While Kill 'Em All was definitely a great release, and fun as hell to listen to, it had its share of inconsistencies that hampered it from being a definite classic, namely a few songs that had a boring pace, and the fact the lyrics sometimes left a little something to be desired. The next year Metallica would go into the studio once again and this time the result is much more focused, a darker, more serious release and what I consider one of Metallica's twin classics in Ride The Lightning.
This album definitely has a much more serious tone to it then the previous one, with songs about plagues, nuclear warfare, death, depression etc. The riffing is much more precise and the production values are a lot better. James and Kirk have definitely stepped up their game as far as their guitar playing is concerned. James also sounds a lot better vocally. The bass is still thunderous and thick. Once again Lars is just kind of there, while the drums are excellent they aren't anything particularly special.
The best thing about this album is that every track is great, and the flow of the album is perfect. The compositions are extremely well written, there isn't a single throw-away riff to be found and all the leads and solos fit in extremely well into the song. It never feels disjointed and it never seems to lag. Every song is memorable and classic. Even the instrumental is great.
So all in all this album is a towering inferno of melodic thrash metal, a ferocious beast of an album that stands as a testament to how great Metallica once was, and also serves as the standard by which to judge their subsequent releases of the 90s. Anyone who only knows newer Metallica take a trip back to 80s and take a ride on this electric monster of an album. I'm off to headbang until I get whiplash. Until next time STAY METAL!
98/100
Monday, November 28, 2011
The Metallica Saga- Kill Em All- We Got the Metal Madness!
It was 1983, and there was something happening in the metal world, a movement was growing taking influence from early speed metal bands like Venom, Diamond Head and the like. They were there to put a fist in the face of glam metal, which they saw as the pussification of heavy metal. This new genre pushed the envelope of speed and aggression, playing at louder volumes and faster speeds than once thought possible. One of the most notable of these bands was Metallica, who in this very year would record a landmark album in the thrash metal genre. Originally dubbed "Metal Up Your Ass" but changed to "Kill "em All" due to pressure from the record company. Forget about Load, and Reload, toss that shit out the window, this was back when they had something furious inside them, they had what they called the metal madness, and it runs wild on this album.
The album starts off with an unabashed headbanging anthem called Hit The Lights, and right off the bat you know, you're in for a headbanging furious thrashy good time. The guitars burst forth with furious riffing, blistering leads, and James yelling about how loud and fast, and maniacal they are on stage. The closing minutes of the song are full of some of the most shredtastic guitar work that Kirk Hammet has ever pulled off.
The album continues on this same pace with the second track Four Horsemen a declaration of the coming apocalypse and one of the best metal songs ever recorded, yes it was written by Dave Mustaine, but Metallica executed it far better than Megadeth would. Metallica ingeniusly added in a melodic middle part with one of the most awesome solos ever. It continues its thrashy pace with the song Motorbreath which isn't the greatest song ever, but ultimately its fun to listen to, and full of decent riffs.
The middle of this album kind of loses its pace for me with Jump in the Fire and Anesthesia which has a tremendous intro part, but loses my interest when the drums come in. Whiplash picks it back up, but the ball is sort of dropped again by Phantom Lord which is fun enough but ultimately loses my interest. No Remorse and Seek and Destroy are great tracks, the juvenile lyrics of Seek and Destroy notwithstanding.
Metal Milita is a thrashing metal anthem that really has a nice place as a closing track
As far as intstrumentation everything is pretty well executed, the guitars pump out riffs ranging from searing, pummeling thrashy palm muted excellence, to decent midpaced chugga riffs. The bass thunders slightly in the background with its thick juicy tone. The drums are just sort of there, and the vocals are probably the rawest and meanest that James has ever been. So all in all this is a great landmark thrash album, but ultimately one that is pretty inconsistent. Its flaws are really outweighed by the pure raw metallic energy that shines forth, and you can tell that these guys just plain love to play loud, fast and mean.
