The fact that death metal is as mainstream as ever is validated everyday by various events. It is quite difficult to interpret why death metal became mainstream. Why a style of music that in the past people who listened to it were ridiculed and considered to be freaks is now respected by, god forbid, serious musicians. Nowadays death metal drummers are respected and even studied at music schools. And the most annoying thing, is that what now is out of the sudden viewed as musically notable, is exactly the same thing that existed in the late 80s-early 90s! Don’t kid ourselves. What Mike Smith (Suffocation) played back then he plays now… What Pete Sandoval (Terrorizer/Morbid Angel) played back then is copied by thousands today. Did anyone notice Doc’s (Vader) amazing performance back in 1995? Of course not! Don’t let me start about the music! There has not been one single innovation in death metal since the mid-90s. Whoever says that Nile is novel then they really have not heard of Immolation or Incantation. Whoever says that Necrophagist constitute innovation, they probably have not heard not only classic death metal (e.g. Death of the Individual thought patterns or symbolic era) but also some classic Thrash bands like Annihilator! Go listen to Never neverland and you may discover some riffs (listen to “sixes and sevens”) that Necrophagist have stolen and more that they will never be able to replicate! So why today this success?

For one thing, I personally am ashamed that death metal is being accepted as a “serious” music. That thing takes away all the energy and rebeliousness from it. The effects from this phenomenon are already visible. Kids are studying to play death metal! What is that about? People in the 80s did not study how “blast beats” should sound. Most importantly, they did not study how MUSIC was supposed to sound. It just came naturally! That is why there was so much variety! Now everything sounds the same! A young brutal band from Australia can sound exactly the same as one from New York, the UK, Sweden or Greece. Before I try to approach the question, why today this success, I will turn to some of the current events which indicate that death metal is more mainstream than ever.

First of all, lets all agree that grind exists since the mid-80s! Septic Death, Repulsion, Cryptic Slaughter, Napalm Death, etc. And then you have Dave Lombardo waking up and saying that he wants to follow the developments, so he added a few blastbeats to Slayer songs. Of course, to be perfectly honest, he did that before with Testament on their Gathering album (which by the way is monumental). In any case, the blast beat is officially recognised as a novelty now that it sells! Secondly, while death metal back in the day acounted for a small percentage of the metal scene, now it accounts for a huge part of it. I have not done a proper research to say that, but if you take a look at any 20 sequential cd reviews in Blabbermouth you would notice that more than 85% are extreme metal and around 50% death/death-hybrid metal. Thirdly, and most importantly, Nuclear Blast is interested in death metal again!!! That is the most crucial indication of death metal’s mainstream success. For those who don’t know Nuclear Blast was the german record company that helped in the emergence of death metal and had some of the most amazing bands ever, master, benediction, dismember, incantation, hypocrisy, pungent stench, revenant, sinister and others. However, it either shed them or just stoped being supportive of them by the mid-late 90s, when death metal was in a stalemate both creatively and commercially.  That was the time when melodic black metal was on the rise and power metal like Hammerfall. Grim times… It has been widely accepted since, that Nuclear Blast did what all companies who respect themselves should do, i.e. do it all for the money! And today we have Nuclear Blast (a major label) becoming interested in death metal once more… Newest additions include Suffocation, Immolation and Nile and I’m pretty sure more that I’m not aware of. What pisses me off is that this fucking company (I hate nuclear blast) has the highest vinyl prices in the market. I stll have not bought the latest Suffocation and Hypocrisy vinyls because they are ridiculously expensive. When I first started buying vinyl records I did it because back in the day they were cheaper than cds! Now they are twice the price of the cd or more!

So we have thousands of death metal bands aspiring to make a lot of money and fame by playing brutal death metal. But why? What made death metal widely respectable and a wise career move? Someone could argue that it just happened that some people finally realised what an inspired music and how talented musicians death metalers are. With all the new communication technologies available opinions move around easily, some people in high places (music magazines) get influenced eventually who in turn influence the kids around the globe. However, if you notice  today’s death scene and the early death scene you’ll notice differences that are much more than just a high degree of contemporary uniformity in relation to the past. You will also notice that everything today is polished. The kids playing death today are well dressed with nice haircuts and an attitude that even Manowar would envy. Still instead of getting to the bottom of it, things become more complicated. Causality is uncertain and every claim points to endogeneity.

Is it that maintream looking kids became interested in death metal, or is it that companies manufacture death metallers like that in order to be more mainstream? I think that there is a strong case for the former, with some elements of the latter. At this point I want to stress one crucial event that happened circa 2001. That is the huge success of System of a Down, a mainstream band, with a mainstream sound, with a definetely mainstream look. And guess what!? In a couple of the songs there is some grind, or what others call a blast-beat! This is what I think one of the definitive moments in the development of modern death metal and the widespread use of blastbeats. It was that, since a cool band does something, then it has to be cool. Many of the kids that listened to that beat thought that it was cool, because it was in the context of an ear-friendly music and not in the context of world downfall or from enslavement to obliteration! That also could have an effect of making people interested in the origins of this sound. That would eventually lead to the exhumation of death metal. Now where I think the record companies have meddled in is the image. I think that companies learned that what death metal was missing was support from the young female population (that can be easily explained by the fact that it is a musical movement started by empowered young men and reflects all the things that men are taught to like, violence and murder). Therefore they used methods of marketing ubiguitous in the rest of the music industry. That is to make extreme metal musicians look fuckable, instead of the dirtbags that they were in the past. So they combined that which starts to become cool (extremity in music), with a cool appearance. That is not against the interests of the musicians themselves of course.

