Blastbeat Reviews: Bateman, Wings Denied, Botfly

Some more quick reviews -- this time for some lesser known bands. These bands have all just released their debut albums, so they haven't been on the scene for too long. Shall we?

BATEMAN - SMUT

Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, Bateman are a 5 piece hardcore band that dish out a simple and noisy hardcore drenched in sarcasm and misanthropy. Smut is their debut album, marking their first real foray in to the ever growing and ever evolving Australian hardcore scene. The album is chocked full of slammin' riffs and catchy songs, but doesn't really come out above the many other noisy hardcore and grindcore bands coming out from down under.

Their weakest link in my eyes is their vocalist who can belt out some great growls and some really wicked, gargling highs, but decides to sound like an angry pirate through 75% of the album. I thought it would be something I'd get used to after multiple repeat listens but even now, a month after first hearing it, it's as jarring as I originally found it. Smut is worth a listen to for fans of the Australian hardcore scene, but unless Bateman step their game up for their next release, I doubt I'd keep up to date with their goings-on. Visit them on Facebook and Bandcamp. Overall Score: 2.5/5

WINGS DENIED - MIRRORS FOR A PRINCE

Wings Denied proves to be the first progressive metal preview I've done since November of last year. I grew out of prog metal a couple years ago and have kept a fair distance away from most progressive metal bands (save for Meshuggah) that think the rhythmic chugging of the lowest string of their guitars makes music. Wings Denied's debut comes in as a cross between the djenty Periphery and the grandiose Protest the Hero. Contrary to Bateman's Smut, Mirrors for a Prince benefits from a pretty solid vocalist. I find his growling and screaming a bit lacking, but his clean singing is top-notch.

The instrumentation on this album is nothing to scoff at, but really doesn't grab me or prove to me that I should be listening to Mirrors for a Prince instead of Volition or Traced in Air. That being said, overall I enjoyed this album, and I'm interested to see where they'll take their sound. I see Wings Denied on the cusp of becoming a band I could seriously care about, but I'm going to need some convincing. Check 'em on Facebook and Bandcamp. Overall Score: 3/5

BOTFLY - PARASITIC OSCILLATION

Another band in a big hardcore scene, but this time we've got a familiar name. Keegan Goodspeed of bluebird and The Wides has been keeping himself busy with another hardcore band, this time taking a heavier and more aggressive route with his project Botfly. Parasitic Oscillation is the band's debut release (after a single song release in 2013), and comes across as dark, frustrated, and melancholic. There's an almost psychedelic vibe to the tunes as different riffs slither their ways around, going from droning crunchy guitars to full blown high gain riffage. The last song on the album "days late" is one hell of a closer, without a distorted guitar in sight, but Goodspeed screaming bloody murder overtop. It's something that seems odd written out, but it grabs your attention right away and makes sure you're paying attention as the last chords fade out on the album.

Keegan takes up the mic here as wall as guitar duties, and dishes out some '80s style hardcore vocals that border on crust punk sounding. I'd be willing to bet Botfly was inspired by bands like Amebix, Discharge, and Nausea as well as some darker indie rock bands. I'm really digging on Parasitic Oscillation, and I really want to hear Botfly with some better production. The rawness and grittiness of this album definitely adds character, but when there are big crescendos and dynamics in the songs, I think some thicker, clearer, and heavier production will do them wonders. As far as I know, Botfly do not have a Facebook page, but you can check out Parasitic Oscillation and any of their other releases on their Bandcamp page. Overall Score: 3.5/5

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

Blastbeat Reviews: Protest the Hero, Exivious, Snakes Get Bad Press

Time to rapid fire off some quick reviews. My to-listen list for this year's records is on the order of dozens, so there might be a fair few of these quick reviews before the year is up. Up on the chopping block today are prog-metalcore dudes Protest the Hero, Exivious, a jazz-fusion metal(?) supergroup featuring members and ex-members of Cynic, Textures, Dodecahedron, and Pestilence, and Aussie underground spastic hardcore group Snakes Get Bad Press. Let's get the ball rolling!

PROTEST THE HERO - VOLITION

I've never being a huge Protest the Hero fan (even feeling lukewarm about one of their most highly praised albums, Fortress), but everyone and their mothers has been telling me to get my ass in gear and check out Volition, their newest album. I put it off long enough, but when I finally got around to listening to it, man, I wish I had checked it out sooner.

Volition is an absolute banger of an album, dishing out massive songs in the usual spastic and super-technical vein we're used to, but focusing more on making the songs catchy as hell than just wowing people with how well they can sweep pick in 27/16 time. The songs are all real fast, and super high energy, making this album feel more like a super proggy pop album than a metal record. After a year of pissed off grindcore and doomy sludgy metal, it's nice to have a record that's so much fun to listen to. Score: 4.5/5

EXIVIOUS - LIMINAL

I love Cynic, and in 2009 when I discovered ex-guitarist and ex-bassist Tymon and Robin's jazz-metal-fusion project called Exivious, I was pumped. Their self-titled debut was absolutely awesome, and I'm super happy to see they were able to crowdfund their second album to completion.

Liminal is like Exivious 2.0. The album is even more diverse, flows more beautifully, and sounds crystal clear. The boys build amazing soundscapes and textures (get it?) with their music as usual, with some great solos from all instruments, written or improvised. There are some bits on this record that are total surprises, keeping Liminal from being too much like Exivious, but honestly, I listen to so little of this jazz fusiony stuff that even more of the same is fine by me. This is an album made by musicians for musicians, but I wouldn't be surprised if just about anybody picked this up and enjoyed it. Score: 4/5

SNAKES GET BAD PRESS - RESIDUES

I've barely been exposed to the Australian hardcore scene. Other than bands like Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt, Jackals, and these dudes, there isn't much else I've heard hailing from down under. Snakes Get Bad Press follow their Aussie brethren by taking things in the spastic/ mathcore direction, working dissonance, shifting time signatures, and odd song structures into their music like nobody's business.

Obvious comparisons that come to mind are bands like Dillinger Escape Plan and The Chariot, but I hear a bit of Converge in the music, and just a touch of Pig Destroyer in the vocals.

Residues came out on Art As Catharsis Records on September 20th, and can be streamed over on the label's Bandcamp page. Check Snakes out on Facebook, too! Score: 4/5

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

Album Review: Cystic Dysentery - "Culture of Death"

I like death metal. Old school death metal, melodic death metal, blackened death metal, I like a lot of the shit out there. If there are two styles of death metal I don't usually enjoy, they are technical death metal and brutal death metal. For the readers who don't know what technical or brutal death metal are, don't worry, I'll give you an incredibly brief crash course. Technical death metal is death metal played at a million miles an hour, with a focus on the complexity of the riffs/ drum patterns/ solos/ song structures. In other words, you need to be technically proficient to play it. Brutal death metal on the other hand, sometimes called or compared to slam death metal sacrifices the extreme technicality for sheer unrelenting heaviness. Here is where you find your most downtuned guitars and most gurgled, incomprehensible vocals. Not to say brutal death isn't technical, it's just that technical death metal is on a whole other level of complexity. You can usually judge how brutal a band will be by the illegibility of their logo and how technical they'll be by the amount of sci-fi shit they can pack into their album covers. Alright, lesson over, let's get on with the review.

Cystic Dysentery is a brutal (see logo) death metal band with a technical flare (see alien-like humanoid on cover) from the death metal state of the USA, Florida. They've pumped out their debut album Culture of Death on Deathgasm Records. The technicality really only shines through with the drumming, coming from the wickedly fast double kicks and the occasional face-melting solo.

The band actually blends the two styles together really well. When they want to go warp speed, they can, with buzzaw guitar riffs that fly across the fretboard, and when they want to bring gargantuan pit slams, they can turn on a dime and dish out slow, heavy, and thick as fuck riffs that make you want to stomp your feet in the pit and make wiggerish arm movements while wearing an oversized basketball jersey and a snapback. The riffs themselves aren't anything we haven't heard before from the likes of Dying Fetus, Cattle Decapitation, and Aborted, but hey, if it ain't broke, why fix it? I enjoy the solos that crop up on the album, because even though they tend to exist only to show off the guitarist's mad skills, there are some sweet moments. The song "Born of Fire" has two solos in it, and the second/ outro solo is definitely the most memorable part of the entire album for me. While not also showcasing the guitarist's talent, there's something inherently rock 'n' roll about it which just gets me. From the long repeated bent notes to the dive bombs to the inharmonic noodling, I can only imaging the guitarist having a complete ball while playing it.

I'm not to crazy about the vocals on Culture of Death; they tend to follow traditional brutal death metal fashion. Crazy low growls that make Satan shit his pants and pig squeals so pig squealy I feel like I'm visiting a farm. There isn't much variation on the album as far as vocal range is concerned, and again, the vocals aren't anything that pop out at me.

The biggest problem I have with this album is the triggering on the drummer's kick pedals. I understand you need triggers to be able to hear the insanely fast drumming here, but I know that some bands have mixed both the triggered sound and a non-triggered sound together so that the bass drums sound nice and heavy while still maintaining the clarity. The kicks on Culture of Death don't sound too bad when they're played in the slower passages, but when the drummer really lets loose is when I find the clicky sounds of the triggers too distracting to properly enjoy the rest of the music.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: Dead Priest, Born of Fire

On a Playlist With: Dying Fetus, Cattle Decapitation, Aborted

Overall Score

2.5

Cystic Dysentery's Culture of Death is a brutal death metal album for brutal death metal fans. If you like the style, then I'm certain you'll love this album. If you aren't the hugest fan like I am, this album won't suddenly turn you into the worlds biggest Devourment fan. I have to give credit where credit is due, so I can say this is good shit, it's just that ultimately, it wasn't memorable enough of a listen for me.

Culture of Death can be picked up from Deathgasm Records and you can check out the rad bros of Cystic Dysentery on Facebook as well.

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

Album Review: Neurosis - "Given to the Rising"

As an avid fan of sludge and doom metal, I find it surprising how it's taken me this long to listen to Neurosis. There hasn't really been a reason for it, I just haven't gotten around to listening to them. I finally picked up their latest effort from 2007, Given to the Rising.

If War Horse had Neurosis as it's soundtrack, I would have totally considered seeing it.

Neurosis is a California based metal band that started with a more punk inspired sound and incorporated more sludgy elements later in their career. They've been around for almost thirty years now and have nine studio albums under their belts (they'll have a tenth come October 30th), so it's safe to say they know what they're doing. Given to the Rising is the first full album by them that I've heard, so I can't really make too much more of an observation on their evolution through the years than what's on their Wikipedia page.

I've been subjected to some of vocalist Scott Kelly's other works though, through stoner/ doom super group Shrinebuilder and his incredible performance on the title track of Mastodon's Crack the Skye. The latter is a gargantuan and galaxy-sprawling song, stampeding you over with it's unrelenting heaviness while the former is a  down-tuned groove laden riff fest.

Neurosis however, somewhat blindsided me after I got used to hearing Scott Kelly's voice in these other efforts. Given to the Rising is still heavy, but instead of offering the crushing power of "Crack the Skye" or the grooves of Shrinebuilder, it seems to exist solely to transport the listener. Neurosis are masters of dynamics here. They can send you out to a quiet, desolate desert, perfectly shown on the tracks "Shadow" and "Nine", and can rip you out and toss you right into a bleak world where disease has toppled the globe and nobody has the will to pick it back up. An example of the latter is in the perfectly titled "Fear and Sickness" and one of the later tracks, "Distill".

Mandatory artsy "band walking into light" shot.

The quieter tracks are well placed to give you time to breathe, sit back, and lose yourself in. Once the heavier tracks kick in, Given to the Rising becomes a cacophonous wall of sound that crashes into you like a tidal wave. This is accomplished by relatively simple, low-tuned guitar riffs with dissonant leads passing over top. The leads are slow and methodical, bending in and out of tune, keeping your mind numb as Scott Kelly barks and roars at you through your speakers.

Production on this album is nothing to be ashamed of, with everything sounding nice and raw without dissolving into mush. At times (especially earlier on in the album), the vocals seem drowned out by the instruments. Whether or not this is a form of artistic expression or not, I don't know. As far as the instrumentation is concerned, everything is mixed nicely, without having any instrument overpower another.

There are a couple pitfalls with Given to the Rising that I've found. The first is that I can really only enjoy it when I'm in a certain mood. This may or may not apply to some people, but personally I won't ever feel like spinning this album unless I'm feeling all contemplative and deep. I don't know why. Whatever. The second downside I found with Given to the Rising would be it's lack memorable passages and songs. If someone put a gun to my head and told me to sing any song off of this release or they'd shoot me, I'd tell them to just pull the trigger. It's not that the music isn't good, it's just nothing sticks in my mind.

On a Playlist With: Agalloch, Shrinebuilder, Tool

Overall Score

2.5

Neurosis have made an album that I feel would be right at home in some people's collections, but not so much in mine. I can understand objectively how some would love the sweeping dynamics and style of music presented on Given to the Rising, and even though I don't dislike any of it, when it comes down to the bottom line, I don't really like any of it either. If this album was stolen from me, I wouldn't be too heartbroken over it. That being said, I'm still going to look forward for Neurosis' new album coming out in October.

That's all for now, folks!

Album Review: Deftones - "Diamond Eyes"

While spending last Saturday and Sunday rocking out at Heavy T.O. 2012, I had the opportunity to check out some bands on the lineup that I hadn't heard before. While waiting for System of a Down to hit the stage, I was able to attend Deftones' hour long set, and I have to say I was pretty impressed by the show they put on. I thought their music was pretty decent, but it was singer Chino Moreno's charismatic command of the stage and audience that really stood out for me. Even though during the festival I wasn't too impressed musically with them, there was one riff they played that just would not get out of my head.

Ba-da-da-da dun-dun. Dun-dun.

I scoured YouTube looking for that riff, and finally found it in the music video for "You've Seen the Butcher". From there on in, I started exploring the other Deftones music videos, and I all I thought was "fuck, how did I not love this during the festival?". After going through a slew of songs, I realized I had pretty much listened to a large chunk of Diamond Eyes. The next day, I marched right down to HMV and bought myself a copy to listen to the rest of it.

This album is a tribute to Hedwig.

Deftones are a California based alternative metal band who from what I understand have moved away from a nu-metal style of sound towards a slightly more experimental, droning and ambient sound. Keep in mind, when I say droning, I don't mean they sound like Sunn O))), and when I say ambient I don't mean they sound like Earth. Deftones guitarist Stephen Carpenter handles an 8 string guitar to chug out some super low frequency riffs (8 strings literally use a bass guitar string as their lowest string), sometimes reminiscent of Nothing era Meshuggah. For anyone who knows Meshuggah's music (if you don't, have your mind blown here), you'll understand the trance-like and hypnotic feeling that repetitive, heavy, polyrhythmic riffing can give you. Carpenter and drummer Abe Cunningham don't mess around with odd time signatures as much as Meshuggah do, but there's the occasional extra half bar thrown in every once in a while. Carpenter's style also involves the use of large open chords that, when played on the massive tonal range of an 8 string guitar, ring out beautifully. Songs like "Sextape" and "Beauty School" really show off this open and airy sound well.

Deftones also feature Frank Delgado who plays keyboards and uses a turntable. Delgado's use of keys is pretty much in the background of most of Diamond Eyes, and he never really steps into the spotlight. His position as a turntabler (I'll just use the term DJ), as far as I can tell, is never called to action on this album, and even when I saw them perform live, he just stuck around the keyboards the entire set.

Probably my favorite aspect of Deftones' sound has to be Moreno's vocal prowess. For the most part he sings cleanly, but his tone of voice can vary fantastically. He's capable of going from shy, almost vulnerable whisper-singing all the way to a full on banshee wails. Occasionally he uses some high pitched screaming, but they're few and far between. I have to say that whenever he uses this technique, I find it a little cliche because  Moreno has some distortion fuzzing up his voice. It's nothing too serious, I've just never been a fan of that production technique. When it comes down to it, I've got to say I really like Moreno's vocals on Diamond Eyes, with his tone and range really adding to the atmospheric element to the album.

