Nekyia Orchestra/Magnum Chaos/2015 Full Length Review

  Nekyia  Orchestra  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  progressive  form  of  post/sludge  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2015  album  "Magnum  Chaos".

    A  distorted  sound  starts  off  the  album  and after  the  intro  the  music  gets  heavier  along  with  a  good  mixture  of  growls  and  screams  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  elements  of  post  metal  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording and  the  music  speeds  up at  times.

  Melodies  can  be heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the recording  and  a  good  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  very  dark  and  melodic  and  during  some  of  the  faster  sections  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing.

  Nekyia  Orchestra  plays  a  post  style  of  sludge  metal   that  also  mixes  in  elements  of  death  meta;  to  create   a  style  of  their  own,  the  production sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  while  the  lyrics  cover  Greek  Mythology.

In  my  opinion  Nekyia  Orchestra  are  a  very  great  sounding  post  sludge  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Odyssey"  "Medusa"  and  "Alkestis".  8  out  of  10.

Heavydeath/Dark Phoenix Rising/Caligari Records/2015 Cassette Review

  Sweden's  Heavydeath  have  returned  with  a  new  recording  that  continues  the  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  of  previous  releases  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Phoenix  Rising"  which  was  released  by  Caligari  Records.

  A  very  distorted  yet  heavy  bass  guitar  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  drum  beats  which  also  leads  up  to  more  of  a  doom  metal  direction  which  also  uses  a  decent  amount  of  melodies  and  when  vocals  are  utilized  they  are  in  more  of  a  death  metal  growling  direction  and  most  of  the   tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Solos  and  leads  are  very  dark  and  melodic and  there  are  also  clean  singing  vocals  can  be  heard  at  times   and  the  whole  album  also  remains  true  to  a  very  slow,  dark  and  heavy  doom  metal  direction  and  there  are  no  soft  or  clean  parts  present  on  the  recording  and  a  lot  of  the  music  has  an  early  90's  doom/death  metal  feeling  at  times.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Heavydeath  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  doom/death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  cassette.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS   INCLUDE "Bow  Down"  and  "Dark  Phoenix  Rising".  8 out  of  10.  

Scythe For Sore Eyes Interview

1.For those who have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
- We are 5 guys from capital area of Finland (J.Nummenpää - Guitar/J.Moilanen - Guitar/J.Matilainen - Drums/T.Vihonen - Vocals/M.Paksoy -Bass). SFSE was formed late 2013. We play rock(ish)/metal(ish) music. SFSE started as a side project of guitarist J.Nummenpää to empty the drawer full of unused riffs and evolved to a band pretty soon after as the potential of this kind of music came to see. Few friends around and a fully functional band was formed.

2.In June you had released an album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
-The sound on the album is dark and sinister as this goes well with our lyrics and state of mind. As we are from Finland we have a tendency for that kind of thing. 8 months of darkness in a year does that to people. But this is also our strength as there is so many things to discover there. we think this reflects nicely in our album.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
-Our lyrics are not from the easiest part and quite sinister as we paint the world as we see it.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Scythe For Sore Eyes'?
-It is a word play from the saying "you are a sight for sore eyes". We tried many names for the band and almost every rehearsal we had we came up with a new name. As time went by and more songs evolved we came up with Scythe for sore eyes as it reflects great our style of music.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
-We all have different opinions which is the best show we played but first gig we ever did at Tapper, Tallinn was great because big stage and a great venue, Also our album release party was great. We were the only band and got to play double set also containing cover songs. It´s always great to be able to play longer sets.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
-of course! We have big plans but the problem is that we don´t have a manager or any organisation behind us to promote and getting us to play so we have to try to get gigs ourselves and it´s not easy without contacts which we don´t have but we are trying our best and getting some gigs mainly in Finland.

7.Can you tell us a little bit more about the deal the band has signed with Inverse Records?
-We have deal with Inverse Records for this first album and maybe we can get them to release second album also (when it´s ready to be released)

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of metal?
-Those who have heard it have liked it or they are telling us lies :) But yeah, feedback has been positive.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
-whoa, this is a hard one. We like to keep open mind for everything so we´ll just have to see what the future brings

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
-The list would be very long if all is listed here. Styles vary from classical music to extreme metal. From mozart to Cannibal corpse.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
-We all have different interests which includes sports, books, movies, beer and so on..

12.before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
-Follow us from facebook and youtube. Keep supporting bands by bying albums and going to gigs. Scythes up!!

Scythe For Sore Eyes/Dawn Of A Darker Horizon/Inverse Records/2015 CD Review

  Scythe  For  Sore  Eyes  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  musical  style  that  mixes  melodic  doom  and  dark  metal  with  groove  rock  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Dawn  Of  A  Darker  Horizon".

  Drum  beats  and  depressive  yet  melodic  guitar  leads  start  off  the  album  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  a  few  seconds  later  clean  singing  vocals  are  added  onto  the  recording  which  also  mix  in  with  death  metal  growls  at  times  as  well  as  a  small  amount  of  black  metal  screams.

