At The Gates - To Drink From The Night Itself (Album Review)

Out of all of the extreme metal scenes that have occurred across the world, such as the NWOBHM, Florida death metal, NWOAHM, and Norwegian black metal, the Gothenburg melodic death metal scene is one of my favorite. At The Gates, In Flames (pre-2000's), and Dark Tranquility all release some excellent albums in the 90's that certainly would classify as some of my favorite music ever put into existence. It's great to see that Dark Tranquility and At The Gates are still making music in the vein of what they were releasing back then, and modern material from both bands has been stellar. At War With Reality, from At the Gates, was one of my favorite albums of 2014, and Atoma, from Dark Tranquility, was in my top 10 for 2016. At the Gates are perhaps one of my largest musical influences when writing music and are certainly one of my favorite groups in general.
My first encounter with At the Gates was one of total awe, soon after they released At War With Reality in 2014. I couldn't comprehend Tomas Lindberg's voice, as I had never really heard anything like it. I was intrigued and went out and bought the album soon after, with it now being one of my favorite metal releases of this decade. Despite the criticism of it being Slaughter of the Soul part two, I certainly believe it holds on its own and has a great rage of qualities that lead this criticism to be false. With To Drink From The Night Itself, however, I was initially very skeptical due to the departure of Anders Bjorler. After listening to the album multiple times, I'm pleasantly surprised with the musical direction and cohesiveness of the album, albeit being slightly disappointed with relatively standard feel of some of the tracks.

The album starts out with a pretty standard instrumental intro track, then is quickly followed by the first song released from the album, the title track. "To Drink From The Night Itself" really excited me at first, but the more I listened to it, the less excited about this album I was. It just sounded to me as if it were a just a rehashing of "Blinded by Fear" from Slaughter of the Soul, which was certainly a problem. When the album dropped however, I came to appreciate this song, as it does exactly for this album what "Blinded by Fear" did for Slaughter of the Soul, except slightly less effectively, that being a powerful musical introduction to the content of the rest of the album (Disclaimer: Slaughter of the Soul is one of my favorite albums ever written, so any comparison carries a heavy weight in discussion). The lead guitars on this track, performed by new guitarist Joan Stahlhammer, certainly are a highlight. Jonas is a spectacular guitarist in his own respect, performing with another band with many members of At the Gates, The Lurking Fear, and with Bombs of Hades and God Macabre. The man has an undeniable track record and is a perfect fit for At the Gates. That being said, there is really nothing unique about this track and I am curious as to why they chose to use it as the lead single.
The next song is "A Stare Bound in Stone", where the album's brooding, thick sound really starts to take shape. On my first few listens I didn't really "get" this song, meaning I didn't see any real value to it, but I have come to appreciate it much more, especially the latter half of the song, which contains what I guess would be considered a bridge, even though it dominates this entire half of the song. Interesting guitar play occurs between Jonas and Martin Larsson, with some chilling choir vocals occurring behind this section, which builds and grows as the song comes to a close.
"A Palace of Lepers" is a great song, but is unfortunately formulaic and rather bland in terms of song structure in the first half. The guitar work is really spectacular, as well as the atmosphere, in the second half of the song, just as in the previous track "A Stare Bound in Stone". This is certainly a result of the formula of most recent At the Gates tracks, which is an unfortunate downside some of their post-reunion material. Every member of the band really shines in most of these songs, but the predictable song structure really weighs the band down.
"Daggers of Black Haze" fortunately rips this structure into shreds. This song is perhaps the most beautiful song on the album, featuring a proper guitar solo (the first from Jonas in this group), strings, and a real representation of the atmosphere that At the Gates were shooting for on this album. I enjoy the underlying lead guitars present in the track, as well as overall complete feeling that the track has. Compositionally, this song is excellent, featuring some of the best bass playing on the album as well, notable past the one-minute and thirty second mark. I don't know who was doing the sort of growled gang vocals present in this song, but that is something I have never heard from At the Gates before, and also something I would like to hear more of.  The aforementioned guitar solo is underwhelming, yet, at least shows what Jonas is capable of, and has me excited for future albums with Jonas. Reportedly, he came in late to the writing process and unfortunately did not get to contribute much to the writing of the album.
"The Chasm", instrumentally, sounds like a typical At the Gates song, but the guitar solo and conversational growled vocals featured in the last minute of the song make it one of my favorites on the album. This guitar solo is worlds better and more unique than the one featured on "Daggers of Black Haze", and really sets Jonas apart from his predecessor. I say this not meaning that he is a better guitarist than Anders, this solo just certainly doesn't sound like anything Anders would have written. The growled vocals are also unique, much different than the normal style that Tomas uses. These vocals are much less raspy and monotonous, and instead are much more close to Mikael Akerfeldt's growls during his time with Bloodbath. They are certainly more closely aligned with a traditional death growl than Tomas's growl, which would be considered more of a mid than a low, in extreme metal vocal lingo. This makes me question as to if Tomas is even the one doing these vocals, which are similar to those on the last track, or if another band member is doing them. Either way, keep it up At the Gates.
"In Nameless Sleep" is a pretty great track, but I can't help but feel it would have worked better on At War With Reality than on this album. Then again, a great deal of this song is just one large guitar solo... so... I have to love it. I can't help but be more excited about what Jonas has to write on the next album. I greatly appreciate the musical direction this album is going in, but can't help but feel that the vision isn't completely executed on this album. The atmosphere is reminiscent of their older work, which was much more traditional death metal than their newer work. I mean that statement not that in terms of production or anything of that sort, just that overall composition is more like The Red In The Sky Is Ours than anything they have released since. It's much less melodic and instead much more jagged.
"The Colours of The Beast" is certainly the darkest and probably most traditionally heavy song on the album. It's much less fast, much more heavy hitting, and much more brooding. I didn't think I would ever hear a song this slow from At the Gates, but this is absolutely a standout track on this album, a great implication of where the band is headed. There still exists some classic At the Gates moments, such as the signature tremolo picking guitar work around the chorus, yet I wouldn't even classify this song as melodic death metal, and if I couldn't recognize that it was At the Gates, I wouldn't even expect that the band was a part of the Gothenburg scene (maybe only influenced by it). Given the criticism of repetition that At War With Reality received, this is great news.
The verses of "A Labyrinth of Tombs" are unfortunately very formulaic, yet the instrumentation in the chorus is infectious. This song also utilizes the same sort of growled gang vocals used in "Daggers of Black Haze". I like this song (I haven't ever heard an At the Gates song I haven't liked), yet I think it may be one of the least unique songs on the album, along with the title track and the following song, "The Seas of Starvation", which really feels like moody At the Gates by-the-numbers.
"In Death They Shall Burn" is a great song as well, but again, is rather weak excluding the last minute or so of the track. Standard, and rather formulaic, I can't help but be disappointed with these last few songs before the outro track.
"The Mirror Black" combines the traditional song and the instrumental outro into one track excellently. It starts out with an instrumental section reminiscent of something off of The Jester Race from in flames, but transitions into strings and a choir. This track is incredibly beautiful, and I wish they had done more like this on the rest of the album, although I'm sure At the Gates has no desire to become a symphonic death metal band. The latter half reminds me of some of the most beautiful classical music I have ever listened to (I'm sure my labeling of this section as classical is incorrect, but I'm also sure that you, the reader, will understand this mistake).

