Gallery of Mites – Bugs on the Bluefish
GALLERY OF MITES belong to the supergroup category, as it is made up of members of other big names of the stoner scene. The ten-member line-up includes: John Kleiman, Tim Cronin, Phil Caivano, Joe Calandra and Ed Mundell (MONSTER MAGNET members), Stugollin (HALFWAY TO GONE), Tommy Southard (SOLACE), Jim Baligno and Mike Schweigert (LORD STERLING), now how is this for an all-star gathering of stoner souls?
Meshuggah – Obzen
Meshuggah “Obzen”, ahhh it just flows out so sweetly, well here we go, first of all i would like to say, kind of like a disclaimer that Meshuggah might be my all time favorite band, so please take that into consideration with the review to this piece of shit… wait… maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, i get this very strange vibe, just like with Tool‘s 10000 Days, that the hype did not help at all, well lets start from the beginning, Meshuggah hail from Sweden and play “normally” a form of metal i like to describe as math metal (just like there is math rock) even though i like to call it calc metal, but if you want a more precise category i would say progressive death/thrash metal (wikipedia decided to call this avant-garde metal or experimental metal, but well we all know wikipedia is apparently filled with a bunch of crack heads that think that editing a piece of text on a website makes it true, fuck them), and their new album is out and its called Obzen, we have previously reviewed their albums Nothing and Catch 33, so lets get into it, shall we.
Machine Head – The Blackening
Oh Machine Head?, do you like good music?… then probably you don’t know Machine Head too well hehehe since hummm since The Burning Red… i just don’t give a fuck, their albums sounded like thrash, but they were mostly… how can i put this gently… shit? a big pile, well more because they had such an interesting first album, that everything after that should have been at least somewhat good, seems not, so… after 2 or 3 albums, here comes “The Blackening” (and i’m only reviewing this cause a friend told me i should check it out).
Dew-Scented – Incinerate
Seems Death/Trash is in, Dew-Scented are a German Death/Trash outfit, kinda blasting growling kind of thing hehehe, not that that’s bad at all, hehehe, so here comes “Incinerate”, lets have a look to see how it handles itself.
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”
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.
Unearth – III: In The Eyes Of Fire
Ahhh Unearth, the bastard child of metalcore, seems I’m one of those people that tend to look at metalcore with a critical eye, but Unearth is one of those bands that just doesn’t let me bash the genre to death, why? well the boys have skill, sure other bands have skill as well, but they have in my view, the skill required to play metalcore, they are not overly technical, but they show a prowess to explore the genre, that few seem to possess, so a new album, uhhh i hope it’s something good.
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.