@ANationalAcrobat

Exhumed - As Hammer to Anvil

How someone could manage to not get hooked on this record is something I'll never quite be able to figure out. Pretty much every note or riff in the song was put there in the name of getting you to band your head and fuck shit up, and it succeeds on that front. That catchy intro riff commands your attention from the very start, and the band simply does not let up. In fact, the entire song is both catchy and brutal at the same time. The production job suits the song perfectly, letting the guitars and excellent dual vocal attack do the main work, but letting the drums and bass (!) get their time in the sun as well. This track isn't terribly melodic, or ambitious, but it doesn't need to be. It's pure aggression and brutality. Nothing less, nothing more. And for that reason, it's my favorite track off of one of my slabs of meaty death/grind. The only problem with it is, once you hear the band play it live, going back to the studio version seems a lot more tame than seeing one of their amazingly chaotic live shows.

Now for another change of pace.

My Last Suicide - Crucified For Nothing

I enjoy Melodic death metal, but sometimes the genre can sound the most reptitive to me as well....so lets see. Vocals interchange between a deeper growl and a higher growl...both done well and offer variety. Not sure if its one vocalist or two. Riffs are melodic yet still have some "heaviness" to them. The harmonic melodies are good, but to me are quite similar to many bands I've heard before. I like the riffs at 2:40 but one thing I noticed when i got to the end of the song was that most the riffs were all in a higher octave except for that opening heavy riff at 0:15 which seemed to be forgotten or drowned out in the mix after the first minute. Drumming didn't jump out to me as great or bad, but did its job. Although the song is enjoyable, I'm not sure if it can stand out from other bands enough to get constant play from me.


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

Broiling contemplative beginning gives way to mighty traditional and black metal sounding riff with slow tempo drums and utterly fruity sounding piano. Reminds me of a 50 year old flower shop man privately dancing in ballerina tights in front of a mirror. We are then attacked by a generic Alice in Chains drag/pullback riff to let you know this was the mid 90s then were interrupted by a horrible ice skating rink piano interlude that sounds stereotypically Asian before a bass fill. Finally the song builds up to a glorious blast of Finnish sounding death metal which quickly dies down to return to the main BM riff with variations on the end leading to the sound of someone gargling mouth wash. The new riff finally integrates the cheap keyboards into a hideous black riff/muti vocaled chant of awesomeness before breaking into a Master of Puppets sounding buildup which just leads to an intense slow down dragging riff with what sounds like bongos in the background, this is by far the best passage of this song. I think you picked this song because there's too fucking many parts to describe, I would say they remind me of a more unfocused and random Unanimated. However I never checked this band out and am intrigued so thank you.

Now for the antithesis of complexity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0F4pQoNNaQ

Delirium - Bitch
Yes, they are Dutch but they are really more like Celtic Frost than Asphyx.
The song is great...it is down and depressing and plods along unpretentiously with Mark Honout on vocal sounding like a supremely hellish Lemmy. The pacing of the song is what I love the most, it shifts temporarily yet doesn't take way from the general slow and thick atmosphere that the song wonderfully enables. The guitars are pure Frost worship and although Delirium comes off a tad derivative, they are quite enjoyable all the same.

And now that it's November;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsby21X4biE

As the sound of flames greedily consuming it's fuel greeted my ears, I believed I was going to be in for something interesting. In part I was rewarded on this score, however this does not excuse them for blatantly stealing melodies and riffs from a My Dying Bride editing room session. The similarities were glaring and obvious, which soured my experience a little. Not sure whether it was a youtube related issue, but the sound seemed very rough, which I was okay with, as it it gave the track a meatier dirtier edge, as this deathly, doomy dirge ambled on. When the introduction of some flinty, female vocals chimed in I was taken aback, due to the fact that my ears had to acclimatize to them - it sort of felt incongruous, and broke the flow, and was in some small way unwelcome. The powerful, gruff vocals that started the track, I had no problem with, along with the heavy riffage, and I must say, that I thought they were not very good either. The melodic closing was proving to be interesting, until it was abruptly shortened to allow a lazily strummed clean section to take the lead, which again was frustrating due to the fact that it seemed to kill any momentum, or fluid cohesion this could manage to summon. Ultimately, this factor was the one reason this turned out (for me) to be a frustrating listen. I found it to be neither epic or solemn, just a bland mix of ideas.

My go eh.

