metal

Review of New DragonForce Album Maximum Overload

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The English Power Speed Metal band, DragonForce are back in 2014 with an absolute overload of sound. Maximum Overload is the sixth studio album from the famous Speed Metallers.  The band has been around for a solid 15 years, with at least a dozen of member changes.  DragonForce is still alive and well in 2014, topping charts as they always do, with new album Maximum Overload.  Guitarist Herman Li says that the album is inspired by the overwhelming amount of information and technology we try to absorb.  The album describes how we obsess over unnecessary stuff through phones and digital technology.  It is DragonForce at its best, everything turned up to 11 with faster guitars, drums, bass, and much higher vocals.  They went for a drastically more different and dynamic album in 2014, and I think Maximum Overload succeeds very well.  The message of the album is solidly carried out as well and a message all of humanity could use to take seriously.

 

I haven’t been the biggest fan of DragonForce,  but I decided to give this album a chance.  I find Maximum Overload to be a typical Speed Metal album.  I found it enjoyable and easier to listen to than past DragonForce albums.  The Game opens the album with technicality through every instrument and vocal tracks, keeping the bar high for the band.  The vocals are dynamic and interesting, having the same powerful sound I expect in Power Metal.  Tomorrow’s Kings is incredibly fast and beautifully melodic.  It has an epic anthemic sound proving DragonForce can still create a full sound after 15 years.  No More is a little different than the past two tracks, keeping the album flowingly interesting and pleasing to listen to.  This song throws back to an 80’s Metal sound with excellent modern qualities.  Three Hammers makes the two guitarists, Herman Li and Sam Totman, shine perfectly in a gem of a Power Metal song.  It is a melodic battle anthem with incredible male vocals that are unparalleled in 2014.  Marc Hudson has a huge range, and he certainly uses it on this “war cry”.

 

Symphony of the Night is a darker track, but still has blazing fast track that does Maximum Overload’s name justice.  It is an audible assault of group vocals, impossibly fast guitar scales, and building sound.  It is a perfect change up in the album.  The Sun is Dead is the most aggressive and heavy song on the album.  This song has more of a Thrash sound than any track on the album, until the chorus where it opens back up to the melodic anthemic sound.  Extraction Zone is another blazing fast song with rhythmic lyrics, almost performed too fast to understand clearly.  The name of the song is somewhat cheesy, however.  The way it’s said throughout the song makes it hard to be taken seriously.  This track sounds more like a demo than a final release and I find some of the “squeaky” guitar effects to be annoying.  Maximum Overload  still continues to surprise me with City of Gold, picking the album back up to a high quality sound.  This song is more radio friendly, similar to the anthemic sound of Three Hammers.  I also like that the bassist, Frederic Leclercq, is more audible on this track.  The album closes with a cover of Johnny Cash’s Ring Of Fire, completely redone in a way you’ve never heard.  It is a well executed cover that continues to make DragonForce famous for their signature Power/Speed metal song.

I am now a DragonForce fan because of how good this new album is and will be researching more albums.

 

Rating: 8/10

Dutch Metal Band Within Temptation Reveal New Live DVD

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Dutch Symphonic Metal band, Within Temptation, announce a new stunning and eye catching live DVD/CD release.  “Let Us Burn” is visually and audibly exciting for any fan of the band, featuring two concerts in one DVD/CD Pack.  The first concert is the 15th Anniversary of Elements show and the other is Hydra Live.  Hydra Live was filmed on the last night of the Hydra European Tour at the famous Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam.  There is an estimated 170 minutes of live footage on the DVD and 32 tracks on the CD.   This is a must have for rock/metal/music fans all over the world.  Let Us Burn: Elements & Hydra Live In Concert comes out November 14th.

http://www.within-temptation.com/headlines/within-temptation-reveal-new-live-dvdblu-ray2cd-let-us-burn/

PREORDER http://www.within-temptation.com/orderletusburn/

Metal Valkyrie Monday

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Metal Valkyrie Monday, brings a older picture of Epica front woman, Simone Simons.  I was lucky enough to meet her back in 2012 at a show, definitely one of the best concerts and nights of my life.  Epica is one of the best bands out there right now, having written some of the best Symphonic Metal in the world.  Her voice is endless and as powerful as professional Opera singers, yet she can bring aggressive Power Metal vocals as well.  Simone is a spectacular vocalist and a really sweet person.  Hope to see Epica again soon.