In my eyes, today’s popular death metal is the death metal of laws, where everything is counted and balanced and make sense. It is not the death metal that goes out of hand, that is unreasonable and that it does not take a thousand notes per minute to be appreciated. The death metal where two chords, a brutal and sincerely pissed-off voice, and passion in performance can make the skin crawl. Many people, among which some expert musicians, be able to listen to the hyperbrutal New Wave Of Brutal Death Metal and even like it, but will never be able to understand the beauty of songs like Shadows in the Deep (unleashed), Life shatters (desultory), across the fields of forever (Edge of sanity) and It awaits (Asphyx). Why? Because it wouldn’t make sense? Why listen to them? They are not goodlooking (so I am either not attracted to them or I cannot use them as role models or I will feel ashamed if my friends find out I listen to these “funny looking” people), they are not technical (so I cannot prove smt to my parents, my friends or my music teacher) and they are noisy! Good stuff!

p.s. all those people who claim that cannibal corpse are creatively in their best period are wankers! Cannibal corpse have stoped being innovative and threatening to any musical conventions since 1996. Today cannibal corpse are the epitome of boredom and routine.

p.s.2. Nile’s last good album was Black seeds of vengeance. After that there has been a constant recycling.

p.s.3. Whoever says that the latest Asphyx album is good, has no idea about death metal or about what Asphyx used to stand for. The Asphyx wannabes try to capitulate on the rise of death metal and they probably achieve that. But the album is so uninspired that Theo Loomans shivers in his grave.

p.s.4 I’ve been reading lately (again) the most outrageous things about slayer’s new album. People saying that Americon is an uninspired song (Blabbermouth), people saying that playing with dolls explores new paths of melody (some wank on Amazon) etc. First of all, it is clear that people still cannot grasp the genious that Kerry King is. I’m pretty sure that if skeletons of society, or temptation were released today instead of 20 years ago people would still say the same stupid things… Sucks to be them. Secondly, slayer have been writing songs like playing with dolls since seasons (dead skin mask, in divine intervention 213, and others). So before you share your unimformed bullshit with other people go listen to the old albums.

Sabaton es una banda de heavy metal un poco diferente. Su estilo se puede englobar en power metal, pero no os esperéis las típicas batallas de caballeros y dragones que tan acostumbrados nos han hecho Blind Guardian, Hammerfall o Rhapsody. Sigue teniéndo el toque épico y rápido, con potentes baterías y solos veloces, pero con un enfoque temático diferente, ya que la mayoría de sus letras están basadas en guerras actuales, no de espada y escudo, sino de metralletas y tanques.

Tras esta breve descripción introductoria para los que no los conociérais (que de verdad os los recomiendo, uno de los mejores descubrimientos de este año), pasamos al núcleo de la noticia, y es que Sabaton ha pasado a englobar las potentes filas de Nuclear Blast, que por fin se dio cuenta del enorme potencial de esta banda de power metal sueca. Y es que realmente para estos hombres debe ser toda una celebración, ya que han pasado de una discográfica italiana bastante cutre como es Abyss y de autoproducirse a formar parte de una de las discográficas más importantes hoy en día, que cuenta con bandas mundialmente conocidas y famosas como son Accept, Avantasia, Behemoth, Blind Guardian, Children of Bodom, Dimmu Borgir, Eluveitie, Epica, Gorgotoh, Hammerfall, Helloween, In Flames, Korpiklaani, Manowar, Nightwish, Rhapsody, Slipknot, Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius o Therion (bendita wikipedia por los nombres ordenados!)

Como me siento generoso, y espero que esto ayude a Sabaton a crecer como banda (como personas no hace falta, los conocí cuando estaban de gira con Hammerfall y echamos unas birras, muy buena gente), os voy a poner los links de sus tres primeros discos, para aficionaros y conocerlos si no los domináis, o simplemente para gusto de alguien que le falte algun cd (pinchar en el nombre del CD, descarga directa):

Primo Victoria (2005)

Attero Dominatus (2006)

The Art Of War (2008)

Solo me queda desear que Sabaton continue siendo la gran banda que es en esta gran discográfica y esperemos que no los anulen, como grupo ni como personas.

Un saludo para todos los metaleros!

Un año y pico después de escribir un post en el que estuve buscando un poco de información sobre el estado actual de la banda, que llevaba sin dar señales de vida desde hace prácticamente un par de años, la banda al fin vuelve a la escena bajo la mano de Nuclear Blast (la causa precisamente de todo este tiempo sin noticias de Rhapsody ha sido la anterior discográfica de éstos, la Magic Circle Music).

Así pues, el próximo 5 de marzo será la fecha en la que aparecerá el nuevo álbum de Rhapsody of Fire, “The frozen tears of angels”, que contendrá, entre otros temas, Sea of fate, Raging Starfire y Reign of Terror. Según declaraciones de la banda, la intención del nuevo álbum es volver un poco al sonido más duro de la banda (cabe recordar que los 2 últimos discos se caracterizaron por una menor presencia de guitarras, y más medios tiempos que canciones rápidas).

Esperemos que tras estos 3 años de descanso vuelvan con las pilas puestas y con un trabajo a la altura de cualquiera de los anteriores al Symphony of Enchanted Lands II.

Web oficial: rhapsodyoffire.com

Despite having given us Subway to C***ing Sally and Ramstein, Germany has recently been making some quite adequate reparations, such as Necrophagist, Maroon, Equilibrium, Heaven Shall Burn, The Ocean, and now Hackneyed. Last year the band released their surprisingly adept debut “Death Prevails” on Nuclear Blast, to quite an avid reception despite being all only around 16 years old. Now, after not even a full year later, they are back with a new album.

Burn after reaping is much in the same style as death prevails, albeit with more refined songwriting and better production. There’s some bits on here that are catchy as hell, and in general the songwriting prowess is of a band that you would have expected to have way more experience. It’s not the hyper technical death metal today’s audiences are used to, but it more than makes up for it with catchy hooks and some great vocals. Just listen to the opener “Weed Flavored Meat”, and check out some of the awesome evil sounding riffs there, and those delicious squeals in the chorus.

In a way, youth, and the lack of ability that comes with it, may be the band’s blessing, as instead of showcasing themselves with a bland blastwankfest, they have to actually write some decent hooks and songs. Hopefully as they grow older, and inevitably become much better at what they do, they will stick to the style they have now, and refine it further, instead of becoming just another dull tech-death band for internet snobs to drool over.

7/10

J. Butler

Genre: Symphonic Black Metal
Origin: Germany
Label: Nuclear Blast
Length: 72:37
Tracklist:
---------------
01. Heliopolis
02. Devil's Deal
03. Decline
04. Ground Zero
05. Ghost Of A Soul
06. Winterchild
07. Time Is The Fire
08. To Our Ashes
09. Amongst The Vultures
10. Oncoming Storm
11. Throughout The Fields Of Unshaded Grace
12. Grey Whisper
13. Alone In The Dark (Death Angel's Shadow)
14. Alone In The Dark (Soundtrack Version)

Genre: Symphonic Black Metal
Origin: Germany
Label: Nuclear Blast
Length:
Tracklist:
--------------
01. Cellos For The Insatiable
02. Serpent's Embrace
03. Rebirth
04. Light Reborn
05. Faded Years
06. Solitude
07. Limbs Of A Stare
08. The Darkness Inside
09. Bitter End
10. Feelings

The “Tyrants Of Evil” tour, a bill that metal fans are calling a “dream come true” will be launching a 16-show sonic assault on January 20th 2010 at the Recher Theater in Towson, Maryland and tearing their way through the U.S. and Canada.
ARCH ENEMY, EXODUS, ARSIS, and Mutiny Within will make sure to provide a full carnal frenzy and all hell is expected to break loose at the last show of the tour, set for February 9th at the House of Blues in Hollywood.
Gary Holt, guitarist & songwriter for Bay Area thrash metal progenitors EXODUS, checks in on the upcoming North American blitz: “I am so stoked to announce that EXODUS will be touring the U.S. with the mighty ARCH ENEMY! As we have been friends and huge fans of theirs for what seems like forever and have played the occasional show together over the last few years, it is going to be beyond awesome to get to take part in our first full tour together. Not to mention Lee [Altus, guitarist] and I get a first class chance to steal licks from the Brothers Amott. See you there!”
Jim Malone, guitarist/songwriter/singer for melodic/technical deathsters ARSIS, states:
“I couldn’t be more excited for the upcoming tour with ARCH ENEMY. Not only will it be our first tour in support of our new album Starve For The Devil, but it will also be the first time that ARSIS toured in the United States in well over a year. I hope to see many familiar faces; I have greatly missed hanging out with all the ARSIS fans at shows.”
ARCH ENEMY vocalist Angela Gossow shares her enthusiasm over the touring line up:
“Hells Yes! We are more then ready to return to the U.S. and Canada for a head banging & neck breaking tour experience! Totally stoked about the killer package – ARCH ENEMY, EXODUS, ARSIS and Mutiny Within. We personally hand-picked these bands for you! A full-on extreme, versatile and so very METAL line-up. You will be hurting in a good way after we have been through town! The Tyrants Of Evil are ready to kill!!!”

