✦✦✧✧ 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
✦✦✧✧ Solid prog metal from the Cynic and Sadus school of neoclassical musicianship and sooooo much fretless bass (good to hear Hugo Doyon-Karout’s tireless perambulations all over the place). This is an interesting and promising debut; while it loses points for cookie monster vocals and overall anemic production values, it’s still an almost-great album. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This is a more proggy kind of Floridian death metal (think old school Morbid Angel with just a hint of Pestilence or Malevolent Creation thrown in). Emphasis on Floridian: this band seem to have doubled down on a garage band ethic, albeit with some welcome bass in the mix; worse is the band’s disregard for the listener’s flow. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ There are a number of reasons to dislike this solo project from one of Lamb Of God’s guitarists. It’s fucking weird to start a 2019 album with a track sung by Chester Bennington (R.I.P.). It’s less weird to follow it up with vocalists from Papa Roach and Screaming Trees. But mostly, the album swings from metal to alt rock and back again, and the moves toward the latter rarely pay off for me. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Trvly emotive and moody, if not entirely memorable or innovative black metal. The piano and violin are welcome additions to Soar’s atmospheric style. And the vocals take a reasonable back seat to the rest of the proceedings. All in all, my favorite Soar album to date, for what that’s worth. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This is somewhere between doom and death metal, but not fully either. This album somehow manages to sound familiar yet totally unique. But it’s also somewhat uneven when it comes to the songwriting; another editorial pass or two would have propelled this album to three stars, I’d wager. But do listen to it, and tell me what you think. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ It’s an Overkill album. New Jersey’s most steadfast thrash organization gives us pretty much exactly what we want them to, god bless ’em. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This is somehow simultaneously vintage thrash and updated rethrash (imagine Exodus fused with hints of both Slayer and Gojira). Sadly, the subpar production distracts from some otherwise stellar moments. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Weird: my very first thought was, “What the actual fuck is this?! Nu-nu-metal? Mumblecore? Frippertronics?” After a few tracks, I realized that I can’t think of anything else that sounds remotely like this… and that uniqueness absolutely should be celebrated for what it is. Don’t get me wrong: this is about as metal as The Prodigy. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ A surprisingly smooth, energetic, and entertaining collection of folksy, dronelike black metal from these pioneers of the Greek metal scene. Sure, the album is liberally embellished with black metal clichés, but if you’re down for atheistic metal with some cheesy chants and badly-enunciated English vocals, this album is sure to be a hit! See the rest here
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