Metal Reviews

I doubt you'd feel the same way if this were a Devin Townsend album. Expectations, I think, have people up in arms about this one.

I'd be deeply confused if this was a Devin Townsend album because none of the songs on here except Almost Again sound at all like his solo work... they're all SYL songs, just bad ones.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/38853/Jet_Shine_On

rofl

Isis & Aereogramme - In The Fishtank 14
70/100

Konkurrent Records’s In the Fishtank series is an interesting idea. Basically, they take anywhere from 1-3 bands, give them 2 days in a recording studio, and get them to fill up 25 minutes of tape. Judging by the fairly well known artists the series has attracted (NoMeansNo, Sonic Youth, Tortoise, Jaga Jazzist), it seems to be a fairly successful endeavor. I didn’t know anything about this when I bought In The Fishtank 14, but seeing Isis and Aereogramme’s names on the same album cover made buying it practically a must.

Isis is known for their blend of sludgecore and post-rock; specifically their ability to blend those two to create beautiful, epic, and immense soundscapes that was over your ears. Aereogramme is a somewhat more to-the-point band, but overall are no less ambitious. Vaguely centered around the extremely loose alternative rock genre, their music can range from harsh, screamed filled metalcore, to delicate acoustic pieces, to triumphant post-rock crescendos and just about everything in between. Seeing as how both bands are firmly rooted in both metal and post-rock genres, the music that their collaboration creates is really none too surprising; this also makes it devilishly difficult to figure out which of the 9 people in the collaboration were responsible for what, so I won’t even try.

“Low Tide” starts things off with a slow, atmospheric post-rock number. The songs overall style, and the use of a pedal steel, reminds me quite a bit of the Red Sparowes. Craig B of Aereogramme provides his distinctly high-pitched and beautifully fragile vocals, which fit the accompanying music perfectly, towards the middle of the song before it slowly fades into distorted electronic drumming. Based around a crunchy riff and some creepy vocals that are hidden in the background, the four minute long “Delial” is the most succinct and driven song on the EP. It wastes no time in ebbing and flowing between quieter buildups and thundering climaxes. Finishing things off is the 10 minute long “Stolen”, which is an entirely ambient track with the exception of some vocals and percussion towards the start of the track. Given the time constraints, Isis and Aereogramme have created something very impressive, although with the exception of “Low Tide” (which, quality-wise, would fit in on an album by either band), I would say this release is more suitable for fans, rather than casual listeners.

Spawn of Possession - Noctambulant
50/100

Well, it had to come to this eventually. Perhaps Spawn of Possession don't completely deserve it, or perhaps I shouldn't say Spawn of Possession as a band but rather Noctambulant as an album. Cabinet had a measure of brutality and heavyness to it that is nearly completely absent on Noctambulant. Anyways... onto the review:

From this day forth, I crown Noctambulant to be everything that is bad about technical death metal. I looked over quite a few bands that fall under the umbrella of technical death metal, but of them all, only this album fit it perfectly. Every other band I listened to had at least some quality to support their staggering displays of musical talent - Gorguts are as much avant-garde as death metal, Martyr and Quo Vadis back up their chops with top notch songwriting, Necrophagist have the best neoclassical guitarist to emerge in the last 10 years, Theory In Practice hypnotize with their interweaving melodies, and so it goes for any other contender, except maybe Beneath the Massacre, but they haven't released a full length yet.

So what do Spawn of Possession do wrong? Well... besides being amazingly good at their instruments, everything. Their riffs are so complex that no energy, emotion, or heavyness comes through. The drumming is a constant stream of blastbeats. There are some tempo and style shifts that could be termed "drastic", but seeing as how the "heavy" sections aren't heavy, the "soft" sections don't have anything to contrast with. After trying to listen to this album five or so times I have found no hooks, melodies, songs, riffs, vocal lines, or anything else that holds my attention, just an endless stream of billion notes riffs that accomplish nothing and lead into an equally complex and inconsequential riff.

Even as a fan of quite a few pointlessly technical bands (I even like PsyOpus...), I still haven't managed to find anything good to say about this album besides the talent it must require to perform.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/38853/Jet_Shine_On

rofl

The other Jet review is even lol-er.

yeah shut up i know i thought it was good when i first heard it