Band:	Various Artists
Album:	Vol.3
Style:
Release date:	2003
A review by:	Deadsoulman

01. Praetorian - Soul Collector
02. Taliandorogd - Progeny
03. Soulfallen - ...Only To Be Cast Away
04. Atem - Yöhön
05. Midgard - Another Trip Through Space
06. Alchemy X - Penance
07. Guardians Of Time - The Journey
08. Vyndykator - Rot In The Chamber
09. Force Fed - Self Conflict
10. Divinus - Beyond Infinity
11. Annatar - Remember
12. Solicitude - Fire
13. Clashing Blade - Kill
14. Organic Infest - Of Gore And Disgust
15. Finsternis - Phantom Carrack
16. L.Minygwal - I, Euphorically, Burned My...
17. Baby Wild Cherry - Let Me Free, Let Me Go
18. Tragedy Divine - Maybe One

Hello kids! Today we are going to continue our trip through the underground metal scenes from worldwide, thanks to the Portuguese label Enclave Records. Another Metal Ostentation, full of unsigned bands (except Taliandorogd which was signed with Adipocere, and now with Al4as Productions) from worldwide, most of them playing in the extreme side of metal. I find this Volume 3 even better than the last one (Vol.5), for a simple reason: this is very unusual, but there is nothing really bad on this album.

Only three songs actually are below average: the first one is the US Alchemy X, that will be a very good heavy metal band once they change the singer. The music is great, but he ruins it by being mainly out of tune. Another vocalist problem with the American thrash band Vyndykator. Again, the music is good, in the vein of Exodus, with catchy riffs, but the singer sounds like a castrated Donald Duck. This is one of the most irritating voices I've ever heard. I know thrash is not supposed to have regular vocals, but there are limits? Last one is Organic Infest: average grind death with a crap production.

Other than that, the quality of the other bands goes from a bit more than average to really good. Let's start with death metal: Praetorian plays good melodic death, not too much originality there, but this song 'Soul Collector' is rather enjoyable. Same goes for Atem and also for Clashing Blade, in a more classical vein. Then we have an In Flames (old period) rip-off with the Austrian band Midgard. The music is good, very melodic, almost folkish at times, but the singer is just average. Force Fed and Solicitude both play brutal thrash death with catchy riffs. There's talent in these two bands obviously? One of the best songs here comes from a Dutch band, Annatar. This is gothic death with an excellent female singer. It's quite atmospheric and heavy at the same time, it sounds a bit like the first Within Temptation. Another band I'd like to hear from again. The other great song is Taliandorogd's: I'm not surprised, I know this band is great. Their music is not easy to classify, there's a bit of everything (death, thrash, heavy?), for a very powerful result. This band is a must-know for everyone.

Lots of death as you can see, but there's also some epic heavy black metal with Soulfallen, an excellent German band that just needs to work a bit on the clean vocals. There's a bit of prog with the very heavy song of Guardians Of Time, played on a fast tempo, and above all with the excellent Divinus from Germany. This band sounds a bit like Symphony X, which means it's very heavy and technical. Just great?

I think that's all for now, that's another very good and useful compilation for Enclave Records who keep turning over rocks to seek good unknown bands. I applause the idea, and wait for more!