Posted by Cheryl Lynn on Mar Tue, 2018 in Album Review, Band Profile, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Electronica, Melodic Death Metal, New Releases, Progressive Rock, Symphonic, Technical
Alburqurque based progressive metal band, Distances, are back with a vengeance. Their new material is even heavier and louder than ever before. The screamed lyrics and tremolo riffs are reminiscent of black metal. Violas and wind instruments provide a stark contrast to the crushing dissonance of the distorted guitars and guttural vocals. Far from clashing, these disparate musical styles highlight the multifaceted talents of the band. Their sound is powerful but sophisticated. There is a … read...
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Posted by Cheryl Lynn on Feb Tue, 2016 in Album Review, Doom Metal, New Releases, Progressive Rock, Stoner Metal
Ot-un-et-ir is a New Mexico based band with a downtempo, sludgy sound so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Their first release, Parallelism, is album length at 58 minutes, but is considered a single piece. (For convenience sake, I will refer to it as an EP.) The music is extremely heavy-footed with the drums and bass, droning alongside each other with slow and sweet riffs. The rhythm is similar to that of … read...
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Posted by Cheryl Lynn on Nov Mon, 2015 in Album Review, Deathcore, New Releases, Technical
This album is living proof that life imitates art, and vice versa. The furious, hateful music reflects a world being crumbled by politics, propoganda, and society itself. Hope gives in to misanthropy and despair. The lyrics are spoken by both the forsaken and the forsaker. Having been betrayed by our fellow man, we exact revenge, and thus continues the vicious cycle of violence which will ultimately be our demise. Vocalist Jamie Hanks has a formidable … read...
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Posted by Cheryl Lynn on Oct Tue, 2015 in Album Review, Cult Classics, Hardcore, Metalcore, New Releases, Punk
Monuments is a fitting title for the 20014 release by October File, a colossal jewel which captures the band at their zenith. This chimerical beast is a culmination of hardcore, post punk, and industrial influences, making a musical juggernaut of monstrous proportions. Although they are a relatively obscure band, they have withstood the test of time thus far and have remained a thematic powerhouse for over a decade. October File have the boastful confidence, and … read...
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Posted by Cheryl Lynn on Oct Sun, 2015 in Album Review, Blues, Cult Classics, Doom Metal, Punk, Stoner Metal
Sink your teeth into this tasty slice of stoner metal. Although the band Orange Goblin keeps their music chilled out with a classic blues structure and sludgy tempo, the heavily distorted guitar riffs and gruff vocals result in a sound that is gloomy, doomy, and altogether ‘shroomy. The 1998 album Time Traveling Blues is defined by dreamy, distorted noisescapes of altered guitars, giving way to aggravated punk riffs, while screamed vocals remain constant and at … read...
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Posted by Cheryl Lynn on Oct Sun, 2015 in Album Review, New Releases, Progressive Rock, Technical
This music is as bizarre and moving as a delirious fever dream. Octaveleven is multilayered, very experimental and progressive, with spacey keyboards that might be more comfortable in an Atari game. The best songs had the dissonant urgency and impatience of a boss battle, with musical tension mirroring a climactic showdown. In the haystack of disharmony, you occasionally find a needle of melody. Some of the refrains are catchy despite themselves, and the percussion anchors … read...
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Posted by Cheryl Lynn on Sep Tue, 2015 in Album Review, Cult Classics, Death Metal, Deathcore, Grind, Hardcore, New Releases, Technical
Garroter has a choppy, chunky sound reflecting the bloody bits and pieces on the album artwork. Palm muted chords ad nauseum, layered over an obscene amount of guitars and double pedal drums, creates immense walls of polyphonic discordance. These colossal soundwalls persist at a sludgy pace, but frequent interruptions by blast beats and breakdowns keep them from being overwhelming. Despite the cacophonous music and coarse production quality, I Am The Shotgun have a cleancut aftertaste. … read...
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Posted by Cheryl Lynn on Sep Sat, 2015 in Album Review, Death Metal, Deathcore, Hardcore, New Releases
This self-titled album is a hefty slab of deathcore, with a thudding pulse of bass and percussion as a backbeat to crunchy breakdowns and dynamic leads. The guitar had some cool pitch harmonics and intricate solos, otherwise falling in lock-step with the rhythmic sections. All hell breaks loose when two or more rhythms syncopate, such as in the track This Mic Smells Like Beer, in which the chugging bass lines and machine gun drumming are … read...
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Posted by Cheryl Lynn on Sep Sun, 2015 in Album Review, Heavy/Traditional Metal, New Releases, Power Metal
Iron Maiden have already carved a distinguished niche for themselves in the world of metal, and this latest offering stays comfortably in that territory. This is a double edged sword: On one side, they retain the galloping riffs and powerful vocals that have always defined them, but on the other, they are not bringing anything new to the table. Some songs are indulgently long, making you savor the natural progression of the music. Others are … read...
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Posted by Cheryl Lynn on Sep Sat, 2015 in Album Review, Death Metal, Folk Metal, Melodic Death Metal, New Releases, Progressive Rock
Amorphis seem to get more and more conceptual with each release, straying ever further from their death metal origins. Instead of the anger and aggression that usually characterize metal, this album has a darkness defined by sorrow and melancholia. What they sacrificed in metal fury, they compensated with the robust simplicity of folk, which has a heaviness all its own. Lead singer Tomi Jousten has a panoramic voice, spanning from death metal growls and black … read...
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