Psycroptic may be one of the best known technical death metal bands out there today. Their high profile is largely the result of the fact that they make a type of technical death metal that moves about a mile a second, but while managing to not be too abstract. The band has historically had catchy hooks and great melodic parts, while never backing down on the guitar gymnastics and with vocals that have been just as diverse and unique as the music behind it. Psycroptic is the real deal, so there was never any hesitation on my part when I got a hold of the Tazmanian band’s 5th full-length The Inherited Repression.

Oh, and I knew what I was going to get out the gate. Even with the logo gone, The Inherited Repression screams “something grim comes this way,” and when the characteristic Psycroptic legato technical riff burst out the gate at about 57 seconds into “Carriers of the Plague” I was pretty much in. The whole album is a tour de force of Psycroptic‘s unique sound. There’s the groove parts (like the opening riff of the album, the amazing stuff in the middle of “From Scribe to Ashes”), the slower “breakdowny” and acoustic parts (but, this isn’t core and they’re few and far between) and the hyper fast and techy style riffs that have been with us since the beginning (some of my favorite riffs show up in final track “The Sleeper Has Awoken” but the whole album is littered with amazing riff after amazing riff). This is the stuff that keeps me excited for every time these guys put out a record.

Another major thing about this record that blows the previous albums out of the water is the production. While 2008′s (Ob)Servant was released on Nuclear Blast, the production on it wasn’t the best. Specifically the drums were heinously replaced and the sound was immensely annoying. The Inherited Repression inherited none of these production problems and it is easily the band’s most balanced album to date. The vocals are pretty far back in the mix and it helps to focus on the whirling guitars, bass and drums which are properly mixed this time around.

But I have a big complaint and, frankly, I’m a little confused as to what’s up. Jason Peppiat replaced Chalky three records ago, and since then the vocals, while not having been as extreme, were actually a little reminiscent of Trevor Strnad’s tendency to switch it up and be really dynamic. One of the things that made Psycroptic interesting to me was the way that the vocals really matched each riff and just as dynamic as the music. Unfortunately on The Inherited Repression vocalist Peppiat has pretty much stopped doing anything that isn’t in the mid-ranged scream area. While he does have two or three different tones that he uses, the death metal growl is completely gone, as well as the more At The Gates scream that he used to do—and that I really, really liked. This shouldn’t be that big a deal, right? It’s just death metal vocals. But unless the music has also lost a step (which, given that the songs are on average about 1:30 shorter than on their last record, is possible), I think that the vocals being so monotonous really has a detrimental effect on the music. While the riffs are solid, I have found that this record sags a bit in the middle, which none of the band’s previous material ever has. The only thing I can come up with is that the vocals were a lot more important than we ever gave them credit for.

I don’t want that to take away from the fact that Psycroptic is a great band and that the music on this record is pretty fucking solid. But I do feel like The Inherited Repression is a bit of a step backwards for a band that is as talented and dynamic as they come. Fans of the band will obviously still enjoy this record, but I’m not sure that it’s going to be met with as unanimous cheers and glee that the band’s previous work has.

Related posts:

1. Abysmal Dawn – Leveling the Plane of Existence Review
2. Dim Mak – The Emergence of Reptilian Altars Review
3. Suicide Silence – No Time to Bleed Review

Is lumbering, elephantine doom your thing? Well, it had better be if you plan on spending quality time with Rhode Island doom-sayers, Pilgrim. That’s because their Misery Wizard debut serves up six ginomous slices of crawling, droning, monolithic doom with all the subtlety of a steel cage wrestling match. Do you think Saint Vitus and Reverend Bizarre are slow? Pilgrim is slower. Think Cathedral has some huge sounding riffs? Pilgrim has bigger ones. In a doom pissing contest, these chaps are mellow yellow. To help explain their sound, I’ve compiled a short list of things that move faster than Pilgrim. These include: octogenarians with bad knees, glaciers, evolution and innovation in black metal. Yep, Pilgrim is mighty slow. For a power trio, they make a lot of racket and stay true to the old school style of Sabbath-infused dirgery. They aren’t innovative or particularly dynamic and at times, they can get rather tiresome and tedious, even for a doom fanboy like Steel Druhm. Because of that last factoid, Misery Wizard is an album intended only for tried-and-true doom-hounds who don’t suffer from the slightest trace of ADD [I'll be over here, looking at moss. - AMG]. If your mind tends to wander, or drone makes you snooze, skip this release, or patience you’ll lose (HA! I waxed poetic).

