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NAILED
G.K. 2/10 |
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NASTY IDOLS
T.A.
8/10 |
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NASTY SAVAGE
T.A. 7/10 |
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NATRON
G.K. 2,5/10 |
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NATTVIND
T.A. 6.5/10 |
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NECARE
A.A. 8/10 |
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NECROCEST
G.K. 3,5/10 |
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NECROMANTIX
A.S. 6,5/10 |
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NECROPHAGIST
G.K. 2,5/10 |
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NEGATIVE CREEPS
G.K. 6/10 |
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NEIL ZAZA
A.S. 8/10 |
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NEOSPASTICS
A.S. 8/10 |
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NEVERMORE
T.A. 7/10 |
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NEVERMORE
T.A. 4/10 |
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NEWMAN
A.S. 6,5/10 |
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NEXUS
T.A. 8/10 |
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NIGHTFALL “LYSSA: RURAL GODS AND
ASTRONOMIC PUNISHMENTS” (Black
Lotus)
G.K. 6,5/10 |
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NIGHTRAGE
T.A. 7,5/10 |
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NIGHTWISH
T.A. (the whole album will be rated) |
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NIGHTWISH
T.A. 8,5/10 K.P. 8,5/10 |
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NIL
A.S. 1,5/10 |
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NINNUAM
T.A. 6/10 |
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NOCTA
T.A. 8/10 |
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NOCTURN
A.S. 8,5/10 |
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NOCTURNAL RITES
T.A. 7,5/10 |
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NOCTURNUS
T.K. 2,5/10 |
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NOISE FOREST
G.K. 3/10 |
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NOMAD
G.K. 3/10 |
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NONE OF US
T.A.
5,5/10 |
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NORTHER
G.K. 6,5/10 |
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NOUMENA
G.K.
7/10 |
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NOVEMBERS DOOM
T.A. 8,5/10 |
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NUMEN
G.K. 4/10 |
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NYIA
G.K. 1,5/10 |
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Nailed is a band coming from 
Nasty
Idols is a Swedish band that was formed in 1987 and split up in 1995.
During this time period the band managed to release four very good albums
(“Gigolos On Parole” “Cruel Intentions”, “Vicious”, and
“Heroes For Sale”). The band plays American 80’s hard rock music and
this compilation here contains the best songs of the last three albums of
the band. To be more specific, Nasty Idols have the power of Skid Row, the
technique of Shotgun Messiah and the musicality of Motley Crue. That’s
the best way to describe the music style of the band. This album is a good
chance for someone to get in touch with the band as, I think, it would be
much hard to resist on songs like: “House Of Rock N’ Roll”, “The
Way Ya Walk”, “Head’s Down (In Tinseltown)”, “Alive N’
Kickin’”, “Can’t Get Ya Off My Mind”, “Sheila”, “Do You
Want Another”, “R.I.P.”, and “Blind Leads Blind”. I believe that
all the lovers of the American 80’s hard rock music should get this
album and, I’m sure, that afterwards they will go out and search for the
studio albums of the band! A very good compilation of 80’s party hard
rock n’ roll music!
Nasty Savage is another example of those bands that appeared in the middle 80’s, had all the potentials to succeed in the music industry but after some years they disappeared. Although their homonymous debut album is considering by many as a classic album in the heavy/thrash genre, they did not managed to make the big breakthrough so they split up after 1989. Thus the band after so many years reunited in 2002 and also reordered an E.P., which contains six songs. Two songs (“Sardoniac Mosiac” and “Wage Of Mayhem”) of this E.P. are totally new and show us that the band is thirsty to play heavy metal music again. The other four songs are being taken from the Nasty Savage’s original demo tape back in 1983. So, this release is a must for the die-hard fans of the band due to those songs and not only, cause who ever likes the band should as well see how Nasty Savage are playing in the 00’s. Apart from the music, I should say that this album is offered in a 2CD package and the other CD is a compilation which contains bands from Crook’ D Records. This compilation I believe that will satisfy the taste of all listeners cause it features 16 heavy metal songs up to death/black metal ones. Some bands that participating in this cd are: Lowbrow, Deceased (they cover Venom’s “Black Metal”), I4NI, Hades (with a live song), Doctor Butcher, and Cro-Mags. Therefore this album is not only good for… historical reasons. Before I close this review I must “warn” you that a new album from Nasty Savage is about to be released in the next few months, so better be ready and prepared!
Natron is an Italian band that was formed in 1992 and has a great
experience in live shows, because all these years they have given many
shows in Italy and abroad (they have played live with Edge Of Sanity,
Krabathor, Septic Flesh, Misanthrope, Napalm Death and many more bands!).
