Lair Of The Minotaur - War Metal Battle Master

OK, before you start laughing at how ridiculous the name of this band, and their newest release because it sounds like some tabletop wargame, watch this video. ***Warning*** contains blood, tits, and metal.

War Metal Battle Master

So now that you've watched what just may be the greatest metal video over, and one which other metal videos should be measured against, I shouldn't really have to say a whole lot to convince you that this album slays. It's got a huge thick, yet thrashy, sound to it that pounds you in the face with its hammer of metal, and doesn't let up until the naked vampire chicks come to feast on your bloody flesh.

9/10 One big, angry, and loud minotaur.

Witchery - Don't Fear The Reaper

I'm not sure why Witchery isn't more popular, because they play some very catchy, polished, and aggressive melodic death metal. Its not the more modern 'trying to be radio-friendly' melodeath with clean vocals or anything, the songs are just based around my favorite element of metal: killer guitar riffs. And believe me, the riffs on this 2006 album are heavy, memorable, bountiful, and perhaps a bit bluesy at times. The vocals aren't anything special, just a standard swedish guy with a coarse voice, and he keeps a consistent style throughout the album, which may be a drawback if you are a big fan of varied vocals on your metal albums. Most of the songs aren't incredibly fast, so if you need music that's paced at a jillion beats per minute, this won't be for you.

There's not much more to say. This is typical swedish melodic death metal, just done very well. Witchery creates some damn good songs that will bring you back to this album many times.

8/10 Enjoyable-ry

Týr - Ragnarok

Ok, so you get 1 guess as to what genre of metal this falls under. With song titles such as "The Hammer of Thor," "The Ride To Hel," and Grimur a Midalnesi," I kind of knew what to expect going into this. I don't know how long these guys have been going at it, this is my first listen to anything by Tyr. (I'm not making that accent every time I type their name.) If you take a browse on their website, you'll find out that this band is the ONLY Faroese folk metal band. I didn't even know of the existence of these Faroe Island, but then again, I'm a dumb American.

Anyway, on to the music...

The acoustic song that opens this album, aptly titled "The Beginning" is a great catchy track that gave me great hopes for what I was about to hear. Unfortunately, the album is rather hit and miss. A couple of the tracks are pagan-riffic, such as "Brother's Bane" and "Torsteins Kvaedi" The rest of it is all very plain. The singer, who does all clean vocals on this album, definitely has talent and the tracks I enjoyed he sang some memorable lines, even if I couldn't understand the language. Many of the main tracks on this are just boring riff and sing-a-long affairs that never reach any sort of climactic peak. The songs are just there, if that makes any sense.

One of the big downfalls of this album is that practically every other song is a minute-long instrumental, or more annoying folkish noise, interlude which really slows down the album. Its not incredibly fast to begin with, but after the 4th or 5th such break, these interludes quickly get old. And with the album clocking in at an hour and seven minutes, some stuff needs to be trimmed. The interludes need to go, and many of the songs need to be shortened. All the actual songs on this album are 5-6 minutes, which isn't necessarily a lengthy song, but a song must keep the listener interested for the entire length.

The best part of this album was reading up on the Faroe Islands. It's a province of Denmark between its fatherland and Iceland. Looks like it would be an interesting place to visit.

4/10 I think this came off of the bottom of Thor's boot.

Morrigan - The Damned

I'm guessing that the annoying women talking and screaming in some foreign language at the beginning of the second track is supposed to be some witches burning. It goes on for about a minute, is really annoying, and doesn't really fit well with rest of the album. Its like a big unnecessary stop sign on this dirty, raspy, black metal highway. The first song had me interested, its actually rather enjoyable for this kind of black metal, but that opening to the second song annoyed me. This is certainly nothing original or new for black metal, but they manage to make it interesting enough to keep me listening. They bring out a few celtic folk touches here and there that add some additional flavor. The riffs are cool, and the vocalist sounds like he's dying, in a good way... He's using a bunch of effects on his voice, but it fits the music. I like these really dirty black metal vocals, although no one does it as well as Anaal Nathrakh.