Almost instantly, you’ll hear a big Reverend Bizarre similarity in the lead riff on “Astaroth.” It’s huge and sloth-like and Pilgrim uses it  to beat you senseless, repeating it over and over until you’re curled up in a ball on the floor. Like most of the songs here, this one crawls along like a sleepy snail in Snail-ville, with just the riffs to keep you company. The vocals don’t come in til the halfway point and feel a bit like an afterthought. It’s a classic doom song and at about six minutes, it’s the perfect length and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Others, like the ten-minute-plus title track and the whooping thirteen minutes of “Forsaken Man,” require far more stamina and indulgence from the listener as Pilgrim shambles, rambles and meanders (slowly) across a largely barren and static musical landscape. There are few, if any, tempo shifts and its usually one molar-shaking riff after another, with a minimum of window dressing. “Quest” and “Adventurer” shake things up a bit with faster tempos and actual solos (though “Quest” only accelerates at the midway point), and after all the lethargic rumbling, the increased speed ends up making a real impact and these tracks are high points because of it.

The riffs generated by the Wizard (that’s his name!) are fairly doomtastic and steeped in old timey doom ethos. He knows how to craft a thunderous lead and use it as a weapon of mass destruction. While solos and showy fret-work clearly aren’t his bag, he does his doomy duty and delivers the gloomy goods in workmanlike fashion. Sadly, as a vocalist, he doesn’t do much to excite or impress. He has a rather monotone, chant/shout style which doesn’t add much to the material’s impact. He doesn’t hurt things, but doesn’t elevate them either. This issue is partially alleviated by the mix, which brings the guitars way upfront and submerges the vox into the background. Still, a better vocal performance would make the songs pop a bit more.

As good as some of this material is, Misery Wizard would have benefited from a bit more diversity in tempo and song dynamics. The long song lengths, paired with a single-minded devotion to super slow riff-play, wear the listener out when there’s no break or respite from the doom-o-thon. Even the best riffs can be overused and eventually beaten into the ground and that happens a bit too often here.

Misery Wizard is a good debut by some promising doomsters. If they progress as songwriters and the Wizard works on his vocal approach, I can see highly depressing things in their glum future. If you cotton to the slow-motion bludgeoning of Reverend Bizarre, Saint Vitus or YOB, this should be right up your alley. You might want to bring some coffee along on the journey though, just in case.

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Every once in a while the scene gets a hair up its ass and decides that something that is explicitly not metal is totally OK to love. So, in the 90s, when I was first cutting my teeth on the extreme metal scene, Anathema and Katatonia were both giving up their extreme pasts and putting out records that were much more akin to sort of depressing alt rock than anything they’d previously been doing. Then there’s black metal guys’ love of swirly keyboard soundscapes (such that it ends up on Metal Archives, despite them actually banning other bands that I—and most others—would consider metal). Well, since the release of Amesoeurs really broke this sound in 2009, this sort of post-black metal shoegaze stuff has becomes the scene’s favorite non-metal thing. And, really, the description of it by one reviewer I read really sums it up: “Black metal that pisses off the indie kids and indie rock that pisses off the black metal kids. Brilliant.”

However, post-split (the split record, not that they were the same band) with Les Discrets, the Alcest production has been somewhat hit and miss. The first half of Écailles de Lune was brilliant, but the record sort of regressed as it went on, leaving new listeners and fans alike to wish that the album had really just been a 3 track EP. So, in early 2012 with the introduction of Alcest‘s newest piece of work Les Voyages De L’Âme, there were definitely concerns as to whether Alcest could live up to the gigantic expectations that everyone has for them. Because, really, given how ostensibly not metal these guys are—they sure do get a lot of love from the scene. Contrary to what the haters would tell you, generally such expectations are not unwarranted—and such is the case with Alcest.

What makes this stuff good is that it is beautiful and delicate and the melodies waft over the listener with a sort of ethereal grace that you don’t really get out of a lot of other bands. Rarely does Les Voyages de L’Âme move the listener to nod his head or engender any kind of physical reaction. Instead, it is meant to be listened to in darkened rooms on winter days. It’s essentially mood music. This kind of moodiness is perfectly embodied by the filler track “Beings of Light.” Lush vocal harmonies that are processed to the point of almost sounding like keyboards gently pull the listener further into the ambient calm before launching into blast beats—something that should be jarring—but even the blast beats have a non-aggressive feel to them because there’s nothing raw about the production tone. And when the vocals come in over that, they sound are more reminiscent of the mourning music in Lord of the Rings in the house of Galadriel and Celeborn than anything else I can think of. There is a definite appeal to this, and with time I have grown to love these melodies and this feel.

The problem that I have with this album is that I get bored with it. In its totality, the album feels very long, even though it clocks in at 50 minutes. That’s because a song like the aforementioned “Beings of Light” is basically 6 minutes of “oohs” and “aahs” and the chords progression doesn’t even change. It might be beautiful, but the minute you pierce the veil of beauty and begin thinking beyond whether or not its aesthetically pleasing, it feels a bit empty. Like sweet nothings whispered in your ear, they warm the heart. But after a while, you start to realize that they were empty and ultimately, forgettable. This, I fear, is the problem with Les Voyages De L’Âme.

Still, it should be noted that this record has actually grown on me quite a bit. I didn’t like it at all at first, but with time it’s taken on a character that I truly enjoy. Songs like “Là où naissent les couleurs nouvelles” and “Summer’s Glory” kill me with beautiful and anthemic melodies and the soft edges that reach the near border of their black metal influences. But the crowning achievement of Les Voyages de L’Âme is the track ”Faiseurs de mondes” which has brilliant melodies and a build that just makes my Angry Metal Non-Soul soar—listen to it here. But despite these successes, the filler tracks like “Havens” and “Beings of Light” kind of kill the vibe for me. Even when I’m just listening to this in my monitors in a chill environment, my mind begins to wander. Damn my Angry Metal Attention Deficit Disorder.

Related posts:

1. Les Discrets – Septembre et ses dernières Pensées Review
2. Alcest – Écailles de Lune Review
3. Drudkh – Handful of Stars Review

Dim Mak arose from cult heroes Ripping Corpse in 1996 (after Erik Rutan ran off to join Morbid Angel) and they decided to do something entirely different. And yes, I believe that Dim Mak definitely qualifies as that. A thrashy, techy death metal band with martial arts themes almost exclusively (yes, their first record was called Enter the Fist), The Emergence of Reptilian Altars is the band’s fourth full length and first since 2006. Five years (well, six if you’re looking at the Euro release date) is a long time to wait between albums, so you’d like to think that they were preparing something super special (like the Touch of Death!) for their return. But during that five years down, original vocalist (and Ripping Corpse member) Scott Ruth left the band and was replaced by newcomer Joe Capizzi, whose style is markedly different than his predecessor.

And The Emergence of Reptilian Altars is a record arguably quite different than its forerunners. While the band operates breakneck speed for a good portion of the time, pumping out amelodic riffs galore and pummeling the listener’s brain with ridiculous, tight and fascinating drumming from Origin and Gorguts drummer John Longstreth, there is not the same blitzkrieg kind of blasthappy speed approach. This makes for some pretty awesome material at times. “The Secret Tides of Blood” lilts back and forth between blasty chorus parts and groove laden, almost jazzy, interludes and verse parts that can switch up almost unpredictably. On top of this kind of material, vocalist Joe Capizzi apparently approaches tracks in a much different way than most vocalists. Where others seem to harbor a desire make their vocals work rhythmically, he seems more accustom to spitting his vocals out in bunches, in places that seem vaguely inappropriate and unsettling at times like some sort of crazed, death metal beat poet! This can be really distracting and actually discourages getting into the groove of tracks.

