Between the Buried and Me – The Great Misdirect (2009) Review 8/10

Here is a band I have a love hate relationship with. Between the Buried and Me is (musically) one of the best progressive death metal bands out there. The Great Misdirect is their sixth studio release and they have reached new heights on this album.

The music that flows out of this band is just insane. This is what Bach and Beethoven would have written if they had distortion. One guitar will start a line and the other will compliment with a different line. Soon we have multiple voices Read more

Kalmah – 12 Gauge (2010) Review 8.8/10

Something new just arrived from the swamp.  Kalmah’s sixth studio album, 12 Gauge, is here. The melodies are instantly catchy, the aggression is there, the guitars sound thick, and the singing is just as intense as ever. If there is one thing Kalmah is it’s consistent.

If you are new to Kalmah (where have you been?), these Finnish swamp lords play a technical breed of melodic death metal.  You can also hear a little black metal influence here and there, particularly in some of the vocals from Pekka Kokko and some of the more aggressive guitar lines.

I have this friend who doesn’t really listen to metal (he is still stuck on grunge) and the last few times he has stopped by I’ve been listening to Kalmah. Each time he asked, “What is this, some kind of video game death metal?”

The hooks are so strong and catchy that they sometimes do sound like something that would work in a video game. Mario would be so much cooler if he rocked out to Kalmah.

Let’s analyze for a moment: On their first few albums the sound was epic and aggressive. It was slightly raw despite the prominent keyboards. The songs were catchy but the hooks weren’t as defined as they were on their last album, For the Revolution. To me, 12 Gauge brings back some of the older Kalmah style and mixes it with the new sound. It’s epic and aggressive while featuring amazing riffing and catchy melodies. I also like that this music does not insulting the listener by being predictable or watered down. It’s Kalmah all the way through.

They do love to use the keyboard (as usual). Their keyboarding is always there to add depth and thicken the already catchy melodies. One of the beauties of it is that it never overpowers the guitars or weakens the sound. This is one of the few melodic death metal bands that can tear your head off.

I don’t think this is their best work to date. There are better songs on just about every Kalmah album to date. We do have some amazing songs here and an album worthy of the “Kalmah” name. I believe someone mentioned that they knew about Kalmah but never really looked into them. This is a good place to start and after you “get it”, go back and explore their older material. Thank me later.

8.8/10

Carach Angren – Death Came Through A Phantom Ship (2010) Review 9/10

Carach Angren is back wih their second full length album. The first was a dark and ghostly trip and this one improves on it in almost every way.

This  ”symphonic black metal” act from the Netherlands puts as much emphasis on theatrics as they do on song writing. And this is a very cool thing. I would say they are quite unique in what they do.

For that reason I don’t really like to classify them as symphonic black metal. They do share musical similarities with bands like Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir, but they are not exactly similar them or other bands in this specific genre. They are more theatrical, more haunting, more avant garde, and more about telling a story.

And tell a story they do. It’s clear that the narrative is the most important part of the experience. I won’t go too far into the themes but we mainly have stories of ghosts… and pirate ghosts! The music is only there to act as a soundtrack to this black metal symphony of the macabre. It rises and falls. It blasts then everything is removed except a piano and some orchestration. The story changes and the soundtrack becomes sinister. It’s deviously beautiful. It’s chaotically sinister.

I recommend listening to this straight through, as a whole (especially for your first listen). The lyrics are clear enough to totally understand as well. Take it in as you would a good movie.

If you are up for something more theatrical with a sinister twist check out Death Came Through A Phantom Ship. It’s surely one of the most interesting albums of the year. To me, this is far more entertaining anything Cradle of Filth has ever released.

9/10

Rotting Christ – AEALO (2010) Review 8/10

Rotting Christ’s latest effort, AEALO, is meant to be taken as a whole, as an experience, or single piece of art. This is supposed to be what a soldier goes through in battle. Read more

In Mourning – Monolith (2010) Review 6.5/10

In Mourning plays very modern sounding progressive melodic death metal. Some of their more progressive moments bring to mind Opeth. This is about as good as they get on this album.

