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Jeremy Wagner of Broken Hope Picks His Five Favorite Albums of the Year

Sammi Chichester — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 15:00:22 +0000

Leading up to the end of the year, Revolver has asked some of our favorite artists to pick their Top Albums of 2012 and tell us why each record rules. Here, Jeremy Wagner (pictured left), guitarist of the death-metal band Broken Hope, selects his faves.

5. Fear Factory, The Industrialist
“Dino

and Burton are the industrial-metal dream team and The Industrialist proves how great and tenacious they are.”

4. Cynic, The Portal Tapes
“I’ve been waiting over 10 years to witness the album see the light of day. I’m so thrilled the Cynic guys got on this and put it out. It’s a true gem–one of my faves for sure.”

3. Aborted, Global Flatline
“The new Aborted album further strengthens their place in modern death metal. An amazing album with some of the best artwork and packaging I’ve seen all year.”

2. Dying Fetus, Reign Supreme
“Dying Fetus. That’s all I have to say. They are death-metal overlords. Just listen to the track, ‘In the Trenches’ and see why.”

1. Napalm Death, Utilitarian
“Anything Napalm Death outs out is the best grind. I love them–they ALWAYS deliver!”

Review: Cynic — Carbon-Based Anatomy

Christopher Krovatin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:56:21 +0000

It’s respectable to try something new in an established field. To do otherwise is to defer to comfort, and there’s nothing bold about that. Which is why it’s impossible to hate Miami prog-death metallers Cynic. With both their vocoder-heavy 1993 debut Focus and their spacey 2008 comeback record Traced in Air, Cynic have stretched the boundaries of death metal while trying to open the minds of its fans, and for that they must be commended. But with their new EP Carbon-Based Anatomy, one wonders if the band has strayed from one beaten path only to stumble onto another.

Technically, the music on Carbon-Based Anatomy is fine, especially Sean Reinert’s drumming, which is both primal and intuitive, instinctual and multifaceted. And when Paul Masvidal and Max Phelp’s guitar parts do come together, they’re thoroughly odd and entertaining. But there is no metallic base to the EP, no bedrock on which to build its airy sprawl. Opener “Amidst the Goals” and the following title track feels less like they’re breaking death metal’s mold and more like they’re biting off Mono, Muse, and Asobi Seksu. “Box Up My Bones” has some interesting moments, but Masvidal’s clear vocals smack pretty hard of Damon Albarn. The spoken word piece at the end of closer “Hieroglyph” makes one think of a film student’s senior thesis.

Maybe this paints an unfair picture; obviously Cynic don’t sit around in berets and turtlenecks smoking Galoise 100s and talking about “intangibility.” But where their previous efforts had a base in metal with a lean towards arty progressiveness, Cynic’s new EP tries to hard to straddle the line and winds up in limbo. Hardcore fans of the band will no doubt find something to like on here, but those seeking blood and thunder should look elsewhere.

Review: Obscura – Omnivium

Clarke Read — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:45:40 +0000

Perhaps no subgenre of metal varies in quality as much as technical death metal. For every beautifully composed and tastefully written display of savage art, there are four releases of self-indulgent guitar noodling.

Obscura’s previous release, 2009′s Cosmogenesis, fell much closer to the latter category than the former. On Omnivium, however, Obscura have created an album that, while more challenging than its predecessor, is also more streamlined, focused, and artfully crafted.

Obscura’s influences are blatantly obvious. The stirring fretless bass tone and often jarring, chunky guitar work are pure Atheist, while the vocoder murmurs and ambient touches reek of Cynic. As a result, Obscura’s phenomenally adept crew—which includes former members of Necrophagist and Pestilence—often sound like they were pulled straight from the early ’90s. It makes for an album that is superficially derivative, but is performed and constructed so well as to still come across fresh and exciting.

To its credit, Omnivium never feels as impenetrable as the works of fellow tech-death virtuosos Gorguts (after whose 1998 album Obscura are named), yet the album is deep enough to improve subtly with each listen. Still, even at its best, Obscura’s latest never wows like the classics of the subgenre. This band that once seemed destined for mediocrity has a made a leaps and bounds here, but they still haven’t achieved true greatness. CLARKE READ

Check out “Septuagint” off, Omnivium, below: