All customer reviews by Christos G.
Posted on: 24 Nov 2017
Tip of the hat
For me this album easily ranks among the best in Riot discography.
I can't imagine any hard'n'heavy fan to be indifferent to such exceptional musicianship and songwriting.
The songs here vary from somewhat oriental intro piece, to pure heavy metal songs (On The Wings Of Life, Sons Of Society, Dragonfire, The Law, Time To Bleed, Promises), to songs a little on the hard rock edge (Twist Of Fate, Bad Machine, Cover Me, Queen, Somewhere). On top of all that, superb rhythm section consisting of bassist Pete Perez and drummer Bobby Jarzombek constantly keeps a subtle progressive edge to the album, as they did on previous albums. Don't get me wrong, there aren't any unnecessary odd-time signatures or similar prog antics, they instead create really interesting breaks, both melodically and rhythmically.
Posted on: 16 Nov 2017
Assasinayion of roman empire
If Ulver were one of the X Men characters, they'd easily be Mystique. Ever changing, always in a state of flux, and able to morph their identity with incredible ease. When we last left off, Ulver dropped that "Zodiac Album" with the unpronounceable title. Highly psychedelic, jammy, and meditative, if you know the band and what they're all about by now, you know there's only one thing you can ever expect next out of them: the unexpected.
Posted on: 30 Oct 2017
Progressive death metal
Many bands have taken death metal beyond its roots. Cynic expanded it by fusing it with jazz and prog metal on Focus, Dripping expanded their slam death metal sound by mixing it with classical acoustic guitar, keyboards, and hip-hop beats on Disentigration of Thought Patterns, Fleshgod Apocalypse expanded it on Oracles by literally mixing classical music into their sound, and so on. But despite this progression, there still remains a particular focus on the more death metal side on those albums. I dont have a problem with that, as it makes sense because its death metal, but Ive always wondered what it would be like if a band truly bathed their sound in another genre to create an album featuring equal elements of both
Posted on: 8 Oct 2017
Blind guardians live
Blind Guardian was formed in Germany during the late 80s, and has become perhaps the most beloved power metal band in the world. Next February the band will mark their 30th anniversary. Their new live album Live Beyond the Spheres arrives just in time to herald this incredible milestone.
For a live album being released so near to their 30th anniversary, the track list is a great blend of material from their entire catalogue. It includes crowd favorites such as Nightfall and Bright Eyes, as well as more rare tunes like Wheel of Time. The track list is a sweet balance of new and old material.
Live Beyond the Spheres marvelously showcases the bands on-stage charisma. Hansi segues cleverly into each new song, highlighting his strong stage presence. The audience singing along to every song so enthusiastically further affirms the bands relationship to their fans.
Posted on: 26 Sep 2017
Haunting limbo
Limbonic Art were one of the earliest bands to play symphonic black metal and for a long time, they were the best in the business outside of Emperor. The duo of Daemon and Morfeus produced a string of excellent albums that haunted your dreams and filled your nightmares. Morfeus grand symphonics were truly genius and led the way down the dark path complimented by Daemons riffs and nightmarish vocals. After Morfeus left to form Dimension F3h, it was hard to imagine Daemon continuing the string of excellence on his own. Spectre Abysm is the eighth Limbonic Art album overall, the second without Morfeus, and the first in seven years.
As expected, Limbonic Art have continued in the more straight-ahead black metal direction of the last few albums. The good news for fans is that this album sounds more like Legacy of Evil than Phantasmagoria. The bad news is that Limbonic Art is still just Daemon, which means the grand symphonics of their classic sound are a thing of the past. Daemon is a guitarist so the riffs are what to come to the forefront on this album.
Posted on: 13 Sep 2017
Irons are back
Our dreams have finally come true. Bruce Dickinson, the ultimate metal singer has returned back where he belongs. Okay, he has done very well in his solo career but this band is his home. Steve Harris realized, at last, that the experiment with Bailey wasnt getting anywhere and that they were running out of time. So he sent him back to the nothingness from where he came. Now the Iron Maiden strikes back! Forget the Priest-Halford fairytale. This IS the ultimate reunion! And even more as now Maiden have three, (yes three!) guitarists. Adrian Smith has also joined them once again to give them fresh ideas. Hell yeah!
