Crowbar-Lifesblood for the Downtrodden
(Candlelight USA, 2005)

When it comes to sludgy metal, Crowbar is really in a league all to themselves. For years now the band has been playing slow grooves that are heavy as humanly possible, but have always had an almost hardcore side to the band that has made them universally accepted by metal fans and hardcore fans.

Lifeblood for the Downtrodden is vintage Crowbar through and through. You have the slower songs with hints of melody amid the sludge, as well as the more upbeat almost thrash influenced songs. It doesn’t really see the band treading any new ground, and that is exactly what you’d want from the Crowbar album. You don’t want to see the band progress. It’s like AC/DC. If the formula works why mess with it?

The production definitely is one of the best the band has ever had. The guitars are tremendously heavy, with mounds of distortion, yet the sound is very clear. Even during the busier moments nothing is lost. This is an album that begs to be played loud.

If you are a fan of Crowbar then this is a no brainer. This is one of the best albums the band has ever written, and an album that shows a band needing to be pushed to the next level. This is an album that needs to be heard.

Enslaved-Isa
(Candlelight USA, 2005)

Enslaved are one of the few black metal bands that have continued to progress and have not once stumbled over the course of their career. While the band definitely began as an extreme black metal band full of blasting and the typical elements of black metal, the band has evolved into an original and dynamic metal band that still has a black metal base.

Isa is chock full of interesting guitar runs. The vast majority of the bands sound revolves around minor chords, but there is an almost progressive slant to a lot of sections. They use interesting rhythms and feature unique lead ideas. Sometimes the leads aren’t what you’d typically consider a lead. They aren’t solos, but sometimes a chordal counterpoint, just a different chord on top of the riff that adds a completely different layer of sound to the section.

Isa definitely isn’t a fast album. Blasting isn’t common at all really. The album travels at more of a mid-tempo, which definitely helps reinforce the Viking inspired nature of the band’s sound. It’s not as overt as on say Eld, but the inclusion of clean vocals definitely bring the Viking influence to this new album. The vocals however are definitely harsh for the most part. Long time fans of the band definitely will not be disappointed by the vocal approach.

This is definitely an album that a lot of thought has gone into. It’s not your average blast, scream, blast approach and that may disappoint some black metal fans. But those of you who have been following Enslaved over the years will be rewarded with what could be considered the band’s best album yet.

Marduk-Plague Angel
(Candlelight USA, 2005)

Marduk over the years have become unquestionably the fastest and most vicious black metal band on earth. The sheer ferocity that the band plays with is unmatched and with the band stepping the speed up even further on Plague Angel I don’t see anyone passing them anytime soon.

If the band’s previous albums were fast, then Plague Album is super fast. The blasting is almost endless. One of the tracks has a slower more dissonant approach , but for the most part this is go for the throat blasting with one hyper speed riff right after another. It’s almost too much to take at times, but thankfully the band keeps things concise as most of the tracks are fairly short by black metal standards. A few tracks don’t even break three minutes, while the longest is just shy of eight minutes. The two longest tracks are also the slowest though brining an almost doomy vibe to the band’s patented blasting.

This is actually a surprisingly well produced album. The guitar tone is a little bit harsh, but black metal guitar tone has always had a lot of bite. The vocals are perfectly mixed, and unlike a lot of black metal bands Marduk have always had an amazing drum sound, which is actually quite important, even if the drums seem to be a blur most of the time.

Marduk’s rapid fire assault is in fine form on Plague Angel. I’m not sure if I would say it is the best album the band has released to date, but it sure as hell is the fastest. Listening to this album at high volumes might cause permanent damage to both your hearing as well as your house.

Vicious Art-Fire Walls and the Waiting Waters
(Candlelight USA, 2005)

Let’s forget about the fact that this band features members from some highly respectable Swedish bands, because this is good enough to stand on its own two feet. Vicious Art play high speed energetic death metal that combines thrash, a classic Florida style and a more modern style of death metal. You have the hyper speed blasting, but there is also many thrash tempo riffs and the vocals are a bit restrained and quite clear. It’s 100% metal. Just a hint of vintage Swedish death metal comes through as well, but for this being a band from Sweden it is actually quite un-Swedish in nature.

