Saliva — Rise Up
☆☆☆☆ You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me with this. Papa Roach would be an improvement. See the rest here
Category: First Listens
Agalloch — The Serpent & The Sphere
★★★☆ No real surprises here from the kings of atmospheric dark metal… just an excellent sonic journey. The album is lush and hypnotic, at times evocative of Tool or Old Man Gloom. Well worth your time. See the rest here
Miasmal — Cursed Redeemer
★★★☆ This album sits somewhere between Kurt Ballou’s wall of noise, Entombed’s “Wolverine Blues,” and Motörhead’s “No Remorse.” It occupies that space restlessly, but entertainingly. One of the more believably muscular, menacing, and vitriolic releases of 2014. A definite must-listen. See the rest here
Autopsy — Tourniquets, Hacksaws, and Graves
★★☆☆ This is a good Floridian death metal album, and more of a return to form after last year’s more grindcorish “The Headless Ritual.” And yet, aside from updated production values, there’s not much here that stands out or excites me. I wouldn’t call it boring, but I wouldn’t call it special either. See the rest here
Edguy — Space Police – Defenders Of The Crown
★☆☆☆ Imagine a cover band committed to doing songs from Powerslave-era Maiden or Turbo-era Priest. Now imagine that band hires a keyboardist. Then they hire Bobby Ellsworth to do vocals. Now take all that and assume the worst. This album gets a star for novelty, but otherwise, don’t bother. See the rest here
Appearance Of Nothing — A New Beginning
★★☆☆ This is a curious prog metal album, one with great aspirations but quite a few stumbling blocks (the vocals and production chief among them). That said, if you’re looking for a Dream Theater clone with more unpredictability, this might make your day. See the rest here
Noneuclid — Metatheosis
★★★☆ There’s a lot to admire on this album, certainly one of the most surprising and unstraightforward First Listens of the year. Equal parts Voivod, Gorguts, and Thought Industry, with hints of Devin Townsend, Opeth, Hagman, and King Crimson. You should hear it, if for no other reason that it’ll confuse you. See the rest here
Voice Of Ruin — Morning Wood
★★☆☆ This is solidly decent middle-of-the-road metalcore. There’s enough differentiation here that you might be able to differentiate Voice Of Ruin from As I Lay Dying or All That Remains, and there are a couple of interesting moments sprinkled throughout. But aside from all that mild praise, this album is fairly forgettable. See the rest here
Aborted — The Necrotic Manifesto
★★★★ This cruel bastard of an album is clearly the result of a gangbang between Malevolent Creation, Gorguts, The Acacia Strain, and Pinhead from the original Hellraiser. The aural assault is well produced, and stays tasty and scary and interesting throughout. You will listen, and its sound is like razors through flesh. See the rest here
Thou — Heathen
★★★☆ This album some dystopian futureworld lovechild of Isis and The Ocean. I’m dutybound to classify it as doom metal, but that’s like calling Sriracha “ketchup.” See the rest here
