Amaranthe is a Swedish/Danish power/melodic death metal(core) band formed originally under the name Avalanch by vocalist Jake E. Lundberg and guitarist/keyboard player Olof Morck and the project began taking shape when singers Elize Ryd, (screaming) vocalist Andy Solvestrom and drummer Morten Lowe joined the band. They has released one 4-song demo on their MySpace profile, entitled “Leave Everything Behind†in 2008. In 2009 they change their name into the actual Amaranthe due to legal issues. They singed to Spinefarm/Universal Records and recorded during the summer of 2010 their debut album which was released on April 13th 2011 and it contains 12 intense, but melodious songs.
Actually the ace in the sleeves of this band is the ability to blend the classic heavy/power elements with modern, death and metalcore sounds and approach.Elize Ryd can sing like Agnetha Fältskog (Abba), but the guys bring force, energy and power and this mixture actually it sounds fresh and pretty convincing. Read more Amaranthe – Amaranthe (2011)
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New Discolour – Short Of Ink (2011)
Remains me most of Pantera, New Discolour bring a heavy blend of old-school metal, hardcore with a sort of modern and extremely intense approach, actually their put together a very powerful and exciting material.
Formerly known as She Is Malignant, started in september 2008 with only one EP released entitled “Silent Scream”, they changed their name to New Discolour and “Short Of Ink” is their debut album.
Coming from Kolding/Aarhus/Esbjerg, Vælg din region, Danmark, Artem Kushnirenko – vocals, Jesper Rasmussen and Søren Thomsen – guitars, Mayu Tharumann – bass and Lasse Mikkelsen – drums, put together a very promising material, cutting edge riffs, pumping bass and crushing drums with intense vocals make this album heavy, classy, but fresh and alive. Read more New Discolour – Short Of Ink (2011)
Last Chance To Reason – Level 2 (2011)
If you like bands as The Dillinger Escape Plan and Between the Buried and Me, it worth to give a try also to this Last Chance To Reason, you will have a very nice surprise. They are from Augusta, Maine, and their debut album, “Level 1”, was released through Tribunal Records in 2007. Their debut album heavily references video games, especially to “Super Metroid” and in the title of their album ‘Lvl. 1’, and song titles such as ‘Escape From Brinstar’, ‘Kraid Ain’t Got Shit On Me’ and ‘Destroy Mother Brain’ they refer to the game.
“Level 2” is a new take on both the concept album and the video game. The current line-up consist of Michael Lessard – vocals, A J Harvey – guitar, vocals, Thomas Waterhouse – guitar, Chris Corey – bass, vocals, Brian Palmer – keyboards , synth and drummer Evan Sammons. Read more Last Chance To Reason – Level 2 (2011)
Amon Tobin – Isam (2011)
Crazy, spooky thing. Experimental electronic. Noisy but still soft and abstract. He is best known for his use of sampling, where a small section of a previous recording is manipulated to produce a new sound. It’s a mixture of sounds, noises he’s blending different styles from IDM to drum and bass and from breakbeat to trip hop.
Amon Tobin – Amon Adonai Santos de Araújo Tobin – is a Brazilian musician, DJ, and producer of electronic music. In 2005, he created the musical score to Ubisoft’s critically acclaimed and successful video game “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory” as well as Sucker Punch’s game “Infamous”. His music has been used in numerous major motion pictures including “The Italian Job” and “21”. Tobin has created songs for several independent films, including the 2006 Hungarian film “Taxidermia”. He is also noted for his entirely field-recorded album “Foley Room” released in 2007 and he has released seven major studio albums since 1996 under the London-based Ninja Tune record label. Read more Amon Tobin – Isam (2011)
Fluxious – Why So Serious (2011)
Formed in 2009 at Geneva, Switzerland, Fluxious bring to the surface an intense blending of rock and metal with jazz elements, it’s more heavy than jazz, but still at the border of fusion and to make things a little bit exciting, guitarist Germain, bass player Guillaume and drummer Maxence put to the microphone a girl called Joana. “Why So Serious” is dynamic, heavy and kind of complex material, still it’s not bearish, it flows alright, hard rock moments are shifted by heavy riffings or melodious choruses, and Joana singing in the style and manner of Sandra Nasić (Guano Apes). 12 songs, good tempo and rhythm, some interesting turns and a few good themes, in short words this is “Why So Serious” about. Read more Fluxious – Why So Serious (2011)
Alex Skolnick Trio – Veritas (2011)
This is a vibrating, soulful, jazz-rock fusion album. I admit, I didn’t follow Skolnick’s career for long-long time. Back at the end of the 80s, beginning of the 90s, I loved Testament, but I never was a fan of the so-called guitar heroes. In 1993, after 10 years thrashing, he left Testament and he joined briefly Savatage, the Stu Hamm band, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, made a guest appearance on Lamb of God’s “Ashes of the Wake” album. Skolnick fronted several projects in the Bay Area during the mid to late 1990s, such as Alex Skolnick and the Skol-tones, Exhibit-A and Skol-Patrol and also recorded two albums with Attention Deficit, a 3-piece featuring Tim Alexander from Primus.
