Album Reviews

[binnie]

Kiss – Monster (2012)

‘I rode the highway to heartache/ I took a trip on the ship of fools’. Right from the off, you know what you’re getting with Kiss: slab upon slab of cheese and cliches served up with so much abandon they actually become empowering. Roll out the pyro, turn up the volume, and be prepared to vomit up the over-indulgence of glitz and glamour, Kiss are back in town with a new record. Why bother in 2012, you ask? Its sales won’t add much to the Ki$$ coffer$, and when the inevitable tour rolls round everyone will only want to hear the ‘70s hits anyway – isn’t ‘Monster’ redundant before its even out of the CD case? Not so – because its remarkably good and more fun than you’ll have with pretty much any record released this year. ‘Hell or Hallelujah’ – the song from which those lines are taken from – is a cracker of a rock ‘n’ roll song, so good in fact that you’ll actually look forward to these make-up drenched pensioners playing it on tour: big chorus, anthemic lyrics, and rock with plenty of roll.

And the fun keeps on coming like a porn star working overtime. ‘Shout Mercy’ is the pure rock ‘n’ roll bubblegum, the Beatles on amphetemines; ‘Back To The Stone Age’ is possessed of the power which only comes from rock music stripped down to its essentials; and ‘Wall of Sound’ – complete with bitchin’ riff – is a sleazy, oozing anthem. This is very much a Stanley record – he pens most of the tunes, sings his balls off, and produces – and the result is that the whole thing sounds HUUUUUGE. Hollywood huge. Indeed, the parallel is more than superficial – both tap straight into the American Dream in being a fiction that we’d all love to live. Take ‘Freak’, for example. On the surface it’s a terrible song: a man in his golden years talking about he’s rejected by society. But dabble on a little Kerry Bruckheimer magic and hey presto, we have a tale of overcoming, a schmaltzy ode to kickin’ ass and takin’ names. And Kiss make you believe it, just for a second. Yes, ‘Monster’ is ridiculous – what band featuring 4 old men in make up singing about sex wouldn’t be – but the fact is that Kiss has always been ridiculous – even in the ‘70s the artifice was as much a part of the art as the music, and, paradoxically, that means that they’ve aged better than all of their peers.

It’s not all great, of course. ‘Long Way Down’ is flatter than a wet fart, the Thayer penned ‘Outta This World’ is laughable enough to make Spinal Tap blush, and Simmons’s ‘Eat Your Heart Out’ is the bravaura of a 60 year old sex pest. But for much of the time here, what you have is a glorious rock record. Kiss never overcomplicate the music, and understand that power comes from feel more than it does finesse. Everything here is amped up to 10 and drenched in sugar and the result is so overpowering that it will blind your eyes to the cracks.

[Zing!]

Great review - thanks! Sonic Boom didn't do much for me, but 'Back To The Stone Age' kicks ass (the only track I've heard so far). Might pick this one up.

[binnie]

You should pick it up. Like any Kiss record, it's a lot of fun if you treat it for what it is.

I reviewed 'Sonic Boom' in this thread (first couple of pages, if I recall). Patchy, certainly, but there was some good stuff on it. What makes 'Monster' better is not just the tunes, but the ummph in the production. As I said, HUUUUUGE!

[Von Halen]

The new Kiss disc is very good.

[binnie]

Attika 7 – Blood of My Enemies (2012)

That this band’s drummer is called ‘Death Rock’ should indicate from the get-go that we are not dealing with affiliates of Mensa here. Nor – judging by the back of a beer-mat approach to songwriting and ‘more power’ approach to arrangements – are we dealing with musicians who think that subtlety is a virtue. This is metal at its most boisterous, boarish, sledgehammer-to-the-face powerful and you’ll know within 30 seconds if it’s for you or not. Featuring Evan Seinfeld (ex-Biohazard) on vocals and guitar, it was always going to be ultra-intense, ultra-aggressive and as cerebral as a porn star (which he is) gets. But Seinfeld – alongside Prong and Soulfly bassplayer Tony Campos – injects this project with some serious power. That the tunes are simple only adds to their impact – written at a low point in (guitarist) Rusty Coones’s life, the period of his incarceration before he turned things around to become a ‘famed’ motorcylce builder, the meat and potatoes approach to music making fits well with the relentless procession of ‘fuck you’ overcoming lyrics. None of this has anything to say about the human spirit (despite the pretentions of the band members), but at points it will rile you up enough to want to clip someone in the teeth – and if music affects you, it’s doing its job.

At the risk of sounding harsh, there is certainly plenty here that is both derivative and insipid. ‘Hellbound’, ‘Devil’s Daughter’ (yes, they did go there) and ‘Serial Killer’ (I’m not joking) all sound like Godsmack and mid-career Korn, which is to music what dry-wall is to art. But elsewhere there is some serious groove, evil grins and malicious intent. ‘Crackerman’ sounds like latter-day Life Of Agony, grunge without the shoe-gazing and smoldering with a rumble of bottom-end; ‘All Or Nothing’ is a sinister little anthem; and ‘Lockdown’, ‘No Redemption’ and the title track are all intense bursts of bouncy violence that will come in handy if you ever want to break something. If you’re prepared to take off your thinking cap for an hour Attika 7 will serve you well – ‘Blood Of My Enemies’ sounds what it is: four guys in a room blasting out simple tunes with conviction and without artifice. Memorable? Not particularly. But it is better than the cynics would have you believe.

