We Belgians should be proud of ourselves. Despite not being promoted as much as non-metal bands, our little country does produce some fine metal bands. You’ve got Channel Zero of course, but there are many other bands as well, and one of these is Hell City, hailing from Hoeselt.
Hey, hey...4 years after having been exposed to this Belgian Heavy Metal band for the first time (at the opportunity of the release of their debut EP Here Comes The Sin, a review for which was posted on 10/03/2010), I find myself back in good company, the composition of which however changed somewhat over time!
This London based outfit seems to be pretty fast rising stars on the firmament of Doom stoner Sludge metal . “Sex in the seventh circle” is the second full length of this quartet and the first one on century media . As we all know, SEX sells.. However does it also sell if packed in a 47.30 minutes slab of thundering riffs pounding drums and vile gnarls aka “ vocals” ? The answer is yes it does … Right form opener “Keeping Vigil, HTB grabs you by the balls only to let go after 10 other deadly slabs of doom metal heaviness . If band like
Following The Beast is the second full album from the Swedish warriors united under the banner of Gormathon, after 2010’s Lens Of Guardian (Supernova Records). There was also an EP in 2012, Celestial Warrior, by the way, and the songs from that mini-album are part of this full length too.
I’ve always wondered what to make of this band. They have some great rock songs, but are probably best known for their global hit ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’, and also for ‘Waiting For A Girl Like You’. Both of these hits were recorded with Lou Gramm on vocals, who was the original vocalist of the band, and who left in 1990, only to return in 1992, and again leaving the band in 2003.
It’s been long, way too long, but Belgian outfit Emeth finally return with their newest (fourth) full length, after 2008’s Telesis (released via Minnesota’s Brutal Bands; are they still active – to my knowledge they didn’t release anything anymore in more than a year?). Undersigned was quite enthusiastic with that former Emeth-album (surely the band’s strongest release to date).
Sven ‘Unhold’ Zimper’s World Terror Committee aka W.T.C. Productions is about to become one of the strongest labels from German soil, with tens of great releases this year. As a teaser for Dysangelium’s upcoming debut full length, W.T.C. release this German band’s second demo, Leviaxxis, which consists of three tracks, all of them clocking around four minutes.
Czech combo Destructive Explosion Of Anal Garland does kindly rape our eardrums the most un-softly way for quite some time now. Albums with divine titles like Cutterclit and Sealing Off The Vagina By Sewer Lid are straight to the point, avoiding confusion or surprise. Indeed, gore stuff it has always been. And it didn’t change with this album either.
Crone, and I’m not talking about the Australian band with Mandy Andresen and Yonn McLaughlin, nor the Californian Pagan / Black outfit, are a project with two experienced musicians, i.e. sG of Secrets Of The Moon-fame and Embedded’s Markus Renzenbrink. The duo wrote and recorded four tracks, which are now compiled as Gehenna, and which features guest vocals of ex-Swans / Skin member Jarboe (on Dead Man).
So far this Swedish band has released 3 studio albums, so this self-named album is their fourth effort. What they bring us here is a mix of hair metal, combined with melodic hard rock, so this might be an album that pleases a lot of people. What this band reminds me of, are the glorious eighthies, with stadium bands like Def Leppard and Whitesnake, although their sound is not the same, due to the hair metal influences of course.
