Thursday, November 17, 2011

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Way Too Fucking Long...

It's a busy life, the life of a rockstar. Sitting at home, watching entire seasons of TV shows while gorging on Skittles and drinking tea like a chump. Realizing that I have been rather lax in my updating of this, I've decided to make an enormous post chock full of mediocre content. Where to begin?

Perhaps I can spotlight some new bands I've been jamming out first.



Mechina. Fast, technical, brutally groovy. I've been really wearing out my eardrums with these guys. Can you tell why? It sounds like the spawn of Fear Factory and Mnemic. And that is a fantastically awesome thing. These guys need the exposure, being as talented as they are.



Breach The Void! Mechanically charged mathematical metal that brings the groove. So much alliteration. Alliteration erection. It took me a few times to get into these guys, the singer threw me off at first but I gave them a few chances and they grew on me pretty quickly.


Threat Signals new album really blew my fucking mind. I did not expect to hear the intensity that I heard from this album. I now get a Job For A Cowboy feeling coming from these guys. It's a fresh new look on these guys, not that I didn't like them before, but I like this direction that the music is taking.




So in my absence, Machine Heads newest album made its way to the masses. I was, and still am, reeling over the absolute bomb that Morbid Angels new album was, so I had to work up some courage to listen to another enormously popular band who I respect too much to see become pure hacks and garbage. I mustered up the strength to listen and I was more than thrilled to hear everything I love in Machine Head. This album is a 9.5 out of 10, without question. The songs have decreased in length slightly, and the songs have become more condensed and less droning, I think it's the perfect mix. This is my favorite track off of the album right now. There's this version, and then there's an equally stunning and beautiful acoustic version of the song that I'm also really loving. I love every song on the album, "Who We Are", "This is The End", and "I Am Hell" are my favorites besides this song. Do yourself a favor and check this album out. It's amazing.


Hackneyed. Traditional death metal, fantastically executed. I would call this "Vanilla Death Metal", because it's not progressive or especially unique, but it's just quality. I love this album. Oh also everyone in the band is really young.



Fuckin' hell, people. If you like Cloudkicker, Chimp Spanner, Tyrant of Death, or the Levi/Werstler combination, then you'll love this. Instrumental progressive guitar mastery executed perfectly. This is some great metal, mathy and melodic. This track especially just hits me hard. Enjoy.


Devolved - great technical death metal. As simple as I can get. Brutal, groovy, angry. The guy could use some variation in his voice but that small con aside, this is a good album.


Detonation - Technical death metal that brings the pain. Pretty obscure for some reason, these guys should be pretty popular with this kind of music.


Exeloume. When I saw the cover I expected a cheesy 80's thrash garbage album and was pleasantly surprised at the ferocity and anger that came through my speakers.

So now I have some new stuff from the AMR Corner:


Untitled Track by Visceral Creations

Redneck - Vocal Cover by Visceral Creations

Shrine of The Ancient Ones by Visceral Creations

Empty Inside by Visceral Creations




Thursday, June 9, 2011

Long Time No Seethe

Well it's been entirely too long since I've updated this. Lots of things going on with the band and stupid graphic design. To some degree, I forgot about blogging about metal because, quite frankly, nothing's happened in metal news to merit me blogging about it. Well, nothing significant. That changed last week when I...mysteriously happened upon a copy of Morbid Angel's newest release. I heard it once all the way through, and one of the only thoughts in my head was "I can't wait to ream the shit out of this on Blogger."


Well here we go. 




Morbid Angel.

Anyone who knows even the most minuscule fraction about metal, has at least heard of Morbid Angel, if not, have heard one of their tracks. Needless to say, they've cemented their position in the metal world forever, and ushered in a new generation of brutal technicality, grim, H.P. Lovecraft inspired lyrics amid trippy guitar solos over crushing drums. 'Altars of Madness' changed the game, 'Blessed are The Sick' further improved upon the volatile formula, finally 'Covenant' made it into a sickening black entity. Then 'Domination' reared its head. The magical concoction had been altered, not negatively, mind you. Generally, people liked and or loved Domination (myself being one of the people who genuinely loved it).


Domination. Morbid Angel had decided to tinker with the critically acclaimed sound that Altars, Blessed, and Covenant had so eloquently solidified a sound that many future generations of bands tried (and failed) to replicate. It was industrialized just enough to keep it fresh, but not enough to drive dedicated fans away. The songs were brutal, sludgy, and dark. Included among these smashing tracks were quirky instrumental pieces that added an odd aura to the album. It is here that David Vincent decides to leave the band, in order to pursue what I can only assume what was a miscalculated assumption of the wealth of profits of his wife's techno-garbage Genitorturers failed to yield. 


