Hatriot - Heroes of Origin

Title: Heroes of Origin
Artist: Hatriot
Released: 2013                                            RATING: 4.5

The Good: 4.5 might seem a bit much for a work that was released so recently. I would like to defend this, however, by stating that Heroes Of Origin really is one of the best Thrash albums I have ever heard, top-to-bottom. Even the songs I don't care for much are still awesome. The band is led by former Exodus front man Steve Souza, who sounds every bit as venomous and angry as he did when back in the late 80's. The musicality of the record is awesome, with every band member performing at a very high level. While the comparison may be unfair, Hatriot's guitarists manage to sound like a modern-day H-Team, as they shell out riff after tasty riff, not to mention the killer solos. This isn't to imply that they sound like copy-cats, but quite the opposite: their playing just sounds that good. "The Violent Times of My Dark Passenger" is a truly outstanding song in all of its ominous glory, with great lyrics to boot. Other killer tracks include "Globicidal", "Murder American Style", "Blood-Stained Wings", and "Weapons of Class Destruction", though the whole album is great, and every song worth listening to. Again, not trying to eliminate Hatriot's individuality in any way, but the way I see it, Heroes today stands just as strong in comparison to the field as Fabulous Disaster did in the 80's. As with Exodus before them, other bands are doing what Hatriot are doing, just not as well.

The Bad: Flawless is a very strong word, but I have no complaints.

Control Denied - The Fragile Art of Existence

Title: The Fragile Art of Existence
Artist: Control Denied
Released: 1999                                           RATING: 4/5

The Good: Around the time between Death's Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance releases, Death mainman Chuck Schuldiner began to tire of the musical confines of Death Metal and, long story short, formed Control Denied to expand his horizons. The sole album released by the band, The Fragile Art of Existence, is a strong effort, to be sure. Schuldiner, who only wrote all the lyrics and plays lead guitar for the album, is joined by Death alums Shannon Hamm, Richard Christie, Steve DiGiorgio, and melodic singer Tim Aymar, all of whom display beyond-impressive skills at what they do. Songs like "Consumed", "Breaking the Broken", "Expect the Unexpected", and "When the Link Becomes Missing" exemplify the album's strong points; its melodic and catchy while still retaining quite a bit of heaviness and a lot of expressiveness. In other words, there is no compromise. What you get out of it depends on your attitude, of course. As far as a Power Metal album goes, a direction the music certainly trends towards, it is very unique. Any fans of progressive metal or Death's later albums should listen to this album.

The Bad: I only have a few problems with this otherwise great album. When listening to and reading the lyrics, they are very distinctly written in Chuck's style. Alhough Tim Aymar does a great job singing, I almost don't feel like the vocals are as sincere, so to speak, comming from him as they would (I imagine)have been from Chuck. The songs were written at almost the same time as those for Perseverance (Hell, some of the songs are said to have been taken from The Fragile Art and 'Death-ized' so that they had enough songs to finish the album), and the influence clearly shows. To put it bluntly, Perseverance has the better songs, and with a identical band sound on the two records, The Fragile Art can come off as a derivative, light-weight, late-period Death album. This, however, is not a fair judgment of this truly great work, the last of a true genius. Be open when listening. It will be worth it.

mETaL.......

Haven't been posting much because I'm looking for more great albums to review/reccomend, and I don't like to recommend too many albums from the same bands if I can help it. Comming back soon with some goodies, though. Keep it metal.

Immortal - Sons of Northern Darkness

Title: Sons of Northern Darkness
Artist: Immortal
Released: 2002                                               RATING:4/5

The Good: A true combination of old-school and new-school sensibilities, Sons of Northern Darkness is an overwhelmingly strong offering of uncompromising Black Metal. Each of the band members plays their instrument at an incredibly high level, and Abbath's vocals are menacing and distinctly black metal-esque. His guitar parts are technical and shred quite hard in spots, but also keep tight to the black metal tradition of keeping the emphasis on the atmosphere of each song as a whole. The reduction of white noise in the background and good production (such ommisions being atypical for black metal in general) also helps emphasize these traits, and the band's sense of melody is staggering considering the genre's reputation as simply "noisy". I've read a few articles commenting on how Vektor's playing style betrays a black metal-influenced approach to melody, which I totally didn't hear at all...until I listened to this album. There are great high-speed tracks, as well as slower tracks that will just steamroll the listener with their heaviness. The whole album is full of great moments, and is highly recommended for fans of extreme metal, but, of course, particularly black metal.

The Bad: Sometimes, the songs can really drag on without a lot of variety, but these instances are few and far between.

