The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer

I love The Dillinger Escape Plan, but I’m not one of those hardcore megafans that worships them and only listens to them, Converge, Glassjaw, The Chariot, and other similar bands (I’m not putting any of those bands down, they’re all fucking great). Although I don’t dislike any of Dillinger’s albums, the only two that I actually listen to on a regular basis are Option Paralysis and the album that I am going to review right now, One of Us is the Killer. I’ve only been listening to these guys for about five or six months, but already, I’ve listened to them enough to where I can say that I know their music fairly well. And after talking to countless people and apologizing to them for not being one of Dillinger’s biggest fans (I’m in Seattle, almost every other metalhead here is a Converge/Dillinger fanatic), The Dillinger Escape Plan release One of Us is the Killer, which amazed me so much that I felt ashamed for anything negative that I might have said about these guys.

A lot of bands right now are cutting their hair and releasing more melodic and less energetic albums due to exhaustion from all the heavy shit they’ve put out. But not these guys, this is The Dillinger Escape Plan at full fucking force. For those of you that aren’t in the USA, these guys just headlined our annual Summer Slaughter Tour, and after watching those live videos of them on YouTube and hearing stories about how crazy the band is live, I wanted to wait until I saw them live for myself before writing this review. Well, I saw them on the 19^th and they’re just as crazy as they were back in 1999.

When it comes to really chaotic bands like these, I really tend to crack down on their tightness. Because it’s very easy to have multiple members out of time when playing like this since it’s not like a technical death album where everything HAS to be precise, this is noisy shit. And no matter how hard I look for fuck-ups like that, I can’t find any spot where any of the members fell out of time or fucked up in any sort of way. It’s a fucking miracle! This is what I’ve been looking for! Not only are there no mistakes whatsoever, they go all out into the most dangerous territory where it’s super easy to slip up in some way or another.

The sound production is the best of any Dillinger album ever released. It still sounds noisy as fuck, but nothing drowns everything else out. I’ve always had issues with these sort of really noisy bands having way too much treble, or having the drums be way too overpowering (that’s usually the main issue); but there’s none of that here. And on top of that, it still sounds somewhat raw! As an added bonus, the amount of bass this record has is immense.

I can’t really pick any specific songs to talk about because if I did, I would have to write about all of them and I’m not really a fan of track-by-track reviews unless it’s an EP (I usually do track-by-track reviews with EPs). Every single fucking song on here has its own unique color and its own special experience to put you through. The vocals are perfection. The singing is 100% in tune and the screams are more powerful than any other scream that I’ve ever heard in my life.

If you’re wondering what progressive metal band is at the top of their game right now, The Dillinger Escape Plan is that band. Yes, I know that Animals as Leaders, Mutiny Within, Devin Townsend Project, and Periphery are also at their best right now, but The Dillinger Escape Plan is going completely overboard with what they are doing. This is an album that you NEED to listen to. Everything about it is perfect. This is definitely one of the best albums of 2013 and gets a PERFECT score of 20/20. 

Meshuggah - Pitch Black [EP]

Not even a whole year after releasing the best album of their career, Meshuggah have revived an unreleased track recorded all the way back in 2003 titled Pitch Black. The song has been released through Scion A/V as a two song EP with the same name along with a fantastic live version of one of the best songs from ObZen, Dancers of a Discordant System. Very rarely have I seen a single song gain so much goddamn hype. I’m not the biggest fan of Meshuggah, but I can’t deny their incredible musicianship and the amount of influence that albums like Destroy Erase Improve and Catch Thirtythree have had on the heavy metal genre.

The problem that I have with this band is that almost all of their stuff sounds the same. That’s why I love their newest full-length as much as I do, because it sounds different from all of their other stuff. This is also the reason why I can’t stop listening to Pitch Black; it sounds even MORE different than their other stuff. The biggest difference that people will notice about this song is the vocal style. The vocals aren’t those really creepy yells that everyone’s used to hearing. Instead, they’re much calmer and more relaxed. It’s hard to explain to people considering how common the vocal style is. It’s almost like a really dark and demented rap that doesn’t connect with the complex polyrhythmic style of the music. All of this is an interesting concept and shows that this band has more variety than they may express to people.

The sound production is unlike any of their albums. Not only does it sound different, it’s actually much better in many ways. When it comes to having lots of bass, Meshuggah is one of the best bands to listen to. The problem is that Meshuggah’s albums don’t have quite enough bass (except for their newest record). The instant the drum intro finishes, you can feel the bass run through you (that is, if you have good speakers). The balance between the treble of the metallic guitar distortion and the bass of the entire drum set couldn’t be any better. The vocals aren’t buried behind the indestructible wall of sound the rest of the band creates, they’re perfect right where they are.

Personally, I’m not one that loves live albums, but the live version of Dancers of a Discordant System is fucking fantastic. The sound quality is crisp and everything can be heard. And to put the icing on this small, but awesome cake, we have some of the best album artwork that’s ever been on a Meshuggah release. I tip my hat to both the band and the producer. I would give the Pitch Black [EP] a score of 15/20. 

Blizzard at Sea - Invariance [EP]

Blizzard at Sea is part of the wave of progressive bands that have been pulling influences from sludge metal, black metal, hard rock, metalcore, atmospheric rock, doom metal, classic rock, hardcore, post rock, and other various progressive genres. This movement, which has been led by progressive rock band Isis, is considered by some to be one of the most unique metal progressions of all-time. Now, we have another band that can be considered part of this movement that has released a four-track EP titled Invariance.

Because this isn’t being written by someone who knows a lot about this type of music (some call it “atmospheric sludge”), don’t expect to see a lot of historical shit and factual information about influences and other bands. Instead of educating you about the genre and the band, I am going to specifically lay out why this EP is one of the best pieces of progressive music I’ve heard since I started listening to heavy metal. I also believe that this record could also possibly be appealing to those that aren’t fond of sludge metal and it’s different variations in general (like myself). That aside, as always, I’m going to treat this like just about every album I review; so let’s get to it.

Probably one of the most interesting of Blizzard at Sea is not the complex song structures, but more so how everything is layered. One can’t exactly know for sure if this was intended unless they ask the band themselves, but seemingly without turning down any of the instruments, there are parts where a single member sticks out from the others. For example, there are certain parts where the drums are a bit overpowering, and then the guitarist will play a chord that just rings out with so much intensity. When this is happening, you can tell that the drums aren’t playing less or with less volume. It’s an interesting quality that happens in all of the tracks, whether it be unintentional or one of the many feedback tricks invented in the 1970s. And this doesn’t only happen with the guitar, the vocals, bass, and the drums have moments where the rest of the band seems like background noise.

The music itself isn’t very chaotic. It’s definitely loud and noisy (one of the primary characteristics of the genre), but not really thrashy and fast. But all of the experimentation that’s taking place has pulled the band’s sound in a different direction than the traditional slow, thick, heavy, and noisy sound that’s just known as sludge metal. There are parts in all of the songs that have a hard rock feel, especially the intro to Closed Universe. Because I’m not 100% sure what exactly their influences are, I can’t say that I’m completely accurate on this statement, but it sounds and feels like the atmospheric and often times relaxing sound that Blizzard at Sea’s music has is due to influences and inspirations from post rock, black metal, metalcore, and doom metal. But then again, isn’t that what “atmospheric sludge” is? Although there are few bands that have been playing this style of music for quite some time, the majority of the genre’s bands are young, most with only one album or a couple of EPs and demos under their belts.

If you block out the vocals, it sounds like the type of music that would only have singing. But instead, you have primarily mid-ranged growls and yells with a few sung lines here and there. All in all, Blizzard at Sea has not only blown away the atmospheric sludge fans, but have shown me an entirely new sound. The ambient and intellectual darkness that this band has managed to craft has given this EP my score of 17/20.

The Contortionist - Intrinsic

The Contortionist seems to be getting more experimental and progressive (literally) with each release. Starting out as a traditional (aka generic) deathcore band self-releasing two EPs, the second one which is actually pretty good, then coming out with a “progressive deathcore” album as their debut full-length, Exoplanet. After releasing this, they hit the road with Periphery and Textures which caused their fan base to EXPLODE in both numbers and in anticipation for new material. Now, The Contortionist is in a similar position that bands like Periphery, Animals as Leaders, and Iwrestledabearonce were in: being VERY big, having only one album under their belts, and about to release one of the most anticipated albums of the year (yes, quite literally true for all of the bands I just listed).

Like I said before, The Contortionist are getting more experimental and progressive with each release. The reason I say that is because the content of this album is so fucking complex that it’s taken me a little over a month to fully be able to swallow and dissect it all. Yes, that’s the magnitude of the complexity this record contains. Although I’m a major fan of progressive music (metal, rock, industrial, etc.), even this was too much for me at first. When it comes to progressive DEATH metal, my favorites tend to be Opeth (well, duh, they’re my favorite band EVER), Augury, Fallujah, Augury, and Between the Buried and Me. Some of those (especially Augury and Between the Buried and Me) have a VERY high amount of complexity to their music. But really, The Contortionist really takes the cake with Intrinsic by not only being the most experimental and complex album of the year, but being the most experimental death metal album since Iwrestledabearonce released It’s All Happening in 2009.

I’ve gotten to the point to where the word “deathcore” doesn’t fit anywhere in The Contortionist’s music; they seemed to have completely stepped away from that obvious phase in their career in one of the smoothest and most graceful manners possible. It’s almost as if they already had this all planned out. They knew that they didn’t want to play deathcore; they wanted to CREATE, they wanted to INVENT, they wanted to ADD something to this! So they created a deathcore album with an extremely progressive Opeth-like sound to start the drift away without upsetting any of their fans. Now that they’ve gotten the “progressive” aspect buried within every element of their music, they were set to do what they’ve apparently always wanted to do, which is laid out in Intrinsic. But then again, this is all just critical thinking on my part, I don’t know for sure if any of this is fact; but I sure as hell wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest bit if it was!