86/100
The album starts off with an unabashed headbanging anthem called Hit The Lights, and right off the bat you know, you're in for a headbanging furious thrashy good time. The guitars burst forth with furious riffing, blistering leads, and James yelling about how loud and fast, and maniacal they are on stage. The closing minutes of the song are full of some of the most shredtastic guitar work that Kirk Hammet has ever pulled off.
The album continues on this same pace with the second track Four Horsemen a declaration of the coming apocalypse and one of the best metal songs ever recorded, yes it was written by Dave Mustaine, but Metallica executed it far better than Megadeth would. Metallica ingeniusly added in a melodic middle part with one of the most awesome solos ever. It continues its thrashy pace with the song Motorbreath which isn't the greatest song ever, but ultimately its fun to listen to, and full of decent riffs.
The middle of this album kind of loses its pace for me with Jump in the Fire and Anesthesia which has a tremendous intro part, but loses my interest when the drums come in. Whiplash picks it back up, but the ball is sort of dropped again by Phantom Lord which is fun enough but ultimately loses my interest. No Remorse and Seek and Destroy are great tracks, the juvenile lyrics of Seek and Destroy notwithstanding.
Metal Milita is a thrashing metal anthem that really has a nice place as a closing track
As far as intstrumentation everything is pretty well executed, the guitars pump out riffs ranging from searing, pummeling thrashy palm muted excellence, to decent midpaced chugga riffs. The bass thunders slightly in the background with its thick juicy tone. The drums are just sort of there, and the vocals are probably the rawest and meanest that James has ever been. So all in all this is a great landmark thrash album, but ultimately one that is pretty inconsistent. Its flaws are really outweighed by the pure raw metallic energy that shines forth, and you can tell that these guys just plain love to play loud, fast and mean.
86/100
Monday, November 14, 2011
The Metallica Saga- Symptoms of Decay- Black Album
Metallica is one of those household names when it comes to rock and metal music, one of the most successful and lauded bands to ever grace the music scene. At this point in their career they had released 4 landmark albums mostly of the thrash metal genre, and were becoming a musical force to be reckoned with. Releasing albums full of thrash injected with melody and emotion, searing riffs, blistering solos and bleak toned lyrics, even venturing towards progressive in their outing titled ...And Justice For All.
Enter Bob Rock, who suggests to them they should aim for higher commercial heights, that the way to reach their true potential was to strip their sound down and opt for a more accessible and radio friendly approach. Instead of continuing to progress their sound they stepped back, and did something a little more personal, a little more emotive, and a little bit subpar. Don't get me wrong this isn't a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, however this was the first album that showed symptoms of them selling out. While this album has absolute classic tracks such as Enter Sandman, Sad But True and The Unforgiving, there is also moments of inconsistency and filler tracks.
The basic sound of this album is pretty much a hard rock sound with a more metallic edge to it. Midpaced, Wah laden guitars play many a palm muted riff, and there are also a great deal of very blues inspired pentatonic soloing. They added more of the softer toned ballads in such as The Unforgiven and Nothing Else Matters, both of which are great in my opinion. The guitars have gotten less complex with this release and have more of a alternative/hard rock sound...lots of wah pedal. The drums are pretty much just there keeping the beat and not doing anything special and the bass is kind of just in the background doing some rhythm work.
James vocals have gotten a good deal deeper than previous releases and he utilizes more of a grungy singing style moreso than his usual thrash metal shout/singing. This is also the beginning of his use of the kind of cheesy vocal accents ( oooh aaaah YEEA HEAAh).
