Reviews
\r\nThis is the fourth full length album of the band “Elvenking” and I think that it proves that they don’t rely on their past work, on the contrary, they keep on getting better all the time. For those who may not be aware of this group, their music is a mixture of Folk and Heavy/Power Metal, along with "unceasing" death-like passages. Their style reminds you of bands such as Blind Guardian, Skyclad even Iced Earth (in some vocal parts), while through very fast changes, the songs turn to In Flames and Children of Bodom-like stuff.
\r\n“No grass is greener than yours” is a cd-single with 3 tracks from the album “Maeder”. The Australia-based band is influenced by AC/DC so much, that one can easily recognize similar parts (I use this word in order to avoid saying “almost the same”), like for instance in the beginning of the song “Never Last”. Musically, they play Hard Rock, though, in a more glam/pop version, which I have to admit it’s not that impressive.
\r\nSometimes only one song is enough to bring images to your mind, images that come from another era, another culture, when “poser” was culminating and the whole glam rock style was a matter of many discussions as a big part of heavy metal fans would never accept that these bands belong to the metal scene at all. I think that such a generalization is a bit risky, as more or less, we all are emotionally attached to some songs of this genre, even if we didn’t like it as a whole. \r\n
\r\nThe album was released in 2006 but since we received it only recently, we make its presentation under this delay. Arcanar is a band from Russia and "Dusty Lord" is their debut album. The entire work is quite unusual from the view of many different angles. The most basic factor is that everything in this record is in the native language of the band and without a trace not so ever of English.
\r\nThird demo by the Finnish (with their less catchy of a name) Thaurorod, this time as a single. Judging from the efforts of the band up to date, it seems that these guys possess all the craving but there are still certain points where they are falling short. But let’s be more analytic…
\r\nI think that is well known to the majority of metallic fans who was Tarja Turunen, as well her relation with finnish Nightwish..The fact that she had almost the exclusiveness of the performance of the band’s songs, shows how much the rest members of the group appreciate her for the "incarnation" of their compositions..Tarja has such a voice..which can easily make one bristle..Without exaggerations! I loved Nightwish and this was part due to the way this "blessed" (I dare to characterize it like this) voice performed all their compositions...\r\n
\r\nSaga, a band that comes from Canada, is in the scene for almost three decades already. Their album releases and their live performances throughout the years have established their name in what we call as “progressive” rock. This album contains 9 tracks, mostly in a “pure” rock-like style, with the addition of a few progressive elements. Good compositions, though not much impressive. The rhythm section and the piano/synth parts are fine and so is the production, factors that result in a very good sound.
\r\nVlad in Tears consists of four members, comes from Italy and “Seed Of An Ancient Pain” is their first official album release. Their music style is dark gothic-like, something between H.I.M., Sisters of Mercy even Crematory, regarding the more “heavy” parts. The songs are melancholic, they have a dark a feeling, in general, though, I can’t t say I was impressed. Especially during some choruses, the songs seem to lose the whole feeling.
\r\n"Hidden in A Tomb" originally was a demo back in 2000 by the Italian one man project Vardan. In 2007 it is re-released by Folter Records while three more albums are yet to follow. Well, what we have here are 5 tracks of raw underground black metal that however sounds way too underground. But other than that there is nothing really interesting about this release to discharge any kind of mental or audible exhilaration not even at a low-level radiation for that matter.
\r\nCrest Of Darkness is a Norwegian extreme metal band, formed by the former Conception bassist Ingar Amlien. Their sound is a mix of blasting black metal, stomping percussive death metal and heavily constructed thrash metal along with some pure metal influences. The compositions are mostly up tempo under a rigid wall of guitars, fat double-bass drums and blast beats but there are also moments when the sound is pretty much a groovier pummeling frontage with the guitars having a nice razor sound or creating soundscapes full of heaviness.