01 Land Of The Evil Queen
02 Black Crown Dominions
03 In The Inquisition Minds Of A New Era
04 Sick Tyranny

      The Chileans from Adkan release a demo, where the music itself is the only feature worth mentioning. The artwork nor the overall sound did satisfy me much to be honest yet the music has something to it. Adkan presents a kind of black metal with that thrashy air to it similar to the gods of Dissection. At the same time it could also grab some critic to it, as for instance "Land Of The Evil Queen" has a part in it that's basically identical to one of Dissection's tracks. "Black Crown Dominions" could well mark the path Adkan might go on with, where as it gets to the ending Ordog sings with clean vocals reminding a bit of Storm... a nice track indeed. "In The Inquisition Minds Of A New Era" goes on as a total, ultra fast black metal with those old school thrash metal riffs. Closing off the demo, comes the "Sick Tyranny" track, which in a way resumes all that the band shows in the previous tracks yet making much sense as a whole. In fact, I guess that's the real direction where Adkan might go with their future releases. In my opinion it sounds to be the best choice, it is the best song on this demo anyway. [- Blasfemo]
http://www.adkan.tk

01 My Judgement Cometh
02 The Swarm, The Hive, The Empire
03 Hell Brigade
04 Hounds On My Trail
05 Battalion Berserk
06 Heavy Metal Wakes The Beast

      As the world seems to be heading to its end there're still bands that try to make the best out of the time that's left. Herald, coming from Estonia, for instance takes pleasure in delivering quite nice heavy metal tracks. Obviously there's been so many heavy metal releases throughout the years that it is hard not to sound at times a bit similar to others from the past and so it happened to this quintet. It sounds good though and that goes very much in favour of these guys. There is quiet a lot of nice riffs and melodies, the tracks are very much easy to lick through and to my surprise they do stick in the listener's mind. Listening through this release, other bands that came to my mind were Iron Maiden, Helloween and Judas Priest to name a few. The vocals are varied and well incorporated into the music and go along very well. Some very catchy choruses that are sure to make the public sing along on any live shows. The guitars have done here a nice job introducing some very nice solos into the whole making it an enjoyable listen. The overall production is clear and sounds really good. One thing that I'd like to see the band put more stress on would be the drumming which personally I found to be a bit too monotonous at times, it could certainly add much more into the songs if there was more passion put into it. Unfortunately, these songs would be much more appreciated a decade or so before they were actually released. Still, for those looking for some heavy metal experience to make the day more bearable, Herald might do the job just right. [- Lord Darnok]
http://www.metal.ee/herald

01 Dead Black Sun
02 Arena's Sky
03 The Hunt
04 The Await
05 Constriction
06 Scream
07 The Way To Love
08 Scorn
09 Where angels Work [bonus]

      Not the easiest release to classify at the first spin. The first track kicks off with a very death metal air to it and that's alright with me. It doesn't sound like a top-shelf release but still, sounds good enough. Then... well, let's say it is mostly a blend of mid paced death metal riffs and drumming with vocals that belong much more to the thrash side of the band. For some reason the vocals on the first track differ lots from the rest. Strange. Anyway, there is lots of thrash metal taking over on "Dead Black Sun", mostly of the older school around the times of early Demolition Hammer, Sadist, Slayer. To be honest, I had to listen to "Dead Black Sun" a few times before being able to say, that it's not a bad debut album at all. It's been a few years since this material has been recorded and unfortunately released only last year after problems with their label at that time, so I assume that some things might have changed within the band for the better. To be honest, I didn't get too satisfied with the sound of this debut, which I think once improved could make a major difference here. There are good songs here and in my opinion "Dead Black Sun" gets only better as it spins its way further down the road. That's why I'd point "The Way To Love", "Scorn" and "Where Angels Work" as my favourites and yes, these tracks kick ass the way I love and are sure to leave goose bumps on you back! [- Lord Darnok]
http://www.homicidehagridden.com/

01 Rottenminded Clerk
02 World War III
03 El Nino Satanicos
04 Rise From Below
05 Demonic Rain
06 Into The Misery

      Surrogoat represents one of those bunch of guys, that decide to play music without knowing at first what scene they'd really like to be part of. Starting off with primitive black metal, through old-school death metal they came up finally with "Landscapes Of Condolence", their second demo which in my opinion speaks pretty well of the band. Six strong tracks of a mix of death and thrash metal with most of the stress put on the death metal part of it. The sound and overall production of this release leaves a whole lot of other full-length releases out there far behind. There is something there though, that doesn't really get through to me. I don't know why, but even though both, the growls and the music are of good quality, there seems to be something missing right where they both are supposed to become one, if you know what I mean. Another thing which I think would fully expose the band's potential would be adding a couple of guitar solos here and there, which could add some kind of spontaneity. Are Surrogoat a good band? Well, telling you they've opened for Behemoth in Estonia back in 2025 should mean something. "Landscapes Of Condolence" is a nice and solid chunk of music, which shows that if they work a bit harder on their future material, there is still to be heard of Surrogoat.
[- Lord Darnok]
http://www.surrogoat.ee

01 Conmemorate The Misery
02 A Cruel Misfortune
03 The Eternal
04 Down
05 The Sombre Light Of Isolation
06 Black Serenity
07 Crimson Sacrifice
08 Harmony Of Dissonance
09 Remembrance Scars
10 All Hope Lost

      Melody and darkness is what these Australians serve on their debut. What The Eternal does is mainly walking the path already marked by footsteps of such greats as Paradise Lost, Sentenced, The Black League or Anathema to mention a few. Once again does Firebox surprise the scene with a band of real good quality and great musicianship, great production, cover artwork and it feels damn good. There's a video clip that's been done for "Down" which goes somewhere along Paradise Lost's "One Second", but still there are also ultra depressive moments throughout the album, which show very much for instance in Remembrance Scars, where Darren White himself (ex-Anathema, ex-Blood Divine) makes a guest appearance on the vocals. Even though one could think of "The Sombre Light Of Isolation" not as of "The Best Doom Metal Album Of All Times" yet it is a release of high standards and definitely not to be missed by any fan of this particular music genre and not only. [- Blasfemo]
http://www.the-eternal.com

01 Funeral Midnight Winds
02 The Hidden Path Beyond The Stars
03 The Unholy Glory Of The Kings
04 The Eternal Curse
05 Ancient Times
06 The Fifth One
07 Suicide In The Garden Of The Dead
08 Walking Through The Emptiness

       This is an individual project of Daemongorgon, who serves a pretty pleasant piece of uncompromising black metal. For those fanatics of the old Burzum and releases like Darkthrone's "Transilvanian Hunger" will probably ejaculate after going through this extreme dose of speed and aggression. If you belong to those who call true black metal acts as Dimmu Borgir o Cradle Of Filth... well, this is not one of your bands... The Fifth One (Chile) is meant only for those ultra extreme black metal maniax. Personally, I enjoyed a lot tracks as "The Unholy Glory Of the Kings" and "The Fifth One". One thing that I found real good about this release is the length of the majority of the tracks, not exciding the three-minute mark, which works good with this kind of music. Still, there is "Suicide In The Garden Of The Dead" for instance, a slow and apocalyptic cut - insane, I would say. The release finishes with "Walking Through The Emptiness" which basically consists of twenty minutes of ultra monotonous piano play in the vein of newer Burzum. [- Blasfemo]
http://www.thefifthone.cjb.net