Opeth - In cauda venenum

I've been very quiet in the past few months, severely lacking inspiration and patience, but if there's anything that can get me out of my hole, it must be Opeth. After a brilliant performance at Artmania, I was more than ready for their new record and lo and behold, In cauda venenum is here to grace my ears. 

Artmania, 26-27 July 2019, Large Square Sibiu

Another Artmania has ended. I’ve said it before, I simply can’t get enough of this festival and I have a lot of respect for the way the organisers handle it year after year. Yes, there were bigger lines than usual this time. Yes, at some point it took 30 minutes to buy a beer and we completely abandoned the idea of food once we realised the time it required. But at the same time there was plenty of space inside the square (no cramming people like cattle to oversell tickets), the sound was impeccable, there were toilet paper and huge sanitiser bottles at the toilet and they made an impromptu token line in a corner because the waiting time was too big.  

Myrath, Shehili

The last months have been rather slow in terms of albums I was interested in and also heat seems to have brought a bit of a writer's block. I tried three times to review Dream Theater's latest album and found myself overwhelmed by it (I love it, I just can't bring myself to actually dissect it in a review). So I ultimately decided to review something I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about, given how disappointed I was by their last release, which is Myrath's last album, Shehili.

Rammstein - Rammstein

Rammstein are finally back. There may have been a question mark next to their return, after the long break and Till's solo album, but have no fear, the world hasn't been robbed of the dick-wielding flame-throwing Germans. 

Eluveitie, Ategnatos

Eluveitie is one of those bands that never bores me and, despite of maintaining a somewhat constant and easily identifiable sound, also has enough variety and change to remain fresh album after album. Ategnatos is more of the same, but with a twist (which has come to describe almost all of their releases in the past years). The difference is this twist might just be the best one yet. 

Godsmack, Arenele Romane, 01.04.2019

What a crazy night! We've been dying to see this guys for ages, and it seemed like the stars had aligned against us (or them?). First in 2012, the band cancelled the tour that included Romania because Sully got sick. Then in 2015, we had to leave the show early, right before Godsmack got on stage, because my husband got sick. Then in 2018, again they cancelled the tour because Tony, their guitarist, suffered a tragedy and lost his child. Finally, FINALLY, the other night, we had the pleasure of seeing these awesome guys live. 

Within Temptation - Resist

Hydra was severely disappointing, I don't think I could name more than one track from it, nor reproduce anything other than "faster and faster and faster and faster and faster and faster". And it wasn't (just) the fact that they abruptly turned pop, it was mostly the shallowness and repetitiveness of it all, there just simply wasn't anything to grasp on. Even Sharon was generic and bland for the most part, and I have no idea how you can take one of the most recognisable voices in the genre and do that to it. For this reason, I wasn't particularly interested in their new release, Resist. But because it's been a quiet season and because I didn't have anything to lose other than an hour of my life, I decided to give it a listen and I'm kind of glad I did. Not because it's a masterpiece or anything, but because it erased a bit of the sour taste Hydra and their live performance at Artmania left for me a few years ago.

Bucovina - Septentrion

Bucovina is not necessarily the most complex band in the world, but everything they write is so fluid and harmonious, with a good flow and most importantly, it gives me such a good feeling. I'm always enjoying myself when I listen to them, and Septentrion makes no exception. 

Conception, My dark symphony

This is going to be a short review, for an equally short release. I don't normally listen to EP's (I prefer to wait for the full album), but considering there doesn't seem to be a full album in sight and this is the first Conception release in 21 years and that the wonderful Roy Khan came out of the hole he's been hiding in for the past 8 years, I feel like this deserves my attention.