I really want to like this music more. There is a lot going on here and the subtly is there as well. That is something that really sets one band apart from another. The nuances. The atmosphere that builds. The layers of intrigue. Sadly, most of the material on this album is more monotonous than interesting.

I guess the biggest let down is knowing that the band is extremely talented. They know how to create atmosphere. I’m mostly passive about what is going on but here and there something will catch my ear. This when I know they can do better. They created something interesting and beautiful for 30 seconds and then it disappeared back into a fog of nothingness.

The Smoke is a great song. If you pick up the disc, start there. Again, I hear a lot of Opeth here.

I also want to note that the cover art was designed by our friend Travis Smith (he created the flaming earth logo for RazeTheWorld). He also does the cover art for Opeth… See where I’m going here.

Let’s hope that they get a bit more creative and dynamic with their songs next time. I know this band can be amazing, but here it is only slightly amazing.  I’d check out the new work from bands like In Vain, Be’lakor, or even Martriden if you are looking for something in this style.

6.5/10

Finntroll – Nifelvind (2010) Review 8.9/10

There be trolls about. Finntroll is back with another frolic through the darker parts of the Finnish forest. Nifelvind is a lot more fun than their last album, Ur Jordens Djup.

In Ur Jordens Djup, Finntroll really reached a dark point in their music. I don’t mean that in a bad way, I mean that their music much more diabolical and sinister. It was like a rainy day filled with necromancy. The sound is much the same in Nifelvind. It’s still dark and somewhat evil sounding, but this time it’s more darkly mischievous than sinister.  I can definitely drink ale to this.

They have introduced some new instruments on this album. I am loving the sound of the xylophone on some of the tracks. It brings to mind images of trolls dancing about in torch-lit caves. There is also some banjo on this album. I would rate this as one of the “folkier” Finntroll albums just because there are a lot of acoustic instruments and a bit less keyboard than one is used to.

As for the production and performances… The production is nearly perfect. It seems hard not to find a well produced album these days. The performances are quite good as well. The guitar is just as complicated as it needs to be. The effects and folk instruments are all well placed. I especially like the background vocals. We hear chanting and even some epic choruses.

I do prefer some of the more upbeat Finntroll albums like Nattfödd, but I am really enjoying this trip through the darker parts of the forest.

8.9/10

Line-up:
Vreth – Vocals
Routa – Guitars
Skrymer – Guitars
Tundra – Bass
Trollhorn – Keyboards
Beast Dominator – Drums

1. Vindfärd / Människopesten 05:36
2. Eliytres 03:46
3. Fiskarens Fiende 03:47
4. Trollhammaren 03:33
5. Nattfödd 04:51
6. Ursvamp 02:03
7. Marknadsvisan 02:00
8. Det Iskalla Trollblodet 03:54
9. Grottans Barn 04:37
10. Rök 02:23
Total playing time 36:30

February has Been an Epic Month

Eluveitie, Rotting Christ, Borknagar, Finntroll, Dark Tranquillity, Martriden, Burzum, Kawir, Whispered, Embryo, Shaolin Death Squad, De Profundis, Scythia, Daysend, Throes of Dawn, Jack Slater, Ov Hell, Nydvind, and Immolation have all released CD’s.

I’ll try to give you a one or two sentense preview of each one: Read more

Whispered – Thousand Swords review

Very few times have I seen a folk band that hasn’t included the now generic viking theme… slaughtering people through the Scandinavian area, traveling on boats to hidden lands, surviving the cold, we’ve all heard it before. But here is something new… a samurai folk band. Whispered is a melodic death metal/folk metal band from Finland, however, unlike most Finnish melodic death bands, they have an extremely innovative theme behind their music.

Thousand swords starts off with an atmospheric Asian intro in hajimari, it is quite an epic track, definitely something different. This preps the listener up for the following track, titled after the album, and also called Thousand Swords.  Thousand swords starts off with a very epic feel, chorus vocals and very fast guitar riffing behind it. The song lasts 7 minutes, and kept chills down my spine the whole time. The intermittent use of oriental instruments is fantastic on this track, definitely one of the best parts about this song, and the entire album.

