Sevendust — Truth Killer
✦✦✧✧ This is both the weirdest and heaviest thing that Sevendust have put out, both fresh and tired at the same time. Hey, at least it’s chock full of surprises! See the rest here
First Listens With Two-Star Ratings
The Ocean — Holocene
✦✦✧✧ This is a frustrating mixed bag of an album, with passages of satisfying crunch tempered by synthpop-informed atmospherics and no real consideration for flow or momentum. Holocene is dogged by a pervasive feeling of building up for a climactic payoff that never comes. See the rest here
Veil Of Maya — Mother
✦✦✧✧ This is my frontrunner for the most ChatGPT djent album of the year. See the rest here
Tribulation — Hamartia
✦✦✧✧ The band’s trademark blend of black metal and gothic rock is still present, but it feels more than ever like an underpowered version of Ghost. See the rest here
Metallica — 72 Seasons
✦✦✧✧ This is undeniably Metallica. It’s also pretty boring. Also also, it’s about twice as long as it needs to be. Not only does it have too many songs, and not only are the songs overlong, but even at the riff level, they tend to repeat too many times. You know you’re in trouble when you’re thinking about the Skip button about 20 seconds into a track. See the rest here
BABYMETAL — The Other One
✦✦✧✧ BABYMETAL meets… Evanescence? Periphery? The problem with this version of the band is one of restraint. The over-the-top extremes of their first album are what I loved most about BABYMETAL. Without them, I’m just not as interested. See the rest here
August Burns Red — Death Below
✦✦✧✧ This album is a challenge to listen to, in part due to its ridiculously brickwalled mix. Too bad, as ABR have managed to imbue more emotion into their music, without sacrificing their by-now trademark experimental brand of metalcore. But my ears! My ears!! See the rest here
…And Oceans — As In Gardens, So In Tombs
✦✦✧✧ A massive and appealing album of Finnish black metal, with just enough keyboard work to make things a little surprising and more interesting than your typical fare. But don’t worry; the band’s bread-and-butter blast beats and tremelo picking are constant companions here. Also, the production is surprisingly good, something that I don’t take for granted in this genre by any means. See the rest here
Kamelot — The Awakening
✦✦✧✧ It’s… fine. Great vocals and a gorgeous mix, but it’s odd to have an anthemic power metal feel like it’s missing emotionality. This is a modest improvement, but still feels like a band actively trying to find their winning formula. See the rest here
Periphery — Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre
✦✦✧✧ A little more noisy than usual for Periphery, which is a welcome bit of spice. As usual, they’re at their best when they let themselves off their own chains and go djenty-heavy. Alas, the shredding material here is countered by synthwave, atmospheric frippery, or stuff I imagine is intended to be radio-friendly. See the rest here
