✦✦✧✧ Feral as ever, Exhumed continues to distance themselves from their very Carcass-like beginnings while still holding true to the nasty aesthetic that the subgenre is known for. The riff salad that is this album however feels a little less inspired than previous works. Not the band’s best, but still rollicking good fun. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This is the closest Hellyeah have come to producing an entirely listenable album; fully half the tracks on here are winners or near winners. If the band’s considerable press efforts are to be believed, this is evidence of a change in direction for the band, conceived of before Vinnie Paul’s untimely death in 2018. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Of course Opeth would start this album with a Mellotron sample. And yet, everyone’s favorite was-metal prog rock band are newly channeling 70s proto-metal here. The result is darker and more interesting than their last few albums. I’m still waiting in vain for a Damnation Part II, but I give Messrs. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ A cozy blend of early Mastodon’s playfulness and Baroness’s swampiness. Dark, dirty fun. I just wish it was more emotive or interesting. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Whoa, when did Korn discover djent or deathcore?! It’s all fairly interesting update to the band’s sound. But the entire reason to listen to this is the fact that this is a new Korn album; otherwise, I don’t know who this is for. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Of course George Lynch shreeds in this. But, where’s the bass, Dug?! See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Tired riffs and arbitrary chord progressions mar this latest effort from these power metal mainstays. Worst still, there’s just not enough cheese here to distract from the rest of the material, which feels like a retread. There are lots of examples in 2019 of veteran bands coming out with new, invigorating material; this is definitely not one of them. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This techdeath album sounds like a tornado of razor blades: devastating, mechanistic, chaotic almost to the point of unintelligibility. Unfortunately, the band’s expertly-deployed technical onslaught and deranged composition skill also shreds any sense of dynamics or memorability. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Yeah, this is just 36 minutes of grossness, more Morning Star-era than Left Hand Path or Wolverine Blues. It’s a good soundtrack for alcohol-fueled destruction, which if we’re being honest is definitely on-brand for this band, no matter what you call ’em. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ For an instrumental proggy metal album four years in the making, there’s just not enough “there” there. Sure, it evokes a mood, but the tracks which aren’t electronic filler tend to not go anywhere and leave you wanting more. Not in the good “Encore Encore!” kind of way, but more like “And then what?” See the rest here
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