You hear it at every show you go to, it seems. There’s always that one or maybe two douchebags that scream at the band on stage to play some “fuckin’ Slayer, man”. I feel it’s more than likely one of the prime reasons why Slayer gets a mostly bad rep these days – they attract the meatheads. But, there’s also the fact that Slayer has been releasing mostly half-assed material for what seems like an eternity now. First, there was Divine Intervention, a divisive album. Personally, it was my introduction to the band at 13 years old, and I loved it, even to this day. To others, it’s the beginning of the end. Then there was Diablos In Musica with an almost nu-metal kinda vibe to it according to some. Nu-metal or not, that album was kind of a low-point for the band. God Hates Us All is mostly derided by the old heads, but hardcore Slayer fans tend to love that one. I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone who calls Christ Illusion a good album – sans a couple songs, I tend to agree. Then most recently, they gave us World Painted Blood – an album that I was initially all about, but as time has passed, I’ve never returned to it. Those songs had no staying power, and it seems most Slayer fans feel the same.

That brings us to the newest slab-o-Slayer, Repentless. My initial impressions of this are that it reminds me a lot of Divine Intervention, with touches of Seasons In the Abyss peppered in. Right away, I think “this is easily their best since Divine” – it’s definitely straight-forward thrash, Slayer style, with nary a thread of experimentation or modernization. It doesn’t feel forced either. I have to wonder how much of an impact Gary Holt from Exodus fame has had on the band in the absence of Jeff Hanneman (RIP brother), because thus far, Repentless feels pretty damned re-invigorated. Lets take a look under the hood.

After another needless intro (seriously, bands – stop doing this), the album starts proper with the title track and it’s a scorcher – it’s like “War Ensemble” pt. 2. Tom is in classic form here, barking his way through the verses in grand fashion while King and Holt rip out one of the best Slayer riffs I’ve heard in years, then screams his guts out on the chorus. “Take Control” follows in mostly the same fashion, blazing through the verses, but then tones it down on the chorus for a nice groove, immediately reminiscent of some of the Divine Intervention stuff.

From here, they pull back on the throttle a bit for the next few songs. “Vices” is more mid-paced and grooving, but works well. “Cast the First Stone” reigns it in a little further, but falls a bit flat. “When the Stillness Comes” creeps out almost like a Slayer “ballad” (think “Dead Skin Mask” or “Spill the Blood”) – it starts slow and builds up to….nothing. They do a good job of making you think the song is heading for an explosive ending, but ends up doing absolutely nothing. “Chasing Death” brings things back to life a bit, but once again more in a mid-paced, groove-laden form, though it ends well with Tom going apeshit, which is always awesome.

When they step on the accelerator again, it’s with “Implode” – sure it’s fast n’ thrashy, but it’s also kinda dull and not memorable. “Piano Wire” dials it back again, but picks up the pace about halfway through and lets rip some ferocious solo work. “Atrocity Vendor” picks it up again to thrash righteously, but is only a couple steps better than “Implode” – ultimately forgettable. “You Against You” nails it home though, loaded with killer riffing and solos, a divebomb or two, and Tom at his finest. It’s one of the albums best cuts. Album closer “Pride in Prejudice” is a slow burn that also goes nowhere, and is kind of crappy note to end the album on.

I felt it best to write this review off the cuff, after only a couple spins. I was afraid if I let it sink it too long, the fanboy in me would come out and I’d deliver a slobberfest similar to that of their last release in which I wrote a review for (it was kind of embarrassing to re-read), then regret it later when I come back down to Earth. I think you get a more honest review this way. That said, I believe this album blows away their past two, but falls short of God Hates Us All. It does remind me heavily of Divine Intervention for the most part, but too many of it’s tracks fall short of that albums greatness. It starts fantastically, then meanders around in mediocrity for too long. It won’t do anything to change the minds of those who left the bandwagon years ago, but should more than appease the hardcore fans, as well as provide a nice Slayer fix for those that fall in between the extremes.

The southern boys are once again atop of their game; nary a mediocre riff in site, Pepper Keenan and Kirk Windstein deliver “all killer, no filler” riffs that should make Tony Iommi blush, accompanied by plenty of soulful solos; Mr. Jimmy Bower serves up a solid backbone for these tunes as always; new fourstringer Patrick Bruders of Crowbar/Goatwhore fame, melds right in seamlessly, admirably replacing Rex Brown, while Phil Anselmo continues to hone and improve his gruff-edged singing style, crooning away with the best of them.

So after a five year silence, they open this little gem perfectly with “Levitation”, slowly building in volume and intensity with a riff powerful enough to pulverize bones, and continuing on with sludgy doomy goodness that is matched by few. First single “Witchtripper” follows suite in the same fashion, but throws in a good dose of instant memorability (read: it’s hooky), as does “Open Coffins”, arguably the EP’s strongest track. “The Curse is a Lie”, is dialed back somewhat, slowing the tempo even further and sprinkling in a few touches of blues-y guitar bits. “This Work is Timeless” is another hooky tune with a slightly brisker pace, while album closer “Misfortune Teller” is the be all, end all of heavy here, similar to “Bury Me in Smoke” from Nola, packing an absolutely bludgeoning riff in it’s back half capable of making the Incredible Hulk cower in fear – fuck yeah.

If it sounds like I’m gushing, I am – I couldn’t be happier with this release, but I am by no means sort of a blind fanboy – I won’t hesitate to call a spade a spade, but this ain’t no spade, just pure awesome. Nice work once again boys.

The Art of Balance was a landmark album for me – an all time fave to this day – and closely followed by The War Within. Heavy, fast and furious, though still loaded with hooks. As I began to delve deeper into extreme metal, Shadows Fall began to branch out into more mainstream territory, alienating me as a result. Threads of Life was hugely disappointing, and follow up Retribution wasn’t too much terribly better, leaving me yearning for the boys to return to their heavier and thrashier sounds of yore.

That brings us to now, and new platter o’ tunes Fire From the Sky. The first couple songs I heard had me thinking “awesome! They’re back!”, but after just a couple spins of this new disc, I realized nothing much has changed – they’re still trying desperately to balance a desire to please old fans while still pushing for mainstream acceptance with clean vocal chorus’ and hooks. It turns into a big ol’ bag of mixed feelings.

