The Crown Reform!!!

So Dobermann formally known as the almighty The Crown have changed their name back to The Crown (anything else just didn't seem just right did it?)  The have a new singer by the name of Jonas Stallhammer and from the samples he sounds fucking ferocious (he sounds just like Johan as well).

You can check out the samples at the new official site :http://www.thecrownofficial.com/

So this is some pretty good news to end a shitty week.  So to celebrate here is a vid, headbang till your head hurts :)

Death's Death Metal Distribution Center

Hey everyone, it's Thursday and tonight I would like to present The Crown.  If you don't know who they are then you need to get out from under your rock and get researching.  The Crown, formally known as The Crown of Thorns until some religious version of that name objected to the use of the same name for the title of a band who produced some of the most unrelenting Death Metal (or Death 'n' Roll if you will) to ever grace my ears.

Nearly everyone who listens to The Crown or has heard them cites Deathrace King as their best and I am tending to agree with them, fast, brutal, technical Death Metal with some great solos and an appearance by the vocal god known as Tompa.  From the moment the first note leaves the speakers you are overtaken by this brilliantly amazing music, Johan the singer has got to be up there with Tompa as one of Swedish Death Metals best or most ferocious vocalists ever.

Johan left not long after Deathrace King was released and guess who filled in for him?  You guessed Tompa and he was in the band long enough to release and album called Crowned In Terror (this was when I first heard about the band, being an avid fan of At The Gates I wanted to know about all that involved the members) which I think was sort of luke warmly received and was duly re-recorded after Possessed 13 which saw the return of Johan back on vocals, I don't think Tompa fitted in too well with the Crown boys.

I actually prefer Tompa's version over Johans as it sounds more raw and a bit more aggressive.  There are some nice finishing touches to Johans version, which by the way is entitled Crowned Unholy, in the way of re-recorded Bass and Vocals (of course) and the intro House of Hades is longer.  I urge you to check both the albums out to decide for yourselves.

The Crown broke up not long after the release of Possessed 13 and Crowned Unholy and formed other bands most notably Johan's band One Man Army and the Undead Quartet, which is pretty fucking groovy if you ask me.

Obviously The Crown have other albums but the three I have mentioned tonight are the ones I recommend, I will talk about Eternal Death, the rest of their disco and history next week.

Could there be a better DVD release than this next year???

At The Gates....do I really need to explain who they are?  No? I didn't think so, are releasing a 3 dvd strong box set next year.  "The Flames of the End" as it will be called will involve the following:

Disc 1:
Under a Serpent Sun: The Story of At The Gates, a two hour doco on, obviously, the beginings and demise of ATG.

Disc 2:
Purgatory Unleashed: Live At Wacken , 75 mins of ATG awesomeness from W.O.A 2008.

Disc 3:
Only the Dead are Smiling: A number of rare and unreleased live shows and videos.

I only have one complaint, they do have other albums other than Slaughter of the Soul, could they have not used lines from songs and song titles from them somewhere as well???

All in all I would like to think that this will rule my DVD player for the majority of next year, as it is released on Feb 22nd 2010.  I must say I am incredibly excited for this and I will be buying it as soon as I possibly can.

Death's Death Metal Distribution Center

I go by the name of Icipher here but at my forum I am known as Death so hence the name.  Every Thursday (New Zealand Time) I will be posting about something that precludes to Death Metal or the like (or whatever takes my fancy at the time).

Today, Desultory are a little known Swedish Death Metal band from Stockholm.  They are from the same period as the classic Dismember and Entombed and released their debut Into Eternity at the same time.  Even though it made nowhere near as much impact as Left Hand Path and Like An Ever Flowing Stream I still consider it a classic, a lost classic if you will.

Desultory were a bit more American Death Metal than their counterparts but in no way is that a bad thing.  If you are interested check out Into Eternity.  Even though theses guys are still around and together they haven't put out an album since 1996.  They are worthy of praise so here is a vid and the album cover:

Text book stuff from Sweden!

Now Morifade are another one of those many underground power metal bands that you’ll usually only come across completely by accident or in mentioned in a list on Youtube or something. Funnily enough, I came across this band in another way, that is; I typed ‘Sci-fi’ and ‘power metal’ into the Metal Archives search engine and picked a band name at random and then My-spaced them. How lucky I was because I really liked what I heard.

Morifade of Sweden are nothing special, but I have to say, they’re bloody good for what they are, which is: light-hearted, sci-fi sounding power metal with elements reminiscent of bands like Stratovarius and Labyrinth.

