✦✦✧✧ Absolutely no surprises here: this is textbook power metal, with standout vocals from Tommy Karevik, of course, but not much else to stick in one’s memory. There’s nothing here that I would remotely think of as “bad”… also but nothing here to really stir anyone’s blood. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Technical death metal in metalcore’s clothes. This has more in common with Machine Head and Gojira than Killswitch Engage, even as it evokes the best of all those bands. Nasty, surgical, full of swagger and juicy riffs. Most definitely a must-listen. See the rest here
✦✧✧✧ Light The Torch (née Devil You Know) take a giant step toward metalcore mediocrity with this, ostensibly now just The Howard Jones Show. There’s almost no perceptible energy on this album whatsoever, and every single three-minute song is probably at least a minute too long. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Look, there’s no question that these guys shred. And you know how much I dig prominent fretless bass in metal. But aside from that, this is more or less a cautionary tale of post-Cynic metal musicianship gone entirely too far. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Tasty and energetic melodeath, leavened with equal parts Revocation, Arch Enemy, and The Haunted. The music here is not exactly cutting edge, but that’s perhaps to be expected from a band who hasn’t released an album in eight years, and besides we all loved this sound back then well enough anyway. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This sixth album from The Sword continues the band’s progression from frantic Mastodon territory to more of a laidback Earthless vibe, while giving us the band’s most cohesive sonic landscape since 2010’s “Warp Riders.” If anything, “Used Future” marks a doubling down on the band wearing their 70s and 80s influences on their sleeves (there are obvious nods here to Santana, Skynyrd, John Carpenter, Pink Floyd, The Dead, etc.). See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This feels like a cross between vintage ATG and vintage The Haunted: speedy, deathy, high-energy, and a bit dated, more stubbornly old-school thrash than rethrash. The riffs are, on the whole, as solid as the playing but far from memorable. Still, this’ll likely lure a begrudging headbob out of you. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Meandering pacing and a suboptimal mix detract from an otherwise enjoyably inventive and compelling tech death experience. The songwriting has baroque and jazz elements to it at times, which I totally dig. Also, another metal album with saxophone? Love it! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Rivers Of Nihil have really outdone themselves this time. Their third album adds a 70s’-prog sensibility to their already omnivorous brand of technical death metal. This seems to have squeezed out and refined some of the other voices in the band’s collective heads, and while not altogether foolproof, it culminates in a new maturity and gravitas. See the rest here
This work by Metalligentsia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.