Reviews – Audio

Nevermore – The Obsidian Conspiracy

The Obsidian Conspiracy had an almost insurmountable expectation being the follow up from TGE and both solo records, which were great. Nevermore fans will be disappointed with this new album however, as the record doesn’t really deviate from the Nevermore formula and some of the songs are just plain stale.

Avantasia – The Wicked Symphony

The Wicked Symphony is exactly what you want from an Avantasia record. The production sounds huge, and clear, there isn’t a bum note in the playing, the songs are catchy as hell (I defy you to not sing along with “Dying For an Angel”) and the silly, tongue-in-cheekiness of the Edguy lyrics are left behind

Godsmack – The Oracle

It has been a Godsmack trademark to toss out allusions to material that is more interesting and more ambitious than their commercial hits would seem to suggest. As The Oracle offers up its share of such material, it will be interesting to see where the band continues to take things from here.

Soulfly – Omen

The thing about Omen is that it feels like Soulfly is running through the motions in a lot of ways. The clue to that lies (again) in the Jeffrey Dahmer referencing; the cannibal was arrested and tossed in the can in 1992. He died in ’94; this was the best the band could do?