EQUIMANTHORN
Second Sephira Cella
(From Beyond / Displeased Records)
69:31min

Once again Proscriptor has disembarked to stranger shores with his ritual music project Equimanthorn which saw an official review in 1993 with “Nimdinugga Nimshimshargal Enlillara”. Unfortunately I cannot compare the actual record with its predecessor but “Second Sephira Cella” definitely goes into the ambient / ritual direction with some ethnic Near Eastern influences, traces of trance music and a tiny bit of 70s psychedelia. In its entirety the project consists of (ex-) members of ABSU, ZEMIAL, MELECHESH and THE SOIL BLEEDS BLACK – the latter being a group creating very dense and enthralling medieval-inspired music enriched with electronic elements. And let me tell you – this album is a trip in itself. Long droning evocative soundscapes create an absolutely convincing ritualistic mood inspired by Sumerian mythology. The incantations and recitations come either whispered or spoken in a very deep tone, sometimes treated with effects, never sounding unprofessional or ridiculous (which is sadly the case sometimes when people from the Metal scene try something in the realm of electronics). Horns, string sections, and many well chosen effectsounds and synth arrangements add up to a floating and deep atmosphere, variating its tone so that no boredom may arise. The dreamlike, drifting mood predominates until the third track 'Rule Of Utukagaba' where eastern percussives find their way into the composition, giving another lively twist to the dramatic, hallicinative drones and soundscapes. The same goes for some synth lines that sound reminiscent to classic Psychedelia like Hawkwind. The ninth track 'He Who Makes The Name Of Masshu Abundant' incorporates some more modern percussive elements, not unlike some meditative trance music – rest assured, it fits perfectly well in there after you have listened to it some times. The scales applied throughout “Second Sephira Cella” are mainly of Middle Eastern origin – appropriate to theme and topic. One very small flaw on the technical side is to be found: there might have been a small mistake that occurred during the mastering I guess because some high frequencies are distorted in the tenth track – but this does nottmar the album in its entirety. Booklet and artwork are fantastic as well, dark brownish sepia toned sheets portraying Sumerian deities beside the tree of life, idols and reliefs, carvings sigils… if let your imagination float along with the moods conveyed by both music and visuals you almost get the feeling of being in a secret crypt beneath the temples of Ur, entranced by chants and incense. On sale here.

Ulrich Kreienbrink

BACK

EQUINOX
Journey Into Oblivion
(Still Dead Productions)
54:12min

Due to a bunch of business related problems it took Florida's EQUINOX quite a while to get this album out (the recordings were already finished way back in September 2002!), but now it's finally here and the result is definitely worth the long wait! Still Dead Productions' label owner Julius adviced me to listen to it a few times before I finally make up my mind about it... Well, I'll tell you what - I do get advices like that almost every day, with each release we receive, but in the case of this album it really is nothing but the fuckin' truth and no cheap marketing slogan in order to sell a poor product. EQUINOX is one of the most underrated acts ever to emerge out of sunny Florida and "Journey Into Oblivion" a musical roller coaster ride through about an hour of classic Heavy Black / Death Metal. Unlike the current trend to blast as fast as you can, EQUINOX took a different direction and perform their material mostly very midpaced, partly doomy and partly fast. And when I say fast, I don't mean senseless snare bashing, but really cool and varied drumming with great doublebass parts. The dark and very heavy riffing often brings BLACK SABBATH to my mind, while the soloing is totally in the vintage SLAYER vein. The vocals sound totally possessed and are a mixture of Black and Death Metal, yet very impressive and charismatic. Yes, EQUINOX are totally oldschool, and that's more than fine with me as they come up with songs full of interesting riffs and memorable parts - a fact which a lot of the current bands seem to have forgotten about. They just tune down their guitars, growl as guttural as possible and play 100mph through the course of an entire album. The EQUINOX guys luckily still know what a good song demands in order to stand the test of time, probably because their influences come from all those acts that are eternal to many of us nowadays (POSSESSED, CELTIC FROST, DESTRUCTION, SLAYER, BATHORY, SODOM, VENOM, NECROVORE etc.). And you can easily check out that they perfectly understood the old masters by listening to their great version of POSSESSED's 'Seance', which closes this comeback album very impressively! Somehow EVIL INCARNATE's album title "Blackest Hymns Of God's Disgrace" is the perfect description of what EQUINOX are musically celebrating on here. So, if your musical horizon not necessarily ends with frognoise (like DISGORGE) on one hand and faceless highspeed Black Metal (like DARK FUNERAL) on the other, and if your faves includes likeminded acts such as THE CHASM, SADISTIC INTENT and so on, you should really make sure to pick up "Journey Into Oblivion". But beware: you might get addicted after a couple of listens already! More info on the band in the interview which is about to follow soon!         

Frank Stöver

BACK

EQUINOX
The Immortal Kind (MCD)
(self-financed)
26:57min

About three years ago Florida's blackened Death Metal horde EQUINOX used to put out the very cool "Journey Into Oblivion" record via Polish Still Dead Productions... At that time the future for the band seemed very bright as the label was treating EQUINOX very well, giving them top priority. But all of a sudden, label owner Julius disappeared from the face of the earth (just like several times before already), which ended up being a major setback for all of the acts on the Still Dead rooster. Due to this, a planned EQUINOX compilation CD of all of their coversongs / promo recordings never materialized and the release of brandnew material got delayed more and more... No surprise that during that difficult time the band's line-up started to change quite a bit, but it seems in the meantime they've found two very talented replacements in Gabriel Lewandowski (ACHERON, HELLWITCH) and Nate Lawres (ARUSPEX, WARBUTCHER) on drums and rhythm guitar / keyboards respectively. So, in October 2005 EQUINOX were finally ready to enter Diet of Worms Studio (MORBID ANGEL, DIABOLIC, UNHOLY GHOST) in Tampa, Florida with Juan "Punchy" Gonzales engineering to record what was to become this mini-album here. And the result is definitely worth the long wait, believe me! The opening track 'Wretched And Nameless' has a very strong overall DIMMU BORGIR feel to it (with its sinister moody atmosphere and demonic vocal delivery), even though it is generally way more rooted in traditional Metal (just listen to the amazing guitarwork) and particularely "Don't Break The Oath"-era MERCYFUL FATE (for its complexity and how they have used the keyboards in here). The title track, 'The Immortal Kind', recalls Pete Slate's former band ACHERON for its rather midpaced to doomy riffing and Matt's evoking singing style, while the doublebass driven 'Night Of The Churchyard Watcher' seems to be a hommage to early DEATH ("Leprosy"-era) with some heavy MASSACRE riffs thrown in in the middle section. The entire record convinces in terms of incredible variety (like I already mentioned, very much rooted in traditional Metal, but with lots of twists and turns in various, more brutal directions), offers very skilled musicianship and a crushing production and without a single doubt features EQUINOX's best material to date! Ok, I personally could easily have lived without the disc's closing cut 'The 6th Day', which is basically just a drum solo and (despite Gabriel's obvious drumming qualities) rather superfluous. But all in all this is an amazing release that is hopefully gonna secure them a new record deal with a more established company pretty soon. It's about time that EQUINOX finally get the attention they deserve for so long already! For all further info and serious contract offers head to www.equinoxmetal.com.

Frank Stöver

BACK

EQUINOX
As The Moon Swallows The Sun
(Grim Nocturnal Records)
66:37min

Another two years have passed since the release of "The Immortal Kind", EQUINOX's last 6 song mini CD, but it seems that nothing has really changed for this great Florida Deathers ever since, unfortunately... The band is still struggeling quite a bit to gain international recognition and once again ended up on some small underground label for the long overdue release of this compilation CD of their early works. I don't really get it, to be perfectly honest with you... I mean, why do bigger labels tend to sign useless crap acts, side-projects and copycats all the time and on the other hand great bands like EQUINOX get ignored?! Ok, this unholy foursome probably made some wrong business decisions in the past (both their full length albums got released by Greek Unisound Records and Polish Still Dead Productions... do I need to say more?), but hey, that doesn't necessarily mean that their music isn't worth being checked out! In my opinion these guys haven't actually really written a single bad tune throughout their entire career! If you don't believe my words just order a copy of "As The Moon Swallows The Sun" to find out for yourselves. This CD features everything they recorded previous to their debut full length "Return To Mystery". In detail that is their "Upon The Throne Of Eternity" EP from 1995, the "Promo '94" (which also includes their great, very doomy and extremely heavy sounding version of the KISS classic 'The Oath'), the "Anthem To The Moon" 1993 demo, three excellent cover songs by SLAYER ('Haunting The Chapel'), BLACK SABBATH ('Hole In The Sky') and MERCYFUL FATE ('Gypsy') as well as two unprofessionally recorded (thus rather superflous) live tracks. I would have prefered to see their other cover tunes (MAIDEN, PRIEST...) on here instead. Musically EQUINOX has never been your typical Florida Death Metal act (technical and blasting), but a very heavy, often also quite doomy band (definitely closer to old ACHERON / MASSACRE), with Matt "Darkness" Wagner's awesome vocals on top of it. He almost sounds like a blackened version of OBITUARY's John Tardy (if you can imagine the result). Whenever they speed things up, they never play fast for fast's sake, but because a song simply requires it and the result is a very diverse collection of songs, with a very occult overall atmosphere. The booklet features several old pics, liner notes from guitarist Pete Slate and a great coverart by Craig Simpson (USURPER, SATHANAS etc.). Buy or die! For more info check out www.myspace.com/equinoxmetal, www.grimnocturnalrecords.com

Frank Stöver

BACK

This band from Germany likes Death Metal from Florida, like DEICIDE and especially CANNIBAL CORPSE – from their first album “Eaten Back To Live” to “Vile”. The singer likes George Corpsegrinder alot, yes! Especially the screams sound veeery much alike (well copied I would say). The songs are well played and quite technical (of course not as technical as CANNIBAL CORPSE but I would never expect that from any other band!!!) but the riffs are too strongly inspired for my taste. Just listen to the tracks 'Chamber Of Torture' or 'The Undead' and you know what I am talking about. Their songwriting is quite straight, more DEICIDE than CANNIBAL CORPSE, but needs to be improved here and there. A good riff does not get better when it is played again and again and again and... Ok, that is not often the case but sometimes very obvious! The production is easily described as well: just imagine a powerful European version of the CANNIBAL CORPSE sound. Easy, isn't it? Ok, ok, this is ERADICATE's second album after their 2004 debut “Complete Eradication” so I shouldn't compare them to a band that has been around for 10 albums too much... But there is some advise for the guys for their future: they should focus more on building up an own identity! Otherwise they will never step outside the shadow of CANNIBAL CORPSE! The quite nice and somehow original coverartwork is already a first step in the right direction! So much from me (I think I better don't mention their heavy German-English in the lyrics for I don't want anyone to check my reviews for grammar mistakes or worse!). Folks, if you are interested in a less technical but promising version of CANNIBAL CORPSE (this is the last time I name this band, I promise!) go for ERADICATE and check out their website: www.eradicate-deathmetal.de. You may order it here.

Tim Klöcker

ERADICATION
The Great Cleaning
(Undercover Records)
32:16min

This side project featuring Kaiser W. (godly pseudonym!!!) of the controversial AD HOMINEM and Sad of the split up CANTUS BESTIAE is despite the dubious reputation of one of its members a very good, raw and traditional Black Metal album. Sometimes quite melancholic chord melodies and furiously thrashing elements melt with interesting misanthropic, hateful lyrics (which are not coquetting with right-wing or totalitarian views like Kaiser W. does in AD HOMINEM) and culminate in a rousing debut filled with old, early 90s Black Metal spirit, unpolished and uncompromising in every aspect. Production-wise there is nothing to complain about, there's this typical thin guitar sound of French underground Black Metal and an honest, capturing rawness most fans of traditional Black Metal should succumb to instantly. "The Great Cleaning" offers no experiments, no innvoations, but it has this special unsophisticated feeling, the rousing simplicity and harsh sound of good Black Metal and at least I can not get enough of that... For additional infos: www.undercover-records.de

Stefan Franke

BACK

EREB ALTOR
By Honour 
(I Hate Records)
53:21min

I Hate Records is definitely one of the leading purveyors of the Doom Metal genre in Europe nowadays and with EREB ALTOR they have taken their mastery to new levels of brilliance. This Sweden-based duo EREB ALTOR apparently has been together since early 90s but it wasn't until 2003 when they recorded their very first demo that things started to get moving towards accomplishing their desired full-length. Strongly influenced by BATHORY's viking/epic era they present us this set of seven songs clocking to nearly one hour of magnificent heavy, hypnotic and damn good massive hymns. These guys have figured out the way to extract the best elements of BATHORY's aforementioned creative time frame to blend it with their own talent / creativity and come up with an instant classic of the genre. Before even trying to tag them as "copycats" think about it twice and give them the chance with an accurate listening. Pleasure guaranteed! I'm just eagerly awaiting a follow up to this overwhelming debut. Will they equal and even surpass what they have already achieved? I'll cross my fingers they will do and beyond! Get this incredible piece at: www.ihate.se

Mario Cubero

BACK

ERED
Promo 2007
(self-financed)
13:33min

This promo-recording sounds pretty cold, although this band is from hot Spain. Strange, very strange, haha. What we have here are ERED from Barcelona, who convince with their brand of Scandinavian sounding (call it more or less) melodic Black Metal. Before this new promo they already released a couple of demos and in 2005 their self-financed debut CD called "Born In A Frozen Hell" but as I only know their new recording I can't tell anything about the quality of their former stuff nor be able to tell you if this older material is still available. They managed to play some gigs together with bands like NECROPHOBIC or NECROS CHRISTOS, which usually don’t tell anything about the quality of the band, but in this case I can say that this can be counted as some kind of proof for quality! 3 songs are offered here with a playtime of about approx. 13 minutes of catchy, riff-orientated Black Metal with varied tempo changes ranging from fast to slow and doomy rhythms. Everything here fits together pretty well and the sound is very good for such a type of recording. In fact this recording is pretty impressive and ERED is one of those bands to keep an eye on. I'm not sure if this release is available for the crowd but you should check out their songs on www.myspace.com/ered666 or get in touch with the band directly via their official email address ered_666@hotmail.com.

Thomas Ehrmann

BACK

ERED
Incarnated Horror (MCD)
(Grotesque Productions)
24:05min

ERED from Spain already convinced me with their last promo CD but what they deliver with this new MCD called “Incarnated Horror” is simply amazing. The included 5 songs ERED are presenting us are melodic Black / Death Metal songs in the vein of NECROPHOBIC to compare it to at least one band. It’s tough to create something really own these days and ERED are for sure not an original band. It’s Black / Death Metal, it’s vocals, 2 guitars, bass and drums so what do you expect? From my point of view you can’t really expect something totally original these days anymore, but what you can request is solid quality music which is the case for each fuckin’ type of music. And that’s exactly what you get here and even more. Well, despite the short playing time! The songs turned out really great and have this evil atmosphere which I can only bring in one line with NECROPHOBIC. As I know that their guitarplayer Llorenc is a huge fan of them I’m sure he won’t complain. Next to the great songs the production is very good and this makes this melodic fast brand of intensity even more enjoyable. Music like this does not work that good with a mediocre sound if you ask me. But as I said, that’s not the case here and I want to keep it short and can only advice all of you out there to buy this fine little piece of melodic blackish Death Metal and to support this Spanish band as they really deserves it! Check out www.myspace.com/ered666, mail to ered_666@hotmail.com and / or visit the homepage of Grotesque Productions for further details at www.grotesquemusic.com.

