Sick Of It All — Last Act Of Defiance
★★☆☆ Yep. This is an SOIA album, alright. See the rest here
Category: First Listens
As We Draw — Mirages
★★☆☆ This is a strong post-metal noisefest, a kind of Isis-by-way-of-Sonic-Youth exploration that is dark and compelling. At the same time, the almost aimless meandering does work against the listener’s need for a sense of purpose to the journey. And yet, the whole album features aural delights that are hard to stop listening to. See the rest here
1349 — Massive Cauldron of Chaos
★☆☆☆ This is a whole lot of so-what, punctuated by occasional sprinkles of halfway interesting riffs. To make matters worse, the band veer between black metal and other genres (death metal? speed metal? punk?) in ways that sound arbitrary and ill-fitting. I’ll give them props for not being predictable, at the very least, but otherwise I’m not really a fan. See the rest here
Xerath — III
★★★★ This is everything you’d want to meloprog metal, and consummately tasteful from start to finish. Imagine Symphony X by way of Soilwork. Bombastic at all the right moments, the sweetest of leads, and muscular right when you need a good punch in the gut, too. See the rest here
Black Crown Initiate — The Wreckage of Stars
★★★☆ A staggeringly self-assured debut album of inventive and unpredictable prog death. Think equal parts Allagaeon, Leprous, and The Black Dahlia Murder, but with occasional clean vocals. There are plenty of gambles here, and to be fair they don’t all work in the band’s favor, but on the whole, this is an enjoyable and original 52 minutes not to be missed. See the rest here
Nonpoint — The Return
★☆☆☆ This album lives somewhere between Saliva, King’s X, and Sevendust. There’s a somewhat satisfying snarl throughout the very-self-conscious radio-friendly tunes here, although I wish the whole affair wasn’t quite so polished-to-a-smooth-finish unoffensive. Also, let’s be real: the album art looks like a concept art reject from The Amazing Spider-Man. See the rest here
Decapitated — Blood Mantra
★★☆☆ This is a challenging album to dig into, which is an odd thing to say about a band that were former Arsies winners. There are great concepts and moments all over “Blood Mantra,” but they invariably take work to find. The album’s second half is more engaging and interesting and captivating than its first half. See the rest here
Cannibal Corpse — A Skeletal Domain
★★★☆ This is easily my favorite Cannibal Corpse album of the last ten years. While the changes are subtle, you get a definitely step up from the band in terms of dynamic ferocity. The production is both refined and blistering. And pay special attention to the ultra-detuned title track and “The Murderer’s Pact” — it feels like drop-A is the band’s sweet spot. See the rest here
Karma To Burn — Arch Stanton
★★★☆ If only more stoner metal was like this. Full of satisfying attitude, but shot through with thoughtful progressions and pacing, so that the end result is the feeling that you’re on a swaggering journey, nodding and head-bobbing the whole time. See the rest here
The Contortionist — Language
★★☆☆ Look, I get that this is a highly anticipated piece of prog metal, and clearly the band put a lot of care and thought and musicality into making it. It makes for an interesting and unpredictable ride… but as much as I want to, I just can’t get too worked up about this album. See the rest here
