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Meltgsnow [Singapore]
Black Penance
2010
Full Length
Gothic Metal

Finally having a stable lineup, Meltgsnow is ready to unleash their masterpiece, an album 7 years in the making, Black Penance. With a 7 year gap (and a delay in 2009) in between the first album, Greed for Insanity and this release, expectations are high among fans, especially those who have been following the band since their beginnings. Fortunately, for fans of Meltgsnow since the Greed for Insanity days, be prepared to be blown away by Black Penance.

Right from the opening track, Through the Ashes of Providence (which is a spoken track), Meltgsnow lays down and introduces the haunting atmosphere throughout the entire album.

The versatility of the band cannot be overstated, as the band displays their various influences throughout the entire album. From Lord Insanity’s insane vocal range (from clean melodious singing, to sinister baritone scales, to growls, to high pitched shriek, you name it), to the guitarist’s (Zach) display of their love for harmonics on certain tracks (Betrayal and Devil’s Mind Ride), to Adrian’s insane double pedal-fuelled drumming and (ex) bassist Haiku's heavy bass tone (Black Penance) and melodic bass lines, Meltgsnow is a tight unit, never leaving a single hanging and making sure every detail is attended to.

Slow and fast songs are intertwined. Even on slow tracks such as Lost Your Messiah and Black Penance, a dark atmosphere is always present, giving the listener a foreboding and haunting feeling. For example, on Black Penance the heavy palm-muting, the fuzzy bass tone, the slow and heavy drumming provides a nice and heavy atmosphere. Even Lord Insanity’s screaming towards the end of the track is infused with emotions, every note picked out carefully.

The album ends of with Love for My Seraph, with a short duet towards the end of the track between Lord Insanity and a female vocalist (Candice de Rozario) after the break, following the madness in the first part of the song, letting the album finally end beautifully after a roller-coaster ride of emotions.

The influences from fellow gothic acts are obvious but, infused with Meltgsnow’s personal touch to the music, it makes Black Penance an exciting and interesting journey even for the average rock music listener. Listeners who are looking for a shred-fest take note though; Black Penance is anything but one. Guitar solos while tastefully added into the songs does not boast mindless wankery by the guitarists. Instead, they choose to play with their effects (ranging from chorus to reverbs during the mastering process, and of course also thanks to guitarist Zach’s perfectionist instincts kicking in!)

While the overall sound of Meltgsnow has matured, fans of their insanity fret not, as their insanity level has definitely intensified as well. Can’t wait to hear what this album sounds like already? Catch Meltgsnow at Baybeats this August then!

My picks: Betrayal, Empty Sky, Lost Your Messiah

Thanks to Pulverised Records and Meltgsnow for giving us this exclusive early preview!

(c) Heavy Metal Tribune 2010

Xanadoo [SINGAPORE]
Black. Death. Grind. Shit!
2010
Full Length
Thrash Metal/Crossover

Black. Death. Grind. Shit! is Xanadoo’s latest output and the band’s debut full-length album. Consisting of 8 tracks, this album clocks under 30 minutes, of which 6 are tracks that are re-recorded versions of their previous 2 demos, Blood is Dirt and This Demo is Shit.

The album opens with an instrumental track, World of Xanadoo, which is one of the 2 new tracks on this album. The other new song is Subterranean Hemorrhoid which begins with a slick guitar solo, somehow the riffs after that reminds me of some of Iron Maiden’s riffs (something like 2 Minutes to Midnight) with Xanadoo’s own touch.

As with the previous albums, their lyrics are tongue-in-cheek, often having other meanings behind what may seem to be random ramblings. Production quality is very polished, if you are a fan of the previous 2 demos mentioned (Blood is Dirt, This Demo is Shit), it might take a bit of getting used to. Personally, on first listen the guitars sounded too loud, almost drowning out the vocals compared to the previous recordings where everything was loud, but just nice.

Zak’s vocals are reminiscent of Kreator’s Mille Petrozza (at least to me!). If you have already heard This Demo is Shit, the performance on this album is an advancement of his vocal styling, on some songs it sounds almost like he’s spitting out the words in fury! Some of the solos on the songs are also changed and improvised, adding a different touch compared to the originals.

Another thing that was noted as well was how the re-recorded songs sounded like sped up versions of the original songs (most almost shortened by half a minute!). For example, Blood is Dirt’s original run length was 4:06 but on the album it clocks at only 3:36. The speedy guitar solos, bass lines and drumming all blend into a fury of music that is this Black. Death. Grind. Shit!

