Imperial Crystalline Entombment - Apocalyptic End In White

Luke:

So, I listen to an inumerable number of albums over the course of a day or a week or whatever it may be. And, in particular, it seems I am flooded as of late with either an inordinate amount of "doom" metal which is about 4 percent awesome, 96 percent shit and this abomination everyone is so hype on right now which is underproduced, overstated, underplayed "black metal" made, for the most part, by guys who pass off their sound as "grim" and "kvlt" which basically means no skill, no money, and no dynamics. And so, that being said, the percentage of good to god awful is even less.

I can't say this falls into any category aligning itself with the above mentioned "style" but what I will say is that this is probably the best black metal release I've heard in at least five years.

These guys aren't reinventing any wheels or anything but rather, polishing ones that are rusting away in an age of "grimmness."

Apocalyptic End In White starts out with sort of an ambient track that I guess sets the mood for the opening track "Astral Frost Invocation" which is a blasting, oppressive ode to their frosty netherworld. It pretty much continues non-stop all the way through the record. Ten tracks and not a single one of them lacks. This is black metal the way I like it and I couldn't care less about what this says about my status amongst the rest of these kind of dudes.

If you like Immortal, Dark Funeral, or any of the other bands of that ilk, immediately get your hands on Apocalyptic End In White. I think this has been out for a couple of years but has only recently come to my attention. I have no idea if they play shows or are purely a studio thing but I look forward to more output from these white wizards.

4/5 for sure.

Joe:

As I put this disc into the player a cold and misty bog seeped into my house. Then snow started to fall from the ceilings, orcs started crawling out from the cracks in my floorboards, and through the dense and icy fog... i think i saw druids. As the intro to the album "Apocalyptic End In White" drew to a close, everything in my house instantly became coated in an inch of ice.

The opening words to "Astral Frost Invocation" say it all. To paraphrase; They are fucking I.C.E.. The most grim and kvlt band to ever exist, Period.

These gents keep their metal so black that it leaves the listener seeing nothing but white. That's right, I said it. Track after track, these guys do not let up for a second. Each track more grim than the previous. Being the most kvlt band EVER aside, Imperial Crystalline Entombment is set apart by not only thier solid songwriting skills, but also thier impecable taste in riffs and flawless exection. Everything on this album is tight as can be, but in contrast to the overly protooled bands of today, it still sounds like real musicians playing rather than drum programs and overly quantized guitars that start to sound like keyboards.

Really, not much needs to be said about the Gods of Grim. If you like black metal and are sick of the crap comming out these days trying to pass itself off as Black metal [READ: Nick Cage's bitch metal son's band whatever the hell their moronic name is] then this will remind you what Kvlt is all about.

Pop this album in and watch ice covered castles pop up in your bathtub and immedately become surrounded by moats filled with iceburgs and snow gremlins. Put on your artic gear and get ready for the best 40 minutes of Grim ever.

My rating? 5 frozen inverted crosses out of 5: ULTIMATE GRIM

The Famine - The Raven And The Reaping

Joe:

Often times, i find myself not wanting to listen to bands that classify themselves under the "Christian" label. That very label has become synonymous with preachy, shove views down your throat additudes of overindulgence, but from time to time I look past the label and give bands a listen and its paid of big time. Some of my favorite bands of all time include Living Sacrifice and Extol. Though their message isnt always something I identify with, but the musicianship and compositions are just too good to ignore, so I found myself checking this band out a few monthes ago and was pleasantly surprised.

Solid State recording artists, The Famine come at thier audience with a Death Metal and Gindcore infused sound that bring to mind bands such as Living Sacrifice, Through The Eyes Of The Dead, and Suffocation. Some may remember 3/5s of this band from their previous works in the Seminal Christian band EMBODYMENT. They have some legit chops as a product of being seasonsed veterans and thier lyrics are minimal in the preachy area, so they have allowed this album to be accessable by all audiences and not just those of the christian faith. Thier Debut Full Length " The Raven And The Reaping" has a great pace. After the albums short intro of chant and abience it keeps a high energy pace the entire time. No clean breaks, just riffage all the way through.

