Last week, prog-sludge giants Mastodon released their 6th full-length album, Once More 'Round the Sun. I have made it very clear, on numerous occasions, that I don't like Mastodon. I've felt for years that the hype train has barreled through their career, carrying them far further than the actual material warranted. That said, I've been won over before by bands I initially disliked, so I'm willing to give groups abundant opportunities to change my mind about them.
I've listened to every album the band has produced since Leviathan, and this is easily my favorite Mastodon record to date.
Many of my past complaints feel like they've been corrected on this release. The band's material has tended to meander, feeling more like prog noodling than structured, driving music. Here, the riffs grab my attention and move the music forward. The lighter, drifting passages work to accent the music and provide some character without getting carried away the way they have in the past. The varied, proficient drumming is excellent. The production, as usual, is clean and well-balanced. Normally I'm a fan of gritty production, but for this type of material the clarity is a better fit. Overall there's a nice sense of flow to the record, where the songs fit together well and feel like a coherent, unified whole.
I'm still not a fan of the band's vocals. To my mind the clean-but-strained singing is easily the weakest part of this release. I found myself on several occasions feeling that this album could be the one that finally draws me into the Mastodon cult, if only the vocals were better.
So in conclusion, this is good. There are still some things bothering me, but for the first time in years I won't be actively annoyed when I hear people talk about how great the new Mastodon album is. Oh, and the cover art is pretty awesome.
I was sitting around thinking about food (as I am wont to do) when I started really wanting pie (as I am also wont to do). Pie is awesome, but there are some things that are even better. Like, for example, horror movies. Horror movies are super awesome. Especially ones that pull on Lovecraftian influences, though there are of course plenty of cool horror films in other veins. Those aren't the kind I'm thinking about right now, though.
Anyway, something along the lines of that spazzy reasoning chain reminded me of something I made with my sister when I went back to Ohio to visit my family this past Christmas. It seems very appropriate to share, given how often I bring up H.P. Lovecraft on here, but as far as I can remember I haven't posted it on this blog before.
So here he is, the nightmare king of desserts. Tremble in fear before his sweet, jiggling, gooey goodness.
If you're like me, you've heard an awful lot of hype for the new album from Dead Congregation. When the Greeks released their debut six years ago, the death metal underworld excitedly gobbled it up, and it's taken until now for the band's sophomore full-length to emerge. With that it mind, there was clearly a lot of anticipation, so it's no surprise that it seems like everybody is talking about it now that it's been released. So does it live up to the hype?
Well, partially. The record features some excellent creeping, dissonant guitar riffs (especially on the tracks Serpentskin and Schisma). The drumming is strong, though not especially unique, and there's more notable bass presence than on most death metal albums. On the other hand, the vocals are pretty standard fare. They're fine, but generic. The band opts for a doomy flavor, which can be excellent for providing darkly atmospheric heaviness in death metal, but compared to some other recent releases in this vein, Dead Congregation's effort fails to make the same kind of impact. The slower parts do give more room for the guitar riffs, which are the clear highlight, to unfold. I'm not convinced that those riffs are enough to lift this record beyond good into great, though.
My total reaction, then, is something like my reaction to Behemoth's new album early this year. Yes, it's good. But for a record that I'm hearing "album of the year" buzz about, it just doesn't seem as special to me as a lot of other people seem to think it is.
Okay, it's time for the second installment in my newly created series. For those of you just joining us, this is a segment where I look at three new albums: one good, one bad, and one that is interesting but problematic.
Off we go!
The Good: Teitanblood - Death
This blackened death metal album is a monstrosity. It's just this big, horribly malevolent . . . thing. Dripping with hostility, the record buries you under a wall of bristling, snarling chaos before closing with an apocalyptic 16-minute colossus of atmospheric darkness. The guitar riffs are an indistinct ball of noise, coming across like a twisted thorn-bush: dense and menacing but lacking in distinct or memorable portions. I can see how this may bother some listeners, but when this approach is paired with the blistering drumming and the ferocious vocals, I think the pieces all fit together perfectly. It's not catchy and it's not pretty, but it leaves a massive impression. Of all the many violent, aggressive, hard-hitting new albums I've heard in 2014, this one is almost certainly the most downright hateful sounding. It's not for the faint of heart, and in my book that's worth quite a lot.
The Bad: Burzum - The Ways of Yore
Since his release from prison five years ago, Varg Vikernes has been in a frenzy of musical productivity, releasing six albums in that time. Unfortunately the material, while plentiful, has been inconsistent at best. With his first four albums back in the '90s, Varg established Burzum as arguably the greatest black metal band in existence. Those albums were the work of a deeply flawed musical genius who passionately adopted some bizarre and terrible viewpoints along with a few really deep and interesting ideas. These days, it seems that the man has totally lost his mind and is suffering from a persecution complex the size of Norway. The result is music like this: a 68-minute exercise in tedium as he spends an entire album essentially noodling his way through intros and interludes that have had the songs around them removed. I'm okay with ambient and atmospheric metal, but it needs to work in its own right. Instead, this all sounds like it's building toward something that just never happens. (Incidentally, I realize how odd it is that Mayhem and Burzum are my first two "bad" selections. I promise I don't hate Norwegian black metal bands.)
The Ugly: Falconer - Black Moon Rising
The riffs on this folk-flavored power metal album are excellent. The songs are compelling and interesting, and on the strength of the instrumentation it's the best power metal album I've heard this year. But the vocals . . . ugh. I cannot overstate how much I hate the flat, boring, emotionless vocals on this record. Admittedly I'm not the biggest fan of the typical high-pitched power metal wails, but I'd take those a hundred times over in lieu of this feeble, phoned-in performance. So I'm torn. Whenever he shuts up the music is excellent, but that's a pretty big caveat.
A week ago, American death metal monsters Incantation released their newest album Dirges of Elysium. Incantation are a remarkably consistent band (notwithstanding a minor slump in the early 2000s while Mike Saez was handling vocal duties) and on top of that, they are probably my favorite pure death metal band. As such, I came into this expecting them to deliver.
Which, of course, they did. So far this one of my favorite death metal releases of 2014, which is saying something given the laundry list of excellent new death metal albums I've heard this year.
As usual, this record is crushingly heavy and downright evil sounding. Incantation rely on a cavernous, doomy low-end to achieve their exceptional heaviness, and with the aid of the band's continually refined production, they have yet again managed to provide just barely enough clarity without losing that magical balance of grit and tone.
In typical death metal fashion, the guitar riffs lead the way. They are primarily sluggish and crushing, though there are some brisker segments to break things up here and there. The guitar sound is just perfect, with plenty of weight in the rhythm play and a creepy, compelling tone for the leads. The bass mostly fleshes out the bottom end without standing out too much, which is all it really needs to do anyway. Due to their doom-inflected approach, the drumming rarely comes at high speeds. Rather, it provides a galloping mid-to-low-paced drive that maintains the material's forward momentum.
Incantation's vocals are a bittersweet topic for me. Craig Pillard's gut-wrenching bellows on the band's early albums are essentially irreplaceable. Daniel Corchado (mastermind of the brilliant death metal band The Chasm) provided a solid substitute on Diabolical Conquest after Pillard's departure, though it wasn't the same. Then the aforementioned Saez slump set in for a couple albums before founder and lead guitarist John McEntee decided to just do it himself. This is the 4th full-length with McEntee behind the mic, and while he can't match Pillard's demonic gutteral roars, he's a very strong vocalist in his own right. Given the improved guitar tone and fuller low-end in their current production, McEntee's slightly higher (though still relatively cavernous) vocals find their own niche in the overall mix that works just as well as Pillard's did, only in a slightly different way.