It sometimes gets overlooked in metal that music needs to be memorable. Vicious Art is definitely what you’d call a memorable band though. The riffs themselves are quite memorable. Not at the sacrifice of technicality though. There is definitely talent here, but they just don’t overdo it. The odd technical flair definitely helps spice up the songs, but even without it the songs would still be amazing. The band has a knack for writing varied parts as well. The main speeds are the blasting and thrash tempo, but there are a number of slower riffs which really help break up the faster sections.

The more I listen to this the more I want to say that this is more of a thrash metal album with hints of death metal then it is the other way around. Elements of both are here in spades, but the thrash tempos are much more prevalent than the blast beats. Needles to say though, fans of both styles will find a lot to like about this album.

Choke-Slow Fade: Or How I Learned to Question Infinity
(Smallman Records, 2005)

Progression can sometimes be a double edged sword. On one hand I like the fact that Choke is progressing and they are becoming more mature and more original with each release. On the other hand I miss the speed of the earlier material, which is almost entirely missing on this latest album. The band is experimenting even more with this new album. The tempos are varied tremendously and guitar wise the band is using much more effects then they ever have. Is this a bad thing? Not at all. I can leave my love for the band’s fast material behind, because anyway you look at it these are incredibly well written songs that show a band really hitting their stride. More so then ever before there really aren’t any bands that sound like Choke.

This also isn’t what you’d call casual listening either. While the band still has catchy moments, there is a lot going on within these songs, and even the catchier moments still feature technical guitar runs and odd time signatures. But this is an album that you need to dive into and stay with for a long time. There is no way that you’ll be able to digest everything the first listen through. It just isn’t going to happen. But if you give the album the attention that it deserves you’ll discover one hell of a rock record.

Having seen the band numerous times live, I’m let down by the production of this new album. It just doesn’t capture the power of the band live and really has a few glaring problems. The guitar tone just isn’t thick enough during the distorted parts. Especially during palm muted parts it just sounds a little too weak. It is a better production then the band’s last album, but Choke deserves better then this.

Where they will go from here I truly have no idea. Listening to this back to back with the band’s first album shows how far they have come. Even if you’ve heard everything the band has released so far this one will still give you a few surprises.

Time Kills Everything-S/T
(Independent, 2005)

I’m really not the biggest fan of drum machine grind, but Time Kills Everything is pretty damn unique. They sort of bring a bit of a Relapse style to drum machine grind. Think along the lines of the weirdness of Dillinger Escape Plan mixed with the grindcore insanity of Agoraphobic Nosebleed. There is a lot more going on then just that, but that’ll give you an idea of what to expect.

Most grind bands that use a drum machine are pretty much Mortician clones, with all blasting and cookie monster vocals. Time Kills Everything has tempo changes galore, offering a much more technical approach to grindcore. The drum machine does hurt the material, but not in delivery really. It’s just that with a human drummer and the inclusion of fills and more energy this would go from being amazing to being downright mind blowing.

I have no complaints about the production really. You can tell that it’s a digital recording, mainly in the guitar sound which has a digital sound. It’s tight and heavy though, and really lets everything shine through. You can tell that it’s a drum machine but it’s programmed well and isn’t completely outrageous and not possible to be played by a human.

I’ll be honest, this is downright awesome. Totally original and unique grindcore that offers a technical, digital approach that really stands out.

Into The Moat-The Design
(Metal Blade Records, 2005)

While the name might have you thinking of castles and power metal, Into the Moat is about as far from power metal as you can get. The band plays raging, technical metal that has as much to do with Dillinger Escape Plan noodling as it does jazz. The band has a tremendously varied sound that brings in almost every tempo possible, while retaining technically virtuosity and some of the downright weirdest riffs you’ll ever hear.

A lot of bands would end up sounding like scatterbrained noise when trying to put this much into a song. But Into the Moat manages to keep things together. Don’t ask me how, but it just works. They’ll go from Meshuggah like rhythms into clean jazz passages, into almost modern metal grooves and then who knows what’ll come next. The Dillinger Escape Plan influence is there, but it’s more in terms of delivery and style then it has to do with the actual sound of the band. It’s almost like comparing apples and oranges.

I think it takes a particularly open minded music fan of like a band like this. Some people just don’t want jazz breakdowns in their metal. But when it’s done this well, it’s incredibly effective and just downright cool sounding. The amazing thing is that the breaks are actual jazz too; complete with walking bass lines and amazing drum work. It’s not just the same weirdness played with no distortion.

This album features one mind fuck right after another. It’s the type of album that will make your ears need a rest. If this is the future of metal, sign me up. I want to see where these guys will go next.