[::
S Reviews ::]
___________________________________________________________________________
A
- B - C
- D - E
- F - G
- H - I
- J - K
- L - M
- N - O
- P - Q
- R - S
- T - U
- V - W
- X - Y
- Z
Band:
Sammath
Title: Dodengang
Label: Folter Records
Material: cd
Year: 2006
Reviewed by: Iormungand
Thrazar
Mark
: 3/5
After
a four-year gap since the release of their second album «
Verwoesting/Devastation », Sammath is back with their third
blasphemy entitled « Dodengang ». This Dutch band
displays a rather raw black metal with death metal hints here
and there. Let’s start with the production that is very
nice for this kind of art. They could have chosen the bombastic
sound with everything going unnatural but instead, they went for
a rawer sound with upfront drums. As for the style displayed on
this record, this is good black metal which climax is probably
the lead guitars, especially when it sounds rather epic. The rhythmic
section is quite brutal and violent, there is a lot of blastbeats.
On the other hand, the negative point I’d have to express
is that the compositions of the band sound too common. Well, not
all of them, but the challenge is to create something with an
identity all along the record. Sammath surely manages to do so,
but not on the whole album. The eponym track is without a doubt
the best, quite raw and vicious. The vocals are kind of smothered,
yet quite different from the typical black metal vocals and that’s
a good point. This is a very correct record, for sure not the
best record of the year, but not catastrophic either. I just wish
Sammath to go on searching for more identity and personal touch
and they could bring something really interesting. For now, «
Dodengang » is an average album, with nothing groundbreaking
yet nothing bad either.
Kontakt
:
Band :
www.sammath.nl
Label :
www.folter666.de
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_2.jpg)
Band
: Sap(e)
Title : Eponyme
Material : cd
Label : Rude Awakening
/ Mosaic
Year : 2007
Reviewed by : HssH
Mark
:
5/5
Sap(e)
is a French band playing minimal improvised music and they began
at Montpellier in 2001. Sap(e) members come from post-rock, jazz,
electronic, also “acousmatic” musics. Thus, it should
be not a surprise if you listen to a lot of jazz parts with Sap(e).
But it is in fact completely different. On the one hand, there
are no pop rock or jazz songs there ! It is not the subject. On
the other hand, they chose improvisation with queer noises and
jazz instruments : piano, clarinets, percussions. This mix makes
the whole very original in my opinion, like a meeting of Pierre
Boulez, John Zorn and Mike Patton’s experimentations. This
material offers three improvised pieces recorded live at Baloard
the 4th and 5th june 2006 by Ludovic Mauri, mixed by Guillaume
Contré and mastered by Pierre Vandewaeter at Studio Lakanal.
It begins with a long introductive and progressive track with
repetitive sounds such as a mix of industrial parts and natural
noises. You could easily imagine wind of mountains with tibetan
processions abroad, also siderurgy factories, men into a coma,
end of humanity, birth of humanity and whatsoever comes from imagination
or from dreams. Then, the second track offers contemporaneous
music variations with the use of clarinets and keyboards or maybe
computers. The third track ends the opus and it gives a comparable
tonality with the first track but with different sounds this time.
Thus, it plunges you into a dream again. Sap(e) music is very
refined and at the same time as disturbing as soothing. An odd
feeling ! I recommend you this opus if you needs other musical
experimentations. The production is good enough to make an opinion.
I loved it. And you ?
Contact
:
Band : www.rude-awakening.org/sape
Distribution : www.allumesdujazz.com
; www.les-independants.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Band
: Satans Penguins
Title : Birds of
Darkness
Material : cd
Label : Heretic
sound
Year : 2001.
Reviewed by : HSSH
Note : /
Satans
Penguins : Birds of Darkness / 8 tracks (Killerpenguin/Monsieur
Malice/Killhammer/Slayerprincess) 2001When black metal meets great
klassik and jazz musik. Great release ! Warning : this is more
black metal than other thing but you will listen to saxophone
and Vivaldi sometimes. Also, there is traditional influences with
the great Slayerprincess vokals. She does not sing all the time
and it is not traditional at all times too ! The other vokals
are typical black or death vokals and excellent. I needed experimental
black metal and I got it with this band ! A lot of melodies and
powerful. At least, I love the penguins concept. Bold !
Contact : Heretic
Sound or Satan
Penguins
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Band
: Sauron
Title : For a Dead
race
Material : cd
Label : Heretic
sound
Year : /
Reviewed by : Sagoth
Note : DDDDD
Sauron 'FOR A DEAD RACE' By Sagoth Style : Black metal What should
have I to say about this stuff ? Well, it was a long time ago
that a band didn’t affect me. I have got to admit that they
are very efficient technically and in prevailing the feeling that
comes out from this opus. An excellent brutal guy on the drums.
He knows how to be brutal without playing too fast all the time.
