REVIEW:

In another one of my reviews I said that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover…unless it’s really obvious. You find a band called “Zombi” and you take a listen, what do you expect to hear? Driving, death metal? Brutal hardcore that’s worse for you than asbestos and ball gags combined? Thrash so heavy that your head falls clean off your shoulders from the sheer weight of being? Something so dark that you could spread it on your toast? Yeah, you probably would expect something like that. What you wouldn’t expect to find is a CD of 5 tracks, the shortest of which is around 7 minutes, the longest of which is closer to 17!!!!

The, completely instrumental, album seems conflicted in a way. The music stylings seem almost minimalist at times, but there’s just so much of it that you could never, with a straight face, refer to it as anything like that at all. The thing I like about this album is the same thing I dislike it for. Seems strange, right? Well, I’m a complex guy. Large chunks of tracks, especially “Cosmic Powers” feel like they’ve been ripped directly from the sound track of a particularly good game on the Amiga or, in some cases, the Sega Megadrive (On a side note, I would love it if a band opened their CD the way Sega’s used to boot up. Not the logo, that’d be a bit tough for an aural medium, but just that haunting voice, casually singing “Seeeeeeega”.) I guess that can’t be a wholly bad thing, but I don’t think I ever played the games for as long as some of these songs go on for. Even if I did, the music would normally change from level to level.

So for me, a lot of this album just feels like I’m stuck on the same level, like I’m some sort of cack-handed degenerate who can’t destroy Dr. Robotniks latest invention. *Rage* DAMN YOU DR. ROBOTNIK YOU FAT SON OF A BITCH!!!! …Gimme back mah rabbits and birds and other assorted animals! …or feel my blue, spiky wrath! Do you remember playing games when you were a kid and you got stuck? And you’d just wish that you could find a way to beat it so the game could start being fun again? Well that’s probably an accurate description of this album. There were little bits that made me smile like there was a hooker under my desk, but the majority of it felt like a bargaining process where I eventually gave up on the whole idea so I could go feed ducks or chase a ball around with a stick. The problem is that you can’t just have an album that consists completely of the things that make you smile. If most people did that then albums would only be a minute or so long. Granted, my job would be a hell of a lot easier, but I don’t think it’d be a satisfying way to do things. Zombi have the talent, they have the artistic temperament, they have…Synth for some reason. This isn’t Terminator, guys! And in places this album is very pleasant. It just goes on for way too long! You know how long this review took me to write? 2 Zombi songs, and I used the first one to go make myself some tea.

TRACKLISTING:
01. Spirit Animal
02. Spirit Warrior
03. Earthly Powers
04. Cosmic Powers
05. Through Time

REVIEW:
When it comes to melodic death metal the swedes know exactly what they are doing. Canopy is a Stockholm quintet that has just released their 2nd full length piece of work. And what a great piece of work it is. The cd was produced by Jonathan Hedlin and mastered by Ronnie Bjornstrom.

Some of you may remember their previous works and the 2005 release of the same name “Will And Perception” which has been totally re-recorded and released October of 2009. “Common Walls” is a track taken from their demo cd “During Day One” which was released in 2004. There are also a couple of completely new songs on this album as well such as “Riddance”. The cd also comes with new artwork. There is also a guest solo appearance from Kristian Niemann of Therion on the last song “Will”.

Starting with the vocals for this review, I would have to say they aren’t that bad at all and carry out the vain of most death metal bands with its raspiness and guttural chords. The team on the guitars does a great job delivering memorable riffs and ones that will make us eager to try out ourselves. What I also liked is that the rythmic section work very well together from track to track without one surpassing the other as you usually find in this genre. The stand outs on the cd have to be given to the guitars hands down.

So if you are a fan of Amon Amarth, Opeth, Edge Of Insanity or even Soilwork then you should check this out! My fave tracks are “Decipher”, “Riddance” and “”. It is a pretty generic album as far as Swedish Melodic Death Metal goes but I am anxiously awaiting their next cd as I believe it will be bigger and stronger then this one.

TRACKLISTING: 
01. Decipher
02. Perception
03. For The Sickened Voice To Hear
04. Councels And Maxims
05. Common Walls
06. Riddance
07. Void
08. Will 

LINKS:
www.entercanopy.com
www.myspace.com/canopy
www.disconcertmusic.com 

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ARTIST:

REVIEW:

Coming from the bright area of Greenville, South Carolina one would thing that it’s music would be bright and cheery. Well if we were to use the term bright as being intelligent and cheery as something to chant along with then you have the makings of Nile’s latest release “Those Whom The Gods Detest”. This comes as their 6th studio album following in the footsteps of their latest “Ithyphallic” with a much more brutal attack.

The vocals have largely improved over the years and even though they are a tech death metal band the words are understandable on this release which I found to be quite pleasing. George Kollias has truly outdone himself on this release showing us just how insane he can get with his blastbeats. It’s no wonder the guy has been selling drumming lesson DVD’s and doing drum clinic’s here there and everywhere. Adding this top notch pedal pushing with a matching set of great guitar players how can you go wrong. The only thing I wish was a bit more present would be he bass playing as it gets a little lost throughout all the others.

“4th Arra of Dagon” is a tune that will have fans going nuts chanting along with them “Arra, Arra, Arra, Dagon, Dagon, Dagon”. The beginning of the title track brings me to a place in Egypt all calm and relaxed then blasts into an energetic set of crazy riffs.”Yezd Desert Ghul Ritual In The Abandoned Towers Of Silence” is an instrumental track which fuses several different middle eastern instruments and has a very relaxing sound to it. Right after the track is done you’re heart starts racing madly as soon as the next track “Kem Khefa Kheshef” kicks in, it wakes you up in an instant.

The cd’s production is amazing which allows for every element to reach close enough to it’s maximum potential. Neil Kernon produced this release as well as their latest “Ithyphallic”. This is IMO a great step up from the past couple of cds from the band. It’s really worth the listen !!

TRACKLISTING:
    01. Kafir
02. Hittite Dung Incantation
03. Utterances Of The Crawling Dead
04. Those Whom The Gods Detest
05. 4th Arra Of Dagon
06. Permitting The Noble Dead To Descend To The Underworld
07. Yezd Desert Ghul Ritual In The Abandoned Towers Of Silence
08. Kem Khefa Khesef
09. The Eye Of Ra
10. Iskander Dhul Kharnon  

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Date: November 6th, 2009
Band Member Interviewed: Morgan Håkansson
Interviewed By: Caroline Restiaux
XM: Can you please start off by getting our readers up to date on what’s been going on with Marduk in the past 6 months?
MORGAN: The past 6 months we were recording the new album and finished it up during the summer. Right when the recording was done and everything was settled we fixed everything regarding the layout. Then we went out and did a 15 date Poland tour together with Polish band Vader and came home. For nine days and then the same day the album was released on September 24th we actually started another European Tour consisting of 30 dates. Now we are back home and staying home for 2 weeks and now we are ready to go back on tour again. 

To read the full interview visit here !