SilentScream213's Reviews
Divine Intervention has remained not only my favorite slayer album, but my favorite album of all time since I heard it in my freshman year of high school, 2010. Not that it immediately became my favorite album upon first listen – no, this is a slow grower, but a very easy album to come back to. And come back to it I did, many times; I’m sure this is in my top 10 most listened albums of all time, and a certain contender for the #1 spot.
But, why Divine Intervention?
Why the album AFTER Slayer stopped being the greatest Thrash band in the world? After the lineup change and the death of metal in the 90’s? The album with troubled production and almost no live representation?
Quite frankly, because I don’t give a damn about any of that stuff.
I speak with utmost sincerity when I say I think this album is absolutely as great in every department as the 5 preceding it. The only exception being that the production is lower quality, but you know what? That higher class sheen on Seasons in the Abyss never did it for me as much as the raw, honest sound that we get here. The complaints about the production quality are completely unfounded if one enjoys Show No Mercy, or Kill ‘Em All, or basically any Black Metal.
With sufficient clarity on why none of this album’s “weaknesses” bother me, let me now express why I love it so much.
The mood. The atmosphere. The writing. Slayer were always that too evil band that were somehow mainstream. From day one they were writing about Satan, demons and infernal hellfire, and they remained consistent in that approach throughout the 80’s, with growing themes of real horrors as well, including war and mental illness. However, on Divine Intervention, hell froze over. The hell fire faded and the demons gave way to a much more terrifying being – humanity. Strongly influenced by literature about serial killers as well as newspaper articles, Tom Araya took a stronger writing role here and focused almost exclusively on real world evil and suffering. Songs took a deeper look into the psych of serial killers, criminals, and even drug abuse on the closing “Mind Control.” The riffs followed suit, and as such, this album isn’t as flashy as their previous material, and I think that gets lost on a lot of people. The riffs here are cold and calculated, evoking sincere darkness and an unrelenting bleakness that remains consistent throughout the entire album.
Which leads to an immense strength of this album; the songwriting. Hints of Tech Thrash break through in many of the tracks here, with less conventional rhythms courtesy of Paul Bostaph taking the songs into twisting territory that deviates far from their simpler punk roots. The guitar solos on this album are actually good, and more often than not add to the song with more thoughtful melodies as opposed to pure chaos. The title track and closing track both have perhaps the best solos by the band, and truly these songs felt like they had gained a level of maturity and depth in their structure. Tom’s vocals are also the most aggressive, manic and eclectic he has ever laid to record; in title track “Divine Intervention” he pushes his yelling to its limit, and haunting “Serenity in Murder” allows his lower registry to croon wickedly between more thrash roars. Divine Intervention could easily be argued to be Slayer’s heaviest album, which cannot be said for most metal releases from bands that were “declining” in the 90’s.
At the risk of sounding crazy, I’ll also confess that the insanely dark lyricism and mood on this album, particularly on tracks like “Killing Fields,” were immensely helpful for me emotionally. Since I discovered it, Metal has always been an extremely cathartic way for me to deal with negative emotions. Divine Intervention did that better than any other album I’d heard, and still remains one of my weapons of choice when I need it. People don’t usually label Slayer as being emotional music, but they probably forget that anger is an emotion. Some people have their OK Computers, some people have their Dark Side of the Moons, and I’ve got my Divine Intervention.
Genres: Thrash Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1994
A volte-face to anyone who thinks Doom Metal can’t be energetic and exciting, and a great lesson in what makes true Doom a completely different beast from Trad Doom. Wish I Could Dream It Again is one of the earliest true Doom albums, having zero Sabbathian influence, none of the 80’s Doom groove, and a total focus on somber, melancholic atmospheres. And unlike most prior Doom bands, it doesn’t rely on being consistently slow to achieve this. Lethargic, doomy sections still run through the compositions, but a lot of this material is lively, especially the rhythm section. Simple melodies and morose chords permeate the songwriting, but that drumming ensures a complex and ever-changing foundation to the music.
Novembre also have very melancholic lyrical themes, sticking to the introspective and poetic, drawing upon aquatic, summery and warm imagery across the album in another first for Doom Metal. The sentimental mood here was pretty unique at the time, but the general melancholy on display became a staple for the genre. Doom bands had already begun adopting this focus on gloomy atmospheres, which is how true Doom was born in the early 90’s, but Novembre here upped the ante. This was probably the most melancholic metal album at the time of its release.
As debuts can be, it’s a bit rough around the edges in some places; the clean vocals in particular are quite amateur, though they don’t bother me at all because they perfectly encapsulate that morose feeling of Doom. Either way, a landmark release for the genre, and a great learning experience for those who aren’t privy to the great variation that can be found in Doom Metal.
Genres: Doom Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1994
If I had to pick one song, not as my personal favorite, but as the best piece of music – one that pulled from all aspects of what makes music such an mazing and beautiful art – it would be Art of Life. As pretentious as that sounds, and as pretentious as writing a 30 minute epic about life may be, this song can actually back up such a monumental title. Am I biased as a metalhead, a fan of X Japan? You bet. But I only love these things because of what they offer me. Metal, to me, is ultimately an incredibly raw, even bestial display of human art. The harshness and aggression of it feels like a death throe. When one is in a life-or-death situation, or pushed to their limit, or faced with overwhelming emotion or psychological trauma, the ugliest, yet purest expressions surface. This is what Metal is to me.
X Japan do a fantastic job of mixing into that Metal foundation the sonic embodiments of young love, of beach sunrises, city-lit snowfall, a tear of joy. They have mastered both the ugly aggression and the passionate beauty, each in excruciatingly pure form. “Art of Life” is their magnum opus that displays every talent they’ve mastered. At times the music gets insanely fast as the guitars and drums exercise every last shred of pain, and at others slows to let the piano and strings cover you like a gentle rain. The song goes to all extremes and everywhere in between.
The lyrics are poetic, evocative, and hold an immense amount of depth especially for a band writing in a second language. Band leader and main writer Yoshiki was going through the grief of losing his father, among other things in his life, and in his words, tried to draw from every emotion he had when writing the song. And yeah, he succeeded, without a doubt. This is conveyed both in the music and the words, which tell of an existential crisis of love, longing, and loss. The lyrics are not specific enough to pigeonhole the song, and therefore almost anyone could listen to this and attach a very personal meaning to it.
Lastly, I’ll talk about that piano solo. That god damned piano solo. Originally, I hated it. I didn’t get it, I didn’t respect it, I didn’t think it contributed to the rest of the song, nothing. I went out of my way to make an edit of the song that cut it out so I could listen without having to fast forward through it. I didn’t get it.
