ALBUM REVIEW: FIREWIND

Firewind – Stand United

Reviewed by: Jim Harrison

Review Score: 9.5

Power metal Icons Firewind are set to release their anticipated new album ‘Stand United’ on March 1, 2024.

Coming off their last release, a live showcase titled ‘Still Raging – 20th Anniversary Show’ in September of 2023, it’s great to get a new release so early in 2024.

Guitar virtuoso Gus G, vocalist Herbie Langhans, bassist Petros Christo and drummer Jo Nunez have created a body of work that tackles the issues of the day with the direction that we need to ‘Stand United’ rather than at odds with each other.

The fantastic artwork created by Costin Chioreanu echos the message with the multitude of faces making this so poignant. The first track ‘Salvation Day’ gets right to the point with massive guitar riffs, strong vocal performance and a pounding drum and bass beat giving you some insight what this album is all about.

‘Stand United’ is one of my favourite songs which has a massive power metal sound right from the wicked guitar intro. The catchy chorus will make this a fan favourite live. ‘Destiny Calling’ the lead single released as a teaser for fans during their European tour. This track has it all with a killer groove and a smoking guitar solo. ‘The Power Lies Within’ is a heavy song with thick groovy sound showcase Gus G’s flawless guitar ability. This is another personal favourite of mine.

Tracks ‘Come Undone’ and ‘Fallen Angel’ both are pre release singles that have more of a progressive sound and killer drum beats. Again the guitar solos are phenomenal on these tracks. ‘Chains’ is a super catchy song and the intro is reminiscent of Judas Priest. Langhans vocals are strong and Gus G creates a cool chugging sound leaving an ear worm.

‘Land of Chaos’ gives you a total ass kicking. The killer guitar intro and solo, thumping drums and bass mixed with a heavy vocal performance gives off a more traditional sound making this the heaviest track on the album. Langhans snarl is a a cool addition giving this track a darker sound. ‘Talking In Your Sleep’ is a Romantics cover and a fun addition to this album. It brings this song to another level and is heavy as hell.

The last song on the album ‘Days Of Grace’ completes the album with a song that creates an immersive listening experience. The acoustic guitar intro mixed with an impressive vocal range gives you the notion of a ballad but Gus G’s ripping solo changes the direction of the song bringing in a heavier groove that gives this track such a cool sound.

Firewind consistently creates groundbreaking material and this new release is evidence of this.

Musically, vocally and lyrically this album checks all the boxes and you can tell this band is a tight knit unit that love what they do.

This album spans many metal genres and I recommend it to all metal fans looking for a relevant release in 2024. Play it at eleven.

Stand United is set to release March 1, 2024 via AFM Records.

ALBUM REVIEW – INFECTED RAIN

Infected Rain – Time

Reviewed by: Georgina Strilakos

Review Score: 9.0

Moldova’s Infected Rain return with their massive sixth Nu Metal creation, Time, on February 9, 2024, via Napalm Records. Following their very successful album from 2022’s Ecdysis—which received great acclaim and debuted in the Top 20 US Music charts. An eclectic studio album that pushes the envelope in the modern metal scene

The Moldovan band has been active since 2008. Throughout its journey, the group has stood out for its ability to think outside the box and bring originality to the metal scene with its kaleidoscopic sound.” The band’s music often combines various metal subgenres, incorporating elements of alternative, nu-metal, and metalcore. Lena Scissorhands’ powerful and versatile vocals, coupled with the band’s dynamic instrumentation, contribute to their distinctive musical identity and ability to constantly try new things.

Time is yet another example of their approach. The album track list, which has already been revealed, is going to feature twelve new songs. Each track allows the band to experiment with different ideas, highlighting the incredibly broad scope of this record. The flagship single, ‘Never To Return’, is a very good introduction to the aesthetics of this album. The song features cinematic ambient tones, as well as brutal guitar, riffs, and diverse arrangements with somewhat of a progressive feel. With a penchant for theatrics and storytelling, the band managed to create a very immersive album with a strong sonic narrative behind it.

