ANUBIZ "17" CD álbum 2005 (Nicrothal Records)

A lot of people complain about the current Teatre of Tragedy musical style, people that only acclaims the old stuff that were vital master pieces into Doom Gothic scene,  to fill that hole Anubiz comes from Germany, they have been qualified as T.O.T clones by some specialized press means; because if, this band will bring you again the old sounds, adding some musical elements of the current Gothic Metal tendencies..
This CD is simply entitled "17" and it presents leisurely songs loaded with melancholic emotions, with clean vocals (male/efmale) and another guttural voice. The whole CD maintains the same line in the 10 songs, highlight songs are the doommer  "Ein Letztes Mal", the orchestral "Abschied" and "Winternacht" a fast songs  with varied rhythms.
Usted ya sabe, aquí usted encontrará la muerte típica gruñe, hembra los vocals limpios y las secciones orquestales por el sintetizador...

Time: 46:52
Tracks: 10
Rating: 7.0/10
Contact:
www.anubiz.de  

By Saqrangel

ALTA DENSIDAD "Fenix" CD álbum 2005 (Orion Metal )

Alta Densidad has its beginning in 1997, they already have two EPs and two albums; and they have also shared stages with bands of fame like Hammerfall and Edguy, then already you will be imagining the quality of this band; a good time ago I didn't listen some good band into the not very diffused Chilean power metal (I only remember to Inquisición), and with this second album, Alta Densidad is the best proposal in the southern country, not for anything they took near 3 years to release this CD. 
As reborning of a new time, the band offers us a fresh and easily digestible sound, with clean songs, loaded with emotion, and the best thing of everything, they sing in Spanish! The lyrics are positive generally, mixed inside magic legends with full optimism. 
Highlight songs are: Reina Sofia (fast and epic), "Arcángel" (a the best songs and although it seems incredible, the keyboards remind me to the old Dimmu Borgir jeje), "Fenix" ("Abre tus alas de fuego  y verás, levanta el vuelo hacia al inmensidad, sigue adelante y no mires atrás, ve por tus sueños y hazlos realidad..." a catching track really), "En los Bosques de Merlin" (a song of good changes and powerful riffs), "Día D" (new version of the same song of their previous CD "Princesa Aura"), "Mas allá del tiempo" (melancholic, with the flute addition and keyboards) and finally we have "Alta Densidad". 
" Phoenix " is a CD with mature sound, refined instrumentation, a professional production and a powerful intensity that I recommend it for you!

Time: 56:02
Tracks: 11
Rating: 8.7/10
Contact:
Band: www.altadensidad.cjb.net 
Promotion: www.risestar.cl 

By Saqrangel

DAGGER "Dagger Summer" Demo 2005 (self released)

From the cement jungla, Mexico DF this powerfull band comes, almost entirely conformed by women who offer us 3 songs that quickly remember me to the 80s, remembering the sound of Diamond Head, Judas Priest, Motor Head and something of the old Black Sabbath.
The songs are simple, of catching riffs, rhythm changes that you like from a beginning with little complexity, the original point is the Gaby's voice who not has a voice as effeminate as those that are usually listened in the power metal bands with female vocals.The title songs are  "Potential Destruction” with choirs something weak screaming Die Die Die!, "Black River" of powerful riffs and finally we have to "Keep Running", an explosive song, with full energy and good rhythms.
This band is an obligation for all Hard Rock and the Classic Heavy Metal lovers, then while you wait the release of their debut album enjoys the three songs that you can download directly of their website.

Time: 12:12
Tracks: 3
Rating: 7.5/10
Contact:
http://www.daggerband.com  

By Saqrangel

DIARY OF DREAMS "Nigredo" CD álbum 2004 (Accession  Records)

After near two years of the exit of this CD, finally I comment this wonderful stuff of one of the most representative German electro darkwave bands, it is really pleasing to see that Diary of Dreams overflows from brilliant idea disc to disc, all this thanks to the very productive Adrián Hates' mind.  A lot of people thought that they would not overcome her predecessors, however "Nigredo" is a new achievement in the musical band history; differing of their last two discs that were more moved and dancing, this it is a highly intense and deep stuff, but at half time; it is a conceptual disc inside dark and dense atmospheres, a disc that incorporates energy and melancholy at the same time.
Highlight songs are the devastating "Dead Letter" that has dark ambient influences in a beginning, then squashes us with sinister melodies; "Kindrom", "Giftraum" and "Psycho-Logic" are the most dancing songs, with some success on the dance floors; "Charma Sleeper" shows a dense melancholy; the song of better musical composition is for my pleasure "Portrait of a Cynic", that it would be the perfect marriage between the hell and the sky, the keyboards submerge you into a sweet and somber night; the last track "Mask of Shame" is a different song, it is a song with baroque airs, quite emotional. 
Lyrically the songs embrace topics highly existential, distressing, of lost loves, all from a terribly dark point of view, of deep feelings and emotions loaded with sadness.
If you like the dancing electro/darkwave, maybe delay time in assimilating this disc, and if you didn't still listen to Diary of Dreams, then don't lose more time and it tries to get this master piece of the contemporary dark music.
The band after this stuff already released two new discs, it is the 'MenschFeind' MCD and the 'Alive' CD, also get them. 

Time: 1h 09:11
Tracks: 13
Rating: 9.0/10
Contact:
Band: www.diaryofdreams.de  
Label: www.accession-records.de 

By Saqrangel

DECADENCE "Where Do Broken  Hearts Go?" CD álbum 2005 (Cold Meat Industry)

The Cold meat Industry's releases are more flattering every time, especially inside the Neo-Classical / Neo Folk gender, and the new of Decadence is not the exception. This CD is sophisticated musically and brilliant, the music is inside an atmosphere with orchestral passages, dark atmospheres and slight melodies with full sweetness, yeah!It is a musical combination that shows a calm, melancholic and dramatic landscape! They also use some orchestrations with military tones.
¡Un punto atractivo es los vocals, las secciones masculinas se hablan, acompañó con un canto hembra suave, una armonía perfecta existe entre ambos! 
Las canciones del momento culminante son "Good boys go to heaven - sperm & honey" a varied and quite original song; "Sin" with masterful background sounds, acoustic guitar, piano, soft orchestral sections plus the charming female voice by Eyphrosyne; "Happily" is magic with hypnotic soundscapes; "Do not Resit" is a strong track, with martial and sinister orchestrations; where the female vocals  flourish; "Everything I Am" is deep, melancholic, dramatic; "With A Dream & A Gun" is an autumn song with fresh atmospheres.
The lyrical side is quite interesting, questions and answers of a decadent world; matters related to the life, the death, to the plagued lifestyle of material misery, without reasons, lost.
Sincerely, Decadence is a grouping worthy of your consideration, a real decadent prose!

Time: 47:14
Tracks: 10
Rating: 8.9/10
Contact:
Label: www.coldmeat.se 

By Saqrangel

HELEVORN "Fragments"  CD álbum 2005 (self released)

I don't know how I didn't listen before these Spaniards! with the talent that they have they should be in a higher seat. Well, a lot of time doesn't pass, the pleasure for this band came quick when I listened its first song, the gothic doom metal that they play is in the Lacrimas Produndere vein, it is also notorious the influence of old school doom bands, like Anathema and Paradise Lost; the vocal aspect is exquisite, the clean and deep vowels have bigger protagonism, the aggressiveness comes with the grumpy vowels, they remind me in great measure to their countrymen of Golgota (rip). In the side of the instrumentation, the strings and the drums are mixed with success. 
Although all the songs are at half time and have a melancholic line, no song is boring, the atmospheres are different in each a, from the first song "Nobody is Waiting" the band it is able to wrap you in a cold dimension. Maybe the best song is "Gost in my Room", a heavy and dark song; or "Absolute Sadness", icy song as the winter; something different to the other songs is "About Angel" (2002), this track shows the old style of the band, where they also include a female voice. Here also you will find a Katatonia version, "12" (from "Brave Murder Day" CD).
Obviating some deficiencies in the production, Helevorn has become one of my favorite bands from the Spanish Gothic metal! A band that mixes power, melancholy, feeling and remarkable melodies perfectly. Extra! the disk brings a track multimedia with additional info. 

