FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Sweden’s New Keepers of the Water Towers have a pretty ridiculous name and their song titles are equally silly (“Scientists and the Man of Ice,” “Giant Subway Beast” and so on.) From a lyrical standpoint, these guys would be perfect for a split EP with Chicago doom/death practitioners Lair of the Minotaur.
Recorded as demos this past April with Scott Ecklein, the four new songs and two covers aren’t just rough around the edges; they’re positively filthy, that barely-produced sound hearkening back to the glory days of tape-trading, the bare-bones mix enhancing the fierce performances. Simply put, as solid as they were before, Saviours has never sounded this great.
Adrien Begrand reviews three brand new, limited edition 7″ singles by Bay Area metal quartet Saviours.
The latest effort from famous Floridian band Obituary is a “summer blockbuster” album if there ever was one.
Dysrhythmia is an instrumental, technical progressive rock/metal trio from Philadelphia that takes complex instrumental, heavy music to new and interesting heights.
Germany’s Long Distance Calling have created quite the slow-burn of an album with Avoid The Light. The band’s music is often described as a mixture of “post-rock” and “post-metal,” and while listening it’s easy to conjure up comparisons with a group like Godspeed You Black Emperor! but also with the more drawn out and ambient side of a band like Agalloch.
On their Myspace page, Finland’s April lists their influences with “All thoroughly emotional and sincere music inspires us!” In hindsight, I should have checked out their page before listening to Anthems of the Rejected (Spinefarm). Expecting a collection of black metal angst with angry, gritty lyrics, I was slightly disappointed to get a set of uber-contemporary, radio-friendly pop-metalcore.
Talk about old school style. Amsterdam’s Conspiracy deliver just that on their latest release, Concordat.
Here is a three track demo release from Toronto’s FATALITY, a thrash metal band with plenty of aggressive, melodic technical hooks, blasting beats and soaring roaring vocals, complete with fast, intricate solos.
Easily the most coveted album amongst my shipment of MeteorCity new releases. Black Pyramid’s self-titled was one of my most anticipated albums of ’09, and easily my most eagerly awaited debut since the Blood Ceremony record that came out on Rise Above last year.
Played all the way through, there is barely a second’s hesitation between songs. As such, the album flows together into one long rhythmic, down-tempo doom fest.