New York's own FULL BLOWN CHAOS will be releasing their new self-titled album on February 1st, 2011 (1. 2. 2011) via Ironclad Recordings. Click here (MySpace) to listen to ‘The Walking Dead’, here (Decibel Magazine) to hear ‘Doomageddon’ (“Put on those UCP pants you’ve been dying to try on but won’t wear in public, turn FBC up a few notches, and piss off your neighbors.”) and here (MetalSucks) for ‘Villains’ (“Once you’ve listened to this song and subsequently returned from the emergency room, you can pre-order it right here.”)
“What we’re really talking about is a hardy collection of metallic HC tunes that get the point across individually (think: lone gunman) and in a collective sense (think: gang war), thanks to some sharp arranging. But more than anything else, the new one from FULL BLOWN CHAOS is a tough bastard that won’t disappoint fans of the hard stuff. Don’t expect an album of metallic hardcore mastery. Do expect an exponential increase in road rage incidences and parole violations when the CD is played at maximum volume in certain environs.” Read the rest of Scott Alisoglu's review of the album right here (Blabbermouth).
FULL BLOWN CHAOS released their first metal/hardcore assault via self-titled EP in 2001. They built a following opening for groups such as SEPULTURA and HATEBREED. Jailhouse Records partnered with Stillborn Records to release band's second EP, ‘Prophet Of Hostility’ in 2003 which was followed by full-length ‘Wake The Demons’ (2004, Stillborn Records). In 2005 FULL BLOWN CHAOS are reported to play over 200 shows, scoring gigs alongside SLIPKNOT, CHIMAIRA and many notable others. Second album, ‘Within The Grasp Of Titans’, was released in 2006 (Stillborn Records) and ‘Heavy Lies The Crown’ - Ferret Music's debut crafted at Underground Sound with BIOHAZARD's Billy Graziadei, followed in 2007.
FULL BLOWN CHAOS features: Ray Mazzola on vocals, Mike Facci on guitar, Jeff Facci on drums, Mark Gumbrecht on guitar and Dustin Jennings on bass.
Update: (from Century Media) “Sweden's THE CROWN are a band that is trying to avoid well trodden paths. Hence they have made a very special video available that only a few heavy bands would dare to release. Their friend and photographer Patrik Skoglöw followed them around to create an animated photo-video for the song ‘Falling ‘Neath The Heaven's Sea’. The song was only available as bonus-track on their latest album ‘Doomsday King’.” Check out the video below the text.
THE CROWN (formerly known as “Crown Of Thorns”), Scandinavian death metal outfit, used to distinguish themselves for their “unapologetic commitment to pure, unadulterated, lightning-fast, ear-shredding, Satan-worshiping death metal”. They formed in 1990 in the city of Trollhattan, Sweden and released their first record, ‘The Burning’, in 1995: “A furious, melody averse collection of evil death metal annihilation, the album mixed new numbers with re-recorded demo oldies and, frankly, made for a very challenging listen,” commented AllMusic's E. Rivadavia. ‘Eternal Death’ (“an evil-filled romp through the usual death and doom, the usual lyrics of fantasy and Satan love”- B. Torreano, AllMusic) followed in 1997. The band shorted their name to THE CROWN since a Christian rock band also named itself “Crown Of Thorns”. And as THE CROWN they made sure to play even fiercest metal on their third record, ‘Hell Is Here’ (1999, Metal Blade Records): “A nice standout in the pre-millennial time when metal has been practically ignored unless it has scratching turntables or oddly placed samples,” remarked M. DaRonco, AllMusic. ‘Deathrace King’ - released the following year, was succeeded by relentless touring, including first American tour. Founding vocalist Johan Lindstrand left and the band replaced him with Tomas Lindberg (ex-AT THE GATES). Lindstrand went on to form ONE MAN ARMY AND THE UNDEAD QUARTED and THE CROWN went on to release their fifth album, ‘Crowned In Terror’ in 2002. The band broke up with the new frontman in 2004 and reunited with their old one, Johan Lindstrand. Having survived their turbulent one-album stint with Tomas Lindberg, the band recorded their 13th anniversary album entitled ‘Possessed 13’ (2003). More relentless touring that followed took its toll on the band and in 2004 they called it quits. Guitarist Marko Tervonen began focusing on his new project LADY MOURNING, guitarist Marcus Sunesson joined ENGEL and bassist Magnus Olsfelt went on to play with STOLEN POLICECAR but kept on writing songs for THE CROWN: “One evening we gathered in my living room and started writing down names of singers we liked,” explained Marko Tervonen, “ It didn’t take long until we figured that the singer of the old band UTUMNO kicked ass. I contacted Jonas Stålhammar (GOD MACABRE) and he was immediately into it. One audition later we decided that Jonas was the man. We were all determined to call the band “Dobermann” [heh] at first. Still, during the whole recording process it became obvious that this sounded like THE CROWN. Even Jonas' voice is pretty close to Johan's. At some point someone just said: ‘Fuck it, this sounds 100% THE CROWN - we should do this as THE CROWN’.”
