VÖ: 2009

Genre: Death Metal

Label: Dynamic Arts Records

Herkunftsland: Finnland

Für Fans von: Six Feet Under, Debauchery


Tracklist:

01. Crypts
02. I Bathe In Their Blood
03. The Art Of Impalement
04. By Their Corpse
05. Coffins
06. Rats Can Sense The Murder
07. Scourging At The Pillar
08. Sewers

Spielzeit: 29:09

Zitat:The first albums of the Finnish death metal act were praised by my colleague Monique. Without being acquainted with the bands”™ history, I thought it sounded a lot like Six Feet Under. And what is a fact? The band started as a SFU cover act. And, on their second album, Mr. Barnes himself was the vocalist. On the third album, the original singer, Juri Sallinen has retaken his position.

I am not familiar with the first and the second album, but this album does not excite me as it once excited my colleague. Debit to this are the monotonous vocals. This ultra low sewer sound blubbers and fills the songs in a descent way, but it needs a lot more variation. The sound of the album is good, but needs more sharp edges. The music sounds mostly low and blunt, indeed, just like SFU. But this ”˜Sewers”™ sounds more spontaneous than most of the SFU work I have heard.

The album kicks of with the anonymous and superfluous ”™Crypts”™, a song that you will probably never whistle while driving to your work. But! The ”˜genius”™ of the songs rises at the album proceeds. There is more variation, more adventures. The songs on the second part of the album are more able to keep my attention focussed. It seems to be a very brutal album, but this is mainly caused by the brutal vocals. Musically, this is not a really heavy, brutal album. It lacks these typical aggressive moves other acts do have. Strongest parts are the instrumental parts, with good rhythms, nice riffs and pounding bass drums. On these parts it is hard not to move your head. It is not a penalty to listen to this album and there are really some very interesting parts, e.g ”˜By Their Corpse”™ and ”˜Scourging At The Pillar”™.

So, in the end”¦this is a descent death metal album that is not striking. On the other hand, there is no bad note. For those who eat blunt, mid-tempo death metal as bread, you can buy this album without hesitation.
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MySpace (nicht offiziell)



Presence MCD (2006)

Zitat:Polen auf dem Vormarsch! Dank Northern Heritage wandert anno 2006 "Presence" in alle mit Interesse gefüllten Gemäuer. Und so mag die erwähnte Ostmacht zwar kein zahmer, aber doch geregelter Ursprung für musikalische Genüsse sein.
Mgla sind, meines Erachtens zumindest für die nächsten paar Wochen, der letzte Schrei. Absolut unoriginelles Standard-Material habe ich nämlich schon seit Monaten nicht mehr so überragend knackig zu Ohren bekommen. Quintessenziell stimmt hier nämlich alles: Sound, Feeling, Melodik. Bei Betrachtung hier erzeugter Dramatik kommt jedem Halbjahres-BM-Hanswurst, der meint, die Welt mit irgend'nem Kackdreck zuzüglich erschweren zu müssen, das Cola-Bier aus der Nase geschossen. Kompositorisch fährt man ergo zwar keine Patente auf, weiß aber alles, was jeder bereits schonmal gehört hat, so zu verwursten, dass es einfach erfrischend klingt. Zwischen Rotz und Dreck suhlt sich ein gehöriger Batzen Aggression und Leidenschaft, welcher nahezu penetrant eingängig ist, aber nie an Authentizität oder Atmosphäre vermissen lässt. Variantenreich gestaltet sich erwartetermaßen der Ablauf dieser MLP. So wird, um's unnötigerweise nochmal durchzukauen, auf Tempowechsel von Trab bis Sprint geachtet, superb bangtaugliche Riffs aneinandergereiht und energisch-monotone Vokaldarbietungen angebracht, die wahrlich den passenden Ton treffen. Schematisches Manko wäre jetzt lediglich, dass einige Passagen etwas träge erscheinen, da man's mit manchen Riffwiederholungen wohl doch zu gut meinte. Das kann jedoch gleichfalls den Vorteil haben, dass neben aller Abwechslung der Hang zum Gehenlassen nicht unmerklich erkennbar und ein gewisses Hypnose-Potential durchaus üppig ausgefallen ist.
Wer keinen Bock auf Neuerungen und gegebenenfalls aufgesetzte Originalität hat, ist mit Mglas "Presence" nur allzu gut beraten. Ein typisches NH-Release, zu dem endlich mal wieder ganz ohne Gewissensbisse die Keule und Matte geschwungen werden kann. Attacke!

