Beyond Creation – The Aura

April 4, 2011 • PRC Music

I've been listening to a lot of death metal lately. Don't ask me why; I guess it's just one of those phases (though I might have to blame Inanimate Existence). Beyond Creation is one of the many new modern-tech-death bands I've been pumping into my ears, and I have to say they're probably one of the better ones—and further evidence that Quebec has some of the best extreme metal out there.

It's tough to point to a specific thing that Beyond Creation does well, but I guess when it comes to death metal it's all about the riffs, isn't it? and this album has them in spades. The band does a great job of setting up nice groovy parts left and right while fitting all the parts together just right, and everything sounds very clean and meticulously-composed. Even the breakdowns are good—death metal breakdowns are all too often hamfisted and cheesy, but on The Aura they're actually done tastefully and don't overstay their welcome. There are also some nice pseudo-progressive, pseudo-jazzy clean parts to break up the intensity, and they're also done very well. All in all the band does a great job of not dawdling on one thing too long; they'll jump from crunchy headbanging riffs to furiously-paced wheedly guitar to energetic blasting, all at exactly the right moments. (Also, some fantastic bass work throughout—which I'm happy to say isn't rare in this kind of music, but it really shines here. They even have bass solos.)

Of course, like many other similar albums it does seem like it drags on a bit long, even at just fifty-two minutes. Maybe I'm noticing it now when listening a bit more closely instead of just jamming along while doing other stuff at work. Then again, I don't really notice much of a drop in quality anywhere—it's pretty consistent the whole way through—and that's always a good thing.

I won't say this album (or this band) will ever go down as some kind of classic. But after listening to what may be dozens of similar 2000s–10s death metal albums over the last few months, this one has managed to stay near the top of my list, so that's gotta be a good thing.

Tool – Ænima

October 1, 1996 • Volcano Records

I'm a bit surprised I actually haven't talked about Tool at all yet. They were my absolute favorite band for an embarrassingly long amount of time, although after 10,000 Days came out I got a bit disillusioned and have barely listened to them much since. Lateralus was always my favorite album and by far the one I listened to the most, though this one got its fair share in the rotation back then. Hearing it now, I'm not entirely sure what to make of it, though I know exactly why I don't listen to them anymore.

It's tough to reevaluate an album that you basically have memorized, but even so it's obvious that they aren't nearly as good as I gave them credit for. I (and tons of other people) had always thought of Tool as being some sort of ultra-progressive intellectual band, but most of these songs are pretty straightforward post-grungy rock (they did get a lot of radio play, after all). They do get actually progressive from time to time (e.g. closing track "Third Eye" which is actually pretty darn good, aside from the Bill Hicks samples), but this results in a very inconsistent experience. Sometimes they're serious and introspective, sometimes they're jokey and dumb. The jokey and dumb parts are, by far, the most obnoxious; I did use to think "Hooker with a Penis" (ugh) and "Die Eier von Satan" were fun tracks but they're embarrassing to listen to now.

I wasn't actually able to make it through the full album when writing this review. Half of it is not fun to listen to, and the other half doesn't interest me anyway since I've already heard it a million times. Oh well. Neat jewel case art, though; gotta give them credit for that.

Soilwork – Natural Born Chaos

March 25, 2002 • Nuclear Blast

Time for another trip down memory lane, this time all the way back to high school in 2004 or maybe 2005. I was finally starting to expand my metal horizons besides whatever garbage was on the radio (okay, yes, it was a slow process) and I had a friend or two who were into some good stuff (what passed for good stuff at the time). Natural Born Chaos blew my little mind at the time—or maybe that was just because of how loud my friend played it in his car.

Anyway.

Like every melodic death metal band who was around in the mid-2000s, Soilwork was a very silly band and this is some pretty silly music. The melodic-ness is laid on really thick for the most part—lots of harmonized vocal hooks, cheesy synths, relatively cliché chord progressions and such. That said, they do manage to write a few good riffs and when they decide to get actually heavy (e.g. "Follow the Hollow") it's actually some pretty good material. Maybe not enough actually-good material to fill ten songs, but it gets close. And even I have to admit that the technical aspect of this album is pretty good. The drumming is satisfying, the mix is nice and punchy—heck, even the guitar solos are pretty good and I usually don't care much about guitar solos.