...I need to stop saying something kind of negative and then finishing up the sentence with a "but..." statement. I seem to do that quite often in my reviews. I'll see if I can start doing without those statements.

7/10 I'm enjoying this album, although I don't know how often I'll come back to it.

Misery Index - Discordia

At first I thought I liked this album, I heard many songs off of Pandora, but now that I'm listening to the full album, its not doing anything for me. I can't really identify what it is I don't like about it. The guitars are good, drums are heavy, and the singer's got a good death voice. I suppose its just that this isn't anything original. Although I'm not sure how I can say that, since I eat up every Swedish melodic death band with a spoon. Maybe its because I just got into Vader, there's no reason I would ever put Discordia in instead of my also recently acquired Litany. It's a similar style, but Vader is infinitely superior at it. The title track on this album is really good, but other than that...

4/10 Not terrible, but nothing exciting.

Agalloch - The White EP

This latest release by Agalloch was limited to 2000 copies and quickly sold out during the preorder so it may be next to impossible to find, which is a shame, because it is incredibly good. Agalloch has a very distinct sound that they've stuck without becoming stale. Apparently this album is a compliment to The Grey EP, also out through Vendlus records. White is an appropriate name for this EP, as the music is lighter (as much as Agalloch can be) than their other work. The tracks "Isle of Summer," "Pantheist," and "Birch White" all have very uplifting tones, which is a nice compliment to their usual dreary band. "Sowilo Rune" has a very similar sound from 2002's The Mantle.

I'm actually at a loss of what else to say about this, because I love this band so much, anything I write would feel incredibly biased. This really leaves me wanting to hear a new full length. It would be very interesting to hear more piano in their future works as it works well the few times it was used on The White. Agalloch is sitting high atop the field of folk metal bands.

9/10 Only because now I want something more from one of my favorite bands.

Kampfar - Kvass

Yay, more viking metal. There has become quite a bit of these bands as this style of metal has become more and more popular. This is the most recent album from Kampfar Oh wait, checking the website, this is "Norse Pagan Folklore Metal." Ok, whatever, its viking metal.

The most notable thing about this album is the vocals. The vocalist has a raspy, black metal voice and he 'sings' almost continually throughout the length of the album. There's not much instrumental time on the songs, which is a shame, because Kampfar has some very nice melodies that come out occasionally, it would be nice if they were the focus instead of the constant attention the vocals get. It wouldn't be so bad if the vocalist were more interesting to listen to.

Kvass isn't bad, there's some really good songs taken one at a time. However the vocalist doesn't have much variety in his voice, which causes the songs to become a bit repetitive and boring by the time you reach the end of the album.

7/10 Good viking metal with a not so good singer

Endstille - Endstilles Reich

I'm guessing that Endstille is German, although you'd think they'd choose a more German looking gun for their silly image that greets visitors to their homepage. If you look around their webpage, you'll probably quickly assume that they are a black metal band. And well, you'd be correct.

The production on this record is top notch. The guitars are razor sharp and the drums come in clearly. Music-wise, this is definitely black metal. Fast riff after fast riff, I don't think this album slows down once during its relentless attack on whatever moral principle Endstille has a thing against. This is better than your average run of the mill black metal band, but it's still very limited by the black metal sound and begins getting very repetitive by the end of the disc.

6/10 Better than average black metal.

Ajattara - Kalmanto

Here's the latest black folk opus from Ajattara. And well, there's not much to review, its still the same album they've already released 3 times already. I do notice a slight increase in synth effects and the pace is a bit slower. Its not enough to dramatically make any real change to the style of black metal that these guys do, but I am noticing, so I guess that's something. The album is still heavy and evil, just like their others.

7/10 Didn't I already review this a couple days ago?

Dark Age - Minus Exitus

There needs to be a law enacted that forbids new bands from using the word 'Dark' in their name. I swear I have like 10 different Dark something bands in my cd collection. In addition, certain song titles need to be banned, such as: Burning Bridges, Downfall, Beginning of the End, and Darkness Falls (or any combination of darkness and falling...) What's next? Dark Light? Oh wait, thanks H.I.M. Please go die now. How about Dark Misery or Dark Darkness for your next album title?

