Afflicted: "Rising to the Sun"

Very intriguing music, for sure. There's death metal vocals that occasionally border on clean, and not just in the odd chanting intro, this part being something that really hooks you in and makes you wonder what's coming next. What does come is a nice harmony of guitar parts that lulls into a
dreamy state before the riffs come weightily down. I'm not too crazy about this production; I know it's Sunlight and they usually do ok but every so often something came out of the studio just sounding a little less than appropriate, and this is one. There's an overall thinness to the sound that robs it of power, and the drums don't pack a punch at all. Nevertheless, it's the interesting way this band crafts melodies and the use of those guitars, quite an original use I might add, that keeps me listening. I can see why they became a heavy metal band, too, for the vocalist seems to want to break out into song on more than one occasion, and the soloing is extremely tuneful and of a high class. While the song itself is not what I would call infectiously catchy, it uses all that fine melodicism to craft a sense of mystery and power, which is almost a better thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSk6TSnwsXw

Metalian - Wasteland.

This is definitely rockin'! Quebec bands are usually pretty awesome. These guys sound really old school. It's a nice blend of not too agressive thrash and just pure metal. With that said the drum production could be a lot better and I usually enjoy hearing the bass quite a bit more in this genre. The solos kick ass though. The riffs aren't too shabby either, they seem to strive for memorability. Which for some reason, a bunch of bands don't seem to even bother to do these days. With that said, the vocalist could be better. At least he dosen't suck, but he's just passable in some parts. Cool high notes though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st0WoXijb8s

Desultor - The Luxury of Pain

Very interesting stuff. I thought I was listening to death metal at first and then power metal vocals came in and caught me off guard. The drums sound too triggered and clicky for my taste and too much frantic blasting overpowering the music a bit too much. The guitar riffs are interesting mixing melodic death metal riffs with some progressive melodies and well done solos. The riffs are very well done as well. The vocalist does a good job with his high singing and has a nice tone to his voice. Overall pretty good but the drums ruin it a bit for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XbPJYGr964

Still no time for much comments. Time flies, and so does this thread.


Splendor of the idols, huh? Indeed, and your idols aren't hard to guess, when your offerings at their altar are made of their own riffs, ideas and idiosyncrasies; like me, you're fans of the "evil thrash" of the mid 80s: early Destruction, Sepultura, Sodom, Sarcofago, Dark Angel, Whiplash etc. and also fans of the rhythm-over-melody riffing style crystallized by 'Reign in Blood'... That's cool, but what's your take on it, boys? Yeah, you also have gruff vocals somewhat inspired by early BM, and some elements of OSDM in the licks and drumming, but I'm afraid to say you are actually walking in the footsteps of previous pursuers of this path, notably (The) Crown (Of Thorns), and you don't hold a candle to them. You play well, have a nice production, decent vocals and solid drum rolls, but meh. Hire a composer worth the name, he'll provide you with fresher riffs and then maybe you'll end up with a song of your own some day. Meanwhile, meh. Toom-toom-toom-toom-toom-toom—toom-toom-toom-toom-toom-toom is still "Raining Blood", and it's been done well beyond death, thanks a bunch. Yeah, meh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IfhLXPPJXE

Thundra - Blood of Your Soul

Incongruous. That is all. These guys try to play many things but end up with a completely inappropriate mix in the end. Starts off with some power-proggy sounding keyboards that wouldn't be out of place in a Stratovarius song, but wouldn't you know it, harsh vocals and tremolo riffs come in. Are there two vocalists? Or is it one guy doing two kinds of vocals? One voice sounds raspy and the other is kinda growling. Or trying to anyway. Oh, guys, transitions are good, but not every ten FUCKING seconds. The song is 8 minutes long and they manage to change about 13 different genres in this time. A strange interlude that's trying to be epic makes an appearance in the middle of the song with some clean-ish vocals not unlike the ones Forefather use in their clean parts. What? A harsh vocal chorus chant? No. Just no. Someone told these guys the path to greatness is transcending boundaries and breaking taboos. Yeah... This isn't how it's done. Sad part is that some riffs were pretty fucking good, but completely wasted in this inconsistent composition.

Originality can be overrated! Check this shit out. If you don't break your neck to this you're fucking dead inside.
EDIT: Who uploads a song and fucking spells it wrong?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdOSR2Ds ... re=related

Guys, guys....
Re: Desaster

I'm kind of confused now; what band/song are we supposed to be reviewing? Desaster already got one...

I thought that cover was a goat-man riding a bicycle until I looked a little closer.

Semi-black metal, maybe? I'm not the best with genres. Whatever it is, I like it. These guys have a great vocalist with a lot of intensity. The nice drumming could be a little higher in the mix; it's pretty muffled here. I like how they change things up throughout the song instead of just chugging away the whole time. There's kind of a false ending at the three-minute mark where they go silent and then play 30 more seconds, that was pretty cool. Good song.

Here's mine...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYTpR3VhzUk

Gonna take one for the team Zelkiiro!

Gorguts - Condemned to Obscurity.

It's Gorguts before they got overly weird. So you know what to expect. Every riff is of the highest quality, the vocals are deep and brutal while not being generic, the bass has a good volume and really hammers in the low end, the drum patterns are creative, the time signature changes infinite times but it's never done awkwardly. What is there not to love about this? I'm super excited for their new record if it's ever released.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0hjetazvbo

Gorguts - Condemned to Obscurity (the title of this song is sadly fitting for many bands)
Mmmmmm..... I think this song just got me into Gorguts. The spooky piano intro, even if a bit cheesy, really managed to set up the mood for the rest of the song, which is nothing but high quality death metal. Love the grinding, rotten feel of the riffs (both during the slow and fast sections), which are quite technical indeed, and a total blast to listen to. The vocals of Luc are also superb here, sounding totally deranged and savage, as if his throat was that of a starving zombie, and crawls on top of the song both in a very creepy and fitting demeanor. As for the rhythm section? I love it. The bass particularly stands out in a way that really amplifies the song's texture, and the drums do what is expected for this, making a great use of the whole kit, pummeling their way through the composition (also, love the weirdly mathematical beats). Only thing I didn't like was the piano reprise towards the end as I found it more than a bit unnecessary and awkward, but that's just being overtly critical.

So yeah, I have to check this shit out.

Here's something you might enjoy, Zelkiiro.

Edit: Shit, sorry Necro.

Satan's Host - Fallen Angel
A nice, calming opening leads into some catchy guitarwork, then Conklin comes in and suddenly all is well with the world. Overall, this is a very mellow song considering it's Satan's Host, but there are a few frantic sections that spice things up now and then. Just like the rest of the album it hails from, it's top-notch stuff.

Toxik - Shotgun Logic
That intro riff, man. That intro riff grabs you by the throat and pulls you in immediately. The vocalist is definitely not your typical thrash vocalist, but he somehow fits in seamlessly. Not much to say about this one except the riffs are fast and interesting, the song constantly keeps you on your toes with tempo shifts and various different passages, and I had a good time listening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xjtxCdMyQ4

Type O Negative - 'Black No. 1'

Hehe, I must admit I'm always quite surprised that a lot of metalheads cite Type O Negative as one of their metal favourite bands. I'm not saying they're bad - quite the opposite, their whole discography's pretty solid - but I never thought of them as much of a metal band, you know? When it comes down to that Carnivore is ten times better, let's face it (hell, Carnivore's just a far superior band in my estimation). That said TON were really good at what they did: that gothy/occasionally doomy/occasionally hardcore-y/often poppy style is certainly very unique, but again, I'm just surprised that they're so popular with metalheads. I guess Peter Steele just tapped into a something that appealed to a lot of metalheads: campy, silly, tongue-in-cheek, hopelessly romantic, mock-Gothic sort of stuff... it's overblown but it just happens to pulled off with a lot of gusto.

This song is basically pop, it functions as a sing-a-long for the most part. I mean there isn't really a great riff until the six-minute mark and then it's back to the sing a long stuff. It seems like a hodge-podge of various influences (Sabbath, The Doors, Sisters of Mercy and other assorted goth bands mixed with psychedelic Beatles-esque stuff), there's certainly always a lot going on in Type O sonically, but you'll notice that metal riffing often isn't a main focus. 'Christian Woman' uses a similar formula but it works much better I reckon. This is a really good song, sure, but it's totally the wrong season for it. The song is really long and overblown (again) but somehow I don't feel like it needs a radio edit... I can totally see why this sort of stuff would turn some people off. Cool song? Of corpse. Great metal song? Ohhhhh, I don't know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-kFsrHXgxE

Black sabbath - Law maker
i am a big fan of black sabbath. its hard for me to say bad things about black sabbath but i really didnt like the song in anyway, there nothing special, original or catchy about this song. well dio did had amazing voice. but in my eyes they had good and bad period of time, and with Dio it was a bad period. i do like a song or two from dio area but for me those songs are a nice good time rock songs and don't have the depth the darkness and the uniquness that black sabbath have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojBNwSf4MDA

Planks - "Sacred and Secret"