Their first album (the MCD “Unpure”) was released in 1996 and their
music style hasn’t changed much during these years so, the band plays
brutal death/grind metal and they are very technical. Don’t expect any
melodies here or even a calm moment, because you will be disappointed.
Only brutal and aggressive vocals (Mike Tarantino), fast guitars (Domenico
Mele) and a psycho - hellish rhythm section (Michael Maggi on bass and Max
Marzocca on drums) will you find here... Apart from their kind of music,
which I don’t like, all the tracks sound very similar to me and I
couldn’t understand whether I was listening to the first or the second
track... The production isn’t good at all, but the sound is pretty
normal for their music. Finally, I must mention that the album contains 9
songs and lasts only 25 minutes and I don’t think that their fans will
be glad about this... Maybe a more experienced ear to this kind music
could understand the band much more than I did...
When I first saw the artwork of this album, I thought that the band
would play atmospheric metal in the roots of Anathema (in their prime period) and The Gathering. But I was totally wrong. The quartet from
Finland is playing melodic metal music with some gothic and hard rock elements! What a really strange combination you may think! Well, I
believed the same too! But in this point I must tell you that the band has a great sense of melody and the guys know how to write catchy songs, with really melodic refrains. Just listen to the songs like the
fantastic "Planets Falling" (which is for sure the best song of the album), the "strange" I Approach The End" and the calm "Walk With Me",
and you will understand what I'm talking about. Perhaps the production of the album could be heavier but that is not something bad at all!
Nattvind (a Swedish word that translates into Nightwind), managed to release a very interesting album that's full of energy and melody.
I'm sure that the fans of melodic metal genre will appreciate the Nattvind's
"Subuniverses"
The American doom/death metal band with the creepy occult name Necare (Latin verb meaning “to murder, or to destroy”) has been in existence since 1999. However, this is their debut full-length album, which may has come out a little bit late but the final result shows what a great job has been done all these years. While Necare comprised of only two core members and gathering session musicians as needed, we are talking about a project and not a band but anyway it’s something that we don’t really care about. Is their music worth listening? Is their album worth buying? That’s the point! And “Ruin,” prompted me to answer, “Yes it is”. I had a long time to listen to such an all-out, inspired death metal album, not only musically but also lyrically. The project set out to underline the loss that death brings to the living and the failure of humanity to explain the inevitability of tragedy. At last, no lyrics about killing, slaughtering, Satan’s landing to earth and all these craps! The CD contains a variety of great emotional doom/death tracks in slow-mid tempo from melodic doleful instrumentals to powerful songs with fine guitar riffs, excellent keyboard playing, heavy vocals and meaningful lyrics. Considering the sound of most death bands from US, I couldn’t believe in my ears as I was listening to “Ruin”. A great dose of severe atmosphere, never lucking sorrow. That’s how death metal must be…
This is the debut album for the brutal death-thrash/ grind metal band
Necrocest coming from Welsh. The first thing that anyone notices with this
album is the very brutal vocals, because the vocalist sounds like a blend of
Glen Benton and Chris Barnes! So, you can understand that the vocals are
really brutal... The guitars are heavy and fast and there are a few riffs
that sound very common to me. The rhythm section seems interesting enough
and especially the drummer, who plays very fast and technical in moments!
The production is not good and reminded me the old-school death metal
productions, where you can hear a lot of noise. The weirdest thing with the
production is that on the half of the album you can listen to the brutal
vocals and on the other half you are trying to find out if the vocalist
“sings”, because the vocals sound behind all the other instruments...!!!
This is an album that only the fans of Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Malevolent
Creation etc. should try listening to it, although they will not find
something interesting here...
The band here plays a very joyful and pleasant combination of hard rock, punk, rock and roll, which is sometimes accompanied by metal riffs. The songs are typically short, multiple vocals embellish the refrains (you know… “oooooo”, etc.), an the guitars grunge a lot. Most of the times the tempo is thunderous, but yet again the songs are based in good melodies, avoiding to become just noise. As you might have understood, the band gives special meaning to the fun part of its music, delivering some very funny lyrics. In general Necromantix don’t seem to take anything seriously, rather play their music in order to have fun. If you are willing to follow them, ok! If not, I don’t think they would care much. You should listen to the self-titled track, with the country/southern influences to understand what we are talking about! Fun seems to be the main target here!
