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[The Metal Mallet]

Woo! New thread! To celebrate, here's this weekend's music list:

Dream Theater - Words and Images
Dream Theater - Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory
Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Dream Theater - Train of Thought
Dream Theater - Octavarium
Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet


Obviously, the theme for today is my entire Dream Theater collection. We'll see if some of these re-light the spark I originally had for some of these CDs. I'll honestly be surprized if I have enough time to listen to all my Dream Theater before work is over. Anyways, time to talk about some recent purchases.

Systematic Chaos by Dream Theater

After the more lighter toned Octavarium, Dream Theater comes back with an album that's aggressive like Train of Thought, but not as dark or bitter. Instead there's a sense of energy with the band and it's making this release quite enjoyable this time around. Songs to check out are Constant Motion, with its excellent riffs, Forsaken for its epic feel, and the mini epic, In the Presence of Enemies Parts 1 and 2. It's still the tried and true Dream Theater formula so it shouldn't disappoint those all ready into the band.


City of Echoes by Pelican

Pelican plays of brand of instrumental metal that is often lumped in the stylings of Isis and the post metal genre. This time around, Pelican opted for a more melodic and less heavy sound. They even have a track that is completely acoustic. While some have lamented the fact that their sludgy riffs have all but disappeared with this release, I actually don't mind it. There's plenty of solid music throughout that even those who don't necessarily like metal music should like (well they at least gotta like rock music). This is a good CD to get your hands on.


Overature of the Wicked by Iced Earth

This is really an EP of 4 songs. The first track is a newly written song, while the other three are re-recorded works from their Something Wicked This Way Comes album. They're re-recorded because since that album, the band has a new singer, Tim Owens, who is mostly known for his two album stint singing for Judas Priest. Now, I've only listened to Iced Earth with Owens singing for the band, so I have no idea how they sounded with Matt Barlow (their previous vocalist). These songs though contain a nice intensity and Owens' Halford meets Dickenson-esque vocals works suitably for the music. The galloping riffs and musicianship definitely stand out. This EP has convinced me to get their upcoming up a shot.


Minus the Herd by Ion Dissonance

Ion Dissonance is a Canadian band that plays the currently "stylish" and hip genre in metal: deathcore. For those uninitiated with the name, it basically means the band implements the brutality and aggressive guitars and drums of the Death Metal genre and combines it with elements of Hardcore punk. The Hardcore influence is mainly expressed by this band through it's vocalist and the implementation of "breakdowns", which are moments where the music basically starts to stutter with start and stop riffing to make things sound all the more heavy. This is actually my first experience with this genre and I actually didn't mind it, mainly because the vocalist for this band in particular doesn't sound completely moronic. The music itself is quite technical and likely difficult to play as the instruments are still very involved even during the breakdowns. The unfortunate thing with this album is that it suffers from sounding the same in each track, making it difficult to pick out noteworthy songs. It's not a bad CD, but not something that's necessary.


Given to the Rising by Neurosis

I've been eagerly waiting for this CD since the start of the year and it doesn't disappoint at all! Neurosis are pioneers in the metal, since they basically created the doom mixed with hardcore that is quite popular nowadays as seen by bands such as Isis, Cult of Luna, Minsk, etc. With this CD in particular, Neurosis decided to go back to their heavy elements in their music (it was missing throughout much of their last CD, which was still great though). This album has amazed me so far, from the majesty of the title track, to the foreboding nature of "Fear and Sickness", even to the two creepy spoken word songs, "Shadow" and "Nine". The best track of the CD has to be "To the Wind" though. It begins deceptively with clean and passionate post rock guitars. After a little groan by the vocalist the melody switches into the most energetic guitar riff on the album and the whiskey stained vocals come howling in. With three minutes left to the song, the music dies down again into an eerie guitar and programming effect for a few spoken words. The song ends with the lines "to the wind" repeatedly howled for 20-30 seconds lengths. Simply stunning! So far, this is my favourite album of the year. Highly, highly recommended for those willing to experiment with their listening. Their last album, The Eye of Every Storm, is likely their most excessible but Given to the Rising or "Through Silver and Blood" are likely the best impression of Neurosis' sound.

[The Metal Mallet]

Hehe, I got paid yesterday so I went on a little shopping spree, basically spent $100 on CDs, then $100 on books. Here's my list of basically entirely new music:

Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb
Anterior - This Age of Silence
King Diamond - Give Me Your Soul...Please
In Flames - Whoracle
Voodooshock - Marie's Sister's Garden
Paradise Lost - In Requiem
Neurosis - Given to the Rising
Sigh - Hangman's Hymn


All right, time to talk about the new CDs I got last week:


Voodooshock - Marie's Sister's Garden

Voodooshock play a variation of Doom Metal that often implements some groovy stoner passages. The CD itself starts off with an excellent 1,2,3 punch of "Please Let All Truth in Your Heart", "Marie's Sister's Garden (my favourite track), and the ultra doomy "Funeral Farewell". From there the CD continues it's solid grooviness, though some other standouts include the other slow, ultra doom track, "Miserable Mercy", the liveliest track "I Need A Rest", which actually features a shocking high-pitch wail before breaking into a frenzied guitar melody, and the closing 10 minute epic, "You Don't Need to Fear Death" which has a very strong Black Sabbath feeling to it, mostly noted in the basswork.