Slavia - Not Even Human Fucking Beings

Wow, wow, wow! This shit is INTENSE, man! Guess if I had to take a shot at which kind of genre I'm dealing with here..... I'd say it's particularly grimy, raw and primal black/thrash. Okay, first things first; I love the guitar tone in all it's fuzzy, skull-crushing glory. Really, it sounds like modern day Asphyx but with an old school treatment, and I love it. The vocals also follow that line, consisting of very hoarse (in a good way), animalistic rasps that sound pissed as all hell. But..... That's it with the good stuff. Let me explain myself; the riffing is very decent, but not particularly outstanding either, and is driven into the ground for too damn long. That is, until more or less the two and a half minute mark, where the song takes on a menacing mid-tempo which is admittedly quite badass, but even that part feels overlong and rather dull, as not much else goes on for its duration (and when a song that only reaches the four minute mark sounds long-winded, you know you have a problem). The drumming is solid, but it's produced badly, as the cymbal sounds rather cracky and low, and what I assume to be the snare sounds like a box made of plywood and full of cotton being hit, not to mention that for the life of me I can't find the double bass (and the actual bass is, well, absent). Finally; those samples. They annoy me. Greatly.

My verdict? This has potential, but needs to polish quite a few of its edges.

A highlight of its particular album.

God Dethroned - Under the Sign of the Iron Cross

I've heard about these guys (they're from my country after all) but never really paid attention to them. Anyway, the song starts with a melodic guitar lick that reminds me of modern Kreator before it changes into a battlefield of a song that has everything I'd associate it with: loud blastbeats, blazing guitar riffs and raspy, though understandable harsh shouts. I really dig the trempolo picked riff at 1:48 that sounds totally chaotic and wild - you can tell these guys really tried to make their music as good as possible. Eventually even some clean vocals kick in at one point but I can't say I enjoyed these. They reminded me more of Katatonia's Jonas Renske than anyone else. The whole section doesn't fit within the song at all. Eventually the modern Kreator-ish lick returns followed with a piano and the song fades peacefully. Even if the potential was there, this song just lacked some sort of flow I think. Oh and the drums didn't need to be so loud during the blastbeat section.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etlqZ797ZHw

@colin040:

Xlxlx:

@iAmDisturbed:

Dødsengel - Sun on Earth

I keep hearing good things about Dødsengel, both in terms of praise, and indeed the quality of the songs I listen to. This one seems to be no exception. There are some really interesting, shimmering, almost ethereal melodies floating around the song - light to the touch, but at the same time distinctly evil, shining through the mass of rhythm. The whole song has a real intensity, and quite a unique atmosphere - I can safely say I've not heard anything exactly like this before, in terms of tone. The vocals are strong and deep, which makes an interesting change from te shriek or rasp which might be expected, and the clean section gives the song a bit of variety, and is very memorable. Dodsengel are definitely a band I'm enthusiastic to listen to more of, as soon as I can buy some of their stuff. In a word, the song was cosmic.

How about this?

Koldbrann - Inkvisitor Renegat

Some pretty cool lofi black metal. The guitars had that hypnotic edge to them. The vocals are a nice snarl, the lyrics wouldn't be hard to make out if I knew the language. It is apparent the vocalist has a strong accent. Although this isn't quite spectacular, I still enjoyed it. The ending was cool, a slow exotic guitar solo that fades to some pretty sick dark ambiance. In all, these guys seem to have a good sound, even if it's not the most original one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ3o34LPG68

Naam - Black Ice

Not usually my kind of music but this has a sincere melancholia that I can relate to. There's of course more stress put on atmosphere than actual notes played and so it wheels along at such a snail pace only picking up occasionally. The vocalist sounds legitimately lost to some other world but kind and open enough so you can join him on the trip if you wish to. At about 2:30, thick riffage ensues that is well cushioned by the masterful and timely drumming. It continues to ramble on in the same vein with a drony melancholic guitar in the background. Quite unique sounding I must say but not anything I'll be returning to soon.

