Whispering Woods-Perditus Et Dea (2015)

"Perditus Et Dea" truly contains pieces of musical genius and creativity. It also sparks a question many other bands trigger. What is Metal? I remember being in a car with a friend listening Nightwish in 2001, she said to me: if any person not familiarized with metal, listens from here on (after the vocals I don´t remember which song) would swear this is classical and not metal music. Whispering Woods, in a way, possess the same vein of musical expression but in a dark and more sinister direction. While being metal, many of their songs are full of feeling and emotion, orchestration and arrangements; soprano's vocals blessing the whole picture. It´s not that metal is cold music for mass murderers. Quite the contrary, Whispering Woods is one of the bands that stands out and proves that metal is an open forum of expression, not limited by closed-mindedness or stereotypes (ok, maybe there are a few exceptions), and that, musically, it is a space for geniuses to flow. That doesn´t seem to speak much of the album, so let´s get on with it, and hope that I may get my point clear. This album is full of feeling and emotions. As a whole, the concept really states that metal is a form of open and obscure expression. I hope I make my point clear by saying that metal bands incorporate elements such as Flute, Keyboards and Sopranos giving metal a more elaborate and complex prism of musical creation. So, is this metal? Yes, it is music, it is metal.
facebook.com/WhisperingWoodsBand
pestrecords.ucoz.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Devangelic-Phlegethon (2017)

Brutal/technical death metal.  Heavy riffs with intermingling technicalities, the production clarity puts a nice sheen on the instruments, bringing the thundering snare drum to life and giving the guitars a noise-free, crisp distortion that ensures the plethora of guitar notes sound just as clean picked as they actually are. The blasting drum beats and crushing guitar play well off of each other, leaving the blood pumping bass to tie everything together into a smoother presentation. Good audio quality really immerses the listener in the experience, and catchy grooves make sure that the listener stays captivated. Another interesting release of 2017.
devangelic.com
facebook.com/devangelic.official
comatosemusic.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Khazaddum-Plagues Upon Arda (2017)

Khazaddum attacks once again, it sounds more complete and more visceral while executing it more elegantly. Standardly written death metal, morphed into a grisly, ferocious beast. This album’s darker and more thought-out. Savage Riffs, bass is warmer and burlier, the double bass is non-stop, and the tone makes it addicting. Luka’s vocals are brutal as fuck. Each song contains immense, turbulent rhythms, chaotic leads, and epic riffing. The pace is almost always fast throughout the album, but the best is made up of those mid-paced breaks akin to thrash breaks which opt for a catchier style. Either works for Khazaddum and here they’re able to play it both ways while keeping it consistent and memorable. The drumming modifies its patterns during these times into something more flowing, of course, and that’s something I prefer to any blast beats. Truly an epic example of superior musicanship. Excellent job on this album. Any Death metal fan needs to hear this album or buy it, also for any fan of Lord of the Rings as well. Hail to metal !!
facebook.com/khazaddumband
khazaddumband.bandcamp.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Alliance for Death Domination split Cd (2017)

This split Cd came from Spain featuring two important powerful old school Death metal bands. Karonte plays an extremely fast, intense, high-octane brand of death metal, featuring some of the most mind blowingly fast and precise drumming, each and every track is 100% solid death metal. This is a prime example of how death metal should be done, with many memorable moments, some very fast growls reminiscent of Cannibal Corpse's George Fisher. This is a true masterclass in the art of death metal music, and deserves a listen from everyone.
Bloody Brotherhood is an unholy orgy of double bass and blastbeat drumming, with superb with flashy guitar work. The tempo varies from lightning fast to fast, the very few slow passages in the songs are used only to emphasise the head crushing speed of the rest of the music. This is the kind of band that makes you bang your head like a lunatic, this vocal style matches the music perfectly. This is a good explanation of the band so all metalheads can know what this band is all about. Death Metal to the bone !!
karonte.info
facebook.com/bloodybrotherhood
facebook.com/deadsheepproductions
Review by Paul Caravasi

Anger Tears-Censored (2016)

This is a compilation of early demos of the band from 1992-93'. This re issue is from 2016. Anger Tears is a band from Spain, what we have here is a fusion of thrash and Heavy Metal. A crash of waves exploding into a hyperspeed riff fest. Chorus vocals and sufficient riffing are replete with thrash, but the underlying melody has a distinct heavy vibe to it. Anger Tears kick your ass not merely with riffs and solos, but with thick bass and plenty of melody! is a damn catchy album!, excellent guitar work. In the end what we have is healthy mixture of thrash with related, complimenting musical styles that give the band a new energy. It is fairly memorable and worth a few spins. Reccomended.
facebook.com/deadsheepproductions
deadsheepproductions.es
Review by Paul Caravasi