I do not like when people chalk someone’s dislike of something up to them “just not getting it.” As if a song is so transcendental that a human cannot understand it. As if one has to be “in” on something to judge it correctly. As much as I do not like that and do not think it is a good response to any sort of opinion, I will allow myself to say it just once, for this piano solo. I get it now. After going through a psychological and emotional low, I got it. It became so clear what Yoshiki was feeling as he hit that cacophony of keys, how it played into the rest of the song, what it represented, everything. And magically, I immediately started enjoying it. I absolutely cannot listen to the song without it now. It took an experience and a perspective I did not have before to grasp it. And while this is no fault of any listener and I would not wish it on anyone, if you haven’t had that sort of experience, you just might not get it.
Genres: Power Metal Progressive Metal Symphonic Metal
Format: EP
Year: 1993
Images and Words is kind of the first Progressive Metal album of the white collar, semi-symphonic ballad heavy variant. While Dream Theater’s debut was a pretty generic slice of first wave Prog Metal, here Dream Theater take a cue from the likes of Queensryche and Fates Warning, adding strong, anthemic choruses and near-Pop commercial sensibilities, though retaining the later band’s complex songwriting and musicianship. More interestingly, they borrow Savatage’s melodramatic balladry, and bring a strong ensemble of keys, strings, sax, and probably a bunch of other instruments to the mix.
New (and now long-time) Vocalist James LaBrie adds a signature charisma to the vocal delivery, with an impressive range and strong lyrical chops. Instrumentally, it’s not in the overtly technical territory of prog wankery, and rather the band does a great job of servicing the song as needed, and showing off when appropriate. There’s also a huge variety to the songs here, and they pull off just about everything they try their hand at. There’s epic songs, somber songs, sappy songs, serious songs… and tons of different styles, all wrapped in that signature Prog Metal package. The band is so instrumentally entertaining that they actually make a cheerfully cheesy wankfest in “Take the Time” that manages to be a total delight from start to finish.
There really isn’t a wasted minute here, and the penultimate track “Wait for Sleep” is proof of that. Normally, 2 minute non-metal interludes on Metal albums are terrible wastes of space that just slow things down, but this one is a beautiful piano-vocal duet that not only sets the mood perfectly for the last track, but is a memorable piece of beauty in it’s own right. And that last track, “Learning how to Live,” is definitely the band’s greatest achievement as of release. Perfect closer that goes through a total range of moods and styles in it’s 11 minute runtime, never overstaying it’s welcome.
Genres: Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1992
Bullhead is usually considered Melvin’s first truly great album. The Sludge Metal pioneers are relatively peerless in this era, as you could count the number of notable Sludge bands on one hand when this dropped. These circumstances made Melvins kings of the movement by default, and I think that’s why it doesn’t really appeal to me.
Bullhead is an album that is special by circumstance, because it had no competition and no comparison. It was influential and unique, but those things don’t matter to me when I’m listening to it. The music itself is very basic, monotonous, and droning. These qualities can be fine when done right (or if that is your taste) but I feel this album just doesn’t have enough going on to warrant much entertainment out of that. There aren’t any great riffs, no striking vocal performances, no rhythm grooves, its just a lot of repetitive heavy chords. It’s slow, but it’s certainly not doomy, because there’s no atmosphere and no strong mood aside from kind of anxious.
Unfortunately I have yet to find much enjoyment out of early Sludge, and this album was not the one to change my mind. Onward we go.
Genres: Sludge Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1991
Sometimes when you listen to one of these acclaimed albums and don’t like them so much, you can still see what makes the album so great. You can recognize what other people see in it and write it off as just not being your thing. But sometimes, you might just be left mystified, wondering “What am I missing?”
Just before Streetcleaner, I had been listening to Peter Gabriel’s Passion, one of his most revered releases and a widely acclaimed New Age/World Music album. The album didn’t do anything for me, mostly because I’m not a fan of the style of music. However, I could still acknowledge the great compositions and brilliant atmospheres crafted in the soundscapes, and it was no mystery to me why it is so well liked.
Streetcleaner is a different case. I love metal. I love dark, misanthropic, heavy music. But listening to Streetcleaner, I struggle to find any appeal at all. The songs are all incredibly simple, and it sounds much less like a performance and much more like each member came up with one loop and just had it repeat for 5 minutes. There’s nothing innately wrong with this, but if you’re gonna repeat something for so long, at least make it good. The riffs are barely there; boring, slow, uninspired guitar that does little other than add a sludgy atmosphere, and ditto for the bass. The drum beats are equally boring and uninspired, and aside from some occasional addition of double bass, never do anything interesting. The vocals are sometimes there, and that’s all I can say about them.
The album is certainly dark, but the problem is that it is not active in achieving this. All the music is incredibly passive, and by that I mean there’s a lot of nothing going on aside from sounding heavy and dissonant, and it becomes the listener’s job to project any actual mood to it. The music doesn’t invoke anything on its own, but rather acts as a pool to collect such projected feelings. Unique at the time, and influential for everything that came after… but I’d say this is another case of influenced far surpassing the influencer.
Genres: Industrial Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1989
South of Heaven was my first favorite album. The first one I ever listened to while thinking “god damn, this is music for me.” I had never heard sincerely dark or heavy music before that, and I never looked back.
It all started with my first videogame, DOOM. I played that game when I was just 2 years old – I worked the gun while my father did everything else, but it was still an incredibly memorable experience that was burned into my memory. I didn’t play the game for a long span of time because we had to get rid of it after Columbine happened, and then it became kind of a pipe dream to be able to play it again.
It was actually right as I was entering public school in 8th grade (I was homeschooled prior) that we managed to get the game again. Man that was a triumphant moment, and the game was just as great as I remembered. However, one thing that struck me was the music – holy hell, that music kicked ass.
I wasn’t even into music yet at this age. I listened to The Beatles, I listened to whatever the parents had, and I didn’t really listen too intently. I didn’t even know what metal really was, other than hearsay. But I LOVED this game’s music. I went to shady websites to download mp3s of the game tracks, and naturally, I started reading up about it more. Well it turns out a ton of the tracks are based on real songs by real bands – all metal bands I had never heard of save Metallica. I had to get this stuff.
I actually downloaded all of the original songs without listening to any of them first, bought my first mp3 player, and then listened to them all at once. It was a rite of passage of sorts. I loved everything I heard, even the gruff stuff like Pantera, who’s vocals were too much for me but the riffs were good enough to get through it. This new form of dark, aggressive music was striking all my chords, even though I had no experience with it. But at the end of the list – as the bands were in alphabetical order and there were only 10 or so – was Slayer.
Slayer hit different.
The three songs from DOOM were “South of Heaven” “Silent Scream” and “Behind the Crooked Cross” and they instantly became my favorite songs (barring “The Long and Winding Road", which will never not be one of the most beautiful songs ever). Such condensed aggression and evil had never struck me in aural form like that before. I mean, even Pantera, who were just as heavy, didn’t sound nearly as dark and evil as this. And the lyrics! Holy hell, they were actually disturbing at that age. A song about abortion – what the hell was that. And I loved them.
Finding that the songs were all from the same album, I got it immediately – digitally, physically, everything. I didn’t even know what riffs were before this! This was insane to me. The whole album was just as good as the few songs I’d heard. I easily listened to it at least once everyday for probably the rest of that school semester. And it ended up being really important in me finding my identity in a crucial period of life – I now knew that metal was my passion. I knew what kind of music I liked, I could talk about it, I met people through it, and I searched for more.
The funny thing is, though Slayer remains my favorite band, their other material didn’t click with me at first. Turns out this album was Slayer at their slowest and most melodic; if I started with any other album, I may not have been infected so easily. But yes, it was South of Heaven that turned me into a full-time metalhead, and it was the first album I could confidently say was my favorite. Listening to it while writing this review, I’m not surprised in the slightest that it gives me the same feeling of intense bliss as it did nearly 10 years ago, still comfortably sitting among my favorite albums of all time.
Genres: Thrash Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1988
I’ve always loved Slayer, this album being among my favorite releases by them, but it becomes so much more amazing when compared to the contemporaries at the time. Absolutely nothing was this insane – not even close.
Speed? We had Metallica, but they’d only go into overdrive on a couple songs – and even then, it never matched Slayer. Tremolo guitar picking has never been this fast. And Dave’s drumming was something else. The speed and technique of the drumming here had never been seen in metal before. I’d guess only some Jazz and the best Prog Rock drummers had the level of chops Dave put on this album back in 1983.
Riffs? Hell no. You think Paranoid had great riffs? Number of the Beast? They were all lacking something. Slayer doesn’t just deliver riffs – they deliver evil riffs. Wailing, screaming guitars walked the line between melodic and chaotic, bringing a perfect harmony of very catchy riffs and a dark, harrowing mood. No music sounded this dark and melodic at this time; any other bands attempting the evil schtick relied on purely being noisy and chaotic with little technique (Venom, Hellhammer).
And then there’s the vocals. Not just the style, but the delivery. Tom’s trademark yelling here has become something often imitated, and I daresay it was many people’s introduction to harsher vocal styles. Tom was not the first to employ a harsh vocal style (Venom, Black Flag), but he absolutely did it better than anyone else at the time. He brought just the right amount of melody to the table; he can hit notes, and his words are very intelligible. Despite that – or perhaps, because of it – his bark comes off as much more convincing. As opposed to the flat screaming or growling of bands like Hellhammer and Venom, you could discern emotion in Tom’s voice, and that emotion was anger, hatred, a general misanthropy and dedication to the dark arts. That delivery carries over to the lyrics – again, Slayer were not the first to write Satanic lyrics. Venom mostly started that, but they didn’t take it too seriously. Slayer, along with King Diamond, were really the first band to convince you that those lyrics about Satan, murder, and black magic were genuine. Of course they weren’t, but damn was Tom’s fierce, rabid bark convincing.
Back in 1983, there were absolutely no albums that matched this. Any other album that had traits of what makes this great was missing something else, whether it be the speed, aggression, technique, or mood. Slayer was the first band to unite these qualities in a way that would spawn a staple style of dark metal carried on by thousands of bands.
Even after listening to hundreds of albums that were released pre-1983, Show No Mercy remains chronologically my earliest 5-star release, and nothing up until that point in music has come even close to instilling in me the sense of awe as Slayer did with their debut.
Genres: Speed Metal Thrash Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1983
After the monumental Brave Murder Day, which quickly established itself as the greatest and most depressing Doom Metal release yet, Katatonia decided to follow it up by moving in a slightly different direction. Still insanely doomy, still walling you with the same shoegazy chords, but now the sound is more accessible. Gone are the demonic death growls, the assaulting double bass, and any tie to extreme Metal.
Replacing them are purely clean vocals and a focus on verse-chorus format. Jonas doesn’t push his voice too far here, instead opting for a lethargic, depressive croon. The songs are simple and rhythmic even, adding to the hypnotic nature of the gazy guitars.
The result of this odd direction is… well, just about as depressive and pessimistic as music can possibly get without creeping into extreme territory. All of the ingredients mesh stunningly to craft a much more accessible serving of catatonia. Lethargic apathy is the surface face here, a numb shell of what’s left after one is encased with pessimism. However, the shell is constantly threatening to shatter as it struggles to hold back the outpour of emotions underneath. Jonas very perfectly treads the fine line between total apathy and intense pain, letting inflections slip through his voice to indicate the intense amount of emotion being restrained by the defense mechanism of not caring.
Another masterpiece from the band that still shakes me and never fails to put a frown on my face.
Genres: Gothic Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
Probably the purest Melodic Black Metal album ever recorded. Every song is nonstop melodic tremolo riffing over unrelentingly blast beats. Despite the incredible quality of this album, it has almost no experimentation, no outside influences, and very little variety. But that makes it such an iconic triumph of the genre. Anyone want to hear the best and purest example of Meloblack, you slap this baby on.
Right from the album art, there is a certain beauty to this. That perfect shot of a dark sunset encapsulates the catchy, poignant lead guitar melodies that dominate the otherwise morose and oppressive atmosphere. One after another, songs lay down memorable riffs, and the whole thing is filled with great lyrics as well. The near-constant blast beating does get to be a bit much at times, but the drumming performance is so great I can’t really complain.
Two songs definitely steal the show a bit, those being the opener and closer. Both have some of the best lead guitar riffs of all time, and a wonderfully somber atmosphere that is dually triumphant and powerful. Perfect way to open and close the album. This one is a shining star.
Genres: Black Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
And Death’s nearly flawless discography comes to a close. The band had been advancing in progressive technicality with each album, and it culminates in their most complicated and impressive album yet.
The Sound of Perseverance, like the album cover portrays, was a monumental mountain of insane musicianship and songwriting. The guitar leads are neoclassical at times, weaving up and down scales of melodies, while the rhythm guitar is more rhythmic than before, opting for a more progressive chug. The rhythm section itself is slightly less aggressive, focusing on complicated polyrhythms even more than before. And of course, Chuck changes his vocal approach to a more high-pitched shriek, switching distinctly from a type 2 to a type 3 metal scream. It’s definitely the most difference in sound found on a new Death album.