So now that I got that off my chest, Dark Age is actually a decent melodic death metal band. Or maybe its just I like melodic death metal a lot, so I like pretty much all this stuff. Can we say biased? Believe it or not, these guys aren't even Swedish, they're German! There's not really much to say about this, melodic death metal states clearly what a band will sound like these days. Specifically though, these guys remind me a bit of some other lesser known melodic death bands such as The Duskfall, with some clean singing similar to Before The Dawn, and some other band that I can't think of right now.

7/10 I really need to ween myself off this genre and realize that 100 bands are doing the exact same thing...

Disarmonia Mundi - Nebularium

Here's the 2002 debut from Soilwork. No wait, my bad, this is Disarmonia Mundi. I shouldn't say that as if it was a bad thing, because these guys are definitely releasing some quality metal. I always thought that their second album, Fragments of D-Generation, was their debut though (I didn't really research into the band much). I'm sure most people didn't know this band existed until they got Bjorn Strid of Soilwork to contribute vocals on Fragments. After hearing Fragments I thought to myself "This is what Soilwork should be sounding like." My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I think the mostly disappointing Figure Number Five came out around the same time as Fragments. And now with both of Soilwork's original guitarists out, Soilwork is probably done. At least we'll get to continue to hear Strid's voice in Disarmonia Mundi.

Ok, on to this record. Melodic death metal from Italia! It's obvious what bands these guys are influenced by, but they do a good job with their own form. The production on this isn't quite up to par as their more recent albums, and obviously Bjorn's killer voice isn't on it, but the other guys are more than adequate vocalists. The album is slightly slower paced than Fragments or Mind Tricks, but everything on it is evident that its the same guys writing the stuff, despite the numerous band member problems this band has endured.

This album, and this band, is certainly capable without the presence of Bjorn Strid on vocals. Its a shame that Strid had to enter the picture for this band to get some well deserved recognition.

7/10 Good debut album from Soilwork 2.

Daysend - The Warning

Daysend, pronounced 'days end' and not 'day send' how I always incorrectly refer to this Australian band, finally gives us a follow up to Severance. I've been worried about this new album from these Aussies because of the vocalist change since the absolutely amazing Severence. The vocalist on Severance really helped define that album and made it such an enjoying listen. He was your mostly typical harsh vocalist with a very good clean voice, but it was just done to absolute perfection on Severance that I just didn't think that a replacement could ever fill his shoes.

However I shouldn't forget that behind the really strong vocals of Severance was some very good instruments by the other members of Daysend. The guitar riffs created some great pieces for the vocalist to sing over and this mostly continues on The Warning. Even though the vocalist isn't nearly as strong as the former guy, the guitars elevate this band above others in the metalcore genre. Even though there's no super catchy chorus such as those found on Severance, the songs are good. The album does improve in the 'avoiding hardcore elements' division. Severance did occasionally skirt the hardcore breakdown hole that often plagues metalcore and that makes me instantly push stop on a cd. The Warning does a good job in avoiding these breakdown regressions.

7/10 Not as good as their debut, but a good album in the sea of terrible metalcore.

Carpathian Forest - Fuck You All

I sometimes wonder how serious some of these black metal bands take themselves. Their website url, which lacks much information, stands for "True Norwegian Black Metal." Well if that means generic sounding black metal, then I guess that label is correct. I vaguely remember liking their previous effort, Defending The Throne Of Evil, which is why I decided to check out this latest release. Although I may have to go back and listen to that album again, I remember it being somewhat laid back and even a bit humourous. It was just a fun listen, for a black metal, album that didn't really take itself to seriously and just played some catchy black metal tunes. I'll have to listen to it again and see if I get the same impression.

That being said, this album isn't giving a similar impression. Even though the album title and some song names are much sillier, the album seems too serious and submits to the mostly bland true black metal formula. The singer does stray a bit from the standard black metal voice with some background yelling, but it doesn't really add anything, and comes out sounding a bit ridiculous.

4/10 Blah, black metal.

Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side

Blind Guardian has a lot of really good albums, they are probably my favorite power metal band. If you don't know anything about power metal, these guys are probably the band to check out first. I don't know the history of power metal, but I wonder if it was Blind Guardian that really started power metal down its dragons and maidens themes that dominates the genre. Their album Nightfall In Middle Earth, based on Tolkien's Silmarillion is a classic.

Hansi Kürsch has an amazing voice who, for a power metal singer, still sounds masculine. Imaginations From The Other Side is an older release from 1995 and one of their better ones. I've heard most of the hits from this album, but haven't actually gotten a chance to listen to the entire album from start to finish. I'm not sure that there is a weak track on this album. The songs are similar to each other in structure, but it's a good formula and the band is good enough to make it work for an entire album. You'll have many of the songs sticking in your head by the time the disc finish. The songs feature fast riffs during the verses, then slow down for the chorus where Hansi layers his voice to great effect in almost every song.

9/10 Essential Blind Guardian album.

Ajattara - Äpäre

Pasi Koskinen started doing this black metal side project while he was in Amorphis and Ajattara released Itse in 2001. Of course, he's now quit Amorphis, but still has many bands, including Ajattara. I liked Pasi's voice in Amorphis, but I didn't know he was capable of the evil voice he puts forth in Ajattara. Ajattara is like a black metal version of Amorphis. Its evil and fast, but has that Finnish folk-influece that so many Finnish bands do, but not quite in this manner.

This album, like most of their albums, is short, barely breaking the 30 minute mark. This is probably for the better, because there is not a large variety of songs on the album, and anything longer would get boring quickly. In fact, there's not much variety in any of their albums... They all pretty much have the same exact sound. So if you have any other Ajattara albums, this will certainly not surprise.

7/10 Good Finnish black metal, though it sounds exactly like their other albums.

The Sword - Gods Of The Earth

I first heard these guys a year or two ago when they opened up for Lacuna Coil and In Flames at the Newport in Columbus, Ohio. It was December and I was back home for the holidays. I remember that I wasn't expecting much from a band called The Sword, but these guys came out and kicked some major ass. The Sword is one of the few bands that is reviving Black Sabbath type rock, even their logo looks like its from the 70s. It's just thick simple riffs with intricate leads layed over top. Add in one Ozzy sounding frontman and you've got a recipe for some damn fine rock 'n metal.

This album doesn't deviate much from the sound of their debut, God Of Winters, but its not like they are creating something original. Instead they are diving back into something that has been mostly forgotten from today's music. Although vocals such as this is now a rarity, and its refreshing to hear someone still doing it. Everyone is either brutal death, screeching black, or soaring power vocals. These guys certainly aren't the creative powerhouse of Ozzy and Iommi, but they've brewed up a fine treat of metal.

8/10 Ozzy would approve.

Chicane - Behind The Sun

And now, for something completely different...


Techno? So one of the problems with being addicted to WoW is that one tends to watch a bunch of stupid internet videos of other people playing Warcraft... As if we don't waste enough playing WoW on our own. For the most part, Warcraft videos fall under two categories: those with annoying metal songs in the background, and those with annoying techno in the background. However, once in a blue moon you'll hear some song that actually catches your ear. This is what happened with the song "Saltwater" by Chicane, so I figured what the heck, I'd give a listen to the whole album. I had even heard another Chicane song, "Don't Give Up," on Pandora that was even on this same album. (give one techno song the thumbs up, and the floodgates spew forth their electronic sewage)

Now I know pretty much nothing about techno, so...

The album starts off incredibly boring. The opening tracks are complete snores, only the second slightly piques my interest. The 4th track is "Saltwater," which I really like. It doesn't really stand out that much from other techno I've heard before, but I guess this one just has a nice melody that catches my ear. There's also a female singer roping me in with her angelic voice. I'm wondering if it's the same female that had the annoying vocals in the previous track "No Ordinary Morning." Eventually the other song I like, "Don't Give Up," comes up and I still like the song. It's got a catchy melody and chorus. Even the repetitiveness of it doesn't bother me, as its much better than the rest of the album. I'd probably be happy with a 30 minute version of this song...

Alright, so with the exception of the two songs that I like: "Saltwater" and "Don't Give Up," the whole album is a complete snore. There's a remix of "Saltwater" at the end of the album, which isn't very distinguishable from the original. I don't think I'm in any danger of becoming a techno fan.

