[Beforetherain] – …One Day Less (2007) – Major Label Indsutries

Mais uma banda de Doom a surgir no panorama nacional. Parece que o estilo está a ficar em alta em Portugal. Já não temos só os Desire, mas também nomes como Process Of Guilt ou estes Before The Rain. E não estamos só a falar de quantidade mas também de qualidade! Enquanto que os seus parceiros de editora POG (ainda não tenho o disco, alguém aí, please?!) inserem na sua sonoridade outros elementos mais avantgarde e/ou experimentais, os BTR optam por uma aproximação mais clássica ao género, indo beber influências ao triunvirato Britânico My Dying Bride / Anathema / Paradise Lost (nos inícios da década de 90, é claro!). Doom lentíssimo, arrastado ao extremo, depressivo, melancólico, pesado qb mas com muita melodia e algumas passagens acústicas. Os temas vão desde os 3.33 da acústica “Paragraph” aos 17.57 de “One Day Lies”, sendo ao todo 6 temas em 66.16 de duração. Mais uma pérola do género em Portugal! Aconselhado a todos os apreciadores de Doom, sem excepção. RDS

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Major Label Industries: http://www.majorlabelindustries.com/
Before The Rain: http://www.beforetherain.net/

Simbiose – Evolution? (2007) – Major Label Industries

Novo trabalho de estúdio para os mestres do Crust nacional, Simbiose. E já lá vão 16 anos! Este disco marca a mudança de editora para a recém formada Major Label Industries e algumas mudanças de formação. Ao todo são 10 temas que em pouco ultrapassam os 28 minutos de duração. O estilo é o mesmo de sempre, Crust veloz com toques Grind e Hardcore e com a recente incorporação de alguns riffs e ritmos oriundos do Thrash, o que alias, já se verificava no disco anterior. As letras também continuam na linha habitual, com a vertente sócio-política bem vincada, a alternar entre o português e o inglês. O disco foi gravado nos Crossover com o Sarrufo, local e pessoa já quase obrigatórios nos discos de Metal / Hardcore nacionais. Há fases assim! Mas o bom disto é que todas essas edições saem com um som fantástico! Há por aqui duas participações especiais, ambas de realce, Dean Jones (Extreme Noise Terror) em “The Lone Death” e João “Gordo” (Ratos de Porão) em “Ideia Deliróide” (este quase que passava por um tema de RDP). Na minha opinião não é tão bom como o anterior “Bounded In Adversity” mas mesmo assim não deixa de ser um álbum de Crust / Grind / Punk / Core / Metal do caraças! Muito melhor do que muito do material que se vai fazendo lá por fora, até mesmo por bandas com muito mais tempo de existência. RDS

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Major Label Industries: http://www.majorlabelindustries.com/
Simbiose: http://www.simbiosecrust.com/

Angelic Upstarts – The Independent Punk Singles Collection (2007) – Anagram / Cherry Red

Esta é uma compilação de 1995 mas só agora me chegou às mãos, juntamente com o material atrás apresentado. O CD reúne todos os singles editados de forma independente pelos Angelic Upstarts entre 1978 e 1988. Desde o clássico “The Murder Of Liddle Towers” (a abrir o disco), passando por faixas como “Woman In Disguise”, “Solidarity”, “Machine Gun Kelly” ou a polémica “England”, entre outras, são ao todo 23 temas de Punk, Streetpunk, Oi!, originários da segunda vaga do Punk britânico. Do Punk ao spoken Word, passando pelos temas acústicos, uma versão ao vivo de “White Riot” dos Clash, todas as vertentes da música dos Angelic Upstarts estão aqui retratadas. Há uma variação do som de tema para tema, mas isso é já de esperar numa edição deste género. Uma edição essencial para os fãs da banda em particular e do Punk Britânico em geral. RDS

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Cherry Red: http://www.cherryred.co.uk/

Blood & Roses – Same As It Never Was: The Collection (2007) – Anagram / Cherry Red

