✦✦✧✧ Apparently, new blood (in the form of former members of TDTE and Glass Cloud) can improve things for Emmure. And yet, the fundamental problem exists: the band’s raison d’etre seems to be a misread of djent as merely an invitation for nu-metal to tune down lower. So, if your idea of a good time is a detuned Limp Bizkit, have I got an album for you. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Grindcore leavened with equal parts Converge and Brujeria. The energy’s there, and it’s dark enough, but there’s something weirdly anonymized about the whole thing. Also, the drum triggers are so high in the mix as to be distracting, especially with Shane Brown’s penchant for fast syncopation. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Unabashed Eurothrash: speedy, earnest, goofy, powerful. This album chronicles the band in not quite as energized form as they were on Phantom Antichrist, and yet it scratches a very particular itch. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ The debut (instrumental) album from a collaboration between Keith Merrow and Wes Hauch (The Faceless, Conquering Dystopia, Black Crown Initiate) has all the tasty shredding any modern guitarophile could ever want. It’s also got a mean attitude, which I like. It’s not the most memorable thing in the world, though. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Pretty decent Euro-style melodic metal, and unsurprisingly there’s more than a few nods to Arch Enemy… but I’ve gotta say that I am not a fan of Vicky Psarakis’ vocal stylings here. They’re too loud, too grating. And that Hozier cover at the end of the album is just the pits. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Straight-up convergecore. Raw energy, about as subtle as a money shot. If that’s what you’re in the mood for, it’ll do nicely. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Djenty emotechnocore. I don’t get what the fuss is all about. Evanescence is more interesting than this, honestly. (The title track is undeniably catchy, but I’m not entirely sure that’s in a good way.) See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Little known fact: back when I was getting my industrial passion project Hagman off the ground, one of my biggest inspirations was the little-known-of producer Klayton, courtesy of his Circle Of Dust moniker. In fact, to this day, every time someone mentioned Cradle Of Filth, I feel an inner twinge, wishing instead that they were talking about Circle Of Dust. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ This album has a few standout moments of melodeath excellence, and the musicianship is expectedly topnotch. But there’s a pervasive and formulaic familiarity to a lot (possibly most) of the material here. See the rest here
✦✦✧✧ Strictly speaking, my first impression here is that this is some gloriously dark scifi/space metal. It’s a curious blend of Gojira, Nothingface, ETID, and Misery Signals. The production, which at first seems perfect, never relents from its excessively compressed assault on the eardrums. DR5 makes sense for the band’s more devastating tracks, but just sounds silly otherwise. See the rest here
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