Tanagra/Meridiem/2019 Full Length Review

    Tanagra  are  a  band  from  Portland,  Oregon  that  plays  a  mixture  of  progressive  power  metal  and  symphonic  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2019  album  "Meridiem".

  Epic  sounding  synths  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  classical  guitars  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music  at  times.  A  great  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  while  the  songs  also  mix  in  a  great  amount  of  symphonic  elements.

  Clean  power  metal  vocals a re  also  a  very  huge  part  of  the  recording  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  melody.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  brought  into  the  music  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  along  with  the  music  also  mixing  in  a  great  amount  of  progressive  elements.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  elements  of  black  metal  and  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  as  well  as  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  Stringed  instruments  are  also  added  into  some  parts  of  the  music  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them,  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the recording.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  self  released  while  the  lyrics  cover  science  fiction,  fantasy,  history,  time  and  dreams. 

  In  my  opinion  Tanagra  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  progressive  power  metal  and  symphonic  black  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Meridiem"  "Etheric  Alchemy"  and  "Across  The  Ancient  Desert".  8  out  of  10.

 https://www.metal-rules.com/2019/03/08/portland-power-metal-tanagra-reveals-enticingly-epic-meridiem-off-new-album-via-metal-rules-com/ 

Waste Of Space Orchestra/Syntheosis/Svart Records/2019 CD Review

  Waste  of  Space  Orchestra  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  consists  of  members  from  Oranssi  Pazuzu  and  Dark  Buddha  Rising  that  plays  a  psychedelic  mixture  of  black,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Syntheosis"  which  will be  released  in  April  by  Svart  Records.

  Avant  garde  style  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  clean  playing  a  few  seconds  later  while  the  music  also  gets  very  experimental  at  times  as  well as  mixing  into  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs.  At  times  the  music  also  gets  very  psychedelic  sounding  mixing  the  60's  sound  with    more  modern  style.

  Elements  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  the  slower  riffing  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  and  grim  black  metal  screams  are  also used  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  tremolo picking  and  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  which  also  expands  on  the  black  metal  influence  that  is  a  very  huge  part  of  the  recording.  Throughout  the  album  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  and  mid  tempo  parts.  Keyboards,  electronics  and  effects  are  also  a  very  huge  part  of  the  tracks.

  Some  of  the  songs  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  as  well  as  the  music  also getting  very  shamanistic  and  ritualistic  sounding  at  times.  As  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  female  vocals  can  also  be  heard  along  with  the  songs  also  getting  more  diverse,  one  track  also  introduces  demonic  vocals  onto  the  recording.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  a  concept album  involving  3  beings  and  their  search  for  knowledge  along  with  some  shamanistic,  occult,  esoteric  and  alien  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Waste  of  Space Orchestra  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  psychedelia,  black,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres, you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Void  Monolith"  "Journey  To  The  Center  Of  Mass"  "Infinite  Gate  Opening"  and  "Syntheosis".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.facebook.com/wasteofspaceorchestra/

The Munsens/Unhanded/Sailor Records/2019 CD Review

  The  Munsens  are  a  band  from  Denver,  Colorado  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  stoner  and  doom  metal  with  some  elements  of  punk  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Unhanded"  which  was  released  by  Sailor  Records.

  Clean  guitars  start  off  the  album  while  black  metal  screams  are  also  utilized  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording.  During  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  while  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  are  very  heavily  rooted  in  doom  metal.

  Elements  of  atmospheric  post  black  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  music  while  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  The  songs  also  mix  in  influences  of  stoner  metal,  punk  and  hardcore  throughout all  of  the  tracks  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  as  well  as  the  riffs  also  adding  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  greed, mortality.  misanthropy,  religion,  history  and  American  capitalism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  The  Munsens  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  doom  and  stoner  metal  with  some  elements  of  punk  and  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Pitiful"  and  "Rivers  Of  Error".  8  out  of  10.

https://themunsensnj.bandcamp.com/

Norvhar Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band? We are an Epic Folk Metal band from Lausanne, Switzerland. We are 6 musicians and we all have a big experience of stage in others bands. We exist for 2 years now.

2.Recently you have released an ep, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style you went for on the recording? As we are influenced by a lot of bands and styles, we tried to mix our main inspirations to create our own universe. We did a mix between the “drinking songs” part of folk metal and the “epicness” side.

3. A lot of your lyrics are influenced by both Nordic Mythology and the writings of J.R.R Tolkien, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these topics? In Norvhar all of us have read books of Tolkien and many more fantasy authors.We also have a quite good knowledge of Nordic mythology, so it appeared as a natural way to us to use both of those thematics.

4. Originally the band was called 'Harmoniks', what was the cause of the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name "Norvhar'? We decided to change because Harmoniks has been running for around 10 years. There were no former members in the band anymore, and we chose to change name before our 1st EP, as a “new beginning”. The meaning of “Norvhar” is quite simple actually : we had another band years ago which was called “Nordreign”, and we used the “NOR” particle. We also would like to keep something from Harmoniks so we kept the “HAR”. And finally we thought about the “visual” part of the band’s logo, so we chose to add a “V” in the middle.

5. Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the ep cover? It’s been created and drawn by the swiss designer Agnès Keller, who is a good friend of us. We explained her the ideas and the concept behind “Kauna” and she did this beautiful artwork! This artwork presents the place where the story of Kauna is happening: an old and dark forest, filled with creatures.

6. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance? We played as open act for Finntroll some months ago, it was a really nice show and a killer crowd! By the past we also opened for bands such Tyr, Moonsorrow, Black Messiah. But as far as we are on stage, despite the size of the venue or the number of people in front of us, we do the best show we can. It’s important for us because we have seen too many gigs as spectators with bands playing with sad faces because there were not as many people as they wanted etc.. Our stage performances as always full of fun and smiles, we love to play for people and we try to bring the best ambiance !

7. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future? We will be playing at Lid Ar Morrigan Fest in May, it’s a very nice festival near Nantes. We’ll also play in Lenzburg in June with Morgarten and more. The second half of 2019 will be more interesting.

8. Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest? We have been contacted by a few companies, but for the moment we are not looking for collaboration. We would like to remain the “masters” of our work, and maybe in the future we’ll be looking for a worldwide distributor.

9. On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of folk metal? Very positive! We received reviews and feedbacks from all over the world. We’ve sent CDs to fans in Canada, USA, Mexico, Germany and France for example, and we are also distributed in Japan by a store in Osaka.

10. What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of? Some of us are playing in other swiss acts like AM:PM, Peace Is Just A Break, Darkrise, Murge, Mathilde, and our drummer is touring with even more bands. We are very active! We also have founded an association, called SONS OF YMIR, to promote local and international folk metal bands by organizing shows and festivals. We did the 1st edition the 16th of February and we invited Celtachor from Ireland.

11.When can we expect a full length and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future? Actually we have already begun the composing process for the upcoming album, I think we’ll release it in 2020. We don’t want to wait too long, because we would like to climb the ladder a little bit ;)

12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays? I personally am a huge fan of the old folk metal scene, with acts like Moonsorrow or Finntroll or Ensiferum etc and I am pretty sure that the others feel the same. On a more recent point we all like the work of Equilibrium, especially the “epic” touch they add. The list is very long!

13.What are some of your non musical interests? We all work beside Norvhar, and we practice together our biggest passion : drinking beers and writing epic stuff. But we also are normal human being, so we love different kind of activities of course.

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

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Dreams Of The Drowned/Self Titled/Cult Of Nine Records/2019 Full Length Review

  Dreams  Of  The  Drowned  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  mixture  of  psychedelic  avant  garde  black/gray  metal  and  anarcho  post  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2019  album  which  will  be  released  on  March  20th  by  Cult  Of  Nine  Records.

  Atmospheric  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  and  after  the  first  track  the  music  goes  into  a  heavier  direction.  A  great  amount  of  dissonant  melodies  can  also  be  heard  in  the  guitar  riffing  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  some  clean  avant  garde  style  vocals  also  being   utilized  at  times.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  while  grim  black  metal  screams  are  also  a  very  huge  part  of  the  music,  During  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  Elements  of  post  punk  can  also  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  along  with  the  guitar  solos  and  leads  also  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.  as  well as  some  synths  also  being  utilized  at  times  Some of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length  while  psychedelic  elements  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  music.

  They  also  bring  in  a  cover  of  Dodheimsgard  "Midnattskogens  Sorte  Kjerne".  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  European  Witchcraft,  atypical  mental  states,  the  feeling  of  loss,  the  forest,  the  will  to  reclaim  long-gone  connexions  and  power  from  within,  and  the  urge  to  properly  name  and  subsequently  confront  power-overs.

  In  my  opinion  Dreams  Of  the  Drowned  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  avant  garde  black/gray  metal,  psychedelic  and  anarcho  post  punk  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Conciliabules"   Real  And  Sound"  and  "Danced".  8  out  of  10.

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Lord Vampyr/Death Comes Under The Sign Of The Cross/Sleaszy Rider Records/2019 Full Length Review

  Lord  Vampyr  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  started  out  as  more  of  a  symphonic  black  metal  but  have  evolved  into  more  of  goth  and  industrial  metal  direction  on  past  releases  before  going  into  more  of  goth  and  traditional  metal  style  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Death  Comes  Under  The  Sign  Of  The  Cross"  which  was  released  by  Sleaszy  Rider  Records.

  Battle  sounds  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  classical  guitars  and  synths  a  few  seconds  later.  A  great  amount  of  melody  can  also  be  heard  in  the  guitar  riffing  while  the  vocals  are  done  in  a  mostly  clean  style  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.

  Some  of  the  vocals  also  have  some  touches  of  heavy  and  power  metal  while  some  tracks  also  add  in  some  synths.  Spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  briefly  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  as  well  as  the  music  also  having  a  good  mixture  of  80's  and  90's  influences.

  A  touch  of  black  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  fast  tremolo  picking  when  it  is  utilized  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  symphonic  sounds  can  also  be  heard  as  well  as  the  closing  track  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Vampirism  and  Anti  Religion  themes.

  In  my  opinion  while  Lord  Vampyr  have  moved  away  from  black  or  industrial  metal  they  still  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  goth,  dark  and  heavy  metal  and  if  would  recommend  this  band  to  fans  of  those  genres.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Death  Comes  Under  The  Sign  of  The  Cross"  "Iconoclast  Heresy"  and  "Violent  Awarness  of  the  Absence  Of  God".  8  out  of  10.

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Norvhar/Kauna/2019 EP Review

  Norvhar  are  a  band  from  Switzerland  that  plays  an  epic  form  of  pagan  folk  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2019  ep  'Kauna".

  Atmospheric  yet  epic  sounding  keyboards  start  off  the  ep  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts  a  few  seconds  later  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  on  the  following  track.  When  acoustic  guitars  are  utilized  they  also  give  the  music  more  of  a  folk  music  feeling  along  with  some  death  metal  growls also  being  utilized  at times.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast beats  can  be  heard while  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.  Elements  of  black  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  screams  along  with  the  songs  also  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  Flutes  can  also  be  heard  on  some  of  the  tracks  while  spoken  word  parts  also  make  a  return  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  the  riffs  also  bringing  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody,  nature  sounds  can  also  be  heard  briefly  as  well  as  a  couple  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  clean  vocals  can  also  be  heard  briefly  on  the  closing  track.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  Norse  Paganism  and  the  writings  of J.R.R  Tolkien.

  In  my  opinion  Norvhar  are  a  very  great  sounding  epic  pagan  folk  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Fest  In  Midgard"  and  "Fields  Of  Fate".  8  out  of  10.

https://norvhar.bandcamp.com/