As with all bands who have been around this long without major changes in their sound, Incantation are often accused of simply repeating themselves. I'd be lying if I said this didn't sound very similar to previous releases, but even though the band isn't going to win any awards for creativity, I still feel that the band has avoided stagnation through a constant process of refinement. Besides, McEntee and friends deliver with a level of power and malevolence that far outweighs any complaints about the familiar nature of the material.
This is just a short post to say that you should go over to Full Metal Attorney if you want to check out my guest review of Vintersorg's upcoming album Naturbål.
The British death metal band Ancient Ascendant released their second full-length album, Echoes and Cinder, back in March. I never heard their debut, so this was my first experience with their music.
First off, I think it's important to note that the band has managed to strike a good balance between modern and old-school sounds. It's clear that the group is drawing on older death metal influences, but it doesn't feel like I'm listening to a record from 1992. In my mind, this is how it should be.
Most of the tracks on this album have a definite groovy, melodic bent, but it's not really melodeath. Instead, I would unhelpfully say that "it is death metal that is melodic, but it is not melodic death metal." The riffs actually remind me more than anything of the earliest Hypocrisy albums, only with more of an emphasis on groove and with a dramatically different guitar tone. It's these riffs that, unsurprisingly, really carry the songs. They're not the most complex in the world, but many of them are very catchy and they tend to pull the songs into a really solid mid-tempo groove that's eminently listenable.
As you can probably guess from that last statement, this isn't terribly violent or chaotic, and as death metal goes it's not on the heavy end of the spectrum. What it lacks in heaviness and visceral intensity, though, it makes up for in its ability to engage the listener. The highly straight-forward drumming and bass likely won't appeal to fans looking for blistering speed and technicality, but they anchor the songs and provide a strong backbone for the style these guys have adopted. The vocals are hoarse, energetic growls in the upper mid-range, and they work perfectly with the simple but catchy riffs and surprisingly well-structured solos to propel the songs forward. Add to that the excellent production, and this record has more than enough going on to keep me interested.
It's not groundbreaking, experimental, technical, or especially heavy. That said, this was a genuinely fun album to listen to. If enjoyment is the ultimate goal of music, then Ancient Ascendant have done their job better than most. It may seem weird to say, but I'm tempted to call this the AC/DC of death metal.
I just wanted to make a quick post to show that today I got my beanie from the Botanist Kickstarter. Botanist is a cool and utterly unique sounding one-man black metal project, and if you're interested he has both music and very reasonably priced gear available on bandcamp.
Blasphemous Overlord, with this release back in February, represents the lesser-known side of its sole member, Bob Macabre. Better known for his project Chainsaw Dissection, this man has probably individually produced more brutal death metal than anybody else on the planet. He has played black metal in some of his many many many solo projects, though, and this latest band is one of those cases.
The fact that this guy mostly does over-the-top, straight-forward, brutal material certainly comes through on this record. This music is blunt as hell. It's got all the ugly, nasty violence you could ask for in underground black metal. And the album cover looks pretty cool. Unfortunately, the music is so crushingly simplistic that even the amped-up levels of aggression can only carry it so far before stalling. The vocals are murky and over-saturated in reverb to the extent that they sound at times intentionally masked rather than enhanced by the effects, which is too bad because they seem like they would be solid on their own. The riffs are very basic and redundant, and the programmed drums are about as one-dimensional as they could possibly be.
Note the fact that I never used the word "bad". None of the individual elements are outright bad, per se. But they are all extremely simplified, and taken as a whole they result in music that just doesn't have enough creativity or complexity to really be interesting. I think the insanely prodigious amount of music Mr. Macabre has produced over the past ten years or so has probably left him with few if any novel ideas left at this point, and the stripped-down product we have here sounds like a record that was likely slammed together as fast as possible. Even if there were any new ideas left I don't think there would have been time for them to take root and grow. Besides, his forte has always been in the goriest, most un-subtle end of slam, goregrind, and brutal death metal. Those are areas where blunt blasts of simplistic heaviness can thrive, but in black metal the edge just needs to be sharper than this.
Late last month, Polish death metal giants Vader released their 11th studio album Tibi Et Igni.