2/10 Because only 2 tracks stand out on this hour-long snoozefest.

Arsis - As Regret Becomes Guilt

Arsis presents many old demos on this As Regret Becomes Guilt. Thank goodness for these Virginians, they are breathing some much needed life back into the softening up of the melodic death metal genre. It seems as though not many bands will stand aside Dark Tranquillity in holding up the torch of melodic death metal, but Arsis seems more than happy to step up where others have fallen. I only got into these guys last year after hearing the epic "Diamond For Disease," one of the greatest melodic death metal songs released in quite awhile.

Even though this is an album of demos, it doesn't suffer from the "Oh my God what is happening to my ears" quality of many demo (or black metal) albums, and if many of the riffs and song elements from the demos weren't recognizable from the studio albums, this could pass as a studio album. It seems like many of these tracks ended up on their debut release, but there's enough to differentiate them from the studio versions that hearing the demo format isn't boring.

There's also some video content on here that makes up for the somewhat short amount of audio.

7/10 Interesting package of demos from the exciting Arsis

Illdisposed - Burn Me Wicked

I said that I had to get some more from these Danes, so here's the 2006 follow-up to 1-800-Vindication entitled Burn Me Wicked. I'm only a couple songs into it but I'm not digging it as much as the previous album. The melodic parts I liked so much in Vindication have been scaled back in favor of more traditional American style heaviness. It's still a good album and I'm enjoying it, but I keep wanting to put Vindication back on just to hear the tunes on it again, because I know I liked that album more.

I do need to go back to Vindication, because I don't remember the small power-ish metal vocals that come in small doses like what I'm hearing on Burn Me Wicked. I can't say that I like it, but they hardly show up much, so it doesn't really detract from the music.

6/10 Average, decent listen, but nothing really stands out.

The Ocean - Precambrian

Well, after just listening to To The Nameless Dead for the umpteenth time, I hope I'm not too harsh on these guys valiant effort to create an ALBUM similar to how I described Primordial's latest.

I know nothing about The Ocean, only that this latest release, Precambrian, was an epic work. This is a concept album about the beginnings of our Earth, all the song tracks are named after geological time periods. While listening to this, I'm thinking that an ugly, angry, bastard child of Mastodon and Pelican would sound a lot like Precambrian.

The biggest downfall of this album is the length, there is so much music that they released a few tracks on a seperate mini-CD. The album has a neat concept, however the tracks don't really give the impression of some sort of progression towards anything. The concept is epic, but the music is not. It's a good album, but they really should have cut some of the fat off the album.

There's definitely some substance to this band. I don't think they have quite matured into the sophistication of either Mastodon or Pelican, but The Ocean shows incredible vision and promise.

6/10 Epic effort, but takes the listener on a marathon that doesn't really go anywhere.

Primordial - To The Nameless Dead

Now its albums like this that make the continuous search for new music worthwhile. Once again, we have a band here that has been kicking it since the early 90s that I am just now hearing for the first time. Or maybe I've heard these guys before and didn't like their previous work... I've been reading hype about this album for a bit. It's made numerous best of 2007 lists: here, here, and here. (I must note that I always take metal-rules.com reviews with a grain of salt, because they are in love with power metal, 7 out of their top 10 is power metal...)

This album is heavy folk metal done absolutely right. A thick wall of guitars continues a relentless pace accompanied by vocals with incredible emotion. My favorite thing in a vocalist is emotion. I want to hear the guy singing his heart out. He doesn't have to be the most talented vocalist, which Primordial's vocalist isn't, but To The Nameless Dead is sung with such passion that you are absorbed into the music. I usually don't care about lyrics, but this album makes me want to read along to the songs.

This album makes me think of Enslaved's masterpiece, Below The Lights, though more uplifting than the blackness of the Enslaved album. It has a similar driving pace as Below The Lights; all the songs flow together into one magnificent piece. It's really something special when a band puts together an ALBUM, and not just a bunch of great songs on 1 disc.

10/10 Definitely on my best of 2007 list.

R.I.P. Gary Gygax (1938-2008)

I know this labels me as a huge dork, but Gary Gygax, the co-creater of Dungeons & Dragons, died today. You have to hand it to this guy for creating a billion dollar industry, and even many video games, such as WoW, would probably not exist if not for Gary Gygax. I played 2nd edition of DnD to absolute death. I owned just about every 2nd edition source book imaginable. Much of it is still located at my parents house, much to my Mother's annoyance.

I pretty much hate what D&D turned into with 3rd and what's coming up with 4th edition, it's all about hack 'n slash combat rules. But, none of the other fantastic pen and paper RPGs I've played would exist without Gygax's original creation.

• Legend of the Five Rings
  
• Vampire: The Masquerade
  
• Serenity RPG
  
• Unknown Armies
  

EDIT: The Order of the Stick has an appropriate tribute to Gygax.

Engel - Absolute Design

I had been waiting quite a while for this music to finally be released. Niclas Engelin had a short stint in In Flames before starting his own melodic death metal band, Gardenian, which although now defunct, had 3 very good releases. There was a brief period where it looked like Gardenian might reform, and even had some promising demos released, but that music eventually became the first demos for Engel. Whatever the name he chose to call this project, it had some promise.

However, after a long, long wait with this project in production, it became quite clear that Engel was going to try and do a radio-friendly melodeath band similar to the Passenger side project Engelin and Anders Friden released in 2003. Now not to say that it's a bad album, I actually liked the Passenger thing they did, but I guess I should give up hopes that he will return to a Gardenian sound.

Absolute Design is about what you would expect from a radio-friendly melodic swedish band. Engelin can write some catchy guitar riifs, although much simpler than anything he's done in previous bands. They got a singer that could easily be in an american nu-metal band. He has a good singing voice which gets some good use in many of the choruses, but his nu-metal voice needs to go.

4/10 Has some high points, but overall a disappointment

(I'm going to start giving x/10 ratings)

Moonspell - Under Satanae

Fuck, Moonspell is badass. One of the reasons I've been going through all this music so quickly is so that I could get to some albums that I've been just dying to listen to, with this being one of them. Moonspell had a weak point when they released Darkness and Hope in 2001, and 2003's The Antidote only had a couple good tracks, but they came roaring back with Memorial, a great return to their black metal roots. I know these guys can be evil, their mostly unknown side project Daemonarch was absolutely terrifying. When I heard that Moonspell was going to re-record an album full of their pre-Wolfheart material and demos, I was super excited. Even though I never heard any of this stuff, it being stuff written slightly before the Wolfheart era, and after just having released Memorial, and calling the album Under Satanae, predicted something very menacing.

The album does not disappoint. This is classic Moonspell gothic metal, with the emphasis on the metal. I wish all goth metal was this good. Predictably, this album sounds like a mix between Memorial and Wolfheart. It is a very interesting listen though, with complex leads and interludes, and just pure evil elements. Fernando Ribeiro probably does the best voice of Satan with his death voice. If you ever had any interest in Moonspell, get this album.

Vader - Litany

What the hell is wrong with me? How am I not a huge Vader fan already? I'm almost positive I've tried listening to this album years ago and for some reason didn't like it. Maybe it was the singer, it has taken me a bit to get into these more traditional death metal vocalists from bands such as Vader, Entombed, or Dismember. Even then, vocals are usually the least important element of metal to me, and unless its a really annoying power metal singer, I can hear past the singer and enjoy the music. And there's nothing about Vader's music to not enjoy. It's just heavy, heavy, and more heavy. Vader does a fantastic job at keeping it short and to the point, so as not to bore the listener. I think they understand that it can be difficult at times to listen to an entire hour of this brutality. This full length clocks in at 31 minutes, even with 11 tracks.

So that wasn't really a review of the album, but oh well. My excitement about getting into Vader should be enough to know that this 2000 release is a death metal classic.

Illdisposed - 1-800-Vindication

I don't think these Danish guys know how many numbers are in our 1-800 numbers... So once again, Pandora introduces a damn good melodic death metal band to me. Of course, in Pandora style, I've only heard the song "Dark" over and over again. These guys play your typical melodeath with catchy riffs and some keyboards. Their singer has a bit more of a brutal voice than other bands that plague this genre, and it helps them stand out from the pack.

