Orpheus – Bleed The Way [Review]

Orpheus are a five member Melodic Death Metal band based in the Australian city of Melbourne in Victoria. Formed in 2007, Orpheus lyrical themes are centred around inner struggles, society, mentality and fantasy.

Orpheus’ former keyboardist Sasha Braganca seems to be an Indian or Latina.

“Bleed The Way” is Orpheus first full-length album after their 2009 EP “So It Begins…”. “Bleed The Way” was released on Friday, February 18, 2011 by Rock Star Records. “Bleed The Way” is true to its name and it’s a brutal hammering down of your senses, though, in a nice metallic way. The album opens with a powerful “Neath [The Shadows Of The Monolith] which is a killer track and is bound to make you get off from your chair and headbang your way into oblivion.

The vocal duties have been shared in a good and equal measure by Chris Themelco, Joao and Milky. What’s wonderful about the rest of the songs that follow “Neath [The Shadows Of The Monolith] is they showcase the vocal range and abilities of the above-mentioned bands and it also doesn’t result in you getting bored after a song or two, because the vocals sound bland and the music jarring.

“Bleed The Way” is a lengthy album clocking at 45 minutes and 4 seconds. It’s quite quaint, because Orpheus’ music is great with all its fury and the way the lyrics and music have been composed. “Bleed The Way” is heavy as hell and if your ear bleeds, you know whom to blame, Orpheus, but obvious. The another thing is as you enjoy one track after the another and think “Bleed This Way” is about to end, you are in for a shock, there are more songs after the current one. In total, “Bleed The Way” has 10 songs, but I got a feeling that “Bleed The Way” had much more!

My picks from “Bleed The Way” are “Common Enemy”, “Face Of Vengeance”, “Societies Of Steel” and the album ender “Grin Of Madness”. And by the way, Orpheus was some musician probably in the Greek/Roman mythology who is told not to look back at his wife, who is walking behind him and returning to Earth from some other worldly place.

Line-Up

Chris Themelco – Guitar, Vocals

Joao – Guitar Vocals

Milky – Bass, Vocals

Matt Themelco – Drums

Keswick Gallagher – Keyboards

Orpheus Website http://www.orpheusofficial.com

The Right Hand Path’s Rating – 10/10

Violator – Annihilation Process [Review]

Violator is one of my favourite Thrash Metal bands from Brazil, along with their compatriots Comando Nuclear, Stormblood and The Ordher. While I’m talking about Brazilian Metal bands, another compatriot of Violator, Slaver comes to my mind. If my memory serves me well and right, Slayer frontman Tom Araya’s brother plays in Slaver. What a wonderful coincidence it is, Tom Araya was born in Chile and is settled in the United States Of America, while his brother plays with a Brazilian Metal band, Latin America doesn’t seem to leave this Metal Brothers.

“Poisoned By Ignorance”, wow, what a superb track with its fantastic voiceover and military parade style drumbeats and killer guitar riffs, indeed, a fantastic album opener. The trail of destruction has begun and it shows no signs of stopping and your ears and senses get bludgeoned by the harsh and menacing song “Give Me Destruction Or Give Me Death”.

Violator prove their forte in Metal and why Brazilian Metal, in case you’re hearing it for the first time is a treasure trove of Metal madness awaiting for you, it’s like asking “Can I Play Madness With You?” with songs like “Deadly Apocalypse”.

Overall, Violator have done a great job at their “Annihilation Process” and my favourite songs from this album would be “Deadly Sadistic Experiments” and “You’ll Come Back Before Dying”. Andrei Bouzikov has made the album cover art.

There as 7 good deeds, 7 deadly sins, 7 sages in the ruler of Heaven, Lord Indra’s court in Hinduism, 7 is the number of years Lord Shani, the Hindu god known for his Wrath, stays in a person’s life when Lord Shani decides to punish them and 7 lethal and metal songs are in “Annihilation Process”.

