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Chapter VI (CD/DVD)

SKU: PEC-CD-D216X
Label:
Peaceville Records
Category:
Doom Metal
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Sadly overlooked sixth effort from the great Gods of doom. With Thomas Vickstrom on vocals, replacing the thought-to-be-unreplaceable Messiah Marcolin, the band put together a less doomy, and actually more progressive effort that didn't win over their entrenched fanbase. In fact it's quite a gem of a disc in it's own right. Vickstrom is a great singer and the band was trying to do something a bit different. This is a remastered version that comes with a load of bonus tracks as well as DVD (NTSC - region 0) featuring a live show from Uddevalla, Sweden in 1993 as well as a promo video for "The Dying Illusion".

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  • "I guess that Jyvaskyla is one of the most important cities in Finland when it comes to rock and metal. More than just a handful of bands call the city their home and one of the is Swallow The Sun.The Finnish sextet premiered in the early days of the new century with an album entitled ‘The Morning Never Came’. It was not just the title of the debut album but in a way also summarizes the sound of the Finns very well. If you ever had a chance to experience the long Scandinavian winter nights, it isn’t a surprise that such an environment has an impact on mood and music.‘Moonflowers’ that is the title of Swallow The Sun’s newest offer which is an eight songs comprising longplayer that follows the 2019 release ‘When a Shadow is Forced into the Light’. The first things that stands out is the artwork of the album. Not only that it spreads the dark blooming aspect of Swallow The Sun’s music. It is also special that the flowers are dried ones and have been collected by Juha Raivio. If you wonder about the red colored circle, it includes the blood of Raivio which makes the artwork very personal, beyond the motive itself.The music on ‘Moonflowers’ and the artwork connects very well. The dried flowers, in a way, reflect a beauty of something that is lifeless with the blood being the vivid counterpart. The eight songs on ‘Moonflowers’ are mood-wise placed within these poles, and it all begins with ‘Moonflowers Bloom in Misery’. The song is a gloomy six-minute epos that sets the tone for the album. Calm passages, fueled with sadness are alternating with harsh outbreaks. The moonflower doesn’t bloom in colorful brightness. Like on the cover artwork, it is the red colors that stands for the evanescence and is surrounded by lightless black.The songs, written by Swallow The Sun guitarist Juha Raivio, show for a next time an emotional depth that pulls you into a world of melancholy. There is not too much light and hope. Still Raivio manages to create an atmosphere that fascinates, like in majestic ‘Woven Into Sorrow’. The cinematic ‘All Hallows’ Grief’ is another highlight as it is the bittersweet ‘The Void’. What makes ‘All Hallows’ Grief’ to a special track on the album isn’t only the intensity. That’s a common denominator throughout. The decisive element is the guest appearance of Cammie Gilbert, known from Oceans Of Slumber. Her female voice is a perfect fit with the basic pattern of this songs and adds an extra layer to ‘All Hallows’ Grief’. Last but not least there comes a massive highlight at the end of the album. Sticking to the general motive it is frontman Mikko Kotamäki, who changes from growls to hoarse screams with a blackened vibe. What an ending.Swallow The Sun continues with ‘Moonflowers’ what they started 21 years ago. These flowers and blossoms of melancholy is what make the album to an emotional journey towards the hidden depth of the human soul." - Markus' Heavy Music Blog
    $13.00