Necrophagist comes from Germany and since they have signed with Relapse
Records they can only play aggressive and brutal music. So, these guys
play very technical death metal or something that is called flat death
metal! Very fast guitars (
Negative
Creeps were formed in 1992 in Greece and this is their second album and
their second full-length release under the Black Lotus Records. Through
the years the band has become popular in Greece, because of the good live
shows they have given, supporting bands like Rotting Christ, Septic Flesh,
Biohazard and others. Their music is very aggressive and heavy and has
influences from thrash and death metal music and hardcore/metalcore. The
bands that must have influenced Negative Creeps are: Sepultura, Slayer,
The Haunted, Soulfly, Pantera, Biohazard, Hatebreed, Heaven Shall Burn and
others! Although I am not a real fan of this kind of music, I found this
album interesting enough (not boring at all!), because of the sharp riffs
(Panos and John Boulamakis on guitars) and the talent that the band’s
members surely have. The drumming (Tomek Solomonidis) is also amazing and
together with the bass (George Katsaitis), the rhythm section creates a
hellish atmosphere. The vocals (Makis Kanakaris) are very aggressive and
are closer to death metal and metalcore music than the thrash metal and
hardcore. Finally, Seth made the artwork of this album and it is very
interesting and the production is tough and strong and sounds really
heavy! Fans of hardcore and thrash metal should listen to this album and I
am sure they will find it much more interesting than I did…
I knew this one would be good from the artist sampler with the two Zaza tracks that Nuerra Recs sent out some months ago. But now that I listen to the whole album I can say that it is even better than I expected. I'm afraid I don't have any details to give you about the virtuoso guitarist. What I can say is that the album contains 13 instrumental tracks, based on guitar. But it is not that simple. Neil here "plays his socks out". And I don't only mean it in technical terms (where he kicks ass anyway), but also in composing good songs. I think this is the big success here: That we get an instrumental, guitar based CD, which proposes complete musical expressions, not tiring at all. It is not music for guitar players, rather for anyone who is into guitar-oriented rock. Dynamites like "I Spy" are mixed with sentimental elegies like "The Wonder Of You" and mystical approaches, like "Zen, Karma and Other Good things". Trust me this is not another instrumental album that you'll listen only a couple of times. At least for me it is a much better release than those of some "guitar heroes" we listened during 2003.
This
one is good! Setting aside the truly stupid and tasteless cover (which
however gives a bad first impression), the content of the album is both
quite original and interesting. This must be a debut album for the band,
and the sound is hard to define. Imagine a mixture of punk, gothic, and
electro with some dance elements... melancholic, yet up-tempo! Atmospheric
parts with piano and electric outbreaks with kicking drumming interchange
and the complete psychedelic mood of the album if accomplished when some
dace electronic drums and female vocals fit in the songs. It’s really
hard to describe the music that comes off the speakers, but the band must
live in a parallel universe of insanity. I also have to mention that the
piano here plays a leading role and accompanies the guitars even in the
faster parts of the songs, which most of the time are plain in their
structure. The band builds its music upon solid and magnificent melodies
that have clear reference to Beatles. Consequently the CD is highly
recommended to those who feel open-minded in their musical likes. I
personally have stuck to it! After all songs like “Arrival Openmind”
and “Here From Mars” are enough to cheer me up!
The
truth is that I never liked very much this band. I do not consider, as many
others do, their previous albums, as classics and I only like, not that
much, “Dead Heart In A Dead World”. The band’s previous album
“Enemies Of Reality” was a disaster as it ranked them in the bottom of
the metal society. It was a really awful album that I couldn’t bear to
listen to it more than two times. Many have said that I was biased on the
band’s album then ‘cause I do not really like them, but almost two years
later band’s members came to confirm my opinion, as they also believe that
their previous work was not good at all. Having said that, I must also say
that “This Godless Endeavor” is by far the best work of the band. Yes,
I’m not biased with anyone and I can tell something good when I see it.
The band’s playing here in its known metal style, a little power, a little
prog, a little thrash/death, all under their personal stigma and it delivers
some very good and melodic songs. The music is very heavy here and the
production is just superb as it was done by Andy Sneap. Again this album is
far away from what I call a classic or a magnificent one but it shows that
the band is in the right way to go after bigger things… even though, I
believe that they cannot release something better than this work in the
future. The highlight of this album is without any doubt the opener “Born
(The Retribution Of Spiritual Sickness)” which combines melody, heaviness
and speed! Other good songs here are: “Final Product”, “Sentient 6”,
“Sell My Heart For Stones” and the homonymous “This Godless
Endeavor”. Even the artwork is very good on this album! The only thing
that is sure here is, that the fans of the band will love this album and
they will put Nevermore back in their hearts again. On the other hand, it
might even bring some new fans on the band’s ranks.
