Mattowarrior's Metal Madness

                                       Review: phoenix/NEBULIN- Mainframe phoenix/NEBULIN  is a musical outfit who has been recording professionally since 2003, and on their latest release, Mainframe , they definitely reflect a seasoned expertise that permeates with both the songwriting and production. Being as I had never heard the band before, I had a fresh slate to take in all the elements that they are trying to get across, and absorb them. The band I would describe as a amalgamation of metal, EBM or Industrial, the dark themes of Gothic Rock (particularly eminent in the chorused guitars of songs like Alone), and somewhat more mainstream rock.  I was taken aback immediately by Phoenix Doval's hearty vocals, which at times remind me, and I'm sure she's heard this before, of a young Pat Benatar. In this age of autotuned sterile sounding “singers” littering the l...

IDEK is a band I covered on this very blog awhile back. I reviewed their last release, and the new single, Approaching Storms, is slated for release on February 2 nd 2018. What I did not expect from the band though, is how much they have progressed in such a short time. Their last release, was a good slab of modern metal with many influences, ranging from Djent to Dillinger Escape Plan.  The upcoming single  "Approaching Storms", is in a way, a more streamlined approach, but in this case, it's a good thing in that the influences have congealed in a way that is accessible without being compromising. To me, just this song alone blows away the previous release right out of the water.   Rather than taking aspects of the various styles and mixing them with overtly commercial elements, it's more like they took the various elements and made a real fusion of them all, that by default, is more streamlined, but in an excellent way that is still chal...

Scandic Tribe are a new rock band from Norway, according to them, the upcoming album, Light at the End is a concept one, and is slated to arrive on vinyl, which is great, in March of this year. I dug the first song, Dusty Sunrise, which reminded me a bit of a lighter take on something that wouldn't sound out of place on Judas Priest's Point of Entry album, with a slight AOR touch as well. The second song, Only Time Will Heal, is a more bouyant and funky song, that has some vocal harmonies that recall classic Kings X a little bit. The third song (Fourth if you count the intro), Heaven, kind of reminded me of Dokken a little bit, and this was pretty cool. Revolution of Confusion follows, and almost sounds like a modern version of something that would be on one of Deep Purple's Coverdale era albums, a slower, bluesy ride with a few moments of bombast thrown in. On Life is Good, t...

 A bit melodramatic perhaps, but it's true he has suffered some slings and arrows in recent years, but some of his work, including with Avantasia, contain hope that he can salvage his artistic integrity, and overcome the mediocrity of his recent career moves.