DOOM
“Eternity”
Mordor Records
rating: 6 of 6
Erh, what an original monicker! Anyway, till now it was the hardest review for me to compose… First of all, I still can’t figure out what the hell is the genre these guys’ stuff may be reckoned to?! At least, when I was sitting at home with few friends of mine and listening to this tape, we’ve started to write down the bandnames DOOM remind of. And here’s the list: FEAR FACTORY, LIVING SORROW, (late) SEPULTURA, (late) MORGOTH, RING’S END, CALLENISH CIRCLE, DEATHLESS, (late) MISANTHROPE, (early) GORESLEEPS, GREAT SORROW (circa “Dreams, Solitude And Silence” as well as “I Hope”), PHLEBOTOMIZED… Furthermore, outro heavily reminds me of “synthetically” composed tunes by BURZUM; and part V of 30-minute long “Song Of Prostration And Introversion” (a newly discovered poem by William Blake…? Heh heh…) sounds exactly like RAMMSTEIN. So, you see? It’s nearly impossible to tell you, our precious reader, what DOOM is all about. Kinda melodic death / doom / thrash / heavy / hardcore / industrial… and so on, and so forth. The compositions are undoubtedly very different, varying from almost heart-rending passages with excellent male “clean” voices, acoustics and bewitching synths, to harsh death-alike pseudo industrial with raw yet melodious (!) screaming… suddenly turning into heavy metal passages and leads. Even though this Nahodka-based act seems to compose some of their tunes borrowing almost everything from other well (and not so well) known bands, they (yes!) contrive to sound highly original, moreover – incredibly impressive! And what’s most pleasant, this is fucking all-pro done MC, you morons! I already told you the singer is great – and so are the musicians. So is the sound, the top-notch one… So is the awesome booklet… I just don’t have any words left… You see, I've received it more than a week ago - and still listen to "Eternity" for at least ten times a day. Genius work.
Email: obscenum@uic.nnov.ru
Snail mail: 606540 / Russia / Chkalovsk / P.O.Box 2 / Bykov D.A.
(review by Herr Stalhammar, Silvanus and Saihtan Krathmer)

ENDLESS
“Perihelion”
Redblack Productions
rating: 3, 5 of 6
This is pretty good and intriguing work, however… well, I wouldn’t say “it’s not my cup of tea”, but something lacks here, something that could make this review much more positive. Anyway; in short, “Perihelion” is melodic doom / death metal with both male and female voices, fine arrangements and stupendous musicianship (in fact, the sound is top-notch as well); pretty various, however few tracks off this CD sound too boring. “Under The Grey Sky”, “Ecstasy” (an instrumental tune) and “Scream” are the songs I’d mark out. Others are rather similar to each other and, furthermore, they didn’t excite me the way those three compositions did. This is quite good CD, but still far from perfection delivered by ENDLESS’ labelmates, such as SILENT STREAM OF GODLESS ELEGY or SAD HARMONY. (Herr Stalhammar)

MENTAL HOME
“Upon The Shores Of Inner Seas”
Century Media / The End Records
rating: 5, 5 of 6
Right now, when I’m listening to this CD for hundredth time, I realize I was always unfair to this band… You see, I’ve just gave few more listens to their former efforts, such as “Vale” and “Black Art”, and found out these were killer ones! Anyway, there’s nothing I can do now, except for writing a positive review on their newest work, this time entitled “Upon The Shores Of Inner Seas”. And believe, it definitely deserves such a rating, simply because of the fact it’s their best CD so far. It makes more emphasis on melody than atmosphere, being somewhat more energetic, however don’t you dare to consider it “commercial” due to the above-cited words of mine! It is NOT. The song structures became more solid, condensed – and I guess, it’s only for better.  Comparing this CD to their previous work, I’d say it’s a bit more “progressive” (if you get what I mean, of course), this time also lacking those pseudo-black metal vocals. Only “clean” ones, you see. Yet one change for good, since I guess now the mass media representatives won’t blame this band in following black metal trend (even though I consider reckoning any MENTAL HOME’s offering to black metal genre to be utterly stupid. Should we also reckon ORPHANED LAND, “North From Here”-SENTENCED, latest SEPTIC FLESH as well as EDGE OF SANITY to black metal only because they use vocals of a similar timbre…?!). Such tracks as “Downstairs”, “Late To Revise”, “Bliss” and “Stained” simply fascinate the listener… I think I should consider arranging interview with these guys. And while now – buy this one! (Herr Stalhammar)

NIGHTSKY BEQUEST
“Of Sea, Wind And Farewell”
X-rated Records
rating: 5, 5 of 6
Astounding coverart. Magnificently designed booklet and a picture of three scary guys and a beautiful female inside. Such were my first impressions of this CD, the visual ones. Now off to music. Tremendous, almost ethereal form of dark wave… no, wrong. This CD doesn’t bear any “dark” resemblance. Let’s say, gothic… metal? No, wrong again. Poor me – and poor you, since I decided I won’t reckon NIGHTSKY BEQUEST to any existing metal (or –non) genres. It’s just beautiful, “celestial” form of music with an emotional, tranquil and incredibly feminine voice by Radoslava… Male voice also appears here and there, supplementing lead vocals, being more likely a recitative. What’s most strange, synths were used only on a “Windsymphony…”-track, while “Of Sea, Wind And Farewell” features incredible atmosphere anyway. This is just perfect to listen to, while being alone in the countryside, thus uniting with our common Mother… This album is undoubtedly the best one both, the band and the label, have released so far! (Herr Stalhammar)

