If you remember a little while ago one of the first reviews I ever did for Metal Pulse was The Contortionist’s “Apparition” and I spoke highly of it, so I had high expectations for this full length. I was definitely not let down at all.

Exoplanet is released on Good Fight Music and was produced by none other than Ken Susi of Unearth. The production of the album is fantastic. Clear and defined but still with a raw sound which is perfect for a band like this.  Heavy, progressive, and, technical are all fitting words to describe the impressive and mildly groovy Exoplanet. I was definitely on the money when I said this band will progress the semi stale sub-genre of deathcore. Now the one downfall of this record is that some songs are recycled from Appariton. Here’s how it goes:

Flourish=  Eyes: Closed
Expire= Infection
Advent= Realms
Oscillator= well, Oscillator

So you may see this as widely negative as I first did to have recycled songs from the previous release BUT I was wrong because now here’s the kicker folks, they are still new songs. There have been changes to these songs in every vocal/lyrical way and although some are slight, there are various spices added musically. Also hearing these songs with the productions of Ken Susi is a treat too. As for all the brand new tracks, it shows a very matured, progressive sound while still keeping some heaviness and technicality.

Songs such as “Contact” show some clean vocal backup the growling. “Vessel” starts off soft and calm and gradually picks up technical momentum and comes down again.  And if I’m correct the acoustic Instrumental track Axiom at first sounds almost like the hidden track from Apparition just with a different flavor which I really enjoyed. The epic trilogy Exoplanet I, II and, III serve as the epic closer and is definitely the highlight of the album. Exoplanet I: Ergess, starts with the setting of a spacey mood while moving into an almost indie rock sound with clean vocals that kind of caught me off guard but in a good way. The track manages to link up well with the second part of the Exoplanet trilogy, Void which is very heavy and brutal. And as for Exoplanet III: Light…

Nope I’m not giving away the ending. Go pick up a copy and listen for yourself. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Or I’ll eat my hat.

Age of Disgrace is the debut full-length album of Belgian death-metallers Pestifer, a release destined to please fans of all things tech-death and progressive.

Pestifer’s particular sound is a balancing act between pure brutality and precise riffs and solos, with groovy bass quite audibly in the mix. The speed, heaviness, and technicality are all present, but they tend not to go overboard on either one. The good news is the song structure is more focused and isn’t smothered in too much wild technical experimentation or blistering fast brutality (which other bands have done to a degree of absurdity). And the better news? This sets them slightly apart from the others in the pack, akinning them more to old-school Death and Atheist than to modern technical death metal bands.

The highlight of the album is most certainly the complex guitar work with loads of interesting riffs to please the ears. As for vocals, Pestifer keep to a mid to low range growl, a very solid vocal delivery that suits the music quite well.

The dynamics of the album could benefit from a bit more variety as heard in final track “The Clue, The Lie, and The Death” (I’m digging the melodic instrumental break), but ultimately, this is a superb release from a band with the tools to succeed. Currently these guys are unsigned but someone ought to take notice before long.

7.5/10

Metal Blade’s newest release comes to us in the form of Allegaeon’s  (pronounced uh-lee-juhn) debut album Fragments of From and Function.  This is a band that is destined to push the melo-death genre to new heights. These melo-death Messiahs have released a debut that delivers everything metal fans love: crushing guitar riffage, maniacal drum beats, gnarly groove and, enough face melting solos to make anybody cream their gitch. I would compare this album to Behemoth’s most recent release Evangelion. They have a lot of similarities mostly in the tone but also some drum and guitar riffs, subtle enough not to be a rip off and present enough to know that Behemoth is an inspiration. Lyrically and structurally the album is very well written. With subjects ranging from the theory of human origins, time/dimensional travel and the grand question of life itself, it’s clear that there was just as much time and effort put into the songs lyrically as there was musically. Quality song structure is a rare gem in the extreme metal genres these days and is present through out this entire album. Accented hooks make for catchy songs as well vocalist Ezra Haynes I feel has the perfect metal voice ranging from deep grows to audible mid range tones also he posses fantastic lyrical concept writing skills. If fans of metal go another day without this album then they are doomed forever. This solid debut has made it in my personal top 20 metal albums to date. Highlights of the album are songs “Biomech-Vals No.666″  particularly because of the nice acoustic ending and the other is the album’s closing track and my personal favorite  ”Accelerated Evolution” with a nice hint of prog and extended instrumental sections that will surley get you up and windmilling around the room! Solid debut from a band on a road to a bright future.
9/10

Few bands today have the unique distinction of being at their respective genre’s pinnacle. However, it is quite worrisome that such bands often slide into medicocrity much faster than they took reaching the top. In the years following the towering success of “This Godless Endeavour,” which was that rare album whose broad appeal united metalheads in common cause—a non-Nevermore fan is an odd creature indeed—the Nevermore legend has grown to titannic proportions. Now the Gods themselves have returned to feed us mortals a fresh serving of tunes meant to gratify our every want. Despite the absolute certainty of its greatness, “The Obsidian Conspiracy” still needs a quick perusal. Besides, there are people out there who didn’t like this album much and had good reason to. Such reasons will be discussed below.

As is Nevermore’s wont, the ride begins without the benefit of a useless intro, the music cranking at full blast as the murderous grooves come tumbling out your speakers for the acidic diatribe that’s “The Termination Proclamation.” Rather terse at a mere three minutes, the album’s opening salvo terminates itself at the behest of a screaming lead from Jeff Loomis, who has long arrived as a guitar shredder of the highest distinction. He shines ever brighter on the album’s heftier cuts, notably during the token ‘ballad’ “The Blue Marble And The New Soul” and the title track that explodes at the very end. In between these gems are further examples of Nevermore’s exceptional acumen for songs whose near-perfection renders whoever else is in the same game as them obsolete.

Alas, despite the massive amount of praise it has garnered so far, “the Obsidian Conspriacy” does have its faults. First, the album never really delivers on its promise for a new and exciting twist to the Nevermore sound. There’s no sign of it here, just your usual collection of hefty thrashers and far gloomier fare. The meaner critics even pointed out that Nevermore are going through the motions on this album. Second, it’s rather short  coming from a band who’ve been away for so long. The final judgement? A solid release no doubt, but also frighteningly forgetful compared to the band’s past work.

8/10

The 25th Hour are an instrumental prog metal trio from San Diego, California.
Their newest album titled “Monsters” can be described as if The Fall Of Troy had a love child with After The Burial. Maybe a splash of Behold… The Arctopus in there too. Heavy, intense, groovy, and ambient. An overall excellent instrumental album!

The album’s brief opening track “Chosen One” starts off with a lovely bass lead into heavy mayhem and melody, then blends perfectly into the second track. Overall the entire album seems to have a constant flow, everything bleeding into one another to create almost one big 36minute song. To think these three guys are not even signed to a label. Hello, Relapse? Yeah do it. They are definitely worthy of that label and the sound they kind of lean towards.

This album is very well rounded ranging from heavy breakdown found in such tracks as “Abubbahkah” and more relaxed clean ambient music such as “Apparition”. The albums closing track,  ”Attack of the Zombabies ” has all this and more. Clicking in as the longest track at 9:30mins they utilize every second to make diverse progressive metal at it’s finest.
The album ranges from everything from tech/death, post punk, a tad of sumeriancore and a whole lot of prog.

Well, there are moments on the album where I think to myself “Lyrics here would totally fit” which is kind of not a good thought to have about an instrumental album. Not that it deters away from the excellent musicianship of the trio, but it just has moments of those gaps, for lack of a better word. But overall this is a worthy album to purchase for any fan of good progressive experimental music in general.

As well, the album art is cool as hell. A pissed off octopus and a group of gnarly werewolves divided by a green skinned , intestine eating zombie baby. METAL

Overall: 8/10

First off, I want to address the absolutely stunning album art.
The way the picture is as a whole as well as the division it shows is the perfect visual representation for the songs and the bands themselves. It seems to me the artist must have heard the E.P a whole bunch and slowly pieced it together, it looks very well thought out and planned and the bonus is you can buy a mini poster of it in each band merch store! I personally plan on getting mine professionally enlarged because something as awesome and detailed should be bigger because it is something I could look at all day.
Now, onto the tunes!

First up is Haunted Shores tracks “When In Oslo” and my personnal favorite, “Sentient Glow”. Haunted Shores are fast, shreddy, melodic guitars and groovy/jazz/thrash drum line. “Experimental Thrash” I feel would be the best way to describe their sound.

“When In Oslo” kicks off with Chris Barretto’s Randy Blythe-esque vocals and a sporadic melody of guitars with groovy and jazzy drums. I loved this song after the first three seconds. No shit. At first though I wasn’t too keen on Chris’s clean vocals but they definitely grew on me and now I feel they really do fit.  His lyrical approach is now easier to understand after doing my interview with him and Mark a few weeks back. I personally interpret the lyrics as having a sort of  ”carpe diem” tone to them which I really like but the interpretation really depends on the listener. “Sentient Glow” shows a more calm version of Haunted Shores’ sound and I LOVE THIS SONG! Again, it’s groovy and thrashy but at times calms right down and sounds clean and smooth. This song is the best song to accompany the left half of the album art because like water, it can be violent yet calm.  These two tracks are also to be featured on their debut full length along with songs that according to their facebook are “slow and  groovy”. It will most likely become one of the top albums of the season (early fall target date) if not the year.

O.K next up is Cyclamen!
I will admit at first, I didn’t really like these two songs but after giving them a solid chance they really are pretty good. Think Sikth meets J-Rock. Yep. Japanese Rock. Who knew! Crazy sporadic metal one minute and total shift to the j-rock in an instant. They manage to pull it off pretty well and you gotta give credit where credit’s due. Their second track, “Let Go” focuses more on the metal and not so much on the j-rock influence. Cyclamen are very creative but most definitely an acquired taste.

I find it amazing that two bands from two ends of the earth can create similar music with distinct differences and manage to find each other and do a split and to top it off, have the perfect visual aid for the audio. Both bands are tapping the same infinite stream of creative energy. Their music compliments one another perfectly.

Keep an eye on these bands as they are bound to turn heads and open minds.
Haunted Shores: 9/10
Cyclamen: 6/10

If you haven’t heard of Six-Point Lead yet, now’s your chance. I guess you could say the whole thing started as a side project / creative outlet for members of other established bands in the Torino area. Benny Bianco Chinto (you may remember him as the former vocalist of Disarmonia Mundi), Sergio Costa and Cosimo De Nola of Dying Awkward Angel joined forces with Claudio of Disarmonia Mundi and Luca from T3chn0ph0b1a and started writing some tunes of a more melodic nature than the aforementioned bands. The result is General Anaesthesia, released in late 2009.

These songs are well-constructed and concise, melodic yet aggressive, and catchy as hell. I find there’s a nice balance between heavy riffs and eloquent melodies that can be downright beautiful one moment and intense the next. Overall the style can be described as highly melodic, technical, and progressive leaning heavily in the direction of modern American metal.

I heard the EP for the first time a couple weeks ago and it’s been on my player ever since. To say the least, it’s been a pleasant surprise. With each listen there’s another layer to uncover, something I didn’t quite hear the first few times around. A little orchestral undertones here, some electronic bits there, subtle enhancements to the music noticable only if you’re listening for it. However, instumentally the forefront is dominated by those fantastic guitars laying down heavy riffs while simultaneously serenading us with technical melodies and solos, coupled with a layered harsh/clean vocals style.

The whole thing is masterfully done, a short and sweet EP that delivers four impressive tracks – I suggest giving them a listen for yourself!
www.myspace.com/sixpointlead

Earlier this week I was lucky enough to have done an interview with Mark Holcomb and Chris Barretto of Haunted Shores. We touch on everything from music to giant chicken-beasts! Enjoy!

1. So to start things off how about a little history of Haunted Shores? How you got started and such. As well, I know you put out 2 EPs “Maelstrom” and “Following Ivy” with a different line up in the last few years, so why the change of lineup, and do you still plan on playing those songs in a live setting? (I guess this counts as more than one)

Mark: Well to make an important distinction, I feel the old and new versions of HS should be treated as totally different bands, first and foremost. The first HS was formed in 2005 at American University in DC, as basically a way for me and my friend Nick Dodd to write fun metal songs and drink absinthe, haha. But yeah we hired my brother Jeff and Chris Hiebert and we recorded 2 EPs after that, the last one being released in 2008. After that, I guess everyone else sort of lost interest in music altogether, one by one. No breaks-up or anything, nothing dramatic at all.

