Origin — Abiogenesis: A Coming Into Existence
✦✦✧✧ Look on the bright side: if you’re wanting brand new death metal that sounds like it came from Tampa in 1991, have I got an album for you! See the rest here
Author Archives: arse
Fractal Universe — Rhizomes Of Insanity
✦✦✦✧ If I had to put a label on this, “Cynic-inspired progressive jazz rethrash” isn’t a bad place to start. I like that there’s no heavy reliance on blast beats and busy yet unintelligible riffs. Instead, the band find ways to stitch together lots of various styles, from tech death to groove to… flamenco? See the rest here
Amon Amarth — Berserker
✦✦✧✧ This album is fifteen minutes longer than Amon Amarth usually give us; this is one of those times when less would likely have been more. There are some gems of Viking metal, and I could imagine slipping a couple of these tracks into my lifting playlist, but there’s an awful lot of Not on here as well. See the rest here
Ola Englund — Master of the Universe
✦✦✦✧ This solo debut cements Ola Englund as the torchbearer for modern guitar wankery. Imagine a Shrapnel Records vanity album, only by way of Sweden instead of California. (Jason Becker: still alive, gods love him!) Fans of The Haunted expecting more of the same will be disappointed, but keep your eyes on the prize: this album taps into lots of different metal styles, so there’s something here for everyone, even if it isn’t super memorable or emotive. See the rest here
Children Of Bodom — Hexed
✦✦✦✧ The band is focusing anew on technical ability; they’ve been practicing, and it shows. Thusly armed, CoB’s usual treacly nonsense is interspersed between truly shreddy moments. Even without the bonus tracks, the album drags, but it’s still one of the best things the band have ever made. See the rest here
Whitechapel — The Valley
✦✦✦✧ This album finds Whitechapel farthest afield from the deathcore of their formative years, to excellent effect. Sure, the band is still tuned down and know their way around a breakdown, but that’s all leavened by a complexity and progressiveness that I wasn’t entirely sure they had in them. Destined to make it onto lots of best-of lists in December. See the rest here
Sunn O))) — Life Metal
✦✦✧✧ You’re either already into Sunn O))), in which case nothing I say will matter, or you’re curious, in which case let me assure you: this is an isolated guitar riff reamplified, slowed down, and stretched to an hour… and almost nothing more. See the rest here
Omicida — Defrauded Reign
✦✦✦✧ Very good rethrash. So what if its idea of innovation is a bit of a retread of thrash’s rich history (this band clearly loves them some Slayer and Testament); it’s still gonna lure you into the nearest pit! See the rest here
Allegaeon — Apoptosis
✦✦✧✧ This is a very mixed bag for me. On the one hand, Allegaeon’s reputation for being an innovative and supertechnical prog death metal act continues with this album. On the other hand, it’s dogged by a persistent sense of detachment. I chalk it up to an underrepresentation of dynamics or variety, which is a weird thing to say in the middle of a super shreddy arpeggiostorm, but there it is. See the rest here
Hannes Grossmann — Apophenia
✦✦✦✧ Grossmann’s third solo album starts out with its best track, the ten-minute blistering “Deep,” but has a hard time reaching back up to the same heights, despite guests Jeff Loomis, Marty Friedman, and Christian Muenzner. Even with that issue, the album is technically just about perfect. Crisp production, better-than-average pacing, and of course world-class musicianship make this one a must-listen. See the rest here
