Raise Hell – Holy Target – Review April 1, 1999 Fellow scribes have mentioned Dissection and Children Of Bodom as similar warpspeed blacksters, and the comparisons are apt.
Hammerfall – Legacy of Kings – Review April 1, 1999 While many of their peers are either stuck in the ’80s sound or just plain suck, Hammerfall shines like a diamond in shit.
Dimmu Borgir – Godless Savage Garden – Review April 1, 1999 It’s a somewhat uneven, but entertaining, little package with pristine production, bound to make the brutal black metallers writhe in anti-commercial pain.
Benediction – Grind Bastard – Review January 1, 1999 Combining the freight train aggression of their older stuff with the slower style of The Dreams…, they’ve found a balance just right.
Am I Blood – Agitation – Review January 1, 1999 Someone listened to a lot of early Testament and Metallica and took their teachings to heart. That is by no means a slag, it’s just a reference point.
Pungent Stench – Praise the Names of the Musical Assassins – Review January 1, 1999 19 songs spanning 70 minutes, the whole time I was thinking, “Yeah, I remember when I listened to a lot of shit that sounded this bad.”
Lostsouls – Fracture – Review January 1, 1999 Combining elements of Korn, Machine Head, Fear Factory, and Meshuggah, it’s surprising that I have little more to say than, “Wow! Great Production!”
Hollow – Modern Cathedral – Review November 1, 1998 Hollow rule, playing a sort of middle metal that combines groovebang stuff like Accept, Priest, and ’80s Sabbath with elevated prog touches.
Therion – Vovin – Interview November 1, 1998 An Interview with guitarist/composer Christofer Johnsson
Covenant – Nexus Polaris – Review November 1, 1998 This five piece band (not project) from Norway more closely resemble Emerson, Lake and Palmer with black metal influences than they do Mayhem.