  • "Following the poor commercial performance of Black Sabbath’s 1987 release The Eternal Idol, the band were dropped by both Vertigo and Warner Bros., and signed with I.R.S. Records. Sabbath took time off in 1988, returning in August to begin work on their next album. As a result of the recording troubles with Eternal Idol, Tony Iommi opted to produce the band's next record himself. "It was a completely new start", Iommi said. "I had to rethink the whole thing, and decided that we needed to build up some credibility again”. Iommi enlisted former Rainbow drummer Cozy Powell, long-time keyboardist Geoff Nicholls and session bassist Laurence Cottle, and rented a "very cheap studio in England"."1. Headless Cross 6:152. Neon Knights 4:473. Mob Rules 3:254. Tommy Iommi Guitar Intro 2:255. Black Sabbath 7:156. Iron Man 5:477. Children Of The Grave 4:458. Heaven And Hell 12:379. Paranoid 4:0110. The Shining 5:4411. The Wizard 4:2412. War Pigs 5:5513. Rusty Angels 7:3514. I Won’t Cry For You 5:48• Headless Cross was released in April 1989, but was all but ignored by contemporary reviewers, although AllMusic contributor Eduardo Rivadavia gave the album four stars and called it "the finest non-Ozzy or Dio Black Sabbath album".• Following the release, the band added touring bassist Neil Murray, formerly of Colosseum II, National Health and Whitesnake.• The Headless Cross U.S. tour began in May ‘89 with openers Kingdom Come and Silent Rage, but because of poor ticket sales, the tour was cancelled after just eight shows.• The European leg began in September, where the band were enjoying chart success. After a string of Japanese shows the band embarked on a 23 date Russian tour with Girlschool. Black Sabbath was one of the first bands to tour Russia, after Mikhail Gorbachev opened the country to western acts for the first time in 1989.• Of the Japanese shows, by far the finest was Sabbath’s 19th October ‘89 gig in Osaka, an event recorded in its entirety for live FM radio broadcast across the country. Previously unreleased, this stunning concert is now available in full on this new CD.
    $15.00
  • Second album from this Swiss band draws very heavily from the Katatonia musical gene pool.  Melancholy metal that actually has a groove.  Some of the proggier bits remind of Tool.   
    $13.00
  • Be warned...with these gray area live CDs they are marketed as being radio broadcasts.  Sometimes they are and sometimes they aren't.  I haven't heard this particular one so I can't comment beyond caveat emptor.STUNNING 1980 DIO ERA BROADCAST FROM JAPAN• Following Ozzy Osbourne being sacked from Black Sabbath in 1979, after the band’s Never Say Die tour, Ronnie James Dio, formerlyof the band Elf, was asked to replace him.• Geezer Butler also, temporarily, left the band in September 1979 for personal reasons. The new line-up returned to Criteria Studios in November to begin recording work, with Butler returning to the band in January 1980. Produced by Martin Birch, Heaven and Hell was released on 25 April 1980, to critical acclaim. The new record peaked at number nine in the United Kingdom and number 28 in theU.S., their highest-charting release since Sabotage. The album eventually sold a million copies in the U.S., and Sabbath embarked on an extensive world tour, making their first live appearance with Dio in Germany on 17 April 1980.• Black Sabbath toured the U.S. throughout 1980 with Blue Öyster Cult on the Black and Blue tour, with a show at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, filmed and released theatrically in 1981 as Black and Blue.• On 18 August 1980, after a show in Minneapolis, drummer Bill Ward quit the band. Geezer Butler stated that after Ward's final show, the drummer came in drunk, stating that "he might as well be a Martian". Following his sudden departure, the group hired drummer Vinny Appice.• The band completed the Heaven and Hell world tour in February 1981 and returned to the studio to begin work on their next album, but among the very finest shows on the Black and Blue tour was Sabbath’s performance at the Nakano Sunplaza, in Tokyo, on 18th November ‘80. A truly stunning event which was also recorded for live FM broadcast across Japan, the entire show is now finally released on CD here for the very first time.TRACKLIST1 Supertzar 1:552 War Pigs 7:333 Neon Knights 5:114 N.I.B. 5:415 Children Of The Sea 6:316 Sweet Leaf 3:187 Drum Solo 4:578 Sweet Leaf (Reprise) 2:259 Lady Evil 4:3710 Black Sabbath 10:0511 Heaven And Hell 10:2712 Iron Man 7:3113 Exit Announcement 1:06 
    $15.00
  • "While most heavy music can be traced back to one seminal root or another, Katatonia’s sound has always seemed to magically materialise, fully formed, bereft of cliché, and owing nothing to anything but the gentle grip of darkness. The key can be found in the seemingly intuitive songwriting of founder members Anders Nyström and Jonas Renkse: irrespective of which of them is wielding the pen, their songs consistently defy the usual rules. Intricate riffs intertwine in wild, alien ways; huge melodies erupt from unexpected points in tangled, tempestuous rhythms; colossal emotional crescendos transform into moments of breathtaking fragility and restraint. Whether by fortune, design or a mixture of the two, Katatonia have long been one of the most authentically progressive and unique bands around. As a result, expectations around a new album are always high and, pleasingly, usually met.Sky Void Of Stars is the Swedes’ 12th full-length. Much like 2020’s City Burials, it finds them savouring a slender but unbreakable connection to the more primitive, doom metal endeavours of their distant past, but expressing it through more of that quietly miraculous songwriting.Another thing that defines Katatonia is that they’re intrinsically unsuited to the age of short attention spans. Opener Austerity is a beautifully paced, rhythmically complex thing, and the perfect, propulsive entry point for diehard fans, but it is also a song that reveals more secrets with each compulsive spin. Drab Moon weaves several superficially simple elements into a bewitching symphony of textures and languid vocal hooks, while both the angular metal bombast of Author and the armour-plated goth grooves of Colossal Shade find room for curious detours and small but telling changes of mood.Sky Void Of Stars reaches a startling emotional peak with Impermanence. A glacial ballad with a heart of purest doom, it drifts majestically along until a rapturous, old-school guitar solo bursts through the clouds of reverb like a lightning bolt. It’s one of the most powerful things Katatonia have ever released.Even at their most straightforward, Katatonia are always pursuing an ornate, tangential course. Opaline begins in elegant, downbeat mode and builds up toward a chorus of undeniable hugeness, but with an endlessly inventive arrangement bubbling away beneath. Birds is a succinct, high-octane banger by the Swedes’ usual standards, but Jonas’s insidious, askance melody lifts it into a much stranger realm. Atrium is the closest thing Sky… has to a straight-forward pop song, albeit one steeped in the ominous clangour of 80s goth and bolstered by chirruping strings and a chorus hook that, if one were daring, might even be described as upbeat. In wild contrast, No Beacon To Illuminate Our Fall is a brooding splurge of interlocking riffs and sumptuous prog dynamics, with a nuanced performance from Jonas that will break the hardest of hearts.Bowing out with bonus Absconder’s elegant labyrinth of pristine beats and spaced-out, bluesy prog, Katatonia sound as absorbed in their meticulous, mercurial work as they ever did. The only predictable thing about Sky Void Of Stars is how absurdly fucking great it is." - Metal Hammer
    $15.00
  • Limited edition 2CD mediabook.  The second disc features re-arranged classical version performed by Trio NOX - live at Sipoo Church."I guess that Jyvaskyla is one of the most important cities in Finland when it comes to rock and metal. More than just a handful of bands call the city their home and one of the is Swallow The Sun.The Finnish sextet premiered in the early days of the new century with an album entitled ‘The Morning Never Came’. It was not just the title of the debut album but in a way also summarizes the sound of the Finns very well. If you ever had a chance to experience the long Scandinavian winter nights, it isn’t a surprise that such an environment has an impact on mood and music.