Artist: Rage Against the Machine
Album: Evil Empire
Genre: Rock (Alternative & Punk)
5-Starred Songs: 3 (out of 11)
As I think I said before in my reviews of Rage Against the Machine, although I don't necessarily identify with the ideas and the mentality behind the music, they can be quite enjoyable in the appropriate mood. With that said, in my personal opinion "Evil Empire" is the weakest album of the 3 released. Although it features some excellent pieces like Revolver and Vietnow the rest of the album is mostly composed of "good but not great" songs. If you like their music style in general I suspect it's on par with their others, but for me a lot of the songs just didn't quite cut it. It's definitely not bad, in any way, but I do think it's the weakest.
Artist: Dragonforce
Album: Inhuman Rampage
Genre: Metal (Speed Metal)
5-Starred Songs: 5 (out of 9)
As stated in a previous review, Inhuman Rampage may be Dragonforce's best album, although it's a close tie with Sonic Firestorm. The album features a number of their more famous songs, most notably Through the Fire and the Flames and Operation Ground and Pound. Supporting that are a large assortment of other excellent, upbeart, exciting pieces such as Revolution Deathsquad and Body Breakdown, as well of their once-per-album slower song, in this case Trail of Broken Hearts. The rest o f the songs are in the same tradition of Dragonforce, and for better or for worse don't deviate much from their usual formula. It's an exciting blast of pure energy, and probably not for every moment, but when you need it, "Inhuman Rampage" does not disappoint.
Artist: Maximum the Hormone
Album: Rokkinpo Goroshi (Rock-impotance Killer)
Genre: Metal (Japanese rock/ nu metal)
5-Starred Songs: 3 (out of 13)
Given my love of Buiikikaesu, I naturally decided to set out and go backwards chronologically through Maximum the Hormone's discography, which led me to Rokkinpo Goroshi. To answer the most obvious question: no, it was not as good as their newest album. They feel a bit less focused and don't quite to have seem to have found the excellent sound they produced in Buiikikaesu, and feel a bit more like a traditional punk and/or metal group, although there's still a very obvious component of their unique weirdness. To begin, all of the songs are very short, with only 4 over 3 minutes, although a few of the shorter ones are still excellent, such as Anaru Whiskey Ponce and Houchou Hasami Cutter Knife Dosu Kiri. The best song on the album also has the longest title: "Rei Rei Rei Rei Rei Rei Rei Rei Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma" (Magic etc. Spirit etc.) which intersperses a kind of weird, reggae-like beat with their trademark screaming, and as usual, despite its inherent oddness it works quite well. Overall it's an interesting album if you really liked their newest work, but other I'd advise to skip.
Artist: Dream Theater
Album: Systematic Chaos
Genre: Metal (Progressive Metal)
5-Starred Songs: 5 (out of 8)
Dream Theater are masters of long songs and it shows here in Systematic Chaos, with only one song under 6 minutes. The album is a great example of how to do extended songs and keep them interesting and excellent, showcased by the bookend songs, In the Presence of Enemies Parts 1 & 2, which together create a great story about the summoning of the Devil or something like that; the details aren't important, its awesomeness is. Alongside are some other great pieces like (I'm told Muse-like) Prophets of War, Forsaken, and Constant Motion. Overall the album is solid and filled with the mix of great lyrics and highly technical instrumentals that make Dream Theater such a strong band.
Artist: Sonata Arctica
Album: Reckoning Night
Genre: Metal (Power Metal)
5-Starred Songs: 6 (out of 10)
Sonata Arctica is easily one of my favorite metal bands, which is why it's odd I hadn't actually listened to some of their albums all the way through. With that said, the self-claimed Queen-inspired band did not at all disappoint with Reckoning Night, a powerful and exciting addition to my library. It kicks off with the intense song Ain't Your Fairy Tale and is rounded out with other upbeat, catchy songs like Don't Say A Word and Blinded No More. White Pearls, Black Oceans is an almost 9-minute long song about an ocean mishap and perfectly captures that atmosphere, creating the metal version of a sea shanty (I could be very wrong about that, but that's how I feel). Shamandalie also serves as a nice traditional rock ballad, rather than a metal song, and is a very nice break that showcases the band's versatility.