The production on this album is much warmer, less mechanical, and less crisp than its predecessor, and while some have complained about this, I enjoy the production. At points, it can be muddy, and not crisp enough, which is a downfall. The band itself is spectacular, and this album features amazing playing by all members. The musical direction, especially evident on "Daggers of Black Haze", "The Colours of the Beast", and "A Stare Bound In Stone", is greatly appreciated, and makes me have hope for the future of At the Gates.
However, this album contains some filler, that doesn't present anything new in the world of At the Gates. This includes "A Labyrinth of Tombs", "Seas of Starvation" and "In Death They Shall Burn". Lyrically, this album is great, although certainly seems to be piggybacking off of some ideas from their last album, which can be seen by simply looking at the song titles from both albums side by side. There are a great deal of similarities.

I'm both impressed and disappointed with this album, and for that reason I am giving it a 7.0/10.

Sleep - The Sciences (Album Review)

The strangest thing happened on April 20th. I was sitting in the library on campus, ready to leave and go home for the day, but first I felt the need to listen to "Dragonaut", for whatever reason. It was 4/20 after all and I love me some Sleep. I went on Spotify and searched for Sleep only to find that they had released The Sciences, their first album in nearly two decades, without any sort of announcement. Seeing that a new Sleep album existed alone deemed it impossible for me to go home without listening to the album. And so I did, twice in one sitting.
I shouldn't need to introduce Sleep, but I will. Sleep are a critical stoner/doom metal band that are known for infusing a sound akin to Black Sabbath with actual marijuana leaves. I knew that Sleep was going to release a new album some time this year, and while I was looking forward to it, I had my worries. For example, I did not know how Sleep was going to fare with a more modern production sound, as the massive analog sound was part of what made Holy Mountain so spectacular. I also had concerns with drum sound, as this is Jason Roeder's first album with the band. I think drumming is often overlooked in many stoner bands, and some doom bands, yet Sleep has always had spectacular drum work, courtesy of former drummer Chris Hakius, who retired from music entirely. Perhaps my final and most relevant concern was simply that it was a comeback album from a twenty year hiatus in recording music. A lot can happen in twenty years. Comeback albums can be either underwhelming and lead one to wish that a group had never reformed (Illud Divinum Insanus, I'm talking about you), or may be spectacular and show some sort of growth in the time off (Monotheist, At War With Reality, or even Black Gives Way to Blue).

However, Sleep's new album certainly deserves to be in the second category, as The Sciences does everything I could possibly ask of Sleep in 2018. The album starts off with an instrumental intro, which takes its title from the title of the album. This intro doesn't really add much, but it certainly makes you antsy to hear something significant, teasing some guitar work from Matt Pike. After the introduction lies the first real song, "Marijuanaut's Theme", which certainly sets the mood for the rest of the album. Riffy, groovy, and thick, this track is infectious and contains many references to Tony Iommi, which are always welcome. This song features a bass solo, which is nothing short of one of the most fitting bass solos I have ever heard. Al's bass tone is one of my favorite bass tones of all time, both in Sleep and in Om. It's so massively laced in the mix that it's impossible to ignore and serves as a crucial part of Sleep's sound, on this album and previous records. Another interesting factor of this song is the use of a layered guitar solo by Matt Pike, where the layers are easily discernible and compliment each other. I absolutely adore this technique and feel that Pike puts it to use perfectly. The drums on this track carry weight, perhaps more weight than I expected, but are not as prominent in the mix as I would hope they would be. This is rather constant throughout the album spare a few points.
The next track is "Sonic Titan", which Sleep has been performing live for years. However, I can't help but feel that this studio version is much better than the versions I have heard live, which is another point in favor of this album. This song is much more hypnotizing, more psychedelic than the first, and once again features a spectacular layered guitar solo. The interaction between the bass and guitar parts really impress me on this track, especially during the guitar solo. It all sounds so flawlessly crafted, with the exception being the lack in power of the drums, yet I do feel that this track is much better than the last in that regard.
"Antarcticans Thawed" is interesting because the main riff isn't really much of a riff at all, but really two chords. However, the way that these chords are spaced out and bounce off of the bass playing really makes the section behind the first verse sound much more complex than it actually is. The guitar tone, as always, is impeccable. Matt Pike, both in Sleep and in High on Fire, has always had a spectacular, vintage sounding tone that is the result of a Gibson Les Paul and a hell of a lot of Orange amps. The lyrical content of this song is interesting, as it explores Arctic, seafaring themes. This is certainly the most doom-like, slowest song on the album, also being the longest, clocking in slightly past the 14 minute mark. The guitar solo at around the ten minute mark is, unlike the previous few on this album, only a single track comes out even in the mix with the bass and drums. This solo is perhaps the best I have ever heard from Pike, and I find myself listening to the solo by itself much more often than I have most other solos on the album. It is icy and desolate, and certainly fits right in with the overall atmosphere provided by both the lyrics and the music. The relationship between the story told by the lyrics and the music itself are impeccable on this track, if not some of the best I have ever heard from Sleep.
"Giza Butler" contains many references to Black Sabbath, most notably in the name, a play on Geezer Butler's name. Certainly the most catchy song on the album, with Al Cisneros' vocal delivery reaching a peak on this album (it was great on other tracks, but done best here). The album starts out with a rather psychedelic section, perhaps one of the more unique pieces of the album. The lyrics of this song are infectious, particularly "The pterodactyl flies again/O'er emerald fields", which I swear I will have written as my epitaph (or simply written in a bio on social media, which is much less extreme than the former option). Every time that I listen to this song, I can't help but chime in with "Marijuana is his light and his salvation".
"The Botanist", the closing track, is certainly the most progressive song on the album, featuring an acoustic backing with lead parts being played throughout the track. Given how this song is framed, I feel the drum mixing is most appropriate on this song. This song features another excellent solo from Matt Pike, amidst a song that is almost entirely composed of guitar solos. Its a fitting, moody end to the album, leading to the close with a section composed of quiet, desolate guitar wails and a constant bass rhythm, and finally closing with guitar wails that fade into silence.