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Mdłości 7"/Further Down The Nest 7" (2006/2007)

Zitat:Hands down, this is THE QUINTESSENTIAL black metal listening experience. Its nature is of the grim and raw, yet melodic and stiflingly oppressive. I haven't heard better material that could be thought of as encompassing everything real black metal has stood for over the years. This might well be as close to perfection as any one black metal release can get, and I suppose it makes sense that only 4 tracks are to be found here. In spite of this, there isn't one second of filler, a second-rate idea or mis-stepped note to be found! Mgła has found the glory of a militant sound ensnared in the jaws of the fiercest hatred, violence and misanthropic blood-lust. This is a compilation CD (of two brilliant, albeit short, previously released vinyl EPs) that is the aural equivalent of an empty, dead, cold universe... blacker than pitch black and every bit as frozen in timeless space.

Incredibly grim vocals power through the oppressive wall of hatred when the man has a point to make, and supports the music on a perfectly balanced, even mix every time else. Guitars are brilliantly melodic yet raw and full of pride, indignation, and dread; a triumph of one keen mind's individualistic, existential nightmare that is true "hell on earth". A better production value couldn't have been used; the guitar(s) comes out in front, slightly ahead of the percussion and vocals. The drumming, courtesy of the adroit Darkside, remains faithful to the thundering nature of the music only brimming with hypersonic blast beats or double bass when absolutely necessary. This further clinches the compositional tension already set in place, and perfect to begin with, which is now even more intense, simply leveling the playing field for all black metal music held against it (yeah, the consummation of all the instruments, in turn the final result, is THAT GOOD).

I honestly can't think of any disc better to represent black metal as a whole. This disc is perhaps absolute perfection and I am letting them down with only a score that has varied from 95-99%. If you have an urge to find out what REAL black metal is all about, I suggest that you seek this, or the other mentioned releases, out from the Northern Heritage website. Clearly none of them should disappoint any "trve" fan on the genre... on the other hand, I have set expectations pretty high here. To my defense, and for the sake of gaining one honest perspective of the consensus on Mgła's material, I tell you now that I haven't heard so much as one single bad word uttered about this compilation CD on any website, chat room, or blog I've encountered... NOT ONE.

This is music that truly beats at the cold heart of every black metal artist or fanatic.

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Groza (2008)

Zitat:Hailing from Poland, these blackmetallers took the underground by storm back in 2005, with the split-album 'Crushing the Holy Trinity'. I'm sure many of you have recommended M.G.L.A and "those Polish guys with the weird spelling" to others. But the actual pronunciation is 'mgwa', meaning 'fog' in Polish.

Personally, I came across Mgla by surfing my way onto Northern Heritages` website. Looking at Mglas Goya-ish covers and their logo, I could see these guys had something to offer. And the fact that they had a split with Deathspell Omega, awakened my curiousity.

So, here we are, with this long awaited full length CD named 'Groza', meaning something like 'thunderstorm' (and in fact, it's an assault rifle as well). At first I must admit I felt a bit disappointed, but hey; they could'nt keep up the perfection forever. I had problems with the drums. What was up with the double bass-drums!? They sounded like a helicopter. But after a few listenings, they fitted the soundscape of Mgla.

While the Norwegian black metal scene usually just repeat itself, Mgla actually brings some new blood into the scene - and its no surprise they're coming from Eastern Europe, who have many of the up and coming black metal bands at the moment. Mgla gives you what you have been waiting for; Hounest, raw, simple and direct old school black metal with shitloads of atmosphere! The vocals sometimes make me chill, because its so cold, vibrant and summoning.. The guitars are like a wall, brilliantly oppressive and groovy.

I can't put my finger on it, but there's something that makes me like their prior EP's 'Presence' and 'Mdlosci' better than 'Groza'. Might be the tempo of 'Groza', It's more midpaced and not so attacking as the two abovementioned. Still, Mgla is one of the best bands in the genre, delivering their goods as usual. Their music captivates you, and they give you all the visual stuff aswell. These guys have style!

In my opinion,'Groza' grew after some more listenings, and I would highly recommend Mgla to other old schoolers. For me, this is one of the best (and most awaited) albums this year!

