EMPYREAN
Ancient Skies (CD-R)
(self financed)
23:01min

If I hadn't known it before that this band hails from the United Arab Emirates then I would either bet on Sweden or Finland. After the indulgence of their debut EP "Ancient Skies" I was really stunned by their music and I automatically pressed the repeat button of my CD player. These youngsters (one girl and three boys) from the Emirates deliver us excellent stuff! The band saw its light of day in September 2003 under the monicker of IMPURE but they had to change their name into EMPYREAN due to copyright reasons. But the name fits perfectly to their music. If you take a look at their band photo you will not believe that this quartet (they are looking for a drummer right now) managed to unleash four really strong own creations which sound already very mature. The tracks are mostly midpaced and can convince by a very intersting blend of Black / Death mixed with a heavy dose of tradtional Metal and an oriental touch. The band labels itself as a progressive Metal band but I wouldn't go so far. Furthermore this squad is a kind of frisky Black / Death with the right balance between melody and heaviness. Yes, despite of all finesse the material is heavy heavy enough and so you can hear not even once some cool doublebass parts or heavy riffing. The keyboards are used effectively and never sound annoying... it's just the opposite, as the synths underline and highlight the songs in an excellent way! But the emphasis are the guitars! The guitarists really deserve best notes as they are excellent and know how to fascinate the listener with their fresh leads and harmonies. You can also hear some nice oriental melodies which are incorporated in their play. The sound quality of this demo CD is really good... even more if you consider that the band just recorded it in their homestudio. It doesn't matter if you check out the good opener 'Death Whispers', the driving 'Resist', the cool 'Ancient Skies' (with its mix of calm parts / normal vocals and heavy riffing / doublebass & blackish vocals) or the last track 'Shores Of Acheron' with a cool keyboard melody line. Fans of Scandinavian bands like CHILDREN OF BODOM, KALMAH, lighter OPETH, a heavier version of Israel's ORPHANED LAND or other usual suspicious bands are welcome to check this talented band out. If the band can manage to create 4 or 5 more songs in the same quality and put some more coals to the production then I can imagine that some wellknown, hyped bands are able to go home! Well done girl and boys! www.empyrean.phride.com.

Michael Oelschlegel

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EM SINFONIA
Intimate Portrait
(Hammerheart Records)
56:10min

Whatever I will write about this twelve track release certainly won’t do the band completely justice. It simply ain’t a style of music that I embrace too much. EM SINFONIA come up with female lead vocals, (in the vein of THE GATHERING / LACUNA COIL), mixed with a deep grunting male voice and an overall melancholic yet melodic atmosphere, partly kinda close to earlier AMORPHIS or MY DYING BRIDE. Everything’s still heavy though and always performed on a quite impressive musical level. The band, which started out as a BROKEN HOPE (!!) side project, quickly gained a lot of attention within their home country America. Their four song demo, which originally was recorded just for fun, ended up being re-issued on mini CD on Martyr Music in 1999 (entitled "In Mourning’s Symphony") and sold over 2.300 copies. EM SINFONIA’s line-up features BROKEN HOPE’s guitar player Brian Griffin (who’s also responsible for the growling on here) and on the album there’s also a guest appearance of Jason Hellman (can’t exactly recall... wasn’t he with MORTA SKULD or something?!), who plays bass on the rather unconventionally performed IRON MAIDEN cover ‘Revelations’. A great cover art, nice packaging and a really emotional way of writing (incl. keyboards and violins) should easily appeal to fans of this genre. So, all in all not bad at all - it’s just that a rarely listen to something like this and if I do, I still prefer the aforementioned "originals"... 

Frank Stöver

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THE ENCHANTED
For Those Who Fall...
(Golden Lake Productions)
19:16min

Yeah, the good old times --- I am really getting nostalgic when I write reviews for VOICES FROM THE DARKSIDE zine these days, harharhar. You know, I still adore acts such as ANATHEMA, old MY DYING BRIDE, CATHEDRAL, old PARADISE LOST, THE BLOOD DIVINE etc.and these guys, that is, THE ENCHANTED, really make me indulge in remembering these long-passed phases in the history of British Metal culture. This very act really kicks me off (and I am positive about this!) due to the fact that they play a very (and now for my Lovecraftian adjective passion...) original, ultra-heavy, brutal, earthy, sort of evil, oldschool, obscure, English, dynamic, natural, straight, anti-cheesy, abysmal, melodious kind of Metal only British artists can perform and produce. I love this Bradford (West Yorkshire)-based outfit (hey - you guys must be good friends with Aaron an Co., right?!)... they remind me of the aforementioned bands plus certain glorious Swedish stars like AT THE GATES (with regard to some harmonies in the songs, guitar cadences, twists etc. not the vocals) and the Irish gods of PRIMORDIAL (harmonies, partially sound, dynamics) for instance. THE ENCHANTED sound very strange, managed to create a sound-sphere that could have been conceived 7 - 10 years ago (during the time when ANATHEMA put out their brilliant "Serenades" album!!!). The guitars really remind me of these olden days, the drums sound so fucking natural that it makes me rejoice, very tempestuous (to utilise this beautiful Shakespearean term) in a way. Every once in a while, Jamie - the drummer - weaves in blast-beats, swift double bass sequences, but mostly he plays speed Thrash beats. The guitars elicit harmonies that sound so bleak, sombre, enchanting that this really leaves me flabbergasted. I grew extremely fond of tracks like 'In a Dream...' (luckily this does not show any parallels in lyrics nor sound to the ultra-tacky TIAMAT song, haha) and 'Under The Hall Of The Moon'. The first has got a furious and frantic oldschool ending with awesome, very evil minor-harmonies - brilliant! The latter has some deep spoken-word passages which ANATHEMA introduced ages ago - sublime! Simply put - a beautiful album (with a beautiful cover artwork as well!!! A chapel photographed from a twisted angle with beautious colour-filters applied), a truly enchanting experience in a lot of respects: sound, composition, natural atmosphere (not very popular these days I should think!!!), outer appearance. Definitely one of the best albums I had to review for VFTD so far! Label contact: www.goldenlakeprods.co.uk

