Author Archive for Clarke Read
Review: The Devil’s Blood – The Thousandfold Epicentre
The Devil’s Blood plays to a bygone era, cracking open the echoing, psychedelia-drenched annals of the ’60s and early ’70s. With the earthy production and impassioned female vocals of Coven and the relaxed groove and organic atmosphere of Black Widow, these Dutch rockers exude authenticity. This comes at a cost, however, as their sound can [...]
Review: Coliseum – Parasites
Coliseum’s Parasites EP is one killer little release. These Louisville metallic brutes have been releasing steadily solid music since 2004, but Parasites sheds some of their previous hardcore tendencies for a more streamlined approach. Packed with contagious energy and some of the catchiest riffs heard anywhere this year, Parasites kicks ass and enjoys every second [...]
Review: Carnifex – Until I Feel Nothing
Less than a minute into opener “Deathwish,” Carnifex roar their singular purpose on Until I Feel Nothing: “Fuck the world.” This is pure deathcore, with every single genre dogma intact: It’s 32 minutes of lurching, open-note breakdowns, screams mixed with gang shouts, and frantic guitar noodling. This is either the Carnifex you know and love, [...]
Review: MonstrO – MonstrO
The cover of MonstrO’s debut self-titled album couldn’t match its contents more perfectly. This is pure throwback rock, played by members of Bloodsimple, Danzig, Comes With the Fall, and Torche. Much like Torche, MonstrO’s greatest strength lies in their ability to place floor-rumbling heaviness alongside psychedelic, breezy melodies. “Concertina” is a great example, opening with [...]
Review: Stray From the Path – Rising Sun
Long Island’s Stray From the Path go straight for the throat with their third studio effort, Rising Sun. The bristling album touts 30 minutes of early-2000s-style metalcore that heavily apes the blueprint laid out by Burnt by the Sun, spiked with echoes of Every Time I Die and Cancer Bats. It’s a full-on assault full [...]
Review: Evan Brewer – Alone
Metal and bass guitar often don’t get along well. In most cases, bass is pushed to the back of album mixes and the shadowy corners of stages. Worse yet, the instrument’s expressive range and hearty sound are frequently stifled beneath songwriting that treats it as a slower, lower rhythm guitar. Evan Brewer, of progressive metal [...]
Review: Within the Ruins – Omen
Simply put, Massachusetts’ Within the Ruins shred. Their style combines the palm-muted breakdowns of metalcore with thrash-metal speed and melodic guitar runs to create a recipe ripe with flashy displays of guitar mastery. But shredding prowess is not enough to make a great band, and, confirming this, their earliest releases seemed to emphasize technicality at [...]
Review: Memphis May Fire – The Hollow
Let’s face it, from a creative standpoint, metalcore is all but dead. While pioneering bands like Killswitch Engage and Cave In expertly merged the melodic with the heavy into coherent and catchy songs, a glut of recent groups have apparently begun to think of music as little more than breakdowns stitched together by whiny vocal [...]
Review: Graviton – Massless
Graviton is a new side project from Sacha Dunable, best known as the main man behind genre- and mind-bending prog metallers Intronaut. Listeners who come in expecting a similar experimental strain, with unusual song structures and a thunderous bottom end, will be right on the mark. But where Intronaut revels in bipolar aggression, Graviton pursue [...]
Review: Periphery – Icarus EP
Maryland-based prog-metal upstarts Periphery erupted onto the music scene last year with their self-titled record, fusing jagged, Meshuggah-esque riffs with Devin Townsend-like theatrics and guitar wizardry. On the Icarus EP, little has changed, and this core formula is still compelling, but not all fans will appreciate the package being offered here. With only three truly [...]