The production on this album, in regards to guitar, bass, and vocals, is nearly perfect. I can't think of any moment where I would change any part of any of these elements, in terms of volume, effects, or mixing. However, as previously mentioned, the drums are a small issue. The drums don't pack the necessary punch, but rather just seem quiet and reserved. While there are standout moments, like on "Antarcticans Thawed" and on the ending of "The Botanist", I feel that the actual drums themselves, not the cymbals, are far too quiet. Jason Roeder is an amazing drummer and has displayed his talents greatly with Neurosis, but can't help but feel that he is either being held back or is holding himself back, for whatever reason on this album. That being said, this, oddly enough, doesn't take much away from my enjoyment of the album. Another minor complaint is that two of the songs were written during the writing of Dopesmoker, "Sonic Titan" and "Antarcticans Thawed", meaning that there are only a few songs that are entirely new material, yet, again, this doesn't really take away from the album itself as a work of art. Sleep managed to keep their essential sound even with the use of a more modern production, with various band members bringing in elements from their other bands and projects: Pike's High on Fire, Cisneros' Om, and Roeder's Neurosis. With this trio of excellent musicians and the superb album they have put out, Sleep have solidified their place again the monolithic leader of stoner/doom metal, and have put themselves forth as relevant in their release of such new, excellent material.

9.0/10

Breaking Benjamin - Ember (Album Review)

Perhaps some of my best childhood memories involve listening to Breaking Benjamin and playing Halo 2. Thus, Breaking Benjamin will always have a soft spot in my heart. There is something so likable about some of their material, and while I don't necessarily think that they have ever reinvented the wheel, they are definitely much more interesting than anything else going on in modern rock (Five Finger Death Punch should stop making music). I really appreciate a great deal of their older material, mainly their first and second albums, Saturate and We Are Not Alone, but most of that is probably nostalgia.
I have heard the two lead singles for Ember - "Red Cold River" and "Feed the Wolf" - on my local mainstream station many times in the past few months and was honestly shamelessly incredibly excited. Breaking Benjamin is certainly my mainstream rock guilty pleasure, so to hear them actually using some interesting harmonies and different production certainly got me excited. I was happy to hear some singles that were heavy and not... sappy. I hate the sappy, wimpy emotional choruses that Breaking Benjamin songs often contain, especially present in song "Angels Fall".

These two singles just happen to be the first few songs on the album (after a meaningless intro track). I really appreciate what these songs did with the use of unclean vocals at certain points, which Ben has done in the past, but he actually uses them more often on these two songs than I think I have ever heard him do before. At the same time, he also uses some interesting harmonizing clean vocals that he has also used before, but never to this extent. These two singles were truly excellently produced as well, as can be expected by a band with this kind of budget, yet the production was above that of many of their peers in the pool of radio rock mediocrity. The mixing was excellent, with the bass being audible and present, guitar tone being on point, and drums having the right amount of punch needed to support the rest of the band. The music - in terms of composition - doesn't really push any boundaries, but that's not really expected with singles anyhow.
The next song, "Tourniquet" keeps this track record up, with a great chorus and interesting lead-rhythm guitar play, something I loved about old Breaking Benjamin but haven't really noticed since Aaron Fink left the band. I like this song a lot, with it being one of my favorites from the album.
"Psycho" starts off great, but then goes into about a half-sappy chorus that doesn't bother me nearly as much as the atrocious lyrics. I know Breaking Benjamin is known to be repetitive with topics and lyrics, but for Christ's sake, "Into the hollow I let go / I see the darkness close in / Into the silence I become / I am the faith forsaken" is the most worthless combination of words I have ever read. At this point, I will take anything over anything that features "silence" or "darkness" or "hollow". That being said, this song does have redeeming factors in its instrumental elements. This band does have a problem with ripping riffs from itself, or simply rearranging older riffs in order to fertilize the soil that cultivates their new riffs, which is evident in this song.
The next track "The Dark of You", is even worse. This one is quite sappy, quite quiet, and once again features pretty horrible lyrics.
"Let go / When all has come to life / We live, we breathe, we die / They call me to the light / Forever lost in time / With every dream we find / We feed, we burn, we lie / The fall of humankind
The everlasting light"
YIKES.
"Down" is pretty much Breaking Benjamin by the numbers: pretty harmless and repetitive, half sap/ half heavy. Not much to be said about this one, except that the repetitive lyrics strike again. Ben mentions being buried alone, which made me realize how much this man is obsessed with either being buried or just the word bury. Here are some examples:
"Failure" : "We bury the sunlight"
"Feed the Wolf" : "Bury me in the cold light"
"Bury Me Alive" : .... "Bury me alive"  duh?
"Down" : "Faceless and buried alone"
Keep in mind, all of these were exclusively from this album and the last.
Ben seems to be obsessed with other words as well, such as "light", "cold", "life", "broken", "bleed" and "crawl".
There goes my childhood.

"Torn in Two" is not bad. Kinda repetitive in its structure, but one of the better songs on this album. Again, Ben mentions some of his words, perhaps quite humorously, one of the lines is "Broken, I crawl back to life". The album, solely based on the lyrics, gets to be kind of laughable at this point. The music is solid, perhaps the only redeeming factor, as Ben isn't even using any of those interesting vocal techniques earlier mentioned. I do like the way he sings "two" however, kind of a random element to point out, but I'm really trying to stay positive here guys.
"Bleed" makes me furious, solely because of the opening riff. This riff is nearly identical to a riff from Love and Death's debut album, the opening riff from "Watching the Bottom Fall". Taking into consideration that Jason helped produce Love and Death's album, this is understandable, but still not excusable. I can understand ripping off a riff from your own band, but this really seems to be recycling in the worst kind of way.
"Save Yourself" is below average and contains more lyrics about dying. A fun noodley riff is present, yet this just sounds like something I have heard before.
"Close Your Eyes" is decent. I like the near-end song breakdown, as it definitely throws a wrench in their formulaic strong structure, but this is offset by "hold on, just hold on" being a key portion of the chorus, when Ben was crooning about holding on two songs before in "Torn in Two". They don't even reincorporate these ideas in an interesting way, they just reuse them shamelessly. It's kind of pathetic.
"Vega" the instrumental outro, is one of the most interesting songs on the album. If the entire album sounded like this instrumental outro, I would dig it.

I was really looking forward to this album, but it fell victim to cliches, repetitive lyrics, boring composition, and no sense of direction. I enjoyed the heavier direction, production, and mixing, as well as the first three songs, but that's about it.
3.9/10

Rivers of Nihil - Where Owls Know My Name (Album Review)

I know that it has been quite awhile since I have written a review and I firmly believe that there is no better album to get me back to the swing of things than this release. I don't say that because it will be difficult to review or that it is easy to pick apart, but rather that it is very easy to praise. I can assure you that when I compile my album of the year list at the end of this year, this album will surely find its way on there. I am sure that all of those close to me are tired of hearing about this album, but I am nowhere near tired of listening to it.

