Honorable Mentions from the Abyss #38: Neolith/Lined/Adragard

Hey brutal fuckin' trve metalbangers,

today there is a new episode of "Honorable Mentions from the Abyss" to read, always with 3 bands but this time you have to know that I received in physical format all the albums I talk about here.

Let's go to discover the bands!

Honorable Mentions from the Abyss #36: Irdorath/Exit/Velkhanos

Hey ultra-bangers (in these last times I am inventing every form of greeting haha!),

I received in May 2020 a 4-album pack from Art Gates Records but I am listening to them only in these days. Of them, you will not find "Soulcrifice" by Lined, that will be into another episode of "Honorable Mentions from the Abyss".

So, let's go to discover the following bands!

Honorable Mentions from the Abyss #26: Starbynary/Flat Earth Society/Morbid Death

Hey brutal bangers,

this new episode with "Honorable Mentions from the Abyss" (no reviews, no votes, just mentions) is a little bit particular because it sees three bands that, ranging from power metal (POWER METAL? Oooooh yes!) to metalcore, interpret their own genres with a progressive and experimental approach. In addition, I received their albums through their label, the Spanish Art Gates Records, as shown, for example, with "Metal in the Box #2".

Expect to be surprised in EVERY LINE of this article!

Honorable Mentions from the Abyss #23: The Noctambulant/Noctem

Hey brutal bangers,

ultimately I received many albums from Art Gates Records but, in the truth, I still had to talk about albums that they sent to me even in the last months of 2019. And, finally, only recently I found the time to talk about the two black metal albums that are the objects of this new episode of "Honorable Mentions from the Abyss".

No other words, and let's go straight to the action!

Metal in the Box #4: Art Gates Records #2

Hey brutal bangers

a new pack from Art Gates Records, the label with the longest partnership with Timpani allo Spiedo 'zine, has arrived just today!

Steinbock - "Till the Limit" (Art Gates Records, 2019)

Band: Steinbock
Title: Till the Limit
Genre: Heavy/Thrash Metal with Hard Rock influences
Time: 35.48 min
Release date: 1st November 2019
Vote: 79/100













Well well well, what do we have here? A band whose moniker means “capricorn” in German but whose nationality is Spanish. Plus, Steinbock played even two times in Rome during February 2020. I was supposed to see them at 360 when they played there on 21st February but, instead, I preferred to see the exhibition of Marta Rose with her absurd and experimental band Amikristi and the Bad Sisters (I remember I described them as a female version of the post-punk act DEVO) at the Largo Venue, attending a really fantastic night. But here the main theme is about Steinbock and their debut album “Till the Limit”, that I received in physical format directly from Art Gates Records, the label with the longest partnership with Timpani allo Spiedo ‘zine considering that we are collaborating with it since the now far 2012.

Frijgard - "Chapter Zero" (Art Gates Records, 2019)

Band: Frijgard

Title: Chapter Zero

Genre: Epic Heavy/Black Metal

Time: 48.33 min

Release date: 14th June 2019

Vote: 86/100

Some months ago I received a new physical pack from Art Gates Records. Among others, I found into that pack “Chapter Zero”, the third album by Frijgard, a very interesting band from the northern Switzerland whose moniker is a funny pun derived from Fricktal, the name of their region. In fact, reading from an interview on the Web (you can reach it through the following link: https://www.metalcentre.com/2019/11/frijgard-interview-with-sandro-vocal-bass/), “Frick” was the Swiss name’s variation for Frija, that is the wife of Odin. Instead, “-gard” is simply used in the Nordic mythology to indicate a world (i.e. Asgard). So, through this kind of moniker, one can imagine that Frijgard are into viking metal… but the reality is veeery different. Let’s see why and how!

Metal in the Box #2: Art Gates Records

Hey brutal bangers,
the new appointment of "Metal in the Box" is dedicated to the new pack of the Art Gates Records, the label with the longest collaboration with your most favorite 'zine (or I hope so!).

Hyperborea - "Umbra" (Art Gates Records, 2019)

Band: Hyperborea
Title: Umbra
Genre: Death Metal
Time: 42.39 min
Release date: 15th November 2019
Vote: 79/100













Do you believe that the band I am going to review today is the first one that, on these pages, comes from Bulgaria? Oh yeeeah, after 10 years of existence of this 'zine, Hyperborea is the first Bulgarian band to be features here! I've to say I started to know very well the Bulgarian metal scene because they kick a lot of fukken asses! Plus, we're talking about a band of pure veterans, if you think that they are out there since 1997, even though their "Umbra", released after the beauty of 12 years from the previous one, is the third album of their career. Well, I hope that they'll receive a better consideration with "Umbra", also because they are now into the roster of a very good Spanish label like Art Gates Records that, indeed, released it in the final days of 2019.

