ALBUM REVIEWS I - M
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ILLUMINANDI - The Beginning…
Illuminandi from Poland delivers a own mix of metal. Typical for their unique sound is that they mix clean vocals and growlning with a massive portion of strings. Another thing that makes the band stand out is that their setting consists of seven persons! Illuminandi has earlier released two demos and both are on this fullength album. Besides the demotracks the other half of the albums contains live tracks. The soundquality of the tracks is good though, so you can hardly hear that they are recorded live. The cool thing with Illuminandi is that they dare to do their own thing and create a sound of their own. At times they even manage to create tunes of worldclass. A good example of this is the track The Light, which is a wonderful mix of catchy hooks and fast strings. Illuminandi sings in Polish but all lyrics are translated to English in the lyric sheet. Lyrics are mostly from the Bible and there are Bible references to all tunes but one. Illuminandi is a good band but to reach the top they need to improve their composing skills. On some tunes they completely lost the melody and it feels like the tune stands still on the same place. As a whole though the band has did a great work with the album and it gives good promise for the future. If you like the mix of strings and metal this cd is a solid buy. I give it a 3+.
ILLUMINANDI - Demo 2
Poland is a little land when it comes to metal but now things are starting to change. A proof of this is this new band called Illuminandi. Typical for their sound is that they combine violin, cello and metal! This combination gives them an unique sound. Cd has three tracks of which I like the two first, last track is too progressive. Especially the second track The Light is very moving and atmospheric and has plenty of hooks. Lyrics are Christcentered and two of the tunes are sung in polish. If they keep on doing tracks in the same caliber as the first two tracks future releases will be very interesting. A promising band indeed. This minicd leaves me hungry for more!
IMMORTAL SOULS - Under The Northern Sky
Finland is here with some more frostbiting metal to enjoy! Typical for Immortal Souls is that the lyrics often talks about that the beauty of Winter is a clear evidence of God's existence. Under The Northern Sky is their first fullength album and it shows that they matured and got more skilled and tight. Cause what we got here is a real quality release of melodic death metal. It is not pure death metal though since it has a lot of classic metal harmonies incorporated in their sound. Music is fast and crunchy and easily got you headbanging. I would say that this is the perfect christian alternative to secular bands like In Flames and Children of Bodom. Typical for Immortal Souls sound is that it is fast, crunchy and melodic. On the negative side a few tunes at the end gets slightly repetetive, but when most of the tunes is this good it doesn't really matter that much. To sum it up, this is a brilliant release of melodic death metal you just shouldn't miss.
IMMORTAL SOULS/ MORDECAI (Split - CD)
This is a split-cd featuring Immortal Souls and Mordecai, two of the best bands from Finland. Immortal Souls starts things off with their tune "Snow Soul" that can also be found on the compilation From Kaamos To Midnight Sun (read review). It's too repetitive to me so I skip to Divine Wintertime that sounds much better. My favourite tune is Christ Mass, a fast heavy and crunchy tune that talks about the wonder of Christmas when God became man and walked among us. This band also seems to like Winter since that's the theme of most of the songs.The music is mostly death metal reminding of the secular bands At The Gates and In Flames. Nice to finally have a good Christian band in this genre. Mordecai's sound is very atmospheric and full on black metal. Really nice harmonies too. The lyrics are Christ-centered and two of the tunes are totally praise songs.(Black Metal Praise, nothing for your grandma! :-) Good shrieking voice too. Best tunes are Dawn Eternal and The Last Winter. At times the music gets repetitive but that's the only bad thing I can say about this band. So all in all we have two good and promising bands that are truly worth to check out if you like brutal stuff.
IMPELLITTERI - Screaming Symphony
Here is a quality band from the US with lots of talent. The mainmembers in this band are Rob Rock on vocals and Chris Impellitteri on guitars. The style is guitarshredding metal with lots of solos. If you like Rex Carrols guitarplaying you will have a new fave. It can be compared to Narnia but this is faster and heavier. Chris Impellitteri is truly one of the best guitarists in the world, which shows off especially in the instrumental tune 17th Century Chicken Pickin'. Woah, what a shredder he is! And the production is superb! It's good to see a Christian Metal album where the production is just as good as the Mainstream counterparts. My opinion is that the production has to be good to really compete. Rob Rock also have a great voice that fits good with the music. The music on the album is heavy, crunchy and have real hooks in the choruses. The lyrics are pointing to Christ in a both thoughtful and straightforward way. The only bad thing I can say about this album is that it's a bit repetitive. Besides that it shreds. I like this album more and more for each time I listen to it. First I didn't really like it but now I love it! To sum it up this is a great album that I highly can recommend. It's awesome to see this new wave of good Christian Metal again! With bands like Narnia, Impellitteri and Lightmare the future looks great!
IMPLACABLE - Behind The Veil
Plenty of metalbands are coming out from the deep norwegian forests. Implacable is one of them. Unheard by many despite their talent. Musically Implacable plays atmospheric black metal reminding of Antestor. Not too fast but rather pretty slow with plenty of beautiful melodies that reminds me of Schaliach. The lyrics are very biblical and full on for Christ. Something that makes this band stand out is their great sense of making enjoyable melodies. On the negative side I can only say one thing and that is that the vocals are mixed too low on one of the tunes. But that's the only bad thing I can say about this mini-cd with 5 tunes. Plenty of talent in this band! Check'em out. With a promising sound like this they can go very far...
IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH - Scandinavian Compilation
Endtime productions have released many quality releases. On this compilation we can get to know some of them. Vaakevandring got a new tune, mostly ultrafast black metal but also with some tasty melodic riffs. Not quite as good though as the track. Og Sorgnet Stilnet i Smertens Vand from their demo-cd. Lengsel follows next, technical and melodic death/black. Interesting band, I look forward to hear more from them. Next is a brand new tune with Schaliach! It's a great tune and fans of melodic death will be happy to hear it. Very tasty guitarplaying. Crimson Moonlight also got a new tune on this compilation. It's called Blood covered My Needs and shows Crimson Moonlight when they do what they do best, fast black metal with plenty of atmosphere that is. Unfortunately this is also the last tune with their talented keyboardist Alex. Antestor is next black band to follow. Spiritual Disease shows the typical Antestor sound. A really enjoyable tune of atmospheric black metal. The tune is taken from their newly released album Martyrium. Extol kicks off with Inferno, brutal and technical as usual. I'm not that much into this band or tune but Extol fans will enjoy it that's for sure. The tune is taken from the european verson of Extol's latest album Undeceived. Anaemia also got a tune from their album on this compilation. It's the title tune and a really good one with Anaemias characteristical thrashy style. Atmospheric black metal band Sanctifica follows next with Riket, one of the best tunes on their cd Spirit of Purity. Vardöger is a pleasant surprise and one of the highlights on this cd. Viking Metal at it's best! Atmospheric black influenced by folk music. Singer is no other than Peter Dahlbakk from Schaliach. Plenty of melodic harmonies and a great shrilling voice to enjoy here. I'd love to hear more from this band! Another great surprise is Absurd which is another highlight on the album. A brand new black band. The tune is for the most part ultrafast and extremely crunchy! Very very promising band. They have two singers, one male and one female, both with great shrilling voices. Drottnar ends the compilation with Trellebaand Maa Brista. Real Black Metal but nothing that makes it stand out. I miss something. It gets better in the end though. In The Shadow also have 4 industrial cuts with Mental Destruction, Nebulon, Parca Pace and Sanctum but since I don't like this genre at all I can't judge if they are good or not. To sum it up this is a great collection and a must have to everyone into black and death metal. It's almost as good as the compilation From Kaamos To Midnight Sun.