Maybe I'm not the optimal person to make the review of Nevermore's new album cause I was never really into this band. I do not say that I dislike them or something like that, but I do not see a reason for anyone having a delusion under the sounds of Nevermore. The band plays good but they do not offer something new to the heavy/thrash genre. Many times when I'm listening to a song of them the whole sound seems so familiar to me and this is something that cannot make me like much this band. So, "Enemies of Reality" is the next step of the band after their previous successful "Dead Heart In A Dead World". To tell the truth, I also didn't like that album cause except two or three good songs the other ones are very boring and average. Thus as it concerns their new album, Nevermore continuing to play that kind of heavy/power/thrash metal with a lot of modern metal elements music (anyone who thinks that they play power metal is totally beside the point!) which is does not appeal to me. Yes, the production of the album is very good but personally I prefer a more clear production from a metal band. With reference to the songs of the album are in the same way that all Nevermore's songs are, with heavy guitars, double drums, other fast other mid-tempo and once more very flatways. After having listening to the album several times the only song that differed from the others and I like was "Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday". The whole result is rationally affected by Dane's vocals, which either you love them or hate them. Personally I prefer Dane's way of singing when he was in Sanctuary. Surely "Enemies Of Reality" is not the best album of the band and it won't bring them any new fans. Those who like them will also like
this album and those who do not like them will also find one more good reason why
they cannot listen to Nevermore. But if you want my opinion, songs like the sound-pollution "Noumenon" will make even the fans of the band resent. I do not think that I will ever like Nevermore's music. Apparently they will never be (and they do not have the potentials to be) a "big" metal band but they will continue to make albums that their fans will like.
This is Steve Newman's fourth album (after three years of absence). The vocalist, keyboard-guitar player is here surrounded by Pete Jupp (Drums) and Mike Brooke (Bass). For those not familiar with band's character I can say that it plays melodic rock with English AOR elements. The approach here is a bit more straightforward, which according to my opinion works well for the band. The musicians present sufficient capability in song-writing and execution. To be honest the three first tracks are impressive and catch us unawares. The rest of the album is also good to be honest, the whole sound is so 80's oriented that - at least to my ears - becomes boring. It is hard to play such retro music without being boring (for an excellent paradigm of retro music embellished with innovation check Pride Of Lions to understand what I mean). I cannot argue that the CD is bad - not at all - just very traditional melodic rock! However I bet that AOR/melodic rock fans will like it very much.
Nexus were formed by the songwriter/vocalist of Flowers Of Romance Mike Pougounas after his previous band split up. This band is moving in a different music path than his previous one and "Wrapped In Cellophane" is the third studio album that they have released. Nexus' music style is nearer to gothic music but with many dark wave, atmospheric and electronic elements. To have a better picture about Nexus' music just imagine Nick Caves' dark feeling along with heavy guitars and Depeche Mode's electronic influences! Sounds pretty good huh? But believe me, the result is better than I can describe. That's the reason that I like very much this album but also it is something else than you are used to listen to. Mike voice sounds gothic in some songs and in others truly atmospheric, and the variety that this album has from song to song kept me listening to it with great interest and again and again. The best songs of the album are the opener "Evil In Evil Out" (it has an atmospheric intro and then… better listen to it!), the groovy gothic "Sex Vampire", the homonymous "Wrapped In Cellophane", the "psycho" "From All Walks In Life" (do not loose the chance to listen to this unbelievable song!), the atmospheric "Master Of The Game", the electro/atmospheric "Memory Lane Club" and the heavy-goth "These Tears Again". The production of the album is very good and the whole atmosphere that this album exhales will surely satisfy you! As I was informed few days ago, the band is working on its new album, which is going to be released in the near future. I'm wondering how good it will be… and if it will be better than this one. The only thing for sure is that the fans who like more atmospheric and strange music beyond the usual things in music industry, should check out "Wrapped In Cellophane"
immediately.
After
the last year’s comeback (“I Am Jesus”) of Nightfall, the Greek band
strikes back again with a new album. The second album of the band under
Black Lotus Records is for once again away from their death metal past
(the band’s early days…). Now their sound has influences from bands
like Paradise Lost, Tiamat, Samael, Rotting Christ and sounds darker, but
the vocals (Euthumis Karadimas) still remain aggressive. “Lyssa” in
Greek, means fury and it is a nice words to describe this album, which is
dark and furious. This album combines some of the best moments of the
band’s history and the only new thing is the new approach of Euthumis to
the vocals and the backing vocals that are used more than ever. I must
mention that the drummer of the band, George Kollias has been recruited to
the band Nile recently, something that can affect very much his carries
and reveals his talent of course. The production is for once again very
good and was made in many studios in Europe. Finally, the band has made a
video recording for the track “Swollen”, which I, unfortunately,
haven’t seen so far… If you want to taste this album listen to these
tracks: “Synastry”, “Master Of My Dreams”, “One Of These Days”
(the best track of the album!) and “Essence.