Mais um excelente disco por parte da Cherry Red que recupera material perdido no tempo. Esta faz parte da sua colecção Goth Collectors Series e estamos a falar dos Britânicos Blood & Roses. Ao todo são 21 temas de Gothic Deathrock que abraça diversas fases da banda. Inclui-se aqui o álbum “Enough Is Enough”, na sua totalidade, junto a temas de EPs, compilações e raridades. Entre as faixas encontram-se ainda duas versões de temas de bandas sonoras de John Carpenter. Típico Rock Gótico Britânico da primeira metade da década de 80, com uma forte componente roqueira, ambiente negros e densos, tudo complementado por voz feminina. A complementar a música temos ainda um texto escrito pelo guitarrista Bob Short, discografia e fotos. Mais uma descoberta que acabei de fazer e que me agradou imenso! Goth Rockers por esse mundo fora, esta é uma compra obrigatória! RDS

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Cherry Red: http://www.cherryred.co.uk/

Gl*xo Babies – The Porlock Factor (2007) – Heartbeat / Cherry Red

Depois do fantástico trabalho desenvolvido em “Dreams Interrupted: The Bewilderbeat Years 1978-1980” a Cherry Red volta a editar um CD em que recupera material dos extintos Glaxo Babies. Desta feita a colectânea foca a sua reunião de meados da década de 80, daí o subtítulo do disco, “Psych Dreams And Other Schemes 1985-1990”. Nesta segunda fase da sua existência a banda dirigiu-se para sonoridades Pop com algum psicadelismo e alguma influência Funk, sempre com aquele travo Britânico e algum experimentalismo à mistura. O material contido neste disco não é tão interessante como o da anterior, e atrás referida, compilação da sua primeira fase, que apenas durou 18 meses mas que rendeu muito em termos musicais. Além disso, como muito do material aqui contido é de maquetes, ensaios, etc, o som não é o melhor, e varia muito da faixa para faixa. De qualquer modo, recuperações deste género são sempre bemvindas, e os fãs da banda, coleccionistas, amantes do Underground britânico ou da Pop mais avantgarde dos 80s, devem experimentar e tirar as suas próprias conclusões. Eu cá fico pela primeira fase da banda. RDS

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Cherry Red: http://www.cherryred.co.uk/
Glaxo Babies: www.myspace.com/glaxobabies

War From A Harlots Mouth - Entrevista

War From A Harlots Mouth (meaning of the name, short bio, discography, highlights, …): We started War from a Harlots Mouth as a side-project just for the fun of it in late 2005. At this time we were a three-piece and looking for a second guitar player and a bass player. This wasn’t successful first, so we recorded the songs for our demo tape and the split with Molotov Solution still as a three-piece, but with a new drummer. After we finished the recording process, we found two dudes for the missing instruments and started preparing for the first shows.
Meanwhile 12 Gauge Records from California, USA offered us to release the recorded material and we agreed. We started playing more and more shows and soon got in touch with Lifeforce Records. Luckily they signed us and soon after that we finished writing the last tracks for our full length debut and recorded it.
A few more months later we played a European tour with Dying Fetus, Skinless and Cattle Decapitation and also a few shows with Ion Dissonance, Dead to Fall and Through the Eyes of the Dead. That was a real blast!
This is were we are now…waiting for the Album to be released in September and waiting for the next tour, that starts on august 6th.
The name “War from a Harlots Mouth” is dealing with a liar. It’s a complicated way to describe a lying person, but yeah…we like it complicated. ;)

“Transmetropolitan” (rehearsing / writing process, recording process, label, …): We started writing the first songs for “Transmetropolitan” just after the first studio session. With the addition of Filip and Daniel we were able to get deeper into the guitar work and work everything out with more details. We finally got a studio date for February 2007. At the end of 2006 our drummer unfortunately got a thrombosis in his arm, so we had to take a little time off. Finally we had to write the last few songs within two or three weeks. The recording process took 3 and a half week and went well.
With Lifeforce Records as our label we are really happy. We all grew up with their roster and they were our first choice, when we thought about looking for a label. Working together is a pleasure and it’s getting more and more exciting with a release date, coming closer and closer.

Lyrics (influences, subjects, ideas, messages, …): The lyrics of “Transmetropolitan” deal with a lot of social relationships of all kind, connected to the social life in big cities and communities. They are mainly influenced by the experiences we made and our life within our social surrounding. Sometimes the lyrics are easy to understand, “Fighting Wars with Keyboards” for example deals with Internet- and Community-Heroes, fighting wars nobody needs. “Heeey…let’s start a Band” is dealing with trends and their blind followers. Other lyrics, sometimes, are a lotta more personal, but all in all it’s not too difficult to understand, what we want to say and the messages are clear.

