Album Reviews


Review: GOD DETHRONED – ‘The World Ablaze’ [Official Videos]

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God Dethroned is a blackened deathmetal band that got formed in 1990 by vocalist and guitarist Henri Sattler, the band is the most populair band from Holland and that really gets to show in their new album ‘The World Ablaze’ that got released on the 5th of May this year. Their debut album ‘The Christhunt’ got out with help of a small label from Gemany, besides that they have released all their albums on one of the best labels that are currently out there Metal Blade Records. They have changed their line-up multiple times but their singer Henri Sattler always stuck with the band. Till this date they have made 9 albums besides their latest one ‘The World Ablaze’, If you are new to this band I would highly recomment you to give those albums a listen. ‘Passiondale’ from 2009 for example is full of melodies and agression where ‘The Toxic Touch’ is more focused on the lyrical aspect of the songs, such as depression, religion and hatred. They may have changed things up from time to time but they always remained a band with a lot of talent lyrically and instrumentally. The agressive vibes from the songs gives you the feeling of power, of being more than just human. The feeling of reigning an entire universe. Wonder who made those raw vibes? It got created by drummer Michiel van der Plicht, bassist Jeroen Pomper and guitarist Mike Ferguson. Not a band you would just walk past without noticing, they truly are the definition of Dutch blackened deathmetal!

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Review: FIRE FROM THE GODS – ‘Narrative Retold’

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Unlike any other band in recent memory, Fire From The Gods have springboarded onto the music scene with recognition all around the metal community. The quintet’s combination of rap, hardcore, and metalcore brews a familiar but original sound. From Austin, TX, the band has set out to bring a bigger, more important message to metal that they feel has been lacking. Lead vocalist AJ Channer had this to say about the upcoming record:

“This album is the personal narrative of a minority man living in major cities and being American, there’s a socio-economic theme throughout the whole record that carries from each song to song. It’s all about the underdog. We’ve all had to fight for everything we have in this band. The political climate in our country is quite racially and socially charged. There are a lot of issues and energy people are expressing along with misguided hate and anger. I want to channel this in music that can resonate. This is where we come from and who we are as a band.”

‘Narrative Retold’ is Fire From The God’s second record and their debut on major label Rise Records. The album drops this Friday on May 19th; you can pre-order the record here. They are already building a well-established fan base touring across the country while making stops at large festivals like Carolina Rebellion and Rock on the Range. Continue reading →

Review: SEETHER ‘POISON THE PARISH’

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Seether’s new album ‘Poison the Parish’ is now out! Released 5 days ago (May 12th, 2017) it’s already generating a blizzard of positive reviews from fans. Being the first album under front man Shaun Morgan’s label, Canine Riot Records, it’s a good sign not just for the album, but also for the label.

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Review: WHEN ICARUS FALLS – ‘Resilience’ [Album Stream]

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Formed in 2007 in Lausanne, Switzerland. When Icarus Falls materializes the exploration of dark musical universes, oscillating between hazy atmospheres and heavy riffs. When Icarus Falls‘ musicians are well known for their intense stage performances. The band released their debut EP ‘Over The Frozen Seas’ in 2000, and followed that up with the incredible concept album ‘Aegean’. That release is based on the work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a famous psychiatrist who described the five stages of dying: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance; five steps defining the atmosphere of the five main songs of the album. The band then went on to release another EP ‘Circles’ in 2014. The band has now release yet another EP via Czar Of Bullets titled ‘Resilience’. It was recorded in July 2016 by Chris Noth at the Bikini Test in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. Mixed and mastered by Magnus Lindberg in Stockholm, Sweden. It released April 21, 2017. Continue reading →

Review: NUCLEAR OATH ‘TOXIC PLAYGROUND’

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Nuclear Oath is a heavy hitting metal band from Medicine Hat, Alberta. The 5-member group will release ‘Toxic Playground’ on June 9th, 2017. It is a follow-up to their EP ‘Ashes of the Unborn’, which was released February 26, 2016.

They’ve stated that their intention is to create an experience for the listener where everyone takes away something different from the band.

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REVIEW: LEGACY OF EMPTINESS – ‘Over The Past’ [Official Song Stream]

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What is it that invades the sanity in your mind once when you stumble across the word, ‘Norway’ ? If you’re a trve bred metalhead, ‘black metal‘ is the only thing that will take over your mind. The grim, dark and blasphemous genre has a really deep connection with the country of Norway and why not, that is where the genre started to sprout into a global epidemic of unholy cacophony. Bands like Mayhem, Darkthrone, Enslaved, Burzum, Dimmu Borgir etc have created a niche for the genre so deeply engrossed, it’s almost like Norway is the face of the genre. Whether be it an old band or a new kid on the block, they surely know their black metal very well. It has also seen the face of diversification and a lot of experimentation, many bands have taken a different approach than the genre flag bearers, incorporating elements of majestic symphony, eerie surrealistic ambience, or just adding folk elements indigenous to their viking and pagan heritage. Whatever blend of black metal they churn out, it’s always great to listen to and connect.

