Dutch Phantasmagoria MMXI!

Carach Angren, one of the most unique and competent symphonic black metal bands existing today, have just announced news of their re-recording of three older songs, the first being the majestic, ghastly Ethereal Veiled Existence; by all means, enjoy it! ... from what is understood, it appears all of the re-recordings shall be made available for download, hopefully sooner than later?

New Krallice! ... Yeah, I Didn't Know Either.

There is, indeed, a new Krallice album - Diotima - on its way come late April; thankfully, a more-than-worthy preview of the album's third track, The Clearing, is available for your listening pleasure here.  Don't be surprised if this is one of the "worthiest albums of 2011." :P

New Emerald Sun Album Very Soon!

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Just today, I was poking around online for some news, as I am of course prone to do, and discovered some great news: the new effort from one of Greek's premier young power metal outfit Emerald Sun is due out in early February!

I appreciated the band's previous effort, Escape From Twilight, for being a quality release floating amidst a sea of mediocre releases from bands in this area of the world. They showed an awful lot of promise in writing determined, energetic power metal with a flourish all their own. One of my chief reservations was the voice of lead singer Theo Tsakirides. In listening to some samples, he seems to have improved considerably!

Enjoy this little trailer and join me in my anticipation!

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To Whet Our Appetites:

I have tasted the Blood Alliance, and from what I can tell, this is going to be phenomenal.

I absolutely love Master of Illusion, the band's last work. They abandoned their flowery tendencies for more pressing, real-world issues on incredible tracks like "The Vigil" and "Civilized?". Now, the band is moving in a heavy and powerful new direction. There seems to be more emphasis upon the guitars, and the snippets that I heard have been breathtaking. 

Here's a reminder of what the band has been up to lately:

For All Of The Optimists Out There ...

... comes a new Lifelover recording due to us next month!  For those unfamiliar, they play a kind of sarcastic, though no less despaired, experimental black metal; it's excellent stuff, with their last full-length, Konkurs, being their strongest and most developed recording yet.  Will Sjukdom continue upon this path? ... time will tell, no doubt.  The European release date is Valentine's day (a bit ironic) and it appears the album is making its way to the US on March 8th so, if that is indeed true, you can expect a review sometime shortly afterward.

I am excited. :)

:D

New Burzum; 'nuff said.

Further details can be found here.

Behold, A New Children Of Bodom Song! ... Almost. :P

Tomorrow, at 5:00 PM (GMT), Children Of Bodom shall be streaming one of the songs from their upcoming full-length - Relentless Reckless Forever - for everyone's pleasure (or displeasure, if you don't care for them) on their Facebook profile page, which can be located here ... when the time comes, enjoy! :P

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2011's Best News Thusfar!

... that being the confirmation and details of Moonsorrow's soon-to-be newest album, Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa (As Shadows We Walk In The Land Of The Dead); they are, without question, one of the most potent, deep and profound Pagan metal acts today, if not the most extraordinary and genuine of them all (and, between you and I, I'd say that they are).  Indeed, it's time to throw those Alestorm & Korpiklaani discs out of the window and make way for some real Heathenic might!  The album is due out in late February, having differing dates depending upon which region of Europe you happen to reside in; as for us Americans, well, a date has yet to be announced, sadly. :/ The artwork and tracklisting can be viewed below.

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01.  Tähdetön (Starless)

02.  Hävitetty (Ravaged)

 03.  Muinaiset (The Ancients)

04.  Nälkä, Väsymys Ja Epätoivo (Hunger, Fatigue And Despair)

05.  Huuto (Cry)

06.  Kuolleille (For The Dead)

07.  Kuolleiden Maa (Land Of The Dead)

Site Updates

It is my pleasure to let our readers know that Black Wind will be carrying on business as usual. It is likely that there will be a change in appearance in the near future, as well as a couple of new contributors to the blog. I'm very enthusiastic about all of this, and am looking forward to working with the new guys. SpaceKev has just posted his first article, a review of Wisconsin power metal band WiszdomStone's debut release Rise. I, being something of an connoisseur of the style, have already jumped all over it. :)

In addition, be on the lookout for some guest writing by Romania's Ciprian Faur, an enthusiastic metal brother and author of the Metalbelieve blog. He'll be sharing some reviews and insight on bands native to Eastern Europe, while we'll be doing the same on his site with some U.S. and Canadian bands.

Black Wind's top list for 2010 will only cover the power metal genre this year, as it is all I am comfortable enough with. Expect this to arrive in a couple of parts in the near future. Until then, thanks for reading and enjoy some of what I'm listening to right now:

P.S.- Has anyone other than myself noticed that the main riff for Edguy's "Mysteria" and the vocal melody during the middle part of Serenity's "Reduced to Nothingness" are pretty much identical?

The Protagonist's Most Anticipated Albums of 2011

Another year, another round of fresh releases by our favorite bands. Metal music is one area of recreation and interest that never fails to disappoint me. If someone releases a poor album, it's just as likely that I'll discover 3 good releases by bands that I've never even heard of. It's nearly impossible to keep up on all the new music that's constantly coming out of nowhere, even when restricting yourself to one subgenre.

I just wanted to collect my thoughts on the releases that I personally will be jumping up and down for this year. Since they're already upon us, I'd better get going now rather than later, so here we go:

Power Quest- Blood Alliance

I've loved Power Quest since discovering them a couple of years ago. To date, my personal favorite release is their latest offering, Master of Illusion, and I'm sincerely hoping that they'll maintain their high caliber of songwriting and the great variety found on that album. However, I'm also approaching Blood Alliance with an open mind after the band's big lineup changes. This is going to sound at least  somewhat different with a new vocalist and guitarist, so be prepared!

Stratovarius- Elysium

Stratovarius have always been a fun and quality band (well, except for maybe at the end when Timo totally lost his marbles), and bounced back after their self-titled album with Polaris, which was nothing short of a miraculous recovery from a stellar and long-standing veteran of the genre. Therefore, I think that it's reasonable to hold the band to their own standard and hold high expectations for Elysium.

Theocracy

Theocracy have an album in the works, and I know that it is to be released mid-late 2011, but there's really little else to go on at this point. However, if Mirror of Souls is ANY indicator of quality at all, we're going to have another monstrously strong and melodic offering from this Christian metal powerhouse.

Dragonland

I don't know the title of this project either, though you can find the trailer on the band's MySpace page. The band claims that their new project is to be even more progressive, orchestral, and bombastic than ever before. That would be saying an awful lot, as anyone familiar with Dragonland should know. The last couple of efforts by Dragonland have been jaw-dropping, and it's about time they got around to releasing something new. :)

Nightwish

Nightwish have been posting updates on recording, etc. all summer and fall for the work on their next studio album. I'm hoping that the band will evolve a bit and mesh the sound of their music a bit better with the still new-feeling voice of Anette Olzon. Maybe writing slightly less poppy music would help? Ah well, I haven't been badly disappointed by Nightwish yet, and I don't think I will be this time around.

ReinXeed

I know nothing at all other than there's an album due to be released this year. Given the fairly underground status of this mostly one-man band, I guess the lack of news shouldn't be surprising. Hoping for a follow-up hot on the heels of this year's most excellent Majestic.

Avian- Midnight at the Tower

Avian is probably the biggest thing in the MN power metal scene right now, and for good reason. These guys put on a killer show and have some great musicians. I'm as excited for this album to be released just so I can be in on the local excitement. They may not have the mighty Lance King at the helm anymore, but replacement Brian Hollenbeck is no slouch!

Serenity- Death and Legacy

I don't know how I forgot about this one my first time around. I've been following Serenity since their first album, Words Untold and Dreams Unlived, and they've been pretty consistently good. I've heard some of the audio samples for this, their new album, and it sounds like they're right on track! Another one that I'll be pre-ordering a copy of as soon as possible. The artwork has perhaps gone the way of certain recent Heavenly albums, but the contents seems to be pretty solid.

Cloudscape- New Era

Cloudscape have announced the release of their fourth studio album, entitled New Era. I'm personally a fan of their unique and addictive brand of melodic progressive metal, so I've marked my calender.