Then again, there's a big nostalgia factor here. When I first heard this album, it was when I actually had time to read and remember the lyrics, and quite a few of these songs I still know how to play on bass. These melodies and riffs are etched in my brain forever. Had I first heard of this album today, I probably would be entertained for a while and then forget it shortly after, but as it stands I can't not enjoy it.

Death Fortress – Among the Ranks of the Unconquerable

November 15, 2014 • Fallen Empire Records

With that title and band name, this album just screams "generic". And maybe it is, a little bit. Maybe everything feels somewhat generic when you get to as much random black metal on Bandcamp as I do. Regardless, I wanted to put this one in particular out there because I've been having a good time with it.

True, Death Fortress unashamedly apes old-school Darkthrone-slash-Hate-Forest-if-they-were-good-style metal but I'll be damned if they don't do a good job at it. It's black metal at some of its most aggressive without being impenetrable—the drums and guitar all sound hateful and destructive but still retain a nice musical edge to them that keeps the album nicely grounded. The drumming is actually surprisingly interesting; sure there's a lot of typical double-kick grooving and blasting but the fills are plentiful and the way everything is played just really does it for me for some reason.

I'm not going to pretend that Death Fortress does anything new or that there isn't anything in this album you haven't heard before if you're already into black metal whatsoever. But what it does bring to the table is a top-notch way of throwing out some aggression and energy in an incredibly satisfying way—and sometimes that's just what I need, and sometimes all an album needs to give me.

Callisto – Secret Youth

January 30, 2015 • Svart Records

I really don't know how to approach Callisto anymore. True Nature Unfolds has been an essential favorite of mine for ages, and Noir is almost equally spectacular. The band really shifted with Providence into softer, more melodic territory with clean vocals and a less-than-standard sludge-lite sound. I tried to like it, but I don't think it ever truly clicked for me. It seems like Secret Youth is more of the same—and equally confusing.

One one level, somewhere deep down, it's still the same Callisto I've loved since I first heard them in 2006. The slow, plodding, melancholy riffs and textures are still there, and occasionally an echo of the gritty Noir production leaks through (e.g. the intros to "Backbone" or "Beasts of Mothers"). And there are a lot of sections I really do like, sections where they might get especially heavy and rhythmic and that remind me a little bit of what they used to sound like.

But I still can't bring myself to get excited about this album, and no matter how many times I sit through it, it just doesn't do anything for me; it still feels kind of cliché. Not that their first two albums were that innovative, but they at least had this really special quality to the songwriting that made them stand apart, and it's gone now. The songs feel more like they're just trying to support the vocals rather than do something neat with the music itself. Callisto used to be the kind of band that put the music first—maybe that's what's changed them: being so vocal-centric.

I guess it's just time to throw in the towel and finally admit it to myself: Callisto just isn't really a good band anymore. And that sucks a lot, because they're such a huge reason of why I listen to a lot of what I do. It's good that they gave us two great albums when they did; I just won't really be looking forward to their next album quite so much.

Yob, Ecstatic Vision, Lazer/Wulf

March 18, 2015 • Ace of Cups, Columbus, Ohio

I was so pumped for this show, and it turned out oh so good. One of the best I've been to in a long time.