F. Cthulhu E.

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ENEMY IS US

We Have Seen The Enemy... And The Enemy Is Us

(Crash Music Inc)
37:05min

"We Have Seen The Enemy… And The Enemy Is Us" is the debut album of another young Swedish act named (yeah right, you probably guessed it already)… ENEMY IS US. The band features ex-DARKANE vocalist Lawrence Macrory (who surprisingly handles the bass here!) and even though their coverart looks a lot more like Grind- or Hardcore to me, they deliver a mixture of harsh, yet melodic Death (in the old Gothenburg way) and modern Death / Thrash à la DEW-SCENTED, THE HAUNTED and the likes. DEFLESHED's Gustaf Jorde also contributes guest vocals to the track 'The Walking Dead'  and the whole eleven tracker was mastered by Peter In de Betou (DIMMU BORGIR, AMON AMARTH etc.). But apart from a lot of name dropping and the band's necessary technical skills to perform material like this (which is pretty obvious in their case), I didn't find this very exciting at all. It actually bored me to death after two songs already for the simple fact that we have heard this all before so often in the past few years. Even all those among you who like this particular style a lot more than I personally do, will certainly have a big amount of records in their collection already, that offer exactly the same writing formular, so I really wonder who's going to buy this? Further info at www.enemyisus.com or www.crashmusicinc.com

Frank Stöver

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ENFORCER
Violent Speed Assault
(Utterly Somber Creations)
26:21min

I know there's a band by the same name in Sweden, but let me tell you forget 'em!! Only ENFORCER from Chile is real and rules! This is not the so-called "Thrash" that some record labels are trying to force on us. I don't buy it! And unlike the wimpy Power Metal-posing-as-Thrash of their Swedish namesake, ENFORCER from Chile are the real Thrash thing! I dunno if their name is taken from the mighty RAZOR but their CD's opening instrumental attack 'Onslaught Of Steel' is very fast and similar to the Canucks. Great way to start an album! But wait! 'Death Aggressor' kicks in at the same hyperspeed Thrash Metal of INCUBUS' (Louisiana) "Serpent Temptation" and now we are being fucking pummeled! Some good and heavy Thrash Metal vocals not copying Mille (unlike so many jokes called retro Thrash Metal), courtesy of guitarist Rodrigo. Also some ripping solos by lead(?) guitarist Ignacio (credited on the CD as responsible for "noise") add to the deliciously disgusting Thrash flavor! All in all this is an extremely good real Thrash Metal that does not let up! Intense! I think it is just right for it to be under 30 minutes. Trust me, you will be satisfied after "Violent Speed Assault" ends... and then you will play it again!! www.utterlysomber.com, angeldelujuria@msn.com, enforcer_of_evil@hotmail.com

Luis M. L. Sallard

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ENFORCER
Into The Night
(Heavy Artillery)
35:06min

Proper, traditional Metal albums have been a rarity since the mid-90s at least. A shame, but a wrong that Sweden's ENFORCER have set to right. This is an album veterans such as LIVING DEATH would be proud to have under their belts. For a group of such young men as these are to have an album like this as a debut is astounding, and a more-than-promising indicator of things to come. ENFORCER, it should be noted, has Adam Zaars on guitar, the same riff-master of the Uppsala based TRIBULATION. So, not only is ENFORCER an exceptional band, it contains members who have an impressive sense of all the genres. Metal like this is well suited to the club circuit and the arena. As luck would have it, ENFORCER are taking it there this Autumn, so we of the faithful need not worry. The Metal is coming. www.myspace.com/enforcerswe. You can order it here.

Nat Shapiro

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ENGORGED
Engorged
(Deathvomit / Necropolis Records)
58:43min

Well, well... I must start by saying that "Death Metal Attack 2", the debut album by this American act surprised me greatly for its variety and good musicianship. It included some old school kind of Death Metal with lots of old school Thrash elements interluded in the music and a general old school feeling. And here we have the second album by the guys. It took me a couple tries to take the whole thing. It's still old school Death Metal, but this time, the old school Thrash elements are more present: the record starts with an S.O.D. type of intro / song entitled 'March Of The Engorged' that of course is some kind of "tribute" (or it's better to call it "mockery"?) of the known American band. There are other known touches all over the record (the 2nd song finishes like if it was an ANTHRAX part and one of the most known drawings from the band even appears on the cover; there are touches from M.O.D. in the 4th track, but also from NUCLEAR ASSAULT, EXODUS and more...). ENGORGED continue with their typical sound, mix of old school Death Metal, Thrash, Speed Metal, etc. The band still impresses me because they know how to incorporate the old school elements into a blend of fast and furious Death Metal and I can assure you that they do it very well. Also the production follow the same rule: to sound as old school as possible to make the thing a bit more interesting. It sounds as dirty as if you were hearing one of those 12" vinyls from the '80's on your turntable. Well, I like this new record by this band, but maybe not all of you would agree with me. It just depends on how seriously you'll take what the band do. If you take it as some kind of tribute to the old school bands, but with a more Death Metal approach, you're going to enjoy this new record for sure. If not, do not try it, man! (*Note: I repeated the words "old school" so many times in this review with sense and on purpose).