How about this, a Prog/Power band named LEVIATHAN;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7oo4jn5Mp8

Leviathan - Paying the Toll

Clearly, tightly produced power metal with basic chord progressions, guitar lead harmonies and palm-muted rhythm riffs. The vocals are fairly standard power metal tenor stuff. A fairly skilled singer who uses an unfortunately small range, mostly in the higher end of the vocal range without any screaming or wailing antics. Overall, competent, typically melodic mid-paced power metal without anything particularly memorable. Good music, but there's no genius or dazzling inspiration to be found.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqyQIVT6BxA

Drawn And Quartered - Stabwound Invocation

Excellent riffing governs this song but for me, the vocals are the highlight. They are wonderfully deep and woeful and not cloying in any way. A bit reminiscent of early Deicide but much more focused and sharper. The riffing like I stated is masterful and the leads have a weird but lovably evil quality about them. At about 2:05, it breaks into a doomy passage that I feel gives it a bit more depth and adds a worthy dimension to it, the momentum gathers again via a crushing wall of sound that doesn't falter until the end. Awesome stuff, I tell you, awesome stuff!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt1zVNcjtmA

November's Doom: "The Jealous Son"

I listened to this band sometimes, about ten years ago, in the Hell on Earth days. My cohost was quite into them, and I have at least two of their albums, neither of which I've played in a long time. They were always one of those "that's pretty cool music" kind of bands for me, and I'm not really sure why I never really got too excited about their music, as well-played, sincere and ambitious as it seems. This song isn't really going to change my mind, but it's quite enjoyable really, make no mistake. The guitarwork has lots of good heavy metal flavour, especially surrounding the tempo change at the two+ minute mark. Sombre leads play quietly over everything and display the taste and skill this guitarist has got. Drumming is quite impressive, being full of little double bass rolls that add some spice to the music, and he handles the tempo changes effortlessly and with a degree of cleverness. We get a clean guitar section with some female vocals, and here I think the drummer ought to lay off the double bass rolls, actually, and play it a bit more "loose and open". Then the batteryman does a count on his snare track and the band's back in full heavy force, but the manly growls are joined by the girl, who cries her pain to the heavens, or something. Nicely handled retardando at the end there. Again, I like this, but it doesn't move me all that much, or even enough to really want to listen to it more.

Right, let's speed things up some, shall we?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFo2iVXF3N0

Raven - Die for Allah

First time listening to Raven here, and hey, this is sweet. Nice, slick heavy/speed metal with a strong old school feel, and slightly amateurish vocals that hold a lot of attitude. Actually, I quite like this guy. He has a stinging delivery, with a sneery demeanor and a nice tone, all of which more than makes up for his lack of formal technical ability. The band backing him is far from being composed of hacks too, as the guitar playing is tasteful, powerful, and the riffs stick to your mind like a bunch of leeches to an adventurer's back when wandering through a rainy forest, not to mention that the lead playing is utterly mind-blowing. I won't talk much about it, as the soloing here is in the "hear it to believe it" level of awesomeness, and I wouldn't be able to do it justice. And hey, those drums! They're not particularly flashy, but the dude's fills are very fun, as scarce as they might be, and he stablishes a rock solid beat for the rest of his comrades to work on. The drums are also incredibly well produced, possessing an extremly natural, punchy tone and just being overall pleasing to the ears. The song structure is fairly typical of classic heavy metal, but there's nothing wrong with that, as you have strong, towering verses and a very simple yet undeniably catchy chorus; "Die! Die! For Allaaaaaaaah! The ONE! TRUE! GOD!"

Okay damnit, I'm gonna start listening to this band. I owe it to them.

Let's step on the gas a bit harder.

Paragon - Law Of The Blade

Pretty solid speed metal reminiscent of many, many classics. Song starts off with a warbly, galloping riff that sounds pretty damn familiar, but I can't quite place it. Pretty soon, we get a Grave Digger throaty chorus, which is admittedly well executed, but as expected it shows up a tad too often. The drumming creates a frantic, pumping rhythm. The one solo is pretty throwaway and the end-of-song guitar chug seems to imply that everything before it should have been a bit more climactic. Nevertheless, an enjoyable cut of speed metal. The one fault is that it doesn't quite have the hooks to make it memorable to me. If anything, it made me want to go back and listen to some Grave Digger's Excalibur.

