metal

ALKALOID, A Progressive Death Metal Super Group Premieres New Song

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ALKALOID is an Extreme Progressive Metal band aiming to capitalize on differences of musical influences from each member.  The band premiered a new song and an audio album teaser for “The Malkuth Grimoire”.  It is the band’s debut album that is being crowd funded on Indiegogo.  The band is a mix of Death Metal, Progressive sounds inspired by Rush, and Sludge metal.  The music has a slow and dark delivery, with immense technicality in the instrumentation.  Check out their lineup and brand new song below on sound cloud.

Morean – vocals & guitar (Dark Fortress, Noneuclid, The Hungry Gods)

Christian Münzner – guitar (Ex-Obscura, Ex-Necrophagist, Spawn of Possession)

Danny Tunker – guitar (Aborted,)

Linus Klausenitzer – bass (Obscura, Noneuclid)

Hannes Grossmann – drums (Ex-Obscura, Ex-Necrophagist, Blotted Science)

https://soundcloud.com/alkaloidband/carbon-phrases

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/alkaloid-s-debut-album-the-malkuth-grimoire—2

Slipknot’s New Album Goes Gold

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After all the negative headlines and drama about Slipknot, it is good to see them prevailing with their latest album 5. The Gray Chapter.  It has officially gone gold as of last week.  As you can see the plaques were personalized with each member’s number and framed by Warner Music and were presented to the band in Toronto.  Corey Taylor said the night before at a show “Passion is hard to find in the music industry days”, and I think passion prevails as this record has gone gold.  Congratulations to Slipknot!

While Heaven Wept Suspended at Aphelion Review

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Virginian Doom Metal band, While Heaven Wept, create passionate music that is a league of its own.  The band mixes classical styles with modern progressive music to make incredibly ethereal music.  Their last record “Fear of Infinity” was an explosive Power album that contained jam after jam, threading passion through each and every line, weaving brilliance as each track was produced.  This album is rivaled with Arjen Lucassen’s Star One and any Dream Theater album released in recent years.  After “Fear of Infinity” and earlier work “Vast Oceans Lachrymose”, While Heaven Wept was posed with the task of creating a new, more moving, more mind blowing album.  This task was vastly completed with their 2014 album, Suspended At Aphelion.

 

Upon first listen to While Heaven Wept’s new album, you are opened up to a number of transcending sounds throughout each track.  From the moving and saddened strings, to the powerful and smooth delivered vocal lines, to the slow building guitars and drums, this album can only be described as a masterpiece.  The intro track Introspectus is a classical movement, strings and classical acoustic guitar bringing a feel reminiscent of Greensleeves.  The album then drops into the Power and Doom Metal mix with partner tracks Icarus and I and Ardor.  The two tracks are brilliantly melded and crafted together, with a slow building delivery much like a soundtrack to a Medieval movie.  Icarus and I also mixes growling with powerful vocals, mixing perfectly to prove this band isn’t just another Prog band.  Ardor is more moving and theatrical compared to its sister track, bursting with emotion and passion.  Heartburst is an even more moving track, with a slow building piano melody building on top of light synth, all highlighting the soft and deepened vocals.  The build up into the dueling vocals and neoclassical guitar solo is absolutely brilliant and captivating on this track.  This song definitely gives the feel I expected with a new While Heaven Wept album: dark, gloomy, saddened, and uplifted all at the same time.

 

“Suspended At Aphelion” does pick up into the Doom Metal side with the faster jamming track Indifference Turned To Paralysis.  The bass line on this track is technical and played with fast precision, adding a new layer to the sound on this album.  As a bassist, I applaud any band who makes the bass a stand out instrument on albums.  The three part epic track The Memory of Bleeding/ Souls in Permafrost/ Searching the Stars is layered with four thousand different sounds and feelings, without becoming overwhelming and confusing.  The vocals are really unique on this three part epic, containing perfectly harmonized vocals from two well versed vocalists.  This song is particularly catchy and interesting because of the changing tempo coming from the drums, adding even more layers of the music.  Every band has layers, but no one flows through the layers like While Heaven Wept.  Each layer sounds carefully crafted and inspired by this harmony the band always achieves on every album.  Reminiscent of Strangers / Lifelines Lost is evidence of the layers with a slow piano ballad beginning, building into brilliant guitar work with excellent soloing one after another., leading into soft group sung vocals. Restrospectus is an album closer with trademarked strings, leaving you with a feeling of melancholy, yet hope.  It is a perfect way to wrap up this short but beautiful album.

