✦✦✧✧ Is Viking metal your thing?
If “yes,” then great; listen to this and smash some beer steins while you’re at it.
If “no,” I don’t know that this is the album that’ll change your mind.
The main problem here is that, while this music is absolutely 100% fitting with the subgenre (and with the band’s previous work), the songs are often not super compelling on their own, or they’re plagued by moments of awkward goofiness, or both. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Halfway between desert rock and prog metal, this reminds me as much of Good Tiger or Mutoid Man as it does Baroness or Mastodon. The band manage an interesting balancing act between heaviness and fun. They also feel a little too preoccupied with laying down chord progressions that defy prediction (which, as much as it pains me to admit, isn’t necessarily a good thing). See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Fast, aggressive noise metal that reminds me of an EP of metal bands covering punk songs. There’s almost nothing for your memory to cling to, so shut up and go along for the ride. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Squeeeeeeze those invisible oranges, friends! Denver techdeath heroes Vale Of Pnath cram a full album’s worth of shredding into a 27-minute EP, at turns deft and epic and surprising, but always interesting. Don’t miss this one! See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Yep, this here is my newest choice for The One Prog Metal Album You Point At To Prove Everyone’s Worst Fears About The Genre. It makes sense that it’d be a John Arch + Jim Matheos Joint, as neither man knows the words “editor” or “self-restraint.” Still, the guitarwork and singing are every bit as faultless as their respective artists are renowned for. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ It’s kind of refreshing to hear an album in 2019 that isn’t trying to temper its deathcore with other influences. Instead, here you’ve got naught else but metalcore by numbers. (The real pisser is that I can tell there could be some interesting riffs and musicianship under all that oppressive weight.) See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ QOTSA have done it again! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Lovely prog metal (emphasis on the ‘prog’). This is kinda what I really want to hear when I imagine Scale The Summit paired with an appropriate singer. (But there’s also echoes of Don Cab, Torrential Downpour, and Glassjaw.) Special shout out to Chris Alfano for pulling off the hat-trick of laying down bass lines that are simultaneously jazzy, muscular, and unique…. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Look on the bright side: if you’re wanting brand new death metal that sounds like it came from Tampa in 1991, have I got an album for you! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ If I had to put a label on this, “Cynic-inspired progressive jazz rethrash” isn’t a bad place to start. I like that there’s no heavy reliance on blast beats and busy yet unintelligible riffs. Instead, the band find ways to stitch together lots of various styles, from tech death to groove to… flamenco? See the rest here
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