★★★☆ While I’m no particular devotee of now-departed vocalist Peter Dolving, I do think that “The Dead Eye” was the greatest album the band ever released. That said, I also think that this new album is the best thing that The Haunted have done since. Sure, there are moments that will have more of a resemblance to Slayer and Lamb Of God more than to the band’s former work. See the rest here
★★★☆ This album caught me by surprise, in a way that reminds me of the feeling I’d had when I first heard Leprous’s 2011 masterwork “Bilateral.” This is prog metal with some next-level self-assurance, musicality, and originality. Trust me on this one. See the rest here
★★★☆ It’s not often that a doom metal band show any sign of progressive leanings, but that’s definitely the case on this album. You definitely get the elegiac heft of a proper doom work, but at the same time you can hear an empowered directionality to the band’s wanderings, making Pallbearer sound more like Isis or Sleep than Crowbar. See the rest here
★★★☆ This is the toughest review I’ve had to write all year. Yes, this is the debut album from what was ostensibly a marketing stunt, a J-Pop girl band fused Akira-style with a metal band. It shouldn’t be good, like the first DETHKLOK shouldn’t have been good. What to say, then, about the fact that this album features muscular riffs, sick solos, wall-to-wall ear candy, and two of my favorite breakdowns of 2014? See the rest here
★★★☆ This is step up from their previous album, “The Power Within,” largely in terms of composition. The blistering musicianship and polished production are as good as ever. There’s still an overall overfamiliarity to a good chunk of this music, like you’ve heard it before, in a way that doesn’t quite come across as homage. See the rest here
★★★☆ This album lives in a sweet spot halfway between The Melvins and Alice In Chains, but the end result is better than you could expect from that kind of description. Full of dark swagger, it’s an unusual record, and one that rewards a careful listen. You might not bang your head, but you’ll certainly snarl along when you listen to it. See the rest here
★★★☆ Goddamn, but this album is fun. Our favorite Scottish pirate metal band do good on this one, with a perfect blend of frivolousness and serious riffs. It’s really hard note to smirk and imagine sloshing a frothy mug of beer to each tune. Even the Taio Cruz cover feels good to hear. See the rest here
★★★☆ My very first impression was that, while there’s nothing new or fancy here, that familiarity comes across as classic more than tired. Beneath the surface of this short and sweet deathy brutality, however, these guys are experimenting a little with mood and dynamics, in a way that reminds me of a more Euro version of The Black Dahlia Murder. See the rest here
★★★☆ This album starts out with some a fierceness that never completely dissipates, even as the music transitions from ballsy detuned death to a more traditional metalcore. Even at their most derivative, Darkest Hour have an undeniable energy pumping right into your face. Scowlworthy from beginning to end, and that’s a good thing. See the rest here
★★★☆ I’m not entirely sure how this band did it, but they’ve created a rough and rugged album of deathy noisy hardcore that doesn’t feel exhausting or derivative, no matter how much those words might objectively apply. There’s a cleverness and freshness to their onslaught, even while never straying very far from their Cannibal-Corpse-meets-Kurt-Ballou ethic. See the rest here
This work by Metalligentsia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.