Metalcore

Soilwork – The Panic Broadcast Review

By Angry Metal Guy on June 25, 2010 in 2010, 3.0, American Metal, Eurocore, Metalcore, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Eurocore, Melodic Metal, 61 comments

Wow. So, it’s been like 10 years since I’ve listened to Soilwork and it turns out that they don’t sound at all even remotely the same. Sometimes a band falls off your radar and you don’t even think about them at all and honestly, Soilwork is one such band. Now, it’s probably not a surprise to anyone else but I was in utter shock when I turned on The Panic Broadcast to discover that the Gothenburg sound had totally been replaced by eurocore! See, now you’re laughing at my ignorance, but I’m a bit surprised. See, in Angry Metal World, the last record that Soilwork released was actually The Chainheart Machine in 2000. And back then, these guys were playing a not-entirely-novel, but very, very good version of the Gothenburg sound. Turns out in the much lamer real world Soilwork has had a bunch of records and gotten a new vocal style, a new sound and hyper-produced.

Whitechapel – A New Era of Corruption Review

By Angry Metal Guy on June 7, 2010 in 2010, 3.5, American Metal, Deathcore, Metal Blade, Metalcore, Reviews, Deathcore, 1 comment

At the center of every shitty, irritating trend made up of forgettable, annoying bands is usually a core (no pun intended) of interesting bands that aren’t shitty and that do the music with conviction and may have even been on the front end of the whole trend. The Gothenburg sound had At The Gates and In Flames which have been imitated thousands of times. Metalcore (incidentally which is ripping off At The Gates and In Flames) had Unearth (who had one really great album before they got signed to Metal Blade). As far as I can tell Whitechapel is one such band. I have never listened to them, having been pretty much turned off of any band labeled deathcore because of a slough of shitty fucking bands that have been passed off in my direction (see the “related reviews”, I’m sure you’ll see how I feel about the genre/trend).

The Ocean – Heliocentric Review

By Angry Metal Guy on April 10, 2010 in 2010, 4.5, Metal Blade, Metalcore, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Post-Hardcore, 14 comments

Apparently everyone but me has heard of The Ocean Collective and has been all stoked about them for the past few years and talking about how cool they are. Apparently they’ve even opened up for bands like Cult of Luna and Opeth and have toured the world doing tons of shows and going through a bajillion members on the way! Who knew!? Apparently everyone but me! So let me say that this record was a shot in the dark. Metal Blade is distroing another more underground band through their label and while this hasn’t always done them well, this was definitely a good choice.

Mnemic – Sons of the System Review

By Angry Metal Guy on January 7, 2010 in 2.0, 2010, Eurocore, Metalcore, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Eurocore, 0 comments

Mnemic has been around in the ether for a while but I’ve never given them a proper listen until now. The band has good promo, they’ve toured Europe twice with metal giants (like ’em or not) Metallica, they look like real metal dudes and they’ve got cred because a couple people I know compared them to Meshuggah back when they first came out. Unfortunately, Sons of the System sounds a lot less like Meshuggah and a lot more like Sonic Syndicate. This record is another convergence point for things that I’m not really keen on in the world of metal and I’ll give you a short run-down.

Sonic Syndicate – Rebellion EP Review

By Angry Metal Guy on November 4, 2009 in 1.0, 2009, Metalcore, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Swedish Metal, 3 comments

Sonic Syndicate // Rebellion EP Rating: 1.0/5.0 – This is everything that is wrong with modern metal Label: Nuclear Blast (EU | US) Websites: sonicsyndicate.com | myspace.com/sonicsyndicate Release Date: Nov. 6th, 2009 Sonic Syndicate are a pop rock band that somehow got signed to Nuclear Blast. Apparently they’re from Sweden, but I wonder if other […]

The Red Chord – Fed Through the Teeth Machine

By Angry Metal Guy on November 2, 2009 in 2009, 3.0, American Metal, Deathcore, Metal Blade, Metalcore, Reviews, Deathcore, Metalcore, 0 comments

The Red Chord has been one of the best respected bands that really came out of the metalcore scene a few years back. I’ve got plenty of friends who dig these guys and dig this stuff and I can definitely understand why. For fans of the breakdown and the chug, there are few bands out there who do it with the kind of proficiency and.. well, lack of boringness that The Red Chord have managed to do it with. Fed Through the Teeth Machine is another example of the fact that metalcore has produced some bands that don’t make the metal gods sad inside.

