CD

Double albums are always quite bold steps to take. Automatically it is a long time to hold your audience's imagination for, something that is difficult enough at the best of times. Connectinut long running doom/post rock outfit When the Deadbolt Breaks have worked hard over the years to dish out some of the most bastard massive distortion, glacially paced downtuned sludge concoctions that has surfaced this doomed planet. It is dirty, ruthless and sometimes unbearable to listen to.

Sparta  a  NWOBHM band who’s history goes back to  1979! decided to record a new album  after  a successful re-release of their old  ( obscure) stuff via the HIGHROLLER RECORDS LABEL.  Begs the question if this was a good idea….. I would say yes and no…..

I just got hit in the face by a wall of notes. That’s how I would describe my first reaction when I started listening to this record. The band is composed of Jake Foster (lead vocals), Patrick Somoulay (lead guitar), Charles Caswell (rhythm guitar, second lead guitar, backing vocals), Francis Xayana (bass), and Cam Murray (drums).

Primeval Realm sit firmly in the classic school of doom metal, but what more can I say? Primordial Light ain't a bad seven tracks of music, it's nicely played, quite well produced but ultimately lacks being special. While this 40-minute CD displays the members' talents, it also leaves me to wonder what more they can do to expand on the sound they're slowly developing.

The Extreme Metal scene from Singapore might not be that ‘huge’ (or better: it isn’t that well-known within our western territories), but believe me if I say that this country houses tens of sublime acts. Of course you do know top-act Impiety, and you might have heard of Kekal, Psycho, As Sahar, Netherealm, or Wormrot too.

Something In Us Died, is the debut full-length album from France's hot post-rock/metal band Lodz. It is a fairly young collaboration of this Lyon based chaps as there is little to non info about them yet.

While Days of the Fallen Sun certainly ain’t heavy material, it will appeal to a great many of our fraternity. The music is ethereal, beautiful, delicate, spiritual, but at the same time melancholy. It is dramatic and powerful in a subtle way. Emotional intensity does not always equal speed and volume. If you're in a bouncy, moshing round kind of mood this is not a good album. After a few more listens, I did begin to appreciate this album, if not really like it.

In the (recent) past, I expressed my passion for the Canadian Black Metal scene, with positively-evaluated reviews for bands like Csejthe, Finnr’s Cane, Ov Hollowness, Insidious Omen or Sepulchral-signed acts like Neige Éternelle or Monarque, amongst others.

Grand Magus from Sweden have been around for quite a bunch of albums now, to be exact, Triumph and Power is their sixth outing. There's been a few albums that have been hailed as the bridge between Manowar and Priest, and I would say that their latest is another good attempt to do just that. So although the band's sound has its roots in heavy metal from the late 70s/early 80s, Grand Magus is an updated, modern and entirely crushing groove experience. The production by Nico Elgstrand

Californian Satanic horde Enbilulugugal was formed in 2000. In mean time, they released some thousands of recordings, especially as demonstrational material, or as split. When it comes to the splits, they did work with same-minded sick-heads like Darkosis, Static Goat, Gromkult, Pyfyxfyru, Skeld or Necrobestiality, mainly projects or bands some Enbilulugugal-members were, or are, involved with as well.