✦✦✧✧ A grungier version of LOA than I remember from back in the day; the CBGB/Biohazard sensibilities of the band’s original form has completely given way to a frozen-in-time Alice In Chainsness that I can’t say I hate. A big part of that comparison comes courtesy of Mina Caputo, whose vocals (while certainly the strongest of her career) at times bears a resemblance to Layne Staley’s. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Beerhall power metal served up with a heaping dollup of 80s nostalgia thrown in. It starts off well, but loses its cohesion about halfway through. It’s just not as good as I’ve heard from Battle Beast before. But at least you’ll still have fun losing count of all the callbacks to Heart, Pat Benatar, Stevie Nicks, etc See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ A surprisingly listenable EP from an artist who generally revels in artisanally industrial filth. But don’t worry; A&P’s brand of corroded doom is still in the mix, merely leavened. This reminds me of NIN’s song for the game Quake… or Fredrik Thordendal’s song for Wolfenstein: The New Order… These are probably not favorable comparisons, but they accurately hint at a halfheartedness that dogs this release. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ A classic case of an album in need of a proper editor. This is a weird mix of metalcore, avant-garde, prog metal, Queensrÿche-ish sensibilities, and bad poetry. Of the album’s 71 minutes, at least 15 minutes may have been better left unreleased. The stuff that works here is quite commendable, and skews toward Daniel Gildenlöw’s and the rest of the band’s experimental natures; the stuff that doesn’t work tends to fail on the ground of emotional resonance. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This is not an easy album to listen to, even with the by-now-familiar technodeath caveats and Gorguts comparisons that this inevitably invites. For one thing, the production is even less polished than that of the preceding “Labyrinth Constellation,” if you can imagine that. At the same time, it’s oddly more… obvious?… See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This feels like an album of montage music from 80s American karate flicks. I just checked to make sure I wasn’t actually wearing sweatbands. At least the bass is all up in yo face. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Pseudo-orchestral, pseudo-electronic melodeath that, despite the overly long adjectives, hardly nudge the envelope in any meaningful way. Did DT’s “Atoma” leave you wanting more last year? Fortunately for you, this album will certainly dull the edge of your want. Unfortunately for MPE, it does so without leaving much of a lasting differentiable impression. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Crisp and clean swagger-rock, aged like a fine British wine. And yet, I cannot ignore the fact that this feels a whole lot like Spinal Tap’s “Break Like The Wind.” See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Sweet neo-thrash from Southern California. Very Municipal Wastey, with just a hint of Andrew W.K. added for flavor. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ What the hell is this.
No, really. What the actual fuck.
Hm. Okay, that’s more like it. Now if only they can… OH COME ON! See the rest here
This work by Metalligentsia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.