Merging the rawness and intensity of Pantera with the gloomy and twisted moments of Korn while Ardentis sung on a scale from howling brutality up till clean vocals which sometimes reminds me of Burton C. Bell (Fear Factory) often then of Jonathan Davis (Korn), Stardown includes leaders of Russian metal scene from Amatory and Korea and delivering an extremely intense and powerful modern metal album.
Following “Insi Deus” which was produced & mixed in Denmark by famous sound engineer Jacob Hansen (Maroon, Raunchy, Volbeat), “Venom” was mixed by the same Jacob Hansen while all the drum tracks were recorded in Australia by the drummer Richard Evensand (ex-Chimaira), also featuring guest star Alex Pavlov from Amatory and leader of the band Ardentis. Read more Stardown – Venom (2011)
2011
Earth Crisis – Neutralize the Threat (2011)
Karl Buechner keeps the wheels of Earth Crisis running since 1989 – with a gap between 2001-2007 while he focused on his project called Nemesis and later renamed Freya -, using music as weapon to promoting a straight edge and vegan lifestyle, debating further social and political issues and supporting animal rights. Taking off from hardcore punk, Earth Crisis evolved into a metal machinery, getting to their sixth studio album, their mixture of metalcore and hardcore is heavier then ever, established a bridge between metal, hardcore and punk communities.
Earth Crisis’s message of human, animal and environmental liberation has resonated beyond the music industry, they have received national media coverage on CNN (Earth Matters), TBS, FOX (America’s Most Wanted), CBS (48 Hours), MTV (Music News) and ABC (World News Tonight) and Karl Buechner has spoken in front of members of Congress about teens and substance abuse. Read more Earth Crisis – Neutralize the Threat (2011)
Nervecell – Psychogenocide (2011)
For those who cries back the most brutal era of Sepultura (Morbid Visions, Beneath the Remains, Arise), Nervecell from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, brings back all that merciless butchery with crushing, clean and powerful sound, “Psychogenocide”, their second full-length album released through Lifeforce Records in Europe and Spellbind Records in the Middle East, might be the new favorite. And Nervecell managed to merge with style all that classic thrash and death schemes with technical, brutal and still colorful, modern metal sounds also introducing Pantera like riffings, short acoustic or exotic, Oriental spiced moments, Slayer like schizophrenic solos, in few words, they put together a killer metal machine which definitively will rip off your head instantly.
Also, conservative fans dissapointed by the latest Morbid Angel album, “Illud Divinum Insanus”, might discover in Nervecell a new favorite, these guys combining extremely inspired and intensely tradition and modern sound into pure, uncompromising massacre. Read more Nervecell – Psychogenocide (2011)
Cindy Bradley – Unscripted (2011)
Cindy Bradley blows the trumpet since she was in the 4th grade of the elementary school, it was her last minute “weapon of choice” at the school’s band program while she began playing piano at the age of 6. Back than probably little she anticipate that it was a choice of a lifetime.
Born and raised in Buffalo, NY, Cindy enjoyed a varied career in music starting from a very young age. At the age of 12 she began performing professionally with a Buffalo area jazz band that consisted of all promising young musicians called “Sugar and Jazz.” The group consisted of kids from ages 12-17 and stressed the importance of professionalism and emulating the big band sounds of the 1940s.
