Category: Reviews – Audio

Glorious metal in all its earthly forms, compressed onto shiny plastic discs or into digital files. Which ones will become the soundtrack to your life?

  • Death Angel – Relentless Retribution

    The production and mix are crystal clear but there is a condensed and compressed feel to the overall sound. Killing Season had one of the best productions I’d heard in many years, organic and vibrant, and I think Relentless Retribution would have benefited from that same production. As would any record for that matter.

  • Endless Boogie – Full House Head

    Picture a buncha hipsters jamming to Kyuss and The Stooges along with Mark Farner and company in a Brooklyn basement, and you’ve basically got the idea.

  • Hero Destroyed – Throes

    The band sound like a mix of Burnt By the Sun and, in a way, Blessings the Hogs (but not as unfocused as BTH). Contained within the riffs are elements of thrash and hardcore but it’s a great blend, like nabob coffee or that guy on the donkey coffee. If you like modern metal with…

  • Judas Priest – Setlist: The Very Best Of Judas Priest Live

    Now, with all that praise for Judas Priest’s Setlist on the proverbial books, it doesn’t need to be questioned why – with six live albums already in circulation, does a compilation need to exist? In Judas Priest’s case, their entry into the Setlist series marks a fantastic proof of the band’s faculties as a love…

  • BXI: Boris & Ian Astbury

    Since hearing about its upcoming release, I’ve wondered what kind of compilation Astbury and a band whose output has been as diverse as Boris’ has been would produce. Well, now I have an answer: such an effort is short and sweet, which is a problem when only half of it is really good.

  • Stratovarius – Infinite [Special Edition]

    All in all, if you don’t own Infinite and are a power metal fan, I recommend you pick it up. If you already own it but don’t have the bonus material, it’s not essential but it is cool to hear at least once.

  • Blood Revolt – Indoctrine

    The fact that the much-ballyhooed debut album by Blood Revolt is generating vehement reactions from the metal world shouldn’t be much of a surprise. And you know it’s the kind of reaction Alberta black metal mainstays C. Ross and James Read wanted when they formed a trans-Atlantic artistic partnership with Primordial proselytizer Alan “Nemtheanga” Averill.…

  • Lantlôs – .neon

    While this is indeed a different vibe from the more nostalgic, fantastical vibe given off by Alcest’s albums, Lantlôs remains very similar in feel. This fact alone should be enough to help one decide whether or not .neon is worth pursuing.

  • Decrepit Birth – Polarity

    In summation: Decrepit Birth: bad name, bad past, good band. Polarity: great record. Bravo!

  • Sleepbringer – Compendium

    Another one of those bands I somehow stumbled onto by accident, there’s very little I can tell you about Indianapolis’ Sleepbringer. Born out of the ashes of Heroes Laid To Rest, an Internet search bore only one other short review (so far) of Compendium, although I have the feeling that once this record gets heard…