Nightrage is a newcomer band that was formed from Marios Hiliopoulos (guitar - ex-Exhumation), some time after Exhumation split up. Anyone that has listened to Exhumation, knows that they were playing death metal music and it seems that Marios likes very much that kind of music. The rest musicians that
play in Nightrage, are Gus G. on guitar, Tomas Linberg on lead vocals, Tom S. Englund on melodic vocals, Brice Leclercq on bass and Per M. Jensen on drums. Quite an impressive line-up huh? So as it concerns the music style of the band, I would characterize it as death metal music, not so brutal but with many melodies from song to song and with some heavy metal elements. Does it sounds fairly good? Well, I would say that it is! Marios, as he is not an upstarted guy, managed to create a very interesting melodic and
on the other hand brutal death metal album. Of course I should not forget to refer to the musicians that helped him achieve that thing. I cannot tell if Nightrage is a full-time band or o project, but it is much difficult for someone to gather all those great musicians together and to make them stay. Let's hope (even I think that is impossible) to give a live show with the current line up. As it concerns the production of the album, I will only say that the album was recorded at Fredman studio in Gothenburg, with Fredrik Nordstrom on the production, once again created a solid heavy and really brutal sound! Personally, I like better the songs that Tom Englund is participating, cause I'm a big fan of Evergrey, such as the heavy up-tempo "Hero", the brutal/melodic "Ethereal", the heavy melodious "Circle Of Pain" (with the Evergrey-ish intro and break),
and the powerful "At The Ends Of The Earth", (with the very melodic chorus). On the other hand, some other "brutal" songs like the mid-tempo "In My Heart", and the atmospheric, dark, melodic and my personal favorite of the album, "Elusive Emotion"
(it will also remind you Rotting Christ) will impress you in the same way too! I believe that if Marios gives more emphasis on melody and writing truly melodious choruses, then Nightrage will make many other bands to loose their
job! The fans of melodic death metal, and in general the fans of heavy metal music, should check out this
very good heavy album. Let's hope that the tenor will be even better…
It took me some days to listen to the new CD-single of Nightwish, but finally it satisfied me a lot. First of all the production of their CD-single, is terrific and very clear although that is something obvious for a band like Nightwish. I’m not a die-hard fan of Nightwish, actually I never was and probably I will never be, but I like their previous albums and most of them, the second one. I believe that “Oceanborn” has the best songs that the band has ever written. Now as it concerns the new songs of the band… I have to say that “Nemo” is a catchy, typical good Nightwish song, with good melodies, excellent orchestration, beautiful chorus and ethereal vocals. “Planet Hell” is heavier than “Nemo”, but I think that is so typical and flat and didn’t leave and the best impressions. “White Night Fantasy” is unfortunately a non-album track. And when I say unfortunately I totally mean it! This is one of the three best songs that Nightwish have ever written in my humble opinion! So, sensitive, so gloomy, so touching… so glorious! What a fantastic chorus! Excellent song! I just wish that the new album will have another song like “White Night Fantasy”, but I doubt it. The other two versions of “Nemo”, the orchestral one and the radio edit, are rather good but I think that they will satisfy only the die-hard fans of the band who want to have every song of Nightwish. Also the CD-single has a data track with photos of the studio which plays like a video and in the background we listen to “White Night Fantasy”… that’s is why I found this data track so good!?!! The fans of the band must buy it…
I
bet you all know this great band from Finland. So, there is no better
way to start with this review, than telling you that Nightwish's new
fourth studio work, which is titled "Century Child", is
actually a magnificent album! The songs of the album and the whole
atmosphere will remind you as well the terrific "Oceanborn".
Nightwish have wrote really classic songs like the incredible "Ever
Dream", the exotic, sensational "Forever Yours", the
impressive "Ocean Soul". Also I should not forget a grand
cover of "The Phantom Of The Opera". Moreover the production
of the album is crystal clear, and the voice of Tarja Turunen is once
more again astonishing! The fact is that all those years, Nightwish have
become a mega-band and are absolutely one of the best bands that have
appear in the metal music for the last 10 years. According to my opinion
"Century Child" is already regarding as one of the best albums
that the band has ever released. And I'm sure that this album will not
only enthuse the fans of the band, but also all those who like heavy
power atmospheric metal music. Let's hope that Nighwish will continue
offering us such enormous albums as "Century Child". The fans
of the band will love this album and besides I believe that all the fans
of heavy power music will buy this album!
