The Agony Scene - Get Damned
I remember their first record being okay. I never really got into them full throttle on account of them being Christians, but I recall not being able to deny some of their riffs and breakdowns. The same can be said in 2007 with Get Damned, although their Thrash these days features much less Metalcore bravado. There’s almost a Punk-Metal vibe to the album. Now don’t go calling it Crust just yet. Unfortunately most of what this band does feels more like early Haunted and The Black Dahlia Murder. The every-song-sounds-the-same, check-out-my-one-fast-drumbeat approach. (Sure the same can be said of Crust, but it’s just cooler somehow.) They are still masters of the start-stop, but a band sadly going the other way. It really doesn’t matter. In the end, they’re just lion food.
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The Agonist - Once Only Imagined
I will say this about mega-hottie vocalist Alissa White-Gluz, she successfully pulls off what few female vocalists in Metal can. That being a convincing but smooth transition between alternating clean and harsh styles. Most gals only excel at one or the other. Still not my cup of tea, though. The clean bits just murder it for me. It takes a special female voice to reach me, that which is discovered few and far between. And on behalf of George Carlin I must insist that Alissa “pick a fucking last name, would ya please?”
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Afgrund / Relevant Few - split CD
Afgrund play pulverizing Grind in the vein of Nasum, Rotten Sound, and Gadget. A crushing display of speed and skill that equals, if not bests, their peers’ precision, passion, and professionalism. Relevant Few also shred with the same ideas in mind, although their Grindcore attack is much Thrashier. As intense as they are, they honestly can’t hold a candle to their splitmates this time around. Hail Afgrund!
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The Ability - Be Still
A lot of Metalheads and Punks want to throwdown at the mere mention of Emo. I say life’s too short to pose. If it’s quality, I can appreciate it regardless of genre, and if it helps you sleep at night we can call this Indie Rock. The Ability aren’t great, but they’re good. A very mellow approach with big hooks and typical Emo lyrics. Somewhere between Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab For Cutie with more balls, and Taking Back Sunday and Northstar with less pep, you’ll find The Ability’s Pop sensibilities. When it works, it works well, when it doesn’t work it’s just boring, but it’s never terrible. Favorites: “Home and Coffin,” “Elusive,” “So This is Distance,” “Jubilee,” and “Driving on Water.”
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Guttural Secrete - Reek of Pubescent Despoilment
Not blown away at all by their debut, I wasn’t expecting much from this one. Well, maybe that’s the ticket, because you can officially now consider me blown the fuck away. This is a relentless non-stop assault of Gore-drenched, gut-wrenching, gurgle-spewing, Grind-happy, grime-eating, go fucking apeshit savagery. Not too many records can spellbind on pure brutality alone, but this is one of them. This fucking flattens! I think I need to go back and listen to their first one again.
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Krisiun - AssassiNation
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, Krisiun aren’t just about blazing speed anymore. Starting with 2003’s Works of Carnage, the emphasis has been much more on songwriting and dynamics, with AssassiNation being a continuation of that approach. While certain aspects of the album are a throwback to the unbridled fury of the Black Force Domain days, it’s for the most part in the same vein as Works of Carnage and 2004’s Bloodshed. The stop-on-a-pinhead precision is quickly becoming Krisiun’s new trademark, and it’s overflowing in every nook and cranny of AssassiNation, ensuring that standout cuts like “Bloodcraft,” “Vicious Wrath,” “Refusal,” “House of God,” and “United in Deception” are not only dizzyingly brutal, but also instantly memorable. Cheers to Krisiun. Brazil’s finest Metal band ever.
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Immolation - Dawn of Possession
What much can be said of a reissue with no bonus content? Surely we already all have this one in our personal archives, don’t we? Well, maybe this will serve as a history lesson for the new blood. While this was never my favorite Immolation LP (I always thought Here in After blew this away), listening to it 15 years later makes me appreciate it all the more. These guys were brutalizing their strings and experimenting with odd timing when all these new Mathcore bands were sucking on Mommy’s tit. Hail Satan.
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Heaven Shall Burn - Deaf to Our Prayers
Another solid offering from the true kings of German Metalcore. It picks up right where 2004’s Antigone left off, and it just might be their most brutal and energetic recording to date. Granted, I’ll probably always be partial to 2002’s Whatever It May Take, or the classic Asunder (my official Heaven Shall Burn cherry pop), but it must be noted that Heaven Shall Burn is not a band that changes much from album to album, they just get tighter and tighter. This is definitely their most focused material, lyrically and musically. Not to mention their best production ever. Truth be told, you’re really doing yourself a disservice if you don’t own everything that bears their name. It doesn’t matter where you start.
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The Haunted - The Dead Eye
I’ve never liked The Haunted. Just never have. But it was because they were boring. Fast and aggressive, yes, but overwhelmingly boring. It wasn’t because they did gay pussy shit, because they never did gay pussy shit. Until now that is. With The Dead Eye, they have officially begun doing gay pussy shit… Oh, and they’re still boring, too.
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