ANGUANA is another band from the mighty Italian underground scene. This is their new EP containing 6 songs, two of them being atmospheric instrumentals which serve as kind of intermezzo between the songs. Anguana play mixture of raw old school black metal, melodic atmospheric black with touch of folk influences which can be heard in the song structures, like in the title song for example, which starts with folk metal guitar work, evolving into fast, aggressive, yet melancholic melodic black metal song, like Italian bands do. I love the use of choir clean vocals, reminding me of Bathory behind the black metal vocals which at times reminded me of Satyr from Satyricon with similarity of voice. Lyrics are in Italian and local dialect and deal with witchery, folk tales and tradition, this band being from Venetian region, meaning north of Italy. The usage of synth is sounding more dungeon synth and fits perfectly to the whole atmosphere of this opus, making it even more versatile and interesting for listening. This is good band and I am looking forward to the full length one day.
Adrian Smith is known to all metal audiences as guitar player for Iron Maiden, one of the biggest and greatest most legendary metal bands on this planet. But, little is known about Adrian’s second love besides music, that being angling, or fishing if you want. This book speaks about both of Adrian’s love with emphasize being more heavy on fishing and it is beautifully written and interesting, even to me who is not angler but the stories about Adrian’s fishing adventures I read with most avid interest. What is more interesting those stories about fishing adventures are interplayed with Iron Maiden’s tours and anecdotes and short stories from those tours seen through Adrian’s eyes and thoughts thus seeing the other side of only concerts, being weary travelling, some perils, food poisonings, getting to know other fellow musicians, intentionally or per pure chance. This makes this book an interesting read. I bought my book in Rockmark bookstore in Zagreb, if you are interested try to find it there.
ALL LIFE ENDS are hailing from Switzerland and this is their second opus. There are nine songs on this album. The band was founded in 2006 and they play death metal. They released two EP-s and this is their second full length opus. Although they play death metal there are also couple of metalcore and thrash metal influences in their song structures. Considering death metal, ALL LIFE ENDS lean more heavily into American school of death metal, with blistering fast blast beats, thundering fast guitar solos, which contain occasional hooks and catchy melodic short parts, also some atmospheric parts are in the songs, almost progressive death metal, along with moshing grooves like in ‘The Dreamless Void’, the longest song on this record, but in no way boring for a second. Production is brutal and grandiose, courtesy of Dan Swanö at Unisound AB Studio. Vocals are brutal and more guttural, but you can understand what is being sung about in many parts, so that is another plus for me considering this band. This album was written during covid shit lockdowns and pandemics, so one of my personal favorites on this record is ‘Pandemonic’, also song I must mention is ‘Extinction Hours’. This is quality death metal with couple of thrash and metalcore parts thrown in, so enjoy it as I did.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 