SOUND RIOT
http://www.soundriotrecords.com/

INBORN SUFFERING
http://www.inborn-suffering.com/
Hailing from France, I was able to take a peek of Inborn Suffering's album from the end of last year. I was able to listen to samples on the Sound Riot website and available to everyone currently. They are about 1-2 minutes long each, but it's a good enough length to give you an idea to their sound. My favorite song would have to be Monolith. Great tune, the riffs are catchy and I love how they change it up from doom metal to almost metal core, Lamb of God style. But as I said, this is a doom metal band and that sticks through out a majority of the songs.

CHAIN COLLECTOR - The Masquerade
http://www.chaincollector.com/
These guys sound great! Their music is so crystal clear from the production. It makes such a difference when a band has really good production, makes them sound that much better. Anyway, the drums are just flying on this first song, Hierarchy of Murder (Code of Silence). It's like some old school thrash death metal back there. The music is fast too, almost like speed metal in some parts. The singer has this raw Machine Head/Disturbed/Soilwork type of vocal style. One minute he has this death metal vocal sound, next it's this rock/metal sound. The CD jacket calls it screaming vocals and clean vocals and I have to agree with that description. He changes it up and he makes it work. Keeper for sure.

INFERNUM - The Curse
http://www.infernum.art.pl/
Wow, the beginning sounds a little scary. I bet I could play this at Halloween and scare all of the little shits, or kids, away. This is the second Sound Riot release for this band coming all the way from Poland. The vocals are low sounding black metal. Reminds me from the singer from Dimmu Borgir, from what I remember of them. They have a strong keyboard presence in their songs, which I'm not a huge fan of, but they aren't overpowering either, so I can kind of tune them out. The drums just have the steady double bass running through the songs and the guitar riffs are just eerie sounding.

TRISTWOOD - The Delphic Doctrine
http://www.tristwood.com/
I have heard this name a lot in the past few months. Everyone always talks about how good these guys are, but I never had the chance to take a listen to them until now. These guys come from Austria and they sure know how to wail! Black death metal band and they have a decent sound to them. The snare drums sounds like a machine head going off. It's unreal. This guy must have rubber wrist. His blast beats are something like I have never heard before. Unreal. Vocals aren't overpowering with the black or death metal. The guys can sure scream, that's for sure. But it's not 5 minutes of one type of vocal style. He mixes the two genres up a bit. Music is out of this world, the guitars are going so fast I feel like I keep having to replay certain parts of the song, just to make sure I heard what I thought I did. Great release.

EXCALION – Primal Exhale
http://www.excalion.com/
Hailing from Finland, Excalion’s Primal Exhale is their junior CD out, but first under Sound Riot. This CD has a great power metal sound to it. Vocally, the singer has a great voice. He doesn’t throw out the high pitch screams every chance he can, he is well trained and knows when to sing and when to belt one out. Musically, they are extremely tight sounding and very technical. Guitar solo’s sound awesome and they are the perfect length. Metal fans should check this out without a doubt.

GAIA EPICUS – Symphony of Glory
http://www.gaia-epicus.com/
This reminds me of is Dave Mustang decided to sing power metal, this is what it would sound like. The singer has a heavy power metal sound to them, but it’s a little more heavier than most of the bands I have heard. They have some killer sounding guitar solo’s, but they are a tad too long for me. The drummer has a sweet double bass sound though and he can fly with his feet. This is a must get for progressive power metal fans.

GHOST MACHINERY – Haunting Remains
Another Sound Riot band hailing from Finland, this trio has members of the bands Wildcard, Tapsa, and Burning Point. If the band sounded bad, I would just say they don’t have time to rehearse because of the other bands, but this band sounds awesome! Very talented power metal band. Every aspect of this band is great. They have a great sound to them. The drummer has fast feet, his double bass can be heard crystal clear. Guitar solo’s are quick but meaningful. Vocally, the singer has a amazing voice. I don’t see a flaw in this band and it makes me curious to hear the other bands these members are in.

UNCHAINED – Unchained
http://www.unchained.se/
This band is great! Love them!! They have a slightly different, more raw sound then the other two bands I just listened to. They remind me of Iron Maiden. Vocally, I think the singer could play in an Iron Maiden tribute band and it would sound just like Dickenson. These guys have more of a 80’s metal rock sound, not the cheesy shit I listen to, the heavier sounding bands, Maiden, Judas Priest, etc. Very heavy sounding band, definitely one for the collection and I recommend checking them out.

REQUIM- The Arrival
requiem_band@hotmail.com; www.requiem.kpnet.com
Ohhh, super technical right off the bat. Power metal, but not straight power metal the entire time. For some of it, it sounds like he has a frog stuck in his throat when he is singing. When the dude sings though, he has a killer voice. Lots of guitar solo’s if you are into that type of thing.

GRAYSCALE- When the Ghosts are Gone
grayscalecrew@hotmail.com; http://listen.to/grayscale
This is some gothic metal. I don’t listen to gothic, so I really can’t compare this to anyone I would know. It sounds a little dark. They have keyboards over melancholic guitars and mournfull vocals. That’s how the label describes them.

GRAND ALCHEMIST- Intervening Coma- Celebration
contact@grandalchemist.com; www.grandalchemist.com
Black metal from Norway. This actually features the keyboard player in the last Old Man Child’s tour. It’s not all black metal, they have some keyboard breaks in there, and some progressive metal parts. They are super tight though and their drummer is flying.