Kronos

Ichor -Depths Review

By Kronos on September 8, 2014 in 2014, Bastardized Recordings, Death Metal, German Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, 27 comments

“Take a close look at this album cover and you’re bound to notice that it looks exactly like every other goddam modern death metal band’s album cover. This is no coincidence, seeing as an impressive chunk of death metal releases over the past decade have all been painted up by one man: Pär Olofsson. The guy’s website is a bizarre who’s who of modern death metal covers stripped of their identifying characteristics, so that any metalhead worth keeping around can have fun rattling off artists and titles as the paintings scroll by. Ichor are his latest patrons, and, in continuance with modern death’s gore/symmetry fetish, he felt compelled to draw them some purple tentacles for Depths.” Do Ichor’s purple tenticles wrap themselves around, and get their death-like grip on Kronos?

american – Coping With Loss Review

By Kronos on August 18, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Black Metal, Reviews, Sentient Ruin Laboratories, Black Metal, 2 comments

“This album rustles my jimmies. I’m not a big fan of black metal specifically, but I am a big fan of desolate and disturbing music in the general sense, which is why Indian’s black-doom-noise horror From All Purity hit me with near-tectonic force earlier this year. Despite what AMG himself will tell you, black metal and noise make excellent bedfellows, as the aforementioned Chicago doom-merchants and other acts like Gnaw Their Tongues will show. Naturally, american’s debut, Coping With Loss, billed as black metal noise, caught my eye.” If there’s a rustle in your jimmies, don’t be alarmed now.

Yer Metal is Olde: The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine

By Kronos on July 24, 2014 in 2004, American Metal, Hardcore, Metalcore, Yer Metal Is Olde, 14 comments

“In my experience, there are two kinds of people; the ones that love The Dillinger Escape Plan, and the ones that don’t really get what all the fuss is about. Among the former group, there are those who say that they peaked early and have been cruising since Under the Running Board or 2002’s brilliantly strange Mike Patton collaboration Irony is a Dead Scene. These fans will claim that, after one of these two albums, the band either stopped being abrasive enough or stopped being inventive. In scientific circles, we tend to call sentiments like these “Wrong.” In reality, the zenith of the world’s most beloved mathcore band came in 2004, with a bold and bold-faced album named Miss Machine.”

Omnihility – Deathscapes of the Subconscious Review

By Kronos on July 16, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Death Metal, Rating, Reviews, Unique Leader, Technical Death Metal, 4 comments

“Most of the time, technical death and progressive death pretty much go hand in hand. Anyone with the chops to play at breakneck speeds and shred with the best of them will want to show off not just their technical skill, but their ability to bring something new to the table, and this mentality has only gained adherents as the style has flourished. But occasionally there arises a group of musicians who want nothing more than to play in the style of Cannibal Corpse but do it at twice the speed. That’s where Omnihility fits into the picture.” Kronos continues his campaign to review every tech-death act on the Unique Leader roster. FIGHT!

Fallujah – The Flesh Prevails Review

By Kronos on July 14, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Unique Leader, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 134 comments

“The hype train chugs along, never stopping, continuously boarding and ejecting passengers. Such is the way of the metal press; we collectively run to cling on to the sides of the cars as they pass by, only to jump from their doors days later, hit the ground rolling, and dust ourselves off as we search for a new ride. Recently, as you’ve probably noticed, coal has been heaped into the firebox as metal zines blow the horn for the juggernaut’s latest destination, Fallujah’s The Flesh Prevails.” The Hype Train is a fickle mistress.

Origin – Omnipresent Review

By Kronos on July 2, 2014 in 2014, Agonia Records, American Metal, Death Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Technical Death Metal, 17 comments

“It’s entirely reasonable to say that Origin are the most important thing in the entire state of Kansas, but for anyone who has been to Kansas, the declaration isn’t all that that impressive. Their work, however, speaks for itself. Three years ago, Entity absolutely wiped the floor with some of the most abrasive, technical, and impressive music the group has ever produced, and expectations for Omnipresent are naturally quite high.” Does Origin deliver that punishing blow worthy of so much expectation? Read on and find out what Kronos has to say.

Inanimate Existence – A Never-Ending Cycle of Atonement Review

By Kronos on June 22, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Unique Leader, Technical Death Metal, 26 comments

“Hey gang, it’s time to play a game. A fun game – but also a dangerous one, so make sure you’re qualified for it. In order to play you’ll need a few things: a bucket, a glass, a strong liver, and a large amount of (ideally) a slightly less strong drink. That’s right, we’re about to engage in every tech-death nerd’s plastering procedure: the Unique Leader Records drinking game! Here are the rules; I’m going to review an upcoming album from Unique Leader, and every time a Unique Leader trope appears, you take a shot.” Everybody grab a Zima and brace yourselves!

Wretched – Cannibal Review

By Kronos on June 12, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Victory Records, Technical Death Metal, 8 comments

“Wretched’s thrash-influenced yet unmistakably modern take on death metal puts them in an interesting position between extremity and accessibility. By mixing thrashy riffing with top-notch melodic death metal in the vein of Black Dahlia Murder and Arsis and paying tribute to, though never falling victim to, metalcore tropes, their last three albums have been of a consistently high quality and the band has never failed to impress.” Tech-death with some interesting bells and whistles? Could be worth reading about….

Body Hammer- II: The Mechanism of Night Review

By Kronos on June 9, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Avante Garde, Grind, Non-Metal Metal Things, Reviews, The Path Less Traveled Records, Avante Garde, Grind, Non-metal Metal Things, 3 comments

“I chew through a lot of mediocre music on a daily basis, washing grains of sound across the dark pan of my eardrums in search of those glistening nuggets of aural excellence. Those are few and far between, meaning that most days I return to my bed without treasure to appease my lust for gold. But every once in a while, an unexpected element drifts down into my staked out piece of streambed. That’s where things get interesting. As much as I love great finds, there’s something to be said for the merit of pure novelty. When something unprecedented washes into my hands, that makes it all worth it.” This is a weird one, folks.

Pillory – Evolutionary Miscarriage Review

By Kronos on June 5, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Unique Leader, Technical Death Metal, 3 comments

“Promos come in and promos go out, and amongst the parade of CDs labelled as heavy metal, re-thrash, or ridiculously specific (read: nonexistent) black metal genres, there’s a disappointingly low number of tech-death releases. The last few years have been pretty good for tech-death, so it’s no surprise that the release schedule for the genre is in a lull right now, but that doesn’t make me any less sad. Thankfully, Pillory are breaking the silence with their sophomore effort Evolutionary Miscarriage.” Here’s some tech-death to noodle you into paste!