Inhuman Rampage was DragonForce throwing shit at a wall, and somehow all of it stuck. As much as they are influenced by Stratovarius’s melodic power assault, the backing harsh vocals (“Operation Ground and Pound”) and sheer ferocity point to other roots. The guitar work is undeniably beefy as much as it is shreddingly maximalist, decorated with all sorts of eccentric bleep-bloop effects (“Storming the Burning Fields”). Vadim Pruzhanov’s hook-laden keyboard (“Cry for Eternity”) and songwriting contributions (“Body Breakdown”) are a crucial melodic counterpoint sorely missed on the latest two albums. Finally, ZP⁵ Theart’s vocals are iconic for a reason. While not the most technically impressive nor multifaceted, he has a powerful and unique delivery that isn’t divisive the way a traditional Kiskean (Helloween) wail would’ve been, making this wild wankfest stand out even more among power metal bands. All of the above led to a remarkably consistent record. The album’s deep cuts (“Body Breakdown,” “The Flame of Youth”) are even stronger than the hits, and the amazing Japanese bonus track⁶ “Lost Souls in Endless Time” has always been the true album closer in my book.⁷

Inhuman Rampage ended up being a huge success, first on its own merits and then as part of pop culture. By this time, the world was finally starting to get over the whole nü and ‘alternative’ phase. Trends are cyclical, and DragonForce were in the right place at the right time; ambitious, complex songwriting and guitar solo virtuosity appealed to a wider audience in a way it couldn’t have 5–10 years prior. As for the elephant in the room, “Through the Fire and Flames” earned legendary status in 2007 as Guitar Hero III’s hardest song to master. Consequently, DragonForce became known as the “TtFaF” band, occasionally to the members’ chagrin. Many have forgotten they were already popular pre-Inhuman Rampage, playing shows with Helloween and Iron Maiden before headlining themselves. They got featured on a game because of their popularity, not the other way around. Regardless, the tie-in certainly didn’t hurt, and it’s part of the reason I am here writing about them today.

But if this was such a resounding success, why did no other bands try to replicate DragonForce? There’s no shortage of people who couldn’t have matched their speed or energy, as proven by grindcore and such. I think it’s a combination of several conspiring factors. For one, the second wave of power metal (roughly 1997–2006) at large was having its last hurrah around this time. Secondly, no one else had the same deranged bundle of influences that these guys had. Black metal, power metal, AOR, retro games—even if other bands tried, they wouldn’t have been able to understand Inhuman Rampage’s formula without these roots.

Inhuman Rampage remains one of my favorite power metal albums to this very day. DragonForce would later go on to switch things up, making more great albums followed by some mild disappointments, but none would catch lightning in a bottle as Inhuman Rampage did. And few even tried, for no one in the power metal scene currently sounds like old DragonForce, especially not the band themselves. Some are glad to leave this style behind, but I think there is a missed opportunity here. In a world of Archspires, it has become abundantly clear that there is still demand for bands who push the extremes, the boundaries of sanity and tastefulness. Trends are cyclical, and nü is rearing its ugly head again. Who will make the next Inhuman Rampage?

The post Yer Metal Is Olde: DragonForce – Inhuman Rampage appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

Next year, one of Metallica’s greatest albums will turn 30 years old. Yup, you guessed it, Load. That’s why I’m writing a YMIO piece for it this year. Not just to break the rules and piss off ole Steelio, but because the band just released a remastered version of this precious little gem.¹ Why would they do that, you might ask? No fucking clue. But, for collectors, you can expect a rather fresh-sounding remaster and roughly 10,000 useless demos and live performances. Not that you can’t find all the live performances you could ever want from Metallica. And whoever the jagoff is that keeps adding them to Metal Archives, fucking stop, ya stupid cunt. And if said jagoff is one of you, kill yourself. Anyway, this remastered version is apparently such big news that when I search for the album on iTunes, I get this ridiculously over-bloated version every time. And I suspect this hit piece will be just as big, forever immortalized as one of the greatest recollections of Metallica’s big, fat Load.

Let’s set the stage. It’s the 90s, and things have already gone weird for the band when they hired Bob Rock and dropped their massively successful “Black Album,” splitting their fan base in half while attracting millions of arena-goers all over the world. This led to a strange anticipation during that five-year gap between Metallica and Load. Would they continue on this new path? Or have they got that out of their systems and we’ll return to the days of …And Justice for All? What they did next shocked the world. They cut their hair and put on mascara. The ’80s kids revolted while the hype excited the ’90s kids because they weren’t getting one new album; they were getting two in two years. But Metallica were still metal, right? I mean, they coated their new record in blood and jism, for fuck’s sake. While every kid lied to their mothers about the unsavory artwork, one thing was for sure: the Metallica we all knew and loved was gone forever. Goodbye to the underground tape trading. Say hello to radio rock!

Load marks the beginning of fun-loving tunes and addictive choruses, like those found in “2×4,” “Until It Sleeps,” and King Nothing.” It’s also the beginning of filler-filled albums that could have used a haircut as well. Take the best tracks from Load and Reload, and you could have made a single solid album. But no… Instead, the masses have to suffer through two albums with more than a dozen tracks each and roughly two-and-a-half hours of music. That said, of the two records, Load has arguably aged better, bringing interesting concepts that no one would have expected from Het and co., for example, the underrated “Ronnie,” where Hetfield delivers the story of my serial-killing childhood. Load also marks the first time the band wrote a song in a major key with the lyrically charming “Hero of the Day.” The record is so odd that its weirdness is its charm. Plus, those were the times. How many of these classic ’80s bands got sucked into the nightmarish ’90s MTV mentality?