Let's slam on the brakes now...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJHlZD74 ... D1AE76CC9C

Pylon - The First Church

Starts off with a nice heavy riff. The first sign of keybaords sounded as if they aren't mixing that well with the guitar tone and are just there, but as the song progressed, it didn't bother me anymore and sounded better. The riffs pick up tempo a few minutes in and is nice and heavy, the lead work adds some nice melody. When the vocals kick in, as I was expecting vocals more along the lines of Candlemass/Isole or some other "epic" doom band. But having said that, although not the strongest vocals I've heard, these vocals work and rather than vocals driving the song, its the riffs. I like the section at 5:30 that picks up the tempo abit and have some nice solos. So Overall, its solid and curious what other songs sound like from them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cc0h4Ac4KY

Agrypnie: "Kerkerseelenwanderung"

Clean intro, sounds vaguely familiar and enticing. I'm almost certain somehow that I've heard this band before. The drum sound isn't quite to my liking, but what else is new? he brings in a cowbell and then some double bass, which allows me to voice one of my peeves: clean guitar and steady double bass drumming--I just don't like it, in almost any band, but having said that it doesn't work too badly here. The "warrow, warrow, warrow" synthesiser that comes in just before the chugging guitar mounts the intrigue nicely, rightly suggesting that something big is coming; plus it's just a really cool noise. But, oh dear, now we are blasting away with that pop, poppoppoppop drum sound...so artificial and not like how a drum kit should sound. Have to say that that introduction led me to expect something more doomy or at least sombre and, damnit, they should have stuck with that. There's some impressively tight and fast guitar rhythms going on here but it sounds like a warmup exercise. Vocals finally appear for a minimal verse just after 3:45 and everything seems to focus a bit more from that point on. I like the riff at 5:15. You know, these vocals kind of remind me of Coroner during the Grin period, and they're surprisingly not too bad. There's a clean guitar refrain underneath the distortion and it adds a cool sort of ambience. They introduce a triplet chug at 6:40 or so, and it's sort of the climax of this piece. The drummer can't resist but throw in a horrible sounding blastbeat at the end, though. Guys, guys, get a real drum kit, seriously, what is wrong with people actually enjoying that despicable sound? It's not as though electronic drums/samples can't sound good, either, though in a metal context, for me at least, they seldom do....but here it is anything but powerful, the blasts and fills sounding, well, laughably poor.

And having just looked at the bandname...no, I have never heard them before. Can't say I'll come back, but that had its moments.

Here's something from the mid-90s that barely anyone remembers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWGOyyG8VX8

@Abominatrix

Scum - Flames of the Silver Sea

Mmmmmm..... Tasty, tasty. So..... Is this..... Swedeath? No, no, no..... It's European, most definitely, but those melodies..... Ah, this is a Finnish death metal band! Yeah, the way those melodies are played and arranged are typical of the Finndeath School of Metal, and this is all the better for it. Now, I never imagined death metal could be soothing, but this is. The whole tune is sorrounded by this sort of dreary, mystical, dreamlike sort of atmosphere, which is a quite cool deviation from the usual morbid aura and rotten intentions that pervade death metal for the most part. The growls are very common and are content with just doing their job, so they let the music speak by itself mostly, and man, can this stuff talk; the rhythm is almost hypnotizing, and the riffs are more percussive than anything, having kind of a clockwork quality to them, grinding like the gears of some imposing, magical piece of machinery. Now, when you combine this with the light but noticeable keyboards, the echoey production and the subtle use of clean vocals in the background, you get an almost oniric experience as a result. Man, I need to listen to this record!

Already posted a song by this band, but it was from their debut. They changed significantly after that.

Rata Blanca - La Leyenda del Hada y el Mago

9/10

Soaring vocals, mystical sounding keys that don't sound out of place, and riffs that vary from classic power metal to an occasional Nocturnal Rites variant to that incredible solo. I actually haven't heard of these guys until now and I'm really enjoying that solo, the guitarist is gifted if you ask me the music itself is more varied than the closest South American band I can compare this to and that is Viper. Vocally the guy is competent and does his part in which is a song dominated mainly by the keyboards and that guitarist, but once again the second half of the song is more or less one shred fest. Great song from a band I literally just heard now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggJRQ5xAot4

@Veracs:

Jonah Quizz - Hjärtlös Stad (Heartless City)

Johan Längquist is on vocals. I love the man and his enunciation and this sounds very Iron Maideny. The guitar playing is very melodic but also very folky and yet nothing too far in the realm of Falconer. The lyrics are in Swedish but Johan's performance for me makes this priceless. He can soar with the best of them as he later proved in Candlemass but his singing here is rather poignant and deeply moving yet still aggressive. Great song all around.

