Those of you who’ve heard The Breathing Process’ debut recording “In Waking: Divinity” will know exactly what to expect from their sophomore work “Odyssey (Un)Dead” since it doesn’t deflect that much from its predecessor.
For newcomers to the Connecticut’s six-piece sound, I guess it’s easy to be fooled by initial listens and mistake them for a symphonic black-metal band given the amount of glossy keyboard atmospherics, mechanical blast-beats and agonized screams that pours from the first two songs, namely “Grimoir” and “Leveler”. But listen carefully and you’ll discover other influences at display, their technical guitar chugging for instance betrays their death-core origins and it’s fair to assume it’s the cervical spine of their whole sonority. The band do dabble with symphonic black-metal mostly due to the heavy presence of keyboards, which places them close to some European acts like Dimmu Borgir and Emperor on some occasions, yet even in these moments the band fails to create a genuinely scary and epic ambience. For the most of “Odyssey”, The Breathing Process sound way too clinical and mechanical for my own taste, like a tedious and technical black/death-metal with atmospheric leanings. When they attempt to expand their sonority and venture into other musical territories as in “Vultures” and “Pantheon Unraveling”, trying to adorn their brutal and technical approach with a more emotional and mournful feel, the results are just dreadful and constrained. It sounds like a hasty jam session between Evanescence and Bleeding Through.
If you dig bands like Bleeding Through, Winds of Plague and Abigail Williams you’ll probably fall in love with The Breathing Process too, but you aim at higher standards perhaps you should clean the dust of those Emperor and Limbonic Art records or give acts like Belphegor and Vesania a chance. (5/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.myspace.com/tbp
Label info: www.siegeofamida.net

Hailing from Portugal, Oblique Rain fuses the despondent and dark melodies of Katatonia with the progressive intricacies of both Opeth and Porcupine Tree. So, how can you go wrong when you intertwine influences from three of the most engaging and interesting bands of this decade? Fans of the aforementioned acts will be delighted to hear the band’s second full-length work ‘October Dawn’ even though their sound never reaches the heavy standards of Opeth or the emotional despondency of Katatonia. Nevertheless it’s hard not to think of the later when themes like “Absent Awry”, “Reminiscence” and “Darker Woods” erupt from the speakers and disclose an immensely mournful and tormented feeling close to what the Swedes have been masterfully recreating since “Tonight’s Decision”. The soulful voice of vocalist and guitarist Flávio Silva also has a timbre that is somewhat similar to Jonas Renkse remarkably distinct voice, which obviously increases the resemblances. The album does wear its influences on its sleeve, tough the sound that the Portuguese act have crafted could never be seen accused of plagiarism or shameless homage.
The music is for the most part very emotional and manages to convey a mournful spirit, a feeling of torment and regret, yet there is also a sense of hope prevailing in these nine songs. I mean, rather than put you down and compel you to fetch a razor-blade to cut your wrists the music of Oblique Rain is soothing for an injured soul, a perfect company for anyone who is facing a tough break-up.
“October Dawn” is definitely one of the most pleasant surprises that I’ve come across lately and despite its autumnal name is perfectly capable of glowing during any season, especially on those lonely nights where you’re trying to cleanse your wounds. (7.5/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.myspace.com/obliquerain
Label info: www.majorlabelindustries.com

With the exception of a few thousand Germans wearing Scorpions shirts and enamoured with all things gothic and romantic I guess that very few people wept a tear when Crematory broke up in 2001, I sure wasn’t one of them since I never really appreciated their wimpy and excessively melodramatic sound. So I could say that I wasn’t really paying attention when the German act announced their comeback following two years and that’s why “Infinity” is my first Crematory experience since the split-up, even though they had released three more studio albums since then. I personally don’t know those records, perhaps I’ve some catching up to do, but while listening to “Infinity” for the first I realized that Crematory are a lot heavier now than when I used to remember them.
Their sound in the mid nineties was a bit wussy, overflowing with pompous keyboard melodies and whining-whispered vocals interweaved with sorrowful growls. The formula is more or less the same here and still holds a radio-friendly feeling, yet it seems that the band have trimmed down those superfluous and excessively mellow keyboard lines and accentuated the heavier parts by giving the guitars more room to breath. Leadoff track and title theme certainly attest that brilliantly with an extremely punchy rhythm and a fierce guitar riff that could compete with the later material of either In Flames or Dark Tranquillity. Crematory strikes a pretty alluring balance between subtle melodies and harsh elements strengthen by the constant vocal dichotomy between main singer Felix Stass and guitarist Matthias Hechler.
The following song “Sense of Time” is definitely mellower and more in tow with their past material swaying to an almost pop sonority, but even on this occasion Crematory’s gothic-metal cannot be seen as dull or emotionless, revealing an appreciated sense of restraint. And that’s perhaps one of Crematory’s best characteristics of today, their ability to craft concise, mature and focused songs without draining the life, depth and emotion of their music with overly tedious and insipid melodies.
Well they did surprise me in a positive way for sure and while this may not be one the greatest albums out there, it’s definitely a good and strong work from a veteran band that still has some fervent blood running through their veins. (7/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.crematory.de
Label info: www.massacre-records.com

Some of you with a bad habit of spending countless hours playing videos games and more specifically Guitar Hero might recognise the name Megasus since one of their songs “Red Lottery” was featured as a hidden track in Guitar Hero 2. It turns out that all the four members of this young band from Rhode Island work for Harmonix, the company responsible for the creation of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. So they’ve squeezed a song into the game for self-promotion, yet not without merit ‘cause in my opinion their debut self-titled release displays some very capable song-writing.
Musical influences on this album include everyone from Slayer to High on Fire, yet Megasus’ music is mostly identifiable with recent beard-wave of North American acts plying a crusty and sludgy sound. I guess what distances Megasus slightly from the pack is their old-school and often vile approach that predominates throughout some of the album’s songs, so don’t make the mistake of expecting any radio-friendly tunes here. Themes like “Hexes/Szaadek” and “Paladin Vs. Berserker” sound fiercely crusty and thrashy, recalling at times Lair of the Minotaur and to some extent Celtic Frost, and with vocalist Jason Kendall sounding like Tom Araya on the verge of bursting his vocal chords,. One other songs like “Swords”, “Red Lottery” and “Iron Mountain” Megasus displays a greater emphasis on groove, definitely more in tow with acts like Sabbath and High On Fire.
While there are definitely parts of the album that could be considered enthralling, there’s really nothing about “Megasus” that is going to revolutionize your existence in this world, it’s essentially a solid, competent and well-executed release that dwells in a sonority similar to bands like Lair of the Minotaur, Rwake and Ramesses.
(6.8/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: flightofthemegasus.com
Label info: www.20buckspin.com

John Coltrane once said that there is never any end. There are always new sounds to imagine, new feelings to get at... While some people argue that these days it’s near impossible to come up with a truly original and innovative sound, some few and rare musicians do relate with such ethic stated by the Jazz guru, and have successfully built their own and distinct sonority. Norway’s post-prog collective Shining is one of such group of musicians reluctant to fall into conformist and over-beaten ideas. They rehash some of the best and out there elements of old progressive and psychedelic rock in the vein of Frank Zappa and King Crimson, merge it with some abstract and free jazz indebted to someone like Ornette Coleman and then add vast amounts of psychotic metal and bizarre industrial sounds, coming up with an intriguing, claustrophobic and exciting sonority that is distinctively of their own.
Does the leader, guitarist, saxophonist and vocalist Jørgen Munkeby of this extremely gifted act considers that writing music has to be challenging for the band and excludes all the guiding lines when it comes to creating music?

“Thanks so much for all the kind words about our music! I’m very happy you like what we are doing.

I have always been very interested in learning about all the rules and traditions in music; the guidelines that you refer to. I have spent years and years trying to learn and follow all sorts of rules and guidelines as perfectly as possible. But while learning about such rules, I always know that after these rules and techniques have been learnt well and incorporated into your mind and body as second nature, then the result might actually be that you choose to NOT follow them, or actually do the opposite. But at other times or with other rules, you decide to follow them because this makes the music better in that situation.

What I’m trying to say is that for me it’s not a goal in itself to break any rules. I am actually quite fond of rules, and think that rules has brought a lot of good things to humanity. Our main goal is to try to make the kind of music that we ourselves like the most and find the most interesting and intriguing.

I tend to get easily bored with a lot of music, and I’m generally very interested in discovering new and fresh ideas and expressions, both in music and in life in general – and this is probably why our music might be considered breaking some traditional pre-defined rules. We want to make good music, and part of this is to make it sound like nothing you have heard before. But of course not at all costs: The music must still have other qualities than just doing things in a “new” way.