[binnie]

Bury Tomorrow – The Union of Crowns (2012)

Metalcore has become a dirty word, a synonym for uninspired, generic and bottom-feeding by-the-numbers heaviness. It seems like a long, long time since Killswitch Engage revitalised heavy music from its post Nu Metal doldrums with a burst of precise, intense and melodic heaviness which seemed to signal the way in which metal could evolve in the 21st century without losing all sense of pop sensibilities – since KSE, of course, a thousand copyists have over populated the scene to the point where bands’ sound cliched simply by existing. But just when you thought you’d heard the death rattle, just when you thought it was over, a band like Bury Tomorrow comes along.

This is metalcore Jim, but not as we know it. Although all of the key ingredients – soft/heavy dynamics, clean/screamed vocals, breakdowns – are here, they are not telegraphed in a manner we’ve come to expect and, crucially, they are interspliced with gothic melodies and dainty guitar melodies which completely change to tone of the music, separating Bury Tomorrow from the rest of the pack. Put simply, it’s the songs, stupid. This is modern metal you can sing. ‘Redeemer’ contains some huge hooks and guitars which switch from riffy thunder to delicate melodies, ‘Kingdon’ is as dynamic as it is huge, an invigorating burst of metallic joy which demands to be listened too, whilst ‘The Maiden’ takes us into Stone Sour territory and throws in a curve ball of a beautiful mid-section. The band can do straight up violence, too: ‘Lionheart’ and ‘Royal Blood’ (what a riff!) show the bruising side of the band, whilst ‘Message to the King’ sounds like a deathcore band which is prepared to show its feminine side. With groups like this on the scene, 2012 must be a great time to be a teenager into metal.

If there is a problem, it’s that there are too many songs here (14 in total). You can have too much of a good thing, and perhaps excluding the likes of second tier tunes like ‘Knight Life’ and ‘Bitemarks’ do not sizzle quite as much as the rest of the material here. In the face of a record as strong as this, however, it would be churlish to end on a criticism. In Daniel Winter-Bates Bury Tomorrow have a world class singer who can take them into the big leagues. ‘The Union of Crowns’ is packed full of exuberant, poised and affecting heavy music with an eye firmly placed on hooks and melody.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Billy Talent – II (2006)

Pop-punk is the most difficult of genre’s to care about. A half-way house between genuine anti-establishment blitzkrieg and throwaway sensibilities, it often teases rather than pleases for those who love things loud and mean – a quick fix of saccharine pleasure which fails to provide lasting sustenance. Billy Talent are an exception to the rule. Serving up angsty 3 minute bursts of hook-heavy punk-rock which avoid the annoying goofiness of Blink 182 or the cloying mopeyness of generic emo 101, this is a band you can mosh too whilst smiling and not feel guilty about it later.

Softer and melodic than their debut (and also including more love songs), ‘II’ is a more confident, bolder affair with a wide range of musical references blending into Ian D’Sa’s guitar – maybe its because they been around forever (playing as Pez since 1993 and then becoming Billy Talent in 2001), but the furious melodies often conjure up such disparate sounds as Trapt, Papa Roach, The Specials and Bad Brains. And they don’t take any of it too seriously, which is refreshing. ‘Surrender’ is a silly little love song, whilst ‘Perfect World’ is just plain gnarly. The impossibly infectious anthem ‘Fallen Leaves’ is the perfect blast of suburban malaise, whilst the ‘political’ rage of ‘Worker Bees’ is a smiling sort of protest so humable that you quickly forget how trite it all is. Combining Green Day’s relentless energy with a dabble of Bad Religion’s bite, even if a particular tune doesn’t catch up it’s not around long enough to become irritating.

‘II’ – like most Billy Talent records – is the sort of record you borrow from your 13 year old kid and blast because it reminds you of being young. That’s no easy thing to do. With chorus’s as huge as these, it’s very hard to resist Billy Talent, and even easier to glance over the weak spots in their songs.

[ashstralia]

From a guitarist's pov.. Ian D'Sa is one helluva good player; he comes up with brilliant stuff imho.

Ya got the new Parkway yet, bin?

[binnie]

It's on the Christmas list, mate

I've been a bit slow with reviews of late (working too late) but there are 5 or 6 to come in the next fortnight or so (including what is easily the album of the year in a very, very good year......)

[Dave's Bitch]

What did you think of the new Aerosmith album binnie?

[binnie]

I'm letting that one sink in. It's nowhere near their heyday, of course, but taken in light of what they've realeased since the mid-90s it's not terrible.

(Too many songs though....)

[Dave's Bitch]

Aside from there being one to many ballads I think it is pretty good.If you skip past the ballads when you next play it you see for what it is it's a pretty good album.Lover Alot is my favorite song.Freedom fighter,LUV XXX,Street Jesus and Legendary Child are all catchy as hell.For a purpose written rock ballad I think We All Fall Down is very good too.

