. . .
On Monday of this week we began a 3-part series of micro reviews of releases that we were listening to in February. Part 3, T through Z, will publish on Friday.
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Nekromantheon – Rise, Vulcan Spectre
Thrash from hell by way of Norway. Ripping! — Aaron Lariviere
[MySpace]
Nocturnal Torment – They Come At Night
OSDM that brings the slamz as well as the ’90s vibe. Glad they don’t overuse the HM-2, just keep away from Frank Mullen; he might want his band back. — Rhys Williams
[Bandcamp]
Obolus – Lament (EP)
Appropriately grim ‘depressive’ black metal. I guess depressive means a hint of melody without being actually melodic. Why not, it’s free anyway. — A.L.
[Bandcamp]
Orange Goblin – A Eulogy For the Damned
Stoners turn to rock and roll. Still the best live band I’ve ever seen, even if the album doesn’t quite live up to that standard. — A.L.
[YouTube]
Pallbearer – Sorrow & Extinction
Epic doom with mournful melodic vocals. Reminiscent of Warning, with more of a death/doom vibe. Far better than the sum of its parts. Moving, crushing stuff. — A.L.
[Profound Lore Records]
Panopticon – Social Disservices
I don’t know how I feel about a left-wing black metal protest against incompetent government bureaucracy. Since when did black metal care about other people’s needs? But I’d definitely listen to an album called “Move faster you lazy piece of shit MVA drone, because I have better things to do on my Saturday morning!” — RSJ
[Bandcamp]
Power Trip – Power Trip 7″
These guys are a welcome middle finger to every shitty nu-thrash band out there. Filling the vacuum left behind by Iron Age’s unfortunate demise, this is not only a lesson in violence, but a crash course in how thrash is supposed to sound. And hey, there’s a Prong cover! — Chris Rowella
[Bandcamp]
Ram – Death
They should’ve called it “Life” or “Relevance, Finally”. Prior efforts weren’t even mandatory for power metal fans. Death is already their best effort and could be their inroads to the metal mainstream. Surprised me by being almost as good as Steelwing. — RSJ
[Soundcloud]
Rocka Rollas – The War of Steel Has Begun
A US power metal album with 10 songs and the words “metal” or “steel” appearing 10 times throughout the tracklist. Don’t ask me if it’s good. Ask me how good it is. — RSJ
[Soundcloud]
[Soundcloud]
Shroud of Despondency – Pine
The guys from Shroud of Despondency like a lot of different types of metal—so they decided to write an album that touches on all of it. Although Pine remains firmly rooted in black metal, there’s no way of predicting what the next track will sound like. — Michael Cacciatore
[Bandcamp]
Sigh – In Somniphobia
Japanese circus metal? No thanks. — A.L.
[YouTube]
Stallone – Stallone
Do you like the idea of Torche more than the actual band Torche? Juan Montoya’s new gig may be up your cup of tea. No vocals, no problem; Stallone’s bright production and monster riffs fills up every iota of space. Speaking of space, “The Battle Of Miami” is a soundtrack to floating past the rings of Saturn. — C.R.
[Bandcamp]
Steelwing – Zone of Alienation
Solid NWOBHM influenced power metal covering the requisite topics: space, aliens, hot girls in leather and spandex, nuclear apocalypse. Combine all those topics, and it’s like meeting some girls from Dundalk or Essex! (That’s a little Baltimore in-joke. Oh look, you’ve got some syphilis on you now.) — RSJ
[Youtube]
Stormcrow – Enslaved in Darkness (Reissue)
Thoroughly crusty Bolt Thrower worship, which is the greatest worship of all. Wish these dudes were still around. Essential. — A.L.
[MySpace]
Sulaco – Build & Burn
Mutant fusion of death, grind, and post-hardcore melodic stuff from Brutal Truth peeps. Weird-ass songs. Once you see the album art, it all makes sense. — A.L.
[YouTube ]
Surachai – To No Avail
“Experimental” black metal that’s pretty straightforward except for the strings at the end of a song. Not bad, but it’d be boring if it weren’t so short, so . . . kudos? — A.L.
[MySpace]
Svartsyn – The True Legend
Rerecording of older album makes it no less formulaic, but still pretty good. Think slightly heavier, blastier, more modern Stormblast-era Dimmu Borgir plus Celtic Frost. Good riffs throughout, and some neat d-beat and two-step bits: surprised me, at least. — R.W.
[MySpace]
Thanks for the Baltimore reference. Guess I’ll head over to ‘Record and Tape Traders’ to pick up the new Steelwing! But seriously, I wish I wasn’t typing this so close to Essex at the moment….
Yes! That Sulaco record kills! The sludgy riff-fest at the end of Dingy Metropolis gets me every time. And the Pallbearer… I don’t think there’s much of anything negative that can be said about it.
I like the idea of these Micro Reviews, but I think some tweaking could seriously improve the format:
- throw some genre tags in bold at me. makes it a lot easier to skim through the list.
- album covers would be nice, and they again help in choosing what to check out.
- pick only good records. why give exposure to stuff that sucks?
- pick one or two records from each list that stand out in quality and give them an Invisible Orange or something.
i like that they review the bad albums. It could be an album i like that i get an alternate view on. Mostly this column is just to show off new releases
I agree, I would rather have you folk decide for me what is good, and then allow me to choose from that smaller pool. It saves so much time. Putting the outline of four oranges next to a really good album would make it a no brainer. I would just buy that album and enjoy it without having to go thru the process of weeding out the garbage. That way, eventually I would have collected all the albums that you endorse, and I could talk about my cd collection more succinctly and confidently with others.
