Band: Vantage Point
Album: War of the Dead Sampler
Year: 2003
Website: http://www.vantage-point.info
Rating: 7.5/10
Scotland's Vantage Point sound like they come straight from the 80's, which isn't a bad thing at all.
"War of the Dead" is a two song sampler which contains the songs "War of the Dead" and "Wishing Well", both sound very like early Maiden and Priest and are both very up-tempo, classic sing-a-long slabs of hard rock/metal . Vantage Point also incorporate a very thrashy/punk feeling to their songs which work very well to create an enjoyable listen. Vantage Point have a lot going for them at the moment and they are in the final stages of completed their second album titled "Perfect World" which I'm sure will sound great.
You can hear both of these songs at http://stage.vitaminic.co.uk/vantage_point2.
Band: Vehemence
Album: Helping the World to See (Metal Blade)
Year: 2004
Website: http://www.vehemence.com
Rating: 7/10
A giant eyeball monster with a spine hanging out of its head eating the planet earth like an apple is a damn fine first impression if you ask me.
This Arizona band’s Metal Blade debut is further testament to the melodic deathcore phenomenon. Like classic Carcass butchering Amon Amarth into Fragments of Unbecoming (ho hum). Very sludgy with downtuned Superjoint Ritual distortion at times. The vocals are efficient yet nothing groundbreaking. Some material is generic but there are still good parts juxtaposed across the board.
"Helping The World To See" is a strong stab at the genre with generally effective results. Review by Ryan Bartek
Band: Vesania
Album: God the Lux (Napalm Records)
Year: 2005
Website: http://www.vesania.pl
Rating: 7.5/10
Vesania is a side project from a few guys involved with Behemoth and Vader. 12 songs in total and I dig about five of them. A few more are kind of cool but there's filler.
Some of the parts are weak, but in general it's all about sludgy, choppy death metal guitar parts ala Lost Soul. Then it'll pop into Cradle of Filth/Old Man's Child styled keyboard arrangements. However it's way too heavy and blackened to fit into any Goth schlock category. Sometimes the keys are cheese, but mostly sinister and "Vampire Hive" sounding or modern Dimmu. The vocals go for a raspy black metal sound but he's a little unintentionally barf-sloppy for my tastes. The best tracks are "Rest In Pain", "God The Lux" and "Synchroscheme". When they get more on the industrial metal side of things you get a few echoes of Axis of Perdition or a slower Anaal Nathrakh.
The album is pretty mid-tempo, like the more "rocking" Hypocrisy stuff. Fans of Aborym or Scarve would dig this for sure. Review by Ryan Bartek
Band: Vidres A La Sang
Album: Vidres A La Sang (Xtreem Music)
Year: 2004
Website: http://www.vidresalasang.com
Rating: 7.5/10
Spain isn't the first country that springs to mind when I think of great bands, or labels, but one worth mentioning who works their balls off uncovering new talent is Xtreem Music (formerly known as Repulse Records).
This is the bands s/t debut, and I think with a bit of time, they could become a name we could hear more of. It's mainly Blackened Death Metal with some decent dual guitar work going on here, very competent but nothing fancy or overly complex. Vidres A La Sang is a pretty decent listen, it's also good to hear that they sing about something other than blood and gore, interestingly enough, the entire album is sung in the bands native Catalonian language and inspired by the famous poet Miquel Martí i Pol.
With their take Death Metal with Black melodies and touches, I'd place them somewhere in between Morbid Angel and Immortal, both of which are obvious influences. A good start for the band.
Band: Viimeinen Kolonna
Album: Irvikuva (Hardcore Holocaust)
Year: 2004
Website: http://viimeinenkolonna.cjb.net
Rating: 8.5/10
Irvikiva is the new EP for Finnish hardcore/punk masters, 15 tracks in barely 18 minutes, yet they contain some great music.
I was thinking that I haven't heard a decent hardcore album in a while, so Viimeinen Kolanna was a welcomed surprise when I played it for the first time. Although it's sung entirely in Finnish which really adds to the aggression of the songs, they really stand up against some of the best hardcore bands from the 80's. I'm not familiar with Scandinavian Hardcore, but if it's anything like this I'm sure I'm going to like it.
If your into old school hardcore/punk, then Viimeinen Kolonna are definitely well worth checking out as you will not be disappointed. Take some insane riffs add some amazingly crazy bass-lines, some mad drumming and a totally pissed of vocalist and this is some of the things you can expect on "Irvikuva", fairly simple yet very effective. Viimeinen Kolonna is going to be a name I'm going to keep an eye out for. Proof that hardcore is alive and kicking.
Band: Vinterriket
Album: Der Letzte Winter - Der Ewigkeit Entgegen (Flood the Earth)
Year: 2005
Website: http://www.vinterriket.com
Rating: 8/10
Back to the world of Vinterikket, who I've come to have a rather odd fascination with as of late.
Yet another disc in a long line of ambient works, "Der Letzte Winter - Der Ewigkeit Entgegen" once again opts for the Noir album design covered in mountaintops, moon forests and mystical riverbanks. All of the music is primarily keyboard driven wooshes of sound with the occasional electronic drumbeat, sounds of rain, etc. There are vocals this time around, screaming, lo-fi and unintelligible. Even if I could make it out it's impossible to translate cause it's purely German. Of all the Vinterrikket I have heard, this is probably my favorite. As a totally deranged method writer - going deep into the realms of pure seclusion to hammer out the most bizarre of thought processes I can muster - I've thrown this on the background numerous times since I've gotten it.
As far as ambient music goes, this one resides in that strange twilight region between dreams and reality, moments before sinking fully into either. Good stuff, and none of that silly Legend of Zelda crap Mr. V has been notorious for. Review by Ryan Bartek
Band: Vinterriket
Album: Winterschatten (Flood the Earth)
Year: 2005
Website: http://www.vinterriket.com
Rating: 5.5/10
The second I opened the package and saw all the trees on the cover I had an idea where this was leading.
This is a fairly mediocre transcendental black metal album, although it's a little less black and more mystical. The keyboards are chinsy and have the feel of an early 80's Argento soundtrack. When Vinterriket is relying solely on piano parts and ambient textures he really makes this thing move into Angelo Badlamenti territory. Than we get a bit deeper and I feel like I'm in John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness. Alice Cooper is outside with an army of bums, Satan in a tube of green liquid. Fuck man. Than we go to Agent Mulder snooping for clues in the woods circa '95. Than to ancient Rome where a Burzum cover of all things comes in. Sad to say I'm not really digging it (sorry mike!!).
Sometimes it works, other times it's just flat out cheesy. But thats the problem - Vinterriket is dead serious. Drop the cheeseball flange dude, you'll go so much further. Review by Ryan Bartek
Band: Vinterriket
Album: Landschaftsmalerische Klangwelten Synthetischer Tonkunst 1996 - 2002 (Parasite Records)
Year: 2004
Website: http://www.vinterriket.com
Rating: 8.5/10
Now, Dark Ambient isn't my favorite genre, but there are times when a band comes a long and you just can't help appreciate the music. Notable examples include VLE, Ashtorath and now Vinterriket have come along.
"LKST" is a kind of "Best Of" CD, featuring only the Synth tracks from previous releases. I've never come across Vinterriket before, so I decided to do a bit of research on the band. Behind Vinterriket is one musician, the musical genius Christian Ziegler, and the first thing you'll notice is the sheer quantity of releases that he puts out year after year, be it Splits, Demo's, EP's or Full-Length albums but they're released in very limited numbers. "Landschaftsmalerische Klangwelten Synthetischer Tonkunst 1996 - 2002" is an album of cold, gloomy songs with complex structures and layers, they are almost horror soundtrack style. What I like about Vinterriket is whilst they have gloom, there is also of plenty peaceful more chilled-out tracks with unbelievable atmospheres throughout, the amount of work that has gone into this is clear from the start. I'm having a hard time trying to put this into words, so I'll leave it up to your good judgement.
I don't know what it is but everything that surrounds Vinterriket is just so intriguing, they started out as dark ambient, no vocals, no guitars, no bass and no drums, and evolved into a more atmospheric, primitive black metal style experimenting with male and female clean vocals, screamed vocals, blast-beats, heavily distorted guitars, etc., and finally resorted back into dark ambient again. This is an album that has to be played whilst your alone for the full effect. An Intriguing and Interesting project that should be heard by all, not just by metal fans, but fans of music in general.
Band: Virtuocity
Album: Northern Twilight Symphony (Spinefarm Records)
Year: 2004
Website: http://www.thevirtuocity.com
Rating: 7/10
Epic, Bombastic Neo-Classical Heavy/Power Metal is probably the best way to describe Finland's Virtuocity.
If your becoming tired of the double-bass drum ridden power metal songs, Virtuocity might be the answer to your problems. On the whole, "NTS" is a decent, fresh sounding album. There are a couple of similar sounding songs on the album, but Virtuocity non-the-less display great musicianship throughout the album. I'm not the greatest fan of Neo-Classical Metal so I'm probably not the greatest person to ask about the genre, but whilst there are a few great songs on here, there were also a few that failed to keep my attention which I had to skip through.
