Archive for the Album Reviews Category
Glittertind
Landkjenning
Napalm
36:27 – 10 Tracks
This is kind of some “meh” folk metal. More on the folk, easy on the metal. Some parts do get going, but it is more similar to the folksy clean-vocal era Amorphis stuff.
Praying Mantis
Sanctuary
Frontiers
56:55 – 11 Tracks
Fairly run of the mill prog/power metal. Good clean vocals, melodies, catchy guitar work… however, just nothing really new or groundbreaking. Of course, as I read up a little bit, they’ve been around since 1981 and were part of the original NWOBHM… but broke up after a few years, and reformed in the early 90’s and have been semi-active since. This new release just has that 80’s metal vibe and just probably won’t jive with the other stuff we play on the Mosh Pit!
Stream of Passion
The Flame Within
Napalm
41:42 – 13 Tracks
Well, this is yet another “fe-metal” band. Decent metal as most of these bands are, but with melodic clean singy female vocals. Most of the stuff is power ballad-ey, but yet, the occasional cool moment of metal here and there in between the keyboardy orchestra stuff
Ex Deo
Romulus
Nuclear Blast
61:41 – 11 tracks
Side project of Kataklysm frontman Maurizio Iacono. It also features guest spots by Karl Sanders (Nile), Nergal. This is some good classic black/death metal sounding stuff. It’s kind of along the lines of Satyricon… simple, yet still complex , catchy and dark.
Job For A Cowboy
Ruination
Metal Blade
40:32 – 10 Tracks
Good to have a new album from these guys… such a good mix of classic death metal with a new level of the modern brutal-core type thing that’s happening these days. Production is a big heavy wall of sound that is relentless brutality!
Havok
Burn
Candlelight
49:22 – 12 Tracks
Another new wave of American Thrash band… these guys are from Colorado and pay great homage to Testament, Exodus or Death Angel… who would have thought the bay area moved to the rockies? It’s got a great classic thrash sound. These guys tend to go more for their old school sound with a pinch of new school… It’s not quite as heavy and brutal as the new stuff from Testament or Exodus. Great stuff though!!
Obituary
Darkest Day
Candlelight
52:45 – 13 Tracks
Ooooh yeah… I still can’t believe how much I used to dislike Obituary… now… they’re back again with their trademark, signature sound and I can’t seem to get enough of it… this time around, a few more solos, production is good, yet with a little bit of raw edge. Just a cool catchy groove of Death Metal… poor Allen West is missin’ out!
Paul Gilbert & Freddie Nelson
United States
Mascot
37:52 – 10 Tracks
You may know Paul Gilbert from Mr. Big and Racer X… and a bunch of instrumental stuff with a bunch of different people. Freddie Nelson, is just a decent singer with a good classic Hard Rock/AOR, almost Freddy Mercury-esque voice. Actually track 3 on this CD sounds like it could be a Queens song. Others are pretty good hard rock/metal-ish.
Delain
April Rain
Sensory
50:19 – 12 Tracks
Another fe-metal band… starts off with a big time metal-ish intro, then kicks into the usual clean female “femetal” vocals. The most similar to this is more like Lacuna Coil…where there is mostly a heavier/hard rock music backing, instead of a lot of symphonic stuff. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of keyboards, but there is mostly some good metal distorty guitars. The production has that big almost over produced in-your-face sound… which I think works pretty good with this genre.
Death By Stereo
Death Is My Only Friend
Serjical Strike
50:38 – 15 Tracks
Kind of a metal/punk-core thing going on… they’ve been around for a while. Some quick catchy songs, with singalong choruses here and there… one could call it emo core? Naw… just plain old metalcore to me…. but there’s just something about it that gets me… the sound is nice and punchy and gets all pissed off in parts too…
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Here’s my take on the new releases for this week…
Astra
The Weirding
Metal Blade
78:41 – 8 Tracks
This is kinda psychedelic rock, spacey stuff. A little bit like Porcupine Tree, some lighter King’s X and the like. It’s really just melodic rock… not really even hard rock… but it does add something unique to the Metal Blade lineup… just not for metal shows in my opinion.
Ern Non Dae
Hydra Lernaia
Metal Blade
55:05 – 9 Tracks
This one is kind of on the darker gloomy doomy thrash side of things. To me I feel Tool meets Meshuggah. It has “extreme” moments, but is for the most part, pretty sludgey.
