Municipal Waste: Slime and Punishment (2017)

For reasons that are not at all clear to me, this is actually the first time I have checked out Municipal Waste.  Based on my typical listening habits and my love of crossover/thrash metal, it would seem like Municipal Waste would be high on my list of bands to check out.  Hell, I'm perplexed as to why this has taken so long.  It is not as if I was unaware of the band.  I have been aware of them since 2007's The Art of Partying.  And yet, here we are.

As mentioned, Municipal Waste plays a crossover, though much more on the thrash metal side of things.  Given my love of Nuclear Assault, S.O.D., Suicidal Tendencies and Power Trip, among others, this would be an ideal band to check out.  I don't know why it has taken so long, but I will be going back after hearing this release.

The songs on this album are all fast and short.  Not a single one makes it to the three minute mark and the entire album is over in less than half an hour.  In the meantime, Municipal Waste makes sure to fully utilize as much of that time as possible, filling it with riffs upon riffs and the manic shouting of vocalist Tony Foresta.  There is not much time for melody, though the band does throw in some blazing guitar solos at times.  The punk energy of the band is on full display throughout and there is not a dull moment on the album.  It is true that the songs kind of blend together after awhile as Municipal Waste do not really change up the tempo much throughout. 

Municipal Waste does not reinvent the wheel on this album.  There is really nothing here that cannot be found on other crossover bands' albums.  Yet, their manic energy is infectious and this is a fun album to listen to, and I have found it makes good workout music.  It may be formulaic, but it is still damn fun.

One and Done? Pt. 14: Control Denied

Control Denied was an ambitious new project created by Chuck Schuldiner of Death to explore more progressive styles of metal.  He brought on world-class metal musicians and frequent collaborators Steve DiGiorgio (he of the bewildering fretless bass) and Richard Christy on drums.  He also brought on Shannon Hamm to play guitar and Psycho Scream's Tim Aymar for vocals.  It was an incredible collection of musicians.

The band released one album, 1999's The Fragile Art of Existence.  Unfortunately, it would be Schuldiner's final album as he succumbed to brain cancer in 2001.  But it was a terrific album.

The album is so obviously a Schuldiner project.  His very distinct style of progressive, extreme metal riffs is on display throughout the album.  It sounds very much like the direction Death was logically heading after the very progressive The Sound of Perseverance.  It also provides multiple opportunities for the other musicians, particularly DiGiorgio, to shine.  The songs sound incredible with some truly amazing musical moments.

The only weak point in the album is some of the vocals.  Aymar is obviously a talented singer and has some great moments on this release.  However, when he is attempting to shriek at the top of his lungs, it sometimes comes out sounding flat and powerless.  I wonder what the album would have sounded like had Schuldiner provided the vocals.

There were plans to release a second album and several songs were recorded, but after the death of Schuldiner, the band abandoned plans to release it out of respect for him.  This album is a testament to the immense talent the metal world lost when Schuldiner died.

Belphegor: Blood Magick Necromance (2011)

I like Belphegor, but I have never considered them an essential band.  I like the albums I have heard from the band, but I do not really go way out of my way to pick up new releases from them.  And here I am reviewing an album from the band that was released eight years ago, but hey, it's new to me.

Belphegor is not a band to take seriously, though that has not stopped Russia and several other countries from forbidding the band to play concerts.  Their lyrics are mostly cartoonishly evil.  They are often obsessed with deviant, fetishistic sex and blasphemy.  The result has been albums like Bondage Goat Zombie and Goatreich - Fleshcult.  And of course we have this album.  Just look at this album cover and song titles like "Impaled Upon the Tongue of Sathan" for the evil and "Discipline Through Punishment" for the sex.

The band definitely accomplishes a grim and evil atmosphere.  It takes form from the very beginning with "In Blood - Devour this Sanctity" which has a powerful Egyptian/Middle Eastern main riff.  Melechesh does this better generally, but Belphegor has done a pretty good job of it.  The rest of the songs are generally slower and plodding, which is a little unusual for Belphegor.  The riffs are generally terrific though, blending black metal tremolo riffs with heavy death metal seemlessly.  The highlights of the album are the aforementioned "In Blood - Devour this Sanctity" and "Impaled Upon the Tongue of Sathan", which is just plain evil as fuck.

Ultimately, this is probably my favorite album I have heard from Belphegor to date.  There have not been many and the other ones kind of blend together.  This one stands out a bit more for the impressive evil atmosphere.  One of these days, I may decide to check out more of the band's material, but for now I am fine with what I have heard.  This one has definitely captured my attention though.