‘Moonflowers’ that is the title of Swallow The Sun’s newest offer which is an eight songs comprising longplayer that follows the 2019 release ‘When a Shadow is Forced into the Light’. The first things that stands out is the artwork of the album. Not only that it spreads the dark blooming aspect of Swallow The Sun’s music. It is also special that the flowers are dried ones and have been collected by Juha Raivio. If you wonder about the red colored circle, it includes the blood of Raivio which makes the artwork very personal, beyond the motive itself.The music on ‘Moonflowers’ and the artwork connects very well. The dried flowers, in a way, reflect a beauty of something that is lifeless with the blood being the vivid counterpart. The eight songs on ‘Moonflowers’ are mood-wise placed within these poles, and it all begins with ‘Moonflowers Bloom in Misery’. The song is a gloomy six-minute epos that sets the tone for the album. Calm passages, fueled with sadness are alternating with harsh outbreaks. The moonflower doesn’t bloom in colorful brightness. Like on the cover artwork, it is the red colors that stands for the evanescence and is surrounded by lightless black.The songs, written by Swallow The Sun guitarist Juha Raivio, show for a next time an emotional depth that pulls you into a world of melancholy. There is not too much light and hope. Still Raivio manages to create an atmosphere that fascinates, like in majestic ‘Woven Into Sorrow’. The cinematic ‘All Hallows’ Grief’ is another highlight as it is the bittersweet ‘The Void’. What makes ‘All Hallows’ Grief’ to a special track on the album isn’t only the intensity. That’s a common denominator throughout. The decisive element is the guest appearance of Cammie Gilbert, known from Oceans Of Slumber. Her female voice is a perfect fit with the basic pattern of this songs and adds an extra layer to ‘All Hallows’ Grief’. Last but not least there comes a massive highlight at the end of the album. Sticking to the general motive it is frontman Mikko Kotamäki, who changes from growls to hoarse screams with a blackened vibe. What an ending.Swallow The Sun continues with ‘Moonflowers’ what they started 21 years ago. These flowers and blossoms of melancholy is what make the album to an emotional journey towards the hidden depth of the human soul." - Markus' Heavy Music Blog
    $18.00
  • Ninth album from this Swedish band.  Katatonia's music shares a kindred spirit with that of Opeth and Tool.  Very much emotion driven with a dark vibe through out.  It doesn't come more melancholy than this one... "Despite being into their third decade, gloomy Swedish progressive metallers Katatonia are still producing fine work. 2009’s Night Is the New Day was heralded as the band’s finest ever album, and with prog’s increasing influence evident across the more facile end of the metal spectrum, this band is doing better than ever. Dead End Kings marks another progression for this outfit – in terms of album structure, anyway. While their previous effort was a sumptuous effort with a sum greater than its parts, this ninth album is a collection of fantastic, searching songs that stand alone as well as they do together. It’s still completely and utterly miserable, though… so very, very miserable. The cellos in opening track The Parting add solemn layers to music that is already laden with sorrow and introspection. It’s a multifarious affair from then on in. The slightly sinister Hypnone adds strength before the album succumbs to the mellow, emotive The Racing Heart. Buildings is the most resolutely metal track here. Its humungous riffs are positioned at exactly the moment where the listener may have been lulled into a false sense of security, bludgeoning guitars swelling the song’s belly with a fiercely charged beauty. There are other moments of grandiose, majestic beauty breaking up the murkiness, but Buildings is the only piece of metal you’re going to get.Dead Letters is massively reminiscent of Tool – and while the American prog-grungers remain at work on their overdue fifth LP, it’s a very welcome sound. It doesn’t last though. As with everything Katatonia do, the song wanders off into another direction, atmospheric moments splintering into sparse orchestration, Jonas Renkse’s murmured voice flying across the top throughout. <br><br>The closer is certainly the finest standalone song here, bringing Dead End Kings to a glorious and complex end. There’s no grand climax. It just fades to dust, allowing you to reflect upon yet another excellent album from Katatonia." - BBC
    $12.00
  • Gorgeous doomy Floydian metal. Super jewelbox reissue.
    $12.00
  • "Although Paradise Lost never really released anything that could even remotely be considered crap, In Requiem stands as one of their best works - and this is saying a lot. To be placed on the same pedestal as Icon, Draconian Times and One Second, the music on this record speaks for itself and it of interest to anyone considering themselves a fan of this band or of doom metal, gothic metal or any other melancholic type of metal." - Metal Storm
    $10.00
  • "With guitarist Pepper Keenan now at the helm as lead singer and principal songwriter, COC abandoned most of the punk influences of their crossover past and turned into a full-fledged Sabbath-inspired metal band with 1994's Deliverance. Most of the songs on the album are built on monolithic power chords which range from ferocious speed on "Heaven's Not Overflowing" and "Senor Limpio" to slower, groovier numbers such as "Broken Man" and leadoff single "Albatross." Second single "Clean My Wounds" also struck gold at rock radio with its staccato riffing, and "Seven Days" adds eerie guitar melodies to the mix. On the downside, the plodding title track (featuring vocals from returning founding bassist Mike Dean) gets a little tedious around the sixth minute, and a number of faceless guitar instrumentals are interspersed through the album, really breaking up its rhythm." - Allmusic
    $7.50
  • So one of my more demented customers was raving about this album so I decided to give it a listen and damn if he wasn't right!  Italian band Messa's stock in trade in doom metal with occult overtones.  They don't send out the 70s vibes like The Devil's Blood but they are similar in the sense that the sound is dripping with atmosphere and they feature a great female vocalist.  This isn't run of the mill doom - lots of prog elements creep in and they band does incorporate non-traditional (in the doom metal sense) instrumentation.  Shockingly the album is very well recorded and if you fire it up on your sound system you won't run away with your ears bleeding. Finally a band that listened to the engineers!  Not our traditional fare for sure but I have a soft spot for this kind of stuff and its really well done.  Highly recommended."Three albums into their career and few bands are as enigmatic and interesting as Messa. Starting life as a progressive doom act, Messa always played fast and loose with genres and styles, layering doom, sludge, ambient, and cabaret jazz influences in the madman’s lasagna and adroitly blending spices to make something captivating and otherworldly. On third album Close, the ambient elements have faded away but the doom-meets-cabaret-meets-whatever style is still present, with the overall sound ending up more expansive and airy. Strong traces of The Gathering’s epic opus Mandylion now dot the soundscape, and 70s prog rock ideas course underneath the long, rangy compositions like veins of oil. Moods meander from sleepy and subdued to harsh and frenzied, and somehow the journey almost always has an internal logic and feels right. Skilled operators that they are, Messa know what they’re doing here.Opening salvo, “Suspended” features everything I love about the band. Its unhurried, minimalist style oozes emotion, with bare-bones doom riffs vibrating below the exquisite vocals of enormously talented frontwoman, Sara. Her delivery is sultry, raw and powerful, rising and falling with the throes of the song and elevating things to the nth degree. Slight nods to the Windhand formula are present in the sparse, stripped-down construction, but Messa is its own monster, as the abrupt detours into cabaret jazz plainly reveal. It shouldn’t seem so natural and seamless, but it is. “Dark Horse” is much more upbeat and 70s rock-oriented, with much in common with the latest from Jess and the Ancient Ones. I won’t get into who wears it better, but it’s another knockout full of seething energy and dynamic writing. I even detect vague hints of Sad Wings of Destiny era Judas Priest in its DNA along with more Mandylion mana.“Pilgrim” is a huge set piece, clocking in at 9:26, and Messa make the most of it, dabbling in Middle Eastern and Flamenco influences for a dark, dreamy drift through time and space. Dirty stoner doom riffs surge to the fore eventually, plowing the road for Sara’s powerful vocal delivery, and the way she chants and beckons in the quiet spaces strongly recalls the eerie piece “Scorpio’s View” that Lalo Schifrin composed for the Dirty Harrysoundtrack back in the 70s.1 This is Messa operating at peak awesome, and it’s a stunning piece of music. Sadly, there are some lesser moments present on Close. The album’s longest cut “0=2” is definitely good but not great, and it’s the rare Messa track that feels way overlong. I do love that crazy saxophone freak out that arrives on the back-end, though. The inclusion of a strange 45-second blasting grindcore/war metal track dubbed “Leffotrak” feels very out of place and the way it arrives after a long sleepy march through “If You Want Her to Be Broken” is jarring, to say the least. Putting the album’s two longest tracks back-to-back was a questionable choice as well, and at an hour and 4 minutes, Close feels overlong despite the high quality of much of the material. Several songs could be trimmed by a minute or more as well. The production is generally fine but at times when things get busy it starts to sound muffled and clipped (especially on “Rubedo”).As with the prior albums, the Messa sound is highly dependent on the wondrous vocals of Sara. She has a beautiful, versatile voice capable of bending and twisting to suit the various moods the music explores. She’s become one of my favorite vocalists across all genres and she once again shows herself to be both a titan and chameleon, effortlessly slipping from doom rock wailing to cabaret jazz crooning. Hell, I’d listen to her sing commercial jingles for used car dealerships and personal injury attorneys if that was all she was releasing. The band behind her is formidable as well. Guitarists Alberto and Mark Sade lay down tasty doom riffage as well as seriously impressive jams, and their creative genre experimentation makes Close pulse and crackle with raw energy. Mistyr lends an impressive kit performance, swinging from doom grinding to smooth jazz subtlety and all the weird spaces in between, showing how versatile he is. Add some well-placed saxophone and duduk lines courtesy of Giorgio Trombino and you have some spicy music to savor.Close is another enigmatic offering from Messa that leaves the listener all sorts of treasures to uncover. It has truly transcendent moments that’ll give you goosebumps, and a few that feel much closer to the ground than usual. It ultimately falls just shy of brilliant, but it’s a captivating, enthralling experience nonetheless. This is a band you should always make a point to hear, and I suspect Close will grow on me like moss as the year unspools." - Angry Metal Guy
    $14.00
  • Mediabook edition.  One bonus track."While most heavy music can be traced back to one seminal root or another, Katatonia’s sound has always seemed to magically materialise, fully formed, bereft of cliché, and owing nothing to anything but the gentle grip of darkness. The key can be found in the seemingly intuitive songwriting of founder members Anders Nyström and Jonas Renkse: irrespective of which of them is wielding the pen, their songs consistently defy the usual rules. Intricate riffs intertwine in wild, alien ways; huge melodies erupt from unexpected points in tangled, tempestuous rhythms; colossal emotional crescendos transform into moments of breathtaking fragility and restraint. Whether by fortune, design or a mixture of the two, Katatonia have long been one of the most authentically progressive and unique bands around. As a result, expectations around a new album are always high and, pleasingly, usually met.Sky Void Of Stars is the Swedes’ 12th full-length. Much like 2020’s City Burials, it finds them savouring a slender but unbreakable connection to the more primitive, doom metal endeavours of their distant past, but expressing it through more of that quietly miraculous songwriting.Another thing that defines Katatonia is that they’re intrinsically unsuited to the age of short attention spans. Opener Austerity is a beautifully paced, rhythmically complex thing, and the perfect, propulsive entry point for diehard fans, but it is also a song that reveals more secrets with each compulsive spin. Drab Moon weaves several superficially simple elements into a bewitching symphony of textures and languid vocal hooks, while both the angular metal bombast of Author and the armour-plated goth grooves of Colossal Shade find room for curious detours and small but telling changes of mood.Sky Void Of Stars reaches a startling emotional peak with Impermanence. A glacial ballad with a heart of purest doom, it drifts majestically along until a rapturous, old-school guitar solo bursts through the clouds of reverb like a lightning bolt. It’s one of the most powerful things Katatonia have ever released.Even at their most straightforward, Katatonia are always pursuing an ornate, tangential course. Opaline begins in elegant, downbeat mode and builds up toward a chorus of undeniable hugeness, but with an endlessly inventive arrangement bubbling away beneath. Birds is a succinct, high-octane banger by the Swedes’ usual standards, but Jonas’s insidious, askance melody lifts it into a much stranger realm. Atrium is the closest thing Sky… has to a straight-forward pop song, albeit one steeped in the ominous clangour of 80s goth and bolstered by chirruping strings and a chorus hook that, if one were daring, might even be described as upbeat. In wild contrast, No Beacon To Illuminate Our Fall is a brooding splurge of interlocking riffs and sumptuous prog dynamics, with a nuanced performance from Jonas that will break the hardest of hearts.Bowing out with bonus Absconder’s elegant labyrinth of pristine beats and spaced-out, bluesy prog, Katatonia sound as absorbed in their meticulous, mercurial work as they ever did. The only predictable thing about Sky Void Of Stars is how absurdly fucking great it is." - Metal Hammer
    $19.00
  • "Reign Of The Reaper is the latest release from the multi-faceted Sorcerer that is bound to please those who like the classic heavy metal sound with a splash of doom. Hailing from beautiful Sweden, the band have been together since 2010, but if you read Wikipedia the Sorcerer concept has actually been around since 1988 and seems that there have been many line up changes since then. That being said, like any business, you need to find the right people for the job and this present line up may be it. Anders Engberg, being the only original member, only pushes me to admire this band even more. I like a person who doesn’t give up. See if you can find any early demos.In 2010 there was a new incarnation of the band and, ever since, they have been smashing it. In 2010, Sorcerer was offered a slot at the German Hammer Of Doom Festival. They also played and handful of other festivals in Europe, which obviously got them some new fans and were well received by fans both old and new.They have quite an extensive back catalogue. Their first release In the Shadow Of The Inverted Crosswas released in 2015, showcasing an epic doom feel (and I think “epic” is a good adjective for this band), the sound is big. The Crowning Of The Fire King released back in 2017 is the period which laid the foundation for the latest incarnation of Sorcerer and was chosen as the album of the month by German magazine Rock Hard.Lamenting Of The Innocent was another new incarnation with more intricate writing, longer songs and has been highly praised. The band has also played the likes of Bloodstock and Hellfest, amongst others.For Reign Of The Reaper, Sorcerer spent a lot of time In their home studio working with a small team which included Mike Head (King Diamond). They have also been working with the Swedish artist Joakim Ericsson for the album covers and Conny Welen who covers post-production and plays all keyboards and also helps with some vocal stuff. Always good to have a reliable team to help keep things tighter than the Bee Gee‘s trousers.The opening track ‘Morning Star’ is apparently about the downfall of Lucifer and could not start in a more epic way, making you want to charge at an army dressed as a Viking somewhere in the Fjords of Scandinavia. The song has an extremely catchy sing along chorus (I’m already singing it to myself) and some great riffs and clear lyrics (which I personally like, as I like to have a good sing along). This was a great choice for an opening track, with just enough “twiddly” (twiddly guitar solos to make you want to pick up that guitar that you’ve been looking at for months). Additionally, I can actually hear the bass! Sometimes the bass can be overpowered by guitars in production (and I won’t mention Jason here… oops!). There are also some doom elements at the end of the track, which maybe hail back to former years, making it an epic finale to the track.“Reign Of The Reaper ‘ is a slower, deeper track with great melody and brings to mind so many other bands, which I am going to refrain from mentioning as I prefer to not compare bands too much, but I’m sure you can all here what I mean. It meanders pleasantly along at a slower pace and although not as in your face as ‘The Morning Star‘ I think this is one of those growers that maybe doesn’t grab at first listen but becomes an ear-bug (or whatever they call it). The middle section is where it gets really interesting and transitions into a monastery-sounding chant. The song has some great guitar work and some death metal vocals thrown in for good measure (not sure about the fade out, but ending a track is not as easy as we might think).When the vocals of ‘Eternal Sleep’ start, I can only think of one singer (I will let you decide who that might be). Its a more acoustic track with some nice keyboards that add depth. Maybe this track is about death but is done is a non scary, mellow way, it mentions ‘ passing gates, souls and angels and as someone, much wiser than me once said “ Death is but an incident of life, and not the most important one “ A slightly thought provoking track and good choice for track four.