Well, the intro riff got me thinking it was going to be a doom metal song, but it soon blasts into some black metal riffs and drumming with shouted sludge metal vocals. Quite an intriguing combination, actually. The guitars sound massive and overpowering, switching between catchy chugging riffs and extreme metal blasts, and the bass does a lot to add to the heavy feeling here. There's also something of a background atmospheric keyboard sound, which gives the song a lot of character. I've personally never much liked shouting as a vocal style, but it's good for the genre, and the singer has enough attitude and aggression to overcome his limited range. I love the bass and muted guitar break around 3:00 as well. The drummer, unfortunately, falls prey to Brann Dailor syndrome - no, throwing in a bunch of apeshit fills is not the best way to demonstrate that you have talent (which, granted, he does). In fact, it often sounds downright inappropriate - there's quite a few places in this song where simpler drumming would have worked a lot better. But, on the whole, these guys do a lot of things right. I basically see them as what Mastodon should have been, but never could live up to. 85%.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOeleCRTd10

Orange Goblin - Cities of Frost

Dense sludge/doom. Not something I'd spin on my own, but it does have quite a ton of charm, part of it brought in by the drunken-sounding, pissed off and bitter vocals with an obvious hardcore flavor to them. And the riffing? Top notch shit, with a lot of attitude, fuzz (the guitar tone kinda reminds me of a meaner Saint Vitus) and, of course, quality, whether it's beating you up with a punkish barrage or grinding your guts at the speed of mud. The drumming was also surprisingly active, constructing galloping beats in the punkier parts plus throwing in quite a few fills and rolls during the song's length, and as such was thoroughly likeable. When you take all of these factors and arrange them as masterfully as in this piece, you get one hell of a journey.

You know what? Fuck it. I'll check this band's discography as, in the end, I loved this.

I already posted a song by this band here, but I couldn't hold myself back from doing it again.

Nightingale - Deep Inside of Nowhere.

Prooggggggg! Seriously, I enjoyed this to a certain extent. As far as I know, I've never even seen these guys mentioned. The entire two minute piano part is really well done, and the vocalist is great. It's nice to hear a lower voice than usual. The vocals remain good the whole way through, but some of the riffs are pretty faceless. The tone is also kind of light, but it works for this kind of stuff I suppose. The groovy part followed by the solo at around 4:38 is the only part where the guitars don't work as kind of a background instrument to the vocals. The drums didn't draw attention to them in any way, so I can't really say if they were awesome or not. I'm not sure if this song just isn't representative of the rest of their work, but I probably wouldn't go back to them just for the vocals alone.

that's right: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEIyJEKlwgM

Arsis - Shattering The Spell

I can tell of the bat I won't like this.

It sounds something like Dragonforce with tech death pretensions and decent if slightly vapid screams and growls. The music is so deadpan, one-dimensional and lifeless, despite the abundance (in fact, excess) of melodies and bits of twin guitar solo, that I can't really figure out what kind of emotional state would call for listening to this scheiße. There is vast potential in the music. Many of the melodeath parts could be made into emotionally powerful and headbangable music (though even by stripping the music of the idiotic overproduction, super-triggered drums and constant pointless technical show-off it wouldn't really be my kind of thing), and the tech death riffs, if properly written and played with some degree of conviction, could be, well, not annoying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYxb8s1Gl1s

Vitsaus - Kaste

So as the song started, I immediately thought "oh great, another typical wall-of-noise black metal song", but how wrong I was. At the 0:30 second mark or so, this band starts to add in theatrical flourishes that differentiate it from the generic black metal masses. It all builds up to a section that's truly jaw-dropping, led by slowed down but desperately aggressive drumming with a tremolo lead that evokes anger and a brutal sort of determination. While the rest of the song draws on some iteration of this section a few times again, the band is clever enough to use it only as a thematic crescendo that would accentuate the atmosphere. The mood of the whole song reminds me a lot of early Primordial, but in a flurry of traditional BM. This is a bloody great example of the genre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfWjqbcI_38

Amerigo:

Varathron - The Grim Palace

I tried Varathron years ago when I was getting into Hellenic black metal but didn't get into them for some reason. This clearly has that Hellenic atmosphere with those warmer riffs that the region is known for. This is clearly a demo song as the production is bad. The production is quite muffled and the drums sound very garage like with the snare being too tinny and way too overpowering in the mix. The keyboard gives a nice warm feeling but it is too hard to hear it much of the time through the snare. I like the interlude in the middle and the second half of the song is a lot better. I think I had better look more into them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWJQUPb06gU

Union of Sleep - Arms of God

Right off the bat, we're greeting with a crushing doom riff that kind of reminds me of Disma. The atmosphere is really crushing and tense, with being too overly suffocating. The guitar just sort of chugs along in this fashion the entire time, with a High on Fire-esque lead around the 3 minute mark, which I actually liked. The vocals are kind of a mid-ranged rasp, but you can understand everything that's being said. The bass seems to be inaudible, but with guitars this heavy, I don't really think it's needed. I'm definitely checking these guys out.

Now for something a tad different...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlMsWdZtsB8