New stuff Friday ...

[introclaus]

ASHRAIN - Requiem Reloaded
Okay, this one I hadn't expected to be that good, but man, this is the kind of power metal that I really enjoy; think Angra, Masterplan, Helloween and perhaps a bit of Symphony X-lite in that Japanese style that we know from bands like Galneryus and Versailles. Production is quite "contemporary European" (it's Simone Mularoni from DGM who've produced it), and it actually reinvigorates the genre a bit. Guitarist Nozomu Wakai is incredible ... one of those Japanese dudes who is just a master at his instrument. Vocalist is Brazilian Iuri Sanson (ex-Hibria, currently Eternity's End), who I wasn't a fan of in his first band, but really has come into his own with EE, and now here in Ashrain - incredible highs that'll make even a Daniel Heiman or Andre Matos proud. Bassist is good ol' Peter Baltes from Accept (currently in UDO). This is nothing new, it's just done REALLY well. Great songwriting and the guitar playing is absolutely over the top!
https://youtu.be/CaGGNkPYoKU ("Break Through the Fire" - pure power!)
https://youtu.be/fzNpkZmZOV0 ("I Still Burn" - very melodic, takes a while to get going though)
https://youtu.be/yBL0Uy0_YD8 ("Put on the Trigger" - this is a real stomper)

[prog_powermetal99]

The album starts out really strong, with 3 wonderfully amazing songs up front, then continues w some really good tunes, and I think it actually works all the way through until that absolute piece of turd at the end (Bag O' Bones). I could easily see this as a top 25 candidate of the year if they hadn't added that ridiculous tune there.

Regarding the new Overkill, I wouldn't let one or two bad songs get ya down. There are many albums I absolutely love, but still have 1 or 2 duds on them....I kind of expect it really.....

[introclaus]

KHEMMIS - Where the Cold Wind Blows
Short two-song EP, where the main song is the cover version of folk-song "In the Pines / Where Did You Sleep Last Night". Pretty good cover. It beats the Nirvana version by a mile, but I still think Dolly Parton's take on it was more true to its roots (heck it's an Apalachian folk tune and that's where Dolly is from, so ...).
https://youtu.be/MomG-3MHPuE

CRADLE OF FILTH - Trouble and their Double Lives
Live album from CoF. It sounds very little live if you ask me, and more like updated studio versions of their songs ... doesn't make it a bad album, but more of a compilation in that sense than a true live disc. Love the band though, so this is just fine.
https://youtu.be/jh4SH0g1rb0 (now this is actually a new STUDIO track, of which there are two on the album, but the video is LIVE ... I'm confused)

[introclaus]

The album starts out really strong, with 3 wonderfully amazing songs up front, then continues w some really good tunes, and I think it actually works all the way through until that absolute piece of turd at the end (Bag O' Bones). I could easily see this as a top 25 candidate of the year if they hadn't added that ridiculous tune there.

Regarding the new Overkill, I wouldn't let one or two bad songs get ya down. There are many albums I absolutely love, but still have 1 or 2 duds on them....I kind of expect it really.....

Sure, I like the album a lot, but that one song prevents me from loving the album and it won't get into top 25 because of that.

[introclaus]

ADRIAN BENEGAS - Arcanum
Artwork looked cool, reviews sounded interesting, and the line-up quite enticing, so curiosity got the better of me, and after 10 minutes I had to purchase. Adrian is a Paraguyan guitarist/songwriter, and with him on this disc you'll find people from Gamma Ray/Primal Fear, Myrath, Delain and even Rainbow/MSG - on paper, heck of a line-up. As you might be aware of, I'm the biggest hater (not really, just far from a fan) of Ronnie Romero's voice, but here he delivers what I regard as the absolutely best performance of his career. Musically this is lodged somewhere between Majestic/Time Requiem/Adagio's neo-classical prog metal, Myrath/Kamelot's power metal epics, Rhapsody's symphonic metal, and a nice up-beat hard rocking metal sound. Great stuff!
https://www.adrianbenegas.com/
https://youtu.be/r7REcSK7XKQ
https://youtu.be/YJ4oju-af7w

[Random Axe]

Greyfox Agenda - This was a nice surprise this morning. I think this is a one-man project, country or origin unknown. Name of musician unknown. What is apparent is the nice blend of elements and styles that have me going deep into the well of prog to find a point of reference.