The band also began toying with longer closers, much like the old days in Ride the Lightning, though “The Call of Ktulu” is a far sleeker track than Load’s “The Outlaw Torn.” That said, the closer is one of the more memorable tracks on the album. Even though it meanders far too much, the climax is worth it, and the closing riff is a nice bookend to the opener. The other with a similar length is the underrated “Bleeding Me.” In comparison, the journey one takes in “Bleeding Me” is one of the better ones in Hetfield’s dark mind. It’s a surprisingly powerful piece that tears me to emotional ribbons. A phrase I cannot use for “Mama Said.” This song sees Hetfield taking us off the asphalt and onto a dusty desert road with horses and shit. A song that supposedly almost didn’t make it on the album, yet was “good” enough for a music video. Which is hilarious because the rest of the band basically makes a cameo, watching Het ride off into the sunset in a fucking cowboy hat and shit-kicker boots. Otherwise, the rest of the album is filler stuffed with mood-killing interludes, unnecessary crooning, and the time-period piece of shit talk box in “The House Jack Built.”

Like my piece on the mighty St. Anger, no one asked for a write-up on one of Metallica’s best Bob Rock records. It’s not metal or the Metallica of the ’80s, but times were a-changin’. But, after the great success the band had with their self-titled record, do you blame them for taking this direction? While every metalhead bashes on this record, it’s not like it was a financial failure. Kids at the time flocked to this fucking record, attracted to the groovy, bluesy riffs and personal emotion of Hetfield’s lyrics. While there are plenty of flaws, and so much wah-wah pedal that the band decided to cut out solos for St. Anger, I’d spin this lengthy record far more than any of the rest of the shit that came out. I mean, at least they didn’t do a hip-hop collaboration like Anthrax. Load and Reload were not the albums any fan wanted, but, for better or worse, Load began a new era for Metallica, and they really didn’t give a fuck what we thought. So, do yourself a favor, listen to the crisp remastered version, relive your Zack Morris years, and don’t waste your hate on Met. Also, pull up your pants and cut your fucking hair.

The post Yer Metal Is Olde: Metallica – Load appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

Thankfully, Damage Done was a damn riffy, heavier beast. I remember picking up Character at my local Newbury Comics, right up the street from the Staples where I worked during a lunch break on a particularly bad day, and I was blown away by how “The New Build” didn’t mess around at all. With Anders Jivarp blasting away, and both Niklas Sundin and Martin Henriksson hurling riffs and melodies at you at lightning speed, “The New Build” would set the tone straight away that sure, this is like its predecessor, but it was far nastier and uglier. Well, at least from the first couple of songs, anyway.

From “The Endless Feed” on forward, the moodiness that perpetuated 1999’s dark horse Projector would make its reappearance, but rather than dwelling in sorrow and despair, it would instead converge with the band’s refound ferocity, channeling a completely different animal altogether that would later become a Dark Tranquillity trademark. From there, future live classics like “Lost to Apathy” and album closer (and the only “ballad” on here) “My Negation” would further cement Sundin and Henriksson as a guitar duo just as worthy of praise as the classic duos before them. There’s not a bad moment on Character, with each song making a strong case for a live appearance, and the knowledge that no matter what the band chooses for their live set, it’s a surefire bet that anything from Character would go down swimmingly.

And a giant part of that is due to how Character manages to tie up everything that Dark Tranquillity created up to that point into a tidy, neat bow. While it lacked Mikael Stanne’s moody crooning, the intensity of his growls was never in question, and his savage performance acts as a thread throughout the album. Otherwise, the blazing melodies that were captured during Skydancer, fellow YMIO inductee The Gallery, and The Mind’s I were honed to an impeccable sharpness while the moodier vibes from Projector and Haven blended better than before, especially with a much heavier backdrop. This was a culmination of what made Dark Tranquillity great.

And I could say that about any of DT’s mid-period. Damage Done was the about-face return from more gothic wanderings, and Character’s immediate follow-up Fiction would further tinker with the winning formula, with a welcome return of Stanne’s singing voice. But Character… well, Character hit just right, during the right time, and at the right intensity. It was the perfect storm of melodic precision, death metal heft, and electronic experimentation that was the ultimate soundtrack to long work nights, eager drives home, and repeated listens with friends. Character was, and still is, something special, and now it’s rightfully in the Halls of the Olde, where it belongs.

The post Yer Metal is Olde: Dark Tranquillity – Character appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

Isa sits at a crossroads. Under the tutelage of Dennis Reksten, who had teamed up with Enslaved at the ripe age of 50,¹ the past few albums received a smattering of spacey synth ambience that allowed Enslaved to explore a new dimension in their craft, culminating in 2003’s Below the Lights. But for Isa Enslaved looked to the electronic and crooning talents of Herbrand Larsen, a young audio engineer who had helped those same albums animate and glisten. The shift in personnel brought with it a shift in drama. Not to say that prior works had lacked that kind of tension, but with lesser Viking swagger,² Isa rolls in its atmosphere through alien soundscapes and vicious harsh vocal cut-ins, with Grutle Kjellson’s inimitable, phlegmy rasp sitting dead center between twisting guitar lines and Larsen’s background counterpoint. No matter how strange and beautiful, Isa remains rooted in the brooding nature of Enslaved’s wintery, black metal identity.

In a manner that eludes many who play for Enslaved’s crown, Isa boasts a brilliant and otherworldly sense of guitar tone that provides and slice and crunch to heroic compositions. Bolstered frequencies lift the snarl of creeping tremolo runs with the weight of Kjellson’s crackling howls into reckoning rolls of Heimdall-weighed power (“Lunar Force,” “Violet Drawing”). Harmonic, heavy-handed, trv metal chords crash down with a classic, grooving beat to swirl a patterned Norse fury among pained wails and into resplendent, progressive modulations (“Bounded by Allegiance,” “Return to Yggdrasil”). Still Enslaved finds a firm footing in black metal, forging Bathory-infused riffage with anthemic tension and classic head-stacked energy to break up any lull in mood that Isa’s narrative lilts present (“Isa,” “Secrets of the Flesh”). And when fresh-at-the-time axe-slinger Ice Dale (Audrey Horne) slips loose with treble-knockin’, tricky blues solos (“Bounded…,” “Neogenesis”), his free and flamboyant style oozes with charisma.

