Rise And Fall - Our Circle is Vicious (2009)

Wow, I can't believe that i'm writing here again. It's been so long (the last post in late January). But here I am , and after a long time struggling to find the energy to write I have finally started. The thing is... I used to post here so frequently that I sort of lost interest. But not all is lost and this time I give you Belgium's Rise And Fall.

Rise And Fall are an intense Hardcore band and are signed to one of my favorite labels, Deathwish. They incorporate a lot of bleak melodies that build the songs in chordal context. This album makes for a really good listen and is best enjoyed in it's entirety. I always find it great when the faster, more intense bands have a really good sense of melody and the more original the melodies get, the more I seem to like their style. It really gives them "their sound".

The album sounds really good, and every member seems to cut through. This and the really good songwriting makes this album one of my favorite more recent Hardcore albums.

I thoroughly recommend this album and I hope you, the readers can help me build this site up. We are always looking for good writers and you can contact me through this site if you want to write on this blog.

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Planetary Duality - The Faceless

The Faceless cemented themselves into the global metal scene with their debut album Akeldama in 2006, which was a mix of melodic death metal and deathcore with copious of amounts of technicality to top it off. In 2008 they released Planetary Duality, which saw the Faceless move away from the deathcore influences and embrace a purely melodic style of technical death metal. It recieved 'nearly' universal critical acclaim.

Personally I feel Planetary Duality is vastly superior to Akeldama, mainly due to the album as a whole being less chaotic than Akeldama, with a more smooth quality about it, with their grinding riffs, searing melodies and crushing breakdowns flowing seamlessly. Abandoning the synths prevalent on Akeldama was also a very good decision if you ask me. Planetary Duality presents itself with a very robotic and alien atmosphere, with lyrical themes mostly concerning.. Well, alien forces and whatnot. Clocking at about half an hour, and is an engaging and powerful album which manages to balance a wide variety of influences almost perfectly.

Download it on Mediafire

Ascension - With Burning Tongues Demo (2009)

As putredines said so brilliantly "Let the process of revival begin!"


I have been pretty lazy recently and I haven't had the will to post since last year. It occurred to me that I just had to get up off my ass and listen to some fresh music. I was stuck in a daily routine that made me dull and I had lost the will to listen to unfamiliar music. I just restored that will today and therefore I bring you Ascension...


Ascension is a German Black Metal band, their take on Black Metal is atmospheric, scary and a bit theatrical. This is probably the longest demo I have heard, it's 45 minutes long, though it contains only 5 songs. This is because the songs are long and somewhat repetitive but in a good way (I don't always like repetitive stuff). I feel like the reaction I get from this demo is the way they intended it to be. It even startled me a few times in the calm, atmospheric parts. That and the overall feeling of the album shows that they poured a lot of emotion into this.


There is one thing I don't like about this album, it's the drums. They are not very spot on and some of the fills and such are forced in a way that makes it groove less. However this does not ruin anything because the album is intended to be heard as an overall feel rather than being focused on each and every hit or groove. 


They have a full length coming out this year, I haven't checked out when it will be released. It's called 'Consolamentum', be sure to check that out too.


Check it out on MediaFire

Wormed - Quasineutrality

If some one would ask me what was the best release in 2010? I would most definitely say Quasineutrality or the Chapters of Repugnance by Defeated Sanity.


This is a 2 track single which hopefully will lead to another LP by Wormed.

A fantastic single, give it a try!

Download

Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters

 

Let the process of revival begin!

Wolves in the Throne Room is a Black Metal band living in the forests of Olympia (not where the greek gods sleep, but in Washington). They have released 3 albums and some minor releases.

These guys are playing superb Atmospheric Black Metal that is surely able to put you in a forest immediately when you close your eyes or just make your brain download a cheesy collection of Darkthrone videos. Their lyrical concepts are about nature and shaman rituals, one of the many things that caught my eye when I decided to check them out back in '07 (their band name was the first thing I noticed, how can you skip such an awesome name?).

These guys are one of my favorite bands and I picked this album because it was the first I heard with them. I recommend that you should check their other albums if you are fond of this one.

Download

P.S. If you like this album and have listened to their other LPs you should check out Krallice, Altars of Plague (seriously you gotta' love the Khanate part!), Weakling, Drudkh (some consider them nazi, looking past that they create mind blowing black metal) and Burzum's Filosofem.

Mogwai Young Team

Woah, finally got myself into waking up and doing some reviewing but not death metal though.

Mogwai is a post rock band from Scotland, they have released quite the amount of LP's through time and sadly I have put little effort in exploring anything else from these guys, except this album and man it's the shit.

This album is kinda instrumental with a few spoken words there and there. The atmosphere in this album has a sad or angry feeling in it, can't really explain.

This is one of my favorite albums, in fact I listened to this album almost daily, until it got boring. But recently I been starting to listening to it again. I have been in a nostalgic mood lately listening to old favorites and haven't been following the newer releases.

Download

Anaal Nathrakh - Hell Is Empty, And All The Devils Are Here (2007)

Merry Christmas everybody!!

I have not been posting lately because I have been busy, also I have thinking whether I should continue with this blog as I seem to be the only contributor.

Well anyways, this is Anaal Nathrakh. Anaal Nathrakh means "The Serpent's Breath" in some other language. I actually lol'd at the Anaal part a few years back as I guess so many of you did. But Anaal Nathrakh is a really solid two man band and this is my favorite album from them.

The album is unbelievably heavy, fast like hell and has really unusual vocal arrangements. It sounds great!

All in all it makes for a great album. Just check it out, this album is pretty unique.

Check it out on MediaFire

Haemophagia - From Sickness To Cult (2007)

Can a band be so brutal? Apparently Haemophagia from Spain can. They play Brutal Slam Death Metal and don't hold back in the brutal or the slam. This is their debut full length album.

This album is really intense. It's really brutal with heavy guttural vocals and lo-fi production. Also, the album is surprisingly good, in the first minute or so you can hear how incredibly cool the first song is.

I'm tired, judge for yourselves with MediaFire

Aeon - Path of Fire (2010)

Aeon is a really underrated Swedish Death Metal band. They play Technical Death Metal in a really intense manner. This is their third full length album.

The album has a lot of good runs. It has really interesting riff structures, by that I mean unoriginal Death Metal done in an original way. It's also very brutal, especially the monotonous vocals and the uncompromising attack of the drums.


Check it out on MediaFire or I will stab you.

Cephalic Impurity - Unique Brute Revival (2010)

Cephalic Impurity is a band from Russia. They just released this album through SoulFlesh Collector Records which is run by Mirus of Katalepsy. This is their second album and it kicks ass!

This album is not the most original thing to come out this year but it is by far one of the better Brutal Death/Slam Death releases I've heard this year, at least I was very surprised. It's got good production, an awesome cover, some heavy guttural vocals, blastbeats, and a lot more. I mean what doesn't it have?

Be sure to check it out on MediaFire