Divine Heresy – Bleed The Fifth
Humm Divine Heresy’s “Bleed The Fifth”, of course i had to talk about Divine Heresy, after i knew that Dino Cazares of Fear Factory fame had a new band and that it was kinda deathmetalish and that it had Tim “The Missile” Yeung on the drums and on the bass Joe Payne from Nile fame (even though he had no part in the making of this album), and some metalcore guy for vocals, well thats a kick ass lineup, but as well we all know sometimes a great team doesn’t play a great game hehehe, so i guess Divine Heresy play above all else Melodic Death Metal, with a lot of touches of Deathcore and Metalcore, sounds good to me… well we will see.
Blinded Colony – Bedtime Prayers
Seems I’m going from A to Z, well anyway here is the “new one” from the Swedish Blinded Colony, hmmm a bit of “Gothenburg” style of music, humm, first of all after a couple of listening although it sounds a bit like a more hardcorish form of Soilwork or In Flames (and lately i haven’t been that impressed with both this bands), well lets just sink our teeth on this one.
Amoral – Decrowning
Why Amoral?, Well because I’ve just talked about Scar Symmetry, and although they have a lot in common they are two very different breeds, both i would call melodic death metal, although in this case Amoral go for a more technical death metal/thrash combo that gives a bit more bite and interest, and downplaying all the way the melodic part, that’s all good, but how good is “Decrowning”
Scar Symmetry – Pitch Black Progress
Scar Symmetry hail from Sweden and as you would expect they play a by the numbers melodic death metal, the only difference between them and the rest of the pack is that they go to an extreme, from a guttural neck breaking death metal to hyper melodic clean vocals, in a world where melodic death metal is synonymous with In Flames and Dark Tranquillity, were the formula is almost to shout your way through to a clean vocal chorus, it’s actually refreshing to see a band play death metal with melody, so let’s have a look at what “Pitch Black Progress” has to offer.
Urkraft – The Inhuman Aberration
Humm, seems Urkraft hails from Denmark, does that mean… oh yeah that’s on the north… so? it must be Death Metal ehhehe, kidding or not, Urkraft brings us a interesting mix of Melodic Death Metal with a but load of thrash into the mix, not that I’m unfamiliar with the mix, but i actually don’t remember someone that might fit, for comparison i mean, maybe… At the Gates? … well no, no matter, so here comes “The Inhuman Aberration”, its not their first album, but it’s my first listen, and probably yours as well, so lets have a look.
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.
By Night – A New Shape of Desperation
By Night is one of the bands that I include in the Meshuggah wannabes pot [like Textures and, mostly, Coprofago]. They are in the pot, but not as deep as Textures and, surely, not in the same way as Coprofago [the Meshuggah clones]. Well, to be honest, they are barely in the pot, and that’s why I like them. They have Meshuggah influences, sure they do, but the overall is way beyond that. Maybe is their melodic side, I don’t know. There’s something in this guys that’s really special.
Moonspell – Memorial
Moonspell is one of those bands i never got into, maybe it’s because it goes for the slower and orchestra arranged Gothic/Doom, that i’ve never embraced, anyhow they did made a couple of great albums, actually being Wolfheart my favorite (can’t really pinpoint why, maybe because it was the first and therefore the one that had the strongest impact for me…), that was 1995, a couple of years have passed and we have a new album, “Memorial” is here and what a pleasure it is.