This is a raging slab of metal and other styles of heavy music from the Dutch label Fear Dark. The cd kicks off with the song "The Judge" by Tefilla from the cd Grievous Anguish (see Tefilla review for more info). The next two tracks are from one of the best death/thrash bands around, Sculpture (see also Sculpture review), Sculpture rips through two newly re-mixed tracks of Believer style tech-metal from their Spiritual Matrix cd. Then comes the biggest and best surprise on here. Two new tracks from Salutary! Salutary sounds much tighter and overall considerably better than on their demo released a couple years ago. They even have some metal-core sound on the track "Enslaved", like they have been listening to Reborn by Living Sacrifice!! Excellent music from Salutary. The song "War of the Saints" is equally impressive but is more death/thrash than metal-core. Salutary is a band to be looking for in 2000!! Next we have Jacks of all Trades who really surprised me with some hardcore/rapcore stuff that sounded as good as anything within those genres! Fans of bands like Travail will find a new friend in Jack of all Trades. Next up is Salida, these two tracks are about the only songs on here that I don't really care for. Salida is musically talented but are just not my cup of tea, with a lot of "funk" groove and "slappy" basslines mixed with some metallic feel. The cd closes with an unreleased track from Tefilla which carries on in their mid-paced death-thrash-groove style that we have come to know and love. The production throughout this entire disc is great. I highly recommend this for people wanting to get a nice mix of some new metal from overseas.
8/10
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #82Reviewed by David M. PoggeAnd amen! Here are five neck - breaking bands from the man made land of the Netherlands wanting to rock you silly. We've got some metalcore, some rapcore and even some straight ahead heavy metal. While not every band on here would make it to my top ten list, this is still a solid release that's sure to bring a smile to the faces of Metalheads everywhere. (Editor's note: after the review of this…Art for the Ears 1999Reviewed by Marco PovervestNo, no, no!!!!! This is NOT a praise and worship album. I really don't like this title because it doesn't appeal to me and I think it doesn't appeal to people who are into the music on this sampler either. When I received the parcel containing this CD, my eyes fell first on the cover of the record. I thought it was a techno/trance CD I had received! Oh man, this is bad marketing. If you look at…