I first discovered Rivers of Nihil back in 2015 with their release Monarchy. I quickly fell in love with that album, with "Sand Baptism" being one of my favorite songs of that year. I then stumbled on to their first album, The Conscious Seed of Light, released in 2013, which I did not like nearly as much as Monarchy but still liked nonetheless. I had always appreciated the band, but more of with occasional listening rather than true obsession. Little did I know, in 2015, that the band I discovered because of a silly video with a man in a sun costume would release one of the greatest progressive death metal albums of the decade. I became extremely excited for this release upon listening to the first single released from this album "The Silent Life". My excitement was furthered by "A Home", the next single released and one of my favorite songs off of the album.

Where Owls Know My Name is a journey. It is an entire listening experience and I would highly recommend setting aside time in your day to enjoy this album. Starting with the clean, soft intro track "Cancer/Moonspeak", I was intrigued. This track contains clean vocals, a first for Rivers, a bass track and keyboards. This track, like most intro tracks, is rather unimportant. The next song up is "The Silent Life", which starts off with a unique, almost dissonant guitar riff and exceptional bass work. This quickly transitions into the main riff for the album, which will get stuck in your head worse than "Poker Face" would have back in 2009. Thank you Brody Uttley and Jonathan Topore for bringing this riff into existence. Lead vocalist Jake Dieffenbach's unique death growls come in, with the song progressing to a bridge next. Around the three minute mark, however, this song takes a turn that many tech-death bands do not bother to take- a slow mid-section with a saxophone solo that blends so seamlessly one forgets they are listening to tech-death at all. This mid-section takes you to a different realm, then you are brought back to reality at around the four minute and twenty second mark, where the guitar solo flawlessly transitions into an extremely heavy, blaring section. More saxophone is played, this time with this grindy, heavy riffing, but then the song is brought full circle, with the main riff being brought back.

The progression in this song alone illustrates the complexity of this band. Its transitions, progression, and overall flow are flawlessly executed. Should I even bother doing a track by track, if this song represents what this band has to offer so well? Yes, because this album has so much more to offer. The next song, "A Home" contains a less progressive, stand-out structure, but is much more catchy. The chorus of this song is extremely catchy, a statement often not said about any sort of death metal, especially not tech-death. This song contains clean vocals by bassist Adam Biggs - who also provides backing death growls in the chorus - in the bridge of the song. The bass work on this song is exceptional, as well as the drumming by new drummer Jared Klein, who is absolutely insane behind the kit. This is especially noticeable during the chorus of the song.

The next song on the album is "Old Nothing", which definitely has the band showing that these clean vocals and saxophones do not necessarily mean that they are getting any softer. This song contains some of the best guitar work on the album and guitar tones that remind me of Fallujah on their most recent album, Dreamless.
 One time I read that Rivers of Nihil were like a more technical Fallujah, but did not come anywhere close to the level of atmosphere that Fallujah contained on their albums. I hope whoever wrote that comment (on a YouTube video many years ago) listens to the next song on Where Owls Know My Name, "Subtle Change (Including the Forest of Transition and Dissatisfaction Dance)" and then tries to keep the same opinion. This song contains incredible atmosphere, especially with the section that could be considered the chorus. This song also contains an interesting, two retro-inspired organ solos, two guitar solos (the second of which is incredible), and another saxophone solo. This is one of my favorite songs on the album and has a lot to offer, but actually contains the only problem I have with the entire album. Around the two minute and thirty five second mark, when the keyboard solo erupts into the first guitar solo, the guitar tone is harsh and unappealing in comparison to the smooth keyboard solo previously heard. Otherwise, this song is flawless and features an excellent section that is reminiscent of black metal in its midsection, particularly Emperor, with the hyper-saturated keyboards. This section is much appreciated, coming from the fact that I am a massive Emperor fan. All of that being said, this is certainly the most multi-faceted song on the album and undoubtedly Rivers' most ambitious.

Next up is the instrumental interlude "Terrestria III: Wither", which sounds like it could come right out of a video game soundtrack, particularly the most recent Doom. On every album, Rivers has an instrumental "Terrestria" track, each with its own subtitle. "Terrestria III" contains industrial influences, with the use of strings and a guitar solo. To be honest, the members of Rivers of Nihil could make an entire side project out of industrial-influenced instrumental music like this and I would fully support it. Hell, I would fund the production of the album if need be.
After this interlude is "Hollow", which is by far the most straightforward song on this album and the most like Rivers of Nihil's past material. Next is "Death is Real", which I believe is certainly the best display of the quality of production of this album. Listening to the intro of this song in my car blew me away, almost literally. It is consisted of loud, massive guitars playing single chords in a linear fashion, but perhaps best displays the excellent production of this album. The guitars sound so powerful on this song, the bass is prominent and a key player, and the vocals are monstrous. Near the end of the song is a tapping bass solo with some synths that is incredibly pleasing to the ears.
Next is the title track, which is like a combination of "A Home" and "The Silent Life", but still a standout track (aren't they all?) nonetheless. This is followed by the outro to the album, "Capricorn/Agoratopia", a wonderful track that does exactly what a final song should do, wrap all of the sounds up in a wrapping paper and light them on fire. It's a fitting ending, as the song slows down with some saxophone for the final minute and a half or so.

The production on this album, as previously mentioned, is phenomenal. The guitars are percussive and direct, the bass is beautiful, and the drumming is organic. This is one of the best produced albums I have ever heard, and certainly Rivers of Nihil's best produced (and perhaps best in general) album to date. Apart from the brief hiccup previously mentioned, I cannot think of a point where this album falters. There are no weak transitions, no moments where the vocals are too low in the mix, no moments where I feel the bass is left out. I am utterly blown away by how well this album is produced, as it sets a standard for future album releases within the genre that now must be up-kept. The dynamic range of this album is less than some, but still sufficiently impressive. To be honest, a greater dynamic range would not make me enjoy this album any more. The atmosphere on this album is spectacular, especially among other death metal bands. The use of saxophone is not overbearing and is welcome, especially with one of my favorite released from last year, White Ward's Futility Report containing saxophone in almost every song and the band containing a full-time saxophonist.

The subtle intricacies of this album, such as the use of keyboards or synths in some places, or clean lead guitar notes played in others, is really what puts this band on another level for me. Whenever bands include these sorts of elements, I go crazy for it. The guitars on this album are so layered, so flawless, and so expertly calculated that is has me concerned that they will not be able to top it in the future.
I sure hope they do.

I am giving this album a 10/10. with the brief hiccup I mentioned truly not being considerable in my final opinion of the album. This album is a modern classic. A true game-changer for progressive music, a sign that metal is a constantly evolving genre that will hopefully never become stagnant. This album has a little bit of everything, from organs to saxophones to violins to blaring downtuned guitars and growling, this is a diverse masterpiece.

The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir (Album Review)

Coma Noir has definitely received the most plays out of any album I have reviewed thus far. To be frank, this album has serious album of the year list potential. I don't normally like to just throw that around, especially when we are not even a quarter of the way through the year yet, but I'm very impressed with this release. I had heard excellent reviews of the previous work of The Atlas Moth, but before listening to this album had no experience with the band.

