the black frame spectacle: Grady Sessions II

Take two men, a guitar and drum kit, and a passion to turn big thumping beats and energetic rampaging sounds into something as essential as breathing, and you have the black frame spectacle. Fusing the feisty essences of rockabilly, punk, and psychobilly with expressive lyrical might and powerful inspiring vocals, the duo from Canada create music which could soundtrack a riot whilst persuading a thousand more eager hearts to join its passion. Their latest album Grady Sessions II is a breath taking storm of thrilling nostalgic sounds and modern heart spawn urgency and craft, a lo-fi adrenaline soaked surf through incendiary invention and captivating unpredictable imagination. It is outstanding, a record which lies somewhere between bruising the senses and sending them into orgasmic rapture, though in the end the result is the same as from both extremes.

The Ontario band consists of guitarist and vocalist Ian Sullivan and drummer Adam McNeill, two men who met as work colleagues in 2003 and came together as musicians in 2009. Their striking sounds soon found them with a constantly growing and strong fan base around the Dorchester and London area which with the release of their debut album Grady Sessions spread further afield. The new album takes all the impressive essences of the first album and explores them with greater depth for a distinctive and imaginative triumph. The release plays like a heady brew of bands like The Peacocks, Batmobile, and Living End distilled through the breath of Max Raptor and System Of A Down, it is a unique beast with at times familiar sounding sinews within devastatingly inventive and fresh creative muscle.

As soon as opener Patient Zero scurries through the ear with rasping riffs and disorientating rhythms, a tingle shoots through the heart. There is an immediate sense of something special raging alongside the driving vocals and shadowed gait of the teasing slightly abrasive maelstrom of ingenuity. The track stomps with electric tension and gnawing urgency aligned to unpredictable enterprise, a punk rock tempest spiced with a raw Gene Vincent swagger.

The following Bust Out The Boogie continues the mighty start, its rockabilly swing and challenging bite simply irresistible. The song makes it impossible for limbs and voice not to enter its affray, the energy and heart of the track a wild infection whilst the knowing romp of the vocals is an instigator anyone would follow whatever its intent.

As the album progresses the growing adoration towards the inciting sounds becomes an unbridled lust, tracks like Class Of Lonely Dreams and Use Your Claws, sensations to lose inhibitions to. The first is a caustic call to arms to match anything on the Roll On album from Living End, its instigation as contagious as the rough surfaced sounds, whilst the second with its waspish lilt to the guitars is a seductive tease to lose oneself within with ease. Their stunning might is followed up with the just as provocative and storming sounds within Up, Back, Or Off, an track to ignite the primal needs and greed with expertise.

Though at times the surface sound has an admittedly very agreeable but similar initial assault it does not take much effort to discover the inspired versatility and diversity to the ideas and sounds at play. Bored Of The Lie for example at first seems like a continuation of the previous track but soon lays an undulating passage which is continually mesmeric and constantly challenging. It is also quite brilliant as are all the songs and album as a whole.

Further highlights come with the likes of An Ode To Dogs Bollocks which starts as something Buddy Holly might have imagined and evolves through a snapping spicery of Calabrese and Reverend Horton Heat, the military surge of Marching Orders, and the emotive twisting glory of Oscar Mike. The last of the trio is immense, the vocals of Sullivan pushing the already striking range and depth of his ability to greater heights whilst the rhythms of McNeill frame the sensational track with a persuasive and invigorating magnificence.

Closing with the dazzling The Mob Awaits, a quite delicious track with a tin pot alley swagger and sweltering unrivalled passion, Grady Sessions II is simply brilliant. With ease it is one of the best albums to appear this year whilst taking the heart on the most genuine and inspirational journeys in a long time. If punk n roll is your favourite tease thanthe black frame spectacle will leave you drooling from every pore.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/the-black-frame-spectacle/288510844804

http://www.theblackframespectacle.com/

RingMaster 14/11/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

October Rage: Outrage

A sturdy and fiery merger of riotous rock n roll and sizzling melodic rock, Outrage from Australian band October Rage is an album which either when rampaging with eager energy or is enveloping the ear with fine melodic craft, makes for a thoroughly enjoyable and invigorating experience. The band and release sits easily amongst the likes of Saliva, Shinedown, Hinder, and Nonpoint. It may not stand out as anything ground breaking but has a freshness and spark arguably lacking in the recent releases of those other bands. If you are looking for an adrenaline driven yet thoughtful and warmly enterprising time than Outrage is a rewarding treat to party with.