Epidemic-Malformed Conscience (2017)

In this era of Metal, the bands are experimenting with a lot of influences. Due to this bad development, I was looking for angry sounds. I'm glad to discover bands like Epidemic. And it's no disadvantage. Their music is a fresh breeze. Armed with a reliable sense for catchiness, Epidemic offers a  hard musical approach, flowing riffs contrasted with the extremely raw voice and definitely not afraid of explicit lyrics. Epidemic commuted between stomping mid-tempo numbers and fast-paced pieces. Generally speaking, a bunch of fantastic neckbreakers, for example “Losing Time” or “Hatred”, shined with their dynamic. Vocalist/Guitar player Adam is here to demonstrate his very bad mood and to evoke emotions like hatred and hostility. Following this line, he did a good job. His vocal performance did not lack of aggression or vigor. The constantly high level of the tunes is remarkable. Good tracks with some hardcore breakdowns but still thrashy!
facebook.com/theplaguebegins13
horrorpaingoredeath.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Bereft of Light-Hoinar (2017)

This one man solo project has many good points to it. The drumming, while less on the doom metal side and more on the Black metal side. The guitar riffs are cool, raw, and melancholy, they sound very melancholy, dark, and very fitting of the atmosphere. Growls are good. Needless to say, this is a good starting point for anyone who wants to get into Bereft of Light.
facebook.com/Bereft-Of-Light-2283859621840073
loudragemusic.com
pestrecords.ucoz.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Ordinul Negru-Sorcery of Darkness (2015)

Melting the Black metal they are well-known for with Doom influences, this Cd only consists in the dark, depressive Black metal. Sure, joyful it is not, this effort never fall into sleep-inducing monotony, the band has noticeably sped up with some slow, creeping, slightly down-tuned doom riffs, and a deep and discouraged voice, and poetically sick lyrics. This Cd has really to be listened to as a whole, is part of the general dark, and almost MORBID, atmosphere on each song. With this release the band's future looks very gloomy. What, for this band, means of course it looks bright.
facebook.com/ordinulnegru
loudragemusic.com
pestrecords.ucoz.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Descend Into despair-Synaptic Veil (2017)

Straight-up pure doom metal from Romania. An overall strong and worthy addition to the metal scene and an important influence on heavy music, excellent vocals perfectly accompany the dense atmosphere and depressing motifs of this killer band. The album takes hold of the listener, keeps them down amidst a sea of woe, the gloomy atmosphere of the guitar work is superb, it produces a startling effect, triumphantly melodies that is as catchy as it is sad and brutal at the same time, desperate whisper compelling and dark. The overall sound of Synaptic Veil is not what one would classify “heavy metal.” The snail-paced, death-influenced doom is definitely here. Descend into despair play a sort of mid-tempo shoegaze style here⎯with heavier guitars and drums, for fans of depressing music, doom metal or no, it’s hard to argue with the shear emotive and oppressive power of this record. Killer record from start to finish!!
facebook.com/descendintodespairband
loudragemusic.com
pestrecords.ucoz.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Gothic-Demons (2017)

Musically speaking, probably is the closest representation to the melodic metal sound. It basically contains 60% of the modern, more "alternative" sound and the 40% remaining is melodic death metal. The guitars are extremely well played and effective throughout. The melodic riffs dance around a barrage of drums and a mixture of harsh and clean vocals quite nicely, most of the song is still preformed with harsh vocals. All of these songs are catchy but that really doesn't degrade the musical quality. There are a lot of mellow moments on the album as well, although this album musically is well done there aren't any death growls on here to point out, instead, just a common screaming technique used in most modern melodic death metal albums but the album still sounds solid overall.

facebook.com/Gothic.Romania

pestrecords.ucoz.com

Review by Paul Caravasi

Blutrina-Looney Fucking Grind (2017)

This release is unlike any other grindcore album that I've heard. Since this is the first album I've listened to from this bandfrom Romania. I have to say they have a very creative imagination with the brutal edge they deliver.  It has some very strong areas and of course like any other release from any band it has to have at least 1 or 2 weak points. A good aspect of this album is the fact that, although it may sound repetitive at most points (which is usually the case with most grindcore acts), it never fails to aspire creativity and originality in a genre that by most people's standards don't expect much from. Another great thing about this release are the shredding riffs that are found scattered throughout the whole thing not to mention all the weird sampling they evoke in every song (Audio samples taken from Looney tunes, Family guy, Cow and chicken), everything else here is heavy as fuck. The album is very subtle and it's probably only worth the listen just for the dynamic guitar and drum work other than that you can either like it or hate it. Personally I think it kicks ass so if you're a fan of grind and are seeking a new twist to this genre consider picking up this album sometime
facebook.com/Blutrina
pestrecords.ucoz.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Prezir-Contempt ( EP 2017)

