The Rock Blogger

I’ve made a lot of purchases and acquisitions lately, far too many to give each a few-fledged review, so I’ll compile some recent highlights into a themed list. If you like this, be sure to check out my old black and viking metal lists. And of course, this list is far from definitive so leave your suggestions in the comments below.

10. Grave. Into the Grave . 1991.

An underwritten genre classic from Sweden featuring some of the most guttural vocals imaginable.

9. Dismember. Like an Ever Flowing Stream . 1991.

As the title suggests, the riffs on this album flow on and on with incredible force. Mind-melting musicianship.

8. Entombed. Left Hand Path . 1990.

One of the most well known albums from Sweden’s early DM scene. Infectious riffs abound on this influential record.

7. Cryptopsy. None So Vile . 1996.

A fine release from this Montreal band. The vocals are unique, garbled and sinister. The guitar riffs are dense and brutal. Suffocating in its power.

6. Cynic. Traced in Air . 2008.

Cynic is well know for their highly technical progressive death metal that incorporates jazz and experimental elements. Like its predecessor Focus , Traced in Air has a heady science-fiction atmosphere to flesh out its other-worldly sound.

5. Nile. In Their Darkened Shrines . 2002.

A fascinating progressive death metal album that uses ancient Egypt as its thematic backdrop. Not only are the riffs highly technical, layered and brutal, they also lead into Eastern traditions, making this a worldy tour de force.

4. Uncanny. Spendium For Nyktophobia . 1991.

Fantastic Swedish death metal that incorporated heavy-hitting industrial flourishes into its complex compositions. Sounding like a cross between Entombed and Godflesh, Uncanny’s rhythmic guitars are colossal.

3. Lykathea Aflame. Elvenfris . 2000.

A beautifully executed progressive death album from the Czech Republic. The riffs are incredibly fast, intricate and boost an almost mystical flavor to them. A highly refined and detailed work.

2. Edge of Sanity. Crimson . 1996.

Another classic with progressive touches, Crimson boasts a single 45 minute track that runs through an elaborate post-apocalyptic narrative. Weaving between clean vocals and metal growls, grinding riffs and soaring solos, this song boasts enough variety and intensity to keep you engaged.

1. Death. Human . 1991.

The greatest death metal band is one that shares the genre’s name. From it’s intelligent and scathing lyrics to its winding solos, fretless bass work and pummeling production, Human has it all. Chuck Schuldinger left us far too soon. A masterpiece that still stands as a towering milestone.

Saturnus. Paradise Belongs to You . 1996. 5 stars .

Denmark’s Saturnus have been underwritten in the doom metal world despite crafting what could be one of the genre’s most intriguing albums. Paradise Belongs to You , the band’s 96 debut, incorporates acoutic passages, sorrowful riffs, death metal growls and an expansive atmosphere into beautifully fluid songs.

Aesthetic cousins to Agalloch and Katatonia, Saturnus’ riffs have a distinct, melancholic tone that makes for a dark and enveloping soundscape. Deep growls and sparingly used spoken word verses add to the gloom, contrasting barren despair with poetic romanticism. The use of subtle keyboards and plodding baselines underlie the building tension that runs through every song, leading the listener down shadowy passageways.

The extensive length of this album’s tracks gives the band plenty of room to flesh out their vision which is nothing less than epic. It avoids being overbearing by offsetting the intensity with hypnotic melodies, organic textures and the occasional piano or acoustic interlude. The short bird samples book-ending every track also tightens cohesion to the already seamless arrangements.

While it is difficult to select specific moments that make Paradise Belongs to You so beautiful, the entire album flows together so well that it doesn’t matter. It balances grim intensity with an airy atmosphere that evokes the sublime. A moody and intricately crafted album that represents the finer aspects of doom metal. Essential.

“Paradise Belongs to You”

Obscura. Cosmogenesis . 2009. 4.5 stars.

Obscura play mind-blowing technical death metal in the same progressive vein as Cynic and Death, complete with fret-less bass, warped vocal effects and sci-fi/astrological themes. Like those genre giants, Obscura are simply virtuosic as they burn through their spiraling song structures. While the death metal growls may not be entirely distinctive, their juxtaposition with spacey, digitized vocals makes their delivery all the more entertaining.

The staggering musicianship of this record appears in the dizzying bass and guitar solos. The percussion is also fantastic, with pummeling blast beats (like on “Centric Flow” for instance) paving the way for winding riffs. Much more than a mere display of technicality, Cosmogenesis is rich with detail and interesting breaks and passages to space the onslaught out. Acoustic flourishes peak through songs like “Orbital Elements”, adding a distinctive layer to the vast tapestries of sound. Almost all of the tracks here branch off into a variety of directions, with shifts in time signatures, tempos and the density of guitar riffs shaking up the compositions.

Obscura have produced one of the finest works in the progressive death metal genre. While its easy to confuse their sound with their forefathers’, they still make a considerable impact in their own right. The instrumental prowess of this album is certainly its main draw. One of the finer and technically brilliant albums of the year so far.

“Anticosmic Overload”

Cynic. Focus. 1993. 4.5 stars.

While there were plenty of accolades going out to last year’s Traced in Air, I find Focus to be a better and more fascinating summation of Cynic’s innovative style. Combining progressive rock, death metal, jazz fusion and psychedelic rock, Cynic made a huge impression on the metal scene of the early 90s and sent a collective shiver down the spines of aspiring artists looking to expand the genre.

It’s difficult to put Cynic’s eclectic compositions down in words because each track is so packed with intensive poly-rhythms, winding riffs and warped vocals that you get lost in its colorful, psychoactive current. Everything on this disc is virtuosic and testamentary to the mind-melting power of progressive metal. Of course, the sheer technicality of this record is not too daunting, as the band arranges their sound with great attention to atmosphere and pacing, leaving the listener with many peaks and valleys to get carried through. Its actually quite amazing how they manage to balance heavy and angular guitar assaults with tranquil and melodic passages.

While there are certainly some strange elements to Focus, namely the spacey, futuristic vocal effects and science fiction atmosphere, they help contribute to its adventurous character. Even though some of these factors may initially seem campy, they eventually melt in with the intense musicianship. A classic release that redefined progressive metal.

Cynic - Celestial Voyage

Death. Individual Thought Patterns. 1993. 5 stars.

Where would the death metal genre be without the band that shares its namesake? Over their decade-plus career, Death revolutionized extreme metal, introducing progressive elements to their brutal, technically stunning sound. Psychotic riffs, solos and fluid bass lines make up Death’s dexterous attack while the late Chuck Schuldiner provides an intelligent and aggressive vocal performance. After 1991’s renowned Human, Death began a string of hard-hitting and virtuosic releases that brought death metal to a higher plane with winding compositions and thoughtful lyrics. Individual Thought Patterns, the first post-Human album continued the band’s impressive momentum.

The song structures are complex and compelling. The drilling percussion backs the fretless lines while the ripping guitar solos rage on. Everything flows together beautifully as the musianship remains tight and relentless. You would be hard-pressed to find a death metal album that blends seering technical precision with creative songwriting as seamlessly as Individual Thought Patterns. In short, this album is a metal masterpiece, that stands alongside Death’s latter works (Symbolic, Sound of Perseverance). This, or anything by Death, is simply essential.

Death - “Overactive Imagination”

Amon Amarth. Twilight of the Thunder God. 2008. 4.5 stars.

This is an exceptional viking metal album that features memorable melodies, fluid percussion and stellar production. While the lyrical concepts of this album are largely concerned with epic battles and mythical conquests (as the cover art demonstrates), it is not nearly as over the top as other viking metal albums released this year (Equilibrium for example). The furious riffs alone make this a thoroughly satisfying metal album that maintains both a sense of grandeur and raw aggression.

The album is well-balanced and consistently heavy, moving along at a rapid pace through fiery guitar solos and brutal bass lines. Amon Amarth have managed to be both musically tight and genuinely epic in their compositions, as each mammoth track flows steadily into the next, making this an addictive listen that begs repeating. The vocals, while not going far beyond the traditional death metal fare, work terrifically with the music and provides a bestial undercurrent for the soaring melodies.

Overall, Twilight of the Thunder God is a solid release that has hardly any weak points. Even though the band is reluctant to deviate from their established sound, they do indulge in the odd cello accompaniment towards the finale, embellishing on the climatic atmosphere that runs throughout. Despite its aggressively dense sound, Amon Amarth are still surprisingly accessible, crafting an album that is both entertaining and crushingly heavy. This is easily one of the finest metal albums of the year.

Twilight of the Thunder God

The Morningside. The Wind, the Trees, and the Shadows of the Past. 2007. 5 stars.

