Ahum...it would appear that it's but a good thing, that I always check into a band's past when first coming across it. You see, goin' on just this latest release, I would've categorized Four Year Strong (abbreviated to FYS from now on) as being an up-tempo “Easycore” act, and looked for its previous material accordingly. But it so happens, that musically speaking, FYS has been somewhat fickle in the past, say even somewhat unreliable to a certain degree.
Alright, let's do a quickie...that's what I thought yesterday evening, before picking up the info I'd gathered about this Gothic Metalcore act from Schwarzenfeld, in the Bavarian region of Germany, and realizing I had a bigger job ahead of me than I'd reckoned for.
Black Antlers are a pretty young project with members from both the U. S. of A. (Justin Palmieri, the guy behind the superb i AM Esper-project) and Croatia (Robert Bekič, also involved with different solo-outfits). Both guys worked together before, or better, at least they released some split-material for their solo-projects (i AM Esper versus Mental Cage).
Phrenetix are a very young four-piece from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, formed in 2011 and consisting of (female) guitarist / vocalist Lina, bassist Daumantas, guitar player Tomas, and drummer Jonas.
Rock Werchter, one of the greatest festivals in the world. What once started as a little one day festival in 1975 in Werchter Belgium in a tent, has now become very big, and lasts four days; with multiple podia.
Belarus is not necessarily the ‘biggest’ country within the Black Metal scene, though there are several pretty interesting acts out there. Despite quite an impressive curriculum vitae, Zaklon, a project by Temnarod (also involved with e.g. Desolate Heaven, Hreswelgr, Pogost, Defunctus Astrum or Unlight Forest), is not that known at all outside the borders of the former U.S.S.R.
It might seem odd, but Black Metal and India, doesn’t it sound like a weird relationship? Indeed it is. I know a couple of (highly interesting) Death Metal acts from out there, but Toxoid, well, they are my first acquaintance with the Indian Black Metal scene. Once again it is, of course, Transcending Obscurity (at least the India-based sub-label) that gives the opportunity to our half of the globe to learn about them. Thanks, Kunal!
Towers Of Flesh are an English band, formed in 2008, and creators of the 2010-album The Perpetual Paradox.
Temple Of Void are a new band from Detroit, Michigan, with e.g. Acid Witch’s Mike in the ranks.
Before introducing this band and their first EP, some words about Symbol Of Domination Productions. This is a Belarussian label initially run by a colleague of Satanath’s label manager Aleksey. The latter did some PR-work for the label. However, earlier this year, his partner decided to stop his activities for this label, so it gets now sort of run by Aleksey. The label released some demonstrational material in the recent past.