Thomas Ehrmann

BACK
 

ERODED / PAGANIZER
Split 7"
(Imperium Productions)

I really gotta thank INGURGITATING OBLIVION's Ulli for introducing me to the mighty ERODED! This German two-piece musically exactly continues on where early GRAVE, FUNEBRE, TRAUMATIC, MACABRE END, KAAMOS, EXCRUCIATE, DEMIGOD, CREMATORY (SWE) or CARNAGE (among others) left off in their heydays! Haven't heard a band of this kind in Germany ever since FLESHCRAWL. But ERODED are far more brutal than them, believe me! To quote their website here, "ERODED is listenable darkness, blackening the infernal abyss, blowing in the winds of remembrance and carved in the brazen image of the dead. ERODED raise their chapels of blood to the ancient times. This is the second coming of darkness. This is the end of days. This is DEATH." I couldn't have said it any better... Before they ended up on this split 7" with Sweden's PAGANIZER (what a cool combination by the way), they already put out a demo ("Beneath The Cross"), that featured three killer songs ('Beneath The Cross', 'From The Ancient Graves' and 'The Pits Of Gruesome Death') as well as a short intro ('At The Stakes'). Unfortunately that is completely sold out by now, so you better invest some bucks in this 70g black vinyl, which is limited to 500 copies. ERODED contribute 'Black Empire' and 'The Goats Of Heaven' (both are even more intense than the demo songs!) while Sweden's PAGANIZER also deliver two previously unreleased tunes ('Gasmask Obsession' and 'Hell Is Already Here'). Hope you'll forgive me, that I focused so much on ERODED here, but considering the fact that PAGANIZER have already several (full length) releases out, I suppose that they should be known to every lover of first class Swedish oldschool Death. Needless to say that there's no way around the purchase of this 7". It sells for 5 Euro. Contact imperiumproductions@t-online.de for all further ordering details. Band websites: www.eroded.de, www.paganizer.com.

Frank Stöver

BACK


EROS NECROPSIQUE
Crises De Lucidité
(Adipocere Records)
55:06min

Dear Olivier. Allow me this kind of familiarity, despite the fact we don’t know each other. In theory, this should have been a review of your latest effort, “Crises De Lucidité”. To tell you the crudest of truth, I thought your band/project EROS NECROPSIQUE was history in 2003. I have never heard a single note of your music before the recent and fateful day your last album reached my mailbox. Olivier, I am sorry, but I can’t review this for the  benefit of the  VOICES FROM THE DARKSIDE readers. Don’t be disappointed though, and let me explain: we are only Metal fans, content enough with the sound of screaming guitars and pounding drums, and with silly lyrics mostly based on cheap Satanism and gory topics. I am afraid we are not mentally equipped and mature enough to grasp, let alone understand, the magnificence of your music and the delicacy of your poetry (because I suppose Baudelaire, Verlaine and Rimbaud are the main sources of your inspiration). Through your art, you tell us you suffer a great deal living the life you live. And your relation with sexuality seems to be troubled enough to alarm me, at least for a few seconds. The problem is, Olivier, that we cannot do anything for you, for the reason you don’t belong to our Metal world. Yet I am sure you have a public somewhere, but surely not here pal!  So, for our mutual sake, stay away from us. Your label proudly announces that a fourth is done and even that a fifth album is coming our way. Do me a favour Olivier, and forget me next time. Thanks in advance. Yours (un)truly:

Edouard Vergriete

BACK

ESQARIAL
Discoveries
(Empire Records)
48:40min

Some of you may be familiar with ESQARIAL already through their first offering (“Amorphous”), issued a few years ago on Pagan Records. If “Amorphous” was a good attempt at mixing Death Metal with melodic guitar playing, it is nothing really compared to this one. Indeed this Polish band took their time to refine their ideas and expand their skills to finally come up with an excellent following. ESQARIAL somewhat rekindle with a tradition established by such bands as ATHEIST, CYNIC and NOCTURNUS to prove that Death Metal could be a limitless form of music. ESQARIAL successfully combine aggression and melody and you get the best of both worlds, like if Joe Satriani would have been invited to play on a DIABOLIC album if you want. And this special combination works really well and never sounds unnatural, quite the contrary. At no time the band falls in the trap of sterile demonstration and the songwriting keeps the listener alert and captivated. Add to this a very competent production which compliments the music really well. Note that the line-up has remained more or less the same since “Amorphous” (with the band being reduced now to a four piece after the departure of the vocalist Sui),  to me stability is the key factor of any band progression and it shows here. One of the guitarist, Pajak, is presently in charge of all the vocal duties, and the funny thing is he reminds me a lot of DIABOLIC very own Paul Ouellette because of his intonations. Quite logically regarding the style chosen by ESQARIAL the guitars are the true highlight of this album, expect beautiful soloing all along without any arrogance, like I said above. The band have even wrote a Neo-Classical Death Metal track (‘True Lies’), and the outcome is quite surprising and fresh! To sum it up, this album could appeal to a large audience thanks to its originality, so don’t refuse to yourselves the pleasure of discovering it! Visit ESQARIAL at http://www.esqarial.czademall.com. Go here to order a copy.

Edouard Vergriete

BACK


ESQARIAL
Inheritance
(Empire Records)
43:22min

As you can easily find out yourself, Edouard was already quite impressed by ESQARIAL's previous, second release "Discoveries", putting this Polish act in the tradition of technical Death Metal masters ATHEIST, CYNIC or NOCTURNUS. Well, to tell you the truth, when I started listening to the first couple of tracks on this new effort, I was also pretty much blown away by the band's sheer musical brilliance and excellent production of this album. It all reminded me a bit more on late DEATH and partly also on newer MORBID ANGEL, but hey - it was nevertheless quite obvious that these guys are extremely skilled in what they do. Even the comparison that the leads have a certain Joe Satriani feel to it were pretty accurate as there's some incredible guitar work to be found in the eleven featured songs. Not necessarily exclusively limited to the Joe Satriani style, but always in this so called guitar-hero league (Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine, Steve Vai... you name it!). What really turned me off after a while though are the vocals, which kick off very convincing, but from my point of view become weaker throughout the album's playing time. Haven't heard the previous album myself, but from what Edouard mentioned, they are definitely not sounding as brutal anymore, they are actually a lot more in the Thrash Metal vein nowadays, partly even with cleaner parts. I don't think that's the right way to go, as there's already countless of technical Metal acts out there, but only very little really brutal Death Metal bands that deliver a same quality. And the Jimi Hendrix cover 'Fire' was also quite unnecessary as it simply doesn't fit into their very own musical style at all. So, both thumbs up for the instrumental side of this new effort, but not exactly for the vocal delivery. Still a very cool act to keep an eye on. All further info you may get here: www.empire-records.com.pl. You may order it here.

