Morbid Angel - Covenant

Title: Covenant
Artist: Morbid Angel
Released: 1993                                             RATING: 9.5/10

The Good: Morbid Angel faced some tough competition within the Death Metal genre at the time of Covenant; albums by Death, Carcass, and Atheist (though slightly before this album) were expanding Death metal away from it's primative, brutal origins, while a horde of other bands rose up to clutter the scene with their own gore-filled lyrics and wanna-be Slayer soloing styles, among other things. What seperated Morbid Angel from the pack, and, indeed, made them a driving Death metal force, were a.) their muscianship (top-notch), b.) their songs (memorable, brutal, and amazing), and their consistancy. Simple, yes, but not many could come close to what MA was doing at the time, and many still cannot. After two classic albums in Altars of Madness and Blessed are the Sick, Morbid Angel dropped Covenant on the world, and it is safe to say that it was, and is, an embodiment of everything good about Death Metal and Morbid Angel themselves. David Vincent, Trey Azagthoth, and Pete Sandoval all prove themselves not only as all-time-greats of the genre as far as muscianship is concerned, but they also mannaged to pen a great album with high replay value. "Rapture", "Pain Divine", and "World of S*** (The Promised Land)" are brutal tracks that give the full Morbid Angel experience over the course of the songs' lengths. "God of Emptiness" is a sprawling behemoth of crushing heaviness, and a serious achievement, for sure. Covenant is an excellent album.

The Bad: Vincent's vocals are lower; I liked them a bit better on Altars. I also don't really see a need for the instrumental track "Nar Mattaru"; it's fairly boring and really only acts as a tease for those waiting to hear "God of Emptiness". Otherwise, the album is spectacular.

Anacrusis - Reason

Title: Reason
Artist: Anacrusis
Released: 1990                                  RATING: 4/5

The Good: Anacrusis was an incredibly talented band who just had the misfortune of being mostly isolated from the main metal scenes both geographically (They're from St. Louis, MO) and time-wise (their debut surfaced in 1988, right at the tail-end of the Thrash movement). They combined melody, great playing skills, and superior songwriting skills to create a sound that is truly their own. Reason is their second album, following the promising but rough debut Suffering Hour. It is jam-packed with awesomeness: tight riffs, great melodies, and the sudden vocal shifts of Kenn Nardi, all of which are displayed excellently on tracks such as "Stop Me", "Not Forgotten", and "Misshapen Intent". Definately worth listening to.

The Bad: The production is not very good, but then metal isn't supposed to sound squeaky-clean anyway. Those not ready for Nardi's vocals may have trouble adjusting. Also, it might not be "thrashy" enough for some; indeed, some have complained of it being more Progressive than Thrash. While Reason is a personal favorite of mine, it's not as good overall (though only slightly) as Anacrusis's next album, Manic Impressions, which is awesome (again, a review for another day).

Vektor - Outer Isolation

Title: Outer Isolation
Artist: Vektor
Released: 2011                                RATING: 4.5/5

The Good: I thought I'd start with something fairly recent. Vektor is a younger band originally from Arizona, who's debut album Black Future (Which I will write about later...) was released in 2008. At the risk of sounding overly "hype", I would like to say that I've never heard something quite like this. Building spectacularly off of their hard-to-follow-up debut, Vektor delivers another out-of-this-world record. The production is great; it's very modern, all the instruments are very clear, the guitars have crunch to them, and it doesn't sound overly heavy like such albums as Exodus's The Atrocity Exhibition - Exhibit A and B, or Testament's The Formation of Damnation. While I am not devaluing such production (all of those records sound great), my point is that it would not work with Vektor's style, as I see it. Anyway, the record is a tour-de-force in technical proficiency, and yet it never really sacrifices melody to achieve this. Even with David DiSanto's harsh vocals, the songs can be borderline catchy in some places. I've heard a lot about how "Evile is going to the top of the thrash scene!" and "Municiple Waste is amazing, and so is Toxic Holocaust!" That's all fine and good. But to be honest, if more people knew about Vektor, they'd probably feel pretty silly about those comments. Because they're that good.

The Bad: It's not as good as Black Future. And it makes me really excited for the next album. Those aren't really knocks on the album though, cause there aren't really any unless you don't like the vocals. And if that's all that's keeping you away from Vektor, then you are really missing out.

Intro

Welcome to my blog, The Good, the Bad, and The Metal. I don't know about many of you readers, but I had to do some real searching to find good metal, especially older/obscure stuff from, like, the 80's and 90's. It's all accessible, for the most part, but I rarely meet anyone who knows anything about it to inform me, and it took a long time to learn about what (little) I know. Most people either subscribe to todays pop-junk crappy music, rap, everything else, and/or not-very-heavy rock; i.e. no metal. So my goal with this blog is this: I will write fairly often about the good and bad of albums and bands from the metal scene that I find particularly enjoyable. I know everyone needs to start somewhere, and I hope I can get people in on great stuff they didn't know about yet. Plus, it's just fun to write about great metal and why it is so great. Anyone with anything constructive (Not Negative, that is) to comment may feel free. I would like for this blog to be a forum for people who love metal and want more, or those just testing the waters. Whatever you get out of it, I hope it helps. Rock on \m/