Mudface - "Awaken to a Different Sun" (Art Gates Records, 2019)

Band: Mudface
Title: Awaken to a Different Sun
Genre: Modern Metal with different influences
Time: 22.23 min
Release Date: 28th June 2019
Vote: 73/100













After Of Fire, this is a new review about an Art Gates Rec's release! In fact, today you'll know the existence of a quintet coming from San Francisco, California, whose moniker is Mudface. Even though their official story starts in 2005, they were founded in the now very far 1998 under the curious name of S1ft but, with it, they released only 3 demos. Instead, the band has been surely luckier under the most aggressive name of Mudface since they edited 2 full-lenght albums so far. Well, their last production isn't an album but a nice EP entitled "Awaken to a Different Sun", that spews forth an interesting sound not so extreme for the Timpani allo Spiedo standards but, anyway, pleasantly uncommon on these pages.

Of Fire - "Dräparen" (Art Gates Records, 2019)

Band: Of Fire
Title: Dräparen
Genre: Death Metal with some Black Metal influences
Time: 38.37 min
Release Date: 28th June 2019
Rating: 88/100












For you, what could comes up from a Swedish band whose album called "Dräparen" was recorded at the legendary Sunlight Studios by none other than Tomas Skogsberg, the man that, in practice, forged the typical sound of the old-school Swedish death metal? The right answer is less obvious than you can imagine, but this is normal for a band belonging to the roster of Art Gates Records, a label that never release obvious or predictable stuff.

Final Cut - "Jackhammer" (Art Gates Records, 2019)

Band: Final Cut
Title: Jackhammer
Genre: Thrash Metal with Blues influences
Time: 42.09 min
Release Date: 15th March 2019
Rating: 89/100













Service communication:

before reading this new review, you must know that my ebook about the so-called "first wave of black metal" titled "Nel Segno del Marchio Nero" ("in the sign of the black mark") was finally released on 24th March 2019. Okay, it's completely in Italian but, if you want to buy it, you can do it through the best digital stores like Amazon, Google Books, Scribd and others. Thanks in advance, men!

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Art Gates Records is recently used to release many albums from Swiss bands, like Gonoreas, Kess'khtak, Nihilo, and now you must count also Final Cut and Frijgard. Ivan, the co-founder of the label, told me that their "A&R has been signing several bands from Switzerland...mainly because of the bands but not for the territory". In fact, I must say that their A&R has a very good taste since these Swiss bands into their roster show often really talented skills, and the act reviewed today, Final Cut, confirm again my words. And just out of curiosity, Final Cut has into their line-up a singer with clear Italian origins named Giulio Serratore, while their bassist Christoph Krippel is an Austrian guy that played many years ago in Freund Hein, whose some members, if you remember well, are now into the fantastic thrash/groove metal band Hellavista. Yes, everything is connected in the Art Gates Records' home! But now let's start to talk about "Jackhammer", the second album by Final Cut with which they show a very personal sound with some experimental ideas.

Harmdaud - "Skärvor" (Art Gates Records, 2019)

Band: Harmdaud
Title: Skärvor
Genre: Melodic Black Metal
Time: 47.00 min
Release Date: 22nd February 2019
Rating: 84/100













In the meantime that I'm waiting for other interesting promo kits from Art Gates Records, this review is about an album that this Spanish label sent me some months ago. The title of this album is "Skärvor" and the band is called Harmdaud. For the truth, we are talking about a Swedish one-man band guided by Andreas Stenlund that, with "Skärvor", published his second album under the moniker of Harmdaud, a word in Swedish language that stands, in according to an interview I read, for "death of sorrow" or for "death by sorrow". And now let me say that we are in presence of a very good black metal album!

Khous - "Geroaren haziak" (Art Gates Records, 2018)

Band: Khous
Title: Geroaren haziak
Genre: Melodic Metalcore with Alternative and Groove Metal influences
Time: 65.58 min
Release Date: 16th November 2018
Rating: 54/100












After the dark metal band Arkaid, today is another incursion in the so-called "light metal" thanks to the excellent Spanish label Art Gates Records. In fact, these Khous are a Spanish quartet born in 2001 as an alternative metal band. With the years, they made their music in a more aggressive way so to be nowadays a metalcore band, as perfectly expressed into their "Geroaren haziak". This is their third album and, if I understood well, is the last part of a homonymous trilogy consisting also of the two EPs entitled "Itsukeria" (2013) and "Fedea" (2014). Important to say, all the tracks of both the EPs are into the same album with the result that, including also the new songs, it has an incredible amount of numbers. But into it you'll find a form of metalcore that I don't like so much...

