2009, the provincial town of Gorlovka (40 km from Donetsk) in the Ukraine. A depressive industrial setting, where a population of 240,000 people are trying to survive on the remains of the Soviet era. It's in that setting that 5 Metal-hungry youngsters decide to start a band of their own, playing their favourite music, but influenced by the great variety of alternative bands that had always been around in their town's Underground scene.
Wow...I recently mentioned that this reviewer stays in his voluntary (and therefore quite un-paid) side-job for the sole benefit of encountering the music of bands which come by only every once in a blue moon, those who manage to create albums which grab me from the get-go, and have me hold on until the final notes. Sometimes this happens with bands which have only been around for a couple of years only, but occasionally this reviewer comes across bands which have been in existing for much longer, and already have several releases to their credit!
Humiliation are a band from Malaysia, not immediately the country-number-one when it comes to Death Metal nowadays. There was quite a vivid scene at the end of the eighties (as well as in the neighbour countries, like Indonesia – it truly was the case!), but nowadays it’s rather an exception to hear (new) material from bands hailing from that part of our ugly globe. But Humiliation are such a band that will put Malaysia on the map again.
With the release of Secular Music through hystoric British record label Flicknife (think of Hawkwind!), the Italian Progressive/ Gothic Black Metal act Hortus Animae effectively ends a near 9-year hiatus of studio releases.
This riff-oriented Modern Hard Rock (they add Thrash Metal elements to their Hard Rock based music) act from the town of Heilbronn (Baden-Württemberg) in Germany, was founded in 2006 by a foursome of friends sharing a same passion for hard rockin' music.
Everyone knows that Czech Republic-based Bizarre Leprous Productions are (one of the) most prominent labels when it comes to Grindcore. I think it is somewhat doubtful. At the one hand they house several splendid acts, with sublime release that caress every Grind-freak’s ear drum with rusty razor blades and electrified barb wire. At the other hand, unfortunately, there’s quite some ‘pulp’ around to within this scene, and I think Bizarre Leprous Productions sometimes took a wrong choice by signing band X or Y.
This studio project was started back in 2008 by bassist Peter G. Shallmin of the Siberian band Kamlath, his vision being an all-encompassing Progressive Metal audio/visual experience.
Darkness Divided is a Christian Metalcore band which originated as a worship act at church youth retreats, where Gerard Mora (lead unclean vocals), Christopher James Mora (guitar & backing unclean vocals) and Joseph Mora (bass) played songs in the Jeremy Camp and Third Day style.
Irish top-act Cruachan needs no introduction anymore, I guess. They are active for more than two decades in mean time (with a brief break), and I do follow them as from the release of their first full length, Tuatha Na Gael. More info: search the net…
Since having reviewed this Padova based Italian band's debut full-length album (It's Time To Face The Doomsday; review posted 27/10/2010), quite a few things happened, among which my greater understanding of their history.
