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The Finnish rookies in Callisto follow the same musical direction as Isis,
Cult of Luna and Neurosis. I read somewhere that Callisto's music sounds even
more Isis than Isis does...
Well, that might be true, but I think Callisto are strong enough to stand on
their own, without being compared with Isis.
If you're not familiar with Isis and those bands mentioned above you have for
sure missed something in your life. Even if Isis and Cult of Luna aren't my
absolute favorites, I strongly recommend Neurosis and Callisto. If you want
atmospheres, depressive soundscapes and agony those bands are for you. Callisto's
music are not simple; "True nature unfolds" requires a couple of hours
in your CD-player to completely find its true self. Do not hurry...and be patience.
It is when you listen to the album the tenth time you discover those small things
that's make an album special. It is worth it. But Callisto does not reach me
all the way, unfortunately. Two or three songs does not reach me at all. But
this is a debut full-length album so I forgive Callisto... but if Callisto continue
to walk this path the next album will be a killer!
Ranking: 7 / 10
CANDLEMASS
Epicus Doomicus Metalicus
The debut album from the almighty Swedish doomrockers Candlemass. This album is actually a Mini-CD: it contains just a few songs, but they are all great! Well, they could have been better with another singer. On this album, Leif Edling (the main man behind this band) had a guest singer, and his voice are not the best one. But if you are familiar with Candlemass, the name Messiah rings a bell. And I guess if that man did the singing on this album, it would have been a killer.
But this album is just a taste for what to come. "Epicus..." is just for die-hard-fans and Candlemass freaks.
Ranking: 6 / 10
CANDLEMASS
Nightfall
Messiah's debut in Candlemass! His voice takes the music to another dimension. Without him, Candlemass would simply be a average metal band. Sadly, but true. Not even Leif Edling, who writes all the song, would manage to take Candlemass to the top without Messiah.
Well, this album is perfect: Heavy guitars which comes straight from the bottom of hell. It's slow, beautiful, and just simply doom with no mercy. The only problem is that there are not so many "real" songs: there are many instrumental things with effects and things. I want more of the ordinary songs. But it doesn't matter when songs like "At the Gallow's End" and "The Well of Souls" are crushing your brain!
Ranking: 9 / 10
CANDLEMASS
Ancient Dreams
Candlemass continues to throw their doom metal in our ears, and I suppose that few have a problem with that.
"Ancient Dreams" is in the same style as "Nightfall", but this one is even more heavy and more doom. Slow, slow, slow. What I wanted on "Nightfall" but didn't get, Candlemass managed to create on this one: There are more ordinary songs. But instead there is a lack of strong and great songs, which "Nightfall" offered. On "Ancient Dreams" all songs are okay but I think the peak is missing...
Ranking: 7 / 10
CANDLEMASS
Tales of Creation
The last album with Messiah. But what an album! Mix "Ancient Dreams" with "Nightfall" and you have "Tales...". There are slow parts, and there are fast parts (well, the word fast in doom metal is not the same word as in black metal). Everything in a perfect harmony.
Leif Edling have made a perfect album (again), but unfortunately this is the last good Candlemass album. Messiah left the band after this record because Mr. Edling wanted to change the musical direction of the band, and Messiah didn't accept that, so he left.
But maybe he will do a "Bruce Dickinson" some day...who knows?
Ranking: 9 / 10
CANDLEMASS
Live
A live recording from Fryshuset (now called "Klubben") in Stockholm in 1990. There is a good sound, and Messiah's voice are perfect on the stage as well. His voice is even better live.
Candlemass delivers all the classic songs from every album (all four), so there are alot of music for the money. So if you want to experience Candlemass live with Messiah, this is a record worth buying!
Ranking: 8 / 10
CANDLEMASS
Chapter VI
I was skeptic about this album when it came out: Messiah had left the band and Candlemass was looking for a new musical direction. The new singer turned out to be Thomas Edlund (former member of Talk of the Town: a soft hardrock band). Thats not a bad choice, he is a great singer, but the voice is more like a standard metal voice: light, clean with no weight in it, if you know what I mean. Messiah had that weight, the power in the voice which Edlund don't have.
The songs are not doom anymore, more like ordinary heavy metal. But it´s not bad, no, the songs are allright, but not more. Some of them reaches out a bit more than the rest (like "Julie laughs no more"), but since I am used to the good old Candlemass, this aint my cup of tea...
This is an okay album. Not more. And when this review are finished I probably will listen to "Nightfall" to remember the good old days!
Ranking: 4 / 10
A new band for me, and probablly for some more. This is a mixture between HIM, Pearl Jam and Kent. Since i like HIM, I just can't ignore this album. But Charon doesn't reach up to the HIM-standard, but it is an okay album anyway. Some songs are really great, like "Sin", "Sorrowbringer" and a couple of more, but the album holds too many similar songs, so after 30 minutes I'm pretty tired.
The singer sounds like Eddie from Pearl Jam and the music is sometimes like Kent, but heavier, and the lyrics are sometimes HIM. Thats the story...
