✦✦✧✧ This techdeath album sounds like a tornado of razor blades: devastating, mechanistic, chaotic almost to the point of unintelligibility. Unfortunately, the band’s expertly-deployed technical onslaught and deranged composition skill also shreds any sense of dynamics or memorability. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Some veteran thrash bands have come out of their slumbers with attempts at reinventing themselves; not these guys, who are clearly invigorated by the prospect of putting out a fresh batch of the same old shit (for the first time in 23 years). And it’s all still here: Phil Rind’s strong vocals, Dave McClain’s concussive drumming, and shredding guitars by Wiley Arnett and (sole newcomer) Joey Radziwill. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Yeah, this is just 36 minutes of grossness, more Morning Star-era than Left Hand Path or Wolverine Blues. It’s a good soundtrack for alcohol-fueled destruction, which if we’re being honest is definitely on-brand for this band, no matter what you call ’em. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ The band’s eponymous predecessor to this album had a few different sounds in its soup; while I’m not a betting man, I would not have wagered that Wrvth would focus this time around on their blackened-post-metal side instead of their deathcore roots, now a seemingly distant memory. I also would not have guessed that I’d like this album as much as I do. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ For an instrumental proggy metal album four years in the making, there’s just not enough “there” there. Sure, it evokes a mood, but the tracks which aren’t electronic filler tend to not go anywhere and leave you wanting more. Not in the good “Encore Encore!” kind of way, but more like “And then what?” See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Sometimes, the KSE formula yields pure gold. This, by comparison, is a bronze album. Not too much to hate on here, but not a lot to yearn for either. This of course will do nothing to dissuade anyone from seeing this as another sign of the decline of this metalcore stalwart, but fortunately that’s not going to stop Adam Dutkiewicz et al from persevering. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ It’s immediately apparent that this is less a collection of bangers and more a sonic journey, likely intended to be consumed in undisturbed sequence. Any hopes for analogues to “Sober” or “Stinkfist” are bound to disappoint; while the tracks flirt with delivering the metal goods, this album is not mosh pit fodder. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ While The Police were falling apart in the mid 1980s, Stewart Copeland put increasing energy into scoring for film and television. One of his first products was a soundtrack for the TV show The Equalizer… an ultra digital, mood- and tone-heavy soundscape with elements at turns progressive, jazzy, and dark. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ I absolutely didn’t want to like this at all… but it’s fun! Dirty-ass riffs, dirty-ass vocals, massive dirty-ass bass… even the production makes a point of being filthy. If you’re not an uptight purist, have even a little respect for a punk sensibility, and don’t mind getting some mud on your clothes, this album may be just the treat you need right now. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Hey, this new Linkin Park is pretty rockin’! See the rest here
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