You mention that today some people argue that it’s impossible to come up with something new. I hear this from time to time, and must also admit that I have that feeling myself. But I also know that people before me has had the same feeling, and that things we consider new expressions and styles have emerged after this.

I have read that the literary critic Fredric Jameson, writing in 1983, argued that all the worlds that can be invented by writers and artists have already been invented: “In a world in which stylistic innovation is no longer possible, all that is left is to imitate dead styles, to speak through the masks and with the voices of the styles in the imaginary museum”, he supposedly wrote. But we all surely know of a lot of stylistically innovative new inventions being created after this, don’t we?”

Shining began as an acoustic and experimental jazz group in 1999 by the hand of multi-instrumentalist Munkeby, who was then a student at the Norwegian Academy of Music and a member of Jaga Jazzist one of Scandinavia’s premier and influential jazz groups. Their first two releases ‘Where The Ragged People Go’ from 2001 and ‘Sweet Shanghai Devil’ from 2003 were largely jazz records inspired by the free-thinking of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, but their third and 2005’s album ‘In the Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be a Monster’ saw Shining introducing progressive rock and metal elements into their experimental jazz sound. The following album ‘Grindstone’ from 2007 was their breakthrough release, highly regarded as one the greatest experimental jazz record by diverse publications worldwide, even though the influence of metal and progressive rock were becoming more and more prominent in their songs.
So it comes as no surprise that their fifth full-length is heavier than anything the band has put out to date, taking things into even more extreme territory that undeniably recall the band’s powerful and intense live presence. One listen to the raging cacophony presented in ‘Blackjazz’ is sufficient to state that it faithfully demonstrates the intense and extreme side of Shining’s live performance.
Did anything in particular motivated that decision and compelled the band to head towards this direction?

“Since our beginning in 1998, we have covered a lot of ground musically, from free jazz through electronic art-rock and to where we are now. And although these changes in the music might look like sudden and radical movements when you look at our albums, they are in fact rather gradual developments. Of course a lot happens while preparing, recording and finishing an album. But a lot of the important foundations for new expressions also happen between making the albums: While touring and playing live, while doing side projects, and working with other artists and bands.

The main reason for the sound on “Blackjazz” was our musical idea of trying to combine jazz and metal, or more specifically free jazz and black metal, while wrapping the whole thing in a catchy and expensive sounding package. But I must also admit that our lives of course also play a part in the musical expression. For me personally, something happened in my life before making “Blackjazz” that created a lot of anger, confusion and frustration that eventually was let out in the making of “Blackjazz”. That’s probably where the excessive aggressiveness in the music and the lyrics is taken from.”

Surprisingly, even though it’s the band’s heaviest and most extreme record to date, the songs featured in ‘Blackjazz’ are perhaps their most immediate material as well. While it’s obvious that topping the Billboard charts wasn’t on the band’s agenda the new songs point towards a more standard rock structuring with bass, drums, guitars, vocals, refrains and other elements. Was there anything in particular you wanted to do differently this time around?

“Trying to strip down the instrumentation to a more rock band type of foundation was one of the things I wanted to try out. Our first two albums from 2001 and 2003 were recorded live in the studio. After rehearsing the tunes and playing them live on concerts many times, we knew the songs so well that we were ready to record them. The fact that we had given ourselves so long time to get to know the songs before we recorded them, added another dimension of playing energy to the performance. On the other hand, our 2005 and 2007 albums were made in a much more studio-oriented way, with a lot of cut and paste and edits. Many of the guys in the band didn’t know what to play on the songs until they actually were sitting in the studio while putting down tracks.

Although these two studio production albums were fresh and full of energy in their own way, they maybe also lacked some of the energy that can come from playing songs you know really well. This type of energy we wanted to bring into the music again with “Blackjazz”, so we decided to reserve enough time to be able to rehearse all the songs and also play them live for an extended period of time before recording them. Also, consciously stripping the instrumentation down to the size of our live band, made this possible. And I think that this really comes through on “Blackjazz”.”

While we’re on the topic of immediacy, I think ‘Fisheye’ is your most immediate song to date. It melds all the prominent characteristics of Shinning into staggering five minutes duration with an absolute infectious chorus. Do you agree?

“Yes, I absolutely agree that “Fisheye” is our most immediate song to date. I also think “The Madness and the Damage Done” is a very immediate song, due to the catchy refrain, but it is also very dense.

I currently like trying to combine aggressiveness with catchiness, and we might even try to further this work on our next album.”

The title of the album reads like a statement, ‘Blackjazz’ is a word combination clearly referring to black-metal and jazz. Although most of musicians don’t like to get their music pigeonholed, Shining seem to be doing the exact opposite and putting a tag on their sound and at the same time doing a favour to various critics who used to throw a lot of different labels at their music. Why do you feel ‘blackjazz’ is the most appropriate description for the newest songs?

“I think it is fitting because I feel that the music is in fact free jazz and black metal melted together. It of course also contains industrial traces, along with ordinary metal and some contemporary music, but for the most part I feel that it is free jazz and black metal.

Also the fact that the development of black metal from death metal somehow resembles the development of free jazz in the 60’s, is a reason for the name tag “Blackjazz” and the link between the two genres. Black metal stripped away a lot of the technical and superficial focus in death metal, while also focusing more on the energy and the emotions in the music. This is also what the free jazz musicians did back in the 60’s, along with a more spiritual focus in both genres.

Right now, black metal is also going through another important change: The music itself is slowly being separated from the extra-musical elements such as face paint and religious beliefs. It is now common to play black metal without painting your face or being a Satanist. This development is a very natural and common development in new art directions, and both free jazz and hip hop and most other forms of art have been through this development.”

The new record was mixed by Sean Beaven (NIN, Marilyn Manson, Slayer), who Munkeby speaks fondly of, stating he was the prefect accomplice for the realization of ‘Blackjazz’. How did that musical relationship with Sean Beaven begin in the first place?

“It all started out with me being hooked on Marilyn Manson a few years ago. I had not listened to him before, and had thought that he was just another stupid youth phenomenon that didn’t have any other qualities than being in opposition to everything. But, I was of course very wrong! Yet another example of how prejudices cloud your vision and block your ability to learn.

Anyway, in this period of buying all the Manson albums, I also go interested in Nine Inch Nails. I bought all the NIN albums, and went to both NIN and Manson concerts in Norway. I really liked their sound, especially on the albums. It was both super aggressive and cold, but also very catchy and expensive sounding. I started thinking that I would like SHINING’s music to have the same sound, but with our own more extreme and twisted musical material. After reading through all the CD booklets, I noticed that Sean Beavan had been involved in recording, mixing and producing most of the best sounding albums. I did some research, and discovered that he, along with being involved in the NIN and Manson music from the beginning, had also worked with pop music such as No Doubt and Depeche Mode, and also mixing the best Slayer album “God Hates Us All”.

To me it was obvious that this was the perfect guy for the task! I sent him demos for the album by e-mail, and he really liked the stuff and said that he’d love to work with us. So that was it.

He is the best guy I have ever worked with. His sheer talent is impeccable: His knowledge of musical and technical theory, his understanding and sensibility for emotions in music, and his ability to reflect and discuss these things in words - all of this makes him the very best guy I have ever worked with. He is also full of great ideas on mixing, and really put his own mark on the album. On top of this, he's a wonderful person be with, and his family is super nice!

Needless to say, Sean contributed extremely much to Blackjazz, and I'm very happy that he would want to join in on the Blackjazz team. I wouldn't want to think about how the album would have been without him.”

So I guess it’s a musical partnership to preserve in future works or do you envisage the possibility to try out different names?

“I definitely want to work with Sean again! No doubt in my mind whatsoever.”

Meanwhile, ‘Blackjazz’ also marks the beginning of a new cooperation with a different record label as the Norwegians now belong to a label whose catalogue features such diverse and talented artists like Enslaved, Red Harvest and Audrey Horne. With a growing fan base, critical acclaim and more opportunities on the horizon do you see Indie Recordings as the perfect label to give Shining’s the right push into wider audiences?

“Indie’s bigger push has definitely helped us reach a bigger and wider audience. The guys working at the label are all super people, and since we started working with releasing “Blackjazz” we have all become great friends. So far it has been a great pleasure working with Indie, and I see no reason it will not continue this way in the future also.”

Since ‘Grindstone’, the band has been touring more actively outside their native Norway and just recently they have completed a small European tour to promote the new album. Do you think the songs from the new record are more challenging to play live?

“Although the songs on “Blackjazz” are denser and technically hard to play than our older compositions, they are also composed with a more standard rock group foundation in mind. They were recorded with drums, guitars and bass as a steady and more stripped down foundation than before. This makes it much easier for us to adapt the songs for a live setting, as we basically can just play what is on the album and take it from there, instead of having to first make a live arrangement of a song that was cut and pasted together in the studio, as was the case with our third and fourth album.

So I actually feel it is much easier to play these new “Blackjazz” songs live, than our older songs.”

In the meantime, the quartet will take part of this year’s Roadburn festival with two performances. One solo at the first day of the festival and one with Enslaved, with whom Shining have played in the past in Norway, a joint performance that goes by the name of Armageddon Concerto. Are you looking forward to repeat that experience along with Enslaved at Roadburn?

“Yes, yesterday we had our own SHINING concert at the Roadburn Festival, before a packed hall. It was a great experience, and we’re very much looking forward to Saturday’s special concerto performance with Enslaved. This concerto has only been performed once before, so it will be very exciting to play it again for the Roadburn audience.

While on the subject of the Armageddon Concerto, we have just released the opening movement “RMGDN” as a download on all major digital stores worldwide. The track “RMGDN” is the 13 minutes long opener for the Concerto, and was recorded by SHINING along with the rest of “Blackjazz”. It was of course also mixed by the eminent Sean Beavan and mastered by the impeccable Tom Baker.

“RMGDN” has only been available as a very special bonus track on a limited amount of vinyl “Blackjazz” records, and is now available as download for the first time.”

David Alexandre

More info at: www.shining.no or www.myspace.com/SHININGofficial

Bleak, desolate, crawling, cold, dark and weird music is what we have here. Manual Zombie is an intriguing duo coming from Brooklyn, New York that dwells on minimal and droning soundscapes of sinister, creepy and noisy ambiences peppered with whispered voices and spoken samples. ‘Autumn’ is their latest work and I’m not really sure how to define the whole listening experience. On one hand, the band presents a spaghetti western vibe in their guitar playing that combined with some eerie industrial sounds makes me think of a disturbing soundtrack to a weird b-movie with zombies, vampires and axe murders. Like a strange amalgamation of Ennio Morricone, Goblin and John Carpenter. On some occasions their lo-fi and fuzzy guitars denote some garage and noise rock influences that place their music somewhere between Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers. There’re also times where Manual Zombie delivers some straight and immediate riffing that recalls The Ramones like on ‘Open Cut’.
While the sounds do vary throughout the album, sometimes Manual Zombie do fail from keeping some of the songs from feeling like a stagnant re-hash of ideas that you’ve heard before and sound way too familiar. However, although ‘Autumn is far from perfect, it definitely provides more than its fair share of entertaining and captivating moments (that alluring guitar line of ‘Susannah’ being one of them) and if you're a fan of weird, noisy and blood-soaked movie soundtracks, then the album is sure to be a hit with you. (7/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.myspace.com/manualzombie

There was a time somewhere between the late ’80s and early ’90s, where mythology and the ancient gods were the hippest lyrical topics within the metal community, a feature that got lost throughout the years and very often branded as nerdy. Not for Chicago based trio Lair of the Minotaur whose releases always revolved around mythology, more specifically the Greek one.
With a cover that looks like a drawing from Conan the Barbarian comics, their fourth and latest release ‘Evil Power’ not only revisits that specific era lyric-wise but sound-wise it also presents a crusty thrash attack that remounts back to Celtic Frost and early Entombed.
Lair of the Minotaur brings back to life the crusty and straightforward riffing of Tom G. Warrior, meld it with the vile and vicious impetus of old Swedish death-metal and then add a healthy dose of punk-rock fury. Tracks like ‘Let’s Kill These Motherfuckers’ and the title theme exude that sound signature with great and immediate results. Most of the songs are short and done in concise form, without ever succumbing to lengthy and often pointless noodling and over-done jamming. It’s pure, straight and good metal free of gimmickry, trends or fads. There is, however, a downside to that formula as some of the ideas and riffs get constantly repeated throughout the album and that drags ‘Evil Power’ into monotony on some occasions. But that’s merely a minor flaw ‘cause on the whole ‘Evil Power’ is a solid release elaborating on some pretty entertaining musical ideas. Plus how often can you shout along to a line like ‘let’s kill these motherfuckers’? (7/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.myspace.com/lairoftheminotaur
Label info: www.thegrind-houserecords.com

Innerfate is a new band formed by three former members of Forever Slave, who for those that can’t remember or never heard of them is a Spanish female fronted gothic-metal act that until now had recorded two full-length records (one of them the awfully titled ‘Tales for Bad Girls’) for Wacken/SPV and toured with bands like Kamelot and Firewind. Innerfate peddle a similar style as Forever Slave, and although I wasn’t exactly a fan of their prior musical adventure I must say that the music presented here was a pleasant listen, though nothing out of the ordinary.
Some may consider gothic-metal a tired and saturated style, but the music that Innerfate create can’t hard hardly be considered worn out or uninteresting as the band reveals enough experience and know-how to piece together a batch of well-crafted songs that don’t lack in substance or appeal. It’s competent stuff though not exactly everyone’s cup of tea as although some of the songs still have some crunchy guitars they often reveal a pop-vibe that almost reaches the standards of a ballad. It reminds me mostly of Lacuna Coil’s recent outputs, as the Spaniards indulge in similar memorable and subtle sections with plenty of polished and sugar-sweet melodies to back up the soulful and subtle timbre of Swiss-born vocalist Mara.
I would recommend this EP if you like the genre. However, it won’t get you into it if you’re not already infatuated with the style of music. (6/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.myspace.com/innerfateband

Warning: this is totally unrelated to the infamous ‘Twilight Saga’, by Stephanie Meyer. Swallow the Sun are one of the best death doom-metal bands hailing from Finland, who’ve came up just at the turn of the new millennium with ‘Out Of This Glooming Light’ demo, letting many in awe. Ten years later, ‘New Moon’ shows us a band with a fine taste for writing, composing and producing. This is far from the actual boring and somehow pretentious doom scene of nowadays. They stick to an old but always secure formula and combine some progressive elements. The result? ‘New Moon’ I mean, how many doom/death-metal bands do you know which could invite Marillion’s guitar player to play on a record?
Give it a listen (it’s from 2009, but it will echo on the forthcoming years), it’s definitely worth it. For real! (8/10)

António Matos Silva

Band info: www.swallowthesun.net
Label info: www.spinefarmrecords.co.uk

Ah, good old death metal! I have to admit I never get tired of the rotten sound of this genre, especially when it takes me to the Californian sounds of the 90’s. And Sectioned do that pretty well, I have to admit: diabolical riffs, double bass pedal on the drums, possessed grunts… Singing about love? Yup, pretty much.
The lyrics are the weakest part on this record – for those who matter and care to read them.
All in all, Sectioned deliver a pretty decent and old school death metal, that is definitely worth a listen. A good nod with the head to Obituary, they spare no one, covered in rot, power, and heaviness. Is it only me, or these guys playing live would slay? (7/10)

António Matos Silva

Band info: www.myspace.com/sectionedx
Label info: Paragon Records

If someone would tell me, 10 years ago, that France would lead the European black metal scene in the 00’s, I’d probably have a laugh. Even recalling the legendary and mysterious Les Legions Noires, the Eiffel Tower and baguettes don’t seem quite an attractive to the whole grim and evil black metal thing, right? Well, France proved me totally wrong, and I’m glad for that. Deathspell Omega, Alcest, Celeste and Peste Noire (just to name a few) were quite good surprises through the mid 90’s and proved that France has quite an edge in black metal. Aldaaron are one of those new bands from France, taking some of the rawness and furious sounds from the LLN together with some acoustic moments. Roaming through forests alone side by side with pagan entities, Aldaaron sound is not entirely new, but they do hook the listener in some really good moments. If you like Immortal or (why not?) early Dissection, you can be sure you’ll enjoy this record. Lyrically, what you see is what you get (if you understand French that is): solitude and despair. And good news: this one has a decent production! (6/10)

António Matos Silva

Band info: www.myspace.com/aldaaron
Label info: Paragon Records

Haling from Colombia, Nova Orbis bring us ‘Imago’, their new record. Well, new in recording matters, but not in originality actually. Nova Orbis deliver a pretty generic symphonic/progressive metal sound, fronted by a wannabe soprano singer. It’s hard to talk about this kind of sound in the 00’s, as it’s already worn out and played for too long. There’s not much to tell about this record: there are some good guitar riffs, but in the overall, the weak production and Ana Barajas sometimes annoying singing are not a really good hook to this record. Most of the songs tend to be pretty much forgettable and boring, mostly because of the forced progressive moments throughout the album. Progressive-metal needs thinking and, above all, good taste. Don’t take me wrong, I do love when a band incorporates typical instruments from their country, but you cannot have it just because you want it.
My final judge? This is strictly a record for symphonic metal fans only. (5/10)

António Matos Silva

Band info: www.myspace.com/novaorbis