Clutch

The Haunted – Unseen Review

The Haunted – Unseen Review

By Steel Druhm on March 15, 2011 in 1.5, 2011, Avante Garde, Century Media, Metalcore, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Metalcore, Thrash Metal, 33 comments

I’m sure most know the history of The Haunted and how they formed from the ashes of the legendary At The Gates. Despite my love for At The Gates, I never fully understood the stellar press and support The Haunted received and always felt they were one of the most overrated bands on the planet. Eventually they started to drift toward a more metalcore style and I lost the limited interest I had in them. Now they’re back with album seven Unseen and they’ve left their thrash days in the dust, probably for good. Instead, they deliver a strange, directionless mess of experimentation, emo angst, nu-metal and alt-rock. It’s clear they’re writing only for themselves and could care less what their fans expect or hope for at this point. While that’s admirable from an artistic perspective, when the results are this tedious and uninspiring, it’s both tragic and cringe-inducing. No matter how brave and creative they want to be, at the end of the day they should still be striving to write good music and they seem to have forgotten that here.

Monster Magnet – Mastermind Review

Monster Magnet – Mastermind Review

By Steel Druhm on October 15, 2010 in 2010, 4.5, American Metal, Napalm Records, Reviews, Stoner Rock, 3 comments

Monster Magnet is one of the coolest band names ever, hands down, don’t argue. As for the music they’ve produced, I’ve been back and forth on it over the years. I liked their first two albums with their over-the-top 70’s psychedelic, fuzzed out, space rock worship and I always thought Dopes to Infinity was their crowning achievement in terms of rock songwriting. After that things seemed to go downhill as they drifted toward a more commercial rock sound lacking the style that originally drew me in. Despite this drop off, I never lost respect for band mastermind Dave Wyndorf because he was churning out stoner rock before it was called stoner rock and WAY before it became hip, trendy and “retro.” Like his band, Mr. Wyndorf has had his share of ups and downs but there is no disputing that the guy is stoner rock personified and a living, breathing throwback to another musical era. Therefore, it’s with mucho gladness I report that Mr. Wyndorf and Monster Magnet are back on top in a big way with their eighth album Mastermind.