THE METAL BLOG is dead, long live The King of Crunch

Just a quick note to let you all know that I've started a new blog! There is no theme this time, so I am more free to write about whatever pops into my head. Knowing me, it will still probably be metal most of the time.

Anyway, go take a look. See you all on the other side!

ALBUM REVIEW: THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT - EPICLOUD

Devin Townsend is metal royalty, having produced an inordinate amount of great material in his twenty-plus years of making music. Bursting onto the scene as a singer for Steve Vai, Devin then formed Strapping Young Lad, one of the most important and influential extreme metal bands of all time. But it is in his solo material that Townsend is most interesting - from hellacious metal assaults to calming prog rock landscapes, via disturbing dark ambient and a rock opera about a fourth-dimensional alien overlord in search of the perfect cup of coffee. Over the course of his career Devin has explored many facets of his musical self, with each album tending to sound drastically different from the one before. Epicloud, Devin's fifteenth solo record, is interesting in that it attempts to amalgamate some of these styles into one album, taking the different parts of the man and making him whole again.

SONG FOR THE DAY: ELECTRIC WIZARD - FUNERALOPOLIS

If Goatwhore sounded like sprinting through a sewer, Electric Wizard are the aural equivalent of wading incredibly slowly through a never ending torrent of neck-high bodily waste. Dorset doom metal masters Electric Wizard have a number of great albums, and 2000's Dopethrone is one of the best. Funeralopolis is a great example of the band's sound - a groovy riff played at super slow speed with crushing levels of feedback and bass over the top, and barely-discernible vocals drifting somewhere in the background. It doesn't get much heavier than this, ladies and gentlemen.

Electric Wizard are headlining Damnation Festival in Leeds on November 3rd, and with a number of other great bands on the bill, it is well worth going. Take a look, embrace the bass and enjoy the song!

SONG FOR THE DAY: GOATWHORE - APOCALYPTIC HAVOC

Goatwhore is a fantastic band name worthy of a fantastic band, and luckily these guys live up to their chosen moniker. Thrashy blackened death metal that chugs along like a badass freight train, I liken the sound of Goatwhore to sprinting through a dark dungeon full of waist-high sewage. And if that doesn't sound awesome to you, you are reading the wrong blog. Go away.

"Apocalyptic Havoc" is the first song from the band's fourth album, 2009's "Carving out the Eyes of God." Another great name. The track also contains the absolutely classic line, "Who needs a God when you've got Satan?" Nice. I like a band with subtlety. Enjoy!

SONG FOR THE DAY: SHINING - FFF

To clarify, this is Shining the Swedish black metal band, not Shining the Norwegian avant-garde jazz/metal band.

Niklas Kvarfoth, the man behind Shining, might be a little bit insane, but he makes great music. "FFF" is the last song from the band's latest album, "Född förlorare", and it's bloody good. Dirty, nasty, bleak - it's a fun time! The song takes a little while to kick in, but when it does, it kicks in with gusto. The solo towards the end is awesome too. Enjoy!

ALBUM REVIEW: PROPAGANDHI - FAILED STATES

I bloody love Propagandhi. Metal is clearly my main schtick, but I also listen to a lot of punk and hardcore. If it has angry people playing guitars, I'll probably like it. And nobody does angry people playing guitars quite like Propagandhi. The band have come a long way since they formed in the late 80's, evolving from a standard hardcore-punk sound to a more technical, metal-influenced style on later releases.

Failed States is the followup to 2009's Supporting Caste, one of my favourite records of the year. The album seemed like the culmination of the band's growing change in style, full of melodic punky hooks and awesome metal riffs. With Failed States, the band continues to change things up, whilst also looking back and taking some influences from their roots.

SONG FOR THE DAY: SYMPHONY X - WHEN ALL IS LOST

 

Symphony X are a member of prog-power royalty, and their latest album "Iconoclast" helped further secure that position. Vocalist Russell Allen has only gotten better with age and there are few guitarists more talented than founding member Michael Romeo. "When All Is Lost", one of my favourites from the record, is a good example of everything great about the band. A soft ballad section to start, slowly building up into epic prog-metal guitar madness - what's not to like? I sure am a sucker for an epic build-up. Enjoy!

 

SONG FOR THE DAY: DIR EN GREY - HAGESHISA TO.....

If you can get past the weeaboo fans who only like them because they are Japanese, Dir En Grey are a great band. Vocalist Kyo has one of the best ranges of any singer out there, and they put on a hell of a live show, as you can see here. This is "Hageshisa to, Kono Mune no Naka de Karamitsuita Shakunetsu no Yami" (which translates as "The violence and the darkness of the burning heat entwines in my heart") from the band's most recent album, "Dum Spiro Spero" Enjoy. 

SONG FOR THE DAY: COHEED AND CAMBRIA - DOMINO THE DESTITUTE

Coheed and Cambria were an integral part of my musical growth during my early teenage years and their first two albums, "The Second Stage Turbine Blade" and "In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3" still rank among my all-time favourites to this day. Third album "From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness" was also excellent, but, unfortunately, since then gradual simplification of the band's sound have left me slightly less impressed with each subsequent record.

But, holy crap you guys! Coheed just released the first single from their upcoming 6th album, "The Afterman: Ascension", and it's totally awesome! Proggy, emotionally charged, over 8 minutes long - it's old-school Coheed all the way through. I love it, and if the rest of the album is similar, we are in for a treat. Take a listen.

ALBUM REVIEW: THE FACELESS - AUTOTHEISM

The Faceless are still a young band but, over the course of their first two albums, their name became fitting in ways they can't have wanted. Technical death metal in the vein of Necrophagist, Fleshgod Apocalypse and Origin was the order of the day - blistering, mathematical, and, unfortunately, unoriginal. There was no denying the talent of the guys involved, but the music they were offering was nothing new. Don't misunderstand -  it was good music, and well worth a listen for fans of the genre, but it felt like the band was merely imitating their favourites, rather than trying to find their own voice. Faceless indeed.

So, after a four year absence, more of the same for third album Autotheism? No, yet also in some ways yes, but all for the positive. Bear with me, I'll explain. Guitarist, vocalist and founding member Michael Keene has clearly expanded his musical boundaries (and listened to a lot of Devin Townsend) since previous album Planetary Duality, and the band is all the better for it.

SONG FOR THE DAY: AGALLOCH - FIRE ABOVE, ICE BELOW

 A quick note - song for the day will not update every day, just when I feel like it. So there.

Agalloch have long been one of my favourite bands, and Fire Above, Ice Below is my favourite song of theirs. The track embodies everything that is great about this band - a perfect mixture of black, folk and post-metal, mournful atmospherics, hair-raising guitar lines - this song has it all. The combination of the guitar and backing vocals at 3:55 gets me every time. Enjoy!

 

Agalloch recently released a new one-song EP, Faustian Echoes, which is just as excellent as the rest of their discography. So if you liked this one, do yourself a favour and check them out.

ALBUM REVIEW: FOZZY - SIN AND BONES

As anyone who knows me will tell you, my three great loves in life are metal, video games and professional wrestling. As such, one would safely be able to assume that I must therefore love Fozzy, the metal band fronted by pro wrestler Chris Jericho.

The truth is slightly less black and white. I have always found Fozzy to be somewhat hit-and-miss, with most of their popularity coming from the fact that they are the band with the wrestler, rather than good musicianship. That said, Jericho has long been one of my all-time favourites in the squared circle, so I am always willing to give Fozzy a fair listen. Clear growth has been made from their days as a comedy cover band, and as time goes by, their ratio of good to bad songs weighs ever further into the good.

Which brings us nicely to their brand new album, "Sin and Bones". Heralded by Jericho himself as the band's best work yet, I can safely say that I agree with Y2J. "Sin and Bones" is, for the most part, a fun, unchallenging slice of retro-tinged heavy metal.

I'M ALIVE? I'M ALIVE!

That's right, after over a year of inactivity, THE METAL BLOG IS BACK. What started as a mere university project will soon become the best heavy metal website on the internet. So make sure to bookmark, subscribe, and check back frequently for all the metal goodness that flows from my brain, through my fingers, directly to YOUR FACE.

Enjoy!