old school death

Asphyx - Death...The Brutal Way

I'd like to get something out of the way before diving in to this review; I do not approve of this album's title, because it's stupid. Ok, let's move on.

When I was younger I could have cared less about Swedish Death Metal and was more focused on bands like Nile, Sepultura, and Napalm Death. These days I can't get enough of that sweet Swedish DM sound. I don't know what it is, but I love the whole death n' roll thing. It's badass.

I should let you know that Asphyx are actually Dutch, but their sound is SDM through and through.

I remember hearing a lot of buzz when this album came out in August, but I totally forgot about it until a few weeks ago. The main reason behind all the hype is that this is the first album since 1992's The Rack to feature Martin Van Drunen (who also fronts the band Hail of Bullets) on vocals. Van Drunen absolutley kills on this record, and has become one of my favorite SDM vocalists alongside Dismember's Matti Kärki and Death Breath's Scott Carlson.

Death...The Brutal Way is a total barn burner from beginning to end. The guitar tones are chunky, fuzzed-out, and down-tuned, and the riffs are simple yet undeniably brutal. My favorite thing about Asphyx is the way they blend elements of traditional Doom Metal into their songwriting; It's pretty obvious that these guys are Candlemass fans. The band is able to slow things down to an almost dead stop and once you're comfortable with that pace they swoop and bring things back to break-neck speed.

A lot of SDM albums can be tedious after a few songs, but Death...The Brutal Way doesn't fall victim to that problem. I'm bummed that I didn't grab this when it came out, but I feel like I'm making up for lost time by listening to it non-stop. If you like SDM there is no reason you won't love this album. It's killer, and will most definitely be on my year end list.

xoxo
Beardo


Stay tuned for my Best of 2009 list coming up in a week or so.

a welcome funeral

Ahab - The Divinity of the Oceans

I promised a review of the new Ahab album, and here it is.

Funeral Doom isn't an easy genre for most metal fans. It's slow dirges take time and patience to appreciate, but the pay off is like no other for fans of Doom Metal. Ahab have been releasing quality FD (Funeral Doom) for a few years and they seem to get better with every album. The Divinity of the Oceans is truly epic and shows the band at the very top of their game.

There are a few reasons why this album stands above the majority of FD bands. First, Ahab are masters of atmosphere, which is due in part to the production of the album. The mix on TDotO is crafted to make everything sound big and grandiose. The guitars seem to sweep in and out from a distance while the guttural howling vocals are buried just enough to sound desperate and menacing.

Second, is the way they slow down Death Metal technique to a grinding pace, and then switch to beautiful Opethian solos that are equally grounded in classic metal and classical music. The songs here are epic odes to the sea, which isn't anything new for Ahab, but they seem much more confident and open to experimentation on TDotO. This album is gorgeous from start to finish.

If you like painfully slow doom or are a fan of bands like Opeth, Samothrace, Urna, and Mournful Congregation, then you should love this. Hands down the best doom album (in any of the genre's sub categories) this year.


xoxo
Beardo

use your headphones

Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough

I really liked Krallice's debut self-titled album. I thought it showed a lot of promise and a refreshing take on modern day Black Metal. Dimensional Bleedthrough blows that release out of the water. For those of you who aren't familiar with Krallice, they play fast-paced, off-kilter, dissonant Black Metal that can be compared to bands like Wolves in the Throne Room and Leviathan, but even that is a bit of a stretch.

The main focus of this album, as well as their debut, is the guitar work. This makes sense considering the two guitarist are Colin Marston (Gorguts, Behold... The Arctopus, Dysrhythmia) and Mick Barr (Orthrelm, Octis, Ocrilim). There are a ton of BM bands that use dissonant chord progressions to evoke atmosphere but Krallice go one step beyond and create a sound that is altogether bleak. The songs are structured to work in movements, and each movement is a guitar riff. Barr and Marston play each riff to death and then seamlessly switch to another crushing display of speed and technical prowess.

The vocals on Dimensional Bleedthrough are desperate howls reminiscent of old Screamo bands like City of Caterpillar and Page Ninety Nine, and fit the tone of the album perfectly. Every song on this album made me say "holy shit!" at some point, and each track flows beautifully into the next. I can't remember the last time a BM band showed this much raw talent and creativity. This may very well be my album of the year.



P.S.
This album absolutely demands to be listened to through a good pair of headphones, but if you don't have some or can't spare the money, decent speakers and very high volume will do the trick.

XOXO
Beardo

a taste of extreme mediocrity

Hypocrisy - A Taste of Extreme Divinity

I always think I'm going to like this bands new albums, but there's just something about Hypocrisy that feels tired. I will concede that they have put out some pretty good records (NOT "Catch 22") in the past, but they haven't ever blown me out of the water. For me the problem lies more with their style than with the band's ability to write songs. The whole melodic death metal thing has run its course, and has been adopted and bastardized by literally hundreds of deathcore bands. So I'm sitting here trying to decide whether or not this album warrants the praise that critics have been giving it. All of the material on AToED is super solid, but if you listened to "Virus" then you already know what to expect. I guess my overall assessment is that this album is solid. There's nothing here that blew me away, but there also wasn't anything that turned me away. I wanted this to be as good as the hype made it sound, but at the end of the day it's just veterans retreading old ground. Thank god they do it well.

xoxo
Beardo

the first of many...

This is active blog number three for me. I decided to create this blog because metal seems out of place on my other pages, but is an integral part of my musical taste and has grown in both breadth and depth over the years. The purpose of this blog will be to highlight bands which I feel are of high quality and/or creativity (which is totally subjective, I know). If you stumble across this page and see something you like please leave a comment or follow it...and be sure to tell your friends.

With that said, here's a shortish list of all the metal I can't stop listening to lately:

Nile - Those Whom the Gods Detest

I haven't really listened to Nile since "Annihilation of the Wicked," an album which I felt lacked the punch of "In Their Darkened Shrines" and other earlier albums. "Ithyphallic" was a step in the right direction, but still left me wondering what happened to this band that made them lose their luster. I am proud to report that "Those Whom the Gods Detest" totally makes up for the the bands last two efforts and, dare I say, has positioned itself at the top of the bands impressive catalog. What I really like about TWtGD is the bands return to an Egyptian theme. Past albums seemed to focus more on straight-forward tech death without the atmospheric quality of "In their Darkened Shrines." I also really love the vocal performances on this record and both Karl Sanders and Dallas Toller-Wade have outdone themselves. If you like technical death metal, or have liked anything Nile has released then you need to get a hold of this gem.

Marduk - Wormwood

Talk about a fucking return to form! This album totally caught me off guard. I haven't ever thought of Marduk as anything more than mediocre black metal, but I had to eat my words after hearing Wormwood. I think the reason I enjoy this album so much has to do with the addition of Mortuus (who also fronts black metal band Funeral Mist) on vocals. I love Funeral Mist's latest album "Maranatha," and I think my adoration of Mortuus's vocal style has made me a bit biased, but whatever, this album stills smokes. The mix of dark atmosphere and clever songwriting make Wormwood memorable and unique. Old fans are sure to love this, and I assume that this album will convert most haters.

Black Anvil - Time Insults the Mind

I'll be honest, I bought this album because of the praise emblazoned on the packaging...so what? and you know what else, who cares? This shit is awesome. "Time Insults the Mind" is a really interesting combination of old school black metal and sludge/doom (think Darkthrone meets Black Sabbath). I really love the guitars on this album, which provide a healthy mixture of technical proficiency and straight up power chord metal. Paul Delaney's vocals aren't setting new standards by any means, but they do fit perfectly with the music and his cadence compliments the song structures well. This record is just plain fun, and anyone looking for some new development in the world of black metal should give this a shot.

Burnt by the Sun - Heart of Darkness

OH FUCK YES! I've been waiting for this album to drop for 6 years, and I'm happy as hell with what this killer band has presented to the masses. When I was younger (18/19) I really had trouble appreciating a lot of math metal bands like Dillinger Escape Plan and The End(their early stuff anyway), but this band showed me that math metal can be pretty badass. There are some noticeable difference between "Heart of Darkness" and the band's last album, 2003's "The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good," and the most obvious is the attention given to big, punishing grooves. I always wished this band would slow down a little and explore melody and hooks, and 6 years later they made my dreams come true. This album kills from beginning to end, so go get it.

Ahab - The Call of the Wretched Sea

I love doom metal. I love it slow and crusty and brutal, and Ahab is all of those things. "The Call of the Wretched Sea" is a beast of an album, with 7 songs clocking in at over an hour, but it never drags. Every song flows beautifully into the next, and I find more to love every time I listen to this. The vocals are guttural and buried in the mix a little bit, which makes this album feel quite epic. There are some bands who are playing up the whole Moby Dick thing (like Mastodon), but this never crosses the line into cheesy metal territory. I know this came out in 2006, but I'm just now getting into this band. I will post a review of their latest album later. For those of you who like doom or think you like doom, you owe it to yourself to check this out.

That covers it for now. Stay tuned for more reviews, etc...

xoxo
Beardo