The album starts off on a very positive note with the extremely catchy and enjoyable track Enter Sandman, a midpaced riffy affair about nightmarish images and childhood fears. Sad But True is a bit more groovy and midpaced which also happens to deal with personal struggles. The Next track Holier Than Thou is the first filler track, it pretty much just plods along and doesn't really accomplish anything. Then we get to my two personal standout tracks on this...The Unforgiven and Wherever I May Roam, the two that accomplish the goal that was intended...to make more accessible music and still manage to be awesome musically. The rest of the album is kind of just there, tracks blend into one another and the whole affair gets very tedious. Nothing Else Matters brings a more positive note showing that Metallica knows how to do emotional songwriting and do it well, but the last couple of tracks are just right back to that samey filler vibe. So while this album has its definite high points I think it ultimately fails at being what it was supposed to be i.e Metallica reaching their full potential on a record. It's a step down from classics like Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets.
Final Score 66/100
Enter Bob Rock, who suggests to them they should aim for higher commercial heights, that the way to reach their true potential was to strip their sound down and opt for a more accessible and radio friendly approach. Instead of continuing to progress their sound they stepped back, and did something a little more personal, a little more emotive, and a little bit subpar. Don't get me wrong this isn't a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, however this was the first album that showed symptoms of them selling out. While this album has absolute classic tracks such as Enter Sandman, Sad But True and The Unforgiving, there is also moments of inconsistency and filler tracks.
The basic sound of this album is pretty much a hard rock sound with a more metallic edge to it. Midpaced, Wah laden guitars play many a palm muted riff, and there are also a great deal of very blues inspired pentatonic soloing. They added more of the softer toned ballads in such as The Unforgiven and Nothing Else Matters, both of which are great in my opinion. The guitars have gotten less complex with this release and have more of a alternative/hard rock sound...lots of wah pedal. The drums are pretty much just there keeping the beat and not doing anything special and the bass is kind of just in the background doing some rhythm work.
James vocals have gotten a good deal deeper than previous releases and he utilizes more of a grungy singing style moreso than his usual thrash metal shout/singing. This is also the beginning of his use of the kind of cheesy vocal accents ( oooh aaaah YEEA HEAAh).
The album starts off on a very positive note with the extremely catchy and enjoyable track Enter Sandman, a midpaced riffy affair about nightmarish images and childhood fears. Sad But True is a bit more groovy and midpaced which also happens to deal with personal struggles. The Next track Holier Than Thou is the first filler track, it pretty much just plods along and doesn't really accomplish anything. Then we get to my two personal standout tracks on this...The Unforgiven and Wherever I May Roam, the two that accomplish the goal that was intended...to make more accessible music and still manage to be awesome musically. The rest of the album is kind of just there, tracks blend into one another and the whole affair gets very tedious. Nothing Else Matters brings a more positive note showing that Metallica knows how to do emotional songwriting and do it well, but the last couple of tracks are just right back to that samey filler vibe. So while this album has its definite high points I think it ultimately fails at being what it was supposed to be i.e Metallica reaching their full potential on a record. It's a step down from classics like Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets.
Final Score 66/100
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Insanity Squared ( Unexpect- Fables of the Sleepless Empire)
Out there, odd, strange, schizophrenic, weird, batshit crazy: these are all words that can be used to describe the sound of this band. If you've heard the band before you know what to expect, and you know that they are aptly named, because honestly you never know what to expect from them. The song structures are ever changing, and I mean that to the fullest extent that that term can be used. It's Avant-Garde in one of its most pure forms.
To describe the sound of this band, think of totally chaotic riffs, in odd time signatures and they are constantly changing, weaving, and getting more odd.
its like
for instance
Ifyoujust DEcI ded onedayto
neglect
every single Grammar and writing rulE
and just wrote
HOWEVER THE FUCK YOU FEEL.
Get the picture? One thing I really enjoyed about this release is the bass. It's constantly present to the exact right degree. Its extremely technical and adds great depth and character to the music, and its something that lots of metal bands have lost touch with. The guitars are chaotic and riffy, there's a lot of use of piano and violins and out of character stuff like that. The vocals range from a black metal type of throaty mid pitched shriek trading off with female clean vocals and the occasional clean male vocals. The drums are nothing stunningly mind-blowing but they do a damn good job considering the amount of transitions, tempo shifts and stuff that's going on with the music.