 

The passion, artistry, writing, and well thought out instrumentation and vocal melodies that were put into “Suspended At Aphelion” make it a masterpiece of an album.

 

Album Rating 8/10

Fall Death Metal Highlights

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Fall of 2014 has entailed an assault of highly anticipated Death Metal releases.  Compared to the whole of 2014, this fall has become extremely heavy with new pounding releases.  There’s anything from Black Metal, Gothenburg and Swedecore, to Theatrical Death metal, making for many tastes to choose from.  Below is some of the highlighted releases for Death Metal and simple reviews to give an insight of what to pick up at your record store.  I will include less mainstream releases in deeper reviews later.

 

Cavalera Conspiracy

 

The Thrash Metal band brought to fame by the talented and hardcore Cavalera brothers, is back in 2014 with Pandemonium.  The band is prized for taking Thrash Metal and making it even more extreme, fast, and technical.  With their albums you expect high intensity, demonized lyrics, and an assault of drums and guitars.  The brothers have created their own brand of metal that has become extremely popular in America.  Their previous albums Inflikted and Blunt Force Trauma were scorching with fast and grinding riffs and intense vocals, mixing energy and thrashing with technicality.  Their previous sound was excellent, but their new sound is a departure and even heavier than the previous albums.

 

Rather than being Modern Thrash Metal, the band has gone for a Grindcore sound that is certainly more popular in the 2010s.  The lyrics are less audible and more shouty on Pandemonium, making it a little more hardcore than previous albums.  The tracks have a raw sound, showing that their music is refreshingly not over produced.  The drums are even more highlighted by Igor on this album, with his technical and fast Thrash drumming.  The album sounds like a raw 80’s Thrash album, throwing back to the days of Slayer and Death Angel.  Overall, it’s a typical Grindcore and Thrash album that any fans of the genre will foam over and enjoy every track on it.  It is pure unedited, intense, assaulting, pounding noise, which is exactly what most Grindcore fans and bands strive for.  It is everything you expect in a typical Thrash Metal album, which is why I absolutely dislike this album.

 

Pandemonium is nothing special.  It is a poorly mixed and poorly arranged compilation of pure noise.  Yes the Cavalera brothers have made a big imprint on Metal, but this album does not live up to the expectations of the two.  Everything is uneven and distorted, making it difficult to pick out any good or catchy qualities in the music,  Thrash Metal continues to lack any changes or dynamics that make it desirable for me to listen to.  This album is not even close to the Thrash Metal that was recorded as demos in the late 70’s and 80’s, it is even worse quality than those original demos of Metallica and Slayer and Anthrax.  Pandemonium is a step backwards for metal.

Album Rating 4/10

 

Machine Head

 

Rob Flynn and Machine Head are back in 2014.  The American Thrash Metal pioneers release Bloodstone and Diamonds, a highly anticipated and talked about album that is currently blowing up Facebook dashboards and metal sites.  Of course the band has remained in the spotlight with their recently canceled North American tour with Epica and Rob Flynn criticizing other bands.  These controversial media centered stories have everyone in America talking about Machine Head, making them one of the top artists in rock of 2014.  Finally, the band has the new content to back up the outbursts of new and old fans with Bloodstone and Diamonds.

 

The new album is heavy, drilling, tight, and intense with every instrument in a devilish harmony.  The guitar work on this album is melodic and technical, like past albums, but even more refined.  Each song is different from the rest, some have more melodic undertones while others are just pure Thrash Metal.  The slow parts to the heavy and intense breakdowns show that the entire band put a lot of effort into this album.   It is a huge departure from Unto the Locust, but perhaps in a good way.  The new albums is back to their Thrash Metal roots, which certainly makes the older fans happier.  However, the band manages to preserve a more melodic sound with some clean vocals and dueling guitar parts, making the album more enjoyable to listen to than most Thrash Metal albums.