Lazer/Wulf

I first saw these guys play over a year and a half ago, and it doesn't seem like much has changed—which I'd say is a good thing. They were just as good as I remember, if not maybe a little better. They're still playing the same progressive-djent-thrashy kind of stuff, and I might have even recognized a song or two (which always improves the concert experience, I find). They obviously still have a ton of fun playing and being on stage, so even if it's not quite the kind of music you're into, it's still a show that is worth checking out. I usually don't like when bands get a bit showy but Lazer/Wulf has a great sense of humor and self-awareness that keeps everything engaging.
7 • Best Guitar Face Award, Again

Ecstatic Vision

With their style of music and the rest of the show's lineup, Ecstatic Vision didn't have a chance of me liking them at all. And I didn't, really. Their sound is this sort of psychedelic stoner rock, which isn't really ever something I care much about or listen to, and yeah—I found them to be pretty boring. Their music seemed to be mostly a platform for the guitarist to play solos, which is usually only interesting for the guitarist. The drumming was pretty decent, with some tribal rhythms and some unique percussion voices. The bassist was doing his best to hold the other two together but unfortunately his material was so uninteresting I barely noticed he was even there. Bonus points, however, for the melodica, even though nobody could hear it.
5 • Best Rope Lights Award

Yob

I thought I overhyped this show in my head before I came, but it turned out to be one of the best sets I've ever seen, somehow. Despite that Yob plays a style (doom metal) that I don't listen to often and all their songs basically sound the same (even though I could recognize most of them), their live show was fantastic. They're probably the heaviest and loudest band I've seen yet; they do tune down to A but the bass response was incredible, organ-shattering stuff (thank god for earplugs). This, by the way, is how you do a guitar-led band correctly—have him play music that's actually interesting and nicely rhythmic so the drums and bass can support it properly. Yob has very simple drumming (it's basically just timekeeping) but he was still putting his all into playing well and matching the tone of the music. I was surprised at how fun a doom metal band can actually be to watch. Also, props for actually taking a request from the audience; I don't think I've actually seen anyone do that before.
9 • Corrupted Shirt Award

Something else neat: a couple of guys from Mouth of the Architect were there! (Makes sense since they live in Dayton which is only about an hour and a half away.) I only know of this because someone happened to notice my Mouth of the Architect shirt I got at the show they played here, so I stopped and shook hands said hello. Buncha cool guys.

Justin Jackson – Rosetta: Audio/Visual

December 25, 2014 • self-released

I love that this exists. Not many bands get their own documentary, especially when they're not huge mainstream acts, and when one that's already one of your all-time favorite bands gets one it's fantastic. Audio/Visual is more or less a brief chronicle of the band's history, from their formation to the present day, as well as some insight into Translation Loss Records and the relationship between the two. As someone who's followed the band way on the outside for almost ten years, it's really neat to see how their timeline and their experiences were going during that time.

It's really interesting to see the breakup of a band from its label from both sides at once, and a bit sad as well, as it's clear both sides wanted to make things work but the business got in the way so much it tore everything apart. The last third of the film, where Rosetta is making The Anaesthete and stressing over if they will even be able to continue as a band, is a surprisingly tense section (even knowing how things went) and makes for great film. It was pretty cool to see some details about their lives outside of the band as well, and the interviewees get lots of opportunities to philosophize and talk about their personal feelings and experiences, giving the film a very personal and intimate feel at times.

If you've seen any metal documentary before, on a technical level there isn't much to surprise you here. Plenty of interviews with the members, their friends, and their label, all paired with some nice concert footage, in-studio footage, and some montages of scenes of Philadelphia and around the world as they tour. The use of stock footage—mostly old clips of manufacturing plants—was a really great way to add some atmosphere and personality to the story.

As far as indie documentaries go, this one is very well-made and does a great job of presenting its material, especially for a topic that's kind of niche. (Or maybe I just underestimate how big Rosetta has gotten, which is entirely possible.) Even to people who aren't familiar with the band, it still paints a great story of a band struggling to make ends meet while keeping their creative vision intact, something that anyone who's into music can appreciate.

Official site

Sarin – Burial Dream

January 17, 2015 • self-released

I haven't really been listening to a ton of sludge metal lately. I still love the genre but it seems like there's less and less coming out each year that really piques my interest. But now and again I'll stumble on a band that rekindles my faith a little and reminds me why I love the genre so much. Recently it's been Sarin, whose 2013 EP House of Leaves I really enjoyed (but never covered). Their first full-length is finally out and I couldn't be happier.

There's a pretty blatant debt owed to early–mid Isis, and maybe Pelican and Godflesh, on a lot of these tracks—at points I feel like the music could have been ripped straight from Isis' Oceanic—although I bring this up in the most positive light possible. Sarin pulls off a similar combination of slow, churning, clean-guitar buildups and huge, heavy, crunchy, pounding riffs; even the vocalists sound very similar. Maybe it's just my personal love for the atmospheric sludge style (and the fact that I do miss Isis somewhat) but the band knows what they're doing and they've gotten fantastic at it.

Take, for instance, the intro to "Monograph". Slow—plodding, almost—drums, echoing clean guitars, pretty typical stuff. But it has this really nice melodic aspect to it (probably has something to do with the major key) that lulls you in, so when the heavy guitars kick on two minutes in, still with the excellent melody and emotional resonance, it's just an awesome experience. They take the genre's natural tendency towards repetition and make it work in their favor really well; the song shifts into a more sinister minor key by the end but you barely notice as it goes. "Reverse Mirror" does something kind of similar, but uses that kind of interplay and buildup to conclude the album in a very satisfying way.

I suppose the fact that this album does feel a bit derivative will probably keep it from being as appealing as it could to some people. I love this album anyway, so I don't really care; Sarin has more than proven themselves to me what they're capable of. Great, great stuff.

Mare Cognitum – Phobos Monolith

November 3, 2014 • I, Voidhanger Records

Taking atmospheric black metal to another level—the cosmos. Okay, so black metal bands have been doing the whole super-atmospheric space thing for decades already so there's really nothing new going on here. But I have to say that Phobos Monolith is quite a pleasant surprise.

Its one flaw out of the way first: Albums like this, with a few overlong tracks, sometimes tend to have a bit of filler. The beginning of this album in particular does have a bit too much ramp-up—one huge overlong intro where we're noodling around with slow rhythms and melodic clean-ish guitar lines that don't really go anywhere. I'm just sitting here waiting for the actual music to kick in instead. I guess I should have expected it, but it still always disappoints me just a little bit when this happens.

However, when the music does get going it's quite good, and surprisingly the middle two tracks don't hold back at all. It's not just plug-and-play generic blasting, either—there is plenty of that, but there's enough actual musical proficiency and embellishments in the songwriting that keep things interesting. Just the occasional chugging riff, progressive drum line, a little ambient background sound to fill things out. Or perhaps some toned-down shoegazey type stuff in "Noumenon". Or the sheer no-holds-barred intensity at some places, like how "Entropic Hallucinations" starts off with just the most intense riff ever. There's a lot going on, though it may take some time to unearth it all.

But this being one of my favorite kinds of music lately, I'll call myself a fan right off the bat. The genre may have been in a slump lately, but for fans this might be one to actually pay attention to.

Rosetta – Flies to Flame

October 14, 2014 • Translation Loss Records

If, like me, you've been following Rosetta's trajectory for the last almost-ten years since I first heard The Galilean Satellites, then I barely need to talk much about their last release on Translation Loss, Flies to Flame. Let me state off the bat: Yes, Rosetta is still a good band; yes, I still enjoy their music; yes, this EP is still good; yes, I bought the record. (Gotta have that green vinyl.) But since they are one of my top-favorites it's too easy to judge new material harshly, like I did with The Anaesthete, and it's tough to judge releases like this.

With that in mind: Every time I've listened to this EP, all I can think is "yep, just more Rosetta songs." And that's just what they are: the slow chord progressions, walls of echoing guitar washing off every surface, drumming that just can't go without filling every eighth note with something. I mean, yes, obviously I like it. But they've got thirty other songs that sound just like it! (The guitar-drone-only "Seven Years..." is a bit unique for the band as far as I can tell, for what it's worth.)

The EP does have a very soft sound, though, especially compared to the metal juggernaut that The Anaesthete was—seriously, listen to these back-to-back; it's like getting punched. So for anyone who does dig Rosetta when they're a bit more quiet and introspective is going to enjoy this. I won't say it's my favorite of their styles, but they are still quite good at it.

But I have to say I'm still excited for the band. They've got that new documentary out (hopefully there'll be a piece on that here soon), and self-funding seems to be working out well so far, so it'll be neat to find out where things go from here. Flies to Flame is a fitting goodbye to their old label and their old ways; let's just see what comes next.

Cannabis Corpse, Mammoth Grinder, Inanimate Existence, Artillery Breath

December 18, 2014 • Ace of Cups, Columbus, Ohio

Concerts this year were sadly slim. It looks like things might pick up next year, though. Anyway I was excited to finally hit another death metal show—as I've said before, I think death metal is one of my favorite genres to watch live, if only for the sheer insanity some bands bring out on stage.

Artillery Breath

The token local opener, and pretty decent stuff to get the show started at that. They're kind of like a death-metal-oriented Kvelertak—lots of heavy grinding extreme metal with old-school high-energy hard rock riffs, with that same sort of high-energy performance and silly and fun attitude. They're not really the kind of thing I'd spin very often on my own, but they were definitely good to watch and a great opener.

Inanimate Existence

The obligatory second band playing that I'd never heard of but wound up liking the best. (Weird how often that happens.) As I soon as I saw them breaking out the seven-string guitars and warming up with some jazzy lines, I could tell it was going to be good. This band falls much more into the brutal/technical death metal side and have a much more serious stance than the other bands playing, but what they were playing was ridiculous—the kind of complicated wall-of-sound riffing where the drummer is somehow the sanest one playing. I did my best to keep up with what the guitars and bass were doing, but the complexity and fluidity was too much, as if they were just waving their fingers over the fretboards at random but still having something awesome come out. This sort of very-long-form through-composed material isn't for everyone and it can be tough to get through at a show, but in this case I don't think I ever found myself anything but engrossed. So yeah, they're good, very good, if you can stomach the wall of intensity.

Mammoth Grinder

This band was the primary reason I went to this show, as they were the only one who I'd heard before. As it turns out I don't really like them at all. I'd listened to their 2009 album some time ago and forgotten about it, and now I know why. Their particular style of modern metallic crust punk isn't really my thing at all. There are some good bits here and there, but most of their music is pretty flat and to be honest they aren't really that fun to watch, either. Oh well. If they're already your thing, it's probably worth it to check them out, but don't stress about it.

Cannabis Corpse

It's been ages since I heard any Cannibal Corpse, but if I remember them right, these guys are (musically) by far the better band. They're pretty traditional death metal with a little bit of groove metal fusion going on, and clearly with a lot of songwriting talent. On the other side of the coin, though, I'm not a stoner, and unfortunately most of their fans are, and we don't get along. I am not a real big fan of moshing, but at many shows I wind up standing right where people want to open a pit, which is usually in a prime spot for, you know, just watching. So I was forced to stand in the back where I couldn't really see, and at that point you might as well just go home and listen to it on YouTube. Usually the audience at metal shows I go to here in Columbus is pretty reasonable, but not this time. Shame, because the band themselves seemed like pretty cool guys. Oh well.

Fleshworld / Gazers / Viscera/// – Split

October 14, 2014 • Unquiet Records

Reviewing promotional split albums always feels a bit weird, but sometimes the material really is good enough that I have to share it. Today's edition is three metal bands from all over Europe: Fleshworld from Poland, Gazers from France, and Viscera/// (slashes included, please) from Italy.

Fleshworld gets the split off to a great start—I'm really enjoying their tracks. Their style of sludge metal manages to be both a little atmospheric and very driving at the same time, a bit Cult-of-Luna-esque without as much grandeur. The rhythmic patterns going on here are great—the hard-hitting drum grooves are especially irresistible, and there are lots of really nice crunchy guitar lines holding it together. They occasionally launch into some more intense punkish-blastbeating, quiet clean bridges (naturally), and even a little bit of psychedelic noodling, which are all nice enough—but man am I digging the standard sludge. I haven't heard many new bands lately doing it as well as they do. I only wish the first two songs were a little longer, as the nine-minute "Rezygnacja" is, to give me a bit more to sink my teeth into.

