ALBUM REVIEWS VI - Music - http://maxpages.com/aeazine/ALBUM_REVIEWS

Circle of Dead Children Human Harvest Martyr Music Group
It wasn’t too long ago this band’s debut release was covered here, and already there have been a number of significant changes in their sound besides conceptual improvement demanding recognition. For starters, as much as the name Circle of Dead Children might give an impression of a death-grind outfit, the band was named after a mental picture representing the human blood staining the flag of every country, as all countries the world over were constructed through spilling blood. If the name attracts attention from death-grind freaks and draws it toward their lyrical interpretations of the events they see happening around them, this name has meaning transcending simple shock value. The addition of a new drummer and a transition from two guitarists to one results in longer song structure, fused together with a pathological relentlessness to establish CODC as a typically brutal band. There aren’t as many samples used here as on other grindcore albums, as the band’s ideas are channeled through lyrics serving the same purpose as their name, using gore-related images written with a brutal intensity to drive the point home. There’s also more eclecticism in the music as the influence ranges from grind to death to black. At times accents in the music emphasize key words, but mostly different vocal styles add more singularity to different time changes. Among the sickest of these styles is a high-pitched wailing that comes through the speakers like some unearthly mutated animal rudely awakened from a long, blissful sleep and not much caring for the idea.

Misteltein Divine. Desecrate. Complete World War III
Mercenary Musik’s bio for Misteltein may lead one to think they’re advertising the band as Sweden’s answer to Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir. The fact that Misteltein use keyboards places them in a separate category from the rest of the Swedish black metal scene, not to mention the epic-level turf Divine. Desecrate. Complete strives toward. As opposed to the infinite number of subcategories built on the titles black metal, Viking metal and war metal, et cetera, this is referred to simply as modern Swedish black metal. The extreme rawness of Marduk and Allegiance exists in the guitars; after an intro that creates the mood of an occult-horror film, the opening strains of “Bloodline Desires” explode with the simplistic impact that black metal bands spawned in the first half of the 90’s. Underneath this is an eerie keyboard effect that doesn’t sound like it’s been attempted by either Cradle or Dimmu. Beyond this, the song structure does contain similar time changes and keyboard interludes to be elaborated on by the guitars to Cradle on their first few albums. In many places you get a sense of the bleak atmosphere explored by the Norwegian bands. Still no haunting female vocals in the vein of progressive black metal, at least not in the traditional sense where they’re rising up from under the music to hypnotize you before crashing into more chaos and violence. The epic quality of most of these songs usually remain within the four-to-five minute range, except for songs like “Completion;” this starts with a forlorn piano that sounds almost gothic in its cold solitude. This album also happens to have been recorded in Berno Studio, the same studio where Deranged and The Haunted recorded.

Freya As The Last Light Drains Victory
Freya’s ranks include ex-Earth Crisis vocalist Karl Buechner, with guitarist Eric Edwards and bassist Bulldog who were also Earth Crisis members. After that band went their separate ways Buechner planned to start another to take what Earth Crisis did further, mixing heaviness and melody but projecting unfettered rage instead of controlled intellectualism through the vocals. Having to start over after not only touring several countries but having the opportunity to air their views both on CNN and the U.S. Congress could likewise be fuel for the anger pushing Freya onward on As The Last Light Drains, a title meant to express the angst manifested by the lyrics. The band say the vocals are cleaner than with Earth Crisis due to the additional effort of second guitarist Darien Lizotte. It’s a good idea the band are using to exchange aggressive vocals with melodic, but sometimes they seem to overlap more than they should as if they’re fighting to be heard. It works better when changing from verse to chorus and there’s just one thing to focus on. Buechner’s throaty roar is clearer than I remember from Earth Crisis. The melodic vocals of he and Lizotte; together with the crunching guitars backing them up; don’t sound as if the lyrics are being whined. Another good aspect of the lyrics is how images of eternity reflect a person’s life, such as in “Negative Infinity” and “As The Last Light Drains (Valkyrie)” which could be interpreted as allegories of weighing results of right and wrong decisions made during the course of one’s life. It remains to be seen whether Freya will have the same impact that Earth Crisis made in their decade-spanning career, but this album is a good start to escape that shadow.