Doom is my forte, I invite you in with;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY5pqdpd2m8

Blood Tears - In A Sea Of Sadness

The opening riffing comes off as soothing--like a doom metal lullaby. When the vocals come in with the harsh/clean back-and-forth there's something of a fissure between the main guitar riff and that the keyboard-rife clean-vox chorus, which sounds almost like old school goth rock. The song then proceeds to meander and develop into something that sounds like a separate song in and of itself until it gets back to the main riff. I think overall, it's a fairly decent piece of doom, but the song structure is woefully under-developed. It sounds like these guys have potential and could develop into an interesting doom band, but this song itself is rather unimpressive.

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

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

Griftegård - Charles Taze Russell
9/10

Beginning a song with a Tom G. Warrior grunt is a sure fire way to get me interested, the main riff is a juggernaut with a resounding clang from the cymbals adding some thickness to the song. The vocals sound like a mixture of Lee Dorian if he weren't so nasal and a whiny Kirk Windstein, he adds some anguished throaty almost bm raspiness along with a soulful bellow to the heavy crashing parts. The vocalist actually has a bit of a rockish dimension to his voice, instead of trying to mimic another doom vocalist as per many bands he actually goes about things his own way. I can't begin to tell you how much I love the constant cymbal work, add that with a skilled vocalist and the song is a winner for me. Some Chants find their way toward the closing part of the song with choir vocals, overall fucking incredible and I'm very interested in this band's material now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FuwIhnA ... plpp_video

Funereal - Darkness Arise

Some fairly good slow-paced death metal. My biggest complaint is the mixing. The guitar is too low in the mix and gets somewhat drowned out by the drums. The thing with the bass at the beginning was kind of weird, not sure if I like it. Overall, pretty cool songwriter, they have a good sound. Their riffs are cool. Not much to say about this really, it was definitely decent but nothing I'd return to.

Thanks to Metantoine for showing me this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qo1yQTVykM

Leeches of Lore-Mountain Candy Rape

This is weird and yet it is so fucking appealing. The video is trippy and wouldn't you love to know the album title? "Attack The Future" it's called.
"Mountain Candy Rape" trips insanely through doom to a Metallica like thrash groove circa 1983 with a singer that sounds like John Arch's stepchild. The playing is tight and then it's loose and really this puts whatever definition you have of "progressive" to shame.
It is a weird song like I said but it is a great song and I'd love for everyone to hear it.

Fans of Israel's ORPHANED LAND and Tunisia's MYRATH, check out Egypt's SAND AURA;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhkLNzeQ634

Sand Aura - "The Shepherd's Elegy"

Well, as an Orphaned Land fan, I couldn't resist an invitation like that. It does follow in a similar style, of progressive metal with Middle Eastern influences, but manages to have a sound of its own. The chorused, mystic clean guitar part that opens it is great, but the distorted guitars and keyboards that follow don't fare quite as well. That's probably due to the thin, plasticky production (which is especially bad on the drums), though, so I can forgive it. There's some sweet-sounding keyboard riffs throughout and creative use of Arabic scales and time signatures - keyboards are slightly too loud, but that's probably more to do with the production than anything else, and they still sound good. As for the vocals, the harsh vocals are stronger than Kobi Farhi's, more guttural and brutal-sounding and really quite damn good. Unfortunately, the spoken word parts don't flow as naturally with the songs, and tend to butt in where they aren't needed and slow the song to a halt. The song switches up tempo, melody and riffs quite a lot, but they do a good job of making it flow well, even if it does peter out slightly in the second half with its slow drumbeat and (admittedly decent, but overlong) solos. Not quite as quality as Orphaned Land, but any fan of Oriental metal will probably like this.

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

Vanden Plas-Free the fire

5/10

As soon as I heard the synth intro and clinical guitar tone I knew I was in for prog metal for worse. The vocals are of the Europower variety with a decidedly Teutonic accent, he sounds like insert X Kiske knockoff and lacks variety and power. The riffs themselves vary from chugging monotone riffs to picking up pace during the chorus, the songs comes to a standstill with that Dream theater synth/riff thingie that prog bands do that sounds like BGM from the RPG Star Ocean. The solo is quite good apart from the weakness of the main riff, not bad music I suppose but really the polar opposite from more memorable prog efforts from bands like Hammers of Misfortune.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBxOL-isB7U

