
LAMB OF GOD:
- New American Gospel
(2000) Anyone who remembers the band Slapdash will get the general gist
of this band, at least guitar wise. On the vocal front, this guy is a
lot
closer to the hard core screams of say Chimaira. But on the riff front,
a lot of this stuff is very Meshuggah. I don't mean just sorta like
Meshuggah,
or vaguely inspired by Meshuggah, I mean like totally ripped off of
Meshuggah.
Track 1 on this album contains a riff identical to the opening of
'Future
Breed Machine', track 2 contains a riff from "Chaosphere", followed
very
quickly by the 7/4 part from 'Future Breed Machine'. Track 5 back to
Chaosphere
again. Anyways, despite all that, the album has a good vibe, good
production,
if you ever wanted Meshuggah's material reimagined in the form of a
hardcore
band, well, here we go. Gotta give them low marks for originality
though.
New American Gospel, with just a slight Swedish influence :)
- As The Palaces
Burn (2003) So as you may remember (or read above), I didn't
like the first album much at all. I mean, it wasn't horrible, it was
just unoriginal and nothing special enough to persuade me to put it
back into my cd player after I finished writing the review. Anyways, so
they release a new album, and I read really positive reviews, and
people saying it's a great album. Hell, even the package has the
sticker "The most devastating album of the year" - Revolver Magazine.
So I'm like, ok, maybe they got their act together and made a really
great album. So after all the hype, I take a listen, and I'm sorry, my
first review of the band stands, not horrible, but really nothing
special. Track 1 is a perfect example, the main riff is a pretty
standard metal riff, and they play it again, and again and again. Yes,
I heard the riff the first time thank you. They have some thrashy riffs
(and again, a few that sound very Meshuggahish), and a few bits are
sort of intense, but otherwise they rock too much and make riffs that
just don't stick in my head. Also, the production is pretty
substandard, with a very muffled sound and not too much bass at all.
It's sort of like the anti scooped sound, instead of lots of high end
and low end, it's lots of mids with no highend or low end. I'll close
by saying again, this isn't a bad cd, and I can maybe see some people
getting into this, but it just doesn't grab my interest.
- Ashes Of The Wake
(2004) I am a sucker for punishment I suppose. You'd think after being
bitten twice I wouldn't come back again, me and Lamb Of God where
through. So imagine my horror when I'm watching Headbanger's Ball and I
see a new video off of the new Lamb Of God album, and the song is
really cool. 'Laid to Rest' has this really kick-ass start/stop guitar
riff with a squawk, and some interesting double bass underneath, and
then gets super chunky, and I'm sitting there going "God no, I don't
want to have to buy another cd from this band and have it suck like the
others did. And yet this song is cool", so finally I compromised and
bought the cd used, so at least if it blew I wouldn't be wasting a lot
of cash. So now I have the full album, and it's actually a marked
improvement over their first two. Like, way better. First, the
production is no longer muffled, it's a really great mix in fact. It's
sort of like on their previous album the amps were covered in pillows
and someone removed the pillows for this release. So it still sounds
like the band, only good now. Also the riffs tend to be better and the
songs aren't as repetitive. While none of the other songs are quite as
good as the opener, the rest of the album gets a definitely A minus. It
seems I've finally found a Lamb Of God album that will get repeated
play in my cd player, and I highly recommend checking this out.
- Killadelphia (2005, DVD)
- Sacrament
(2006) Well, the coolness of their last album is gone and all that's
left in the wake is my original opinion of this band. I'm sorry guys,
I've really tried, but I guess our relationship was never meant to be.
Listening to this album, I'm just struck with how ordinary it is.
There's no 'Laid to Rest' here (although 'Beating On Deaths Door' is
pretty fast and has some good riffs), and I have to ask is there
anything here at all that wasn't already done by bands like Pantera
over 10 years ago? The sound is good, it's not like this material is
bad, it's just not mind-blowing. The album finishes and I can't hum a
single riff. That's it, I'm calling it quits. If you dig this band, you
may dig this album. But this is the end for me.
