FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Worm Ouroboros dive in without hesitation, never shy about setting themselves adrift on the musical currents they generate. On the surface, they wallow in beauty and atmosphere. But after repeated listens you can get beneath the surface, into the substrata of the songs themselves, which is where this album’s rewards really dwell.
I am totally blown away. Haken is the best thing to happen to progressive metal in many, many years. Hailing from England, this relatively young band has unleashed a masterpiece.
Raging from the get-go and never once losing track of its vision, Conceptive Prescience boasts 18 minutes of rudimentary blast-grind pulling from the ravenous, almost overbearing attack of early Napalm Death but shoved through the dirty filter of Nasum, Phobia and other crossover acts.
Hellbound readers, we’re sure that by now you are all familiar with our Natalie Zed, right? Natalie was our big grand prize winner back in January, taking home more than 50 CDs + and shortly after she received her huge box ‘o CDs, Ms. Zed asked us over at Hellbound HQ if we’d be interested in running reviews of her winnings if she did postcard sized reviews of the albums. How could we say no?
So, without further adieu, here is Natalie’s third installment (reviews #21 – 30 for those keeping stats at home) in what Hellbound likes to refer to as “Postcards From Natalie Zed”…
Yet another case of toddlers ingesting the sick union between balls-out metal and does-it-have-any-balls screamo, We Will All Evolve suffers from insanely powerful heavy moments akin to metalcore’s more muscular contributors but quickly devolves into faltering bouts of off-kilter melodies striving to offer the album some semblance of sing-alongs.
[Infanticide’s] Scott Hull-produced debut doesn’t traffic in grotesque songs that are the equivalent of dead baby jokes set to stale death metal riffs and pedestrian drumming. It’s more like a potent combination of the misanthropy of Weekend Nachos with the anarchist impulses of Leftover Crack
France’s Alcest have weaved a memorable album that manages to straddle the fence between black metal catharsis and ambient relaxation.
Same Thoughts Different Day is an excellent reminder for fans that Subhumans were one of the first decent punk bands in Canada and could reignite hopes that the group will be able to do as well with fresh material next time.
Overall, Lost should be a stellar album but ultimately it asks much more of the listener than it delivers. Here’s hoping for a more dynamic sophomore release.
The answer to whether or not a listener is satisfied by We Are The Void will boil down to individual taste; some will find it phenomenal and some will find the offering paltry and mawkish.