Brutal, tight musicianship, awesome album. - 95%
Written by Skyklad on October 28th, 2002

Hell yeah ! Brutality ! That´s exactly what CEPHALIC CARNAGE continue to offer on their latest album, "Lucid Interval": all out brutality with grindingly excellent, tight musicianship without forgetting about adding in unique twists here and there. My favourite aspect of these guys is their ability to travel from an almost doomy plodding tempo, then switch to all out chaos that makes you come close to having an epileptic fit and lastly throwing in some stoned out, psychadelic passages occasionally. The production is good, riffing sharp and the sound effects they intersperse throughout fit nicely with their controlled chaos. To finish off this Death Grind package are the ever popular indecipherable vomiting vocals sometimes accompanyed by clean, spoken lines. All in all I am quite pleased with this release and recommend it to those who enjoy good Grind, Death Metal. Website: http://www.cephaliccarnage.com.

Wait does that mean that all the reviews written in the promo review thing will be deleted also?

I would imagine just for ones where the promo is not the complete album.

The guys are back - 80%
Written by Slayer213 on May 1st, 2004

Death Angel is a famous band of the bay area. They disband in 1990 and many fans have been waiting for a reunion. Personnaly I heared about this band in a fanzine when they said they were back. When I saw it was thrash metal from the bay area I immediately run to find all their releases and it totally kicked ass, especially the ultra violence... So when I read that they were making a new album after 14 years of inactivity I was very happy. I had the album two weeks before its release and I was immediately caught by the music.
Now what can I say about the songs. First I've noticed there were no more the funky influence which I didn't like on Act III. For the songs now:
The album begins with a nice acoustic intro which reminds me of old Metallica's stuff.Then comes the first song, thrown to the wolves: pure old school thrash metal, good song which reminds me of a lesson in violence by Exodus for the riffs. The only sing I could reproach for this one is that some parts are too long, the first riff for exemple is repeated to much times... The singer sings the same way he did on Act III but he's a little angrier sometimes. He doesn't sing like a thrasher anymore, he's more punk.
5 steps of freedom: the beginning is not thrash metal, the riffs are more speed metal with punk influences but I liked it. good solos on this one.
Thicker than blood: a fast song which reminds me of old Megadeth stuff like Rattlehead and Poison was the cure, like the way Mark Osgueada sings, he's not Dave Mustaine but if Dave would sing this one he would do the same with his voice... Good song.
The Evil Incarnate: It's not thrash metal, the riffs are thrash yes but the song is not, Mark sings a little like Brian Molko from Placebo. I like this song it's a little original for this band. Good drums break with the double bass, Andy Galeon is a good drummer. For those who know Death Angel it's not a surprise
Famine: we can clearly hear the bass, the guy is good. It's not thrash metal, there are some thrash riffs but we can hear the punk and speed metal influences again. This song is the worst of the album. The solos sometimes reminds me of Enter Sandman by Metallica or late Pink Floyd for the strange guitar sound in the middle of the song. The end of the song is thrash metal.
Prophecy: good intro from the guitar and the drums, it looks like some Sepultura stuff I think. Good song of this album, thrash metal again, oh yes!!
No: one of the worst songs of the album, again the speed metal and punk influences. Good solos otherwise. There is a lack of power on this one
Spirit: Good thrash song, with another singer, one of the guitarist or the bassist, don't remember. The guy is not as good as Mark Osgueada but he's descent.
Land Of Blood: thrash/punk on this one. Again another singer, the punk influences are more important here. The riffs are good but I don't really like the singer, Mark would do it better....
Never Me: I liked this one. Good Heavy intro with good drums, then some good thrash riffs. Then the bass and Mark who sings again like Brian Molko of Placebo. After there is a punk part, and a cacthy chorus ("that will never be me! I will always be free"). There some cool calm part which really make me think of the one in Breadfan by Metallica (Budgie cover). One of my favorites of this album.
Word to the wise: A nice ballad, with beautiful solos and catchy electric parts. I think this is the same singer who sung in Land of Blood, but there he is much better, his voice make a good change really. He sounds like Zakk Wylde.
So this album is not really thrash metal, but a mix between thrash, punk and speed metal. I liked this album but I can easily understand why so many people didn't like it, this is the following of Act III in fact. The only thing that disappointed me was that Mark doesn't make his insane screams like on the two first album, I loved this. I would like to add: when the band released The Ultra Violence, they were little teenagers, they have grown since, so we coudn't expected something like "The Ultra Violence II". To mind mind The art of dying is there most mature album to date even if I will always prefer the ultra violence.

I wouldn't imagine so, since they have all the music.

This is a ridiculous assumption and I can answer definitively, promos usually do not contain all the tracks for the album.

This is a ridiculous assumption and I can answer definitively, promos usually do not contain all the tracks for the album.

http://www.metal-archives.com/review.php?id=175494#69704

Rather annoying and confusing troll-review.

...any response from a mod...?

...any response from a mod...?

That review seems like it could be almost bannable.

Hardly.

Nearly all of the promos I get are for small bands that generally release independently, and they typically send normal copies of the album, CDr versions, or official promo versions. The only times I've been given incomplete releases are bands who only give me one side of a split.

Because you deal with a sub-level of the scene that I do not deal with.

Legendary music. - 100%
Written by tallhagillani on November 19th, 2007

Moonspell contains few of the most talented musicians of the world, musicians that have the potential to vary their styles to great extents. This album is a complilation of Moonspell's 1993 demo "Anno Satanae" and 1994 EP "Under The Moonspell" with a new song "Serpent Angel". The songs contais contain few elements of black metal combined with arabian musical elements (arabian folk), both of these elements are away from their conventional sound.

