A Cunning Man/Practical Applications Of Theurgy/2017 EP Review

  A  Cunning  Man  are  a  solo  project  from  Scotland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  melodic  death,  power  and  progressive  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  self  released  2017  ep  "Practical  Applications  Of  Theurgy".

  Tremolo  picking  which  gives  the  music  a  black  metal  feeling  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  clean  singing  that  adds  in  a  touch  of  pagan  and  power  metal  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a   great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  keyboards  are  also  added  into  some  parts  of  the  songs  while  also  adding  in  a  touch  of  prog.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts and  stringed  instruments  are  also  used  at  times  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  all  of  the  drum  beats  are  programmed  and  the  music  also  mixes  metal  influences  from  the  80's  up  to  modern  times  and  spoken  word  parts  are  added  onto  the  last  track.

  A  Cunning  Man  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  the  aggression  of  black  and  melodic  death  metal  and  mixes  it  with  the  melody  of  power  and  progressive  metal  to  create  something  very  original, the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  Occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  A  Cunning  Man  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  melodic  death,  power  and  progressive  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  solo  project.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Honorious  &  The  Choral  Forecast".  8  out  of  10.

https://acunningman.bandcamp.com/

Spectral/Artic Sunrise/Boersma Records/2017 Full Length Review

  Spectral  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black, viking, thrash  and  power  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  album  "Artic  Sunrise"  which  will  be  released  in  2017  by  Boersma  Records.

  Atmospheric synths  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts  a few  seconds  later  and  after  the intro  the  music  goes  into  a  heavier  direction  along  with  melodic  guitar  leads  also  being  added  onto  the  recording  while  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  also  make  their  presence  known  along  with  a  few  death  metal  growls.

  A  great  amount  of  melody  can  be  heard  in  the  guitar  riffing  and  they  also  mix  the  keyboards  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs  which  also  gives  the  album  more  of  an  epic  feeling  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard.

  Clean  guitars  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  riffs  also  mix  in  a  great  amount  of  thrash  metal  elements  along  with  some  of  the  solos and  leads  mixing  in  an  old  school  style  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  great  amount  of  viking  metal  elements  are  added  onto  the  recording  and  one  track  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  air  raid  sirens  and  war  samples  and  the  melodies  are  also  very  heavily  influenced  by  power  metal and  a  later  track  also  adds  in  a  few  seconds  of  acoustic  guitars.

  Spectral  plays  a   musical  style  that  takes  melodic  black,  viking,  thrash  and  power  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create a sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics cover  Norse  Mythology,  Vikings  and  Epic  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Spectral  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  melodic  black,  viking,  thrash  and  power  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Evil  Takes  Control"  "In  Battle  With  Fire  &  Steel"  and  "Fuck  Off  And  Die  (Metal  Is  Forever)".  8 out  of  10.

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Behind The Shadows/Raising Hell/Visionaire Records/2016 EP Review

  Behind  The  Shadows  are  a  band  from  Greece  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  death  and  power  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  ep  "Raising  Hell"  which  will  be  released  on  May  18th  by  Visionaire  Records.

  Clean  singing  power  metal  vocals  along  with  a  heavy  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  ep  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  use  a  lot  of  melody  and  also  adds  more  of  a  traditional  metal  style  to  the  recording  and  classical  guitars  can  also  be  heard  in  the  music  at  times.

  When  spoken  word  parts are  utilized  they  give  the  music  more  of  a  ritualistic  feeling  and  after  awhile  grim  black  metal  screams  make  their  presence  known  on  the  recording  along  with  the  riffs  adding  in  more  melodic  death  metal  elements  and  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  and  when  keyboards  are  finally  added  onto  the  recording  they  give  the  music  more  of  an  epic  and  symphonic  feeling  and  growls  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and all  of  the  songs  sound  different  from  each  other.

  Behind  The  Shadows  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  power  metal  and  mixes  it  with  black,  melodic  death  metal  and  some  symphonic  elements  to  create  something  very  original  sounding,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Behind The  Shadows  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of power,  black  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Give  Me  Your  Soul"  and  "Bloody  paradise".  8  out  of  10.

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ORCumentary Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the musical project since the recording of the new album?



Finishing the album was a big relief, but no rest for the wicked, as they say. I have two CD pre-release shows lined up in a couple weeks, so I’m busy rehearsing 7 new songs.



2.You have a new album coming out in October, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?



Destroy the Dwarves is a continuation of the style on Orcs 1 Goblins 0, which is the album I think of as ORCumentary’s true beginning. I coined a new “genre” called “orc rock”, because it’s legitimately difficult to sum up my style quickly. I incorporate influences from music I like (mainly melodic death, industrial metal, power metal, and folk metal). I have fast songs, mid songs, slow songs, straightforward songs, long songs, melodic songs, aggressive songs, you get the idea. I work very hard to make sure every song is one I can be proud of, one I will enjoy playing live, and one that offers something that hasn’t been presented in an ORCumentary song before.



Bringing all that back to your original question, I went even further on both ends of the musical spectrum with Destroy the Dwarves. To give two quick(ish) examples, there’s one song towards the end of the album that’s about 3 minutes long. Very catchy and straightforward. It starts out as kind of a garage rock song but it kind of builds into something heavier and there’s a great guitar solo in it. Now compare that to a song around the middle that’s 7 minutes long, has an ambient intro, switches tempos midway through, and has extended instrumental sections. That and everything in between is what listeners can expect to hear on Destroy the Dwarves.



3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore with the newer music?



Lyrically, ORCumentary’s music follows a storyline. To sum it up quickly, Orc Adams, hero of the orcs and wielder of the Keyboard of Mayhem, is on a mission to establish orc supremacy and lay low all the other races in The Five Lands. Destroy the Dwarves is a continuation of that story and the Dwarves are on the chopping block next. The Dwarves raise a white flag and want to meet with Adams to make a peace treaty, but the hero of the Orcs has other ideas. Needless to say, things don’t go according to plan for either party. There’s lots of violence, flatulence (as Dwarves are rather gassy), scheming, razor-sharp wit, and the ending is rather shocking.



4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name ORCumentary?



It literally means “a documentary about orcs.” The lyrical content has always been from the perspective of orcs, but everything after my debut album follows a continuous storyline.



5.On the albums you record everything my yourself, are you planning on expanding the line up in the future or do you chose to remain solo?



I get asked this question a lot. I thought about making it a full band once, went as far as to seriously consider it. However, ORCumentary means too much to me to allow anyone else to be a part of the process, if that makes sense. It’s been my creative outlet for almost 10 years. It has also already been established as a solo band, and people love it that way. It’s part of what makes ORCumentary stand out. Something huge would be lost if other people were added to the mix It’s nice to be in complete control of everything, although the downside of that is if I’m not motivated, nothing gets done. If I could do absolutely everything myself for ORCumentary I would, but I don’t have the skills/means to do the mastering and artwork. Luckily, Not A Damn Cheese Design and I are always on the same page when it comes to bringing my ideas to life, and my friend Ben Lane does a great job mastering.



6.What are some of the best shows that you have played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?



My live show is literally just me on stage with a keyboard and a mic. I have a larger-than-life stage presence, which makes up for the lack of members. Orc Adams on stage is the complete opposite of what I’m like in real life. He’s boisterous, loud, demanding, arrogant, but he’s got a great sense of humor (although I have a good sense of humor too) and the stage shenanigans are really hard to take seriously. Anyways, I do vocals and play keyboard parts live. It’s very energetic, or so I like to think.



My favorite show so far has been my CD release back in 2013 for Orcs 1 Goblins 0. For the songs “Orc and the Butterfly” and “Sword of Iron”, a group of about 15 people came up and helped me do the gang vocal parts. It was pretty surreal. I also opened for Agalloch back in 2012, which was really cool too.



7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?



Nothing concrete, but I’m probably going to take it easy for the rest of this year. Might pick up a couple shows, but next year is when the heavier gigging will take place. I can’t do extensive touring, but I want to do a few weekend tours next spring/summer; hopefully the Philly area, maybe return to Buffalo, who knows?



8.Can you tell us a little bit more about Orc Rock Records?



Most people/publications take artists who are signed more seriously, so that was honestly the only reason why I put it on there.



9.In one interview you talked about your interest in fantasy novels, what are some of the fantasy authors that you have taken an interest in lately?



Terry Brooks is my favorite author. 5 of his books are at the top of my “to read” list. R.A. Salvatore is one of my favorites too, although I haven’t read any of his books in years (he’ll be next). I really liked the first four books in The Sword of Truth series, but I couldn’t stick with the fifth one. Jacqueline Carey wrote this really interesting duology called The Sundering, which portrayed the “villains” as the heroes often are, and the “heroes” as the villains often are.



To be honest, I haven’t been good about keeping up with new authors and those recommended to me because up until a few years ago I had kind of “fallen out” of reading. Now that things have settled down a bit in my life, I’ve been re-reading a lot of the ones I own. I want to be “caught up”, per se, before pursuing new authors and books. Over the past few years, I’ve reread LOTR, Harry Potter, Dragonlance Chronicles (which was a bit of a disappointment), and some Terry Brooks too.



10.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of metal?



The response is mostly positive. Usually the only really negativity is from the online community. It’s definitely a love it or hate it thing. The people who come out to shows have a great time and can appreciate not only the comedic aspects, but the musicianship too. I’m really lucky that the response has been as supportive and positive as it has been.



11.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician in the future?



I’d like to continue to keep songwriting as my main focus. I’ve kind of started a side band (actual band with other people) and I have 4 songs in various stages of completion for that. I don’t want to talk too much about it, but I really want to do just vocals live if it kicks off and we start doing shows.



I like the idea of getting back into playing sheet music as well. I took piano lessons for 11 years (age 7 to 18), but after I graduated high school, my main focus has been on songwriting. Getting back into technical and theoretical study on the piano would be great, but it depends on if I have the musical time for it.



Eventually I’d like to start a project for ambient/soundtrack style music, but again it’s about having the time and sufficient inspiration. The vast majority of what I listen to is metal, so that’s what I want to play and write most of the time. I have a really hard time finding non-metal that’s interesting, so I think I’d like to make whatever ambient/non-metal side project similar to ORCumentary, in the sense that I’d take influence from lots of other genres and just write what I like to hear.



12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?



My favorite subgenres are melodic death metal, power metal, and industrial metal. I’m influenced by a lot of different bands these days, but my favorites are Elvenking, Mnemic, Soilwork, Poets of the Fall, and Thrice. I also really like certain soundtracks like LOTR. I can find something good in most styles of music, whether it’s something I personally enjoy or not



13.What are some of your non-musical interests?



My non-musical interests include reading, walking, archery (although I don’t get to do it very often), video games, and movies. I love spring and fall weather and I try to be outside as much as possible in those times of year.



14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?



Thanks for your thoughtful questions and for taking the time to listen to my music. Keep orc rock alive!

https://orcumentary.bandcamp.com/

ORCumentary/Destroy The Dwarves/Orc Rock Records/2015 Full Length Review

  ORCumentary  are  a  solo  project  from  the   Orc  lands  that  plays  a  mixture  of  folk,  industrial,  power,  black  and  death  metal  and  this is  a  review  of  his  2015  album  "Destroy  the  Dwarves"  which  was  released  by  Orc  Rock  Records.

  Neo  folk  style  keyboards  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  grim  black  metal  screams  a  few  seconds  later  and  once  the  music  gets  heavy  elements  of  industrial  and  death  metal  can  be  heard  as  well  as  some  growling  vocals  being  mixed  in  at  times  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melodies.

  Throughout  the  recording  there  is  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  some  tracks  also  mix  heavy  parts  with  electro  industrial  elements  and  you  can  also  hear  clean  singing  on  some  of  the  tracks  and  as  the  album  progresses  folk  instruments  can  be  heard  at  times  while  some  songs  can  also  be  very  symphonic  at  times  and  when  solos  and  leads a re  utilized  they  give  the  music  more  of  an  old  school  metal  feeling.

  ORCumentary  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  death,  black,  industrial,  folk  and  power  metal  and  mixes  them  to  create  a  musical  style  known  as  'orc  rock',  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  orcs,  goblins  and  dwarf  themes.

  In  my  opinion  ORCumentary  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death,  black,  industrial,  folk  and  power  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  solo  project.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Destroy  the  Dwarves"  "He  Drank  Deep  From  His  Mug"  "Within  The  Folds  Of  My  Fat"  and  "Cropduster".  8  out  of  10.    

http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=115689

   

Revealing The Conscience/Time Will Reveal/WormHoleDeath Records/2015 CD Review

  Revealing  The  Conscience  are  a  band  from  Slovakia  that  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  power,  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Time  Will  Reveal"  which  was  released  by  WormHoleDeath  Records.

A  very  symphonic  sound  starts  off  the  album  bringing  in  a  classical  music  feeling  and  after  the  intro  melodic  progressive  metal  guitar  leads  start  becoming  a  huge  part  of  the  recording  while  also  keeping  around  the  symphonic  elements  and  after  awhile  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  screams  are  used  on  a  regular  basis.

  You  can  hear  a  great  amount  of  melody  in  the  guitar  riffing  at  times  while  the  power  metal  influence  is  mixed  in  with  the  musical  instruments  and  the  vocals  stick  to  a  more  aggressive  style  and  as  the  album  progresses  the  songs  start  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  and  one  of  the  later  tracks  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  clean  playing  before  return  back  to  a  heavier  direction  while  a  small  amount  of  spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard.

  Revealing  The  Conscience  takes  both  black  and  death  metal  and  combines  them  together  with  symphonic  metal  and  the  melody  of  power  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  metaphysical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Revealing  The  Conscience  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  and  symphonic  mixture  of  black,  death  and  power  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Hellbinder"  "Struggling  Within"  "Farewell"  and  "God  And  Satan".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.facebook.com/revealthecon
http://www.youtube.com/revthecon  

  

Dissension Interview

please direct people to www.facebook.com/dissensionmtl or www.twitter.com/dissensionmtl as band links

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?

Dissension is a five piece band composed of a vocalist/ guitarist, lead guitarist, drummer, bassist and keyboardist- just to be clear so as to not be mistake with an acoustic black metal band hahaha (not that there is anything wrong with that). We also enjoy red beer and long romantic walks along the beach, you know nothing too crazy.

2.How would you describe your musical sound?

 We are a band that likes to experiment with a lot of different sounds and likes to take advantage of metal’s capacity to incorporate and dominate different kinds of music. With that in mind, the many people who have commented on our music see it as a hybrid mix between black, thrash, power and melo-death metal. Now, we are not pretensious enough to claim that our music is unparalleled in the whole cosmos and we don’t fit into any genre. It’s just difficult to place us hahaha. Beyond that, we really like to take the listener to sometimes very epic heights and then to the dark depths. It’s the balance between the two that we like to play on as for us, our songs are like stories, and the music reflects the movements within.  

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Well thematically we noticed that a lot of our songs deal with death. This is why we chose to name our album after our song Of Time and Chronic Disease. What we are trying to convey with this the idea that in an world that is godless death represents a final and absolute end, that is eternal and dark. Our lyrics then tend to represent this aspect of human reality that eventually death finds all living things and what humans do in the face of that reality. Some despair, some triumph, and some fall into delusion, and it is this very human reality that we like to deal with.

4. The band was originally called Set To Kill, what was the decision behind the name change and how would you say the music evolved since those days?

Well firstly, Set To Kill was somewhat of a retarded band name hahaha. We made it up when we were sixteen and first starting the band. When we had a bit of a lineup change, our bassist stepping down from vocals duties and our rhythm guitar playing taking his place, we also saw that the band was maturing and so we decided for a name change. Also,. There was this shitty emo band named Eyes Set To Kill and well, we hated the affiliation!

5. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name Dissension?

Dissention was a song of ours (however we spelt it with a T) and it was a favoured song of ours at the time so we chose to name ourselves accordingly.  Dissenstion spelt with a T means literally going down. However, when spelt with an S, thus Dissension, it denotes something a little more diabolic as the word dissension means violent disagreement in a political or social sense. For example, an anti-capitalist riot is dissension within the capitalist system. Now, when Satan rebelled against God, this was also a form of dissension, and so in taking on this name we place ourselves in that satanic light. Of course we can go on into a discussion about Satanism and what that means, but the way we like to see it is that you rebel against something, you fight for an idea, even if there is no possibility of victory because winning is not the point, its rather just the fact that you fought despite knowing the inevitable outcome.  And this of course ties back into the reality of death. It’s something we all must face and if you just through in the towel saying, oh well I’m going to die anyways might as l live like shit, then that is defeat. Rather, living in a way that defies death even if it cannot be achieved, that is heroic, And so, with that in mind, we called ourselves Dissension. It’s the dissension against death.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

Well for our sound it’s always best to play in bigger and louder venues. Thus our show at Heavy MTL was definitely one of the most memorable at we had a massive stage, all the  room in the world to run around, a fucking excellent crowd and a great sound to go with it. For a band that’s used to playing bars, a big stage performance is something we had always dreamed of. We also played the Wacken Metal Battle Canada finals in Toronto on another massive stage (the Opera House) and just to see a crowd who had relatively no idea who we were react so well to us was a great honour. Also, as I side not, we loose our fucking minds on stage, falling into somewhat of a religious ecstasy when we play (which sometimes has hilarious consequences), and a microphone attached to a animal skull decorated battle axe sometimes makes an appearance.

7. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

Those are definitely in the works. Once we play our album release show on September 9^th at Les Founes Electriques (an excellent venue) we plan to do some out of city gigs along with as many shows as we can during the winter with possibly a summer tour. But we shall see.

8.The new album came out on Blk Coq Musik, how did you get in contact with this label and how would you describe the support they have given you so far?

Our glorious manager Pedro Barbossa started Blk Coq records, and he has been with us for several years. So naturally when he created the label, we hoped on. It has only been around for a few months its still in its infancy, but we hope to see its grow and expand into something huge.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of underground metal?

We haven’t released the full album yet, that will be on September 10^th. We shall see the worldwide feedback then. For nor, our single Of Time and Chronic Disease is released and its getting some great reaction. For a Montreal band, we didn’t expect the positive reaction and support we have thus far been getting. Yet even before this release we have had proposals to go to Europe and what have you, all we need now is the cash to do so. So come support!

10.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

On a music standpoint we already have a shit load of material building for another album. And so the direction is really upwards as we have played a few of these new songs live and they have gotten excellent reactions. We are always trying to incorporate different aspects into our music, but certainly shit will get darker as we grow music wise. We are also all in this for the long haul and we would like to see our band take off in a bigger way.

11.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays? 

Certainly Children of Bodom, Death, Dimmu Borgir are bands we all listen to. However what good about or bands is that each member listens to shit very different from the other so while our Keyboardist and drummr are into a lot of tech-death, our guitarist and vocalist are heavily into black metal while we have a jazz bassist hahah. So the list would be long. But lately, we are all waiting the new Behemoth album, we all like Ghost, Amon Amarth (great new album), the Faceless, Dissection, Watain (not decided on their new album) to name a big few.

12.Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Most of our guys are in school studying various shit. Our lead guitarist Conti is in History, or Keyboardist is a an evil Chemist while our vocalist (me) is studying religion.

13.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Thanks for the chance to have us spill our load the blog! Also our album launches September 10 worldwide, we have a promotional show for it on the 13^th, so if anyways wants to write nasty shit on our facebook and click the fuck you button next to the attend button, it would be very much appreciated!

And of course, we must hail Satan.  

Dissension/Of Time And Chronic Disease/Blk Coq Musik/2013 CD Review

  Dissension  are  a  band  from  Montreal,  Quebec,  Canada  that  plays  a  mixture  of  melodic  death,  black,  thrash  and  power  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "Of  Time  And  Chronic  Disease"  which  was  released  by  Blk  Coq  Musik.

  "Thralls  To  The  Crucified"  begins  with  some heavy  guitar  riffs,  drums  and  symphonic  keyboards  before  going  into  a  faster  direction  and  adding  in  some  blast  beats  which  leads  to  some  melodic  guitar  riffing  and  black  metal  screams  while also  keeping  the  heavy  and  symphonic  elements  and  after  awhile  there  is  a  brief  use  of  melodic  guitar  leads  as  well  which  come  in  and  out  as  some  thrash  influences  being  thrown  into  the  music,  after  awhile  you  can  hear  some  powerful  bass  playing  coming  in  for  a  few  seconds.

  "Graceless  Death"  begins  with  some  thrash  style  guitar  riffs,  drums  and  spoken  word  parts  before  going  into  a  faster  direction  and  adding  in  blast  beats  and  black  metal  screams  which  leads  to some  keyboards  and  melodic  riffing  while  also  remaining  heavy  at  the  same  time  as  well  as  switching  back  and  forth  between  slow  and  fast  parts  and  after  awhile  you  can  hear  some  powerful  bass  playing  which  leads  to  some  melodic  guitar  solos  while  keeping  the  rhythms  and  symphonic  elements  around  which  leads  to  the  music  going  more  into  a  thrash  direction.

  "Blacksteel"  begins  with  some  melodic  guitar  riffing,  powerful  bass  playing  and  drums  setting  up the  mood  for  some  screams  along  with  some  keyboards  and  back  up  shouts  which  leads  to the  song  mixing  in  more  fast  and  heavy  parts  and  after  a  couple of  minutes  there  is  a  brief  use  of  melodic  guitar  solos  along  with  some  prog  style  keyboards  before  going  into  a  more  heavy  direction.

  "Brutality"  starts  off  with  some  heavy  guitar  riffs  and  drums  which  leads  to some  keyboards  and  after  awhile  the  song  goes  into  a  faster  direction  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  screams  while  also  keeping  the  keyboards  around  and  as  the  song  moves  on  melodic  elements  get  mixed  in  with  the  heavy  parts  and  mixes  in  some  guitar  leads  coming  in  and  out as  well  as  the  keyboards  adding  in  prog  elements.

  "Set  To  Kill"  begins  with  some  drums,  keyboards  and  melodic riffing  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  and  adding  in  the  screams  while  also  keeping  melodic  and  symphonic  elements  around and  after  a  couple  of  minutes  guitar  leads  start  kicking  in  briefly  and  mixing  with  the  rhythm  parts.

  "Legacy"  begins  with  some  soft  acoustic  guitar  playing  which  utilizes  both  finger  picking  and  full  chords  which  leads  to  some  drums  and  bass  playing  before  the  heavy,  melodic  guitar  riffs  kick  in  along  some  blast  beats  and  keyboards  setting  up  the  mood  for t he  music  to  get  heavier  and  adding  in  death  metal  growls  and  after  a  few  minutes  it  starts  getting  more  symphonic  and  adds  in  some  black  metal  vocals  along  with  some  powerful  bass  playing  but  remaining  heavy  all  at  the  same  time  and  after  a  few  minutes there  is  a  brief  use  of  guitar  solos  mixing  in  with  the  riffs.

  "Dreamsong  Of  The  Divine"  begins  with  some  keyboards  and  serves  as  an  intro  for  the  next  song.

  "Of  Time  And  Chronic  Disease"  begins  with  some  soft  acoustic  guitar  playing  and keyboards  which  leads  to  some  heavy  guitar  riffs  and drums  while  also  remaining  symphonic  and  adding  in  some  screams  and  after  awhile deep  death  metal  growls  start  kicking  in  and  as  the  song  moves  on  its  goes  into  a  faster  direction  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  guitar  solos  before  going  into  a  slower  direction  with  some  powerful  bass  playing  but  keeping  the  solos  around  which  leads  to  the  music  switching  back  and  forth  between  the  slow  and  fast  parts.

  "Dissention"  begins  with  some  keyboards  and  drums  setting  up  the  mood  for  some  heavy  guitar  riffing  as  well  as  introducing  the  screams  and  melodies  along  with  a  small  amount  of  death  metal  growls  and  after  awhile  the  music  goes  into  a  faster  direction  along  with  some  blast  beats  which  leads  to  some  guitar  solos  shortly after  that  mixing  in  with  the  fast  riffing  and  after  awhile  the  song  goes  into  a  slow  yet  heavy  direction  and  towards  the  end  there  is  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  samples.

  "Apoetheosis" begins  with  heavy  guitar  riffing,  melodic  leads  and  drums  which  lead  to  some  screams  and  after  that  the  music  goes  more  into  a  heavy  and  symphonic  direction  along  with  a  brief  use  of  deep  growls  while  also  keeping  the  screams  around  and  as  the  song  moves  on  guitar  solos  start  kicking  in  for  awhile  and  mixing  with  the  riffing  and  drums  as  well  as  going  into  a  cleaner  direction  along  with  some  powerful  bass  playing  before  getting  heavy  again  and  adding  in  some  symphonic  elements.

 Song  lyrics  cover  the  darker  side  of  nature,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  along  with  some  of  the  songs  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  Dissension a re  a  very  great  sounding  hybrid  of  black,  melodic  death,  symphonic,  thrash  and  power  metal  and   if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Thralls  To  The  Crucified"  "Blacksteel"  "Set  To  Kill"  and  "Apoetheosis".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

 http://youtu.be/MSwsB05TCeI