As I Lay Dying's "Awakened" Review

As I Lay Dying’s Awakened takes a deep breath in the first millisecond and unleashes its metalcore beach assault like five Christian shock troops determined to make a landing where they’ve never gone before. That crinkly sound in the background is the simultaneous storm facial muscles bending into frowns from many of AILD’s fans. 

Why has the band gone so far down melody lane? Why is Josh Gilbert getting so much microphone time? He’s in the way of Tim Lambesis and his screamo monotones! Did they pull a trick on everyone and sneak in Pierce the Veil or something? 

Embracing melody was a sin in the earlier days of metalcore, but these days every band in the genre has gone toward the light. Melody makes hit records. Metalcore makes for great live shows, where the force of a million decibels delivers a powerful experience. As I Lay Dying hasn’t gone soft, its musicianship and beefy presentation is still quite intact. The album has just taken a left turn away from The Powerless Rise.
 
“Cauterize” shouldn’t scare away the faithful. Neither should “A Greater Foundation.” They’re epic in arrangement and deliver the necessary MMA elbow blows to the top of the skull. Obviously, AILD is a band on a mission, as it were, so “A Greater Foundation” is a spiritual piece of nasty bruising. “Resilience” launches off like a multi-stage rocket, but then eases up after the metalcore breakdown and visits harmony ranch before bringing Lambesis back for another eight bars of battery acid in the ears before a couple measures of harmony shut the song down. 

The band plays like avenging angels behind the vocal trade-offs throughout the album. Everything is nestled in a proper metalcore production, all is as it should be. That’s not entirely a good thing though. 

“Wasted Words,” “Whispering Silence,” “Defender,” and “Cauterize” would make an impressive EP. The other six tracks are decent, but awfully hard to recall even after half a dozen listens. With the heavy metal compass pointing toward melody, AILD has tried hard to inject it into Awakened, but it doesn’t sound organic to the songs. 


Awakened may be a transitional album for the band. It will sound great on tour. Unless the album cover is hand-drawn by Stan Lee, there might not be much temptation to own the album. All the metalcore jostling for recognition makes it difficult to stand out for a band like As I Lay Dying. Awakened takes the fifteenth row back from the front of the chapel, present but maybe a little too easy to miss.

Dethklok's "Dethalbum III" Review

In its way, it shares more with Disney’s The Little Mermaid soundtrack album then it does with As I Lay Dying’s Awakened. Dethalbum III is a cartoon soundtrack, yet it manages to be more coherent and inventive within its genre than 90 percent of similar output so far this year. Dethalbum III kicks much rear-end, while giggling at its own inside joke.

Mastermind of everything Metalocalypse and Dethklok, Brendon Small has written every song. This explains the seamless way Dethalbum III goes from opener “I Ejaculate Fire” to song 12, “Rejoin.” With drummer Gene Hoglan and bassist Bryan Beller, Small has taken the Dethklok persona to hammer together a riff-driven album that rolls over convention with an unstoppable groove.
Dethalbum III is as accessible as death metal gets. The foul-mouthed version should fly out of the Amazon MP3 store while the cleaned-up version should become scarce in the Wal-mart CD rack. Regardless of the language, the Ulrich Wild/Brendan Small production is remarkable. Smashed down to a perfect three db margin, Dethalbum III will fit perfectly in every format out there.
“I Ejaculate Fire” intros on a scratchy Nonesuch record for no particular reason. So do half of the other metal albums lately. The song has made the rounds everywhere. It’s a thrash-fast groover of less than impeccable taste where Small’s vocals have evolved into outright legitimacy. Controlled and dominant, its only when Small backs off the microphone to concentrate on his superb guitar work that the power of the instrumentation sears through, especially with Hoglan (Death, Strapping Young Lad) drumming two notches above excellent.

The video for the song is either horrifying or hilarious depending on one’s viewpoint. That’s the Adult Swim joke, over the top and rarely sly. Dethalbum III, as an album, dials down the parody to nearly zero, and leaves that to the visuals.

