✦✦✧✧ BAN do a phenomenal job here of blending stereotypical Norwegian black and experimental American post-black metals (which is ironic since they’re French), and seem to have fun playing with one’s expectations throughout their new material. Special shout-out to Vindsval, whose vocals are particularly atmospheric and (from a musical standpoint) almost worthless otherwise. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ A tight sampling of LOA’s multiple moods, moving seamlessly from groovy hard rock to more experimental forays. This is more their mellowest record to date, but there’s still a streetwise menace to be felt throughout. If the result sometimes sounds like Alice In Chains as often as it sounds like Nothingface (or older LOA), that feels like an easy price to pay. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ TDWP take their industrial/glitchy djentcore style into a more accessible direction. But this new sound is only interesting in a heady, shoegazer way, with ruinous pacing issues and very little emotional heft behind any of the album’s tracks. Maybe this will make TDWP more of a household name; if their aim is to be more like Asking Alexandria or Breaking Benjamin, this may be the way forward, and I wish them luck. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This melodeath album wavers from run-of-the-mill Insomnium to goddamn-great Insomnium. I wish the production was a little crisper (although that might just be my Gothenburg bias showing through), but otherwise the shredding and epicness shine brightly enough. Stand-out tracks like “Valediction,” “Pale Morning Star,” and “Twilight Trails” are must-listens, in any event. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Feral as ever, Exhumed continues to distance themselves from their very Carcass-like beginnings while still holding true to the nasty aesthetic that the subgenre is known for. The riff salad that is this album however feels a little less inspired than previous works. Not the band’s best, but still rollicking good fun. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Once again answering the question, “What happens when you give Digital Whammy pedals to everyone in a NYC-area mathcore band?”, Car Bomb’s latest feels like the ill-begotten offspring of Converge and Meshuggah (specifically, the latter’s “Contradictions Collapse/None” split). What is surprising is just how listenable this album is, even while kicking down your doors to claim the prize for Most Twisted Album Of 2019. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This is the closest Hellyeah have come to producing an entirely listenable album; fully half the tracks on here are winners or near winners. If the band’s considerable press efforts are to be believed, this is evidence of a change in direction for the band, conceived of before Vinnie Paul’s untimely death in 2018. See the rest here
✦✧✧✧ This sounds like reheated crap. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is everything you could possibly want from a Norwegian black metal band. You can almost feel the icicles dangling off this album. It’s also a better example of the potential fusion between vintage prog and modern metal. This album is atmospheric and folksy and energetic and so epic. In other words, this album is what I’ve really wanted from Opeth for quite some time now. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Of course Opeth would start this album with a Mellotron sample. And yet, everyone’s favorite was-metal prog rock band are newly channeling 70s proto-metal here. The result is darker and more interesting than their last few albums. I’m still waiting in vain for a Damnation Part II, but I give Messrs. See the rest here
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