2011, really, was a gigantic disappointment. The records I was really looking forward to this year definitely let me down. The new Opeth was nothing to write home about, the new Amon Amarth was the same ol’ same ol’, the new Symphony X left me underwhelmed, while the records that the scene kids got boners over were stuff that isn’t really my thing. There were some really good albums this year, but they came from very unexpected places. In other words, I could never have predicted that this list would have looked like this at the beginning of the year.

So here’s to the disappointing year that was and hopefully to a much more interesting (musically) 2012. May we all see out the end of the year!

(ish): Comorant // Dwellings (Self-Released) — This record hasn’t been out long enough for me to declare it as one of my top 10 records, but I have to say that it has all the makings of a record that I will be listening to for a long, long time. It’s a good blend of melodic deathy vibes and modern strains of black metal. I love the production, the feel and the depth of this music. Only time will tell, but I’m giving this record my (ish) because it at least deserves a nod for being in strong contention.

#10: Yggdrasil // Irrbloss (Grandmaster Music) — I have to tip my hat to a member of the Vintersorg forum for tipping me off to this album, actually. She said it was one of her most anticipated records of the year and, well, I’d never really listened to the band at all. So I checked it out when it came out and was very surprised. In a year when good ol’ fashioned Swedish folk melodies have swayed my opinion a lot, Irrbloss nailed it. The musicianship and writing on this album are both outstanding and I am pleased to say that it earned its place here. The logo is also super sexy.

#9: Leprous // Bilateral (InsideOut) — So this album was definitely one of the coolest discoveries for me of the year. Wandering that fine line between extreme metal and Faith No More, Norwegian Leprous (who also double as Ihsahn‘s backing band), produced one of the most unique progressive records of the year. Eschewing of traditional progressive metal tendencies, Leprous constructs instead an alternate view of the direction of prog with this outstanding release. This is a stupendous release that has grown with time.

#8: Absu // Abzu (Candlelight) — I’m not sure how Absu continue to produce such excellent material regularly, but Abzu is definitely a serious winner in my book. While the scene consensus seems to have decided that this is the lesser son of greater fathers, I just don’t see where they’re coming from at all. Call it Reign in Blood disease, but this record’s balls to the walls attitude and short length made for one of the most enjoyable listens of the year for me. Looking forward to Apsu (so if 2011 is any kind of precedent, I’ll hate it).

#7: Falconer // Armod (Metal Blade) — I don’t take back my review of this record, but by the end of the year its fallen a bit down the rankings. Still, despite me not being nearly as rabid about it being the best album ever written, it is still a really awesome and enjoyable one. This is a record full of fantastic folky festivities, excellent writing and arrangements of traditional Swedish songs and vocal performances that make Angry Metal Girlfriend cringe just so. A great album and one definitely worth your consideration as the year comes to a close.

#6: The Black Dahlia Murder // Ritual (Metal Blade) — OK, this is the year’s “come back” album if ever there was one. I liked these guys’ first two records a lot, but I felt there was a bit of a dip in quality. With the addition of former Arsis guitar player Ryan Knight, everything about this band got taken up a notch. The guitar work on this record is ridiculous, and easily some of the best guitar performances that I heard this year. The writing and the riffing got kicked up a notch, too, with amazing tracks like “On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood” and “Blood in the Ink”. Apparently all that D&D™ has led to greatness.

#5: Vintersorg // Jordpuls (Napalm Records) — Well, this is another album that could class for “come back of the year, ” as well. As a non-fan of Solens rötter I wasn’t sure what to expect. But it was clear to me from the opening notes of this album that this was a return to form. It might not outclass the classics of Till fjälls and Ödemarkens son but it is every bit as enjoyable as those records were, and it is one of my favorite albums of the year. Fans of progressive and melodic metal should check this out.

#4: The Human Abstract // Digital Veil (Steamhammer) — This record was a huge surprise for me. I wasn’t expecting it to be that good. Hell, I didn’t even get a promo of it, I actually ended up hearing it streaming on AOL music. I actually purchased it immediately and went against my own policy of not reviewing records that I didn’t receive a promo of. I love this album, while I hate the scene it comes from and the production is way too manufactured, I cannot argue with the neo-classical approach and the great vocal performances. This is a fantastic album, and one of the best of 2011.

#3: Shining // Född förlorare (Spinefarm) — At first I wasn’t really convinced. But Född förlorare has shown a growing potential that I didn’t expect. The tracks keep drawing me back and the flow of the album is really perfect. It’s the kind of record you want to listen to all the way from start to finish, and the only bad moment on it is the little Swedish girl singing “You Are My Sunshine” at the beginning. After that, it settles into Kvarforth’s schtick: annoying the crap out of Angry Metal Girlfriend. The guest appearances are great and the Landberk cover is excellent. Also, this is definitely the best Opeth record of the year.

#2: Omnium Gatherum // New World Shadows (Lifeforce Records) — The new Omnium Gatherum record did for me what Insomnium was always supposed to do: it livened up a pretty stale melodic death scene by putting out a killer record that I couldn’t stop listening to. And man did I get blindsided. From the opening moments of this album I was stuck, and while “Ego” is probably my favorite song on the record (and one of my favorites of the year), every song is genius. This is melodic death metal done right. And such a damn powerful record. Well played.

#1: Moonsorrow // Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maasa (Spinefarm) — Well, I called it the year’s first perfect record. And really, I think it was the year’s only perfect record. Sure, I gave out either high scores (some I regret), but this album doesn’t lose any of its luster a year later and that’s saying something. Moonsorrow really is at the top of their game and Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maasa is an epic journey through darkness and cold that makes it seem like the band boiled down the essence of a Finnish winter and got it into a multi-tracking machine. This is easily the year’s best album. Incredible.

Honorable Mentions:
Anaal Nathrakh // Passion — This record made it really close to being number 10. This was basically bottled insanity, with just enough melody to keep me entranced.
Black Sun Aeon // Blacklight Deliverence — Tuomas Saukkonen hits home again after a pretty banal Routa. Good stuff, and worth a listen if you haven’t heard it.
Kebnekajse // Idioten — Not a perfect album, but a really enjoyable prog rock record from these Swedish veterans. Fans of Swedish folk would be well advised to check it out.
Vomitory // Opus Mortis VIII — Didn’t make the final list, but this is a good fucking album. It was definitely in the running all the way along.
Ulcerate // Destroyers of All  — This is a really unique and solid death metal album. It’s techy, misanthropic and leaves the listener feeling very uneasy. Not for the weak, but definitely one of the year’s best.

Biggest disappointment:
Primordial // Redemption at the Puritan’s Hand – Maybe someday I’ll understand what everyone sees in this record, but as of today I still get lost right in the middle and can’t keep listening. I was so looking forward to this album after the band’s previous output, but just can’t. A really serious bummer. I wanted to like it, but just couldn’t.

Related posts:

1. Angry Metal Guy’s Top 10 Songs from 2011
2. Angry Metal Guy’s Top 15(ish) of the 2000s
3. Angry Metal Guy’s Top 10(ish) of 2010

#10: “Storytime” — Nightwish — While the record wasn’t exactly the greatest thing I’d ever heard, “Storytime” totally got me really fucking stoked to hear the album. This song is just everything Nightwish is and should be sort of boiled down to a fine paste. And man, they did such a good job of it. This track is like the unholy union of ABBA and Nightwish, thereby creating an Angry Metal Kryptonite that I fall victim for every time I hear it. It’s like I don’t want to listen, but then suddenly I’m knocked onto the floor singing “I am the voice of Neverneverland!” Due to these sort of obsessive compulsions, I cannot deny that this track belongs on this list. But know that it’s grudging.

#9: “The Violation” — Fleshgod Apocalypse — Alright, so I wasn’t blown away by this album as everyone is aware. But man did I love this song. I don’t have a ton to say about it beyond “wow, listen to those orchestrations!” So, wow! Listen to those orchestrations! While the drums kind of piss on the production a lot, the chorus was definitely cool and the song writing was smart, concise and enjoyable. This is just a kick ass song that definitely ranks among the best and most memorable of the year. By the way, it would have been just as (or more) awesome if all that melody had been played on the guitars instead of keyboards. Just a thought.

#8: “FFF” — Shining — I cannot explain why this song really stuck with me more than the others on this album (or this year), but it just did. I think partially it’s because I turned the chorus into a bit of a joke with Angry Metal Girlfriend when she wanted me to do things I didn’t want to do (“Jag säger nej [NEJ!] till diskandet!”) but this track with its creepy 70s sounding keyboards and its creeping pace just settled in under my skin and stuck. The riffs are memorable and slick, and while the solo is maybe even a tad much, the acoustic parts and melodies are just fantastic. There’s a bit of an Opeth vibe going on here and I straight up dig it.

#7: “Frost upon Their Graves” — Crimfall — By now it should be well known that I think that Helena Haaparanta is the most talented vocalist in metal. It’s tracks like this that make me feel that way. While Crimfall‘s newest album was not as good as its previous one, this song definitely kept me coming back and back.. and back…. and back again. This was everything that I was looking for from this band—melodic, epic and well-constructed, and making you want to do a folk dance. I love, too, that it builds up to a crescendo right at the end. So powerful. Just let it sink in for you as you listen. Folk metal lives! And Crimfall is its name!

#6: “On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood” — The Black Dahlia Murder — Holy shit. The riff on this track is just crushing. I think that this was the song that kind of showed that Ritual really was a different beast than earlier albums and this is the song that I come back to when I want to show people how fucking awesome this record is. The chorus is also awesome with the bass work and Trevor growling the words “On stirring seas of salted blood…” Oh right, and the fucking solo. Seriously, this is just a stellar track. Good on these guys for switching it up and writing some amazing stuff this year.

#5: “Antebellum” — The Human Abstract — I wholly expect Digital Veil to be a one shot, now that the vocalist is already no longer in the band and the guys seem to have gotten their neo-classical bug out of their system. But it’s too bad, because this record produced some of the best material of the year. While the production is really not my style, Travis Richter nails home the vocals in a way that sort of walks the fine line between pop punk vocals and Muse and the melodic structures and melodies are awesome. Combine that with amazing guitar work and some progressive composition and this little epic piece is one of the best songs of the year.

#4: “Fight ‘em ’til You Can’t” — Anthrax — OK, rarely do I fall for the single track from an album, but man this one just rocked my socks off. I’m not even a huge fan of Anthrax or a big fan of Worship Music, but this song with its trend-hopping zombie apocalypse theme and still adorably mulleted vocalist just worked its way into my brain like some sort of… zombie song, and stuck there. Eating. My brains. … OK, that analogy sucked, but this song didn’t. Seriously, it was just everything I wanted to hear from these guys and it really worked. So congrats to the boys from Anthrax.

#3: “Klippor och skär” — Vintersorg — So, for the first time in a long, long time Vintersorg reclaimed his ability to write some of the best melodic black metal or.. whatever the fuck this is. Anyway, back in the day we all fell for Vintersorg choruses like “Astral and Arcane” and “Till fjälls” and “Klippor och skär” continues this tradition in fantastic form. While the track may be a tad busy at times (as I complained in the original review), it still inspired me to go and frolic in the forest and has been on constant rotation all year.

#2: “Ego” – Omnium Gatherum — Omnium Gatherum‘s New World Shadows came as a big surprise to both myself and to my colleague Steel Druhm. Neither of us expected the tour de force that was this Finnish melodic death record. But while he was impressed with the title track, the song that I got stuck on immediately was “Ego,” a 4 minute rocker with some of the catchiest melodic guitar I’ve heard in a long time and a fairly straight forward chunkity chunk chunk going on. I never saw the lyrics, but the chorus is like the ultimate pep song for a person on the brink of something (“SO DO IT!”). Add a sweet solo and smart segues and a Eurovision key change in and this is a recipe for success. This song could’ve been #1, but there’s just one that I like just a tiny bit better.

#1: “To the Shoreline” — Pain of Salvation — As I commented upon in the review, this song outshone the rest of the record in its geniusity. That’s right, geniusity. It’s like the unholy combination of Camel and Ennio Morricone. Then, make it about as awesome and catchy as possible and you’ve got “To the Shorline”. The biggest problem with the song is that it is short as hell, but actually that might be part of why it was so good. In any case, I’ve listened to this track about a bajillion times this year and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

Ok, so there were of course more than 10 tracks that deserved to be mentioned here. So I decided that I would mention 5 songs here. Three non-metal songs that I really enjoyed, and a couple of tracks that weren’t quite good enough for the list but that I thought deserved a special mention.

Kyarypamyupamyu — “PONPONPON” — That’s motherfucking right. This song just totally rules and if you don’t like it, well, that’s probably pretty understandable.

The Dear Hunter — “She’s Always Singing (Yellow”) — So this year, these guys put out a huge vinyl box set that they released with a number of EPs in the colors of the rainbow. This track is probably my favorite from the whole collection and has a nice 1960s surf rock vibe to it. I dug, dug, dug it. And still really dig it. The guy who writes this stuff is a seriously talented musical omnivore and I’m always impressed by the stuff he’s doing.

My Brightest Diamond — “Be Brave” — Angry Metal Girlfriend turned me onto this lady and I have to say I’m really impressed. This track is dark and progressive and fascinating. The video is weird and hard to watch, but it’s worth giving a shot if you’re a fan of that kind of stuff.

