KING DIAMOND TRIBUTE
The Trial-DARK FUNERAL
I'm not very familiar with Dark Funeral, just a few songs, but what I've heard I really didn't like. The funny thing is, this is one of the best songs on this album. It's done VERY true to King's version. The guitar work is brilliant, and the production is great. The vocals aren't the greatest, but at least he's not trying to imitate King.
Mansion In Darkness-DAMNATION
This song should have NEVER been covered. Maybe it's just me, but Abagail is one of the greatest metal albums ever, and Damnation just plain sucks here. The singer trades off between crappy death metal vocals to Type O Negative clean stuff. The production is muddy, but the solo work is good, which may be Damnation's only redeeming quality.
Abigail-IN AETERNUM
Take what I just said about Damnation and reverse it. In Aeternum can cover King Diamond any time they want! This just plain rules! I thought I might be a bit prejudice against ANY band covering Abigail, but that's not the case. This is a great death metal version of the song. The production isn't great, but In Aeternum make up for that with their performance. Great death vocals. The only problem I have with it, is that they put black metal blast beats in the final chorus. YUK.
Charon-USURPER
The singer sounds to me like a mutated John Tardy in a few places. He belches some of his vocals. He even throws in the patented Tom Warrior grunt. Geez. The band is good though, with a good mix. Overall, I'd have to say this is a good cover. I got used to the annoying vocals to the point where I wasn't comparing him to anyone else.
No Presents For Christmas-EXHUMED
NO. PLEASE NO! The singer uses horribly annoying high vocals, (yes worse than King, because this guy seems to not be able to hit the high notes properly),but then crushes you with deep death growls. If he stuck to the low end, this might be really good. The mix sucks though, and I'm not really all that impressed with the band.
Eastmann's Cure-AURORA
This is great! It has a guy doing both death metal and clean vocals, and a chick singing clean stuff. I swear this woman sounds just like Christina from Lacuna Coil. The guitarist blew me away, and the production was awesome. Best cover on the album, right here.
Dressed In White-DESTINY'S END
TERRIBLE production, like it was a demo from the '80s. The vocals sound like a weak Bruce Dickinson imitation, with a really bad high squeal. The guitar work is good; I really like harmony solos.
Halloween-ANCIENT
Another bad mix. The singer is WAY off, but the band is decent. This could be a good cover if not for the production and the maddening vocals.
The Exorcist-FALLEN EMPIRE
Black Metal with chicks in goth clothes. The production is cleaner than most so far, and the musicianship is worthy. They play the song as it should be, with no stupid black metal blasts where they don't belong. I'm really impressed with this one. Another great guitar performance. The whole band is really tight. I like these guys, and may check some of their stuff out.
The Portrait-ENTHRAL
This opens with trendy goth keyboards, which instantly turned me off. When the band kicked into the song, the mix was the worst on the album. You can't hear the guitar for the keyboards, (where have we heard that before?), and they just sound like a garage band out of tune. The singer is just another growling black metal guy. WelcomeHome-AGGRESSOR
I like this one quite alot. It has a great mix, and the singer uses really good death vocals. The band is very impressive, especially the guitarist, (which seems to be the norm for me). THIS one is the best cover on the album, hands down. Aggressor kicks major ass. It's almost a shame that this one is the last song, because some of the lame songs might turn someone off enough to not want to finish the album. (Ron-: belial@seedsofevil.com)

BABYLON WHORES-King Fear
This is one of those bands, I would like but no one else will. This is some good metal. This isn't death or anything. Just metal. The vocals take a couple songs to get use to, but this sounds great. It isn't that heavy or anything. This is real good. I like it!

DEADBODIESEVERYWHERE
This is different. It is death metal. They have some guy just screaming lyrics out too. This is pretty fast. Actually, some of the drum beats, the guy is doing I like.

DEFENDER-They Came Over The High Pass
Now this sounds like it could be some cheesy power metal that I wouldn't like. BUT for some reason, the vocals aren't making my ears bleed. I actually like this. This is a solo project too. I'm impressed!

IMPALED-The Dead Shall Dead Remain
This is a very disgusting album cover. Almost makes me want to vomit. I would like to think this is death metal. The vocals are a little hard to hear. There are some black metal vocals. I like the way the vocals styles mix together. I'm not hearing much bass, but everything else seems pretty good to me.

MAYHEM-Grand Declaration of War
Everyone in their mother has heard of this band, so I'm not going to go into detail about this (do I ever though?!) Black metal. They have some cheesy thing in the beginning of this guy talking through out the song. I think it is pretty gay. The drummer is fast as hell though. That is a plus.

MONUMENTUM-Musaeum Hermeticum
According to the inlay, it states this is not a new recording. This is a recording of their stuff from the late 80's. I don't like the sound of the guitars, it sounds to me like a loud buzzing noise. If that is what it is suppose to sound like, then they are doing the job. It's melodic and slow. I don't like it.

NOCTURNUS-Ethereal Tomb
Here is some death metal. I don't care for the singer too much. I'm not a big fan of the vocals. They don't vary much, so it gets boring. This isn't anything fast. I'm not fan of the keyboards either.

SUMMON-Baptized by Fire
This is real good. I like this. It is some black metal. And I am very picky when it comes to black metal I like. The drummer is flying. The sound is real good too.

THORNSPAWN-Blood of the Holy, Taint they Steel
This is some more black metal. I like Summon better, but this is still good. Everything is real fast and there are a lot of those black metal screams that make your ears bleed.

TRIUMPHATOR-Wings of Antichrist
More black metal. I like this guys vocals the least. It sounds like he is using different effects on this vocals and I don't like that. Just sounds like the same riffs and beats over and over again.

USURPER-Visions from the Gods
This is some demo's from 1994, rare, live and unreleased stuff. I never heard these guys, so this is all new to me. The production isn't good, probably since it is from 1994. The vocals are low. There are a lot of blast beats. I'm not a fan.