Down, who still play their typical mix of sludge metal and classic rock, prefer to take their time. The band started already back in 1991, but The Purple is only their fourth album to date. The difficulty in judging this album is that I started to like it after quite some effort to dig and try to find interesting elements In the beginning it sounded rather typical and my initial impression was that few things were going on.
As soon as the package labelled Corsair arrived in my mail, I knew I was in for a treat and I was right! I've been a big fan of this band and have been following them since their first Ep. So far this band has been delivering 2 excellent EPs, and this one is no different. The third offering is one of those rare but welcome CDs that grabs you from the very first track and holds you enraptured through the entire recording.
This Metal band from Sydney, Australia (“Metal” is really the word used in the opening lines of the info sheet we got with the download promo copy of the album) was started some 6 years ago, went through some line-up changes (current membership comprises lead singer Sam Rilatt, guitarist/ second singer Ben Irwin, guitarist Dan O'Brien, bassist Kiel Stranger, and drummer Reece Kirby).
Pythia is the name of a priestess from Delphi at the Temple of Apollo, also known as the Oracle of Delphi. She was known for her hallucinations, translated into revelations or prophecies, spoken in a weird tongue, said as it came from the Gods directly. Some historici think it was because of the use of certain drugs, others think she acted under the influence of certain gasses (Greece is a rather seismic region, as you know), or it might have been some sort of self-hypnotic or mental state of whatever.
The story of Tankard is an exceptional one. It was around 1982 when they came into life, but it wasn't until 1986 when their first album was recorded. The band was somewhat of a pioneer, they were spearheading a wave of German thrash bands who became successful worldwide (Kreator, Destruction, Sodom, …).
I remember when way back in 1982 one of my friends bought a copy of the first Tank album ‘Filth Hounds Of Hades’, and how it created quite some kick. This was almost raw energy, poured into a musical equivalent. However this didn’t mean that I became a great fan of this band, but they had some good tunes.
This is the fourth album for French band Spheric Universe Experience. I have no idea what their previous albums sounded like, but apparently their sound was more situated in the progressive metal genre.
And although there are still some prog elements there, they seem to have been reduced to a strict minimum. No intricate keyboard parts are to be found, as a matter of fact keyboards are even spares and between. However the album is not bad, since the guitar parts are very good.
Redline is a band that hails from Birmingham, UK, that judging upon its sound, seems to have it’s roots in NWOBHM. They were founded in 2006 and so far have released a few demos and one record- under own management. This is the archetype of music that in the eighties would have been highly popular. These days however I’m not quite sure. Yet it would be a shame if this band would go by unnoticed. They produce a cracking sound.
Norway’s Ragnarok do exist for quite a long time and I’ve always liked their sweet lullabies (the interested or curious ones might check out the review of early 2010’s Collectors Of The King, posted on March 27th 2010). Since their former label, Regain Records, was put on hold, Jontho and his crew needed to find another intelligent entity to release upcoming stuff, and of course Agonia were a worthy, and winning candidate. All together: hurray!
Paragon is a speed and power metal band from Hamburg, Germany and was founded by guitarist Martin Christian (who in many of the band's album booklets is written as Martin Wöbcke when it comes to songwriting-credits). After releasing some demo tapes and a mini-CD, they were able to release an album in 1994, the debut World Of Sin.