Album frontcover / artwork (who, why, meaning, …): Bastibasti is the name of the artist, who created it and the whole artwork is coming out awesome! We just told him the name of the record and that it should be connected to cities and city-life in a weird and gloomy way. The cover itself is a capital as we see it: Big, dirty and devouring.

Live tour to promote the new record: We’ll play a summer tour through the UK, Belgium and Germany in august to pre-promote the record. You can see us on some festivals, too…the Summer Breeze Open Air for example. Check our touring schedule on www.myspace.com/warfromaharlotsmouth, to be up to date! ;)

Musical (and other) influences: Well… we are influenced by a lot of artists and music generally. We love to listen to a lot of different genres: Hip Hop, Hardcore, Metal, Ambient, Jazz, Singer / Songwriter, Southern Rock and what not. Finally technical Metal, chaotic Hardcore and Jazz our main influences for this band.

Final Message: Thx a lot for the interview. Check out our MySpace for everything, you maybe need to know! We hope to see some of you on tour in the near future…say hello!

Entrevistador: RDS

Entrevistado: Simon - Guitars

WFAHM: www.myspace.com/warfromaharlotsmouth

Lifeforce Records: http://www.lifeforcerecords.com/

The Absence - Entrevista

- The Absence (meaning of the name, short bio, discography, highlights, …): The Absence means whatever You want it to. It applies to that moment.
You can refer to the website or the Myspace for the OFFICIAL Absence bio
The discography is- 'From Your Grave' released in 2005 and 'Riders of the Plague' to be released on Aug. 7th 2007
Highlights- Touring with Vader & Destruction, doing and seeing our video on tv for the first time, and seeing the country and Canada

- “Riders Of The Plague” (rehearsing / writing process, recording process, label, …): We rehearsed and wrote for 4 months or so, doing our own pre-production thanks to Jeramies basement and Mac. The writing process it self was different from the first album because We had a deadline. This was the first time working with that luring over our shoulders, but I think it brought out a fantastic performance on everyones part.

- Lyrics (influences, subjects, ideas, messages, …): The influences that went into the lyrics, as always, is real life and real struggle. That plays into the subjects as well. My message is always this: Use Your head.. something everyone (Myself included) should do more of.

- Album frontcover / artwork (who, why, meaning, …): It was done by a guy, whos name escapes me right now, but once we saw the picture it just lined up exactly with the title 'Riders of the Plague'.

- Live tour to promote the new record: We will be touring with Cannibal Corpse, The Black Dahlia Murder, The Red Chord, and Goatwhore on the Metal Blade 25th Anniversary Tour all of September in the states.

- Musical (and other) influences: Bay area Thrash, German Thrash, Swedish Metal, Tampa Death Metal, not to mention the daily grind of life.

- Testament’s “Into The Pit”. Why?: We love Testament, and We wanted to pay tribute to one of the best Thrash Metal bands ever.

- Final Message: Thank You for the interview, and look for 'RIDERS OF THE PLAGUE'
on August 7th! Thrash on Metal Heads!!!!

Entrevistador: RDS
Entrevistado: Jeramie Kling - Drums

The Absence: http://www.theabsence.com/
Metal Blade: http://www.metalblade.de/

Machinemadegod - Entrevista

Machinemadegod: Machinemade God has a lot of different meanings, for example:
People worship things and media more than their gods, morals and their own lifes.
They depend on things like Television, Internet and other not important things.

Machinemade God was found in 2003, from the beginning on we took the band serious and we wanted to be more than a fun project, so we pushed the band as far as possible.
In 2004, after several successful shows, we recorded a selfproduced, four-track demo cd, to sell at shows. In 2005 we recorded our debut full-length “The Infinity Complex” which was released by Metal Blade Records, where we signed in 2005. We did some tours, i.e. a full European tour with Evergreen Terrace and played some shows and festivals. When things went more professional we had to replace our guitar-player due to personal reasons. We also were in the writing process for our second full-length “Masked”, which will be released via Metal Blade Records on the 24th of August.