I Review Independent Symphonic Band Dawn of Eternity

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Dawn of Eternity and their new album Guilty has vastly.  After several listens to this new album, I found it to be one of the best Independent albums I’ve ever heard.  The German Gothic Symphonic band is everything I love about Symphonic Metal: heavy driving guitars, enchanting vocals, technical drums, and a dark theme throughout.  The vocals are dark, theatrical, and beautiful at the same time.  Their lead singer Sara Seubert delivers incredibly passionate and raw vocals on this album.  Her vocals tend to remind me of old After Forever and Leave’s Eyes mixed together.  Johannes Kittel is spot on with growls and heavy distorted guitars, making for a perfect contrast.  Their music is interesting and so much different than any Symphonic Metal band out there today.  They have created a really spectacular album that you just can’t hear anywhere else.

Ego, a slow building, haunting and dark track pulls you in with the mastery of Gothic sound.  The range of Sara is mesmerizing on this track; She goes from soaring Soprano vocals, to theatrical melodic vocals full of anger and regret.  Johannes has a chest rattling growl, keeping the track extremely heavy and dark.  The lyrics are well placed in the pocket on this song, making it catchy.  I find this track to be very addictive, yet raw and depressive.  If you’re going to get into Dawn of Eternity, this track is a perfect place to start.

 

Goodbye is a faster song than the opener, showing dynamic and technical ability that every modern band must have these days.  This track is more abstract than Ego, with more of a flowing melody that comes in and out rather than being conformed into the pocket of rhythm.  The two vocalists harmonize between growls and Symphonic vocals, much like Epica has achieved over the years.  Goodbye shows Dawn of Eternity can hold their own in Symphonic Metal.

 

Cut Me Loose is a hard driving track, more centered around heavy guitars and drums, keeping the vocals from being overpowering.  It is a well written song, full of grungy and angry tones.  I enjoy how much each track is different from the last on this album.  This track has more of a modern metal sound to it than a Symphonic style, proving Dawn of Eternity has many different sounds and qualities under their belt.  They surprised me more and more with each track on Guilty

Amorticure and Cut Me Loose are dueling tracks on the album, mirroring each other in a really cool way.  The tracks are similar sounding, but still unique and contrasting.  Amorticure keeps the band’s technicality in the forefront, containing a really cool jamming guitar riff throughout the song.  Although the guitar is almost constant on this track, it doesn’t become repetitive at all.  Johannes manages to throw bending and sliding nuances that I appreciate in this particular style of metal.  The vocals are especially spectacular on this song, not overpowering but incredibly powerful at the same time.  Amorticure is one of my favorite tracks I’ve heard in metal this year.

 

Sing For Me starts out with high energy Thrash style guitars and drums, with melodic Siren vocals over the top.  It is a perfect marriage of heavy and aggressive instrumentals, with sweet enchanting vocals.  At the bridge, the song breaks down into this rhythmic depressive sound that I’ve never heard from a female fronted band before.  Then Sara manages to steal the song back and hit this thrilling high note in true Soprano style.  This song is one of the best on the album, I highly recommend it for heavy metal fans.

Guilty, the title track off the album, is just an incredibly well written song.  The lyrics are what makes this band and this song in particular so great.  They are audible, relatable, and performed with great believability.  Believability is a difficult trait to achieve in their Gothic/Symphonic Metal genre, but Dawn of Eternity definitely does on this song.  This track makes me believe that they would be an awesome live band.

 

Blind My Eyes is a heavy track, keeping with that Alternative Thrash sound that Sing For Me accomplished so well.  I find this track putting Johannes in the forefront, making the album appeal to the Melodic Death Metal fans.  It sounds like both vocalists are fighting for control in the band, and the instruments communicate the tension perfectly.  This song keeps the album interesting.  It throws out any possibility of the album becoming bland.

