Posts Tagged ‘Review’

One Many Army and The Undead Quartet – Error In Evolution

One Many Army and The Undead Quartet – Error In Evolution

I reviewed Error In Evolution several months ago at a different site, and haven’t listened to it since – nothing’s changed since then – this is still a very, very average death/thrash album. Not bad, not great – just really average. Coming on the heels of debut 21st Century Killing Machine, I had my hopes […]

Destiny Program, The – Subversive Blueprint (The 12 Point Program to Self Revolution)

Destiny Program, The – Subversive Blueprint (The 12 Point Program to Self Revolution)

The last time we heard from this German metalcore outfit they were called just ‘Destiny’ and released the excellent The Tracy Chapter. Now with a legally changed name and a new label, the band’s mid era Poison The Well worship and strong sense of songwriting is still intact. Not as grating as fellow Germans Heaven […]

Dawn of Demise – Hate Takes Its Form

Dawn of Demise – Hate Takes Its Form

Taking the chunk of Danish/Belgian death metal, then lumber and lurch of Jungle Rot (and I hear some Hatework and Vore in here too) and the slam of say Eternal Suffering and Suffocation (without the complexity), Denmark’s Dawn of Demise have delivered a pretty damn stout offering of perfectly rendered death metal, giving Deepsend a […]

Winds of Plague – Decimate The Weak

Winds of Plague – Decimate The Weak

Though keyboards and synths have recently been used more frequently in death core, it was the 2005 debut, A Cold Day In Hell, from this California band that seemed to use them in a more symphonic black metal way that really got my attention and the attention of Century Media. So now armed with a […]

Circus Maximus  – Isolate

Circus Maximus – Isolate

Circus Maximus’ debut record really caught my attention a few years ago. Despite a heavy leaning toward Dream Theater worship, it had some really interesting and memorable moments. It’s taken me a little longer to get a bead on the group’s sophomore effort. There are the good things that I remember from the first record, […]

Marblebog – Forest heart

Marblebog – Forest heart

So here’s a re-issue of the 2005 cassette only third release from the Hungarian one man project comprised of Vorgrov, and after doing some research I was pretty excited to hear this supposedly folky take on one man drony, doomy ambient and atmospheric black metal. Well, its OK I suppose. It’s primal and grim with […]

Byzantine – Oblivion Beckons

Byzantine – Oblivion Beckons

Charleston, West Virginia natives Byzantine are back with their third (and sadly final) album Oblivion Beckons, an impressive effort to say the least. Combining some technical flair with stout groove and bits of thrashing, Oblivion Beckons is well rounded, skillfully played and diversified without ever wandering away from the sound that they can firmly call […]

Isole – Bliss of Solitude

Isole – Bliss of Solitude

Isole have been moiling in the underground since the early 90’s. Completely underrated, this Swedish act has only just begun to see the light of day in metal news and charts. 2005’s debut record Forevermore was a healthy slab of traditional epic doom in the vein of Solitude Aeternus, but with its on twists and […]

Hell Within – Shadows of Vanity

Hell Within – Shadows of Vanity

Ugh. I just hate it when good or decent music is ruined with below average vocals. Example: this new Hell Within disc Shadows of Vanity. Musically, it’s accessible modern thrash with some melody, ala Sanctity or recent Trivium. Vocally, it’s the standard harsh/clean trade off sound of metalcore, courtesy of one Matt McChesney, who most […]

Sebastian Bach – Angel Down

Sebastian Bach – Angel Down

I’ve already outed myself here as a Skid Row fan and proud of it. Despite their regrettably hairy hits, “I Remember You” and “18 and Life,” I do think Skid Row was one of the best hard rock bands to emerge from the late 1980s scene. The latest release by former singer Sebastian Bach, though, […]

Poets & Pornstars – S/T

Poets & Pornstars – S/T

I’m not sure if there are any real porn stars in this band, but I feel pretty safe in saying there probably aren’t any real poets when the best chorus they can come up with for the record opener is the tired, “it’s just rock ‘n’ roll to me,” that’s been used at least a […]

Protest The Hero – Fortress

Protest The Hero – Fortress

Brilliance often breeds polarity. For example, Kezia, the 2006 debut from this group of young Canadians, split the metal community down the middle, with a love it or loathe it mindset. That being said, of all the non extreme metal albums I reviewed, Kezia seemed to be that rare non death, grind, black, thrash metal […]

Sculptured – Embodiment: Collapsing Under the Weight of God

Sculptured – Embodiment: Collapsing Under the Weight of God

Sculptured is the side project from Don Anderson of Agalloch fame. Back in 1998, The Spear of the Lily is Aureoled was a solid effort that showed promise in the Opeth, Katatonia, and Agalloch territory. This was enough to gain my interest and in 2000 the band came out with Apollo Ends, a more progressive/jazz […]

Alestorm – Captain Morgan’s Revenge

Alestorm – Captain Morgan’s Revenge

Often the press and promo sheets that come with albums for review are the greatest work of literary fiction since “A History of Great French Military Victories” came out. However in the case of Alestorm it simply says this: ‘Scottish Pirate Metal.’ I’d say that about covers it. Formerly known as Battleheart, Scotland’s Alestorm (arguably […]

Various Artists –  Metal Blade 25th Anniversary DVD

Various Artists – Metal Blade 25th Anniversary DVD

Recorded live at the Worcester Palladium in April of 2007, this 29 track DVD features most of the ‘popular’ Metal Blade artists. But while I have no problems with production or fairly bare bones but entertaining back stage interviews, I have issue with the fact Metal Blade went withtracks from teh likes of Beyond The […]

Main Line Riders – Shot In The Dark

Main Line Riders – Shot In The Dark

There are a lot of bands popping up with a sound that is a throwback to the glory days of ‘80s Sunset Strip Sleaze Rock. Most notably, Buckcherry (who recently went platinum), but also Vains Of Jenna & Hardcore Superstar. Call it the 20-year cycle…2007 is seeing 1987 manifest itself in the Rock scene. Witness […]

Gamma Ray – Land of the Free II

Gamma Ray – Land of the Free II

It’s a tried and true formula. You’ve put out a couple of records that were slightly different in style and perhaps not as good as earlier records, a few fans grumbled. You want to make it clear you’re returning to your old style, so you name your new record after one that’s widely considered by […]

Enemy of the Sun – Shadows

Enemy of the Sun – Shadows

Enemy of the Sun is the latest musical endeavor from Grip Inc mastermind Waldemar Sorychta. The material on debut offering Shadows is undeniably metal, but there’s much more at play here than just that. The heavier thrashier parts are most comparable to Strapping Young Lad’s wall-of-sound cyber thrashing, but then there’s the not so intense, […]

Putridity – Mental Prolapse Induces Necrophilism

Putridity – Mental Prolapse Induces Necrophilism

The brutal death bug has now even spread its wings over Italy, one of the last places I’d (and I should know) expect to find gore obsessed lunatics concocting gory, slamming death metal. What’s more the bug has bit hard, as Putridity join the likes of Vomit the Soul, Septycal Gorge, Stench of Dismemberment, Vulvectomy […]

Vreid – I Krig

Vreid – I Krig

For a band named Wrath they sure have gotten rather mellow. Before I delve too much farther into this review of Vreid’s third album let me explain that remark. I started out this morning listening to Gorgoroth, all of their stuff in chronological order, and then I switched to Vreid, starting with Kraft, then Pitch […]

System Shock – Escape

System Shock – Escape

Hailing from Sweden, System Shock play melodic death metal not too far removed from anything you’ve heard before. Later day Dark Tranquillity serves as a loose template of what System shock plays. Add more emphasis on the use of keys in most places, a strong sense of accessibility, a vocalist more comparable to Amon Amarth’s […]

Ulcerate – Of Fracture & Failure

Ulcerate – Of Fracture & Failure

From the same coalition that brought us the excellent Sickening Horror release, comes another phenomenal technical death metal release from a part of the world you would not usually expect, this time in the form of the full length debut from New Zealand’s Ulcerate. Though not quite as experimental as the Sickening Horror release, Of […]

Born Of Osiris – The New Reign

Born Of Osiris – The New Reign

After making some waves with their debut release from The Faceless, the second release from the label is a smartly similar release of forward thinking, synth laced, techy, progressive, death metal/deathcore. Throw in some Between The Buried and Me styled arpeggio flourishes, and you get a pretty solid, if all too short release. Clocking in […]

Virgin Black- Requiem-Fortissimo

Virgin Black- Requiem-Fortissimo

Here is the winner for best release thus far in 2008. Virgin Black has created one hell of a masterpiece in Requiem-Fortissimo and probably the best album to come out of Australia in years. Fortissimo means loud or played very loudly. Considering this is the second chapter in a trilogy by the band (Pianissimo being […]

Saint Deamon – In Shadows Lost From The Brave

Saint Deamon – In Shadows Lost From The Brave

Just in time to cure drag me out of my Power Metal funk, along comes Saint Deamon with an album that is already on my Top Releases of 2008. I was getting burned out on all these Power Metal bands still going to great lengths to reinvent the wheel that Gamma Ray had already worn […]