So I was admittedly really pretty cool on this album until the introduction of the track “Between Immensity and Eternity” kicked in and that’s when The Emergence of Reptilian Altars really turned around for me. That track, while still containing riffs that might as well be finger exercises, also contains some outstandingly groovy and crushing riffs that kept me coming back again and again. And this was not just a fluke, the follow up, the vocalless “Through the Rivers of Pestilence,” also contains some riffs worthy of Death or Covenant-era Morbid Angel. In fact, I’d say the entire final two thirds of the disc should probably just have been an EP, because those 6 tracks really fucking rip. And with lyrics like these form the track “Fully Disassembled” it’s not too difficult to feel pretty stoked about this album: “‎In this landscape forged from dismemberment! I administer the sacrement of pain!” Yes sir, you most certainly do.

So while I’m not totally sold on the first three tracks, because there are basically no riffs or moments that bring me back around, The Emergence of Reptilian Altars wins pretty hard on the back end. The musicianship is awesome (though the bass is *way* too low in the mix), with the riffing actually wandering into the nearly unmatched and highly addictive area of Anata at times, and the drums alone are worth listening to. Still, while this record does salvage itself on the back end (and “Between Immensity and Eternity” is definitely one of the best songs I’ve heard in this young 2012), enter at your own risk. Dim Mak is not for everyone.

Related posts:

1. Horrendous – The Chills Review
2. Swashbuckle – Back to the Noose Review
3. Aeon – Path of Fire Review

How far from reality would it be to argue that death metal has become a saturated genre with no room for improvement? I suddenly imagine a short chubby skinhead with a 50 cm long goatee screaming at my invalid premise which makes my argument seem quite farfetched. So we have now at our hands Metamorphosis which is the fourth full-length album by California’s Vile and it comes six years after 2005’s well received The New Age of Chaos, and that my fellow metal heads is a long time to put out a death metal album. Makes you wonder how the new one sounds like, doesn’t it? Well if you are familiar with their older works and the current worldwide vitals of death metal, you wouldn’t be really surprised by this record. This is an album that sounds quite contemporary as far as death metal goes and carries some obvious influences than can be traced to Deicide, Suffocation and 20^th century Morbid Angel. Another thing I realized as soon as I saw the artwork is how much it reminded me of Atheist’s Jupiter, but I guess it would be impossible to scan the entire metal spectrum for cover art just to make sure what the artist you’re paying may or may not have copied.

As soon as you hit that play button, “March Towards the Dawn” will explode right off the bat with senseless blasting and trebly, crackling bass which gives a clear statement of musical intent if there ever were any. Sophomore track “The Revealing” has rather unexpected, and quite pleasing I might add, arrangement of clean chords supporting a melodic solo which then gives way to more violence. The intensity of the riffing almost never steers considerably far from its core throughout the thirty-eight minute span of Metamorphosis, except for the riff-less interlude “I Am Become Death” which features the all too famous spoken word segment by Robert Oppenheimer where he quotes the Bhagavad Gita while reflecting on the atomic bomb trials conducted in 1945.

Brief stints of melodic brilliance are able to peek through the dense smoke of guttural vocals, plodding bass and razor-sharp riffing. Examples for which are the transitional lead line in “What Lies Beyond”, the last few seconds of melodic riffing and blasting on “Wolf At Your Door”, the top-notch riffing on “Shadow Work” and the tremolo riffing on “Redemption” that spans the entire neck and then gives way to a solo that soars to the sky; making it a most adequate ending for the album.

Having pointed out these sporadic points that lift the album above the average line, I feel compelled to point out those that do the opposite. Vile unfortunately suffer from short-track-length syndrome, which makes the listening experience quite concise without a lasting effect of amazement. Another issue I’ve found incredibly distracting is how inorganic the drums sound. This is, of course, a production issue that doesn’t really make any drummer better or worse. It’s just that there are so many bands doing this with their drum sound, it would be refreshing to come across an album with the drums sounding more natural than this. Guitar tones, in terms of originality of sound, didn’t achieve much in setting these guys apart from any other guitar player. It’s actually quite representative of the entire album really. Go for it if you’re an obsessive death metal collector but for the casual passer-by, you’re not missing much.

Related posts:

1. Dim Mak – The Emergence of Reptilian Altars Review
2. Mercenary – Metamorphosis Review
3. Diabolic – Excisions of Exorcisms Review

When a band states that they make “truly unique music“ or something to that effect, I’m always skeptical. Most of the time it just means that it a) sucks ass or b) isn’t “unique” at all, but just more of the same. Trillion Red, however, really do have a sound of their own, and it doesn’t suck. While you could just throw them on the huge pile of Neurosis copycats, it really wouldn’t do them  justice, because there’s more to their music. It has the typical ingredients of atmospheric sludge – the down-tuned guitars, the huge riffs, the minimalistic drumming, the synths – and, unfortunately, boring and sometimes awkward ambient sections.

Still, this doesn’t feel like your typical atmospheric-sludge/post-metal album. For one thing, the vocals are not your typical sludge vocals. They range from whispering and crooning to panting and shouting – they are intense, that’s for sure. If they’re good, that’s another question. And I’m actually kind of undecided on that matter. Some of it fits the music very well in my opinion, while other parts stick out like a sore thumb.

Another thing that sets these guys apart from the rest is the experimental/progressive vibe. Each track is layered, and most of the time the song structures aren’t straight-forward. They don’t evolve from a simple pattern to something more complex. Rather, they’re constantly shifting, like in the opening track “No Visible Help (Hold on Tight!),” where the band starts of with slow, grinding guitars, before going into an ambient section and then locking into a nice groove. Finally, there is a black metal influence that can be heard in the drumming, synths and overall atmosphere.

The EP consists of four tracks, clocking in at about 25 minutes total, but two tracks stand out. The first track is called “Forging Two Tongues: A Reckoning“. The song starts slowly, with nice post-metally guitars but really awkward, half spoken vocals. They’re probably supposed to sound serious or foreboding, but to me they just sound plain silly and out of place. Then suddenly the flow of the guitars is interrupted, the song goes to a halt, only to break out in a full-on black metal frenzy with some fitting shouting. Then, it picks up the opening riff again with a little variation and there there they are again – the weird vocals. The track continues to build momentum and culminates in… Gollum puking all over some weird ambient sounds. For one minute straight. Why, god, why?

The other track, “Right over to the Helm“, however, does everything right. It starts with post-rock serenity, but soon the dark clouds, in form of a thick, sludgy guitar riff, come rolling in. Haunting vocals join in, and the tension builds slowly between the calm, serene sounds and the foreboding guitar riff and vocals. And then a huge wall of sound erupts and sweeps the unsuspecting listener away. To top it all off the song concludes with a huge riff that is reminiscent of the Battlestar Galactica reinterpretation of  ”All Along the Watchtower“. Since I love that series and the reinterpretation of that song, I also love a sludgy version of one of its riffs. Really, really awesome.

I’d have to say that Trillion Red are doing some interesting stuff here. Some succeeds, some utterly fails, but overall, this is a good debut EP from a promising band. I sure will give their upcoming LP a try. If you like Giant Squid, Cult of Luna, Isis or Neurosis, chances are you’ll also like at least parts of this first offering.

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2. Claustrofobia – I See Red Review
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In the last few years, old school death metal has seen a resurgence in the underground. Gone are the bands trying to blast their way into oblivion by copying the NYDM sound, no more does every death metal band in the scene want to sound like Origin or Hate Eternal. Instead, Entombed and Death have been come the ideals—and this revitalization has been welcome to these Angry Metal Ears. I find it distinctly more giving to listen to the crunchy riffs and the cavelike production values than what a lot of modern death metal has become. But as has been noted, like any trend these things start to get too saturated and the listener tends to cool a bit on the new material that’s coming out. 

Horrendous definitely fits into the old school trend that’s bubbling forth in the underground. The Chills is the band’s first full length, and musically, it is distinctively Floridian. But while the music is a throwback to late 80s/early 90s Florida, the production reminds me a lot more of the classic Swedish death metal sound. The guitars sound like they were recorded in an old warehouse, with a mic sitting on the other side of the room. The bass is fat and sounds slightly distorted, but sits well in the mix and the drums too are pretty wet with reverb. Even the vocals in their mid-range are reminiscent of James Tardy’s croaks, but sound like they threw their vocalist down a well before they recorded his takes. Take that reverby sound, some skull crushing riffs, ponderous melodies and shreddy solos á la classic Slayer or Obituary style and you’ve got your stage set.

