A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Grade Scale adopted at Troll's Independent (starting from the lowest)

1 - Plop
2 - Hand-grenade
3 - Heavy-duty Shell
4 - Nuclear Explosion
5 - Troll-fart!!!

2/5
ABIGOR
Satanized (A Journey Through Cosmic Infinity)
2001
Napalm Records
black… very black
Funny how it goes though, this band is not better, or more talented, or more professional than any other average black metal act, but they are cult. They're signed on a renown label, they enjoy success, and moreover even worshipping from the younger generation of bands all over the world, half of their CDs are considered collector's items, and still the only thing they are good for is standard low-quality true and evil black metal, with a sound so bad it would make Euronemus (R.I.P.) vomit right on the CD rack. I am not kidding, the drums sound as if the guy at the kit put pillows under the plastic in order to silence them down and not to disturb some unfriendly neighbors, the guitars have feedback coming out of the amps all through the length of the record, while the keyboards have been put in the back and are almost impossible to make out. So what's the fucking big deal. During my last year in the business I heard dozens of demos of younger bands who were not a single point worse than Abigor, but who had no sponsoring organization to produce their records. But, okay, I can live with primitive production when it's done just for the kicks of it, in order to maintain the so-called underground vibe, but what do I do when the music is just as talentless? I say - flush it! Save the true and evil bullshit for the kids, folks, takes more than a buncha blast-beats to impress me. (Troll)

4/5
ALGOL
Gorgonus Aura
2001
The Twelfth Planet
black
Elite American Black Metal, the band's site says. Well, it probably is though, 'cause I mean first of there aren't that many American black metal bands around, so that might as well be the elite. The only other two I can remember straight away would be Somnus (the Yankee copycats of Dimmu Borgir) and Theatre of the Macabre (a strange mixture of melodic black metal and NWOBHM a-la Iron Maiden). Being a relatively new band, with the formation date going back to 1998, Algol on the other hand appear to be one of the very few no-name bands who want to make something of their own. Notwithstanding the pitiful production quality, 'Gorgonus Aura' represents a very high standard of musicianship and an extremely interesting composition structure. It goes back and forth between the true-and-evil and melodic, with obvious influences of such styles, as death, gothic, ethnic, and even progressive. Strange as it may seem, but after having listened to this CD I became very strong in my belief that yes, you still can come up with something original in black metal. I don't know but somehow there is something very insane about it too, with all of these out-of-place rhythm shifts, slowdowns, and unexpectedly long acoustic and instrumental inserts, which surface from out of nowhere, and all of a sudden they are just there - splendid, majestic, mysterious. This is one of the bands which definitely deserves better production. Four fists solid. (Troll)

3/5
…AND OCEANS
a.m. g.o.d.
2001
Century Media
electro-black
Somehow I expected a lot more from this extravagant Finnish black metal outfit, especially given the unprecedented success of their debut release. At least something more original than a rip-off of Kovenant's 'Animatronic'. Well, tough luck, tigers, the only original thing about the band sadly remains the fact that their singer is an open gay, but that hardly has to do anything with the music, has it? Intelligence is Sexy, claims the title of the album's opening track, indeed it is, but what is so intelligent about this release, I ask again. The first track is, with its strange mixture of punk rhythm, heavy guitars, and dance-like keyboards, but… the deeper you go into the record the less interesting it is, becoming flatter and flatter with every passing chord. Even the already-mentioned first track is only half good, with the second part of it going into your standard black metal gumbo, which was popular couple of years ago, but has now become more of a relict. Passing the qualification by margin with the way it is produced, this CD is not something to be expected from a band, which was once labeled the standard-makers in the genre. I did try to listen to it several times too, but it just doesn't do it. Only three out of five, unfortunately. (Troll)

5/5
ARIA
Chimera
2001
Classic Company
heavy metal
To say that this release was awaited with both anxiety and anticipation is to say nothing. It took Russia's most popular heavy metal band over a year to make a follow-up to their masterpiece "Generator of Evil" and at a certain point it seemed that the new album would never come out. Luckily it's here, and I must say that it was indeed worth the wait. Is it good? Oh, immensely. A band of such class doesn't make crappy albums. However I think that "Chimera" is not as strong as "Generator:" - it simply doesn't have songs equal to those off that marvellous CD. For me it's not really a problem since their current material's still excellent. With "Chimera" Aria departs further from their traditional Iron Maiden-ish style towards more progressive and sophisticated music. Some wouldn't like it, but there's no way to please everyone, after all. "Chimera" is still bound to please many with songs like powerful mid-tempo crasher "Heaven Will Find You", intense slow-burner "I'm Not Mad", wonderful ballads "Calm" and "Splinter of Ice", and final epic "They'll Give You A Sign". It's become a fashion nowadays to slag off Aria - the country's most popular metal act is bound to arouse disgust among the so-called elite. I suggest everyone who has a chance to get the album to listen to it without preconceptions and try to make up your own opinion. To me "Chimera" is the main contender for the album of the year title in Russia. (Maniac)

