I picked up a copy from a local metal shop today and listened to it as soon as I got home.  I've been looking forward to get a copy for a while and finally got the opportunity to buy it.  Vallenfyre is founded by Gregor Mackintosh of Paradise Lost along with members of PL, My Dying Bride, and some other band.  Mackintosh decided to form a old school style death metal band and Vallenfyre is the new superband full of famous musicians.  Same idea as Shrinebuilder and etc. 

This album is excellent old school death metal sound with big doom influences ala Entombed and Celtic Frost.  However there is nothing new with the sound but don't let that stop you from getting this album.  It's definitely great solid album.  The guitar riffs are heavy and dirty sounding.  The vocals is very gritty and really brought the sound together. The production is excellent and very gritty sounding without being too muddy and losing the clarity of being able to hear all the instruments. 

The artwork is excellent and I'm even considering buying a vinyl version of this album just for the artwork and listening to this on the good ol' wax! 

Definitely recommended for all death metal fan!


Score: 8.5/10

Labels: death doom, death metal, metal, my dying bride, paradise lost, review, vallenfyre

The new album released by The Black Dahlia Murder.  Normally, I'm not a fan of the band ever since they formed and I never gave them chance until now.  A lot of people told me that this release is their best work and that I will definitely like it.  I decided to listen and bought a copy and give them a chance.  Boy, I'm very glad I did because it truly kicked ass!

Now, don't expect anything innovative or new to come out of this release.  It's really just a solid death metal album.  One thing that I really liked about this album is that it's very varied.  There's some tech death, some melodeath, and even some nice atmospheric sound being created by usage of strings, piano, and acoustics.   One thing that I am very impressed is how much the musicianship has improved since their debut album, Unhallowed, and they proved that they are serious musicians that just so happen to be metalheads who love to party.  There's good amount of solos that are very creative and doesn't completely take over the album.  It's all there to guide the tracks along like a support beam.

I also loved the fact that this album is only around 45 minutes long and that's right amount for this release.  I don't really hear any filler tracks and feel like each track has its own purpose in the whole concept.   That's tough thing to do for a band to pull it off and they did.  All the fans of TBDM will love this album and those who doubt should really give them second chance and give this release an unbiased listen.


Score: 8.5/10

Labels: death metal, metal, music, review, ritual, the black dahlia murder

  A California metalcore band, Thyne Scabbard, was founded in early 2000's and released only one full length as far as I know.  This debut album laid in my cd collection and has been collecting dust til few days ago and I went through my collection and I decided to give it a listen.  Honestly, I cannot remember if I gave it a listen when I obtained it years ago.

   Musicially, the band is straight up metalcore with some death metal influences.  A lot of people said it has some black metal tones in it but I don't really hear it anywhere with exception for the vocals which is high and raspy but I don't really consider that solely black metal... just a vocal style, nothing more.  The drums is very loud and clear throughout the album.  The biggest disappointment for me is the bass.  For some reason it sounds pretty fuzzy and it's more of a background and supporting the guitars.  I would like to hear the bass player to be more assertive and do some of his own solos.  Guitars is very solid and crisp.  The production is not really consistent but that's to be expected with this being an independent release.  Doesn't really bother that much.. just a note for those audiophiles.

  So far, my favorite tracks are The King of Abandon,  Lies, Lust, and Redemption,  and To Those Who Cursed Me.  Those songs are fast, heavy, and very catchy.  I definitely can see the band's potential to develop their sound with those songs.  However, the album also has some awful songs such as Reaching Out With Broken Fingers, which is boring and sound like it is a combination of two other songs on the album.   I don't like to hear an album where the songs are bit samey and I detect that with this album.  I still have to say it's a pretty solid debut album and I expect the band to progress further with next album if they do plan on it.

Score: 7/10

Labels: death metal, metal, metalcore, review, thyne scabbard

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

An Aussie thrash/death metal band, Malignant Monster, released this seven tracks EP, "Foul Play" in 2005. I got a copy from an Aussie friend and I've been really digging this album for a long time. I'm really glad to see this EP with SEVEN tracks. I always hate it when an EP have fewer than 4 tracks. I mean come on...give me a break!

When I heard the first track, "Old Corpus Delecti", for first time...the first thing to pop in my head is...FINALLY! some good modern thrash metal. The drums are very thrashy and fast. Good blastbeats and you can definitely pick up death influences. The guitar works are pure thrash while the vocals bring some variety with black metal style growls. They did a pretty good cover on Megadeath's song "Liar" as the last track on the EP. I've been noticing more and more quality metal coming out of Aussieland. Total props for the country!

