Seidr/Winter Fire/Flenser Records/2011 CD Review

 Seidr are a band from Kentucky that mixes black metal with atmospheric doom/death metal and this is a review of their 2011 album "Winter Fire" which was released by Flenser Records.

Drums are mostly slow playing with not much in the way of fast drumming or blast beats, while the bass playing has a very dark tone that is mixed down low in the mix and seems to follow the riffing that is coming out of the guitars and at times they sound very powerful with some slow heavy doomy riffs.

Rhythm guitars are mostly slow doom/death metal riffs with some melodies that are also influenced by black metal with some of the softer riffing having an ambient feel to them, while the lead guitars are very melodic sounding, as for the acoustic guitars when they are utilized they bring a folk music feel to the music.

Vocals are mostly deep death/doom growls with some black metal being thrown in at times in the higher pitched growls with some clean singing being used on one song, while the lyrics cover Norse Paganism, Nature, Cosmos, Stars, Folklore, and Memory, as for the production it has a very heavy and professional sound to it.

In my opinion Seidr are a very good black/doom/death metal band and if you are a fan of bands that mix these styles together, you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "On The Shoulders Of The Gods" "In The Ashes" and "A Gaze At The Stars". RECOMMENDED BUY.

http://www.myspace.com/seidrdoom

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Seidr/167176866665923

Dimentianon/Collapse The Void/Paragon Records/2010 CD Review

  Dimentianon are a band from New York that plays a style of black metal that also takes influences from doom, death, ambient and progressive music and this is a review of their 2010 album "Collapse The Void" which will be released by Paragon Records.

Drums cover a lot of different ground with some slow to mid paced beats mixed in with a good amount of fast drumming and brutal blast beats, while the keyboards bring in a good amount of atmospheric, progressive and symphonic elements to the music, as for the bass playing it has a very dark and progressive sound that contains a lot of strength and depth.

Rhythm guitars mix fast melodic black metal riffs with some doom metal riffs that also contain a brutal death metal edge as well as progressive parts mixed in with some thrash influences, while the lead guitars have a very dark progressive death metal feel to them mixed in with a lot of different influences from many different styles of metal.

Vocals are high pitched black metal screams that also take influences from classic metal with some deep growls being used at times mixed in with a small amount of clean sung female vocals., while the lyrics cover everyday life type of themes, as for the production it sounds very professional and you can hear all of the musical instruments that are present on this recording.

In my opinion Dimentianon are a very original band that should appeal to all fans of melodic black metal as well as symphonic black metal. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Breathe Deep" and "All Goods Things End". RECOMMENDED BUY.

http://www.myspace.com/dimentianon

http://www.dimentianon.com

Ophthalamia/To Elishia/Necropolis Records/1996 CD Review

  Ophthalamia are a band from Sweden that was another one of IT's projects and they played a style that I would describe as being a mixture of black metal and doom metal, and this is a review of their 1996 album "To Elishia" which was a reissue of all their demos and this album come out in 1996.

Drums are mostly slow and mid paced on this recording with only a small amount of fast playing or blast beats with the exception of their cover of Mayhem;s "Deatcrush", as for the keyboards when they are used they have a 70's metal vibe to them, as for the bass playing it has a very dark and heavy sound mixed in with a primal edge.

Rhythm guitars are mostly slow riffs that mix black metal, doom metal and 70's metal together and since these are demo songs they sound more primal than the full length albums that came out later and there is a little bit of some fast playing, while the lead guitars have a very melodic and doomy feel to them.

Vocals are a mixture between high pitched black metal screams and deep death metal growls mixed in with a little bit of clean singing male and female vocals, while the lyrics are written in a mixture of English and Swedish that cover some depressing themes and also seem to have a mythology of their own, as for the production it has a very raw demo sound to it.

In my opinion Ophthalamia where a very original band for there time and if you interested in hearing the roots of black/doom metal you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "A Lonely Ceremony/The Eternal Walk" "Enter The Darkest Thoughts Of The Chosen/Agony's Silent Paradise" and "Sacrifice" which is a Bathory cover.  RECOMMENDED  BUY>

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Ophthalamia/4874

Auroch/Stranger Aeons/2010 CD Review

  Auroch are a band from Vancouver, B.C, Canada that plays mixture of death,black, thrash and progressive metal and this is a review of their self released 2011 album "Stranger Aeons".

Drums range from slow, mid paced to fast drumming with a good amount of blast beats being thrown in at times, while the bass playing has a very dark tone with riffs that follow the riffing that is coming out of the guitars and at times they sound very powerful.

Rhythm guitars range from slow, mid paced to fast riffing that combines death, black, thrash, power and progressive metal together with a great amount of melody being thrown in at times and on one song there is some brief slow soft playing that brings a more darkened edge to the music, while the lead guitars are very progressive and melodic sounding guitar solos.

Vocals range from deep black/death metal growls and screams to clean singing power metal vocals with some occasional spoken word ritualistic passages, while the lyrics cover Occultism, Darkness and Egyptian Mythology, as for the production it has a very powerful and heavy sound to it.

In my opinion Auroch are a very talented and original band that combines black metal with death, thrash and power metal and if you are looking for a band that mixes these styles together, you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Acoyte" "Osiris" "Black Art Ritual" and "Haunter Of Darkness". RECOMMENDED BUY.

http://auroch1.bandcamp.com/track/astral-king

Escape From Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?




ESCAPE FROM was formed in December 2005. Till now we have recorded two materials - promo CD entitled “Ciemna Strona Duszy” released in December 2007 and EP “Opętani Okrucieństwem” released in October 2009. At the end of this year we are going to record our first full length which will be entitled “Architekci Apokalipsy”. The actual line-up is: Ghoc – vocals, Chunk – guitar, Urgul – guitar, Wolish – bass and Seeg – Drums.




2. How would you describe the musical sound that was presented on the current demo and how it differs from the previous demo?




Tracks from Promo 2007 were pure metalcore. After this release the band completely changed its style. Tunes from EP 2009 are much more death metal oriented. We wanted to play faster, more aggressive. When we were releasing „Opetani Okrucienswtem” we described our music as blackened death metal but… now I think it was not the best description. We mix a lot of styles in our music, so I think it would be better to describe it as extreme metal. Yeah, definitely. It’s much more wide term than death metal, black metal, etc.




3. What are some of the lyrical topics and concepts that the band explores on the demo?




Ghoc is responsible for the lyrics, so I think I’m not the right person to talk about them. All I can say is that they are about pathologies, the dark side of human nature. They’re antichristian in some way, too I think. All the lyrics are Polish written but everybody could find their English translation on our myspace in blog section. So, check them out.




4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?




It’s very simple – the band is our asylum. It’s our escape from all this shit that surrounds us. All these stupid people, real life problems, you know… On stage all that really matters is our music, our fans and nothing more.




5. Has the band had any opportunities to do live shows, if so what are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?




Yeah, of course. We played a lot of gigs so far but it’s very hard to point out the best ones. We have played in small pubs, big pubs, open air, in front of 20 people, 300 people and so on. Every gig is different and every is important for us. We always play at 100% of our abilities, try to show people our energy and passion. I think it works. We have great feedback after every show no matter if we play for 20 or 1000 people. It’s great! We just love to play live!




6. Do you have any touring plans for the future?




Yes. We’ll play on IX Festiwal Mocnych Brzmien with HATE, LOST SOUL and some other great bands on 30th July. We are going to play next mini tour this fall but we can’t tell any specific dates or places. We got some great propositions, we’ll see what future will bring.




7. Have you received any label interest yet for the demo?




Yeah, but they are rather very small labels. We are not sure if we are interested in such collaboration. We just don’t want a label that do for us less than we could do ourselves. We have an internet era, so a lot of things bands could do alone… yeah, it’s not so easy and it’s really hard work but it’s worth it. Apart from writing great music promoting the band is our primary goal. If someone can’t do more than we could do by ourselves – we are not interested.