Falconer — “O tysta ensamhet” — So, this didn’t deserve to be on the list because the band didn’t write it, but man this track really rocks my world. It’s originally a traditional song and there are a ton of different arrangements of it and stuff, but I actually loooove this version of it. It totally kicks you in the junk once the guitars kick in. Great stuff.

Shining  — “I nattens timma” — This is exactly the same as the previous Falconer track. It was written by another band in the 1990s, and Shining just did a really great rendition of it. Again, in my time of darkness and horrible burnout, this is a song I was listening to quite a lot.

Related posts:

1. Angry Metal Guy’s Top 10(ish) of 2011
2. Angry Metal Guy’s Top 10(ish) of 2010
3. Angry Metal Guy’s Top 15(ish) of the 2000s

First, let me say, that for us the opposite of Invisible Oranges’ starting point is true: reviews are what garner hits here and the blog posts and interviews are really just something that we do on the side when we’ve got something to get off our chests. There are a million “I really wish we’d thought up being MetalSucks first” wannabe blogs out there, we certainly don’t need another one. And while my post “On Objectivity” garnered a lot of hits, and our Best Metal Tracks of All Time lists have pulled in new viewers, really the content trail would lead me to believe that the content to produce is reviews. But reviews have a shelf life, unlike a lot of blog posts. They simply don’t perform well over the long haul.

Reviews, however, seem to be considered pretty widely as bullshit. This, I understand. I have previously written about the fact that the reviewer’s position in the modern system is one of continual ass-kissing. It’s even worse with interviews. Everyone wants you to do interviews with bands. But not only are interviews a waste of time, but you’re pretty much just expected to be sycophantic. And if you are sycophantic you gain. When I recently heaped praise on the new The Black Dahlia Murder record, it was posted on the band’s Facebook, which landed us thousands of views in a matter of hours. On the other hand, my review of the new Amorphis record got very few comparatively. Why is this? Because Amorphis, obviously, didn’t post negative or lukewarm reviews on their website.

What is the lesson of this? Kiss ass. Unless you unleash a righteous ass-whupping and the band or its fans get pissed enough to flock to your website, anything that you say that is not blowing sunshine up the ass of the industry will get you ignored. And there are stories of zines who have been basically pressured by labels and bands when they give them bad reviews. K. Philipson (who runs Global Domination and has a couple bands) actually got harassed by Nightwish after gave them a shitty review for Once. They basically wrote to him and said that he couldn’t write that. He wrote a “make up” review where he gave them 600/10. Another reader told me that he once made some comment in a review and was forced by the writers to apologize for the comment because it had offended the label.

In other words, unless you are willing to suck the industry’s cock, you don’t get access. Unless you are big and important enough, you don’t get access. Unless you are willing to toe the line, you don’t get access and since everyone wants success and access for their endeavors, it all pushes reviews in the direction of being big wet kisses to the industry if you ever want to get a record early or an interview with a band you really like. That the industry is self serving is not surprising, of course. It’s to be expected. But since this is the case, reviews haven’t just become useless for many of the reasons already stated (saturation, downloading, bands over music [though I have issues with this], shitty writers), but also because those shitty writers have no reason to be honest. I have seen a plethora of examples where a person obviously doesn’t like a record, but s/he gives it a 9/10 anyway. I’ve had a multitude of comments from disgruntled fans when I have given a record a 3/5 (which is according to my scale “good”). If a 3/5 is considered a death sentence for a new record… well, that reflects the inflated, bullshit that makes up reviewing. Where’s the credibility?

I strongly encourage Invisible Oranges to stop doing reviews and to send people looking for them our way over here at Angry Metal Guy (being the self-serving asshole that I am). We continue doing them because I enjoy writing and because I do think that some people get value out of them. One of the most frequent comments that I receive is “I’ve found so many great bands through your site!” And that’s the purpose reviews serve. After all these years. While, certainly, most people aren’t going to read every review that comes across their screen due to saturation levels, people will continue discovering new music and loving it because of the work of reviewers who are willing to take the time to review material from smaller, less-well-known bands and labels (as well as doing major releases, of course). And we, as reviewers, owe it to them to be honest. Because even if we’re bordering on obsolete, people are still reading and do still care. And I still think my opinion is really fucking awesome.

Related posts:

1. Angry Metal Guy Speaks: Friendly Advice from an Angry Reviewer
2. Angry Metal Guy Speaks: On Objectivity
3. Angry Metal Guy’s Playlist 6/28 – 7/04

Ah, it’s that time again. A new The Black Dahlia Murder record, full of At The Gates riffs and Trevor Strnad’s dynamic and characteristic vocals! Right? RIGHT!?!? Well, let me start with what I said last time in reference to the current trajectory of the band given their longevity and discography:

[W]hen does it become unnecessary to buy new albums from these guys? When do they fade into the [well known] obscurity of a band like Cannibal Corpse or Slayer that produced excellent records, but many people are of the opinion that all you really need to own is a Butchered at Birth or Reign in Blood and South of Heaven and you’ve pretty much heard their entire discography. As of now, I think these guys are on the top of their game. Line-up changes haven’t stopped them, I doubt that they’re going to sit around worrying about stagnation either: but they might want to think about it in the future.

The obvious outrage ensued from both sides. From the one side there was the claim that the band hadn’t stagnated and from the other side was the claim that no one thinks that Cannibal Corpse or Slayer have stagnated. Yeah, well, the first is arguably defensible—the second, less so. In any case, it appears that Ritual is the rebuttal to my critique. A powerful rebuttal. 

By a powerful rebuttal I mean, of course, that Ritual is The Black Dahlia Murder‘s best and most experimental record. The riffing has taken a turn for the more technical at times, in tracks like “On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood” there’s almost an Ulcerate kind of vibe. “Conspiring with the Damned” has a great techy riff as a lead in before moving into more traditional TBDM territory with At The Gates-inspired guitar harmonies and thrashy feel. “Malenchantments of the Necrosphere” is another groovy, downtuned tech piece that may be my favorite track on the whole album and that sounds nothing like what the band has done previously, instead placing them more in Abysmal Dawn territory.

The other big change is the use of strings, which shows up on “A Shrine to Madness” as an intro, but on “Blood in the Ink” more broadly and to excellent effect. The use of acoustic strings creates a unique feeling that almost borders on Septic Flesh‘s new material without going to the same lengths. “Carbonized in Cruciform” also uses a piano and acoustics to create a creepy horror movie kind of vibe before ripping your face off with some trem-picked riffing and blast beats. These changes are welcome and they break open a lot of new possibilities for the band.