Forest Stream Tears of Mortal Solitude Earache
Hailing from what we call the former Soviet Union, Forest Stream have a unique perspective on quality doom metal, as they draw from the expansive, snow-covered landscapes of their home country to inspire themselves to write music. In the process they birthed yet another classification to underground music in the form of “winter black metal” when they first got together and composed songs; this is doubtless something you’d have expected Immortal to think up earlier on. Tears of Mortal Solitude is a profound way of calling forth images of these cold, life-barren plains in a way to rival the most visually descriptive of Norwegian black metal bands. Though it resonates with many elements of black metal, like the high-pitched vocals, atmospheric guitars and symphonic keyboards, as stated above this album has much more in common with doom metal than black, with slow rhythmic pulses that mesmerize by melancholy rather than overwhelm by extreme aggression. All the same, the atmosphere recaptured from the atmosphere created by Norwegian and British bands is important to the band’s appeal. Long periods of listening to My Dying Bride and Katatonia has had a lingering effect on how the band bring emptiness and despair into ethereal sounds overlapping their organic elements like waves in a dark ocean. The feeling of utter sadness Forest Stream turn to their surroundings to receive inspiration for is most obvious in dissonant guitar chords and quieter sections where the distortion is turned off; look for this in “Legend,” “Last Season Purity” and “Snowfall.”

Various Artists Black Hole Compilation Volume 3 Black Hole Productions
The third volume of Fernando Camacho’s compilation series is included in issue #11 of Black Hole Magazine. It has twenty-plus tracks from twenty-one bands Camacho is in correspondence with that he interviewed for his zine or signed to his label, et cetera. Among the brutal bands featured are Carve, Neural Booster, Holocausto Canibal, Blackmass, Valhalla and Osculum Obscenum. There are no contact addresses or bios included, as is the case with many CD comps that other zines like Pit and Terrorizer include with their issues. Perhaps this is why it would be a good move for Camacho to provide this information along with the featured tracks, as a means of supporting unsigned bands that hasn’t been considered yet. Some band shots would also be a good touch for future comps. The cover art is well done, following the same format as the two previous Black Hole comps with the zine logo situated in the center and the band roster listed on the bottom half. I definitely get an old school death metal feeling while listening to one song after the other. You get a sense that Camacho really enjoys what he’s doing and he’s completely supportive of extreme music while this plays on your stereo. The songs that stood out for me from the bands I mentioned above are Valhalla’s “Renunciaton,” Carve’s “Imhotep,” Blackmass’s “Diabolical Ritual” and Holocausto Cannibal’s “Embrio Progeria” next to Industrial Noise’s “Sangue Nas Maos,” Osculum Obscenum’s “U.N.G.O.D.” and Mithrubick’s “Worms of Power.” Email mail@blackholemag.com to inquire about the zine.

Pro-Pain Run for Cover Spitfire
At first I was going to start this by talking about how Pro-Pain decided on their favorite bands for Run For Cover out of the many they’ve listened to over the years they were involved in the hardcore scene, but if you’ve seen the ads, this is something you’re probably already aware of. So I thought I’d start from a different perspective and start with one band that spoke to me as well. You don’t normally hear hardcore bands covering death metal’ aside from S.O.D.’s parody, Celtic Frost is the last band you’d expect a hardcore band to ever cover. But since Gary Meskil was exposed to the death metal scene while with the legendary Crumbsuckers, it turns out they had as much of an impact on him as they did Cannibal Corpse and Mayhem. It’s interesting to hear how much of “Circle of the Tyrants” was given the “crossover treatment,” making it more hardcore than the original. The guitar solo is likewise interesting. Covering Motorhead’s “Iron Fist” and Slayer’s “South of Heaven” returns to traditional ground, while covering Sepultura’s “Refuse/Resist” was done out of the band’s respect for Sepultura’s having transcended boundaries between thrash and the tribal death they pioneered that a few bands tried to get away with emulating. Another fine moment was the inclusion of “Just Sit There,” which Meskil said was the first song the Crumbsuckers ever wrote as a band. New York punk veterans will appreciate the covers of bands who were equally influential like Agnostic Front, Black Flag, Operation Ivy and Negative Approach. In the liner notes Pro-Pain write short, detailed paragraphs discussing how they wanted to recapture how these songs had an impact on them.