  Blast  beats  and  elements  of  goth  can  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  recording  along  with  a  few  of  the  tracks  also  mixing  in  clean  playing  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  and  as  the  album  progresses  spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  at  times and  a  few  of  the  tracks  are  long  and  epic in  length.

  Scythe  For  Sore  Eyes  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  goth  rock,  dark  and  doom  metal  and  mixes  in  some  death and  black  metal  elements  along  with  a  great  amount  of  melody  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  depressive  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Scythe  For  Sore  Eyes  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  dark  metal band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Feat  In  Lies"  "Bring  The  Bottle"  "Selfkiller"  and  "Transparent  Dark".  8  out  of  10.         

Antagonist Zero/No Tears/Inverse Records/2015 Full Length Review

  Antagonist  Zero  are a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  doom,  death  and  post  metal  and  they  refer  to  the  style  as  'catonic  metal'  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  ep  "No  Tears"  which  was  released  by  Inverse  Records.

  Melodic  guitar  leads  start  off  the  ep  before  going  into  a   heavier  musical  direction  along  with  some death  metal  growls  and  screams  which  have  a  black  metal  tinge  to  them  and  after  awhile  clean  singing  vocals  are  added  into  certain  sections of  the recording  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  All  of  the  songs are  very  long  and epic  in  length  and  the  songs  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  you  can  hear  elements  of  goth  and  post  rock  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  in  a  very  melodic  direction  and  there  is  a  great  amount of  atmosphere  in  the  tracks  and  the  whole  ep  sticks  to  a  slow  musical  direction  and  the  last  2  tracks  are  cover's  of  Jenni  Vartairnen  and  Doom  Vs.

  Antagonist  Zero  plays  a  musical  style  that  combines  doom  metal,  melodic  death  and  post  rock  to  create  an  atmospheric  and  melancholic  style  of  music,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  sorrow  and  destiny  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Antagonist  Zero  are  a  very  great  atmospheric  mixture  of  doom,  melodic  death  and  post  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "No  Tears"  and  "Suru".  8  out  of  10.  

 

Ancient Altar/Dead Earth/Black Voodoo Records/Midnite Collective/2015 Full Length Review

  Ancient  Altar  are  a  band  from  Los  Angeles,  California  that  has  been  featured  before in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  doom  metal,  sludge and  heavy  rock  and this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Dead  Earth"  which  will  be  released  in  September  as  a  joint  effort  between  Black  Vooodoo  Records  and  Midnite  Collective.

  A  very  dark  sounding  drone  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  reverb  noises  and  after  a  minute  the  music  starts  getting  more  heavy  and  melodic  and  goes  for  a  stoner  doom  metal  sound  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  after  awhile  growls  and  screams  start  becoming  a  huge  part  of  the  recording.

  A great  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  bring  in  more  elements  of  70's  hard  rock  and  doom  metal  and  there  is  also  a  small  amount  of  melodic  singing  and  chanting  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  whole  album  sticks  to  a  very  slow  musical  direction  while  clean  playing,  acoustic  guitars  and psychedelic  elements  can  also be  heard  briefly  in  some  of  the  tracks.

  Ancient  Altar  creates another  recording that  takes the  modern  day  heaviness  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  stoner,  psychedelia  and  70's  rock  elements  and  also  keep everything  slow  in  true  doom  metal  fashion,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  a  concept  album  based upon  war,  corrupt  leaders and  religion  destroying  the  world.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great sounding  recording  from  Ancient  Altar  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  sludge,  stoner and  doom  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Leader, Liar"  and  "Dead Earth".  8  out  of  10.

Cruciform/Atavism + Paradox/Infernal Devastation Records/2015 CD Re-Issue Review

  Cruciform  where  a  band from  Australia  that  where  one  of  the  first  atmospheric  doom/death  metal bands and  this  is a  review  of  their  compilation  which  contains  their  1993  ep  "Atavism"  1995  demo  "Paradox"  and  a  few  live  tracks  and  was  released  by  Infernal  Devastation  Records.

  Symphonic  and  classical  music  sounds  start  off  the  compilation  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  to  get  heavy  and  goes  for  most  of  a  doom/death  metal  direction  along  with  some  growling  vocals  and  leads  and  riffs  that  are also  very  melodic  and  some  of  the  vocals  also  bring  in  a  touch  of  black  metal.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  are  utilized  and  some  of  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  touch  of  thrash  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  powerful  sound  to  them  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  also bring  in  a  small  amount  of clean  playing  and  there  are  also  a  few  tracks  that  are  long  and  epic  in  length and  later  songs  start  incorporating  a  small  amount  of  keyboards  and  clean  playing  along  with  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  and  the  compilation closes  with 3  live  tracks.

  Cruciform  where  ahead  of  their time  playing  a  style  of  doom/death  metal  that  was  also  very  heavy  and  atmospheric  before  breaking  up  years later,  the  production  sounds  very  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  death  and  destruction  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Cruciform  where  a very  great  sounding  atmospheric  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Sanctuary"  "Necropolis"  and  "Gutter".  8  out  of  10.