So welcome back everyone! This week we finally see the return of the album releases. While January is still a slow month for releases but it's a great way to start the new year. It's hard to think back to January/February when compiling top albums of the year, so I tend to pay attention to these since they are typically forgotten towards the end of the year.
While there isn't a huge amount of releases just yet, it's refreshing to see a few such as Guster, Wednesday 13, Pain of Salvation (acoustic album!), and of course Sylosis dropping some new material early in the year. Much like the movies, it's better for artists when they don't have much competition for release days.
So like always, kill two birds with one stone and head to local record store to pick up a copy of your favourite album(s). If that's a negative for the record store, then visit an online retailer, or a trusted digital source. Cheers and have a great musical week!
(Guster - Evermotion)
Evermotion is an excellent piece of work from an established band. It would be understandable, albeit disappointing, if Guster simply settled into a sound, cranked out a few more albums, and then retired. However, it is clear from this release that they are far from done. Guster still has sounds to try. - The Early Resignation
(Dan Mangan + Blacksmith - Club Meds)
With Club Meds, Mangan attempts to grasp (and make the listener grasp) that in a world filled with torture, Ferguson, class and race warfare, rampant inequality, war and despair, there is always a silver lining, a form of sedation that beckons us to keep going. And it can be a good and bad thing. -Vancouver Sun
(Wednesday 13 - Monsters of the Universe: Come Out and Plague)
It is still recognisably Wednesday 13, though, and his trademark swagger is stamped all over Keep Watching The Skies and I Ain't Got Time To Bleed, both of which feature the sleazy melodies that have kept this man in the business for so long.
He's done the horror punk thing with Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13, he's done country with Bourbon Crow and, 10 years into his solo career, he's finally broken the shackles of the genre he's so closely identified with. For the first time since 'Transylvania 90210', Wednesday 13 can be satisfied in knowing that he's released the best album of his career. -Stereoboard
As for the covers of “Holy Diver” and “Perfect Day” I think were the best songs to go with the type of band that they are and they fit in well with the album. The covers of the two tracks were done brilliantly, and had a bit of PAIN OF SALVATION into the songs, which is what every cover should be about really. Finally the album title and last song of 9th album to be released from the band is “Falling Home” now this is definitely a way to end an album, it’s just a full on acoustic song from the start, all the way through you just have guitars and vocals which is how any acoustic song should be, and I think it just ties the whole album together. All in all what another great album from PAIN OF SALVATION. -Metal Temple
(The Last Ten Seconds of Life - Soulless Hymns)
Of course, Soulless Hymns is fantastic despite its perceived shortcomings. You want riffs? “Pain is Pleasure” and “Meant To Be Free” absolutely have you covered. You want evil breakdowns that will scare priests? “Ballad of the Butcher” is terrifying and extremely gratifying. You want a template that all future deathcore bands should follow? “Sacrifice (The Prince)” is pretty damn close to a perfect song for the genre. Storm Strope is an animal on this record, spewing his vitriol with impressive range. It helps that his lyrics, while suitably misanthropic, are decidedly more intelligent than the standard fare. If this is meant to be a set of hymns for those rallying against God, it sounds like atheists have found a formidable pastor. -New Noise Magazine
The Duskfall don’t abuse the harsh verse/clean chorus arrangement so popular in melodic death metal and its metalcore offshoot, although it is present in spots, including “We Bleed” and “Endgame.” They tend to mix things up a little more and the album rarely feels repetitive, thanks in part to Klavborn’s varied vocal approach. And while Where the Tree Stands Dead is musically more of a melodic death metal album than a metalcore one, the differences between the two can be hard to distinguish, as recent releases by some of the genre’s well-known acts demonstrates. There is a healthy dose of thrashy, melodic death riffing and even the occasional blastbeat, but the album also features melodic breakdowns. The album’s main drawback is that there are fewer solos and harmonized riffs than one would expect for a melodic death metal band, although the ones present are well done. In short, while Where the Tree Stands Dead is not quite metalcore, it is a thoroughly modern melodic death album that is aware of how melodic death and metalcore have influenced each other. -Metal Observer
(Sylosis - Dormant Heart)
While instantly recognizable as a Sylosis album, ‘Dormant Heart’ provokes and questions, and there is a sense of latent anger in every menacing groove. From the slowly building grind of ‘Where The Wolves Come To Die’ through the purgatorially descendant vibe of ‘Victims And Pawns’ (a song that spits pure venom and acerbic intent) to the demonic monstrousness of the title track, the first third of the album builds the atmosphere in a suitably claustrophic manner, enveloping you in its dark, swirling mists. -Planet Mosh
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