Century Media Carnival of Sounds Compilation

I received this CD sampler from Century Media along with a free CD that I got as a result of getting 10 Century Media proofs of purchase, my favorite thing about the company. The CD was Nevermore's Dreaming Neon Black, which was excellent. This, on the other hand, is mostly a pile of crap. Still, I'm not usually one to quibble with free music. And, if you believe that, you're incredibly gullible.

Century Media used to be one of the major labels involved in bringing European metal to the United States, something I am very grateful for. However, in recent years, the company has proven to be just as trendwhorish as Roadrunner, a company I have maligned at least a couple of times on this blog. Century Media is currently busy gobbling up as many deathcore bands as it can find before the bottom completely drops out of the market. Considering that deathcore has been fairly crappy to begin with, excepting a few bands, one can imagine what this has done to the label's reputation in metal circles.

Shall we begin?

WINDS OF PLAGUE: "Soldiers of Doomsday"
Blackened symphonic deathcore? That's apparently the genre tag that is given to this band. I've got an easier one for it: crap. Incredibly ambitious, the band nevertheless falls completely on its collective face. Think Dimmu Borgir, with lots and lots of breakdowns, and try not to recoil in terror. The band is obviously talented, but really can't write a decent song, at least not here, they're just trying too hard.

DIVINE HERESY: "Facebreaker"
This is the band started by Dino Casares while Fear Factory was on hiatus. I'm not sure of the intention in starting this band. The same death metal elements and industrial metal elements are here as are on Fear Factory, but lo and behold, breakdowns! So, apparently Dino wanted a band that had the same elements as Fear Factory, plus hardcore. Sign me up! Or not. There is also an overuse of blast beats here, seemingly the only thing the drummer can do is blast away. This further detracts from the experience because the rest of the music cannot be heard.

SUICIDE SILENCE: "Wake Up"
Perhaps this band is unfairly lumped in with the deathcore crowd. I don't know, to me they sound more like a grindcore band than a deathcore band. Nevertheless, they remain oddly popular with the deathcore scene. For the most part, this is just chaotic noise. There's no real structure here, certainly not falling into the metal genre structure. Therefore, NFM.

NAPALM DEATH: "Strong Arm"
Napalm Death is one of the godfathers of grindcore. They are also one of the first bands to experiment with combining this extreme punk style with death metal and are still one of the finest such bands. This is off of their newest album, one that I really enjoy. The grindcore elements are fairly obvious in Napalm Death's sound, but so are the death metal influences. This particular song is a little more grindcore, but for the most part the band has been closer to death metal for a long time. Barney Greenway has one of the more aggressive and primal sounding voices in extreme metal.

3 INCHES OF BLOOD: "Call of the Hammer"
I really enjoyed the last two albums by this band. As such, I will probably check this one out, even though I was a bit underwhelmed by the song. The mix just sounds off, the drums are too high in the mix and sound hollow. The hardcore vocalist is gone, being replaced by another vocalist to chime in with occasional growling screams. The lead vocalist though is still there. The music is still closer to traditional heavy metal. Not their strongest effort, but still passable.

LACUNA COIL: "Spellbound"
Lacuna Coil has been going downhill for awhile. Ever since Cristina Scabbia became a major sex symbol for the genre, the band has been heading into Evanescence territory. This song does nothing to right the ship, instead falling deeper into radio friendly rock muck. It sounds essentially the same as every other song the band has recorded since Comalies. I gave up on the music of Lacuna Coil after hearing Karmacode, this song convinces me I made the right decision. The guitar solo was a nice touch though, sorely lacking in much of their recent music.

ARSONISTS GET ALL THE GIRLS: "The 42nd Ego"
Owner of one of the worst names in extreme music, AGATG (I'm not writing that bullshit again) is similar in sound to Suicide Silence. By that I mean structureless grindcore. By that I mean NFM. More chaotic noise, although they come close to metal in some places. I haven't heard too many songs that start with a breakdown. I'm not sure I want to hear another one.

GOD FORBID: "War of Attrition"
God Forbid was one of my favorite metalcore-ish bands after their fourth album (the band had largely dropped many of the core influences in favor of a more melodic thrash metal sound). I was expecting big things for Earthsblood, unfortunately I was a little disappointed. Then soon after the band started touring, one of their founding members quit the band. It's been kind of a bad year for these guys. This song is one of the better ones off their newest album, but not the best. It features most of the elements that made me enjoy this band though. It's tough to say what will happen in the future for God Forbid. Hopefully they'll get back on track.

THE AGONIST: "Martyr Art"
The Agonist is a metalcore band out of Canada featuring a very attractive female singer, another frequent subject of Revolver's Hottest Chicks in Metal features. She takes the Arch Enemy approach to vocals, preferring more death metal inflected growls, although she does do several clean parts as well. The music is standard: boring metalcore noodling and breakdowns. It's safe to say the band's saving grace is their singer, without whom they would be almost completely unknown.

WARBRINGER: "Severed Reality"
At least something decent that I haven't already heard. Warbringer is one of the better newer U.S. thrash metal bands from California. Though very young, the band seems to know its classic thrash pretty well. The band is beginning to find their own voice on their latest release, as shown by this song. Fast, aggressive, and ferocious, Warbringer will be a band to watch for years to come.

DESPISED ICON: "MVP"
Despised Icon is often cited as one of the better bands to emerge from the deathcore scene. I hope the rest of their music is better than this song to prove that. The song just doesn't do anything. It's essentially blastbeats coupled with the singer's best (worst?) Barney Greenway impression. There's virtually no guitar riffs here at all. I've heard some good things about this band, this song is definitely not a point in the band's favor. I really hope this isn't the best there is from Despised Icon. Otherwise, I would be tempted to suggest NFM.

IWRESTLEDABEARONCE: "You Ain't No Family"
That's not a typo, that is the band's name and it is indeed a worse name than Arsonists Get All the Girls. As bad as the name is, the music is worse. A jumbled mess of noise that never really comes close to metal, the band has earned a big fat NFM from me. The singer is another girl that combines clean caterwauling with growling and shrieking. The music is virtually nonexistent. There is the occasional humorous interlude in there, but it seems clear this band is less interested in making a serious album, than they are at throwing as much shit as possible into their "song". Pass.

EARTH CRISIS: "To Ashes"
Earth Crisis seems to come from the Hatebreed style of modern hardcore. Or perhaps it's the other way around, I really have no interest in checking. This is basically loud, heavy hardcore featuring tough guy shouting and absolutely no attempts at making the song memorable or to stand out from all the other bands that sound like this, and there are a lot. NFM.

IN THIS MOMENT: "The Great Divide"
Blech. I was annoyed the moment the singer started crooning from the first second. Yet another band more known for their attractive female lead singer than their music. This one is a tad more melodic than The Agonist, though not as much as Lacuna Coil. They are significantly more annoying though. Their music basically sounds like Avenged Sevenfold, but with a female singer. NFM.

OLD MAN'S CHILD: "Ferden Mot Fiendens Land"
Old Man's Child is a band from Galder, also of Dimmu Borgir. Much like Dimmu Borgir, Old Man's Child plays melodic black metal. It's a welcome change of pace from the barrage of crap perpetrated by the last several tracks. This unfortunately is not one of the better tracks from the album. It does feature the keyboard flourishes and heavy riffing that the band and genre are known for, it's just not one of the more memorable songs from the band's new album. The acoustic part though is strangely beautiful.

DAATH: "Silenced"
Daath made big waves in the metal mainstream a couple of years ago when their album The Hinderers came out. People who don't know anything (Roadrunner Records) hailed the band as the next big American extreme metal band and cited supposed influences from death, groove, thrash, and black metal in their music. When I heard the band though, I heard a Fear Factory clone and nothing more. Daath has improved their sound this time around a little. It is a more cohesive mix of styles, but I still have yet to hear anything worth the hype that they have received. This is an improvement, but I think the band still has some growing to do before they can be considered the next big American metal band. Unfortunately, the band kind of became victims of their hype because I would enjoy the band more if they had not been shoved down the throats of metal listeners.