Possessed: Revelations of Oblivion (2019)

We are kind of beyond the point where it is surprising when bands reunite.  That has been a trend over the last 10-15 years or more so the only surprising reunions would be groups like Death and Dissection where the principal member is currently dead.  Even then, Static-X pulled it off.  So it is unsurprising that Possessed is back with their first album of new material since 1986's Beyond the Gates.

Truthfully, this is not a complete reunion.  Bassist/vocalist Jeff Becerra is the only original member.  Most of the other band members have been in other death metal bands like Sadistic Intent and Gruesome.  Possessed is of course notable for being one of the earliest death metal bands, and many would argue the first.  Their debut Seven Churches is a landmark for the death metal genre.  With so much time passed though, it was questionable how new material would sound from the band.

The album starts off in similar fashion to their previous releases, with an ominous bell ringing and atmospheric sound producing a dark and sinister tone.  Eventually this gives way to some classical-sounding music that would be at home in The Exorcist.  That then is punched through by one hell of a death metal riff and we are off.  The first song is called "No More Room in Hell" and possesses all of the hallmarks that one would expect from a Possessed song, including fast, razor-sharp riffs, pounding drums, Becerra's rabid snarl and blasphemous lyrics.  From that point forward, it is clear that even though a lot of time has passed, Possessed still sounds as fresh and vital as they did in the mid 1980's.

Some of the lyrics on this album are a little ridiculous.  Obviously in this genre we have a lot of lyrics that attempt to sound evil and scary.  This would have turned some heads in 1985, but it is no longer ground-breaking.  I am not really singling Possessed out because this is fairly normal for the genre, but sometimes it does sound a little tired.  Luckily I can overlook that when the music is as good as it is on this album.  This really does sound like something the band would have released to follow up their last proper full-length.

I was much more impressed with this album than I thought I was going to be.  It is a terrific return of a legendary pioneer in death metal and a worthy follow-up to the band's prior work.  It is also possibly an Album of the Year contender.

Enforcer: Zenith (2019)

I have been a huge Enforcer fan since hearing Diamonds for the first time in 2010.  It was their blend of NWOBHM style riffs with the pop sensibilities of groups like Def Leppard, particularly on songs like "High Roller" and "Running in Menace".  It was definitely a retro sound, and even a little cheesy at times, but goddamn they were fucking good at it.  The songs were catchy as hell.  And as good as Diamonds was, Enforcer kept getting better on each new release.  Their last album, From Beyond was their best yet.  And so, I was definitely looking forward to a new Enforcer album.

Unfortunately, as good as this album is, it is not as good as any of the three previous releases.  Maybe Diamonds, but not Death by Fire and definitely not From Beyond.  Enforcer is trying to do something different here, perhaps not wanting to get too stale.  Unfortunately, that messed with the formula that had made Enforcer so impressive before.  Now I mentioned before that Enforcer always had pop melodies on occasion.  What changed on this release was that the band became more and more focused on these melodies, to the detriment of the obviously more metal riffing.  This is apparent from the beginning with the gang vocals leading into "Die for the Devil".  The accompanying riffs are just a little too much like the kind of rock and metal that infested the airways in the 1980's.  A lot of the aggression is gone for a much more radio-friendly sound.  The ballads in particular are maybe a step too far away from what this band used to do so well, particularly the piano-driven "Regrets". 

There is still some good stuff on this release and I do not want to give the impression that I truly dislike this album.  Liking and album and being disappointed by it are not mutually exclusive.  "Searching for You" is something of a return to form for the band, capturing the speed metal intensity that marked some of the best moments from their earlier albums.  There are also moments such as "The End of a Universe" and "Forever We Worship the Dark" which come close to the band's prior material. 

This is probably the most varied and dynamic Enforcer album to date.  The band has taken a lot of risks with this release, departing from what made their previous albums so great.  Unfortunately, they have gone a bit too far.  This would be really bad for most bands except for one thing: the songs are still catchy as hell.  So even though I was disappointed by the direction the band took on this release, I still find myself singing a lot of these songs in my head well after I have finished listening to the album.  Enforcer is coming to Nebraska soon in support of Warbringer and I will have to attend.  I have liked this band for a long time, and I still like this album.  Time to see them live.

