10 New Reviews Sept 1st 2013 @ Absolute Zero Media
Very Atmospheric Folksy Black metal release that comes across as bands like Agalloch, Ulver and Empryium but them moves into some crazy industrial BM force as well Vondur . There are also times where Sombres Forets has that Xasthur or Levathian element going on. Sombres Forets has many many layers and it even goes into what I would call Ambient Black metal. The vocals are just this side of nightmares in the presentation. There is such a hopeless and hollow feeling to what is going on with this release. The acoustic guitars and simple precussion give it that Graveland, Negura Bunget vibe as well. This a band on the edge of very sanity and music made fr those that really need sorrow to take away a worse pain or madness in their lives. Music like this has to be made not wanted to be made.
http://www.sepulchralproductions.com/
Witches Mark- WItching
Metal Ritual-CD/ Digital ( Heaven and Hell)
This is a Thrashing metal album that reminds me for late 80's extreme thrashing music think Sodom, Foribidden mixed with Power metal of bands like Rage, Rhapsody and Blind Guardian merged into one force of fury and might. Witches Mark are beyond retro and I think that this is the point. They also remind me very much of Witchery and I think it really has something to do with there name. If you have the Denim and Patches ready this is going to be a mosh pit of a good time.. Solos soaring, Power metal vocals and thrashing riffs.. Just add the beer and GO!!!!!!
http://www.heavenandhellrecords.com
Averse Concept- Symbol of Loss- CD/ Digital ( Self Released)
Avant Black Thrash is what I'm hearing with this project. Averse Concept have a very proggressive over tone but the vocals are very much into early and more raw Black metal of Northern Europe and USBM . I could have very much heard this release on Full Moon Productions or Moribund . There is a very odd tone to this as its a much more muddied production but its done on purpose for sure to add the low end and darkness to the music as its mixed very well and you can hear everything. I like the even jazzy tones that Averse Concept brings to the table for the musically journey they have given us. They do love bands like Immortal and Darkthrone for Black metal do not let them fool you this is something a bit different but over all a post black metal band with roots heavy in the Prog Thrash metal world.
Crust and Sludge Filled Blackened Hardcore this is like if At the Gates, Cavity and Marduk all put a band together and told the world fuck you and take it. There is such a punk element to this . If you like bands like His Hero is Gone and Noothgrush this is a must own. Centuries even takes elements from Integrity and Killing Joke to make this album some them that is beyond words and just short blasts of angst and aggression right at your face just waiting for the fight your going to start so they can finish it and I mean finish it Centuries is not the band to let you get back up. This is one pissed off unit and I could ask for nothing more in there music. This album is one of the best Post Hardcore albums ever and its so much more...
http://southernlord.com/
This is Prog/ Post Rock on the highest of orders. If you like bands like Mogwai, Kings X, Primus, King Crimson, Slint and Don Caballeros then this is the band for your this is way over the top, Bass heavy and almost metallic but in the same way bands like Russian Circles are a metal band and this is another band that Indicative pays a lot of homage to in their goal to create thinking man's music. If there were no vocals in Sleepy Gorilla Museum then I would say that is something very in common as well . Indicative is a band that is amazing on album and live I bet you even more so.
http://www.club-inferno.org/
Ephemeros- All Hail
Corrosion- CD/ Digital ( Seventh Rule)
Doom/Death of a level I have not heard in while if your a fan of Mournful Congregation, Thergothon, Evoken or Dusk then this is for you. The Slow and lumbering riffs, Droning tones and deep guttural vocals just make it heart-achingly wonderful to this reviewer. There are moments of bands like Morgion and Phobos as well. The Molasses riffs are what make doom so amazing this also has that slow death metal overtone as well. Early fans of My Dying Bride and Esoteric movements are going on within Ephemeros as well. This would fit well with Peacevilles, Napalms or Avantgarde's Doom rosters . Dolorian and Unholy would be proud to call this release brothers in the Doom world. There are even those chanting and ritualistic elements that make Doom/ Death so limited to a select fan base like myself. Keep making music like this and I will be a fan for years to come..
So this band is very hit or miss for me as I love the Old Fuzzed out Doom music going on here is just the vocals remind me to much of the band called H.I.M. and I hate those. The music is total Rise Above band stuff think St Vitus, Electric Wizard, Pentagram ett mixed with bands like Solace, Monster Magnet and Cream. I just wish the vocals were better as I going to have to pass on this one just for the voice alone and that sucks as the music is really really good.
So if Testament, Devon Townsend and Dream Theater created a force to make music it would very much be Monsterworks as they mix just this Prog, Sci Fi, Metal, Thrash and Death metal into something that is way way over many peoples heads and ideas that this music is even around anymore but it is and done so very very well. There is even hard rock moments going on here in the more skid row or guns and roses 80's vibe. The vocals are so cool mix of clean, growls, screamed and fully sung all in the same track. Monsterworks is a band with a mission to make a sound that you will never forget it once you hear it. The acoustics mixed with full on prog metal elements just make me want to listen to it more and more. So glad I got the chance to hear this band again..
So do you like Post Metal then you will worship at the feet of A Storm of light. They mix what maybe the best elements of Doom. Hardcore, Punk and Space rock into a stew that you will listen to for years to come these are anthems they are not songs. Songs are too simple a term for the complexity that is going on here. If Isis, Jesu, Mastodon, Neurosis, Killing Joke and Swans are on your list of Bands not to miss then you clearly have another band with this album. I don't want to talk to lightly about Nations to Flames as it maybe the album of 2013 for me this really does have it all. Power, Beauty, Passion, Fragility and Epic themes. If you pass up on this release you will miss out on something that many never pass again.
Here is one of the other bands I have been waiting for a while for there new release. A Maelstrom their last album is one of Metallic Hardcore's best albums of all time for me for the driving power and madness it created and now we have Eros/ Anteros which is a step in a more melodic and blackened hardcore journey if Wolves in the throne room were more hardcore I swear these two bands would be brothers and sisters of the same cloth. The Energy a band like Oathbreaker creates is only because its needed to wake of a world in a slumber of drones and servitude. The voices of the down trodden need to speak up and with this female voice Oathbreaker is waking up the world . The guitars are melodic and biting all at the same time. The drums and bass as so prog lead and complex in the timed arrangements. You need to be spot on to make music like this and it not to sound like noise and Oathbreaker are hauntingly beautiful in the sonic nightmares they create. Heed these words Oathbreaker are a life changing band and once you hear a complete album you will never think of music in the same way again..
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