Metal Reviews

Just one thread for them all this time out. I think I'm going to work on my own review website, so I'll keep reviewing and just post them here for now.

Here are all the previous threads I've done:

ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR | FIVE | SIX | SEVEN | EIGHT | NINE | TEN | ELEVEN

DEAD MAN IN RENO – DEAD MAN IN RENO (Metalcore/Mathcore)


Dead Man In Reno sounds like it could be one of those typical Hollywood cinematic turdfests that fails trying to be Pulp Fiction and The Usual Suspects with that M. Night Shyamalan twist (see Smokin’ Aces for enlightenment). But alas, Alabama-based Dead Man In Reno’s self-titled major label debut is just a typical metalcore album with a bit of that so-called math-metal thrown in just to seemingly disrupt the flow of certain songs that were doing fine without the interruption. Not quite a turdfest, but at this point the metalcore genre is rife with bands so similar to each other that there’s really nothing to hold on to with this album, it’s a sheer drop to a point that’s simply too close to the bottom of the barrel. Of course, good music is good music, even if it’s totally unoriginal, and Dead Man In Reno do manage to knock out few great tunes; but, unfortunately, they aren’t consistent enough. It took the band a mere ten days to record this album. At times, it sounds as if they may have written it in less.

Musically Dead Man In Reno are very tight, managing to create a very heavy sound and the occasional intriguing riff or passage; but for the most part it’s just more of the same, nothing new. The vocalist comes off sounding less natural with his screams and more like he’s got a vocal processor plugged directly into his throat; and the occasional death metal vocals are simply ridiculous. As one would assume, none of this adds to the album, but rather takes away from it in ways that will simply baffle the listener. Songs like “She's Tugging on My Heartstrings,” “The Devil Made Him Do It” and “Cursed” have some great breakdowns, quiet passages and solos, even some piano, orchestration and clean singing that focuses on melody—something lacking throughout most of the album—but it’s just not enough to propel this album beyond a middle-of-the-road rating. The band shines on “Cursed.” They show potential for greatness on that song, and for brief moments elsewhere. But, sadly, for most of the album they’re taking the path of least resistance, a path already tread by countless other bands. Dead Man In Reno float dead in the water. They show enough creativity and talent to stay afloat in a sea of sameness, but they’ll need a good dose of creativity and reinvention in the future if they ever intend to make that evolutional transition to more solid ground.

Rating: 45/100
Website: http://www.deadmaninreno.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/deadmaninreno
Downloads: From Here I Can See The Shore (Official video), Lovestainedrazorblades (Fan-made video)

TRENDKILL – NO LONGER BURIED (Metalcore)


With a name like Trendkill, I’d have expected this Swedish band to step outside of the box a bit more. The only trend the band doesn’t follow is the screamo verse/cleanly-sung chorus template that is followed by most bands of this style; and that surely doesn’t elevate the band to any level of originality. Trendkill approaches metalcore much in the same way as Germany’s Cataract—less cookie-cutter metal, and more of a modern death metal groove mixed with hardcore—only not as good. Going against the metalcore grain, like I mentioned, there is no clean singing; but there is also only one solo—on the song “Headshot”—and breakdowns aplenty, which is very, very typical of the genre.

No Longer Buried is the band’s debut full-length, following two demos. Despite the lack of originality, Trendkill comes out swinging with brutal intent. Songs like “Dedication,” “Judge Me Now,” “Break The Silence,” and “Headshot,” with its melodic mid-section, make this album something of a guilty pleasure. It’s an album perfect for getting the blood and adrenaline flowing. There really isn’t a bad song on the album; however, there also isn’t a great song in sight. Thus, No Longer Buried stands firm a little bit right of the middle of the road. Nothing mind-blowing and nothing vomit-inducing—No Longer Buried is just good; but very typical.

Rating: 60/100
Website: http://www.trendkill.se
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/trendkill1
Downloads: Walking Dead, Dedication, Break The Silence (Video)

STONEGARD - ARROWS (Extreme Alternative Metal)


Never judge a book by its cover, they say. Good advice. Upon first glance at Arrows by Norway’s Stonegard, one might me tempted to believe this is some sort of stoner-doom band. Quite the contrary; aside from the stoner rock-like album cover and seemingly apt band name, Stonegard is much more an alternative metal band than anything else, but with more of an extreme approach. They are called a stoner rock band, but I really don’t hear it. They do manage to pull in some contrasting styles to make something of a unique sound—black/death metal riffs, melodic passages, old school 70’s rock, traditional heavy metal, grunge, nu-metal, and even a little southern rock. But I think they’re versed in a more alternative metal style. Unfortunately, however, while Stonegard has managed to create quite a solid and competent menagerie of sounds and offer a nice dose of originality, Arrows simply lacks truly memorable songs.

