Visigoth — Conqueror’s Oath
✦✦✧✧ This is some old-fashioned Bronze Age metal, y’all. Lots people love this Manowar-sounding band. Feh. See the rest here
Author Archives: arse
Extinction A.D. — Decimation Treaty
✦✦✦✧ I wouldn’t even call this rethrash; more than anything else, this feels just like a vintage Anthrax album I’d never heard before. I ain’t complaining, especially when they step out from that core sound, and evoke fresh takes on other thrash classics such as Exodus, Powermad, and yes, 3250. See the rest here
Saxon — Thunderbolt
✦✦✧✧ Aside from updated production values (which sound great), this is pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a British heavy metal band formed before the advent of the Compact Disc. Jokes aside, if you’re in the mood for some NWOBHM with updated audio sensibilities, this album is for you. See the rest here
Rolo Tomassi — Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It
✦✦✦✧ This new Rolo Tomassi album operates in two modes fairly equally: interestingly jazzy post-trip-hop and chaotic mathcore, like DEP meets Lamb meets Norma Jean. The beautiful thing here is that neither mode feels like filler against the other. It’s all internally consistent, cohesive, and compelling. And in a further evolution for the band, the album’s emotional range is almost cinematic in scope. See the rest here
The Atlas Moth — Coma Noir
✦✦✦✧ The Isis-meets-APC vibe of TAL is more finely tuned on this album than ever before. Heavy, moody, and unique. See the rest here
Legend Of The Seagullmen — Legend Of The Seagullmen
✦✧✧✧ I swear to god, when this album started I thought at first that I’d popped on a Primus album. Unfortunately, that’s probably the listening high point of the debut album from this high-concept stoner band. I’m hardpressed to think of another supergroup as intent on casting its constituent pieces in a worse light. See the rest here
Tribulation — Down Below
✦✦✧✧ This album feels both novel and dated at the same time. Its production values and humble musical ambitions lend the proceedings a tiredness that’s hard to look past. But the album is also fresh in some of its riffs and chord progressions, as well as its interweaving of Swedish death metal, thrash, and black metal. See the rest here
Black Label Society — Grimmest Hits
✦✦✧✧ A syrupy, grungy hard rock album for a modern metalhead’s sensibilities. Zakk Wylde et al channel their inner Tommy Iommi and Jerry Cantrell, but put enough enough spit on it to make the album moderately smirk-inducing. See the rest here
Orphaned Land — Unsung Prophets And Dead Messiahs
✦✦✧✧ This album vacillates between routine prog metal (with light Israeli flavor) and straight up mizrahi rock with heavy metal adornments. This winds up sounding a lot like Serj Tankian singing along with a very good band overseas. Interesting. See the rest here
Into The Great Divide — Into The Great Divide
✦✧✧✧ This is a different project than usual for Dream Theater’s drummer Mike Mangini: a “rock novel” that reimagines the narrative of Joseph Campbell’s “A Hero’s Journey,” an instrumental album save for “chapter” “intros” from voiceover actor Larry Davis. And it’s pretty much what you’d expect: utter wankery, more fit for a drum clinic than anything else. See the rest here
