Antonio Pantano/Arcandia 2014 Full Length Review

   Antonio Pantano  are  a  1  man  band  from  Italy  that  plays  an  instrumental  and  symphonic  form  of  power/folk  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  self  released  2014  album  "Arcandia".

  Nature  sounds  and  spoken  word  parts  which  are  also  use on  some  of  the  later  songs  as  well  start  off  the  album  and  after  a  few  seconds  keyboards  are  added  onto  the  recording  and  they  bring  an  epic  feeling  to  the  recording  and  they  start  going  into  more  of  a  symphonic  direction  once  guitars  start  to  kick  in  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  going  more  into  a  power  metal  direction.

  Symphonic  and  metal  parts  mix  together  throughout  the  recording  along  with  some  of  the  symphonic  parts  having  a  classical  music  feeling  to  them  at  times  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  some  melodic  guitar  solos  and  leads  that  utilize  a  great  amount  of  talent  and  skill  along  with  a  decent  amount  of  scales  and  there  are  a  good  amount  of  prog  elements  being  added  onto  the  songs.

  When  acoustic  guitars  and  flutes  are  added  into  the  music  they  give  the  album  more  of  a  Celtic  folk  music  feeling  while  on  some  of  the  later  tracks  they  also  utilize  a  small  amount  of  ethnic  sounds  and  after  awhile  the  guitars  start  getting  more  aggressive  as  the  album  progresses  and  at  times  the  music  has  an  atmosphere  that  evokes  more  of  a  fantasy  movie  or  soundtrack  atmosphere,  blast beats  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  a  few  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

   Antonio Pantano  creates  a  very  epic  sound  with  his  instrumental  approach  to  power,  symphonic and  folk  metal  creating  a  style  of  metal  that  would  actually  fit  in  well  with  a  fantasy  movie  or  video  game,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  song  themes  are  a  concept  based  on  the  world  of  Arcandia  which  he  also  wrote  a  short  novel  called  "Chronicles  Of  The  Nordic  Warriors"  for  describing  the  concept.

  In  my  opinion   Antonio Pantano  is  a  very  great  sounding  instrumental  symphonic  power/folk  metal  solo  artist  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Hymn  To  The  Brave"  "Heroes  Of  the  Mighty  Castle"  "Orania"  and  "Elvish  Woods".  8/5  out  of  10.          

Wyld Interview

 1. For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Chante: We are a five piece band from Paris, France and we play heavy rock music since 2011. We’re influenced by bands like Black Label Society, Clutch or Down but being all metal fans, we, in some cases, are also influenced by extreme stuff as well

2. Recently you have released your first ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

Chante: As I said, it’s heavy rock. You’ll find some metal stuff like on the lead guitars and solos but it’s mainly harder than hard rock. (laughs) It sounds pretty organic, clean and straightforward. It’s a mix of hard rock, heavy metal and stoner rock.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Raphael: “Venomous Poison” is about someone who feels that he is slowly losing himself, becoming like everyone else, and another brick in the wall. He tries to fight it but eventually, he fails. It's about society formatting everyone who's not in the norm.

“Just Another Lie” is about a love turned into hate relationship, you're doing whatever you can to save it while the other one is crushing it down.

“Stoned” speaks for itself! It's about someone who is constantly high and has completely lost sight of what matters.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Wyld'?

Chante: Of course it has something to do with Black Label Society and Mr Zakk Wylde. He’s a huge influence of mine and I always wanted to sound like him when playing guitar. BLS keeps it quite simple but has some licks here and there that make their songs really great. It’s also the way I see our stuff. At the beginning, I was looking forward to name the band after one of BLS’s tracks but that was too cliché. So we went into a brainstorming phase keeping “wyld” apart. After a while, we felt that it defined perfectly our music and our state of mind. Adding to that, it also matches with “Mob Goes Wild” from Clutch which we cover. That’s our musical state of mind!

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

Chante: We only played a few gigs since 2014 but the best one, regarding the audience, is the one we played at Gibus Café with The Folsom Boys and SideWalk. The crowd was packed and interested in our music. Stage performances are pretty simple for now, the main goal is to play our music like it should be without mistake but we’re going to improve those in the future, don’t be worried. (laughs)

6. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

Chante: We’re actually seeking new gigs but we’ll have fresh news in September I think, so we’ll see. Apart from that, we’re confirmed to open for Tysondog in Paris, in April 2015.

7. Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

Chante: Obviously this is one of our goals. By releasing a first EP, we aren’t just doing a fun thing to occupy ourselves during our spare time. We’re working on it and we’ll see what happen in the future but for now we’re kind of collecting press/media reviews before sending our music to labels. If those new bands can make it, why can’t we?

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

Chante: Apart from social Medias, Reverbnation, a few websites and some friends, our worldwide feedback, as you say, isn’t really concrete. Those feedbacks were great by the way but can’t really expose us to big audiences, for now. Like every band, it has to begin on local areas before growing to national and if all things turn great, international. We’re way too far from it at this time.

