Angry Metal Guy

Unleashed // As Yggdrasil Trembles
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — The Manowar of Death Metal strikes again!
Label: Nuclear Blast (EU | US)
Websites: unleashed.se | myspace.com/unleashed
Release Dates: EU: 19.03.2010 | 03.19.2010

Unleashed is not without their appeal. They’ve been around for a couple decades now, putting out their first record Where No Life Dwells in 1991, and they’ve been pretty consistently well-respected in the scene for being among the first to do the whole Viking Metal thing. But they’re a band that this Angry Metal Guy has never been able to get into on the basis of one thing: Unleashed is the Manowar of death metal. Now, some people are going to say “But Manowar are the Kings of Metal! Should we not be praising Unleashed for translating such kinglyness into the Death Metal genre?” To which there can only be one response: “Absofuckinglutely not.”

Like Manowar, Unleashed writes some pretty great metal. Musically, the band produces a melodic form of tear-your-head-off death metal that has been associated with Sweden since the early 1990s. The music is powerful, pummeling and thrashy it makes the listener want to headbang! Like their Swedish brethren Amon Amarth, Unleashed likes trem-picked melodic passages that are littered with good groove and plenty of chances to headbang manically. The guitar solos are wickedly thrashy and, surprisingly enough, the bass is even audible! Musically, there isn’t a song on here that I don’t like! And the record pounds out of the gate with amazing tracks, “Courage Today, Victory Tomorrow”, “So it Begins” and “As Yggdrasil Trembles”.

However, like Manowar, Unleashed has a lyrics problem. This chink in the armor becomes the most obvious when one hits the 4th track on the album “Wir Kapitulieren Niemals”, and Johnny starts screaming “Viking Death Metal!” This is not the first time, or the last time, on this record that there are lyrical issues that stand out and make the listener a little bit embarrassing. This sort of idea that one can write about the meta-aspect of heavy metal is one of the reasons that power metal is considered to be so ridiculously cheesy. How does one take  seriously a band that sings about themselves being awesomely metal? And in some ways, its even easier with a band like Lost Horizon or Manowar because they’re wearing loincloths anyway. Unleashed are just a Swedish death metal band cursed with terrible lyrics.

We’ll stop there with our little Manowar comparison, because frankly Unleashed produces way more consistent and interesting music than Manowar ever has. While the latter has a few good songs on every record and then a bunch of shit that litters the side about how metal they are and about how big their “swords” are, the former writes consistent, enjoyable death metal. As Yggdrasil Trembles is par for the Unleashed course, littered with great songs and solid riffs. If you can bring yourself past the silly lyrics, which is often times pretty easy with death metal bands, and you’re a fan of death metal and viking metal, you’ll probably really enjoy this record. Don’t expect to be wowed by their deep interpretations of the Norse myths in reference to our every day, modern life. But then again, when was the last time any metal lyricist wowed you?

So, much to my happiness, excitement and general satisfaction, Rhapsody [of Fire] has finally released more information about their new album! The record had previously been announced to be coming out on the 5th of March, but this obviously didn’t happen. Now let me say, first: the artwork is great! Sure, it’s not as colorful as the previous stuff, but I really like it. Secondly, I can’t wait to hear what these guys sound like now that they’re not shackled by the Manowar dudes. I don’t know what went down there, but I would love to get an interview about that stuff, because honestly, that shit is fascinating. They were forced to stop touring? They got like no support. Manowar basically stole their sound on the following album. That shit is crazy.

Anyway, you can now download the new song for free from their website! I’ve downloaded it and listened to it a bunch of times. It’s great. Nice to hear a good guitar solo in there, too. I cannot wait. So the new album, entitled The Frozen Tears of Angels will be released on the 30th of April in Europe! Who’s excited!? Angry Metal Guy is excited. Now if only I could actually get promo of these things….

Immolation // Majesty and Decay
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Great record!
Label: Nuclear Blast (EU | US)
Websites: everlastingfire.com | myspace.com/immolation
Release Dates: EU: 05.03.2010 | US: 03.09.2010

Immolation are one of death metal’s best known bands, rooting in the NYDM scene of the 1990s, they have produced some of the most widely worshiped death metal records of all time. Oddly enough, they’re not a band that this Angry Metal Guy was particularly familiar with, as the path to death metal went through more melodic bands. But I have heard rumors of their greatness, technical prowess and their tendency to put out excellent records. Immolation’s 2010 release has seen them living up to this reputation as being one of death metal’s greats with their Nuclear Blast debut Majesty and Decay.

Majesty and Decay is 45 minutes of groove based, but still fairly technical death metal of the type that came up during the early 1990s. Even though the band has been around for a couple of decades, they sound remarkably fresh. Despite being worried from the opening riff of “The Purge”, which is probably the most generic “death metal riff” on the entire album, the album quickly morphed into a groove happy, headbanging inducing death metal masterpiece. The riffs are pummeling and thick. The rhythm section is powerful and adroit, and the songwriting is straight forward enough to not lose listeners while still being technically interesting to listen to.

Following the intro, the first three tracks are really the highlight of this record. They pound out of the speakers with their power and draw the listener back again with their hooks and groove. That’s not to say, however, that the rest of the album is lacking in solid tracks. Throughout the whole album songs stand out for me, “A Glorious Epoch” is probably the highlight for me, while much slower than some of the other songs on the record, it still includes some of the best melodies and riffs on the album. The same is true for “The Rapture of Ghosts”, with its great opening riff and guitar lead, and “The Comfort of Cowards”, which draws the record to a close with a blast of power.

Majesty and Decay also wins in that it clocks in at about 45 minutes long, which is probably about perfect. The band has time to hook you, play out the sound and show off their songwriting and then they keep it short (and vinyl friendly—hint hint!). The structure is great, though the introduction and interlude feel a tad unnecessary, the songs flow and mesh well without flowing into each other and losing their uniqueness. The only complaint that I have is that one could say that the band isn’t necessarily progressing the sound at all. Some have criticized the album for being a replay of the things that Immolation is good at and that there’s no progression from the band. Long time fans who are familiar with the band’s entire discography might feel this way, but as a new listener you probably won’t. Immolation shows off everything that they do well on Majesty and Decay and they don’t overstay their welcome. This leaves the listener pummeled and satisfied when the album comes to its close. Hopefully that’s how we’ll all feel about it at the end of the year.

Eluveitie // Everything Remains (As It Never Was)
Rating: 2.5/5.0 — Pretty solid, but too formulaic
Label: Nuclear Blast (EU | US)
Websites: eluveitie.ch | myspace.com/eluveitie
Release Dates: EU: 19.02.2010 | US: 03.09.2010

While not the first folk metal band to take the world by storm, Eluveitie has always been a bit of a unique thing in the folk metal scene. Really, the band has tremendous success when compared to other bands in the genre. After being picked up by Nuclear Blast, they’ve had three albums, big American tours (something that has only started recently for the genre) and become very well known and well loved among folk metal enthusiasts and just regular metal enthusiasts alike. Everything Remains (As it Never Was) is the band’s big third record from Nuclear Blast (5th total) and it is set to make a big metal splash.

Frankly, the band hasn’t changed anything, except that they’re more poppy than ever. Everything Remains (As it Never Was) starts out with the obligatory album intro that sets the stage for the whole album (and a sad part from Braveheart). The tracks are heavy and well-produced, but much cleaner than earlier work, and the trilling flutes and bagpipes permeate every chorus of this album, formulaically building up to the climax of almost every song in precisely the same way. At its base, Eluveitie is basically a melodic death metal band. This stood out to me as I listened to this album: tracks like “The Essence of the Ashes” have obvious In Flames leanings on the guitars. “Kingdom Come Undone” and “Sempiternal Embers” both reek of Hypocrisy and Dark Tranquillity and the only thing that actually differentiates this band from those bands is the ability of the musicians to swap out what the guitar would normally do in a DT song for a flute, fiddle or bagpipe.

