Tag Archive: Slayer


Lamb Of God – Resolution

Lamb Of God

Resolution

01. Straight To The Sun
02. Desolation
03. Ghost Walking
04. Guilty
05. The Undertow
06. The Number Six
07. Barbarosa
08. Invictus
09. Cheated
10. Insurrection
11. Terminally Unique
12. To The End
13. Visitation
14. King Me

[01/24/11]
[Roadrunner Records]

Longevity in bands is a strange beast — some bands make the best of it and some have some pretty well documented struggles with it. Take for instance prog legends Rush, that are set to release their 19th album later this year to what looks likely to be a rapturous reception after the way their recent single was received, but it’s bands like Metallica that are the most fascinating. Despite having a recent output that ranges solely from the above average (Death Magnetic) to the frankly dreadful (St. Anger), they’re still the biggest metal band around and essentially sustaining their lucrative lifestyle off the back of achievements made at least 20 years ago. You could argue that Metallica fans simply suffer from ‘battered wife syndrome’ or that they made such an impact with early material that it doesn’t matter, either way it’s an interesting insight into the way popularity and quality interlinks.

It would be hard to argue against the idea that Lamb Of God are, by far, one of the most important metal bands of the 21st century, maybe even the Metallica of our generation. Taking as much inspiration from Pantera as they do Slayer, you only have to listen to the quality of an album like Ashes Of The Wake to understand why they were able to put one of the final nails in the coffin of the declining nu-metal trend and become of the main proponents for the ‘New Wave Of American Heavy Metal’ psuedo-genre. But the attention span of us consumers is a fickle one, so after six studio albums that showed a fairly paced and natural progression, you’d be forgiven for asking ‘what are Lamb Of God doing that’s still relevant and why should I care?’

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Anthrax – Worship Music

Anthrax
Worship Music

01. Worship
02. Hell On Earth
03. The Devil You Know
04. Fight ‘Em Til’ You Can’t
05. I’m Alive
06. Hymn 1
07. In The End
08. The Giant
09. Hymn 2
10. Judas Priest
11. Crawl
12. The Constant
13. Revolution Screams

[09/12/11]
[Megaforce Records]

Worship Music is Anthrax‘s most recent album. I don’t think any of you don’t know who Anthrax is but if you don’t, I am more than obligated to say you’ve obviously been living under a rock. But for those rock-dwellers, Anthrax are one of the pioneers of thrash and progenitors in metal and alternative metal. Having dominated the 80′s with their signature brand of thrash and pushed through the 90′s with some of the best material of that decade, Anthrax have always had staying power and the music to back it up. I have always been a fan of thrash having grown up with parents that grew up in the 80′s. It was commonplace for me to be listening to Anthrax as a toddler and through my formative years. They have always been there.

You could say I am biased, but my tastes have changed in time. I am no longer the obsessive kid who listened to nothing but Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer. My tastes have turned to things more inaccessible and more obscure. Coming back though, after years of nay-saying and thinking I was above these bands (enforced by Metallica’s digression), I never thought I would hear good material from a thrash progenitor again; it just seemed like a lost cause. Metallica doing jams with Lou Reed; Judas Priest on American Idol; Jeff Hanneman of Slayer saying “a Slayer album speaks for itself now. I think people know what they are getting into with a new Slayer album.” It was tiring and I just shut it all out after a while. Though, Anthrax has finally broken this trend. Here we have something fresh; an old attitude with new aesthetics; a fantastic new record breaking through the stagnant era of the Big Four.

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The Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival is probably the biggest commercial metal tour in the United States since its inception in 2008. There was a point in my life when I would have loved the shit out of this tour, but I don’t see much to get excited for as far as my own enjoyment is concerned. Not to talk down on the tour or the bands on it; I’m glad there are more huge metal tours like Mayhem making their way across North America than there were when I was first getting into the genre. Hell, I wouldn’t even mind seeing Slipknot, as they’re a band that really pulled me into more aggressive music. I just can’t help but feel underwhelmed, you know? I’m busy being stoked on the possibility of catching Cannibal Corpse, BTBAM, The Faceless, and more on this year’s Summer Slaughter (which will be announced next week. God, I hope I’m right about that lineup).

But some of you are probably excited for Mayhem Fest, and that’s awesome. This year’s lineup is better than last year’s from where I’m sitting, and features Slipknot, Slayer, Anthrax, The Devil Wears Prada, Asking Alexandria, As I Lay Dying, Whitechapel, and High on Fire. Some of these bands are pretty awesome. Some of them.

After the jump, you can peruse the large list of dates to find your hometown or a city in close proximity!

- JR

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You know it’s been a good year for music when:

  • a) your first draft for the ‘Top 20 For 2011′ initially contains more than twice the required amount and took 5 revised versions to get right
  • b) you have to miss out on records from some great artists like Fuck The Facts, Pathology, Amon Amath, Autopsy and Hate Eternal due to the sheer volume of great records released
I could easily eat months into 2012 just catching up on those records and the countless other recommendations around the web but I’d much rather bite the bullet and start with a clean slate. So here it is, needless to say I will have probably changed my mind by the time this is posted, but as of the 22th of December this is the best I can do.

Slayer’s Totally Super Cereal Rider

If anyone can draw a direct link between all twenty-five items (twenty-four if you’re being picky) then we will give you any one of them. Even the skull; you can choose one of our underlings to sacrifice.

Also I like the hugs and kisses at the end. Nice touch.

[Through Metalsucks via Hard Rock Chick by way of Corey Mitchell]

As I Lay Dying – Decas

As I Lay Dying

Decas

01. Paralyzed
02. From Shapeless to Breakable
03. Moving Forward
04. War Ensemble (Slayer cover)
05. Hellion (Judas Priest Cover)
06. Electric Eye (Judas Priest Cover)
07. Coffee Mug (Descendents cover)
08. Beneath the Encasing of Ashes (Re-Recorded Medley)
09. The Blinding of False Light (Innerpartysystem Remix)
10. Wrath Upon Ourselves (Benjamin Weinman Remix)
11. Confined (Kelly “Carnage” Cairns Remix)
12. Elegy (Big Chocolate Remix)

[11\08\11]
[Metal Blade]

As I’ve stated numerous times, metalcore is a stagnant genre.  It’s so full of bands with rip-off styles of music that so easily hark to their influences that you’d rather listen to the original. One of these “original” bands is As I Lay Dying, who are undoubtedly one of the originators of the modern metalcore style. Ever since their first album Beneath the Encasing of Ashes, they’ve been proving their dominance in the genre. Now As I Lay Dying has been a band for 10 years, and to celebrate, they’ve rewarded us with Decas, an album with three originals, four covers, a medley from their first album, and four remixes from the likes of Ben Weinman to Big Chocolate. The ultimate question is, is it a good reward to the fans for all their dedication and love?

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Absu – Abzu

Absu

Abzu

01. Earth Ripper
02. Circles Of The Oath
03. Abraxus Connexus
04. Skrying In The Spirit Vision
05. Ontologically, It Became Time And Space
06. A Song For Ea

[10/04/11]
[Candlelight Records]

Slayer‘s Reign In Blood  can be basically defined by two main features:

  • The huge impact it had on the thrash scene at the time. It became a classic simply by outdoing everyone in terms of speed and extremity and, by extension, led us deeper into the dank and inhuman world of extreme metal that we live in today.
  • THAT scream at the beginning of “Angel Of Death” — A sound so widely recognized that it can turn mass groups of metalheads into ‘SLAYYYYARGH’-shouting howler monkeys at even a mere mention; a sound so distinct that it has graced parody videos ranging from a father’s lament to a deranged rooster and a sound that ushers in half an hour of punk-infused thrash metal.

Strangely enough, Abzu starts much the same way with “Earth Ripper” – a soaring King Diamond-esque scream set against racing breakneck thrash.

However, Absu‘s sound isn’t as ‘old school’ as that comparison would have you believe, with a career spanning nearly twenty years and a fairly lax attitude to releasing new material, it seems they’ve seen it all and rather than simply resting on their laurels they make the effort to incorporate ideas that would be as at home in 1986 as they would be 2011. Their particular brand of blackened thrash is nothing short of all-encompassing, mixing the relentless assault of bands like Slayer and Bathory with a nod towards the more tech leanings of Coroner and Voivod whilst still maintaining a sleek and sharp modern veneer.

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Norway’s Shining are a peculiar band that took our hearts and ran with them last year when they released their album Blackjazz. It was easily an album that made a leap to my top 10 albums of 2010. If you’re not familiar with this group, imagine what it would sound like if Nine Inch Nails and Enslaved wrote a jazz record together. It’s absolutely nuts.

