Bigger than David Lee Roth
I just learned that the three Decline Of Western Civilization movies are being released on DVD and Blu-ray this summer for the first time! More details here on Rolling Stone.
Author Archives: arse
Armageddon — Captivity & Devourment
★★★☆ Easily the best album you’ll hear all year from a band featuring an Amott brother. As such, you’ll definitely hear the Arch Enemy imprint throughout, which is not a bad thing of course. This album may not revolutionize metal, but if you like your melodeath tinged with progressive elements and adorned with virtuosic shredding, this’ll be your jam. See the rest here
Cancer Bats — Searching For Zero
★★☆☆ It takes this album a few tracks to find its feet, by eventually finds its voice as a pounding screamfest, somewhere between Kyuss and Converge, yet somehow without the real moxie of either. See the rest here
All That Remains — The Order Of Things
★☆☆☆ Occasional moment of headnodding drowned out in a sea of boring metalcorepop. ‘Nuff said. See the rest here
Pyramids — A Northern Meadow
☆☆☆☆ Post-post-rockmetal that couldn’t be more boring if it tried. Seriously, there should have been a system of checks and balances that stopped this before it got anywhere near my ears. See the rest here
Venom — From the Very Depths
☆☆☆☆ This album very much sounds like an excuse for a showcase of bassist/vocalist Cronos, with everyone else feeling like an afterthought. It goes on way too long, with a doggedly old-fashioned and outdated sensibility, a production quality that while energetic is slapdash at best (especially the irritating guitar tone), and vocals that are at times clownish. See the rest here
Black Sheep Wall — I’m Going To Kill Myself
★★☆☆ This is post-post-core, if that makes any sense… a savage screamfest deconstructed beyond all sense of flow, sense, or consideration of the listener. There’s a lot to admire here, but it’s also impossible to ignore that this hour of noise is as self-indulgent as it is cathartic. It’s worth a listen, but let’s never speak of this again. See the rest here
How to make djent
Here’s an interesting glimpse into Meshuggah’s songwriting process, courtesy of the man himself, Tomas Haake.
Leviathan — Scar Sighted
★★★☆ This is one of those doom mood-piece albums that need to be consumed all in one go; the brilliance comes out once this big slab of experimental sludge has had enough time to work its evil magic on you. At first blush, you might not see that coming, but push past your initial take and listen to the whole thing. See the rest here
Primitive Man — Home Is Where The Hatred Is
★★★☆ Holy fuck is this heavy and dark and oh god the paaaiiiinnnnnnnn. See the rest here