‘Curse Of Medusa’ has a slightly Arabic vibe and you can’t beat a bit of a history lesson in music. We all know about the snake-headed Medusa and her stare (this song might be a metaphor for life about who you can or can’t trust). It’s another catchy track that I can see being a crowd pleaser. The band say they are trying more story telling on this album and maybe veering away from the whole Viking/sword thing. This is not a bad thing, in my book. Maybe they’ll do a double-album concept record next time.The last track ‘Break Of Dawn’ is definitely a closing track. It has some nice acoustic guitar and a slightly softer sound with great guitars solos and vocals and brings the album to a nice close.Generally speaking, Sorcerer can be escribed as melodic doom. Yes, I can hear elements but, personally speaking, it has more of a progressive power metal sound with some doom elements thrown in (but what’s in a name anyway?). I’m just happy that I managed NOT to name all the great bands that this band remind me of, as that would not do justice to all the hard work that Anders Engberg and his team have put into this band. It deserves to be viewed on its own merits. I find that too many bands like to promote themselves as sounding or being like so and so band… gotta stand out, not fit in! Epic album, great production." - The Metal Pit
    $15.00
  • "I guess that Jyvaskyla is one of the most important cities in Finland when it comes to rock and metal. More than just a handful of bands call the city their home and one of the is Swallow The Sun.The Finnish sextet premiered in the early days of the new century with an album entitled ‘The Morning Never Came’. It was not just the title of the debut album but in a way also summarizes the sound of the Finns very well. If you ever had a chance to experience the long Scandinavian winter nights, it isn’t a surprise that such an environment has an impact on mood and music.‘Moonflowers’ that is the title of Swallow The Sun’s newest offer which is an eight songs comprising longplayer that follows the 2019 release ‘When a Shadow is Forced into the Light’. The first things that stands out is the artwork of the album. Not only that it spreads the dark blooming aspect of Swallow The Sun’s music. It is also special that the flowers are dried ones and have been collected by Juha Raivio. If you wonder about the red colored circle, it includes the blood of Raivio which makes the artwork very personal, beyond the motive itself.The music on ‘Moonflowers’ and the artwork connects very well. The dried flowers, in a way, reflect a beauty of something that is lifeless with the blood being the vivid counterpart. The eight songs on ‘Moonflowers’ are mood-wise placed within these poles, and it all begins with ‘Moonflowers Bloom in Misery’. The song is a gloomy six-minute epos that sets the tone for the album. Calm passages, fueled with sadness are alternating with harsh outbreaks. The moonflower doesn’t bloom in colorful brightness. Like on the cover artwork, it is the red colors that stands for the evanescence and is surrounded by lightless black.The songs, written by Swallow The Sun guitarist Juha Raivio, show for a next time an emotional depth that pulls you into a world of melancholy. There is not too much light and hope. Still Raivio manages to create an atmosphere that fascinates, like in majestic ‘Woven Into Sorrow’. The cinematic ‘All Hallows’ Grief’ is another highlight as it is the bittersweet ‘The Void’. What makes ‘All Hallows’ Grief’ to a special track on the album isn’t only the intensity. That’s a common denominator throughout. The decisive element is the guest appearance of Cammie Gilbert, known from Oceans Of Slumber. Her female voice is a perfect fit with the basic pattern of this songs and adds an extra layer to ‘All Hallows’ Grief’. Last but not least there comes a massive highlight at the end of the album. Sticking to the general motive it is frontman Mikko Kotamäki, who changes from growls to hoarse screams with a blackened vibe. What an ending.Swallow The Sun continues with ‘Moonflowers’ what they started 21 years ago. These flowers and blossoms of melancholy is what make the album to an emotional journey towards the hidden depth of the human soul." - Markus' Heavy Music Blog
    $14.00