They knew there wouldnt be another chance. Their reunion album would either bring them to the throne of heavy metal or it would sign their death sentence. So, they charged full ahead and they won. Brave New World brings Seventh Son ten years closer, being a natural development in the bands glorious history. It is almost flawless, proud, inspired and it widely unfolds all the elements that created the legend of Iron Maiden.
Posted on: 12 Sep 2017
Final destination
Few bands within the metal scene are held in as high regard as Iron Maiden; and not without good reason. For more than three decades now the band has consistently set the bar very high for bands everywhere to attempt to match. Whilst it is almost certainly true that their newer works are not quite as hard hitting nor as powerful as album like The Number Of The Beast; each release the band has put out has had more positives than negatives. So when news arrived that the band was working on their first studio in four years, many a metal fans hearts suddenly began to beat faster in anticipation and quite rightfully so. After all, 2006s A Matter Of Life And Death had arguably been the bands strongest work since Seventh Son Of A Seventh Sun. The question that many would pose would be whether the band could pump out yet another album of a high standard despite the fact the band were rapidly ageing.
Posted on: 9 Sep 2017
Bleeding death metal
One could be forgiven for ignoring Obituarys new album Inked In Blood. After all, how different can one expect it to be, given that the band effectively stalled their sound in 1990 and seldom bothered adding anything new? In some ways they would be right, but Inked In Blood somewhat rejuvenates the Obituary sound.
On the surface this is the Obituary we all know. However, there are some differences that make this a far more interesting release then the last spate of Obituary comeback albums.
Firstly, whilst the sound is typical Obituary in many ways, it actually sounds bouncier and more upbeat than usual. The key here is the production. The drum sound is far less flat than on previous albums. The guitar sound is trademark Obituary, but again sounds more immediate and energetic. And there are some delicious riffs and solos.
Posted on: 16 Aug 2017
Find your promise land
For some people Queensrÿche’s downwards spiral began with this album, Promised Land. I however think that this album is actually the last album of the ‘classic’ albums and it is also quite a lot better than its predecessor, the commercial and overrated Empire. They took quite some time to come up with a new album after Empire and perhaps that’s one of the reasons this album did not chart as well as they had hoped. The second reason for that is one that counts for almost all 80s metalbands in the 90s; Nirvana was ruling the show now. Metal was out. Frankly, I’m quite sure that reason had a big influence on the sales and reviews of this release, since it actually is so typically Queensrÿche, but then just slightly darker. Perhaps if it was released in 1987 for example, it would’ve been received a lot better.
Though Promised Land brings us dark progressive metal, I can not deny that there are traces of Empire across the album.
Posted on: 31 Jul 2017
Fear the axeman
If Omen could be said to have only one thing going for them on their debut album, Battle Cry, it would be that it is utterly cohesive. Everything has its place, and fits together seamlessly like pieces of a puzzle - a puzzle that magically melds together after it's assembled, leaving no trace that it was ever fragmented in the first place. The riffs, the vocals, the song structures, the lyrics, the bass, the album art - they all work together flawlessly to paint a picture of the medieval battle scene that's so obvious on the album's cover. Hell, even the production only adds to the aesthetic, the icing on our proverbial cake. The thick, meaty guitar tone slices the listener like a headsman's axe or a warrior's broadsword, while easily remaining catchy enough to keep the listener's attention.
Luckily, this complete cohesion is not the only thing they have going for them; they go beyond painting a flawless picture and also deliver a heartfelt, enjoyable musical experience, crafted through savagely infectious riffs and solos, and an absolutely barbaric and charismatic vocal performance from the legendary J. D. Kimball. Besides which, the members of Omen are absolutely fantastic at writing songs. The riff progressions are as seamless and organic as everything else about the album, and they end before any of the riffs or melodies have the chance to grow stale; Omen are graced with the ability to know exactly how long they can utilize an idea, and they take full advantage of that knowledge, milking it as much as possible before it runs dry.