From New South Wales, October Rage began in 2008 with brothers Nick (vocals/guitar) and William Roberts (bass). After a long search which took them to looking as far as America, the band was completed with the addition of Rory Bratby (drums) and Tim Ciantar (guitar), two musicians they had been to school with though in different years. Now complete the quartet built a strong local fan base which their debut single of the following year, Silver Line, took to a wider recognition. Recorded with world renowned producer Adrian Hannan, the release marked the beginning of a definite rise for the band. They soon followed this with a performance in front of a 50,000 strong audience in Sydney supporting Bon Jovi, an opportunity brought from winning a radio station contest. The latter part of 2011 saw the band entering the studio with again Hannan, to record Outrage. Since its completion the foursome has toured the US supporting both Steel Panther and Sevendust as well as undergoing a line-up change with guitarist Josh Gilbert and drummer Alan Toka replacing the departed Ciantar and Bratby. As the album stretches around the globe the band is pulling in more and more devoted followers, which with the infectious and strong sounds it offers is no real surprise.

From a relatively unadventurous opening intro instrumental in Lords Of Wyrd, the album sets to work on the passions with the rampant Set You Free. Within seconds it has ears pricked and senses open to charged riffs and thumping rhythms. With strong vocals from Nick and an anthemic gait to its chorus, the track is a familiar but enterprising encounter to fire up keen enthusiasm. As mentioned earlier about the whole release, there is nothing strikingly new going on but as limbs and the sparked unbridled eagerness to get involved with the song shows, there are plenty of energised reactions to its strident sounds spawn.

Moving into the equally robust and energetic Wayside, the release has a full captivation ensured. Like its predecessor the track is a thumping engagement which just leaves one breathless and invigorated, the great guitar craft and raging intensity tempered with scorching melodic invention, a fuse to deeper pleasure. It is from this point that Outrage unveils its varied and impressive strengths. Songs like the next up Silver Line with its mellower pace and less urgent caresses and its successor Rain, expand the scope of songwriting across the release. The second of these two is a simmering heat with sonic explosive outpourings of tremendous vocals and equally dynamic guitar invention. With a snapping bass and jabbing drum smacks to add steel to the song, it is a contagious companion to rile up the heart.

From the more than decent radio friendly sounds of Home and the seductive tones of Supernova, its rock inspiration seemingly drifting in from the expressive rock of bands like Nickleback, the album moves from a gentler yet potent breath to a more sinewy attack with songs like the bluesy Eastern Road and the snarling Metallica like Two-Sided Blade. Whilst neither song finds the riot of the earlier songs on the album, they offer a bite and muscular intensity for another shift in the diversity of the release.

With two passion soaked slow songs, Into the Night and Under The Wind, sandwiching a grungy tinder box of a slow burner in Reign of Fire for a closing trio of strong emotive ballads, the album leaves thoughts and emotions on a high if calm plateau. It is a fine end to what is an impressive album. With more careering slabs of rock n roll like Wayside, Outrage would have challenged personal end of year lists but without doubt October Rage has delivered one of the more gratifying and energising releases these past months. Make a note of the name as the Australians will be making big waves ahead in rock music ahead.

http://www.octoberrage.com

RingMaster 14/11/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Munruthel: CREEDamage

     

CREEDamage, the new album from Ukrainian ambient/folk pagan metal band Munruthel, is a striking aural portrait of atmospheric and startling worlds and times rife with passion and shadows. It is also a release which is as richly compelling as it is eagerly challenging, an engagement which thrills and inspires with immense creativity and imagination. It is arguably at times not the most open of folk metal releases due to its intent to transports ear, senses, and mind of the listener to a primal and rabid land/history, but without doubt it is one of the most pleasing and rewarding genre albums this year.

Munruthel is the solo project of Vladislav Redkin, an artist who is highly regarded in Ukrainian metal through his work over the years. Starting as the band Silentium, who’s 1995 demo, The Ancients’ Wisdom drew great acclaim, the group name was changed to Munruthel for the following release Yav, Nav i Prav two years later. Following albums such as Oriana Tales and Epoch of Aquarius, the band continued to brew greater success as the project became the sole enterprise of Redkin. His work with numerous other bands such as Nokturnal Mortum, Astrofaes, Lucifugum, Thunderkraft, Amber Solstice, and Neverland to name a few has elevated his stature though it is with Munruthel for many where he has earned the greatest plaudits. With from 2010 the re-release of the earlier albums and the 2011 album The Dark Saga – Original Soundtrack, Munruthel has become a name gaining strong awareness around the metal world which CREEDamage with its impressive soundscapes and invention, will only accelerate.

Out on Svarga Music, the new album is the result of seven years of work by Redkin and unveils an expansive realm of sympho pagan metal through enlightening and consuming emotive soundscapes. With the addition of the mighty tones of guest vocalist Maria “Masha Scream” Arkhipova of Arkona, as well as Forfather vocalist Wulfstan, the album links back to previous releases in topic, like love for Mother Nature through beliefs, and sound but explores much more new adventure with craft and vision. The shifts and merger of ambient majesty and atmospheric washes to charged and energetic sinews is impeccable and seamless as well as at times unexpected, which only goes to make the release refreshing and imaginative.

The sense of something special is seeded immediately with the opening instrumental Ardent Dance of War’s God. The piece is wholly inspiring, its dramatic and rising emotive atmosphere a leviathan of titanic energy, expression, and imagery. In many ways the album does not live up to its entrance, in the same way that the first time you see a colossal sight or beauty it takes your breath away and the following still overwhelming magnificence has a slight familiarity and anti-climax from there on in. CREEDamage is a mighty journey though, the following Rolls of Thunder from Fiery Skies with its mesmeric warm wraps of keys and rasping vocals a two prong corruption to light thoughts and passion. With the as always striking voice of Masha adding its wonder to the insidious shadows within the heated climes, the track is an impactful confrontation to greedily devour.

The evolving breath of the title track tells as much as the storms of emotion and intensity elsewhere. From a spoken narrative to the pumped yet respectful gait smouldering scenery and the pulsating yet intimidating ambience, the song captures the imagination. The vocals may be in native tongue but their texture within the wall of expressive sounds tells you all you need to know to trigger unique journeys and imagery. As with many of the tracks its cinematic breath is an evocative power to rival the impressive sounds to energise the senses.

In an album which is perpetually sparking pleasure and evocative reactions, further highlights come with firstly The Age of Heroes, a track transporting one into a place of solitude and desolate feelings as reflective whispers and chilled grace caress with barren warmth. Its great depth and effect is matched by Carpathian’s Shield, the song a continually shifting and provoking dedication to Mikhail Nechay, a martyred white magician and faith healer, and the three part epic instrumental Krada, its trio of elements a full path of discovery alone on the album.

CREEDamage has been long awaited by a great many and with ease satisfies and feeds all expectations with the best work from Munruthel yet.

www.facebook.com/MunruthelBand

RingMaster 14/11/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Cultura Tres: El Mal Del Bien

Like crossing a disturbing and unpredictable landscape of sizzling heat and exhaustive oppressive atmospheres, El Mal Del Bien the new album from Venezuelan band Cultura Tres, is a stunning slab of corrosive invention. Brewing a sonically driven thick expanse of sludge metal soaked in grunge and noise essences, the release is a mighty uncompromising assault which makes every second of its inventive presence a challenging and deeply rewarding experience.

The band released El Mal Del Bien in their homeland last year but now through Devouter Records it gets its wider CD release whilst at the same time taking the already acclaimed recognition of the band to greater heights. Established as one of the big rock entities in Venezuela through their impressive live performance, as well as first EP Seis in 2007 and debut album La Cura the following year, the quartet of vocalist and guitarist Alejandro Londono, guitarist Juan Manuel de Ferrari, bassist Alonso Milano, and drummer David Abbink stand as one of the boundary pushing and inspiring bands worldwide. From El Mal Del Bien alone with its fusion of sludge and doom metal with varied strains of rock, Cultura Tres stand apart in their challenging yet magnetic world. Like a sonic fury borne from the ashes of an erosive confrontation between Deftones, Soundgarden, Coilguns, and Orange Goblin, the invasive sound which crawls and consumed from within the album is an inciting and vigorous endeavour which leaves thoughts frazzled, senses glowing, and passions bursting.

From opener Propiedad de Dios onwards, the album unleashes shadows and at times distressing soundscapes to leave a full and satisfied ardour beneath its staggering creativity and expressive sounds. The first song slowly builds up its presence through sharp blistered guitar manipulations and heavy prodding beats. It is a meandering crawl which twists and lurches through the ear to engage thoughts, the initial caustic Alice In Chains like drone in sound and vocals walking through harsher gates across the laboured and wholly compelling stalking brought by the song. It is a mighty start soon dismissed as a mere taster by the brilliant Purified, a track with the sting and incessant rapier rub of a giant sonic hornet. The track is a niggling confrontation which turns aggravation into a hypnotic charm. As melodically colourful as the fire within a furnace and as destructive, the song turns its merciless insistence into a hungry infection from which only blissful allegiance is forthcoming. The dour vocal harmonies and scarring guitar play are delicious whilst bass and drums offer a form of contempt to all merge for a totally irresistible mix.

The likes of instrumental Los Muertos De Mi Color with its distressed ambience and sinister breath and the towering El Sur De La Fe, a track simmering with rapier sonic teasing and raging burning melodic flames within its waspish encounter, fire up the heart. Both tracks are as distinct as night and day but scar the senses with a unity of quality and irreverence to the sanity of their recipients.

El Mal Del Bien is an album which offers essential incendiary and inspiring imagination from start to finish, no track or brief part of a song wasted on trivial or impact lacking invention. The release physically and mentally ensures a heavily provocative experience, usually with both aspects overwhelmed at once by the creative maelstrom of sound and textures as in The Grace, with its mesmeric blend of classic metal and sound distortion, and the sensational crunching violation of Voices. Both of these tracks alone numb and invigorate to leave a lingering corruption in their wake and a desperate longing for much more.

The songs come either in the mother tongue of the band or in English but all leave having caused the same deep and long lasting reaction, passionate adoration.  El Mal Del Bien is a masterful and colossal piece of skilled craft and invention, whilst Cultura Tres stand as one of the truly unique emerging giants in metal.

https://www.facebook.com/culturatres

RingMaster 13/11/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Solisia: UniverSeasons

Powerful with epic emotions, UniverSeasons the new album from Italian power metal/symphonic rock band Solisia is a striking and rousing experience. It is a release which wraps itself around the ear with a grandeur and presence to fully involve the listener in its dramatic heart and concept theme based upon the condition of the human race. Released via Scarlet Records, Solisia has created an album which whether it is rampaging with an intense and cryptic intent or washing the senses in heightened elegance just leaves one immerse in something quite special.

Formed in 2006, the Rome band has found strong and eager responses to their sound starting with their critically acclaimed mini CD The Film Of My Life, followed with equal responses by debut album Ordinary Fate. Now with a new vocalist in the impressive talent of Elie Syrelia adding an unmistakable beauty and strength to their sounds, the accomplished collection of musicians have returned with eleven tracks which are diverse yet connected, and all oozing quality and dynamic craft. Across its stirring length, UniverSeasons is a feast of arguably established ideas to make an instant connection and a fiery enterprise to set the band apart from most similarly driven genre bands. This makes for a record which at times offers recognisable friendship for the ear but with a distinct Solisia breath, and in other moments unleashes a muscular array of invention and genre crossing imagination to ensure predictability and lack of captivation is never an issue.

The title track first pulls us into the rich absorption of the album with rampant energy and a charged flurry of riffs and twisting sinewy guitar play, its technical licks an instant lure before Syrelia unveils her mesmeric charms. The song softens as her stylish voice elevates the warmth along with the keys and symphonic caresses, but all the time the rhythms have an intimidating and forceful presence to give it all a bite. Returning to the initial pulsating energy and electronic stomp the song is in control of the listener and quite irresistible, its skill in merging the intensity soaked charge with the graceful and lush melodic weave of orchestral atmospheres impressive to say the least.

One of the major highlights of the album follows next in the exhilarating shape of The Guns Fall Silent. The track is majestic from start to sizzling end, its initial thumping beats and scything riffs soon joining forces with mesmeric keys and a thunderous adrenaline swagger. Once the carnivalesque teasing of rising melodies joins the story only passion is ensured for the rip roaring piece of metal. The bass of Andrea Arcangeli is exceptional throughout but here snarls with a real intent to its mighty invention to add further depth and shadowed life to a magnificent track. Shifting through textures, moods, and sheer ingenuity, the song leaves the senses exhausted and in bliss, the web of challenging muscle and glorious sonic kisses wrapped in melodic sensation just immense.

UniverSeasons proceeds through song after delicious song to engage fully with the emotions and thoughts, the likes of the more straightforward Kiss The Sky where every note holds its own drama, the enigmatic and thrilling Mindkiller, and the riveting onslaught of Dirty Feeling, all smoking guns delivering adrenaline shots of addiction inciting excellence. The latter two stand as strong challengers for top song on the album, their inventive and unexpected ventures irresistibly compulsive. All tracks but especially here, are impossible to make assumptions upon, the direction a song starts with is invariably not the same as it approaches its final destination and even those which hold a relatively straight forward purpose offers numerous glorious asides to ensure a sonic scenic route to devour with greed.

Before the end Symbiosis adds another pinnacle, the song a bewitching slice of pop rock with a delicious chorus as vital as any sun and the celestial expressive air surrounding the unbridled melodic energy and pulse racing triggers, ensuring a combination which is invigorating and explosive.

Symphonic metal has arguably not had its strongest year though there have been some impressive releases but Solisia and UniverSeasons have ensured it has ended of a towering high. A must listen release without doubt.

https://www.facebook.com/solisia

RingMaster 12/11/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Bad Powers: Self Titled

Some bands upon their introduction just make you sigh with pleasure as the flames to a permanent attachment are lit and such is the case with Bad Powers and their self-titled debut album. It is a glorious and deeply stimulating piece of creative invention, its imagination as stirring and impressive as the raging provocative sounds brewed from the distinctly unique musical minds of the band. Arguably the quality of the release is not a surprise given that three quarters of the band were in the acclaimed Made Out Of Babies which called it a day earlier in the year, but guitarist Brendan Tobin, bassist Eric Cooper, and drummer Matthew Egan, have returned with something quite different and greedily enthralling.

The Brooklyn band headed by the stunning vocals of Megan Tweed (also of The Family Curse), has unleashed a hybrid of post punk and noise rock blended into a steaming maelstrom of innovation and ingenious enterprise. It is not the easiest to describe such the unique invention at play, for example at times the album teases the ear like a dysfunctional offspring of The Creatures, with Tweed sounding like a emotionally beleaguered Siouxie Sioux, The Pixies, and Throwing Muses lined by the corrosive breath of Joy Division, and in other moments the senses are swamped with a ravenous erosion brought by a cacophonous smothering from a mix of The Raincoats, The Sugarcubes, Stinking Lizaveta, and Essential Logic veined by the chilled whispers of a Xmal Deutschland. For all those inciting comparisons though the songs are in a realm of their own, a staggering amalgam of ideas and their inventive realisation brought through craft and energy to leave one drooling within a full and eager passion.

Released through The End Records, the album sets to work on the heart with opener New Bruises, the song immediately turning the key to adoration with dramatic sonic slices across rapping beats and firm riffs whilst Tweed begins her magnetic squalls of immense vocal enchantment. Like the music she offers a warm sizzling caress which alternates with a scorched and tenacious bite, her passionate wind shifts from deliciously scarring thoughts and emotions to coaxing them with a heated elegance. Whichever the source guiding her delivery it is a continual irresistible temptation. The track pulls one into an enveloping sonic wantonness, guitars and bass manipulating the synapses with brewing melodic gasses which consume all resistance whilst the rhythms cage and ensnare with an inescapable captivation.

The following likes of the tempestuous Hit Sniffing Dog and the brilliant Eves And Eyes cast their own distinct spells, the first a mix of intimidating intensity and taunting hypnotic grooves like a blistered union of elements from Dead Kennedys and Belly and the second an expansive crawl of emotive majesty and sinister shadows which delves within the psyche like the darkened fallout from The Birthday Party meeting Breeder overlooked by Morningwood. With its dark strings the track is immense amongst nothing but titanic pieces of dare one say genius?

Throughout its ten stunning tracks the album just offers the richest of rewards from its stylish and brilliantly crafted magnificence. The erosion Black Alf with its rolling plundering rhythms of Egan and abrasive vehemence from Tweedy just sparks higher flames of desire for the staggering creativity, the bass of Cooper snarling with venom within the caustic guitar assault whilst Blueberry transports the ear into an outstanding storm of air pilfering sonic rubs and incessant incendiary grooves. It is not the fiercest of the songs on the album but burns with a melodic heat to leave one breathless and smarting from its precise intensity.

With further heightened pinnacles in Electricity Should Be Free with its Bond like teasing intricacies and evocative swagger, and the quite wonderful and astounding closing track Bread And Butter, the album is without doubt one of the real triumphs of the year. From beginning to end it just wraps the senses and heart in a textured wash of brilliance. From its moments of crunching encounters through to the enchanting yet barbed beauty it seduces with ease through, the release is a sensation and Bad Powers in one stroke has taken sonically gifted music to a new and titanic height.

http://www.badpowers.com/

RingMaster 12/11/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

 

Void Moon: On the Blackest of Nights

On the Blackest of Nights is one of those albums which does not truly light any fires, raging or otherwise, within the heart or its passions but still finds a welcome and contented place in the ear. Void Moon its creator, is a band which is openly accomplished and skilled in ability and songwriting, but arguably the album offers more promise ahead than a realised height of triumph in the now. But the album is a welcome and pleasurable companion to spend time within, even if the urgency to return is not as elevated as with many other metal releases.

