Shadowdoom9 (Andi)'s Reviews

All Shall Perish first released their debut Hate Malice Revenge in 2003 via Amputated Vein, a small record label in Japan. Then two years later, the album was re-released via the more popular metal label Nuclear Blast. This isn't the metalcore ground I was staying firmly planted in, this is g****mn vicious deathcore!

See, I was once focused on the modern metal of Trivium and Lamb of God, but I've recently gained the leeway to explore something more brutal. A genre that combines the aspects of those two bands with the death metal of Dying Fetus and the Black Dahlia Murder. All Shall Perish mixes the breakdowns from hardcore with pulverizing guitar rhythm, rapid drumming, and a monstrous vocal range of growls and screams. This album is filled with relentless deathcore devastation, sounding memorable and catchy.

The intense yet short "Deconstruction" begins the album with an incredible blend of punishing rhythms, searing guitars, and hyper-fast blast-beats. And the great intensity doesn't stop from there, continuing and increasing throughout. Next one "Laid To Rest" bludgeons listeners with deep breakdowns and severely all-over-the-place drumming, way more brutal than Lamb of God's song "Laid to Rest". Slowing things down is "Our Own Grave", a menacing track with crushing riffs. There's almost a sludgy vibe, but the occasional speed gives the track more variation.

Next up, "The Spreading Disease" can be considered a bridge between that Spread the Disease album I've listened to and the earlier Lorna Shore EPs. "Sever the Memory" is another perfect bridge between the prototypical and the modern, from Eighteen Visions' 90s era to Veil of Maya's 2000s era. "For Far Too Long" fires their occasionally slower brutal sound like cannons at war.

"Never Ending War" is a thunderous highlight, a 6 and a half minute epic of powerful chords and leads, not to mention the earthquake-including breakdowns. The last track "Hearing The Brainwashed" has the potential to hook you up with lacerating leads.

All Shall Perish really should've had more innovative fame than Dying Fetus, but not many of the heavier metalheads are as eager to walk the blazing deathcore trail as I am. Hate Malice Revenge has that interesting technical heaviness of crushing Hell that has satisfied me much more than it would have 5 years ago. The more brutal fans should really try this album before they judge. Even the most serious listener will smile at this ground-shaker!

Favorites: "Deconstruction", "The Spreading Disease", "Sever the Memory", "Never Ending War"

The Red Chord has some interesting backstories behind their name and album titles. The band name comes from the opera Wozzeck; if I'm getting this right, a man was hypnotized to slash his lover's throat and strangle her with a string in the slashed throat, then he snaps out of hypnosis and asks, "My love, what is that red cord across your neck?" The name of the debut Fused Together in Revolving Doors references a nightclub fire in 1940s Boston; people were trying to escape via revolving doors, but it was so crowded and thereby impossible to escape that they were burned to death by the fire and assimilated to the doors. When you find a bizarre or tragic backstory in the name of a band and/or an album, you know that the music is also bizarre and, for the heavier ear, pleasing.

Fused Together in Revolving Doors is another early deathcore discovery for me that is love at first listen! I'm already years apart from when the band was active. I might suggest those songs for my brother to play in car rides, if he can handle this much chaos.

First track "Nihilist" starts with an insane blast of screaming deathgrind without ever lighting up. Continuing on is "That Certain Special Ugly" with the best lyrics in the album about "the worst joke they could have told". Next up is "Catalepsy", having some of the fastest brutality, starting awesome in the riffing without ever stopping. Psyopus did a comedic cover of that song as a hidden track for the album Our Puzzling Encounters Considered.

"Like a Train Through a Pigeon" blasts through in relentless devastation. The nature of the track keeps mauling you. "He Was Stretching, and Then He Climbed Up There" can be considered the album's intermission, a two-minute instrumental, sounding mellow in the acoustics. It segues into another perfect highlight "Breed the Cancer".

"L Formation" is another two-minute track, this one being a great song filled with different time changes, and apparently the lyrics are about chess. These guys have great talent and intelligence! "Dreaming In Dog Years" is perhaps their best song here. After an odd 5-second intro, it explodes into absolute mayhem, great for a live setting. Another one of the best, "Sixteen Bit Fingerprint", is a 7-minute epic with progressive structure, a bit like what Between the Buried and Me had at that time.

I just can't say no to this band's debut! I've listened to the more hardcore genres from The Revolution for 5 years, and nothing is as perfectly chaotic as this that's worth listening to. I look forward to checking out more of this unclean production in their later albums. It's this kind of raw production I prefer to hear instead of the lo-fi black metal of Darkthrone. It's thin in a way that everything can still be heard. However, you don't wanna make the production too clear, otherwise the experience would be far different from what it already is. Just listen to this brutal chaos, with perfection in everything!

Favorites: "That Certain Special Ugly", "Catalepsy", "Breed the Cancer", "Dreaming In Dog Years", "Sixteen Bit Fingerprint"

Now ain't this the most shocking revelation in any metal community website! A metalhead who had never dared to explore the standard death metal of Morbid Angel has finally done so...with their most hated album, the St. Anger of death metal, Illud Divinum Insanus! I thought I would check it out and give it a review to finally hear what the deal was after noticing its industrial elements pointed out and a few tracks appearing in the earlier monthly Sphere playlists (before the ones I created). This was released in 2011 when Skrillex and dubstep were sweeping the globe, and bands of most genres were pressured to follow that trend. Bassist/vocalist David Vincent, who had rejoined the band for this album, had past experiences with other genres. Guitarist Pete Sandoval couldn't participate because of surgery for a herniated spinal disc, eventually fully leaving a few years later due to his Christianity. Of course, I have to also mention the two guitarists Trey Azagthoth (founding member) and Destructhor (temporary).

Illud Divinum Insanus may be one of the worst albums in metal history, but for me it's not as bad as what others think, probably because of my industrial metal passion. Yep, the style is basically their death metal sound toned down with emphasis on industrial metal and synth-rock. You can also hear some interesting vocals from Vincent including some Spanish! I say this album is about half-fun half-awful, not very cohesive yet still interesting, probably would work better as a few EPs. Despite the downsides, Morbid Angel have gone their most diverse in this style of styles. The vocals and guitars have different tactics in each track, so i can do my usual track-by-track analysis to add a bit of cohesion to a review for a not-so-cohesive album. So let's try it...

"Omni Potens" starts things of as an ominous synth-orchestral intro to remind some of Summoning's album intros and the RuneScape soundtrack. The unexpected sound begins with the first full track "Too Extreme!" The vocals sound cleaner than what death metal fans desire, and in some verses, Vincent sings in Spanish for some reason. Vincent dominates this track more than Trey Azagthoth whom longtime fans consider the actual heart and soul of the band. The intricate soloing those fans want is absent. What really puts this sh*t to ruin is the drumming. Tim Yeung can drum pretty well, but he seemed to use a drum machine for this one. The fact that song is pretty much my entryway to the music of Morbid Angel would disgruntle longtime fans who discovered the band via their 90s albums and want more of that era's sound. One song that's closer to the earlier death metal is "Existo Vulgoré", but that sh*t is too weak for its existence. "Blades for Baal" is acceptable with its stronger attempt at that earlier sound.

One of the worst songs in the album is "I Am Morbid", which is morbidly atrocious. The lyrics are pretty much a f***ing lousy attempt at tackling metal culture the way Manowar can. There's that boring verse-chorus structure with little variation. All of that make that track the worst here and one of the absolute worst stinkers in metal. Carcass's Heartwork is a far better deal for mid-tempo melodeath. "10 More Dead" adds more of the deathly aspects as the band should have. "Destructos vs. the Earth / Attack" is a decent song in the industrial metal category. The structure is quite repetitive, but adds the same time it sounds fun. Plus there's a bit of death metal at the end that would foreshadow a later return to form.

The solid death metal comes back again in "Nevermore". That track and "Beauty Meets Beast" bring back the earlier riff groove, though with a slight edge of the mainstream they were only hinting in those older albums. While I won't elaborate on those songs as much as songs from my other reviews, I'll say that the variation isn't essentially prominent, yet works better without too much of the lyrical charisma. Only fans of the 4 albums before this one would tolerate those riffs, though I like a bit of them too. "Radikult" is the second-sh*ttiest song of the album. F***, this sounds too much like Marilyn Manson! The only good thing is how well the song moves. Vincent thinks he could go Primus on his bass and vocals, but the former ends up practically inaudible. What an absolute drag that is... The closing "Profundis - Mea Culpa" is the best track here. The industrial rhythm and metal complexity are combined very well, Vincent's vocals are very captivating, and there's none of that sh*tty rock in sight.

With all that said, Morbid Angel had really stripped things down for this album. David Vincent had already worked with the band in their earlier groundbreaking albums, and his replacement Steve Tucker continued the band's brutal development. So it's puzzling how low the songs can go in Vincent's comeback release. The longtime fans would definitely like a bit of the different eras of the band they've thrown back to while p*ssing on the industrial metal/rock sounds. They would for sure stay away from the dubstep of Skrillex and the dungeon synth of Summoning's album intros and prefer to stay with Morbid Angel's first 3 albums. Sure, this band really roughed up their fanbase's expectations, but I appreciate what they could do. I just don't wanna have to hear those two rock-sounding sh*t-songs again, and there's much worse trash out there....

Favorites (only ones I like or slightly like): "Blades for Baal", "10 More Dead", "Nevermore", "Beauty Meets Beast", "Profundis - Mea Culpa"

Saint Asonia is a band formed by Adam Gontier, the former frontman of one of my brother's favorite alt-rock bands Three Days Grace. They can almost be considered the Fight the Fury of 3DG, sounding more metallic than the more well-known band, at least in this EP...

Other members to be part of the band include Staind guitarist Mike Mushok and Art of Dying members bassist Cale Gontier (Adam's cousin) and drummer Cody Watkins. My brother enjoys the band's two studio albums which both have what he likes, alt-rock with metal tendencies, but that kind of sound doesn't really grab my attention, especially not in the EP Introvert. It's cool that they released two separate EPs, with the second one being the heavier Extrovert, with the intention to release a full compilation later.

Extrovert opens with "Devastate", filled with powerful modern alt-metal, with a chorus of melodic wonder. It's only surpassed by "Break the Mold", a highlight of melancholic groove. "Over It" is a catchy ballad-ish track with perfect hooks to be remembered so easily. I still can't believe "Wolf" was chosen as the band's lead single. After enjoying the massive greatness of the EP's first half, this track is the weakest of the EP and tears down what made it great. We get a bit of the melancholic groove back in "Better Now". Then "Chasing the Light" restores the positive spark of the release, though not as much as those first 3 tracks.

All in all, I can recommend this to fans of Three Days Grace, Staind, and Shinedown, who wanna give this band and EP a chance. However, it's not for the majority of the metal community. Still it hits harder and heavier than most of their other material....

Favorites: "Devastate", "Break the Mold", "Over It"

Previously on the journey of Demon Hunter, the band re-recorded classic ballads in their own acoustic album Songs of Death and Resurrection, but it just made me wish for a return to metal form someday for this band. As a young adult listening to the heavier metal, I don't wanna lose interest in this band, and I thought I might if they continued to go softer. I mildly enjoy the War and Peace duo, in which the former showed more of their metal capabilities, whereas the latter experimented closer to hard rock territory.

For their new 12th album Exile (also the first with their own self-founded record label), I was hoping for a more equal-sounding album like the ones the band made before War and Peace. Sadly, it sounds like the Peace side is slowly taking over the sound...

