Vengeance Rising is the infamous Christian 80's thrash band that released a couple of albums before breaking up in early 90's. This album is their debut album released in 1989.

The album is absolutely a classic and a must have! This album is very brutal and most possibly heaviest album I ever heard by a Christian band. I am still amazed the band never got picked up by any of the major metal label like Nuclear Blast or Metal Blade.

The first moment when you push the CD in the player...BAM! The brutality started! No chance to relax and get used to the sound and it will never let you go away. The first track is same title as the album and it is full of excellent riffs and simple structures. Tons of solos throughout the album

I can tell there's some death influences and the production is surprisingly pretty good for their time. I am actually impressed and really appreciate the efforts. Of course there's no such thing as a perfect album but this one is pretty close. The only thing I don't like about this album is that it is freaking short! Only 39 minutes?! C'mon, give me some more Vengeance Rising music!
Good thing they produced another excellent album after this one or I'll go nuts.

Best Song: Beheaded...the last song of the album with that insane vocals by Roger...just total brutality.

Worst Song: Receive Him...obviously filler song and the vocals is kind of annoying actually.

Score: 9.5/10

If you find a copy...buy it immediately. I'm serious.


Note: I am not going to post the myspace link for VR because the modern VR is totally different than the VR from 80's. I don't consider them the same band at all.

Labels: 80's, christian, metal, review, thrash metal

Holy cow! What an excellent album by Flaskavsae! Flaskavsae is an ambient black metal band founded in 2005. Flaskavsae has been experimenting with the black metal and ambient sounds to create something unique and more original than many other black metal bands. This album is actually supposed to be Flaskavsae's debut album but was held and another albums got released first. Finally, it got released in Summer, 2007 to the lucky 50 people who were aware of it.

Now, it is OOP and rare to find. I am very fortunate to acquire this album several months ago and I absolutely love it. Really dark atmosphere and excellent and fast drumming. I really dig the vocals a lot because it sounds absolutely beastly...definitely not human like!

The production is very lo-fi which really adds up to the atmosphere. The album really makes me feel like I'm in some kind of dark cave and I am going insane. The guy who's behind this band obviously knows what he's doing with the production which is great and rare in black metal scene. If you ever come up a copy then grab it before it disappears in thin air(....or bought by someone else who is faster than you).


Best Song: Tie between Celestial and Raised By Fire. Both are very brutal tracks and just perfectly composed of fast and complex drumming, heavily distorted guitar riffs, and beastly vocals to drive you crazy!

Worst Song:Without War. Still excellent track...just could use some more variety of drumming.

Score: 9.5/10

www.myspace.com/flaskavsae

Labels: black metal, flaskavsae, metal, review

The 3 Way Split is between No Heaven, Dios Incandescente, and (((0))) that got released by FunerART records label. The music is mostly drone and funeral doom style. I have to say I really dig Dios Incandenscente the most out of all three bands. I really love the heaviness of the three songs by them. I really recommend this band and I am definitely going to check out more of their music.

No Heaven is pretty decent but one major thing that really bother me is some production of their songs is terrible. I had to crank up the volume to be able to hear anything which I really don't like. I would rather all songs' volume to be at least similar level.

The (((0))) song is very interesting drone song....quite quiet also but listenable. It actually makes me want to listen more which can be good and bad thing....I do wish there's one more song by them to maybe even out the amount by the other bands.


Overall, this is a decent album and I'm very glad to find out about this because I heard Dios Incandescente for first time and I really dig them a lot. They are definitely the best out of three.

I would definitely recommend this album just to listen to Dios Incandescente's material.

Best Song:Darwin IV
Worst Song:Hymn Of The Selen

Score:6/10

Labels: 3-way split, doom, drone, funerart, metal, review

Hailing from UK, Primitive Graven Imaged released this debut album on Open Grave Records back in 2006 and it is pretty great for a debut album. It's very obvious that they are heavily influenced by Darkthrone but it's definitely not a rip-off. I really dig the thrash influences on this album. Thrash metal happens to be one of my favorite metal subgenre so I really dig the sounds. I like the way they used a little of keyboards and focus more on the guitar riffs. I've noticed that many black metal bands focused mostly on keys which is getting boring for me. It's actually refreshing to listen to their album.

I definitely recommend the album to anyone who dig black metal and want to hear something different than typical black metal that went overboard with keys.

Best Song:Fear and Fire
Worst Song: Design

Score:7.5/10

www.myspace.com/primitivegravenimage

Labels: black metal, metal, primitive graven image, review

One of many swedish death metal bands to come out during early 90's. Centinex actually produced decent death metal music. This album is actually two in one. Bloodhunt is an EP while Reborn Through Flames is full length. It's actually nice to have both in one since Reborn Through Flames is my favorite album by Centinex and the EP is one of their last good material in my opinion. The songs on the album is really schizophrenic because there are mix of excellent death metal with swedish influences, some are slower and more melodic, while others are just standard death metal songs. They did a cover on Kreator's song which is alright. Not the best cover song ever but they did it well enough not to disrespect Kreator's legacy.

