Short Album Reviews: May 2017
Published 12 May 2017 | 598 words | Categories: Music
Stuff I've been listening to:
Most recently I went to a concert on May 6th in Philadelphia: Mastodon, Opeth, Gojira, Eagles of Death Metal, Devin Townsend Project, Russian Circles.
And then a bunch of albums:
A Stirring in the Noos by John Frum
- Release date: 12 May 2017
- Polished and at the level of quality you'd expect from a Relapse Records release. I did expect the album to be slightly more interesting. John Frum has members from The Faceless and The Dillinger Escape Plan so I thought there'd be a noticeable progressive edge. John Frum is a bit psychedelic for death metal, but errs more on the flat side of things. If I had zero expectations going into this album, I think I'd be more satisfied.
Paramnesia by Destroying the Devoid
- Release date: 19 August 2016
- Extremely good progressive death metal which is both technical and melodic. It's another good album from Unique Leader Records.
C:\>COPY *.* A: /V by MASTER BOOT RECORD
- Release date: 8 May 2017 (for the remastered version)
- Interesting blend of instrumental metal and chiptune. Not sure if I would recommend this to most people. It's still likely worth a listen to anyone open to the chiptune/metal idea.
Ego Dominus Tuus by Nightbringer
- Release date: 30 September 2014
- Decent enough black metal but it failed to make a lasting impression on me.
- Release date: 10 May 2017
- Drone/ambient album. I was involved in the making of this, so I can't give a completely objective review.
EOD: A Tale of Dark Legacy by The Great Old Ones
- Release date: 27 January 2017
- Compelling atmospheric black metal with a dose of HP Lovecraft. This is one of the few albums I've preordered, and I have no regrets about that. It's from Season of Mist, so you know the album can't be awful.
- Release date: 29 April 2016
- Lengthy progressive black metal album with influences from several other genres. Each of the three disks has a different feel. Some songs are atmospheric enough to be classified as drone/ambient.
- Release date: 28 April 2017
- Not their best album, but it's decent alternative metal/rock.
Upcoming music:
Decapitated
- New album "Antikult" coming July 7th through Nuclear Blast. Their single "Never" is good, although like the upcoming Suffocation, I'm not a fan of the vocals. Decapitated have certainly moved past the Winds Of Creation days.
- They'll be on tour with Thy Art Is Murder, Fallujah, and Ghost Bath.
Suffocation
- Releasing their new album "Of The Dark Light" on June 9th.
- I haven't really been a fan of the singles (Return to the Abyss, etc) which have already come out. It sounds like Suffocation except the vocals are weak. I think the band will sound better live than on this album.
Dying Fetus
- Their silly-titled new album, "Wrong One To Fuck With," will be out June 23rd. The first single is great though; "Fixated on Devastation" is brutal.
Origin
- New album "Unparalleled Universe" coming June 30th. They recently released a single, "Accident and Error," which sounds like what we'd expect from Origin. It's solid.
Scale The Summit
- Preorders are up for their latest album "In A World Of Fear."
Inanimate Existence
Vale of Pnath
Steven Wilson
- New album "To The Bone" coming August 18th. The single "Pariah" sounds like more Wilson. It's not anything new for him; it's good, yet basically standard fare.
Hallatar
- Preorders of the supergroup's debut album will start in late May. (Members are from Swallow the Sun, Trees of Eternity, Amorphis, and HIM, so I expect doom-laden metal.)