5/5
AYREON
Ayreonauts Only
2000
Transmission Records
progressive
This record deserves a detailed review with extensive analysis of each track, but since TTI restricts length of reviews, I'll only make a brief report about what you will find on this CD. "This is not a new Ayreon album," an inscription on the CD back cover says. "It contains unreleased versions of known Ayreon songs, home demos and newly-recorded songs, sung by different singers." A fans-only release? Much more than that. Some tracks included are very different from the original versions, and each singer brings its own individuality into the music. The number of guest superstars is less than usual on this CD, but you will still hear Anneke (the Gathering), Gary Hughes (Ten), and Fabio Leone (Rhapsody) on vocals, Ed Warby (Gorefest) on drums and Clive Nolan (Pendragon) on keyboards. The majority of tunes are taken from Ayreon's latest "Unviersal Migrator" dilogy and the band's brilliant debut album "The Final Experiment". Also included is the re-recording of "Beyond The Last Horizon" from "Actual Fantasy" and a medley comprising three songs off "Into The Electric Castle". The music is great as always, highest-quality prog-metal, with tons of cool melodies and wonderful slow pieces. Of major interest is the final track, which is taken from Arjen Lucassen's new project Ambeon. It features the singing of a 14-year-old girl, who despite her young age sounds as though she has been performing rock for years. Musically-wise, it's not very different from Ayreon and a full record like that is definitely worth checking. (Maniac)

5/5
GOTTHARD
Homerun
2001
BMG
melodic rock
Call me whatever, I just like this band and this record. Once Gotthard were a solid hard rock unit that produced music in the vein of 80s-era Whitesnake. Having released three albums of that kind the band suddenly abandoned hard rock and brought in acoustic guitars, soft drumming and female backing vocals. Their previous record "Open" was as soft as possible - if was effectively semi-acoustic. This one is a bit heavier, but still very far from heavy metal and even hard rock - this is rock music with the sound similar to Bon Jovi's "Keep The Faith". One thing survived through all these changes, and that's Gotthard's ability to write excellent songs. "Homerun" is full of totally amazing compositions - check out "Everything Can Change", "Take It Easy" or "Eagle", and they are just a few to mention. As long as those guys write songs like the above-mentioned ones I don't really care whether they are heavy or not. Unfortunately, Gotthard failed to come up with heartbreaking ballads in the vein of "One Life One Soul" this time around, but I guess songs like that are only written once in a lifetime. Nevertheless, the record is still great for both attentive listening and playing it as a background to some other occupation. (Maniac)

4/5
HAEMORRHAGE
Scalpel, scissors … and other forensic instruments
2001
Copremesis Rec
grind boogie or meatgrinder with unexpected influences
Haemorrhage is back with their new opus. Frankly speaking our infamous Troll has bought the CD and requested that I review it as long as I reviewed previous release of these maniacs - 'Loath songs' (Y2K). The 'Loath..' was a cover versions' CD and I wondered what guys could do of their own. I expected it to be in the same grindcore frameworks. It took me a coupla days to get myself prepared and finally when I placed the CD in the player I knew that I was going to have circa 30 minutes of musical massacre, blast beats everywhere ...simply stated - meat. The CD contains replayed/remixed versions of the band's never-released demos and rare tracks along with a grind-punkish cover version "Zu Atrapatu Arte" of some German band. But 'Scalpel, scissors and other forensic instruments' turned out to be a bit unusual for the grind scene. I can't say that blast beats are rare, but they are far from being predominant on the CD. The vocals make you think you listen to hell - beast-like deep glottal growling of understand-no-word type along with high octave and sometimes-really-painful-to-listen-to blackish vocals. Heya guys - combination of these vocals made me ...nervous. Anyways. Music surprised me a lot. Have you ever listened to a band called Penetralia. On their last CD "Seelenkrank", the last song is definitely death boogie stile. Well Haemorrhage play grind boogie! No kidding! The lyrics are for medical specialists only - I cannot translate any single word of the songs' titles. To wind it all up, this is strange but good CD with meat scalpel, scissors in virgins' entrails blood and definitely other forensic instruments. If you like gore/porn/grindcore/meat you'll find something new and... ehhhh let's say fresh in this CD regarding to hellotabands copying each other in a very dull way. (Felix the Katt)

4/5
HAMMERSCHMITT
Hammerschmitt
2001
MTM Music
neue Deutsche Harte
Another reunion? No, not this time. A band called Hammerschmitt did exist in Europe in the mid-80s, but this particular combo has nothing to do with those antique thrashers. The present-day Hammerschmitt's music is best described as "Rammstein without keyboards." Similarities are obvious, but there are some differences too. In addition to the above-mentioned absence of keyboards, singer Ben's voice is very much different from that of Till Liedermann, it's more straightforward and less emotional. And the same description can be applied to the entire sound of Hammerschmitt - more aggressive and less emotional. Some would say that this is not enough to be really different, since the general musical direction, atmosphere and provocative lyrics in German (check out "Sex mit dir" and "Das Bose in mir") are pretty much alike. However if you think that the latest Rammstein record is too mellow and too different from their original style, Hammerschmitt is your dream band. As to me, I just liked the songs presented here, and given my general liking of what is called "neue Deutsche Harte" (Rammstein, Bohse Onkelz, Oomph!), the grade is obvious. (Maniac)

3/5
LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE
Burning: A Wish
2001
Napalm Records
doom
Gezuz, mate, you know what always amazed me about doom metal? How beauty can be boring. Or, rather, how boring can beauty be sometimes, it's just beyond belief. I cannot explain it rationally, but being very good musicians and composers in their absolute majority - doom metallers possess this almost unique quality of making unbearably dull music. These unbelievably long aching guitar solos, these churning slow riffs, these melancholic vocals in the best style of Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan, these acoustic guitar harmonies, which would have been genius, hadn't they been so impossibly boring. Some people would say, well, if you don't like doom, why do you review this album in the first place? Well, the point is, I can't say I don't like doom. It is cool every once in a while. And I did like most of, say, My Dying Bride… or 3rd and the Mortal, or Pyogenesis, because those bands, no denial being doomingly dull, have also managed to make their records pretty diverse, which, unfortunately is not a feature of LP. This album has cliche written all over it, starting from the Latin name of the band itself, to the blue flower on the cover, and the colon in the album title. If you think yourself another young Werter and endless mournful odes to lost love are your thing, give it a try. However if you prefer beer to red wine, black is just your favorite not obligatory color, and if you can afford cracking up a joke at least once a day, in that case you probably would wanna try something different. The music is still high-quality doom metal fans-only… (Troll)

4/5
LACUNA COIL
Unleashed Memories
2001
Century Media
atmospheric gothic rock/metal
You don't have to be in a certain mood to appreciate this record. While playing in your stereo, "Unleashed Memories" creates a vibe of its own. It's not particularly dark or gloomy, but it has enough mystery be considered gothic. Apparently the record is a bit softer than Lacuna Coil's previous releases since the band abandoned male growling vocals altogether and gave the majority of vocal parts to female signer Cristina Scabbia. However the music still has some metal in it, just enough to still be classified as gothic metal. I wouldn't call Lacuna Coil an original band, since their songs frequently remind me of some other stuff, but the record is very well done and grows on you the more you listen to it. I do miss a hit or two on "Unleashed Memories", since none of the 10 songs featured on the CD has enough potential to become a huge hit if taken separately, but together they become more than just listenable and actually very enjoyable. For atmospheric gothic metal fans only. (Maniac)