JESUS JOSHUA 24:15 - Once And For All
This is a new band hailing from the US. Musically they play heavy bluesinfluenced hardrock. My favourite tracks are Form of Man, I Believe (with it's groovy sound) and Once And For All. Would love to hear more tunes in the same calibre as these three. The cd has some really cool guitarsolos and on coming releases I would like to hear more solo shredding. Lyrically they are full on for Christ without compromise. I really like their Christcentered approach. This is the band's biggest strength. On the negative side too many tunes get repetitive. Some more variation would do good. The music is also too slow to really grab me. I hope the band speed up the tempo on coming releases. More melodic harmonies/hooks would also do good to make the tunes more interesting. If the band improves these areas coming releases will definately be something to look forward to. The band has a great heart for people and the right focus. With some more work on the music this can be really good.
JOSHUA - Intense Defense
Rob Rock is a wellknown singer in the rockworld. He has sang on many cds and for a long time he was also the singer of Impellitteri. In the beginning of his career he sang on this classic cd that now has been rereleased. The band is named Joshua after the band's guitar player Joshua Perahia. Rob's great vocals and Joshuas excellent guitarplay proved to be an excellent combination, which clearly can be heard on this release. The cd is filled with catchy harmonies and enjoyable guitarsolos a la the classic melodic 80s hardrock/metal sound. Definately a must have if you enjoy melodic metal and especially if you like Rob's wonderful vocals.
JUDAH FIRST - The Vision Road
This band definately has a sound of their own. It's very heavy and groovy. I really like their heavy sound and the Christcentered lyrics. So what can be improved then? Well first of all I would like to hear more harmonies and hooks. It would also be good if they speed up the tempo a bit, like they do on the track Nightmares. And thirdly I would like to hear more guitarsolos. Overall this is cool stuff. Good to hear something unique.
KENNERETH - Eyes of Fire
Kennereth is one of many new bands from Brazil. Stylewise they play progressive melodic heavy metal with thrash influences. Sometimes it sounds real heavy. There are 6 tunes on this mini-cd. Production is good and the lyrics are Christcentered. The weak point in this band is the vocals that aren't as fluent as I wish. Maybe that's because they sing in english which isn't their native language. Musically though Kennereth sounds really promising with plenty of nice melodies. But their tune Epidemic Desire is an exception to the rule and quickle gets repetitive and makes me hit the skip button. The cd ends with a ballad that is way to soft to fit with their other tunes but it do gets better in the end. But mostly this cd is really enjoyable and all in all a good first effort from this band. Check them out. With some more work they can go far.
KRUSH - Welcome To Paradise
Krush is back again ready to crush our Enemy! For those of you that don't know this is a very talented guitar metal band from the US. (You can read a review of their demo here) The vocals are raspy aka Jamie Rowe (Guardian) and Dale Thompson (Bride). They start off with a pretty slow tune. To get peoples attention they should instead have put a faster and crunchier tune first. Anyway, next tune called "Find You" shows their potential. Great guitarplay, nice harmonies and memorable hook. What more can you ask for? Other highlights on the album are Beside Me, Follow, Afterglow and Lost. The guitars on these tunes are phenomenal! But on few others they unfortunately loose the speed and melodic crunch this band does so well. Still it's a good album, but it could have been so much better if they had kept the speed and hook-feel on all the tunes.
KRUSH - Sindrome
Sindrome marks a big change in Krush's sound. Unfortunately it's a change to the worst. The 80s Metal influences are gone and have been replaced by a modern groove sound. :( Too bad when bands change style like this. I like their old sound but can't get into their new sound that is mostly based on groove and not melody. The few tracks I like on Sindrome are Fly Away, Never Leave You and Wrath. Production is excellent. Lyrics are biblical and talk about topics like salvation, sin, God's promises and the second coming of Jesus. I really hope they go back to their melodic metal roots in next relese.
LAMENT - Through the Reflection
Lament is hailing from Mexico. That also shows off in their music and make their sound unique. Cool to hear some mexican sounds! For the most part the sound is melodic, varied and have beautiful harmonies. The vocals are quite extreme and I think he screams too much and growls too little. It almost sounds like a hardcore voice. It would have sounded much better if the singer just growled. One cool thing though is that Abel, the singer is also the bands drummer. On the negative side some tunes looses speed and becomes really boring. More heaviness wouldn't hurt either. Despite of this I like the album but I do think it would have been much better with these improvements. But as I said it's very cool with the mexican influences in their sound. The lyrics deals with the heavenly goal that gives us strength to carry on, even when it's hard.
LAMENT - Breathless
Lament is back with a new release. Stylewise they play Melodic Metal/Thrash with some very cool mexican influences thrown in, which gives them an unique sound. Lament have always had a good sense for making memorable melodies and on Breathless they have succeeded better than ever. Great hooks and catchy rhythmes are now present almost everywhere which makes it to a smorgasbord of melodic metal. Another improvement from their last release is that the vocals has changed to the better and is now much more fluent and melodic. The tracks also contain much variation which keep the interest throughout the whole tunes. Lament has finally found their sound and what works best for them - melodic metal that is. On negative side the vocals are still slightly too harsh to fit this kind of music and needs to be more melodic. But they are much much better than on Through The Reflection so it's a big step in the right direction. To sum it up this is a very good cd that I really can recommend. Lament has really changed for the better and their new cd almost leaves me breathless. If they continue on in this style and continue to improve the vocals next cd can be a masterpiece.
LAUDAMUS - Unlimited Love
Laudamus are hailing from Sweden, famous for its many metalbands. Laudamus is a 3-piece band that plays melodic metal and this is their first fullength. They had plenty of problems when they recorded the cd, Peter Stenlund who handles the guitars/vocals had a sore throat and almost everything went wrong during the recording process. So this is far from the best this band can achieve. Laudamus is also best live and they have a great stage show. Anyway, Unlimited Love contains some great tunes like I'm On My Way and the beautiful ballad More Than I'll Ever Know. The guitarsolos on Unlimited Love are very tasty. A problem Laudamus have though is that they wait too long before they let loose with guitarsolos/choruses etc, especially in the track Wasting No Compassion. More singalong choruses and harmonies would do good as well. Lyrics are mostly loud'n'clear like in the the title tune "God gave us his son, you can believe or you can deny. Unlimited love, you can receive it or let it pass by." According to all problems during the recording process Unlimited Love isn't the shredder it could have been. It's pretty ok anyway and heavier than most bands in this genre so if you like melodic metal with guitar solos give this a try. They got the talent, with improved production, more solos and singalong choruses next release can be a real shredder.
LEVITICUS - Best of
Leviticus is one the most classic christian heavy metal bands. They are hailing from Sweden and began playing in the early 80s. For many years they have not played together but now they are back again! They did a special reunion show at Bobfest 2003 and in time for that show they also rereleased this album. It features hits and classics from all their releases including tunes like Deborah & Barak, Psalm 23, All is Calm, Flames of Fire, The Suffering Servant, Over The Hills, Oh Lord, I Got Power, On The Rock and many more. The cd also contains two tracks from the guitarist Björn Stigssons' solo album Together with Friends. I think it's a good collection of tunes even though I miss Messiah and some other personal faves. Old fans will be delighted to once again hear Leviticus' classic tunes. For new fans this cd is a great opportunity to check out one of the groundbreaking bands in christian metal.
