Tag Archives: metal album reviews

ALBUM REVIEW: Avenged Sevenfold – Life Is But A Dream…

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Avenged Sevenfold are potentially one of the most divisive metal acts out of the US since Metallica. All you need to do is look at their previous two albums, 2013’s Hail To The King & 2016’s The Stage to see the extreme polar oppositions these albums created. The former for how the band wore their Metallica influence on their sleeve, creating their own version of The Black Album, and then the following 2016 release throwing all of their previous influences and sounds up in the air, bringing in outside sources from the likes of Pink Floyd, and creating a wholly new progressive rock/metal experience.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Allochiria – Commotion

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The trajectory of the Greek sludge/post-metal unit Allochiria’s career started pretty long ago in 2008. To this day, they have released a self-titled EP and three full-length LPs to note. While being strong on post-metal coded slow-paced progressions, they also incorporate a touch of hardcore nuance manifested by how vocalist Irene presents inclement blackened growls on their songs. And, so, they are back on releasing a full-length, which is also their third one, titled Commotion via Venerate Industries.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Phlebotomized – Clouds Of Confusion

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With a career that has spanned 30-plus years to date (factoring in a 16-year departure), Dutch Death Metaller’s Phlebotomized are a band with a legacy and a cult following even amongst extreme music. Attributed as being one of the first such bands to use additional instrumentation including synths, theirs was a sound that was considered by many unique and pioneering at the time and in part a clear influence on many bands since then and in the current day. With this in mind, how does the new Phlebotomized hold up in the current day? On the evidence of Clouds Of Confusion (Hammerheart), pretty well.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Church Of The Dead – Beyond Death

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Church of the Dead are ready to release more crushing old-school Death Metal with their second album Beyond Death (Redefining Darkness). The band does a terrific job of infusing several different styles into their classic death metal assault, black metal, some light synths, and even some punk rock are all thrown into the mix. The results leave a riff-heavy album that relies more on sheer power and brutality than any over-the-top theatrics.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Suffering Quota – Collide

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Grindcore is one of those subgenres in the heavy music world that is often overlooked and is also one of the most abrasive. To a point where sometimes it is difficult to differentiate bands at times as the typical criteria of what makes a grindcore band, are quite narrow. Sometimes, the borders are pushed outward, such as can be seen on the latest Suffering Quota album, Collide (Tartarus Records). Take traditional grindcore, toss in some death metal, and make the breakdowns count with powerviolence, and you are left with the audio recordings of a true beatdown.

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EP REVIEWS ROUND-UP- ft. Black Coast – Halocene – Tokky Horror – Loud As Giants – Swollen Teeth – Spinebreaker

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Bursting onto the scene, as Potteries pounders Black Coast did with Outworld their 2021 debut, is one thing, keeping the momentum going is another, and from the onset of the raging ‘REAL (Are You Listening)?’, it’s clear the five-piece contemporary metal outfit are not just looking to do that, but they intend not to waste the opportunity this five-song offering gives to remind people just how good and how potent they are ahead of any subsequent longer releases.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Radien – Unissa Palaneet

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Since forming in 2014, Sludge band, Radien have released a range of different releases displaying their power and skill in creating their own devastating blackened influenced sounds. Their latest album Unissa Palaneet, despite only being five tracks long, lasts a tremendous forty-six minutes, almost half of which is taken up by the final track, clocking in at twenty-one minutes. As you can tell from the get-go, this isn’t a band with dreams of hitting the charts. It is clear from the offset of their music, these artists have a creative vision of the brutal and animalistic sounds they can present to the world.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Burial Clouds – Last Days Of A Dying World

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Since their previously solitary release, Portland, Oregon doom metaller’s Burial Clouds have undergone a significant change into an almost entirely new entity. Once entirely an instrumental outfit, the band have since added vocalist Michael Malarkey to their ranks; and with that have added extra dimensions to their sound as shown on debut full-length Last Days Of A Dying World (Church Road Records).

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ALBUM REVIEW: Drain – Living Proof

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I was familiar with Drain thanks to them being name-dropped by fellow Santa Cruz Hardcore outfit Scowl, whose Psychic Dance Routine EP I had the good fortune of reviewing recently. Therefore when the promo list came round and I spotted Living Proof (Epitaph Records) on there, it was simply too good an opportunity to pass up.

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REVIEWS ROUND-UP: ft. Enforced – Chronicle – Vintersea – Ignea – Burning Witches

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While paring Enforced’s third album, War Remains (Century Media) down to a violent interbreeding of Seasons In The Abyss and Nightmare Logic may seem a little unfair and reductive, nonetheless, it immediately focuses the mind on the sort of aggressive perfection you have in store on this utter treat of metallic pummelling. Continue reading →