But the songwriting hasn’t just changed and improved, what stands out here is the guitar work that has been taken to a whole new level. Ritual starts with the tracks “A Shrine to Madness” and “Moonlight Equilibrium,” which don’t exactly break the mold of earlier records, but what stands out to me on both of these tracks are the retarded guitar solos. And by retarded I actually mean fantastic, in case you were wondering. The guitar solos on this whole record are just fucking silly. “Moonlight Equilibrium” has a solo that borders on jazzy at times, where as “A Shrine to Madness” is like 80s thrash-shred done just right. And the solos stand out on almost every track on this record, including my favorites: “Carbonized in Cruciform” again showing off almost jazz-influenced melodic structures; “Malenchantments of the Necrosphere” shows the excellent knowledge of when to shred and when not to; “The Graverobber’s Work” has a legato solo with some silly tapping that just rips your face off; and to top it all off on closing track “Blood in the Ink” the solo segues perfectly into the string laden verse. This record is special just for this because these aren’t just “fill in the gaps” solos, these are genuinely interesting, musically substantive solos that serve a purpose in the song. Fantastic.

Even when the record isn’t breaking open new ground for The Black Dahlia Murder, the more traditional tracks are really just some of the best they’ve ever written. “The Window,” for example, has some of the coolest melodic work under the verses. “The Graverobber’s Work” sounds like it could have been on Unhallowed, but it’s just a kick ass song. And by now you get the picture.

So here are some final thoughts. First, congratulations to TBDM for nailing it as hard as they have. There’s nothing bad I can say about this record (except the drum sound—SUUEEECOOOOOF!!! *shakes fist*—and the bong hit over the solo on “The Burning Nullifier”. Cheesy.). It’s 45 minutes, so it’s not too long, the cover art is really great (and it reminds me of the artwork for Dragon Age) and they’ve upped the ante for melodic death metal in the new decade, as well as raising the bar for themselves. Second, if you’ve previously written off TBDM for any reason, this is the record to give them another chance on. By breaking the mold, I think they’re going to appeal to people who may have had mixed feelings about them in the past. It’s true that “haters gonna hate,” but I think the move into more techy death metal is going to maybe hook a different crowd. Also, the addition of Ryan Knight may well have been the best thing that ever happened to this band. Total fucking win.

Related posts:

1. The Black Dahlia Murder – Deflorate Review
2. Interview with Trevor from The Black Dahlia Murder (2009)
3. Interview with Trevor from The Black Dahlia Murder

When California sons Death Angel came from nowhere and dropped their classic debut The Ultra-Violence on the metal world in 1987, yours truly was blown away in a pretty major way. That album, along with a handful of others, defined my metal youth and I still listen to it regularly to this day. Sadly, the minds behind that classic release could never record its equal and the albums that followed were always somewhat of a mixed bag.  Nowhere has this trend been more evident than on release number six, Relentless Retribution.

Taking the less aggressive direction laid out on 2008’s Killing Season and expanding upon it, Death Angel have moved further from their thrash roots toward a more commercially viable, trendy, and it pains me to say it, “modern metal” sound frighteningly similar to Trivium or Shadows Fall. While this modern sound doesn’t seep into every track and some retain their classic thrash sound, this is a big departure from the Death Angel of old and whether you support that departure will depend on your feelings toward modern metal.

Relentless Retribution starts out promisingly enough with “Relentless Revolution” which showcases their classic thrash sound and highlights the strong crunching riff and lead work of Rob Cavastany and the very well done and powerfully angry vocals of Mark Osequeda. However, when “Claws In So Deep” starts up, its immediately clear Death Angel isn’t quite the same animal anymore. This track could slot in on Trivium’s The Crusade and be right at home, particularly the clean, radio friendly (and really cheesy) chorus that will have older fans cringing and uttering unpleasant verbiage whilst shaking Ye Olde Angry Metal Fist at the sky.  Perhaps having production chores handled by the gent responsible for recent Trivium, All That Remains and The Black Dahlia Murder albums partly explains the new direction, but even so, this is shameless Trivium mimicking of epic proportions and is likely to be met with negative reactions from most long- time fans.

Following this low point, there are some decent tracks that harken back to the old sound but always in a more melodic way. “Truce”, “Into the Arms of Righteous Anger” and “River of Rapture” all sport fairly consistent up-tempo melodic thrash attacks and sound a little less Triviumesque.  However, the new ”modern” style returns with a vengeance during “Absence of Light” and “Opponents at Side” (with the latter veering uncomfortably close to emo-core).  Sadly, even on the less modern sounding numbers, the style is more like Death Angel Lite, with way more emphasis placed on catchiness in the choruses, as if they were written with an ear toward radio airtime.   At times the catchiness of the chorus seems out place with the surrounding song, thereby hurting the song’s flow (see “Death of the Meek” in particular).  When you add to these issues the inclusion of an ill-fitting two-minute acoustic finale on another song (“Claws In So Deep”) and an equally out of place acoustic ballad (“Volcanic”), one gets the impression Death Angel is a band struggling mightily with their identity and seeking to reconcile what they once were with where they are heading.

Overall, Relentless Retribution is a disappointing release with some good moments scattered throughout that seems destined to be remembered as the point when Death Angel moved away to more commercial and trendy pastures. Long-time fans may still find things here to enjoy but I can’t help get the feeling this is the end of an era for these guys and for someone who has followed them loyally since 1987, that is a sad feeling indeed.

Related posts:

1. Children of Bodom – Relentless Reckless Forever Review
2. Avantasia – Angel of Babylon Review
3. Things You Might Have Missed 2011: Graveworm – Fragments of Death

Ruined Soul is a one-man project firmly based in the Gothenburg scene. Johnny Johansson apparently missed the scene because of his age, but having learned from the best (and right in his backyard, as it were) he has produced a record that wouldn’t have been out of place in 1999, released alongside Colony by In Flames or Projector by Dark Tranquillity. With a whole slough of big named guests from the Swedish scene and one Andy La Roque as the prodcer, it’s hard to imagine how a record like this could go wrong. Right? .. Right!?

Even Angry Metal Guys feel a little guilt when they’re about to pan a DIY kid who missed out on the scene. The fundamental problems are probably already obvious from the introductory paragraph, but this is not the fault of Johnny Johansson himself, but instead his parents who birthed him a few years too late. The Gothenburg sound has been getting tired for years and as stated earlier this year with my review of Arise‘s new record, while this record still holds some appeal it’s hard to imagine ever really getting into it because the sound is something that I’ve heard so many times before. It’s Gothenburg thrash. It’s literally just a rehash of Colony and  Slaughter of the Soul with a little bit more black metal thrown in. Not even copping the tricks of the ultimate At The Gates ripoff artists The Black Dahlia Murder and adding more blast beats, this stuff is straight out of the book of Swedish death metal, as it were.

