Angry Metal Guy

Thomas Giles // Pulse
Rating: 4.5/5.0 — Super great!
Label: Metal Blade
Websites: myspace.com/thomasgilesmusic
Release Dates: EU: 28.01.2011 | US: 02.01.2011

Oh man, the Internetz are abuzz with love for this record already. Apparently everyone and their dog who runs a review website got this album 3 months ago and has been subsequently shitting themselves over the awesome!!!1! that is Thomas Giles‘ Pulse. A bit of background information as to why that might be. Yeah, because this is the vocalist from Between the Buried and Me. Yup. That’s it. I want to state with all certainty that if this were an independent record put out by a dude actually named Thomas Giles who wasn’t in a band that was well-respected even though being associated with a scene that everyone hates, this record would not be listened to by metal guys or reviewed on a metal website. Because this record is not metal. It contains minor bits o’ metal, but it for the large part a progressive-indie-electronica record. So be forewarned. Continue reading

Arkona – Goi, Rode, Goi!
Rating: 4.0/5.0 – Gripping and great, but too damn long
Label: Napalm Records
Website(s): arkona-russia.com | myspace.com/arkonarussia
Release Date(s): EU: 30.10.2009 | US: 11.02.2009

Sure, folk metal is Europe’s deathcore, but somehow it’s so much more enjoyable as a genre! It probably has something to do with the accordions. Oh, and the lack of breakdowns. If folk metal is Europe’s deathcore, than I’d have to say that Arkona is the equivalent of The Red Chord or Between the Buried and Me: so much better than the genre-title implies. Many have come to associate folk metal with the silliness of Korpiklaani and written it off as too much for their tastes. Then there are other people who get a little bit nervous about the sort of nationalistic shit that could easily be associated with a band like Arkona in a land where right wing extremists are definitely an issue. But as far as this Angry Metal Guy is concerned: Arkona is not your average folk metal band and Goi, Rode, Goi! is definitely not your average folk metal record.

No, instead Goi, Rode, Goi! is an gripping and eclectic folk metal album filled with everything that I like about folk metal: the accordions, the mouth harps and the catchy-as-hell melodies. Then, using that formula, they add in very smartly used keyboard “orchestras” and even harmonized “lai, lai, lai” sections.  The music is well-paced, though mostly fast enough to encourage copious amounts of headbanging and, generally epic as hell.

There are a couple of things that stood out to me, as well. While many bands push their way from one record to the next using the same style and writing songs that are nearly indistinguishable from their previous album, Arkona seems to have completely avoided this trap. While Goi, Rode, Goi! definitely shares elements with Ot Serdca K Nebu it is actually much less death metal influenced than the previous album. Instead this record shares a lot more in common with Finntroll and Ásmegin and other more black metal influenced folk metal on this album. This isn’t necessarily an improvement, as I was pretty fond of how brutal Ot Serdca K Nebu got, but in general it works. And since the band produced Goi, Rode, Goi! in about a year since the last album, I’d say it’s definitely worth the change.

Honestly, this record is pretty awesome. I think my only complaint is that it’s a little too long. By the end I’m pretty much ready for it to go away. I think one bad thing about the dawn of the CD was the idea that bands should use the whole thing, instead of saving material for other projects. While some people like long CDs, I find that if a disc overstays its welcome then I never listen to the whole thing after the first couple listens unless it’s The Wall. Sure, the melodies and rhythms and speed are addictive and they’re fun to listen to, but there are actually few chances when someone has an hour and 19 minutes to spend listening to an album.

But how often does a reviewer get to say “they give us too much!” This album is great and while it’s maybe not genre defining (since the genre defining stuff happened before these guys got signed), it is still an excellent album in the folk metal genre and totally worth your time and effort. I strongly suggest you pick this album up if you like the genre even a little bit.  Arkona does it extraordinarily well.

Tommy from Between the Buried and Me has posted a message on their MySpace page updating about their studio process.  After 5 weeks of recording they have finished with their new album, The Great Misdirect.  It is scheduled to be out on the 27th of October.  Here’s the post:

hello everyone… writing to update everyone on whats going on with us at the moment. we have FINISHED! tracking our new record and we are spending this week mixing/mastering and all that fun stuff. its hard to believe we’ve been recording for 5 weeks already. everything went really smooth and we are very confident in the fact that this is some of the best material we’ve ever created. can’t wait for all of you to hear it! we have LOTS of footage from the studio that will hopefully be part of a special edition dvd that will come with the new record… we will also be posting some studio videos in the next few months. our touring plans are starting to come together and we’ll be putting up dates tomorrow, so be sure and keep checking back for that info. below is the album’s title and tracklist. more updates as they happen! hope everyone had a good weekend.

-tommy w/ BTBAM

“The Great Misdirect”

1. Mirrors
2. Obfuscation
3. Disease, Injury, Madness
4. Fossil Genera – A Feed from Cloud Mountain
5. Desert of Song
6. Swim to the Moon

Here’s the link.