Marionette – Enemies Review

By Angry Metal Guy on October 12, 2009 in 2.0, 2009, 2010, Deathcore, Metalcore, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Deathcore, Metalcore, 0 comments

Marionette may well be Sweden’s very first deathcore band! Well, I guess there could be others, but i’ve not been exposed to them (and frankly, I’m pretty OK with that). Some trends miss Sweden, like nu-metal did for the most part, but unfortunately this one didn’t. So there are a couple of things that I need to say up front, for people not familiar with the context with which Marionette will be dealt. First, the biggest thing in the Swedish underground right now is Japanese stuff. Kids are running off and learning Japanese; everyone and their dog is listening to bands like Dir En Grey and girls decked out in lolita garb are running around in parks playing with dolls and having picnics with every piece of pink they can gather together. This is a trend, and it is a matter of conforming to specific things that are very specific to individuals in that scene. In fact, people from that scene are, in my experience, highly judgmental, obsessed with outward appearance, cliquey and lame. So something in my brain breaks when I have 5 over-dressed glam kids with too much hairspray and neckties screaming “YOU CONFORM!” at me, while playing music that sounds like a blend of In Flames and good ol’ American deathcore. That is to say: ugh.

The Black Dahlia Murder – Deflorate Review

By Angry Metal Guy on September 9, 2009 in 2009, 3.5, American Metal, Death Metal, Deathcore, Metal Blade, Metalcore, Reviews, Death Metal, Metalcore, 5 comments

The Black Dahlia Murder is becoming a veteran band among this new wave of melodic American death metal/metalcore or whatever the hell you want to call it. To get this out of the way right away: I think that The Black Dahlia Murder has been treated unfairly by a metal community sad to see the disappearance of the old school metal guy anywhere except brutal death metal. Modern American metal has come to be dominated by short-haired, tattooed hardcore lookin’ kids who often have super diverse taste in music and have never donned a leather jacket or a goatee in their lives. These hardcore lookin’ dudes put on shows that have an energy that often times metal dudes lack in their own live performances, and they’re gaining notoriety with their blending of brutal death metal and stupid core breakdowns. The Black Dahlia Murder has been lumped in with these guys because of tattoos and plugs, but they are certainly not akin to these bands. No, The Black Dahlia Murder is easily one of the best melodic death metal bands the United States has ever produced and despite them sounding a lot like At The Gates plus blast beats, I think they do it very, very well and very consistently.

Threat Signal – Vigilance

By Angry Metal Guy on August 27, 2009 in 2009, 3.0, American Metal, Canadian Metal, Metalcore, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Metalcore, 0 comments

Three years after their initial release, after being a true Internet success story, Threat Signal is back with a new album called Vigilance. I never got to review the first album, and I must admit that this style is a little bit too sugary sweet for my tastes, but I was pleasantly surprised with what I heard contained within the borders of Vigilance: a band comfortable in their own shell, producing music that skates the fine line between pop metal, metalcore and thrash. This record is sure to bring delight to those among us who aren’t fans of the more heavy hitting, brutal or technical things that are flooding the market these days.

Killswitch Engage – Killswitch Engage (II) Review

By Angry Metal Guy on June 25, 2009 in 2.5, 2009, American Metal, Metalcore, MySpace, Reviews, Roadrunner, Metalcore, 0 comments

Killswitch Engage – Killswitch Engage Rating: 2.5/5.0 – Good for a band I thought was a mediocre institution, but not terribly special Label: Roadrunner Records Websites: killswitchengage.com | myspace.com/killswitchengage Killswitch Engage is pretty much the institution of metalcore on this planet, having artistically trimmed the genre into a tightly packaged, perfectly polished formula which appeals […]