Frank Stöver

BACK


ESTUARY
To Exist And Endure
(Ibex Moon Records)
42:22min

Well, real insiders might have already recognised that this label isn’t only referring to a song by INCANTATION with its name, it actually IS the label of the blasphemous Deathers’ mastermind John McEntee. Besides the FUNERUS album (which will be reissued with a cool Moyen cover soon) Cincinatti’s ESTUARY are one of their recording artists and their debut is certainly something that might gain some attention… Blending technical Death / Thrash with front lady Zdenka’s low growls and aggressive screams, a couple of melodies which fortunately do not turn out to be cheesy or overdone ESTUARY’s sound is certainly something deserving the attribute “unique”! A continuously driving tempo, a good dose of variation, a first-class production, complex yet effective riffing and some lead guitar extravaganzas that solo-despisers might dislike are a few other features of the ESTUARY sound. This is definitely a skilled, powerful band worth of being checked out and though I found it a little hard to get warm with this CD it should not keep you from trying it out… www.ibexmoonrecords.com

Stefan Franke

BACK

ESTUARY
The Craft Of Contradiction
(Ibex Moon Records)
46:39min
 
What a roster Ibex Moon has these days, eh? I remember when this label was just a passing thought, and idea of John's, something he was gonna do y'know.eventually. Time passes and now several of his company's titles have made it across my desk and look how far he's come with this idea! Amazing! Here then is yet another one of John's fold, a thrashing Death Metal act hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio and sounding nothing like any band that I have heard from that city. Reminiscent of a more technical DEFLESHED or a heavier KING'S EVIL in many ways, yet with a brutal Death Metal edge to their writing and a like minded vocalist (who happens to be female if you care?) vomiting over the top of generally mid tempo to somewhat fast paced songs. Ten tunes in number are given here, with a wide range of lyrical content that appear to be well written and crafted. Almost seems a shame that such words go forth from a puke blower, kind of like how INTERNAL BLEEDING used to be before they kicked out their first singer Wallace Milton. However, what was I to expect as the vocalist rocks an ANAL VOMIT shirt, hahaha, in one of the band's photo shots! Anyhow - moving on.The layout and packaging of this album is really a site to behold! A total color six panel digi-pack and color enhanced CD, complete with inner liner notes / lyric booklet also as well all in color, with clear band photos, and cool extra artwork throughout. The only thing missing from this album is a hidden bonus video track! Next time, huh? Contact: 7321 Hickman St., Cincinnati, OH 45231 USA or www.estuarymetal.com, www.ibexmoonrecords.com

Wes Rhodes

BACK

ETERNAL
The Berserks' Legions Defiance
(Obscure Domain)
38:22min

Sometimes, things go way deeper than what they seem to be. Never let appearances and names to fool you. On first sight a band with the name ETERNAL and the tag brutal Death Metal was more than a proven recipe for disaster. For chaos. For a damn bad album. That’s what I thought. Without even listening to the band. I mean, come on ETERNAL? How many bands are with that name? Ok, yeah, we have an IMMORTAL which is pretty much like the same in terms of meaning of the words (it is just that the IMMORTAL was once born the other, has been there forever…) So… so… I was going to skip this one in short bursts to really fall into my theory of it being another band of brutal cheesy Death Metal. And on the first listen, there were many parts that were, yes, brutal Death Metal. BUT… BUT… yes, I must add… I was WRONG! ETERNAL besides having a really silly name (I mean come on in the 80s that would have been like ok, to have that name, and even then, it does sound like a flowery Power Metal or a goth band) is a powerful 4 piece band from France playing a ferocious style of very brutal Death Metal, in the INCANTATION, IMMOLATION, MORBID ANGEL style, with a deep and heavy production, full of guitars, deep cavernous vocals, still not that frog-noise like, but that could use a bit more of variety, and some interesting melodic interludes and solos. But it is played with passion and in a very fierce way. Being a European band playing this style of US based Death Metal, makes them a bit strange this days. There are quite some brutish Death Metal bands in Denmark, but not that many in that style in France. ‘Yog Sothoth’ could easily pass as a MORBID ANGEL song. Where the band shines in blasphemy is in fast songs like the killer 'Tetragrammaton', which is in fact more akin to the aforementioned IMMOLATION. Based on the song titles, there is a strong and occult theme in the entire album. I had to play this one many times to sink in it more and more, and it does grow on you… like a curse… like a plague. The cover art for this one piece of occult Death Metal is also pretty much in formation with the main idea, with a greenish like devilish figures rising from the ground and the evil looking logo including of course an inverted pentagram. Also it is me or sometimes this also recalls some of the fury found in South American death metal bands? With a touch of melodic black metal to spice things up…yes, at the end, I can pass the lousy name the band has chosen and put them as one of the top contenders for what real brutal occult Death Metal is all about. Now, please change the dreadful name, add some more variety on the vocals, forget about sounding like your idols, and DO NOT I repeat DO NOT get rid of the obscure melodic interludes... that closing song ‘Eternal Conviction’ does really stand out as the best track here, and it is surely something of the BEST things I have ever heard in that style in my life. If that is any indication of where they are heading, they might reach that dreadful eternity thy are aiming to… www.myspace.com/eternalberserk, www.obscuredomain.com

Julián Núñez

BACK

ETERNAL DARKNESS
Total Darkness (LP)
(Temple Of Darkness Records)

Attention boys and girl, we are talking about something really special here! What do you think if someone talks about Death Metal from Sweden from the early 90s? For sure you'll think about ENTOMBED and ENTOMBED-clones, Sunlight sound and shredding guitars. I have to admit, you are right and I usually think the same, but the situation for ETERNAL DARKNESS is completely different, just because they were different. They didn't sound like ENTOMBED, they were no typical Swedish-sounding band, they didn't have this Sunlight sound and didn't have these shredding guitars. ETERNAL DARKNESS were from the beginning to their end unique. The style they were playing was more Doom Metal than Death Metal, from my point of view total outstanding and if I have to compare them to any band I would say that the closest band their sound was related to could be old CATHEDRAL back to their “Forest Of Equilibrium” days, but if you think CATHEDRAL back in their early days had a sad and depressive sound you don't know anything about this type of music at all. ETERNAL DARKNESS back then reached a level no other band (at least I don't know a comparable band) ever reached. ETERNAL DARKNESS were heavy, dark, sad and negative. Just listen to the songs 'Psychopath' or 'The Island (Of Fear)' and you surely will agree with me. Considering this it was more than the highest time to make their recordings available to a larger audience. Temple Of Darkness Records in collaboration with Morbid Wrath Records decided to release their material (songs from their demos “Ceremony Of Doom”, '90 and “Suffering”, '91, the “Doomed” 7”EP from '92 and from their unreleased MLP “Twilight In The Wilderness”) on vinyl, while Morbid Wrath Records are taking care of the CD version. Don't ask me if there is a difference between the songs on the CD and the vinyl version as I only have the vinyl version so far, but this vinyl is surely a goody. The songs are pressed in white vinyl and packed in a great gatefold sleeve with a morbid looking cover, many bandfotos form their days and include some kind of biography or introduction into the world and lifetime of ETERNAL DARKNESS. The whole recording, doesn't matter if we are talking about the CD or the vinyl version is a must have for all fans who are looking out for one of the saddest and darkest musical experience ever recorded and for sure also a must have for all old school maniacs who have their demos in a tenth-generation copy and who are waiting for this release since ages and now have the possibility to get their faves in a great sound quality. Check out the homepages of the labels for ordering details: For the vinyl version go to www.templeofdarknessrecords.com or www.myspace.com/temple_of_darkness, for the CD-versions check out www.abazagorath.net or www.myspace.com/shrouddeath!