Coma Noir doesn't really have a specific genre (a recurring theme in albums I have been reviewing of late), but I would place it in the same realm as Neurosis, primarily sludge with a wide array of diverse sounds placed throughout. The second song on the album, "Last Transmission from the Late, Great Planet Earth" seems to channel both Converge and Coheed and Cambria, a statement I really never thought I would make. The primary guitar riff, as well as the lead parts played along with it, almost perfectly combine the best work of the two bands mentioned above. The title track, on the other hand, brings the band towards more of an extreme metal sound, particularly with the quality of harsh vocals. That being said, this album does seem to be very chorus heavy, with "Galactic Brain" having a clean chorus that anyone would want to sing along to.

I think that the first half of the album really shines, with perhaps the most diverse track album being "The Streets of Bombay", which contains clever guitar riffs and the most dynamic range on the album. "Galactic Brain", as mentioned before, is another standout track in the first half of the album. The main riff of "Galactic Brain" seems to be greatly influenced by some of the riffs off of Epicus Doomicus Metallicus by Candlemass, particularly "Solitude". "Actual Human Blood" contains a section that reminds me of a sped up Pallbearer, starting around the two minute and thirty-four second mark, with a rhythm guitar and a lead guitar playing two harmonizing progressive sections that sounds rather amazing.  Every song in this half is rather distinct and unforgettable, really incomparable to much else being released so far this year.
The first half of the second half of the album (I know, a bit confusing), starting with "Smiling Knife", is a pinch less compelling. "Smiling Knife" reminds me too much of a song that would come off one of Converge's last two albums for me to really think it is as good as any of the songs off of the first half. "Furious Gold" is also by no means a bad song, but has a great deal of Mastodon influence, which is especially noticeable around the two minute and fifteen second mark in this song. The main riff to this song is, to be frank, heavy as hell, and I really appreciate this song simply for that fact. This song also has some great lead/mini-solo points, but these points also seem to be seeping with Brent Hinds influence. I think that the best piece of the entire song is perhaps the shortest, which starts around the three minute and fifteen second mark. This section contains a distant, reverb heavy guitar passage over a thundering bass and drums that reminds me of a psychedelic Behemoth.

This brings me to the worst song on the album, "The Frozen Crown", which has a sort of camp to it that can somewhat be compared to some of the work of the great Devin Townsend Project, but not really at all. The general production on this song, with its melodic parts and heavy use of synths, reminds me of all of the worst parts of DTP.  I wouldn't even mind this song if it didn't have the "Hey do you ever wonder, if your brain's been disconnected, it would say I'm disconnected?" section in it, which is repetitive and makes me cringe. This album would definitely be around a 9.5/10 if it weren't for this terrible, cringeworthy section. The lead section at around the three minute and forty second mark, as well the echoing "BAH"'s in the background at the three minute mark remind me of a worse "March of the Poozers" off of DTP's Z2.
The last song on the album, "Chloroform", started out as one of favorites of the album, with the clear death-doom sound during the first three minutes (think Paradise Lost), with slow drums and slow, booming guitars, but falls flat around the three and a half minute mark. This section contains a clean sung section which starts with the normal clean vocals that repeat throughout the album, but quickly goes into this very strange, extremely deep line that is rather indescribable without simply hearing it for yourself. Its really, really, stupid however, and when L. Saunders from Angry Metal Guy described it as a "brief , goofy vocal hiccup", I think he found the best words to put to this section. The rest of the song after this section is not bad, but it unfortunately does not recover.

I adore the production on this album. Its clear, in your face, and direct, but it isn't too loud. The guitar tone of all three guitarists really shines and the bass is clear and consistent. The drumming of David Kush is strong and potent, but is perhaps the least inventive element of the band, but I think that is simply because of where the band finds itself musically. It resides in the middle of all of the various, psychedelic, hardcore, and extreme metal influence that this album takes in. The psychedelic influence is strong and unique, creating an interesting presence on an album that could most traditionally be described as sludge. I really appreciate both the high, screeching harsh vocals Stavros Giannopoulos, which find themselves in the middle of Travis Ryan from Cattle Decapitation and Jacob Bannon from Converge. I have heard that some find these vocals monotonous, but I wholeheartedly disagree. The clean vocals, while less unique, definitely do add some depth to the music. Some of my favorite moments on the album are clean vocal passages on "The Streets of Bombay" and "Galactic Brain".

Apart from the few moments when I really don't like this album, I really LOVE it. I have listened to this album probably over a dozen times in the past week and really can't stop listening. I love the lyrics and the subject matter of this record, as well as the experimental, multifaceted approach. For some odd reason, the progression of the album and the degree to which this group experiments with their sound reminds me of Anaal Nathrakh, who I am anxiously awaiting a new album from.
I'm going to give this album an 8.5/10, as I really love it, but "The Frozen Crown" prevents me from giving it any higher score.

Beach House - Lemon Glow (Song Review)

I shouldn't love Beach House as much as I do. I was introduced to this duo back in 2015, when I first started to branch out of music that wasn't just guitars and screaming (I really love guitars and screaming, though). Bloom and Depression Cherry remain my favorite Beach House albums. These albums remind me, for no apparent reason of time spent on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland, or more broadly, of summer in general. It's particularly odd because I don't think I've ever listened to a Beach House album repeatedly during summertime, nor have I ever listened to Beach House while in Ocean City. Strange how the mind works sometimes.

I like "Lemon Glow" a little too much. It's a more forward, potent dream pop song with a heavy dose of eerie synths and pleasant, albeit also eerie vocals of Victoria Legrand. It's not pop in the traditional sense by any means; if you think it is even remotely comparable to Katy Perry, please give it a listen.  I think its one of my favorite songs from Beach House, as it is Beach House doing Beach House best. It almost reminds me of some songs off of Ulver's last album The Assassination of Julius Caesar, particularly "Nemoralia" and "Transverberation". The synths sounds like they could have been played on the same keyboard, and the drums near the end of the song remind me greatly of Ulver, to the point that I legitimately thought that "So Falls the World" was about to play.

This is my first song review, so my scoring cannot be compared to my album reviews, seeing as how an album is an entirely different medium than a song. I'm going to give this song a 9.0/10 and am really looking forward to the coming Beach House album.

Harakiri for the Sky - Arson (Album Review)

Around the time that I started compiling album of the year lists and realizing that some music is much worse than other music, I discovered the power of the upcoming releases section on the Metal Archives. The Metal Archives, or Encyclopaedia Metallum, has since become one of my favorite tools in discovering music, especially in many obscure black metal bands from far away places.
I discovered Arson's release not through MA, but rather through Loudwire's release chart, which I occasionally visit. I abhor Loudwire and cringe nearly every time I visit the site, but their release list is undeniably useful. This blend of black metal and post-metal that Harakiri for the Sky produces is certainly popular in recent times, although this band relies much less on shoegaze and more on true post-metal influences than their counterparts. I have listened to Harakiri for the Sky on a few occasions before I discovered this album and really have always loved what I have heard. I obsessed over Aokigahara back in 2016, before III:Trauma was released, and I played that album on repeat for about two weeks nonstop. I never listened to III:Trauma when it was released, and haven't listened to Harakiri for the Sky since. I guess when you have access to so many bands through the Internet, you lose some along the way.

