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khaos

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Immolation - Acts of God (2022) Number eight on my end of year list that if I am being honest, the boredom of being unable to do much of anything with COVID has led me to do an end of y

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GoatmasterGeneral Grand Master

GoatmasterGeneral

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11 hours ago, markm said:

That's a surprise. Thoughts?

I happen to know Cody, the guitar player who writes all their songs. He's a Long Island boy like me, although a Gen-X'er. So I listened to his new album while giving him and some of our other friends my thoughts via group text last night. 

This album is much catchier than the last one. By far the best thing they've done to date. Did not take me multiple spins to get into like the last one 4DF. This one was immediately compelling. It's not an easy feat to be "prog" and write interesting unpredictable songs that I find appealing and can follow along with. But they've pulled it off here. He has a much better guitar tone on this one too which is a big thing for me. They recorded this "live" in studio and then added an extra guitar track later, and there's also a third guitar track in spots where there are leads. There's also a much appreciated audible bass that doesn't generally mirror the guitar riffs which adds quite a bit I think.

This isn't my main niche sub-genre of death metal, the prog-brutal space, but with this album I think they've totally transcended their niche. The new vocalist Will Smith (no relation) who was pretty one dimensional with his super low gutteral burps and grunts and was something I basically just sort of tolerated on the last album, has now made a conscious effort to expand his repertoire of sounds. He's added shrieks and yells and stuff now too. This opens up their whole sound and now you can't even really pigeonhole them in the "slam" space anymore, they are now simply death metal, or maybe even progressive death metal.

Bottom line this is a really good record, they're getting some press and recognition and accolades with this one finally which I think are well deserved. I dare say guys like you and FA and even Doc would really enjoy this album. And yet even a neanderthal like me can dig it too.

 

Cody of Afterbirth Interview Beaver Mosh

 

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FatherAlabaster Grand Master

FatherAlabaster

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16 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

I happen to know Cody, the guitar player who writes all their songs. He's a Long Island boy like me, although a Gen-X'er. So I listened to his new album while giving him and some of our other friends my thoughts via group text last night. 

This album is much catchier than the last one. By far the best thing they've done to date. Did not take me multiple spins to get into like the last one 4DF. This one was immediately compelling. It's not an easy feat to be "prog" and write interesting unpredictable songs that I find appealing and can follow along with. But they've pulled it off here. He has a much better guitar tone on this one too which is a big thing for me. They recorded this "live" in studio and then added an extra guitar track later, and there's also a third guitar track in spots where there are leads. There's also a much appreciated audible bass that doesn't generally mirror the guitar riffs which adds quite a bit I think.

This isn't my main niche sub-genre of death metal, the prog-brutal space, but with this album I think they've totally transcended their niche. The new vocalist Will Smith (no relation) who was pretty one dimensional with his super low gutteral burps and grunts and was something I basically just sort of tolerated on the last album, has now made a conscious effort to expand his repertoire of sounds. He's added shrieks and yells and stuff now too. This opens up their whole sound and now you can't even really pigeonhole them in the "slam" space anymore, they are now simply death metal, or maybe even progressive death metal.

Bottom line this is a really good record, they're getting some press and recognition and accolades with this one finally which I think are well deserved. I dare say guys like you and FA and even Doc would really enjoy this album. And yet even a neanderthal like me can dig it too.

 

Cody of Afterbirth Interview Beaver Mosh

 

I concur. I was lucky to get an early listen this summer and I think it's the best thing they've done. 

 

NP:

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Nahab

Krallice - The Kinetic Infinite

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Nasty_Cabbage Experienced

Nasty_Cabbage

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Visions of Morpheus - Lost Within

▶︎ Lost Within | Visions of Morpheus (bandcamp.com)

a3493815397_10.jpg

I feel I'm going to be a little harsher on this one than it really deserves. Power Metal is after all something of a relatively restrictive space on the musical landscape. What space remains even among the power bands with the catch all "progressive" tag attached has been stretched to it's near physical limits with vocal ranges and complex rhythms and upbeat tempos. Even with this, though, there are fairly rare bands where each member could be described as capable or good by themselves, but as a unit prove to be more than the sum of their parts. A good example of this would be Satan who don't seem to have slowed or compromised one bit in their style throughout the years, vaulting them to an esteem among power metal fans usually reserved for the legends of the genre. Listening to this album, I think that's really what they were shooting for, but something unquantifiable is keeping them from reaching that benchmark. All the elements are good to very good in their roles, and I can't really quibble too much about any of the performances, but it's just not landing with much impact for me.

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RelentlessOblivion Grand Master

RelentlessOblivion

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1 hour ago, Nasty_Cabbage said:

Visions of Morpheus - Lost Within

▶︎ Lost Within | Visions of Morpheus (bandcamp.com)

a3493815397_10.jpg

I feel I'm going to be a little harsher on this one than it really deserves. Power Metal is after all something of a relatively restrictive space on the musical landscape. What space remains even among the power bands with the catch all "progressive" tag attached has been stretched to it's near physical limits with vocal ranges and complex rhythms and upbeat tempos. Even with this, though, there are fairly rare bands where each member could be described as capable or good by themselves, but as a unit prove to be more than the sum of their parts. A good example of this would be Satan who don't seem to have slowed or compromised one bit in their style throughout the years, vaulting them to an esteem among power metal fans usually reserved for the legends of the genre. Listening to this album, I think that's really what they were shooting for, but something unquantifiable is keeping them from reaching that benchmark. All the elements are good to very good in their roles, and I can't really quibble too much about any of the performances, but it's just not landing with much impact for me.

That is the exact sentiment that has led me to almost entirely stop exploring the power/progressive metal genres, I find it almost impossible for a new band to make an impact worth considering them over any of the bands I already listen to. This is to one extent, or another true, for all the met sub genres. I enjoy, but most obvious, in the realms of power, traditional, and thrash.

 

NP: Fossilization - Leperous Daylight

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