NORWEGIAN PROGRESSIVE METAL BAND OF THE YEAR: BENEA REACH
Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 4:01pm by Kip WingerschmidtSo if you’ve previously traversed these here interweb waters before, chances are you prolly know who our-very-favorite-first-half-of-2008-discovered-math-metal band is; that said, the dudes in Benea Reach are bringing the progressive aggressive strength in a major way as well, Nordic styles…and whoah, look at
that — their recently-released album Alleviat, just officially made my top-10 list of 2008!! How thpecial…
The vocal (screaming) style is often Meshuggah-reminiscent (with a throaty hardcore backbone, especially on their 2006 debut album, Monument Bineothan), and there is indeed singing here and there as well, allbeit predominantly ambient and in the background…but the music itself feels a bit more straightforward and organic than the aforementioned Swedish metal maniacs — before you cry boring, let me remind you that while simplistic is almost always a disappointing attribute of a band, simple is most definitely not.
For some reason, when it first came out, I deemed the recent Baroness full-length The Red Album to be decidedly soft, or just too damn “indie. And it had a lot to do with my affinity for the band’s two prior EPs (First and Second, respectively), both short, sludgy masterpieces with three strong tunes each, most in the 6 or 7 minute arena…I guess I became a little blocked off to the band’s impressive evolution, fearing that any refining would kill the band’s balls. But balls clearly do need to go hand in hand with heart (figuratively and literally), and the latest offering from these future superstars definitely has heart in spades.
People so often get caught up in the mind-blowing masterpiece — hell, career-piece — that is Dream Theater’s 1999 release Scenes From a Memory, that the band’s next release, the double-disc Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, often gets overlooked. Disc 1 is fantastic Dream Theater fare, but its Disc 2 that is truly special, another conceptual piece that never got its due because of its predecessor. And it’s this disc, a couple of tracks of which were played over the PA at last night’s Avenged Sevenfold show in NYC, that has inspired me to bring back the long dormant Album of the Day column.
Rarely do you find a B-Sides and rarities collection held in high regard, but this follow-up to Shadows Fall’s The War Within is just so good it’s impossible not to pay it attention. The songs are so good, in fact, that it really does seem like a companion to The War Within as opposed to a loose collection of what didn’t make the final cut. Swedish-induced thrash riffs underneath Brian Fair’s growling vocals mixed with typically catchy choruses are the standard fare here and the result is a pleasing and rewarding listen right off the bat. A cover of Dangerous Toys “Teasn’ Pleasn’” is the icing on the cake, as The Shads pay tribute to their readily apparent ’80s hair influences. Dangerous Toys’ own Jason McMaster even guests on vocals on the track.
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Tomorrow we hit Sounds of the Underground in Jersey, and of all the great bands we’re going to see – Testament, Shadows Fall, Amon Amarth, and Darkest Hour, to name a few – Chimaira is the one I’m most excited for. And as much as I enjoyed the Pantera retread that was The Impossibility of Reason, this was the disc that really cemented Chimaira as one of my very favorite American New Wave bands: uncompromisingly brutal, incredibly dense, almost impossible to digest after a single listen. Almost two years after its initial release, it feels like there are still little nooks and crannies I’m discovering within the music: the way a riff will shift slightly, the Chris Spicuzza ambience just below the surface, the creative fills by Kevin Talley, who proves that there’s plenty of room for flexibility within death-style drumming. All the while, vocalist Mark Hunter and lead guitarist/primary songwriter Rob Arnold provide furious anthem after furious anthem. This album isn’t for the faint of heart, the weak of mind, or anyone whose soul is at ease; it’s for everyone full of rage, anguish, despair, disgust. It is a truly cathartic experience – a genuine masterpiece.
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I can see a legitimate argument for disliking Avenged Sevenfold – but them being “metalcore shits” just ain’t one of them. In fact, there’s not a trace of metalcore on this album. Lots of metal, sure (GN’R, Metallica, and Judas Priest are all obvious influences here) – but no core. Evolving beyond their previous releases into something a little less trendy (if not necessarily more genuine), there’s a reason this disc launched A7X to stardom – because so few bands make this particular breed of metal anymore, and the ones that try usually fall flat on their faces (Brides of Destruction, anyone? Anyone…?). Plus, there’s something commendable about the fact that M. Shadows rarely uses traditional rhyme schemes for his lyrics (the admittedly catchy radio biscuit “Bat Country” being an obvious exception).
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I’m feeling kinda mellow today, so this seems like the right choice for “Album of the Day.” Originally released for purchase exclusively through the Nine Inch Nails website and later released as a bonus disc with the deluxe edition of the live album And All That Could Have Been, this EP features the then-touring line-up of the band (including Robin Finck and Danny Lohner) doing live, stripped down, semi-acoustic versions of NIN tunes including a meditative, stirring rendition of “The Day the World Went Away.” But the stand-out track is the lone original song, “And All that Could Have Been.” A soft, melancholy slow burn that builds to an epic mid-section, the song is a reminder that Trent Reznor is as skilled at creating quiet cries of depressed desperation as he is at crafting industrial soundscapes while screaming to the skies about how bad everything sucks. “And All that Could Have Been” deserves it own place alongside “Hurt” as a true Nine Inch Nails classic – a genuine work of beauty. This album is pretty hard to come by these days (at least through legal means), but it’s worth whatever you end up paying for it.