Hooray!
This album is by far the worst thing I’ve heard in a long time! Yes,
yes, I can put in the same category with Tripod and Current 93... Right at
the bottom. What a crap is this?? Psuedo-goth, with progressive approach,
psychedelic influences, samples (we have to be modern) and female vocals...
with the lyrics being in French!! Ho-ho we are talking about a big laugh
here! The band would like to be a modern copy of Dead Can Dance, but it
fails in a glorious way. Even worse: the songs are really long, without
having anything to say. I seriously curse the webmaster for making me
listen to this stupid thing... misery and misery again is the only feeling
that one can gain from here. However I think that it might be the perfect
soundtrack for anyone who would like to commit suicide... or shall I say
that this album would make anyone have suicidal tendencies?? I don’t
know... we’d better burry it six feet under...
Ninnuam
is a new band and “Process Of Life Separation” is its debut album. The
band plays atmospheric death/black music with some gothic elements and
they seem that they are a hard working band. Their music my not be very
original, but they have put many melodies and atmospheric parts in their
songs and they seem that they are in a good music way as it concerns the
future of the band. The production of the album is very good and their
attitude is kind of “sick” like their artwork! I believe that the fans
of extreme atmospheric music have found another one good band to listen
to. They guys are good in what they are doing and I’m sure that their
next album will be much better than this one. So, if you like black/death
isomeric music with many synth parts then, at least listen to them.
Some
regular readers of Grande-Rock might remember that I have reviewed the
promo-CD of a promising Greek band almost a year ago and I was sure that I
was going to hear from them very soon, and that’s what really happened.
Nocta had left me good impressions with the promo-CD, but to tell you the
truth the band has delivered something more professional and qualitative
than anyone could have expected after having listened to the promo-CD. The
band has signed a contract with the Greek label Sleaszy Records and seems
to have all the support it needs from the label. So, the debut album of
Nocta contains 13 songs of hard rock, heavy rock and N.W.O.B.H.M. music,
under the Nocta prism. Everything seems to work very well here, from the
dark, weird artwork (Vasilis Arnaoutoglou – R.I.P.) up to the very tight,
clean and heavy production that was made in Germany at Soundlodge Studios
with the help of Jorg Uken. The album is very varied, while the best songs
of the album according to my opinion are: “Inner Struggle”, “Santanta (The
Desert Song)”, “Come Out (Wherever You Are)”, “Beam Of Light”, “My
Precious Soul”, “The Game”, “Sometimes” and “Werewolf”. As a matter of
fact, I haven’t listened to many albums from Greek bands that are as good
as this one but that would be unfair for Nocta, as it is not just a Greek
band but a European one which has the potentials to compete its European
and US colleagues. As I found out lately from a member of the band, Nocta
has already its second album ready! I do not know how it sounds but I just
hope to be if not better than the debut, at least equal. Do not hesitate
to try a new band that loves the music it plays. Nocta worked hard and
finally made the break!
It’s a shame that this is not a new release and so we cannot name it “surprise” of the month. Unfortunately it fell to our hands just now, although it was released back in 2001. And I say these because the CD is magnificent! What is unorthodox is that the band comes from Germany, but plays southern rock! By the way the name “Nocturn” was inspired by the jazz tune “Harlem Nocturn” (Earl Hagen). And this indicative, because the five musicians here do not present plain southern rock, rather embellish it with many blues elements, country and even jazz bits... but at the end the whole thing is rock! To be honest I haven’t listened to something that good in the genre for quite a long time now. The inheritance of great bands and artists, basically Allman Brothers Band, Stevie Ray Vaughn, ZZTop, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Doc Holliday, Warren Haynes, Robben Ford and Robert Johnson is treated with care by the band, which delivers an amalgam of the above. Have you seen the original “Blues Brothers” movie? Do you remember the club somewhere in the south where their band tricks the owner and takes the place of “The Good Old Boys” on the stage and the “strange” audience of the southerners? Well, Nocturn could play in that club every night and burn it to the ground! Pure southern fun! Have a look
at:
Nocturnal Rites is one of Sweden’s best heavy/power acts today. All those years they have shown that they are a hard working band that always tries to achieve the best result. Their new album “New World Messiah” shows that the band is in a very good shape and they are here to rock
us! So, in this album we can find everything that a heavy/power metal fan longs for... heavy guitars, thunderous drumming, fast and mid tempos, excellent solos and of course powerful and melodic vocal melodies. The production is very strong and heavy as well and it will satisfy every one of you. Nocturnal Rites are walking in the heavy/power metal path, with inspiration, power and melodies... they do not becoming boring like many others power metal bands. Songs like “New World Messiah”, “Against The World”, “Awakening”, “Egyptica”, and “The Flame Will Never Die” are the best proof
of what I said above. One thing is sure, that the fans of the band will love this album and the other heavy/power fans will be also satisfied.