It is not always easy to add something new to the conversation when it comes to metal music, but Infected Rain has something to say. Fans of bands such as Jinjer, Arch Enemy, Lacuna Coil, and Otep should most definitely give this album a shot! Bands like these have helped and continue to help shape the sound of contemporary metal music, drawing outside the lines and bringing more variety to the scene.

Thankfully, this band set out to stay pretty prolific over the past few years, even in spite of the obvious challenges many artists have had to face in the not-too-distant past. Infected Rain strikes as a band on a constant quest to expand its sound and raking in new influences to keep treating fans to something special. It’s always very interesting to hear metal bands that are open to incorporating ideas and sounds that are not commonly associated with metal music. This fusion brings the genre to new places and helps come up with a more original sound for the artist. Time fits this category!

Find out more about Infected Rain here and stay tuned for the upcoming release of this remarkable new studio work!

ALBUM REVIEW – BLOOD RED THRONE

Blood Red Throne – Nonagon

Reviewed By: Dennis van’t Hoofd

Review Score: 8.0

When Daniel ‘Død’ Olaisen and Tchort formed Blood Red Throne in 1998 they had a unique selling
point in that the two of them played live for Satyricon, and the latter credited with bass on
Emperor’s influential debut album In The Nightside Eclipse.

Fast-forward twenty-six years later and Blood Red Throne is now a well established death metal institute from Norway with guitarist Død and drummer Freddy Bolsø as the only remaining founding members. With Nonagon Blood Red Throne releases their eleventh studio album with new vocalist Sindre Wathne Johnsen, who replaces long time frontman Yngve ‘Bolt’ Christiansen.

The nine tracks on Nonagon are conceptualized around the nine concentric circles of torment located within the earth as described in ‘Inferno’, the first part of the fourteenth century poem ‘Divine Comedy’ by Italian writer Dante, but the lyrics are free for interpretation. Ever since their 2001 debut album Monument Of Death or 2002’s Affiliated With The Dead, Blood Red Throne have been delivering relentless death metal strongly rooted in early nineties US death metal and Nonagon is no exception to that rule.

Blood Red Throne stay true to their sound and treat us with yet another pounding death metal release, full of technical riffs, fat grooves and slamming parts. Musically, Blood Red Throne mixes the brutality of Cannibal Corpse and the melodic grooves of Amon Amarth and out comes a fine blend of old-school groovy yet technical death metal. New vocalist Sindre Wathne Johnsen delivers a great job with his versatile death grunts and high pitched screams and is a great addition to the line-up of Blood Red Throne.

Fans of groovy no-nonsense death metal with a great full-sounding production should definitely check Nonagon out. The album is out now via Soulseller Records.

ALBUM REVIEW – MIKE TRAMP

Mike Tramp – Mand af en tid

Reviewed By: Marsworth

Review Score: 7.5

Just in case you didn’t get enough of Mike Tramp in 2022 (singing an album completely in Danish), he’s cooked up a whole new record for us to marvel at, Mand af en tid (translating to Man Of A Time). With ten power-filled tracks, Mike Tramp and his recording band fill the ears of loyal listeners with the sound of his native language after jamming with the infamous glam metal band White Lion. That being said, Tramp is quoted as saying, “…I grew up with albums where songs could sound different. Mand af en tid is such an album.” This goes to show how diverse and relatable (for newer listeners) the album really is.

Tramp has also mentioned that while in a band (White Lion) he felt pushed into a corner to live up to a certain expectation for the band’s public perception; however, with Danish music, he’s able to let the music and creativity flow wherever it may please. The stories are stacked to the heavens within such a short span of time. As the album plays you’ll hear the rock magic you’re used to hearing, tales of Tramp’s mother, and even songs for a brutal heartbreak.

My rating for this album isn’t based on understanding what I’m listening to, it’s based on the feeling, production, and how the artist treats their new material on and offline. Knowing that while writing Tramp wrote about things and moments he cared about, real life experiences that mean something, it adds a little something you’re not used to consuming. Not many artists nowadays are able to see the latest fad, turn the other way, and succeed. Perhaps a record against the social norms is exactly what we, as listeners, need to hear. Besides, how often do you hear an album with songs about The Beatles, a late mother, Muhammad Ali, and German food!