Arrows starts out with “Ghost Circles,” a short instrumental, and then kicks off with the title track, a song that initially disguises itself as a melodic death metal track. However, the vocals and verse riffs betray that notion. This song is the prototypical Stonegard song. It’s dynamic and interesting, but lacking of a truly solid hook, something that warrants repeat, on-the-spot listens. Some tracks like “Resistance” and “Goldbar” offer a more melodic distraction from the monotony, but again, they lack that endearing quality that would make this a great album. All is not lost, though; Arrows is most definitely not a bad album. In fact, it’s quite good; but generally this is going to be a one-and-done album, something you’ll enjoy occasionally, but not wish to play over and over again. Stonegard definitely has a unique formula to work with here; they simply need to focus on creating something a bit more alluring next time out.

Rating: 70/100
Website: http://www.stonegard.org
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/stonegard
Downloads: Arrows (Live video), From Dusk Till Doom (Video from From Dusk Till Doom)

Note: “From Dusk Till Doom” is from their latest album of the same name and is not quite representative of anything written in this review; it is much heavier than anything Arrows.

I saw these guys play when they opened for Evergrey 2 weeks ago in my home town. Having never heard of them before I was pleasantly surprised. The show was awesome and Stonegards' perfomance was solid, so were the songs they played tho I can't tell you any names. To me it sounded like typical stoner but i'm not an expert. Their songs really got the crowd warmed up. I've been meaning to check them out since then.
About Evergreys perfomance....

Yea i listened to this album too, very mediocre.

Yeah, it's weird; it seems that most people insist they're a stoner band. I just don't hear it. I mean, there are some Nickelback moments on this thing, you know? That sort of alt-rock/metal style. I think they have a nice mixture of styles, but stoner isn't the most prominent. I mean, just listen to "From Dusk Till Doom." That's like 80% melodic death metal. Very interesting band; but I think they could have had better songs. This album is from 2005, though, so their new one could kick tons of ass.

I could put in a good word for you at Blastwave, if you'd like....

Agreed about Dead Man In Reno. Bog-standard.

Hehe. Thanks but not thanks! =) For the time being I may review at my old review site again. They've been asking me to come back for like 6 months now. Of course, it takes them 2 months to reply to anything so that really means nothing. Haha. Plus, they send out free CDs all the time, so I could use some free CDs. =) And there they do reviews like these here in this thread; they take me like 10 minutes to write, as opposed to the reviews I did for MR, which took me like 4 hours. So why not? It'll keep me writing.

But I'm seriously considering my own review site. I gotta learn PHP first, though.

What was your old site? You never seemed to give the address...

And good luck, whe'ver ye wander.

Yeah, I never gave the address because I talked shit about it! Haha. I just think its run rather poorly; but I think those that do run it are good people. So I never wanted to have my shit-talking directed at them, you know? My biggest gripe was the owner changing my reviews around. Apparently he doesn't do that anymore. Either way, we'll see what happens.

I don't think it's that easy, just learning php and making the thing. I really suggest you get a friend that has programmed more php websites to do the trick. If you do it yourself, it will be subjectable to hacking and generally lousy. I talk from experience, I tried to learn php as well for the LA thing.

Well, I know people that know PHP, and I know HTML. These sort of things aren't hard for me to learn. I've been working with this kind of shit since '95. Eezy peezy Japaneezy.

Yeah, maybe you'll be able to do the job, I know HTML, and the idea behind PHP, but all databases just get extremely complicated when you're trying to integrate reviews with a custom forum etc. Anyways, we payed someone to do it now, it's almost done.

Yeah, I think I could handle it. I'm just not sure if I want to. Haha.

Well, as I said, if you want a word put in at BW, I'll do it. I'm sure we can hold off on our lust for each other whilst we're there.

HOLLYWOOD HAIRSPRAY VOL. 5 – VARIOUS ARTISTS (Rock)


Perris Records is one of the few labels out there that still focus on releasing old school 80s rock. Many consider the genre to be dead and gone. Of course, those who love this style—myself, whose music obsession began with 80s rock, included—know better. Rock music—glam, 80s rock, hard rock, melodic rock, AOR, etc.—is, however, quite alive and well. Perris Records released the first Hollywood Hairspray compilation back in 1992, exposing fans to new bands, from all over the world, playing an older style, and reacquainting them with some old favorites like Pretty Boy Floyd and Jetboy. In 2006, Perris released this, the fifth installment of the series (and also the sixth volume later in the year).

