The Foreshadowing-Days of Nothing
(Candlelight Records, 2007)

Ive pretty much been hooked on melancholy doom rock from the first time I heard Katatonia. The Foreshadowing have a sound that is honestly not all that different from Katatonia particularly seeming to draw influence from Discouraged Ones, which just happens to be my favorite album from Katatonia. So it pretty much goes without saying that I am all over this album.

Calling this a Katatonia clone would be giving the band much less credit then they deserve. They bring in a plodding sense of doom and deeper vocals from time to time which conjure Type O Negative during the bands gloomier days. A slight My Dying Bride influence seems to be noticeable as well. Vocally the album sometimes reminds me of HIM and even musically the two bands do share similarities from time to time, but this is much more metallic then HIM.

The music on display here is extremely melodic and melancholy. The riffing is quite metallic at times, but there are always atmospheric qualities to the riffs. You wont be hearing any tremolo picking here. The riffing is very deliberate and the tempos rarely pick up much faster then a slow crawl. This isnt funeral doom, but this most certainly isnt a fast band either.

While it is somewhat easy to pick out where the band draws influence from the way that all of the influences come together make the band a much more original band. They dont take from any influence enough to make them a clone of that particular band. Sure youll be able to hear the influences but you wont ever think wow, is this ever a My Dying Bride rip-off.

One Man Army and the Undead Quartet-Error in Evolution
(Nuclear Blast Records, 2007)

With their sophomore release One Man Army have recorded another solid slab of heavy rhythmic thrash metal laced with melody and energy to spare. The band certainly isnt what you would consider extremely original, although there is no denying that this is an extremely easy album to get into.

The songs tend to revolve around simple yet effective thrash style riffing with lots of chugging and a good use of starts and stops. It somewhat reminds me of a simpler and less evil sounding version of The Crown. Melody is used to great lengths within the songs and clean vocals are used quite a bit. Now when I say clean vocals, I dont mean soaring and operatic vocals. There is still a lot of grit to the clean vocals to match the vicious and dirty vocal style the band usually uses.

What really helps the album hit the mark is the fact that the band writes extremely memorable riffs and the vocal patterns just make a lot of sense. Even if the vocals are vicious there is always a catchy vocal pattern. Same goes for the riffing. Even if the band gets a bit busier and throws more notes into a riff it always remains memorable. This is far from pop music, but you will definitely remember the riffs and the choruses after you hear them.

While this isnt extremely different from the bands debut album, it is a better album all around. The songs are catchier and the band seems to have a handle on what they want to do with the band musically. This is a hard hitting and memorable metal album that further proves that Swedes just seem to do it better when it comes to metal.

Gotthard-Domino Effect
(Nuclear Blast Records, 2007)

I was surprised to read that this is the album # 12 for Gotthard. Apparently the band is extremely popular in their home country and sells quite a few albums. One listen to the album makes it easy to understand why, the band plays an extremely catchy and serviceable style of rock infused metal. It does indeed have a hint of 80s metal to it, but to me that just makes it all the more fun.

Im not going to lie this is an album you have pretty much heard before. It could pretty much be called hard rock by the numbers. At the end of the day though it is still quite enjoyable due to the fact that the band isnt trying to be anything other then a rock band that writes catchy songs. In this respect they certainly succeed, but if you are expecting something a bit more then just another hard rock band youll have to look elsewhere.

This is most certainly a vocal driven album. The vocals are powerful and have just enough of the high range to place this firmly in the hard rock genre. The choruses are as catchy as humanly possible and really the best parts of the songs. The entire band seems to kick into overdrive during the choruses and the songs really take flight. Thats not to say that the rest of the songs are filler because that isnt true at all. But the choruses will definitely be what you remember when the disc was stopped spinning.

This certainly isnt doing anything new and it certainly isnt something you havent heard before. But what they lack in originality they more then make up for in gusto and catchy songwriting. If you are a hard rock fan that thinks music reached its peak in the 80s this one is for you.

Epica-The Divine Conspiracy
(Nuclear Blast Records, 2007)

After an intro that wouldnt seem out of place in a block buster Hollywood movie, Epica get down to business with what they do best. As far as melodic female fronted metal there are basically two bands that are essential, one is Nightwish and the other is Epica.

There are indeed similarities between the two bands with both employing operatic vocals and a grand sense of melody. Epica manages to be a bit more atmospheric and for some reason it just sounds more natural than Nightwish. Epica also uses harsh vocals which give the music a beauty and the beast type quality which really adds a cool dynamic to the bands sound.

There is a lot going on within these songs taking the songs almost to the point of being soundtrack music that just happen to have heavy guitars and vocals. The songs seem to have a ridiculous amount of parts and the band knows exactly when to throw in a heavier section or make things more orchestrated. Each section of the song is expertly crafted and perfectly fit into the overall puzzle that makes up a song.

As ridiculous as it sounds if you basically took Nightwish, Death, and Hans Zimmer and combined all three you would have Epica. The album is an epic and melodic journey sure to please all fans of challenging music.