Thomas Ehrmann

BACK

ETERNAL DEFORMITY
Frozen Circus
(Code 666)
42:45min

Dear Elisa of Aural-Music’s promotion department, thank you so much for sending me the promo-CD of that funky little ‘Circus-Metal’ hopefuls called ETERNAL DEFORMITY. Pretty brilliant band-concept, you know, all that circus-imagery, using pseudonyms such as Juggler, Illusionist and so forth. Oh boy, nothing screams ‘METAL’ like these merry-go-round and ‘Hereinspaziert…’- samples. Really refreshing to have some real clowns among all those comedians in the scene that don’t even recognize how laughable they actually are. Only one problem here: the website I’m reviewing this for is called Voices From The Darkside. The name refers to an old song by an American Death Metal band called MORBID ANGEL, maybe you’ve heard the name before. This gives us already a little hint at the kind of sounds we usually review here: Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, car-crashes and frog-noise. That’s why I was asking you for ‘the heavier stuff’, since I really don’t feel comfortable with reviewing that kind of Power / Symphonic / Progressive / Dark or in short – we’re pretty dumb barbarians round here, you know – Poser Metal. I really wish you and ETERNAL DEFORMITY all the best, I’m pretty sure there’s a market for this NIGHTWISH- with- a-shemale- vocalist-thing, at least here in Germany that kind of stuff is pretty popular nowadays. And I honestly believe that your average ‘Rock Hard’ – reader will love this for the technical skills on display, the tight production and all that jazz. Just tell them to change their band-name and logo, way too much Metal, me thinks…Sincerely,

Torsten Gründig

P.S.: Maybe you’re too young to answer this, but wasn’t Code 666 some kind of ‘extreme avantgarde’ label back in the days, you know, NEGURA BUNGET, MANES and stuff? Maybe have another look at www.auralmusic.com

BACK


ETERNAL GRAY
Kindless
(Raven Music / Listenable Records)
45:24min

Well, what a weird thought… I was given the debut CD “Kindless” of Israelian Death Metal fiends ETERNAL GRAY. I was also given a brief information sheet providing a few insights in the band’s background, motives, characteristics. Actually I have a slightly ambivalent feeling toward bandinfos, for I have already had too paradoxical experiences with these orgies of vanity, and the actual material wasn’t that convincing at all. But in terms of a clearly arranged summary of the band’s activities to far such a sheet comes in quite handy. What’s the aforementioned weird thing about the band then? Here we go: ETERNAL GRAY are from Israel. Maybe I am stubborn or perhaps it’s me who’s the one being strange here… but I think it’s a crazy picture that evolves when I imagine the band rehearsing in the Holy Land, the land where so many religiously relevant communities find their roots… the likelihood is quite high that these guys have their rehearsal room somewhere in the desolate desert. In brief - ETERNAL GRAY play mid-tempo based Death Metal that is arranged relatively complex. Their music is a vital fusion of technical guitar-work, mostly straight drumming and a cool usage of various vocal qualities – that is, the vocals fluctuate between old-schoolish Death Metal grunts and kind of psychotic Black Metal-like screams. Let’s stick to the single components of the band’s music separately, and in greater detail. Firstly – the guitars: the guitarists make use of a variety of Metal stylistics. The major characteristic, I can state, are quite swift, melodious, and variable guitar riffs. Chiefly, the guitar-work incorporates Power Metal themes in the vein of NEVERMORE and comparable bands. Certain quotations from the sick and spherical moments MORBID ANGEL have developed and coined can be detected, too. Moreover, the guitars sound explicitly technical and remind me a bit of marvellous bands such as DEATH or CYNIC (check 'World Of Ice' – superb soloing by the way)… but these moments are rather rare on “Kindless”. Every now and then acoustic passages are woven in ETERNAL GRAY’s music as well – this fact underpins my NEVERMORE comparison… merely on a guitar-related basis. The bass-lines do a good job as well – the bassist provides a dense and sort of flowing atmosphere in the background. The guitar / bass work sounds elaborate in combination. The drums are well-produced / very natural and can be assigned to the aforementioned observations concerning the similarities with NEVERMORE: semi-technical drumming basically, a blast-beat every once in a while, heavy grooves, structures that don’t disturb the general flow of the compositions. As mentioned above, the vocals are varied and move between aggressive, old-school Death Metal vocals and those that can rather be denoted as influenced by Black Metal. Generally one can say that “Kindless” is an innovative release, extremely variable, very experimental, utterly creative. The sound is brilliant for an Abyss production I’d say… well, I just don’t like these artificial outputs Peter Tägtgren has made in the recent couple of years. This CD sounds great… maybe because of the fact that Peter’s brother Tommy sorted this production out. Definitely a very powerful, transparent and natural result!!! I especially appreciate its naturalness! The compositions are complex and unconventional. The ideas are cool… however, I sometimes have the feeling that ETERNAL GRAY extend their songs a bit too much and therefore are slightly tedious to listen to. The riffs are cool, but I think they would sound more effective in a more concise and compact context. But hey… that’s my personal taste, and I myself tend to write complex and somewhat contrived music as well ;-) But I play a different kind of music, and in this particular instance, I think, compactness would be supportive to the songs. Nevertheless I enjoy listening to “Kindless” because it definitely is an original and dynamic output. On sale here.

F. Cthulhu E.

BACK


ETERNAL PAIN
Awaiting The Storms
Promotape 2002
(self financed)

This seven song promo cassette is a little taster of things to come... The entire material (which still needs to be mixed properly), plus seven more tunes will be featured on the band's upcoming debut full length album "In Pain We Trust - Relicts For Revenge", to be released at the end of October 2002. ETERNAL PAIN are hailing from Germany and started out in 1996, back then covering a lot of old school Metal classics by RUNNING WILD, SODOM and TANKARD as well as material of the MISFITS. As the years went by they became more and more aggressive sounding, which already leads us to this little tape here. Their current musical direction could easily be described as thrashin' Death Metal or deathly old school Thrash. Unlike many other bands within this genre, ETERNAL PAIN luckily seem to have the necessary feeling for it and never ever sound pathetic or retro. It seems to pay off now that they kind of grew up on and musically worshiped the above mentioned old acts in their early days. So, what you get now is the logical continuation from there, just with matured musicianship and songwriting qualities. Parts of the material remind me on early KREATOR ("Endless Pain" period), but with a more diverse writing style. Certainly not perfect yet, but highly motivated and blessed with the necessary dedication. If you're interested in one of the last few copies of this promo tape, just send 2Euro for postage and packing to: Sven Klaka, Mühlgasse 13a, 63654 Büdingen, Germany, email: Eternal-Pain@gmx.de

Frank Stöver

BACK

ETERNAL PAIN
In Pain We Trust
(self financed)
63:47min

This could have been a really good one, if there wasn’t the disappointing vocalist – musically well-performed and well-produced melodic Death / Thrash, an extremely professional layout and with 16 tracks in over 60 minutes definitely value for money! But the vocals ruin the overall good impression ETERNAL PAIN otherwise leave behind. It might be just a matter of taste, but somehow my ears tell me this guy’s voice is the wrong cast for this type of music – try track No.4 ‘Hail That Day’ and you should understand my critical remark. German ETERNAL PAIN compiled two demo releases on “In Pain We Trust” and on the second half of the CD entitled “Chapter II” one can witness a significant change in the vocal department, but unfortunately not for the better. It’s a pity that ETERNAL PAIN are more or less ruined by this marginal dark spot on their white vest. Judging a singer is always a very subjective thing, so I would not say that no one out there will enjoy this band – visit their website, give ETERNAL PAIN a chance and maybe you can live with the vocalist. Musically the five guys are definitely very strong and deliver a solid slab of melodic, thrashing Death Metal and their musical competence is obvious to me. If there just wasn’t that singer... www.eternalpain.com

Stefan Franke

BACK

ETERNITY
...And The Gruesome Returns With Every Night
(W.T.C. Productions)
47:20min

After ten years of steady activity within the deep realms of the Black Metal underground (in which they managed to release a whole bunch of demos, split releases and Eps already), Germany's ETERNITY are finally delivering their first real full length album now! And even though I personally unfortunately never got my hands on any of those previous outputs, it's safe to say that it was really worth the long wait! "...And The Gruesome Returns With Every Night" turns out to be a fine example of uncompromising Black Metal: it's crushing, blasphemous and hateful, yet blessed with a fitting, strong production (courtesy of Rape Of Harmonies studio) and consists of overall very impressive songmaterial! You can easily hear that these guys have come a long way already, gaining themselves the necessary live- and studio-experience in order to deliver a product of longevity value. The whole disc sounds totally mature and professional in every aspect, without loosing its raw and unpolished feel, offering nine, mostly very long tracks (the longest, 'Verhöhnt', even being 8 and a half minutes). ETERNITY luckily don't follow the footsteps of all those monotonous highspeed Black Metal acts, just to prove how evil they really are, but focus on variable songwriting instead, which enriches the record as a whole a lot more. Lyrically their stuff deals with very misanthropic, genocidal and anti-christian topics (written in German and English), and they certainly have a good, tasteful feel for their own visual presentation as well, as their corpsepaint, spikes and war image never looks silly or ridiculous, but reminds on the glorious days of the first Norwegian wave of Black Metal. So, all in all this is a highly recommendable, very cool debut that you shouldn't miss out on! Label contact: www.w-t-c.org

