DEPRESY
“Sighting”
Shindy Productions
rating: 5, 5 of 6
“Sighting” is already a second effort from this young talented band emerging from Slovakia. Well, this country spawns more and more exciting metal acts, so this is no surprise to me… I’d lie saying that I liked a lot their previous CD (“A Grand Magnificence”), although it was fairly good. Well, fortunately “Sighting” is thousand times better (even though they almost didn’t change anything… so maybe I just didn’t listen to “A Grand Magnificence” enough carefully? Hmm…). It’s occult death metal, fast and atmospheric, i.e. something in the vein of early SEPTIC FLESH and since I LOVE early SEPTIC FLESH, it’s obvious that I LOVED this one also. Everything is nearly perfect here… each song has a splendid and intriguin structure… each song sounds undoubtedly exciting… They’re various and similar to each other in the same time, coming with stunning arrangements, splendid musicianship and top-notch sound quality. And now I know why their singer calls himself “Dragon” – his voice is really that of dragon… “Sighting” definitely may be reckoned to “a must to have” category – at least, that’s my opinion. (Herr Stalhammar)

ENDLESS
“Beauty, Tears And The Setting Sun”
Pavement Music
rating: 6 of 6
What would you think of this Canadian band after looking at the album’s title? Most likely, the answer will be ‘ah, one more MY DYING BRIDE clone!’ And damn it, you’re wrong! “Beauty, Tears And The Setting Sun’ is one of the most powerful death metal album I’ve heard lately! And despite that it’s brutal as fuck, it’s still a music with originality. As well as certain doze of diversity… Three vocal lines, cello and piano parts, magnificent drumming, lots of tempo changes (no fucking techno death here, though!) and, as said above, originality. There’re no weak tunes here, all of them are equal to each other, being a perfect gift to any true death metal fan. I think I won’t be wrong predicting this band a big future… (Herr Stalhammar)

GLACIAL FEAR
“3tx Promo CD ‘99”
Explorers Records
rating: 5 of 6
This is a promotional CD, released in order to give us a hint of what their next full-length effort (out soon on Nocturnal Music) will sound alike. Here we have three tracks (“Space 1999”, “Electronic N-ice Eyes”, “Misanthropic Hacker”… erh, weird titles…) of groovy death metal with very good production (at least, it sounds this way to my ears), excellent drumming and some pretty good “clean” voices. All in all, GLACIAL FEAR differs a lot from most of contemporary death metal bands – and they manage to DIFFER in a quite exciting way. Check it out… as well as their forthcoming CD. (Herr Stalhammar)

INTERNAL BLEEDING
“Driven To Conquer”
Pavement Music
rating: 5 of 6
Already a fifth release from INTERNAL BLEEDING, “Driven To Conquer” also seems to be the best one, at least to my ears. Comprised of nine tracks, this is a pure hymn to death metal, an ode to brutality… It’s fast and relentless, featuring perfect sound and splendid performance… it’s the kind of album which won’t let you up until it ends. I wouldn’t say that “Driven To Conquer” is extremely various, but who need this goddamn variety? It’s death metal, true death metal, not some weak parody on it… It doesn’t have any synths or orchestrations but again, it’s something for the DIMMU BORGIR-alike acts. It just won’t fit here. This CD also strikes as rather exciting lyrically, at least it has few exciting and thought-provoking themes like “Six Shots In Dallas” and “Anthem For A Doomed Youth”. All tracks appear as quite short ones, that’s why I was a bit surprised when my CD player told me that “Driven To Conquer” lasts for almost 70 minutes! However, this riddle has very simple answer: there’s a hidden track in the end, not exactly the track, but some sort of a spoken thanx list… ‘INTERNAL BLEEDING’s name represents many things to many people. Their level of heaviness is unsurpassed in the world of metal music’, their bio says. I wouldn’t say I agree with this statement (I’ve heard much more brutal bands), however INTERNAL BLEEDING still stays one of the best death metal acts around nowadays. That’s for sure. (Herr Stalhammar)

LUNATIC GODS
“Sitting By The Fire”
Metal Age Productions
rating: 4, 5 of 6
“Sitting By The Fire” is the second CD from this Slovakia’s band formerly known as BESTIALIT, and also one of the sickest ones I’ve ever heard. Based on so-called ‘techno death metal’, it turns into avantgarde-alike stuff rather often, featuring ‘broken’ rhythms and complicated structures. All in all, “Sitting By The Fire” is very well crafted, at least I wouldn’t say that their creations are similar to anyone’s. There’re two singers in the band: Emil sings in a “clean” voice, while Mortis is responsible for hysteric, somehow even psychotic growling-alike voice. And, honestly speaking, both of them could be much better singers… especially Emil. Guitar and synth parts seem to be quite excellent as well as drumming and bass lines. Furthermore, “Sitting By The Fire” fortunately appears as a well executed album – all parts sound fine, lacking any recording or mixing drawbacks. Well, in fact, I don’t really know if there’s anything I can cavil at here… with an exception for the lyrics, perhaps. These ones definitely contrast music a lot, being too naive and even nearly ridiculous sometimes (check out “Ocean Of Hatred”)… although, the main idea behind each of them strikes as highly intriguing or, at least, impressive. Generally speaking, this is a big step ahead since their previous CD, also appearing as a big step forward when it comes to the whole death metal genre, but if you’re getting sick of too complicated stuff, do not buy this. It’s something for the open minded only. (Herr Stalhammar)

NIGHT TO DIE
“All Evil Crying”
Repulse Records
rating: 4 of 6
I can’t get into it. Packed in a stupendous way, “All Evil Crying” includes three songs of progressive form of death metal with incredible variety of singing styles (some ‘shouting vocals’ in the vein of DEATH and other bands similar to them, although a bit more ‘mild’, black metallish screams, “clean” singing as well as certain shamanic howling) and diverse yet a bit incomprehensible music. It is said that it has plenty of flamenco influences… Well, maybe… but I always thought that flamenco music sounds a bit diffirent. Generally speaking, this is very original and promising band but – as I already said, I can’t get into it. (Herr Stalhammar)

PROPHECY
“Contagion”
Pavement Music
rating: 4, 5 of 6
Here comes the brand new CD from Pavement Music, this time by Polish band known as PROPHECY. Their style is industrialized death metal, something in the vein of late FEAR FACTORY, though of course less commercial and thousand times more brutal. Recorded in Selani Studio and produced by Andy Bomba, “Contagion” comes with really decent sound (the same goes for the artwork and layout, by the way) and I believe it was predictable since a) Pavement never released a shitty-sounding CD, at least according to my memory and b) Selani is one of the best metal studios in Poland… The lyrics seem to be quite exciting, written in a good English, although few song titles may truly embarass you… I mean, the ones like “9 F. O. F.” or “21st Century Schizoid Worm (Technological Indifference Development)”… hmm, “… Schizoid Worm”? Have I heard that before? Yes, I surely did, despite the fact that KING CRIMSON’s song had a word ‘man’ instead of ‘worm’. I wonder what made these guys to name one of their tracks like that? Some kind of homage to one of their favorite bands? Well, I think I’ll never know that… But I distracted a bit. There’re no live drums on “Contagion”, only drummachine which sounds the way that even a neophyte fan would understand that it’s a computer only, however there’re no techno beats here. Time has come to compose a conclusion, don’t you think? In fact, I can’t say I’m a fan of suchlike music, but “Contagion” is not bad even in my view. Well, more likely ‘good’. (Herr Stalhammar)

SCRAMBLED DEFUNCTS
“Catacomb Abattoir”
Sound Age Productions / Relics Records
rating: 5 of 6
“Catacomb Abattoir” strikes as very powerful stuff in every sense. The drummer’s work seems to be nearly amazing here, also being this band’s strongest part. In fact, I can’t really understand how Butch plays cymbals at such a great speed, moreover – his fills are just as great.  Very good guitar and bass work is here as well. Vocals sound 100% brutal, appearing as (usual?) inhuman grunts and growling.  Also, SCRAMBLED DEFUNCTS managed to capture truly grim and anxious atmosphere. You know, I played the album in the same time reading through their lyrics (could it be called like that? I guess not. ‘An ode to gore’, perhaps?) as well as the quotes from Chikatilo and Golovkin (famous Russian mass murderers)… and the utter depression absorbed me in few minutes. The sound is almost top-notch (I disagree. It’s very good, but still could be better – Herr Stalhammar), everything’s professionally done. All in all, this is highly recommended to all those fucked up individuals being totally into pure death / grind with solos that cut up your psychological stability and lyrics dealing with gore, blood, dismemberment and various forms of depravity… (Silvanus)

SUBVERTOR
“Transgreso-Evolucion”
Wild Rags Records
rating: 1 of 6
Have you ever heard any worthy band from Bolivia? I haven’t. Honestly speaking, I haven’t heard neither worthy nor worthless bands coming from that State. Just nothing at all. And here we have SUBVERTOR’s debut CD thanks to Richard C. and Wild Rags… Well, uhm… I guess it was kinda mistake to release this stuff, at least I just can’t dig it. “Transgreso-Evolucion” is grindcore. You may say, ‘so what?’ Yes, I like death / grind acts a lot, but not the ones which sound so fucking boring!!! Also, being grindcore, this CD is extremely slow for such a style, so it becomes even more irritating… Production sucks and the song titles like “Che Guevara” make me sick. All in all, SUBVERTOR may fuck off. (Herr Stalhammar)

WITHERED EARTH
“Forgotten Sunrise”
White Noise Records
rating: 4 of 6
This is interesting. Some kind of a complicated death metal with mystical verses… This CD consists of eight studio and two live tracks of true metal art lacking any synths (with an exception for intro), female voices or choirs. It seems to be somewhat straight-forward at the first listen, however later you discover that everything’s quite the contrary. This is extremely diverse and pretty well structured stuff, although becoming TOO complicated sometimes. It is well recorded and well performed, however I believe that making their music more comprehensible as well as adding background synths won’t turn them into ‘less metal’ band. Anyway, despite that it has few drawbacks,“Forgotten Sunrise” is a good CD, so check it out… as well as the interview in this issue. (Herr Stalhammar)