Gazers sounds nothing like their name implies—this is some raw and harsh screamo, chaotic riffing, blasting, some slower chugging sections, the occasional breakdown, and all. Maybe it's that Fleshworld is a hard act to follow but I'm not as thrilled about this band—though they are still pretty decent. The songwriting is a bit disjointed and hard to follow at times, but they definitely have the texture and mood down well. Admittedly I've never been a huge fan of this style of post-hardcore/screamo so I'm probably not the right person to take Gazers on, but you could certainly do a lot worse.

Viscera/// brings us back around to the sludge metal side of things, but in a much different way from Fleshworld. The promo kit calls them "psychedelic" but I don't think I'd agree whatsoever; they're definitely way too clean and heavy for that (blastbeating isn't psychedelic, and flanger pedals don't automatically make you so, no matter what anyone says). But they do have nice big riffs aplenty, and bigger riffs you rarely have seen. Their style is all over the place, though—they swerve from crunching rhythmic lines to almost-black-metal tremolo blasting to upbeat stoner metal, and it's a bit weird. The poppy clean singing in "Nobody's Diary" feels wildly out of place and the band can get a bit too repetitive at times, but the majority of what they've put down here is pretty great.

In short—one split, plenty of great brutality to be had, and I'm off to see if there's any more from these bands to check out, because my interest is definitely piqued.

Keeper – MMXIV

July 5, 2014 • PlasticSkull Records

Keeper delivers some excruciating, pounding doom metal that's some of the filthiest I've heard. The grimy distortion on downtuned-to-hell guitars (that low bass string must not even be remotely taut at this point), sputtering vocals, and echoing production make the album almost uncomfortable to listen to—although that's kind of a good thing in this case.

The songs are all quite long and sprawling without a whole lot of real structure to them, so the music can be a bit hard to follow, especially in the slower parts. It's not my preferred way to do doom; I like having some organization and clarity to the songwriting, but MMXIV goes off in all sorts of directions, losing me easily. Sometimes, when things pick up speed, it's not quite so bad and I can get into the rhythmic grooving they do in some parts, like "Perception/Prescription".

On the whole, it's really not a bad album. It's not something I'll put on often, as I simply don't get into doom much and this album doesn't do it quite to my tastes anyway. But I still feel like there's something worth looking into here, at least for established doom fans.

Idylls – Prayer for Terrene

March 30, 2014 • self-released

Finally, some mathcore I can really get into. I'm usually of the opinion that the genre is too messy and incomprehensible to be that enjoyable, but Idylls are doing something really cool here.

Sure, the album has its share of chaotic blasting, but it always feels like they still keep some sort of rhythm going so the listener doesn't ever feel lost. Plus, it's often glued together with some solid sludgy chugging sections, which I always tend to enjoy. There's even a bit of great melodic sections like "Fagged Out on the Beach" (probably one of my favorite tracks) to break up the crazy grinding. That's not to say Idylls doesn't do crazy grinding well—they definitely do.

Aside from the staggering seven-minute opener, almost all of the songs all clock under three minutes. But every one of those minutes is totally packed and Idylls squeezes everything they can out of their time on this album. I also have to give props for the production—I love the squealing saxophone that pops up every once in a while, and the growly, dirty bass sound is really great.

My one misgiving is that I don't get the weird tangents they sometimes go off on, like the bizarre bluesy thing they do for part of "PCP Crazy" or the weird surf thing on "Crashing Boar"—it breaks my immersion a lot and simply isn't in a style I like. At least they don't dwell on it for long.

Anyway, even though I haven't been following grindcore much this year, I'm glad this album crossed my path. It's definitely one to take a taste of for anyone into that sort of music or is looking for anything a little on the aggressive side.

As We Draw – Mirages

October 4, 2014 • Throatruiner Records

Compared to Lines Breaking Circles, not a whole lot has changed except that the band has somehow gotten a lot better. Thought nothing much has changed since their debut, something about it really grabbed me and I think it may be one of 2014's finest so far.

