“In which you decide which song is Entombed and which song is Entombed A.D.”
Century Media
Firespawn – Abominate Review
“I won’t go so far as to say album promo sheets are useless, but only because they’re often an indicator of how badly a band (or their PR people) misjudge their own sound. We’ve all had the never-been-heard-before braggadocio of a Bathory/Venom mash-up, the new heights promises of the perennial 2.5 bands, or that metalcore act that thinks they’re prog metal. Not one of us would bat an eye that Firespawn, the most meat and potatoes death metal act this side of modern Bloodbath, claim their third album Abominate ‘explores new ground that not many death metal bands have before.'” Lies, untruths and death metal.
Savage Messiah – Demons Review
“During high school, I loved our local hard rock station, Funky Monkey, and it was integral in the development of my bad musical taste. The best feature was the tough guy voice that gave you the name of the band and the song title after each track had played, allowing me to quickly categorize which bands I did and didn’t like. But when I got my first iPod, all of that changed. Sure, I had a giant book of CDs that I had kept hidden in my car for when the radio wasn’t cutting it, but being able to load a tiny device with tons of songs was a game changer. Before long, I’d left most mainstream rock and metal behind and was listening to all things cheesy and trve.” The more things change….
Belzebubs – Pantheon of the Nightside Gods Review
“The concept of the virtual band is hardly a novel one anymore. The first was arguably Alvin and the Chipmunks all the way back in 1958, though it was Gorillaz who popularized the concept. Metal has dipped their toes in the idea a few times as well, most notably with Dethklok from Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse cartoon. Yet something just feels different about Belzebubs, a new virtual band formed around the webcomic of the same name by Finnish author JP Ahonen. The comic is high quality in and of itself, mixing black metal tropes, an Adams Family theme of a dark and weird yet loving family, and a Calvin & Hobbes sense of adorable bubbly slapstick. But comics and music are extremely different media. How serious can we take an actual album by the bumbling ink-drawn band?” Anime to the Nightside Eclipse.
Queensrÿche – The Verdict Review
“Queensrÿche has endured more drama over their 36-year life span than you’d see in a typical season of your preferred Mexican soap opera. The plot lines look quite similar too. You have the full-tilt diva, the long suffering but loyal compadres, the insidious temptations of cash and fame, and of course, the inevitable implosion, breakup and resulting legal morass. That said, things have been pretty stable in camp Queensrÿche since Geoff Tate bailed and the band recruited Todd La Torre to man the mic.” 12 Angry Metal Guys.
Hexvessel – All Tree Review
“One of the big things I look for in music is a sense of being taken elsewhere, of stepping aside from the real. I work a stressful tech job, and the next best thing to ditching my desk and marching off into the woods is music that makes me feel like I’m adrift in an ancient forest. This means I’m a big fan of ethereal, folksy influences in my music. Esben and the Witch’s Older Terrors established itself as one of my favorite records ever, and I enjoyed Hexvessel’s first few releases for similar reasons.” Let treedom ring.
Deserted Fear – Drowned by Humanity Review
“When I think “German death metal,” I usually think of names like Muhammed Suiçmez, Lille Gruber, and Christian Münzner. Innovators in technicality and brutality, all three of them have left their mark on metal despite the drowsy German death metal scene. Every so often though, the sleeping snore, and the cause of the rumble today is a different trio with a different take on death metal. Deserted Fear pay homage to their boreal neighbors via a chunky synthesis of Björriffs and Viking simplicity, and even if their fourth album, Drowned by Humanity¸ won’t awaken Teutonic death metal, it stirs the body enough to delay a death pronouncement.” Oh, the Humanity.
Swallow the Sun – When a Shadow is Forced Into the Light Review
“How does a band follow-up a mammoth triple album into which they poured all the creativity they could muster? This was the existential question facing Swallow the Sun following the release of their magnum opus, 2015s Songs of the North, Vols I, II and III. Unfortunately for the band, fate intervened and made the decision for them in 2016 with the passing of lead writer/guitarist Juha Raivio’s partner, Aleah Stanbridge (Trees of Eternity).” Shadows and light.
Malevolent Creation – The 13th Beast Review
“When I was a boy, busy putting my beleaguered vertebrae through a heavy metal crash course in brain surgery, there were a few records that would stay with me forever. On the death metal spectrum, my friends and I loved nothing more than realigning the atoms of our necks to the dulcet tones of Consuming Impulse or Realm of Chaos. Malevolent Creation’s first two albums, The Ten Commandments and Retribution, were also prime influences in our quest for spinal reconfiguration. I even rather enjoy the much-maligned Stillborn, despite its horrendous production. But, of course, this isn’t a retrospective of death metal’s classic era, it’s a review of Malevolent Creation’s newest offering and the first since the untimely passing of frontman Brett Hoffmann.” Altered beasts.
Unearth – Exctinction(s) Review
“I’ve always liked Unearth’s style of metalcore, which I first encountered on the genre classic The Oncoming Storm. That’s their high-water mark for me, and the sound of Americanized Swedish melo-death with the breakdowns of metalcore hit both the melodic and kinetic sweet spots. Yes, structurally it was predictable; you could bet successfully that if there was a chugging bit then a melodic one was right around the corner or vice versa, but it worked like gangbusters. The more Unearth adheres to their established sound, in my view, the better.” Stay in your lane!
