BLACK VEIL BRIDES

'We Stitch These Wounds'

STANDBY

American Gothic Rock/Metalcore mob Black Veil Brides emerge from the darkness with their debut full-length 'We Stitch These Wounds' released last year on Standby Records. Whilst the vocals vary from Metalcore to emo, the band itself has clear Metal roots as well as a gothic appearance. Not conventionally a general Metalcore band, Black Veil Brides are almost certainly a new genre-defining band, not one of Gothcore but probably Darkcore, regardless of critical initial judgement, the Black Veil Brides are to prove a point, just because the lyrics are emotional, does not mean the band is emo, that is why 'We Stitch These Wounds', to zip up haters.

[9] RHYS STEVENSON

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OBOLTRED

'Garažo Revizorius'

Words fail on this one, even if this the debut demo of Lithuanian Death Metallers Oboltred, the vocals are nowhere near perfection and lack that brutality expected from a Death Metal band. The drums are blastbeat over-load and the guitars are all over the place, the only respect is that the songs are in native Lithuanian. Apart from that this demo could have easily been voted as worst debut from the Lithuanian Metal scene, but for all time sake it's mere disappointment. A good enough demo for any raw Death Metal fan to have, but not a favourite by any means.

[3.5] RHYS STEVENSON

http://www.myspace.com/oboltred

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ASKING ALEXANDRIA

'Reckless & Relentless'

SUMERIAN

Yorkshire Euro-trance Metalcore quintet Asking Alexandria make their highly anticipated return with their sophomore full-length album 'Reckless & Relentless', armed with a garrison of pure solid vocals, cyclonic guitar strumming and traditional Metalcore stratagem. This is not your average Yorkshire tea but rather a pack of chocolate digestives with enough calories to satisfy the hunger of this mammoth band, mixing the electric eccentricity of European trance music with Metalcore to merely rival the new 'Trance Metal' genre. Asking Alexandria is set to storm the British Metal scene in a pretty 'Reckless & Relentless' way.

[8] RHYS STEVENSON

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CONFINED WITHIN

'The World Stops Turning'

BRUTAL ELITE

Stafford stalwarts Confined Within made an impact in 2010 with their debut EP 'The World Stops Turning', the Metalcore quintet elaborate on the genre as a starting point for a heavy onslaught of West Midlands Metal in a sensational way. Whilst adding softer melodic attributes to their music, the band shift in slick motion, back and forth between two extremes, whilst remaining centre-on-focus in that their Metalcore style swings both ways, somewhat an experimental approach, but brutal enough to cause chaos as 'The World Stops Turning'.

[8] RHYS STEVENSON

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BLOODWRITTEN

'Thrashin' Fury'

WITCHING HOUR PRODS.

Polish Blackened Thrash maniacs Bloodwritten instigate a new form of evil darkness with their third full-length album 'Thrashin' Fury', whilst the genre sits straddled between the two genres, the band sit directly on top and perform a delicate balance of the two genres. Coming from Warsaw the quintet are one of the Polish underground's darkest bands and are certainly heavier than titans Behemoth. Pummelling blastbeats, military warfare ambience, riff-sick guitars and blood-curdling vocals are exerted when the band encounters 'Thrashin' Fury'.

[7.5] RHYS STEVENSON

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TIDES OF VIRTUE

'Malevolence'

TRANSCEND

Essex Melodic Death/Metalcore mosh-mob Tides Of Virtue enveloped the year 2010 with their debut full-length album 'Malevolence', featuring spine-snapping blastbeats and a monstrosity to sink a thousand ships. Harmonious compositions situated on a forty-five minute bomb-of-an-album result in a mixed output of extreme music and ear-soothing melodies. For the Essex mob this is a fair decent attempt at resounding the implemented vicissitudes of the latter Metalcore incantation, 'Malevolence' will sure thrill and excavate a new chapter in British Metal history.

[10] RHYS STEVENSON

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EVELYN

'Awareness Of Death'

Is this the sign of hearing aid week coming up? Polish Gothic Black Metallers Evelyn released their sophomore full-length album back in 2008 with an unfortunate negative forecast, the vocals are ample enough but the music itself loses all sense of morality and direction. Whilst seen as collaboration between two of the Dark Metal subgenres, Evelyn add a little glimmer of hope to it with some extravagant ambiance on the keyboards, just a shame the rest was not as good.

[4] RHYS STEVENSON

http://www.myspace.com/evelynmetalpl

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DAGOBA

'Poseidon'

XIII BIS

French Industrial Groove merchants Dagoba relish their chances with their fourth full-length album release 'Poseidon' which saw daylight in 2010, a futile exaggeration of sensational beats with groovy dance influences being instigated. Dagoba are vastly becoming France's immediate answer to the American titans Ministry and probably an influence to neighbours Breach The Void from Switzerland. 'Poseidon' covers all aspects of the dance-laden industrial music genre and smothers itself with a dose of groove metal, leaving Dagoba as admirals of the French Metal scene.

[10] RHYS STEVENSON

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13 LASHES

'13 Lashes'

Canadian Metalcore newcomers 13 Lashes shed new daylight in 2010 with their self-titled debut album, mixing larynx corroding vocals with fury in form of hard-hitting blastbeats and an amalgamation of riffs in comatose style, word. 13 Lashes are sure to amaze the metal music scene with their take on catchy composures and clean-edge Hardcore vocals, but don't be fooled, they aren't your Bleeding Through nor or they screamo-score band Bring Me The Horizon (emphasis on the 'scream' part), but they are ready to whip the world with '13 Lashes'.

[8] RHYS STEVENSON

http://www.myspace.com/13lashes

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ARMAGEDDON

'The Persecution From Heaven'

Possibly the next big Black Metal band coming from Europe, Greek Melodic Black Metal quintet Armageddon come in sensational form with their 2010 demo 'The Persecution From Heaven', screeching vocals surrounded by melodic riffs and down-to-earth drumming, altogether coming as two tracks of extreme evil and ear-ripping sound. Don't let the joker, emo facial look fool, for underneath lies a talent strong and brutal enough to rival that of Norwegian Black Metal titans Gorgoroth. Armageddon bring 'The Persecution From Heaven' whilst Gorgoroth bring the persecution from Hell'.

http://www.myspace.com/armageddongr

[8] RHYS STEVENSON

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