Category: Reviews

Author & Punisher – Women & Children

Filed Under: Reviews

May.17, 2013

Author & Punisher

Women & Children

01. Women & Children
02. In Remorse
03. Melee
04. Tame As A Lion
05. Fearce
06. Miles From Home
07. Pain Myself

[06/11/13]
[Seventh Rule]

The marriage of metal and electronic music is not a new concept, and often ends up with shoddy or campy results. Industrial metal is one such genre born from this union and even still, results may vary; Bands like Godflesh and Jesu are regarded quite favorably as innovators whereas the likes of Marilyn Manson and Static-X get mixed reception. Recent developments within the genre have lead to wild avant-garde experimentation, where Norway’s SHINING and Californian one-man band Author & Punisher are met with repeated acclaim for their furtherance of industrial music in their own right.

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Tags: Author & Punisher, Godflesh, Jesu, Marilyn Manson, Shining, Static-X

Leprous – Coal

Filed Under: Reviews

May.16, 2013

Leprous

Coal

01. Foe
02. Chronic
03. The Cloak
04. The Valley
05. Salt
06. Echo
07. Contaminate Me

[05/20/13]
[InsideOut]

Considering Leprous‘s previous album Bilateral is considered by many to be a masterpiece of progressive metal; Norway’s Leprous had a tall order in front of themselves. Coming up with a followup to such a critically acclaimed and beloved album is no doubt a daunting task. Despite that, after two long years of waiting, Leprous have conjured the successor to Bilateral, and it’s called Coal. Usually, when bands release an album after their magnum opus, the result is either a “version 2.0″ of the previous album, or it’s a return back to the normal style of the band. Leprous have taken a bold turn instead, and they have reinvented themselves. Coal is clearly a Leprous album, carrying all their trademark touches, but it’s also very fresh and unique.

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Tags: bilateral, Coal, Ihsahn, InsideOut Music, Leprous

The Dillinger Escape Plan – One Of Us Is The Killer

Filed Under: Reviews

May.15, 2013

The Dillinger Escape Plan

One Of Us Is The Killer

01. Prancer
02. When I Lost My Bet
03. One Of Us Is The Killer
04. Hero of the Soviet Union
05. Nothing’s Funny
06. Understanding Decay
07. Paranoia Shields
08. CH 375 268 277 ARS
09. Magic That I Held You Prisoner
10. Crossburner
11. The Threat Posed By Nuclear Weapons

[05/14/13]
[Sumerian/Party Smasher Inc.]

At this point in their careers, one would expect seminal mathcore giants The Dillinger Escape Plan to slow down a bit and fully embrace their inner Faith No More more extensively. This isn’t necessarily to the fault of Dillinger or an expectation that they’ve created and fostered in themselves, but is an expectation based on real trends with similarly influential bands who have risen in fallen in the decades past their initial breakout. If you take a look at some of the metal’s biggest bands — In Flames and Opeth come to mind for their respective subgenres — it’s not uncommon for bands to soften with age. Needless to say, this doesn’t apply to The Dillinger Escape Plan, who in their fifth album One Of Us Is The Killer are at their most volatile since 1999′s Calculating Infinity.

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Tags: Faith No More, In Flames, Opeth, The Dillinger Escape Plan

JERICCO – Beautiful In Danger

Filed Under: Reviews

May.14, 2013

JERICCO

Beautiful in Danger

01. Dance Like No-One’s Watching
02.Your Favourite Song
03. Cigarettes And Conversations
04.Circles And Squars
05. Monsters
06. Rose Coloured Glasses
07. Congratulations
08. Moonlight Highlights
09. The Executioner
10. The Art Of Illusion
11. Beautiful In Danger

[04/19/13]
[Self-Released]

Successfully composing layered epics of greater than ten minutes in length and thematically intricate concept albums is no doubt a feat of great skill and application, worthy of the praise and attention we laud upon the musicians who bless us with such challenging listening experiences. However, what is less obvious, and less often recognised, is just how difficult it is to write songs that are more compact in structure, yet are of such depth that they continue to reveal new secrets and subtleties with each repeated listen. Hailing from the current Australian school of alternative and progressive rock, JERICCO have, with their debut album, Beautiful In Danger, managed to compile a collection of songs that do exactly that.

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Tags: Beautiful In Danger, COG, coldplay, dead letter circus, Fetah Sabawi, Forrester Savell, ian kenny, JERICCO, Karnivool, Maynard James Keenan, Roy Amar, Superheist, The Strokes

Shining – One One One

Filed Under: Reviews

May.13, 2013

SHINING

One One One

01. I Won’t Forget
02. The One Inside
03. My Dying Drive
04. Off The Hook
05. Blackjazz Rebels
06. How Your Story Ends
07. The Hurting Game
08. Walk Away
09. Paint The Sky Black

[05/28/13]
[Prosthetic Records]

As you can probably tell, we really enjoy our avant-garde. We dedicated a whole week to it, and many of the writers here, this one included, have countless favorites. One of the bands that many of us really enjoy, however, is Norwegian blackjazz avant-garde specialists Shining. Their last album, 2010’s Blackjazz, completely blew us away, and their live DVD that followed was every bit as good. However, it’s been nearly three years since the band have put out a new studio record, and the question remained: how could they possibly top such a phenomenal record?

