Demonaz – March of the Norse
Really catchy and melodic, the whole album has a nice flow and you can really bang your head to it. The production is very warm and sounds great cranked up loud.
Nuclear Blast
Origin – Entity
Tech death fans, Entity‘s your feel-good hit of the summer.
Hell – Human Remains
This is damn near perfection.
Sabaton – Primo Victoria / Attero Dominatus / Metalizer / The Art of War [ReArmed Editions]
“Sabaton blend traditional metal with power metal and a bit of military pomp to create some truly catchy work. Naysayers will repeatedly bring up the fact that they are not Bolt Thrower so they shouldn’t try to do ‘military metal’ (something that the band started dabbling with on Primo Victoria, which quickly became their forte) however that’s a lot like telling As I Lay Dying that they shouldn’t do Christian Metal because they aren’t Stryper. I actually came to the Sabaton party a little late, I was introduced to the band with The Art of War (their 2008 release with Black Lodge) so these ‘Rearmed’ editions from Nuclear Blast (the bands new home) were a huge treat for me.”
Jason Wellwood reviews the new ReArmed Edition reissues of the first four SABATON albums on Nuclear Blast USA.
Postcards From Natalie Zed: Lucky #13
For her lucky number thirteen installment of her ongoing postcards series, Ms. Natalie Zed offers up five new reviews on bands such as Melechesh, Suidakra, TesseracT and Sylvus . So, without further adieu, here is another installment in her series of bite-sized critiques.
Winter – Into Darkness
I can see how this would’ve blown some minds back in 1990, but it really hasn’t aged all that well. Other bands have since taken the torch and left Winter sputtering behind with this lo-fi, depressing slog of an album that has more in common with the “gothic doom” of My Dying Bride than the true masters of the genre.
While Heaven Wept – Fear Of Infinity
I can’t say enough how unique and epic this band is. Sure , they may have lost a lot of their doom but I think this has made them even more of a better band. It gives the music and riffs much more room to breathe and I find there is a lot more varation on the tempos that has helped modernize their sound without falling into any trendy sterotypes.
ACCEPT: In Conversation With Wolf Hoffmann
“Well, it is really one of those funny stories in life which started as a big coincidence. The short version is that, about a year and a half ago we met Mark Tornillo and loved the way he sang. It wasn’t planned out at all. We were not auditioning for a singer or anything. We just happened to meet during a jam session. Peter (Baltes) and I were spending a day just jamming some old riffs. Somebody suggested we call Mark and have him sing along with some old songs. We realized he has a killer voice which was suited perfectly to our old material. The idea to reform was born in that moment. Within about a minute and I half Peter and I just looked at each other and we knew we had to do something.”
Allan Grusie in conversation with ACCEPT guitarist and founding member Wolf Hoffmann about their reformation and the excellent Blood Of The Nations comeback album.
Sepultura / Belphegor / Hate / Keep of Kalessin / Neuraxis @ The Opera House, Toronto ON, April 18th 2011
Sepultura as they exist today have incredible muscle and power, at the expense of some of their subtlety. Their music now has less of an eerie quality, gets under the skin less. Instead, it wants to tear you apart. The experience of seeing them live was thrilling and exhausting, but left a ghost behind, alittle bit of longing for the sound of a jungle breathing on the back of your neck.
Natalie Zed discusses the recent visit to Toronto from legendary Brazilians Sepultura. Accompanied by photos from Adam Wills.
Sylosis – Edge of the Earth
These guys are the real deal and with a bit more emphasis on some stronger songwriting and maybe a shorter length – 70mins seems to be a tad too long for this kind of music – really big things could lie ahead.