Vacula Productions

Coliseum are a young project from the city of Liège, Belgium, which includes members of Sercati / The Nightstalker (their albums have been reviewed by undersigned – enter the band’s name in the ‘search’-tab to read the reviews on them) and (in mean time) Zardens (latest album reviewed as well; check it out via the very same approach). The band’s existence is based on a concept, and as the moniker sort of says, it indeed has to do with the glorious gladiator fights at the Coliseum in Rome.

Mettadone are quite a new project by drummer Evgeniy Shamarin and singer Max Iliashenko, two Ukrainian guys who joined forces under this moniker in 2014. Evgeniy wrote some material around that period, and together with Max and several session musicians, they recorded a first album in the N.C. Records studio. Evgeniy himself took care of the production, and the lyrics were written by Katerina Gurieva, who also performs the female vocals on this first album.

Wolfshade Records are a (small) label from the city of Rivne, in the North-West of Ukraine (not that far away from the borders with Belarus and Poland), known for releases for bands such as Tyrania, Sea Of Despair, Ethir Anduin, Fabiant, Mettadone, Poezd Rodina or Mortalium.

About three and a half years ago, Mexican musician L. Nergot started the outfit Sacrimoon, another depressed solo-outfit to express his ideas about life and death, love and loss, tragedy and melancholy, suicide and self-mutilation.

Fabiant are a band from Belarus, which were formed almost a decade ago. However, despite ten years of existence, they didn’t release but two recordings in mean time: Life Despite Nothing, a mini-CD which was self-released in 2010, and Death Is Not The End, their full length debut that sees the light via Ukrainian Wolfshade Records.

This review deals not with a recording by German Death combo Common Grave (are you guys still active anyway?), but with the Italian Black Metal formation. They were formed at the end of last century, and after some demonstrational and promotional material, they did record and release their debut Il Male Di Vivire in 2008 via Eerie Art Records.

Hailing from the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Mortalium did debut in very early 2011 with the EP On The Broken Wings (though it was available before in digital format too). Metal Renaissance did release this band’s debut full length in Spring 2013 (with one of the most fabulous covers I know!), and now, with a slightly adapted line-up, Mortalium return with the sophomore full length, Obligate Loneliness.

There are several bands or projects called Lifeless, but this review deals with a side-project of Sacrimoon, an outfit by Mexican multi-instrumentalist Nergot. He’s the unhappy soul behind projects such as Black Whispers, Dismal Suffering, Traurigkeit or Broken Life too, all of them being sonic expressions of joy and happiness.

Absolutus are an act from the French-speaking part of Belgium (Liege, to be more specific), known for their releases with Latin titles. They have been extremely silent for more than seven years, but now they did return with their second full length, called Pugnare In Iis Quae Obtinere Non Possis. It was recorded at the Blackout Studio and it has a total running time of thirty three minutes. And I can, and will, be very limitedly focused right here.

There are a couple of (German) bands with the moniker Todgeweiht, but this one deals with the duo from Thuringia, Grimwald and BluothArn. They started more than a decade ago, but didn’t release but two demos (one was even never officially distributed) as well as one full album. That album, called Pestilenz, was initially supposed to be part of a split with Winternight, nowadays known as Wintarnaht.