For the most part, the album is the same incredible quality, and again, the musicianship here is just mind-bendingly good. However, this is the first Death album where I feel the band falls a bit into the “too-progressive metal” style. Songs still feature incredible, memorable riffing, but I do feel a little is lost by focusing on technicality a bit too much. Still, Death is less guilty of this than most Tech Death acts, and the album remains a fantastic swansong for the band.
Genres: Death Metal Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
Struggling to capture the same magic in a different way than he did with Iron Maiden, Bruce’s first 3 solo albums were decent, but nowhere near approaching the prior band’s material. Accident of Birth was a much stronger effort in the right direction, and here on The Chemical Wedding, I feel Bruce finally proved himself a strong solo artist, not needing the coattails of his prior band to succeed.
Bruce’s voice is really the only thing that sounds similar to Maiden. This album is still Heavy Metal, but it’s played in a much different, more modern style than Maiden. The songs are a bit more rhythmic, heavier, and obviously there is more focus on the vocals. The sound is fitting with the late 90’s, but it doesn’t sound trend-hoppy or compromising, it’s just an intelligent adaption to the times; indeed, this was the only way for Bruce to successfully move forward, because looking to the past wasn’t going to work for him.
The choruses on these songs tend to be fantastic, but I do find the verses and instrumentation in general to fall flat at times. Too many of these songs suffer from a “just get to the chorus already” feeling. However, it’s still the strongest songwriting of his solo career yet. Some of the bass work here especially stands out, and those with good headphones to pick it up will be in for a treat. I suppose this is to be expected with a more modern, rhythmically focused Heavy Metal album. I do think more guitar leads would have done a great service to the record though.
Genres: Heavy Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
Blind Guardian’s first full on epic concept album exclusively focused on Middle-Earth lore, and this one seemed to be a breakthrough for them. Overall, the style is a bit softer, focusing more on varied instrumentation (folk and classical acoustics, as well as some keys) and hyper anthemic gang vocal choruses. Power Metal is still the core here, but it’s more progressive and less aggressive, and plenty of songs stray from the genre entirely.
The meat of the album is very strong, compelling, passionate and catchy. The concept story is an added bonus, but the music is plenty entertaining without it, and the tracks totally stand on their own. Despite this, I will say it’s decidedly less to my taste than their more aggressive fare.
In order to make the album flow more like a story, Blind Guardian added short spoken word interludes between almost every track, and I gotta say… I do not think that was the play. The 11 regular tracks are great, but the TWENTY TWO total tracks just makes this ridiculously hard to listen to front to back. It also makes the album very difficult to rate. The main tracks are top quality as usual, but the segues are boring and ruin the flow. Unfortunately I cannot simply ignore them, and they make this probably my least favorite release they had done at the time.
Genres: Power Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
This one leans a lot further into choral and Gothic elements. No traces of any of the band’s Extreme Metal past remain, as most vocal duties are handled by operatic vocals and choirs. The music is still evil sounding, but much more gentle, smooth, and melodic (as far as Metal goes, that is). Songs are built around powerful orchestral pieces, guitars offering simple but effective leads in support of the chorus and strings.
All of the above aspects hold this album together, but there’s a fantastic amount of variety to found. There’s slow Gothic dirges, faster Power Metal pieces, aggressive parts, softer parts, dark atmospheres and uplifting moods. What’s more, the band succeeds in pulling off just about every different style they go for here, which makes the album entertaining and ever changing. Even individual songs shift between these traits, having a fair amount of Progressive elements in many of these compositions.
Each song is densely layered and well-constructed. For me personally, it definitely would have benefitted from some of their past Extreme Metal traits, and I do feel a slight lack of overall heaviness to be found here. But I can’t complain, it’s a very solid and consistent album especially for one with so many different styles present.
Genres: Symphonic Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
System of a Down were one of the first Metal bands I really got into, and as such they were a pretty influential act for me. Even at the time, I never worshipped them or anything, but I did find them to be pretty great with some absolutely stellar songs. As I’ve matured, I find myself listening to the self-titled debut all the way through for the first time in… God, maybe 10 years? And it’s really not aged well. It’s still got two fantastic songs on it, but there is sooo much filler. Not to mention, it gets substantially weaker near the end.
The album is lacking in just about every department except for creativity and uniqueness. Riffs are simple and forgettable, with few leads at all, mostly relying on standard rhythm guitarwork. System of a Down have an amazing rhythm section in both Shavo and Dolyman, each having a very unique style that get tons of focus. Except, here, they didn’t have that style yet. They just sounded like run of the mill rhythm musicians.
The album feels way too long, but it’s only 40 minutes. No doubt thanks to most of the 13 tracks being unmemorable, outstaying their welcome and meandering nowhere. Some of the lyrics are alright, but there’s also a lot of cryptic word-salad and goofiness (not that they ever outgrew that).
Overall, it’s just not a great record. It’s fine. But the years have not been kind to it in my ears. I feel like this one gets way too much credit just because of the band’s legacy and because it’s “quirky.”
Genres: Alternative Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
Much like the previous album, here we’ve got another Progressive Neoclassical release with a ton of Power and Symphonic Metal influence. Compositions are lush with layers of guitarwork, keys, synths and atmospherics.
All the music is played to clinical precision. Songwriting is strong and varied, with tons of shifts in speed and tonal style. The compositions are interesting in many ways, both in the multi layering of instruments and the unforeseen twists and turns each song attempts to take you on. And you bet these guys can play their instruments; impressive displays from each member pop up more than a few times across the album.
By rights, it seems like an album I’d adore. But like the previous two, it lacks something very important. Hooks! I don’t mean poppy vocal hooks. I just mean ANY hooks. None of the guitar leads are memorable, the riffs fall to rhythmic chugging most of the time, the synth melodies are nice but always take a back seat, and yeah, the vocals don’t provide any hooks either.
That’s a massive weakness, BUT all the strengths I mentioned prior are still going very strong. So, the album is still pretty great, but it can’t be more than that.
Genres: Neoclassical Metal Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
As far as Stoner Metal goes, this is pretty good stuff. The genre can be rather stagnant at times, but Spiritual Beggars did a great job of crafting many unique tracks here. Each one has a little something that sets them apart, and there’s a good variety in regards to mood and tempo across the whole thing.
Euphoria is the obvious highlight. That song is almost perfect Stoner Metal. The old 60’s sounding synths add a perfect atmosphere to the track, and it’s the only one on the album that could be considered “doomy.” The lyrics are weak considering the more serious sound the music takes on, but aside from that it’s a jewel of the genre.