The only negative thoughts that I have towards this album is the difficulty to describe its sound without simply saying “just listen to it, that’s how it fucking sounds”. For me, after the utterly atmospheric intro track, the action TRULY starts with Feedback Loop, which is a song that can only be described with phrases like “fucking weird”, “um…ok…I don’t know what I just heard…but I love it” and “what was THAT??”. When those weird keyboards kicked in after the song started, I had to start the whole song over due to not only my surprise, but the chaotic confusion all of the…I don’t know what to call it…all of the “stuff” that went on caused within my mind. Usually, in progressive albums like this, I can point out some pieces that were obviously inspired. For example, I’m ASSUMING that the use of the vocoder in Feedback Loop was inspired by The Faceless’ use of it in Planetary Duality, some of the guitar riffs remind me strongly of Periphery, and that the numerous acoustic guitars hidden in the background were POSSIBLY inspired by Opeth. But that’s pretty much it! There’s next to no other inspiration that I can hear, which means that most of this is coming from the minds of the members themselves. Progression made out of inspiration doesn’t last; progression made out of the minds of the creator(s) themselves changes music forever.

The singing obviously takes on a MUCH more prominent role in this album than before; which is probably because the singing is a hell of a lot better. Personally, I think that the growls and screams have decreased in quality since Exoplanet, which is possibly because they’re becoming less of a priority. Also, the melodic elements have COMPLETELY taken over the entity of the music. Along with the band getting more progressive with each release, I can also hear them getting more and more melodic with each record they put out. Because I’m someone that walks around listening to Katatonia’s newer albums wearing a Dying Fetus shirt, the fact that The Contortionist is getting more melodic isn’t a good or bad aspect for me in any way; it’s just change, nothing more and nothing less. The guitars don’t have a very crunchy distortion; in fact, they actually have a very generic clean extreme metal distortion that sounds perfect with everything around them. The drums sit in the background, but the kick drums stick out from everything else (which is probably the only remaining deathcore aspect in the band’s music).

Intrinsic is the single most progressive death metal record of 2012 and seems virtually impossible to surpass before the year comes to a close. I’ve said time and time again that 2012 is possibly the best year that the metal genre has ever seen; with Dying Fetus, Veil of Maya, Whitechapel, Nile, Periphery, Overkill, and countless others releasing perfectly-scored albums, Intrinsic is what I would say is one of the heavy metal HIGHLIGHTS of 2012. Although I don’t like this as much as others, I would give this one 18/20 for blowing me away with almost everything an album can blow me away with. 

Periphery - Periphery II: This Time it's Personal

Two years ago, Periphery popped up out of nowhere and literally amazed the world with their self-titled debut that was released under the highly-credited Sumerian Records. Now that my pre-order of their EXTREMELY highly anticipated follow-up has arrived in my mailbox, I get to tell the world about it. I will admit, I already listened to the whole album before I received the CD because I caught wind that the band was already streaming the entire album on Soundcloud. So I already knew what I was up against, I just wanted to confirm that what I heard was real and not just some sick prank. Turns out that the album the band streamed was in fact the actual album. The big question that EVERYONE had was “is this going to be another one of those bands that releases and undeniably amazing debut and then a bunch of shitty follow-ups?” Believe me, I had that same exact question. But after hearing some of the rough demos that Periphery released during the recording process of the new album, I decided that it wasn’t going to be too much of a risk to get my hopes up.

Even though I typically get advance copies from Sumerian Records for me to review, I had to wait till the release date to hear this one (probably because they already sent it out to enough reviewers). From the critics that DID get to hear the album before everyone else, I saw mixed views. First of all, every single one of the critics that reviewed this album were diehard fans of Periphery’s 2010 release. Here was the thing that people DIDN’T like about Periphery II: it sounds very similar to the first record…sort of like a “Periphery, Part 2” (which actually kind of makes sense because the title of this record is “Periphery II”). Because of that, the people that loved this album simply love it for almost all of the exact same reasons that they loved the first album…the only difference is that this one is heavier and has a different colored album cover.

I’m pretty sure that I’ve explained this before in one or more of my previous reviews, but this is a PERFECT time to go over this again. This is my rule when it comes to bands releasing several albums in a row that have the same exact sound: a band can release NO MORE THAN two records that sound the same. This is because the sound doesn’t get old (to me) until the third record in a row. If a band is under a lot of pressure and is having trouble progressing their sound, or if they REALLY want to make another album with the same sound, then I’m not going to hold anything against them for doing so. But here’s the thing, if the sound of the album is FUCKING AMAZING, then the maximum I’ll tolerate is THREE records. But I put down the line there. Periphery’s sound is undeniably incredible and mind-blowing. So I’ll give them the perfect score on this album because they pulled it off so perfectly with no fuck-ups. If they chose to keep the same sound for the third album, but still manage to make some slight changes to keep things interesting, then I’ll be happy with that too. So in Periphery’s case, after they release the third album, it’s time to make some major modifications to their sound to show variety in creativity and composition. Most other bands, I won’t allow any more than two albums with the same sound. And to be honest, most bands don’t make any more than two similar records!

