White Crow

Second full length studio album from this British band finds them with new vocalist Ashe O'Hara replacing the great Dan Tompkins.  This shouldn't be inferred that O'Hara is any less a vocalist than Tompkins - he's excellent as well.While the core djent sound is there the band has moved a bit more into a prog rock direction.  In general its less metal and more rock.  O'Hara's vocals don't go in the screamo direction that a lot of djent bands prefer.  The instrumental parts are still stupifyingly crazy but crazy in a King Crimson meets Tool way.  I'm not sure what the djent metal community will think of this shift in course but I like this new direction.  The old was good - to my ears this is better.  Highly recommended.

"2014 surely seems to be a year of fruitful reunions; CARCASS is one we could see coming from a mile away, but alas, one name stood somewhat overshadowed by the band’s guitarist-mastermind’s main band, ARCH ENEMY; Chris Amott has brought ARMAGEDDON back to life, “Captivity And Devourment”: the first new material from the band since the last album, “Three”, in 2002. A band known for each album being a completely separate entity, genre-wise, “Captivity And Devourment” retains the blistering Melodic Death Metal from the first album, but combines modern nuances, and Chris’s own clean vocal performances, first heard on the last ARMAGEDDON album, and later, on his solo album work. This release is what ARMAGEDDON and the more aware of ARCH ENEMY fans have been waiting for the past 12 years.Fully unified and re-energized, the frontman position now takes the form of thunderous coarse vocalist Matt Hallquist provides the majority of the vocal delivery; a supermassive, unrelenting delivery of harsh growls, yet Chris’s clean singing deliveries are thoughtfully emblazon a number of tracks; the man is a master guitar player, and that is what this album shows. That being said, he a skilled vocalist in his own right.The title track opens the album, and what a monster of a song it is; hinting that this will be the band’s heaviest album to date, it explodes forth with a blast-beaten intro, before subsiding into a pummelling series of groove-ridden riffs. A powerful reminder that the ex-shredder of one of the world’s biggest Melodic Death Metal bands has once again made a foray into the Extreme Metal world, as such, the guitar work on this track drew a smile to my face.  “Locked in” is a bit more mellowed in the heaviness department, but is thickly substantiated with meaty riffs, and soaring, double-kicked sections, though the top dollar are the deliciously-catchy chord progressions .“Thanatron” was one of the first tastes we were given earlier this year, of the band’s new material. Beginning with a crisp, acoustic passage, some of the riffs on this track are as heavy and robust as you’ll hear on the album; a strong Groove Metal sound drives the main riffs. The necksnapping headbangery of this track shovels the coal into the massive engine that powers this album, from the beautiful and up-beat acoustic interlude of “Background Radiation”, through to one of my two favourite piece on the album, “The Watcher”. Seemingly more epic in stature, as the massive, thrumming intro riffs would give away, it certainly pulls no punches. This track happens to be strongly-embellished with clean vocals, not necessarily provided in the lead vocal sense but noticeable nonetheless. Chris commands the lyrics with an unusual style of delivery, sitting somewhere in the mid-range and capable of powerful belts, but with a mysterious, almost Gothic nuance about his singing. Quite frankly, he sounds like no one else I’ve ever heard; the grandiose, soaring section partway through the track will surely convince of this.A power metal enthusiast at heart, I was secretly hoping for more vocal belts; I was met with this and more on “Equalizer”, my other favourite. A virtuosic guitarist at heart, fans of his guitar playing will be at the very least satisfied and sated with the stellar lead work on this track. Chris certainly made no mistake in taking on the  best musicians for the job, either; I couldn’t be more pleased with the line-up after listening to this album, particularly the thundering bass tone provided by Sara. In fact, the overall production of this album is to be highly commended; seemingly, deliberately raw, it is far from overproduced, and everything comes across as far more organic, definitely playing a part in the heaviness factor.Am I approaching this with rose-tinted glasses/headphones? Hardly; ARMAGEDDON is a different band now. Something bigger, something stronger, and hopefully that little bit more infinite. Either way, this is the calibre of comeback I had been hoping for." - Metal Temple

