This week's injection will totally paint me in a bad mood or something. I'm actually quite excited. I'm about to crack open a bottle of Jester King's Black Metal Imperial Stout. I should probably hit up The Necrosexual for some makeup tips before taking a sip though. It only seems like the right thing to do.
So yeah, to the metals…
Chimaira – Crown of Phantoms
Genre: Groove Metal
Origin: Cleveland
Label: eOne
Buy now on Amazon.com
I don’t have much of a background with Chimaira. I’ve only known them in passing as a vaguely thrashy, groove metal band. From what I can tell listening to Crown, my unfamiliar assessment is more or less correct. I’m sort of surprised by the how lurching the sound is considering the fact that half of the band pulls double-duty in Dååth. That fact is pretty neat, but isn’t terribly noticeable in the final product.
Death SS – Resurrection
Genre: Industrial
Origin: Florence, Italy
Label: Scarlet
Buy now on Amazon.com
This band has a pretty impressive on-again off-again record. Resurrection looks to be the band's fifth incarnation since 1977. Singer Steve Sylvester (The SS of the band's name) is the sole founding member of the band, but he really is the soul of the band anyway. The album is a very interesting offering of industrial akin to Circus of Dead Squirrels with a hint of symphonic black metal, plus something that just makes me think of King Diamond. If i had a pick of the week, this would be it.
Five Finger Death Punch – The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1
Genre: Alternative Metal
Origin: Los Angeles, California
Label: Prospect Park
Buy now on Amazon.com
Mom always said that if I didn’t have anything nice to say about the world’s most popular aggrocore band in the world, don’t say anything at all. I'll try my best. A lot of people fucking LOVE this band. Good for them. For everyone else, this is another album of cliché laden songs about overcoming, standing your ground, or fighting stuff. It's like All That Remains or Hatebreed for the layperson. Rob Halford, In This Moment’s Maria Brink, Jamey Jast, and Tech N9ne all show up as well. Seriously though, you know how Mudvayne or Korn are punchlines for the Nu-Metal scene of the early 2000’s give it 10 years and FFDP will be that band. Sorry mom, I tried.
Mercenary – Through Our Darkest Days
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Origin: Ålborg, Denmark
Label: Prosthetic
Buy now on Amazon.com
Time has been kind of my thoughts of this album. At first listen I was really underwhelmed by this band I once loved. While still not over the moon for this one, it is a pretty good collection of melodic death metal/quasi-extreme power metal songs. Fans of Everblack, 11 Dreams, and/or The Hours that Remain should have their hopes a little lower, but it’s certainly not the worst thing the band has done. I’s raise my review of it a point if I could today.
Also dropping today…
Autumnblaze – Every Sun Is Fragile (Pulverised)
Death Mechanism – Twenty-First Century (Scarlet)
Dehuman Reign – Destructive Intent (FDA Rekotz)
Hammercult – Anthems Of The Damned (SPV)
Honduran – Street Eagles (Eolian)
Lawless – Rock Savage (Escape)
Legion – Woke (eOne)
Outer Gods – Light Dims Eternal (Domestic Genocide)
Perversion – Pillars of the Enlightened (Blast Head)
Purify The Horror – Untitled EP (Sociopathic Sound)
Scordatura – Torment Of The Weak (Blast Head)
Twins Crew – The Northern Crusade (Scarlet)
Venrez – American Illusion (Monarch)
Wound – Inhale The Void (FDA Rekotz)