An average album which you just listen to when you remember you have it in your collection.
Ranking: 4 / 10
COVENANT
In Times Before the Light
This is Nagash main band, as he says, but he also plays/played in Dimmu Borgir and Troll and maybe some more bands. Together with T. Blackheart, Covenant performs ordinary black metal in the same vein as early Emperor. But this is not good at all. Emperor did it with some style back in early 90´s. 1995 Covenant are trying to do the same thing, but it´s too late, and too lousy.
No, this is, well, not crap, but almost. A few songs are good but thats it! Stay away from this and concentrate on later Covenant albums.
Ranking: 3 / 10
COVENANT
Nexus Polaris
This is a step forward compared with the previous album! Nagash and Blackheart had a little help from the Black Metal elite on "Nexus Polaris". Just taste the names: Hellhammer (drums), Sverd (keyboards), Astennu (guitar) and Sarah Jezebel Diva (voices).
The music is not even close to the previous album. This is more technical and more easy. Almost like pop/black metal. Nagash have a very nice voice and thats a big thing why they are sounding so good. The production is great (what is to expect from a Nuclear Blast signed band?) and the material are good. Not every song though: the album begins very strong but at the end there are not much left...
This is commercial metal at it´s best...
Ranking 6 / 10
COVENANT/THE KOVENANT
Animatronic
Nagash looks like Marilyn Manson one the cover, but if you throw the cover away, you can hear that Kovenant (they had to change name due to a Swedish synth group already had that name) have changed their style again. Distorted vocals, more effects, more distorted guitars and rawer sound. The songs are straight forward with no bullshit choirs and keyboard solos. No, Kovenant, rocks on like never before.
But I got really tiered of this album pretty quick. It's not bad, but the songs are maybe too boring. No surprises or anything. One song passes by, another begins...
But as a Kovenent album: it's a step forward.
Ranking: 7 / 10
This has nothing to do with metal. This is a relaxing album, filled with nice and beautiful parts. Maybe I best could explain this as a Dead can Dance thing, but there are more guitars, drums, and bass here, not violins and so. And Alison Shaw have a great dreamlike, childish voice.
This is not for speed freaks. This is a "laying-in-the-bed-and-dream-your-self-away-album".
Ranking: 7 / 10
CRADLE OF FILTH
The Principle of Evil Made Flesh
Cradle of Filth needs no presentation. Probably the most famous black metal band in the world.
This album took the world by surprise. Vampires and erotic Satanism in a mix was not that common in 1994. The music was easy to "understand" if you compare with other black metal bands from that time. Keyboards, melodic and beautiful music: a winning formula if you want to reach the masses. And COF did reach out to a much more bigger audience than the rest of the black metal groups ever did, due to their easy music.
But I dont really like this album. Dani's voice is not so great, and there are to many bad songs.
Ranking: 4 / 10
CRADLE OF FILTH
Vempire
The second release, which is a mini CD. But what a mini CD! This is much more better than "Principle...". "Vempire" holds more advanced music and Dani´s voice are a killer. The vampire concept are just great! There are also more fast songs, but at the same time with nice and relaxing harmonies in the background.
Well, a very nice album, and the cover are making that feeling even stronger (The Cradle guys are masters of making nice looking covers).
Ranking: 9 / 10
CRADLE OF FILTH
Dusk...and Her Embrace
This album continues in the "Vempire" style. Fast, with a nice and beautiful touch. There are more slower parts on this one: you know, the typical Cradle keyboard parts, with some female voices...
This is a very good album. The songs are all very good, even if I get a little tiered of it at the end of the album.....The last two or three songs are nothing special at all. No, it is the first half of the album that really kicks ass.
Ranking: 7 / 10
CRADLE OF FILTH
Cruelty and the Beast
This is a concept album, all about Elisabeth Bathory, who was a Hungarian woman who (what I think) was some kind of a serial killer for a long, long time ago. People saw her as a vampire and things like that, so that concept fits Cradle of Filth pretty well.....
The album starts with an instrumental song, as they always do on their albums. After that the first song blast of. And what a song! The sound have changed a bit since the last time: Much more cleaner, and the guitars are sounding more, and the keyboards are not as outstanding as before. And I think this sound fits Cradle very well. Raw, clean and crisp.
But this album has the same problem as "Dusk...": it's only the first half of the album that is interesting. The songs after that are okay, not bad at all, but I have lost the interest in the music by that time. All the killer songs are in the beginning...
But after all: A great Cradle of Filth album!
Ranking: 8 / 10
CRADLE OF FILTH
From the Cradle to Enslave EP
A taster before their video release ("Pandeamonaen", which I haven´t seen). It contains two new songs, and the rest are covers: Danzig's "Death comes ripping" and Anathema's "Sleepless". There are also a new version of "Funeral in Carpathia".
A mini-CD just for great Cradle fans.
