Cormorant — Earth Diver
★★★☆ It’s like someone took some of the best parts of Opeth, Mastodon, The Ocean, Isis, and Enslaved, put it in some rusted out machinery, and extruded out a nasty but delicious paste. See the rest here
First Listens With Three-Star Ratings
Hark — Crystalline
★★★☆ Norma Jean meets Unsane meets Tool meets Clutch meets The Mars Volta meets Mastodon meets Baroness. And so on, but through it all, this album is heavy and swaggery and compelling. Definitely worth checking out, even if it goes on a bit long. See the rest here
Shrapnel — The Virus Conspires
★★★☆ This neo-thrash album walks a thin line between sounding pleasantly retro and interestingly modern. Either way, we all win. You’ll be able to make out the band’s DNA easily enough: Exodus, Overkill, Kreator. But Shrapnel (great name, by the way) manage to add something new to the mix. See the rest here
Destrage — Are You Kidding Me? No.
★★★☆ Wow. I’ll tell you that this bizarre album nods to the Dillinger Escape Plan, Mr Bungle, Between The Buried And Me, Skrillex, The Mars Volta, Green Jellö… but even all of that won’t really capture the nature of this hybridized beast. Nor will any of that tell you that, through whatever specific alchemy the band wield, it actually works surprisingly well. See the rest here
Steel Panther — All You Can Eat
★★★☆ Steel Panther have elevated the act of crass party-time parody into high art. There’s a cognitive dissonance between, for example, between the near-perfect emulation of Journey’s brand of anthemic balladry and the lyrical content of “Bukkake Tears.” And so the whole album goes. The nonsense is right at the surface at all times, but the hair metal the band wields is expert enough to help you forget. See the rest here
Artificial Brain — Labyrinth Constellation
★★★☆ A fairly uneven, but wildly entertaining collection of post-death songs. During the moments that really work (which are at least half of the album), you’re treated to a Gorguts-style grossfest, but with Glassjaw-like deconstructionism. Definitely worth at least one listen, all the way through. See the rest here
Ancient Ascendant — Echoes And Cinders
★★★☆ A wide-ranging, ambitious, and dark bit of work. This album has touches of Lamb Of God, Opeth, Bolt Thrower, and a lot of other bands that I can’t quite put my finger on. At the same time, it manages to sound wholly original and fresh. A must-listen, at least once. See the rest here
Animals As Leaders — The Joy Of Motion
★★★☆ This third AAL album loses a star because of its overall subdued vibe. That said, it’s otherwise wall-to-wall excellence, and everything you’d expect from Messrs Abasi et al. While this album was always going to be a Must Listen, it rewards the effort. See the rest here
Inferi — The Path Of Apotheosis
★★★☆ This album is massive. It’s wall-to-wall unstoppable high-speed technicality that’s as much prog as it’s death metal. It may go on a bit long, but it’s still an enjoyable ride through and through. See the rest here
Soreption — Engineering The Void
★★★☆ This is clearly a high water mark for technical death metal. The musicianship is blistering and precise, the songwriting is interesting and memorable (instead of a mere excuse), and the production is crisp without resorting too heavily to dehumanization. If there’s a fault to this album, it’s Fredrik Söderberg’s cookie monster vocals, which don’t always entirely fit in, and don’t add much to the overall fun. See the rest here