For me, though, the charm of classic death metal is the song writing. What modern death metal lacks in dynamics and interesting song writing, the classics made up for in spades. Horrendous doesn’t quite live up to these standards, really. There aren’t a lot of great hooks or snappy chorus parts that pound out and pull you in. But that’s not to say that these guys don’t have anything up their sleeves. Tracks like “Altars” and “Fleshrot” clock in at 3 and a half minutes and knock out great melodies combined with cool rhythm and hooky melodies. And while there feels like there’s some filler, the two places where I ended up really impressed on this album were the final track “The Eye of Madness” and the track “Fatal Dreams.” While the former is a 9 minute epic with a fantastic melodic breakdown in the middle that I loved, the latter pushes into the more amelodic technicality of Death a bit and they both are strong for it. The high moments on these songs really are when the bass riffs along with the guitars. I came back to those both quite a few times.

Still, as much as I can see this pleasing the classic fan of death metal, I’m not super blown away. The song musicianship is strong, the production is good and has a quaint, low budget feel to it that rules. And while there are good melodies and great riffs, I spent most of this record waiting for those high points I mentioned earlier. That said, there is of course potential here. Horrendous is just a young band breaking out their first full length, so it’s worth saying that given the flashes of greatness that show up here, there could definitely be more to come from them. So while I’d recommend these guys to the death metal connoisseur (or the very nostalgic), that’s probably where I’d stop. Organize The Chills under “possible grower” and Horrendous under “bands to watch.”

Related posts:

1. Dim Mak – The Emergence of Reptilian Altars Review
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3. Denial Fiend – Horror Holocaust Review

Steel Druhm has been waiting for this for a long time! For the uninitiated, Crom is the brainchild of one Walter Grosse and he functions as a one-man-band, doing it all for the metal masses. His first album, 2008′s Vengeance, was one of those special sleepers that didn’t get nearly as much attention and praise as it deserved. Fusing viking, epic and power metal, it had a unique, engaging style all its own and the songwriting was top-notch (it almost sounded like Týr mixed with Europe and Hammerheart-era Bathory if you can imagine that). So good was the material, years later, I still find myself singing the immortal line “I swear this oath, this oath of Wengeance...” at least once a week (wengeance, like revenge, is best served cold, with crackers and cheese). While the lyrics were based around viking and mythical themes, it had a dead-serious feeling that most power metal acts couldn’t come close to achieving. After a long wait, we finally get Of Love and Death. So, is it more viking/power with all the sacking and rampaging we expect? Well no, it’s something quite different. Apparently in the three years since Vengeance, Mr. Grosse grew tired of viking battles and blood oaths and turned all introspective and emo. This is an album steeped in the subjects of love, heartache, loss and loneliness. That’s right, he done gone and turned in his war hammer for a big-ass book of love poems. As odd as it seems, it doesn’t totally kill things and Grosse’s writing and performing chops are still there. However, this certainly isn’t the sequel I was hoping for and there are issues that ultimately render it a partial disappointment.

As a Crom disciple, I expected opener “Reason to Live” to involve honor, battle and bloodshed. In actuality, it deals with grief and mourning after a loved one dies or goes away (I’m not sure which). Despite the conceptual change-up, the song itself is very much in keeping with the Crom I grew to love. You get heartfelt vocals, impassioned guitar-work  and a generally big, epic feel. It’s a solid song and Grosse’s voice shines during the chorus. The highlight comes with “Lifetime,” which could have been on Vengeance and has everything I love about these guys (I mean guy)! Featuring epic, lofty riffing and viking chanting, it’s what can best be described as pyre-metal (pat. pending). When Steel Druhm eventually ascends to Valhalla, my entrance music can be found at 1:38. Again, Grosse shows his emotive playing and even more emotional singing. It’s a great song, full of viking ethos even though he’s singing of loss and loneliness. Other respectable tracks include “My Destiny” and “This Dying World,” both recapture some of the magic from Crom‘s warrior past.

