CD

Germany’s quartet LDC’s latest 8-track offering reveals a band whose stoner rock vibes and post rock licks work in conjunction to righteously kick you in the but. A veritable potpourri of great songs and a great overall sound is what The Flood Inside offers. The epic sweep of nearly every track envelopes the listener into swirling maelstroms of emotions. The guitars are solid, the leads expressive. The band employs various technical elements and creative songwriting to make their songs stand out from the morass that passes for post rock these days.

Kamelot are one of those symphonic power metal bands that loads of people seem to enjoy as they have rather progressive song writing and skip the overloaded elements. After the criticized predecessor “Poetry For The Poisoned” that had many dull moments and a lack of passion and variation, the band’s Norwegian singer Roy Khan left the band and was soon replaced by another Scandinavian singer, the young Tommy Karevik from Sweden. Many people were expecting a return to strength. But this didn’t happened.

I hear a lot of potential in Jolly’s blend of prog metal, emotional undercurrents, and inventive approach. Strong vocal harmony throughout the recording along with killer arrangements makes for a great musical time. There’s plenty to discover as the band easily transitions between mellow sections and parts with more grit. What’s interesting is that, while the songs echo bands as Threshold, Rush, Pain of Salvation and Yes, they don’t sound too dated. These songs capture a creative energy and manage to sound fresh and invigorating.

Jess And The Ancient Ones are a rather unusual formation, seen from a musical point of view, even though they do fit perfectly to Svart’s roster. On May 23rd 2012 the band debuted with a nameless (self-called) full length (review: see Archives Section, update 09/12/12). Apparently there was a split-EP with Deadmask through Doomentia, but I haven’t heard this material, so I can’t say anything about it.

Flotsam And Jetsam, arguably one of the most influential and prominent acts from thrash metal, has returned to Metal Blade to release their new album ‘Ugly Noise’.

German act Cadaver Disposal was formed at the end of 2010 by former members of Braindead (Stefan Meyerhoff and Jörg Kuchenbecker) and Final Depravity / Deus Inversus (Dennis Baron).

Strawberry Blondes Is a UK based pop/rock/punk band.

Damn, I lost my count, but who didn’t? Since the band came out in 1984 with “In The Sign Of Evil” it was always on top of the four big teutonic thrash metalbands.

Kingdome Come is a German / American band formed in 1987 by Lenny Wolf, German origin. The bran new “Outlier” is the band's new material since 2009, when their last album “Magnified”, was released. ”Outlier” has again became a very special album, that fans will love.

Opener “God Does Not Sing Our Song”, has a profound atmosphere, created by the rhythm section. “The Trap is Alive” has great bass lines with AC/DC type of riffs.

For a project with some truly high-grade Instrumental Metal music, these guys sure use a terribly illegible logo! But heck, that's not what this is about, is it?