"I must fly. My people need me."

So I've been driving that point that Diamond Eyes is all spacey and airy, but I've got to say: This album gives off a pretty positive and uplifting vibe. There still are some songs that sit on the more aggressive side because, well, it's metal. For the most part though (at least to me), all of the happier parts seem to stick in my mind much better than the more angry ones. Most of the atmospheric stuff that I listen to tends to lean more towards the melancholic sounding side (Alcest, Earth, Agalloch, etc.), so it's a nice change of pace to hear something a bit less bleak that can still wash over you. The album doesn't really deal with bouncy, happy-go-lucky themes either. It's tough to explain. An example I can try and give would be for the song "Sextape". When [socially awkward main character played by Michael Cera] and [manic pixie dream girl love interest played by Zooey Deschanel] get together at the very end of the movie after overcoming whatever obstacles (strict family members, crazy bosses, and probably a the zany antics of an adorable monkey) stood in their way and there's the big scene where they finally declare their love for each other and get to smoochin' and bonin' (with totally artsy cinematography), just hit play on "Sextape" and voila. It's like it was meant to be.

If there's something I have to criticize Diamond Eyes with, it would be that the singles "Diamond Eyes", "You've Seen the Butcher", "Rocket Skates" and "Sextape" are the only songs that really stand out on their own. While the rest of the songs are good, they really only seem to work well if they're played in conjunction with the rest of the album. There will probably never be a time when I suddenly feel the urge to listen to "CMND/CNTRL" out of nowhere. Still, when the album is played end to end, everything fits together nicely and flows without a hitch.

Bomb-Ass Tracks

Diamond Eyes: The title track swings a bit more to the aggressive side, but it's filled with tons of catchy hooks and sweet riffs.

You've Seen the Butcher: That fucking riff.

Sextape: Probably my favorite song on the album. It's simplistic and hauntingly beautiful.

On a Playlist With: Tool, David Maxim Micic

Overall Score

3.0

Diamond Eyes is a solid effort from Deftones that dares to be a little different. I can't really find another band that sounds like them. I feel like Diamond Eyes really has something to offer everyone, no matter what kind of music you're into. The album clocks in at just over 40 minutes, but really, when you put it on and let it flow over you, it'll be over before you know it.

That's all for now, folks. Ba-da-da-da dun-dun. Dun-dun.

Album Review: The Faceless - "Planetary Duality"

Since announcements about the new Faceless album have been cropping up recently, I decided to give these California based tech-deather's last album a listen to see why everyone is jizzing their pants in anticipation over this new release.

"Plantery Duality" brings things to a whole new level of brutal.

The Faceless are a relatively new up and coming band, with only three albums over six years (including their upcoming 2012 release, Autotheism). I haven't heard a peep about Alkedama, their first release, but I've heard a bunch of praise and general cocksuckery towards Planetary Duality. Driven by Michael Keene, the lead guitarist/ clean vocalist/ songwriter/ lyricist, The Faceless bring a surprisingly cool angle to the mechanical and formulaic genre of technical death metal.

Don't get me wrong, Planetary Duality isn't much more than technical death metal, but it's enough more for me to want to listen through it more than a once. The basis is standard. Mega fast, mega triggered double bass drums, tremolo picked riffs out the ass and more sweeping than a broom convention. The bits I've got to point out here are the little extras that make this album stand out (albeit not by too much). A lot of the lead guitar through the songs have long, held out, slowly bent notes (especially the title track) that really give an old-school-alien-invasion-movie-soundtrack feel. Considering The Faceless' sci-fi theme with the lyrics and artwork, the guitar work fits perfectly here.

Another thing that steps up Planetary Duality's game are the little clean interludes thrown in every once in a  while. Whether its with clean guitar like in the forty-four second track titled "Shape Shifters" or the intro of "Legion of the Serpent" or the fantastic little organ and piano bridges in "Xenochrist" and "Legion of the Serpent" as well, these breaks from the albums relentless brutality are very much welcomed.

The last thing that this release offers are some of Michael Keene's clean vocals sprinkled over it. They aren't fantastic, but they switch things up, and you can tell he's putting in a solid effort, so you can't really complain.

Too much guitar wanking makes Death Metal Skrillex Michael Keene sad.

As awesome as all that is, this album isn't without it's pitfalls. The first thing that really rustled my jimmies are lead vocalist Derek Rydquist's higher register screams. I fell they lack any and all guts behind them and sound forced as all Hell. I'm sure some people like them, but they're just not for me. Another vocal issue are the vocoders used, specifically on the opening track "Prison Born". Just. No. Please. No.

Bomb-Ass Tracks


The Ancient Covenant: You all know how much I love bass solos.
Xenochrist: With that awesome piano intro/ bridge, and some pretty interesting songwriting and riffing, its no wonder why "Xenochrist" is one of their most popular songs. Also, that outro is just too good not to listen to over and over again.
Legion of the Serpent: Michael Keene gets that bitch neo-classical riffing. Bitches love neo-classical riffing.


On a Playlist With: Obscura, Decrepit Birth, (old) Cynic


Overall Score
3.0


Planetary Duality is a guitar driven tech-death album that shoots to be something head and shoulders above  the swathes of generic tech-death bands and gets close, but gets dragged back down by some sub-par vocals. I know they don't show up often, but when they do, I cringe. 2012's Autotheist has a new vocalist taking up the mic, so I'm interested in what Michael Keene and friends will bring out next.


