Italian underground extreme metal scene is strong and Ulfhednar are hailing from Rome, Lazio and this is their second full length opus. What to expect here? Well, there are intro plus eight songs on this one. The music is basically melodic, epic black metal but with lots of death metal and even some thrash metal influences, sounding fresh and modern yet at the same time nodding head to the old masters of the genre. Vocals are cool, from black metal screeching to death metal growling, depending on the vibe in the song and main guitar melodies are such epic work, transgressing into thrash aggression and staccato of drums, evolving into more atmospheric visions of the songs. Lyrics are about inner demons and dealing with it. I would love to hear this band play live because I am sure this material sounds just fantastic live. My personal favorites are: Punto Omega, Famelica Brama and Ora Oscura.
Awkward Reunion are from Berlin, Germany and they recently released their brand new record with SBÄM Records who deliver more and more fantastic releases every month. This is the band´s debut full length album and it contains eleven songs of melodic punk rock kinda reminding me of bands such as Jawbreaker and Off With Their Heads, meaning prevailing mid tempo punk rock with raw yet melodic vocals, great harmonies and emotional and heartfelt lyrics that all of us can relate to. I am sure that material from this record goes superb live delivering tons of energy, pumping fists and singing along and feeling that great interrelation between band on stage and crowd practically erasing the imaginative border between those two. My favorites from this record are One And Only, Girl and Hold On Tight. This one is a keeper! Probably one of the best emotional punk rock records that came out this year, and there is still almost half a year left! Great job, strong debut record.
Brazilian hardcore punk legends are back with new album out recently. This time, they deliver 10 songs of furious and fast hardcore punk with some thrash elements, crossover that they retained throughout all their decades although experimenting at times with groove and crust punk d-beat. Vocalist Gordo sounds like in the old times, I did not like his growling on some previous albums, but he is back with his hardcore thrash shouting. Music is angry energetic bomb of hardcore fury, thrash metal vigour and political stance with songs like Alerta Antifascista , Pasa Pano pra Elite or Necropolitica sure to become live action favorites also listening favorites. There are couple of really awesome melodic hooks here and there coupled with catchy solo here and there then returning back to more hardcore anger and lyrics shouted in Portugese. This is definitely one of top five RDP albums in my opinion.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 