Category: Reviews
-
MaYan – Antagonise
Mark Jensen has become one of the more prominent and prolific composers and musicians in the prog/power/gothic metal arena these days. And his Mayan project is his nod to some of his European contemporaries like the quirky genius Arjen A. Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One, Stream of Passion) or the power metal overlord Tobias Sammet (Edguy,…
-
The Oath – The Oath
What do you get when you combine some of the trendiest current styles in metal in retro, occultish and female-fronted doom? You get The Oath. And I swear if this eponymous debut isn’t the catchiest thing you’ll hear this month, I’ll eat my hat. (No I won’t.) The Oath is the result of the alchemical…
-
Dread Sovereign – All Hell’s Martyrs
This Irish doom trio, Dread Sovereign, contains members of black-metal outfit Primordial, who’ve played a couple doomfests themselves, but I have never seen or heard Primordial before, so that has no bearing on this particular review. I can only assume that their stage names are carried over from their primary outlet, however… cuz stage names don’t…
-
Lacuna Coil – Broken Crown Halo
It’s been a few years since I last paid serious attention to a Lacuna Coil record. I wasn’t terribly impressed with the band’s 2009 release Shallow Life, and as a result I almost completely ignored 2012’s Dark Adrenaline when it first came out. That latter record has grown on me over the years, and I’ve…
-
Jupiter Zeus – On Earth
The band’s bio makes mention of the fact that the previous incarnation of Jupiter Zeus was called Nebula. And no, this is not Eddie Glass’s band or anything — they were apparently completely oblivious to the fact that there was already a pretty popular stoner band by that name, which is made all the more…
-
Taurus – No/Thing
Life, the debut from Portland doom duo Taurus, consisted of two 15+ minute tracks: “Life Pt. 1” and “Life Pt. 2.” No/Thing, their sophomore effort, has five songs, and things are slightly more structured this time around. Song lengths, for the most part, are shorter than the debut — though several still exceed 10 minutes.…
-
OFF! – Wasted Years
As good or exciting as it might be, most of the hardcore punk made in the twenty-first century misses the original spirit of the music really cleanly. When it started, there was precisely nothing thought out or “calculated” about hardcore; it was very urgent and reactionary music recorded in a hurry (in part, so it…
-
Hark – Crystalline
Hark, here be another band with a Clutch connection. Frontman Jimbob Isaaac has done artwork for ’em, along with the likes of Red Fang, Kvelertak and Orange Goblin. In fact, Neil Fallon even makes a cameo on the last track on this album, so there’s that to look forward to. This Welsh trio’s debut begins with “Palendromeda,”…
-
Kuolemanlaakso – Tulijoutsen
The most obvious thing about Kuolemanlaakso’s Tulijoutsen is that it’s another collection of doomy, slow-moving metal from Finland, one that will certainly reinforce the stereotype that gloom is something that Finnish musicians do very well. This is not the first release from Kuolemanlaakso. Their first album, 2012’s Uljas Uusi Maailma, went completely under my radar. This…
-
The Zero Theorem
There’s a parallel between fans of metal and fans of Terry Gilliam’s work. There’s the sense of imagination and adventure, and loyalty, and the sense of belonging to something exclusive, and the sense of anticipation whenever one of our heroes creates something new. Thus is it with metal and thus is it also with Terry…