✦✦✧✧ Man, these guys fucking love the pirate life. Especially the drinking part. You can almost hear the mugs of grog and beer sloshing on every track. If you’re already a fan of this kind of beerhall metal (somewhere between Amon Amarth and the Dropkick Murphys), you won’t be disappointed or surprised by this album. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ COOOOOOOKIEEEEEE MOONNSSTEEERRRRRRRRRR
Very few surprises from these deathcore veterans, other than a subtle hint of melody lurking somewhere in the hydraulic presses of this concise juggernaut. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ What happened?! Somewhere between their last album and this one, STS decided to start sounding like a puréed mix of themselves, Periphery, Animals As Leaders, The Algorithm, and Eric Johnson. The shredding is delightful, which is to be expected… but everything else feels like a misstep. Disappoint. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This lives somewhere in the imagined intersection of Linkin Park, Deftones, Ill Nino, and Miley Cyrus. There’s an unfortunate tendency toward overproduction flourishes like full stops and other digital atmos effects that neuter any chance for momentum. That said, every single track on this album is under 4 minutes in length, which is perfect for this kind of guilty pleasures. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Moody melodeath (melodoom?) that manages to sneak in a couple of surprises. I hear echoes of Emperor, Omnium Gatherum, even In Flames. But more than anything, it reminds me of The Ocean. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ The latest album from this grindcore supergroup (featuring members of Napalm Death, Brutal Truth, Cradle Of Filth, and Criminal) dishes out meaty if unsurprising fare. What it lacks in originality, this album more than makes up for in terms of remorseless and nasty speed. Nick Barker’s drumming is most notable, and propels the listener and the rest of the band through a tour of different styles and staples. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ A grungier version of LOA than I remember from back in the day; the CBGB/Biohazard sensibilities of the band’s original form has completely given way to a frozen-in-time Alice In Chainsness that I can’t say I hate. A big part of that comparison comes courtesy of Mina Caputo, whose vocals (while certainly the strongest of her career) at times bears a resemblance to Layne Staley’s. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Beerhall power metal served up with a heaping dollup of 80s nostalgia thrown in. It starts off well, but loses its cohesion about halfway through. It’s just not as good as I’ve heard from Battle Beast before. But at least you’ll still have fun losing count of all the callbacks to Heart, Pat Benatar, Stevie Nicks, etc See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ A surprisingly listenable EP from an artist who generally revels in artisanally industrial filth. But don’t worry; A&P’s brand of corroded doom is still in the mix, merely leavened. This reminds me of NIN’s song for the game Quake… or Fredrik Thordendal’s song for Wolfenstein: The New Order… These are probably not favorable comparisons, but they accurately hint at a halfheartedness that dogs this release. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ A classic case of an album in need of a proper editor. This is a weird mix of metalcore, avant-garde, prog metal, Queensrÿche-ish sensibilities, and bad poetry. Of the album’s 71 minutes, at least 15 minutes may have been better left unreleased. The stuff that works here is quite commendable, and skews toward Daniel Gildenlöw’s and the rest of the band’s experimental natures; the stuff that doesn’t work tends to fail on the ground of emotional resonance. See the rest here
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