Firebird
Grand Union
Metal Blade
34:19 – 12 Tracks
An interesting week from Metal Blade… prog rock, slugey metal and stoner metal… Firebird of course being the latter. Good classic and catchy sounding stoner rock/metal. And I mentioned King’s X above… this is more like the cool jammy King’s X but, the songs are nice and short and not long boring “jammy”… you know what I mean? Good stuff…
Poison the Well
The Tropic Rot
Ferret
47:20 – 12 Tracks
Huh… Not sure what to say about this… just plain old Metal-Core? It’s not too heavy, not brutal, fairly melodic… for the most part, hard rock/metalcore light. In my opinion, this is ripe for the commercial radio pickin’!
Maylene & The Sons of Disaster
III
Ferret
38:51 – 11 Tracks
This is a lil bit hard rock, some southern friend sounding hard rock and some stoner metal and a little metal core all rolled into one. There is some really cool jammin’ music on here, great guitar solos. Just fun lovin’ hard rock, but catchy and decent to listen to.
Jorn
Spirit Black
Frontiers
46:51 – 10 Tracks
Good ol’ Jorn. Mike and I always like to make fun of his name… and better yet, to name your own band after yourself… even better. He’s a great Singer (Jorn Lande)… albums are pretty much standard classic metal sounding stuff. He’s got one of the most distinctive prog metal voices out there, and the music goes along with it…nothing really standout, nothing bad.
Trail of Tears
Bloodstained Endurance
Napalm
42:48 – 11 Tracks
These guys have been around a little while, but for some reason we never really got our hands on their albums… this is some pretty cool melodic black/symphonic metal. It’s a bit euro-metal sounding, some female vox, but mixed in with cool death/black metal vocals. It’s the real deal… lots of cool stuff going on and definitely worthy of Mosh Pit airplay.
Voivod
Infini
Relapse
50:41 – 13 Tracks
Well, this is the long awaited album that Piggy started and pretty much finished most of his parts on… and it sounds pretty good… classic Voivod sounding actually… And you can’t go wrong with that!
Madder Mortem
Eight Ways
Peaceville
64:22 – 12 Tracks
Female Fronted proggy rock stuff. Mostly almost operattic vocals, with mostly just slow rock music, which then will build up to a moment or two of metal, then back to chillin’ rockin’ stuff. Not really Mosh Pit material.
Internal Divine
2 Song Sampler
Echo Entertainment
9:05 – 2 Tracks
First listen… standard textbook metalcore. Vocal style, breakdowns, you got it. Not much more can be said!
Dream Theater
Black Clouds and Silver Linings
Roadrunner
75:25 – 6 Tracks
Well, as a long time DT fan, it’s always exciting to get a new album to see what they’ll do next… This time around, they opted for 6 epic tracks. Musicianship is top notch once again, not so many totally wanky solos, everything seems to fit just right. Some parts of some songs are just hokey and don’t seem to belong.. namely the “rap/growl”in “A Nightmare to Remember” other parts could probably use some trimming up, but eh… it’s still all good… I’m just nitpicking. I like this album a lot, it has a little feeling of Metropolis 2 and Awake, but with the newer modern influence from their last two albums. Great stuff, and I’m sure I’ll have to make some radio edits to get some of these tracks on the air!
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Goatwhore
Carving Out The Eyes of God
Metal Blade
40:32 – 10 Tracks
New Goatwhore! Say it again… GOATWHORE! This release is a bit more straightforward than I remember from them… Pretty good, thrashy, dark, a bit melodic in parts with some cool guitar solos… yet it still has all of the elements of what you love about Goatwhore… black-ish groovy death metal. And of course… it’s Evil!!
Chris Caffery
House of Insanity
Face the Music
67:54 – 13 Tracks
Amazing how Chris Caffery and Jon Oliva can keep putting out solo albums, but yet, there’s still no new Savatage OR TSO album!? WTF? I guess though, we do get all this extra new good stuff from Chris and Jon apart from their “main” bands. This is more of the usual from Caffery… some good catchy plain ‘ol Metal. He’s not the best singer, but hey, it’s his band, he does just about everything, so I guess I can cut him some slack!
Alestorm
Black Sails at Midnight
Napalm
46:11 – 10 Tracks
Scottish Viking Metal? That’s a pretty specific genre if you ask me… this is what’s on the CD Sleeve. It is a bit folksy, power metal, but also pretty heavy. I’m not sure if this would be for everyone though. Reminds me a little bit of the lower decks of the Titanic! You know in that one scene in the movie where they dance around below decks… anyways, take that but mix it with some pretty cool metal… add a singalong chorus here and there, and it’s new Alestorm! The more you listen however, the more it grows on you with it’s catchiness!
The Trophy
The Gift of Life
Frontiers
43:58 – 11 Tracks
This is a general hard rock type of band. Good sounding songs, it just doesn’t really fit the Mosh Pit. It’s too bad there’s not really an outlet for this kind of stuff, I mean, they are good hard rock songs, but too “underground” for the more mainstream rock stations in town, and really not heavy enough for the metal shows.
