Northern Crown- "In the Hands of the Betrayer"

    Prepare for massive haunting melodic doom metal that will send chills down your spine. Northern Crown’s, “In the Hands of the Betrayer,” is an album that summons up plenty of dark melodic sounds.
    This debut EP features five songs that represent classic sounding melodic doom metal. Northern Crown builds enormous haunting musical atmospheres and comes up with a variety of sinister guitar riffs. Vocally, the singer presents the material with a loud melodic voice that also creates a chilling vibe. As he narrates melodic tales of terror, the band follows along by constructing even darker sounding musical landscapes. One area that really caught my attention on this album, was the band’s use of keyboards. Just imagine if Jon Lord was playing doom metal. Each keyboard progression perfectly compliments the song’s overall atmosphere.
    Once the album begins, the growing doom sound washes over like a gigantic wave and drags listeners into a sea of pleasant darkness. The opening song, “In the Hands of the Betrayer,” instantly kicks into a fast past heavy jamming riff. When the singer enters his vocals echo with fierce melodic presence. About midway through the song, the band slows down tempo and creates a cosmic sounding atmosphere. Also, the guitarist unleashes an intense guitar solo that deviates from the slower cosmic like section.
    “A Perfectly Realized Torment,” begins with a really slow tempo and throughout the song, the rhythm picks up pace. However, the band never departs too far from that haunting overall tone. I find the slower riffs to be extremely heavy and the sound gives the lyrics an extra emphasis. Song three, “Crystal Ball,” is a Candlemass cover, and works well with the other material on this album. Northern Crown sounds very similar to Candlemass, so the song could be mistaken as an original from Northern Crown.
    Now the track, “Approaching, Encroaching Storm,” is a bit bizarre, yet still works with this album’s haunting theme. The track features some fierce wind noises and a short spoken monologue. If anything, the storm piece sets up the final song, “To Thee I Give an Orchid.” This final song is the longest track on the album and continues to present that dream like melodic doom sound. Northern Crown even sounded a bit like Type O Negative with this song, especially during the keyboard parts. Towards the end of the track, the contrast of heavy sounding riffs and rhythms is matched by a soothing piano piece. The finale is magnificent and solemnly fades into the doom horizon. 
    “In the Hands of the Betrayer,” is highly recommend for all fans of melodic doom metal. Northern Crown constructed this EP with brilliant musicianship and the band faithfully follows the doom metal formula. The music is a great blend of haunting melodic sounds that welcomes all listeners into its dark harmonious realm. Don’t be afraid, and let the band guide you through this amazing five song musical creation.

VORZUG-"I am Hell"

Blackened Death Metal band, Vorzug, offers everyone a glimpse into what is soon to come from this extreme Phoenix, Arizona trio. 

Vorzug is currently working on their debut album, but has released a single titled, "I am Hell." From what I have heard in this single, these guys mix gritty death metal with vicious black metal to create sheer face ripping music. The band also uses two different extreme vocal styles to narrate the sinister lyrics. I really like guitarist's tone and the sound he is able to make creates this massive wall of sludgy distortion. Musically, I have no complaints and the instrumental composition flows really well. The song definitely has a unique style and should appeal to a wide variety of extreme music fans. Of course, there are plenty of Blackened Death Metal bands singing about hell and other demonic themes, but hopefully Vorzug will find ways in their dark creative minds to separate themselves from the usual suspects. Highly worth checking out if you are a fan of Blackened Death Metal!

