Dowload pick - The Birthday Massacre - Superstition - 2014

Since its first album, released in 2002, this music group has been outlined as an original gothic rock band, full of distinctive melodies and a unique style. It’s a very good band but not without its issues

Their best work to date is the 2004' album, "Violet", which contains some re-recorded songs from the first album and new others.

After that, the forthcoming albums were lacking of new elements and the composition wasn't too bright. So, let’s hope this time it’s different.

http://mediaportal.ru/8241-the-birthday-massacre-superstition-2014.html

The best of: Helltrain

Genre: Death 'n' Roll

Country: Sweden

So… Death 'n' Roll? Entombed, Carcass and The Cumshots are said to be bands of this genre. However, the name fits better Helltrain’s special style, the same that matches perfectly the very band’s name. Songs like “Jisei”, “Mr. Cooger”, “Route 666”, and of course, “Helltrain” make you feel really inside a “Death 'n' Roll helltrain”.

The influence of The Duskfall is evident, and it’s not a surprise. Three of the four band’s members participated in The Duskfall project, and as a result, the vocals, sound and composition are quite similar. This is not a Melodic Death Metal band, but it has for sure some elements of it. After the death of The Duskfall, Helltrain seems to fill up some of the void left behind, and it does so by mixing hard rock riffs, rock 'n' roll rhythms and lots of metal.

Helltrain’s albums aren’t what you may call “expectacular”. The sound isn't top notch, there are lots of highs and lows, and the simplistic style can get a bit boring. But, more than a few jewels are to be found in every one of them. 

"Rat Pack", and "Rot 'n' Roll" are maybe most catchy pieces of all the discography, and every metal fan should listen to them. Also, the bridge from "You Are The Man" is something worthy of attention, as well as the chorus and lyrics from "My Little Stars".

A few great songs are missing from this tight best-of list. So, there is more to enjoy from this awesome band.

You can go to vk.com/metalwithin to listen this songs, or follow us through Spotify.

01 - Rot'n'roll (Route 666 - 2004)

02 - Ratpack (Route 666 - 2004)

03 - Helltrain (Route 666 - 2004)

04 - Rock 'n' Roll Devil (Rock 'n' Roll Devil - 2008)

05 - My Little Stars (Rock 'n' Roll Devil - 2008)

06 - You're The Man (Rock 'n' Roll Devil - 2008)

07 - Burning... (Rock 'n' Roll Devil - 2008)

08 - Mr. Cooger (Death Is Coming - 2012)

09 - Slay The Beast (Death Is Coming - 2012)

10 - Jisei (Death Is Coming - 2012)

Download pick: Soilwork - Beyond The Infinite - 2014

After a nice comeback in 2013, Soilwork releases this 5 song EP. It follows their previous work very closely.


http://mediaportal.ru/7768-soilwork-beyond-the-infinite-ep-2014.html


It's not yet on Spotify but you can go to our vk.com group to check it out.

Album review: Scar Symmetry - The Singularity (Phase I - Neohumanity) - 2014

Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Country: Sweden
Year: 2014


Tracklist:
1. The Shape of Things to Come
2. Neohuman
3. Limits to Infinity
4. Cryonic Harvest
5. The Spiral Timeshift
6. Children of the Integrated Circuit
7. Neuromancers
8. Technocalyptic Cybergeddon


...And so, after the longest pause this band has ever taken, Scar Symmetry releases another album on its way down to an unattractive progressive and melodic style.

There's no doubt about the quality loss the band's
last disks have suffered. It's been a non-stop fall from the awesomeness of Symmetric In Design, and it seems that there's no way to stop it.

But, don’t be mistaken. This new album, as well as all the last previous ones, isn't an awful work; however, this is not one more mediocre piece of crap. Despite a few sweet spots, there’s nothing really mind blowing, no landmark or inflection point, but the quality and variety in composition have improved greatly, as well as the audio and technical complexity, even though it presents a modern song structure with little or no variation at all. The three years that the realization of this work took, were worth it… more or less. 

Paradoxically, the choruses are the weakest point, and the riffs the strongest one, followed by some decent bridges. This has been recurrent and increasing in the last albums, but in “Cryonic Harvest”, it’s too much to bear, it’s just disgusting and ruins the whole song. If you like Melodic Death Metal, and you are listening to a Melodic Death Metal band -a bit progressive but not so much-, to hear that kind of awful shit AS A SONG CHORUS!!.. is like to be kicked on the balls (or tits)... by a racing horse! C'mon! That’s something that should never happen, there is a reason for the “chorus” to exist. Still, it occurs and more often with every new release. The other songs, but “Neohuman”, have the same issue of having no good refrain, so you’ll have to listen, at least three times per song, to a crappy melody

This band has always characterized because of the mix of heavy riffs with harsh vocals and melodic choruses with clean vocals, brought from the Nü Metal. That’s not necessarily compatible with a Melodic Death Metal style, it depends on how it’s executed. Bands like Deadlock and Crematory have done it flawlessly in many occasions, and so it did Scar Symmetry in its firsts two albums. But now, some of their melodies aren’t compatible anymore with the liking of a death metal (of any kind) fan, and the melodic or the progressive style aren’t the problem. Check out the bridge in the song “burn” of Septic Flesh; it’s very melodic and calm but also it fits perfectly with the dark and aggressive band’s style, breaking the song while doing so.


These childish tunes, used more and more often by Scar Symmetry, are incompatible with the Melodic Death Metal style and even with the same song in which they are. It goes something like this: you start listening to a decent melodeath song, nice riffs, nice vocals, and when the time for the chorus arrives… PAFF!! a slap in your face! you hear Kinder Garden music! It’s so joyful, so childish, so nice and tender, you don’t know what you are hearing anymore. A melodeath song? Or a kiddy song about fantasy, stars and other shiny things (lyrics's recurrent thematic).

The number of songs infected by this tenderness is too big, increases with every new album, and drives always anyone who listened in awesomeness to their first disk. “The Anomaly”, “Domination Agenda”, “Fear Catalyst”, “Cryonic Harvest”, “Sculptor Void” and “Frequencyshifter”, are just some of the most lovely (in the worst of ways) songs of this decaying music group.

This, in conjunction with the predominant use of the flat and untalented Lars Palmqvist’s voice (clean vocals), produces one of the worst human emotions ever.

Some bridges deserve also special attention. The one from “Neohuman”, is more than three minutes long, it’s awesome and justifies the whole song (more than the chorus does). It’s complex, varied, and at some point beautiful. It’s really the album's life saver. Other one is from “The Spiral Timeshift”; it’s not as good as the previous one, but still it has variety and contains a very nice guitar solo. At last, the one from “Neuromancers” also shines.

About the album structure, it’s nothing like what the band has shown before. It has an introductory track, as well as an instrumental interlude (which is strangely the second best song). In addition, the other tracks are very lengthy, two of them surpassing 8 minutes of playback time. It’s refreshing, of course, to have this kind of variation once in a while. However, the last song “Technocalyptic Cybergeddon”, could have been very easily divided in two different songs, with no musical link between those two parts.