This is pure well-constructed brutal Black/death metal for excellence. The feeling of clandestine, slowly emerging catastrophe is a trademark of this band. Their sound? crawling riffs and bestial drumming delivering a death metal motif with songs that sound like the musical accompaniment to the Angels of the apocalypse marching towards sinners to be deposited in the pits of Hell.  Again boasting a vicious sound job proving their place among death metal’s deadliest here. These maniacs deliver a fully demonic performance perfectly attuned to the band's occult lyrics. Brilliant riffs and flashes of genius in the solos delivered along with demented vocals, it is refreshing to hear another new project answer the challenge in the underground metal scene. Contempt is a true flawless masterpiece!!
facebook.com/Prezir
prezir.bandcamp.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Scalpel-Methods to Delusion (2017)

American death metal has never really been known for having too much in the ways of frills, lots of melody, and any remorse. It’s all business and no messing around, especially with Scalpel  and their latest record entitled "Methods to Delusion", and this is their chance to prove to their fans and prospective fans what they are made of. Was this album of an amount of quality that astonished me? Yes, once you hear it, cannot ignore its aggression and energy. An album containing a ridiculous amount of blasting sections and the most dissonant collection of riffs that I have heard in a long time. There are a lot of riffs and structures straight out of the Cannibal Corpse playbook. From one blast beat to the next, Drummer just annihilates his kit with a relentless ferocity like that of a mad-man. Everyone else in the band follows suit with their frantic riffs that are strung together and complex. I must admire the astute ferocity at which Scalpel plays at. They are the sort of songs that can get crowds whipped up into a moshing frenzy in a live setting and they are the definite tone-setter for this album. I just love the demented and deranged quality that wafts off of these songs. No matter what song you listen to, you are going to get your share of madness. This is for those who enjoy nothing but slamming brutal death metal.
 www.scalpel.us
facebook.com/Scalpelofficial
Review by Paul Caravasi

Soul Remnants-Ouroboros (2017)

This release still features some faster death metal elements from the past as well as the twin guitar leads and a versatile vocal performance somewhere between slightly restrained growling, slightly experimental performances inspired by different Thrash, Death and why not Black metal for moments. The album also is filled with extremely brutal orientated choruses.The choruses on this album are extremely strong and probably among the very best in the band's entire career. The drumming is amazing as well the riffs, the band is more extreme metal orientated side, no matter what you think about the band's new sounds, this album will kick your ass. The verses are fast, powerful and unchained concerning both the energizing riffs, the pitiless rhythm section and the wild vocals. The choruses comes around with beautiful guitar harmonies and some soloing just after the vocal part. The rhythm section grooves in an enjoyable way and never gets too sluggish. The vocals are raw-emotional and to the point. Other than incredibly catchy offerings, you get to hear a balanced mixture of powerful melodic death metal. If we look at this release in a good way, this is probably a reconciliatory record for both metalheads fans of the early days in metal and the contemporary phase. On this record, both worlds harmoniously collide in almost equal parts. Otherwise, the songs writing and some incredibly catchy choruses make this album stand out as a high quality release in the band's discography. This release doesn't include any fillers and only above average to excellent songs. This album may not be as revolutionary but it's definitely a highlight in the band's career that both old and new fans should know and own. Great work on this one !
www.soulremnants.com
facebook.com/SoulRemnants
Review by Paul Caravasi

Oblivion-Cyclogenesis Songs for Armageddon (2016)

A compilation of their material was a good idea for Oblivion; it features their older songs During the 90s, Oblivion was totally and completely absent from the thrash metal scene. Then in 2011, their spirit held together and resurrected itself. So, they surprisingly decided to rejoin as a band with three founding members and put out this killer material. This filled loyal fans as myself with immense satisfaction. As mentioned previously, the band put together all their material from 1984 to 1990. This double Cd includes a 24 page booklet filled with pics, flyers, artwork and some cool memorabilia. The music brings back many memories to their older demos..and the band achieved their goal of keeping listeners interested. The fierce guitar executions are great. There really aren't any songs to dislike. The music here contains guitar rhythms that were already innovative for their time during the earlier days. In retrospect, this compilation does a lot for the band and keeps loyal fans impressed with Oblivion. Seventeen tracks of great thrash metal was  a smart move by the band. If originality in thrash metal is to your liking, then this compilation will best suit your interest. I'm glad these guys are back !!
www.OBLIVIONBAND.com
facebook.com/ObivionUSA
BobPetro@comcast.net
Review by Paul Caravasi