However, the furious "Defense Mechanism" opens with the band's usual heaviness, featuring growling vocals by Max Cavalera (ex-Sepultura, Soulfly). "Master" has a bit of a Motionless in White vibe in the industrial background within their alt-metal. There are two songs in the album that are the longest by the band since the closing epic of their 2002 debut, the first of which is the 7-minute "Silence the World", a beautiful epic reminding me a bit of Trivium's Silence in the Snow album, and featuring singing by Tom S. Englund of Evergrey. The incredible highlight "Heaven Don't Cry" is worth being a radio single, mixing heaviness with melody. This can reach the mainstream without stripping down the sound as much as Songs of Death and Resurrection and instead elevating the writing quality.

"Another Place" stands out as another highlight, sounding ethereal in the first verse before a rising chorus that's one of the best here. The excellent lyrics tell about escaping from darkness into light, "If we're not allowed to be, breathe outside the lines, we will find our place, just beyond their eyes, somewhere of our own, somewhere through the black, set the old ablaze, never turning back." Track #6 "Freedom Is Dead" marks a full return to the metalcore energy and growled vocals from Ryan Clark, though it seems more like an appetizer compared to the rest of this main course. "Praise the Void" is a re-recording of the sole new song from Songs of Death and Resurrection, adding full instrumentation instead of just piano/strings. The widely ranging lyrics are much clearer here, "But here in the dark, I feel nothing, I see no one, no solace at all, we once heard the lasting call, but now we praise the void, for this love, wasted love, praise the void, we found nothing is enough." Then enters "Revolutions", ranging in vocal variety, battling between the screaming empire and the soft-singing rebellion.

The riffing note in "Chemicals" drags on for too long, sounding uninspired. "Godless" is interesting because of the guitar soloing by Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner. It's his first studio recording since his near-fatal health-scare; he was performing with Priest and apparently the encore song "Painkiller" was more than he could physically take, ending up suffering an aorta rupture and internal bleeding. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he had a 10-hour open-heart surgery. It was shocking for him because he never had any heart issues before then. Luckily he's still alive, and he recorded his aforementioned guest appearance a couple months later. One more highlight, "Devotion" is the last island of metal heaviness in a sea of dark brooding melody. The second of the band's two longest tracks, the closing 8-minute "Along the Way" is just underwhelming through its long length, repeating choruses and verses when they should've included a bridge of vocal alternation. Talk about ending the album on a soft whimper...

There are barely any bands formed in the new millennium as active and prolific as Demon Hunter, with most of their albums being excellent works of art. They have matured over the years, despite Exile not reaching the band's earlier excellence, and I appreciate Clark's efforts in making albums like this. There's a little more atmosphere in the music, and the album has its own defiant concept set in futuristic fantasy. Clearly, Demon Hunter has discarded most of their well-known metalcore and brought in a cleaner variant of the early 2000s alt-metal, but hey, it's your call if you wanna hear how less heavy the band has become....

Favorites: "Defense Mechanism", "Silence the World", "Heaven Don't Cry", "Another Place", "Praise the Void", "Revolutions", "Godless", "Devotion"

The new Demon Hunter album Exile has just come out recently, and I look forward to talking about whether or not it holds up for me well. But before that, it's time to review take a dive into their acoustic re-recordings album Songs of Death and Resurrection...

It's impressive that this successful band released 12 studio albums in a span of 20 years. Their blazing metalcore career can please metalheads and non-metalheads, and so can the occasional rock ballad that each album has. It's quite disappointing when the band chose an acoustic direction for their 11th album, though not surprising. Songs of Death and Resurrection strips down their popular rockers and ballads, all from their first 7 albums, plus one song from Peace, and another re-recorded for Exile.

"My Throat Is An Open Grave" is a soft opening highlight. A cello and a violin can be heard creating significant waves. The lyrics have most amazing sorrow regardless of the lame emo-ish song title. "Dead Flowers" is a soft ballad that once again offers the lighter sweet side of the band. "The Heart of a Graveyard" has less of a ballad-like pace, being much stronger and more energetic. With a synthesized intro and the vocals being entirely clean, it can almost be considered a poppy song. That song deserves some radio play! "Praise the Void" is the new track that would be re-recorded for Exile, and one of the band's strongest recent ballads. The strings and vocals sound so beautiful. The lyrics can range from sarcastic ("Now we praise the void, for this love, wasted love") to feeling isolation ("Here in the dark, I feel nothing, I see no one").

"Blood In The Tears" returns to the re-recordings section with a soft moving ballad like 3 of the earlier tracks. The band's talent is in broad range there! In "Loneliness", it makes sense that the band chose another song without screaming vocals nor a breakdown, since it never happens! With that said, it's nice when the song focuses on Ryan Clark's clean vocals. "I Am a Stone" sounds smoother than the other track from True Defiance, "Dead Flowers", this time being just a string-accompanied movement with some of the best written Demon Hunter lyrics. A little boring but still uplifting! Demon Hunter's love for ballads continues its display in "I Will Fail You". However, the later ballads from the band aren't usually as good as in their earlier albums. Not only that, the bridge is written better than the chorus that are usually what the band focuses more on. And by better, I mean so much better that it might be one of the more notable parts of the album, with that pattern repeating in later albums. While all those tracks in the second third of the album sound nice, it's just doesn't peak my interest as much as the originals, hence the rating staying at 2.5 stars.

"Deteriorate" is another ballad, beginning with slow acoustic guitar. Then the song picks up with Ryan's amazing clean singing. The lyrics are some of the best in the Christian realm of music. One of the best songs here! "Carry Me Down" is a stunning ballad that's absolutely gorgeous. It can make a good funeral song for Ryan Clark, with lyrics speaking of faith and heaven. The chorus is so comforting without much tension. "The Tide Began To Rise" has beautiful piano and violins, followed by Ryan's atmospheric voice that start the song, which is the second-to-last ballad and track here. Aside from the weird ambient background break, this is a good song that could use a little more work to fix the flow. Still it would be a good happy ending, but there's one more track left... Finally we reach the peaceful ballad "My Heartstrings Come Undone" which fits perfectly well as the finale. However, the lyrical subject is more cryptic.

See, that's a similar issue to what was up with their previous album Peace; the band got much softer in sound to the point where it's mostly ballads, and Songs of Death and Resurrection ended pushing the idea further. I'm a metalhead. I'm not one of those softer fans or radio stations in which the only songs from rock/metal bands they choose are ballads. While I do enjoy half the amount of ballads in their original forms, it's their loud metal sound they're supposed to be known for. There is beauty in those tracks, but just not something worth long-time interest. If the die-hard fans want to listen an entire one-hour acoustic album, they can go ahead. I prefer the heavier metalcore....

Favorites (mostly in their original recorded forms): "My Throat Is An Open Grave", "The Heart of a Graveyard", "Loneliness", "Deteriorate", "Carry Me Down", "My Heartstrings Come Undone"

One fine metal/hardcore experiment! Will Haven strip down their influences from various genres and build them back up with their own sound. It's been 25 years since this album was released, but when I finally reached it, it's like a fresh new experience. Everything in here has pounding rhythm, vicious guitars, and primal vocals. One moment, we have quiet guitar atmosphere with bass/drums atmosphere, and the next there's loud dynamic force.

The drums are so unique in their straight and simple style, and I wouldn't be surprised if they recorded them in a few days alongside guitars and bass. Yet they efficient unleash their energy in intense punches!

A well-done opener is "Stick Up Kid", starting with spooky guitar, a catchy drum beat, growling bass, and finally the heaviness kicks in with those powerful vocals. The album's grand highlight is "I've Seen My Fate", with the band's signature violence. "Ego's Game" has some of the best groove metalcore I've heard since their first two Lamb of God albums. The theme of disconnection can be found in the lyrics for "Mason".

Alcoholism is covered in the lyrics for "Climbing Out This Bottle". Then we have "Extinguish", another great highlight. "Baseball Theory" has a bit of the metalcore that bands like 36 Crazyfists and Dead to Fall would later have, albeit in a sludgy pace.

"June" has a bit of the prog-ish tendencies later found in Misery Signals. The slower "Foreign Film" is so brutal and beautiful at the same time. If there's one reason for you to listen to the finale "¡Escucha!", a 9-minute track of odd ambience, it is to have a better chronic auditory hallucination than a song by Burn the Priest (pre-Lamb of God) with that title. Strange yet mesmerizing!

With blasting vocals, plus dynamics ranging from relentless to menacingly soft, this is an example of an album with extreme influences from metal and hardcore. Perfectly diabolical, this is El Diablo!

Favorites: "I've Seen My Fate", "Ego's Game", "Extinguish", "Baseball Theory", "Foreign Film"

You know how much chaos Fear Factory has added to their industrial metal sound and lyrical themes, but then there's the interpersonal chaos for the band members. The band has been in a feud with drummer Raymond Herrera and bassist Christian Olde Wolbers since their hiatus after Transgression. But then a decade later, those former members and the current members ended up in a lawsuit over the rights to the band's name, which halted production of this album Aggression Continuum. In the end, the unique frontman Burton C. Bell unfortunately had to leave the band. He still managed to record vocals for Aggression Continuum before the lawsuit started.

Still in the heavy/melodic blend they've had since Obsolete, the band keeps up the cyber-ish modern industrial metal sound they've helped developed, and the lyrical themes visualize a Terminator-like post-apocalyptic world with complex yet accessible writing. The heavy thrashy groove metal that was popular in the early 90s had also somewhat affected this band, with them possessing some groove elements, most notable in their recent material, especially Genexus, all while having cold keyboards synths to go with the metal heaviness, like human flesh covering the metallic skeleton. Music lives on, often being revived and dying, and the guitar/rhythm assault helps keep their sound alive. And at the frontstage, Bell pulls off his amazing vocal range from Meshuggah-like growls to melodic cleans, in his final offering with the band...

The maniacal "Recode" begins with a cinematic intro consisting of a Terminator-like speech over dreamy keyboards. Then the massive rapid-fire thrash commences with heavy djenty assault from the guitars and bass, as the keyboards go on in symphonic grandeur to add hope to the desolation. The otherwise mundane verse-chorus structure shows how well-composed the song is when the verses go aggressive and the chorus goes anthemic. A simple structure for this widely-ranged opener of this album! Pounding in rage is the awesome "Disruptor", continuing the heavy groove and bass, while the catchy melody makes this the perfect single it already is. The title track has more frantic thrash in the cyber complexity, though there's some subtle repetition. "Purity" is more melodic, yet the djenty heaviness roams around. And there's definitely more of that blend to continue in this album...

Melodic harmony occurs in "Fuel Injected Suicide Machine" during the chorus, while jackhammering through different riffs and rhythms. Rhys Fulber once again provides keyboards similar to his own project Front Line Assembly. The bridge transition melody is so beautiful! Bell's clean vocals in "Collapse" is very brief compared to other songs, only appearing in the bridge before more of the downtuned metal blasting. With a full-on riff frenzy, "Manufactured Hope" leaves a monumental mark.

Next track "Cognitive Dissonance" hooks you up with prog-ish keyboards, as Dino Cazares blasts along with his riffing and Mike Heller drills on the snare, leading to a catchy chorus that almost leans into alt-metal. After all that mechanical deathly heaviness, "Monolith" is more mid-paced with a rock-out chorus and a rare guitar solo. Pretty good, but not what the ex-members would've wanted. Then we come to the end of the line with the finale "End of Line", probably the best extreme industrial metal song I've heard in a long time, especially those clean vocals. After the last of the thrashy riffing, it all ends with keyboards and narration, just like in the beginning. We'll miss you, Burton....