Mirages basically comes in two flavors: long atmospheric sludgy tracks, and shorter Converge-esque chaotic hardcore / mathcore ones—and there's definitely something to be said for both. The longer tracks (basically just "The Window" and "Shipwreck") have this great post-rock-influenced buildup structure that works really great with the heavier guitar sound without being too clichéd. The shorter tracks are almost perfect: full of blistering energy, stabbing guitar lines and crashing drumming, and never overstaying their welcome. They're angry as hell, but they don't get too wrapped up in it that they lose sight of the song structure.

I don't know for sure why this one is hooking me a lot more than their first—maybe it's my mood, maybe somehow my taste for this stuff has grown—but I can't discount the fact that this music just grooves hard and in a way that I am really enjoying. It's not an album that I'll be able to listen to often—it's a little too punishing at times and the whole thing can be a bit draining. But when I do get the urge, it satisfies handily.

The Contortionist – Language

September 16, 2014 • Good Fight Music

Yes, The Contortionist is back! Even though these guys have been one of my favorite obscure prog-deathcore bands ever (I've reviewed both of their older albums here and here), to be honest I didn't have high hopes for this album. Usually bands like this fizzle out pretty quickly unless they totally reinvent themselves.

Well, this band didn't totally reinvent itself, though there are a few changes to go over. As to what's the same, we have the post-rock-tinged progressive metal, with complex chugging djent riffs integrated seamlessly into soaring, epic songs. They still do those metal grooving patterns better than most; while I'm usually not a fan of totally amelodic, pseudo-random guitar lines, they have always had just enough structure to lock into a really great rhythm.

Of what's new, most notable is the vocalist, who tends to focus more on clean singing. Though there are still harsh vocals present, they're more of a raspy hoarse shouting type than the intense death growls of before. While the new vocalist fits the softer sound better, and he does a fine job, I do miss the sheer ferocity and energy of the old guy. But I don't think I'd want them to go back just for him.

Additionally, the band has now fully let go of the deathcore sound that made Exoplanet so great but had mostly eroded away by Intrinsic. I still am a bit disappointed by that as I thought they did it really well and it was something really unique about them. So to the uninitiated, Language will probably feel like a pretty generic prog metal album—and I guess that's not totally wrong anymore.

The album does have some major problems with structuring, though. It takes a while to get the album geared up—the first two tracks are kind of wimpy compared to when "Language II: Conspire" launches into the band's signature math metal fury. The album goes on a roller coaster from grooving, jazzy polyrhythms to passive common-time noodling and can't seem to ever make up its mind what it wants to do. When I gave this album a solid focused listen, it mostly turned into a game of wait-for-the-heavy-parts. But maybe I'm just impatient.

Language is a good album, and The Contortionist is still a good band, but I think they're either heading in the wrong direction or they simply need more time to refine what they are doing. This album is still worth picking up and checking out, but it's not their masterpiece and it's no Apparition. Maybe next time.

Torche, Broughton's Rules, Maranatha

September 23, 2014 • Ace of Cups, Columbus, Ohio

Finally! It feels like ages since the last concert I went to (okay it was only July, but still). Back at good old Ace of Cups, where everything is always amazing.

Maranatha

A local band who I'd never heard of but they instantly impressed me. They are a really heavy style of sludgecore, with some brutal dropped-tuning chugging, some hardcore rhythms, and even a little bit of death metal sprinkled in here and there. Definitely one of the best examples of the genre I've witnessed so far—I won't say they quite touch Struck by Lightning (not that they're trying to), but they were still impressive enough for me to pick up their EP (which is free to download by the way). Cool dudes, cool show.

Broughton's Rules

I'd never heard of this band either, but one of the guitarists used to be in Don Caballero, so they oughta be good, right? Nah, not really. They were this kind of odd psychedelic instrumental post-metal thing, with lots of jamming on a single section with lots of dissonant noisy guitar bits and the occasional heavy riff. There is a bit of promising material buried somewhere in there, but the rocking out never lasted very long and they spent more time goofing around with the awful noise than actually playing. They weren't bad, but they definitely weren't the kind of band I'd seek out or ever listen to again.