Line-Up

Pedro Arcanjo [Poney] – Bass & Vocals

Pedro Augusto [Capaça] – Guitars

David Araya – Drums

Marcio Cambito [Cambito] – Guitars

Violator’s Website http://www.violatorthrash.com  

The Right Hand Path’s Rating – 10/10

Exhumation Asks You To Consider This ;-D

Indian Brutual Death Metal band have come with up a strange proposition, they are asking “you” to consider this?!!

They are asking you to “Consider This”, their first full-length album since their creation in 2002 on March 7, 2011.

While you figure out how to get your copy of  “Consider This”, consider reading The Right Hand Path’s interview with the Exhumation frontman Aditya “The Count Of The Old Bombay” Mehta on The Right Talk.

The Demented Man’s Creations

Indian Thrash Metal band Dementra’s  frontman Brian C.D’Souza [also involved in other music projects like Denied Thrice, EgoExit and Brian D'Souza] has started his own creative solutions company under the name of Spammoth.

Spammoth is apart from his multimedia company called Green Ozone.

And Brian C.D’Souza has also started his own record label called EarEnd. If all this wasn’t enough Brian C.D’Souza has started his own food blog, For Cough.

Last, but not the least, Dementra is offering some of their songs from their discography for free download at this location.

Deathspell Omega – Paracletus [Review]

It’s a matter of life and death, existence and end, creation and destruction, it’s the mighty Deathspell Omega from the land of Marie Antoinette to the Nation which gave the names Left wing and Right wing, it’s France, home of the Black Metal legions.

Finally a full-length album from the House of Deathspell Omega after their 2007 full-length album “Fas – Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum”.

“Paracletus” is full of Black Metal hatred, vengeance and dark fury that make Black Metal so avant-garde, enamouring and supposedly elite. To quote a former member of the Norwegian Black Metal behemoth Gorgoroth “Black Metal is Satanic music made by Satanists”.

Mikko Aspa’s vocals have an eerie feel to it and the rest of Deathspell Omega too help in unleashing hell on you. Pure headbanging delight, Black Metal never sounded so good. From “Epiklesis I” to “Phosphene” to “Have You Beheld The Fevers?”, Deathspell Omega reiterate why they are a Black Metal Force to Reckon and what Black Metal should be like, and thereby, setting a Benchmark for other Black Metal bands to emulate.

Deathspell Omega is a tightly knit brotherhood of Metal brought together by the Forces of Darkness, Theology and Philosophy under Our Holy Father, Satan, who Reigns in Hell. There is no doubt after I finished listening to “Paracletus” as to why the album is one of the definitive albums to come out in 2010 and I’m sure Deathspell Omega’s metal brethren in the French Black Metal legions would be proud of it.

“Paracletus” was released on Monday, November 8, 2010 by SOM and Norma Evangelium Diaboli.

There is no concrete information on the band members, only rumours. The main one is that Hasjarl and Shaxul teamed up to form Deathspell Omega after the split of Hirilorn in 1998. Mikko would have eventually joined the band on vocals in 2003 for the recording of Deathspell Omega’s second full-length album “Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice” released in 2004. Mikko Aspa then replaced Shaxul who left because of the growing Orthodox Satanism elements.

Hasjarl is the owner of End All Life Productions and one of the main people behind Norma Evangelium Diaboli. Mikko Aspa is the owner of Northern Heritage Records and Freak Animal Records [Power Electronics record label]. Former vocalist Shaxul, who occasionally plays Drums with Deathspell Omega, is the owner of the France-based Metal record label Legion Of Death Records.

The men behind the Entity known as Deathspell Omega and based in the city of Poitiers in Poitou-Charentes region of France have truly cemented their position in the World of Metal, especially Black Metal since their Alpha [The Beginning] in 1998.

Line-Up

Mikko Aspa – Vocals

Hasjarl – Guitar

Khaos – Bass

Shaxul – Drums

Both Khaos and Shaxul are also members of the Japanese Black Metal/Thrash Metal/Death Metal band Barbatos.

Deathspell Omega’s Website

http://www.myspace.com/deathspellomega

Norma Evangelium Diaboli’s Website http://www.noevdia.com

The Right Hand Path’s Rating – 10/10

Inquisition – Ominous Doctrines Of The Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm

From the land of the Revolutionary Armed Forces Of Colombia [FARC] to the United States Of America, Black Metal band Inquisition have brought Geography back to my mind.

The another band that reminds me of Inquisition’s move from Colombia to the United States Of America is the former Australian Black Metal/Thrash Metal/Death Metal band Deströyer 666 with the band members now based in Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands respectively.

Inquisition was formed in 1988 in the city of Cali in the Colombian area of Valle Del Cauca as a Thrash Metal band and was formerly known as Guillotina [Guillotine].

Inquisition changed their genre from Thrash Metal to Black Metal and today consists of Dagon on Vocals, Guitars and Bass and has been in Inquisition since its formation in 1988. The other half of Inquisition has Incubus, who joined Inquisition in 1996 on the Drums. Incubus was the second drummer after Apolion’s Genocide’s Endhir Xo Kpurtos who was with Inquisition for 1996.

“Ominous Doctrines Of The Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm” is Inquisition fifth full-length album after the 2007 full-length album “Nefarious Dismal Orations”. Inquisition began their career in Metal with “Anxious Death”, their first release, an EP in 1990, two years after Inquisition’s formation. 8 years later, Inquisition’s first full-length album “Into To The Infernal Regions Of The Ancient Cult” saw the Darkness of the World.

Inquisition deliver in your face and gruesome Black Metal in “Ominous Doctrines Of The Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm”, that is hard to ignore. Dimmu Borgir comes to my mind especially their fondness for long names, which is the case with Inquisition too here. Don’t let the long album & song names deter you, they are a gem of Black Metal on their own.

The harsh vocals of Dagon coupled with Incubus beating the hell out of the drums gives a majestic and powerful feel to “Ominous Doctrines Of The Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm”. Right from the first track “Astral Path To Supreme Majesties” to “Upon The Fire Winged Demon” in the middle of the album, Inquisition force your entire attention on their music and I didn’t regret a bit of it.

“Ominous Doctrines Of The Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm” was first released on Friday, November 19, 2010 by No Colours Records. It was released in Latin America on Sunday, October 31, 2010 by Icarus Records and in Europe on Thursday, November 11, 2010 by No Colours Records. Hells Headbangers Records released “Ominous Doctrines Of The Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm” in North America on Tuesday, January 18, 2011.

A5 Digipack CD limited to 1000 copies released by No Colours. Gatefold LP (with poster) released by No Colours on Thursday, December 16th, 2010. Limited to 100 copies on Blue splatter LP, 100 copies on Red LP, 100 copies on White LP & unlimited on Black LP. A White splatter LP edition was released a week later [also limited to 100 copies].

My picks from the album are “Astral Path To Supreme Majesties”, “Command Of The Dark Crown” and “Crepuscular Battle Hymn”.

Line-Up

Dagon – Vocals, Guitars and Bass

Incubus – Drums

No Colours Records Website http://www.no-colours-records.de

The Right Hand Path’s Rating – 10/10

 

Bhayanak Maut – Metastasis [Review]

The terrible guys from Bhayanak Maut are back again with Metastasis. I suggest that they contact the Union Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India; the album cover of Metastasis can be used as the Census of India report’s cover, because it seems best suited for it.

I think Metastasis as something to do with medical science and the devil behind this name for the album might be the Bhayanak Maut guitarist Dr.Aditya Gopinathan Nair, also a psychiatrist, after all he is the only person with a medical science background in the band. The wonderful thing about the Metal bands in India is many of them are interested in or inspired by medical science. Sample some band names, Cranium, Exhumation and God only knows how many other such bands are there in India!

Metastasis is a bone crushing album and a good accompaniment to raising hell. It’s the musical equivalent of a fight wherein you shout down your opponent. The songs to have a funny name, “Chakna For Church” and “Dear <Name>” and finally “Confucius”. Chakna for the uninitiated is a kind of accompaniment to a main dish. From food to philosophy, Metastasis is a crazy album and it doesn’t bore you to death unlike some of today’s bands, Indian and International, both included. Metastasis has been produced by Anupam “Anaroth” Roy, the co-founder and co-owner of the New Delhi based Grey And Saurian Productions.