Ever wonder what Insomnium would sound like if they dropped the death vox and started writing angsty love songs? Well, “Just One Blink” should give you a pretty good idea how that would go. Featuring some highly cringe-inducing lyrics like “I just want you to like me...” it almost works due  to the quality backing music. When you hear these lyrics, you’ll realize what an accomplishment that truly is. More lyrics like these  ultimately become the big obstacle to enjoying Of Love and Death. While the topics of love and loss are fine, the delivery on several songs is flat-out cheesy and awkward. There’s something very disconcerting about teenage angsty lyrics pasted over epic/viking music. If Mr. Grosse was singing about deceased loves, it would work well. However, songs like “Just a Blink” and “Song for All the Broken Hearts” feature the most maudlin “I love you, why don’t you care” type of lyrics and it hamstrings my listening experience every time. Also working against the album is the imbalance between the really good songs and the really weak ones. It’s so stark, it makes you wish certain songs got dumped and this was released as an EP (its only seven songs and an instrumental as is).

I can’t say enough about the talents of Mr. Grosse. I love his voice, his guitar-work (his acoustic pieces are great) and his writing style. He shines on some of these songs, just as he did on Vengeance. The man has the knack for writing majorly epic shit that makes you feel like ransacking your neighbor’s vegetable garden (these tomatoes now belong….to ODIN!). As great as some of this stuff is, there’s a nagging feeling much of the material isn’t up to the level of his previous output (limited as it is).

After so eagerly awaiting this album, I hate to admit disappointment, but that’s how I feel. There are a few great songs and the rest are average to below average. I know its gotta be a tough transition from hearts-on-a-stake to hearts-on-a-sleeve, so I’m willing to be patient. However, if I don’t get my fix of epic viking goodness soon, I’ll be forced to swear an oath, an oath of wengeance! You’re officially on notice, Mr. Grosse. By Crom, strap on that damn sword and start writing pyre metal!

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1. Falkenbach – Tiurida Review
2. Demonical – Death Infernal Review
3. Edguy – Age of the Joker Review

Lance King, like Elvis, is everywhere. He’s sang for a ton of bands (Balance of Power, Pyramaze, Avian, Empire etc. etc.), he runs Nightmare Records and still found the time to record and release his first solo album, A Moment in Chiros. For those unfamiliar with his body of work, Mr. King is the quintessential prog-power metal singer. His voice is versatile, powerful and his range is impressive. He sounds equally at home alongside melodic power metal and thoughtful prog-metal. For his debut solo project, he’s brought in elements of both and made damn sure everything is super-duper melodic, even symphonic at times. To assist him in this endeavor, he recruited a mighty host of friends, including members of Anubis Gate, Beyond Twilight and Adagio. The final product (which was apparently written and recorded in only three months) will remind many of Empire-era Queensryche mixed with elements of  Dream Theater, Pagan’s Mind, Anubis Gate and of course, Lance’s other units, especially Balance of Power. There are moments where Lance and company shine as bright as the sun and there’s some interesting material here for fans of power-prog. However, A Moment in Chiros struggles with the consistency of quality and this ultimately hurts things, which is a real shame.

Although a Moment in Chiros is a concept album revolving around the 11:11 time prompt phenomenon, I won’t waste anyone’s “time” trying to explain it. Dammit, Steel Druhm’s a reviewer, not a Scientology wonk! Things begin quite solidly with “A Sense of Urgency,” which is a nice introduction to the variety of melodic metal Lance specializes in. It’s laid back, with low-key guitar work. The keyboards give it a slightly symphonic flavor and Lance’s vocals sound classy and smooth as silk. Thereafter, things ramp up with a suite of great songs including the poignant and memorable ”Awakening,” the more aggressive “Manifest Destiny” and the impossibly hooky “A Given Choice.” All are top-notch examples of modern-day power-prog with moments of emotion and beauty (3:37 of “Manifest Destiny” is one). Other quality moments include the title track and “Dance of Power.”

Sadly, as the album progresses, the quality trails off and later tracks feel slapped together and rather bland (“Joy Everlasting” and “Sacred Systems”). Other songs, while not bad, don’t really grab me (“Transformation” and Infinity    Divine”). Another problem involves the spoken word, “new agey” segments that pop up throughout the album. They serve to advance the concept in the most general way but they come across as cheesy and annoying.

