Threat Signal – Under Reprisal
Since good old Nebulous is out for every Meshuggah clone (he is such a zealot) I’m going to talk about another clone, why? because its phun with a “ph”, now Threat Signal comes from Canada, they play a sort of what Mnemic/Soilwork play on tech inspired metalcore with touches of Meshuggah like riffin, yes because Meshuggah above all else are an institution, and it seems plagiarism is a form of tribute, so lets check this one out.
Lamb of God – Sacrament
Lamb of God did OK with their second album. “As The Palaces Burn” was my first contact with LoG. It’s a very nice record. It’s like Pantera meets Meshuggah kind of record. Their third album, “Ashes of the Wake” did nothing to me. I played the record over and over but nothing got my attention. I think of it like the leftovers from “ATPB”. There’s one or two good tracks but the rest is just the same thing over and over. I didn’t expect much from “Sacrament” because of that. And don’t expect much from a record is normally a good thing. If the record is good that’s a nice surprise, if it’s bad, well, I didn’t expect much anyway so…
Strapping Young Lad – The New Black
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”.
DevilDriver – The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand
I could just talk about Dez Fafara, former Coal Chamber frontman and now Devildriver frontman, well well Mr Dez how times have changed…or maybe not, after the separation from Coal Chamber (just for flaming their best album by far was Chamber Music), he quickly formed a new group, going from the goth>nu>metal that Coal Chamber played to…well…Thrash Metal, that sure surprised me, and i always like a good surprise, Devildriver play a by the book Thrash Metal, sure it touches parts of Rock/Death but hey that’s nitpicking, it’s thrash, actually quite a soften thrash to say the least.
Soulfly – Dark Ages
Yes, Dark Ages indeed, why Max, why so many years until you gave us something worth while, Sepultura was the rocks, Soulfly was it’s ugly sibling, with only one chromosome, even thought as it seems the best one, so days were indeed dark, many many days, years and albums passed, the music just got worse and worse, there were some occasional glimmers of hope, but all the same the demise seemed inevitable, that’s when Mr Max “set up us the bomb“.
Lamb Of God – Ashes Of The Wake
New American Metal, well that’s what everyone says, i say, FUCK YEAH, Lamb of God (former Burn The Priest) lashes, spits, growls it’s way through some very intense metal, great riffs, great songs, great beats, i’m getting tired of superlatives, now lets talk about this album, “Ashes Of The Wake” is just another album on Lamb of God’s already great collection, and like old wine it just keeps getting better.