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 GrudziĆski. 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