 

I am not a fan of Machine Head and Rob Flynn’s opinions, so I will admit the new album doesn’t excite me as much.  I have never been a huge Thrash Metal fan, because I find the music to be just pure noise without any true direction or talent.  The genre is full of garage bands who strive to pound instruments as loud and as fast as they can, but not all bands considered Thrash Metal are just noise.  That’s Machine Head’s redeeming quality in my eyes and is why I don’t entirely dislike Bloodstone and Diamonds.  The artistry of mixing heavy and fast playing with melodic and slow characteristics is an incredible quality to a metal band; Machine Head is certainly one of those bands who succeeds at this artistry and why they will keep having highly rated and proclaimed albums.  Bloodstone and Diamonds is much better than I thought it would be.

 

Overall Album Rating 7/10

 

Nachtblut

 

German Metal Band, Nachtblut, bring us a new dark and disturbing album in 2014 with Chimonas.  The band is known for making German Speed and Black Metal with heavy guitars rattling growling, and haunting synth parts to send shivers down your spine.  The band also infuses Folk themes into their blackened metal, like an extreme dark and twisted version of Eluveitie.  The band’s instrumentation is really tight, technical, and all over the place.  The changing tempos and waning rhythms keep the music interesting and far departed from being one dimensional.  While you may not speak full German, their music is honestly still enjoyable and fun to listen.  The well written quality in their music is actually quite surprising and desirable.

 

Nachtblut’s new album, Chimonas, is all of these qualities refined and boosted, proving Black Metal is very much alive.  With non stop heavy and dark tracks like “Gotteskrieger”, “Kalt wie Grab”, and “Schwarz”, the band appeals to the traditional Black Death Metal fans.  Then the band proves they’re anything but one dimensional with softer sorrow filled tracks like “Und immer wenn die Nacht anbricht” and folk metal anthem “Wien 1683”.  The tracks are all incredibly different from each other and while versed in different styles of European Metal.  Every song stands out from anything I’ve heard this year, in a good way.  As far as Black Metal albums go, Chimonas is one of  the best I’ve heard for quite some time and highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys European Death Metal.

 

Overall Album Rating 8/10

 

At The Gates

Renowned Melodic Death Metal and Gothenburg origin band, At The Gates has come to the ears of American listeners with new album At War With Reality.  The Swedish Death Metal band mixes extreme vocals, technical driving guitars, double bass power drumming, and true melodic sounds for an extremely unique form of metal.  Past albums and this latest one also have roots in American Thrash Metal, inspired by Slayer specifically.  At the Gates also differentiates from other Gothenburg bands as they have shrieking vocals as opposed to guttural growls.  The band also doesn’t include dueling soloing guitarists like In Flames and Omnium Gatherum.  They have their own take on Gothenburg Melodic Death Metal, proving the genre is full of unique and polished gems,

 

At War With Reality is an intense, blood curdling, spine grinding Death Metal with catchy melodic undertones from the guitars.  It is a typical At The Gates record with absolutely heavy breakdowns and creative offbeat shredding.  The vocals are typical from the band, hard to understand and sometimes abrasive, clashing with the downtuned shredding.  The vocals on this album sound pretty misplaced in my opinion and make the music sound emotionally flat, lacking any inspiration.  While the album is great jamming Death Metal, it lacks any dimension or meaning to keep you playing the record more than once.  The band may be legendary, but are not immune to becoming one dimensional or a rerun of a record.  Yes, At War With Reality is different from Terminal Spirit Disease and With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness, but it lacks any qualities that made those albums Death Metal classics.  It is certainly not the caliber I expected, especially after Slaughter of the Soul.  At War With Reality may be a highly purchased and loved album of 2014, but I can’t find any reason why it is so popular.  Everything is so subdued on this record and plain, lacking any strife or passion in the workmanship.  Either the band is tired and have gone for a mainstream sound, or the mastering of the record has turned everything good about the band down and one leveled.  This album could be a lot better with more time spent on the production and mastering.

