Maximum Metal Rating Legend
5 Excellent - Masterpiece. A classic.
4.5-4 Great - Almost perfect records but there's probably a lacking.
3.5 Good - Most of the record is good, but there may be some filler.
3 Average - Some good songs, some bad ones at about a half/half ratio.
2.5-2 Fair - Worth a listen, but best obtained by collectors.
1.5-1 Bad - Major problems with music, lyrics, production, etc.
0 Terrible - Waste of your life and time.

Note: Reviews are graded from 0-5, anything higher or not showing is from our old style. Scores, however, do not reveal the important features. The written review that accompanies the ratings is the best source of information regarding the music on our site. Reviewing is opinionated, not a qualitative science, so scores are personal to the reviewer and could reflect anything from being technically brilliant to gloriously cheesy fun.

Demos and independent releases get some slack since the bands are often spent broke supporting themselves and trying to improve. Major releases usually have big financial backing, so they may be judged by a heavier hand. All scores can be eventually adjusted up or down by comparison of subsequent releases by the same band. We attempt to keep biases out of reviews and be advocates of the consumer without the undo influence of any band, label, management, promoter, etc.

The best way to determine how much you may like certain music is to listen to it yourself.
Band
Bjarm
Title
Imminence
Type
LP/EP
Company
Foto Ltd
YOR
2014
Style
Black
12/18/2014 3:43:27 PM - Review by: Greg Watson
Imminence by Russian symphonic death act Bjarm feels like a movie soundtrack with death vocals, aggressive guitar work and clean female vocals. As the album plods along, the songs tend to get a little repetitive and you can figure out the formula each track is going to follow. The vocals are similar to Epica or Sirenia but the vocals are more backing than the focal point. The classical pieces are incredibly well done and the addition of the death vocals and guitars on top gives it the needed kick in the pants. Despite the repetitiveness I found myself listening to the album repeatedly and catching something new.
PERSONAL BREAKDOWN:

ENJOYMENT
MUSIC
VOCALS
PRODUCTION
ARTWORK
LYRICS


8/1/2014 - Review by: Eric Compton
Extremists will love it, but may have heard it all before
Symphonic Russian black metal? Yes, Bjarm is representing. This six-piece band was formed in 2009 in the Severodvinsk region. ‘Imminence’, the band’s debut, isn’t the most original thing in the world. Yet what it lacks in originality it surely makes up with in presentation. Epic symphonic pieces serve like grand cinematic movie scores to enhance the band’s delivery. The opening track, “Approaching the Close”, is a wind-swept, bell-ringing ode to the Apocalypse. The instrumental is the perfect curtain jerker for “Knowledge of Doom”, a frosty extreme bite filled with death vocals over a brooding mid-pace beat. Guitars churn and burn and never reach full “blackened” speed. It’s obviously influenced by the likes of Behemoth and maybe the flare of Dimmu Borgir. I like when the band moshes through the permafrost, evident on “The Nine Worlds” with its jagged stomp riffs at the midway. Extremists will love it, but may have heard it all before.
  • 2 :REVIEW COUNT
    3 :AVE RATING

ALL REVIEWS FOR: BJARM
TITLE
DOR
COMPANY
REVIEWER DATE MADE RATING
Imminence
2014
Foto Ltd
Greg Watson12/18/2014
3
Imminence
2014
Foto Ltd
Eric Compton8/1/2014
3

ALL INTERVIEWS FOR: BJARM
INTERVIEW INTERVIEWER DATE TAGLINE


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