✦✦✦✧ While this is about as metal as Rush, Van Hagar, or ABBA… it’s nonetheless an excellently crafted modern take on progressive classic rock, with a tendency toward anthemic bombast. But quibbles aside, this is likely Ghost’s best album to date. (And honestly, they do get pretty close to actual metal in a couple of places on the album: check out “Watcher In The Sky” and “Twenties” if the hard rock isn’t hardcore enough.) See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ I may be projecting, but this album has a slight air of primitivism that reminds me more of Deicide than anything Cannibal Corpse have done in over a decade. At other times it sounds like Brujeria crossed with DETHKLOK. One thing’s for sure: it’s heavy like a heavy thing!! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is exactly how I like my power metal: formulaic, unapologetic, and fist-pumping! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ Eight years ago, techdeath darlings Allegaeon released Elements of the Infinite, developing for themselves a reputation for virtuosic unseriousness. They’ve been trying to distance themselves from the goofiness assumption ever since, in the process sounding like they’re still trying to figure out what their sound is. I’m happy to say that Damnum is a mighty step in the right direction, delivering dazzling, surprising, and energetic progressive metal that repeatedly manages to sound both fresh and familiar. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This album from Sweden’s kings of post metal builds on and refines the sound from its predecessor A Dawn To Fear. Their sonic palette is expanded and even moodier and more interesting, and the production affords the music more space to inhabit and breathe. If I imagine what Isis might have sounded like if they’d continued their ascendancy, this album is pretty close to it. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ I have somehow been snoozing on Logan Mader’s work after he left Machine Head. What a great time then to hop on Once Human’s bandwagon: this album feels like a wholly cohesive statement, yet not quite like anything else you can hear today. Lauren Hart’s vocals that remind of Chester Bennington as often as of Joe Duplantier, all to great effect. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ A fairly heavy, if not too polished, album of lavish prog folk metal and a fitting continuation of the band’s evolution into being a spiritual if not literal eastern extension of the Gothenburg sound. Solid from start to finish, although I do yearn for a standout classic or two (although “Windmane” comes close). See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ As ever, this band has two modes: sumptious gorgeousness and feral mathcore aggression. What’s new and noteworthy is how well those two threads can be woven together, and in how many different combinations they work in tandem, not quite as relegated to their separate corners as before. I’m hardpressed to think of another band that can pull this off so effectively. See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ If there’s a surprise here, it’s only how fun this new slab of NWOBHM is. And if you’re truly surprised, that’s on you, buddy. Also, Biff Byford’s pipes sound fanfuckingtastic… but everyone here sounds great, thanks in part to the pristine mix courtesy of Andy Sneap. Just, ya know, fuckin’ listen to it already! See the rest here
✦✦✦✧ This is the frontrunner for the best progressive metal album of 2022. It is an order of magnitude better than their previous album (which, as an Arsies contestant, was clearly no slouch). Seriously, it’s better in just about every way I can imagine. It shreds, but when it doesn’t shred, it emotes. See the rest here
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