Elysion/Someplace Better/Massacre records/2014 CD Review

  Elysion  are  a  band  from  Greece  that  plays  a  very  gothic  form  of  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Someplace  Better"  which  was  released  by  Massacre  Records.

  The  album  starts  out  with  clean  playing  and  synths  before  getting  heavy  and  adding  in  melodic  female  vocals  while  also  having  a  great  amount  of  power  coming  out  of  all  of  the  musical  instruments  as  well  as  the  clean  and  heavy  parts  mixing  together.

  As  the  album  progresses  the  music  takes  a  more  modern  and  mainstream  style  of  gothic  metal  as  well  as  adding  in  elements  of  electronic  music  as  well  as  adding  in  melodic  guitar  leads  and  at  times  there  are  power  ballads  added  onto  the  record  along  with  more  symphonic  elements  as  well  as  bringing  in  melodic  guitar  solos.

  While  there  is  nothing  original  or  anything  that  has  not  been  done  before  Elysion  still  do  a  great  job  at  creating  a  modern  gothic  metal  record  that  has  a  great  amount  of  melody   and  emotion  along  with  catchy  riffs.

  Song  lyrics  cover  dark, depressive  and  fantasy  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Elysion  are  a  very  decent  sounding  gothic  metal b and  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Made  Of  Lies"  "Fairytale"  "Transparent"  and  "Changing".  7/5  out  of  10.

Stormwarrior/Thunder Steele/Massacre Records/2014 CD Review

  Stormwarrior  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  mixture  of  power,  speed  and  heavy  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Thunder  Steele"  which  was  released  by  Massacre  Records.

  The  album  starts  out  with  an  old  school  German  power/speed  metal  sound  along  with  melodic  vocals  and  guitar  riffs  and  after  awhile  solos  are  added  into  the  music  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  As  the  album  progresses  it  sticks  to  a  true  metal  direction  and  pays  perfect  homage  to  the  early  80's  legends  and  they  go  back  to  an  area  where  metal w as  just  metal  and  no  one  other  sub  genres  existed  even  thought  you  can  go  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  on  this  recording  proto  thrash  and  they  only  use  synths  for  a  few  seconds  and  have  none  of  the  poppier  elements  a  lot  of  many  day  power  metal  has.

  On  this  album  Stormwarrior  take   the  traditional  metal style  of  their  home  country  and  bring  it  back  to  its  roots  and  keeps  all  of  the  synths  and  poppy  elements  of  the  modern  stuff  out  of  their  music  and  creates  a  true  metal  album  that  could  of  easily  came  out  in  1984  but  with  the  production  of  the  modern  day.    

  Song  lyrics  cover  heavy  metal  and  fantasy  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Stormwarrior  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  speed,  power  and  heavy  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Metal  Avenger"  "Steelcrusader"  "Die  By  The  hammer"  and  "Servants  Of  Metal".  8/5  out  of  10.

Desert Storm/Komatsu/Nomen Est Omen/Blindsight Records/2014 Split Album Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  England's  Desert  Storm  and  Netherland's  Komatsu  called  "Nomen  Est  Omen"  which  was  released  by  Blindsight  Records  in  the  year  of  2014  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Desert  Storm  a  band  that  plays  stoner  rock.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  melodic  and  old  school  stoner  rock  sounds  and  a  few  seconds  alter  aggressive  yet  melodic  vocals  start  to  kick  in  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sound  very  powerful  and  after  awhile  70's  style  solos  are  added  into  the  music  and  they  continue  this  sound  on  the  second  song  as  well  as  well  as  bringing  in  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts.

  Song  lyrics  cover  metaphysical  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  their  side  of  the  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Desert  Storm  are  a  very  great  sounding  stoner  rock  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out t heir  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Shadow  On  An  Eagle".

  Next  up  is  Komatsu  a  band  that  plays  of  mixture  of  stoner  rock  and  sludge.

  Their  side  of  the  split  begins  with  distorted  amp  sounds  along  with  some  heavy  doom  metal  guitar  riffing  and  drums  as  well  as  bass  which  also  leads  up  to  melodic  vocals  kicking  in  and  after  awhile  psychedelic  sounds  are  added  into  their  music  and  on  the  second  song  more  traditional  stoner  rock  elements  are  added  in  along  with  leads.

  Song  lyrics  cover  everyday  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound.

  In  my  opinion  Komatsu  are   a  very  great  soundign  mixture  of  stoner  rock,  doom  metal  and  sludge  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "July".

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  I  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  stoner  rock.  8  out  of  10.

    

Mad Hatters Den/Welcome To The Den/Inverse Records/2013 CD Review

  Mad  Hatter's  Den  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  heavy,  speed,  melodic,  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "Welcome  To  The  Den"  which  was  released  by  Inverse  Records.

  The  album  starts  out  with  an  intro  which  uses  spoken  word  samples  before  going  into  the  first  song  which  starts  off  with  an  old  school  speed/thrash  metal  sound  along  with  symphonic  elements  which  also  leads  to  clean  singing  power  metal  vocals  and  the  music  has  a  great  amount  of  NWOBHM  influences.

