Greece (part 2/2) - Melodic, Trashed and Doomed

The Greek Metal scene is much diversified, so there's something for every genre.
Starting with the Melodic Black Metal band Rotting Christ, one of the more popular Greek Metal bands, founded more than 20 years ago.



Next come old school Trash band Suicidal Angels, founded in 2001 and with three full lengths released.



On Thorns I Lay is a Doom Metal band with many Gothic influences. They were founded in 1992 and are supposedly still active, although they don't release anything since 2003.



Finally, Nightfall is a Melodic Death Metal band that was founded in 1991 and lasted for fourteen years. They were re-founded by the singer and founder member, Efthimis Karadimas, and have released a good full length in 2010.

Greece (part 1/2) - Power and Symphony

I was missing this... having to choose what bands to talk about, instead of showing almost anything that I could find. Greece has a very nice Metal scene, without any huge bands, but with a good set of solid bands, producing pleasant sound.

In the first part of this chronicle I'll focus on Power and Symphonic Metal bands, as you may be aware by now, two of my favourite genres. And they are...

Firewind is the typical Power/Heavy band that has keyboards but keeps relying on the guitar riffs and on a powerful voice.



Elysion is a recent band that released their first full length in 2009. They are a female fronted Symphonic Gothic Metal band but with some glimpses of Electronic music.



InnerWish is a classic Power Metal band with a broad range of songs inside the genre, from ballads to more Heavy/Progressive songs.



Dol Ammad is a Symphonic Metal band with choir vocals and strong Electronic influences.

Macedonia - Good signs

Macedonia, like the other newly born nations of the area, is lacking a good promotion and info spreading about their Metal scene. But in the Macedonian case, that info is starting to appear, which is one good sign. Finding four interesting bands for this post was another good sign.

Sanatorium is a Trash Metal band.



Maras is a Black Metal band.



Anxiety is a Power/Heavy Metal band.



Dedicated For Life is a Trash Metal band.

Albania & Kosovo - The unknown

It's very difficult to find bands from Albania & Kosovo, and even more to tell from which of the countries it is, so I had no choice but to put together the two countries in the same post.
Even from the bands I did find, the information is almost inexistent, so today I'm just listing the bands and the videos.

Thunder Way is probably the best Metal band from Albania until now, but unfortunately it seems they disbanded in the mid-nineties.




Troja



Toxin



Diadema

Montenegro - Well kept secret

Finding Metal bands from Montenegro was a challenge, since my usual sources failed me miserably. But nevertheless I could find some bands and their song videos, just not much info about them.

GoddamN is a Trash Metal band.



Nagual is also a Trash Metal band with Groove influences, a bit like Pantera.



Zaimus is a Black Metal band.

Serbia - Several interesting bands

Serbia was one of the countries less affected by the war in the Balkans, so their Metal scene is a little bit more developed, but just a bit.

Forever Storm is a Power/Heavy band formed in 2006, with a very promising full length released in 2009.



Alogia is a Progressive Metal band, with three full lengths released, but I think they don't release new material since 2005.



Darkshines is the female voiced Gothic Metal band from Serbia. They have released a very good full length, but still have to prove if they can really build a career.



Tales Of Dark... (... included in the name) is a Doom Metal band. They have two solid releases, but, as you can see in the video, lack a bit in presence.

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Two regular bands and one big hope

The title contains what matters in Bosnia and Herzegovina Metal, nothing more to say.

Krv is an old-school Black Metal band. It's not really something that I enjoy listening.



Silent Kingdom is usually classified as Melodic Death Metal, but they are much more experimental than that using Folk, Black or even Doom influences in their music.



Heaven Rain is my big hope for Bosnian Metal. They were founded in 2006, play Symphonic Metal and have released just one, but a very promising one, full length.

Croatia - Not much more than Ashes

The title of the post has a double significance in the word ashes. It refers to the best Croatian Metal band, Ashes You Leave, and also to the poor development of the Croatian Metal scene, although some positive signs are starting to appear in the last decade.

Anyway, the first video really had to be from Ashes You Leave, the only band that I found in Croatia that was founded before the year 2000.



Omega Lithium is the most promising of a new wave of Croatian Metal bands. They play Industrial Gothic Metal, with a slight Symphonic touch.



They sound like Metallica but they are Croatian Trash Metal band, Inciter.

Slovenia - Gateway to the Balcans

The Balkans are not a place very prodigal on Metal music. Today I almost hadn't enough good bands to fill an entire post, but, in the end, everything worked out fine.

The first one is Noctiferia, an Industrial Metal band.



Siddharta is a Gothic Metal band, although they usually mix a few elements from Folk and other Metal sub-genres.



Naio Ssaion is almost non-Metal. In their songs, the bigger part is Rock, but some parts have Metal riffs on them, and most of all, their songs are good stuff, so I'm including them here.




Dekadent is a Symphonic Black Metal band founded in 2005. Their songs have a doom and experimental touches, which makes their sound different.

Hungary - Good Magyar Metal

Hungary follows the line of the nearby countries - not many bands, but a few of them really interesting.

Today's first band is Dalriada, an Epic Folk Metal band founded in 1998 and with five full lengths released. Some of their interest comes from singing in Magyar.



Ektomorf is a Tribal Trash Metal band, which resembles much Sepultura's glory days.



Wisdom is a great Power Metal band. They were founded in 2001 and, after an EP and a full length, both well received, are preparing for 2011 their second full length.



To finish this post, let's go deep to the past of old school pure Heavy Metal, with acoustical ballads and such, and get to know Ossian.
In their defence, the video is a song from their 1990 album. Since then they have changed their haircuts.

Slovak Republic - a few good bands

Scarce, but with a few positive signs, is what can be said from Slovak Republic's Metal scene. To illustrate the good things in it, I selected three mature bands from the nineties and a recent and very promising band.

Galadriel is the most popular Slovak band. They play Symphonic Doom Metal.



Wayd is a band with an original sound, they mix some Jazz influences into their Progressive Death Metal.



Depresy celebrate this year their 20th anniversary. They play Death Metal with some Black influences.



Signum Regis was founded in 2007 and they already have release two very promising full lengths, filled with great Power Metal.

Czech Republic (part 2/2) - Doom, Black, Death and a reindeer in the mosh pit

The second part of this chronicle includes bands that are more popular, but not as exciting as the ones of my previous post, though interesting in their own way.

Starting with the Folk Doom Metal band Silent Stream of Godless Elegy, their sound is a very slow paced music with roots in Eastern Europe Folk.



Ador Dorath is a very cool name for a band. Their Gothic Black is nice but not that cool.



Arakain are the veterans of Czech Metal, with a career of almost 30 years, 16 full lengths released and still with 3 of the members of their original line-up elements. They play Trash Metal, though some Power influences are clearly listenable.



I usually don't talk about Grindcore bands, because I don't like the genre, but when I saw a single live video that includes, pig squealing, one of the musicians loosing his shorts, a reindeer in the mosh pit and much more, all in eight minutes, I had to place these guys here. They are Jig-Ai.

Czech Republic (part 1/2) - So much potential!

I didn't knew any band from the Czech Republic, before starting to do my research for this chronicle, so I started digging, and got a few bands, listen to them, some weren't anything good, but soon enough I had three pretty good bands, only one missing to finish the post.
But then, going deeper, into the less popular bands of the country, I started bumping on some bands playing great Metal, full of potential, waiting to be be shown to the world, and to my own surprise, had to transform this into a two post chronicle.

So let's leave the most popular Czech bands for the next post, because I can't wait to show you what I uncovered.

Olaf Hayer is a well known Power Metal singer. He is the singer for Magic Kingdom (see Belgium chronicle) and also in Luca Turilli's solo project (see Italian chronicle), and, since 2006, he is also the singer of Symphonity, a Symphonic Power Metal band from the Czech Republic. And these guys are very, very good!



Salamandra is a great band, playing old school Speed Power Metal. They brought back to me the feeling of listening to early Helloween.



Beltaine is a Pagan Folk Metal band. Really like their music, though the voice sometimes feels a bit awkward and not completely aligned with it. Too bad they have just released one full length in 2003.



How come there is a great Symphonic Metal band with two(!) violin players, and I didn't knew anything about it?!? The name is Interitus, and they have been around since 1993 and have four full lengths released.

Poland (part 2/2) - Western influences

The first part of the Polish chronicle was dedicated to the bands that relate to the Eastern typical kind of Metal. Today's post is for the bands clearly influenced by the Western Europe Metal.

Starting with a Progressive Metal quartet, Riverside. They have released four full lengths in their nine years of career.



Following the Dutch and Nordic sound is UnSun, a female voiced Gothic Metal band founded four years ago, that released two full lengths.



Darzamat was founded in 1995, playing Symphonic Black Metal. In 2003 the band was re-founded from scratch by it's front man, singer Rafal "Flauros" Góral, and their style changed to Gothic Metal, a very Blackened Gothic Metal though.



To end the Polish chronicle there's a Extreme Power Metal band called Made Of Hate. In their nine years career they have released three full lengths.

Poland (part 1/2) - Eastern influences

Kept under the political influence of Russia after the end of Second World War, until the fall of the "iron curtain" in the end of the eighties, Poland suffers the same tendency of the ex-Russian republics to Black and Death Metal. The difference is that the proximity of Germany has given Polish Metal a bigger contact with a much more evolved musical reality, and they have been taking advantage of it.

That evolution is noticeable, for instance, on the fact that Poland has a band well known worldwide, Blackened Death metallers, Behemoth.



Vader is another good Death Metal band. Like Behemoth their music is mainly around devilish and anti-Christ themes.



Decapitated is a Technical Death band. I usually don't like the style much, but these guys aren't bad at all.



For my taste, I saved the best for last, Vesania, a Black Metal band, with a few symphonic influences.