Reviews.
Periphery – Periphery
This band, mainly down to guitarist Misha Mansoor (Bulb) have managed to develop an extremely strong following over the internet by giving away a ridiculous amount of music etc and even more recently have released their first self titled cd. This band have used modern technology extremely well and seem to have a very close relationships with alot of fans, something alot of bands seem to negelect. The band uses alot of the similar sort of techniques that many people may associate with Meshuggah but this to me is alot less challenging to listen to and alot less rewarding in the end. It’s not a bad album at all and if your into the whole Meshuggah type idea with clean vocals over the top then youd probably wet your pants hearing this. My main problems are if you compare to it a band like Sikth it’s not that strong at all. In my opinion the singer could be singing about anything aslong as it sounds slightly “epic” and spacey and I can not seem to take a song called “Racecar” seriously. In complete honesty I think it sounds very diluted and considering its supposed to be progressive and experimental it seems more like a repetition of something that has already been done. This album could serve as a doorway into the more experimental side of metal for a first time listener but I think I’ll stick to Special Defects.
The Dillinger Escape Plan – Option Paralysis
Even though this album is without a doubt the easiest Dillinger album to digest it may infact be the weirdest. Most bands release two albums that sound similar and then go all quirky and odd for their third release but I think Dillinger have done this in reverse which may alienate the fans of the quirky off the wall genre changes and unpredictable madness we all love that is known as TDEP. This album is still superb, it has nice hooks and its really cool to hear songs with a much more “traditional” strucutre. The album does not struggle to hold your attention at all and although you may miss the extremely erratic changes in time signature you will easily forget this when you are washed away by the sheer genius of the chorus’s. This album has alot of really nice hooks that, I atleast, really do struggle to get out of my head. A few personal highlights for me are Widower and Parasitic Twins. Widower is a fairly lengthy track with some insanely cool lyrics. It’s pretty simple for this band but it just flows so nicely it’s unture (listen to it without fast forwarding the end and tell me you didn’t jump!). Another highlight is the album closer “Parasitic Twins” which sees the band take on an almost Massive Attack disguise for the most part. Overall top top TOP album but if your still thrashing out to the likes of “43 Percent Burn” and The Mullet Burden” you may come out at the end of Option Paralysis’s tunnel feeling a little confused. BUY IT EVEN IF THE BONUS TRACK IS NOT WORTH THE EXTRA COST THE LOVELY PRESENTATION OF THE DIGI PACK MAKES UP FOR IT TEN FOLD!!
Cancerous Womb – Austrian Basement Demo
Firstly this band has to win the Without Remorse band and demo name of the decade trophy secondly pretty cool band! The music is tight and flows really well, it is easily up to par with most of the more established UKDEATH METAL acts but this whole new wave of Death Metal, for me atleast is becoming very stale especially the more horror/gore orientated stuff. This band do what they do extremely well but I feel unless they take steps to mix it up abit they may go off alot of peoples radars. The vocals are really nice and the guitar lines are cool enough to stop you from skipping the track but I feel they could mix up the lyrical themes abit more. I know it’s death metal and it’s supposed to about………DEATH but something new might be just what it takes to keep this strong scene afloat. Check them out though!! Well worth the listen! P.s WHAT A SICK DRUMMER!
Daughters – Daughters (2010)
I first heard of this band when I was watching an interview with Chris Arp who said something like “….bands like daughters who sound like Korn on acid” so I checked them out and found it kinda cool but it didn’t blow my mind, I actually thought this band was over but yaknow. This album is such a change for them it’s untrue. It sounds fresh, interesting and very very origional. For instance you could consider this band the most interesting thing in more experimental metal at the moment but you could also call them the heaviest indie band in the world. I’m positive alot of people will frown at this but if you look at the characterists of the cd it’s somewhat true. A fine example is the lead line at the start of “The Theater Goer” listen to it and tell me I’m wrong. This album in my mind could appeal to any fan of anything Mike Patton has done, Dillinger, maybe even Psyopus but songs like “The Hit” could appeal to a fan of AFI. It is exteremly diverse yet it feels like a whole album even if at first it all seems weird with all the experimental noises etc but after a few listens you realise this only adds to the beauty of the album. GO BUY IT!
Dragged into sunlight – Hatred for mankind (2009)
With a title like “Hatred for mankind” you think you know what you are going to expect from this album. However once the opening sample ends and the sonic assault begins, you realise that this is much more. Here you get 50 minutes of super misanthropy to deal with. The music sounds terrifying, with a good mix of doomy and blastastic sections, all set within a gloomy overtone. There is mostly a foundation of doom/death metal here with a general blackened vibe to it. The music is a kick in the face to the listener, but continues to keep kicking you while you are down. If you are a fan of any misanthropic or extreme music, then this album is definitely worth checking out.
Agoraphobic Nosebleed-”Agorapocalypse”
From a quick glance of the cover art it is clear what sonic punishment you are about to be put through. This album really dosn’t hold anything back, from the first wave of drummachinegun kick and slayer esqu dive’s and squeels of album opener “Agorapocalypse Now” right until the last lyric “I’ll shoot you in the face bitch, I’ll fuck you in the face bitch” has been snarled this album mericlessly kicks the shit out of you…….and then some!!
The lyrics contain the usual warpped themes, mainly consisting of drugs, violence and mind fuckingly derranged sexual fantasies which only add to the horror that is “Agorapocalypse”.
Agorapocalypse is the sonic equivelent of heroin, its highly addictive and will most likely ruin your life.
Agoraphobic Nosebleed is a snuff film but the twist is your the naked, slime coverd whore about to get your throat cut on camera.
…..P.S Kat is an extremely sick vocalist and proves just how irrelevant gender is in music. FUCK YOU YOUTUBE BITCHING DOUCHE BAGS!
Magrudergrind – “Magrudgergrind”
Magrudergrind, despite being a bassless three piece they still manage to pack more bass than most of the beloved bass drop core’ bands of today. This album simply offers up some seriously sick grind/power violence with a nice loose, jam feel to it.
Everything about this release is aggressive. The politically charged screams and shouts from vocalist “AVI” really do manage to grind on you afterawhile which im assuming is the desired effect. Also I loved the drum production purely because it sounds really raw and live which in a world in which drums are just a series of triggerd clicks is a refreshing thing to hear.
The songs in true grind fashion are pretty short, with the averge being under a miniute but the songs dont feel like they are missing anything like some grind songs which to me just sound like an intro and nothing else.
On a final note this album is some top notch shit! It ticks all the box’s for a well rounded grind album album and is perfect is you just want to thrash out for a while or scowel at all the overly cheery college studens on the bus.
Listen to it, it’s got a few cool suprises I haven’t mentioned here…go find them out for yourself!!!!!!!!!!!
I was abit unsure about Sweet Sorrow when they asked me for a review simply because of how far away this is from what I would normally listen to but this band really did manage to suprise and impress me. Alot of the guitar parts have a very early Swedish thrash sound to them and alot of the guitar harmonies remind me of early In Flames which is a pretty good thing. The lyrics follow suite in with a classic, heart on yoursleeve almost cheesyness to them. This dosn’t bring the album down though but insted brings a fun element to it in a way similar to that you may get from The Black Dahlia Murder but not at all the same. Although in grand scheme of things “1000th Milleninium” brings very little of anything new to the table I have to give them creidt for the solid song writing they seem to have mastered and the ability to keep the songs interesting without changing the sound drastically throughout. I could see this band opening up a small stage at Bloodstock or maybe bagging a support slot for someone like TYR or Amon Amarth. Check them out at www.myspace.com/sweetsorrowslo
