Category: Reviews

Attack Attack! – This Means War

Filed Under: Reviews

Jan.24, 2012

Attack Attack!

This Means War

01. The Revolution
02. The Betrayal
03. The Hopeless
04. The Reality
05. The Abduction
06. The Motivation
07. The Wretched
08. The Family
09. The Confrontation
10. The Eradication

[01/17/12]
[Rise Records]

What can I possibly say about Attack Attack! that hasn’t already been said? Only a few short years ago they were the butt of every joke as the poster boys for all that is wrong with what metalcore has become. Generic breakdown-laden metalcore with autotuned vocals, misguided electronic parts, and choreographed stage moves was just too ridiculous, and I’m sure the band hasn’t heard the end of it since their ‘breakout hit’ ‘Stick Stickly.’ A lot can change a band over the course of two albums, and with lineup changes plaguing them, Attack Attack! have proved themselves to be quite resilient. I mean, regardless what you think about the band, it takes strength to keep pursuing your career after an embarrassing viral video and losing about half your band. Through it all, the band has managed to mature, making an effort to be taken seriously as musicians. Their latest album This Means War sees the band going from hilariously awful to just unoffensive.

View Full Article »

Tags: A Day to Remember, Attack Attack, Emmure, Rise Records, This Means War

Outrun the Sunlight – The Return of Inertia

Filed Under: Reviews

Jan.23, 2012

Outrun the Sunlight

The Return of Inertia

01. Being : Begin
02. The Peter Pan Complex
03. Ambivalence
04. Psychic Cycles
05. Apeirophobia
06. Archetype
07. Quark
08. Telencephalon
09. Diencephalon
10. Phyllotaxis Complete
11. Toska

[12/20/11]
[Self Released]

Admittedly, djent — like every other genre out there at one point — is starting to get derivative and generic. So many bands out there jumping into a sound they love isn’t necessarily a bad thing in itself; people love making the music they want to hear. It makes sense that at this point in a genre notorious for being easily DIY, people following the first break-out of djent have gotten around to releasing their own records. It took metalcore a little longer to reach this point, but that’s technology for you.

Despite the genre’s steady stagnation, there are bands that stand apart as being worthwhile and I’m not about to dismiss a genre just because of a flooded market. There are the signed bands that pave the way like Periphery, Tesseract, Uneven Structure, and Vildhjarta, but lurking around just below the surface are some bands that practice the sound and do it justice, adding a signature flair and developing their own sound that does more than rely on palm-muted chugs and glorified breakdowns. Outrun the Sunlight, a guitar duo based out of Chicago, are a smaller band that manages to do it right.

View Full Article »

Tags: Animals As Leaders, Meshuggah, Outrun the Sunlight, Periphery, TesseracT, The Contortionist, The Return of Inertia, Uneven Structure, Vildhjarta

Everything Went Black – Cycles of Light

Filed Under: Reviews

Jan.20, 2012

Everything Went Black

Cycles of Light

01. XI
02. Gods Of Atlantis
03. Halo Of Vultures
04. Lifeless
05. Parades
06. Thorn Feeders
07. Amongst Wolves
08. Kingdoms
09. Baptists

[01/17/12]
[Lost Shepherd/Prosthetic Records]

Crossover, metalcore, metallic hardcore, all these are subgenres of heavy metal, which combine the various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. Now like most genres of music, it’s flooded with mediocre and lackluster drivel, but every once and a while a band comes along and reassures you that everything will be alright, and that the genre hasn’t completely fallen into disarray. And for one such band that hails from St. Louis, and who play a straightforward brand of fast and heavy aggressive music, Everything Went Black not only pay homage to the hardcore/punk sensibilities of the 80′s and 90′s, but are also able to satisfy the metalhead in all of us.

View Full Article »

Tags: Black Flag, Burning Love, Converge, Cycles of Light, Entombed, Everything Went Black, Lost Shepherd, Prosthetic Records, The Hope Conspiracy, Trap Them

Abigail Williams – Becoming

Filed Under: Reviews

Jan.19, 2012

Abigail Williams

Becoming

01. Ascension Sickness
02. Radiance
03. Elestial
04. Infinite Fields of Mind
05. Three Days of Darkness
06. Beyond the Veil

[01/24/11]
[Candlelight Records]

Abigail Williams were always a divisive band in the realm of black metal. You could probably accurately pin it on a number of factors, including their roots in deathcore and the fact that they don’t particularly look the part. However, the LA-based band have been undergoing a transformation into a full-fledged black metal band, thanks in part to a revolving door lineup policy. Becoming, their appropriately-titled third record, sees the polarizing band evolving into an atmospheric black metal band akin to the likes of Wolves in the Throne Room and Agalloch. Yes, I’m serious; and no, it isn’t bad. In fact, it’s quite good.

View Full Article »

Tags: Abigail Williams, Agalloch, Becoming, candlelight records, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Ihsahn, Isis, Wolves in the Throne Room

Earth – Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II

Filed Under: Reviews

Jan.17, 2012

Earth

Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II

01. Sigil Of Brass
02. His Teeth Did Brightly Shine
03. Waltz (A Multiplicity Of Doors)
04. The Corascene Dog
05. The Rakehell

[02/14/12]
[Southern Lord]

First and foremost, it needs to be said as a preface that I am not an expert in the field of drone/doom – quite the opposite. The closest I’ve come to experiencing it is the few forays into the sound that bands such as Giant Squid or even Boris have made but I’ve never made an effort to give the genre my time. So with the new year upon us, why not? And what better place to start than with the new album from drone pioneers Earth? With a career stretching back a good twenty years and a history intermingled with grunge legends Nirvana it’d be an understatement to say their time has been interesting, but what exactly is the sound of Earth today?