Though, a pretty standard metal band by definition, they happen to be great at crafting thier songs, so the songs remain interesting the entire way through. Something that really comes out with this album is the production. Its got a really guitar heavy mix, its real gritty, yet polished at the same time. Which is refreshing after the slew over HIGHLY over produced metal albums that end up sounding like a mass of keyboards rather than people actually playing guitars and drums.

The downfall of this album might lye in their reluctance to push any boundaries in thier genre. The songs are well crafted but you deffinately won't hear anything new on this release, but being a reletively new band that is on thier first full legnth, it's forgivable and leaves "The Raven And The Reaping" as [hopefully] a preview of things to come as this sounds as if they are still trying to feel out the style of the project.

My Rating: 3/5

Luke:

Alright. This was a big one for me I think. I was an enormous fan of these guys previous band, Embodyment. Well, let me rephrase that. I was a huge fan of that bands demos and their first release on Solidstate Records, "Embrace the Eternal." So suffice it to say, I was on it when these guys released their demos on their myspace and I was pretty pleased with what I heard. Although not exactly an Embodyment copy, I could see some progression from then to now and I anticipated greatness with this record. 

What I liked about Embodyment was their ability to craft excellent metal songs with memorable riffs and, almost more importantly, memorable vocal lines. Unfortunately, my expectations were not met with "The Raven and The Reaping." For all of my anticipation, I've listened to this album a few times now and to be honest, I can't remember a single riff or lyric to the whole thing. It's not that the riffs or the vocal lines are bad by any means. To me, they're just so run of the mill. As Joe said, they certainly aren't breaking any new ground with this release and I didn't necessarily expect them to. But at the very least, I expected to be humming riffs or vocals in my head for a few weeks following. And that didn't happen. This is basically a death metal album with lots of metalcore leanings. 

The production is fantastic though. Real gritty with an excellent clarity if that's not an oxymoron. Andreas Magnusson recorded this at his Red Planet Studios in Richmond Virginia where he's done a slew of other work including records from Scarlet, The Black Dahlia Murder, etc. So at the very least, you can plan on a good sounding record. 

I'm sure there are quite a few kids who will slather over this. I believe this band is going to be touring with Demonhunter soon which, to me, is silly but it makes sense. I just wish they'd push their boundaries a bit more and jump full on into the brutality that I know they're capable of. I'm not going to write The Famine off just yet... I'll give it to the next record for something mindblowing. If they last that long. I won't be spinning this very often.

2/5

Anaal Nathrakh - Hell Is Empty And All The Devils Are Here

If I had the time I'd write reviews of all of this British bands records because most of them are fairly impressive from what I've heard. Unfortunately, this is the only one I've heard all of the way through and I'm going to save myself the embarassment of looking like an asshole.

Anaal Nathrakh, for all intensive purposes, is a two man black metal/grind act and this is their first record on their own Feto records. I believe they rarely play live but when they do, they are joined by additional musicians; most notably, Shane Embury of fellow British grind legends Napalm Death. If you are familiar with any of their output, you can probably roughly imagine what to expect here. Probably not totally, though.

This is a non-stop experiment in grueling, grinding, black metal insanity. I have a tendency to seek out bands that attempt this sort of style as referenced in the previous Scar Symmetry review... Zyklon, Myrkskog, etc. And this is certainly along those same lines but also, in a completely different realm.

If you are a fan of the more aggressive parts of those bands or a band like Dark Funeral, you'd do well to pick this up. The album boasts 11 tracks in just over a half hour and to describe it as unrelenting would be an understatement. In the past the band has more or less relied on the gritty extremity of their recordings to convey their rather unique brand of grind influenced black metal to, unfortunately, little fanfare. On 'Hell Is Empty...' the band branches out musically and ups the bar recording wise. The album starts out with a brooding instrumental intro and jumps head first into the thrashing, blasting "Der Holle Rache Kocht In Meinem Herzen." If hells revenge is, infact, cooking in their hearts, this is the musical accompaniment of this endeavor. One of the things that pulls this album together creatively and musically are the clean vocals interspersed with the breakneck drums/riffs. "Virus Bomb" is a good example of this lending to an almost anthemic feeling that is replicated in a few different spots in the album but never gets old or played out.

As for the production, it is oddly clean despite the fact that the quality is gritty and abrasive. The guitar tone has a noisy, almost solidstate quality to it that is refreshingly warm despite the cold feel of the riffs. I can't tell with the drums, whether they are live or programmed. I'd imagine they are live but some of the finer points sort of indicate programming. There are a lot of bands using programmed drums to their advantage as of late (Plague Bringer being a decent example) and I wouldn't be surprise if these were. Though they sound full and dynamic. I can't really make out a lot of the bass lines but I think it's because of the noisy quality of the guitar tone and probably the inclusion of a distortion pedal on said bass tracks.

One good thing about this record is that, while there is quite a bit going on, it's not difficult to grasp it all and the songs are short enough that you don't have to have the attention span of Stephen Hawking to comprehend it all. And before you know it, it's over.

I'm going to say this is the best black metal influenced album I've heard this year and as I mentioned, the clean vocals are a welcome addition and I hope in the future they expand the use of more diverse vocal styles. Look for this in any reputable store and tell your friends about it. This is the future of black metal.

4/5

Joe:

I am generally not a fan of Anaal Nathrakh and thats largely based on thier vocal approach and history of barely listenable recording quality. With that in mind, I really wasnt expecting much when I listened to "Hell Is Empty And All The Devils Are Here." However, I was pleasently surprised.

Right off the bat, its apparent that a little more care was put into the recording process and unlike thier previous releases, this one is actually pretty good quality. The guitars have a great full tone and the drums actually sound like drums, a much more pleasureable listening experience. The music itself is a great step forward and actually has a little more of a thrash groove to it than thier previous efforts and they have added some melodic vocals. Hmm, never thaught I would be hearing this from these guys.

An aspect of Anaal Nathrakh and thier music overall is either you like thier delivery or not and there isnt a whole lot of middle ground. They have a signature sort of vocals and may be a bit of a turn off for many, and for me it deffinately is. Though they have diversified thier sound a little, I still am just not into these guys and I had a hard time getting through the album. For thier long time fans this album just might be thier best yet, and is a must listen to, but I just cant see myself listening to this again.

My Rating: 2/5

Scar Symmetry - Holographic Universe

Joe:

Scar Symmetry has returned with the follow up to thier highly praised 2006 release "Pitch Black Progress", with a stunning new array of songs in the form of "Holographic Universe." This 12 song Nuclear Blast released opus is a simply stunning listen all the way through and is sure to please fans of prog, death metalic, thrash, and just about every form of metal in the spectrum, but is also quit palatable even to music fans that would not usually catch themselves listening to metal of any sort.

For those unfamiliar with Scar Symmetry, this Sweden based group was formed in 2004 by members of and former members of Carnal Forge, Torchbearer, Theory In Practice and Altered Aeon. With thier feet firmly planted in the realm of metal they have seamlessly thickened their sound and musical repetoir with forrays into prog, death, thrash, complex polyrhythms and pop vocal hooks. Now on thier 3rd official release, Scar Symmetry seem to have poised themselves to take themselves to the top of metal world with this instantly classic release.

As the metalworld has become highly competitive, with bands fighting to "out tech" eachother, to be heavier, and to all around raise the bar, it seems that Scar Symmetry is taking on all commers. From heavy synth hooks on "Morphogenesis" to the tranquil passages in "The Missing Coordinates" and all the way to the in your face near black metal groove of the albums Title Track, "Holographic Universe" never lets up with the quality of music. There are no filler tracks and every song seems to be crafted with the utmost care.

What most noticeable sets this release apart from its metal counterparts is not only the vocal abilities of vocalist Christain Alvestam is that he has taken risks on this release with his melodies with parts that seem they could be right out of the latest top 40 rock release, yet it never sounds out of place. Where most bands would attempt and fail at encorperating other styles of music into thier sounds, Scar Symmetry has come out as champion. In a world where most of the metal bands have moved to more accessable sounds and as a result sound more and more like the nu metal of the late 90s and now appeal to the hot topic crowds [example: that joke of a record that In Flames just put out. holy shitstacks batman] Scar Symmetry offers up something as accessible as any but at the same time remains as brutal as can be whilst still showcasing an amazing ammount of talent at all times.

The bottom line is, you need this record. It's a breath of fresh air into the metal world and a much needed kick in the pants for many bands out there that make excuses and claim that you cant be accessable and outright heavy at the same time. "Holographic Universe" is a masterpiece and is essential for any collection.

My Rating? 5/5 flawless

Luke:

Alright. So, I'm going to start by saying two things. One, this is another band I have no previous reference point with other than their past band associations and two, this is normally not my cup of tea.

That being said, I would love to see this performed live. For those not in the know, this is, for lack of a better term (but not to be limited by it) a progressive thrash record. It spans the gammut of styles though for the most part. Included herein are elements of death metal, black metal, symphonic metal, rock and, GASP!, pop. If you can believe it. 

The recording quality is top notch. Everything is completely audible and all of the levels are set. It retains a level of heaviness while still eschewing said diverse elements of all different styles of music. 

I could spend hours discussing the validity of this style of music and arguing whether this is actually "legit" in terms of modern metal standards. It is certainly not "grim" or "kvlt" in reference to the black metal associations but I could see these guys touring with a band like Zyklon or Myrkskog and being right at home. I could also see them on the road with other more mainstream acts like ShadowsFall and not being far off the mark. 

There are so many bands attempting to do this right now and this is one of the few bands I've heard that do it well. My only problem with the album is that, throughout, every clean passage reminds me of pretty much everything I hate about adult contemporary music. Super produced and melodic but also, weak in terms of structure and impact. And that's not to say it wouldn't be impressive live but, there's only so much Fabio rock I can handle. 

On the upside, I don't see this being something that will enamor the millions of "metal" hungry youths purely because it's not an easy style of music to understand. It is dense and it is diverse. Which I like. But, some of it reminds me of Bryan Adams on steroids. Which I don't like.

Those factors notwithstanding, this is a group of incredibly talented individuals and I think that the rest of the extreme music community could do well to take a few cues from these guys and branch out a little in terms of what they are willing to do with their music. This is full of strange and wonderful time changes, unbelievable songwriting and a mastery of instruments rarely seen in todays metal. And for me, if this was all extreme and no contemporary, I would listen to it non-stop. As I mentioned, it reminds me of a band like Zyklon in those respects. But, unfortunately, I won't be listening to it often because the clean vocals/passages sour the entire record for me. I'm sure there are people who salivate for this kind of shit. For me, I'll stick with the more aggressive side of things.

Bottom line, this is an amazing feat of musical ingenuity. It is pretty difficult from a musicians standpoint to blend styles so contrasting and make it work, let alone work well. Which this does. It's just not something I'll be spinning very often. If you are into any of the bands mentioned herein or even bands like Symphony X, Spiral Architect, Atheist, Cynic or anything similar, you may dig this. But, be warned... the clean vocals are a harsh addition to this otherwise spotless album. 

3/5

Abysmal Dawn - Programmed to Consume

Luke:

I'm not particularly familiar with this band or any of their previous work if there is any. So I don't have anything to compare it to as far as whether this is a benchmark release for them as a band being their first on Relapse records.

However, I believe I've read a couple of reviews of this or, at the very least, have read some bi-lines about it being melodic death metal that is comparable to At The Gates, Dissection, and whatever other bands usually get lumped into that category. I don't really see where that comparison is relevant. I mean, this sounds like quite a few other bands I could name and I wouldn't necessarily put this in the melodic category, per se.

This is fairly typical death metal and honestly I'm surprised the band ended up on Relapse. The label has certainly been branching out as of late and releasing some unexpected material but, normally what I get is that what they are doing is, in some fashion, trying to push some envelope and this album isn't having any of that.

I've listened to this on two different sets of speakers so far and on both, the recording is shit. There is nothing really wrong with the rhythm guitar tone exactly but when it comes to solos, they're waaaaay back in the mix and they remind me of the first time I listened to Suffocations 'Breeding the Spawn' and I got so pissed because I knew there was something going on, I just couldn't tell what because the recording was so bad. Could've had something to do with the tape deck in my Sentra but none the less, not pleased. To me, it sounds like these guys sat down, listened to some mid nineties Metal Blade records and said, "we should do something like this."