5/5
LOWBROW
Victims at Play
2000
The Plague
death
There's no meat, like old meat, and good meat it is. You know, what I always liked about the Floridian school of death metal is this cool feeling of uncontrolled lunacy and all-consuming aggression, which, in my humble opinion, is the basic essence of the trend, or at least was meant to be such. Although this CD is over a year old now, I simply could not afford not writing about it. Formed by an ex-Obituary roadie Rich Hornberger and boasting the riffing genius of none other but Mr. Allen West himself, Lowbrow is the last nail in the casket of those who claimed death was dead. Come - get some, 'Victims at Play' is the manifestation of death and brutality at its purest. The combination Hornberger's straight out of hell growling and the bulldozer-like guitar duet brought forward by West and Meyer will punch you right between the eyes and put some extra brain-decoration on the walls stained by the bloody pieces of flesh spurted out of the meat grinding machine of Curt Beeson's double-bass. I mean, for fuck's sake - if songs like 'Flesh Parade' or 'Bloody Meat' make a world a better place for you, like they do for me, do yourself a favor and hunt down this CD if you haven't yet. (Troll)

4/5
MADDER MORTEM
All Flesh is Grass
2001
Century Media
psycho doom gothic
All flesh is grass, all black is white, the earth is flat and crocodiles can fly sometimes. Whatever. The golden rule of any psychotherapist - never argue with your patient, for they might be violent. With their third release, put through Europe's finest Century Media, the Norwegian loonies should have changed their band-title to Maddest Mortem or something. And if its true what they say about third albums being the turning point in any band's career, we are about to witness the birth of a new cult act here - the cult of lunacy and mental depravity, the cult of schizophrenic perversion and brain-blasting sonic execution. I am dead serious, with it's nice (not) combination of edge-cutting thrash riffs, which would better fit with some New York hardcore, than traditional European gothic mellowness, and the sickest female singer you could possibly imagine, MM will yet gain their well-deserved deal of success and popularity. A killer! (Troll)

5/5
MORGUL
Sketch of the Supposed Murderer
2001
Century Media
black
The evil mastermind of Jack D. Ripper has done it again. And with good timing too, I gotta say, almost exactly a year after the fabulous 'Horror Grandeur', which was a totally brilliant release, with its excellent mixture of black metal, death vibe, and Balkan violins. With his new release Morgul takes us to yet the new and unexplored plains of insanity, sickness and perversion only a human soul can possess. While mostly being a repetition of the same pattern as on the previous album, SOTSM does have a bunch of new stokes to it, with a slightly more electronic sound, a heavier riff here and there, a badder karma in the melody, or a sicker twist on the keyboards. Life is not a circus - it's a fucking freak show, and that is a exactly what Maestro D. Ripper is about - a mind-blasting gilly or pain and cruelty, a nightmare world of evil clowns, a carnival of mental rapture, an orgy of maniacal bloodlust shaped in sound. You thought life was cruel, well you ain't seen nothing yet… (Troll)
P.S. The album is closed by a splendid cover of a Kiss classic 'She'.

5/5
PINK CREAM 69
Mixery
2000
Massacre
melodic rock
I haven't heard from this band for a long time, actually since their split with singer Andi Deris (now with Helloween) back in 1993. I knew that they recruited a new vocalist and released several records, but those turned to be quite hard to find over here. Probably I've missed a lot because of not hearing them, for the CD I'm listening to right now is great. This mini album is a collection of tracks that did not make it on other releases. It starts with a remake of "One Step Into Paradise", a classic track from the first Pink Cream 69 record. David Reedman is doing a great job on this song and replacing Andi Deris quite adequately, though his voice is closer to Bernhard Weiss (Axxis). The next track is an acoustic version of a song from Pink Cream 69's latest full-length CD, and an unreleased track from recording sessions for that album follows. Added to them is Motley Crue cover "Looks That Kill" recorded for a Motley tribute album. However the major surprise is the final two tracks which were taped live in Japan by a bootlegger and taken away from him by the security. Damn, I can't believe that those recordings could have been done by a fan for their quality is excellent. Did he have a 24-track recorder in his pocket, I wonder? If you are a fan of melodic rock from Germany and bands like Axxis and Bonfire you just got to get this record. (Maniac)

4/5
SORG
Enigma Grotesque
2000
Scarlet
doom/death
Another tribute to the past, or actually to the doom/death music very popular in the past and very seldom played nowadays. This Norwegian sextette can be directly compared to the bands like early Paradise Lost, though the sound quality and obvious influences of gothic metal don't let the listener forget that it's a product dated 2000. Speaking about the vocals, Sorg use two types of singing - male growling and "angelic" female voice, which makes them comparable with early Theatre of Tragedy and Tristania. All in all, a high-quality product, a bit derivative, but still very professional and enjoyable. To me Tristania is better, but you may have a different opinion. Recommended to everyone, though unlikely to be enjoyed by everyone. (Maniac)