Author: Arson Panda

It looks like COVID -19 scared the bejeezus out of Carcass and they decided to push back the release of their new full length album, Torn Arteries, until 2021. I hate to break it to them, but 2021 is going to suck just as bad as 2020. Hopefully they decide to finally release the new album anyway because it has been a really long gap between their last blistering release, Surgical Steel. Hell, it’s not like these guys are overly prolific. So, having a long wait is not a huge surprise.

At any rate, they have decided to dump out this four song EP to tide the masses over. You’ve got one track from the forthcoming new full length in Under the Scalpel Blade along with three other new tracks that didn’t make the final cut of the new album. Carcass still manages to cobble together the best song titles in the business with The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue, The Long and Winding Bier Road and Slaughtered in Soho added to their list of gems. It’s all standard Carcass gore-inflicted death thrash. It’s fine for what it is, but ultimately this is one for you Carcass completists out there in the void. I bought it. So, I guess you can tell what that says about me. Good, but in just an appetizer sort of way.

3.5 flip flops out of 5

The first thing you’re going to notice on this one is that there are a whopping eight songs on here. I know. Weird, right? For a normal band, that may seem like a normal number of songs for an album or even a little on the low side. But, we’re dealing with Pallbearer here. This band has never met a double digit length song that they didn’t fully embraced with open arms. But don’t let that scare you off if you’re a Pallbearer purist. The sludge of Arkansas doom is still fully intact, albeit in a more manageable or accessible manner, if you will.

I’ll say this about Pallbearer: it’s hard to describe just how lush and massive the sound the guys create on this album. They have an uncanny ability to create a fuzzed out harshness that still conveys aspects of gentleness, delicateness and heart-wrenching emotion. There’s a subtlety to their sound that I believe is the key to why Pallbearer is such a special band. There is just this weird dichotomy between the grandness of the riffs, the deliberate sludgey pacing and the absolute angelic croon of vocalist Brett Campbell. Putting their distinct spin on the doom metal genre has resulted in some of the more goosebump inducing moments of 2020. Even with some touches that lighten the funeral mood a tad, Forgotten Days feels right up there with Pallbearer’s best material. This feels like a special album. I feel this is one we will look back upon in a few years and realize what a masterpiece this one truly was.

5 flip flops out of 5

So, I guess the lesson here is that if Armored Saint includes a song with some sort of iteration of “Fly/Flies” in the title and it refers to the insect instead of soaring through the air, chances are the album is going to be pretty damn good.

If you get that line, hooray! You’re an Armored Saint fan. If not, go back and do some homework, loser. (Hint: Dropping Like Flies and Fly in the Ointment)

It’s downright amazing that we are getting a new Armored Saint album in 2020. Seriously. Think about it for a second. What are the chances that a band the level of Armored Saint should still be kicking around as an entity this late in the game? Sure, they were as talented as any of the other traditional heavy metal acts of the 80s. And their material from the 90s and 00s have been outstanding. But, they never really broke through to the mainstream amongst the heavy hitters from the thrash or the hair metal realms. Armored Saint was always a band that seemed be on the outside and had more of an impact in their influence on other more famous bands and for John Bush’s stint in Anthrax. At any rate, it’s a credit to the stick-with-it-ness of the dudes in this band that they are still a living entity and that they are still rolling out albums that simply bang.

John Bush and Joey Vera deserve a lot of credit in being the driving forces behind this band, but I think a major high five is deserving to the guitar work of Jeff Duncan and Phil Sandoval. These guys have got to be one of the most unsung guitar tandems in metal and they have been cranking out tasty riffs and lead for years. I just hate it that more people don’t know these guys’ names.

Punching the Sky is just vintage Saint. I would put this one ahead of both La Raza and Win Hands Down in terms of quality. Probably not quite as good as Symbol of Salvation, which was the pinnacle album for this post-Dave Prichard version of the band, but it still rips as a solid entry into the overall Saint catalog. As I said, it’s simply an achievement for a band this far into their career to even put out an album, let alone one that sounds this invigorated and relevant. Cheers!

4 flip flops out of 5

If you’re keeping track, this album is brought to you by the letter “E”.

Spirit Adrift feels like the belle of the Headbanger’s Ball of late. It feels like everything Nate Garrett touches these days is heralded as gold. And rightly so. He and his cohort, Marcus Bryant on drums, have amassed an extremely solid catalog for Spirit Adrift in only five short years of existence.

