Exiled on Earth are hailing from Italy, after three full lengths this is their new e.p. containing five songs, one being cover of Death´s Zombie Ritual. The history of these guys reaches to 2000 so they have been around in the scene for more than two decades now with this band. Music of this band can be described as progressive thrash metal, with some power metal influences here and there that go more into USA power metal territory than European melodic speed power metal, meaning more thrashy aggressive guitar work with some catchy hook here and there and great solos, thundering bass and superb drum work. The musicianship of this band is on the higher level than many, also another plus is that the songs are not too long and they do not get boring or pretentious as some bands do with this kind of metal. Vocals are snarled, shouted, but sometimes also melodic and this band was a pleasure to discover and listen to this e.p. Now I am gonna check out the full lengths too. Personal favorites: Psychic Retaliator, The Onyx Path.
Wasteland Viper is a band from Holland and they recently released their new full length opus via Wormholedeath worldwide. This new album contains ten songs and I can say with certainty that this is a strong release and full of energy head on record with no holds barred. Wasteland Viper play a mixture of hardcore punk, heavy metal and hard rock with clean, melodic, yet not cheesy vocals that fit so great in the whole structure of the band. While listening to this record you can just feel the energy flowing through your body and you catch yourself humming along and singing to the lyrics. From fast Motorhead/hardcore punk of Overdrive, more hard rock oriented Black Snow, pure heavy metal blooded title song, to surprise in the almost doo wop oriented Different World with such superb lyrics and one of my personal favorites on this opus, this album is varied and doesn´t have one filler song or one song that will not make you smile with satisfaction and joy with discovering another great band in the vast sea that we call the underground scene.
Long time no street punk or great oi punk rock on the pages of this zine. It is time to repair that mistake thanks to the good people at Demons Run Amok, German label which releases hardcore and punk with heart, balls and attitude. This band dates back to 1995 and this is their fourth full length opus and it contains 16 songs of street punk roots but also paired with street smart rock and some hardcore parts of the song structures. From the opener title song which tells us to rise above troubles and problems and believe in ourselves to anthemic guitar riffs of Urban Zoo which reminds me of old school British oi punk bands with super chorus for singing along at gigs, this album delivers hit after hit. As one of my personal favorites, I must also mention The Chancer with that infectious melody. The vocals are melodic but they have that street punk rough edge and made goosebumps on my skin couple of times when I listened to the music paired with lyrics about friendship, survival on your workplace with greedy stupid bosses, city streets, hypocrisy, staying sane and delivering the blows back when you are cornered and fight for survival. If I must compare this band to some other ones it would be Bruisers, UK bands like Business in their last four albums, some Rancid and some Cock Sparrer. This is great album, so have a listen.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 