Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Death Metal
Label: Pulverised Records

In Mourning’s newest album is a crushingly heavy but beautifully melodic death metal disc. Bringing in little bits of doom, black metal, progressive metal, and straight up rock, I find it hard to find anything bad to say about this album at all.
I’d recommend it for fans of similar fare, such as Opeth, Katatonia, My Dying Bride, and Anathema. Actually, after writing that sentence, I’d say pretty much think Peaceville, and you’ll do fine. It wouldn’t surprise me if Peaceville ended up working with these gents in the future.
8 out of 10.

In Mourning on MySpace.

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Genres: Black Metal, Death Metal
Label: Ibex Moon

Ah… Ibex Moon. Your death metal releases are like comfortable pants. You put them on, and instantly everything is better. Gravehill’s Rites of the Pentagram is no different; granted it’s not pure death to most ears, which is why I’m including black metal as a genre above. It does at times sound like black metal played death, but that is if you’re not familiar with really deep underground old death metal (think Darkthrone’s Soulside Journey for a sometimes similar sound).
This whole album is good, no filler tracks or anything, and after reading some interviews with vocalist Mike Abominator I understand why: he won’t compromise for anything. He reminds me as the kind of guy who would throw a mountain out of his way if he had to.
This is an old school American death metal album, sounding like it could have been recorded in about 1986 to ’89, and I recommend it for fans of Blasphemous, Darkthrone, Death, Carcass, Cardiac Arrest, Lifeless, and well damn near anything that Ibex Moon has put out.
My favorite tracks are “Decibel Ritual”, “Bloodsoaked”, and “The Luciferian Mark”.
8 out of 10.

Gravehill on MySpace.

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Genre: Blackened Death Metal
Label: Dark Descent Records

Adversarial’s blackened death is an intense, snare-filled odyssey of madness. And I like it.
It’s mostly fast-paced with great blasts and really intricate, interesting, and original riffs. Which is not exactly something heard in a lot of metal nowadays. Vocals are somewhat buried, forcing your to listen closer to hear them. They’re a mix between gutteral death growls and the occasional black metal scream, and really cool sounding.
There isn’t much else folks; Adversarial’s All Idols Fall Before the Hammer kicks ass.
8 out of 10.

Adversarial on MySpace.

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Genres: Deathcore, Death Metal
Label: Rotten Corpse Records

Turkey’s Heretic Soul are a brand new band to me, never even hearing of them until last night. And have I been missing out or what?
Born Into This Plague is a good example of new school thinking melded to an old school genre. The riffs are chunky, chuggy, and of a somewhat technical nature, but there’s still a fair amount of melody going on. It’s like listening to a Swedish band that moved to Florida for a year before writing their album.
The drumming on the album is fast, with some seriously awesome grinds and fills, while the bass and guitar work nicely together to bring not only stuff you can bang your head to, but also stuff that will crush your face if you’re not careful. It’s really heavy sounding stuff. But, the vocalist/guitarist Sarp Keski is definitely the star here. He has a couple different voices that he uses, ranging from a deep gutteral to a deathcore scream, and he’s great at choosing what technique to use to gain maximum impact.
Throw in the fact that these four dudes are barely in their 20′s, and their signed to a small but good American label, I think they’ll soon be in a position where you won’t be able to miss their name.
Favorite songs are “Beyond Hatred”, “Suffering From Existence”, and “Mental Decay”.
8 out of 10.

Heretic Soul on MySpace.

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Genres: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Rock
Labels: Armoury Records, Mystic Production

The second album out of three from Eagle Rock’s package, Black River is a very nice surprise. Especially considering that two of the members are from the Polish blackened death legends Behemoth, and this album is really nowhere near black or death metal.
In fact, it’s pretty much straight up cock rock right out of the pages of AC/DC’s Book of Writing. And damn it is an asskicker of an album. It’s hard, heavy, and pure fun. Lyrically, it’s about drugs, drinking, and fucking, so there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t own this.
8 out of 10.

Black River on MySpace.

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