This is a stunning melodic death metal album from a little known Russian band. Sounding like a cross between Agalloch and early Ulver, The Morningside blends emotional and melodic riffs with a grey woodland atmosphere and some clean acoustic flourishes. With a great emphasis on extended instrumentals, these songs are massive and progressively composed, conveying a variety of moods in its many steep peaks and valleys.

The guitar work in particular is majestic, with a crystalline production that lets each tight, wiry riff cast an icy sheen. The vocals for the most part are in the form of distant growls, which despite their melancholic tone, complement the epic musicianship beautifully. There are also some clean, sung vocals thrown in the album’s later half, as a calm, reflective voice contemplates the mystery of the wilderness, conveying cool imagery not unlike the cover above.

The Wind…, much like Agalloch’s The Mantle, strikes a perfect balance between heavy metal catharsis and lush atmospherics, carving out a niche of its own (Grey Metal?). It comes over like a cool thunderstorm, first with crashing booms, then followed by a cleansing downpour. If you are a fan of Agalloch, post-rock, or atmospheric black metal, you owe it to yourself to listen to this. It really is a masterpiece.

The Morningside - “The Wind”

Lo-Ruhamah. The Glory of God. 2007. 4 stars

Kansas City’s Lo-Ruhamah play a searing mix of death metal, black metal and post-rock on their debut LP. Their sound shifts dramatically between guttural metal crunch and reflective, crystalline guitar passages, making The Glory of God an expressive and adventurous effort. Its somewhat hard to discern the lyrical themes from the screaming vocals, but their musical progressions capture the ebb and flow of some rapturous (religious?) experience.

The changing dynamics, often joined with delicate piano or acoustic guitar, make the album sound full, accomplished and even dangerous in its risk taking. Lo-Ruhamah have a genuine artistic vision here, this isn’t your run of the mill nu-metal album, this is an attempt at breaking the mold. Their multi-dimensional approach fits nicely among the emerging “heady metal” trends coming out of America, a new wave that includes some recent favorites like Wolves in the Throne Room and Lurker of Chalice.

Despite the album’s progressive powers, the vocals themselves don’t possess the same emotional clarity as the instrumentals. They are either to shrill or too soft to deliver the message wrapped up in the songs. If the band manages to stick it out a while longer, they should be able to reconcile their intense music with their cryptic narratives, just as Tool eventually struck a balance between raw virutoisty and clear spirtual/apocalyptic ideas. As a first effort, The Glory of God stands as a stellar and oirginal work deserving of more critical attention. For their genre-bending intensity, Lo-Ruhamah are among the most impressive acts to be reshaping the world of underground metal.

Bloodbath. Unblessing the Purity (EP). 2008. 3.5 stars.

A vicious EP from Sweden’s Bloodbath, Unblessing the Purity is a growling throwback to old-school death metal, with caustic vocals and maddening guitar solos setting the stage for horror and damnation. The sound Bloodbath produces is incredibly fast and brutal, running across intense blasting percussion and twisting, expansive guitar passages that bring out melodic nuances hiding beneath the chaos. Like their fellow countrymen Dark Tranquility, Bloodbath successfully combine raging metal riffs with complex compositional touches. While these 4 songs are over quickly and offer nothing revolutionary, they are undeniably entertaining and heavy. If you like your metal filled with deep-throated anger and pulse-pounding speed, this EP should suit your tastes.

Weak Aside

Sculptured. Embodiment. 2008. 4 stars.

Sculptured’s latest offering is a solid prog-metal release that features intricate compositions and clear production, integrating complicated guitar riffs, symphonic keyboards and frantic drumming into a cohesive and dense package. While Sculptured’s impressive lineup features Don Anderson and Jason Walton from Agalloch, their sound is completely different, with labyrinthine song structures that dart from guttural metal to progressive passages in an instant, switching between time signatures and moods with surprising transitions.

The band also alternates between two vocal styles, one being the conventional death metal growl and the other being the clean alternative signing that may remind some of Mike Patton’s Faith No More days. The combination of the two is refreshing and consistently interesting, providing a emotional anchor for the spiraling keyboard melodies and cyclical drumming. The complexity of this album is not nearly as overwhelming as other efforts in the prog-metal genre, as the melodies are easily distinguishable amid the madness, making Embodiment an album that is actually fun to listen to rather than being an inaccessible maze of musical layers. The band truly sound like they are enjoying themselves.

Embodiment as a whole is an exciting and well produced effort that remains accessible despite its complexity. I would recommend this to both fans of prog metal (like Kayo Dot, Maudlin of the Well, Mars Volta) as well as rock fans more accustomed to alternative styles.