album review : Blood for the Master (2012) – Goatwhore

album : Blood for the Master

artist : Goatwhore

genre : Black/Death Metal

year : 2012

Blood of the Master contains crushing blackened death metal from the United States-based Goatwhore, packaged well with a hell lot of dislike for the false creator, popularly known as god. All the members of the band are continuously swimming in a pond of hate talking to everyone in the only language they know. One of the most consistent band from the genre they play, Goatwhore‘s music from their fifth full-length falls on you like a false ceiling ready to break your fucking head. A well timed album at a little over thirty eight-minutes, the album contains morbid guitar solos and some sick drumming to go with it. The vocalist forces his throat to growl and screech out the band’s true sentiments about ‘religion’, thereby making me the happiest person on the planet at that moment.

Check out the supersonic riffing on An End To Nothing. The guitarist has done some breathless stuff with the guitar, and he challenges the rest of the members to catch up with him. The best song on the album is this weird-ass one named Embodiment Of This Bitter Chaos, which begins on a really unpredictable note with the guitarist twisting the strings of his instrument. The song goes onto include the better bits of speeding black metal, only this time the drumming is heavier. The solo in between is enough to impress you all, but listeners who are looking for a lot more than just music will find it here. On the darker side we have Beyond The Spell Of Discontent. It has a vague flow which only adds to the excitement of the song.

The album has more positives than negative points which makes it a win-win situation, both for the band and the listeners. The cover art could have been improved, considering nowadays bands have gone three dimensional to explain the concept behind their album. Forget 3D, but the artwork could have been a little more detailed. All-in-all Blood for the Master is one massive album, and you should readily donate your blood to Goatwhore so they can quench their master’s thirst. Out with it, now!

Rating : 4/5

album review : The Hunter (2011) – Mastodon

album : The Hunter

artist : Mastodon

genre : Technical/Progressive Groove Metal

year : 2011

Progressive powerhouse Mastodon are never seen overdoing anything, be it abiding by the principles of the genre they are known to excel at or the technicalities they incorporate. Scoring high and being up on the fan list all throughout the band’s lifespan till now, The Hunter is another important follow up that is going to remain on the playlist at least for the remaining part of the year.

Here, on The Hunter we see them getting comfortable with a few newer ingredients that only make their music more appealing. The groove cannot be ignored but if you are on tracks like Blasteroid, Octopus Has No Friends and Thickening then the stoner effect is visible. Making the walls around me rotate all the more. Title track The Hunter is the trippiest of them all.

In Mastodon‘s case the regularity made finding flaws difficult. Their discography, which now has five albums with The Hunter, is like one of the brightest firecracker in the progressive sky. The more you allow the albums to settle down, the more you get into them and the more you fall for Mastodon.

Another quality of Mastodon is to hug emotions tight enough so you are never short of any feeling. Considering what they do on Stargasm, Creature Lives and Bedazzled Fingernails I don’t think there is a better way to reduce the distance between the band and us than tightening the emotions on the songs.

Troy Sanders is more like the soul of Mastodon, as he even adds to the band technically. The guitar’s sweet noise is plush while the drums make the album out and out progressive, and the groove comes naturally with it. See how it goes on Curl Of The Burl, All The Heavy Lifting, Bedazzled Fingernails. Songs like Dry Bone Valley and Spectrelight spin, shake and gyrate the sound that the instruments make.

Technical grace haunts you on Black Tongue, Creature Lives and The Sparrow, and so does the album art. It’s freaky, apt and teases the eyes, might even make you start seeing things if you stare at it for too long.

Mastodon are a mammoth act focusing only on bettering themselves, making us fans happier and providing us with records that are more like statements than just albums. Playing The Hunter will rid you of all your notions about how so many different elements can be combined together to produce metal.

Rating: 4.5/5

album review : Dead Throne (2011) – The Devil Wears Prada

album : Dead Throne

artist : The Devil Wears Prada

genre : Metalcore

year : 2011

To derive pleasure out of anything in this world, one needs to understand that you’d be wholeheartedly satisfied only if both the sides are willing to adjust on aspects that are very tiny when seen from a distance. The distance need not be physical, but it is emotional as well. Be it a relationship, or the topic I’m concerning myself with at the moment – music. This five-lettered word is like a glove for protection from almost everything, because had there been no music then life would have really sucked.

Now here I am onto a band I recently got introduced to through myself. I know internet is a bitch but it isn’t all that bad. It all began with my urge to checkout the bands under Rise Records, and hence I discovered this six-piece band from Ohio, USA named The Devil Wears Prada (TDWP) . The band is no longer with Rise Records (they are signed to Ferret Music now), and Dead Throne is the fourth album in their discography. To best describe the music played by TDWP I’d say they have all the intentions of making it sound metalcore which is an amalgamation of heavy metal and hardcore but they do brush this school of music called post-hardcore.

I like my music to be loud except when I want it to be soft. Well, yea I was not getting anywhere with that. Dead Throne packs together thirteen tracks of intense metalcore chasing the listener to every nook and corner of their senses, sounding glamorous at the same time. Moments on few of the tracks are very much throwing light on the fact that they have never been cloned before. Check out sections on Untidaled, Vengeance, Chicago.

As a complete package there are tracks like Mammoth, Born to Lose, Holdfast where we are tied to our places with the only movement allowed being our body parts trying to play along with the band. The entire process of fitting in a pattern and then executing it to make it sound like how it does on a few others like My Questions and Constance definitely takes a little more than just the ability to play instruments.

Flaws are there, and flaws are going to make me write a better review next time and will make the band make even better music in future. The moment flaws disappear there comes an end, and The Devil Wears Prada are enjoying their stuff too much to do anything like that. What particularly comes into my notice are parts where change of mood doesn’t fit in the flow. Kansas and Forever Decay, although are good compositions, have areas that could well have been tweaked to sound better.

Dead Throne would be remembered for it’s richness, abundance, brutality, melody and for the fact that the entire force of The Devil Wears Prada comes down upon the listener like the most thrilling roller coaster, except that the coaster stops after some time but here the band keeps entertainment alive every time you decide to play the album in its entirety. The Devil Wears Prada is a convincing metal outfit.

Rating : 4/5

album review : Celestial Lineage (2011) – Wolves in the Throne Room

album : Celestial Lineage

artist : Wolves in the Throne Room

genre : Black Metal

year : 2011

It all began with Diadem of 12 Stars, and American black metal enthusiasts with the most original name, Wolves in the Throne Room have chosen the end of 2011 to brief us about their present understanding of darkness. Exclusivity being the key on their music, this two member group has yet again tuned the frequency of their music with that of black metal fans and the resonance produced on Celestial Harmony is not going to freak you out.

Churning out anthems of sorrow, Wolves in the Throne Room continue to leave a mark with every release and Celestial Lineage showcases how an original sound can evolve over albums. The band revisits the most unmixed way of writing songs with a barrel of raw riffs being filled with melody drop by drop, and the screeches are held responsible for minimum leakages.

Aaron Weaver and Nathan Weaver

Celestial Lineage succeeds in the entire idea of taking the listener into a hypnotic state, and the longing to stay there remains as they keep chanting about nature. Wake up and smell the black metal coffee as poured by Wolves in the Throne Room who also have one of the most illegible logos out there. With this they have met all the rules and henceforth they shall be addressed as makers of music that is of the genre, by the genre and for the genre.

Key tracks : Thuja Magus Imperium, Subterranean Initiation, Astral Blood, Prayer of Transformation

Rating : 4/5

album review : Leveler (2011) – August Burns Red

album : Leveler

artist : August Burns Red

genre : Metalcore

year : 2011

There is no reason for a website like Encyclopaedia Metallum (known to everyone as metal-archives) for not listing a band that is as metal as you’d expect a metal band to be. Maybe even more. Yes, as I said Metal Archives does not have a page for August Burns Red which according to me is not cool.

This band cracks a new hole with every new album of theirs, and while they are at it they also make sure they do something that has not been done before by them. As I’m increasingly getting drawn to their music on Leveler, I must also add that their last release Constellations was one of the mightiest metal releases of 2009. Complete with bone-breaking and irresistible compositions. On Leveler too, August Burns Red present metal in a plural fashion by giving several meanings and interpretations to the dimensions of music.

The band with a fresh set of twelve tracks (that’s minus the bonus songs) for the year 2011 take the listener on top of a high mountain and then push him or her down with full force. The entire album is how you enjoy your ride while coming down from there, hitting rocks and rolling along the way. And to my surprise they even have midi version of their opening track Empire. The least I can do is use it as my ringtone, to show them my respect.

The entire release is packed with evergreen riffs full of melodic patches. They win your heart with a tightness that would help you ease out your hatred for anything while they are on.

I, for once, cannot sit still when an August Burns Red album is played. They just pick you up and get you going. Leveler, too, has ultimately been produced with the sole purpose of making your neck muscles stronger.

Rating : 4/5