"Christianity and Heavy Metal have never really been the most obvious of bedfellows. Ever since the formation of the genre at the end of the 1960's, the relationship between Heavy Metal, in particular the more extreme variations of it, and the established Church, have been, for the most part, frosty. This doesn't mean that the two cannot come together though; There are countless great bands that have been playing great music that pays homage, rather than expressing outright hatred, to Christianity; TROUBLE, MORTIFICATION, HORDE, CRIMSON MOONLIGHT and DIVINEFIRE are the first bands that spring to mind for me every time I hear some closed minded moron quote that old, cringe-worthy and wholly incorrect adage about the Devil having the best tunes. Slovakian Power Metallers, SIGNUM REGIS, are one such band that are not only proving this phrase wrong, but are also using their knowledge of their faith to create great themes and concepts for their albums. Their last full length, for example, was based around Moses' liberation of the Israelites and their trials in the desert. This latest EP is full of the sort of classic Power Metal that many have grown to love, and it sounds amazing.This EP opens with a very solid, powerful opener, "Living Well". This is a great piece of Power Metal, with all the hallmarks of the genre; with a few harder aspects peppering the classic sound, which gives it it's own unique flavour. All this track’s elements work well together; it's really well mixed, and doesn't wander into the realms of cheesiness as some Power Metal has a tendency to, and above all, it's a great way to kick the record off. "Through the Desert, Through the Storm" treads down a much more straightforward Heavy Metal path, with razor sharp guitar lines, angelic vocals and some fairly interesting keyboard parts thrown in for good measure. The chorus is great, with some genuinely hair-raising parts that were just made for singing along to. "My Guide In The Night" is another really good piece of Power Metal with brilliant vocals and guitar work, punishing drums and some really cool keyboard sections. The fourth track, "Come and Take It", is perhaps the most straight forward Power Metal song on here, with plenty of great hooks to keep the listener interested. The penultimate track, a re-recorded version of "All Over the World", sounds even better for having been redone, and sits very well among the bands newer material.  "Vengeance Liar", which closes this EP, is perhaps the strongest song on this record apart from "Through the Desert, Through the Storm", and has a really cool, classic Power Metal sound with some genuinely inspired guitar playing and really spectacular vocals to match. It sounds awesome, and is a very good high note to end this record on.This EP is very good. Anyone who loves Power Metal will most likely enjoy this. This sounds like a band that have honed their style and perfected their image, now ready to take their music to the world at large. I'd highly recommend this EP, and indeed the rest of this bands awesome back catalogue, to anyone who loves, powerful, uplifting Metal music." - Metal Temple

Out of print for some time, Bruce Soord freshed up the band's second album.  Originally released back in 2001, this version of 137 features a new mix, new 2018 mastering, and even new artwork.

"Massive Addictive won’t do anything to improve Amaranthe’s relationship with their haters, but the diehard fans will fall in love with the band all over again. The vast majority of fence-sitters, meanwhile, will find themselves drawn in by what is, quite frankly, a surprisingly addictive listen that justifies the wonderfully arrogant album title. Still pop metal to the core, Amaranthe’s all-important third album kicks off by putting the fans in the comfort zone with ‘Dynamite’, a track echoing the band’s previous album, The Nexus. It’s the neck-wreck-bounce of the following track and first single ‘Drop Dead Cynical’ – imagine Marilyn Manson’s ‘The Beautiful People’ as a song on the Grease soundtrack – that sets the tone for Massive Addictive. The vocal melodies are infectious to a fault, the riffs are bold, all supported by steel hard backbone seemingly yanked from Hypocrisy frontman Peter Tägtgren’s command center for his industrial-rocked metal outfit Pain.‘Drop Dead Cynical’, ‘Unreal’, ‘Trinity’, ‘Massive Addictive’ ‘Skyline’ and ‘Digital World’ are guaranteed to become fan favourites, charged with more adrenaline than some folks give Amaranthe credit for. There are two ballads to be had this time out – ‘True’ and ‘Over And Done’ – both of them loaded with radio potential and too smart for the suits making programming decisions. The album winds down with the heaviest song of Amaranthe’s career to date, ‘An Ordinary Abnormality’, featuring the sextet pulling out all the stops and crushing any ridiculous notions that pop metal has no balls.It’s nice to hear how Amaranthe avoided disaster by not rehashing the formula of their first two records. Their three-vocalist attack (female, male, cookie monster – in that order) added a certain level of unique from the get-go, but wouldn’t have been enough to make Massive Addictive the sleeper hit it is. This time out, clean singers Elize Ryd and Jake E. show up where you least expect them, harmonizing and trading-off vocal parts more than ever before. And their voices are huge. Case in point on ‘Digital World’ – one of Amaranthe’s strongest songs ever – the exchanges on ‘Unreal’, and Ryd’s vocal nuances and insane range on ‘Danger Zone’. New resident growler Henrik Englund Wilhelmsson (Scarpoint) is a major player on the record rather than merely a hellish enhancement, even taking the lead and stealing the show on ‘An Ordinary Abnormality’. And with guitarist Olof Mörck being one of the primary songwriters, the album boasts riffs and leads by the truckload.What makes the new album work ultimately is the live feel of the music. It’s all well and good to produce polished commercially appealing metal in the studio, quite another to take it out of the can on stage and blow an audience away with a full-on musical performance. Amaranthe have done just that for years, and the material on Massive Addictive is begging to be unleashed live. It’ll go over a storm and then some." - Carl Begai

"These guys might be late to the party, but deserve every bit of your attention regardless. This album really took me unawares, being my first experience with this fairly new yet incredibly accomplished sounding female fronted Australian unit. Their seemingly auto-generated band name may not inspire a lot of confidence, but nonetheless, on Liberator, Divine Ascension serve up progressive power metal of the highest rank. Really any power metal fan craving something heavy and guitar driven is urged in the strongest possible terms to have a look.Vigorous and eager to prove itself at every turn, this is a very full-bodied, attacking presentation, almost bringing Outworld to mind in its all-out directness. For prog/power, Liberator is a veritable ass-stomping of ripping riffs and lead runs, and a metal album first and foremost. Think Mercenary's crunching, at times Gothenburg-flavored axework and you're close. Neck muscles aching, airguitar strings breaking; not what I typically look to this sub-genre for, but there you have it. Keyboards and symphonic elements are given no less priority, being remarkably well arranged and produced and naturally composed in harmony with the metal. Orchestral arrangements in the vein of Rhapsody and Nightwish are employed, as are more electronic strains of bands like Pagan's Mind and Edenbridge. There's a lot going on on top of the already busy guitar work, but every piece of it is complementary, making for music that is constantly epic, and constantly heavy as bricks without the need to sacrifice one for the other. Sit back and soak in the chorus of "Stronger": total Within Temptation-style bombast and grandeur ala "The Howling," but made even more intense by big, riffy guitars that chug and harmonize along with some truly serene keyboard arrangements. It's one of the most stirring, spine-chilling metal moments I've heard in years.The label "progressive" in metal is elusive and subject to debate, but these guys I think make a decent claim for it, other than through sheer genre trappings (i.e. sounding more like Symphony X than Helloween). Key and time changes abound, keyboards and guitars play off each other in creative ways, and individual riffs and whole song structures both often detour from paths conventional. The band is confident in their ability to draw in the listener by piling on cool instrumental parts, and so the songs on Liberator often take a minute or so to establish before the vocals start doing their part, without ever feeling slow in getting to the point. So much going on and so much of it good: between all instruments, most songs here carry enough good ideas to provide for two songs for other bands. This is not as restrained and subtle an affair as something like The Black Halo (although Kamelot's heavier bits are at times not a far off comparison for style), but there's nary a sense of overreaching or a "more is less"-kind of effect. The intro of "Hideaway", by Gods go jam that shit: somber yet lush ambience straight out of a movie score, then razor sharp Children of Bodom-like axe ripping ("Black Widow" is a good point of comparison for the whole intro) that twists and mutates a bit until SMASH descend the fast double bass drums interlocked with another rousing riff that just leaps from the speakers – so much is accomplished within the first minute, and hey, there's the splendid remaining 80% of the song waiting to greet you beyond that! The album as whole is truly an exhilirating but also dynamic and not at all wearying listen.Vocalist Jennifer Borg is a somewhat unconventional but expert choice, as she delivers a more restrained performance than the rest of the group. Not weak or unenthusiastic; restrained, like the best kind of actor who knows to best serve the movie or play at hand by stepping into and becoming a character without feeling the need to draw attention to oneself by "putting on a show." Big vocal acrobatics or soothing, "angelic" stylings expected of female vox in a symphonic metal band are not what she's about, and needn't be. Utilizing a lower and narrower range than usual for the style and putting aside excessive drama, Borg's vocal lines give off so much soul, power and depth with subtle elements. All in all, a mature (horribly cliché word in music critique, but I insist) and dignified effort that contributes a good deal of artistry and uniqueness to the package.Throughout the album's 64 minute filler-free runtime, it amazes me how many typical genre pitfalls the Aussie sextet manages to sidestep. Excessive and confusing technicality for the sake of being "prog" that just kills the flow? Nope. Dragging "atmospheric" sections where nothing happens just to have variation? Also not here. Aiming for "epic" but arriving at "pretentious?" Look elsewhere! At least the closing acoustic ballad is an insufferable cheesefest, right? Actually, power/prog's poignant answer to "More than Words" is more like it, what with its percussive guitar slapping bringing that one to mind. If I'm going to dock the album for SOMETHING, well, "The Final Stand" does feature a real pet peeve of mine: that gimmick where the sound mix goes from demo/wet towel on speakers at its onset, to proper studio quality at a flip of a switch (e.g. Slayer - Ghosts of War). I find it overused and generic to the point of befitting the band moniker, but it doesn't hurt the song much and I've heard it done worse.Prog/power is rarely where I look for new metal these days; the genre's heyday is long gone and that may be for the best. That's not to say I'll disregard an island of brilliance like this one though. Good art is good art and while Liberator may sound a decade old, it still exhibits an identity of its own, cool chops aplenty and little triteness. Could Australia simply be a decade behind on this brand of metal, and thus less mined for talent than Europe or South America? Oh, I do hope. For the follow-up, I'd be curious to see how DA can expand their sound from here; perhaps adding elements from more modern metal would help revitalize the genre some? Until then, this is one shining example of tried-and-true that I wouldn't want my worst enemy to miss out on." - Metal Archives