Isa’s breakout and break-though progressive escapades give it the full life force for which Enslaved had been aiming with their earlier experimentations. Though never quite as out there as Norwegian neighbors Borknagar or Arcturus, Enslaved sense of cinema expanded through Isa via bookend atmospherics (“Intro,” “Outro”) and similarly-toned chord reprisals that reinforce the empyrean vibrations throughout every track. The gentle piano punctuation on “Lunar Force” gives shimmering, moonlight assist to the already gothic allure of its foremost stride. You can feel the arena swing that the now legendary, leaned-back Dale supplies to “Isa” and “Bounded by Allegiance” part in reverence to chorus breakaways, harmonized chants, and fluttering acoustics, only to return with additional amplified impact—crushing and unified attack. Isa lives on the edge of crescendo, with its first potential peak (“Bounded…”) ending in a hard stop before yet another catastrophic riff climb, which allows its twelve-minute epic “Neogenesis” the proper environment to build, to soar, to entrance with the majesty that it should. While no strangers to epic narrative, Enslaved used Isa to cement their legacy as masters.

If you ask a dozen Enslaved fans who find their aughts work to be their pinnacle, you may not always hear Isa come out as the dominant choice and for good reason. Much of the songwriting flex that Isa showcases presents in different fashions on many of this celebrated band’s works in that time frame. Whether the stronger gallop of Below the Lights, the heavier-handed psychedelia of Monumension or Ruun, or the near pure progressive romp of Vertebrae, Enslaved has many faces that they’ve worn well and better than other bands. But Isa stands alone for me as the balance of collective visions in the form of a well-armored black metal warrior—an album worthy of adoration from diverse angles of metallic enjoyment.

The post Yer Metal Is Olde: Enslaved – Isa appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

Amidst this turmoil, Florida’s Monstrosity hangs by a thread. After releasing a stellar sophomore record Millennium in 1996, the band lost both its vocalist (Corpsegrinder, poached by Cannibal Corpse) and its guitarist. After replacing them and experiencing another round of guitarist turnover,¹ Monstrosity trudges to the studio and records In Dark Purity. Against all odds, the album is an icon. More polished than Millennium, In Dark Purity builds on the ABC’s of death metal without mimicking its ancestors. Unlike the truly experimental artists of their era, Monstrosity trounces the listener with chunky mid-paced riffs. On face, their guitar-centric attack may seem akin to the likes of Cannibal Corpse, but Monstrosity innovates around the edges. Ever-evolving rhythms keep your neck on its toes, off-kilter melodies add character, and the tempo ranges from Autopsy to Deicide. Both thrilling and unmistakable, In Dark Purity outshines most of death metal’s classics.

In Dark Purity’s most enduring feature is its creativity. Tinged with Death, the album’s nonstandard rhythms induce delicious whiplash and break free of genre shackles (“In Dark Purity”). While Lee Harrison’s drums aren’t flashy, they spring to life in support. The most potent example is “Perpetual War,” whose fluid drum performance and furious riffs make it one of the greatest tracks of the 1990s. Not to be outdone, Monstrosity’s melodies embrace subtle strangeness as well. Channeling Slayer’s Hell Awaits, Monstrosity’s accidentals and hopscotching riffs stand out among the overcrowded Florida swamps (“Hymns of Tragedy”). While Kelly Conlon’s (Death) bass presence is subtle, he bubbles to the surface with some delectably wonky backbone melodies (“Shapeless Domination”). For all their creativity, Monstrosity never innovates for innovation’s sake; rather, In Dark Purity’s power grows with each quirk. The flailing solo of “Shapeless Domination” wouldn’t hit as hard without Harrison’s wild tom fills or its truncated measures, and the most neck-snapping segments of “Perpetual War” are its nine-beat extravaganzas. Monstrosity’s take on death metal stands apart.

Fear not; In Dark Purity is brainy, but it’s a bonanza of bangers. The album’s most well-known track is “Destroying Divinity,” whose explosive main theme kicks off the proceedings with a bang. In Dark Purity shines brightest during its climaxes, which are often dumb fun. For instance, “Suffering to the Conquered” uses a tranquil Azagthothian solo to lead into a three-chord riff that rocks me every time. Jason Avery’s fearsome growls raise these moments into the thermosphere, and “The legions gather // They form behind their king // Suffering to the conquered // Left dead for all to see // Pray for the impaler” raises the bar for the genre. At times, In Dark Purity’s brain and its heart join hands, like the pummeling crescendos of “The Angels [sic] Venom.” From its simple firestorms to its adventurous compositions, In Dark Purity is a spectacle.

Having reached the age-old crossroads between thoughtful songwriting and sick riffs, Monstrosity chose both. In doing so, they forged an album that’s both immediate and timeless. In Dark Purity was one of the first death metal records to capture my heart in my mid-teens. In the years since, as I’ve felt out its nooks and crannies, my love has only grown. Most impressively, Monstrosity is still alive and well, with 2018’s The Passage of Existence breaking our very own score counter. And their 2 AM set aboard 70K last January was likely the greatest death metal show I’ve ever experienced. Whether you’re a long-time Monstrosity fan or a newcomer, you owe In Dark Purity a spin.

The post Yer Metal Is Olde: Monstrosity – In Dark Purity appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

Leaning into similar ideas with which Matheos had already been exploring with his OSI project, FWX does touch down on organic ambience, pulsing electronic rhythms, and hypnotic guitar loops that pushed the Fates Warning boundaries into an alternative rock-inflected territory. At the turn of the ’00s, it wasn’t uncommon to hear a creeping Portis/Radiohead influence in downcast music, and from a similar timeframe you can hear this same exploration in Porcupine Tree works, Deadwing in particular, so hearing this flair in retrospect doesn’t feel too out of place. But at the time of its release, despite Fates Warning never lacking in overdriven riffs that build great songs in a wide range of progressive manners—eclectic but not particularly experimental—FWX did not land widespread critical acclaim.

