A TRIBUTE
TO BATHORY
«Hellas
Salutes The Vikings»
Metal Invader
rating: 5,
5 of 6
If I’m not
mistaken, Metal Invader is not a label, but a Greek metal magazine and
this outstanding compilation is their first release. «Hellas...»
begins with «Odens Ride Over Nordland / A Fine Day To Die»
performed by ORDER OF THE EBON HAND, whose CD had to be out on Morbid’s
Hypervorea / Subterra long ago but it’s release date still is being delayed
- at least, that’s what I know. Probably, their version appears as the
weakest cover on this compilation, maybe due to disgusting «clean»
vocals and arrangements seeming to be unfinished, who knows... DEVISER
recorded quite good but still rather average song, covering «Call
From The Grave». I don’t know why, but keyboards irritate me a lot,
so my impressions weren’t very positive. Next one is TENEBRE with «Woodwoman».
Honestly speaking, I expected to hear some kind of a black metal band,
however TENEBRE’s style (at least, on this CD) turned out as speed metal,
heavy and atmospheric, professionally played, with good «clean»
voice. Then we have FLAMES, death metal band, performing the legendary
tune «The Return Of Darkness And Evil». Not bad. But the fifth
cover by KAWIR... aaaaarrrrggggghhh...! it’s brilliant! Along with NECROMANTIA,
VARATHRON, LEGION OF DOOM and ZEMIAL, this band is one of the best in Greece
with their raw, fast, sincere and atmospheric form of black metal! KAWIR’s
cover of «Sadist» is just perfect, perhaps even better than
the original song by BATHORY! After them we have BRAIN FADE, the sixth
band on «Hellas...» I don’t know what to say about this project,
since their original style still stays a mystery for me. But apart from
that, their rendition of «Father To Son» is also great. This
composition is followed by «Enter The Eternal Fire» surprisingly
appearing as EXHUMATION’s version... It didn’t impress me too much, although
it’s nothing bad I believe. And after EXHUMATION... damn it! We have the
best BATHORY’s cover ever! The song is played by DARK NOVA, genius band
with genius singer. I don’t know anything in regards them, except of their
origin and the fact, that two guys of this band participated in the recording
of NECROMANTIA’s «Crossing The Fiery Path» album (Dave on guitars
and Nick on drums). That’s why I considered them as a black metal band,
although this group has nothing to do with this genre, at least judging
by their version of «Born For Burning». It was a great choise
- to take old and primitive Quorthon’s song and transform it into a pure
Jewel! Professionally played and perfectly recorded, it captures truly
dark atmosphere, especially thanks to those background keyboards, while
the vocals, «clean» ones, are fucking brilliant! No doubts
that this guy possesses one of the strongest voices in the whole extreme
metal scene - not only in Greece, but in the whole Europe! But ok, let’s
go further into the realms of darkness... Next song, «Equimanthorn»,
is performed by NAR MATARON. This name also sounds unfamiliar to my ears,
and that’s too bad because this band is also rather splendid, as well as
their fierce, face-ripping though atmospheric and thoughtout version of
this cult song. The last group on «Hellas...» is one of the
oldest BM acts in Greece together with ROTTING CHRIST, NECROMANTIA, VARATHRON
and OBSECRATION. Of course, I mean ZEMIAL. Unfortunately, they released
only one 7’EP («Sleeping Under Tartarus») back in 1992 and
one MCD («For The Glory Of UR») in 1996, so for most of fans
(especially young ones) this compilation may be interesting only due to
the possibility of becoming familiar with ZEMIAL. This duo chose «Armageddon»
and recorded true black metal version of it. Which means that it’s fast,
blasphemous, evil, atmospheric and incredibly grim and dismal. In
addition, I can only say that all songs (with an exception for EXHUMATION,
DARK NOVA and ZEMIAL’s tracks) represented on this comp were recorded at
Live Studio, produced by Magus Wampyr Daoloth and afterall - digitally
mastered, therefore sound quality appears as very good...
CZARNE ZASTEPY
«Tribute
To KAT»
Pagan Records
rating: 5,
5 of 6
Hmm, strange
things are going on this time... I never really liked any compilations
but in process of making this issue I got five different comp CD’s and
all of them are great! But if I have to choose, I’ll mark out «Tribute
To Bathory» and this one - no doubts - one of the most successful
albums ever released by Pagan Records! «Czarne Zastepy» appears
as a tribute to the old Poland’s unholy / satanic thrash metal band called
KAT and here we have plenty of outstanding bands which contributed their
covers to this CD. Of course, most of them come from Poland but does it
make the whole thing worse? Just read the bandnames - DAMNATION, NORTH
(still alive!), BEHEMOTH (godz!!!), GROM, HERMH, PROPHECY, MASTIPHAL, TARANIS,
VADER, LUX OCCULTA and many others - and you’ll understand why you have
to buy «Czarne Zastepy»! Since all songs composed by KAT are
written in English it’s kinda weird to see Swedish LUCIFERION among others,
however if you’ll recall their singer’s name (Wojtek Lisicki), everything
becomes clear. Most interesting versions are performed by BEHEMOTH, GROM,
LUCIFERION and PROPHECY. The latter band was unfamiliar to me until I listened
to this CD and I have to say that these guys play something really original!
Their style is evil and blasting, atmospheric and anxious black metal with
few DM growls and techno / industrial-rhythms with great (although 100%
electronic) drum machine’s sound. INSOMNIA, one more Polish BM project,
also made quite good and memorable cover of KAT’s «Lza Dla Cieniow
Minionych». Besides them, there’re UNNAMED with brilliant cover of
«Spisz Jak Kamien», GROAN - gothic / doom metal band with rather
pleasant, soothing female vocals and IMMANIS, interesting and somewhat
original black metal act, who interpretated «Masz Mnie Wampirze»
in very different way from the original tune as well... Also notice that
this CD lasts for 80 minutes, so you get really long one for the price
of usual album. Good stuff, buy it!!!
MADE IN TRIBUTE
«A
Tribute To The Best Band In A Whole Goddamn World!»
Toy’s Factory
Records
rating: 5
of 6
Heh, don’t
you think that we have too much tributes this number?! Tribute to BATHORY,
tribute to MERCYFUL FATE, tribute to KAT, and now - IRON MAIDEN... I fear,
I can’t agree with the statement, defining this legendary English quintet
as «the best band in a whole goddamn world», but here we’re
talking not about this unfortunately slowly degenerating act, but a tribute
to them, so let’s go and see if it appears of interest to us... First song,
«Aces High» is played by Swedish ARCH ENEMY, and it doesn’t
represent anything special. Speaking plainer - good, but rather typical
cover. After Amott Bros. we have one more Swedish band, DECAMERON (for
how long do we have to wait for your second CD, guys?!) and their version
of «Two Minutes To Midnight» is much more intriguing, especially
with these GREAT «clean» vocals! As to third song on this compilation,
THERION’s «Children Of The Damned», I feel no need to tell
you even a word about it - all those who purchased THERION’s «A’arab
Zaraq...» CD already know what this cover is all about. ARMAGEDDON
with «Die With Your Boots On» disappointed me - I expected
something more thrilling than ordinary black / death version of this song
- b.t.w., one of the weakest tunes by IRON MAIDEN, in my opinion. NOCTURNAL
RITES’ «Wasted Years» is better, i.e. it’s their OWN look upon
this song. Besides, these Swedes play power / speed metal themselves, so
I guess it was easier for them to play IRON MAIDEN’s cover. The sixth ones
are SADIST, the only non-Swedish band on «Made In Tribute»,
covering «Wrathchild» and should I say that it kills?! Great
guitars (in contrast to «Crust» CD - great, but lacking famous
SADIST’s guitar solos which captured my imagination while I was listening
to their debut, «Above The Light») and grim, weird vocals and,
as always with SADIST, perfect arrangements + big doze of symphonic keyboards...
Their cover is great, but in spite of this, «The Trooper» by
LORD BELIAL is better anyway!!! It’s just FUCKING GREAT! Wow, to hear such
a song from Vassago and Dark was a great surprise for me, and seems like
I began to really respect them after this. NAGLFAR’s «The Evil That
Men Do» did nothing for me. I never understood (and never will) why
many fans all over the world praise this band... In fact, they’re utterly
insincere, besides that you can’t imagine anything more typical than NAGLFAR’s
«Vittra». The same goes for the cover performed by them. The
rest two bands on this compilation are... whom do you think that are? Yepp,
exactly. If this CD includes nine Swedish bands of ten, it’s inevitable
to meet IN FLAMES and DARK TRANQUILLITY here. The band which released «Whoracle»
some time ago presents their interpretation of «Murder In The Rue
Morgue» and DARK TRANQUILLITY, in it’s turn - «22, Acacia Avenue».
What to say?? Both songs played by these bands deserve the highest rating,
especially the one performed by Mikael Stanne and co...
TRIBUTE TO
MERCYFUL FATE
Listenable
/ Osmose
rating: 4,
5 of 6
Listenable
Records forestalled Polish Still Dead Productions with releasing tribute
compilation to the legendary MERCYFUL FATE. This CD includes thirteen (did
you expect another number?!) tracks, featuring such bands as LUCIFERION
(still alive!) with «Black Funeral», SACRAMENTUM («Black
Masses»), ARMAGEDDON («Desecration Of The Souls»), EMPEROR
(«Gypsy»), WITHERING SURFACE («The Oath»), MISANTHROPE
(«Doomed By The Living Dead»), IMMOLATION («Satan’s Fall»),
DARK TRANQUILLITY («Lady In Black») and some others. Undoubtedly,
the best cover belongs to French NOTRE DAME. Their version of «Into
The Coven» is simply amazing with sick, twisted vocal parts, perverted
keyboards and depraved harmonies. Let me know if you have any info concerning
this project, since I’d like to feature such an original band in my magazine!
IMMOLATION’s and EMPEROR’s covers are also nice, but the strangest song
here is «Evil» performed live by Snowy Shaw! No no no, I’m
not saying that he performed the whole song on drums - there’re vocals
(the strangest ones I’ve ever heard! Mix King Diamond, Dio and Ihsahn of
EMPEROR into one and perhaps you’ll remotely conceive what they are all
about!!), guitars, bass and keyboards, but the song itself sounds very
strange, almost weird. I just can’t say anything else, so you’d better
listen to it and decide yourself... Nice compilation, although I’m still
looking forward to the one from Still Dead!
UNTIL THE
END OF TIME...
The End Records
rating: 4,
5 of 6
After MENTAL
HOME’s «Vale», The End Records decided to unleash this compilation
which is their second release, I believe. Well, what to say about it? The
opening track is MENTAL HOME’s «Under The Wing Of Gamayun»
taken from their upcoming «Black Art» CD. In my opinion, it
was a good choice because this tune is one of their best songs (among new
ones). To get what MENTAL HOME is all about, you may read reviews on «Black
Art» promo and «Vale» CD featured elsewhere... Next band
is SCULPTURED which is quite impressive one, I’d say! They style is dark
doom metal with some progressive DM elements, excellent guitar work (reminding
me of IN FLAMES) and memorable vocals, while the song itself definitely
possess certain gloomy and... romantic atmosphere. Third track on this
comp belongs to EPOCH OF UNLIGHT. «Silver Mistress», the track
which these Americans contributed with to «Until The End Of Time»,
begins as fast, blasting and evil black metal with furious, insane vocals
later changing into something less aggressive as well as those blasphemous
shrieks disappear, replaced by also blackish, but not so malicious voice,
quite close to Swedish standards of singing... But then again, the song
changes to what it began with, and these two vocals and styles mix into
one - great anti-christian music, well-played and produced. Then we have
old NOKTURNAL MORTUM’s track (recorded back in 1996), «Unholy Orathania»,
taken from «Goat Horns» album, which will be re-released in
the shape of CD on The End Records soon. Basically, it’s very original
folk black metal with excellent and non-typical vocals and brilliant keyboards,
so the song could be just perfect if the guitars didn’t suck so bad...
«Unholy Orathania» is followed with one more tune by MENTAL
HOME - «Southern Calm Waters», the most interesting, diverse
and somewhat mesmerizing song featured on «Vale». After that,
we have ODES OF ECSTASY, which seems to be the worst band on this compilation.
It features unmemorable and dull romantic doom / death metal with few symphonic
elements, nice male but awful and irritating female vocals... I hope that
their forthcoming album will be MUCH better, otherwise they don’t have
any chances. Next band is SCHOLOMANCE, excellent atmospheric black metal
from USA. SCHOLOMANCE’s «Pride Of The Serpents Winds» can be
described as a kind of mix between early MOONSPELL and contemporary EMPEROR.
It’s various, sometimes fast, sometimes mid-paced, symphonic BM with good
vocals and drums sounding like it’s a drum machine playing (?), however
despite this fact, rhythm section (bass+drums) creates very good impression
afterall. Perhaps, this band is the best one presented on «Until
The End Of Time»... This compilation ends with second NOKTURNAL MORTUM’s
song, this time new, taken from upcoming «To The Gates Of Blasphemous
Fire» CD, out in July 1998. It’s called «On The Moonlight Path»
and possesses the sound which is quite different from previous direction
of these Ukrainian heathens. This composition represents supreme evil in
the form of fast and extremely atmospheric sympho-black metal. The production
could be better, but that’s not the worst shortcoming of this track. The
worst thing is that now NOKTURNAL MORTUM sound exactly like EMPEROR circa
«In The Nightside Eclipse». Maybe keyboards sound more intriguing
and original possessing some folk elements, but...
As a conclusion,
I may say that «Until The End Of Time» is the kind of compilation
which deserves to be noticed...