✦✦✧✧ Your best bet is to pretend like this album came out in 1990. This hardcore album is so obstinately nostalgic that it rushes headlong past Charming and instead crashes right into So What. Good news, though: you get 14 songs in 30 minutes, making this my winner for More Concise Album Of The Year. See the rest here
✦✧✧✧ Look, I get it: Mayhem deserve at least a modicum of respect for birthing Norwegian black metal, and their general commitment to evil and whatnot. The problem is that this feels like Mayhem imitating themselves, or going through the paces. There are interesting and fun moments, but they’re too few and far between, especially for an album that’s entirely too long (a solid hour with two “bonus” tracks). See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Just plumb mad dog mean deathcore. This album ticks all boxes for any and every trope you could ever want from the genre (and then some), but the interplay, timing, and pacing of it all lead to a cohesive masterclass in aggression. What it lacks in memorability, the album more than makes up for with unbridled energy. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Finally, SFTP find a way to channel their RATM tendencies into a sound that feels as modern and fresh as it does explosive. Ironically, the band apparently had to also draw inspiration from Norma Jean into to complete the formula, but it works! Break some shit, fuckers! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Long-time readers are no doubt aware of my blatant fanaticism over this band, so it’s no easy thing to say that this is not my favorite Cannabis Corpse album. The production in particular feels like a step backward. Also, as much as I’d gotten comfortable with how far the band are willing to stray from their jokey origins, I hadn’t prepared myself for the idea of them trending a little less seriously here. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ A very consistent and satisfying slab of Egyptian-themed brütal tech death, which makes it an improvement over “What Should Not Be Unearthed.” Kudos in particular go to Mike Breazeale and Brian Kingsland, who ably fill the vocal and guitar voids respectively left by the departure of long-term mainstay Dallas Toler-Wade. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Putting aside the various controversies that have plagued Lucas Mann and Rings Of Saturn for years, this technical deathcore album on its own merits is… okay. The most impactful parts, of course, are the sources of said controversies: the (possibly literal) inhuman performances, the clear substitutions for software over musicianship, and the at-times all-too-familiar riffs. See the rest here
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✦✦✧✧ This is an improvement over Sunn’s previous album, “Life Metal,” only insofar as there is a hint of an actual performance on a real instrument about 26 minutes into the album. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Skinlab walk the thin line between revigoration and rehash, with just enough nu-metalisms to remind you who you’re dealing with (without the whole thing sounding dated). Most interestingly, there’s also enough shared DNA here with heavy acts like Tombs, Machine Head, and even Sepultura to make this music sound both familiar and novel. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Run, don’t walk to your nearest wifi enabled device (or if you are JaPaBo, inefficiently procure a hard copy in the format of your choice) to listen to this gem. For the first couple of tracks, which come out of the gates hard, it’s like you are listening to the best DM album of 1991 you somehow missed, but with better production. See the rest here
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