MangoWave

First of all, and because it cannot be said often enough: нет войны | ні війні | No War How to help the people in Ukraine ______________________________________________________ Want to advertise on MangoWave? Send a request to rmangowave@gmail.com Picture Credit: Trees of Daymare Trees of Daymare - Harbinger of the Apocalypse Release Date: August 07, 2020 Duration: 04:03 Genre: Melodic Death Metal Origin: Dhaka , Bangladesh / Stockholm , Sweden 'Harbinger of The Apocalypse' by the international metal duo Trees of Daymare was released in 2020, but now the song is more relevant than ever. The mastermind behind the band is Raad Shahamat Hasan from Bangladesh, who is the author of music, drum programming and lyrics. After joining forces with Swedish vocalist Stefan Nordstrom the new iteration of the act released two singles of pure Norsk metal worship. The synergy of the band is almost tangible, and captures the moment when two artists complete each others creative output perfec...

Picture Credit: Darklore Darklore - The Evil of Man Release Date: January 29, 2021 Label: selfrelease Format: CD / Digital Length: 70:07 Genre: Melodic Black Metal / Folk Metal Origin: Brisbane , Australia Fans of fantasy fiction, listen up! Brisbane's Sarklore might have came out with the album you all were longing for. "The Evil of Man" is a folky and melodic journey through some of the most famous places in fantasy narratives. Thus, the band pledges their oath to Saruman  in the song 'The White Hand' and concerns the major form of communication among the seven kingdoms in "The Ravens Return". Fitting the fantasy-themed narratives, the music is very melodic and atmospheric. Darklore play an epic version of Melodic Black Metal with a certain Death Metal input and an omnipresent Nordic Folk theme. You might categorize the music on "The Evil of Man" somewhere between Katamenia, Amon Amarth, Falkenbach, SuidakrA, and Ensiferum. Lyric-wise, the a...

Picture Credit: Escarion Artwork: St. Chaos Art Escarion - Pillars of the Faith Release Date: January 29, 2021 Label: selfrelease Format: Digital Length: 56:46 Genre: Death Metal Origin: Melbourne , Australia "Pillars of the Faith" is the name of the first full-length release by Melbourne's Escarion. Back in 2017, the quartet came out with their EP " Pinnacle of Neglect ", and since then they provided us with some appetizers for the album. And here it is, a nine-track album containing almost one hour of Death Metal. According to their Instagram profile, Escarion play Blackened and Melodic Death Metal. I tend to disagree with those terms. Elements of Melodic Death Metal can be spotted here and there, but apart from some staccati and the lead guitar in 'Wrath' the Black Metal influence is rather nonexistent. Instead, I would say that Escarion show a strong tendency towards Technical Death Metal à la Death or Suffocation. The album's theme is a very com...

Picture Credit: Chaos Over Cosmos Artwork: Joshua Ratcliff Chaos Over Cosmos - The Ultimate Multiverse Release Date: June 20, 2020 Label: Narcoleptica Productions Format: CD / Digital Length: 41:48 Genre: Progressive Metal / Melodic Death Metal Origin: Poland / Australia Chaos Over Cosmos are a duo from two different spots on our planet that could not be more far away from each other. The band was founded in 2017 by  Rafał Bowman from Poland and Joshua Ratcliff  from Australia. And actually, the two members have not met in person,yet. But through the power of the world wide web, these two great musicians could join forces. The release on hand is their newest album "The Ultimate Universe" which actually is the combined version of their first two EPs " Chaos Over Chosmos " and " II ". But to make it a bit more interesting, they changed the order of the songs on the new releases which is available via Narcoleptica Productions. The music by Chaos Over Cosmo...

Picture Credit: Ewigkeit Ewigkeit - 23 Release: January 23, 2021 Label:  Death to Music Format: Digital Length: 20:58 Genre:  Melodic Death Metal / Blackened Death Metal Origin:  Brighton ,  England A new release by Brighton's Ewigkeit predominantly means one thing: you press play and wonder "what has James Fogarty come up with this time?". Four months ago, a Prog Doom EP came out and before that, Ewigkeit provided us with Progressive Black Metal . So, what is it we have to expect from Fogarty  this time? Well, the cover artwork and the EP's titls "Depopulate" give us the first hints: this release is all about the pandemic and some of its consequences. Did I say 'Pandemic'? I meant 'Plandemic, of course. Yes indeed, on his new EP Ewigkeit concerns the utterings of those who deny the danger of COVID-19 or those who even say that the whole thing was either not real or that it was part of a bigger plan. In Germany we call those conspiracy theoris...

