Category: Album Review

“How does it feel to be you?”, she once asked me. I said, “I feel like a panther trapped in a dog’s world.”

Yeah, I don’t know what the fuck that means either. However, this lyric has been stuck in my fucking head the past three days and it’s starting to slowly drive me mad. Therein lies the mad genius of Daniel Gildenlow.

Look, every Pain of Salvation album is a fucking crapshoot. There’s no telling what direction Daniel is going to lead us and whether or not the endeavor is going to work or not. On this latest platter, I think I’m still in my “Hmmmmmm…….” phase. I’m still kind of letting this one swim around in my brain and I really haven’t come up with a concrete way of expressing exactly how I feel about it.

First thing I think you’ll notice is the surprising lack of guitar on this album. This doesn’t really feel anywhere close to a metal album. The music on here is propelled by synths and loops and other such programming. However, it doesn’t really feel like an industrial album. I’m really having a hard time pegging it exactly and ultimately, I guess that puts this thing squarely in the prog universe for lack of a better phrase. Overall, you’ve got a total of nine songs with one being a short banjo dominated instrumental track and one sparse piano driven piece. The other tracks are all kind of disjointed electronic heavy songs that are all kind of capped off by the hip/hop heavy title track. The title track is a little jarring at first listen because it is such a departure for Pain of Salvation and it’s kind of weird hearing Daniel rap (although, to be fair, he did kind of hit some of those influences on Scarsick…albeit in a more metal manner). The song Panther is kind of in the same vein as Disco Queen was in that it’s a song that shouldn’t work for a metal band, but it kind does. As stated at the beginning of this piece, I haven’t been able to get the damn chorus of that song out of my damn head since the first listen.

Overall, I don’t think this is going to ultimately end up ranked with the stronger Pain of Salvation releases, but there is still enough quality on here to enjoy. As always, Pain of Salvation albums take time and I really feel like this one needs to marinate in my brain some more. I give Daniel credit for never sitting still or falling back on previous sonic territory tread. He’s always pushing things forward. That gets my respect even when it’s not a mammoth home run.

3.5 flip flops out of 5

Always cool to find a great band hailing from your hometown. I have to feel like that album cover is a bit of a statement of the all-consuming onslaught of high-rise condos that seem to be crowding out every single aspect of uniqueness of our city. Seriously, that looks like every single corner of town.

After hearing Death of the Cosmic, I never would have pegged Hinayana as a band being based in Austin, TX. Sure, we’re a music town, but this sounds like something conjured from the frozen north of Scandinavia than the sweltering hot Hill Country of Central Texas. This is melodic death metal done in the style of Insomnium and Amorphis. It’s an epic sound these guys are going for and it has a bit of an Eastern flair to the sound. Even though this is an EP, it still carries enough heft to feel like a proper release. If we weren’t in a state of shutdown on the live music front, I would be pumped to see these guys live. I’m kind of kicking myself for not having seen them already.

4 flip flops out of 5

Another band just crawls out of the woodwork and lays down one seriously impressive slab of metal. Seriously, I know not one thing about these guys except that they are a group of very talented individuals that have crafted a very unique take on what I’m calling an ethereal dreamscape variety of death metal. Honestly, labeling this thing death metal kind of does it a bit of disservice because it’s really more expansive than that. I think the closest comparison to other bands that I can make is Cynic, but there are elements of Meshuggah, The Contortionist and Intronaut thrown in to the mix as well. It’s a very progressive piece of music. As stated before, this one runs the gamut from soft and melodic songs to harsh odd-timed polyrhythms. It’s definitely an album that will take a few listens to get used to. But once you learn Exist’s language, it ends up being a very rewarding experience.

4 flip flops out of 5

Holy Moly! feels like it really earned the exclamation point. In my mind, Blues Pills has, up to this point, been a band full of potential. Holy Moly! feels like a culmination of Blues Pills finally capitalizing on the promise set out on their first two albums.

Blues Pills is a member of the myriad of throwback metal bands that celebrate the psychedelic rock music of the late 60s and early 70s. Their main calling card to this point has been the unbelievable pipes of lead vocalist Elin Larsson. She has some of the most soul searing vocal performances that you will come across and it still baffles me how she has not become a superstar in the metal/hard rock world as of yet. There aren’t many young vocalists in the game that can hold a candle to her ability. I really enjoyed both of Blues Pills’ first couple of albums, but both of them felt a bit top heavy. By that, I mean the singles were great, but the remaining meat of the albums kind of dropped off in quality after the hits. Holy Moly! corrects this in a big way and it is a damn fine album from start to finish. Overall, it reminds me greatly of some of Graveyard’s finer albums. It’s a good blend of no-nonsense rockers and sultry ballads. This really feels like an album from a band that has finally put all of the pieces together and have gelled as a unit. It’s a shame that touring has been put on hold because I would kill to see them pull this album off live. Just go buy this thing already.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

Black Metal. I’ll be honest: sometimes its hard to articulate why some black metal albums resonate with me and why others don’t. I think it’s because black metal isn’t a very accessible art form in general. It’s one of those things that is going to click with you or it’s not. This latest album of black metal is one of the ones that really did something for me. It feels like at least once a year there is a black metal band that comes out of the woodwork and puts out something that I find really impressive. I think Uncrown might be that album this year.

First of all, the band, Ages, is an unknown entity to me. From what I can gather, this is album number two for the band and they ply their trade in Scandinavian black metal. Their black metal feels a little more in line with what you find out of the Northwestern U.S. scene in that it’s more focused on atmospherics rather than pummeling aggression in the Mayhem vein or symphonics in the Dimmu Borgir realm. I’d slot these guys in with Agalloch and Wolves in the Throne Room. Hell, one of the dudes plays an instrument called an Oud, which looks to be something out of the lute family. That should give you a bit of a flavor of the sound of which these guys are attempting. One difference in Ages approach is that there are no really long songs. Everything is kind of in the 4-6 minute range. So, it’s accessible in that way. This honestly feels like a good album to start with for someone not overly familiar with black metal. It’s not overly harsh. I mean, compared to Aerosmith, it’s fucking harsh. But, for a black metal album, this is fairly accessible stuff. Just find a rainy day and let this one melt into your mind. This will be a really nice cold weather album.

4 flip flops out of 5