Angry Metal Guy

Jungle Rot // Kill on Command
Rating: 2.5/5.0 —Too modern, less rotten
Label: Victory Records
Websites: www.myspace.com/junglerot
Release Date: Out now!

The kings of knuckle dragging neanderthal death metal are back. Yep, nobody ever accused Jungle Rot of being unpredictable or avant-garde. Quite the opposite, since 95′ these Wisconsin blokes have been churning out their primitive, simplistic, groove-based death metal with scant innovation or diversity. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing considering their style was always a like-ably thick headed brand of American death with all the brutality but none of the frills. Albums like War Zone and Dead and Buried were enjoyable, fun efforts showcasing their simple sounds at their best. Now we get  Kill on Command and its more of the same but with a polished production and a drift into deathcore territory, intentional or not I don’t know. Before you start smashing keyboards and such, this isn’t a full blown deathcore album but it has those trademark elements of the style embedded in the writing. How much of it? Well enough to annoy me but not enough to sink the album entirely. Its still that same ugly mix of Six Feet Under and old Cannibal Corpse and its  fairly well written and at times, oddly catchy. However, some other issues crop up and together they drag this album down from good to less so. Continue reading

The Human Abstract // Digital Veil
Rating: 4.5/5.0 — Excellent, experimental and worthy of your time
Label: E1 Music
Websites: Myspace | Full Album Stream
Release Dates: US: 03.08.2011 | EU: Unknown

One of the things that I consistently tell people when they give me shit (which they inevitably do) about my taste in music is that you should call a spade a spade and like what you like without apologies. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have biases, however, and one of those biases that I have is against things that can be labelled as “metalcore” or “deathcore.” Since the early aughts we’ve been plagued by shitty record after shitty record from post-hardcore entities that have been passed off on us as the next big thing and that have ultimately felt sad and tired and not good. I recently ripped into Architects, for example, for being billed as ‘reinventing metalcore and themselves,’ only to produce an epic fail of a record. Continue reading

Eradication // Dreams of Reality
Rating: 2.5/5.0 — But no dreams of originality
Label: Siege of Amida Records
Websites: myspace.com/eradication
Release Dates:  EU: 07.02.2011 | US: 02.07.2011

This will be a pretty short review and here’s why. I just can’t find all that much to say about these blokes from England. Dreams of Reality is the debut full length by Eradication and they traffic in slick, thrashy melodic death metal with some metalcore elements stirred in (mainly the vocals) and of course, they co-opt the Gothenburg melo-death metal sound and style for all its worth.  We’ve all heard this style done about a gazillion times already by any number of good, bad and really shitty bands. Since these guys, although talented, bring nothing new to the long running Gothenburg party, this isn’t the type review that cries out for extended and thoughtful prose. Continue reading

The Bridal Procession // Astronomical Dimensions
Rating: 2.5/5.0 — Behemoth 2.0 [3]
Label: Siege of Amida Records
Websites: myspace.com/thebridalprocession
Release Dates: World: February 7th, 2011

The Bridal Procession are a death metal band with orchestral stylings from Paris, France. If you go to their Last.fm page, the first thing you see on there is someone writing “Behemoth 2.0.” What’s funny about this was exactly my response when I heard the introduction of this album, which has an Egyptian sounding orchestral introduction followed up with a vocal introduction that was ripped straight off from “Slaves Shall Serve” (a track from Behemoth‘s Demigod, if you’re not familiar). This did not raise my expectations very high, to be totally honest. And, because of that I never had time to get disappointed by the mediocrity, and more frankly, unoriginality that followed. Continue reading

Against the Flood // Against the Flood
Rating: 1.0/5.0 — Form Above Function
Label: Siege of Amida Records
Websites: againsttheflood.co.uk
Release Dates: January 3rd, 2011

So apparently the UK has a lively metalcore and deathcore scene that is being picked up and flown around the world right now. Against the Flood is one of those bands that sits right on the border between the two genres (which are basically just one genre if you look at their girl jeans and stupid hair cuts) and who have taken from me nearly 60 minutes of my life that I will never, ever, ever, ever get back. As a punishment, I will pee on them publicly—from my blog (and wait for their stupid oaf fans—and buddies—to come here and insult me). Continue reading

The Acacia Strain // Wormwood
Rating: 1.0/5.0 — Puts me to sleep
Label: Prosthetic Records
Websites: myspace.com/theacaciastrain
Release Dates: Out Now Worldwide (I think)

I seem to remember The Acacia Strain being an In Flames copy, but I think I must be thinking of another band entirely. Which means that I have no reference for these guys as I’ve never heard them before and I thought they were a metalcore band. Turns out, I’m wrong. Instead, they’re a deathcore band. Now, I try to not generalize about genre conventions while reviewing a band (I mean, it’s unfair to review an entire genre every time you review a band’s record), but I think that I’m starting to figure out what it is about endless breakdowns that I hate. And I’ll tell you. Oh yes, I’ll tell you. Continue reading

And Hell Followed With // Proprioception
Rating: 1.5/5.0 – Painfully medio-core
Label: Earache
Websites: myspace.com/andhellfollowedwith
Release Dates: US: Out Now | EU: 26.07.2010

Steel Druhm likes NOT this whole “deathcore thing.” There, I said it! Now, all you deathcore teen weenies can pull your collective jaws off the floor and prepare to dismiss the following review as biased, or perhaps, “reviewed in bad faith,” whatever the fuck that means. However, before you do so, kindly consider that the reason for my dislike of Proprioception, the second album by Michigan’s And Hell Followed With is way more because of how bland and average the material is and less because of its regrettable deathcore style. Sadly, this material isn’t good regardless of the genre.

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Whitechapel // A New Era of Corruption
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Deathcore bad. Whitechapel … good!?
Label: Metal Blade
Websites: whitechapel.com | myspace.com/whitechapel
Release Dates: EU: 04.06.2010 | US: 06.08.2010

At the center of every shitty, irritating trend made up of forgettable, annoying bands is usually a core (no pun intended) of interesting bands that aren’t shitty and that do the music with conviction and may have even been on the front end of the whole trend. The Gothenburg sound had At The Gates and In Flames which have been imitated thousands of times. Metalcore (incidentally which is ripping off At The Gates and In Flames) had Unearth (who had one really great album before they got signed to Metal Blade). As far as I can tell Whitechapel is one such band. I have never listened to them, having been pretty much turned off of any band labeled deathcore because of a slough of shitty fucking bands that have been passed off in my direction (see the “related reviews”, I’m sure you’ll see how I feel about the genre/trend).

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Those Who Lie Beneath // An Awakening
Rating: 2.0/5.0 — Lacking substance and direction
Label: Metalblade / Rise
Websites: myspace.com/ThoseWhoLieBeneath
Release Dates: US: Out | EU: 29.03.2010

A wise man once told me that you should never, ever refuse to do something just because someone else has done it before you and done it poorly. I think that this is very good advice. It’s advice that really counts when it comes to breakdowns, for example, which have been considered to be the death knell for deathcore and metalcore since they became irritating and out of fashion in the underground. An Awakening is the debut record from the Portland, Oregon based Those Who Lie Beneath and they have certainly not shied away from the standards of the deathcore scene—something that has been has done very badly before them..

I’ve done a lot of thinking about the genre (and ripped on it quite a bit), but I think I know partially what’s going on here. See, fundamentally, whether death metal guys want to admit or not, deathcore is heavy as hell. It is just as heavy as many of the heaviest death metal bands you can name. Those short haired kids and Luke Skywalkers have out death metaled death metal at its own game with the use of riffy as hell guitar, blasty drums, inaudible bass and borderline pukey cookie monster growls. Those Who Lie Beneath shares all of the elements that really make me as a death metal fan excited, but yet somehow it rubs me the wrong way.

The problem occurred to me as I was listening to An Awakening and it became clear. Aside from the production issues that I don’t like: the songwriting on An Awakening is just sub-par. Not only does it lack direction, but it lacks other dimensions. 95% of the time it is either amelodic grind style riffs with lots of trem picking and widdly widdly on the high strings in order to be technical, but rarely is a theme ever given time to gestate in a song. Riffs are rarely repeated, but neither are they given the attention that they deserved in the first place. The sporadic riffing doesn’t lead to something that is mentally engaging, but instead it’s just a big turn off. The chug chug scream scream chug chug breakdowns are boring (with the exception of the breakdown in “Frozen Feastings” which was righteous) and there are scarcely good hooks. Break it all down to its bare bones: and there is very little substance here, just style.

Those Who Lie Beneath actually do shine at moments, however, when they let their melodic side shine and get more dynamic in their writing style. The track “Through His Eyes” has some amazing guitar work in the beginning and has a real sense of a semblance of structured songwriting, instead of being a vehicle for a breakdown (which you do eventually get—and may I add is boring as fuck.) The musicianship is great, and the band shows this off on the final couple of tracks on the album (“As the Vultures Circle” and “Still Breathing”) which flow nicely into each other, the former probably being one of the more dynamic tracks on the album and the latter being a 7 minute guitar solo that closes out the album with some beautiful melodies that were missing throughout the whole thing.

It is not the throwaway breakdowns that ruin this record for me, it is the rock hard dedication to conforming to the standards of a scene. These guys are obviously talented and good songwriters when it actually shows through, but instead of using that talent to create interesting, progressive and fascinating metal, which they are capable, they play to the lowest common denominator. This band has all the makings of excellent metal that could push death metal in a different direction—but it falls short because it is unfocused and cliché. Better luck next time, dudes.

Anima // Enter the Killzone
Rating: 1.5/5.0 — So much wrong here..
Label: Metal Blade
Website: myspace.com/animamusic666
Release Dates: EU: 26.02.2010/01.03.2010 | US: Unknown

I am not a trend hater. While the whole world has been hating on Deathcore for its tight pants and swoopy hair, I’ve been defending the fact that bands don’t have to “look like metal dudes” to make good metal. While jackass elitists are purging the genre from Encyclopaedia Metallum because they don’t like the trend, bands like Suicide Silence and Job for a Cowboy have shown that these bands can write killer riffs and produce solid records—even if they’re not stylistically something I’m a big fan of. Anima, unfortunately, is not so easy to defend.

Enter the Killzone is an illustrious example of what one observer referred to as “paint by numbers Deathcore”. From the obligatory horror movie clip introduction, to the Suicide Silence ripoff “Black Night”, which is the band writing a “metal” soundtrack to a B horror movie killing. From the “dynamic” vocals (i.e., high harsh vocals and brutal death growls a la Trevor Strnad), and the At The Gates worship riffs offset by the stupid breakdowns, to the hyper-replaced drums that sound like complete fucking shit. Enter the Killzone has it all.

There are high points. The track “Welcome to Our Killzone” has a superb breakdown and some very cool staccato riffing. The final track on the record “XXXIII” has some cool keyboards towards the end that definitely stand out from the rest of the album. But while the whole album is filled with riffs that could be ripped off from any number of brutal death metal bands, the songwriting never ranges beyond the conventional. One can hardly breathe without encountering an  ill-conceived breakdown or Deathcore cliché.

Where this album really lost me, however, is the production. I am not a producer, but I do know some things about production and if the only way you can think to make the drums stand out from the music is to make them sound this tinny and fake, then I think you need a new career. Every time the drums ever stood out I shuddered with grim realization that this may be simply the worst drum production I have ever heard in my entire life. This is not an exaggeration. Notice how I bolded, italicized AND underlined it up above in the second paragraph? That’s because these drums sound like robotic, drum machine ass. But it’s not just that, everything is weirdly muffled and just sort of lacks any kind of dynamic width.

In a way, I feel bad for Anima. I’m sure that they didn’t decide how their drums were going to sound or really had much say in the final mix, either. My guess is they went to a dude who decided all of that. These guys are fundamentally sound players who write some alright riffs but got super hosed on production. Unfortunately, if I’m not the only guy who has this kind of visceral reaction to the drum sound and banal song writing, my guess is that they’ll be “entering the killzone” of the Metal Blade drop pool in no time.

See how I brought that around there? See that? Awwww, shit.