A band that have been extremely consistent with the quality of their releases are Swedish retro metallers Enforcer and with their fifth album Zenith they maintain the high level of quality attained on previous releases. The band play a very 80’s inspired style of heavy metal with influences from NWOBHM, speed metal and hair metal infused into their style meaning that Zenith comes across as a mixed bag of various 80’s metal styles from the straight ahead riff-fest of Die For The Devil, power ballad-esque Regrets, the speed metal attack of Thunder And Hell, the orchestral pomp of Sail On and the anthemic rocker Searching For You. The mix of different styles and strange song order can make for a bit of a conflicting and uneven listen but thankfully the quality of the songs overcomes this. Zenith is another great album from Enforcer showing that when it comes to retro 1980’s style metal these guys are still at the top. It may have less of the speed and frenzied riffing of previous albums but the anthemic tunes on Zenith speak for themselves. 8/10
Once Awake: Inside The Storm (Reaper Entertainment Europe) [Liam]
Not often you hear Metalcore from Norway, Its mostly death/black metal that come out of there nowadays, so it’s nice to hear something a bit more ‘mellow’, Now the band doesn't bring anything new to the table in terms of the delivery of the music as more bands are trying to sound more Djenty, but Once Awake aren’t trying to sound like other bands, instead just diverting away from the sound of current Metalcore while making their own unique sound. You can hear the influence from Lamb Of God in the vocals and it makes it more gritty and appealing to me. Album opener In The Grasp is a decent opener, but my personal favorite Soul Eater makes me want to start a one-man wall of death against my bedroom wall (Still need to apologize to the neighbors for that one) The album itself is nothing new, but it’s a pretty strong album. 7/10
The Machinist: Confidimus In Morte (Prosthetic Records) [Liam]
When a extreme metal band is hailed from ‘The Four Corners Of NYC’ you know you’re in for a wild ride, and that is precisely what you get here. Uncontrollable chaos that pounds at you and leaves you lusting for more. This album is just a grisly mixture of hardcore, death metal & grindcore, all packed into one meaty slab of an album. Back to front this album is just pure gold. There’s not an ounce wrong with this record and should be a staple for the modern-day underground metal scene. The putrid vocals of Amanda Gjelaj mixed in with the blistering finger work of Josh Gomez is like a lullaby to your ears. To pick a single track from this record would just be wasting time. Why listen to one song when you can play the album front to back and just be in a state of death metal euphoria? The whole effort just oozes orgasmic riff after riff, and the vocals are just mind blowing. If there’s just one album you listen to this year. It’s got to be this one. I’m honestly completely blown away by how amazing this album is. This is one for the record books. Just pure brilliance. Now if you’ll excuse me, I'm going to raid their Big Cartel shop. 10/10
My Wooden Pillow: Hidden (Self Released) [Liam]
My Wooden Pillow: Hidden (Self Released) [Liam]
Some Metalcore now from the lovely land of Manchester, (Mancunia as my friend calls it), and it’s not what I was expecting at all to be honest. More along the melodic side of Metalcore rather than in your face breakdowns and chugs, it works quite well. Granted it’s more melodic but it’s still as heavy as Metalcore gets with the inhuman growls bellowing from Kamila Schmidt which gets stuck in your head like an earworm burrowing deep inside. There's not really a favorite track, because it rolls in together smoothly, but it’s nothing memorable really which is a shame. In all fairness it’s a good effort but it does lay a bit flat on some areas. I know it’s metalcore, but there are some opportunities for a good guitar solo, but it comes up short without it. There are some good hooks which does deserve some praise, but nonetheless it’s not amazing, but it’s not terrible. It’s decent. 6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment