Reviews written by: Colin McNamara

Reviews

De Profundis - A Bleak Reflection

De Profundis (not to be confused with the milestone album done by Vader) perform a progressive sort of funeral doom metal. Heralding from the UK the group's job with their second album, "A Bleak Reflection", is to make the listener feel depressed while still trying to put interesting spins on their music while being slowly extreme. The opening trac...

13/04/2010

Kubla Khan - Six Sex Six

Kubla Khan is one of those bands that start off great but then take a pitdive near the end. Hailing from Spain, the band performs middle eastern tinged death thrash that actually sits well with listeners. At least for the short while they last. Their debut "Six Sex Six" opens with "Agrodeath" which has a great middle eastern guitar melody which giv...

13/04/2010

Ver Sacrum - Tyrrenika

Ver Sacrum are an interesting lot from Italy in the sense they are more focused on delivering a bit of a history lesson, be it based on real or fictitious events. Instead of embracing the usual themes of death and satanism that blackened death metal can hold, the band's debut, "Tyrrenika", is "a concept album that tells the story of the Etruscan pe...

13/04/2010

Tenebrae In Perpetuum - L'Eterno Maligno Silenzio

Tenebrae In Perpetuum are a band from Italy that have been around since 2001. With three albums in their belt, they've been spreading their infection mostly through the label Debemur Morti Productions. For those that are used to Debemur Morti's bands they already know to expect some pretty violent black metal from Tenebrae. Their latest offering so...

11/04/2010

The Final Harvest - The End

The Final Harvest hasn't been around for too long, only forming in 2007 from Finland and releasing "The End" as their first album, but it is obvious they'll be around for a while. Everything on this album shouts death/metalcore thrash glory in the way the blastbeats and groovy riffs work together with mid paced screaming vocals. The band tries not...

11/04/2010

Thousand Year War - Defiance

Thousand Year War is from California, but with their style of music one could very well consider them from Sweden. Much of the music performed here stays in the Gothenburg style akin to bands like At The Gates and Amon Amarth, minus keyboards. But, Thousand Year War doesn't need keyboards to keep their melody going. A lot of guitar rhythms have eno...

11/04/2010

Way To End - Desecrated Internal Journey

Way To End is a bit of a surprise coming off of the Debemur Morti Productions label with their debut album. Usually the label employs fast, extreme black metal bands with plenty of lo-fi production and too much distortion, but Way To End is a bit more melodic. The group tries to create an ambient atmosphere using harsh, tortured vocals that sometim...

11/04/2010

Disflesh/Slugfeast - Split

This is probably going to be the largest 'split' ever seen in the history of metal kind. Between the two bands on this album -Disflesh and Slugfeast- they probably could have released their half of the music as a separate. Out of all the twenty four tracks, each band has about twelve songs. Each one is pretty short and holds true to the death metal...

08/04/2010

Fragments Of Unbecoming - The Everhaunting Past: Chapter IV, A Splendid Retrospection

Fragments Of Unbecoming are a melodic death metal band from Germany that seem set on telling a grand story. They've already got three chapters under their belt and now they deliver "Chapter IV". Spread throughout the album are a multitude of songs where a lot of the music is brutal, extreme, at times harmonious, and for some strange reason, fading...

08/04/2010

Ram-Zet - Neutralized

Norway's Ram-Zet have always been interesting. They perform what could be called a brand of 'industrial avant guard black metal,' but it's done in a unique sense that doesn't really sound like anything else metal fans are hearing these days, especially with their latest offering, "Neutralized". There's the intense black metal riffs, the (sometimes...

08/04/2010

Vetus Obscurum - Blood Revelations

Ah, another short piece by a misanthropic black metal band trying to spread their hate around the world. If you've heard one, you've heard them all: gritty production, raging chords and blast beats, the occasional synth to try and make things creepier, and of course, the vocals of the tortured. Vetus Obscurum's first demo, "Blood Revelations", is n...

08/04/2010

Altvater - Chroniken

Alvater spawned their music out of Germany in 2009 with their debut, "Chroniken". Just from the looks of the cover art one can tell it's going to be one of those folk epic black metal albums that hopefully aren't too cheesy. Fortunately, "Chroniken" isn't cheesy at all (despite the overuse of keyboards on every track), but it isn't exactly epic. Cl...

06/04/2010