<em>Universal</em> is Borknagar's eighth studio album, and it still holds true to the style that the previous albums were done in (not counting the acoustic "Origin). Those who are new to Borknagar will find that the band is a progressive black metal band using lots of layered harsh and clean vocals, tons of keyboard and flute melodies combined wit...

27/03/2010

Norway's In Vain deliver some more melodically crushing doomy progressive black metal with their second studio album, Mantra. As expected, the songs are longer than most, but the music is very enriching for the most part. The guitars have a very mournful, black metal strum to them for the most part (though on the first track there is a very interes...

27/03/2010

Alkoholizer are a thrash metal band from Italy born to create down and dirty music in the vein of Slayer, Metallica, and Darkthrone. Expect a lot of chord riffs here with simple drumming and vocals that sound like a Slayer project in conjunction with Children of Bodom. Sadly, <em>Drunk or Dead</em> doesn't really live up to either of these titans....

24/03/2010

Fehler's EP,<em> Adharma</em>, obviously has had some bad karma. Never in my lifetime as a reviewer have I heard an album that sounded like everything was trying to work AGAINST itself rather than together. Track after track the instruments clash together, creating senseless noise and making it difficult to really enjoy anything that Fehler has to...

24/03/2010

Infinitum Obscure deliver their second album, <em>Sub Aetris Caelis</em>, in 2009 since their debut from 2006. The band still performs blackened metal with a few atmospheric elements, and it still is a swift kick to the ass. But, mainly that swift kick in the ass on this particular album lies in their ability to decieve with sound. The opening trac...

24/03/2010

<em>Default</em> is Edema's debut full length.  Expect a lot of technical death metal here, but done in a sense that it doesn't try to see how many tempo changes can fit in five seconds to give audiences a headache.  This isn't math music... just good death metal.  <em>Default</em> is full of crunching chords and different breakdowns with a musical...

19/03/2010

My First Failure's S/T album is a short, frantic piece of metalcore, or mallcore as some people call it.  Before you ask, yes, that's a woman screaming, not some angry child.  While the vocalist's pipes may not be as viscious as Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy or as beautiful as Sarah Jezebel Deva from Angtoria, the woman can still shatter some ear dru...

23/02/2010

Mysterious bands are always fascinating, be it in the way the band members present themselves, the concept of their music, or the music itself. In the case of Vidres A La Sang the group has taken a language called Catalan, supposedly a strain of Spanish, and weaved their music around it.  The music itself is very engaging; it has the fantic speed o...

23/02/2010

Future Is Tomorrow are a progressive power metal band from Italy that perform a strain of metal that is not unlike bands such as Alestorm, Dream Theater (but much less technical), and Communic. Fit to Die (Part 1) is their full length debut, and obviously the first in a long line of albums to come. Those who know power metal know what to expect: so...

19/02/2010

Liftid are a rock band from the Netherlands that perform a screamo brand of rock. Our Choice of Weapon is a brief 4 track EP that features some groovy, punk influenced music that, unfortunately, sounds like about fifteen other bands that came before it. Bullet for My Valentine, Aiden, Sick Puppies, The Devil Wears Prada, you name it, you've heard i...

19/02/2010