Think Alias Eye meets Marillion meets Conception and brushes against Mister Kite. Those are the hints I get. The downside, and it's not really that bad is he doesn't fully grasp English and has some off phrases. Again, minor distraction. Initial impression is good. Mileage may vary...

https://youtu.be/hdr49aoPznY

[introclaus]

I noticed something while browsing that thing called "the internet" ... there were two albums released yesterday with almost the same cover artwork! How's that possible?

Well, apparently SHRVL is a synth-project done by some famous techno-dude from Germany, who created his new album "Limbus" based on the new album by German prog-sludgers The Ocean ("Holocene"). Interesting "collaboration" that the two entities came up with here.

https://shrvl.bandcamp.com/album/limbus
https://theocean.bandcamp.com/album/holocene

I can listen to The Ocean and find parts that are really great in almost all their albums, but mostly it is too "sludge" for my taste with that noisy rumble that just gets annoying. So far I'm enjoying "Holocene", so there's that ...

[introclaus]

Greyfox Agenda - ... The downside, and it's not really that bad is he doesn't fully grasp English and has some off phrases. ....

Yeah, the vocals are definitely off-putting. Music is okay.

[introclaus]

A good deal of new stuff released yesterday;

THE OCEAN - Holocene (see above post)

YES - Mirror to the Sky (haven't listened yet, but I have all their albums, so I had to get this one as well)
https://youtu.be/NdEF-vMO8vc

ALCATRAZZ - Take No Prisoners (haven't listened yet, but I have all their albums, so I had to get this one as well)
https://youtu.be/S8hUQKFvHps

ARJEN LUCASSENS SUPERSONIC REVOLUTION - Golden Age of Music (haven't listened, but really looking forward to it)
https://youtu.be/EXe6ifC96-I

WINGS OF STEEL - Gates of Twilight (their debut EP was absolute killer ... great mixture of early Europe, Judas Priest, Badlands, Dokken, etc. and the full length continues in that style, with awesome vocals, shredding guitar, a clear 80s swagger, and I feel like there's a bit of a US power metal vibe, think Malice/Icon/Helstar, to it as well)
https://youtu.be/Do9W1SZIaxg

SHINING (NOR) - Us Against the World // single (Love this band - no "progressive black jazz" about them anymore, but it's just damn interesting mixture of pop, punk, metal, saxophone, trumpets, and real rock'n'roll spirit)
https://youtu.be/-ZBgZhNE5hA



I also listened to a few albums, but decided against buying them:

SLEEP TOKEN - Take Me Back to Eden (gave it one spin, and I just don't see the appeal ... most of it has nothing to do with metal, where it somehow gets lumped in. I'm fine with music that's not metal, but I don't understand why this gets labeled as such)

GHOST - Phantomime (an EP of cover tunes. The Maiden and the Genesis ones sounds great, but the other three were pure crap, so no interest in pruchasing)

[jhallum]

I also listened to a few albums, but decided against buying them:

SLEEP TOKEN - Take Me Back to Eden (gave it one spin, and I just don't see the appeal ... most of it has nothing to do with metal, where it somehow gets lumped in. I'm fine with music that's not metal, but I don't understand why this gets labeled as such)

I think the new Sleep Token is firmly in the modern prog rock realm with some serious metal influences. The Summoning, Vore, and elements of Ascensionism, and Take me Back to Eden are most assuredly metal, but there are also a lot of autotune, hip-hop and other a host of other influences. I think the thing that slows me down from really liking them more is a similarity in song structure. Too many songs on the album start out easy and rise to a crescendo. Nothing wrong with that in general, but it's something like 9 of the 13 tracks or so.

The album that can't get out of my player is the new Fires in the Distance. Doomy, depressing Melodeath. Crusshing riffs and tinkly keys, two things to get my ears perked up when it comes to metal. Harbinger, the opener, is high on my song of the year list...and I generally don't rate most melodeath particularly highly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlmp31MczDU

-jeremy

[Sir Exar Kun]

WINGS OF STEEL - Gates of Twilight (their debut EP was absolute killer ... great mixture of early Europe, Judas Priest, Badlands, Dokken, etc. and the full length continues in that style, with awesome vocals, shredding guitar, a clear 80s swagger, and I feel like there's a bit of a US power metal vibe, think Malice/Icon/Helstar, to it as well)
https://youtu.be/Do9W1SZIaxg

SHINING (NOR) - Us Against the World // single (Love this band - no "progressive black jazz" about them anymore, but it's just damn interesting mixture of pop, punk, metal, saxophone, trumpets, and real rock'n'roll spirit)
https://youtu.be/-ZBgZhNE5hA

So the description for Wings of Steel had me very intrigued. Got distracted, came back, clicked on the link for Shining by mistake, and I'm sitting there listening to it thinking "BADLANDS???? What the hells? This sounds NOTHING like Badlands! Maybe a little bit of an 80s attitude to it, but what in the BLUE F&*K IS WHAT THE SAXOPHONE?!?!?"

Realized my mistake and yeah.... OK.... WIngs of Steel was MUCH more up my alley, whereas Shining felt like someone dropped Sabaton and Brian Setzer Orchestra into a mashup video.

[introclaus]

WINGS OF STEEL - Gates of Twilight (their debut EP was absolute killer ... great mixture of early Europe, Judas Priest, Badlands, Dokken, etc. and the full length continues in that style, with awesome vocals, shredding guitar, a clear 80s swagger, and I feel like there's a bit of a US power metal vibe, think Malice/Icon/Helstar, to it as well)
https://youtu.be/Do9W1SZIaxg

SHINING (NOR) - Us Against the World // single (Love this band - no "progressive black jazz" about them anymore, but it's just damn interesting mixture of pop, punk, metal, saxophone, trumpets, and real rock'n'roll spirit)
https://youtu.be/-ZBgZhNE5hA

So the description for Wings of Steel had me very intrigued. Got distracted, came back, clicked on the link for Shining by mistake, and I'm sitting there listening to it thinking "BADLANDS???? What the hells? This sounds NOTHING like Badlands! Maybe a little bit of an 80s attitude to it, but what in the BLUE F&*K IS WHAT THE SAXOPHONE?!?!?"

Realized my mistake and yeah.... OK.... WIngs of Steel was MUCH more up my alley, whereas Shining felt like someone dropped Sabaton and Brian Setzer Orchestra into a mashup video.

You could literally have asked me to name 1,000 bands that Shining made me think of, and Sabaton would not make that list. Lol!!!

[gazinwales]

Kalmah - Kalmah
Ninth album from Finnish melodic death metal veterans.
Top class songs and great sounding mix and mastered so you can actually hear all the instruments.

Haunted By Guilt
https://youtu.be/_K3BSKWVRPo

[introclaus]

METAL CHURCH - Congregation of Annihilation
Hmmm ... that was a total let-down. Music here does not reach the standard of the last two Mike Howe releases (and obviously has nothing on the old classics), and vocals are just within an inch of being horribly annoying. Time to shut it down Kurdt!

[gazinwales]

First single from Richard West side project, he is also singing...
OBLIVION PROTOCOL - Forests in the Fallout
https://youtu.be/Wma_iVqKRWw

RW has a pleasant enough voice, but this really isn't suited to heavy music.

