Monthly Archives augusti 2011

Posted in Cd Reviews

MDD/Sound Pollution

Japanese thrashers RIVERGE are not latter day followers, but 1985 originals themselves. Back in the day they released a few demos and singles, and toured with the likes of OUTRAGE and SABBATH before calling it a day in 1988. Their creative break actually lasted till about now. Four guys and one girl, can´t tell who´s who by their names, but here goes some Old School Bay Tokyo …or?

Shoji Nakamura´s vocals haunt opener “Thought Free”. Their punk roots shine through, with a dash of early ANTHRAX. The vocals make me sick though. The drums courtesy of Katsuyuki Matsumoto equally haunts “Till I Die”. I must confess to only enjoy three tracks, the forceful “Stavish Charge”, and the no less frantic “Hungry Child” and “Dual Attack”...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Hand (or as they prefer to spell it, hAND) bill themselves as a ”3-piece Progressive Alternative/Gothic Metal band”. I’d describe them as a 3 piece prog band. There’s definitely little here to describe as metal.

I have to admit I’ve seen hAND play live a few times and I’ve never been impressed – as a live band they really dont do anything for me. On album though its a different story. They arent alone in this – Opeth make great albums but I and many people I know, find them immensely dull as a live band. On an album all the subtleties show clearly when live they may not, and this makes a huge difference.

”Breathing” is the second album from Hand (they’ve also released two EP’s)...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Since the last and first edition was a great success, the Fade in organization and the City Council of Leiria decided to continue the fest this year in the same spot: The Castle of Leiria; let me tell you a little bit about this magnificent piece of architecture: this medieval Castle was built by the first king of Portugal D. Afonso Henriques in the XII century, first it was used as a military fortress against the moors and later on as a residency of King Dinis and Saint Isabel the Queen (that’s when the Castle lost its military function). So we have a romanesque/gothic imponent structure that in some extent reflects the style of the music and the fest itself.
The stages inside the Castle were three (one more than the previous edition) that were distributed by ground levels so if you wan...