  As  the  album  progresses  you  can  hear  elements  of  hard  rock  and  80's  mainstream  metal  being  added  into  the  music  and   they  also  bring  in  a  mixture  of  clean  and  heavy  parts  along  with  a  great  amount  of  solos  and  you  can  also  hear  a  good  amount  of  70's  influences  coming  out  of  the  synths  which  also  bring  in  psych  and  prog  elements.

  On  this  album  Mad  hatter's  Den  takes  the  heaviness  of  thrash,  the  speed  of  speed  metal  and  the  melody  of  power  and  traditional  metal  as  well  as  mixing  in  the  catchy  structures  of  hard  rock  as  well  as  bringing  in  psych  and  prog  elements  with  the  synths  to  create  a  very  old  school  sounding  metal/hard  rock  album.

  Song  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  fantasy  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy,  old  school  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Mad  hatter's  Den  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  old  school  metal  and  rock  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Welcome  To  the  Den"  "Shadow  Lord"  "Legacy  Of  The  King"  and  "The  Dark  Wheel".  8  out  of  10.

Lovijatar/Pimeaen Tuoja/Inverse Records/2013 CD Review

  Lovijater  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  pagan/folk  metal  and  stoner  rock  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "Pimeaen  Tuoja"  which  was  released  by  Inverse  Records.

  The  album  starts  out  with  melodic  vocals  and  heavy  stoner  rock  sounds  and  after  awhile  melody  and  nature  sounds  are  added  into  the  music  and  on  the  following song  pagan  chanting  is  brought  into  the  recording  along  with  some  melody  and  powerful  sounding  bass  guitars  as  well  as  folk  influences.

    As  the  album  continues  the  band  seems  to  find  a  perfect  balance  between  melody  and  heaviness  as  well  as  bringing  in  medieval  pagan  folk  music  elements  and  updating  them  for  the  modern  day  and  at  time s you  can  also  hear  some  clean  playing  being  used  in  certain  sections  of  the  music  as  well  as  a  small  use  of  melodic  female  vocals.

  As  the  album  progresses  acoustic  guitars  and  elements  of  60's  psychedelic  rock  are  added  into  the  music  and  they  also  give  the  album  a  more  ritualistic  feeling  along  with  a  small  amount  of  whispers  and  on  one  of  the  songs  the  music  starts  adding  in  more  fast  parts.

  On  this  album  Lovijater  take  stoner  rock  and  70's  doom  metal  and  mix  it  in  with  the  native  Pagan  folk  music  of  their  home  country  and  they  bring  out  a  very  original  sound  with  this  recording.

  Song  lyrics  are  written  in  Finnish  and  cover  folklore  from  the  Kalevala  and  Finnish  Poetry  and  Paganism,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Lovijater  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  stoner  rock  and  pagan/folk  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres  you  should  check  out  this  band  and  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Vainovolkae"  "Uhrilehto"  "Lievo"  and  "Tuenon  Musta  Joki".  8/5  out  of  10.

Cardiant/Verge/Inverse Records/2013 CD Review

  Cardiant  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  power  metal  and  hard  rock  and  this  is  a  review  of  their 2013  album  "Verge"  which  was  released  by  Inverse  Records.

  The  album  begins  with  old  school  metal  riffs,  synths  and  melodic  power  metal  vocals  along  with  bass  and  drums  and  after  awhile  solos  are  added  onto  the  album  and  the  album  continues  in  the  same  direction  on  other  songs  while  also  adding  in  80's  hard  rock  elements.

  On  the  second  song  a  small  amount  of  flutes  are  added  into  the  music  and  as  the  recording  progresses  the  music  gets  a  little  bit  faster  on  certain  songs  and  you  can  hear  some  German  power  and  speed  metal  influences  being  added  in  along  with  a  brief  use  of  female  vocals  and  they  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  soft  and  tragic  parts  with  the  synths  as  well  as  some  power  ballads  and  one  of  the  songs  also  has  an  orchestra  feeling  to  it.

  On  this  album  Cardiant  take  the  classic  power  metal  sound  and  mix  it  in  with  80's  AOR  music  and  they  create  a  sound  that  is  very  melodic  and  old  school  sounding  while  also  having  a  great  amount  of  emotion  and  talent  as  well  as  some  catchy  hooks.

  Song  lyrics  cover  everyday  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording  as  well  as  some  of  the  songs  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  Cardiant  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  power  metal  and  hard  rock  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,   you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Justice  Turns  To  Revenge"  "Ever  Since"  "Stranger  In  Me"  and  "While  The  Ice  Is  Cold".  8  out  of  10.

Alunah Interview

Interview with Soph Day – Vocalist / Guitarist of Alunah -
Extreme Underground MusicZine

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?

We haven’t yet recorded the new album, but we have recorded a couple of demo tracks from it for the label. We’re currently at the writing stage, and are due to record around summertime.

2.You have a new album coming out this year, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical direction it has taken and also how does it differ from your past recordings?

