April 2012
130 posts
29 tags
Furor Gallico - "Furor Gallico" (2010)
Label : Massacre Records Review by Si Smith “Furor Gallico is the description that the ancient Romans gave of the Celt warriors, who prepared for battle and were ready to die to defend their people and land…” - and the band Furor Gallico from Italy intend to bring the ancient legends to life with their folk metal on this, their first full-length release. It was...
30 tags
Funeral - "To Mourn Is a Virtue" (2011)
Label : Solitude Productions Review by Si Smith Norway’s death/doomers Funeral have been around for a while now, although we haven’t heard from them since 2008’s “As Light Does the Shadow”. The album’s opener “Hunger” begins with a gentle melody accompanied by the trademark harmony vocals - harmony that is Frode’s eventually...
25 tags
Frantic Amber - "Wrath of Judgement" EP (2010)
Label : Independent Release/BlueFreya Media Review by Tony Cannella Frantic Amber is an all female metal band from Sweden. Their style is fast, loud, heavy and –to say the least – abrasive. Their 5-song EP “Wrath of Judgement” has just been made available, and if you can’t get enough of the aggressive stuff, than Frantic Amber is a band that is worth investigating. From the...
30 tags
Folkodia - "Forgotten Lore" (2011)
Label : Stygian Crypt Productions Review by Tony Cannella The Viking Folk Metal band Folkodia is a conglomeration of several different projects all coming together to form Folkodia. The band was formed in 2007 and the current line-up features 12 members from 8 different countries. On their 3rd album “Forgotten Lore”, Folkodia has released an album of acoustic versions of...
30 tags
Factory of Dreams - "Melotronical" (2011)
Label : ProgRock Records Review by Tony Cannella On their 3rd album Portugal’s Progressive/Gothic metal duo known as Factory of Dreams decided to take a different tact than on their previous two. Not so much musically (although the band continues to progress with each album), but lyrically their new album “Melotronical” is a concept album, revolving around the evolution of...
30 tags
VV. AA. - "Femme Metal Presents Melody and Malice"...
Label : Femme Metal Records Review by Tony Cannella Here we are again. This is the latest compilation album put out by Femme Metal Records and like the ones before it, this is as comprehensive a look into the Femme Metal scene that you are going to find anywhere. “Melody and Malice” features 32-songs and over two hours worth of music spread out over two discs, in short,...
20 tags
Edenial - "From the End" (2011)
Label : Ravenheart Records Review by Tony Cannella From Chile, the four member Metal band Edenial formed in 2000. In 2003 they released 4-song demo and in 2011 – 8 long years later – Edenial resurfaces with their second album titled “From the End”. This Chilean band definitely has got the ability and potential to raise their profile in world of melodic (yet heavy) metal....
30 tags
Shanda Frederick - Demon Lung
Interview by Matteo Bussotti Demon Lung. They’re one of the newest doom metal bands in Vegas, but they have already made a name for themselves, playing some very important gig already. Having just released their first (after a series of demos) EP, we are now ready to interview their singer Shanda, to hear what, apart from powerful screams and lyrics, they have to say about their...
27 tags
Demon Lung - "Pareidolia" EP (2012)
Independent Release Review by Luisa Mercier Demon Lung was born in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2010. Singer Shanda Frederick met Jeremy Brenton, the drummer and bass player Patrick Warren years ago. They were involved in Las Vegas metal scene since 2007 and after recruiting guitar player Phil Burns, they decided to create Demon Lung. Their main influences go back to the roots of traditional...
30 tags
Viola - Eklipse
Interview by Tony Cannella The band Eklipse is made up of four ladies playing classical interpretations of pop and rock songs. Their debut album is titled “A Night in Strings”, and while it may not be strictly a metal album, there is no denying the talent that this band possesses; besides they are opening for Nightwish, which is a cool thing. Recently, the Viola player Viola was kind...
30 tags
Heidi Parviainen & Tuomas Seppälä - Amberian Dawn...
Interview by Alessandra Cognetta Heidi Parviainen is the lead singer of the Finnish Amberian Dawn. Their latest album, “Circus Black”, has been released on the 29th of February in Europe, USA and Canada. We took this chance to ask her (and Tuomas Seppälä, AD’s songwriter and keyboards player, as well as one of the founding members) some questions about the band,...
24 tags
The Devil's Blood - "The Thousandfold Epicentre"...
Label : Van Records Review by Luisa Mercier Second full-length for this Dutch psychedelic rock band. All the lovers of this classic sound have loved their debut “The Time of No Time Evermore” and are likely to worship this new piece of art born of dark and evil territories. “Unending Singularity”, the intro, sets the whole creepy, majestic mood and the...
24 tags
The Devil's Blood - "The Thousandfold Epicentre"...
Label : Van Records Review by Luisa Mercier Second full-length for this Dutch psychedelic rock band. All the lovers of this classic sound have loved their debut “The Time of No Time Evermore” and are likely to worship this new piece of art born of dark and evil territories. “Unending Singularity”, the intro, sets the whole creepy, majestic mood and the...
30 tags
Selim Lamouchi - The Devil's Blood
Interview by Miriam “NocturnalConcerto” Transcription by Luisa Mercier Type on Google the words “The Devil’s Blood” and you’ll enter the magical, diabolical world of this mysterious act. I’ve started to listen to The Devil’s Blood thanks to an friend’s advice and I never stopped since then. I have had the chance to meet in person...
26 tags
Fire and Forget – "Operation Freedom" (2011)
Label : Serbest Review by Luisa Mercier Fire and Forget is a Turkish band and the content of their death/thrash metal is heavily influenced by politics. “Operation Freedom” is a concept album and it is based on the Iraq vs USA war. The record was written from the point of view of Elif, an 8-year old girl living in Iraq. The first track “Good Morning Baghdad” is...
26 tags
Fiona – "Unbroken" (2011)
Label : Life on the Moon Records/Cargo Records Review by Tony Cannella Talk about a long break between albums. It has been 19-years since Fiona Flanagan released her last album “Squeeze”. Now she returns with a brand new album “Unbroken”. This one kind of took me by surprise since I had no idea that she was planning a comeback, but it was a pleasant surprise at that....
26 tags
Fateless Tears – "Dawn's Oblivion" SINGLE (2011)
Label : BlueFreya Media Review by Luisa Mercier Fateless Tears just released their new single, “Dawn’s Oblivion” and here we are with this short 3-track EP .The title track showcases the band characteristics: prog metal with heavy riffs, catchy melodies and S. Lee Baysinger vocals on top of them. “Stasis” is an acoustic version of the song, which features...
23 tags
Fateless Tears – "Dawn's Oblivion" SINGLE (2011)
Label : BlueFreya Media Review by Luisa Mercier Fateless Tears just released their new single, “Dawn’s Oblivion” and here we are with this short 3-track EP .The title track showcases the band characteristics: prog metal with heavy riffs, catchy melodies and S. Lee Baysinger vocals on top of them. “Stasis” is an acoustic version of the song, which features...
20 tags
Fastlane Flower - "Deadline" (2011)
Label : Nordic Records Review by Tony Cannella Hailing from that Black Metal hotbed of Norway come the decidedly non Black Metal band Fastlane Flower. Yes, as difficult as it may be to believe, Norway has given us other metal besides Black Metal. Take Fastlane Flower for example, they have just released their debut album called “Deadline” and musically the band treads...
23 tags
Fallen Arise - "Eternal" EP (2011)
Independent Release Review by Tony Cannella Symphonic Power Metal with duel male/female vocals is not a new concept. Talk about stating the obvious. This metal sub-genre has become increasingly crowded over the years and the fact remains that there are many good, quality bands that are only too eager to show off their Symphonic Metal chops. That brings me to Greece’s Fallen Arise and their...
20 tags
Evolvent – "Spiritual Confession" EP (2008)
Label : Alien Productions Review by Luisa Mercier From France, another little masterpiece of gothic-doom has landed on my desk. Evolvent’s “Spiritual Confession” was released back in 2008 and soon it obtained a very good response from media, they even released a video for the title-track in 2009. On the present album, the female singer is Céline de Kerliviou, but in...
28 tags
Ecliptyka - "A Tale of Decadence" (2011)
Label : Die Hard Records Review by Tony Cannella If you like some strong lyrical subject matter to go with your metal, than look no further than Brazil’s Ecliptyka. On their debut album “A Tale of Decadence”, Ecliptyka touch on a number of subjects that are near and dear to their hearts, such as the environment, cruelty to animals (they oppose that) and war (they oppose...
23 tags
EarlyRise - "What If" (2011)
Independent Release Review by Tony Cannella On their debut album, Israel’s EarlyRise demonstrate a definite accessibility factor to go along with their hard edged, hard rock approach. I would never use the dreaded word “commercial” to describe EarlyRise, but their songs boast great modern melodic rock flair, that drives this 52-minute debut and also helps to make it such an...
29 tags
Sinheresy - "The Spiders and the Butterfly" EP...
Independent Release/Revalve Records Review by Tony Cannella Italy’s Sinheresy began in 2009 as a Nightwish cover band before they started playing their own original music. In 2010 they released a two song demo and have now followed that up with this five song EP titled “The Spiders and the Butterfly”. Despite the fact that Sinheresy started as a Nightwish cover band, in their...
29 tags
Lana Lane - "El Dorado Hotel" (2012)
Label : Think Tank Media Review by Tony Cannella Ever since her excellent debut, “Love Is An Illusion” was released in 1995, the queen of progressive rock Lana Lane has enjoyed a stellar career and has released albums at a prolific pace, rarely going more than a year between releases. Her last release was 2007’s “Red Planet Boulevard”, which was followed by...
30 tags
Lana Lane
Interview by Tony Cannella Lana Lane has long been known as the Queen of Symphonic Rock. Looking at and listening to her expansive musical catalog, it is a title that is well deserved. With her new album “El Dorado Hotel” (her first in five years), Lana returns with perhaps her strongest album yet. Recently she was kind enough to answer some questions, and here is what...
30 tags
Marta Gabriel - Crystal Viper (2012)
Interview by Tony Cannella The Polish band Crystal Viper has been proudly flying the flag for traditional heavy metal since 2007 when their debut “The Curse of Crystal Viper” was unleashed. Now the band has released – what is quite possibly – their most ambitious and best album to date called “Crimen Excepta”. Recently vocalist and guitarist Marta Gabriel was...
22 tags
Draconian - "A Rose for the Apocalypse" (2011)
Label : Napalm Records Review by Si Smith The album starts quite explosively with “The Drowning Age” but after the intro the song soon settles into the familiar sound of Draconian. Growls are instantly coherent, and the female vocals lilt in and out like beautiful wisps of cloud. Slow passages trade places with midpaced doom to create a synthesis only Draconian can...
21 tags
Dotma - "Sleep Paralyses" (2011)
Label : Scarlet Records Review by Tony Cannella Thankfully the debut album “Sleep Paralyses” from Finland’s Dotma is NOT sleep inducing. That’s one thing it has going for it, another is the fact that it is loaded with good songs, great musicianship and the operatic vocals of front lady Johanna Lesonen. Clearly, “Sleep Paralyses” has an orchestral power metal vibe...
28 tags
Doro feat. Onkel Tom Angelripper – "Merry Metal...
Label : Nuclear Blast Records Review by Tony Cannella It’s that time of year again. The weather turns colder, the days shorter, snow, lights, bells, whistles. Yes, it’s Christmas time once again. As the commerciality of the season runs rampant I can’t think of two better artists to show us the true meaning of Christmas than the German Metal Queen Doro Pesch and Onkel Tom Angelripper...
