FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Ever wonder what it would be like to be sitting peacefully on an outhouse latrine only to have the structure upended by backwoods goons, leaving you writhing in excrement? Probably not, but a good musical equivalent to this “Deliverance” scenario would be listening to Grindvirus, the new offal-ing from long-running Polish grinders Squash Bowels.
Being a huge fan of W.A.S.P. ever since I first saw the video clip for “I Wanna Be Somebody” from their self titled album back in the 80’s, it pains me to tell you that there’s not much new happening here, except for some recycled riffs and solos from previous albums.
Barely squeaking into the realms of bona fide metal, Oklahoma City’s Memory Driven seem more intent on crossing over between the worlds of radio-friendly hard music and the more lenient metallions than dedicating themselves to something of true merit.
The latest effort from Swedish black metal veterans Dark Funeral continues the band’s tradition of brutal assaults on the ears of its listeners and fans. While Angelus Exuro pro Eternus has its strong points and memorable moments, it offers little to differentiate itself from the band’s back catalogue and never quite develops its own identity.
Converge seem to be following a trend among veterans like Sacrifice, Suffocation, Asphyx and Brutal Truth who have released albums this year: offering music that despite the band’s longevity, are if not one, the best albums they have ever created, all while staying true to their original sound.
Packed to the gills with live performances, archival clips and documentary footage, Where Death Is Most Alive is an immensely gratifying look back at one of the most consistent bands in all of metal.
In the end, Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions comes across as sort of extreme music opera where songs are movements and parts rather than isolated performances.
Like some terrifying amoeba, Between The Buried And Me has absorbed and incorporated a wild variety of sounds into themselves and spat back something that exhibits them all, but only uses them as ingredients to work toward their own ends.
Chicago’s The Atlas Moth emerge from the gate with a debut full-length album that is pretty entertaining at both it front and back end, but which has a more ambiguous middle that is much more tedious than it should be
This album has changed my entire perspective on power metal, as I have always viewed it as a cheesy and cliché attempt at applying emotion to music. If there are three things that Sonata Arctica have justified on The Days of Grays, it is that the genre is indeed epic, captivating and genuinely metal. And I don’t need an overly excited narrator to tell me so.
Ola Mazzuca reviews the new release by Finnish power metal experts Sonata Arctica