The first time FWX graced my ears in full, its lack of progressive grandeur, namely in the histrionic solo department, took me aback. At the tail end of a career loaded with technical highlights and in a scene growing populated-to-bursting with descendants of the Dream Theater/Symphony X school of excess, Fates Warning built with a different kind of virtuosity—meticulous kit grooves, delayed chord loops, recursive and swelling melodies. In that lane, Matheos finds a kind of guitar-driven power that lands both more immediate in force and more playful in counterpoint layering than anything Fates Warning had produced since their landmark Parallels. The primary pattern of “Simple Human” crushes against doubling bass pulses and slinky, scattered high-frequency chord stabs; the doom-weighted drag of “Crawl” guides a laser-precise lead warble to crescendo; the high energy strum-stride of “Stranger (With a Familiar Face)”—FWX simply shouts its extremities where albums before it required a focused digestion.

But the shift from tactical flex serves twofold, with FWX riding a wave of emotion in a subdued manner, giving greater weight to its themes. Ray Alder had plenty already led his dramatic pipes to the softer identities of classic cuts like “Leave the Past Behind”² (Parallels, 1991) or “Shelter Me” (Inside Out, 1993). Age graced Alder’s voice kindly, though, allowing him to find a lower register to inject increased doses of pathos into playful odes to depression (“Another Perfect Day”) and persistent negative thoughts (“Handful of Doubt”). Most importantly, time had also left scars enough to cap off FWX with one of Fates’ most beautiful tracks, “Wish,” where his pleading cry matches Matheos’ heartbeat-hum guitar pickings and mournful solo. In an album that already indulges in stellar songcraft, Alder’s success keeps FWX worth revisiting over and over.

As if this lineup for Fates Warning—the last of its kind as long-time drummer Mark Zonder, master of his craft, would not return for the 2013 follow-up—needed additional fuel for success, this streamlining approach yielded a timeless sound that I’ve been exploring for well over fifteen years. I’ve cried to FWX. I’ve also celebrated with FWX. I have loved and lost and loved again, watched people drift away while I blame myself or the world around me, finding solace in its dark and plaintive themes while enraptured by its dreamy and thundering soundscape. For a long time, FWX seemed like an unplanned farewell. And though Fates Warning has not officially hung up the spurs yet, “Wish” will always feel like a send-off filled not with regret but acceptance. That’s the beauty of iconic albums in our own listening history. Whether it’s what I need or what I want, spinning FWX turns any time into a time full of peak-quality tunes.

The post Yer Metal Is Olde: Fates Warning – FWX appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

Originally released in 1998 via Japanese label Avalon, One Hour wouldn’t make it to Europe and North America until 1999 via InsideOut Music, which also happened to be before that same entity re-issued PoS’s debut, Entropia (1997 release via Avalon). What’s important, though, particularly to the ethos of this kind of feature, is that One Hour explores themes of environmental waste and resource injustice that feel as applicable now as then, however idealistic in view—the liner notes even have environmental studies and other works cited. In this bleeding heart ethos and yet-to-crystalize PoS identity, One Hour, musically, flips about synth tones of metallic moods that fit more with peers of the day Dream Theater and Queensrÿche than earlier (or later) works do. But as the title track breaks way to “Inside,” there’s an undeniable rhythmic persistence that matches vocalist Daniel Gildenlöw’s chiseled and flamboyant persona that, for better or worse, defines all Pain of Salvation releases.

Yet, the idea that Pain of Salvation is a band more of a certain time in style defines the uniqueness that One Hour has to offer. Birthed in a 90s rock and metal scene forever changed by grunge, Pain of Salvation has often had a knack for working muddy and moody guitar sounds about their intricate and intimate works. Blowout tones force tracks like “New Year’s Eve,” “Water,” and “Black Hills” to crash against bright and melodic contrast, which allows triumphant crescendos to squirm into sonically moistened ears. And into these buttered receptacles PoS can also inject the out-of-place, late-album, mostly acoustic ballad “Pilgrim,” ripe with cheese and drama, with the preceding journey through auditory grit helping its brief run feel earned.

Bookended by companion pieces “Inside” and “Inside Out,” One Hour’s structure is not as adventurous as later material,³ but its traditional approach allows its departures and message to come through with an extravagant focus. The early “count this” challenge of “Handful of Nothing” and the last syncopated frenzy of “Shore Serenity” stand out like prog-pinched thumbs against the smoothed-out flow between other tracks. And, in turn, the simpler load of “Water” flowing with a natural grace into “Home” delivers tidy but still tempo-tricky in the high tide of Gildenlöw’s prog-hippie lamentations. One Hour forces itself to bend against its own ideas.

Likewise, One Hour by the Concrete Lake stands in a long line of Pain of Salvation excursions that are reactions to their own work and outside perceptions. With One Hour featuring more double-kick runs than any other album their future would hold, Pain of Salvation set out to show the world that, yes, you can call them metal. And as the proverbial tongue out to that same sentiment, its sappiest features aim to be a quirk in the whole to which one must grow accustomed. One Hour’s early placement in the band’s discography means that it didn’t have to make as hard a left turn as ’07’s Scarsick or the Road Salt albums later would. And in its youth, it playfully flips the sounds that built one side of progressive metal—the Gentle Giant prog mania, the Pink Floyd waning, the amp-toned riffs of classic rock—to be flashy in a way that most modern progressive music isn’t. So if you’ve never snorted the manbun metallers Pain of Salvation, consider One Hour by the Concrete Lake to be your way in like so many accidentally did way back when. And if you’ve overlooked this release in the wake of its more acclaimed follow-ups, well… don’t!⁴

The post Yer Metal Is Olde: Pain of Salvation – One Hour by the Concrete Lake appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

Back in their early days, Atlanta’s progressive sludge juggernaut Mastodon could do little wrong. I remember perusing my local independent record store and being taken by the striking artwork and Relapse seal of approval on 2002’s debut Remission, roughly around the time of its release. After being crushed and destroyed by the iconic opening track, my love affair with Mastodon began. I have experienced the highs and lows of the band’s storied career; from the magical peak from Remission to 2009’s masterwork Crack the Skye, through the more streamlined and uneven period of the past decade-plus, turning these once critical darlings into a divisive, though wildly successful act. Yet I’ve never truly disliked a Mastodon album, enjoying their modern work on a lesser scale while acknowledging their peak days are well behind them. But it was their early material that solidified my love for the band. This is all a long-winded way to introduce their colossal sophomore opus and modern classic Leviathan as the latest inductee in the Halls of Olde to mark its twentieth anniversary.

Whereas the explosive Remission was a raw, ugly, abrasive slab of sludgy, grinding extreme metal with a subtly ambitious streak and technical edge, 2004’s Leviathan marked a more refined, adventurous, and progressive shift. Still boasting a heaving, thunderous punch, Leviathan’s musical template formed a perfect match with the album’s epic conceptual narrative, based on the classic novel Moby Dick by American writer Herman Melville. Aside from the increasingly varied moods, textures, and melodic and progified leanings, Leviathan’s double-pronged vocal assault began to evolve in appealing, contrasting ways, dabbling in cleaner vocal hooks and dynamic trade-offs. The vocal diversity was further bolstered by quality contributions from Clutch frontman Neil Fallon and Scott Kelly (Neurosis). Meanwhile, the intimidating instrumental skills of the band’s four members were pushed and taken to new levels, broadening their sonic palette and exploring rich, intricate progressive territories, from mellower channels to the predominant ironclad riffage and roughened, sludge-driven heft.

It’s easy to marvel at Leviathan’s attention to detail, ambitiously complex arrangements, emotional depth, and outstanding musicianship. However, these varied elements are always in service of quality, memorable songcraft, and grounded maturity, impressing so early in the band’s career. Raw, riffy, and adrenaline-spiking, “Blood and Thunder” is a classic opener and perfect introduction to the album, beefed up by a superbly burly guest performance by Fallon. Aside from the sprawling length, gorgeous melodies, and shifting tides of the epic “Hearts Alive,” for all its proggy intricacies and grand scale, Leviathan is a remarkably focused and compact album, packing tons of cool ideas into tightly packed and memorable tunes. Ruggedly built, catchy, and aggressive songs like “I am Ahab,” “Island,” “Iron Tusk” and the driving, thrashy “Aqua Dementia” contrast neatly against their melodic counterparts, such as the psych-drenched excellence and earworm hooks of “Seabeast,” featuring woozy melodies and a crushing climax. “Naked Burn” follows a similarly trippy trajectory to ‘Seabeast,” again showcasing the spidery axework of Brent Hinds and Brett Kelliher, while Hinds’ developing cleans deliver memorable vocal hooks.

Leviathan has an excellent flow, and the pacing and sequencing are fluid and slick, while the songwriting quality retains a high standard throughout. On their journey, Mastodon took some brave and challenging risks and leaps forward on Leviathan, without sacrificing heaviness or their rough-edged roots. In particular, the clean yet gritty production and unrefined cleaner vocal choices contain an endearing charm that holds up well twenty years after its release. Brann Dailor’s restlessly inventive drumming may not work for all listeners. Still, I remain in awe of his incredible chops and how they complement the technical and endlessly interesting guitar work, not to mention the mighty bellows and low-end muscle of Troy Sanders.

Musically, Mastodon branched well beyond sludge confines to embrace their progressive inclinations, classic rock influences, and southern roots, crafting tune after tune of intriguing, clever arrangements loaded with layers to peel back and reveal, along with a slew of instantly gratifying hooks. Brawny sludge rock punch intertwines with brainy prog metal and technical nuance to awesomely cohesive and memorable effect. Leviathan is a timeless album, a classic example of Mastodon operating at the peak of their powers, and arguably their crowning achievement. And like any album worthy of Yer Metal is Olde treatment, Leviathan remains an influential pillar that still sounds fresh, innovative, and exciting to this day.

The post Yer Metal is Olde: Mastodon – Leviathan appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

So why is it Still Life that sticks with me? It falls in the middle of Opeth’s progression from inception to apex and marks the start of what most fans would consider their classic run. As such, it finds itself stretched in two directions. While lesser bands would be pulled apart, what leaks out here is nothing but quality. The songwriting is smoother and more sophisticated than My Arms Your Hearse, while its rougher edge distinguishes it from the professional, Steven Wilson-backed production that defines Blackwater Park. In fact, the guitar tone here is the best in the Opeth catalog, rivaled only by Orchid.³ It’s this sweet spot—ornate, dynamic songs fused with death metal production and riffs—that encapsulates Still Life. Look no further than the multiplicitous, textured movement of “Serenity Painted Death.” As if its opening riff wasn’t good enough alone, the transitory passage that begins at 0:50, traversing a shredding lead, tempo shift, dramatic pause, and outrageous groove, demarcates a song of rare quality. And there are seven more minutes to follow, shuffling harmonized singing, delicate acoustics, and gripping story-telling.

Dynamic songwriting isn’t the only ‘best-in-catalog’ quality heard on Still Life. While the aforementioned groove excels, the first lead on “The Moor” and the guitars on the back half of “Face of Melinda” are worthy adversaries for some of the best riffs in metal. Meanwhile, the opening minutes of “The Moor” conjure the strongest atmosphere in the Opeth discography, with harmonized guitar whines and subtle acoustic melodies offering a mesmerizing introduction. “Face of Melinda” is my favorite Opeth track, bar none. It’s the archetypal Åkerfeldt tune, with spell-binding acoustic prettiness, poignant lyrics, and huge riffs. I wouldn’t like to guess how many times I’ve listened to it in total. But most of all, Still Life houses my favorite obscure progressive rock reference, in a band that’s famous for them. The acoustic lead on “Benighted,” while stunning, is a blatant rip-off from Camel’s “Never Let Go”.

