Xephyr's Forum Replies
I really, really enjoyed this. I've found that I like the Gothic style of sound on the whole, but the way that certain bands choose to use it doesn't always hit me quite right. Dolorian is exactly how I've always wanted a slightly more Gothic inspired metal album to sound; it has a fantastic atmosphere that doesn't need to be absurdly heavy to leave an impact. Like Ben said it's a pretty nuanced album, with most of it sounding pretty similar in the end, but I never got tired of the repetition. I'll have to check out Voidwards because I'm definitely going to be coming back to this one.
4.5/5
I still don't know too much about the more Brutal side of Death Metal so I wanted to give this short one more chances and time than I normally do. I think it's incredibly solid, unbelievably heavy, and I can see how Suffocation is considered one of the pinnacles of the heavier styles of Death Metal. It helps that they don't necessarily fall into the pitfalls of the more modern Tech-Death groups, since they're able to create some really jagged and complex sections within Despise the Sun without it feeling like they're shoving technical playing in your face for no reason.
Like Saxy said I don't think I'll necessarily have a reason to go back to this one too much given what I tend to want to listen to on a day-to-day basis, but I'm going to give credit where credit is due on this one. Some of the best, brutal-leaning Death Metal I've heard crammed into a 15-minute package. I have to admit that I'm more of a fan of the modern takes on the brutal but technical style, something like Tomb Mold's Planetary Clairvoyance always comes to mind whenever I try to think of what kind of Death Metal really gets me going, but this was satisfyingly grimy for sure.
4/5
Hammer of the North isn't on Spotify, unless it is in other countries.
Replace it with Jorn - "Stormcrow" - The Duke I guess. Is there going to be a better way to deal with "duplicate" songs moving forward Daniel? In my opinion it's going to be mildly annoying when we get to month 16+ of this and getting push-back because some good/popular song was chosen on October of 2019 or something.
June
Herzel - "Le Dernier Rempart" + "Berceau de Cendre" - Le Dernier Rempart
Grand Magus - "The Shadow Knows" - Iron Will
Númenor - "Make the Stand" + "Arkenstone" - Draconian Age
Warrior Path - "The Mad King" - The Mad King
Cirith Ungol - "The Frost Monstreme" - Forever Black
~28 Minutes
June
Turbulence - "Crowbar Case" - Frontal
Gojira - "Sphinx" - Fortitude
The Ocean - "Orosirian" - Precambian
Waste of Space Orchestra - "Seeker's Reflection" - Syntheosis
~ 27 Minutes
June
Obsequiae - "Asleep in the Bracken" - The Palms of Sorrowed Kings
Spectral Wound - "Mausoleal Drift" - A Diabolic Thirst
Paysage D'Hiver - "Wuetig" - Geister
~22 MInutes
To probably no one's surprise, I really enjoyed this one. Can't believe I haven't heard of Grand Magus before this, going to check out some of their other, earlier releases before typing up something about Hammer of the North to have a bit more perspective. Early opinion of this one is really high right now, though.
Nice one on the Herzel inclusion Daniel, I don't think I could find it on Spotify at the time and really wanted to include it, fantastic song and album.
So the new Gojira album Fortitude just dropped and it's blessed us with this monstrosity.
For some reason I didn't like this album by Númenor the first time I listened to it. I don't know what I was thinking. This awesome mix of Power Metal and tinges of Black Metal is insanely unique and may make some of the less Power Metal inclined members of The Guardians have some second thoughts this time around. The obvious single is the opening track featuring Hansi Kürsch from Blind Guardian:
But the rest of the album is short, snappy, and incredibly catchy even without one of the best vocalists in the business.
I really enjoyed this one, been going back to it quite a few times this month and that'll probably continue. I've found that I have a very thin vein of Tech-Death that I really like, and Martyr hits that spot pretty well. Even though I respect what Gorguts did for the genre after finally going back and listening to them to figure out why they were so influential, their style of Tech-Death is a bit too dense and overwhelming for me to constantly want to go back to it. Martyr is able to condense some of the more drawn out and complex Tech-Death normalcies into an extremely addicting experience that wasn't ever overwhelming for me. Lotta good stuff in here.