Track ‘Doomsday King’ comes off THE CROWN's 2010 record of the same title, released through Century Media Records. The video for the song is based on a live show at Way Of Darkness Festival last year. It was shot and edited by Oliver “Bomber” Barth of Vision In Fear.
THE CROWN features: Jonas Stålhammar on vocals, Marko Tervonen on guitar, Marcus Sunesson on guitar, Magnus Olsfelt on bass and Janne Saarenpää on drums.
The highly anticipated second album by American thrash & groove metallers LAZARUS A.D. is set for February 1st, 2011-release via Metal Blade Records. The album was recorded last summer at Belle City Sound with Chris Djuricic and was mixed and mastered by James Murphy at Safehouse Production. “During the writing process for ‘Black River Flow’ we were dealing with great personal tragedies. We found a way to draw strength from those tragedies and use it as inspiration to write what we feel is an incredibly more sound record than the last. On ‘Black Rivers Flow’, everyone stepped up their game; the riffs are heavier, the choruses catchier,and the vocals have improved and been diversified tenfold. We are on a mission to show the world that we are a force to be reckoned with and aren't thinking about a trend, we're thinking long term,” commented bassist and vocalist Jeff Paulick.
Wisconsin, USA-based LAZARUS A.D. formed in spring of 2005 around the talents of guitarist and vocalist Dan Gapen, bassist and vocalist Jeff Paulick, guitarist Alex Lackner, and drummer Ryan Shutler. The quartet landed its first break in 2006 after opening for ANTHRAX. In 2007, the band self-released their debut album ‘The Onslaught’.
Their ferocious sonic assault (which draws heavily from the Bay Area thrash scene of the '80s while maintaining a modern melodic groove-based edge) was received with extravagant enthusiasm by fans and critics alike and brought about the attention of Metal Blade Records which re-released ‘The Onslaught’ in 2009.
Relapse Records will be releasing new ABYSMAL DAWN album, ‘Leveling The Plane Of Existence’, on February 1st, 2011 (February 7th in the UK, February 11th in Germany and Benelux, February 14th in the rest of Europe). The album was produced by Mike Bear and mixed and mastered by Erik Rutan. The amazing artwork was created by Swedish artist Pär Olofsson – check out the process of making it here. Charles Elliott, band's guitarist and vocalist commented on the album: “After a series of set backs, illness, and going through a world of shit in our personal lives, we had no choice but to make this record our revenge and the defining moment for ABYSMAL DAWN. We can tell that this will be the record that the band will become known for. It’s a very varied, extreme, technical, and melodic record and I can promise you that no one will be disappointed.”
Hailing from Los Angeles, California, ABYSMAL DAWN plays an aggressive mix of modern death metal. The band was formed in 2003 by Charles Elliott (guitars/vocals), Jamie Boulanger (guitars), and Terry Barajas (drums). In 2005 the band began to work on what would become their first full-length, ‘From Ashes’, a brutal and technical album that earned them a remarkable international press response. In 2008 ABYSMAL DAWN signed a deal with Relapse Records, making ‘Programmed To Consume’ the band's label debut.