But we all loved this sound at one time! It’s not like there aren’t things going on here that are good, because there are. It’s obvious that Johansson has thrash metal running in his veins, and  he’s written some fantastic riffs and great melodies that are definitely reminiscent of the greats. It’s hard to listen to this album without nodding your head along with the mid-paced riffing and humming the guitar melodies. So, this record would still be pretty salvagable were it not for probably its greatest weakness: some of the most trite and ESL lyrics I’ve heard on a release for a long time. I recently made fun of Unleashed for their cheesy lyrics, but this takes it to a different level. While Unleashed is screaming about being Viking death metal, with the subtlety of a warhammer, Ruined Soul‘s lyrics just meander into the painfully cliché and cheesy territory.

Now normally I ignore lyrics if I don’t get a booklet, but there are things on here that I can’t help but hear because of the way it’s mixed and the way its screamed. Lyrics like “You are my only friend / my only friend until the end” from “Rewind” just make me cringe. The opening lyrics to the song “Rivers of Blood” are worthy of Joey DeMaio as well “The world isn’t what it used to be / It’s something in the air tonight / I’m standing in the eye of the storm / [inaudible] is heading this way” works out to about 3 cliché’s in just one verse. Not to mention the acts of closing one’s eyes until the bleed (I’m not actually sure how one even goes about doing that) and other just ridiculously cheeseball approaches, it’s just hard to take this record seriously. Like many musicians Johnny Johansson is probably a guitarist and musician first, lyricist second. But this is what producers should be for: where the hell was the person saying to him “Dude, that’s fucking cheesy as hell.” Nowhere, and so we get stuck with choruses like the one from the track “Bleeding”: “I hear your voice and words, my ears are bleeding / I see your razor eyes, my eyes are bleeding / I feel your touch, my skin is bleeding / I breathe your air, internal bleeding!”

There are really cool moments, hell, even the chorus from the cheesy “Bleeding” song actually has really great guitar melodies and a good feel. But for a band to really pull this off and make it convincing and worth the time of listeners and something that is going to pull in new listeners, they have to be amazing. Instead, despite the production, the guest musicians and the time and energy put into this album, we’re left with something that would’ve probably been pretty good if not for the lyrics (though, honestly, I liked Children of Bodom and their lyrics were just as retarded) in 1999. And that’s just not enough for this Angry Metal Guy anymore.

Related posts:

1. Arise – The Reckoning Review
2. Grave – Burial Ground Review
3. Unleashed – As Yggdrasil Trembles Review

I have been admittedly absent when it comes to much of the deathcore & metalcore trend that has moved into metal in the last decade. Honestly, it’s just been a style that I never really understood and that oftentimes felt like it wasn’t as straight-up metal as I wanted from my extreme metal. I had some major issues with it partially just because labels started flooding their rosters with it, despite it not being that interesting. Also, there are some production styles that were brought into the genre by “core” bands, particularly the drum sounds, that I really don’t like. And partially this is due to my deep distaste for the breakdown as an institution in metal. I don’t listen to hardcore for several reasons and one of them is the breakdown. I don’t think breakdowns are interesting or heavy and their usage in metal has long been of serious frustration to me. So let me say in all honesty, I wasn’t expecting much of the record Skepsis, the third album from deathcore pioneers Through the Eyes of the Dead.

And, I’m not going to make any bones about it, Skepsis sounds like I expected it to. Basically, it’s basically a blend of The Black Dahlia Murder and breakdowns. The tracks are littered with sweet melodies, trem-picked guitars and some pretty brutal riffs. The band apparently acquired a new vocalist over the recent years, who does a good death metal/black metal approach to the vocals, but also ends up really sounding like Trevor from The Black Dahlia Murder as well. The approach is pitch perfect for the fan of the core, really: breakdown happy melodic death metal.

So that should mean that Angry Metal Guy rips this record apart, right? Actually, I have some complaints, but in general this is a solid record. The songwriting is smooth, with an eye towards melody and heaviness simultaneously, which leads to sickly sweet hooks and riffs without losing any of the brutality. The band is also technically proficient and the listener is keenly aware of the talent of the musicians involved. And there are some stand out tracks on here: I was especially impressed with the track “Inherit Obscurity”, which almost has a bit of Nile in it at times and is super well-paced. And the riffing in “Defaced Reality” is certainly worthy of mention, despite the boring-as-fuck breakdown it’s followed up by. Plus, the record clocks in at about 40 minutes, making one actually want more, a technique that bands should never underestimate. And let me say, during the parts that I have no complaints about, I love this record. There are some awesome riffs on here, seriously addictive moments and they make me as excited as any melodic death record I’ve heard in a long, long time.

Of course, I have some pretty major complaints about this record, too. While good, I still honestly can’t tell that I’m not listening to The Black Dahlia Murder sometimes, until there’s a breakdown. I don’t know which band came first, or whatever, but I can’t separate their sounds in my mind. Secondly, I still hate breakdowns. I think they’re trite, they often sound forced and I just can’t stand them interrupting the excellent melodic death metal that is contained herein. But not only are they sort of trite, but they’re boring. If I, as a reviewer, were to consistently write the same word for an entire paragraph, that would have pretty much the same effect as breakdowns in every song. A well placed breakdown can be really effective—a breakdown in every song (or sometimes two) means that they are not well-placed. Finally, the drums are so replaced (at least the bass drum is) that it sounds like these guys have a drum machine instead of a drummer. There are certain times where everything drops out except for the drums and it sounds ridiculous. Who decided that hyper-replaced drums should be the standard? Whoever it was needs a punch in the fucking face.

Traditional death metal fans should probably not check out this album. But if you’ve ever enjoyed a metalcore or deathcore band, you should check these guys out. They’re obviously masters of their genre, and shit, they even produced a record that I think is pretty good despite not being a fan of the genre or ever having heard of the band before. That should say something.

Related posts:

1. The Acacia Strain – Wormwood Review
2. Torture Division – Through the Eyes of a Dead Review
3. Suicide Silence – No Time to Bleed Review

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.

Related posts:

1. Abysmal Dawn – Leveling the Plane of Existence Review
2. Immolation – Majesty and Decay Review
3. Scar Symmetry – The Unseen Empire Review

With that in mind, it still blows my mind that these guys are still reviled by so many metalheads.  I talk about that, the new record, what he’d like to say to all the kids downloading his new record and obscure death metal.  Fun?  I thought so.

Trevor: It’s been really good, man.  It’s been picking up quite a bit.  We’ve been getting there a lot, you know, we go there a couple times a year.  Usually try to hit the festival circuits in the summer if we can.  It’s been cool, it’s been similar to the States, it’s just a little bit behind still.  We’re definitely excited to be going back there.  Especially seeing as how bands definitely seem to generate longevity over there, they just keep coming and keep their fans happy.  That’s pretty much what we plan to do, you know, so I’m excited to see what’s going to happen in the long run, but yeah man, it’s been a very, very cool evolution.

AMG: When are you guys coming over here next then?

Trevor: We’ll be back in January for this tour called Bone Crusher which is like this tour that was dreamt up by us and our booking agent, Mark at Avacado.  It’s sort of like a traveling fest, it’s us, 3 Inches of Blood, Necrophobic who I absolutely love, I can’t wait to see.  Ingested from the UK they’re cool and they were one of our suggestions.  Obscura they’re awesome.  So yeah, it should be really cool and a little bit varied, you know.

AMG: But first you’ve got a couple legs of an American tour?

Trevor: Yeah, we have uh, we’re living in a couple days for Children of Bodom and Skeletonwitch which is actually mostly Canadian but there’s some American dates. And then we roll right into another tour with Skeletonwitch, which features Toxic Holocaust and Trap Them.  That’ll be the whole US.  So yeah, we have a lot on our plate as usual, I think more so on this tour cycle than ever, it’s going to be really, really, jam packed with dates.

AMG: When we had talked before you had said that you had been home like two weeks out of the year or something, is that the kind of schedule that you still have?  You put out a record, tour like maniacs and go back into the studio right away?

Trevor: Yeah, it usually adds up to 8 or 9 months altogether that we’re gone.  It’s a little bit spread out.  It’s usually a little time at home, just enough to stay sane.  This while coming up is looking pretty brutal, we have 2 months straight in the van between those two tours because we don’t get to go home in between and that’s a test of sanity right there, pretty much.

AMG: Yeah, I’ll bet.  Does that have anything to do with the member swapping that’s been happening?

Trevor: That has a lot to do with it actually.  People that just can’t commit to being a camper their entire life, you know.  And I can understand.  But another thing is just the amount of dedication, the amount of dedication to the person’s respective instrument.  You gotta be on top of the ball, especially in the drumming department, you know, to play how we wanna play live.  It takes a lot of upkeep you know.  Also, you know, a lot of people have gone through the band because they just couldn’t keep their egos in check.  There’s a lot of people complementing you all the time when you’re in a band.  You gotta keep focused and being the best at your instrument.  The main goal is to play a perfect show.  If we play a perfect show, you know, or play the best we can and it’s tight, has balls, then the rest falls into place.  Then we can be happy campers, you know.  That’s kind of our mantra.  I think now that we’re older and now that we have a really successful thing going we get to choose from the best of the best to come in and play in our band, you know.  We’re not picking people that we know from the neighborhood in Michigan anymore.  Now we got to shop around for these guys.  Shannon has just been an amazing drummer and an amazing asset to this band.  Just having him behind us… it gives us the confidence to be the band that we’re supposed to be, you know.  We need to know that we’re going to be faced playing at these high speeds on stage, we need to know that he’s always going to be there to back us up.   Now that we have that confidence I think that we’re even stronger as a force than ever.  Bring Ryan in, you know, he’s on that same level of professionality [sic] you know, he’s an awesome player, he definitely brings our leads up to the next plateau on this new album, and he also contributed to the writing of this album.  Which was cool, because he wasn’t really in the picture for that long.  But you know, he felt comfortable with us.   And we brought him in with the idea that he was going to write songs and be a part of the band, and it’s worked out great.  He’s been sort of a breath of life into everything.  The rest of us have been tu

nnel-visioning on this band for a long time, you know what I mean, I’ve spent 8 years where this was my main focus and now we’re just surrounded by like-minded guys.  It’s like a new dawn for us because we have Ryan contributing to writing, Bart our bass player actually co-wrote two songs.  It’s like we have a whole new canon of people who are writing and it took the pressure off of Brian, you know, he was our sole writer for most of the material on most of the albums.  Even though it’s our fourth album, I feel like we really hit our stride with the last one, you know, like it wasn’t kids stuff anymore.  ’Cause when we met I was a kid, you know.  Now I’m almost 30, time’s flying but we’ve been having a lot of fun the whole way.

AMG: But at the same time, Deflorate is definitely still The Black Dahlia Murder it’s not like you guys are exactly branching out in a lot of new progressive directions.  Do you think that we’ll see more experimentation on future records, or have you nailed that sound that you want?

Trevor: We try to do both.  We realize our strengths.  And our sound has been realized as far as we’re concerned, you know, and we try to do technical things and we played in so many time signatures that we’ve never touched on this album.  We try give the songs their own identity and I think they’re a little bit stronger in that way on this album than on any previously.  So, you know, it’s kind of like we try to keep a good balance of everything.  We try to write concise death metal songs that have a catchy song structure and strong choruses, you know that’s always been our thing.  But we try to keep going as a band and keep the fans coming along with us, you know what I mean, so, it’s definitely our sound, it’s definitely more recognizable as us, but it is more technical, there are moments that are faster than ever and then there are some songs that are pulled back a little bit like “Necropolis,” just letting the melodies and the catchiness do the talking.  We just want to ride that fence and not do anything too drastic, you know, sometimes change, it scares people, you know what I mean?  It’s not like we’re going to go start singing or something.  And I think that now that we’re at our fourth record I think people are starting to see us, hopefully, our fans are starting to see us as an institution, something that they can depend on.  They know that it’s never going to like pussy out on them or anything.  Any of those opportunities that we’ve had and anything that we’ve been lucky enough to do, we’ve done without compromising our music in anyway.  We do what we want to do and we’ve been lucky to have these great opportunities and stuff, so we’re just going to keep on doing it and hope that people will stick with us, and hope we can survive the changing of time in the way that Cannibal Corpse has.  There’s been the rise and fall of death metal and now it’s coming back full swing in the US.  In Europe it’s a little bit different, ’cause you know the fabric of the underground is very, very rich with history.  You guys have a lot more big festivals and I think metal is a little bit more readily available in Europe.

AMG: It seems like it’s never been a trend, like it’s been more of a consistent underground in places.

Trevor: In the States it’s kind of lame, you know what I mean.  If it’s going to be like every other trend in the states then I guess it’s going to eventually taper off.  Right now it’s really hot, in the States.  We just want to survive the changing of times and hopefully all these young fans that are into us will, you know, will grow up metalheads and will still stick with us and stick with metal.

AMG: Actually, I was going to say, apropos death metal I think it’s pretty interesting because when you guys first came out pretty much everyone was trying to say that you were metalcore because you don’t look like death metal guys, and now, even though you guys play melodic death metal (you pretty much sound like At The Gates with blast beats), but now it’s like the deathcore thing.  Why do you think that nobody wants to call you death metal?

Trevor: I think they’re scared.  They have their own… look, metal, I love it, I love the shit out of it, I’ve loved it for fucking almost 20 years now.  But it has its own sets of rules and codes and it has its own safety zones, you know what I mean?  They see us with short hair and they just want to put us in another box.  They won’t except that I have a bigger CD collection than them.  [Laughter]  It has it’s own trappings I guess.  The way I saw metal was that this is an escape from the world, the escape from reality.  Like this secret society of people who have this greater understanding, you know what I mean?  I don’t know where trying to keep everybody out of this picture really came into this, you know, I think the more metalheads we can find the more people that are into metal the better.  Because frankly, as a whole… I don’t understand..