After all that I was left with 3-4 Haunted Shores songs written w/o any outlet to release or record them, and coincidentally Misha Mansoor and I had talked about doing an HS album for fun. We kind of threw around the idea backstage at a Periphery show, and he was 100% on board with it, even if it was gonna be a “just for fun” type of scenario. It was initially nothing serious, but after recording the first new HS songs w/ him I realized I was way too thrilled w/ the product NOT to pursue it as a real band. And when the pieces were in place to bring Chris onboard that obviously brought it to an entirely new level, and since then I’ve made the decision to throw 100% of everything I’ve got into HS.

As for the old songs we most definitely will not be playing any of those songs anymore. Out of respect for the older members and the experiences we had in creating & recording those songs, I think that’d be the best decision. Plus like I said the 2 different versions of HS should be viewed as entirely separate entities altogether!

2. Any plans on getting a band together and touring or is HS a studio only project?

Chris: There most certainly are plans to make this a viable touring band! The sooner, the better is what we both have been saying to each other. Being in the studio has been a wonderful way for Mark and I to really get to know each other musically, and it has been such an awesome experience doing that, but I feel like all the fun and real excitement is to be had on the road. That’s the true test of how our music will translate and then be accepted by the people in my eyes. Actually, I’m quite curious to see as to what kind of “crowd” we would be drawing at one of our shows, given the wide range of influence and musical presentation that I think we are offering. That curiosity in and of itself is enough motivation for me to want to make this shit happen ASAP!

3. If so, who?/if not, why?

Mark: Just Chris and I, so far!
Chris: We have a lot of “potentials”, if you will, for all the remaining empty positions in the band, but nothing permanent as of yet. Mark and I have been kind of taking a different approach to “running a band” so we’ll honestly have to see what happens in terms of adopting new members. The bottom line though is that at some point, this music WILL definitely be played live, even if mark and myself remain the only core members and we have touring musicians to support.

4. How is the distance between members affecting the writting/recording process?

Mark: That’s a great question. The only members right now are Chris and I, with Misha onboard in the studio capacity. Chris lives in New York City, and Misha and I live a couple hours south in Washington DC, so thus far the instrumental versions of the songs for the full length have been written and recorded by myself and Misha in his apartment in DC, and Chris subsequently writes and records the vocals in NYC. While this has worked well so far and will probably continue to be the way things are done for a while, Chris and I have been throwing around writing ideas and have been meaning to sit down and work on the instrumental side of things together. He’s more known for his vocals, but Chris is insanely multi-talented; he plays saxophone, guitar, piano and drums, and is classically trained, so it’d be waste not to take full advantage of that. The logistical implications of me living in DC and Chris living in NYC has made it tough to write in a room together at the moment, but that will soon change! We’re spending the entire summer in NYC to do vocals for the LP and put finishing touches on the album as a whole. Misha will also be involved in the writing/recording process of HS from here on, as we’ve had a ton of fun creating these songs from the ground up, not to mention the comfort level in writing these songs is ridiculously high.

Chris: I guess the hardest aspect of living in different places will really manifest itself once we try to put rehearsals together and attempt to play this stuff live. As of now, it’s really been a rather great atmosphere, the way we’ve been working. The internet sure does help out the process a whole lot, in that respect, but nothing can truly take the place of two people getting together and bouncing ideas off of each other. I am very much looking forward to the day when Mark and myself can do that on a regular basis!

5. This one is more directed at Chris. I found when reading the lyrics for “When in Oslo” and “Sentient Glow” as well as some Periphery ones as well it seems your lyrics are “wordy” for lack of a better…well…word. Who and or what are your lyrical inspiration(s) and the how do you write the lyrics? Is it all you or a collaborative effort?

Chris: Wordy is an interesting adjective to describe my lyrics. I would say that my philosophy and what it is I am trying to accomplish when I write lyrics would be this; as perfect a balance as possible between eloquence, raw-emotional quality, and a sense of poetry is the objective (although I hardly consider myself any kind of poet). I believe that if you put all those elements together, you have the required makings for telling a great story, whether it’s about love, fractal dimensions, or carpentry for that matter. To me, telling a deep, rich, and MEANINGFUL story is exactly what great lyrics are about (emphasis on meaningful). It can be ridiculously abstract, straight-forward with no bull-shit, or anywhere in between; a story is a story. And when excuted correctly and/or flawlessly, one can change the world with their words. I would like to think that the world is my “brain space” and that all it has to offer is at my disposal when it comes time write. But I admit that I gravitate to certain topics more-so than others when that time comes. Usually, my lyrical pallet has been made up themes that have to do with love ( a lot of that haha… but not corny stuff… more like epic Greek love stories…Helen of Troy type shit), science (particularly quantum physics, chaos theory, and electro magnetism / fundamental forces), my everyday human experience and all the thoughts and emotions that come with it, and a sense of spirituality (not religion or anything, but I believe in a universal energy that runs through us all and I’m into some metaphysical stuff like sacred geometry and what not). Every now and then, if I am so moved to do so, I will try and venture into different thematic territories but I usually end up sticking to my “established arsenal” of material just because that is what I genuinely love writing about. I love playing with words and watching them unfold onto the paper (sometimes I feel like I am not even writing as much as I am dictating thoughts from somewhere else. Sometimes I don’t even understand my own lyrics till days, months, or even years later). There have been occasions that I have stared at an incomplete line on a page and have mentally debated with myself for at least an hour on whether I should use the word “I” or “one”. Sometimes I will reference another song or an earlier lyric within the same song by using a phrase, a series of words, or even just one word. Though I may be the only one who knows that, that’s how I have fun when I write. Those are the little games I play with myself to keep my mind engaged and on its toes. I pretty much hold to a rule of thumb that I write all the lyrics in whatever vocal endeavor it is I am working on. It just makes the emotional connection to the words that much easier when it comes from you, and that translates especially so when you go to sing live. People can really FEEL the difference when you are just reciting words and when you really… I dunno…. I guess preach them….really believe in them. But more-so than that rule, I hold to the idea that every rule has an exception, so I’m always ready to be surprised!

6. I have a feeling you guys know…..where can I buy a Chocobo? Don’t hold out on me I know you have one, Mark.

Mark: HAHA, I think a chocobo is technically just a chicken right? Or an overgrown ostrich/chicken hybrid? I don’t know… if chocobos actually existed I think they’d be considered a high-brow delicacy, and subsequently killed off in droves. But yeah.. I’d like to think that I’d be allowed to own one in real life, and that no one would try and take it and/or eat it. Then I’d have to choke-a-bro! ……… I am so sorry for that.

Chris: What the fuck is a chocobo?!?!

Mark: hahahah

7. If Haunted Shores could tour or work with any musician/producer or any band who would you want? Feel free to go nuts with this one.

Chris: UUUUUUuuuuuuugggggghhhhhhhh that is a topic that partially keeps me so actively interested in metal (other than the love of the music of course). I will put it this way; I LOVE DEFTONES. End of story. I have a top 5 list of bands that I would like to tour with but if I had to choose one, Deftones with out a doubt! No band has moved me as emotionally and stimulated me as intellectually as Deftones (and I am a HUGE Meshuggah fan mind you). Just something about that band for me. It keeps the magic and the little kid in me alive in a way that if they weren’t around… I dunno if I’d be here haha! Lamb of God and Meshuggah are tied for second followed by Tool and Slipknot. And since Sound Garden just got back together, I guess they can go back on the list too!

Mark: Soundgarden got back together? WHAT? Where have I been?? God this list could get dangerously long, but I’ll keep it simple: Devin Townsend. I’ve had the creepiest stalker obsession with his music for about 10 years now, and every time I’ve met him I’ve been absolutely speechless and star-struck. He’s without a doubt my biggest musical influence, and I hope if he’s heard any of the HS stuff he doesn’t completely hate it.. haha. Hmmmm who else? Ihsahn from Emperor maybe. Or Mikael from Opeth, Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree. I love those guys. Oh and maybe Rocco Siffredi… he’s obviously a huge influence to us all!

8. Who did the art for the Cyclamen split and your myspace? It’s gorgeous!

Mark: It was actually done by our friend Tim Fox at cultlovesyou, based in the UK. He’s a director, illustrator, freelance motion designer, and he’s done art for bands like SikTh, Skindred, Cyclamen and a ton of others. He’s disgustingly talented and he’s got such a unique style; it’s hard to envision this being the last time we work with him!

9. What is your relationship with Cyclamen and how did the idea of doing a split come about?

Mark: Our relationship can be summed in two words: life partners. Haha no actually I’ve been friends with Hayato Imanishi from Cyclamen online for a while (he’d been into HS when it was still our older lineup), and he approached me last year after I posted some of Misha and I’s HS demos online. I said yes for a number of reasons: the idea of a split with a band based in the UK made so much sense in terms of spreading influence and gaining a listener audience far from where you’re based. We both essentially play similar styles of music, though different enough to turn our own respective audiences onto the other band. And furthermore I just think their music is awesome and really fun to listen to. They’re all super nice guys and have been great about the split so far.

10. What can we expect from the upcoming record and what is the target release date/month?

Chris: I suppose it would be safe to say that you can expect a record that is going to be as musically dense and rich as possible. I feel like there are only so many permutations of metal that exist at this point but we are definitely going to cover the established territory of what “our” music has to offer as well as some new places hopefully. I feel like it will be a collection of songs that will honor the tradition and evolution of the “metal language”. Mark and I agree that we are aiming to release the record at the end of the summer hopefully.

Mark: Yeah we’re going to continue to spend all summer working on it! I’m insanely proud of the material for the full-length so far. Chris basically nailed it in that we’re going to try and zero in on what we do best… which is basically just write music that makes us happy! Haha, how metal is that?! But yeah if you liked the direction we were headed on the HS/Cyclamen split, I feel like that’s only scratching the surface of where we’ll go for the full-length. I’m really just having so much fun with this music, and the eventuality of taking it live and supporting these songs on the road is more exciting to me than anything.

11. What is your take/opinion on this new “Djent” movement that you have become a part of?

Chris: Bleh… the whole thing is kind of silly if you ask me! This is just like back in the 40’s and 50’s when the “new sound” in jazz was starting to emerge and people didn’t know what to call it. Then some putz took a phrase that Dizzy Gillespie said (or scatted I think would be the more appropriate word) and coined an entire generation of music out of the term. That term is now commonly known as BeBop. It only describes a particular sound that one is trying to achieve rather than a whole “style” of music, let alone a movement. Djent (like BeBop) is a color to me, not the painting. But then again, I’ve never been one to label and categorize, I just know if it sounds good, bad, or better.

Mark: Yeah I’m kind of in the same boat; I didn’t even know we were part of a djent movement! I’m really horrible with these labels… I always just thought Misha coined that phrase, but then someone called me an idiot for not knowing that someone in Meshuggah actually came up with it. I don’t know, haha. Oh and I read that someone called us Sumeriancore on a forum. What the hell is that? But yeah people can lump us into whatever genre they want, it’s all good with me either way! But the second someone starts the genre of Awesome, I want in on that ASAP.

That’s about it man, again thank you so much for doing the interview and if you’re ever touring around Canada you can count on me for a place to crash.

Chris: Thank you for your time and your interest bro! If you are ever in NYC or DC, you have friends that want to throwdown!

Mark: Thanks for reading!

Holy fucking awesome! An all-Finnish tour? There was no way I was missing this one, so off I go on my way to Vancouver – a three hour journey by bus, ferry, and skytrain, check into my hotel across the street from the venue, and explore the city before the show.

Just let me say a few words about the venue before I get into talking about the bands. The Red Room, a relatively small place, is one of the best places to see a show for a couple reasons. The main floor is two steps down from the rest of the room, lined with tables or railings with stools, making it easy to see from anywhere, even if you want to sit for a bit. There are pool tables and TVs (hockey playoffs were on) for entertainment between sets, not to mention 3 bars!

Anyway, on to the bands. Titans Eve was already playing when we arrived. They’re from Vancouver and play a thrashy metal that sounded quite raw but not bad, and following them was Sinned, also from Vancouver and playing a heavier death metal with some seriously guttural vocals. Something to nod the head to, anyway. Someone gave me a free copy of Titans Eve’s demo so I’ll be looking into them a bit more closely soon.

