At the start of this summer Hammerheart decided to bring out some free samplers containing some material of their latest releases. And to be honest, I like these kinds of samplers. It gives the listeners the opportunity to hear from bands they have never heard before. On the other hand it is a nice way of doing some promotion for the bands on the label. The first two tracks are from the new band of Morbid Angel guitarist Eric Rutan. Alas is their name and they make a sort of doom-dark-metal with some typical Rutan melodies and female-vocals. For a full review you can take a look back in our review part. The same actually goes for the second band on this sampler. Ancient Rites. Does this band need a further introduction? Belgium`s best-known black-metal band is also pres-ent with two songs, the best one`s in my opinion, "Victory of Valhalla" and "North Sea".

The third band on this release certainly is interesting for the people who like extreme death of grind. Rebaelliun is the name of this Bra-zilian formation. For people who like bands as Deranged, Krisiun, Abhorrence or the old Nile this certainly is a band for you. Both "Annihilation" and "Bringer of War" both are extreme eruptions of terror from their well-accepted "Annihilation" release. The last band on this sampler also isn`t really an unknown but certainly excep-tional band in the black-metal genre. Aeturnus always seemed to be influenced by the death-metal genre and these influences was what made this band different from the rest. Please check out our "the archives" section were you also can find a full review of the "Ascension of Terror" release. On this sampler we can listen to "The Essence of the Elder" and "Burning the Shroud".