★★☆☆ Look, when I say this is the Evanescence of Gothenburg, don’t assume that I mean that in a bad way. There’s something soothing in the cloyingly smooth sounds on this album, although not very memorably so. See the rest here
★★☆☆ Yep, Kurt Ballou. See the rest here
★★☆☆ This side project from Jason Popman of Mushroomhead and Gene Hoglan has got flavors from Slayer, Slipknot, Strapping Young Lad (naturally), and a few various metalcore bands. The net result is pleasing enough, and hits all the right notes, but there’s an antiseptic anonymity to a lot of the music here. See the rest here
Perhaps the issue with age is less about the members in any particular band and more about that group’s heyday. Thinking of the band’s ages in that light tells a very different story. See the “birth dates” of the aforementioned bands below.
I would also make the argument that reunion-aged bands sell more festival tickets (and more expensive ones at that). See the rest here
★★★★ I have not a single bad thing to say about this “one-song EP.” It’s a peerless exploration of sludge, doom, and progressive music, somewhere between Isis, Sleep, Don Caballero, Pink Floyd, mid-70s King Crimson, and Meshuggah’s “Catch Thirty-three.” Do not pass up the chance to hear it for yourself. See the rest here
★☆☆☆ This album wavers between two modes: slow moodpieces, and more accessible riff salad. While the latter is no real surprise, it’s all cut from the same misguided cloth of polished accessibility that we’ve come to expect from the Knot. In fact, the few moments that are legitimately shredding sound a whole lot like Slipknot trying to tap into their former selves; song titles like “Sarcastrophe” and “The Negative One” do nothing to dissuade from the feeling that we’re listening to Iowa b-sides. See the rest here
★★☆☆ Rather than the extreme fearcore of “Wormwood” or sluggish tedium of “Death Is The Only Mortal,” The Acacia Strain treat us this time around to a detuned-as-always party album, of sorts. Not that you could ever accuse the band of being subtle, but more than ever they’re wearing this silly excesses on their sleeves. See the rest here
★☆☆☆ I continue to not get this band, at all. I mean, you guys hear how sloppy this sounds, right? It’s all super self-distracting. See the rest here
Thanks for these excellent reports, JaPaBo! Was Kreator painfully loud, as they were when I saw them with Overkill? Also, I can’t get over Jordan Rudess on keytar (especially what looks to be a bloated two-octave one). See the rest here
★★☆☆ Much like Overkill, Exodus is in the business of giving you meat-and-potatoes thrash metal. But as much love as I give Exodus (or anyone) for flying the vintage thrash banner, this album feels a bit too retro. A big part of the problem is that, rather than trying to bring the old form into the present day to freshen it up, the album seems stuck somewhere between 1997 and 2003. See the rest here
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