Arkaid - "Crematoria" (Art Gates Records, 2018)

Band: Arkaid
Title: Crematoria
Genre: Dark Metal with various influences
Time: 34.37 min
Release Date: 16th November 2018
Rating: 73/100













Ultimately Art Gates Rec sent me some "light" albums that don't belong to the usual extreme standards of Timpani allo Spiedo. An example of this is "Mind Pollution" of the Italian alternative metal band New Disorder. And another example comes from the band reviewed today. In fact, now you are going to read the review of "Crematoria", the debut album of Arkaid, a Swedish quartet born in 2013 that, strong of an amazing aesthetics (see the pic band below), offers a very particular mix of styles.

New Disorder - "Mind Pollution" (Art Gates Records, 2019)

Band: New Disorder
Title: Mind Pollution
Genre: Alternative Metal
Time: 41.05 min
Release Date: 15th March 2019
Rating: 75/100













Service communication:

before reading this unusual review, you have to know that, on 24th March 2019, I released my first book. It is called "Nel Segno del Marchio Nero" ("in the sign of the black mark") and is about the first wave of black metal. It's written in Italian and, if you would like to order it, here is the link.

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Believe it or not, today you have to read about an alternative metal band! But reviewing them is a great pleasure for two reasons: firstly, they comes from Rome like me; secondly, their 4th album "Mind Pollution", here reviewed, has been recently released by Art Gates Records, a long-time partner of Timpani allo Spiedo 'zine, as you know.

Whitemour - "The Devil Inherits the World" (Art Gates Records, 2018)

Band: Whitemour
Title: The Devil Inherits the World
Genre: Death Metal with Black Metal influences
Time: 40.09
Release Date: 16th November 2018
Rating: 85/100













Art Gates Records returns today on these putrid pages with this Finnish quartet called Whitemour! I think that "tormented" is the right adjective to describe Whitemour, whose story started in 2006 as a black metal band but they had so many troubles as well so many singers (even 3 in only 6 years!) that they broke up in 2012, managing to release only a demo, a single and two EPs. But, you know, the metalheads are really persistent people, so Jani Rohunen, an original founder of them and also guitarist (but he don't plays anymore in the band), thought well to give new life to Whitemour in 2014. And it seem that this persistence brought to good fruits since Whitemour, after many years of hard work, released their long-held debut album "The Devil Inherits the World" through the excellent Spanish label Art Gates Records. But Whitemour, mind you, aren't a black metal band anymore, even though...

Deathtale - "The Origin of Hate" (Art Gates Records, 2018)

Band: Deathtale
Title: The Origin of Hate
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal with some Dark tunes
Time: 39.38 min
Release Date: 16th November 2018
Rating: 80/100













Do you remember that one year ago I reviewed a Vienna-based band called Hellavista? Well, today Vienna, Austria, returns on these pages through Deathtale, a quintet founded in 2008 by the will of the bassplayer Philipp Späth and of the veteran drummer Tom Kräutner after his demise with his previous band Demolition. With the addition of a second guitarist in the person of Gilli Gehring that made Deathtale a quintet (in fact, before they were a quartet), these Austrian guys released 4 months ago a third album under the auspices of Art Gates Records (please read the interview that I did to Ivan Magdalena about his label). The result of this collaboration has been "The Origin of Hate".

INTERVIEW TO ART GATES RECORDS!!! (IVAN MAGDALENA)

 

Hey brutalbangers,
I remember that my collaboration with Art Gates Records started even 7 years ago, when this Spanish label was still in its first days of existence. Since then, AGR has become an important underground label, and the nicer thing is that it is still growing up in a so good way that they recently opened their first office outside their national borders, precisely in Mexico. Hence, considering this long collaboration between us, some time ago I thought well to ask to Ivan Magdalena, one of the founders of this label, to interview him about it. So, today I am very honoured to present you this interview about Art Gates Records. Expect to read very interesting answers in which you can feel a real passion and dedication about the label, the AGR's bands and the metal music in general.
And many thanks to Ivan also to sending me the fantastic pics that you'll find throughout the interview!

ENJOY THE ARTICLE!!!

Moonshade - "Sun Dethroned" (Art Gates Records, 2018)

Band: Moonshade
Title: Sun Dethroned
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Time: 46.07
Release Date: 26th October 2018
Rating: 83/100













After Cronaxia, Portugal come back here with Moonshade! These are a talented quintet from Oporto that, after their foundation in the now far 2010 and after various EPs and singles edited throughout the years, finally realized some months ago their debut album titled "Sun Dethroned" through Art Gates Records, a Spanish label that in 2018 produced plenty of very good albums,. Like this one.