Writing process: When we went to the studio the first time, we actually just recorded our songs.
This time, with “Masked” we really produced an album for the first time. We really thought about how the new songs and the record should sound like. We did a pre-production to make sure the ideas and the songs really work out.
We spent a lot more time while recording our album, to make sure everything turns out exactly the way we want it to. We didn´t want to just bring out an follow-up record which is basically the same record with another title, like some other bands do. We wanted to prove that we are able to write a really good record, that stands out and is totally different to the debut without losing our sound. We think that “Masked” is a 100% progress for Machinemade God. Technically on a higher level, mature songwriting and really diverse record.
We rehearse about two times a week and sometimes more before shows.
Metal Blade is treating us really good and I guess there´s nothing to complain from our side. They work really good and very hard for all their bands, and as far as I know there´s no band on the roster that is unsatisfied with Metal Blade.

Lyrics: A lot of the lyrics I write are personal related, cause that´s the easiest for me to write about me and my feelings and/or experiences I made in my life. I wanted to go further this time and write the lyrics more diverse.
Nemesis for example is about mankind exploiting the earth, polluting nature and about the loss of morals and wrong politics.
Voices is a song about never giving in, even though everything around you seems to break. For Those Who Care is one of my favourites. Cause of the band I didn´t really had the time to be there for my friends as much as I wanted to. Still there were certain people who always stuck with me and cared about me and about what I am doing, over years without complaining about me not being there for me. This was a way for me to give them something back, a small “thank you”, to show them that I don´t take everything for granted.

Album Cover: The Artwork was done my Magdalena Nowak from hellucinations.de . It actually shows a Mask, which represents the Album Title pretty well. It s all in Black and red/brownish colours. We wanted something that looks mystic, dark but not really evil. I think she did an awesome job with that one.

Live tour to promote the new record: We def. wanna tour as much as possible, not just to promote the new album, also because playing shows is what we really wanna do. There´s s something in the works, but nothing really confirmed yet, so I guess I leave it that way.
But mentionable is this years Summer-Breeze-Festival, where we appear.
All other dates will be posted on our website, Metal Blade´s website and on our MySpace page. So check back to these sites every now and then.

Musical (and other) influences: There´s no special band that influences our sound or the lyrics. I guess the main influence is life and the current moods of us while writing music and lyrics.
All of us have a real diverse taste in music.

Metalcore. Your opinion: Is a blurry, worn-out term without a real definition.

Final Message: Thanks for reading and remember to support your local scene!


Entrevistador: RDS

Entrevistado: Flo Velten – Vocals

Machinemadegod: http://www.machinemadegod.com/

Metal Blade: http://www.metalblade.de/

Three - Entrevista

- Three (meaning of the name, short bio, discography, highlights, …):

3 is a concept. We live in a 3 dimensional physical space, on the 3rd planet from the sun, experiencing time as past, present and future, in a form that consists of mind, body and soul. 3 is the apex of the triangle, the transcendence of our dualistic “good versus evil” view of life. 3 is evolution. 1(thesis) + 2 (antithesis) = 3 (synthesis).

3 is a band apart: Dark yet uplifting, spiritual without any connection to religion - theirs is a sound that transcends the genre conformity of modern pop culture. Rapid-fire acoustic guitar infused with dynamic percussion, animated drumming and thunderous bass culminate in a listening experience that is at once accessible and unique. Polyrhythms pulse within a symphony of driving guitars and melodic vocal acrobatics. 3 offers musicality without pretension.

3’s DISCOGRAPHY:

“Paint By Number” (2000) is a very melodic and diverse collection of songs. The producer chose to focus more on our pop sensibilities than our progressive ones but the music is still intricate and powerful. This record features the original line up of “3.” Chris Bittner on bass, who went on to co-produce all of Coheed’s records to date, and Josh Eppard who went on to be Coheed’s drummer. This record can be purchased online at http://www.planetnoiserecords.com/

“Half Life” (2002) was an attempt to capture the live energy of the band and add some studio polish. Most of it was recorded live in Kingston, NY. There are several other live tracks from radio and television performances as well. There is a good chunk of improvisation and this was also the funkiest era of the band. I had been touring with George Clinton a lot and it had a big impact on my writing. This record can be purchased online at http://www.planetnoiserecords.com/

“Summer Camp Nightmare” (2003) Our second official studio release, this record put the focus back on our deeper songs. It was a return to our Pink Floyd influences and also an evolutionary leap for the band as we really began to cultivate our own sound out of the myriad of diverse influences. This record has a very vintage sound as we used all old tube gear and removed all computers from the studio because we didn’t like the vibe. This record can be purchased online at http://www.planetnoiserecords.com/

“Wake Pig” (2005) By 2004 I had finally put together my dream line up including key members of the very band who’d influenced 3 in the early days, Peacebomb. The project had come full circle, making a matured return to our progressive roots. With the new team in place we took matters into our own hands, setting up a studio and recording our self produced Metal Blade Records debut. This is the record we’d always wanted to make. This record can be purchased online at http://www.metalblade.com/

“The End Is Begun” (2007) After touring Wake Pig for the last couple years we were good and ready to come home and create a new masterpiece. We had over 30 song ideas to choose from and eventually paired it down to 13. This time around our compositions are a bit less orthodox, there are also more progressive elements. TEIB has a bigger and more classic sound to it. It was mixed by Toby Wright, where as I mixed Wake Pig. This album has the feel of 2 different sides as well. The first half is very different from the last. This plays into the duality that we wanted to portray on this album. This is some of our best work to date. This record can be purchased online at http://www.metalblade.com/

“The End Is Begun” (rehearsing / writing process, recording process, label, …):
In general we were very inspired during the writing process. I think all the touring, all the places we’ve seen and people we’ve met serve to inspire us. I think the biggest challenge was working with a deadline. This one came down to the last minute. As usual they had to drag me out of the studio kicking and screaming. We recorded most of our record at Jerry Marotta’s studio right in our home town of Woodstock, NY. Because of limited resources, (time and money), I had to work on vocals at home while the band was finishing up other tracks at Jerry’s. When I had a large amount of work completed, I would return to the studio to back up all I had done. Well, there was a point where we had about a 2 week hiatus from Jerry’s, so I had built up quite a bit of work that needed to be backed up and transfered in to the main session. When I plugged in the hard drive to do so everything had disappeared. All the vocals I’d recorded, about 5 songs worth in total were missing. We were very close to the deadline so I was pretty much losing my mind. We ended up using a special file recovery program which recovered over 5,000 unnamed audio files from the drive. I spent the next 24 hours sorting through these files to find the vocals I had lost. Fortunately I found them all.

Lyrics (influences, subjects, ideas, messages, …):
Conceptually, much the album deals with the archetypal struggle, that final epic battle that looms upon the human horizon. The twist is that this battle takes place within us. All outer manifestations of it can be traced back to this inner struggle. . “Still I know you must continue, trying to win the war waged within you.” (from “Battle Cry”) Other songs, such as “Live Entertainment” touch on the irony of reality tv’s growing popularity amidst a population of people who avoid being conscious of their own realities. This record is a hybrid of melancholy and hope rising up out of the ashes of our self-destruction / deception. Perhaps the most meaningful song for me is “The Last Day” which reveals a positive spiritual outcome for all our human suffering. “Its the last day of the world, all the stars fired up to unfurl. Gonna meet you in the space within. You and I, we’ll race the light and win.”

Album frontcover / artwork (who, why, meaning, …):
Our cover was designed by Damn Engine. We gave him some ideas and he took it and made it brilliant. He was listening to rough cuts of the record when he designed it, so it just feels right with the music. The cover is made up of two very different elements. A dark foreboding landscape, ravaged by some great war and a young girl holding 3 blue balloons looking out across the scene. I think they both represent important aspects of who we are as a band. Some of the darkest, most aggressive and technical musical moments on this record are balanced with soft and often sweetly simple vocal melodies. This is part of our duality, our paradox. That is what excites me as an artist, dark and light combining to create something new. The girl represents hope; she is the future, the next step in our evolution. Through her we can experience the end as a new beginning. The balloons are souls; she clips their strings and releases them from their earthly bonds.

Live tour to promote the new record:
We’ll be touring with Porcupine Tree and Dream Theater at different times throughout the next year. Its Rock ‘n’ Roll so anything can happen!

