With Seasons of Tragedy Benedictum releases their second album. In 2005 the American band of Victoria Freeman surprised everyone with their debut album Uncreation. The reviews were very positive so a huge pressure was on the band to make a record that was at least equal as “Uncreation”. Did they succeed? Well it’s hard to say, the songs have become some harder, the guitar solo’s are absolutely great.
A Life Once Lost are back. After the very nice and incredibly violent, yet a little one-sided ‘Hunter’, ‘Iron Gag’ is upon us. A record with more diversity and melody than ‘Hunter’, some Southern rock bits and the vocal aid of Randy Blythe of awesome Lamb Of God fame. It results in an album with a whole sack of phenomenal, even somewhat, somehow catchy tracks and very good songwriting skills.
Instrumental albums can go two ways. They are utter crap or they are mind-blowing. Theodore Ziraz his Hyperpyrexia belongs to the latter. The main reason why Hyperpyrexia sounds so damn good is the fact that Derek Sherinian (keyboard, Dream Theater) and Brian Tichy (drums, Ozzy) play on this album. Especially the technique of the first makes you forget that there are no vocals.
It�s not every day that you find a Czech metal album on your desk to review. You won�t be surprised that I had never heard of Dying Passion. Maybe this is one of the reasons that I would like to describe �Sweet Illusion� a bolt from the blue. I�m not saying that Dying Passion is this years revelation, but the music is so far from the bulk of pretentious metal I�m used to review that I will label this album as one of the better of 2007 (actually it has been previously released in the Czech Republic in 2004).
This super band with five big boys from the metal scene did it again. “Down III: Over The Under” is the step forward after a little disappointing “Down II: A Bustle In Your Hedgerow”.
Of course there been a lot of changes in the lives of the bandmembers. There hometown, New Orleans, was devestated bij Katrina and Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown’s former bandmember of Pantera Dimebag Darrell was murdered on stage.