[introclaus]

I also listened to a few albums, but decided against buying them:

SLEEP TOKEN - Take Me Back to Eden (gave it one spin, and I just don't see the appeal ... most of it has nothing to do with metal, where it somehow gets lumped in. I'm fine with music that's not metal, but I don't understand why this gets labeled as such)

I think the new Sleep Token is firmly in the modern prog rock realm with some serious metal influences. The Summoning, Vore, and elements of Ascensionism, and Take me Back to Eden are most assuredly metal, but there are also a lot of autotune, hip-hop and other a host of other influences. I think the thing that slows me down from really liking them more is a similarity in song structure. Too many songs on the album start out easy and rise to a crescendo. Nothing wrong with that in general, but it's something like 9 of the 13 tracks or so.

I went back again, and it's such a snoozefest. I really felt so bored it made me upset, lol
To be fair, it's not the lack of metal that annoys me, it's just how the music goes absolutely nowhere, and the singer has no passion in his voice at all.
I'm happy to see that Sleep Token apparently is making a lot of people happy and that the project has blown up as it has - it just isn't for me.

[introclaus]

First single from Richard West side project, he is also singing...
OBLIVION PROTOCOL - Forests in the Fallout
https://youtu.be/Wma_iVqKRWw

RW has a pleasant enough voice, but this really isn't suited to heavy music.

That was great - I liked this quite a lot. Yes, Richard's voice isn't a "strong" voice (and I would have loved to hear Damien or Glynn singing this), but it does the job, and music definitely is what I expected, which is a good thing.

[introclaus]

A good deal of new stuff released yesterday;

YES - Mirror to the Sky (haven't listened yet, but I have all their albums, so I had to get this one as well)
https://youtu.be/NdEF-vMO8vc

ALCATRAZZ - Take No Prisoners (haven't listened yet, but I have all their albums, so I had to get this one as well)
https://youtu.be/S8hUQKFvHps

ARJEN LUCASSENS SUPERSONIC REVOLUTION - Golden Age of Music (haven't listened, but really looking forward to it)
https://youtu.be/EXe6ifC96-I

Just a follow-up from last week:

YES - disappointing, very bland and light ... not much "rock" to it, and not sure there's much "prog" to be found here either.
ALCATRAZZ - really strong!
ARJEN - best album he has done in quite some time; much better than both the last Star One and the last Ayreon for sure.

[AllMediaReviews]

new Dirt Poor Robins EP
https://open.spotify.com/album/4T8FIKCexNfkyFMvfXj0bq

[introclaus]

Two big ones (for me) yesterday - both in the doom death genre;

SATURNUS - The Storm Within
Welcome back guys. 9 years wait was more than worthwhile, and this is killer.


RISE TO THE SKY - Two Years of Grief
Sergio puts out albums more often than I change underwear, but the quality is always there.

[Guillaume]

ADRIAN BENEGAS - Arcanum
Artwork looked cool, reviews sounded interesting, and the line-up quite enticing, so curiosity got the better of me, and after 10 minutes I had to purchase. Adrian is a Paraguyan guitarist/songwriter, and with him on this disc you'll find people from Gamma Ray/Primal Fear, Myrath, Delain and even Rainbow/MSG - on paper, heck of a line-up. As you might be aware of, I'm the biggest hater (not really, just far from a fan) of Ronnie Romero's voice, but here he delivers what I regard as the absolutely best performance of his career. Musically this is lodged somewhere between Majestic/Time Requiem/Adagio's neo-classical prog metal, Myrath/Kamelot's power metal epics, Rhapsody's symphonic metal, and a nice up-beat hard rocking metal sound. Great stuff!
https://www.adrianbenegas.com/
https://youtu.be/r7REcSK7XKQ
https://youtu.be/YJ4oju-af7w

Big fan of Romero, but this album bores me...

