Reviews written by: mykke

Reviews

Yattai - Demo

Yattai are a grind band will settle into an occasional groove now and then, but they are prone to change tempos without warning in order to intentionally keep the listener off balance. But it's all well and good as they are pretty much tight and their sound is pretty much together. As far as comparisons go they are somewhere between chaotic grind b...

26/02/2009

Sickbag - Bushido Codex

Sickbag are self-described as crossover grindcore. They employ the same urgent death metal vocal style as sported by such bands as Emeth, Himsa or perhaps Dillinger Escape Plan (a band they list as an influence). This type of shrieking evokes more of a sense of panic than it does aggression, you know, kinda like if comedian Bobcat Goldthwait were a...

26/02/2009

Sick Room 7 - Hail Intolerance

Sick Room 7 are a mix of gothic rock and doom metal, keeping it on the mellow and spacey side. The vocals consist of spoken words, hissing and screaming that give the listener the feeling of being immersed in another person's inner dialog. Guitars with psychedelic fuzz and washes of clean sound, together with a background of mysterious keyboards, s...

26/02/2009

Hammers Of Misfortune - The Locust Years

Classically influenced chord changes with melodic guitar lines, soft male and female vocals, poetic lyrics influenced by religion and philosophy, the black plague and the crusades, pianos, acoustic and electric guitars as well as electric organs intricately interwoven into a fabric of medievil melodrama. All these characterize the sound of Hammers...

26/02/2009

Frontside - Twilight Of The Gods

Dubbed as "First step in the mental revolution" Frontside provides a masterful release with "Twilight of the Gods," a title that has been used before but who cares! Frontside is Polish metalcore with machismo vox like Vader with occasional Killswitch Engage melodic breakdown and acidic black metal harmony screams thrown in for good measure. Tight a...

26/02/2009

The End - Elementary

Mixing elements of alternative rock with tech-metal and ambient soundscapes -- now there is something you don't hear every day -- and that is exactly what the music of The End sounds like on their third release "Elementary." The label of prog-metal would definitely apply to the End, although it is sometimes unclear exactly what that label implies....

26/02/2009

Vinterriket - Und Die Nacht Kam Schweren Schrittes

Vinterriket is Swedish for "Winter Realm" Nothing cheers me up like brooding funeral synths in the very dead of winter. No matter what season it is, if you're listening to Vinterriket it's winter inside (Vinterriket is Swedish for "Winter Realm), as this record contains many samples of thunderstorm and snow storms in the background. "Und Die...

26/02/2009

Vinterriket - Lichtschleier

This is the sixth full-length from Vinterriket, an artist who has put out a lot of other work on various demos, splits and compilations, mostly on the Neodawn label that was owned by Chrostoph Ziegler, who is in fact Vinterriket. This six-song album is a lot like the earlier works of Vinterriket, dark and atmospheric new-age soundscapes, mostly...

26/02/2009

Harbinger - Rock Your Pace In

Well, I don't know who these guys are or where they are from, but they sound like they have been influenced by 80's metal, Iron Maiden perhaps. Some good guitar work with some intricate parts woven together, nice solos, not quite in tune in all places. The singer ain't that great. The rhythm section is held together loosely at best. It sounds like...

26/02/2009

Everything Falls Together - Everything Falls Together

In short, EFT resemble FASS, ALOL and maybe KWD. What's that you say? Is this reviewer getting a bit acronym happy or what? Okay. The band we're talking about here is Everything Falls Together and I do find similarities in their hardcore/grind sound to bands such as From A Second Story Window, A Life Once Lost and Kill Whitney Dead. The chaotic dis...

26/02/2009

Silovanje - Taste Of Death

"Silovanje" is a yugo word for rape and that's pretty much what the listener is in for. "A Taste of Death" is just a friken berserker that will shred through your soul like an Ginsu 2, infect you with tetanus like a rusty nail, and before you even realize it's through with you, you've got lockjaw. Your jaw is glued to the floor. You won't be able t...

26/02/2009

Violent Storm - Storm Warning

<p>If you are a fan of blazing guitar leads, "Storm Warning" by Violent Storm is gonna please you. This is the first release from the band which was formed recently by Mik Cervino, bass player for Yngwie Malmsteen and Ritchie Blackmore, and the album was produced by Judas Priest guitarist, K.K. Downing. Listeners will be wowed by special appearance...

26/02/2009