Music Reviews of Metal, Grindcore, Death, Prog-Rock
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Chiodos
Perhaps no one can explain the sheer ferocity and timid quietness it is better than when vocalist Craig Owens says “we don’t want to let the kids down” when discussing the group’s intense vocals live at shows. Well they never let a single kid down with their vicious assault on the ears and grip on the jugular...
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03.09.2007 by J-Sin
Music Reviews of Metal, Grindcore, Death, Black, Thrash, Progressive Rock
Manes — How the World Came to an End Buy it at Amazon
Well I’m fairly certain that this story begins with the neo-conservatives attempting to bring about the end times because they’re freakishly Christian nutbags. Norway’s Manes have a slightly different vision however as they relate the apocalypse via their highly original stab at black metal. How original you ask? It’s just a bunch of blast beats and guttural growling about evil stuff right? Wrong. Dead wrong pal. Manes paints their portraits of dank disdain with a canvass of trip-hop, future jazz, electronica, pop hooks, and of course plenty of twisted metal. Instead of just bludgeoning us with blast beats from hell, Manes turns up the volume on melody and lets it soak our skin. Imagine Fear Factory only better and more dosed on acid and societal disgust.
- J-Sin
Ensiferum — Victory Songs Buy it at Amazon
Finish metal band Ensiferum utilizes traditional Finnish instruments like the bagpipe, myckelharpa, bodhrans, and kantele to give themselves a breadth that most metal groups are unable to muster. However when they’re not being all pagan, they rock out with the best death metal bands out there. Similar in vein to Enslaved, Fintroll, and Windir, Ensiferum is an interesting and unique listen that will brutalize you the second you think that you’ve got it all figured out. Viking metal hasn’t been this good in a while—off to Medieval Times with you, and raise your goblet to the Troll King brother!
- J-Sin
Pantheon-I — The Wanderer and His Shadow Buy it at Amazon
Having formed nearly five years ago in Oslo, Norway, Pantheon-I is ex-1349’s guitarist Tjalve along with others who set about to create a black metal group like no other. Their sound is clearly more progressive than their brethren with its otherworldly manic guitar interludes and overtures of apocalyptic orchestrated hate. Huge blast beats match the wicked vocal delivery. Seeming to emit a ray of unsettling evil with each note struck, Pantheon-I pushes forth a dizzying array of sinister dankness in the form of some of the most blistering black metal put to record to date.
- J-Sin
Sirenia — Nine Destines and a Downfall Buy it at Amazon
Do you hear the Sirens call? You will and your boat will be dashed along the rocks forever cursing you to drown, drown, drown in obscure musical analogies forever. “Nine Destinies and a Downfall” show off the band’s talented pen and knack for arranging a beautiful and yet eerily downtrodden song. Unlikely to fall along the wayside even in the packed metal scene of their native Norway, Sirenia expands the mind with melodic female vocals and crunchy guitar assaults. This is the pulse of melodic metal and you should be keying in on its heart’s rhythms.
- J-Sin
Mithras — Behind the Shadows Lie Madness Buy it at Amazon
Four entire years have gone by. Yes that’s right, almost half a decade. But Mithras is back. And they want their fucking crown back. And polished up mind you. Others may have been keeping it warm but it was Mithras all alone. Fittingly original, “Behind the Shadows Lie Madness” is this duo’s best collection of eclectic metal amazements yet. Complex arrangements settle in after the first few songs and you’re presented with yet another daring venture into the underbelly of technical death metal. Huge and glorious guitar solos are met head-on by filthy vocals and ridiculously precise drumming. Staggering is hardly a comparison as it’s become Mithras one-word definition.
- J-Sin
Diskreet — Infernal Rise Buy it at Amazon
Nothing about Diskreet is discrete. Calling the religious underbelly of Kansas their home, Diskreet lashes out with some of the best extreme metal you’ll ever lay ears to. Slamming guitars clatter with one another in a dance only the devil would condone. Technical grind with elements of death metal and goregrind are strained to the very edge of insanity with some of the most pummeling percussion you’ll get battered with. This makes all other death metal albums this year pale in comparison. I highly doubt you will find a more brutal and twisted amalgam of fucking savagery this year.
- J-Sin
Transmission 0 — Memory of a Dream Buy it at Amazon
Steve Austin (not the wrestler but the Today is the Day dude) guests on this Dutch metal band’s sophomore release. “Memory of a Dream” is a sludgy chaotic metal with a fistful of Neurosis and Godflesh. Mashed up and distorted guitars are perfectly balanced alongside the gut-piercing atmospherics and guttural vocals. Crushing percussion leads you down the Godflesh path with terrorizing anthem after anthem. This album will make you want to believe that God can save you from eternal damnation.
- J-Sin
Arch Enemy — Black Earth Buy it at Amazon
Few are as rapidly advancing the metal world as Arch Enemy has been for the past several years. Thrash metal mavens that provide another technical impetus for proving how incredibly talented your group needs to be in order to make a dent in the metal scene, Arch Enemy has quickly gained popularity and expanded outside of the tight knit of metalheads. Originally released in Europe in ’97, Regain Records saw fit to re-release this lynchpin of metal and toss on a few extra bonus tracks along with a video for “Bury Me an Angel” and I applaud them for this. Crushing dual guitar assaults are blended with fast precise drumming and roaring vocals for a sound solely their own.
- J-Sin
Child Abuse — Child Abuse Buy it at Amazon
Only would the front man for Genghis Tron allow a band called Child Abuse call his indie start-up label, Lovepump United, home. Child Abuse is as menacing and underhanded as their moniker. Whirling disarrays of distorted guitars, mathematical crust-punk, and grind noise are fused together to create this dizzy self-titled debut full-length album. As chaotic as a Dillinger Escape Plan album with just as many squelching guitar note twists as you can muster, Child Abuse likes to challenge the listener. Jazzy metal that’s noisy, imposing, and fucking off the hook. Who loves Child Abuse? I do!!!
- J-Sin
Marduk — Rom 5:12 Buy it at Amazon
Since I’m not a Christian (or religious in any way), I had to look up what the Bible passage title was a reference to. Seems perfectly appropriate for a black metal to title an album after all men dying because all men sinned due to Adam’s sin, doesn’t it? Marduk has been one of those bands that have been hailed as one of the great black metal bands out in a very crowded universe of sludgy and grimy black metal. Huge blast beats are bent and twisted into a contorted formation of evil so GRYM that anyone not of the faithful black metal circus might self-combust. Churning guitars waste not a single note as the dangerously venomous vocals grow in strength as the album progresses. This is sacrilegious prose that refocuses the lens of black metal more than just a bit.
- J-Sin
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