[Guillaume]

A good deal of new stuff released yesterday;

YES - Mirror to the Sky (haven't listened yet, but I have all their albums, so I had to get this one as well)
https://youtu.be/NdEF-vMO8vc

ALCATRAZZ - Take No Prisoners (haven't listened yet, but I have all their albums, so I had to get this one as well)
https://youtu.be/S8hUQKFvHps

ARJEN LUCASSENS SUPERSONIC REVOLUTION - Golden Age of Music (haven't listened, but really looking forward to it)
https://youtu.be/EXe6ifC96-I

Just a follow-up from last week:

YES - disappointing, very bland and light ... not much "rock" to it, and not sure there's much "prog" to be found here either.
ALCATRAZZ - really strong!
ARJEN - best album he has done in quite some time; much better than both the last Star One and the last Ayreon for sure.

New Alcatrazz is indeed excellent and better than the previous one.
I also really like the Supersonic Revolution.

[Guillaume]

METAL CHURCH - Congregation of Annihilation
Hmmm ... that was a total let-down. Music here does not reach the standard of the last two Mike Howe releases (and obviously has nothing on the old classics), and vocals are just within an inch of being horribly annoying. Time to shut it down Kurdt!

Don't agree. Really cool album IMO, that recalls the first 2, without reaching the quality of course, but still very good. And Lopes does a fine job, even though he might over-scream at times.

[introclaus]

ADRIAN BENEGAS - Arcanum
Artwork looked cool, reviews sounded interesting, and the line-up quite enticing, so curiosity got the better of me, and after 10 minutes I had to purchase. Adrian is a Paraguyan guitarist/songwriter, and with him on this disc you'll find people from Gamma Ray/Primal Fear, Myrath, Delain and even Rainbow/MSG - on paper, heck of a line-up. As you might be aware of, I'm the biggest hater (not really, just far from a fan) of Ronnie Romero's voice, but here he delivers what I regard as the absolutely best performance of his career. Musically this is lodged somewhere between Majestic/Time Requiem/Adagio's neo-classical prog metal, Myrath/Kamelot's power metal epics, Rhapsody's symphonic metal, and a nice up-beat hard rocking metal sound. Great stuff!
https://www.adrianbenegas.com/
https://youtu.be/r7REcSK7XKQ
https://youtu.be/YJ4oju-af7w

Big fan of Romero, but this album bores me...

Not surprising.

[introclaus]

METAL CHURCH - Congregation of Annihilation
Hmmm ... that was a total let-down. Music here does not reach the standard of the last two Mike Howe releases (and obviously has nothing on the old classics), and vocals are just within an inch of being horribly annoying. Time to shut it down Kurdt!

Don't agree. Really cool album IMO, that recalls the first 2, without reaching the quality of course, but still very good. And Lopes does a fine job, even though he might over-scream at times.

Not surprising. LOL - you and I like a lot of the same bands and artists, but when it comes to rating their albums we seldom see eye to eye. For me, Metal Church is all about the Howe era. I enjoy the first two, but Howe is what took them to the next level. It went down a notch after he left, and while some of the Munroe albums are good (and they kicked ass live), it wasn't the same to me. The new singer is really getting on my nerves - he is a mediocre singer, who came from a mediocre band, so not surprising to me.

[introclaus]

THE ANCHORET - It all began with loneliness
Modern prog metal with prog rock roots and a ton of melodies. Sylvan from Heaven's Cry is on this one, so you know the quality level is high.
Only through it once so far, but i'm really liking it.


JAG PANZER - The hallowed
One of my all-time favorite bands. This one however isn't grabbing me ... yet. I'll obviously spin it a lot more, but so far I'm a bit disappointed. (Waiting for Guillaume to tell me I'm wrong).


STRAY GODS - Olympus
More Iron Maiden than Maiden themselves! This is very very good. I loved the debut, and this is just as good.


VERSAIILES - Vogue
Just a 2-song single, but man it's great. I got it earlier in the week and must have listened 50 times to each of the tunes by now.



There's a few other releases from yesterday I still need to check out: Nocturnal Breed (blackened speed/thrash), Tsjuder (black), Pyramaze (power/prog)

[giedrius]

The Anchoret debut seems pretty interesting. I gave it a few spins and plan to listen more. The music has some mid-era Opeth vibes to me with long, intricate and constantly evolving songs. The style is not really the same though - Opeth have been arriving from death metal roots, and The Anchoret come more from prog rock.

[Guillaume]

THE ANCHORET - It all began with loneliness
Modern prog metal with prog rock roots and a ton of melodies. Sylvan from Heaven's Cry is on this one, so you know the quality level is high.
Only through it once so far, but i'm really liking it.


JAG PANZER - The hallowed
One of my all-time favorite bands. This one however isn't grabbing me ... yet. I'll obviously spin it a lot more, but so far I'm a bit disappointed. (Waiting for Guillaume to tell me I'm wrong).


STRAY GODS - Olympus
More Iron Maiden than Maiden themselves! This is very very good. I loved the debut, and this is just as good.


VERSAIILES - Vogue
Just a 2-song single, but man it's great. I got it earlier in the week and must have listened 50 times to each of the tunes by now.



There's a few other releases from yesterday I still need to check out: Nocturnal Breed (blackened speed/thrash), Tsjuder (black), Pyramaze (power/prog)

Played the JP once so far. Not crazy about it so far, but thought it was good.
Didn't play the SG yet, save for the couple vids which I enjoyed.

[introclaus]

STRAY GODS - Olympus
More Iron Maiden than Maiden themselves! This is very very good. I loved the debut, and this is just as good.

Didn't play the SG yet, save for the couple vids which I enjoyed.

Man, the STRAY GODS album is sooo good. Best Maiden album since "Seventh Son..." (or at least since "Fear of the Dark").

[Sir Exar Kun]

Temic - Count Your Losses

New band featuring Eric Gillette (Neal Morse) and Diego Tejada (Haken). Big fan of both, so this immediately caught my eye today.

Sonically, I'm not hearing what I would expect from either of them, but the combination is definitely something new and interesting that I want to hear more of. Vocals.... Mmmm..... Have to hear other tracks before I judge, but not LOVING them right out of the gate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS7Wx43HRYk

[Mardoch]

The new Tesseract is fantastic. It's like One era sounds with modern polish. Really looking forward to this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnkpPIupQxM

[introclaus]

The new Tesseract is fantastic. It's like One era sounds with modern polish. Really looking forward to this.

Yeah I love it as well. I’ve had it more or less on repeat the past couple of days.

That, and the new Hail the Sun single

[Mardoch]

New Choasbay track is as strong as I've come to expect from them. I'll happily take an album like this.
https://chaosbay.bandcamp.com/track/revolution

[introclaus]

Latest purchases:

VOIVOD - Morgoth Tales
Okay, this was last week, but it's such a cool album I have to mention it here. It's a bunch of re-recordings of deep cuts from their "older" albums. It doesn't include all albums, but it's some interesting choices, and shows once again how unpredictable this band is. Love it. And there's one new song - the title track, which I'm posting here:


FALLSTAR - Sacred Mirrors
Also a release from last week, and probably pretty far removed from what most people here listen to. It's melodic metalcore, with an occassional proggy (almost djenty) element.


X-JAPAN - Angel
This is a single - I guess that makes it the 4th single in the last 15 years, from what essentially should turn into a new full length. It's difficult to cling on to that hope it might eventually manifest itself in a full release, but we'll see. Heck even G'n'R weren't that slow LOL. As expected, this is a typical smooth as butter and sweet as a saccharine overdose ballad. If you like X-Japan, you'll dig this - if not ...


I still have a couple of albums on my "check out then decide if to purchase or not" list from the last two weeks:
The Zenith Passage (prog-death)
Porta Nigra (black metal)
Ashtar (doom)

[Mardoch]

New Earthside track! It's really good, like most of their stuff. They seem like a weird group with these hugely spaced out super high production value releases like this, but whatever I guess. I'm definitely still in for another album from them whenever that happens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxrRwoRODmo