Metal Assault: Album Reviews

By Ryan Falla

When it comes to music, words may sometimes fall short when describing the emotional elevation or over-achieving quality present within a song. Mutoid Man takes it to the next level with their sophomoric effort ‘War Moans’, taking the wonder that comes from trying to find words to fit your emotions and spreading it over an entire record. It’s not often a band injects all of their personality into their music, stripping the concerns of “what people like” vs “what we like” and creating a truly unique and inspiring record for lovers of metal across the globe. Continue reading “Album Review: Mutoid Man – War Moans”

By Jaide Alicia

Suffocation has always been a frontrunner when it comes to death metal; their ’91 debut album ‘Effigy of the Forgotten’ being a near flawless execution of the death metal sound, the band is often pinned as having pioneered the NYDM breakdown and it is apparent in all of their albums. The band’s latest album ‘…Of The Dark Light’, set to release June 9th via Nuclear Blast Records, is a melting pot of the classic sound you’ll hear on their earlier records, mixed with few modern metal influences. This precise musical mixture displays that Suffocation still knows how to make a great death metal album, but have chosen to do some slight experimentation without straying away from their brutal roots. Continue reading “Album Review: Suffocation – …Of The Dark Light”

By Ryan Falla

The Ferrymen is a new project featuring the talents of vocalist Ronnie Romero (Lords of Black, Rainbow), drummer Mike Terrana (Tarja Turunen, Yngwie Malmsteem) and guitarist Mangnus Karlsson (Primal Fear). As these musicians are primarily associated with power metal acts, it’s no surprise to hear them come together to form a supreme being of melodic power metal. Continue reading “Album Review: The Ferrymen – Self-Titled”

By Ryan Falla

Pure Luck is a fresh new act steaming out of Austin, Texas. Despite this self-titled record being the debut for this band they are no newbies to the music world. Vocalist/banjoman/guitarist J.D Pinkus is a veteran of the music scene, having spent time with illustrious acts such as the Butthole Surfers and the Melvins. Despite the aforementioned grunge/punk acts it needs to be noted this is not a cut and dry rock record. This is very much a Southern rock/country record; and as someone who stays away from modern country I can tell you ‘Pure Luck’ beats the trend of mediocrity by putting together a record cemented in the outlaw/highway countrymen from decades past. Continue reading “Album Review: Pure Luck – Self-Titled”

By Ryan Falla

Pirate metal band Alestorm finally returns from their three-year voyage to bring us their fifth studio album, ‘No Grave But the Sea’. Alestorm has cemented their reputation as that of a unique novelty approach to writing music. Alestorm takes the concept of pirate metal beyond the novelty to create a competent genre of music that hits a specific niche intensely. The biggest question that stands is the ability of Alestorm to put out a quality record without pigeonholing themselves into a one-note record with their overly specific niche tastes. Continue reading “Album Review: Alestorm – No Grave But the Sea”

By Andrew Bansal

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to listen to a terrible karaoke metal album, but of all original material and being performed by the band that the songs belong to? Well, your weirdest metal dreams are about to come true, because that is exactly how the subject of this review sounds. Glenn Danzig, the much loved, admired, adored and worshipped metal legend, is releasing his tenth studio album of original material, and the first since 2010. Thank goodness it took seven years and did not surface any earlier. ‘Black Laden Crown’ will unleash itself like projectile vomit on the internet, radio airwaves, record stores, car stereos, home speaker systems and through any and every other possible means of audio communication, and the album couldn’t possibly be any worse that it is, even if it attempted to be. Continue reading “Album Review: Danzig – Black Laden Crown”