luajaz's Reviews
Bolt Thrower has something very interesting going on with it's songwriting and themes. They have a very characteristic minimal composition style: just a couple of simple, mid-paced riffs arranged in a logical way with enough beat variations to back it all up. Throw some badass growls over it and you have Bolt Thrower. Now, that is not to say that they are overly simplistic or boring! This is very heavy hitting death metal that in some way says something important about the genre itself. It's like boiling down the style to it's bare fundamentals and applying them with precision, and because of this the whole thing is a masterclass in efficient songwriting. But above this, I'm very interested in how this couples very, very well with their themes and aesthetics. Bolt Thrower doesn't care much about occultist fascinations or hyper-violent, gore-ridden fantasy. It's theme is the very real and brutal violence of war, an unquestionable and immutable truth. Coupled with their mid-paced, martial sound and minimalist precision, the outcome has a monolithic, eternal quality to it. That is something I can very much admire and look up to, because it is in fact very artistic, aside being awesome heavy metal.
Well, why the mid rating then? Unfortunately I do have some problems with this, which I guess is their most revered release. While there are some very good songs here, particularly Where Next to Conquer, As The World Burns and Spearhead, I do find the album too long and somewhat samey, making me lose interest a bit towards the end. Also, I don't like this production at all. The strings sound very bassy and glued, which I do like, but there's a critical lack of high end in the mix, and the drums sound muffled and don't have enough impact. That's all very unfortunate, because I actually want to like this album, the songs I enjoy are badass and awesome, and the cover art and title are incredible. Such a cool looking album, but unfortunately a let down to me. I'll be searching for a Bolt Thrower album that I can get behind and praise, because the band is pretty interesting.
What can be said about Mental Funeral that hasn't being said? Truly a foundational pillar of death metal, specially of the doomy variety, and it doesn't disappoint. I do prefer the sludgier and rawer debut, but this is undeniably some disgusting and skull-crushing death doom, with tons of memorable riffs that can't be ignored.
I can't say I'm really a fan of Atheist. Piece of Time was a kind of a let down to me: I can see them being ahead of their time in complexity and technicality, but the band just sounds so convoluted and seems to trample over itself to the point that I don't really enjoy the album very much. This release on the other hand, is a whole other beast! The band sounds somewhat lighter, with a clearer production and better execution, particularly on the vocals, which sound way more on point. Composition wise, they really went through the roof, leaning very heavily on their jazz influences to make what sounds pretty much 50-50 death thrash and jazz fusion. This was very much the correct decision, as this is where the band's insane musicianship and chaotic nature really gets to shine it's brightest, the result being some of the most interesting metal releases I've ever heard, perfectly balancing awesome complexity, sheer heaviness and plain fun. Honestly, not a single bad minute on this, absolutely incredible record.
I always saw this album cover pop up on metal discussion online and was somewhat intimidated with the 2000's looking fonts and the gritty Jesus painting, which for some reason spelled "disturbing" for me. This is pretty funny, because this release is actually some of the catchiest shit you can get! Really tight, with accessible composition, crystal clear production and very, very catchy riffs. Some things here remind me of late era Death with the techish riffs and high register vocals, and that's a pro for me. Some people might be put off by the metalcoreish vocals, but I wouldn't say pass to this even if I was a die hard metalcore hater. I do think the tracklist is pretty front heavy tho - the early run from Blinded by Fear to Suicide Nation is insane, but the B-sides kinda fall off to me and I tend to doze off a bit. Maybe would prefer it as an EP.
God, I do love me some death doom. Composition and riffage-wise, this is pretty much peak old-school death doom metal. Half awesome thrash and half crawling doom, with a lot of filth and heavyness. The tortured and demented vocals are also a big standout, reminding me of Autopsy and Velho's first EP, two of my favorite extreme metal endeavors. I do find this release to be a bit samey, but nothing too much to the genre. All in all, great stuff!
The only thing keeping me from an extra half-star is the production, which is not really my cup of tea. I do like the drum sounds and the vocal mixing, but the strings are too scooped and high-end to my taste. They do remind me of swedeath chainsaw, which I'm a fan, but I really think it lacks bass.
This is without a doubt one of the most unique and interesting death metal releases I've listened to so far, and honestly the band executes it very well. The ideas that flow from death, folk and even hard rock match and blend nicely, resulting in some very tight and fun stuff. Being pretty much my first time with melodeath, I was also surprised with how light and mellow this stuff is (compared to it's more brutal cousins, of course), and although it's a metal release, to me it's more on the rock n' roll side of things, particularly with some more danceable sections, keyboard solos and what not.
That being said, not really my thing. I do commend the band on the creative effort tho, considering this very exceptional, and I can see myself returning to this some day I'm wanting something light and fun.