CD

Walking Papers is a blues-rock band formed by Jeff Angell and Barrett Martin, two long-serving veterans of the Seattle music scene.

The Resistance was formed in 2011 and are based in Gothenburg and Stockholm. A fairly young band of witch basically four guys who made up their mind and recorded the music they wanted play for a long time. It turned out to be a combination of good old violent Swedish Death Metal and the raw energy of hardcore that putted a certain smile on their faces. So it has a little Entombed vibe going on. But unfortunately this is a fairly young band so they haven't got a lot of info about them online.

The Gates Of Slumber is a doom metal band from Indianapolis, USA. Their band name is taken from the Cianide song “Gates of Slumber” from the album A Descent Into Hell.

Steak Number Eight are a band who are comfortable with the style they produce which always makes for a solid and worthy listen and their new release is no exception

This is the first full cd release from Purson who hails from UK, and is one of the best and most original contemporary occult female fronted folk psych/prog bands of recent years.

This is the second album for Brazilian’s Alec Mendonça’s band – or is it just a project N.O.W..  The line-up has completely changed when compared to the previous album, except Alec of course.

Mind you readers. This is not really a ‘new’ album. It’s a compilation of songs from Neurasthenia’s ‘Possessed’  (2007) and ‘Your Omen’ (2009) albums, that have been re-recorded, re-arranged, re-mixed an finally re-mastered.

Whatever they may have done with these songs, I don’t give a damn.  It still stays trash, and trash has never been, and will never be, a genre that I truly like.  There are parts in these songs I like, but most of it I’d like to treat to the fast forward button.

This is the third full album by these Italian metallers, coming from Rome.  It is however for me my first acquaintance with this band.

They have two vocalists, one female, Gabriella Aleo, who sort of stands for the soprano – operatic singing, but with a far more limited reach then e.g. Tarja Turunen.  The second vocalist is male, Sandro Manicone.  In some songs he sounds decent enough, but there are times when he fails to do what he’s supposed to do, and sounds even as if someone has just given him a kick in his balls…

The style is distinctly sludge groove math metal with a ballsy guitar/drum/bass/vocalist line-up. Think of garage Black Tusk inspired screamy metal songs with a very upbeat head-nodding lilt in the standard verse / chorus / solo / verse format. What's more, Howl sport a punk-style attitude/aesthetic yet somehow combine it with a higher degree of metallic accessibility. The band has a strong sense of including hooks and great fuzz leads without sacrificing the grooviness, to quickly grab the listener's attention.

Hailing from France, Hacride is another entry into the alternative metal field. Hacride take sheer musical force and commanding vocals to new heights. Intricate guitar work collides with masterful tempo changes, the rhythmic patterns are furious yet inventive in their splendour. Luiss Roux’ vocals are an additional strongpoint as they fit in with their sound perfectly, but hopefully he will restrain his singing a little bit, less is more.