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

Chante: That’s hard to say because there’s always an evolution in what you do and especially in music. We want to enjoy music but we also want to kick some asses out there. If we are pleased by our new tunes so people will –we hope- like it too.

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

Chante: Everyone in the band listen to hard rock, metal but also extreme metal. Since day one, it was clear that the band’s music will have to mix up some elements. By doing that we kind of created our own sound and style, that’s why it’s hard to define exactly the “genre” of our tunes. We’re influenced by heavy metal, hard rock, stoner, grunge etc.

11. What are some of your non-musical interests?

Jeffrey: Philosophy, literature, sciences.

Jérôme: I'm a collector of living ducks.

Gabriel: Nothing. (laughs)

Raphael: Some of my non-musical interests are Sciences, Sci-Fi and Fantasy Literature, Board games.

Chante: Football (soccer), watching TV shows, hanging out with friends and of course, great and tasty food!

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

Jérôme: We just begin to spread the Wylderness in the whole world. And... Oh well, wherever you are, Wyld's gonna get you!

Gabriel: Stay Wyld!

Chante: Check us out on FB: https://www.facebook.com/wyldofficial Thank you for your interest over our band and for this interview! And of course thanks to our fans and friends for supporting us and especially Régis Peylet how helped us recording, mixing and mastering our EP with this fabulous result! “Stay true, be Wyld!”

Brotherhood/Till Death/Southern Lord Recordings/2014 CD Compilation Review

  Brotherhood  where  a  band  from  Seattle,  Washington  that  played  a  straightedge  form  of  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  compilation  album  "Till  Death"  which  will  be  released  in  September  by  Southern  Lords  Recordings  and  contains  all  of  their  demo's  and  7  inches  from  the  80's.

  A  very  aggressive  hardcore  punk  sound  starts  off  the  compilation  along  with  some  shouting  vocals  and  the  band  also  brings  in  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sounding  very  powerful  and  you  can  also  hear  the  heaviness  of  metla  in  their  musical  sound.

  The  music  sounds  very  typical  of  the  era  it  was  recorded  and  the  band  has  a  good  mixture  of  both  Northwest  and  East  Coast  hardcore  influences  in  their  music  as  well  as  utilizing  a  great  amount  of  back  up  gang  vocals  and  some  of  the  later  tracks  have  some  thrash  and  punk  elements  being  added  into  their  musical  sound.

  Brotherhood  played  a  very  raw  style  of  hardcore  and  while  there  where  plenty  of  better  bands  during  this  era  playing  the  same  music  I  still  feel  they  where  very  good  at  what  they  where  doing,   the  production  has  a  very  raw  and  demo  like  sound  while  the  lyrics  cover  straight  edge,  anti  sexism  and  anti  racism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Brotherhood  where  a  very  decent  sounding  straightedge  hardcore  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  compilation.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Deal"  "Gain"  "Courage"  and  "Get  Involved".  7/5  out  of  10.  

  

Megaton Leviathan/Past 21 Beyond The Attic Cell/Seventh Rule/2014 CD Review

  Megaton  Leviathan  are   a 1  man  band  from  Portland,  Oregon  that  plays  a  psychedelic  form  of  drone/doom  metal/gaze  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2014  album  "Past  21  Beyond  the  Attic  Cell"  which  will  be  released  in  September  by  Seventh  Rule.

  Dark  sounding  acoustic  guitars  start  off  the  album  and  a  few  seconds  later  more  distorted  parts  are  added  into  the  music  along  with  some  psychedelic  elements  which leads  up  to  some  melodic  chants  and  vocals  which  also  leads  up  to  the  music  going  into  more  of  a  post  doom  metal  direction along  with  a  great  amount  of  melody.

   When  guitar  leads  are  added  into  the  music  they  enhance  the  dark  and  melodic  atmosphere  of  the  recording  and  when  violins  are  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  they  bring  in  some  elements  of  the  early  90's  U.K  doom  metal  sound  into  the  music  and  after  awhile  ambient  soundscapes  are  mixed  in  with  some  psychedelic  sounding  guitars  as  well  as  being  added  in  with  the  doomier  side  of  music.

  All  4  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  always  stick  to  a  more  slow  and  psychedelic  sound  while  also  being  very  experimental  at  the  same  time  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  at  times  the  bass  guitars  take  over  as  a  lead  instrument  which  also  lead  up  to  some  melodic  female  vocals  making  their  way  onto  the  recording  and  the  last  song  is  a  cover  of  Judas  priest's  "Here  Comes  The  Tears".

  Megaton  leviathan  creates  a  very  psychedelic  and  drone  form  of  doom  metal  with  is  musical  style  as  well  as  being  very  original  and  experimental  at  the  same  time,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  depressive  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Megaton  Leviathan  are  a  very  great  sounding  psychedelic,  drone/doom  metal  project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  one  man  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Foolish  Man"  and  "Here  Comes  The  Tears".  8  out  of  10.      