Plus I'm a big fan of the more Progressive era of Death as Daniel alluded to, so this whole thing was right up my alley. The vocals are extremely Death-like through and through and while I didn't absolutely love this as much as some of my other highly rated Tech-Daeth albums, this one is definitely joining the well above average roster.
4/5
So this was an interesting turn of events. Within Temptation immediately decided that they didn't care for the Gothic side of things and pivoted into a more fully symphonic and theatrical sound for Mother Earth. The Metal aspects of their sound honestly take a tremendous backseat for a good portion of the album, with most of the songs being slower, plodding orchestral pieces with de Adel's vocals being more front and center than they were in Enter. I think for people who want a classic, softer Symphonic Metal experience this is the album for them, but I found myself really missing the Gothic atmosphere they had on Enter. It gave their songwriting that slight edge that it needed since I found Mother Earth to be pretty bland on the whole.
It starts out well enough with "Mother Earth" and "Ice Queen" being good starting tracks, even though some of the orchestral mixing in "Ice Queen" is perplexingly loud as the guitar and drums get suffocated into the background. "Caged" and "Deceiver of Fools" are fine as well, but the back half of this album after "Intro" feels utterly pointless, drawn out, and de Adel's vocals really don't hold up on "Dark Wings". It's like she's trying to go for this sultry but theatrical performance and her voice just doesn't have that kind of power behind it.
Mother Earth honestly reminds me of Therion's Vovin, where they decided to say screw it and go fully symphonic with just enough Metal in the background to keep it under the same genre. As someone who isn't a fan of Vovin, I feel like I'm bored by this album in the same ways. Sure the symphonic elements are nice and some of the ballads are beautiful, but nothing else is really added to the experience by removing the other aspects of what made the band interesting in the first place. To me this feels like a step back from Enter, but a strange stepping stone into The Silent Force where they're able to gain their footing back a little bit. Sure, The Silent Force is definitely less experimental than this album, but I think it fits Within Temptation's style better than whatever this is.
Plus, "In Perfect Harmony" hilariously sounds like it belongs in a wide, panning shot of The Hobbit; not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but it's a thing. Also the album cover is giving me some serious David Bowie from Labyrinth vibes for some reason. Also not sure how I feel about that.
I'll give it a listen sometime this week, only fair that I round out Within Temptation's discography while I have it on the brain. Review probably isn't going to happen though, I can't churn out reviews on a whim, but who knows, maybe I'll have a lot to say about it.
I struggled with this one too, enough that I really don't think I'm going to give it any more chances even though I'm not going to give it a low score. The atmosphere and riffs are disgustingly good, but man, those vocals combined with the extended song structures just didn't do it for me. I have issues with the more "possessed" style of Black Metal vocals and this one really, really highlighted that for me. I love the dark, ritualistic atmosphere, but having it forcibly thrust down my throat for an hour straight by the vocalist just gets straight up annoying to me, especially in "Vintage Black Magic" and "The Devil Intimate".
Tried my best to get past my bias on this one, since the rest of the album is admittedly amazing, but this one isn't for me. I'll have to come back to this in a month or so to see if it still rubs me the wrong way.
3.5/5
I've listened to quite a bit of Within Temptation thanks to stumbling upon them quite a few years ago thanks to my love of Nightwish at the time, but I never decided to go back and check out any of their albums prior to The Silent Force. In terms of female-fronted Symphonic Metal bands they've always seemed to have taken a backseat to their peers, especially since they weren't as operatic or theatrical as early Nightwish or as extreme and dense as Epica, opting for simple but effective songs that use symphonic elements as a backdrop rather than pushing them into the forefront. This is especially apparent with their debut release which is much more in line with Gothic and Doom Metal compared to any of their more modern albums with its moody piano, strings, and somber vocal performance from Sharon den Adel. Since Within Tempation have gone completely off the deep end with 2019 release Resist, Enter was honestly a breath of fresh air that gave me a nice perspective into a mediocre but interesting group that doesn't necessarily deserve to be brushed aside when talking about 2000's Symphonic Metal.
