GRAILKNIGHTS'

'Live At The Gates Of Grailham City'

Grailhamese, Grailhammers or simply German Melodic Death/Power Metallers Grailknights come battling through the mist and forests of Lower Saxony to raise their fists of glory and swords of the templar to ignite the air surrounding them in Hanover. It is bands like Grailknights who pioneer new genres and indeed so with their first ever live DVD 'Live At The Gates Of Grailham City', they show that it is not all about playing songs, creating moshpits and drinking beer post-gig, no, instead they opt for a story-like scene, not unlike a Disney play but with the added 'Metal' factor, what makes them different and in a way similar to Lordi, is the way-out-there costumes, but then this no theatrical display unlike GWAR.  No matter what is obvious, the more they play the more powerful and exciting the stage becomes, this is the sort of music that would be played on adventure quests or even so as a new Disney soundtrack, even so perhaps A Knight's Tale - regardless of the language barrier, who said German, was not a powerful and a beautiful language? (Although the songs are in English) Anyhow, not forgetting it was Germany who had the famous Teutonic Knights - whether this was a little influence to Grailknights remains unclear, but might offer some guidelines, but certainly is the band not just a melodic death/power metal band, but a band on the radar of British media and as such join bands like Lordi in the group of bands who are willing to go the extra mile for different styles and ideas of metal music, essentially the interactive side to this band with the audience keeps the show alive and well, maybe Grailknights ought to have a date at the Royal Albert Hall, that would be their best stage performance to date naturally.  With a mega whopping 1 and a half hours playtime, this DVD is one for any eccentric metal music fan and the best music DVD from Germany of 2010, time to return back to Grailham City, raise thy fists to thee Grailknights!!!

[10] RHYS STEVENSON

http://www.myspace.com/grailknights

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BREACH THE VOID

'The Monochromatic Era'

CORONER

Swiss Modern (Cyber Industrial Melodeath) Metallers Breach The Void come out of the shadows of the mountains from Italy, Switzerland and France to deliver the next stage in heavy metal combinations, the product of electronica mixed with metal music, their debut full-length 'The Monochromatic Era', combining V12 drumming with brutal and harmonic vocals as well as cyber guitars, so much cyberkenesis rides on this release, it opposes the digital age. No such trend rides on this album albeit technology and society, forget the diodes, obey the LED's and align the resistors, because Breach The Void is now the next generation of motherboards, welcome to 'The Monochromatic Era'.

[10] RHYS STEVENSON

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BRAINLUST

'Arise Of The Reanimated'

Hungarian Death Metallers arise out of the graves with their debut EP release 'Arise Of The Reanimated', containing a splattering of modern Death metal with the ever-increasing Deathcore combination, the quintet from Budapest summon the brutality of their native land and whilst twisting it into a force that any armed combatant could not defeat, the horror-themed Death Metallers wield the darkest and most extreme music from the Hungarian Metal scene, somewhat lodged in between Whitechapel and Suffocation, this is Hungary's extreme calling, the 'Arise Of The Reanimated'.

[8.5] RHYS STEVENSON

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OPPOSITE SIDES

'Lost Inside'

RISING

Italian Cyber Melodeath Metallers Opposite Sides unleash a torrent of electronica mixed with Death Metal to deliver Cyber Melodeath, pioneered by Silent Descent, Preternatural and now Opposite Sides, returning with their highly-anticipated sophomore full-length release 'Lost Inside', the Italian quartet (trio on recording the album) are amongst the next wave of Italian metallers and are sure to send the Vatican a clear message, metal is not evil, it is not the devil's music and that it is more likely to get 'Lost Inside' the Holy See than Rome.

[8] RHYS STEVENSON

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MASS BURIAL

'Eternal War'

Australian Blackened Death Metallers Mass Burial set alight the beacon of progression with their first slaughtering in the form of their debut full-length release 'Eternal War', wallowing in Behemoth style Metal whilst adding the same level of brutality exerted by fellow countrymen and genre wizards The Furor, this Sydney-based trio whip up a storm in the Australian city, a dark symphonic blast emitting from the underground directly beneath the Sydney opera house, for this effort, it is a powerful smack in the face, but for the band it is 'Eternal War'.

[9] RHYS STEVENSON

http://www.myspace.com/massburialtheband

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PRYDE

'Absence Of Light'

Gallantly dashing French Progressive Power Metal sextet Pryde immerse the world of heavy metal with the power of Marseille's forgotten past and twist it to develop a debut full-length release which can only rival the French legionnaires, hark Pryde's 'Absence Of Light' straddles between Sonata Arctica and Tyr (minus the Viking air). Fast beats immersed in the thickened riffs of Cyril Vidal and Laurent Mourou finish up as their best possible debut, signalling to the French metal scene a storm is brewing and not just the connoisseur's of wine, bring on the sophomore.

[8.5] RHYS STEVENSON

http://www.myspace.com/prydeheavy

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THAMES BURIAL

'From The Depths'

Forged from the cesspool known as... scrap that c**p as this is not Echoes Fail, sorry Fall*. No, this is but a far more brutal version of the once-existent band. Hark hailing from Colchester is Thames Burial, formed from four Echoes Fall members (JB got chewed up and spat out), combining l-r: Seb Cowie, Stu(ie) Bridges, Dex Jezierski and Gavin Chinery. Here they bring their now 35-day existence to a grinding gear-shift, delivering a mental onslaught of blastbeats, solo's, riffs and more balls and sweat than found in heavyweight lifters. For this quartet (they are bass searching - so anyone interested contact them), they have shed off their EF skin and coated themselves in a new skin straight from the 'Thames Burial' site right 'From The Depths' of Essex. Reincarnated, reassembled and recharged, prepare for the major storm; watch this band at all costs.

[9] RHYS STEVENSON

http://www.facebook.com/thamesburial

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BLOWSIGHT

'Dystopia Lane'

These are not emo's, they are not scene either, but they are Swedish Alternative Metallers Blowsight with their latest full-length 'Dystopia Lane'. Mixing pop music with the hardcore punk approach and a toned-down slither of metal, the Swedish boy band are not far from becoming the male version of a rocked up ABBA. Coming back from a tour with fellow countrymen Sonic Syndicate the quartet are still intact and yet with this release they are not pansy like MCR or Paramore, or even depressive like Madina Lake or BFMV (oh come one the Welsh band are emo metal). Blowsight even had the balls to cover songs by Lady Gaga and Britney Spears, so forgot taking a trip down the yellow-brick road as 'Dystopia Lane' is a short route to Emerald City.

[10] RHYS STEVENSON

http://www.blowsight.com/

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LINDISFARNE

'Symbiosis'

German Viking Black Metal Metallers Lindisfarne set sail once again with their third full-length album, now whilst it would seem the drums were on Death Metal, the exact genre of this band cannot really be defined even if the vocals sit exactly on Black Metal, however fast the drums are the vocals keep up miraculously. For Lindisfarne this being their third album in their 12 -year reign (minus the female vocalist) would signify a sheer shift in the term 'underground black metal', for this quintet adopt the Abgott style Black Metal but plug in the traditional Viking sound, a little work needs to be done, but after all German Black Metal never stops upgrading.

[7] RHYS STEVENSON

http://www.myspace.com/lindisfarnemetal

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