Illusion Suite - Final Hour (2009)

Limb Music has found itself another emerging star in Norway's Illusion Suite, a power/progressive metal hybrid which summons up the finer elements of Dream Theater, Angra, Pagan's Mind and Shadow Gallery while maintaining a harder edge of harder Swedish power metal (Tad Morose, Morgana LeFay) and a vocalist whose charisma almost rivals Helloween's Andi Deris. Final Hour is an extremely well rounded album which is both heavy and melodic, glorious and skirting the edge of the dark simultaneously.

Although it doesn't hurt that the band is almost flawless in their ability to create good, meaty riffs and epic, atmospheric verses, vocalist Bill Makatowicz takes the album a step further. His silklike but varied range injects life and character into each composition, there is not a stinker in this entire bunch. For the harder side, tracks like "Scarlet Skies" and "The Adventures of Arcan" rock forth a fury of immense riffs, tasteful synth accompaniment and the sheer wonder you always feel when you're a fan of these styles. For a dash of the band's more theatrical, graceful writing there are tracks like "Pandora's Box" and "Once We Were Here" are both extremely memorable and powerful. Even the balladic moments of "A Moment to Remember" lapse into fine progressive metal with glistening vocals.

Final Hour is a big production with a quality mix that will compare favorably to many works in this genre. The musicians are great but reserved, performing only to what the track needs, with slight stretches of lead work tastefully summoned at the appropriate moments. It's a really good album that should impress fans of earlier Dream Theater, the past few Helloween albums, and most of what you'd find in between those two poles. If you're not into the big, sappy and smooth power metal vocals and the prog metal genre in general, I doubt Illusion Suite will change your mind. Otherwise, the album is an impressive debut for what it is.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/illusionsuite

Cerebrum - Spectrum Extravagance (2009)

With cover art somewhat resembling that of Darkthrone's (death metallic) debut Soulside Journey, this album was bound to catch my eye. Thankfully, Cerebrum have more to offer on their debut: a tight and balanced assault of brutal 90s-style death metal with a technical death/thrash edge to it, manifest through the notably busy guitar work. Spectrum Extravagance also has a dark honesty about it, a direct album that lacks the mysticism of their countrymen (Septic Flesh, etc).

"Fragments of Illusion" intros the album as it transfers between old school pummeling death metal double bass to a choppier thrash segment. There are a few jazzy guitar breaks which do little to serve the song, but the remainder of the writing is solid. "Scatter-brain" is a better track with its frenetic, paranoid dual guitars and psychotic grooves. Here the band sounds their best, a hybrid of riffy death metal (Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse) and 90s technical thrash metal. There are a number of similar quality tracks, like the swinging "Intolerable Ado", the flowing "Thorns of Weakness" and the tough thrash of "Beyond Imagination". A few of the other songs like "Ephiphysis Thrive" and "Shreds of Remains" didn't come across as strongly, but even these have a few decent riffs. The guitars and drums (the latter courtesy of Nile skinbeater George Kollias) are well executed, and the gruff barks of Apollon Z. are solid throughout, as well as the additional, clean chant vocals.

Cerebrum uses a dark and punchy atmosphere to the album delivered through very its very straightforward mix. The band's ability to bust out a juggernaut groove is equal to its capacity for pure old school death hammering. Spectrum Extravagance isn't a great record that I'll rotate for long periods of time, but it's a worthwhile debut if you long for crushing 90s punishment with no shortgage of a riffing whirlwind and technical awareness. It's good to hear more death metal from Greece and there is a potential in this band.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.myspace.com/cerebrum

Augury - Fragmentary Evidence (2009)

Augury is one of Canada's finest death metal exports, with a progressive leaning far more adventurous than countrymen Cryptosy or Neuraxis. Fragmentary Evidence is a beast of a sophomore slab, with a technicality that will instantly impress, but more importantly: a depth of creativity which can please the appetite well beyond a few listens. The material is varied and engaging, the musical proficiency so precisely tuned that it fades right into the album's immense tapestry of sound. The songs can become so mesmerizing that you forget just how talented each of the musicians is at his respective instrument.

