Mechina – Xenon (2014)

Mechina - Xenon (2014)

Mechina - Xenon (2014) Released on the first day of 2014, “Xenon” is the fifth and the brand new symphonic-cyber-metal album of this Chicago based experimental, futuristic metal horde. For Fear Factory fans and followers, Mechina might be just on spot and “Xenon” the perfect year starter.
Dave Holch – Vocals, Joe Tiberi – Guitar, Steve Amarantos – Bass, and Dan Anderson – Drums delivered five albums in five years, which is a pretty intense agenda for any band. “Xenon” pick up where “Phedra” left off last November and the melange of electronic layers, orchestral/symphonic layers and the contorted and furious metal riffings work perfectly. This is a very dynamic and technically flawless mixture of different elements and styles. Based on industrial fueled death metal, the symphonic pads and electronic layers create an unique vibe and tension while the intensity of the music reaches explosively high levels throughout the album. There is no dead moments, meaningless fills in “Xenon”, just pure intensity and grinding throughout. Read more Mechina – Xenon (2014)

Lands of Past – Neverending Story (2012)

Lands Of Past is chemistry like love. Or magnetism. Dark vibes, gloomy depths and sensitive, smooth, whisper-like melodies and intense guitar riffs are merged together to guide us through Heaven and Hell, a journey of lights and shadows, hopes and fears, love and desperation, hate and forgiveness. This is our endless journey and our neverending story. This is our life, and this is love. Sadness and struggle.
After the self produced demo entitled “Call” released in 2005 and the debut album released through Thundering Records in 2008, “Call Of The Depths”, Lands Of Past are back with 10 brand new, dark, melancholic and disturbing tracks on their second full-lenght “Neverending Story”. Read more Lands of Past – Neverending Story (2012)

Evanescence – Evanescence (2011)

The self-titled third studio album scheduled for release on October 11, 2011, through Wind-up Records comes after a five years gap and after the critically acclaimed and commercial success of the album “The Open Door” which was certified platinum in the United States just over a month after its release, and has since sold more than six million copies worldwide. Although, their debut album, “Fallen”, spent 43 weeks on the Billboard Top 10, was certified 7x Platinum in the United States, sold more than 15 million copies worldwide, including 7 million in the US.
Formed by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody back in 1995 in Little Rock, Arkansas, Evanescence is about Amy Lee, she’s the only former member of the group while Ben Moody left the band during the European tour for Fallen in 2003, reportedly because of creative differences.
The band started the writing process for the album on June 2009, but the release of the album was changed several times. Lee stated that the music would be an evolution of previous works and be “better, stronger, and more interesting”. Read more Evanescence – Evanescence (2011)

Versailles – Holy Grail (2011)

This is the third album by the Japanese visual kei metal band Versailles – also known as Versailles -Philharmonic Quintet. Pretty strange combination of classic heavy and power metal with sometimes theatrical, opera-like vocals, other times pretty typical Japanese, pop taste vocals. “Visual kei”, literally “visual style” or “visual system”, is a movement among Japanese musicians,that is characterized by the use of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, and Versailles key characteristics are their rococo-esque costumes, correlated musically with dueling guitar sounds – Iron Maiden’s trademark – and heavy but melodic arrangements.
The band was formed in 2007 by Kamijo (ex-Lareine), Hizaki (ex-Sulfuric Acid), and Jasmine You (ex-Jakura). Later, Teru (ex-Aikaryu) and Yuki (ex-Sugar Trip). Read more Versailles – Holy Grail (2011)

Liv Moon – Golden Moon (2011)

Merging progressive, symphonic heavy metal with opera singing is the recipe used by producer Tatsuya Nishiwak to conquer the world in the footsteps of Nightwish and Within Temptation. Bands in this genre often feature a female lead vocalist, most commonly a mezzo-soprano, and Liv started her journey as a performer from a Takarazuka music school where she participates in various stages. She took a short leave from the group to travel to England in order to learn singing. In the Beckenham Festival, she managed to win the Singer of the Year award and attracted a lot of attention worldwide.
The debut album, “Double Moon” was released in 2009, “Golden Moon”, followed by “Scream As A Woman”, a collection of covers released in 2010 and their second effort, this “Golden Moon” was released on March 16 , 2011 and consist in 14 new songs. Read more Liv Moon – Golden Moon (2011)

My Dying Bride – Evinta (2011)

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of My Dying Bride’s existence, “the band embarked upon a special project to re-work familiar melodies and themes from their extensive catalogue into long, flowing symphonic compositions, incorporating new vocals and passages from Aaron Stainthorpe. Sharing vocals is professional opera singer Lucie Roche, a talented soprano from France. These arrangements have been brought to life in co-operation with keyboard maestro Johnny Maudling (of Bal Sagoth fame) as well as a clutch of talented classical musicians and will be released on May 30th as ‘Evinta’, as a 2 disc set & also a deluxe 3-disc edition with 64 page book, inspired by My Dying Bride’s illustrious recordings of the past two decades.” Read more My Dying Bride – Evinta (2011)

Septicflesh – The Great Mass (2011)

In very few words, “The Great Mass” is the intercourse of the fallen angel’s deadly howls with the angel’s enlighted chants, it’s another (master) piece in the creative development of this interesting band from Greece, their eighth studio album it’s a bridge between their early works and simultaneously a step into their future. Septicflesh fans knows for sure what I’m talking about and they won’t be disappointed. But I think those who are not actually familiar with the universe of Septicflesh can discover an intense and colorful world through this brand new release. Spiros “Seth” Antoniou and his band mates merged intense black/death metal massacres and melodious heavy constructions with sophisticated symphonic elements, Peter Togtgren proof once again his abilities in metal productions and Christos Antoniou write some inspired orchestration performed by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Read more Septicflesh – The Great Mass (2011)

Dimmu Borgir – Abrahadabra (2010)

Lucrurile sunt rar albe sau negre şi nu vorbesc despre milioanele de nuanţe de gri, ci despre milioanele de culori. Dacă din capul locului excludem lucruri, experienţe, etc din viaţa noastră, practic nu facem altceva decât ne îngustăm orizontul. Convenienţa şi comoditatea pot fi garanţia unui oarecare confort, dar nu fac altceva decât ne scot pe o linie moartă. Cum lipsa de mişcare conduce la pierderea muşchilor şi în ultimă instanţă la obezitate, şi creierul, şi sufletul se atrofiază în timp. Puiul cu ananas sau dulceaţă pare extravaganţă, preferăm micii şi ne mulţumim cu „tradiţionalii” cartofi prăjiţi, nu ascultăm Depeche Mode fiindcă nu suntem cocalari, nici Black Metal fiindcă suntem de două mii de ani creştini şi dezavuăm satanismul.
Dimmu Borgir – oraşul, citadela, castelul întunecat – în norvegiana veche, este una din cele mai creative formaţii din anii nouăzeci. Elementele glaciar-nordice, infuzia medieval-simfonică şi Black Metal-ul închegat şi cu elemente Heavy sunt perfect îmbinate şi fac din norvegieni o trupă deosebită dincolo de constrângerile stilistice, de cutiuţele inventate pentru consumatorul comod/conservator.
Stian Tomt Thoresen aka Shagrath ne-a oferit alături de Tom Cato Visnes aka King ov Hell un album modern ca sunet, dar tradiţional de Black Metal sub titulatura Ov Hell de care m-am bucurat prin februarie, acum a venit timpul şi noului Dimmu Borgir după 3 ani de la lansarea precedentului „In Sorte Diaboli”.
Al nouălea album al norvegienilor Read more Dimmu Borgir – Abrahadabra (2010)