Benedictum - Obey cd review

Band: Benedictum
Album: Obey
Label: Frontiers Records
Genre: Metal
Country: USA
Release Date: December 2013


Benedictum hail from San Diego, CA. They're one band that is a staple in my collection, as they reminds me of alot of great 80's rock and metal bands like Accept, Manowar among other heavy hitters. Oddly enough they covered Accept's "Balls To The Wall" as well which is pretty killer. Benedictum have have 3 other albums under their belt and those are Dominion, Season of Tragedy and Uncreation all of which are heavy hitting albums. And they all hit a sweet spot with me of all the music I grew up with most of those style bands mainly.

Their singer Veronica Freeman has an extremely powerful voice, and it fits great with the music. Going by her bio page on their official site, it shows her influences being Ronnie James Dio, Tina Turner among others. Comparing her vocals to others can't really be done fairly as she blows most other vocalists out of the water. But a close comparison would be Joey DeMaio from Manowar and maybe Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden for vocal ranges.

The rest of the band's influences are just as impressive. Such as Peter Wells on guitar, he has some impressive influences.. Randy Rhodes and John Sykes being just two of them according to his bio. The bassist Aric mentions, Geddy Lee, Geezer Butler, etc.. As for the drummer Rikard mentioning King Diamond/Mercyful Fate with their talented drummers all that needs to be said. Anyways the cd is about 10 minutes shy of an hour, and every track is good, can't really pick a favorite out of them. The guitars, bass and drums all stand out clearly and they certainly don't over power the vocals at all. Nor do the vocals over power them.

If you like powerful clean vocals, and classic sounding heavy metal then this is for you. Oldtime rock fans will most likely love this band to say the least. Newer fans of metal you should listen to bands like this preferably over whatever is "hot for metal at Hot Topic".

Anyways I give this disc 9 out of 10, could of been a full hour and I'd be a happy camper. It remains at a consistent speed/tempo throughout and never a dull moment.


Tracklist goes as follows:

01. Dream Of The Banshee
02. Fractured
03. Obey
04. Fighting For My Life
05. Scream
06. Evil That We Do
07. Crossing Over
08. Cry
09. Thornz
10. Die To Love You
11. Apex Nation
12. Retrograde

Youtube Video:

Band Contact:

Official Website: http://www.benedictum.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Benedictum.Official
Frontiers Records: http://www.frontiers.it/

Caliban - Ghost Empire Review

Band: Caliban
Album: Ghost Empire
Label: Century Media
Genre: Metal
Country: Germany
Release Date: January 2014

From reading their CM bio it shows that this is their 5th cd since 2007, and their newest since 2012.

Haven't listened to this band too much, as most of the newer bands on Century Media are more mainstream than most. Now on this advanced version if you will. Caliban seems to be heading that way in my honest opinion. They may not not be to some.. Feel free to blast me if you want, but this is my opinion. At times the music kind of remind me of Denmark's Mnemic back when Michael Bøgballe was Mnemic's original singer. But that's where those similarities end. Also sometimes it kind of hints towards Pantera at the Far Beyond Driven era occasionally too from what my ears pick up.

Anyways, the heaviness of the music is what I'm focusing on mostly. As it's top notch in the guitars/bass and drums. Some technical parts to it ala Fear Factory on occasion gives it an added dimension. They have some catchy riffs, and beats which I enjoy. The mellow/slow parts of the music seem a bit out of place in my opinion, but with any band they're always changing styles, directions, etc. This would of been a perfect release in my book if it stayed at heavy/brutal spectrum to say the least. Musically they sound as tight as any band I tend to listen to, as musicianship is what's key for any band. If you don't have that in a band, might as well give up at the starting gates. Gang choruses seem to be a bit over used, they have their place but really in every song and every couple of verses? I could pass on that.

Track list goes as follows:

01 - King
02 - Chaos - Creation
03 - Wolves And Rats
04 - nebeL
05 - I Am Ghost
06 - Devil's Night
07 - yOUR Song
08 - Cries And Whispers
09 - Good Man
10 - I Am Rebellion

11 - Who We Are

12 - My Vertigo

For newer fans getting into metal and such sure this is perfect for the Hot Topic crowd as I'm sure this is what's blasted in the stores at the malls. But these

I myself would give this a 6 out of 10, as I read elsewhere which I agree with, they're trying to think outside the box, but it's not that far from the box though.



Youtube Video:

Band Contact:

Website: http://www.calibanmetal.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CalibanOfficial
Last.FM: http://www.last.fm/music/caliban
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Calibanofficial
Other links can be found here on the CM Bio page: http://centurymedia.com/artist.aspx?IdArtist=220

Crimson Blue - Innocence Review

Band: Crimson Blue
Album: Innocence
Label: Self-Released
Genre: Nu Art Metal
Country: Russia
Release Date: December 2011

Crimson Blue hail from Russia they're a good sounding band, although not as heavy as what this reviewer typically listens to. But they'll be going on my list of favorites. If you go to the Jamendo link below they have 3 releases available, this one Innocence (11 tracks), Iceland (5 tracks) and Road to Oblivion (Single - 2 tracks). Anyways the band classifies themselves as Nu Art Metal. It is experimental and sort of avant garde so it might not be for most average listeners.

Listening to the vocals I hear various styles from Evanescence, Kimberly Goss' band Synergy among a couple of others I've heard in the past. It suits the band in my opinion. The music itself is solid between guitars, bass and drums. Also the singer is the keyboardist as well. I'll also add that the way most of the tracks sound, haven't heard anything similiar as of yet honestly so that is a bonus.

The cd clocks in just under 55 minutes for 11 songs, some have ballad parts, others are constant crunchy guitars and kicking bass. The bass sometimes tend to remind me of Primus at times, and Overkill at other times, as it stands outs quite a bit in my opinion and makes it unique sounding. I like the drums on this too, obviously it's not all blast beats, etc unlike others bands I listen to.

I'd certainly recommend this band to others that like different styles of music, and unique sounding bands. I give this 7 out of 10 stars, like I said it's a great cd, but just slightly too mellow, but not so much so that I wouldn't have it in my pile of constantly listened to cds.

Go check them out, support them and enjoy the music.


Tracklist:

01 Iceland
02 L.M.A.
03 Clouds
04 Flax
05 Ave Sensorium
06 Nagual
07 Forest (Atonement)
08 H. U. Lab Experiment I - The 6th Sense
09 September
10 Haesitaio
11 Innocence

Youtube Video: 

Band Contact:

Website: http://crimsonblue.ru/  (web browsers will sadly give you a malware warning when you go to that link. So I'd check them out on the other links preferably)

Vk: http://vk.com/crimsonblue

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/crimsonblueband
Jamendo: http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/367558/crimson-blue

Bog-Morok Industrialypse Review

Band: Bog-Morok
Album Title: Industrialypse
Label: More Hate Productions
Genre: Industrial
Country: Russia
Release Date: October 2013

This review disc comes courtesy of GlobMetal Promotions <-- FB Link

Since I'm on a run of foreign bands quite a bit lately, especially Russian which is fine by me. And I typically find foreign bands usually have a better sound than most domestic bands most times. Bog-Morok hail from exactly that country as some other bands I listen to like Biopsyhoz, Hammerforce (see that review here ). Anyways since I'm accustomed to the industrial metal sounds of the latter Biopsyhoz  , Bog-Morok hit a sweet note with this reviewer. Granted vocals styles are differnt. But Bog-Morok sound impressive to say the least.

Had to do some research on them, the bio sheet that came with the release was somewhat of a help. They started out as a one man project back in 1997 by Morok wanting to make fast, loud and technically sophisticated music. Anyways, they have 4 or 5 other studio albums. And a live release available for free as well from what I read. They've had numerous line-up changes, musical style changes like so many bands do over the years, which is natural.

Back to the review itself, it has industrial/electronica elements, some mellow moments in it going back to the heavier parts. It has clean vocals in parts, etc. Somewhat in the style of what Fear Factory does, they do share similiar elements on their music styles. And by some chance you aren't familiar with Fear Factory or never heard them... you've been living under a rock sad to say. Time to dig out the metal history books and do some research kids. They also somewhat remind me of a couple of local bands in my area, which the names escape me currently. But it's all good.

Anyways, the music itself sound top notch, guitars are heavy, drums kick ass, bass is heavy when needed. And the soundclips, and keyboard elements fit perfectly where they need to. Vocals are pretty solid and clear. Some are in english, some in russian. They alternate on different songs, are one song then the other. Nothing is drowned out in the mixing/production of this recording. Obviously as technolgy keeps getting better, so do the recordings usually. There's a decent batch that stuck with me, the opening track Industrialypse, track 2 Glisese 581d, Track 4 Niezbezhnost' among a couple of others.

The 12 tracks are as follow, just clocks in just under 55 minutes -

1. Industrialypse
2. Gliese 581d
3. Не Вижу Зла (Stadiae III)
4. Neizbezhnost'
5. Hellstarter
6. Shapeshifter
7. Bloodsucker
8. Свет В Конце Тоннеля
9. Звездопад
10. IDDQD
11. Undream
12. Der Golem (Fantomas cover)

I give this review, 7 out of 10 stars could of been a little longer in my opinion, it goes by quite fast I think. The somewhat mellower parts don't stand out as much as the rest of the cd in my opinion. Could of kept it heavy throughout I think. But in anycase, for those that like industrial music like this, I would recommend it to them without a second thought. So go check them out, what contact pages I could find are listed below. Enjoy.

Band Contact:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bog-Morok/126796064065588
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/bogmorokband?feature=watch
Reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com/bogmorok
CDBaby: http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/BogMorok