Frank Stöver

BACK

ETERNITY
Funeral Mass
(Avantgarde Music)
46:29min

Having successfully accomplished a convincing study of FUNERAL MIST's, MARDUK's, DARKTHRONE's and BATHORY's songwriting, ETERNITY ought to be a real snore, for everyone, including new fans to the genre, has surely heard this sort of thing before. However, the key to this album's believablity is that it successfully copied MARDUK, and all the aforementioned bands. Truth be told, the BATHORY influence is only really apparent on the first track, 'Funeral Mass'. By no coincidence, 'Funeral Mass' is the best track on the album. The rest is something MARDUK probably thought to disclude on "Those Of The Unlight" or "Panzer Division". But, because ETERNITY understand this sort of Black Metal so completely, it's hard to dislike their album, though you most likely own several versions of it somewhere in your collection. www.myspace.com/eternityhorde

Nathaniel Shapiro

BACK

ETHER
Depraved, Repressed Feelings
(Sepulchral Productions)
53:56min

Some weeks ago an old friend was celebrating his birthday and we ended up pretty drunken at four o'clock in the night listenig to BURZUM and discussing the magic (or whatever anyone may call it) of this band respectively Black Metal in general. I do not want to bore you with our weird theories, but in my eyes Black Metal is some kind of romantic, because it is able to arouse strong feelings; recently I read an interview with Stephen O'Malley of SUNN O))) where he labelled Black Metal as "psychedelic". When I listened to the debut-album of the canadian band ETHER I was immediatley reminded of that night. ETHER is a one-man project of Scythrawl, known from UNQUINTESSENCE and TRAILS OF ANGUISH. Since informations about the band are pretty rare, I know nothing about the band's concept (all those who dare may visit the myspace of Scythrawl to learn something about the so-called "Heisenberg uncertainty principle" etc.pp), but I know it is genuine (early) BURZUM on this output. Maybe Varg Vikernes is even getting any royalties? No, seriously, just go and play this album and say that it is an unreleased BURZUM-demo, anyone would believe you. So anyone who is not into this very special kind of music should stay away, but all other who still adore the early BURZUM releases and who know that there is more in life than superficial consumption, the hunt for the next big trend, behaving like sheeps, walk in line etc. may get involved with the ETHER. Spooky, twisted, tormenting, archaic, angry, morbid, sepulchral, eerie Balck Metal. www.myspace.com/scythrawl. Label contact: www.sepulchralproductions.com

Mirco Szymyslik

BACK


ETHEREAL WOODS
Kenilworth
(Supernal Music)
38:57min

Kenilworth is a small town in England and next to the castle built in the 12th Century there is so far nothing special to report about this royal place. For ETHEREAL WOODS the castle and the surrounding woods are perfect places / sources of inspiration for their melodic Black Metal and mastermind Mark Britton (also part of the Black Metal Band EXCARNATION) honours this place with his third release. ETHEREAL WOODS play slow, melodic Black Metal, very heavily based on keys, amended by short trips to old British Doom and Death Metal - sometimes the band heavily reminds me of NIGHT CONQUERS DAY one of the lost jewels of US Black Metal. After listening to this release several times I know that this band puts his heart and soul into this record (nice detailed booklet etc.) but I also can’t avoid the feeling that something is missing. The seven tracks offer a nice mixture of the essential parts of the melodic Metal section but unfortunately nothing more. If you are searching  a good album “Kenilworth” should not be completely ignored but currently due to a hell of new releases every week “average means death”. www.supernalmusic.com

Matthias Auch

BACK 

EVEMASTER
MMIV Lacrimae Mundi
(Crash Music)
49:40min

The CD “MMIV Lacrimas Mundi” by the Finnish duo EVEMASTER didn’t exactly catch me with its first sounds. Not too impressive melodic Black Metal blast part right at the beginning. The drums suck in particular. Then their style changes towards melodic Death Metal although you always stumble over typical Black Metal riffs. There’s even a hint of grimness. The vocals suport this impression as well. So it’s getting a lot better. I have to admit I’m getting more and more bored by melodic Death bands because most of them sound just like all the others. It’s not quite that bad with EVEMASTER because they write their own (good) melodies and the arrangements are actually quite a bit above the average. Pretty orchestral, big sounds at times. Some parts are even kind of aggressive as long as the drummer doesn’t try to play the blast. Combined with a hint of Finnish melancholy and the aforementioned occasional “grimness” this makes a cool Metal album which fans of the melodic genre will be pretty fond of. www.evemaster.net. Order it here.

Ramon Claassen

BACK

EVIL / ABIGAIL
Raw Black Thrashing Madness (Split EP)
(Genocide Aesthetics Records)
8:45min

If it comes to Voices From The Darkside there are suitable and more suitable releases but this split EP from two dedicated underground bands which really deserve their cult status is like the hammer to nail Jesus Christ to his wooden crucifix. EVIL from Brazil and ABIGAIL from Japan are friendly connected since years and “Raw Black Thrashing Madness” is a dedication to the old gods of Black / Thrash Metal. The split comes as a gatefold cover with a great artwork and poster and an additional lyrics sheet and is strictly limited to only 400 items and therefore one of the – these days very rare - releases from fans for fans. Music wise the title says everything with two very dirty and Thrash touched Black Metal tracks whereas EVIL's concentration is more on the raw and black part and ABIGAIL with their track 'Hammer Of Damnation' is praising the good old Thrash Metal. In total a small underground diamond, so please don’t hesitate to contact the label via www.myspace.com/genocideaesthetics, www.myspace.com/666abigail, www.myspace.com/evilbm

Matthias Auch

BACK

EVILDOER
Terror Audio
(Scarlet Records)
38:25min

Hearing the name EVILDOER for the first time I thought what a great name for a Metal band! Why did the Metal community have to wait for a band with such a name until 2004? That is the year when some Swedish maniacs got together and started EVILDOER. They just released one demo and now attack with their debut album. And what an attack! The album is called "Terror Audio", need I say more? I guess my neighbour's ears are still bleeding! Most aggressive Thrash / Death Metal, played very fast, at some parts even faster than fast, but as well slow parts, where you can breathe and prepare for the next strike. Really great modern Thrash Metal, unbelievable riffing, sometimes even with a melodic touch, but that only makes the brutal parts sound even more brutal. The vocals are varied from slow growling to aggressive screaming, not that boring one tone singing like so many other Thrash Metal bands. And the sound? Well, even if it would be bad, one should regard this as a killer release, but the sound is very impressive. Clear, transparent, powerful and really brilliant. Sadly I have no information about the members, but they must be active musicians for years, regarding that it took only one year to record such a killer album. Bands like THE HAUNTED or DEFLESHED (both for me the top modern Thrash Metal bands) now have a serious rival. Release was proposed for August 29, 2005, but got cancelled due to business problems. Next one is scheduled for October ’05, now with worldwide distribution, so that the whole globe can go crazy about this masterpiece of modern Thrash Metal. www.evildoer.se You can order the CD here.

