Category Archives: Reviews

Reviews

(record review)STAGE OF REALITY-“S/T”(Rock Avenue USA)

Leave a comment

Finally, the new studio album by Stage of Reality became reality! This Italian band plays some kind of melodic metal with some hard rock(less) and prog influences(more), but mainly it stays in metal waters not to become boring, as some prog bands are. I dont care much about prog bands, they may be playing with great skills, but I find their music lacking energy and usually avoid that kind of bands.

Stage Of Reality ART 600x600

Fortunately, that is not the case with this band. The album contains 10 songs and one cover. I will say something about the cover first, it features guest vocals by Amanda Sommerville of Avantasia, Epica plus more fame and it is nicely done. But I dont get one thing, why Amy Winehouse cover? Maybe I am the scene purist but I still dont think that Amy Winehouse and mainstream artists belong in metal underground, no matter how good covering their songs may sound.

Second guest on vocals is legendary Blaze Bayley of Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden fame, but mainly known for his excellent solo melodic but also dark metal albums. The song “Warlord” featuring Blaze is one of the highlights on this album and I would love to hear more Stage of Reality material heading that way stylewise. As for the other songs, some worked less and some more for me, I can not say that I liked the whole album equally. In my opinion the best song on this album is “Legitimate Rage” which hit my metal anthem button for sure. I would also love to hear a bit stronger vocals on the next album, because the vocals sounded a bit too mellow and weak on this album, they could have been done much better.

Not to bitch and whine, this is still a good album and I am sure the next one will be even better.

6,5/10

Official website: http://www.stageofreality.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stageofreality

Twitter: https://twitter.com/StageOf_Reality

Google +: https://www.google.com/+Stageofreality

Instagram: https://instagram.com/stageofrealityb…

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/stageofreality

Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/3DUVX6…

Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/it/album/the…

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Breathing-Machi…

Cd Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stageofreality

Reviews

(record review)LACRIMOSA-“Testimonium”(Hall of Sermon)

Leave a comment

lacrimosa

I always had sort of warm/cold relationship with this Swiss gothic rock metal institution. Some of their albums worked for me fine, some just didnt. Now we are into their thirteenth studio album. Mastermind Tilo Wolff paid respect to all of the famous musicians that were somehow his role models and which passed away in 2016.

The album is supposed to be divided into four acts. All of the ten songs were written under feelings of sorrow, loss and it is one of the most emotional albums ever made by this band. The opener “Wann unsere Helden sterben” is gentle nod to the music heroes saying that the part of us died with them. As always, Tilo and Anne Nurmi provide excellent vocal interplay on all songs. “Nach dem Sturm” has a beautiful sad main melody and it brought goosebumps on my skin. “Weltenbrand” is probably the most metallic song on the record and one of my favourites. Other highlights of the album for me are “Herz and Verstand” and “Black Wedding Day”. This concept of hommage in symphony and emotions is the best Lacrimosa album in this decade for sure.

9/10

Buy it Now! https://www.hos-shop.com/CD-Testimoni…

https://www.amazon.de/Testimonium-Lac…

Facebook/LACRIMOSAofficial.com

http://www.lacrimosa.ch

Reviews

(record review)A Thousand Times-“A Thousand Times”

Leave a comment

cover

South America has a great hardcore punk scene, much unexplored by us Europeans and every band we discover is a little treasure. This Brasilian band comes from Guarulhos, Sao Paulo. As I understand, this is their first album and it consists of 10 tracks including intro. The music they play is melodic hardcore punk with a lot of punkrock parts put in for good measure. I loved the vocals because they are not snotty and cheesy, quite contrary, the vocals on this record are somehow harsh but the guy still manages to sing great melodic vocal lines. The lyrics are in English and they have that Southamerican political edge but also still keep a lot of personal and a lot of sadness and melancholy in it. After I listened to the record I kinda felt somehow sad. Haha they also mention Croatian country in lyrics to ” Brisbane”, they talk about moving to the island of Hvar and Dubrovnik. I dont know if the guys really visited Croatian Adriatic Sea coast but nice touch indeed. Also, one of the hightlight of this record is ” For all the mustache makers” which sounds strange when you see the title of the song but it is in fact great political song. Check the record and give these guys a chance and learn a little more about Brasilian hardcore punk scene.

7/10

facebook.com/athousandtimeshc

instagram.com/athousandtimeshc

athousandtimeshc.bandcamp.com

deezer.com/artist/12552134

youtube.com/channel/UCuSvdJ3UuGqINXjs2NNWFow

open.spotify.com/artist/4wjcKKZveKWKuQuv6dyMYf