Album Review: DevilDriver-Beast

For years, DevilDriver has been one of the top groove metal acts. They tend to make consistently good, heavy album and their sound has stayed pretty much same since their inception. Well if it ain't broke it don't fix it, Beast is another success for DevilDriver.

Beast really isn't too much of a change of pace for DevilDriver. It's very similar, but the slight changes keep their sound fresh. Beast starts off with a bang with "Dead To Rights". The signature DevilDriver sound is in place right out of the gates: heavy groove riff, thunderous drums and Dez Fafara's trademark shrieking. "Dead To Rights" sets the tone for what's to come. DevilDriver knows to make badass groves and writes a ton of killer riffs here. Beast is a very pissed off record and the best tracks DevilDriver make are when they at their angriest. You can really feel the anger in album standouts "Talons Out(Teeth Sharpened)" and "Shitlist". The whole band gives their most impressive performances on the whole record on these tracks and this is where DevilDriver is at their peak. Most of the album is relentlessly heavy, but occasionally, on tracks such as "Coldblooded" they throw in some melodic undertones and slow riffs to keep the sound fresh.It's a solid contrast from the pummeling riffs that embody most of the record and it make the listening experience that much more enjoyable.

Beast isn't DevilDriver's attempt to reinvent the wheel, it's pretty similar to their other work and I'm fine with that. DevilDriver is damn good at what they do. They make pissed off groove metal with catchy, heavy riffs and there are very few that do it better them. If you liked DevilDriver before, Beast will be be right up your alley. If you weren't a fan before this won't change your mind. Beast is another enjoyable record from DevilDriver.

4/5 Stars

Standout Tracks

1.Talons Out(Teeth Sharpened)

2.Shitlist

3.Coldblooded

Album Review: All That Remains-For We Are Many

All That Remains has risen in popularity a pretty great deal since the release of Overcome. The popularity of their more mainstream songs "Two Weeks" and "Forever In Your Hands", which i liked but not as much as the other tracks on Overcome. With the popularity of these tracks, I became a little wary of how For We Are Many would sound. I can say now that I am pretty happy with the way this record turned out.

The one sign of an extremely mainstream sound is lead single "Hold On". It doesn't sound like All That Remains at all and it is a below subpar track to say the least. Besides "Hold On", the rest of the record is very good. Insturmental intro "Now Let Them Tremble" sets the tone for most of the record with heavy guitars and thunderous double-bass drumming. That energy carries over to the title track, which is one of the album's standouts. The title track sounds like This Darkened Heart-era All That Remains with Phil Labonte screaming in just about every pitch imaginible. For We Are Many at times is noticeably heavier than Overcome. "Some Of The People,All Of The Time" is seriously the heaviest ATR track since This Darkened Heart. The main riff is At The Gates-esque and the ending actually makes good use of a breakdown with Labonte throwing in some awesome death growls. For We Are Many is not all about the heavier side of All That Remains, Labonte still has a pretty good amount of clean vocals and there are some soaring choruses here and there.

For We Are Many in my eyes is a pretty much a fusion of the heaviness of the first 2 All The Remains records with the melodic tones from Overcomes. Phil Labonte really shines on this record with his range of screams that he hasn't explored in the past, In addition to his clean vocals improving from the past record. This is still vintage All That Remains with some slight changes to their sound, all the key elements are still there. Labonte is still a great vocalist, Oli Hebret and Mike Martin can still shred with the best of them and All That Remains is still one of the top metalcore acts around. For We Are Many is another dynamite entry to All That Remains discography and again shows All That Remains's consistency in making quality metal.
4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Agressive Oposition
2.For We Are Many
3. Some Of The People,All Of The Time

Album Review: Bring Me The Horizon-There Is A Hell,Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let's Keep It A Secret

Before I even start writing this review, I must state that I despise Bring Me The Horizon. I have heard their previous 2 records multiple times because a few of my friends are fans. I have given their music countless chances to grow on me but I can never get past their horrendous vocals, boring songs and laughable lyrics. There Is A Hell, Believe I've Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Lets Keep It A Secret I listened to under somewhat different circumstances. I heard some of it with my BMTH loving friends and due to the acclaim it has been getting, I listened the rest of it myself. This record surprised me, but it wasn't really a good surprise.

Upon first listen, I must say this is the most mature Bring Me The Horizon record to date. The lyrics are not nearly as dumb for the most part and unlike their prior record Suicide Season .which changed their sound for popularity purposes, they changed their sound a bit to try something new that is less accsessible. I commend them on that aspect of the record, they weren't catering to their mostly scene kid, invisible ninja fighting fan base. Another positive surprise was that I actually liked a couple songs on this record. To be honest, I did not enjoy a single second of their previous two records. "Home Sweet Hole" is the crowning acheivement on this record. It shines through with a melo-death style riff and a really catchy gang shouted chrous. It's a pretty damn good track. The other song that I enjoyed was the chaotic closer "The Fox and The Wolf". It's energetic,brief and heavy.

Outside of those two tracks, there really isn't much to like. Oli Skyes is still one of the worst vocalists in metal and he really should not try to do clean vocals. "Don't Go", the ballad of this album is highly laughable because of Sykes's vocals. This track could have worked for a more skilled vocalist but Sykes's incompentency really brings it down. "Don't Go" is not alone in the dud department. "Crucify Me" and "It Never Ends" are just as awful. "Crucify Me" drags along at almost six and a half minutes and features an out of the blue, awful, electronica section and a horrific guest appearance from Canadian singer Lights, who tries to add this haunting vibe to an already stale track, but it comes off really bad. "It Never Ends" tries to be the anti-Bring Me The Horizon, Bring Me The Horizon song with the slow sections and choir. Instead, it just becomes one of the worst songs they have ever recorded with its annoying synths and emo vibe. Bring Me The Horizon doesn't lose its Suicide Season sound on a couple of tracks like "Aligator Blood" and "Blacklisted" which are just as awful and generic as the dogshit material on Suicide Season.

Even though there is some growth on this record, Bring Me The Horizon is still a weak band. Oli Sykes is still a trash vocalist and most of the songs on here are bad. To Bring Me The Horizon's credit, I never thought I would enjoy a single song by them ever and there are a couple of good tracks on here but for the most part, there isn't much to like here. This might be Bring Me The Horizon's best effort to date, but it still fucking sucks.
1.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Home Sweet Hole
2.The Fox and The Wolf

Best Albums Of The Decade(2000-2009): #64-63

64.Alice In Chains-Black Gives Way To Blue(2009)

Prior to hearing Black Gives Way To Blue, I was skeptical about how it would turn out. With Layne Staley gone, how would they sound? Would they turn to a fucking joke of what they once where? Thankfully, they proved all my worries wrong. William DuVall is a great replacement for Layne Staley. He carved out his own style vocally and brought a lot to the table. Black Gives Way To Blue blends heavier and slower songs to perfection and I was beyond pleased with how this record turned out. Kudos to Alice Chains for keeping the legacy alive, Layne Staley would be proud.

Standout Tracks 1.A Looking In View 2.Acid Bubble 3.Private Hell

63.Tool-10,000 Days(2006)

I am among the minority that thinks 10,000 Days is better than Lateralus. I think 10,000 Days is more polished and better written than Lateralus. Tool as usual, blows my mind with the complexity of the musicianship. Danny Carey's drumwork is orgasmic. Carey's insane fills and unique way of drumming make for a superb listening experience. In some Tool fans eyes they over did the ambient interludes, but I think they fit in very well to the overall vibe of the record. 10,000 Days in my opinion is Tool's 2nd best record and the better of the two to be released in the past decade.

Standout Tracks 1.Jambi 2.Vicarious 3.The Pot

Best Albums Of The Decade(2000-2009): #88-87

88.Andrew W.K-I Get Wet(2001)

When it comes to straight up fun music, no one quite does it better than Andrew W.K. I Get Wet is the epitome of a party album. I am not a partyer myself(woo hoo I'm Straight Edge) but if I did go to parties I Get Wet would be the soundtrack. Music doesn't always have to be serious to be awesome and Andrew W.K proves that.