Time: 47:00
Tracks: 8
Rating: 7.8/10
Contact:
www.helevorn.com  

By Saqrangel

KONTRA "kontramundo" CD álbum 2005 (Orion Records/Risestar Music)

And did somebody say that the Hard Heavy Rock was dead? I believe that they made a mistake, I believe that in Chile that doesn't happen, because Kontra gives us a powerful sample that the hard rock spirit still has blood that it wants to flow! Its debut CD "Kontramundo" reminded you to classic glories as Motorhead, Black Sabbath or Baron Rojo..
The songs are compact, well made, although I should say that no song impressed me and it captured my attention to the first listened, still it " Kontramundo " is a well elaborated and professional stuff and better considering that it is their first álbum. The best thing are the guitars of great  riffs and virtuosos soles. 
"Perdido" is the most heavy song, "Que me espera" it is the rock symbol, with good choirs and brave riffs; and "Kontrafuego" is the most explosive song, of quick rhythms and a fateful critic to the unconscious of the war. A different song is the slow ballad "Antes de Caer".
An interesting aspect are the direct lyrics, about the matters that are sinking this world, such as the lost of values, life without real sense, that slavery to a cruel system.
Kontra brings new airs to the Chilean rock, and this CD prepares a good future for them. Uhmm hard rock fans, attentive!

Time: 39:58
Tracks: 8
Rating: 7.5/10
Contact:
Band: www.kontra.cl 
Promotion: www.risestar.cl 

By Saqrangel

MIND.IN.A.BOX "Certainty"  Single 2005 (Metropolis Records)

From the Stefan Poiss' mind this German project was born, simply denominated Mind.In.A.Box. This is the advance of their 2do album " Dreamweb " (release the same year) which brings us 6 tracks, of which 4 are versions of the song "Certainty", where three are remix for different DJs. The two remaining songs are "Beyond the World" and a remix of the great song "Unicorn".
The music is intense, going into in the electro/future pop , where the vocal tone is the pleasant point, the voice it varies among clean and refined shades to an eminently somber tone..
This is CD loaded of power and emotion, all the lovers of the electronic gender get their album "Dreamweb" now that transported you a dimension of futurist dream.

Time: 34:23
Tracks: 6
Rating: 8.0/10
Contact:
Band: www.mindinabox.com 
Label: www.metropolis-records.com 

By Saqrangel

OVERGARVEN "Promo 2005"  MCD 2005 (self released)

With a curious name (Overgarven = a uniform which is worn by soldiers in the case of a chemical war) this band comes from Greece with an innate potential, the songs presented in this CD are an advance of its debut "Just a Fake".
The band basically appeals to the old Rotting Christ and Judas Priest sound, they also add more melodies and riff more heavys with enough variety; the music is catching, all are introduced quickly in your mind. All this could simply be qualified as melodic Death Metal, but not in the Swedish style, this is 100% Greek sound!
I like Uhm the vocals, I can appreciate a good vocal development, there are four vocal types: a rough and raw, another guttural voice and also clean vocals (male and female). The most catching song is "Bleeding World" with female choirs, on the other hand "Just a Fake" and "Shatered Values" are the strongest and heavy songs!, "...Rehenta" is lightly influenced by the Thrash Metal, the last song "Let me Die" is softer and more emotional, a painful ballad, with a pleasant game of vocals.
A stuff more than acceptable, it is for sure soon they will find a record label and we can have in our hands their debut album!

Time: 21:24
Tracks: 5
Rating: 7.0/10
Contact:
Web: www.overgarven.com 
E-mail: overgarvenband@yahoo.com  

By Saqrangel

SEPHIROTH  "Draconian Poetry" CD álbum 2005 (Cold Meat Industry)

Here we have the triumphant return of Ulf Söderberg that presents us their new album, this CD is anticipated since 1999, so after 6 years the underground world arises again.
This CD is powerfull, gloomy, industrial with  dark ambient soundscapes and slight electronic sounds;an album that moves to lost worlds, digging on forgotten cultures, rituals and mystics figures.  This CD is a quite cold and devastating, where the perpetual fog is only perturbed by powerful drums and violent electronic effects. 
The whole CD has the same sequence of aggressive moments and dark ambient sections, with quick and slow moments mingled the whole time. A disc only recommended for the faithful followers of the style.

