FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Raging from the get-go and never once losing track of its vision, Conceptive Prescience boasts 18 minutes of rudimentary blast-grind pulling from the ravenous, almost overbearing attack of early Napalm Death but shoved through the dirty filter of Nasum, Phobia and other crossover acts.
Blood Of Bacchus is haunting and mysterious. It is graceful and desolate. Picture pure doom, lying under soft, almost operatic vocals and heavy guitars. Though it is very easy to develop a strong sense of what Ava Inferi sound like through this description, you will never fully understand the brilliance of this band until you give them a fervent listen.
Lacuna Coil live photo courtesy of wikipedia, copyright creative commons By Melissa Andrews Lacuna Coil, previously already in Toronto this year on tour…
One of the most exciting, invigorating slabs of true metal to make its way into my grubby hands this past year has been Overlords of Chaos, the third album overall by Portuguese power trio Ironsword. After two previous releases through Solstice guitarist Rich Walker’s Miskatonic Foundation, the band has found a new home on Pittsburgh’s Shadow Kingdom Records. The label has quickly been making a name for itself by releasing some of the best underground classic heavy metal to see the light of day in 2008, and this leads the pack as their best release yet.