Incantation — Profane Nexus
✦✧✧✧ Well, this is at least a little better than the band’s previous album “Dirges Of Elysium.” But it’s still stonily and remorselessly retro. See the rest here
First Listens With One-Star Ratings
Rings Of Saturn — Ultu Ulla
✦✧✧✧ This is little more than an 8-bit chiptune album with breakdowns. See the rest here
The Acacia Strain — Gravebloom
✦✧✧✧ TAC are best when they aim for over-the-top detuned mayhem. What you get on this album instead are passages of riffs that are more often tepid rather than dreadful, interspersed with flow-killing bits of maudlin atmosphere, ill-timed tempo changes, and other bad choices. See the rest here
Powerflo — Powerflo
✦✧✧✧ The album opens up with the lyric, “…This is our time/the dawn of a new era.” But the debut from this “supergroup” (featuring Biohazard’s Billy Graziadei, Cypress Hill’s Sen Dog, Fear Factory’s Christian Olde Wolbers, and Downset’s Roy Lozano) is in no way new. In fact, it’s hard to not be cynical about this effort, which is a shame because there are interesting moments strewn about throughout this otherwise pervasive cacophony. See the rest here
Adrenaline Mob — We The People
✦✧✧✧ This metal supergroup launched a few years back, but forgot to bring much “super” with them. And while I may have been presumptuous to expect more from Mike Portnoy and Russell Allen than what sounds like a better performed version of Disturbed, I did at least give them the benefit of the doubt, and hoped that they’d eventually find firmer footing. See the rest here
Warrant — Louder Harder Faster
✦✧✧✧ This is just like Steel Panther! Only, you know, not at all funny. See the rest here
God Dethroned — The World Ablaze
✦✧✧✧ The final chapter in a trilogy of blackened death metal albums about World War I, this album features music that feels as dated and overwrought as that description. At times, this feels closer to DETHKLOK than Behemoth. See the rest here
All That Remains — Madness
✦✧✧✧ Nu-metalcore through and through. Every formulaic ploy (breakdowns, cleansingings, background keyboards, etc.) falls at least a little short, and the riffs are universally lackluster and tired. See the rest here
Demon Hunter — Outlive
✦✧✧✧ Take equal parts Machine Head, King’s X, Soilwork, and Killswitch Engage, and purée them in a blender until all flavor is lost. See the rest here
Six Feet Under — Torment
✦✧✧✧ Everything on this album clashes. The guitar riffs are the only familiarly competent element on the album, and even then they’re hamstrung a bit by the Psalm-69-style mix. The drums and bass are unconvincing. But above all, the vocals are garbage: muddy, uninspired, and distracting. They don’t work when the band are going full-throttle… but then you’ve got stripped down tracks like “The Separation Of Flesh And Bone,” wherein Chris Barnes’ vocals have more room to stink up the place. See the rest here
