Metal Assault: Album Reviews

By Rosie Walker

In 2013, Jake Dreyer and Joseph Michael had a vision. Given their experience in projects like Iced Earth and White Wizzard, they wanted to form a metal band, but not just your average sounding, mediocre metal band. Their unique, capable abilities allowed them the possibility of making a heavy, technical metal band with only clean vocals that are still as aggressive as growls. They conceived their project Witherfall and self-released their debut album, ‘Nocturnes and Requiems’, in February 2017. These metalheads are some very patient guys. It took a while for this tight-knit group’s labor of love to see the light of day, but it’s been worth the wait. Life is full of set backs and uncertainties. Everyone is excited the album is finally here, but grievous that it didn’t come out in time for late drummer Adam Sagan to hear it. So, the album has been dedicated to his passing and his amazing contribution to making the album happen. Continue reading “Album Review: Witherfall – Nocturnes and Requiems”

By Ryan Falla

Are you a fan of Liquid Tension Experiment? Steve Vai? Buckethead?

John 5 is, and he shows his affinity for virtuoso jamming in his new solo release ‘Season of the Witch’. John 5, previously of Marilyn Manson and currently of Rob Zombie, puts together a phenomenal body of virtuoso rock. Every track is a guitar led shred fest that quickly builds wildly progressive rhythms for John 5 to lay down his talent on top of. Continue reading “Album Review: John 5 and the Creatures – Season of the Witch”

By Ryan Falla

Sweat Lodge is what would happen if Black Sabbath was chomping down on LSD instead of smoking dope. Releasing ‘Tokens for Hell’ as the final EP to their catalogue before a 2017 hiatus, ‘Sweat Lodge’ goes out in style and flair as the members move forward to new and great opportunities. Continue reading “Review: Sweat Lodge – Tokens For Hell EP”

By Francisco Zamudio

Be it the norm that though classified as one type of genre, many more modern bands try to be a bit flexible and versatile but fall short. Here we have a better example of a successful hybrid band that is grind with a blackened death metal sound. And given the pre-occupations of each member from a variety of bands, and whether you consider this to be a super-group, side-project or whatever the case may be – this group has not only well received but also consistent in their sound. Fans of grindcore will recognize Shane Embury from Birmingham’s blast giants, Napalm Death. Even more so, the name of Jesse Pintado (RIP) who has left behind a legacy not only with ND, Terrorizer and Brujeria, to name a few – but also with his and Embury’s step-child, Lock Up. Fortunately and unfortunately, grind has never been the same given the short-lived life and career of Pintado who died in 2006, spanning nearly two decades. While he is certainly missed by many throughout the Los Angeles underground and the world, his influence has lived on and given grindcore a growing and changing following. For 30 years, Jesse’s name, along with Shane have become the godfathers of the grind with their influence and unmistakable sound, paving the way for many great bands. Now on their fourth album to date, Lock Up has again brought the dirty raw grittiness in ‘Demonization’ (Listenable Records). Continue reading “Album Review: Lock Up – Demonization”

By Jaide Alicia

Legendary Florida based death metal band Obituary has created yet another metal masterpiece upon the release of their eponymously titled tenth studio album. This effort has completely invalidated the theory that death metal is just pointless noise that requires little to no musical prowess. If you were to dissect the album, one would find that among the chaos and undeniable brutality is the remarkable talent that is provided to us by John Tardy, Kenny Andrews, Terry Butler, Don Tardy and Trevor Peres. Obituary has discovered the formula to creating the model death metal record, and they show no signs of slowing down any time soon. Continue reading “Album Review: Obituary – Self-Titled”

By Rosie Walker

Being in a band can be hard. You see it everyday. Headlines tell you that bands are firing members, facing financial problems, and are just straight up quitting. To see kids give up on their dreams is sad, but seeing bands stick together, even through the hard times, is inspiring. The tenacious act, Darkest Hour, has been fighting the good fight for over 20 years. The East Coasters formed in 1995 and have been relentless in their craft since. They hallmarked the first generation of metalcore and still carry those roots in their sound today. These guys were among the first to integrate the hardcore punk sound with heavy metal in the mid ’90s. Their ninth studio album is here and the unique combination of genres they cultivate on it, is singular and impressive. The mixture of early metalcore, punk, and melodic death metal is a perfect cocktail you can hear on their newest album, ‘Godless Prophets & The Migrant Flora’. Continue reading “Album Review: Darkest Hour – Godless Prophets & The Migrant Flora”