CD

Norway’s Subliritum hail from the wonderful city of Trondheim, where they formed at the very end of last century.

Stilla is a Swedish side-project by members of e.g. Bergraven and De Arma. One year ago, they surprised with their Nordvis-debut Till Stilla Falla, and now the band returns with the sophomore full length studio recording Ensamhetens Andar, which means something like ‘spirits of solitude’. This album consists of slightly lengthy tracks that combine tradition with atmosphere. The main tempo is rather slow, and the whole gets almost permanently supported by floating, dreamy keyboard lines.

Taking their name from a rock in Sri Lanka, Sigiriya  (ex-Acrimony) are based in a Welsh valley and those who already are familiar with Sigiriya’s debut album will be very pleased with Darkness died Today as well. It's plain from the first listen that this material would work wonders in a live setting, but however Sigiriya doesn't have a single ounce of originality to offer.

Sargeist might be (one of) the best known project by Finnish Black Metalist Shatraug, though he’s involved with tens of other bands and (solo) projects as well, such as: Necroslut, Horna, Black Stench, Ravening, Behexen, Mortualia, Foudre Noire and many others.

Honestly, I did not know German band Rogash yet. Apparently, they did record a demo in 2010 (entitled Rogan Era) and that’s it, so I do not need to feel guilty. But apparently they are quite promising, for Dan Swanö was so kind to do the final mix and mastering for Rogash’s debut full length Supremacy Undone. This gets translated, of course, by means of the monumental sound of this debut full length record.

Austrian act Rauhnåcht was put to life by Stefan ‘Dreamlord’ Traunmüller, who’s (currently and previously) known, as musician, for bands and projects like Golden Dawn, Apeiron, Wallachia, Sternenstaub or Alastor, and who’s very active as producer / master / mixer / engineer for tens of (mainly Austrian) Metal acts too.

Italy’s Profezia are a Black Misanthropic Elite (hehe, got it???) which I do like a lot. The band is now on the roster of Moribund, which isn’t that strange at all, for the ‘musical’ approach is very much moribundish in different aspects: song writing, lyrical approach and sound.

Monolith are a very young act from Germany that recorded a four-track demo in 2011/2012. The trio (Ralf Brummerloh-b, v; André Dittmann-d; Ron Osenbrück-g) started working on their debut full length in Summer 2013, and they joined Final Gate Records’ roster, which will release Monolith’s debut.

The Canadian Million Dollar Fix is yet another one of those classic stoner rock bands that is neither great nor terrible. While MDF pull of reasonably decent up tempo groovin’ matched with a very crunchy rhythm section, it's the vocals that entirely ruin it for me. Now if the music was more remarkable, I might be able to force myself to tone out the vocals, but unfortunately, the 4-track EP is only so-so and singing is too much at the forefront.

I guess it's a fair assumption to state that any artist is into what he does for the appreciation he might get, and generally speaking you'll find 'em pleased to be tagged a certain way, being categorized as belonging to a certain genre or sub-genre. I mean, it's quite “human nature” to “belong” (or appeal) to a certain group of people, right? History however, has shown us that sóme individuals will walk another road, developing artistic styles outside the “norm”...individuals which later gain followers, and which are then seen as pioneers!