Devildriver at Myspace

There comes a time in most trend-hoppers time when the first trend they attached themselves to dies and they hop onto the next. This doesn’t just apply to teenagers but to musicians. Bullet for my Valentine, Atreyu, and Norma Jean all started out as rap/nu metal bands, but perhaps the most famous trend hopper of modern metal is Dez Fafara. Fafara made his name donning fishnet tights on his arms and a  terrible gothic haircut fronting stereotypical nu metal band Coal Chamber. When the wheels came off that wagon, Fafara created a new band aimed at targeting the new trend in metal in an absolutely cynical fashion. With their Melodic death influenced metalcore sound, their boneheaded lyrics and the ubiquitously annoying Fafara, Devildriver seemed custom made to appeal to every “true metal” teenage knucklehead wanting to get into “the real heavy shit” in the most superficial fashion possible.

The one thing that strikes you about “The Last Kind Words” is how falsely perfect it sounds. It sounds like it was constructed by a committee to appeal to a certain audience. The chord progression and musical ingredients are tried and trusted to a level that sounds sterile and stale. Elements are taken from every obvious source and used in an exceedingly obvious way. Imagine the first band you formed with your mates in your teens. It was probably influenced by what can be called training wheels metal, (eg, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer etc) as that’s the stuff you knew and loved. Now imagine a bunch of guys with 10 years experience in music theory who know exactly what they are doing trying to do the same thing but with a modern “core” edge.

That might be a dream come true to a lot of metal fans, but it’s not mine. Metal, even accessible and commercially viable metal has to have a real dangerous edge to appeal to the discerning metal fan in even the slightest capacity. Metallica, Iron Maiden, Pantera and co took influences from bands that weren’t popular then and certainly aren’t popular now. The same can be said for Opeth, In Flames, Lamb of God, Shadows Fall etc whatever you may say about their current career choices. Devildriver are a lot heavier than the likes of Bullet for my Valentine and Avenged Sevenfold but they are just as unthreatening and safe. Just like Coal Chamber are barely remembered today, I doubt Devildriver for all their popularity will be remembered after they split up. Just like Coal Chamber this shit is just too tame and teen friendly to be long lasting.

The Faceless at Myspace

The Faceless are sometimes wrongly dumped in with the Deathcore camp due to their touring partners, record label and a few breakdowns (which came from Death Metal anyway) that is to be founded littered in the sea of technical Melodic Death Metal. Stylistically nothing new is done here, but it’s done in one hell of an entertaining way. Think about a more melodically inclined Necrophagist mixed with Arsis and some of the Later The Crown material with at least one Grave/Bolt Thrower style breakdown and some nifty keyboards thrown into every song. The only black mark on the record is “Horizons of Chaos 2: Hypocrisy” which sounds like Necrophagist masturbating over On Broken Wings corpse and should have been taken off the record. The other 7 tracks are pretty much quality in the guilty Gothenburg wannabe pleasure stakes.

As previously stated its not exactly reinventing the wheel, but in these day and age finding any sort of new record with a melodic death element that isn’t absolute wank is quite an unusual event so this one can be filed along with Arsis, The Absence and Nightrage as nostalgic but not world shattering music for those of who got into heavier metal via discovering the melodic death metal sound by accident sometime in the early 00’s. I can’t be the only one who by somehow hearing an At the Gates or In Flames song realised there was more to metal than just the classics, and if you have had a similar introduction to metal, you might find some value in something that’s a pleasant trip down memory lane without listening to your nearly worn down copy of “Slaughter of the Soul” again.

Brain Drill at Myspace

One thing that can be said about Brain Drill’s debut and perhaps only album “Apocalyptic Feasting” is although its not an album that will universally loved by all death metal fans, some devotees of the genre will find lots on offer here. Imagine Necrophagist’s technical wizardry/overkill (delete as appropriate in regards to your preferences) with the straight up chaotic brutality of King of all Kings/I Monarch era Hate Eternal and you’ve basically thought up Brain Drill. For those of you who loved the virtuoso performances of Mohammed Sucimez and co, you will be blown away by the level of technical ability exhibited all members of the band on this record. To be honest I think the “Apocalyptic Feasting” Brain Drill line-up probably just about beats the Necrophagist’s “Epitaph” line-up in terms of sheer musical skill.

There are people out there who aren’t really that fond of Necrophagist; they believe that concepts such as song-writing and atmosphere are jettisoned in pursuit of excessive and almost masturbatory technicality. Well don’t worry as that doesn’t necessarily mean that this is a record that you will automatically stay clear of. Brain Drill have superb song writing skills and their brutal death metal Influences ensure that the tracks are well rounded and natural flowing pieces of tech death metal.

For a debut album, this is about as good as it gets these days, and it has to be hoped that Brain Drill head honcho Dylan Ruskin can put together a new stable line up as although some death metal fans will regard “Apocalyptic Feasting as an abomination I’d love to see where these guys progress if they make another album.

Austrian Death Machine at Myspace

Austrian Death Machine is a one-man Arnold Schwarzenegger tribute project by As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis. When I first heard of this, I was ambivalent, as I liked the concept, but knew that As I Lay Dying was a metalcore band, and that genre has quite a bad reputation (I have avoided it completely until now). Well, the album wasn’t quite as bad as I feared, but I can’t quite recommend it, either.

First of all, Lambesis doesn’t even attempt to sound like Arnold. The between-song skits and a few songs feature an Arnold impersonator (not Lambesis), but this impression is somewhat inconsistent. Lambesis’ vocals are just generic metalcore yelling, which doesn’t really fit the goofy tone I expected from an Arnold tribute. The drums are a mixture of Lambesis’ playing and a drum machine, and they don’t really stand out, while the bass is barely audible. However, Lambesis’ guitar work is quite good; I would’ve guessed that he was a guitarist and not a singer had I gone in knowing nothing other than that this was a one-man project. The songwriting is also decent; the lyrics are amusing and the soloing is quite good. I also have to commend Lambesis for writing not one, but two songs based on Kindergarten Cop (“Who is Your Daddy, and What Does He Do?” and “It’s Not a Tumor”.)

All in all, this album isn’t horrible, it’s just pretty generic. I’d definitely recommend Arnocorps over this, but metalcore fans will probably enjoy it.

Arnocorps at Myspace

Arnocorps has to have one of the best concepts for a gimmick band I’ve heard in quite a while. All of their songs are about Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, although the band claims that they’re actually based on “Austrian folktales” which got ripped off by Hollywood. Their vocalist does a hilarious Arnold impression (I’m guessing that Robert Smigel’s impression from Late Night with Conan O’Brien was a strong influence). The music is thrash that leans more towards the punk side of the spectrum (crossover thrash isn’t a genre with which I have much experience), but the band dubs its music “Action-Adventure Hardcore Rock and Roll,” or “Arnocore”.

I have to admire the band’s audacity in titling their full-length debut “The Greatest Band of All Time;” while I can’t go quite that far in my praise for this album, most of the songs are quite catchy. The subject matter covers all of Schwarzenegger’s greatest movies, from Predator to Terminator to the Conan films. I would’ve liked to see some of his lesser films featured; while there is a song about the enormous flop “Last Action Hero,” I would’ve liked to see a few songs based on his comedies like “Kindergarten Cop” and “Jingle All the Way”. High points include the ridiculously catchy “Total Recall”, “Terminator,” and the semi-acoustic “Crom (Strong on His Mountain).”

Where should Arnocorps go next? My humble suggestion: a concept album about Arnold, from his role in “Hercules in New York” to him capturing the Governor’s Mansion. That would be brutal.