You can for sure consider Aggression Continuum Burton C. Bell's swansong without a doubt, since he had really kept the band for all those years, leading up to his departure. Nonetheless, he once again helped the band make their attempt to restore the glory of the metallic monument that is Demanufacture. The towering aggression is in line with the smooth melody. The brilliant instrumentation are in excellent interplay with those stellar vocals we won't have more of from Bell in this band ever again. And it's great seeing that guitar master Dino Cazares determined to keep the band rolling. A new future for the band is certain, now that they just found Bell's replacement in Milo Silvestro, whom we haven't anything from yet. But for now, this album marks the end of an era, like that of a certain Marvel hero in Avengers Endgame. (Spoiler alert!)

Favorites: "Recode", "Disruptor", "Fuel Injected Suicide Machine", "Manufactured Hope", "End of Line"

Fear Factory has been known for their heavy modern style of industrial metal, but I say Genexus is one of their more groove-oriented works, closer in sound to Mnemic. The mechanical riffing and drumming have crushing mid-tempo groove, and the vocals are more gruff-sounding though not as brutal as in their first album. I think the only other album that's near groove metal territory is Demanufacture, and that one just dominates with industrial metal...

Demanufacture is known as the album that catapulted the band into fame with its revolutionary modern industrial metal style. Obsolete and Digimortal keep their mark afloat with some variation. However, the band's era without guitarist Dino Cazares didn't turn out well. Sure, Archetype had some praise, but Transgression did not go so well. When Dino finally rejoined Burton C. Bell's band, the mighty Mechanize was hailed as a natural return to form, and The Industrialist continued that evolution with some bumps. And there's more to explore in their 2015 album Genexus, perhaps their best album in the 2010s era!

Spiraling in is the opening track "Autonomous Combat System", showing how muscular Dino Cazares through all those years as a professional metal guitarist. Supporting his guitar and bass is the pummeling percussion performed by drummer Mike Heller who joined the band for The Industrialist tour and has stayed with the band since. Joining the band for the Genexus tour is bassist Tony Campos who's more of a live member than a studio member, probably because of his commitment with Static-X. Scoring a home run in the writing is "Anodized". Same with "Dielectric" with starts off an ominous string intro before the downtuned electric guitars go all out wild, displaying a lot of the band's Mnemic-esque industrial/groove metal direction.

"Soul-Hacker" is another groove-powered anthem worth it for the mosh pit. "Protomech" takes on the band's speedy side from Mechanize. With more of that precise speed in the title track, it fits well with Cazares' crushing riffing. Slightly forgettable is "Church of Execution", but it still has a bit of potential in the energy.

"Regenerate" continues to have the heavy and melodic sides duel with each other. Bell's vocals get you hooked as always, while the keyboards by Rhys Fulber sound clean and melodic, essential for making that song one of the most memorable here. "Battle for Utopia" will help you get ready for a futuristic robot battle. Perhaps the biggest stunner is the 9-minute ending epic "Expiration Date", one of the most haunting and beautiful tracks by the band! Could this be "Resurrection 2.0"?!?

Fear Factory have shown quite the improvement over the years. A couple lesser tracks aside, Genexus shows the band at an impressive height. I'm amazed that they still have their passion since a few years before I was born, and they know what's crucial for the fans. Genexus continues the band's excellent journey to power up their machine!

Favorites: "Autonomous Combat System", "Soul-Hacker", "Genexus", "Regenerate", "Expiration Date"

Fear Factory made an amazing comeback with their album Mechanize. Added to the lineup for that album were members of the defunct Strapping Young Lad, legendary drummer Gene Hoglan and powerful bassist Byron Stroud, the latter have previously been credited for Archetype and Transgression despite not performing in those albums. However, those two guys left the band just before this album...

The Industrialist was released in June 2012, having been written, recorded, and engineered by just vocalist Burton C. Bell and guitarist Dino Cazares. Clearly their friendship and teamwork really is back on track, and they can really write the music and concept effortlessly!

The opening title track is similar in structure to that of Mechanize. First off, we have an industrial sample intro that then leads Dino's riffing and Burton's screaming. However, the intro lasts a minute and a half, and in the beginning, Burton provides spoken dialogue against religion. When the tight riffing comes on, so does the drum programming, which sounds similar to Gene Hoglan's drumming in Mechanize but more digital. The riffing from that album and even the two albums before Mechanize all in full intense force with dissonant machinery. However, the unremarkable "Recharger" has a more complicated formula. Too repetitive in the verse riffs and vocal melodies. But there's more of the catchy majesty in "New Messiah" with an epic chorus.

"God Eater" has a cool keyboard/piano intro, an aspect introduced in Mechanize. The verse is also promising in the deep riffing and shouted vocals. But then it ends up getting so repetitive, especially in the extensive outro that works better as background music for DOOM. "Depraved Mind Murder" is where Burton's vocal melodies stretch through in a pleasant way and together with Dino's chords, they make the song more memorable. The bass and drums are also interesting. More of the growling fury appears in "Virus of Faith". And again in "Difference Engine", though not working so well, and kind of ruining that song by their poor attempt to recreate the glory of Demanufacture.

Next track "Disassemble" is as h*lla heavy as technical death metal. It's like you're in a trash conveyor about to be cut apart and stomped on before incinerated, and the interlude it segues to "Religion is Flawed Because Man is Flawed" has undeniable atmosphere for when you feel the fire burning you away. Wrapping things up is "Human Augmentation" which is a better ambient closer than that of Archetype. The bonus remix of "Difference Engine" isn't great at all. But their cover of Pitchshifter's "Landfill" is!

All in all, The Industrialist is a pretty great album. It's a shame that bassist Christian Olde Wolbers and drummer Raymond Herrera are no long with the band. Maybe they can make amends and reunite with their ex-bandmates for a special Demanufacture anniversary tour. For now, this album has kept the band's journey excellent all the same....

Favorites: "The Industrialist", "New Messiah", "Depraved Mind Murder", "Disassemble", "Human Augmentation", "Landfill" (Pitchshifter cover)

So the Fear Factory era without Dino Cazares ended as what most of their fans would considered a failed experiment. That era was the result of a feud between vocalist Burton C. Bell and guitarist Dino Cazares. With the two having restored their friendship in 2009, it was time to reform the band together again!

It was a 5-year gap of silence since the album before this one. Fans of the band's earlier material were waiting for a comeback into the sound of Demanufacture. And while there's a bit of praise for the heavier side of Archetype, you know how atrocious they thought Transgression was. And here's the long-awaited real comeback, Mechanize! With this mighty technical blend of melody and intensity, what the band's fanbase has been expecting from them has finally returned, and so has Dino Cazares.

The title opener will take your breath away as a crushing punisher. While not exactly the right tone-setter, it's a h*ll of a heavy comeback. Then "Industrial Discipline" blasts through with their earlier deathly industrial metal. It ends with a cool outro that just stops abruptly. It's a small issue, but quite great nonetheless. The clean chorus of "Fear Campaign" displays Burton's vocal power quite well. It's one of the best songs in the album and by the band! Dino actually performs a brief solo, which is cool blazing sh*t there. Another killer standout is "Powershifter". Hitting things harder is "Christploitation", furious enough to obliterate some of the songs from their previous two albums. That's quite a lot of heaviness so far in the album, and it's amazing!

There's also the awesome "Oxidizer". The breakdown after the chorus blasts out hard. Imagine how intense this 45-minute album would be if it's entirely as heavy as that. "Controlled Demolition" also stands out with its heaviness, with lyrics detailing the government being blamed for 9/11. Of course, there's something different to blame, so theorists should cut the bullsh*t. In the bridge is a sample of the 911 call from one of the victims in the World Trade Center as the tower started collapsing ("OH GOD! HELP-"). So the album is all great until "Designing the Enemy". Not bad, but a bit too tame and slow, with simpler riffing and drum kicks despite keeping the Meshuggah vibe. After 3 minutes, there are some growling vocals before going back into clean singing. Nice track, but a bit of a flow disruptor worth skipping. It would've made sense if that track and its outro "Metallic Division" close off the album. But then we have "Final Exit", which itself is a perfect satisfying closing track of hope. Quite a tough call...

Let's set that oddity aside for the bonus tracks in the deluxe digipack edition, all of which directly flashback to the deathly early 90s, starting with a re-recording of "Crash Test" from their debut Soul of a New Machine. Filled with diverse intensity, it shows the band's heavy deathly roots in contrast to their current groove-ish industrial metal sound. And to be honest, there's more fury I can hear from this re-recording than the original. After that is the band's 3-track 1991 demo from before their shelved album Concrete, consisting of 3 tracks; "Big God", "Self-Immolation", and "Soul Wound". My favorite of the 3 is "Self Immolation", as killer as the Soul of a New Machine version.

Mechanize marks the return of the band's true form since the initial Dino Cazares era. The thrill ride starts without too much letting up and ends quite powerfully, despite me not being sure about which track should really end the album. You're gonna be give this offering a lot of listens if you're a Fear Factory fan like I am. Get ready to Mechanize!

Favorites: "Fear Campaign", "Powershifter", "Oxidizer", "Controlled Demolition", "Final Exit", "Crash Test" (re-recording), "Self-Immolation" (demo)

The Fear Factory album before this one, Archetype, showed the band's music without Dino Cazares for the first time, with mature rawness. Over half the amount of songs are strong highlights, though I can't say the same for the rest of that album. That f***ed-up Nirvana cover at the end of that album was a foreshadowing sign of how low the band would go without Dino, and that ended up coming true for the longtime Fear Factory fans...

This album Transgression is indeed kind of a transgression! Burton C. Bell was in production control with Toby Wright and he selfishly didn't want any songs written by other members, including faster heavier songs. With guitarist Christian Olde Wolbers frustrated by this, no wonder he left the band later along with drummer Raymond Herrera.

Firing things up is the opener "540,000° Fahrenheit" with a natural hardcore-ish industrial metal sound. That song alone has made the album more noticeable! The title track is closer in sound to Soul of a New Machine. I'm not pleased with the vocals and lyrical immaturity. Still OK though! Next, "Spinal Compression" jumps into the sound of their next album Demanufacture with a killer deathly touch. "Contagion" has the catchy melodic sound of Obsolete, sounding uplifting yet hopeless. My second favorite song here!

"Empty Vision" hails as another great highlight, showing the band's more experimental side from Digimortal. Not as glorious as those previous highlights, but still the band's true sound. I was expecting "Echoes of My Scream" to sound close to the sound of Archetype, but bad news... IT AIN'T!!! This one's just a full-on sin! I mean, they've done the slow melodic ballad aspect before, but this is too soft for their standards. Not like the band at all! "Supernova" sounds more like the alt-rock/metal bands my brother listens to, but it still passes as a suitable highlight. However, "New Promise" is far beyond what even remotely resembles Fear Factory, the closest they've gone to melodic hard rock.

"I Will Follow" is the most sinful cover by the band since their previous album's Nirvana cover. This time they actually sound too much like U2 with not much metalizing. A complete opposite of their usual style! "Millennium" is another cover song that sucks a**. At least they actually made that Killing Joke song a bit like their own, but it sounds too wrong. "Moment of Impact" makes me relieved to finally hear what sounds like true Fear Factory. I'm just not gonna bother with listening to the bonus track "Empire"...

Transgression is like Fear Factory's own Amorphis Far From the Sun, with one half being superb highlights and the other half being more average tracks and total atrocities. It's better to listen to the highlights rather than the whole thing, for a taste of perfection so the weaker songs won't leave you with a sour-as-mold taste....

Favorites: "540,000° Fahrenheit", "Spinal Compression", "Contagion", "Empty Vision", "Supernova", "Moment of Impact"

Archetype is quite an interesting Fear Factory album, though not their best. After a one-year breakup, the band continued without founding guitarist Dino Cazares. Bassist Christian Olde Wolbers took over on guitars and co-wrote the music here together with drummer Raymond Herrera. This caused the band's evolution of sound to go a different direction that would continue in Transgression, their most divisive album. Archetype is still quite solid and looks back at all the band had done previously...

The changes might not be what the more strict Fear Factory listeners would like, yet has pleased a good amount of the fanbase. Whether or not their riffs sound reused, the fans' bitterness would be saved for Transgression. Archetype is not highly disappointed, showing the band's strength they can have without Dino.

The album kicks off with "Slave Labor", one of the best songs by the band. Crushing riffs, blazing drums, and humongous bass play alongside convincing vocals from Burton C. Bell. "Cyberwaste" continues the heaviness with f***ing unreal drumming. An absolutely intense highlight! However, the issues start with "Act of God", which is filler but not too much of a stinker. "Drones" returns to the band's greater formula of heavy power, futuristic with melody and groove.

The slightly f***ed up title track sounds less inspired, and that's a bad sign if the album's title track comes out as bad. "Corporate Cloning" is a better highlight showing that the band can have their own unique sound and not sound like a clone to other bands. "Bite the Hand that Bleeds" is a power ballad I have no problem with at all, despite other Fear Factory fans disliking it. "Undercurrent" continues the softness but adds more of the heaviness. It fits better as a bonus track rather than part of the album, but hey, that's my opinion. Is there anything to level up this album later on?...

"Default Judgement" isn't spectacular, but it's solid with its deep bass tone. The next track "Bonescraper" has the band's earlier aggression and is one of the heaviest songs here. "Human Shields" is another slow track, though it might fit well for their previous two albums. "Ascension" is just a boring 7-minute ambient track, but it would be a much better ending for this album than the next track... The useless cover of Nirvana's "School" is just a sh*tty attempt in metalizing a grunge song. An unfitting waste of time!

Anyone who expecting Demanufacture 2.0 had their hopes shattered. Nonetheless, Archetype is a pretty great modern metal album. Its diverse strength in over half the amount of songs shall keep the open-minded pleased. It's a great comeback that could do without some songs especially that d*mn Nirvana cover....

Favorites: "Slave Labor", "Cyberwaste", "Drones", "Corporate Cloning", "Bite the Hand That Bleeds", "Bonescraper"

These industrial metal geniuses started with a heavier death metal sound in Soul of a New Machine. Then came a conceptual trilogy of albums transitioning from there to a more melodic sound. Well, they ended going on a one-year hiatus after this album Digimortal, and then came back with Archetype, the first of the two albums in which their founding guitarist Dino Cazares was absent, partially resulting in some poor reception...

For this album Digimortal, there are some people who think this is as much of a piece of sh*t as those two albums with Dino Cazares, but I have to say that it isn't, mostly. Digimortal is worth great listening despite the differences in sound. The concept of man and machine continues, this time leading to the point where they can co-exist together in society. Burton C. Bell continue making songs based on different themes written in the story. Digimortal continues the band's usual aggressive/melodic blend, though a lot of the aggression is put aside for darker melody in Dino Cazares' guitarwork. Burton C. Bell gives the album some mood with his vocal harmony.

"What Will Become?" is a mid-paced opener. "Damaged" is one of the best examples of the industrial metal destruction. The title track shows the harmonized mood coming from Burton's vocals. "No One" has more of that mood. You just gotta f***ing love "Linchpin", in which the band add a bit of Dry Kill Logic-style hardcore nu metal into their industrial metal in better execution. The lyrics are totally worth singing along to. "Invisible Wounds (Dark Bodies)" is another amazing song, having pleased many longtime Fear Factory fans for so many years. The best part is the heavier bridge at over the two-minute mark. Other than that, it sounds closer to some of my brother's favorite alt-rock/metal bands that I've discovered when I was middle-school-age, and it might be good for one of our car rides. This should really be shared to the world!

"Acres of Skin" is probably the band's heaviest song at that time since the ones in Soul of a New Machine. However, it's followed by perhaps the worst song by the band, "Back the F*** Up", an unfitting rap metal track featuring B-Real of Cypress Hill. This useless sh*t really breaks this otherwise perfect album's flow. Fortunately, "Byte Block" makes up for that as a longer 5-minute track of hostile aggression. And that continues in "Hurt Conveyor". The 7-minute closing epic "(Memory Imprints) Never End" shows Burton's vocals with the most haunting emotion since the earlier albums, though not much of the more extreme growls.

Consider yourself lucky if you have the digipak edition (Digipak-Mortal, lol!), with bonus tracks beginning with the intense "Dead Man Walking". There's a bit of strain in "Strain Vs. Resistance", but it still rules. "Repentance" should been in the album's standard edition instead of that f***ing rap track. It's a little strange but still great! The last bonus track "Full Metal Contact" is an instrumental written for the racing game Demolition Racer. It's a bit useless, though far better than that rap track.

All in all, Digimortal is a strong album with great instrumentation, and I can never complain about most of the songs here. I know the more pure metalheads won't like the modern experimentation. But for those who do, just skip that d*mn hip-hop track and you're in for an amazing album that shall be immortal!

Favorites: "Damaged", "Linchpin", "Invisible Wounds (Dark Bodies)", "Acres of Skin", "Byte Block", "(Memory Imprints) Never End", "Dead Man Walking", "Repentance"

Fear Factory's second album Demanufacture is a masterpiece, one that has revolutionized modern metal with its blend of metal heaviness with industrial electronics, and death growls with clean singing. 3 years later, the band decided to follow it up with their third album Obsolete, an album that has expanded their concept album idea into a more storytelling motive, filled with different characters and acts.

And yes, I like it! Any fans new and old can enjoy a lot of this album, with the longtime listeners experiencing nostalgia. As highly selling as this album is, reception might've been divisive due to leaning a bit into nu metal territory. However, the excellent writing is what make this album essential. Basically, the band is following the then-common idea of dumping all traces of death metal for a more pop-ish mainstream path, while staying in industrial metal. Brushing aside the accessibility, the greatly written songs are worth listening to, and even pure metalheads should try at least one of them.

Trying to distance away from Demanufacture's sound while clinging onto its edge results in clumsiness for the opening track "Shock". I still enjoy the heavy aggression, though it's a little hard to do so. "Edgecrusher" is more enjoyable for an unusual reason. The tough lyrics and hip-hop beat sound quite odd in the band's attempt to discard their death metal roots, yet it brings me great delight. Guilty pleasure, much!? Then we have the more underground "Smasher/Devourer". That song and the surrounding two tracks introduce the characters in the concept. "Securitron (Police State 2000)" is the last part of that "character introduction" trilogy and has memorable riffs and structure. I say it's a brilliant song to introduce metal newcomers to extreme metal, starting off with poppy accessibility before digging into the heavier underground.

Another excellent highlight "Descent" is the closest we have to a poppy song in this album. One song that's slightly mediocre is "Hi-Tech Hate". However, "Freedom or Fire" makes up for that a lot with its nice heaviness after a drum 'n' bass intro. And holy f***ing sh*t, that groove is heavy! Near the 3-minute mark starts the breakdown that is a f***ing crusher! I swear that's the heaviest the band has gotten in this album.

The title track starts with a spoken-word intro by Gary Numan, whose hit single "Cars" would be perfectly covered by Fear Factory in the digipak edition of this album. However, that title track is a bit of a slipper-upper, though not really a true offender. The album's standard edition and story ends with a couple superb melodic highlights, starting with "Resurrection", a standout anthem with a mighty chorus and riffing. "Timelessness" is one of the greatest tracks here with amazing cleans by Burton C. Bell, despite being a keyboard-only ballad. This shows how diverse an extreme metal album can be, adding a melodic poppy soft ballad to break the tone.

In a way, you can consider the album a bit like Slayer at that time, in terms of adding nu metal influences into the sound each band is famous for. Not to brag, but I have a more advanced diverse taste in metal. Fear Factory is a band I both wish and don't wish I could've discovered them 10 years ago, along with Meshuggah. Essential metal bands though would've been unfitting for me when I was starting out with power metal. The album is slightly bad in a few songs, yet still a great experience!

Favorites: "Securitron (Police State 2000)", "Descent", "Freedom or Fire", "Resurrection", "Timelessness"

It takes some real determination to make an essential album that would revolutionize metal history. Setting aside the downfall of the more classic heavy metal genres like thrash, the 90s has made some astonishing masterpieces in other subgenres, a small few of which can be considered fantastic groundbreaking sh*t. An album that stunned the world is Fear Factory's second album Demanufacture! This is from a time when metal was expanding into a different variety of styles, and Fear Factory is one band that perfectly contributed to this diverse growth. Their debut album Soul of a New Machine displayed a never-before-heard mix of death growls and clean vocals, and extreme metal with electro-industrial. Those vocals, guitars, bass, drums, and electronics all create a newfound atmosphere to shock listeners worldwide!

Demanufacture shows the band evolving from their initial style with a perfect blend of their earlier brutality with a more melodic sound and futuristic keyboards. They often base their sound on their lyrical themes, in which humanity is being lost to technology. If Earth Crisis' debut from that year is about destroying machines, Demanufacture warns you about the dangers of destructive machinery. This legendary concept and sound covers the entire album throughout, and if mixing extreme, industrial, and melodic isn't considered revolutionary, I wouldn't know what is.

Already proving the album to be a classic, the title opener starts with synth atmosphere before a killer riff joins in, followed by bass and drums, all proving the band to be industrial metal legends! The crushing riffs and thundering drums perfectly stand alongside the amazing vocal charisma in the growls and cleans. Already showing how unbreakable the band is, "Self Bias Resistor" rises in heaviness, leading up to a killer ending for the track. "Zero Signal" is amazing with futuristic atmosphere before ending peacefully with a piano outro. Perhaps the most famous song by the band is "Replica". It's not my ultimate favorite song from the band, but its straight pace and killer chorus make that single a perfect one. It was later covered by symphonic metal band Epica. If you're not sure about that cover, don't be an Epica "Replica" replica skeptica! lol

There's a little more of the electro-industrial effects in "New Breed", while the mechanical heavy intensity reigns throughout. "Dog Day Sunrise" is an OK song, covering a track by one of Godflesh founder Justin Broadrick's former bands Head of David. The percussion is pretty easy to headbang to. Then "Body Hammer" is one of the more average tracks here, but it doesn't reduce the album's perfection at all. I can almost say the same thing about "Flashpoint". However, that's not to say any of the more average songs are bad. They're still great and make the album keep its 5-star rating. Though the percentage rating would probably be slightly over 95%.

The more furious "H-K (Hunter-Killer)" has fast adrenaline. Despite the name, "P*sschrist" is a total industrial mind-smasher. It starts dark and heavy before rising into epic drama. Alongside industrial samples and drumming, it then leads to more of the furious growls and apocalyptic cleans by Burton C. Bell, the latter especially the ending of atmospheric majesty. "Where is your savior now?" Finally, "A Therapy for Pain" is a dark nearly 10-minute epic showing how influential Fear Factory can be.

All in all, Demanufacture is a quite a masterpiece landmark in all of industrial metal. Not only has it pleased the 90s generation of metal, it can sure bring headbanging joy to future generations to come. For the modern metalheads out there, this is a must!

Favorites: "Demanufacture", "Replica", "New Breed", "H-K (Hunter-Killer)", "P*sschrist", "A Therapy for Pain"

I hate to admit this, but this is the worst release ever done by Fear Factory, worse than Transgression. BUT... Not all of it is bad. Fear is the Mindkiller is the transition release between Soul of a New Machine and Demanufacture, being a remix EP of a few tracks from the former. The remixes add more synths and programming to the deathly sound. They prove how well the band can stand in the line between death metal and industrial techno without leaning too much into one or the other, and that can't be denied.

The problem here is, the remixes sound too detached from the originals. As much as I consider Rhys Fulber a genius for his remixing skills, his electronic usage could've been better played and less distorted, with a more dimensional balance.

"Martyr (Suffer B****rd Mix)" is actually a promising start, the way a remix is supposed to sound, more industrial while staying metal. Fear Factory can really maintain their extreme industrial metal in these remixes. H*ll, this is probably close to proto-cyber metal! A great throwback for longtime Fear Factory fans. There are two remixes of "Self Immolation", starting with the "Vein Tap Mix" that doesn't work as well as the second one which we will talk about shortly.

"Scapegoat (Pigf*** Mix)" manages to maintain the best of Burton C. Bell's harsh growls and clean singing, but it's still as flawed as the original song with too much industrial repetition. "Scumgrief" (Deep Dub Trauma Mix) starts off promising with its original proto-melodeath riffing. However, the overuse of techno beats can be quite traumatic for the more deathly metalheads. On the other hand, the more atmospheric sounds in "Self Immolation (Liquid Sky mix)" have paid off well. The death metal aggression is in perfect flow with the techno groove, another remix saving the EP from being a total disaster. The first edition includes the original "Self Immolation" from the debut.

Fear is the Mindkiller is a tough release to get attached to for pure metalheads. The remixing really could've been done better, and I can say the same about the rhythm and some vocals. Still it's an all right trip to get you geared up for the power and glory of Demanufacture, if you're going through the band's discography chronologically....

Favorites (only ones I truly like): "Martyr (Suffer B****rd Mix)", "Self Immolation (Liquid Sky mix)"

In the somewhat distant past of the year 1992, metal genres were kind of at war. Before that year, thrash/speed metal were on the rise, and then came death metal/grindcore, and finally, industrial/alternative metal. Those 3 genre categories were competing for the reign, and the first one lost its fame, the second one became underground, and the third one became mainstream. One band was up to mixing the extreme underground with one of the metal genres hitting commercial success those days...

Back in those times, most metal bands seemed to focus on making compositions based on a particular riff, rather than full-fledged arrangement. Released in the same year as the debut of another band that started off as death metal (Amorphis), Fear Factory's debut Soul of a New Machine built their sound from a technological concept. The tone and arrangement are as important as the composition in the songs, and that then-rare aspect is what made this band unique in their debut, showing that there's a little more to metal than just guitars and vocals in front and bass and drums in back. Industrial ambience, spoken samples, and more bass prominence make their entrance!

The opening track "Martyr" already shows the band's audacity of beginning with a verse of brutal guitar and growls and then switching to a clean bridge midway through. Well played! Personal relationships cover the lyrics for that song and "Leechmaster", the latter being heavier and deathlier. The criminal justice system has its flaws pointed out in "Scapegoat". Then "Crisis" adds clean singing over heavy chords. "Crash Test" is about lab animal tests, so I'm guessing the "crash" is from the death metal crashing.

"Flesh Hold" continues the band's rage against the justice system. Then they tackle hypocrisy in religion in "Lifeblind", combining the death metal of Hypocrisy at that time with industrial. "Scumgrief" marks the return to the full form of the balance between clean hooks and deathly heaviness. The percussion intermission "Natividad" was written in memory of the late mother of guitarist Dino Cazares. Then "Big God/Raped Souls" continues the band's attack on religion's downsides. The more political "Arise Above Oppression" has more of the album's destructive side.

"Self Immolation" emphasizes on industrial metal's signature aspects of mechanical rhythm and audio samples, showing the genre's effective development progress. "Suffer Age" starts with tight guitar before the bass and drums join along with background cleans. The riffing continues to expand alongside the drums. Then finally, EXPLOSIVE DEATH METAL CHAOS!!!! The dominant drums and vocals work with the guitars to tear this f***ing place apart! They stay steady despite the samples and tempo changes. Then there's a clean bridge before more of the deathliness. It ends a bit abruptly, but still worth some fun in a mosh pit. There's melodic treasure to be found in the deathly sea midway through "W.O.E." Then "Desecrate" switches to something different, but the usual death metal rampage. The most severe growls from vocalist Burton C. Bell come in "Escape Confusion", right from the most deathly beginning. "Manipulation" unleashes the last of the deathly destruction for this album.

So this band's journey all started with the idea of combining the industrial metal of Godflesh and the deathgrind of Napalm Death into their own unique mix with mechanical riffing with some bits of melodic alt-metal and groove metal. It's a pretty great fresh idea that was never tried before and has proven highly influential. Of course, the issue here is the big amount of tracks (17) that many people can't remember all of. However, it's so cryptic and unique that your mind won't turn away from such creativity and aggression that was uncommon outside the underground in the early 90s. Not too over-the-top while not too accessible, this band sure knows how to conceive and present such a game-changer. Once rare but now more common is unique genius....

Favorites: "Martyr", "Leechmaster", "Crisis", "Scumgrief", "Self Immolation", "Suffer Age", "W.O.E.", "Escape Confusion"

Beginning humble and continuing as legends, Zao has been known as known as a true developer of Christian metalcore. The humble beginning comes from 1995 debut All Else Failed. Back then, their lead vocalist was Shawn Jonas, who would later form Symphony in Peril. He replaced original vocalist Eric Reeder who wrote most of the album's lyrics but left before recording. Jonas, along with Roy Goudy (guitars), Mic Cox (bass), and Jesse Smith (drums), changed the scene of Christian hardcore by adding more punk and metal elements. The lyrics are more straight in the search of lost truth. Though a bit of a dud, All Else Failed is where Zao's enjoyable history begins...

I was hoping to find a lot to enjoy from their debut, considering how much I love the 3 albums after this. I can especially give a thumbs-up to The Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation, the first album I've listened to from this band, with brilliant highlights including a few songs re-recorded. Sadly, as cohesive as All Else Failed is, it doesn't reach that solid mark. Don't get me wrong though. Smith's drumming is the cold hard key to the band's earlier sound. Cox's bass is audible though a little more effect-laden than necessary. Goudy's guitars are performed with heart and soul, and so are the screaming vocals of Jonas in full power that's worth praising. The music is filled with intense emotion! But the production is very much subpar compared to other albums like Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest, while being satisfying nonetheless.

"Resistance" has some of the best vocals here, along with early metalcore riffing that can serve as a basis for bands like Haste the Day. And another standout is "In Loving Kindness", having a short bass section before some of the best rapid drumming found in 90s metalcore. There are great lyrics in "Endure" telling about the surviving truth of Christianity, "It has been proven, It shall remain, This faith has stood the test, It persists through conflict, Through the revolts against its ways, Nothing has held true like this."

"Growing In Grace" goes on in good pace, but then it abruptly stops for an ambient bass. It's almost like interrupting a rollercoaster ride while still on top. Within the weakness though, some strong light shines in the acoustic outro. One of the best moments in the album, though in a song that I would never consider a highlight. "Foresight" displays some of the band's Christian influences as much as Embodyment, though much different from that band in style. "PS 77" is a hard-hitting early metallic hardcore gem. The title must be referring to a public school one of the band members went to. "Exchange" is not highly different, but it shows Zao's creativity.

Another favorite, "In These Times of Silence" shows how much this band can achieved in American hardcore. However, that song and the simpler "A Simple Reminder" do not appear in the album's 2003 re-recording. The 12-minute title epic is the longest track by the band, and one of the longest metalcore epics I've ever encountered. They unleash everything that they can in the first 8 minutes, then after a one-minute break, a 3-minute acoustic ending plays, along with a bit of clean vocals. Epic!

I had to be realistic when considering how much praise I'm comfortable giving this band's debut. All Else Failed set the right path for the band's mighty metalcore sound, and for Jesse Smith to keep going after the original members quit. But with all that said, it's not as strong their next album and the Dan Weyandt era, while not too bad at all....

Favorites: "Resistance", "In Loving Kindness", "PS 77", "In These Times of Silence", "All Else Failed"

Don't you just miss the good ol' days of "Oh-wah-ah-ah-ah"?! Disturbed has released their new album Divisive this year, and in the months leading up to its release, people were wondering what direction they would take. The longtime fans feared that the band would continue the recent melodic radio hit route. Then a single popped up (I'll tell you what it is soon) that hinted at something once thought far-fetched, the return of their earlier heaviness! The album that track would appear in is a pleasant surprise...

I ended up having COVID at the time when I got this album, a week after its release, and I can understand the anger the band had with the challenges caused by the literal sickness. The rage is really put into their work, especially in the first half, though after that, there seems to be an unsettling turn.

The aforementioned single "Hey You" is a jaw dropper and kicker. There's f***ing great bad-a** power here, reminding me of the 2000s albums by this band. It's definitely an original song instead of a cover for a certain Bachman Turner Overdrive song. Thumbs up for that! There's a divisive line in heavier alternative music between the metal of this band and the rock of Shinedown, and I prefer to stay in the former side. But the real division is what this song describes in the lyrics, such as ongoing wars and protests, so wake up and fight the division! "Bad Man" sounds like an Indestructible outtake. They didn't have to build up the glory in an intro, getting straight to heavy rhythm. The melodic chorus is leveled up by David Draiman's vocal power in triumph. The title track follows with the usual rough energy.

"Unstoppable" shows that the band still has what it takes by f***ing throwing back to Disturbed's earlier days of 20 years ago, hard-hitting like a b***h! "Love to Hate" marks the end of the throwback first half to the band's legacy. They mix old and new, as the vocals sound cleaner while still rough. Draiman's lyrics once again tackle political frustration. "Feeding the Fire" is where the band returns to what they had in their previous two albums, though it sounds a bit addictive. "Don't Tell Me" is the biggest surprise here, a ballad featuring Ann Wilson of Heart. Fans of Draiman-fronted ballads might like it along with Dan Donegan's shredding, but to the heavier ear, it's just soft bullsh*t.

"Take Back Your Life" is another filler track that's not too bad while not having much memorable power. There's more energetic bass and drums in an attempt to save the track's grace with heaviness. The heavier "Part of Me" ends up coming out as mediocre. Draiman tries to sound more rough and less clean, but it can't beat the album's first half. "Won’t Back Down" ends the album as a strong headbanger, bringing back elements of their first 3 albums, complete with some of the earlier "OW" and "get up".

Disturbed made a good comeback with this album, though it can be quite...divisive. The heavier foundation is back to stability in the first half, though the second half brings back their recent soft melodic side. If you're up for more of their strong earlier heaviness, you're in for a treat with a slight trick....

Favorites: "Hey You", "Bad Man", "Unstoppable", "Love to Hate", "Won't Back Down"

Have you ever wondered if there are any bands you believe the new harsher extreme-core bands like Lorna Shore can't do without? One band almost has the potential of standing their historical ground, Spread the Disease! Their sophomore finale album The Sheer Force of Inertia has an interesting idea of adding black metal elements to metalcore/early deathcore, a bit like what Underoath did at that time. However, ambient/electronic elements have been added into the cauldron that can be frustrating...

Now while I have no problem with different sounds added in a metal style, the problem is the album's inconsistent structure. Only slightly over half of the album is real metal, and each of the 4 songs is surrounded by interludes, and killing off the intense energy. If it was up to me, I would edit the album so that only the songs would be in, while the interludes are taken out, but all we would have is an over 20-minute EP, because of that annoying Dead World Collusion-like sequence. That aside, the songs here have an awesome extreme progressive metalcore sound with black/death metal/hardcore triumph. Riff destruction, harsh vocals, and extreme production are all in violent chaos!

After the first sh*tty interlude, "The Electron Compulsion Theory" starts the action as a 9 and a half minute extreme metalcore epic highlight. Halfway through, things go soft and calm with didgeridoo and a background choir. Then we have an inevitable buildup back to the extreme. Honestly, the second interlude that follows should've been part of the end instead of separated. Never mind, at least "Responding to a Current Lack of Heat" continues the sound as heavy as This Day Forward at that time, maybe heavier.

