Artificial Language — Now We Sleep
✦✦✦✧ This is the blend of Leprous, The Faceless, Scale The Summit, and BTBAM you didn’t know you needed. See the rest here
Author Archives: arse
Spirit Adrift — Divided By Darkness
✦✦✧✧ A cozy blend of early Mastodon’s playfulness and Baroness’s swampiness. Dark, dirty fun. I just wish it was more emotive or interesting. See the rest here
Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult — Mardom
✦✧✧✧ Very traditional (1st gen) black metal. It’s hard to believe this is a 2019 album. See the rest here
Korn — The Nothing
✦✦✧✧ Whoa, when did Korn discover djent or deathcore?! It’s all fairly interesting update to the band’s sound. But the entire reason to listen to this is the fact that this is a new Korn album; otherwise, I don’t know who this is for. See the rest here
KXM — Circle Of Dolls
✦✦✧✧ Of course George Lynch shreeds in this. But, where’s the bass, Dug?! See the rest here
While She Sleeps — So What?
✦✦✦✧ If you absolutely have to put out music in 2019 that’s inspired by nu metal and industrial, at least be as fun as WSS are on this album. It helps tremendously that they’ve mastered the art of blending early 00’s sensibilities and present-day tropes; I never would have thought to blend metalcore, Chester Bennington-style screams, and trap music… but it’s so crazy and fun that it just might work for you! See the rest here
Within Temptation — Resist
✦✧✧✧ Any itch this album attempts to scratch would be better served by Evanescence’s 2006 album “The Open Door.” (The fact that I had to go back 13 years for a comparison should tell you something.) See the rest here
Sonata Arctica — Talviyö
✦✦✧✧ Tired riffs and arbitrary chord progressions mar this latest effort from these power metal mainstays. Worst still, there’s just not enough cheese here to distract from the rest of the material, which feels like a retread. There are lots of examples in 2019 of veteran bands coming out with new, invigorating material; this is definitely not one of them. See the rest here
Vitriol — To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice
✦✦✧✧ This techdeath album sounds like a tornado of razor blades: devastating, mechanistic, chaotic almost to the point of unintelligibility. Unfortunately, the band’s expertly-deployed technical onslaught and deranged composition skill also shreds any sense of dynamics or memorability. See the rest here
Sacred Reich — Awakening
✦✦✦✧ Some veteran thrash bands have come out of their slumbers with attempts at reinventing themselves; not these guys, who are clearly invigorated by the prospect of putting out a fresh batch of the same old shit (for the first time in 23 years). And it’s all still here: Phil Rind’s strong vocals, Dave McClain’s concussive drumming, and shredding guitars by Wiley Arnett and (sole newcomer) Joey Radziwill. See the rest here