The vocals here seem really strained. Maybe they should've been accented with more reverb or something but they are mediocre at best in terms of the quality of the recording and the phrasing. There is a good variation of range in the vocals, I think, but it's just so generic. You can literally plan an idea of what you think will happen next in your head and it will actually happen.

Now... the drums. This is the worst of it. This guy has to be more competent than this. This is one of the sloppiest drum performances I've heard come from a respected label release in a long long time. I never thought I'd say I wish these guys would've quantized this but, put that shit on a grid. We can hear you fucking up. Please, please, for the love of christ, if you are in a band who can fool label guys into giving you a deal that will expose you to masses... please take the time to record something that at the very least, stands up to the rest of the mediocre shit that's out there.

This is a demo. It sounds like a mastered demo. I think they probably have the ability to do something good in the future if they stick with it but, if they continue releasing shit that sounds like it was recorded in a can of potted meat, I'll just go back to listening to 'Breeding the Spawn' and being furious. Like I am now.

1 out of 5


Joe:

Today's music scene i vastly different than say even 5 years ago. With the birth of myspace came an entirely new playing field in which musicians could create [with the help of now affordable recording equipment] and share thier music to people all over the world without a record label. The upside of this is that more people are now hearing more and more highly skilled musicians from around the world that might not have been heard before and as a result gaining fanbases much larger than previously possible and with far far less work and getting signed by labels. The downside to this is that now with all this music out there there are also a slew of over glorified coverbands who follow trends and emulate note for note whatever seems to be the next big thing and on that side of things, the music scene is suffering.

Gladly aiding to the pool of generic pool of "melodic death" out there is Abysmal Dawn and by damned they are on Relapse of all labels! Listening to this record was no treat. I found myself forgetting everything about all the songs the second after they were done. I even went back and relistened to a few cuts to try to get it to sink in, but nothing. Song after song of played out "Gothenburg" cliche made famous throughout the metal world by the early works of such bands as In Flames and Dark Tranquility along with a load of cheap Dissection and At The Gates rip offs.

One thing that sticks out on this record is the sloppiness of many of the drum parts. I guess by todays overly protools aided and quantize processed drums that it could have been admirable for the band to not use such methods, but the result is often cluttered sounding and just not very palatable. Another thing that this offering by Abysmal Dawn brings to question is what is the deal with thier leads? Not only is the audio quality of the leads on "Programmed To Consume" poor but the actual performence is lacking and some of the parts are simply distasteful.

To be honest I would listen to the latest Cryptopsy over this any day [sigh]. Programmed To Consume by Abysmal Dawn is as bland and mediocre as it could possibly be. At times I thaught that maybe I was listening to an unreleased album by The Black Dahlia Murder until the poor drumming made it quite apparent that there was no way that TBDM would ever higher this guy. So if you see this album in a store, on itunes, or even on some blog where you can steal it: Seriously, just dont even bother.

My Rating 1/5 [lets hope i dont agree on luke about everything!]

Cryptopsy - The Unspoken King

Luke:

I can't remember when this was sent to me but it was a minute or so before the record actually came out and I don't believe that it was the final master or anything. There has been quite a bit to do about this record for the most part because of three things.

There was the exit of Lord Worm (again), and then all of this hubub about clean vocals entering the mix as well as a keyboard player. Needless to say the first songs that I heard from this were god awful to my ears. I think they were fairly underproduced and the presence of the clean vocals turned me off immediately as it did with a good majority of fans around the world judging from the chatter.

But I'm glad I took a listen to the final product in it's entirety.

Let me start out by saying that this isn't a total throw away. There is quite a bit of strong material on here and I can't deny it for this. Yes, there is something of a stylistic change to the album as a whole from their past records but hints of those classics can be heard... for the first three tracks or so I'd say.