Zyklon Aeon Candlelight
Releasing the follow-up to World ov Worms to mark their steady increase in popularity, Zyklon welcome back founding member Bard Faust, the original drummer for Emperor, who assumes the position of lyricist while a new bassist/vocalist in the form of Secthdamon replaces Daemon. Guitarist Destructhor and Emperor members Samoth and Trym have stayed in the fold to write music described by renowned metal journalist Malcolm Dome as “a mighty, snarling beast” in his review of Zyklon’s debut. On Aeon the beast rises higher into the upper world to attract a greater number of disciples. This summer needs a horror movie to chill the bones even of those who went to see 28 Days Later; what better source than the minds of black metal musicians who seek something more than what Hollywood has to offer in that respect? The front cover has the packaging of a psychological horror production that will leave no opportunity for a sequel, because waiting at the finale is the apocalyptic destruction of humanity where not a single soul will survive. As far as the soundtrack to this picture, the band have come a long way from the mid-90’s and have a chance to be taken as seriously as songwriters as many death metal bands who likewise proved themselves as competent musicians. Low-pitched/high pitched Glen Benton-ish vocals mingle with crunching guitars and Morbid Angel-likened riff/solo sections pathological blasphemy and Satyricon/Emperor-esque aggression in other songs while being enveloped by a cold industrial feeling giving a consuming personality to this chapter in the story that feels very much like looming darkness casting its shadow over all the earth. The utter annihilation of mankind is approaching a venue near you as Zyklon will likely tour in as many places as possible to support the album.

Lecherous Nocturne Lecherous Nocturne Independent
Sado-masochist metal? Could a new subgenre for extreme music be in the works? Lecherous Nocturne set lyrics about erotic gratification through tearing people to shreds to death metal that will most definitely send those with weak stomachs and sensitive sensibilities running for cover. ”Autoerotic Asphyxiation,” the first song on their self-titled CD starts things off with relative normalcy, or what learned fetishists would consider normalcy, but things get more interesting before the song ends with the speaker searching for another victim. You’ll have to view the band’s website at www.lecherousnocturne.com to find the lyrics to this release but be advised beforehand that they resemble the thoughts of a deranged serial killer who gets an additional thrill from seducing his partners into bed before going to work, cloaking his real fetish in traditional S&M practices. And that was just the first track. I won’t even get into the subject matter of “Phalluscidal” and “Horrorgasm” but trust me when I say the lyrics to these songs maintain the brutality of the first. “Singe Este Viata” is less unpalatable to talk about here, but this is only if you can stomach tales of vampirism set to the New Testament story of Christ’s crucifixion on the cross and Judas’ suicide. If you think you had enough just from reading this, there’s much more in store for the future as Lecherous Nocturne plan to release a full-length album soon. As of last July, the band amicably parted ways with their drummer Chad Bradley and are currently auditioning drummers, so if you happen to know a drummer from the Greenville, SC area who is looking for work, email LecherousMusic@yahoo.com and tell them. Remember to mention who sent you.

Savior Sect Just Before Dawn Independent
Savior Sect is a goth-punk band whose inception happened in the summertime, not in the autumn or winter. An unusual thing for an outfit playing dark and somber music, some of you may suspect, mostly because it’s not customary to think of brighter seasons when you think of gothic music. But perhaps they started in the summer to capture the darker shade of a time when everything is alive and vibrant, to remind us this vibrancy will eventually wane and the trees will lose their color and everything will die around us. Perhaps they wanted to remind us the shadows always lurk, waiting to be reborn after the light has run its course; something to eagerly anticipate if you revile unbearably hot weather and sunburns, et cetera. I find it admirable they’ve been releasing independently produced material in the decade they’ve existed; Just Before Dawn is their eleventh release since 1994. This mystique involves images of rats swarming city streets the souls of the damned are cursed to walk, and a contrast between sunlight and moonlight. There are visions of decay lurking under outer shells of traditional beauty, or what happens to those who sell their souls for what they believe they most desire, only to discover they didn’t want it that badly after all. But by then their souls are already gone. These images are invoked with temptation-resonant vocals from frontwoman Lucy Poems whose punk-oriented guitars are more like how Souxsie and the Banshees might have sounded if they headed in the opposite direction from the new wave route they pursued in the 80’s. But there’s atmosphere give the guitars a sense of the band’s metal influences. Visit www.saviorsect.com for more information.

Eat My Fuk Wet Slit and a Bottle of Whiskey Bestial Onslaught Productions
You don’t hear much about scum rock in the press these days. Between the 80’s and 90’s a review would pop up here and there in Maximum Rock and Roll but nothing really caught on from this. If there was a scene for this style of punk, it was likely relegated to cheap apartments, seedy bars and liquor stores. I don’t know whether this band is serious of just joshing, but from this album it doesn’t seem they’d mind either way whether scum rock caught on. In brief articles tacked on the liner notes amid photos of nude women throwing up, it was reported they like to beat the hell out of each other and have never booked a performance since getting together, but if they managed to do so there would be experiences the attendees wouldn’t forget. Eat My Fuk is comprised of four scummy musicians who drink, get laid and use the f-word more often than the cast of The Blair Witch Project. Their similarities to GG Allin circa 1983-85 are obvious; just don’t bring this up with them or they’ll likely tell you how obvious it is. I wasn’t there during the recording, but a good portion of the album sounds like it was taped in the band’s basement between periods of getting loaded and listening to GG’s classic album of a similar title, and figured that certain songs they heard would sound good to embellish on in their own way. What people who like this music would say to defend it is that the rock and roll lifestyle enjoyed by everyone from Warrant to Sodom is celebrated here without the trappings provided by expensive marketing teams in charge of the band’s public image, and there are no social messages to tone things down either. A more direct way of putting it is, scum rock can equally offend everyone from Washington censors to corporate rockers to the more socially conscious member of the punk scene.

Agent Steel Order of the Illuminati Scarlet
First we saw the return of Hades and Flotsam and Jetsam, both big names in power metal. Now Agent Steel is back in full swing with Order of the Illuminati, which continues the events on Omega Conspiracy. Whether you think their previous singer John Cyriis’ vocals were fresh and original or nerve-gratingly annoying, when you heard “Mad Locust Rising” or “Unstoppable Force” you knew who you were listening to. New vocalist Bruce Hall isn’t Cyriis, but his voice often gives the impression that he wants to match the intensity of those songs. Founding guitarists Bernie Versailles and Juan Garcia wrote much of Order on a “modern” level to keep up with the changes metal saw after the 80’s. The arrangements are not thrashy in the same way as their old songs, but Versailles and Garcia managed to ease themselves into the present while keeping their personalities with little difficulties. Now and then, a riff or guitar solo will show up amidst all the modernized aspects to remind us of the glory days. “Forever Black,” which I gather from reading the lyrics is based on the Philadelphia Experiment of World War II, took me back to that period in time all the way through, building with similar anticipation until it takes off with an raid howl from Hall that rivals the most high-pitched scream that Cyriis was capable of producing from his lungs. Hall also has a wider vocal range, spending most of the songs hitting low notes that present a heavier atmosphere without overdoing the high-pitched parts. “The Fists of Nations,” “Earth Under Lucifer” and “Enslaved” as a continuation of the story on Conspiracy are inspired by the usual1984 and Brave New World fare where the masses are oppressed by a titular head. “Kontrol” complements these songs with a sample from The Outer Limits giving it a mechanical theme.

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