Forceout - Delusion (Total Metal Records, 2013)

 

Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Year: 2013
Country:Ukraine
Tracklist:

1. Intro
2. Усе, що є
3. Living in Lie
4. I Need Salvation
5. Lost Feel
6. Свинцеві квіти
7. The Same
8. In the Dark
9. Equilibrium
10. Not My Delusion
11. Outro

Review: 
Forceout presents us with Melodic Death Metal that sounds Swedish but is actually from the Ukraine and guess what?
It's good, no scrap that {ha get it?} it's really good.
The production is top notch. Drum, guitar and bass are all well mixed in and it results in a very clean sound that suits this kind of music. I wasn't expecting this kind of production judging by the country and the album art.
The songs bring a lot of variation themselves, this keeps repeated listenings fresh. And the music does warrant repeated listenings.
A negative aspect could be the fact that the singing is not top of the game, compared to the way the instruments sound, it should have been able to stand out a little bit more against the competition.
It's  not easy to pick a highlight song but mine would be 'Not My Delusion', but frankly their aren't any real stinkers in here.

The cover is of course based on the title 'delusions'. I like that how normally its the evil one looking out of the mirror and here it is the other way around. The booklet contains all the lyrics (even readable this time) with some 'artistic' backgrounds but it's not bad at all. A well done package.

For my part one of the best that metal scrap records have put to disc.
Rating:


Where to buy:
http://metalscraprecords.com/shop/en/store/product/view/37/670

Mind Affliction - Pathetic Humanity (Metal Scrap Records, 2013)

 

Genre: Death/Black Metal
Year: 2013
Country: Poland
Tracklist:

1. Intro
2. Human Centipede
3. Mental
4. Vishe I
5. Druga strona umysłu
6. Vishe II
7. Lithium

Review: 
Mind Affliction already released a 2011 demo titled 'Mental Disorder' after a little waiting they got signed by Metal Scrap Records to release their debut album 'Pathetic Humanity'.
What they present to us on this album is a mix of death and black metal, the first one being the most present.

Too bad it's never more then just mediocre. Not that it sounds bad, or that the songs are crap, it just that they got a long way to go before they get their own identity. It's all very standard, an intro like this has been done a thousand times and thats the feeling I got while listening to the other songs as well. It does gets points for being brutal and unforgiving. I just hope for that extra little more next time. I wonder if they make a better impression live. I hope their next album takes it up a notch.

The booklet is a real letdown, no lyrics just 2 band pictures. I know budgets are always strickt for new bands but still it doesn't offer the fans a whole lot.
The artwork itself is standard as well but I do like the pictures on the disc itself.

Rating:


Where to buy:

NOTTI DEL TERRORE – HAVOC (self released, 2013)

 

Genre: Industrial Metal
Year: 2013
Country: Belgium
Tracklist:

1. Recharge
2. Unstoppable Killing Machine
3. Hellbringer
4. Fixless
5. Summoning Tchernobog
6. My Name
7. Perversatile
8. Downside Of War

Review:

Notti Del Terrore is no newcomer here in the Belgium metal scene. They have already recorded a demo, an EP and a debut album that got them mostly positive reactions from press and fans
I'm reviewing their newly released second album here. Havoc is the title of their new child and it sounds pretty great. The album starts with Recharge and it's a great kick-off song that grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go till the end.
Its sounds like it's the early millenium all over again. Think Fear Factory when they where best, late 90s, early 00s.
The band did away with the drum machine on this second record and found their own drum machine 'Fré', who does a great job drumming with machinelike perfection but still giving this a real organic drumming sound. The vocals are powerful and brutal when they need to be and clean when the song asks for it. The riffing is excellent and definitely well done.

  
A lot of industrial bands make the mistake of being drowned in too many samples and losing their metal edge, luckily the band has us covered with some but not too many so no need to write them off in advance for this.

The booklet is well done, it has a nice peace of art in the middle that is reused for the background of the front cover. I love artwork like this, not photoshopped to death but hand drawn. There is a downside as well though, for some reason we don't get the full lyrics inside but only snippets. To bad for people like me who like to listen with the booklet in hand.

A good tidbit of industrial metal that fans of the genre (especially for the older Fear Factory fans) should buy!

Rating:


Where to buy:
http://www.nottidelterrore.com

Lethargia - Divine Madness (Metal Scrap Records, 2013)

Genre: Death Metal
Year: 2012
Country:Ukraïne
Tracklist:  

1.	Прелюдия (Intro)	02:30
2.	Траур похороненых сердец	07:38
3.	Скорбь Сатаны	05:10
4.	Я сожалею...	07:05
5.	Сломаный мир	06:21
6.	Божественное безумие	06:39
7.	Колдовство и одержимость	05:47
8.	Презрение (feat. Диана Ларионова)	06:49
9.	Мистика любви	04:45
10.	Суд грешников	06:45
11.	Кода (Outro)	02:49
12.	Злые нравы	05:19
13.	Нежность и любовь (feat. Евгений Кугаевский)	03:47
		01:11:24

Review:

I have to admit it, if I read about a release thats it's a mix between doom and gothic metal I don't really get all that excited, their seems to be a dozen new bands like this popping up all the time that just seem to mimic my dying bride but with more keyboards/synthesizers.

I wasn't really paying that much attention to this release at first but let me tell you, this second full length by this Ukrainian band won me over pretty quickly. The intro was a nice buildup leading into "Buried Mourning Hearts" which, while quite long didn't fail to grab my attention. Song 3 is where the action started with "Grief Of Satan" where death metal vocals are first introduced in the album. the song has something very mesmerizing about it and with its 5:10 running time it's one of the shorter ones on here. The album has all kinds of different vocals mixed in, sometimes using whispers to set a eerie mood, other-times using grunts or just even normal talking to create different kinds of specific musical moods.
The disc is packed full with 13 songs clocking in about 70 minutes. While some might find this a bit too long, I don't think thats a problem when the music is good. And luckily this is the case.

It's bit a shame the music is sang in russian with no translation provided in the booklets, I do feel that I miss something here. Maybe for the next release their can be a quick summary about the songs in the booklet.
Talking about the booklet, this is one of the best quality ones I've seen so far from this Ukrainian label, very impressive stuff.

I can recommand this release for fans of older gothic/doom releases, espacially to Russian metalheads who will get that little bit more out of it.

Rating:



Where to buy:
http://metalscrap.org.ua/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3472:lethargia-qdivine-madnessq-cd&catid=41:audiocd&Itemid=47