[binnie]

True, but you won't be listening to it in 6 months will you?

(It's also not as good as the new Kiss record......)

[Dave's Bitch]

Probably not no,Perhaps a hand full of song but not the entire album.I agree Monster is way better

[katina]

I agree, and as you said Binnie about Monster" Everything is amped up to 10 and drenched in sugar and the result is so overpowering that it will blind your eyes to the cracks."

[binnie]

Sacred Mother Tongue – The Ruin of Man (2011)

It’s hard to find anything to dislike about Britain’s Sacred Mother Tongue: they play traditional heavy metal with up-to-date references; they understand that engaging in maniacal brutal fests for the sake of it is pointless, and that melody is important to making metal compelling; and in Andy James they have a genuine ‘fookin’ ‘ell’ guitar player (and one who does play all he can all the time). Oh, and they have songs. Pretty damn good songs. ‘Anger On Reflection’ (which sounds a bit like Shadows Fall) is full of rhythmic nuances which make its brutality compelling; ‘The Man You Tried To Hide’ is an amalgam of Priest, Maiden and Megadeth which never falls into pastiche. It’s the variety that gets you – ‘Numb’ is all out kill mode, whilst ‘The Suffering’ is groove-fest. Sure, there are some awkward moments, but what debut record doesn’t have those? In James they have a player who can do eye surgeon or sheet welder – and in singer Darren South they have a metal singer who is comfortable – and capable – of exploring the melodic side of the genre.

(If you like metal, you’ll like this).

[binnie]

While She Sleeps – This Is The Six (2012)

2012 has been a bumper year for heavy music. But even amongst the cream post-hardcore noise monger While She Sleeps stand out. ‘This Is The Six’ is – put simply – a devastatingly good record. Plenty of modern heavy bands do aggro – but few of them feel like they mean, and fewer still come close to this. What separates WSS is the capacity to couple rage to song-dynamics, to make the relentless bile of it all compelling. Take ‘Our Courage, Our Cancer’ for example:

‘From hospitals to honesty and everything you need of me, I’ll be there’.

Don’t tell me extreme metal isn’t emotional. Or human. I’ve not heard a better set of lyrics in years and I’m not afraid to admit that that song reduced me to a blubbering wreck of a metal head. From the minute ‘Dead Behind The Eyes’ kicks in, what we’re served up with is a frankly furious brew of post-hardcore swagger, bounce and groove. The title-track is so incendiary you can actually SEE the bodies smashing into one another with demonic glee in the pit – but in stark contrast, ‘Seven Hills’ is quiet, hushed melodies brushed over melancholy. There is a lot of music to take in here, but it’s all welded together by the strength of the hooks. ‘False Freedom’, for instance, opens with cascading melodies and delicate guitars before twisting into a furious blast of hardcore and then morphing into something more ornate and poised with grandeur (via a piano interlude on the way). Out of breath? You will be.

You don’t have to LIKE this music – it may be too much for you, and that’s fine – but I’ll be damned if you don’t respect it.

[binnie]

Finally finished my review for the album of the year. I will post it tomorrow.............

[binnie]

You never reviewed ADKOT?

Nah.

What am I gonna tell you guys that you don't already know?

Plus, I imagine I'd get flamed for being critical and life's a bit short for that. I didn't think that Dave was consistent on the record, for instance.......

I enjoy ADKOT, I'm ecstatic that it exists, and it's comforting to hear that they didn't embarass themselves (like so many bands of their age).

[vandeleur]

Man that last sentence so sounds like there was a but coming along right at the end

[binnie]

Man that last sentence so sounds like there was a but coming along right at the end

The 'but' would be that it just doesn't excite me as much as I thought. I think that down to the over production and frankly dismal mix, which robs the record of pop (there's not a lot of roll to go with the rock, y'know) because it's so muddy/condenscened. There needed to be space between Ed, Wolf and Alex (like the old days....)

[I thought a lot about reviewing ADKOT, but I guess what really stops me from doing it is an acute awareness of the fact there as so many more guys here who are more qualified to do it......]

[vandeleur]

I agree with fourth and i enjoy your reviews but I can see how you dodged a bullet not doing it .

To some people on here it would be like judging one of their children even if it is the seven child and it was unplanned and a bit late on in life

[binnie]

Finally finished my review for the album of the year. I will post it tomorrow.............

And here it is.

_________________________________________________

Gojira – L’Enfant Sauvage (2012)

France’s Gojira have been devastating the metal world for 5 years or so, announcing themselves as one of metal’s most innovative, intelligent and downright crushingly powerful bands with ‘From Mars To Sirius’ (which was stunning) and ‘The Way of All Flesh’ (which could break necks at 100 paces). With ‘L’Enfant Sauvage’ they have not only delivered the album of the year (no mean feat in 2012), they have made music which is sickeningly good – music so spell-binding that you remember where you were when you first heard it.