Overall I enjoyed this album. Even though it's a bit draggy and plodding, I definitely prefer the Gothic Within Temptation compared to pretty much anything else they've done, save for a couple standout songs on The Silent Force. The harsh vocals are admittedly a bit much; guitarist Robert Westerholt doesn't exactly have the most compelling technique in the world, but they work well enough within the brooding atmosphere of the album and provided a nice contrast to Adel's vocals. Her vocals are a bit shaky throughout though, partially due to poor writing on certain occasions, but also due to it being a bit too sing-songy for how Gothic this album sounds. Even though nothing really stands out about this album, I still think it's a solid piece of symphonic-heavy Gothic Metal with a nice atmosphere and some decent replayability. It also really helped to paint the full picture about the evolution of Within Tempation's sound leading up to The Silent Force and eventually into the downfalls of Hydra and Resist.
And hey, I think "Blooded" is a fine instrumental transition between "Grace" and "Candles".
3.5/5
May
ERRA - "Gungrave" - ERRA (2021)
May
Chevelle - "Mars Simula" - Niratias (2021)
May
ERRA - "Lunar Halo" - Erra (2021) (5:52)
Liquid Tension Experiment - "Hypersonic" - Liquid Tension Experiment 3 (2021) (8:25)
Dvne - "Towers" - Etemen Ænka (2021) (9:05)
Genghis Tron - "Dream Weapon" - Dream Weapon (2021) (5:13)
May
Satyricon - "Dark Medieval Times" - Dark Medieval Times (1994)
Mare Cognitum - "Luminous Accretion" - Solar Paroxysm (2021)
Manegarm - "Skymningsresa" - Vredens Tid (2005)
This one was decent, nothing really much for me to say except it was a perfectly fine, run of the mill Thrash record. There's a few great riffs and some decently used storytelling elements but nothing that makes me want to go back for more than the few times I spent with it.
May
Traveler - "Starbreaker" - Traveler (2019) (5:41)
Týr - "Empire of the North" - Hel (2019) (5:11)
Steel Prophet - "Lucifer / The Devil Inside" - The God Machine (2019) (3:37)
Kamelot - "The Black Halo" - The Black Halo (2005) (3:43)
Firewind - "Land of Eternity" - Forged By Fire (2005) (5:50)
DragonForce - "Seasons" - The Power Within (2012) (5:05)
Buckle up, it's gonna be a long one here. Since Inhuman Rampage is somewhat of a "classic" now, considering how notorious "Through the Fire and Flames" is, I might as well do some kind of review for it. I'd rather write some unfiltered thoughts here before trimming it down for a real review.
Considering the rest of the Academy leans towards the negative side here, I'll open with this: Dragonforce aren't a terrible band. Incredible take, I know, but Reaching Into Infinity, Maximum Overload, and Extreme Power Metal aren't bad albums by any stretch. I may be reaching on Extreme Power Metal, but I like how they finally and fully embraced their cheesiness in a love it or hate it kind of way. "Defenders" and "Symphony of the Night" off of Maximum Overload are good Power Metal songs that actually don't sound too much like "Through the Fire and Flames", believe it or not. “Seasons” is pretty good too! However, I concede that it's really easy to dislike DragonForce, so they've probably gotten a lot more hate than they deserve considering how many other over-the-top but boring Power Metal acts are out there making music.
The funny thing for me is that discussing DragonForce as an overall band or concept is way more interesting than their actual music. Most people only know DragonForce because of "Through the Fire and Flames", which by itself is a pretty good song. It's technically impressive, high-octane, and instantly recognizable even when compared to other Power Metal bands. However, DragonForce kind of had criticism coming to them when they decided that they were going to base their entire career around just playing that one song in different forms over, and over, and over for an entire album. Obviously Inhuman Rampage was released before the gigantic "Through the Fire and Flames" boom, so they chose this path before they knew that song was going to be their claim to fame. So, when people heard "Through the Fire and Flames" and wanted more DragonForce, they were greeted with 7 other tracks (plus a ballad) that sounded eerily similar to it. Alright, but most Bolt Thrower songs sound kind of the same, so only saying that doesn't necessarily make the album a dud, right?
Well, there's similar, and then there's DragonForce similar. As I was listening to the album I figured out a rough analogy to how I feel about everything that goes on in Inhuman Rampage. DragonForce has 5 or 6 interchangeable building blocks, or generic pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that all fit together but can be rearranged into whatever order to create the nonspecific structure of a song. Nothing necessarily fits perfectly, but it fits well enough. It feels like DragonForce has a guitar solo piece, a furious picking of the same note and calling it a "riff" piece, a random electronic transition or break piece, a power chord chorus piece, an outro that sounds suspiciously like the TTFAF outro piece, plus a few others that I can't be bothered to name. These same pieces are used in each and every song and are completely interchangeable. I guarantee that you can throw the guitar solo of "Revolution Deathsquad" into "Operation Ground and Pound" and it'd sound perfectly fine. You can replace the verse of "Storming the Burning Fields" with a verse of "Body Breakdown" and it'd probably work. I think the reason this works is because DragonForce's song structure is so incredibly segmented that I felt like I was listening to a Dream Theater song during certain parts with how random certain transitions, or lack thereof, are. There are so many parts where everything just stops for half a beat as if there was a blip in the system and the whole band goes "Ok another guitar solo? Yeah? Ok 3, 2, 1, GO". Everything just feels so pieced together in the most extreme way I've heard out of pretty much any album.
Even though these guys are talented players, they really needed to expand the amount of things they can play back then. Their drummer only knows one groove of galloping double bass and one or two fills, all three guitarists can only redo the solo structure of TTFAF for the entire album, the bassist is basically nonexistent until that one part in "Body Breakdown", and the vocalist is only serviceable in my opinion. There are also zero, absolutely no riffs in this album, which is why I think it's such a slog. The only "riff" DragonForce plays is either furious 16th note picking on the same note or drawn out power chords, meaning there's nothing memorable or interesting. There's also quite a few bad decisions made with the harsh vocals and with most of the electronic elements. The harsh vocals sound absolutely awful and are pushed back so far in the mix that I'm wondering why they even decided to include them at all. The electronic elements are incredibly cheesy and random, not necessarily going along with anything and only sounding at home in "Cry For Eternity" thanks to the schlocky (but good) chorus that pulls it all together.
The only thing left is the solos and man do DragonForce really, really try to create some impressive sounding solos. So much, in fact, that almost half of the album is solos. I counted. The album is around 55 minutes long, and there’s about 21 minutes of solo sections, give or take. That’s a LOT by any metric, and they don’t really do anything interesting with all that time.
Again, I don’t think that DragonForce is a bad band, and they’ve gotten a lot more hate than they deserve. But I need to rate this in line with everything else, so the score didn’t turn out so great. I listen to a lot of dull Power Metal that I feel like I never have to listen to again, and Inhuman Rampage on the whole falls into that category. Still though, DragonForce is an interesting topic in general considering how they got thrust into the spotlight in the way that they did.
2/5
Les Chants de Nihil - Le Tyran Et L'esthète (2021)
This feels criminally underrated on RYM and doesn't seem to have too many people talking about it, thanks to Sonny for highlighting it because I definitely would have skipped over it. This is easily one of the more interesting Black Metal albums of 2021 so far and holds up against records like Solar Paroxysm, Forhist, and Burn In Many Mirrors despite some weak sections here and there.
I normally don't listen to too many of our playlists but I'm slowly coming around to checking them out every now and again, and yeah this was an extremely good one. Sadly I had to listen to it on shuffle so it lost a bit of its charm but looking at the listing here I can see that Daniel did a fantastic job structuring it.
I wouldn't get your hopes up for Accept or Todd La Torre Vinny, "Zombie Apocalypse" is good and is a decent showcase of how modern Accept sounds, but I personally found the rest of the album to be an awkward slog. There's still a few killer tracks in there though. Same with Todd La Torre, "Hellbound and Down" is an obvious highlight along with 2 or 3 other tracks but then it gets a bit monotonous.
The only thing I'll say on my end is that I was really surprised by "Symptom of the Universe", couldn't believe I was listening to Sabbath when it came on, and apparently I rated Sabatoge a 3.5 when I went on my short Sabbath kick? That just doesn't seem right, gonna have to go back and fix that sometime this month.
Steel Bearing Hand - Slay In Hell
Paging Daniel and Vinny.
Satyricon - Dark Medieval Times
I'm getting dangerously close to finally completing the 1st Decade Black Metal list and this was definitely a cool one. The way it incorporates a folk/fantasy atmosphere into an aggressively grindy Black Metal album is neat, even though it's definitely flawed in a lot of ways.
I've got 5 more old Black Metal albums to review and it's getting tough, I feel like I'm really starting to repeat myself. I might go back and redo my In The Nightside Eclipse review since that album deserves more than one paragraph, but I'm not sure.
Forhist - Forhist
I think Forhist was already mentioned somewhere in The North but I've been consistently going back to this one and I'm impressed every time. This is a solo offshoot of Blut Aus Nord with frontman Vindsval and it sounds fantastic, I love the subtle dynamic choices on it throughout. The blast beat snare growing and lessening in volume is something I don't think I've heard out of Atmospheric Black Metal and this makes me want to hear more of it in the future. The atmosphere is great too, with all of the classic sounding electronics blending in wonderfully. This release might grow even more on me through the year, even though the final two songs might be a bit of a letdown, I'll have to see.
Very surprising for sure Daniel, you'll be happy to know Evergrey have been doing the same sort of thing since 2014's Hymns for the Broken, they're an extremely consistent band if nothing else. So you've got a lot more material to go through at the risk of it getting too samey. I'm torn on whether you'll like The Atlantic more than this one or not, you might find it a bit too cheesy since it has a bit more electronic melody elements to it. I like the riffs and choruses of that one more than this one at the end of the day though.
As if this song isn't miraculous enough, Zaher Zorgati (Myrath) provides the Arabic lyrics and chanting that would mesmerize you into oblivion.
I didn't know this, pretty cool considering I like Myrath quite a bit. It's funny because the first time I listened to the album and "Code of Life" came on I legitimately thought to myself "Oh hey Epica are trying to be Myrath for a song", turns out I wasn't too far off.
I've really been enjoying Little Turtle's War this year, consistently been going back to it for the past month or so. Has a great theme and some great songwriting.
And I didn't know that Saor had a separate project, looks like I have some stuff to catch up on.
Escape of the Phoenix was actually an album I reviewed early on in the year, since I did the same for The Atlantic two years ago.
Xephyr's Escape of the Phoenix Review
Evergrey have definitely found the niche that they want to play at this point in their career, and while it's not as particularly exciting as their older, more progressive material, it's far from bad. There are a few good songs in here, and a few forgettable ones. I think the lack of a cohesive theme compared to The Atlantic is what made me much less enthusiastic about it and even though I listened to this one quite a bit in order to write a review, I don't feel the need to go back to it apart from occasionally turning on "Leaden Saints" or "Eternal Nocturnal".
The best thing this album did though? It gave me a James LaBrie feature that didn't make me wince in agony since modern Dream Theater is a bit of a tough sell for me personally. I count that as a win.
3.5/5
Could Blue Stahli's 2021 album be added please, thank you.
Could Enforced's 2021 album be added please, thank you.