At the end of last year or so (I forget), the band recorded one of their live performances, which the band promised would be released as a live CD/DVD combo. I was excited, but eventually forgot about it. Recently, the band has made good on their promise and announced Blackjazz Live! They released the trailer above which highlights clips of the album’s tracklist. NEAT!

Here’s a rundown of the album’s production personnel:

Produced by Munkeby
Mixed by Sean Beavan (Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Slayer)
Mastered by Tom Baker (Marilyn Manson, David Lynch, Nine Inch Nails)
Graded by John Cryer (Muse)
Film directed by Anders Børresen

As you can tell, this DVD is going to be legit! Seriously, this looked so good that I immediately pre-ordered two copies—one for myself and… well… you’ll see!

Blackjazz Live is due out 11/11/11 on Prosthetic Records. Those of us in the States can pre-order it here for a measly $15.

- JR

As I Lay Dying have finally hit double digits this year. Can you believe the band have been around for ten years?! It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. Good lord, I’ll be 30 before I know it. God help me, it’s all downhill from here. I am not ready.

But I digress. Indeed, time does fly. As I Lay Dying are making a bit of a celebration for turning ten by releasing a compilation album called Decas, which features three new songs (one of which, “Paralyzed”, can be streamed below), some covers, remixes, and a re-recording. Neato stuff if you’re a fan! Here’s the specifics:

  1. “Paralyzed”
  2. “From Shapeless to Breakable”
  3. “Moving Forward”
  4. “War Ensemble” (originally by Slayer)
  5. “Hellion” (originally by Judas Priest)
  6. “Electric Eye” (originally by Judas Priest)
  7. “Coffee Mug” (originally by Descendents)
  8. “Beneath the Encasing of Ashes” (re-recorded medley)
  9. “The Blinding of False Light” (Innerpartysystem remix)
  10. “Wrath Upon Ourselves” (Ben Weinman remix)
  11. “Confined” (Kelly “Carnage” Cairns remix)
  12. “Elegy” (Big Chocolate remix)

Sweet! Ben Weinman (Dillinger Escape Plan) and Big Chocolate remixes. Should be cool. Decas is due out November 4th on Metal Blade. Here’s their new track “Paralyzed“:

They’ll also be embarking on a headlining tour with Of Mice & Men, The Ghost Inside, Iwrestledabearonce and Sylosis. So I suppose half the tour is worth catching! Awesome. You can catch the dates after the jump!

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Now this is a weird one. I don’t know what to call these guys. Experimental death metal with industrial influences? Hooked already? Good. These guys are pretty underground from what I gather. They’re from The Netherlands (so metal), and they make weird music. Trivmvirate is their third album – released in 2008 – and I still don’t know what the hell is going on in it. It blows my mind every time I listen to it, and I’m still not sure if I’ve uncovered everything that’s going on in here. It’s heavy, it’s weird, and it’s…catchy? Let’s take a look at it. Be warned though, this album is pretty much designed to piss off the death metal elitists and confuse the dilettantes to oblivion, so make sure you have your wits about you when you delve in.

“Deus Ex Machina” opens with an electronic groove, which should immediately put a frown on any elitist’s face. The electronica is joined by Latin chanting, and the guitars come in with the drums, setting the mood to “calm before the storm”, and after the teasing is over, we get some good fast death metal riffing with brutal vocals. The production is very timid, which might be a turnoff for most, but it works within their sound, and you realize that as the electronic elements come over the death metal riffing. A heavy and muddy death metal tone wouldn’t have allowed for different sounds. Soon afterwards, the chants come back, and you get a weird mix of death metal, electronica and chants. Then you get… brutal vocals played through vocoder and church organs. Yes, weird. But it is weirdly brilliant, because it all works. It’s not tacky like your generic scenecore band that decides to add on autotune and dubstep; this really works.

The lyrics are about some mythological deity, scowling at his believers. So the chants work with the theme of the song, and so do the organs. By the way, the time signatures and meters in the playing are quite odd too. This isn’t something you can get in one sitting, you have to pay attention and keep coming back. Halfway through, the song breaks down into electronica and chants again, and afterwards we get a super slow oldschool death metal riff, again with vocodered brutal vocals. Gothic organs too. I honestly am amazed by how <i>good</i> this song is, in spite of all the completely batshit crazy unrelated things that are going on. 3/4 of the way through, there’s lead playing reminiscent of Slayer (completely atonal). I know, if you’re a typical death metal person you’re probably bubbling in rage right now, and if you don’t like weird music like this you probably think I’m crazy. If you’re still here, well, it’s just the beginning.

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