Volume five starts with “Instinct Animal,” an outstanding and extremely catchy track from Chris Laney (Zan Clan, Animal). The song is like a cross between Trash-era Alice Cooper, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. If only this song set the precedent on this album. Unfortunately, like with most compilation albums, what we get is a fairly broad range of songs, in terms of quality. A band called Hollywood is up next with a song called “Hearts On Fire,” a pretty good glam rock tune; but the song lacks balls—which is pretty much glam rock in a nutshell (no pun intended)—and, while catchy, is fairly unmemorable. Some other standouts include the power ballad/melodic rocker “Hold On To Your Dreams Tonight” by Gunshy, “Dancin’ On My Grave” by Sweet Cheater, and a gritty, hard rock number by Dirty Rig (featuring Kory Clarke of Warrior Soul) called “Suck It.” And though the album isn’t complete crap, there are some turds floating around the bowl—“Forever Damned” by Deadthings and “Merry Go Round” by Jack Viper deserve a good flush. The rest of the songs make for a decent listen, but overall, there’s nothing mind-blowing to sink your teeth into. Hollywood Hairspray isn’t essential listening, but it’s also not without its charm.

On a somewhat useless note, the artwork for volume five and six includes a scantily-clad Jen Hilton (http://www.jenhilton.com) (NSFW), something of a new 80s rock poster girl, who has also recently been seen on all three Trixie albums and the latest Bang Tango offering.

Rating: 60/100
Website: http://www.perrisrecords.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/perrisrecords
Downloads: Instinct Animal/Hearts On Fire (Medley)

useless note ??? I beg to disagree! I think that's pretty useful imho...

Hahaha. She's cute, indeed.

In fact that was the best part of the review

TO-MERA - TRANSCENDENTAL (Thrash/Gothic-Influenced Progressive Metal)


As the years go by, I’ve become less and less impressed with new female-fronted metal bands; much in the same manner as power metal. That’s not to say I haven’t come across many great bands or albums, just that I’m not really surprised anymore. To-Mera, however, is a little different. To-Mera approach the female-fronted metal thing from a decidedly more progressive angle than most other metal bands boasting a female vocalist—bands that seem to mostly come from the gothic side of the spectrum. Gothic elements are present here, but like fellow newcomers Echoes of Eternity, with a few subtle changes—aggressive vocals replacing or accompanying the female vocals, less atmospheric musical passages, etc.—To-Mera would undoubtedly be labeled a progressive thrash band. Fronted by the beautiful Julie Kiss, former Without Face vocalist, she will undoubtedly be placed in the promotional forefront of the music and other band members, but there is much more to this band than a pretty face and cleavage. Vocally, Kiss is run-of-the-mill, but her sweet, sultry, and strong voice leaves no room for complaint. She is backed by a solid four-piece consisting of Lee Barrett (bass), Tom MacLean (guitars), Paul Westwood (drums), and Hugo Sheppard (keyboards).

Transcendental starts with “Traces”, an instrumental that begins with some vocal-only melodies that remind me of Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance), and, indeed, until the guitars and drums kick in, this could be a lost Dead Can Dance track. It’s not until the second track, “Blood,” that you’re really introduced to this band. The song goes for the throat with some frenetic thrash riffs that intermingle with soaring vocals, piano and orchestral flourishes. “Dreadful Angel” follows suit, but steps up the progressive element, with mid-song interludes that boast what seem like improvised jazz jams in between the progressive thrash assault, it’s like going in and out of the Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole. This formula is put to use throughout the entire eight-track, hour-long album, though things never get tedious or monotonous; the band manages to make each song unique. Some songs are faster, showcasing some almost-death metal riffs (“Phantoms,” “Born of Ashes”), while others are slower and more experimental (“Obscure Oblivion,” “Realm of Dreams”).

While I don’t think To-Mera completely live up to the pre-release hype they received, I also don’t think that hype was that far off the mark. Fans of more structured music will find Transcendental a little hard to digest, with its shifting stylistic sands; but those who’re fans of gothic metal and progressive metal, even oddball progressive bands like A Triggering Myth, will find a lot to offer here. The promo sheet says this album is “ambitious, epic, and forward-thinking”, and I can’t find any argument with that statement. Some of the more progressive and experimental moments can occasionally take away from that particular song, derailing it a bit, but those moments are few and far between, making To-Mera and Transcendental worthy of your attention, indeed.

Rating: 75/100
Website: http://www.to-mera.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/tomeraband
Downloads: Dreadful Angel, Born Of Ashes, Blood (Video)