So, what’s the key to their impact? We could mention the oddly captivating avant-garde time-signatures, the off-kilter rhythms, the ridiculously complex riffs and oddly Eastern melodies – but what it really comes down to is sheer bloody CLOUT. Few bands come close to this sort of heaviness, fewer still manage to couple it to genuinely world-class songs. Here – as always – Gojira channel Meshuggah, Tool’s knack for spinning a song on a dime, and Death Metal’s dark melodies into composition which are both huge and concise. Less claustrophobic and more immediately penetrably than last time out (this is not as dark as ‘The Way Of All Flesh’), ‘L’Enfant Sauvage’ is marked by the increasing maturity of Joseph Duplantier as a vocalist and songwriter. And those songs are stunning. ‘Explosia’ is awash with off-kilter rhythms, battlestar riffs sitting over an undercurrent of dark melodies before switching into what can only be described as a meditation on a Mustaine riff and ‘Chaos AD’-era Sepultura melodies – a drama of many forms across 6 minutes. The title-track is ridiculous in its brilliance, propelled by a granite judder of polyrhythms offset by the shimmering beauty of the guitar melodies. ‘The Axe’ is slower and darker, a relentless assault of hulking riffs with the demenour of a beaten dog biding its times before striking back, whilst ‘Liquid Fire’ is soul-shudderingly heavy and instantaneously catchy. ‘Planned Obsolence’ is a Death Metal Meshuggah with Prong on the stereo and some of the most juicy riffs you’ve heard in years. ‘Mouth of Kala’ switches from savage to haunting at will, soaring gothic melodies smashing into a teutonic march of guitar militia, whilst ‘Pain Is A Master’ features a riff so devastating all other metal bands should cower, before culminating in a prog-metal beast of a track. By the time the lurking, subdued malignancy of ‘The Gift of Guilt kicks in, the rage threatens to take over.

For all the physically demanding nature of their instrumentation (drummer Mario Duplantier is a genius), Gojira have always been emotively intense, too. Often conjuring up environmental lyrical themes, nature again proves the inspiration here. ‘L’Enfant Sauvage’ – literally ‘the wild child’ – refers to a French case from 1798 of a feral child, trapped by hunters, unable to speak and examined by experts. Feral children develop in remarkably different ways to the ‘civilised’, and that sense of wildness – of something primal and uncontrollable – lurks throughout this album despite its musical complexity. The mood is savage, desperate, and – at times – exceptionally lonely: you switch from wanting to break everything (the way that extreme metal usually does) to moments of intense introspection. This album, then, is truly VIOLENT: containing genuine malice and emotion amidst its brutality. And that separates Gojira from the also rans……

Music this angular is hard to describe and – for some – impossible to penetrate. But Gojira are doing what truly great bands should do: taking all the elements which make something loved, deconstructing them and rebuilding something utterly magnificent because it challenges, inspires and captivates in equal measure. Delivering this much complexity – this much music – with such pace, poise and power is the sign of master composers. These songs twist, turn, veer off on unexpected tangents, but never, ever comes close to being willfully opaque. In a time when Meshuggah are still strident, Mastodon are at the peak of their utterly devastating power, and Opeth have demonstrated the metal can be both heavy and emotive, Gojira look poised to take the genre into another stratosphere.

[binnie]

Communic – The Bottom Deep (2011)

Power Metal is often the most transparent of metal’s genres. What it delivers in hyperbole – soaring vocals, duel-guitar wank-offs, galloping bass-lines and lyrical themes as grandiose as they are fantastic – it more than lacks in emotional depth. It is refreshing, then, to encounter a band who take much of power metal’s poise and couples it something altogether darker, more human and nuanced. Dark and brooding is this band’s oeuvre, far more so than the band they are often compared to: Nevermore. Shorter and punchier in their delivery than on previous efforts, Communic combine Opeth’s eeriness and atmospherics with Megadeth’s militant precision. Whilst it’s not always an EASY listen (there is a lot to digest here) it is one which rewards multiple plays. ‘Destroyer of Bloodlines’ in vintage metal fury, a power metal take on Maiden and Manowar, and ‘In Silence With My Scars’ is a battalion of jet-black metal. In contrast, ‘Flood River Blood’ is a soft/heavy 21st century take on Deep Purple, soaring into something remarkably emotive.

Oddleif Stensland has a voice which falls somewhere between Geoff Tate and Chuck Billy, but what really shines here are the riffs – dazzling, complex and captivating in equal measure (check out ‘Voyage of Discovery’ and ‘Fury Tomorrow’). This is music made with ambition, composure and conviction, metal which is pensive and poigant rather than visceral or boisterous. The control this band exercises over its statuesque compositions is remarkable indeed, and proof that this Norwegian band deserve far more respect that they are often given.