AMG: Yeah, but then it’s not exclusive, dude, it’s not exclusive..  If there’s a group of kids.. I don’t know, when I was at school I was one of four guys who liked metal if there had been 25 I wouldn’t have been special.

Trevor: [Laughs] Yeah, but It’s the music of the underground, so I don’t understand why we don’t have a home with those people.   I guess in a way it’s given us another challenge, you know, another occasion to rise to.  To prove to these people.  If they hear the music they can’t deny it.

AMG: But dude, they can, I mean, they do it.  You’ll read for example people comparing bands that don’t sound anything like you guys to you because that is sort of an image of something that is trendy and not metal.

Trevor: But I think a lot of this comes from.. I think it’s half people that just look at the band and haven’t heard it who may even like the band, but they just profile us as metalcore and never check it out.  And then there are kids that are very young and coming in and I think they see a lot of bands that maybe…  There are a lot of young bands influenced by this band that kind of take it and put a ton of breakdowns in it, you know.  So I guess that for a young kid, I guess it seems like we’re in the same category as a lot of this deathcore bands because of a lack of awareness.

AMG: That you guys don’t use breakdowns…

Trevor: Yeah, or that we’re influenced by a whole different set of music.  It’s hard to pinpoint really.  Having all these different genres and whatever, every time our name is mentioned on the internet there follows like a 55 page genre battle.  [Laughs] But I think having all these different genres and things like that, that people can put us in has kind of given us the ability to play with all different kinds of bands, you know.  We play with hardcore bands, we play with metalcore bands, we play with black/death bands everything in between.  It’s made us more versatile, I think.  It’s been a blessing in disguise.   At first I used to be really anal about it and get kind of butt hurt about it, but I don’t really care anymore.  It’s basically ignorance that’s put us in these different categories, so it’s like “fuck it man, what can I do?”  You can’t change everybody’s mind in the world.  As long as they’re talking about the band.  I don’t care what they’re calling us as long as they’re calling us.  I think, too that Nocturnal was kind of a big step in clearing our name to some of the more elite types.  They see the artwork they can at least make the association, you know, having Necrolord artwork and stuff like that, maybe that was kind of a foot in the door to get them to catch on.  And I’ve got high hopes for this one, too.  That whole thing, I don’t spend too much time even worrying about that anymore.

AMG: Tell me about your new DVD.

Trevor: All the DVD’s I’ve bought of bands, I just watch once if I can even get through it.  You know, it’s usually just one concert shot from a few angles, by the third or fourth song you’ve pretty much just seen everything and you’re like “Oh, OK.”  And if there’s an interview it’ll usually be something really corny and not too informational.   I don’t know.  We just had this idea that we wanted to do a DVD our way, you know?  And a lot of it is just joking around and it just kind of shows you what tour is like.  There’s a whole segment on how to pee in a bottle [laughs].  It’s just shit like that that shows the humanity of the band and shows the kind of shit that we endure.  People look at our band, like.. sometimes kids ask us like “You guys are fucking rich, man!” or like “Why don’t you have Metal Blade buy you a bus?”  And we’re like “Wow, you know so little about what’s going on, I don’t have a whole day to explain it to you.”  So, I don’t know it’s kinda funny man.  We have kind of a unique vibe in our band asfar as I can see, we’re all friends and we have a good time.  We have a great time.  And even though we’ve had members come through this band, they were always you know friends.  Like friends from home.  And the guys we have are our friends now, one of our abilities—to have this much strength and to tour this relentlessly—is just our bond, you know, we have such a great time doing all this shit.  You can really see that in the DVD, that we have something unique going.  I think, it’s taken on its own life, you know.  A lot of people have been talking to me about it.  Some people have been turned onto the band I think through the DVD.  Like, the poop and pee jokes are the hook and then they find out about the music.  [More laughter abounds]

AMG: Did you ever see Type O Negative‘s After Dark?

Trevor: No, man.  I’ve never seen it.

AMG: That’s like the only band video that I’ve ever seen that really sounds anything like that.  It was basically a big fucking joke, t

hey got money from the label and then they just made asses of themselves.

Trevor: Yeah, that’s awesome.

AMG: Like you said, it was the only one of those videos that you can sit through, ’cause the rest of ‘em.. are just “Eh.”

Trevor: The Pantera DVD, that’s awesome.

AMG: I never saw it.

Trevor: They just fuck around, man, it’s awesome.

AMG: OK, yeah, another one is Iron Maiden‘s Rock in Rio, that was really good, too.

Trevor: I mean, some concerts are just great.  I mean, Rock in Rio that is just that show is amazing.  Everyone singing “Fear of

the Dark,” I mean, that is the shit.

AMG: I mean, could you imagine standing in front of that many people?

Trevor: No.  [Laughs] That’s gotta be quite a feeling.  I mean, I get good vibes when I’m standing in front of just a normal show, if it’s going well.  I can’t imagine.  Goddamn.  That was like a sea of people.

AMG: Yeah, dude, and they all know every single word to every single song even though they don’t speak your language.

Trevor: That’s a trip dude.  That’s the coolest shit ever.

AMG: That shit is impressive.  But what is the biggest show you guys have ever played?

Trevor: It’s from festivals obviously.  We stood probably in front of nine or ten thousand at a festival in Japan one time, that was cool.  We played at Wacken, there was a good bit of people.  We were the first band on the second day, we played at like 11 am.  And there must’ve been about 10,000 people there watching and that was a good feeling.  In Indonesia we headlined a show for about 4,000.  That was pretty damn big.

AMG: Damn, that’s really big.  What size venues are you guys playing now?   Are you guys playing sort of middle sized venues now?

Trevor: Yeah, we’re in that middle room.  I think it’s like, a good show out in the states will be like anywhere between 5-to-800. If we have a really good tour, you know, good package and stuff.  It depends.  We’re trying to play it safe on this next run you know because of the economy being down so hard right now.  We’re planning our next round, I think we’re going for the mid-

sized rooms.  It’s been really fun, man, pretty much every time we play we don’t have to settle for anything but chaos, you know what I mean?  Crowd surfing and going nuts.  We just wanna have some fun and kinda get rid of  the loads of your normal life just for a minute, you know?

AMG: I guess I wanna know what you want to say to all the kids who are downloading your record right now instead of buying it…

Trevor: I’d tell ‘em to pick it up.  I think a lot of them don’t understand.. I think the common consensus out there is that “Well they don’t get any money from their CD sales,” and that’s pretty much true.  But, uh, it still decides the pecking order of who plays over who, who has the clout to take what fucking bands, blah, blah fucking blah, blah blah blah.

