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March 14th, 2013 Reviews

Ascension of the Watchers – Numinsoum (Thirteenth Planet)

The promo copy of this comes with a blurb just under the band logo that simply states, “FEAT. Burton C. Bell.” A few small words which carry with them a lot of history and lumps Ascension Of The Watchers’ debut with a sufficient burden before the disc’s even come out of its sleeve. As the frontman with the influential, unique and once upon a time, massively popular Fear Factory, Bell has a lot of history behind him. His blending of harsh, rough v…

March 14th, 2013 Reviews

L’ Espirit du Clan – Corpus Delicti (Galy Records)

This one sat in the pile for a while, ignored probably because yours truly cringes whenever he sees a bunch of neo-metallers dressed to the nines in baggy, hip-hop clothing. Needless to say, when Corpus Delicti was popped in, expectations were about as low as Bret Michaels’ blood sugar. After one listen, that sentiment was completely reversed – this is one immensely memorable CD of gasp! – Canadian metalcore. As indicated by their name, L’Espirit…

March 14th, 2013 Reviews

Avantasia – The Scarecrow (Nuclear Blast Records)

With Edguy taking a break after the mostly good Rocket Ride album, mainman Tobias Sammet has resurrected his Avantasia project, this time with a cast of characters culled outside of the metal world, giving the album a bit of a AOR-flavored twist. The first two installments of the Avantasia saga (The Metal Opera Pt I & II) were lauded across the board for flying the flag of epic power metal high, but this time, Sammet has opted for a more rock-bas…

March 14th, 2013 Reviews

Death Angel – Killing Season (Nuclear Blast Records)

Of all the thrash reunions and revival going on of late, Death Angel is one of the few that has been able to keep its head above water, immune to the pressures of creating something ‘old-school’ and ‘brutal’ just to appease the old, graying thrash heads and the new breed of moshers who dumped their Korn catalog for Bonded By Blood. DA’s comeback album, The Art of Dying turned many heads and was marked heavily by the band’s versatility and three-h…

March 14th, 2013 Reviews

Nifelheim – Envoy of Lucifer (Regain Records)

Seven years since their last album (2000’s Servants of Darkness), Sweden’s Nifelheim return with Envoy of Lucifer. One would think such a delay in releases would spark some unbridled creativity, but Envoy of Lucifer is one of those staid, predictable death/black metal albums that just blow by without leaving much of an impression. The bands turbo-charged blend of blackened death metal or deathened black metal (ugh) runs the gamut from fast to sca…

March 14th, 2013 Reviews

Primordial – To The Nameless Dead (Metal Blade Records)

There have been few, if any hiccups in Primordial’s run as Ireland’s exo-de-facto metal band. Maybe 2002’s Storm Before Calm ranks as something of a disappointment, but that was the album that succeeded the near flawless Spirit the Earth Aflame, so we’ll give these lads a free pass. Glance back at albums like the aforementioned Spirit the Earth Aflame and 1998’s A Journey’s End and you’ll find Pagan metal at its finest, bolstered by the grim, wor…

March 14th, 2013 Reviews

Gorgoroth – Reissues (Regain Records)

Long before Gorgoroth became the resident Drama Queens of black metal, they were regarded as one of the more promising bands on the Norwegian front. The albums in question – Under the Sign of Hell, Antichrist, and Pentagram were bookends in the Norwegian black metal scene, drawing praise from both critics and fellow BM mongers like Hellhammer of Mayhem and Emperor. Now given the reissue treatment by Regain Records, this trio will now get its just…

March 14th, 2013 Reviews

Doro – All We Are – The Fight (Locomotive Records)

Obviously this is some sort of stop-gap release, the usually prolific Doro putting together her most popular solo and Warlock tunes for a five-song, five video EP. The only song that really broke Doro (and Warlock) is “All We Are” and it’s right up front, cheesy video and all, but man, Doro was a hottie (and still is, yes) back then, so maybe that’s all that is needed for this EP to work. Additional tunage includes the pretty atypical 80’s metal …

March 14th, 2013 Reviews

Endstille – Endstilles Reich (Regain Records)

Pretty ugly and unrelenting, these Endstille fellows. Their political values have always been in question since a handful of their lyrics deal with weaponry from World War II and since they are German, the debate will rage on. And so will their music. Endstilles Reich is a primal, blast-happy BM affair that contains minimal dynamics, but has enough pop and force to amount to something of worth. Opener “Among Our Glorious Existence” starts with vo…

March 14th, 2013 Reviews

Neuraxis – Live Progression (Galy Records)

Now signed to Prosthetic Records where no doubt bigger things will be in store, Montreal’s Neuraxis are doing the ‘ole contractual obligation release with Live Progression. Recorded in front of an adoring crowd in Montreal (between-song raps are in French), Live Progression is an uncharacteristically good sounding live death metal album, demonstrating how versatile and explosive Neuraxis really is. Culling largely from 2005’s Trilateral Progressi…