 

No Emotions is truly a well crafted Gothic song.  The track starts out with slow haunting vocals and acoustics, on top of slow building rhythmic drums in the background.  No Emotions has this lonely, desperate, bottom of the barrell sound to it.  It capitalizes on the depressive sound so well, without having the cheesier side of Doom Metal.  The placement of this track on the album is perfect, keeping the album from becoming monotonous or boring.

 

You Suck is a rhythmic hate filled song, just like the title suggests.  The guitars are down tuned and melodic, perfectly sitting under the aggressive and haunting vocals.  I like how the song builds up faster and harder from beginning to end, a trait good Symphonic Bands usually carries.  This isn’t the best track on the album, but it still has some good qualities to it.  I found the vocals to be all over the place, not retaining a melody or style at all, so that’s why it isn’t the best track.

 

Oceans is one of my other favorite songs off of Guilty.  The atmospheric guitar part, growing into a heavier rhythm style part is drastically different.  This song reminds me a lot of Elegy by Leave’s Eyes because of the haunting and smooth vocal delivery.  I never thought I’d be reminded of Leave’s Eyes, but this band is honestly on their way to that masterful sound.  Although they remind me of other bands, they are still extremely unique. Oceans is a pure quality track off a truly well written album.

 

Fire closes Guilty out perfectly, with a dark, entrancing, ballad that builds up with a hopeful sound to it.  There’s something truly beautiful about this song.  The vocals are well placed atop a rhythmic acoustic guitar, without any effects or other instruments.  It is a barebones, emotional, ballad that is completely different from the rest of the album.  It ends the album on a slow note, but definitely a high note.  Fire is a must listen track.

 

Guilty overall is a well written Gothic Metal album.  It encompasses everything I expect with Symphonic and Gothic Metal, but adds unique sounds that I’ve never heard in either genre.  Like I said, the album surprised me with just how amazing it was.  I have listened to it over two weeks, trying to compose a in depth review of it.  I didn’t find many negative points, mostly positive points, which is a rare thing in today’s music.  For an independent Metal band, this record is a high quality release.  Dawn of Eternity is vastly talented and I expect more great albums to come from them in the future.

 

Quality Rating Overall; 8/10

 

Links:

 

https://www.facebook.com/officialdawnofeternity

 

https://twitter.com/DawnofEternity

 

http://www.reverbnation.com/dawnofeternity1

 

http://dawn-of-eternity.bandcamp.com/album/guilty

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New Fantastic Scar Symmetry Track

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Scar Symmetry have a brand new track out today, off of their multi part album “Singularity Part 1: Neohumanity”.  Their new album is everything the fans love from the Swedish metal band, just refined into an epic long concept album.  The “Singularity” series is based on Artilects, artificial intelligent that are advanced beyond human mental capabilities.  I compare this album in particular a cross between Fear Factory, Soilwork, and Omnium Gatherum.

Check out their new “Cryonic Harvest” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbEn-WhB_k0

Job For a Cowboy Release New Funky Track, Sun of Nihility

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Job For a Cowboy release new track Sun of Nihility, off their new album released November 11th, 2014.  It’s a funky, dark, death metal track that their fans will foam over.  I personally am not a fan of the vocals, the lyrics are unintelligible and the vocals become abrasive after awhile.  The best part about this band for me is the bass lines by Nick Schendzielos.  It is rare to hear a prominent bassist these days in rock/metal.  The band stems from hardcore punk and death metal, but this new song is something else.  At first listen, I thought it was Opeth or Mastodon, until the vocals came in.  Check it out and don’t be afraid to say what you think.