That's all for now, folks.

Album Review: Sabaton - "Carolus Rex"

Wait. Wait. Wait. Hold the fuck up. Sabaton released an album not about World War II?

       

Are you fucking with me?

What's that? Carolus Rex is still about some sort of war? That's still acceptable. I guess.

Swedish power metallers Sabaton have returned with another collection of songs sure to make you pick up your sword and go fight for glory! Sabaton is a relatively new band, having been pumping out material for less than 10 years now. They've pretty much kept the exact same sound for all that time. Standard issue speed picked (or galloping) riffs with big synth chords overtop, a boatload of double kick pedaling, and massive choruses that've got a choir singing behind Joakim Brodén's signature gruff voice. There's one thing Sabaton have pushed the boundaries in, and it's that a power metal singer doesn't have to wear pants tight enough to shoot their voices up three octaves.

From cover to cover it follows the history of Sweden when they actually ruled over things (other than the entire genre of death metal). It follows the rise and fall of a certain war hungry leader named Karl XII or (surprise!) Carolus Rex. There are two versions of this album, one in Swedish, and one in English. I've only heard the English version, so I can't say which is better (my guess is the Swedish one, cause vocals in the albums released in the band's mother tongue usually flow better).

Carolus Rex is a Sabaton album in every way. It's big, cheesy fun all wrapped up in solid heavy metal. As far as song content goes, it's everything you can expect. A synth only intro track, a handful of mid-tempo "stand power-stanced on top of a mountain side swaying your nation's flag proud in the sunset" songs, and a whole armada's worth of speedy tracks that get you a-headbangin'.

The only gripe I have with Primo Victoria Attero Dominatus The Art of War Coat of Arms Carolus Rex is that since Sabaton will be Sabaton, it all sounds just like every other Sabaton album. While the classic Sabaton sound isn't such a bad thing, once every album starts becoming almost indistinguishable from each other, I think it's time to shake things up musically. At least they took the baby step to move away from the WWII lyrics.

Bomb-Ass Tracks

A Lifetime of War: The first flag-waving song on the album really put it home. All that power ballad-esque synth orchestra really jerks my tears. Seriously, this is a sweet song.

Carolus Rex: This song 's got one of the best Sabaton choruses I've heard since The Art of War's "40:1". And everyone knows the greatness of a Sabaton song is by how good it's chorus is.

Twilight of the Thunder God: Yeah. A fucking Amon Amarth cover. And it's pretty God damn sweet. It's a bonus track that I was only able to find it on YouTube, so I'm not sure exactly which edition of the album has it.

On a Playlist With: Blind Guardian, Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius

Overall Score

3.0

Sabaton put together another album of fist pumping, headbanging fury. Again. If you're really into Sabaton or their style of power metal, you'll love this. If you aren't really into it, there are still some pretty cool moments on this album for you to enjoy.

Album Review: Sigh - "In Somniphobia"

So Deep Purple, Darkthrone and a saxophonist with a Ph.D in physics walk into a bar. I can’t actually think of any witty punch line, but if everyone I just mentioned went to a bar together, got wasted and decided to record a musical mindfuck of an album, it would be the new Sigh album, In Somniphobia.

       

                      

And this musical mindfuck of an album is pretty cool.

Sigh are a Japanese experimental black metal band who’ve been around since the 90s when the Scandinavian black metal movement picked up. Despite forming in the same era, Sigh (to my knowledge) has not followed the thematic patterns of the many Norwegian black metal bands. In Somniphobia is the first of their works that I’ve actually taken the time to listen to, but I’ve heard nothing but good things of pretty much their entire catalogue of albums.

In Somniphobia is not for everyone. I’m going to put that out there right now. It’s probably one of the most experimental black metal (or extreme metal for that matter) albums I’ve ever heard. First and foremost in the experimentation is the instrumentation. The guitars and keyboards team up for Ritchie Blackmore/ John Lord style riffs and rhythms, playfully interchanging lead work and chordal backings for the music. The guitar solos seem to take a mix of 70s hard rock (a là Led Zeppelin) and 80s NWoBHM (a là Iron Maiden) for some really funky and fun licks.

The next things that hit you to make you scratch your head are the other instruments. It feels like Sigh went into a music store, closed their eyes, spun around and stopped, just pointing at random instruments saying “LET’S USE THAT ONE TOO”. So far, all the extra instruments I’ve picked out of the mix include traditional strings, Indian stringed instruments (e.g.: sitar), accordion, tabla, bongos, and saxophone. The saxophone is handled superbly by Dr. Mikannibal (the Ph.D mentioned above), who also brings some soft, almost jazzy female vocals as well. The drums and lead vocals seem to take a more traditional black metal approach with vocalist Mirai Kawashima screaming and screeching overtop of it all and drummer Junichi Harashima pounding away with thrash and blast beats (there’s also the occasional swing jazz beat, just to fuck with you that much more).

In Somniphobia can be broken into three parts. The first two songs make up the first movement with a more straightforward rock/ metal style, but that quickly fades when the second section, dubbed “Lucid Nightmares” kicks in. “Lucid Nightmares” is split up into seven songs, which range from two minute long strings of trippy and freaky samples to gritty and dark lounge jazz music, and everything in between. After “Lucid Nightmares” comes the final two songs which seem to return to the (slightly) more traditional rock sound again.

Lastly, I’d like to dissect the title of this album a little and compare it to how the listening experience felt (look at me being all deep and shit!). In Somniphobia, to me, translates to “inside someone who is scared of sleep”. I know, I know. You’re thinking, “that’s obvious as shit Gupta, a-derrrrrrp.” but when you think about someone who would have somniphobia, they refuse to sleep because they’re terrified of either loosing control of their body or because they have recurring nightmares. They don’t haveinsomnia – insomnia means that you can not sleep. Somniphobia means that you will not sleep. They keep themselves up. Think back to all of the all-nighter’s you’ve pulled (I know you’ve done them, don’t you fucking lie). You kept yourself up. While you were staying up all night finishing a project/ completing Halo 2 on Legendary again (kids still play Halo 2, right? I’m not that old, am I?)/ whacking off, didn’t you notice by the end of the night, you started to feel a bit loopy and twisted? In Somniphobia seems to capture that deranged sensation you feel by the end of your all-nighter, except if your all-nighter was an entire God damn month long. Its something that while it’s happening you love how over-the-top and surreal it is, but once it’s over and someone asks you about it, you say, “I think things happened? Maybe?”. While the album was a really cool experience to listen to, the one gripe I have with it is that none of it was memorable. I’ve probably listened through the album close to 10 times now, and I wouldn’t be able hum a single part to someone if they asked what it sounded like. But that’s not going to stop me from listening to this album over and over again.

That last paragraph was long-as-shit. Whatever.

Bomb-Ass Tracks

The Transfiguration Fear: Opening with a 70s bad-ass-off-the-book-cop style bongo passage, we've got the much mentioned Deep Purple style keyboards in the verses and multiple keyboard and guitar solos. Oh, and a smooooooooooooth sax solo. Daaaaaaaaaaamn. The outro is pretty freaking sweet too with the clapping and whistling. If you haven't listened to the song, this description probably confused the shit out of you.

Lucid Nightmares III: L'Excommunication a Minuit: This seriously sounds like Deep Purple with screaming over top. There could probably be a lawsuit here. Another awesome sax solo by Dr. Mikannibal.

Equale: Santana-esque latin guitar solo? Check. Clocking in at just over 8 minutes, the not-longest song on the album has a oddly infectious chorus (to "Part I: Prelude") too. Who know Final Fantasy style piano with black metal vocals over top could sound so good?

On a Playlist With: Diablo Swing Orchestra, Devin Townsend, Deep Purple

Overall Score

4.0

Sigh have created something really, really cool here. You might think an album that takes about 10 times listening through to figure out if you like it or not isn't a good thing, but I think that's part of the charm of this album. It kept me coming back for more and more.

Album Review: Carach Angren - "Where the Corpses Sink Forever"

Let me start by saying that I like musicals. Repo! The Genetic Opera, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog, The Lord of the Rings Musical, and most definitely the musical episode of The Legend of Neil are all musicals that have blown my mind and have my fandom forever. Hailing from the Netherlands comes the symphonic black metal trio Carach Angren (translates to “Iron Jaw” in Tolkein’s Elvish language. Awesome.) with Black Metal: The Musical!

       

Its real name, Where the Corpses Sink Forever (WtCSF) is like, a gazillion times cooler/ more brutal than Black Metal: The Musical, but essentially it’s a musical or opera written in a symphonic/ orchestral black metal style. Yeah. Fuckin’ A. Coming with the musical label, obviously WtCSF is a concept album. Now even after a couple listens I’m somewhat shaky on the details of the story, from what I do know, it’s probably like, one of the most brutal and twisted concept albums I’ve listened to, ever. As per usual, I’m going to keep the plot pretty under wraps.

It’s a little difficult to conceptualize something that only consists of audio to be a musical. Normally musicals are something visual (like a movie or theatre production) and the music accompanies it. The main reason WtCSF feels like a musical is the vocal delivery and lyrics. The lyrics are laid out more so in paragraphs than in stanzas, but each line delivered usually rhymes with another. I’m doing a terrible job describing it, but you can just listen to “Lingering in an Imprint Haunting” on the official Carach Angren YouTube channel here and hear what I mean first hand.

The instrumentation on WtCSF is beautiful too. The guitars turn on a dime from ripping away with shredding riffs to beautiful arpeggiated passages. The drums pretty much follow the guitars throughout the whole album. While nothing new or innovative is being done on the drums here, they always seem to accent the music perfectly. Lead vocalist Seregor’s screams blow your ears off with their venomous delivery. One thing that I really enjoy about his vocal style is that he sticks around the mid-range black metal vocals, and even ventures into death metal-esque guttural vocals. To top it all off, massive orchestral arrangements soar over top of everything else. Even though the symphonic bits are synthetic, it truly does feel like a real orchestra playing with the band.

Production really helps this album. Everything’s got so much low end, which adds to the dark and twisted atmosphere the album already conveys. All the instruments are pretty well mixed as well, with the only exception being the snare drum at certain times. For some reason, whenever there are blast beats, the snare seems to drop in volume significantly. It’s still audible, but I feel that it takes away from the chaotic effect of the blast.

Bomb-Ass Tracks

Lingering in an Imprint Haunting: From the first string section, building up to the explosion of metal when Seregor screams “Kill!” all the way until the song’s final choir chant and beautiful guitar passages, this song blows your brains out the whole way through.

The Funerary Dirge of a Violinist: Clocking in at just over eight minutes, the longest song on the album is also the most epic in scope. The song writing here is top notch. Twisting and turning through different tempos and rhythms seamlessly, “Funerary Dirge” is probably my favorite song on the album.

These Fields are Lurking: The closer to the album just sends shivers down my spine. When I went through this album, I was reading the lyrics all the way through, and by the end of this song I was just slack-jawed.

On a Playlist With: Ne Obliviscaris, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Dimmu Borgir

Overall Score

4.5

Where the Corpses Sink Forever is a dark and twisted story shot through the thematic lens of black metal. Fans of black metal, symphonic metal and progressive metal can all find something to enjoy on this album. It’s something disgustingly beautiful.

Album Review: Dawnbringer - "Into the Lair of the Sun God"

Modern heavy metal has been saturated. All this “technical progressive jazz fusion avant-garde blackened death metal” stuff is flying out by the boatload. Bands like Obscura, Aborted, Decrepit Birth, Origin, Decapitated, and Fleshgod Apocalypse have been blowing us away with their technical prowess for a solid couple decades now. Admittedly, I love all of those bands listed. However, after all this time spent listening to nothing but 300 BPM blast beats and sweep picked solos (and sometimes riffs), I feel a little shackled down and burdened whenever I listen to the newest release from any band that plays this style of music. You’ve got to admit you feel that way too, no?

But be shackled no more! Feel that burden lift from your shoulders! Who is it that has come to our rescue? Which savior picks us up from the depths and brings us back to an era of metal when the music’s main focus was to make you pump your fist in the air and bang your fucking head off?

Dawnbringer, of course.

Now, I’ve got to say that I first heard of Dawnbringer just less than a month ago. I haven’t listened to anything in their catalogue save for their newest opus: Into the Lair of the Sun God. The thing is, I only needed to hear Into the Lair of the Sun God to transform me into a fan.

This album lets technicality step out of the spotlight. Seriously. The riffs here are simple enough that a decent guitarist could probably learn the whole album in a day. But the simplicity doesn’t take anything away from Sun God. The simplicity of the riffs and melodies just makes the delivery that much more powerful.

Dawnbringer have blended stoner metal and new wave of British heavy metal (mostly NWoBHM) into something that’s just pure God damn metal. All nine songs on this album are powerful and punchy with harmonized guitar leads coming out the wazoo, a lá Iron Maiden. Mixed in with this 80s throwback are the stoner-style rhythm riffs and vocals that when put together conjure up images of four or five sweaty dudes in black t-shirts and denim vests rocking the fuck out and just playing their hearts out.

Although Dawnbringer blend two old styles of music, everything still sounds fresh. The guitar playing is superb, the drumming keeps pushing everything forwards smoothly, and the vocals are just perfect. I can’t tell you why I like them so much, I just do. They piece everything together so perfectly that it becomes something totally new in itself.You can really hear a D.I.Y. atmosphere too. Production on Sun God gives a real warm feel to everything. If you crank it and close your eyes, it feels and sounds like they’re performing right in front of you.

One last thing to point out is this album is a concept album. Into the Lair of the Sun God -- if you couldn’t tell -- is about being a badass motherfucker and slaying a God on his own turf. Sweet, eh? I won’t spoil anything for anyone, but there’s a fan-fucking-tastic ending.

Bomb-Ass Tracks

Since this is a concept album, logically you should listen to all the songs in order in one go for maximum awesome. However, If I have to pick three songs:

II: The second track, appropriately titled “II” (yeah, all the songs are named by roman numerals) is a thrasher. The riffs come above all on this track, with the instrumental bridge containing some of the most headbangable riffs I’ve heard in a while.

V: What’s this? Almost a power ballad? Yeah. Yeah it is. And it fucking rules.

IX: The final song on Sun God,while not the most musically outstanding song on the album, has the big finale of the story. Also, fun Easter egg (or maybe I’m just crazy) but if you start the album over again when “IX” finishes, the intro of “I” seems to match up so perfectly.

On a Playlist With:Sleep (Holy Mountain), Valient Thorr, (Early) Iron Maiden

Overall Score

4.5

This album is phenomenal. It might just be that I found it so refreshing at this moment in time that I loved it so much, but I think this album will stand the test of time. If you’re a fan of any type of rock or metal, pick this sucker up. It’s well worth your time and money.

Album Review: Municipal Waste - "The Fatal Feast"

The Waste are back, and they’re busting out a whole lotta ass-whoopin’. As an expert in all things music, my research tells me this album is a good thing for everyone. Except your liver. Your liver hates you every time you toss on a Municipal Waste CD, but jeez, it’s got to lighten up a bit. I mean, the last time I tossed on The Art of Partying I woke up the next morning naked on a tractor, completely unable to move my neck.

It’s getting better, I swear.

Just another Tuesday night at my place**.

Or maybe not, cause now we have 16 (17 if you count the bonus) new anthems to shotgun beers, plug zombies full of lead, and just generally fuck shit up with. The Fatal Feast is Municipal Waste at their Municipal Waste-iest. The current kings of Crossover Thrash, Municipal Waste blend the energy and ridiculous antics of Hardcore with the speed, ferocity, and heaviness of Thrash Metal.

