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onsdag 18. desember 2013

Slegest - Løyndom (Review)

Slegest formed in Leikanger, Norway in 2010 as the solo project of Stig Ese Eliassen who was the guitarist of Vreid from their formation until 2009 and co-produced Windir’s Likferd album.

Initial recordings were based on material that was written but never used as well as new mterial written in the same vein. The volume of content justified proffessional recording in Conclave & Earshot studios and drum recordings in Bergen with the mixing done at home. Cited influences are Early Black Sabbath, The Ramones and Ese’s own state of mind resulting in “Dark Primal Metal”.

 
Stig Ese Eliassen which formerly was a member of Vreid has released a project of his own which is a mixture of doom metal combined with more harsh metal vocals.
'Løyndom' starts of with a typical doomish track 'Ho Som Haustar Aleine' and I have to admit it's pretty good.
The riffs reminds of early Black Sabbath and traditional heavy metal but with a touch of old school black metal elements.
 
The big question here is for me if this works as a piece of music in the long run.
I have spun the album for quite some time now, since I had problems digesting it at first, not the music though which is catchy and enjoyable .
 
What I have to pint my finger is the vocals,does it do any good to this genre adding black metal vocals on top of it.
The answer is somewhat divided 'cause yes, it works for the first 3-4 tracks ,but after that the vocals gets somewhat boring and predictable.
Musically this is not bad at all ,but it does not reach to the top here.
I found this somewhat hard to write about as I have mixed emotions about it ,but if I should roll the dice and pick a fair number for this release I guess it would have landed on 3/6 and take note that the low score mainly is due to the vocals 'cause the music is as said very good and I hope he developes his style in the future as it's not a bad idea at all.
I suggest you take a listen for yourself as you might be in for a surprise!
     
     Official Site: http://www.slegest.no
 

mandag 9. desember 2013

Relinquished . Onward Anquishes (Review)

Noisehead Records 


Relinquished started in the year 2004 as a project of Sebastian Bramböck (Bass) and Anton Keuschnick (Guitar). After some months of arranging Martin Bramböck joined the Band and played the drums for 2 years. In this time, a second guitar-player named Simon Dettendorfer became member of the band and added different ideas that perfectly fitted in the sound. 

Four years and several Bass players later Relinquished finally found the perfect members. Sebastian the former Bass-player became the new and final singer of the band, and an old schoolmate of him, Patrick Kösselbacher took the bass-part. Also on the drums another new member was found: Florian Vonach. This constellation of musicians grew a complete new sound arrangement in short time and recorded the Demo EP “Rehearsal Doom”.

With the CD the band started to get more and more offers to play all over Austria and some foreign cities as well. After collecting a huge amount of live experience, they settled a bit down and began the work for their first Long-player.
In that time Relinquished got signed by Noisehead Records, and recorded “Onward Anguishes”, their first Concept-Album and debut at the same time.



This band is to me a whole new experience and I've listened quite a lot to 'Onward Anquishes' since I got it.

Musically we are talking progressive melodic death metal.
This is their second album and I have to say I'm quite impressed as they manage to create a very easy listening album with overall good melodies and all you want from a good album.
 

They blend the more usual aggressive death metal vocals with a clear male vocal and some female vocals.
That being said I could have been without the female parts ,not that she's a bad singer but I don't think the female vocals fit in with the rest.
Luckily it's not dominant and only a few small parts.
 

At first listen you might find it too technical and progressive at times ,at least I did, but the more you listen to the album the better it sounds.
 

It starts of as an aggressive yet technical album but as the album spins they calm down a bit with calm parts and clean vocals which in this matter is a good combo.
I not sure if death metal is the right term for this band ,I'd rather say progressive metal with death metal influences, anyway this works good as a piece of music and is clearly something to check out.
   

torsdag 5. desember 2013

Arvas (Nor) Into The Realm Of The Occult

Release dates : 29.11.2013 USA & UK, 02.12.2013 EUROPE

Arvas has just released their second opus named 'Into The Realm Of The Occult'
If you heard their debut  Blessed From Below...Ad Sathanas Noctum' released 2009,
this is a big step forward in the right direction for the band.
V-REX: Guitars - Bass - Vocals

This time with some 'small' line-up changes , Bloodlust on guitars so that main man V-Rex could focus more on the vocals. Otherwise I think it's the same studio line-up at least on this album. If I'm not wrong V-Rex has decided to do all the instruments himself for the 3'rd full-lenght.


Their debut was good ,but somehow I felt like it was too polished and 'out of the book' when it came to playing also very predictable at times which ended up with fewer listens than the average album.

On the new one though,they have a much more solid sound and a more agressive approach which fits the band very well.
At first listen you might think that this is nothing special ,but I promise that if you give this album a chance and have a few more listens a whole new world (of darkness) will reveal itself slowly which for me is a good thing as I get more entertainement for the money.

Musically they have much more variation than on ther debut and even though it's harder and more agressive this time they have left room for some good melodies in between.
'Into The Realm Of The Occult' contains much more thrash elements than before and as said this fits the band perfectly.

The vocals are overall more agressive and the drummmer is drumming like never before
and all of these elements has results on the final impact of course.
In my opinion this is by far their best so far and if they continue this way we have surely have something to look forward to.

Highly recomended !

søndag 1. desember 2013

MASTER: "Another Suicide" Now Streaming

MASTER: "Another Suicide" Now Streaming    

Death metal pioneers MASTER have chosen "Another Suicide" as the newest streaming single off their latest release, The Witchhunt. MASTER's landmark 12th album, The Witchhunt, was released September 27 on German death metal label FDA Rekotz and features 11 brand new tracks of classic and catchy death metal played with the intensity and attitude that MASTER fans have come to rely upon over the years. The album's thick, massive production demonstrates the band's superb musicianship and songwriting skills. This is an album that sees MASTER at the top of their 20+ year career. To stream "Another Suicide," visit this location

MASTER just wrapped up a massive European tour that kept the band on the road for nearly a month in support of The Witchhunt. After a brief period of downtime, the Paul Speckmann-led trio will head back on the road, this time with Belgian deathsquad DEHUMAN and HANGED as support acts. Footage taken from the Halloween gig at Club New York in Vilnius, Lithuania has been posted HERE.    
  
MASTER w/ DEHUMAN and HANGED tour dates:

12/06 @ SVJH Ost - Wolfsburg, Ger. w/ Bones, Disemboweled, Bregraven *
12/07 @ K17 - Berlin, Ger. Nocturnus Festival - www.facebook.com/nocturnus.fest
12/12 @ Havana, Skopje, Mac.
12/14 @ Klub Mini Teatr - Osijek, Cro.
12/15 @Gun Club - Beograd, Ser.
12/16 @8Ball Club - Sofia, Bul.
12/17 @TBA - Sibiu, Rom.
12/18 @TBA - Cluj-Napoca, Rom.
12/19 @Private Hell Club - Bucharest, Rom.

* - No Dehuman & Hanged   

The Witchhunt is available worldwide and can be ordered directly from the label at www.fda-rekotz.com.   

  

  
"Master are the best out there at this type of thing. Veterans that still rage better than the pretenders to the throne- long may they reign." - The Sludgelord
"'The Witchhunt' bears all the hallmarks of the band's Czech years: combining mechanical precision with a tangible soul. It also very much picks up where the streamlined 'The New Elite' left off in terms of quality..." [8.5/10] AveNoctum.com