Artist: Rebel Souls
Release Title: The Forces of Darkness
Year: 2017
Label: Art Gates Records
Genre: Death/Black Metal
Tracklisting:
1.The Awakening
2.Descent
3.Acrimony
4.Decay of a God
5.The Elementar
6.Dark Forces
7.Fourfold Wrath
8.Doomsday
Formed back in the year 2000, German death/black metallers Rebel Souls initially never made it past the demo stage before splitting up, only to reform under a reenergized lineup a full decade later which has re-recorded most of their first demo for their newest release. Finally getting their full-length debut released, the effort was originally released February 24, 2017 on Art Gates Records.
For the most part, this is an exceptionally enjoyable outburst of quite a decent mixture between black and death metal that comes off rather nicely. Featuring plenty of churning riff-work and a rather strong, dynamic crunch that gives this one a pretty ferocious assault, the main attack featured here is given a strong enough base to work alongside the rumbling rhythms at play. This makes for a crushingly modern style of the genre which is then aided by the album’s twisting haze of rhythms that gives this a slight blackening of their riff-work, refreshingly opting for this approach rather than tremolo riffing to create that particular atmosphere. This clunky set of patterns comes off rather nicely overall here with the tight running time enabling the album to run by incredibly quickly, which is perhaps its’ one minor failing as there’s the feeling that this one really could’ve used an extra track or two to help round out the running time here as the compact manner of the album makes this one go by so quickly that it needs the six-minute epic to bring this even close to a half-hour album and it leaves the listener wanting more tunes more than anything. It’s the only thing really wrong here, and that’s not even that much of an issue at all compared to the enjoyment elsewhere throughout here.
While there’s a lot to like here overall, the fact that it’s over too quickly does hold this one up slightly so that it does feel too brief with all the quick, compact rhythms does manage to hold this back enough that this one is really recommended to fans of modern death and black metal.
Artist: Fairytale
Release Title: Battlestar Rising
Year: 2017
Label: Art Gates Records
Genre: Melodic Heavy/Power Metal
Tracklisting:
1.Face the Truth
2.Battlestar Rising
3.Cain
4.Man or Machine
5.Scar
6.The Weird & the Mad
7.Viper Pilots
8.New Caprica
9.Final Five
10.The Opera House
11.The Admiral's Speech
12.Colony (The Final Battle)
Heading deeper into the cosmos, German heavy/power metallers Fairytale have continued to propel their futuristic sound through a variety of strong, energetic work amongst the live scene that has supplanted their melodic sounds against the science fiction-heavy lyrics detail. Finally coming back into action after five years, the groups’ sophomore effort was released February 24, 2017 on Art Gates Records.
Furthering their sound into tighter, more mature realms, there’s still plenty of the bands’ familiar elements present here as this one utilizes those elements quite well. There’s plenty of stellar trademarked blend of fiery riffing and plenty of vibrant, energetic melodies coming out in full-force all wrapped together with the swirling power metal rhythms running throughout here which is quite an effective launching pad for this one. Utilizing these bright rhythms and melodies for the vast majority of the album manages to work incredibly well at keeping this one up-tempo and lively with the tight power metal chugging riff-structures keeping this one built around a highly engaging framework for tacking on the melodic outbursts that also are featured throughout here. When the band shifts away from this style, this opts for for a series of simplistic one-note chugging styles that show off their material in a less-than-enthusiastic outpouring that really doesn’t offer up much of an enjoyable setting since these are far more lethargic and plodding with the melodic lines straining to mesh with the similarly-plodding chug riffing alongside these rhythms and the whole affair seems to crash down during these times with the lack of energy. Likewise, that becomes even more of an issue with the overlong running order that features a few too many filler tracks to really stretch this one out, and it can lead to a somewhat draining experience when listened to as a whole. It’s still good enough even with these issues, though.
Although there are some minor issues to be had here, the fact that there’s still more than enough to really enjoy here makes this one quite a solid enough offering for die-hard fans of science fiction-themed power metal or this style of heavy/power metal while those that don’t appreciate such flaws should heed caution.