8. Are there any side projects besides this band or is this a full time line up?




It’s full time line-up. We are not interested in any side projects. ESCAPE FROM is our priority and it won’t change I think.




10. What direction do you see the music heading into during the future?




It’s hard to say. Metal music develops all the time. Twenty years ago there were only a few genres like death metal, black metal, thrash metal. Today we have metalcore, deathcore, industrial metal, gothicmetal, groove metal, etc. It’s great! I think that after all the future of music is… industrial… but who really knows?! haha




11. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?




We are listening to a lot of stuff nowadays. We are open minded, we listens to rock, industrial, blues, ambient, movie scores, etc… oh, and metal of course, hahaha. All music that is ambitious is worth to check it out no matter if it’s metal or not I think.

I can’t point out any specific bands that influenced our music. Yeah, sure, someone could tell that we are a copy of Behemoth. We love this band, it’s for sure, but we don’t copy them... we don’t copy anybody! We play on the same scales so the music could sound similar in some places to Behemoth but not the same. It’s like saying that Melechesh copies Behemoth, you know. The process of composing music is very natural in our case. We are playing what we think sounds good. We don’t assume: this time we will compose a track in Nile style. No, no, it doesn’t work this way, haha.




12. Does Occultism play any role in your music?




No, definitely it does not.




13. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?




Thank you for your interes and support. It was great to answer your questions. Greetings for you and all our fans. Check out our website: http://www.myspace.com/escapefrom666 and download our EP for free: http://lix.in/-5fef15

See you on some gigs!




STAY BRUTAL!

Alastis/The Other Side/Century Media Records/1997 CD Review

 Alastis are a band from Switzerland that plays an atmospheric form of  black/doom/death and this is a review of their classic 1997 album "The Other Side" which was released by Century Media Records.

Drums are mostly slow drumming with no fast playing or blast beats and there is some percussion being used at times, while the computers have a very dark and atmospheric sound, as for the bass playing it is all rhythm bass that follows the riffs coming out of the guitars and you can hear the instrument a lot on this album.

Rhythm guitars are all slow to mid paced riffs that have a lot of melody and mix black metal and doom metal together mixed in with a little bit of industrial and thrash influences, lead guitars when they are used on this album sound very melodic and sad also at times there is a lot of guitar synth that makes the music sound very dark and atmospheric and at times there are some acoustic guitars that gives the music a depressive feel.

Vocals are deep growls that are very east to understand with some spoken word passages while the lyrics are very philosophical and poetic with somewhat of an anti Christian theme, as for the production on this recording which was recorded and mixed at Woodhouse Studios in Hagen, Germany during December of 1996 sounds very professional and you can hear all of the musical instruments that are present on this album.

In my opinion Alastis where a very good band and if you are a fan of atmospheric black/doom/death metal you should check this band out and they also had connections with Samael who are also from the same country.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "In Darkness" "The Other Side" and "Slaves Of Rot". RECOMMENDED BUY.

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Alastis/532

Escape From/Openti Okrucienst/2009 EP Review

  Escape From are a band from Poland that plays blackened death metal and this is a review of their self released 2009 demo "Openti Okrucienst".

Drums range from mid paced to fast drumming with a great amount of blast beats being thrown in, while the bass playing has a very dark tone with riffs that follow the riffing that comes out of the guitars and at times they sound very powerful.

Rhythm guitars range from mid paced to fast death metal riffs that are technical at times and also contain some black metal influences and there are little to no guitar solos or leads present on this recording.

Vocals are mostly deep death metal growls with some high pitched screams being thrown in at times and on one song there are clean vocals being used briefly, while the lyrics are written in Polish and cover dark themes, as for the production it sounds very powerful, heavy and professional sounding for a demo.

In my opinion Escape From are a very good and brutal sounding blackened death metal band and if you are a fan of this style, you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Urodzona, by byc glawcona" and "Seszon kosmarow". RECOMMENDED BUY.

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