"Aetheral" is a stormblasting death metal shell surrounding the delicate and catlike grace of Dominic Lapointe's bass playing. Some of the aggressive riffing (i.e. the 2:50 mark in the song) will leave you scratching your head, though all is flowing and functional destruction. "Simian Cattle" opens with more of the playful bass, buried in a barrage of shifting chords and exotic rhythms. Again, there is a dazzling complexity overshadowed by the sonic imagery being produced. "Orphans of Living" storms forth like an outtake from a Theory in Practice album, only more accessible and rounded. The acoustic bridges in this song are excellent, Patrick Loisel's vocals a blunt meatwagon of disgust offset by rapacious snarls. "Jupiter to Ignite" is an 8+ minute epic of wandering, cyclical progressive licks which serves to showcase the full range of this band's talents. Though they differ in their overall sound, there are moments certain to impress fans of the recent Cynic material, a subtle and psychedelic fusion. In truth, the latter half of Fragmentary Evidence is even more impressive, with highly memorable hooks in "Skyless" and "Faith Puppets". The lyrics are interesting, elegaic and poetic, a rarity in a technical death release.

We will ascend to the heights
Setting other bodies in the sky
In hope to there sow our life
From created to creators
In the image of God, makers of worlds
An infinity of Babel Towers to defy Him
Free of morals and gravity, wandering
Higher, living lavishly the life of a god

The album sounds quite ominous and crystalline, leads winding through the carefully plotted, percussive riffing. The vocals are loud and center without ever offsetting the endless onslaught of riffs, and the breaks into bass or acoustics never seem forced or misplaced. There may be one or two tracks that drag slightly behind the remainder of the album in terms of catchiness or complexity. Regardless, Fragmentary Evidence is pretty damn tight. If you're a fan of bands like Cynic, Atheist, Lykathea Aflame, or Neuraxis, don't hesitate to track it down. You won't be sorry.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (shocked before the horizon and its convexity)

http://www.augurymetal.com/

Onirik - After Centuries of Silence (2009)

After Centuries of Silence is another of those albums which has taken me a spell to ponder. The third full-length from Portugal's one-man empire of sorrow Onirik (aka Gonius Rex), it is a crushing work of despair and romantic, raw black metal which is quite unlike anything else I've come across recently. It is unabashedly perfect in a way I'm not sure many will understand.

Don't be fooled by the basement/bedroom production of this album, its walls of titillating fuzz are 100% hypnotic. Each riff leeches love and emotion from the listener. That is can have such an effect with a droning drum machine, and Rex's cookie crumbling throat salivating across its tones, is nothing short of miraculous. "No Stars Will Shine" opens the sadness with a series of original and amazing riffs that created an instant attraction, romantic and hissing and fuzzy and more somber than a truckload of gothic and funeral doom kids at a Tim Burton film. What's more...this storm of savage emotion does not end on this album, ever. Close your eyes and let the "The Quest of the Dark Lord" crawl across the black & white landscape of your grim subconscious...a shadowed figure reaching up to extinguish the sun and drag the stars down into its essence. "Black Paintings in the Sky" creates the perfect, driving seaside hymn, like plague victims lain across the black stones of a rocky pier beneath an overcast sky. "Oh Chants Make Hear My Splendor" is faster, Rex has not forgotten that he is a fucking blackheart. I could write another paragraph for each remaining song on this album, I enjoy it that much.

After Centuries of Silence sounds like it was recorded on a four track in 1991. But it requires nothing more to convey the wealth of emotional impact. It's completely dead and evil, yet at the same time blissful and mesmerizing. Not a single note on this album removed me from its horrific embrace, and needless to say it belongs in the upper crust of black metal released this year, along with the latest offerings from Oranssi Pazuzu and Arckanum. Fucking staggering.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/onirikblackmetal

Druzhina - Kosmonoetika (2009)

Druzhina is a very interesting Russian band, with an uncanny sense for atmospherics. The sound is rooted in the pagan/folk/black common in Eastern Europe/Russia, but they're not afraid to incorporate big, cosmic black metal synths, and even a hint of progressive rock. If you enjoyed their previous album, Echoes of Distant Battles, then Kosmonoetika is worth tracking down, even though it's a little more obscure and spacey sounding.

"Eeriness of the Azure" opens the affair with a big wall of ambient synths, a lush atmosphere that rolls into a driving blast beat well before the churning guitars. Various flutes and synths are used to create abstractions into their riffing, so the guitars remain a driving elemental force and rarely become catchy on their own. "Tale of Xiosrev" creates a mood of despair and desperation during its opening synths over drums, and the use of light pianos is perfectly executed. "Without Return" returns to the pianos, over dark acoustics and very light background synths, before its glorious pagan folk riffing. Perhaps the finest track on the album is the final "Constellation", with gorgeous soothing vocal choirs, acoustics and soft ambient sections interspersed with seething melodic folk/black. Taken as a whole, the album provides a deep journey into the wild creative impulse of these musicians.

Perfect, it is not. As I mentioned, the guitars, while sufficient, rarely evoke any worthwhile riffs, trading in their individuality for a place in the greater puzzle. While this approach does not offend my ears, I feel a bigger guitar riff here or there would have strengthened the material. Overall, the metal sections of the songs are the weakest, whereas the ambient and progressive moments shine throughout. Kosmonoetika is a good second effort, and the band stands out because of what they attempt, but I get the feeling there is much better to come from Druzhina.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.druzhina.dk/

Construcdead - Endless Echo (2009)

Construcdead is essentially a Swedish all-star band that combines the popular melodic death metal style with a groove metal tone, not unlike The Defaced. Not surprising, since this, their fourth album, features Jens Broman (Darkane, the Defaced) on vocals. The band also features Thomas Fällgren (ex-Sins of Omission), Rickard Dahlberg (Face Down) and Niklas Karlsson (Soils of Fate). Endless Echo is a slightly above average album (their fourth), with a few exciting moments when they drift into the thrashier Darkane territory.

The album starts with "Sedated Morning", a groove metal tune with a few death-thrashing breaks that fail to capitalize on any sort of memorable riffing. The song sounds a lot like The Defaced but not as catchy as some of their material. "My Haven" is considerably heavier, could easily have appeared on the first few Darkane records with its callous and venomous thrashing hatred. "Endless Echo" is instantly more impressive with its catchy little arpeggio and the creepy clean vocals over the mute chugging of the bridge. And the remainder of the album is quite solid...with an occasional miss. "A Goddess Breaches Through Me", "Disfigured Beauty" and "No Exit" all feature some killer hooks, even the grooves shine.

Featuring the caliber of musicians it does, Endless Echo has a killer depth to its production which vibrantly captures all of the instruments and the multi-faceted vocals of Broman. The man sounds natural here, whether he's barking out his Darkane snarls or his bigger, burlier cleans. The musicianship is tight all around, but this isn't a band to go off into technical tangents. Focus is entirely on the thrashing, grooving chaos created in their riffs, a hybrid of The Haunted, Soilwork, and many of their Swedish peers. Though not every song here is catchy or a winner, I enjoyed this more than their previous output, and its probably worth checking out if you enjoy any of the other bands I mentioned in the review.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.construcdead.com/

Lord Fuck - Exquisite Gutteral (2009)

Exquisite Gutteral is the type of album I tend to hate...extremely boorish and simplistic US death metal/goregrind. You know the type. More thought was apparently put into the shocking song titles than the actual composition of the music, and there are probably 250,000 bands just like this in the US alone.

Here's the kicker...I actually had a fun time listening to Lord Fuck. It's dumb and simple, intentional, and lacking any memorable riffs or much replay value, but it sounds like it was pretty fun to make. I can almost hear the laughter of musicians in between each take. The old school vibe of the cover and logos is also quite nice. So if you're bored out of your skull and need something to listen to, and you have a sick sense of humor...why not? "Rotting Blood Served Over Mannocotti", "Infant Daycare Car Bombing", and "I Probably Fucked Your Mother Nine Months Before You Were Born" should hit the spot. The band also covers Deicide's "Once Upon the Cross". There are a few sluggish moments on the album, such as the crepitating midpoint of "Rotting Blood..." which can create an almost hypnotic brutality, whether this is intended or by accident is beyond my comprehension.

In short...expect nothing from Lord Fuck, because you will get nothing but a fun 30-ish minutes of banging your head very slowly into a wall while you lower your genitals into a meat grinder. Prepare for anaesthesia and amputation. Beyond that, I can't recommend it.