They have plenty of speed, but not an overdose. They have interesting riffery with a lot nice rhythmic work as well as a lot of great modern power metal leads and melodies. The drumming is great too, a lot of alternating patterns and ‘speed up and downs’ (think Wuthering Heights (but not that much lol)). The overall arrangement has some good variation, you won’t get bored with this after the first few tracks and you’ll easily loose you self in a two or three back-to-back listens of the album. Vocals are what you would expect from Stefan Peterson, mid-ranged, full, melodic and straight forward. Keyboards are well placed, subtle and get very quick in the pre-chorus areas, as in most great power metal.

This is just another of the great, hard working power metal bands out there that just know what they’re doing and do it well. There’s’ a lot of catchy soul-raising tunes on this release the will have you coming back again for more. My only criticism is of the lyrics which are very bland and is nothing you haven’t heard before but other than that, the music is top notch power metal.

7/10

Highlights: Escape, In Martyria and Revive for a while.

Entombed

I didn't realise this but 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the birth of Entombed and that legendary Swedish Death Metal sound. So everyone play your favourite Entombed album and open a bottle of beer and celebrate.
This is what I will be playing:

Opeth

I love their last album Watershed for some reason the songs on it really spoke to me. One of my favourites is actually the introduction perhaps just because of the way the lyrics are sung and it's simple structure that still manages to stir mixed feelings:

In Flames, What The Fuck Is Going On?

So I came across the latest In Flames video, Delight and Angers, from their latest steaming pile of commercial horse shit A Sense of Purpose. Seriously, is this the same band that wrote Subterranean and Whoracle? The only way I worked out it was them aside from the title of course was Anders very average vocals. He has got worse with every album. Anyway see for yourself:

Candlemass – Lords of Doom

Ok Candlemass, Doom Legends from Sweden (well we all know that don’t we??) they have been a long time favourite of mine, in particular Tales of Creation, I am sure I could be one of the only people alive that rate Candlemass higher than Black Sabbath, or and other Doom band that walks this earth.

Their latest opus, Doom Magic Doom leaked the other day, much to my glee, as I had been hanging out for it for quite some time. Candlemass prove that they are still a force in the metal scene and in no way was the departure of Messiah a loss in anyway, Robert Lowe is so powerful and in your face he instantly makes you forget that Candlemass ever had anyone else singing for them.

As for the riffs, oh my fucking god, there is a moment in Hammer of Doom that is so reminiscent of Iron Man that I was instantly taken back to the day when I first heard Sabbath.

This album will be physically in my cd collection as soon as it hits the shelves. So I leave you with the vid to Emperor of the Void.

Dismember

Dismember, the greatest of all the Old School Swedish Death Metal bands, even Entombed. Reason I say that they are better than Entombed is that Dismember are just so damned consistent. Every album is Swedish DM played to perfection. Melodic like Maiden brutal like Morbid Angel, a perfect mix.

My favourite album is 'Death Metal', it kills from beginning to end as well as having one of the coolest album covers known to mankind:

I am actually considering getting that as a tattoo,

Anyway do yourself a favour and get Death Metal, no self respecting Metalhead should be with out it!!

For All Of You Who Love Immortal, Listen Up!

I discovered Rimfrost this morning, they are a perfect fill in until the new Immortal album makes an appearance, saying that they are really good in their own right they are just pure Immortal worship. Sweden still churns out excellent Black Metal bands.

Here is a vid of them rehearsing:



Keep and eye on these guys they will go somewhere, well as far as you can go in underground Black Metal circles. Have a listen to their album A Frozen World Unknown to see what I mean.

Hails to the Forefathers!

I shouldn't have to say anything.
Put up your horns and bang your head.

Slaughter of the Soul



Under a Serpent Sun



Suicide Nation

The Mightest of the Mighty......Meshuggah

Meshuggah, Technical Post Thrash Metal (or what ever you want to label them) legends, my all time favourite band, the band that almost deafened me live in concert last year.

Every time I play them they blow my fucking mind, everything they do is done to perfection. For months I have been trying to decide on a favourite album, for a long time it was Nothing then it was Chaosphere, then it was Destroy Erase Improve, then it was Contradictions Collapse and then Catch Thirty Three took the 1st place, and then obZen arrived and I didn't play any other music for weeks......then they cycle of "Favourite Meshuggah Album Syndrome" started all over again. So after hefty debate I have come to the conclusion, they all equally kick my arse so all are deservedly 1st place.














I think I would kill to see them again, especially the latest tour with The Faceless and Cynic.



One thing that still boggles my mind is the huge jump in quality of songs from Contradictions Collapse to Destroy Erase Improve, sure Contradictions is amazing in it's own way but there is no comparison between the two really, DEI is simply pure brilliance.

Anyway, listen and enjoy



Listen to that double kick, that guitaring and Jens roaring his lungs out. Amazing, mind blowing stuff.