Raxa - MezoVedic

Raxa - MezoVedic

If you were interested in Tenochtitlan but found their music to be a bit too much "world music" and not enough metal, I am pleased to inform you that Lefthander's similar project is far more balanced. Even if you've never heard of them, but like bands that mix metal with Pre-Hispanic instrumentation such as Yaotl Mictlan, Ek, and Ch'aska (just to name a few) I think you will find this album to be quite in your taste. And if you haven't heard of those bands, well then do so.

This is one of those albums that for some may take more than one more listen to get into. I know I was a bit reluctant at first. The big difference between Raxa and the bands mentioned earlier is that due to the heavy use of keyboards in order be atmospheric, you may feel sometimes that you're at the freaking dentist's waiting room, or a very strange kind of spa. This is why unless you don't mind the whole atmospheric thing, you may actually have to wait to digest this album.

But once you get over this, the journey can begin. MezoVedic is quite an awesome album. Unlike Tenochtitlan's latest endeavor, Lefthander takes his time with the songs, combining both clean and growling vocals; both heavy riffs and tranquilizing breaks that avoid the cheap, sudden shifts back to the metal to seem heavier than what the music really is. Also, tracks such as "Incumbeni Kadingirra", and "Calm in the Hall of two Truths" combine Lefthander's vocals with female vocals, further enriching the album.

Original review at http://www.metal-archives.com/

Doom Metal / Folk / Ambient, Russia
Full-length, Mystic Empire
April 2008

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My Dying Bride - For Lies I Sire (2009)

My Dying Bride - For Lies I Sire (2009)

It is the same scenery as before...outside cloudy weather...rain...darkness. Inside everything... nothing...poetry, melancholy and a crying violin from the past. “For lies I Sire”...
Almost three years after the highly acclaimed “A Line Of Deathless Kings” MY DYING BRIDE return with a masterpiece, so different, that seems the band has chosen to follow a different path from now on...the old road...
Influenced by themselves and more specifically by their attempts in the 90’s, this album combines all those elements responsible for the band’s uniqueness in music. To make things clearer, the band decided again to use the sad violin melodies which used to be their trademark in their first albums. Apart from that, there is a clear return to the sound they achieved in “Turn Loose The Swans” as also in “The Angel and The Dark River” album. Aaron’s vocals are clear in most of the time, crying his poetic lyrics as he used to do in the previously mentioned “diamonds”.
Musically, “For Lies I Sire” is two steps back for the band, resulting in a very big step forward! This means that MY DYING BRIDE provide us with an album that could be the physical continuation of a past attempt such as “The Angel...” but at the same time it is so fresh and inspiring, showing the band’s potential.
The production has a more melancholic approach, aiming to compose a sad-not so dark as their past intentions- melodic musical scenery, reaching an almost suffocating mood at some times.
However, there are some parts showing new inspirations (i.e. “Fall In Me”, “Bring Me Victory”), never before attempted by the band to such an extend. Here we meet some continuous melodic riffs combined in harmony with the classic strict and heavy- MY DYING BRIDE-guitar sound, but everything happens inside the doom/death borders the band issued all these years.
Not forget to mention the clear musical references to “As The Flower Withers” album in “A Chapter In Loathing”...MDB death metal...
Succeeding to fill our lives with misery once again, the leading British band did what was supposed to do. Adding another sad chapter in it’s journey book since the late 80’s, “For Lies I Sire” sets the new borders in the genre, adding once again great musical value...Excellence...

Original review at http://www.metal-invader.com/

Experimental/Psychedelic Doom Metal, UK
Full-length, Peaceville Records
March 23rd, 2009

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