Genre: Symphonic Black Metal
Origin: Germany
Label: Nuclear Blast
Length:
Tracklist:
---------------
01. An Angel's Funeral
02. Spirit Soldier
03. Paradise Beyond 
04. The Ending Of Our Yesterday
05. Past Shadows
06. Yesterday's Reprise
07. Departure
08. Sacred Divinity
09. Burden Of Time

Genre: Symphonic Black Metal
Origin: Germany
Label: Nuclear Blast
Length:
Tracklist:
---------------
01. Ne Cheamã Pamîntul
02. Tongue Of Thorns
03. Glasul Artei Viitoare
04. When She Is Mute
05. A Death In Its' Plenitude
06. Body Of Clay
07. Novus Ordo Seclorum
08. Back Into The Shadows
09. Les Posèdes
10. Neovampirism
11. Heaven's Coffin
12. Ribbons/Requiem '99 (Bonus Track)
13. Body Of Clay (Remix) (BonusTrack)

Genre: Symphonic Black Metal
Origin: Germany
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Length: 60:59
Tracklist:
---------------
01. Tristetea Vehementa
02. Banner Of Blasphemy
03. Near Dark
04. Ill Of An Imaginary Guilt
05. Die Nacht Des Unwesens
06. Contemplation Song
07. Sfintit Cu Roua Suferintii
08. Stingher/Alone
09. After Dark
10. Ribbons/Requiem

“Rule all that comes to eye/ uphold the might/ gates to Blashyrkh/ profane majestic realm/ unearthly kingdom/ mighty ravendark/ with everblowing winds/ this realm consumes the light” – from “Unearthly Kingdom” by Immortal

I can hardly think of a better way to inaugurate a blog about black metal than by discussing Norway’s Immortal.  One of the few original Norwegian bands that has remained true to their sound and vision over the years, Immortal recently released their “comeback album” All Shall Fall, their first new music since 2002’s career-defining Sons of Northern Darkness.

While so many others have simply lost the plot or disbanded all together, Immortal have always kept their black metal hearts intact, with the only real changes in sound coming in the form of higher production values and an  increased thrash influence.  It is this undying purity that makes Immortal so appealing, the instantly recognizable icy guitar tone, the painstakingly applied corpsepaint, the dramatic band photos.  Immortal characterize everything great about black metal as music for the true diehard who understands the genre as an ideology and a way of life.  They remain true to their ideals in spite of increasing popularity and record sales, even though the snot-nosed twats out there who think black metal can only be true if it is recorded on a boombox in someone’s basement and only released in a limited edition of 66 hand-numbered cassettes probably consider them total sellouts.  

But what all the “kvlt” folks out there fail to recognize is that black metal is not about who can collect the most shitty sounding rehearsal tapes.  It’s about creating an atmosphere of total darkness and evil and spreading it like the black plague to infect the chosen few who are susceptible, while striking terror into the hearts of the masses that will never understand and were never meant to.  It is about creating your own world where that aforementioned darkness reigns supreme, separate from the dreary day-to-day bullshit we’re all forced to suffer through.  Immortal understands this inherently, immersing us in the grim and frostbitten realm of Blashyrkh, a kingdom cold where they rule over all with an icy iron fist.

Indeed, Immortal at their core are all about an intriguing mixture of  might, empowerment, freedom and fantasy, and it is easy to get lost in the positively epic black metal blizzard they whip up on All Shall Fall.  You can almost see yourself sitting in a castle high atop the mountains of madness, sharpening your battle-axe, applying war-paint and preparing to defend the the realm of Blashyrkh against all comers with Abbath, Horgh, Apollyon and Demonaz ready to fight to the death by your side.

Much like Bathory before them, Immortal are that rare band that can completely and utterly mesmerize with power and atmosphere, creating a total environment that reflects their unwavering dedication to the cause of black metal.  While All Shall Fall is certainly one of 2009’s finest black metal albums, only time will tell where it sits amidst the ranks of Immortal’s discography.  I personally consider Pure Holocaust and Sons of Northern Darkness to be the their penultimate works, but with the band seemingly rejuvenated and sounding as vital and dark as ever, there is a very good chance that Immortal’s best work is still ahead of them.  All Shall Fall is a satisfying return in its own right, but it also serves as a harbinger of more great things still left to storm out of the frost-bitten gates of Blashyrkh.

http://www.myspace.com/immortalofficial

http://www.immortalofficial.com

Genre: Symphonic Metal
Origin: Netherlands
Label: Nuclear Blast
Length: 57:58
Tracklist:
---------------
01. Discord
02. Evoke
03. Transitory
04. Energize Me
05. Equally Destructive
06. Withering Time
07. De-Energized
08. Cry With A Smile
09. Envision
10. Who I Am
11. Dreamflight
12. Empty Memories

Ecco un altro gruppo che non si faceva vivo ormai da qualche anno. Dopo l’ultimo album “Virus” il nostro uomo-musica Peter Tägtgren ha probabilmente voluto dedicarsi più al suo side project, i Pain, sfornando due album in due anni. Ora l’assenza di 4 anni si è fatta sentire, è ora di pubblicare un nuovo disco.

L’ultimo disco ha visto un cambiamento della formazione della band con un nuovo batterista, che si è degnamente presentato, rivelandosi un valido se non superiore sostituto di Lars Szöke. Oltre al cambiamento di formazione, l’ultimo disco ha visto anche un cambiamento di stile, che si è consolidato in “A taste of extreme divinity“, con qualche eccezione. Ovvero il ritorno a dei temi più classici del death metal come furono i primi due cd. In “Virus” questo fatto era nascosto dalla copertina, mentre ora è esplicitamente dichiarato.

Un po’ mi dispiace, la vicinanza con la fantascienza era il motivo principale per cui amo questo gruppo, ma tutto sommato è un esperimento ben riuscito. Tutto sommato musicalmente sono sempre loro, dai riff thrasheggianti ed alienanti (in tutti i sensi) come possiamo constatare nelle prime due tracce Valley of the damned ed Hang him high e in Alive verso metà disco. e tirare un sospiro di sollievo nel pensare “sono sempre loro” molte delle traccie sono più orientate sul loro vecchio stile di “The Final Chapter”. La componente vagamente melodica non fa sentire la sua mancanza in brani come No tomorrow o l’ottima Global domination, anche se presenti qua e là in tutto il disco. Una pecca del disco è l’assenza di una di quelle favolose ballad di chiusura, come erano praticamente (quasi) da tradizione. Momento topico del disco è rappresentato dalla title-track. Brano forse un po’ atipico per alcuni versi, ma decisamente valido.

Arrivati alla fine del disco giungiamo alla presenza di una serie di brani che sono un buon mix di stili passati. Tamed (Filled with fear) e Sky is falling down forse non sono le ballad che ci si poteva aspettare, ma sono decisamente un ottima conclusione per un disco che rappresenta sicuramente un richiamo alle origini, seppur il cambiamento stilistico di temi, ma con un eccellente performance alle pelli, cosa che probabilmente nei dischi passati non era ottimale, ma senz’altro sufficiente… Buon appetito a tutti i fan.

Oliver Tobyn per Mag-Music

Les Hollandais reviennent pour un quatrième opus, annoncé comme encore plus mûr, encore plus maitrisé, encore plus grand. Design Your Universe succède à The Divine Conspiracy, deux ans après. Le line-up est un peu différent, le batteur a changé pour un grand pro du death et le guitariste a tiré sa révérence et a été remplacé par un autre bonhomme tout aussi talentueux.

Cet album est ambitieux et tout aussi complexe que The Divine Conspiracy. Le ton est donné dès le départ, à savoir : encore plus orchestral et encore plus puissant. Cela étant dit, allons-y pour le décorticage.

Samadhi (“établissement dans l’éveil” en hindou) ouvre l’album. La piste confirme la supériorité écrasante du groupe de Mark Jansen en ce qui concerne les intros orchestrales. Cette intro est incroyablement puissante et profonde. Deux voix se donnent une pseudo réplique, c’est très typé BO, ça ouvre l’album de façon assez imposante. Resign to Surrender enchaîne directement, sans pause. Et Epica prend véritablement le dessus. Les chœurs, les grunts, la voix de Simone poussée dans les aigus, la guitare ultra saturée… Les passages agités et les passages calmes alternent sans cassure et la chanson est très bien produite. Resign To Surrender contraste beaucoup avec Samadhi mais c’est ça qui est intéressant. Deux facettes l’une après l’autre, et surtout, le retour véritable de Epica.  Ce retour se confirme avec une chanson un peu plus facile d’accès, à savoir le single Unleashed. La chanson est bien, assez simple d’accès, mais reflète tout de même bien le nouveau Epica. Plus orchestral et plus de chœurs, puisque le début n’est fait que de ça. La batterie plus orientée death interpelle au début, mais s’intègre finalement très bien dans la chanson. Et encore une fois, les passages agités alternent avec un peu de calme sans problème.

Martyr Of The Free World s’annonce ensuite. Le ton est donné dès le début. La chanson sera violente, agitée et cruelle. La guitare te déchire les oreilles, la batterie appuie tout ça. Ça devient martial avec une guitare bien métallique et une batterie encore plus marquée. Et la voix de Simone qui en joue avec la plus grande des virtuosité. On sent une sorte de vice dans cette voix, qui colle très bien à la piste. Et le refrain s’annonce sur “…and the martyr… Of the FREE WORLD !” chanté par Simone qui est secondée par les grunts et parle chœur masculin. La chanson est complexe, véritablement. Mark et cie nous ont ficelé là un bijou de symphonic metal avec un solo d’une difficulté assez inouïe. Le CD nous propose ensuite Our Destiny. Le calme du début contraste avec les envolées lyriques des pré-refrains et des refrains. La voix de Simone revient à ses racines opéra avec quelques grunts pour la seconder. Le refrain et les couplets sont très différents, mais l’alchimie se fait et tout fonctionne pour nous donner sans doute aucun une des meilleures chansons de cet album, avec sa mélodie compliquée et ses différences de style internes (un début plutôt calme, des refrains qui prennent de l’ampleur, et l’apogée de la chanson vers les 4.00 où Simone et un chœur entier se mettent ensemble.).