LOST SOUL:
- Chaostream
(2005) Someone recommended this to me as a good companion for
Behemoth's 'Demigod', and I can certainly see the connection, although
my first thought upon hearing them was Morbid Angel. Funny how that
works, Earache and Morbid Angel parts ways, and so Earache scoops up
Lost Soul who sound kinda similar. Ah, where business and artistry
collide. But anyways, despite the fact the band doesn't have much
originality to offer, they still kicks some serious ass. The song
writing is really excellent, the tunes have some really awesome riffs,
and are really intense. No intros or anything to break things up, but
there's enough variety in tempo and the riffs to give each song a
little of it's own character. The drumming is super fast, reminiscent
of Max in Krisiun but with more variety. The vocals are hoarse shouts,
not as low as David Vincent in Morbid Angel, but not quite as high as
the guy from Behemoth. The production is super well mixed too, and a
nice thick guitar tone. Favorite song is probably 'Angel's City', it
has this part in the middle where the whole band is blasting at top
speed and everything really seems to gel. This is a really brutal album
and for fans of Behemoth, Morbid Angel or Krisiun I highly recommend
picking this up.
LOSTSOULS:
- Ache (1993, Demo)
- Never Promised You A Rosegarden
(1994)
- Closeyoureyesanditwonthurt
- Fracture
(1998)
I could make all sorts of comparisons between this band and other acts
such as Meshuggah, Machine Head or Slapdash, but, well, ok, I will make
the comparisons. Lots of complex rhythms repeated again and again in an
industrial fashion. The riffs are a little less technical than
Meshuggah,
more catchy like Machine Head. The production is definitely tight like
Meshuggah (Daniel Bergstrand does the production), with lots of low
thick
guitar riffs and spacy echoed single note picking. A mixture of yelled
and spooky spoken word vocals. Good consistent song writing and strong
song structure keeps the repeated riffs from becoming tedious. All in
all,
nothing new, but good songs, good riffs and good production equal
something
worth checking out for fans of the genre.
LUDDITE | CLONE:
- The Arsonist And The Architect
(2000) With grindcore, there's a fine line between brutal and mundane.
And I'm afraid to say after listening to this release, I really wasn't
moved. Although grindcore was never really about originality, other
bands
such as Blood Duster or Exhumed are at least trying something a bit
different,
or else they're so over the top brutal in their sound that they stand
out.
This band does neither, and sorta falls into the category of good but
never
anything too different releases. The sound is ok, 6 shortish songs,
lacks
bass and sounds a little nasally, there's a few good riffs, but
otherwise
pretty standard, I'd probably only recommend this to someone who needs
to own all the grind that exists, sorry guys.
LUNGBRUSH:
- Old School New School
(1999)
Somewhere
between blues, rock and metal, Lungbrush has taken up where COC's
"Blind"
album left off. Angry old school rock metal might be the best
description,
the guitars hit you with riff after riff, nothing too technical or
complex,
but very catchy (A few songs are so so, but there are lots of good
songs
too). The drumming is powerful and pounding, and the singer definitely
sounds like someone has pissed him off. Excellent production with a
good
mix and plenty of low end. If you want something that's catchy but
still
angry, and you're a COC or Machine Head fan, check out this band.
LUPARA:
- Advance
Rough-Mix Demo (2003)
- Self
Titled Demo 2005 (2005)
- Lupara
(2007) Saw the video on headbangers ball and thought it was cool. Then
when I found out Jeremy Wagner from Broken Hope (RIP) was involved,
that just sealed the deal. Don't expect this to sound like Broken Hope
though. Lupara sounds a little more like Obituary with it's midpaced
songs and the general feel of the rhythms (chunky mostly with lots of
palm muting and some midpaced tremolo picking). The guitar tone is
awesome, it's really crunchy and distorted without becoming mushy. The
drums are mostly pounding, with a few well placed double kicks. Vocals
are a little more hardcore oriented, think the stuff that Mike DiSalvo
did with Cryptopsy. And the songs are good, with plenty of memorable
riffs that get you moving. I especially like their first single, 'No
Pity On The Ants', that opening riff just crushes. According to their
website, a "lupara" is a sawed-off, Sicilian shotgun that mafia
soldiers carry
as one of their primary weapons. A lupara is rumored to be so powerful,
it can blow a man in half. And that's a great way to describe this
music. Impressive debut, I see a promising future ahead of them.
LUST OF DECAY:
- Rest
in Hell (2000, Demo)
- Infesting The Exhumed (2002)
Ok, you basically know what you're in for when you get a cd with an
eviscerated woman on the cover and the album starts with a clip from a
porno flick (Track 1 BTW is wonderfully titled 'Festering Anal Vomit',
wow, never would have thought of that one). What ensues is a decent cd
from a tight little death metal band. Super low gargly vocals, a
slightly muffled production but very low and bass heavy (If you listen
to Malignancy you know the kind of sound we've got here). Lots of
blasting, tremolo picking, fast alternate picked stuff. The songs are
good although no particular riff stands out as being spectacular or
particularly memorable. Although there are some pretty memorable
soundclips in there, especially the Mister Rogers one, but, well, I'm
not gonna ruin the surprise. If you like low fast gargly death metal,
worth checking into, but the band will probably have a tough time
differentiating themselves from the other stuff out there.
- Kingdom
of Corpses (2004) The first thing that hit me was "wow, their
sound has changed a bunch". Basically, we have something with a little
more treble to it, and a little less bass. While that may sound ideal
considering their bass heavy previous album, the mix is still a little
soft, and they may have actually removed a little too much bass from
the mix. Otherwise, it's more of the same, chunky stuff, blasting
stuff. While nothing revolutionary, their last album sort of grew on me
and found it's way into my cd player a lot more often than I would have
originally guessed, and the same may happen for this cd.
- Purity
Through Dismemberment (2006) Another 30 minute blastfest, tons
of tremolo picking, complex and super fast drumming, and low gargled
vocals. The main thing that's different is a huge step up in production
quality, it's like the difference between night and day. The bass that
their last album lacked is back and then some. The highend isn't the
focus of the mix but there's enough of it to not sound muffled, just a
touch of reverb to add dimension, and you have the band's best sounding
mix yet. The songs are a little generic without any particular song
that stands out above the rest, but the performance is intense and well
executed. If you've liked the band's previous albums, or really dig
guys like Disgorge, you're gonna love this album.
LYKATHEA AFLAME:
- Elvenefris
(2000) Imagine the music of Cryptopsy mixed with the ambiance of Nile
and way more keyboards and you're about half way to understanding what
this band is all about. The album is very two sided, on one hand, you
have these super fast, Cryptopsy's "None So Vile" style blast fests (in
fact, some of the riffs sound a little too similar to that album
really, including Lord Worm-esque growls and gurgles, an identical
guitar tone and riffing style and the drummer doing his best Flo
Mounier impression). Then you have the light ambient side of the band,
which includes keyboards, melodic guitars, acoustic guitars, thick
keyboards, spoken word segments, even birdsong. The interesting thing
is that these two faces change back and forth at the drop of a hat,
instead of like a calm intro followed by craziness, you'll have a bar
of craziness, followed by a bar of calm, followed by a bar of
craziness. It makes for some varied and sonically complex compositions
to be sure. A lot of the riffs have a strong eastern / egyptian
influence to their scales, hence the Nile connection. Production is
good, but is ever so slightly muffled and could use a little more bass.
Overall, while I find the angry parts a little too much like "None So
Vile", the rest of what the band is doing is pretty damn unique, it
takes some seriously strong songwriting skills to hold material like
this together, avoiding a huge mess which is what you'd think such
diversity would give. If you're interested in hearing something a
little different after an unending supply of Disgorge clones, this
material sure fits the bill. Killer stuff.