Reviews
\r\nHow would it be if we had the tinge of the voice of Tool, basic vocal lines by Korn (check “Quicksand” for example), the guitars of Staind and we covered all these with an atmospheric veil? Well, pretty close to Mnemonic for sure! From the first time I listened to Pandora I realized that the production was in top level, I wasn’t surprised when later on I read somewhere that responsible for this was Sylvia Massy-Shivy, known for working with Tool, Johnny Cash and many others. Pandora is a good release, undeniably!
\r\nShould I say that the front cover made me curious about the music? It was the simplest cover I have ever seen.. By this point of view, then yeah, maybe I was curious of what could be inside something so minimal as this, I still couldn’t believe though that a CD could reach the stores like that! I was relieved when I saw the “real” cover in the band’s site, since I had the promo, it was beautiful!
I ve been always believing that the day that I would be the proud owner of a new full length release from Britain’s Witchfinder General wont come. As many of you already know, this is the first full length release of the band after “Friends Of Hell” LP back in 1983.
\r\nOld school thrash metal! This is the term that characterizes best the music of Sixty Nine. Nothing less, nothing more. Their style varies from old Slayer up to most recent Municipal Waste, but not only that. Between the 12 compositions album you will find traces from other groups of the glorious thrash past. Groups like Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Testament etc. which appear to have influenced the sound of Sixty Nine. This doesn’t mean that they are copying these groups due to lack of ideas and originality.
What if the boys from the local church were forming a band to express themselves playing “pagan doom metal”? What if they were using a chanting priest with the voice of a tenor as a lead singer? Now imagine staying somewhere in Puerto Rico ,where the priest – singer is singing in his native language! If you still wonder “how would that sound?” then enter at your own risk!
\r\nThe Americans (obviously) stoner/groove metallers My uncle the wolf formed up in 2005 and the next year they released their first demo titled “The same as fire”. That’s their first full length album and their influence from groups like Down are more than obvious.
\r\nTypical death metal along with some thrash tunes is what Thy Final Pain want to share with us. Even though the songs are well worked and seem to have their own identity ,the ghost of old Sepultura seems to be roaming around ,haunting each track. What makes a good impression from the very beginning are the stunning riffs ,which I think if they were a little more “original” ,this album would be something beyond the ordinary death metal releases. The production is good enough something that adds more to the whole release and takes the tracks to another level.
\r\nThis Swedish band, which was established by ex-Mithotyn’s guitarist Stefan Weinerhall, started back in 1999 as a Mithotyn-like but, with clean vocals, project. Since 2001 they have published six cds (including this), which makes them a very productive band,with almost one release per year! Falconer brings in mind classic European Power Metal Bands such as Helloween (especially in the aspect of music) , mixed with folkish Blind Guardian elements. As a subjective and personal opinion I could tell that they remind my of early Rhapsody in some moments,too.
\r\nIf I was only given the titles of the songs or the album title I would think that it’s all about an Emo oriented band. Lots of emotion and a very misleading band name as well. Two Minutes Silence but what is definitely missing from the album is silence. And I mean totally. From the first minute the band makes clear to its audience what it is about to listen. Newschool hardcore with metal attitude, this is what their short CV refers to.
I ve been introduced to the Athenian doomsters Litany, rather “accidentally” some years ago when a copy of their first, selftitled, 7 ich reached me. This 7 inch has been releaed back in 2004, so I got in on my hands sometime between 2004 and 2005. My first impression about Litany’s music was that this band has “something original” and maybe “unique” something like a secret element in their music.