On passe sur Kingdom of Heaven. 13 minutes de musique. A l’introduction arabisante et éthérée succède un couplet dont la descente de guitare, saccadée et technique à souhait, s’avère d’une efficacité redoutable. Mais plus on avance dans le morceau, plus la structure de celui-ci nous déboussole jusqu’à devenir inextricable. Jamais Epica n’a été aussi complexe, allant jusqu’à proposer un break progressif voire expérimental et qui pourtant s’intègre très bien à l’ensemble. On restera sans doute surpris, interloqués voire même complètement sceptiques, mais on finira par comprendre et se rendre compte de l’ambition et du génie de ce pavé musical. Epica nous confie ensuite un interlude, de la même manière que sur la Divine Conspiracy. The Price Of Freedom est pourtant très très déroutant. Des extraits de discours de Martin Luther King, de Malcom X et autres grands leaders sont posés par dessus des parasites sonores et un clavier très sombre, très angoissant. L’intermède s’étoffe un peu avec quelques petites poussées orchestrales et finit par monter en flèche et passer à Burn To A Cinder, avec des grosses guitares saturées et des mélodies orientales. Simone se débrouille très bien, accompagnée par les guitares et le chœur. On ressent les influence de l’ancien Epica, elles sont assez marquées même si elles restent discrètes et plutôt écrasées par le pas de géant fait vers l’avant par Epica.

La seule balade de l’album prend la suite, Tides Of Time. Elle est un peu dans la carrure de Solitary Ground, très douce, et peut être un peu trop sucrée. Elle serait presque trop balade, et presque hors de ce qu’on pourrait attendre d’Epica… Elle surprend beaucoup, mais elle permet à Simone d’exploiter pleinement ses techniques d’opéra. Le milieu de la piste est chanté à une hauteur rarement atteinte par Simone et la fin commence à se remuer un peu. Le mou du genou du début est oublié et Epica se ressent véritablement dans cette piste, enfin. Deconstruct innove avec une intro presque joyeuse à laquelle succède un couplet rythmé, et une chanson assez facile d’accès. Le riff est efficace, le chant est accrocheur, les grunts sont parfaitement intégrés, c’est accessible, et surtout imparable. Encore une chanson réussie à mettre au palmarès de la formation hollandaise. Semblance Of Liberty commence violemment, avec un riff agressif, et des grunts tout aussi agressifs, le tout sur fond de petit clavier lancinant. La chanson est très complète, beaucoup de grunts, un rire diabolique en plein milieu, des riffs et des solos chiadés et surtout, une fin en crescendo, la piste se fini sur un véritable martèlement de guitare et de batterie, c’est encore une réussite.

On arrive à l’avant dernière chanson de l’album, White Waters, en duo avec Toni Kakko de Sonata Arctica. Intro calme à la guitare avec quelques petites poussées de chant par Simone, discrètes et éthérées. Un instrument à vent prend la suite, c’est toujours aussi calme, et reposé, avec cette fois, un peu plus de voix de Simone. Et le chant véritable arrive enfin avec Toni. Sa voix s’accorde à celle de Simone aussi bien que celle de Roy Khan de Khamelot (Trois Vierges sur Consign To Oblivion, ou The Haunting sur  The Black Halo par Khamelot) et la chanson est une petite perle. Elle est calme est imposante. Et enfin, vient la clôture de l’album. Le voyage à travers notre univers à construire touche à sa fin, avec Design Your Universe. Le title song est très correct, parvient même à nous surprendre. Simone et Mark alternent encore une fois leurs lignes de chant, et malgré une longueur honorable, mais point trop, la chanson peine un peu à convaincre. On en ressort heureux, mais pas que. Il nous manque un petit quelque chose.

Cet album est une suite très honorable aux trois premiers albums. Et cet album est véritablement celui de la consécration. Le style d’Epica a fait un pas en avant, un pas de géant. A l’opposée de groupes comme Within Temptation qui utilisent la guitare pour soutenir les orchestrations, la formation néerlandaise utilise les guitare comme des instruments à part entière. Cet album en note justement l’avènement avec une quantité de riffs et de solos incroyables, et tous meilleurs les uns que les autres. Quant aux voix, il n’y a rien à redire. Simone a encore acquis en maturité et en maîtrise de sa voix, Mark est plus présent, c’est un pur bonheur. Enfin, les paroles sont encore des paroles qui signifient quelque chose. Epica reste fidèle à lui même avec cette habitude de dédier ses albums à quelque chose. Cette fois ci, cet album est dédié à notre capacité à construire nous même notre vie, à en décider les tenants et aboutissants. Les paroles abordent plusieurs thèmes, dont la manipulation des opinions.

Note Générale : 19/20. #L’album de la maturité & de la consécration. Une évolution indéniable, une maitrise presque parfaite, une force de conviction fabuleuse.

Unleashed

Jal’

Sonic Syndicate ‘ Burn This City’
Directed by Patric Ullaeus | revolver.se

A NUCLEAR BLAST kiadó kiírta a ROCK THE NATION AWARD 2009 versenyt (http://www.myspace.com/rtnaward és http://award.rockthenation.eu/), melynek célja, hogy egy – eleddig a világ számára ismeretlen – zenekart mindenféle csatornákon keresztül minél többen emberrel ismertessen meg (lemezszerződés, turnék, fesztiválfellépések, stb.). Az interneten a legtöbb szavazatot begyűjtő csapatok felvételeit a kiadó meghallgatja és eldönti, hogy ki legyen a győztes. Szavazni augusztus 15-től szeptember 15-ig tudtok a http://award.rockthenation.eu/vote.php címen. Naponta többször is lehet voksolni, a Subscribe-ot értelemszerűen az S-betűs zenekaroknál találjátok. A zenekar nagyon hálás lenne, ha kattintgatásaitokkal támogatnátok őket, hátha összejön az álom.

Binecunoscuta casă de discuri, Nuclear Blast Records, a pornit un concurs special de tinere talente intitulat Rock The Nation Award 2009

Marele Premiu: Formaţia câştigătoare are şansa să devină cunoscută în întreaga lume, cu contract la Nuclear Blast, înregistrare, promovare şi lansare album, Festivaluri Europene asigurate în vara 2010. Visul unora este Realitatea altora!

Formaţii autohtone înscrise până acum sunt:

• Guerrillas (Cluj)
• Inopia (Bucureşti)

…

Data limită este 1 septembrie.

Mai multe informaţii găsiţi AICI: www.myspace.com/rtnaward

Votaţi formaţiile preferate AICI: award.rockthenation.eu/vote.php

Ahogy azt korábban már megírtuk, a Sonic Syndicate megvált Roland Johansson énekestől (vagy fordítva). Az új vokalista kilétét viszont csak most tették közhírré, így mától már nem titok, hogy az egykori The Hollow Earth Theory énekes Nathan James Biggs lesz a csapat új frontembere. A zenekar rögtön stúdióba is vonult, hogy rögzítsenek két új dalt – ’Burn This City’, ’Rebellion In Nightmare Land’ – melyek azon a bónusz lemezen szerepelnek majd, amit a november 6-án újra megjelenő ’Love And Other Disasters’ anyag mellé pakol oda a Nuclear Blast kiadó. Egy teljes új Sonic Syndicate lemez pedig a hírek szerint 2010. április/májusára várható.

As one of the bands that originated the Melodic Death Metal genre, I was interested in hearing some Dismember even though my love for the genre has waned somewhat over the years.

Death Metal certainly doesn’t pull any punches, it contains exactly what’s on the box. Rapid fire riffs, growled vocals (well, closer to thrashy, shouted) and a very good display of musicianship and adherence to the genre.
Highlights include the very triumphant opening track, the born-and-bred-in-Gothenburg Misanthropic and the decidedly down-tempo Stillborn Ways which has a very Hypocrisy feel to it. Each track is solid and well structured; there is groove aplenty and die-hard fans of melodic death will not go away unpleased.

The low production quality on the album is very noticeable. Everything sounds quite fuzzy, and compared to the albums that similar bands were putting out at roughly the same time (i.e. In Flames’ Whoracle) it is frankly quite shoddy. For a genre that breeds tonechasers like no other, it is quite frustrating to be faced with such poor recording quality. The other major issue I have with the album is that it is nothing new. By the release of this album, Dismember was on their fourth release, and it does not feel like it takes the genre any further. I do not have enough knowledge of their previous albums to determine whether it was a progression for the band, but it is frustrating when everyone is producing exactly the same music.

Ultimately Death Metal, despite delivering exactly what it says on the cover did not impress me much. But that is most probably because I have become distanced from the melodic death metal genre; if you’re a die-hard fan, pick this one up!

Nowy album Vadera to jedno z ważniejszych wydarzeń sceny metalowej 2009 roku. Małe znaczenie przy tym mają przetasowania w zespole czy to, że Vader  trafił pod skrzydła wielkiego Nuclear Blast. Na wydawnictwa Petera i ekipy czeka się po prostu, a nie mimo wszystko.

Nie inaczej było przy Necropolis.

Album ten w wersji podstawowej tworzy jedenaście utworów (plus dwa covery). Większość z nich to krótkie petardy, w rozpiętości od dwóch do czterech minut, a ze schematu nieznacznie wyłamuje się When The Sun Drowns in Dark. Czas zatem przejść do rzeczy.

Krótkie perkusyjne intro, trochę dłuższy gitarowy dryf, miks znanych patentów i jesteśmy w piekle. Tak oto zaczyna się nie tylko Devilizer, ale też w ogóle cały Necropolis. Fani rewolucji będą zawiedzeni, bo pierwsze nuty Necropolis to stara vaderowska szkoła. Nie będzie inaczej do końca albumu. Rise of the Undead nie zmienia torów Devilizera. Co prawda mniej tutaj wypchanych przed szereg bębnów Paula, ale za to więcej gitarowych wypuszczeń ku solówkom, jak i więcej samego Petera.

No, właśnie… ależ Peter ma formę! Jego wokal, pomimo przemijających lat, wciąż prezentuje się wybornie. Dokładnie tak jakby to były czasy De Profundis czy mojego ulubionego Black to the Blind.