Listen to Sun of Nihility here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDo-VEam_JA

New album, Sun Eater, comes out November 11th

Review of the New Hammerfall Album Revolution

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I’ve been talking about Gothenburg metal a lot lately with new At The Gates and In Flames albums coming out this year as well as Amaranthe.  Being a huge fan of what Gothenburg has to offer in the metal scene, I surely cannot look over Hammerfall.  The Swedish Power Metal band has been creating anthemic metal since 1993.  Hammerfall began a new era in Power Metal and began my crusade for European in America.  Hammerfall is one of the most influential Power Metal bands ever, Glory To the Brave and Legacy of Kings attribute to their powerful reign of metal all over the world.  Those are two of my favorite albums of all time.  Hammerfall is certainly not Swedecore, but their own genre alone.

 

After an almost two year long hiatus, Hammerfall are back in 2014 with (r)Evolution, their brand new album.  Their ninth album is a huge departure from their last, Infected (2011).  It is a throwback album to Hammerfall’s roots and their best characteristics.  The album is a perfect cross between Glory To the Brave, Legacy of Kings, and heavier guitars from Nikas and Pontus.  The guitar solos are screaming, fast, and placed perfectly in the pocket.  (r)Evolution just has that powerful sound that takes you back to the days of sword battles and the fantasy world of conquest and dragons.  It has every ingredient that the fans wish for in the typical Hammerfall album.  Joacim Cans is of course the biggest contributor to the band’s sound, with his mighty and powerful lead vocals, perfectly executed on every song.  (r)Evolution is the best album from Hammerfall we may ever get.

 

The album opens with the epic anthem, Hector’s Hymn, with a powerful viking edge to it that their last album was absent of.  The trackhas absolutely amazing vocals, epic Speed Metal guitars, and perfectly executed technical drums.  The title track, (r)Evolution, is spot on with Hammerfall’s anthemic sound.  The second track starts out slowly building, then a great powerful high note, and then building faster and heavier into another amazing fist pounding anthem.  The softer verses on this song are what makes this song perfect, giving a great dynamic to the album.  Bushido is reminiscent of their first album, but so much cleaner and well produced.  This song has the typical dynamic and does tend to fall flat after the first two songs.  However, Bushido is true to the story of the warrior.  Live Life Loud is yet another slow building power anthem, but the guitars are harder hitting and more interesting on this song than Hector’s Hymn.  Live Life Loud sounds like a tip of the hat to Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.

 

Ex Inferis is a darker, more intense, harder hitting song and breaks the album up from the typical anthemic song.  This song specifically shows Hammerfall went for a lyrical and vocal based album than Infected.  We Won’t Back Down speeds things up and finally turns the bass up more.  The song features vocals from the brilliant and powerful James Michael from American rock band, Sixx Am.  He is featured throughout the album singing the lower parts, adding contrast to Joacim’s soaring high vocals.  James was also featured on Infected.  In true Hammerfall style, (r)Evolution has it’s well executed beautiful ballad, Winter Is Coming.  This song takes me back to Legacy of Kings in such a vivid way.  Winter Is Coming is one of the best written songs on this album, however I expected it to be a little more long and epic.  Origins is a very interesting Celtic Speed Metal song that I absolutely love on this album, having a more rhythmic feel to it than other tracks.  Tainted Metal is a stomping track, having guitars a bit more in the forefront to keep the vocals from being too repetitive throughout the album.  The snare however gets repetitive on the verses and drowns out the other instruments too much.  Evil Incarnate is a dragging, technical heavy song, that delivers adequately with typical Hammerfall sound.  The album closes with a bang at the track Wildfire, a fast intense ride that brings (r)Evolution to life, giving every musician their final say  It is a perfect epic jam to close a well produced Hammerfall album to an end.

 

Overall (r)Evolution is a well executed and well performed album from Hammerfall, however it lacks the typical energy the band  usually attributes to their albums.  The dynamic truly falls flat and the vocals tend to be at one level throughout most songs, making for a boring listening experience.  Although this isn’t Hammerfall’s best album, it is everything I love about the band and makes for a reminiscent experience.  I liked everything they put into this album and I am glad to hear them go back to their roots.  Their root sound is what makes them truly great and is the biggest factor  to why this album is overall perfect.

