Argh, Italian mighty scene strikes again! Elvenking are back with their new full length opus first in four years and it is their eleventh full length opus until now. This band has been in the scene for more than 25 years now delivering their vision of melodic true metal mixed with lots of folk metal influences in the song structures, multi vocal lines, violins and mystical atmosphere holding the listener chained listening to their magical music! The album opener ‘Rapture’ starts with acoustic intro delivering us to galloping metal and mixture of harsh and melodic vocal lines, courtesy of singers Aydan and Damna. Folk metal influences are also here with acoustic like medieval parts in the middle of the song. Elvenking always had sense how to create drama and keep the listeners attention with their music. At times Elvenking reminded me of early Rhapsody, but more metal and more harsh and not neoclassical like forementioned band. ‘The Hanging Tree’ almost is a mixture of thrash metal and some prog elements with folk metal melodies in there. Other songs that I must also mention as being standouts for me on this opus are ‘To The North’, ‘Herdchant’ and ‘Red Mist’. Good album by great band.
Finnish monsters LORDI are back with new full length opus. This time, the album features 14 songs done in a concept way like watching a horror movie. Lordi provide all these years their vision of horror like metal/hard rock with shock rock tactics, owing much to Alice Cooper, but also to GWAR on the other side of things. Mr.Lordi’s trademark vocals guide us through catchy bunch of songs and bloodsoaked themed horror park and heavy hitters like ‘Dead Again Jayne’, ‘Unliving Picture Show’, ‘The Bride’, ‘Scarecrow’ remind me of all those my favorite horror movies and why I love horror genre so much. The music on this record is much more into heavy/hard rock, more so than metal with electronic samples and keyboards beneath the guitar riffs thus creating also those melancholic melodies that only Finnish bands are capable to create, no matter which genre of music they belong to. I would love to witness Lordi live one day, as I am sure their shows are much fun and shock rock, maybe in package with Alice Cooper or BZFOS. So, to conclude, this album offers nothing new or special regarding this band, but it is tried and great formula. Long live the horror!
Time for some hardcore to grace the pages of this webzine. This time, it is the split record between Eyes Of Tomorrow and Perfect Sky. Eyes Of Tomorrow are old school hardcore band from Ruhr area, Germany. Their side of this record features five songs. Perfect Sky are Austrian hardcore band coming from Tulin district and were founded in 1999. So, it is German-Austrian hardcore combination for this record and Perfect Sky’s side contains six songs. Eyes Of Tomorrow play fast hardcore leaning more into punk and street punk roots than in metal, although there are some metallic moshing parts thrown in here and there for good measure. Vocals are screamed and shouted and fit perfectly to the songs, whole atmosphere that this band creates with their hardcore is darkened and gritty at times. I enjoyed every single minute of their side of this record. There are also some rock influences and at times they reminded me of Croatian hardcore legends Deafness By Noise. My favorite songs on their side are ‘Move Ahead’ and ‘Still The Same’. Perfect Sky are more into slower Euro hardcore reminding me a bit of Ryker’s in some song parts, also in singer’s voice being deep and throaty. Their side of the record is more metallic, aggressive and sounding like all those nineties hardcore bands that I adored. My favorite song on their side is ‘Die For A Lie’. Great split release by two great hardcore bands.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 