Morbid Sin - Child of Darkness (Child of Light)

Great ballad that sounds like something Crimson Glory or Fates Warning did.
The vocals are really really good. Very pronounced and very moving and they drive the song although the guitars slide by gracefully and the lead tone is bluesy, almost Gary Moore-ish. Nothing much to comment about. Everything else just works to serve the song's languid movement. The pace is very relaxing and there's a bit of solemnity, some seriousness conveyed by the singer who does a damn incredible job. Things get heavier towards the end but the distant shrill guitars are more interesting than the doomy riff.

Well arranged ballad overall!

9/10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9wp6ulzcFo

Preyer - Beware The Night

This is my great find for the day! This song reminds me of 'Buried Alive' by Fates Warning, it has that raw drum sound and a nicely developed galloping riffstorm and the singer is that close to Arch except he's more 'militant'. The riffing is really something to behold if you like your traditional metal ballsy. The song gradually moves the pace up a bit and when the solo comes in, things take on "proto-thrash" semblance. And all the while I'm thinking, "How have I never heard of this band?" The Fates Warning tune I mentioned is good, but this is much more fiery!

10/10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stNopLNUed4

Mork Gryning - My Friends

I remember this album back when I listened to black metal years ago and used to listen to it now and then and just remember it being fairly melodic and aggressive but can't remember it more. This song is certainly not how I remember this album. The song is quite slow and kind of doomy in feel. The production is very crisp and it sounds a little too uplifting to me to really be considered doom metal. The song feels quite repetitive being over 6 minutes long. The tempo is slow and consistent throughout the song and has a bit of a rocking drinking vibe to it which I like. The vocals consist of a drunken talking/singing style and some occasional shrieking. This would make a great laid back drinking song.

8.5/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax7cdHiZ010

Destroyer 666 - I Am The Wargod

Oh my, and what a God! From the calm, yet brooding introduction the hairs on your neck should have already prickled to attention, bristling with anticipation, because a whole shitstorm of awesomness is about to claim your ass!! The opening portion of this monstrous track grabs you by the fucking throat, and stomps, slashes and kicks the teeth in of anything in the way. The melodic, muscular riffs, and undeniably menacing vocals propel it forward with a thirst for blood, BUT that's just the beginning... at the 3:45 mark shit gets real. This is quite possibly the finest track these boys have ever penned, as it's a monster, and this section not only slows things down, but it brings even more fire to the scorched earth, for there is no reprieve here - only desolation and destruction. The constant hailstorm of spiraling, attacking riffs never lets up, with soaring, searing melodies clouding the sky in thick smoke forging the carnage ever forward. The coda is a repeated mantra, fused with pummeling double bass, driving the message home that you have just had you ass handed to you, as it moves into the distance to claim/destroy (hurr hurr) new ground. Masterpiece.

Something new from a band I highly regard...

Christicide - 'Demon's Breath'

Sounds like At the Heart of Winter meets Sacramentum meets X other black metal band with a production job that's really typical of a billion post-1996 black metal albums. Maybe there's a bit of Destroyer 666 in there, too, especially in the thrashy parts - but damn, even the thrashy parts seem like "thrash parts approved by at least 7 different black metal committees". It ain't bad or owt, but this but must have won an award for barely noticeable achievement in the field of mediocrity. Very professional, with a production job that rivals any "big name" in the black metal scene, but it takes about four minutes until we get a riff that actually gets my pulse racing. It's not bad, but it's not up to much, I'm afraid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46NLRFBssjU

Griffon - Cursed Be The Deceiver

Well, to say I have mixed feelings on this would be an understatement. Instrumentally this is pretty great, some really solid USPM with speed metal creeping in here and there. The solo was pretty good, the riffs are consistently solid. The one thing that makes me not want to come back to this is the vocals - man do they suck. I'm not a fan of the super high pitched over the top clean vocals in the first place, and this guy isn't even good at it. He seems to be really strained the whole time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcCwr10e07Y

Verdunkeln - "Einst War Es Mal..."

