✦✦✦✧ This album from Sweden’s kings of post metal builds on and refines the sound from its predecessor A Dawn To Fear. Their sonic palette is expanded and even moodier and more interesting, and the production affords the music more space to inhabit and breathe. If I imagine what Isis might have sounded like if they’d continued their ascendancy, this album is pretty close to it. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ I have somehow been snoozing on Logan Mader’s work after he left Machine Head. What a great time then to hop on Once Human’s bandwagon: this album feels like a wholly cohesive statement, yet not quite like anything else you can hear today. Lauren Hart’s vocals that remind of Chester Bennington as often as of Joe Duplantier, all to great effect. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ A fairly heavy, if not too polished, album of lavish prog folk metal and a fitting continuation of the band’s evolution into being a spiritual if not literal eastern extension of the Gothenburg sound. Solid from start to finish, although I do yearn for a standout classic or two (although “Windmane” comes close). See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ As ever, this band has two modes: sumptious gorgeousness and feral mathcore aggression. What’s new and noteworthy is how well those two threads can be woven together, and in how many different combinations they work in tandem, not quite as relegated to their separate corners as before. I’m hardpressed to think of another band that can pull this off so effectively. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ If there’s a surprise here, it’s only how fun this new slab of NWOBHM is. And if you’re truly surprised, that’s on you, buddy. Also, Biff Byford’s pipes sound fanfuckingtastic… but everyone here sounds great, thanks in part to the pristine mix courtesy of Andy Sneap. Just, ya know, fuckin’ listen to it already! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is the frontrunner for the best progressive metal album of 2022. It is an order of magnitude better than their previous album (which, as an Arsies contestant, was clearly no slouch). Seriously, it’s better in just about every way I can imagine. It shreds, but when it doesn’t shred, it emotes. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Korn’s fourteenth studio album showcases a streamlined and mature band that have learned how to cherry-pick from their various tics, reinvesting in the ones that still bear fruit (e.g., a seemingly endless penchant for fun guitar tones) and distancing themselves from those that no longer do (Fieldy’s scalloped tone). It’s a shame that there are no real instant classics here, which would be a far more fitting reward for their evolution. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Three tracks; 62 minutes! But don’t let that scare you off: this is a compelling trip. It’s also totally stoney as fuck. But it works for me! Also, where are my pants? See the rest here
This week, there’s been a growing hue and cry about Spotify, precipitated by Neil Young taking a stand against the platform’s promotion and publication of Joe Rogan’s harmful rhetoric about CoViD, but further bolstered by people seeming to wake up to Spotify’s less than generous revenue sharing model. To be totally fair, they’re not the only ones screwing the artists, but they’re among the most egregious. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Look at this three-necked instrument! This guy is still a shredding maniac. The album is definitely worth checking out for its unpredictable creativity and alien imagination, even if it is hardly rock, let alone metal. I’d describe it as a modern instrumental Zappa-like exploration, and I mean that as nicely as I can. See the rest here
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