✦✦✧✧ I give props to AIC for continuing to be even halfway relevant. And this album has more grit and snarl than one would reasonably expect from the band. And there are a number of very cool riffs and motifs throughout the album. The pity is that, at the same time, the songs here feel/sound like they’re under a thick blanket. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Obscura have teetered over into full-blown Cynic mode. Gone is the hitherto casual-at-best relationship the band had with song structure. Instead, “Diluvium” is an all-you-can-eat riff salad bar, with not much deference given to pacing or flow. The band are great at what they do, but this is one trying listen. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This is as over-the-top as anything Aborted have ever given us. It’s also all over the fucking map, which is problematic. The band is at their best when they hew closely to their technical grindcore wheelhouse, but there’s enough other stuff in here to dilute the former’s efficacy. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This album starts in full-on “Dude, is this vintage Carcass or Morbid Angel? No? Eh, I don’t give a shit. BRÜTALITY IN TEN CITIES!!!” mode. But after three tracks, a more inventive and progressive underbelly is revealed. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ I’m always prepared for a metal supergroup to sound more or less like an amalgam of its constituent parts. What I wasn’t ready for is the idea of a supergroup sound like a blend of a bunch of other bands not at all related to its members. And yet what you get with Bad Wolves is an awkward fusion of Sepultura, The Acacia Strain, Vildhjarta, Tremonti, and Linkin Park. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ I don’t remember Dimmu ever being this polished and fangless. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This time around, Ghost are emulating The Scorps more than anyone else, which fits I guess; I don’t fault them for emerging from their latest personnel changeup with a little less Satanism, and sounding a little more stadium rock instead. The tunes are still catchy, the guitars still polished and appropriate, but all of this is harder to care that much about. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ At long last, here is the first solo album from the loudest British metal band in history. TKTK See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ After years of defending Sevendust, this album from them is finally a little more Nickelbackish than I’d like to admit. The big change is the swapping out of actual riffs for DR5-crushed walls of tone, which lays bare some fairly pedestrian songwriting otherwise. At least Lajon Witherspoon continues to deliver world-class vocals. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Giving my beloved The Armed the benefit of the doubt, this is definitely some next-level noise art. However, the dearth of actual tunes here is notable, and a detriment to the album. I’ll listen to it again to see if it grabs me any more, but after my first listen, I’m not (yet?) See the rest here
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