Metal Reviews

Is that a rhetorical question, the first one? I don't think If_Then_Else or Souvenirs are heavy albums, but they're heavier than Home. That's what I meant. And yes, I have everything by The Gathering. They're one of my favorite bands. I love the early albums, too, mainly for the music, but I can dig the vocals, I guess.

This must be their worst album ever.

The catchyness of their songs lasts as long as a cigarette. They rehash Korn's bass lines and LP's "riffs".
Where there was emotion and feeling, now stands some fucking entertainment music industry bullshit. They wanted to sell big in the US and have tons of fans : gg doing your Within Temptation selloff :evil:

I'm sick of bands going dull for the sake of breaking in the US market.

This is definately NOT nu-metal. It might use downtuned guitars, but so does Meshuggah!

but meshuggah don't play simple, overused riffs with over-distorted guitars

At a strech, you could describe Destroy Erase Improve as that. I'm not saying LC = Meshuggah, just thinking everyone's being a bit hysterical over it. What were you expecting, for chrissakes?

They sure do play simple riffs at times...and usually for an hour straight.

There's two great tracks on it- "Home" and "In Between". The rest falls between two stools. On the one hand it isn't really an inventive album. They sound like they were just happy to stick with what they knew on each song. On the other hand, despite the fact that they are usually great at doing this kind of thing, the quality of the melodies is not very high. Apart from the two tracks I mentioned, there was nothing at all that stuck in my head after several listens.

I wouldn't recommend Home to anyone but a die hard fan that wants every album. A couple of really good moments, but little else.

Yeah I will prob skip it.

Memoirs is from 3rd and the Mortal Ken, you should check it out.

i don't expect anything from a band except entertainment...

and insulting meshuggah for repeating the same riff over and over again is like insulting the mars volta for their insane free jazz/atmospheric breaks.....

LAME

Yeah but the Mars Volta needs to be insulted for that stuff* Thankfully the guys at somethingawful already handled that for me.


*These opinions, like everything else I post are just that, my opinions and not meant to get my house burned down by irriate Mars Volta fan boys

actually, nevermind I agree. Mainstream bands doing things out of the ordinary deserve nothing but to be flamed.

seriously, I mean the critics could at least try to have an intelligent argument like "Orbit Service use this style of atmospheric sections with far better results" but instead they just sound like people whose brains implodes when they hear something other than predictable verse/chorus songs. I mean they complain about nickelback being all they hear on the radio, but then the next breath they're pissing all over bands like Tool, Radiohead or The Mars Volta? That makes sense.

I like simple shit, I just don't like it to be gay. Wanking and shit isn't my thing. Tech Death Metal pisses me off the most of any genre probably.

The Mars Volta aren't wanking because it suits their sound perfectly and complements the songs. There's a difference between being ambitious and just filling your music with pointless amounts of musical trickery (tech death metal bands definitely do that).

I'm a bassist so I can't stand music with simple 2,4 rhythms. Syncopation is lovely.

I am really disappointed in this disc. It seems as though all their past doomy and gothish influences were jettisoned in favor of nu riffs. Quite a let down. I think they can regain their form but this pays the bills and you can't blame them for wanting to make money.

That isn't true, the sound of Unleashed Memorires and Comalies made them popular. Not this watered down crap. I guess shit sells though. Do you know if they play any of this shit on the radio or not?

my review of Karmacode:

Four years after releasing the highly praised Comalies and somewhat breaking through the Americain market, Italy's Lacuna Coil resurfaces with their new offering Karmacode.

Karmacode offers a new sound while keeping the trademark core sound. The first thing that becomes apparent form the first notes from "Our truth" is the use of detuned guitars and the "popcorn" bass lines that are reminiscent of Korn. Cristina Scabbia's vocals are solid as ever but are hidden behind a wall of sound on most tracks, making them less haunting and mesmerizing as on previous offerings. Andrea Fero's male vocals are more present on this album, but doesn't growl on any of the songs which is a shame since it spiced up things when mixed with Cristina's haunting voice. Fero's vocals doesn't add the extra dynamics that we would expect and are simply taking too much space away from Scabbia.

Most songs on "Karamacode" aren't bad but nothing stands out as songs sound bland and it's missing the killer songs Comalies had(ie: Heaven's a lie, Tight Rope) to elevate it's impact. This album will surely alienate long time fans, and is a misstep for the gothic sextet. The only things reedeming about "Karamacode" are the fantastic Depeche Mode cover "Enjoy The Silence" and Scabbia's enthralling timbre. As for the rest, we can only hope their next effort will be more convincing.

Highlights: What I See, Closer, Enjoy The Silence
Rating: 65/100

I totaly agree with ur review.. Would give it a score of 70 though, they ain't that bad but as u said they took the wrong turn at the crossroads. That in my humble oppinion

Video for Enjoy The Silence. (Real)

I like her hair.

This cd sucks. The songs are predictable, the riffs are boring...their worst cd so far.