A mixed barrel really, if you like Neo-Classical/Power Metal stuff, Virtuocity could be worth checking out. For me, apart from a few songs, they didn't really excite me that much, sure there are is some great shredding and some very complex work but there was just something about the album that was missing. Maybe it didn't really flow together that well, but I couldn't really get into the album fully which was quite annoying. One to listen to before you buy!
Band: Visceral Damage
Album: Garden of Mutilation (Xtreem Music)
Year: 2004
Website: http://www.visceraldamage.com
Rating: 5/10
"Garden of Mutilation" is the bands debut album, featuring just over 30 minutes of brutal death metal.
Visceral Damage are heavily influenced by bands like Immolation, Incantation and Mexico's Disgorge, but unfortunately there is very little room for their own originality to shine through. There's no leads, no tempo changes and few memorable moments, sure it may be brutal, but it starts to get repetitive very quickly.
With many death metal albums being released like this, Visceral Damage need that little bit extra to make themselves stand out.
Band: Vital Remains
Album: Dechristianize (Century Media)
Year: 2003 (Release Date: 21.07.03)
Website: http://www.vitalremains.com
Rating: 8.5/10
Despite ongoing personnel issues, Vital Remains returns at last with the long-awaited follow-up to 1999's "Dawn of the Apocalypse". Dechristianize finds guitarist/founder Tony Lazaro and the multi-talented Dave Suzuki, team up with the mighty Glen Benton (Deicide) to create one hell of an album.
Just because it has Benton on vocals, doesn't mean it sounds like an extension of Deicide. Dual harmonic guitars and lightning fast blast beats and double bass drumming, combined with a demonic vocal performance, to put it simply, RULE!!! It pisses over the last few Deicide releases and could well be one of the best Vital Remain albums to date. This will no doubt be one of the best Death Metal albums of the year.
The album starts with an excerpt from some old Jesus film over the haunting "Carmina Burano - O Fortuna" by Carl Orff, really gets the album off to a great start. Every song on this album is over 5 minutes, with the final track "Entwined by Vengeance" clocking in at just over 10 minutes (check out the more melodic parts in the middle of that track). Fans of Death Metal should add this to their collection immediately.
Band: VLE
Album: Book of Illusions: Chapter I,II & III
Year: 2001-2003
Website: http://www.geocities.com/infestvle
Rating: 9/10
VLE was formed in 2001 by one "creature", the VLE. To compare VLE to any other band would be impossible and downright ridiculous.
Never have I heard music so beautiful, atmospheric and emotional, it really is breathtaking the way the sound fuse together with noise, chaos, infinity, beauty, darkness, light, pain, harmony, melancholy, power, melody, dissonance and duality , all concepts expressed in this three part series. Most of these are instrumental, but the added vocals, a mix between clean and very sinister black screeching, really does give it that extra something.
Apart from the odd guest musician, it’s hard to believe one man could sit down and write and play all of this. Several layers of keyboards, majestic guitar work, you never know where you will be taken to next. It’s a shame that not everybody will appreciate this, it is something that you can’t just put on, you have to be in the mood and listen to it from start to finish. Do not let this pass you, the music of VLE represents different moods and feelings we all experience in life. I really cannot comment any further about "The Book of Illusions", this is something that you will all have to hear to make your minds up.
Band: Vomit the Soul
Album: Human Insanity
Year: 2003
Website: http://vomitthesoul.altervista.org/vts.htm
Rating: 8.5/10
Taking their name from an old Cannibal Corpse song, Italy's "Vomit the Soul" their rather short but hard hitting debut MCD.
Excluding the intro, "Destroy your Planet", "Human Insanity" and "Copreanthropophagy" make up this four track album, and I simply couldn't stop playing this over and over, heavy, old school Americanized death metal with the usual guttural vocals in the vein of old Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse with touches of Deicide. The only disappointment is it's over all to quickly, other that that, it RULED from start to finish.
Everything about this MCD is almost perfect, a combination of fast, and slow drumming with plenty of double-bass, heavy basslines, heavy riffs galore and the mixture of low guttural vocals and a more higher pitched scream is simply the icing on the cake. Get this now before they're huge!
Band: Vomitory
Album: Primal Massacre (Metal Blade)
Year: 2004
Website: http://www.vomitory.net
Rating: 7/10
The title pretty much sums this beast up!
