Tombstoned are a pretty young act (formed in 2010) from Finland that now debut with a self-called full length studio recording (forty seven minutes for six tracks). Last year the trio self-released a two-track EP, which drew the attention of Svart Records, with this full album as first result of their co-operation.
I was very pleased with what Italian band Stigma (the one from Piedemonte, of course) did in the past. Albums like When Midnight Strikes! and Concerto For The Undead (both of them released via Pivotal Recordings, in respectively 2008 and 2010; reviews updated on respectively 18/04/10 and 21/12/10 in this site’s Archives-section) were honoured by positive reviewing taken care of by undersigned ;-).
It was sad to learn that Australian top-commando Nocturnal Graves broke up in 2010, for this band was known for that typifying Aussie-styled Blast-Death violence. But dry your tears of blood, semen and mucus, and behold… …From The Bloodline Of Cain! Are Nocturnal Graves’ representatives descendants of Cain himself, with all forbidden pleasures once emerged? The past aural efforts do balance my opinion towards a positive answer, and this new album (thank the Horned One for this filthy resurrection!) won’t contradict.
King Fear are the brain child of guitar player Mål Dæth. After he wrote some stuff that differed from his main project, Bullbar, he recruited Eisenvater’s Johannes Bonnin and Negator / Dark Funeral frontman Nachtgarm to take part of the finalisation of the new material he created.
(intro based on my review of last year’s Bereue Nichts-album; for full review: see update within the Archives, posted on October 31st 2012)
Bordeaux… I do appreciate some of the wines coming from that era, even though not every sub-region out there can completely please me (I am a connoisseur-amateur, with a profound passion for wines and distillates, but that’s another story). However, there’s another Bordeaux-based existence I do appreciate enormously: Year Of No Light. This band was formed at the beginning of this century and they did record a handful of highly acceptable releases with a mostly breath-taking atmosphere.
You know, Hydra is the first album by this Dutch band I've had to review, and part of the reason for that, of course, is the fact that Within Temptation went through several changes in musical direction during its career, which started back in 1996 when the band was founded by singer Sharon den Adel and rhythm guitarist/ grunt singer Robert Westerhof.
It's been 3 years since Zwevezele based (the small town, population ca. 5000, is situated in the West-Flanders province, and lays roughtly in the middle of Brugge and Kortrijk) Belgian quartet TrafficjaM self-released its debut full-length album Headstrong (review done by yours truly), and since then some interesting changes happened. First of all, a new member entered the fold in the form of bassist Hanz, whom turns out to be a perfect match/ complement to guitarist TJ's rawer lead vocals.
This is a long awaited re-issue of Theocracy’s original 2003 album, that was getting harder and harder to find. And while on the original record the drums were programmed, and it also had a not too good production, for this re-issue the drums were re-recorded by Theocracy’s drummer Shawn Benson and the album itself was also completely remixed.
Stonecast are: Franck “Kanon” Ghirardi (vocals), Seb “Cazu” Casula (rhythm guitars), Bob “Flying” Saliba (lead guitars), Lionel “Beev” Antonorsi (bass) and Kenny Earl “Rhino” ex-drummer Manowar.
A French band formed in 2002 in Marseille with some influence from Iron Maiden, Iced Earth, Blind Gardian and Manowar, but the hold their own identity and modern approach.