A great down-tuned drum and spider-dance riff brings to life “Crush the Industry.” True death metal breaks out all over. The double-kick drum machine loop gets a work out, while vocals turn to black bile and guitar solos blaze at Mach one in power metal registers. Like cigarette smoke clinging in clouds close to a studio ceiling, Small’s keyboards loom over most of the tracks. Part Theremin, part Moog, part alien head voices, the keys infuse the tracks with a haunting glow. On “The Galaxy” the keys take the lead and swirl out the arms of the song’s melody with unearthly majesty.

“Starved” is a DM pounder with unusual guitar work and an inexplicably death jazz free metal guitar solo. “Ghost Queen” plows between finger-twisting riffs, tottering death stomp verses and still more off the hook solo work. The arrangement varies up from the other tracks, but in the end, all the songs build to strong climaxes. And, amazingly, not a single stoopid movie dialog or clanging sword battle drop-in anywhere on the album. All meat and no filler on Dethalbum III.

With the jaunty “Biological Warfare.” featuring some of Small’s croakiest vocals, the bar is raised another rung until the following track “The SkyHunter” cranks it up another one only to be raised once again by the gold-medal “The Hammer,” whose rhythm riff is concentrated purity. Dethklok may drift in the electronic waves of the videodrome, but Dethalbum III is as rock-hard real as the fantasy of death metal gets.

Texas in July's Self Titled Album Review

I have been hooked on Texas In July ever since I heard their first EP back in 2008. Their sound reminded me so much of one of my favorite bands in this particular genre (August Burns Red). Ever since then, I have seen the band grow and grow in popularity, even touring with August Burns Red and playing multiple festivals. Now, the band is releasing their third full length album, which is self titled, and it has to be the best thing the band has put out in their career.

I was one of the fans that was fairly disappointed with their previous effort, One Reality. It's not that I didn't like the album, I just didn't feel like it was on par with their first full length, and it seemed to go a different direction that what I was hoping for. They seemed to have stepped up their game with this self titled album though, and for that, I am very thankful.

The album intro is a typical intro you would hear on an album like this. It's just a minute long, and flows right into the previous released track, Cry Wolf. The hard pounding drums of Adam Gray kick things off in this song, and that is one thing I have always loved about Texas In July. Adam Gray is a drumming master. His skills are up there with great drummers of the scene, and even better than most I think. The musicianship of the band is ridiculous, also. The guitars can get so complex, while still having a great sound. I have had the chance to see them play live, and they sound great. They transition the complex guitars and drumming on the album into their live shows flawlessly.

Not unlike quite a few bands now days, Texas In July have worked a more melodic sound into their music. It's perfect, and really fits well with the sound the band has already established. The song Without A Head is especially melodic, and that's fitting because it features the guest vocals of Chadwick Johnson, the vocalist of the melodic hardcore giants Hundredth. A fantastic guitar riff starts the song off, and it leads you into a very I Am sounding Texas In July song. That is, until a little after the halfway point. The song just cuts out, and then a very melodic sounding guitar brings things back. This is when things start sounding very different for the band, and is where the vocals of Johnson come in. The next track, Bed Of Nails, is also a track that was previously released by the band. This song became one of my favorites because of the very odd placed guitar riff in the middle. It seems so odd, but it fits so well into the structure of the song. It almost gave me a hint of Stray From The Path.

A couple of the other standout tracks for me were Repressed Memories and the album closer Cloudy Minds. Repressed Memories is a completely instrumental track that gives off a very ambient feel. It's odd, in comparison to the rest of the album, but it sounds great. The closer, Cloudy Minds, has to be one of the most unique songs on the albums. It features a guest, but not in the typical guest vocal spot. It features Matt Greiner. For those of you that don't know, he is the drummer for August Burns Red. He does a drum solo/battle of sorts next to Adam Grey. Greiner is an even better drummer than Grey, and hearing his fantastic drumming on this release is a great thing for any fan of the two bands, or just drumming in general. It's a great way to close the album. 

