First of all: Origin rocks! ^^
When I first heard “Informis Inifinitas Inhumanitas” – Origin’s second record – my left testicle just fell. Origin is extremely technical, brutal and fast. From shredding guitar riffs (not the Cannibal Corpse or Necrophagist kind of riffage) to inhuman drumming, Origin has it all.

OK… Now let’s talk about “Echoes of Decimation”.
Origin really surprised me with this third album. They managed to evolve even more with this record. I thought they would stagnate, I mean, play fast all the time and doing crazy riffs… How many songs can you do that way? Well, apparently, at least enough songs to do three great records. The guitars are absolutely amazing! Imagine Nile, without the Egyptian vibe, with faster pace and sweeping riffs all over the place. The drums are, probably, the most fast I have ever heard, or, at least, with some of the faster parts in the genre. James King uses, and abuses, the hyper blast [or gravity roll] technique – besides Flo Mounier, from Cryptopsy, I don’t know any other drummer that plays this technique so perfectly – increasing even more the brutality of this record.

One thing I love in the album is that even with all this “crazy” playing, complexity and whatever, the record sound pretty catchy. But catchy in a good way. All the songs grab your attention right away. And when a song is over you will feel like a truck just hit you in the face. You will feel this nine times until this thirty minute record reaches the end.
“Echoes of Decimation” is one hell of a record. Check it out or be decimated.

Origin - The Burner
Origin - Staring from the Abyss

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Unfortunately, YOB has been disbanded early this year. “The Unreal Never Lived” is their 4th and latest album [2005].
OK, so why am I writing about this one year old record? Because it kicks major arse and all of you doom lovers should listen to it.

So here we go!
“The Unreal Never Lived” ignites with “Quantum Mystic”. This eleven minutes song just rocks so much that I could listen to it all day. It has great riffs and a pace that induce us to headbang for eleven minutes. Amazing tune.

“Grasping Air” follows. This one starts with some more slow riffage. Doom style. Heavy and sick as hell. The doom pace goes trough out the all song. Near the end we have a solo section with great drama feeling. Another great song, no doubt.

Next in line is “Kosmos”. This one has a more hypnotic vibe. Good song tough a bit less interesting to me.

The record finishes with the twenty one minute track “The Mental Tyrant”. It’s a more melodic tune at first. It starts with some clean guitars. This goes on for about three minutes and then the overdrive steps in. The same ambience is explored until the point where the pace gets really slow. A new section evolves with a heavy dissonant riff. In the middle of the song we get to hear some more slow as shit riffs. Really heavy material going on. Sixteen minutes pass by since the beginning of the song and then one more slow heavy riff comes in and the drums turn a little bit “faster”. The song eventually ends [no shit!].

It’s incredible how YOB manage to, with slow - basic riffs, create tremendous songs. YOB are like the Black Sabbath of doom. Their riffs are so memorable. If you are into stoner doom then you should really listen to this amazing record.

YOB - Grasping Air

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So… Mr. Devin Townsend is back again. No, I’m not going to review “Synchestra“. Yep, we have already another Strapping Young Lad album. Devin Townsend is doing albums – solo and with SYL – like there is no tomorrow.
So lets play “The New Black”.
“Decimator” comes in. One of the most interesting tracks. Very groovy with powerful riffage, reminding me Nevermore’s latest album style.
“You Suck” is next on line. Holy shit! Is this the most brutal song SYL ever did or what?! Gene Hoglan really kicked on this one.

So far so good… Let’s see, next one is “Antiproduct”. The pace is slower now. The first half of this song is kind of boring. The second half has some cool stuff in the vein of “Bad Devil“. Don’t know what this has to do with SYL but OK, at least the track is not so bad that way.
“Monument” follows and it’s the most similar track to Devin Townsend Band on the album. It’s a cool song but I expect more heavy / brutal stuff with SYL. That’s the all point of having the two projects, I think.
“Wrong Side”. Yep, you were on the wrong side for two tracks Mr. Hevy Devy. Back to SYL now. This song returns to the typical SYL brutality. Hell yeah, now that’s what I was talking about. The chorus has an amazing guitar lick in the background and the solo rocks hard also.
“Hope”. Ohh not again. Slow mellow stuff again. I don’t understand why Devin does this tracks. The SYL albums always have this kind of shitty tracks that I have to skip forward. It just breaks the flow of the record… Second half is kind of fast / brutal tough.
We have “Far Beyond Metal” next. It’s an OK track but nothing special…
Next is “Fucker”. This one has a more industrial / electronic feel to it. Hmm, silly chorus. Not my cup of tea either.
“Almost Again”. Another Devin Townsend Band tune. God damn…
“Plyophony” does the intro for “The New Black”, the final track and my last hope for a decent tune since “Wrong Side”. It’s not very fast but at least is heavy as shit. In the middle section brutality invades again. Nice song for closure.

What I have to say about “The New Black” isn’t very good. Overall I liked about three or four songs in total. This record has eleven tracks. That’s a very bad balance. If Devin Townsend had gathered those four tracks and released an EP, ditching the rest of the songs, this would be a great work!
I’ve read that Devin is taking some time-off now. I’m happy with that. This might prevent Devy’s stagnation. So, enjoy your time-off Mr. Devin Townsend and I hope you’ll do a great return. Cheers.

Strapping Young Lad - You Suck

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