Vesania - 2005 - God the Lux

Out of Poland comes this Black Metal act with their second fullength. 12 tracks of slow to mid-paced, slightly melodic Death/Black Metal with keyboards is what we are presented with here. There is an industrial feel to the music as well. Musically this sounds like later Malignant Eternal and Dimmu Borgir as well as Emperor and Arcturus with a distinct Death Metal approach.

The vocals sound like those in Behemoth, which really comes as no surprise since it's the same person singing in both bands. More towards the darker, deeper spectrum, actually reminding me somewhat of the deeper vocals from earlier Cradle of Filth. They remind me of those in Malignant Eternal as well.

The production is full and quite industrial sounding. More towards a Death Metal production, really. The keyboards are present throughout the album. At times they play their own thing, and at times they are just laying down background ambience, but this is actually handled rather well. I am usually not a big fan of keyboards in the music I listen to.

Standouttracks are "Rest in Pain", "God the Lux", "The Mystory" and "Legions are Me".

Monday November 27 2006, by :Vragh:

Pandemonium - 2006 - The Autumn Enigma

Out of Sweden comes this band, presenting us with their second fullength. What we get here are 8 tracks, including an outro, of rather melodic, progressive Death/Black Metal. Musically this reminds me of Embraced and Amorphis.

The main vocals are rather deep but still quite clear growls, slightly towards those by Dan Swanö in early Edge of Sanity, with clean sung passages that remind me of Amorphis, as well as vocals sounding similar to those by Kalle Johansson of Embraced, and somewhat towards the Cradle of Filth kind of vocals. Perhaps also a bit of Chuck Schuldiner in them.

The soundquality is very good. The vocals are ever so slightly in the front, with the drums close behind, but you hear all the instruments in the mix. A keyboard is used throughout the album, but this is done very well. It is not used, as in many symphonic Black Metal bands, too excessively and in the front of all the other instruments, but as one of the instruments, and that is just the way to do it. The keyboards mostly remind me of those on Amorphis' Tales from the Thousand Lakes album, but varies from track to track.

Standout tracks are "The Fire", "The Nameless Season", "Autumn Enigma" and "Reflecting Mirrors".

Monday November 27 2006, by :Vragh: