 CAPTAIN ZORX STIMMUNGSATTACKE 'The Maps Of The Ancient Sea Kings' From time to time you come across a band that is completely crackpot that they should give up music and become comedians, such is the case of German 'Disco Metal' band Captain Zorx Stimmungsattacke and their album 'The Maps Of The Ancient Sea Kings'. Playing rock / metal in the style of Tenacious D, this unbelievable quartet are perhaps as wacky as Albert Einstein's hair. From the start to the very end, each song has it's own tongue-in cheek element and variation of music, thus begging the question are they System of A Down in disguise? Whoever the band is influenced by, it is a rarity and almost certainly a hidden gem in the underground German music scene. Download: "Roter Alarm" (for the yodeling :p) [8.5] RHYS STEVENSON  VICTORIANS - ARISTOCRATS' SYMPHONY 'Revival' Taking Poland by storm, Neo-Classical / Symphonic Power Metal quartet Victorians - Aristocrats' Symphony delivered their debut album 'Revival' last year and with it comes perhaps what could be perceived as the next big Polish metal export and Poland's long awaited answer to Nightwish, delivering soprano style vocals on a bed of mellow and emotional music that resounds throughout the entire album, resulting in a deluge of operatic sounds and beautiful symphonies that will get heads turning. 'Revival' is a solid start to the band's career and is sure to power them to greater European recognition as one of the most exciting new metal bands from Poland to emerge in the last five years. Download This: "Voice Of Eternal Love" [10] RHYS STEVENSON  DO NOT DREAM 'Eiszeit' Sensational and indescribable are two different things but can interlink when specifically referring to music, so when Germany's Do Not Dream drop their fourth album 'Eiszeit' like a bomb exploding over Berlin, the shrapnel that shoots from it carries the sound of Melodic Black / Gothic Metal and twists it in such a way that the band develop their own sound. By utilizing soft female vocals against rough male vocals and amounting that on top of the delicacies produced by the unique background melodies from the keyboard and dramatic drops emitted across the songs such as 'Schlaflied'. However the language barrier may prove a little difficult for some, but coincidentally it offers metalheads a chance to buff up their German whilst enjoying some rather special metal music. Download This: "Polarlicht" [8] RHYS STEVENSON  SPIDKILZ 'Balance Of Terror' INFERNO / LA RIOT SURVIVOR The debut album by Italian Speed Thrashers Spidkilz has finally dropped, 'Balance Of Terror' takes it's time to get started but once it does, the flood gates of Italian renaissance and agile supremacy take over, whitewashing the atmosphere in a combination of American Thrash Metal like Nuclear Assault and Speed Metal in the vein of Judas Priest. Sure the sound is at times non-original and the creativity a little stuck, but the overall reception of the album is well perceived as a solid piece of musicianship that should please many Thrashers alike. Loaded with 46 minutes of irresistible riffs, cut-throat vocals and ballistic drumming, this is truly The Italian Job. Download This: "Motorhome" [7.5] RHYS STEVENSON  SINFLOWER 'Evil Cure' It comes with great anticipation that finally Italy's Power Thrash crackpots Sinflower spurt out their debut album last year and with it comes a mid-paced yet a technically crafty deviated style of metal. What is heard on 'Evil Cure' is eccentric solo's and riffs accompanied by a solid drum pattern and vocals that at first raise questions on whether it is Power Metal or Thrash Metal inspired, however the salient point behind 'Evil Cure' is that it combines high-pitched vocals with gritty, ballsy low vocals that stab you in the brain so hard it would make murder look like a recreational event. However, the only little bit that lacks from this release is a secure atmosphere, because on some songs it tends to be bleak and not entirely apparent, this drags the integrity a few levels down. Download This: "Just Alive" [7] RHYS STEVENSON  FINGERNAILS 'Alles Verboten' HIGH ROLLER / LA RIOT SURVIVOR For a band that formed thirty years ago and then went on a hiatus or split in 1990, only to re-emerge fourteen years later in 2004, their 2012 album 'Alles Verboten' shows exempt power and passion whilst almost certainly indicating they are far from finished and still have the musicianship to deliver a bombshell without warning. 