Bloodywood — Rakshak
✦✦✧✧ This is a six-piece nu metal band from New Delhi. That is to say, it sounds a lot like Limp Bizkit learned what a sitar is. See the rest here
First Listens With Two-Star Ratings
Zeal & Ardor — Zeal & Ardor
✦✦✧✧ Both Z&A and The Armed pull from the same fount when they’re at their best: an uncanny and narrow intersection of ear-candy accessibility and undiluted acrimony. Ironically, the more this music hews to sounding overtly spiritual, the more boring it sounds. Fortunately, there are plenty of more subtle and intriguing tracks on the album (“Erase,” “Feed The Machine”, “Götterdämmerung”). See the rest here
Immolation — Acts Of God
✦✦✧✧ It’s a bold choice to start your album with a pair of clean, not-well-tuned guitars. And yet, it’s just one of many examples on this album where these progenitors of the NY death metal scene expertly feed and feed off of your expectations. Even less modern-sounding than earlier albums, Acts Of God nevertheless deliver a potent, ineffable air of melancholic aggression, at times bordering on o.g. See the rest here
Author & Punisher — Krüller
✦✦✧✧ Successfully moody, but fairly boring neo-industrial. It’s more Front Line Assembly than I remember A&P ever being in the past. A small step down from Tristan Shone’s recent work. See the rest here
Voivod — Synchro Anarchy
✦✦✧✧ This is quite literally a continuation of 2018’s The Wake, mostly for the good. The pacing is curious: it feels like a long album, but I’ll be damned if I wasn’t intrigued the whole time. Even the potential complaint of having heard this kind of thing from Voivod before isn’t much of a criticism here, as the songs are all such great exemplars of the Voivod sound. See the rest here
Earthless — Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons
✦✦✧✧ Three tracks; 62 minutes! But don’t let that scare you off: this is a compelling trip. It’s also totally stoney as fuck. But it works for me! Also, where are my pants? See the rest here
Steve Vai — Inviolate
✦✦✧✧ Look at this three-necked instrument! This guy is still a shredding maniac. The album is definitely worth checking out for its unpredictable creativity and alien imagination, even if it is hardly rock, let alone metal. I’d describe it as a modern instrumental Zappa-like exploration, and I mean that as nicely as I can. See the rest here
Underoath — Voyeurist
✦✦✧✧ Kudos for this postcore band trying to push the envelope, even if the results are not particularly compelling. Album closer “Pneumonia” does feel like something special, though, offering a taste of metal that’s both emotive and updated for a newer digital-ready generation. See the rest here
Dream Theater — A View From The Top Of The World
✦✦✧✧ The band is clearly done experimenting with brevity, as heard in their previous Distance Over Time. Too bad. Fun fact: James LaBrie has been in this band for thirty years. I still don’t like his voice very much, but this is some of his least offensive vocals, so there’s that. See the rest here
Omnium Gatherum — Origin
✦✦✧✧ This is a slightly groovier and more midtempo offering from these melodeath stalwarts, a refinement that suits the band quite nicely. OG have always made a virtue of cleanliness and polish, and this album is no exception, but what is new is a greater sense of laidback self-possession. The album is also a great showcase of the band’s maturity, cohesion, and evolution, which is all the more impressive when you consider that it’s the debut of a brand new rhythm section. See the rest here
