Recent reviews of Powerfest bands

[metalprof]

There's a new review of Solitude Aeturnus' Alone on SSMT. Rather than make this a thread about Alone specifically, I thought we could collect links to recent reviews of the latest works of many P-fest bands. I'll start with the link to the SSMT review of Alone:

http://www.ssmt-reviews.com/db/searchrev.php?artistID=1055&showReview=true#R3289

(Not sure if this will be a good thread or not, but what the hell...)

Ken

 

[Metal Domain]

I'll keep this thread goin

Solitude Aeternus- Alone
A review I wrote for my magazine, Metal Domain

Storming the Chicago Powerfest with a co-headlining slot, Texas-born Solitude Aeternus cannot be more a more perfect warm-up for Friday’s headliner, Lethal. With a borderline Power Metal style and a concrete Doom sound, Solitude Aeternus’ fearless thunder will drench the stage with a downpour of pure fucking Doom.
Like a rainy day, the 2006 release Alone, sets a mournful tone from the first track on. The depressive yet catchy guitars drape the album in a cover of eerie darkness. Like a spell, the dark motives behind the guitars pace you to oblivion. Sturdy low-key riffs are in order for a majority of the album, with the exception of the contrasting vibrant solo work. The crystallized solos vary in waves of rhythmic Doom and rapid force. The skilled solos sound as if they were being improvised at a live gig, always a plus in my book. Though the solos are the climax of the songs and the highlight of the album, they always flow naturally back into the fitted Doom groove.
In comparison to other bands, the classic Power-Doom style embraced by Solitude Aeterus does not stray too far from that of Candlemass, especially in the vocal department. Robert Lowe’s powerful emotive voice is cut loose from any mortal boundaries and soars above and beyond the minimal qualifications of a Doom Metal vocalist. Lowe’s vocals receive exceptional recognition from past classics, Through The Darkest Hour and Beyond The Crimson Horizon where his voice claims a talent that was not learned overnight. Possessing a similar operatic tone of the great Messiah Marcolin, Leif Edling was lucky to come across such a worthy replacement. Yea, that’s right! Candlemass has recruited Lowe to be their new permanent singer! While Lowe will continue to work with Solitude Aeternus, we do wish the best of luck for Candlemass.

By Andy Bach

 

[Metal Domain]

Martyr's newest- Feeding the Abscess

The technical riffs and roars in Martyr’s previous releases of Hopeless Hopes and Warp Zone have set the band up for a 2006 masterpiece, Feeding The Abscess. The album may be a bit ahead of its time, but Martyr has a lot of catching up to do, this being their first release in nearly 6 years.
As progressive as they are, Canada-hailing Martyr has never pushed away outside influence from the masters of Cryptopsy, Atheist, and Cynic. In fact, Feeding The Abscess shows obvious inspiration from Atheist’s earlier work, from the jazzy riffs to the overall structure of the songs. The vocals have predictably drifted further toward Neurosis territory with distorted broken shouts from vocalist, Daniel Mongrain. When Daniel Mongrain’s vocals get annoyingly close to the voice of Neurosis’ Scott Kelly, it becomes clear that Neurosis pulls off the style much better.
The guitars of Feeding The Abscess are outstanding, weaving together all the parts into a beehive of technical riffs and hammer-like drumming, most notably on the opener “Perpetual Healing”. The intricate pattern of jagged riffs and distorted chords make the first track the highlight of the album. And while the guitars stay extremely talented and fast, the album is mostly downhill from then on.
The experimental tone of the album is ahead of its time. Martyr takes a huge leap into Progressive Metal by writing some advanced, highly complex music. Cynic took the same dive back in 1993 with Focus, but fans of the Florida Death Metal scene embraced the new style, and I’m not sure if the same crowd will dig Feeding The Abscess. There is clearly a LOT going on in this album, and for those who prefer the classic Death Metal style, don’t bother looking too hard for this one.
By Andy Bach

 

[Metal Domain]

November's Doom- Novella Reservoir

November’s Doom, one of the better artists to rock out of Chicago, has just added a new gem to their prized collection of releases. Their 2007 The Novella Reservoir has to be one of their best to date. Though I was more thankful to hear that November’s Doom has not mellowed out, the comforting sounds of their unsettling growls hits the spot any time.
The aggressive intro track, “Rain” turns all attention to the stereo, which will be crushing your eardrums with a snare-slamming, guitar-shredding assault. The well-placed keyboard breakdown is only the calm before the storm as Paul Kuhr drags up some of his most sinister vocals for the finale.

 

[GreggSuspyre]

You can read some reviews of Suspyre's newest album here and here.

 

[Will Bozarth]

Suspyre's from Jersey! They HAVE to be good.

 

[skyrefuge]

This isn't a "review" so it doesn't belong here, but since it's not a "review", it's not worth making a new thread over, so I shall put it here anyway.

The new Thurisaz album is awesome! I hadn't heard a note of them previously, but I saw their new album ('Circadian Rhythm') available for illegal download, and since I knew they were gonna be at Powerfest, I checked it out.

I was expecting some kind of third-tier melodic-extreme metal band that did little more than throw together the sounds of their influences, with no actual value added or songwriting skill. So I was quite shocked to find that the songs are excellent, creative, and they have level of quality far exceeds their "Neil's only heard about them because they're an opening(!) band at Powerfest" status.

They're easily my most-anticipated set of the fest now.

http://www.metal-archives.com/review.php?id=43803 for a real review of their previous album (it correlates pretty well with what I hear on the new one).

Neil

 

[Squeak]

I don't know if it counts, but I did an interview about a week ago with Veronica from Benedictum. You can go to www.photomistress.com (my site) to see it if you like.