Metal Injection

Kit Brown's Top Albums of 2012

Here are my favorite albums of the year: (more…)

• Posted by Kit Brown on December 17, 2012
• 3 Comments
• Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit

Album Review: THE CONTORTIONIST Intrinsic

In 2012, just about every new metal band clearly wants to prove to listeners that they know how to shred, blast, and groove simultaneously. Riffs often come and go too quickly, and atmosphere is cast aside for the need of musicians to prove their chops to the ever-judgmental metal world. While Indiana’s The Contortionist certainly set their standards of technicality high with their first full-length, Exoplanet, the band always maintained a strong sense of songwriting ability and memorable clean sections to help balance their otherwise brutal onslaught of post-deathcore breakdowns. Intrinsic is darker, heavier, more progressive, and an overall more consistent listen than Exoplanet.  (more…)

• Posted by Kit Brown on July 17, 2012
• 1 Comment
• Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit

Album Review: PERIPHERY – Periphery II: This Time It's Personal

Sophomore slump has plagued countless bands, regardless of the genre. It’s always difficult to follow up an album that could have taken any number of years (in Periphery’s case, five). Luckily for the Bethesda-native djentlemen, they’ve always been ahead of their peers in both technicality and songwriting ability. While the releases of “Make Total Destroy” and “Scarlet” had me worried that the group were descending into Protest the Hero-meets-Haunted Shores territory, Periphery II offers up almost seventy minutes of varied progressive metal with a more than healthy dose of, dare I say, pop. All of the elements from their first album are still present, which should both please their established fan base and keep their naysayers foaming at the mouth. That being said, Periphery II is a much more mature album and shows the band willing to both experiment with new ideas as well as refine the old. (more…)

• Posted by Kit Brown on July 3, 2012
• 1 Comment
• Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit

Album Review: GOJIRA L'Enfant Sauvage

Stream the album in full at themusic.com.au

If you had asked me several years ago if I ever thought a band like France’s Gojira would be signing to the same label as Slipknot and Trivium and opening up for Metallica, I would have laughed. But after constant praise from critics and fans alike, it makes perfect sense that a band simply this good and consistent should finally be recognized as the international force they’ve been destined to be since 2005’s epic release, From Mars to Sirius. Since then, the band has been winning over fans one show at a time and solidifying their now instantly recognizable take on both groove and death metal. Now in 2012, a time in which groove has become the focal point for countless metal bands, Gojira have managed to make a slightly more accessible album with L’Enfant Sauvage, their major label debut on Roadrunner Records. Mind you, they’re still leaving most of their peers in the dust.  (more…)

• Posted by Kit Brown on June 19, 2012
• 5 Comments
• Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit

Interviewing GAZA; Dirty Music, Nice Dudebros!

Gaza are pissed off. I mean, dangerously pissed off. They’re one of the few bands in the extreme music today that actually lives up to such classification, whether it’s the blistering time signature changes on I Don’t Care Where I Go When I Die or the monolithic funeral dirges at the start of He Is Never Coming Back. The bottom line is, Gaza are scary as hell, filled with vitriol towards 95% of modern society, and four of the nicest guys I’ve had the opportunity to chat with. I met with Gaza after their almost unpleasantly loud set in Charlotte, North Carolina to chat with them about what it’s like to be a black sheep, North Carolina’s new marriage amendment, who they’d record a split with, and the band’s undying love for Metallica. More below: (more…)

• Posted by Kit Brown on June 11, 2012
• 0 Comments
• Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit

Album Review: GOROD A Perfect Absolution

Along with American juggernauts Cannibal Corpse and Sweden's Spawn of Possession, France's Gorod have helped finish off what has been one of the best months in death metal for some time. After the band's previous release, Process of a New Decline, the group found themselves with an overall more precise and musically demanding sound, but something seemed to be missing. "Disavow Your God" and "Watershed" aside, the songwriting seemed to be simply not as memorable, although certainly contained the group's most challenging material. What made songs like Leading Vision's "Hidden Genocide" stand out as both daring and quirky was basically absent, and exchanged for a more modern-sounding production and riffs that didn't stand out from the Obscuras and Decapitateds of the world.

(more…)

• Posted by Kit Brown on March 27, 2012
• 3 Comments
• Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit

Album Review: MESHUGGAH Koloss

When you really think about it, Sweden’s Meshuggah is extreme metal’s answer to Tool. Both bands have some of the most supportive and staunch fanbases in their respective genres, both remain enigmatic and reserved despite almost universal critical acclaim, and both take their sweet time in-between album releases. Oh, and they’re both rhythmic as hell. Now that Meshuggah has solidified itself as one of the premier bands new metal groups rip off (rivaled only by At the Gates), what would the group do to keep things fresh and exciting? What could they do to remind listeners why entire goofy subgenres (see: Sumeriancore) were made to  just steal riffs from Nothing and Chaosphere? Though it’s been four years since the release of their previous album, obZen, Meshuggah hasn’t lost any steam, sacrificed any creativity, and still remain as the best group to ever pick up an 8-string guitar.  (more…)

• Posted by Kit Brown on March 20, 2012
• 6 Comments
• Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit

Album Review: SPAWN OF POSSESSION Incurso

Five years is certainly a long time to wait in-between album releases, but when your material is as daunting, dense and brutal as Spawn of Possession’s Incurso, it makes complete sense. The band’s previous effort, the stunning Noctambulant, certainly lit a fire underneath the technical death metal community; further expanding their hyperspeed sound with a more crisp sounding mix and an even more progressive approach to their songwriting. Hell, I’ll be honest – “Sour Flow” is one of the most incredible songs I’ve heard in the genre. Now, with the newly added guitarist Christian Muenzner (Necrophagist, Obscura) and bassist Erland Caspersen (Vile, Decrepit Birth), Spawn of Possession is primed and ready to be accepted as one, if not the premier technical death metal band in the game today.  (more…)

• Posted by Kit Brown on March 14, 2012
• 3 Comments
• Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit

CD Review: VEIL OF MAYA Eclipse

“All they have is just ‘bow-nuh, bow-duh-da-dow, we-dunna-weow-nee-nuh’”

Just from hearing such a sample in “Punisher”, you immediately know that Veil of Maya aren’t pulling any punches. They aren’t reinventing the wheel, turning a new leaf, or getting all experimental on our asses. Instead, Eclipse shows the band recognizing their niche and continuing to refine their craft of combining melodic and off-kilter leads with their now-established polymetric groove style. This album probably isn’t going to win over any of the band’s detractors from years past, but instead offers a much more slick and polished performance than the band’s 2010 album, [id].  (more…)

• Posted by Kit Brown on February 28, 2012
• 17 Comments
• Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit

CD Review: LAMB OF GOD Resolution

Even as a staunch supporter of Richmond’s metal titans Lamb of God, their last album Wrath simply didn’t compare to their previous releases. The aggression was there in spades; it just sounded more like a b-sides collection to Sacrament than anything else. The band had found themselves at a huge crossroads in their career – fade into obscurity like countless other New Wave of American Metal bands, or continue to remind all other metal bands why they’ve been one of the most successful acts in the genre’s recent history. With Resolution, Lamb of God is undoubtedly back. The album is dripping with groove, unrelenting drums, and one of the most confident-sounding albums in the band’s career.  (more…)

• Posted by Kit Brown on January 17, 2012
• 12 Comments
• Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit

Kit Brown's Top 10 Favorite Albums of 2011

It's been a pretty kick ass year for metal. A lot of great follow ups from established bands, a few new surprises, and plenty of riffs. This list is organized in reverse order. Hope you enjoy! (more…)

• Posted by Kit Brown on December 15, 2011
• 0 Comments
• Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit

CD Review: CYNIC Carbon-Based Anatomy

Cynic has always been a band known for defying the confines of any particular genre. Their classic, 1993 debut Focus remains unrivaled by most other technical death metal bands, and the jazz fusion influence doesn’t sound ever sound forced. After well over a decade of silence, Cynic’s 2008 effort, Traced in Air showed the band expanding on a cleaner style, while still delivering plenty of their trademark metal sound. The EP Re-Traced reexamined several tracks from the previous album, bringing forth a more Aeon Spoke style to their sound (another awesome project from Masvidal and Reinert). With this latest EP, Carbon-Based Anatomy, Cynic has released the most diverse collection of songs in their careers, which could divide some old fans and welcome new ones. (more…)

• Posted by Kit Brown on November 11, 2011
• 0 Comments
• Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit

CD Review: MASTODON The Hunter

Crack the Skye left me with some rather bittersweet and curious feelings towards the future and direction of Mastodon, one of the genre’s most successful bands to emerge from the extreme metal underground. While on one hand, I love that album to death for its boldness how much new ground the band covered. On the other hand, I couldn’t help but pine for the then extremely fresh vibes of their first two LPs, the fiery Remission and the progressive (yet very aggressive) Leviathan. After two years of a less rigorous tour schedule than on previous album cycles, Mastodon have teamed up with mega-pop producer Mike Elizondo, who has worked with Avenged Sevenfold, Alanis Morissette, and oddly co-produced 50 Cent’s colossal top 40 hit, “In Da Club”. While this may raise suspicions from a large portion of the band’s ravenous fans, fear not. Mastodon probably won’t be on the radio any time soon. The Hunter shows the band being extremely comfortable in their own skin, forsaking the epic songs and lofty concepts for thirteen tracks of catchy-as-all-hell metal. (more…)

• Posted by Kit Brown on September 28, 2011
• 3 Comments
• Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit

CD Review: WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM Celestial Lineage

I would be willing to bet that the early Norwegian black metal bands didn’t anticipate their style of music to actually last for a decade, let alone two. Such pivotal acts like Darkthrone, Burzum, and Emperor have inspired bands the world over, and their early 90s material are frequently cited as genuinely classic metal albums.

Now that these bands are making crust punk, continuing to be psychotic racist maniacs, or just plain broken up (respectively), the torch for genuinely amazing black metal in the new millennium has been passed to Washington’s Wolves in the Throne Room. This band has continued to be one of my favorite new acts in recent memory, and Two Hunters also happens to be one of the best examples of the genre, period. That being said, the band has certainly built quite a reputation for themselves among both fans and critics. 2009’s Black Cascade, the band’s previous album, showed the group focusing much more on a raw and simplistic black metal sound, and abandoning the more shoegaze and folk inspired sections of their earlier years. With Celestial Lineage, Wolves in the Throne Room has managed to somehow combine elements of their early years, and throw in a few new surprises as well. (more…)

• Posted by Kit Brown on September 15, 2011
• 2 Comments
• Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit