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Overkill – The Grinding Wheel (Nuclear Blast/2017)

4/2/2017

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To be honest, I’ve never really have been a huge fan of this band due to the vocals and lyrical content, though with this new one (the only other album I have of theirs is ‘Years of Decay’) has definitely got a lot of substance to it.  I was pleased that everything that makes a good album it all has which is the music, lyrical content, production quality, and guitar leads.  It’s no wonder that ‘The Grinding Wheel’ has had positive scores/feedback.

Not only does it bear well musically, the vocals aren’t really annoying to me.  It’s been a problem for me in that respect with this band, but this album they sound good and I like the rhythm guitar/lead guitar.  They’ve never been much of a band that’s been great at writing lyrics, but their music has been solid on some others that I’ve heard.  However, ‘The Grinding Wheel’ definitely kicks some butt in many ways.  Some songs that stand out are “Goddamn Trouble” and “Let’s All Go To Hades”.  The whole hour of music is good.

The music reflects many different things – heavy guitar, but not as thick as a death metal one would sound like, different types of chord progressions along with tremolo picking and leads that are pretty technical.  The guitar goes along well with the vocals and the drums are solid.  A lot of double bass kicks (but not dominant) and Bobby’s voice fits very well to their axe.

They’ve just lagged here in what lyrical concepts are about (as I’ve mentioned).  However, they have to put out something that stands out with aggression, so they did.  But I can’t myself relate to any of their lyrics on here.  I just enjoy the vocals and music.  That’s what’s most important on a release anyway, but would hit home if their lyrics were as good as their music is on here.

They’re true to their thrash metal roots seemingly ageless as they are veterans now, but they’re still putting out endless quality music.  You can hear the whole album on YouTube, but to be a true support to the band, buy the physical CD.  It’s available on Amazon and record stores as well as at Best Buy.  You won’t regret it, believe me, as a 27 year metal music lover does.

Rate: 85%.

Reviewed By Death8699 ([email protected]).
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Obituary – Obituary (Relapse/2017)

4/2/2017

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A step up from ‘Inked In Blood’ in my view, the vocals are more like old school Obituary, but not entirely, as on ‘Cause of Death’ as an example.  That’s probably their strongest release in their entire discography.  That is my opinion though, simply just that.  With this self-titled album, John Tardy leads the way as the guitars are heavy, the production solid and drums in synchrony.

The main thing I got in my initial hearing of this is that it is a much stronger release from their last.  I’ve followed them on and off over the years, some releases are dull, but this one has a lot of energy to it.  That’s where it shines, but it’s still dark Obituary putting out quality material in the metal arena.  These guys put together some riffs that are just brutal.  The music is consistently superior.

I’m surprised that despite it first being able to be digitally downloaded, it’s ratings for the most part are just that it’s a “C”, or simply average.  But come on, the vocals, the production, the music, the aura and the sickness to it.  Does that make an average album?  To me, God no!  It was a bit short in length, but everything here is fresh.  The leads are great even though not anything close to James Murphy’s in the distant past.

All the energy that they display here on and as a musical standpoint show that they’ve borrowed from what they were strongest in which was the first few albums and tore it apart on this self-titled release.  I’ve always favored the vocals on Obituary albums, but Tardy wasn’t the same as on ‘Inked In Blood’.  Here he’s in full throttle tearing it apart.  The music is for the most part heavy and chunky.

Buy this album!  Support the band and don’t jump on the bandwagon of digital downloads.  The music industry needs more people still buying CD’s!  And this is a great release.  It’s a revived Obituary.  That sounds like a contradiction in terms, but really folks, it’s worth it.  You’ll get a full effect playing it on a boom box or car stereo or both.  It’s not a waste of money and forget the naysayers, this rules!

Rate: 90%.

Reviewed By Death8699 ([email protected]).
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Meshuggah – The Violent Sleep of Reason (Nuclear Blast/2016)

4/2/2017

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Wow, some powerful Djent (a type of progressive metal).  In fact, their guitarist according to a source is responsible for inventing this style.  It features some real low-end sounding guitar work mainly palm muted riffs and grooves in which it seems (based on what I’ve heard from past releases) is their strongest output to date.  Not only is the music good and original, their lyrics are extremely well thought out!

The vocals are also really good.  High-end screaming, these Swedish veterans really have a lot to offer here.  My initial reaction the first time I heard this was that like pretty much all of their releases, is that it’s atypical.  Maybe even to some extent bizarre the way the music sounds.  It’s not a criticism, it’s a fact.  They’ve never been a typical sort of metal band.  That’s what makes them, though.

And also, for trivia’s sake, Meshuggah is Hebrew and Yiddish for “crazy”.  This release shows their evolution in songwriting and how they’ve constructed some amazing work here.  I like every single song on here, not because of sheer lip service to the metal community, but because it’s true!  I’ve read their lyrics 4 times and they fit so well with the screaming vocals/guitar work.

I believe that they worked extra hard on this release not to mention that they’re unique in every way.  However, I haven’t heard any other band that plays Djent style of metal though there are several out there.  According to a source though, Meshuggah’s guitarist is who (like I said previously) came up with this sort of sound.  It really is different, but in a good way.

This album is available in stores so buy it don’t just get most of it off of YouTube or other digitally downloadable websites.  It made some real impression when it was first released here in the US.  It deserves it and in no way does any of the music stink.  So if you’re into this odd sort of style of metal, get a physical copy so that you can play it on your stereo and boom box!

Rate: 100%.

