Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Planks/The Darkest Of Grays Solicit To Fail/Southern Lord Records/2011 CD Review


 Planks are a band from Germany that mixes crust/punk noise rock, black metal and black'n' roll together and this is a review of their 2011 album The Darkest Of Grays Solicit To Fail" which was released by Southern Lord Records.

Drums range from slow, mid paced to fast drumming with a good amount of blast beats being thrown in, while the bass playing has a very heavy and strong tone with a lot of powerful sounding riffs that are very noisy and distorted, as for the synths which are only utilized briefly they bring a very dark avant garde edge to the music.

Rhythm guitars range from slow, mid paced to fast riffs that combine influences from crust/punk, noise rock, black metal and black 'n' roll  to create a sound that is very original sounding and on the instrumental there is some soft and slow playing, while the lead guitars when they are utilized they are very dark, distorted and melodic sounding.

Vocals are a mixture of crust/hardcore style yells and screams that are also heavily influenced by black metal with some occasional spoken word passages and samples, while the lyrics cover everyday and hateful themes, as for the production it has a very heavy and raw sound to it while still being professional enough to the point where you can hear all of the musical instruments.

In my opinion Planks are a very good and original band that combines sludge with noise rock, crust/punk, black metal and black'n' roll together and if you are looking for a band that combines these styles together, you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Sacred And Secret" "The Dead Return To War" "A Casket City" and "Into The Nothingness Within". RECOMMENDED BUY.

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Monday, May 2, 2011

Sinstorm/Self Titled/2011 CD Review


Sinstorm are a band from California that has been interviewed as well as had their previous e.p reviewed by this zine with a style that I would describe as melodic black/death with some symphonic elements and this is a review of their self titled and self released 2011 album.

Drums range from slow, mid paced to fast drumming with a great amount of blast beats being used at times, while the bass playing is kind of mixed down low in the mix and seems to follow the riffing that is coming out of the guitars, and on some songs there are symphonic elements but not much in the way to over dominate the music with some dark keyboard effects.

Rhythm guitars range from low, mid paced to fast melodic black metal riffs that are also heavily influenced by death metal, while the lead guitars are very melodic and chaotic sounding black/death metal guitar solos that also utilize a lot of skill, as for  the acoustic guitars when they are utilized they bring another dark dimension to the music.

Vocals are all high pitched black metal screams mixed in with some deep death metal growls and on one song there is a spoken word ritualistic passage, while the lyrics cover Heathenism, Occultism, killing, hatred and death, as for the production it sounds very heavy and professional for a self released album.

In my opinion this is another great release from Sinstorm and if where a fan of their previous recordings, you will not be disappointed.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "CelestialExtinction" "Transcending Dimension" "Storms Of The Heretic Millennium" and "Trooper" which is an Iron Maiden cover. RECOMMENDED BUY.

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Sunday, May 1, 2011

Suidakra/Book Of Dowth/AFM Records/2011 CD Review


  Suidakra are a band from Germany that mixes melodic black metal with folk music and this is a review of their 2011 album "Book Of Dowth" which was released by AFM Records.

Drums range from slow, mid paced to fast with a great amount of brutal blast beats, while the keyboards are very atmospheric and symphonic with some pagan sounding flutes being utilized at times, as for the bass playing it is kind of mixed down low in the mix and seems to follow the riffs that are coming out of the guitars.

Rhythm guitars range from slow, mid paced to fast melodic black/death metal riffs that are also influenced by traditional metal, while the lead guitars are very melodic sounding heavy metal guitar solos, as for the acoustic guitars when they are utilized they use finger picking and full chords to bring a folk music feel to the music.

Vocals are mostly high pitched black metal screams that are also influenced by melodic death metal in the growls with a good amount of clean singing male and female vocals being thrown in at times and the occasional spoken word passages, while the lyrics cover Celtic Paganism and Fantasy, as for the production it has a very powerful and professional sound to it.

In my opinion Suidakra are a very good melodic folk/black/death metal band and if you are a fan of bands that mix these styles together, you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Battle-Ciarns" "Mag Mell" "Balor" and "Stone Of Seven Suns". RECOMMENDED BUY.

http://www.suidakra.com

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Hyperborean Interview


by Magnus Persson/ Vocalist of Hyperborean

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?
1 We are from Sweden, we formed 11 years ago so we've been around for a while although the band has not always been active it was on hold for some years before we decided to go and record The Spirit of Warfare. Our music has quite a few influences, I see most people are defining us as melodic black metal and I guess that fits, although I would hesitate to fully use the black metal moniker as we do incorporate elements from other genres such as Thrash metal for example.

2. How would you describe the musical sound of the new album and how does it differ from previous releases?
2 A mixture of different extreme metal genres, mostly from black metal. The album differs quite allot from our early demos, they were more melodic in nature and had allot of focus on keyboards. The sound of The Spirit of Warfare is harsher, although there still is allot of melodic parts mixed in there. The music is more guitar driven and riff oriented than our previous works. The songs are also generally longer and have more of an epic atmosphere to them.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the new release explores?
3 The overlapping lyrical theme is warfare ( obviously ). Mostly focusing on world war 1. Most of the songs deal with that time period in one way or another. Weapon Mankind is about the preface leading up to the war. Killing Grounds is about the trench warfare and the fevers that plagued the soldiers. Viper and The last stand.. deals with the battle of Thermopylae and are the only songs about pre modern warfare. A new Sun rises deals with the aftermath of the war and the intellectual despair that followed it in a combination of a lost faith in mankind after the atrocities she produced during the war, and also sense of spiritual emptiness left behind by philosophers and scientists that challenged and in some ways discarded religion. The sick man of Europe is about the war torn former Yugoslavian nations leading up to world war 1 and ending with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo in 1914, an event that triggered ( although its important to point our that it didnt cause ) the great war.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?
4 Hyperborea is an ancient greek word describing a mythological extreme north. A Hyperborean would then be a inhabitant of said north. We thought it fit well as most of our early material focused on norse mythology, it would probably have been more logical to pick a name derived from old Norse instead of old Greek, but what can you do, sometimes things doesn't make perfect sense.

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and wow would you describe your stage performance?
5 We don't have a full lineup so playing live isn't an option right now, so I guess we are a studio band at the moment, that might change in future though. We did play some live gigs early on but those were years ago so that's not really relevant today.

6. Do you have any touring plans for the new release?
6 No

7. On a worldwide level how has your music been received by melodic black metal fans?
7 Well the album has just been released so its hard to tell at this point, but the reactions so far seems good.

8. Are there any other projects besides this band or is this a full time line up?
8 Hyperborean is our main priority, there are some small projects here and there but nothing of importance.

9. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?
9 The lyrical approach wont deal as much with war as I am kind of feed up writing about that subject at the moment. Misery will be the main theme musically so the lyrics will follow on that subject and then there will be some other underlying themes as well( do not worry, there will be no suicidal teenage angst crap ) Also most of the songs on Spirit were written five or six years ago so the next batch of songs we write will probably reflect that.

10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
10 as for musical influences you would have to ask Andreas our guitarist. Personally I mainly listen to older bands like Emperor, old Satyricon, Dissection, Taake and also some classical stuff mixed in there as well, I like Dvorcak.

11. Does Occultism or Paganism play any role in your music?
11 Not really, our first demos focused on norse mythology but we have moved away from that as I find it kind of boring to always write lyrics on the same theme, I would say our world view is more rational in nature, Darwin before Crowley so to speak.

12. Outside of music, what are some of your interests?
12 I read allot of books about history and that's mainly how I find subjects to write lyrics about for Hyperborean.

13. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
13 Thanks for this interview, keep up the good work with the zine and keep promoting the underground!
















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

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Friday, April 22, 2011

Hyperborean/The Spirit Of Warfare/Abyss Records/2011 CD Review


  Hyperborean are a band from Sweden that plays a very melodic style of black metal and this is a review of their 2011 album "The Spirit Of Warfare" which was released by Abyss Records.

Drums range from slow, mid paced to fast drumming with a good amount of blast beats, while the bass playing has a strong and somewhat powerful tone with riffs that follow the riffing that is coming out of the guitars, as for the keyboards when they are utilized briefly they bring a very tragic feel to the music.

Rhythm guitars range from slow, mid paced to fast melodic black metal riffs that are also technical at times with some thrash death and traditional metal influences, while the lead guitars are very melodic, progressive and technical metal guitar solos, as for the acoustic guitars when they are utilized they use finger picking and full chords to bring another element of war to the music.

Vocals are very high pitched black metal screams with some occasional deep death metal grows, while the lyrics cover Lovecraft style themes and war as for the production it has a very dark and heavy sound to it.

In my opinion Hyperborean are very good melodic black metal band, and if you are a fan of t his style you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Chanelling The Spirit Of Warfare" "Viper" and "The Sick Man Of Europe". RECOMMENDED BUY.


Diabolical/Ars Vitae/Abyss Records/2011 CD Review


  Diabolical are a band from Sweden that has been interviewed by this zine before and plays a musical style that mixes melodic black metal with technical death metal and this is a review of their 2011 album "Ars Vitae" which was released by Abyss Records.

Drums are mostly technical slow to mid paced playing with some fast parts but that much in the way of blast beats, while the synths are very dark sounding and don't over dominate the music, as for the bass playing it has a very dark tone with riffs that follow the riffing that is coming out of the guitars and at times they sound very powerful.

Rhythm guitars are mostly slow to mid paced to fast technical death metal riffs that are also influenced by melodic black metal and thrash, while the lead guitars are very technical and melodic metal guitar solos.

Vocals are mostly deep death metal growls that have somewhat of a black metal edge to them in the high pitched screams, while the lyrics cover death and the apocalypse with an occult edge, as for the production it sounds very heavy and professional with some songs being recorded live.

In my opinion this is another great album from Diabolical and if you where a fan of their previous releases, you will not be disappointed. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Sightless" "Suicidal Glory" "Guidance Of Sin" and "The Dreaming Dead". RECOMMENDED BUY.


Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Amon Amarth/Surtur Rising/Metal Blade Records/2011 CD Review


  Amon Amarth are a band from Sweden that has a very long history and are one of the best known Viking melodic black/death metal bands and this is a review of their 2011 album "Surtur Rising" which was released by metal Blade Records.

Drums range from slow, mid paced to fast playing with a good amount of blast beats, while the bass playing sounds very powerful and heavy at times and serves as a perfect background for the rhythm guitars, as for the synths that are only used on the last song, they bring a very symphonic and tragic feel to the music.

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Rhythm guitars range from slow, mid paced to fast riffs that combine death, black and traditional metal together with a great amount of melodies being added in, while the lead guitars are very melodic sounding traditional metal guitar solos that utilize a lot of skill and talent, as for the the acoustic guitars when they are utilized briefly, they bring a very dark medieval feel to the music.

Vocals are a mixture of high pitched black metal screams and deep death metal growls, while the lyrics touch on Norse Paganism and Mythology, as for the production it has a very heavy and professional sound to it with all of the musical instruments coming out sounding great.

In my opinion this is another great album from Amon Amarth and if you where a fan of their previous releases, you will not be disappointed. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "War Of The Gods" "Destroyer Of The Universe" "Wrath Of The Norseman" and "Doom Over Dead Man". RECOMMENDED BUY.