Moth's Circle Flight-My Entropy

Logic(Il)logic
2016

Originally formed back in 2003*, Moth's Circle Flight is a heavy & melodic 6-piece metal band that hails from Parma, Italy and has two EPs and two full-length albums to it's name. Just released back on March 1st, "My Entropy" is the band's second full-length album and it combines elements of groove metal, metalcore, modern metal, nu metal and extreme metal. The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Luca Cocconi and Simone Sigghinolfi at Audiocore Studios in Fontevivo, Parma and it features a line-up that is composed of four musicians and two lead singers! Rhythm guitarist Francesco "Baldo" Baldi, lead guitarist Luca "Pellach" Alzapiedi, bassist Marco "Satir" Reggiani, and drummer Fabio "Bersa" Bersani make up the musical side of Moth's Circle Flight while lead singers Gabriele "Gabbo" Rosi & Simone "Pancio" Panciroli provide both harsh and clean vocals. Musically, vocally and lyrically tight, Moth’s Circle Flight is damn near solid gold on "My Entropy" and from it's overall production to the actual delivery of the individual songs everything seems to be in order on this HEAVY release. If I was to grade this CD it would get a A- or if you will a 8 out of 10. The only reason it doesn't get a perfect score is because a few songs sound rather similar. It's such a small issue and you can blame that on the metalcore aspect of this Italian band if you want. Even so it is what it is and if this ambitious band is to continuing growing it should be addressed. Has it kept me from listening to this CD a few times through in the past week? Hell no! It's not even close to being a big deal and it hasn't kept me from PUMPING this one up as loud as it fucking goes! Chances are you'll want to do the same thing. Especially if you are a fan of any of the following band's that helped shaped the sound and style of this ambitious metal band. A few of those groups would be Pantera, Parkway Drive, Caliban, Sevendust, Killswitch Engage, Drowning Pool, Mnemic, Trivium, and Diecast. The thing is those are just influences and at the end of the day this Italian metal band marches to the beat of it's own drummer... 





*Moth’s Circle Flight suffered through a few false starts and the obligatory line-up change or two before finally coming into it's own in 2012. If I'm to go by the sounds of their new album here then it would certainly seem as if those trials and tribulations helped shape this band into something special. Even though the group does have some room to grow, "My Entropy" is the product of a strong and confident act that has been polished to near perfection. If this band can get rid of a few bad habits (the monotonous nature of metalcore being a big one!) then they could sure be onto something....

Mellevon-Solace

Self-Release/Independent
2014

Recorded and produced by band-member April Hutchins at Muffin Studios in Montreal, Quebec, "Solace" is the second full-length recording from Canada's Mellevon. It was released at the tail end of 2014 and this fourteen track album serves as the follow-up to the group's 2013 debut album, "Chaos Reigns". With a run-time that is over the fifty minute mark(!), "Solace" features two (short) instrumental numbers in "A Song for the Setting Sun" and the album's title track and this new recording finds Mellevon sporting a new look. One-time (harsh) vocalist Gabriel Tulli has been replaced by Red Skull and new drummer Colin MacAndrew (The Wild Hunt) takes over for the departed Jermeel Chase. As for everyone else? Well, seeing as she is responsible for most of the music and lyrics on "Solace" (as well as the album's concrete production job) special props should go to guitarist April Hutchins. As one of the original members of this Montreal-based band, April Hutchins excels in each department that she has a hand in (musician, songwriter and producer) and on "Solace" her guitar playing is absolutely sick! While this five-piece band (reportedly) started out as a Industrial/Nu-metal act you'd never know that by April's performances on "Solace" as her work is well-drawn out and meticulous in it's complexity! Even so her riffs are crisp and sharp and when stacked up against the jagged nature of some of this album's material they offer up a glorious wall of sound! April's guitar skills are the album's true highlight and they help make each and every track on "Solace" somewhat different. For the album's full line-up (and to see the guest list for "Solace") be sure to check below this review. Otherwise we're looking at a one-time(?) Industrial/Nu-metal band that has apparently turned the corner and is now (more or less) a hybrid/modern metal band. Sure, there's still a bit of industrial metal going on here, but it's been maxed out by way of melodic death metal (hence the band's own Industrial Melodic Death Metal tag) and a long-list of sub-genres that range from dark metal to goth metal to even (light) symphonic metal! The album's cool mash-up of styles helps make for a more interesting listening experience all-around. And for the most part so do the clean and harsh vocals. I might have sorted out the harsh vocals a tad more (maybe it's the mix, but from time to time the death metal growls sound....well, off kilter I guess), but they are good all the same. And that really goes for each member/part of Mellevon. Everyone does their thing and they do it well. But, if I had to pick one other thing that stood out about Mellevon's latest (besides the stellar guitar parts that rule on "Solace"!) it would be the keyboards. They come courtesy of Chel Vorsteher and they help give "Solace" a nice after-shine. They range from classy to somewhat electronic and they add that extra exclamation point to the whole affair! All in all I found "Solace" to be a solid listening experience. As with a lot of up-and-coming bands these days there are a few things that could be touched-up, but overall this is a good band that sure sounds as if they could be REALLY good in no time at all. Even if you don't pick up Mellevon's latest album I'd sure as hell keep an eye on them as this is one Canadian band that has "HUGE POTENTIAL" written all over them!!!!
 


