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Page III : LEAVES' EYES to SEPHIROTH

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MANDO DIAO – Bring 'Em In
With the rough-edged Sixties sound of psych-soul vocals harmonizing with guitar licks and organ strains, the term ‘garage
mod’ comes to mind upon hearing Mando Diao’s small-town-breakout album Bring
‘Em In, an amazingly bright release from a band of angry young Swedish men. Opening up with the uncombed energy
of “Sheepdog,” “Sweet Ride,” and “Motown Blood,” a very deliberate pace and style is set,
one that conjures up small dirty dance floors crowded by shuffling shoes that just don’t seem to mind. In places amid
these stylish jams (such as the title track) the vocalist’s bootheeled-voice reaches piercing heights as he calls back
through decades of influence in search of those subtle sounds that would soon change their world, while the rest of the band
climbs aboard the same submarine and follows along with perfect pace. And when they take the notion the group can easily hone
down their edges and lay out a honeyed bit of purity, as evidenced with the wistful transcendent elegance of “Mr. Moon,”
or take it to the chapel with the choir-leading of “Lady.” It’s all good, and some of it’s even better,
but it does beg the question: will Mando Diao do as the Beatles did and embody something of a second coming, or follow Lou
Reed (brought to mind in “Paralyzed”) in blazing a trail that leads to burning out? Either way, it’ll be
worth hearing.
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Mute – www.mute.com – 140 East 22nd St., Suite 10A, New York, NY, 10011
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MIDNIGHT EVILS – Breakin' It Down
There’s a rowdy Brothers of Conquest-style sound to The Midnight Evils’
brand of rock & roll, rip-roaring party music (“Party, Party, Party”) with a rough edge that warns of a serious
stomping should you be rude enough not to join on in. In a word, kick-ass.
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Estrus
Records – www.estrus.com – P.O. Box 2125, Bellingham, WA, 98227
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Grave doom metal with far off death rattles and church organ highlights interspersed
with lengthy instrumental passages (tracks range from six to nine minutes in length). Savage material that’s also deliberately
and almost delicately orchestrated, this is powerfully gloomy stuff that, even if you’re not in the right mood, sucks
you right in and takes you to that very level. Very danse macabre, and very good.
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Firedoom
Music – www.firedoom.fi – Teollisuustie 19, 60100 Seinajoki, Finland
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MZ.412 – Infernal Affairs
Channeling the black arts through sound, MZ.412 continues their pogrom of aural annihilation
with Infernal Affairs. The opening processional “Preludiumh” brings
the dark ages into the 21st Century with its combination of somber horn notes and deep electronic soundings, setting
the stage for the churning hell-rave and latent Hostel soundtrack “Point
of Presence,” the baleful tones of “Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Your Wrath,” the throbbing misery of
“Unhealing Wounds” (carrying with it the promise of more to come), the treacherous lull of “Mourning Star,”
and the Prince of Darkness closer, “Postludiumh.” As the digipak says,
“Hail the Legion Ultra.”
* * * *
Cold
Meat Industry – www.coldmeat.se – Villa Eko, 595 42 Mjolby, Sweden
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NECROPHAGIA – Goblins Be Thine
Misleadingly reverential strains of church
organ slide through the speakers before the death metal of Necrophagia crashes in, chewing skulls and unearthing undead graves
as it comes. But there’s much more to Goblins Be Thine than just another
straightforward gore metal grindfest; it’s considerably more atmospheric than this throughout, varying the pace and
pulling inspiration from a variety of legendary horrors to give the album the grand feeling of a modern ghost story. “Young
Burial” for example opens as a haunting horror movie soundtrack, adding guitars and soundbytes to build the song into
a violent epic; there’s an homage to the evil of The Ring with “Sadaku’s
Curse” (and later to “The Fog” in the song of the same name), the macabre necromantic ballad “To Sleep
with the Dead,” and “Goblins Be Thine” conjures images of unseen horrors before the bonus track erupts between
promo spots for grindhouse gorefests. Recorded in Japan and dripping with gore from every groove, Goblins Be Thine may be the perfect soundtrack to the likes of the Guinea
Pig series.
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Red Stream Inc. – P.O.
Box 196242, Winter Springs, FL, 32719-6242
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THE NEW CHRISTS – We Got This!
Apparently something of a last farewell for Australia’s The New Christs, We Got This! is a fifteen-song epitaph that will make sure the band is well remembered. With the first track (the
titular “We Got This!”) The New Christs seem quite at home playing a moderately punked-out low-rent rock &
roll, but this promptly shifts into an appealingly dosed psych-rock that’s an even better listen. Fronted by an oddly
tranquil low-key vocalist (Radio Birdman’s Rob Younger), at times We Got This!
drifts pleasantly into straight-out stoner territory (“Groovy Times,” baby!) or simply gets blissed out and rolls
along in its own way (“He’s Too Late,” “I Deny Everything”). In a great number of places the
vocals take on a Robert Smith tone (“Impeachment,” “Intercourse”), and even resemble Morrissey at
a rare point or two (“Sunny Day”) with their downbeat allure. The slide guitar and pow-wow Clash beat of “Khartoum”
makes it a noticeable standout, although the entire disc is good enough to make one understand where the 30 pages of promo
raves are coming from. Solidly enjoyable, and while quite different I’d venture to guess that fans of Guided by Voices
might also appreciate The New Christs.
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Smog Veil Records - www.smogveil.com - 316 California Ave.
#207, Reno, NV, 89509
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Prolific independent musician Sam Senovich’s latest solo effort is the
EP Nigh, a 4-song epic very much along the lines of the mighty Frost & Fury.
Slow, heavy, purposeful metal with a powerfully nihilistic edge and rough gravelly vocals, this is somber and majestic material
that forges ahead into a very dim future. Two tracks, “Hope” and “Stolen Skull” play out at eleven
minutes apiece, each just bleeding with beautiful misery, while the classic “Faith” picks up and churns into a
bonegrinder of a song that’s harder and faster than the previous tracks. The final piece however, the aforementioned
“Stolen Skull,” is fast and vicious right from the start, changing pace with a vengeance to suit its own murderous
purposes and destined to become a cult hit among death metal connoisseurs. Fans of Amebix and the like are sure to appreciate
this fresh slab of doom metal, as would anyone else with a good ear.
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NOCTURNE – Guide to Extinction
This has been in my CD player so long I’d almost forgotten to review
it. Gothic rock is often a dicey genre, but you give me some smoking little goth hottie screaming about destroying the State
and you’ve got my strict attention. Nocturne’s music has developed an even harder edge with Guide to Extinction, nodding to the likes of Ministry and Marilyn Manson but having a randy female voice alternately
raging and crooning over it all. The album opens strongly with the queen bitch tracks “Shallow” and “I Lie,”
carries anarchistic urges to sedition with “Passion,” “Class War” and “Dead Man,” adds
the spooky “No Way Out,” offers up the ultra sexy allure of “Walk Away” and the horny cry of “Indulge”
(nicely matched by the cover of Renegade Soundwave’s “Cocaine Sex”), there’s my favorite, “Dirty
Sanchez” with its perfect mixture of begging and rage, and the finale is the dark and whirling tribal beat of “They’ll
Never Find Your Body.” Love songs that somehow aren’t, this is strong sexy material that I have yet to get enough
of.
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