Even though this work has just 8 tracks, of which one is a short intro, and another one is an interlude, this isn’t an EP, but a full-length album. In fact, it has an acceptable play time of a bit more than 43 minutes. For this amount of content and quality, the price of $10 bucks at amazon.com, is bearable.

What undoubtedly has been improved in this release is the audio. The results of the equalization and the mixing are far better than in the previous work, delivering a deep sound but also acoustic balance. The bass sounds powerful but clean, the guitars strong enough, and the drums always good enough (however, it’s obvious the decision of not make them a relevant instrument). Besides Symmetric In Design and Pitch Black Progress, this is work has, without any doubt, the better sound of all the discography.

In sum, the first album of the announced trilogy is far better than Dark Matter Dimensions and The Unseen Empire, maybe being close to Holographic Universe, but it’s also far from being this group’s best one. The ensemble has freshen up its music a bit, with a good audio, some awesome bridges, a different album structure and a more technical and complex composition.

Finally…
The best song: Neohuman
The worst song: Cryonic Harvest

Visit our vk.com comunity at http://vk.com/metalwithin to listen to this crap, and join us in Spotify.

Download pick: Scar Symmetry - The Singularity (Phase I - Neohumanity) - 2014

Yep, another Scar Symmetry's álbum. While the review gets ready, here is a dowload link from Mediaportal.ru.

http://mediaportal.ru/7487-scar-symmetry-the-singularity-phase-i-neohumanity-2014.HTML

...Or you can listen to it through Spotify



Enjoy! (if you can)

Album review: Crematory - Antiserum - 2014

Genre: Gothic Metal/Industrial Metal
Country: Germany
Year: 2014


Tracklist:

1. Apocalyptic Vision
2. Until the End 
3. Shadowmaker
4. If You Believe
5. Inside Your Eyes
6. Kommt näher
7. Irony of Fate
8. Virus
9. Back from the Dead
10. Welcome
11. Antiserum

It has been more than 20 years since the release of Crematory's first album, being remarkable its slow but awesome evolution

Some elements have changed substantially, like the use of synths and the melodicity, which have both increased a lot, and the album structure. Others have endured, like the harsh vocals -which are exactly the same-, the German and English mix in the lyrics, and the style at its core. The progression has been slow, in general, but still each disk has its own feel, being easy to link any song to its album, only by listening to it.

Normally, this German band doesn't take more than two years to launch a new compilation. Indeed, the only exception to this has been, until now, because of the four years pause the band took on the year 2000, before releasing its best and more revolutionary album, "Revolution". This time, also four years have passed since the last compilation ("infinity"), and so, one may wonder if this time the revolution from "revolution" -so redundant- could happen again...

And yes. Antiserum innovates greatly respect to its predecessors. It's what a new Crematory album usually is, and more. It doesn't bring something significantly new, it maintains the band's essence intact, but refreshes it by the introduction of extra elements.

This time, the most obvious new element is the dissonance present in most of the tracks, except in "Irony Of Fate" and "Kommt Näher" -which has, by the way, the most catchy melody-. It kicks you in the ears from the very beginning of the album, till the end of it. It's present through all of it, in almost every song, and in almost every chorus. Most of the time it's ok, sometimes it's more than ok, but other times it's less than ok. In "Virus", the dissonance is unpleasant, in "Welcome" it just ruins the chorus, but in "Until The End" it makes the song interesting and attractive. It's clear the band's intention to make this element a distinctive one in this release, but it didn't work too well with a non-progressive style.

Another element added is the use of vocoder (as voice fx filter) in some songs, along with a more extensive use of trance music like instruments and effects. Sometimes, the band almost reaches an industrial metal style. This gives to the album a different and fresh vibe that separates it from its predecessors. However, this doesn't bring necessarily a good result.

The songs have a stiff modern structure, thus there is no novelty here. The album structure however is another matter. The band keeps changing it from time to time, sometimes just once after various albums. This time they've put once again an intro piece, and for the first time, as last track, the album title song. These changes may not seem too much, but they mark the band’s special vision of a particular composition style, in a particular epoch of its history. You can check through the discography the obvious similarities between a certain album structure -shared by various compilations- and a certain style in composition.

That first intro track matches the next one ("Until The End") more than it matches the whole album, feeling like part of that song. That takes away most of the relevance that an intro song must have in a compilation.

The first real song is, then, Until The End. It's a good song, one of the album's best ones. It has nice catchy tune in the riff, but it's weak at the chorus. In fact, the riff is better than the chorus, and the bridge has nothing to remember.

"Shadowmaker", the second song, suffers from the same disease, and the following pieces aren't better neither, till "Kommt Näher", which marks the album's climax. After that, again, the power and the composition quality descends up to "Welcome", which is a not-so-good song, ruined at some level by the dissonance present in the last chorus's segment.

Generally, in every release, Crematory puts as last track a melodic song. This time it's not the exception, however now this is the homonymous song album, and a bit heavy too. It's one of the best pieces in this work and a great way to end it.

About the price, we have to say it seems a little high for an eleven song compilation. Even more when one of them is just an unremarkable intro, none plays for more than five minutes -and for more than 4:30, in average-, and this is no way the best full-length release we've heard from this band. It's at $15.89 at amazon.com and at €15.99 at nuclearblast.de.

The Digipack version, as well as the Boxset edition, comes with two remixes of "Shadowmaker". If you have already listened to any Crematory's remixed song, released in the past, you may not be surprised by the poor quality of these new ones. So, don't get over excited about them and rush to get the more pricy album versions just because of these. It's better to just listen to them through a music stream service and save some bucks, because these don't worth the money they are asking for. The other goodies included in those sets, like posters and other shits, may be more interesting for a fan, though.

The audio isn't the best ever displayed by Crematory. It isn't superb but it's good enough to enjoy the powerful guitars and bass. It's a little tweaked with respect to the previous work, noticeable mostly in a deeper bass, even though it's hard to say it's superior. Here, the guitar has lost some relevance and the kick's bass seems too loud and overcharged, producing an unbalanced sound.

Overall, this band made another good but not excellent release. The album and every of its songs are lacking the consistency shown in disks like Revolution or Infinity . Even though some of them, like "Until The End", "Kommt Näher" and "Antiserum", are good ones, none will be remembered as one of the band's best ones. Some other tracks, like "Inside Your Eyes" are mediocre, at best.

As final comment, Crematory has always been a great and talented band, despite some unfortunate songs and Pray (2008' album). From its first album the band has improved in every aspect of its music, managing to leave its essence mostly intact. That's something pretty unique for a music group with more than twenty years of life. Of course, this can be attributed to the almost no line-up variation that the band has experimented through its history, but it's still something worthy of attention.

Retrospective: Killswitch Engage - Alive Or Just Breathing - 2002

Genre: Metalcore
Country: USA
Year: 2002

Tracklist:

1. Numbered Days
2. Self Revolution
3. Fixation On The Darkness
4. My Last Serenade
5. Life To Lifeless
6. Just Barely Breathing
7. To The Sons Of Man
8. Temple From The Within
9. Element Of One
10. Vide Infra
11. Without A Name
12. Rise Inside
13. In The Unblind

Every music style or genre has a complex and slow genesis. It takes more than a few steps to form a new and distinguishable one, steps made through years, songs, albums, and different bands. Because of this, it's impossible to award to just one band or album the creation of an entire style. However, what can be done is to identify some milestones in its generation. For example, the Trash Metal wasn't invented out of the blue by Anthrax or Metallica, but they perfected and made it known to the masses. 

The "Metalcore" isn't the exception to this rule. It wasn't made from one day to another, but its success and most of its core can be attributed to a single band, and to a single album: In 2002, Killswitch Engage released its second and greatest work, titled "Alive Or Just Breathing". 

At that time, more than ten years ago, MTV wasn't full of stupid teen shows like it is today, and you could actually watch... guess what... yea! MUSIC VIDEOS! (it's not too freakin crazy for a so called "Music Television" channel, or is it?). It was there where I discovered this band, in a late-night program, by its first album single and video, "My Last Serenade". I was astonished right away by the never before seen aggressive but melodic style, by mix of the singing, screaming and growling, by the exquisite composition, the catchy melody, and by the outstanding sound, all together in a thrilling and accord music video. It was like the waking of a new part of the brain... It was one of the biggest musical discoveries in my life. 

I put my hands on the album the very next day, and fell in love with it the same day, as I realized that My Last Serenade was only the tip of an enormous iceberg of amazing songs. However, some of those tracks weren't completely originals, but re-recorded songs from the previous work. 

Killswitch Engage made its first full-length release two years before, in the year 2000, self titled "Killswitch Engage". The album didn't produce too much hype at that time, even though the composition was great and unique. The band however made the right decision of salvaging some tracks, re-record them and improved every aspect but the composition. In opportunities like this, it's easy to see the relevance of every element that composes a music piece. The first album had great songs, but they sounded like shit. So, the composition isn't all; the audio and the instrument and interpretation quality are equally indispensable to deliver a good musical product. All the potential within the first album was enclosed in an ugly package, but within Alive Or Just Breathing it was finally brought to life. 

So, Alive Or just Breathing wasn't groundbreaking by itself, but it was good enough to bring Killswitch Engage to the fame, along with the genre. It's thanks to that album -not completely but largely- the fame that today the Metalcore has, and yes.. that the Metalcore bands are spreading everywhere like mushrooms in a rainy forest (which isn't very good). 

Even though no music prodigy is to be found behind the instruments, the creativity in the composition makes every song different, and hard to identify identical choruses or riffs, moving away from those tracks that seem to be actually played by only one minute, while the other four are filled by a "copy-paste" procedure. 

The audio is another strong point. Years had to pass before I had the chance to listen to another album - Satariel's "Hydra", released 2005 - with a sound close to be as powerful and clean. Even for today standards, the sound is top notch, only beat a few times. 

There is much more to say about this band, maybe another time.

You can follow us through Spotify or go to http://vk.com/metalwithin to listen this songs or others.

The best of: Scar Symmetry

Genre: Melodic Death Metal/Power Metal

Country: Sweden

"Symmetric In Design" is an excellent work, all the way. It's complex but digestible, aggressive but melodic, technical but simple, making use of new and known elements. It's one of the most outstanding albums in the Melodic Death Metal world. It brims with new and good ideas and, each one of its songs, get stamped in the listener, thanks to very catchy riffs and choruses, which in turn distinguish those songs from each other. The audio is very good, and it's easy to note the great job made in the mixing and mastering, that helps to achieve that air of novelty that the composition itself has already made evident.

Every song feels different from each other and distinguishable, contributing not only with new ideas -within the already original composition- but also with good ones. For example, "Detach From The Outcome" is a lot more aggressive than the other pieces -specially from "Dominion-, with a chaotic style guitar solo, for which it's, up to date, unique.

Unfortunately, release after release, the new and good ideas fade away, along with the good metal fusion, and becoming a sort of power metal band with harsh vocals. The mediocre and bad melodies of this style predominate, the harsh vocals have lost relevance -although they are always present-, and the choruses are a lot "happier".

Their second album titled "Pitch Black Progress", was released no more than one year after the previous one, period that appears to have been too short. Indeed, the second album was, without doubt, a disappointment.

In it, the new and good ideas scarce. Still, it's not a bad work and it's very easy to enjoy. "The Kaleidoscopic God" has a complex song structure, closer to one of an opera than to one of a pop song, while "Deviate From The Form" approaches to a progressive style. Both are great songs and clearly stand out from the other album tracks. The other pieces do not add anything significant. Anyway, the taste that leaves listening to Pitch Black Progress is far from being as good as the one that listening to Symmetric In Design, blissfully, leaves.

The sound got worse with the second album -not too much-, and continued in that path up to the fourth release, where the audio is the worst of all. Similarly, the composition lost its luster. Apparently, this and all the future albums were always doomed, from the start, to be under the large shadow of Symmetric In Design.

The great virtue of the first disc was the deep and almost imperceptible combination of different styles and genres, mixed up with original tunes. In their later albums, some elements were lacking depth in the combination and novelty. Thus, songs with dissonant choruses and riffs appeared, like "Three Dimensional Shadow" and "Noumenon and Phenomenon" -very far from a decent progressive metal- and others so boring and with too many bad ideas such as "Mechanical Soul". Of course, the fading of the death metal side in the style, in favor of the power metal one -it suffices to hear the intro from "The Iconoclast" and its chorus to see that-, is another element to regret.

"Holographic Universe", the third album, was another disappointment . The track of the same name is undoubtedly the great album jewel, but appears to have been hastily completed. Just comparing it with Kaleidoscopic God it's enough to realize that, in similar circumstances, the band delivered a much better product.

"Dark Matter Dimensions", it's a junk, a bigger one than the previous album. In this disk. all that was Scar Symmetry in 2005 is completely lost. Bad composition; repetitive riffs; discordant, unattractive and boring choruses; extensive use of unadmirable and mediocre clean vocals; never remarkable guitar solos; and a too flat sound...In sum, a bad album.

“The Unseen Empire”, the last album, in both the audio and the overall composition, tops its predecessor, but still it does not compare to Symmetric In Design .

Once again, in the history of a band, the first work is the best one, even though, in this case, there was no line-up change. Generally, the good ideas don't abound, and require of some time to mature and flourish. In six years, Scar Symmetry released five albums; a big quantity, but with a very low quality.

1. Chaosweaver (Symmetric In Design - 2005)
2. Reborn (Symmetric In Design - 2005)
3. Obscure Alliance (Symmetric In Design - 2005)
4. Hybrid Cult (Symmetric In Design - 2005)
5. Detach From The Outcome (Symmetric In Design - 2005)
6. The Kaleidoscopic God (Pitch Black Progress - 2006)
7. Deviate From The Form (Pitch Black Progress - 2006)
8. Holographic Universe (Holographic Universe - 2008)
9. The Consciousness Eaters (Dark Matter Dimensions - 2009)
10. Seers Of The Echaton (The Unseen Empire - 2011)



You can go to vk.com/metalwithin to listen this songs, or follow us through Spotify.

 

 

Album review: Deadlock - The Re-Arrival (Extended)

Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Country: Germany
Year: 2014


Tracklist:

CD 1:

1. An Ocean’s Monument

2. Code Of Honor

3. Earthlings

4. The Brave / Agony Applause

5. Dark Cell

6. Virus Jones

7. A New Era

8. We Shall All Bleed

9. Renegade

10. Martyr To Science

11. Awakened By Sirens 2014

12. To Where The Skies Are Blue

13. Htrae

14. End Begins

15. The Arsenic River

CD 2:

1. Petition For Mercy – Insist Demo Tape (1998)

2. Broken Mirror – Insist Demo Tape (1998)

3. What´s The Use – Insist Demo Tape (1998)

4. Face To Face – Insist Demo Tape (1998)

5. Ignorance – Insist Demo Tape (1998)

6. Deprivation – Insist Demo Tape (1998)

7. The One Who’s Silent Seems To Consent – unreleased track from Deadlock 7″ (1999)

8. Picture – unreleased track from Deadlock 7″ (1999)

9. A Song Full of Abhorrence in a World Without Feelings… – I’ll Wake You When Spring Awakes (EP) (Winter Recordings 2000)

10. With a Smile on My Face – The Arrival (Winter Recordings 2002)

11. The End Of The World – Deadlock / Six Reasons to Kill Split (Winter Recordings 2003)

12. 10.000 Generations In Blood – Earth.Revolt (2005)

13. When Time Runs Out (Running Wild Cover) – ReUnation Sampler- A Tribute To Running Wild (Remedy Records 2009)

14. Awakened By Sirens – Unreleased Acoustic Version (2011)

15. Earthlings – Bizarro World, Japanese Edition (2011)

"DON'T BUY THIS ALBUM!" That's what this album should say on its cover, or even better, what it should be this album's name. Don't be wrong, this is not a bad release by itself, but for those who have bought already the previous albums, it's just a waste of money. Why is that? Lets see. 

Deadlock is a band of which you have heard, for sure, if death metal is of your liking. It has become one of the most famous Melodic Death Metal Bands, because of its very accessible music style. 

But not always Deadlock's music has been so accessible to the more common audience. Their two first albums, "The Arrival" and "Earth.Revolt", released in 2002 and 2005, respectively, are very different from the forthcoming ones. It's like they were albums of a different band. Indeed, there is very little resemblance between the styles displayed. The first disks were close to an atmospheric melodic death metal with little use of clean vocals, high pitched harsh vocals and an extensive use of reverb on the vocals and strings (synths). The style was less melodic as the very composition was different. The characteristic dichotomy between melodic choruses with clean vocals and aggressive riffs with harsh vocals, wasn't present either. 

Because of this, it's hard to say there has been an evolution between Earth.Revolt and the next release,"Wolves". The music is too different for doing that. 

After a disapointing last album, "The Arsonist", Deadlock presents "The Re-Arrival", an album filled with old songs, with no justified existence. 

This work is composed of two disks. One, is the main one, having 15 songs of which only 3 are new ones. The second one has also 15 songs, taken from the 1998 demo and other rare recordings. 

About the first disk, do you know the said "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"? Well, it seems that Deadlock don't share this idea; "The Re-Arrival", is opposed to that idea. Only 3 songs are new ones, while all the others are old re-recorded ones with some new arrangements. As you may have already guessed, the result is not good, at all. 

There are a few reasons for that. First of all, as just said, there was no need to make such work. The original chosen songs aren't badly recorded, badly performed or sounding bad. It would have made more sense that the chosen songs were the oldest ones, of the first or second album, which have the worst sound and could have an update. If Killswitch Engage, did it (flawlessly) with their first album, why couldn't Deadlock do it too? Even more when this work is titled The "RE-Arrival"... So why the fuk this isn't an updated version of their first full work? It really makes no sense at all. Just one song from one of the first albums, Earth.Revolt, made it to this shit. The new version was made well enough and it's interesting enough to be recomended. 

Second, the invested work is almost worthless. Some new songs are worse than the old ones. Some decisions about the sound weren't the best ones, like the removal of some filters on Sabine's voice and other instruments. The sound is cleaner, of course, but at the cost of atmosphere. Also, the new harsh vocals aren't bad, but they are worse than the original ones. 

Third, the inclusion of new pieces in this release is just an effort to make it attractive to the public, as a whole. Therefore, the only good reason to buy the album are these songs. However, they aren't good enough for that. "A New Era" is one of those, and it's maybe this release best one, so be sure to don't miss it. The other two songs are nothing special. 

At least, the audio is great, as it has to be in a release of this kind. The recoding, mixing, mastering processes and even the instruments are better, overall, however some changes aren't very fortunate. As said before, there are original songs that sound or are performed better. 

The second disk is a bit more of what you may expect from a remastered old songs compilation. The sound was well tuned, and its always nice to hear the first songs ever released by your favorite band or to just complete your collection. 

Still, the Insist Demo Tape songs sound is horrible, but the unreleased version of "Awakened By Sirens", as well as the remastered versions of "10,000 Generations In Blood, of Earth.Revolt, and "With A Smile On My Face", of The Arrival, and other pieces, make this second disk a lot more interesting than the first one. 

So, is it worth buying these discs? All depends on the price. At bestbuy.com the Digipack version is priced at $12.99, with free shipping. It's a good deal, but if you value your money, it's better to go for the digital purchase of the three new songs, and of the good ones of the second disk.

Go to http://vk.com/metalwithin to hear this songs or others, or follow us in Spotify to discover music.

Album review: Five Finger Death Punch - The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell

Genre: Heavy Metal
Country: USA
Year: 2013

Tracklist:

Volume 1:

1. Lift Me Up (Feat.  Rob Halford) 2. Watch You Bleed 3. You 4. Wrong Side of Heaven 5. Burn MF 6. I.M.Sin 7. Anywhere But Here 8. Dot Your Eyes 9. M.I.N.E (End This Way) 10. Mama Said Knock You Out 11. Diary of a Deadman 12. I.M.Sin (Feat. Max Cavalera) 13. Anywhere But Here (Feat. Maria Brink) 14. Dot Your Eyes (Feat. Jamey Jasta) Volume 2: 1. Here to Die 2. Weight Beneath My Sin 3. Wrecking Ball 4. Battle Born 5. Cradle to the Grave 6. Matter of Time 7. The Agony of Regret 8. Cold 9. Let This Go 10. My Heart Lied 11. A Day in My Life 12. House of the Rising Sun

So old, so rusted, so boring... That's how the Heavy Metal should be? After more than 50 years after Led Zeppelin, it has to be, right? Well, maybe, but this is not the case, at all. Five Finger Death Punch (almost the Five-Point-Palm Exploding-Heart from Kill Bill), is a groovish avant-garde heavy metal band that, today, stands out, not only next to other heavy metal bands, but next to any one.

This release is composed of two new full length albums or volumes, released both through the year 2013. In turn, these have completely unreleased new songs, so this isn't a lengthy work of those full of crapy content (like live or instrumental versions) to justify its existence or price (deluxe editions).

