First up, I don't have the artwork available at the moment so sorry about that and this album came out in 2008, I don't why or how I missed this one so sorry again but here is a much overdue review of one of the most depressing, bleak and inaccessible albums ever recorded. This album contains just one untitled 50 + minute piece of Blackened Doom. Whenever a band attempts something like this, you run the risk of producing something really mind-numbing boring or something really mind-blowing brilliant. Remember when Sleep recorded Jerusalem, the record was panned by critics and even some fans but look at it these days. The record is seen a one of the most important Doom albums ever recorded, these type of recordings take time to grow on you and Highgate's S/T album is no exception. The music on this album is a sick, bleak nasty piece of Blackened Sludge Droning Doom in the style of Burning Witch,Grief, Noothgrush, Winter, Wreck of the Hesperus, and Corrupted to name a few bands but Highgate maybe might be taking it a step further down the path of pure misery. This is the kind of record that will either have you on the edge of your seat with the crippling tension or leave you searching for the nearest razor blade. I will admit you have to be in the mood for this stuff and a great degree of patience wont go astray either. It's slow and extremely pounding, and while most people would likely be bored witless by such a long, fearsome doom song, there's enough variety here to keep most doom fans interested, because just as the song starts to drag they throw in some few mid paced riffs here to keep it interesting. While this sticks to the mostly Funeral Ambient Doom sound, they do occasionally break into more traditional Doom riffing. There is a section around the 25 minute mark that could be off any Reverend Bizarre album and at around 40 minute point, there is one riff that is right up there with any Traditional Doom band. The mood however stays as tormenting as possible, its unsettling and with vocals that sound a lot like Khanate's singer. There is not a huge amount of lyrics though as the band seems to focus on producing bleak and sometimes ambient sounds while retaining a evil atmosphere. If you are looking for something catchy or something you can nod your head to, you better stay away from this one but if you are of the extreme Doom persuasion, then you will love this. The only downside is the production which seems to be demo quality but still its good demo quality. This is an album that's been done pretty well in an genre that is a hard one to pull off successfully, and Highgate have done it and are to be commended for that. Not recommended for the average Metal Head perhaps but if you have a lot of patience then you'll probably enjoy this album a great deal. 8/10

www.myspace.com/therealhighgate

I have seriously given up on people that supposedly support Metal. In the last 3 months i have been to some of the most poorly attended shows i have ever been to in my life. Things cant get any worse. Lets face it, Grassroots level metal is on it's arse, and any band that has any aspirations to get out of the dive circuit might as well start playing the national lottery, or start asking god to help them. The audience isn't listening. They're too busy sitting at home downloading music for free. They're too busy sitting at home slamming bands on the internet.

There are no scenes. There's no such thing as 'local support' anymore. The industry is closed to all that aren't a part of it. Venues are empty, a&r men spend more time on Myspace and You Tube than on the street. Even major artists sales are nosediving. It's all burning and crashing, and all we can do is try to justify it by saying 'move with the times'. Well, in these times, not even Metallica, Maiden, Slayer or Sabbath would have made it. They'd have been stuck in the pubs, trying to entertain a nonexistant, apathetic audience. the bay area thrash scene wouldn't have supported Ulrich and Co, as they ripped off Diamond Head and argued with Roin McGovney; it wouldn't exist now. The Ruskin Arms would have only ever been full of Steve Harris' mates.

When these old bands are gone, who will headline our festivals? The new music with commercial potential is brought down by the contrived nature of it's own creation; labels can't sell what they can't mass market, and the results are becoming more and more soulless.

Please. Get off of facebook. Get off of blabbermouth. Stop ripping off bands and instead of wasting your hours on youtube, go out and find your local scene. Better still, join it. If there isn't one, make one.

Folkearth are a truly international band with members from all over Europe and even more amazing the amount of additional musicians they have used on their records, I think I counted some 70 + plus musicians who have worked with them on their albums. Also staggering is that "Fatherland" is their sixth album since they formed in 2004 and their forth album since 2006. I was interested in hearing this album because I heard their last album "Father Of Victory" and found it to be a really weak version of Folk/Viking Metal so I was hoping for big things from this album. I think the amount of recording they have done may be part of the problem for Folkearth, the term "quality control" is something they may not be aware of. This album starts out very promising with "Hymn to Zeus" that is hypnotic and somewhat mesmerizing and the following "Braver Than Heroes" is a good piece of Folk Metal but from then on the old problems that existed on previous albums re-emerge. The vocals are too weak, and he doesn’t seem to hit the right  notes which for this style seems to be a issue. "Guardian of the bridge" kicks off in a faster, more aggressive style but once again the  music is hurt by the weak vocals. The rest of the album follows the same path, some of the actual songs are pretty good musically but the vocals and the production mangles everything. Take the title track for a example, its a beautiful acoustic tune with good keyboard use, an accordion and a whistle. But the weak clean male vocals sound like he’s  trying to sing with marbles in his mouth. The use of various whistles, flutes, violins, keys and such is done well enough, and the folk aspect of the music is done in a original manner. Metal-wise it’s also quite listenable. There aren’t any specific riffs that I will remember, but I like what they are trying to do. I went back after hearing this and re-listened to some of their other songs from previous albums and here is something that become very obvious. Production was never the strong point of the multinational outfit’s albums, but it has nose-dived from raw to just plain poor, with the whole thing sounds compressed and lifeless. The vocals on the CD also suffered a big drop in quality, they were never great to begin with but the good singers from past efforts have gone to be replaced with some near-tuneless female wailing and completely ridiculous epic male vocals. Overall this sounds like a slapdash collection of throw-away instrumental passages thrown into fairly pedestrian metal compositions. The songs that work best tend to be those that features the acoustic guitars to take the lead, as the distorted sections are subdued by the weak production and the terrible double-bass sound made from programmed drums. Even the weak vocals manage to struggle through the muddy sound a little better in these songs. I’m sure fans of the band would be happier waiting a year or 2 for a really good bunch of songs rather than an endless, poorly recorded supply of hit and miss material. If they continue churning out albums at their current rate, with the amount of Folk/Viking Metal out there these days, the band runs the risk of becoming little more than a sad self-parody. 4/10
www.myspace.com/folkearth