Mellevon is:
Red Skull: Lead vocals, clean vocals
April Hutchins: Guitars, vocals and spoken word .
Chel Vorsteher: Keyboards, clean vocals .
Stefan Guaiani: Bass, harsh vocals .
Colin MacAndrew : Drums, harsh vocals


Guest Performers:
Björn Strid (Soilwork): Vocals on "The Quiet Light".
Les Godfrey (ex-Tchort, ex-The Illuminati): Guitar solo on "Under Moss".
Kyle Lapointe (The Renaissance Men): Spoken word intro on "Sonically Transmitted Dysphoria".
Melanie Hutchins: Vocal harmonies on "Left Behind".

Elusory-Wide Asleep

Self-Release/Independent
2015

Formed in 2012 by musicians David Morgan (Guitars, Bass and Drums) and Anthony "Ant" Casaletto (Guitars and Bass ), Elusory is a up-and-coming HEAVY metal band that began life as a side-project before evolving into the gnarly creature that stands before us now. Lead vocalist Mike Wells rounds things out for this MI / NC-based band which for some reason has been misdiagnosed as a Progressive Rock/Metal project (more of that in a second). The forthcoming "Wide Asleep" is Elusory's full-length debut and this 45 minute album is schedule to drop on July 7th. With a total of 11 tracks in all, "Wide Asleep" opens fiercely by way of the hard-hitting "Haunted" and right from the start I found myself confused by this trio's email address of Elusory Rocks and the whole Progressive Rock/Metal tag. Now, don't get me wrong here. Elusory is a progressive-minded band and to that end you're quite likely to pick up on similarly-themed influences. Or if you will bands that end up raging from Dream Theater to Watchtower. But to call this band a "rock/metal" outfit is a great disservice to the extreme nature of this music. And by extreme I mean EXTREME! These guys simply DESTROY everything in sight and it all starts with Elusory's maniacal front-man!! Harsh and clean vocals set the stage aflame before the pair of Morgan &; Casaletto come along to blow the whole building down! Who am I kidding? They blow the whole BLOCK down!!!! Reference-wise I would throw  out other names like Meshuggah, Cynic and even Killswitch Engage and CD Baby isn't exactly far off with the Machine Head recommendation. Even so Elusory does their own thing and Dammit Janet(!) they sure do make it sound easy! Armed with complex riffs and drop-dead righteous grooves this three-piece band is fully-capable of doing the old stop-start thing as well as anyone, but these guys make metalcore sound relevant and even hip. Along with the metalcore, progressive elements and extreme metal you'll hear pieces/parts of melodic metal, speed, thrash, and death metal, but the most impressive additions here would be jazz and fusion! Like Atheist and Cynic did before them, Elusory adds interesting flavors to sound in order to creatively push themselves as far as possible. While nowhere near as prominent as it is the aforementioned bands these jazz elements are there nonetheless and that ends up making "Wide Asleep" an even more enjoyable venture (if that was actual possible!). With intelligent and memorable lyrics that match the complex and expertly-executed music within, "Wide Asleep" is a hell of a debut album for this new band and one that I enthusiastically recommend! For more information about Elusory be sure to head here and make sure to keep an eye out for "Wide Asleep" as this CD is not to be missed!

Bjarm-Imminence

Fono Ltd.
2014

Strangely it has been more than a bit of a struggle getting this review transferred from my thoughts and onto the written page. That's by no means a fault of this Russian band or their music. No, it actually has more to do with trying to get all of the proper notes about this band typed out in a somewhat reasonably fashion. As we're talking about a band that are named after a territory mentioned in Norse sagas up to the Viking Age and one that has the tempting selling point of "The perfect combination between Beauty and Violence" it is a tad hard building up the right kind of introduction for this band that was formed in 2009 and is based in the city of Severodvinsk, in the north of Arkhangelsk Oblast. Regardless, Bjarm first hit the scene in 2010 thanks to the a ten-track demo entitled "Defect". Lead by vocalist/lyricist Andrey (Garmskrik, ex-Fenrir, Splendor Solis, Vedun) and rounded out by Mikhail Shatnyi (Bass), Alexey (Guitars), Egor (Guitars) Vitaliy (Drums) and Anastasia (Keyboards and Vocals) the basic "structure" of this band is something like this-male (harsh) vocals and female (smooth) vocals are effectively employed over-top of strong (METALLIC) twin-guitar parts, symphonic (occasional black mostly death) metal orchestration and (in general) extreme metal in order to provide as physically an intimidating presence as humanly possible. Oh, and let's not forget that ambient nature of Bjarm's debut album either! Besides being well-constructed in it's execution and well-rounded musically "Imminence" is (no pun intended!) an immense emotional journey! One listen and I was hooked! I wanted to hear more and to feel more of what this Russian act had to offer and for someone who usually doesn't care for such a term as symphonic metal  this album pulled me in directly and made me open my eyes to new discoveries. Bjarm is another one of those (newish) acts trying their hands at something a bit different and off the beaten track. The thing is they are doing that while still holding firm to some of the industry's already establish hallmarks and by the Norse gods it's working for them!  Need some links? Well, here you go!

 http://vk.com/bjarm
 https://itunes.apple.com/ru/album/imminence/id889323814
 https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Bjarm_Imminence?id=Bwddmmiuarhnt7p4nz3b6v4z5va
 http://www.facebook.com/bjarmofficial