✦✦✧✧ The only thing new about this album from Swedish extreme metal war historians Sabaton is that this suite of songs literally tells different specific stories from the First World War. I guess they just never got around to talking about the Christmas armistice in Bastogne until now. Hate on them all you want, but I think that’s actually kinda dope. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Very tasty tech death from a bunch of Californian veterans (Alterbeast, Vale Of Pnath, Hatriot). The music shreds, it’s inventive, and it’s even got groove at times. And I’m glad that they kept the mean and median song length to six minutes; when it comes to metal this frantic, you’re still going to suffer blisters. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ If you need some background music for a movie or a TV show in which the camera movies through a goth club, and for whatever reason you can’t use any of the other Stabbing Westward albums out there, this one will do quite nicely. (I really dig that cover art, though.) See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Crowbar are like well-oiled clockwork. This album delivers the heavy, sludgey goods that we require of the band. While nothing here stands out as career-defining, that’s like complaining that a particular lasagna isn’t the best you’ve ever had. Quit yer complaining. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Did you know that, before he joined Periphery, Mark Holcomb had started a metalcore band named Haunted Shores? And that, rather than formally ending that group, it morphed into a side project between him and Misha Mansoor? Don’t be minimized by this instrumental shredfest’s small footprint; 37 minutes tends to stretch when it’s almost completely filled with 16th and 32nd notes. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Really good rethrash from Bay Area veterans. Five tracks, 25 minutes. Perfect. Who needs innovation when you’ve got this ferocious pit?! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ While this is about as metal as Rush, Van Hagar, or ABBA… it’s nonetheless an excellently crafted modern take on progressive classic rock, with a tendency toward anthemic bombast. But quibbles aside, this is likely Ghost’s best album to date. (And honestly, they do get pretty close to actual metal in a couple of places on the album: check out “Watcher In The Sky” and “Twenties” if the hard rock isn’t hardcore enough.) See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Solidly good Scorps here. Always great to hear Klaus Meine’s singing and Mssrs. Jab and Schenker shredding. I can imagine hearing this at a bar and subconsciously enjoying it, even if I can’t imagine ever putting this on the jukebox in the first place. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ I may be projecting, but this album has a slight air of primitivism that reminds me more of Deicide than anything Cannibal Corpse have done in over a decade. At other times it sounds like Brujeria crossed with DETHKLOK. One thing’s for sure: it’s heavy like a heavy thing!! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is exactly how I like my power metal: formulaic, unapologetic, and fist-pumping! See the rest here
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