So, there are lots of mid-tempo that makes the rythm very good
and this opus is very pleasant in this way. You will feel pleasure
with this stuff because you’ll never be lost with Sauron’s
musical colours and contrasts. Sauron is convincing enough and
has a high sound quality. Everything is quite measured out here.
TheBass guitars riffs take place on rythms when guitars are less
tense with less leading. It brings in more than typical high quality
compositions : a real new dimension with a stange feeling.
Guitars parts alternate melodies with strong powerful rhythmics
sounds. It reminds Horna music. Vocals add strong deep atmospheres
to the whole and it reminds black metal beginnings. Remember what
kind of feeling and emotions it can breed. It makes my flesh creep
! A great opus that gives me an hope to hear more stuffs into
this kind of extreme metal. They bring it on with this opus !
Contact :
http://www.saurondeathsquad.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Band
: Scarvenger
Title : Live promo
Material : cd
Label : Nihilistic
Holocaust
Year : 2003.
Reviewed by :
HSSH
Note : /
Scarvenger
: Live promo / 4 tracks (Scarvenger) 2003.French heavy thrash
death metal band kaptured live ! Raw sound but not a krap cd at
all bekause Scarvenger musicians play tekhnical metal as Death
or Coroner did it in the past. There is no bass player on this
record but this not too important to describe their musikal potential
: a lot of good parts on this record. A studio demo stuff will
be out soon and I think you will have to listen to it if you listened
or still listen to old technikal thrash and death metal bands.
Please, note there is a gig review into Diahableries zine and
it's written by Gab (Nihilistic Holocaust) in french langage.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Band
: Sicnoise:
Title :
"no longer human"
Label :
aB.100 prods
Material :
cd
Year :
2007
Reviewed by
: Viod ( from coroner zine)
Mark
:
4,5/5
Having
already been produced first once in 2002 on the label cut up factory
for this album, aB.100 prods republishes this experimental noise
music concept album. Sicnoise is a completely shifted and disconcerting
music which puts to us in an unreal world. We bathe in very special
artificial environments sometimes. They are planing sensations
and other times there are oppressive that depends on the song.
All the music is conceived by samples and synthetizers. There,
we have a true search for harmonization of the sounds. The compositions
of the titles are not deprived of structures, there is behind
the samples a frame which supports the whole of the sound effects
that make this music noise without vocals a true music with a
back taste of tribal primitive music. « No longer human"
is a very appreciable album to listen to in background music…
for, the curious ones and followers of strange universe...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Band
: 7th Nemesis
Title :
Punishment
Material : cd
Label : Skull fucked
Year : 2003.
Reviewed by : HSSH
Note : /
7th
Nemesis / Punishment / Chronicles of a Sickness split / 4 + 6
tracks / 2003. CD (pro) This
is the sekond release of the french Skull Fucked Prod label. And
it's a split cd again. 2 brutal sick bands that I'm going to talk
about. Let's go ! 7TH NEMESIS play a brutal metal with a lot of
breaks, inventions, good ideas and teknikal parts. This is a mix
of thrash, death, hard kore and many other things and I have just
one word to say : great ! Professionnal rekording and powerful
sound ! If you kan listen to Morbid Angel, Death, Coroner and
Nocturnus, you'll love it. There is an akkoustik introduktion
on fourth track with oriental influences and it follow with jazz
inspirations. What a surprise ! These guys are excellent musicians
really ! Then the track return to brutality to remind what 7th
Nemesis mixture is and to end their participation to the split.
PUNISMENT is different. Still brutal but more konventional. Something
as a mix of death and dirty hard kore metal with a quite sound
rekording and they open it with Godsick. Nothing to say bekause
all is o.k for this track. Then, still same influences with breaks
sometimes. Not too bad at all but I think there is not inspiration
enough. I heard it often even if it's pleasant to listen to. I
don't know if they want an evolution with their musik but I hope
they will do bekause they just kould be konsidered as another
band without something new. So, I enjoyed this cd bekause of 7th
Nemesis musikal mastering and I think that Punishment have to
work more to bekome a great band.
Contact : Skull
Fucked
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Band
: Small
Title : no power
without control
Material : demo
Label : Self produced
Year : 2005
Reviewed by : Huruem
Note : DDDDD
Let’s
imagine that you’re in LA, in 1998 and you’re putting
your radio on. The speaker is presenting you a band called Small,
that has just recorded a demo called no power without control
that you should check out. Here you are, 6 songs of a brutal,
made to be played on a radio, music. It is definetly influenced
by the current wave of nu metal and the popular bands of that
period, Soulfly, Slipknot, Machine head, and also the death metal
scene in general, American or European. I think the closest band
to these guys that I know is The Arrs. But they’re a little
it more brutal than Small. No Power without control is definetly
a very impressive demo, in the sense that the musicians are really
good, and that the band seems to have quite a bright future in
front of them. But the problem is that 1 these guys are from Paris,
not LA, and 2 we’re not in 1998 anymore, but in 2006. The
bands have changed, the public has changed, and especially their
taste, and I don’t know the impact that it may have here
in France, and I think that now, people would tend to reject that
kind of stuff, saying that it’s not brutal enough for instance.
This reflexion on the French scene excluded I think that this
demo is good, even if it’s far from being perfect. The songs
are short, dense, technical, the musicians are good, the production
is great, and it works quite well. The only thing that I would
have liked to hear, is a rawest mix of the vocals, a more important
death metal touch, and above all, a better overall structure,
with an intro and an outro, some small elements to prepare yourself.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Band
: Southern
Cross
Title : Rise Above
Label : Manitou
Music / Thundering Records
Material : cd
Year : 2006
Reviewed by : HssH
Mark:
3,5/5
Back
to the eighty years with Southern Cross. “Rise above”
is a typical power heavy thrash metal born in Canada with US progressive
influences. Eight tracks to convince you. Everything is ok with
this opus: melodies, lyrics, powerful guitars, hammered drums,
“hard FM” parts. Everything is recorded at the famous
Unika Studios. Also they already played with Edguy, Stratovarius
and Yngwie Malmsteen. So, nothing to say but professional opus
and pleasant. Nevertheless, nothing new there. They follow the
way of their olders. Power thrash revival for those who want it.
Flee this band if you need some death or black metal feeling because
it is not what they play at all. If you want to listen to other
Southern Cross releases, you have to know they recorded a “Rise
above” ep before the “Rise above” cd. If you
listen to Stratovarius, or maybe Yngwie Malmsteen, you should
have a listening with Southern Cross. Another reference in my
opinion.
Kontakt
:
Band : www.southerncrossmetal.com
Label : www.thundering-records.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Band
: Sons of Fenris
Title : Fenris
Material :
cd
Label : Brutal Druid
Prods
Year : 2001.
Reviewed by : HSSH
Note : /
Sons
of Fenris / Fenris / 1 intro + 6 tracks (Werewolf/Cristhorn/Snowstorm).
Brutal Druid Prods.After an ambient intro, Fenris give an extreme
black metal to your soul's lamentations. It reminds old Burzum,
old Bathory and Graveland releases. Simple riffs with evil strong
melodies without stupid boring lead guitars. Mixed with a typikal
black metal voice and programming drums. I found melankolie and
aggressiveness on all the tracks. Good ! I didn't heard bass parts
on this stuff but this is not the first band's release that doesn't
include it. So, it make it more raw but this time the produktion
is very good. No bad sound at all. And what about the lyriks ?
They use Molière language to talk about werewolfs legends.
So, you find a werewolf attacked by mens on the kover. You understand
it is not a politikal projekt as all NS black metal bands that
you could listen to. They hate these kind of bands as they hate
Humanist Christians. And you, what do you hate or what do you
love ?
Contact : Brutal
Druid Prods - Vincent Cédric - 35, grand'rue - 67130 Hersbach.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Band
: Soulless
Title : Soulless
: Demo 2001
Material : cd
Label : /
Year : 2001.
Reviewed by : HSSH
Note : /
Soulless
: Demo 2001 / 5 tracks (Darek/MIchal)This is pure brutal death
metal. Powerful again. The songs are rather fast. The exception
is only one song which is slow and very heavy. No real drummer
but drums programming. Songs were written in the beginning of
the band's activity. I enjoy their musik but they could be easier
more brutal with a real drummer to hold the note and the guitars.
Nothing to say about the sound of this material but very good
rekording ! So, buy it when you are into this kind of musik !
Contact : Soulless
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Band
: Spektr
Title :
No Longer Human Sens
Material : cd
Label : Autoprod
Year :
2004.
Reviewed by : Fetishik
Note
: /
SPEKTR
No Longer Human Sens (2004, autoproduction, CD) by Fetishik.This
is an original musical project. Leaded by 2 sick minds including
the very dark spirit Hth (leader the Black Metal band Haemoth),
Spektr composes a music which is at once strange, extreme and
dark. Caracterized by a sound which is not far from the Haemoth’s
one; cold and volontary filthy like the old school Black Metal
sound we know thanks to bands like Gorgoroth or Darkthrone, this
new opus will probably distrub narrow-minded listeners. But the
Spektr’s art isn’t “true Black Metal”
at all. In fact, it is not simply Black Metal but something stranger,
darker and maybe deeper than the music which is usually dedicated
to Satan Lord. The 2 genius behind Spektr like to mix dark atmospheres
with a musical Black Metal basis to make their own musical genre.
Somme effects on vocals and somme samples taken from movies amplify
the gloomy face of this “No Longer Human Sens” and
it creates a really scary sound! This opus could be the soundtrack
of a David Lynch’s film so much the music is elusive and
bewitching. It is the reason why i think that the name “Spektr”
is the best one that unique band could choose.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