The next couple full songs are good but don't reach the greatness of the first two. The final track would certainly be a laughingstock ending for this band, "Jesus Hotline Phone Call", an 8-minute series of prank calls.

OK, let me just clarify that the interludes are pleasant and calm at times, and can often be glitchy, but it's terrible that they're placed between each and every song, making even the open-minded confused. This band should've just released the 4 real songs as an EP. I would've loved their extreme progressive metalcore sound much more. I just hope the members of the band who have moved on to other bands realized would think of how they could've made this album better. It's f***ing clear what it is....

Favorites: "The Electron Compulsion Theory", "Responding to a Current Lack of Heat"

When that YouTube commenter recommended to me some albums by Zao, one of those releases was a split between that band and Training for Utopia. The commenter especially enjoys one song from the EP that was re-recorded in their next album Liberate Te Ex Inferis, but to be honest, I didn't really like that version, I prefer the album version much more. I'll tell you what that song is soon...

Despite that, this EP is quite fun to listen to. Not only do you get to hear a little more of Zao besides the albums, but also a different band with vocalist Ryan Clark who would later form Demon Hunter and release that band's debut in 2002.

Training for Utopia would appear first in the EP with the fun opener "Modus Operandi". The aforementioned Zao song, "Skin Like Winter", I honestly think is a poorly done demo, and once again, the later album version does better justice. There should've been some proper time and budget to work on that version in my opinion. However, this is made up for by Training for Utopia's nearly 8-minute epic "Police John, Police Red". That's some of the strongest content and length I've heard from late 90s metalcore. It starts with a beautiful guitar intro complete with soft vocals, then everything gets heavier and more chaotic, leading up to an epic climax with thunderous roars of "COME ARMAGEDDON!!!" The short yet heavy Zao song "Walk On By, Walk On Me" has a bit of Clark's roars alongside the screaming of Dan Weyandt. A much better song from Zao!

All in all, the split's quality is kind of half-and-half in the songs. I think I can find the best vocals from Ryan Clark and the best drums from Jesse Smith, with the bassists and guitarists of both bands shining well. While this EP isn't at an excellent level for me, Christian metalheads who want to see both bands in a release would be like "Hallelujah!"

Favorites: "Police John, Police Red", "Walk On By, Walk On Me"

Excessive Force's debut album Conquer Your World was nothing but an industrial rock/dance album I couldn't really get into. However, with one more album Gentle Death, they seemed to have taken a better step, metallic enough to be metal. There are a few good tunes worth commenting on, but is it worth money for buyers? I don't know... Also, why am I getting Minecraft vibes from that album cover?

Once again, this is a side-project by KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko. However, Buzz McCoy had already left the project before this album, and KMFDM bandmate Günter Schulz added guitar to some tracks. Well there seems to be less guitar than in that KMFDM album Nihil, but at least it's more than Excessive Force's debut.

Let's just talk about the few highlights here: "Blitzkrieg (Sturzkampf)" rocks with the riffing that KMFDM would have in Nihil, with some sick kicks and licks from Schulz and great industrial power from the rest of the crew. You'll especially find greatness in "Divebomb" that at one point makes a subtle brief turn into the "Hall of the Mountain King", almost like what Savatage did in their 1987 album. I love it! Fast forward to "Queen B***h" where one of the vocalists Liz Torres shines through fast techno rage. Silly yet fun!

While many of the songs aren't as great those 3, the worst is "Leather Clad Dub", one of the most sh*tty remixes I've heard! I'll spare you the dreaded details. Just skip that stinker and other tiresome tracks, and enjoy the highlights of the final album from an average spin-off of KMFDM. Nihil would have these guys' talent much stronger than this....

Favorites: "Blitzkrieg (Sturzkampf)", "Divebomb", "Queen B***h"

I think I've mentioned this before, but I enjoy these transitional kinds of releases between two of a band's eras. This EP works as the missing piece of the stylistic puzzle, between the industrial rock/dance of that Excessive Force album and industrial death-doom of that Dead World album. And this Pitchshifter release is much better than those two, kinda like a "Guess That Baby" bulletin board with one cute kid sandwiched between two having really bad hair days...

In truth though, this EP Submit can be considered the transitional release between Pitchshifter's sludge-ish debut and the later material's catchiness. There are different eras that the band have covered and foreshadowed in this release, doing it all with confidence. There's beat in the music and purpose in the writing!

"Gritter" is a brilliant favorite of mine from this EP. It brings in some groove momentum and their earlier deathly vibe, the latter caused by crushing downtuned riffing and deep growling vocals. However, it sounds closer to Godflesh than the more deathly Dead World. JS Clayden took over on vocals after his brother MD put his sole focus on bass. "Deconstruction" is a different highlight with gravelly vocals and repetitive guitar, hinting at their next album. A sure sign of leaving behind their Godflesh influences.

The next track "New Flesh P.S.I." is an early-Godflesh-infused remix of a song from their debut Industrial. "B****rdiser" levels things up a bit, but the chorus sounds like a rip-off of Godflesh's "Like Rats". Those two remixes appeared in their earlier single "Death Industrial" to show the band's earlier evolution.

"Dry Riser Inlet" is another highlight that continues the band's later hints from "Deconstruction". The last song before the hidden track "Tendrill" once again drills through with the band's deathly industrial metal statement. "Silo" is the instrumental hidden track that is quite repetitive and doesn't add much greatness. I won't say it's too much of a stinker, but it's probably best to just stop during the long silence before the hidden track.

"Submit" is a pretty great step up compared to those other two early 90s industrial metal releases I've just reviewed. It's as heavy and crushing as Godflesh at that time, like A LOT, though I would argue about how Pitchshifter used their influences. While not as super-memorable as classics within the genre, Submit is something you can't overlook...

Favorites: "Gritter", "Deconstruction", "Dry Riser Inlet", "Tendrill"

Industrial metal can be quite a hit-and-miss for me, despite my passion in The Sphere clan, whether you find bands from America or Europe or wherever else. There are some project that mix the genre with others, such as deathgrind/hardcore for Meathook Seed. Not a lot of bands can take that mix seriously, like this band, Dead World. Led by art director for Relapse Records, Jonathan Canady, the band's debut album Collusion is basically a collection of 5 industrial metal/death-doom tracks and 5 ambient interludes. They can play something unique yet not working out as much as it should...

In a cyclical monotone attempt at industrial death-doom, they slow down the death metal riffing and rhythm and ditched the bass drums. While the riffing drifts slowly, there's occasional speed in the drive. Something interesting is, Collusion is the band's only one of their albums to have a real drummer instead of a drum machine, which detracts the cold power of industrial metal while packing some small punches into the percussion. The guitar is rough while being brought forward by the bass, the latter not bursting out as much as European industrial metal bands who know one of their signature features. It's quite lose in the reverb that soaks down the growling and percussion. With barely a lot of groove, we have kind of a treacherous result.

Only two tracks work as highlights; one of my favorite songs of this style "El Shaddi Sanctimony" and one of the interludes "Regina Confessorum", the latter having just guitar and bass in a stream of samples. Other than that, Dead World was, in 1992, just in an intermediate level of dark industrial metal, not yet building up to experienced heights. You can consider Collusion a historical blend of genres, but just not worth listening pleasure. Just take my word for this poor sh*t....

Favorites (only songs I like): "El Shaddi Sanctimony", "Regina Confessorum"

Excessive Force was a side project created by KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko and My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult's Buzz McCoy. It should be noted that is before KMFDM started added more prominent metal elements, so all you can find from Excessive Force's debut is industrial rock/dance, sometimes close to house music, and it's only good hands of less heavy industrial fans. However, there's some of the heavy guitar groove and vocal distortion to go with the repetitive dance, and the best highlight for that is "Ride the Bomb". A decently great track from a sh*tty dance album that has blown me off instead of blown me away....

Favorites (only one song I like): "Ride the Bomb"

To be honest, I wasn't sure about giving this Strife album In This Defiance a listen and a review because their debut One Truth wasn't all that great and I even thought it was too hardcore to be metal, hence that judgement submission. But when I put this album on play, boy was I blown away! This is a higher, more metallic step from their debut, and it has just what I'm looking for from this band.

Yep, everything is at the right tone for Strife. This is a full tight metallic hardcore sound with brisk tempos. Rick Rodney has his hardcore bellowing skills that are often hard to understand, but at the same time, so compelling.

Beginning the album is a 3-minute "Intro" of horror movie sound effects that almost makes the album a soundtrack for such a film. Then after that, the wait is over, with "Waiting" blasting off with its metal/hardcore sound that bands such as All That Remains, 36 Crazyfists, Eighteen Visions, and Cave In can't do without. The hardcore force continues in "Force of Change", which actually has a bit of a Winds of Plague vibe in the riffing, though obviously not deathly or symphonic.

"Stand as One (Redemption)" has vague yet powerful lyrics in emotional focus ("Search inside and you will find the answers lie within the reach of those who try"). Same with "Grey", not identifiable but quite adamant ("The future is dead for many of those who have fallen refusing to let it go"). The amazing highlight "Will to Die" has a bit of a Black Sabbath kind of soundscape, with a few prominent guests assisting in the action; ex-Sepultura drummer Igor Cavalera, Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares, and most notably, Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno. Another compelling song here is "Blistered". Then "Forgotten One" adds a bit of mid-80s Voivod speed into their sound.

"Wish I Knew" has reminded me that I need a break from the modern poppy metalcore of Issues and We Came as Romans, so I can dive into more hardcore stuff like this. "To an End" is one of the most remarkable hardcore bursts ever. "Overthrow" would once again help the hardcore side of my metalcore taste overthrow the modern side of bands like Veil of Maya. The "Outro" is just 16 minutes of horror movie sounds just like the intro. I think they only added their so the album wouldn't be so short like just a half-hour.

Those pointless interludes don't affect the rest of this album perfection that makes In This Defiance an astonishing stunner. This is standard E-tuned thrashy metal/hardcore at its best. I'm glad to find the greatness of Strife!

Favorites: "Waiting", "Force of Change", "Stand as One (Redemption)", "Will to Die", "Wish I Knew", "To an End"

If there's one album that sealed the deal for a band's stylistic direction, it would be 1997's stunning brutal metalcore in Living Sacrifice's career, Reborn! The cathartic power of this genre was shining for the band ever since guitarist Bruce Fitzhugh started doing growling vocals.

Apparently, the band wanted to make an album with a unique sound unlike any other bands. The band released 3 albums before this with original vocalist Darren Johnson, the Big 4-inspired thrash self-titled debut and two Malevolent Creation-esque death metal albums Nonexistent and Inhabit. Reborn can indeed be considered Living Sacrifice's rebirth, taking on strong metalcore with a bit of their earlier thrash rhythm. Yeah, there is a bit of the Sepultura-like dark insanity within the uniqueness...

"Reborn Empowered" starts simple in the drumming, then sudden switches into blazing fast progressive-ish metalcore. Those growls and lyrics are just top notch, "Reborn empowered, all strongholds broken, old ways have died, given new life, boldness engulfs my every word, strength empowered by God, Jesus, the strength in Christ's name". Beginning the next track "Truth Solution" is another groove-ish verse and empowering lyrics, "Breath of God released faith, creates all life". Another track "Threatened" has acoustic strumming in different parts of the song while maintaining the heaviness throughout. "Awakening" is memorable in the groove and lyrical images, "Our spirits no longer reek of sleep, through prayer we've entered in the throne room".

"180" once again shows the band's 180-turn away from their earlier death metal while keeping a bit of the much earlier thrash rhythm. While the album has the groove-ish metalcore sound done in perfection, "No Longer" is the closest we have to a half-baked idea. "Something More" kind of give me a thrash-ish metalcore vibe of Annihilator meets Hatebreed. Introducing the next track "Sellout" is an acoustic intro that can make you think of Opeth.

"Spirit Fall" adds a little more progressiveness into their metalcore, though obviously it's a closer level to early August Burns Red than, say, ERRA. The classical-sounding (in terms of guitar) "Presence of God" is a simple interlude of improvisation to perform in worship. The most well-known track by Living Sacrifice that they still play in encores is "Reject", with lyrics about deception against the Lord, "Half truths, deceit, forced in, not God, reject all lies, reject all of the lies." Closing the album is "Liar", a song for Christ's battle against Satan, "Worthless, want to be God, loser imitation, fallen from grace, deceitful lying beast your bound, lord of maggots, we rebuke you."

It's sad that even one furious blast of metal can be considered Satanic. Some people need to be enlightened and realize that there is holy glory in metal, despite the brutality. Living Sacrifice should really has much fame as P.O.D., and this album Reborn is the reason!

Favorites: "Reborn Empowered", "Awakening", "180", "Something More", "Spirit Fall", "Reject"

In the 90s, Burst was in the metallic hardcore realm. The primal riff delivery laid the groundwork for the band's later sound. In a way, you can consider the band's 5 albums like the first 5 of Neurosis in terms of their stylistic evolution, starting hardcore before a more Infinite sound, except Burst's sound has a dissonant metalcore backbone throughout. This perfect offering stands out with a hardcore stampede of drumming, riffs, and shouts, all in a unique drive to level up my rediscovery journey!

Two Faced and their next album Conquest Writhe were made before bands Cult of Luna and Andromeda released their debuts, so they still didn't have yet the elements of those bands. With that said, Burst made grand progress in their debut with their songwriting and performing in unison. The quality is tight while in top-notch production, with solid crispy support of the bass and that metalcore backbone. Patrik Hultin might very well be a new favorite drummer of mine with his eclectic skills. His drumming is wilder than the guitars, in calculating alignment with the riff groove.

Once again, talking about many of these awesome songs here won't do them justice, so I'll just note the highlights such as the title track, which has a simpler direction than what they would have later, while more adventurous than many of the more traditional hardcore bands out there. There's some melody in the music while having the usual vocal aggression that would be lessened as the band progresses. "Callous" has a catchy formula that would be foreshadowed in the other album I've reviewed, Lazarus Bird.

"Crossbreed" has almost the same pace as the band Crossbreed (minus the industrial elements) but then evolves into the usual metallic hardcore that's almost as chaotic as Cave In and The Dillinger Escape Plan. I can also hear a slight taste of early August Burns Red in "Lifeline".

"Repentance" has a bit of the dark-ish melodic metalcore instrumentation that Prayer for Cleansing would have two years later. After 10 short songs, the final track "Cadence of the Faithless" is a 5-minute metallic hardcore monster epic. But if you stick around after 3 minutes of silence, you get a raw punky hardcore demo recording that seems like a waste after a real stable closer. It detracts from the album's momentum, but I can ignore it and just stay with the perfect 5-star rest of the album.

Two-Faced is the hardcore one out for this band's material, and they would start heading towards a different direction from Conquest Writhe onwards. This debut is a h*lla great beast, probably more metallic than Strife's debut. The enclosed tightness is dusted off by Burst in their most hardcore bloom!

Favorites: "Two-Faced", "Callous", "Crossbreed", "Lifeline", "Repentance", "Cadence of the Faithless"

Upon realizing that I've haven't listened to and reviewed this release from State Craft, I decided to do so, and... TO F***ING H*LL WITH THIS!!! This is just too weak for my metalcore standards, with only one decently good song here, "After This Morning", probably of how short it is. This sh*t ain't worth my journey. State Craft is so not for me....

Favorites (only one I remotely like because of length): "After This Morning"

Here we are again with State Craft, with me reviewing the first EP from perhaps the first Japanese metallic hardcore band. There's never any greatness in the vocals, choruses, and lyrics. To me, it just feels like an Unbroken ripoff that sucks a**, but at least they don't have yet the cheesy symphonics Temperance would have two decades later. Though the song "Break the Cycle" sounds good in the intro, which I like. F*** it, I have better metallic hardcore to listen to. Also that Windows XP wallpaper-like cover art is laughable....

Favorites (only one I even remotely like): "Break the Cycle"

Oh wow! This is a huge positive twist in my rediscovery journey. After a couple sh*tty demo EPs from other metalcore bands, here we have a perfect compilation of demos from this band Morning Again, worth money from the buyer. There are 7 songs in 30 minutes, and I almost think of Hand of Hope as a full mini-album. So great with lots of heavy tracks! So where I do begin?...

Morning Again are legends in the metal/hardcore scene. At that time, their frontman was Damien Moyal, a straight-edge vocalist who was also in Shai Hulud at that time. It's thanks to those two bands that the Floridian music scene has expanded to more than just death metal and *shudder* Backstreet Boys and Disney, paving the way for other metalcore bands like Trivium. Morning Again broke up after one official album, but they've since reunited multiple times and released a couple more EPs. However, Moyal moved on to melodic hardcore band As Friends Rust, and he remained vocalist for that band except for those 6 years when the other members performed as Salem.

Now back to this Morning Again release... The first song "Turning Over" rockets towards you with a metalcore blast. I think talking about many of these awesome songs here won't do them justice, so I'll just note the highlights such as the aforementioned opener. And oh yeah, we have the grand 6-minute epic "Minus One" that marks the perfect blend of beautiful and heavy. The last of the 7 tracks, "God Framed Me" continues the hardcore intensity of blending violence with melody.

I think I just found a new favorite vocalist in Damien Moyal, almost rivaling Converge's Jacob Bannon. Props to Morning Again for this incredible work! If you enjoy Shai Hulud and other metallic hardcore, surely you wouldn't wanna miss this. It's an album of hardcore insanity!

Favorites: "Turning Over", "Minus One", "God Framed Me"

As I continue my rediscovery journey, I've realized that I like the full albums more than most of the demo EPs. The Absolve EP sounds nice, but the production is jacked up in a bad way, which along with the overuse of samples in the beginning, doesn't make me up for it so much. "Bleeding" is the brutal highlight here, having a brutal Suffocation-like slam death metal breakdown. A f***ing crusher in a mostly f***ing bland trash-fest....

Favorites (only one I like): "Bleeding"

The first 3 albums of Dead to Fall were known as a personal struggle for the band, especially vocalist Jon Hunt. They weren't really up for the serious image of the deathly metalcore sound they had. Of course I know what fans of their original sound would say to me, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! You're gonna start with their wackiest album?" And the answer is yes I am, and it works! Are You Serious has humor in the album, songs, and cover art where they're the most comfortable while as enjoyable as the grand classics.

Well it's not entirely a drastic change in the metal sound, but there's more flavor, and I mean bong-party flavor, almost as much as Attila at that time. What also reminds me of that band is how they add in riffing reminiscent of A Life Once Lost and Carnage.

An experimental intro "IQ Test" starts the album. Then "Stupid?" unleashes mighty in-your-face deathly metalcore to make fun of the genre in the lyrics, with Hunt bellowing about how "F***ING STUPID!!!" this song is, mentioning the "OH SH*T!!" At the Gates-like thrashy death metal riff while it's playing, and finally ending it all "WITH A F***ING BREAKDOWN!!!" There's more eclectic programming to come later in this album. "The Future" takes us through atonal space and A Life Once Lost-like riff-wrath. "Sleeping Bag" injects some thrashy guitar into their metalcore in a highlight that shows how much they've evolved.

"Major Rager" is another highlight of strong adrenaline and has practically invented party-core before Attila later that year. This is deathly metalcore with a humorous twist as Jon Hunt bellows about "doing another shot" and "staying up all f***ing night". Another highlight, "Loch Ness" shows some more shredding and vocal growling, this time in a mellower pace, almost like stoner doom, along with delicate programming. "Brainmelter" is faster but still mid-paced, a bit like death 'n' roll in the riffing.

This humorous direction once again has a bit of the band's roots in "Cropgrower". Then "Robo-Destro" has destructive power almost as chaotic as The Dillinger Escape Plan. "Doombox" is another Hatebreed/Bring Me the Horizon-sounding metalcore monster. "Astral Projection/Dream J(ourney)" has trippy weirdness to end the journey nicely.

In a strange yet awesome way, Dead to Fall turned into a more natural and organic band of Darkest Hour-infused metalcore, with the guitarist of that band, Mike Schleibaum manning the production, all while painting the metalcore walls with humor. In the end, you can still hear something more deadly than a mosh-pit ninja, alongside the humor that the earlier, more serious fans, might not approve of. Dead to Fall had the confidence to make that move, and I'm super glad to find the tone balanced out. Seriously!

Favorites: "Stupid?", "Sleeping Bad", "Major Rager", "Loch Ness", "Doombox"

So what have I checked out so far in my Zao journey? First was their second album The Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation which was their last original lineup, then was their third album Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest where they started a new era. Both of those albums are some of the best metalcore albums I've listened. Would their next album continue their perfect streak?...

Way right! Liberate Te Ex Inferis is one of the heaviest albums from the late 90s. It was time for the band take their sound from Blood and Fire to a new level of metalcore. There are 10 songs here, with every two songs placed in one of Hell's circles: Limbo, The Lustful, The Gluttonous, The Hoarders and The Spendthrifts, The Wrathful.

The album's opening "Intro" starts slow before rising in the climax. In the end, an Event Horizon sample lets the listener know that "Hell is just a word, the reality is much, much worse." The first real song "Savannah" continues the band's recurring theme of Christianity's hypocrisy. A porn star suffers a deadly wound and the people who believe in God just let her die, "They can't believe the machine was alive but we saw it bleed, The machine falls apart and when it's cut it bleeds, The machine bleeds, She was alive." The more positively-written "Autopsy" is where Dan Weyandt asks for help from the Lord, "I can't see it but I feel the light, Someone tell us we are loved, Someone take the pain away, Someone fill up the void, Someone fix my broken heart, Are you that someone?" However, some of the other verses are lost and forgotten, even by Dan himself.

"If These Scars Could Speak" tells another story, this one of a woman whom his date raped her. While you can consider this release a concept album because of the Circles of Hell, I'm not sure about that because the songs tell different stories instead of one. "The Ghost Psalm" is another great track. My only complaint that doesn't detract the song and album's perfection is about the unnecessary Event Horizon sample in the beginning, "Do you want to make a deal? Cut a deal with the devil?" Another notable track is "Desire The End" with lyrics about Christianity's end of all things and a new beginning, "I desire the end, The touch of Armageddon, This world encased in flames, I desire the end, I desire the new beginning." Segueing out of another strange movie sample, "Dark Cold Sound" has some more introspective poetry in the lyrics. The listener can understand what Weyandt wants and interpret.

"Skin Like Winter" is a better phenomenal highlight, and what helps is, no strange movie samples around! Now this next track, "Kathleen Barbra", who is that? I have no clue, but we do have another great song, and the last one before the outro... "Man in Cage Jack Wilson", I'm sure there are over a dozen notable people with that name. It starts with another Event Horizon sample that includes the album's eponymous phrase. It's the same sample as the one heard in the beginning of "Prom Song" from Every Time I Die's debut EP released a few months after this album. But instead of chaotic metalcore, we have a dark yet beautiful 7-minute sludgy metalcore Crusade.

An album mandatory for Zao fans, Liberate Te Ex Inferis has a lot smile-inducing surprises. The band has continued their quest since Blood and Fire go beyond the limits for a refined metalcore sound. You don't wanna miss out on this punishing yet rewarding metalcore glory!

Favorites: "Savannah", "If These Scars Could Speak", "Desire the End", "Skin Like Winter", "Man in Cage Jack Wilson"

The perfection of Zao's second and last album with the original lineup carries on to a new one. 1998 marked a new era for the band who have been grateful to God for where their ongoing lives took them. The remaining founding member Jesse Smith continued with new members Daniel Weyandt, Russ Cogdell, and Brett Detar, the latter from rock band The Juliana Theory for a dark turning point in hardcore/metal. Where would bands like Underoath and Haste the Day be without this offering?

Let me just say, Dan Weyandt's screaming is perfect! Besides that, the two guitarists have heavy guitar riffs that would surely blow your minds. While they maintain the Christian lyrical themes, they focused less on the spiritual side and the topics are more about Weyandt's fallen loved ones.

You can immediately hear what's different as "Lies of Serpents, A River of Tears" opens the album. They switched from the hardcore tone of Earth Crisis to a more metallic Converge-like direction, especially in the guitar duo's atonal riffing. "To Think of You is to Treasure An Absent Memory" has vicious drumming. That song was written in memory of a friend of the band who committed suicide. Those lyrics pay great tribute to the fallen, "When you shut your eyes and fell asleep, Dark clouds descended on the souls of the ones who held you close to their hearts." Continuing that tragic theme is "A Fall Farewell", for Weyandt's late relative, in which the message is basically his faith shining to keep him alive after all the losses he and the band suffered. Its heavy impact has caused many Christians and non-Christians to relate.

Once again, guidance from the Lord is prayed for in "March" without having to use the name in vain, "A single quiet voice and the breath of His words consumed the night and brought strength I have never felt on my own, He held me up until I could walk again and promised to stay by my side forever". Next up, "Ember" has heavy riffing that reminds me of early Trivium. "Ravage Ritual" shows a bit of forlorn pain in the vocals as the lyrics fight against the judgmental. Once again, where would bands be like Eighteen Visions, Bleeding Through, and Bring Me the Horizon without a song like "Fifteen Rhema"!?

Only one song threatens the perfection of this release and that's "For A Fair Desire". There just isn't as much lyrical passion as the rest of the album, but I think the song might work well as just a separate single or something. "The Latter Rain" is a greater improvement from that slight misstep, a 6-and-a-half-minute epic! Though it's not the end yet... "Violet" is a beautiful 7-minute piano outro to wrap up the album pleasantly.

All in all, Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest marks a different transition from The Splinter Shards The Birth Of Separation, including shorter songs, though both albums are the best. You like As I Lay Dying and all those bands I've mentioned earlier? Pick this up! Whether you're Christian or not, this is for the heavier metalcore fans. Zao is still alive!

Favorites: "Lies of Serpents, A River of Tears", "To Think of You is to Treasure An Absent Memory", "Ember", "Fifteen Rhema", "The Latter Rain"

I've listened to many bands during my nearly 5 years of listening to metalcore, and I'm currently exploring more of the classic groups such as Cave In, Coalesce, Converge and Botch, and obscure bands like This Day Forward. But there's one band that is, alongside Converge, one of the earliest metalcore bands to still be active today... Zao! Named after the Greek word for "Alive", this band made a solid mark in the metalcore and Christian metal scenes.

The Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation is the second album by the band and shows the band traveling through hardcore roads to add more than just simplicity. There's complex music, with phenomenal drummer Jesse Smith taking the band to battle, and defiant screams by ex-vocalist Shawn Jonas that perfectly match the instrumentation.

The first of those many songs is "Times of Separation", and considering how similar the intro is to that of Every Time I Die's Radical, you might think the latter made a tribute. Anyway, Shawn's long screaming is often what levels up the quality. In "Surrounds Me", he continues to be surrounded by the killer music. "Exchange" is one of 4 songs re-recorded from their earlier material. Not highly different, but it highlights Zao's creativity.

The Christian lyrical message in particle has a bit of a worship vibe, "I will lift You up, I will praise Your awesome name, For what it's worth and nothing less." However, they've done it better than Underoath at that time. "Repressed" is one of my favorites here, sounding quite heavy at times. And another standout is "In Loving Kindness", starting with a short bass intro before some of the best rapid drumming to be found in 90s metalcore. There are great lyrics in "Endure" telling about the surviving truth of Christianity, "It has been proven, It shall remain, This faith has stood the test, It persists through conflict, Through the revolts against its ways, Nothing has held true like this."

"The Children Cry for Help" starts off with a good speedy intro for 20 seconds, and continues into the fast metalcore style you would expect from Zao. However, it just slows down to midtempo for most of the 5-minute length. I still like it though. One other re-recorded song (besides 3 others) is "Resistance" which once again has some of the best vocals here. "Song 1" is OK, but the silence and hidden experimental outro is slightly pointless, though it's still fine and much better than Blur's "Song 2".

I've made the right call of following that YouTube commenter's recommendation, and I'm glad to receive this rewarding masterpiece. My next stop is their 3rd album Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest, but for now, any metalcore fans around can hold on to this album and play it to their heart's content. Never separate!

Favorites: "Times of Separation, "Exchange", "Repressed", "In Loving Kindness", "Resistance"

There's barely any band that could change their sound in each album as immensely as OLD. Starting off as humorous metallic grindcore in their debut, they took on more of a psychedelic industrial metal style in Lo Flux Tube. Album #3, The Musical Dimensions of Sleastak is filled with experimental madness! Basically a weird yet awesome mix of metal and electronics from the brilliant James Plotkin and the shrieking Alan Dubin. Some who find this unlistenable don't know what they're missing in this wild adventure...

This is another original album ahead of time. They experiment with different styles, more than just metal, letting go of restrictive conventions and patterns so what they create can run free. I don't need the thrashy industrial metal of Ministry when I have this cool weirdness that actually suits me!

"A Beginning" is an astonishing way to begin this offering. Then leveling up high is the apparently two-part "Two of Me". More of the experimentation commences in the freaky highlight "Freak Now". That song was used in the soundtrack for the film Brainscan. Another song featured in that movie is "Peri Cynthion", one h*ll of a 10-minute experimental industrial metal epic. Listen for yourself if you like this sound!

"Happy Tantrum" sounds like an outtake from Lo Flux Tube, but a great improvement from there. It's another one of my favorite tracks in this album, with absolutely no filler. The experimentation actually sounds catchier than that of the mathy metalcore of Coalesce. "Creyap'nilla" can sound a little creepy at times.

"Glitch" is really great but can be a bit glitchy in some parts. "Ebb" allows the experimental instrumentation to flow nice and smoothly, while staying surreal. "Backwards Through the Greddo Compressor" is the 11-minute finale that almost sounds like the album is shortened and compressed. It's so different yet listenable! However, it probably won't help those people who put down the album change their minds.

Yeah, those unbelievers are better off elsewhere. The only people I would recommend this to are those up for a challenge through experimental noise-powered industrial metal, like I am now. Enjoy the weirdness!

Favorites: "Freak Now", "Peri Cynthion", "Happy Tantrum", "Backwards Through the Greddo Compressor"

From the capital city of Norway, Oslo, here's gothic industrial metal masters Gothminister! This project founded by Bjørn Alexander Brem became a full band when a fanbase started growing, a fanbase strengthened by their live shows and music. The band has recently made their comeback in rising pandemonium.

The band made a steady career with 6 albums spanning from 2003 to 2017. Then all was silent for 5 years, with no material released during then. It was a long wait...until over 3 months before this review, on October 21, the new album Pandemonium arrived, and the anticipation was totally worth it! With an intro and 10 songs at a span of 40 minutes, their lyrics of darkness and death can make your ears bleed in a pleasant and painless way.

Beginning this masterpiece is the sweet 35-second intro "Abgrund (Abyss)" that welcomes you to the dark industrial hellfire. The well-arranged and thriving title track is filled with epic industrial metal greatness! I'm glad that got me into the band alongside one of the songs from the previous album The Other Side. "Demons" has poppy synths, along with a catchy chorus that you can't resist. "Star" will get you hooked. The melody is an addictive throwback to the band's 2000s era that was more focused on electronics while still having a lot of metal.

Things start to build up slowly in "Sinister". Seducing you smoothly is "Kingdoms Rise". Then we have the sensational "Bloodride" that can make as thirsty for blood as a vampire. The heavier "Norge" is a doomy march of gloom that, in some ways, has possible potential to be the Norwegian anthem. Note that the title is Norwegian for their homeland of Norway, hence the potential.

Rapidly firing away, "Run Faster" has purely fast metal. "This is Your Darkness" empowers you as greatly as a certain game show. Then ending in a bang is the progressive "Mastodon", though not as progressive as the band Mastodon.

In conclusion, Pandemonium can surely unite the gothic-ish industrial metal fanbase with their catchy sound. Music listeners outside of metal may point out the band's aesthetic of evil darkness, but what they don't find when they don't try is the hopeful light in their compositions. It's just so incredible this compelling music they make. Worth the 5-year wait, the Norwegian dark industrial metal masters strike again!

Favorites: "Pandemonium", "Star", "Bloodride", "Norge", "This is Your Darkness", "Mastodon"

Once I joined The Sphere clan and was given the privilege of assembling the monthly Sphere playlists, it was like a whole new world of industrial metal opened up for me! I started discovering many more bands of the genre than before, Gothminister being one of them. One of the songs from this album was what got me into that band, but I'll talk more about that song as the review goes on...

So how do I like industrial metal? Dark, but not overly accessible. The Other Side is a perfect example of that. Frontman Bjørn Alexander Brem has also been known to be a lawyer, and he can lead the pack to perform horror-themed live shows that would make Marilyn Manson or Alice Cooper watch in awe.

First up, "Ich Will Alles" (I Want It All) starts with a sad slow symphonic melody, then pounds into upbeat heavy industrial metal. Other than the title lyric, the song is sung in English. This pleases me because I can't really get used to the Neue Deutsche Härte of Rammstein that heavily depend on German lyrics. There are dark storytelling lyrics throughout, "Leaving God behind, because I have darkness on my mind." Perfect for an energetic goth-rock dance-club! Next up, "The Sun" continues the dark industrial metal sound with harmonic energy. Sure the lyrics can be deemed as satanic as Ghost, but the fierce yet catchy chorus and melodies turn the song into an earworm to make you forget its dark side. "Der Fliegende Mann" (The Flying Man) is symphonic industrial metal with a German chorus. "Aegir" is a different slow rock ballad.

"Red Christ" starts with bombastic symphonics and Front 242-esque synths, before rocking out into heavier territory with an anthemic chorus, "I’ve turned so blind but I feel future is coming." Rather prophetic if you think about the world today! That's also the song that got me into this band. It's so epic, just listen to believe! "We Are the Ones Who Rule the World" drives through with the guitar crunch and beat of Nine Inch Nails, and more lyrics about the world's political climate. The final minute includes a slow bridge and a poppy female vocalist singing the title. Another track, "All This Time" has dark philosophical lyrics.

"Day of Reckoning" is another symphonic industrial metal song. Then "Taking Over" has electro-industrial synths and harmonic female vocals taking over to nicely add to the ongoing sound. "Somewhere in Time" sounds so spooky, and I'm talking about the riffing and whispered baritone vocals. It's actually a melodic symphonic closer to this part of a dark industrial metal journey.

All in all, this album is an impressive favorite of mine in my Sphere collection, and I would suggest buying the CD if you can afford the full beautiful package. Pretty much every fan of the industrial metal of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson should get it. There's a lot to find at the Other Side!

Favorites: "Ich Will Alles", "The Sun", "Red Christ", "We Are the Ones Who Rule the World", "Somewhere in Time"