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Tags: avant garde, Blackjazz, Jorgen Munkeby, Live Blackjazz, Norway, One One One, Shining

Iron Tongue – The Dogs Have Barked, The Birds Have Flown

Filed Under: Reviews

May.10, 2013

Iron Tongue

The Dogs Have Barked, The Birds Have Flown

01. Ever After
02. Witchery
03. Skeleton
04. Moon Unit
05. Lioness
06. Seven Days
07. Said ’n’ Done

[05/28/13]
[Neurot Recordings]

The origins of heavy metal are consistently fought over by rival factions, but one irrefutable fact that stands out from the bickering, regardless of whether you stand in the Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple or Cream camps, is that without blues music, metal probably would never even have made it that far. This is an interesting counterpoint to consider when rolling Iron Tongue‘s debut album around your skull for the first time.

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Tags: Iron Tongue

Tesseract – Altered State

Filed Under: Reviews

May.03, 2013

Tesseract

Altered State

01. Of Matter – Proxy
02. Of Matter – Retrospect
03. Of Matter – Resist
04. Of Mind – Nocturne
05. Of Mind – Exile
06. Of Reality – Eclipse
07. Of Reality – Palingenesis
08. Of Reality – Calabi-Yau
09. Of Energy – Singularity
10. Of Energy – Embers

[05/28/13]
[Century Media Records]

Tesseract, one of the leading and defining bands of the djent movement, seem to always be in a position in which they must prove themselves. After moving from bedroom project to making a strong first impression on their debut One, acclaimed frontman Daniel Tompkins left the band. A year later, the polarizing Elliot Coleman parted ways after the band’s acoustic-inspired Perspective EP was released. Now, with the group have wasting no time in picking up Voices from the Fuselage frontman Ashe O’Hara, the band must be feeling some pressure to live up to the standard set by One. In this regard, we’re happy to say that fans can breathe a sigh of relief; Altered State is phenomenal.

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Tags: Meshuggah, TesseracT, Voices from the Fuselage

Altar of Plagues – Teethed Glory & Injury

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.29, 2013

Altar of Plagues

Teethed Glory & Injury

01. Mills
02. God Alone
03. A Body Shrouded
04. Burnt Year
05. Twelve Was Ruin
06. A Remedy and a Fever
07. Scald Scar and Water
08. Found Oval and Final
09. Reflection Pulse Remains

[04/23/13]
[Profound Lore Records]

Despite my personal love of post-black metal, the genre has seemingly reduced into effects-laden tremolo picking over blastbeats and distant tortured screams without all that much emotional depth. The formula was indeed a powerfully emotive one to build from, but save for a few big names, the genre seems to have lost a bit of panache that made it such a powerful statement to begin with. Irish stargazers Altar of Plagues have always been on the cutting edge of the genre, albeit guilty from time to time of the tropes that made the fringe movement slightly homogenous and incredibly predictable. After gaining traction with a consecutively acclaimed discography, Altar of Plagues have grown into their own as a frightening yet beautiful musical force that puts their undifferentiated peers to shame.

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Tags: Alcest, Altar Of Plagues, Deafheaven, Ulver

The Ocean – Pelagial

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.23, 2013

The Ocean

Pelagial

01. Epipelagic
02. Mesopelagic: The Uncanny
03. Bathyalpelagic I: Impasses
04. Bathyalpelagic II: The Wish in Dreams
05. Bathyalpelagic III: Disequillibrated
06. Abyssopelagic I: Boundless Vasts
07. Abyssopelagic II: Signals of Anxiety
08. Hadopelagic I: Omen of the Deep
09. Hadopelagic II: Let Them Believe
10. Demersal: Cognitive Dissonance
11. Benthic: The Origin of Our Wishes

[04/30/13]
[Metal Blade Records]

It was only a matter of time before European art metallers The Ocean delved into their eponymous muse as a source of conceptual inspiration. Sole founding member and guitarist Robin Staps’ fascination with the ocean doesn’t end as a mere namesake; Staps is a scuba enthusiast and has actively studied ocean life when not busy with music, even further bridging his two hobbies in spirit with his label Pelagic Records, with Pelagic meaning, “relating to, or living in open oceans or seas.” Staps’ interest and experience in this area has truly paid off and is artistically realized with Pelagial, a concept record that not only explores the depths of the last unexplored terrestrial frontier, but also acts as a journey to the source of our hopes and dreams.

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Tags: The Ocean

Stone Sour – House Of Gold And Bones, Part 2

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.18, 2013

Stone Sour

House of Gold and Bones Part 2

01. Red City
02. Black John
03. Sadist
04. Peckinpah
05. Stalemate
06. Gravesend
07. 82
08. The Uncanny Valley
09. Blue Smoke
10. Do Me A Favor
11. The Conflagration
12. The House Of Gold & Bones

[04/09/13]
[Roadrunner Records]

It was a pleasant surprise when Stone Sour’s first installment of a two part concept album with House Of Gold And Bones, Part 1 was released. It had everything and more, from amazing lyrics and some of the best vocals I heard in all of last year. The only question that remained, however, was whether or not they would continue to move forward and be as good on the second installment of this concept, which is completed with this record.

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Tags: Corey Taylor, house of gold and bones, Stone Sour