I wasn't even going to review this initially, and I'm still barely going to do so now. The words "bad Vader album" have no place in the English language, unless they are preceded by "I have never heard a" or some similar phrase. Additionally, the band hasn't really changed their sound in years. Thus, there's not much to talk about that hasn't already been said of their music in general a million times.
On the heels of 2011's colossal triumph, however, fans all have one big question on their minds: is this as good as Welcome to the Morbid Reich? The answer is no, it's not, but it's close.
By now, every death metal fan on the planet knows what Vader sounds like, so I'm not going to rehash that. I would like to point out, though, that Peter continues to have one of my favorite voices in all of extreme metal. As for why this falls slightly short of its predecessor, it's hard to give a specific, concrete reason. This is basically one of those instances of "it's exactly the same, only not quite as good." Of course in this case it still means this was an excellent, well-written, powerfully-performed death metal record with Vader's distinctive personality all over it.
In short: it's good, go buy it. If you like Vader, you'll like this (but you already knew that). If you don't like Vader, then I'm not sure why you're even bothering to read this.
I don't know what's going on, but in the past few weeks I've seemingly hit the mother load in terms of excellent new black metal. I've already talked about the new Diocletian (which isn't really black metal but certainly draws plenty of water from that pool) and the weirdly exciting Vapor Hiemis black metal/EDM release. Beyond those hybrids, there have been a few really great black metal albums in an assortment of styles that I've recently encountered. I was thinking about reviewing each of these separately, but I've been enjoying the approach of collecting together a group of mini-reviews and it seems fitting when I'm addressing three strong albums in the same sub-genre that I should just put them together. So here we go.
The Great Old Ones - Tekeli-Li
Honestly, when I see something described as "post-" anything, I tend to have a moment of hesitation. The shoegaze sound isn't exactly a favorite of mine, so blending it with other styles rarely constitues an improvement in my eyes. This particular French post-black metal release is a rare and wonderful exception. First of all, Lovecraftian lyrics are always cool, so even if I can't speak the language, just knowing the influence is there makes me happy. More importantly, the record just sounds really, really good. The production is very lush (which is not a word I use often) and gives the music a richness in tone that is rare in black metal. Spoken passages and soft interludes add welcome breaks in the thick wall of sound that the band produces, and the record just has an overall feel of outstanding quality in every respect from musicianship to composition to production. It's not black metal at its most violent, but it's so thoroughly satisfying in all other respects that I don't care. Probably my favorite black metal release of the year so far.
Skogen - I Döden
Fun fact: this Swedish outfit hails from Växjö, which is where I would have spent a year during college if my plans hadn't fallen through. The band plays black metal in the Viking/pagan vein, with a very melodic approach packed full of northern folk flavor and epic atmosphere. The plentiful keyboards (particularly early in the album) may bother some people, but I think they suit the tone of the music really well. There's honestly nothing especially adventurous or unique here: this is a well-explored area and Skogen stay comfortably within its borders. The execution is very strong, though. Many of you know that I have a pretty big soft spot for the side of black metal that branches off into Viking/folk/pagan territory, but this year has had something of a drought in that department. Skogen's new release isn't the pinnacle of this style, but so far in 2014 it's the only album in this favored niche of mine that has actually grabbed hold of me. One final note: the 13-minute closer, featuring a dreary atmosphere and some almost doom metal riffs, is one of my favorite tracks of the year so far.
Thantifaxath - Sacred White Light
With rare exceptions, I do my own hunting when it comes to new metal. There are, however, about half a dozen reviewers whom I sometimes use as reference points. I often disagree with their opinions, but seeing a glowing review from one of them is still enough to at least put an album on my radar. Well, after encountering great reviews from three of them on the Thantifaxath full-length debut, I felt compelled to check it out for myself. They did not steer me wrong. Thantifaxath are a Canadian band whose moderately progressive take on black metal is a hell of a lot better than their name. They remind me a bit of Deathspell Omega, which in my word is a pretty big compliment. In addition to varied songwriting and powerful performances, the band benefits from good production that hits the sweet spot of clarity without undue polish. I listened to this the most recently of the three, and given how densely-packed the music is I have a feeling I'll need more time to fully digest it. Right now, though, I think it will be strong contender for the year's best black metal album.
I loved this album. I'm going to say that up-front. In fact, I've recently listened to several different black metal releases (of varied styles) that all have a legitimate chance to make it into my top 10 albums of the year. This is one of them.
Vapor Hiemis are a black metal band from Belarus. Last month, they released their first full-length record, which I haven't the faintest idea how to pronounce, entitled Пламя Зимы.
These guys did something really unusual, and it is always exciting to me when strange ideas work. This could be just another in a line of very good European pagan black metal albums. Instead, the band chose to fuse that style with electronic dance music. It sounds like it would be a weird blend, but it actually works shockingly well. The electronic beats are layered into the music in a really natural, seamless way. The EDM side steps into the spotlight at times and it plays a large role in the overall sound, but it never overwhelms the album. The resulting sound allows the black metal to take the front seat, with the EDM sitting beside it controlling the air conditioner, while the pagan elements (with what I'm pretty sure are synthesized bagpipes) provide backing splashes of atmosphere and flavor.
In terms of the pure metal end of things, everything works just fine. The vocals are a fitting black metal rasp, the riffs are energetic and they provide a solid backbone for the songs. As I said before, on this front the band is a solid outfit. It's the unique stylistic blend of the other elements that elevates the record.
If you're somebody who really doesn't like electronic music and doesn't want to see it encroaching on metal territory, you will probably have some major issues with this. Personally, I really enjoyed it.
Grade: A
If you like what you hear, you can buy the album pretty cheaply on Bandcamp here.
First off, as the number indicates, this is the first time I've done this style of post. Also as numbering an activity at all indicates, I intend to make it a recurring feature. May or may no happen, but that's the plan.
So what is this? Simply put it will be a post with micro-reviews/first impressions for three new
albums I've listened to once but don't want to review in full form. I'll pick one good album, one bad album, and one wildcard. These can be in any style and may or may not be related to one another; it depends on what I've been listening to at the time. The one habit I will try to follow, though, is to pick albums for the bad category that are by reasonably well-established bands, since there's not much point in warning people away from music they'd never have heard of if I hadn't brought it up in the first place.
Well, that's about it. So without further ado, here we go.
The Good: Diocletian - Gesundrian
I gave this a whirl after reading a review of it on The Autistic Metalhead. Diocletian are either bestial blackened death metal or war metal, depending which way you want to nitpick it. I don't listen to much material from within that arena, but if I did I'd want it to sound like Diocletian: punishing, driving, tightly composed, well-produced, and performed with absolute ferocity. Definitely worth your time if you have any interest whatsoever in brilliantly executed, viscerally intense metal.
The Bad: Mayhem - Esoteric Warfare
Probably the most infamous metal band in the world, black metal titans Mayhem returned earlier this week with their first new album in seven years. Hellhammer and Necrobutcher are back, with Attila Csihar on vocals. Teloch is a newcomer on guitar, but the rest are veterans of the band's nebulous lineup. Full disclosure: I've never liked Mayhem. This record didn't change that. The production sounded thin and weak rather than primitive or cold. The riffs were redundant and forgettable. The vocals, while energetic, got on my nerves. The entire album felt like one long, painfully unengaging song.
The Ugly: Mekong Delta - In a Mirror Darkly
I've been trying to decide for a few days now how I feel about this album, and I still have no idea. There were moments where these prog thrashers had me right in the palm of their hands, but then there were moments when I found myself wondering why I was listening to this crap. I'd say this is an uneven record with lots of potential and some great pieces, but somehow that feels inadequate to describe my listening experience. Some people will probably really enjoy this, so it may be worth checking out for fans of the style. Personally, I'm still on the fence.
With the release of their newest album Once More 'Round the Sun rapidly approaching, Mastodon are once again the talk of the metal community. This happens once every two or three years, and every time it does I find myself in the position of a baffled onlooker.
Many people whose music opinions I respect really like Mastodon, so I'm not going to claim there's anything objectively wrong with them. All I can speak to is what my own ears tell me, and what they tell me is that Mastodon are receiving a lot more praise than they're earning.
Meanwhile, last year The Ocean released another towering monument to all that is good about progressive sludge, adding to an already impressive resume. So, rather than just shooting down the reigning kings of the sub-genre and moving on, I'll instead present you with a take on these alternative masters of prog sludge who my ears tell me are distinctly superior.
What follows is my list of five reasons to listen to The Ocean instead of Mastodon.
(Of course, there's nothing to stop you from enjoying both.)
#1. Teeth
These days when I listen to a Mastodon album, I invariably find myself
thinking "What would they sound like if they still had teeth?" If
you've ever wondered this too, The Ocean are here to save the day. As Mastodon have moved further into a prog space, they've lost virtually all of their edge. I say "lost" because Mastodon weren't always toothless. Leviathan was plenty hard-hitting, but since then the band have sacrificed all their heaviness and grit for prog polish. The Ocean, on the other hand, manage to explore just as far into progressive territory and still have a lot of bite.
#2. Dynamics
The Ocean are an extremely
aurally dynamic band. Many groups treat the hard/soft dynamic like an
on/off switch. Better groups approach it as a point on a sliding scale.
The best groups treat it like a point in three-dimensional space,
allowing not just heaviness but also tone, tempo, energy, and style to
shift and flux throughout an album. In this respect, The Ocean are one
of the best groups. From hard to soft, ethereal to visceral,
experimental and proggy to direct and punchy The Ocean cover all the
bases. Further, they move so seamlessly from one point to the next that
this vast dynamic range never feels forced or erratic. Mastodon are
reasonably successful in this vein too, but their dynamic range is less
expansive and less fluid.
#3. Emotional Energy
Mastodon are, to my ears, a very dispassionate band. Their early releases had some inner fire, but by the time they released Blood Mountain they were already falling into that common progressive trap of being more interested in technical noodling than in injecting any real energy or emotion into their music. The first time I heard Crack the Skye the music was so completely and utterly drained of emotional impact that my immediate reaction was essentially "What the fuck is this shit?" The Ocean, on the other hand, have kept some soul in their music.
#4. Songwriting
Noodling and technicality have their place, but at the end of the day I want to hear a song that's actually well-structured and coherent. The Ocean's music has a sense of purpose, a direction, and it pulls you along toward its conclusion. Mastodon, on the other hand, feel a bit listless, like they're just fiddling their way through a Grateful Dead jam session. For an album to take the listener on a ride, it needs more than musicianship: it needs songwriting to tell it where the hell it's going.
#5. Because I Said So
Let's be honest: if better songwriting, more expansive and interesting dynamics, greater emotional energy, and some actual balls still left in the music aren't enough to convince you to go listen to a band then a 5th reason really won't do much good. So set aside those good reasons for a moment and just do it for me. Do it because you value my opinion, or because you share my interest in discovering new music, or because you want to be properly armed to disagree with me. Just check out their latest album. Maybe if more people did, I wouldn't have to hear so damn much about Mastodon.
Today everybody's favorite rock music idiot-savant, Buzz Osbourne, released the debut album for his solo acoustic project King Buzzo, entitled This Machine Kills Artists.
I haven't listened to the full album yet, and I don't plan on writing a review, but what I've heard has got a dark, gritty sound to it that I really enjoy. I'm not comfortable enough with the "Dark Americana" label to know exactly where it applies, but I feel like this could be one of those places. In any case, the result reminds me a bit of when Wino released Adrift: suddenly the frontman for a band I like seemed like he might have missed his true calling in a more stripped-down music style.
I've listened to every album the band has produced since Leviathan, and this is easily my favorite Mastodon record to date. 