I particularly loved the album art and visual concepts, which was a cut-and-paste one; somewhat similar to the album art concept of This Demo is Shit, only taken to another level. Throughout the album, lyrics written by the band were torn out and pasted on a black background, such as Shiva’s trademark Death logo on the Plague of Mankind’s lyrics, sometimes making it hard to find each of the band member’s mark on my copy of the album (signed in silver marker)!

Overall a fun and enjoyable listen, highly recommended for fans of crossover/thrash metal and of course fans of Xanadoo’s previous outputs. If you haven’t heard of Xanadoo, then as the band mentions, "Get this album because it contains songs from both our previous demos!" But if you want to hear for yourself how they have progressed, grab both their previous demos as well!

Xanadoo on MySpace.

Originally written for Heavy Metal Tribune

(c) Heavy Metal Tribune 2010

It’s often difficult to write reviews for gigs where there are bands that are perhaps not up to par with the rest of the lineup, but fortunately this one is going to be easy for me.

Black Revelations 2010 was held yesterday at Home Club, organized by Trippy Factory, a gig organizer for indie and metal music.

The crew was there around 3.30pm, had a nice little chat with people from the Thai black metal band Dei Tetra and subsequently headed down for a round of coffee and BAK CHOR MEE! (Which they found pretty good!)

At 6:30pm, doors were finally open and the first band was up, after a 1 hour delay. But it was all worth it as opener Hallow were all prepared to rock the house. Playing a style of hard rock/heavy metal, they were just a taste of what was to come after them. I particular liked how the vocalist utilized a harmonizer to create harmonizing for his vocals at certain parts of the song, though it provided somewhat of a comical relief when he forgot to turn it off when talking to the crowd (which definitely wasn’t a bad thing!). One thing that I noticed though was how much gain there was on the guitarist’s tone while on rhythm and it made their songs pretty hard to follow (since I’m pretty much a guitar person), though the solos were extremely clear and addictive!

Evil Singing Pandas were up after Hallow, featuring gig organizer Remy. ESP got me especially curious after the first few songs that I heard from them, their Year of the Metal Tiger MCD (which is unfortunately not for sale according to Remy, for the physical edition). They played music in the vein of old school rock and heavy metal, including a cover from Led Zeppelin. I loved how Remy moved to the music he was playing, displaying his enthusiasm and his passion throughout his set. The drummer also showed his versatility through fusing Bossanova beats into one of the songs. They ended their set with another (instrumental) cover from viking/death metal band, Mithotyn. To the blank faces when Remy announced that it was going to be a cover from Mithotyn, Remy says, "well, screw you very much!"”

Right after ESP, G.O.D. was up. Having been in existence for around 5 years, G.O.D. definitely had the charisma to pull off a good show. This was when the first signs of life among the crowd became apparent, with people starting to move to the front of the stage as the band was setting up. With the first note struck, heads started banging and hair started flying all over the place. Have to say that I was impressed with vocalist and guitarist Calvin’s vocals, who’s growls and shrieks stayed very constant throughout the set.

At the end of G.O.D.’s set, we spied a silver man going up on stage, who turned out to be axe-wielder for Deus ex Machina, Ryan. With Mithun not in Singapore, they had a session vocalist to stand in. Ryan’s stage (or off-stage?) antics certainly raised many eyebrows (or perhaps I just haven’t been to enough DEM gigs). Halfway through the set, he asked the audience in front of him to “siam”, leaving us to wonder what was going on. He then proceeded to jump into the audience and pretty much stayed there for most of the set. Though his constantly unpredictably swinging headstock certainly posed a threat to the audiences’ faces, the crowd certainly enjoyed what they saw.

Finally, Thai black metal band Dei Tetra took the stage. I have to say the band looks totally different on-stage with their corpse paint and off-stage. Emperor Viperon and King Aboroth had blood constantly spewing out of their mouths throughout their set, while vocalist Countess Asithara charms the audience with her shrieky vocals and headbanging, and her reminder for the crowd that “if your heads are still on your shoulders, I want you to all headbang till they are not on your shoulders anymore!” Perhaps the highest point of their set was their cover of One by One, when King Aboroth and Countess Asithara switched roles, him taking over vocals and her taking over bass (which definitely reminded me of ChthoniC’s Doris!). It was overheard that this song is a special one, just for the crowd at Singapore!

