Find the coverage and some great photos of this year's Devilstone Open Air written by our Lithuanian contributor Inga here>> www
Death metal is such a limitless genre. You can do whatever you'd like. It can be over the top technical or slow. Brutal or insane and it's all so good. When we made "Visions of Death" it just came out with a natural old school-ish vibe and that's great, but our newer material has a much more modern technical vibe. I love how death metal has evolved.
For me, death metal should be heavy as fuck, brutal (which doesn't necessarily mean "fast"), atmospheric and evil. If the "evil" thing is not there, you can't label yourself death metal, that's a fact. I'm so fucking close minded when it comes to metal music... I listen to the SAME hard rock, heavy, thrash, doom, death and black metal that I used to listen to 15 years ago.
French semi-melodic death metal that flirts with doom metal and symphonic elements. Initially independently released by the band in 2004, but now kindly re-issued by France's Aura Mystique Productions for wider distribution. Originally a two-piece but now reduced to a one-man project, Inward is the vision of sole member Karl Dallara. In many ways "Ruins Of Inland" blends old school death metal with its modern day counterpart while remaining, switching from melodic to gloomy in the process. The record goes through a number of sudden tempo changes from melodic melancholy to insane blasting fury in just a few seconds and often in the same song. In both aspects Inward is quite accomplished as Dallara is able to seamlessly integrate these atmospheric and melodic passages in ruthlessly fast sections with hammering drum salvos. The abundance of gloomy doom parts and psychedelic sounding leads/soli also add greatly to the macabre atmosphere of this record. In its straightforward brutality "Ruins Of Inland" is quite reminiscent of Nile's debut "Amongst the Catacombs Of Nephren-Ka" while its melodic and symphonic counterpart has something of mid-period Amorphis. It is this sense of adventure that makes Inward stand out from many of its contemporaries. The production is solid all around with a thick but clear guitar tone, audible bass lines and a fitting drum production. The artwork, design and lay-out are fitting, but not really spectacular in any way. While this band is by no means revolutionizing the genre as of yet, they certainly do a relatively fresh take on it. http://www.auramystique.comcomment itWouter 6