This is their 2004 release, and checking our their webpage, these guys certainly aren't newcomers to the field. It looks like they've been cranking out albums since 1993. I wonder how this album stacks up to their others. I've got digging around to do with these guys, because this album certainly rocks.

Faith No More - The Real Thing

I have a lot of friends that absolutely love Faith No More. I've always had a rough time trying to listen to them because the singer has an obnoxious voice, but I feel that I should do them justice and listen to one of their entire records. I decided to get 1989 release, The Real Thing, as I recognized the songs "From Out Of Nowhere" and "Epic."

Yep, Mike Patton's voice is still annoying. Apparently, this is the first album with Patton after he joined the band. However, "From Out of Nowhere" is a great track. I think I've heard numerous covers of it before hearing this original. "Epic" is also easily recognizable, the chorus and ending piano part are played and sampled just about everywhere. I wish they'd stay away from the semi-rapping thing they do here and there. I can't stand it. Despite the rapping on Epic, I think I like it, though that just may be because it is so recognizable.

I think I could get into this album with a few more listens. At least, I understand why people love this stuff. It's kind of weird with an annoying singer, but there's some really great stuff on it.

Apocalyptica - Worlds Collide

Apocalyptica has been grinding away since their 1996 release of their Metallica cover album. These cellists continually put out solid albums, though they soon moved away from their cover band approach to writing their own material. The 2001 album, Cult, introduced some vocalists on two tracks and they've been bringing in a few vocalists here and there since that release to support some of their songs. Although with this album, they've gotten some big names to contribute. It sounds like Corey Taylor provides vocals on the track "I'm Not Jesus." Rammstein's singer does the vocals on the David Bowie cover "Heroes," which sung in german is called "Helden." At first this struck me as out of place, because I wouldn't have though his vocal style would mesh well with Apocalyptica, but it turned out well. The singer of Three Days Grace, who I don't think I've ever heard does the song "I Don't Care." And the lovely Christina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil, rounding out the guest list, does a wonderful job on "S.O.S."

Here's the video for "I'm Not Jesus."

Vreid - Pitch Black Brigade

I've been listening to quite a bit of black metal lately. Vreid and Alghazanth is probably the closest I've gotten to kvlt as fuck though. I thought Vreid would beat out Alghazanth but no corpse paint can be found on Vreid's webpage. For shame!!!

These guys are similar to Alghazanth, though maybe a bit for folk influenced, approaching the sound of Windir. Pitch Black Brigade (seriously, what is up with all these black metal album titles being 3 words long?) is a good example of some typical black metal that would probably not even be called sell-out black metal in the extreme black metal community, as silly as that sounds...

Vader - Art Of War

I've only recently started getting into Vader. This Polish band has been tearing it up since the early 90s and has a sizable discography. Once again, Pandora has introduced me to a band that I've previously never given myself the opportunity to enjoy. Seeing as how I'm just getting into this band, I can't really compare this mini CD to the rest of their catalog.

Art Of War is only 14 minutes long, and interspersed with 2 instrumental tracks, but the 4 actual songs on it are superb examples of what these death metal veterans are capable of. "Lead Us!!!" is obviously the highlight of this album, but the whole thing flows together very well for the 14 minutes of face-pounding brutality. I think Vader is smart in releasing many of these shorter mini CD's, as its a good introduction to the band, without the listener being overwhelmed by an entire 40 minutes.

Scheitan - Berzerk 2000

Berzerk is the first album by an obscure, even for metal, band released in 1998. I only know of two releases by this group. I already had their 2nd release, Nemesis, but this one has been nigh impossible to attain. I only had a couple mp3's of two of the slower tracks "Soulside" and "Sad to Say" that feature vocals from a female with a very good voice. These guys play kind of a rougher, more raw, goth metal thing. It's a shame this band didn't get more exposure, because they write some really good songs. Oskar Karlsson, who handled drums and some guitar and bass in Scheitan, was in Gates of Ishtar and currently plays drums in The Duskfall.