SilentScream213's Reviews
I’ve never been a fan of Godflesh’s style of repetitive and simple Sludge Metal focusing on textures, nor was I very much on board for their overly rhythmic and still simple Industrial Metal. The issue is, none of the instruments are ever doing enough. Drums are slow, simple, and often play the same beat an entire song. Guitars scarcely compose something that could be considered a riff, usually opting to add fuzzy heaviness without much direction. Vocals always a bit too monotonous and occupying an unflattering middle ground between aggressive and lethargic. Industrial sound effects were, once more, too repetitive and too few to have much impact on the music.
Well, one of those things changed on Us and Them. The band adopted a very significant Drum and Bass influence for this album. Because of this, the rhythm section picked up a ton in intensity and complexity on many of the tracks. Sure, it’s still repetitive as all hell, but a faster paced, energetic and powerful beat backing their miserable tracks does wonders for entertainment. It’s all machines, but their previous drummers did everything in their power to sound like soulless robots anyway, so that’s no loss.
The unfortunate thing is, none of the other weaknesses were alleviated. Guitars are incredibly boring and minimal. The bass actually has some really cool moments, which is awesome! It finds itself playing lead more often than not, which just does more to highlight the rhythm section as the ultimate strength to this album. As cool as the rhythm section is here, it can’t offset the other incredibly boring aspects of the album. The band has incorporated more Industrial sound effects here, and this is a blessing and a curse: at best, the minimalistic songs gain some much-needed layers of density and intrigue; at worst, an incredibly annoying sound clip will repeat 30 times over, doing everything it can to ruin the song for you.
Special mention to the final tracks “The Internal” and “Live to Lose,” which show them building atmosphere and mood to great effect. Closer in sound to the Cold World EP material, which was the band at my absolute favorite. These songs are awesome and appeal to my tastes so much more. When the band builds atmosphere in addition to their trademark texture and rhythm, it elevates their music exponentially. Unfortunately, they rarely ever do this, and texture by itself proves something that will never appeal to me.
Llenadose de gusanos contains 30 plodding minutes of some of the best Drone Metal I’ve heard yet. The guitars are exceedingly simple, just droning chords, but the real magic is in the layers. Feedback and noise create a cacophony of twisted suffering, and later on, haunting choirs join in the back, rising from the graves to contribute to the hellscape. Minimalist piano comes in as well, matching the guitar chords, and adding just enough actual music to counter the wall of chaotic, disharmonious noise forming the backbone of this skeletal monolith. Funeral Doom influence is evident in the atmospheres being built with the simple but layered droning.
There’s just one little problem with that.
This album is over 2 hours long.
About 20 minutes of track one is Minimalist piano. Not offensive, but does nowhere near enough to justify the length it goes on.
Then we have the second track, which is almost an hour and 15 minutes of Ambient Drone. And not good Ambient, mind you. It’s the kind that does absolutely nothing and goes absolutely nowhere. It’s not offensive, and even manages to be pleasant in moments, but again… absolutely does not justify its hour-long run.
I have trouble calling this a very good Drone Metal album because ¾ of it is not Drone Metal and ¾ of it is not very good. Corrupted prove here they’ve got potential, and display some of the best early Drone Metal around. But, the album is beyond bloated with non-Metal nonsense.
Uniting a more Punk-influenced sound of manic Screamo and Powerviolence with relentless assault of Grindcore, Combatwoundedveteran were one of the first bands in the heavier, noisier flavor of Emoviolence.
The album is 19 minutes of noisy, chaotic, manic aural violation. For most of it… the dense layers of noise, feedback and blast beats renders much of the actual music nil. Riffs, guitar leads, and chord progressions are either totally buried or totally absent; I have no clue. Vocals are similarly indiscernible nonsense, doing nothing but adding another layer of noise to the mix.
For the most part, an unpleasant mess, but there are some aspects I will praise. First, the production, as noisy and lo-fi it may be, does a great job of condensing these layers of noise into something that somehow sounds quite listenable. Honestly, I can’t put my finger on it, but the way these dense tracks are mixed meets a great middle ground between that lo-fi, purposefully noisy production and something… smooth?
Next, the lyrics are quite interesting and entertaining, uniquely written. The concepts range from funny but clever sarcasm to deadly serious misanthropy. Unfortunately, this strength is aborted by the absolutely indiscernible vocals which completely negate the purpose of the good lyrics.
The last point I will praise is “Folded Space: Lead Poisoning & Distortion.” By far one of the most unique songs I’ve heard in this style, the vocals are spoken word poetry, which allows those great lyrics to actually shine; the music similarly works to build a bit of atmosphere instead of pointlessly banging as hard as possible like in the other tracks. In every way, it’s the best track on the album, and I’d love to hear more music like it.
Overall… Not for me. But definitely not without value. Unique, and with potential.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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...
And so began Devin Townsend’s solo career. Often hailed as a musical genius with no limits to his creativity, unbound by genres, yet still Metal through and through, the debut is a unique piece in Metal history. That is to say – in 1997, absolutely nothing sounded like this, and it’s not dated one bit. Eclectic, modern, catchy, and willing to throw all ideals of what Metal should be out the window in order to craft whatever the hell he wants it to be.
But, is the album good? It’s certainly good, but is it that good? I don’t think so. Most songs are overlong, lacking any strong musical hooks, and meandering in dense atmosphere that isn’t really sure what it wants to be. Many people will call this melancholic or ethereal; I hear no such thing. The closing song is a fantastic example of the heartfelt melancholy Devin is capable of – nowhere else on the album do I really feel any significant melancholy. Similarly, the first half of Bastard is built on an incredible riff, one of those that are so good you don’t mind hearing it over and over for 5 minutes. Despite that, I can’t recall another riff on the album. Nothing else really captured me.
The album does a great job of displaying Devin’s genius through moments and pieces, highlights that prove his potential. But as for the full album, and even individual songs, they are bloated, filled with insignificant space, and repetitive too often when they have nothing worthwhile to repeat. I can easily see how this could be so lauded among fans, because it is groundbreaking, it’s impressive on many fronts, and there is a lot to love here. For me, it just can’t break through the barrier of being a “good” album. For that, Devin must shed his excess skin.
Around the Fur is hailed as the first truly great Nu Metal album and considered one of (if not) the best in the genre. It was also Deftones’ breakthrough success, and a telling sign of the Metal trend in the late 90’s.
To me, it’s a really plain Nu/Alternative Metal album. Honestly, the production is probably the best part of this, the guitars having a fantastic tone and a perfect amount of reverb and effect on them to create a strong wave of slightly dissonant chords. The music though, is really average. There aren’t many riffs, progressions or leads that stand out, as the best part of the guitars are when they’re used more atmospheric like in “Be Quiet and Drive.” The rhythm section is quite standard, never doing anything too fast or complex. The vocals are at least unique, and I can see an appeal to them, but they don’t do a whole lot for me personally; the lyrics are similarly boring and border on cryptic. For a genre that excels at self-expression, there’s just not a lot of that here, and it hurts the whole thing. Nu Metal should either be full of catchy charisma or painfully emotional vulnerability, and this release doesn’t pack either one.
It’s the same quality as their debut for me. Average Nu Metal. Not bad, but nothing special.
The sophomore album by Strapping Young Lad is a much more concise piece of music with a clear direction. There were many aspects I liked about this album:
- The rhythm section is fantastic. Drums are energetic and aggressive just as I prefer.
- Production is pristine. Every instrument is audible and some interesting Industrial sound effects add layers to the compositions.
- Devin’s voice is awesome. His range is incredible, usually hitting somewhere between melodic singing and screaming, but going every which way up and down that spectrum, and doing it all very well.
Unfortunately, this album has a lot of weakness that really stifle the enjoyment for me.
- The riffs are boring. They are mostly rhythmic, with very little lead guitarwork and nothing at all memorable being crafted with the guitars.
- The lyrics are mostly bad, with too much unnecessary vulgarity that just doesn’t work.
- Devin adopts a “tough guy” persona on the album and whether it’s a joke or not doesn’t matter, it’s really annoying and really cringy.
- Devin is known for being a musical chameleon, but this album is (among his work) quite samey front to back, with most songs being Thrashy/Groovy Industrial Metal. That wouldn’t be a problem, but they all suffer from the same exact weaknesses, which makes the samey-ness that much more offensive.
That leaves this album a really mixed bag for me. It’s a good album, but it has way more potential than it ever reaches, and too many weaknesses that hold it back.
Arcturus went from cold, compelling Symphonic Black Metal soundscapes to… bizarro twisted circus Metal.
This thing is loaded with different influences; the most prominent styles are Symphonic, Progressive, and Avant-Garde Metal, but there are flavors of Dark Cabaret, Symphonic Black Metal, Drum n Bass, Modern Classical, and probably some other stuff. Interestingly, it reminds me of Sigh from Japan stylistically.
Incredibly interesting and ever changing, but at the end of the day, much less enjoyable than their old style. Some of the songs here are quite great, but even those don’t leave any sense of memorability because this album is not focused on riffs or melody. Rather, you’re more likely to remember a song as “the one that has that circus march theme in it for a minute” or “the one where he does those really goofy operatic vocals.” Just doesn’t suit me much, but I respect the innovation and uniqueness.
You put two genres like Drone Metal and Sludge Metal together, you gotta expect something pretty rancid. Dissonant, noisy, repetitive, lethargic… those were some traits that come to mind, and they are also traits I tend not to like when combined.
The short of it is, the album sounds exactly as you might expect (at least, exactly as I did), and it’s just not my thing.
The longer story though, is there were some great details to this album I did appreciate. The density of numerous guitars in the background creating a twisted cacophony with feedback and bent notes was quite great. The atmosphere here is destructive; there’s no real emotion to it, but there is a terrifying emptiness, like the heart of a cold killer, long since surrendered to insanity.
I’m not sure what the lore behind this Japanese band is, but writing the whole album in Spanish is a very odd choice. Google translating it doesn’t make a lick of sense.