Canadian punkrockers Among Legends released their new album. This is out now for couple of months, but no matter, I love to present new bands to me for the readers of this zine. This album contains 12 songs of melodic punkrock, bordering in some parts with pop punk. What separates it from other bands is that the songs are not cheesy and over the top, but have the right amount of raw punk guitar work, some groove and enough melody not to be too much. Everyone who knows me will tell you how important vocals are for me in such kind of punkrock. Well, the vocals fit perfectly to the music and there are some gang backing vocals to singalong at gigs and also some great backing vocals harmonies. Lyrics are mostly personal but there are also some social themes between the lines. I love the anthemic choruses like in awesome Sound The Alarm, I also love faster songs like great Go On or Open Wide, which reminded me a lot of nineties punkrock on which I grew up. My other personal favorites on this record which I can emphasize are Hollow, Floating Here For Years and The Last Time. Great melodic punkrock if you like this kind of music, I know I do!
New Uburen opus is among us. Time for some Norwegian black metal to grace the pages of this zine. Uburen are hailing from Sandnes, Rogaland, Norway and were formed in 2010. This is their fifth full length opus containing 7 songs. 4 songs are in English language and 3 are in Norwegian. Some of the lyrics are Viking themes if I am not mistaken. The music of Uburen can be described as true old school Norwegian black metal, not unlike 1349, Gorgoroth, old Darkthrone, Tulus and couple others come to mind. It shows rawer side of black metal with some great melodic guitar parts here and there. There are little or not at all blast beats, but there are couple of more slow and atmospheric parts like in one of my favorites called Vettenes Doddans and even better Formed By Time which includes kinda clean vocals at the start of the song. Vocals are screechy and fit perfectly in the big picture, they are not too extreme, but you can understand the words that are being sung and that is another plus for me. I love when black metal bands sing in their own language, it makes them somehow more rebellious to me. In all, if you are fan of old school nineties style of black metal, go check this one out you will not be disappointed. Favorite songs: Vettenes Doddans, Formed By Time, Brister I Vevet.
New York Hardcore legends Pro-Pain released their new opus. Formed in 1991 by the founder and sole original member bassist and vocalist Gary Meskil, these titans released their seventeenth full length effort containing ten songs. Although the drummer and one of the guitarists are from Belgium, I still consider Pro-Pain as NYHC band, like they were at the start. Besides Gary, one of the Pro-Pain veterans Eric Klinger is also in the band playing guitar. The music of Pro-Pain is harsh metallic hardcore with most of the songs having groove and classic in your face punches thrown here and there, with angry vibe and great guitar work, topped with Gary’s harsh vocals but also melodies and catchy hooks like in great title song. I love how band also uses melodic and clean vocals at times varying upon the song and the production is just like I love, courtesy of guitarist Eric Klinger, who also recorded, mixed and mastered this record. March Of The Giants is also one of my favorites being classic Pro-Pain hit in your head. Other highlight of this record for me is Uncle Sam Wants You, being punkrock song with nice melody and for me the most catchy song on the album perfect for playing live at gigs. The third song I must mention as highlight is Hell Or High Water. Sky’s The Limit is for me the best song on this album, with beautiful chorus sung in clean vocals which perfectly mix with Gary’s harsh voice. There are some people who say that Pro-Pain is boring because they write and release similar albums all of the time, but I don’t agree with this thesis, because the energy is here and the spirit of hardcore lives in this record. Now, as being a fan of this band since I was a teen hardcore kid, nothing will surpass for me the first three records of this band, but I love this one nonetheless.
