Korn

Till the Dirt – Outside the Spiral Review

Till the Dirt – Outside the Spiral Review

Till the Dirt is comprised of Atheist members Shaefer, guitarist Jerry Witunsky, and bassist Yoav Ruiz-Feingold, as well as Soreption guitarist Ian Waye and Fermentor drummer Dylan Marks. With an Atheist-heavy lineup, what can we expect from Till the Dirt? Well, death metal with nu-metal was not on my Bingo card.” Things that should stay buried.

Memorrhage – Memorrhage Review

Memorrhage – Memorrhage Review

“Nostalgia is one hell of a drug, but as a creative tool, it can offer us the ability to look at the past to dig through elements that shine rose-tint or otherwise—or at least cover them with a modern spit polish. Not far removed from the idea of Brents’ chiptune grind explorations with Gonemage, Memorrhage explores the br-deng grumblings of Mudvayne, the hazy aggro-interventions of Deftones, and the stop-start core-isms of Zao.” Nu hage music.

Artificial Sun – The Giants Collapse Review

Artificial Sun – The Giants Collapse Review

Artificial Sun is a quartet from Athens, Greece, picking up where its previous short-lived incarnation Trigger left off, sporting a fusion of groove and metalcore with their debut The Giants Collapse. Expect bouncy riffs, technical leads, energetic drumming, vitriolic and soothing vocals, and nice moments of experimentation to go down slow.” Fake sun and old djent.

The Modern Age Slavery – 1901 | The First Mother Review

The Modern Age Slavery – 1901 | The First Mother Review

“Remember when deathcore was exciting and fun? Pepperidge Farm remembers. Even the dead horse I beat to make that joke remembers. Back when you gals could do the side part and we all wore Etnies without a second thought, folks like Whitechapel, Suicide Silence, and Carnifex dominated the iPod playlists of Warped Tour patrons who were too edgy for Chiodos or AFI. While the death metal bastards had been eviscerating and slicing and dicing for years at that point, putting them to breakdowns just hit the youths different, y’know? Well, Italian deathcore veteran act The Modern Age Slavery is here to make you aware of social issues and do so by channeling what it feels like to be trampled in the mosh pit.” Slave rages.

Soulfly – Totem Review

Soulfly – Totem Review

“For the most part, I enjoy Soulfly. Even if they rarely bring anything new to the table. I guess Soulfly and Primitive contradict that statement because Max Cavalera explored a new territory of Korny, Limp Bizkit metal. Contradicting because, while Cavalera stepped out of his comfort zone, I fucking hate those albums—even more than I hate Ferrous. Yet, when Marc Rizzo joined the ranks on 2004’s Prophecy, Cavalera and crew brought thrash, death, and inklings of Chaos A.D. and Roots back into the mix. From that point, I’ve grown accustomed to the existence of Soulfly and enjoy albums like Dark Ages, Conquer, and Enslaved. Now it’s 2022, and Rizzo is gone. What does this mean for ole Maxie?” Mad Maxie.

Akiavel – Væ Victis Review

Akiavel – Væ Victis Review

If you’re about my age, you probably remember being a teenager and being rather surprised by Arch Enemy’s “Nemesis” video. For those unfamiliar, a speedy melo-death riff kicks the song off and we see a girl dressed like a Hot Topic version of Britney Spears in the “Oops, I Did it Again” video. She lets out a scream, and everyone watching goes “whoa, I can’t believe a girl can make those sounds!” The novelty wore off quickly despite my efforts to like the band because I liked Michael Amott’s work in Carcass. The Angela Gossow version Arch Enemy was inoffensively boring, and the band has since deteriorated into being offensively boring in the current Alissa White-Gluz iteration. The takeaway here is that Arch Enemy at their most popular is bland and uninspiring, and I’m lost as to who would take musical inspiration from that sound. Enter French death metal band Akiavel.” Archetypes.

Humanity’s Last Breath – Abyssal Review

Humanity’s Last Breath – Abyssal Review

“What is the heaviest album of all time? While you’re running off to the comments to tell me, I’m going to stay here and admit that I have no clue. I don’t even know what the heaviest album ever would sound like. It could be blazingly fast or crushingly slow, or some combination of the two. Or it could simply carry an intense emotional weight from its subject matter, but the point is, heaviness is a hard concept to define when it comes to music.” Heavy as a two-ton thing.

Hyvmine – Retaliation Review

Hyvmine – Retaliation Review

“Hard rock. Alt-metal. Post-grunge. These were the things I listened to back in high school. Breaking Benjamin and Disturbed in particular satisfied my desire for a bit of harmless aggression in my angsty youth. To be fair, I still hold a soft spot for the stuff, with Phobia and Ten Thousand Fists rising above the rest as the two albums from this subset of artists that I still regularly revisit. Los Angeles’ Hyvmine emerge from the same gene pool, fully intending to rock the world with their sophomore effort Retaliation.” You have hives.

Through the Noise – Dualism Review

Through the Noise – Dualism Review

“This is sure to come as a surprise, what with the kvlt as fvck album art and all, but Through the Noise are about as trve as Santa. With their accessible angst and envelope-friendly chuggatry, these Swedes crabwalk the thick, downtuned line between nü-metal and metalcore, and by all rights, Dualism should have been inflicted upon a n00b. However, there have been far too many 4.0’s awarded as ov late, and I would be remiss to turn down an opportunity to bring you bastards crashing back down to reality, so we are here.” Punishment is due.