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, I WISH WE WERE GOING TO ROCKLAHOMA!!! “Round and Round.” “Back for More.” “Wanted Man.” There’s a reason why Ratt aren’t remembered as just one of the first hair metal bands, but also one of the best. This is legitimately sleazy glam rock from the Sunset Strip, made to get fucked up – preferably on a mix of Jack Daniels and, uh, “Splenda”- and defile some underage girl in the back of a pick-up. Fuck YEAH, dude.
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TO: Matt Heafy
Actually, this album is pretty awful. I mean, the riff for “There Goes the Neighberhood” is pretty cool until Ice-T’s shitty vocals ruin it, and I appreciate the humor of the album (”KKK Bitch,” “Momma’s Gotta Die Tonight,” and “Evil Dick,” which is possibly the best expression of Man’s conflict with his own penis I’ve ever heard), but on the whole, this is a really silly album (”Bowels of the Devil” actually features the lyric “Let me tell you what the motherfucker eats”) that’s best remembered for the controversy surrounding the track “Cop Killer,” which was eventually removed from second-generation pressings of the disc (although, oddly enough, the album’s cleverly titled “Smoked Pork” prologue, in which we actually hear the cop getting killed, was allowed to remain). Really, this recording is redeemed only by one really, really good song: the power ballad “The Winner Loses,” which is the album’s requisite drug cautionary tale. The fact that Ice-T can’t sing to save his life actually kinda works given the subject matter, the anthemic chorus is pretty much guaranteed to get stuck in your head, and like half the song is a pretty sweet guitar solo by Ernie C., who shreds without ever losing his sense of structure, telling the story of the song through the solo (Ice-T uses a rollercoaster as a metaphor for overdosing, and the start of Ernie’s section does, indeed, sound like a rollercoaster).
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For this week’s Album of the Day column I’d like to change it up a bit and roll out five of my favorite live recordings. If you’ve got suggestions, feel free to email them to us at news [at] metalsucks.net. King’s X is one of my favorite bands and they are absolutely a treat to see live despite that the fact that they are only a three-piece. Live All Over the Place, released in 2004, was miraculously their first-ever live release. It’s a great portrayal of King’s X’s live show, warts and all, and with surprisingly few (if any) overdubs ProToolsed on later. As the title would suggest, the band chose to mix several performances for this two-disc set, but it pans out surprisingly well, as the way this album is constructed mimics the setlist on the tour prior to the release of this album. All the King’s X classics are here as well as newer material and deeper cuts that have become fan favorites. The 7-song acoustic session in the middle — in which the band members all sat on the front of the stage — is a true treat and a welcome breath of fresh air from the usually drop-C tuned onslaught. Doug Pinnick’s voice sounds as soulful and groovy as ever, Ty Tabor shreds solos and rhythms alike, and the band’s trademark three-part harmonies are remarkably true. Live All Over the Place is a great listen for King’s X fans and newcomers alike.
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Like the best metalcore bands, these dudes from Philly combine pop metal hooks with death metal brutality; and brutal this album is, devoid of any clean singing. Robert Meadows’ vocals were produced by Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe (who also guests on the album), and the dude sounds like he ate broken glass cereal for breakfast with battery acid instead of milk in the bowl; the closest thing I could compare his singing to is a snarling, rabid dog. And check out Robert Carpenter’s solo on “Vulture;” it’s misleadingly simple at the start before erupting into fretboard-smoking fireworks. Meanwhile, “Needleman” soars almost in spite of its own heaviness, and the raw, slowed down, almost spacey title track still manages to work as a horn-raising battle growl for a revolution (”Crush and rebuild/ Destroy and organize”). The music always sounds just a little disjointed, the rhythms just a tad off; if Slayer sound like they’re about to go off the rails, then ALOL have already flown off the rail, exploded, and are now careening uncontrollably towards the village, screaming gleefully all the way.
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Anyone who thinks that the only good Arch Enemy is pre-Wages of Sin Arch Enemy, take note: Gothenburgh’s Laethora play molten old school blackened melodic death metal… and this album was just released a few months ago. Featuring members of Dark Tranquillity and The Provenance, Laethora offer up killer riffs, a virgin-tight rhythm section, and memorable hooks. What’s more, they by and large steer clear of clean vocals, and the use of them – during a dreamy sequence half-way through the otherwise brooding “Black Void 
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“SSSSSUUUUFFFEEEERRRRR!!!!” Thank God for this fucking record. At their absolute finest, CC have never been anything less than Slayer on steroids, and this album was a true return to form upon its release last year. You can’t release an album called Kill without making a pretty powerful statement, and that the band did. Erik Rutan’s production sounds like the end of the world and if there’s a more bad assed singer in death metal right now than the Corpsegrinder, I don’t know him. “The Time To Kill Is Now” and singles “Death Walking Terror” and “Make them Suffer” feature American riffs that are exactly as they should be: fast, heavy, and completely out of fucking control. CC have never been as experimental and envelope-pushing as, say, that other death metal outfit with initials “CC,” but who cares? To paraphrase Adam Sandler, this album makes me wanna stab someone to death… with my dick. Not that I don’t usually wanna do that anyways.