The production is clear without being overly polished and refined, and you can hear each of the many elements that this album has, which is good because a bad production job could really ruin an album like this and make it like a wall of chaotic brown noise. At times things do get a tiny bit cluttered because of the enormous amount of things going on, but that's not a huge gripe and these moments are made less detracting by the production job that I mentioned.
The lyrics are as you would UN expect: very strange and out there, they even have a song about pumpkin vigilantes overthrowing the rule of man, excellent concept if you ask me. The only real gripe I have with this album is that it's a tad too long, and some people will have trouble listening to a whole album that's this schizophrenic. Also if you aren't already a fan of avant-garde music I wouldn't start with this release, and if you like clearly defined song structure STAY AWAY. All in all a great release, and a truly insane experience.
89/100
To describe the sound of this band, think of totally chaotic riffs, in odd time signatures and they are constantly changing, weaving, and getting more odd.
its like
for instance
Ifyoujust DEcI ded onedayto
neglect
every single Grammar and writing rulE
and just wrote
HOWEVER THE FUCK YOU FEEL.
Get the picture? One thing I really enjoyed about this release is the bass. It's constantly present to the exact right degree. Its extremely technical and adds great depth and character to the music, and its something that lots of metal bands have lost touch with. The guitars are chaotic and riffy, there's a lot of use of piano and violins and out of character stuff like that. The vocals range from a black metal type of throaty mid pitched shriek trading off with female clean vocals and the occasional clean male vocals. The drums are nothing stunningly mind-blowing but they do a damn good job considering the amount of transitions, tempo shifts and stuff that's going on with the music.
The production is clear without being overly polished and refined, and you can hear each of the many elements that this album has, which is good because a bad production job could really ruin an album like this and make it like a wall of chaotic brown noise. At times things do get a tiny bit cluttered because of the enormous amount of things going on, but that's not a huge gripe and these moments are made less detracting by the production job that I mentioned.
The lyrics are as you would UN expect: very strange and out there, they even have a song about pumpkin vigilantes overthrowing the rule of man, excellent concept if you ask me. The only real gripe I have with this album is that it's a tad too long, and some people will have trouble listening to a whole album that's this schizophrenic. Also if you aren't already a fan of avant-garde music I wouldn't start with this release, and if you like clearly defined song structure STAY AWAY. All in all a great release, and a truly insane experience.
89/100
Monday, September 19, 2011
Best And Worst So Far ( 2011 )
It almost the end of the year, so I feel it is appropriate to make a list of the best and worst so far. I have heard many different albums this year, some have been stellar some have been great, and some have been just horrible. Here is the list of albums and descriptions of why they are the best or worst.
Best of 2011 so far
1.Mastodon- The Hunter: This album was absolutely killer, and although it had a few stylistic changes that some people may not be comfortable with, it's still good ol Mastodon, and they still rock. This album is my current pick for album of the year
2.Perpetuate: This album is absolutely stellar, its very short and its really an EP but it is awesome from start to finish, relatively unknown band, but they've released a bombshell of an album that makes me happy on the inside.
3. Wolves in The Throne Room- Celestial Lineage: This album has such a beautiful natural atmosphere to it, and it even borders on drone at times. Would be album of the year right now if two other albums had not surpassed it. Its use of female vocals and synths to compliment the atmosphere are perfect
4. Autopsy- Macabre Eternal: A brilliant triumphant return for Autopsy. It sounds like it came right out of the old school death metal era. Its brutal its ugly, its pulverizing, even doomy at times but it is daaamn good.
5.Symphony X- Iconoclast: I'm really digging this album, it has an awesome concept, it has complex rhythms and structures, shredding solos, soaring vocals and it keeps my attention surprisingly well for 2 disc release. Very strong, solid progressive metal release
There has only been one album this year that has been a huge disappointment for me and that's Morbid Angel's Illud Divinum Insanus. If they had done industrial the right way this could have been an insanely good release, but they failed terribly. It's not as if there aren't decent moments but this is still a bummer of a release for me.
