Album Reviews

[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.