Musical (and other) influences:
Musical: the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Primus, Pink Floyd, The Police, Genesis, King Crimson, Rush, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Ojos de Brujo, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Radiohead, Stevie Wonder, Ani Difranco, Joni Mitchell, Elvis Costello, Elliot Smith, Imogen Heap, and many, many more...
Other: Rudolph Steiner, David Icke, Zechariah Sitchin, The Master Cleanser, Spacekateers, herbal remedies, Thoth, The Flower of Life and many, many more...

Final Message:
Thanks to you and to your readers! Be well, - Joey Eppard / 3
http://www.theband3.com/
www.myspace.com/3
www.myspace.com/joeyeppard
http://www.metalblade.com/
http://www.planetnoiserecords.com/

WinterMoon – Down Under (2007) – Edição de Autor

Disco de estreia em edição de autor para os lusitanos WinterMoon. “Down Under” encerra em cerca de 40 minutos, divididos em 9 temas, uma sonoridade que em nada fica a dever a nomes como Lacuna Coil e The Gathering, ou até mesmo Epica e After Forever. Heavy Metal de orientação gótica e melancólica com certos toques progressivos e voz feminina. A secção rítmica é forte e segura, a guitarra também tem os seus momentos bem conseguidos mas, a produção deixou-a muito atrás em comparação com os teclados, estes bem mais “chegados à frente”. A voz surpreendeu-me, um dos pontos fortes da banda, a meio caminho entre Anneke (ex-The Gathering) e Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil) lhe retire alguma personalidade. E a parecença física com a vocalista Italiana ainda ajuda mais à colagem à dita banda de referência. A produção é mesmo o ponto negativo do disco, guitarras muito baixas, teclados muito altos, a bateria também não está toda ao mesmo nível e por vezes tem até um som muito mecânico. Falta de contacto habitual com este tipo de sonoridades e dificuldade em (ou falta de vontade de) saber como trabalhar cada parcela do todo? É o mais provável. Uma melhor escolha no estúdio e produtor talvez lhes traga alguns benefícios no segundo disco. Algum distanciamento das suas influências directas também será benéfico. Mesmo assim, um bom disco dentro do género. O potencial está lá todo, têm boas ideias, bons músicos, uma voz fantástica. Uma espécie de diamante por lapidar. Uma banda a ter em conta nos próximos tempos. Falta ainda referir que o disco foi gravado nos Tocá Rufar Estúdios pelas mãos de Nuno Rebocho e Carlos Cruz e foi misturado e masterizado por Miguel Fonseca (ex-Thormenthor, Bizarra Locomotiva). RDS

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WinterMoon: http://www.wintermoondiary.com/ / www.myspace.com/wintermoondoom

Nuclear Assault – Radiation Sickness & Agent Steel – Mad Locust Rising / DVD (2007) – Cherry Red Films

A Cherry Red não pára na sua demanda de recuperar gravações vídeo ao vivo das mais diversas bandas da cena Punk, Psychobilly, Rockabilly, algum gótico e, inclusive, algum Metal. É o caso destes dois DVDs que recuperam gravações de concertos datados de 20 de Junho de 1987, ambos no Hammersmith Odeon no Reino Unido, dos thrashers Nuclear Assault e dos speed-metallers Agent Steel. Em 1987 as duas bandas fizeram uma digressão de 180 dias e nestes dois DVDs encontram-se os concertos de encerramento dessa mesma digressão. A imagem e o som são os típicos da altura, com algum grão, cor esbatida, alguns estalidos e pequenas falhas no som. Problemas inerentes à tecnologia da era analógica e resultantes de muitos anos que distanciam as fitas originais desta re-edição que não pouparam o estado de conservação das mesmas. Como habitual nestes DVDs da Cherry Red o único prato servido é mesmo o concerto. Nada de entrevistas, videoclips ou outros extras a acomanhar, a não ser os habituais clips de outras edições do seu catálogo. E apenas temos direito a cerca de 40 minutos de concerto em cada DVD. Mesmo assim, estas edições têm o seu valor histórico e saudosista. Para os fãs da velha escola Thrash / Speed dos 80s. Venham mais recuperações deste género! RDS

