When it comes to the name ‘Gurthang’ in terms of Tolkien worship, I won’t go too deep into the matter this time. ‘Gurthang’ was a legendary sword owned by Túrin Turambar, hero and protagonist in a tragic story – but even-though I am a dedicated Tolkien-fan, this review does not deal with the great books of that writer.
When the Hasselt (Flanders) based act Quaedt disbanded, a couple of its members, in collaboration with colleagues from Natan (also put to rest in the meantime), wanted to continue somehow. They created a handful of songs, which they gathered under the new band-name Ill (‘ill’, not the Latin number ‘3’). The purpose was to combine the blackened approach from the past with elements from Doom and Psychedelic influences.
The Nordic-styled genre might be one of the most ‘popular’ subgenres within the Black Metal scene (with exception of some pathetic semi-commercial Pop-Black trends, which make me puke’n’vomit; but that’s another story). Nordic-oriented Black Metal has its origins within the Second Wave and somehow remained true to the roots of the ‘general’ Black Metal scene.
Hailing from Hildesheim in Germany, Kalamata is a relatively young instrumental band founded in 2013.
Huh...I could've sworn that I had come across this Dutch Alternative/ Prog Rock band before, or at least that the band's debut album had come through the ConcreteWeb headquarters, because somehow the album's cover art looks so familiar to me. But a little research learned me that this was not so. Ach well, let's look into the band history then, shall we?
Line-up:
Mia Coldheart – Vocals/Guitar
Klara Force - Guitar
Ida Evileye - Bass
Nicky Wicked - Drums
The Swedish ladies from ‘Crucified Barbara’ are together since 1998. Until 2003 they were with 5 band members, but after they began to play with 4 instead of 5 the ball began to roll with their 4th album ‘In The Red’.
Villainy are a Dutch act that were born to pay tribute to the origins of Extreme Metal. The trio recorded this debut, ingeniously titled I (just joking; there’s nothing wrong with such a title, of course) at Perimeter Audio with Marc van Duivenvoorde (Entrapment, Acid Deathtrip, F.U.B.A.R. etc.) and it lasts for forty minutes.
Line up :
Philip Swanson – Vocals
Simon Tuozzoli – Bass, Guitar, Organ, Additional Voice
Michael Petrucci - Drums
With a history goin' back to 1983 and more line-up changes than one can count on the digits of hands and feet together, it would take me too long to go into this Los Angeles, California based Progressive Power Metal band's career with any degree of detail...so I'll keep things short and synthesized to the strict minimum, this time around. Suffice it, to start proceedings, that Omniscient is the first studio album the band releases in 10 years!
Adramelech are (were) a far-underestimated band from Finland, with members also known from their co-operation with, for example, Demigod, Torture Killer and Impious Havoc, a. o. The album Psychostasia was some kind of ‘break-though’ within the (European / international) Death Metal scene, if only it were because of the eccentric, characterising approach courtesy of bands from the Land of a Thousand Lakes. It originally saw the light in 1996 via major Extreme Metal label Relapse Records.