Complaints aside,  A Moment in Chiros has a great sound. It’s rich, warm, lush and polished as all hell. While never overly heavy, the guitars do have a decent crunch. Although the keys are very prominent, this always feels like a metal album, albeit a very melodic one. Lance sounds great throughout and showcases the versatility and range of his pipes. He even elevates a song or two from average to good. The good stuff here is so good, it makes me wish they spent more time refining the writing so this could have been a better album. The first half is 4.0 worthy, the back-end, not so much.

As a fan of Mr. King’s work, I wanted this to be better but it does have about half an album’s worth of strong, enjoyable material. I love the guy’s voice and I’ll support whatever project he’s involved in. I hope next time he can churn out an entire album of the same high quality as the first half here. Fans of classy prog-power and melodic metal should check this out and see for themselves.

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The Binding Cycle is the first full-length album by Norwegian quintet, The Fallen Divine. Founded in 2009, and with one EP under their belt, the band worked with King Diamond guitarist Andy La Rocque at his studio, Sonic Train, to produce the album. And he produced the fuck out of them. The sound on this album is so clean it sparkles. Which is as it should be, because there is a lot going on and The Fallen Divine don’t want you to miss any of it. A self-described progressive metal band, they have a lot of influences and only one shot at showing you that they’ve mastered them all. Fortunately, they pretty much have.

They come out swinging on “Dissension,” throwing everything they’ve got into these seven and a half minutes. The resulting aggregation of technical riffery, proggy keyboards and a jazz interlude comes off a little like a snowboard movie—not so much a continuous composition as a series of really cool tricks strung together. Depending on your outlook, this balls out eclecticism is either off-putting or impressive. “Dissension” is only a slight exaggeration of the rest of the album’s almost fifty minutes (which in this case is only a few minutes longer than you want it to be).

While you’ll find bits and pieces of just about everything on here and all of it is well done, tempo and rhythm changes are pretty much the point (think Dream Theater on crack, or more precisely, John Zorn’s Naked City). The whole album is chock-full of hooks, great riffs, and melodic lead lines but they never dwell on a single theme long enough to really develop the idea. The keyboards provide some atmosphere but are kept firmly in check and never come to the front. For the most part, vocals take the form of screams in the style of Dark Tranquility, and, you know, everyone else. But some whispers and an occasional pleasing slide into deeper growls hint at the potential for more versatility there in the future. When I remembered to notice, the lyrics seemed hold to a general theme of outsider angstyness – which is good. Occasionally, a little bubble of Les Claypool-worthy bass rises to the surface of the mathematical stew; midway through “Shades of Oppression,” some lead bass steps forward. These flashes of bass brilliance are always unexpected, but never incongruous. I kept wishing they’d let the bass player loose more often.

After “Dissension,” the rest of the tracks are uniformly strong, with consistently catchy lead lines. “Northern Lights” stands out as a little more cohesive. It feels like the ideas here have more room to stretch and breathe before diving into something else.  Just past the five minute mark there’s a jazz interlude that’s less disjointed than others scattered throughout the album because they manage to pull the flute (probably actually keyboards) through into the anthemic metal riff that follows.

They close with the title track, which has the most overtly progressive sound on the album. Where “Dissension” tended to showboat, “The Binding Cycle” showcases some of the best elements from the other tracks, offering up a piano intro paired with an acoustic guitar break reminiscent of Pantera’s “Cemetery Gates.” There’s also more bass in here and some jazz piano followed by chugging guitars that introduce the closest thing to guitar solo on the album. After some of the lower-range screaming on the album, The Binding Cycle ends – not with a bang but a whisper. And a piano. And some acoustic guitar.

The Fallen Divine have put together a respectable and enjoyable first album that is absolutely worth a listen. Despite some compositional weakness, all of the pieces are strong enough to stand up by themselves, and the album never completely falls apart.  They clearly love playing with different techniques and linking a wide variety of sounds.  As they mature, and their focus shifts from proving what they can do towards creating something whole out of the pieces, their music will only get more engaging. I’m already more interested in listening to their next album than this one – especially if they let the bass player off his chain.

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