A compilation of bands signed by Osmose Records
CD1:
Vital Remains
Marduk
Driller Killer
Necromantia
Angel Corpse
Immortal
Dark Tranquillity
Gehennah
Enslaved
Swordmaster
Inferno
Demoniac
Absu
CD2: (* unreleased tracks)
Impaled Nazarene*
Bewitched*
Disfear*
Raism
Swordmaster* (again?!?)
Tsatthoggua* (what the fuck?!?)
Mystifier*
Loud Pipes*
The Rocking Dildos*
Sadistik Exekution* (ooohh, scaaarry)
Gardenian
Devilyn
Conqueror
Majestic Midnight*
and some other band not worth mentioning*
The only bands worthy of attention are: Vital Remains, Necromantia, Dark Tranquillity, Gehennah, Enslaved, Swordmaster, Demoniac, Raism, Mystifier and Gardenian.
Vital Remains - Farewell to the Messiah and I am God, off of "Forever Undeground."
Click for Vital Remains
Necromantia - Spiritforms of the Psychromancer - off of the vinyl version of "Ancient Pride." Two guys are in this band. The intro to this song is slow and features clean guitars and vocals, but just as you say to yourself "I think I'll take a nap now," heavy distortion kicks in, the singer screams in black vocals and the tempo is that of a horny hooker. The song continues thus and returns to "ballad mode", only to erupt once again. This band is truly dynamic, making the most of those volume contrasts. This is good shit.
Click here for more Necromantia.
Dark Tranquillity - Tongues, off of "the Mind's"
Click for Dark Tranquillity
Gehennah - Rock 'n Roll Patrol off of "Kings of the Sidewalk."
These guys are sort of a punk band. The guitars are distorted and the vocals are black but the riffing is punkish. As you can tell from the song and album title, these guys are have a refreshing (and silly) sense of humor in a genre dominated by seriousness and reality. I like this song's punk thing and their will to defy the "rules" of black metal.
Enslaved - Forgotten off of the "Eld" cd. This song is pretty good. The bass is weak and the drums sound like paper. Some bands use this as an intro and then turn "on" the bass and pound the drums but Enslaved does nothing of the sort. I bet the mixer was a moron. He/she botched and otherwise great song. This song is melodic and you can't argue with that.
Swordmaster - Clans of Death (unreleased demo version) and Metallic Devastation off of "Postmortem Tales."
Click here for Swordmaster
Demoniac - Burn the Witch off of "Stormblade." The song starts off with the screamed words "Burn the witch and evil DIE!!!" These are the only lyrics I can make out in the entire song. The opening riff reminds me of that Mario Bros. music. But then, the guitars become distorted and then they solo while singing. It sounds cool because the vocals are keeping the rhythm and the guitarist is jacking off on guitar. This is an excellent song.
Raism - Aesthetic Terror off of their upcoming album. This song is really cool. It opens with a highly distorted punk riff and the vocals then jump in. They're black metal vocals. (What did you expect?) The chorus is a heavy riff with a dark piano part and then it's back to the punk riff. I'm going to buy the "upcoming album" that they don't name.
Mystifier - Leather and Metal is an unreleased track. "We arise for leather and metal. We are warriors ready to fight." It's one of those leather and metal gloryfing songs like Metallica's "Whiplash" or Judas Priest's "Metal Gods." It sports a really heavy riff and an artificial harmonic that gets really fucking annoying if you listen to the song to much. The most original thing about this band is there's a black guy in the band.
Gardenian - The Downfall is off their upcoming album. In Flames recently lost their guitarist because he wanted to concentrate on this band. This song is heavy, distorted and melodic. It includes a small but worthwhile solo. They have In Flames type vocals. This song features an evil heavy riff. They sound similar to In Flames but they're not a copy. These guys are heavier and have less guitar harmony.
World Domination Live
1. Demoniac
2. Dellamore
3. Swordmaster
4. Bewitched
5. Enslaved
6. Dark Tranquillity
All these bands suck except Swordmaster, Enslaved, and Dark Tranquillity.
Swordmaster - Crush to Dust and Past Redemption.
The recording is quite bad but you make out the guitars and shit. The vocals are pretty loud. The solo in "Past Redemption" sounds great. They have an extra guitarist onstage doing the rhythm guitar.
Enslaved - The Blood of Kvasir, Fenris, Jotunblod, and Sacrafice to the Elves.
I think they sound better live than in the studio. Despite a bad mix, Enslaved sounds thicker than on the Eld cd. The set is pretty good. They look like Vikings with guitars. It's pretty cool.
Dark Tranquillity - Dreamlore Degenerate, Punish My Heaven, Insanity's Crescendo, Zodijackyl Light, Lethe, Constant, Of Chaos and Eternal Night.
This is amazing. Especially for me, a lowly American who will never see them in person. I really enjoyed Mikael's growling and screaming and the guitar stuff. They've got a lot of energy on stage. It's great. It sounds a little crappy and the editing sucks 'cause they keep switching cameras so you can't really see the band. The intros to Insanity's Crescendo and Lethe are shortenend quite a bit but that's ok because club crowds aren't the most patient of audiences. This is definitely the video's crowning achievement.
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