“ปรากฎการณ์ ปรากฎกาย” or “Phenomenon Appeared” is the sixth and until now final record of Thailand’s metal pioneers DONPHEEBIN. This record released in 2000 somehow closes the circle that once started with “โลกมืด” or “Dark World” seven years earlier. It’s a sad thing that these three outstanding musicians didn’t release more records but at the same time, this album is a very good swansong if they won’t come back in the future.

This album continues the more atmospheric and progressive vein of the last two albums and even completely abandons the band’s Thrash Metal most of the time. The opening title track which is still among the harder songs including a few Thrash Metal elements is already hold in a more melodic mid-tempo pace and includes a few melodic shouts next to the less impressive guttural vocals. Most of the other songs even go further.

This fact is underlined by three instrumental tracks among nine songs on the band’s longest album. While the instrumentals “...คือชีวิต” or “Life Is…” and “Return To The Nature III” are very appeasing, folk driven, ethereal, laid back, mysterious, nature bound and spiritual, the third instrumental “Judgement Day” starts like a brilliant rock ballad before it gets a slightly harder touch towards the middle of the track.

The album’s epic “เพียงเริ่มทาง” or “Just Beginning” also underlines the laid back direction of the band’s sixth output. What we have here is a really calm and slow paced epic with multiple laid back vocals, a versatile but never thunderous drum play and a great mixture of acoustic and electric guitar play. The song reminds me of a METALLICA ballad that meets an experimental ballad of AMORPHIS’ third or fourth album. We have to wait for more than two minutes and a half before melodic vocals set in and they only remain one element among many others. While the instrumental part of DONPHEEBIN has always been more important than the rest, this is the album where this fact becomes most evident. Once the vocals are there, they sound more natural than before and fit in very well though. This record and especially this song sound as if the band was in peace with the entire universe. And isn’t that a great way to close the short but impressive career of a stunning band?

In the end, this record is definitely the calmest one of the band. Its sound can be compared to the calmer songs of the band’s very first effort seven years earlier while the song writing itself has matured and sounds more progressive than ever. This record is dominated by appeasing and still powerful acoustic and electric guitar melodies. Fans of instrumental albums and Progressive Metal should try this album out while fans of the band’s more Thrash and Death Metal bound releases may only like a few songs on here. I really like the album but I think that it ultimately probably is too calm for its own good. You really have to be in the right mood to dig this record because three instrumentals and almost all songs that mainly focus on the instrumental parts can be too much for some of us.

(Online September 10, 2013)

“Core In China” is a free compilation of different Chinese Core bands. You get everything in here from Post-Rock over Metalcore to Screamo and Emo music. The project was kicked off by the recommendable website Rock In China and I hope that the website will realize similar projects in the future.

What we have here is not only quantity but also quantity. Usually, I’m not all too much into the Core subgenre because I think it’s sometimes too hectic and aggressive but I have already stumbled over a few great Chinese bands with Metalcore influences like EGO FALL or TAROT SAINT for example and I somehow like the Eastern genre bands more than the Western ones because they often mix their sound with original elements from folk instruments over electronic samples. That’s why I had checked out this compilation and I didn’t regret it at all and know a few more talented newcomers from a fascinating country now.

The first song by WHY LAZY already surprises the listener with discordant guitar sounds. It then includes slow and dark passages but also quite aggressive up-tempo parts as well. Apart of the strange clean vocal effects, it was the calm closing part with a girl speaking along in English that really grabbed my attention. To keep it short, this band already includes more ideas in one original song than other bands put in entire albums.

Another highlight for me was the song by MEAT SUCKS where harsh vocals meat great and passionate female clean vocals. The melodic parts of the song and especially the dreamy piano closure with the breathing noises create a fascinating melancholic atmosphere. 

PARTISAN surprise with a few Punk and Thrash Metal influences while the melodic chorus sounds really cool in contrast to the harsher verses.

