Wallfahrer are hailing from Germany and started as a two individuals band, but later evolved into one man band, namely Wallfahrer, who is handling vocals and all instruments. This is already band’s sixth full length opus containing seven songs, one being instrumental interludium between the storm. The title of the album means Cabinet Of Bones in English. I always said German language fits perfectly to metal music, especially black metal. All of the songs are in German. The music of Wallfahrer can be described as melodic black metal with plenty of aggression especially in all out war first opener Wanderer In Der Schatten(Wanderer in Shadows). The song is blast beat warfare with atmospheric slower mid tempo with epic melodies in the middle of the song. All of the songs are quite long, but are not boring in any way. Lyrics are personal and deal with oneself and also relationship to nature and inner self, loneliness, depression… Vocals are harsh but you can understand what is being sung, voice reminds me a bit of early Mystic Circle or maybe it’s only me. My personal favorites on this one are epic Festung Einsamkeit(Fortress Loneliness) and Wir Waren Das Volk(We Were People). This is quality black metal blending melody, atmosphere and blasts, so enjoy it because I recommend this one.
Autumn is almost upon us, and what better way than to greet it with some quality black metal. USBM scene is great, brimming with superb bands and projects all around. Blackbraid is one of them being a one man entity and this is the third full length opus containing 10 songs one being Lord Belial cover. Blackbraid describes its music like Native American black metal and in fact it is a quality mixture of pagan and melodic black metal with blastbeats, but also slower atmospheric parts and epic melodies reminding of their Scandinavian counterparts. This opus kind of functions like one atmospheric instrumental, then one song and so on. Vocals are screaming black metal voice, but you can understand some of what is being sung so this is another plus. If you love your black metal aggressive, melodic and epic, melancholic at the same time, go listen to this one, you will not regret it. My personal favorites: And He Became The Burning Stars, The Dying Breath Of A Sacred Stag. Excellent record.
U zadnjih nekoliko godina ima više bendova koji pjevaju o Prvom svjetskom ratu kao što su 1914, Minenwerfer, pa i naš Prognan, no meni su daleko najbolji Kanonenfieber iz Njemačke. Kanonenfieber je zapravo djelo masterminda poznatog po imenu Noise, a svi muzičari nastupaju maskiranih lica kao i on, odjeveni u njemačke vojnike iz Prvog svjetskog rata i to im daje dodatnu dozu mističnosti. Muzika je neki miks melodičnog death metala, atmosferičnog melodičnog black metala. Noiseovi vokali su harsh onako black metali, ali miksaju se sa čistim harmoničnim pjevanjem backova i daju naprosto odlične pjesme. Na ovom live albumu nalaze se 14 pjesama i to samo hit do hita. Tu su Sturmtrupp, Der Maulwurf, kao i legendarna Menschemuhle. Meni je jedna od njihovih najdražih Die Havarie i ona je našla mjesto na ovom albumu, kao i Waffenbruder, te Der Fusilier. Ovo je odličan bend i meni trenutno najdraži ovakve tematike. Ima svega, od agresivnih blast beatova preko melodija koje su odlično napisane, a sama struktura pjesama je napravljena da ni u jednom trenutku ne dosadi. Odličan bend, a ovaj live album je odlično sredstvo predstavljanja benda široj publici.