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Cherry Red: http://www.cherryred.co.uk/

RELAPSE RECORDS – Agosto / Setembro / Outubro 2007

Quando vejo um envelope da Relapse ficou logo entusiasmado. Material de qualidade máxima, isso é certo! Este novo pacote promocional traz 4 discos, e que discos, diga-se já! O único senão é mesmo os 4 serem daqueles irritantes promocionais divididos em quase 100 faixas! É extremamente confuso e desencorajador tentar ouvir, criticar e, pior ainda, tentar rodar algum tema na rádio (quando eu o fazia, nos bons velhos tempos) deste tipo de CDs. Para evitar a pirataria na Internet antes do disco ser editado oficialmente. Pois sim! Isto vai lá parar na mesma! Alguém há-de dar a volta a este pequeno contratempo. Há amigos meus que conseguem os discos primeiro que eu, que os recebo directamente da editora para promoção! Bem, polémicas à parte, vamos à revisão destas quatro peças de arte.

Alchemist – Tripsis (2007): Esta sim pode ser apelidada de peça de arte! Os Australianos conseguem neste novo trabalho de estúdio fazer um revisão ao seu passado mais distantes conservando, no entanto, a sua característica inovadora e de experimentação. “Tripsis” traz 9 novos temas de Metal técnico e progressivo com raízes Death Metal e incorporação de elementos que vão desde o Rock psicadélico ao industrial, electrónico, gótico e até mesmo influências de música do médio oriente. Fãs de bandas como Voivod, Godflesh, Opeth, Neurosis ou Orphaned Land irão gostar desta rodela prateada. RDS 90% http://www.alchemist.com.au/ / www.myspace.com/alchemistau

Baroness – Red Album (2007): Os Norteamericanos Baroness têm em “Red Album” o seu primeiro disco de longa duração e primeiro para a Relapse. Nele nos são apresentados 11 temas de fusão Rock, Metal e Hardcore, sempre com uma vertente progressiva e experimental. Prefixos ou sufixos como Post, Psych, Prog ou outros que tais são mais que bem-vindos à designação da música deste quarteto. Pesado mas melódico, denso mas ambiental, este disco aborda as duas facetas, os dois opostos, luz e escuridão. Para fãs das novas propostas mais progressivas da música extrema. Para arquivar ao lado de nomes como Isis, Tool, Opeth, Mastodon, Botch, Pelican, etc. RDS 80% http://www.yourbaroness.com/ / www.myspace.com/yourbaroness

Coliseum – No Salvation (2007): Novo trabalho para os Coliseum, primeiro através da Relapse. À primeira descrição poderá parecer uma banda algo deslocada do resto do catálogo da já mítica editora mas, depois de ouvir um par de temas, chega-se à conclusão de que não destoa assim tanto quanto outras propostas recentes da Relapse. Punk / Hardcore / Crust bem cru, áspero, pesado, rápido, com muita garra e atitude. São 13 malhas em cerca de meia hora que em nada ficam a dever às suas influências mais directas, que passam por Discharge, Motorhead, Black Flag, Poison Idea, Negative Approach, entre outros. RDS 80% http://www.coliseumsoundsystem.com/ / www.myspace.com/coliseum

High On Fire – Death Is This Communion (2007): O tão aguardado novo trabalho dos High On Fire está quase a ser editado. Este é, com certeza, um dos álbuns mais aguardados deste ano da faceta mais extrema da música. E valeu a pena a espera! Quem, como eu, já tinha gostado muito do anterior “Blessed Black Wings”, não vai ficar desiludido com este novo ataque. 11 novos temas com um som cru, directo, intenso, pesado quanto baste, mas com melhor produção do que o anterior, desta feita a cargo do conceituado Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden). Para quem já conhece, não há muito mais a dizer, apenas que este é o melhor trabalho de sempre da banda, por isso, dia 24 de Setembro, abram os cordões à bolsa. Para quem ainda não conhece, imaginem uma fusão de nomes como Black Sabbath, Sleep, Slayer, Motorhead, Mastodon, Isis, Pentagram e Clutch. RDS 90% http://www.highonfire.net/ / www.myspace.com/highonfireslays

Relapse Records: http://www.relapse.com/ / www.myspace.com/relapserecordseurope