Skjult - Lucifer Hominum Salvator (Satanath) Review by Steve Thomas-Green When you are faced with a one man Cuban Black Metal project, it can go one of two ways. It’ll sound like a 90s tape recording with buzzsaw guitars and biscuit �n drums, or it’ll blow your fucking mind with how good it is… Well, in this case, it’s not quite the la�er, but it’s ge�ng there. There are no tropical influences on this album, the 3rd this is an ice cold slab of Scandinavian influenced Black Metal. As you’d expect, there’s nothing groundbreaking going on here, but I have to say it’s a very enjoyable, galloping piece of Black Metal. It pummels along nicely. The drums, presumably programmed are good and everything sounds nice and clean, with just enough of a rough edge to give this a 90s feel. Vocal wise, I really like Conspirator’s style. He sits on the edge of a tradi�onal Black Metal style, but he also has a Black/Thrash/Bullet Belt gnarliness about him, which I like. I’d class this as an excellent find from the depths of the Underground h�ps://www.facebook.com/skjultkuba/ from Skjult’s creator, Conspirator, as Starmen - Kiss The Sky (Melodic Passion Records) Review by Steve Thomas-Green Starmen are back with their 2nd album, less than 6 months a�er their Kiss-influenced debut, Welcome To My World. And we’ll get the Kiss stuff out of the way straight away… The band look like Ace Frehley’s cousins, with Star painted faces, each in a different colour and the vocals, at �mes, do remind me of Paul Stanley… but away from that, Starmen dish up very melodic Hard Rock/AOR… lots and lots of it. And a few hours before I sat down to review this album, I played Loverboy and Turn Me Loose via You Tube, which coincidentally is the �me at where I’d place Starmen’s sound. So away from the super-slick, super melodic sounds of the early 80s, they also offer up a superb cover of All Along The Watchtower, which stays faithful to the Hendrix version (I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard Bob Dylan’s original, but I’m guessing I must have) with just a small amount of added funk… A Mystery Thrill also bucks the trend with Eastern magic that adds a nice dimension to the album, as does the �tle track, which channels a bit of Whitesnake, as well as the aforemen�oned Kiss. But for the most part, this is very melodic, good �me Hard Rock, which is a nice distrac�on from the real world. h�ps://www.facebook.com/starmen.se
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