106th part of the short reviews.
MIDNIGHT DICE – Hypnotized
Year: 2020
Label: Underground Power Records
Rating: 7,6 / 10
Here we have a mini-album from the US Heavy Metal band with female vocals. Each member of MIDNIGHT DICE has a fairy rich list of participations in good underground metal bands, both classical and extreme. I will not list them, since there are too many. The style of MIDNIGHT DICE is quite simple; there are no intricate 6-guitar compositions or huge acoustic interludes during which you forget what the song was about. Chopped riffs, "squares“, good solos in the right places, as well as bright sound, excellent vocals and the soulful aura of the 80s - that's what "Hypnotized" has to offer. The song "Starblind" is a one hundred percent hit!
SLAVIA – Echo pradawnej wiary
Year: 2023
Label: Werewolf Promotion
Rating: 6 / 10
The fact that Polish musicians continue to support paganism and convey the spirit of their land through metal is good. The bad thing is that it does not work successfully in some forms. For example, the young SLAVIA project, which sings on themes as old as Poland itself, sounds so intense that it seems it is about to burst like a stretched string. Even during interludes. And it's kind of hard for me to understand how all this fits in with the “revival of the Slavic faith". The band NORTH, for example, could allow itself non-stop blasting, as its sound breathed deep antiquity. SLAVIA sounds very modern, standard, and most of the music of the project can also be the basis for both evil Pagan metal or Orthodoxal Black Metal. I did not find anything interesting here, although it is clear that the man worked really hard, I give him his due.
FROSTY TORMENT – Death in Icy White
Year: 2022
Label: Stronghold Music
Rating: 6,4 / 10
FROSTY TORMENT also originates from Poland. I noticed this project because Tern drew the cover for it. Obviously, this is a solo work recorded at a home studio, since everything sounds pretty crappy, and the rhythm is set by a drum machine. FROSTY TORMENT copes with its simple task - to create an image of suffering and death among the ruthless glaciers. The music of the project is very outdated (in a bad way), but unlike the above-described SLAVIA, where everything is done much better, it more or less works.
GOATKRAFT – Prophet of Eternal Damnation
Year: 2023
Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Rating: 7 / 10
I've already written about GOATKRAFT once. This Norwegian band is shamelessly acting as a substitute for BLACK WITCHERY while the latter are doing hell knows what. This time, the Norwegians made themselves a PROCLAMATION-style cover, but otherwise the essence has not changed. Of course, GOATKRAFT doesn't have half the talent and that animalistic, innate feeling of trueness, which is inherent in BLACK WITCHERY, but, as they say, if there are no fish, a mushroom is also good. The guys do their goat business diligently. My claim remains the same, and it concerns the vocalist/guitarist. Damn it, start ROARING already, make it a total fucking INFERNO OF SACRED DESTRUCTION instead of some half-assed eternal damnation!
VÖMITT – Speed Metal Shock
Year: 2023
Label: self-release
Rating: 7,5 / 10
Finally, about eternal values. The young Romanian duo VÖMITT released their debut EP "Speed Metal Shock" a year ago. What could it be? Dirty, grimy, soot-stained speedy metal about tits and Satan, of course! For some reason, I got the impression that the guys didn't create this record for too long, but everything turned out great. I would especially like to note the play of bass guitar tone, the simplest technique that we remember from “Die in Fire”, and mandatory for this style. With it, even a modest Romanian band can stand next to BATHORY and VENOM for a few minutes, and without it, shit like MIDNIGHT most often turns out. Romanians decided to be VÖMITT, not shit, and it was the right choice!