Anacrusis "Reason (France, Active Records, CD ATV 9)"

Anacrusis was an American progressive/thrash metal band from St. Louis, Missouri. Anacrusis was one of the first bands to attempt to blend thrash and progressive metal.

Reason is the second album by the American thrash metal band Anacrusis, released in 1990 on the European label Active Records. The album and their debut Suffering Hour were re-recorded for a two-disc set titled Hindsight: Suffering Hour & Reason Revisited, released in 2010.

Track listing

Music and lyrics by Kenn Nardi, except where indicated

1. "Stop Me" – 6:22
2. "Terrified" (Nardi, Kevin Heidbreder) – 4:55
3. "Not Forgotten" (Nardi, John Emery) – 5:51
4. "Wrong" – 5:40
5. "Silent Crime" – 4:51
6. "Misshapen Intent" (Nardi, Heidbreder) – 4:25
7. "Afraid to Feel" (Nardi, Heidbreder) – 6:25
8. "Child Inside" – 4:25
9. "Vital" (Nardi, Heidbreder) – 5:10
10. "Quick to Doubt" – 4:41
11. "Killing My Mind" (CD bonus track) – 5:53
12. "Injustice" (CD bonus track) – 5:39

Total time:  01:04:09

Bonus track 11 taken from unknown sources.

Bonus track 12 taken from the 1989 Quick to Doubt demo.

Recording information:

Recorded and mixed at Smith Lee Studios, St. Louis, MO in August/September 1989.

Mastered at Future Disc, Hollywood, CA.

Co-produced by Anacrusis.

Absurd "Facta Loquuntur (Limited Edition, Germany, No Colours Records, NC 007)"

Absurd is a German black metal band that has been classified as a "right-wing extremist" group by the Thuringian Landesbehörde für Verfassungsschutz.

The band was founded in Sondershausen by Hendrik Möbus (also known as Randall Flagg, Jarl Flagg Nidhögg and JFN) and Sebastian Schauseil (Dark Mark Doom) in 1992, with a third member, Andreas Kirchner, joining at a later stage.

Their lyrics concern nationalistic, pagan (Hendrik Möbus is the founder of the Deutsche Heidnische Front), pro-heathen revivalist Germanic, and anti-Judeo-Christian themes.

The band achieved infamy because its original members (not in the band since 1999) murdered Sandro Beyer, a 15-year-old boy, in 1993. The canonical motive is that Beyer was privy to an illicit relationship of Schauseil's with a married woman, and had been spreading rumours about this and other activities of the band. On 29 April in Sondershausen, the then-17-year-old band members Möbus, Schauseil, and Kirchner enticed Beyer to a meeting, and strangled him there with an electrical cord. Kirchner, in a now infamous quotation, was reported as saying: "Oh shit—now I've completely ruined my life." Schauseil claimed to have heard a voice in his head saying the nonsensical phrase "Kuster Maier", which he interpreted as "Töte Beyer" ("Kill Beyer").

The band Absurd has continued in existence since 1999, going through many changes of personnel, and losing all of its original members. The main line-up features Wolf, Hendrik's brother, handling vocals and Sven "Unhold" Zimper handling the instruments, with Sebastian Schauseil performing the occasional clean vocal part on releases such as Asgardsrei (1999), Werwolfthron (2001), and Totenlieder (2002).

Facta Loquuntur is their first full length, released in 1996.

Tracklist:

1. Werwolf 02:36   
2. The Gates of Heaven 03:15  
3. Pesttanz 02:46   
4. Eternal Winter 04:15  
5. Deep Dark Forest 04:54
6. First Winter of Bloodred Snow 02:58   
7. Mourning Soul 02:12  
8. Dreaming of Love 04:44   
9. Wartend in Einsamkeit 07:07
10. Der Sieg ist unser 01:44   

Time:  36:31  

Limited to 500 hand-numbered copies.

Pressing plant identified by SID codes.

Hand-numbered.

Album was banned by German authorities in February 2009.

Wolf Möbus contributed the track 'First Winter of Blood Red Snow', originally a Wolfsburg song.

Recording information:

1-4: Recorded in May 1995. Tracks were originally featured on the "Thuringian Pagan Madness" cassette EP released by Capricornus Productions in 1995.

5: Rehearsal track recorded in JVA Erfurt prison in December of 1994 (under the moniker Wolfsmod). This was a solo recording featuring only D.M.D. and a drum machine.

6: Recorded by Wolf Möbus outside of jail in February of 1994. Originally intended to be used on the "Thuringian Pagan Madness" 7 inch EP.

7-8: Both songs were the result of a recording session of In Ketten sometime in the Spring of 1995.

9-10: Tracks recorded by D.M.D. solely with the assistance of a drum machine in 1995.

Alastis "The Just Law (Norway, Head Not Found, HNF 001)"

Alastis was a Swiss extreme metal band formed in 1987 in Sion, Valais.

The band formed in 1987 with the name Fourth Reich, playing death metal. The initial line-up was War D. on guitar, Zumof on vocals, Acronoise on drums, and Masmiseim (b. Christophe Mermod, Acronoise's brother) on bass. 

In 1989 Fourth Reich changed name to Alastis, a derivation of Alastor, the executioner of hell, and moved towards black metal; two years later Masmiseim left in order to join Samael, with Zumof departing soon after.

Samael's current vocalist/guitarist Vorph did guest vocals on one track from the demo Black Wedding, and the band issued their debut album, The Just Law, on Head Not Found.

Tracklist:

1. The Just Law 07:02  
2. Black Wedding 04:13   
3. Illusion 05:46  
4. Reconversion 04:05   
5. Damned for Ever 06:37
6. Nightmare 03:28
7. The Cry 02:23
8. Fatidical Date 05:50  
9. Messenger of the U.W. 04:56  

Total time:   44:20

Recording information:

Recorded at Feeling Studio Martigny.

Produced by Dany & Alastis.

Mixed by Dany and War D.

Amorphis/Children Of Bodom "Tales From Lake Bodom (Split CD, Limited Edition Digipak, EU, Legacy Magazine, 05-2015 #098)"

Tales From Lake Bodom is a split album, with Finnish bands Amorphis and Children Of Bodom, given away for free with German magazine "Legacy" issue 05-2015 No. 98.

Tracklist:

1. Children of Bodom - Suicide Bomber 03:32
2. Children of Bodom - Halo of Blood (live) 03:19   
3. Children of Bodom - Black Winter Day (Amorphis cover) 03:43  
4. Amorphis - Illusion 04:19   
5. Amorphis - Hopeless Days (live) 05:26  
6. Amorphis - Every Time I Die (Children of Bodom cover) 04:25

Time:  24:44  

Issued in a 4-panel Digisleeve.

Digipak given free with German magazine Legacy, number 98 (May 2015). The album takes its name from Amorphis's Tales from the Thousand Lakes (1994) and Children of Bodom's reference to the Finnish lake Bodom.

For Children of Bodom:

track 1 is taken from the album I Worship Chaos (2015);

track 2 is previously unreleased;

track 3 is a bonus track from the I Worship Chaos digipak, and is an Amorphis Cover.

For Amorphis:

track 4 is a bonus track from the album Circle (2013);

tracks 5 and 6 were previously unreleased, and track 6 is a Children of Bodom cover.

Recording information:

Track 2 was recorded live at Summer Breeze 2014.

Track 5 was recorded live at Loudpark 2013.

Amorphis "Queen Of Time (Japan, Chaos Reigns, GQCS-90570)"

Queen of Time is the thirteenth studio album by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis, released worldwide on 18 May 2018 through Nuclear Blast. This is the first album since 1999's Tuonela to feature original bassist Olli-Pekka Laine who rejoined the band in 2017, making this the first time since 1994's Tales from the Thousand Lakes that all four original band members played together on an album. The album was produced by Jens Bogren, who was described as "a true brother in spirit."

Queen of Time received positive reviews upon release.

Blabbermouth praised the use of a variety of instruments such as flutes, saxophone, reeds, or xylophones, calling the compositions "long, layered and resonant".

Louder wrote: "Amorphis are incredible songwriters; everything from stirring opener The Bee through to lavish, dramatic closer Pyres On The Coast boasts at least one life-affirming hook, and vocalist Tomi Joutsen has never sounded more commanding."

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Pekka Kainulainen

1. "The Bee" Santeri Kallio 5:30
2. "Message in the Amber" Esa Holopainen 6:44
3. "Daughter of Hate" Holopainen 6:20
4. "The Golden Elk" Kallio 6:22
5. "Wrong Direction" Holopainen 5:09
6. "Heart of the Giant" Kallio 6:32
7. "We Accursed" Kallio 4:59
8. "Grain of Sand" Holopainen 4:44
9. "Amongst Stars" (featuring Anneke van Giersbergen) Kallio 4:50
10. "Pyres on the Coast" Holopainen 6:19
11. "Honeyflow"  5:15   

Time:  01:02:44  

Recording information:

Produced, recorded and mixed at Fascination Street Studios during Winter 2017/18.

Mastered at Fascination Street Studios, Örebro, Sweden.

Grand piano and hammond organ recorded at Finnvox Studios, Helsinki, Finland.

Church organ recorded at Church of Paavali.

Choirs recorded at Bardo Studios.

Additional percussion, fretless bass, vocal doublings and narration recorded at Moon Unit Studios.