High on Fire - De Vermis Mysteriis

High on Fire are a California-based stoner doom band. In April they released their 6th full-length studio album. I'm a casual fan of the band, but I'm not intimately familiar with their back catalog by any means.

With De Vermis Mysteriis, the group have presented us with a strong slab of husky, sludgey, doom with an often surprisingly aggressive tempo. The real core of the sound is in the churning guitar riffs, played with a meaty tone that really gives them a lot of weight as they crash forward through each successive track. The drumming is sharp and aggressive, often pounding along faster than usual for this type of music, and in the process they give a strong backbone to the assault. The angry, shouted vocals sound hateful and belligerent, and they suit the music perfectly. From the production to the writing to the performances, there's really nothing wrong with this album.

In spite of all that, the record isn't great. Or to be more precise, it didn't feel great to me. It's strange, because I can't honestly put my finger on a single real problem with the music, but for some reason it just didn't really have that big impact on me that a great record should have. Certain tracks really got my blood pumping, but the effect was not sustained throughout. I think it comes down to the fact that there's a difference between a strength and a lack-of-weakness. This album had no discernible weaknesses, but it didn't have any truly outstanding strengths that made it stand out as something special either.

Still, it really is a good record. It lacked that "it factor" that really captures the imagination, but it is a very solid release by a strong band. If you're a fan of High on Fire, there's no reason to believe you wouldn't like this.

Grade: B+
Good stoner doom that should please fans of the band and the sub-genre.

Unleashed - Odalheim

The Megadeth of Swedish death metal have returned with their 11th full-length album. Unleashed have been churning out Viking-themed death metal goodness for over two decades, and back in April Odalheim  became the newest addition to one of the great legacies in the genre.

Something I've always liked about Unleashed is that they don't sound like any other member of the Swedeath royal family. Rather than the chunky buzzsaw guitar, their riffs have always sounded sharp, cutting, and cold. It's like they somehow capture the frozen hostility of black metal without actually sounding anything like a black metal band. I don't know how to explain this phenomenon, but what I do know is that it's in full effect on Odalheim. This is the coldest sounding death metal record I think I've ever heard. The riffs rip through the winter landscape with a frenzied energy matched only by the blistering leads. Galloping drums propel every track forward relentlessly. And Hedlund's hateful bellows blast the listener with a ferocity most imitators can only dream of attaining.

Beyond the energy and aggression, though, is a level of practiced mastery. These guys have been doing this for so long that they know exactly what they're doing and exactly how to do it. On this record, rather than the re-hash of familiar territory that so many veteran records become, the band sound like they've put all those years of lessons to use in creating something even better than its predecessors. Basically this sounds like a culmination rather than a derivation. It's amazing to say this about a band that has been around for so long, but I honestly believe this is the best record Unleashed have ever released.

This band could sleep through an album and produce better material than 90% of the death metal bands out there. Instead, they really poured themselves into it and they have created a staggeringly brilliant record. Right now I'm torn between this and Gojira's wonderful L'Enfant Sauvage  for the title of best death metal album of the year.

Grade: A
Savage, cold, and powerful death metal done perfectly by one of the genre's true masters.

About the Grades

Those of you who read my blog regularly will probably have noticed that I've had a string of "A" and "A-" grades recently. It probably feels like I've just been handing out good ratings to everything I talk about lately, and it might make those rating seem less valid. While I can't deny the possibility that I've been in a generous mood lately, I really don't believe I'm unjustified in giving these grades.

Recently, I have been very active in my quests for new material to review, but I've also been very picky about what makes the cut. Usually I use Metal Archives and Youtube in conjunction to sample songs from new albums to see if I want to pursue those records further, or if they just don't interest me. In the past month or so, I've written about roughly 20 releases in one form or another (many in just a single paragraph). In that same amount of time, I have considered and sampled at least a couple tracks from somewhere between 70 and 100 albums. With that volume of content under consideration, I'm simply not willing to pick one of these bands I've found on my own and sit through 45 full minutes of a release that I can tell within 5 minutes I won't particularly like, just so I can write a "C+" review about it.

Additionally, with the increased number of demos I've been receiving from Full Metal Attorney to review for his blog (which has yielded some very good material too), I've had plenty of opportunities to write more negative things about mediocre records and old school death metal clones. Therefore, instead of looking for things to write negative reviews about, I've dedicated my time on my own blog to picking out the real highlights of my own listening and holding them up for what glimmer of additional exposure I can give them.

And that, my friends, is why the grades on my reviews have been so high lately.

Nightmare - The Burden of God

It's pretty rare for a band to walk away for over a decade, come back, and not only release new material but actually become more prolific and more enjoyable upon their return. That is exactly what the French power metal masters Nightmare did, and earlier this year they released their sixth album since their return in 2001 (eighth overall).

The Burden of God  is a dark, ripping, gritty slab of power metal from a group of seasoned masters. After a soft but vaguely sinister instrumental number in the vein of an interlude from Phantom of the Opera, the curtains open and the band begins to play. And damn, can they play. I rarely find myself this enamored with a power metal record, but there's a heaviness to the crunching guitar rhythms, a grim determination to the lyrics, and haunting touches of darkness lurking around every corner. The vocalist plays a vital role in this, too. Most power metal singers soar to shimmering heights of purest beauty, where they can let loose their long, flowing locks of silken hair and step out onto the highest balconies of their delicate, glistening, white marble spires to gaze out across the golden city below, bathed in the radiant light of the sun. Bleck! This is metal, not the land of the sugarplum fairies. I want some dirt and sweat and blood, maybe a battleaxe on the side. That's what Joe Amore brings to the table. Yes, he has a powerful voice, and yes he can hit high notes. But he does it with a snarl. The gritty edge to his powerful voice reminds me of the late great Ronnie James Dio, and that's about the highest compliment you can give a metal singer.

So what we end up with is a masterfully crafted power metal album performed with expert precision, but carrying with it a darkly sinister feeling which is far too rare in the field. This knocks off Pharaoh's excellent Bury the Light  as my favorite power metal album to come out this year.

Grade: A-
Dark and masterful power metal with my new favorite vocalist in the sub-genre.

Sorathian Dawn - Sorathian Dawn

Sorathian Dawn are a blackened death metal band from Australia who released their self-titled debut album back in March of this year. Most of the band members are involved in Ouroboros, as well as a scattering of other active groups, so I don't really know if this is a one-off side project or a new main band for those involved.

What I can say is that I hope they continue with this group, because I really enjoy the sound they have captured. Sorathian Dawn walk that fine line between the meat of death metal and the sharpness of black metal, just as they flirt with melodic elements while still maintaining their speed and aggression. Dual guitar riffs gallop along at a brisk pace, with propulsive drumming and violent vocals that fill the whole record with an overwhelming sense of hostility. The band does allow for some tempo changes, but they never get mired down in the slower passages.

Thrown in with the aggressive assault is just enough melody to make the whole affair flow smoothly. This is a stripped-down melodic sensibility in the vein of old At the Gates or maybe Dissection, and like those bands it really finds the sweet spot.

I'd highly recommend this album, and I truly hope to see more material from this band in the future.

Grade: A-
Sharp, compelling blackened death metal with just a dash of melody.