Canadian label Dental Records keeps giving great stuff to the scene and here is already third compilation of new music just waiting for you to discover it. This time, there are 13 songs by ten bands and I must admit that besides Ink Bomb and No Breakfast Goodbye all the others were total unknown to me prior to this record. I found couple of great bands to peel my ears and eyes too in the future, that being The Softer Side from Florida playing fast melodic skate punk just the way I like it. Also, The Young Rochelles from NY are my personal favorite with their Ramonescore reminding me of Teenage Bottlerocket in a way. Last Chance Marie from Canada are also great with kinda rough yet melodic punk rock delivering punch in my face how good their music is. Big Spin from Mexico are also fast and full of energy just the way I like it.
Another great compilation indeed and more great bands I discovered!
Metal Blade Records are one of the biggest and most important metal record labels out there. Their impact on the scene has been enormous and legions of fans and all of the fantastic releases can testify that and leave us legacy that can hardly be surpassed. But, do not get me wrong, this label still goes strong now almost fourty years since its inception and this book is the story about how Brian Slagel, lifer in metal started it all. From early eighties and first Metal Massacre compilation till today, Brian tells us story about start of label in his mother´s house, gradation to being big, nineties grunge invasion and downfall of metal retreating to rebuild and regroup across metalcore and bringing story to temporary closure in nowadays of digital download and streaming. Story is told through Brian´s eyes but also through interviews with many scene people like James Hetfield, Johann Hegg, King Diamond, Brian´s friends and associates from the label and many more. What I like about this book is that it taught me a lot. Business side of things, a bit of luck you must have and also there are lots of anecdotes in this one, making it one nice read. Above all and most important is Brian´s love for metal and lifetime devotion to the scene he helped create and much respect and love for that.
Corr Mhóna are hailing from Ireland and this is their second full length opus out with Satanath Records. This band and release really surprised me and quickly became one of my favorite listening for last two weeks. There are ten songs on this one. Music is what makes this band really special, playing mixture of epic doom metal, post black metal and melodic death metal with lots of aggression, melancholy and epic melody. There are also some classic heavy metal influences like in Banda being one of my personal favorites on this record. Atmospheric calm passages and acoustic guitar parts mix with anguished fast aggressive straight forward death metal parts only to return to epic melodic metal and back to blackened guitar work and thus creating perfect, almost mystic setting. What makes this record also special are fantastic vocals. From growls, to epic clean singing, to almost chanting, vocals are fantastic, some parts of clean singing reminded me of Emperor and their best songs, but only in clean vocal parts, this is not black metal band. This is one of my favorite releases this year so far.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 