17 tags
Djerv - "Headstone" EP (2010)
Independent Release Review by Tony Cannella From Norway, Djerv plays a pretty strong combination of Hard Rock/Metal, mixing that with the energy and enthusiasm of Punk Rock, put all of that together and you get their debut 3-song, 12-minute EP “Headstone”. The pounding opener “Headstone” wastes little time in getting things off to an aggressive start filled with...
20 tags
Djerv - "Djerv" (2011)
Label : Indie Recordings Review by Tony Cannella On their debut 3-song EP, Norway’s Djerv demonstrated their blunt brand of raw Hard Rock, combined with a punk-like energy and enthusiasm. On their self-titled full-length debut “Djerv” returns with a 9-song, 36-minute album that is equivalent to an audio knockout punch. The crushing angst-driven opener “Madman”...
28 tags
Deadend in Venice - "See You on the Ground" (2011)
Label : Casket Music Review by Tony Cannella Germany’s Deadend in Venice combine melodic Death Metal with old school Thrash riffs to create a 9-song, 32-minute powerhouse of a debut, that hits you hard, fast and straight between the eyes, never wasting time before reaching its conclusion. The band features the duel lead vocals of clean female singer Annabell Klein and the more...
20 tags
Disembrace - "Scratching the Surface" (2011)
Independent Release Review by Tony Cannella When one thinks of Memphis, Tennessee, metal is not the first form of music that comes to mind. Maybe, just maybe the band Disembrace will help change that perception with their debut album “Scratching the Surface”. First a little background on the band. They were formed in 2006, but really took flight when singer/songwriter Carmen...
22 tags
Disdained - "Kill My Only Enemy" (2011)
Label : Disdained Entertaiment/Rambo Music Review by Tony Cannella Unfortunately, Sweden’s Disdained are currently a band without a record label. This is a shame really, because after listening to their debut album “Kill My Only Enemy”, it is quite clear that Disdained packs all of the power and professionalism of a seasoned outfit. Once again, this is a female fronted band...
21 tags
Die After Day - "Ad Illuc Memoria" (2011)
Label : Amarus Cantus Records Review by Tony Cannella Fans that are missing Tarja-era Nightwish may have another band to rally around. They are France’s Die After Day. Of course they have a long way to go before they reach the greatness of that classic Nightwish line-up, but on their first “Ad Illuc Memoria”, Die After Day is off to a pretty good start. Die After Day is...
27 tags
Deadlock - "Bizarro World" (2011)
Label : Lifeforce Records Review by Tony Cannella From Germany, Deadlock was formed in 1997 and released their full-length debut (“The Arrival”) in 2002. “Bizarro World” is the name of their just released 5th album, and showcases Deadlock’s intense brand of Melodic Death Metal, but in addition to their Death Metal sound, the band also includes a catchy Hard Rock...
30 tags
Dama - "Eirwen" (2011)
Label : Ravenheart Music Review by Tony Cannella The new album from Italian Gothic metal band Dama is titled “Eirwen”. It is separated into 2 discs. The first one is called “Immaginario” and features 8-songs sung in the bands native Italian. The second disc is called “Imaginary” and includes 7-songs sung in English. This combination makes up, what is...
20 tags
Dalriada - "Igeret" (2011)
Label : AFM Records Review by Tony Cannella From Hungary, the Folk Metal band Dalriada has been in existence since 1998. On their 6th album, “Igéret” the band is perfectly capable and willing to showcase their skilled Folk Metal style. The lyrics on “Igéret” are sung exclusively in Hungarian and are the perfect showcase for a band that has tons to offer the Folk...
22 tags
Betty Poison - "Beauty is Over" (2011)
Label : Fastermaster Review by Tony Cannella The band Betty Poison are a lot different than most of the bands we are seeing come out of Italy these days. They play a hybrid of post-grunge, alternative, punk and metal. Their sound is almost like a cross between L7 and Hole, so you can pretty much figure out where they’re coming from musically. In fact, they were recently chosen by...
30 tags
Battle Beast - "Steel" (2011)
Label : Nuclear Blast Records Review by Tony Cannella You like true heavy metal? If bands like Manowar, Crystal Viper, Holy Hell, Zed Yago and Accept are your speed, than this band is must-listen metal. They are Finland’s Battle Beast and they have just released their excellent, gloriously over-the-top heavy metal debut “Steel”. To put it quite simply, “Steel”...
27 tags
Crysalys - "The Awakening of Gaia" (2011)
Label : Wormhole Death/Aural Music Review by Tony Cannella Italy’s power, operatic metal band Crysalys released their debut EP “White Lotus on Acheron Shores” in 2007, it has been a long time in coming, but the band has finally released their debut full-length “The Awakening of Gaia”. The album opens on a definite high note with the excellent title track....
21 tags
Cryptic Age - "Homeland" EP (2011)
Independent Release Review by Tony Cannella The UK’s Cryptic Age features a melding of several different metal genres, Folk, Symphonic, Progressive, Power and even a bit of Thrash are all represented on their new 5-song EP “Homeland”. The epic 8-minute opener “Homeland” gets us started. The soprano vocals of Jenny Green are quite powerful and effective. This song has...
30 tags
Cruadalach - "Lead - Not Follow" (2011)
Label : Black Bards Entertainment Review by Luisa Mercier The Czech band Cruadalach has just published its debut and it is a crushing mix of folk elements and metal which will please the lover of metal with traditional elements. Jan Radalf Vrobel provides the vocals, supported by Petra and Ales at the backing choirs. The band is quite large, including also folk instruments like bag...
17 tags
Crowmorph - "Chroma" EP (2011)
Independent Release Review by Tony Cannella From France comes the female fronted Death Metal outfit Crowmorph. On their debut EP, “Chroma” the band delivers a 28-minute exercise in pure, unadulterated and ferocious Death Metal mayhem. The opening track “Overdose” lulls you into a false sense of security with a soft, quiet start before the mayhem begins. Lead vocalist...
30 tags
Crimson Sky - "Rising" (2011)
Label : Black Art Productions Review by Luisa Mercier Crimson Sky is an Ukrainian band founded in 1998, but they started their real activity only recently. “Rising” is their debut album and I can tell you that it was worth the wait. They play a baroque gothic-doom metal rich in strings which reminds me of the old works of bands like Tristania or Theatre of Tragedy. Mixing...
23 tags
Crimson Rivers - "Sorrowful Hell" (2011)
Independent Release Review by Tony Cannella From Greece, Crimson Rivers plays symphonic/dark metal. The band features two lead singers going with the tried-and-true method of pairing an operatic female style female singer (Stella) with more extreme growly style male vocals (Marios). The band was formed in 2009 and in November 2010 they released their initial 2-song demo, “In Life’s...
26 tags
Crimfall - "The Writ of Sword" (2011)
Label : Spinefarm Records Review by Tony Cannella From Helsinki, Finland comes the Symphonic/Epic/Viking/ Folk Metal band Crimfall. In 2009, they released their full-length debut “As the Path Unfolds…”. Their new album is titled “The Writ of Sword”. Admittedly, I have never heard this band before, so I have nothing to compare “The Writ of Sword” to,...
25 tags
Cornerstone - "Somewhere in America" (2011)
Label : ATOM Records Review by Tony Cannella The Austrian Melodic Hard Rock band Cornerstone (not to be confused with the band featuring ex-Rainbow singer Doogie White), released their debut album “Head Over Heels” in 2008. Since that debut came out, the band has found a new drummer (Mike Pawlowitsch) and a new singer (Patricia Hillinger). Both make their Cornerstone debuts...
17 tags
Control the Storm - Demo 2011
Independent Release Review by Tony Cannella The UK’s Control the Storm was formed in 2010. Their first recorded output is a professionally sounding (and looking) 3-song demo totaling about 15-minutes worth of high quality Power Metal music. The unfortunate thing about this demo is that it is so short but it provides a glimpse into what this band is capable of. Some nice piano kicks off the...