Reviewed By: Death8699 ([email protected]).
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Flotsam and Jetsam – Flotsam and Jetsam (AFM Records/2016)

4/2/2017

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I dig the genres these guys belong to, both power/thrash type and to be honest I’ve never (well, that’s a long time) heard a band that falls under these two particular styles.  Quite interesting.  The music and lyrics definitely are inspiring mainly the vocals make it “power” and the guitar-style is in “thrash” mode.  I enjoyed this album thoroughly from beginning to finish.  

There’s times where I heard the best new songs are maybe as example the new Metallica I like disc one as opposed to only some of disc two.  On here, you (well at least me) don’t want it to end.  But yeah, I’m being honest about the new Metallica and with this band, it’s my first release that I’ve owned of theirs.  I’m proud to own it because it’s superb in many different ways.

The music is what hit me the most.  The guitar riffs I just love all of them and the leads are quality too.  That’s what I look for in a band, vocals second.  That’s the way I’ve always been.  But yeah, the way that they coordinated the vocals with the guitar is better than quality to me.  I dig the vocals too, they’re not annoying and the lyrics are decent.  I can’t relate to them, but they were meaningful.

Sound-wise the production/mixing was absolutely awesome.  Everything you can hear in full roar and the drums too were well mixed in and were in unison with the guitar.  One helluv an output by these guys.  They really put a good effort to make this more than just a “B” graded release.  It’s “the guitars, man, the guitars.”  But really everything musically went well on here.

This is the type of album that you can listen to repeatedly and hear different things than before.  It’s not a fast release, the music is upbeat and riff-tastic.  It’s not a word, but I’m classifying the guitars here so not everything is going to sound plausible/sensible to you if you’re not a guitarist.

I actually heard one song from this album on YouTube (thanks Jani) and that prompted me to buy this album.  The whole release is on YouTube, but really, you get the full effect if you buy it.  Not only are you supporting what these guys do for a living and also living it old school and still buying CD’s.  Not this digital download crap that doesn’t support the band really.  It feeds into the technological generation.

Rate: 90%.

Reviewed By Death8699 ([email protected]).
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Immolation – Atonement (Nuclear Blast/2017)

4/2/2017

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My opinion changed as I listened to this with my earbuds on rather than on my boom box.  One thing definitely stood out, and that was the music.  The vocals don’t really change song-to-song.  It’s deep growling accompanied by dark lyrics.  But well written, however.  These guys made a great contribution to 2017 album releases and I’m also glad that they’ve been getting good scores in terms of ratings.

The overall production is quality so everything is in synchrony with everything else.  The guitars are heavy, chunky, a lot of slow riffs.  But they’re good and original.  Well, the guitars fit the vocals well and the drums well done too.  Everything that makes of a good album, this is it.  The music, lyrics, mixing and originality are all important and these guys made that possible.

What is always important to me when I hear an album are the guitars.  Now that I’ve heard it on my earbuds the music is way more interesting than what I originally thought of it.  I first reasoned that it was only average the first times I heard it.  But NOW!!  This is quality death metal, and the overall aura to this release is dark.  But that’s what they wanted here.  Something grim and unique.

So putting it all together, Immolation took 4 years since their last album came out (‘Kingdom of Conspiracy’).  I’ve never been a big fan of this band, but this one changed my mind.  It’s definitely quality death metal with unique style of guitars, which altogether were slow, moderate and in some cases fast.  But the brutality factor is totally there.  I really enjoyed reading their lyrics as well.

If you don’t own this already, buy the CD, don’t miss out on this great death release!!  Sure, you can probably find it on YouTube a song or maybe the whole album.  However, to keep the metal community alive, you should buy the album and not just hear it digitally downloaded (if that’s the case).  Get the CD so you can listen to it on your computer, boom box and stereo!!  It rules!!

Rate: 90%.

Reviewed By Death8699 ([email protected]).
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Amon Amarth – Jomsviking (Metal Blade Records/2016)

4/2/2017

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Even though I’m a melodic death metal freak, I’ve not heard enough of  this band their discography ‘Jomsviking’ is the only other album I’ve heard from theirs aside from ‘Deciever of the Gods’.  I am impressed with the music and I like the vocals too.  The lyrics were well written too, even though I’m not into their concepts (Vikings, etc.), but still the vocals accompanied the guitars just right.  One helluv a guitar frenzy.

This album reminds me a bit of Hypocrisy’s ‘End of Disclosure’ without the synthesizers.  A very likable release despite what the naysayers have commented about it rendering it an “F” whereas I view it as a “B”.  The music and vocals are the best things to comment about.  And the production is solid.  So, I don’t see what these people are killing this one about because it’s got substance.

The guitar work is totally melodic death metal.  They have never sacrificed their genre and progressed to something else (style change).  They’re veterans and still are kicking butt in this metal community.  Definitely a solid listen to, all of the riffs were good and the energy it’s just filled with it.  It’s one of those releases that you can listen to repeatedly and not get sick of.

The mixing quality is quite up there too, but yeah you can hear some of the Viking sort of vibe and essence of it.  Not only is it displayed in the lyrics, but some of it is also in some of their riffs.  But not every single song, just some songs.  Most of it is a combination of that Viking sound with melodic guitars speed picking and palm muted guitar parts.  They’ve got the vibe of the Nordic.

I really like this album and unless you hear it yourself, you’ll never experience the ultra awesome guitars and vocals.  The drums are solid on here too.  So I discredit these naysayers and I say that they don’t know good melodic death that sticks.  This one hits home with me and I was proud to buy the CD.  It’s featured on YouTube, but as I always say, support the band and buy the album!!

Rate: 85%.

Reviewed By Death8699 ([email protected]).
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