But, how good is this big work? Very good indeed, but also it's one of highs and lows. Some songs are amazing and mind blowing -like "Anywhere But Here" or "Cradle To The Grave"- but others are less appealing -like "Let This Go" or "Dot Your Eyes", but, as always, is just a matter of taste.

In the first volume, Rob Halford, as guest vocalist, participates in the first piece, "Lift Me Up". It's a nice way to initiate an album, with a heavy catchy song, and with one of the most popular singers as a guest artist. Also, Maria Brink, vocalist of the metalcore band, In This Moment, participates in "Anywhere But Here". Tech N9ne, Max Cavalera and Jamey Jasta also act as guest singers. Even though these interventions are nice additions to the album, only the one of Tech N9ne is interesting enough, mainly because of the rap-metal mix.It has 14 songs, 3 of which are just repeated ones but with guest artist interventions. So, really there are just 11 songs, and that's ok for any album, and ok for the price of $11.89 at amazon.com. The 3 other pieces are like a gift, and gifts are always welcome. Hence, as a buyer, you will get a lot of bang for the buck, also because no song is an intro or anything like it.

The second disk has its own vibe, differentiating itself from the first one. Unlike its predecessor, there is no guest artist intervention, it has a more refined audio, and less but better songs overall. Therefore, each album seems unique and not parts of a single release, and that's why we can say that the Vol. 2 is superior, even with two or three less songs -one of them is an interlude of about two minutes- and with no famous friends to brag about.

As it has to be for a Heavy Metal band, the lyrics are mostly " I'm the shit", "I'm so cool and strong and cool and badass, and cool... and I'm so cool" and all that macho thematic. It's amusing sometimes, but gets a little repetitive after a while. There is some variation, though, but the songs are always self-referring.

The audio quality is just outstanding. Since their first album, the band knew exactly how they were supposed to sound, so it's has always been a pleasure listening to the beautiful audio of every released work of them. This time, however, they hit the nail on the head, or even more, on the middle of it. The mixing and mastering processes were finely made, making enough room for every instrument in the audio spectrum, giving at the same time the right relevance to the voice and drums. The band sounds powerful and beautifully like never before. The audio seem to be a little bit tweaked on the Vol.2, but overall it's the same in the two disks.

The vocalist's voice is another strong positive element in this work. On previous albums, it was also very remarkable, but not as much as it is at this time. The composition helped a lot, giving the chance to it to really shine thanks to the wide array of styles used. In songs like "Cold", for example, from soft clean to strong near harsh vocals are used, with big spikes in volume. By the way, the use of vibrato is wide. Everything is potentiated by the great audio, delivering a deep, clear and firm voice.

The Vol.2 is, no doubt at all, the best FFDP release, being closely followed by the Vol.1. Lets hope that the forthcoming album, in 2015, is going to be not just a superior one, but also an innovative one; that's something this band is needing after five albums with the same style at its core.

You can listen some of this tracks in our VK group at http://vk.com/metalwithin or follow us through Spotify.

The best of: The Kovenant

Genre: Melodic Death Metal/Industrial Metal

Country: Norway

This great Norwegian band has shined early in its life as a Death Metal band, and then as a avant-garde metal band, adding and multiplying instruments and effects of electronic and industrial music. It's almost obligatory to listen to this band albums to anyone who likes metal music, because of the big contribution to the genre in each album, thanks to the many new and amazing elements incorporated, especially in their album "Animatronic". Its lineup, as well as its style and name have changed through the years, having paraded members of Dimmu Borgir, Cradle Of Filth and Ram-Zet, among others. However, The Kovenant style has never reassembled to any of them or of any other band.

With their first album "In Times Before The Light", released in 1997, the group quickly gained fame in Norway and parts of Europe, presenting a style that would end up being the closest one to Black Metal in its discography; double pedal, high pitched harsh vocals, overcharged treble, and an overwhelming atmosphere. In 2002, it was released a remix edition, with songs re-recorded, and a new and better mixing and mastering process, that clearly approaches Nexus Polaris. Trying to earn some money, surely, in 2007 they released the original album, remastered, and with some bonus tracks from their early 90's demo.

In 1998 the second album, "Nexus Polaris", the group jumps into another style by leaving the Black, and approaching to a much more melodic sound and improving significantly. Only a year later, it was launched "Animatronic", which is maybe their best album, with an original avant-garde death metal, an enviable sound for any band, great variety within the songs themselves and throughout the album, great strength in riffs and choruses; from the beginning to the end, a beautiful work.

After a number of adjustments to its lineup, the band launches "S.E.T.I.", in 2003, almost completely forgetting what was before, leaping once again, this time, to a straight forward industrial metal... and betraying all his followers! Double pedal.. Goodbye! Harsh vocals... Goodbye! Two guitars play... Goodbye!! (wtf !!), goodbye to the guitar solos too! (wtf !!!!!!!) Goodbye to The Kovenant?

Many fans hated this work but, in fact, it's one of the best industrial metal albums ever made. The Kovenant remains today a spectacular band until the last of their albums; proof of this is that the band has been keeping all of their fans expectant, for more than seven years now, for their next album "Aria Galactica", that we may never see.

In sum, The Kovenant musical style has traveled a long way, and in every milestone, they have created a different masterpiece for every genre. From a melodic blackened death to a melodic industrial metal, every single disk stands out in its own ground.

There are quite different but excellent songs to choose from. We are not gonna try to choose the best ones for each style but the best ones overall.

1. Monarch Of The Mighty Darkness (In Time Before The Light - 1997)

2. Bringer Of The Sixth Sun (Nexus Polaris - 1998)

3. The Last Of Dragons (Nexus Polaris - 1998)

4. Chariots Of Thunder (Nexus Polaris - 1998)

5. Mirror’s Paradise (Animatronic - 1999)

6. Mannequin (Animatronic - 1999)

7. Jihad (Animatronic - 1999)

8. Star By Star (S.E.T.I. - 2003)

9. Still Born Universe (S.E.T.I. - 2003)

10. Hollow Earth (S.E.T.I. - 2003)

Retrospective: Nightrage - Sweet Vengeance (2003)

Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Country: Sweden

Year: 2003

Tracklist:

1. The Tremor
2. The Glow Of The Setting Sun
3. Hero
4. Elusive Emotion
5. Gloomy Daydreams
6. Macabre Apparition
7. In My Heart
8. Ethereal
9. Circle Of Pain
10. At The Ends Of The Earth
11. The Howls Of Wolves

In 2003, when the Melodic Death Metal wasn't yet so tired, as it is today, Nightrage makes its appearance bringing back the mid 90's "Gothenburg Death Metal". With a classic style approach, riffs mainly taken from Arch Enemy and At The Gates, almost total absence of blast beats, some synths to give atmosphere, a very special guitar sound in the melodic solos using reverb and other effects, clean male vocals on some songs, blues scales, and with the occasional use of acoustic guitar and other features, this group stood out very early as one full of talent, novelty and, apparently, future. 

This work reaches the peak of the Gothenburg style, bringing the best of it, but refreshing it with new ideas. It presents a is very melodic style, in both riffs and choruses, without stop being aggressive; it has beautiful guitar solos, and powerful riffs; everything, embellished with a good sound thanks to a great work in the mixing, and with a wrapping atmosphere.

This work, that seems to be a direct evolution of the classic Swedish melodic death metal, shines brighter next to the worn melodic death of today. Its uniqueness is more evident now than ever.

Something very particular about this album, beside its amazing composition, it's the guitar solo audio. Never before or after it has been heard a guitar like this. It is not because of the distortion, or because of the instrument quality, and neither because of the playing artist talent, it's just the sound of it. The overloaded reverb utilized during the solos, makes a very deep atmosphere, where the guitar takes up the front line, way above the other instruments.

Even though this band discography is far from good, their debut album, is one of the best metal pieces of all times. While it has a very classic style, seen in melodic death metal bands like Arch Enemy, At The Gates or Death, it's impossible to not get surprised by the special touch and novelty introduced by Nightrage. It's a unique album, worthy of attention and praise. Unfortunately, it's also an island in the middle of a mediocre discography, not lacking of technical attributes, but of new airs and talent in composition.

What happened in the next discs? Well, nothing good. Each one of the them is a disappointment. 

In their next work, "Descent Into Chaos" (2005), the complexity in composition decreased notoriously, even making the whole compilation very repetitive and boring; the outstanding guitar solo sound, disappeared and was replaced by a generic one; less blues and acoustic guitars; the vocalist voice got worse (line-up change), just like the audio. Truly, it's not a bad compilation, but far from being outstanding, and, at least, very far away from the greatness of the first one.

Things didn't get better with "A New Disease Is Born" (2007). In fact, they got even worse. It's a boring and disappointing disc. It brings few nice surprises, but nothing that stands out.

“Wearing A Martyr's Crown” (2009) was, no doubt, a step forward. It had a richer, varied and not so flat composition, as well as a closer approach to the band first album style. Its a good disk, but nothing more than average.

Finally, "Insidious" (2011), it's like shit to the ears... in short.

Today, more than ten years after, the melodic death metal bands are everywhere, fusing almost any style into one very different from the classical. Sadly, also, today it's hard to find, in that big pile of crap bands, another that brings something astonishing. The style is so worn off that, even the fusing of styles and genres, can't help it.


If you want to listen to this great album, go to our VK community at http://vk.com/melolagniamaldita

Album Review: Delain - The Human Contradiction

Genre: Symphonic Metal
Year: 2014
Country: Netherlands


Tracklist:

1. Here Come the Vultures
2. Your Body Is a Battleground
3. Stardust
4. My Masquerade
5. Tell Me, Mechanist
6. Sing To Me
7. Army of Dolls
8. Lullaby
9. The Tragedy of the Commons


Bonus Audio CD:

1. Scarlet
2. Don't Let Go
3. My Masquerade (Live)
4. April Rain (Live)
5. Go Away (Live)
6. Sever (Live)
7. Stay Forever (Live)
8. Sing To Me (Orchestra version)
9. Your Body Is A Battleground (Orchestra version)


 Delain always seemed as a rough diamond with a lot of potential, always almost touching the greatness, but finally being nothing more than another Symphonic Metal band in the pile. Lucidity was a good album, beat by April Rain, but none was full of good songs or ideas. Some tunes were very catchy, the audio was fine -very good in April Rain-, and the symphonic aspect was regular too. There was nothing bad about them, but also nothing outstanding, new or exciting enough to make those works a true jewel.

Their two next albums were worse in every aspect, with almost only unremarkable songs. "We Are The Others" and "Breath On Me" are the only tracks that are worth to remember in those disks.

Having this things in mind, The Human Contradiction couldn't be less than a big surprise for everyone. It's, no doubt, the best compilation released by Delain, due to, mostly, better ideas. The sound has improved and the style has mutated into a more heavy one, but it's the composition, what has changed in the best of ways, gaining complexity, variety, and a bit of novelty. 

The version we are reviewing here is the Limited/Fan Edition, priced at €16.99 at www.napalmrecords.com, and at $15.47 at www.amazon.com. It has two disks: one, the main album, containing nine songs; the other, the "Bonus" one, which contains nine songs also. Lets check out the main album first.

The improvement we just mentioned, sadly, doesn't extend to the full disk, which has a few weak spots. The first one is some not-so-good-songs, like Army Of Dolls and The Tragedy Of Commons. The other one is its length.

The total playtime of it is of 41:56 minutes, that, divided in 9 songs gives 4:40 minutes per song. Given the fact that this compilation, in CD format, is priced at €11.99, at www.napalmrecords.com and at $12.26 at www.amazon.com, makes you wonder where is the rest of this full-length album -since it's missing at least one track-. It's a little bit pricy, frankly, for this amount of content. However, you can go for the digital purchase, where every song is priced at .99 at the itunes store. 

The first track is powerful, melodic a with a big array of different tunes. Until half of the album, there are only great songs; one after another, it's like being hit over and over again by wave after wave of delight; increasing in strength till the climax, the album best song, Sing To Me. After, comes just the mediocre outcome, with no song truly remarkable

The alternate use of male and female vocals has improved considerably, with a more deep, rich, and varied mix. It suffices to hear to the chorus in "Sing To Me" or in "My Masquerade", to see that.

The band, as usual, follows a classic song structure (AABA), with always welcome little variations -like in "Your Body Is A Battleground", were the chorus appears for the first time at the middle of the track-, but nothing remarkable.

It debuts here a heavy style, never before shown by the band. Heavy, even though only in "The Tragedy Of Commons" and in "Tell Me, Mechanist" there are harsh vocals. Gone is the melodic style and lethargy of the past albums. Instead, lots of heavy riffs and aggressive melodies are everywhere.

Is this a good or bad thing? The change in style can't be qualified as good or bad, really nothing can. All is a matter of taste, but forgetting this statement for a moment, what is really nice here, are the most catchy choruses ever displayed by Delain in any album.

Now, about the "bonus disk", it has a total playtime of 38:32 minutes, divided in nine songs. That's a lot for a bonus disk. However, this doesn't seem to be one since it has two completely new songs, that should be in the main album. It doesn’t seem right to have just nine songs in the central disk, and at the same time, nine in the bonus disk, specially since the first one is priced as a full length album. It would make more sense if the eleven new songs were part of the main album, and the seven remaining ones, of the bonus one.

Five pieces, are live versions. They aren't remarkable at all. They are just the same album songs, but with bad audio, mixed with the noise of mob applauding, screaming, and trying to sing. There is little or no variation at all in this tracks, versus the original ones. We don't know why someone would prefer to hear those instead of the original ones, and, even more, decide to pay for them. 

The grinding for money, doesn't stop there, and as a way to justify this "bonus disk", two "Orchestral Versions" were put in it. Nothing new or worth of attention here. These are just the symphonic base of each song, slightly edited.

