Skeletor are hailing from Holland and this is their new opus containing eight songs. I must admit that I haven’t listened to such inspiring and various record for a long time. Skeletor play an interesting mixture of Florida death metal influenced riffs, fast and aggressive thrash metal and adding some nineties inspired groove thrash metal to the whole picture. Top that with blistering fast guitar solos that have interesting hooks reminding me of wicked Slayer solos in the prime of legendary thrashers. This album is S.O.D. for the new millenia. But, the most interesting on this record are songs and the way they were written celebrating gore, black humor and metal. Songs like ‘The Rapemachine’, ‘Hordes of the Retarded’ or my favorite ‘Anal Avenger’ are totally awesome. Vocals are brutal and angry, bass is thundering, album is a maelstorm of speed and this is why I recommend this one. Great one indeed!
Delain from Holland were formed by keyboardist and mastermind Martijn Westerholt and this is their seventh full length opus. What is new in Delain, all the members except Martijn quit the band couple of years ago and it became a solo project again, but here is the new line-up, hence the new opus and it is mighty good. This one contains eleven songs, one being a piano version of one of for me best songs on this opus called ‘The Quest and the Curse’. For those who don’t know, Delain play symphonic gothic metal, bombastic sympho passages interplay with great guitar melodies topped with dramatics and beautiful voice of new singer Diana Leah. What I must also mention that this opus includes guest performances by Paolo Ribaldini and ex Nightwish bassist/vocalist Marko Hietala especially in song ‘Invictus’ which is also one of my personal favorites on this album. Some bands playing this kind of metal tend to lose their edge and become too soft, Delain on this album kept their metal edge especially in ‘Tainted Hearts’, melodic gothic metal mixed with fine dose of metal marching guitars. Songs that I must also mention as being superb are ‘Moth to a Flame’ and ‘Queen of Shadow’. This is a great sympho gothic metal album by legends of the genre.
Holland has a great tradition in street punk/OI bands and Bent ouf of Shape just released their new debut full length. What do we have here? There are 10 songs plus two bonus tracks on my copy and the music is just the way I love it. These guys play street punk/OI with some hardcore and street core influences but remaining more into street punk side of things than fast hardcore, meaning more songs in punk rock tempo being harsh yet melodic anthems. Lyrics are great, I can totally relate to my personal favorite Places to Go, there are some football oriented themes like Never Went Away, but also humor in Ozzy was a Skinhead hehe. Vocals are harsh, strong but totally fit to songs and you can understand what is being sung about and the singer can pull a melodic one but also hardcore shouting, so this is another plus for this great band. One other song I must absolutely mention is Good Old Memories with anthemic melody, fantastic lyrics and it gave me goosebumps on my skin and tears of pride in my eyes for last thirty years I am in this scene. Great album, have a listen.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 