Mand af en tid drops March 15th via Target Records.

ALBUM REVIEW: NECROWRETCH

Necrowretch – Swords of Dajjal

Reviewed by: Kenneth Gallant

Review Score 9.0

You have to love it when a band can build tenure in any musical genre. When a band like Necrowretch is eating up fifteen years in the business it’s quite a feat. Now I say this having very little exposure to the band’s discography, but upon hearing their latest effort, I have to say I’m quite impressed.

The album in question is Swords Of Dajjal and it’s due out February 2nd on Seasons of Mist Underground Activists. What you get here is an album clocking in around thirty-seven minutes of the blackened-death variety and it only took three years in the making according to the band.

This is also album number five, coming upon the heels of the whole world shut down debacle of COVID, and it’s quite an interesting back story as to how this record came about. For starters, the previous release The Ones From Hell (came out in 2020) was meant to give the band a huge push right out of the gate. A European tour was put together with Kampfar and Taake, but that was quickly squashed when the pandemic erupted. The band was forced into shutdown mode, so they decided to write some new songs.

These songs gave the band a chance to upgrade their power and depth as a musical entity and according to singer Vlad, he took singing lessons to meet that challenge, along with upgrading their gear and tuning the sound. What came about afterwards is a sound of intensely written black metal, but with more variety and some death metal layering in for good measure.

This all sounds exciting, so when perusing over the press-kit materials I quickly realized the band means business on this new release. So without further adieu, here’s some of my analysis on what to expect with Swords Of Dajjal.

The guitars are out front on the opening track ‘Ksar Al-Kufar’, along with Vlad’s raspy vocal delivery in a pronounced way. He sounds immediate here and I’m liking what I am hearing. There’s some nice ominous passages that start up on ‘The Fifth Door’ right out of the gate. The commanding drone of the guitars reach my ears quickly and Vlad layers his vocals with a fiery passion. The song spirals into a meaty mid-section and I am completely enthralled with this new sound.

‘Di Mauri’ begins with a demonic passage of speech and blackened guitars that spew out a tone of nastiness. The band’s new drummer N. Destroyer is on fire and I’m getting some early-era Entombed vibes here tonally. The pace quickens on the title track Swords Of Dajjal because those riffs take centre stage and provide meaty fisticuffs before sprawling into a doom laden passage. This is definitely some serious stuff happening and we’re only half-way through the recording.

It’s hard to tell what is being said lyrically, but I suppose ‘Numidian Knowledge’ is waxing poetically on the ways of this semi-nomadic tribe known as the Numidia population. As esoteric as it sounds, the song spirals out like a group of monks deviating from their daily ritual of prayers and mediation and embarking on some bloodletting. It’s a pretty cool song for the most part and I do like the snaky passages leading up to the end of it. The next track ‘Vae Victis’ is a black metal staple with all the fixings, as the guitars drone along until the stark turn into barked out death vocals and blasting guitars. It’s such a great way to end the number.

‘Daeva’ is a short instrumental track that follows; getting punchy and straight to the point. However, it’s contrasted by the closing number ‘Total Obliteration’ as being the longest track here. You get some precision drumming and drony guitars to start out, but Vlad’s vocals are shouted out and seem to give the song some added extra dimension. There’s a smooth transition into the eerie sounds of hands sliding across the neck of the guitar strings that is a really neat effect to bring an end to the proceedings. I have to say this track concludes with a bang and it compliments the other seven tracks before it.

I have to say this is a banger of a release! It’s built upon a new and improved sound, plus it expertly straddles along the genres of both black and death metal. Vlad’s vocals are a high point for me and you can’t go wrong with a band who puts its best foot forward in earnest of improving their sound overall. Let’s see what they do on the live concert circuit in 2024.

Swords of Dajjal will be released February 2, 2024 on Season of Mist