In sum, does it worth the money buy this Limited Edition? Well, the answer to us clearly is NO; unless, of course, if you are a hardcore fan of the band, in which case you should probably go for the Vinyl, or if you have enough money to wipe your ass with it. We really don't see the point in paying for these "live version" tracks when they are nothing more than the same album song played live, with no plus at all. 

The work done in the audio here, makes a big step forward from the two previous works. The kick and drums sounds deep and powerful, and the guitar is just gorgeous, even though there is no guitar solo to be found. The symphonic instruments, however, were left a little behind, so they aren't easy to be heard when there are lots of instruments playing at the same time. Although the sound of April Rain is great too, we prefer rather this one for being a lot crispier without losing the bass or too much of the middle of the spectrum.

So, finally Delain releases a truly outstanding album, and with it, steps out of mediocrity.


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Album revirew: Babymetal - Babymetal

 

Genre: Melodic Death Metal/Heavy Metal/Synthpop/jPop
Year: 2014
Country: Japan

Tracklist:

1. Babymetal Death
2. Magitsune
3. Gimme Chocolate!!
4. Line!
5. Akatsuki
6. Doki Doki ☆ Morning
7. Onedari Daisakusen
8. Song 4
9. Uki Uki ★ Midnight
10. Catch Me If You Can
11. Rondo Of Nightmare
12. Head Bangya!
13. Ijme Dame Zettai

The Japanese music has grown immensely in the last couple of decades, and expanded equally all over the globe. The number of Nippon bands and creations, keep increasing day by day, in every genre and style, from classic music to black metal. Of course, some styles and genres have grown more aggressively than others; the so called "jpop" and"jrock" -yes, everything with a jey- are some of the ones which have transcended to almost every other music style. 

Babymetal represents very well that mix of "jey music". It's like a caricature of all the Japanese pop music, appeared over the last years; it's a clear and good picture of it. The very name,"Babymetal", screams what the style is made of, a mixture of metal and pop, but in a very particular way.

The "baby" part is composed by all the elements present in the jpop: clean childish vocals, melodic tunes and synths everywhere. The "metal" part, represents the harsh vocals, aggressive riffs and powerful guitars and drums. This idea isn't new at all, after all, it's just a derivation of the melodic death metal style, but it's the specific way -or jway- what’s new, refreshing and great. 

Having that said, it's obvious, if you've listened to "jmusic" recently, what's to be found in this album... Anime like music, lyrics and vocals, lots of melodic guitar solos, extensive use of electronic music elements, heavy riffs and, of course, the own Japanese particular style.

This is the first album released by Babymetal, but before, since 2011 the band has been in the scene releasing singles -incorporated now in this disk- and performing live frequently. The launch of their first full length work is the logic step to follow. 

The total play time is of 55:41 minutes, divided in thirteen songs of about 4:17 minutes each. So, there is a lot of content here; more than usual in a full release. That's always great (more bang for the buck), but it's better if it's well spaced and goes along with great quality. No song plays for more than 6 minutes and no less than 3, so no track results tedious or not a real contribution; none is an intro, interlude or coda, but the track order is well disposed, giving the feeling of beginning and end.

The disk starts with a powerful heavy track called Babymetal Death. It's, as the name suggests, a death metal song, played by the band, and as the name also suggests, it's not taken very seriously by the group itself. It's a parody to every death metal band that takes too seriously the harsh vocal style. The lyrics demonstrate it, and despite its stupidity, the song is awesome. In fact, almost every harsh vocal interventions, present in the album, are a joke, but a funny and good one; in "Ii Ne!", it's just hilarious.

The second song is very different, starting to show the anime-like-metal-fusion style in composition and lyrics. The lightness in the lyrics is maintained through almost all the disk till the end, with a few surprises -like in "Akumu no Rinbukyoku", though. 

Technically, every song is outstanding in the play of every instrument, plus a nice mix of styles -even some punk-rock and reggae-,just lacking of great voices. The three girls get the work done but none of them is a chant prodigy, sadly. The vocals are pretty mediocre, specially the clean ones, but also they match the musical style, so there's no big deal about it -just a missed opportunity of a better work-.

Almost every song is good enough to be listened over and over again. Every one is complex but, impressively, easy to follow too. Some ones shine above the others, but not too much. "Catch Me If You Can" and "4 no Uta", may be the only let down, with a not very catchy melody and transitions no very appealing neither. Beyond that, there's no bad songs here, and that’s admirable. The reason for that, it's no other than talent and enough time invested to create this great pieces of art. It took more than three years to form this album, since the first single in 2011, and every minute has worth it.

The sound is pretty good, although it's not stellar.Still, it's one of the best in any jpop album recorded and produced in Japan.

Babymetal is an album that no one should miss. Obviously, the ones fond of metal, trancecore, and jmetal in general, will enjoy eagerly this work, but it transcends the metal genre itself, and anyone should be enough open minded to appreciate the special and attractive fusion present in every track of this disk.

 

 

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The best of: The Duskfall

Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Country: Sweden

The Duskfall is one of the best melodic death metal bands of all times. If you like any kind of metal, and never heard about this Swedish group, you've been missing a lot. Their work is so good, that even someone that is not into any kind of metal, could recognize the great talent behind it.

I followed this band since its first full length release, "Frailty", in 2002. I was astonished, right away, by the innovation and the quality in composition present in every single song.

This is maybe the best melodic death metal album out there, and there are many. The style is unique and special. There is really a fine work in the songwriting, being impossible to get bored from the beginning to the end.

The next three disks released from this now disbanded group, weren't so great, but still a few jewels are to be found in each one of them.

We're gonna try to pick the ten best songs of this not so vast, but great discography. It's a bit hard because this guys really pulled out a lot of amazing songs.

The best one is, without any doubt, Farewell Song, from their first album. Believe us, no one should miss that one.

The order isn't a ranking, it follows the disk and track list lineup.

1. None (Frailty - 2002)

2. Farewell Song (Frailty - 2002)
3. Just Follow (Frailty - 2002)
4. Deliverance (Frailty - 2002)
5. Source (Source - 2003)
6. Guidance (Source - 2003)
7. Shoot Out In (Lifetime Supply Of Guilt - 2005)
8. Hours Are Wasted (Lifetime Supply Of Guilt - 2005)
9. The Wheel And The Blacklight (The Dying Wonders Of The World - 2007)
10. Sealed With A Fist (The Dying Wonders Of The World - 2007)

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Retrospective: Staind - Break The Circle (2001)

Genre: Nü Metal
Country: USA
Year: 2001

Tracklst:

1. Open Your Eyes
2. Pressure
3. Fade
4. It's Been Awhile
5. Change
6. Can't Believe
7. Epiphany
8. Suffer
9. Safe Place
10. For You
11. Outside
12. Waste
13. Take It
14. It's Been Awhile (Acoustic)

Korn, Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, POD, The Offspring, Deftones, System Of A Down, Slipknot, Incubus, among others, were groups that marked an era in the life of many, and the emergence of the named "Nü Metal", in the late 90's and early the following decade. On that beautiful epoch, the content coming through MTV Latin America was not very different from USA or other countries in general, allowing a strong and quick expansion of promising new bands, sounds and melodies.

