Category: Album Reviews 2016

Witchcraft – Nucleus

Swedish act Witchcraft comes back full force from the depth of the underground rock/metal realm with the newest effort entitled “Nucleus”. As on the previous albums, the band remains faithful to a gloomy concoction of old school doom roots and raw psychedelic elements.

“Malstroem” begins with soft arpeggios and magical flutes that lure the occasional listener into a magical nostalgic trip. It’s like being high in the middle of nowhere but the retro doom heavy guitar riffs carry a beacon of light that keeps the grove alive while spellbound vocals deliver a somber feeling.

“The Outcast” relies on a catchy ensemble of guitar riffs that celebrate a psych rock revival. The warm energetic guitar solos and the alluring fairytale style mood make this track a widely accessible tune.

The atmospheric sonic landscape of the title track is rather enjoyable with smooth vocals and simple riffs. Overall, while the slow dreamy moments complimented by a folk attitude sound quite interesting, the rhythm section doesn’t successfully deliver a catchy vibe that could keep the listeners’ attention throughout this lengthy track.

“The Obsessed” is another uptempo groovy guitar driven track with raw no-frills production and the expected retro musical theme. The classic rock bluesy guitar sound with some doomish rough edges and the melancholic mood are quite pleasant but too fragile to become a powerful hit.

“Helpless” has a dramatic down on earth music core filled with melancholic smooth arpeggios complimented by distinctively inspired vocals but the super fuzzy guitar solo is definitely the highlight of the song.

As the retro sounding trend aims to conquer the world one band at a time, “Nucleus” is another good collection of doom/rock songs because, even in modern times, we are all hopeless nostalgic.

Weeping Silence-Opus IV Oblivion

Weeping Silence is a gothic doom metal band from Malta, their fourth album “Opus IV Oblivion” has been released last October via Massacre Records, recorded and mixed by David Depasquale at Spine Splitter Studio and mastered by Andy Horn at The Red Room Studio.
The enchanting voice of Diane introduce the first track, “Oblivion – Darkness In My Heart Anno XV”, the sound is amazing and the contrast with the growl voice of Dario makes it unique.
I can define “Ivy Thorns Upon The Barrow” catchy even keeping the symphonic-doom line. The emotional song ” Transcending Destiny” goes straight to the soul and the guitar solo is impeccable. The album fades out with the dramatic and theatrical “Gothic Epitaph”.
Listening to “Opus IV Oblivion” is a continuous shiver, the amazing clean singing and growls complement each other and fit perfectly on the instrumental section.
We have also to mention the album artwork by Jan Yrlund, inspired by and based on the tomb art at the St. John’s Cathedral in Malta.
Weeping Silence is a brilliant band and with this full-length they demonstrate to be high in the symphonic-doom scene.

http://www.weepingsilence.com/
https://www.facebook.com/weepingsilence

Eartheria- Throes of Time

Eartheria is a young band from Pori, Finland, their music is a mix of fast and melodic metal, inspired by thrash and modern metal.
The band’s first EP called “Throes of Time” has been released on December 2015 and it’s producted by the band itself.
Eartheria to be a fledgling band demonstrates a musical maturity worthy of a successful band and this EP is the proof.
The EP contains 6 tracks, the sound is clean and they did a great job with the recording and mastering. The listening to each song is addictive, the rhythm part is heavy, guitar solos are executed well and the mutable voice runs from growl to scream.
There is nothing to reproach to this EP, we have to keep an eye on Eartheria because I’m sure we will hear more from this band.

 
https://www.facebook.com/eartheriaband

Vorna- Ei valo minua seuraa

Vorna is a pagan metal band from Tampere, Finland. The band’s music has various influences from black metal to folk and rock. Lyrics are written in Finnish and often deal with themes like nature, myths and struggles of mind.
Their second full length, “Ei valo minua seuraa”, has been released on December 2015 via Inverse Records and it’s been a great surprise for me.
This album transports to another dimension, a journey into the deep immersed in the Finnish nature.
The first track “Harmaudesta” with its melancholy sound and the stunning contrast between musical base and voice catches you, and you want to listen it again and again.
One of the best songs from the album is “Jälkemme”,the particular intro remind of a whiff in glass bottles, the rhythm changes with a wild blastbeat and the guitar solo is sublime.
“Vaipunut” is a waterfall of peace and relax, the feeling to be in the middle of the forest is incredible. From the track “Yksin” has been released also a video-clip.
Keyboards create that magic atmosphere, the bass line is interesting, the guitars are just perfect, the drums runs wild with its blastbeat and the voice gives something of unique, the growl mixed with the the clean voice and the female choir, this is a must have album.
46 minutes of inspirational music, if you like bands like Amorphis and Norther you will love this band.

Krisiun – Forged In Fury

I entered the KRISIUN musical camp far too late for my own good, though not through any lack of interest on my end. As a result, I didn’t partake in their rise to Brazilian death metal prominence back at the dawn of the millennium and found myself getting a first-hand account of their approach with the previous outing, “The Great Execution”, and if that was any indication then I’m only missing so much. I did enjoy what the album had to offer, and as far as palette-cleansing metal goes I’ve definitely heard worse, but it still felt a bit flat and only as interesting as their craft could possibly be. That’s more on me than on the band, of course. Still, it had enough going on for me to see where they would continue to tread from there…

From where it stands, “Forged in Fury” reins in a good portion of the group’s original flare and frenzy in favor of a slower and more drawn own method of musical torment. From my own limited engagement with the material it feels like the Kolesne/Camargo clan are still opting for a more simpler take on their particular metal blend, which in itself is fine as this, in turn, leads to a few things to consider; for one, the more mid-paced and chunky “stop-start” segments allow the tracks to breathe better and the collective efforts of the band to be heard versus a blinding windstorm of fire and noise. Even the production isn’t half bad; despite having resident musical trash compactor Erik Rutan again at the helm and dials, everything is clear and able to be heard, if a bit thick with the guitar tone. As a result it’s not an unpleasant album to sit through by any means, though there are only so many moments where it demands your full focus and attention (the fervent immediacy off tracks like ? and “Burning of the Heretic” , for example, offer plenty of flames-clad fun). I mean, you can only run through low B minor scales for so long until it starts to fade into mere background white noise, even if you can’t help it.

But as I’ve said many times before, I’ve heard worse extreme metal out there, so if the worst you can do is be an effective yet inoffensive work of nastiness, then who am I to complain? And truly, I’ve not heard anything off “Forged…” that I would consider terrible by any stretch; at best, it’s quite good where it counts, and at worst it’s somewhat bland. But that said, the flatness and accessibility of the material is both a good and a bad thing, as while it prevents further listens from being such a blur that would leave you exhausted, it also starts to feel increasingly dull the more the album wears on. It’s not so much an overt lack of ideas as it is said provided ideas only fleshed out so much and so far; for my money, a bit more exploration of the material, a more deeper unearthing of it all at hand, would make for a more enveloping listen, and as it stands it only offers so much in that regard before dimming. You KNOW these guys can do better (I mean, look at everything up to “Ageless Venomous”, or even “Bloodshed”), and more often than not you’ll feel that twinge of expectation as this continues plodding on track-by-track and only slightly getting there. But hey, as I said, better to be vanilla than shit.

In the end, I wasn’t all that impressed with “Forged in Fury” but I didn’t dislike it either. I wouldn’t say this is meant to continue the grand tradition of KRISIUN’s obvious supremacy in their given style, but merely just a simple musical treading of the waters. Here’s hoping the next one down the line will do them/us the same amount of justice many have come to expect.