I was primarily there for Swallow the Sun who I saw a few years ago opening for Katatonia (which they’re scheduled to do again in the fall). They played a good mix of new material (These Woods Breathe Evil, Falling World, Sleeping Swans, New Moon) and stuff from previous albums (Swallow, These Hours of Despair, Descending Winters). Apparently they’ve had some technical difficulties on this tour, but everything was sounding great here and Mikko Kotamäki’s clean vocals translated well to the live setting. STS is one of the few supporting bands I’ll go see no matter who’s headlining… the quality of their music never disappoints me.

So with a huge grin on my face I still have Moonsorrow and Finntroll to look forward to! I’ve never really listened to Moonsorrow, maybe a few songs here and there, so I had no expectations of them and man, were they ever amazing! I’ll definitely be seeing them again next time they’re around. There was an appreciative uproar from crowd the moment they burst onto the stage with the first dose of catchy Viking metal tunes. The energy in the place skyrocketed and you could tell these guys were having a ton of fun on stage, beers in hand. Frontman Ville Sorvali gives a brief lesson in Finnish history between songs, something about this guy coming to Finland to spread Christianity – to which he yelled “And do you know what we did? WE FUCKING KILLED HIM!”

They played almost a full set and by the time 11pm rolled around (when most shows I’ve been to are winding down), Finntroll was yet to play. I can’t believe it has taken me this long to see them, of all the times they’ve toured, and apparently I’ve been missing out on quite the show all these years. Fuck!

Moonsorrow set the bar fairly high for them but despite this Finntroll put on one hell of a show. (Though I did prefer Moonsorrow). You pretty much had to summon every ounce of energy left in your body to survive the set, as they packed it full of the speediest tracks to inspire the whole lower floor to be turned into one big chaotic moshpit which broke out into some weird folk-jig every now and then. That’s the beauty of a folk metal show. As for the setlist I really have no idea. By this point I was exhausted, and I’m not all that familiar with the names of Finntroll’s songs anyway. So I guess this is a bit of a half-assed review…

I left feeling thoroughly satisfied and completely destroyed, and walked back across the street to the hotel with “Lalalalalala TROLLHAMMAREN!” stuck in my head.

To sum it up – whoever put this package together is a genius. From what I witnessed, The Finnish Metal Tour received an overwhelming response from the crowd and I could see this being a successful yearly tour, which I think is the plan. We can only hope!

Finally!!! I’ve been waiting a year and a half for this record and let me tell you all it was definitely worth the wait! First a little back story on the origin of Periphery and my girlish giddiness. Once upon a time, there was a man named Misha Mansoor aka Bulb, writing various tunes for various projects and uploading them on his soundclik page for all to hear and even download. I came across it a year and a half or so ago, forget how exactly but that’s neither here nor there. After hearing a few tracks I was immediately blown away by not only the stellar musicianship but also the D.I.Y yet studio-esque production of each track.  With a collection of over 100 of Mr Mansoors instrumentals varying from melodic to chaotic blasting through my speakers at all times.  Time goes on and I hear of his band, Periphery, so off to myspace I went and watched them closely. After a few lineup changes they finally announced a label and a proper studio full length release.

This album is everything I’d expect and more. The solid trio of guitarists, Misha Mansoor, Alex Bois and Jake Bowen, make shredding solos and amazing harmonies and rhythms that puts the Djenty trio in the record books. The solid vocal range of newest member Spencer Sotelo is perfect for Periphery’s fresh new sound as is the sporadic thudding of drummer Matt Helpern. All members bring something different to the metal scene and I couldn’t be happier than to watch this band skyrocket. All 12 tracks from the album were originally released as rough instrumentals from the aforementioned soundclick page of Misha aka Bulb, so technically I guess I’ve already heard this album in its rough instrumental form but trust me, these songs are better than the instrumentals of yore, as well, certain tracks contain little surprises that I will let you hear for yourself but I can say three words : Racecar, Jeff Loomis. Epic!

This is by far one of the best metal albums of the year and the progenitor to a new sound thats already taking over the metal underground worldwide!

This is the part of the review where I mention similar bands for sound reference sake but other than the Meshuggah inspired djents and grooves, its all new age forward thinking metal. Get it. Now. GO!

9.5/10