If you want to listen to some good 90s style swedish death metal then go ahead and get this album. However if you are looking for something that is excellent and amazing then you definitely will be disappointed. This album is more for fans of death metal and if you are not then don't bother getting this album.

Unfortunately this band split in 2006 so there won't be any more albums after their last one, World Declension, and personally, I think it's about time anyway because they haven't been producing anything better than their older materials.

Best Song:Molested
Worst Song: Luciferian Moon

Score: 6/10

www.myspace.com/centinex

Labels: centinex, death metal, metal, review, swedish metal

"The Skull" is Trouble's second full length album released in 1985. It may be an old album but it's such a killer classic. I absolutely dig this good ol' DOOOOOOOOOM metal. Very dark and heavy! It also has some thrash influences among the traditional doom riffs. A lot of very long tracks which is normal for doom metal. The production is bit rough but totally fit the mood perfectly. I definitely recommend this album for doom lovers and metalheads. It's such a classic that should not be ignored.

Score: 8.5/10
Best Song: The Wish
Worst Song:Gideon

http://www.newtrouble.com

Labels: doom, metal, review, trouble

Fans of this band always cheer "HOOOOOOORRDDEE!"

If you are a christian metal fan and you don't know about this band then you must have been living under the rock your entire life. Horde is one of the most famous christian black metal band(one man band actually) and released the album, "Hellig Usvart", back in mid 90's. This is the most important release for the "unblack" scene due to it being released on Nuclear Blast.

Okay, enough about history...if you want to know more then research!

Generally, the music is pretty good but a little bit generic in my opinion. The vocals is alright but hey come on, its black metal so the vocals gotta sound brutal. What I really dig about this album is the drums...its excellent which is obvious due to who the man behind the band is....(if you don't know who then get out of the rock!). I always think the song titles are so cheesy that it's awesome!

Best song: Invert the Inverted Cross
Worst song: An Abandoned Grave Bathes Softly in the Falling Moonlight

This album is absolutely an essential for black metal collection. However, the quality is not top notched like Antestor's material. It is more valuable due to the history behind the album.

Score: 7/10

www.myspace.com/hellingusvart

Labels: black metal, horde, metal, review, unblack

This is the female fronted melodic metal band, Venia from Finland...not to be confused with the other Venia from US...the hardcore band which is not even that good.

Anyway, the album was released few months ago on Open Grave Records and it is pretty good. The music is something like a bit of thrash, power, melodic, progressive, and dual vocals(male and female) all thrown in blender. That is not a bad thing...in fact I dig the sound a lot. It's definitely a big improvement over their EP on production and songwriting. I really like the way they have some songs in English and others in Finnish. I guess I have a thing for music in foreign languages.

Best Song:Victory by Surrender
Worst Song:Liberty

I am already looking forward to see what they have in store for next album.

Score: 7/10

www.veniaband.com

www.myspace.com/veniaband

You can buy the album at www.divinemetaldistro.com

Labels: finnish metal, melodic metal, power metal, reviews, venia

Virgin Black is Australian doom/gothic metal band. Definitely one of my favorite in the doom genre. Their music is so beautiful and amazing composed. Sombre Romantic is one of Virgin Black's first album, after Trance EP, and has 11 songs(including outro). It's definitely my favorite album by VB due to the emotions being felt by listening throughout the album. They used a lot of classical instruments such as piano, violin, and cellos. Beautiful lyrics and beautiful compostition. I definitely recommend the album to anyone who dig doom/gothic sound...even anyone who enjoy classical music.

Best song: A Poet's Tears of Porcelain
Worst song:Weep for Me

I am telling you...there's absolutely no "bad" song...even the worst song on the album is still awesome.

I'm giving the album 8.5/10.

www.virginblack.com

www.myspace.com/virginblackofficial

Labels: aussie metal, christian, doom, gothic metal, review, virgin black

Within The Torn Apart is a drone band by Napalm Dave. This album is basically a compilation of his earlier tracks made in 2007-2009. Currently, he has a debut album that will be released on Sullen Records sometimes this year.

Drone is a genre that is not for everyone, and it is purely underground with an exception for Sunn 0))) which is the most well known drone band.

I received the album from Dave and I gave it couple of listens over past several days. I can tell already he's a veteran in the scene and have huge talent. Some of the tracks has bad production but still enjoyable.

I really dig the Sunn 0))) tribute tracks and the one that has Fire (Eligbbor, Frost Like Ashes, Firethrone) contributed his vocals. The tracks all are blistering beasts that just ripped everything apart!

Best track:Darkness Into Light
Worst track:Up Above

Score: 6/10 due to production

I am definitely looking forward to the debut album that is coming out sometimes this year.

You better keep an eye out! Like Dave said, Drone on!

www.myspace.com/cbfdib

Download the album for free!

(link with permission by the band)

Labels: drone, metal, review, reviews, wtta