Prophets of War - Regeneration

Prophets of War - Regeneration (song review) |self-released, Plains Of Desolation, 2011| 4/5

When you think of the origins of black metal bands you may have a few cold European countries such as Finland, Norway or Sweden come to mind. On the other hand, a big continent that is occupied by Tasmanian devils, kangaroos and koalas may be the last place you would think of. Prophets of War is an Australian metal quintet. After releasing the Road To The End of the World album in 2010, they put out another record called Plains Of Desolation a year later.

"Regeneration" is the second track from this release. The song attacks the listener with a flood of graduating riffs that are accompanied by a wall of screams. The principal influences of the group seem to range from classic black metal to doom and death metal due to fast drum beats as well as bawling vocals. The band mentions Opeth, Orphaned Land, Insomnium, Ghost Brigade and The Nefilim amongst their musical inspirations. On the flip side, there are many arrangements that are based on a blend of progressive guitar and bass riffs combined with backing vocals. These become apparent in the second part of the song and play a big role in this composition as well.

Sharp rhythms and solo guitar riffs by Paul Jeanrenaud and David Currie continuously spice up the arrangements while leaving free space for an improvised virtuosity (which is quite useful for live shows). The lead guitar segments sound clean and cold, yet steadily underlined throughout the entire track. There's a solid collaboration between the two guitar players which transpires further with drummer Nathan Harris, bassist Roger Menso (known as Candellan from his other project called Punch Drunk Monkey) as well as Michael Saunders on keyboards. Vocals are done by Paul, David and Roger.

The typical "let's gallow and commove the Universe so it will never be the same" attitude of agitation that is best known from a majority of black metal releases can be easily spotted in "Regeneration" as well. Brooding moods will be undoubtedly loved by the fans of black metal, yet some of them may even experience a purifying fire that transpires out of the music.
The ending has a very melodic guitar part that adds a cold touch to the composition. This idea also appears at the beginning of "Regeneration", which allows for a noticeable connection between the opposite sides of the track and works pretty well.

Fury in music becomes potent during live performances best. Well muscled sweaty bodies, long hair sawing the air, dark outfits, smoky eyes of women as well as overwhelmingly heavy tunes combined with a pulse of power and a river of beer make metal shows extremely fun and desirable. There's always something primal that becomes evident during such events. If you want to taste this atmosphere, be sure to not only buy albums released by Prophets of War, but see them play live too.

(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Magazine, October 14th, 2012)
This review on Fabryka Magazine: http://goo.gl/QkUsG

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Reviewed by Fabryka Music Magazine

Fall of Eden - Wargasm

Fall of Eden - Wargasm |Fall of Eden, The Warrior, 2012| 5/5

This Illinois based band was founded in 2003 and have opened live for a variety of well known artists so far such as Opeth, Devin Townsend, Devil Driver and many more. Oriented towards the European black metal scene, Viking-related legends and mysticism, Fall Of Eden recorded their newest album entitled The Warrior in 2012 and it has already been receiving a lot of positive feedback from both listeners and music journalists.

"Wargasm" is the third song on the tracklist. It begins with characteristic black metal atmospheres, these coincide with a wall of brutal speed metal drums that are accompanied by not much slower guitar riffs and a lead guitar melody all falling into singularity. After this intro, the listener is exposed to the growling vocals of Russ Knöbel, who sounds as vile as a lead singer of a metal band could ever be expected to. In the meantime, well controlled guitar riffs intertwine with the drums to keep pounding the listeners ears as though they were a hail storm that destroys everything during hot, steamy days.

After 2 minutes 30 seconds, the vocals leave more space for melodic, yet powerful riffs so that guitarists - Taylor Cooper and Steve Høwe as well as drummer Evan Howe can battle each other. The virtuoso riffs seem to be inspired by 80's hard rock & heavy metal music. A careful listener however may also catch progressive metal influences in both the lead guitar and bass tracks. Since Russ plays bass and performs vocals in the band, the song arrangements were tailor made so he can easily switch between performance duties. It might have otherwise been quite a complex task to play the bass while growling lyrics, especially live.

While the column of guitars grow, a solid conjunction of drums and bass doesn't let them fly too far. The vocals return shortly after approximately 2 minutes, however the moods (and the listener's attention) have already been stolen at this point by all the heavy, interlacing guitar riffs.
The song is very professionally articulated by the artist. A tightly filled and extended outro finishes "Wargasm" with a fade out, although listeners will still hear the remnants of the memorable lead guitar solos in their heads long after the song is over.

Indeed, the Vikings came to North America in the 10th century. Those no-compromise and stright-forward Nordic sailors went there to build settlements in Greenland and explore the ocean as well as near-by lands. Though, they didn't stay permanently in North America, perhaps due to unexpected encounters with Native Americans.
Europe, on the contrary, has been influenced by a Viking presence for many centuries. The traces of their heritage have been smuggled into our culture (gods, heroes, legends, poetry and fantasy literature), calendar (names of the days), science and travel (astronomy, navigation) as well as art (music, architecture, ornaments). There are still a variety of annual Viking (and Slavic) festivals in Europe where you can dress, eat, fight and talk like people did over a 1000 years ago.

It may be a good idea to bring these influences to the attention of American music fans again to entice another metal music subgenre since there's an open market for it. Hollywood has produced several high budget fantasy movies based on various, more or less credible stories that incorporate, for instance Viking fighting tactics, 'fashion' and jewelery (you've probably seen Conan the Barbarian,  13th Warrior or Pathfinder). Still, it seems that European and Russian bands comprise a majority of artist interested in this fashion of metal when it comes to including these themes of music-related patterns in their songs as opposed to many American artist.

"Wargasm" is a composition that dominates in mood. It is strongly animated and filled with heavy, rough, yet smooth virtuoso guitar riffs. Because of this, many fans of metal music will be convinced to reach out for The Warrior album, which is available at most major on-line stores.
(Katarzyna NINa Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Magazine, April 11th, 2012)

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