I obviously hadn't lost them forever, with good results. Arson instilled an excitement in me that I haven't experience when listening to an album in a long time (about 2 months, truthfully). Diving into the first track, "Fire, Walk with Me", this band shows clear development from Aokigahara, with a much more modern production sound and excellent mixing. Nothing feels off with the production, no one instrument stands out over another, and all of the instruments move as one sound. That should be expected, as all of the instruments are played by one person, known as M.S. The formula that is found throughout the album is emotional, crisp overdriven rhythm guitars accompanied by more clean lead melodies. This is found on nearly every song on the album, which is not necessarily a negative factor. This formula, along with the general atmosphere of the album, remind me a lot of Agalloch, a band I have yet to mention on this site but will certainly arise from time to time as a result of their massive influence on music of this type. Arson, much like Agalloch or Woods of Ypres, relies heavily on the emotional side of their music, in guitar tone, vocals, and overall tempo, but this unfortunately works against Harakiri for the Sky.
This album is monotonous. It drew me in so well, but I can't help but be disappointed with 75 minutes of the same sound. I think that the album has enough variance to keep you interested, but I can't say that I was nearly as blown away on "Stillborn" as I was on "The Graves We've Dug". The closing track, "Manifesto", does change the sound up with a clean intro and clean female vocals, and brings me back to the inventiveness of the start of the album. So, this album does have some filler tracks. There are many differences between songs, but the strongest track on the album is "Tomb Omnia", which could stand up to any of their past work.

The intro to "Stillborn" reminds a great deal of "Keeper of the Ledger" off of Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light. If you have not figured it out yet, Woods of Ypres is one of the most influential bands in terms of my musical growth, so this definitely hits me the wrong way. I don't think this was intentional, nor do I think that Harakiri for the Sky ripped off Woods, but the similarity is worth noting.

As stated before, the production on this album is great, but I think it is a little too well done, a little too clean. A more rough production suits this genre of music, and I'm not trying to be "kvlt" by saying that. A more rough production allows for this emotion to come through in a more extreme manner and not sound rounded off, but more like a raw expression. If this album had the production of Aokigahara, I would like it much better (apart from the fact that the songwriting is not nearly as strong). The vocals are produced well, as in they are not too clear to not have the sort of melancholy effect that is desired, but do stand out. They definitely drift more towards black metal-style vocals rather than the hardcore sounding screams of the Aokigahara days, but this is neither a plus or a minus for this album. The album has qualities in its production that also remind me of the past two Insomnium albums, and establish a similar atmosphere. I think that this is a good album by a great band, and if I had not heard any of their past material, I would be much more in love with this album. I feel bad for relying so heavily on comparisons to their previous work, but even if I had not heard of this band prior to this release, I would be comparing it to the work of others anyways.

This album would certainly hold on its own, with no comparisons, to be clear. I'm going to give it a solid 7.1/10. I think that upon further evaluation, this may change, but after listening to it twice, that's where I stand.

Alela Diane - Cusp (Album Review)

Sometimes there are albums that really stand out to me that I cannot relate to in the slightest. Some albums have such a profound impact on me but I cannot relate to the contents of the album at all. A spectacular example of this is A Crow Looked at Me by Mount Eerie, perhaps one of the most talked-about albums of 2017 in the world of music review. The entire premise of this album, which can barely be described as music by traditional terms, was the death of Phil Elverum's wife. A hard-hitting topic for sure, but the details that Phil shared were so specific and precise that it almost made me feel as if I were there. I couldn't include the album on my list because I couldn't really classify it as entertainment.

Alela Diane's Cusp produces a similar effect on me, in that I cannot relate to motherhood in the slightest.
To be honest, I stumbled upon this album by pure luck, by simply looking at a new release list and noticing the interesting album cover.
Cusp is notably outside my comfort zone. In terms of lyrical content, especially. I also don't normally listen to anything within the singer-songwriter genre (I would assume that is where this falls), but something about this album really stuck out to me.

I really appreciate the production on this album. It's produced almost like an instrumental interlude on a modern metal album. It's much more direct than most of its counterparts, which are quiet in all the wrong places. I really love all of the piano melodies and doubled over vocal tracks, which really stick out on "Albatross", "Buoyant" and "Ether & Wood".
This album is primarily piano and vocals, both performed by Alela Diane, and thus the sound does become repetitive. If that sort of sound is up your alley, then go for it. If not, you probably shouldn't listen to this album.
I also think that the album starts out a lot stronger than it ends. "Albatross" and "Émigré" are certainly my favorite songs on the album, with the use of strings being impeccable and unique, as compared to the almost country-sounding, straightforward songs that close the album, "Ether & Wood" being a notable example of a slight twang.
I really liked Alela Diane's lyrics. Her use of the English language is pleasant, something I think is essential in this genre of music. Considering how stripped down these tracks are, the lyrics have massive influence when listening to this album (as opposed to something like Anaal Nathrakh, where lyrics are inconsequential).
I would definitely recommend listening to this album because of its relative simplicity and pleasant sound. I'm going to give it a 6.5/10. I hope you all didn't mind the short review of an odd album. I really wish this album had more replay value, but I really feel as if I'm never going to listen to it outside of the couple times I did to review it, and outside of the standout songs mentioned above. Oh well.

Tribulation - Down Below (Album Review)

Some metal artists are easily associated with one genre. Cannibal Corpse plays death metal. Cannibal Corpse has always played death metal, and one can hope they always will (I don't see Corpsegrinder releasing power metal anytime soon). Municipal Waste writes some terrible form of thrash, and probably always will. I don't see Dark Funeral releasing any djent in their career, just as I really can't see Dream Theater putting out any deathcore.
Some groups are not easily defined by one single subgenre, however. These groups write music that may evolve and expand boundaries past any sort of label. Another case is that of a complete change in genre, such as when Paradise Lost released some new wave albums, or when Ulver went from black metal to synthpop.  Some bands may fuse genres and release some albums in one style and others in a fusion of that style and another. For instance Woods of Ypres' sound changed and developed over time and included black metal, doom, and folk. Burzum's Filosofem consisted of black metal, ambient, and a unique combination of the two.
Some groups can't be classified under any sort of subgenre title. Ulver is a notable example of this, as is Primus. Anaal Nathrakh are certainly the most prominent band that come to mind in regards to this category, fusing black metal, industrial metal, and grindcore to make something entirely new and unique.

