What diversity in metal, these guys used to play some great progressive music in this genre. A shame that they are no longer considered to be within the "metal" community, they've retired from it. Only 3 musicians on this one with a guest organist. Dark, decayed aura, but such beautiful reverence in the metal world. Songs on here just are so magnificently played without any noticeable flaws and such diversity in the musical and creative aspects. Maybe just 3 members here, but they sure do deliver great epic tracks. All of the songs show such great musicianship.

The riffs are all over the place as are the tempos. Thick, heavy, brutal guitar then you get a break and there's an acoustic piece that delivers, lightening up the song overtures. Wow, I still am amazed on how well metal can be played with such melody. Guitars that are plain destructive in tone followed by throat that's low and bellowed. Then again, after this, there are clean vocals. The majority of the time Mikael sings in a death metal tonality, but he still can sing in a clean tone as well. Magnificent overtures and memorable songs that are quite innovative plus they're quite unique.

Acoustic guitars fluctuate on and off and some of the tracks have an overflow of this kind of guitar work, but most of the time it's distorted guitar work. The music contains melodies that stick in your mind gathering such an immense orchestra of metal. If you're a melodic death freak like I am, you'll love this one. Such great compositions that are totally original and can never be overplayed. Tempos are slow for the most part, especially during songs that are filled with acoustic guitars. They mix the tempos quite rapidly. Extreme progressive metal fits the genre quite beautifully.

YouTube some songs such as "Credence" and "Demon of the Fall" and you'll hear what I'm talking about when I say extreme progressive metal. The topics that the band sings about include love, loss, sorrow, nature, death and occultism. As you can see, the diversity is not only with the music, but the lyrics as well. It's hard to decipher what Mikael is saying on each song. However, that doesn't mean that his efforts aren't without esteem. Songs are so much magnificently orchestrated. You won't find a better extreme progressive metal album like "My Arms, Your Hearse."

The production sound for this time when technology wasn't making instruments and voice sound too "perfect". These guys actually have talent and the music is what fuels the soul of this album. All instruments are all in the proper mixing with nothing left out, not even the bass guitar. The metal just flowed on this release and it remains to be my favorite out of their entire discography. It's too bad that they are now no longer a metal band, they're progressive rock. There's 2 bonus tracks on here one cover song and an additional track entitled "Remember Tomorrow."

There is no other album like this in Opeth's discography. That is my opinion though, others can argue it and I come to the same conclusion: their best metal effort ever. No boredom, no lack of innovation, no melodic guitar that is unimpressive. This album is just something that you can easily get into if you like this genre of music. Don't expect anything but pure melodies some heavy some acoustic like I've described. A monumental masterpiece, "My Arms, Your Hearse" is just too perfect and never played out. If you don't own this one, pick it up and form your own opinion of it. If you're expecting utter brutality, there's shades of it, but not entirely.

6 members creating this album, and my God, what a follow-up from their previous release entitled Character. They use a lot of electronics on here, but it doesn't drown out the melodic riffs. The vocals are not really varied, they're mostly just screaming, which was different than their epic release back in 1999 with Projector. I got used to that album and deem it higher than Fiction. I like the variety on the vocal aspect of that release.

Every song on here deserves praise. They're totally original sounding. Guitar wise it's varied with chord progressions, somewhat fast tempos, some tremolo picked riffing but not much, mostly just purely melodies. They didn't abandon their roots on this release and it's a little more aggressive and anger stricken than what I wasn't used to on Projector. I don't own Character, so I can't really make any comparisons to that one compared to this.

Long songs clocking in 4-5 minutes in length for a total of about 45+ minutes in length. Well played out melodic death metal. The only beef I have with the album are the solos. I don't think that they were very good. But there weren't many on here. Mostly rhythm guitar which is very good. The quality in the riffs are what stands out the most. Even some blast beating is featured here on the drums. They were very angry on this album. It's not really mellow at all.

I think that the electronics created more of a darker atmosphere for the music which was the band's aim was on this album. Their lyrical concepts consist of death, memories, despair and chaos theory. Quite a lot of topics there and creative to the core. If they took out the lead guitar on this album and made it all rhythms, then I would give the album a higher rating. But the reality is that their guitarists play great guitar, just not leads.

The production was impeccable. All of the instruments are well heard on here. The guitars, electronics, bass, drums, and vocals are well mixed into this release. Nothing is left out here. Total quality from all aspects. No complaints at all on here in terms of the mixing and production. Just a great melodic death album overall. Great atmosphere they have on here. Dark, melodic, aggressive and quality in musicianship.

If you're a melodic death freak like I am, this is a must have for your collection. It's only lacking on the lead department, but the melodies, the electronics, piano, riffs, and vocals are all good. They didn't lose their aggressiveness in their songwriting at all. They progressed on here and what stands out the most to me is how well they're able to incorporate piano/electronics in together and not drown out the vocals or drums. As I previously stated, the mixing is phenomenal. Pick this one up!

When I first got a hold of this record, I didn't like it at all. I'm not a big progressive power metal fan, but over time it just made sense. With Chuck during his final years progressing so far with the the songwriting and lyrics, I was hoping for something closer to sounding like Death, but the thing is I expected the unexpected. The riffs and leads are so Chuck totally. You can feel the vibe from him, it's apparent.

We have really slow-paced songs with bar chords galore, a little bit faster guitars on some songs, and the groove really kicks butt. Such atmosphere...awe-inspiring. This time around Chuck is no longer in the vocal department. Tim Aymar took over as Chuck's goal was to put out something totally progressive like Death was, just with a different voice. Tim really sings with vigor and diversity. There's some screaming, but all of the vocals represent the music precisely.

There are a lot of atmospheric effects on this album that augment the whole of Control Denied's release here. The guitars always change around slow tempos and faster tempos, but are totally Chuck. There are acoustic pieces as well. The tempo changes are all over the place. It's a mild metal album with Chuck's solos dominating. Shannon Hamm puts out some good lead work as well, but you could totally tell what was Chuck's.

The lyrics are mainly focused on humanity and society, perfect topics to fit the music. This album has the most progressive power metal that I've ever heard. Rhythm guitars that just dominate with such variety, but the whole album fits together. Some tempos are faster than others and are pretty much all over the place. It reminds me of old Opeth, just not as heavy. The tempos change much like them, though.

I'd say that the strongest elements here would be the music, the vibe, the vocals, and production's sound and quality. Everything here just lets the metal flow. It's a total chill mood release, something to definitely check out if you're a progressive power metal fan. I haven't heard many bands that reflect this genre. It seems like it's pretty much extinct, but I could be wrong. Just to my knowledge, Chuck put together a perfect record with music that's so original and lyrics that fit so well with the music.

If you like power metal in general, even the progressive type, then I think that you would enjoy this release. I'd say any metal fan could like this record. It's perfectly orchestrated and the music is filled with melodic riffs galore. The vocal department works here, not discounting Chuck's efforts with Death at all, though. He made the right choice in selecting Tim Aymar to fill in in this department. Everything just works here. No complaints and a perfect record to chill to and enjoy.

This is my 1st hearing of progressive thrash metal and man does this album feature some amazing guitar work! A lot of the album features heavy, distorted guitar, but also clean bit overtures that accompany it. Probably the best release that I've heard in awhile. While a lot of thrash metal bands are just putting out monotonous material which shows no progression from one album to the next, Vektor packs a punch with their such luminosity to their songwriting.

Lyrical content is sci-fi, but relevant to the music. A lot of the guitar riffs feature high amounts of tremolo picking, some chord progressions and a lot of high quality/well played solos. Amazingly fast, they're played and played with such precision. A highly underrated band that is not too well known yet, but I'm hoping that they will be in the future. This their 2nd album already and they've been around since 2004. Not everyone digs progressive thrash metal, but this band is an exception.

No way can this album put you to sleep because the guitar work is so well played and advanced totally. If you're a guitar player, the riffs are lightning fast to the point to that you have to be pretty advanced playing-wise to be able to replicate the songs. Only 8 tracks on this release, but it's over 51 minutes in length. Definitely a band that's ahead of its time. If you're into metal heavily, don't miss out on this album. I was skeptical upon the 1st few listens as well, but as I heard it more and more, everything fit.

The vocals are a bit raspy, however they do go well with the music. I'm not a huge fan of David DeSanto's screaming, but like I previously said, it fits the music pretty well. They're a 4-piece act for now and a band that really needs to be more well known. Progressive thrash metal I think is a newer genre and Vektor tackles it with such enthusiasm. I'd say that the music is the highlight of the album because there is so much variety in the songwriting plus the lyrics go well with the guitar mastery.

One of the best live bands that I've heard in a while. They definitely need more support from fans. An amazingly talented band and the progressive thrash metal just flows with each song. They do need an official website, not just Facebook, My Space or Twitter. This band is really struggling I think financially, but their current label is Earache. So they must be making some impact on the metal community. I've been trying to spread the word about them and many metalheads need to hear this album!

If you want to hear metal played in an outstanding fashion, pick this up. You won't be disappointed. It may take a few listens to like it did for me, but I think that it's an album that you can't get sick of. I have yet to hear their debut release, but this one got high ratings along with their 1st full-length. Don't buy it from Amazon, maybe go through a metal distribution to pick it up at a way lower price. I definitely was intrigued with the advanced playing and very satisfied to what this album has to offer.

It fathoms me as to why this release didn't get the praise it deserves. Galder, the main man behind the band fueling out the vocals, guitars and synthesizers rips it up on all departments. The rhythms seem to fall into place in every way. Nothing bad to say about the album. It features guitar riffs that are a combination of bar chords galore fitting the music quite well alongside aggressive tremolo picked riffs with blast beating drums. The music on here is entirely original sounding and well keyed in synthesizers that augment the guitar. Sounds like Galder tunes to standard on here, but I could be wrong.

The vocals are quite unique and no variation whatsoever, though that doesn't mean they're bad, it just means that there's no variety in them. It's pure harsh throat outputs with riffs that are also wholly original and I would conclude that this release is better that "The Pagan Prosperity". That would be because of the production quality plus the progression of the band, mainly Galder getting better with his musicianship. Don't expect anything but brutality on this melodic black metal album. I'd say that the 8 tracks here there is no boredom or monotony. 

Guitar is gripping here and the synthesizers help augment the melodic black metal riffs. They don't drown out the music whatsoever. The production sound is way better than "The Pagan Prosperity" and the music is catchier, at least to me that is. I think that Galder really improved dramatically since Old Man's Child's debut. He has not cashed in like other bands, he's still producing albums that are given top notch ratings. I'm eager to get more of their releases since it seems as though fans of this melodic black metal band have been giving each succeeding releases high ratings.

I would have to say that I fully enjoyed the music on here. It's aggressive, original, catchy, memorable, triumphant, and amazingly played out. I think that the only thing that should have been left out are the brief lead guitar. All of the rhythms are awesome though especially the melodic riffs combined with the bar chords. The synthesizers make the release sound darker. Galder's vocals seem to have a tad bit of echo to them which pans out perfectly with the music. There's a lot of blast beating on here mixed with various other tempos. Aggressive as I've said and entirely played with precision.

If you're into bands that also play melodic black metal like Naglfar, I'd say that you'd also conclude that "Revelation 666: The Curse of Damnation" is well worth picking up. Amazing that they never changed their style of music over the years. Galder has been in other bands such as Dimmu Borgir. But I think Old Man's Child stands alone in it's genre and plays melodic black metal that is totally and utterly triumphant. Even though this release dates back to 2000, I still give it praise and dishes out music that's totally awesome. No cashing in, just pure devastation to the eardrums. Pick this one up!

A mild, epic, transient, mellow, and brilliant progressive metal album that needs much explaining to be convinced that this is definitely worth purchasing to those lovers of this particular genre of music. The combination of female vocals mixed with a combination of clean tone guitars with a smidgen more of heavier distorted guitar, but slow tempos on all songs combined with a modicum amount of lead guitar work accompanied by a production that's equipped with all instruments/vocals with a totally submissive yet completely awesome sound to it. This is a moody release, meaning it takes it's form with different masks.

The keyboard work is so transient and melodic. Highly original in that area, reflective of Opeth's "My Arms, Your Hearse" via the song entitled "Epilogue". However, it is still original in it's own sense. Just that as an example. Phavian is milder than old Opeth and much less aggressive than them musically speaking. The female voice is so seductive and the songs on this 6 track release is so sedative that suits it good to mellow out to. Something definitely amazingly sleep hypnotic and relaxing. Don't expect anything exceptionally heavy on this release because it simply branches out to melodic and progressive metal to the core of a conglomeration.

I fell in love with this album, much apology in not being able to hear Meridian I, which yielded average results by listeners. Phavian definitely is a talented progressive metal band and "Meridian II" is filled with such an amazing tone to it that devastates those to which prefer to rely on not so heavy bands. I'd think of them as being a mix of bands including Evanescence with old Opeth. There really isn't much aggression at all with this album. It's solely epic as explained before and totally original in the sense of their guitar riffs sounds like none that I've heard before with other progressive metal acts with old Opeth as an exception. But Phavian remains to be much less deathly like.

If you're going to have a female vocalist in a metal band, it's so much less aggression in the music to accompany with that particular singer. The music they came out with when they wrote the music to this album fits so perfectly with their genre and doesn't drown out the melodic guitar riffs and each clean/acoustic overtures combined with heavier guitar is so much suitable for the album to bare resemblance to a true nocturne of a configuration. The music is soothing and mystical. This band knows how to define their genre wholly. Another point on a female vocalist in a metal band, they shouldn't drown out the music like that of Angela in Arch Enemy. Total dislike and distasteful.

There seems to be keyboards that do play in the background in pretty much all songs which give it a kind of echo or reverb sense to each track. Phavian's mission I think is to continue to progress in years to come and evolve musically. Such admiration if I have for the music on this release. It sounds to me like no other nowadays. I'm unaware of their lyrical content since none is available in the CD casing or on their official page phavian.com. If you like progressive metal, you'll fall in love with this release as I have. Sometimes I can't resist to hear this one on repeat. Pick it up, it will not disappoint!

I think that this a prime example of an innovative, imaginative concoction of progressive/thrash metal that certainly dominates. The riff-writing by the band displays complexity, originality and sheer aggression. There is total variety on the tempos, their aura, mixture of vocal styles ranging from death metal vocals to high end screams. The band shows so much potential and just with a 3 song demo! The riffs are entirely original and imaginative, not to mention technical as all hell. The leads are exceptional and this band needs to grow in popularity! It'd simply do them justice. To hear such sounds, but what can what one think, but "sheer domination."

A lot of eerie intro sounds intermingle here and some clean tone guitar is exhibited. But overall, the music and aura is what to admire by this band. Not to mention the quality that was put forth in the recording. Really well executed everything, the riffs are also melodic in nature, but also the blast beating fits well with the bands unique songwriting style. I'd have to say that some of the vocals were irritating, but I suppose that they were implemented to give variety instead of just deep throat. The leads were well executed and pretty crazy, you could hear in some instances that the wah pedal was implemented here.

The unique sound of the bands musical approach and genres simply captivate the listener. They sure did with me. No real objections regarding any of these songs, they were well thought out and the musicianship is bursting with talent. I think that the struggle lies within the fact that they're not well known enough here in Chicago. The music just dominates with very much sounds like a mixture of Vektor, et al. There is so much that this band can progress, with no limits. They sure play from the heart and their sound is quite admirable. I'm not merely saying this to appease the band or other people that know about this band, I'm saying what I'm hearing flat out.

I think that the aggression and hatred is rampant plus the intensity is way high. A lot of energy geared toward becoming incredible musicians that they seem destined to be. All members contribute a great deal to the recording and I think that as the band continues to progress musically, then they're going to make the metal scene less stale, especially because well established bands have literally gone to hell. A great deal of work was done on their part musically. Such riffs that are entirely innovative and definitely their influences seem to be a plethora of bands, but this one is exhibiting a road less traveled by.

In summation, I'd say that this band has so much hope for the future especially if they can continue to contribute such amazing sounds and aura of progressive/thrash that's molded to be among the greats if they continue their onslaught among the metal realm. Such diversity from every aspect-vocals, guitar, leads, intros, etc. They really need their word out and really support the scene because they totally dominate. Young talent is rampant and Biomimic deserves that praise. They worked very hard on this and are way up to date with the production quality. Not a dull moment to this one, it's awesome the whole way through!

Upon a few listens to I'd have to say that the music far outweighs the mixing and is far better if some instruments didn't outweigh the guitar melodies. An epic and well written album, but the mixing as I said kind of killed it. The guitar was not well heard and I know that COF is extreme gothic metal, however, they still should take pride in recording an album that surpasses it's predecessors. On Cruelty, the vocals and lyrical content were superb, just the guitar work needed not to be drowned out by the vocals, synthesizers and drums. They just made a mistake in that respect otherwise my rating would be far much higher than It is.

There are tempo changes galore and the music fit well with aura of the essence, but most of the changes had to do with synthesizer overtures, not so much in the guitar melody orchestrations. A lot of songs were epic in the fact that they seemed to be more focused on the aura of the album, a desolate, ambient, and captivating essence of a gem. The lengthy songs were devoted to an atmospheric kind of feel and it suited I guess what their focus was which seemed to amylate an evil vibe that took place on the bulk of the album. This is totally extreme gothic metal here and the guitar work wasn't as emphasized here than other past releases.

I had to accept the fact that this is not COF's really noteworthy guitar work like on Dusk, but merely an evil and transient orchestration of blackness, darkness, inexplicable revelation that meshed well with their gothic focus. Dani's voice contained a majority of high-end screaming mixed with burley low-end growls that seemed to pop up on occasion during the songs. The synthesizers pathed the way towards the recording, again, not the guitars. Female vocals were present too, so relevant to expand on the gothic "feel" to this eclipse. I'd have to say that they did a lot of experimentation that I think got blinded if you looked for more of a guitar based aura.

My opinion of the album improved on repeated listens to because I was behind on the philosophical metaphysics of artwork and transient binding of other uses of the guitar, relying more on the synthesizers and achieved a monumental overture of utter gothic annihilation. To conceive of this album as being poor in songwriting style, that would be an injustice to the band when it seemed like they wanted a more epic sounding feel or vibe instead of one focused on the guitars to revolutionize it's essence, when in reality it didn't seem like they really attempt to achieve and ambient sense of purpose.

I'll make the statement that yes, the drums pounding away especially the snare was a tad bit annoying, but it didn't dominate the recording, it simply meshed into the release quite well upon my contingency. Totally evil and despondent release here, which deviated from the norm and seemed to represent the gargoyles of doom. To tell you what to expect musically is a constant sauna of transient, epic, estranged epiphony of sounds like never heard before. It remains in my estimation to get an average rating though because I believe that gothic metal should emphasize more on the guitar overtures, not a weighty amount of synthesizers leading the way for a metal band.

Dani's voice seemed to have a high utmost apocalypse that was tainted with an echo filled sound to it only to drive it away with low end burly bits and as mentioned some guest female voice that dominates the aura that the album keyed off. This is extreme gothic metal revisited like a combination or what the first few albums depicted, but mixing it with all different kinds of sounds coming in from everywhere. A spellbinding apocalypse, blissfully filled with an evil sense of the end of the world in mind upon the main focus that the band achieved on here. I'd have to say a great effort, just not a favorable overall rating, but just average. I expected more guitar oriented bits and got jaded by it's nonexistence,

Mild melodic epiphany of an album featuring just 6 songs with guitar melodies that imitate no other than the band themselves. A well orchestrated aura of progressive metal that never deviates from it's origin of a genre. I'd say that the sound quality is a bit muddled, which reflects my average score review of it and would've been higher be it the bloated sort of mixing/production. Nevertheless, a definite ease of an album, something so much to mellow out to and not expect an annihilation of musical brutality. That's nowhere near this album, it does have a vibe of intensity though and instrumental environments of low key metal focused a much relied amount of mildly epic song blissfulness and gentleness.

The female voice is so mild and clean right alongside guitars that went well in unison of the rest of the recording, which illustrates an influence of many bands in it's genre maybe Opeth with a milder tint to it and tempo changes that were not wholly drastic or intense whatsoever. They seem to dwell on melody, which governs the captivity of progressive mellowness which never seems to catch too much fire with exceptions of course. The overall intensity of the album has to do with heart and passion, without melidiciant mobilizations. Expect much like progressiveness in dynamics, nothing further.