Germany's THE VERY END new record entitled ‘Mercy & Misery’ has been released in the U.S. today, January 25th, 2011 via E One Music. ‘Mercy & Misery’ was released in Germany on January 14th, 2011 and in the rest of Europe on January 17th, 2011 through Steamhammer/SPV. The album was produced by the band itself and Waldemar Sorychta. The cover artwork was created by THE VERY END vocalist Björn Goosses of Killustrations.
THE VERY END, comprised of René Bogdanski on guitar, Volker Rummel on guitar, Björn Goosses on vocal duties, Marc Beste on bass and Daniel Zeman on drums, play Swedish-influenced, melodic thrash metal “that'll make thunder roar in your ceiling and bolts of lightning shoot out your living room walls.” “Of course the new THE VERY END album is awesome! Otherwise I wouldn’t have done it!” stated legendary producer Waldemar Sorychta. And he wasn’t the only one impressed, SODOM's Tom Angelripper was equally dazzled by ‘Mercy & Misery’ while DEW-SCENTED Leif Jensen remarked: “Impulsive and dynamic, yet refreshingly melodic thrash metal with big hit-potential!” But being children of the industrial Ruhr-area, THE VERY END know that the sweetest praise isn’t “worth a dime if they don't work off their own balls”. So far THE VERY END released two three-track demos, 2005's ‘2k5’ and ‘Soundcheck For Your Funeral’ and 2008's debut full-length ‘Vs Life’ (Dockyard One Records).
Progressive metal band BIOMORTAL has released new video for the song ‘Letter’ - “for fans of FEAR FACTORY, Devin Townsend, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD and Enya (maybe)” as they put it. The video was directed and animated by Daniel Brand with additional animation done by Danny Bacchus for Neskin Industries. In addition, BIOMORTAL are offering their first album, ‘Dirge’, for free. You can download the album at this location (band's official website).
BIOMORTAL describe their music as “cinematic metal”. They hail from London, UK, and feature Robert Theobald on vocals, Paul Theobald on guitar, vocals and synth, Jamie Richardson on bass, and Alexander Gooders on drums. The band started as one-man-project in 2006, that man being guitarist and singer Paul Theobald: “At first, it was just going to be a solo project for me while I was in another band,” explained Paul, “but as soon as Robert came onboard we realized it was something special. All of a sudden we were getting a thousand hits a day or more on our MySpace. A lot of people enjoyed our faster tracks, so we wrote more of them. 11 songs were finally chosen for the album's tracklist, but we managed to squeeze in a couple of segues and other little bits throughout ‘Dirge’ ”. Listen to BIOMORTAL music by clicking here.
North Carolina-based chaoscore quintet VANISHER has released video for the song ‘The Architect’, taken from their September 2010 release ‘The History Of Saints’ (Tribunal Records). The video was directed by band's bassist and vocalist Justin Reich along with Blake Faucette and Micah Moore. “The video's narrative is a very blunt point made on how some people are not the way they try and seem,” Reich revealed to Noisecreep. "This ties into the lyrics, since many relationship problems are created by one or both people building false personas around the other. And when that facade eventually crumbles, the real person the other was trying to hide is exposed and nothing is ever the same again. In short, you are 'the architect' of your own destruction."
VANISHER formed two years ago when guitarist Kyle Odell (BLOODJINN) decided it was time to start anew. He contacted the current BLOODJINN vocalist Joel Collins and then-guitarist for GLASS CASKET Justin Reich and together they started writing music under the name of “Zero System”. Collins left and was replaced by GLASS CASKET vocalist Adam Cody who stirred the band into more aggressive and sharper direction. The addition of song-writer and multi-talented musician Andrew Gore on drums brought about the change of name to VANISHER: “For a while there things were looking kind of bleak and we really felt like everything we were doing was just, well fake. Nothing made sense. Everything with VANISHER from the newer songs that we were writing to the older “Zero System” songs we were revamping seemed to finally click. We are doing this because it is what we love to do, not what someone else wants us to do,” explained vocalist/bassist Justin Reich.
