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Past
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BACK
ALTAR
Red Harvest (Crash/Pavement)
Having been a keen observer of the band for several years—I
do own ‘Provoke’ (1998) and ‘In the Name of the Father’
(2000)—I can honestly say that Holland’s Altar are a hardworking
band. The band always makes an effort to stay fast and brutal each
time out, lashing out with menacing vocals and straight-shooting
guitar riffs as they dish out their best death metal offerings.
The new disc, while still death metal, finds the band exploring
other routes of heaviness, thus not going overboard with derivative
death metal. Slowed down at times and attached to a nice groove,
‘Red Harvest’ does help the band get some "oomph"
back in their stride. Whether it be the Sepultura stride of "The
Stress Factor" or the heavy groove essence of "Generation
X," Altar still stays within familiar territory and rocks the
house when it needs to.
<Adrian Bromley> -7-
ANATHEMA
A Fine Day To Exit (Music For Nations)
Recently Anathema guitarist Danny Cavanagh told me about the band’s
evolution: "We can’t make the same record twice. We just
can’t." Listening to their latest disc, ‘A Fine Day
To Exit,’ I would have to agree with him. While similar at
times to last year’s ‘Judgement,’ the new disc finds
the band merrily combing through expansive musical passages, filled
to the brim with majestic vocal arrangements and some wonderful
guitar work. Haunting melodies and an almost sedate feel comes over
the listener as the disc plays on, only to have the up-tempo and
somewhat out of place number "Panic" change the pace of
things towards the end—though it does work. I am sure some
are thinking that this disc is a gloomy, serene world of artsy-fartsy
music with over-the-top production and lengthy epics, and they may
be true on some level, but ‘A Fine Day To Exit’ offers
more. While full of creativity and epic numbers (check out monumental,
bizarre closer "Temporary Peace," clocking in at 18:28!),
the new disc has a very ornate feel to the music. There is a lot
going on, but it is effortlessly carried out by Anathema. While
not as meaningful (yet) to me as ‘Alternative 4’ is, opening
numbers "Pressure" and "Release" could be enough
to keep me coming back for more visits as the year rolls on. How
could you not like what Anathema does? They’re talented musicians
who sculpt their music out of passion. How many other bands would
rather rip other acts off than do something original? Too many to
count. Stick with Anathema.
<A. Bromley> -8.5-
ANCIENT RITES
Dim Carcosa (Hammerheart)
A classically inspired intro starts the proceedings on ‘Dim
Carcosa’ nicely, and then heaven gets torn asunder, as the
opening licks of "Exile…" take you down a melodic-but-thrashy
path of more modern black/progressive metal. Think of sped-up Borknagar
and the light will start to shine. The musical arrangements seem
to be a little more pop inspired, and not overly evil or eerie,
so enthusiasts and elitists may not dig this, which is their loss.
The offensive discharge displayed by Ancient Rites can’t be
denied, as the band make something heavier than the mass of a black
hole, but use elements of progressive, power, and thrash metal to
augment their extreme qualities. ‘Dim Carcosa’ gives the
listener a veritable cornucopia of everything under the sun, including
lyrical concepts, as the album revolves around the journey of a
man searching for the fabled Carcosa. Fanatical, but beautiful at
the same time—a killer combination.
<Alex Ristic> -8.5-
APRIL ETHEREAL
Advent (Conquer Records)
While Poland’s April Ethereal are indeed in control of their
dark, highly charged metal sounds, there seems to be something out
of sync here. The band are gifted at what they do, managing to successfully
piece together nice keyboard arrangements amongst a cauldron of
aggressive ideas, but with a mediocre production and some ideas
that come off too cliché or repetitive, ‘Advent’
slowly loses its charm. I do like the slower sections with the punishing
growls leading the way, but some of the heavier stuff is stagnant.
Had this band arranged their music more around the slower, dark
metal-tinged ideas, then it is quite possible the band might be
more appealing to music fans. This is good, especially the track
"The First Step Into the Unknown," but April Ethereal
need to find out what works and ditch the rest if they want to move
forward.
<A. Bromley> -6-
ARKHON INFAUSTUS
Hell Injection (Osmose Productions)
A diabolically exquisite unity of black and death metal unlike anything
I have ever heard since Fallen Christ! The chaos, the madness, the
utter evilness that this CD exudes is truly a rare and beautiful
thing. Capturing the abysmal atmosphere of all that is both black
and death metal, this is elitism at its best. This CD embodies all
aspects carnal, all blasphemies and utter cruelness, and weaves
them in a darkened mesh of unimaginable horror. This CD weaves the
early black/death chaos of Fallen Christ and Morbid Angel with a
suitable production that lets the recording saunter in dark atmospheres.
One word to describe this: twisted. This is a must have!
<Steve Wasylyk> -9-
ASTROQUEEN
Into Submission (Pavement)
Can you smell that? It's burning fuzz. Astroqueen has picked up
the ball that was carried by Spiritual Beggars and The Mushroom
River Band and shown that European acts can do stoner rock better
than any band out of North America at the moment (save, perhaps,
Sea Of Green). The 70s just drips straight out of this release,
saturating your speakers with glorious amounts of groove and splendiferous,
scintillating chunky riffs. It almost sounds like Astroqueen went
the old Monster Magnet route and recorded Into Submission with old
tube equipment - it sounds that vintage. Definitely inspirational
for phatty-rolling, and certainly as combustible as any smoke product
out there. Astroqueen will take you as high as the stars, if you
let them.
<A. Ristic> -9-
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES
s/t (Warner Bros.)