Through most of the rest of the album, they actually kept an almost Power Metal feel in the instrumentals, however with extremely harsh vocals. These vocals are also about asian history, and samurai history, especially their fights, and honor. The instrumentals are incredibly fast, with power metal style solos, all based around the Asian oriented pentatonic scales.

Perhaps my favorite track on this album is  Blade in the Snow. It starts off with a 3 minute instrumental intro, moving onto an incredibly heart pounding and fast paced melodic death feel.This keeps up intil the last about 4 minutes of the song… let me put it this way – The last 4 minutes of this song is some of the best melodic death i have heard in the past 3 years.

I’ve listened to this album through about 3 times, and I honestly cannot find an uninventive or non-innovative track. This is my favorite folk/melodic death release of 2010, easily.

9.5/10

2010 – Best of the New Year (So Far)

2010 is getting off to one hell of a start. January was pure insanity. Here are the ones to look for (IMO):

Ihsahn – After

Mother of God. This album is amazing. Vegard Sverre Tveitan keeps getting better. Now he is on an eight string guitar and the music is just madness.

Ihsahn is Read more

Orden Ogan – Eastern Hope (2010) Review 7/10

Oden Ogan is a power metal outfit from Arnsberg, Germany. Their sound immediately brings to mind Wuthering Heights, Kuias, and sometimes even Machine Men.

This album is text book power metal (epic melodies, keyboards, solid clean vocals, and great harmony). The production has an extremely modern sound to it. Guitars are thick and crunchy, vocals are crisp, and the orchestrations are clean.

All in all, there is not a lot that separates this from most of the other power metal that is out. The main reason I like it is the lack of cheese. There is still some cheese, I mean, it wouldn’t be power metal without some epic cheese. Let me try to describe this “cheese”. The music has a beauty to it but not like the beauty I hear in a black metal album. When I listen to something like klabautamann I hear beauty that makes me imagine a baby animal carcass rotting into the forest as new grass grows, nourished by the decaying flesh. Orden Ogan is beautiful like shiny girl hair. Get it?

It is worth listening to and is solid all the way through. If you like it I recommend checking out Kuias or Wuthering Heights. I’m not much of a power metal guy, so feel free to let me know who else has a good sound.

7/10

THUNDRA – Ignored By Fear (2009) Review 9.1/10

Well, where to begin…

Thundra, if you’ve never heard of them before, they are a mix of a few genres possibly, Most predominantly Black metal with great viking metal influence, and at times even a little death metal thrown in. The way they manage to mix all of this and make it sound like all of them but not like any of them is the amazing part about this band.
As for this new CD, “Ignored by Fear”, they don’t change much from their previous sound or style (This is actually a good thing, they are right where they want to be.).
Now for those who have listened before I will give a quick little thought of their sound, This album sounds a little more aggressive than their previous albums, and have a big step up in the production values, but still holds true to everything you know and love about them. As for new listeners, this is probably the first CD I would recommend picking up from these guys.
Unlike most of the other great Thundra albums, this one starts out generally slow and gaining gradually, instead of their normal way of being heavy from the start to the middle then slowing down for a fast end. Personally I think with their sound in particular this is a good thing. The new things they’ve incorporated in this CD is a few parts that resemble old death metal, and parts that have more melodic, even more epic parts that make you want to close your eyes and daydream you are a viking. There is even parts that make you want to start playing air guitar and rock out while listening.
I would say out of the other Thundra albums, this is probably the pinnacle of their career thusfar, and that I hope they keep heading in this direction, Rune himself really did a great job this time around with the guitar work, it is a great mix of atmosphere mixing with Nils’ great synthing and Haralds varied drum playing. Stevens clean vocals this time around sound a lot smoother while still retaining the same sound and his shrieks and growls have only gotten better.

I would say the standout tracks in this album are “Inner Struggle”, the album opener, and “Storm Within”, the second track and arguably one of the bands most aggressive sounding songs to date.
Overall I would give this album a 9.1/10 and say that it is a very good release in the right derection that I hope the band stays on.