Nocturnus are well known internationally. Every Death metal fan has their best selling album “The Key” so I don’t have to tell a lot about them. For those who are not familiar with the band you should know that the leader is Mike Browning who recorded drums and vocals on the first Morbid Angel album. I never really like Nocturnus because their struggle to reach Venom and Celtic Frost never allowed them to create their own sound. Anyway here we’ve got a collection of their two first demos with no actual interest. Even if they have a lot of fans, or Jon Oliva(!) recorded their second demo, or their members have been in bands like Morbid Angel, Acheron and Agent Steel this release still sucks! Maybe that’s why they are so well known! I don’t care about them and ignoring the “selling points” and the other bullshit referred in the info I strongly believe that this snatch is aiming exclusively to the dedicated fans of THIS band. So if you are one buy it, if you are
not…
This German group has been around since 1992, although that this is the first time I hear of them. Since the year 1992, the band had plenty of line-up changes, but has also made many live appearances, released many demos and one more full-length album (“Mortal Machines” in 1999). Their music style is beyond my pleasant listenings, so I may not be objective enough, although that I will try to. Their music style is a death metal and hardcore crossing and will remind you much of Soulfly, the new sound of Sepultura with some nu-metal elements. Most of the songs are mid-tempo (sometimes they sound like a super heavy doom metal group) and aggressive, but all songs sound the same to me and that’s why I found this CD so boring, despite that I don’t like hardcore in general. On the other hand, the vocalists Owe Koch (who is also one of the two guitarists) and Boris Kronenberg (also the bassist), roar too brutal (like death metal vocalists), although that their brutal vocals doesn’t match the group’s sound much. The production is very strong and tough and the guitar sound will sometimes bury you under. Anyway, the fans of Soulfly and the similar bands can listen to this CD firstly and then decide about it. For the rest, I say to stay away from this boring and tasteless album.
Another
new-coming band from Poland releases its debut album, which belongs to the
death metal music. The “Demonic Verses” album was recorded in 2002, it
was released in 2003 and now, in 2004, Baphomet releases this album in the
whole world (what for???). The band plays hellish death metal with brutal
vocals and very fast parts in the style of Deicide and Vader. The vocals
are brutal, aggressive and I think I found some black metal influences.
The drums are thundering in the whole album, but I can’t really say if
they are played from the drummer or the drum machine… Very fast guitars
and some kind of riffs are also here, but they are very common. Another
thing that I didn’t like is that the album lasts about 40 minutes and I
believe that if they were interested for their fans they would include
more music in this album and they would put more originality! The
production is very common for the Polish death metal scene and I think
that the bands should avoid this sound anymore because it has become very
usual. I don’t think that they can offer something new or interesting to
the fans of the brutal death metal, so you can pass this release and
listen to more interesting albums…
None
Of Us is another European band (they are coming from 
Norther from Finland released their third album since 2000, with the same line-up all these times. All the albums of the band have received good critiques in the past, but their music has always been compared with the music of Children Of Bodom and other great melodic death/black metal bands. Without many dynamic changes in their sound, Norther released a nice album. In this new CD you can find some very good oldschool thrash/death metal riffing. The keyboards
(Tuomas Planman) are used more here than in the past albums and this is why the album sounds so melodic. Also the heavy/thrash guitar riffing
(Petri Lindroos and Kristian Ranta) sounds very good and technical. The drumming (Toni
Hallio) is heavy and sometimes becomes very fast although that most of the tracks of the album are mid-tempo. The vocals
(Petri Lindroos) are aggressive, but you can also listen some choruses with clean vocals. The Finnish give their best performance without being embarrassed for their main and visible influences, which are Children Of
Bodom, Soilwork, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames. The production is heavy enough and I
don’t think that it has many things to envy at the productions of the groups I mentioned before… Best tracks: “Deep Inside”, “Death
Unlimited”, “Chasm”, “Vain”, “The Cure”, “Hollow” and “Day Of
Redemption”.