Lord Worm left big shoes to fill after his departure and there has been quite a bit of speculation as to whether Matt McGachy could hang. A lot of people said the same for Mike DiSalvo and I thought what he did with the band was killer. He added a bit of range to it at the time even though he wasn't full on guttural. That being said, McGachy certainly holds his own here in terms of sheer vocal diversity. It is clear he has a talent for using a number of different approaches vocally. His highs are raspy and the lows are at the very least intelligible. The problem is that the cleans are not what I want to hear from this band. I respect his talent for what it is but when clean vocals come in, I am immediately reminded of those old Glassjaw records. I didn't mind them and actually checked out the band live a couple times and was pleased with their live show. But, Cryptopsy has a legacy of punishment and the last thing I want in a Cryptopsy record is melodic vocals. You'll hear this for the first time at :38 in "Bemoan the Martyr" and probably become enraged and turn the record off immediately like I did.

I think from the standpoint of vocal ability as a whole, Matt McGachy has DiSalvo and Worm hands down. He's got a much wider range and although I'm not a fan of the clean vocals, he does have singing ability. This is just not the venue to showcase that. 2:03 in "Leach" is a point where I was almost convinced that this was going to turn into a Juliana Theory record or some shit.

That being said, the riffs here for the most part are solid and what I would expect from a new Cryptopsy record and certainly more memorable than anything on 'Once was Not (which, unfortunately, isn't saying much.)' There are a lot of idiots who have said that the riffs here are standard deathcore pap and I disagree. They're still complex and crushing. The tone is excellent and you can hear everything that's going on. So it's not a complete loss in that department even though the presence of the unbelievably intrusive clean vocals make the parts in which they are present, good guitar composition and tone notwithstanding, unbearable to listen to.

Not much needs to be said for the drumming. If you are familiar with Cryptopsy then you are aware of Mounier's skill and his sound.

As for the keyboard addition, to be honest, I didn't hear much. On the parts where they venture into the "poppier" side for lack of better term, there are a couple of hints that an X8 may be involved or something similar. But, the point is that they are unneeded.

The bottom line is that this is going to turn off 99 percent of OG Cryptopsy fans. And I understand it. I'd say get ahold of the first three tracks and don't waste your time with this if you are opposed to people straying from a tried and true path.

I have a feeling that I'm going to be seeing quite a few 13 year old kids wearing brand new Cryptopsy shirts from Hot Topic.

My vote? 2 out of 5.

Joe:
I think Luke hit the nail on the head when he said that the "bottom line is that this is going to turn off 99 percent of OG Cryptopsy fans." And sadly, I am one of those people. I have been listening to the band for around 10 years now and for me this Album is a massive dissappointment.

Where I stray a bit is at the point of the bands loss of Lord Worm. In recent years I have come to dislike Worm's voice and style, so when I heard that he was once again no longer in the band I got a bit excited that they would be getting a new vocalist and the possibility of vocals that, to me, would be a little thicker in tone and have a little more range. So when it was announced that Matt McGachy from 3 Mile Screem would be thier new vocalist, I had high hopes. Those hopes were quickly erased when I heard the 2 umixed and unmastered tracks that were leaked to the internet.

At first I thaught that maybe these tracks were a joke and not actually by Cryptopsy. Upon listening to this album, i learned it was no joke and that this was the new version of Cryptopsy.

Looking at this album objectively and with the best set of fresh eyes I can, it really could be worse, but for a band of Cryptopsy's stature, its pathetic at best. The musicianship is great as always, but what they chose to do with it is highly questionable. True, bands evolve over time and its healthy for any group of musicians to do so, but in this case I have suspicions that the change in sound may be a cheap attempt at becomming "more accessable" and appealing to the Hot Topic crowds. it is no help that they added the ever trendy female keyboardist to the bands line up and as expected, you cant even hear her playing on hardly any of the songs. At the points in which keyboards are distinguishable, the musicianship is subpar at best, which leads me to believe this is another move by the band to appeal to another audience.

My bottom line for this album is that songs like ""Bemoan The Martyr" and "Contemplate Regicide" are not forrays into a more diverse sound but rather a foray into garbage. No one will argue that the band doesn't have chops but for me, Cryptopsy seems to have evolved into a cheaper version of thier montreal peers, Despised Icon but with the distasteful melody of "nu-metal" stalwarts Mushroomhead. Though I am a fan of the hardcore infused death metal of DI, I dont think that the world needs Cryptopsy joining the other 1000 something bands ripping them off.

My rating 2/5