#and thought deathcore was the ultimate in heavy genres

[the-new-hip-priest]

The other night my partner was winding me up for moaning about the lack of goth clubs and prevalence of emo nights in Sydney, so I played him some Bring Me The Horizon and he shut right up. The full version of Bela Lugosi’s Dead doesn’t seem so bad now, does it?

[thisaintascenereviews]

I Am - Eternal Steel Texas extreme metal band I Am is a band that I’ve never been super crazy about, although I’ve heard a few of their albums, and I’ve enjoyed all of them. I’ve never been over the moon for them, but they’re a solid band. They were always a deathcore-leaning band to me, including a lot of breakdowns, deep and gutteral harsh vocals, as well as a death metal aesthetic, but it seems like things have changed a little bit on their newest LP, Eternal Steel. I don’t remember if I heard their last LP before this one, but from what I saw, they turned into a hybrid of death metal, thrash metal, groove metal, and hardcore. They threw a bunch of sounds into a blender, at least from what it looked like. I remember their album, at least the songs I heard from it (if I didn’t hear the whole album, anyway) had that sound, and they were interesting, to say the least. It was a bit of a clunky sound, because they didn’t mesh it extremely well at that point yet, but it was cool hearing a death metal, groove metal, and thrash mix with a dash of hardcore and crossover. With that said, though, they’re also one of those bands that falls victim to the issue of having a bunch of sounds in their own sound, only to be more or less a sum of their parts, versus actually doing super unique or interesting when you break it all down. Each element of their sound didn’t really stick out in any way, but the combined product was pretty cool, all things considered. I didn’t know what to expect with Eternal Steel, but I had the same idea that they would definitely utilize their new sound a lot more. Sure enough, that’s what they do on this LP, and it yields good to mixed results. I want to preface my thoughts on this album with the idea that it’s a good album overall. If someone asked me if they should check this out, I’d say yes immediately. I’d completely recommend this record, but at the same time, there are some major issues here that I can’t ignore and that have ultimately made me want to revisit it somewhat less and less the more I hear it. The album doesn’t get any worse, per se, but it also hasn’t quite gotten any better with each subsequent listen, either, and that’s what an album should do. The more you hear it, the better it should get, or the more intricacies you find through playthrough. Let me talk about what I like first, though, and there are a few really good things here. Despite my biggest issue being its sound, and I’ll get to that more in a bit, I do enjoy it overall. I love their mixture of thrash, death metal, groove metal, and hardcore. They take the best elements of each genre and put them to good use. There are some sick thrash guitar solos, heavy and slowburning groove metal riffs, a lot of death metal ragers, and some awesome breakdowns that take over the album. Everything is performed well, especially for what it is, so when I say that I’m not crazy about this album, it’s not the performances, it’s more so how it’s all executed in the end. One thing I have always liked about this band, their sound aside, is their vocalist. He’s got one of the deepest and most gutteral death metal growls I’ve heard in a long while, but he has some range, too. What it all comes down to, at least as to why I don’t care for this album as much as I should, is in its execution. Everything sounds great, and it bothers me that I don’t like this album as much as I should. I like it, but I don’t love it. A lot of other people seem to love it, and I’m glad they do, because it’s a good album, but this album is just so generic when you really break apart each individual element of their sound. It’s almost like they sound like another band; their crossover moments sound like Power Trip, and their groove metal moments sound like Pantera, and that kind of takes me out of the album, because they just seem to sound like other bands. Whether they intend on that or not, I won’t comment on, because it doesn’t really matter, but it just sounds like they’re emulating other bands, versus crafting their own identity outside of combining these ideas together. You can combine these ideas together, but it doesn’t sound like they’re trying to create something new, but just take all of these ideas and sounds that are really good and put them in a blender. Like I said earlier, this album is the sum of its parts, so as long as you don’t break down the individual elements and just leave the album as a whole, you’ll enjoy it a lot, I’m sure. The album works best when you “turn your brain off,” so to speak, because it sounds awesome when you don’t think about it, and you just want some good riffs, breakdowns, and solos, but if you start to think about it, it just doesn’t do anything for me, because it sounds really generic in spots. Not to mention, this album also runs out of steam by the halfway point, and a lot of the songs just blend together in the end, which isn’t horrible on its own, but this album is about 42 minutes, so it’s a bit lengthy when you think about it. It’s not a bad album, per se, but the album just runs out of ideas, because it just has the same formula of combining these same sounds in different orders. A few acoustic and slower parts appear on the album, which is cool, but this album works best if you want a bunch of ragers. It’s one of those albums, so you really can’t criticize it completely, or go too hard on it, because it’s not trying to do anything unique or say anything unique, it’s trying to be fun, engaging, and heavy as all hell. Sometimes that’s all you need, but other times, it’s not enough. It’s weird, because I don’t usually fault albums for that, but the execution has to be top notch for me to excuse how generic it is. You can make the argument that this is unique, but not really. It’s not as unique as some people might think it is. I just don’t think this album is up to par with what I was looking for in the vein of heavy bangers. It’s got some good stuff, and I might play this every now and again, but I’m not going back this constantly, because there’s not much for me to go back to, either. That’s the main thing that I’m trying to say here, but you know what? If you enjoy this record, good for you. I’m glad you like it, because it’s a good album. Is it a great album, or is it one of the best of the year? No, not by a long shot, but I wouldn’t blame someone if they really loved this, either, because it’s got some good stuff on it. At the very least, it’s worth a listen.