LEVITICUS - Live at Bobfest 2003
After 13 years of silence Leviticus is back! They played at Europes biggest Christian Metal Festival Bobfest this year and got a fantastic response! The tunes sounded better than ever and they ripped through the classics Deborah & Barak, Saved, Messiah, All is Calm, Flames of Fire, Majestic In Power, The Suffering Servant, Oh Lord,On The Rock, Born Again and I'm Gonna Rock. Eventhough they hadn't played together for many years they are still surprisingly tight. Peo Pettersson vocals on this cd are amazing, he can still hit the high notes like he used to. Björn Stigsson shreds solo after solo and shows what a great guitarplayer he is. Kjell Andersson's drumming has never been so loud and powerful as it is on this cd. The whole band sounds great and it's like they never had a break. The soundquality of the cd is outstanding, it's almost like a studioalbum. The setting now is Peo Pettersson on vocals, Björn Stigsson on guitars, Kjell Andersson on drums, Niklas Edberger on keyboards and Niklas Franklin on bass. On this cd they also got help with the backing vocals by Petra Stigsson and Allis Brorsson. Old fans will be delighted to once again hear Leviticus' classic tunes. If you ever considered yourself as a fan to Leviticus this is truly a must have. In fact I think it's the best album, ever with Leviticus! For new fans this cd is a great opportunity to check out one of the groundbreaking bands in christian metal that is still one of the top bands in melodic metal. This release is not only a great comeback but also one of the best metal releases in 2003. Leviticus are back, heavier than ever and they are back to stay!
LIGHTMARE - Vampires
This is real Heavy Metal/ Power Metal filled with crunchy guitars and melodic leads! The cool thing with this band is that they manage to mix Heavy Metal with classical music. One of their tunes sounds like Bach with an electric guitar! Very cool indeed! It they continue to write more tunes like this they will for sure go to the top. The musicians are all very tight and it seems like they have played together for a long time. The only drawback with this album is that it's too progressive at times, at least for my taste. Besides that it shreds. The lyrics tackles issues like greediness, crusades and turning to Christ. Unfortunately the cd contains only four tunes and leaves me hungry for more! With beautiful harmonies and heavy guitars this is one I higly can recommend.
LORDCHAIN - Selftitled
This is Lordchain's debut album. The singer got a nice raspy voice. Music is rather groovy metal, has a little Bride-Snakes-vibe over it. It's a also a bit thrashy at times. Personal fave's are All I Can Say, Follow Me and Kiss That Kills. On the negative side the music slows down too much in some tunes. Lyrics mostly deals with the struggle to live for Christ in a dark and filthy world. All in all a good debut. With more tunes in the same vein as the three I mentioned, future releases will be very interesting.
LORDCHAIN - Cracked
Cracked is Lordchain's second album. Compared to their first this one is a bit heavier. Personal fave's are When I Sleep, 9th of June, Riverflow, Stare Me Down. Something I like with this release is the gang vocals they have incorporated to their sound. Lyrics deals with topics like God's mercy and love, sin and false prophecies. Music is rather groovy metal, has a little Bride-Snakes-vibe over it. On the negative side the music is still too slow in many tunes, which makes them boring. If they speed up and write more catchy tunes the tunes will be much more interesting. Now, many tunes are just way too slow and take way too long before they take off.
MAJESTIC VANGUARD - Beyond The Moon
It's always nice when new good metal bands arise. The latest years bands like Harmony and Theocracy have come from nowhere and released incredibly good debut albums. Majestic Vanguard can very well be the next big metalband in the melodic/progressive metalgenre. The band hails from Falköping in Sweden and Beyond The Moon is their first album. Daniel Eskilsson is the frontman of the band. He is both the drummer of the band and the one that has written most of the tunes. Peter Sigfridsson is the vocalist and he does a good work with the singing. Something I really like with Majestic Vanguard is that they have a great amount of enjoyable guitarsolos and catchy hooks in their sound. Another thing that makes me glad is that the band doesn't hide their faith behind the bush but clearly points on Christ. One of my favourite tracks are Tears in Neverland that has both heaviness and very catchy hooks. Take Me Home, Emotions of a Picture and Footprints are three other tunes of worldclass. In some tunes I think the band is too progressive, would rather that they let loose more and focused even more on catchy hooks. As a whole though this is a really good cd with a healthy mix of melodies, heaviness and variation. With such a good debut album Majestic Vanguard shows that they definately are a force to be reckoned with.