I love that Garrett has been so prolific in his output. It feels rare these days when a band attempts to put out an album every single year. Last year’s Divided By Darkness was an absolute masterpiece of molten metal. Topping it was going to be a tall order. This latest album is a nice solid release, but seems to be missing a bit of that magic something that makes an album transcend into the realm of legendary. As expected, the guitar riffs and solos are there, but the songs themselves just don’t quite come together as much as they did on the previous album. Additionally, it kind of feels like Garrett’s vocal delivery is a little different on this album. On past albums, he has a very distinct croon. His voice feels a bit rougher on this album than in past efforts. However, these critiques are nickpicky at best. As stated, attempting to outdo the preceding album was going to be a tough task. Spirit Adrift is still one of the shining young stars championing the classic heavy metal sound. It feels like they are filling that void left by Dio and other such classic metal bands from the 80s. This album is still very worthy of your time.

Fun fact: The two dogs shown on the album cover are the dogs of Garrett and Bryant who both passed away earlier this year. As a dog owner, I can’t think of a nicer tribute to two fallen friends.

4 flip flops out of 5

Well, it seems very appropriate that Manuel Gagneux and his Zeal & Ardor project throws down a new release in light of all of the racial tension and upheaval of 2020. Wake of a Nation comes as a stinging statement of the events surrounding the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing protests that engulfed much of the nation in the subsequent months. The album cover art of an upside down cross composed of police night sticks is just perfect.

For those not in the know, Zeal & Ardor was conceived as a very avant-garde metal project that attempted to fuse black metal with Slave-era Negro spirituals and field songs. Ultimately, the project was best summed up by Gagneux’s statement, “What if American slaves had embraced Satan instead of Jesus?” The combination of the two styles sounds odd on paper, but the resulting sound is captivating. You’ve got a foundation of jarring blast beats, extreme tremolo guitar picking and harsh industrial noise with spiritual and gospel inspired vocal harmonies over top. This stuff is for you more adventurous tastes in metal.

The latest EP doesn’t mince words and doesn’t pull any punches. If you’re the sort to discount the Black Lives Matter movement or believe that there’s no such thing as systematic racism in our county’s institutions or police forces, then you should probably just move on along. Or maybe not. Maybe you’ll learn something from these lyrics. As a middle aged white guy, I can’t speak as to the black experience in America. I’ve got no frame of reference. I don’t worry about being fucked with by the police when I leave my house. I never had. Hell, I’ve been flat our disrespectful to police that have pulled me over for speeding in the past. I did so without fear of repercussion. I can’t imagine what it is like to never know when a simple trip outside of one’s home could turn into a fatal encounter simply because of the basis of one’s skin color. That’s why this EP, and other forms of art like it, are important. It gives a glimpse into the experience of someone unlike me. It serves an a reminder that not everyone experiences the world in the same way that you do. You can discount this movement as championing something that is not real, but I think you do yourself and this country a disservice by doing so. These things are real regardless of whether you believe in them or not. These voices are important. This is a collection of songs that is worthy of your time.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

If you guys read this thing regularly, you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of Dave Davidson of Revocation. To me, he’s this generation’s version of Jeff Waters. He just a dude that has riffs and leads galore. So, when I heard he had joined up with some dudes from a band called Ayahuasca, I was pretty excited to see what they would come up with.

I find that a lot of times when dudes branch out to side projects there isn’t a lot of variation between the side project and the main gig. This is not one of those projects. Not only is the music on here completely different from the techno-neo-thrash death metal of Revocation, Davidson’s style of playing is just completely removed from the style he is known for. This album just further solidifies in my mind of what a genius Davidson is.

From the opening acapella track, you can tell that this one is going to be kind of different. My first listen through I was kind of struck by a modern post-Layne Staley Alice in Chains vibe running through the thing. Vocalist Luke Roberts has a bit of a William Duvall croon. However, the sound is not quite as caustic or bleak as a lot of AIC material was. There’s also a bit of modern era Opeth running through here. I guess the best way to describe this thing is a modern sounding progressive grunge album. It’s a very different and very original album. I can’t say that it has completely gotten it’s hooks firmly in me, but I do really dig what they are attempting on this debut. I look forward to spending some more time with it in the hopes of it growing on me more and more.

3.5 flip flops out of 5

Much like the abstract nature of the album cover, Sumac never paints a traditional straightforward sonic picture. This is Aaron Turner. Dude is going to tinker. Dude is going to twiddle some knobs. Dude is going to explore around the sonic edges of his instrument. It feels like Sumac is simply an exploration of the abstract. Sometimes it’s maddening. Other times is results in something beautiful. In still others, you’ll find yourself in a bombastic shelling of some of the heaviest riffs you’ll stumble upon.

