FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Back in the day, Sea of Green moved the mountains on their Northern Lights EP, but Red Fang takes things one step further, putting a gun to those mountains’ heads, and making them beg for their lives before pulling the trigger.
This album makes for perfect headphone action. A great well rounded production allows each instrument to be heard which enhances the listening enjoyment. You can easily lump this album in the prog/tech section but its so much more than just that. It is almost a prog rock groove laden album with atmosphere and movie soundtrack vibes with killer chops.
These guys play slow, dirty swamp metal, buried deep under several layers of distortion. Much better suited for the bleakest, darkest days of winter than an early spring release.
Little bits of guitar have been added and subtracted, some parts given more prominence and studio effects exist where studio effects never existed previous, but all-in-all Reason redux is a faithful rendition of one of the greatest collection of metal songs ever to be presented in one place. Yeah, you heard me.
Sometimes, the right music comes around at the right time, and as the last traces of winter give way to spring, Sage suits the season splendidly.
It might be considered blasphemy from a metal perspective, but from a purely pop-oriented point of view, where Within Temptation is concerned, “heavy” doesn’t necessarily equate “better”. They’ve always been a pop act at heart; whenever they’ve dragged out the heavy riffs or the goth clichés in the past, it’s felt a bit on the forced side. When they’re in full pop rock mode, though, they’re in their element, and The Unforgiving plays to those strengths, at times exceptionally well.
If you, like me, have spent time in the gloom cocoon of misery and even momentarily liked it there (for a little while, anyway), The Inside Room is both your ticket into and out of the darkness.
Living With The Ancients is a strong step forward for a band that is definitely on its way to making its mark.
By all means, Magister Mundi Xum is hit-and-miss – when it does hit, it’s pretty damn fun. Look past the recording quality, the at-times downright-goofy lyrics, and you might dig this as much as I did. Will be interesting to see what they come up with on their upcoming full-length.
Jason Wellwood reviews the latest output from Thunder Bay’s NORRIS. An album worthy of a perfect score? He thinks so.