This idea of oranges as ratings scale is intelligent.
HA!
I second (third?) the rating system. A circle filled in with orange is ~not~ good… e.g. five full orange circles would be bad, and, left to right, you “make the orange invisible,” to indicate quality. E.g.: “Hey! Did you see that the new Cannibal Corpse got four-and-a-half Invisible Oranges?” (one half-orange circle remains) // “Did you see that the new Morbid Angel got five oranges?”
I don’t know. Just spitballin’ here. Also, from the reviews, I’d love to (and will, post-work) check out Nekromantheon, Power Trip, Stallone (for sure), and Stormcrow. Can already testify to the goodness of Pallbearer and Orange Goblin.
I think a ratings systems is a bad idea. IO has built it’s reputation on thoughtful writing. Far too often, ratings have been used as a cheap gimmick which masks poor writing. I’d hate to see IO go down that road. Micro reviews are a good idea because they allow for more coverage, but I don’t see them superseding full reviews, or, at least I hope they don’t. Micro reviews replacing full reviews makes about as much sense as Twitter replacing Blogspot.
Agreeing with Argaween and Wallice. No need for some of this. Why though a micronic review of this Pallbearer record everyone talking about? Hoped for something more substantial from Invincible Orange on the likes of this doom metallists we’ve not heard in long time. Some people call it essential sorrow. I cannot disagree. Can you?
Hey! I like Japanese Circus Metal.
Which is why negative reviews have value. If that’s your thing, and you find out about it here, perhaps you should check it out. As for increasing the skim-ability, well, there is a comscore stat called “time spent” that potential advertisers just love. I’m all for padding the coffers of my favorite blog since we all know they have limited resources. My two cents.
I agree, keep the negative ones on here. I also like the idea of an album being reviewed twice in one of these segments, to show contrasting opinions/ratings.
Hey great Baltimore reference bro! shows that you’ve seen heavy metal parking lot.
That Surachai record rips.
lemme give a thumbs up to the micro review format. it may work better for christgau (because he’s a dick like that) but it’s a nice change from the essay format. if it becomes a regular feature i’ll definitely be reading it. sometimes two sentences says a lot more than twenty two.
also don’t leave out the mediocre, the terrible, or the notably shit either. criticism should not simply be a buyer’s guide or pat on the spiritual back of a community/”community”, even if they’re in micro-snark formats like the above.
+1. I also like that those micro reviews have a strong personal bias, in opposition to the longer, more balanced IO reviews.
I like the Nekromantheon release, though Divinity of Death had better/catchier riffs.
Having never listened (but heard many things about) Sigh, where would be a good place to start? They appear to change their sound periodically.
If you’re prepared for “the weird” I’d suggest Imaginary Sonicscape. It’s exceptionally odd, but I find it their most compelling.
Most of their albums are available to listen to in their entirety on Myspace. I like Scenes From Hell best so far.
Also, if you like these guys, you might also like Gonin-Ish.
Obolus’ EP, Pallbearer, Orange Goblin. Maaan, so righteous.
Woah, Aura Noir has an new album later this month? Awesome!
Will that be reviewed in April micro-reviews, since it comes out March 23?
Really liking the micro reviews. Another vote for “keep the negative reviews”. I get why people want ratings and bold keywords, but I like having to read through all of them, since it means I’ll occasionally check out something I might otherwise skip.
I agree about the negative reviews. I also like the idea of multiple perspectives on a release if multiple writers have listened to it.
Nevermind, I somehow missed part one, where there are multiple perspectives on a couple of albums. So yeah, good job.
I’m happy with this column as is. The feedback seems fair, but it really shouldn’t pain you to read a few lines each on a handful of releases. I particularly like negative reviews of stuff I love. Especially if it’s on point with something I fully understand but just choose to overlook or have become acustomed to. I won’t complain or whine, I usually just get a laugh out of it.
PS: Here’s the Obolus – Lament EP stream. The demo’s posted above. Pre-orders on the 10″ @ the Flenser. http://theflenser.bandcamp.com/album/lament
And the full Sulaco: http://handshakeinc.bandcamp.com/album/sulaco-build-and-burn
Hmmm…looks as if power metal (I still don’t quite get that term) seems ready to usurp black metal as HM’s genre du jour. And that Pallbearer album is fucking good. Three guitars?? Hell yes. I too like the micro reviews—there’s simply too much music for a busy human to possibly digest.
Disagree about RAM, Lightbringer was a damn good record.
There is two of us. All RAM releases essential. Still don’t know why theres not four oranges up after all recomenndations from IO readership. Please consider this editors.
Well, the best album I’ve heard in the last 5 years has got a negative review in here so I say keep them! Sigh’s In Somniphobia is incredible ( and rightly getting lauded everywhere else ). My other favourite album on these 2 lists so far is the new Drudkh which, if not as good as their classics, is still a really good album. Most of the stuff that has got good reviews is pretty boring, generic stuff!
I really like the new Drudkh too. You might want to check out the new Lunar Aurora album if you haven’t already heard it. Fans of Oranssi Pazuzu might also like it.
Good call. I may not have dug the new Sigh or Drudkh albums (no accounting for taste!), but the promo tracks I’ve heard from Lunar Aurora are plenty rad.