I will also emphasize that although this piece has thus far cited examples from incredible songs, Still Life is an incredible album. While the individual melodies and instrumental parts that occupy these 62 minutes are excellent, it’s how these are woven into movements that eclipse the mere tracks that encase them. Still Life is symphonic in feel, compositionally closer to a classical symphony than an album of tracks. There’s a natural lilt in its progression, flowing within the seven songs, but more importantly, outside these seven songs too. It’s almost impossible for me to hit play from any point on the record and not then listen all the way through.

Romantics describe love at first sight; metalheads describe love at first listen. Opeth opened my ears to what was possible with music, and it was Still Life that opened my ears to Opeth. The completionism of Ghost Reveries engages my brain, but the aesthetic of Still Life engages my soul. There’s a big fat hole in the core of your being if you can’t engage with music like this. It’s what perfection sounds like.

The post Yer Metal Is Olde: Opeth – Still Life appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

I thought the onset of summer would mean a total solar beatdown. Instead, it’s brought the rain. Absolutely chucking down rain. But, if you thought that bad weather leads to mercy from me, you’re dead wrong. In fact, I pushed my minions even harder to dredge up as many waterlogged nuggets of notable ore from our perpetually overtaxed filtration system.

And so, as my “staff,” who are definitely paid (don’t look into it) dry off in the industrial-grade wind tunnel, allow me to introduce May’s Filter entries for a public I truly don’t care about at all (don’t look into it). BEHOLD!

Iceberg’s Divisive Defenstrations

Cobra The Impaler // Karma Collision [May 24th, 2024 – Listenable Records]

Belgium’s Cobra The Impaler bill themselves as carrying the torch of classic-era Mastodon, a band hitting so many spectrums of metal comparing one’s music to theirs is a much safer bet than not. Led by primary songwriter and ex-Aborted guitarist Tace DC, the band sit somewhere in the murky grey between progressive and technical modern metal. The aforementioned Mastodon worship is strong here—especially in opener “Magnetic Hex”—although the crystal clean production by Jens Borgren really prevents the use of the term “sludge.” Elsewhere there are prog-metal moments of Virus/Vector-era Haken (“Karma Collision,” “The Fountain”) and some of the relentless, drums-in-front compositions of Gojira (“Karma Collision,” “The Assassins of the Vision”). Vocalist Manuel Remmerie’s also has his work cut out for him, delivering plenty of admirable cleans in both high and low registers alongside full-throated screams and somewhat less effective pitched growls. The instrumental performances here are top-notch, professional in the verse/chorus sections, and continuously—sometimes outstandingly—creative in the free-form bridges. There is some tightening to be done with the accessibility of the choruses—they fall flat against the superior instrumental sections— but there are moments of brilliance and a ton of potential in this five-piece.

Capstan // The Mosaic [May 24th, 2024 – Fearless Records]

Anyone who’s plugged into the post-hardcore scene should know that Florida’s Capstan transcend the—rightfully deserved—vitriol thrown at the style. I don’t think any Fearless band has ever been reviewed here, but Capstan’s latest opus The Mosaic deserves a shoutout to whomever hasn’t run screaming from these halls. Led by vocalist Anthony DeMario—sure to be a divisive figure with his unapologetic pop punk cleans—the band has continuously augmented their Warped-core sound with the mathy guitar noodlings of Chon or Polyphia, and an impressive triple vocalist attack for thick, elaborate harmonies. This album, clocking in at over an hour, doesn’t pull any punches, showcasing trip-hop, breakdown-laced numbers (“Bete Noire”), full throated anthems about self-loathing and heartbreak (“Misery Scene”) and even lighter, crooning ballads (“What Can I Say”). Synergy and professionalism are where the band shine; everything has is slickly produced and the performances—especially those vocals—are whip-smart. Plenty of editing could have been done, but you can tell how much fun the band is having. Anyone with a passing interest or nostalgia for 2000’s post-hardcore should check this out. Plus their drummer plays with traditional grip, and watching a jazz guy slam out breakdowns is pretty rad in my book.

GardensTale’s Dose of Decay

Strychnos // Armageddon Patronage [May 17th, 2024 – Dark Descent Records]

I don’t always check out albums that set the comment section and/or Discord abuzz, but when I do, it rarely results in anything less than interesting. Case in point, the bottomless evil of Strychnos, a Danish outfit that struggled to get off the ground in the early 00’s, eked out a single EP in the 10’s, and suddenly started shitting out heaving platters of malicious black/death since the pandemic. Armageddon Patronage is the second full-length off their new production line, and it brings every horseman along for its deadly ride. War is embodied by the lethal double feature that starts the charge, with swelling riffs battering the unjust to fertilizer. The unflinching and unfeeling brutality of Famine seethes from “Choking Salvation,” and out the beaks of “Pale Black Birds” pours Pestilence with slavering enthusiasm. Frontman Martin Leth Anderson, who also handles bass for Undergang, employs a bellowing growl that encapsulates hopelessness and suffering, and the excellent, malevolent riffs usher an effective aura of utter destruction. Death, however, comes not at the end, but during the doom-laden centerpiece, the despondent “Endless Void Dimension” with its atmospheric Gregorian chanting. I have no qualms becoming a patron to this spiteful chunk of armageddon.

Dear Hollow’s Shtanky Shwamp of Shrieks

Saidan // Visual Kill: The Blossoming of Psychotic Depravity [May 24th, 2024 – Self-Released]

Saidan do things a little differently. The Nashville duo’s themes rooted in Japanese folklore and the formidable and mysterious yokai in particular, combined with a relentlessly riffy and punk-driven tour-de-force of black metal proportions are always food for thought in the act’s brief and formidable history. Seamlessly transitioning between punk chord progressions and bouncy drums to blastbeats and kvlt tremolo to groovy riffs and rhythms, anchored by Splatterpvnk’s ripping vocals, it never shies away from punishment. However, interwoven with this assault is a distinctly melodic undercurrent that brightens the progressions and gives purpose and a sense of fun – a hyper-melodic black metal act would be jealous. You won’t be able to shake the grooves of “Desecration of a Lustful Illusion,” the symphonic black intensity of “Genocidal Bloodfiend” and “Veins of the Wicked” hit you like a cyclone, and the classic thrash solos and anime-theme-song vibe of “Sick Abducted Purity,” “Visual Kill,” and “Switchblade Paradise” are guaranteed to get your head banging – plus, the interlude “seraphic lullaby” and instrumental closer “suffer” ain’t half bad. Visual Kill is like if Powerglove wrote a black metal album that you could actually take seriously, backed up with the technicality, songwriting chops, and sheer unbridled energy to make it work.

Parfaxitas // Weaver of the Black Moon [May 31st, 2024 – Terratur Possessions]

The minds behind Parfaxitas should need little introduction, although the moniker will likely not ring any bells. Representing three separate scenes and their respective contributions to black metal lore, two American stringsmen from acts Merihem, Suffering Hour, and Manetherean, Icelandic drummer B.E. from Almyrkvi, Sinmara, Slidhr, and Wormlust, and Norwegian vocalist K.R. From Whoredom Rife collide. Weaver of the Black Moon combines the blueprint of second-wave Norwegian black with the obsidian dissonance of Icelandic, and the experimental edge of American acts, making it a tour-de-force of both vicious sound and tortured atmosphere. Dissonance rains down like acid, a backdrop, and shroud of otherworldly sounds that shimmer and crunch in ways that recall both the winding passages of Suffering Hour and the psychedelic rawness of Wormlust simultaneously. Hammered by vicious blastbeats and guided by tortured barks, the guitar and meandering fluid bass guide listeners from untouchable intensity (“Thou Shalt Worship No Other”) to haunting and hypnotic atmosphere (“Ravens of Dispersion”) – stealing the show. Parfaxitas features a whole lot of firepower, culminating in epic closer “Fields of Nightmares,” a crescendo of punishing and otherworldly proportions.

Aseitas // Eden Trough [May 30th, 2024 – Total Dissonance Worship]

After Aseitas’ formidable 2020 album False Peace, which narrowly missed my AOTY’s, the Portland trio is back with another album – which could easily be classified as an EP in its tidy thirty-minute runtime. Eden Trough condenses the lofty and decadent ambition of its predecessor for an album devoted to complete takedown in winding riffs, punishing death metal, and ravaging vocals. From the thick and punishing signature shifts of “Libertine Captor” and “Alabaster Bones,” complete with shifting riffs and a liminal sense of melody, to the more droning and haunting “Break the Neck of Every Beautiful Thing,” to the epic and cosmic psychedelia of ten-minute centerpiece “Tiamat,” Aseitas’ shows its tantalizing and gradual progression to an echelon of indispensable in the world of dissonant death. Offering influences of convulsive mathcore, mammoth post-metal, and unhinged yet intensely calculated technicality, Eden Trough is a must-listen for the long-time fan, as well as proffering a snapshot to the curious of what makes Aseitas so special to begin with.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Progalicious Ponderings

Azure // Fym [May 23rd, 2024 – Self Release]

Are you way into high fantasy and exuberant, progressive albums that reflect that sentiment? If so, look no further than Azure’s third opus, Fym, which over its runtime recounts the tales of a mystical fox’s journey in a frightening and whimsical world. Normally I wouldn’t think twice about an album with such a storybook concept.¹ But between Chris Sampson’s vocal navigations that ring as hyper-tenor and dolphin-like (“The Lavender Fox”)² as they do sullen and heart-wrenching (“Kingdom of Ice and Light,” “Moonrise”), and Galen Stapley’s mystical fretboard wizardry that marries funk chords, soundtrack melodies, and dance-able shred, Azure packs too much sunshine in their prog for me to ignore. And at almost eighty minutes, they pack a lot of it too. However, each run through Fym’s pages finds a new rumbling bass bounce to propel a hop, a new vocal run to twirl my tongue (with notes that I couldn’t possibly hit), or a synthfully sinful refrain to stain my brain matter with happy juice—”The Azdinist // Den of Dawns” or “Agentic State” unite these ideas best—it’s truly a hard album to put down. Combining just about every era of Genesis with the acrobatics of Dream Theater, the play and ambition of the earliest of Pain of Salvation theatrics, and healthy dose of modern bastardizations (check the autotune/pitchshifting on “Doppelgänger”), Azure has made a mighty statement with Fym that I’m still digesting. And with as many inventive synth patches, harmonic vocal layers, and cinematic builds as this rainbow dose of prog pushes, it’ll be quite some time before I’ve made up my mind about it all. So I’ll continue in pieces. Or all at once. Whatever time allows because Fym is just that much fun.

PreHistoric Animals // Finding Love in Strange Places [May 16th, 2024 – Dutch Music Works]

And here we are with, what’s that, another prog concept album? This one’s a little less terrestrial though, featuring healthy infusions of a futuristic space drama and heavy-hitting synthwave doots and bounces. Over the course of their past couple works, PreHistoric Animals has found an ease in comfortable exploration with their King’s X-like tendency to grip with a barbed verse melody or chorus explosion, layered tastefully with harmonic vocal accompaniment and groove-heavy riffs. But, despite that comparison, it’s clear from the opening synth pulse of “The City of My Dreams” and “Living in a World of Bliss” that an electronic and hooky identity that’s caught between Toto and Yes imbues the edges of refrains that stick like honey to vocalist Stefan Altzar’s easy-on-the-ears narrative. Finding Love in Strange Places can get bogged down a touch in its word-driven nature, though, especially on the various interludes and certain longer tracks like “Unbreakable” and “Nothing Has Changed but Everything Is Different.” None of that fluff ever truly interrupts Finding Love’s heartbeat rhythms, which hold a steady if highly syncopated simplicity and form a hi-hat charming vessel that keeps the head nodding in progressive pomp. Oh, and it helps that guitarists Altzar and Daniel Magdic (ex-Pain of Salvation) have studied the slow-burn solo nature of greats like David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and Brian May (Queen), with tasteful legato and searing ascensions aiding in earned crescendo at Finding Love’s best moments (“Living in a World of Bliss,” “The Secret of Goodness”). Having reliably churned out confident and catchy works every other years since 2018, PreHistoric Animals fly relatively low in the flock of modern prog, but these space-bound Swedes have earned a likely lifelong aquatic fan at this stage of their growing career. Give Love a chance!