The rest of the album is good, but doesn’t come close to those heights. Should be very enjoyable for Stoner fans, but I’m impartial to the genre, so it sits around “good, but not great” territory.
Genres: Stoner Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
Solstice were one of the earliest bands in the Epic Doom realm, starting in 1990, but they released albums sparingly – 1998’s New Dark Age is only their sophomore release.
Their signature Epic Doom sound remains here, but overall it has more energy and Heavy Metal influence. The guitar leads are quite energetic, playing well over simple sustained chords. The drumming is certainly a high point, being varied, interesting, and full of fills, something uncommon in Doom. Good amount of double bass work too.
Vocals and lyrics are a high point if you like poetic prose; Ingram delivers middle age lamentations and epic tales with powerful conviction. Occasionally, vocal harmonies are used both to create uplifting melody, as well as disharmonious, ominous parts -both used to great effect.
Personally, I really could have done without the Folk music though. I get that it is supposed to compliment the medieval, mythical aesthetic going on here, and I respect that. It just doesn’t work for me; I think it would have needed to be more melancholic, or perhaps add some chamber instruments to really make it work. As it is, just breaks the flow of the album and makes it much less listenable as a whole.
The album ends on two high notes; penultimate track “Cromlech” and closer “New Dark Age II” show the band leaning all the way into opposite ends of their style. Cromlech is the most energetic track, fully Heavy Metal and continuously driver with pounding rhythm and melodic guitar. Vocals are triumphant and powerful. The closer, on the other hand, is the band’s slowest, doomiest dirge to date, forgoing all Heavy Metal influence for true Doom despair, and featuring some super memorable lead guitar lines as well.
Genres: Doom Metal Heavy Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
What I’m about to say could be taken either as an insult to the genre or the band, depending on what fence you’re on, but I promise it’s neither; Rotting sounds like if Grindcore was regular music.
Fist of all, almost all the songs here are above 2 minutes (with two clocking in over 5!). They all have various sections, with bridges and repeated verses. The drumming has a great amount of variety, rather simple but very effectively utilizing many different beat patterns found in extreme metal. Even the bass is audible! The songs sound like fully constructed and realized passages of music rather than short snippets of maniacal, unrelenting aggression.
Even the tempo is all over the place, with plenty of stereotypical Deathgrind pummeling, but also slow and heavy grooves. This thing has a ton of crushing weight at all times, and that helps it stand out. The bassiness and emphasis on the rhythm section are combined with a dense production job to make this thing feel like an aural slab of concrete. Whereas most Grindcore is manic and fleeting, these songs are a lasting assault, like slowly being beaten to death via a crude battering weapon.
The biggest weakness here is in the guitar riffs. With so much emphasis on the low end of the sound, individual notes can be difficult to discern, and higher notes are pushed way under the wall of sludgy sound. Most of the riffs stick exclusively to a few very low notes, and that makes them quite monotonous. Better lead guitar work would make this a masterpiece in the genre, but unfortunately they fall flat in what is one of the most important aspects of Metal music.
Genres: Death Metal Grindcore
Format: Album
Year: 1998
Under 3-minute tracks have been completely absent from Iron Maiden’s discography since the sophomore Killers, and never appeared again henceforth, but this album opens with one in “Futureal” and makes me think the band should have done a lot more like this. The song is full of energy, great guitarwork, and every second is filled with that classic Maiden sound, albeit on a bit of a speed rush. The following song, at almost 10 minutes, is the polar opposite; there aren’t enough good ideas there to fill 3 minutes, nevermind 10. The lack of speed and repetitive vocal lines only make this more noticeable. “Don’t you think I could save you” repeated about 96 times in a row really grates on you.
Virtual XI is a very interesting Iron Maiden album, in that it does some things perfectly and in other areas it falls completely flat. The album brought back keyboards and Iron Maiden’s signature epic sound, and by all means, sounds closer to their peak 80’s material than just about anything they’d done since. The problem is, there is something wrong with most of these compositions. Take a one-minute snapshot of any song here, and it sounds like classic Maiden, like it could be dropped into any of their 80’s material and fit right at home. But the songs as a whole, often suffer from being bloated, repetitive, or simply not going anywhere over their long runtime. Everything sounds a bit stale.
Now of course, some songs avoid this. Aforementioned opener is a fantastic track, and “Don’t Look to the Eyes of a Stranger” is an example of the band killing the more progressive, lengthy song format. The return of keys really adds a nice layer whenever they show up. The drumming is also pretty good across this album, but especially in the more energetic tracks.
Lastly, we’ve got to talk about the vocals. Blaze Bayley replaced Bruce on the prior album, and since that album was in quite a different style, the new vocals didn’t really stand out since everything else sounded a bit different too. Here, the songs all go back to the band’s older style… but missing Bruce. Blaze is a fine singer, but his range is far, far more limited than Bruce’s. These songs needed Bruce’s higher, more powerful range to achieve true hooks for the choruses and verses. Blaze unfortunately is passable and nothing more, with very few vocal parts here delivering anything too memorable or catchy.
With all of that being said, I find this album profoundly underrated. It has issues, sure, but it still sounds a lot like the band’s peak material, so if you love that, I really can’t grasp at how you couldn’t at least like this. I feel part of it is just the unfair comparisons. It’s basically just sub-par classic Iron Maiden, but even that should be enough to warrant pretty high marks from most people considering the quality of the band. Go into it with an open mind and I think you will be rewarded.
Genres: Heavy Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
Thrash was in a sorry state in the late 90’s. Most of the old guard had fizzled out or changed genres, and it had absolutely no place in the mainstream world. It was up to the underground, then, to keep it alive, and most of those bands did so by mixing it with more extreme styles of music.
Desaster were one of many bands going for a Blackened Thrash style, going back to the roots of the genres by worshipping the infernal overlord and reigning hellfire upon the world. By ’98, nothing on this album was particularly new or inventive, but it was done well, and that’s what matters. Songs traded places between aggressive Thrash beats and Blackened chords, leads and blast beats. The production, the style, the lyrics, they all sounded very 80’s, and for Thrash fans, there’s no better era to be. However, the music itself, especially the guitar playing and vocal approach, leaned far more towards the Black Metal style. In fact, so much so that I don’t think I could truly call this a Thrash album at all; it sounds much more like Thrash-influenced Black Metal (or plainly said, first wave Black Metal).
The band is at their best going full speed aggressive assault and focusing on darker riffs. When they slow down into more Blackened Heavy Metal territory, or play at a goofier, medieval sound, the material doesn’t work as well.
Hellfire’s Dominion wasn’t enough to revitalize either genre, nor did it add anything new to the mix. However, the album is great fun and full of competent songwriting, playing, and of course, riffs. I do find it a bit overrated, though.
Genres: Black Metal Thrash Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
This album is a core influence upon much of what I can’t stand in modern trends of extreme Metal, so it’s no surprise I don’t like it very much. While a few Tech Death bands were already verging into what I call “Too-Progressive Metal” for the sake of pushing the skill envelope and showing off musical prowess, Gorguts took it a step further and created Dissonant Death Metal, which sacrificed all form of songwriting, riffing and memorable performance for the sole sake of creating something weird enough to continue pushing Extreme Metal in a… well, more extreme direction.
Much like how most Grindcore is simply taking things too far a lot of the time to prove they are the most fastest and most heaviest, so too does Dissodeath (at least in this Avant-Garde instance). Gorguts were more concerned with what they could do rather than what they should do. There is very little that is aurally pleasant on this album. The first song opens up with one of the most obnoxious guitar… leads, I guess, that I’ve ever heard. Atonal skronking, for what purpose? I guess cause it was new and unique. Then the guitar starts making some weird beeping noises, which is less offensive somehow. Atonal chords follow… Yeah, aside from the ever-impressive drumming and respectable talent, it’s just not my cup of tea. The songs jump around in sections so quickly there is no time to sit with anything they are trying to do. This leaves every song entirely unmemorable, save for the weird stuff they do that stands out (oh yeah, this is the track where the guitars sound like a choo choo train). Even the vocals started to wear me down, being a bit of a higher pitched bellow.
The worst part, for me, is that this totally worked for most people. Not only is the album hailed as a masterpiece, but so many bands took after them, deciding this insane new direction was the future. And yeah, it’s still going. A very unfortunate trend I see on many music discussion sites is that modern Metal isn’t worth your time unless it’s Avant-Garde Extreme Post Atmospheric Technical Progressive Metal. And that unfortunate obsession, all started right here…
Genres: Avant-Garde Metal Death Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
I’m just gonna come out and say it: it sounds too goofy. The flute and folky medieval instruments are playing melodies that sound akin to a festival or something. The atmosphere that’s built here is disjointed, as the heavier and darker, blackened aspects of the music do not agree with the more jovial folky stuff. It’s epic and uplifting sure, but not in a cool way. Vocals and instrumental ability are good, I’m just not always a fan of the melodies crated here.
However, this is almost entirely averted on the closing track, instrumental Baldurs Todd. More energetic double bass drumming drives an atmospheric soundscape that actually succeeds in conveying a serious, powerful atmosphere. It has all the power of a 90’s boss battle theme, but does unfortunately stray into silly territory a few times.
The album is fine, but again, the atmosphere just doesn’t work here, and for a style reliant on atmosphere, that’s a big flaw.
Genres: Folk Metal Viking Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
I was a fan of Fear factory’s Death Metal influenced, aggressive brand of Industrial Metal prior to this album. But here is where they really decided the guitars were never going to do anything interesting again. They become relegated to a third rhythm instrument, and without much in the way of keys or atmospherics, the album is left very one note. Overly reliant on chugs and near-Djenting drumming and guitar syncopation. Both harsh vocals and clean vocals are sub par, the former moving even further from Death Growls to more typical Groove Metal tough-guy grunts, and the cleans are just not catchy. The Electronic/Industrial sounds that do make appearances are usually annoying, not contributing in a positive way to the music.
These crippling weaknesses are thankfully averted for the final two tracks. Resurrection manages to be catchy with some Alt Metal influence, and the guitars actually create some melodic soundscapes rather than repetitive chugging. The final track “Timelessness” strays even further, opting for an Ambient/Chamber sound, a beautiful, poignant piece that easily manages to be my favorite on the album.
Thanks to these last two tracks, the album has value. But the majority of it falls into that monotonous stereotype of repetitive riff-less chugging that occurs when one mixes Industrial and Groove Metal.
Genres: Industrial Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
An unfortunate example of an album where the first (actual) track is far and away the best song on the album, and a bit misleading. After a moody intro, Crowbar open up Odd Fellows Rest with “Planets Collide,” their Doomiest song yet, with plodding atmosphere and emotional guitar leads paving the way for the destructive, pained vocals and lyrics. It’s a great song in evoking the pessimistic suffering when Sludge and Doom are mixed so well.
And then, almost all of the following songs trade this sort of atmosphere for a more Groove-oriented rhythmic chugging. Guitar leads are basically absent. Riffs are sometimes monolithic, but lack emotion. Rhythm section is more boring. The songs are still good, but pale in comparison to the opener and much of the band’s previous material. It does sound very 90’s and it’s got that stereotypical “we don’t need to write riffs if we chug” play style. Unfortunately this one was a big disappointment for me, especially after that first track.
Genres: Sludge Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
There’s manic energy and aggression here, and it sounds quite dark by the genre’s standards. Musicianship is impressive, songwriting is interesting and varied… on a technical level, the album is rock solid.
Where it falls flat is in the memorability department. The riffs are very dissonant and chaotic, and really not pleasant in any way. There’s no memorable lead guitarwork to speak of; usually the guitar is switching between chugs and dissonant chords. The vocals are good, but again, just not super memorable. The lyrics aren’t quite evocative enough to boost them either. The rhythm section, on the other hand, is all-around fantastic. Both drums and bass pave awesome pathways for the music to follow, ever changing and full of speedy, aggressive work. “John Woo” is a great example of the Metal influence in the drumming, with fantastic double bass beats carrying the music forward with gusto.
All in all though, just not pleasant enough for me to want to revisit, and not memorable enough to… well, remember much of it.
Genres: Metalcore
Format: Album
Year: 1998
Boris, the beloved Drone Metallers from Japan. Or rather, by now they are more of a chameleon act, but it all started here.
Personally, I’ve got a bit of a beef with Boris. Not the band itself, obviously, but the concept. You see, I love Japanese Metal. It’s an indescribable scene with some of the most unique acts in the world, ranging through every genre under the sun. They tend to have a penchant for stick-in-your-head melodies as well as boundless experimentation. Unfortunately, many of these bands never get any recognition outside their home country. Even X Japan, revered as the country’s version of The Beatles in their home, is unknown outside of metal/music nerd circles. For some reason, getting notoriety for a Japanese (Metal) band seems much more difficult than for bands in the West.
And what band struck gold? What band tops charts across websites and is beloved by the music world? Boris. The band who makes a song by playing the same four notes dragged out over 9 minutes. Or not even playing notes at all, and letting the feedback speak for itself.
