MAJESTIC EAST "Mandau"

MAJESTIC EAST "Mandau" CDr (Derangement Project Production)

Depends on the way you look at it, it's either a simple or difficult task to write about such release as "Mandau". I could easily stop after describing it as another 'eastern black/death Metal', but that wouldn't do it much justice, isn't it? But most of you will get the point anyway I think. MAJESTIC EAST is sticking to the gun with their firm belief in the 'eastern' formulas. It's 5 tracks of melodic black/death Metal the eastern way that you will get in this release. MAJESTIC EAST focused more on the melodic passages the most apparently, the thrashy and faster parts were there to juice things up. The vocals is of course in that black Metal vibes. Songs like "Ancient Glory Of The East" sways in all its melodic-ness before a short burst towards the end. MAJESTIC EAST seems to be majoring in the melodic realm. They say what you're listening influences you. If that's the case you can easily guess what kind of Metal the band is listening to based on what you hear on "Mandau".  Staunch eastern Metal diehards, I can guarantee that.

derangement_project@yahoo.com

ZURIARTS "The Fairy Tears"

ZURIARTS "The Fairy Tears" single 2012 CDr (Night Art Production)

ZURIARTS is quite a productive band, but this is my first encounter with them. "The Fairy Tears" is a single release with a couple more unreleased tracks to justify the $$$ you're parting with to get a copy, which is a very nice gesture indeed. "The Fairy Tears" is probably the band's latest material to be released, and from this single song ZURIARTS seems to play melodic death/black Metal with compulsory necro vocals. And of course with eastern Metal traits clinging on like a virus. Highly melodic is the song throughout the entire length. Fortunately there's a remastered song from the first demo included, with what little I have here I'll try to make the comparison between these two. "Dead To Hell", the song from the first demo back in 2006, sounds more aggressive when compared with "The Fairy Tears". In fact it made me conclude that ZURIARTS are less black Metal nowadays than before, and if you listen to the minus one here which is included as well, the song did not sound black Metal at all without the vocals. It's a melodic eastern death Metal composition. Will the black Metal tendencies vanish from now on? That is to be determined when the next release come out. But the melodic aspect is everpresent in their Metal, that's for sure. A DESASTER cover 'Expect No Release' to complete the track list here.

Nightartproduction666@gmail.com

DEMONIFICATION "Espionage Of His Messengers"

DEMONIFICATION "Espionage Of His Messengers" CDr (Night Art Production)

I don't know why, but it feels like a different DEMONIFICATION here than the one in the READY DISASTER 3-way split. I'm expecting something in the line of their songs there, ripping straight thrash Metal cacophony. But "Espionage Of His Messengers" saw DEMONIFICATION turn their heads around and opted for a toned down, safe, polished version of their ownselves. At least that's what it sounds like to me. It is as if they're holding themselves back on this. After the horrible ballad 'Air Mata Hawa', they tend to shift up a bit on 'Molten Lava', but then that vision of 'restraining' came back to haunt. And truth be told, this is one of the worst sounding material I have ever heard to come from Singapore. My copy sounds muffled, buried and 'deep', to my dismay. I hope this is just an isolated case and not affecting other copies of this release, even some 'proper' rehearsal recordings sound better than this. Comes on a nice glossy printed promo slipcase and a printed fold-out inlay, but that disastrous sound... The DEMONIFICATION from the READY DISASTER split, please come back.

www.facebook.com/demonification

papafaipapa@hotmail.com

www.soundcloud.com/demonification

Akhmasz@yahoo.com.sg

QHARINTH "The Valley Of Humiliation And Contempt"

QHARINTH "The Valley Of Humiliation And Contempt" EP CD (Crambeat Production)

Though this was released in 2010, I still think it is relevant to write a thing or two, especially when I finally managed to get a thorough listen of "The Valley Of Humiliation And Contempt". I have to mention the well produced nature of this EP, the band certainly did their best with it. And it is one of the better sound production to come from the often used underground Metal friendly I Seek Music Studio. The nice layout was done by a band member himself. And it's not hard to categorize the band's music too. QHARINTH can be described as atmospheric, symphonic black Metal and the main ingredients are the heads of HECATE ENTHRONED and DIMMU BORGIR. The first song (not accounting the short intro) is totally trademarked HECATE ENTHRONED, while the one that followed has DIMMU BORGIR in abundance. The rest are the mixes of both. While the influences are overbearingly obvious, the way QHARINTH managed to emulate them is worth applauding. The keyboards are well utilised and truthfully one of the main instruments in their compositions, and some guitar works are quite good too. A little strenghtening on some obvious sloppiness and they will surely become a great act, because "The Valley Of Humiliation And Contempt" is a worthy release, showing that touch of good song crafting ability.

www.myspace.com/qharinth

qharinth@yahoo.com.my

APARAGONIS "Human Error"

APARAGONIS "Human Error" demo CDr (Angka Kematian Production)

"Human Error" presents 10 tracks of grindcore the way you know it. Blast, the occasional break, blast, occasional break again. You know the rules. APARAGONIS strictly play it by the book. You got the picture then. Maybe they should opt for a better production to heighten the impact, it's a little thin here. But of course, you have to make do with whatever that's available, I totally understand that. If you're content with the productions then you won't find it that difficult to swallow the offering. And of course if you're a devout grindcore fan, rest assured with this release, because APARAGONIS does it the way you want it.

angkakematianprod@gmail.com

www.myspace.com/wanmetalcombat

www.myspace.com/aparagonisgoros

PUNAHRANAH "First Chapter Of Killing Process"

PUNAHRANAH "First Chapter Of Killing Process" demo Cdr 2010

This is some very good Malaysian death grind, believe me. Instantly attracted to the band name, the material impressed me even more. This self-released material lasted slightly below the 15 minutes mark, and I found myself listening to it 5 times in a row. "First Chapter Of Killing Process" recalls the early years of ABORTED to me, the impact is pretty much the same to my limited listening experience. PUNAHRANAH does their stuff immensely at ease and exuberated an air of confident and flair. They certainly breathe the Metal that they play, evidence that evaporated from this release. Everything is perfectly executed here, at least at the time of the recording. They seemed to be more than ready when getting this recorded. Highly interesting Malaysian death grind release for quite some time, I bet on that.  Unfortunately my copy suffers from uneven levelling of the sound, not sure if every copy is affected by this as well. And I'm not sure about the limitation of this demo too, so if you have the chance, I can only advise you to keep it. The first chapter is (almost) flawless, I'm eager to hear more.

www.facebook.com/PUNAHRANAH



IMMOLATE "Confession Of The Enchanted"

IMMOLATE "Confession Of The Enchanted" single 2010 (Eastern Voice Production)

Another single from Eastern Voice Production that manages to make its way into my possession, this one even dating back in 2010. I think some of these might still floating around, there's a repress being made if I'm not mistaken. My copy is the first 100 which comes with sticker and handnumbered. From the word 'go' IMMOLATE serves sweeping black Metal which came across as a mixture of the eastern and the european kind of it. Eventhough IMMOLATE emphasize on being fast, the highly melodic picking is a constant feature throughout the song. It is fast, but being melodic as it is, "Confession Of The Enchanted" appears less aggressive than expected. Nothing wrong with that anyway, that's the way IMMOLATE craft its dark art. There's a demo being released after this single, but I haven't had the chance to hear it yet. Most probably it will be in the same vein and from the same recording session. This single serves as a teaser or something for what's to come. I have to complain about the sound though, it is badly compressed I think, poor mp3 conversion might be at fault.

www.myspace.com/eastern_voiceprod

eastern_voiceprod@yahoo.com

www.myspace.com/immolatetian

immolate@live.com