Review by Allan on November 24, 2002.

If you haven’t introduced yourself to Zao, you’ve got no clue on how much you’re missing out. Mid-career they released an album that absolutely blew me away, and it continues to till this day. That album is “Liberate Te Ex Inferis”, and as of today it has yet to be matched by many of Zao’s metal-core brethren.

“Liberate Te Ex Inferis” is what you get with “Self-Titled”, without as many light sections. Zao give you fair warning and by the time the intro is up, ‘Savannah’ just completely throw’s itself at you and doesn’t stop until you’ve submitted. The guitar lines themselves are enough to hack you to pieces. They are incredibly savage, yet they remain completely organized. The vocals of Dan Weyandt also intensify the performance, from his excellent throat shredding (indecipherable, intense, yet they still carry emotion) to his haunting whispers.

Zao’s song writing is far ahead of what most bands are capable of. The transitions are absolutely flawless between each section. The segments in a song can have nothing that is deeply rooted in both of them and they will still sound as if they’re somehow related. Each member of Zao also brings something unique to the sound of the band. Zao’s music may cause you to make comparisons between them and other bands, but there isn’t any denying that Zao carry a torch of their own.

Possibly the greatest thing about Zao besides the excellent musicianship and song writing is their ability to expose true emotion or feelings. They’ve got the ability to incite melancholy or anger in you, or to create music that can make you look over your shoulder to make sure you’re safe. You don’t find those this trait in many bands, but Zao have got it and they know exactly how to use it.

Bottom Line: The pinnacle of Zao’s career. If you’ve ever thought for a moment that you liked metal, hardcore, or heavy music, if you don’t give Zao the time of day you could very well be missing out on what could become one of your most favored albums.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 10
Production: 9
Originality: 10
Overall: 10

Rating: 9.6 out of 10

Review by Allan on November 24, 2002.

If you haven’t introduced yourself to Zao, you’ve got no clue on how much you’re missing out. Mid-career they released an album that absolutely blew me away, and it continues to till this day. That album is “Liberate Te Ex Inferis”, and as of today it has yet to be matched by many of Zao’s metal-core brethren.

“Liberate Te Ex Inferis” is what you get with “Self-Titled”, without as many light sections. Zao give you fair warning and by the time the intro is up, ‘Savannah’ just completely throw’s itself at you and doesn’t stop until you’ve submitted. The guitar lines themselves are enough to hack you to pieces. They are incredibly savage, yet they remain completely organized. The vocals of Dan Weyandt also intensify the performance, from his excellent throat shredding (indecipherable, intense, yet they still carry emotion) to his haunting whispers.

Zao’s song writing is far ahead of what most bands are capable of. The transitions are absolutely flawless between each section. The segments in a song can have nothing that is deeply rooted in both of them and they will still sound as if they’re somehow related. Each member of Zao also brings something unique to the sound of the band. Zao’s music may cause you to make comparisons between them and other bands, but there isn’t any denying that Zao carry a torch of their own.

Possibly the greatest thing about Zao besides the excellent musicianship and song writing is their ability to expose true emotion or feelings. They’ve got the ability to incite melancholy or anger in you, or to create music that can make you look over your shoulder to make sure you’re safe. You don’t find those this trait in many bands, but Zao have got it and they know exactly how to use it.

Bottom Line: The pinnacle of Zao’s career. If you’ve ever thought for a moment that you liked metal, hardcore, or heavy music, if you don’t give Zao the time of day you could very well be missing out on what could become one of your most favored albums.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 10
Production: 9
Originality: 10
Overall: 10

Rating: 9.6 out of 10

Review by Alex on May 12, 2018.

Immortal Sÿnn is listed as a heavy metal band. However, there are elements of power metal and punk metal in their music vocally, in the lyrics and in the choruses. Their sound overall can be termed as heavy traditional power/punk metal. There are even some instances of stoner metal on the album. Machine Men was released in 2017 but I have heard nothing about it during that time. It's non stop guitar worship from the first to the very last. Immortal Sÿnn leaves no tables unturned when it comes to addressing mental enslavement, human identity and social disarray on their debut full length, Machine Men.

The first song off Machine Men being "Liberty Rising" is a banger of a tune. It has a great mid-paced flow, awesome singing in the chorus segments and a furious guitar solo. It is followed by "Metal and Blood" which you can probably guess is a song worshiping heavy metal, like most traditional heavy metal bands do on their albums as they pay homage to the father genre. "Metal and Blood" has a quicker pace than the song preceding it, and like "Liberty Rising" it has a strong vengeful guitar solo. The kind of solo you can stand on a hill and point your sword towards the sky as you decree war. "Dark Abyss" has more of a punk-metal sound that is mixed with a King Diamond style of delivery pattern on the main chorus.

The soloing on Machine Men is commanding like a headmaster or high school principal walking the halls, on a mission to capture any wandering minds. The self-titled track meets the peak of regime dismantling solos and riffs. Holy moly, Miguel Ruiz and Tony Z have a lot of praise to be bestowed upon them for their salivating display of shredding; they play like machines (ironic isn't it?), I feel like the rest of the band was struggling to keep up with Miguel's and Tony's level of diversity and dexterity. Their soloing throughout Machine Men and more notably, the self-titled track, is nothing short of timeless. Miguel and Tony slay. "Blind Soul" is perhaps my favorite track on the record, it has the best flow, melody, and chorus. "Blind Soul" deals with introspect and soul-searching, it is catchy all the way through and has a very "alternative rock/metal" structure. It takes a break from the heaviness in establishing more emphasis on the melodic area of the music.

How hasn't Immortal Sÿnn's Machine Men generated more attention? Traditional heavy metal with relative issues that don't go crazy with the "political correctness" or "incorrectness" is something worth listening too and having your thoughts absorbed in. The production is clean and the music is well mixed. The artwork is perfect for the themes being explored and the ideologies expressed on the album. For its total play time of 61 minutes, remarkably it never gets boring. The vocalist Chase McClellan does a praiseworthy job of using various vocal styles such as clean singing, speed metal like vocals and even modern hard rock/nu-metal (see "Hatred Nation" for reference). The guitarists slay, while the drums follow the reckoning path. You need Machine Men if you like metal, mechanized guitar solos, awesome vocal diversity and relative social themes.

Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Review by Alex on July 4, 2018.

Having little to no knowledge about Abstracter who hail from The United States of America, I ventured forth into their realms only to enslave myself to the sound of the ghoulish growls emerging from their cavern. Light your candles and get ready for a deep meditative blackened/crust/sludge/doom/death metal marvel.

Cinereous Incarnate is time consuming but highly enjoyable, all credit to the six sublime spells that attack with purpose at the centrifugal zone of the listeners base chakra. "Nether" is just too fucking immense to give an accurate account of musically; it's the wonder work featured on Cinereous Incarnate, it's the key inscription to the black scriptures uttered in terrifying tongue. Gigantic guitar and drum co-ordinance drive and direct the pace whilst the overwhelmingly ominous vocals coat the aura that accurately aligns each tempo change with the required level of enunciation. The swarming sound of the scathing guitar distortion and the meaty drum snare, cymbals and pedals throughout the album invokes feelings of chest pounding dominance, might and confidence but in strange contrast also attacks the weak and feeble with its protuberant pummeling. When the guitars drag the notes and the rest of the band follows you get some of the best doom metal sections you will ever hear. 

The intermissions provided to reinforce the dark atmospheric effect does work, though I did feel that it was unnecessary due to the stellar music that had already captured and maintained that aspect whilst traversing paths of doom/death and black metal. The 4 songs are lengthy indeed but the ability showcased by Abstracter to bend the framework and alter the posture thus taking the shape of mixed and multi layered compositions suspended any repetition that may have threatened the climax of any track. In the effort to establish trance on Cinereous Incarnate Abstracter sacrificed some segments that would have greatly benefited from a guitar solo or two. Luckily the trance compensated for this absence as it is sometimes barely noticeable to the listener as a result of the interchanging tempos occurring in each song and throughout the album. 

With most of the music emphasizing immersion, you never want to cease listening for any amount of time or reason because Cinereous Incarnate feels like a ritual that brings matter into existence from nothingness; it takes the smallest grain and builds as you listen in awe and wonder what will be the final result. Abstracter executed this quality surgically, sonically and scholarly. Loud and clear is the production that beholds the listener's ear; it rests like a leech on the sound waves generated by the instruments, thus injecting each pulse delivered with a scribe of memorability. Cinereous Incarnate is 43 minutes in length but feels like a 40 minute single; this can be attributed to the tiny similarities in each song that bares resemblance of being extracted from a prototype composition, then improvised and modified. This is the kind of album that reflects true effort and dedication, it screams thunderously in the ever growing death/doom genre and exhibits a discernible identity. Death/doom fanatics will devour this stalking excrecential creature and still crave more. 

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Jack on December 31, 2001.

Right from the start I would like to begin by saying that there is not one stinker amongst the 8 songs that exist on Hollenthon’s debut album in “Domus Mundi”. All tracks stand well enough on their own two feet and each are different enough to prompt single value if there were such a proper market for heavy metal singles.

Hollenthon hail from Austria and deal with metal that breaches a strange and alternate cross between death metal and samples taken from many different areas of the world music spectrum. Some of the samples encountered are what I swear is from the main title track of ‘Braveheart’ (bagpipes, drums etc, etc.) on the track ‘Interlude’. Gregorian chants erupt in the track ‘Premonition’ which really adds to the diversity that Hollenthon obviously possess. This sort of originality is bound to attract good and bad criticism, and I myself cannot sing the praises of Hollenthon enough. When speaking of originality; one only has to browse through the booklet and see the sort of topics that one would find in an ancient monastery during the 15th century. My head fills with images of foul necromancy and famous deeds precluding to the Industrial Revolution some years later.

Vocals from Martin Schirenc range from clean vocals that one may find in your average mainstream pop track to the normal black metal rasp. While he may not win too many awards for outstanding originality and innovation, the vocals do certainly suit the brand of music they play and that is usually all I ask for.

I really do find it hard to believe that some bands in 2001/2002 have not tried to jump on to the band wagon and joined in this sample genious that Hollenthon have started. I mean we had the abundance of black metal clean vocalists in 1997-2001; it really does elude me as to why there has not been other bands trying to milk a dollar from this formula in metal. Perhaps it is that Hollenthon have perfected this art of ‘sample metal’ and others are either in awe of “Domus Mundi” and to scared to compete or it just does not strike them as easy enough to take on. Whatever the case may be, “Domus Mundi” is a superb album and would should stray near the record store in effort to grab a copy.

Bottom Line: Hollenthon sprang from the reaches of nowhere and have delivered the metal world an outstanding a thought provoking release with innovative lyrics and original metal. They should be commended on such a groundbreaking album.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Originality: 10
Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 8.5
Production: 9
Overall: 9

Rating: 9.1 out of 10

Review by Jack on December 31, 2001.

Right from the start I would like to begin by saying that there is not one stinker amongst the 8 songs that exist on Hollenthon’s debut album in “Domus Mundi”. All tracks stand well enough on their own two feet and each are different enough to prompt single value if there were such a proper market for heavy metal singles.

Hollenthon hail from Austria and deal with metal that breaches a strange and alternate cross between death metal and samples taken from many different areas of the world music spectrum. Some of the samples encountered are what I swear is from the main title track of ‘Braveheart’ (bagpipes, drums etc, etc.) on the track ‘Interlude’. Gregorian chants erupt in the track ‘Premonition’ which really adds to the diversity that Hollenthon obviously possess. This sort of originality is bound to attract good and bad criticism, and I myself cannot sing the praises of Hollenthon enough. When speaking of originality; one only has to browse through the booklet and see the sort of topics that one would find in an ancient monastery during the 15th century. My head fills with images of foul necromancy and famous deeds precluding to the Industrial Revolution some years later.

Vocals from Martin Schirenc range from clean vocals that one may find in your average mainstream pop track to the normal black metal rasp. While he may not win too many awards for outstanding originality and innovation, the vocals do certainly suit the brand of music they play and that is usually all I ask for.

I really do find it hard to believe that some bands in 2001/2002 have not tried to jump on to the band wagon and joined in this sample genious that Hollenthon have started. I mean we had the abundance of black metal clean vocalists in 1997-2001; it really does elude me as to why there has not been other bands trying to milk a dollar from this formula in metal. Perhaps it is that Hollenthon have perfected this art of ‘sample metal’ and others are either in awe of “Domus Mundi” and to scared to compete or it just does not strike them as easy enough to take on. Whatever the case may be, “Domus Mundi” is a superb album and would should stray near the record store in effort to grab a copy.

Bottom Line: Hollenthon sprang from the reaches of nowhere and have delivered the metal world an outstanding a thought provoking release with innovative lyrics and original metal. They should be commended on such a groundbreaking album.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Originality: 10
Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 8.5
Production: 9
Overall: 9

Rating: 9.1 out of 10