Carnifex - The Diseased and the Poisoned

2006 was the year that I was fully introduced to deathcore. Although the amount of deathcore bands in my collection didn't rapidly expand until 2008 when I heard All Shall Perish’s Awaken the Dreamers, there were a handful of deathcore bands I had already been listening to for a little under two years. Those bands were Suicide Silence, Despised Icon, Bring me the Horizon, Lamb of God, Whitechapel, and Carnifex. Now most of these hadn't even released their first full-length albums when I discovered them, giving me that happy feeling that I’m one of their “true” fans since I've been listening to them since they first started. Carnifex is not a traditional deathcore band though. They stuff a lot of other sounds in their music.

Deathcore is a mix of metalcore and death metal. Sometimes it’s just really heavy metalcore, sometimes it’s just death metal with extreme breakdowns, and sometimes it’s a perfect mix of the two. Carnifex isn’t all the way on one end or perfectly in the middle, but they’re more on the death metal side of things. So if you’re looking for a deathcore band that has a lot more death metal than metalcore, Carnifex will end your search. Unfortunately, I didn’t really get into them until this album was released because their debut was good, but not really that impressive. The Diseased and the Poisoned is where they decided to step up and crush their listeners until they were satisfied. And I’ll tell you what; they certainly crushed me beyond satisfaction.

A good deathcore album always has good breakdowns; isn’t that practically 60% of the genre’s definition? Although it is very possible to overdo the breakdown like other bands have done like Emmure, Suffokate, and Meshuggah; Carnifex implements a perfect amount of breakdowns that keeps the crowd happy. I do think that they should have added a bass boom at the beginning of a few of their breakdowns to make them sound more extreme and goddamn serious.

The vocalist is amazing. He primarily does death growls that remind me of David Vincent, and has an underdeveloped scream that he ends up perfecting in 2011. His stories of apocalyptic destruction and atheistic-based hate have the ability to paralyze the minds of any helpless Christian that happens to come across his words. Known as one of the darkest and angriest deathcore bands, Carnifex have been reaching their arms above the surface of the deep trenches of the underground metal scene to become one of the most prolific and true deathcore bands alive today. Carnifex has never gone downhill, and this album is just the beginning.

The guitar distortion is REALLY deep and has loads of crunch to obliterate the eardrums of their audience. The drumming is the exact opposite of the stereotypical “blast beat, breakdown, repeat” deathcore drummer. He always has extra tricks under his skin to surprise you with when you are expecting something less impressive. Even though it’s obvious that a bassist is present due to the unrelenting amount of bass, I can’t hear the bass guitar unless I really concentrate and block everything else out; which is obviously not something that I want to have to do every time I listen to this album.

There are a lot of really brutal bands that only sound brutal when you see them live. This is mainly due to low production quality and the choice of distortions and effects in the studio. Ever wonder why Suicide Silence and Whitechapel sound so brutal? It’s mainly because the guitar distortion is extremely loud and crunchy and because they have the bass practically dominate everything else. If you did that to this album, you probably wouldn’t be able to listen to this album and come out in one piece. I can see that you don’t believe me, so go see them in concert and try to live through the moshpit AND THEN tell me that I’m wrong.

I don’t really have a favorite song off this album because unfortunately, the songs sound too similar to the point to where I can’t really tell them apart. This is an album that is great to listen to as a whole, but not one where someone can easily say “That song is my favorite!” This is my second favorite Carnifex album next to Hell Chose Me. I would highly recommend this to loyal deathcore fans and anyone who has been searching for a deathcore band with loads of death metal packed inside. I would give this album 15/20. 

Forgotten Land - Imbolc-Winter

There’s something about Forgotten Land that has always puzzled me. And that is that he’s known only amongst the metal community, primarily that of the fans of depressive black metal (like me). The thing is…he’s nowhere near metal at all. He only has ONE song that even has guitars. The rest of his material is all pure ambient keyboards and nature sounds; pretty much new age/spa music. And I do listen to that kind of music, but I would never expect to see an artist of that genre on Spirit of Metal, which is where I discovered him. But that aside, I still put Forgotten Land under depressive black metal (don’t ask me why ‘cause I don’t fucking know), and he produces the most beautiful music that has ever reached my ears. This is part three of a four part series where Forgotten Land would touch base with all four seasons. Unfortunately this is the last that we’ve heard from him. I don’t know where the hell he is now.

He started his own record label after receiving a good deal of success after releasing his first demo, Ancient Runic Sorcery. It has released a couple of albums from some other bands that I’ve never heard of (primarily ambient and depressive black metal artists), but otherwise there isn’t much else to it. Forgotten Land made one printing of 50 shirts, which all sold out within a week. Other than that, all that there is to buy from his record label are his CDs that come in a thin DVD case. I have already bought all of them and they’re beyond amazing.

The first song is what inspired the name of my depressive black metal solo project, Gethen. This song is very slow and very simple with few notes that eventually build into huge complex chords. This is a song that really touches me because of the entire atmospheric beauty it encircles me with whenever I listen to it. I don’t get all jittery and excited like I do when I listen to other stuff I like (i.e. Opeth, Augury, etc.); instead, I am put into a state of complete Zen and relaxation. For those of you that like to meditate at all, this is the PERFECT record for you.

Beneath the Glacier is an example of a Forgotten Land song with tons of nature sounds; starting with the intro filled with the sounds of water dripping off cave walls. This song takes you under the ice and puts you through absolute peace and serenity; leaving you very happy. The album continues to put you through a state of meditation and peace, and then comes the song I always look forward to whenever I listen to this record.

Snegurochka for some reason is my favorite song off this album. The reason why it doesn’t seem like it should is because it’s literally the same two notes throughout the entire song. But before you turn down this track, turn it on and close your eyes and imagine yourself walking through a forest covered with untouched snow, and let the music make everything around you more beautiful than it already is. This is the prettiest song off the album and if you want me to name a specific song that you should look up first, Snegurochka would be that song.

This is a MASTERPIECE regardless of what genre you want to place it in. Most of you may not know this but even though metal is my favorite kind of music, I listen to literally everything out there; and Forgotten Land has become one of my favorite non-metal bands. I would give this beautiful record a perfect score and would put it on full volume to show the world. I highly recommend that you pick up a physical copy of this because I don’t know how much longer it (and the rest of Forgotten Land’s albums) will be available. 

Please be aware that this is not the original album cover, this is my version of it. 

Dystrophic - Dystrophic [EP]

Dystrophic is a young technical death band that has huge potential. And they have done far more than demonstrate that potential by releasing their self-titled EP last year. If I could find a way to get my hands on a physical copy of this, I will. So please if any of you know where I can find this CD or can send it to me, please leave a comment! I want this record so bad! That’s how damn good it is and I suggest that you should listen to it and buy this hard-to-find EP. There are some extra unnecessary tracks in this album that I think should only be put in a full-length album, not an EP. But regardless, this record is more than enough to make a fan of extremely technical death metal happy.

Another reviewer on Spirit of Metal gave this album a fairly average score and wasn’t majorly impressed by it. I can understand why because he made it clear that really technical death isn’t really his cup of tea. I respect that because there’s no such thing as “good” music. Whether something is good or bad is 100% opinion. And my opinion is that Dystrophic is more than satisfying. Well I think I’ve done enough gushing over this band. You’re here to hear me go into this album’s details.

Dystrophic isn’t the kind of tech death band that has a lot of high-pitched complex lead guitar licks. Most of Dystrophic’s technicality and complexity lies within their drummer. Their drummer is pristine and obviously experienced in the metal music industry because he has the same skill and creativity as the drummer for The Faceless and Psycroptic. But don’t get the idea that the drummer is the only musician going crazy; the guitarists switch chords at unimaginable speeds in the lower down-tuned end of things.

The lyrical themes are obviously apocalyptic and space themed science fiction stories. The vocalist tends to focus more on the destruction of alien worlds and extraterrestrial apocalypses rather than focusing on stuff happening on Earth. This is something that I like to see because they’re expanding the sci-fi themes that more and more metal (primarily progressive and tech death) are choosing to use in their music.

I don’t feel that the interlude and the outro are needed at all. The intro is a bit dull but it has a quick build up at the very end that gets you ready for the explosion of chaos and fury in Total Existence Failure. Dystrophic then continues to constantly bombard you with unrelenting brutality and speed to then lead you into a relieving interlude…to then afterwards continue to bombard you until the end of the record. There’s one problem with their music. And that is that there’s no breaks in the fury, it’s just pure constant brutality and anger and it gets a little boring after listening to it for a while. Of course I have a level of understanding with them since this is their first official release and they’re still getting the hang of the songwriting business.

But as a critic, I’ve developed a habit of comparing every band with someone better. And even when I do that with Dystrophic, there are a lot of things about them that impress me. Believe it or not, this is a self-released album. The reason why this surprises some people is because of how professional the record’s production quality is. As a result of what this album has presented to me, I have become addicted to this band and will be the first person to buy a ticket to their concert and to pre-order their debut full-length release. I would give this record 17/20. 

The Contortionist - Exoplanet

The Contortionist is a band for deathcore fans that are tired of the traditional deathcore sound put out by Suicide Silence, Whitechapel, and Carnifex. There have been some other somewhat “progressive” deathcore bands that have been rising out of the crypts like Winds of Plague, Born of Osiris, and Veil of Maya; but none have been nearly as progressive and experimental as The Contortionist. If you think that these guys have always been progressive, listen to their earlier demos and EPs because they sound like pure deathcore. Even though I was especially impressed by their Apparition EP, their debut full length Exoplanet proves to be far more impressive and mature. Don’t get me wrong, deathcore can sound extremely mature, but it can also sound kind of premature, especially when it’s compared to a band’s latter release that has more of a practiced and confident sound.

Of course anyone can listen to this album and hear deathcore. But there are tons of other recognizable and unrecognizable sounds that The Contortionist decide to throw in. For some reason I keep hearing Oceano peeking their head out here and there. What I mean by that is that some of the breakdowns have that really spooky mystical sound where there’s no muting of the guitars and a slow ambient lead guitar riff perfectly laid on top. Probably the most unique thing about this record is that there are soft progressive rock sounds with singing. Depending on how you look at it, it kind of seems like the modernized-deathcore version of Opeth.

Most of the songs give off the same vibe. The bad part about that is that…well…it shows a slight lack of creativity (although not always). The good part about that is that the vibe those songs give out is amazing and never gets old! When I saw these guys open for Periphery, the crowd was absolutely nuts with me right in the middle of all the action that was going on (primarily in the pit). Watching them perform a flawless 20-minute set with my own eyes and ears proved to me that they truly have what it takes to become huge.

Although I have them listed in my library as “progressive death”, I never use that description when verbally describing them to someone else. I always describe them as “progressive deathcore.” And I know that a lot of you don’t give a crap about all the different genres and whatnot; and be aware that I’m not someone that thinks less of a band if they don’t stay within the walls of a certain genre. I prefer that rather than completely stepping outside the walls of a genre, that bands push and further expand the realms of a genre like The Contortionist has done.

I’m not going to spend too much time describing individual songs because I’m sure to unintentionally leave something out if I do. If Opeth went deathcore, this is most likely what they would sound like. And I would be sad if Opeth did, because they’re perfect where they are; but I’m very glad that finally there is a band that is doing this! Not only is The Contortionist the most experimental and progressive deathcore band out there, they do the best job at it too. I have my physical copy of this album coming in the mail as we speak. Hopefully you can say that too sometime in the very near future. I would give this album 17/20.  

Six Feet Under - Death Rituals

Chris Barnes pretty much had his new band under way by the time he left Cannibal Corpse. Metalheads from around the globe had their attention on Cannibal Corpse and Six Feet Under in 1995. Cannibal Corpse had to release an album to prove that they could go on without the mastermind Chris Barnes behind them; and Chris had to prove that Cannibal Corpse wasn’t just a fluke. In my opinion, Six Feet Under won that battle in 1995 with the release of Haunted. Vile is definitely Cannibal Corpse’s weakest album because they were still getting their grips on things due to being so used to having Barnes practically run the whole band and writing process. After that year, Cannibal Corpse went uphill and Six Feet Under leveled out for a bit to then go downhill with their third album/disaster.

Ever since then, Six Feet Under has released more disasters (that they call albums) than any other death metal band in history. Six Feet Under is responsible for producing some of the worst death metal songs of all time like “Snakes”, “Dead and Buried”, “Deathklaat”, and “One Bullet Left”. Although this is true in the minds of thousands of metalheads worldwide, there is quite a large group of people that have stayed loyal and actually legitimately love Six Feet Under’s post-Maximum Violence albums. For those of you that don’t believe that there are so many people that have been turned away by this band’s later albums, take a look at the other reviews on the net, and go see Six Feet Under in concert because the only CDs they have on sale are their first two (which are really good albums). And here comes 2008, right when I really start getting into death metal and the extreme music world, when Death Rituals is released. This was my first Six Feet Under record.

Honestly, this record is a huge comeback. This is the best album they’ve released in over 10 years. Even though there are quite a few faults contained in this album, it’s a really enjoyable listen that was good enough for me to pitch in some money to buy a physical copy. Just so that this review doesn’t seem completely negative, I’m going to talk about the good stuff first.

Chris Barnes is, hands down, one of the best death metal producers I’ve ever heard. The first time he completely produced an album, it was Commandment, the disasterpiece previous to Death Rituals. The entire production and sound quality that this album holds has everything that makes me happy. The volume of the instruments is perfectly balanced, very clean but crunchy guitar distortion, lots of deep booming bass, and everything is very crisp and clear. If the sound quality of this album wasn’t as good as it is, I probably wouldn’t enjoy listening to it as much.

The music behind most of the songs is outstanding. The band does a perfect job of keeping the listener engaged and happy. The majority of what the band does is pretty simple; but remember, that’s NEVER a bad thing. I never believe that a band’s music has to be technical and complex in order to be interesting. The only times that simple music can be irritating is when it’s repetitive or when the riff is uninteresting. Six Feet Under keeps the album interesting from beginning to end. There isn’t really anything special I have to say about any particular musician because none of them speak out to me as being better than average.

And I’m pretty sure that if you have gotten this far in my review that you’re waiting for me to talk about Barnes. My personal opinion is that Chris Barnes has one of the best death growls of all-time. You may not realize it, but Barnes is primarily the one credited for traditionalizing the deep, guttural death growl that we think of whenever we are asked to describe what it sounds like to someone who doesn’t know. He has one of the deepest growls that send chills down the spines of the weak-hearted; that perfectly fits the Catholic description of what a true demon sounds like. There’s one thing that he does that is absolutely repulsive and makes me laugh every time I hear it. It’s not something I’m going to even attempt to describe, but you can hear it in about 40% of all of Six Feet Under’s repertoire. The songs on Death Rituals that have this disgusting sound are Involuntary Movement of Dead Flesh, Seed of Filth, None will Escape, and Into the Crematorium (there are probably a few others I forgot about but this will get you an idea).

My favorite song off the album is Death by Machete. This is a perfect example of a traditional death metal band throwing in some extra stuff to spice up the sound, but still sticking to a pure death metal sound. I always show this song to people that hate this band and it almost always causes them to gain some respect for Six Feet Under. There’s one example of a major lack in creativity and that is this: listen to Death by Machete, then listen to Into the Crematorium and tell me, what does it sound almost exactly like?

Shot in the Head is another favorite of mine. Every good death metal album has at least one good headbanging track. This is Death Ritual’s headbanging track that can put a smile on anybody’s face. A little piece of trivia for those of you that want to know is that the voice on the telephone in the intro is Chris Barnes. The third song that I never turn down is the last song, Murder Addiction. Death metal in its absolute PUREST form is displayed by this song. For those of you that are looking for something PURE, this is the album for you. Even though this album has many downsides, the “upsides” make up for them…for the most part. This album earns my score of 16/20. 

Orbseven - Fall Below the Earth

Orbseven is a one-man death metal act from Texas performed by a guy known as Zeven. I’m used to solo “bands” being a one-time thing, usually putting out only one or two albums. But this guy has been doing this for almost eight years now! For those of you who don’t like reading long reviews and just want a short description of Orbseven’s sound, it’s mainly old school death metal with a bit of industrial sounds thrown here and there and some parts of ambient keyboard parts. Other than that, there isn’t much else to say besides the fact that this guy is really unknown considering the quality of the music he puts together.

Of course since this an extremely underground project, the sound quality of the recordings suck. But remember, that’s never a bad thing. I’m not sure if this was his goal or if he just had some shitty equipment, but it sounds exactly like some old school death metal album from the late 80s! Even though I’m a huge fan of the old school death metal sound that bands like Grave, Immolation, and Bolt Thrower have been putting out, it’s kind of something that’s hard to still make and sound good. In other words, the majority of the album seems to sound exactly like a death metal band from the 80s. Notice that I said the “majority” of the album’s sound is like that; the record does contain tons of progressive elements that take a couple of listens in order to be heard.

