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The Ocean – Pelagial

The Ocean - PelagialThe 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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Stone Sour - House of Gold And Bones 2Stone 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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Anciients – Heart Of Oak

AnciientsAnciients

Heart Of Oak

01. Raise The Sun
02. Overthrone
03. Falling In Line
04. The Longest River
05. One Foot In The Light
06. Giants
07. Faith And Oath
08. Flood And Fire
09. For Lisa

[04/16/13]
[Season of Mist]

To simply discuss Anciients as only the sum of their parts would be to do them a complete injustice. Here on Heart Of Oak this Canadian quartet take on a sludgy sound that is equal parts technical and progressive, with bands like IntronautBaroness and even Opeth all being submerged and absorbed into their murky swamp waters. Still, in execution, Heart Of Oak is so much more than that, it’s a meticulously crafted and instantly satisfying piece that may be the biggest surprise of the year so far.

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Anup Sastry – Ghost

Anup Sastry - GhostAnup Sastry

Ghost

01. Legend
02. Limitless
03. The Boss Level
04. Wastelands
05. Discovery
06. Skywalk
07. Ghost
08. Reflex
09. Crystal

[03/21/13]
[Self Released]

You may know Anup Sastry as the drummer of bands such as Skyharbor and Intervals. He has also been a guest drummer for Ex-Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis. Those are some big names, and the only reason why he is such a famous drummer is because Anup Sastry is a phenomenal musician and a man of many talents. Ghost is Anup Sastry’s debut album that brings his drum mastery to the forefront. With his debut, Sastry has shown us that multi-instrumentalism is the way of the future. No longer are you required to rely on how efficient you are at playing an instrument perfectly, but rather how well you can convey across what you write. However, regardless of Sastry’s obvious technical proficiencies, Ghost is a creatively weak album that rehashes the same old djent making Ghost an overambitious effort where Sastry takes ideas from other bands he plays for like Skyharbor and Intervals, yet brings nothing new to the table. This makes Ghost a tiresome listen that tries to go beyond certain conventions of djent, yet conforms to quite a few in the process.

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Moss – Horrible Night

884127034-1Moss

Horrible Night

01. Horrible Nights
02. The Bleeding Years
03. Dark Lady
04. Dreams From The Depths
05. The Coral Of Chaos
06. I Saw Them That Night

[03/25/13]
[Rise Above/Metal Blade]

When you’ve hit the subterranean rock bottom of funeral doom, where notes hold for tens of seconds and cymbals are left to shimmer until the very last sound drains away, where else is there to go in terms of sheer oppressive heaviness? Moss seem to have been left with this conundrum following the release of the widely praised Sub Templum a good five years ago. Since then the band have dabbled with smaller releases, wryly entitled EPs despite their extensive running time, but never quite found thier new direction or even matched the hopeless drone of Sub TemplumHorrible Night  is the new beginning that the band have been aiming for — a sleazy back-alley crawl down Sabbath road and onto Electric Wizard lane.

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black-sabbath-13Black Sabbath

13

01. End Of The Beginning
02. God Is Dead?
03. Loner
04. Zeitgeist
05. Age Of Reason
06. Live Forever
07. Damaged Soul
08. Dear Father

[06/11/13]
[Vertigo/Universal]

DISCLAIMER: This track by track review was written as a one time run through listen of the new album at the exclusive listening event in L.A.. This is not definitive nor refined. A more cohesive review of the album will be released when it is available.

Now that we have that out of the way, let us explore this sensational piece of heavy metal history. 13 is the first new Black Sabbath  album since 1995′s Forbidden, the first with Ozzy Osbourne since 1978′s Never Say Die!, and the first with Geezer Butler since 1994′s Cross Purposes. In the current age where comebacks have been a growing trend, few others have me more excited than the return of Black Sabbath with Ozzy on vocals (though it’s sad that Bill Ward will not be on the album, who was replaced by Rage Against The Machine/ex-Audioslave drummer Brad Wilk). With so much controversy and disagreements conflicting their highly publicized reunion that was shown last year, things were put off to a point where it seemed like things might never work out. Thankfully, they did.

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And So I Watch You From AfarAnd So I Watch You From Afar – All Hail Bright Futures

[03/19/13]
[Sargent House]

All Hail Bright Futures is an odd proposition for a metal fan. A mix of upbeat post-rock, twisting math-rock ideals and an entirely liberal approach to incorporating instruments such as flutes and steel drums alongside their own personal moments of ‘metal’ heaviness may be a description enough to put more than a few of you off them instantaneously. However, for those of you still able to see the riffs through the trees, as it were, there’s a vast amount of fascinating and varied ideas on offer here that would satiate any fans of forward thinking metal music.

And So I Watch You From Afar waste no time in making a statement of intent early on and the combination of the chirpy, opening build-up of ‘Eunoia‘ and the frankly sublime ‘Big Thinks Do Remarkable‘ do that in a rush of synth-drenched leads, gang vocals and a complete ADD approach to post-rock. The entire concept could be described in rough terms as all the most sugary sweet sections of Torche meeting the sheer uplifting emotional left-hook of If These Trees Could Talk and Pelican, most obvious in tracks such as ‘Like A Mouse‘ and ‘AMBULANCE‘ that manage to sneak in some heavier sections that segue seamlessly in with the rest of the track.

All Hail Bright Futures is a record out on it’s own, few bands could take the energy of heavy music and infuse it with twee, jangly pop sections. And So I Watch You From Afar may have changed, but they’ve changed for the best and produced a record that could even put the most po-faced black metaller in a cheery mood. – DL

4.5/5

 

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Sevendust – Black Out The Sun

sevendustblackoutthesunSevendust

Black Out The Sun

01. Memory
02. Faithless
03. Till Death
04. Mountain
05. Cold As War
06. Black Out The Sun
07. Nobody Wants It
08. Dead Roses
09. Decay
10. Dark AM
11. Picture Perfect
12. Got A Feeling
13. Murder Bar

[03/26/13]
[Asylum Records]

On the back of their 1999 breakthrough sophomore album, Home, and its masterful follow up in 2001’s Animosity, Sevendust established themselves as one of the more important bands to emerge from the much maligned nu metal era, and it is nothing short of a travesty that the influence of their unique blend of aggressive yet groovy syncopated chug-based riffs and soulfully melodic vocals had on the development of djent is not as popularly recognised as is the more heralded and fashionable tones of Meshuggah.

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Ghost – Infestissumam

Ghost - InfestissumamGhost

Infestissumam

01. Infestissumam
02. Per Aspera Ad Inferi
03. Secular Haze
04. Jigolo Har Megiddo
05. Ghuleh/Zombie Queen
06. Year Zero
07. Body and Blood
08. Idolatrine
09. Depth of Satan’s Eyes
10. Monstrance Clock

[04/16/13]
[Loma Vista Recordings]

Swedish enigmas Ghost have been a hot topic in music circles since the success of their debut album Opus Eponymous in 2010, which was a caricature of occult rock and metal culture with over-the-top theatrics and tongue-in-cheek lyrics promoting Satanism. Ghost captured the attention of the underground and mainstream alike not just because of the ironic Satanic frolicking, but because the band’s sound — which has drawn comparisons to Black Sabbath and a darker Blue Oyster Cult — is genuinely catchy and fun. Ghost are the odd band that manages to have an aged sound, yet have an overall air of originality about them. In a time where modern doom metal bands were all beginning to sound like incessant Electric Wizard and Sunn O))) worship, Ghost took the sound back to basics and made it larger than life. An album more hyped in 2013 than Ghost’s sophomore record Infestissumam would be hard to come by. Fortunately, this is one of those few albums that not only lives up to expectations, but surpasses them entirely.

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Intronaut - Habitual LevitationsIntronaut

Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones)

01. Killing Birds With Stones
02. The Welding
03. Steps
04. Sore Sight For Eyes
05. Milk Leg
06. Harmonomicon
07. Eventual
08. Blood From A Stone
09. The Way Down

[03/19/13]
[Century Media Records]

Intronaut are one of the most interesting progressive metal/post-metal bands out there. Best described as a mix of all the right aspects of Neurosis and Isis, these four dudes wowed everyone back in 2010 with Valley Of Smoke, and ever since then have hopped on countless big-name tours, with the most recent being a Meshuggah/Animals As Leaders tour, which was basically prog heaven. But when a band has such a stellar album, it makes the amount of pressure put on the band rise tremendously. Would they be able to top their best work? Would they succeed or would they fail? After may listens to their newest album, Habitual levitations (Instilling Words With Tones) the answer is simple: they have surpassed everything they have ever done.

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