✦✦✧✧ This is a welcome step-up from IE’s previous album “Plagues Of Babylon.” No huge surprises here, although it is nice to see the band eschewing their concept-album fetish, opting instead of a traditional collection of thematically disparate tunes. By and large, what you’ve got here is smooth sailing aboard the S.S. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ If you like your metalcore free of nuance or surprise, have I got an album for you! The best things I can say about this straight-down-the-middle pitch are that it’s internally consistent, and mercifully terse. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This album feels about a decade too late. It gets decently heavy in places, but for the most part you’re dealing with metalcore that alternates between calling back to AIC and Entombed, and visiting the same territory that’s been well traveled by Norma Jean, ETID, and a slew of others. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ If there’s a surprise to this album at all, it’s that DF is a skosh restrained in their ridiculous speed metal antics. But otherwise, if this is the sort of thing you like, you’ll like this sort of thing. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Man, these guys fucking love the pirate life. Especially the drinking part. You can almost hear the mugs of grog and beer sloshing on every track. If you’re already a fan of this kind of beerhall metal (somewhere between Amon Amarth and the Dropkick Murphys), you won’t be disappointed or surprised by this album. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ COOOOOOOKIEEEEEE MOONNSSTEEERRRRRRRRRR
Very few surprises from these deathcore veterans, other than a subtle hint of melody lurking somewhere in the hydraulic presses of this concise juggernaut. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ What happened?! Somewhere between their last album and this one, STS decided to start sounding like a puréed mix of themselves, Periphery, Animals As Leaders, The Algorithm, and Eric Johnson. The shredding is delightful, which is to be expected… but everything else feels like a misstep. Disappoint. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This lives somewhere in the imagined intersection of Linkin Park, Deftones, Ill Nino, and Miley Cyrus. There’s an unfortunate tendency toward overproduction flourishes like full stops and other digital atmos effects that neuter any chance for momentum. That said, every single track on this album is under 4 minutes in length, which is perfect for this kind of guilty pleasures. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Moody melodeath (melodoom?) that manages to sneak in a couple of surprises. I hear echoes of Emperor, Omnium Gatherum, even In Flames. But more than anything, it reminds me of The Ocean. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ The latest album from this grindcore supergroup (featuring members of Napalm Death, Brutal Truth, Cradle Of Filth, and Criminal) dishes out meaty if unsurprising fare. What it lacks in originality, this album more than makes up for in terms of remorseless and nasty speed. Nick Barker’s drumming is most notable, and propels the listener and the rest of the band through a tour of different styles and staples. See the rest here
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