Monday, October 29, 2012
Silent Leges Inter Arma
My newest guest review is up over on Full Metal Attorney. You can read it here.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Halloween is Coming!
The big Halloween event in town is Saturday (tomorrow) and I've made some last minute changes of direction. As such, all my free time today and possibly tomorrow is going into getting my costume ready. As such, I probably won't post another review until Sunday or Monday.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Grave - Endless Procession of Souls
Grave, one of the central pillars of the original Swedish death metal movement, have been cranking out records for over two decades. While Entombed have strayed from the path and Dismember have disbanded, Grave have stoutly carried on through the years. This summer saw their newest release, Endless Procession of Souls.
Anybody passingly familiar with Swedish death metal knows exactly what Grave sound like. If not from Grave themselves, then from one of the hundreds of clones wandering the metal world these days. Crunchy, compelling, monumentally heavy guitar riffs plow forward, backed by strong drumming and a beefy bottom end. The bellowed vocals are pretty standard fare, strong and aggressive but not particularly unique. Grave have always been a bit slower and doomier than their closest Swedish counterparts, and their music is often at its heaviest in the slowly churning sections of their songs where the low end can really come into play.
The reason why I've spent all my time so far just talking about how Grave sound in general is that if you understand all that then you understand exactly how this specific album sounds. It's a perfectly solid release, and I find it quite enjoyable. It doesn't break any new ground, though, so it's basically just another good solid Grave album that sounds just like you'd expect. When a band has been around this long, the only way for a new album to really stand out is either by doing something radically new, or by elevating the pre-existing formula to a new level. The latter has recently worked well for other classic acts like Unleashed and Vader, and like those bands Grave exists today as the vessel for its vocalist and sole original member. Unfortunately, unlike those bands, Grave's Ola Lindgren just wasn't able to tap into whatever mystical force has breathed renewed potency into Johnny Hedlund and Peter.
None of this is to say that there's anything bad or wrong in the new album. It's a strong, entertaining release that won't disappoint any fans and serves as another valid entry in the band's lengthy catalog of good death metal records. It just didn't make me sit up and take notice the way some other old masters have with their recent releases.
Grade: B+
Good, heavy, enjoyable Swedish death metal from one of the best established bands in the style.
Anybody passingly familiar with Swedish death metal knows exactly what Grave sound like. If not from Grave themselves, then from one of the hundreds of clones wandering the metal world these days. Crunchy, compelling, monumentally heavy guitar riffs plow forward, backed by strong drumming and a beefy bottom end. The bellowed vocals are pretty standard fare, strong and aggressive but not particularly unique. Grave have always been a bit slower and doomier than their closest Swedish counterparts, and their music is often at its heaviest in the slowly churning sections of their songs where the low end can really come into play.
The reason why I've spent all my time so far just talking about how Grave sound in general is that if you understand all that then you understand exactly how this specific album sounds. It's a perfectly solid release, and I find it quite enjoyable. It doesn't break any new ground, though, so it's basically just another good solid Grave album that sounds just like you'd expect. When a band has been around this long, the only way for a new album to really stand out is either by doing something radically new, or by elevating the pre-existing formula to a new level. The latter has recently worked well for other classic acts like Unleashed and Vader, and like those bands Grave exists today as the vessel for its vocalist and sole original member. Unfortunately, unlike those bands, Grave's Ola Lindgren just wasn't able to tap into whatever mystical force has breathed renewed potency into Johnny Hedlund and Peter.
None of this is to say that there's anything bad or wrong in the new album. It's a strong, entertaining release that won't disappoint any fans and serves as another valid entry in the band's lengthy catalog of good death metal records. It just didn't make me sit up and take notice the way some other old masters have with their recent releases.
Grade: B+
Good, heavy, enjoyable Swedish death metal from one of the best established bands in the style.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Ex Deo - Caligvla
Ex Deo are a symphonic death metal band who are, personnel-wise, Kataklysm with a different bassist. Their lyrics and general aesthetic are based on Roman history, imagery, and mythology. This summer they released their second full-length album, Caligvla.
The band employ the relatively uncommon fusion of semi-melodic death metal and symphonic orchestration. This latter is generally in the form of strings, but some horns and choral singing work their way into the mix as well. Rather than switching back and forth in the course of each song, the metal and symphonic elements maintain a relatively even mix throughout most of the record. There is some ebb and flow, particularly given their tendency toward instrumental intro passages, but for the most part the two sides work in tandem rather than in alternation.
With this constant blending, the music gains a definite dramatic, epic quality. The guitar riffs often work as a split pair, with one doing more chugging, heavy work along with the bass to hold down the meaty bottom end, while the other plays higher and cleaner lead pieces over top of that mix. The drumming is good at maintaining effective pacing, but rarely ever slams away with brutal intensity. In does move at a sharp clip when it has to, and the rest of the time it has a strangely arena-rock-like quality. All this combined with clean production, perfectly intelligible vocals that walk the line between roaring and yelling, and the dramatic historical themes creates the peculiar end effect of a death metal album that almost plays more like power metal.
This vein of metal is very fertile ground that is explored by too few bands. It offers enough dynamic possibilities that the songs easily avoid the common death metal trap of becoming too redundant (an issue these gentlemen's main band has run up against all too often) and it doesn't particularly sound like any other band enough to feel derivative. Though there was one song I personally find annoying, "Divide Et Impera", and the instrumental final track doesn't really seem necessary, the overall album was very enjoyable and refreshingly different.
Grade: A-
Very enjoyable and unusual symphonic death metal that, despite being a side project, is presently more interesting than the members' main band.
The band employ the relatively uncommon fusion of semi-melodic death metal and symphonic orchestration. This latter is generally in the form of strings, but some horns and choral singing work their way into the mix as well. Rather than switching back and forth in the course of each song, the metal and symphonic elements maintain a relatively even mix throughout most of the record. There is some ebb and flow, particularly given their tendency toward instrumental intro passages, but for the most part the two sides work in tandem rather than in alternation.
With this constant blending, the music gains a definite dramatic, epic quality. The guitar riffs often work as a split pair, with one doing more chugging, heavy work along with the bass to hold down the meaty bottom end, while the other plays higher and cleaner lead pieces over top of that mix. The drumming is good at maintaining effective pacing, but rarely ever slams away with brutal intensity. In does move at a sharp clip when it has to, and the rest of the time it has a strangely arena-rock-like quality. All this combined with clean production, perfectly intelligible vocals that walk the line between roaring and yelling, and the dramatic historical themes creates the peculiar end effect of a death metal album that almost plays more like power metal.
This vein of metal is very fertile ground that is explored by too few bands. It offers enough dynamic possibilities that the songs easily avoid the common death metal trap of becoming too redundant (an issue these gentlemen's main band has run up against all too often) and it doesn't particularly sound like any other band enough to feel derivative. Though there was one song I personally find annoying, "Divide Et Impera", and the instrumental final track doesn't really seem necessary, the overall album was very enjoyable and refreshingly different.
Grade: A-
Very enjoyable and unusual symphonic death metal that, despite being a side project, is presently more interesting than the members' main band.
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