Torche

I've already written plenty about Torche, including a live show two years ago, their last album, and various Floor stuff. So it should be no surprise that I was psyched to see them again and that I had an excellent time—they were easily better than when I saw them supporting Converge in 2012. I suppose that's partly because I've had more time to get to know Harmonicraft, so everything they played was familiar to me. But they also simply just put on a damn good show. It always warms my cold heart to see Steve Brooks dancing around in a very silly manner when starting off a song. You can tell they were all still so happy to be there and play. Absolutely worth checking out whenever they're around.

Blood of Kingu – Sun in the House of the Scorpion

May 24, 2010 • Candlelight Records

I know I'm nowhere near to scraping the bottom of the barrel on Bandcamp's black metal page, but sometimes I wonder if the selection is getting a little thin. There's always good stuff to be had, but truly innovative and creative bands seem to be getting harder to come by.

Take Blood of Kingu; they don't do a whole lot that's particularly new—they simply turn the blast-o-meter up to 11 and don't stop for forty-five minutes. Not that that's a bad thing, of course, because often that's exactly what I'm after. And they do a good job, I guess; the guitar riffs are a bit stock for black metal but they certainly get it done effectively. However, there's something to be said for a bit of dynamics—on most of my listens to this album, I got about halfway through but only thought I was maybe three songs in because so much of this music is indistinguishable.

What is a bit interesting about their sound is this weird, subtle, underlying industrial element that is mostly expressed through the totally bizarre bass sound. "Gnarled" is the best word I can think of to describe it. It gives parts of the album a very hollow and cold mechanical feeling which is kind of neat (though the novelty does wear off).

This is by no means a bad album, but I'd say it's probably not one that's really worth looking into unless you're the kind of person who is desperate for something new in the genre and don't really care much what it sounds like. It'll scratch the black metal itch, but there are so many albums out there that sound just like it that I can't really give it much of a recommendation. Again, it's not bad; it's maybe just too generic.

Yob – Clearing the Path to Ascend

September 2, 2014 • Neurot Recordings

I don't listen to much doom metal, but when I do, it's usually Yob. Something about their style does it for me like few other doom bands can manage. Which is why I'm glad they've gotten back together (yeah, quite a few years ago now, but still) and are still cranking out high-quality music. This new one is certainly no exception.

Clearing the Path to Ascend is straight-up traditional Yob, pretty much the same thing as the band has always done: slow, plodding doom, with a spacey atmosphere, mystic overtones, and those great flanger-soaked clean guitar passages. Is it better than any of their other albums? I can't really say, but it's definitely not any worse. This album does have a lot going for it, especially for anyone who's never heard them before. The rhythms are especially great; there are times all over in every single track where it's hard not to nod along with the beat. And while Yob's vocal style took a while to grow on me, they might be at their best here—the high-pitched singing isn't quite as silly and the growls are fantastically brutal.

But as I said, it's still plain old Yob. There isn't much new here, so if (like me) you've already heard their back catalog there's no real reason to rush into this one with any urgency. But that's not to say it isn't worth listening to, or that it's completely generic or anything. I do enjoy how they broke the mold a little on "Nothing to Win" with its faster tempo, sludgy aesthetic, and urgent-sounding drums; it's definitely a nice change of pace. And the chord progression on "Marrow" has this great, epic, sort-of-uplifting feel to it that is a great way to close off the album. It might legitimately be their best song to date.

The now-ten-year-old The Illusion of Motion is probably still be their greatest album, but Clearing the Path to Ascend is definitely giving it a run for its money. Clearly this a band that, even after eighteen years, is still on top of their game.

Deterior – Human Dust

August 26, 2014 • GarageMonkey Productions

Deterior is one of few bands that definitively gets better with each album, as long as you can get used to the somewhat drastic stylistic change that happened over the last seven years. This is more of the same black-sludge combo as in Torchbearer but not quite as drawn-out.

And it's free to stream and download, so yeah, check it out.