Mommy, mommy, when I grow up I wanna be Testament! I’m quite positive that Susperia soiled their collective pants when Chuck Billy agreed to sing lead vocals on the opener of the album, Live My Dreams. Even if they seem to be a better Testament than the current Testament, that’s not much of a compliment nowadays.
This is far from a bad album. However, it’s even further from being a good album. The problem is that it brings absolutely nothing new, and the old stuff is pale and forgettable.
Not being able to choose whether to play melodic (Toxic Touch) or blackened (Ravenous) death metal, God Dethroned decided to play both on this album. The result is that this album is in some musical vacuum, constantly searching for its sustained sound.
Thematically, this is yet another concept album about World War I, and all the evils of war in general. It’s not the most original of concepts, but, hey, there are worst subjects to sing about. Anyway, the lyrics are quite touching and have a deep human dimension, as the focal point is one of the most brutal and dehumanizing events in human history.
Musically, the songs vary widely, between small masterpieces like the titular Passiondale and No Survivors, to boring and dull fillers Drowning in Mud. Honestly, I’m a little disappointed by this album. It’s a mere good album, and I was expecting a great one. I saw God Dethroned live on the promo tour for this album, and somehow it feels that they failed to capture their live energy in studio.
Usually when you think about France, you think of artsy movies and baguettes, not of brutality nor of technical excellence. Apparently, nobody notified Gorod of this, because they are both from Bordeaux and asskickingly brutal. Gorod’s music is some kind of blend of brutal and technical death metal, and when it’s done bad, as in Splinters of Life is good, even if a bit unusual, and when it’s done good, as in Diverted Logic is just phenomenal. The musicianship of Gorod is unmistakable, however the sheer technicality does not hinder the music, as we have seen over and over again, but serves as a vehicle to make the songs dynamic and powerful.
Overall, this album feels like a complete piece, a thing that should be listened to as loud as possible, with no distractions. So far, this is Obscura’s only competition for the death album of the year in my book.
It’s like this: AleStorm’s guitar sound is obnoxious, and the singer could not sing his way out of a paper bag. The title of the album makes absolutely no sense. And they are tons of fun.
The songs are cheesier than a fan made Firefly/X-Men crossover script, and yet, somehow this True Scottish Pirate Metal manages to hit the funny bone. No pirate cliché is left unturned, from peg legs and shoulder parrots to (bad) choral singing of "a bottle of rum and yo-ho-ho".
High points of the album are the fast, frivolous, jolly songs like Leviathan and Keelhauled, and the closer Wolves of the Sea, which is actually a cover of a Eurovision song contest entry. However on the slow songs like To the end of our days, AleStorm try to bring a more elaborate and complex sound and structure into the album, and fail miserably.
Bottom line, looking forward to more cheesy fun from this guys, and I hope they don’t get too big of a head, to think they can actually make serious music. I would recommend this album to everyone with a love for metal and a sense of humour.
BTW, I listened to the promo version of the album, and the promo messages are the most inventive and fun I’ve ever heard.
Standing out from the sea of mediocrity is Obscura’s second album. Quite contrary to their name, these guys are starting to be a force to be reckoned with in the extreme metal world. The bass is usually the most overlooked instrument in metal, well, not here. Here, the bass reigns supreme, as most of the songs are bass driven, which is a very welcomed change from the standard riffing.
A must for everyone who has Death, Cynic or Control Denied as regular guests on their playlist.
As much as I like listening to bands that constantly reinvent themselves, experiment with this or that, sometimes I just need an album that will grab me by the balls (and not in a David Carradine kind of way). Carnage Euphoria is precisely that. Death Metal as it should be. This Swedish quartet have found their sound a long time ago, and they are not letting go. Brutal, uncompromising, and uncompromissed by the blemishes of success, this band is and remains an underground gem. A real treat for any fan of the old school scandinavian death sound (read Entombed, Dismember…)
My only remark is that the solos are a tad too long, otherwise, this is the perfect post-2000 death metal album.
This isn’t what Chuck Schuldiner’s Control Denied was to Death.
This is not Obituary, and this isn’t not Obituary.
The voice is the same, the drums are the same, the melodies are the same. But, on the other hand, the tempo is different, a little more downbeat, a lot more gloomy, and, dare I say, rockabilly groovy.
It is obvious that the brothers took the songs that would have made lousy Obituary songs, repackaged them and put them out as an alternative to their main project.
So, it you are a fan of Obituary (and who isn’t) this should be a must album for your casual listening days, but if you are one of those poor souls that have no taste for them, feel free to skip this album.
I’ve enjoyed listening to this album, and will listen to it in the years to come.
So, the legend goes that when Devin, gave up alcohol and drugs, he rediscovered his lost creativity (whether this happened atop a mountain, I do not know).
Anyway, now he’s back with a mammoth project of 4 albums containing 60 songs, which should all be released by the end of the year.
Ki is the first of these, and is designed as a introduction for things to come. For an aperitif, the album sound excellent, but it is evident that it not the main dish of the course. For now, until the meat makes an appearance on the table, a provisional 9.
The favourite metal band of all who are too intellectual to lissten to metal, have a new album out, and once again, they justify their reputation as Pink Floyd of the metal world.
Massive, complex, pretentious, they sound as a psychedelic experiment coming from the late ‘70-ties, yet they are fresh, creative and new.
The story of this concept album is something connected with astral projections and tsarist Russia, but besides providing a bizarre background to the music, does not help or hinder the music.
The songs flow one into another, reaching culmination in the three days long The Last Baron.
Bottom line is: One day Mastodon will find a great singer, and then, they’ll be the greatest band in the world.