Horrifica/Raped Bitch-Split CD
(Humanos Mortos Productions, 2007)

I was pretty much expecting two extremely fast and dirty bands to make up this split and I definitely was not off the mark. Horrifica plays an old school for of grind that to my ears sounds like a cross between Impetigo and classic Earache styled grindcore. The vocals are extremely guttural and roar with the authority needed to make this genre as powerful as it can be. The riffs are straight to the point and you certainly wont ever get lost in a flurry of technicality. The band seems to juggle between fast tremolo picked riffs and crust influenced passages. It basically sounds like a cross between Impetigo and Napalm Death which basically translates into one kick ass band. The production is a bit on the harsh side, but everything still manages to hit you in the face with more then enough power.

Raped Bitch definitely is not up the same quality as Horrifica. They have more of the typical drum machine grind sound with undecipherable vocals and a fuzzed out guitar tone that makes the riffs very hard to pick out. If you are fiend from drum machine grind then youll probably enjoy this but to me it just wasnt up to snuff, no pun intended.

This is definitely worth picking up for the Horifica tracks as they are one of the best goregrind bands I have heard in a long time. Raped Bitch has their moments, but doesnt really do much for me honestly.

Intestinal Disgorge-Vagina
(Humanos Mortos Productions, 2007)

Believe it or not Intestinal Disgorge manages to blast through 63 songs in 35 minutes. So you can probably assume that the songs arent exactly long and if a song breaks the 1 minute mark it could be considered one of the longer songs on here. What you can expect is fast bursts of noise and an awesome combination of catchy yet bulldozing riffs and outright silliness. Essentially you have Gut mixed with Anal Cunt with a few unique vocal twists thrown in for good measure. Everything from a death growl to almost Donald Duck like noises are thrown at you and for some reason it just works. If you consider yourself an intellectual and dont get into the noisier side of grindcore then this is definitely not for you. If you have a sense of humor and dont mind silliness along with your blasting then this is definitely one youll want to check out. This band has pretty much gone from a band I couldnt even stand to one of my favorite gems within the US underground. This is for all of the sickos out there.

Whats He Building in There?-Self-titled
(Year of the Sun Records, 2007)

If Mike Patton took over writing duties for Between the Buried and Me it just might sound like this oddly named band. The music is technical and undoubtedly heavy, but this isnt a perfect record.

At times the band almost seems to throw too much at you. The songs range from stabs of dissonance to full on melodic choruses. Groove riffs that would make Between the Buried and Me proud are quite common complete with growling vocals and busy fret work. There is definitely a strong rock influence running throughout the songs as well which really stand out when they happen to follow an extremely heavy riff. The choruses have Mike Patton written all over them and have a very Faith No More type feel, which is awesome in my book. It gives the band a unique twist even if you can trace the influence back to its root quite easily.

The production on this really doesnt do the band any favors. The guitar tone is much too thin and comes across as being a bit weak at times. The band does indeed sound very tight but with a tighter guitar sound they could have upped the ante quite a bit. In general Im not a huge fan of the sound of the album. I like that it has a natural sound to it but it just isnt powerful enough, especially for what the band is trying to do musically.

This is definitely a musical journey and a band that is on to something. These songs throw a lot of ideas at the wall and most do stick but they album does have a few stumbles along the way. Fans of everything from The Dillinger Escape Plan to Faith No More to Between the Buried and Me should enjoy this one. Its a bit rough around the edges but there is a mountain of possibility on display here.

Turisas-The Varangian Way
(Century Media Records, 2007)

If I said that Turisas sound a bit like Bal Sagoth I definitely wouldnt be lying. This is a bit more folk oriented yet the melodic and atmospheric approach is pretty easy to link to Bal-Sagoth. You can expect huge melodic riffs lots of atmosphere and a flair for the dramatic.

The songs are extremely catchy and actually quite fun to listen to. There is just something about the melodies the band utilizes and the gang vocals that make this almost feel like beer drinking music. Sure the band puts a lot of thought into the music but its easy to picture a group of scruffy bearded men sitting around a table beer steins clanking together and beer spilling all over the place. This is a powerful and rousing album that is pretty much summed up as battle metal, which fittingly enough was the name of the bands debut album.

This is a tremendous sounding album. The guitars are thick and powerful while the keyboards are loud enough in the mix to cut through and give the album a ridiculous amount of sounds on each song. The vocals are powerful and layering is used to great effect. The gang vocals are absolutely massive sounding and are mixed perfectly. You can almost picture a choir of Vikings huddled into the control room voices booming along to the music.

Im not even sure what exactly you would call this. Its melodic, full of grandeur but not with harsh vocals at times. It has the razor sharp riffing Finnish bands are known for managing to tread a fine line between technical proficiency and memorable songwriting. This isnt easy listening, yet it is still very catchy. If you are a fan of Viking metal or Bal-Sagoth you should probably already be listening to Turisas.