★★☆☆ The entire album features Ihsahn at his most cinematic. This is both a testament to one of the most inventive and prolific musicians in metal today… and a big problem for the listener. Every track sounds like it’s excerpted from somewhere in the middle of a soundtrack. There are no real starts or finishes here, so the whole thing is more comparable to Fantomas than any concept album, or anything else that Ihsahn has done post-Emperor. See the rest here
★☆☆☆ Soooo boring. See the rest here
★★☆☆ An entertaining journey without much of a destination or impetus to get moving in the first place. It’s enjoyable, mind you, but it lacks the gravitas that can’t be explained away simply by a lack of vocals. See the rest here
★★★☆ “Murderlust” is an earnest and driving piece of modern thrash, which manages to innovate even as it holds fast to well-worn metal traditions. This album totally reminds me of The Haunted’s “The Dead Eye” with a dash of Entombed’s “Wolverine Blues.” (Admittedly, there are fans of either band who look down their noses at those two particular albums, but not this guy.) See the rest here
★☆☆☆ Seriously, who gives a shit about Sepultura anymore? I mean, “The Mediator…” continues the band’s progression (such as it is) into unformulaic tone poems of inchoate rage, but no one — not producer Ross Robinson, nor Dave Lombardo — could make me actually care. Mind you, none of the tracks are particularly bad, and buried in the mix is “Grief,” a legitimately great tune. See the rest here
★★☆☆ Of the many bands to be produced by Kurt Ballou this year, Skeletonwitch may have benefited the most from his touch. Their latest album is as short and unsubtle as ever, but it’s definitely punchy, accessible, and fun. See the rest here
★★★★ Everything you could ever want from a PtH album: blistering guitarwork and jerkily progressive rhythms, plus (dare I say it?) a hint of maturity from the otherwise famously immature Rody Walker. In fact, the entire album has surprisingly more depth, breadth, and ambition than I expected to hear (especially the track “Plato’s Tripartite”). See the rest here
★★☆☆ This album has a damn fine sound, clearly written by a band who never gave up the dream of thrash. All the same, it does take some time to warm up, and the high points are eclipsed by tedious tropes that we’ve heard before (not that that’s a bad thing, but their staleness is made all the more obvious by the surprising freshness found in other places). See the rest here
★☆☆☆ Remember a few years back, when Exodus stunned us all with “Tempo Of The Damned,” a stubbornly triumphant work of neo-thrash? Yeah, well “Generation Nothing” is pretty much the polar opposite of that album. It’s a a thrash time capsule with nothing (except for somewhat better production value) to show for it. See the rest here
★★☆☆ A trippy, confusing work, “Infinitas” sounds like a djentier Protest The Hero, with a liberal dash of synth earcandy. Their innovations may be entirely based on the surprising mashups they foist on the listener, patching unsurprising and well-worn bits together into a novel whole, but at least it ain’t a boring listen. See the rest here
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