Testament — Titans Of Creation
✦✦✦✧ If you’ve been waiting for Testicle to do something utterly different for once… well, you’re gonna have to keep waiting. Otherwise, this is finely crafted thrash, of course! See the rest here
First Listens With Three-Star Ratings
Shadow Of Intent — Melancholy
✦✦✦✧ I had no idea that technical death metal and symphonic metal could coexist so comfortably! Sure, we’ve all heard tech death albums with “orchestral” intros, but those always seem to be only loosely related to each other. Melancholy is the first example I can think of where both genres feed off each other. See the rest here
Despised Icon — Purgatory
✦✦✦✧ Just plumb mad dog mean deathcore. This album ticks all boxes for any and every trope you could ever want from the genre (and then some), but the interplay, timing, and pacing of it all lead to a cohesive masterclass in aggression. What it lacks in memorability, the album more than makes up for with unbridled energy. See the rest here
Stray From The Path — Internal Atomics
✦✦✦✧ Finally, SFTP find a way to channel their RATM tendencies into a sound that feels as modern and fresh as it does explosive. Ironically, the band apparently had to also draw inspiration from Norma Jean into to complete the formula, but it works! Break some shit, fuckers! See the rest here
Cannabis Corpse — Nug So Vile
✦✦✦✧ Long-time readers are no doubt aware of my blatant fanaticism over this band, so it’s no easy thing to say that this is not my favorite Cannabis Corpse album. The production in particular feels like a step backward. Also, as much as I’d gotten comfortable with how far the band are willing to stray from their jokey origins, I hadn’t prepared myself for the idea of them trending a little less seriously here. See the rest here
Skinlab — Venomous
✦✦✦✧ Skinlab walk the thin line between revigoration and rehash, with just enough nu-metalisms to remind you who you’re dealing with (without the whole thing sounding dated). Most interestingly, there’s also enough shared DNA here with heavy acts like Tombs, Machine Head, and even Sepultura to make this music sound both familiar and novel. See the rest here
Blood Incantation — Hidden History of the Human Race
✦✦✦✧ Run, don’t walk to your nearest wifi enabled device (or if you are JaPaBo, inefficiently procure a hard copy in the format of your choice) to listen to this gem. For the first couple of tracks, which come out of the gates hard, it’s like you are listening to the best DM album of 1991 you somehow missed, but with better production. See the rest here
Jinjer — Macro
✦✦✦✧ The secret to this album is the free experimentation that Jinjer indulge in. The result reminds me of Destrage with less examples of inhuman shredding. But don’t worry: you’ll still get your Periphery, SikTh, and Mudvayne fix. It’s kinda nuts that Jinjer put out two excellent albums this year; crazier still that this latter release is the better of the two. See the rest here
Fit For An Autopsy — The Sea Of Tragic Beasts
✦✦✦✧ Much of what I wrote regarding my first listen to F2A2’s previous album The Great Collapse still applies here: this is some heavy and satisfying Gojiracore! If anything, this one is more of an experiment than its predecessor; that some of those experiments don’t pay off is to be expected. See the rest here
Cattle Decapitation — Death Atlas
✦✦✦✧ This is clearly intended to be Cattle Decap’s nihilistic master opus, and I can’t fault their approach: capitalize on the winningest moments from Monolith Of Inhumanity and The Anthropocene Extinction, set the action in space, and lace in some blackened death for even more epicness! See the rest here