Today I bring to your notice an excellent album by one of the rising symphonic black metal bands from Norway, LEGACY OF EMPTINESS. As the name suggests, they are a three piece band playing the blend of black metal I love the most, i.e., ‘Symphonic black metal‘ or ‘Ambient Black Metal‘ with a lot of folk and avant garde elements sprinkled here and there. The founding members Eddie and Kjell-Ivar formed this group as a “tongue in cheek” BM-project previously known as ‘Permafrost’, back in 1995. Recording a couple of demos for their self interest just like the way many bands start out, a few years later Øyvind joined in on keyboards and completed the line-up. They went on to record a couple of more demos, and disbanded in 2000. 2010 saw them make a comeback and gel up together again, as they realised the previously recorded songs were “too good to be left behind”. So they re-recorded them and released it as their debut in 2011.  Continue reading →

Review: SHADOW OF INTENT – ‘Reclaimer’ [Official Stream]

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Finally I get to write about the upcoming gods of symphonic deathcore, Shadow Of Intent. I have been crazy in love with them since their debut album ‘Primordial’ and I can’t stop talking about them. They are unlabaled, they manage everything themselves AND they also managed to make an album that made everyone go nuts in the deathcore community. Ben Duerr is the vocalist of the band and he has a voice like no one else does and the lyrics are influenced by the Halo Series. For those of you that don’t know, Halo is a sciencefiction- first person shooter that is known to be the best of it’s kind. Halo has been so succesful that they created even more Halo games and also published some books around the Halo theme. Now let’s get back to the amazing members. Chris Wiseman and Federico Zuccarelli are both guitar players for the band and they fit the theme perfectly! I couldn’t imagine the band with different guitar players because these guys really give the albums an emotional twist. Keith Kohlhepp is the bass player and Matt Kohanowski is the drummer of the band. Both are important factors that make the band Shadow Of Intent as good as it is. The band has made 1 EP in 2014 ”Inferi Sententia” and also made a debut album named ”Primordial” so far but the 27th of April made change to that. On that exact date they released a masterpiece that is known by the name ‘Reclaimer’, I have waited for this release for over a year but i knew they wouldn’t disappoint and after hearing some vocals, guitar solo’s and even whole songs before the album release I knew they wouldn’t. And guess what? They didn’t!

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Review: PRAYERS OF SANITY – ‘Face Of The Unknown’ [Official Video]

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Thrash metal band Prayers Of Sanity from Potugal brings old school thrash back in 2017 with their latest album ‘Face Of The Unknown’! They have been around since 2007 and made their first EP ‘Tuned To Thrash’ the same year. After that they released their debut album ‘Religion Blindless’ in 2009, this album has been the most important album for the band. It was filled with insanely fast guitar riffs and vocals that will hurt your brain. This gathered a lot of old school thrash metal lovers and the band has been getting more and more attention ever since. 3 years later they came back with their album ‘Confrontations’ that would literally punch you in the face when you listen to it. On the 28th of April this year they have released ‘Face Of The Unknown’ with the help of their label Rastilho Records. It is recorded and mixed by their own vocalist and guitarist Tião Costa. You are probably wondering, doesn’t that make the quality worse? Well I got the answer for you: It doesn’t. It actually makes the album 10 times better. It creates an unique sound and brings more creativity. 

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Review: MOTIONLESS IN WHITE – ‘Graveyard Shift’ [Official Videos]

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Motionless In White is a band that I have loved from their beginning EP ‘The Whorror’ in 2007 all the way to their latest release ‘Graveyard Shift’ that came out just 2 days ago on the 5th of May via Roadrunner Records. After that glorious EP they released another one called ‘When Love Met Destruction’ in 2009, the coolest part about this EP is that there are only 1000 copies around so if you have one you should consider yourself lucky! ‘Creatures’ is their debut album which came out just 1 year after their second EP and it’s unbelievable how many fans Motionless In White got from that album alone. It’s truly a masterpiece from them that no one will ever forget about. 2 years later they already released another full album ‘Infamous’ and I got to tell you for that year (2012) there was nothing around like this album at all and that’s why the album became such a big hit. It got inspired by a lot of bands such as Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie and Korn, with this information alone I would already get my stuff and run to the store. ‘Reincarnate’ is their 3th album that came out in 2014 and it was the last album that got released via Fearless Records. Since then the band got their new label Roadrunner Records, Fearless Records really helped the band get through their early stages but Roadrunner Records is for sure a label which the band can grow on.

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Review: SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL – ‘Misery Sermon’ [Official Videos]

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When someone asks me what the most brutal band on this damn earth is I would always answer with Enterprise Earth but after Slaughter To Prevail released their new album ‘Misery Sermon’ today I am not sure what to answer. Alex Terrible really improved his vocals a lot since their first ever EP ‘Chapters Of Misery’ that got released just 2 years ago. After just starting to listen to deathcore I stumbled upon this breathtaking EP and it instantly caught me in it’s web. I never heard anything like it. The brutalness was one of a kind and the fact that the vocals are mostly in russian makes it even better. After listening to this EP over and over again for 2 years now they eventually made their debut album ‘Misery Sermon’ which got released on this exact date by their label Sumerian Records. When people hear the words ‘Slaughter To Prevail’ they immediately think of their vocalist Alex Shikolai but there is more to the band then just the vocalist. Jack Simmons takes care of the striking solo’s and guitar riffs where Anton Poddyachy is busy showing everyone what he is capable of on the drums. Not to mention the amazing masks that they created themselves. Click HERE if you want to be part of the Misery Crew!

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