| Peccatum - Amor Fati | Various - In The Eyes Of Death II |
| Failed Humanity - The Sound Of Razors Through Flesh | Immortal Cringe - Undying Fear |
| Arthemisia - Devs Iratvs | Zyklon - World Ov Worms |
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Peccatum |
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How to categorise Peccatum I do not know. Sort of ambient spacejazz operatic black metal. Sounds cool anyway, so I'll stick with it. This could be perhaps Candlelight's finest hour, be it due to it's pomposity, unnecessity, irregularity, unclasifyability or whatever. The have drums, guitars and vocals which much of the time seem to be playing completely different songs from one another, which is a risky move for most bands. Thankfully Peccatum have the musicianship to pull it off well, because when it's done badly it really sucks!! (see Habacus Sucubah review in a previous issue. On Murder there are grand string sections and ludicrous female vocals, which makes you feel like you're watching a macabre opera play out in front of you. Yeah baby, bring it on!! Oh, and don't let me forget that they do a nice rip off of some old Paradise Lost riffs on Between The Living And The Dead. That's what I like to see. To complement the odd drums and guitar, the vocals are different styles of vocals: restrained black metal screaming, normal singing with curious melodies, and female operatic. These are used to great effect to vary the music. A few months ago I went to a human circus-type-thing in Florida called La Nouba. The music here reminds me very much of that. Dark and unusual, melding gentle & heavy, male & female. Verdict: Very cool. Top marks. |
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Various |
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Well here we have a Century Media compilation that is a bit more upmarket than the usual Serial Thriller installments. Rather than having a big mix of everything, it rather obviously focuses on CMs fairly large death/black metal roster - including bands such Old Man's Child, Dark Tranquility, Cryptopsy, Borknagar, Arch Enemy and Rotting Christ. In total, a whopping 18 tracks - 77 minutes of uneasy listening. For the most part the production and content is fairly decent, as showcased on the thrash-heavy Asphyx. Other highlights are Shadow's Fall with their sing-along thrash/death/rock combo Of One Blood, Arch Enemy's guitar-oriented ditty Pilgrim masterminded by the fantastic Mike Amott, and Dark Tranquillity's Helloween inspired death number Exposure. Other tracks have cool moments, but just don't hold together too well or have the production they need. This is definitely true for God Forbid, who have tried hard but not quite reached their target. Overall I can't really criticise the CD too much, and I enjoyed hearing some new and evolved examples of the genre which I followed ten years ago. Verdict: Reasonable roundup of the current scene as CM sees it. |
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Failed Humanity |
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Failed Humanity are another of the mass of death metal releases Candlelight are pushing. It kind of reminds me of the days when Roadrunner released every dodgy thrash act in the world, shortly before they became one of the poorest labels in the world. Well that's a bit harsh, but they do suck. While there's nothing technically wrong with The Sound Of Razors Through Flesh, there's not really anything right with it either. Nothing original, nothing outstanding, and nothing interesting. If you are a total death freak then you might well like it, but otherwise stick with the quality bands. Verdict: It doesn't suck as much as it could |
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Immortal Cringe
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With such an awful name as Immortal Cringe, it's amazing that these guys don't suck even more than they do. Most of the tracks are half decent deathy thrashy metal stuff, with odd jazzy rhythm sections. It makes an interesting listen if nothing else. They're not scared to mix things up a bit with different styles and speeds. The problem is that despite these good intentions, the songs are not very solid. They need more work, and they need better production. Not a bad effort though, and good enough to make me see past the shit name. Verdict: ********** |
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Arthemisia website: http://www.arthemisia.com |
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Having reviewed their self-financed debut album last year, it was with a certain amount of interest that Attitude received this album a couple of months ago. Arthemisia have now found a home with Native North Records and Devs Iratvs is the resvlt. While I have to say this is not my style of music at all, I also have to say that it is played very well, decently written and produced, and makes for in interesting listen. It is very full bodied and atmospheric black metal which rarely relents. A shame really, because the really good bits are when things do relent a bit. More diversity would have gone down nicely I think. Ancestor Of Magick is a good example of where they slow down to add a bit more interest and variety. It works well, with mournful string sections throughout to add to the misery. Verdict: ********** |
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Candlelight / PHD Zyklon |
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This is yet another awful extreme metal release from Candlelight. Zyklon seem to have little discernable talent for songwriting, though some of the production ideas are OK. The vocals are annoying, virtually monotone screams, and not that great. Oh yeah, and they rip off Deicide's vocal effects no end. On top of that, there is absolutely nothing that I've not heard 100 times before (and I didn't enjoy it then!!). I thank the sacred 'shroom that I will never have to listen to this again. Verdict: Sorry guys, but in my eyes this sucks. |
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