Suicide Silence
Wake Up (single)
No Time To Bleed
3:33 – 1 Track
New track… they sure made the touring rounds over the last year, kicking everyone’s ass…. This song is probably one we saw them play, it’s abrasive, heavy, catchy and brutal… looking forward to more stuff!
Sworn Enemy
Total World Domination
Century Media
32:57 – 10 Tracks
Dammmmmmmit! These guys were in town a week or two ago and I missed it… they played the Annex on a Monday…and with the pledge drive, I just couldn’t make it down. Listening to this new CD… wow. It’s heavier than anything they’ve done… just all out brutal and pissed off hardcore metal! Heck it’s not even that much hardcore anymore. Catchy, heavy, just wow…
Coalesce
Ox
Relapse
29:47 – 14 Tracks
You know, I’ve never really been able to pigeon-hole the subgenre of these guys, so, how about I google it and see what I come up with…. their myspace page says punk/hardcore/garage… I can see that… their wikipedia page says they are “mathcore” I can see that too… To me they are kind of an “everything-core” it’s a bit abrasive, it’s heavy, thrashy, yes, math-y… but if you had to pick one, I guess it’d just be Hardcore. It is unique however.
9MM Solution
The Dream Is Dead
Rock Ridge
30:46 – 10 Tracks
Another Wisconsin metal band does good! Luna Mortis, Lazarus AD… and now 9MM Solution… all recent national label signings for Wi. Metal bands! This is a pretty straightforward metal album from these guys. Vocals are just the right amount of abrasive, music is catchy and heavy! It’ll be a pleasure to play this!
1349
Revelations of the Black Flame
Candlelight
44:57 – 9 Tracks
One of the more classic souding black metal bands… These guys have been respected for sometime for pretty much following the path of the original Norwegian black metal. This is pretty raw, evil and brutal. There are some tracks that are just all out noise, or quiet interludey stuff… I’m not a big fan of that, but the actual “songs” are worth the wait… or wait, what’s that? a skip or search button?
Devildriver
Pray For Villains
Roadrunner
56:18 – 13 Tracks
I’ve been a fan of Devildriver since day one… they just have heavy, intense catchy songs… and each album steps it up a notch… Pray for Villains is no change in that pattern! Just all out heavy, catchy and a wall of sound. I would say these guys are way up there in the history of the New Wave of American Metal… you got your Lamb of God, Chimaira… Devildriver… Ever seen or been in a pit at a Devildriver show? yeah… it’s that good… hah
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Mike Albert Project
Afterlife
Big Deal
39:27 – 11 Tracks
A kind of hard rock, standard metal type of thing, some cool catchy almost prog-metal breaks happening. Mike Albert used to tour with Megadeth… well in 1985 according to Wikipedia. Overall, this album sounds good, the production sounds a bit low-budget, and I’ll get they are killer live…
Tyr
By The Light Of The Northern Star
Napalm
43:24 – 9 Tracks
One of the better folk/viking metal bands out there, as they have more metal and less folk! Starting off, the vocals sound a bit like Hanzi from Blind Guardian, and, moving through the CD, the lead singer just has a similar voice. I do feel a little bit like I’m at a rennaissance faire when listening to this…
Darkness Dynamite
The Astonishing Fury Of Mankind
Metal Blade
38:20 – 11 Tracks
Huh, at first listen on this, I thought of Pantera… it just has a little bit of that feeling… til the chorus got a lil melodic… it still has a really heavy vibe..without really being any sort of “core” or death/black/nwoahm genre tag. To me it’s just plain ol good metal. Some parts get a good heavy beat going and remind me a bit of Fear Factory too…
Saint Daemon
Pandeamonium
Frontiers
38:58 – 10 Tracks
This is some pretty decent, catchy prog/power metal. The music stays metal, and mostly guitar based… great over the top classic “metal” vocals. Great dynamics in the voice… the big high notes and the cool sinister low notes.
Emery
…In Shallow Seas We Sail
Tooth & Nail
41:06 – 13 Tracks
Mostly screamo-emo core. melodic parts, screamo parts, emo parts… overall… meh. tight pants, gelmet, tight retro t-shirt… ugh.
Amorphis
Skyforger
Nuclear Blast
47:38 – 10 Tracks
One of the bands that had their classic albums out around the time the Mosh Pit got its start… these guys have gone through a lot of changes over the years, going from some pretty cool melodic death/folk-ish metal to almost mainstream hard rock. This new stuff kind of takes a bit of everything from their career and mashes it together.
Iron Maiden
Flight 666 Soundtrack
Universal
2 CDs, DVDs, etc etc
I watched this documentary on cable over the weekend… it’s so sweet… and I’m so glad I got to see at least a diffrent leg of the tour in Chicago. amazing what they pulled off going around the world with the crew and stuff in “Ed Force One” This Live CD almost sounds TOO good… Kevin Shirley really did a great job.
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Pelican
Ephemeral EP
Southern Lord
20:48 – 3 Tracks
Hard rock stoner metal instrumentals is what Pelican is known for and this EP keeps it up! 3 songs of cool, laid back jammin’. I’m not sure how else I can describe it. It is what it is.
Devin Townsend Project
Ki
InsideOut
66:49 – 13 Tracks
While Devin is known more for Strapping Young Lad and some heavier stuff, this is a fairly low key, laid back, melodic rock album. Any parts that may get heavy… may be more “industrial” just for a few seconds here and there. I’d have to say this is more for a hardcore Townsend fan than fans of the heavier stuff.
Black Math Horseman
Wyllt
TeePee
37:59 – 6 Tracks
Wow, this is kind of a mix of the above two releases… kinda stoner, spacy, not too metal (at all), just laid back ambient-like background music type of stuff.
Drop Dead Gorgeous
The Hot N’ Heavy
Suretone
42:08 – 12 Tracks
Screamo-metal core. This leans a bit more towards the emo-metal core side. Pretty much doneso by the vocals. I guess metalcore and brutalcore have a line between them… metalcore has more singy emo type vocals mixed with some growling and screaming, where brutal core is just more or less some melodic death metal. This is the emo side of things, but compared to the stuff above this week…. it’s pretty metal! ugh.
Molotov Solution
The Harbinger
Metal Blade
41:39 – 11 Tracks
Well, comparing the stuff above… this is so far, the most heavy, brutal new release this week. It does fit under the brutalcore umbrella. It’s got some good driving brutal beats and some good angry abrasive low and scream vocals. A good heavy chugga chugga rhythm section with hints at some good groove metal too makes this stand out this week as one of the better releases.
Tankard
Thirst
AFM
42:58 – 9 Tracks
Longtime thrash metallers (been around since 1982)… Tankard are back… they have a good straightforward thrash sound, which kind of reminds me a bit of a Kreator Light… I only say light because the new kreator was so heavy… this is more like Exodus/Testament in the line of heavy, so just a tad less than say, the new Kreator album. and I only compare to Kreator because they’re German! These are some good catchy, thrashy anthem metal songs here!
Pathosray
Sunless Skies
Frontiers
50:42 – 10 Tracks
Proggy Power metal going on here… and there hasn’t been much in this vein as of late… a few years ago, we were flooded with mediocre prog/power metal and it got to be over done… now in order to really get my ear, this sort of stuff has to have a bit more of an edge, and some catchiness to it… and this Pathosray does that. It kind of reminds me a bit of Andromeda, mixed with some Symphony X. Good quality stuff. There are a few power-ballad type tracks on here, but that’ll happen, right?
Vision Divine
9 Degrees West Of The Moon
Frontiers
54:38 – 10 Tracks
Another power metal release this week… this is good stuff too. It’s got Fabio Lione from Rhapsody singing… but this isn’t all that epic power fantasy metal that Rhapsody of Fire is… it’s a bit more straightforward than that. It’s pretty standard GOOD power metal. Not all totally euro-boop boop keyboard stuff… just good well formed songs… great talent… just nothing too groundbreaking.
Iwrestledabearonce
It’s All Happening
Century Media
33:20 – 10 Tracks
Brutal-experimentalcore. It’s pretty off the wall with the female singing, screaming, growling, cookiemonstering. Music is heavy, and, kind of all over the place… mostly brutal, but there are a bunch of different electronic interlude type things which actually sound kinda cool.
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Goes Cube
Another Day Has Passed
The End
45:03 – 13 Tracks
For the most part, this album is a hard rockin’ almost alternative thing. You can hear like parts of U2, Tool, and some thrashier stuff too…but throw in some hardcore, punk and grunge too. It’s not really like much that’s out there, so it’s got that going for it!
UFO
The Visitor
SPV
42:25 – 10 Tracks
I have never been too familiar with these guys… so I don’t know what I can really say about this album compared to previous work. This actually sounds like some southern fried hard rock… Vinnie Moore plays guitar on this release too. I don’t know if this is full fledged Mosh Pit material. I don’t think we’ve played any older stuff, even during Mike’s Picks… so I’m not sure about this one…
Hull
Sole Lord
The End
44:08 – 10 Tracks
Well…. Not too sure about this one. A lot of plodding along, ambient noisey stuff, grungy dirty noisy stuff too. I mean there’s a few tracks on here where it’s like they’re sitting at their instruments seeing what random noise they could make, or are just jamming. I dunno, but this stuff is not really for me.
Dirtfedd
The American Nightmare
E1
47:19 – 11 Tracks
This is that band that Clown from Slipknot “discovered and produced” We had an EP from them a few months back and now it’s time for the full real deal. Musically, this is pretty much decent New Wave of American Metal, there are a bunch of different vocal styles… even the clean vocals have some pissed off quality to them. As you could imagine, if Clown from Slipknot thinks they’re cool, you’d probably have to appreciate Slipknot to like these guys… they would probably fit in the same sub-genre… whatever that is… Metal/Thrash/American/Catchy-core? hah
Eyes Set To Kill
The World Outside
Breaksilence
38:01 – 12 Tracks
Two vocalists… you know, like Lacuna Coil… but, the male vox are more abrasive and growly… metalcore-ish ya know? And the female vox are clean and nice and melodic. The music pretty much goes from traditional metal to some metalcore… and yeah, even some emo-stuff…. you know when all vox get all clean and singy. ugh.
Absentia Lunae
Historia Nobis Assentietvr
KLM Distribution
46:27 – 7 Tracks
After a long creepy intro track, this kicks into all out black metal! Decent production, though not all polished up like Dimmu Borgir or anything. Just fast, no holds barred, meat and potatoes black metal.
Acid Drinkers
Verses Of Steel
Regain
51:57 – 11 Tracks
Three weeks, three damn good releases from Regain records… This is Poland’s very own thrashy metal outfit. Not quite as sick as say, Vader, these guys aren’t going for that level of Vaderedness. This is some good catchy thrashy metal… and as I read up on them a little bit… they’ve been around since 1986! Crazy. This is good stuff and you’ll hear it on the Mosh Pit!
Dream Theater
“A Rite of Passage” Single
Roadrunner
20:28 – 3 Tracks
It’s always exciting to get something new from Dream Theater (my fav. band BTW)… This new stuff is pretty good actually. While I feel they can do no wrong, their last couple albums got to be some more of the same ol same ol. The production and overall feel of this track throw me back to “Metropolis 2: Scenes from A Memory” The chorus is anthemic, the band as a whole seems to flow together well, not so much of a total “who can out wank each other” While, yes, they do have that big long middle part in the album version where they try and out wank each other… that’s expected!! it’s just not for the whole song. Can’t wait for the rest of the album!
The New Black
The New Black
AFM
43:08 – 14 Tracks
This is some good ol hard rockin’ drinkin’ music… well, in my opinion. Clean vox, good meaty riffs… I guess the first “sounds like” band I could come up with is Godsmack… though not as heavy… got it? I guess. Yeah, Southern-tinged hard rock stuff.
Graves of Valor
Salarian Gate
Relapse
35:34 – 11 Tracks
The last few Relapse releases have been kinda old noisey sounding stuff… this new release is good old heavy death metal. It seems like this band is made up of former members of Through The Eyes of the Dead. It’s a good angry sounding well produced death metal type of album.
Primal Fear
16.6 (Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead)
Frontiers
45:06 – 13 Tracks
Another classic from Primal Fear… they’ve been around a while, and have a good classic metal sound, and it just keeps going with this new one. Again, if you’re a fan of Judas Priest, you should like Primal Fear.
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Neara
Omnicide – Creation Unleashed
Metal Blade
44:02 – 10 Tracks
Yeah, this is kinda brutal core, but deeper into this album it just gets darker and darker, and damn near black metal. It’s heavy, pissed off and yes, thrashy too. it’s like blackenedbrutaldeathcore! They really do a good job of taking so many of these sub-genres and mixing it up.
Stratovarius
Polaris
Armoury
55:01 – 11 Tracks
Well these guys have had somewhat of a troubled recent history, with member problems and whatnot. They’ve been around for a LONG, long time. Basically Timo Tolkki left, and the band continued on without him. It’s been a while since I’ve actually cared about this band, because frankly, it was just a blah wank fest album after the other, and it got old. Having some new life infused as well as a lack of euro-prog/power metal lately, makes me care a bit more about this one. It’s decent. Good solid production, still a lot of keyboards and some wanking, but overall for what it is, it’s good… some good heavy parts too.
Susperia
Attitude
Candlelight
36:51 – 9 Tracks
This one seems to continue with their thrashysound… still good n catchy….Pretty much a good melodic thrash going on. There’s not too much in the way of brutal, but nothing cheesey and crappy either… Just a good solid thrash album!
Blood Tsunami
Grand Feast For Vultures
Candlelight
51:22 – 7 Tracks
Mike brought in their last album as part of his picks back in 2007, and we haven’t heard much from these guys til now. This new one is blackened thrash at its finest, it takes some Slayer, mixes in some Vader or something like that, and keeps it heavy, catchy and brutal all at the same time.
Hermh
Cold Blood Messiah
Regain
38:54 – 9 Tracks
You know, when you get a CD, you just don’t know what to expect til you listen to it… this one is one of those pleasant surprises… it’s just all out full on, well produced black metal. Well, kind of the thrashened black metal… meaning, yeah, it’s more black metal than thrashy… but has just such catchy fast stuff… with plenty of BLACK METAL!!
Steelheart
Good 2B Alive
Steelheart
52:10 – 10 Tracks
Yes, this is THE Steelheart, the “I’ll Never Let You Go” Steelheart. But, this is a pretty good classic hard rocking album. The guy still has the pipes too. Catchy songs, but yeah, mostly hard rock stuff… we may be able to squeeze it on the air!
Eluveitie
Evocation I – The Arcane Dominion
Nuclear Blast
50:24 – 15 Tracks
This is a new album from this Swiss folk metal outfit. Taking folk metal and mixing in some proggy black metal… it sure makes for a unique sound. There aren’t too many tracks that feature a lot of the proggy black metal stuff though. There just seems to be a lot of folksie background music you’d hear at a rennaissance faire.
Minsk
With Echoes In The Movement of Stone
Relapse
63:03 – 8 Tracks
Think… Mastodon with some noisecore… It’s a bit of stoner metal meets like, Neurosis or something like that… however, most of the album just turns into some more-so experimental background noise… there are moments of brilliance and some really cool riffs, but overall, it’s not really for me… however, we’ll try to work it in!
Bloodsoaked
Sadistic Deeds…Grotesque Memories
Comatose
30:59 – 10 Tracks
Classic brutal death metal! I don’t really know what else to say… it’s good solid brutal stuff. Great cookie monster vocals, good chugga chugga music…
Fairyland
Score To A New Beginning
Napalm
50:13 – 10 Tracks
I don’t know how anyone can just get past the name of this band… but it is what it is… it is that epic fantasy hollywood metal. Big epic flowing symponic music backing a good solid prog/power metal band…but it actually doesn’t suck… It’s just the name of the band! Great vox, the metal stuff is great, the symphonic stuff fills everything in very nicely. You’d thing this would ooze cheese, which it does slightly, but it’s not like the niagra falls of velveeta.
Doro
Fear No Evil
AFM
47:59 – 11 Tracks
Classic hard rock stuff from Doro… She’s got the vox going on, the music is decent… just plain ol good hard rock… some catchy stuff, and some like, almost heavier stuff too.
Old Man’s Child
Slaves of the World
Century Media
42:08 – 9 Tracks
Ohhh yeah… Been waiting for this one for a while. Galder had some time off from Dimmu, and spent it wisely making this new one. Catchy, heavy and evil sounding, just as one would expect from Galder!
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Gallows
Grey Britain
Reprise
52:09 – 13 Tracks
Kind of a punky hard rock thing going on. Songs are pretty catchy, vocals are pretty much punk, but the music edges on metal, or hard rock… not too bad, but there’s some stiff competition this week!
Children
Hard Times Hangin’ At The End of the World
Kemado
41:10 – 6 Tracks
Some pretty catchy stoner metal/hard rock. The music is catchy, vocals a little abrasive, but not black or death metal, just pretty much shouted, the guitar work is very hooky and riffy… cool fun stuff to listen to!
The Syncope Threshold
Tale of the Complex Circuit
Razorheart
44:41 – 11 Tracks
Boy, on first listen, I want to say it’s almost like Dragonforce without the cheese, some of the music is pretty fast and then keyboards kicked in… but the vocals do go back and forth between “emo” and growls… I suppose the closest thing is Protest The Hero… where it’s melodic, deathy, yet, a bit metalcore-emo too. Something about this is kinda grabbing me… probably cuz I really liked the Protest the Hero?
Success Will Write Apocalypse Across the Sky
The Grand Partition and the Abrogation of Idolatry
Nuclear Blast
32:28 – 13 Tracks
This is good quality grind/death metal from Florida! Fast blast beats, brutal vocals, sick guitar work and solos… big full wall of sound production… and short songs!
Candlemass
Death Magic Doom
Nuclear Blast
47:26 – 8 Tracks
Candlemass is back again with their brand of catchy doom metal. Clean vocals, good doomy, mostly Sabbath-y riffs and music. Good follow-up to their last EP and overall an instant classic metal album!
The Chariot
Wars And Rumors of Wars
SolidState
30:24 – 10 Tracks
It’s kind of metalcore, but I see someone on their Wikipedia page classifies them as “noisecore” which yeah, hits the nail on the head. It’s metal core, but very noisy and a bit all over the place… so yeah, noisy-corey and bam, you have noisecore. It’s in your face, and ready for action! hah…
Lay Down Rotten
Gospel of the Wretched
Metal Blade
44:40 – 9 Tracks
Pretty decent Americanized (NWOAM?) blackened death metal… It’s pretty much blackened death metal… almost a little bit of viking thrown in, then some parts kind of go towards a breakdown or guitar solo, making it, you know, different than most stuff. It’s like taking death metal and mixing in a little bit of Chimaira or something. Good stuff
Arise
The Reckoning
Regain
41:25 – 10 Tracks
Melodic death metal, kind of like that good old school At The Gates, In Flames, Soilwork, Hypocrisy, etc. Catchy heavy riffs, melodic guitar work, good heavy drumming… you get the idea.
Korotory
Age of Rebellion
Last Resort
29:34 – 7 Tracks
Right off the bat, this reminds me of some Exhorder, just from the loud, heavy production… it’s a bit raw, but you can get what’s going on here… They’ve been around since 1995, and been carrying the metal torch through thick and thin. It’s pretty much straightforward metal, driving guitar riffs, good meaty drums/bass to fill it in, and vocals that are just the right amount of angry and “metal”
Ripper Owens
Play My Game
SPV
52:59 – 12 Tracks
It’s like, nothing can keep this guy down… He’s got Beyond Fear, Yngwie’s band and his own solo stuff, not to mention the past… Judas Priest and Iced Earth. You can’t deny this guy’s got a voice… and he’s got lots of friends to help him out on this album. Pretty much a straightforward classic metal album, with guists like Rudy Sarzo, Simon Writght, Jeff Loomis, Billy Sheehan, Chris Caffery…
Halford
Silent Screams EP
Metal God
29:45 – 4 Tracks
Well, this is four different versions of “Silent Screams” I’m not sure why this is a big event to have to like, send a CD out to radio… I think maybe something like “Resurrection” is remastered and stuff. Great song… a classic.
Sons of Seasons
Gods of Vermon
Napalm
12 Tracks
Symphonic Metal… a bit darker than a typical euro-metal band…there’s some good actual metal moments here, and not all the typical cheese. The vocals have a nice abrasive edge in parts, and do alternate with the typical clean operattic female vox, but mixed with some good dark evil stuff too. This is pretty much Blaze Bayley’s old solo band…
Warbringer
Walking Into Nightmares
Century Media
40:29 – 10 Tracks
I’ve seen these guys live a couple times in the last month and they’ve really stepped it up from a year ago… they played some of this new album live as well, I knew it was going to be great… it’s just heavy thrash at its best. The live shows have so much energy, and so does this album. Heavy, catchy, everything you want to have in metal that’s great. Riffs, drumming, vocals, all of it work so well together, it makes you want to just start a circle pit wherever you are!
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Heaven & Hell
The Devil You Know
Rhino
54:03 – 10 Tracks
Well, Dio, Sabbath, Appice? What do you call them…? Awesome! This is the record you hoped they’d make. Dark, gloomy, just like classic sabbath, but with modern sound, Dio’s vocals and the driving heavy meaty riffs of Iommi and Geezer… of course solid drumming by Vinny. All around a great new classic!
Autumn Hour
Dethroned
Rock Ridge
44:08 – 11 Tracks
This is some pretty decent hard rock stuff, some cool guitar work. Some songs get a little heavy, but for the most part, kinda stick in that “solid rock” level of brutal-heaviness… HAHA… but, the songs are pretty catchy, and there’s even a cover of the Eurythmic’s “Here Comes the Rain Again” crazy!
Isis
Wavering Radiant
Ipecac
54:07 – 7 Tracks
Another Isis record… I’ve never been a big fan, as most of their stuff in the past has just been experimental noise to me. However, Mike liked their last album, and I still give him crap for it, but he’s been excited for this new one… mostly because he’s been hearing that they have supposedly gone in a more concise direction with more actual “songs” Well, it’s true… the songs are still long, but tend to be more like songs now… almost like the more mellow Opeth type of stuff. We’ll have to actually play something on the air this time around!
CKY
Carver City
Roadrunner
42:09 – 11 Tracks
New album… catchy, poppy metal/hard rocky stuff. Of course they’re not trying to do anything else… Not too bad, but not really Mosh Pit material!
The Devil Wears Prada
With Roots Above and Brances Below
Ferret
40:22 – 11 Tracks
Some decent screamo metal core… I can just see the arms flailing, looking like swimming lessons… especially during the big meaty breakdowns… of course there are many catchy parts, and it’s good n heavy… Even some cool keyboardy stuff filling in the background
Starring Janet Leigh
Spectrum
Metal Blade
47:31 – 9 Tracks
Another brutal-core release… some good stuff, kind of all over the place, experimental, kinda jazzy metal in some parts, then off into brutal death metal stuff…
Place Vendome
Streets of Fire
Frontiers
44:18 – 10 Tracks
Well, it’s kind of a 90’s throwback to heavy hair metal sounding stuff… some catchy stuff… but otherwise, a little too old school…
Jungle Rot
What Horrors Await
Napalm
41:05 – 14 Tracks
Some great brutal groove death metal… you know these guys have been around a long time, this new album is I guess comparable to some older Six Feet Under… a heavy groove, yet still brutal, heavy and catchy. Production is good, and clean and not over the top, very listenable… and still a bit raw and real sounding. Can’t wait to play it!
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Karl Sanders
Saurian Exorcisms
The End
47:22 – 10 Tracks
This is the main man and founder of Nile’s solo project. Mostly this is just some Egyptian background music type of stuff. I can’t really say there’s anything metal about this besides the fact Karl is from Nile.
Leprous
Tall Poppy Syndrome
Sensory
63:04 – 8 Tracks
A bit experimental, a bit prog rock (Porcupine Tree, Pain of Salvation) but also a bit metal… mostly clean singy vocals, piano and keyboards, but some good metal guitars… most of it is more hard rocky and not as metal, but then some parts just go full on metal. It’s different, and kind of fresh… You might have to hear some of this on the Mosh Pit!
Hatebreed
For The Lions
E1
48:)0 – 18 Tracks
Back in the day, I used to covers done by metal bands, they were few and far between…. in the last few years, they seem to be all over the place… Hatebreed has their own sound and has applied it to 18 metal songs… and it works well. Chances are, if you like Hatebreed, you’ll like all of the bands that they cover, since they incorporate some of all of these bands into their own sound. Slayer, DRI, Misfits, Metallica, Cro-Mags to name a few. A good wide vareity of covers, done well, and with a good helping of Hatebreed’s own sound…. bravo!
Nadja
When I See The Sun Always Shines On TV
The End
57:57 – 8 Tracks
This is ambient, experimental stuff, kinda like Neurosis… almost like Type O Negative run through a noisy noise distortion generator… just a lot of grungy grimy noise…yeah i keep saying noise… This is also a covers album, but listening to the tracks, you wouldn’t know it. Yeah, “Dead Skin Mask” is on here, but hell if I could even tell if I wasn’t reading the track listing! Sorry!
Orange Sky
Dat Iz Voodoo
Star City
51:08 – 12 Tracks
This is pretty interesting… it’s kind of reggae-hard rock… Some would say reggae-metal, but I don’t think it’s that heavy…. like not quite as intense as Skindred…but there’s definitely a cool vibe… makes me want to have a Red Stripe, chill and relax. Some cool guitar work, gets a bit metal here and there, but overall… hard rock with reggae influence.
Birds of Prey
The Hell Preacher
Relapse
40:54 – 12 Tracks
Some pretty decent metal here. Some grindy-thrashy metal with some well barked out vocals. A bit melodic in parts, a bit-stoner-ey in parts too. Songs are pretty catchy and worthy of air play!
God Dethroned
Passiondale
Metal Blade
38:01 – 10 Tracks
Some great blackened death metal as they always do! Some good fast catchy thrashy death metal… I guess it’s more than just blackened… thrashened? This is the sort of thing I’ve been waiting for for a couple weeks, something with intensity and technical chops… You’ll hear this a lot!
Earth Crisis
To The Death
Century Media
32:08 – 11 Tracks
The pioneers of metal/hardcore are back… they’ve been together for a few years now, but finally have put out an album. It’s heavy, chugga, hardcore, and just as good as I remember… actually better… I think they’re a lil similar to Hatebeed in their level of “heavy” and stuff.
As I Lay Dying
“I Never Wanted” (Single)
Metal Blade
4:03 – 1 Track
Huh…. this is kind of hard-rockey, a lot of clean vocals… I guess this could be called a metalcore power ballad? I have to say I’m not too impressed…
IWrestledABearOnce
“You Ain’t No Family” (Single)
Century Media
3:46 – 1 Track
This is some over the top brutal/metal core, but then stops it up for some goofy cartoony sequence, and goes back into sick gurgly death metalcore with some chugga guitars going back n forth with meedly guitars… fast, heavy intense…. a little bit like Protest the Hero… this is just one track… looking to hear more!
Fejd
Storm
Napalm
48:19 – 12 Tracks
Folk metal… in all senses of the genre. Yeah… doesn’t get too heavy, but it’s interesting
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