Formed in 2009 by bassist Peter Svensson, drummer Thomas Hedlund, and vocalist/guitarist Jonas Gustavsson, Void Moon creates an undemanding melodic expanse of doom metal. It is not a sound which extinguishes light or labours with heavy intensive shadows, as there is perpetual melodic warmth which offers an escape from the desolation and emptiness inferred, but it is music to draw strong imagery from. The line-up is completed by lead guitarist Erika Wallberg who joined the band after the release of debut demo EP Through the Gateway in 2010. The album which is released by Cruz del Sur consists of re-recorded tracks from that demo and its successor The Mourning Son of the following year, the band evolving and revitalising those tracks to take their place alongside new songs on their first full length offering.

The tracks sees influences in the likes of Black Sabbath and Candlemass as well as Solitude Aeturnus and Hammers of Misfortune flavouring the music which transports themes of death, philosophy, heathen rituals and the teachings of Crowley through the ear. It makes for at times an evocative proposition lyrically which arguably the sounds do not always quite match or rise to. Despite that the album certainly engages throughout and reveals within its sombre presence some stylish play and impressive craft.

The album opens with Hammer Of Eden, a track which even now leaves indecision as to how good it is and how much it is liked. It is one of those songs which alternate between alienating personal taste and preferences to thrilling those same barriers with strong ideas and invention. The opening sweeps of classic metal guitar and plodding rhythms are decent yet uninspiring though the bass does offer a slight snarl. The track then slows even more to further raise eyebrows but then the already okay vocals of Gustavsson find a declaration and delivery which is unexpected and compulsive. Being extra critical the song feels like its cohesion of elements and shifting passage is struggling to stay together but it works and by the end the song has argued its case with a lingering satisfaction even if it never fully convinces.

The likes of the title track with its slowly winding sharp melodic breath, the intriguing and magnetic The Word and the Abyss, and the slowly stomping Through the Gateway, all capture the imagination without dazzling expectations. There is a thrash metal gait to many of these and the album which certainly keeps one fully engaged and determined to find out more. It is not an adrenaline driven aspect, its energy toned to lie with ease within the doom wrapped skies and intensity of the songs, but as in the latter of this trio it makes for an at times quite infectious lure.

Along with Through the Gateway, the track which stood to the fore was Among the Dying. It is a gentle and heated pleasure with a raw edge to the vocals which makes a firm compliment to the heated mesmeric melodies and caressing sounds. The song does dig into a feisty bag of energy at times to keep the track unpredictable and captivating and apart from the brief image painting instrumental Psychic Bleeding; it was the one time no persuasion to its glories was needed.

On the Blackest of Nights is an album without doubt is worth checking out especially if melodic metal lines your passions, but whether it will ignite greater flames than for us only time in its overall pleasing company will tell.

http://www.void-moon.com/

RingMaster 09/11/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Nominon: The Cleansing

Released though Deathgasm Records, The Cleansing is the highly anticipated new album from old school Swedish death metallers Nominon. It is a release which will easily satisfy and thrill all those waiting blackened malevolent hearts. Dripping venom and malicious enterprise, the album is soaked in the essences of the likes of early Morbid Angel, Dismember, and Entombed, but distils its own festering breath and black heart to stand as a release which offers something fresh and invigorating. No genre boundaries are worried or stretched it is fair to say but with something this devastating yet inspiring who gives a rotting corpse.

Since forming in 1993, the band has forged a heady and mighty onslaught of creative sounds in their perpetual corruption which has garnered strong acclaim and followings. From their Promo 1997 demo through the likes of debut album Diabolical Bloodshed of 1999, Recremation in 2005, and Monumentomb of 2010, to pick just a few of their releases, the band have built a mighty reputation and stature. The years saw difficulties for the band but with 2004 said to be the moment things truly changed and rose up for Nominon, the band raised their stock further with their releases alongside impressive festival performances and tours. Following two splits earlier this year with Kommandant and Graveyard, The Cleansing is unleashed to stand as one of the mightiest old school inspired releases this year.

