Helalyn Flowers – “White Me In Black Me Out” (2013)

Label : Alfa Matrix

Review by Davide Torresan

Born in 2006, the Italian Helalyn Flowers reach the goal of the 3rd album after a couple of nice works like “A Voluntary Coincidence” and “Stitches of Eden”. This duo of musicians is formed by Nøemi Aurøra and Max, and they propose a rather original sound that mixes industrial, rock, an abundant use of electronics and the beautiful voice of the singer Nøemi.

“White Me In Black Me Out”, like the title suggests, shows us the two faces of a medal: one white, calm and melodic, and another one, black, dark and chaotic with its guitar riffs and some overwhelming refrains that will punch you brutally in the face. Continue reading »

Belladonna – “Shooting Dice With God” (2013)

Independent Release

Review by Matteo Bussotti

Italian band Belladonna formed in 2005, and since then they gained a constantly growing attention from media, bringing them also to Grammys, which is extraordinary for an independent band. They also claimed (and were recognized ) to have created a new genre: “rock noir”. Listening to their latest album, “Shooting Dice With God”, it immediately appears the sensuous side of their music, the soft roughness of their sound, and the beauty of their lyrics.

All the songs are capable of creating a very melodic carpet, before pushing you into a distorted, tight, heavy wall of guitars and drums. Continue reading »

Lumus – “Bacchus’ Curse” (2012)

Independent Release

Review by Tony Cannella

Hailing from Portland, Oregon, the band Lumus (named after Violin player Jon Lumus) offers a unique brand of symphonic metal. Of course Violins have been used in the past in this genre, but very rarely have they been used as such a prominent and lead instrument the way Lumus uses them, and that alone makes them stand out from a crowded genre.

The music on “Bacchus’ Curse” is dark, but musically intricate and sophisticated – which can be heard throughout the 12 songs and 48-minutes worth of music. Lead vocalist Charlotte Camp adds plenty of drama with her voice – she can go from operatic to more of a clean, soaring metal voice and is backed by the beautiful music written and performed by the band. Continue reading »

Igorrr – “Hallelujah” (2012)

Label : Ad Noiseam

Review by Luisa Mercier

I stumbled over French Igorrr (aka Gautier Serre) by mere chance on the Facebook page of another musician and after thirty seconds of listening to the linked track, I was like: What the f***k is this? He is completely crazy, dear readers and categorizing his music is impossible. He mixes every musical genre known on this earth of ours even though the more apparent influences come from Baroque music, Black Metal and electronica (schizofrenic breakcore mainly). You may think that those are very distant genres, but this is not true if you listen to Igorrr. You’ll be listening to dramatic opera vocals one moment and growls and powerful guitars the one right after as in “Damaged Wig” for example (the final part is totally unbelievable).  Continue reading »

Black Sun Aeon – “Blacklight Deliverance” (2011)

Label : Cyclone Empire Records

Review by Luisa Mercier

Black Sun Aeon is the solo project of Tuomas Saukkonen, who is already involved in many other bands (Before The Dawn, Dawn of Solace, RoutaSielu). He used to keep this project to explore other sides of his music mixing gothic, death, doom never losing sight of melody. While the previous work “Routa” was mainly focused on instrumental music, “Blacklight Deliverance” has two guests singers that alternate in the seven tracks: Mikko Heikkilä and Janica Lönn (female singer from Lunar Path). The opener “Brothers” has powerful yet melodic riffing as only Finnish can craft, while Tuomas growls and Janica creates magical landscapes with her vocalising. Towards the end an acoustic interlude makes everything softer and sweeter. There is a real winter mood throughout the song that goes on with the following “Solitude”. Continue reading »