Matrass // Cathedrals [May 17th, 2024 – La Tangente Label]

And, last but not least from my assortment, Matrass hails from France to bring you Cathedrals, which is… yes, you guessed it, another prog concept album! If you’re worried about another album of the synthtastic and 80s prog-themed variety, though, don’t fret about what Matrass brings to the table. Playing closer to post than progressive waters, Cathedrals flitters about dreamy, lounge jazz guitar passages before crushing down with Cult of Luna riffs and Tesseract-inspired, low-end atmospherics. But most important to the groove and cinematic lilt that defines Cathedrals is the methods by which vocalist Clémentine Browne navigates jangling verses with gentle croons and accented, rhythmic spoken word before frying down with screeching and hissing fervor against heavy chord crushes. That talent for establishing and reinforcing mood lands idiosyncratic in the realm of post acts, so her exact methods may not fit the bill for all fans of the rise-and-fall aesthetic the genre offers. And though Matrass remains largely iterative of this mood through its hour-long run, it’s that successful idea of atmosphere that allows peak tracks “Shreds,” “Adrift” (which features Browne on saxophone instead), and “Cathedrals” to conjure such powerful and drifting thoughts in my head. And when you’re in its valleys? Matrass still maintains a textural backdrop that spells high potential for this young act.

Saunders’ Sulfuric Stash

Desolus // System Shock [March 10th, 2024 – Hells Headbangers]

Who’s up for some explosive, throwback thrashy goodness? Although hailing from the States, Desolus take plenty of inspiration from classic German trash titans Kreator, Destruction and Sodom. Throw in classic Dark Angel vibes, a heavy, modern edge and crunchy production job, and the band’s debut System Shock ticks all the boxes for a thrashing great time. This shit is seriously jacked with unhinged, old-school aggression, spitfire riffs and stampeding percussion propelling the album’s ten speed-driven assaults. An utterly deranged, ’80s underground-inspired vocal performance adds further steel-plated authenticity to a retro-minded sound that manages to sound fresh and inspired. Aside from rare moments of slower melodic nuance on the otherwise blistering “Sea of Fire,” and the aptly titled “Interlude” providing a handy breather, Desolus crank speed and intensity to the max, rarely breaking from their relentless stride. The opening one-two salvo of “System Shock” and bonkers lunacy of “From Man to Machine” set a savage tone and gritty platform from which Desolus launch assault after assault of high-octane thrash mania. “Cures of the Technomancer” is an absolute riff beast with groove and speed for days, while “The Invasion Begins” deftly puts you in a false sense of bouncy melodic security before jamming the afterburners into a typically ferocious attack. Exuberant, nasty stuff.

Terminal Nation // Echoes of the Devil’s Den [May 3rd, 2024 – 20 Buck Spin]

The second album from Pittsburgh bruisers Terminal Nation hits with sledgehammer force, obliterating any semblance of subtlety in favor of an extra beefy, in-your-face hybrid of death metal and hardcore. Echoes of the Devil’s Den features a searing, politically charged and seriously pissed-off bite. High-profile guest vocal slots seamlessly blend into the vicious attack, including strong turns from Integrity’s Dwid Hellion (“Release the Serpents”), Killswitch Engage’s Jesse Leach (“Merchants of Bloodshed”) and Nails frontman Todd Jones. Jones features on “Written by the Victor,” a vicious tune that harnesses thick, neck-wrecking grooves and punishing, doom-laden death grooves. The album’s hardcore influence and political slant may turn off certain listeners, but those who don’t mind some hardcore in their death stew should find plenty to like here. The gritty, muscular exterior features nods to Bolt Thrower and All Shall Perish, while the weighty, mid-paced crush, chunky riffs and breakdowns are balanced by tasteful melodic counterpoints and livelier bursts of speed (“Dying Alive”). Not all works; the provocative, anti-police song “No Reform (New Age Slave Patrol)” musically has its moments; however, the heavy-handed lyrical approach sticks out like a sore thumb. Nevertheless, Echoes of the Devil’s Den swings and slugs you more often than it misses.

Steel Druhm’s Sewer Tarts

The Troops of Doom // A Mass to the Grotesque [May 31, 2024 – Alma Mater Records]

For their sophomore outing, Brazilian death-thrashers The Troops of Doom took their vintage Sepultura-esque sound and juiced it up considerably from what we heard on 2022s Antichrist Reborn. A Mass to the Grotesque still sounds a bunch like classic Sepultura but it’s much more refined, developed and expanded in scope. Yet it’s still a frenzied, thrashing assault full of lyrics about evil, demons, and all things anti-Christian. It sounds like something that should have dropped in as the 80s thrash wave started mutating into proto-death, and that is a beloved era of music for yours Steely. Songs like “Chapels of the Unholy” and “Dawn of Mephisto” sit right on the bleeding edge of thrash and early death, with Slayer-tastic riffs colliding with early examples of death grooves. What makes this so entertaining is how the band reaches outside of the Sepultura homage bubble to drag in new elements to expand their sound. Some songs feel slightly progressive (“Denied Divinity”) while elsewhere they shoehorn epic doom into the massive “Psalm 7:8 – God of Bizarre.” The straight-up riffbeasts are my favorites though, with “The Imposter King” being a big, fat, sweaty highlight. While these cats are always going to get compared to classic Sepultura, they made real efforts here to stake out their own identity. This is a wild, testosterone-fueled ride featuring the maximum allowable Satan, and I support that.

The post Stuck in the Filter: May 2024’s Angry Misses appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.