I would say that Tribulation are a good mix of traditional heavy metal, black metal, gothic metal (in an Edgar Allan Poe sort of way, not in a Type O Negative sense), and psychedelic rock, with death metal influences being incredibly strong in their early work. Some even accused Tribulation of being an Entombed clone at the time of their emergence.
Down Below seamlessly incorporates a great deal of different sounds in its production. Upon first listening to this album, I was strongly reminded of both Nachtmystium and Dark Tranquility. Johannes Andersson's vocals remind me strongly of both of these bands (particularly of Mikael Stanne's harsh vocals on Atoma and Blake Judd's vocals on The World We Left Behind or Assassins: Black Meddle, Part I). The instrumental side of the album is reminiscent of Nachtmystium as well, featuring slow black metal riffage with psychedelic influences. The use of synths, when present, also reminds me very much of Atoma, but these are perhaps more effectively used here on Down Below.
Noting that these similarities by no means implies that Tribulation stole from these bands in any way, as this album sounds absolutely like a piece of Tribulation's work. This album is a clear progression from 2015's The Children of the Night, an excellent album I discovered unfortunately long after I had put out my album of the year list for that year.
If one were to compare Down Below to Tribulation's previous album, one would find a much more polished album that is much more linear in its progression. Down Below's tracks do not work as well as single songs as they do a much greater part of the album as a whole, and for this reason I will spend more time speaking on the overall impressions of the album rather than breaking it down into a track-by-track review like that of my two previous reviews.

Down Below has an excellent structure with no filler or notable down points. The entire album works effectively as one cohesive piece of music, where one could pick out nearly any track from the album and receive the same quality as any other song. The bleak, melancholy atmosphere prevalent throughout the album is established through vocals with hints of reverb and delay, as well as gloomy guitar melodies. The guitar tone on this album is excellent, something you can tell that Adam Zaars and Jonathan Hultén have worked on since the early days of Tribulation. The guitars are distorted much more like that of a traditional heavy metal band than that of an extreme metal group, giving this album a very distinctive sound. This traditional distortion, along with mid-tempo riffs lead to the further development of the melancholy atmosphere present on Down Below. The synths are wispy and airy, which is absolutely crucial to this atmosphere of this album. The songwriting and structure of individual tracks is exceptional, and the lyrical content is rather fitting for the album. It must be noted that this content is much more mature than that of Tribulation's early work, which featured song titles such as "Seduced by the Smell of Flesh" and "Zombie Holocaust", both of which sound like song titles from my high school grindcore band. Of course, this just reiterates Tribulation's growth overtime, which has occurred not only lyrically but musically as well. The guitar melodies and use of synthesizers really make this album stand out in recent releases.The section from about the three minute mark to about the three minute and fifty second mark in "Subterranea" displays this sort of sound well (this song will be linked below, as will the lead single for the album, "The Lament"). The drums are not nearly as high in the mix as in releases before The Children of the Night, but they still sound great. New drummer Oscar Leander does not disappoint.

I think that what Down Below offers most, however, is the opportunity for recognition with a wider metal audience. I know that in the progression of my musical taste, discovering bands which combine elements from multiple genres may open a person up to these influences. Woods of Ypres made my appreciation for both doom and black metal grow, Behemoth made me love death metal and black metal, and Nachtmystium made me greater appreciate psychedelic rock. Down Below will likely have a similar effect on those who stumble upon this record. I wish I had the opportunity to discover extreme metal through this album.

I think Down Below deserves an 8.4/10, with my only complaints being relevant to the volume of the drums in the mix and the slight monotony of sound throughout the album. I believe that this album will further cement Tribulation's place as one of the most unique band to become popular in the 2010's, along with Pallbearer and Deafheaven, to name a few.

Watain - Trident Wolf Eclipse (Album Review)

Watain is a Swedish black metal band formed in 1998, famous for their aggressive black metal sound and elaborate stage shows. Trident Wolf Eclipse is their first album in five years, the last being The Wild Hunt, released in 2013. This album saw more progressive influences and even featured clean vocals.
I have a long history with Watain. I first discovered Watain in late 2012, at a time in my life where all I listened to was Slipknot and Rammstein. I did not fall in love instantly, however, and to be frank, I really couldn't stand Black Metal. I thought the genre was rather pointless, an opinion that would be changed by Behemoth, Burzum, Emperor, Borknagar, and Nachtmystium two years later.
I really gave Watain a fair chance in 2015, when I fell in love with both their 2003 album Casus Luciferi and the more modern Lawless Darkness. 

Trident Wolf Eclipse starts off with the pummeling "Nuclear Alchemy," a great traditional black metal track. Raw, in your face, and truly one of the most accessible tracks on the album. "Nuclear Alchemy" sets the tone for the album by being straightforward and simple.
Next up is "Sacred Damnation", one of my favorite tracks on this album. The drumming on this track is impeccable, as is the guitar work. The synths near the end add another layer of atmosphere to this already dense song, and are much appreciated.
"Teufelsreich" is one of the slower tracks on the album and bears a small resemblance to the work of Dissection. Following this is "Furor Diabolicus", which contains an excellent guitar solo by Pelle Forsberg and one of my favorite riffs on the album. It's fast, in your face, evil, and makes me want to drive really fast. Remind me to never listen to this song while driving.
"A Throne Below," the fifth track on this album, starts out as a traditional black metal song but includes elements of classical music near the close. As the song reaches an end, the synths grow in volume and the guitars ever so slightly quieter, leading this to be one of the most dynamic pieces on the album.
"Ultra (Pandemonic)" is unfortunately one of the most bland songs on the album, featuring a rather uninspired black metal riff and an underwhelming solo. This is certainly the weakest song on the album, but is by no means a weak song in general. It simply just leaves more to be desired, and lacks the dynamics that are found on "Sacred Damnation" and "A Throne Below." It also features some sort of strange evil laughing in its last thirty seconds that takes away from the maturity of the album. It's campy and sort of unnecessary for a band that has entered its twentieth year of existence.
"Towards the Sanctuary" features some of the best guitar work on the album and demonstrates structure like no other song on this album. This song is definitely the most forward thinking on the album. I think that the bass work and vocals, both performed by Erik Danielsson, reach their peak at this point in the album.
The final piece of the album, "The Fire of Power", is slow, gloomy, and evil. This features some of the best drum work on the album, definitely being the most diverse tracks in terms of drumming. The rest of the album is very blast beat heavy, which is always appreciated, but this track really lets Håkan Jonsson display his versatility behind the kit. "The Fire of Power" really starts to shine at about the half-way point, featuring a unique bridge at around the two minute mark. This track also does an effective job at bringing the album to an abrupt close, which is very fitting given the nature of the album.