Paradise Lost: Medusa (2017)

Paradise Lost is very similar to Amorphis in that it is a band that has experimented with a variety of disparate styles over the years and, despite that, I absolutely love everything I have heard from them.  Paradise Lost started out as one of the progenitors of the doom/death metal sound in the U.K. along with My Dying Bride.  Over the years, they added more and more gothic metal elements and began to lose the death metal elements.  Then suddenly, they were just a gothic rock/metal band.  But then, they began returning to their roots more and more.

That brings us to this album, which is basically a doom/death metal album with only occasional gothic metal moments.  So they are back where they started.  From the opening strains of "Fearless Sky", it is clear that Paradise Lost have brought back the slow, lumbering doom.  And that continues throughout the album, with only occasional moments when the band locks into a rollicking groove.  But they never get close to anything like "Once Solemn" from Draconian Times.  It is an extremely dark and slow release that recaptures what made Paradise Lost so great from the very beginning.

The best moments from the album are those in which the vocals alternate between the dry, spine-tingling clean vocals and the gruff, death vocals.  The clean vocals call to mind the time when Paradise Lost experimented with more gothic rock, which they did a lot better than other bands who attempted the switch (looking at you Tiamat).  This comes together perfectly on the gloomily beautiful "The Longest Winter".

Paradise Lost was a band I fell for fairly early on in my metal collecting days, getting Draconian Times for Christmas when I was 15.  That album still ranks as my favorite from the band and one of my favorite albums of all time.  Medusa is a terrific album (Decibel made it their Album of the Year in 2017) that does not come quite close to matching that one, but may very well be my second favorite album by the band.  And beating Gothic is not easy, so that shows the high quality of Medusa.

Crematory: Believe (2000)

A couple of months ago, Crematory made big news (well, in the field of metal news anyway which is to say not much notice anywhere else) when drummer Markus Jüllich delivered an epic rant about revenue as a metal band.  Specifically, he was pissed about a lack of pre-sales for the band's tour, which is an odd thing to be pissed about.  He said the band would cancel the tour if sales did not improve.  He also complained about downloading and streaming and begged fans to buy the CD and the vinyl of the new album.  And then he topped it off by calling the fans lazy.  Now I don't want to spend a lot of time dealing with this stuff, I do believe in supporting bands by buying physical copies of albums (or at least paying for downloads, though to a lesser extent), and I certainly enjoy going to concerts and buying merch.  The rant did capture my attention though and I decided to check them out.

This is the band's 2000 album, during which time they were more of a gothic metal band, as opposed to their earlier gothic/death metal and their latter industrial gothic metal.  It is one of the higher-rated albums on the Metal Archives, which is why I decided to check it out instead of some of their other material.  It was basically between it and the band's debut album, which was much harder to find at a decent price.

And how is it?  Well, it's not great.  Maybe it is the fact that I have outgrown this style of music a long time ago.  Maybe it really is just kind of bland.  There is really nothing inherently wrong with gothic metal.  Some bands do it quite well.  Moonspell is incredible on just about everything.  Cradle of Filth is a much more extreme gothic metal band but I am a huge fan of them.  And there are groups like Tristania and others.  I still like a lot of those bands, even though I do not listen to much gothic metal anymore.  So gothic metal is not a deal-breaker for me. 

This though just does not really do it for me.  It reminds me most of middle-era Lacuna Coil just before the group really changed their sound to more gothic rock and with death growls replacing the sultry vocals of Cristina Scabbia.  It is clearly metal based on the riffs, but none of the songs really do all that much, and some are positively cringe-worthy ("Act Seven").  Most of the songs simply do not build to anything interesting and stay at one tempo, without much variety.  That is kind of a problem over all with the album.  There are a couple of slower songs, but those are just kind of awful, as opposed to the just boring remainder of the album.  And the vocals on those slower songs resemble those of Tiamat after they started to suck. 

I do not hate this album, I just find it kind of bland.  There is nothing really wrong with most of it, it just does not capture my attention much.  19-year-old me probably would have loved it, but now it simply does not do much for me.  I would not mind hearing it once in awhile and I do not regret buying it, I just do not think I will listen to it often.

Nuclear Blast Reissues Testament

Despite the fact that I have long considered Testament one of my favorite bands (and, in fact, if pressed I would probably name them my favorite band of all time), I never picked up every single one of their releases.  It has only been over the last couple of years that I picked up The Legacy and The New Order, even though those are arguably their most popular albums.  I blame part of that on the fact that I grew up with their mid-paced stuff like Low and The Gathering and part of it on the fact that I had numerous compilations and live albums that covered most of that era.

Even after picking up those two early albums, I was still missing a few things.  Not any more.  Nuclear Blast reissued a bunch of Testament's stuff on cassette and vinyl and I was able to fill the holes in my collection.  There were three major releases that I had to grab, each with new artwork.

DEMONIC (1997)
I am honestly not sure how I never picked up Demonic.  It was the band's next album after Low, an album I absolutely adore and still consider my favorite by the band.  Demonic is probably the band's weakest release, and maybe that was part of it.  I enjoyed the title track when I heard it (it was on one of the aforementioned compilations), though not to the same level as any of their other stuff.  So I really do not know why I never picked it up.  After hearing it, I can see why it is not well-received, though I do enjoy it.  Testament was definitely trying to alter their sound to keep up with the groove metal style popularized by Pantera, yet also trying to get heavier to keep up with the rise of death metal.  What results is kind of a confused album with some decent tracks that call to mind thrash-era Testament ("Hatreds Rise") and other tracks trying to be more modern (the explosive title track).  Like I said, I do enjoy this album, but I would definitely pick up any of their other releases before it.

FIRST STRIKE STILL DEADLY (2001)
I stayed away from this one for awhile, mostly because it seemed so unnecessary.  This came out at a time when a bunch of bands were re-recording a lot of their early work.  It led to mistakes like Exodus's Let There be Blood, a re-recording of their landmark debut Bonded By Blood.  Testament re-recorded a number of songs from their first two albums with more modern recording equipment and techniques.  It is actually not all that bad.  A couple of the songs are not nearly as good, in particular "The Preacher" which has some questionable decisions.  The most unusual and interesting aspect of this release though is the last two songs "Alone in the Dark" and "Reign of Terror" which feature Steve "Zetro" Souza on lead vocals instead of Chuck Billy.  Souza of course made his name with Exodus but was actually Testament's first singer.  These songs are an interesting look at what might have been had Souza stayed with the band and are the major reason to check out this album.

LIVE AT EINDHOVEN '87 (2009)
Yes, this is a reissue of a reissue of the band's first live album released shortly after their debut album.  I think the reason I missed out on this way is a combination of my general disdain for live albums and the fact that I just did not know about it.  But, I do love Live at the Fillmore, and I have been enjoying going to concerts a lot more lately, so I took a chance on it.  This is early Testament and it is clear that the band is very raw, but the performance is nonetheless quite impressive.  Testament has always been a very good live act and it appears as if that was something they became very early on in their careers.  This is by no means an essential pick-up for anyone other than a huge fan of the band, but Testament is my favorite band, so I had to pick it up.

I would be hard-pressed to recommend any of these albums to casual fans, but for huge fans of the band like myself, they are definitely worthwhile.

Memoriam: For the Fallen (2017)

Bolt Thrower were one of the most influential death metal bands of all time.  Unfortunately, the band never released a follow-up to their 2008 album Those Once Loyal, despite a few attempts to do so.  But then, after the unexpected death of drummer Martin Kearns, the band gave up the ghost and went their separate ways.  Iron-throated vocalist Karl Willetts formed Memoriam in tribute to the former drummer and the band has released a few singles and demos before finally releasing this full-length album.

There are a couple of competing expectations one would have upon seeing this album cover and knowing the story of the band.  On the one hand, the album cover with the drab colors and imagery of the funeral procession would seem to indicate that this would be more of a doom metal album.  On the other hand, Willetts is in the band and Bolt Thrower was a very aggressive death metal band, dealing mostly with warfare.  So which side would win out?

Ultimately, they kind of both did.  This is very clearly a death metal album, but the violent and aggressive nature of Willetts's previous band was tempered somewhat with more of an emphasis on slower, grinding riffs and precision.  It is less focused on the glory of warfare, but about the atrocities and, of course, those who do not make it back.  This is amplified by the more restrained, yet still razor-sharp riffwork and the downcast lyrics.  Willetts's voice has aged as well, giving his sound a more bleak and dreary tone to it that matches well with the somber concept.  This is not to say that Memoriam do not bring the speed occasionally.  Songs like "Corrupted System" and "Flatline" do sound more like they would have been at home on one of Bolt Thrower's prime albums.

I feel like I have mentioned Bolt Thrower entirely too often in this review, and maybe I have.  But for now, Memoriam remains inextricably linked to Willetts's former band.  They were formed as a means of paying tribute to the band's now deceased drummer, and sound sonically similar, if a little slower.  This was a very hyped album and it definitely delivered.

Immolation: Atonement (2017)

I am pretty sure I actually missed out on Immolation's last album.  That seems very odd, given that the band has been one of my favorite death metal bands since checking out their 2007 album and then delving into their back catalog from there.  After hearing some of the hype for this one though, I was determined that I would not miss out on two in a row.  Not to mention that it has a badass cover.

Immolation has always been one of the more interesting death metal bands out there, but they have often been kind of lost in the shuffle.  Not as grimy as Incantation.  Not as occult as Morbid Angel.  Not as progressive as Death.  Not as groovy as Obituary.  But Immolation has always done their own thing and they do it quite well.  Their latest album, the one I never checked out, was considered a bit of a misstep, and to be fair, the one before that one was not particularly memorable, though Immolation has never out out a bad album.  But whatever flaws those two albums contained were fixed with this one, because it is easily on the same level as Shadows in the Light.

From the first track, it is quite clear that Immolation's angular riffing and take-no-prisoners approach to death metal has returned in full force.  The performance on this album is incredible.  Each of the songs is memorable in its own right and each individual member of the band has such a huge part to play in the overall sound.  And of course this would not be an Immolation album without the incredibly dark atmosphere.  They expand on that element with several slower segments throughout the album, giving off that much more of an ominous tension in the sound.

This is quite possibly Immolation's best album in years.  That is saying something because they have always been one of the most consistently amazing death metal bands out there.  I also had the chance to see them live for the first time this year and I can honestly say, as good as they sound on record, they sound even better live.

Enslaved: E (2017)

Enslaved will always hold a special place in my heart as they were the opening band in the first extreme metal concert I ever attended (Opeth was the headliner).  It was also the first real metal concert I saw with the woman who would become my wife, I am not counting the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert here.  On top of that, the band has simply never really disappointed me.  So each time the band releases a new album, I pick it up quickly.  Here we are again.

Now, at this point in their careers, Enslaved have fully embraced the progressive elements of their sound while all but completely ditching their black metal influences.  The only signs that this was ever a black metal band are the occasional raspy vocals.  Growth is fine when the band is able to continue to put out interesting material, and that is where Enslaved excels.

I had a little bit of a concern that this album would not be quite up to snuff.  It definitely does not start out strong.  The first song opens with a couple of minutes of meandering noise, and my concern grew.  But the concerns were quickly dashed when "Storm Son" turned out to be an incredibly compelling and powerful song.  It is a longer track, but features most of the necessary elements for Enslaved's progressive metal output, and the heavier moments are particularly captivating.  Then the second track, "The River's Mouth" kicks in, and it is easily one of the best Enslaved songs in years, and THAT is saying something.

If anything, this is one of the catchier Enslaved albums.  The aforementioned songs, as well as "Axis of the Worlds" are some of the band's most infectious songs ever.  And I say that as a huge fan of the band.  They do tend to carry on some sections a little longer than I would prefer, but that is really something that the band has always done.  It is a little more restrained this time around though.

Despite the rather slow start to the album, honestly this is one of my favorite albums the band has released since departing from their black metal roots.  And again, that is really saying something, because this band has released some excellent albums.

Accept: The Rise of Chaos (2017)

Despite the band's high status as German metal pioneers, I have never really gotten too much into Accept's material.  That is not to say that I do not like the band.  Quite the opposite.  I love "Balls to the Wall" and "Midnight Mover".  I also really like "Losing More than You've Ever Had".  But for some reason, I never picked up my first Accept album until 2010's Blood of the Nations, a monstrous return to form for the band.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that Udo Dirkschneider is no longer with the band, but after getting that album, which admittedly took some time to grow on me, I have finally started to really open up to the band.

That brings us to this year's The Rise of Chaos.  This one is very similar to the 2010 classic, but unfortunately slightly pales to it in most respects.  The songs are not quite as memorable.  The riffs are not quite as sharp.  The vocals are not quite as savage.  That is not to say that this is a bad album, far from it.  It is a terrific slab of traditional heavy metal, it just does not live up to one of the band's greatest albums.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all.

One of the biggest issues I have with the album is that some of the lyrics are a little bit laughable.  I doubt they are all to be taken seriously, but songs like "Hole in the Head" which repeats the refrain "I need you...like a hole in the head" is positively juvenile.  I was also not sure quite what to make of the title "Koolaid", until seeing the lyrics, after which I came to enjoy that track quite a bit.  I can though really identify with "Analog Man" as I also prefer the old ways of vinyl and cassettes to our current computer-driven society.

Despite some of my minor gripes, this is still a very strong album.  Several tracks like "Die by the Sword", the title cut, and "Worlds Colliding" stand up quite well to any of the band's prior classic songs.  This is a band that has been at it for over 40 years at this point (two original members remain), and yet, they still sound fresh and powerful.  That is damn impressive.  Accept really should be on the same pedestal as contemporaries like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.

This is a terrific album that just does not quite live up to one of its predecessors.  Again, this is not necessarily a bad thing, as this album stands up quite well on its own.  One thing this album did do though, is convince me to go back and find their older releases.  I have a lot of catching up to do.   

Suffocation: ...Of the Dark Light (2017)

After the last couple of albums, it appeared that Suffocation was mostly just spinning their wheels.  They still have yet to release a bad album, but most of their releases of late have been mostly the same.  Still good, but mostly unmemorable.  So it was with a little bit of trepidation that I checked out this latest release, their first since 2013.  But, this has to be the best Suffocation album in a very long time, which is saying something.

There are certain fundamental elements that are expected for a Suffocation album.  The first of these is definitely brutality.  Suffocation is not a subtle band and does not rely on melody.  Crushing, yet technical riffs, blastbeat-driven drums, and deep guttural roaring vocals are the band's calling cards.  Their music is violent and intense, but their best material is also infectious.  That has been the one thing that has been lacking of late, truly memorable material.

This is Suffocation's strongest album in years.  It contains some absolutely memorable songs, such as "Clarity Through Deprivation", "The Violation", and "Some Things Should be Left Alone."  The band has really not done anything differently musically on this album.  It just comes across as a tighter sound, with more energy and passion.  The band sounds rejuvenated somehow.  Perhaps this is due to new members Eric Morotti and Charlie Errigo at drums and guitar respectively, neither of whom had even been born when Suffocation released their first album.  Whatever it is, the band sounds better than they have in over a decade.

This is without a doubt, Suffocation's strongest album in years.  The band has re-captured the spirit and energy that made them one of the greatest death metal bands ever.  

Sepultura: Machine Messiah (2017)

Way back in the summer between my freshman and sophomore year in high school, I gravitated toward Brazilian metal legends Sepultura.  It was the first extreme metal band I was ever really into.  Of course this was at the time that Roots was released.  I picked it up and then quickly picked up a number of their other releases, including singles, EPs, and other oddities (including one bootleg).  Now, I recognize their earlier material as their best, but Sepultura was a very important band in my evolution as a metalhead.  Then, Max Cavalera left the band and after being very disappointed with the album Against, I stopped picking up new releases by the band.  Until just recently.

After Derrick Green took over vocal duties from the departed Max Cavalera, Sepultura cratered for a while.  Their sound went in more of a hardcore direction and the passion was simply not there.  It seems apparent now that the band was often following trends: evolving into a groove metal band when Pantera hit it big and then nu-metal when Korn was the flavor of the day.  Then when extreme metal came back into popularity, the band once again shifted in that direction.  That being said, the quality of the band's albums has been gradually improving over the last several years, to the point that I was actually impressed enough to pick this one up.

Things get off to kind of a weird start on the opening title track here.  Sepultura is not really known for their melodic sensibility, and we have a more subtle, softer sound on this track for the first few minutes.  Green eventually starts screaming, but the tone of the song remains more melodic and somber than their typical rage and anger.  It returns to that rage and anger from the second track on.  "I am the Enemy" definitely has more of a defiant punk edge to it, and the simple, groove-laden riffs certainly help.  The band still utilizes some tribal drumming ("Phantom Self"), an element that gained the band mainstream notice in the mid 1990's.  For the most part, this album is more of the same groove metal that the band has been playing for the last several years, but there is something much more savage and bestial this time around.

The album is something of a concept album, about technology taking over people's lives, and the problems that would likely arise from technology taking over.  Think Terminator.  I have not spent any time reviewing the lyrics to look at the story of the album, I just know it is there.

This is easily the best album Sepultura has released since Max left the band.  That really is not saying that much though.  It is probably better than Roots, but maybe not as good as Chaos A.D., so of course the older stuff still blows it out of the water.  Still though, it is nice to hear something decent from the band that I loved so much going into high school.