Crucified/Dead Of Sleep/Get This Right Records/2014 EP Review

  Crucified  where  a  band  from  the  Bay  Area  of  California  that  played  a  mixture  of  hardcore  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  ep  "Dead  Of  Sleep"  which  will  be  released  by  Get  This  Right  Records.

  A  very  distorted  sound  starts  off  this  ep  before  going  into  an  aggressive  crossover  direction  along  with  some  aggressive vocals  and  you  can  also  hear  elements  of  both  hardcore  and  thrash  in  their  musical  sound  as  well  as  the  music  being  mostly  fast  and  the  band  also  throws  in  a  few  guitar  leads.

  After  awhile  the  band  starts  bringing  in  a  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  taking  a  great  amount  of  influences  from  the  New  York  style  of  hardcore  which  they  take  into  more  of  a  raw  and  aggressive  direction  than  their  east  coast  counterparts  and  the  music  sounds  like  it  could  of  easily  been  recorded  in  the  early  90's  and  on  the  last  track  the  bass  guitars  have  a  very  powerful  sounding  presence  in  the  track.

  Crucified  played  a  musical  style  that  was  very  old  school  sounding  taking  the  true  style  of  hardcore  before  it  was  watered  down  into  metalcore  and  adding  in  the  raw  aggression  of  thrash  metal  to  create  their  own  sound,  the  production  sounds  very  heavy  and  powerful  sounding  while  the  lyrics  cover  pissed  off  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Crucified  where  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  hardcore  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Dead  Of  Sleep"  and  "Apathy".  8  out  of  10.     

Circle II Circle/Live At Wacken/Armoury Records/2014 Live CD Review

  Circle  II  Circle  are  a  band  from  from  Florida  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  melodic  and  progressive  form  of  power  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  live  album  "Live  At  Wacken"  which  was  released  by  Armoury  Records.

  Nature  sounds  and  audience  noises  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  piano  piece  which  also  leads  up  to  more  of  a  progressive  rock  direction  before  adding  in  vocals  and  more  of  a  metal  feeling  and  after  the  intro  classical  guitars  are  added  into  the  music  before  going  into  more  of  a  hard  rock/metal  direction.

  There  is  a  great  amount  of  both  clean  and  hard  parts  throughout  the  recording  and  the  guitar  solos  and  leads  gives  the  music  more  of  a  power  metal  feeling  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  a  good  portion  of  this  recording  is  a  rock  opera.

  When  acoustic  guitars  are  added  into  the  music  the  album  starts  having  a  classic  rock feeling to  it  while  the  main  focus  is  more  on  a  hard  rock  or  metal  sound  along  with  the  heavier  parts  displaying  more  of  a  progressive/power  metal  sound  and  as  the  album  progresses  more  power  ballads  are  added  onto  the  recording  as  well  as  a  few  tracks  that  are  very  long  an d epic  in  length.

  Circle  II  Circle  take  a  progressive  form  of  heavy  and  melodic  power  metal  and  mixes  it  with  70's  rock  opera  to  create  the  sound  that  is  presented  on  this  recording,  the  production  sound s very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  live  recording  from  Circle  II  Circle  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Turns  To Me"  "The  Wake  Of  Magellan"  and  "Blackjack  Guillotine".  8  out  of  10.  

Lord Volture/Will To Power/Mausoleum Records/2014 CD Review

  Lord  Volture  are  a  band  from  the  Netherlands  that  plays  a  traditional  form  of  heavy  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Will  To  Power"  which  will  be  released  in  September  by  Mausoleum  Records.

  A  very  dark  and  hard  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  melodic  guitar  leads  which  leads  up  to  more  of  an  80's  style  heavy  metal  sound  along  with  some  clean  singing  vocals  while  the  music  has  a  more  modern  day  production  to  it  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  You  can  hear  a  decent  amount  of  speed  and  power  metal  elements  in  the  bands  musical  sound  along  with  a  great  amount  of  anthems  and  the  solos  display  a  great  amount  of  talent  and  skill  and  some  of  the  alter  tracks  also  see  the  band  bringing  in  more  of  the  mid  70's  to  early  80's  hard  rock  style  of  metal,  as  the  album  progresses  a  few  seconds  of  acoustic  guitars  are  added  into  the  music  on  a  a  couple  of  the  songs  until  making  a  return to  a  harder  direction  which  it  sticks  to  throughout  the  rest  of  the  recording  and  some  of  the  tracks  have  Chris  Poland  formerly  of  Megadeth  playing  guitar  at  times.

  Lord  Volture  plays  a  very  old  school  form  of  heavy  metal  but  with  a  more  updated  take  as  well  as  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  talent  and  skill  into  their  musical  sound,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Lord  Volture  are  a  very  great  sounding  traditional  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Where  The  Enemy  Sleep"  "Will  To  Power"  "The  Great  Binding"  and  "Line  Em'  Up".  8  out  of  10.