✦✦✧✧ In what I can only think of as an ill-advised move, Spylacopa’s third album find the band doubling down on their ambient shoegaze tendencies. At times, the music here bears a passing resemblance to Porcupine Tree at their more experimental. The tantalizing electronica motifs never really pay off, and only one song here (“Malice”) feels lackluster and unimaginative by comparison. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ For some reason, this reminds me of when Jonathan Davis of Korn had to hire that couple to write his lyrics because he’d run out of personal rage. There’s some good stuff on here, especially in the middle third of the album, but otherwise there’s a whole lot of pandering radio-friendly stoner bullshit to wade through. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ On this album, the guitarist from Creed leads us on a deeper study into the question, “Who exactly is this album for?” The divide between metal-as-fuck music and radio-friendly vocals is wider than ever. Also, for some reason, when the metal lets up a bit, the experience is noticeably worse (as opposed to being some of the best parts of the predecessor “Cauterize”). See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ At first listen, something feels very off about this latest album from Amon Amarth. The first half in particular finds the band sacrificing their trademark ferocity in exchange for a catchy menace that feels more at home among Soilwork’s darker tunes. Still, the songwriting is tighter than ever, and each member of the band gets props for mixing things up a bit, instead of sticking fast to formula (all of which makes me suspect that this album will grow on me over time). See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This could just be the feel-good hit of the summer: high-quality thrash, updated for a newer generation without feeling like it’s overly pandering or forgetting its roots. Kurdt Venderhoof’s songwriting is consistently strong throughout the whole album, the musicianship as polished as ever… but the real standout here is vocalist Mike Howe, which is reminscient of Blitz Ellsworth at times. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ The band’s third album finds them slightly farther afield from their signature progdeath sound and into trancier territory. While laudable in their ambition, and not completely surprising given the band’s trajectory up to now, their choices make it harder for the listener to build up a head of steam, as the heavy parts are isolated islands awash in a sea of atmospherics and tonalities. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is Gorgut’s “Catch Thirty-Three,” an experimental, progressive, masterwork. This is not an easy listen, but it is dense and brutal and staggering. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ High-octane lo-fi sludgepunk that’s reminiscent at times of High On Fire, The Melvins, and Turnstile. I’d say more, but that goes against the grain of this slamfest. Just know that it’s a delightful windmillfest up in here. See the rest here
✦✧✧✧ This is an excellent caricature of Rob Zombie. All the superficial elements are here: big guitar tone, over affected vocals, infantile lyrics, and a fetish for utterly disposable B-movie and porn audio samples. What is regrettably new here is a penchant for out-of-nowhere pauses (including flourishes of acoustic guitar!), which disrupt any hope for decent pacing. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This album, one of the first released on Ben Weinman’s Party Smasher Inc. label, is a hard one to describe. I can hear elements of Pallbearer, Dillinger, QOTSA, ETID, Mastodon… and while these are all good bands to emulate, this Brooklyn quarter weave them all together in a way that feels fresh and energetic. See the rest here
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