New stuff this week… 1/11/2010
Well… it’s the first week of new releases for the year… so without further ado….
Mudvayne
Mudvayne
Epic
48:22 – 11 Tracks
These guys must think they’ve gotten to that point in their career where they don’t really need to have normal packaging… this new release is all white, everything, just white… but with “Black Light reactive art by Paul Booth” thank god for the stickers on here, or I wouldn’t know what tracks to say I’m playing. Well, off to the mini-review… For me, lately, Mudvayne has become kind of a drag… you know, solid rock fodder for the masses, most everything kinda sounds a bit too “accessible” While this album is MOSTLY that sorta stuff… this one seems a bit more diverse, like there’s a bit more thought into it, and a lot more catchy than previous efforts… it’s not so droney… and yes… catchy… No they won’t be my favorite band, but I’m a bit more excited to play this album than their last one! http://www.mudvayne.com/
Seven Year Existence
1 Of God
Ginhergy Entertainment
32:38 – 7 Tracks
Some quality death/blackened metal stuff here… some good abrasive vocals, music is pretty heavy… however, the production sounds like it’s through a streaming connection… I’d like to think it’s just the quality of the files I got, but I think it takes a bit away from the music. It’s kind of death, thrash and they’re semi-local… from Champaign Ill. They’re playing at the Rave on a side stage opening for Nile on 1/22… I’m going to do my best to check them out… http://www.myspace.com/sevenyearexistence
Fear Factory
“Fear Campaign” Single
Candlelight
4:52 – 1 Track
Well… the tracks are trickling out from the new Fear Factory 2.0. Great stuff again… I’ve always been a fan, so I’m a bit biased, but it still has that classic FF sound… maybe turned up a notch or two with Gene Hoglan in the fold now. I mean, nothing will top Demanufacture, but this album could have come out right after that album and fit right in…. This track has a good mix of all that is FF. http://www.fearfactory.com/
Abigail Williams
In The Shadow Of A Thousand Suns (Bonus tracks)
Candlelight
24:36 – 5 Tracks
These guys came on the scene and went away so fast… but, they came back… and with a lineup that wanted to hit the road and tour a lot… a great thing! So while this isn’t a new album, it’s some newish material that sounds great… some almost symphonic black metal… the best sounding stuff since Dimmu Borgir in my opinion… This 5 song thing is just a few demos, including an instrumental… I’m pretty sure it was available at shows on their last tour and on their upcoming tour. http://www.myspace.com/abigailwilliams
Brainstorm
Memorial Roots
AFM
50:30 – 11 Tracks
AFM seems to have a whole bunch of stuff on the plate for the early part of the year… this one kicks off with new stuff from Brainstorm… A power metal band that has been around for about 20 years now. It’s fairly straightforward standard power metal, nothing really fast or thrashy… mostly like the run of the mill Judas Priest stuff. So yeah, it’s decent, but nothing really to get excited about. http://brainstorm-web.nicowobben.com/posts/
Valkyrja
Contamination
Metal Blade
56:42 – 10 Tracks
The second album from these Swedish dudes… .This does not fuck around at all. Just some good blackened melodic death metal. I guess it could just be called black metal…it’s very dark, has that classic black metal noisy guitar. And it’s catchy too! http://www.myspace.com/valkyrjaswe
Six Feet Under
Graveyard Classics 3
Metal Blade
46:03 – 10 Tracks
Yes, disc number three of covers… one might think Chris Barnes doesn’t have anything left in the ol tank… That could be… but I’m a sucker for cover songs and especially to hear them performed a bit different than the original. So, yeah it’s 6′ Under doing covers… you can do the math. I’ll just paste the tracklisting (From wikipedia)…. http://www.sfu420.com/
Track listing
- “A Dangerous Meeting – Mercyful Fate“
- “Metal On Metal- Anvil“
- “The Frayed Ends Of Sanity – Metallica “
- “At Dawn They Sleep – Slayer“
- “Not Fragile – Bachman Turner Overdrive“
- “On Fire – Van Halen“
- “Pounding Metal – Exciter“
- “Destroyer – Twisted Sister“
- “Psychotherapy – The Ramones“
- “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck – Prong“