Album Breakdown - 2017

Adagio - Life

What a disappointment.  I love Adagio, their previous albums are among my favorites and I absolutely eat up their mix of power/progressive metal with more extreme genres like death/black metal.  Usually I’m not fond of the more extreme stuff, but Adagio has always nailed it without coming off like a bunch of edgelords.  While I was pretty hype for this album, given it’d been a while since their last release, I just can’t bring myself to love it like their prior works.  Overall, it just feels sorta bored.  I dig that they traded the death/black metal stuff for djent this time around and the music/compositions are still solid, but it’s just lacking the punch and energy of their earlier albums.  I’m hoping, at the very least, that maybe the album is just a grower and hasn’t quite hit me yet.

Suggested Tracks:

Life

Darkness Machine

Subrahmanya

                                                                                                                          

Android Lust - Berlin

Just discovering Shikhee D’iordna’s little solo project earlier this year, I was pretty taken away with what she had to offer and immediately found myself picking up all her records.  With this album releasing sometime in August, I was pretty quick to get it once I’d learned of its release.  As with much of her later music, it doesn’t disappoint at all.  She’s the industrial artist people should be paying attention to, not Trent Reznor, much as I respect him.  Like her previous record, a good chunk of this album is filled with sparse instrumentals, when D’iordna decides to add some vocals, it’s often more a whisper or just used to give a track some extra layers.  A lot of it is weird and, as expected of an artist like her, does get a little edgelord with its usage of natural sounds and techno goth experimentations.  In essence, it’s a very acquired taste that is sure to get some plugging their ears, wondering what the hell they’re listening to.  Acquired tastes aside, far as industrial acts go, Android Lust is top of the game.

Suggested Tracks:

Heart Tunnel

Insects

Plaza Steps

                                                                                                                          

Ayreon - The Source

Ayreon hits another one out of the park, with a solid little concept album, chock full of great performances from some of prog’s best vocalists and musicians.  As always, the compositions are tight and well produced and the tracks diverse, hitting different styles and genres.  From techno infused power metal, to some folksy pieces, opera and even some Arabic influence, there’s a lot here to dig into.

While the music is exceptional, the narrative, sadly, is not all that great.  While I am a sucker for a stories about machine uprisings and the like, The Source kinda misses the mark in the latter half.  It’s still solid sci-fi stuff with some interesting concepts, but the whole “ancestral humans” thing has always been a put-off for me.  Some may dig it, I particularly don’t.

Narrative aside, it’s still very, very good and worth a listen, more so if you don’t mind narratives about ancestral humans who migrate to Earth from other planets.

Suggested Tracks:

Deathcry of a Race

Sea of Machines

Everybody Dies

                                                                                                                          

Cellar Darling - This is the Sound

Fuck yeah!  That’s all I can really say about this album.  Former Eluveitie members, Anna Murphy, Merlin Sutter and Ivo Henzi hit it right out of the park with this one, leaving their former band completely in the dust.  While there’s not a huge emphasis on traditional folk, Anna still brings some hurdy-gurdy goodness to the tracks and the lyrical content is definitely carrying their folk influence.  Structurally, the album certainly more radio friendly than their previous work, with big emphasis on infectious songwriting.  While the more formulaic compositions are a disappointment, it’s still damn good music, elevated by Murphy’s performance.

The standout on this album is Anna Murphy herself.  She’s absolutely phenomenal and possibly gives the best vocal performance of her career.  I’ve always liked Anna, but she’s on a whole other level here.  To be honest, I’m probably rating this album so high based practically on her performance alone, she’s that goddamned good.  Could also be I’m biased, but let’s ignore that.  Really, what I’m trying to say is, come for Anna, stay for the solid music.

Suggested Tracks:

The Hermit

Black Moon

Six Days

                                                                                                                         

The Dark Element - Self Titled

Former Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon gives a strong and often soaring performance that, for the most part, puts a lot of her Nightwish work to shame.  While Anette and former Sonata Arctica guitarist Jani Liimatainen don’t tread any new ground, there is some good music hear.  It occasionally gets a little too caught up with Anette’s past, with tracks like “My Sweet Mystery” sounding like it was pulled directly from a Nightwish album.  It’s still good stuff, but I’d like for their work to have a little more confidence than this.  Still, with a mix of Anette’s Nightwish days and Amaranthe’s pop influences, there’s a lot to enjoy here.  Hopefully, this isn’t a one-time thing and this signals a bit of a return for Anette.  It’s not perfect, but it’s a competent and promising debut.  If it continues, I hope they step out of Nightwish’s shadow and try something a little more unique.