On one hand, most of the music is pretty awesome – good and thrashy, hard hitting stuff with the same phenomenal lead work we’ve come to expect from them, and Brian Fair’s monstrous bark is still as potent as ever. On the other hand, there is still way too many clean vocals contributed from Jon and Matt – a song will be riffing out and kicking ass, then the chorus comes along and makes things all poppy, which in turn makes my raging metal hard-on go soft in about .2 seconds (album opener “The Unknown”, “Divide and Conquer”, “Nothing Remains”, pseudo mini-epic “Blind Faith”, “Lost Within”). “Walk the Edge” is absolutely horrid. It uses clean vocals in the verses and is cringe inducing. Holy fuck, I never want to hear that again. The one time their clean vocal interlude truly works is in “Save Your Soul”. For whatever reason, it didn’t come across as super poppy. Maybe I’m just ate up. I dunno.

“The Unknown” does experiment with just a touch of something new – the chorus has some very atmospheric stuff going on. That word – “atmospheric” – has never been a word I would’ve used in the past to describe SF. An interesting inclusion for sure. Of course, the song also has some scorching solo action, but ultimately is mostly ruined by the clean vocal driven chorus.

On the bright side (or the dark side, I guess depending on your point of view, haha) they leave the clean vocals behind and just shoot it straight on “Weight of the World”, the title track, and album closer “The Wasteland” and are better for it. Actually that’s a lie – “The Wasteland” does feature some clean vocals, but it’s limited and non-annoying. It’s unfortunately not enough to truly save the album from half-hearted mediocrity though, which is a shame considering just how much I know these dudes can bring it and bring it hard.

So, to recap: music is mostly killer, loaded with awesome riffs, solos and drum work. Has a strong, clear production but is ultimately ruined by the use of shitty clean vocals. Better luck next time boys. As always, I’ll be waiting with eager and hopeful anticipation.

First things first: the band is still comprised of 4/5 of the original line-up, minus skinsman Louie Clemente who was replaced by Paul Bostaph on the band’s previous outing, and who, due to injury, has also been replaced by journeyman skin-basher extraordinaire Gene Hoglan (wise choice, boys), who previously helmed the throne on 97’s Demonic. As always, he does an incredible job. He even came with tricks up his sleeve! More on that in a bit.

Dark Roots of Earth fucking rips, plain and simple, and you can hear a little bit of all of Testament‘s eras throughout. Heavy, death-laden thrashing is on full display in “True American Hate”, sure-fire live favorite and album opener “Rise Up,” and the absolute scorching closer (on the regular album edition) “Last Stand for Independence”.

First promotional clip “Native Blood” is a mid-paced monster groover, and an absolute master class on catchy, memorable songwriting. It also contains blast-beats. Wait…what? Blast-beats on a Testament album?! Yes, blast-beats. (Mean Gene, I fucking love you. In a totally non-gay way, of course). You can also hear them in “True American Hate”. Yeah, I know. I was shocked too. The title track and “A Day in the Death” are two more mid-paced groove-oriented heavy tunes, though when “Dark Roots of Earth” does take a break, it’s only  to speed things up for a patented new-asshole-ripping Alex Skolnick solo. On the more traditional thrash end of the spectrum, “Man Kills Mankind” and especially album highlight “Throne of Thorns” bring it in a big way. The former packs a super-catchy chorus, and the latter is packed tight with riffs made of pure awesomeness and face-melting lead work.

Now, as far as things to gripe about, well, the ballad “Cold Embrace” sucks. Far and away the worst Testament ballad yet. Typically they write decent ballads, though not this one. I couldn’t latch onto anything really interesting about it, so I just edited it out of the track list after three or four plays. I also think that opening the album with a crowd sing-along type track was kind of a bonehead thing to do, but that’s just me and my tastes.

The bonus version of the album contains three covers and an extended version of “Throne of Thorns” which is completely pointless, since the extension is merely an additional 30 seconds or so of clean guitar noodling at the tail end of the track. Why wouldn’t they just put that on the cut that made the album and do away with that extra eight minutes I have to wait before the album starts over again? That’s got to be some dumb record label idea right there. Whatever. As for the covers, there’s Queen‘s “Dragon Attack,” but since I’ve never heard the original, I can’t compare. I can say, however, that I do enjoy Testament‘s version, as it’s something a little different and unexpected. Next up is Scorpions‘ “Animal Magnetism,” from an album I happen to own. Unfortunately, it’s by far the worst song on said album, and Testament, even in all their awesomeness, couldn’t do anything to make this song more interesting – pass. Last, but certainly not least, is Iron Maiden‘s “Powerslave,” and… Holy fuck. As an unashamed Maiden and Testament fanboy, this track is a fucking orgasm in my ear.

Let’s hope that the Bay Area boys don’t make us wait another four years for another slice of fantastic thrashing like Dark Roots of Earth.

One of the first things I noticed about Forever Abomination is they’ve developed somewhat of a penchant for starting many songs on a slower, misleading note before exploding into their signature break neck speeds and rhythms (album opener “This Horrifying Force (The Desire to Kill)”, “Choke Upon Betrayal”, “Cleaver of Souls”, “Shredding Sacred Flesh”). Of course, not every track flows in this manner; “Reduced to the Failure of Prayer”, “Of Ash and Torment”, “Erased and Forgotten”, “Rejoice in Misery”, “My Skin of Deceit” just kill it from the word go in traditional ‘witch fashion, while others (namely “The Infernal Resurrection”) mostly maintain a much more restrained and slower pace throughout, or even settle into a nice mid-paced thrashing groove (“Sink Beneath Insanity”) with bits of speed infused violence occasionally injected into the mix.

Forever Abomination comes off like a cross of their last two albums. They’ve brought back a good chunk of the rawer aggression of Beyond the Permafrost and coupled it with the improved, tighter songwriting of Breathing the Fire, and armed it once again with a strong production (Matt Hyde) that is clear yet still very much human sounding with a touch of grit – for an album that is making a strong claim for their best output yet.

Like the last couple of albums, it’s a mixed bag. There’s a few good tunes, some boring ones, some previously released, and a couple that are just flat out bad. On the whole, it’s pretty average. And less metal, certainly less thrash. Instead, there’s a strong hard rock vibe going on in many of the songs here. When they aren’t in hard-rockin’ mode, the metal is much more Youthanasia/Cryptic Writings than say, Peace Sells/Rust in Peace – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as those were fine albums in their own right, but there are issues with quality and memorability.

I think the biggest problem here is that Dave has slipped into a comfortable groove – no longer worried about following in the footsteps of and trying to outdo Metallica, he’s a found a niche and sound he’s happy with – good for him – but it’s lacking, and sounds lazy. For instance, his vocals are missing much of his old trademark snarl. He obviously still sounds like Mustaine, but many of his old little quirks are not present, instead, we get a much more generic singing style, and he sticks to it, thick and thin.

Then there’s the riffs – my Dio, what the fuck happened to the riffs? At least with Endgame, The System Has Failed and especially United Abominations, the riffs were still undeniably Megadeth, even if a few of them were on the weak side. I mean, there’s some good, signature Mustaine riffs on Thirteen, but so much of this stuff is like the vocals in that it’s just generic, and really stripped back. This is where a lot of the aforementioned hard rock vibe comes into play. “We the People”, the incredibly painful “Guns, Drugs and Money”, “Fast Lane” (yet another tune about Dave’s infatuation with cars, driving fast, etc), “Black Swan” and “Wrecker” fall under the more hard rock banner – some fair better than others, but this is Megadeth – where’s the thrash, where’s the metal?

Previously released material? What the hell Dave. One of the lamest aspects of this album is the decision to lead it off with “Sudden Death”, a track that was penned for one of the Guitar Hero games, as the final, master level or whatever-the-fuck track. It’s a wank fest of epic proportions. So much so, that there’s barely a song there – it’s just a bunch of shred. I love shred as much as the next thrasher, but come on, give it to me in a song man. Then there’s “New World Order”, a track that was originally written back in the Countdown era, and finally released in the Warchest boxset a couple years back. Here, it’s been rerecorded, and it’s still a mid level, average tune – it’s really no wonder why it never made it on any other studio albums. “Millennium of the Blind” was first written around ’91, and ultimately released as a bonus track on the 2004 remix and remaster of Youthanasia – nothing too exciting here either. “Black Swan”, which isn’t a terrible tune to be honest, was given to fan club members who pre-ordered United Abominations. Finally, “Never Dead” was penned for a video game of the same name, but hasn’t been released yet. “Never Dead” is far and away the best and most Megadeth-ish out of the bunch. What all this boils down to is Dave running out of ideas and trying desperately to run that track total up to 13. Kind of a sham if you ask me.

So where does that leave us? 8 fresh tracks? Okay, that’s enough to constitute an album, but how do they fair? Still a mixed bag. There’s the previously mentioned “Wrecker” and “Fast Lane” are both solid tunes; “Guns, Drugs and Money” is absolutely horrible with it’s almost happy sounding main riff; “We the People” has a solid chorus, but a boring verse riff; “Deadly Nightshade” is painfully average in every imaginable; “13”, as stated by Dave Ellefson, has a “In My Darkest Hour” kind of feel to it, which is definitely on the mark being a slower, brooding and kind of eerie sounding type of tune; “Whose Life (Is it Anyway?)” comes off pretty average at first, but grows on you with repeated spins, and finally “Public Enemy #1” is the albums defining standout. By far the most metal of the bunch, the main riff baring a strong resemblance to that of “Hangar 18”, though the song as a whole has a strong Countdown era feel to it, and sports an insanely memorable chorus.

So yeah, there it is. Another average Megadeth album. I’m glad that Dave is finding so much success this late into his career, but he needs to throw us old fans a bone an give us something really special, because this shit just isn’t cutting it.

One thing that’s really appealing about this band is vocalist/guitarist Armando Garcia doesn’t over-vocalize the songs as many new(er) bands have a tendency to do; he lets the music do most of the talking, which is chock full of memorable riffs and grooves, stunning melodies and flashy yet not over the top solos. When he does employ his vocals, they’re pretty one dimensional, but it works, as his raspy growl is mostly intelligible and fits what they’re doing.

“Welcome to the Cage” gets things going, an instrumental filled with all kinds impressive ax work, setting the stage nicely for the album. “Catalepsy” is arguably the albums strongest cut, displaying all their various elements – fantastic lead melodies, solos, groove, thrashing goodness and a pinch of technical flash – it’s all here. Some tracks rely more heavily on groove (“Drugs of War”, “Factory of Hate”, “Breathless (Agony)”), while others are more thrash oriented (“The Fallen One”, “Right to Die”), but regardless the main bent of the song, each incorporates a little of everything into a seamless, fluid sound.

They’ve included two cover songs, the first of which is “Hung, Drawn and Quartered” by Cancer, which I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never heard before. I mean, I’m familiar with the band name, just not their music. I need to fix that. Anyway, From Nowhere do a good job of making it sound their own, as it blends in with the rest of their stuff well – I had no idea at first that it was a cover. Then there’s Death’s “Sacred Serenity”, which is executed flawlessly. They stayed completely true to the song and really nailed it – a good choice of a cover for them, and makes obvious the Death influence in their sound.

Overall, Agony is a pretty damn good album and even more impressive as a debut – this doesn’t sound like the work of a new band, but rather a group of seasoned vets. Check From Nowhere out, or at least keep an eye on these guys in the future, I know I sure will be.

Right from the word go, lead track “Earth Ripper” does just that, sounding like a malevolent, hellish force designed solely to rip the Earth in two. From here, Absu blast, thrash and screech their way through the next four tracks in much the same chaotic fashion as the opener, rarely showing signs of slowing down to allow even breathing room. This however does not mean the songs are without personality; “Circles of the Oath” for example, contains a mid track break where the chaos eases off briefly, and closes out with some fading, clean guitar picking; “Skyring in the Spirit Vison” and “Ontologically, It Became Time and Space” are pure, frantic, thrashing, blackened madness.

Up to this point, these first five songs comprise a little over half the albums running time. Then there’s the monster closing track, “A Song for Ea”, clocking in at a staggering fourteen and a half minutes. Composed in six sections (“E-A”, “A Myriad of Portals”, “Third Tablet”, “Warren of Imhullu”, “The Waters – The Denizens”, “E-A (Reprise)”), it has it’s own fair share speed drenched insanity and slicing solos, but also provides a bit of reprieve with some slower, more restrained parts that keep a fourteen minute song from growing stale or boring.

So yeah, Absu have delivered the goods once again, as Abzu is a thirty-six minute, speed driven battering ram to the face.

Being one of the most highly lauded darlings of the underground, expectations were high for Carnival is Forever. Initial reviews and chatter from the interwebs seem to be mixed, but to these ears, the album lives up to and surpasses all expectations. In short, the album can be summed up as Pantera gone death metal and getting their Meshuggah on – seriously, this is one helluva grooving, brutal and technical beast that rarely lets up.

