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Aletheian - Dying Vine
(Metal Blade) Review by Metal Mark |
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I often have problems with technical or melodic death metal
because it’s too often like decaffeinated coffee in that the
end result feels like a lot of the power is missing. However,
Pennsylvania’s Alethian make a strong statement with their
debut which is a legitimately strong technical death metal
album. The pacing and arrangements are somewhat like
progressive metal with very fast changes in both movements and
pitch. However this is a death metal act first and foremost so
there are layers of heavy pounding drum beats and thick riffs
in there as well. The vocals are standard death style growls
although they certainly as fierce as they need to be. Now they
are supposed to be a Christian band, but you would |
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have to read the lyric book to know because like most death
albums you won’t be able to understand the lyrics while
listening to them. Along with the obvious technical skill I
was also surprised with the amount of early 90’s influence
they have in here. I heard bands like Pestilence and Cynic in
there at times which is great because I still love that era of
death metal. Of course the technical side of their sound and
the blending of the styles is more an element of this decade’s
approach. They certainly manage to get handle on everything
contained here and they make it work.
www.metalblade.com |
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Cryptopsy - The Unspoken
King (Century Media Records) By: Dave Schalek |
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I have had bad vibes about the new Cryptopsy album for awhile
now. After Lord Worm’s lackluster performance on “Once Was
Not” (I over inflated my enthusiasm for that album, I admit,
although the line-up killed live), I wasn’t particularly
surprised to see him leave the band once again, but the
departure of guitarist/songwriter Jon Levasseur was going to
leave a huge void that would be hard to fill. Also, a
keyboardist being added to the ranks as well as a rumored
musical “change in direction” started a wave of negative
paranoia that was hard to ignore. In addition to Maggy Durand
on keyboards, vocalist Matt McGachy and guitarist Christian
Donaldson have joined longtime members Flo Mounier, Eric |
Langlois, and Alex Auburn to form an almost entirely new band
that seems to bear little resemblance to the death metal
assault of years past.
Artists can choose whatever direction that they would like to
explore, so I tried my best to ignore the rumors leading up to
my initial listen of “The Unspoken King”, the revamped
line-up’s first full-length. Unfortunately, my fears are
pretty much realized as Cryptopsy has essentially just become
another boring technical metalcore band. Three big errors are
immediately apparent with “The Unspoken King”. First, the
songwriting is lackluster at best. There are hints of the old
Cryptopsy present here, but those moments are few and far
between as typical genre elements of metalcore are more or
less strung together. Breakdowns (most definitely not in the
style of old, however), wailing, clean vocals, melodic solos,
and keyboard samples that are horribly out of place dominate
those moments of the old Cryptopsy to the point where the band
has become unrecognizable. Second, Matt McGachy is a lousy
vocalist with absolutely no power to his presentation. His
rough vocals are a mere pale reflection of Mike DiSalvo, and
his clean style is downright annoying and would be quite at
home on some garbage, emo-style of metalcore. Third, to say
that Flo Mounier’s performance is restrained would be an
understatement. Virtually none of Mounier’s awe-inspiring, jaw
dropping performances of the past is present on “The Unspoken
King”. In fact, the word restrained perfectly describes the
all too fleeting moments on “The Unspoken King” where the old
Cryptopsy begins to show itself (basically, the first three
songs and little else).
I hate to critically savage an album from what was once a
great band, but “The Unspoken King” is so awful that I really
have no choice. Also worth mentioning is the reporting from
Encyclopaedia Metallum that Maggy Durand has already departed.
The album won’t even be released until late June! Is it
possible that Cryptopsy is beginning to realize their error?
Absolute garbage.
www.cryptopsy.net |
www.centurymedia.com |
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Dedicted - Argonauts
(Shiver Records) review by James Young |
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It’s rare to find a progressive metalcore band who are
anything but a showcase of how ‘technical’ they can be.