Standout Tracks 1.Party Hard 2.Ready To Die 3.Girls Own Love

87.Unearth-III: In The Eyes Of Fire(2006)

III: In The Eyes Of Fire is when Unearth cemented their place as one of my favorite bands. Even 4 years later, this record still fucking slays. From the firecracker intro of "This Glorious Nightmare" to the doomy finale "Big Bear and The Hour of Chaos", Unearth puts together a collection of memorable riffs, fast drums and the unique vocals of Trevor Phipps. III: In The Eyes of Fire is an absolute monster of an album.

Standout Tracks 1.This Glorious Nightmare 2.Giles 3.This Time Was Mine

Album Review: War Of Ages-Eternal

Pennslyvania's War Of Ages has been around for a while. Despite being around for 8 years they didn't catch my attention untill recently. War of Ages was opening for As I Lay Dying and they where the only band I hadn't heard of on The Cool Tour lineup. Long story short listened to a few songs liked what I heard and then I saw them live and they where great so I decided to check out more of their material. Their latest release Eternal is a very good release and surely has garned some attention for them.

The main thing on Eternal that works so well is how seemlessly they blend their melo-death and hardcore influnences. With that perfect blend established it proves they know to make good metalcore. Eternal start with a bang in the form of "Collapse". "Collapse" is heavy,has a great a solo and a really good clean-sung chrous. These guys remind me a lot of their tourmates from The Cool Tour As I Lay Dying. They play a type of old-school metalcore that not many bands tend to do anymore. This reigns true throughout the album with other standouts like "Desire"(with a guest spot from Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying) and "My Resting Place".

War Of Ages is a band to watch for in the next few years. I can really see their popularity blowing up. It is refreshing to see an approach to this genre like this and I think with a couple more releases they will be joining bands like As I Lay Dying,Killswitch Engage and Unearth in the metalcore gods tear. If you are looking for a great old-school metalcore release with great musicanship across the board,songwriting and well-timed breakdowns then look no further than War Of Ages.

4/5 Stars

Standout Tracks

1.Collapse

2.Desire

3.My Resting Place

Album Review: Iron Maiden-The Final Frontier

Iron Maiden's reunion-era material has not really gone over well with me. I liked the first reunion record "Brave New World" but after that I haven't liked a single one. The Final Frontier continues my dissapointment with new Maiden records and hell this might even be the worst Iron Maiden record with Bruce Dickinson on it.

The main thing with The Final Frontier is the songs are just extremely weak. From the what the fuck opener "Satellite 15......The Final Frontier" with its really long,dumb intro and the lead single "El Dorado" with its bass line that sounds exactly the same as Heart's Barracuda I had a bad feeling about the rest of the record and I was only 2 tracks in. That bad feeling came true when I listened to the whole record and I was insanely bored. I mean I like prog metal a lot and I can appreciate slower material but it just does not work for Iron Maiden. They are a band that was pretty much meant to play fast(or even mid-paced) and when you take them out of their element they don't really succeed. Another glaring problem is how bad Bruce Dickinson's sounds on vocals. In my opinion Bruce Dickinson is the greatest heavy metal vocalist of all time but on The Final Frontier he sounds strained,exhausted and very weak. The guitar's are also way too low in the mix and the production as a whole is awful. In all honesty I that only postives about this record are the middle instrumental section in "Starblind" and "The Talismen"

The Final Frontier is just a straight up bad record. Iron Maiden is my 3rd favorite band of all time and it pains me to criticize them like this but this record just doesn't click at all. Their is a lack of good riffs,Bruce sounds awful and the songs are just extremely weak and boring. At the end of the year this record will absoultely be near the bottom of my list. I know there are going to be people out there that will want my head on a stake for this review but I just really can't find much of anything to like about this record. The Final Frontier is dull,lifeless and just plain bad.

1.5/5 Stars