Don’t get me wrong, Boris are experimental, and unique. They experiment with how boring they can possibly make a song and still get it labeled a masterpiece anyway. They’re also very unique in that they’ll put a directionless Drone Metal song on the same record as a repetitive Stoner Metal song and a *checking RYM genre voting page* Post-Rock song? In all of which almost nothing happens and they are considered loveable quirky hipsters.
If you can’t tell, this review really isn’t about Boris. It’s about my frustration with feeling out of touch. Nothing against the band… but they represent all I do not understand about the music fandom.
Genres: Drone Metal Sludge Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1998
This is one of those albums I’d had on my radar for years, but only just gotten around to. As Death Doom, particularly Melodic Death Doom, is my favorite music genre, I had a lot of expectations for this thing.
Well, 30 seconds into track one, my face contorted into a disharmoniously gleeful smile while listening to the aural form of melodic depression, and halfway through track two I prematurely judged this to be a masterpiece, completely meeting all expectations and more. The incredible part is that the album only grew stronger, the main riffs of “Sightless” and “Blue Gallery” in particular absolutely blowing my mind. THIS was the BIRTH of Melodic Death Doom. This was the origin of the brand of music that had come to be my absolute favorite.
Quite immediately, I began thinking “Damn, these guys really listened to Brave Murder Day and just worshipped the hell out of it.” This was less shoegaze-y and more melodic, but the overall style was uncannily similar. I mean hell, the first track was “12 Days of Rain”… you cannot convince me that isn’t a Brave Murder Day reference! Not that it mattered to me. More of something great = a win for me. I later felt stupid, after 17 listens, upon reading that this was composed by the vocalist/drummer and guitarist of Katatonia. And then I was in awe, because the whole thing was done by JUST those two people. Insane how two people crafted an album better than what full bands can do.
Anyway, to talk of the musical merit… some of the best, most melancholic guitar leads ever crafted. Doomy, yet full of energy and power. Ditto to the drumming, simple but perfectly serving the music, generous amount of double bass. Vocals are harrowing and beautiful. Sparse keys/synths round out the atmosphere perfectly. Lyrics are morose, slightly symbolic and poetic. Perfect album, absolutely flawless.
Genres: Doom Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1997
Although Intestine Baalism were one of the first significant Death Metal bands from Japan, they sound more like something straight out of Sweden. Dismember and Entombed influence runs rampant in this unholy union of brilliant Melodeath leads and pummeling OSDM riffage. Combining the best of both worlds, the band ensures every track has some fantastic leads that make them memorable and discernable from each other, without ever sacrificing brutality or darkness.
The vast majority of this album is straight up Death Metal, and the lyrics check out. Occultic ramblings of sacrifice and violation paint a picture of a twisted and godforsaken underworld, and the music similarly oozes an evil urgency. Even the melodic aspects of this album are much further towards the “evil” end of the spectrum than Melodeath tends to be. It’s clear here that the band enjoyed and was influenced by OSDM more than anything, but their penchant for writing melodic, memorable leads just happened to be smacked right into the middle of it. Which is actually typical of Japanese-style music; which tend to be on the more melodic side, when not going into full blown Avant-Garde territory.
Everything the album sets out to do, it achieves and does well. Even the acoustic interlude is nicely done. Not a weak moment here, no songs that aren’t amazing.
Genres: Death Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1997
Thrash Metal was in a sorry state in the late 90’s. Most prominent Thrash bands got infected by the Groove virus or fizzled out into softer styles, and not many new bands were popping up. More extreme and experimental styles of Metal were running both the underground and the mainstream.
But of course, you still got bands like Deceased, who played unrelenting Deathrash in an undisguised love letter to the 80’s. The album is absolutely ripping, full of fantastic riffs and very well composed, lengthy songs. It’s got a Heavy Metal influence, and integrates slower, more melodic portions between the aggression, making the songs varied and effective at maintaining intrigue despite the lengths.
It’s also a concept album about zombies based on the Night of the Living Dead series. How fun is that? I’m also gonna shout out the vocalist Fowley, who not only has a perfect hybrid Thrash yell/Deathgrowl, but is also the drummer! And the drums kick ass! This was pretty much as good as the genre got at that point in time. Never given enough credit or limelight, Deceased remain an underground treasure, but they deserve much more because this is up there with the best of the Deathrash bands.
Genres: Death Metal Thrash Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1997
Land of the Free was a great album, but I feel this one right here is where Gamma Ray finally proved they were one of the greatest Power Metal bands of the 90’s, and an even rival to Helloween. Seriously, all the musicianship here is phenomenal. Incredibly powerful drumming, absolutely loaded with double bass and giving Thrash Metal a run for it’s money at times. The guitars are, of course, a melodic current of catchy tunes and technical prowess. Vocally, Kai has improved yet again, and is in top form here. Even the bass is laying down some nice groove. It’s worth mentioning that this is definitely a bit heavier than the past Gamma Ray album, thanks in no small part to those pummeling drums.
This one has a loose focus on space and sci-fi, but it’s not really integral to the listening experience. At the end of the day, this is just prime Power Metal music. Even the interludes here are good, featuring an awesome drum solo and a nice piano piece. The ballad is strong as well, and even the bonus tracks were worthy of inclusion. The band were just pumping out pure quality at this time. I consider this one a classic.
Genres: Power Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1997
Much like the debut, Anthems is a crowning achievement of Symphonic Black Metal. Incredibly talented musicians play extreme music with much more competence and ability than most Black Metal players, and the compositions are complex and layered. Every instrument is ever busy, a cacophony of epic darkness assaulting the listener with nonstop force. This thing is dense with complex arrangements, and despite all instruments staying at overdrive territory much of the time, the songs are written well (and production is strong too) so that no piece overpowers the other.
All of the main songs here are fantastic. Never a wasted moment with these compositions, full of unique riffing and deliciously icy keys, ominous choirs, and an insane rhythm section. The vocalist commands presence as well – really getting into some crazed dark fantasy persona in some of these tracks. We get classic Black Metal shrieks, but also some good operatic, layered cleans.
The non-Metal/filler tracks are a weakness. The intro is an offensive example that goes on almost 4 and a half minutes before letting us get to the meat, and the outro is good, but still the weakest real track to end on. Never understood why bands insisted on sandwiching albums between tracks like these. Still a fantastic album, but it hurts the listening experience.
Genres: Black Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1997
Empyrium continue their unique sound of Folk Doom Metal, with tons of Symphonic elements and a medieval touch for good measure. This one is an improvement over the debut on all fronts, having a good amount of variety in sound and dense, lush soundscapes of flute, keys, acoustics… all manner of folky instrumentation.