Time goes on. Steve Tucker gets behind the vocal wheel and everything seems to work out swimmingly. 






Formulas Fatal To The Flesh, Gateways To Annihilation and Heretic all see their way to the public, and are all almost universally praised by critics. All of these albums offer up distinct sounds and styles. Each one accentuates a different Morbid Angel style, and all of them being memorable and easily discernible from the others. 


Well the Morbid Angel trains seems to slow down after Heretic. Nothing is heard from them, it's quiet in the camp. And after a reasonable amount of time, people begin to anticipate a new Morbid album 'any day now'. I remember I myself had fallen victim to one of the rumors in 2006. About an hour before leaving to go see Iron Maiden, I was informed that Morbid Angel were hard at work, crafting a sickening, evil new album that I  anticipated would be even more skull dust-ifying than the others. For about two weeks I churned and prepared for the day when I would hear new Morbid Angel. Sadly, that day passed. Needless to say, seven years later, they've finally put out an album of new material. 


So what do we have? The return of David Vincent. Also, the unfortunate departure (he's not dead, just recovering from back surgery) of Pete "The Feet" Sandoval, and a new album to reawaken all of the fans from their seemingly endless slumber. Christ almighty, this is a rude awakening. 



Illud Divinum Insanus. What can I say? Close to an entire hour of shit-club horseshit. Half of the album would be pretty good if it weren't horribly outweighed by the atrocious counterpart. The opening track reeks of teenage computer angst, and a failed attempt to create a pounding dance masterpiece that falls flat on it's face and small genitals. Seriously, I could have made that first track in 15 minutes in FL Studios and Audacity. My first listen was not a pretty one. I recall during this track, frantically re-assuring myself that the album could NOT be like this to the end. I was right, of course. The album was not like that. "Existo Vulgore" was a song I had heard before the albums release. I kind of liked it, knew what it was about, so I skipped it and moved on to "Blades for Baal". A showcase for Tim Yeung (who I think is an extremely competent drummer). The song is okay. It sounds like Morbid Angel but not quite as... Morbidly Angelic? I like it but at the time, I'm still reeling from "Too Extreme!" to even initially appreciate the goodness that "Blades for Baal" has to offer. 


I move on to "I Am Morbid" which opens up with an audience chanting what I think is 'morbid' before some good drumming and heavy guitar follow. The song kind of dies out on me and I move on to "10 More Dead". The song is Morbid Angel how I remember them. Good. Then I'm treated with "Destructos Vs. The Earth/Attack". The most aggravating song on the album, to be honest. It goes on much too long for how boring and cheesy it is. The lyrics fire off a salvo of douche chill artillery from my brain stem all the way down to my asshole for a whole 7 minutes and fifteen seconds of almost unbearable rubbish. I sit through all of it to really soak it in. "Nevemore" is next, a song I've also heard prior to the release. It's good song, but nothing special. "Beauty Meets Beast" is also another song that just falls to the wayside as far as memorability goes. Then my personal 'favorite-song-that's-not-my-favorite-but-I-say-it-is-so-I-can-play-it-and-annoy-my-friends" song. "Radikult". At this point I'm laughing. There is no other explanation for this. This album has got to be a practical joke of some form. I'm too far gone to care about the last track to write about it. I've probably heard half of it once. 


Point? I've been double crossed. Backstabbed. The victim of treachery of the highest capacity. The gods of death metal have turned their shoulder towards their fans in favor of club metal hits. I've not given up on them though. Many bands have put out a shit album and come back ten times stronger than before. Fear Factory, Testament, Machine Head, all have made triumphant resurrections, and I hope to Cthulhu that Morbid Angel does likewise. Who could forget "Where The Slime Live", or "Chambers of Dis", or "Maze of Torment", or "Blessed Are The Sick/Leading The Rats"? I didn't. Sure, this is a mountain in the road of Morbid Angel, but I'll survive. I just hope that they come back stronger than this. 


In the meantime, check this out:
http://morbidfails.tumblr.com/

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Illud Divinum Insanus

Illud Divinum Insanus - The LP, out June 7th
"Nevermore" EP album cover, out May 16th


I am speechless. I'm so ready for this, you don't even understand. I hear that there's a Combichrist remix in the works too. To give you a hint as to how the album might sound and the possible influences, Try had this to say:

"I listen to a lot of hardcore [techno] music now — the fuckin' serious, artistic stuff, not that crap you hear at the clubs. That stuff has impact and it's really extreme. Even if there's no guitar in it or no real drums, the energy coming out of the speakers is amazing."

Hence Combichrist. 


I am so ready...