Best song: "My Rage"-full of brutal force and solid instrument works. Lyrics is very catchy too.

Worst song: "Turrets of Blood"- the least thrashy song out of the album. Doesn't really do much for me. They better not expand on this song on next album. Stick with the first couple of songs.


Score: 7.5/10

www.myspace.com/malignantmonster

Labels: aussie metal, black metal, death metal, malignant monster, metal, review, thrash metal

A sophomore album by Dagon and released by Bombworks Records. This is an excellent extreme metal album. I cannot really pinpoint what exactly kind of metal this album is because it has mixture of death, thrash, and a dash of black metal. It's actually refreshing to see a band that are trying something different and try to fuse all those excellent subgenres into something great. There's tons of thrash riffs and some nice groovy riffs mixed in. The vocals are mostly guttural with some high pitched being used in some songs.

The whole theme of this album should be pretty much obvious. Dagon's all about the ocean and the myths behind the oceans such as Poseidon and that kind of stuff. I really dig the concept and there isn't that many bands that are obsessed on the oceanic themes like Dagon.



Best Song: a tie between Terraphobic and Full Speed Ahead-excellent songs! Perfect mixture of thrash and death riffs with excellent vocals. I love the solos in those songs.

Worst Song:The Last- worst song on the album but it doesn't mean its bad though. I really dig this song too but it's a little bit boring compared to the rest of the songs on the album. Could use some more creative solos and variety of vocals in my opinion.


Score: 8.5/10

www.myspace.com/dagonmetal

Labels: american metal, christian, dagon, death metal, metal, ocean, review, thrash metal

Dead Risen is a one man "DIY" project and he sent me this demo few weeks ago and I finally got some time to give it several serious listens. This is definitely a mix of death metal and grindcore. The production is very raw but it really fits the music so I didn't mind. The only thing I would like is for the sound to be a little less fuzzy so I can hear the distortion and riffs more clearly. The riffs and drumming are very catchy which is always a plus for me. The vocals is hard to get used to at first but its death/grind so what do you expect? Definitely not clean vocals, that's for sure! There's only few songs....total of 7 songs which is not bad for a demo. I would like to see a full length from them and the production should be focused on making it less fuzzy and improve on the mixing with vocals and the bass. Other than that, its a good start for the band and I am looking forward to see what he have in store for future.


Best Song: I AM- very catchy riffs! I hope they will make more songs with good riffs like this one.

Worst Song: Into Your Heart- this song is pretty much "eh" for me...nothing special at all and doesn't really interest me for some reason.


Score: 6/10


www.myspace.com/deadrisen

Labels: american metal, christian, dead risen, death metal, deathgrind, grindcore, 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

Krig, a Brazilian death metal band, just released their album, Target: Human, Mission:Destroy, and it's an excellent release! Totally brutal and unforgiving! I was blown away because I've heard some of their older songs and thought they were alright so I wasn't expecting much from them. Boy, I was VERY wrong and the album is full of brutal death metal with excellent vocals. I love the songs Fast Food and Beautiful Mutilation. Excellent lyrics and excellent music! I really love the guitarworks...just plainly great. I think the only thing they need to tweak with is bass. Could've create better bass riffs and have the drums accompany it better.

Overally I give this album 8 out of 10

http://www.myspace.com/krigdeathmetal

Labels: brazillian metal, brutal, death metal, NHmetal, review

Divulgence is a new band out of South Carolina and play death metal. They just got signed by Bombworks Records and are working on a full length that hopefully will be released later this year. They sent me their 3 songs demo and I gave it a couple of listens. So far I really dig it although production isn't that great but that is to be expected with demos. I really enjoyed Awaken the Dawn song in particular. I can really feel the passion in the music and lyrics. They seems to be very passionate musicians and they are mixing in some black metal influecnes which I always love. Another big plus is they don't have much of the 'core in their sound and they mentioned that their big influences seems to be Antestor, Crimson Moonlight, Carcass, and Warbringer which are excellent bands. I can see some sounds drawn from those influences but they did not try to be a rip off which is good thing! The major problem for me is that the sound is little too fuzzy and its hard for me to hear the drums and bass guitar. That definitely could use some improvement. I definitely am going to keep an eye on them and see what they have to offer in their new album. I give their demo 6/10.

www.myspace.com/divulgencesc

Labels: american metal, bombworks, death metal, divulgence, review