Never Say My Name i Blast tylko utwierdzają w przekonaniu o wielkości Vadera. Numery to bez żadnego kombinowania, świetne w swej prostocie, napakowane ciężkimi riffami Petera i uderzeniami Paula. O ile Never Say My Name jest relatywnie spokojnym utworem, o tyle nie trwający dłużej niż dwie minuty Blast jest wściekły i rozpędzony jak austriacka lokomotywa.

Dopiero przy następnym, nazwijmy to przerywniku pt. The Seal, można nowemu Vaderowi coś zarzucić. Takich elektronicznych tąpnięć Necoropolis zawiera na szczęście tylko dwa (następny to Summoning The Futura), bo muszę przyznać, że nie doszukałem się sensu ich egzystencji.

Między tymi przerywnikami pojawiają się takie utwory jak Dark Heart i Impure. Ten pierwszy z szyderczym uśmiechem już na starcie rozpoczyna się agresywnie i z krótką przerwą trzyma się tej wciągającej jednostajności. Wytrącony z tak oczywistych torów jak poprzednik jest Impure.  To zresztą jeden z lepszych utworów na płycie. Słychać tutaj nagłe zmiany tempa, a za tym postrzępioną konstrukcję i wszystko to przy precyzji wykonawców Necropolis.

Rozpoczynający się po drugim przerywniku Anger to coś na kształt wcześniejszego utworu pt. Blast. Jest równie szybki (a może i szybszy?), też wybuchają w nim vaderowskie instrumenty, a i w pewnym momencie pojawia się krótkie solo. Z kolei znany jeszcze przed premierą krążka We Are The Horde z pewnością będzie dobrze wywiązać się z roli singla, wszak utwór ten stanowi dobrą kwintesencję tych wszystkich elementów jakie zawarte zostały na Necropolis. Poza tym to świetny numer na koncerty,  już teraz oczyma wyobraźni widzę rzesze fanów krzyczących za Peterem “we are the horde!!!”.

Właściwy materiał Necropolis kończy trwający nieco ponad cztery minuty (nie liczę dwóch minut ciszy) When The Sun Drowns in Dark. Na taki finał warto było czekać! Vader gra tutaj na kilku mocno przyswajalnych riffach, w miarę szybko, a po zatoczeniu kręgu prowadzących riffów następują odpowiednie zejścia wraz z finałowym monumentem. Nie wiem czy nie zaryzykuję jeśli napiszę, że ten utwór ma w sobie coś z klasycznego heavy metalu, co dodatkowo potwierdza solówka inna niż wszystkie, ale chyba najlepsza w przekroju płyty.

Album kończą dwa covery: Black Metal Venom i Fight Fire With Fire Metalliki. I choć nie są specjalnie odkrywcze to miło tego posłuchać w aranżacji Vader, a niespodzianką jest, że przy drugim utworze pojawił się wokal niezmordowanego Taffa z Rootwater.

Sumując powyższe można napisać, że Necropolis to krótki krążek. Nie włączając do treści materiału dwóch przerywników wychodzi z niego jakieś 35 minut muzyki (w tym dwa covery), a zdarzało się, że powstawały EP-ki liczące taki okres czasu. Cóż jednak z tego skoro nowy Vader miażdży?!

Zdecydowanie kandydat do metalowej płyty roku.

Werdykt: 9/10

Alright, let’s just get this straight right now…there is metal, all different genres of metal in fact. You may prefer death, black, doom, speed, or maybe thrash. But when the genre of metal magic comes up, there are notable kings. But the clear dominant force of metal magic (in my humble dork opinion) is none other than the infamous Bal-Sagoth!

Born from the flames of the father land…Yorkshire, England, Bal-Sagoth has been spewing forth their niche style magic influenced metal since the early 90’s. Now, realize their path was not always so clear. Bal-Sagoth’s first full length release, A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria, was more of a blackened styled death metal with some fantasy aspects. But it was evident in the early days that Bal-Sagoth was destine for defining new realms of metal by touting musical/lyrical inspirations from some of the finest minds in the fantasy/sci-fi business, “Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and none other than Jack Kirby.”.

The traditional blackened death musings of their first release were but a detour from their true path to enlightenment. In 1996 Bal-Sagoth released the ever classic Starfire Burning Upon the Ice-Veiled Throne of Ultima Thule. If you have ever had a glimmer of interest in this genre of metal and have not heard this album, I cannot recommend it enough. In fact I raise my sword, with hilt high above my brow, and intent to slice my opponent from crown to crotch if they do not gallop hither to their local musical market and gladly pay their weight in fine jewels for this album. Starfire Burning wreaks of Conan influences…you will hear it all over this album…and how can you not enjoy Conan style metal music!

Unfortunately, this YouTube vid is not really a video, but more of a still image with one of Bal-Sagoth’s track playing. Ah, but this is no ordinary Bal-Sagoth tune, this is one of this dork’s particular favorites. Please sit back and listen to all six glorious minutes of A Tale from the Deep Woods!

Make sure to check out all of Bal-Sagoth’s work and news at their official website!