 

Overall Album Rating: 4/10

 

Devilment

 

Devilment is a project created by guitarists Daniel Finch and Colin Parks, with the help from Cradle of Filth frontman Dani Filth.  Devilment is a Death Metal project, mixing macabre themes and heavy instrumentation.  The inspirations are typical; Witchcraft, Goth, Erotic themes, and whatever seems to amuse the writer.  The project aims to be a little more mainstream than typical Death Metal and be creative and interesting to see live.  Their new album The Great and Secret Show, is a mix of modern metal and underground metal sound.  It is definitely a unique release in 2014, but is getting mixed reviews from all different metal fans.

 

The Great and Secret Show is unique, but nothing new to music.  It is filled with Dani Filth’s typical grunting and howling vocals as well as his cheeky and creative lyrics.  The album sounds like a mix between “Repo! The Genetic Opera” and a remix of a Rammstein album.  It is definitely more theatrical than Dani Filth’s other projects, even more theatrical and dramatic than Cradle of Filth.  The album could definitely be a horror movie soundtrack, because of the darkness and simplicity to it.  It has an interesting mix Gothic Metal, Thrash Metal, Extreme Metal, and Symphonic Metal blended.  However, the album lacks anything impressive or surprising.  It is a very one dimensional album, lacking any dynamics or any catching sounds.  It’s simply just flat.  The theatrics and themes carry the actual musical content much farther than the music itself, meaning without the mood and Gothic feel the release would probably be a huge flop.

 

Overall Album Rating: 4/10

Ghost Brigade Release New Transcending Melodeath Album

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Finnish Melodic Death and Doom Metal band, Ghost Brigade, are one of the up and coming Death Metal bands as of now, even though they’ve written three absolute pounding albums since their birth in 2005.  The Finnish band melds hopeful and beautiful melodies with dark and heavy instrumentation, with absolutely incredible chest rattling growls.  The melded sound is unlike any metal out there, rivaling Insomnium and Omnium Gatherum in Melodic Death Metal, but remaining their own sound.  What sets them apart is their resonating and trendsetting melodic clean singing from lead vocalist Manne Ikonen.  The band is dark and moody, driving with subtleties and power, making for a sound that engulfs your senses from the first listen.  There is something ethereal, something unexplained, something inaudibly incredible about this band’s sound.  Which is why their new album IV-One With The Storm is one of my favorite albums of 2014.

 

Ghost Brigade’s new album IV-One With The Storm is everything I expected in a new release from them, but it exceeds so much more than my expectations.  The album is as beautifully crafted and melodic as Isolation Songs and as heavy as Until Fear No Longer Defines Us.  The instrumentation is melodic and gripping, with well executed fast playing and driving rhythm. It sounds like you’re the pallbearer in a mystic land, trudging your way through shin high grasses and wet stones, with this album playing as your soundtrack.  It paints so many distinct visions in your head as you listen through it.  Each song is an entirely different soundtrack.  Ghost Brigade nailed their classic Melodic Death Metal sound with this album, and enhanced it to the best possible level.

 

The epic album begins with “Wretched Blues”, a fast strumming track with deathly melodic tones, making a dark and ominous sound.  The over six minute long track has this darkness hanging over it, with light synth in the background.  The song is haunting, slowly morphing and building with infinite layers of guitars and passion.  The sound of this album slightly reminds me of what Type O Negative achieved in their music.  Slower track “Departures” is a different track for Ghost Brigade, featuring mostly clean vocals and a less depressing sound.  It’s a brilliantly written track, succeeding at being something new from Ghost Brigade without being a negative departure from the band.  “Aurora” is an emotionally heavy track, a quality the band polished so well through the years.  It builds up from Death Metal to a melodic verse, then keeps changing with different dynamics and a tempo change.  I loved this track from the moment the band released it and find it fits very well on this diverse album.  “Disembodied Voices” is an ominous and dark track, full of melody and emotion, keeping with the typical mood of Ghost Brigade.  The song sounds of healing and hope, proving the music is just as meaningful as power ballads.  The driving instrumentation of this song pulls you in with a catchy beat.  The lead guitar adds subtleties with mini solos throughout the last half of the song, adding that truly haunting melodic sound Ghost Brigade is famous for.  The outro also includes light synth and muted vocals, leading into the next track.

 

“Electra Complex” is  creepy, mysterious, elusive, soundtrack that takes your breath away with its effortless and drifting vocals and instrumentation.  This song almost sounds like a partner to “Soulcarvers”, with similar guitar work and slow headbanging feel.  It is absolutely brilliant in its delivery.  “Electra Complex” may be one of the best songs Ghost Brigade has ever put out.  Yet another song on this album has left me speechless and with a sore neck.  “Stones and Pillars” changes the mood up from the previous tracks, proving that this album has even heavier tracks than Isolation Songs.  This track is heavy all the way through with chest rattling extreme growls, taking a break from the swaying clean vocals.  Then once again the album changes with melodic beautiful track, “Anchored”, that builds back into a hardcore sound.  The melodic and Death influences sound like they’re in a very heated battle on this track, as the tone switches back and forth like an argument.  “The Knife” is a very rhythm driven track and heavy with all elements from Ghost Brigade.  The use of high, ear piercing synth adds a new eerie and Hallows Eve touch to it.  It is a very appropriate song for this time of year.  The change of style throughout the song is refreshing and captivating too, making a complete new sound for the band.

 

“Long Way to the Graves” is a self descriptive track.  It is a long dragging, influential, slow dark ballad that will move you, taking you away to a completely new state of mind.  This song is beautiful, haunting, and inspiring all at the same time.  Listening to this track is an indescribable experience.  It is deflating and depressing, yet uplifting and inspiring with beauty.  This track feels like a soundtrack for driving through the woodlands of Finland, back from a funeral and straight to a woman you love.  It is an incredible track to say the least.  “Elämä on tulta” is the perfect ending track for this exquisite Melodeath album.  It begins slow and ominous, building into a guitar driven instrumental part, then into resonating growls and synth, continuing to place haunting music in your mind.  This song is every characteristic about Ghost Brigade has ever showed on every album all put into one song.  It is full of energy, unlike any track I’ve heard from the band yet.  The title translates from Finnish to English “Life is a fire”, which is the absolute perfect title for such a powerful track. It leaves you satisfied, yet wanting more.  Ending the moral of the album on an aggressive note, but still filled with the hopeful melodies echoing in your head.

 

Ghost Brigade once again creates the most unique, heavy, melodic, emotive, transcending album of Melodic Death Metal.  They have raised every bar and have climbed to a new height with the flawlessness of this album.  It is resonating and soaring with pure passion, tangible with conviction.  They make you believe that you’re in a deep chasm of depression, but also lift you out with this beautiful sound of hope.  Somehow this band creates incredible emotion filled music, describing emotions or lack of emotions with only three struck chords.  Their music is unlike anything I’ve ever heard, regardless of genre.  The prominent use of clean vocals on this album also makes the music extremely dynamic compared to previous albums, setting them in the center of true Melodeath.  I really can’t say enough good things about this album.  It is rare, but sometimes an album is just so fantastic that it becomes indescribable.  I hope this very descriptive and emotion fueled review is enough to make you listen to this album, as well as check out Ghost Brigade’s entire catalog.  They are the future of Melodic Death Metal.

 

Rating 9.6/10 This album sets the quality bar high for metal at the end of 2014, and I don’t think any other new release will top it for quite some time.

http://www.nihilindustry.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ghostbrigade

Review of Black Widow from In This Moment

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Powerful hardrock and metal band, In This Moment, are back in 2014 with heavy mainstream release Black Widow.  The follow up album to Blood, is a mix of different modern metal sounds with extreme attitude.  In This Moment and lead vocalist Maria Brink infuse hard rock with poppy hooks, feminist attitude, heavy breakdowns, and melodic vocals with a scream edge.  Blood also incorporated more techno and poppy sounds, blending two genres in a very unique way.  No doubt there is no band out there quite like In This Moment, and there is nothing out there like their new album Black Widow.

 

Black Widow has parallels with Blood, but even more attitude and darkness as well as completely new sounds to the band.  It is clear the band is going for a mainstream sound, integrating a rap rock and Korn style sound to the new album.  They also have tracks that are similar to “The Gunshow” and the entirety of Star-Crossed Wasteland.  There is something more shocking and gripping about this album than previous In This Moment releases.  I can say honestly this album is heavily targeted towards women empowerment and feminist themes.  Obviously Maria Brink is very active in female expression and it has clearly steered their music in new direction.  Regardless if you like these themes or not, there is an artistic quality that makes the music desirable.   This album is also themed around old film, having this horror movie feel to it.  Black Widow is reminiscent of Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson as well.