Overall I'm a big fan of power metal, since I feel like it's a extension of classic rock bands, in that it's clean vocals with an emphasis on lyrics and good choruses, supported by excellent instrumentals and awesome solos. Sonata Arctica is one of the best of these power metal bands, and Reckoning Night is an excellent example of what they can achieve.
Artist: Unsun
Album: Clinic for Dolls
Genre: Metal (Gothic Metal
5-Starred Songs: 5 (out of 10)
This relatively unknown Polish metal band (seriously, apparently their Wikipedia page got deleted for not being well-known enough D-: ) features a female pop-singer and thus offers a much different sound that I usually expect from metal sounds. Not only is she a pop-singer (her accent is somewhat noticeable but not in a bad way), but the lyrics themselves tend to be pop-like, and the instrumentals are on the lighter side for a metal band. Despite the odd combination, I feel the band overall works quite well: they're not mind-blowing, but they have some very solid songs that I enjoy listening to. Chief among them is Why, a song that I'm not quite sure what it's about but features an incredibly catchy chorus and is very well put together. Other metal-ish songs like Time and The Lost Way feature a nice level of energy to support the pretty vocals, and couple of songs like I Ceased drop the metal act and are more just nice, pretty, slower songs. Overall the album is a nice mix of things, and if nothing else I see a lot of potential in the band if they focus their sound a bit. Definitely worth checking if any of this sounds appealing; maybe we can get their Wikipedia page restored (seriously I didn't know they deleted for reasons like that).
Artist: Dream Theater
Album: Octavarium
Genre: Metal (Progressive Metal)
5-Starred Songs: 5 (out of 8)
Octavarium is another excellent album by Dream Theater, likely headlined by the Rock Band-famous Panic Attack. Never Enough also adds to the slightly frantic yet highly enjoyable tone of Panic Attack, while songs like I Walk Beside you are a bit slower and calmer and harken back to rock roots. Ending the album is the 24 minute-long title track, Octavarium, which to me has a very strong Pink Floyd influence, in a good way (harkening to songs like Echoes and Shine On You Crazy Diamond). Overall a very strong album with no real faults, and an excellent addition to their large and impressive discography.
Artist: Axenstar
Album: Aftermath
Genre: Metal (Power Metal)
5-Starred Songs: 3 (out of 10)
Not to be confused with the Rolling Stones' album of the same name, Axenstar's album blends the line between hard rock and power metal, in a good way. Dogs of War, the opening track, is by far the best song, with an extremely strong beat and well-made chorus that serves as an excellent opening track to get me ready to kill stuff in Gears 3 :-P Tracks like Aftermath and Agony also highlight the band's ability, and serve to make the first half of the album better than the last. Unfortunately the album isn't super consistent (again, later tracks not as good) but it's far from being bad.
Artist: Youth Lagoon
Album: The Year of Hibernation
Genre: Alternative (Indie Rock / Shoegaze)
5-Starred Songs: 7 (out of 8)
To begin with, Youth Lagoon has produced what I can confidently say is probably the best music video I've ever seen (not that I've seen a ton, but still): http://vimeo.com/28638402
Overall, the album is very soft and understated, which serves to emphasize the subtle swelling and slow grace of the album as a whole. It's incredibly pretty. Each song seems to transport the listener to a place kind of far away, where everything's a bit more peaceful and perhaps a bit melancholic, maybe a bit reminiscent. Regardless, it's extremely powerful emotionally, and in the right mood is kind of haunting. The only real complaint I can levy at it is that normally I'm not a huge fan of vocal style used. While it works in this case, I wouldn't have minded an occasional switch to clean vocals or some other style, but I suppose it's understandable in the name of album unity, and it's a very minor complaint as far as these things go.
-HTMC
No comments:
Post a Comment