Municipal Waste continue with the fist-in-the-face sound, with sharp distorted guitars taking the front lines on this album. Ryan Waste's riffing is as destructive as ever, and he even does a couple of sweet solos too! Tony Forresta keeps his punk-ish vocals booming as raunchy as ever, while Dave Witte and Landphil keep the rhythm down tight, cause y'know, ain't no one fuck with the Witte-Landphil rhythm duo.

Ain't.

No one.

One thing I really like on this album (well, on all their albums, really) are Ryan Waste's extra vocals (especially on "Standards and Practices" every once in a while. I don't know exactly why I love them so much. It might because they remind me of old school 80s punk, which is weird 'cause I don't even listen to 80s punk. What?

The only thing that bugs me with The Fatal Feast has got to be the lack of larynx-busting screams that Mr. Forresta is so capable of. Whatever. He still shreds.

Bomb-Ass Tracks

New Dead Masters: With a half-spoken intro (reminds me of "Beer Pressure" off of The Art of Partying) it's definitely one of my new Thrash anthems. It's so fucking fast.

Standards and Practices: Ryan Waste's singing on the chorus. It makes you want to trash everything. Waste can really pull off the pure punk sound when they want to.

The Fatal Feast: From the sweet 80s B-movie space sound effects to the eerie intro bassline all the way to the off-kilter chorus, this song is a winner.

On a Playlist With: Toxic Holocaust, Black Breath, Mantic Ritual

Overall Score

4.0

The Fatal Feast is a buffet of over-the-top Crossover Thrash. Municipal Waste are going to fuck you up.

That's all for now, folks. Keep being Awesome.

**Tuesday night is taco night.

Album Review: One Direction - "Up All Night"

After looking at and listening to some underground Hip-Hop, Dream Pop, and whatever genre Diablo Swing Orchestra are, I think it's time to turn around and head straight into the mainstream. Today we're going to check out who are probably my new favorite band from England: One Direction! These five best friends have put out their debut album Up All Night and it's been blaring from my speakers ever since I bought it.

One Direction (<3) just excel, in every way. Musically and lyrically, these guys stand head and shoulders above almost any group I've had the pleasure of listening to. It's hard to make jokes here when the music and messages they stand behind are so fucking good.

Everything above this image was probably the most painful thing I've ever had to write.

Don't worry, everyone. I wouldn't even touch that One Direction shit with a 50-foot pole, let alone buy it. Today I'm going to look at a band who would rape One Direction to death, eat their flesh and sew those little bitches' skins into their clothing. And if they're very, very lucky, it'll happen in that order.

Aborted (<3) are a Deathgrind band from Belgium who've been around for what's starting to close in on 20 years. They go for the classic Carcass-style gore-splattering, innards-disemboweling themes and lyrics, and with song titles like "Coronary Reconstruction", "Expurgation Euphoria", and  "Our Father, Who Art of Feces", how could you not get excited? For those of you who don't know what Deathgrind is, it's (as the name suggests) a crossover between Death Metal and Grindcore. It mixes the furious speed and aggression of Grindcore and the musicality and songwriting of Death Metal into the equivalent of being mauled by a grizzly bear with a +5 thundering warhammer.

Yeah. Terrifying, I know.

The album is pretty straight forward. The band pulls of flying at a million kilometers an hour without giving the look-at-how-good-I-am-at-playing-my-instrument wankery. The riffs stay pounding and brutal, and the drums sound absolutely massive. The real attraction on here is vocalist Sven de Caluwé's impressive range. Everything from throat shredding Grind screams to brutal as fuck Death Metal growls to even the occasional pig squeal shows up on here. His ability to cycle between a bunch of different extreme Metal vocal styles really keeps things interesting throughout this album.

Something else that adds a fun touch (but is in no way anything new in either the Death Metal or Grindcore genres) are the audio samples. The intro track is a a bunch of snippets of old movies strung together to give this eerie zombie-apocalypse-is-actually-upon us feeling, and most other tracks feature audio clips from some horror movie or another. The final track ends with the somewhat cliché "Now I have become death, the destroyer of worlds" quote, but it still fits nicely for closing the album. The one sample that I really love the most is on the title track where just as the song is about to hit full-on Grind mode, you hear "I'M GOING TO FUCKING RAPE YOUR SOUL!". Classic.

I have to say, although Global Flatline keeps it fresh throughout, it's not fresh enough for my tastes. With music like Deathgrind or Technical Death Metal, I feel there are always a few songs on thew album that really stand out, but most other songs seem to sound similar, with not enough character put into each one.

Bomb-Ass Tracks

Global Flatline: What can I say, this song fucking raped my soul.

Our Father, Who Art of Feces: This song's chorus is gargantuan. I really love the guitar work as well. There are a bunch of memorable riffs all the way throughout, and the solo is wicked sweet too.

Enstille: The closing track (excluding the bonus tracks) starts off with similar sampling as the intro track and then shifts into a driving, mid-paced monster. It's got some incredibly well phrased guitar work shredding over top of the first half. The second half picks up with Sven doing a mix of spoken word and growling like a motherfucker. I know that a lot of people really disliked this track because it didn't fit with the rest of the album, but I personally love this song.

On a Playlist With: Decrepit Birth, Origin, Cattle Decapitation

Overall Score

3.5

If you like Death Metal, Grindcore, or Tech-Death, you'll probably like this. If you don't like any of those genres, this probably won't change your stance on them. I think this is a pretty solid album. I mean, what can I say, they had me at "rape your soul". <3

That's all for now, folks. Keep being Awesome.