Being that I just got caught up on the album release for last week, I was happy to return back from vacation with a small batch of great tunes. Now moving onto the album that were released on Tuesday. This might take some time to get through but I assure you it will give you some insight into album you might not know about or are "iffy" to it's calling. Let's get some of the notable albums out of the way. Hugh Laurie, Newsted, Asking Alexandria, Karnivool, The Defiled, and Norma Jean have all been on my radar since they announced their release dates. While all these albums listed below are worth checking out, the selected few I named were simply the top of AFGM's list. I am also excited for just getting my tickets to Hugh Laurie's first Toronto performance. Stoked!
Walking Papers, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Deadlock are all newcomers to my listening pleasure. I will be fortunate enough to catch Walking Papers as they hit up Toronto on the Rockstar Uproar Festival. So this will be a great time to compare album quality versus live quality.
So for the buyers, downloaders and readers I urge to to stop into your local record shop and take in all they have to offer. There is much more to be had at a record store than simply albums. If not so adventurous then make a stop over at an online retailer or other legal online source.
(Hugh Laurie - Didn't It Rain)
Didn’t It Rain is just a guy surrounded by some talented friends making some music they know they would enjoy listening to. And in such a currently impatient world that has allowed the entertainment industry to make millionaires out of people who have no obvious discernible talent, what’s so wrong about that? Besides, it’s not like Hugh Laurie is lacking the ability to pull these things off with success. Need proof? These 13 songs should be all anyone could ask for. -Pop Matters
(Walking Papers - Walking Papers)
Given the skill of all involved, it is a delight when Walking Papers take it down a gear and try something a little more quiet and introspective. Leave Me in the Dark is about as close as they come to a love song, and it does as it should: it is tender, dynamic and anthemic. It is on these quieter songs that Jeff Angell really shines. His vocals are gravel rough and give the songs a kind of drawling cool that few bands can manage. This is apparent nowhere more than on the piano and marimba based The Butcher. Angell sings with such passion and grit that it's hard to believe that these lyrics are not autobiographical in some way. The man has a talent for telling stories with a great deal of conviction and making them believable. -Contact Music
(Old Crow Medicine Show - Carry Me Back To Virginia)
But these string-bandsmen are no purists. Carry Me Back serves up a whole range of styles, from the breakneck square dance of the title track and a tongue-in-cheek steal from Hank Williams’ Hey Good Lookin’ to the country rock sound many will already know from the band’s much-downloaded rummage in Bob Dylan’s offcuts, Wagon Wheel. The vocal harmonies and friendly melodies of new songs like Levi – about an Iraq War casualty – and Ain’t It Enough echo distinguished cross-genre forebears like The Dillards and The Band. -BBC Music
(Jason Newsted - Heavy Metal Music)
As a vocalist, Newsted comes from a punk background, and his melodic bark is surprisingly nuanced, yet gruff and growly enough to align with the rawness of the music. His former band Voivod comes to mind, as Newsted writes songs of a similar speed and urgency. The sci-fi themed “Tail of the Twisted Comet” sounds like it could’ve been on Nothingface, with psych flourishes and fiery tremolo picking from guitarist Mike Mushok. While not distracting, the lyrics are Newsted’s weakest element. They’re often dry, standard fare aggressions toward war and society, mixed with some attempts at symbolic storytelling. Couplets like “demon-scene Hellscape / try to not get dead” sound cool when Newsted shouts them, but they fall flat on the slower, poppier tracks (“Above All”, “Ampossible”).