So now that I’ve gotten that explanation out of the way, what changes and minor modifications have Periphery made in THIS album? Well, my first experience with this album was with the spine-chilling singing harmonizations at the beginning of the first track (which is more of an intro track due to its lack of structure). Also, Periphery has gotten a lot better at playing extremely heavy parts with melodic singing on top of it and making them blend together smoothly. Although they did this very well in their first record, I think that they’ve really improved with this album. Also, Spencer’s growls and screams sound A MILLION times better! I feel weird for saying this, but Spencer actually sounds like a legit extreme metal vocalist now! His singing quality hasn’t decreased a single bit. In fact, the quality of his singing has actually gone up a bit, although you can tell that he’s still straining his voice when hitting those SUPER high notes.

My favorite track on the record is Have a Blast, which is literally a fucking blast to listen to! Probably the last thing I was expecting from these guys was a hella-trippy violin riff that blended into the keyboard which ended up being the main lead line of the song. Although the song in its entirety sounds like Periphery, the lead line sounds like a really jacked-up Animals as Leaders. Speaking of Animals as Leaders, I know of the close relationship between them and Periphery; but I’m noticing much more of an AAL influence in this record. When I say that, I mean specifically the style of the guitar solos that sound really jazzy yet really fast and technical.

Overall, this album isn’t that much different than their first album. But Periphery has definitely expressed numerous improvements in both skill and technique. I would give this album a perfect score for literally blowing my mind as much as the first album. It looks like the first album WASN’T a fluke like I was worried about! All progressive metal fans should check this out.  

Soulfly - Dark Ages

Soulfly’s Dark Ages caused the band’s popularity and recognition to soar. Yes, they were already huge before that because…well…they were fronted by the former Sepultura vocalist and songwriting mastermind, Max Cavalera. But before Dark Ages, every single one of Soulfly’s albums sounded completely different from each other; making them one of the most experimental metal bands of the time. But I personally think that Soulfly’s signature sound that everyone knows today was solidified and bolted to the ground with Dark Ages. Not only that, Soulfly went from playing in almost completely packed smallish venues to playing in the venues that MUCH bigger mainstream artists play at. When I saw them in 2008, they played at the same venue that I saw other huge bands like Sonata Arctica, Arch Enemy, Bring me the Horizon, Dimmu Borgir (which was a sold-out show), and Underoath (which was also sold-out). But not only does Dark Ages represent the solidification of Soulfly’s signature sound, but it’s also an amazing record that I’ve been listening to for almost five years.

 The general theme of this album seems to follow a WWII concept. The part of the album that always reminds me of WWII (obviously) is the beginning of Fuel the Hate where someone states the exact date and time that the first atomic bomb was used as a weapon in warfare. The main sound that this album gives off is a really thick, slow (at times), and dark thrash metal sound which has caused a lot of people to say thrash death. Honestly, I’ve put almost all of their albums as progressive metal because of all the experimentation they do in numerous songs on every album.

Here’s a little fact that most people who don’t know much about Soulfly probably haven’t noticed. Look at Max Cavalera’s guitar (not the ones they sell in guitar stores, the ones he actually PLAYS) and notice how many strings are on it. I find it really interesting that a guitarist of that level of skill and creativity would have only four strings on his guitar. Although he takes out a regular six string guitar when they play their series of softer self-titled songs, Max doesn’t do lead guitar on anything else that Soulfly plays. I don’t know if he has a legitimate reason for this or if it’s just that he wants a MUCH deeper sound (which is heard VERY clearly in this album). This is probably the album that has some of the fewest soloing and lead guitar licks than any other album. I think it’s because of that why Dark Ages sounds like Soulfly’s heaviest and DARKEST album (which makes the name more than appropriate).

The lyrics of this album are interesting. Normally I don’t give a crap about what the songs are about but I can’t help but think in this case “what the hell was Max so pissed off about??” If I was asked what the ULTIMATE venting album is, I would say Dark Ages. Probably being one of the most hate-filled records of all-time, both in lyrics AND in the music. I think that the hate and anger reaches its peak during my favorite song off the album, simply titled “Bleak”, with the line that speaks out to me the most being “it’s the end you fucking scum!!”. Not only are the lyrics hate-filled, they’re also fucked up!

Dark Ages is one of the darkest and angriest albums ever made. Not only did this solidify Soulfly’s signature sound that everyone knows today, it also caused Soulfly’s (already) massive fame to EXPLODE. Although my favorite Soulfly albums remain Conquer and Omen, Dark Ages is one of those “cannot be missed” records. I would give this 18/20. 

Periphery - Periphery

Periphery hasn’t even been in the music industry for more than two years and they’ve already sold a surprising amount of records and headlined their own tour! They released their debut self-titled record when I was on spring break in 2010. The only thing I can remember from that month was getting my pre-order of the new Annotations of an Autopsy album in the mail (which I LOVE) and seeing that goddamn Periphery logo EVERYWHERE I went on the internet to the point where I got sick of seeing it! After the hype about them had died down a bit (yet it still hasn’t died off yet, especially with a new album coming soon), I decided to listen to them. When my friend showed me the single off the album, Jetpacks Was Yes, I instantly understood why there has been THIS MUCH hype about them over the past two years! Two months after that, I saw them perform on stage and I’ve got my eye on the Sumerian Records website, waiting for the pre-orders to become available.

Of course, like 97% of all the other Sumerian Records artists, Periphery’s sound revolves around a Meshuggah-influenced pseudo breakdown that takes up most of each song. Although I’m not a big Meshuggah fan, I do think that it sounds pretty cool, especially when it’s just the blueprint of something completely different. That’s why I like many Sumerian bands like Veil of Maya, Animals as Leaders, Born of Osiris, Asking Alexandria, and After the Burial. But most of these bands (with the exception of Animals as Leaders and a few others) tend to have TOO much in common than what I would like. That’s why Periphery is extremely refreshing. If you don’t know quite what I’m talking about, notice that the majority of the bands on the Sumerian roster have screaming/growling as their main vocal style (aka screamo/deathcore/tech death/metalcore/etc.) That’s why Periphery, a band that focuses mainly on singing and more of their own progressive metal sound, sticks out to me as being one of the best.

But of course I try my best not to let record labels influence my opinion on bands. Periphery’s progressive metal sound reaches opposite corners of the genre that have already been touched and even further-expands the walls of the genre by going places where no band has ever dared to go before. The most interesting and unique trait that they carry is that they do that heavy Meshuggah breakdown thing, but have melodic keyboards and high-pitched singing that shouldn’t match, but flow with the rest of the music perfectly. The bassist doesn’t have the treble on his guitar turned up at all. Instead, he has the low-end booming to enhance the chugging of the guitars and the kick drums.

The best musician in the band BY FAR is the vocalist. Being the fourth (and the best) vocalist this band has had since their formation in 2005, Spencer has one of the cleanest, highest, and crisp singing voices that I’ve ever heard in my entire life. I’m talking like…this guy being the best singer I’ve heard since I first heard Greg Lake’s voice when I was in third grade (I’ll give a quarter to anyone who already knows who that is). Not only can he sing like no other, he can SCREAM like most others only wish they could. Obviously, the best example of his vocal abilities is in Jetpacks Was Yes, probably my (and most other people’s) favorite song off the record.

But that song isn’t what the whole album sounds like. Remember that I said that every corner in the metal genre is reached in this album. Well, where is the heavy shit then? The answer lies in Buttersnips (whatever that’s supposed to mean), The Walk, and most of all, Zyglrox. These aren’t the only songs, but they’re certainly the best HEAVY songs for those of you headbangers and moshers (especially the last one). In fact, those are the songs where the drummer takes the front-end. You get to hear his complex, deep, and LOUD kick drumming abilities in The Walk and Butternsnips. Not only that, his drumming is nearly impossible to keep up with because it keeps changing and occasionally hits something on an off-beat to try to throw you off. If you want to hear this guy’s blast beats, listen to Zyglrox, and don’t underestimate his skills; trust me. Honestly, Zyglrox sounds like a COMPLETELY different band than Jetpacks was Yes; there’s next to no similarities other than that the screaming sounds similar in both songs.

Insomnia, the opening track, is probably the best choice for the first song because it shows you a little bit of everything that Periphery plays on the record. It opens up with a trippy-sounding keyboard part that quickly transitions into the drummer pulling you into the explosive body of the song that gets everyone’s head banging. The singing sounds oddly out of place in some parts of the song because it’s his beautiful voice put on top of a really loud and heavy breakdown. When you think the fun is over after Zyglrox pounds you six feet into the earth, the fifteen-minute long track known only as Racecar takes you onto an entirely different path. This is where most of the progression takes place. Racecar remains the most important track on the album, opening up with an extremely tight and heavy Meshuggah sound; all of the chaos that Zyglrox left behind is let out of the cage, along with all of the melodic and jazzy elements. All of these sounds constantly fuse together and separate in different combinations and at different times. Racecar is a song that is the exact OPPOSITE of predictable and I would highly recommend you listen to that one if the rest of the album wasn’t progressive enough for you.

Periphery’s self-titled debut is a metal masterpiece and will always be remembered by all, no matter how long this band lasts. The amount of progression and genre-defying acts that Periphery does in this record is inconceivable and can only be believed if you listen to it. I would give this album a perfect score and I have exceptionally high expectations for their next record, because it’s hard to believe that it can get any better than this. But I’ve been proven wrong time and time again by countless other bands. 

Struc/tures - Divided By

Struc/tures is a young progressive metalcore group that is appropriately signed on to Sumerian Records. Sumerian Records is known for being the home to several progressive metal/death/screamo artists which include (but are not limited to) The Faceless, Animals as Leaders, Periphery, Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya, After the Burial, Asking Alexandria, I See Stars, The Contortionist, and Stray from the Path. Pretty much the only TRULY HEAVY bands that I’ve seen off this label are The Contortionist and The Faceless. The others have some heavy parts, but only The Faceless are able to stand up against the first track off of Struc/tures’ debut full-length.

Everywhere I see Struc/tures mentioned on the internet, I pretty much only see “progressive metal” or “progressive metalcore” under the description. If the whole album sounded like the first song, I would call them full on deathcore because there isn’t anything I’ve heard under metalcore that’s as heavy as this other than The Dead Lay Waiting and Mnemic. I know that this sentence will turn many of you away, but don’t let it do that because I’m not trying to do so, but this band reminds me of Bring me the Horizon in so many ways. In other words, since BMTH has gone way downhill with their 2010 album, Struc/tures is what those young BMTH fans need to be listening to because…well, Struc/tures is better! Although there are some elements that Struc/tures have in their album that are actually the faults in BMTH’s music (like the yelling thing), these guys take those faults and turn them into qualities.

Although the opening track is almost completely deceiving, the rest of the album continues to bludgeon you with down-tuned guitars and breakdowns so loud that they distorted the speakers during the recording process, making it sound like it’s YOUR speakers that are getting killed. The distorting of the speakers thing is unique and cool in its own way, but it’s something that starts to get annoying (my dad raised me as an audiophile, so I’m a freak about clean and crisp recording quality). That aside, this is one of the heaviest and most powerful metalcore albums ever to land a place in my collection.

The vocal styles go all over the place. Although using growls more than anything else; the vocalist uses screams, singing, talking, and even that infamous “Oli Sykes” yell (I know that other artists have been using that since the 1980s, but Oliver Sykes kind of put his face on the vocal style, unfortunately). The vocalist isn’t the BEST singer, but he definitely fits the requirements needed to sound good with the rest of the band.

The song that I would say is the best example of the band’s general sound is Hydroplaning. It shows the sound that (for some reason) almost every other Sumerian band has with the really abstract sounding chords, heavy exploding breakdowns, every type of vocal style used in the album, and tons of melodic parts and guitar soloing. So if you want a general idea of what this band sounds like, Hydroplaning is the song that you should look up first. Encounter reminds me almost completely of this “djent” thing that Sumerian Records has incorporated in almost all of its bands, along with these really fast and complex high-pitched guitar solos (sometimes referred to as guitar “wankery”). But not to say that it’s a totally negative thing, it’s just something that’s starting to become the Sumerian identity, which is not good, because a record label needs to have an extremely diverse range of styles that its bands cover.

Overall, this is a monstrous album and is one of the best progressive metal/metalcore album’s I’ve ever heard in my life. Definitely check this out because it’s not going to be very long before these guys are headlining tours and having big-name bands as opening acts. I would give this album 20/20 for being EXACTLY the metalcore album I’ve been searching for all these years!

Katatonia - Night is the New Day

I guess that since I’ve just been listening to Katatonia and other similar bands like Opeth, Before the Dawn, Porcupine Tree, and Sirenia, that it’s time that I shared my opinion on one of my all-time favorite albums. I initially intended on writing this review after I saw Katatonia live in October when they opened for Opeth, but I guess I forgot to follow through. Katatonia and Opeth (my favorite band) are “brothers” (from the same country, best friends since the early years, probably even went to school together). There are very few other examples of bands with relationships like this; the only others that I know about are After Forever and Epica, Bring me the Horizon and Architects, and INSERT. Mikael Akerfeldt was the original vocalist for Kataklysm until his (at that time his side project) Opeth started taking off and he decided to leave Kataklysm to focus on Opeth. But obviously there were no hard feelings at all between the two bands because they still tour together and even have had some members work together in Bloodbath.

Here’s a disclaimer that I need to throw out there before you assume that Katatonia is one of my favorite bands. I actually like this album more than the band. It’s because Katatonia has only released two albums that have truly blown me away (this one and the one preceding it). I’m not sure what clicked in the band’s head that caused them to jump from slightly above average music to releasing two of the best albums I’ve ever heard. That’s why I’m glad that this album was my first impression (although The Great Cold Distance would have done just as well). If Katatonia can continue on to consistently release albums like their past two, my opinion on the BAND will soar.

As simple as their music seems, I’ve had a nearly impossible time categorizing this band and feeling that it’s accurate. I currently have them under gothic metal because the other bands I have there sound more similar to Katatonia than any other bands. But then again, when I have trouble deciding where to put a band, I just put it under one of my progressive genres (progressive metal/black/death/rock). But not that it actually matters at all, I just like to keep my music organized so that when I’m in the mood for a certain kind of music (like something really heavy and bombarding but with a black metal feel) I can just click on that genre (black death) and have it shuffle all of the songs I have categorized there.

But enough about that stuff, I’m here to talk about the album, am I not? If someone were to ask me what musician stands out the most as being the absolute best, I would quickly respond with THEIR SINGER! Their singer has one of the most paralyzing and beautiful voices I’ve ever heard in my life. Just listen to any of the damn songs off this album and you will understand (and most likely agree with) what I say the instant his voice makes contact with your eardrums. The vocal harmonizations leave me speechless and have brought me (literally) to tears and always cause a huge smile to form on my face. I know it may seem like I’m over exaggerating and “gushing” over this album, but remember, everyone has music out there that stir emotions of that much strength; it’s almost always different for everyone, this just happens to be one of the few bands out there that make that emotional connection with me.

The overall sound of everything on the record couldn’t be any more perfect. There is tons of bass, the guitar distortions are extremely heavy and thick, the drums work as the skeleton of the music without overpowering anything, and the guitar solos rise above everything with extreme precision to be heard by all. The guitar distortion is very meaty and even has a bit of a mushy sound although you can tell there is a lot of crunch. I guess a mostly accurate description of the distortion that the guitars have is if you have a very crunchy distortion and slice off the high end/treble. The drummer uses a bass boom that I didn’t know about until I played Forsaker with my subwoofer hooked up to my computer. Thankfully the band doesn’t overuse this bass tone like other bands tend to do (i.e. Emmure, BMTH, Element, etc.)

The song that got me completely hooked was the first track. I was expecting something extremely mellow and controlled; kind of like Damnation by Opeth. But obviously I was wrong when I was crushed by the extremely heavy breakdown used as the intro. But it then instantly transitions into more of what I was expecting, but so much better that I can’t even begin to accurately describe. As their singer’s voice pierces the air I realized that I wasn’t prepared for something this good, but I didn’t have the motivation to press the stop button on my keyboard. The chorus was the thing that leaped out of my computer speakers and spherically encircled me with an atmospheric and depressive wall of sound that I will never forget. That was the only song from that album that I listened to for almost a whole month because I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to handle the rest of the album. The guitar solo in that song left me completely dumbfounded and utterly confused that I hadn’t been shown this band before. I forgot to mention that I’ve known the name Katatonia for years, but I’ve only known their music for a little over half a year.

Like I had predicted before, the paralyzing melodic beauty doesn’t stop until the record is finished. Literally every mood I can think of is covered at least once for the duration of the album. Some of those moods that stand out to me the most are anger, depression, grief, happiness, peace, relaxation, confusion, pain, and numbness. This is a record that should not be passed up by ANYONE whether they like music or not. When they played Idle Blood, July, and Forsaker live (all the songs I wished for) when I saw them last October, I was hooked and have been since then. I would give this a perfect score and would recommend this to anyone and everyone whether I know them or not.  

Random - Todo.s Los Colores Del

For those of you that love progressive metal, this is the thing for you. This appropriately-named band is one of the best new progressive metal bands I’ve heard since Mutiny Within. I’m not saying this band is flawless, because it’s impossible to be experimental and progressive and not make some sucky decisions. I received a promo copy of this album months ago. The reason why I waited so long to write the damn review was because this album took so long to fully comprehend and understand. There’s a lot of stuff about this album that I can’t seem to get. Unless I interview the band, I’ll probably never know why the hell this band chose to combine some of the genres they did. I can’t give you an overall summary of the sound this album puts out because it doesn’t just give off one sound, it gives off…I don’t even know, I can’t think of how to put it, just read on.

As few of you already know, I listen to a lot of the mainstream metal stuff like Korn, Godsmack, Breaking Benjamin, etc. In the first song, after the 40-second intro made up of a single high-pitched guitar harmonic, the first word that came to my mind was “Korn”. I’m not kidding, Korn has been one of my favorite bands since I was 13 years old, and never in my days have I heard an underground metal band use Korn’s crunchy sound as an influence. I’m not saying that’s bad at all (and I might be wrong about the whole Korn influence thing all together), but that’s not something I was expecting at all. I guess I judged them too much when I saw their name; expecting them to sound more like Iwrestledabearonce or Dir en Grey.

That’s not to say that Random wasn’t a good name to put on top of their music, because every single track is something completely different. Of course, they successfully stick to a signature, recognizable sound that they use as a blueprint for all the songs on the record. But other than that thin layer that every song shares, each track is its own type of cake, each with its own type of frosting.

