Nemesea: White Flag (Napalm Records) [Matt Bladen]
Now I said in recent review that I was getting a little sick of the symphonic metal that is so often badged as 'female fronted' metal. Well Nemesea aren't a symphonic metal band anymore giving that up in 2007 and they are more in the vein of alternative rock pairing big, rock riffs with electronic elements and fist full of anthemic choruses. At times they almost sound like some of the acts that are in the mainstream charts using the synths to their advantage. Where they really shine is with the brilliant vocals of their new singer Sanne Mieloos, who replaced founding member Manda Ophuis. Sanne has a powerful, smooth almost jazz infected tone ideal on ballads such as Sarah which sounds a lot like a Sara Bareilles song (which if know me, you would know makes me feel a little funny), but also perfect for rockers. The torchlight ballad (Angel) comes after 3 thumping rock tracks the best of which being The Storm.
They have a number of sounds on this record White Flag is a massive anthem, Don't Tell Me Your Name is a defiant electronically driven number while Fools Guard fizzes with energy, as Nothing Like Me is driven by some choppy riffs and a snarl from Sanne. I didn't know what to expect from Nemesea as I had name recognition with them only but this Dutch outfit have really surprised me with an album of passionate music, at 14 songs it is probably too long, leading to some bloat, though not through an over-use of ballads as the band employ them sparingly. They are more interested in industrial punches on songs like Rise. White Flag is a really interesting record that pricked my ears up, in a world where there are so many bands that sound the same Nemesea are refreshingly different, hopefully Sanne sticks around and we get many more albums from this great Dutch rock act. 8/10
Astrosaur: Obscuroscope (Pelagic Records) [Paul Scoble]
Astrosaur are a 3 piece from Sweden, made up of graduates from The Conservatory Of Music in Kristiansand. The group (Steinar Glas on Bass, Jonatan Eikum on Drums and Eirik Kråkenes on Guitar), have released 1 album before Obscuroscope, in Fade In // Fade Out. You might have noticed the lack of a singer, Astrosaur are an instrumental act. The album starts with Poyekhali, and we are dropped strait into fast progressive metal, there's similarity to technical, proggy metal instrumentalist’s Animals As Leaders, as well as a little bit of Voivod, the originators of Progressive Metal. The solo’s are great, technical but beautifully melodic. There is also a slight jazz feel to this as well, there are a lot of the type of chords that made people in the mid eighties think Voivod were ‘Weird’. Next we get Karakoram II, which feels a little heavier that the opening track. The overall impression is halfway between Doom and Psychedelic Rock. There is a faster section, but it is quickly scared away by huge and heavy.
The album returns to fast and technical with White Stone, which feels a little Djenty (there are elements of Djent on this album, but this has so much more scope and variety than a pure Djent album). The track is really melodic, again with great solos, the solos are quite technical, until we get to the last quarter of the song, where a lot of blues is added to the feel of the solos. Elephant Island is quiet at the beginning and at the end, the middle is suitably heavy and huge with a definite sludgy / doomy feel. Beautifully apt, considering the title of the song! Supervoid, has a bit of different mood to the rest of the album. It’s driving and purposeful, whilst also feeling quite Drone like and discordant. There is a more measured middle section, before the track goes all Black Metal for the ending, with some blast beats and tremolo picked riffs.