The experimental nature of Sumac makes each album a grab bag of sorts. Sure, Sumac has a sound, but it’s always unclear as to whether things are going to gel into a cohesive whole or not. May You Be Held might be the most coherent of Sumac’s releases. The album is bookended by a couple of instrumentals that showcase the aforementioned tinkering, but the meat of the album features three fairly caustic and cohesive tracks. There’s not a lot of time wishing the guys would just kick things into gear.

I guess ultimately I dig this one. It’s definitely an acquired taste and if you’re a fan of Turner’s other post-Isis work, you’ll probably dig it. If you’re the type of person that needs immediate gratification in your music or if you suffer from ADD, this one might try your patience a bit.

3.5 flip flops out of 5

If I’m not mistaken, I think Kataklym’s two-faced mascot has been running around since 2006 holding his heart in his hand after ripping it from his chest. Maybe just put the thing down at this point, buddy? I mean, we get it. You’re full of rage and shit, but doesn’t it make it hard to get anything done during your day having to hold on to that goopy, drippy mess all day long. You obviously don’t need it to survive. Much like the binky you loved so much as a child monster, maybe it’s time to just put your heart down for a while.

Sorry. I digress. Kataklysm has a new album out! These guys are kind of like an AC/DC version of death metal. They’ve always been pretty consistent with their sound and their straight ahead he-man approach to death metal. These guys are very, very manly. Their music is the kind of metal that you put on during a workout at the gym. In many respects, Kataklysm is kind of the musical equivalent of an Affliction t-shirt or one of those Ford Raptor pick-up trucks. It’s almost comically oversaturated in masculinity. The latest album sees the band throw in a couple of minor changes to things in that it feels like guitarist Jean-Francois Dagenais has lightened his sound a bit and they actually throw in some keyboards/programming loops in a couple of places. Dagenais crunchy riffs have always been a major draw of this band. It feels as though the bite and intensity of his riffs are scaled back a bit on this album and it feels like this is probably this album’s biggest drawback. Other than that, this album doesn’t really contain any real surprises. It’s basically just a generic Kataklysm album. One that doesn’t really measure up to their more high quality material.

If you’re interested in exploring this band, I’d start back in 2006 with In the Arms of Devastation, where our lovely aforementioned mascot made his first appearance, rather than investing much time in this latest release.

3 flip flops out of 5

Yeah! The Rush of black metal is back!!

Caveat up front: I just love the everliving shit out of these dudes. They have been amongst the vanguard of traditional black metal bands that have been dragging the genre into a more progressive realm for years now. What Opeth did for death metal, Enslaved has done for black metal. This review may be a bit of a lovefest even though this particular album may not be at the pinnacle of their power.

This latest album sees the band continue in their very Opeth-y direction. Granted, it’s not a full embrace of 70s prog that Opeth has chosen, but this is a very proggy album overall. But keep in mind that this is still a very metal album. It’s just that the song structures feel a little more straightforward and almost poppy in their presentation. Vocally, you’ve got about an even split between the hard blackened growls and clean vocals and also about an even split between English and Norwegian lyrics. I will say that the addition of new keyboardist/clean vocalist, Hakon Vinje, has been a great addition to the band. He is just a fantastic vocalist and his range really opens up quite a few new sonic areas in which the band can play.

All in all, this is another solid slab of metal from Enslaved. I’m not sure it is quite in the realm of some of their classic material, but that’s not really meant as a slight at all. With the catalog these guys have produced over the years, it’s a tall order to continually top oneself. This is just a nicely produced slab of proggy black metal. They are just one of the true dependable entities we have in metal today.

4 flip flops out of 5

If you checked in on the blog yesterday, you’ll notice that we have a bit of an Ocean theme going this week. Today, we’re looking at the Part II continuation of The Ocean Collective’s Phanerozoic double album. Part I came out last year and made it into the Top 20 Best of Metal list for 2019. How’s Part II stack up to Part I, you ask? It’s pretty good. I think Part I is the better of the two halves, but Part II still has quite a bit to enjoy. I still think it would have been nice to release this thing as one single piece instead of releasing them separately a year or so apart. I’m still going to have to sit down and listen to them both back-to-back to see if the two pieces actually fit together as a cohesive whole.

Part II is definitely more mellow and more experimental than the first part. You’ve got a bit more electronic bits and pieces driving the musical landscape on this one. Jonas Renske of Katatonia is brought in for a guest vocalist spot once again to match his contribution on Part I. Robin Stapp continues to be one of the more compelling songwriters in the game today. He’s one of those guys who has a very distinctive style, but never falls into stale routines. In certain ways, he reminds me a lot of Daniel Gildenlow of Pain of Salvation in this regard. Stapp is always pushing the Collective into new and uncharted territories. The Ocean Collective may not be considered a classic “prog” band, but they definitely have a very progressive approach to the course of the band’s discography.

4 flip flops out of 5