AMG: Alright, alright…

Trevor: It’s very, very important that people buy the record.  That our fans buy the record, I encourage them.  Because if they love us, I’m asking them.  Please.. [Laughs]  Right now it’s a hard time, and hard times have fallen on a lot of bands.  And, it would really make a statement if you picked up this album.

AMG: Are you down on your knees, by any chance?

Trevor: I’m on my knees.  I’m asking [inaudable] of humanity.

AMG: [Laughing] Alright, sort nearing the end of our time here.. what are some really great obscure death metal records that you’ve picked up recently?  Shit that isn’t.. you know.. On..

Trevor: Yeah, yeah, shit that’s not on Metal Blade.  [Laughter abounds]  I don’t know, as far as new bands.  Um, let’s see.. Hmmmm… I’ve been on a real old school kick in the last while, finding a lot of old school CDs.  There’s plenty of obscure shit in that realm, too.  Recent bands I like, um, Dead Congregation, I like a lot from Greece they have the drummer from Voracity.  They’re like the really dark death metal band, somewhat like Incantation, but like tight and really fast.  I don’t know, I’ve been really falling in love with the really dark death metal stuff like that.  Shit where they play on stage with a bunch of candles and cloaks and shit like that.  And bone necklaces and shit, but they’re awesome.

AMG: Nice, nice.. Have you heard Fleshgod Apocaplyse?  They’re more tech…

Trevor: Yeah, that’s the other Hour of Penance band… Fuckin’ rad.

AMG: [Laughs] Yeah, man, but they’re way more classical man, they’re way more melodic..

Trevor: Yeah, it has like a little bit of orchestrated stuff and…

AMG: Yeah, yeah, that’s like the one sort of techdeath record that I’ve been getting into.  There’s a bunch of stuff that’s come out like Ulcerate and …

Trevor: Yeah, I like Ulcerate, we actually played with those guys out in New Zealand.  And they were AWESOME, man.  That drummer is real dude.  There’s nothing fake there, man.

AMG: What’s up with the.. do you guys trigger?

Trevor: Uh, just the kicks.

AMG: What do you think of that?  With the whole fact that drums sound like there’s no toughness in the drums anymore..

Trevor: Yeah, it’s been a bit of a trend and I think it stems from everyone’s excitement about ProTools.  When it was first getting around everywhere, you know?  But some of it was kind of influenced by what was going on in metalcore production, you know what I mean?  Like, replacing the fuck out of every drum until it sounds like the hardest hit you’ve ever heard and it just doesn’t sound like a human you know what I mean?  Like quantize the shit out of it.  We tried to back off on that kind of sound on this record and go way more natural with the drums.  Like, all real.  The old school way.  I think it has more of a live energy to it.

AMG: It sounds good, it stands out, man.  So many bands are doing that now, it’s so.. You might as well be programming it, what’s the point of having a fucking drummer?

Trevor: [Laughs] And half the guys can’t even reproduce it live.  So, I dunno man.  We had some pretty fake sounding drums on Miasma but we’ve definitely gone away from that.

And that was that.  Sadly, our time was up.  Anyway, there is some more to this interview, bits and pieces that unfortunately got missed due to shitty sound quality.   Including a lot in the section about death metal bands.  Bummer.  Either way though, Trevor was a sport and you should buy the new record.  He’s begging you…

Related posts:

1. Interview with Trevor from The Black Dahlia Murder
2. The Black Dahlia Murder – Ritual Review
3. The Black Dahlia Murder – Deflorate Review

Before this last week I’d never heard of Cormorant¹ or of Saturnine Media.  Because of this, I was able to be pleasantly surprised by what is one of the best underground albums of the year.    But if you’re reading this, you don’t have to be surprised, you can go out and buy it as an informed consumer.  You’re welcome.

Cormorant is a strong blend of a lot of different styles, but arguably at the base of it all, these guys are a progressive death metal band.  That doesn’t say much of anything, does it?  Think: Opeth meets Primordial, My Dying Bride, Ulver, At The Gates and rocks it out like Iron Maiden.  None of these influences are deniable, but none of them are too prevalent in the work that these guys have done.  Instead, Metazoa is a smartly blended concoction of progressive metal which doesn’t cease to wind, twist and surprise.  And with the exception of a moment or two where one thinks they hear a definite influence (or at one point in the track “Hanging Gardens” I’m actually pretty sure I hear a The Black Dahlia Murder riff…..), for the most part these guys are able to blend these influences to craft a vaguely familiar, but new sound.

From a songwriting perspective, this record is great.  But I did spend the whole album sort of expecting something a little bit… MORE.  Instead, Cormorant offers a lot of headbanging riffs, but they never up the musical ante, so to speak.  While the band has progressive structure, they never branch out much technically.  I think this is a point of growth for the band, where they could really coin their own sound, in a sense and work to impress.  That’s not to say that the simplicity and honesty of this music isn’t also excellent.  Metazoa is well-balanced musically, and I do really appreciate the Iron Maiden style two guitar leads which stuck in your head, without having to listen to That Swedish Guy or a Bruce Dickinson impersonator.  The simplicity and the honesty of a lot of this stuff is really impressive, but there is definitely room for growth.

Another thing that stands out for me is that the lyrical breadth and talent that is available on Cormorant‘s Metazoa: a phenomenon that doesn’t show up a lot in metal.  Bands like Primordial, for example, have some really excellent lyrics.  But even other progressive death bands like Opeth find themselves on the lacking side lyrically.  Cormorant on the other hand has a solid lyricist who speaks well poetically and writes on a wide variety of interesting subjects without being cheesy.  From the French Revolution to illegal immigration, von Nagel intelligently and artfully crafts images with his words in a way that is highly uncommon in heavy metal.  However, some of the clean vocals performances on the record leave a bit to be desired, particularly the clean vocals at the end of “Hole in the Sea” in which someone is doing their best Primordial impression and sounding horrendously off during it.  But, all-in-all, the vocal performances are dynamic and good, and they match the lyrics perfectly, making a blend that is rarely seen in modern metal.

If you hadn’t noticed, I think that Metazoa is a great record (and a fucking tough one to review).  My complaints above were enough to not make this the best record of the year or anything, but I do have to say that I see Cormorant as a band with a ton of room for growth on top of the fact that they’re already highly developed.  If they can keep their smart, catchy melodies combined with technical music and impressive lyrics and vocal performances (including the female vocals from Deborah Spake, who has a truly captivating voice), I think that these guys are on the road to somewhere special.

Related posts:

1. Cormorant – Dwellings Review
2. Angry Metal Guy’s Top 10(ish) of 2011
3. Arch/Matheos – Sympathetic Resonance Review