Black metal is not my thing at all, but I have to say, I'm quite enjoying this. It's fairly mid-paced, with a layer of ominous clean guitar riffs, before the distorted guitars come in over the top of it. The riffs are surprisingly low, actually, with not many high-pitched tremolo riffs to be found here, but I like it, because it gives these guys their own unique edge, and thickens out the sound more. It's repetitive, but in a good way - kind of hypnotic, and the main clean riff is good enough that I don't mind hearing it repeated as much as it is. They also do a good job of transferring between clean and distorted sections without interrupting the flow of the song - masterfully so, I might say. The singer's shrieks are also pretty damn solid, nothing you haven't heard before, but executed just right. Sadly, the production quality sounds like total arse (the vocals in particular have way too much echo), but hey, it's raw black metal, what would you expect? Not something I would listen to frequently, but good and interesting all the same.

Something a little more melodic? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYw7z9uSFbI

Iron Mask - Feel The Fire

Pretty solid power metal from Belgium. I have all this band's albums except their recent one and they are consistent Blind Guardian/Gamma Ray-tinged players who deliver soaring melodic metal that never wanes. The song is driven by Mats Olausson's keyboards that elevate the riffs out of the mundane and the really propellant drumming. There's not much to comment about. If you like the kind of melodic metal that has been paraded by all and sundry both sides of the world, this is some of the better stuff. One thing though, Roma Siadletski's vocals have a distinctive Harry Conklin twist to them that will be very endearing for more traditional metalheads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n237sLvPg4

Lucian Blaque - "Commissioned Assassin"

I like how the description says "balls to the wall metal at its peak". Perhaps not quite, but they make a decent fist of it. This has pretty much everything you would want and expect from a classic metal song. The guitar does its job well, with a few instantly memorable riffs and sharp solo work that never devolves into generic shred. The vocalist can hit the high notes with ease, but still has enough grit and muscle in his voice that it doesn't sound weak. Honestly, this guy could go up against any number of classic HM singers. The bass is pretty prominent in the mix, and it really helps out in giving the song some weight, especially with the rather thin guitar tone (I would guess this was an underground release). Not much to say here, just a good, solid heavy metal tune, and that's no bad thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx2f6OMn_x4

Skálmöld - Árás

Pretty interesting sounding melodic death metal, and it appears to have a few folk elements. The atmosphere is pretty cool and makes the song sounds more epic and monumental, the choral vocals especially. The production job is good, it doesn't sound overproduced and still retains a pretty organic sound. The vocals are rather mediocre, just some half-assed mid range grunt, and they by far are the worst thing about this song. Drumming is pretty laid back and doesn't stray from the flow of the music, so nothing remarkable here. The solo near the end was pretty cool and when the choral vocals came back in it became the high point of the song to me.

Not bad overall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grTS9c7nq4s

~Rudra - Hymns From the Blazing Chariot~

Ah Singapore! I love this band! Ethnic Death Metal I saw them live in December last year and they were tight! Very good live band! They use lot of chants and shlokas in their songs. Their quiet moments are very traditional Indian sounding however their heavy parts remind me of Melechesh. I'll give that song a strong 8.5/10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FyQLc949bA

Svart Crown - "Revelation: Down Here Stillborn"

Well, this is pretty sweet. A brutal black/death blast that grabs hold and doesn't let go. The drummer puts in the real standout performance here - it's precise and pummeling, and switches between tempos admirably, without it ever feeling abrupt or unnatural. The guitar riffs are memorable, with a few technical edges, and with the bits of dissonance that wander in, it's intense without being too difficult or meandering. The growls are great, with a lot of passion and power behind them. The production feels... well, atmospheric in a weird way, kind of hazy even though you can hear everything that's going on with perfect clarity. It still feels organic, so the track still has some life in it. Awesome overall. Shitty album cover, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n9_i_mFjoU

Jaguar - Run For Your Life

Not all that much to say about this except really good NWOBHM. Good vocals, a bit raunchy. Simple but effective riffing with a great guitar tone. Songwriting is also a big factor here - basically the glue that holds it all together. Pretty typical, but that ain't always a bad thing if you do it well. I like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ7Ka7lZkdw

DOWN - Stone the Crow

This was the first time I ever actually heard anything by Down... And I was both positively surprised and let down.

"Southern" anything is almost always a piece of a horse bone gnawed half-way to the rotten marrow after the flesh has been flogged off after leading the horse to water and then making the poor bugger drink itself to death. There's little novelty value in anything with that tag, and that, based on this, goes for Down as well. Basic Southern stuff, and after CCR & Al milked it to near exhaustion, there were just a few highlights left, and I personally haven't found much enjoyment in anything of that kind ever since that one Molly Hatchet live video that absolutely rocked on the third boozing morning of a rock festival, when I was pumping beer, coffee and BBQ ribs into my strained system to get myself on the road for the final push... that one is excellent, and left nothing to do in the genre, it's all been said and done. And that, basically, goes for Southern metal as well; attaching easy-going metal riffs to Southern rock songs does not magically turn a stale genre into anything marvellously new. It's still Sweet Home Alabama, if you scrape the surface finish off deep enough.

On the other hand, Anselmo does not overdo the vocals here, as he did on the later Pantera releases, and his singing is actually tolerable, almost enjoyable, although the combo does bring to mind something that resembles that weird bleakness found on, say, Alice in Chains... can't define that any better, sorry. The guitarwork is softish, as it's supposed to be in Southern stuff, and the riffing works pretty well, but it doesn't really offer any kicks, either. There's nothing offensive here, and perhaps listening to this while enjoying an eight beer buzz on one's back with the eyes closed on a lush lawn on a hot day and listening to waves and dogs barking in a distance could, theoretically, work well... I dunno. The genre is like an exhausted open pit mine with a 400 yard bungee tower on its edge, and just adds some new contrived thrills to a dried-up spring of old ideas. Still, not offensive, and might be enjoyable in some imaginary setting. I won't be searching for this actively any more than I did before, but it's still a 6/10.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JS3XnmAMRQ

Ummm Nappy?

CrushedRevelation


EDIT: I changed the song to something quicker. Mokoma the Cat will go and meet the vet today for a vaccination.

Mokoma - H.E.L.L.

I'm curious what the 21min song was now....anyways, back to this shorter song. Its a cover, but i'm not that familiar with the original, so nothing to compare with. thrashy sound with some fairly typical riffs at the beginning, but the speed is relentless and in your face. The vocals are decent but nothing overly special imo...i do like the occasionaly scream which adds some variety to otherwise monotone vocals. I guess the song is great for what it is, a straighforward, thrashy headbanger....and i enjoyed it!

7/10

Is this too long? if so, i'll put a new one

I'll start with a catty comment: if it's any sort of modern doom my general rule of thumb is that it's gonna be too long. Never 'eard this band before but I've heard plenty about them. Whale-themed funeral doom, eh? The intro is nice but, unsurprisingly, it drags out for a little too long and then when the riffs hit they're rather... crap. DUN-DUN-DUN-DUN! Similarly, the vocalist seems... overly guttural for the style and there's a big clash between the DUN-DUN-DUN-DUN-ing and the more pleasant clean guitar places. It seems like they're vying for space. It's like if someone took the breakdown for 'Reign in Blood' as a good idea for the main riff of a song. Weirdly, enough there's a clean part that sounds like the eerie section in 'Seasons in the Abyss' so I can guess I can suppose that Slayer are an influence, huh? I can see what they're attempting here, but it's just messy. When they introduce the clean vocals, it's more promising but damn, I think that's just because I'm really not digging the harsh vocals. Yes, it's way too long... by the 7 minute mark I'm itching to put on something else. Officially, I've decided that Ahab ain't my bag.

Saving doom metal: one riff at a time

@Tron

Solstice - "I Am The Hunter"

The rather underwhelming riff intro (and don't get me wrong, it is nicely rounded, well balanced and nicely accented by the drums-it just didn't move me) gives way to a rather interesting myriad of riffs before the vocals kick in and that is when the song for me sprouted wings and took flight. The singer's voice is operatic but not in a colorful fashion. It has a warmth to it that is deeply endearing. The guitar work is really something in this song. Very tight in a battle kind of groove during the verses and so fucking explosive after. That solo is pure dynamite and when the song slows down it really takes you with it.
This is a definite grower and possibly one that will be held up later on as a classic.