The vocalist is fucking weird; that’s all I can think of to say about him. He’s not bad at all, he’s just really weird and has one of the most unique voices I’ve ever heard in the progressive metal area. I have no idea what the hell is going on in the drummer’s head because he seems to be in a different world; but at the same time he is a major contributor and perfect addition to this album. The lead guitarist does some crazy shredding that seems to instantly switch into a David Gilmour sound therefore earning my applause. Random is one of those examples of a band where when you look at each individual member, you think “Where the hell did this guy leave his brain? He’s completely lost!” But when you put them together, it sounds amazing!

The second song has a little more of an industrial-sounding twist to it. I guess you could describe it as being a combination of Sevendust, Korn, and Marilyn Manson (all of which I love). Not only that, this song is extremely abstract (which is stupid for me to say because isn’t the whole album??). For the rest of the album you hear stuff sounding like Meshuggah, Hypocrisy, Mushroomhead, Kreator, Opeth, Primus, Soundgarden, Mudvayne, and Hellyeah. Overall, this isn’t an album I would recommend to people that have a hard time keeping up with really diverse music. The reason why I’m saying that is because there are only half a dozen other examples of so many different types of music compressed into one album; it was even too much for me at first! But other than that, I would highly recommend that you support this band and get this album because it’s truly a one-of-a kind experience. I would give this record 15/20. 

Meshuggah - obZen

This was my first Meshuggah album. I actually got it a month or so after it came out when I unintentionally got caught in the middle of all the hype that was going on about this record. Most of the people that I’ve talked to have said that obZen is Meshuggah’s best album; which is a statement that I fully agree with. There is one problem I have with this album and Meshuggah in general, and that is that they’ve been doing the same exact thing for almost 20 years. I hate to break it to you guys, but even though these guys possess some of the most amazing technical and instrumental skills, they are one of the least creative metal bands I have ever heard.

For those of you that aren’t super familiar with deathcore, I would suggest that you listen to some bands from that genre like All Shall Perish, Born of Osiris, and Veil of Maya. The thing that those bands have in common is that their version of that sudden drop in tempo commonly known as a breakdown is extremely complex and technical. Meshuggah is like that, except that’s all they are, one big breakdown that changes into another breakdown. Here’s the problem I have with that; the best breakdowns have a really fast part that leads into a buildup of tension that then drop in tempo going to the breakdown. The problem I have with Meshuggah is that there is no buildup at all (with the exception of a weak buildup as the intro in a couple of songs); it’s usually just a breakdown from beginning to end. It may sound awesome, and it does; it’s awesome! But it gets old and repetitive very quickly.

There is a small group of people that consider this constant breakdown style its own genre, giving it the name “djent”, which is a term that I haven’t come to accept or use. Although more and more bands are using more breakdowns in their music, Meshuggah still dominates them with the amount of them used; being considered by some to be the “inventors” of what we consider today to be a metal  breakdown.

Now that I’m done whining, I’d like to say that although these guys have next to no creative abilities, they are some of the best metal musicians I’ve ever heard. Their songs are so technical and abstract that I can’t tap my foot or bang my head in time with the song because all the abstract and off-beat riffs this band does throws me off. Of course once I pulled out a metronome, it was proven that these guys are actually keeping perfect time throughout the song. Those of you musicians out there that have tried to play or write stuff like this know that it’s not easy at all and that the stuff Meshuggah pulls off is nearly impossible for everyone except Meshuggah (ever wonder why no one has ever covered a Meshuggah song?).

The best musician in the band is one of the best metal drummers I have ever heard. Those of you that know anything about a band should know that the drummer is the motor of the group that keeps the band on-tempo. Not only that, he has one of the best set of legs in the world. If you don’t have a perverted mind, you should be able to figure out what I mean by listening to the song Bleed off of this record. When most people hear the name Meshuggah, they think “I love their drummer!” which is what made me listen to them again after I was minimally impressed with them when I first heard them in 2008.

I will admit that their vocalist makes one of the best faces I’ve ever seen (click the link at the bottom of the review to see it). He doesn’t growl, he doesn’t sing, he doesn’t scream, he doesn’t yell, he doesn’t belch, he doesn’t even “Trollololo”. The sound that you hear flowing out of his mouth is the unfiltered sound of rage and anger from an unknown being. In other words, there’s no way to verbally describe the sound of his vocals, they’re that unique.

Overall, this album sounds no different from any of their other albums. The only thing that makes this album stand out to me the most is that there is more variation in tempo and technicality throughout the record. But otherwise, it’s just one long breakdown that drags on and doesn’t have any build-up, eventually disappointing your expectations for something bigger to happen. There isn’t any low point, it’s all at the highest point; the tension is literally unchanging throughout, therefore making this an album that is extremely addicting and enjoyable to listen to once, but will sound dull and boring after the first listen. So I only listen to Meshuggah like once every other month because of that. I would give this album 13/20.

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