Trident Wolf Eclipse is a great black metal record that is short and sweet. The dynamic range on this album is incredible in comparison to many other mainstream black metal releases, leading this album to sound spectacular. The vocal deliveries, guitar tone, and drumming really shine on this album. The production on this album is wonderful, handled by the only producer that Watain has ever worked with, Tore Stjerna. Stjerna has also worked with Funeral Mist and Tribulation (whose new album Down Below will be reviewed soon).
Trident Wolf Eclipse does seem to lack variation, however, and is unfortunately predictable at times. I will forgive this predictability because of the excellent production and strong songwriting throughout this record, in both lyrics and music.

I'm looking forward to seeing where Watain will go after this album. I would love to see more experimentation, as heard in The Wild Hunt, but I honestly have no idea where Watain will go after this. I am sure, however, that it will be powerful. I'm giving this album a 7.0/10, and will be continuing to listen to it whenever I have the desire to hear a barrage of tremolo picking and blast beats.

Corrosion of Conformity - No Cross No Crown (Album Review)

No Cross No Crown marks Corrosion of Conformity's first album with rhythm guitarist/vocalist Pepper Keenan since 2005's In the Arms of God, which has led expectations for this album to be high. That being said, this is actually the first Corrosion of Conformity album I have actually listened to in its entirety, despite their massive presence in the metal community. I have heard plenty of songs and even watched many live festival performances from recent years, but have, for whatever reason, failed to listen to an album of theirs.

Being familiar with their sound, No Cross No Crown did not surprise me in the slightest. Thick, riff- heavy, Southern sludge metal with bluesy vocals. There are no frills, no attempts at trying to put themselves across as something they are not. No Cross No Crown serves as an efficient and welcome reunion album for the classic line up of Corrosion of Conformity. That being said, this album is by no means perfect and definitely has some noteworthy flaws.

The album begins with an instrumental intro - one of many - and leads into the single that was last released before the album, "The Luddite." "The Luddite" is a well-written song, but does not offer anything new from Corrosion of Conformity. "Cast the First Stone," the next song on the album, is packed full of energy, yet, like the previous track, leaves something to be desired.
The next track "No Cross" is yet another instrumental interlude, arguably the best of its kind on this album but completely unnecessary. To be frank, none of these interludes would be necessary if there were less material on the album, but this will be addressed shortly.
The next song, "Wolf Named Crow" is yet another single from the album and perhaps one of the strongest songs on the album.  Featuring some of the most well written riffs on the album and one of its best solos, this song could be pit up against any of C.O.C.'s classics.

After two relatively forgettable tracks, the near ZZ Top homage "Little Man" and "Forgive Me"; and yet another interlude, another high point is found in the song "Nothing Left to Say." Mike Dean's bass tone and the heavy, punching guitar tones of both Pepper Keenan and Woody Weatherman really shine on this track, which features some of the softest moments on the album and some of the heaviest. Woody Weatherman's clean tones on the first half of the song are almost reminiscent of David Gilmour's solo tones on The Wall. After "Nothing Left to Say" is yet another interlude, followed by two relatively strong tracks "Old Disaster" and "E.L.M.", the latter of which follows the lead of many early doom metal releases.
The title track is undeniably one of the strangest on the album and arguably the most pointless (apart from the quartet of interludes). It features hushed vocals and clean guitars, and could be erased from existence with little consequence.

The album comes into its final stretch with one of the strongest and most unique tracks on the album with "A Quest to Believe (A Call to the Void)," which features my favorite guitar solo on the album, which also happens to be one of my favorite Weatherman solos to date. Starting at around the four minute and forty-five second mark, this solo is laced in reverb and is sure to get stuck in the heads of most listeners.
The final track on the album had me incredibly skeptical, that being a cover of Queen's "Son and Daughter," from their first album. Apart from the high pitched "I want you" found in this song, this sounds almost as much like any other C.O.C. song that it could be mistaken for an original. The band did an excellent job at rendering this song in their own style, even though the mere thought of Corrosion of Conformity covering Queen is bizarre. Although an excellent cover, this track does not bring any sort closure to the album and seems almost out of place as the closing track.

No Cross No Crown is a truly solid release with some great songs, namely "Nothing Left to Say" and "Wolf Named Crow", but it is incredibly cumbersome. Fifteen songs clocking in at almost an hour is a lot of material, especially considering the four throwaway interlude tracks scattered throughout the first two-thirds of the album. There are definitely some forgettable tracks on this album that bring the overall quality of the album down, as any filler material will do. Without these tracks and the interludes, this album would have been a much better release.
The album's production and mixing are very bass-heavy and powerful. At times, the album seems to have a slightly muddy mix, but these moments are few and far between.

It seems that in recent times, comeback albums take the role of letting musicians grow comfortable writing and recording material with the group, and thus do not offer much material that is new or different. This is found in Faith No More's Sol Invictus and At The Gates' At War With Reality, among others. No Cross No Crown finds itself in this category of "more of the same" comeback records, but this is not necessarily a negative point. There is potential for growth and for advancement, especially in the case of such an amazing group of talented musicians.

Overall I would give this album a 6.0/10, primarily due to the few average tracks and large quantity of interludes. If the album had removed the interludes along with "Little Man" and "Forgive Me", it would be rated higher.

Welcome!

Hello!


Welcome to my music review blog, Auditory Overload. On this blog I will be reviewing albums new and old across a variety of genres. Expect to see a lot of underground hip-hop, metal, new wave, and indie. I will take any recommendations and/or suggestions on albums, EPs, or singles to review. If any content I post contains any inaccurate information about any artists mention, please let me know so it can be corrected swiftly.


Some information about myself: I am a college student with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Philosophy. I have been listening to music as long as I can remember and have kept album of the year lists since 2014. I have been analyzing music for some time and have been posting about music on my social media for years. Just now have I decided to start a blog to not only share all of my thoughts with the world, but also to keep my thoughts on albums organized for my own reference. I have been playing guitar since I was eight.


Here are some past album of the year lists of mine so you can get a glimpse at my taste in music over the years:


2017

• Converge- The Dusk in Us
• Archspire- Relentless Mutation
• Bell Witch- Mirror Reaper
• White Ward- Futility Report
• The Black Dahlia Murder- Nightbringers
• Ulver- The Assassination of Julius Caesar
• Loss- Horizonless
• Leprous- Malina
• Mastodon- Emperor of Sand
• Pallbearer- Heartless

2016

• Gojira- Magma
• Alcest- Kodama
• Dark Tranquility- Atoma
• Aesop Rock- The Impossible Kid
• Anaal Nathrakh- The Whole of the Law
• Obscura- Akroasis
• Atmosphere-Fishing Blues
• Vektor- Terminal Redux
• Kishi Bashi- Sonderlust
• Insomnium- Winter's Gate

2015

• Deafheaven- New Bermuda
• Cattle Decapitation- The Anthropocene Extinction
• Lamb of God- VII: Sturm und Drang
• Marilyn Manson- The Pale Emperor
• Paradise Lost- The Plague Within