Artist: Cvinger
Release Title: Embodied in Incense
Year: 2016
Label: Art Gates Records
Genre: Old-School Black Metal
Tracklisting:
1.Chapter 1: Conjuration of the Dead God
2.Psalm, of a Hollow Man
3.Beheading the Desert Prophet
4.Enchanted Conclave
5.Weak to the Gallows
6.Chapter 2: Eye Carved upon the Serpents Stone
7.Martyr Shrine
8.Infinity of the Black Flame
9.Embodied in Incense
10.Chapter 3: Amen III
The second full-length from Slovenian black metal horde Cvinger offers another solid slab of pristine, chaotic-sounding old-school black metal to make it two solid epics in a row following their great debut. Offering frantic and brimstone scented tremolo riffing which nicely echoes the traditional second-wave acts in the mid-90s, there’s a bouncy and enjoyable up-tempo feel to the music here that contain a vicious old-school streak to their rhythms. As well, there’s the ability to meld those swirling tremolo riff-works alongside a more pronounced and chaotic series of frenzied drum-blasts that adds a blast-heavy approach to the music in conjunction to the more intense and blistering riff-work, and they stand-out all the more so on the album against the moody atmospherics featured in the lone slow, churning epic offering up some stylish variety. This alone makes it a rather strong and enjoyable enough effort to really make a strong impression here if only it didn’t rely so heavily on the use of short droning industrial interludes so often here, as there’s three of them spread out to open, close and partway through the album as a breather of sorts to set up the second half. It’s odd that this placement occurs here as it does interrupt the flow of the record where it’s just getting interesting and then breaks off into the brief, under-a-minute set-up before going through several more tracks and then back into a droning finale which is a little off-putting, yet as a tactic that was repeated from their debut it does have a minor pass associated with it going through the motions.
The first half here gets this going nicely. Set-up instrumental intro ‘Chapter 1: Conjuration of the Dead God’ uses a deep chanting speech with churning samples to set the stage for proper first track ‘Psalm, of a Hollow Man’ which features tight, ravenous swirling rhythms and utterly dexterous and blasting drumming over the traditional-sounding arrangements from the tremolo-styled rhythms that run through the fast, frantic tempos firing through the frantic blastbeats into the churning final half gets this off to a solid start. ‘Beheading the Desert Prophet’ uses immediate blasting drumming alongside the dynamic riffing with plenty of churning up-tempo patterns to the swirling rhythms that sweeps along to the mid-tempo churning tremolo patterns throughout the blasting finale for another strong effort overall. ‘Enchanted Conclave’ starts with tight, churning riff-work and blasting drumming that turns into a frenzied up-tempo blast of swirling tremolo patterns and intense leads that work along through a series of mid-tempo sprawling sections that blast back into the frenzied rhythms in the blasting finale for a wholly enjoyable highlight. ‘Weak to the Gallows’ uses a steady, slow build-up with gradual drumming and a steady churning series of riffing that holds the darkened atmosphere nicely alongside the switchover into the frenzied blasting with plenty of furious drumming and tremolo patterns on through the final half for a decent enough effort against the more explosive other efforts.
The second half is a little weaker with the interludes but still has a lot to like. Mid-album instrumental breather ‘Chapter 2: Eye Carved upon the Serpents Stone’ features dark rumbling noise and sampled screeching effects leading into next track ‘Martyr Shrine’ bleeding through with the tight tremolo picked rhythms and frantic blasting drumming with plenty of fiery rhythms charging along through the blasting atmospherics as the pounding drumming holds the steady tremolo pattern leads flowing through the finale for a strong highlight effort. ‘Infinity of the Black Flame’ features a slow-building series of churning riff-work and blasting drumming that weaves along through a sprawling series of plodding atmospheric rhythms before churning back through the blasting drumming and frantic mid-tempo tremolo riffing for the final half in another somewhat decent enough effort. The title track slowly works through rattling rhythms and tight clanking drumming that keeps the mid-tempo rhythms along through the frenzied riff-work as the feverish rhythms and choppy drumming weave alongside the buzzing riffing into the finale for a strong highlight. Lastly, the instrumental outro ‘Chapter 3: Amen III’ uses sampled crackling fire sounds and unearthly groaning against the backdrop of droning noises which isn’t that bad of a final track but just sticks out even more here with all the other interlude tracks here which isn’t all that bad of a lasting impression.
Though there’s a minor problem to be had with the album’s structure with all the brief instrumental interludes holding up the pacing, there’s still more than enough blasting chaos and frenetic bombastic on display to really make this a hearty choice for those looking for more second-wave styled black metal or are just fans of the style in general.
