✦✦✦✧ Krallice’s style of prog-in-sludge’s-clothing metal is more cohesive and captivating on this EP than their previous album “Ygg Huur,” with hints of Thought Industry and ELP alongside more dominant strains of Agalloch and Pallbearer. I even got a whiff of Meshuggah’s “I” at times. It’s definitely an interesting set of tunes. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ It’s melodeath, sounding like a fusion of… just about everything else. Very solidly okay metal. It’s not particularly imaginative or memorable, but it does what it says on the tin. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Bay Area thrash is alive and well! This album sounds like vintage DA, mashed up with some Machine Head, Racer X, Exodus, Sick Of It All, Metal Church… in other words, a melange of vintage early 90s metal. As such, don’t expect any innovation, other that crisp, updated production. You’ll still be quite happy with the expertly delivered headbanging. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This album starts off feeling like a less compelling, emotionally vacant synth demo cover of Chimp Scanner. The chiptune stuff is at least different than what I’m used to hearing in our genre (which works, from a metalcore-adjacent standpoint). That said, and I never thought I’d say this: knowing upfront how electronic this work is… just makes the drums’ “virtuosity” feel completely pointless. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is a glorious blend of Voivod and BTBAM, with generous dashes of older Slayer for good measure. At times, this carnival-like shredfest threatens to fly apart from its own frenetic momentum, but this is an entertaining riff salad all the same. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This feels like the Microsoft Store of metal albums: internally consistent and well-done, but without much external validation or reason for existing. Props however for the unusual Phil Collins cover. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ 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
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