✦✦✧✧ Demon Hunter seem to be cribbing a page from Opeth’s playbook, releasing two albums this year which are thematically linked but sonically different. (We’ll have our first-listen feedback on the companion album, “Peace,” tomorrow.) Beyond that, this is fairly uninspiring, unless you’re a huge Stone Sour fan. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Is Viking metal your thing?
If “yes,” then great; listen to this and smash some beer steins while you’re at it.
If “no,” I don’t know that this is the album that’ll change your mind.
The main problem here is that, while this music is absolutely 100% fitting with the subgenre (and with the band’s previous work), the songs are often not super compelling on their own, or they’re plagued by moments of awkward goofiness, or both. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Fast, aggressive noise metal that reminds me of an EP of metal bands covering punk songs. There’s almost nothing for your memory to cling to, so shut up and go along for the ride. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Yep, this here is my newest choice for The One Prog Metal Album You Point At To Prove Everyone’s Worst Fears About The Genre. It makes sense that it’d be a John Arch + Jim Matheos Joint, as neither man knows the words “editor” or “self-restraint.” Still, the guitarwork and singing are every bit as faultless as their respective artists are renowned for. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ It’s kind of refreshing to hear an album in 2019 that isn’t trying to temper its deathcore with other influences. Instead, here you’ve got naught else but metalcore by numbers. (The real pisser is that I can tell there could be some interesting riffs and musicianship under all that oppressive weight.) See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ QOTSA have done it again! See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Look on the bright side: if you’re wanting brand new death metal that sounds like it came from Tampa in 1991, have I got an album for you! See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This album is fifteen minutes longer than Amon Amarth usually give us; this is one of those times when less would likely have been more. There are some gems of Viking metal, and I could imagine slipping a couple of these tracks into my lifting playlist, but there’s an awful lot of Not on here as well. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ You’re either already into Sunn O))), in which case nothing I say will matter, or you’re curious, in which case let me assure you: this is an isolated guitar riff reamplified, slowed down, and stretched to an hour… and almost nothing more. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This is a very mixed bag for me. On the one hand, Allegaeon’s reputation for being an innovative and supertechnical prog death metal act continues with this album. On the other hand, it’s dogged by a persistent sense of detachment. I chalk it up to an underrepresentation of dynamics or variety, which is a weird thing to say in the middle of a super shreddy arpeggiostorm, but there it is. See the rest here
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