Earth at Myspace

Earth’s masterpiece “Earth 2” was the archetype of all drone doom metal records and throughout their career as a band they’ve always done something new on each album. Again they’ve broken new ground as rather than go back to square one and create a new sound for “the bees made honey in the lions skull” they’ve built upon the approach they created for their previous album “Hex or the Infernal Printing Method” and improved it immensely.

“Hex or the Infernal Printing Method” was one damn good album in itself with more replay value than that youtube video of the toddler getting somersaulted into the air by a breakdancer but “the bees made honey in the lion’s skull” is a step beyond that. It takes the bizarre frontier ambience of that album and simultaneously refines and makes sound more alive with that sense of the great unconquered wilderness that you only get with latter day Earth records.

The clean minimalist riffs fused with the hypnotic percussion and subtle piano and organ creates a style of music that isn’t really metal but then again can’t really be anything else. If you add some distortion to the guitars and produce it in a different way you’d have something undeniably metal but then that would take away the beauty and ambiguity of this record. This is a bizarre sound to describe but the nearest I can get is the primal spirit of Black Sabbath co-existing with the classical avant-garde minimalism of Phillip Glass, the haunting country instrumentals of Duane Eddy and a nod towards the post rock of Slint. You can still hear the concepts that Earth introduced to metal and that were since taken up by Boris, SunnO))) and Cult of Luna to name but a few. It’s a Metal album but not as we know it Jim!

North at Myspace

Okay, so maybe you’re like me and you love Isis. Maybe you see “like Isis” in an album review and check it out immediately. And maybe you’ve been disappointed time and again, because it takes more than lethargy to sound like Isis.

North take their own approach to combining post-rock with metal. Sometimes, the post-rock stands out the most, especially on the brief, dark, ominous interludes. Their last EP “Ruins” had one very metal, very promising riff on the track “Nex in March”, but overall was more of a heavy, post-rock, 100% instrumental album. But they decided to go balls-out into metal territory on this one; the post-rock is there, but focusing on the heavy riffs and adding growly vocals has changed everything. The overdriven riffs sound bright and angry; I love some good harmonic interplay, and the two guitarists serve it up constantly. Empty space in the riffs and changes in tone keep the songs fresh and memorable. “Eidolon” sounds just like a Mono song before it approaches sludge-metal territory. And tell me “Falling in Perpetuum” doesn’t stand tall next to any Isis track. Yeah, the album doesn’t really sound like Isis – it’s more by-the-books, and it doesn’t flirt with clean vocals or weird song structures.

Really, this album would be perfect if they mixed it up a little more. It kicks ass and sounds great, but it’s not that creative. The song structures, especially the usual soft-loud dynamic shifts, can be predictable, and there’s barely any shift away from 4/4 time. But if you’re looking for some fresh post-metal, you won’t be disappointed with this.

Evile at Myspace

Thrash is cool again in the sense that new thrash bands are actually getting some exposure (its not like there was ever a shortage of them) and the old stalwarts of the genre (and I don’t mean the big four!) are getting some welcome attention from younger fans. But is it all that its cracked up to be? In the case of Evile I’m afraid it doesn’t seem to be. I wanted to like this record, I really did, like a doubting Christian I want so hard to believe. To believe that thrash is alive and kicking in the 21^st century. Maybe it still is, but I’m afraid “enter the grave” by Evile isn’t the proof I was searching for.

If you want to emulate your heroes, you have to make something that’s up there with the best of them or least is a good way there. A good example of this from another genre is Reverend Bizarre who despite releasing their first record 15 years after trad doom’s heyday were still up there quality wise with Trouble, Candlemass, the Obsessed etc. The crucial difference was although the sound Reverend Bizarre created could have been theoretically come about anytime since the early 80’s, it was their own unique sound. They took influence from the Archetype (Sabbath, duh!), their aforementioned followers and a few forgotten gems to create their own unique sound.

