✦✦✧✧ This is a weirdly uneven album, careening from rethrash to Megadeth at their cheesiest to… is that Jackyl? Steel Panther? Founder Jeff Waters has been fronting the band since the last album, as well as producing the album, which partially explains the unfortunate prevalence of questionable vocal choices high in the mix. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ ABR continues their epic quest to find new territory without spooking the metalcore natives. It shreds, it surprises, it’s full of energy. How they manage to make a progressive metalcore album is a kind of magic. This album should satisfy pretty much everyone who can be compelled to give it a listen, except for those who doggedly just want more of the same. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ The superficial humor of the band’s premise (and their song titles) is more than ever outclassed by the serious and obvious ambition here. Keep in mind, these guys also have dayjobs in The Black Dahlia Murder, Municipal Waste, and Six Feet Under. The resulting riffage is unsurprisingly virtuosic and inventive. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This meat-and-potatoes death metal album takes a few tracks to get into its stride, but once you get past its uninspired opening, what’s left is exciting and original. By the end it’s almost groundbreaking, even. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Oh man, this is legitimately ugly. I think I’m in love. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on this lo-fi post-hardcore sludgerock, the music comes to a full stop out of nowhere and does something completely different, which just adds to the overall chaos. I don’t want to just come out and say outright that this piece of shit is actually postmodern art… so you take a listen and let me know what you think. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ It pains me to have to give this anything less than 4 stars at first blush. With that preface out of the way: this is very clearly the result of a band who have grown apart, evolved independently, and come back together to see how their disparate pieces might recombine anew. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Ironically, as Ne Obvs bring on ex-Cynic bassist Robin Zielhorst for their third album, their sound evolves away from Cynic-inspired, and into more of an Opeth-meets-The-Faceless groove. This is excellent prog, although at times it may come across as a little long and overprecious. Still, worth at least one listen all the way through (the 14-minute eponymous album closer is a Must). See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This reminds me of the attenuated excellence on DEP’s “One Of Us Is The Killer.” The energy and rawness is still here, but this is a somewhat more evolved Converge. Somewhat more experimental with their riffs and motifs. Somewhat more expansive. And somewhat more reserved emotionally (not the worst thing in the world, but noticeable coming from the guys that gave us the juggernaut “Axe To Fall”). See the rest here
✦✧✧✧ This sounds like a swarm of stoned goth bees. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ While Narcotic Wasteland established their sound as blistering death metal on their 2014 debut, it’s not until this followup that the band really found their footing and comfort zone. It’s fun, it’s technical, it’s guaranteed mosh fodder, and most of all it’s relentless. Most Improved! And, dare I say it, the third-to-last track “You Will Die Alone” is an instant classic. See the rest here
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