But Eluveitie isn’t just a melodic death metal band, they’re a modern melodic death metal band—I’ve never really put my finger on this before. There is a ton of stoppy, “Core” riffs on this record that are simply offset by a trilling flute. The choruses are huge, poppy and bordering on schlager at times in their structure and enormity, leading often times to a sense that the verses are simply there to connect big catchy choruses to each other and for no other reason. The band has also dumped the blast beats that one hears on the earlier records completely, leaving the band far more in the post-glory days Swedish Death Metal (i.e., Gothenburg scene) arena. The song structures are quite simple and similar to each other, and because the flute basically does the same thing all the time, the songs start to sort of blend into one another. This is partially because the sort of Riverdance flute style doesn’t really lend itself to memorability, but feels more decorative than anything and the guitars and vocals don’t offset it—leading to swaths of unmemorable trilling.

Of course, there are high points on this album, too. The points where they actually point themselves in a more folk metal direction are the parts that I really appreciate about Everything Remains. For example, the chorus in the song “The Essence of the Ashes”, where they break down into clean vocals that are reminiscent of Fejd, is a major win. The folk tracks that are sort of devoid of metal are also quite beautiful and breathtaking; “Isara” and “Setlon” both set an atmosphere of beauty and simplicity which embodies the title of this album. My personal favorite track on the album is “Lugdunon” which, while it’s built on a production trick in the beginning, has excellent dynamics that are not really demonstrated on other parts of the album, including an amazing flute melody and a super 80s rock sounding breakdown that really stands out from the rest of the album.

What this leads me to is that variation, dynamics and a new approach to the metal aspects of this album are lacking. While there are some compelling songs and moments, this record generally falls short of my expectations due to its more simplistic and poppy elements, which are the things that draw the listener to the band in the first place. While Everything Remains (As it Never Was) is definitely on par for quality with Slania, I don’t think it’s as strong as Spirit and that’s probably because the sound isn’t as novel or fresh as it was when I became infatuated with “Your Gaulish War”. This band is definitely not mediocre, but this album is not what I was expecting from it. Of course, you can (and should) check for yourself (as the band has posted the album on MySpace through the 19th of February presumably).

Arsis // Starve for the Devil
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Chalk full of good riffs, but more simplistic than previous releases
Label: Nuclear Blast (EU | US)
Website: myspace.com/arsis
Release Dates: EU: 05.02.2010 | US: 02.09.2010

In the new wave of technical, fast, melodic death metal bands that have been coming out in the last few years Arsis has stood alone with its professional blending of melodic death, technical death and thrash. Basically an instant success story from their first CD A Celebration of Guilt, the band has gone through a lot of line-up changes and has been out there pretty much consistently since their break in 2004. Starve for the Devil follows on the heals of 2008’s We Are the Nightmare and there are a lot of expectations to be met and surpassed with this new album.

Blowing out the door with “Forced to Rock”, for good or for ill, Starve for the Devil is in the books now and it’s pretty good. The Arsis you know and love is definitely here within these tracks. The record is filled with fast, technical riffs, amazing leads and some great hooks. But Starve for the Devil differentiates itself from previous releases by being far more traditionally structured rock tracks which combine the technicality of their riffing. This change is probably welcome from some, but I suspect that fans of technical death metal will be a lot more disappointed with this stuff.

Starve for the Devil is also superior to its predecessor in that the band has moved back towards more natural drums with the return of drummer Mike Van Dyne. This makes the production on this record so much easier to listen to. Instead of having the very false sounding drums that permeated every crevice in the listeners brains,  and overpowered even the guitars in some places, now the production is far more balanced. This fact, combined with the poppy song structures, makes this album fun to listen to for sure. Tracks like “From Soulless to Shattered”, “Escape Artist” and “The Ten of Swords” stand out not for the technical prowess, but because of their hooks and guitar harmonies. At first this is a welcome change, because this record is easy to get hooked on. But there does feel like there’s something missing here for me, personally. Even after deep listening to this album, I began to feel like the band could have worked a little harder at writing more technical pieces. Don’t get me wrong, of course. The band is not simplifying so much that the record doesn’t contain any of the technical aspects that fans are coming to expect. The musicianship on here is stellar. The drums, as mentioned, are fantastic. The bass performance is awesome (not something I even normally mention) and of course the guitar-work is stellar as always. The issue is more stylistic than anything else.

In sum, Starve for the Devil is a pretty good record for fans of bands like The Black Dahlia Murder, At The Gates and other more aggressive melodic death bands. The band has definitely improved in some ways, certainly their writing feels more focused and linear, and that can really go either way depending on who is listening to the record. This record could be a grower, but review deadlines don’t let that kind of thing happen. We’ll see where I stand on it this at the end of the year.

Rage // Strings to a Web
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — A surprising, catchy release
Label: Nuclear Blast (EU | US)
Websites: rage-on.de | myspace.com/rage
Release Dates: EU: 05.02.2010 | US: TBA

When I was in my big power metal phase, which I guess would’ve probably been around 2000/2001, I stumbled upon a Rage CD in a great used CD store that I used to go into all the time (those were the days). I thought for sure it was going to be great just from looking at it. Turns out… not so much. I don’t recall hating a record more than that one. I thought it was a major pile of shit. I’m pretty sure it was the record XIII, but I can’t be sure as it was sold away a long time ago. Needless to say I wasn’t even a little bit excited when I received this record. I was fully expecting this record to be totally crap.

However, the German hockey metal has struck: and I’ve been addicted for about a week to this CD. For fans of the band, I’m sure that this review will probably be not as good as it could be, because I don’t have a lot of reference for the band’s earlier work, however, I’m going to describe this from the perspective of someone who’s really hearing these guys for the first time. Rage is like a blending of 80s Yes with Blind Guardian. They have all the thrash, the classical influences (and these guys actually pre-date Blind Guardian by a few years) and the “hockey choruses” as one individual I know calls it, that make Blind Guardian, Nocturnal Rites and bands of that nature addictive. On the other hand, there’s a progressive bent, that keeps things fresh and that really is reminiscent of the 1980s.

Actually, the biggest surprise here is that a band with such big, modern production can still sound so genuinely 80s. I know that, of course, these guys started making music in the early 80s, but honestly.. no one sounds like that anymore. These guys have not shyed away from the things that made the 80s unique and campy, including a Top Gun love scene kind of soundtrack moment (the track entitled “Fatal Grace” and starring a Kenny G wannabe) in the big “Empty Hollow” track (a 5 part epic, that kicks ass). But despite all of this, it still manages to be good and somehow avoids the camp. It has all of those simple rock beats, straightforward melodies and guitar driven compositions that one associates with the 80s, but somehow they just make it work. There must be something in the tone or the production that I can’t quite put my finger on, but this record manages to be simultaneously nostalgic and relevant.

But don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a glam album either. It is consistent with good German thrash metal and just generally addictive. Very few bands tempt me to headbang at the desk while I’m writing the review and listening to it. Few bands produce melodies that are so intensely addictive as the choruses on this album (see: “Empty Hollow,” “Hunter and Prey,” “Saviour of the Dead”). My biggest complaint about this record, honestly, is that the lyrics are pretty lame. As a buddy put it “Show me a power metal band with good lyrics and I’ll show you the holy grail,” and that’s probably true.. but you’d think that someday we’d be able to get past the embarrassing lyrics that show up on this record (and many other power metal records). It’s a shame, because everything else about this record is great—but just listen to the lyrics to “Hellgirl” and tell me that you’re not embarrassed.

Criticisms aside, I was pretty much wowed by this album. I’ve heard bad things about this band’s later material, so it sounds like this record isn’t at all representative of that era. If you’ve been a fan of this band in the past but quit listening to them, now might be the time to give them another chance. And if you’re a fan of power metal, prog and German thrash you should definitely check out this album.

Overkill // Ironbound
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Great! A pleasant thrash surprise!
Label: Nuclear Blast  (EU | US)
Websites: wreckingcrew.com | myspace.com/overkill
Release Dates: EU: 29.01.2010 | US: 02.09.2010

“Overkill is still around?” That was my first thought when I received this promo. See, this band is definitely a part of my childhood, being a huge a fan of the record I Hear Black when I was at the tender age of 11, but they were never a band that I ever followed with any religiosity. No, Overkill never managed to make it into my early thrash pantheon, despite the fact that I remember loving that album. So it was with great interest that I put on this album, not really know what to expect at all given everything. I mean, it’s been a lot of years and bands, in general, do not age well. And, after asking around, I’d heard that Overkill hadn’t aged very well, either.

Ironbound, if it’s true the band hasn’t aged well, isn’t representative of such biases. In fact, just the opposite, this record shows Overkill as a dominant thrash metal band on top of their game. While the band has maintained their characteristic sound, which is pretty much thrash with the very characteristic vocal approach of vocalist Bobby “Blitz” crooning (screeching? singing? grunting? How the hell do you describe this guy’s vocals?) over top. The riffs are solid thrash attack triplets and gallops that make you want to break open a beer, put some horns up and headbang all night. There are even some technical parts that really make the thrash fan in me happy to know that in this thrash revival there is a band still producing something worth thrashing to!

Honestly, the impression I get from this record is that the band is back to stay. If they can keep up pumping out tracks with the sharpened hooks and intelligent harmonies and song writing that litters tracks like “Ironbound”, “Bring Me the Night”, “Endless War” and, probably my favorite on the album, “Give A Little,” these guys are totally back to stay. The whole album pounds out of the speakers just like the drunken thrash attack you would expect from these veterans and there isn’t a bad song on this album.

Of course, in my opinion the band probably could have cut off a track or two in order to bring the album down to about 45 minutes, which would’ve made it the perfect length for vinyl and a great length for a thrash metal record. But that said, that I’m complaining about the length and have nothing else really to say other than that should tell you something. This is album is a masterwork of thrash metal in an age of neo-thrash bands who wish they could have the excellence or authenticity of Overkill. If only EVERY band could be putting out albums like this 25 years after their inception.

Annotations of an Autopsy // The Reign of Darkness
Rating: 2.5/5.0 – It’s death metal
Label: Nuclear Blast (EU | US)
Website: myspace.com/annotationsofanautopsy
Release Dates: EU: 22.01.2010 | US: 02.09.2010

Every once in a while a record just jumps out at you and kicks your ass every which way. The originality, the brutality, everything that you want from death metal just hits you right in the face and leaves you dazed, but pleased. The Reign of Darkness, the sophomore release of UK death metallers (or deathcorers if you read the interwebs—though I’m inclined to just call this death metal) is not one of those records. And while it can be very difficult to write about just how good a band is or how bad a band is, I find the most difficult reviews to write the ones where you have to say “I don’t like it, but you might if this is your thing.”

The name Annotations of an Autopsy is a pretty good signal of what you should be expecting as far as death metal goes. Pretty brutal, pretty modern and pretty tight. The band does its best to reproduce the sounds that we’re all familiar with when it comes to death metal—particularly death metal of the Hate Eternal or Suffocation variety—a mix of mid-paced or slow death metal riffing with solid double bass underneath and more technical riffs with the band operating in unison to make it as heavy as possible. And, honestly, they’re not bad at what they’re doing. The groove in a lot of areas is solid and I find myself enjoying, particularly, the mid-paced stuff or the stuff that probably gets called “core” because it’s a little bit more stoppy or even nearing breakdowns. They do it well, they put a good spin on it and it’s fun to listen to.

The vocals are solid as hell, actually. Despite being pretty much just standard death metal growls, dude has great growls and they sound crushingly heavy and awesome. The production is good and thick and not marred by any of the modern production trick problems that a lot of these modern deathcore/death metal bands are suffering from (though, the bass drum triggers are pretty annoying at times). Hell, the band even uses dynamics to their advantage so that the music doesn’t get hyper-repetitive, as is often the case with modern death metal bands. Instead, Annotations of an Autopsy suffers from a bigger problem: novelty—or more specifically, lack thereof. Go back 10 years, or longer really, and you’ve heard all of these riffs before, you’ve grooved to bands like this and it’s instantly recognizable and comfortable—but the question comes down to “will it stick?”

And that’s where I come back to my initial statement: it might stick for you, even if it doesn’t for me. While it’s nice to see bands like this—heavy, brutal and uncompromising death metal—on the major label stage again, it’s just lacking the kind of staying power that one would hope to see from a band of this caliber. However, for fans of more traditional death metal Annotations of an Autopsy is a band that I would recommend checking out. They might be right up your alley, with the kind of groove and heavy riffs that you like.

Menemic // Sons of the System
Rating: 2.0/5.0 – Blasé, cliché and just generally mediocre
Label: Nuclear Blast (EU | US)
Website: myspace.com/mnemic | mnemic.com
Release Dates: EU: 15.01.2010 | US: 01.26.2010

Mnemic has been around in the æther for a while but I’ve never given them a proper listen until now. The band has good promo, they’ve toured Europe twice with metal giants (like ‘em or not) Metallica, they look like real metal dudes and they’ve got cred because a couple people I know compared them to Meshuggah back when they first came out. Unfortunately, Sons of the System sounds a lot less like Meshuggah and a lot more like Sonic Syndicate. This record is another convergence point for things that I’m not really keen on in the world of metal and I’ll give you a short run-down.

At its base Mnemic is a groovecore band. The riffs are meant to be groovy, the drums tight and heavy and the atmosphere built to move your body to. Now and again they pull that off, but I think they’ve got a couple of things working against them on this front. First, groovecore sounds more and more like metalcore in my ears every time I listen to it because the production values are leaning more in the direction of triggered drums, “soaring vocal” choruses a la Killswitch Engage and a glut of predictable and uninteresting breakdowns. While expertly executed and smoothly produced, Sons of the System follows this formula off the cliff. The soaring vocals are completely forgettable, the chuggy parts feel thin and very rarely is there a groove that makes me want to do anything other than listen to something else.

This is not to say that there is nothing good going on here, but it’s few and far between. The track “Fate” has its moments, for example, and there are a couple of melodies early on that caught my ear  (the intro to “The Erasing” is a great example of this) but they never moved me to anything more than a “huh.” To top it off, the disc just gets pretty repetitive. Since the band isn’t doing anything very interesting melodically throughout the whole 55 minutes of this disc, the tracks all blend into eachother, with each chorus mimicing the choruses before and after it and the riffs repeating ad nauseum. The advertised “progressiveness” that has been flaunted in reference to this new record is few and far between (I count about 3 places where the record moves into something beyond standard groove riffs) and mainly it just sounds like Meshuggah rip-off rather than something new and interesting.

There is a sound that is forming with these groovecore/metalcore bands that are coming from Europe that I’m thinking about dubbing with the very down-my-nose kind of expression: Eurocore. Sonic Syndicate sounds pretty much like this as well, with production values that bore and fail to impress, groovy riffs that are everything you’ve ever heard before and a formula that, in general, disappoints because of its predictability and lack of originality. I guess I understand that there’s pressure on these bands to try to be as commercial as possible in order to stay in the limelight, but then again.. I can’t think of anyone I know who actually likes music that sounds like this.

Sonic Syndicate // Rebellion EP
Rating: 1.0/5.0 – This is everything that is wrong with modern metal
Label: Nuclear Blast (EU | US)
Websites: sonicsyndicate.com | myspace.com/sonicsyndicate
Release Date: Nov. 6th, 2009

Sonic Syndicate are a pop rock band that somehow got signed to Nuclear Blast. Apparently they’re from Sweden, but I wonder if other metal guys from this country would actually agree to that. I think many of them would say “Well, don’t they have an English singer?” Why yes, they do! He’s new, in fact!

The rundown is simple. Sonic Syndicate is poppy metalcore. Do not let their Wikipedia page fool you. Sonic Syndicate are not melodic death metal. There is nothing remotely death metal about this EP or this band. “Burn This City,” sounds like the theme song from a bad action flick, and the new vocalist sounds like the guy from Killswitch Engage. While “Rebellion in Nightmareland” is a little bit better than the title track, it too is far too formulaic to stand. Oh, he sounds like the dude from KSE on this track, too.

In fact, the only thing that I can say good about this band is that they’re all very pretty. So pretty, in fact, that one wonders when they found time to write this music between all the primping and preening they must do every day. When the fuck did becoming a metal dude mean becoming a goddamn hair model? Other than that, this is an example of everything that is wrong with modern metal. The production is so mechanical that it is totally soulless. The keyboards are high and unnecessary, the drums are fake and lifeless. The vocals are standard metalcore vocals, some screaming lots of 2nd tenor whining about girls.

This whole EP clocks in at 11 minutes long. Oh, and let me tell you something. There’s a 1 second difference between the “Radio Cut” and the normal version of “Burn This City.” I’ve listened to this whole thing several times and I can’t tell the difference. So in reality, the new material on this EP clocks in at about 7 minutes. And that’s 7 minutes you’ll never get back.