Cindy went on to earn a bachelors degree in jazz studies from Ithaca College, and a masters degree in jazz trumpet performance from the New England Conservatory. It was there that she studied with and was influenced by many jazz greats including John McNeil, Bob Brookmeyer, Jerry Bergonzi, George Russell and Steve Lacy. Read more Cindy Bradley – Unscripted (2011)
Evan Brewer – Alone (2011)
I never heard of him about one hour ago, as I never listen The Faceless, the technical death metal band in which he recently filled the bass player position. Evan was a former member of Animosity and Reflux, also filled in for two other bands, A Life Once Lost and Terror on tour, jammed with Vinyl Soup and started a project with Barry Donegan of Look What I Did. So, a bass player releasing a solo album exclusively playing bass is kind of odd even in more experimental genres as jazz for example, while the market for these kinds of acts is very limited. “Alone” is not about death metal, actually is not about any particular genre, is about music. Music played exclusively on bass, extremely technically, but also exciting and pretty soulful. Evan shifting smoothly between moods, approaches, styles and genres, “Alone” have some classic vibe, but incorporates rock, jazz and fusion flavors. Read more Evan Brewer – Alone (2011)
Irvin Mayfield – A Love Letter to New Orleans (2011)
“I Wish I Was in New Orleans (In the Ninth Ward)” – this Tom Waits song it just stuck in my mind since I herded it for the first time, just like some imagines from the Alan Parker’s movie “Angel Heart”. I never been in New Orleans…
Irvin Mayfield, Jr. born in New Orleans on December 23, 1977 is a jazz trumpeter and bandleader, he co-founded and has co-led the Afro-Cuban jazz group Los Hombres Calientes since 1998. while their debut album won Billboard’s 2000 Contemporary Latin Jazz Album of the Year. “A Love Letter to New Orleans” includes 14 selections from Mayfield’s 10-album recording career on Basin Street Records. Read more Irvin Mayfield – A Love Letter to New Orleans (2011)
FuryKane – Fake (2011)
If “Bel Air”, the latest Guano Apes was quite disappointing, JKaos and her band mates can make it up to you. “Fake” the brand new album by FuryKane, band formed in 2006 at Paris, France delivering a fresh blending of nu and groove metal flavored with modern sound approach, exciting industrial textures and minimalist electronic spices, but remaining rock/metal, constructing gloomy, but catchy songs with dark and heavy riffs, bass based rock themes.
Released on 28 March 2011, the 14 tracks of “Fake” is the perfect blending of Korn and the best, most exciting moments of Guano Apes, and this is a quite promising debut album after they releasing previousely two EPs. Read more FuryKane – Fake (2011)
Destruction Of A King – Consumed (2011)
Alex – vocals, Diego – guitar and Justin – bass comes from Los Angeles, CA, said about them self that they are the “dirtiest band alive” and they delivering grinding, up-beat hardcore sometimes mixed up with thrash and groove metal and imputing few experimental moments, breaks, they have the energy and cutting edge riffing of Pantera and the rawness of Biohazard. The 12 tracks “Consumed” seems to be their second full-length album after releasing their self-titled debut and two EPs, “World Of Disease†and “Anthemsâ€.
They play explosive, fast and raw metal with roots both back to hardcore and metal, but looking forward into the now days so-called metalcore. Read more Destruction Of A King – Consumed (2011)
Playing For Change – PFC 2 – Songs Around the World (2011)
Gathering together brilliant artists including Baaba Maal, Keb Mo, Sandra de Sá, Taj Mahal, Tinariwen, Carlos Vives, Roger Ridley, Grandpa Elliot, Stephen Marley, Mermans Kenkosenki, Char and Toumani Diabate, this second release by Playing for Change, “Songs Around the World” is a refreshing collection of covers reinterpreted in a key of exotic mixture of raggae, dub, African drums, blues and soul.
“Playing For Change” is a multimedia music project created by the American producer and sound engineer Mark Johnson with his Timeless Media Group, that seeks to bring together musicians from around the world. Read more Playing For Change – PFC 2 – Songs Around the World (2011)
Black Cat Zoot – Mutable Transformer Act (2011)
Shamelessly fresh and sparking pop music mixed up smoothly with swing, funk, ska, big beat, and everything you can name it which brings pulse, balance and danceable, but charming feel-good attitude.
Lisa Milla on vocals, Bambucci on saxophone, Florian Reindl and Marc Schemmer on guitars, Bernhard Hiergeist on keyboards, Alex Trier on bass and Daniel Treimer on drums are seven musicians from Munich, Germany and they put the band together back in 2005 and made a deal with Chicago´s record label “Jump Up Records”. The band cranked out clubs and prestigious festival performances and “Mutable Transformer Act” was accomplished in 2010 in Fraknfurt´s Hazelwood Studios with the assistance of the notorious producers dyad Two Horses and Kaneoka One. Read more Black Cat Zoot – Mutable Transformer Act (2011)