Speed-demon rudimentary Swedish death metal ala Dismember, Sceptic Flesh, Bestial Summoning and Fleshcrawl. The vox are guttural and demonic, the drums pulverizing, the riffs strong and solos tight. The production is crisp yet raw and the cover art is mesmerizing, universal tattoo quality.
Some of the material is a bit on the generic side (the endless curse of a fifteen-year strong death metal outfit), but Vomitory still rips it up on most every level. Review by Ryan Bartek
Band: Voodoo Shock
Album: Voodoom EP (Psychedoomelic Records)
Year: 2004
Website: http://www.voodooshock.de
Rating: 7.5/10
This is a collection of some of the bands older material from their debut, along with a couple extra goodies to tide fans over until the next release, including a cover of "Petra" by the mighty Saint Vitus.
I'd place Voodoo Shock somewhere in between The Obsessed and Cathedral. There's nothing fancy or original on here, the band just get straight to work churning out mid-slow paced riff after riff with plenty of groove to create a decent listen. The touches of Stoner thrown in is what really keeps in interesting for me
If your into Doom, especially Black Sabbath, you've probably got a few bands that sound like Voodoo Shock, but adding one more good band to your list won't do any harm.
Band: Vorkreist
Album: Sabbathical Flesh Possession (Xtreem Music)
Year: 2003
Website: http://evilness.com/vorkreist
Rating: 8.5/10
France is once again proven to be a real hotbed for some great extreme bands thanks to Vorkreist.
"Sabbathical Flesh Possession" is the bands debut album on the Spanish Xtreem Music label, and what a debut it is. 10 tracks of savage, raw blackened old-school death metal straight from the early 90's. The production isn't the best I've heard, but if you can see past it there is some real great stuff on here. The album is heavily guitar driven and has some catchy tempo changes, wild rhythms and plenty of heavy mid-fast paced riffs, there is also some unbeliveable guttural and screamed vocals courtesy of SojR-KhaSM, the only bad thing about the album is that the drums need a little "beefing" up.
Fans of early death metal are going to be thrown back to the good old days and are really going to enjoy this. Go and order it now, you won't be disappointed!!!
Band: Vried
Album: Kraft (Candlelight Records)
Year: 2005
Website: http://www.vreid.no
Rating: 7.5/10
Anytime a band uses a Marquis De Sade quote on the disc itself I’m all ears.
Vried are a diverse black metal act that mix in multiple genres with thick, memorable chops. Slayer one second, Grabnebelfuersten the next. Remember Grimfist? It’s genre mixing of the same vein, although not quite as strong or perfected. A lot of the riffs are awesome, so are the changeups. But there are some shitty parts here and there that tarnishes the end product.
If you’re into "Those Of The Unlight" style Black Metal you’ll probably dig this. Review by Ryan Bartek
Band: Vrykolakas
Album: Vrykolakas 2000 (Self-Release)
Year: 2000
Website: http://www.geocities.com/vrykobrutaldeath
Rating: 8/10
Originally formed way back in 1992 the band releases there only demo with some good reviews from local press, and then due to laziness on some band members part, the band went on hiatus until 1999.
Since '99 the band has maintained a pretty stable line-up and have released many recordings including a couple of demo's, an EP and various splits with the likes of Cardiac Necropsy, Insision, Koma and Lacerate. This CD is there self-released promo from 2000, and if your a fan of "Reek of Putrification" era Carcass, your going to find these Singaporeans of some interest. No real frills or fancy technical work, the best way to describe it is simply brutal mid paced death/grind with extreme guttural vocals, similar to those found on Carcass's "Reek..." album. The tempo does pick up during the songs, but its mainly heavy riffing with some interesting drum work, although it could do with speeding up during the faster parts as it sounds as they are holding the rest of the action up.
Vrykolakas are a band that have been around for a while now in one form or another, and they have what it takes to break away from the hordes of mediocre bands from Singapore and be amongst the elite. Recommended to fans of early Carcass and other early extreme death/grind bands.
Band: Vulgar Pigeons
Album: Summary Executions (Adipocere Records)
Year: 2002
Website: http://www.vulgarpigeons.com
Rating: 9/10
Holy S**T… These guys are so fast the record was over before I even knew it started!
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This has to be some of the heaviest and fastest riffs and blastbeats I have ever heard, truly I am speechless. This is probably is about as extreme as it gets and definitely separates boys from the men, 26 tracks of hard hitting, in your face Grind not for everyone’s liking.
The 26 tracks on this album are broken down well, with classical interludes and a mixture of low guttural vocals and throaty yells. |
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