METAL MESSIAH - Metal Messiah
Metal Messiah is a thrash band hailing from the USA. This three track cd is their first release. The tempo is here but what I feel lacking is the melody and crunch. Something that I find really annoying is the the screaming choruses on at least two of the tunes. The band need to improve their songwriting overall, get a tighter sound and spend more thinking when they write their tunes. Third 3rd tune is a step in the right direction though.
METAL MISSON - Brazilian Collection Vol. III
Time for collection number three from the country that seems to be filled with metalbands. On this collection there are only melodic metal bands featured. Of the participating bands it's only the melodic goth metal band Amos that I have heard before. Their track Shadows of Thy Cross is very hookladen. They have definately developed in the right direction. Another band that really sticks out is Clean Heart. Amazingly good melodic metal with tons of solos and melodic hooks. Wow! Definately the band band on the collection and a band to watch closely in the future. Another band that sticks out is Stractum Force. Their sound reminds very much of the German power metal band Lightmare. If I didn't know I would have thought that this was a new Lightmare tune. It sounds really good anyway with lots of choirs and classic influences. Besides these three bands it is unfortunately way too far between the highlights. It is simple said too many halfgood/halfbad tunes on the album. This is just too bad when the cd as a whole is really well produced. Clean Heart, Stractum Force and Amos are definately bands I would love to hear more of. I give the album as a whole a 2+ rating.
METAL MISSON - Brazilian Collection
Brazil has one of the biggest metal scenes in the world and new bands are popping up all the time. Flávio de Souza, the editor of Metal Mission have collected some of them on this collection. The bands included spans all the way from melodic metal to brutal death/black. Trino is first band out. They play modern thrash but I feel like something is missing in the sound. More melody and crunchy rhythmes would do this band good. The Joke? sounds way too chaotic for me to like them. Dynasty follows next and now things starts to got better! I have heard a demo of theirs earlier which sounded promising. They deliver melodic metal with plenty of variation, many hooks and great guitarplay. Really promising band. Resistance continues on with some more classic melodic metal. The guitars sound very good and there are plenty of guitar solos to enjoy. Yeah! Their music also has a cool orchestral influence. Truly a great band that I would love to hear more of! Arcanjo plays modern thrash but there isn't enough melody in it for me to enjoy it. Empty Grave is extremely fast and one of the leading bands when it comes to christian grindcore. It actually sounds pretty good and the rhythm reminds me of a faster version of Cut In Pieces by Vengeance Rising. Clemency follows next with some more brutality and heaviness. However I found the music too complex and less melodic to my taste. Skymetal is next band on the disc. They deliver fast brutal death metal but it's way too little harmony in their sound for me to enjoy it. Moshab delivers metalcore with the typical shouting vocals. Not my thing. Sacramento plays classic metal but music becomes too slow and boring plus the singer screams too much for his own good. Halleluyah follows next. Their sound reminds me of a fast Sacred Warrior tune. They have a great crunch to their sound and fast heavy rhythm. Really good stuff! I can also strongly feel the annointing of God on this track. Would love to hear a cd with this talented band! Warblade delivers 70 hardrock in true Black Sabbath style. Not bad, can be something if they just add some more harmonies and speed up the tempo a bit. Last band out is the one-man-band Edson Boleti. He finishes the cd with a beautiful instrumental where he plays all the instrument. In summarisation there are some hot metal bands on this collection that I really can recommend that you check out as well as some bands that don't really make it, at least not yet. I think some more good bands could have been included so I give it a 3- rating.
METAL MISSON - Brazilian Collection 2
The metal scene in Brazil is always growing. This is the second collection Flávio of Metal Mission has compiled. The bands included spans all the way from melodic metal to brutal death/black. My favourite track is the track by Kratos. An excellent Christmas tune in melodic metal style. It really has plenty of Christmas joy in it and it has the same feeling as Stryper's classic Winter Wonderland. An excellent tune from an excellent band. Would love to hear more from them! Bless is another new and promising band. As Kratos they sing in portugese. Musically they play melodic metal. A good band with a good sense of making memorable harmonies. Another excellent band on the compilation is Destra. They have included the track You Should Believe from their great cd Sea of Doubt. Progressive and Melodic Metal at it's finest. Definately one of the best Brazilian bands. Heavy Metal band Enigma didn't impress, they need to add more variation and melody to their sound. Devastation plays thrash and reminds slightly of Mortification. Their tune is fast but not enough melody to make it all the way, but the slow part with the heavy rhythm is really promising. Death Metal band Mortify have a brutal sound but need to incorporate more harmonies and variation to their music. Sebaoth carries on with more brutal music but still nothing that really grabs me. They need to have more variation in their tunes. Clamatorius has a very heavy sound. Really cool black metal with a great brutal voice. Could be something, but they need a better production. Zurisaday another black metal band has plenty of atmosphere and melody to their sound. Unfortunately they fall slightly short when it comes to the vocals but music is very good. As clamotorius they also need a better production. Holy Throne continues on with more black metal and has an even faster sound. It's brutal but hasn't enough harmony for me to enjoy it. The tune could also have been much better mixed than it is. Vocals could also be better. Themplo plays really fast classic melodic metal. The guitarists are extremely fast but tempo is not all, they have to incorporate some more hooks to the sound. An interesting band indeed with plenty of talent, definately one to keep an eye on. Heavy Metalband Vulgata follows next. Their track is too long, but it sounds promising anyway. They should just try to keep the tempo up. Seven Angels is another promising band. They have a female vocalist and their sound reminds of secular band Nightwish. Even though I miss some of the best bands from this country like Shining Star and Antidemon this is still a great collection that shows how many cool up'n'coming metal bands there are in Brazil. I give it a 3+ rating.
MIRACLE - Soldiers of Light
Miracle hails from Brazil and plays melodic metal. Production is excellent and the tunes are varied. It's really cool with the symphonic influences the band has incorporated to their melodic metal sound. This gives them an unique sound. This three-track EP contains plenty of guitarsolos and crunchy rhythmes to enjoy. Lyrics are both Christcentered and uplifting. All in all a very good release! My only remark is the vocals that at times could be more fluent than they are and maybe Allyson should sing slightly lower for his own good. Besides this, the cd just rocks all over and I'm really looking forward to hear more from this talented band! Definately a band for the future.
MIRADOR - The Azrael Tales
Mirador has been around for many years and have released a couple of demos. The Azrael Tales is their first cd and just as their demos it contains plenty of doom metal influences. You can really hear that Veni Domine is a big inspiration for the band. Mirador is however not a copycat but have a sound of their own. Typical for Mirador's sound is Jakob Forsbergs excellent vocals. The music is both heavy, melodic and progressive. Favourite tracks are Phoenix Syndrome, Postbelievers and The Trial. Mirador rocks hard and the cd gives good hope for the future. If you like the sound of Veni Domine and want to check out something new this album is a must have. I give it a 3+.
MORIAH - Where, Death, is Your Victory?
Brazil is one of the biggest metal countries there is and all the time new bands pop up from this large country. One of the new bands is the black metal band Moriah. The singer has a cool shrilling voice, which fits perfect to the music. What sets Moriah apart from other black bands is that they use plenty of piano in their sound. This creates a nice atmospheric mood to the music. Their sound actually remind a bit of early Crimson Moonlight. The music is very varied and both melodic, catchy and brutal. I like all the sex tracks on the cd. Moriah is a pleasant surprise to my ears and the best new black band I have heard in a long time! With their cool unique sound, great talent and Biblical lyrics they have a great ground to continue to build on. Really good stuff and definately a band I can recommend. If they just improve the production to next release they can definately become one of the top bands in the black metal scene.
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