Mirco Szymyslik

BACK



EVIL INCARNATE
Blackest Hymns Of God's Disgrace
(Morbid Records)
30:31min

Wow! What a blast! Michael Eisenhower (ex-NUM SKULL) and Co. finally present their official debut album containing half an hour of pure rage and blasphemy. This album is heavy and intense, just the way I like Death Metal. Some of the sound effects remind me of NILE, but apart from that it is real old school what we hear after a short atmospheric intro. The rather short songs are reduced to their basics and that's a good idea, you don't get confused by unnecessary and complicated song structures (which sometimes can be nice, though). I still don't fully understand the lyrics of the opening song 'Satanic Victory' but as Mike assured me he is no Nazi, I'll leave it up to you to interprete that track. Another (less) problematic issue is the fact that this CD is only 30 minutes long - but I'd rather have a short and good record than 70 minutes of boredom! Cool cover, by the way: a red painting on black showing demonic scenes on an inverted cross! Can I get this on vinyl, please?

Ramon Claassen

BACK


EVISCIUM
Underneath The Buried (MCD)
(Still Dead Productions)
29:57min

Listening to this 6 track effort by Pittsburgh's EVISCIUM is another proof to me that we're actually dealing with two different brutal Death Metal scenes... One of them used to be very healthy in the late 80s / early 90s, especially in Finnland and Sweden as well as in several places of the United States, with bands such as CREMATORY (Sweden), ABHORRENCE (Finland), old DISGRACE, old DEMIGOD, FUNEBRE, DERKETA, ROTTREVORE and the likes, while the other one is what we have today, with acts such as DEEDS OF FLESH, CANNIBAL CORPSE, KRISIUN, HATE ETERNAL and so on. Even though I really like a lot of the "new" bands as well, it's still a lot more special to me to put on some classic stuff from the past. FUNEBRARUM was one of the first to come up with this great old style again and now it's EVISCIUM to add some more fuel to the fire with their debut release "Underneath The Buried". If you're familiar with the old ROTTREVORE material, you will definitely like this here as well because EVISCIUM is the logical follow-up to that band, lead by no one else than former ROTTREVORE guitarist / vocalist Mark Mastro! In mid 2000 he teamed up with John Scagline (guitars), a little later to be joined by Jared Altamare (drums) and DERKETA's Sharon Bascovsky (bass). In October 2002 the band recorded their first demo tape, which featured the tracks 'Cannibal Jihad', 'Ripspreader' and 'Unmarked Grave'. This raw recording was already proof enough of the obvious qualities of the band and made Poland's Still Dead Productions sign EVISCIUM right away, with the intention to re-release the material. Unfortunately that never happened, but as all of the demo tracks (remixed, with partly changed vocal parts) as well as three brand new tunes do appear on this mini CD now, everyone should be pleased nevertheless. EVISCIUM easily capture the good old vibe of the classic Death Metal era, which is reflected in deepest grunted vocals, shredding guitars (that almost come across like a chainsaw) and a deadly pounding rhythm section. This overall sheer brutality is blessed with today's technologies, so that the material even comes up with a cool recording quality. All in all this has become a great debut for fans of the good old times, even packaged in a very tasteful, yet morbid vein! All further info you may find at the band's website www.eviscium.com. Label contact: www.stilldead.com

Frank Stöver

BACK

EVOCATION
Tales From The Tomb
(Cyclone Empire)
48:11min

Every pure Death Metal fan will certainly agree that innovation within this style of music is not necessarily needed as long as a band plays their stuff with enough brutality and the right feel for it. Sweden's EVOCATION, who used to release two amazing four-song demos back in 1992 (both were re-issued on CD/LP in 2004 via Breath Of Night Records) obviously took that to heart and returned to the scene after almost 15 years of silence with a surprisingly strong and very self-confident debut full length. Four fifths of the old line-up is back on board again and it seems that their temporarely work in CEMETARY, SUNDOWN and LAKE OF TEARS (luckily) hasn't affected their original style at all. I mean, it's no big secret that musicians who decide to quit playing extreme music at one point in their lives usually loose that particular fire along the way. Not so EVOCATION. It's simply amazing what these guys have musically created after so many years. All of the songs (except for 'Veils Were Blown') are brandnew and even more convincing than the already excellent demo material. This is Swedish Death Metal in perfection: great musicianship, the typical down-tuned guitarsound, simplicity in the writing, mixed with a very brutal, yet clearly understandable voice and even a healthy dose of catchiness (guitar melodies, choruses etc.) and on top of it an awesome cover of ENTOMBED's 'But Life Goes On'. If someone would've played this record to me without letting me know who it is and when it was recorded, I definitely would have guessed of something from the early 90s. So, in case you lost your interest in ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER, GRAVE and all the other Swedish acts that established this so-called "Sunlight" sound way back, make sure to get yourself a copy of this one instead for it is a lot closer to classic NIHILIST / early ENTOMBED than anything else I've heard in years. A killer Dan Seagrave coverart and a very cool bandlogo complete the overall great impression. So, to me "Tales From The Tomb" is definitely the best Swedish Death Metal debut ever since "Left Hand Path" and I'm certainly not kidding here, folks! Release date: April 27, 2007. For all further info check out www.evocation.se or the label's website www.cyclone-empire.com.

Frank Stöver

BACK

EVOCATION
Dead Calm Chaos
(Cyclone Empire)
44:12min

The expectations had been more than just high and honestly speaking demanded the whole Death Metal scene nothing less than a further masterpiece from not one but the Swedish Death Metal hope EVOCATION. And yes they conquered again so easily the Death Metal throne that I’m more than just surprised. Since their debut “Tales From The Tomb” there had been a lot of great releases but still is EVOCATION's second strike a step ahead and without doubt the Death Metal release of the year. The album starts with the atmospheric guitar intro ‘In The Reign Of Chaos’ and it’s the last fading ray of light before the song ‘Silence Sleep‘ is taking no victims, a traditional oldschool Death Metal song and even if we are talking about the first song of “Dead Calm Chaos”  all main trademarks can be found. First of all the crystal clear sound, secondly the pure aggression mixed with the so essential solos and the most important fact the traditional 90s feeling transferred into 2008. The next song ‘Angel of Torment’ is supported by AT THE GATES madman Anders Björler and sound wise more in direction of old SACRILEGE and definitely a song for the coming live set. Could write in detail about every song for example the title track which is an incarnation of the world DEATH Metal and an example for all this NU Metal bands how easily you could combine melody with the purest form of aggression (I can nearly feel the pain in my neck when I listen to this song). Next to Mr. AT THE GATES the band also invited Dan Swanö (BLOODBATH / EDGE OF SANITY) for a small contribution to ‘Dead Calm Chaos’ and ‘Antidote’ is offering one of his great solos. So what is left to say after 12 songs maybe that there are only a few days to go before the hungry crowd can get their hands on this masterpiece and that there are a lot of good releases but only some which are worth to be called essential – and “Dead Calm Chaos” is definitely such a release. www.cyclone-empire.com, www.evocation.se

Matthias Auch

BACK


EVOKEN
Quietus
(Dwell Records)
63:27min

After millions (well, almost...) of tribute albums, the California based Dwell label finally comes up with another new "real" release. And what a tough one... This seven song record by Americas EVOKEN lasts about an hour – but to me it somehow seemed three (or more) times longer! The band delivers incredibly slow, ultra Doom / Death with almost no variety when it comes to tempo changes. Everything gets performed quite menacing sounding, in an almost monotonous way, partly with some early MY DYING BRIDE – like cello parts, but never to the friendly extent that it would prevent depressed people from committing suicide. This is more like the ultimate soundtrack to Armageddon! Really heavy and extremely one dimensional! Not my cup of coffee at all, but Doom Metal die hards who don't mind deep grunted vocals should maybe give it a listen. You can order it here.