NIGHTWISH
“Wishmaster”
Spinefarm Records
rating: 6 of 6
This is just perfect. Well, actually just like any work by NIGHTWISH, I believe. This CD signifies a certain metamorphosis when it comes to musical canvas, since it sounds more like “Angels Fall First”, a debut CD by these Finns, i.e. more doomy, featuring lesser amount of speed / power elements, as well as lesser amount of symphonic arrangements (even though they’re still present in their sound, of course). Tarja’s voice sounds even more splendid (which makes me wonder, if it's possible…), the arrangements are perfect, so is the musicianship. By the way, it’s a bit strange, but one of the songs somewhat reminds me of DREAM THEATER works (and particularly “Space Dye West”). To mark out the best compositions, these are: “She Is My Sin”, “Come Cover Me”, “Two For Tragedy”, “Wishmaster” and “Crownless”. A must! (Herr Stalhammar)

SAD HARMONY
“Elektrula”
Redblack Productions
rating: 6 of 6
What a mess… Most of the albums reviewed in “doom / gothic / dark wave” section this time get ‘5, 5’ or ‘6’ out of ‘6’! I wish I could drag into shit at least few of them, but that seems to be utterly impossible due to the fact these acts deliver undoubtedly tremendous and artistic musical canvases. “Elektrula” strikes as yet one more killer CD brought forth the light by Redblack Productions, this time thousand times more serene, mild and affectionate. “Expressive guitar doom rock” is the way Redblack define this quartet, and I bet they couldn’t invent more appropriate definition. Being somewhat similar to LACUNA COIL, MY INSANITY, SENTENCED (circa “Amok”), INHUMAN and Finland’s DESIRE, “Elektrula” definitely sounds exciting and diverse, with a unique atmosphere hidden in between. Vocals vary from incredibly pleasant male and female “clean” voices to certain husky, expressive and artistic kind of singing, the one close to SENTENCED (and obviously, the album also mentioned above, the “Amok” masterpiece). Genuine guitar lines supplemented by somewhat groovy-sounding rhythm-section and ethereal keyboards as well as few pseudo(?)-folk elements make a genius work out of this CD, at least judging by such tunes as “Those Pilgrims…”, “Rolled Essence”, undoubtedly unusual “Tanya Pulkanova (Tha Guest An…)” and finally “Station”. Brilliant. (Herr Stalhammar)

SILENT STREAM OF GODLESS ELEGY
“Themes”
Redblack Productions
rating: 6 of 6
Well, if the previous CD by SILENT STREAM OF GODLESS ELEGY was a Cadillac, this one should be considered no less than Bentley… Slavonic pagan doom? Well, perhaps – even though, this time it’s much more black metal-spiced, at least when it comes to vocal department. Petr varies his singing in an incredible way, thus striking as one of the most skillful and talented singers in Czech Republic. Well, actually Zuzana is good too. And even though her voice is of course far from being operatic (let’s recall NIGHTWISH), that’s only for better due to the fact her singing fits the band’s sound just perfectly. Produced by Milos “Dodo” Dolezal (more than 2.500 000 albums sold under his production) and mastered at Magic Minds Studio by J. Nemec (CELTIC FROST, RUNNING WILD…), “Themes” is a huge step both in terms of production and actually the musical canvas. Bewitching rhythms almost permanently supplemented by violin, viola and violoncello simply hypnotize the listener, whilst the overall sound definitely is mind-devouring. Furthermore, SILENT STREAM OF GODLESS ELEGY is 100% original, at least I haven’t heard anything like that before. And what’s also important, “Themes” is the kind of CD which may be easily reckoned to “innovative ones”. It just doesn’t let you up until it’s over… Should I add that it comes with highly impressive lyrics and splendid appearance? I guess not. (Herr Stalhammar)

VICIOUS CRUSADE
“The Unbroken”
Legion Productions
rating: 6 of 6
… and this is just genius. Firstly I wanted to skip a review on this MC-album due to my utterly negative approach to Legion magazine (now “M mag”) and the namesake label, however… What could I do if this work is simply outstanding? To put it short, “The Unbroken” is the third “official” release by Belarus’ VICIOUS CRUSADE and their best one so far. Musically, they deliver highly original mixture of doom, melo-death and semi-folklore, lacking any synths –  featuring almost an opera-alike female singer, though. Sometimes Alena’s voice sound tremendous, sometimes – somehow even annoying, however I feel I have to admit that in general she’s an excellent supplement to the whole band’s sound. When it comes to lyrics, this work also strikes as one of the most impressive albums I’ve heard lately. First of all, their English is REALLY good, and secondly – all of the verses are rather poetic, simultaneously being incredibly profound. Too bad, but it seems like I can’t even barely describe what they’re all about, so you’d better get acquainted with ‘em yourselves. Besides all aforesaid, “The Unbroken” features new and redone versions of the old “classics” by VICIOUS CRUSADE, such as “Land Of Lakes”, for example. And yes, “Masquerade Of Piety”, “Vicious Circle”, “Dogs Of Justice”, “Who Are These Men?” and “Final Chapter” are ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Just genius like I said before. This is definitely one of best albums this issue, therefore lay your hands on it IMMEDIATELY!!! (Herr Stalhammar)