GMN - Vol38 - Calcined, Frosthammer / Demorian / Ancient Warlord, Ashen Reign, Barbarian Prophecies29/8/2011 CALCINED 'Thwarted' Like an avalanche that failed to go off, Calcined are perhaps one of the least musically apt bands from Switzerland, well, in fact they implement a sector of Brutal Death Metal into the ranks, collectively the music itself is good but the vocals lack clarity and are often grunted rather than growled. This being their debut EP 'Thwarted', the blastbeats, riffs and composure is sublime, the audio inserts in relation to the additional recordings are fairly decent, the vocals could be adapted but none the less their debut EP is not a complete failure, but the Swiss quartet are heading in the right direction, eventually the sound will improve. [6.5] RHYS STEVENSON FROSTHAMMER / DEMORIAN 'Old Times Glances Upon US' SALUTE Joining forces on the 2011 split release 'Old Times Glances Upon US' is Canada's Symphonic Black Metal quartet Frosthammer and Sweden's Black Metal duo Demorian. Frosthammer deliver the signature raw sound they have always carried on their releases and this ultimately sheds an atmospheric approach of dark dankness and chaotic depression in its suicidal form. Delivering a cold blast of winter-covered Symphonic Black metal is what Frosthammer does best and on this split they do not fail to impress. On the other half Demorian bring a furious excitement of brain-crushing Black Metal, raw blast-beats simmering under a wispy audio wave of raw vocals, fast and insane drumming coalescing with mid-paced guitars to add a further dimension to their side of this split. This is perhaps two of the most darkest Black Metal bands in the underground, just be aware that they don't take weak ears on this one, a split release not for the faint of heart. [8] + [8.5] DEMORIAN / ANCIENT WARLORD 'Infernal Antichristian Incantations' SALUTE Swedish Black Metal underground tyrants Demorian hit back with another split release, this time it is with Filipino Black Metal quartet Ancient Warlord under the release title of 'Infernal Antichristian Incantations'. Demorian carry on their trademark raw black metal parameter in relation to the ear-burning received from the scintillating drumming by the Swedish duo, sadly though this is not one of their best outings, but still is a well devised sound. Moving onto the second half of this split album is the Filipino quartet Ancient Warlord with their rather unethical sound of raw guitars humming and drumming providing a foundation for cold-hearted vocals. This is perhaps one of the Philippines darkest bands and essentially brings two continents together on this release, a truly explicit result of sensational Black Metal. [7] + [8] RHYS STEVENSON ASHEN REIGN 'An Angel Burden' Fighting their way back from the studio is American Heavy Power Metal one-man band Ashen Reign, who is all done by Brent McDaniel and in a breathtaking style at that, fusing a mystical atmosphere to the backbone of his eccentric wielding of Heavy Metal to Power Metal to create a dynamic sound of which is totally unique. By far one of the best American Metal releases of this year, with soul and a sense of dedication clearly evident on his sophomore album 'An Angel Burden'. As extravagant as Devin Townsend of Canada, Brent McDaniel and his magical Ashen Reign are set to become legend. [10] RHYS STEVENSON BARBARIAN PROPHECIES
'Remember The Fallen' Galician Black / Death Metal novices Barbarian Prophecies devour the horrific accounts of Auschwitz on their sophomore album 'Remember The Fallen', with artwork to symbolise this and sounds to mimic the negativity of the brutality experienced at such concentration camps. Fast, insanely brutal and despairingly dark, this is Spain's darkest side and inevitably one of the Spanish Metal scene's darkest album releases. The band however is not associated with the NSBM movement and should not be judged as such. For their second attempt at a mass metal break out, they have gone and done the right thing, kept it extreme and brain-challenging. [8.5] RHYS STEVENSON
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AUTUMN SUN 'Autumn Sun' Emerging from the dark shadows of Gauteng is South African Gothic / Melodic Death Metal quartet Autumn Sun with their self-titled album (presumably debut), featuring a fast blast of racy tracks to inflame any ears with a burning sensation. Whilst the Melodic Death Metal takes the reigns, the Gothic Metal sits softly in the background in the form of soft female vocals and harmonic keyboard notes which moulds to become a true entrancing mix of ingenious musicianship. Autumn Sun are set to become a promising band in the South African Metal scene and are sure to gain global attention. [7.5] RHYS STEVENSON DEMORIAN 'Back To the Glorious Past’ + 'Vikingpath' + Excerpt from upcoming album "Excerpt From A Diary" AZERMEDOTH / KVLT666 / DANGER OF DEATH Demorian is a Swedish Black Metal duo compromising of Salute Record’s owner as one of the musicians. Crisp Swedish Black Metal is produced from the speakers as well as a cold and bitter atmosphere. Winter has come with their debut album 'Back To the Glorious Past’ released back in 2009 as darkness encases the room and a cold wintry wind blasts around resembling the powerful sonata’s produced by the music. Their second album 'Vikingpath' released last year in only 66 copies, brings more of their darkened souls to the frontline, cursing the shadows of Pagan Black Metal and it's nature counterpart, Demorian perform an unholy ritual to summon the darker sounds once again, with a fetish for raw sounds and atmospheric senses being unbound to the Swedish Black Metal scene, Demorian revel in the abyss. Finishing off with a little sampler is their unreleased tracks 'Excerpt From A Diary' and 'Prypiat Angels' (referring to the ghost town near the Chernobyl area in the Ukraine), colder and bitterer than previous works, this is a sumptuous pre-listener in relation to their upcoming album, a subtle but apt enough proof that Demorian has just begun. [7] + [8] + [8] RHYS STEVENSON DESIGN THE SKYLINE 'Neveah' VICTORY Revered as one of the most hated band in history, but in all honesty that's just people's jealousy. In comes Design The Skyline, an American septet mixing a whole new genre from separate individual tastes, if Design The Skyline was a recipe it would either equate to the full American breakfast or the traditional English roast - they are not edible, just to clarify. Essentially listeners will realize a myriad of music genres meld into one tune, but this in itself seems to have worked out perfectly. Catering for the many emotions humans feel, this Corpus Christi band takes the listener on a journey through space, time, emotions and general life itself, cascading the many atrocities and numerous positives experienced during a lifetime. Since their demo song 'Surrounded By Silence' - of which was dubbed 'electro-Deathcore', the band has finely tuned and tweaked their sounds to fit neatly in line with the other sounds as seen on the song 'break free from your life' - having slow and fast trance periods amongst generic Metalcore-ish drum patterns. What puts people off is the scene / emo look, but don't forget these bands: Lordi, Black Veil Brides, Marilyn Manson amongst others, totally proven their critics wrong and eradicated any prejudicial beings from the face of the planet. Intellectually without the hate, perhaps the publicity would not have been as grand, but that's just a possibility for it should be seen that all the tracks on this album cater for a wide array of music tastes: trance music, post-hardcore, Deathcore, Metalcore, Industrial / Thrash Metal (as seen on 'reality away'), Mathcore and even technical Deathcore if precision is required. Regardless of the negativity, Design The Skyline are pioneers of a new sound, essentially 'Experimental Electro-Deathcore' and with that in mind are set to push the boundaries further and further, the storm has just begun, 'Neveah' was just the artillery, bring on the tank infantry. [10] RHYS STEVENSON DISHARMONIC 'Impossible' The first ever song unleashed by Spanish (Andalusian) Death Metal trio Disharmonic qualifies as an absolute hell-blazer, fanatical drumming simmers in the background with the force of 1000 raging bulls whilst the matadors Bao Brurial, Javi and Kike tame the beast they have created. Residing within the Brutal Death Metal intonation, Disharmonic fail not to up their ante and give their first attempt and release a proper erotic beating, forged with influences from the fast and heavy Scandinavian Death Metal scene, they use that as a foundation but add the Iberian and Mediterranean heavy hardness to the affray and result in what is billed as possibly the best ever release by a Spanish Metal band in 2011. [9] RHYS STEVENSON ELDERGAAD
'Children Of Gaad' If Eldergaad was a football team they would be Liverpool FC, up and down all the time. The American Thrash Metal quartet emerges with their debut album 'Children Of Gaad' with as much sleaze and difference than Slayer and Megadeth would have. Whilst not exactly fast on some tracks, the heaviness is still there, yet it sounds similar to that of Slayer. However they do exert a sound that suits them to the bone, one sound that is different and yet strangely bizarre in that the speed of each song changes from riff to riff, so with little consistency this is soon to be a 'what just happened' album. None the less this is a band who could easily get noticed, expect whiplash from this album to be imminent though, [6.5] RHYS STEVENSON MODUS DELICTI 'Nobody' COMATOSE Promising Italian Brutal Death Grindsters Modus Delicti unleash a torrent of hell with their debut album 'Nobody' with a slice of extreme vocals and drums to compliment the near-gone guitars. Whilst the album itself offers a piece of bizarre music, the overall product is a mass combination of noisy vocals and furious musical compositions which together rival the very essence of musical creativity. 