Demon Hunter — Outlive
✦✧✧✧ Take equal parts Machine Head, King’s X, Soilwork, and Killswitch Engage, and purée them in a blender until all flavor is lost. See the rest here
Category: First Listens
Mastodon — Emperor Of Sand
✦✦✧✧ What the hell is this.
No, really. What the actual fuck.
Hm. Okay, that’s more like it. Now if only they can… OH COME ON! See the rest here
Body Count — Bloodlust
✦✦✦✧ This is a surprisingly fun time. As Ice-T says himself on “Raining Blood/Postmortem”, this is equal parts Sabbath, Suicidal, and Slayer. This isn’t going to move the needle in terms of metal evolution or anything, but that’s not why you listen to Body Count. You listen because you want to hear a bunch of homies from the hood throwing down some earnest hardcore and speed metal. See the rest here
Pallbearer — Heartless
✦✦✧✧ Not quite as compelling or driven as their previous brand of doom metal, this album shows the band seeming to be more content wallowing in the moments they’re creating. Compared to the delicate tightrope act of “Foundations Of Burden,” here the band bring in their ambitious arms, and are tripped up a bit by their own gravity, like a spinning top turning a bit too slowly to keep itself upright. See the rest here
Northlane — Mesmer
✦✦✦✧ Djentcore lives on! Equal parts Periphery, Karnivool, Linkin Park, and Bring Me The Horizon. Sadly, it takes the band at least half an album to really find their footing, so if you’re particularly sensitive to awkward sequencing (or just wanna get to the really good stuff), focus on the last four tracks for ultimate justice. See the rest here
Telekinetic Yeti — Abominable
✦✦✧✧ Stoney sludgecore by the numbers. I’d try to pull similar sounding bands for reference, but this kind of music is impossible to fingerprint. That said, if this is your itch, you’ll likely be quite satisfied. See the rest here
Fit For An Autopsy — The Great Collapse
✦✦✦✧ FFAA (F2A2?) pick up where they left off 17 months ago with their Gojira+JFAC style of deathcore, adding more than a few touches of modern Meshuggah to their already potent witches’ brew. This is one heavy slab of music, and somehow it manages to convey an even more cohesive and unique sound than ever before. See the rest here
Steel Panther — Lower the Bar
✦✦✧✧ Well, it does what it says on the box, at least. Everything feels a bit too much on the nose, even for Steel Panther. And a bit more tired. And their careerlong pastiche work is now full-blown “borrowing.” See the rest here
Darkest Hour — Godless Prophets & The Migrant Flora
✦✦✦✧ You know, for a Kurt Ballou produced recording, this album has surprising depth behind its muscular aggression. It’s a spin on the band’s typical deathy metalcore-laden explorations that actually improves things. And just when you think you’ve got a handle on the compositions, Michael Carrigan’s leads come in and inevitably take things up a notch. See the rest here
Obituary — Obituary
✦✦✧✧ This is definitely a step in the right direction (away from 2014’s “Inked In Blood”). There’s no new ground to break here, but if you’re cozy with good old-fashioned death metal, you’ll be sated by this. It’s great to hear Terry Butler’s rumbling bass (and that Spiritual Healing vibe is definitely welcome here). See the rest here