Picture Credit: From Ashes Reborn Artwork: Chris Cold From Ashes Reborn - Existence Exiled Release Date: May 01, 2018 Label: selfrelease Format: CD / Digital Length: 31:40 Genre: Melodic Death Metal / Melodic Black Metal Origin: Germany If you follow this site frequently, you might know that the prefix "Melodic" often triggers some skepticism in me when talking about Metal genres. Yet, I know there are plenty of amazing artists and bands in the Melodic [insert subgenre] Metal sphere and thus, I am trying to give these genres a fighting chance over and over again. And hence, her is "Existence Exiled", the debut album by Germany's From Ashes Reborn. From Ashes Reborn are without any doubt capable of creating gloomy atmosphere and buldung up tension. In the Black Metal-influenced parts especially, the music sounds like a rapidly approaching thunderstorm that is about to bring the final flood of doom. When the tempest of staccati merges into heavily grooving Death ...

Picture Credit: Demonstealer Artwork: Dechristianize Art Demonstealer - And this too shall pass Release Date: December 11, 2020 Label: selfrelease Format: Digital Length: 21:11 Genre: ( Melodic ) Death Metal Origin: Mumbai , India Sahil Makhija  also known as Demonstealer is the second artist from India featured on this site. Earlier this year, there were two reviews by Thrash Metal band Amorphia . One-person band Demonstealer is not a bit less extreme and yet takes a different line. What we can hear on this four-track EP is brutally raging Death Metal with some melodic parts. Thus, the word Melodic is put in brackets in the headline. Sahil Makhija  has written all parts and recorded all instruments on "And this too shall pass" apart from Daniel K. Rego who helped engineering the clean vocals on 'From Flesh to Ashes'. Sahil Makhija  proves that he is an original of brutal Metal from India. Each of the four tracks on "And this too shall pass" is coined by mas...

  Picture Credit: After Earth After Earth - Before it awakes Release: September 18, 2020 Label: selfrelease Format: Digital Length: 18:00 Genre: Melodic Death Metal / Groove Metal Origin: Skövde , Sweden Swedish quintet After Earth has released their debut EP. Since there are several bands with that name, it is important to say that we are talking about After Earth from Skövde, Sweden. Also, the band should not be confused with 2013's film by M. Night Shyamalan . After Earth were founded in 2017 by Anton Vehkaperä  (drums), Marcus Rydstedt  (vocals) and Victor Lundblad  (guitar). It did not take long until Rob Olsson  (guitar) and Oscar Lindberg  (bass) completed the band. The first EP by Skövde's Metal export is a five-track release introduced by melodic instrumental 'Embers'. But once the last note has faded out, After Earth show what they are after. The following four tracks are defined by heavily grooving and melodic Death Metal. Tough riffs roll forwa...

Picture Credit: Kromheim Artwork: Pantelis Politakis   Kromheim - Kromheim Release: June 23, 2020 Label: selfrelease Format: CD / Digital Length: 22:29 Genre: Melodic Death Metal Origin: Poland Kromheim is the solo project by Polish musician  Mikołaj Popławski . The self-titled debut EP of the one-person army is a product of the lockdown and features four tracks. All songs are thus written and recorded by  Popławski himself. Mix and master though were done by Simone Pietroforte  at Divergent Studios . The cover artwork by Pantelis Politakis  speaks volumes about the music you can hear on "Kromheim". This is pure Melodic Death Metal with a powerful impact by Northern European Folk Metal or Viking Metal. Clean staccato leads hover above a grooving Death Metal landscape and create atmospheric and cold moods.  Popławski plays drums, keys, bass, guitars, and growls his gloomy narrative over these icy layers. I am not the greatest connaisseur of Viking or Folk M...

Picture Credit: MrKill MrKill - Day of Reckoning Release: July 31, 2020 Label: selfrelease Format: CD/Digital Length: 26:10 Genre: Groove Metal / Melodic Death Metal Origin: Melbourne , Australia MrKill love to express the extreme. Both music-wise as well as in their lyrics, the quartet from Melbourne exhaust everything to the maximum (I really hope that phrase is not connotated negatively). While the songs on "Day of Reckoning" concern chasms of human interaction such as hatred, war, exploitation, greed, or neglection and ignorance, the musical accompaniment is brutal, too. I can easily quote the band's self-description here: "From deep chugs, sonic high notes, shredding and dark draw moments, MrKill captures such a wide range of energy to be experienced". Yep, Mango-approved! "Day of Reckoning" is MrKill's second release. Last year, the " Untitled " three-track EP (or demo?) marked the first output by Xines   (drums), Baltion Radi  (ba...