Noumena was formed in 1998 in Finland and “Absence” is the band’s
second full-length release. The band plays melodic death metal and has
been influenced from Scandinavian death metal bands. In order to be more
specific, I must say that the band has been influenced from bands like
Amorphis, Sentenced, In Flames, Iron Maiden, Edge Of Sanity etc... As a
matter of fact the vocals reminded very much the vocals of the masterpiece
that Amorphis had released many years ago (“Tales Of The Thousand
Lakes”). Apart from the aggressive vocals there are some moments that
the vocalist uses clean vocals. The guitars are very melodic and you will
not find a moment in this album where the music isn’t full of melodies!
The rhythm section sounds very tight and powerful, as it should be.
Noumena’s music is melodic, but it is also dark and as a matter of fact
there are two tracks in the album that a female vocalist (Hanna Leinonen)
does some vocals and sounds like the band has been influenced from the
gothic metal scene too! Finally, the production is very clear and their
sound is very powerful! This album does not offer something new in the
melodic death metal scene, but I really enjoyed listening to it, because
this kind of music has almost be disappeared the last years. The lovers of
Amorphis, Sentenced and the melodic death metal fans will like it very
much!
The
americans Novembers Doom are back with their fifth album, which managed to
impresses me a lot. The musical approach of the band is closer to European
atmospheric death/doom metal, which is influenced by bands such as Opeth,
Katatonia and Anathema. Novembers Doom is playing harder than the
aforementioned bands (except from Opeth) and uses melodic (non-distorted)
and brutal vocals. This album is full of emotions, dark atmosphere and
melancholic/desperate tunes. Heavy guitars are very well combined with
acoustic ones and doom death metal turns to mellow dark atmospheric music
from song to song. Some songs have also an epic felling due to the very good
vocals of Paul Kuhr. Needless to say that the production is flawless as the
album was mixed by Dan Swano (Edge Of Sanity, Bloodbath, Nightingale),
mastered by guitarist James Murphy (Death, Obituary, Testament) and finally
produced by Novembers Doom and Chris Djuricic. “The Pale Haunt
Departure” contains 8 songs and lasts about 52 minutes. All the songs here
are very good and you will find no fillers on this album. I dare to say that
this band not only managed to amaze me but has also gained with this album a
place among the top bands of the late 10 years that can take a leading part
in heavy/atmospheric metal scene in the years to come! Novembers Doom with
this album will surely add more people to their fan base. If the band
manages to overcome this excellent album then the next release will be a
masterpiece and most of metal fans will be shocked! I just warn you!
Novembers Doom is close...
Numen comes from the Basque country and they were formed in 1998. In 1999 they released a MCD (“Haize Sorginduen Intziriak”) and managed to sign a contract with Goi Music. In 2001 they released their debut album “Galdutako Itxaropenaren Eresia” and gave some live shows. These guys play hellish and raw black metal. All the tracks are very fast and full of blast beats and “railroad” guitars. The vocals are really hellish and brutal and combine death metal parts with black metal screams and some clean atmospheric vocals. Apart from the oldschool Norwegian black metal influences they have added and some traditional-folk moments, which makes the final result less boring… The main thing that characterizes them is that all the lyrics are in Euskara, the Basque language! That means that very few people will understand their lyrics but this makes the band differ from other bands, because I personally haven’t listened to any other band singing in this language. Generally, I don’t think that this album will impress anyone, because there is nothing new in their music… Only the fans of the fast oldschool black metal may buy this album and only if they want something different when it comes to language.
Nyia?
What the fuck is this? I was not prepared for the worst when I was putting
this promo CD in my stereo and waited to listen to it…. When my stereo
decided to play the CD (it couldn’t read it for the first five times… was
this a warning or what?) a strange noise came straight into my ears! I
couldn’t imagine that the whole CD would follow the same paths, as the first
track did. I don’t know how to characterize this kind of “music”, but
they have influences from noise, grindcore, hardcore/metalcore and death metal
bands. Ultra fast drumming (sometimes is so quick that sounds sick and
annoying…), heavy guitars with no melodies and a vocalist who growls all the
times, are the main parts of the album. What else can I say? Maybe I
shouldn’t make the review for this album, because I am not the appropriate
person for their noisy sounds that some people mistake it for music. The
production is awful and there is no sign of professionalism here. Finally, I
must mention that the band’s members come from other known groups and these
are some of their names: Jaroslw Labieniec (ex- Vader), Michael Pawluc and
Szymon Czech (ex-Prophecy) etc… Keep away from this CD, which made me more
confident that most of the Poles are and remain sick…