Moving over a backlog of ratings, here's some stuff to add:
The Scalar Process – Horde
Devil’s Reef – Horde
Moving over a backlog of ratings, here's some stuff to add:
Acid Mammoth 2021 album
Dopelord 2021 album
Moving over a backlog of ratings, here's some stuff to add:
Ulthima
Einherjer
Intig
Old Nick 2021 album
Moongates Guardian 2021 album
Sur Austru
Moving over a backlog of ratings, here's some stuff to add:
Wheel 2021 album
Witherfall 2021 album
Dvne 2021 album
Red Cain
Moving over a backlog of ratings, here's some stuff to add:
Herzel
Konquest
Secret Sphere
Lunar Shadow 2021 album
Crystal Viper 2021 album
Orden Ogan 2021 album
Warrior Path
Incredible record, my favorite of 2021 so far. I'm really impressed that he was able to follow up Wanderers: Astrology Of The Nine from last year with something that might be his best work yet.
Please add Genghis Tron's comeback album Dream Weapon, review inbound, thanks!
Absolutely not my thing, I found this album to be more annoying than anything, enough for me to not really want to return for another listen. There are some killer riffs in here, and the overall sound obviously appeals to someone (see posts above), but this really grated on me in a rough way.
2.5/5
You're making this hard on me Daniel, I never liked delving into this kind of stuff, but I guess breaking it down quick can't hurt, maybe I'll have an opinion at the end.
The vocals, to me, are more Power Metal than something like Rob Halford or Bruce Dickinson. Both of those vocalists use their range and actual melodies more than Rolf, who kind of just forces it all out on a few tones. Even though the other two are obviously legends, Rolf is more theatric and larger than life thanks to all the echo or reverb, not sure which, which to me is more in line with Power Metal than traditional Heavy Metal.
Guitar and bass wise, Running Wild are a wall of sound compared to something like Priest or Maiden, the bass is way more pushed back and there's more upfront distortion on the guitar riffs, a lot of Heavy Metal at the time feels thinner to me. Not in a bad way, just objectively. The tempos and energy are pushed more, even though most of their riffs are just Heavy Metal chug, none of it feels as laid back as something like Sabbath or the like.
The drums are what throws me, since there isn't a whole lot of Power Metal here. Especially European. Double bass is rare, there's hardly any fast, galloping beats, so it's hard to say that their drummer is playing anything except straight up Heavy Metal. "Marooned" is close, but not quite, I think "Riding The Storm" is the only one.
I think I'm gonna have to go slightly towards Power Metal here. I certainly think the Heavy Metal tag should be first, but I can't see getting rid of Power Metal entirely. Their overall sound has some slight European Power Metal influence, the way the choruses are structured with the cheesy backing vocals on "Death or Glory" and "Battle of Waterloo", the always classic whoa's on "Bad To The Bone", and "Riding the Storm" having just that bit of Speed Metal in it. "Eviliution" and "March On" are absolutely just mid-tempo Heavy Metal songs though.
Welcome! We definitely don't bite here and a welcome post is already less shy than most others, there's a ton of little ways you can interact; liking posts or reviews, etc. Sounds like you have a great starting point and if you're looking for classics there are a few people who definitely have you covered.
I'll attempt it, even though I have to agree that it seems weird that most of Running Wild's discography rivals that of much more established Heavy/proto-Power Metal bands in terms of scoring.
I think it has to do with the fact that Running Wild are very much the middle of the road in terms of bridging the gap between classic, traditional Priest era Heavy Metal and a proto-Power Metal sound. So middle of the road, in fact, that they fall into the inoffensive category that allows them to, apparently, appeal to a hardcore but wide range of Power/Heavy Metal listeners. I can agree that Death or Glory and Black Hand Inn are great albums, but the fact that Under Jolly Roger, Port Royal, and to a lesser extent Pile of Skulls are almost just as celebrated is kind of a joke.
As someone who likes a lot of Power Metal, especially European Power Metal, Running Wild give traditional Heavy Metal that little kick of energy that it needs for me to really enjoy it. I have nothing distinctly bad to say about what they do, even though after revisiting Death or Glory compared to Black Hand Inn I decided to bump down my score to a 4 rather than a 4.5 because I can a agree that a bit more than half the album is just slightly catchy, mid-tempo Heavy Metal songs that don't necessarily push the envelope but are still great songs nonetheless. I think that Black Hand Inn has a better album flow, more memorable riffs and sections with tracks like "Mr. Deadhead", "The Privateer", and "Freewind Rider" to name a few. Plus you get the 15 minute closer that lets Running Wild stretch their songwriting abilities a bit more.
I think to answer about what you're missing, and I know you won't like this so much Daniel, but for me, Running Wild are the epitome of a solid, no bells and whistles Heavy Metal band that manages to be incredibly consistent enough to be "just good enough" to a lot of folks. The vocals aren't the greatest in Heavy Metal, but they're far from unserviceable. The songwriting may not be as good as peak Iron Maiden, but I still really enjoy the riffs and very slight Speed Metal influence on some songs. Plus the band as a whole just sounds bigger, grander, and a bit more epic in style compared to your other classic Heavy Metal bands, giving them their own niche. Plus, I listen to a lot of bad, bland Power Metal. I know what it's like to be utterly bored out of my mind when listening to a Power Metal album, and I never got that from any Running Wild album save for Under Jolly Roger. It might just be a perspective thing at the end of the day.
Don't worry Daniel, as someone who adores Moonsorrow, Kivenkantaja is a massive step down in quality and I've always been perplexed as to why this one is as highly regarded as V: Hävitetty or Verisäkeet. It's just overall not as interesting and extremely forgettable compared to the two albums that would come after it. Even though I have it rated a 4 currently, both Verisäkeet and V: Hävitetty are 5's so I find it to be overrated on the whole too.
This shit is incredible. For someone who doesn't like the more brutal side of Death Metal with the piercing open snare and hardly any melodies, the way this record marries insanely heavy Death Metal with extremely well placed portions of Death Doom is enough for even someone like me to realize how well put together this record is. While I'm not having a change of heart on how extreme I like my brutal side of Metal, this was fantastically paced through and through, especially "Schisma".
4.5/5
Given my age, Linkin Park were one of the bands while I was growing up, but I was never into any of the popular music scenes back then. I skated right by all the Linkin Park, Korn, and Slipknot worship in favor of classic rock, Tool, and Dream Theater. Even though I listened to next to zero Linkin Park, this seriously takes me back since it's such a product of its time. The early 2000's were basically the only time when this angsty and weird hip-hop/rap, electronic, and metal hybrid could have existed and I came out of this having a lot more respect for this band.
Even though the riffs don't exactly have a ton of pop to them and the rapping is overall very monotone and lifeless compared to other, better rapping examples, Meteora is nuanced in a way that makes it so these shortcomings don't completely ruin the album. The album also feels like an album as well, with a lot of songs having great transitions and a nice overall flow to the whole thing. I think Linkin Park excel at being brutally accessible, with nothing on Meteora being particularly crazy, but I think that's why it holds up so much better than even their "cornerstone album" Hybrid Theory. "Crawling In My Skin" has become a recurring, embarrassing teenage angst joke of a song for slightly good reason, but I didn't find anything nearly as egregious as that in Meteora.
I think I have to agree with Saxy in that this album may come back in style eventually as one of the better examples of what came of the early 2000's Nu-Metal craze. Pleasantly surprised.
3.5/5
I didn't think that I'd need to get something off my chest when I chose this record for the feature, but apparently I did. Easily the most hard-stanced, "I will die on this hill" style of review that I've written, but it's how I truly feel about any talented progressive/mathy band getting voted down to oblivion because they wanted to play more notes than normal. I understand that it's an egregious oversimplification and I'm not saying that anyone is forced to like this kind of stuff, but seeing so many of the same comments over the past few years really got under my skin apparently. Full review link below:
https://metal.academy/reviews/20220/5616
4/5
April
Anna Pest - "Swordmaiden" - Dark Arms Reach Skyward With Bone White Fingers (2021)