The one fault that can be made about this disk is that the middle section is a bit weaker, mostly due to the fact that vocalist Uwe Greebel doesn't always seem to fit in with the music. He tends to stay at the same range and rarely tries to expand (though when he does, it works well), and the slightly droning style he utilises could put off some listeners. But in the above standout songs, I think his vocals work perfectly with the music.


Sigh - Hangman's Hymn

So far, this sucker has been VERY difficult to not listen to. It's just so damn catchy and fun. Sigh is a Japanese "black metal" band that always seems to reinvent themselves with each release that they put out. They've had disks that are odes to horror film music, classic black metal releases, jazz and psychedelic inspired releases, even completely clean vocal releases. This time around, Sigh bring back the harsh black metal rasps, as well as some crazy laughing, a few clean vocals and some creepy higher pitched, circus rasping.

Musically (and this is the truly interesting part) the band utilises thrashy, speedy guitar riffs (the tone of the guitar is absolutely LETHAL) some crazy fast melodic soloing, and interjections of German Symphonic music, much in the same vein as Wagner. It truly proves to be an entertaining mix that proves to be extremely catchy, almost in a bouncy sense. Not to mention there are some moments where things slow down to add some operatic/choir vocals sung in latin.

Standout tracks include the blistering "Inked in Blood", the amusing "Me-Devil", and infectious chorus of "Death With Dishonor". This is definitely one of my favourites for this year.


Devin Townsend - Ziltoid the Omniscient

Well it appears that Devin Townsend didn't take that much of a break. With this release though, he goes completely solo and abandons his bandmates from Strapping Young Lad and The Devin Townsend Band. That means that Devin wrote, played, and produced everything on this hour long CD. The only thing he didn't "play" were drums, instead he used the "drumkit from hell" program that was created by the drummer from Meshuggah.

The CD itself is basically a comedic sci-fi musical that focuses on Ziltoid the Omniscient, an alien who comes to earth so that he can drink their "Ultimate Cup of Black Coffee". From there Ziltoid (who also claims he's the best guitar player in the omniverse) does battle with the humans because he gets a crappy coffee and another alien by the name of "Captain Spectacular" comes to help the humans by proving that Ziltoid is just a nerd. From there I kinda forget the plot (I've only listening to the entirety of the CD once so far).

Musically, the CD fits in somewhere between Devin's two bands, some of it is pretty heavy (but not as much as Strapping's stuff) and then there's the more prevalent progressive and melodic stuff found on The Devin Townsend Band CDs. Favourite for me so far are the more melodic stuff where Devin uses his amazing purely clean vocals in the beginning of "Solar Winds", through the hypnotic "Hyperdrive", and the finale "The Greys". I'm not sure if this release is a stellar one yet, but it certainly warrants some more listens.


Eyes of Fire - Prisons

I've been wanting to get this one for a wile now. Eyes of Fire is doomy, somewhat hardcore outfit that can be lumped into the group of bands who play music similar to Neurosis. The band features two vocalists, one who handles the more clean vocals (which reminds me of Aaron Turner's, from Isis, Panopticon clean vocals) some screaming and the other vocalist handles the more deeper and gruff hardcore vocals.

The album itself doesn't really get going until track 3, "It All Dies Today" which could be considered the most excessible track on the CD. The middle section of the CD is very strong (though I can't name any songs off the top of my head). I find that the more moodier songs tend to be more impressive than the straight out songs like "Fight Me". I'm also very glad I got a special two disc edition because I wouldn't have the song "Home" from the second disc otherwise. "Home" is the only song on the second disc, but it is a 25 minute, nearly completely instrumental track. Walking home while listening to this song was simply stunning, the vocals for the most part are basically incomprehensible humming/moaning though a few words come through later in the song. The song itself is excellently paced and flows through various stages of heaviness and calm, I never once felt the inclination to figure out how much longer do I have to endure this song (the same can't be said about some Dream Theater or Giant Squid songs). Another recommendation for those who enjoy Isis or doom.


Insomnium - At the Gates of Awaiting

As "Above the Weeping World" had me thoroughly addicted, I decided to check out this band's back catalogue, starting with their first major release At the Gates of Awaiting. Just from listening to this, I can tell they definitely tighten up on the songwriting since then. These songs are still really, really good but they seem a bit more formuliac when compared to their newest release. Though I do admit, some of these songs appear to provide a bit more lethal dose of the death metal aspect of their Melodic Death Metal style. They still close the album with an epic 10 plus minute track with the title track. Another solid release from this band in my opinion. I still need to give it some listens to point out certain songs though.


Bokor - Anomia1

Bokor play a brand of progressive metal that features mainly clean vocals. They have a more hard rock feeling to their music, but they still implement some harsh vocals every now and then. Again, I need to give it some more listens (damn that Sigh release! ) to let these songs give me a decent feeling for their music. There is a pretty good mixture of tunes on this release though.