[binnie]

Biohazard – Reborn in Defiance (2012)

The return of Biohazard – New York’s furious hardcore-meets-metal-with-a-bit-of-hip-hop-thrown-in-for-good-measure-badasses – was certainly one of 2012’s real treats. In ‘Reborn In Defiance’, we actually have a reunion record which can hang fire with a band’s best moments. It’s angry. Very, very angry. But you already knew that. What you may have forgotten is that Biohazard can write tunes – ‘Decay’ here is a slow brood of a song, complete with giant hook and juicy melodies. Always at their best when they delivered urban definace, head-butts and concrete with spartan honesty, here the duel pitbull attack of Evan Seinfeld’s and Billy Graziadeli’s vocals inject the material with the venom that they did way back in the early ‘90s. ‘Vengence Is Mine’ sounds like they’ve never been away, whilst ‘Reborn’ channels the early hardcore they’ve always done so well (think Circle Jerks and Agnostic Front). Both ‘Waste Away’ and ‘Skullcrusher’ ooze with baseball-bat wielding swagger, whilst ‘Vows of Redemption’ shows that hip hop can be injected into metal without the result being shit – one of the album’s standouts, the song is proof that metal dudes can be emotive even when they sing like sailors.

If you’re looking for finesse, look elsewhere. Biohazard were always at their best when raw and primal, and that is something which Toby Wright’s unobtrusive production captures perfectly. The result? Tar thick grooves delivering music that smacks you in the kisser with pure, visceral honesty.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Testament – Souls Of Black (1990)

Alongside 1994’s ‘Low’, ‘Souls Of Black’ is probably Testament’s most underated album. Picking up where previous record – ‘Practice What You Preach’ – left off, the band continued to inject their brand of ultra-muscular Bay Area thrash with variety (a ballad, some mid-paced riffage and progression), ‘Souls….’ was the band’s darkest record thus far. Learning quickly that outright speed for its own sake only gets you so far, the band showed the capacity to pen skull-crushing anthems like ‘Love To Hate’ and ‘Malpractice’ by switching from speed riffs to mid-paced crushers on the spin of a dime. The result has become something of a Testament trademark, and when mixed with the more conventional jack-hammer heavy thrashers like ‘Falling Fast’ and ‘Face In The Sky’ (massive, massive riff) the over-ridding sense is of a band in transition (as most of their peers, Megadeth, Metallica and Anthrax were at the same time). Priest-esque power ballad ‘The Legacy’ avoids cheese by adopting a ‘Planet Caravan’ style melody to make things eerie; whilst the progressive thrash elements on this record provide the songs that really should be better remembered – ‘Absence of Light’ is stunning, but closer ‘Seven Days of Mercy’ is a truly unheralded burst of melodic, heavy thrash.

The performances throughout are tight and sterling. Alex Skolnick naturally delivers ridiculously expert guitar wizzardry; and vocalist Chuck Billy continued his evolution into thrash’s best hook writer (his melodies add some serious weight to these tunes). The production, however, robs much of the album of its true power. Surely a full remixed and remastered catalogue is in order boys?

[binnie]

Gallows – Gallows (2012)

Losing a singer is one the hardest thing a band can endure: the face of the band, its most instantly recognizeable ‘instrument’ and the one which fan’s identify with most closely, losing a singer has often been the death of many a great band. Thus in 2011 when Frank Carter departed from Gallows – Britain’s frankly superlative 21st century punk band – hipsters, fans and journos alike were nervous. How would the band – riding high on one of the best records of the new millenium in ‘Grey Britain’ – bounce back from this? Heads were scratched when it was announced that Carter’s replacement would be Wade McNeil, former belter for Alexisonfire: not only was that band a noteable step-down in aggressive from Gallows, question were asked about how such a quintessentially British band would fare under the helm of a guy from the other side of the Atlantic.

The first lyric on this record answers those questions like a head-butt. ‘Karma’s gonna smash your head like a ton of bricks’ barks McNeil, opening up a record which is – no arguments, please – incredible in every way. This punk the way it should be. Not posed, not over-thought, not preened or polished, but raw, dirty, furious and strident in its dissident intentions. But more than that, what has always marked Gallows out is their capacity to pen great songs – songs that are just as essential as those honed by their influences. Doing so relies upon grasping punk was about more than 3 chords and gob. The variety here is staggering: ‘Victim Culture’ is Sick Of It All style concrete punk; whilst ‘Everybody Loves You (When You’re Dead)’ is a furious nod to Motorhead; and ‘Vapid Adolescent Blues’ is a perfectly fucked-up take on broken youth. Elsewhere, the band explores the capacities of their new frontman: ‘Outside Art’ see McNeil deliver darker melodies as the old Gallows sound is pushed to expand into new horizons, a cement mixer bass and glass in the face hardcore bubbling under arguably the darkest tune Gallows have put out to date. And the high points keep coming. ‘Nations’ – with its jilted riff and militia groove – rearranges the vocabulary of punk into its own language; whilst ‘Cult of Mary’ is the hoarse voice of honest emotion.

This is music that will make you uncomfortable. Lyrics that will challenge you and make you genuinely furious about the state of the world. It is also the British album of the year. Is it as good as ‘Grey Britain’? It’s close, really, really close……..

[binnie]

Anathema – Weather Systems (2012)

Anathema have now evolved so far beyond their doom metal roots that it is probably unfair to call them ‘metal’ at all. Coming off the back of last year’s career high ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’, ‘Weather Systems’ delivers more heartfelt rock which oozes emotion and class in equal measure. Shimmering, delicate and sombre at turns, few songwriters in the world can deliver this level of quality with such consistent quantities. ‘The Beginning & The End’ is bigger than God – folk meets prog leading your emotions out into the stratosphere. Elsewhere tender is the order of the day: ‘The Gathering Of The Clouds’ sees a serious of delicious vocal lines wrap and lick around each other over lucious orchestration and guitars; whilst ‘Untouchable’ – an ode to the ache of longing – sees Vincent Cavanagh’s dark hues offset by Lee Douglas’s waif-like voice. Less guitar driven than ever before, Anathema continue to prove that they can be poignant in any style. Piano, strings, acoustic and electronica combine to make something, dark and utterly captivating. A longer review could detail the majesty of every song, but it would only be an exercise in the inadequacies of superlatives.

[binnie]

Vision of Disorder – The Cursed Remain Cursed (2012)

Metalcore has now become so tiresome that it is refreshing to remind ourselves that plenty of incredible music was made when bands first began consistently combining metal and hardcore. Vision of Disorder – who were doing this several years before Killswitch Engage did it to much greater (commercial) acclaim – are back to rip the world a new arsehole. Easily one of the most innovative bands of the ‘90s – ‘Imprint’ (1998) sounds as scary today as it did then – ‘The Cursed Remain Cursed’ is the rarest of albums for two reasons: 1) it is a ‘reunion’ in which the band in question makes some music which can rival their heyday; and 2) it is a metal/hardcore combination which is not predictable in any sense of the term.

Whilst Killswitch Engage (and the thousands of bands who copied them) fell more of the ‘metal’ side of metalcore, and coupled that with a shine and sheen of a mellifluous production, VOD always fell on the ‘hardcore’ end of the genre, and coupled that with the broken concrete and broken bones school of production. None of that has changed, and ‘The Cursed….’ Sounds like a hungry pitbull whose been poked with a big stick. Opener ‘Loveless’ lays burning rage and darkened melodies over subversive and submerged sense of groove, rolling from riff to riff and style, blending together different parts of the vocabulary of heavy music. It’s pleasing to hear that they’ve made the record they should have made. They’re still furious – seriously, this could crack your skull – but they’re also older. That’s not to say things have softened, but that the rage is delivered with more focus and sincerity. ‘Set To Fail’ has Life Of Agony tinges, whilst ‘Skullz Out (Rot In Pieces)’ expands the band’s sound somewhat, injecting alt.rock into the punk madness and ‘The Enemy’ smashes Alice In Chains and the Cro-Mags together and comes up grinning a black-toothed grin. This is music about hard times barked by people who MEAN it:

I’ll show you hate – I’ll show you hurt
A lesson of life on the street, you’re kicking the shit out of me.
A spit to the face, no saving grace
Suffer silence, gimmie hate, gimmie love, gimmie what I fucking deserve.

VOD have always managed to cram a lot of music into 3-4 minutes without it ever becoming overwhelming or unfocussed. Everything is boiled down, pure, and these angry, artfully crafted songs will remain with you, serving to remind us that VOD have rarely been equaled, let alone bettered.

[binnie]

Katatonia – Dead End Kings (2012)

In parallel with Anathema, Katatonia’s evolution away from their extreme metal roots has been mesmerizing to witness. Ever since 2001’s ‘Last Fair Deal Gone Down’, the band have delivered album after album of songs most bands – in any genre – would kill to be able to write. Part metal, part Goth, part prog and utterly haunting in their exploration of the darker side of the human condition, Katatonia have always separated themselves from the heavy pack by doing so without tending towards melodrama or pastiche. ‘Dead End Kings’ continues that evolution, with a more focussed and crisp delivery than in more recent outings. ‘The Parting’ combines soft/heavy dynamics with The Cure, A Perfect Circle, The Cult, Mission and Zeppelin stomp, wrapped together with melodies which could provide novacaine for the soul. It’s the combination of so much variety into one aesthetic which always impresses most with Katatonia – ‘Hypnone’ is a sombre Jane’s Addiction, its metallic core bubbling beneath some haunting alt.rock; whilst ‘Dead Letters’ is a strident, rifforama of Tool-like prog Goddery. The highs are frequent and unpretentious – ‘The Racing Heart’ and ‘Ambitions’ sound epic in 4 minutes, and the whole album ebbs and flows, weaving melodies into one tapestry of music. This is not metal which grabs you be the neck and shakes you, but rather that which envelops you in darkness and slowly seeps inward.

Stunning, unparalleled and consistently as good as much gets.

[binnie]

Parkway Drive – Atlas (2012)

Parkway Drive are a band of no surprises. This is metalcore – metal’s most overpopulated and hence most generic genre – at its most basic: you know when the breakdown is coming, you’ve heard that riff before, and the vocals sound like a thousand other bands (although, mercifully, PD avoid the ‘melodic’ chorus lines so commonplace in this genre). But, despite all of this predictability PD never fail to be utterly, utterly compelling – even EXCITING. It’s a paradox solved by one thing: conviction. Boy does this band mean it; and boy do they play like it’s the last day on earth and they’re providing the soundtrack. Coupled with a production from Matt Hyde which balances being gigantic and raw with considerable aplomb, for most of ‘Atlas’ it feels like PD are actually playing in the room behind you.

Much of that conviction comes from the lyrics. Indeed, whilst PD are never going to break new ground musically, lyrically it’s a wholly different matter. Far from the shoe-gazing brigade of modern metal, PD tackle huge issues: environmental collapse, the meaningless of eternity, and the sins of the baby boom generation coming home to roost. It’s relentlessly bleak and if truth be told its out-of-step with the bouncy-bouncy music, but it does add PD a level of intensity which few can match. ‘Dream Ruin’ and ‘Wild Eyes’ have hooks of a higher quality and are made for the mosh pit, whilst the more sombre moments (‘The River’) shows a maturity which goes far beyond staid angst. Elsewhere ‘Old Ghost/New Regrets’ injects some Lamb Of God into the mix, and there is a noticeable presence of Death Metal tones throughout (blast beats aplenty). This is all well and good, but PD do have a tendency to be a little too serious – indeed, when they do come out swinging like Neanderthals on ‘The Slow Surrender’ and ‘Swing’ they do it very well.

‘Atlas’ is not quite as good as ‘Deep Blue’ (2010) – in places it sounds like a band that wants to break out of its mould but doesn’t quite have to courage to do so. They’re easily a head above the pack and one day they make a truly inspiring album. ‘Atlas’ will do quite nicely until then, however.

[binnie]

Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind (2012)

Since ‘Jane Doe’ (2001) Converge have been one of the best metal bands on the planet. To make music this extreme and this intense so utterly compelling is sickeningly talented. That they continue to evolve with every album, and never fall off the cliff into impenetrable noise is a testament to their status as master songwriters. Where ‘Axe To Fall’ (2009) was a relentless metal hackfest, ‘All We Love….’ places the hardcore and punk elements of the band to the forefront. Kurt Ballous lays down some serious melodic and tortured guitar lines over the maelstrom of extremity at Converge’s beating heart, and it makes ‘All We Love…’ a vibrant and compelling album capable of engaging in a staring contest with the abyss – and winning.

‘Aimless Arrow’ is the way Emo should sound (if it didn’t suck): hardcore that its genuinely wounded and vulnerable; music that is cathartic and disturbing. In contrast ‘Trespasses’ sounds like Satan gargling souls: NOTHING is this intense. Sounding like Motorhead jamming with Pig Destroyer, Jacob Bannon screams ‘Nothing will bring peace/ Nothing will bring rest’ and you believe him. What separates Converge from almost all other extreme bands is their understanding of the fact that if you play all out all the time you lose impact. Injecting different types of extremity, different types of vocals and switching things around every 4 bars, they hold the whole thing together with component parts – melodies and riffs – which are so strong they pull you through the chaos. And the variety is impressive: ‘Tender Abuse’ is grindcore brilliance, whilst ‘Coral Blue’ is slower, more cerebral and as seismically heavy as it is Mastodon beautiful. What impresses most – as always – is the intelligent sincerity on display. Witness ‘Sparrow’s Fall’:

The sparrow fell from its perch
From the dead weight of this earth
His precious held life long dreams
Were someone else’s old misgivings
Don’t live as the echo
But thrive as the sound
Don’t live as the echo
But thrive as the sound…..
The fruits of our tears rot at the vine
Not enough heart not enough time
No right answers to their wrong ways
When we inherit our graves
(don’t) live as the echo
But thrive as the sound
Don’t let your future
Writhe in our past….

This is a long way from the ‘Kill-Fuck-Kill’ misanthropy which most metal inhabits. Elsewhere ‘Sadness Comes Home’ is bitter and broken (‘I take so little and I bleed so much/ My hand me down heart is out of luck’) and the title track is like a raw nerve wrenched to agony – the ugliness of grief in all its tortured reality. To the outside, music this abrasive is pointless; but to those who get it, bands like Converge are truly cathartic – you’ll shed skin with them.

[binnie]

And now, the awards literally no-one has been waiting for. The 2012 binnies.

Best Albums: 2012

1 – Gojira – L’Enfant Savage
(Utterly stunning metal mastery – alongside Mastodon they’re flying into the stratosphere and taking the whole genre with them. Not for the feint hearted, but beyond superlative).

2 – Black Breath – Sentenced To Life
(Black metal played with a rock ‘n’ roll ethos. Tar black, nasty, gnarly and rawer than Satan’s first steak of the day).

3 – Meshuggah – Koloss
(Nothing comes close to this in heaviness. As distinctively brilliant as anything Meshuggah has recorded. Does any other band have this sort of clout?)

4 – Katatonia – Dead End Kings
(Achingly beautiful, inspired and inspiring. As always).

5 – High On Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis
(Epic in every sense of the word – this might be the best record Matt Pike has ever made. Yeah, I said it……)

6 – Testament – Dark Roots Of The Earth
(Thrash and then some, Testament continue their late career high with aplomb. Anthemic, epic and packed with the sorts of riffs most bands would sell their Grandmother to pen).

7 – While She Sleeps – This Is the Six
(Post-hardcore that is vibrant, wounded and essential – real music, played by real people and with lyrics that will affect you. Ugly, beautiful and wonderfully demented).

8 – Gallows – Gallows
(British punk at its vibrant and defiant best – they mean it, and they’ll raise your ire as much as they’ll make you think. Go and break something).

9– Anathema – Weather Systems
(Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Prog doesn’t have to be a wank fest – here’s the haunting proof in all of its delicate glory).

10– Dew Scented – Icarus
(Thrash of hulking proportions – even in an over-crowded genre, this post-Haunted thrash band kick ass and take names).

11 – Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind
(You know it’s been an excellent year when a Converge music doesn’t make the top 5. The lyrics are desperate and vibrant and the music is – as ever – utterly extreme and totally compelling. Easily one of the best bands in the world [if not for the feint hearted]).

12 – Kreator – Phantom Antichrist
(One of the best metal bands of all time on all time great form. ‘Nuff said).

13 – Fear Factory – The Industrialist
(Picking up where ‘Mechanise’ left off, FF continue to remind us why all US metal bands have been ripping them off for 20 years. Cyber metal mastery with mental riffs and compelling songs).

14 – Deftones – Koi No Yokan
(Ethereal, emotional, and bouncy. Continuing their second career wind with considerable aplomb, these songs are so infectious they’ll tattoo themselves on your brain).

15 – Vision of Disorder – The Cursed Remain Cursed
(Visceral, compelling and as terrifyingly brilliant as ever – easily 2012’s best ‘reunion’ record).

16 – Torche – Harmonicraft
(A technicolour dream of heaviness coupled with some of the best rock songs you’ll ever hear. If you buy one record next month, make it this one).

17 – Paradise Lost – Tragic Idol
(Gothic metal at it’s utter best, and strong even by PL’s remarkably high standards, the most overlooked band on the planet continue to put out classic records with ease).

18 – Heart Of A Coward – Hope and Hindrance
(A ‘djent’ record worth giving a shit about. Welding utter heaviness, complexity and huge hooks into one glorious symphony of beautifully crafted crunchiness. This could be a classic – only time will tell).

19 – Every Time I Die – Ex Lives
(Hooky, mental and boulder-bollock powered hardcore rock ‘n’ roll which is like shooting bourbon straight into your live. Party until you’ve broken everything).

20 – Overkill – Electric Age
(Sounds like Overkill, but the quality control department was working overtime).

[binnie]

If you were to ask me what my 'favourite' records of 2012 were (rather than 'best', which I see as something more objective and to do with quality/innovation etc) the list would be slightly different. The following would get a shout at:

Lamb Of God - Resolution
(More of the same for the consistently brilliant LOG. Shitty year for them, but a good album).

Vain - Enough Rope
(Great voice, great songs, and LA sleeze the way it should be).

Accept - Stalingrad
(Teutonic metal brilliance - the late career high continues)

Black Moth - Killing Jar
(Doom metal with some late '60s misnathropy thrown in - brilliant from start to finish).

Baronoess - Yellow & Green
(This has grown on me over and over - adventurous, ambitious and strident in every way).

Orange Goblin - Eulogy For the Damned
(Beer drinkers and hell raisers. Punchy stoner/doom guarenteed to put a smile on your face).

[binnie]

Binnie my good man, I only recognize a few of those bands. Not knocking you in any way shape or form. You always do a solid job with the reviews. I'm thinking your diggin' on music that's alot heavier then anything I have ever listened to.

I try and pick up on the stuff that's actually pushing things forward.

I wouldn't say it's all brutally heavy (everything except the Deftones has been reviewed in here): Katatonia, Anathema, Paradise Lost and the Deftones are not that extreme or 'out there' (the first two are more prog than metal these days, and paint in very hushed tones in places). I'd be amazed if you didn't like Torche (it's just great rock 'n' roll - colourful, eclectic but relentlessly fun). Every Time I Die are certainly amped up and (a little) sceamy in places, but it's just dirty rock 'n' roll at its heart. Suck it and see.

[ashstralia]

where's 'atlas' by parkway drive????

[binnie]

where's 'atlas' by parkway drive????

The review for it is post 714 in this thread (and Bury Tomorrow is 686). Good record (not quite as good as the last one), but I sense they're holding back from being the band they want to be. Live they are sensational......

[ashstralia]

Parkway Drive – Atlas (2012)
‘Atlas’ is not quite as good as ‘Deep Blue’ (2010) – in places it sounds like a band that wants to break out of its mould but doesn’t quite have to courage to do so. They’re easily a head above the pack and one day they make a truly inspiring album. ‘Atlas’ will do quite nicely until then, however.

i truly believe that this could be the best band on earth if they explored their pop roots a bit, and winston would SING; not just shout all the time.

[binnie]

I don't know about 'Best Band On Earth' - there are so many bands doing the 'metalcore' thing and in that sense what Parkway Drive do is actually quite generic in terms of style. What separates them from the pack - as I said in the review - is the sheer force of the delivery.

But, yes, exploring the more melodic side of their sound would open them up a bit.

[Dave's Bitch]

Hey binnie do you have "Halford - Resurrection"?

I have pretty much had that and "Fight - War of Words" on repeat for the past 2 weeks and would enjoy a Binnie review of either