Best of 2011 so far
1.Mastodon- The Hunter: This album was absolutely killer, and although it had a few stylistic changes that some people may not be comfortable with, it's still good ol Mastodon, and they still rock. This album is my current pick for album of the year
2.Perpetuate: This album is absolutely stellar, its very short and its really an EP but it is awesome from start to finish, relatively unknown band, but they've released a bombshell of an album that makes me happy on the inside.
3. Wolves in The Throne Room- Celestial Lineage: This album has such a beautiful natural atmosphere to it, and it even borders on drone at times. Would be album of the year right now if two other albums had not surpassed it. Its use of female vocals and synths to compliment the atmosphere are perfect
4. Autopsy- Macabre Eternal: A brilliant triumphant return for Autopsy. It sounds like it came right out of the old school death metal era. Its brutal its ugly, its pulverizing, even doomy at times but it is daaamn good.
5.Symphony X- Iconoclast: I'm really digging this album, it has an awesome concept, it has complex rhythms and structures, shredding solos, soaring vocals and it keeps my attention surprisingly well for 2 disc release. Very strong, solid progressive metal release
There has only been one album this year that has been a huge disappointment for me and that's Morbid Angel's Illud Divinum Insanus. If they had done industrial the right way this could have been an insanely good release, but they failed terribly. It's not as if there aren't decent moments but this is still a bummer of a release for me.
Mastodon- The Hunter
Its that time of year, time for a new Mastodon release, time for one of the most well known and well respected progressive metal bands to drop their latest musical offering, and with the hype this band got with Crack the Skye, and the consistently great quality of all their past releases is it possible to live up to the hype, to craft an album that continues to garner them respect and critical acclaim, or would this album fall into the usual trap of bands that have just released what many consider the apex of their career? I must admit I was a little apprehensive about this album, especially with the more whimsical song titles, and the new album artwork...then I heard Black Tongue. Well this could be the one gem amidst a turd of an album. I then heard Curl of the Burl, different for them yes, but still daaaamn good. The whole album lives up to my high expectations, and somehow even kind of exceeds them.
This an album that takes the core elements of the Mastodon sound from all the past releases, throws in some off the wall new elements to create a sound that is totally unique in the Mastodon catalog and yet somehow awesomely familiar. The sound on this album is more stripped down compared to Crack the Skye, you won't find the super long songs, and the all out proggy songwriting and flash that you saw with the last album, but it keeps some glimmers of that sound, mixes it with the sound found on albums such as Leviathan and Remission and adds in some new more lighthearted sounds and vocal stylings to create an entirely new sound for them yet again.
One of the things that sets this song apart from most other Mastodon releases is the fact that it doesn't have an overarching concept, and it doesn't have that same continuity as past albums, one track will sound different than the next, they don't keep to the same formula throughout, and to some this may be off putting, I really enjoy it. I think there's something for fans of all eras of Mastodons career thus far.
The guitars are awesome in this release, they range from really heavy chaotic riffing, to really laid back haunting melodies, to even some really happy sounding stuff on The Creature Lives. One addition I really love is the even more southern sounding riffing on the song Curl of The Burl. I also really love that they use more synth and synthesized weird noises and sounds. The solos on this album continue to be awesome just as on any other Mastodon release. Brann continues to use his usual over-the-top spastic drumming style as always, but now he seems to be able to rein himself in and be reserved when the time is right. Troys bass work is very well done and pretty clear in the production. The vocals on this album are also well done, and they have really upped their game when it comes to vocal harmonies. Much like the previous album the vocals are mostly clean singing.
I find myself at a loss to fully be able to describe the sound on this album, as it is so varied, and just at times very odd. Mastodon has once again broken from the barriers of a constant samey type of sound to craft an album that is a strong contender for album of the year. So has this topped Crack the Skye, and exceeded the greatness we heard on that album, well yes and no, yes in that it has expanded upon that sound. And no in that there are a very few moments on this album that are so off the wall I can't fully fully embrace them.
To summarize, this an album that successfully blends a variety of new styles and sounds and yet holds true to their signature sound that they crafted on Leviathan, and Remission. It is proof that a band can experiment with their sound radically and succeed and craft a great album. This is an exciting release and a great cap on the month of September, making this possibly my favorite month in metal for this year.
Score: 96/100
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Perpetuate Self Titled EP - Classic and Highly Underrated
Perpetuate is relatively little known band hailing from Canada, who play in a progressive style, with glimmers of power metal and Gothic metal, and I had the pleasure of stumbling upon this band while me and a friend were searching for new and interesting metal releases. Upon first listen I knew this would be something special, and something that I would be coming back to time and time again.
This album is truly a refreshing experience, it's the sound of a band that loves to play, and the energy they bring to the table is absolutely astounding. That is the main thing I love about this release is every song exudes emotion and raw passion for music, Something that many big name bands tend to lose with time.
The sound here is a pretty much very Maiden-inspired prog metal, with glimmers of the gothic style on occasion. Think soaring riffs, galloping bass at times, bombastic drum beats, and blistering solos, all of these are to be found in this 6 track EP. The keyboards accentuate the atmosphere of the album very well. They vocalist/keyboardist Kim McInnis is very competent at what she does, the vocals are high energy operatic style vocals that are very appropriately placed in the production, not overpowering the music, but not buried beneath the guitars to where you can't hear them. The bass is not as high in the mix as I'd like but its very well done, and as I stated before the guitars are very very well done. The riffs are power metal inspired and at times very complex and progressive. The solos on this are very well written and very much what you would expect from a prog metal band.
My favorite track on here is Medusa, its orchestral, and very dark, but it has an atmosphere that I love. The lyrics are very well written and the structure of the song weaves along with the story. I love the soft part right before a build-up to an explosive climax, and it leads right into their tribute to Iron Maiden in the form a cover of The Trooper. This is an extremely well done cover and an appropriate end to a stellar effort
All in all I feel that this is a strong contender for album of the year, its a high energy slab of proggy power and gothic metal that will keep any fan of prog and Iron Maiden. On a final note I feel that this band really deserves more exposure. This is a fantastic release and I look forward to hearing more from this band.
96/100
This album is truly a refreshing experience, it's the sound of a band that loves to play, and the energy they bring to the table is absolutely astounding. That is the main thing I love about this release is every song exudes emotion and raw passion for music, Something that many big name bands tend to lose with time.
The sound here is a pretty much very Maiden-inspired prog metal, with glimmers of the gothic style on occasion. Think soaring riffs, galloping bass at times, bombastic drum beats, and blistering solos, all of these are to be found in this 6 track EP. The keyboards accentuate the atmosphere of the album very well. They vocalist/keyboardist Kim McInnis is very competent at what she does, the vocals are high energy operatic style vocals that are very appropriately placed in the production, not overpowering the music, but not buried beneath the guitars to where you can't hear them. The bass is not as high in the mix as I'd like but its very well done, and as I stated before the guitars are very very well done. The riffs are power metal inspired and at times very complex and progressive. The solos on this are very well written and very much what you would expect from a prog metal band.
My favorite track on here is Medusa, its orchestral, and very dark, but it has an atmosphere that I love. The lyrics are very well written and the structure of the song weaves along with the story. I love the soft part right before a build-up to an explosive climax, and it leads right into their tribute to Iron Maiden in the form a cover of The Trooper. This is an extremely well done cover and an appropriate end to a stellar effort
All in all I feel that this is a strong contender for album of the year, its a high energy slab of proggy power and gothic metal that will keep any fan of prog and Iron Maiden. On a final note I feel that this band really deserves more exposure. This is a fantastic release and I look forward to hearing more from this band.
96/100
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