MENSHENG offer a quite weird contribution by presenting us a song with desperate out-of-tone vocals, spoken word passages and quite calm parts that are almost progressively inserted into the unchained harsher parts. If Metalcore would always sound that original and diversified I would listen to it way more often. These bands are not only great ambassadors for the People’s Republic of China but also for the Core scene that many traditional Metal fans underestimate.

The greatness doesn’t stop there. ASHTEMATO mixes Death, Groove and Thrash Metal with Dubstep. This sounds really weird at first try but this original track is quite a grower even though it remains tough to digest. Only the melodic vocal parts could still be a little bit less out of tone to get a better result.

Another favourite song of mine comes from the band LUKTOMO that mixes laid back but original electronic music with emotional Metalcore elements. With a length close to seven minutes, it’s by far the longest song on here but it never gets boring and doesn’t fail to impress and surprise at each new subtle turn and twist. The musical concept of this band is surely interesting and I will try my best to listen to more music from them.

THYHAZARD is another band with amazingly vivid electronic influences, sharp riffs and extreme vocals. The band is though pure chaos like STRAPPING YOUNG LAD or you can also imagine a dark Metalcore mixture of UNEXPECT and SYSTEM OF A DOWN for example. That’s probably the kind of music KORN wanted to create with their electronic album experiment two years ago. This kind of music requests a lot of attention and time but in the end you often get rewarded as even such a chaotic track has its catchy parts.

As you can see, there are a lot of courageous, dynamic and experimental Core newcomers that gathered their forces to contribute to a truly rewarding compilation record. There are a few misses here and there among the twenty artists from my point of view but the number of captivating acts largely exceeds the bands that I like less.

If you are honestly open for diversified Modern Metal music and ready to discover new shores instead of sticking to all too traditional values, this compilation was also made for you. Anyone who profoundly hates the Core genre and thinks it has no place in the Metal scene won’t get convinced but he or she wouldn’t even give these great bands a fair chance anyway. If you belong to the first category of Metal music fans, go on and give yourself a little gift by enjoying the entire compilation for free under the following link:

http://coreinchina.bandcamp.com/

(Online September 5, 2013)

The RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS released the last three parts of their nine vinyl singles taken from the "I'm With You" sessions at the same date at the end of July 2013 which I happened to find rather strange as these releases felt a little bit rushed. That's a little bit sad because all of the last three vinyl releases show us some great efforts and songs by the unique Californian Crossover band.

"Catch My Death" is a laid back track with Psychedelic Rock influences and a dominant retro touch reminding us of rock music in the sixties. The rhythm section is solid without taking too much space and we have a few decent symphonic keyboard patterns in the song. The inspired guitar play and the engaged vocals make this song shine. Especially the harmonic chorus with its mysterious background vocals stands out as a highlight. Only the slightly discordant and imperfect ending doesn't seem to fit to the rest.

"How It Ends" fits into the same category and can be described as retro Psychedelic Rock with an outstanding guitar play, fresh vocals and very well done back vocals as well. Sometimes, it even feels as if the brilliant JOHN FRUSCIANTE was still singing but one doesn't even miss him for a second because Josh Klinghoffer's guitar play is creative, emotional and technically impressive. The middle part is a little bit heavier and engaging which comes as a fresh surprise. Some parts of the song remind me of a mixture of "The Zephyr Song" and maybe "Parallel Universe." Once again, the ending is not so well done and ends too abruptly in my opinion just as one was about to expect another chorus or a creative way to bring the whole thing to an end.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS fans can't get around this release. It's among the better vinyl singles but not the best. Now, there are only two more to come to complete this beautiful collection of imaginative songs that sadly didn't make it on any regular record.

(Online August 30, 2013)

NERVE is a Technical Death Metal band from Genoa in Italy that just released its third output entitled “Fracture” with the seventy-eighth issue of the famous French Metallian magazine. While the band is composed by a lot of talented musicians their dystopian sound needs some time to grow and is sometimes hard to digest.

The problem is that the band kicks off the record a little bit too straight with the not very well chosen opener “Antichrist” that makes you think that this band just wants to play noisy and aggressive music. The next few songs are not that convincing as well.

The band only shows later that they are more than an aggressive bunch of musicians. The complex “Scream” surprises with an excellent mixture of powerful harsh vocals and charismatic clean vocals as well as with a very dominating bass guitar play and develops a dystopian atmosphere with surprising atmospheric breaks where MARTYR seems to meet ICED EARTH but also names like DAGOBA or GOJIRA come to my mind from time to time.

The following instrumental “Al-Dajjal” introduces us in a very dark and almost industrial way to Arabian folklore which grabbed my attention. The closing instrumental “The Reign Of Thousand Years” finishes the album on an epic and calm note and could easily fit on a movie soundtrack. While listening to this song, I’ve almost felt like walking on a blood-red battlefield covered by the soldiers’ bodies.

The sometimes almost Groove Metal driven “Revelations” with its dystopian VOIVOD riffs and its pitiless bass guitar play proves us then that the record is getting better and better and that the first impressions turned out to be wrong.

“Neither Here Nor There” which is one of the catchier tracks along with the almost melancholic “Lenny Nero” then surprises with smooth acoustic guitar parts in the middle section. “Zero” starts with calm passages that would rather fit to KATATONIA or OPETH before a very technical Extreme Metal track kicks off. The more and the longer you listen to the album, the better it gets if you care for dystopian Extreme Metal.

After a weak start with the first three tracks, NERVE finally happen to present us one of the most original and technically convincing Extreme Metal releases of the year with “Fracture”. It doesn't beat the last DAGOBA release but it turns out to not being a far call from it either. Don’t get fooled by your first impressions and discover a truly decent release that you can also check out on the band’s official Bandcamp presence:http://nerveofficial.bandcamp.com/album/fracture

(Online August 25, 2013)

Bangladesh is not a country known for its small Metal scene. I might though suggest you a few decent bands from that country like the first Heavy Metal band ROCKSTRATA that was formed back in 1985 and released the country’s first Metal record in 1990. I must also cite the great Progressive Metal act ARTCELL that recently split up and three quarters of the original band reformed as ARTCELL X even though the name of the project may possibly change in the future. Progressive Metal band CRYPTIC FATE is also a big name to check out.

 Now, I have stumbled over a new Death and Thrash Metal band from the capital Dhaka that is called GREEN ARMY. They have just released their first EP entitled “Reborn Of The Blackened Phenomenon”. The band’s slogan is called “We’re true right down to the fucking core”. I must admit that I don't understand everything of the lyrics and that these guys' English is not so decent but it's all about the passion for metal music on here anyway and we shouldn't judge these youngsters too hard.

The four young men play quite dystopian and mostly pitiless Speed Metal that mixes Death and Thrash Metal elements. The songs also have a few groovier passages as well. The drum sound and the sometimes almost inaudible guitar sound are horrible on the demo but the dominating bass guitar pleases me a lot as well as the raw but not completely unmelodic vocals that give the band an intriguing touch. Musically, these guys are clearly inspired by bands like SEPULTURA and SLAYER and fans of these bands could like this first strike despite its bad production. The songs are atmospheric, energizing and even include a few memorable moments. The band mixes raw energy with a few more developed passages where one can guess a lot of potential and talent behind the raw sound. Some breaks almost happen to sound progressive which intrigues me a lot. These parts are a little bit too short but add a lot of freshness to the compositions and the band should maybe focus more on these breaks. With a better production and some more experience, the band could become Bangladesh’s most promising Extreme Metal band.

Give these guys a fair try and check out their official Bandcamp presence:http://tridroid.bandcamp.com/album/reborn-of-the-blackened-phenomenon

(Online August 20, 2013)