The band now known as D’EVIL LEECH PROJECT was born under the black mark of the year 1994. Back then, the moniker was DEVILEECH and the debut album (Leechtron, 1999) brought forth a band simultaneously aggressive (Death Metal vein) and slightly industrial (not only due o some of the musical passages, but also because the band has rejected the human drummer from an early stage, in favor of a sequencer).

Bleed your Mind is the long-awaited follow-up and is the end result of a thorough metamorphosis in the band, starting with the name. the songs are not nearly as industrial as one might at first expect – there are samples and passages that do confirm the band’s reputation for cybernetics, but the music itself has firm roots on classic Death Metal. They are also technically demanding, more often than not. Some of the riffs are highly inspired by CANNIBAL CORPSE (check out MOduS Op3r4nd1 or 30 Seconds Intercourse), but the range of influences is rather broad.

On a different note… from the very first live shows, the audience has responded positively, but the modern shows are particularly striking, for the visual support is intense and treads on cybernetic paths. I is an interactive union between sound and image to further illustrate the band’s concept.

The D’EVIL LEECH PROJECT is currently brought to you by Alfredo Cassis (throat, previously in local DM ac SANNEDRIN), Diogo Coelho (bass guitar), Nuno Carola (guitar) and Paulo Marçalo (guitar).

Official Sites Devileechproject.com | Ragingplanet.web.pt

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Ohh dear lord Ministry is back…wait that sounded kind of blasphemous, maybe that’s just me, any way encase you don’t know, Ministry is a Industrial Rock/Metal band, i say Industrial because they pretty much created the genre (even though they didn’t run with it), well before I start ranting about Rio Grande Blood, I’ll just add that although I’m somewhat a “fan”, i was never engaged by Ministry, the music is overly simplistic for my personal taste, it’s weird since i tend to think of them as a great band…

So let’s get into it with “Rio Grande Blood”, after some silly George Bush Jr speech, we get into it, ohhh how some things change and how other things stay the same, i think the drum machine and guitar sounds exactly the same as it was 10 years ago, pristine hehehe, filled with samples, and some shouting vocals from Al, this is some old school Ministry, with some twists and turns and a pretty interesting guitar solo, not bad at all, then comes “Señor Peligro” and again a bit of the same, it actually builds up really well to a hardcorish trashy metal, that finishes interestingly again with a funky guitar solo, good one, “Gangreen” starts up with some marine inspired drill until it goes on “Ministry” mode, damn even the double bass seems old school, don’t know if it’s on purpose but it actually sounds great, but the song although funky it’s basically a continuous 6 min loop, then comes up “Fear (Is Big Business)” and its a slow burn industrial track… well until it goes into a thrash overdrive.

“Lies Lies Lies” is another hardcorish track with a lot of sound samples, a bit predictable and with a over-abuse of the obvious chorus, well “The Great Satan”is next and it’s an ok track, Ministry styled blasting and guitar work, “Yellow Cake” is a distorted sampled track, if the use of distorted sound wasn’t so overused, it would have been better, “Palestina” is a bit more of the same, not bad, just the same thing, then “Ass Clown” starts up slow to a more eclectic track with a nice groove to it and another great guitar solo, seems the good tracks are the ones with a solo…just coincidence i guess, “Khyber Pass” wraps things up and quite nicely i might say with a large build up with a female vocal under a toned down beat to a Ministry groove, then mixing the two things together (predictable are we), so that’s about it.

Oh I might be getting mellow or something, but it’s actually not as bad as i was thinking, sure it tends to drag and the fact that it feels like looped/sampled/drum-machine music doesn’t help, ohh and all the Anti-Bush … Anti-War stuff is fine and dandy but all the way trough the album the same old theme and the same sounding music tends to…drag (deja-vu anyone?), well this one is difficult, i would say if your a fan, check it out, its worth it, if your not, then go watch a movie or something heheh

Official Site Ministry Music

Ministry - Lies Lies Lies

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As it seems France has a lot more to offer, and i thought Gojira was a one time fluke, Scarve play a somewhat familiar mixture of technical death metal, with hints of industrial, and other “electronic metal” related sounds, i know it’s strange to say, but their music tends to go for the formula the likes of Darkane and In Flames go, it has to have a more “clean” chorus to grab peoples attention, it’s not a bad thing per say, Darkane master it to almost perfection.

So the album starts with “Mirthless Perspectives” and it’s quite a good start, it goes from angry as it gets, to a more clean vocal chorus, with loads of blasting in between, that is until the guitar solo, that although well conceived, it just killed it for me, it seemed out of place, well next track is “An Emptier Void” starts with another blasting/groovy death, and after 2 “mockup” chorus, we get into a calmer part, and a quite good one i might say, with a melodic eerie feel to it, then it resumes to a more shout/blast, and yet again the same feeling, the eerie part just doesn’t fit the blasting, it feels like they are 2 different tracks, now the title track “Irradiant”, uhhh this one starts with some heavy blasting in between slower sections, with a extremely simple catchy chorus, finally a good track, then comes “Asphyxiate” that brings a more jumping/groovy sound, more in tune with groove/math metal, that added with the guest appearance of Fredrik Thordendal of Meshuggah fame, brings this one home as being one of the best of the album, then comes up “Hyperconscience” again a good track, it has a nice melodic death metal feel to it.

“The Perfect Disaster”, you can say this one is the calm song, actually after the initial intro, it’s actually a slow burn metal tune, almost stoner metal, then “Molten Scars” returns us to the blasting, and that swedish feel, loads of aggression building up to some more clean cut chorus and some in between guitar solo, then when i thought the album was on it’s way out, they sneak this one in, in the form of “Fireproven”, really nice, loads of interest here, hell even the solo works great, this is one 6 minute hellblazing track, that drives us to the end with “Boiling Calm” that even though as a lot of interesting bits, it’s a bit of a mess and gives me a little “bitter end” finish.

Retention is the key word here, sure it’s catchy, has great pace, loads of wacky riffs, impressive drumming, technicality, hell even flare, some of the tracks are surprisingly brutal, and we all love that shit, but as Psycroptic latest, and in my view, that’s just not enough, this isn’t metal school, i think its a good album, and it has a lot to offer, and i’ll be sure to listen to it some more, but is it memorable? …No, is it good enough to spend your well earned money? … Well … yeah, why not, the boys have skill, and you won’t get that “i wasted my money” feel, that only Fear Factory’s can deliver.

Scarve - Mirthless Perspectives
Scarve - An Emptier Void

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Abelcain’s The Garden EP is a nice piece of industrial/metal inspired breakcore which has a certain goth/horror movie feel that sets it apart from other works in the genre. As such, it has a permanent mist of darkness which helps to contextualize the *cough* poetic vocal snippets that Abelcain sprinkles over his characteristic sound.

I would say the first song immediately demonstrates the rythmical intricacy of this album. The Garden starts with some soft legato strings followed by meticulously sequenced mid-paced breaks that quickly mutate into some evil distorted breakcore. After a brief pause, it picks up again with a grumpy bassline accompanied by some cutup distorted percussion. The music then proceeds into a few minutes of breakcore iterations (woohoo!), ending with the sound of cellos, which provides for a pleasent transition into Black Bone Orchid.

This second song begins with a really nice (albeit sad?) intro, performed by the string section, to which is added some slow breaks. After a while, the mood of the music kinda changes as a playful violin enters the party. Then, as always, the song swiftly changes again into jungle/breakcore mode with the addition of a wobbly distorted bass and some seriously mashed-up breaks.

The third “song” is quite amusing actually. Uhm.. I think i would classify Bitter Moon Blossom as a mixture of cut-up metal meets breakcore until halfway through, then proceeds into some creepy ambience and finishes off with some gabber mindfuck action.

This album wraps up with Danse Macabre. This song starts off with some subtle strings followed by a few bars of mid-paced breaks (which kinda remind me of Bogdan Raczynski and Datach’i). Then it takes a turn towards a more rude drum arrangement, as the string instruments increase in tension. The “trademark” of this song are the hyperactive harpsichord/clavichord staccato ramblings, masterfully interweaved with some seriously mashed-up breakcore action.

Abelcain - Bitter Moon Blossom

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