Time for a band from our neighbors Hungarian scene to grace the pages of this zine. Esperfall are hailing from Budapest, Hungary and this is their debut full length opus. Being active since 2016, after two e.p.-s this was a time for a full length and it is just great. I expected some Nigthwish/Within Temptation clone but I got nothing like that. This is pure melodic symphonic metal with dual almost black metal vocals by guitarists Laszlo and Kerek, but the main jewel is singer Nora whose voice is one of the best I have listened to in a while. Musicianship is superb and songwriting epic and guitar border from fast power metal warrior stomping metal, to emotional almost sometimes gothic metal influenced parts and symbolize inner demons in me, fighting of good versus evil, harmony and corruption and what is evil at all? I think it lies in depending how you see it and react in life. On your feet or on your knees. Songs like Tempest in Paradise(The FirstAdvent) which is fast power metal, Plato´s Cave having a battle between guitar solo and keyboards which are so well incorporated courtesy of Zsombor Zathureczky and I would love to see these songs performed live, I am sure this sounds so good like chocolate pudding which you eat after you finally sit down and rest after long and bloody battle.
Time for newcomers to the scene here on the pages of my zine. Deceaded are hailing from Poland. They have been around since 2017 and this is their debut full length opus. Deceaded play a clever mixture of thrash metal, groove more urban style of street metal and crossover with hardcore influences. This opus contains intro plus nine songs, Lyrics deal with deprivation of humanity, disaster, hypocrisy, human stupidity and are in fact pretty clever and in your face, somehow making you think besides only listening to the music. One of my personal favorites is Barren Land, being a mixture of hardcore/crossover, screaming fast thrash metal and having that wicked solo. Vocals are angry, varying from screaming to almost hardcore shouting, back to being more sinister with the song structures. Musicianship is impressive, also songwriting, so we can safely say this is a pretty strong debut opus and I will eagerly await what this band will do in the future.
Billy Graziadei is a NYHC legend and mastermind behind Biohazard. This was my first hardcore band when I was a kid growing up and Urban Discipline came out and Bio is still one of my favorite hardcore bands which introduced me deeper into the NYHC scene and all the legendary bands there. Bio is on hold and they did not release a record for ten years and Billy needed to express himself with something new, thus his second full length with a new band. I somehow think that Billy somehow had more ways and more freedom for artistic expression when creating music in BillyBio than he had in his former or band which is pausing right now. NYHC influences and roots are here and they will always remain, as well as all those punk rock and street punk influences, but there is also metal, even some electronics and industrial samples thrown here and there. Billy´s vocal is more interesting these days, instead of only hardcore shouting, growling and screaming, which is here along with gang backing vocals, there is also melodic side of his voice and it sounds so perfectly with the songs. Of course I will go with more hardcore punk side of songs, but I think BillyBio managed to encompass perfectly old school and more modern side of hardcore and this sophomore album is even better than the debut. My personal favorites: Fallen Empires, Leaders And Liars, Our Scene. Great hardcore album!
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 