✦✦✦✧ This is some very good prog metal. The band’s early influences-on-their-sleeves approach is more subdued here (although you can still hear glimmers of Tool, Opeth, and even latter-day Pink Floyd in the mix), and the result is patient yet plaintive, and more surefooted than ever. My main complaint? It’s a hard kind of music to get excited about. See the rest here
✦✧✧✧ What is this, Deafheaven? See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This is somehow simultaneously vintage thrash and updated rethrash (imagine Exodus fused with hints of both Slayer and Gojira). Sadly, the subpar production distracts from some otherwise stellar moments. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Weird: my very first thought was, “What the actual fuck is this?! Nu-nu-metal? Mumblecore? Frippertronics?” After a few tracks, I realized that I can’t think of anything else that sounds remotely like this… and that uniqueness absolutely should be celebrated for what it is. Don’t get me wrong: this is about as metal as The Prodigy. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ A surprisingly smooth, energetic, and entertaining collection of folksy, dronelike black metal from these pioneers of the Greek metal scene. Sure, the album is liberally embellished with black metal clichés, but if you’re down for atheistic metal with some cheesy chants and badly-enunciated English vocals, this album is sure to be a hit! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Soilwork continue their explorations beyond their own formulaic confines which started with The Ride Majestic. The result is fresher, more lyrical, and surprisingly subtle for these melodeath champions of consistency. Definitely worth at least one listen. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This is destined to be thought of as the opening salvo of the Great Thrash Offensive Of 2019. As such, it’s a very capable tip of the sword: plenty of tasty, high-speed riffs and infectious headbanging in tighter songs than I’m used to from Flots. Plus, A.K. Knutson’s voice sounds better than ever (faint praise, but worth mentioning). See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Props to DT for coming out with a grittier, tighter version of themselves on this album (somewhere in the musical ballpark of “Scenes From A Memory”). The shorter compositions lead not only to a sharper focus often missing in the past, but this feels in some ways like the best-yet fusion of DT’s twin penchants for heavy technicality and pseudo-emotive composition. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ A decidedly more Behemoth-y brand of death metal than I remember from Malevolent Creation. If only the album sounded as interesting as that description does. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Ukrainian djenty nu metal! That’s likely to evoke a bad reaction, but if you can look past your preconceptions, you’ll be left with a unique (and, at times, surprisingly heavy) EP that reminds me a bit of Torrential Downpour, Mudvayne, and SikTh. Tatiana Shmailyuk’s clean vocals work more often than not, but her gross vox are always great. See the rest here
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