Link to the bands Facebook page:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/vorzugmetal

Chiral-"Abisso"

Band: Chiral
Album: Abisso

Review:

    Ever since the beginning of Black Metal, bands have continued to incorporate other musical elements into this extreme sub-genre of metal. The push for a more progressive Black Metal sound is very common these days amongst the new bands.
    Italy’s one man band, Chiral, sets out with a debut EP titled, “Abisso,” hoping to capture the imaginations of a more opened minded Black Metal audience. The band’s sound still maintains traditional Black Metal qualities, but the deviations from the traditional formula really standout. One example, is that the band composes vibrant sounding classical acoustic guitar arrangements. These short moments of classical guitar soloing are a unique way to transition away from the extreme Black Metal. I was impressed by the overall arrangements, but sometimes when you are listening to extreme music, you really don’t expect the music to suddenly change from fast and aggressive, to soothing and melodic rather quickly.
    This album is written in a style that is very intricate, where the songs all fit together, but at the same time do not take on one common musical theme. The introduction “Atto I: Disceso Nel Buio,” is a slow ominous keyboard and guitar arrangement that builds up a strong ambient Black Metal foundation. The vocal style at first takes on a more low sounding death metal growl, but fades to make way for the instantly recognizable Black Metal vocal style. He sounds a bit like Abbath from Immortal, but with a vocal higher pitch. “Atto I: Oblio,” is an introduction to Chiral’s progressive Black Metal style. The song really took me by surprise once the intense riff faded and made way for an acoustic piece.
    The main focus of this album happens to be the third composition, “Atto II: Abisso.” This long piece of extreme music takes many musical turns and features a high level of complex musicianship. The guitar playing is simply amazing because he can create such grim frost bitten sounding riffs and then use his fingers to make technical acoustic solos. About half way through the song, this colossal dark atmosphere begins to take form. The sound is very climatic and slowly fades to a mellow acoustic guitar riff.
    From start to finish, Chiral’s, “Abisso,” will not lead you into a world of repetition and predictably. This is a form of music that hopes to change people’s perception of what Black Metal is by throwing in some unique elements. The programming and production, for one guy, is really good. I think my only complaint is that I felt like he could have pushed for even larger sounding musical atmospheres, but his approach works well with the sound he was going for on this EP. If you enjoy progressive Black Metal, extreme music that does not follow a repetitive blue-print, you will enjoy this album. Intense horribly distorted sounding riffs can get old after a while, so an acoustic riff might offer a pleasant deviation.

Review: GAME OVER "Burst Into the Quiet"

Band: GAME OVER
Album: Burst Into the Quiet

Review:

    Revival Thrash anyone? With members of the Big Four of Thrash Metal getting old and whinny(tends to happen to most elderly people), the young bands are beginning to break through more.
    Of course, these young thrash bands would not be around if not for all those groups who paved the way back in the eighties. Over the last ten years revival thrash continues to strongly push forward, and Italy’s GAME OVER is yet another group running down that intense highway of thrash. Their second full-length album, “Burst Into the Quiet,” really bursts into extreme thrashing madness once the album begins. This band captures the intense raw style of early Megadeth, Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, Overkill, Exodus, Testament and all those other influential thrash groups. Compared to most of the other revival thrash bands, GAME OVER offers a pure shot of adrenaline when playing their music. They have this relentless aggressive sound that reminds of D.R.I. and Nuclear Assault. 
    The musicianship demonstrated on this album is fierce and precise. GAME OVER creates some catchy wicked sounding thrash songs. The opening song, “Masters of Control,” begins with a blazing guitar riff. Once the other instruments start tearing away, the head spinning chaos takes form. The band’s vocalist shouts each lyric out with tremendous energetic force, and his vocal style allows the words to be heard clearly. 
    Although drummers do not receive that much credit for their contributions, they are one of the most important parts in any thrash band. GAME OVER’S drummer is a crushing rhythmic machine. Song’s like “Seven Doors to Hell” and “The Eyes (Of the Mad Gardner),” feature some insane double bass talent and precision timing. When the band writes a song, they really do a great job planning out their different musical parts along with playing their instruments extremely fast. “No More,” is one song that gives listeners a taste of everything this band is capable of doing. GAME OVER throws in some medium tempo thrash riffs and quickly turns up the speed meter for a lightening thrash attack. The guitarist shreds with a melodic edge and his leads during the song are flawless.  
    I keep bringing up the fact that this band plays with some intensity, and the 28 second song, “Metropolis pt.3,” is a perfect example. Just think of a short hard hitting hardcore punk track, but with an overall thrash sound. I consider this song to be my favorite on the album because the band was able to demonstrate some amazing musical abilities, even though they only had 28 seconds. Another track that I want to reference for its vibrantly bombastic old school thrash sound is, “Nuke ‘em High.” The opening bass riff sets way for an ominous guitar assault. Also, the main chorus is written in this triumphant manner that makes the lyrics really standout.
    GAME OVER managed to take a style of music that I have heard numerous times before, and keep me head banging with excitement. I think that is a problem I have with most revival thrash bands. Instead of coming up with solid energetic thrash songs, they try too hard to create some new dynamic sound that ends up sounding overwhelmed by different extreme noises. GAME OVER’S “Burst Into the Quiet” is proof that the old school formula still works and can keep the pit moving forward. So, if you are a thrash metal maniac, get this album and add this band’s logo to your denim jacket! 

