In this post I'm going to listen to a track from every single album advertised in the April 2012 issue of Decibel magazine and write a short review. If, of course, the album in question has no tracks available on Youtube, then they get a slap in the face because any band or label that doesn't have a few sample tracks on Youtube in this day and age is severely addled.
From the top:
Artist: Steven Wilson & Mikael Akerfeldt
Album: Storm Corrosion
Track: Hag
Not exactly what you'd expect from an album advertised on the inside cover of an extreme metal magazine. But then again, if you're reading Decibel, you probably know who the two guys behind this are, and then know that laid back prog is exactly what you should expect. This is awesome. Sounds a lot more like Porcupine Tree than anything else either guy has been involved with. Actually this might go on my best of 2012 list (check out how it's shaping up so far here) once I hear the whole thing. Truly excellent.
Artist: Dragonforce
Album: The Power Within
Track: Fallen World
I hate the guitar hero for allowing this band to continue existing. For a moment at the start I almost thought it would just sound like a mediocre power metal song. No such luck. Good old what's his face, the guitarist breaks out that one really fast lick that he plays in every single song and soon enough, it sounds just as awful as every other Dragonforce song ever written. Shoot me now.
Artist: Jeff Loomis
Album: Plains of Oblivion
Track: Surrender
I was under the impression this was supposed to be a virtuoso solo album. It's a lot heavier than I expected, at least at the start. I never really listened to Nevermore, but I was pretty sure they didn't sound like this. Those vocals are just intensely wretched. Oh wait, here comes the crazy soloing. (Btw this track guest stars Ihsan of Emperor). This song is all right. It hasn't really hooked me on this album, but it's not bad by any stretch of the imagination.
Artist: Unleashed
Album: Odalheim
Track: The Rise of the Maya Warriors
This is pretty all right. Quick paced death metal with an old-school feel. I feel like the riffs aren't as catchy as they could be, but it's heavy in all the right places. Definitely something I can headbang to.
Artist: Wild Hunt
Album: Before the Plane of Angles
Track: Kemado records doesn't have any up on youtube. I could go to their website, but if they can't be bothered, neither can I.
Artist: Eye
Album: Center of the Sun
Track: I found something but I'm not going to do a write up because it's 20 minutes long and I'm not sure if it's the right thing as it has different artwork and appears to have been released last year. Kemado's website clears up nothing whatsoever, so I'll just skip this one.
Artist: Emmure
Album: Slave to the Game
Track: She Gave Her Heart to Deadpool
I hate Emmure. I hate this song. I hate the fact that they're referencing Deadpool in this song title. I hate the fact that they drag down things that are actually cool or entertaining by mentioning them. I can't wait until this song is over. This post better get at least five or six views to justify me listening to this song from start to finish.
Artist: Taproot
Album: The Episodes
Track: No Surrender
This reminds me of the music I listened to when I was 13. Pop-rock with aspirations of alt-rock. I vaguely recognize the band name from when I listened to this stuff, so maybe these guys are/were a big name in their genre? Either way this sucks. (Normally I refrain from judging stuff that isn't in the genre of music I listen to, but they're the ones who advertised in my extreme metal magazine. They asked for it.)
Artist: Wretched
Album: Sons of Perdition
Track: The Stellar Sunset of Evolution
I'm not sure if I want to listen to a whole eight and a half minutes of music, but so far it sounds pretty laid back. Clean jazzy guitar riffing, oh wait here comes the heavy at about 3:10. It's tech-death. But not bad from what I've heard. I have a sneaking suspicion this is going to be an instrumental track composed of mostly soloing. Oh look how smart I am... like I said before, not bad. It's nothing to write home about though.
Artist: God Forbid
Album: Equilibrium
Track: Where We Come From
Finally, something good to clean the taste of awful and mediocre out of my mouth. Yeah, it's metalcore, but it's awesome. God Forbid is one of those bands that has always reached above and beyond their genre peers. The melodic bits are awesome, and there aren't too many breakdowns, thank goodness. Plus this solo is killer.
I'm going to leave it at that for this, apparently the first in several installments. I made it all the way to page 24 in a 112 page magazine. And I haven't even hit the March is Metal month adds with 20+ albums on them yet. It should be fun.
