The Romanian Black Metal scene is one I do adore a lot. The Romanian Doom-Death Metal scene is one I do like a lot as well. The Romanian Gothic-oriented scene, however, is one I am not that trusted with. I only know a handful of bands that are worth mentioning, such as Dispersia, Gothic, The Season, Interitus Dei, Serenity and Kratos. So please welcome Whispering Woods, though apparently they did release an album before, Fairy Woods, in 2011 (self-released).
Since these two albums were released on the same date, I’ve decided to write one review for both albums.
As a matter of fact these are not new albums by this Finnish band, but rereleases of their 2007 ‘Angels’ album, and their 2002 ‘Paris Kills’ album. I foind the ‘Angels’ album the better of the two, but I leave you the choice. There will be a re-release of two of their other albums as well.
Patologian Laboratorio Productions are a ‘new’ (see note) label owned by Aki ‘Grim666’ Klemm in order to release material from his own projects and bands especially (+ some others). Note: actually there were some releases about a decade ago from Lathspell too, but then things turned into silence for ten long years – FYI…
Ancient Moon are quite a mysterious project for the three members act under the names of J, O and B, and nothing more is known. Apparently these guys hail from Belgium, France and Switzerland. I think Vvltvre is their first mutual effort, and it consists of one single piece, called Preastigitum Altareas, clocking almost half an hour.
[personal note: I do appreciate the fact that the sole track and the album itself do have another title]
Limb Music is re-releasing Wizard’s back catalogue, and instead of writing a review for each separate album, I’ve decided to write one review for the two albums I received, the 2001 ‘Head Of The Deceiver’ album, and the 2005 ‘Magic Circle’ album.
Spitfire are a German band, and this is their second album. The theme of this album is Bone City, a city full of chaos, violence, lawlessness, in short a city where Judge Dredd would have a lot to do.
I had never heard of this guy before, and was in for the worst when I put on this album, which is his third so far, but boy was I in for a surprise. First of all the songs themselves. They are a very heterogeneous mix of covers from a whole score of artists, ranging from Leonard Cohen over Garth Brooks, Iron Maiden, and many others.
If you know your history a bit, you might know that when Hitler came to power in Germany in the mid-thirties, he and his Nazi-party, banned a whole lot of books and art, because of their contents or looks, or because the artists were deemed as being pacifist, communist for instance. My guess is, had Hitler still lived today, he would have done the same with this album.
This band surely does not need any introduction anymore. It’s them who made the whole Black Metal scene more accessible to an ignorant audience, with both positive and negative aspects in consequence. My personal opinion – no, I won’t go deeper into this subject. Let’s say that, despite the catchiness and commercial aspects, this band created a handful of acceptable compositions in mean time, especially during the earlier years. Lots of pulp too, unfortunately, but – no, I promised myself to censure…
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.
