FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
The problem with Sound Awake is that it’s just too clean, too polished and too pretty because, in addition to the statesmen of goth, Karnivool also mixes in a significant amount of pop sensibility which hinders the whole procession.
It has been a long six years since the release of Orphaned Land’s landmark album, Mabool, an album that continues to amaze me with its beautiful combination of Middle Eastern instrumentation combined with the familiarity of metal. Ever since word of their follow up album was out, I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR – and with producer extraordinaire Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree and Opeth collaboration fame) on board to mix the album? Let’s just say expectations weren’t exactly low for this one.
“I like the situation I’m in now with the solo thing. With this last album in the trilogy, it’s kind of a natural development from angL and The Adversary. I think they all kind of tie in together, but After is not the most logical step from the two other albums. It’s so different that it points in another direction and leaves the next one a little open ended.”
On the eve of the release of his new album After, Jonathan Smith speaks to former Emperor front man Ihsahn about his burgeoning solo career, the progressive nature it has taken and the surprising use of saxophone on his latest solo effort.
Now on album number seven, this is their heaviest release to date by far. They still retain a bit of a prog vibe but the way the riffs are written they just reek of full on power metal.
From the bleak opening riffs to the lingering saxophone notes that close it, After is a fascinating listen that gets better every time it’s played.
They might be called Southern Cross, but don’t let the name fool you. This ain’t no southern rock band.
Gnostic is a great, enjoyable ride of a listen, and dare I say it, an effort for the Atheist members to get a bit more edgier without losing their signature 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.
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.
Whenever a veteran metal band undergoes radical changes, like in Amorphis’s case, a new lead singer and a more streamlined sound, even if that shift in direction is successful artistically commercially and artistically, there will always be the stubborn folks in the background bitching and moaning about how their favourite band just isn’t the same as it used to be. Well, if you’re one of those people who still gripe that Skyforger is a sellout and can’t hold a candle to Tales From the Thousand Lakes, first of all, you’re only half right, and secondly, you can give a listen to Finland’s newest supergroup, who approach Amorphis’s classic, folk-infused progressive doom sound as if nary a day has passed since 1994.
Adrien Begrand dissects the debut release by Finnish progressive death metal supergroup Barren Earth.