Indesinence - Communion

7.5/10

Loved the intro. After that, it was okay. Just your good ol' Old School Death. Though I like how throughout the album it kept me at least interested. The vocals are also nice; guttural greatness and the shouting was also a fantastic touch. Simply put, it is a good song overall. It is not remarkable, but I quite enjoyed it. I just wish I could have heard them riffs a little louder...either that or my speakers are fucked up. Oh, and the album cover is pretty sweet too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW1jxJ6ISks

Stoned Jesus - I'm The Mountain

A great song but really loooooooooooong! Usually stoner metal songs don't go down well with me when they're built this tall but this keeps things interesting well past the 5 minute mark. The band is Ukrainian and to simply call them stoner would be limiting them. Severely. There's an ancient almost hippy quality to this song that calls Hendrix and Fairport Convention to mind before it delves into King Crimson-like weirdness and precision. The singer has one of the most interesting voices I've heard used in a rock environment in a really long time. The guitar playing is incredibly dynamic and well versed in folk and prog rock styles but also with a punky and free vibe that doesn't fear to take it into some strange land.
Highly recommended!

Folk metal from South Africa;
Balyios - Niflheim

Balyios - "Niflheim"

I know nothing about African metal, and was excited to hear some metal influenced by traditional African music. But nope, as you can probably tell from the song title, this is pretty much straight European-style folk metal. Slightly surprising, but still good. The Ensiferum influence is pretty obvious - melodic but still crushingly heavy speed riffs, keyboards that add to the atmosphere but don't intrude too much, harsh, raspy growls for the lead vocals (deeper than Jari's or Petri's, which adds a nice, heavier touch to it), and a nice deployment of clean vocal choirs. But it's not like they're just Ensiferum clones, they still manage to bring some life into it. The lead guitar riff around 1:10 under the choirs is fantastic, even if the melodic solo at around 3:20 never really takes off the way it should. Speaking of the choirs, they are just excellent, appropriately heroic and epic-sounding. Any individual part of this has the potential for catchiness, without being obnoxiously so. If I had to criticize anything, the symphonic keyboard tones and that "sparkly" one near the beginning and end can sound a bit cheap at times, but that's just nitpicking. Not much else to say, it's fairly standard stuff, but done right. 8.5/10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BG0TmO5nJ4

Drudkh - Glare of Autumn

I've loved this before, though not so much anymore. I like the clean sections. The clean guitars, whilst sounding weak, are playing a pleasant enough melody. Can't take the heavy bits anymore. I'm barely hanging on to my metal fandom anymore, and found the heavy parts abrasive and annoying. The drums in particular. But I used to love this. Drudkh really don't do much for me at all, really. They just kinda blab on about their few chord, and that is that.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GZf8pjy40c

Artillery - Delusions Of Grandeur

A great song from a great album. This is insanely catchy and Søren Nico Adamsen's voice is in fine form. He sings with such garce and dynamism that is more favorable to a power metal setting and since this is one of the least thrashy songs on the album, it actually serves it well. The guitars are intricate and massively layered but still melodic and powerful enough in the chorus to warrant an enthusiastic raection from a crowd. You can easily sing along to this and still feel worthy. It maintains a sleazy, gutter, man-whose-been-there Sebastian Bach-era Skid Row meets Bobby Blitz attitude and wins amazingly.
Don't just listen to this, grab the whole album!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXzJH4A8PXU

Something's off here. This, straight from the outset reminds me of Mass Burial, an Australian self-released brutal band with aspirations of juggernaut proportions, redolent with thick, crunchy guitars and a bellowing vocalist full of fire and brimstone. The plodding opening nature of "War Eternal" is winning them no favours with this listener though, despite brandishing it's intent on their collective sleeves. There is a sense of a cohesive slip in this - it just doesn't seem to quite gel, and sounds a little messy in the end, and takes some time to move around into another tempo, or directional shift. The song writing could also benefit from a small overhaul in the sense of song writing dynamics, as it's not very commanding, although when it does eventually slide slowly into another gear, there is a somewhat serpentine, coiling tension being built, which in itself is not so bad, were it not almost ruined by the solo overloading the aforementioned crunchy guitars, and nearly drowning them out completely - and it's a trifle sloppy and tired sounding. The vocals are great however, as is the rhythm section (despite a terribly plasticky production), but there isn't enough here yet for me to truly enjoy this, it's a little one dimensional and flat.

Something which has consumed my soul...