Starting with the atmospheric intro Satanical Incubation, the title fully encapsulating the crumbling and sinister ambience within, the album explodes with bile grafted enterprise through In The Name Of Gomorrah. Driven by the striking rhythms of drummer Perra Karlsson and the guttural demonstrations of vocalist Henke Skoog, the track tramples through the ear with heavy intent and crippling intensity. The underlying groove beneath the scything riffs from the guitars of AntiChristian and Alex Lyrbo is compelling and alleviates some of the intrusive erosion which is permanently at work, though it too is drenched in the intent to ravage the senses and extinguish any remaining light.

It is a formidable start which is built upon impressively by the following likes of Mausoleum and Unholy Sacrifice. Both tracks consume the ear in a fury of bestial power and unbridled malevolence. The first is nothing less than a bruising entrapment of crushing rhythms and spiteful sonics alongside destructive riffs whilst the second exchanges a full on assault with rabid tenacity from the guitars and even blacker merciless poison from vocals and rhythms. The bass of Juha Sulasalmi stalks knowing it already owns your soul adding a further debilitating urgency and strength to an already corrosive presence. Alongside its successor the track is one of the highest peaks in many towering pinnacles within the album.

The title track is the other unmatched triumph. It is an instrumental furnace of rasping sonic energies, dizzying twists, and grinding enterprise from the guitars. Unrelenting from its first caustic expulsion to last, the track just leaves breathless disorientated wreckage in its scorched earth.

Abhorrent Parasites and Hellwitch both abuse the wounds caused from the previous encounters on the album with merciless intensity and insatiable fury from all departments, whilst the likes of Obliteration and Son Of Doom condemn the senses and thoughts to perpetual darkness and diminished hope. Like the album they are spiteful fires of vehemence and unforgiving attitudes within a ferocious intensity veined by imaginative and skilled intrigue which are nothing less than contagious.

With the vinyl version of the album also having the track Slaughter the Imposter exclusive to its body, The Cleansing is a deeply satisfying release which should have all death metal fans shouting from their rooftops.

www.nominon.com

RingMaster 09/11/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Galvano: Two Titans

Whether naming your debut album Two Titans when you are a duo announcing yourselves with your first release is just asking for trouble or a mark of confidence can be debated until the riffs fall quiet, but in the case of Swedish sludge metallers Galvano, it is pretty apt. Their album is a heavyweight behemoth of towering riffs and rich thick progressive might, a release which grabs you by the throat and feeds the juiciest choice slabs of sonic meat down the throat, and makes the title of their album look quite accurate.

Released on Devouter Records as a limited to 500 coloured vinyl double LP and download, Two Titans is an intense and formidable proposition which rewards fully whilst at times leaning towards numbing the senses. The Göteborg pair of guitarists and vocalist Mattias Nööjd and drummer Fredrik Käll unleash with the eight powerful and memorable tracks, an experience and soundscape which plays on the nerves and ignites the senses. The songs badger and bruise whilst simultaneously flaring up with tight fiery grooves and sonically grafted melodies which tease and please for the fullest satisfaction.

Opener Abysmal is a weighty onslaught of prowling rhythms and twisting enveloping grooves, a track which bewitches as it tramples over the senses with intense passion and giant energy. The vocals of Nööjd scowl with a guttural gait, his squalled growls spewing the heart of the track with formidable passion. Talking about the album the singer had said, “All these songs are personal, all the way throughout the record. They are about personal matters and demons. It’s about finding the darkest corners, the dark lord within and to show up for battle. Portrayed as two titans in constant battle: Good/Evil, Darkness/Light and so on. And sometimes wanting to embrace either side. It’s about knowing when your mind is pulling tricks and being able to stop it. It’s also celebrating our musical force as a duo.” The evidence of his words in the first song alone is open and easily backed up.

From the strong opener the album gets better and better. The following Bleeding Lamb crawls through an avalanche of tumbling rhythms and scarring riffs, its oppressive atmosphere sucking air from the lungs. Despite moments where the song verges on seemingly appearing to tip towards losing control, it is a crushing assault with a smart variation in pace and intensity to leave things perpetually intriguing. The likes of Destroyer with its lumbering doom expanse and the excellent emotive instrumental Hyperion continue to offer a diverse and compulsive turn of affairs, the first simply a mass of intensity and the second a magnetic and irresistible piece of restraint and brewing enterprise.

It can be argued that Two Titans does not offer anything outwardly new and it would be hard to disagree but with the likes of the storm of abrasion that is Ethereal Sword and Punisher with its gnawing and uncompromising intensity let alone creative incitement, the album is perpetually enthralling and heartily invigorating. It is a release which explores and stretches existing doom and sludge metal sonic palates without demanding anything beyond the limits of the genre. It makes for an energising and accomplished force of power and enjoyment, the least any album should offer.

