Lahar-Provide and Conquer
(Spook City, 2005)

This disc starts like a utter explosion of energy. I usually don’t pay much attention to the bios that come with promos, but when they say that this is for fans of Integrity and Lamb of God they aren’t kidding. It does sound quite a bit like a combination of Integrity and Lamb of God., which makes for one of the most original hardcore albums in quite sometime.

Calling this band heavy would be a definite understatement. Raging energy combines with some excellent song writing and a very diverse approach. They run the gamut from simple hardcore influenced fast passages, to more intricate rhythmic passage, to even a few all out thrash influenced parts. You really don’t know what to expect next, yet the band still doesn’t stray too far, or throw in any parts that don’t make sense.

The production is heavy, and powerful with a nice balance between energy and clarity. It isn’t an extremely clean sounding production, which allows a lot of energy to come across, yet it is still clear enough that everything is easily audible.

This could possibly be the best release yet from Spook City. Fans of heavy music will be into this one, whether you are in the hardcore scene, or the metal scene.

On Broken Wings-It’s All a Long Goodbye
(Eulogy Recordings, 2005)

I’m pretty sure I heard a few songs by these guys on a compilation in the past, and I honestly wasn’t all that impressed. Now that I have the chance to fully absorb what the band has to offer, I’m definitely impressed with the bands varied and high octane combination of metal and hardcore.

Sure, they have the standard breakdowns and clean singing mixed with screaming. But when it comes to metal these guys don’t half ass it. They play with an incredible amount of energy, and unlike a lot of their contemporaries these guys can handle playing metal. They actually use blast beats, and have a firm handle on different tempos. There are a few parts that are all out death metal and it’s quite unique. So basically take Swedish death metal, hardcore, and straight ahead death metal and you have On Broken Wings.

It’s too bad that with so many bands around today that these guys will probably get lumped in with the endless amount of metalcore bands. But this is honestly so much better then 90% of what you’ll hear out there. They aren’t trying to write hit songs. These are heavy, challenging songs that take the genre in new directions while keeping the core elements that made the genre exciting in the beginning.

Choose Your Weapon-Heart for the Heartless
(Spook City, 2005)

Right off the bat, these guys sound like a much more hardcore version of In Flames. Of course without as many twin guitars, and leads, but it’s an easy to pick up influence and that’s honestly not a bad thing. This still sounds like a hardcore band, and the band’s use of the Swedish style is a bit different from the norm.

They aren’t trying to be overly complicated or metal. They also aren’t an incredibly fast band, which also makes the band a bit more unique. The riffing is slower and more involved, but there are definitely a few textbook hardcore riffs, and breakdowns. It’s pretty easy to see that these guys have a firm grip on their instruments as this is tight and perfectly executed.

From me comparing this to In Flames, don’t expect this to be a metalcore album because it isn’t at all. They are very much so a hardcore band, just a hardcore band that is influenced by a metal band. Simply put, this is an amazing band.

Brainstorm-Liquid Monster
(Metal Blade, 2005)

Like every genre of music, power metal has amazing bands and mediocre bands. Brainstorm is definitely one of the amazing bands. The band has a sound easily associated with power metal, but the band’s rhythmic approach has a slight progressive edge, and almost reminds you just a bit of Dream Theatre at times. A good description would be Dream Theatre mixed with newer Judas Priest, but sans all of the nu-metal styled riffs that the Ripper fronted albums had.

The foundation of any power metal song is the chorus, and they are here in abundance. To say that this is a catchy album would be a definite understatement. It’s not just the choruses either. The songs themselves are made up of quite a few hooks, with memorable guitar riffs and vocal patterns to be found within pretty much every song here.

When you get right down to it I guess you could say that while these guys aren’t incredibly typical or influenced by any one band, they also aren’t doing anything incredibly unique with the genre. That’s not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination, especially since they don’t sound like a copy cat of anyone.

As Cities Burn-Son, I Loved You at Your Darkest
(Solid State, 2005)

I was honestly expecting this to be fairly typical, but in all honesty this is a very original album that shows a band playing harsh rock that draws influence from many different places and stands out like a sore thumb right now.

The main thing you’ll notice is that these guys have a lot of technical flairs in the song writing, yet is incredibly energetic and never sounds forced or contrived. Melodies are a big part of the band’s sound, and some parts on this album are downright beautiful, which serve as a nice contrast to the band’s noisy almost post-hardcore approach.

Imagine if Norma Jean was a bit straighter forward and had a lot more melody and you might have an idea of what to expect from As Cities Burn. These guys are really on to something with this album, and have created a sound that is energetic, and original, moving the genre in a few new directions.

Ektomorf-Instinct
(Nuclear Blast Records, 2005)

This band has been around for quite sometime and for whatever reason this is my first time hearing what they have to offer. What they have to offer is a sound that really shows a strong Soulfly and later Sepultura influence. By that I mean that they essentially sound damn near identical. You can expect simple, rhythmic guitar riffs, tribal influenced drumming, and hoarse screaming. For as good as it is, you can’t really shake off the obvious influences. This is honestly too unoriginal to recommend.

Communic-Conspiracy in Mind
(Nuclear Blast Records, 2005)

It sometimes boggles my mind that you can hear a band and pick up on their obvious influences. Communic sounds damn near identical to Nevermore. So much in fact that if you played this for a Nevermore fan they would probably think it was an album they missed somewhere along the line.

Honestly though, these are catchy songs and the band writes some excellent riffs, and the band has enough unique moments that break away from the Nevermore influence to make this worth while. It’s just that when they do sound like Nevermore they sound nearly identical.

I would say that this is an all around more melodic band then Nevermore, and there is also a progressive edge running throughout the album in the form of a lot of sections in the songs and long running times. There are also many subdued moments on here, where the band lays off the distortion and plays some fairly intricate and unique slower sections.

Considering this is the band’s debut album, the Nevermore influence may fade away with time and the band will become more original with their next album. This definitely shows a lot of promise and when they break away from Nevermore territory the band is quite unique.