UniSEF hail from Boise, Idaho and they are proud to be one of the only Christian punk band from that area as well. Unfortunately they just split up last year so that means no plans for new album. You can still order their albums from their online store at: http://www.unisefmusic.ecrater.com/

This is some great straight up punk rock album and they definitely remind me a lot of old school punk rock like The Altar Boys...especially their early stuff. The vocals is fun and I absolutely love their lyrics. It's fun to sing along! You can hear various of influences from street punk like Rancid to a little bit ska. They are very passionate about what they sing about so you can feel that they are very genuine at what they do and believe in. They also included their songs from Death and Revolution split with Thee Impostors in this album so that's nice if you don't have the split.

Best Song: Drive Thru Amerika -very catchy and the lyrics is my favorite out of all songs.

Worst Song: Paulie-still pretty decent though.

Score:8/10

http://www.myspace.com/unisef

Labels: boise punk, idaho, jchc, punk, review, unisef

Burden is a German sludge rock band and they released a 3 song EP called "The Fool". The sound is very southern and remind me a lot of Corrosion of Conformity at least vocally. That's not necessarily a bad thing but don't expect to hear anything new. What I really dig about this stuff is it's very catchy and I can detect some blues influences which I really love when bands do that. I will give them points for that.

I have to admit I hate it when the band put out an EP that is only 3 songs long. Just call it a demo for Pete's sake. The sound is also a little bit too fuzzy for my taste and it kinda make the songs a bit less catchy than it could be with more polished mastering. The bass kinda got lost in the noise which I really don't like. I'm a bass frenzy and I want to be able to hear bass just as clearly as rest of the instruments. However the EP definitely show some promise. It's for anyone who dig some sludge-y rock that's catchy as well.

Score: 6.5/10

Best Song: "Bottled Betrayal"-very catchy and I really can see the band's potential in this song.

Worst Song: "The Fool"- the album title track that could be much better with good mastering. The sound is too fuzzy and I didn't enjoy it as much as rest of the other songs.

http://www.myspace.com/listentoburden

Labels: burden, corrosion of conformity, german, hard rock, review, sludge metal

I am officially a writer on the Untombed staff so I've been doing interviews and reviews. I've gotten permission to type in my reviews here from the magazine. However, I strongly encouraged you guys to purchase the magazine from www.divinemetaldistro.com because it's awesome! :)



Sit At My Right Hand-As The Sun Sets

An EP by Sit At My Right Hand and one of two CDs released this year. The guy is definitely one busy dude. The music is straight up death metal and it's very brutal. Some said they have experimental sound but I disagree because there's nothing new that's being done. I'm glad the production is much better with this EP than the debut album. I dig the passionate lyrics and I can see that this guy is very genuine about his beliefs and his goal for this band. However, the music composition is decent at best. The guitar riffs are good without any doubt. The drums...not so much. I really think they need to get someone who can play drums or at least know what he/she is doing with drum programming. If they invest more in that then the next album will be much better. What would be even better is for them to be picked up by a record label to get some good mastering done. I would recommend this for any fan of death metal and if you are not then don't bother. 4/7



Darkness Before Dawn-Kings To You

Darkness Before Dawn is a death metal band with considerable metalcore influences. This is their debut album released by Bombworks Records. It is too bad it was kind of "lost in the shuffle" among many releases over the summer. This is actualy a decent death metal album with nice symphonic elements with the keyboards. They do pull some breakdowns in a couple of songs and I think it's done pretty well. The best song definitely is "Undeserved hatred" which is full of great double bass drummings, spooky keys, and some great guitar riffs. The keys is bit more of a background and supporting the composition as the whole. Some people may not like that bu tI think it's a perfect mix. The main complaint I have about this album is the vocals. I think it gets boring and I've been focusing a lot on the guitar riffs and drumming to keep myself interested. The other thing is the album cover art is way too dark and should be much brighter so I can see the details. 5/7

Labels: darkness before dawn, death metal, metalcore, review, sit at my right hand, untombed

Surtr is a doom band from France and consist of two members. Pretty new band, founded last year, and released a demo. They sent me a copy and asked for a review. The demo includes three songs, two original and one cover song. The music is pretty much straight up doom which is not bad thing. I can definitely tell they are influenced by Sabbath and Reverend Bizarre(one of my favorite).

The first two songs are simply titled part I and V which makes me suspect they already have a full length in works but I could be wrong. The first song is about 9 minutes long and I really love the beginning which is full of heavy riffs. However I have to admit I get a little bored after a while and I was wondering when the song will end. The second song is much more interesting and pretty catchy. Last song is a cover song on Black Sabbath "Electric Funeral" and I think it's done pretty decently. However, I think it's getting old because I've heard tons, tons of bands doing cover on Black Sabbath songs. I would prefer a cover song on some underrated bands like Reverend Bizarre. In fact, I don't think I ever heard of any band doing a cover on Reverend Bizarre songs. If any of you guys know of one then please tell me!


Overall, this is pretty good demo and I definitely will keep an eye on this band and see what they will do with their music in future. This is good stuff for anyone who dig some catchy doom music.

Best Song: Part V

Worst Song: Part I (gets boring after a bit while)

Score: 7/10

http://www.myspace.com/surtrdoom

Labels: black sabbath, doom, doom metal, review, surtr, traditional doom

Yidhra is an upcoming doom metal band and I've heard one of their song off the DMA(Doom Metal Alliance) Sampler. I really loved the song so I went ahead and bought a copy of their EP. I have to say it's such a bargain because it was only 5 bucks!

The music is pretty much straight up doom metal and there isn't anything that haven't been done. However they played it so well that I can't help but really dig the music. It's very catchy and I absolutely love the song structure. Just listen to "Witch Queen" and you will know what I mean.

One thing I really have to commend is the production of the EP. When I heard how clear and crisp the sound is, I pretty much said "YES!". I love me underground music and totally understand the reasons behind crappy or so-so production, either on purpose or not. However, I would like to hear some good quality music every now and then. They really put their money into this release and the quality is excellent. I can hear every instruments really well and none of them are either too loud or too quiet. Huge props to the guy behind the mastering.


Best Song: "Witch Queen"

Worst Song: "Ancient Ones" (don't get me wrong...still a good song!)


Score: 8/10


www.myspace.com/yidhra

Labels: 80s metal, doom metal, doom metal alliance, review, yidhra

Doom Metal Alliance is one of the biggest supporter of the Doom scene. If you are into Doom and still haven't heard of this then you better get your butt out of the rock and check it out. They release a sampler every now and then and this is their 9th one. I have to say this is my favorite sampler so far because of a high amount of excellent bands that deserve more recognition. The sampler consist of not just Doom but Drone, some Post Rock, Ambient, Sludge, and more. All the samplers are free for download so I'm telling you it won't hurt to check it out. I know nobody would say no to free music.

Best song: Yidhra - The Lament Of Longinus (killer song and I'm really into this band now thanks to the sampler)

Worst song: Destino Entierro - The Alcholichrist (pretty decent but I prefer the other songs than this one)


Score: 8.5/10


Download here

Labels: ambient, doom, doom metal alliance, drone, post rock, review, sampler, sludge metal