WinterRealm - Twilight

WinterRealm is a black metal band from the USA. This is their CD, Twilight.


The album starts off with a somewhat black metal ambient track, it's an ok track, but kind of long and boring, not too great of a start. But if you keep listening, the second song, Perdition (The White Light" hits you with a dark, cold black metal riff, and it, unlike most black metal, really does give me a feeling of ice, cold and desolation. Not a lot of black metal can actually do that. The track also mixes in some synths as well, this is an exeptional, beautiful song. Next one, Winter and the Spring, is slower. Good. I like down-tempo black metal. The song, like the one before it, give a landscape, it grabs at you. The next song, Fractal, takes you out of the trance of the songs before it. It's an ambeint/industrial track with a simple beat from a synth. It's ok, but I'd like it better if it were only a 45 second interlude. With the next one, Autumn's Gate, we get back into the real music again. The song is my second favorite on this. It gives me the same feeling as Burzum does. Full of wonder and darkness. I absolutely love winding songs like this one, this will take you on a fucking journey. The last track, Memories in Crimson Haze, is my favorite track on the album. It has a clean guitar picking an arpeggio while a distorted guitar behind it plays one of the best melodies I've heard in black metal. Captivating, melancholc, but also that feeling of wonder and hope is there. I don't understand why a just decent track like Fractal was four minutes long yet this masterpeice is only 2:30.

The thing that I have to mention is the vocals. The vocals do nothing for this album. They don't add to the music at all, but they don't take away either, I think the album would be better with proper screaming or insturmental. The vocals are not too great, but they don't take away anything from the atmosphere of the album.

All in all, this is a great peice of art. I love it. It has quite a few flaws, but it manages to take me on a little journey and make me feel good. Get this. =]

Vomit Trough - It's Grind!

Vomit Trough is a death/grind band from the USA and I believe this is their debut EP called "It's Grind". When I first see the CD, I wasn't expecting that much, just some cool noisy grind, when I pop it into my computer to listen to, within about 30 seconds I realized it was a lot better than what I had expected. It fucking hits you with an awesome bass intro to "Stained By Stench" and then speeds up with a kick ass riff that is fast as hell. The vocals then kick in, and are a raw yelling style, which I like. Something I would like to point out is how fast this album is, but it is still catchy, I can hear and remember the riffs easily, and it is also somewhat technical, and great musicianship. Throughout the whole listen, it doesn't get boring, they manage always to keep things blasting but also keep things very interesting. This is near perfect grind guitar, really kickass. The bass in this album is great too, it has a few solos, and I fucking love bass solos! Drum machine in this album is pretty good, has a bit of variety in the beats, not just constant blasting, so they did a pretty good job with the drummachine. The vocals are cool, just kind of shouting like an 80's death/thrash vocalist. I like it, I just wish there was a bit more variety, maybe some growling and screaming along with the yells. Also, my only other complaint is there is not enough slow riffs or grooves, I love midpaced and slow brutality, this would be even better if it had some groove riffs.

In concusion, this is an above average death/grind EP, very enjoyable, fucking kickass grind, very little flaws, and I definitly reccomend it to any grind fans. 91/100. http://www.myspace.com/vomittroughgrind