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Old Head
Maximum Rock
2012
Full Length
At War With False Noise Records
Heavy Metal/Hard Rock

American heavy metal/hard rock band Old Head promises to bring back the attitude of 70s heavy metal and thrash metal with their debut full length album, Maximum Rock, a promising title indeed, despite the responsibilities and expectations that come with it. Boasting among its ranks is also Brutal Truth drummer Richard Hoak, further upping the expectations.

The album starts off pretty neatly, with the Jethro Tull cover, Fat Man, and the energy that is present in the band is immediately apparent to the…

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Deadborn
Mayhem Maniac Machine
2012
Full Length
Apostasy Records
Technical Death Metal

Germany as a fertile land for excellent extreme metal is evident, from being the birthplace of what is now known as the Teutonic style of thrash metal, to the aggressive black metal scene with the aggressive bands that spew forth from the country. Technical death metal has also found its place in the country, with bands like Obscura and Necrophagist hailing from the country. Deadborn is not a newcomer to the technical death metal genre either, featuring 2 ex-members of Necrophagist, and this year sees the band…

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Electrocution
Inside the Unreal
1993/2012 (Reissue)
Full Length
Contempo Records/GoreGoreCords (Reissue)
Death Metal

The early 90s was a good time for metal in general, with the rise of pioneering American death metal bands such as Death, Atheist and Obituary. Apart from the rising death metal genre in America, other regions were experiencing this growth at the same time, and Electrocution hails from Italy, with their debut (and sole) full length album, Inside the Unreal, originally released way back in 1993 as death metal has begun to go into its mature stages.

It is perhaps not surprising then that the…

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SIgh
In Somniphobia
2012
Full Length
Candlelight Records
Avant-Garde/Black Metal

Japan's Sigh is a rather eccentric band. Other than the obsession with having their release titles' first letters match S-I-G-H in that order, there is also the musical style that the band plays in - one that is ever-changing and hard to classify. Ever since my first exposure to the band in the form of Hangman's Hymn I was hooked, with the surprises that were kept in store in all their releases. While Hangman's Hymn featured bombastic orchestral and symphonic elements, 2010's Scenes from Hell saw the band heading…

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Agruss
Morok
2012
Full Length
Code666 Records
Atmospheric Black/Death Metal

With a name and album artwork as such, it is easy for one to mistake Ukraine's Agruss for an atmospheric black metal band that plays depressive and melancholic music in the veins of what French bands such as Alcest have crafted. However, the band goes on to prove that they are capable of playing music in that style and more on their brand new album, Morok.

The intro of album opener Damnation continues giving listeners that impression, with the sound of wind and water gushing at the background and…

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Revel in Flesh
Deathevokation
2012
Full Length
FDA Rekotz
Death Metal

Germany's Revel in Flesh is another of those bands that display how far-reaching the influence of Swedish death metal is, with their debut full length album, Deaethevokation. From that razor sharp classic Swedish death metal guitar tone to the riffing patterns, and what Bloodbath calls the "Stockholm beat" on Culpa et Inferna, Deathevokation is a nice homage to the founders of Swedish death metal such as Entombed and the likes. But unlike the wave of newer Swedish death metal bands such as Entrails, Revel in Flesh's Deathevokation has…

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Desultor
Masters of Hate
2012
Full Length
Abyss Records
Progressive Metal

Sweden has been spitting out a large wave of bands reviving old school Swedish death metal in the veins of Entombed and Nihilist in recent times, and so receiving Desultor's debut full length album, Masters of Hate left me slightly apprehensive, but the space-themed album artwork and futuristic band logo gave me some hope of this being different from the typical Swedish offering, and finally getting around to listening to this album was a fortunately surprising experience.

Just like the crisp and futuristic album artwork, the music on…

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Cavus
Fester and Putrefy
2010
Full Length
Listenable Records
Black Metal

Finland's Cavus in 2009 crashed out of nowhere with their self-released debut self-titled EP. A year later, the band has signed to Listenable Records and release their debut full length release, Fester and Putrefy. Finnish black metal has often been characterised by the raw and cold sound exemplified by bands like Sargeist and Satanic Warmaster, but already evident from 2009's Cavus, Cavus aims to bring in a more aggressive touch to their black metal.

Opening track Sea of Tongues almost sounds as if the band had recorded this…

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Carnivora
Asian Tribe
2011
Full Length
Independent
Death/Thrash Metal

The Thailand underground has been brewing in recent years, with numerous high quality releases that have been unleashed over the years seeing the bands fusing elements of traditional Thai music with extreme metal, such as on Surrender of Divinity's debut album Oriental Hell Rhythmics. While the former present their art in the form of raw black metal, Carnivora takes a different approach with their debut full length album, Asian Tribe, with even the title displaying a certain oriental pride by the band.

Asian Tribe opens with a slow, yet crushing…

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Cold Colours
The Great Depression
2011
Full Length
Sleaszy Rider Records
Atmospheric Death/Gothic Metal

American band Cold Colours has been around since 1995, but they have remained relatively low profile, despite the constantly shifting lineup, with only a handful of release to date. Apart from that, the usage of the British spelling of the band name also initially led me to think that this was a British band, so it was definitely surprising to find out that this was in fact an American band. The Great Depression is the band's first full length release in more than 5 years.…