Sweet, sweet metal
Now here’s a labor of love that I can get behind: London-based musician Pete Cottrell has recorded a cover of Meshuggah’s “Straws Pulled At Random,” in which he’s replaced all the percussion with samples of British sweets.
Author Archives: arse
Wrvth — Wrvth
★★★☆ This reminds me of The Ocean, Indian, The Faceless, and Gorguts all at the same time. Those are all great ingredients, and the musicianship is tight, and oh my god so much bass in the mix! I don’t really even mind the all-screamo-all-the-time vocals, although that’s definitely costing ’em. Also, big props for naming a song after the town next to the one I live in. See the rest here
Symphony X — Underworld
★★☆☆ Symphony X continue their lifelong reappropriation of prog metal tropes, but whereas they pulled it off with aplomb on their previous album “Iconoclast,” this time around the results inspire less forgiveness. Maybe part of the problem is that the album starts out with a truly unconvincing Overture. Or maybe it’s the limp ballad-by-the-numbers “Without You.” See the rest here
Gruesome — Savage Land
★☆☆☆ My opinion here bears some explaining. This supergroup and album are quite intentionally a tribute to the first three Death albums (ie: the really lo-fi pre-Cynic ones). As such, they succeed brilliantly: listening to “Savage Land” is like listening to a remastered version of “Scream Bloody Gore,” assuming you’ve never heard a moment of that album before. See the rest here
Spylacopa — Parallels
★★☆☆ This is equal parts Isis, A Perfect Circle, Eleven, Silversun Pickups, and Pink Floyd. And if that’s hard to grok, that’s okay — that’s part of the listening experience, too. The album’s shoegazer tendencies are its Achilles heel, and I wouldn’t blame you for skipping the last third of it, but otherwise this is a tantalizing breath of fresh air. See the rest here
iwrestledabearonce — Hail Mary
★★★☆ With my short and sweet Firstie for IWABO’s previous record still in my memory, I’ll admit I was not looking forward to listening to this album today. And so, I wasn’t prepared for how… thoroughly effective this one is. The band have settled into a much more economical brand of still-insane 8bitdigidjentymetalcore, trading their goofy self-indulgences for unsubtle savagery. See the rest here
Lamb Of God — VII: Sturm Und Drang
★★★☆ LOG’s seventh album showcases the band tempering their tried-and-true shredding with slivers of other kinds of metal (metalcore, thrash, heavy metal). The approach doesn’t always pay off (Chino Moreno’s guest vocals are a low point for the whole album), but on the whole it’s a welcome addition. Of course, when the band return to form, they really deliver the goods. See the rest here
Lindemann — Skills In Pills
☆☆☆☆ This is a barely listenable assortment of bad choices: here’s what happens when you take Rammstein’s most awkward element — their vocalist — and prop him up with what can best be described as the Teutonic answer to Static-X. As a bonus, Lindemann doubles down on lyrics so puerile that they make Steel Panther sound like Walt Whitman by comparison. See the rest here
Native Construct — Quiet World
★★★☆ This shit is cray. You know BTBAM will spin off for a while in a self-indulgent jazzy bit, or a circusy section? Native Construct’s debut album makes that stuff sound like the comparatively superficial larks that they really are. You can pause any song at any point, walk away for a bit, and when you resume the music later, completely forget who you’re listening to… that’s how fully committed the band are to their manifold genre proclivities (symphonic metal, speed metal, classic rock, jazz, 80s, musical theater). See the rest here
Breaking Benjamin — Dark Before Dawn
★☆☆☆ I’m giving this a star for good production. That said, this is one well-polished but tedious album. Once you get past the very slow beginning, and the alleged single “Failure,” the album opens up and reveals a few genuinely fun moments in its second half. But you know you’re in trouble when all you can aspire to is being Sevendust-Lite (especially if you miss the mark more often than you hit it). See the rest here
