Category Archives: Track Reviews

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Salute, Track Reviews

Salute – Calcutta’s Bones

Over the course of what will be, when released, three albums Salute have shed and enveloped several influences. All heading steadily, spiriling downwards. Especially if Calcutta’s Bones is representative of the future LP!
The song is intensely bleak, the guitars are heavy atonal bass heavy monsters and drums play tom-heavy. This is crust punk (Amebix) inspired doom. A complete shedding of Above the Law groove, at least in spirit…replaced by barbaric grind!

ETERNAL WINTER
BODIES COLD
MIND SUFFERS
SKIN IS OLD

[ Calcutta's Bones from the forthcoming currently untitled album ]

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Track Reviews

Bitches Sin – Livin’ on the Highway

Though lacking the same punch as the best NWOBHM bands, Bitches Sin recorded some memorable demos and albums during the early eighties. Livin’ on the Highway, great motorcycle rock, is taken from the bands self-released compilation Your Place or Mine. It features tracks recorded between 1980-1987 and is available free directly on the official Bitches Sin website.
Earlier and better material (eg Bitches Sin, Sign of the Times) can also be bought directly from the band.

Life in this game, is a life with no place. The sin of a Bitch is a sin, and no grace.

[ Livin' on the Highway from Your Place or Mine; 2005 self-released ]

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Track Reviews

Have a Nice Life – The Icon and the Axe

It has been a few years since the release of Deathconsciousness, an album that sprung from obscurity and earned Have a Nice Life much deserved attention. A new album is in progress, but if it’s anything like Deathconsciousness the process will be fragmented and lengthy. New material is in demand and now is the perfect time — fresh from their first live performance and just ahead of two shows supporting Alcest’s east coast tour.
Have a Nice Life again blend post-rock, doom, industrial, shoegaze, and heavy ambient with home-brew production. This song is part of a four track EP, Time of Land, a compilation of songs “we kind of fell into while working on our next full-length album”. Aside from being welcome new material, The Icon and the Axe, and the complete EP, indicate another full-length album that can match Deathconsciousness in quality and scope. It continues the completely personal sound, DIY approach, and the deep melancholy that seems to haunt everything this group produce.

The only physical copies were sold at that first show, but the band have now made it available to download.
Download the complete Time of Land EP here.

[ The Icon and the Axe from "Time of Land" EP; 2010 Enemies List ]

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Track Reviews

Hypothermia – Skogens Hjarta

Opening with stark/sparse post-rock melancholia, accented by jarring ugly guitar stabs, these first minutes set the tone for a 69 minute song and Hypothermia’s fourth full-length release.
As if waking from then slipping back into a haze, elements appear and disappear. A single guitar (electric but cleaned of distortion) carries the melody, drums follow a rigid pattern, and a second distorted guitar provides a droning counter-balance. This order repeats, each instrument joining and departing. The Hypothermia ‘trademark’ is repetitive music (in the most positive sense) which has been improving and incorporating new styles since the early demos, and this daydream of a song continues the formula with great success.

Hypothermia is making this album available for free, you can donate some money as a sign of appreciation on this page.

[ Skogens Hjarta from "Skogens Hjarta"; 2010 self released ]

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Track Reviews

Distrocer – Filhos da Guerra

Distrocer‘s early material (Infernal Offense, 2006) is raw and, partly for that reason, underwhelming. It does not leave a massive impression although much of what makes this track stand out is there, just in formative stages and buried in the production. Retro thrash with a strong German influence (Destruction, Kreator). Filhos da Guerra (Warchildren) is well executed, nice guitar-bass hammers, the solo comes out of nowhere! Unfortunately this is the most recent track available – recorded 2008 but not accompanied by any official release.

[ Filhos da Guerra; 2008 unreleased ]

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Track Reviews

Odisseia – She is Sacred and Sinner

Odisseia have not been massively active since their inception in 2001. The first studio recordings come from 05, and this demo remains the only release. Following another lengthy spell, including several member changes, She is Sacred and Sinner is being presented as a 2010 single.

Odisseia take influence from early heavy and speed metal, a slightly earlier era than most new retro bands. Influence does draw back further, into proto-metal from the late sixties and seventies (Deep Purple, Rainbow). On this track in particular you can certainly hear some Running Wild and Diamond Head. More punch this time, and not just the production. Still not fully formed, and a band finding their sound, but the renewed approach -’85 speed metal- could lead to an interesting album.

You can download their 2005 demo (uploaded and made available by the band) here: http://rapidshare.com/files/6386836/Odiss_ia.rar.html

[ She is Sacred and Sinner from "She is Sacred and Sinner" single; out 2010 self-released ]

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