Highly anticipated brand new full-length named ‘Counting Our Scars’ by Swedish reunited death metallers DESULTORY is being released today, January 17th, 2011 (17. 1. 2011) via Pulverised Records. ‘Counting Our Scars’ is band's first album in 14 years. It was recorded, mixed and mastered by Tore Stjerna (WATAIN, UNANIMATED etc) at Necromorbus Studio in Alvik, Sweden. Album artwork was created by world-renowned introspect artist Travis Smith, who previously worked with NEVERMORE, KING DIAMOND, OPETH and others. “This music once shaped us and the marks it left will forever keep itching,” explained vocalist Klas Morberg. “DESULTORY never died; it just went down deep below and beneath the surface and it slowly kept growing. Throughout the years, there are many of you out there who never stopped waiting, asking the same question over and over. Now when we finally meet again, ‘Counting Our Scars’ feels like liberation; the bleeding is over. This album is for all of us who never stopped waiting.”
As part of the Stockholm metal scene alongside ENTOMBED and DISMEMBER, DESULTORY released three full-length albums, ‘Into Eternity’ (1993), ‘Bitterness’ (1994) and ‘Swallow The Snake’ (1996) and an EP (‘Forever Gone’ in 1991) before dissolving in the late '90s. The reformed band features all original members: vocalist Klas Morberg, guitarist Håkan Morberg, drummer Thomas Johnson and bassist Johan Bolin. “DESULTORY are a throwback to that split second before melodic death metal became a distinct and defined beast in itself. ‘Counting Our Scars’ is kinetic, exhilarating, life-affirming stuff,” commented UK's Terrorizer Magazine. Click here (MySpace) to listen to album's opening track ‘In A Cage’.
ArtistDirect is streaming the entire TIMES OF GRACE's upcoming debut album ‘The Hymn Of A Broken Man’ at this location. ‘The Hymn Of A Broken Man’ is set for January 18th, 2011 release via Roadrunner Records.
When touring the UK with KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz required emergency surgery on his back: “I thought my career as a performing artist was over,” recalls Dutkiewicz. “If I can’t walk on my own, I can’t play.” He started writing what would become the TIMES OF GRACE album, in his head, from his hospital bed. Dutkiewicz later contacted former KILLSWITCH ENGAGE bandmate and singer Jesse Leach about writing the lyrics and recording the vocals: “One of the main themes with a lot of the stuff I was writing was about how easy it is to take life for granted and how easily you can lose everything you’ve worked for in a second,” explains Adam D. “It can be given to you and taken away at the snap of a finger. But I don’t think I’m the best lyricist on my own, so the first person who came to mind for me was Jesse. We write together easily. The cool thing with these songs is that they are about negative situations, but there’s always a positive twist on it, talking about how you have the power to turn it around yourself.”
Commented Jesse Leach: “This whole album was born out of a necessity to express ourselves and overcome tribulation. This record is a testament to personal and spiritual growth. I am honestly still moved when I listen to this record, I know it may sound strange to some being moved by ones own work… This record was completed about a year ago and since then has served as a sort of therapy for us and for the close family we allowed to hear it. … Regardless of what you know or feel about our past bands and work, I hope all of you are able to hear this record with new ears. This record is an honest record and was created without the thoughts of success, touring, fame, money and expectations. To me there is enough pressure and expectation put behind music and often times can affect the music and people involved… Regardless how well this record sells or how it is received we know we did what we had to do…”
TRIVIUM's frontman Matt Heafy listened to the record and wrote: “The record feels “perfect”. Sonically, it captures everything that is Adam and Jesse - ridiculously tight (but still emotive) guitars and drums; displaying Adam's fusion of melodic death metal/hardcore/metal rhythms, Gothenburg/post-hardcore/emo/punk-laced melodies, mesmerizing post-metal/atmospheric arpeggiated cleans; while Jesse is more versatile than ever: ranging from low emotive singing into a blisteringly high singing range that will surely leave other vocalists feeling like they were born with the wrong range. Jesse's classic scream is back as well - but this time it feels even more visceral. His voice just makes you feel he really means what he is singing. … This CD will be impossible to define in one bracket of genre-defining, but that’s what is so great about every time Adam and Jesse create together is that they make something new. I hope this record can change the scenes in the same way that AOJB [‘Alive Or Just Breathing’ – KILLSWITCH ENGAGE album] did. This is an important album. Roadrunner [Records] needs to push this album, TIMES OF GRACE needs to tour, bands need to tour with TOG. The music world needs a band like TIMES OF GRACE. ‘The Hymn Of A Broken Man’ is without a doubt, one of the best albums of our time.”
TIMES OF GRACE debut video ‘Strength In Numbers’, shot and directed by Robby Starbuck, was released in December 2010 and is available below. The band released videos for ‘Where The Spirit Leads Me’ and ‘The Forgotten One’ shortly after as two of 13 total artistic visual aids that will appear on the special edition of the album, released January 18th, 2011 . You can pre-view some other clips-in-the-making here (YouTube – Roadrunner Records).
As of now, Stereogum is streaming the entire BRUCE LAMONT's upcoming debut solo album entitled ‘Feral Songs For The Epic Decline’. Please take a listen by clicking here. You may know Bruce Lamont as the vocalist and saxophonist for American avant-garde metal group YAKUZA or as the contributor to projects such us NACHTMYSTIUM, BRUTAL TRUTH, BLOODIEST, CIRCLE OF ANIMALS etc. At A Loss Recordings will release the upcoming solo full-length on January 25th, 2011 but you can pre-order the record at this location (At A Loss Recordings).
With no guest performances, this fully envisioned, written and performed one-man project is described as “Bruce Lamont's bravest, most personal-seeming and ambitious collection to date” by Stereogum. “Lamont offers a dark, expansive take on Americana, one you could pair with Erik Wunder's Dax Riggs-loving Cobalt side project MAN'S GIN or, in spirit, the work of RELIGIOUS TO DAMN. But it’s more spacious and exploratory, industrial and chilly than those via a heavy use of loops, noise, screaming” continues the mentioned site. “Lamont clearly had a vision here - ‘Feral Songs For The Epic Decline’ is an album that should be heard from start to finish. It’s way too early to start talking about best of 2011 lists, but [this album should be] put out there anyhow.”
Austria's blackened death metal band BELPHEGOR is unleashing its ninth album, ‘Blood Magick Necromance’, upon Europe today, January 14th, 2011 and will be preparing North America for the time when the armies of the dead return from February 8th, 2011 on with some help from Nuclear Blast Records: “Accept it: our world is necessarily haunted by evil, and when the armies of the dead return with their pestilence to annihilate the living, there will be no better guides while traveling down the fiery road to the endless abyss of Hell than BELPHEGOR,” says BELPHEGOR. Click here to watch the video for ‘Impaled Upon The Tongue Of Sathan’ on Bloody Disgusting and listen to BELPHEGOR's music here (Facebook):
Helmuth (Lehner) founded BELPHEGOR in 1991 in Salzburg, Austria, in order to play some “supreme death black metal art”. The band that was known as “Betrayer” until 1993 consisted of vocalist and bassist Maxx, guitarists Helmuth and Sigurd, and drummer Chris. Though quickly gathering fan base in their homeland, BELPHEGOR had to wait nearly a decade before their efforts crossed borders and were released internationally. The group released their first studio album, ‘Last Supper’, through Lethal Records in 1995: “Following their own path of sin and befitting their ever-evolving anti-religious, anti-life attitude, BELPHEGOR's logo gets revamped to incorporate two inverted crosses completely surrounded by blood representing the slaughter of Christians and martyrs,” explains BELPGEGOR's official bio. Second album, ‘Blutsabbath’ (Last Episode Records), followed in 1997 and ‘Necrodaemon Terrorsathan’ in 2000: “Stagnation means death! The band spreads their disease once again, logging yet another volume of blasphemy added to The Vatican Library,” BELPHEGOR continued to spread the venom. ‘Lucifer Incestus’ (2003) and ‘Goatreich – Fleshcult’ (2005) were both released via Nuclear Blast Records: “We don’t give a fuck about anything and don’t let anyone talk us into doing anything. Only the music counts!” They kept on raging against the Catholic Church and promoting the apocalypse in the name of Satan on 2006's ‘Pestapokalypse VI’ (Nuclear Blast):
“Believe it or not, even hardened death and black metal fans feel the need to come up for air every once in a while, and, since we’re talking among friends here: what’s the point of enriching ‘Pestapocalypse’s “greater concept” by quoting the Marquis de Sade, Goethe, or even the Devil himself (in French, German, and Latin, no less), when all that comes across is unintelligible grunted gibberish? Hey, at least NILE goes for broke and writes its grunts in ancient Egyptian - which is unintelligible gibberish no matter how you slice it!” [wanted to know Eduardo Rivadavia, AllMusic – more here]
“With their seventh album, suitably entitled ‘Bondage Goat Zombie’, the death/black metal institution crushed all their previous releases! The concept of the album was inspired by the infamous Marquis De Sade (1740 – 1814), giving the lyrics of the album a blessed touch of Evil.”
“The track that BDSM clubs would probably be the most likely to play is ‘Sex Dictator Lucifer’ which finds BELPHEGOR slowing down the tempo and getting into a more industrialized, somewhat WHITE ZOMBIE-ish type of groove while audibly and emphatically stating the words “bondage” and “domination” more than once,” [approached BDSM-ism in a different way AllMusic's Alex Henderson – more here]
‘Walpurgis Rites: Hexenwahn’ followed in 2009. On the album's behalf About.com's Dan Marsciano noticed that black metal lyrics have become more insanely humorous as time has gone on, with BELPHEGOR being as guilty of this as many other bands in the genre (more here):
‘Justice’ is the first single off REV THEORY's forthcoming album of the same name, scheduled to be released on February 15th, 2011 via Interscope Records. The album was produced by Terry Date, known for his work with PANTERA, WHITE ZOMBIE, DEFTONES, SOUNDGARDEN and many, many others.
Formed in 1997 under the name “Revelation Theory”, the band spent a few years playing clubs and building a fan base first in North Andover, Massachusetts and later in New York. The group then signed with EMI subsidiary Element Records, and released the debut album ‘Truth Is Currency’ in 2005. A couple of years of constant touring with the likes of HINDER, EVANESCENCE, BUCKCHERRY and SEVENDUST and simplifying of group's name to REV THEORY later, the band signed a major label deal with Interscope Records. REV THEORY's second album, ‘Light It Up’, released in 2008, reached position number 74 on the American albums chart Billboard 200 and received mainly positive reviews: “ ‘Light It Up’ rarely wastes a chance to ratchet up the volume and testosterone. Boiled down, this is music for dudes, for male-dominated house parties, for beer runs and keg stands and fights on the lawn,” commented AllMusic's Andrew Leahey. WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) chose the single ‘Light It Up’ as the official theme music for WrestleMania XXIV, the single ‘Hell Yeah’ as the official theme for WWE per-per-view event “One Night Stand” and REV THEORY's Rich Luzzi provided vocals for the song ‘Voices’, the entrance theme of WWE Superstar Randy Orton. And that’s how I know of this band, having a son who has luckily already outgrown his WWE-phase every boy seems to have to outgrow. Truth be told, so does many a mother, heh.
REV THEORY features: Rich Luzzi on vocals, Julien Jorgensen on rhythm guitar, Rikki Lixx on lead guitar, Matty McCloskey on bass & backing vocals and Dave Agoglia on drums.
Finland's doom metallers ORDOG will be releasing their third album entitled ‘Remorse’ tomorrow, January 12th, 2011 through Violent Journey Records. ‘Remorse’ is a seven-song album, containing 70 minutes of doom & gloom. If clicketh here (MySpace) you can listen to the track ‘Abuse’, off it. You can order your copy at this location.
ORDOG formed in 2005 in Tornio, Finland. They released two demos entitled ‘I’ and ‘II’ in 2006 and signed with Ostra Records to record debut album, ‘The Crow And The Storm’, released that same year. During the year that followed, the band decided to experiment with their funeral/death/doom sound by recruiting keyboardist Jussi Harju. In 2008 ORDOG inked a deal with Finnish record label Violent Journey Records in order to release second full-length,‘Life Is Too Short For Learning To Live’.
ORDOG features: Aleksi Martikainen on vocals, Valtteri Isometsä on guitars, bass and drums and Jussi Harju on keyboards. On live gigs they are supported by Olli-Pekka Rissanen on bass and Jani Niemela on drums.