Tony

(this review originally got published by Xtreem Music)

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ENGORGED
Where Monsters Dwell
(Razorback Records)
42:16min

US Death / Thrash / Grinders ENGORGED strike back with their third full-length after "Death Metal Attack 2" in 1999 and the widely praised "Engorged" album in 2002. Again the 9 songs offered here are filled to the brim with references to the good ol' 80s Thrash and Metalcore in the vein of ANTHRAX, S.O.D., EVIL DEAD, NUCLEAR ASSAULT and work together nicely with the Death Metal / Grindcore brutality, which is of course still present as well. This mixture spews forth a good load of rousing riffs and violent paces and culminates in a highly diverse and entertaining release. So far, so good... but increasing this already high number of different musical elements with an equally high number of vocal styles makes the whole thing a bit hectic - a good example being the second song: it starts off very 80s like with a great Metal riff, very traditional clean vocals, as the song progresses some Death Metal growls in various intonations, then also CARCASS - like screams come into play and everything appears to be a bit too much. To some extent this is exactly what's so entertaining about ENGORGED, because they surprise the listener several times but sometimes I feel any kind of structure within the songs slip away, one really needs some time to get used to it... Overall that's the only point of criticism I have, the raw yet distinct production and the unstoppable drive of ENGORGED's new material can be hardly resisted especially if you do love the 80s bands I mentioned above as well as oldschool Grindcore / Death Metal, the different vocal-styles could have been reduced to maybe two or so (like GHOUL do) but I might be a bit fussy about this. Visit www.razorbackrecords.com to check out a new song off the album!

Stefan Franke

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ENGRAVE
The Rebirth – Remasters
(WWIII Music)
53:06min

If you read our interview with COFFIN TEXTS you should already be aware of this band, as COFFIN TEXT’s vocalist / bass player Robert Cardenas is also fronting ENGRAVE. The band’s line-up is completed by ex-members of the LA band BRAINSTORM (Emilio Marquez on drums - nowadays with SADISTIC INTENT, Mario Gutierrez and Eddie Gomez – both on guitars) and they recorded their first demo in 1997. About a year later Sounds Of Death Records released a MCD by ENGRAVE, entitled “The Rebirth”, which features five songs, plus the old BRAINSTORM instrumental ‘Storm Of Obliteration’ and a SLAYER cover (‘Evil Has No Boundaries’). I don’t know what exactly happened then, maybe Sounds Of Death Records went down the hill or something, fact is that “The Rebirth” has just been re-issued by WWIII Music with a slightly changed track list. The SLAYER cover got replaced by ‘Liar, Deceiver’ – a track from ENGRAVE’s 1999 “The Infernal Bleeding” demo, and there’s also three additional demo tracks of great recording quality on here (‘Minister’s Nightmare’, ‘Full Moon Rising’ and ‘Morbid Dream’). The CD title was enlarged to “The Rebirth – Remasters”, so I suppose that the original recordings got remastered for this re-issue (clever conclusion, huh?!). Nevertheless – the musical quality on offer here is just great. I always loved Robert’s brutal, yet very expressive vocals immensely (they actually remind me a bit on Bay Cortez of SADIST INTENT), while the overall musical style of ENGRAVE is a lot closer to the old Speed / Thrash Metal of the 80’s. Imagine something in the vein of “Bonded By Blood” meets “Show No Mercy” with an overall more brutal vocal approach and you almost get the picture. Really unique stuff, performed by a bunch a very dedicated and skilled musicians, so make sure to check this out! Label contact: www.ww3music.com

Frank Stöver

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ENOCHIAN CRESCENT
Black Church
(Woodcut Records)
39:17min

As I thought that this wicked creation had disbanded a few years ago, I was struck by surprise when I got their newly built church in my hands. The cover is great and I must admit that I was curious about the band's development from the day I remember them, namely as decent Black Metal from the Finnish lakes. So, hearing such great tracks as the opener 'Tartan', the one with the superb introductional intensity 'The Imperfect Vision' and not to forget the live-monster 'Chalk Face', makes me think that this is a an album that holds a necessary quality. The latter has one of the better choruses in Black Metal ever. You simply cannot avoid the firsts in the air during all those "hey hey hey hey" repetitions. In 'The Imperfect Vision' Enochian Crescent's vocalist is hysterical and borders to insanity when he asks "who are you?". The back-up vocals add to the wicked atmosphere as they sound quite nice, and creates a somewhat beauty-and-the-beast feeling. Great. But the album wouldn't sound as strong, despite the great tracks and all those finetuned riffs, if the production had failed. On "Black Church" every instrument has its place and it's very easy to notice what's going on. This can of course be a drawback if the music is boring, but in this Finnish riffing monster the music is varied and interesting throughout the whole album. It's like you discover a new dark place in their church as you take a walk into their church. And they have even managed to hide certain elements in places you normally wouldn't search. In 'Tridents Clash' there're some strange sounds, from 10 to 23 seconds, sounding like some African drums, that reveals themselves only if you pay necessary attention (in headphones?). But as a whole Enochian Crescent's "Black Church" is a Black Metal fist in your face. And they end their album with a dark title track that allows you to understand what Enochian Crescent is all about. It's riffing dark Black Metal, with an own identity. What more can you ask for? Perhaps, if I shall be picky, a more twisted sound, being dirtier and more suitable for underground Black Metal. But, is Enochian Crescent underground? With some luck they should actually get some well deserved success, because their music deserves it being original and entertained, yet being darker than your average Black Metal combo. You can order it here.

Roy Kristensen

ENSIFERUM
Ensiferum
(Spinefarm Records)
55:02min

It was only a question of time when the next band sounding like FINNTROLL was to be granted to the audience. Astonishingly this is also to be released on the same label like "Jakten's Tid". ENSIFERUM nevertheless might even include less Black Metal-influences but my first impression was (and still more or less is) a mixture of this Finnish Humppa-Metal-stuff (spelt correctly?) and BLIND GUARDIAN! And like FINNTROLL this is definitely not my cup of tea as I find it quite boring after a while. Perhaps someone should but explain that kind of humour to me and I will find something in it? Or I should have tried to listen ot that album drunk? I can imagine that this really does a cool job while you're puking because of massive alcohol-abuse or somehing, hehe … For those who don't like to wait until the next FINNTROLL-release this may be a clue, but beside I can only recommend to stay away.

Nhashi

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ENSIFERUM
From Afar
(Spinefarm Records / Drakkar Records)
54:26min

ENSIFERUM are from the commercial point of view without a doubt one of the most successful bands of the Pagan Metal genre and far away from any underground credibility. But musical quality still counts double so we will forget the commercial machinery which is working without rest at least since three months and fully concentrate on the important part of “From Afar” – the music. After several successful tours throughout the world ENSIFERUM is still playing a very epic Pagan Metal with a lot of reverences to traditional Heavy Metal. But the band didn’t change their course to more sheltered coasts they are still a Metal band and “From Afar” is first of all a great album with good songs and a lot of interesting ideas. The album starts with a fantastic intro which perfectly captures the overall atmosphere before the battle starts with the title track – a very fast and powerful tune maybe a little bit inspired by the new Battle Metal style. The first real highlight is the following track 'Twilight Tavern' with a great middle section and very interesting female chorus. Especially these parts show that the band has worked intensively on every song and these parts are making the differences. The forth ENSIFERUM release is for sure no surprise for all fans of the band – the band can prove again their status without presenting an album without edges or the complete denial of new influences (perfect example is the track ‘Stone Cold Metal’) but “From Afar” is also an ideal candidate for all new – or soon to become – fans of this style because this album is impressively summarizing everything this music stands for. www.spinefarm.fi, www.ensiferum.com

Matthias Auch

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ENSLAVED
Mardraum (Beyond the Within)
(Osmose Productions)
58:27min

These are grim days for Osmose, once leading the field with plenty to spare now clutching at straws. The flagship bands both IMMORTAL and MARDUK having moved onto newer waters and both IMPALED NAZARENE and ENSLAVED in what must be considered a slump. Desperately searching for something to pin their flag to Osmose have rallied around this the new ENSLAVED album. Which can’t be too bad for ENSLAVED, their position as top dog at Osmose now without question. And I will have to admit at first inspection "Mardraum" is indeed a dramatic improvement over the very lacklustre "Blodhemn" that preceded it. The band seem more relaxed and focused and while I feel the much touted psychedelic influence is a red herring… simply being the presence of a few more spacious moments, I can’t help feeling "Mardraum" although improved is another chapter of under achievement from ENSLAVED. The jarring rhythms I can never seem to quite make sense of, the epic nestling awkwardly beside MOTÖRHEAD style punk riffs (as most of "Blodhemn" indeed was) a part of ENSLAVED I can never reconcile myself with. Perhaps the problem for me is the classic spectre of "Hordanes Land" looming large over everything they have done since and nothing especially after "Frost" seems to convince me. There will be many of you no doubt overjoyed at the prospect of a return to form from ENSLAVED and the scene really needs a strong album from a band like ENSLAVED, a band sticking to their roots and not embracing industrial electronica or jumping on the Death Metal trend bandwagon for that I commend them but whether or not this is actually it I have my doubts?

Nemtheanga

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ENSLAVED
Monumension
(Osmose Productions)
59:38min

I never considered myself a big ENSLAVED fan, but at least always respected them for what they did, especially in their early days. Due to that increasing disinterest in their music, you can certainly imagine that I didn't check out all of their latest stuff… and that almost resulted in a shock when I listened to "Monumension" now. I still remember them as a Norwegian Viking Metal band, a forerunner and originator of that genre, but ENSLAVED anno 2001 is a completely different band now. Unlike many other acts they at least still sound quite heavy, but there's also a lot of new influences in their music, especially heavy psychedelic elements. I never listened to the much hyped KYUSS or MONSTER MAGNET myself, but from what I've read I could imagine that ENSLAVED incorporate similar influences these days. The label info talks about "…larger than time-dimensioned arrangements, savage brutality, uneartly doom and epic melancholy; it is all bound together in a web of creative madness…" - which sums things up pretty good in my opinion. Even though ENSLAVED recorded the album in Grieghallen Studios with producer Pytten once again, you won't recognize it, as even the production sounds quite different to what we usually get from there. And to confuse you even more, I gotta tell you that the album features guest appearances by Trygve Mathisen (a member of the legendary Norwegian folk viking band YM-STAMMEN) and Dennis Reksten (who's said to be "Psychedelias grand old man" in Norway and also a member of the rock band EL-REGN). This is certainly over the top creativity, but I'm not sure whether people (especially old fans of the band) will already be ready for it or not. So, you better be open minded if you intend to check this one out!

Frank Stöver

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ENSLAVED
Live Retaliation (DVD)
(Metal Mind Productions / Osmose)
115:00min

This is a live DVD from a concert obviously played together with ROTTING CHRIST in October 2002 in Krakow, Poland. Excellent camera, great sound: this DVD was shot by professionals. Quick (but not too quick) cuts and thought-through camera angles don’t give the slightest possibility to find it a bit borig although the band and especially the crowd don’t move too much. Obviously ROTTING CHRIST were headlining that night. The band doesn’t neglect their old fans and plays quite a few old tunes, especially from the "Frost" album. For old and new fans (and fans to be) this should already be enough to get interested as it’s being sold for a reasonable price (under 20,- €). The bonus material consists of 6 rare audio tracks, 4 of them from the pre-production of the "Frost" album with quite a rough but acceptable sound. Then there is the previously unreleased song ‘Sleipnr’ and a live version of ‘Viking Metal’ which has never been recorded in the studio. Apart from that there is a rather uninteresting interview, a biography, discography, photo gallery, screen savers, etc. Especially the concert is enjoyable and fans might be interested in the audio tracks (don’t run on a CD player, though). Good quality from a highly creative band.

Ramon Claassen

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ENSLAVED
Vertebrae
(Indie Recordings)
49:08min

I hate ENSLAVED. No, really. If I’m not mistaken, "Vertebrae“ is already their tenth longplayer, not counting the now legendary "Hordanes Land“ and "Yggdrasil“ - splits and I own or at least at some point owned nearly all of them, except for "Monumension“ and "Ruun“. That’s quite an amount and usually if I spend that much time (and money) on any artists work it means I pretty much love the fuck out of it, worship the protagonists unconditionally and at least think about naming my children after their records (by the way, would “Omnio” be more suitable for a boy, a girl or a hermaphrodite?). But when it comes to ENSLAVED, after all these years I’m still not sure to which degree I actually like them. Think it’s got something to do with them being the “masters of the opening track”, as someone so aptly put it in some forum I’ve read the other day. If they’re ever to release some kind of “Best-of” they will simply have to put all their album-openers in a row, resulting in probably the finest hour of Norwegian Metal ever. Unfortunately, they are usually not really able to keep the extraordinaire standard set by the first track throughout an albums worth. This is however not the problem with their newest offering. Not because it’s that great for the duration of the whole record, but simply because it’s miles away from the awe-inspiring heights of a track like ‘As Fire Swept Clean The Earth’ for 50 long minutes. Instead the above lamented inconsistency plagues almost every single one of the eight tracks on display. Take ‘To The coast’ for an example: it starts with a highly intense and moody passage (the earthy and warm sound really works wonders here) that evokes perfect visions of the rising northland like very few are able to create, but looses all momentum due to lame seventies-prog-riffing and annoying vocals that are a far cry from the grandeur that made ‘793’ the crowning achievement in all things norse and Viking. While we’re at it: the massive Prog-Rock element is probably my main concern here, everything these wankers back in the seventies created is error for the gospel sayeth ‘Let there be rock’, not ‘Let there be endless improvisation, drum solos, classical adaptations and strange timings, so all may know you’ve done your homework’. What makes it so frustrating is the fact that ENSLAVED have proven often enough that there can be true inspiration and magic in what they’re doing. ‘Reflection’ and ‘Center’ would be the prime examples on their latest (the album is actually getting better towards the ending, at least something), but taken as a whole the record is destroyed by too many parts that seem to go nowhere or ruin the flow. The most reviews I’ve read so far are praising this to no end, but although I’d really love to believe the hype I can’t for the life of me see why. What remains is my firm opinion that a band like SOLSTAFIR embodies everything that ENSLAVED tries to be nowadays and I’m pretty sure that if “Köld” is ever going to see the dark of night it will simply blow “Vertebrae” into oblivion. Place your bets…www.indierec.no

Torsten Gründig

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ENSLAVEMENT OF BEAUTY
Megalomania
(Head Not Found / Voices Of Wonder)
57:00min

I have no idea whether good ol' Metalion was responsible for signing ENSLAVEMENT OF BEAUTY or not. But if he was, he probably had a couple o' drinks too much at the time. This is not necessarily the type of music he tends to worship, so maybe the band simply got signed for financial / commercial reasons in order to keep Head Not Found alive?! Who knows… Fact is that these Norwegians play a very cheesy type of "Black" Metal with tons of melodic elements and pompy / symphonic keyboards. Kinda like Italy's shooting stars Rhapsody, but with an aggressive vocalist or something. And that vocal delivery is actually the only connection to the Black Metal genre, cause musically as well as lyrically ENSLAVEMENT OF BEAUTY have nothing in common with all the dark, blasphemous and eerie dudes around the world. According to the infosheet, there's lyrical influences from the "poetic beauty of Shakespeare and De Sade"… Oh well. "Megalomania" is already the band's second full length (their debut "Traces O' Red" came out in 1999) and features BORKNAGAR's Asgeir Mickelson on drums (just in case you like some name dropping). Technically there's nothing to complain about, but the musical combination will not necessarily appeal to Power Metal or Black Metal fans, unless you're also into bands like IN FLAMES and the likes. Everyone else either won't get into the vocals or will most certainly have a tough time with the overall happiness of the material.

Frank Stöver

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ENTETY
Cadaveric Necrogrind
(World War III Records) 
32:07min

Born in L.A. in 1990 ENTETY released the "Eviscerated Then Mummificated" live demo 1990 and three years later the 7"EP "Cadaveric Necrogrind" came out. In 1994 they recorded the "Into The Desolate" demo but this was never released. In the same year ENTETY disbanded. Now, twelve years after the birth of the band, World War III Records released the songs from the 7" session together with the unreleased demo on CD. ENTETY plays fast, gory and brutal as hell Death Metal which reminds me here and there of INFAMY (by the way, the line up includes two INFAMY and two COFFIN TEXTS members) but with deeper and more guttural, inhuman vocals. Both recordings show pretty much the same style of brutal music. But they have different vocalists. As aforementioned both vocalists are damned deep and guttural but Jake Ortiz who tortured his throat on the "Into The Desolate" recordings is a phenomenon. His voice is so deeeeeep, unbelievable that this comes out of a human throat. He sounds like he had Ruben Rosas and Matti Way for breakfast. That gory kind of vocal style is definitely not my cup of tea but I have to admit that it sounds really BRUTAL. I would love to hear ENTETY with Bobby (bass) doing the vocals. He is the vocalist in COFFIN TEXTS and now also in DIABOLIC. But that's just a matter of taste, isn't it? Anyway, "Cadaveric Necrogrind" is a recommendable piece of raging, raw, brutal Death Metal. I like the very harsh production. I guess if a piece of raw, bloody flesh would be able to make some noise it would sound like ENTETY. So if you're into brutal shit you definitely should check out "Cadaveric Necrogrind"… and prepare for the return of ENTETY…

Hacker

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Here we have the third full length by the Norwegian Black Metallers known as ENTHRAL performing a quite happening form of contemporary Black Metal including several strong Death Metal overtones concerning rhythms (some blasting passages in the opener 'Earth Left Behind' just for example) and riffing. Occasionally keyboards are added played by Stan Aarsted, formerly in DIMMU BORGIR. Productionwise the listener is offered a clear sound making it easy to distinguish the entire instrumentation. All songs are arranged with a sense for atmosphere and evolution and technicality is not used in a pointless way. Not following a traditional approach towards Black Metal this fourpiece could instead appeal to fans of e.g. SATYRICON (the portraits in the booklet look slightly similar to those to be found on "Nemesis Divina", by the way), ZYKLON and similar formations. The vocals delivered by drummer Kjetil Hektoen (also hitting the skins in CREST OF DARKNESS) are although being quite varied all in the coarse, midranged register, sometimes turning a bit more high pitched for dramatic puposes. All in all this is not a monumental but certainly a good release. E-mail: worm50s@hotmail.com, website: http://www.enthral.org.

Ulrich Kreienbrink

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ENTHRONED
Armoured Bestial Hell
(Blackened / Plastic Head)
44:16min

It's been quite a long time since I last heard a release by Belgium's ENTHRONED. Well, to be even more precise, I already lost track with them after their Evil Omen Records debut "Prophecies Of Pagan Fire"... Two more albums, some line-up changes and a shitload of liveshows followed until they finally went back into to the studio last year to record "Armoured Bestial Hell", which has now been unleashed upon the Black Metal hungry masses. It's cool to find out that they are still going strong, delivering their furious Black Metal in the same traditional way as always. And because of the fact that many bands of this genre either wimped out or progressed (?!) into other musical territories, this hateful release sounds extremely refreshing to me, without coming up with anything new. This is just very well composed, executed and produced, blasphemous Black Metal with strong vocals and lots of aggression. Only the rather stupid artwork (a drawn scenario of a tank on a battlefield) doesn't appeal to me at all as I totally disgust those kind of covers on Black Metal records (there's nothing Satanic, blasphemous or evil about a tank, so where's the point in using things like that in this genre...). Apart from that, a very basic, solid and most important of all quite convincing album!

Frank Stöver

alternative review:

This album should be labeled with a warning sticker: attention, this CD is empty, it contains nothing. This is what the music of ENTHRONED is nowadays, empty, lifeless and soulless. It should not be a secret that good songwriting makes an album special. Pounding drums and some shrieky vocals (which in case of the first song sound really ridiculous) are not enough to deliver a good record. In the past ENTHRONED used to come up with great albums ("Prophecies Of Pagan Fire" and "Towards The Skullthrone Of Satan"), which were filled with a dark, sinister and obscure atmosphere and likely emotions, the result of intense and tight songs. On the new album there is nothing left of this, the music just passes by without being that exiting. I totally miss the dark atmosphere and the special songwriting skills that causes deep emotional feelings. And both are from my point of view essential ingredients of a Black Metal record. So "Armoured Bestial Hell" is just another superficial product to me. Unfortunately!!!

Thomas Georg

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ENTRAILS
Reborn (Demo 2009)
(self-financed)
48:54min

To figure out that the drums on this recording are done by a drum computer isn’t really convincing to me and to be honest the sound of the drums is the negative point on this recording. I mean I’m not complaining about bands using a drumcomputer as long as it sounds as a human drummer. Well, that’s not really the case here. But that’s the only negative point if you ask me. Besides these electrical and clinical drums this demo CD offers Death Metal the Swedish way. I hear influences from DISMEMBER ('Evil Obsession') or FURBOWL ('Triumph Of The Sinners') to name two not really comparable names. A huge Crustcore influence is recognizable, too and as lame as the drumsound is as great downtuned and shredding is the guitarsound. These 11 songs here are good Swedish Death Metal and make a lot of fun to listen to. Nevertheless I get kinda tired of the current oldschool Death Metal trend and feel that “Reborn” is a good demo, but lacks a little bit on outstanding songs and ideas. This demo would have kicked my butt 2 years ago, but right now as we get oldschool Death Metal sounding bands in the Swedish way on every corner I request a little more. It’s interesting to read that the ideas and some of the songs here were already written in 1990, which is an interesting news and, well, that’s all about it. I have high hopes that they show their real talent with their next recording and according to their myspace-page www.myspace.com/entrailsreborn we can prove that very soon as ENTRAILS are in the making of their next effort. 10 of the 11 songs on this demo can be listened to on their myspace-page and I would like you to make yourself an own picture of their music as this here is by no means bad. I still would count this demo CD as a quality recording, just a little bit too less considering the current overflow of great recordings. Give yourself a try and decide for your own. I wait for the next demo and hope to get blown away.

Thomas Ehrmann

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ENTRAILS
Tales From The Morgue
(F.D.A. Rekotz)
44:31min

I was waiting for this for a long time. Waiting for the Swedish Death Metal done right in the 21st century. And it was worth the wait! A lot of albums these day approach different sides of 90s Death from Scandinavia but always there is some element lacking - either the vocals are bad, the production weak or the melodies are uninspired or something else. You know from listening to these albums that you listen to the stuff fans made and want to replicate. But ENTRAILS, they do ENTOMBED and DISMEMBER really right! Right from the start of "Tales From The Morgue" you know it is time to bang your head. The electricity and force of this work is charged to the max! Riff after great riff and you are in nordic heaven smashing the Valkyries with the fist of Metal. I mean there are so many great riffs here, you could make ten good albums. And the sound is... massive. And I mean M-A-S-S-I-V-E! The production is flawless, bringing the Sunlight sound to match the tastes of new listeners, listeners that have heard a lot of heavy shit. And this is HEAVY. Maybe the heaviest hommage to the gods of Sweden I have heard in a long time, if not the heaviest. The good thing is that the melody is not sacrificed due to the mountainous pressure this album makes but, to the contrary, even more emphasized. When the solos come in after the charged attack of the riffs, formerly upbeat and groovy feeling descends into introspective territories and make some space for listener calm down and experience bliss. This play of heavy and poetic is made with great taste and power, never going into direction of meek and soft. The vocals are really great, delivered with passion and dedication. This album once again reminds me that the true Swedish Death Metal indeed comes only from Sweden. You just can't beat this from somewhere else. If you succeed, please let me know since I want to be the first to hear it. One more feeling that I got from listening to this gem is that these guys must be great live because the energy they produce is relentless and really true to the roots. Melodic and heavy in equal measure this album is and I totally recommended it without a second thought. www.myspace.com/entrailsreborn, www.fda-rekotz.com

Branko Matijasevic

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ENVENOM
Envisioned… The Hellternity (Demo)
(Devils Arts Productions)
23:00min

In keeping with the tried and true traditions of Malaysian Occult Metal bands like ABHORER, SIL KHANNAZ and IMPIETY, here now comes ENVENOM with their “Envisioned... The Hellternity” debut cassette demo-tape 2007. Follow up to last year’s “Satanik Goatlust“ promo 2006. The promo that contained only 1 song, ‘Demimonde – Lustified The Funeralbitch’, which is a tribute to BLASPHEMY. In the band’s own words “This is not a mockery upon the godly Satanik Skinhead hordes but it's a tribute for this Canadian Ross Bay Desekraters for being such a hellish inspiration for the demonz of ENVENOM.” “Envisioned… “ was released exclusively under Devil’s Arts Productions out of Peru and has been on the market since January. Featuring four unruly spirits: NekroRepudiation DivineAnnihilation – 666 strings of Demonokkultik Impaler, VaginalPerversion and BestialKuntqueror – Atomik NuklearHammerz of Satan, BlackBlood Debauchery of Blasphemy – GoatKommand Holokaust and Blasphemous Hatred, and Baphogoat Sadomaso of Unholy Satanik Fornikator – 4 strings DemonAxe. Of whom all incite the ancient laws of disastrous Metal, dripping wet in the Devil’s cold, black semen! On this blaspheming cassette are six unholy hymns: 'Hymntro - The Rise of Shub-Niggurath / Grotesque Ritual of Sexual Violence', 'Genocide! Holokaust! Exterminate!', 'Demimonde (Lustified The Funeralbitch)', 'Goddess Of Perversity' (BLASPHEMY cover), 'Spirit Of Evil' (VULCANO cover) and 'Demimonde (Lustified The Funeralbitch)' - promo version. Recorded and mixed at 132 Studio, Sg Petani Kedah. This demo also contains with it cover artwork by Shahjehan of Dark Arts, and ENVENOM’s band logo is made by none other than Christophe Szpajdel. Price (incl. postage) for this demo is: 7 USD / 5 Euro and is violently limited to 500 copies worldwide! Final executions are shouted to the blind fiends of chaos below, by this Hellish horde, with the following statement. “Behold the rise of ENVENOM, the satanik stronghold of divine blasphemies. And to all of you morons who have been playing and mocking with the might of Black Metal. Our message to you is eternal. Black Metal is not fun. Black Metal is not cool. Black Metal is not happy. Black Metal is not romantic. Black Metal is not to protect moral values. Black Metal is not looking macho. Fukk all of you pathetic human garbage who think this is fun!!!!!! Black Metal is a rage and threat upon the feeble masses of religion and humanity!!! Die all!!!” Contact: Istaroth@yahoo.com or ISKANDAR, P.O.Box 10428, 50712 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia or http://envenom.vze.com/ or www.myspace.com/lustifiedthefuneralbitch or dapkult@yahoo.com.

Wes Rhodes

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EPHEL DUATH
Rephormula
(Earache Records)
73:20min

Whew! Crazy stuff from the mysty mountains (= EPHEL DUATH, from Tolkien) for Black Metal loonatics! This is EPHEL DUATH's debut album ’Phormula' (including 2 remixes and 3 tracks from the demo sessions). For me their music is hard to follow because of the songs' complexe structures (usually not that hard for me), strange synth sounds and unusual programming. Maybe I should invest even more time into this, but whenever I seem to get accustomed to a song, there are techno dance rhythms (or whatever) added and I REFUSE to listen to something like that! It's short passages, so until I finally reached the eject button, at least the weird Black Metal is back. EPHEL DUATH's music is very successful at MP3.com so I guess open minded EMPEROR or SUMMONING fans might actually like this. I just can't see a connection between the misty mountains or Black Metal with dance beats, even though they're added rather occasionally. Just imagine dwarf Gimli swinging his axe in a modern dance temple! Or is this idea what the band intended? It's a pity because it's spoiling a record that might have turned out to be a mind-blower!

Ramon Claassen

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EPICEDIUM
Conspiracy With The Death
(self-financed)
29:48min

Cool intro: "now the worst possible situation has occured!" and then: fist in the listener's face! Fist? It's rather fists! I feel like beaten up the brutal Death Metal style! I came across EPICEDIUM through the "Ear Terror Festival" in Emden, Germany where they were supposed to play and although they couldn't, Bruno sent over a CD. It's already a little bit dated and received some real good reviews in a couple of German underground zines. So why should I do it differently? Only because the music is bad? Just joking, sorry. Where do all these great German Death Metal bands come from? Well, EPICEDIUM might already be called "veterans" compared to most of the other acts I came across lately as they were founded in 1996 and already released a CD before this one. This experience shines through indeed. Of course there are always details one can improve but I'm sure the next CD will be even better because this band sounds hungry! The fire is definitely burning, they're good song writers and excellent musicians. Consequently, there  is no excuse for you not to contact the band and order your copy of "Conspiracy With The Death"! By the way: great live cover version of 'Hammer Smashed Face' on here! I hope they can make it to "Ear Terror Pt. 2" next year! http://welcome.to/epicedium

Ramon Claassen

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EPICEDIUM
Epicedium
(Embryo Records)
40:58min

First of all: no, this isn’t the German band EPICEDIUM! However, this 1996 founded and California-based quartet is to be filed under “Death Metal” as well, “killer Death Metal” if you ask me! Taking influences from acts such as CANNIBAL CORPSE, SUFFOCATION, MORBID ANGEL and adding to that some nice melodies as well as a relentlessly pounding brutality, on their debut full-length EPICEDIUM deliver plain excellent contemporary Death Metal that rips your speakers with technical ferocity and flawless song writing. “Epicedium” is doubtless one of the strongest debuts I heard lately, garnered with a powerful, crisp and clear production fortunately not sounding as sterile and clinical as the gross of releases put out nowadays, plus great riffs, ripping leads and barbarous vocals that impress due to a good dose of individuality and character. Whereas the opener ‘Homicidal Repercussion’ is a straight forward, blasting and driving track, track 3 ‘The Wrath’ exposes some quite melodic riffing turning it into a more catchy mid-tempo tune retaining EPICEDIUM’s trademark of vicious heaviness. ‘The Time Of Ruin’ is a cool instrumental piece, followed by ‘Legacy Of Darkness’ which hits you like a freight train: punishing blasts and great hooks turn it into a banger par excellence. The same goes for ‘The Corpse Yard’, ‘Plague Of The Innocence’, and ‘Horrific Erradication’ all of which are extremely powerful, fast outbreaks of merciless Death Metal. EPICEDIUM certainly do not reinvent the genre yet they come along with unbridled force, energetic performance and simply the feel for good songs that offer technically impeccable, tight musicianship and traditional Death Metal violence to equal parts. 40 minutes long EPICEDIUM delight the listener with their very own unadulterated form of US-style Death Metal that profits in particular from strong songs and a freshness rarely to be discovered today. Hopefully this band gets the attention it deserves! Highly recommended!!! Full-length mp3s and the album itself are available at the following sites: www.epicedium.com; www.embryorecords.com

Stefan Franke

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EPIDEMIC
Earth Penitentiary
(self-financed)
18:31min

After receiving a confusing, filler filled review from the U.S. publication Metal Maniacs, the writer could have easily said what he had to say in practically two sentences. Now that I have this demo CD, I too find that same dilemma here of what exactly to say with my own review of this Israeli act. “For fans of DUSK, mid–era DEATH and the most melodic of DISMEMBER and CARCASS...” is what that dude at Metal Maniacs had to say and as this four tracker spins I get where he was going with that but also a lot more Doom than he had failed to mention. Good Doom too. Old PARADISE LOST “Lost Paradise” era Doom. Intended or not it’s present here.Then the writer at Metal Maniacs went on to spout some irrational nonsense that this act had with it undertones of slower TESTAMENT and even went a step further and called this Nahariya based quartet an Israeli Thrash band! Not even. There’s nothing Thrash about this act whatsoever. Makes me wonder if he was clicking around on the net while listening to this CD with like seven windows of Asian porn in the background and just wasn’t paying a fuckin’ lick of attention. Fucking Metal Maniacs, I have always thought that rag one of the worst in the American circuit. Like two steps up from Circus and absolutely the zit faced cousin to Metal Edge. But I digress… Contact: Vova Kashirin, 12/11 Hamagenim St., 22448 Nahariya, Israel or epidemic.mailband@gmail.com or www.epidemic-online.com or www.myspace.com/epidemiconline

Wes Rhodes

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EPIDEMIC
The Man That Kills Himself
(self-financed)
12:45min

Getting back to giving Metal Maniacs more shit. I finally have figured out the rest of that confusing fucking review that EPIDEMIC just received in the Metal Maniacs’s latest issue for this band’s prior demo CD “Earth Penitentiary”. Where in the body of the review the writer goes on some awful trek into black webbed memories of the past where he mentions an old Relapse Records title. The Dance (Disco?) / Grind psychos called PEOPLE that happened also to be from Israel and tried to compare them to EPIDEMIC, yet conversely went against his own description of EPIDEMIC’s (albeit now as the band seems to have added more influences to their songs) nail biting sound. Not more than four lines up at the start of his insipid review where he then also went on to say that this band had enough Middle Eastern influences within its musical repertoire to satiate the quote unquote “Been there done that crowd“ (…Pause…). I’m sorry…What?! What the fuck is this dude talking about?! Then it hits me. He isn’t talking about the demo he was writing for. No not “Earth Penitentiary” no, fuck no, this malformed earthborn instead was trying to convey in a rather messy and crude manner, his thoughts on this two-song single entitled “The Man That Kills Himself “ and tried to pass it off like no one would know what was happening. Oh well fuck! Now…It’s as clear as a day after a rain! Thanks go to you douche bag! ‘Cuz god-dammit if I couldn’t figure out what in Hell your pathetic, all knowing, authoritative, psycho-babble review was trying to tell me. Thankfully as I am aware of who NILE are, I am some what accustomed to deciphering cryptic fucking hieroglyphic text. And how lazy are you anyhow? Didn’t want to write two reviews for the same act? Even though you most likely received two discs, just as I have, today. What a rip-off! Do you know how expensive CDs are to make? And then mail out? Promos are free to you but are not free for the band. And your less than half-ass attempt at a review here is just abhorrent and definitely not an even trade for what was sent to you. May I remind your retarded ass that what you type for Metal Maniacs should mean more than the sixty seconds you obviously give your reviews time for, as your idiocy is not just confined to your shitty workspace but is in fact pressed into the tens of thousands of color copy each edition! Contact: Vova Kashirin, 12/11 Hamagenim St., 22448 Nahariya, Israel or epidemic.mailband@gmail.com or www.epidemic-online.com or www.myspace.com/epidemiconline

Wes Rhodes

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