✦✦✦✧ This album finds Whitechapel farthest afield from the deathcore of their formative years, to excellent effect. Sure, the band is still tuned down and know their way around a breakdown, but that’s all leavened by a complexity and progressiveness that I wasn’t entirely sure they had in them. Destined to make it onto lots of best-of lists in December. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Very good rethrash. So what if its idea of innovation is a bit of a retread of thrash’s rich history (this band clearly loves them some Slayer and Testament); it’s still gonna lure you into the nearest pit! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Grossmann’s third solo album starts out with its best track, the ten-minute blistering “Deep,” but has a hard time reaching back up to the same heights, despite guests Jeff Loomis, Marty Friedman, and Christian Muenzner. Even with that issue, the album is technically just about perfect. Crisp production, better-than-average pacing, and of course world-class musicianship make this one a must-listen. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is modern black metal that I can get behind! Not content to splash around in the Deafheaven kiddie pool of Northwestern American post-metal, this band brings in just enough other elements of sustain momentum (and my interest). Hints of Isis, Behemoth, Gojira, and even Deftones make for a surprisingly lively bit of metalgaze. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ One of Periphery’s best albums to date. Of course, as is by now mandatory for this band, I need to give you my first impressions, song by song:
“Reptile”: absolutely masterful; a new high water mark for the band; Periphery’s Catch 33
“Blood Eagle”: a fun slice of Periphery when they’re feeling their most metal; all over the radio, though, so I’m probably gonna get over it real quick. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is some feral crusty mayhem, now even more laced with post-punk nastiness. I finally hear the hint of a sound for the band that isn’t immediately reminiscent of someone else. (If hard pressed, I’d name The Haunted, Nails, and of course Dying Fetus, in equal measure.) See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ I’m shocked: not only is this the most not-bad Todd La Torre-era album the band have ever released, but it also finally halfway sells me on the very notion of a post-Empire Rÿche. (Speaking of La Torre, he not only sings on this album, but he also plays drums on this album instead of Scott Rockenfield. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ I can believable: 33 years after giving doom metal its name, Candlemass come back with an album every bit as menacing, gritty, and powerful as anything else in their catalog. Bringing back founding vocalist Johan Langquist is a winning touch, as is Tommy Iommi guest soloing on “Astorolus.” The album loses points for its buzzsaw production and luddite attitude to innovation, but these are meaningless quibbles in the face of a foregone classic. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Don’t be fooled by the album’s decidedly weak first minute: In Flames shred all over the place on this one. The band are no fools when it comes to delivering what their fans want, and “I, The Mask” is another in the unbroken line of the metal primacy of Gothenburg, may it never fade. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Welcome back to the Three Star club, boys! The band step back toward a sound reminiscent of “The Harvest Wombs” or “The Flesh Prevails”, and thankfully away from “Dreamless”‘s trancepop leanings. This is still atmospheric and moody, but also aggressive as it is technical. New singer Antonio Palermo brings a screechier clarity to the proceedings, which I think works well for the music here. See the rest here
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