✦✧✧✧ The album starts with Otep yelling, “I don’t give a fuck!” That makes two of us, throughout this thoroughly derivative Soulfly-meets-Coal-Chamber-meets-Slipknot hour. You’re going to want to hear their cover of Lorde’s “Royals,” but probably not for the reason that the band intended. See the rest here
✦✦✦✦ This is more like it! The album reaffirms the role of its predecessor, Das Seelenbrechen, as a lateral digression, and is more of an logical and spiritual successor to Eremita… but Arktis blows it away in its scope, ambition, and effectiveness. I could mention the handful of notable guest musicians on this record, but the real star here is the varied approaches to songwriting. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Well, this is certainly a surprise from AHC: the nu-metal also-rans make a retro-industrial inspired departure from formula, wielding a sound that’s more Stabbing Westward than Mushroomhead. If anything, this is more Deftones than Deftones anymore, but with a strong Mike Pattonesque vocal performance from Cameron Heacock. And the rest of the band is pleasingly snarly, for the most part. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Deftones continue their descent into becoming a post-metal Team Sleep/††† soundscape band. Very boring, by all measures (even the usually stellar Abe Cunningham lets his drums fade back on this album). The closest you’ll get to satisfaction on here is the track “Doomed User,” but otherwise the best thing I can see is that is probably a great album with which to test stadium sound systems. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This is an enjoyable warts-and-all throwback of an album, redolent of the 80s that were Lita’s playground, and full of entertaining cameos from times long gone (Cheap Trick! Billy Sheehan on bass! Dave Navarro on mandolin!). You get a real sense that this was worked on in a garage, and that’s a strength here. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is sludge that I can get behind! This is a highly regarded black metal band who haven’t released anything in about seven years; unfortunately, that’s how long the album feels. This album has been universally praised, and I get why (I really dig the early-Tool-meets-Aaron-Turner aesthetic here)… but it’s a bit of work to get through. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ While I won’t go so far as to call BABYMETAL victims of the sophomore slump, there is definitely a new aimless quality to the music on this album. The shredding is as ridiculous as ever, and there’s some catchy shit on here, but you’re also lacking any classic memorable moments. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Mighty Anthrax serve up an excellent sampling of modern thrash, which manages to come across as fresh and invigorated while still sounding very much like Anthrax. New lead guitarist and ex-Shads founder Jon Donais ably fills Rob Caggiano’s shoes (and then some), while Scott and Charlie and Frank are peerless in their performances. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ The phrase “15 songs, 23 minutes” can only mean one thing: blast beat grindcore mayhem! And yet, there are some surprising twists and turns on this EP. The mandatory fury is tempered with pace changes galore, in delightfully unpredictable ways (my favorite is on “The Opportunist”, wherein the band switch into half time about six seconds before the end of a 68-second tune). See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This album is for those Entombed fans for whom “Wolverine Blues” sounded too polished. Unfortunate, the unvarnished production is matched by a set of unfiltered, meandering compositions that are just tedious throughout the front half of the album. Things do improve in the back half, but by then the damage is done. See the rest here
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