Ranking: 3 / 10
CRADLE OF FILTH
Midian
In the year 2000 Cradle of Filth returns again. The vampire concept is almost gone. Instead they are inspired by freaks this time! It is a concept album, just like "Cruelty..." but this is about a place call Midian, and I think that it has to do with Clive Barkers book and movie with the same idea. Midian is a place where the monsters go, where all the freaks that not fit in this world lives. Well, thats thoughts from my side, but I think it's correct....
Okay, what about this album? One can directly hear that this is Cradle playing from the very first riff. But the sound from "Cruelty...." are gone. Now they have stepped back to the "Vempire" sound. And there are more effects, more of everything! It is sometimes fast and sometimes slow. Nothing really new from the Cradle front. They are not surprising.
The songs are allright, and this time they managed to make a album that is interesting all the way through.
I think this album is in the same level as "Dusk....". The songs are reminding of that album, and thats not bad at all.
Ranking: 7 / 10
CRADLE OF FILTH
Bitter Suites to Succubi
Okay, a new Cradle album. Thats always great, but it wasn't not a long time ago they released "Midian", so I got the feeling before I heard this one, that it was recorded and written in a hurry. But I was wrong. This is Cradle at their best, and the sound havn't changed much since the last one.
But one thing is really bad that there is only four (4) new songs on this one (plus two instrumental songs) and the rest are old songs re-recorded and a cover of Sister of Mercy's "No time to cry". The cover and the re-recorded songs ("Principle of evil made flesh", "Summer's dying fast" and "The Black Goddess rises") are well done and so on, but I paid full price for this, so it feels like a rip off...
So if you are new into COF, I think you should look for the earlier albums, there are more music for the money to listen to. But if you like COF, even their covers and instrumental stuff (like me) you should buy "Bitter Suites to Succubi" right now!
Ranking: 9 / 10
CRADLE OF FILTH
Damnation and a Day
As always when it come to Cradle of Filth: A long awaited album for lots of people. And if some people had trouble finding their older albums: That problem does not exist. No, now Cradle rocks on the major label Sony. And when a major record company is involved within the extreme metal scene , the word "sellout" is immediately all around you. But when it comes to Cradle.....well, maybe they did the sellout long ago....I don't know and don't care. The music is the important part. Not if Dani shows his ugly face on MTV etc.
Okay, so what new: Not so much actually. There are lots of "Cradleish" stuff on "Damnation and a Day": The screeching insane voice, the beautiful slow parts, the fast and brutal parts etc. One thing that came to me was that the music isn't not so complex. The songs are more straight to the point (no "Midian" here) and the shape of the songs are pretty simple sometimes (you know: and verse, a chorus part, a new part, back to the verse and the chorus again). In some songs they try a new grip which sounds very new and fresh. There are also more keyboards and orchestral stuff in the background. But is the album good or what? YES! It's a killer. A true Cradle album which will live long in my CD player for the rest of the year. I dare to say that this album is one of the better Cradle album I've ever heard!
Ranking: 9 / 10
Another Norwegian black metal band. This one with Ingar Amlien as the "boss". I haven't seen is name around, but I know he played some session bass in Satyricon (on the "Intermezzo" mini CD).
Well, this is ordinary black metal with lyrics like: "Drink the blood! The blood is life! Drink the blood and listen to the jaws of the wolf". Ohh God, my little daughter are able to write better lyrics...
There are some keyboards, some industrial, some female vocals...yeah, you know the drill.
Ranking: 2 / 10
I am not so familiar with this swedish thrash/death group. I have heard some songs here and there, but not a whole album. Until now.....
This is some ass kicking death/thrash metal at it's best! I now understand why they called this album "Deathrace King", cause it feels like your're racing in hell with the Devil himself (and when music sounds like that it's nice music, if someone thought something else).
The songs I heard when this group called themslefs Crown of Thorns, which I dont remeber the title nor which album ther came from, wasn't like this. No, this music has it roots in some very nice thrash riffs, and not so much guitar harmonies and solos, as I recall the older songs were. This is brutal, fast and gloriuos, with some nice and hard riffs.
If the Crown, on the next album, can repeat this masterpiece, they will surley belong to the elite!
Ranking: 9 / 10
THE CROWN
Crowned in Terror
The only death/black metal superstar in Sweden are nowadays the lead singer of this outstanding Swedish trash/death/black metal band. Yes, I am talking about Tomas Lindberg (ex. At the Gates). And The Crown isn't the only band he sings in. No, Lock Up, Skitsystem and God knows how many more bands.....
Well, the Crowns last album was a real smash hit. A big hard punch right between the eyes. This one is in the same style, but maybe more brutal (is it possible?). Just taste the song titles like "Satanist", "Death Metal Holocaust" and "Under the Whip". Nice, isn't it? The Crown keeps pumping blast-beats, grim riffs and furious music out to the mortal worlds in a excellent way. But, yes there is a but, it is too much of the good. The first four or five songs are just great, while the later half of the album feels quite boring. No, the music is not slow or anything, it is just too much of the good, if you know what I mean.
"Deathrace King" raced all the way to the finish-line. "Crowned in Terror" just get half the way, but the first half are worth the money to spend on this recording!
Ranking: 6 / 10