Belgium’s Dedicted are different in not being overly
pretentious, but still committed to creating great atmospheres
and song structures which will have your head spinning and
banging simultaneously. I know for a fact that the clean
vocals of drummer Jason VanAcker will put a lot of people off,
and it’s a shame they felt a need to follow such a trend.
‘Rebirth’ is a glaring example of this, in which the slow
riffs of the intro are accompanied by layered clean vocals.
It’s easy to overlook this little problem though, and what’s
left seems like a mixture of Lamb of God, Textures and
Becoming The Archetype. |
The growled vocals are fairly standard for the metalcore genre
- totally incoherent and not really adding too much, but not
particularly detracting from the sound either. The band pack
the most powerful punch in the heavy, twisting passages, which
are helped by the clear production of the album, and feature
some excellent groovy riffs from Sven Caura and Yannick
Dumarey, and time signatures that are just odd enough to keep
you guessing. In these parts, the drums and guitars follow
each other in perfect form, making for an anvil-like
heaviness. There is just about enough variation to keep one
interested - ‘The Pathologically Grandiose Megalomaniacs’
contains a great solo and some excellent thrashy riffing which
takes things up a notch from the likes of ‘Heretic’, which
have a slower, heavier groove. Another interesting feature
which keeps attention levels up are the samples, although
‘Crystalline’ takes this to extremes with a couple of minutes
of non-climatic noise. It’s tricky to figure out whether the
overall feeling is one of oppressiveness or expansiveness,
because you feel crushed by the tightness of the music
playing, but the samples open things out, with the (albeit
annoying) clean vocals bringing a ‘big’ sound to the tracks.
This album will certainly appeal to the metalcore mob and
modern thrash fans, and possibly also those into the more
progressive metal bands. If you can get past the worryingly
emo-like clean vocals, there is an interesting little album
here, but I would still recommend checking them out first
before a purchase.
www.shiver-records.com |
www.myspace.com/dedicted |
www.dedicted.com |
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Fates Warning - Perfect
Symmetry (Metal Blade) By: Joe Florez |
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Damn! I can’t believe that Metal Blade has practically
re-mastered the whole FW catalogue. That just proves how
important they were/are to the company. There were a lot of
changes made on this record when it was released back in 1989.
Besides being the second record for the not so new vocalist
Ray Alder, but drummers were switched. Mark Zonder would now
take over and this man was technically proficient in his craft
and the guys would go from straight up metal to progressive.
Lead cut “Part Of The Machine” shows a more sophisticated
side. Even though this contained some cool rhythms, you can
hear just how complicated the drumming is. It’s definitely not
your typical 4/4 beat. Ray’s |
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lung capacity would showcase just how high of a range he could
obtain. The bass lines could be heard being plucked like
crazy. Thank God for the remastering of this because you
couldn’t hear it the first time round. “Through Different
Eyes” was the commercial track that lead the guys to having
their video for this song to be played on MTV’s Headbangers
Ball on a consistent basis. This was a nice mid paced track
that was contained the best of both world’s: melody and prog
without being so over the top like on some of the other
tracks. Something that you didn’t hear in the past, but would
now is a ballad or two. “At Fates Hands” and “Chasing Time”
are tranquil numbers containing acoustic guitars and violins,
but “At Fates Hands” would slowly pick up the pace as the song
travels along adding synths and upbeat riffs. I think this
record would become the dividing line as to who would stay and
who would go in terms of fans. I believe that the old school
headbangers would bail on the more progressive sound and the
tech heads would welcome this more so than the group’s
previous back catalogue and there are folks like me who eat
all of this up. This was/is an intelligent album that showed
no slowing down in the band’s progress as they continue to
craft a perfect record. This would be the path that the guys
would continue to be on till this day with some tweaks here
and there. To help sweeten the deal, added plenty of unseen
pics to the booklet, inserted a bonus CD of demos (not
necessary, but ok) and then a live DVD with plenty of concerts
tact on for good measure. They are all of bootleg quality. So,
the camera work is all over the place. It’s grainy too. Also,
the audio ranges from decent to good. Bottom line is that if
you never owned the disc, then this is essential. If you have
the original version like myself, then this is crucial. You
won’t believe how much you missed before due to terrible
recording. A must have, thank you.
www.metalblade.com |
www.fateswarning.com |
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Hypocrisy - Catch 22
v2.0.08 (Nuclear Blast) review by Sam Thomas |
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Catch 22 is an interesting choice for a major overhaul, being
as it was the album most disregarded by the fans. It may not
have been quite as universally loathed as, say, Metallica’s
Load and Reload albums, but it wasn’t far off. Apparently,
Peter Tägtgren wasn’t particularly happy with the end result
either, so, being the workaholic perfectionist that he
undoubtedly is, he decided, five years on, to re-record all
the guitars and vocals and remaster the whole thing. Oh, and
throw in a previously only seen in Japan bonus track for good
measure. Not to mention a redesign of the cover art, which
fits in much better with the rest of Hypocrisy’s back
catalogue that the previous cover… |
So what does it actually amount to? Well, I’ll come clean
here. I always liked Catch 22 (yeah, I know, I’m weird). But
there were niggly things wrong with it – the production maybe
wasn’t perfect, the vocals weren’t as clear as they could have
been (but then again that did lead to some absolute howlers on
the metal lyrics sites). At the risk of sounding rather like
my old teachers, it was a case of “good, but could do better”.
When the new, improved version landed on my desk, I was in two
minds as to whether I was going to enjoy it or end up pulling
my hair out. In fact, I was in for a pleasant surprise. The
album hadn’t had a “Bride of Wildenstein” style makeover at
all, it had rather been reworked in exactly those areas where
the previous version had been a bit lacklustre and now sounded
exactly how I would always have liked it to.
I always feel that reworks of albums are a bit of a minefield,
but in this particular instance I’ve got to say that Peter
Tägtgren has got it absolutely spot on. Catch 22 v2.0.08 is a
great improvement (in a subtle way) on an album that was
otherwise doomed to be neglected.
www.nuclearblast.de |
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Six Reasons To Kill -
Another Horizon (Bastardized Recordings) Review
by Steve Green |
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There are going to be a few changes at L4M Towers, mainly
aimed at the different styles of modern Metal we cover. The
likes of experimental Hardcore, and especially whiney emo
based Metalcore will no longer be tolerated. Why did I make
that point in this review? Well, because Six Reasons To Kill
are the perfect example of how a modern metal band should
sound. Melodic, accessible, and as loud as fuck.
After a very nice "Intro", Observer kicks in and while the
vocals do switch from growled to clean, normally a huge
bugbear of mine, you can keep the Metalcore tag tucked far
away from this one as the flow is a natural one and SRTK are
more likely to appeal to fans of |
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The Black Dahlia Murder, than to one of the multitude of
faceless kiddie bands my daughter watches on MTV and Scuzz. I
guess the best way to describe them is Death metal with a
modern Thrash edge. And taking a break from my normal stance,
I prefer the more melodic songs on Another Horizon, with
Observer already deserving to be heralded as a classic, and
the free flowing thrash of Weak In Darkening also deserves a
mention, mainly because of Florian Dürr's manic drumming,
which I have to say is brilliant throughout the album. And
Eyesore has a huge crunching rhythm, with the guitars, despite
them being extremely melodic, would quite easily rip your face
off without a moments hesitation, as are the monstrous riffs
on Phoenix. And I think that's why SRTK will appeal to a lot
of different fans. Each song tends to keep you on the edge of
your seat as you never know which direction it will take next.
This album has a very high Thrash content, there's a bit of
Hardcore, mainly in some of the grooves, of course the vocals
are pure melodic Death, and there's enough of a modern edge to
keep the recent Metal converts happy. Overall, a very pleasing
album.
www.sixreasonstokill.de |
www.myspace.com/sixreasonstokill |
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Thanatoschizo - Zoom Code
(My Kingdom Music) Review by Steve Green |
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I think My Kingdom Music have really upped their game recently
and have made some very good signings, the best being
Portuguese Progressive Death metallers, Thanatoschizo. With
three previous albums under their belts, the one you are most
likely to know being InsomniousNightLift, which was released
in the UK on the now defunct Rage of Achilles label,
Thanatoschizo are obviously a seasoned band. Opening number
Thick N Blurry lives up to its name and immediately draws you
in, as does the Mediterranean/Middle Eastern flavoured intro
of L. And hearing this song makes it quite clear why they
supported the mighty Orphaned Land when they played in
Portugal last year. The other point of reference |
this song gives us, is of Amorphis circa 1996's Elegy and
2001's Am Universum, with a very similar Progressive vibe
going down here, with Patricia Rodrigues' beautiful voice
being the only real difference between the bands. This song
alone is enough to make you rush out buy this album, it really
is that good. And don't think that this album is a one trick
pony as the high quality songs just keep on coming, right to
the very end. Or to be more precise, the next to last song, as
the listless Awareness is a strange, and disappointing, way to
end a very strong album.
So if you're a fan of the Progressive deathly groove created
by Amorphis and the more ethnic dalliances of Orphaned Land,
and enjoy duelling male and female vocals, then you are going
to love this album.
www.thanatoschizo.com |
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Tiamat - Amanethes
(Nuclear Blast) review by Sam Thomas |
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Tiamat are one of those bands that are constantly changing
what they do, but in a way that leaves you completely unable
to whinge about a lack of direction. In their time they’ve
offered up tripped out fantasies worthy of Pink Floyd, a
definite Sisters of Mercy era and the pure, unadulterated
catchiness of Judas Christ. And several other phases in
between. Checking out their website recently, there was a poll
to select their best album which showed that their audience is
as schizoid as they are: for the older albums, the votes were
almost equal.
From the very opening phrase of "The Temple of the Crescent
Moon", which kicks things |
off as “It’s been a long time but we are here again” there’s a
sense of total familiarity this time around, not the first
thing that I would have expected from a Tiamat album. And it
just gets better from there on in. For me, this is the album
that I always hoped Tiamat would produce, but never dared to
believe that I would ever hear it. It’s somewhere between the
trippy “Wildhoney” and the very commercial “Judas Christ” in
style, a perfect melding of the two.
The anti-religious themes abound, putting me very much in mind
of “Skeleton Skeletron”, but there’s a new maturity about this
work that suggests that a lot of thought and planning went
into it. Johann Edlund shows the extraordinary control that he
has of his vocals, ranging from the raspy delivery on the
first couple of tracks, a very deliberate, almost declamatory
style, full of portent on "Until the Hellhounds Sleep Again"
through to a delicate melancholy in a reflective "Summertime
Is Gone". And that’s just the first few tracks!
“Amanethes” would definitely appear to have spent a lot more
time being polished to perfection than some previous albums,
and it shows. There are more layers apparent on this CD than
on previous releases, and the whole album flows beautifully.
Obviously, there are no tracks included just to make up the
numbers, so you get a real feeling of the album having been
conceived as a (extremely listenable) whole. The only thing
that I could say is missing (possibly) is some of the
delightful images conjured in previous works: “cockroaches
served with cream” being my personal favourite. But that would
be nit-picking, so I won’t.
I wasn’t particularly impressed with the last full-length
offering, “Prey” (it sounded quite weak and directionless to
me), and I must admit that I was afraid that Tiamat had passed
their peak, but “Amanethes” has proved me wrong in spades.
“Circles” in particular is as heavy and doom-laden as you
could ask for, with some very Dave Gilmour style guitar, and
would probably be my favourite track, but for the fact that
whichever track I’ve listened to last is my favourite!
This is a beautiful, haunting creation which represents a
clever meshing of all that Tiamat have done before, produced
to perfection. With “Amanethes”, Tiamat have reached a new
level.
www.churchoftiamat.com |
www.nuclearblast.de |
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