Continuing further down the path the band tread with Organic Hallucinosis, Carnival brings forth even more emphasis on groove and memorable, even catchy, yet brutal as a ten ton hammer hooks. Opening pair “The Knife” and “United” exemplify this right away, and later in the album with “Homo Sum” and “404”, but on the title track, it’s evident that Vogg has some new tricks up his sleeve. Opening the song with some spacey, atmospheric ambiance, it soon delves into more familiar, groove laden territory, but once again resurfaces around the halfway mark for a longer stretch. It’s something new for the Decapitated camp, but here, I’d be inclined to say it’s pulled off well, as it serves as a nice, brief respite from the usual head splitting.

Two of the albums strongest cuts are near the end in “A View From a Hole”, beginning with a slow build for the first two minutes, then kicking in like a hammer to the face that doesn’t doesn’t let up, while “Pest” contains one of the albums meanest riffs, and a breakdown just past the halfway mark that just absolutely pulverizes – I envision the earth crumbling and bones shattering every time this fucking part kicks in – just devastating stuff.

With another twist, the album closes out on a rather somber note, with more spacey ambiance. This time though, it’s a whole four plus minute track titled “Silence”. Vogg has stated it’s dedicated to his brother Vitek, and while that’s cool and all, it doesn’t really sound like it totally belongs, or at the very least, not as it’s own track to close the album – just a little too left field for my tastes maybe.

As for the new guys, vocalist Rafal Piotrowski adequately replaces Covan, bringing a similar, mostly intelligible growl, and I can’t imagine anyone filling in more admirably for lost drum prodigy Vitek than Krimh – he’s no Vitek, but he does one hell of job here bashing the skins in a very Vitek-esque fashion – he’s a good fit.

So does Decapitated still sound like Decapitated? Fuck yeah they do. Are they gonna please everyone with Carnival is Forever? No, I’m sure there are plenty of fans that will hate it and wish they’d return to the rawer, more chaotic Winds of Creation sound, but hey, you can’t win ’em all.

The chosen style is melodic death metal, mostly reminiscent of Slaughter of the Soul era At the Gates, but with a modern sheen that more times than not, reminds of Darkest Hour (who themselves often remind of ATG, go figure). They play fast. Tactical is not weak nor watered down. The pace is generally brisk, they slow it down for the occasional chorus (“Under the Autumn Low”) or mid song break (“Dead and Still in Pain”), though more often than not, they’ll just steamroll you with fleet fingered riffs, ripping solos and blasting drums (“Into the Arms of Cruelty”,“Purgatory Dormatory”, “I Can’t Stand His Name”).

The lead off track, “A God Among the Waste” still puzzles me – it stands out from the rest of the pack and is a bit misleading with it’s heavy use of clean vocals (something which is very sparsely used through the rest of the album) – it’s a good tune that grows on you more over time with an infectious chorus, but it does have a completely different vibe from the rest of the album, and it’s place as album opener seems odd. It sets you up to believe you’re in for another run of the mill good cop/bad cop vocal themed melodic death/metal core album which is hardly the case.

Album closer “Revere’s Tears” is also a bit misleading, as it opens with acoustic guitar, and you think “here it is, the token super mellow song), but then it rips into heavy with a scream and distorted guitars. Overall though, the song is brought back a couple notches on the speedometer, carrying with it a slightly epic sort of feel, and the albums best solo by far, it’s a nice reprieve to the near endless bludgeoning of the previous six tracks and a strong closer.

There are no real gripes with the album other than the odd, misleading opener. The production is strong and clear, and the songs are well written. Fans of melodic death metal should be pleased.

I’ve never been a subscriber of blind fanboyism, so I won’t hesitate to call out a complete failure, as Unseen is. So where does it fail? Everywhere. The riffs are weak, watered down and considerably un-thrash. The fast and sometimes masterful lead work of past efforts is long gone. Dolving’s vocals lack power, and at times I swear he’s near rapping (see opener “Never Better”). At others, he sounds almost whiny in his delivery (“Motionless”, “Unseen”), which is always annoying.

Everything is stripped back, gutted of aggression and nearly all metallic elements, leaving a simplified, easily digestible and ready-for-radio template. “No Ghost” tries on it’s southern, bluesy shoes, but ends up sounding really out of place. When they try to get heavy, it comes out in the form of “The Skull”, a track that starts on a Tool-ish note, then breaks into a chunky, groove based riff that ultimately sounds forced, and/or pulled from the nu-metal playbook.

I honestly don’t have a single good thing to say about Unseen. There’s not a memorable moment to be found on it – it’s atrocious. “All Ends Well” is a complete abomination that, believe it or not, stands out as more horrible than the rest – I can’t even begin to describe whats wrong with it.

What it all adds up to is The Haunted are putting in their bid to join the mainstream. Simplifying their sound, adding extra catchy hooks, gutting the aggression – the problem though – it doesn’t work, because in the end, none of it is all that catchy.

I was on board when the band started to broaden their sound on rEVOLVEr, and the much maligned The Dead Eye – both albums were still very much metal, still thrashy, yet many new elements and ideas were brought to the table, and for the most part, I thought they worked. Some of you may recall my review of their last, Versus, and my nitpicking of them treading water instead of moving forward with their sound. I know I recall that well, but Unseen is not what I had in mind — a complete abandoning of their core sound in favor of this…abortion of an album that sees them sounding more like modern hard rock or alt-metal or Dio forbid, nu-metal, is a travesty.

Blind supporters will undoubtedly call it “art”, “avant-garde”, “experimental”, etc etc and try their best to convince the rest of us it’s some sort of brilliant masterwork, but I’m not fooled, this is garbage. But then again, maybe I’ve got it all wrong and Unseen really is meant to be some kind of masterful work of art – in which case it’s still a big steaming pile of…well, you get the picture by now.

As soon as the albums starts, I know something is amiss as I’m greeted with the much slower, mid-paced and flat out less aggressive (in comparison to the debut, The Onslaught) “American Dreams”. To it’s credit though, the riffs and overall guitar work is pretty catchy, but this whole song has an arena-rock feel and sound to it as opposed to head spinning thrash. More of the same follows in “The Ultimate Sacrifice”, but things take an upward swing with the speedier “The Strong Prevail”, a song that has a bit of that modern Exodus sound and would’ve been right at home on The Onsluaght.

