Thrash titans Megadeth release their long-awaited new album ‘Dystopia’ in the UK in January.
For reasons best known to Amazon, the album is available to pre-order at somewhere nearing half the RRP. Take advantage before the price goes up, by clicking on the album cover below!
Herscher are practicioners of a rather mean and lo-fi brand of doom metal, the kind that’s so intense that makes your average doom band sound like they’re gearing up to play a few Boney M covers and then bed down for a late night at about 7pm. On the bulk of this third release, this French trio are so frighteningly robust, it’s a genuine challenge to get through the near forty minute playing time in one hit. Depending on how much you love your doom and sludge, of course, this could turn out to a be a very positive thing.
Having roots that stretch back as far 1994, My Life’s Despair is a doom and goth metal band centred around drummer/multi-instrumentalist Larshus. Although he spent a decade working with other underground bands somewhere between hatching his original idea for the project and the time of its actual fruition, it’s easy to hear that a lot of thought went into making things more theatrical than your average doom metal band. ‘Invoked With Passion and Pain’ is My Life’s Despair’s first full length and is a surprisingly enjoyable affair with some of the musical ideas showing a defiant sense of grandiosity that befits the album title. Provided, that is, you’re happy to overlook the demo quality of the production, the thin drum sounds (possibly programmed) and just concentrate on the actual material. This is one of those albums whereby it is best not to look at what it is, necessarily, but rather more what the band were aiming for.
This second r
elease from Finnish black metallers Enthring is an interesting affair. Sometimes more symphonic than flat-out grindy, the multi-layered aspect of their music is strongly evident from the very first notes and although comprising just three tracks, it gives a broad enough glimpse into their craft without becoming overbearing. Provided, that is, you’re not averse to the occasional bit of extreme metal, in which case, this just won’t be for you.
When it comes to hard rock and metal guitar playing. there’s a fine line between melodic, harmonious workouts and empty, soulless fretboard bashing for the sake of it. For every player who understands the importance of filling several bars with succinct and thoughtful soloing, there are a thousand John Petrucci wannabes who think – oft like Dream Theater themselves – that notes and flash are a thousand times more impressive than actual tunes…and just because we can see them pulling orgasm faces while bending strings at lightning speeds, we’ll somehow feel the magic too. They’re wrong, of course.