All customer reviews by Valentin S.

Nothing fatal, I'm afraid

Im afraid its just an outright commercial output. Under its very cool cover there isnt anything but quite pathetic and aiming big Heavy Metal without any soul. In my eyes, the music of this record is much better reflected not by the front, but by the back side of its cover, it is equally as interesting, attractive and exciting. After a pretty good debut one could have expected from this supergroup much more, but... If in terms of the picture on its cover one can somehow associate it with Rust In Peace, then when it comes to music they have nothing in common, they are things of completely different levels.

Death Metal classic of the highest caliber

Long due reissue a lot of fans had been looking for. Even though through the years this album already was 2-3 times re-released on vinyl by Century Media and Back On Black, its still in very high demand. And here, just in time, comes another, really great reissue by Relapse Records. Just like the other DEATH reissues by Relapse Records, this one comes with excellent fold-out insert with lyrics and tons of photos from that period, pressed on great quality vinyl that none will be disappointed with. And when it comes to the music here - come on, who needs to be told one more time that Individual Thought Patterns is one of the most important Death Metal classics of all times?

The riffing that kills

Having combined the best features of DESTRUCTION demo Bestial Invasion Of Hell and their debut mini-LP Sentence Of Death, great riffing attack of Mike from the former (which was a bit hidden in the mix of Sentence Of Death behind loud drums and vocals) and much improved vocals of Shmier from the latter respectively, the first full-length LP of DESTRUCTION turned out to be the perfect mix of the American school of Thrash Metal and distinct European approach. No wonder its still considered a classic after all these years and for many the very best DESTRUCTION ever. Here we have its brand new reissue by High Roller Records, a long overdue testimony to one of the brightest jewels in German Thrash Metal treasury.

The other face of Doom

Instead of playing it safe and making another great piece of Doom Metal in his own, well-defined style, this time Leif Edling and his friends decided to try something new, unexpected, and thus the third AVATARIUM album surprised lots of their fans. I suppose for some of them this surprise wasn’t exactly what they had been looking for (tastes differ, you know), but what the hell, its daring to come up with something new that is the source of great music, whatever genre. To make it short and straight to the point, in my book “Hurricanes And Halos† is absolutely brilliant, perfectly conceived and executed, one-of-a-kind piece of Metal with unique atmosphere.

Just take a look

Beer-soaked Metal and funny covers are two distinctive features that has always been enough to differ TANKARD from the rest of the scene. And even if their Beer (or their Metal for that matter) is getting less and less fresh and exciting through the years, their covers are still top class. In fact, this brand new TANKARD effort has something to offer even musicwise, at least a couple of its tracks are quite good (and nobody expected of them classics of their 1987-1990 caliber anymore, right?), and when it comes to its visual side – well, it must be one of those rare cases when the picture-disc format is preferred over the regular vinyl. All in all, this one is better to look at than to listen to.

The EP worth many longplay albums

Very few EPs may be called as meaningful and career-defining as this one. Back in 1984 it clearly gave an idea of what to expect of SLAYER in the years to come. While their 1983 debut LP “Show No Mercy† couldn’t be considered pure and finally formed Thrash Metal yet, as it still had many “outside† elements (let alone the fact, that Thrash Metal as such wasn’t really defined yet back then), “Haunting The Chapel† was nothing but absolute Thrash Metal manifestation in its purest form. No wonder then that its three tracks have been considered all time SLAYER classics ever since.

One from the highest league

While reviewing such classics as “Rust In Peace† definitely is, the poor soul that is trying to do it must feel a bit foolish, because the most evident things are at the same time the most hard to explain. The fourth album of MEGADETH is simply one of those gems that aren’t to be found often enough. Everything clicked on at the time, every little detail found its only right place. Its just perfect record from the very beginning to the last note of it. Every Thrash Metal fan is able in a blink of an eye to name some more albums in the genre which are great in their own rights, but to name one single band that could top MEGADETH in their own, twisted and complicated but still catchy way of Thrash is anything but an easy task. If you must limit your Thrash Metal collection down to just ten LPs, make sure that “Rust In Peace† is one of them.

The Doomsday is coming... but the soundtrack to it is beautiful

To review any project of the master of all things doomy and gloomy, the man called Leif Edling, is definitely quite an easy task. In fact, its possible to accomplish even before actually listening to the music in question, because his fans’ confidence in Leif’s ability to compose first class Metal of Doom has no boundaries indeed. Call it CANDLEMASS, AVATARIUM, THE DOOMSDAY KINGDOM or whatever, one never fails to feel the undeniable talent and the distinctive signature of this Doom Metal ambassador. So, its simply beyond any doubt that in the debut album of THE DOOMSADY KINGDOM we have another masterpiece of Doom. The sound coming from this vinyl is absolutely crushing, the artwork suits it like a glove, but some booing should go to Nuclear Blast for once again wavy disks (that has become quite an alarming problem with their vinyl releases recently) and the ugly green sticker on the cover.

Back into the highest league

It may sound really hard to believe, but somehow good old OVERKILL managed to make the wheels (the grinding wheels) of the time machine turning and brought forth the new album really worth their finest ones from the eighties. From the 100% killer song “Our Finest Hour† to any other on offer here, everything is simply top notch. Moreover, it wasn’t just the rewriting their old songs, but rather making the new ones shining almost as bright as they could many years back. Welcome back, OVERKILL! The only problem with this release seems to be the pure efforts of the pressing plant, as at least the three (out of three) copies of it are really wavy. I believe Nuclear Blast should take care of it.

MERCYFUL FATE forever

It was almost two decades since MERCYFUL FATE came up with their last album, simply called "9". It doesn't really matter if there will ever be another one or not, in any case this one is great enough to be the worthy end of their career. Its the classic MERCYFUL FATE from the first to the last note, in every riff and every song. Moreover, this new Metal Blade reissue on high quality heavy vinyl have an outstanding sound courtesy of Patrick W. Engel which did the special vinyl mastering for this release.