ears, this is a tremendous setback. I hope for a rebound, because these sick fucks really do know how to Grind.

Four Seats have always been intense, and these eight songs, recorded live in 1997, show a little of what one of their performances would be like. Admittedly, the sound is a bit raw, and the mix somewhat vocal heavy, and would have been helped by more up front guitars, but all things considered, this is certainly more than worth a listen. And it’s on “infection yellow” vinyl, too.

I have no idea why I like this Hard Rock album. Maybe it’s a little “dark,” like Babylon Whores or something, but not too much. Perhaps it’s that the vocals have at least a little “edge” to them and are not at all wimpy. And neither is the crunchy guitar tone. I guess it’s just that the songs are so super-memorable. Whatever the mysterious reasons, I thoroughly enjoyed this disc.

Epic, atmospheric Black Metal with flourishes of Traditional Metal.

This french duo play a melodic, guitar dominated Progressive Metal that reminds me of what Dream Theater would sound like with a female singer (actually, that queen from DT already sounds like a woman to me). These four tunes wind through some unusual and interesting tempo and key changes, but, ultimately they just didn’t hold my attention. My biggest complaint is that this music was obviously composed and performed by a guitarist and as a result the accompanying instruments suffer in their rather uninspired and blatantly programmed execution. If they got some other human musicians in there, the music might end up as cool as the guitar solos. Tasteful layout and a clear production (especially for a home studio recording) top off this talented, if somewhat bland, release.

With each release, FF get worse, but they also get richer and fuck more sluts, so maybe I’m wrong about this whole thing… Just kidding -this is crap.

[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.]

Fates Warning is one of those bands I used to worship, but over the past 15 years they grew softer and softer and thus consequently had to leave their place on my personal altar of Metal. I still listen to their first three albums frequently and so I was quite curious about this live CD. Well, to put it shortly, I’m fucking disappointed. There’s only one song from the old times, and even though it’s badly executed, it still stands out as the best track. They went their way and now play the kind of music you can hear in shopping malls - it’s soooo fucking sad. Listening to releases like this makes me feel my age and all of a sudden suicide seems like a rather nice option.

Beyond boring Death Metal.

High energy, old-school, sloppy Punk Rock. And they do an insane cover of Black Sabbath’s “Children of the Grave.”

I can guarantee that you’ll never find a better way to spend a buck than on this four-song demo. The Fallen plays intense Death Metal, with a hint of Black Metal, and this demo is very well written and recorded. Vocally things are also a mix with raspy screams. I do have a question or two about the lyrics, but with no lyric sheet, I’ll give ‘em the benefit of the doubt based on how nearly flawless the music is. Considering the price -which is actually free, but the band asks that you try to send $1 to cover postage, which is the fucking least you could do, really- this is as essential as things get. But I’ll wait on perfection until I can consult the lyrics.

Okay, this band combines speed-picked Black Metal, and maybe some Doom, with occasionally “mystical” sounding keyboards. It’s pretty cool sounding, and flawlessly recorded, but seems to be missing something necessary for true greatness.

“Hey, guys! Let’s form a Death Metal Band and make lots of money!” “Wow! That sounds great! Let’s do it!” This is what I imagine the conversation went like when Fairlight first formed, except it would have been in French, because they’re from France. And apparently, when you’re in France and you form a Death Metal band, you have to steal all your riffs from Mercyful Fate, Rush, or Cradle of Filth. Plus, you need to add cheezy keyboard parts to all the songs to get the Black Metal audience interested. Finally, if you do come up with some good riffs for any of your songs, you have to endlessly repeat them enough times to make people sick of hearing them. Good thing France is Socialist, because these guys can hopefully go to the government and get some help.

This is a weird release. The music is very “modern Metal.” Maybe not totally unlike Strapping Young Lad. The singer sometimes sounds like Rob Zombie, or distorts his vocals, neither of which I approve of. Despite all that, I don’t hate it. The songs are very catchy, and generally pretty fast. The lyrics help, too. But what really saves this is the opening sample: “We came to wreck everything. And ruin your life. God sent us.” It’s hard to overcome something that cool.

Why do x-tians always have to stick their self-righteous, holier-than-thou asses in every one else’s faces and try to steal their ideas, incorporating their own morals and sickening methods of mind control into something they can sell at the time? Hey everybody, smell my shit, god loves it! They took Punk, Ska, Hardcore, Thrash, Death Metal, and now this group of hypocritical mindless bastards is trying to steal Black Metal, a style of music created in opposition to their beliefs! Even if this Norwegian group were good, and they’re not, I wouldn’t give this religious propaganda a ball’s hair of a chance. I cannot tolerate such total thoughtless idiocy! What’s next, a Jewish Nazi Reich? A black chapter of the KKK? How about a restaurant where they don’t serve food?

Extremely ass kicking Death Metal, with a few Black Metal touches.

[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.]

Okay, I’ve got to be honest. I’m just not a big fan of concept records. Since two perfect concept albums exist, Rush’s 2112 and King Diamond’s Abigail, I figure what is the damn point? However, I’ve got to admit that this Swiss act really impressed the shit out of me with this release. Featuring 11 songs that tell a pseudo-medieval story, it is executed brilliantly. The music is a stylistic hybrid of classic Metal interwoven with majestic harmonies played in a Baroque fashion. An added bonus is that this is easily one of the most intricate, yet tasteful, CD booklet layouts I’ve ever seen. Oh, and the band actually smiles in their band photo. Imagine that! If you can appreciate a band that is not afraid to avoid the current trends, check these guys out.