Frank Stöver

BACK


EVOHE
Tellus Mater
(Oaken Shield / Adipocere Records)
45:15min

I regard the French Black Metal scene as the healthiest next to the Scandinavian one (and yes, I found the former better than the latter, to tell you the entire truth), and latest works by acts like MALLEUS MALEFICARUM, VOCIFERIAN, DEATHSPELL OMEGA, SPEKTR, HAEMOTH (to cite few examples) give proof enough of that. Well, you can add EVOHE to the list of bands to check out, because “Tellus Mater”, their first full length, offers a lot in term of inspired musicianship. Indeed, what you can find here is a classic Black Metal feast, remarkably produced (no “authentic” shitty sound here!), not groundbreaking mind you, but performed with a concern for quality. Even the cool and original moniker and layout (at last, no goat nor pentagram on the front cover, what a relief!) add a good flavour to the music and bring forth something fresh. A strong point in favour of this four-piece is the fact they don’t rely exclusively on fast and in the end boring pace (even if fast passages are numerous here), but are prone to explore various atmospheres, reaching sometimes the domain a legendary band like BETHLEHEM is renowned for. The vocals are shrieky as usual for this type of music, but sometimes a cavernous voice comes to add interesting variations. The overall atmosphere is of course all doom and gloom, and the songs are composed with class. It is always difficult to describe a very good album, because it is better to let the music do the talking. To me, “Tellus Mater” is an off-the-beaten path offering because even if the music may sound familiar in the first place, an attentive listening shows a lot of never-heard-before details that give the band an unusual sound signature and a strong personality, an exploit worth to mention within the boundaries of a very codified genre like Black Metal. And all this without using easy and cheap tricks like keyboards and ethereal voices, but in keeping a powerful and brutal identity, I insist on that. So if you look for a classic yet special band, check out EVOHE without delay! A very good surprise indeed! http://www.adipocere.fr. Go here to order a copy.

Edouard Vergriete

BACK

EWIGES REICH
Krieg, Hass, Tod
(Perverted Taste)
35:32min

This is the fourth full-length album of EWIGES REICH from Kassel (Germany). We get what I call typical German Black Metal, music which is floating through the ears without leaving anything remarkable. The problem is that this could also be album number 1 or number 10 from band XY, it somehow all sounds the same, be it the guitars, the drums or the vocals, there is nothing extreme within this music. "Where are the emotions, where is the mysticism, possession and darkness?" I ask myself over and over again while listening to this album. Of course "Krieg, Hass, Tod" is not a completely bad release, it has nevertheless its nice moments, but those are too small in their number to be satisfied with and to give this a soul. Just one among many... ewigesreich@gmx.de, www.pervertedtaste.de

Andi Bauer

BACK

EXCITER
The New Testament
(Osmose Productions)
66:04min

We survived the retro-mania, we passed through the reformation-mania, now we face the “record from scratch”-mania. JAG PANZER did that not so long ago (as ICED EARTH and GAMMA RAY it seems, but I don’t care about these last two anyway), and now it is the turn of EXCITER to come up with new versions of old classics. The result? As you can guess, this disc leaves a foul aftertaste. I don’t see the point of touching already perfect tracks (despite the imperfections that precisely made them unforgettable). No offence to the (volatile) vocalist Jacques Bélanger, but he is not Dan Beehler for sure. And maybe he has jumped into boots too large for him in the first place, trying to sing on classic songs every self respecting Metalheads knows by heart. Jacques is a good singer as it is obvious on the two excellent and underrated albums EXCITER did for Osmose until now (“The Dark Command” and “Blood Of Tyrants”), but he can’t make it when he sings on material not composed for and by him. Believe me, it is awkward to listen to 'Stand Up And Fight' and 'Violence And Force' in their 2004 format. The question of the sound quality put aside, the “revamped” and “enhanced” (in the mind of the present band members at least) old tracks appears here banal and ravaged. EXCITER have always played a linear form of basic Heavy Metal, but the frenzied Beehler vocal delivery as well as the tortured soloing of John Ricci made the difference. Strip down these two elements and only the linearity prevails for the most boring and annoying effect. And so it is: throughout this CD, the band give the impression they run down a set list like it is a job to be done with competence but without caring too much for it. Not surprisingly, the band sound at their best on the 5 Bélanger-era tracks (out of 15 in total). The rest of the tracks come out of such classics albums we all know so well (“Heavy Metal Maniac” (4), “Violence And Force”(2), “Long Live The Loud”(3) and “Kill After Kill”(1). Like I said, John Ricci appears like the shadow of himself, he has sort of tamed down his guitar playing; less dirty than before I’d say. If this album should give a lesson, it could be this one: let the past bury the past. So in the end an unwise move in the EXCITER’s camp and then I can’t recommend this album to you. On sale here.

Edouard Vergriete

BACK


EXCITER
Thrash Speed Burn
(Massacre Records)
45:38min

I’m not really sure what made me buy this LP. Was it the attractive title written in exactly the same style as their famous logo, or nostalgia for those times when EXCITER was at the forefront of then just upcoming Thrash / Speed invasion and could compete with SLAYER for the last slot on the bill, or maybe sheer respect for their legendary legacy and hope to see them regaining their past glory one day… I don’t know. But I’ve bought the record anyway and have never regretted it. “Thrash Speed Burn” is EXCITER the way it should have always been. When you hear raw aggressive power breaking out of every single groove of the spinning record, feel the heaviness of this music with all your entrails and are able to tell this guitar sound from the thousand of guitar sounds – well, you know what that means: EXCITER is back! It may sound funny for the band whose career began almost 30 years ago, but this album seems to have “make it or break it” stamp all over it. And I’m really happy to declare that John and friends really “made it” this time, regardless of what the sales figures may tell. Everything here is worked out to perfection, even such insignificant at the first glance thing as the order of songs: the album starts with heavy pounding, fast thrashing killer 'Mountain Madness', have close to perfect flow throughout all the album and ends with a bit more melodic than the rest, but just as heavy 'Rot The Devil King' which leaves you literally crying for more. Ehh, excuse me, have I just said “flow” about this music? No, it isn’t flowing really, it’s rather crushing ahead like some heavy tank going berserk. But right then enters Charles Fairfield, who produced and engineered this awesome album. Just like a skilled animal trainer, he didn’t try to tame his performers' wild and savage nature, but rather managed to drive it in the right direction, having kept it under strict control all the time. According to John Ricci, “Thrash Speed Burn” is the band’s first album recorded with the digital production, although despite it’s digital origins this one, just like any other great EXCITER album, should be enjoyed in analogue, on good old vinyl. Especially as Massacre didn’t cheap out on it and pressed “Thrash Speed Burn” on high quality vinyl which sounds marvellously and is really hard to bend. Yeah, just like Metal veteran John Ricci himself! The man, who didn’t bend down under numerous blows of merciless fate and bad luck strikes, survived them all and up to this day is standing strong and faithful to his cause, forging Metal to be proud of. “Thrash Speed Burn” is not just another EXCITER masterpiece, it must be something more for John personally: the statement, the proof, the rehabilitation. Bravo, Mr.Ricci! My main (or should I say “only”?) complaint would be about 'Evil Omen', where the same lyrics repeat way too often. Someone may find it hypnotizing, but for me it’s just plain boring. Then John’s solos, which are very special entities as well. At first it may seem that man just can’t play the solo to save his life, but that’s wrong impression. The truth is his solos somehow are more about their sound and feelings in general rather than actual notes played. But what about another one, extremely delicate subject when it comes to EXCITER stuff – the vocals? It was evident that hopeless “New Testament” project was doomed to fail even for the lack of charismatic voice of Dan Beehler alone, so current EXCITER frontman Kenny Winter had not an easy task, or better said challenge in front of him. To his credit, he turned out to be wise enough not to try cloning Dan (hopeless adventure anyway) and his own voice with blood-freezing shrieks fitted the band’s style really well. What style? Well, if you can't live without classifying and labeling everything left and right, here you are: it's pure "Metal a-la EXCITER", will that do? Ask for your share at: www.massacre-records.com.

Timothy Dovgy

BACK