★★★☆ This is in many ways just another Crowbar album… but at the same time it’s cleaner, darker, heavier, sludgier, and more expansive. There’s a later-album vibe to a lot of the material here (obvs), but all the same this whole album is a smack in the ass (and you know I mean that in the nicest way possible). See the rest here
★★★☆ This album both suffers and benefits from feeling like a slightly higher brow Black Dahlia Murder. It’s refreshing and rare to hear the refinement in this brand of death metal, but it also softens the cutting edge a wee bit. Still, this is a frenetic and powerful 43 minutes, and a joy to hear from cover to cover. See the rest here
★★★☆ No real surprises here from the kings of atmospheric dark metal… just an excellent sonic journey. The album is lush and hypnotic, at times evocative of Tool or Old Man Gloom. Well worth your time. See the rest here
★★★☆ This album sits somewhere between Kurt Ballou’s wall of noise, Entombed’s “Wolverine Blues,” and Motörhead’s “No Remorse.” It occupies that space restlessly, but entertainingly. One of the more believably muscular, menacing, and vitriolic releases of 2014. A definite must-listen. See the rest here
★★★☆ There’s a lot to admire on this album, certainly one of the most surprising and unstraightforward First Listens of the year. Equal parts Voivod, Gorguts, and Thought Industry, with hints of Devin Townsend, Opeth, Hagman, and King Crimson. You should hear it, if for no other reason that it’ll confuse you. See the rest here
★★★☆ This album some dystopian futureworld lovechild of Isis and The Ocean. I’m dutybound to classify it as doom metal, but that’s like calling Sriracha “ketchup.” See the rest here
★★★☆ This isn’t just a simple amalgam of styles that you tend to get with metal supergroups, but an interesting bit of exploration away from their metalcore and thrashy origins. When it works, anyway; sometimes the experiments fall flat. And overall there’s a haunting similarity to the Frankenstein quality I remember hearing on many of the Roadrunner United album. See the rest here
★★★☆ 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
★★★☆ 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
★★★☆ 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
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