Suggested Tracks:

The Dark Element

Someone You Used to Know

My Sweet Mystery

                                                                                                                          

Eluveitie - Evocation II

While Evocation II is a solid entry in the Eluveitie discography, it’s also sort of hollow.  Maybe it’s just my own bias, but the lack of Anna Murphy’s contributions, both on the hurdy-gurdy and as vocalist, has really hurt the band.  The music is still awesome and folksy and it’s a nice follow-up to Evocation I, but it really is missing her touch.  On top of that, the new vocalist just hasn’t quite found her place yet.  Like Nightwish’s Dark Passion Play, this album feels more feet in the water, rather than a fully committed piece

Suggested Tracks:

Epona

Tarvos II

Artio

                                                                                                                          

Lunatic Soul - Fractured

Mariusz Duda’s solo project has been pretty well known for its more ambient, contemplative style, which Fractured doesn’t stray too far from.  It does, however, take some notes from more electronic groups like Depeche Mode and adds that flavor to the already exceptional style.  While the previous albums have had a strong emotional core, Fractured is by far the most personal, as it’s very much an album dealing with the recent passing of fellow bandmate, and Riverside guitarist, Piotr Grudziński.  Duda’s performance is perhaps the most somber of his career and the tracks, while more approachable than Nick Cave’s Skeleton Tree, don't always make for easy listening.  Some may be put off by the electronic influences permeating the album, and the use of sax on such songs, but it’s rather fitting with what Duda is going for here.  It’s moody and melancholic and one of the finest albums of the year.  Set some time aside, make sure there are no distractions and just give it a listen.

Suggested Tracks:

A Thousand Shards of Heaven

Battlefield

Fractured

                                                                                                                          

Orden Ogan - Gunmen

Another solid release from this German power metal group.  Though not quite as awesome and infectious as Ravenhead, this album still kicks all the ass and satisfies that power metal itch.  With a neat Western concept, pretty obvious, given the title, and some strong vocals and solid musicianship, the album keeps your ear.  However, good as I think the album is, it loses some love for playing it incredibly safe.  While it’s all solid and competent, it’s just so standard, there’s nothing really exciting and it barely has any identity. At the end of the day, it’s just another power metal album by another power metal band.  It’s not good, it’s not bad, it’s just a tad disappointing.

Suggested Tracks:

Vampire in Ghost Town

Ashen Rain

Come with Me to the Other SIDE

                                                                                                                          

Ra's Dawn - From the Vile Catacombs

Given it's been eight-years since their last record, I’d pretty much just accepted that Ra’s Dawn had called it quits.  Would've been a damn shame too if they had. After a long wait though, they’ve finally released a new album, and while it’s nothing exceptional, it’s still a solid hitter.

While Ra's Dawn have always had a strong emphasis on Egyptian infused metal and lyrics inspired by Egyptian mythology, they have made an effort to jump around other traditional genres and subject matter.  In fact, From the Vile Catacombs, probably has the least Egyptian influence in its blood.  Ra’s Dawn opts, instead, to go with more straightforward power and thrash metal, with a harder edge and more aggressive approach than what they’d done previously.  While disconnected from their heavier Egyptian influences, the album is easily the most consistent and accessible of their releases so far.  Every track is solid fun, even the silly "(We Play) The Music of the Devil" is a fun camp anthem perfectly suited for live performances.

All around, From the Vile Catacombs is a solid return from a band once thought lost.  It treads familiar ground, shows the band taking a slightly more commercial approach and certainly isn’t a must listen, but there’s still some fun to be had here.

Suggested Tracks:

From the Vile Catacombs of Sahure

Ghost of my Mind

Soroya's Eyes

                                                                                                                          

Serenity - Lionheart

Another miss.  As solid as the music and compositions are on this album, I just cannot get past the vocals.  Georg Neuhauser has a solid voice for power metal and when the songs are slower and his vocals a little more subdued, he’s fantastic, but he often seems to be holding back when he gets to the obligatory anthems.  Georg’s vocals, aren’t the worst aspect of this record however, the concept is.

I have no clue what in the hell the band was thinking, especially considering Georg himself is a history teacher, when they decided to make a typical anthem heavy power metal album, glorifying Richard Fucking Lionheart and the Crusades.  I get it, power metal tends to be all about glory and tends to have a romanticized view of things, but you’d think they’d, I dunno, be a little more critical when writing a concept album about a guy who massacred nearly 3,000 people over an unpaid ransom.  It’s not like power metal hasn’t gone to dark places, so I don’t know why Serenity chose to keep all the positive bombast on this.  Conveniently, the Massacre of Ayyadieh goes completely unmentioned.  I dunno, just seems odd to write a fist pumping album glorifying a whack job king, especially considering today’s political climate in regard to Muslims.

Suggested Tracks:

Hero

The Fortress (of Blood and Sand)

Eternal Victory

                                                                                                                          

Sleeping Romance - Alba

Relatively predictable goth/symphonic, female fronted metal band.  While I really like this kind of stuff, all too often these kind of groups fall into the same trap, in that they just kind of sound like Evanescence clones or far too often recall more goth/symph orientated groups like Nightwish or Within Temptation.  It’s not bad music it’s just safe music.  They’re songs meant for a niche audience sure, but it doesn’t make them any less predictable or samey.  There are some solid tracks here and there and a couple are so mid-2000s in their sound and structure that it’s a hit of nostalgia, but I find myself wanting more.  Solid as this group is and as easy as the tracks on the album are to relate to, they seem content to follow, rather than to lead.  A shame really.

Suggested Tracks:

Lost in my Eyes

My Temptation

Where the Light is Bleeding

                                                                                                                          

Sons of Apollo – Psychotic Symphony

In some ways, Sons of Apollo is what Dream Theater would be if Sherinian never left and if they booted LaBrie in favor of a masculine rock vocalist from the late 70s.  Jeff Scott Soto is a good performer, but his raspy voice doesn’t quite gel with the proggier, compositionally driven songs.  A cleaner voice like Devin Townsend or, well, James LaBrie, would fit much more comfortably.  When Soto’s voice does work, the music, sadly, sounds like straight up butt rock.  A good chunk of the album often recalls the shite metal antics of Portnoy’s previous band, Adrenaline Mob and much of it just feels rushed and slapped together.  If “balls out” hard rock/metal is your thing, then you’ll be pleased with this one.  If not, I’d suggest avoiding this and picking up Dream Theater’s The Astonishing instead.

Suggested Tracks:

God of the Son

Figaro’s Whore

                                                                                                                          

St. Vincent - Masseduction

This is my first experience with St. Vincent or Annie Clark and I’ve gotta say, I’m pretty damn impressed.  Doing a bit of research on her, it wasn’t too surprising to learn that such a strong musician/songwriter, studied at Berklee College.  What really drew me to her during my research, was her take on music education.  “I think that with music school and art school, or school in any form, there has to be some system of grading and measurement. The things they can teach you are quantifiable. While all that is good and has its place, at some point you have to learn all you can and then forget everything that you learned in order to actually start making music.”  While she knows her music theory, she understands that art doesn’t just come from knowing how to do a thing, there’s more to it than that.  Call me an optimist or whatever, but that kind of outlook on art really resonates.

Anyway, the album?  Right!  Well, it’s pretty goddamned good, the subject matter is deeply personal, her voice is phenomenal, the poppy synth and sometimes guitar driven compositions are fantastic and her blend of: electropop, rock and jazz is sure to perk up the ears of casual listeners, while keeping music fans busy with the more intricate layers of the compositions.  While the lyrics take the listener to some darker and more depressing places, St. Vincent maintains a dark humor about the songs and herself.  In that way, she sometimes reminds me a bit of Fiona Apple.  Like the song “Pills” for instance, which focuses on her dependency on medication, contains a humorous and catchy little chorus, which references all the things she needs the pills for.  It’s really just kinda refreshing to hear a musician write about some serious stuff, without being all doom and gloom about it.  Sometimes humor is a better way to cope.  While there are a couple duds here and there, this is a solid album that certainly cements St. Vincent as one of the greats.

Suggested Tracks:

Masseduction

Happy Birthday, Johnny

Pills

                                                                                                                          

Steven Wilson - To the Bone

How I wish I could like this album more.  It’s not that it’s really bad or anything, it’s just kind of bland and uninspired.  It’s a decent prog-pop album that recalls a lot of the synth infused, radio friendly prog tunes of the 80s.  Sadly, few things on this album are uniquely Wilson, it’s just a trite mishmash of his inspirations.  It’s certainly more entertaining than his first two solo albums, but it’s not hitting the highs of Porcupine Tree, Storm Corrosion or the previous solo record, Hand. Cannot. Erase.

Suggested Tracks:

People Who Eat Darkness

Song of I

Permanating

                                                                                                                          

Sun Kil Moon - Common as Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood

Without a doubt, this is the oddest album I’ve heard all year.  Sun Kil Moon is most well-known as a little folk rock act, who gained some recognition when the up its own ass Gears of War 3 trailer used Sun Kil Moon’s “Heron Blue” as the trailer song.  While this album does keep some of the folksy elements, Kozelek strays from that, with hints of hip-hop and alternative.  The lyrics are all over the place ranging from terrorism, to Trump, to Kozelek recounting a live performance on a college campus and a letter he received.  Despite being all over the-place, the record is surprisingly consistent and often dryly humorous.

This is definitely not an album for everyone.  It’s pretty oddball for starters and Kozelek has a tendency to be very, very longwinded.  Songs range from five minutes to twelve and, despite these lengths, the compositions are basic and tracks have almost no progression.  Kozelek finishes when he wants to and he doesn’t really care how longwinded or repetitive he may be getting there.

Suggested Tracks:

Sarah Lawrence College Song

Chili Lemon Peanuts

Seventies TV Show Theme Song

                                                                                                                          

Threshold - Legends of the Shires

Much as I like Threshold, this album is more of the same, but this time as a double album and this time with a vocalist who only ever appeared on the band’s second album, twenty-years ago.  You’ve got your prog epics, your horribly melodramatic and saccharine power ballads and some occasionally pointed lyrics.  It’s all decent and well produced, but it’s got no bite to it, it’s all fluff.  It’s also just too goddamn long.  I get double albums seem to be a thing right now, but this really didn’t need to be.  Several tracks could’ve just been left out, sold as B-sides or thrown on a studio compilation or something.  But no, everyone’s doing double albums right now, so they’ve gotta do a double album.  Overall, it’s a mediocre album which offers only mild entertainment.

Suggested Tracks:

Small Dark Lines

Trust the Process

Stars and Satellites

                                                                                                                          

VUUR - In this Moment We are Free

I really, really wanted to like this album, but it’s just not really my thing.  I absolutely adore Anneke van Giersbergen, she’s an excellent performer whose voice just soars.  As with many, I know her for her collaborations with Arjen Anthony Lucassen and Devin Townsend.  Coming from projects like those, I was hoping VUUR would be something awesome, but sadly, it just didn’t really catch with me.  The music is good, the individual performances of the musicians are good, the compositions are nice and the album concept, which reflects on the many cities she has been to as a musician, is unique, but it’s all so flat and boring.  I can’t quite place what it is exactly, but it might just be the production.  The mixing is bland and sterile, there’s no oomph or life to any of it, it’s all so compressed and generic.  Even Anneke sounds like she’s been run through a bunch of different filters and pitch correcting software.  It’s all just so modern and formulaic, without any edge.  I really hope I’m wrong and it’s just a grower, as I’d really hate to shelve an album with Anneke at the center.

Suggested Tracks:

Time – Rotterdam

Freedom – Rio

Valley of Diamonds – Mexico City

                                                                                                                          

The War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding

Take some keyboard driven and thoughtful rock of the 80s, throw in a Bob Dylan who can sing and you’ll likely get something close to The War on Drugs.  While clearly walking in the shoes of other bands and artists, The War on Drugs still manages to carve its own original sound, despite the very obvious inspirations.  I’ve pretty much had this thing on repeat since I bought it last month and I’ve yet to get bored of it.  It’s just an all-around fantastic record, with a wonderful vocal performance from Adam Granduciel and really fine and relatable lyrics.  The only complaint I’d have, is that the songs are, as a friend put it, rather linear throughout.  It’s not too much a problem, because the music and lyrics are still quite good, but it does detract from the overall quality, if only by a smidge.

Suggested Tracks:

Knocked Down

Pain

Holding On

                                                                                                                          

White Moth Black Butterfly - Atone

Oh boy, this is a pretty good one.  Pure, sparse, sonic bliss.  It’s beautiful, meditative, expertly composed and poetic.  I can just keep throwing out all kinds of different adjectives, but none of them will really do this album justice.  Just ignore my ramblings and listen to it, it’s excellent.

Suggested Tracks:

Symmetry

The Sage

The Serpent

                                                                                                                          

Top Ten Albums - 2016

1.       Legacy – Myrath

While Myrath continues the simpler approach, they began with their previous album, they still manage to satisfy the thirst for chugging guitars and complexity that most prog-metal fans are looking for.  On top of that, the more streamlined approach absolutely works for them and has allowed them to carve out their own path, far away from their Dream Theater/Symphony X inspirations.  Now, Myrath is all their own, churning out some of the most infectious and energetic songs around.  While I came to love the band for their proggier roots, Legacy is by far their best and most consistent material yet.  Not a single track fails to disappoint the ears and the Arabic flair that was once a neat little gimmick that came with their Tunisian heritage, is now on full, glorious display with every song.  The lyrics may be not leave much room for imagination, but they get the message across without pretension and are perfectly carried by the stellar vocal performance of Zaher Zorgati.  There’s honestly not a bad thing I can say about this album, save that it ends.

Alien: Out of the Shadows (An Unnecessary Midquel)

So I decided to pick up both versions of “Alien: Out of the Shadows” which Audible couldn’t help but recommend to me on “Alien Day”. On that note, do we really even need an Alien Day?  I mean that May the Forth shit with “Star Wars” is embarrassing enough, I don’t think the “Alien” franchise really needs its own mini-holiday.

Paprika

Yet another high recommendation that it took me forever to get around to, and just like those before, yet another splendid feature.  Unlike the previous recommendation and quick review, “Paprika” is a brighter and more upbeat film, so there’s a lot less depression and domestic issues this time around.  Which is a nice change of pace after sitting through a very bleak and depressing film.

Possession

Finally!  Thanks to the might of the Blu-Ray player, I can watch “Possession”, a film that has been highly recommended, but that I have not been able to watch as I did not have anything that played in the format.  Well, now I do and, the best I can say of “Possession” in a few words would be “Holy shit that’s fucked.”  That’s not to say “Possession” is a bad film, far from it actually, but it is to say that it’s really dark, twisted and very, very confusing.

Top Ten Albums - 2015

10. Pyramaze – Disciples of the Sun:

Nothing revolutionary, but a very solid and very well written effort from a band I’ve only just discovered this year. While still keeping to traditional prog elements, with technical precision ruling the day, Pyramaze crafts a concise and easily accessible record that doesn’t overstay its welcome. As seems to be the tradition in a great deal of prog metal, there is a power metal vibe and sound that permeates the record and there’s a whole hell of a lot of synth spread throughout. While not a turn-off for me, this could be reason enough for some to steer clear from the album. If, however, you’ve no problem with power metal and synth goodness, this is a top notch record that should definitely be added to your collection.

Jurassic World - Modern Satire

So, given I’ve let the movie sit for the several months after initially watching it in the theater and, having watched it again, I can confidently say that Jurassic World is actually a pretty damn good movie.  Despite my initial complaints upon first viewing the film, which, for the most part, still stand, it’s far from the travesty most of us Jurassic Park fans were thinking it was going to be based off the trailers.  Is it good or even up there with the original film?  Hell no, it doesn’t capture the magic and sense of wonder of Jurassic Park, but that’s not really a bad thing when one considers the inspiration behind the film.