 

Every track from “Sex Metal Barbie”  to “Infection” to “Big Bad Wolf” is extremely catchy and dark, with beats easy to dance to and words easy to sing along with.  These songs are audibly written for shock rock live performances, having an attitude to pull the audience in and memorize them.  Then there’s completely new and gripping tracks like “Sick Like Me” and “Sexual Hallucination”.  “Sick Like Me” is an epic, dark, melodic anthemic track that is undoubtedly one of their best tracks yet.  “Sexual Hallucination” is a power ballad featuring Shinedown’s power house frontman, Brent Smith.  This track is reminiscent of “The Promise” with the dark and gloomy weight and melodic bursting vocals from two different vocalists.  “Bloody Creature Poster Girl” is a really different track with this traditional pop sound, blended with a couple growls and heavy instrumentation.

 

Black Widow continues to surprise with a piano ballad with a dark Jazz sound never heard before in the track “The Fighter”.  This track features Maria Brink’s amazingly powerful vocals in a stripped down and unedited way.  It is a much needed track on this very poppy album.  “Bones” is a darker melodic track, staying with the poppy theme of the album, but adding a Five Finger Death Punch like heaviness.  If all the tracks were similar to “Bones”, “Sick Like Me”, and “Sexual Hallucination”, I would still label the album as metal and not pop rock however.  “Natural Born Sinner” is poppy and heavy like Blood, reminiscent of “Whore” and “Comanche”, containing a slow and dramatic build up with aggression.  This track is definitely rebelling against religious figures and themes, a newer influential subject to In This Moment’s writing.  The emotion definitely carries it beyond the actual instrumentation.  Maria Brink still has one hell of a voice and that’ll never change.  “Into The Darkness” is a disturbing and gut wrenching interlude that solidifies the women empowerment theme to it.  It tackles the subject of self doubt and inner demons, featuring a sobbing Maria, making it really difficult to listen to.  It is moving to say the least.

 

“Out Of Hell” begins with a beautiful piano intro and soft emotive vocals, reminiscent of the brilliant sound achieved with “World in Flames” of The Dream.  This is by far one of the best songs In This Moment has ever put on an album.  This track is a much needed artistic track on the album.  “Turn You” and “Rib Cage” are back to the Blood sound, bringing the metal and hardrock back to In This Moment’s prized sound.  These two tracks are good, but do not stand out compared to other tracks on the album.  I expected a more epic closing track to Black Widow, but it seems to end as quickly as it began.

 

Overall, Black Widow tends to be very disjointed and all over the place, lacking a consistent sound to pull the the album together.  The beginning of the album is very shock rock and rap rock themed, while the middle contains a power ballad and more pop-like songs, and the last four tracks tend to be a throwback to In This Moment’s melodic hard rock sound.  It sounds like the band are caught in a limbo of mainstream radio and 2000s metal.  It’s a different direction for the band, and overall they pulled it off well.  However, the first few tracks on the album are terribly executed and have no catching qualities to them.  I could’ve done without some of the songs on the album, because they just don’t fit with the other tracks.  I liked a lot of tracks on the album, but the shock rock direction of the band is demeaning and dumbing down their sound.  Maria Brink is too vastly talented to waste time with these shouty rap rock vocals.   Black Widow isn’t disappointing, but it is not the best from In This Moment.

Rating: 5/10  I stand by this review, even if it is against popular opinion.  

 

Listen for yourself here: http://loudwire.com/in-this-moment-black-widow-exclusive-album-stream/

 

http://inthismomentofficial.com/landing/

Power Metal Band From Allentown PA Releases Amazing New Album

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Mindmaze, a Traditional Metal and Power Metal band from Allentown PA, released their 2nd album this October.  As far as Power Metal goes, America is lacking in numbers, so discovering a quality band here is a big deal.  Mindmaze is a meld of Ancient Bards, Iron Maiden, and Dream Theater.  Their music has characteristics of European Power Metal that most American bands do not strive to achieve, causing American Metal’s downfall in my eyes.  This band restores my hope for American Metal. With Female Fronted Metal on the rise, more and more extremely talented Metal bands are coming out with a woman at the front.  No doubt there is something different about the music when a woman leads the band, causing a superior power to male lead metal bands.

 

With their new album Back From the Edge, Mindmaze proves their underrated qualities and shows immense maturity.  Every song on this album is different and unique, containing subtleties as well as huge powerful sound.  The guitars are technical, gritty, and fast with perfect rhythm from guitarist Jeff Teets.  The bass is incredibly audible and quick, demonstrating a rare technical ability from bassist Mike LePond.  The drums are dynamic and hit with precision, reminiscing of the days of Mike Portnoy.  Kalin Schweizerhof is just a great quality drummer and holds the music together.  Last but not least, Sarah Teets is a powerhouse of emotive and technical vocal ability.  She brings an explosive quality to the music, fitting inspiring lyrics in a perfectly placed pocket.  Her abilities are that of Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica, having a theatrical quality that makes the music so relatable.  All of these amazing musicians put their all into Back From the Edge, making it a well executed metal album that sounds like a blast from the past.

 

Tracks like “Dreamwalker” and “The Machine Stops” remind me of the times of Dio and Iron Maiden, when true Power Metal prevailed over the Hair Metal.  Then there’s tracks like the title track and “The Machine Stops” that bring a more modern metal song.  “The Machine Stops” is actually a ten minute long track featuring brilliant instrumental sections as well as slow building vocals.  It is one of the best tracks I’ve heard of this year.  “Consequent of Choice” is another great song, showing a progressive off-beat rhythm that is reminiscent of Dream Theater and Hammerfall.  With songs like that, I could easily Mindmaze touring with bands like Kobra and the Lotus and Halestorm.  There is no song on this new album that disappoints.

 

Back From the Edge is an incredible Power Metal album that brings reincarnates a classic edge that American metal has strayed from.  Mindmaze truly surprised me with how solid their sound is for being a smaller American band.  I absolutely loved this album.  Every aspect of it blew me away, but especially the throwback sounds that they executed so well.  It’s so rare to find Metal like this in America and it’s something I hope gets much popular here. With bands like Mindmaze being overlooked here, it makes me wonder if the music industry is just as greedy as the government.

 

Rating 8/10- I highly suggest purchasing this album.

 

https://www.facebook.com/mindmazeband

 

http://www.mindmazeband.com/

 

http://www.reverbnation.com/mindmazeband

Sonata Arctica, Delain, Xandria Denver October 4th, 2014

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In 2014, I discovered three bands that would forever change my perception of music.  I have been an obsessive fan of Symphonic Metal for about three years now, but discovering Xandria and especially Delain opened my world to new music.  So of course I jumped on the chance to see the two charismatic female fronted bands live, and get a chance to discover Sonata Arctica.  I was extremely excited for this show, because I knew all three bands put on a spectacular show in concert, but they blew my expectations out of the water.  This is now my favorite concert I have ever been to, topping an Epica headliner and many Halestorm shows.  Every band lit The BlueBird up and continually raised the intensity in a way I have never experienced before.  Discovering these three bands prior to the concert, I knew what to expect, but this was a greatness I could have never anticipated.

 

Regardless of my personal preference of Delain and Xandria, these two bands are absolutely flawless in concert.  Xandria came on and played a very short explosive set.  They opened with Nightfall, their heavy operatic single off of their latest album, Sacrificium.  Dianne’s delivery of soprano operatic vocals on this track blew my mind.  Her technique, control, and projection match a perfection few singers achieve today.  “Blood on my Hands” was a heavier jam, keeping up with the intensity Nightfall had started.  Every member had energy and intensity as well as excellent and engaging stage presence.  “Forevermore” was seamless in the set and allowed Dianne and guitarists to show off a little more than earlier songs.  “Stardust” was well played and executed in a live setting and proved Xandria are up to par with the best live Symphonic Metal experience.  Dianne Van Giersbergen was absolutely the right choice for the new era, as she blew away all expectations with their final song, “Valentine”.  This is one of my favorite songs they’ve ever put out and their execution of it live made it even greater of a track.  The only complaint I have about Xandria’s set is that it was entirely too short for their quality of live play.