Fernando Ribeiro vocals have never been this powerful before, great black metal vocals, instead of sounding like black metal shrieks they sound much more like outstanding black metal singing. Most of you will hear such strange instruments that'd be new to your ears, only those who are familiar with folk music will recongnize these instruments, these are the convential arabic instruments that are played in local festivals. The arabian musical elements are dominant in the songs, acoustic guitars have been used sometimes but the drumming is outstanding as the traditional heavy metal drums have been used with some different drums which are known as "Dhol" here which gives the songs a different sound. Guitars are different, they tend to get real sharp and real soothing, there's so much versatility here and there are few real nice solos in few songs e.g. in "Tenebrarum Oratorium (Andamento II / Erotic Compendyum)". Keyboards along with few other melodic & symphonic instruments have been used immaculately.

The lyrics are so amazing with so much confusion and depth that it is difficult to get to the core and are in three different languages English, Portugese & Arabic. Different religions have been mentioned in the lyrics, various mythical gods and godesses like "Lilith" etc have also been mentioned here. Few songs contain verses from Islamic prayer that is called "Azan" and is combined with few prayers that have been made to god in which a man is in conversation with God (The Almighty Allah) mentioned as "al rabka". Lyrics about darkness, wolves, winter, North & Hell are also mentioned in the last 4 songs.

The songs are not as flashy as conventional folk metal, that's why it'll be wrong to describe the sound as "Black - Folk" but this sound is epic, there's not a single weak moment in this album, so much talent, maturity and versatility is being reflected by the musicians which is difficult to describe in words. Its a tragedy that Moonspell changed their style and started to create music that was more approachable. The gothic & doom metal fans might find this sound a bit difficult to digest but if they try to listen it their level will be raised. Its a must for old school extreme metal fans.

...any response from a mod...?

I have spoken.

The latest Morbid review seems like a joke and doesn't really say much either way.

http://www.metal-archives.com/review.ph ... 323#132884


"A kvlt release by a kvlt band with a kvlt vocalist (btw it also has a kvlt album cover drawn by Necrolord the kvlt designer). How much more kvlt can it get? This, man, is kvlt."

The latest Morbid review seems like a joke and doesn't really say much either way.

http://www.metal-archives.com/review.ph ... 323#132884


"A kvlt release by a kvlt band with a kvlt vocalist (btw it also has a kvlt album cover drawn by Necrolord the kvlt designer). How much more kvlt can it get? This, man, is kvlt."

The latest Morbid review seems like a joke and doesn't really say much either way.

http://www.metal-archives.com/review.ph ... 323#132884


"A kvlt release by a kvlt band with a kvlt vocalist (btw it also has a kvlt album cover drawn by Necrolord the kvlt designer). How much more kvlt can it get? This, man, is kvlt."

His Morbid Angel review that was just accepted is way worse.

http://www.metal-archives.com/review.php?id=191#132884

I thought his Randy/Trey comparison was, well, interesting in an off beat sorta way. Then there's..."But, thats not all. EVERY fucking song on the album has something like 4(or more) of the greatest ever solos. And EVERY fucking solo is amazing. Well, Immortal Rites only has 2, but it has a million brilliant riffs delivered at 255 bpm(and I'm not kidding about the bpm thing. My tab actually says so).

The vocals are also notable. It sounds kind of raspy, but not like the black metal ones. Its not the normal death metal 'cookie monster' growls, but nor are they completely thrashy. Its somewhere in between thrash and death. You can actually hear the lyrics pretty well (man, its almost clean vocals compared to Disgorge or Brodequin)."

Then he goes on about the lyrics.

Sure, he's not near winning any accolades (besides bad ones, apparently), but that's what a 3 point review may look like. As usual, I'm not gonna search for them if they suddenly 'go'.

This is a ridiculous assumption and I can answer definitively, promos usually do not contain all the tracks for the album. The tracks pruned are almost always ones the band deems "bonus", "for fans only", or covers, but they usually are pruned. Does this invalidate a review of an album without all the tracks? No, the substance of the album is the substance of the review. In this, the Edguy review I wrote was about the substance of the EP -- the showcase of Sammet's direction for Avantasia, the pop direction. The covers, had they been included, would have been superfluous and would not have changed the zero, regardless of quality.

The review was clearly defined and spoke of the music, focused on what would have made or broke the album even had the covers been present, and should not have been removed. Witcher, you must be exhausted from carrying around that grudge against me for this many weeks.

The unwritten rule that you should only review complete releases is going on for a while already.

Yes, a day in spring would be an appropriate description.
It's slightly rainy, but the sun shines and I'm sitting on the grass,
thinking about past times.
My childhood, friends or relatives. Some of them may have died,
but I'm not sad about the loss anymore.
I'm just thinking about the times we had together and it makes me all fuzzy
and warm on the inside. Well, that sounds gay, but it's the vibe I get of that album.
The clich�-riddled lyrics and shoegazing parts help to get that impression.
At least that's not as gay as the dolphins on "Inside Final Dreams".
Seriously, what's up with that?

This really shouldn't even be an unwritten rule.

1/3 shitty intro, 1/3 mediocre musical description, 1/3 feminist rant? Gone. Plenty of superior reviews for the album.

1/3 shitty intro, 1/3 mediocre musical description, 1/3 feminist rant? Gone. Plenty of superior reviews for the album.