Obscura - Omnivium

Title: Omnivium
Artist: Obscura
Released: 2011                                      RATING: 4.5/5

The Good: I thought about this one carefully. Listening to a lot of metal in my life, I tried to put this album in context compared to what I had already heard. I confess, I am a HUGE fan of Death, which is one of the most obvious influences Obscura draws from, what with the myriad of heavy and driving yet progressive, melodic riffs and the harsh vocal delivery of deep subject matter. And I will admit, I am usually pretty quick to call out imitators, especially of Death, whose music I borderline revere. But I don't feel that way AT ALL with Omnivium. In fact, it feels like a breath of fresh air to me; one of the few albums, like The Sound of Perseverance, that makes me think "And I lived without this for how long???" Granted, I have heard better albums; Omnivium is certainly not on TSoP's level, and does offer some standard Obscura tricks, which keep it from being revolutionary in any way. What this album is is a masterful work of Progressive metal. The band has always been a clinic on instrumental virtuosity, but compared to Cosmogenesis, their previous album, this album impresses for one reason: The songs are better. Yes, Cosmogenesis was a very good album, but it was firmly rooted in the standard tech-death formula that it merely was above average, if that. Obscura manages to add in elements, such as use of vocal effects (mainly the ethereal chanting) and melody, along with even more complex instrumental parts (if that were even possible), to make the songs as memorable as progressive metal could possibly be. The best part is, this is evidenced in minor parts as well as major parts of the songs. Take, for example, the bass interlude at the back-end of "Prismal Dawn", or the highly emotive and melodic solo on "Celestial Spheres"; just two great moments that comprise an album comprised entirely of such great parts. That is to say, every song in their entirety is very good. The chanting was interesting to me; it reminded me a bit of the Halo games, and just all the sort of epic associations that go with them, which the band achieved here with said element. Without gushing too much, I would like to say that Omnivium has truly helped restore my faith in the contemporary metal scene, helping to erase the sense of staleness that many of the "-core" bands and other assorted mindless death bands had given me. Please get this album, if you can.

The Bad: The songs do run kind of long, which is inconvenient at times. But, honestly? That;s not even a big deal. This album, while extremely good, is not as groundbreaking as releases by such bands as Death, Cynic, Athiest, or Morbid Angel (who clearly have left their mark on the band), so don't get your hopes up in that case. Think of Omnivium as on the tier directly beneath them, but just barely so.

Violator - Chemical Assault

Title: Chemical Assault
Artist: Violator
Released: 2006                                          RATING: 3.8/5

The Good: The reason that most people got tired of the whole "Thrash Revival" thing really fast was because a lot of the bands were really bad at it. I mean, they could play, but it was really noticeably not-fresh stuff, even as far as neo-thrash goes, which is saying something. Violator was a notable exception, however, and 2006's Chemical Assault fits well alongside second-tier thrash classics such as Forbidden Evil, Eternal Nightmare, and Epidemic of Violence, to name a few. The material is hardly groundbreaking, as mentioned, but it works; even the songs about such common thrash topics as nuclear war ("Atomic Nightmare", "After Nuclear Devastation", etc.) don't sound worn out. The material is well above-average, and the band's playing throughout is air-tight. The first half of the album is the most memorable, but the whole thing is worth the acquisition for sure.

The Bad: There's nothing new about this album at all; it's textbook 80's-style thrash, for the most part. That can be a good or bad thing, of course, depending on what you are looking for. No major concerns, however. A very solid album.

Anacrusis - Manic Impressions

Title: Manic Impressions
Artist: Anacrusis
Released: 1991                                            RATING: 4.5/5

The Good: The third and best Anacrusis album, Manic Impressions, is a benchmark in progressive, melodic thrash, and a worthy successor to the Reason album that it surpasses in just about every way (though not necessarily dramatically so.). Opening track "Paint a Picture" does just that, setting the tone for what's ahead with strong riffing, dark overtones, lots of melody, and excellent drumming from then-new addition Chad Smith (not the Red Hot Chili Peppers guy). Anacrusis' cover of New Model Army's "I Love the World" is splendidly done; it is the perfect choice for a cover that they could have done as it totally fits their sound. This album is such essential Thrash/Progressive music that the fact that Manic Impressions was, and has been, ignored by all but die-hards is nothing short of a travesty. I mean, hell, they give the album away free on the band's website. Give it a listen, and be amazed.

The Bad: Poor production plagues most Anacrusis albums, but the remastered version available now rounds out the sound very well. Just get it.