All Reviews Posts
Review: Nations Afire – The Ghosts We Will Become
Nations Afire are a band composed of former veterans of Rise Against and Death by Stereo, as well as current members of Ignite; this, their debut, sees the band trying to take their hardcore roots and translate them into the modern-rock arena—a tricky proposition that Rise Against pulled off. Nations Afire sound best when they [...]
Review: Valient Thorr – Our Own Masters
After five albums, Valient Thorr’s asphalt-burning stew of hardcore punk, NWOBHM, and ’70s boogie-rock should come as a surprise only to those who haven’t already had their asses thoroughly kicked by it. What is shocking is how the Venus-born, Chapel Hill-based quintet continues to improve with each album; Our Own Masters delivers all the hairy, [...]
Review: Amon Amarth – Deceiver of the Gods
No one delivers big, punch-in-the-face motifs better than Amon Amarth, and the Swedish melodic-death-metal titans have excelled themselves on their ninth studio album. Produced by Andy Sneap (Opeth, Accept), Deceiver of the Gods is at turns martial (“Father of the Wolf”), elegiac (“Under Siege”), blatantly neo-classical (“As Loke Falls”), and firmly committed to traditional Priest- [...]
Review: Scale the Summit – The Migration
The fourth full-length album from Houston instrumental-metal quartet Scale the Summit, The Migration finds the band continuing to develop a tasteful blend of atmosphere, groovy rhythms, and unabashed shredding. Standout tracks “Atlas Novus”, “Oracle,” and “The Dark Horse” combine the kind of beautiful melodies that evoke the band’s nature-oriented imagery with riffs heavy (and groovy) [...]
Review: Children of Bodom – Halo of Blood
Slick and glitzy as ever, Children of Bodom’s eighth and latest album sees the Finnish metal assassins keyboarding and power-shredding through a dizzying gamut of metal styles—everything from straight thrash and melodic death to symphonic black metal and full-on stadium rah-rah rock. Ringleader Alexi Laiho and his crew are world-class musicians and performers, but the [...]
Review: Filter – Watch the Sun Come Out Tonight
“Take a Picture” may be Filter’s biggest chart hit, but we’ll always be partial to “Hey Man, Nice Shot” and the songs that let main man Richard Patrick vent, fume, and bleed a little bit. Fortunately, that’s what Patrick favors on his sixth Filter album, a 12-song set that went through a couple of permutations [...]
Review: Queens of the Stone Age – …Like Clockwork
While it was impossible to fault the musicality of Queens of the Stone Age’s last two albums—2005’s Lullabies to Paralyze and 2007’s Era Vulgaris—it was equally impossible to ignore the overripe scent of self-indulgence that hung over both of them. Thankfully, Josh Homme and fellow Queens Troy Van Leeuwen, Dean Fertita, and Michael Shuman have [...]
Review: Airbourne – Black Dog Barking
Simply put, this is Airbourne’s Slippery when Wet. Like Bon Jovi in 1986, the Australian hard rockers have hired a Vancouver-based producer—in this case, Brian Howes (Nickelback), rather than the late Bruce Fairbairn—and added a radio-friendly sheen to their career-defining third studio album. The vintage “Whoa-oh” gang chorus that kicks off “Ready to Rock” shows [...]
Review: Kylesa – Ultraviolet
On their sixth full-length, Savannah shape-shifters Kylesa show just how far they’ve come from the nascent sludge of their early records. Whereas Ultraviolet opener “Exhale” wouldn’t sound out of place on their 2009 breakthrough, Static Tensions, the dreamy space rock of “Unspoken” and “Steady Breakdown”—both of which feature hypnotic lead vocals from guitarist Laura Pleasants—are [...]
Review: Skinny Puppy – Weapon
The great irony of Skinny Puppy’s career is that despite their heavy industrial reputation, their sound has grown increasingly organic over the years. Which is not to suggest they’ve swapped synths for wooden flutes and dulcimers, just to point out that their electro beats routinely feel more human than mechanical. But given that the “weapon” [...]