 

I have the utmost genuine respect for Delain and this concert made that respect turn into love.   Delain is possibly the best band I have ever seen live, because of the fun, tight, interactive set they produced at this concert.  Their set was absolutely spectacular and awing.  The mix and volume of each member, the lights, their overall live sound is absolutely perfect.  Most songs sounded like an album version turned up on high and injected with fierce energy.  The set was diverse as well, playing songs from almost every album except April Rain.  They opened with the heavy track “Mother Machine” off of We Are the Others and instantly stunned the crowd with their tight sound.  They followed the heavy opener with the fun and jamming track, “Get the Devil Out of Me”, giving Charlotte the chance to show off her flawless falsetto.  “Army of Dolls” swoons and ebs with intricate melodies and a unique beat easy to dance to and rock out to.  Next they mesmerized the crowd with their impressive hit, “Stardust”, off of The Human Contradiction.  This song was absolutely flawless live, containing a breakdown that centered around Charlotte’s enchanting vocals.  Delain continued to heat things up with emotive and powerful track, “Electricity”, a song that had the crowd belting lyrics out and head banging all the way through.  They also played the slower more haunting track, “Milk and Honey”, that was smooth and delivered well.

 

Delain continued their dynamic set with an old track off Lucidity “Sleepwalker’s Dream”, a more symphonic track that contains mind blowing vocals.  The delivery of operatic soaring vocals by lead vocalist, Charlotte Wessels, is indescribable.  The pure power of her voice on this song was distorting the sound system of the venue.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  They also played heavy hitting song, Pristine with bassist Otto on grunts, classic symphonic duet The Gathering with Timo on the male vocals, and closed with powerful hit “We Are the Others”.  I cannot say enough good things about this band live.  Delain really set the bar high for Symphonic Metal performances.  I will never forget their set, and can’t wait to see them again with Nightwish in April 2015.  I highly suggest seeing this band live.

 

Sonata Arctica are a legendary Power Metal band hailing from Finland.  They are still one of the most unique and cherished bands from Scandinavia.  They integrate Folk, Theatrical, and Symphonic aspects into their music.  Sadly, I didn’t hear of this band until I discovered this concert date with them as headliner.  The good thing is, this concert developed a love and immensely impressed me.  Lead vocalist, Tony Kakko, is one of the best male vocalists of all time in my opinion.  His performance throughout their nearly two hour set was flawless and eye catching.  The whole band matched Tony’s theatrical enthusiasm and made for a show that pulled you in.

 

The new songs they performed from Pariah’s Child were even better live than on the album.  “The Wolves Die Young” was dynamic and fast, a perfect live jam with an incredibly well executed bass part.  “Love” was a ballady change up in the set, allowing for an easy sing along.  “Cloud Factory” is possibly their catchiest song ever and was really fun and exciting to experience live.  They also performed older tracks without missing a beat.  “Letter to Dana” was a beautiful power ballad.  Tony captivated the audience with softer building vocals on this song.  Sadly, I am not familiar with a lot of the songs they played that night.  Regardless, Sonata’s set was absolutely incredible.  Their sound is infinitely energetic and hooks you right from the beginning.  I was vastly impressed with them and would love to see them again soon.

Within Temptation Premier New Trailer For “Let Us Burn”

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Dutch Symphonic Metal band, Within Temptation, release a new insight video to their live DVD “Let Us Burn”.  The video features tour and live footage, as well as live audio of Covered By Roses.  The DVD/CD release comes out November 14th, you can preorder the release on the website below.  The DVD features 2 concerts, one celebrating their first release Elements, and the other celebrating their new compilation Hydra.  It’s a very unique DVD, because of how much content it has on it.   I think it’s absolutely worth the money.

Watch Covered By Roses Live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3id2LQGeYk&index=1&list=PLB4brr7vf-P6tw-xEeIFqRWeNWd21oeeO

Preoder Let Us Burn: http://www.within-temptation.com/orderletusburn/