Cyclone Empire

Onheil are a Dutch formation that was formed at the end of last century. The demo-CDs Sterf (‘die’) (2000) and We Hebben De Hel Gezien (‘we’ve seen Hell’) (2002), as well as their first official release, the 2003-MCD The Threat (War Cry Productions), were received very positively in especially Belgium and The Netherlands.

German act Ophis was formed at the beginning of this century in the city of Hamburg.

Swedish act Puteraeon was formed in 2008 by current and former members of e.g. Killaman, Taetre and Nominon (and truly many others). They recorded three demos in quite a short period (indeed, these guys were very enthusiastic and creative), which drew attention of mighty Cyclone Empire.

The Dutch band Winter Of Sin (hailing from the city of Groningen) was formed at the end of last century by Ricardo ‘Schmerz’ Gelok (also active in Gheestenland and previously in bands like Krematorium IV, Finsternis, Windsmear or Hagel; Ricardo also owns the small yet highly interesting Dutch Death / Black-label Non Serviam Records) and Dirk ‘Schrat’ Barelds (ex-Katafalk / Cantara

Mountain Throne were formed in 2009 by Mirror Of Deception-members Andreas ‘A.’ Taller (g) and Jochen ‘J.’ Müller (d).

Down Among The Dead Men (question: named after the so-called The Lord Weird Slough Feg 2000-record, or the eighteenth-century John Dyer song; there are a couple of scriptures (i.e. books, novels, stories) too with this moniker, by the way) is a new project, which shamelessly can be labelled as ‘super-group’. Why? Because of the members. Down Among The Dead Men were formed by two extremely skilled and well-known Extreme Metal musicians (both of them wrote the music for this first album).

At the end of Summer 2009, drummer Quint Meerbeek (ex-Bloodphemy & Autumnal Reaper) and guitarist / vocalist Thomas Wouters formed Bodyfarm with the intention to pay tribute to the basics of pure Death Metal. In 2010 there was a self-called EP, followed by their Cyclone Empire-debut Malevolence (review updated on August 29^th 2012 by undersigned). In mean time, the band also built a huge reputation as live act within the trans-European scene.

This Chilean band was formed in 1985 (!) as Pentagram by guitar players Juan Pablo Uribe and Anton Reisenegger; you might recognise the last one, also vocalist of the band, from his collaboration with super-band Lock-Up as well, or one of Chile’s best known and oldest Death / Thrash acts, Criminal, for sure. He also joined (legendary) Uruguay-based Death Metal band Inner Sanctvm a couple of years ago, by the way.

Swedish outlet Facebreaker was formed at the very end of last millennium. A demonstrational and a promotional recording during the early 2000’s made the band draw attention of Rage Of Achilles, whom the band signed to shortly after. The band recorded a first full length, Bloodred Hell, but because of financial problems at the Rage Of Achilles headquarters, the promotion on that album unfortunately was far beneath acceptance (‘unfortunately’ because of the exceptional high quality).