My only real complaints on the album are the vocals, and somewhat repetitive structure on a couple songs. The vocals tend to not vary that much. It's more varied than their previous releases, but still not as varied as I would have liked, or as varied as I think vocalist Adam Good could be. Don't let that turn you off from the release though, because it's still (I think) their best release to date. The added melodic sound behind some of their typical chug-chug breakdowns really helped the band better their sound, and the overall feel of the album is good.The album was released yesterday, and I recommend picking it up.

Testament's "Dark Roots of Earth" Review

Opener “Rise Up” is an instant, crowd-pleasing anthem. Not simply powerful, it’s an empowering statement of strength and self-belief, which along with the equally passionate “Native Blood” clears a path for the epic title track, which itself displays just how much Testament has outgrown a simplistic thrash pigeonhole and become a simply great heavy metal/thrash band.

Although Dark Roots Of Earth doesn’t offer experimentation as such, it does show a band unafraid of constant progression. The close to eight minute “Cold Embrace,” for example, unashamedly borrows from the psychedelic side of early Sabbath and puts it in the context of something not too far removed from a power metal ballad, without ever raising any doubt about Testament’s music coming from anywhere other than the heart.

Crucial to Testament’s resurrection in recent years has been their ability to absorb modern inspirations into their classic thrash blueprint. The power of Pantera and bottom-heavy groove of Lamb Of God are apparent in Testament’s latest output, but far from jumping on any bandwagons, Testament has simply made such influences their own and in doing so, ensured they remain as invigorating now as at any time in their lengthy career.

With time doing little to blunt their attack, Testament has crafted another fine album which once more underlines not only their outstanding musical pedigree, but their integrity and unshakable passion.
Testament remains a band at the very top of its game. Only time will tell if the likes of Metallica still have one more great album in them, but even if they do, it’s highly unlikely to come close to matching Dark Roots Of Earth.

Wait for the best of 2012 list folks – Testament just booked a place on it.

Cattle Decapitation's "Monolith of Humanity" Review

Monolith Of Inhumanity is an elaborate project of dynamic shifts and experiments in areas that were previously untouchable. Songs veer off into unsettling ambiance, where the usually-vicious nature is toned down for a slower, methodical assault. Songs like “A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat” have choruses that could be deemed “catchy,” which seemed like a curse of death for the band a few years ago.

All these songs are still the furthest thing away from being accessible. The band still crushes the dreams of little children with steel-toe boots. There’s nothing welcoming about the bile slathered on in big portions, and even the occasional finger-snapping melody does not dilute the straight hatred these guys have for the human race. If song titles can speak volumes, “Dead Set On Suicide” and “Gristle Licker” should do the job.

Present on the album is no-frills death metal, like the seedy “Projectile Ovulation” and masterful pace of “The Carbon Stampede.” Then there are the songs where the band stretches out with tempos that go all over the board. “Lifestalker” is one of the more aggressive cuts starting out, before transitioning into a bass-led break that redefines the meaning of “heavy.” “The Monolith” is a four-minute build-up that poses a question of enlightenment; “If we were promised heaven, why put them through hell?” “Kingdom of Tyrants” answers that in an ill-tempered manner.

It’s not one part of Cattle Decapitation that makes them so untouchable, but what each member has to give. Guitarist Josh Elmore comes off like a wild man with his spiraling riffs and hard-to-top solos. Bassist Derek Engemann makes the most out of his first studio recording with the band. The over-powering drumming of David McGraw leaves a headache behind (that could be because he is a little too loud in the mix). Travis Ryan steals the album yet again, with a range that most death metal vocalists would beg to possess. He even employs clean-styled rasps and growls, lending a tuneful swagger when used.

Cattle Decapitation have merged into an intoxicating death metal group, doing what is necessary to slam faces into the wall, but doing so in a tender and passionate manner.Monolith Of Inhumanity has been an album that has gotten its share of buzz over the past few months, and all of it is warranted. This is going to be a tough death metal album to beat this year, and it’s all because of the band defying any chances to confine to their old standards or fall back on well-practiced tricks.

Whitechapel's Self-Titled Review

It didn’t take any sort of deep thought for me to tell just how angry the band’s vocalist, Phil Bozeman, is on these songs. Based off of his grunts, pessimistic lyrics, and overall tone throughout the album’s 9 vocally-driven tracks, the man is pretty livid. Some of the songs have a sort of predictable range of topics for a deathcore band, stretching from subjects like fear, death, corruption, and insanity among a few other things. Even with all of that, this album still has more to prove and exhibit then some of the other bands within the scene.

The instrumentation is really what makes this album stick out above the rest of Whitechapel’s discography. An acoustic guitar is used somewhere in the middle of “Make it Bleed”, the album’s opening track, and in my opinion, I think it makes for a great effort with helping spice things up and keep things interesting without seeming to be forced. There some are a few piano intros and outros that lie somewhere on the border between cliché and natural.

There’s a very subtle use of electronics sprinkled throughout the release, one of the best examples of this would be an early part of the song “I, Dementia”. Don’t let that scare you into thinking that there are any dance-y beats present, electronics in the world of Whitechapel translate into minimalistic lo-fi synth and drum beats more than anything else. I’m very glad to know that there are not any sort of dubstep wobbles of any kind in any of these songs. This goes to show that Whitechapel makes a defiant stand of not running with most of the trends that are present in both the mainstream and underground world.

Yes, I said “most of the trends”. You’ll still find blast beats, breakdowns, and an occasional guitar solo in here. I mean, if you’re able to get past the fact that those things make up the very foundation of deathcore, you’ll still be set to be surprised with everything in the album. One of my favorite things about Whitechapel is the band’s usage of not one or two, but three guitarists that devastatingly cut through the mix while they shred, chug, and harmonize their way into your eardrums. At times, I could say that the songs have a definite doom metal groove to them, while at other times, I could say that they have a few quick bursts in tempo – something that could oftentimes be found in some of the many genres of metal.

This album wasn’t a hard listen by any means. The songs hold their own both collectively and individually. I didn’t feel like I was sitting through a nearly 40 minute long wall of sound, I felt like I was actually listening to a an actual album. This music makes me think about many things, it makes me think about a lot of the crazy, self destructive things that people do to themselves, it makes me think about the punishing things that people do to one another. Most of all, it makes me think about human nature in general.

Dying Fetus' "Reign Supreme" Review

Dying Fetus is very much about no frills brutal death metal and at times borders on the extremely powerful technical prowess of each of the band's 3 members. I am a fan of what bands like Suffocation did with Effigy Of The Forgotten and Atheist'sUnquestionable Presence, similarly bands like Chicago's Broken Hope also really helped to lay the foundation for what we consider to be technical death metal. While Broken Hope did it mostly tastefully Dying Fetus should probably shy away from the overly technical numbers as they seem to work best as a mid tempo crushing band with very good riffs. The intro to the album 'Invert The Idols' is exactly the problem I have with the band; way too technical for it's own good and wholly unnecessary as the follow-up track 'Subjected To A Beating' showcases a great amount of upside to the band. Reign Supreme tends to be a very bottom heavy album as the beginning is spotty and highlighted by the above mentioned track, and really tapers off from my memory until it kicks back in with 'Dissidence' and even parts of 'From Womb To Waste'.

Other highlights from the album include some great guitar pyrotechnics by John Gallagher, especially his solos and much less his random 20 second stretches of technicality which really seem to take away from the music in a "ok where are those great riffs again" sort of way. 'Dissidence' contains some of the best riffs next to 'Subjected To A Beating' and Gallagher puts on a great show with a flourish on 'the Blood Of Power'. Overall Reign Supreme should find it's place in any avid fan of technical/brutal death metal fan's collection; especially if you are already a fan of the band. I may not be the biggest fan of the genre but it's effect ties back to the beginnings of great death metal riffs and if the band could pump the brakes with some of the unnecessary embellishments they might become more a favorite of mine. For now they do a very good job nonetheless.