Jason Newsted deserves some credit for not overthinking his approach. Heavy Metal Music is a blunt statement of intent: horns-up thrash that’s mean and dirty, like it used to be. Newsted’s triumphant return has been one of the most surprising heavy metal success stories of 2013. They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore. -Consequence of Sound
(Asking Alexandria - From Death To Destiny)
Though the album still features plenty of the production flourishes and synth work that fans have grown used to, their uses here feel more a part of the music than some dance beats someone shoehorned in while the band chased down an unfortunate metalcore trend. And really, the metalcore parts of their sound have also been smoothed down considerably, resulting in a sound that feels more like actual songs than an excuse to string breakdowns together. These changes help to make From Death to Destiny easily the band's most focused and mature album to date, though they'll definitely be a shock to the senses for die-hard Asking Alexandria fans who weren't expecting them to put out a post-grunge-influenced hard rock album. Although From Death to Destiny might alienate some fans, the album's more grown-up sound gives them a newfound accessibility that is sure to open them up to a whole new audience hungry for some new heavy jams. -All Music
(Karnivool - Asymmetry)
However, while the first half of the album is notable for its chaotic darkness, closer examination reveals that the band may have also identified that the key to its eventual enlightenment might be found in the innocent open-mindedness of children, who are described in ‘The Refusal’ as “young fruit, still not bruised”, and are clearly afforded a special significance in the ‘We Are’ film clip, which seems to hint at the notion that the disappeared children have been selected for some special task.
That task could well be the rebuilding, transformation and ultimate salvation of the human race, but irrespective of whether this theory is an accurate one, it is clear from the very first notes of ‘Eidolon’ (which is ancient Greek for ‘spirit image’) that some sort of threshold has been breached, as from this point onwards the music is suddenly cleaner, more whimsical and melodic, with the band employing primarily major keys and discarding dissonance for harmony, and the instruments suddenly working together to create a welcome sense of hope and inspiration. -Heavy Blog Is Heavy
One of the most noticeable differences between this and 2011’s full length Chaos Of Forms is the added level of aggression; the furious death metal element is further into the fold and Davidson’s clean vocals appear to have been abandoned all together this time around. (Good – I didn’t like them.) In fact, there appears to be less focus on vocals, full stop. This decision to just let the music do the talking was a good one. Whether it’s the catchy grooves of ‘Fracked’, the awesome melodies of ‘The Gift You Gave’ or the delicious switch between the deathly beats and proggy metal sounds on finale ‘A Visitation’, it’s guaranteed there’ll be something for every metal fan to get into. -Rock N Reel
(Deadlock - The Arsonist)
DEADLOCK, the Bavarian, used to be melodic Death Metal band, proclaimed to be undergoing changes for a better future for their music. Since their second release, they always had that sensibility towards Pop and Electronic music other than the catchy Gothic Metal doctrines, especially with Sabine Scherer at the helm, yet that fine late 90s Gothenburg Death Metal of theirs sustained its domain over the material. But things changed, and one might think it was for the better. Newly signed to Napalm Records, after being a long time with Lifeforce, DEADLOCK sprung a different face with the release of “The Arsonist”. -Metal Temple
(The Defiled - Daggers)
It is rare that you come across a band that can so easily span so many genres and styles, mixing everything from industrial and metalcore, to goth and electro, and Daggers is the brilliant culmination of these styles. This record was recorded and produced in Florida at Audio Hammer Studios (after a successful Pledge Music campaign) under the watchful eye of Jason Suecof; a man who brought bands such as Trivium worldwide recognition. But it’s now the era of The Defiled! -Metal Mouth
(Norma Jean - Wrongdoers)
Anchored by the mass of a thunderous rhythm section, the band lay out their fair share of screeching riffs and verbal upheaval; but never so much as to shift the foundations of the songs themselves. It’s in this that the tracks are able to take hold and develop rather than constantly be uprooted by an unending series of catastrophic part changes. The material is still frenzied and electric, but bullish enough to stand its ground. -The PRP
(Last Chance To Reason - Level 3)
While, I wouldn’t say the band is stagnating, Level 3 is basically just a continuation of Level 2, again, not a bad thing. Just those looking for more evidence of forward progress for this progressive metal band, might be disappointed to find Level 3 feeling more like a Level 2 –Disc 2. -Metal Injection
EPs:
(Hell or Highwater - The Other Side)
In all, “The Other Side” is packed with edgy yet harmonious tunes that will easily get lodged in your head where they will remain, enslaving your soul for days. Hell or Highwater may have begun as a side project, but if the first two offerings from the band are any indication, this may be Saller’s future. -Metalholic
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