 

Staind was one of those groups, lucky and talented enough to reach with their music to a wide audience, what years ago would have been much more difficult to achieve without the massive scope of MTV and the internet. It's amazing to look back and remember that in those days the mp3 was by far the best compression format, and having internet access and a digital player was a almost a luxury.

 

Staind's third album, "Break The Circle", is quite possibly their best one, not just because of the novelty brought, but also because of the quality of almost every track in it. With it, they jumped to fame after the modest success of his last album and its single "Mudshovel", which everyone has probably listened, at some point.

 

The first album song gives a glimpse of the large amount of metal present in the style. After, "Suffer", a much heavier track, reasserts it. But then, "Fade" changes the picture and so it starts to be seen that it's rather the melody what characterizes the style, and not a heavy Nü Metal. In fact, despite the heavy riffs throughout the album, the particular distorted guitar sounds and the great bass playing, the songs are always very melodic.

 

It is that blend of melody and heavy metal, what made Staind and other early Nü Metal groups, so successful around the year 2000. At that time, little or no room in the scene was given, by the massive music media, to almost every metal band. That particular "soft metal" worked as a link between pop and more "heavy" metal bands like Korn or Killswitch Engage, making thenceforth room to the metalcore, death metal and others similar styles. Staind has a piece of the merit of opening the musical spectrum to all of us.

 

Songs like Open Your Eyes and Pressure, at that time, were so damn impressive, with a design so heavy, so melodic, and with an audio so good, that there was no chance at all that this band could pass unperceived.

 

Conceptually, their third work goes away from the previous albums, which were much less melodic and progressive. Just listening to the first disk song, makes you realize how different it is to the previous ones, bursting into the style, so far known, melodic songs like "It's Been Awhile" and "Outside", as well as progressive ones like "Fade"; also some wonders like "Pressure". In short, there was an improvement in the composition and an extension of it, exploring new mixes and tunes, and of course improving the sound. There is a lot to praise but also something to criticize, in this third album.

 

The main critic to this work, to us, is the inconsistency in the binding between chorus and riff, in songs like Fade, Suffer or Change. It seems like the verses were removed from completely different songs -like a copy-paste between a paper about anal sex and the bible- with no relation at all, ruining the entire song. It comes to occur in these tracks what should never happen in a pop music piece: the riff is much better than the verse. This escapes the very nature of the verse, as a part of a song structure. Really, what's the point in repeating the same shity tune or melody three times per track if it makes unbearably bad? Still, as always, is a matter of taste, and this time you can save the point noting that the sudden changes in the scales go together with the lyrics. In their latest album to date, just called "Staind", this progressive nonsense does not exist at all, and we are deeply grateful for that.

 

Beyond that, the record is brilliant and it's a pleasure to hear. It's an album of highs and lows clearly, with very good songs like Pressure and others not so worth listening to, like Safe Place or Change; but generally it leaves a very good taste.

More than ten years after its release, Break The Circle still shines by itself as a great album, but also as an old jewel that made what is today the vast pop music scene.

 

 

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Album review: Subway To Sally - Mitgift

Genre: Folk Metal
Country: Germany
Year: 2014


Tracklist:

1. Ad Mortem Festinamus
2. Schwarze Seide
3. Für Immer
4. Grausame Schwester
5. Warte, Warte
6. Dein Kapitän
7. Arme Ellen Schmitt
8. In Kaltem Eisen
9. Vela Dare!
10. Haus Aus Schmerz
11. Im Weidengarten
12. Coda 

With more than twenty years of life, and with fusion as a essential part to its style, Subway To Sally, is one of the best folk metal bands of all times. However, like many others music groups with a so long life, not all their productions are excellent.

Kreuzfeuer, Bastard and Schwarz in Schwarz are the three last Subway To Sally's albums (before Mitgift). Maybe it was just the lack of novelty or the outstanding quality of their predecessor disk, Nord Nord Ost, but we were, not a little, but very disappointed about them. They seemed to be poor of everything. So, we weren't expecting too much of Mitgift, thinking that, maybe, as it has happened so many times before in the lifetime of other bands, the talent was forever gone, and the albums to come aren't more than a little shadow of what it was... 

But no! At least no in most aspects. Subway To Sally has done in Mitgift what characterized them long ago, and that's fusing styles and various kinds of instruments, in catchy and beautiful melodies, next to powerful riffs and distorted sounds. So... Welcome, again guys!

The album has twelve songs, with about 4:00 minutes each, making a total play time of 47:38, which is fine for a full length album. As is usual to the Germans, there is no intro song but there is an interlude and a coda or epilogue -called "Coda"-. None of these are good songs, but they match very well with the album theme.

The style hasn't changed in the core. It's still folk metal, but not as straight forward as in previous works. Mainly because of the inclusion of dub-step elements (whaaaat??). Yes, and no lightly. The synths and electronic music instruments have been part, since a very long time, of this band's creations, but always timidly and just as a complement, and sometimes being hardly distinguishable. Now, not just there is a more evident use of those resources, but also a deep mix of them with the common ones. So, besides the use of symphonic, folk and metal music instruments, now makes a clear appearance the electronic ones, mostly in the form of a dub-step style. That's on almost every song, and in some ones more than in others. It's a fine addition to the vast variety so long displayed by Subway To Sally, that refreshes it, bringing innovation in a due amount. Indeed, the German band is true to its essence even in this work plenty of surprises.

Too bad, Mitgift is not full of great songs, but it's close. "Haus aus Schmerz" is almost unpleasant; "Warte, Warte" is unappealing; "Vela dare!" is like a remix of another of "Deine Kapitäne"; and some melodies found through the compilation aren't really remarcables. We can't help comparing this work with Engelskrieger, where every piece is outstanding and a delight to hear; more than ten years after, it still shines bright.

The album has a great start, with "Ad Mortem Festinamus", a powerful and catchy song -as it should be in every metal album (apart from the intro song, i mean). It goes on with "Schwarze Seide", another good and heavy song, and so it goes till almost half the way, before regaining some strength, and loosing it all near the end. So, the initial power, the good ideas and catchy tunes, seem to fade while the track count keeps advancing. The group obviously dispersed the "not so good songs" through the album trying to make it seem as amusing as possible with the existing songs, and that’s a good thing, but a bad one is to have to do that. Thankfully, very often they infiltrate beautiful tunes filled with strings and bagpipes. Some tracks like Grausame Schwester or In Kaltem Eisen are both beautiful and heavy, a combination always welcome; they are, no doubt, the best songs displayed here and part of this band all-time-bests; alas, the contrast with those "not so good songs" is abysmal, really.

The audio, we believe, its better than in the three previous albums, and it approaches to the outstanding sound present in Nord Nord Ost or in Engelskrieger, but still being far from them. It's still great, though. Powerful but clear, like it has to be in a style that relies on aggressive metal riffs, mixed with classic, electronic and folk music.

Finally, we can say that, even though this work just reviewed here, isn't as good as we would wished it to be, it's terrific listening once again to that awesome genius that composed, so many years ago, still remembered awesome songs. We can only wish now that this retake in good composition and quality remains forever in the future works to come.

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