Masterforce – “Until the End of Time” DEMO (2011)

Independent Release

Review by Tony Cannella

Hailing from (Where else?) Italy comes the 6 person power metal band Masterforce. This band also employs a full time violinist which perhaps sets them apart from a lot of power metal, since violins are usually associated with folk metal. Masterforce is fronted by the vocals of Francesca Bidut. Their debut demo goes by the title of “Until the End of Time”, so let’s delve into it a bit.

There are four songs that make up “Until the End of Time” and to me the best part of the demo is the guitar playing and power metal and classic metal riffs the infuse every song, and that’s taking nothing away from the other musicians particularly vocalist Francesca. Continue reading »

Mechanical God Creation – “Artifact of Annihilation” (2013)

Label : WormholeDeath/Dreamcell11

Review by Davide Torresan

Born in 2006, the Italian band Mechanical God Creation has changed many members of its line-up, even during the months of the mastering of their first album “Cell XII”. The same thing happened for their second work “Artifact of Annihilation”, but after a careful research they’ve been able to find the missing members forming the current line-up. Furthermore, the band’s live performances are really remarkable since they reached the level of some of the giants of extreme metal. ”Artifact of Annihilation” continues the path taken with the debut album giving us almost an hour of furious and violent death metal. As the album artwork suggests us and from some quotes of Nietzsche, the theme of the CD focuses on the mechanization and the progressive replacement of man’s work with the one of the machines. The extreme vocals of Lucy continue to attack without mercy the ears of the unaware listener. Continue reading »

Ayria – “Plastic and Broken” EP (2013)

Label : Alfa Matrix

Review by Davide Torresan

Ayria is a Canadian dance-pop musical project formed by Jennifer Parkin. She’s the former singer of the EBM group Epsilon Minus, and after the departure from the band she decided to give birth to this solo project. Its sound is characterized by her soft and sweet voice and melodic beats close to industrial and dance music. Actually she’s working on her 4th album whose title will be “Plastic Makes Perfect”. In the meantime Jennifer decided to release this EP, “Plastic and Broken”, which is available for download on her Bandcamp page. This digital 7-track EP includes 2 songs that will be featured on her forthcoming album. Continue reading »

Dying Passion – “Amplify” (2012)

Label : Epidemie Records

Review by Tony Cannella

From the Czech Republic, Dying Passion’s style may be difficult to put a finger on, maybe Alternative Doom Metal might be a good description, then again maybe not. The Dying Passion story begins with their formation in 1995. In 2000 they released “Secretly”. Now they have just released (unbelievably) their 6th album entitled, “Amplify”.

To be honest, this is the first I’ve heard of Dying Passion, so I have nothing to compare this new album to. I can say that the overall musical direction on “Amplify” is dark, downtrodden and doom-y. The lead singer Zuzana Jelinkova is a steady force within the band. She never deviates from her mid-range style, but does add raspiness to her voice on some songs. “Path to the Land of Visions” sets the course straight away and as an opening number it gets things started on a positive note. Continue reading »

Petra Haden – “Petra Goes to the Movies” (2013)

Label : Anti Records

Review by Davide Torresan

Petra Haden is a renowned violinist and singer. She played her violin for bands like Green Day, Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters and also with Beck. But she’s famous also for a particular quality: her voice. Indeed Petra uses it like a real instrument, reproducing the same sounds of classical instruments with her singing style “a capella”. Thanks to this ability, she can cover any musical genre: pop, rock, jazz, blues and classical music too.

In August of 2000, during the period of the recording of her debut album, she had a car accident that forced her to a long time of treatments and rest. Beck and Weezer are only a couple of the artists/bands that, with the proceeds of their live performances and CD sales, have raised funds for her medical care. Finally in 2005 the debut album of Petra saw the light. She recorded The Who‘s album “The Who Sell Out”. With this one she reached the success, showing to everyone how far the human voice can go. 8 years after the debut, Petra returns to the scene with her 2nd album. In this “Petra Goes to the Movies” it’s the turn of soundtracks and the themes that have made famous films like “Psycho”, “Superman” and “8 ½”. Continue reading »