 

Rating; 7/10

 

Also Listen To: High Priestess by Kobra and the Lotus, Maximum Overload by Dragonforce, The Human Contradiction by Delain, Heroes by Sabaton, Fallen Leaves & Dead Heroes by Amoral

Nightwish Announce 2015 North American Tour With Delain!

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Exciting news in Symphonic Metal today!  Nightwish announce a huge North America tour in 2015, with special opening guests Delain.  Nightwish are also releasing a new album estimated to be released early next year, probably before the tour begins.  The band are currently working on the album in Finland, whilst Delain are still in North America touring with Sonata Arctica and Xandria.  Marco Hietala, bassist for Nightwish, made an exciting statement about the tour:

“Hi to all!  Our work on the new album has been going with serious productive speed and comfortable ease at the same time.  It´s going to be great to get it out to you and play these pieces live.  And with this announcement it will obviously happen quite soon!  Here are the dates for the North American shows.  Come on over and we´ll raise hell and kick some arses together!”

Confirmed dates for the upcoming NIGHTWISH 2015 tour with Delain are:

04/09/15  Hammerstein Ballroom – New York, NY

04/10/15  Electric Factory – Philadelphia, PA

04/11/15  Palladium – Worcester, MA

04/13/15  Capitole Theatre – Quebec City, QC – CANADA

04/14/15  Phoenix Concert Theater – Toronto, ON – CANADA

04/16/15  Town Ballroom – Buffalo, NY

04/17/15  Agora Theatre – Cleveland, OH

04/18/15  Concorde Music Hall – Chicago, IL

04/19/15  Val Air Ballroom – Des Moines, IA

04/21/15  Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO

04/22/15  In The Venue – Salt Lake City, UT

04/24/15  Knitting Factory – Spokane, WA

04/25/15  Orpheum Theatre – Vancouver, B.C. – CANADA

04/26/15  Crystal Ballroom – Portland, OR

04/28/15  Warfield Theatre – San Francisco, CA

04/30/15  House Of Blues – Las Vegas, NV

05/01/15  Greek Theatre – Los Angeles, CA

05/02/15  Marquee Theatre – Phoenix, AZ

05/03/15  Tricky Falls – El Paso, TX

05/05/15  Bomb Factory – Dallas, TX

05/06/15  Warehouse Live – Houston, TX

05/08/15  House of Blues – Orlando, FL

05/09/15  Revolution – Fort Lauderdale, FL

05/11/15  Marathon Music Work – Nashville, TN

05/12/15  Expo Five – Louisville, KY

05/13/15  Filmore – Charlotte, NC

05/14/15  Filmore – Silver Springs, MD

I am personally estatic about this tour.  Both of these bands are at the top of Symphonic Metal and release some of the best music of all time.  In my opinion, these are two of the best live bands of the 2000s.  They both are flawless live and have two of the most talented female vocalists I’ve ever heard (Floor Jansen from Nightwish/Revamp and Charlotte Wessels of Delain).  I saw Floor with Revamp in April of this year and her performance blew me away, her presence on stage is unlike anything I’ve experienced before.  So, don’t miss out on this tour or you will definitely miss a legendary show.  By your tickets as soon as possible, I expect a sell out tour!

At The Gates Reveal New Single and New Album

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Gothenburg Melodic Death Metal band, At The Gates, released their title track today.  Many people thought there would never be another studio album from the Swedes, but the band defied even their own expectations.  The new album “At War With Reality” is based on a literary genre called Magic Realism.  The genre integrates normal reality with magical things or people in great detail.  The band said they would never release another studio album after “Slaughter To The Soul” because they didn’t think they could ever top that album after nearly a decade.  The band from the beginning has had hiatuses, a break up, and several member changes.

The new album should be a large departure from their previous albums.  I expect a very modern, dark, heavy, melodic, and complex album from At The Gates.  Based on the tracks I have heard so far, I expect a high quality and diverse release from the band.

At War With Reality drops October 27th (US) 2014

Listen to the new track here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoJYZITMZAI