RoundTable Review: Fleshgod Apocalypse – King

Album:  King

Label:  Nuclear Blast

Release Date:  5 Feb 2016

Songs:   22

Length:  1 Hour, 48 Minutes

Genre:  Symphonic Black/Death Metal

Studio Albums:  Oracles (2009); Agony (2011); Labyrinth (2013).

Location:  Italy

Album Review: Six Feet Under – Crypt of the Devil

Album:  Crypt of the Devil

Release Date:  5 May 2015

Label:  Metal Blade

Songs:  10

Length:  37 Minutes

Previous Albums:  Haunted (1995); Warpath (1997); Maximum Violence (1999); True Carnage (2001); Bringer of Blood (2003); 13 (2005); Commandment (2007); Death Rituals (2008); Undead (2012); Unborn (2013).

Genre:  Death Metal

Location:  Florida, United States

Six Feet Under is back with another dose of groove-laden death metal. The only problem the groove part.  The classic rhythm that laid the foundation for most of the eleven Six Feet Under albums simply doesn’t exist on Crypt of the Devil.  Instead, it has been mostly replaced with blast beats, tighter riffs, and abrupt tempo changes.  On paper, that really doesn’t sound like a problem does it?  For some reason it doesn’t work as well as I think they might have planned.  There is either something missing from the recipe or there is too much of something that spoiled the end result.  Let’s figure this out… 

Album Review: Forgotten Tomb – Hurt Yourself and the Ones You Love

Album:  Hurt Yourself and the Ones You Love

Release Date:  17 April 2015 (EU); 21 April 2015 (North America)

Label:  Agonia Records

Songs:  7

Length:  51 Minutes

Genre:  Doom/Black/Stoner

Location:  Italy

Previous Albums:  Songs to Leave (2002); Springtime Depression (2003); Love’s Burial Ground (2004); Negative Megalomania (2007); Under Saturn Retrograde (2011); …And Don’t Deliver Us from Evil (2012).

If you tried combining black metal, doom, stoner, and a bit of 70s style hard rock, do you think you could do it?  What could possibly go wrong?  Well, a lot could go wrong.  While stoner rock/metal tends to lean on the hippy, happier, beer drinking side of metal, doom is rather moody and laced with melancholy.  Not always, but mostly.  While black metal is extreme, 70s hard rock is far from it.  Combining all of those elements seems hugely challenging to me and seems like it would be difficult to process as a listener.  

Album Review: Mach Dich Frei by Finsterforst

In my CD collection I have a few CDs where I have no idea when or where I bought them.  They just kinda appeared.  One of those is this double CD called Urwerk by Finsterforst.  It’s nothing outstanding; an ok record.  Still for the life of me, I can’t remember ever buying it.  Anyhoo, I’ve only really listened to it a handful of times and it basically sounds like Moonsorrow plus an accordion player hopped up on a cocktail of cocaine and amphetamines.  Not bad, but a tad repetitive, long-winded, and that overload of accordion can get a bit annoying at times.  I do appreciate the ‘what if Korpiklaani were a black metal band’ thing as an experiment, but… Oh, well.  So, when I saw that we got a promo for the latest record from this anomaly in my CD collection I decided to give it a spin to see if these guys were still berating listeners with post-neo-accordion-black-metal.  To my surprise, what I found is nearly a whole different band who kept their best elements, shook their formula around, and sent their accordion player to rehab.  In short, a band which has really matured a lot since my last experience with them.

Album Review: Furyon – Lost Salvation

As much as I love complicated rhythms, odd time signatures, blast beats, deathly growls, and other wild riffs and things; sometimes I like music that doesn’t have any of that.  There are numerous bands fitting for what I am talking about, but a standout among the newcomers of the music world is Furyon.  From the southern UK comes the latest album Lost Salvation, the sophomore effort from these classic hard rockers.

Album Review: Marilyn Manson – The Pale Emperor

Album:  The Pale Emperor

Label:  Hell, Etc.

Release Date:  20 Jan 2015

Length (deluxe edition):  66 Minutes

Songs:  13

Previous Albums:  8 studio albums

Genre:  Shock Rock / Industrial / Alternative

Location:  United States 

Album Review: Lord Dying – Poisoned Altars

Album:  Poisoned Altars

Release Date:  27 Jan 2015 (US); 23 & 26 Jan 2015 EU and World

Label:  Relapse

Songs:  8

Length:  37 Minutes

Genre:  Sludge / Doom / Metal!

Sounds Like:  Crowbar / Mastodon / High On Fire / Red Fang / Black Tusk

Location:  Portland, OR USA

Various progressive metal releases to get excited about in 2015

This is only a small selection of the best upcoming progressive rock/metal releases, some that have already been announced and others from bands who are working on new material.

*It’s been almost four years since the last Symphony X and now it’s time for their ninth work of art to reach our ears. The band says they are going back to their older sound, a mix of previous albums “The Odyssey” and “Paradise Lost” (those are not very old…), less heavy,  more melodic and classic sounding. Interesting! It’s set for an early 2015 release. Listen to older Symphony X.

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*A couple of days ago I read a claim that “Australian prog will take over the world”, and felt there’s hope for a bright future after all! Arcane are contributing to this cause, after a successful crowd funding campaign, with their ambitious 2-disc concept album “Known/Learned”, fronted by Caligula’s Horse’s brilliant vocalist Jim Grey. The songs are divided on two discs – the first one being on the heavy, traditional side of prog and the second goes into lighter acoustic/folk songs. A deep, thoughtful story of a father and his daughter on a bittersweet journey through life. Release date: January 20th.

Album Review: Johnny Wore Black – Walking Underwater Part II

Album:  Walking Underwater Part II

Release Date:  26 Nov 2014

Songs: 10

Genre:  Alternative / Alt Rock

Previous Albums:  Walking Underwater Part I (2014)

Location:  England 

More Goodies of 2014: Schöngeist / Kreyskull / Myrkur / Slow Season / Synodik

These albums all carry the Mammal Seal of Approval. So will the other Goodies of 2014 we’ll be sharing in the next few days. My seal is more powerful than the US Navy Seals and as handsome as an elephant seal.

This year we’ve reviewed close to 150 albums and posted streams, songs, videos and previews from as many again. We must have listened to about 300 other albums that we haven’t discussed. Some of those albums are more than worth mentioning as the year draws to a close.

Go on, give them a listen. They’re not presented in any order of preference.