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Oh. My. God. Even less traditionalist than Faith No More is the band Mike Patton was the singer for when Billy Gould and the boys found him (at age 19!), Mr. Bungle. This 1991 offering is musically all over the map and not for the musically close minded or faint of heart (the band had not one but TWO saxophone players, for crying out loud). My personal favorites are what I can only describe as the surfer-metal anthem “My Ass is on Fire” and the surprisingly catchy, wah-funk infused “Girls of Porn,” which features Patton’s stunning spoken-word description of about a jillion different types of fetish vids. Little wonder that FNM later also hired guitarist Trey Spruance (credited here under the alias of Count Dracula’s birth name, “Vlad Drac,” for reasons I’m still not clear on). The album’s mix of daring, bravado, and twisted humor makes it a must-own for all of us who happily worship at the altar of Mike Patton.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, Buckethead is a freak. He’s also one of the most talented guitarists on the planet. In 1994, years before he joined (and then quit) Guns N’ Roses, Buckethead released Giant Robot, a testament to his ecclecticism featuring re-workings of a lot of the tracks from his debut, Bucketheadland. Opener “Doomride” owes more than a little to Randy Rhodes’ classic “Crazy Train” riff; “Binge and Grab” is like a Dick Dale surf song with just a hint of melancholic longing; “Warweb,” the covers of John Williams’ “Star Wars” theme and “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka, and the stirring, orchestral “I Love My Parents” – this album is proof that there is nothing Buckethead can’t do, no style he can’t play, and play better than just about anyone else. Add him to the list of geniuses who happen to be completely fucknuts.
I know I’m going to get a ton of shit for this one, but I don’t care; haters, bring it on. Blue Sky Research is an excellent album, the band’s third full-length, released in 2005. Truth is I probably wouldn’t give two shits about this band if I hadn’t spent 4 years living in their hometown of Ann Arbor, MI, but the fact of the matter is that they write some damn good songs. This time around they had help, and the difference is noticeable as there are less in the way of B-rate Deftones immitations and more in the way of well-crafted alt-metal rockers. None other than Billy Corgan co-wrote “Violent Seas,” “Promise” and “Lost in the Woods,” while Jonah Matranga of Far, Onelindrawing, and Gratitude helped out on the infectious lead-single “Calling.” Taproot still get heavy when they want to as on “Facepeeler” and “I Will Not Fall For You,” but the real gems are the mid-tempo pieces co-written by sometimes producer, sometimes writer veteran Bob Marlette. “Birthday” is surely one of the standout tracks, and “Forever Endeavor” is a fine effort as well. Another standout track is the rousing “April Suits” which the four band members wrote all on their own. As with any Toby Wright-produced project, there are plenty of awesome three and four part vocal harmonies throughout this album; fans of Alice in Chains will appreciate all the layers here.
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When Axl and I were in the throes of puberty, the videos from Def Leppard’s first post-Steve Clark album Adrenalize absolutely dominated the MTV airwaves. The irony of the animatronic “Let’s Get Rocked” video being a spoof of the Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” was completely lost on us, but we still thought it was a pretty awesome video. “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” was in a dead heat with GN’R’s “November Rain” all summer long for the coveted #1 most requested video spot, and I felt that it spoke specifically to me in my tween love-crush angst (”Gosh, yes, I HAVE needed someone so bad!! How does Joe Elliott KNOW??”). Other songs such as “Make Love Like a Man” got my love pump in a tizzy, and “Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion)” was an inspiration to talk to the hot girl in my Social Studies class. Thankfully for the Leppard, Clark wrote most of the tunes on Adrenalize before he passed away; subsequent efforts wouldn’t even come close without Clarke’s keen ear for song structure and hooks.
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Saigon Kick are without a doubt collectively one of our favorite late-era hair metal bands here at MetalSucks, and 1992’s The Lizard is far and away their best work. After a marginally unsuccessful self-titled debut album in 1990, The Lizard skyrocketed up the charts thanks in no small part to the MTV success of #12 single “Love Is On the Way,” a tender love song not very indicative of the band’s overall sound.
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Insomnium are a melodic death metal band from Finland whose unique stamp forgoes the thrash influence of Swedish bands like In Flames and Soilwork and replaces it with a more atmospheric quality reminiscent of fellow-countrymen Amorphis and H.I.M. Nevertheless they fit quite well into the melodic death subgenre which they execute to perfection.
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