'Alles Verboten' features erotic riffs that would make any bloke have a hard on instantaneously, whilst the vocals and riffs together would bode well whilst driving down a long straight road, like route 66 for instance. Now whilst the Italian quartet wallow in between playing Thrash Metal to Hard Rock to Punk influences, the epic sound that they extrude is total finesse and an essential to anyone's collection of whom indulges in Hard Rock / Heavy Metal. Download This: "Fun Addiction" [8.5] RHYS STEVENSON  TBC 'The Rise' STF 2012 saw the return of Austrian Gothic Metal quintet TBC with their next installment 'The Rise', delivering once again their beloved sound of female and male vocals which guide the rest of the music to form erotic and sensational songs. There again the album switches between the romance found within the German language and the power within the English language, whilst at the same time displaying a vast improvement from their debut album '28 Days'. Songs like 'Gnade' can draw similarities to bands like Subway To Sally of whom explode with emphatic power and emphatically constructed music. Throughout 'The Rise', the keyboard provide that atmospheric ambiance experienced in Gothic films like Dracula, it drags up that foundation from which spouts the classic beauty and the beast duet between Steve and Natascha, almost resonating with the operatic sensations felt when watching 'The Phantom of the Opera'. Download This: "Crystal Bride" [9] RHYS STEVENSON  BENEATH THE TIDES 'A New Beginning' SPEARJUSTICE Australia in recent years seems to be a massive hotspot for everything Metalcore and as listeners will find out, Canberra cowboys Beneath The Tides are no exception. Exploding with a relentless force of Metalcore that comes laden with Melodic Death Metal influences taken from the Gothenburg guild. The five-piece outfit have assembled a remarkable debut album called 'A New Beginning', that should see the lads crawl under the skin of the international metal scene, ripening to erupt as an acidic blister that will burn the Metalcore scene and will scald everything in their way. As for the album itself, listeners can expect a futile and frantic fist punching onslaught, packed full with a tasty selection of In Flames melodies and Lamb Of God brutality that will have the most hardcore kids crying for their mummies. Slaying riffs, spine-shagging vocals and grizzly drumming sequences, this the post-apocalyptic Metalcore album of the decade. Download This: "Medicate Me" [10] RHYS STEVENSON  CROWNLESS 'Dark Evolution' There is definitely a love affair going on between Spanish metal musicians and the Gothic Metal and Power Metal styles, even when the two merge together. However when bands like Crownless make their debut album become a living reality, the result is that the music often captivates the listeners mind and drags them into a emotional state of being calmed, relaxed and somewhat sensual. 'Dark Evolution', the band's debut album saw daylight in 2011 and has been a springboard for the band to carry on their ravenous sound of elegant Gothic Power Metal. From the first to last song, listeners will be taken on a journey that is inspired by the likes of Within Temptation, Sirenia and Nightwish, whilst being entranced by this bands 'Dark Evolution'. Download This: "Ravens In The Storm" [8] RHYS STEVENSON  RUM
'Birbant' Beer is considered a gift from the gods, so what a better way to celebrate it than to sing about it? That's exactly what the Polish Slavic Metal band Rum is all about, mixing Eastern European and Slavic style Folk metal with the lyrical topics of drinking and the Slavic culture. 'Birbant' the band's debut album features some of the greatest party folk songs one would want to hear, given though it is sang in Polish the album itself has an element of class on its own. Weaving the classical sounds of metal music with instruments including an accordion, mandolin, flutes and a hurdy-gurdy;, this is a truly ethnic and culture-attached band and album. What makes 'Birbant' stand out from the rest of the Slavic Metal movement is that it has a real upbeat feel to it, one that would get anyone downing the nearest barrel of beer in a jiffy. Download This: "Piwo!" [8] RHYS STEVENSON
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 INCINERY 'Dawn Of War' So 2011 saw the first record outing by Nottinghamshire Thrash newbies Incinery, not a perfect start it would seem as their debut EP exhibits the standard Thrash Metal sound that most bands in this music style seem to employ, sure 'Dawn Of War' spits fire and acts as a sentimental starting block to this quintet's career, but there is much improvement to be considered, but as far as the first attempt goes it is a decent enough effort and will surely be advanced on when the band release new material. However 'Dawn Of War' will appeal to those who devote their lives to the 80's Thrash Metal sound and especially fans of Slayer and Kreator, as for Incinery the time has come to face the 'Dawn Of War' as they battle for British Thrash Metal survival. Download This: "Life of Hate" [7] RHYS STEVENSON  DENIED 'Let Them Burn' SLIPTRICK What a better way to mark the tenth anniversary of your band by releasing the third album in your musical career and that is exactly what Swedish Thrashers Denied have done, sticking together Heavy Metal epic numbers with tunes of agile brutality together and leaving the album finishing on a note that warrants much more from this five-piece. 'Let Them Burn' shifts gears across the ten tracks that drive this album, perhaps it's coincidental that ten tracks are for the ten years this band has been around, but if the last song title is anything to go by then the band has issues, ironically the song 'In Hell' sums up the release to the very last note, simply put 'Let Them Burn' is a juicy and explosive burst of Heavy Metal vocals and slaying Thrash Metal music. Download This: "In Hell" 'Let Them Burn' is out now via Sliptrick Records [8] RHYS STEVENSON  ZEITGEIST 'Zeitgeist' SELF-RELEASED Paraguay isn't usually a country that spews out Melodic Gothic Metal, it usually focuses on more aggressive styles of metal, so when in 2010 the premier self-titled demo by quartet Zeitgeist dropped, it unleashed a new wave of sound amongst the underground of this South American country. Ascending on every song and delivering a powerful atmospheric presence, there is much melancholy as there is lusciousness on this release, it filters out the weaker elements and accentuates the very essence missing from the metal scene, a vocalist with utmost harmonic vocals. Zeitgeist are sure to push boundaries in the future ahead but for now they remain as one of Paraguay's hidden gems, awaiting discovery by many alike. Download This: "The Blame" [8] RHYS STEVENSON  TRICK OR TREAT "Rabbits Hill Part. 1" VALERY In the year of the band's 10th anniversary, the Italian Power Metal ensemble Trick or Treat deliver a right treat in the form of their third album "Rabbits Hill Part. 1", it showers the atmosphere with emphatic vocals, slaloming solos and rapturous riffs that decapitate all that stand in its way. The vocals themselves carry that adventurous feel and although not on same par as Sonata Arctica, they offer a unique style, quite like the music as it weaves in folk elements on 'The Tale Of Rowsby Woof', but what sets the band aside mostly is the lyrical themes, rather an elaborated metal form of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, the five-piece deliver a range of themes that any mad march hare would hop to. Download This: "Wrong Turn" [8] RHYS STEVENSON  EXALT CYCLE 'Revelations' VALERY From what could be put down as a mixture of Dead By April, Avenged Sevenfold and Mudvayne, Italian slickers Exalt Cycle find no fault in the system to crack but instead crack open an album that quite simply is a revelation, 'Revelations' spews out the very musical core of modern metal as it laces together industrial elements with a heavy progressive / metalcore sound, or perhaps that could be ones senses playing tricks via the Exalt Cycle, but one thing for certain is these lads have got the sound to take themselves to newer heights and are sure to push for european domination this year. Download This: "A New Day" [7.5] RHYS STEVENSON  TYSTNADEN 'Anima' VALERY Italy was born for delivering any band that plays Gothic Metal and so when the third album by Italian sextet Tystnaden comes to life, it delivers an astounding blast of Gothic-laden Melodic Death Metal fronted by the awe-inspiring Laura De Luca. What these musicians have done is more than make an album, they have made a new sound come to life and dragging influences from bands like In Flames, Slipknot and Dark Tranquility, Tystnaden are vastly becoming one of Italy's hidden gems as 'Anima' explodes in sensational fashion with heavenly vocals, spine-chilling atmospheric backdrops courtesy of the keyboard and of course sharp slicing sounds coming combined from the elegant savageness of the guitars and drums, but as everything starts entwining, the only two things thats wrong with this album is that it is simply too good to be true and its not long enough, listeners will beg for more and are unlikely to find fault, simply divine. Download This: "Mindrama" [9] RHYS STEVENSON  PROJECT46 'Doa A Quem Doer' SELF-RELEASED How many times does it take to fully conclude that 'Doa A Quem Doer' is a brain-smashing face belter? One. Back in 2011 the debut album by Brazilian bulldozing Metalcore maniacs Project46 slays through the mass-produced music genre and installs their own stance on the music genre, illuminating killer technical riffs and setting up complex breakdowns, if anything this is what could be dubbed as matrix-core, a sound that embellishes the Metalcore sound in the center with technical, melodic and hardcore influences padding out the nooks and crannies and yet the album of which is entirely in Portuguese, still weeps and bleeds toxic contagious elements that warrants a health warning to be slapped on it. Project46 are taking Metalcore to newer levels and are sure to become a huge metal export in the years ahead. Download This: "Impunidade" [10] RHYS STEVENSON  SECRET SIGNS 'For A Lifetime' CASKET MUSIC There aren't many Gothic Metal bands from Spain that manage to get a decent sound going, unfortunately there aren't many bands like Secret Signs going around, dropping their debut album 'For A Lifetime' last year, the quintet immerse the emotional feelings of darkened despair with their atmospheric style of ambient Gothic metal. However the drawback is the male vocals, they crush the album the wrong way and at times leave it meaningless, by leaving out the deep vocals it would sound better, but apart from that the album strikes out as a decent enough effort to really kick start the band, besides the solo on 'voices from the afterlife' is one of epic bizarreness as it starts awfully but finishes gracefully, so whilst the overall album is great there are parts that should not be there. Download This: "Battle For The Darkness" [6.5] RHYS STEVENSON  DISTAINED 'Between Nowhere And Goodbye' + 'Hereditas' 2010 saw the second EP by Finnish Melodic Metal ensemble Distained drop, 'Between Nowhere And Goodbye' carries the same vocals experienced on bands like H.I.M., Poisonblack and many of Finland's Gothic Metal catalogue, but don't let that fool you as the EP displays why the home nation is notorius for its love of rock and metal music as here proven by Distained. This is a sound that should get the labels attention, in fact it's surprising to why the lads aren't signed yet as 'Between Nowhere And Goodbye' clearly demonstrates a solid outburst of modern melodic metal that is worthy of paying attention to. Moving onto the 2012 EP release 'Hereditas', what comes now is a more solidified sound and a greater prominent level of precision that seems to kink out the cracks from the previous EP and ends up cleaning out the old and putting in the new, but whilst 'Hereditas' is the better of the two, the major fact behind Distained is that they are simply one of a kind and are sure to battle forward to become favourites amongst European rock and metal fans. Download These: "Drown In Gray" and "Someone Else's Song" [7] + [8] RHYS STEVENSON  AL-NAMROOD / DHUL-QARNAYN / AYYUR
'Narcotized' SALUTE What we have hear is a split between three of the most underground metal bands from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Bahrain respectively, the 'Narcotized' split kicks off with 'Barzakh' by Saudi Arabian Black Metal trio Al-Namrood and as the song delivers a chilling sound to be embraced, the key result of the song is that it warrants repetitious plays as it is simply is a divine way to start a three-way split. Al-Namrood certainly know how to create their own unique sound and by doing so develop a very atmospheric style, but that is soon forgotten as Dhul-Qarnayn come into the affray with their song 'Suqoot Allah' as it explodes in pummeling fashion, as for the long-gone one man project is without any doubt a raw black metal sounding production on its own accord, but as Bahrain's underground metal scene shows, nothing lasts and as the song comes to a close, Tunisian Black Metal duo Ayyur do the honors of closing up the split with two songs 'The Queen Of Awres (Narcotized Version)' and 'Proud Slave', both of which spew out the very essence of what makes Black Metal, Black Metal. Simple yet basic drumming is all that's needed to setup this elegant dark act and as the very note sounds out, it is worth saying this is a truly Arabic Black Metal release. You can buy the release from: http://saluterecords.blogspot.co.uk/ [8] + [7.5] + [8] RHYS STEVENSON |
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