Kalmah - 12 Gauge

The last time I heard Kalmah before this album was probably 3 years ago. I remember them sounding very similar to other melo death acts, which I was checking out at that time, like Children of Bodom, Dark Tranquility and Norther.

12 Gauge sounds very different. And at times, I feel they have gone moved from their melo death roots to create a very good album. I tried doing a track by track review of the album and it looked very nasty indeed. There were a lot of negative points when I dissected each track. However, as a whole, this is one of the albums of the year.

I'll post my track by track review anyway. (Again, I repeat, this may look very critical and make the album sound ordinary, but it is a very good album)

• Rust Never Ends: Very good track to start things off on the album. Some decent change of tempo. Unconventional solo for a melo death track.
• One of Fail: Fast paced. Keyboards lend that extra bit of fullness. Excellently backs up the solo also.
• Bullets are Blind: A very good riff to start. Keyboard is very subtle and lets the guitars be prominent. Excellent change of tempo in the middle. Again, an unconventional solo. Starts off like a thrash/metal core solo before moving to the melo death tone. The riff remains the same as at the start. Energetic drumming too.
• Swampwar: Sounds more like a black metal track at the beginning before moving to a folkish tune. Has some viking metal touch too. Definitely the song where they have experimented with some styles. Again, the solo. Very non melodeath type.
• Better Not to Tell: Keyboards are a little prominent again. Very atmospheric. Now, this is a melo death solo! Could've done away with the fade out ending though.
• Hook the Monster: Harmonics in the riff! Decent solo. Somehow, it seeemed rushed towards the end to get in sync with the drums and the riff. The keyboard solo was decent. A little CoB-ish though. The bridge at around 2:40 is very catchy. Chorus is good too.
• Godeye: Black metal beginning.  Double bass and very dark riffs. There are loose ends here and there. Riffs seem to be playing the catching game with the drums. Not good that. Nice solo and drums are spot on here. If there was one weak song, though, this is it. Just because of what I said earlier.
• 12 Gauge: Acoustic guitars to start off. The melo electric guitar lead is very good. The switch to heaviness could have been better. Not the way anyone would've expected it to progress. This is more of Gothic style. Keyboards is very prominent. But helps the atmosphere too. Lots of tone changes.
• Sacramentum: Sweet riff. Very lovely. Scale changes are Ok-ish. Could've been better.Excellent acoustic interlude around 3:30. Keyboard solo. Better than a few of the guitar solos in the album.
• Cold Sweat (Thin Lizzy Cover): Done justice to it.

Definitely worth checking out.

I'll give the album 8/10

http://www.myspace.com/kalmah

Vektor - Black Future

If you are someone who likes Thrash Metal and the technicalities of a progressive/technical death metal band, you are most likely to love this album.

Excellent screaming vocals, neatly executed signature changes, brilliant riffs etc mark the album.

The track to watch out for : Forests of Legend. The bridge section reminded me of the Indian act, Motherjane. :)

http://www.myspace.com/vektor

Saturnus - Veronika Decides to Die

I read about this album on Dimensional Bleedthrough. Epic in every sense of thw word. Doom metal at its trippy best. Works best with lights off and earphones plugged in.

Very atmospheric. Excellent mixing.

In his own words, it Fucking owns!