Friday, March 29, 2013

TRIUMPH OV FIRE "In The Name Of Black Principle"


TRIUMPH OV FIRE "In The Name Of Black Principle" CDr (Trooper Art Regime Distro)
I finally managed to obtain this, as the name has somewhat been thrown around quite a bit, reasons of which I have no interest to plough into. Notoriously known as master of dissing controversies as I am, haha, let's delve into what they have to offer right away then. "In The Name Of Black Principle" is porously can be classified as melodic black Metal, and please emphasize the word 'MELODIC' in bold. They make full use of the keyboardist here, quite an important instrument for T.O.F to tell you the truth, it does create the atmospheres. And by listening to this I can fully understand why they're able to generate the crowd interest whenever they play live, their 'melodic-ness' is closely resembles those of Malay rock balladry, things that can only be understood if you live and breathe the local music scene of Malaysia. This will result in instant chemistry for the more open, on-the-fence type of listeners, thus the familiarity will become at ease. Catchy melodic-soaked black Metal with an unmistakable local rock flavour, will you accept that kind of tepid description? Ok then, maybe with a bit of tendency on the widely accepted modern melodic black Metal these days, DIMMU BORGIR et al. Colourful, plentiful Malaysian scene.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

KREMATION "Let Them Hate And Fear!!"



KREMATION "Let Them Hate And Fear!!" Promo 2011 (Eastern Voice Production)
KREMATION is a household name in the Sarawak Metal scene. Probably one of the earliest death Metal bands from that part of proud Malaysia. I won't go into such reminiscent of their history, as I think there're plentiful out there to be found. This 2011 Promo finally damaging my ears in 2013, nothing to blame on except on myself as to why it is taking that long indeed. Right from the start it is clear that KREMATION is aiming for total punishment. The two songs here are fast death Metal with very little to let off. If you judge it for the punishing level alone, then it serves its purpose here. Recorded probably as a two-piece outfit with the aide of the ever static drum-programming, some instance of playing catching-up with the latter instrumentation is pretty obvious to my ears, and that is probably what prevails most if you wish to nag on things here. And on parts things seem to go a bit too overboard while showcasing their apt musical capabilities, where the compositions will then flew over your ears like there're nothing to be attentive about. KREMATION should (must?) find a decent human drummer, I bet there're lots of talents there in Sarawak ready to be armed and go berzerk with their annihilating death Metal rammifications. And then, perhaps, we could witness one of the deadliest Sarawak death Metal release, ever.

Monday, March 11, 2013

HAFYUKAL "Amalan Pemandian Keris"


HAFYUKAL "Amalan Pemandian Keris" Promo 2012
This promo is limited to 33 copies, and I got the copy numbered 01. HAFYUKAL is (most probably) a project by the member(s) of AJAL (excuse me if I'm wrong on this, just my own pure speculation), and as such, as witnessed with the sole song herein, still retains that stubbornness on eastern Metal. However it is not that hard to differentiate both, since HAFYUKAL is clearly more melodic and less black. It is more like some eastern melodic dark death Metal doses, and with a title as such, rest assured that they praise nothing but the pride and valour of the eastern ancestors. TASYIM, now you got another assuring companion here, haha. The black Metal traits is not entirely cleansed however, especially in the way the vocals are delivered. Drums programming are utilised I think, and while not being a fan of those, I do think that they could be arranged tighter though. Why not a full blown complete line-up band then? It is not bad, but not exactly mindblowing too. I await the next releases, with a couple had already been planned if I'm not mistaken.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

JAHILIYYAH "Aiyyame Jahiliyyah"


JAHILIYYAH "Aiyyame Jahiliyyah" CDr (MTD Production)
JAHILIYYAH is another venture of the guy from ETERNAL ARMAGEDDON, and while E.A is nodding towards the melodic blackened side of Metal, JAHILIYYAH confronts the death-lier ventures of it. Being death Metal infested as it is, "Aiyyame..." is plodding through the darker realm of the untouchable genre, and I am not to be surprised if it is in fact digested through the current death Metal concurrence of the day, where there always be flirtations on the borders between death and black Metal. It has its moments here, where the arrangements are pretty engaging and somewhat feels 'just', in fact some passages are seriously tact and interesting. Some straying is still unavoidable, unfortunately, where you seems to lost the focus in listening to it. I have no reservation that JAHILIYYAH could only get better, in fact I do think this sounds better than ETERNAL ARMAGEDDON. It's just this one thing that bugs me: that annoying drums sound. I am almost sure that there is actually no 'real' drums in here, just programming or some sort of it. So... plasticky, and numbingly sterile. This is the case with ETERNAL ARMAGEDDON too, I'm afraid. Just get rid of that awful drums production, please. This Malaysia edition is limited to 66 copies.
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