Line-Up

Sunneith Revankar – Vocals

Vinay Venkatesh – Vocals

R.Venkataraman [Venky Baba] – Guitar

Dr.Aditya Gopinathan Nair – Guitar

Rahul Hariharan – Drums

Bhayanak Maut’s Website http://www.bhayanakmaut.com

The Right Hand Path’s Rating – 8/10

Orator – Dominion Of Avyaktam [Review]

The two things that come to my mind when I see the words Orator are India’s former Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, who was a great orator in himself, and a distinguished one at that, especially since he usually delivered his speeches with his eyes half closed and gesticulations, aplenty. The second thing is Bangladesh, before 1971 known as the beleaguered eastern part of Pakistan, which India, thanks to its support and arming of Mukti Vahini, the liberation force, led to the dismemberment of Pakistan and the end of torment for the Bengali speaking people of east Pakistan.

Coming to the music of Metal, one doesn’t hear much about Bangladeshi Metal bands here in India and I think that’s the case all over the world except in Bangladesh. The only Bangladeshi Metal band to ever come to India was Severe Dementia, and thankfully, their music didn’t cause the onset of dementia in meJ Talking of Orator, wow, what a name, it has a statesman-esque feel to it and evokes respect and awe, on this front the good men at Orator have done a great job at it. Orator’s lyrical themes are centred around Hinduism and all things associated with it and it’s a welcome change especially from an Islamic country like Bangladesh. I would also like to draw a parallel with Singapore’s Rudra, the Vedic Metal band, which is a good thing considering that despite the sizeable Indian population, in the past, the Chinese have been in rule. Another wonderful thing is this new wave of Hindu/Vedic Metal bands like Orator, considering the fact that we have Pagan, Viking, Muslim, Christian and Secular Metal bands.

With seven pure Death/Thrash songs, Orator’s music is like an invading force, whose brutal onslaught can be stopped by none, there’s no escaping it. The folks at Orator have a philosophical bent of mind which is quite evident from the way their songs have been named, and, a superb album cover art makes Dominion Of Avyaktam a pleasure to listen.

Line-Up

Skullbearer (Amit) – Vocal, Guitar

Vritra Ahi (Cezan) – Bass, Guitar, Vocal

Mephistopheles (Partho) – Drums

Orator’s Website http://www.myspace.com/crematorations

The Right Hand Path’s Rating – 10/10

The Right Live: Cyclopean Eye Productions To Unleash Extreme Metal Wrath On Bengaluru!

Cyclopean Eye Productions is a newly launched Extreme Metal record label started by Sandesh Shenoy aka Giant Mollusc, also a good friend of The Right Hand Path.

Cyclopean Eye Productions is based in the city of Bengaluru in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, Bengaluru is the capital of Karnataka. This weekend, i.e. on Sunday, March 20, 2011, a new Extreme Metal festival called “Trendslaughter Fest” will see its birth . Trendslaughter Fest is the brainchild of Sandesh Shenoy, also an avid metalhead.

Trendslaughter Fest’s main attraction and headliner will the Bangladesh based Death Metal/Thrash Metal band Orator. Bengaluru based Death Metal/Doom Metal band, Gorified, the Bengaluru based Death Metal/Grindcore Metal band, the Melodic Death Metal/Thrash Metal act Culminant again from Bengaluru. The last and final act from Bengaluru would be Bevar Sea, the Stoner Metal/Doom Metal band which has former Kryptos bassist Ganesh “Jack” Krishnaswamy.

The southern Indian state of Kerala too will see its representation in the form of Warhorse Chained, a Brutal Death Metal band.

The Demonic Eatery!

Sahil “The Demonstealer” Makhija, the omnipresent promoter-cum-salesman for The Demonic Enterprises and also juggling the roles of frontman of Demonic Resurrection, Workshop, Reptilian Death, Infinite Hate Project and The Demonstealer has done it again!

This time, the stealer of demons has gone forward and branched out into the eateries world. He has started a new project called the Headbanger’s Kitchen wherein he will talk about food and all things demonic ‘-D