Algebra: "Feed the Ego"

Band: Algebra
Album: Feed the Ego

Review:

    Swiss thrashers, Algebra, return with yet another mathematically extreme ripping release. When I reviewed their debut album, “Polymorph,”and I was impressed by their mix of technicality and pure raw aggression. Right away one can make the comparison to Slayer, Testament, Overkill, Megadeth and the other iconic thrash groups. However, Algebra does stray away from the path from time to time when pertaining to their songwriting and instrumental compositions. Overall though they are straight up thrash.
    With their sophomore release, “Feed the Ego,” Algebra puts more emphasis on songwriting by penning together lyrical that relate to relevant world wide topics. I still hear some of the blazing technicality that I heard on the first album, but definitely not on the same level with the first release. Algebra takes a more progressive approach musically with “Feed the Ego,” and I think that can appeal to a wider audience. There are tons of tempo changes, unique timings and the intense thrash riff dominating style is not set on repeat. Also, I think Algebra shows a slightly more mature side compared to most of your other young thrash groups by not singing about Satan all the time.
    The album begins with the song, “Survival Nowadays,” and maintains that raw aggressive nature that I heard on “Polymorph.” However, the lyrics really capture my attention and standout just as much as the fluid technical leads. Their drummer can still decimate his kit with thunderous blast beats and he gives the song a massive sounding rhythmic backbone. The lyrics strung together convey plenty of raw emotion and the singer’s voice is more commanding than before. They want people to hear these lyrics and maybe start to think on a deeper level mentally. I especially felt that way during the song, “Prisoner Outdoors.” The compositions are precise and the song’s attitude is very unapologetic.
    I really like how Algebra incorporated more intricate guitar parts, and it showed the band’s diverse songwriting mentality. The commonly heard intense thrash riffs tend to be used more for the verses, but can change on a dime to make way for some harmonic leads or slow crushing breaks. “Necessary Evil” and “Profound Guilt” are two songs I would say morph constantly and push the music in multiple directions. One song that really takes a sharp turn musically, is “My Shelf.” The opening guitar chords sound very hollow as each note is picked and create this cosmic gloomy atmosphere. Algebra still shows their technical side by throwing in melodic leads that bleed out emotion. Their singer also sounds less abrasive compared to the following tracks, and presents a powerfully haunting vocal tone.
    For the most part, Algebra continues to push themselves away from the typical revival thrash bands by diversifying their sound. I do not have too many complaints with this release, but I noticed Algebra played it safe on a couple songs and used a very simple Slayer like style of songwriting. Overtime I think Algebra will morph into their own distinct sounding entity, but that takes time. Right now they are heading in the right direction, and their consistency will allow them to grow even faster as musicians.
     The overall songwriting on, “Feed the Ego,” is different from the stand point that Algebra can write thought provoking lyrics, and still sound aggressive when playing their instruments. Algebra continues to grow both musically and lyrically, while maintaining that no nonsense thrash sound. If you like thrash, I recommend putting down the calculus book and getting this album...(Couldn't help myself)