LUNA MORTIS: "Forevermore"
This song starts off great, finally some decent new melodic death metal. Then it suddenly switches gears and heads into a progressive gothic metal style, complete with another female lead singer. This one sings more than screams but ultimately, the music just falls flat. This band has some promise, but they fail to live up to it on this song. It would be nice to hear a female singer in a band other than a melodic death metal band. It would be nice to hear a melodic female metal singer that is not singing opera. This band just doesn't quite make it. It's a good thing there are still bands like Benedictum and Temtris out there.

SWORN ENEMY: "Still Hating"
Hatebreed ripoff alert. For such a terrible band, Hatebreed sure has a lot of imitators. Sworn Enemy at least has headed into more of a groove metal style of guitar riffing which manages to save the band. Throwdown did the same thing recently. All told, this band has gotten a little closer to later-era Pantera than Hatebreed on this particular song, but that's only a marginal step forward. I still would not buy an album from this band.

ARCHITECTS UK: "We're All Alone"
Ahh, my ears are hurting. What the fuck is this? It's almost as noisy as Iwrestledabearonce, but only slightly more structured. This band is basically just a hardcore band. And not a very good one. I'm tired of writing and I hate this fucking song so that's it. NFM.

I will probably never listen to this piece of shit sampler again. What a dismal pile of crap.

Terrorizer Fear Candy Unsigned Edition Walkthrough

I picked up an issue of Terrorizer when I did the magazine reviews. Terrorizer was notable because it included two free sampler CDs. One of these was to showcase new or upcoming albums by established bands. The other was to showcase unsigned bands for a contest. I am looking at the unsigned bands album today to determine which of these bands I would most like to hear more from. Some of the bands are good, some are very good, some are bad, and some are fucking awful. Let's do this bitch.

1. BILOCATE: Not bad, actually kind of good. They play a sort of blackened death metal with some very melodic parts, including use of keyboards. The vocals are deep growls and they are fairly good for the genre. The guitar solo had a great tone to it. There are frequent tempo changes throughout. The music itself gives off an epic feel. The band is from Jordan of all places. I would be willing to check these guys out further.

2. COFFIN: This band plays a very raw form of death/thrash. It's fast-paced metal. The guitar tone is a little muddy, I think they were going for the Swedish buzzsaw guitar tone, but did not really succeed. The vocals are delivered in a staccato shout. This is not bad, but not something that hasn't been done tons of times before. I would want to see this band develop it's own sound before checking them out further.

3. MANUSCRIPTS: Bad name. I get the impression these guys are like 15 years old from their vocals. They play a sort of slow, sludgy doom metal on this track with some major hardcore influences present. Actually it's tough to tell which sound is more present. These guys should never attempt a guitar solo again until they become more competent. That was just painful to listen to.

4. VIRAEMIA: Yuck. Necrophagist clone, extremely technical death metal. The noodling guitars at the beginning give it away. I don't mind Necrophagist but some of the bands influenced by them take things to the extreme. No real riffs or melodies here, just overly technical guitar wanking. Very tedious listening.

5. TITAN: I can't tell what this is, some sort of progressive hardcore with metal influences I guess. It's not bad but there's not enough really here to capture interest. Space filler basically. Vocals are decent and the riffs are very heavy, but it's ultimately forgettable.

6. VERTIGO STEPS: This is not fucking metal. I don't even know what the fuck it is, it kind of reminds me of the song on Roadrunner United with the singer from Glassjaw. I hated that fucking song. This is no different. Overly saccharine sweet and going nowhere. Emo-ish vocals and lame guitar riffs. The name fucking sucks too. Oh god, the breakdown is horrendous. I couldn't even finish it, I had to hit the skip button. No thanks.

7. INTENTION: I can barely hear this song. It's essentially a fast hardcore song, maybe crossover if I'm feeling generous (I'm not after that last piece of shit). Bad vocals, bad guitars, sloppy. Short though, that's nice.

8. HELLISH OUTCAST: With a name like that, you pretty much know what you're getting into. Or not, this band is more of a death/thrash metal band, more emphasis on the thrash. Actually this is pretty good, especially after the last two atrocities. Extremely fast and blunt, but with hacking riffs and shouted vocals. I could get into these guys.

9. PROFANE PRAYER: Who guessed black metal here? Raise your hands. Very good. This one isn't bad either. Not just a Darkthrone or Mayhem clone, this has melody and good riffs. It's fast and intense. Pretty good, I'd like to see their full length.

10. DIABOLICUS: More black metal, this from Ireland I guess. Even faster and more intense than Profane Prayer. The vocals are awful though, I hate vocal effects. The riffs swirl around the pounding drums, achieving a bizarre melody in between vocal parts. If not for the vocals themselves, this would be really interesting.

11. NAETU: Even more black metal. Someone loves their early Immortal and 1349 albums. Extremely fast, even moreso than Diabolicus. This band also takes blastbeats to the extreme with constant blasting drums. The tremolo riffs are pretty well done. Not as good as Immortal or 1349, but it holds its own. Very interesting, I wouldn't mind hearing more from these guys.

12. BASEMENT TORTURE KILLINGS: Some reference to the BTK killer in Kansas I guess, and the song is called "Gore Bukkake" which presents all sorts of horrible mental images. I am not much of a fan of goregrind and this band does nothing to change that opinion. Next.

13. REVOKATION: Ah, intentional misspellings. Why is it always changing the C into a K? This band definitely has some slam in them. It's not a full-on slam death metal band, but they have some influences. They sort of combine Skinless with Devourment. It's a decent combination of brutal death and slam, so I am intrigued. I would be willing to hear more from this band.

14. GRIDLOCK TAKEDOWN: Horrible production values on this song. The band appears to be playing melodic death metal, but the sound is so muddy, it's hard to hear what's going on. No, now they're playing regular death metal. I'm not sure this band knows what they want to play. There's some talent here, I just wish I could hear it.

15. IMMORTAL EMPIRE: Could this name possibly give away the band's influences more? If this were a thrash metal band, they would call themselves Metallic Anthrax, if it were a death metal band they would be Cannibalistic Creation, hey those aren't bad, I'm gonna form a band. Yes, Emperor and Immortal influences are noticeably present here. At least they chose to be influenced by the earlier Emperor stuff. More horrible production though, the tremolo riffs sound very interesting, but they can't be fucking heard. The vocals are very high in the mix and the only things that can be heard well at all. Get some better production and I will listen again.

16. REPROBATE: It starts out with a nice lilting acoustic melody. Then it descends into some sort of attempt at industrial metal. Having heard Ayat last night, I know how good this genre can be. Having heard this, I know how bad this genre can be. This is just noise.

17. THE ENGINES OF ARMAGEDDON: This is pretty good stoner/doom style metal. Surprisingly the band is from the UK, not too many bands like this come from there anymore. It's become more of a Southern US thing. This band is heavy, I am definitely interested. Not enough good stoner/doom at all anymore.

18. I'LL EAT YOUR FACE: Charming. I don't even know what to call this. It's not terrible, but it's not good either. It's just drums and guitars, no bass, no vocals, nothing.

19. MORDANT: This is a decent way to end this thing. Mordant plays a form of groove/thrash heavily influenced by bands like Testament, Pantera, and Machine Head. The music is not particularly original, but it is decent, hard-hitting, aggressive metal. Not bad.

The bands I liked the most were Bilocate, Hellish Outcast, Naetu, and The Engines of Armageddon. Choosing between them is a little difficult. I probably prefer Bilocate or Hellish Outcast depending on my mood. I suppose I will go with Bilocate for today, but that may change.

There were several terrible bands here as well. However, none were as bad as Vertigo Steps. It was the only band I had to hit the skip button on. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard that song all the way through. Huh.