Quelle

VÖ: 2007

Genre: Death Metal

Label: Remission Records

Herkunftsland: Deutschland

Für Fans von: Dying Fetus, Misery Index


Tracklist:

01. War Belligerence
02. Pollutions Precept
03. War Makes Deserts
04. A Slobbering Piece Of Shit
05. Exit Existance
06. Worthless
07. Deperception
08. The Swamp
09. Missing Shadows
10. Boundless Blank Of Misery
11. Everlasting Enmity
12. Life Is A Bad Joke
13. Red Sun Arise
14. Brain Mass Index
15. Insane Visions

Spielzeit: 57:57

Zitat:Auch wenn zu befürchten war, dass nach dem Ausstieg von Frontdame Jasmin Fleiner ein Großteil der Einzigartigkeit von SUFFERAGE verloren gegangen sein würde, haben die Hamburger Jungs, die Jasmin durch Sebastian Fröhlich ersetzt haben, nichts von ihrem Reiz eingebüßt. Hinsichtlich der Musik hat sich nämlich trotz des Wechsels am Mikro bei SUFFERAGE so gut wie nichts verändert. Klar, es ist nun weniger ungewöhnlich "nur" einen weiteren männlichen Darsteller im Line-up zu haben, aber bislang wurden die Jungs ohnehin nicht über ihr Frontfräulein definiert, sondern viel mehr über ihren brachialen Death Metal.

Dementsprechend enthält auch "Everlasting Enmity" eine knappe Stunde davon, als Einflussquelle auf den Sound der Nordlichter müssen in erster Linie immer noch die US of A angeführt werden. Zwar sind mittlerweile wesentlich mehr Breaks in den Songs zu finden, von technischen Frickeleien im Stile großer Formationen aus dem fernen Florida sind SUFFERAGE aber immer noch meilenweit entfernt. Viel eher scheint die Truppe in der Zwischenzeit dermaßen reich an Erfahrung zu sein, dass sie ganz genau weiß, wie man Dampframmen-Todesmörtel auf technischem Niveau, aber ohne derlei Anleihen zu komponieren hat. Nicht, dass ihre Vorgängeralben schwach gewesen wären, aber dermaßen intensiv kam der immens brutale Death Metal dieser Herrschaften noch nie aus den Boxen.

Besonders wuchtig knallen die eher schleppenden Passagen aus den Boxen, und auch wenn diese eindeutig in der Unterzahl sind, schaffen es SUFFERAGE damit für Abwechslung zu sorgen, da ansonsten zumeist im Up- und Midtempo losgeprügelt wird. Auch was den Sound angeht, gibt es kaum Kritikpunkte, wodurch "Everlasting Enmity" eindrucksvoll bestätigt, weshalb SUFFERAGE mit zur Speerspitze der deutschen Death-Metal-Riege gezählt wird.
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VÖ: 2009

Genre: "Progressive" Death Metal

Label: Season Of Mist

Herkunftsland: Frankreich

Für Fans von: Goijira


Tracklist:

01. Daddy's Happy
02. Glowing Cloud
03. Blink Of Time
04. Addicted To Oblivion
05. Inner Hell
06. Unexpectable Lies
07. And Now...
08. Usual Crap
09. Become
10. World Plague
11. Sadistik Peace
12. Fant-Easy Reality

Spielzeit: 55:03

Zitat:Ladies and gentlemen of the (death) metal crowd, I have some shocking news for you. Your favourite genre is no longer all about running in circles in front of the stage, inconspicuously bashing each others brains and swishing your hair around as vehemently as possible. No, from now on, guided by Trepalium (France) there is going to be some nifty swinging as well! You better believe it, because their new album ”˜XIII does not only sound brutal as fuck, it is actually something you can dance to as well!

And that does not mean that there is a so called ”˜fat groove”™ present. No sirree, they take it much further. Owing to the flowing rhythmic and bouncy bass lines, songs like ”˜Inner Hell”™, ”˜Addicted To Oblivion”™ and ”˜Usual Crap”™ (oh yeah!) are absolute swinging death metal hits! Not all of the songs are as danceable as these (unfortunately), but even though the rest of the material is less funky, there is still more than enough rhythmic unpredictability. The riffs in (parts of) ”˜Glowing Cloud”™, ”˜Fant-easy Reality”™ and ”˜Unexpectable Lies”™ are quite reminiscent of the heaviness of Gojira (think ”˜Heaviest Matter Of The Universe”™). But Trepalium”™s material displays a far more playful rhythmic approach making them sound funnier than Gojira ever will or want to. The band members seem to have a soft spot for jazz as well judging by the randomness with which some melodic guitar bits and pieces are tweaked into their songs. And it is exactly this loose and unbounded characteristic of Trepalium”™s compositional style that makes their stuff so exciting.

Despite what the somewhat boring album title and the bad band name may lead you to think, Trepalium has developed a very surprising and uncommon style on ”˜XIII”™ which adventurous metal heads should be able to appreciate very much.
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