DEATH ANGEL
Killing Season
(Nuclear Blast)

IMPALED
The Last gasp
(Willowtip)

THE HEX DISPENSERS
S/T
(Alien Snatch)

BLUNDERBUSS
S/T
(Escape Artist)

SAVIOURS
Into Abaddon
(Kemado)

WAR FROM A HARLOTS
MOUTH
Transmetropolitan 

(Lifeforce)

SYNAESTHESIA
The Requiem Reveries

(Vendlum)

MORE REVIEWS

The Requiem Reveries is a three way split of technological extremes. First up is Havoc Unit, the Finnish industrial heads of whom I had reviewed h+IV; a full-length that truly did not engaged me enough because I found it a bit too much on the standard industrial metal side. There were traces of Sepultura on some of the guitar work, which did not convinced me fully, but here Havoc Unit (actually billed as Havok Unit with a K) actually presents us its first song ever, which comes off as way more industrial, way more extreme and corrosive and way more intense than the material included in h+IV. “With Discipline Upon Mankind” is IDM cross pollinated with high tech metal; a killer track of sheer frenetism and relentless rapidness. With samples of some sort of political propaganda on top and prominent programming as icing this band seemed to have found a militaristic niche at their start. Two remixes of the same song follow, and unless you are really into modern industrial music with rock as an afterthought I would not recommend either.

AndOceans was the band that died in 2005 and during the process spawned Havoc Unit,  and their track included here (“”Yerushalayim Erez Haqodes”) was their last ever. This is certainly more simplistic and typical blackened metal. Not black metal per se, as in Norwegian metal. No ghostly and necro shrieks, or silly orchestrations on the side. On the contrary, AndOceans sound quite beefy with big, simple guitars, inconspicuous keyboard work, and long growling vocals. You can almost hear a more industrial band fighting its way out of AndOceans, and the move was certainly the correct move, as the sole track presented here is quite lackluster.  Tailing it, are two long remixes of the song (I am not even going to try to type that title again), and like I said above, unless you are really into modern ‘ambient’ music, with rock as an afterthought I would not recommend either.

The last track comes from The Sin:Decay, a side project from a member of both AndOceans and Havok Unit, and you are going to have to pull out the ghoulish make up and those huge boots you bought at your local Hot Topic for this one. The Sin:Decay make the whole gothic industrial metal thing quite melodically, and on their way would like to put some vampire moves on you. At least that’s what it sounds like to me, the vocals are quite vampiric, dude sounds all deep and charming and has some rather generic guitars backing him up, which I am guessing is quite alright for fans of the type. I kind of pass, The Sin:Decay really do very little for me.