[thisaintascenereviews]

Book Review by Bradley Christensen For The Sake Of Heaviness: The History Of Metal Blade Records Author: Brian Slagel & Mark Englinton Publisher: BMG Release Date: August 29 2017

November of 2014 is when I first got into heavy metal. It was a combination of picking up some albums from bands like Cannibal Corpse, Abysmal Dawn, At The Gates, and some new albums from some veterans of death metal, because I wanted to get into actual death metal. I say that, because I’ve been pretty into deathcore for years, but I never got into actual death metal. Not that I didn’t like it, but I didn’t listen to it, so I wanted to expand my tastes a bit. Now it’s funny, because a few years later, Cannibal Corpse is one of my favorite bands (especially now that I’ve gotten more into their stuff since then), but metal is my favorite genre. I mean, sure, I like specific kinds of metal, but if I had to tell someone what I liked most, it would be metal. That’s what I listen to most. I’m listening to Helloween as I write this, but I also got into bands like Dio, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden around this time, too. I was already a big fan of “classic rock,” the umbrella term for bands, artists, and albums that defined the 1960s through the 1980s (maybe even the 1990s, too, but not really), but I’ve always to get into classic metal. I picked up Black Sabbath’s 1970 LP, Paranoid, around that same time, and I really liked it, so I thought I’d get more into stuff like that. I’ve grown to love a lot of classic metal, stuff that defined the genre (or shall I say, genres, thanks to how many kinds of metal there are), and it’s amazing as to how much I’ve listened to, consumed, and loved throughout the last few years. For this year, actually, I’ve listened to so much metal that I’ve really enjoyed, I’m separating out my yearend lists into non-metal, metal, and a culmination of both. Anyway, my point is, my life has changed a lot, thanks to metal, mainly in the sense that I’ve discovered an entire world of music. Of course there are plenty other worlds of music to discover, like when I got into funk, soul, and R&B music, but metal is its own breed. Metal is interesting, because there are tons of kinds of metal. You’ve got black metal, power metal, death metal, thrash metal, and tons more.

A good question that is worth asking, regardless of any genre of music, is where did it all come from? Not even in terms of where the music itself came from, but the scene that erupts around it. A lot of people credit a band like Black Sabbath with creating metal, and they kind of did, but it wasn’t until the early 80s (and some would even argue the mid-80s) that heavy metal started taking off. Part of that I would like to credit with Metal Blade Records. This is a record label that’s one of the biggest in the world, and one of the torchbearers of the genre, giving a lot of unknown and talented bands a chance to thrive in the world of heavy metal. For The Sake Of Heaviness is a book that details the creation, as well as the rise, of Metal Blade. Written as an autobiography of the label, Metal Blade CEO Brian Slagel takes us, the reader, through his early years as a metal fan, and what inspired him to start Metal Blade. The book takes us through mainly the early 80s through the 90s, and it’s a really interesting read, especially if you’re a metal fan. I don’t know if this is worth reading if you’re not into metal, because you’ll have no idea what he’s talking about, but at the same time, it’s worth taking a look at if you want to get some ideas on starting a label, whether you’re a fan of metal or not. The thing is, too, I can’t say that this piece is a review of the book, because it’s not a proper book. I mean, it is, but there’s not much to critique here. This is about something that actually happened, and instead of an autobiography about a person with a story, per se, this book is more or less about a lot of stuff, including bands, musicians, people, and places. There’s a lot of stories in one here, so this isn’t a review, but it’s merely about my thoughts on this book. Obviously, I love this book, and it’s totally worth a read, but it’s honestly for fans of metal, first and foremost.

Now that’s a good and a “bad” thing, and I put that in quotes, because it’s not anything that makes me dislike this book. The good thing about that, well, is that one thing that I got throughout the book is that Slagel is a metal fan. That’s why he started Metal Blade, because he’s a fan, first and foremost. I actually really like that he talks a lot about that, and a ton of guest musicians talk about that, too. Something cool that this book does is actually have little paragraphs, as well as full interviews, from other musicians, or just people that Slagel came across / knew within the music industry, or elsewhere, and one thing that’s constantly talked about is how much he’s a fan of metal. As I was saying, I really like that he talks about how he’s fan of the bands he signs, first and foremost, because it’s similar to being a reviewer. He looks at music from a business perspective, too, but he wants to sign bands he likes, too. He enjoys what he does, and I feel that, coming from the perspective of someone that likes to write about music. My best friend Jake would always ask me if I’m a fan first, especially when we first met, even though I like to critique music. I like to review it, analyze it, and things like that. I’m not necessarily harsh, or anything like that, because there are a lot of things that I’ll give a pass to, no matter the reason, but it’s definitely possible to be a fan of music that you might criticize, or bands that you’re handling from a business perspective. That’s a thing that I wanted to briefly talk about, just because I really enjoyed how Slagel came across with that balance of being a fan, but also knowing what business steps to take. If anything, though, this album is just great for fans of metal, because you get a sense of history from this book. The “bad” thing about that, however, is that you wouldn’t have a clue as to what is being talked about here if you’re not into metal, so I wouldn’t go into this book without being a metal fan.

With that said, however, this book is great. There are a lot of things that I knew (one interesting fact that I knew before reading this, but I didn’t know any specifics is that the alternative band The Goo Goo Dolls were actually signed to Metal Blade for awhile early in their career; the thing is, Metal Blade had a punk sublabel, and they signed to that, but Metal Blade had a joint deal with Warner Bros in the late 80s and early 90s, a deal that was broken by the band Gwar, but The Goo Goo Dolls were technically a Metal Blade band for a brief time), but there were also a lot of things that I didn’t know. Being a huge fan of Metal Blade itself, especially through a lot of bands on the label, it was cool to hear a lot of these bands being talked about. It was cool to see where the label came from, and it was also awesome to know a few other things. For instance, I never knew that Slayer released their debut LP, 1983’s Show No Mercy, on Metal Blade (I picked it up the other day, actually, and it’s a great album), or that Slagel, as well as Metal Blade, is responsible for bringing Metallica into the world. I definitely would pick this up if you’re looking for a history of one of the most important and influential metal labels of all time. I almost feel like, especially after reading this, that Metal Blade helped to kickstart the metal scene in the US. I almost feel like this label had a lot to do with that. If you’re a metalhead whatsoever, no matter the kind of metal that you like, I’d check this out, because this doesn’t necessarily talk about amazing albums, bands, and songs (even though it does), it talks about the history of metal. It talks about where metal was at the time, and how it grew throughout the years, as well as adapting and changing when it needed to. There’s a whole thing about the 90s, and how grunge music played into metal, ultimately showing how Metal Blade adapted to grunge. Real quick, too, this book is really short. It’s around 170-ish pages, but the text is pretty big, so it’s not a long read whatsoever, which is good, because it’s something I didn’t want to put down.

[thisaintascenereviews]

Album Review by Bradley Christensen A Trust Unclean – Parturition Record Label: Basick Records Release Date: June 2 2017

Deathcore gets a bad rap, well, at least it used to. I remember being into deathcore around 2009 / 2010, and metalheads hated it. They saw Job For A Cowboy, Suicide Silence, and all of those bands, and essentially called them jokes. They were metal for scene kids, but even after I got much older, I’ve found myself enjoying deathcore a lot. I think it’s because it combines the best of both death metal and metalcore. It’s got the metalcore / hardcore breakdowns, but the brutality and heaviness of death metal. There aren’t whiny clean choruses, or anything like that, so it feels like it would have its footing more in metal, but metalheads were always so unaccepting of it. Truth be told, a lot of metalheads were very close-minded, ultimately being elitist idiots, so they thought deathcore wasn’t “real metal.” That still makes no sense to me, but anyway, I feel like it’s been getting a better rap lately. A lot of deathcore bands are being taken seriously. Carnifex, Thy Art Is Murder, Infant Annihilator, and Suicide “Teehee” Silence, and the metal community is embracing this kind of music a lot more. That was practically unheard of ten years ago, but it’s nice to see now. That means a lot of deathcore bands are coming out of the woodworks. Some of them aren’t very good, but I’ve listened to a lot of good ones. I haven’t listened to many bands, though, especially unique ones. A Trust Unclean, however, is one of those bands. They’re a very unique prog-deathcore band, not unlike the band Bind The Sacrifice, whom I came across earlier this year. I came across this English outfit a couple of years ago, back when they only had a single EP. I enjoyed that EP, but I’ve wanted to hear more from them for awhile now.

Months ago, they announced their debut album (it’s about a half hour, so it’s pretty much an album), Parturition, and I’ve been looking forward to it. It came out a little over a month ago, but I totally forgot about it. I remembered it, though, while I was looking for other stuff on Bandcamp. I had to pick it up, and since I didn’t feel like paying a bit more for a physical copy, I just downloaded a digital copy on Bandcamp. That was earlier this week, and I’ve spent a lot of time listening to this thing, so what do I think about it? It’s better than the debut EP, as it is more of an improvement. Their debut EP, 2015’s Reality Relinquished, was a pretty good slice of technical deathcore, but it wasn’t anything that I haven’t heard before. This, thankfully, reminds me a bit of Bind The Sacrifice, because there’s a good mix of technical and progressive deathcore in their sound. It’s not quite as balanced as Bind The Sacrifice, as they still lean more into generic tech-deathcore, but the prog-deathcore influence is still there. It’s just a bit lighter, and at the end of the day, this record is great, but just a hair under Bind The Sacrifice’s debut LP. They still sort of have that generic tech-death sound that they had on the debut EP, all the while being done incredibly well, but there is a slight prog-deathcore sound, too, so it makes it a worthwhile evolution. It’s not a dramatic one, sure, but it’s something different, nonetheless, and I very much enjoy it. There’s nothing insanely unique about this, either way, but it’s done really, really well. The instrumentation, vocals, and overall sound are great. They’re a very underrated deathcore band, and one of the best I’ve heard in the genre, so pick this up when you get the chance.