Rudra took the stage next. Starting with the crowd favourite, Aryaputra, was definitely a right choice as the instant the first note was struck, heads once again started banging. They played a selection of songs throughout their discography, including an as-of-yet titled track from their upcoming album, Brahmavidya: Immortal I. When it was drawing to a close frontman Kathir asked the soundman if they had time for more than 1 last song. The exchange was hilarious and provided much entertainment to the crowd:

Kathir: “Soundman, how many songs do we have left to play?”
Soundman shows a single finger, showing that they only had time for 1 last song.
Crowd: “NOOOOOOOO!”
Kathir to soundman: “Are you sure we only have 1 song left?”
Soundman nods his head.
Crowd: “NOOOOOOOO!”
Kathir to soundman: “Can we negotiate?”
Soundman shakes his head.

Kathir bargains anyway, asking for 3 more songs with the soundman initially insisting that they could play 2 songs at max, but finally gave in for them to play 3 last songs. The highlight was probably the last track, where Kathir gave the crowd a choice between The Pathless Path to the Knowable Unknown or Aham Brahmasmi (to which the crowd picked Pathless Path, of course!).

Lastly, we had death metal band Absence of the Sacred take the stage. Initially it was a shitty turnout since it was already getting late and the crowds went out after Rudra’s set. But when they launched into their first song, Era of the Apostate, crowds started pouring in from the outside. Let’s face it, their set wasn’t exactly excellent though the musicians on stage were definitely good. Somehow frontman Mike almost always faces technical problems for the gigs that I attend (the last time it was at the Soundcrusher gig at House of Rock). Towards the end of their second song and halfway through their third song, his guitar suddenly went off. However, the crowd response was extremely supportive, headbanging and throwing horns throughout to show their support. I have to say though, I preferred it when the vocals on the track which he had to only do vocals when the guitar was down. They played 2 new songs and also threw in a cover which the crowd thoroughly enjoyed.

Overall this gig has been a pleasant experience, one of the better ones at a nice and decent pub venue. Special thanks to Dei Tetra who were extremely nice people and for the nice chat and complimentary autographed copies of the El Fuego EP to the crew.

©2010 Heavy Metal Tribune | Hong Rui

An early Sunday morning, a scorching sun, a hangover, a (almost) dead crowd. Not exactly an ideal combination for a metal band to take the stage for the Baybeats 2010 round 2 auditions.

As frontman Dannie says, "Sunday mornings are for recovery of the hangover from last night."

Read more here! 

Singapore atmospheric black metal band Eibon has been around for 21 years. Having gone through a journey so tough that most bands probably would not survive, they are finally going to release their first full length album in 15 years, entitled "Crudified" this year. I had the privilege to conduct this email interview with Shalwend, mastermind behind the band, to share his experiences.



 Want to read more? Click here.

(c)Heavy Metal Tribune 2010

Being one of the pioneering black/death metal bands out of India (where Bollywood films and music are probably the main entertainment exports), Demonic Resurrection has beaten all odds to become one of the most recognised faces in the Indian extreme metal scene. They have been featured in acclaimed film producer Sam Dunn's documentary, Global Metal, alongside other prominent bands such as Lamb of God and Sepultura. I had the extreme opportunity to conduct this email interview with Sahil "The Demonstealer", vocalist and guitarist of the band.



Read more here!

(c)Heavy Metal Tribune 2010 

Suicide Solution
Shake Well Before Abuse
2009
Full Length
Heavy metal/hard rock

Having been in existence since 1995, Suicide Solution is one of Singapore's oldest (and one of the most well-established) heavy/thrash metal band. Initially started as a heavy/thrash metal band, Suicide Solution began to fuse certain death metal aspects in their sophomore effort, Halloween Holocaust, with the introduction of growls in some of the songs. However, the music remained deeply rooted in old school metal. That led us to wonder how their follow up would sound like...

Click here to read more!

(c)Heavy Metal Tribune 2010 | Hong Rui 

Clarence and Ling from Heavy Metal Tribune had the extreme privilege to do an e-mail interview with Doris Yeh, bassist/leader of Taiwanese black metal band, ChthoniC. In this interview, we get to see Doris’ point of view from matters regarding their music, their image and politics.

 Read more about it at the following link: http://heavymetaltribune.blogspot.com/2010/03/interview-with-chthonic.html