The album is brought to an end by the track Homewards. The song takes a very long time to get going, with a really long, quiet introduction. When the music does get going it’s slow heavy and doomy. The slow build might be a little too much, as I found my attention drifting a little, build up to huge riffs is great, this just takes too long. Obscuroscope is a very good album, it’s full of great tunes, riffs and solos. Sometimes I found some of it a little samey, and the final track would be improved by being a couple of minutes shorter, but that is probably me being a little bit picky. Don’t be put off by the lack of vocals, for the most part this is a great album that I enjoyed a lot! 7/10
Isole: Dystopia (Hammerheart Records) [Matt Bladen]
Dystopia is the seventh album from Swedish Epic Doom Metal band Isole. Now If you're Swedish and you play this kind of music you will always be compared to Candlemass who were the originators, especially if you are from the same country. Previously known as Forlorn until 2004 as I mentioned Isole have released six records previous to this and a bit of research shows that they have not really deviated from their doom metal base since 2004. Led by the resonant but melodic vocals of Daniel Bryntse, Isole open their seventh release with the seven minute Beyond The Horizon a Gothic sounding number that brings to mind Paradise Lost but with JB from Grand Magus singing.
It's doom metal yes but with hooks and lots of beautiful guitar work from Bryntse and Crister Olsson as Jimmy Mattsson and Victor Parri lay down the knuckle dragging riffs on the doomy numbers like Written In The Sand and The Beholder both of which owe a debt to the Swedish doom master Candlemass as does You Went Away which is replete with a tolling bell. Dystopia doesn't do anything that new with the epic doom metal sound, it's not a reinvention just a tribute to their influences done very well even dabbling in black metal blastbeats on Forged By Fear, it's a great album for doom fans, perfect to listen to while holed up inside on a sunny day. 7/10
Prophecy: Forbidden Scriptures (Self Released) [Paul Scoble]
There are a huge number of Metal bands of one sort or another, who use the name Prophecy. This one has been going since 1991, so probably one of the first bands to use the name, and were based in Louisiana, before relocating to Texas. This prophecy can be forgiven for having such a common band name; when they chose it there were less bands using it, and it was before the internet, so it was much harder to check if you are using someone else’s name. Even though the five piece have been going for so long this is only the bands fifth album. Prophecy play a very brutal style of Death Metal. Surprisingly, it’s not that old school in style, as you might expect from a band that has been going for as long as Prophecy have. The ten tracks included here, have a more recent Brutal sound, with a little bit of Slam Death Metal added in for good measure. The Slam feel is down to some of the songs being quite Breakdown heavy, and the use of Pig Squealing vocals. I must admit to not being much of a fan of Slam Death Metal, I like riffs that go somewhere, and constant breakdowns don’t go anywhere. However, this album has elements of Slam, rather than being pure Slam.
There are bags of very dense and brutal riffs, similar to Nile, or Dying Fetus. The band are clearly great musicians, as everything is handled very well. The riffs are brutal, but detailed, the solo’s are fantastic, the drumming is tight and technical and batters the listener, the bass thunders and backs everything up beautifully, and the vocals are ultra guttural. This is demonstrated brilliantly by opening track Foreseen Scriptures, as well as on the track Infuriate, which also has some grindingly heavy slow sections, showing that the band can also do some very heavy Death/Doom as well. The aforementioned breakdowns are quite common. In many ways they aren’t that intrusive as they aren’t used on every track and they aren’t the whole track. Although, for my tastes the tracks Infinite Deception, Redemption and The Awakening are a little too Breakdown heavy. But, if you like slam death metal, those are the tracks that will excite you. The Pig Squealing is less of a problem for me as they only use it occasionally, again, if you like Pig Squealing it won’t be a problem for you.
The last track on the album is very long; over 14 minutes. But, there is only about 4 minutes of music on it. The other 10 minutes is the band thanking, just about everyone involved in making the album. The band referred to this as “This Album’s thanks list”, so this is clearly something the band have done before. Personally I think this is really sweet. It’s possibly down to music being shared digitally, so less people reading thanks lists. It was great to hear the band thank people, I’ll probably only listen to it once, but it’s nice to see that this band see making music and albums as a privilege, and feel the need to thank every one involved in making that happen. Forbidden Scriptures is a very good album, If I was a fan of Slam Death Metal I’d be saying great. For me, this is a 7 out of 10; but if you love a bit of Pig Squealing, and some breakdowns, then it might be an 8 or a 9 for you. 7/10
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