Slipknot
All Hope Is Gone
Roadrunner
57:41 - 12 Tracks
What can you say about Slipknot that hasn’t already been said? (I’ve noticed these guys get a lot of hate on the message boards) Well, I’ll try… this new CD is definitely Slipknot, but when you have some slower songs where there’s lots of singing (no shouting/growling) and stuff, you can’t help but draw the StoneSour comparisons…. but you still have all of those elements that make it Slipknot…. Over the top drumming, all that stuff in the background… On this album, there seems to be a “maturing” I guess… some better songwriting, catchier songs… For example, this track is still kind of heavy, but yet you want to break out your lighter and sing along on “Dead Memories” Then there’s “Gehenna” which sounds like a slower Alice In Chains track. I do have to say the title track is the best one on here though… heaviest, most like what everyone knows as “Slipknot” Of course you’ll hear this on the Mosh Pit!
The Classic Struggle
Bring Back The Glory
Metal Blade
36:36 - 10 Tracks
At first listen, I thought I was listening to Lamb of God on brutal steroids, it pretty much holds true for most of the CD. Take Lamb of God and turn up the brutal and intensity a notch or four and you have The Classic Struggle. It’s got some catchy hooks, brutal drumming and overall clean brutal-core ish sound… I guess you could say they are like Lamb of God meets Black Dahlia Murder It’s just a great mix of good classic thrashy American metal with some brutality. You’ll hear this on the Mosh Pit!
Vehement
6 Song Promo
Vehement
23:15 - 6 Tracks
This is kind of some classic sounding death-y metal. Speaking of Lamb of God in the above review… this EP is produced by Willie Adler… The producing part seems good, it’s brutal, dark, almost black metal… but the engineering is a bit muddy. There’s a lot of potential here!
Communic
Payment of Existence
Locomotive
62:52 - 8 Tracks
Their last album was pretty much a clone of Nevermore…. while still similar, they seem to have a bit more of their own sound on this album. They have the euro-metal thrashy sound, however, their songs are a bit more thrashy, darker and longer than the typical Sonata Arctica, and bands like that. Overall though, if you like Nevermore… you’ll like Communic… and without a new Nevermore album for a while, the timing of this release is just right!
Serenity
Fallen Sanctuary
50:04 - 10 Tracks
“Symphonic Melodic Metal” Napalm records nailed their genre description again, now if only they’d send out promo cds that don’t have voiceovers on everything past track 3… oh wait, this one is past track 4… but how can one play this on the radio if they have voiceovers!? Anyways… this is the normal proggy melodic metal with the “symphony hits” here and there… there’s even an occasional growl! It’s not too shabby for this genre.
Falconer
Among Beggars and Thieves
Metal Blade
11 Tracks (download)
Similar to the Serenity, but not quite so symphonic, and a bit more catchy and concise…. but it is more folky. Yes, Folky! It gets into the folk metal a bit, but walks the fine line of staying metal… prog metal yes, but the heavier side of the prog metal-ness. Some of the musical interludes really make me hungry for a turkey leg and some sasparilla! You’ll hear some of this on the Mosh Pit
Metallica
“The Day That Never Came”
Warner Bros.
7:55 - 1 Track (download)
Well, it’s the new Metallica song everyone’s been waiting for… “is it gonna suck? is it gonna be like St. Anger?” Well, it doesn’t suck and it’s way way better than St. Anger. Is it awesome? I don’t think so. First off, the label released a track that is completely distorted… sounding like they had it cranked up like super loud and recorded it clipped and blech. Overall, the song sounds like they are trying to re-make “One” Starts off all melodic and builds and builds, and ends with about 2-3 minutes of some pretty decent thrashin’ instrumental stuff. Why waste all that in one song though? They seem like they are trying too hard to be their old selves (big long metal songs) They seem to be making it long for the sake of being long, just like they did on St. Anger. Lars needs drum lessons too…. these guys were pioneers and Lars is still doin the same crap… at he ditched the soup cans…. I put this somewhere in the Load category… decent!!