Picture Credit: TerraDown Artwork: Mustapha Design Dz TerraDown - Judgement Release: May 08, 2020 Label: selfrelease Format: Digital Length: 50:06 Genre: Groove Metal / Melodic Death Metal Origin: Breda , Netherlands TerraDown are a five-person band from Noord-Brabant in the South of the Netherlands. Since their formation in 2016 the group has dedicated themselves to Groove and Melodic Death Metal. And apparently, they had some success with that, as they won both the Dutch Metal Battle and the Dutch Wacken Battle in 2019. TerraDown's debut "Judgement" was released in May 2020. The introductory longtrack 'Statement' immediately makes me frown. The grooves kick in very stompy and hectical. With the chorus and its bridge, it kind of sounds like a mixture of In Flames and Amon Amarth - two of the most pathetic Metal bands of all time, as I think. An album starting with a skip-track makes it hard for me to stay objective. Fortunately, it is getting better. With 'V...

Picture Credit: Cyanide Paradise Cyanide Paradise - Downfall Release: April 10, 2020 Label: selfrelease Length: 04:14 Genre: Melodic Death Metal Origin: Netherlands Dutch Melodic Death Metal band Cyanide Paradise was formed in 2019. In the same year they released their first EP " Reach for the Stars ". In April 2020 the quintet has shown more recent vital signs by releasing their new single "Downfall". For this song Cyanide Paradise have joined forces with Yarne Heylen  ( Carnation ). Melodic and partially symphonic arrangements accompany a rough musical landscape while vocalist Linn  presents the impressive firt-person narration of a person trying to be as good as they can while the world around them has become a dystopian nightmare. As dark as it is, it has something empowering and motivating. Picture Credit: Cyanide Paradise Fans of Northern European Melodic Death and Black Metal will especially love the end of the track. Here, the harmony reminds me of bands suc...

Photo Credit: Headsplit Design Carcariass - Planet Chaos Release: December 06, 2019 Label: Great Dane Records Format: CD/Digital Length: 73:37 Genre: Melodic / Progressive Death Metal Origin: France The term longplayer was taken very serious by French band Carcariass. Their newest album "Planet Chaos" features over 70 minutes of heavy, melodic and progressive music. Thirteen track of which six are instrumentals are an intense output using almost all space available on a CD. Carcariass create multi-layer soundscapes that merge impact from mainly three styles. Technical Death Metal riffs and rhythms form the heavy backbone of "Planet Chaos". Above that, classic features of Melodic Death Metal float through the spheres. And like a butterfly dancing from flower to flower, Progressive Metal leads complete the impressive atmosphere. Photo Credit: Carcariass With almost half of the tracks being instrumentals, it is obvious that Carcariass foreground their versatile compos...

As Nick  and Giannis  saw their recent project slowly go down, the time was right for some change. Thus, the two Thessaloniki-based musicians put their effort into forming a new band to deal with their unfinished business. By May 2018 Alex , Dino , and Michail  have joined the band and Exomnia was born. From now on the Greek quintet could finally concentrate on rehearsing and recording. The outcome of this work is the EP "Aftermath" which was released via Alcyone Records on 19 September 2019. Before the release Exomnia promoted their first EP in Greece and Romania together with Saddayah . On both mini tours the feedback for their Melodic Death Metal was amazing. Exomnia mix high-pitched melodies on guitars and keys with deep and grooving Death Metal riffing. Flagships are the Power Metal-like melodic leads and the gargling deep growls by singer Alex . For my personal taste Exomnia's music is lacking brutality and instead the symphonic harmonies are a bit too much....

It has been two years since Trondheim's Brotthogg crashed onto this planet with their first EP "The last Traveller". In early August the band around mastermind Kristian Larsen Moen  reported back with their first full-length play "Echoes of the Past", and they immediately outmatched all expectations. Brotthogg are back with seven and a bit more than half an hour of high-speed, brutal and melodic Metal. Drum beats fast as a machine gun, massive like a tank, and precise like a scalpel build the foundation of this beautiful massacre. The soundscape is defined by high-speed staccato riffing, massive and intense harmonies, as well as ice cold and pitch black licks and soli. The growling and deep voices perfectly merge with the rest of Brotthogg's arrangement and create a gloomy, heavy atmosphere. Slower and dragging parts such as in the song 'The Aftermath' do not disturb this picture at all. Brotthogg put the pedal to the metal for this album. Thus...