Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

Dynahead: Antigen Review

It’s not often that I get a chance to review a band that I have never heard of. Okay, let me rephrase that. It’s not often that I get to review a band that I’ve never heard of and truly and genuinely enjoy every second of it. Some times it’s a lot of fun and other times it’s a nightmare. This time it’s a fun nightmare. It’s fun because this band is simply amazing but it’s a nightmare for me to try to find the words to explain exactly why and how.

Whenever a person from a band I’ve never heard before sends me an email asking to review an album, I always try to get an idea of what they sound like by visiting their myspace and hearing a track or two to see if it’s worth my time to hear the entire album as opposed to listening to and writing a review of an entire album that I don’t like. I didn’t get 30 seconds in to Layers Of Days on DynaHead’s Myspace before I knew I had to hear more. Read the rest of this entry »

Four albums in line for review right now are (in no particular order):

• Arsis – Starve For The Devil
• Fear Factory – Mechanize
• Overkill – Ironbound
• Dynahead – Antigen
• Warpath – Damnation
• Cobalt – Gin

Some of these reviews may be extensive, as in a few paragraphs, while others may be short and to the point.

Hatebreed‘s decision to make this a self titled album is as about as lazy as this review. Well, maybe not.

Hatebreed’s self titled album leaves a lot of the Chugga-chugga behind and adds a bit more complex riffs than you have probably ever heard on any Hatebreed album. Solos on a Hatebreed album? You better believe it. While it still holds the classic hardcore sound of Hatebreed, Wayne Lozinak‘s return brings a little more complexity to Hatebreed’s sound in such a great way. You even get to hear Jasta “sing” a bit more with more inflection in his voice. Read the rest of this entry »

Skeletonwhitch recieved much praise from Beyond the Permafrost with their Blackened Death/Thrash sound that brought eargasms to many metal fans a couple of years ago. This time around, the ‘witch does just the same, if not more.

From the get-go, Breathing The Fire thrashes you about while give you another dose of blackened death metal that makes the old school band of thrasher metal masters proud. From the fast riffed power chords to tremolo picking rage, Breathing The fire doesn’t give any time to recover between songs. I imagine there will be some pits filled with blood and sweat and maybe even some vomit from the shows for this new album. Read the rest of this entry »

With any 7 and 8 string bands you wonder just how good it can possibly be and how much use of the 7/8 strings will be made. I can tell you that all 8 strings are used diligently and with great precisions on Animals As Leaders.  Tosin Abasi doesn’t hold back as he lets his fingers do the talking.

While not completely a heavy metal album, any guitarist or musician learns to quickly respect and appreciate Tosin’s skill as he glides through the album with jazzy melodies that melt your ear drums in the most delicate way, yet keeping things somewhat heavy, organized and in perspective.

If you like [fellow Prosthetic band] Scale the Summit‘s fluid like and mesmerizing sound on Carving Desert Canyons and Monument, then you will surely enjoy Animals As Leaders Jazzy riffs in addition to the synthesized backing that makes Animals As Leaders more than just a guitar album. The soul, feeling and heart put in to the music is more than any vocalist could ever add with words. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve got a lot on my plate right now as far as reviews go. The following albums are on my list for review postings. Will I get to them all? Maybe but chances are some may get thrown in to the Reviews By The Handful post.

• Animals As Leaders – Animals As Leaders
• grief of WAR – Worship
• Gates of Slumber – Hymns of Blood And Thunder
• 3 Inches Of Blood – here Waits Thy Doom
• Hatebreed – Hatebreed
• Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue

I planned on working on one or two this Friday but I forgot about going to see obituary, Goatwhore, Warbringer and Krisiun. A friend reminded me today and I had been planning on going to this show for months. Needless to say the reviews will wait another DAY.

Time to catch up on some reviews…the lazy way.

Children Of Bodom – Skeletons In The Closet

Some bands do great cover songs while others just completely shit all over the original but not in a good way. I’m sure you’ve heard most of Children Of Bodom’s cover songs at least one time or another. Skeletons’ does a mixture of both. There are a few that are really cool but the others just don’t sound right with COB covering them and they end up sounding terrible. Is it a buyer? Only if you’re a hardcore fan that wants all of their albums; otherwise I would pass on this one.

Shadows Fall – Retribution

Solid effort from the Massholes. Retribution won’t blow you out of the water but I think it’s much better than Threads of Life but very far from The Art Of Balance. Is it a buyer? I would say so. Would I rush out to get is on a day that other great albums came out on? Probably not.

The Black Dahlia Murder – Deflorate

While The Black Dahlia Murder doesn’t try to stray from what works for them, they infuse an amazing guitar player in Ryan Knight, formerly of Arsis. Ryan brings  the speed, technicality and melody that TBDM requires to be able to keep from being like so many other tech-death bands. Deflorate is full on, balls to the wall metal satisfaction at every turn. Is it a buyer? Hell yeah.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you read my prelude to this review, then you know where I’m coming from as a Megadeth fan going in to this review. Bands like Slayer, Metallica and Megadeth make it really easy to be unbiased when reviewing a new album after a a string of mediocrity. Some people say that “Real fans stick by their band, no matter what”, which is bullshit. You don’t praise garbage like some sickened, love-struck fanboy. You tell it like it is. If you don’t, your favorite band will keep writing garbage. So you stick by that band with hope for a new day even after they have made a bad album or two. You have to be honest with yourself and face reality. You wait anxiously for the next [album] to be the album that proves that the band still has the ability to write amazing material in a time when everything seems to be “meh”. Megadeth’s Endgame is the album that I, as a fan have been waiting for.

Read the rest of this entry »

Iommi/Hughes: Fused

In the eyes of many, “Seventh Star” fucking sucked, and [Tony] Iommi’s 2000 solo album was full of alternative rock (Billy Corgan? Billy Idol? What the fuck?), vocalists that don’t fit Iommi material, and material that people other than Iommi should have written.  But Iommi’s 2005 collaboration with the groovy, soulful Glenn Hughes worked out quite well, possibly because of Iommi’s freedom to write and perform with a man improbably, but vastly more comfortable with Iommi’s vibe than the 2000 crew. Iommi drives his freight train of riffs  straight at the listener underneath Highes’ soulful vocals and adequate bass playing.

But don’t expect Master of Reality or Mob Rules, this isn’t really a Black Sabbath album. However, it reminds me of Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath in a lot of places, a lot more than of the other three Sabbath eras (Ozzy, Dio, Gillain’s one album “Born Again“). While Hughes cannot really be compared to any of the Sabbath singers, his style is perhaps closest to Tony Martin’s more melodramatic moments, and the song structure can be compared to Tony Martin-era structure in a lot of places. Read the rest of this entry »

Gwar: Lust In Space

25 years come and gone since the thawing [in Antarctica] of the intergalactic abominations known simply as Gwar. The Scumdogs are fed up with being stuck on this shit-hole planet and want off of this rock. Lust In Space, the title track of the album says it all. “Again, what grim vision this…blood-stained tombs, beer cans and piss. This is no life for a god!”.

You’ve probably heard the first single from Lust In Space called Let us Slay. If you haven’t you can listen to the the single in the widget at the bottom. Not my favorite song off of the album, but it shows your typical Gwar sound plus a lot of melody and ass kickery. Read the rest of this entry »