Pallbearer: Heartless (2017)

Doom metal has been going through a massive resurgence over the last few years.  One of the top bands in the center of this resurgence has been the Arkansas natives Pallbearer.  Pallbearer released a monster of a debut album in 2012 and are on their third album with this year's Heartless.

Pallbearer's sound is epic, slow-moving, melancholic, and melodic.  The songs are typically longer with rather atypical song structures.  The songs are not in standard verse-chorus-verse compositions, and in fact they typically do not have choruses at all.  Therefore, the songs are not really catchy in the traditional sense.  Rather, they are infectious in their own ways.  The songs are typically dreary, with clean, heart-wrenching vocals and razor-sharp guitar leads.  The album is incredibly heavy and yet heart-breaking.  The vocals are so pained and tortured and the guitar melodies are so somber, that the emotion is impossible to not be contagious.  It is beautifully tragic.

The only real issue is that the album does tend to drag in places.  This is mostly to be expected with such a slow-moving release that is focused more on sorrow.  By and large, the depressive tone works quite well with the dragged out songs, but on occasion it seems to lose focus and meander a bit.  But the band does a great job of pulling things back together quickly.

It took me a while to get into Pallbearer initially.  There was a lot of hype for their debut release which often tends to turn me off.  But once I checked them out, I was hooked.  And this album hooked me almost instantly.  It is a terrific doom metal release with a ton of heaviness and emotion, two things that are often difficult to combine in such an effective manner as Pallbearer does here.

Kreator: Gods of Violence (2017)

I covered Overkill yesterday, so it is time to cover another thrash metal titan, this time Germany's Kreator.  I had the opportunity to see Kreator live earlier this year and see them play some of the songs from the album.  I will come right out and say that the band generally sounds even more ferocious live than they do in recordings.

Kreator's sound has changed a little bit over the last few albums, since their more experimental period came to an end.  Their sound has embraced more melodic death metal elements over the last few releases, and this has become a major part of their sound on this album in particular.  Some long-term fans have cried foul over this, but the band pulls it off fairly well.  It is simply a fact that the take-no-prisoners brutality of their 1980's material is not going to be revisited.  The band has matured and keeping up that level of aggression is not easy.

The band still has songs that bring to mind the Kreator that released "Endless Pain" and "Pleasure to Kill".  "Satan is Real" and the title track certainly have that kind of anthemic, fist-pumping, neck-wrecking energy.  Vocalist/guitarist Mille Petrozza has been the band's MVP for a long time now and his vocals sound just as pissed off as they always have.  His snarling has long been the band's most identifiable characteristic and it retains its power here.

Kreator is never going to release another "People of the Lie".  We need to learn to accept that and embrace the band that they have become.  They are more melodic these days, but they can definitely still break some necks.  This is a damn fine album for a band that has been going for nearly 35 years.

Overkill: The Grinding Wheel (2017)

I have never really been able to stick to a concrete list of my favorite bands.  My tastes are constantly changing and one bad album, or an exceptional album from a different band can tend to completely throw a wrench into things.  But Overkill has to be among my top bands because they are so insanely consistent.  That is not an easy thing to find in the world of thrash metal in particular.  Sure, Overkill did the groove metal thing for a little bit after Pantera success shocked everyone, but even those albums were great.  And so, when a new Overkill album is released upon the world, I have to pick it up.

Now, just because I said the band has been consistent does not mean that there is not a weaker album here and there.  Weaker in the sense that it does not reach the heights that other releases do and tends to be a little more middle-of-the-road.  Not weaker in that it is a bad album.  Overkill has never released a bad album.  Unfortunately, this is one of those slightly weaker albums.  It is not as dynamic as some of the band's other albums in this era of their careers.  It does not have the same ferocity as say, Ironbound, which was a true monster of an album and their best since the early 1990's.

The album definitely starts off strong, with the anthemic "Mean, Green, Killing Machine", which I imagine will be quite the popular song at their concerts (it has been several years since I have seen Overkill live and they did absolutely slay).  Unfortunately that song does kind of overstay its welcome over its nearly eight-minute run time.  And that is a lot of the problem with this album in a nutshell.  There are only two songs under five minutes, and those are just barely under.  It is hard for a band to maintain intensity over that long of a run-time, particularly a thrash metal band known more for speed.  The songs tend to meander a little and lose focus.  Now, Overkill has certainly made long albums before, but this album just loses something.

Now, again, this is still a damn good album.  It just does not quite hold up to the standard set down by the band over the last 35 years, which is a long time for any band to keep up this level of quality.  And Overkill has been consistently putting out great thrash metal throughout their career.  It is only natural that some albums will hold up better over time.  This is just not one of those.

Suffocation: Pinnacle of Bedlam

Suffocation has never put out a bad album.  That is impressive.  Since rising out of the early 1990's New York death metal scene, Suffocation has been one of the most influential metal bands in the world.  Think of all of the genres we would not have without Suffocation.  We would not have brutal death metal, slam death metal, technical death metal, or deathcore.  It does not matter what you may or may not think of those genres, Suffocation is the band to which all bands in those genres strive to be.

Despite the band's long history, this is just their seventh full-length album.  This is due to a long hiatus from 1998 through 2004.  This is the band's first full-length without pioneering drummer Mike Smith who left the band in 2012.  Dave Culcross had been with the band briefly in the late 1990's so he was no stranger to the large shoes he had to fill.  Smith revolutionized death metal drumming and is largely responsible for the blastbeat style of drumming.

Well enough introductions, it's time for a new Suffocation album.  I was slightly disappointed with Blood Oath, which is not a big deal, since it was still a damn good album.  And I was a little concerned with how this album would go without Smith for the first time.  But it turned out to be business as usual in the Suffocation camp.  This album still absolutely crushes everything in sight.

All of the necessary elements for a Suffocation album are here: blastbeat-driven drums, heavier-than-fuck riffs, and the ferocious bark of frontman Frank Mullen.  Suffocation have once again proven that none of their imitators can ever hold a candle to the masters.  Suffocation is still one of the heaviest bands in the world and do not look like they will be giving up that title anytime soon.

Holy Grail: Ride the Void

Hmmm.  I remember really enjoying Holy Grail's last album.  But upon hearing this one, I can not really remember much about it.  Easily fixed of course, I just need to go back and listen to it.  This one though does not really do all that much for me and I think I know why.

I actually liked a lot of metalcore bands back when that trend had really gotten going.  I liked Lamb of God, Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, Trivium, and other bands from that scene.  I even kind of liked Avenged Sevenfold at one point.  Here me out.  I had not really gotten into black and death metal yet and my knowledge of metal was mostly mainstream.  I don't make any excuses about that.  Nu metal and metalcore were big and I had not delved terribly deeply into the underground.  I had only a burned copy of Avenged Sevenfold's Waking the Fallen and I kind of liked it.  Some time later I heard City of Evil for the first time and I hated that one and that did it for me with Avenged Sevenfold.  I have never looked back at them.

Now why did I spend an entire paragraph talking about Avenged Sevenfold?  Because Holy Grail singer James Paul Luna sounds an awful lot like Zacky Vengeance on this album, and in particular the second song.  It is so close that it absolutely ruined the first time I heard this album.  It's bad.  I have listened to this album several times now and that is always the first thing I think.  "This reminds me of Avenged Sevenfold" is not the best thought when listening to an album.

Musically of course there is almost no similarity.  Holy Grail is a traditional heavy metal band with speed metal riffs and melodies.  The music is actually quite good.  But man, those vocals really threaten to ruin it all.

I hope some day to be able to block that similarity out of my mind, but so far it keeps coming back.  It makes it real damn hard to listen to.

Grand Magus: The Hunt

I am late on Grand Magus every year for some reason.  It is unfortunate because Grand Magus is good enough to make my Top Ten every year.  Seriously.

So this is the latest album by the band, the third one that I have heard.  The basic sound has been the same for years.  Grand Magus plays heavy metal in the style of bands from the early 1980's.  It is melodic, fast-paced, and as infectious as the plague.  They just churn out great song after great song.  Each song is anthemic.  It's the kind of music that can easily get you banging your head or pumping your fist along with it.

Of course being able to write decent songs and being able to play an instrument are two distinct skills.  Luckily Grand Magus are incredibly talented musicians as well.  Each member of the band is a terrific talent. The music is propelled forward by the riffwork of JB with the impressive bass of Fox Skinner and drumming of Ludwig Witt covering the rhythm sections.  JB is also one hell of a vocalist and is easily one of the best clean vocalists in metal today.

The big highlights are "Storm King", "Valhalla Rising", and "Silver Moon".  Each one of them catchier than the last.

There really is not much to say about this album.  If you enjoy heavy metal, you should be listening to Grand Magus.