Monthly Archives April 2013

Hailing from the land of a thousand lakes, the melodic metal band Nicumo have released their first full-length album ‘The End of Silence’ on the 19^th of April. After two EP’s ‘Close Our Eyes for Good’ (2010) and ‘Scars & Glassy Eyes’ (2011), the band decided it was time to take it one step further. And so they did!

The first thing I would like to say about this album is that it has many influences from well-known Finnish bands. So if you are a fan of Sentenced, Entwine and Amorphis, this is something you will enjoy. Another interesting thing is that if you listen to the whole songs there are many instrumental, vocal surprises and twists along the way that really make a difference. It’s like they say..the devil’s in the details...

Rhapsody of Fire, the parents of Hollywood metal (known more traditionally as symphonic power metal), tried to prove once more that their sound is standing its ground no matter what! After the separation from Luca Turilli (who now has his own Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody), this record was much needed. With this massive live release – 24 songs in 2 CDs – and using older and newer songs, fans worldwide can feel that Christmas is happening once more, just that this time it is set for the beginning of May (3^rd of May to be precise).

This release really made me wish I was in the audience when these songs were recorded, because the sound alone shows a great effort and brilliant skills of turning the stage into an epic playground! Choir, sopranos in the background, wind instruments, violins, fa...

I have said this before and I keep on saying it: Finnish metal is one of the best kinds of music out there! Therefore, with melodic death metal being one of Finland’s specialties, I knew that Noumena’s new release (out on April 19^th) has to be good. I just did not imagine it to be that good!

As mentioned above, these guys play melodic death metal..with a twist. That twist comes from the female voice -that reminds me of Maxi Nil from Visions of Atlantis- that, in contrast with the rough and brutal range of Antti, makes a great Beauty and the Beast-like effect. I have to admit, it seems like they take very seriously the whole ‘melodic’ term, using it as a backbone for their creations. As songs worth mentioning, there are ‘Handful of Dust’ and ‘Let It Run Red’ which are quite catchy...

Finland rockers Snow White’s Poison Bite started off as a screamo/post-hardcore band with their first record ‘The Story of Kristy Killings’ released in 2010. We are in 2013 now, and the band will return on April the 16^th with a new album: Featuring: Dr. Gruesome And The Gruesome Gory Horror Show. Quite a mouthful isn’t it? However, this does not sound like the name a typical post-hardcore band would have. Because it is not. Experimenting with new sounds, SWPB tried flirting with horror punk. Let’s see what they managed to do:

Like any horror inspired band wishing to send the creeps in the listener’s ears, this album has an intro, where the main character of the album, Dr. Gruesome, is introducing himself to the audience...

Finland has always been known as the country where ‘good metal comes from’, so when I received the request to do this review by Forlorn Chambers I was quite curious what they have to say. Their debut demo ‘Unborn and Hollow’ was released in January 2013 and it shows an interesting take on death metal, so let’s dig in:

The first song, wearing the name of the demo ‘Unborn and Hollow’ seems like a hybrid between death and black metal elements: you have the brutal guitar riffs, the tremolo picking and the deep growls. However, I believe a more complex melodic line would have helped this song stand out even better. The 2^nd track, ‘And we hail the ones who fall’, starts by showering the listener with blast beats and then continues with a quite catchy track including the brief pres...

On an almost sunny thursday afternoon, on the 21st of March, I sat down with Craig Mabbitt, the vocalist from Escape The Fate and he shared with me the concepts behind the two new singles ‘Ungrateful’ and ‘You’re Insane’, what his thoughts about the rock scene are, how the band handled tensions in the past, and much more! Curious? Then start reading from part 1 (click) and continue with this one here:

Alexandra: In ETF, who takes care of the lyrics, who makes the music?

Craig: It’s pretty much split 50/50 between Monte and his brother, and i take care of all the vocals and melodies. I always work with other people so ‘This war is ours’ was written with me and the producer, one of the songs i wrote with Josh Todd from Buckcherry, the self-titled album was just all me, because nobody e...

Drowning Pool have returned with a new album(to be released on the 9th of April) and a new vocalist! After Ryan McCombs decided to go on a separate way and back as a vocalist for SOiL, the band was faced with the decision of looking for a new vocalist and they found Jasen Moreno. Now, I’m going to start with some rather obvious facts for the die-hard fans: Moreno is not McCombs and he is not Williams. His voice does not have that brutal sound in it, he does not do as much screaming as the first two. So from that point of view, the record is more tuned down. However, the new songs introduce some very interesting rock’n’roll catchy anthem-like elements that were not that visible before in their sound. And what Moreno brings is a different atmosphere.

So now that we have cleared up the...