We now have a different bass player with Dan, and he has bought new ideas into the fold. Dan’s a great songwriter and bassist, so the bass will have a real crowning moment on the new album. The musical direction hasn’t differed that much since our second album White Hoarhound, we’re not trying to capture or force anything in particular, we’re writing what comes naturally to us. I’ll leave it up to the critics to decide on the difference, but I will say that the finished songs are definitely a lot more melancholic, and perhaps darker.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the new release will be exploring?

The main lyrical topic that runs throughout the album is that of England’s pagan and wiccan history, as well as the fascinating stories and meanings within the natural world. I m a bit obsessed with Yew Trees at the moment!

4.The band has covered a good amount of occult, pagan and mythology subjects over the years, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these topics?

I’ve been into mythology ever since my parents bought me a book about Greek myths and monsters when I was a child, I was fascinated by Medusa also! As I’ve gotten older I’ve just read more and more, and the more you read around these subjects, the more layers you uncover. I’m more interested in pagan subject matters nowadays, and I’m deeply interested in England’s rich occult history. Many holidays in Cornwall throughout my childhood and teens ignited my interest in witchcraft and Paganism; I have particularly strong memories of The Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, reading about the magic of plants at the Eden Project, walking through Tintagel town and castle and visiting the many sacred stone sites throughout the county. I live fairly close to North Wales too, and Snowdonia makes you realise how powerful the earth actually is. I do yearn for a time when life was lived via the seasons, rather than the office clock.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

I’m perhaps the wrong person to describe our performances; we just get up on stage, play our music and try and put on a good show for people. We don’t have gimmicks, we just play... loudly. For me personally, some of the best shows have been when we supported Fu Manchu in Birmingham, Saint Vitus in Birmingham, Paradise Lost in Wolverhampton, and when we toured Europe last year and played DesertFest Berlin, and Szczecin in Poland. All of these gigs we played exceptionally well and were buzzing for days, there was an immense energy from the crowds, and we had a great response from people.



6.What are the touring plans for the new album once it is released?

We’re doing a small English tour in May/June just to get us out of the studio and stop us going mad. Once the album is released, we’ll be doing a big European tour but that is currently in the early planning stages. We’re also doing various one off gigs throughout the year with the likes of Grand Magus, The Vintage Caravan, Windhand, Purson and The Monolith Cult. Gig information can be viewed at http://www.alunah.co.uk/gigs.html

7.Currently the band is signed to Napalm Records, do you feel this record label has done a lot of help when it comes to getting your music heard?

We only recently signed an album deal with Napalm in December 2013, so we are in the very early stages. However, we worked with them throughout 2013 after they re-released White Hoarhound on vinyl. They have been amazing in getting our music out to a wider audience, a lot of whom would never have heard of us without the label’s input. Those vinyls have now sold out, so we hope that our continued promotion has also done the label a small amount of good too. We don’t expect to sit around waiting for the label to work for us, it’s a mutual working relationship.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of doom metal?

It took a while for “doom“ fans to understand us, but slowly over the years they have begun to warm to us. We’re seeing people at our gigs now who we know disliked us in the early days. We’ve always played music that we want to hear, and if other people enjoy it that’s a bonus. We try not to follow any niche, or try and latch onto a scene; we like to stand alone in what we do. We currently manage our own merchandise, and we make regular trips to the post office. Alunah packages go out to every corner of the world from Canada to Japan, and Russia to Australia so we’re definetly seeing a worldwide embrace.

9.Where do you see the band heading into music wise during the future?

I love bands/artists such as Wolf People, Rose Kemp. Jex Thoth, Portishead and Ahab – I love the dark, heavy, brooding beauty that these musicians evoke and I’d like to add more of that into the Alunah sound. I think we’re kind of doing that with the new album anyway.

10.Are any of the members involved with any other musical projects these days?

No not anymore, everyone concentrates on Alunah now.

11.What are some bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

I’ve mentioned some of the bands I’m personally listening to. Looking through my recent listens, we have Ahab, Damien Rice, Santana, Black Sabbath, Opeth, Sahg, Purson, Goat, Jex Thoth, sHeavy, Wolf People, Monolith Cult, Pink Floyd, Bill Withers, Carcass, Jeff Buckley, Type O Negative, BB King and Rose Kemp. So yeah, a real eclectic mix of music. I wouldn’t say any of these directly influence Alunah, but it’s hard not to constantly listen to music without it having an influence. I’d like to ban everyone from listening to music whilst we write an album, but I don’t think I’d cope and the guys definetly wouldn’t go for it!

12.Do you have any non musical interests?

I a bit of a stereotypical girl in that I adore shopping, eating and drinking with family and friends! I also love exploring the countryside with my dog and husband, visiting castles and reading up on old things; antiques, history, bands, fashion, whatever - if it’s old I love it. The guys like their beer, a couple of them like football, Dan’s a castle / history nut like myself, Dave’s into his classic cars and he’s restoring a mini at the moment.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thanks for the interview, we really appreciate the support. Keep checking http://www.alunah.co.uk or http://www.facebook.com/alunah.doom for updates regarding our activity.