Relocated to New York, began devoting all of his energies to jazz, enrolling in the jazz program at The New School and earned a BfA (class of 2001). At the New School where Alex Skolnick Trio was born. Their first recording, “Goodbye To Romance:Standards For A New Generation†(2002 US, 2004 UK and Europe) brought together the worlds of metal and traditional jazz in an unprecedented blend. ‘Goodbye To Romance…’ reached the top 30 on the US jazz radio charts. Read more Alex Skolnick Trio – Veritas (2011)
A Hidden Agenda – Pussy, Punk Rock and Pop*Tarts (2011)
A Hidden Agenda. Spell it otherwise A HA. But not from Norway, they are Americans and plays quick and straight punk rock, adding some pop touch as it expected now days. It’s nothing unusual, not outstanding, not mind-blowing or something, but it’s quite honest, full of energy and fun, much better than 9.99% of the same kind of stuffs you can get these days. And talking ’bout hidden agendas, some of us grew up with punk rock, we all want pussy – every man is a disguised lesbian 😆 – and most of us dreamed about being a pop star and quit our stupid nine to five jobs. Well, maybe once you bought a guitar but you never really believed it’s the extension of your soul, but a piece of wood with some strings on it, probably you did re-sell it long time ago or maybe you keep it in the attic, now you’re bold, you’re wife get fat and have mortgages to pay. What the fuck I’m talkin’ about?! Hopefully, Jerm and Danny-Boy will have the guts to go on this way and make their dream comes true. And well, we can have a beer (or two) and some fun listening A Hidden Agenda and maybe even dreaming sometimes. Read more A Hidden Agenda – Pussy, Punk Rock and Pop*Tarts (2011)
Prefuse 73 – The Only She Chapters (2011)
Strange, but nice, kind of mysterious is this brand new album by Prefuse 73. Trip Hop textures, distant and soft noises, kind of familiar obscurity floating around through this 18 tracks that been tied together by the words “The Only…” which at the beginning of every title from the songs. Sometimes it reminds me of Dead Can Dance, but Prefuse 73 strip down everything to the bone, they are much more electronic and minimalist. Their spacy and atmospheric music have something warm, friendly, intimate, peaceful. And it’s quit charming. It’s kind of release or even caress. On the other hand there’s always some hidden tension in the background which keep our attention focused. It may be a tricky game, but Prefuse 73 play it well. You can leave this one on repeat and it will flows and floats around like the smoke. And once again, this is nice. Read more Prefuse 73 – The Only She Chapters (2011)
Kodjabashia And Foltin – Penelope X (2011)
Nikola Kodjabashia is a London based Macedonian composer, audio artist, producer, electronic wizard, conductor, pianist and virtual instrumentalist. He studied with Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Anatol Vieru, György Kurtág, and Rolf Gehlhaar and he’s the composer of two critically acclaimed albums “The Most of Now” from 2008 and “Reveries of the Solitary Walker” released in 2004. He has scored and conducted music for numerous plays, TV productions & films, and he is a Musical Director and co-founder of The Diesel Orchestra and Meta4 ensemble. Foltin, far as I know, is one of the most important Macedonian bands. Additional contribution for this release comes from the drummer Goce Stevkovsk. Well, “Penelope X” is an exciting, colorful material where jazz and ethno (world) elements grows together and blooming into a powerful, expressive musical experience. Macedonian, gypsy and Klezmer reflexions are merged into jazz and contemporary music constructions, the result once again something particular and very alive. Read more Kodjabashia And Foltin – Penelope X (2011)
John Zorn – Nova Express (2011)
Zorn’s first release for 2011, another piece of the puzzle from his colorful, restless, dynamic and sometimes moody musical world. “Nova Express” is a very intense work where most of Zorn’s previous explorations comes to unite. It contains the depths of the Interzone conspiracy, the lyricism of Zorn’s classical works, the clear-obscure notes of Naked City and the virtuosity showed on the Masada songbooks. It’s an avant-garde journey where jazz and contemporary music collide in the most intense and vibrating way its possible. Dark, gloomy passages are nicely colored with subtle jazz interventions or expressive explosions of improvisations. “Nova Express” is a groovy and exciting collection of modern chamber music filled with beautiful details and dramatic passions, another borderless intercourse in the mystical and vibrating world of Zorn where every single note is worth at least a picture and together opens the window to another universe of deep shadows and bright lights, its the pure dancing poetry of a forgotten ancient world or just the shapes of things to come. This record have an incredible groove, the abstract trips and the sharp cuts of intense passages are overlapping and shifting each other incredibly fluently in a perfect balance and tempo. Read more John Zorn – Nova Express (2011)
