Hiatus Catch Up Vol. 2

I didn't forget about it. You forgot about it.

Dios trio – II

I'm kind of prepared to say this is a better math rock album than Giraffes? Giraffes!'s output this year. Certainly a lot more colorful and expressive. You know what, yes, this is better than the G?G! Album.

Jpegmafia – Veteran

This is weird. Real weird. I dig it. Are you into Death Grips? Do I have an album for you then.

Oneida – Romance

I am once again confronted with something real weird and not for everyone. Romance is an experimental jazz rock record with lots of weird samples, bizarre edits and noisy production. It's got the same problem some of these experimental albums have that this LP is a little bloated, repetitive, and pretentious at times, but hell if this isn't some of the weirdest song writing I've heard in a long while. Give it a try.

Gozu – Equilibrium

Maybe I've just been spoiled by my more experimental music selection this year, but I was pretty underwhelmed by this straightforward alt rock album. Maybe if I try it again I'll have a better appreciation for it, but something just didn't click. Maybe it is just how straightforward it is that I can't really get into it. It's not edgy enough like Disturbed or 5FDP to be cringe, but I praise songwriting and technique over everything else, and these guys are just kind of meat and potatoes alt rock. I'll give it another try later and maybe I'll be more forgiving on it, but for now it just seems kind of disposable.

Giraffes? Giraffes! – Memory Lame

Ok I know I just got done slagging off GG a couple paragraphs ago, but to be fair, the band returns after a little hiatus and it's pretty underwhelming. Maybe I just had too high of expectations, but G?G!'s big return is... fine. It's ok. I even like it more than Pink Magick. But G?G!'s big appeal to me was always their diverse and expressive production, tossing in tons of sound effects and samples to really give their music this vibrant sound. This is just some very plain math rock. It sounds closer to something by Chon or Floral than G?G!.

The Crown – Cobra Speed Venom

I'd like to summarize this album with a quote from angrymetalguy.com: “The Crown have released one of the most quintessentially metal things I’ve heard this year”. Yeah that about sums up my thoughts on it.

Dmitry Demyanenko – Universe

It's not a good sign that I had to look up what this album was called before I sat down to write this. Universe is pretty unimpressive. Despite its title, it lacks the scale and the density of anything bigger than a mouse. It's still a meaty djent album, but Demyanenko's previous work, Insomnia, was my album of the year for many a reason: it was dense, chaotic, beautiful, and passionate. This is just feels like another collection of songs rather than a whole monster of a project.

Barren Earth – A Complex of Cages

Low rent Dream Theater. Next.

Khemmis – Desolation

I tried really hard to like this album. I really did. Much like Summerlands, Khemmis's approach to metal is as pure as it gets. Amazing album art, gloomy and harsh production, fantastic writing... so what gives? I guess it's the vocalist. His delivery just puts me to sleep. His singing is so bog standard and bland. They don't have the brooding energy that their music is trying to inspire. Fantastic riffs, if nothing else.

Kids See Ghosts – S/T

Sorry man, I just don't see the hype around it. I dig the psychedelic and atmospheric approach to the songwriting but I just can't stand Kanye (as a rapper not as a weirdo who says dumb things). He always sounded like the default setting for “rapper” and his delivery here just puts me to sleep.

Metal Allegiance – Mother of Sin (ft. Bobby Blitz) [Single]

YES. YES YES YES. THIS. Metal Allegiance putting together another record is fucking fantastic, getting more big names involved like Bobby Blitz of Overkill is fucking great. This album is going to be fucking great. I hope it is anyways.

Tropical Fuck Storm – A Laughing Death in Meatspace

I like this but I don't know if I'll be listening to it in a couple months, you know? Just kinda in one ear and out the other noise rock. I dig that post punk influence, though.

YOB – Our Raw Heart

God I tried to love this, I really did. This has all the makings of a really good doom metal album. It's slow and intense and long... but it's too slow and too intense and too long. The songs lack so much needed progression or just a feeling of rest, so by the end of the first track you're already exhausted and bored and then the album still has another whole our to go. On a track by track basis the album does a pretty good job of setting up atmosphere and whatnot (see: “Our Raw Heart”, “Beauty in Falling Leaves”), but the album needs structure. The song “Lungs Reach” is a great pace breaker, but the album needed more.

Revolting – Monolith of Madness

Pretty standard punky death grind. Even for Revolting this is a little bland. Don't really get why this album is getting a ton of hate, though. Just feels kinda one note.

Five Finger Death Punch – And Justice for None

Five Finger Cringe Punch.

Skinless – Savagery

Somehow, a band put together a death metal album more bland than Cannibal Corpse's recent discography. I'm kind of impressed. I see the phrase “meat and potatoes” being thrown around a lot when Skinless come up. That's an awful kind way of saying “bland and uninspired”.

Unravel – Eras of Forfeit

Now THIS is some death metal. Hard and brutal as fuck with lots of punky speed and moshy energy. I may be contradicting myself here, but I kinda wish it was longer. Not the track number, just the songs themselves. Just flesh them out a little bit more, add a bridge here or there, this could have been a real classic.