Mutilation Rites — Harbinger
★★☆☆ Catchy aggressive sludge (with a smidge of noisecore thrown in for good measure), but the utter sameness and duration of the songs make this a hard album to get into. See the rest here
Category: First Listens
Overkill — White Devil Armory
★★★☆ Long live Overkill Incorporated! Their latest product is just as ferocious as any before it. The songwriting on this album aims less for coherent songwriting and more for fun thrashy moments… and the trade-off works remarkably well. Also, of particular note to me: D.D. Verni’s bass tone is just as coppery as ever, but the way that the mix has dialed in his mids and low end is gonna be hard to improve upon. See the rest here
Judas Priest — Redeemer of Souls
★★☆☆ Yep, this is a Priest album, alright. It’s fun, though. Not super special or an instant classic, but I’m not facepalming either. (Although, does it sound to you like Rob’s pipes are a little tired, or is that just me?) Okay then! See the rest here
Fallujah — The Flesh Prevails
★★★★ For a band who made their bones with a solid reputation for technical death metal, this album is more firmly grounded in an ethereal territory that sounds more like Cynic than anything else. What makes that notion remarkable is just how successfully and frequently that intricacy is mated with shredding and screams. See the rest here
Wolves in the Throne Room — Celestite
★☆☆☆ This album is very good for what it is… which is to say, not in the least bit metal. I think I heard a guitar somewhere around minute 22 of this Vangelis-of-the-damned soundscape. Otherwise, you’re left with the feeling like this is an interlude that somehow got loose and pushed out all the dirgy doom that was the mainstay of the band’s previous album. See the rest here
’68 — In Humor and Sadness
★☆☆☆ This sounds like the product of the more discordant parts of Refused, QOTSA, Glassjaw, and Fantômas… after being chewed up by a food processor. What’s so interesting about this album is how unconcerned it is with song structure or pacing. That’s also what makes it so trying. See the rest here
Vainaja — Kadotetut
★★★☆ Now this is some tasty doom! This sounds like a cross between Candlemass, Ihsahn, and Tom G. Warrior. Heavy to be sure, but also interesting just when the relentless pressure starts to get a bit repetitive. Shreddy riffs all over the place. Also, Finnish has got to be one of the uglier languages to scream. See the rest here
Monuments — The Amanuensis
★★★☆ It would take a PhD in Djent Studies to correctly identify this album as Monuments and not TesseracT. But there’s something refreshing in the way that the band double down on their jerky tendencies, while putting down more layers than ever before. Also, Monuments definitely throw down the heavy when they feel like it. See the rest here
Origin — Omnipresent
★★★☆ I’m loving the mix of sensibilities on this brutal death metal album: the punky blitzkrieg approach (most of the songs on here are under 2 minutes each), the Death-by-way-of-Gorguts technicality, and above all the dark heaviness that permeates the whole thing. This is a guaranteed headbanger, a must-listen. See the rest here
Septicflesh — Titan
★☆☆☆ “Grandiose” doesn’t quite cover what Septicflesh achieve on this symphonic metal album. Unfortunately, their pomp comes at the expensive of any kind of song cohesion or logic. Worse, the sudden changes within the song come frequently and unpredictably enough to make it difficult to allow yourself to get into any riff or mood with any real investment. See the rest here