To give this album a superbly high rating would make me pause in a sense that it's follow-up shows better stride to achieve a sound quality that's extremely eloquent in metal intoxication. Meridian I is a good follow up from the actual first release that the band made. Definitely an eloquent step up, the guitars and piano efforts expanded the music to make it more invigorating with a voice that leads the way like no other. Not much lead guitar work here, a modicum of amounts of it on here, but not the forte. I'd say they're more like melodies, not leads. Leads they seemed to shy away from and focus just on the meshing of the overall sound to depict utter tranquility and peace, even though it's still considered metal.

I did like this album quite a bit because it was so solemn and deviantly flowing with soul and not reflecting evil coreness that other bands within this genre are notorious for. Meridian I is so damn tranquil, it's really an amazingly calm and it would be unethical to give it lower than a C rating. It deserves so much more because it's filled with passion in primacy and a gentle touch of reality within the realm of a sea of modality as fixated on the core of moderate metal. You have to hear the essence here because it's one to put such gentle air on it's totality. The female vocalist shines so much in an endearing way that suits the music with such pride.

Captivating, moderate, and a sea of essence that is flowing with such potential in songwriting featuring words that don't penetrate or show any type of horror to them. It's really like listening to a classical artist just in a metal realm. Bar chords featured alongside some moderate amounts of lead guitar that isn't entirely omniscient. A definite worth of listening to by fans that appreciate a metal band to be more oriented to extreme emotion with melody, not an overabundance of heavy guitar work. The guitars, vocals, piano and drums fit neatly in an uncastrated sense of metal immortality. Creative, ambient core of a release.

Damn, I was highly disappointed when I got this CD because I was expecting a progression musically with the Hoffman brothers, but I was ravenously mistaken. What we have here in a conglomeration of putrid riffs that are just stacked together and bear no real significance in an artistic metaphysical sense. These guys have amassed no songs here that are worthy of praise. A bunch of tremolo picked frenzies with fast blast beat drumming that really goes nowhere. You can listen to this repeatedly and still form the same opinion about it. It doesn't get better the more that you listen to it.

Maybe 3-4 minute songs that are put together so poorly by these guys showing no admiration by me when I expected was a winner in the purest sense. Highly overrated, the music on here just makes no sense. Riffs are just going nowhere and the Hoffman brothers should just quit, kind of like how they regressed in Deicide. I cannot find a song on here that has any real noteworthiness or meaningful guitar riffs that they once were so great in creating. I'm not sure who is worse now, Deicide or Amon. Both are pretty rancid in their playing abilities and total lack of songwriting skills.

Nothing stood out here musically, the vocals were monotonous deep throat grunts with occasional backup screams, but really nothing that fits in on this album. I was ferociously pissed off when I heard this. It is definitely due to the total lack of ingenuity and intelligence in song structures. These guys just wanted to put something out there and hope that fans of Deicide would capitalize on Amon and flock to them, rather than their former band. They sound like newer Deicide with no balls. Sure the solos were good as usual, I mean immaculate, but just all over the fretboard and nothing really to show for during the riffs the were so poorly played out.

The production sound is decent and all of the instruments were well mixed together, but the overall sound was kind of flat. Musically, this release is just a disaster. I mean it's an insult to the death metal community and other people that are into death metal should steer clear of this album. Don't dish out what they want for you to buy and expect to be a revenge against Deicide. The Hoffman brothers seemed to not spend much time forming their riffs so that listeners can decipher what's being played and is symbolic. There is no innovation in writing abilities here. A total waste of an album.

In summation, this band deserves no praise for their efforts. To me, they totally failed in pretty much all aspects. They showed nothing in the riffs that were well thought out or noteworthy, they just slapped a bunch of idiotic sounds and expected to make meaningful songs out of it. There was nothing about this album that I truly enjoyed. Nothing I mean NOTHING stood out in terms of any of the riffs making sense or were well thought out. A total abomination and destruction of death metal insulting the genre just to cash in and make a couple more bucks from death metal or Deicide fans. Both deserve their place in hell, they earned it with this piece of crap album. I'd advise not getting it!