THORNS OF SIN - Destroy the Light - [2015] - CD review by NPH - Rate 8/10

THORNS OF SIN
COUNTRY: U.S.A.
GENRE: BLACKENED THRASH METAL


Cover art by: Pierre-Alain D. ( 3mmi Design )

THORNS OF SIN - "DESTROY THE LIGHT" - CD 2015

CD TRACKLIST:
01 - Destroy the light
02 - Lingering souls of Lucedio
03 - Lust through the ashes
04 - Sounds of discernment
05 - The philosopher ("Death" cover)
06 - The truth awakening (featuring Per Nilsson - Scar Symmetry)
07 - Trapped in the unknown


RECORDING LINEUP:
Sergio Varela: Instrumentation (rhythm and lead guitars, drums, bass, keys, vocals) and production

THORNS OF SIN - Destroy the Light - CD - 2015 - Label: [Self-Released]
Genre: Blackened Thrash Metal

From Los Angeles (U.S.A.) comes a damn interesting and refreshing blackened thrash metal band, its name is Thorns of Sin. This is a long time project of Sergio Varela, a damn skilled and audacious musician! Since 1999 that I follow his work and his ever growing stills, yet now, I must say that this debut album reflects his metal art at its best!
Thorns of Sin impressively combine the melody and catchiness of traditional heavy metal music with the aggressive thrash/speed metal solidness and power, all of this with a very darkly extreme metal atmosphere! This band shall please not only those who like traditional heavy metal but also those who venture further into darker and more extreme forms of metal.

"Destroy the Light" is a damn impressive debut album, even more since it's a work of one sole creative musician! Musically inspired by several outstanding bands, Thorns of Sin sound combines the heavy metal vibe of bands like King Diamond/Merciful Fate or even Iron Maiden with the ear slashing metal aggression of bands such as Megadeth, Death, Dissection... yet it all blends in perfection with a melodic black metal twist in the vein of Dimmu Borgir or Old Man's Child!
It's in fact hard these days to achieve something new, Thorns of Sin have within the years defined their sound as something that is still fresh and easy to identify! "Destroy the Light" has allot of personality and it breathes still fresh upon an already saturated metal world!

Sergio Varela vocals are really versatile and give the band some damn great dynamism. Variations from a darkly unclean, sometimes reminding the vocals of Galder (Old Man's Child) or Shagrath (Dimmu Borgir), quickly switching into clean eerie vocals in a King Diamond / Dani Filth (Cradle of Filth) vein! His smashing guitar work, both leads and rhythm have clear inspiration from several guitar heroes such as Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth), Dave Murray (Iron Maiden), Jeff Loomis (Arch Enemy, ex-Nevermore), Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry), this just to mention few! The bright use of keyboards as well as the drum and bass sound are a matching fit to the melodic blackened metal sound! Need to mention also that this album solid production was also handled by Sergio V. creative metal-mind!

Most probably you will carry out some of the songs in your mind since the very first listening! Even the album is quite uniform in quality, there are songs that clearly reveal the bands identity at its best. The title song "Destroy the Light" is a proof of that, quickly followed by "Lingering souls of Lucedio" and "Lust through the ashes" that are probably the albums best and most addicting 3 tracks, revealing a perfect blend of modern black metal and traditional thrash/heavy metal. "Sounds of discernment" is a powerful melodic dark instrumental that precedes "The philosopher", a damn cool Death cover song. "The truth awakening" is another solid as well as enigmatic cool track featuring Per Nilsson from Scar Symmetry with an impressive virtuous guest solo! This album ends with the darkly twisted "Trapped in the unknown" song!

In all "Destroy the Light" is a damn impressive as well as delightful debut album for Thorns of Sin! An album that shall please for its own dynamism and diversity! For fans of heavy, speed/thrash metal as well as open minded black metal fans! A very strong first release that reveals another great musician upon the metal universe! If you seek for a band that blends new and old fashioned metal then probably Thorns of Sin is one of the bands you seek!
Ignite the Flame, Embrace Darkness and Destroy the Light!

RüPä - NeKronos Promotion HELL


RATE: 8/10

THORNS OF SIN - LUST THROUGH THE ASHES : Video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up-MhZPgV1Y



THORNS OF SIN - THE TRUTH AWAKENING (Feat. Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry)) : Video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHkuAhqYBcQ



THORNS OF SIN - THE PHILOSOPHER (Death cover) : Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICx47mRE6Wk




MORE ABOUT THORNS OF SIN AT THIS LINKS:
OFFICIAL SITE: HTTP://WWW.THORNSOFSIN.COM
FACEBOOK PROFILE: HTTP://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/THORNSOFSIN

CONTACT / BOOKING:
THORNSOFSIN@GMAIL.COM

MORTHUS - The Abyss [2014] - EP review by NPH - Rate 8/10

MORTHUS- POLAND - BLACK/DEATH/OCCULT METAL

MORTHUS - "The Abyss" - EP 2014

EP Tracklist
1. Torment (instrumental)
2. Beast from the Abyss
3. In the White Wolf's Kingdom

Total playing time = 12m43s

Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Maciej Radecki at Mandragora  Studio

Recording Line-up:
Paweł Dek -Vocals, Guitars
Jakub Regulski - Drums
Emil Panek - Panek Bass
Dominik Wyszyński - Guitars

MORTHUS - The Abyss - EP - 2014 - [Self Released]
Genre: Black/Death/Occult Metal

From the darkest cold lands of Poland another young quality band emerges! They are Morthus from Warsaw and they play some uncompromising, ruthless and sanguinary black death metal. The band has initiated their activities in 2012 as a four member piece aiming to cause an impression in the metal scene with their quality sound!
The band has been clearly Inspired by the darkest illumination from cult bands such as Morbid Angel, Dissection, Unleashed as well as Deströyer 666. Like a pack of wolves on the loose this young band is bloodthirsty and hungers for your blood!
Their spirited black death metal has a very own epic and blaspheme aura, something to see even more developed in future endeavors!
Poland is an highly respected motherland of quality extreme metal. Morthus are another proof of that, holding high this standard of quality, perseverance and renovation within the Polish extreme metal scene!
With "The Abyss" the band presents us two quality songs and one intro. Without a doubt and like happened before with other recent Polish bands like Thunderwar, we have here another band to keep an eye in the future times. The melodic structures, tightness, talent, cold and rough riffage as well as the professional sound brought by the band from Mandragora studios are proof of quality extreme metal on the making!
Now it's time to wait and see what the band has to offer on a future full length album. For now I must say that I was quite surprised with the quality of this presentation EP!
Morthus are ready to spread chaos and blasphemy worldwide, keep your ears ready for the coming of Armageddon!

RüPä - NeKronos Promotion HELL


RATE: 8/10


Check out "Beast from the Abyss" Audio clip @ http://youtu.be/vGjHYqZqA8I 



Check out "In the White Wolf's Kingdom" Audio Clip @ http://youtu.be/Dd4NsXyQTUA




For further information on MORTHUS check:
OFFICIAL FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/morthusband
YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFrd1MH5b-xk0SyYrYny9Zw

CONTACT morthusofficial@gmail.com

THUNDERWAR -POL- The Birth of Thunder [2014] - EP review by NPH - Rate 8,5/10

THUNDERWAR - POLAND - DEATH METAL

Here we are to present and review the debut EP from Thunderwar. They are a fresh blooded epic death metal band to come out of Polish soils, a land that has already got us all used to quality extreme metal! The Birth of Thunder EP is another proof of that quality. Thunderwar have been forging their identity within all their musical influences, creating something still new and refreshing, this quartet breathes metal and shows this World that they sure have allot to give in their future endeavours! A great release for adepts of bands such as Obituary, Asphyx, Bathory, Dissection, Unleashed just to mention few!
Thunderwar are another rising force upon Polish lands, combining several strong metal elements and turning them into a cold epic death metal formula that shall catch the listeners by the ears and make them go on listening to this debut EP! Born in battle over lands of frost and Thunder this band was set to put a mark in Extreme Metal!

NeKronos Promotion HELL

Here is the Tracklist for the EP:

THUNDERWAR - "The Birth of Thunder" - CD 2014

1. Vimana (The Chairots in Heaven)
2. Shadows of Lindisfarne
3. The Birth of Thunder (Instrumental)
4. Eagle of Glory (Bonus Track)

Total playing time = 18m40s


Recording Line-up:

Kamil 'Madness' Mandes - vocals and bass
Witold Ustapiuk - lead guitar
Maciej 'Olszak' Olszewski - rhythm guitar
Vit Argasiński - drums

THUNDERWAR - The Birth of Thunder - EP - 2014 - [Self Released]
Genre: Death Metal

"(...)Chariots of thunder from the heavens came
Annihilating cities, setting the earth aflame
Apocalyptic Battles of the ancient ones
The spheres of fire, like a thousand suns(...)" Vimana (The Chariots in Heaven) - The Birth of Thunder

Cold as ice, angry as a horde of Viking warriors, determined like an army fighting for freedom of their homeland, this is a way to define Thunderwar Polish epic death metal band! A damn promising band born in 2013 when a quartet of young metal maniacs combined forces in order not only to pay tribute to their Metal heroes such as Bathory, Unleashed, Dissection, Amon Amarth, but yet to create a Polish epic death metal force that shall prove once again that Poland has something more to say to the Metal world! This attitude and quality has allowed them already to take part of several shows, yet supporting colossus like Amon Amarth, Obituary, etc! A band not to be missed by any fans of bands such as Obituary, Asphyx, Bathory, Dissection, Unleashed among others!

The Birth of Thunder is a proof of the band quality and inspiration. Thunderwar present themselves at best on their debut EP, a refreshed, strong and epic identity sure reveals that this band has allot within themselves to grow up with. If that isn't enough the band decided to work with the best in the field to allow them to cause the strongest impact with their debut EP, in fact let me say that they couldn't pick much better people to work on with, just see, this Ep was mixed and produced by the famous Wieslawscy Bros from Hertz Studio (Behemoth, Vader, Decapitated), granting them a seal of extreme metal quality. The bands logo was designed by the master Christophe Szpajdel (Emperor, Moonspell, Desaster)... and if all that wasn't enough, the cover art for The Birth of Thunder EP  was done by Mario Lopez (Sabbat, Evil Invaders). Still, all could be meaningless if these guys weren't so damn good on what they do. Birth of Thunder is a cold, epic and triumphant piece of metal making you eager for the future band creations!
This mighty Polish quartet is formed by Kamil 'Madness' Mandes who contributed not only with some great bass work, but yet and more impressively unleashed through all the album some outstanding slashed vocals in the vein of those performed by John Tardy (Obituary) or Martin Van Drunen (Asphyx). Witold Ustapiuk guitar leads are simply outstanding and shall make you captive since first listening, combined with Maciej 'Olszak' Olszewski guitar work, both create some solid frozen melodies as well as brutal epic death metal battle-rhythms. Vit Argasiński drum dynamism and tightness has sure given this band the right dose of aggression and power!

The EP works pretty much as a whole, where fast, epic and melodic death metal tracks such as Vimana, Shadows of Lindisfarne combine perfectly with tracks such as the acoustic instrumental The Birth of Thunder, a frozen melodious track that shall echo within your ears and haunt you with ancient Viking tales. The EP ends with Eagle of Glory that is the most direct thrashed death metal track on The Birth of Thunder release.

In all aspects The Birth of Thunder EP from the fresh blooded Thunderwar sure has captured extreme metal adepts attention, proving that this band sure knows what they are doing, creating memorable melodies blended in perfection with aggressive and well structured death metal brutality. The band has set a mark and better to keep their name in memory because their gonna cause impact in the Metal World! Bands like Thunderwar prove that Metal is here for all eternity! Reinventing the steel that will last for a Millenniums to come! This is the birth of the Thunder warriors that shall battle in every Metal War!

RüPä - NeKronos Promotion HELL


RATE: 8,5/10


Check out "Shadows of Lindisfarne" Audio clip @ http://youtu.be/GC5k77Y53B4



Check out "The Birth of Thunder" Audio Clip @ http://youtu.be/8qHNsoOJ9C0




For further information on THUNDERWAR check:
OFFICIAL FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/thunderwarofficial
YOUTUBE CHANNEL: http://www.youtube.com/user/ThunderwarBand
MERCH: http://thunderwar1.bandcamp.com/

CONTACT thunderwarbandofficial@gmail.com