'Nobody' although nothing new is one of those albums that is still good however. [7] RHYS STEVENSON ANTROPOFAGUS / PUTRIDITY / PRION / INFECTED FLESH / MASS INFECTION 'Split Torso Trauma' COMATOSE Combining all forms of flesh from sickening Spain, icky Italy, aortic Argentina and gory Greece is some of the Brutal Death Metal underground storm-troopers, although it has a variety of bands on song, the general sound is there, so more so like a 5-band split compilation rather than a split, essentially a split for which caters for all various extreme tastes of Death Metal in its entirety. Full on mind-blowing sonic beats of pure drumming, outrageous riffs and vicious vocals, this is practically all that can be said about this release. [8 - across the board] FACE OF OBLIVION 'The Embers Of Man' COMATOSE Apocalyptic American Death Metal mob Face Of Oblivion unleash insanity and brutality in all demoralizing forms to cause unsightly chaos on all levels of extremity. With their debut full-length album 'The Embers Of Man' the motion of sickening vocals and down-tuned guitars electrify the barely noticed drumming compositions exerted by this quintet, overall this album is a mystifying array of mindless torture, cursing mass murdering and fearless anguish, 'The Embers Of Man' is seemingly apt to be dubbed the goriest album of 2011. [8] RHYS STEVENSON I CHAOS 'The Human Repellent' RITF Dutch Brutal Death Metal newcomers I Chaos quickly become a powerful force striving in the underground with their ear-shattering debut album 'The Human Repellent', whisking together a heavy punch of bone-crushing drumming and flesh-ripping riffs amongst gut-gurgling vocals, I Chaos is to become the next extreme act from the land of windmills and flowers, make no mistake this quartet mean violent business and should be taken with a pinch of precise warning, this music is not for soft metal listeners, I Chaos is 'The Human Repellent'. [8.5] RHYS STEVENSON ABINCHOVA
'Versteckte Pfade' Valiantly galloping over the Swiss Alps and around the beautiful Matterhorn is Swiss Melodic Death / Folk Metal septet Abinchova, whilst not as heavy or folk-orientated as fellow countrymen Eluveitie, Abinchova instead implement their native sound via the lovely sound of violins and so devise their own sound. Sort of traditional folk meets the modern sound of metal in this twisted debut album named 'Versteckte Pfade' (roughly translated as hidden path), but with this in their arsenal, Abinchova are a band just waiting to explode into the wider Metal scene. [8] RHYS STEVENSON EXTIRPATION 'Tormentor Supreme Black Katharsis' INFERNAL KAOS Basque Black/Death Metal one-man project Extirpation unleashes a full force of deep darkness and growling empowerment with his debut album 'Tormentor Supreme Black Katharsis', with a raw influence clearly imminent and an essence of gruelling evil, the one-man project is enough to churn anyone's stomach inside out with a complete sense of introductory torture chasm, a testament to the Basque Country's autonomous status, the storm has just begun. [8.5] RHYS STEVENSON VIATHYN 'The Peregrine Way' Majestically arriving from the state of Alberta in Canada is Power Proggers Viathyn with their debut album 'The Peregrine Way' released last year, with an enigma supporting the very foundation of this lush work, it is within no doubt that this band know exactly what they are doing, with a beat here and there, a riff seeming lost and vocals changing from second to second, this is a true work of inspiration, with that though it is not perfect, but it is a decent start from a band who have just debuted, the only problem is the time changing, from fast and powerful to a sloppy Progressive part, the album is a fair decent one. [7.5] RHYS STEVENSON MCGALLIGOG 'Delusions Of Madness' Irish quintet McGalligog take the Guinness and Irish funkiness to secure their first ever release, their 2010 EP 'Delusions Of Madness' which foresees a cleverly worked amalgamation of Melodic Death Metal with Thrash influences clearly taken into account, whilst not as good as anticipated with the vocals lacking a bit of clarity, the overall production is excellent, unstable and revolutionizing in that it is a decent attempt. 'Another Fast One' pretty much sums the band up in both musical and song-title stances, ever thought Cruachan was holding back a deluge of Irish Metal? McGalligog seem to have proven so. [8] RHYS STEVENSON SHATTERED HOPE 'Absence' SOLITUDE An absolute tiring album, so much it'll make you yawn, for being a band who straddles in the Atmospheric Doom / Death Metal and Funeral Doom Metal vein (simply Dark Metal) without making a solid attempt at captivating it's listeners is diabolical, for Greece's Shattered Hopes the band name is self-explanatory, for this release 'Absence' lacks quality, it is a real depressive release. [1] RHYS STEVENSON DEUS OTIOSUS
'Murderer' F.D.A. REKOTZ The sort of album found in Dracula's music collection, horror-themed Death Thrashers Deus Otiosus unleash hell with their debut album 'Murderer' released last year with an emphatic array of blastbeats, riffs and non-continuous composition changing, an abrupt calamity of fusing two genres together in between song fragments, essentially a bizarre twist for the Death/Thrash genre, the Danish quintet exhibit what some try to achieve and fall at, that is a unique time procession, 'Murderer' drafts in depression as well, so if metal fans wish to you listen to it, you have been warned. [7] RHYS STEVENSON |
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