This is a compilation of tracks from the Axemaster and Awakening demos, all featuring my old friend Joe Sims on guitar. The songs on here cover three recordings, and three different line-ups, between the two bands. It’s interesting to hear their sound progress from Thrashy traditional Metal, to heavier Thrash (still as Axemaster), and then sort of going back to a more old-style Metal sound as The Awakening. Of course they had a different singer for each of these recordings, so that and the production makes a huge difference in their sound and style. But what never changed about them was their great songwriting and playing abilities. It’s about time this stuff got released on CD!

This is a much-improved and more mature release than The Ballads II. Oceans of Time finds Axel venturing into Power Metal territory. Although still pretty melodic this release has some aggression and energy that was nowhere to be found on The Ballads II. Songs like “Pay the Price” and “Holy Creatures” have that galloping pace that is the trade-mark of the German Power Metal sound. The majority of the album, however, leans toward a more melodic sound bringing to mind the style of Angel Dust. Something that impresses me about this release is that, even though Axel is a virtuoso guitar-player, he never gets carried away with his solos. I can think of a few musicians who could learn a thing or two about restraint from Axel. The songs show creativity and strong musicianship, and they are well-written. one complaint I have about this album is the duration of the songs. Most of them are better than six minutes long, but “The Gates of the Seven Seals” surpasses the ten-minute mark. If they could just be trimmed down a little I think the songs would be much stronger. Although this material is not at the same level as that of Helloween or Blind Guardian it’s still solid Power Metal.

Oddly interesting & heavy combo of Death Metal and Techno.

[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.]

Majestic and atmospheric to be sure, and with beautiful female vocals, this is like the most mellow parts of Left Hand Solution or My Dying Bride, but with a piano. And as great as this is, I wouldn’t have minded it getting a little heavier every now and then.

I’m probably a bit biased about this CD, since I did all the graphic design, but I think it kicks ass. Avenger combines very memorable Death and Black Metal types of riffs, with a really tormented vocal style (unfortunately the lyrics aren’t in English, although translations are provided), to create an evil masterpiece.

This self-financed full-length disc is really a lot more like what I would expect to get from a label, than a demo. The production and packaging are both totally professional. I suppose that’s more common than not these days. You rarely hear a demo recorded on a 4-track anymore. I’m not sure if that’s always a good thing, since some bands seem to think that a professional presentation is more important than the music. Maybe it would be better to concentrate on the songs and leave the professional production and packaging for when you get signed. It’s a moot point in this case, however, as Aurora Borealis have nearly perfected their combination of Thrash, Death, and Black Metal, and the totally pro sound and design of this CD merely complete the package. So my question is: Have AB decided that they don’t need label support, and thus declined any offers, or are the world’s record labels really so blinded by the current retro trend that they’d let a great band like Aurora Borealis go unsigned?

I’ve got two words for you! Fast! Fast! This CD is nonstop from the beginning. Guitar riffs cutting into you, the snare drum beating you down; this is intense. The CD is ugly sounding, but that fits with the in your face attitude this band confronts you with. Pure Thrash attack with Black lyrics. Definitely a release to piss off the neighbors.

I guess this is what they mean when they say “getting medieval.” Ataraxia is indeed talented and is fully able to capture the spirit of those times long ago. Most of the time, you don’t even realize that they are using a synthesizer to produce the sounds of the instruments. I don’t know how many of you are into the feeling of the Middle Ages (though I could probably name about two dozen Black Metal bands who are heavily influenced by it), but I truly love this sort of thing. As an added bonus, they have also included several live tracks recorded in a medieval court, of all places. For all of those with a Pagan heart and a longing for the past.

The first all-female Black Metal band ever. Pretty cool.

[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.]

Well, this might be the best three bucks you’ll spend all year. AS have put together three very well written, catchy songs, that they refer to as Melodic Death Metal. Well, I’m not sure that I’d call this Death Metal exactly, but I suppose it’s as heavy as the new Death album, so maybe… Except for when they break out the cleanly sung vocals, which I don’t mind, but some of you might. At any rate, it’s all very well done, with generally excellent production, and for only $3, you’d be crazy to not check this out.

If not for the raw, screeched vocals, I’d be tempted to not include the term “Black Metal” in this review, but the lyrics also require it (no lyric sheet with the review copy, but I can make some out). At any rate, musically what we have here is alternately Thrashy and more mid paced Metal, with simple riffs and a suitably dirty production.

This sorrowful band sort of reminds me of a more Black Metal influenced My Dying Bride, but with some Cemetary thrown in, too. I kept waiting for the heavier, raspy, vocals to kick in, but they didn’t, which seems weird since a few places seemed to call for it, but there are vocal styles aplenty on here, anyway. Stormbirds is somewhat more refined than Seasons was, but Evereve still have yet to really bring it all together and deliver the perfect album that I think they can.

Leave it to Voices of Wonder to select yet another unique, stylistically undefinable act to release. This is the ultimate background/makeout/sleepytime/techno/tribal music to fall asleep to. While Esperanza is the dumbest band name I’ve heard, I hope the band fares better than the language did.

Pretty basic Death Metal, but very nicely done, and well recorded. It’s hard to tell, since the band photos are not exactly clear, but it looks almost as if the bassist is wearing a Morgue shirt. Now that would be cool. And the cover is a porno collage. I think there is real promise here, although not yet fully realized.

Thrashy Black Metal, with occasional keyboards. That’s nothing that hasn’t been done before, but Atanatos write very catchy songs, and have just the right kind of production to make this sound great.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.