Morifade- Empire of Souls

Set for a September 9 release (presumably in Europe), power metal veterans Morifade have been dormant since 2004's DomiNation. I've always appreciated this band's somewhat unique stance and performance of more intellectual power metal.

Crom- Of Love and Death

If you're not familiar with Crom, you should be. Imagine combining the gritty atmosphere and grim lyricism of some viking black metal with the melody, clean vocals, and majesty of power metal. Crom's debut album, Vengeance, is one of the finest folk-inspired metal albums that I've ever heard, and I have supremely high expectations for the new release


There are a few more, and I'm sure I'll enjoy the new releases by Crystallion, Sonata Arctica, Falconer, Paragon, and others as well, but these are the most exciting for myself. The trouble with this is, by year's end, there will be so many bands populating the "best of" list that I haven't even considered. So it goes!

Upcoming Releases - January 2011

2011 has officially begun. For Black Wind, that means that we're putting our finishing touches on our Top List for 2010, as well as zeroing in upon the upcoming releases for 2011. In part of our attempt to stay up to speed and provide news and reviews of forthcoming material, I (The Protagonist) will be attempting to release a consistent list of major releases for the upcoming month. We should also be able to review these new releases as well, so watch for frequent updates. In the spirit of starting things off right, here the major upcoming releases for the first month of 2011, along with a couple of lesser releases that have caught our eye:

Battlelore- Doombound (Epic melodic folk/death)

Stratovarius- Elysium (A Black Wind favorite pick, we're really looking forward to this one!) (Melodic power metal)

Falkenbach- Tiurida (Folk/viking metal)

Hibria- Blind Ride (Power/speed metal)

Power Quest- Blood Alliance (One of The Protagonist's most-anticipated albums of the year) (Melodic power metal)

Sirenia- The Enigma of Life (Symphonic/gothic metal)

Axenstar- Aftermath (Melodic power metal)

Infinity Overture- The Infinity Overture, Pt. 1 (Previously symphonic power metal, their second album is taking a heavy turn towards the "progressive" genre)

Dreamshade- What Silence Hides  (Melodic death metal)

Vexillum- The Wandering Notes (Epic melodic power metal)

Wotan- Bridge to Asgard EP (Epic heavy metal)

What a list, and this is only January! 2011 looks to be full of surprises and quality releases, as well as the occasional obligatory letdown. Join us in our exploration of this year's offerings!

Post-Christmas Thoughts: Plans for a New Year

After an extended and refreshing weekend, I think that we're ready to address the new year, and what it's going to bring. There has been little in the way of communication from The Metal Observer as of late, but their re-organizational process is still underway, and perhaps there will be something on the horizon as of the new year.

There have been several offers/requests for coordination with other sites, other people, and other projects. At this point, it's too early to say what will happen. Regardless, I believe that Black Wind will continue to receive fairly frequent updates for the foreseeable future. Especially considering that several bands have requested reviews that should be posted fairly soon (watch for reviews for Canadian band Heroik and French prog group (Sworn)).

Like everyone else, we will be providing a personalized "Best-of" list for 2010. This will likely tend towards melodic power metal, of course, as it's primarily what I'm qualified to comment on. This is of course, my personal list and should by no means be expected to be the be-all and end-all.

I also would like to try, if at all possible, to stay pretty well caught up on the new releases during 2011. This means that I'd like to acquire, listen to, and review most of the melodic metal releases for the year as they come along and provide a consistent, up-to-date commentary and critique. Perhaps this will work, perhaps not, but I'm going to try it for a while.

Last on the agenda today is a list of free metal samplers that have been brought to my attention by a local friend of mine, and I thought I ought to share them with our readers. There's a lot of mixed metal, but here are the links to the free playlists on Amazon:

Nuclear Blast's "Sinister Spring Slaughter" sampler. (Not that sinister, bunch of mixed artists)

A new sampler from Metal Blade. (Summer 2010, I think, but what the heck?)

A sampler from Armory Records.

Metalhit's Thrash Metal sampler.

Metalhit's Folk Metal sampler.

Metalhit's Death Metal sampler.

Metalhit's Gothic Metal sampler.

That's all for now. Cheers!

Revelry on the Horizon

As we move into the winter season, I'm happy to welcome a greater number of readers to our blog. As I'm taking some time off of work this week to head home, posts may be sparse. On the other hand, maybe the lack of work and stuffing of my face will leave me stranded in front of a computer with naught else to do. In any case, here's what's tentatively on the menu for this week, some ideas I've been tossing around:

1. Review of Angra's "Temple of Shadows" per reader request.
2. Review of one or two new albums (any requests here? I'm momentarily out of new albums to review for The Metal Observer, and have some spare time)
3. An overview of the French power metal scene, something that's been on my mind lately. Doesn't seem to be a great amount, and I like to delve.

In Minnesota, we've had some nasty precipitation and bad roads (500+ accidents in the metro area last weekend), so I want to wish all would-be revelers in the United States and beyond this coming week(end) a safe drive and visit to families. If you're bored inside this weekend, explore! Read through our past posts and visit some of the other quality sites we've linked to!

Oh Timo Tolkki, you're so fickle...

Ok, so everyone knows good ol' bumbling Timo Tolkki. He's probably one of the most troubled figures in metal music. After putting Stratovarius through a pretty serious rigamarole, he abandoned them (after which they got back up on their feet and start kicking butt liberally once again) for his new project, Revolution Renaissance.

Tolkki was "shocked and hurt" when his former bandmates from Stratovarius took the rights for the band's name and profits and went on running, but stubbornly put his nose to the grindstone and churned out the trio of RR albums. These aren't bad albums, but they're not spectacular either. The first, "New Era", is a relatively unimpressive piece of work, perhaps most comparable with Tolkki's last album with Stratovarius. "Age of Aquarius" was a step in a different direction, being darker, slower, and less metal, but again not a bad release. Many were expecting the final Revolution Renaissance album, "Trinity", to be weaker yet. Fear heightened when, before the album was even released, Tolkki declared the breakup of RR, claiming to be taking a hefty or permanent break from music.

However, Trinity turned out to be a pretty decent piece of work (I'll have my review of it up here very soon), and it left me hungry for some more of Tolkki's material. He finally made a comeback to some GOOD metal, and then looked like he was going to give up altogether!

Recently, however, there was an announcement that Tolkki, along with a number of other well-known metal musicians, would be forming a melodic metal supergroup entitled Symfonia (including such big names as Uli Kusch and Andre Matos). Symfonia is currently recording material for their first album, and will also begin live shows February of 2011. The first record is due out spring of the same year.

So, while perhaps not the driving creative force behind Symfonia, it seems we'll get to see Tolkki back in action after all. Despite his bumbling lately, his original work with Stratovarius established him as a veteran guitarist and songwriter. Despite all of his dishonesty and mental issues, I see Mr. Tolkki as a troubled but well-meaning individual. The Revolution Renaissance project, while not stellar, was a reasonably interesting piece of work, and his upcoming cooperation with Symfonia is promising. Timo is well on the road to redeeming himself for many people, and already has in the eyes of this fan (besides, it's not like Stratovarius needs him anymore anyways :P).

A Brief Pause

Hail readers! (or what few of you there are so far),

I want to take a break from the typical posting to give you a more personal check-in, and to answer a few questions that we've had :)

1. Yes, Oakenson is not currently contributing to the blog. He's taking a break from it for a little while. Yes, I also know that my reviews are not as good as his, and he knows it too. Hoping he'll be back with us soon, until then you have to put up with me.

2. We've had a few requests for reviews, including Angra's "Temple of Shadows", Christopher Lee's new Charlemagne project, and the latest Symphorce album. My schedule is quite busy at present, and as much as I love the blog, it's a side project to what else is going on. Not that people are breaking down my proverbial door with these requests, but I am thrilled to have been asked and want to oblige. Balancing things like school, work, writing for a couple of different sites, etc. gets a bit hectic at times, and this site is a very fun recreational break from the rest of our lives. That being said, thanks for the communication and keep it up, we love hearing from you :)

3. Something that I've forgotten to mention is a radio show held on Wednesdays from 5-7pm Eastern time by a metal friend of mine from the Buffalo area of New York. Specializing in dark emotional metal (and whatever crap the college station makes him play) but taking open requests is Jake Brew with "The Cold Embrace" metal show. Check it out at the college radio's website, it streams easily in Windows Media Player, and Jake is a fun and knowledgeable host.

That's all that comes to mind for the time being. Thanks again for checking in. Good evening, and as my good friend would say, "Let the winds blow fairly upon you."

Blood Alliance!

The British masters of melodic power metal, Power Quest have announced on their website that they have completed recording on their upcoming 5th studio album "Blood Alliance". The album is now being mixed and is set for a February 2011 release date. I am extremely pleased by this news, as Power Quest is a favorite of mine and had been having some lineup troubles in past months after the departure of their Italian members, followed by some shuffling about of British members as well. However, with the illustrious Chity Somapala now taking up vocal duties, the band seems ready to take off once again with their incomparable brand of speedy, keyboard-laden metal.

It will be hard to replace Alessio Garavello and Andrea Martongelli, as they were trademarks of the band's sound. I have complete faith however, in Steve Williams and his new lineup to provide us another quality album. Here's a great song off of "Master of Illusion" to get you in the spirit:

Power Quest- The Vigil

A Forecast of Things to Come

2010 has been an incredible year for new music. We here at Black Wind are compiling a year's end list, and it's probably going to be prodded and fixed a bit before the end of the year, with a couple of releases yet to come.

With 2011 fast approaching on the horizon, we've begun looking ahead at next year. From November's standpoint, it doesn't look like as stunning a year as 2010, but things continue to take shape! I've raked together a few of the notable melodic releases that are coming up next year to make things easier for all of us!

January
Turisas
Stratovarius- Elysium

February
Norther- Circle Regenerated
Sirenia- The Enigma of Life
Moonsorrow
Jag Panzer
Blackguard

March
Crimfall
Yggdrasil
Paragon
Sonata Arctica!

April
Iced Earth
Dragonland

May
Hammerfall
Devin Townsend- Ghost
Wolf

June
Avian- Midnight at the Tower
Communic
Leaves' Eyes

Late 2011/Unannounced
Nightwish
Desdemona
Falconer- Armod
Megadeth
Crystallion
Amorphis
Rush- Clockwork Angels (Yes, I know this isn't metal, but I reserve the right!)
Lunatica
Wintersun- Time (I don't know if they actually mean this, we've been hearing this for a looooong time)
Insomnium

Not disappointing at all! Of course, if you're into other sorts of music, you may have to do some digging on your own. Hope you appreciated the list, cheers!

Quick Thought

Hey everyone, please be sure to check out the sites that we have linked to. As we gain a little more traffic, we'd like to return the favor in some small way by guiding our readers towards some other quality metal sites on the web.Please check out our first few links (if you haven't already):

The Metal Archives- The premier database of metal information on the web. Very complete, and well organized. There is quite simply no better choice when looking for details or tracking your metal collection online.

The Metal Crypt- A quality metal review site with constant updates, quick concise reviews, and easy reader ratings of all albums.

White Throne Metal Reviews- Another blogspot site devoted to discovering and sharing the best in Christian metal music. Certainly not just recommended to Christians, however!

The Metal Observer- One of the largest metal webzines on the internet, and The Protagonist's second home. Numerous updates every day, and a wealth of information and reviews.

New Stratovarius = Yummy!

It seems a brand new Stratovarius album is on its way! :) Polaris was awesome, their best in years, so let's hope that Elysium, due out in January, shall live up to the high standard set by Polaris; the artwork and track-listing are below.

01. Heavenly Divine
02. Infernal Maze
03. Elysium, Part I, II and III
04. Civilization
05. Darkest Hours
06. Under Flaming Skies
07. No Return
08. New Horizon
09. Move The Mountain

Amberian Dawn Has A New Song Called (Sonata) Arctica. :P

If you find yourself rather dissatisfied over the fact that Nightwish hasn't released more albums like Oceanborn and Wishmaster, perhaps Amberian Dawn is what you've been looking for; quite unoriginal, but still rather enjoyable to listen to all the same. The video is below.