From here, it’s mostly downhill as the title track lightly treads into semi-ballad territory. Though the main riff is pretty damn good, it’s here where they introduce the newly incorporated clean vocals into the chorus that, well, seem out of place. Catchy? Yes. Good? Not necessarily. “Casting Forward” features more of that gutted sounding mid-paced riffing, and once again, those out of place clean vocals, which crop up again in “Light A City (Up in Smoke)”, and “Through Your Eyes”. The latter had potential with a pair of simple yet memorable riffs, but the clean chorus brings the song to a screeching halt. “Beneath the Waves of Hatred” makes an attempt to bring things back to life, as it’s more in line with the previously mentioned “The Strong Prevail”, but by now it’s far too late. Album closer “Eternal Vengeance” is a mixed bag. Kicking off in ballad form, the song takes off with a bit of cool, speedy riffing, but then toys around with more of those sickly clean vocals and then bounces around back and forth. I suppose it was meant to be some sort of mini epic at just over seven minutes, but it fails horribly.

Outside of a pair of songs and a handful of scattered memorable riffs, there’s not a whole lot of good here. The only other positive thing I can say is the ultra clean and polished production is suitable for what they were going for. I do quite enjoy the crisp and clean drum sound, as it’s a bit reminiscent of Metallica‘s black album. Now that I think about it, that might be the perfect comparison for Black Rivers Flow. Had I heard this album 20 years ago, I may have enjoyed it.

I don’t think for a second this is the sound of a band looking to push their sound into new territory. No, this to me, sound like a band more interested in fame and fortune rather than making good music. Maybe I’m way off base with that notion, but either way, Black Rivers Flow still sucks.

Arcania play a mostly modern style of thrash, infused with bits of melody and a slight touch of progressive tendencies, which ultimately reminds me a great deal of their fantastic countrymen Lyzanxia. The songwriting and all around musicianship is top notch, especially the guitar work, and vocalist Cyril Peglion occasionally reminds of Testament‘s Chuck Billy in tone (which is never a bad thing), but delivers it in a more melodic form most of the time – he occasionally employs some growls too, which add a bit more to the versatility.

They’re fond of the longer songs, most of which are in the five to seven minute range, and album closer “My Funeral” tops the 10 minute mark. Some bands can’t pull off the long song thing, endlessly repeating riffs and parts for no apparent reason, but Arcania do it well – each song has it’s own unique twists and turns – never boring and always engaging.

Take the album opening seven minute title track for example – it begins with the sounds of some sort of wind-up musical device; the drums slowly build underneath, then lead into the opening riff which also builds and builds until the song proper kicks in; at the halfway mark, the song breaks down into an acoustic passage, then builds back into a speedier portion and eventually lands back where it began. “Momento” is structured similarly, featuring a simple yet insanely memorable chorus and absolutely fantastic soloing throughout it’s eight minutes.

There’s a good deal of versatility here – “No End” is considerably more aggressive, incorporating blast beats into the chorus and reminds somewhat of Testament through the verses. “Leave My Mind” starts on the slow side, but continually builds to a climatic ending. The band also excels at flowing, stop on a dime tempo changes, as they’re littered all through the album, but are best evidenced on “Against My Fear”. “As We Fall” takes a much simpler and straight forward approach, while “This Man Failed” feels like a bit more complex Countdown/Youthansia era Megadeth, displays some fantastic soloing and adds some clean singing to give it even more depth.

Closer “My Funeral” is truly epic in every sense – this song has a bit of everything, but is very cohesive. Bouncing from slow and sedated sounding into jagged, angular riffs and speed-driven sections, it keeps you guessing whats around the next corner throughout it’s ten plus minute run time – a perfect ending to a surprisingly good album.

I don’t really have anything bad to say about Sweet Angel Dust, though I feel this bands best work is ahead of them. Had I delved into this album last year more, it would have made my top 25.

Further building upon the beautifully somber tones which seemed perfected on 2008’s The Redshift, the songs here on New World Shadows are longer and more expansive than those of it’s predecessor – the album opens and closes with the 9 plus minute epics “Everfields” and “Deep Cold”, respectively – each track sees the band playing with more melodies and textures than before, branching into ever new territory; “An Infinite Mind” sees the band toying with spoken word verses and a bigger, punchier chorus that works really well; “Watcher of the Skies” is a 4 minute instrumental that is much more epic in scope than length, working off a slow build into a series of soaring melodies.

On the more familiar side of things, the title track is more straight forward and is absolutely infectious with an addictive main melody and some clean vocal contributions that add to the atmosphere rather than dominate it. “Ego”, “Nova Flame”, and “The Distance” are a bit more upbeat in comparison, and would slot in nicely on The Redshift, helping bridge the two albums nicely.

The mixing and mastering once again was handled by Dan Swano (who also added some clean vocals himself), and his touch is certainly felt throughout the album, as that Edge of Sanity vibe, not necessarily sound, peaks through periodically.

New World Shadows is probably Omnium Gatherum‘s pinnacle – it’s leaps and bounds ahead of their first three efforts, which are no slouches themselves, and even a step up on The Redshift, which was one of my favorite albums of 2008. Though if their pattern holds, the next album could potentially be something even more remarkable, but that’s something I can hardly fathom. Only time will tell I suppose, but in the meantime we have a spectacular album in New World Shadows to absorb.

Don’t get me wrong, they do it well – the musicianship is top notch, and this shit rocks, but I can’t help but think “fake”. After hearing bands like Skeletonwitch, Rumplestiltskin Grinder and Blood Tsunami who not only borrow from the past but add their own splashes to the mix, a band such as Bonded by Blood just does nothing for me. Seriously, if I want Exodus and Forbidden riffs, I’ll listen to Exodus and Forbidden.

On a positive note, the lead work of Alex Lee is beyond brilliant – this kid can shred with the best of them – I can only hope he uses his incredible talent better in the future. His work here is almost enough to make this something worth holding onto, but ultimately, the biggest turn off here for me are the vocals of Jose “Aladin” Barreles, which are a love ’em or hate ’em sort of thing. I find his style grating after a handful of songs.

So in the end, Exiled to Earth is more of the same rehashed Bay Area thrash that the bands debut was. People who can’t get enough of this throwback stuff are sure to eat this up, but for those of us with a more discerning ear, or those who’ve had enough of “the revival” need to look elsewhere for a thrash fix. When’s the next Rumpelstiltskin Grinder due?