Zeven notes everywhere that he incorporates ambience and black metal into his music. I think this is relatively valid considering that there are several parts of ambient industrial keyboard sounds, but doesn’t give off much of a black metal vibe. The songs go on for quite a considerable length, oftentimes ending up getting repetitive and boring. There are some Incantation-influenced breakdowns in some of the songs that give the headbangers something to do. I don’t know if there is any bass guitar at all in this album, if there is, I can’t hear it; so that’s something that kind of bothers me. There’s this weird effect that Zeven puts on his vocals that struggle to fit in with the rest of the music most of the time. It sounds almost exactly like the voice of the Master Control Program (MCP) from Tron (not the new one kids, the original one). The fifth song, The Void is a Mirror, is apparently what would happen if Vader and Marilyn Manson made love. If you don’t know what I mean or if you don’t believe me, listen to the song and let the sound of the vocals prove the truth.

It’s hard to believe that one person could do something like this! I mean, most of the time when you have a solo act, it’s usually all one or two instruments with tons of keyboards and digital effects. But Zeven here has completely outdone himself by successfully tricking me into thinking that I was listening to a full band, not just one person. So basically my overall opinion on this album is that it’s definitely worth having in your collection if you’re someone foraging for something new. The album’s pretty good, but not something I would scream to the world. I would give this album 12/20. I will be watching this guy waiting for his next release. 

Update

Hey everyone, as you may have noticed, the amount and frequency of album reviews I've been posting has been becoming less and less lately. In case you didn't know, I'm still in high school, so I have A LOT of work to do especially since its the end of the semester. I will be taking a week or two off so that I can focus on school work and other issues that I need to work out. I will start posting again as soon as I can. Thank you all for your support. Keep spreading the word about my reviews!

Regards
+Crinn

DevilDriver - Beast

I came across DevilDriver about the time of the release of their fourth album, which was generally well-received by the majority of the people that have heard it. Although there are many people claiming that DevilDriver has turned into a “sellout” band, I think that they’re getting better and better with each album. I don’t see why people let the amount of popularity a band has influence their opinion on them. Of course I’m aware how fucking huge DevilDriver is; they had Suffocation as a fucking opening act when I saw them! But I don’t let that change my opinion about them at all; my opinion about them would still be the same if they were an opening act for Visceral Disgorge. Anyways, this is the best album they’ve released and this band shows no signs of slowing down.

First of all I would like to give my appreciation to whoever made the album cover because it’s awesome. This album has much more of a breakdown-like sound to it; making it one of the best headbanging albums of all time because they pull it off perfectly while keeping the extremely recognizable DevilDriver sound. The sound that is emitted by this album has more rage and tension than any other DevilDriver record. Although I would still call DevilDriver thrash death, this is the album with the least amount of thrash metal, and even has a tad bit of raging metalcore (obviously due to the breakdowns). The distortion on the guitars is fairly crunchy, perfectly fitting the sound of the album. If they had chosen to stick with the ultra-clean guitar distortions from Pray for Villains, it would have turned out as a disasterpiece rather than a masterpiece.

After years of gradually evolving their sound, DevilDriver decided it was time to do what every good band does at some point in their career, and that was to add a new element to their music, and that was the sound of Soilwork. When I say the sound of Soilwork, I don’t mean the melodic part; I mean the heavy headbanging part in sons like Late for the Kill, Stabbing the Drama, and The Pittsburgh Syndrome. Other than that, this beast of an album (pun intended) is pure DevilDriver; just what I like to hear.

The drumming has improved drastically. The album mixer did a great job of making the drums sound powerful and unrelenting without making them overpower the rest of the band by drowning everything out. The vocalist that has a tattoo for a beard (that I still can’t get used to) has one of the most unique mid-range growls that have a strong yelling sound (which is part of what contributes to their thrash metal sound). Honestly, the vocalist sounds better in this album than in Pray for Villains; which is saying a lot because he was pretty much flawless in that album. The one thing that bothers me is that I can hear the bass and the notes the bassist is playing, but I can’t hear the sounds of the bass guitar. Another thing I forgot to add is that the vocalist obviously feels that he has perfected his scream because he screams a lot more in this album than in the previous ones.

Now let’s take a look at some of the songs. One of the best metal songs of 2011 is Dead to Rights. This is one of the best headbanging songs ever written and is a song I continue to shove in others’ faces because I will do anything to keep this song from going under and being forgotten. Seriously, LISTEN TO THE FIRST SONG OFF THE ALBUM, it’s not something that will disappoint you. And if you say that it sounds too “mainstream”, guess what, there are going to be a lot of people tearing up your ass for putting down that song because it has become a favorite to hundreds of people worldwide (actual statistic). Sometimes I just listen to that one song and forget about the rest of the album, that is, until Hardened starts playing.

The music never stays the same; it’s constantly changing for the duration of the album, keeping the listener interested and engaged, which is what a good album is supposed to do, right? The band is tight and never falls out of time, there are occasional bass booms at the beginning of breakdowns, there is an obvious amount of hard work and effort that was put into the writing process, you can tell that the band cares about what they did and that they didn’t just slap a bunch of random shit together and call it good, and the sound of the album is filled with unrelenting rage and unmerciful power that will blow you away. This album deserves my score of 19/20. 

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.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Meshuggah_Kidman2_2008_Prague.jpg/776px-Meshuggah_Kidman2_2008_Prague.jpg

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Blutklinge - Call of the Blackened Woods [EP]

Unfortunately Blutklinge ceased to exist when their vocalist committed suicide. Even though that happened after I discovered them, they have come to be one of the biggest sources of influence and inspiration for my music. Until about three months ago, I had no idea that they had a full-length album; I thought they just had this EP and a couple of demos (all of which I have acquired). All of the songs and lyrics were written by the vocalist, who is known only as “S”. If you want to look into the mind of a truly depressed person with mixed emotions about pretty much everything, this is an album that you should listen to because it’s very powerful. And on top of that, even though the lyrics are very depressing and powerful, the music is very moving as well.

The overall sound of the album is that of your typical ambient black record. Extremely poor sound quality, little-to-no production work/mixing, atmospheric, slightly out of tune guitars, songs that usually last more than six minutes, and containing an emotional and depressive sound. One of the unique things about this record is that it’s definitely one of the more melodic ambient black records out there. I can’t say that it’s one of the MOST melodic ambient black albums because there’s so much from the genre that I haven’t heard; but it’s certainly one of the most melodic out of the ambient black albums in my library.

I absolutely love the sound of the lead vocalist. He has that really rough gravely sound that doesn’t have that high-pitched tone, but it doesn’t sound like he’s choking on a duck. The extremely fuzzy guitar distortion isn’t the type that is unpleasant to the ears; in fact, it’s the opposite. Some of the drumming that is done during some parts of the song is a bit unnecessary, mainly with the overuse of the symbols.

The first song off of the EP is my favorite; I sometimes end up not getting through the album because I get stuck on this one song. The vocals are crisp; there is an excellent mix of depressive highly-distorted parts and soft semi-acoustic parts. The lead guitar line does get a bit repetitive during the second half of the song that starts after the raining sounds. Adversary is one of those songs that really touches me and makes me feel a sense of connection, being someone that has been living with depression my whole life; so this song is very powerful for me and is something I always go back and listen to. Although it’s obvious that the two members spend a great deal of time writing and practicing this song, there doesn’t seem to be much structure within the song; which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just means that the song is completely unpredictable unless you’ve listened to it hundreds of times like I have.

Probably my least favorite thing about this EP is the opening scream in the title song. It’s obviously not the lead vocalist making that horrible cry, but it still sounds extremely unattractive (which was probably their intent). This is the most melodic song on the record, having some keyboard-simulated choir voices giving the song an extremely beautiful atmosphere and ambience. The drumming in this song isn’t really that good; but other than those two downers, this song is amazing.

The third track is an instrumental that has a complete absence of drums and distorted guitars. When I say that this album has a lot of ambience and emotion, this is the song that best describes the melodic, soft, delicate, and beautiful side of that. The acoustic and soft electric guitars are the instruments that back up the slightly repetitive melodic keyboard riff that still sounds pretty even though it doesn’t really change at all throughout the song; but that’s where tolerance and patience comes in.

The final track on this EP has a strong traditional black metal vibe with some obvious old-school Darkthrone influence. This shows that the band has at least some diversity in music styles that they can play as well as having outside inspiration from bands that don’t fit in the exact genre that they do. After about three or so minutes of this classic Darkthrone sound, the music fades into the sounds of rainfall and wolves howling which then transitions back to the signature Blutklinge sound.

Overall, this is one of my favorite EPs. This band has influenced the music I write ever since I started three years ago. So for those of you that like the melodic side of black metal, this is definitely a four-song piece you should look up. There isn’t anything else quite like it and gets my score of 15/20.