More doom, kids?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdmQkqmGFqU

@Tron:


Wytchcraft - "Apocalyptic Visions"

Instrumentally, this is pretty solid. Not as slow and crushing as doom can be, except in the monstrously slow end section, but that's no bad thing, with a nice collection of different and engaging riffs to be had here. The drums can get a little bit annoying, speeding up and slowing down too much for my liking and leaning on the crash cymbal rather too much, but at least it has some variety and stops the song from getting stagnant. A few keyboard atmospheres add a more epic touch to it, without ever becoming over-prominent. However, that voice, it drives me up the spout. The singer's voice can best be described as weak and waily, not to mention off-key, and it's a serious deal-breaker for me, especially when they pull out a ridiculously overdramatic spoken word section. And it closes out to the sounds of an air-raid siren and some kind of apocalyptic sample, which did nothing for me. Interesting, but ragged around the edges, and doesn't quite hang together. Also, that album title. Yikes.

OK, enough doom for now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqRtEbv1hR4

Okay... when the crystal clear, heavily melodic guitar lick comes rampaging out of my headphones, I'm kind of expecting some kind of Dark Tranquility or equally boring Finnish styled melodeath (yawn), but instead comes some silky vocals of the power metal genre. This is pretty high energy and bouncy straight out of the gate, and has a quintessential Swedish sound, thanks to both the melodies, and the production (though I'm assuming they're Swedish... wait, nope they're German). The drumming is actually standing out more to me than the guitars though, who do their power metal thing, with crunchy palm muted, and "glorious" harmonised riffs and solid rhythms. The drums however seem to be a very busy, loud and somewhat aggressive backbone here, with tons of fills and pounding double bass (and he really loves bashing that snare) - can't really hear any bass however, though I know it's there. Verses are delivered in a timely fashion, but it does seem they're really holding out for the huge, uplifting chorus, which elevates things nicely, with heavily multitracked vocal lines, and the most saccharine synth I've heard in a long time. The last quarter of this comprises of a little overdrawn lead wank section, which while talented, is kind of bland, due to the shredding, that does not command my attention at all - it's just too much. Musically this is as solid as it gets, but ultimately sterile to my ears, as it seems way over produced and dry, but hey if you like sugary, well produced power metal then look no further, but not for me thanks.

Enough niceness now...

Vorum - Rabid Blood

First off, fucking love the production. Murky as fuck, but not so dirty that details begin to get obfuscated. A little bit in, digging the creeping tremolo. Then the solo comes in - goddamn, can this dude play the fuck out of a solo. Just the right middle ground between face melting badassery and emotion. Like the lumbering riffs as well. This is solid as fuck oldschool sounding (although released this year) death metal. Dig this for sure, need to check out more from these dudes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zf06zLdXX0

Drottnar - The Kakistocracy Catacombs

Never heard of this band before but this is pretty good. It is chaotic black metal but in a very controlled manner. The guitar tone is absolutely fantastic. Very present and solid in a way that most players of this kind of BM don't do. There's a hell of a lot of overtones and that sets some kind of atmosphere but one that is not quite heavy with feeling. The vocals are very standard and the drumming for this particular song is quite subdued, maybe because the guitars are given a lot of room. It drones on in pretty much the same fashion as it stared out.

7/10

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

Manngard - Into The Quagmire

This is supposedly thrash apparently. I love the chaos of it and I appreciate the Voivod-isms but it doesn't stand out as much as it initially suggests. The riffing is really good though but the drumming is bizarrely inconsequential. It starts off with a heavy groove driven hard by the bass and the Voivod-isms creep in with the guitar's high end and the techy vocals and then it devolves into a chuggy chorus before that awesome intro riff comes around again. The chugging is helped along by the layering of vocal parts, with a gruffer vocal balancing out the high end and the solo although panned and a bit obscured at first is brilliantly chaotic. The riffing is front and center and that's what really matters. I'll come back for more Manngard. This might not be spectacular, but for what it is, it is solid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oNh5kRl3Bk

Tremor: "War Machine"

Cool, something absolutely unknown to me. What's this then? Some kind of accidentally industrialised (I.E., I can't really play in a band right now so I'm going to just give this my best shot and use what I can with severely fucking limited resources) take on Megadeth? The vocals certainly possess that Mustaine-like snarl when they're in their more melodic mode, and then we get some harsher chorus delivery that at times seems to come from some entirely different entity, like one of those spooky early 90s doomish black metal bands that resonate so strongly through the underground. One of those riffs here is pretty good and yes, once again makes me think of mid-90s Megadeth. incidentally, I'm not a fan of Megadeth, and this isn't really aiming anywhere near as high as that esteemed band. For one thing, that drum machine is sucking a lot of life out of the song with its monotonous "crack crack crack", and it sounds particularly sharp and trebbly, like it wasn't mixed properly or something. speaking of that, there's a weirdly unbalanced feel to this, with the instruments failing to blend in anything approaching a live fashion and instead seeming to have just been mixed over-top of one another with some haphazard levels. The guitar's tone lacks bite and the playing lacks flair, and the vocals are way up top there grabbing everyone's attention when they really don't have much to offer. That electronically assisted chorus part sounds oh so scary, and sure, in a different context I might rather like it....let's say, a really intense industrial-tinged black metal band. After three minutes I've concluded that this is rather goofy, like a stereotype of a highschool heavy metal band for non-metalheads; that is, what a great many people probably think heavy metal all sounds like. Not even any leads, and they surely might have helped. Don't think I'll be returning to this one.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbN9YecHb6E

Whoa Abom, what the hell is part I like!? Spiky, aggressive, ugly and totally riff loaded filth here. Bring it on! Now I have never checked out these madmen, mainly because of the erm... silly name, but I'll be damned if this doesn't go harder than a fat girl in the sack. Plenty of hard'n'heavy (and bloody wicked) riffs of a South American nature come at you in a barely controlled whirlwind of violence. I can hear traces of Sadistik Exekution and Morbid in this, especially in the riff structure department, with it's staccato, palm muted attack, and I love the tone - raw to the point of bleeding, but plenty of feral bite. Drums bash and crash their way into your ear canal with no regard for you hearing, as cymbals are torn asunder in a savage assault, and the snare is ravaged in a blast beat fury. Bass is gloriously, disgustingly heard, and is a real extra bottom end, giving plenty more weight. The thrash overtones are not lost here, in fact they form the basis of this ode to lust and depravity, with plenty of great licks and hellish solos scattered throughout, and plenty of nouse for creating one utterly demonic sound. The bloodthirsty vocalist seems well aroused with their beast they're smashing out too, giving his all in a vicious snarl, spewing blasphemy with an evil grin. It may be a nasty beast, but the song writing chops are well above par - this is not sloppy because of lack of skill, it's probably because they were drunk while recording it, swigging Jack Daniels straight from the bottle before knocking this thing out. Outrageously good.

Abom must have read my mind...

@crushed":

MORTEM - Summoned To Hell

oooh, i like the scuzzy production on this right away, and the vocals fit right in with the sound. After the initial slow intro, the song gets going into old school death metal riffs. Although the riffs are solid, i wouldn't say outstanding but together with the vocals and sound of the song, enjoyable guitar work. Drums sound basically like it was off an album like Scream bloody gore (i.e., kinda standard). The only real variation in the drumming comes later in the song during the bridge where the double bass kicks in and continues after. I do like that section at about 2:00...the vocals are definitely a strong part to this song/band...and overall I like the song (and listened to a few others on that album which sound solid too)

8/10

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

Gehenna - Unearthly Love Palace

I like this. I really like the intro, it puts me in a haunting yet calming state. Then the vocals hit; typical low-ish Black Metal grunts which I'm not that much of a fan of, but I enjoy nonetheless. I guess it depends on the mood! Overall the song is pretty consistent, but I must say the atmosphere is spot on. I will also include the fact that the lyrics are really good! The poetry is impeccable. In summary, this is a good Black Metal song. Will be checking more of their songs soon! 7/10

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

Virgin Black - ...and I Am Suffering

I wasn't planning on reviewing this but I'd hate to think I listened to the whole song for no reason. I'd never heard Virgin Black before so I was definitely curious. If they were looking to cultivate a majestically sad atmosphere (read: mopey) they sure as fuck succeeded. It sounds very cinematic to me, more OST stuff than anything I'd want to hear on a heavy metal album. Is there a riff? I never noticed one. The lead guitar has that cool tubed-out sound, and the lilting way it was played definitely fits the morose atmosphere. The female vocals were also quite evocative. The piano outro is probably my favorite part of the whole thing. This was absolutely not for me, but I can see where it would be nice to throw on while weeping if you had some really unfortunate things stewing around in the ol' noggin.

Is this what they normally sound like, or do they sometimes actually play metal?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ1Uma1eTjk

This one is the closest I can think of (This album is their heaviest one, imho):


But yeah, Cinematic Gothic Death/Doom is their forte