Time: 48:00
Tracks: 7.5
Rating: 7.0/10
Contact:
Label: www.coldmeat.se 

By Saqrangel

STORMFÅGEL "Den Nalkande Stormen" Digi CD álbum 2005 (Cold Meat Industry)

Stormfågel comes from the cold forests of Sweden, creation of the multi talented Andreas Neidhardt, brain of this project who has been worked for near 15 years in different musical projects. 
This is a not very peculiar band inside the Cold Meat Industry, it combines perfectly the electro - martial - folk, dark ambient and the neo classic music, the songs are transfigured between leisurely marches and agile and strong sections, as if it was an eternal conflict between the tranquility and the violent acts, and sincerely this it is a band with a lot of personality.
Maybe something stranger is to listen Eva Mag's voice, she sings his songs in his native language, Hungarian; I don't really understand this language, but I overcame it listening their magic and ethereal chants. However, the male voice has smaller repercussion, it is expressed in a spoken way. 
Let us travel to the distant past, forgotten histories and mythical characters of the old world, a decadent, magic and until romantic story; our conduit is Stormfågel and its majestic "Den Nalkande Stormen". 

Time: 48:38
Tracks: 7
Rating: 8.5/10
Contact:
Label: www.coldmeat.se 

By Saqrangel

THE IRON FORCE "World War III" CD Comp. 2005 (Risestar Music)

Again Risestar from Chile attacks, gathering to the new promises of the underground world, advisable work for those who want to know not very well-known acts for these American lands, and without more preamble this it is the content:

1. Voices of Decay "Breacking the Circle" Melodic Death Metal
2. In Heaven "Come Out" Atmospheric Dark Metal, with harrowing vocals and clean female chants to the deathrock style, a sinister Italian act.
3. Overgarven "Bleeding World" Melodic metal very catching with raw screams, female voice and strong riffs.. 
4. Arise "How Long Can You Pretend?" Melodic metal in the Sweden style.
5. 7 Sins "The Fall" Classic Heavy Metal, with slight stonner moments.
6. 7 Sins "Angels and Devils" Classic Heavy Metal.
7. Katharsis "Inner Demons" Alternative Metal, dense and strong with airs to Nevermore, excellent keyboards and female chants at the end.
8. Jesus Chrysler Superskunk "United" Aggressive and provoking Heavy Metal in the Primal Fear style.
9. Atrium Noctis "Snow on the Epitaph" Atmospheric Black Metal, with witch's voice to the old Dimmu Borgir style.
10. Inhumate "The Fight" Brutal Death Grind Metal.
11. Nekropolis "One Day in Hell" Melodic "Death Black", a picturesque mixture of power and melody, with keyboards and several voice tones, very good!
12. Demoniciduth "Notre Pére" Original Death Thash with slight Punk Crust influences.
13. Whorrid "Descensitilized" Brutal Death  Metal in the European east line..
14. Twilight Odissey "The Endless Days of a Stranger" Heavy Power metal, quite advisable for Maiden fans. The vocalist is a woman!
15. Potential Citizens "Musical Diarya" corrosive and crushing Death Grind.
16. Shatterpoint "Thorn Inside" Death'n'Roll, of excellent rhythms.
17. Crazy Babies "Live Forever" Great Hard Rock remembering the 80s.
18. Dominion "Wither In Delirium" with dark and  afterpunk/deathrock influences.

Time: 1h 14:11
Tracks: 18
Rating: 8.0/10
Contact:
www.risestar.cl   

By Saqrangel

THE PROTAGONIST "Songs of Experience" Digi CD álbum 2005 (Cold Meat Industry)

A lot of time has passed from its acclaimed debut "A Rebours", exactly after 7 years finally I have in my hands the new stuff by The Protagonist, and this long wait came with a satisfaction achieved by the sublime combination of the coldest dark ambient with the neo classic music with epic airs..
With a powerful and quite sinister song this CD begins, "The Sick Rose" is the first itinerary of a foggy, majestic, dark and romantic world, this track it is based on a poem by Willian Blake; "Spirits of the dead" is a slow song, like a march toward an imminent war, "Down There" it is softer, with a mysterious and ghostly piano. "Strife" has a military beginning, the strongest and terrifying song in the disk, with the concept of Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. "La Fin de la Journée" it is an act that would fit very well as soundtrack of a terror film (it is in French language, and it is an adaptation of "Les Fleurs Du Mal by Baudelaire); with "Sermon" it concludes the CD, song that continuous the sequel of darkness.
Romanticism and darkness, power and majestic acts, chaos and deep feelings, sublime and until warlike passages are the great alliances that offers us The Protagonist..

Time: 45:17
Tracks: 8
Rating: 7.7/10
Contact:
Label: www.coldmeat.se 

By Saqrangel