Ankit Sood

Apr 092023
 

“Prediluvian” marks as the 6th Studio album for Yossi Sassi and The Oriental Rock Orchestra which was released on the 13th of March 2023. The Album concept art by Amir Rozanes, Album design by Liza Murashkovsky, AI cover art by Sol Avi Erez, Original space images by ESA/Webb (N. Bartmann), manipulated, warped and recoloured by Liza Murashkovsky, Executive Producer & Management – Amir Rozanes. The album was engineered and recorded by Liron Schaffer at Black Rock Studios, Santorini, Greece and Mixed and Mastered by Liron Schaffer & Jonathan Jacobi at Jaffa Sound Arts, Tel- Aviv Jaffa.

The album starts off with an ambient “On Shoulders of Nephilim” which starts off beautifully on a Bouzoukitara, and features an eclectic solo that’s sure to soothe the nerves. “Uriel Machine” brings forth an amalgamation of a variety of sounds and instruments with a bang. The song takes on progressions with odd time sequences and crafty hooks that’s sure to mesmerize one and leave the tune ringing in your heads for real long time. “Oopart” gears up with a crunchy guitar sound and sooner than later we hear a blend of Eastern melodies juxtaposed on Western rhythms. The song leverages the same tune and changes octaves to plant a crafty jazzy solo, that’s sure is music to one’s ears.

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Apr 082023
 

Although almost a year late, Voluntary Mortification a Christian deathcore band based out of Lansing, Michigan released their debut album “Suffer to Rise” on the July 22nd, 2022 via Rottweiler Records. This concept album tells the tale of Paul’s soul’s descent into the torments of hell and his ultimate redemption. It also speaks of Paul’s regret at shunning the notion of the afterlife before his death, to him ultimately emerging “renewed and reinvigorated as a vindicator for Truth in a world that has lost its way”. The band aims to be “a light in the darkness for those who are broken and hurting”.

The album opens with “Wages of Sin” which has an eerie intro leading up to the ambient soundscapes that is set forth in the album. “Death Tremors” plunges heavy into guitar chugs meddled with screeching vocals that’s sure to scare the brains out of you. The slow chugs end the song just the way it started. “Vindicator” establishes on the formulaic and offers little experimentation with the song arrangements. We hear a deathcore grind throughout the song that oscillates between screeching and guttural vocals layered on blast beats.

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Sacrificium – “Oblivion”

 Posted by on February 27, 2023 at 11:07  No Responses »
Feb 272023
 

German Melodic death metal band Sacrificium, formed in 1993, are out with their magnum opus “Oblivion” after a 10 year long wait. The album is being released under the Record Label of Nordic Mission on the 10th March 2023. The release celebrates the band’s 30th anniversary. The band have released three albums so far Cold Black Piece of Flesh (2002), Escaping the Stupor (2005) & Prey for Your Gods (2013) and has its roots in a band called Hardway, formed by Sebastian Wagner and Oliver Tesch. In 1991, the session drummer Markus Hauth took the direction more towards a hard rock sound. In 1992, Hardway performed at the reputive Steiger 14 club in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The band name was changed to Corpus Christi in 1993 and they began playing thrash metal. The style developed to death metal, and in 1994, after recording a demo, the name was changed to Sacrificium. After a few line up changes in 1996, Sacrificium recorded its second demo and in 1998 another demo titled Mortal Fear was released. Although the demos were well-received, the vocalist Roman Wagner left Sacrificium in 2000. The band played concerts with bands such as Extol, Dismember, Unleashed, The Black Dahlia Murder or My Darkest Hate.

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Jan 232023
 

Simon Bibby, the One-man show behind Thy Listless Heart has come out with his debut album “Pilgrims on the Path of No Return”, which was released under the Hammerheart Records on the 18th of November 2022. Simon played guitars for the British Christian metal band Seventh Angel (formed in 1987 by Ian Arkley). Although with Seventh Angel the sound was a combination of Doom and Thrash metal, the Listless Heart offers Grand Doom with death metal growls hinting a different sound. Having loved his work with Seventh Angel, I can’t wait to spin this album.

The album opens up with “As the Light Fades” bringing forth much melody with a guitar solo right at intro, a hypnotic vocal delivery, and pauses for a mellow interlude before delving in with all the instruments that sort of sets the tone for the album.  The song grips you with hard hitting lyrics and melodies that stays till the end of the song as it ends on an ambient note. “The Precipice” starts off with dark, gloomy and poetic lyrics which build up beautifully on grand piano, leveraging a rumbling bass and marching drums with rattling of the snares. An eclectic guitar solo pierces through the demonic growls that presents itself throughout the chorus requires a special mention as it adds tone and colour to the song.

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Nov 292022
 

The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead! is the sixteenth studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released on September 2, 2022, on frontman Dave Mustaine’s Tradecraft label via Universal. It is the first Megadeth album to feature drummer Dirk Verbeuren, the second Megadeth album to feature guitarist Kiko Loureiro, and their first studio album in six years since Dystopia (2016), marking the longest gap between two studio albums in the band’s career. The album has been in production for more than two years.

In June 2019, the band announced the cancellation of then-upcoming shows, as Mustaine had been diagnosed with throat cancer; Despite Mustaine’s illness, the band vowed to continue working on the album. The band re-entered the studio in mid-2020 to resume recording their new album, by now tentatively planned for release in 2021. Founding bassist David Ellefson bass parts were re-recorded by Testament bassist Steve Di Giorgio.

The album opens with the title track “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” which starts off eerie and takes on full power with a chunky guitar riff that is accentuated by flaring guitar tid-bits, has its fair share of surprises that Mustaine drops during the interlude before catching back to where the song gets left. An eclectic guitar solo follows the finishing of the song in style. What a great start to the album. Next up things get heavy with “Life In Hell”, which is as traditional as Megadeth gets. The tempo is on the uptick and the sustained chords are rugged, the vocal delivery changes as  it brings forth more engagement with the listener, and the rampant drum rolls finish the song tight.

The intro for “Night Stalkers” sets off a haunting dystopian apocalyptic ambience which is brought forward, multiplied with maddening guitar riffs and thus sets off the heaviest song of the album, with rapper Ice-T collaborating on the song which is about the 160th Battalion with the U.S. Army, and it’s all the black-ops helicopters that go in at night. The acoustic guitar interlude followed by rumbling bass brings in character and brings about punching guitar riffs as the song approaches its end.  According to Mustaine, “Dogs of Chernobyl” is not about the war in Ukraine, but “is a love song”. Prior to the album’s production, Mustaine had been diagnosed with throat cancer. He revealed that his treating radiologist contributed “a couple of phrases and some information about the radiation poisoning when everyone got sick at Chernobyl” to the song’s lyrics. The song is packed with high energy, blast beats paired with guitar chugs, blitzing guitar solos, power lyrics and an ambiance set over Ukrainian voice overs.

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