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.

Underrated black metal from the Nethers'

Hailing from the Netherlands, Krocht (‘Cavern’ in English) are another of what you might call an underground yet, underrated black metal band.

This is fairly straight forward black metal. Nothing very original or amazing so i use the term ‘underrated’ loosely. However, they obviously have some stand out quality, because they ignited my interest straight away when i first heard them. Ive become some what obsessed with underground, lo-fi, dirty, primitive sounding black metal lately and this band falls perfectly into the category.

The music of Krocht is pretty basic, but then, that's what we’re after aren't we? The riffing is long and drawn out played very fast so we are automatically set into quite and ambient mood. The riffs though, while still kept relatively simple are actually really interesting and original sounding, very melodic too at times but never so much that you lose the mood. There are even a few areas were some classic piano/keys appear to combine with certain parts adding a really nice forlorn atmosphere.

The structure and arrangement is quite progressive though so the tracks mesh together nicely and which keep you interested. You can listen to this release through several times and not realise you have because of the structure and hookieness of the music.

Drumming on this is great. Its mastered nicely so you can still hear it comfortably under the guitar. Overall the drumming is a mix of fast and thrashy (like Satanic Warmaster) to slow, to faint blast beats hanging in the distance.

The first original aspect of the album is probably the lyrical themes which deal with the french revolution and naval warfare. The vocals are well sung, evil, aggressive and not bombarded with effects or reverb. There are two haunting instrumental ambient tracks too which make a really nice addition--taking on the Burzum tradition-- and really give the overall release some depth.

This release is basically a compilation of the first two demos but since it contains all the tracks of them its not really a ‘best of’. Basically its just a convenience and who knows, maybe the are planning to make this into an album.

Overall, quick, nicely crafted, lo-fi black metal with a melodic touch that will set your mind at ease and have you humming all day long.

8.5/10

Role Model Power/Folk

Here we are! The latest installment by the legendary folk/power band: Falconer! I'm sure I'm not the only one who’s been hanging out for this one after the mild disappointment of Northwind. Even though Northwind was still pretty damn good I felt that it lacked the thought and effort that the previous albums had.

This is the second release with their original singer Mathias Bald who reunited with the band in ’06 on the aforementioned album and it’s good to hear his voice again. There's not much that can be said about him other than he rules and sings in the same vein of the deep vocalists like Hansi, Piet and Jens Carlsson. But enough about Mathias, let’s discuss the music.

I’m happy to say that this album is a return to the bands roots, namely; the self titled debut and Chapters From a Vale Forlorn. These two albums being closer based on power metal than the next few, which i felt (while still killer!) were closer based on heavy metal. This release however, achieves the balance between the two genres perfectly. We’ve got the speed and melody of the first two albums and the heaviness of the later few. So basically the music is really on par with this one, its powerful, catchy, progressive and more folky and epic than ever.

Speaking of folky, we've got a few ballad tracks on here too where the vocals are all sung in Swedish. Personally i would say this is the album’s only downfall but that may just be because I'm not a huge fan of ballads.

There are some new elements in the album too, namely the introduction of metal opera/symphonic influence and also another guest vocalist who duals with Mathias on the last track. It’s great to see this sort of thing in the band because it really makes their music sound more dynamic and epic (think Rhapsody of Fire) and also shows that their are growing as band. The best thing about this is that it’s not over done so much that you would have to re-classify them because they exercise control and still keep it heavy.

All up, this is a another solid release from a solid band that really just cant seem to do no wrong. The music is brighter and folkier than ever with catchy guitar riffs and hooky melodies. The arrangements are well balanced introducing new elements whilst emphasizing the old. In short, these guys really are the role models of the genre.

9/10.

A Soundtrack Of Vintage Horror

Faustcoven-Rising From Below the Earth (BW-July '08)

Rising From Below the Earth was released by the mighty Barbarian Wrath in July of 2008; About a half a year later I finally get around to ordering my copy and am taken aback by what I heard on this album. After a first impression it would be easy to compare Faustcoven to an artist like Finland's Hail but one would be missing a more important dimension of Faustcoven, that being the traditional/doom metal influence to this album.

Now onto the album itself: Rising From Below the Earth flows like a classic horror novel with each song unfolding like a new chapter unveiling more horrors than the previous. The influence of H. P. Lovecraft coupled with the story telling style of King Diamond cannot be ignored here. In the very first track "At Night They Rise From Below the Earth" the lyrics read, " In A Most Profound mystery/the foul hand of fate did illuminate me/ I unearthed texts, I now try to forget;" If those works aren't tinged with visions of Lovecraftian Horror then I don't know what is. A similar style of lyric writing can be found on other tracks such as "A Wickedness Came Upon Them," and " A Caravan Of Plaguebearers." As for the influence of King Diamond's storytelling tactic, it is evident on most tracks throughout the album but possibly most visible on "Curse of the Voodoo Priest" which ironically enough is Gunnar's tribute to Mercyful Fate.

Musically the album is as versatile as the lyrics are; Meaning each track brings a different element to the table so to speak. For example "At Night They Rise From Below the Earth" greats the listener with a haunting guitar intro before one is inundated with the menacing lead guitar work of the song. The track "Barbarian Assault" opens with what sounds like tribal drums introducing the violent attack that this song brings. This wouldn't be Faustcoven if there were no Iommi-esque doom riffs found on the album and indeed they are present within "A Wickedness Came Upon Them" and "In the Court of Severe Judgement" among others. The vocals are performed in a low sort of guttural style that really complements the music and atmosphere the album invokes and the drumming only adds to what the guitar and lyrics help to establish .

Overall, when listening to Rising From Below the Earth, one is in for a full journey soaked in horror and obscure darkness, which the atmosphere of this album really establishes well. It is clearly evident that serious time and effort went into the making of this album and the result is a very unique release and one of the best that i've personally heard in the past couple of years. I hope that future releases will expand upon what has been started here.

9/10. BUY IT ! (I've also posted this review on the Metal-Archives).

An Impressive start.

When I first heard this album I was quite new to the doom metal genre. I had been a fan of Empyrium’s earler works so i figured Noekk being formed by the talented Markus Stock and Thomas Helm I’d give this one a whirl. It was a very good desision indeed.

The Water Sprite is a piece that contains many elements, spanning the metal genre. Its safe to say that this is progressive doom but with influences of black metal, gothic metal, folk and even classic heavy metal. At first your not sure what your listening to but after a few listens this album will click with you.

The overall sound of this album and band is really hard to describe because really, there's nothing else like it. They have their own sound basically and it just takes a few listen to get used to. Overall though, I'm tempted to label it as a folky type sound but with a menacing twist to it. Also, fore some reason, I'm reminded of mountains.

Musically the album is phenomenal. The variation of guitar, acoustic and keyboards in combination with Thomas' strong, deep, melodic vocals mix together perfectly. The mood is definitely an ambient one a majority of the time but the occasional heavy breakout is not over-looked with these guys ether. The riffing actually gets quite technical at times, yet the music never loses its somber atmosphere because you always get brought back into dark ambiance of the forest with the acoustics and the keys.


As for the lyrical themes, well... I'm not one to look into lyrics too much but they seem to deal mostly with the usual abstract pagan type poetry you would expect and they also seem to contain a lot of fantasy/mythical type themes in them too. The lyrics are well suited to this type of music and are quite emotional and epic, however they are communicated in a very odd way.

In a nutshell, this is a great release by the band. Its very impressive musically and is well suited for any doom or black metal fans. But really i would recommend this album to anyone with a good appreciation for folk metal type music or with a hunger to hear something different.

8.5/10