✦✦✦✧ Oooh, you nasty! This band’s dedication to o.g. goregrind is so thorough and unflinching, it feels more like they heard Reek Of Putrefaction back around 1990, then holed themselves up in a cave for 30 years and have been evolving that sound ever since. If any part of you ever loved Cannibal Corpse or Massacre, this album will definitely make you smile. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This album seemingly finds Rammstein in a slightly contemplative frame of mind. I say "slightly," because now as ever, the resulting music is such a polished product of the band’s formula — Germanic swagger rock that plays well in the giant arenas required for their pyrotechnic performance — that it’s all but impossible for Rammstein to really surprise or shock anymore. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ I’d call this rethrash, but if I’m being honest the only thing modern about it is the mix, and that’s only halfway reimagined. That’s not bad news, especially if you’re a dyed-in-the-wool thrash fan like I am. Just don’t expect much in the way of novelty or ingenuity. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ More than anyone or anything I can think of, the latest from Northlane really erodes the barrier between djent and dubstep, for good or for ill. I don’t hate it as much as I thought I would, although the music flirts with nu metal more often than I’m comfortable with. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is unpredictable, at times goofy as hell, at times only metal-adjacent, and at times a shredfest. One thing it is not is background music: this album is deeply fascinating. I don’t know if that’s always a good thing, but bless this band for throwing it all up on the wall and seeing what sticks. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is AAL at their heaviest in a very long time, if ever. Feel free to thank Misha Mansoor, whose production and arrangement assistance can be heard throughout the album. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ I’m sure my Meshuggah fanboyism is well established by now. Imagine then the pain I feel in having to give this album the lowest rating I’ve ever given the band.
The problem really comes down to the first three or four tracks, which establish a feeling for the album as a collection of B-sides, outtakes, and demos of guitar tone. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Dave Grohl is awesome, and this album is not. It’s the audio equivalent of Kylie Jenner wearing a Slayer t-shirt. Then again, I refuse to go along with the Tenacious D thing, so maybe it’s just me. (Then again again, this album really only exists as a prop for Dave’s horror flick “Studio 666,” so let’s relax.) See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This album delivers everything you might want from these exemplars of black metal’s second wave, but Dark Funeral do it in ways that sound anything other than trite or formulaic. This is a surprisingly expansive and experimental collection of songs. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ The only thing new about this album from Swedish extreme metal war historians Sabaton is that this suite of songs literally tells different specific stories from the First World War. I guess they just never got around to talking about the Christmas armistice in Bastogne until now. Hate on them all you want, but I think that’s actually kinda dope. See the rest here
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