The first two CDs of this Metal Mania collection offer a vareity of metal, thrash, power, and various other genres. We received #3, of which their is no musical similarities between the songs, the binding factor appears to be the pro-white nature of all the bands.
(19970217) NOTE: It's be pointed out to me that not all of these bands are pro-white. We apologize for the implication as stated above. -- Borcek
1.Carnivore "Race War" - Carnivore has a powerful metal sound with somewhat spoken word vocals. They manage to mix their power metal with some very melodic elements. A quite impressive slow speed song.
2.Demonic Christ "Witches Fall" - Starting out fairly intense and relatively fast, "Witches Fall" also shows some more complex riffing. It does however all get repeated quite a bit before breaking into black metal riffing. Definitely black metal worthy of taking a look at, judging from this song.
3.Beheaded "Subconscious Deliverance" - Basically old school death metal with a little bit of progression and experimentation with some more atmospheric elements. Nothing spectactular, yet not that bad.
4.The Beast "Coming Down" - I only wish I had some staff dedicated down to track down which song was ripped off. You'll have heard this metal style, and song, elsewhere, just with different lyrics.
5.Rahowa "Might Is Right" - Rahowa is a very impressive metal band. Check out our profile of them in Issue #3.
6.The Dark Theatre "At Love With The Gods" - Very slow, dark, almost ambient sound with a less than exciting lead guitar. The vocals top of the effect (which could be describing as boring and plain).
7.Inner Misery "Sucking Chest Wound" - Intense, high speed, old school death metal.
8.Sarcophagy "Cut To Pieces" - Intense, low speed, old school death metal.
9.Faustus "Erosion" - Some decent power metal with a vocalist that occasionally whines annoyingly.
10.Two Faced Hate "Stained Soul" - Power metal complete with a very good Phil Anselmo impersanator on vocals.
11.Mourning Reign "Voiceless" - Driving low end, and in places a very good and original lead. The intensity is topped off by the aggressive vocals. The chorus sections are excellent, but they are very short.
12.Unseen Holocaust "Parted Ways" - The clean guitar intro (or maybe bass) becomes some form of metal. It's not very fast, but maintains some degree of aggressiveness. However, it is kind of plain.
13.Coalition "Winter Of Discontent" - See our review of Coalition this issue.
14.Division "Beginnings" - Quickly achieving a grand, ominous atmosphere, is a very appealing short guitar solo, backed by solid drumming and a flowing bass. Division combines elements of classic doom and progressive to produce a sound that will either appeal to you, or drive you away quickly.
15.Obsidian "Communion" - Alternative influenced metal with an annoying singer whose vocals don't quite blend with the music.
A fairly good assortment of bands, some are weak, some are fairly strong. It's worthwhile checking out if you are looking for just a variety of music to listen to.
Contact:
Michael Hunt Publishing
P.O.Box 226
Bensenville, IL 602106
$2 For a Catalog