View Full Article »

Tags: Angels Of Darkness Demons Of Light II, Boris, Earth, giant squid, John Cage, nirvana, pelican, pink floyd, Southern Lord

Aborted – Global Flatline

Filed Under: Reviews

Jan.16, 2012

Aborted

Global Flatline

01. Omerga Mortis
02. Global Flatline
03. The Origin Of Disease
04. Coronmary Reconstruction
05. Fecal Forgery
06. Of Scabs And Boils
07. Vermicular, Obscene, Obese
08. Expurgation Euphoria
09. From A Tepid Whiff
10. The Kallinger Theory
11. Our Father, Who Art of Feces
12. Grime
13. Endstille
14. Nailed Through Her Cunt

[01/23/12]
[Century Media]

Legendary “Belgian” deathgrind veterans Aborted are back with a new album! A substantial portion of the fans of the band have been unhappy with the band’s previous few albums. The commonly cited reasons for this displeasure are decrease in heaviness, lack of direction in songwriting and lack of intensity in vocals. Thankfully, in the previous 4 years, Aborted seemed to have reevaluated their direction and come back full force on Global Flatline. The songs are very heavy, Sven’s vocals are absolutely hellish, and the songs are catchy as fuck while remaining ball-busting. This isn’t usually the kind of terminology I use in a review, but the subject matter of the band’s songs and the heaviness contained within make it seem appropriate. So how does this album exactly fare? Let’s take a deeper look.

View Full Article »

Tags: Aborted, benighted, Carcass, Century Media Records, Global Flatline, System Divide

Dodecahedron – Dodecahedron

Filed Under: Reviews

Jan.13, 2012

Dodecahedron

01. Allfather
02. I, Chronocrator
03. Vanitas
04. Descending Jacob’s Ladder
05. View from Hverfell I: Head Above the Heavens
06. View from Hverfell II: Inside Omnipotent Chaos
07. View from Hverfell III: A Traveller of the Seed of the Earth

[01/24/12]
[Season of Mist]

It’s not like it’s some big new revelation that black metal is one of the most unsettling genres out there. Some of the most controversial, confrontational, and extreme records of all time have emerged from its depths, and while it’s not my particular cup of tea, there has been some work coming out that is so unsettling and bizarre that I have to show my appreciation. Bands like Blut Aus Nord and Deathspell Omega have set quite the precedent in their abstract approach at the genre and influencing an avant-garde niche to grow, and Dutch newcomers Dodecahedron are following in those footsteps with their self-titled debut record.

View Full Article »

Tags: Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omega, Dodecahedron

Reel Metal: Behemoth – ‘Lucifer‘

Filed Under: Reel Metal, Reviews, Video

Jan.12, 2012

Artist: Behemoth

Song: ‘Lucifer‘

Album: Evangelion

Director: Dariusz Szermanowicz and Grupa 13

NOTE: The following post is not safe for work. The above video is censored, but you can find the uncensored version here. The screenshots below are from the uncensored version.

View Full Article »

Tags: Adam "Nergal" Darski, Adam Darski, Behemoth, Evangelion, Lucifer, Nergal, Tyler The Creator

Psycroptic – The Inherited Repression

Filed Under: Reviews

Jan.12, 2012

Psycroptic

The Inherited Repression

01. Carriers of The Plague
02. Forward To Submission
03. Euphorinasia
04. The Throne of Kings
05. Unmasking The Traitors
06. Become The Cult
07. From Scribe To Ashes
08. Deprivation
09. The Sleepers Have Awoken

[02/10/12]
[Nuclear Blast]

Australia’s Psycroptic are an interesting bunch. Their sophomore album, Scepter of the Ancients, is one of the most unique and well-made tech death albums of all time. On top of that, there’s quite a bit of division among fans of the band between original vocalist Chalky, who had a frantic delivery and a huge range of (often weird) sounds, whereas their new vocalist Jason Peppiatt is more consistent but less varied. Personally, I am a fan of both in their respective songs, because most people realize that old and new Psycroptic are very different animals. Their previous album, 2008′s (Ob)Servant, borders on groove-death metal at times, even though it holds on to the techy aspect that defines the band. The Inherited Repression, for better or for worse, is a continuation of the sound on the previous record. This is not to say it’s not technical, but it’s not as hyperactive as the first few albums of the band. This is a good thing in a way, because the songs flow better, but some might take it as a drawback. Even then, it’s still more energetic than most of (Ob)Servant. Now that we got that out of the way, let’s take an actual look at the album, shall we?

View Full Article »

Tags: Psycroptic, The Inherited Repression

Cloudkicker – Let Yourself Be Huge & Loop

Filed Under: Reviews

Jan.11, 2012

Cloudkicker

Let Yourself Be Huge

01. Welcome back
02. Explore, be curious
03. The word water
04. You and yours
05. One, many
06. It’s inside me, and I’m inside it
07. This isn’t
08. Let yourself be huge

Loop

1 – 16

[11/17/11]
[Self-released]

I think it’s safe to say that at this point, Ben Sharp has gained enough notoriety in his project Cloudkicker to allow the bleeding through of his more subdued BM Sharp project, where he trades distorted guitars and polyrhythmic post-metal riffs for an acoustic guitar and soothing melodies. Let Yourself Be Huge and Loop are the convergence of Mr. Sharp’s repertoire as a guitarist and a songwriter, and is a very daring step to make.

View Full Article »

Tags: Cloudkicker, Devin Townsend Project