✦✦✧✧ This is not an easy album to listen to, even with the by-now-familiar technodeath caveats and Gorguts comparisons that this inevitably invites. For one thing, the production is even less polished than that of the preceding “Labyrinth Constellation,” if you can imagine that. At the same time, it’s oddly more… obvious?… See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This feels like an album of montage music from 80s American karate flicks. I just checked to make sure I wasn’t actually wearing sweatbands. At least the bass is all up in yo face. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Pseudo-orchestral, pseudo-electronic melodeath that, despite the overly long adjectives, hardly nudge the envelope in any meaningful way. Did DT’s “Atoma” leave you wanting more last year? Fortunately for you, this album will certainly dull the edge of your want. Unfortunately for MPE, it does so without leaving much of a lasting differentiable impression. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Crisp and clean swagger-rock, aged like a fine British wine. And yet, I cannot ignore the fact that this feels a whole lot like Spinal Tap’s “Break Like The Wind.” See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Sweet neo-thrash from Southern California. Very Municipal Wastey, with just a hint of Andrew W.K. added for flavor. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ What the hell is this.
No, really. What the actual fuck.
Hm. Okay, that’s more like it. Now if only they can… OH COME ON! See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Not quite as compelling or driven as their previous brand of doom metal, this album shows the band seeming to be more content wallowing in the moments they’re creating. Compared to the delicate tightrope act of “Foundations Of Burden,” here the band bring in their ambitious arms, and are tripped up a bit by their own gravity, like a spinning top turning a bit too slowly to keep itself upright. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Stoney sludgecore by the numbers. I’d try to pull similar sounding bands for reference, but this kind of music is impossible to fingerprint. That said, if this is your itch, you’ll likely be quite satisfied. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Well, it does what it says on the box, at least. Everything feels a bit too much on the nose, even for Steel Panther. And a bit more tired. And their careerlong pastiche work is now full-blown “borrowing.” See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This is definitely a step in the right direction (away from 2014’s “Inked In Blood”). There’s no new ground to break here, but if you’re cozy with good old-fashioned death metal, you’ll be sated by this. It’s great to hear Terry Butler’s rumbling bass (and that Spiritual Healing vibe is definitely welcome here). See the rest here
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