Ever listen to a song and just assume the band must look a certain
way? Such is the case with Beautiful Creatures, and this isn't in
reference to the band name. Acts such as Buckcherry are bringing
back that LA sleaze-rock sound we had in the late 80s with Faster
Pussycat and L.A. Guns, and Beautiful Creatures are right there
along with this renaissance. So as they rip through numbers like
"1 A.M." and "Wasted", you can easily assume
the band has that whole messed-up hair and tattoos thing going on.
Image isn't everything, but if the music's there to back it up,
it helps...or at least confirms suspicions.
<P. Silbiger> -7-
CATHOLICON
Lost Chronicles of the War in Heaven (The Black Hand/Rage of Achilles)
In all fairness I suppose I should begin with some positive feedback
for this album. The album has some nice artwork adorning the cover.
There. That is all the nice things that I can muster up. Sure, the
sound quality of ‘Lost Chronicles of the War in Heaven’
isn’t the worst I’ve heard, but it is a far cry from the
best. The band has a definite black metal aura about them with their
lyrics/concept, and that is blended into a more death metal soundscape.
Congratulations! You’ve achieved what most bands in this genre
have before you. It would be ridiculous of me to deny their talent,
because they don’t play simple "three chord" tunes.
But I find this album much too bland for my taste. It is quite repetitive
in its songs, and I find myself wondering from time to time when
the next song is going to begin. Then I realize the CD is already
five songs in. I’ve listened a few (too many) times and yet
I still can’t get into it.
<Melissa Caron> -4.5-
CORROSION OF CONFORMITY
Live Volume (Sanctuary)
Corrosion of Conformity’s live album ‘Live Volume’
is far from being a masterpiece – we’ll save that for
a classic like Iron Maiden’s ‘Live After Death –
but it does the job. Listening to ‘Live Volume,’ an album
recorded back in April of this year at Harpo’s Concert Theatre
in Detroit, Michigan, it straight out shows off all the warts and
blemishes of a live show, as well as the magic of one too. Some
of the songs sound okay, a little muffled guitar work here and there
as singer Pepper Keenan delivers the best rockin’ vocals that
he could muster up for the live setting. Best live cuts have to
be the ultra-cool "Albatross," the staple crowd pleaser
"Vote With A Bullet" and my personal fave: "Clean
My Wounds." While material from last year’s ‘America’s
Volume Dealer’ is showcased here ("Zippo," "Who’s
Got The Fire" and "Diablo Blvd.") the music doesn’t
seem to have the same effective as the older stuff does during the
course of this 77-minute live disc. The fans ate it up, but it was
obvious they wanted to hear the oldies. For fans of COC only.
<A. Bromley> -5-
CRADLE OF FILTH
Bitter Suites To Succubi (Abracadaver)
CoF fans will love this, others won’t. It’s that simple.
‘Bitter Suites…’ is an EP, and seems to have been
designed and executed with the fans in mind. Five brand-new tracks
are included on the CD, which harken back to early-to-mid level
CoF; almost like a cross between ‘Vempire…’ and ‘Dusk
and Her Embrace,’ as the new material shows no signs of the
poppy arrangements and simpler sound as evidenced on their last
releases. Also, three songs from ‘The Principle of Evil Made
Flesh’ are re-done, and in actuality sound better than the
originals. Throw in a cover of the Sisters of Mercy ("No Time
To Cry"), and you have something that’s definitely aimed
at the band’s hardcore following. They should enjoy it too,
as outside of the atrocious guitar playing it is an enjoyable listen,
and almost enters the same emotive realm that their older material
used to exude.
<A. Ristic> -8-
CREMATORY
Remind (Nuclear Blast)
I could see this release coming a mile away. The final installment
of Germany’s Crematory and their career comes to us as a deluxe
double-disc set titled ‘Remind.’ The band, while not faves
with many critics worldwide, did have their core audience and support
from many within the metal community. Many were drawn in by the
band’s grasp of gothic metal, lavishly executed with female
vocals, haunting keyboards, and talented musicianship helping guide
the way. ‘Remind’ is a good-sounding 17-song live set
from the band. No doubt they wanted to go out with a bang, as opposed
to a half-assed live record like the new one from In Flames (see
review this issue). While I feel that Crematory’s music seemed
to have revolved around the same style throughout their careers,
never really branching out too much, I have always been blown away
by the stellar single "Tears of Time," a track that the
band does perfectly live. Also included on this disc are alternate
versions of songs and some old demos. My only major complaint about
this release is the fact that the 60-page colour booklet accompanying
the release is all in German. I like looking at pictures, but reading
more in-depth about the band and their career might have been interesting.
But I guess if I was such a diehard fan, I’d already know it
all, right?
<A. Bromley> -6-
CROWBAR
Sonic Excess In Its Purest Form (Spitfire)
Has it been six albums already? Man, how time flies. I remember
years back when I was first listening to the band’s debut album
‘Obedience Through Suffering’ (1992) and just being crushed
by the deafening roar and intense sludge. Over the years the band
has followed the same patterns and sounds, which is what they do
here on ‘Sonic Excess In Its Purest Form,’ though they
totally dropped the bomb in 1998 with the massively addictive ‘Odd
Fellows Rest,’ and even managed to follow that up with a much
more intense and solid outing, 2000’s ‘Equilibrium.’
This record is good, an average offering of material from a band
that has been around for a decade or so, but I’ll take the
two aforementioned over this any day. Fave moments: "To Build
a Mountain" and "Awakening."
<A. Bromley> -5-
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