How else would I stumble upon such gems as the following one, if not by insisting on this useless way of spending my free time (also known as blogging). Here we go then: “When British-born actor/director/puppeteer Frank Oz first became the original voice of the Cookie Monster on Sesame Street back in 1969, his comic performances were very G-rated. But ironically, the deep, guttural, growling type of voice that Oz’ Cookie Monster performances made famous ended up becoming a trademark of something that isn't so G-rated: death metal.” This is how AllMusic's Alex Henderson starts his review of MY OWN GRAVE's second full-length ‘Necrology’. He then goes on musing we should probably credit Cookie Monster with being the first death metal artist and stops short of comparing MY OWN GRAVE's vocalist Mikael Aronsson to the famous Sesame Street resident: “This 2008 recording doesn’t break any new ground for death metal; no one will accuse MY OWN GRAVE of being the most original band in the world, but their performances on ‘Necrology’ are certainly inspired and focused. Obviously, music this brutal isn’t for everyone; death metal is very much an acquired taste. But seasoned death metal moshers will find the album to be an exhilarating, if derivative, footnote in the Nordic extreme metal scene of the late 2000s,” A. Handerson concludes his piece.
If I gathered my facts correctly, Sweden's MY OWN GRAVE were formed by guitarist Anders Härén, bassist Max Bergman, and drummer John Henriksson in 2001. They released four self-produced demos before signing with Karmageddon Media in 2004. The group released their first proper album, ‘Unleash’, in 2005, signed with Pulverised Records in 2006 through which they released mini-disc entitled ‘Unholy’ (2007). ‘Necrology’, was recorded mostly in MY OWN GRAVE's own studio. Mixing and mastering was handled by legendary Dan Swanö. Album's artwork was created by Jon Zig. Logistical problems delayed album release until July 2010. Video for the song ‘None Shall See’ was directed by Håkan Sjödin.
MY OWN GRAVE features: Mikael “Aron” Aronsson on vocals, Anders Härén on guitar/backing vocals, Max Bergman on bass/backing vocals and John Henriksson on drums.
‘Hail The Horde’ is the title track off Denmark's THE BURNING third studio album, released back in October 2010 via Massacre Records. The video features guest vocals from Scott and Bjørn Jensen of DAWN OF DEMISE.
THE BURNING was formed in 2005 in Aarhus, Denmark. Johnny Haven (vocals) and Rasmus Normand (guitar) enlisted Thue Moller (bass) and Tobias Host (drums) to play some hard hitting metal. In 2007 the band released its debut album entitled ‘Storm The Walls’ (Massacre Records) and toured with DAWN OF DEMISE and ILLDISPOSED. In 2008 they got rewarded as the “Best Live Band Of The Year” by Danish Metal Awards (DMeA). 2009 was an eventful year for the band; Massacre Records released their second album ‘Reawakening’, guitarist and founder Rasmus Normand left the band to be replaced by ex-DAWN OF DEMISE's Alex Kjeldsen (also known as “Alex The Kid”) and got once again recognized by Danish metal scene as the band that received most of that year's award nominations. According to the press release, THE BURNING plays “a bastardized mix of groove-metal and crossover-thrash” and goes on recommending their music to “fans of huge monothematic heavy grooves, pulverizing mid-pace stomps and memorable melodies”. The band is to have “an almost dogmatic love for simple song structuring”, with the singer telling us “very personal tales of religious abuse, addictions, war and soul searching [with] soaked in aggro attitude, but barked out with a slightly more melodic throaty tone”-kind-of-a-voice.
THE BURNING's third album, ‘Hail The Horde’, was released in October 2010 through Massacre Records. It was produced and mastered by ex-HATESPHERE vocalist and producer Jacob Bredahl, with Tue Madsen handling the drum recordings and mastering. ‘Hail The Horde’ features guest vocals by Scott and Bjorn Jansen (of DAWN OF DEMISE fame) and Søren Adamsen (of ARTILERY). If you click here (MySpace), you can listen to the song ‘Wolf Moon’ featuring Søren Adamsen. The video for ‘Bait The Hook’, released in November 2010, was shot and edited by Division 666. Album artwork was created by Brent Elliot White, known for his works for MEGADETH, DEATH ANGEL and WHITE CHAPEL.