You see, that’s what I want from a thrash revival band. I want a band that takes the influences of all those 80’s giants and creates their own unique take on thrash and Evile just don’t do this. To be blunt, this isn’t the sound of Evile it’s the slightly modified sound of Slayer. More specifically this is the sound of “Hell Awaits” slowed down a bit, more tuneful solo’s and with a greater emphasis on groove. If you love Slayer, you’ll probably like this, but to be honest for everyone else it isn’t anything that’s going to amaze or shock you. Another part of the problem is the song lengths. Unless you are Sabbat or Voivod and thus have a genius on guitar you really shouldn’t go into old school thrash if you want to make lengthy tracks. “We Who Are About to Die” is a case in point. It features the best riff on the album, but the effect of that is negated by a song that should be around 3 minutes long being dragged out to almost 8!

I’m going to casting a critical but fair eye over the thrash revival scene from now on as its reached a level of press hype (at least in the UK) that they would have been a backlash against if it were say Metalcore or Power Metal. As I say before, I want to believe in it, desperately so, but on the first look at the evidence here today I’m afraid the search might be in vain.

Dethklok at Myspace

The Adult Swim show “Metalocalypse” has proved to be very controversial in the metal community. Some have praised it, while others think that it makes a mockery of the genre. Personally, I like it a lot, but I wasn’t sure if series creator Brendon Small could make a worthwhile album out of the music from the show. After hearing the album, I have to say that it’s pretty good. Small made a great decision in recruiting Gene Hoglan to play the drums; his playing is a huge improvement over the drum machine used on the show. Small handles all the other instruments, and he’s competent but not amazing.

I have to say that the songs from the show tend to be better than the songs written specifically for the album. They tend to be significantly better performed than the original versions (although I preferred Small’s delivery of the intro to Fansong in the show). The lyrics to the original songs just aren’t quite as funny as the ones from the show; “Bloodtrocuted” was probably the best of them. I especially disliked the clean vocals on “Hatredcopter” and “Kill You”. I should also mention that there is a special edition with an extra disc. It has five extra songs and the non-musical “Dethklok Gets In Tune”. The material here just isn’t as strong, and I understand why it got relegated to a bonus disc (even though one disc could’ve held all the songs). The only song I really liked on the bonus disc was the blues number “Murdertrain a Comin’”. Two other things I disliked were the absence of Dr. Rockzo and the song “Sewn Back Together Wrong,” but these are minor grievances.

I would recommend this album for people who are prepared to listen to the hilarious lyrics and who have a sense of humor. Dethklok isn’t the be-all and end-all of metal that the Hot Topic crowd thinks it is, but I’d rather have them be the public’s image of metal than Dragonforce.

Gutworm at Myspace

Gutworm mix the aggressive type of fast-paced sludge metal that the Northamptonshire area became famous for in the days of Raging Speedhorn and Scurge with relatively accessible extreme metal à la The Haunted, Strapping Young Lad, At the Gates and Gojira. The result is something that won’t tick any metal stereotype’s boxes. It’s too proletarian and uncool for the scene kids, far too heavy for mainstream metal fans, and too similar to Pantera in places for the extreme metal fans.

Gutworm are a band who will never find a niche, which is in their favour since they’re not pandering to the one crowd. But personally, I think ‘Disfigured Narcissus’ is a step backwards from ‘Ruin the Memory’. There’s less emphasis on their death metal elements, with a perfect example being ‘Imperfect Harmony’, sounding like Crowbar French-kissing Lamb of God. ..And not in a good way!

There’s no equivalent here to ‘What You Are’, the clear standout track of their debut, and as the record progresses you can tell whether part of a particular track is engaging by how metalcore it sounds. Gutworm can pull off sludgy, groovy death metal but I think they might have miscalculated by adding metalcore into their sound. This was never going to be an album that purist death metal fans would enjoy, but it even lacks that crispness and clarity that made ‘Ruin the Memory’ so good.