★★☆☆ No surprise here: the best parts of this album are the parts that don’t have Max Cavalera’s heavy hand all over them. There are some gusts of freshness in here, but they are quickly smothered by your usual brasilishit. But hey, if that’s your cup of tea, have another swig. See the rest here
★★☆☆ When this album succeeds, it does so by distancing itself from its obvious bedroom recording djentisms. In this regard, the latter half of the album outdistances the former, which can’t help but feel like a collection of TesseracT B-sides. See the rest here
★★☆☆ Symphony X continue their lifelong reappropriation of prog metal tropes, but whereas they pulled it off with aplomb on their previous album “Iconoclast,” this time around the results inspire less forgiveness. Maybe part of the problem is that the album starts out with a truly unconvincing Overture. Or maybe it’s the limp ballad-by-the-numbers “Without You.” See the rest here
★★☆☆ This is equal parts Isis, A Perfect Circle, Eleven, Silversun Pickups, and Pink Floyd. And if that’s hard to grok, that’s okay — that’s part of the listening experience, too. The album’s shoegazer tendencies are its Achilles heel, and I wouldn’t blame you for skipping the last third of it, but otherwise this is a tantalizing breath of fresh air. See the rest here
★★☆☆ While the idea of these grosscore stalwarts trying to add a touch of symphonic grandiosity to their normal fare seems great on paper, more often than not the results fall short of anything compelling. The band do much better on this album when they return to form, and on those occasions what you get is exactly what the band do best. See the rest here
★★☆☆ I’ll be the first to admit that I generally fucking loathe The Darkness, largely for just how self-consciously tribute-y they are. That said, I don’t thoroughly hate this album… although none of it really moves me, either. The guitarwork here is as crisp and spot-on as ever, so that’s a saving grace. See the rest here
★★☆☆ The antisocial aggression is predictably front-and-center on this album, but this time around it’s filtered through the clear aesthetics of producer Steve Albini. The end result is The Jesus Lizard pushed to self-parody, a proudly noisome half-hour with ridiculous vocals that are unfortunately impossible to ignore. See the rest here
★★☆☆ I give this band props for keeping “On Lonely Towers” interesting, in an Opeth-meets-Alestorm kind of rollicking way. But my god, the clean vocals are so jarring and distracting. Unfortunately, they’re the clearest part of the mix. Also, the songs tend to feel overlong and belabored. See the rest here
★★☆☆ This is like a more punk, more grind version of Entombed. It’s dirty as all get out, and some of the riffs approach neoclassical status. But there’s also a plodding that comes across as tiredness, and it plagues almost every song past the opening track. See the rest here
★★☆☆ This is okay. I guess. 60-bpm sludge all the way. Whatever. See the rest here
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