Melancholy permeates this release, but it’s not the depressive kind. This is an almost peaceful, romantic gloom, poetically painting beautiful nature scenery with admiration of love lost or unattainable. Vocals have a nice range of somewhat epic, deep cleans and Black Metal shrieks. The occasional double bass drumming adds great energy to this release as well, the band knowing when to kick things into doomy overdrive.
The music occasionally borders on boring, but most of the time, the rich orchestrations and gentle melodies are more than enough to carry the release. Very unique for its era, and still pleasant today.
Genres: Doom Metal Folk Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1997
After The Gathering finally settled on a unique and strong sound of Ethereal, Progressive Gothic-Doom on their last album, Nighttime Birds is a continuation of this sound with just a few changes. The songs overall are a bit less heavy, with clean instrumentation aplenty, and a bit of psychedelia for good measure.
Atmospheres here are layered and dreamlike, lyrics are similarly abstract, and the multi-layered vocals of Anneke usually take center stage. She’s a crazy good singer, but I will say she “over-sings” a bit for my taste. Does every single line need to be multi layered? Still though, most of the time her voice is wonderfully dreamy and captivating.
It's not as strong as Mandylion and I wish the lyrics were a bit less abstract, but songs like “Kevin’s Telescope” go down as some of the best in this style of Gothic Metal.
Genres: Gothic Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1997
People say this album is where Symphony X really found their sound. And what a shame that is! Where the riffs were wild and melodic on the debut, by this album they’ve settled for incredibly boring, rhythmic chugging. Baffles me how everyone hates the debut and prefers this sound.
That aside though, I do like this album quite a bit. The keys/synths ad a great layer of atmosphere and melody here, and the drumming is quite great. The more energetic, Power Metal material and the softer, synth-focused Prog Rock sections are really nice, it’s just the midtempo chuggy sections that don’t sit well with me. The guitar solos are all quite great, regardless.
The songs are all nicely composed, lengthy epics with many different changes in tempo, structure, and heaviness. The vocals are talented, but I will say, none of the verses or choruses really stick with me – I do feel a lack of passion, with the voice being used more as another instrument for hitting notes than for expression or emotion.
Genres: Neoclassical Metal Progressive Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1997
God, I really wish you could find the lyrics for this thing somewhere. It’s got all the ingredients of an abhorrently dark well of misanthropy, I would so love to know what they’re saying!
Of the album itself, it’s a strong Post-Hardcore Sludge Metal release. Passionate, shouted vocals spew supposed venom over tracks of mostly midtempo noise and aggression. The band does a great job at incorporating noise and dissonance to create an uneasy atmosphere, but not so far as to make it unlistenable; a good amount of guitar melodies and catchy chords make their home here as well. The rhythm section is surprisingly simple for this style, only occasionally breaking into faster, Punk-like aggression.
Another thing I gotta say… that cover art, along with the album title, do a fantastic job of setting the stage. They are truly unnerving in combination. Despite my earlier praises, the music here isn’t all that unique, nor super memorable, but it’s very consistent and great at what it does. Mostly simple Sludge, but that doesn’t mean it’s not great.
Genres: Sludge Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1997
An improvement to be sure, but I do believe its quality has been greatly exaggerated. This is an album full of great heavy Metal tracks, some catchy vocal lines and decent riffs. Songwriting has definitely been expanded from his first three solo albums, and there’s a decent amount of variety to this one.
But does it compare to most of Maiden’s work? Absolutely not. The album is quite reliant on Bruce’s vocals – which do sound great, but even with that said, most of his vocal performance in Maiden was better, and even the song “Tears of a Dragon” on his second solo album tops everything on this. Musically, again, it’s stronger than all his previous solo albums, but about on par with Maiden’s weakest material.
Looking at this album in isolation, not comparing it to Maiden, and not relying on Bruce’s legendary vocalist status, all it is, is a pretty damn solid Heavy Metal album. No more, no less. In my ears it is not the legendary classic many people seem to claim. It does end up being kind of weird when my favorite songs on the album are the softer/more Hard Rock songs (the last three).
Genres: Heavy Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1997
Unlike the blistering aggression of perfectly melded Thrash Groove on the debut, Nemesis is a follow up that opts for some slight experimentation. Some of the songs here are quite unique sounding for the time, there are some synths and a lot of unconventional song structures here. The drumming remains the main pull, but everybody is doing a good job.
The unfortunate thing is that this is way less Thrashy than the debut. As such, it suffers from a loss of speed and aggression, and the riffs aren’t as sharp. This release is arguably the more interesting and inventive one, but me personally, I’ll take straightforward and energetic over this any day. War Between One is the only song here where they go all out, and it’s no mistake that song also has the best riff on the album. Grip Inc are better when they’re experimenting less and just pushing the peddle to the metal.
Genres: Groove Metal Thrash Metal
Format: Album
Year: 1997
What is there to say about this 15-minute album by Assück? It’s manic, ripping Deathgrind embodying a sense of hopeless chaos. Despite the tiny track lengths in a very flat genre, the band does well at giving each song a little dash of uniqueness to separate them from each other. This makes the short run of 15 tracks feel much more distinguished. Even with that, the album is perfectly consistent front to back.
The riffs are quite good among the genre. Unfortunately, it does suffer from the traditional Grindcore problem of “too chaotic/noisy to really make much out.” The drumming here is a big problem for me. Don’t get me wrong, the drummer is clearly incredible, able to hit insanely fast blast beating while maintaining accuracy. The problem is, there is just too much all out blast beating, and it’s too loud. The guitars get buried, it’s difficult to make things out. I know this is what Grindcore is all about, but that’s one reason I’m just not a fan of the genre.
The vocals are great here as well, but the lyrics are almost ridiculously hopeless word salad. Sounds like someone looked through a thesaurus for every somewhat complex word of or relating to “pessimism.” They don’t make much discernable sense.
Genres: Death Metal Grindcore
Format: Album
Year: 1997
This album is a stepping stone of sorts from the old style of pure punky Metalcore into the newer wave of late 90’s-2000’s Alt/Groove Metally Metalcore. Despite its dissonant pessimism and anger, it’s got a bouncy energy to it, and a few catchy guitar leads. Riffs are pretty standard chugs most of the time, but the rhythm section is great – the drumming is the best part of this release.
All of those things said, I must confess I don’t see how this is one of the greatest Metalcore albums of all time. It’s a big improvement over their debut for sure, but this sounds very similar to most of the Metalcore of the time. It’s not very catchy or memorable, just played competently with above-average musicianship. Production is good too. It’s a strong album, but there’s nothing here that could grip me enough to want to return in the future.
And ending your album with a Pee-Wee Herman sample is a pretty goofy thing to do...
Genres: Metalcore
Format: Album
Year: 1997