Verdict: Goresoaked Indifference [6/10]

Neter - Nec Spe Nec Metu (2009)

Spain's Neter create a bludgeoning form of death metal focused tightly on their central riffing. A distinct power-thrashing edge lends some vital energy and semi-technical guitar work into the flesh of their creations. Nec Spe Nec Metu is their debut full-length, after a pair of demos a few years back. While many death metal acts are thematically rooted in gore and violence, or occult mysticism, Neter take on a more social and philosophical slant to their guttural rantings, with a taste for symbolism.

After the interesting sample "Prelude", the band erupts into "Baptism of Fire", a relentless and savage onslaught of winding and grinding that breaks for some catchy grooves. "Event Horizon" starts decidely oldschool, almost like something you'd hear on Scream Bloody Gore. Quite pulverizing. "The Death of the Liturgy" creates a rumbling, mosh pit epic, but often sobering and never cheap. Some of the better tracks include the punishing "Minotaur" and the opening volley of moshthrash that is "Prometheus". "Assembly Line" also has a nice Slayer-esque wrath to it.

Nec Spe Nec Metu doesn't bowl you over with its production, it's simple and honest and sounds fine. The bass plods along below chunky guitars and the drums create a level battery. The leads always lend a nice flurry of mystique to the concrete of the rhythms. Manuel G. has a nihilistic flatness to his vocals which might turn off some, but you definitely get used to them. In all, Neter reminds me a lot of Vader: a very basic, honest yet brutal death metal outfit. What you see is what you get, and what you're getting is your ass kicked &#@(&@.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/neterband

Victimized - Self Destroy EP (2009)

Yet another face in the recent international thrash-back attack, Victimized have appeared on a few splits and have one EP prior to this, Brain Damaged in 2007. Their material is throwback 80s speed metal, cleanly produced but capturing a raw edge. The most impressive element of their sound is the vocals, which have a bizarre and memorable accent to them which reminds me of so much I loved about the German speed/thrash in the 80s.

As far as the five songs, they all have some decent moments to offer but little in the way of memorable riffs. I can hear a little influence from the more obscure Teutonic thrash...early Vendetta, Deathrow and Accuser spring to mind. "Cardiac Failure" and "LSD" come and go with wild vocals, spastic riffing and little else. I enjoyed "Envy" much more, with a constant barrage of powerful quality rhythms and nostalgia. "Back to Nowhere" is the 'thrash ballad', opening with acoustics and then focusing on a mix of slower riffs and the quick build-up. Again, reminds me a lot of the band Vendetta. "Drinking Team" closes the EP with a simple, thrashing gait below some mystical leads, parting way for a fun party thrash akin to Tankard.

I've certainly heard worse than Self Destroy in the recent explosion of all things old school, so if you're in the market for more fun retro thrash you may enjoy this. I had fun with a few of the songs, but it's not something I will likely return to.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/victimizedmetalband

Witching Hour - Rise of the Desecrated (2009)

It's always good to hear so many bands in touch with their roots, especially when those roots include primal proto-type death/thrash bands like Possessed or the mighty Venom. Germany's Witching Hour is one such band, with a filthy old school approach that kindly ignores just about everything in the past 20 years. Rise of the Desecrated will plug you directly back into the 80s, with its garage/demo production and the twisted dirt of Jan Hirtz' vocals. The album has a few misses, but for most of its playlength its good opposite-of-clean fun.

Witching Hour excels when dishing out the speedier material. "Pedophiliac" and "Underworld Alliance". Frenetic and unflinching, with riffs that recall all the grit of that 80s time period, from Venom to The Accüsed. The band can break down into some meatier, slower riffs (as in "Underworld Alliance") with a wicked edge to their note selection. Other choice tracks include "Blood in the Alleys" with its proto-death metal opening riff, "Eternal War" which reminds me of Witchery, if that band were a lot more raw and playing in your basement, and "Cold Grave" which sounds like Venom and Whiplash jamming in a slaughterhouse. There are a few tracks like "Burn the Witch" which start off well but end up with some weaker riffing.

Rise of the Desecrated is obviously going to appeal most to those who crave those old sounds. This is not a technical band and nothing they produce is going to tickle your fancy for progressive or original material. The album is nothing I haven't heard before many times, but I admire the band's loyalty and love for its influences. If it isn't broken, don't fix it. Witching Hour has created a debut that, while par for the course, should stoke up those summer nights of bullet belts, leather and denim fury.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.myspace.com/witchinghourthrash