When they’re on though, they’re really on. This is usually when they go for a more straight forward melodic death approach without all the genre hopping (“The Denial of Man’s Regression”, “Wider We Open Our Eyes”, “Pull the Plug On Modern Civilization”), or the one occasion where the fusion works really well, “Humanity’s Last Hope”. It’s on these tracks you hear the tightest performances, great lead work and solid songwriting.

When they’re not on, we get the heavily core influenced and breakdown happy numbers with out of place sounding tech flourishes like album opener “MediAssassNation”, “Shade of Corruption”, “Destroy, Rebuild, Repeat”, and the title track, complete with out of nowhere “breee bree bree” pig squeals. Closer “Generalized Cyberphobia” gets off to a great start as a tech death monster, then suddenly becomes a core-riffic over-extended breakdown the second half of the song.

Global Enslavement is not a bad debut, but Massive Slavery have much more talent than is shown here. They’re a band that needs to find their sound and capitalize on that skill, or find a better way to marry all those influences.

I’m happy to say that the Bay Area boys skipped the “suck” and went for “awesome and thrashing”. This time out, their sound is perhaps a bit more refined, the songwriting seems tighter than before and the guitar work is as vicious and cutting as ever, with the solos being particularly fantastic, as expected. The first thing fans will most likely notice though is just how much Russ Anderson’s vocals have changed over the years. His general tone is much deeper these days, though he’s still capable of hitting some quite high notes when needed. Overall, his vocals are diverse, ranging from a gritty standard approach to soaring melodic chorus’ or the high-end, ear splitting falsetto’s. The biggest surprise though, and quite a pleasant one I must add, is this somber tone he occasionally applies that strongly echoes Nevermore‘s Warrel Dane – at one point, I was scouring the net for info on a guest appearance, but it is indeed Mr. Anderson as far as I can tell. It’s most noticeable on “Swine” and “Inhuman Race”, so it’s used sparingly to great effect. Whether this was done intentionally, unknowingly or maybe as just a subconscious influence is for Russ to know and the rest of us to keep guessing. Either way, I think it’s pretty cool and adds another element to the material.

On to the songs! Omega Wave gets fully underway proper after “Alpha Century”, a two minute intro piece with a building, march like quality, with “Forsaken at the Gates”, a real bruising and barn storming number that should put any all doubts of this reunion to rest. This sort of relentless thrash n burn is repeated throughout the album (“Adapt or Die”, the back half of “Swine”, “Hopenosis”, “Omega Wave”), but they also mix it up quite a bit, whether it be the chunkerific groove of “Overthrow”, the slow and eerie first half of “Swine”, all over the place “Dragging My Casket”, or mid paced romp and stomp of “Immortal Wounds” or “Inhuman Race” – lots of diversity, and always well done.

To sum it up, Forbidden is back, and they’re back in a big way. While Omega Wave certainly recalls much from their Forbidden Evil and Twisted Into Form days, this is far from a simple rehash. No, there’s a new found confidence in this material that shows a band brimming with new ideas, though has certainly not forgotten where they came from.

I suppose The Crown‘s edge was lost these past several years while it’s members dabbled in various projects of differing nature, because Doomsday King is lacking. Where’s the bite, the relentless ferocity and the gut punching riffs of Deathrace King or the Tomas Lindberg fronted Crowned in Terror (or the re-recorded Crowned Unholy for the Lindstrand purists)? Simply put, it’s not here. Or not in consistent quantity anyway. It does surface occasionally, showing brief glimpses of what once made them great.

The opening title track starts things off well, even if it’s beginning is misleading with a doom-like riff and bells, which instantly reminded me of Black Sabbath of all things. But this was not to be for long as the actual song kicked in with some fantastic viscous riffing and the first sounds of new vocalist Jonas Stalhammer, who at first seems adequate, but soon reveals himself to be extremely one dimensional. It was at this point that I realized the vocals were much too high in the mix. Follow-up “Angel of Death” (seriously? Come on now) keeps things moving along nicely with some infectious riffing and bits of double bass battery. From here, it goes downhill, fast.

“Age of Iron” is full of bland riffs, but does have one redeeming factor in some excellent solo work, and “The Tempter and the Bible Black” is a complete bore. “Soul Slasher” tries admirably to bring the proceedings back to life with the occasional ass kicking riff and frantic pace, but doesn’t quite match up to the opening pair. “Blood O.D.” flirts with both awesome and the mundane, not knowing what it wants to do.

“Through Eyes of Oblivion” is another high mark with more great, ear-catching riffing and relentless nature. “Desolation Domain” dives back into blandness, but is saved by the excellent “From The Ashes I Shall Return” with stellar riffing and brief spurts of blast beats. This once again doesn’t last as album closer “He Who Rises In Might” finishes things off on a negative note. It could perhaps be the most viscous track on the album, but that doesn’t save it from being boring at six minutes in length, in which it seems to just drag on.

Doomsday King has it’s moments, but is equaled by the bland and uninspired, making for an utter disappointment from a band with the pedigree that of The Crown. Here’s to hoping their next outing lives up to their known potential.

First, I’d like to say that the band was not full of shit when they said it would be their thrashiest album since The Ultra-Violence – I can not contest this, but at the same time, it doesn’t have near the bite that album has. Still, it is a fairly ripping disc. Second, the lyrics are certainly pissed off, for the most part, and match the album title. It’s also well played, and the songwriting is tight.

So what’s the problem you say? Two tracks I just can’t seem to get over. The first of which is “Claws So Deep” which I’m really conflicted about. On one hand, it’s one of the most aggressive songs on the album, and the end features a great guest spot from flamenco guitar wizards Rodrigo y Gabriela, who I’m also a fan of. On the other hand, one of the problems with this track is that guest spot – it feels like an afterthought, as though it was tacked on to the end of the song later on, like they couldn’t figure out what to do with it. It’s a great piece really, and would’ve been fine as a standalone interlude type track, but that’s not the case. Second issue with the song is one specific part of it that features clean vocals. I’m not sure exactly who is doing the vocals here, as I don’t think it’s Mark Osegueda, but I could be wrong, I really do not know. The problem is that the part in question reminds me Matt Heafy of Trivium. There are four lines in a row that all rhyme “er” words; slaughter, daughter, water and hotter – it’s annoying and strongly reminiscent of Heafy’s style, which kinda turns my stomach. It’s also done twice in the song. Ugh.

Moving on, the other track I have issues with is the acoustic track near the end, “Volcanic”. It would have been fine honestly, as I don’t have issues with a well done acoustic track, if it were not for, once again, a single part, or line even – “hate the player, but don’t hate the game” – really? This seems like a serious misfit for a metal band, acoustic song or not. It just rubs me the wrong way. So much so, that I have yet to return to the track, until this review that is. But that’s the beauty of listening to music on a PC or mp3 player – you can edit out all the songs you don’t want to hear from the playlist. Despite this, the tracks, or parts rather, still exist on the album. Maybe I’m just being entirely too picky and jaded as old age creeps up on me.

So as for the rest of the album now that those gripes are out of the way? In short, it fucking rules. Face peeling solos and hard hitting thrash riffs abound. “Truce”, “River of Rapture”, “This Hate”, “Death of the Meek” and “I Chose the Sky” are all fantastic thrash anthems. “Absence of Light” is a great mid-paced respite, and the previously mentioned “This Hate” has some of the catchiest vocal phrasings I’ve ever heard in any thrash song, in both the verses and also in an absolutely infections soaring chorus. It’s also the only song on the album that has that fun, rockin’ kind of vibe that I loved and was so abundant on Killing Season.

So in the end, yes I do quite like the Relentless Retribution, but those two songs leave a foul taste in my mouth, and I can’t quite ignore them. Death Angel are still kicking out quality stuff, despite a couple missteps.

We arrived to the venue a bit late, and missed one of the local opening bands, the better of the two from what I understand. Drag the Dead is their name. I spoke to one of the members while the second band, whose name I never got, was on stage entertaining those fucking pit ninjas. He described their sound as brutal death metal, so that surely would have been better than the atrocity that went on after them – bummer. On a positive note though, I also got the opportunity to chat briefly with Misery Index guitarist Mark Kloeppel – good dude.

OK, a few beers down, jackasses off the stage, it was time for some Revocation! They played 7 or 8 songs (I really need to bring a pen and pad to these shows with me) from both of their albums, Empire of the Obscene and Existence is Futile, both of which are awesome, awesome albums, so check them out if you get the chance. My buddy Casey that attended the show with me who was new to Revocation, kept commenting on the guitar work, particularly the solos, of David Davidson, which as I knew already from their CD’s, is spectacular – seeing him do it live – and so, so spot on, was a whole new experience. Incredible. The band was tight as a nuns ass – on fire – and full of energy. On thing I was really looking forward to seeing live was just how they handled the vocal situation. As it turned out, I was right in that both David, bass man Anthony Buda, and live guitarist Dan Gargiulo handled vocal duties live.

Revocation tears it up.

Back to the bar, more beers. It was at this point we discovered there was another bar at the back of the stage room (the bar we had been at was in separate room, which was good for avoiding bullshit at least), so we decided to head back there to drink a beer as Misery Index was starting. Beers finished, we finally made our way to the front of the stage. Turns out we made it up there for the second half of the last song! Talk about wanting to kick yourself in the ass! We literally drank their set away! Oh well, we could still see and hear from where we were, so it’s not like we truly missed it, but it could have been way cooler. I recall hearing a lot of stuff from the two newest albums and a couple older tunes as well. The only songs I remember for sure by name are “Traitors” and “The Carrion Call”. The whole set was scorching though, and once again, they were tight as fuck and loaded with energy.

Killing, Misery Index style.

Of course, this was actually a Despised Icon tour, but neither of us had any interest in seeing them, so at this point we bought shirts and hightailed it out of there early. Now why did we not want to see Despised Icon? Well for starters, neither of us are a fan of their music, so it was a no-brainer to leave. But upon closer inspection, it’s those damn pit-ninja retards who will no doubt be spin kicking themselves into oblivion during their set. There are few things in this world that I hate, no loathe as much as I do hardcore dancing. It’s fucking retarded. So many of these trendy scenester fucks are actually looking to “accidentally” hurt someone with that stupid shit. What happened to moshing? You know the kind of moshing when someone gets knocked down, you lend a hand to pick them back up? Like a fucking brotherhood – a brotherhood of metal people bonding over music by bashing each other around but coming right back to say “it’s all good, get up and lets do it again!” It seems to be a lost aspect these days, or at least when looking as this younger generation of certain bands and fans. I’m waiting for the day that one of them ninja fucks hits or kicks me so I can come right back at ’em. Fuckers. Then you have their dress style, with the straight-billed caps on side-ways, backwards or cocked, jersey’s, shirts with ironic or “witty” sayings, extra baggy pants – it’s all retarded, and seems to borrow heavily from another pop-culture movement that I hate equally, if not more so. Ugh. Rant mode over.

So anyway, we had a great time at the show, both bands we came to see destroyed the place. I can’t wait to catch either of them again! I’ll leave you with a pic of me and my buddy Casey, chilling at the bar drinking some Newcastle while Misery Index was destroying the stage. Until next time.

Newcastle rules!

(Sorry about the crappy cell phone pics, we forgot to bring a proper camera, doh!)

Enemy Unbound, the band’s third album, is another mark of excellence in the bands belt, another slightly thrash inflicted slab of rip-roarin’ melodeath. Though not quite as mean or intense as 2007’s Riders of the Plague, Enemy Unbound is still led by the amazingly ear-catching and jaw-dropping leads and melodies of guitarists Peter Joseph and Patrick Pintavalle.

Now, where as both previous albums had a few really stand out tracks amid the consistent quality, Enemy Unbound is simply solid all the way through – nothing truly jumps out above the rest, but this is not a bad thing. A few notable highlights however come by way of “The Bridge”, hosting one of the bands most memorable chorus’ yet; the title track, which is similar to past tracks such as “World Divides” and “Heaven Ablaze” in that it’s the albums super melodic, slightly slower and instantly memorable track; and “Deepest Wound” and “Maelstrom” being the albums heaviest and thrashiest songs.

My only true gripe of the album is of the eleven tracks, 3 are short instrumentals – album opener “Vertigo”, the mid album “Solace”, and closer “Triumph”. Granted, these all too brief pieces of music are also of exceptional quality, but I’d prefer to have more proper songs, or at least one average length instrumental. There’s actually another brief instrumental tucked away as a hidden track after several minutes of silence following “Triumph”. It has sort of a…I guess a tribal drum sort of feel and accompanying acoustic guitar bit. I consider this another gripe, as the hidden track thing is just stale now.

While I’m certainly not disappointed with Enemy Unbound, it doesn’t quite hit me as hard as it’s predecessors. Both From Your Grave and Riders of the Plague were my AOTY for 05 and 07 respectively. The Absence will not be taking that honor again this year, but rest assured, Enemy Unbound is still one of the year’s best releases. Now get to it.

Now even though I’m blathering on with my Swano/Edge of Sanity worship and comparisons, Demiurg is actually a Rogga Johansson fronted project, handling lead vocals and rhythm guitar. Rogga is the man fully or partially responsible for other death metal beasts such as Ribspreader, Bone Gnawer and The Grotesquery to name but a few, and also a one time cohort in Edge of Sanity – to put it simply, he has as much clout as Mr. Swano, and together, they’re a wrecking ball.

OK, enough bullshit, onto the album. Slakthus Gamleby works for many reasons, but first and foremost is it’s versatility. Hard hitting, straight forward Swedish death metal peppered with bouts of melodic guitar and/or synth runs, occasional clean female vocals, tempo shifts and variations. Take album opener “Life is a Coma” for example – it would have you believe at first to be a pure mid pace romper, but midway through, the song breaks down into a slower melodic section and first introduces those female vox then comes back again. Follow up “Death Grasp Oblivion” is like a punch to the gut with it’s quicker pace and heaviness, while “Travelers of the Vortex” is much more doom than anything, and features a bit of clean male vocals courtesy of skinsman Ed Warby, also of Gorefest and Hail of Bullets fame. “Cold Skin” is another stormer sprinkled with bits of melodic leads and a short and sweet synth break, and “From Laughter to Retching” answers right back with a slower pace, more melody and another female vocal bit. The title track runs the gamut, bringing full on groove laden death, broken up by a doom like passage and an almost haunting, eerie sounding synth run midway through, and again to close the track. The album closes out with “World Burial” – more heavy, more brutal, but contrasted in it’s final 30 seconds by a solo female vocal piece, which itself is a repeat of the “From Laughter to Retching” female part.

I cannot praise this album enough. It’s at times heavy and devastating, yet at others it’s melodic and beautiful. A truly all in one package that’s cohesive and extremely memorable – one of the years best, and most likely one of it’s most over-looked.

Lets start on the positive side of things here. Musically, Sadistic Crown is brimming with tight performances, hooky, memorable riffs, molten solos and bruising kit work. Their style is that of thrash infused modern death metal, with a sprinkling of melody and hardcore. Now, I wouldn’t go as far to call them metalcore, as the hardcore elements and breakdowns feel much more natural than that of your standard core acts making the rounds. “My Wrath Will Follow You”, “Rot and Decay” and thrashing closer “Hell Dust Impulse” are proof positive of this.

Vocally, Jeff Linstead delivers a performance throughout that falls somewhere between the likes of Phil Anselmo (not another one), Lamb of God‘s Randy Blythe, and Hatebreed‘s Jamey Jasta – three vocalists who seem to be endlessly imitated these days. He performs admirably in this style I suppose, but seems to be mismatched by the talent of his bandmates. The music calls for something a bit more powerful and unique, with perhaps a bit more variety and range.

Absolve are nothing to get to worked up about yet, but are certainly a band I’ll be keeping an eye on in the future.

Now, I’m not as thoroughly versed in my native country’s death metal classics as others (I tend to lean towards the Swedish side of death metal), but from what I can tell, these Belorussian death dealers seem to draw heavy influence from the late 80’s proto-death of Flordian variety. Death and Morbid Angel spring to mind instantly with relentless blasting and double bass battery (“Undercover Enslavement”, “For the Transient”, “Ghouls”, “Sharp”), semi-thrashing nasty riffing (opener “Rising Hate”, “Grind Peace”, “Stabbin’ With A Nail”, “The Killed”) and dry, raspy vocals that somewhat bring to mind Max Cavalera 20+ years ago.

There’s not much by way of variety here – this is pretty straightforward, high octane thrashing death metal – but “Mirror of Mors”, “Sharp”, and closer “The Ancient Dreamer” feature some interesting guitar bits that made my ears perk up. The songs mostly fall just under or just over the 2 minute mark, leaving it’s 12 tracks to just fly by before you really know what the hell just happened. Short and brutal, the way an album of this ilk should be.

Disgod may not be doing anything to re-write the genre of death metal, but Sanguine Scales is a competent debut worth checking out for fans of the style.

Of the two albums they managed to release before they split, sophomore album Victims of Deception is regarded a classic in some circles, or at the very least, a masterful slice of progressive tinged Bay Area Thrash. I am among this crowd, as Victims is an all time fave. Naturally I’d been looking forward to this release for quite some time with great anticipation, wondering how it could possibly stack up it’s predecessor, especially after such a long delay. I’m happy to report that it’s a full on win.

The Evolution of Chaos is chock full of masterful songwriting, wicked chops and memorable songs. The guitar duo of Lee Altus and newcomer Kragen Lum work together seamlessly, punching out first class riffs, soaring leads and jaw dropping solos one after another, song after song. Vocalist David White (aka David Godfrey) has maintained a great command of his voice and range over the years, and here delivers superb clarity and power without ever crossing into that realm of cheesy high end vocalists ala most power metal.

Highlights of the album come by way of the barn burning opener (after a brief middle eastern tinged intro) “Dying Season”, the galloping “Arrows of Agony”, and “Bloodkult”, another ripper which borrows a play or two from the Testament handbook. The real star of the album though is the 11 minute epic “No Stone Unturned”. The song is split into 3 distinct sections, leading off with a simple, mid paced piece which fades into a slower, soulful sounding solo section, and finally leads into neck-snapping pace and shredding solos to the songs climax. In the end, the song hardly feels like the 11 minute beast that it is.

The only downfall of the album comes from the ballady “A Hero’s Welcome”, a song that to me, totally disrupts the flow of the album. It’s an ode of sorts to soldiers fighting for their country overseas. The message is admirable, but the song itself does nothing for me or the album. The spoken word bit mid song is just too much – it stands out like a white guy in the starting line up of an NBA team. After a handful of plays, I just removed it from the playlist, problem solved. Outside of this minor misstep, there’s no flaws to be found.

In the end, Heathen made a Heathen album, one that doesn’t simply copy their past, but expands upon it without losing their sound. Impressive for a band that went nearly two decades without a proper recording. The Evolution of Chaos is a worthy follow up to Victims of Deception, easily standing up to it in all aspects. Rest assured, it will mark highly on my tops list at the end of the year.