Galvano is a band whose sound belies its compliment of two and leaves a bulging satisfaction with their impressive muscular sound and debut release.

http://galvano.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/GALVANOgbg

RingMaster 08/11/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Bestias De Asalto: Homenaje A La Violencia

Just when we had decided on our favourite industrial/electro album of the year, along comes Mexican duo Bestias De Asalto with their swarthy devilish melodies and insatiable corrosive intensity to throw every thought in the air and fry them on the way down. Their album Homenaje A La Violencia is immense, a staggering and at times terrifying venture into adrenaline driven confrontation and explosive sonic imagination. It is an album which drives at the psyche from the very start and with unrelenting energetic determination leaves only breathless exaltation remaining after its departure.

From Huajuapan de leon Oaxaca, Bestias De Asalto has created an album of ten high intensity fusions of hungry  industrial metal, electro dazzling, and unbridled venomous aggression, the result a tempest of pleasure from a storm which is as abrasive and disturbing as it is sirenesque and mesmeric. Completed by four remixes from SIN D.N.A., Larva, Angels of Suicide, and X-FUSION, on top of the original tracks, the album leaves one staggering under its presence and enterprise, ears and body resonating in aftershock whilst senses as well as thoughts are left as smouldering fully appeased wreckages.

The album begins with Matalos a Todos, a track which opens with sparkling melodies and spoken samples. It is a gentle entrance which even as the song expands shows restraint. As the serpentine vocals start to permeate the sonic elegance of the track, its intensity slowly rising, a raw and blistered breath lays heavy whispers behind the tight sonic manipulations. Instantly infectious the track sets the stall for what is to come without truly revealing the scorched and titanic magnitude to be unleashed. It is an absorbing romp which teases with its aggression, warming up and hypnotising the defences so the following Secuestro can really do its worst.

The track is staggering, a corrosive fury which saws at the senses and fuses synapses. Venom soaks every corrupted vocal expulsion and sonically rabid intrusive note as the track winds itself vigorously and roughly around its recipient. The track as most on the release, is immense, the devastating and uncompromising soundscape laid out a stunning piece of composing and structuring. The textures which gnaw away as greedily and aggressively as the actually sounds are precisely and inventively spawned, and all combined deliver a toxic experience which is compulsive and irresistible.

The heightened contagion developed over the first pair of songs is now viral and soaking the continuing excellence. The thumping almost punk tones of Mente Enferma stalk and ensnare the passions with its rampant merciless energies and insidious shadows musically and vocally, whilst Violador just sends everything into melt down. The track bitch slaps the senses with snapping snarling energy and sonic violence whilst simultaneously hypnotising them with seductive and sultry melodic wantonness. It is one of the finest examples of blending dark and light, violent hate and tender melodic charm, both though with only the intention of total domination.

Every track on the album is a masterful entrapment for the heart, each burning towers of ingenuity and malevolent imagination which blitz and command until total service is nurtured and firmly in place. Some tracks rise to reach and expand the pinnacles of those already mentioned. There is the torrent of invidious sadistic dark which is Arsenal, its melodic dissidence and primal sonic erosion devastating and addictive, whilst the song Bestias De Asalto, is an incessant and brutal delicious torment which only leads to delirium. Like being rubbed down vigorously by a sonic piece of sandpaper, the track leaves one raw and smarting and as its last note leaves with its intent deeply entrenched in the psyche, the sensation of having been violated and loving every second is the only feeling left in play.

The likes of Que Reine El Terror and the dramatic Hacia La Guerra, a brief and towering instrumental which is the link between the aforementioned track and M-60 are further heightened pleasures whilst the latter of the three is just nasty. Arguably the most violent on the album, it is a ceaseless rampage which stomps over and tears down any remaining barriers within. A sonic jack boot through the ear and a mass rally of malevolence and sonic spite it is a brilliant finale to the album.

As mentioned the release actually finishes with a quartet of remixes. All are strong and satisfying especially the X-FUSION take on M-60 but side by side against the actual sensational versions have no chance of leaving lasting impressions. Released through Engraved Ritual, Homenaje A La Violencia is a titanic release, an album which not only is one of the most impressive and rewarding albums of 2012 but over recent years.

http://facebook.com/bestiasdeasalto

www.engraved-ritual.bandcamp.com/album/homenaje-a-la-violencia

RingMaster 08/11/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright