Born Of Osiris, Whitechapel, Dream Theater, And MORE!
The first episode of “:10sec PURGE” kicked off today on Metal Robot Reviews. This is a new series where I take albums that I missed (in this case in the first quarter of 2019 (January-March)) and review them in 10 seconds or less. All albums are open for a full review if you want them, in which case, let me know on my socials or in the comments of the video. Albums covered in this video are (in order):
Born of Osiris - The Simulation
Within Temptation - Resist
Rotting Christ - The Heretics
Whitechapel - The Valley
Reason|Define - In Memory
Dream Theater - Distance Over Time
Týr - Hel
Fallujah - Undying Light
The Raven Age - Conspiracy
Devin Townsend - Empath
King 810 - Suicide King
Demon Hunter - War & Peace
Overkill - The Wings of War
In Flames - I, The Mask
Mark Morton - Anesthetic
Moon Tooth - Crux
You can watch the full video below or by clicking here. Be sure to subscribe if you haven’t done so already.
Born of Osiris - The Simulation
12/15
Born of Osiris has been, and always will be and amazing deathcore band. They’ve got the musical chops to hold their own amongst all the other bands that are doing (arguably) the same thing as them. What sets them apart from the rest in my opinion is their presence on each album. While it’s obviously supposed to be brutal and chaotic, Born of Osiris has a presence on every album that makes them feel more giant, more out of this world (more than Rings of Saturn even). And this album is no different. The Simulation has the presence in spades, building a world that feels like it’s too good to be true. And while that “Too good to be true“ line can be chalked up to their previously mentioned one up they have on other deathcore bands, it’s mostly because this album is shorter than need be. While that’s usually not a problem, in this case it makes the album feel like it doesn’t leave much of an impact. The album clocks in at about 37 minutes, and you leave it wanting more out of it (a want you won’t get until they release a new album). I liked this album, but if you’re gonna blue ball me, then whatever atmosphere you built won’t matter. Add another 10-15 minutes, and I would feel that impact like I’ve never felt it before.
Within Temptation - Resist
8/15
What is it with Within Temptation? I want to like them, but they keep giving me no reason to get invested in what they’re trying to say. Don’t get me wrong, it has nothing to do with Sharon Den Adel. She’s got such a great vocal presence that it’s hard to match up with. My deal is more with her backing band, that’s doing almost nothing to peak the interest of the listener. They never try to go against the grain or even try anything within it that’s interesting. Especially with Resist, I tried multiple times, but I was bored shitless all the way through each listen. In fact, I think Resist is the point most people are beginning to see it the same as me. I heard that even some fans got bored on this one to, which makes me wonder what the hell is happening? I couldn’t tell you. It’s just a lifeless rock, with a shining crystal poking out of it.
Rotting Christ - The Heretics
13/15
Rotting Christ has always been a band to get behind when it comes to thunderous dark black metal. They’re one of the few legitimate “Satanic” acts to not only commit to the whole thing, but also use it to convey actual dark and scary music. I think the majority of the time listening to The Heretics, I was legit shitting myself. Not only are the lyrical themes one of those that’ll send chills from the dark world down your spine, but it’s also represented well in the music. This is honestly some dark stuff, I don’t know how else to explain it. When I was talking about it being fun for your local Sunday school class in the video, I was clearly joking, and you’d see that if you listened to the album. If you’re of the faint of heart, or a person of faith, I guarantee this won’t be your thing. I think you’d set your phone on fire with the hope of preventing the demon being summoned from making itself known.
Whitechapel - The Valley
15/15
I didn’t have time to get into it in the video, but while The Valley is instrumentally brutal, it’s strengths more lie in its lyrics. The album’s lyrical content is allegedly based on true events in Whitechapel vocalist’s Phil Boseman’s upbringing, and if that’s the case, then holy shit. I’ve never heard anything more vicious in a real world context. A great example of this is “Forgiveness is Weakness“ which starts off with the line “He is finally dead, come celebrate this day.“ But it’s not just angry, angry, and even more angry on this album. “Hickory Creek“ is a song that delves into the more somber side of things, talking about how he could run away and nobody would notice. I think at least once or twice in our lives, we’ve all felt this way. The thought that nobody cares? How it wouldn’t matter if we weren’t there anymore? Yeah, I know I’ve been there myself multiple times. But this album does a great job at:
A: being a bombast brutal deathcore album, but
B: showing us a more vulnerable side of the band that (in my opinion) we haven’t seen before.
This delves into the world of an outcast of the worst variety, and I can’t help but feel sorry for him in every way possible.
Reason|Define - In Memory
11/15
Honestly, I feel like Reason|Define might be slightly out of my juristiction, but I still thought In Memory was okay. Like I said in the video, nothing too memorable, but it’s an okay album. Though listening to the album again, I feel like this album is still deserving of that comment, but this can be something I can see some metalheads getting into in one way or another. While the vocal stylings (especially early in the album) give off a sinister pop feeling, the rest of the album reads like a sort of alternative metal/hard rock album that has some energy to give something for the metalheads to listen to. This doesn’t happen often however, but the album does a good job of tiding you over when the heavy moments do come in. But that being said, it’s not something that’s going to be on ANYBODY’S end of the year lists, or frankly on anybody’s list for that matter. It’s okay, but it’s not really trying anything special, anything different, or anything to try and be better than it needs to be. It’s servicable, and that’s all it’s striving for. That’s okay in some respects, but I do wish it would’ve done more with what it was trying to accomplish, step out of their comfort zone a bit more to try something new. But all in all, not bad regardless.
Dream Theater - Distance Over Time
15/15
This has to be the first album by Dream Theater in a while that tries to combine their louder, more heavy sound with the maturity and experience of prog rock that they’ve acquired over the years. Distance Over Time does a great job at that to. While listening to this album, I couldn’t help but hear elements from Train of Thoughts, and Octavarium, while also hearing the sounds and ideas they’ve developed since those albums. It’s weird though, because on certain songs (while I can still say it’s clearly Dream Theater), I felt like they were slightly inspired by Breaking Benjamin of all bands. No, seriously! I heard “Paralyzed” for the first time, and I thought it was a BB cover of a song I hadn’t heard before. Not saying that as a bad thing, as I love BB, and “Paralyzed” can be argued as a song that could’ve been written by BB if they were inspired by Dream Theater. Weird tangent, but that’s where I was at. Regardless of that, this album is another great addition to the Dream Theater canon. Like I said, it’s not better than Train of Thoughts or even Octavarium, not by a long shot. But, it’s probably the best Dream Theater album we’ve gotten this decade. And I can’t wait to hear what they give us in the 2020s
Týr - Hel
14/15
I didn’t know how else to describe my thoughts of this album without making a joke that requires me to use Google Translate. It’s a great viking metal album through and through that doesn’t take it all too seriously, like certain bands I can mention. Okay, say what you want about Amon Amarth, but as much as I love em’, I feel like they take the viking gimmick WAY too seriously for their own good. While Týr goes as far as necessary, and no further than that. After that, they start taking the piss out on each other. And that’s what I like about Hel, it doesn’t take itself too seriously in most parts. What else also helps with making this album one of my favourites of the year is the instrumental skills of our players, specifically in the guitars. The guitarists of this band can seriously shred! I was blown away by that. Not to say I wasn’t expecting it, I afterall expect great playing from good melodic death metal, but I wasn’t expecting THIS good. These guys are flying off the fret board at any chance they get, and all that happens when they do that is you get me doing the shred hand gestures in public and have people staring at me like I’m trying to grab as much O2 as possible. It’s great!
Fallujah - Undying Light
10/15
In fairness, my jumping off point for Fallujah was at Dreamless. That album was fantastic, and even made my Best of 2016 list. While it didn’t top it, it was REALLY close that year. However, on the other hand, I still expected better than what we got! While Undying Light isn’t a bad album (I actually liked it quite a bit), it felt disappointing. I wasn’t expecting another Dreamless, it would be unfair of me to expect that as their previous vocalist was responsible for a lot of the synth atmospheric programming on that album, which gave it the airy, dreamy atmosphere. This album sounds like it’s trying to ride that train but doesn’t know how to start the engine. It’s the same musicians involved, but without the carefully crafted synth work, it’s just an album that was put through the mastering with a lot of reverb to try and make it seem like it was Dreamless part 2. It’s still a super solid death/metalcore record. If that’s your thing, then you’ll enjoy Undying Light. I just need a bit more time with it to be honest.
The Raven Age - Conspiracy
14.5/15
I know metalcore isn’t a genre many people like to hear about. And I totally get why in some respects. There’s a lot of bands that give it a bad rep, specifically the scene bands (not naming any names, but you know who I’m talking about). But metalcore isn’t a bad genre, there are a lot of great bands from it. Case and point, The Raven Age. These guys have been around for a bit, but they are really popular within the metal community, predominantly because Steve Harris, the bass player for Iron Maiden, is the father of one of the members. But I don’t care about that, I care more about the music. And the music that The Raven Age was brought us in Conspiracy is one of the best albums I’ve heard in 2019. Dare I say this is close to being on the Best of 2019 list. The guitar work on this album is filled with chugs, sure, but there’s also a lot of tasty licks that you can hum along to and harmonize with each other like a Disney duet… okay, bad example. But you get what I mean. The drums, while not doing too much outside the norm, does hold it’s own in the rhythm section and gives you an anchor to hold onto when trying to find the beat. Of course, the bass is great as well. While the bass isn’t doing much different from the guitars, it’s presence more than makes up for it. And the vocals are soaring on this record. I think this is what you get when you cross Adam Gontier with Matt Heafy and Spencer Sotelo. It’s really good! Like I said, probably one of my favourites from this year, expect it on the best of 2019 VERY soon.
Devin Townsend - Empath
14.5/15
The mad scientist of metal Devin Townsend is back with some more weird as hell metal experiments. This time in the form of Empath. The album from front to back is a journey that is hard to describe as a singular whole. It’s an album that can’t simply be summed up. One minute you’re jamming out to the melodic catchy chorus of “Spirits Will Collide”, another you’d be listening to a weird children’s story in “Sprite”, another you’re at the opera with “Why?”, and another it’s complete chaos in “Singularity”. And THAT… is only a fraction of what this album has to offer in terms of weird shit! This album goes to places so fast that it feels like Sonic the Hedgehog is channel surfing on the radio, and yet each section doesn’t feel out of place. I, to this day, still don’t know how this dude does it. It’s weird, it’s crazy, and it shouldn’t work… yet it DOES! What can I say, other than… the mad scientist strikes again!
King 810 - Suicide King
0/15
… do I even need to say anything about this? It’s a King 810 album. What else can you expect? Hell the only reason I included it in the video was as a joke, because these guys have never (and probably never will want) to make anything worth talking about aside from “Burn this hunk of plastic at the fucking stake!” But then I realized (after filming) that it’s still not fair of me to “review” an album without having actually heard it. However, after listening to it, I was able to sum up my thoughts on the album CORRECTLY before hearing it. After listening to this album of cavemen who haven’t even been able to grasp the concept of intelligence, or the concept or performing, or even the concept of self respect, I feel I would’ve been better off NOT listening to Suicide King. Throughout my over 3 years of doing this, even for the horrid albums, I’ve always included links in the video description to encourage people to check out the music for themselves, as my opinion does NOT reflect the opinion of everybody else, and I shouldn’t discourage people from checking out music that I personally don’t like. However in this case, I feel like it’s a public service for me to tell you to NOT buy this, to NOT stream this, to NOT even give it the light of day. Like it if you want to, but if you haven’t heard it, I think it’d be best to not know what the “King” is thinking about.
Demon Hunter - War & Peace
8/15
Okay, so really the best way I can describe this album is BLOATED. Demon Hunter have never been a bad metalcore band, but they’ve never been great either. Their sound is a similar problem I had in the past with While She Sleeps, in that they don’t do anything new and exciting, they pretty much just exist. Demon Hunter is no different to me. However, when I wanted to play catch-up, I figured I’d see if they tried anything new on their double album War and Peace. The answer… no. They didn’t try anything new with this one. Which would be fine, however the whole thing is almost 2 hours long and goes nowhere. If you were to sit down and watch a 2 hour movie of 5 guys sitting in a room doing nothing, LITERALLY NOTHING, you would get about as much out of that as you would with War and Peace. I don’t wanna say it’s bad, and maybe that last sentence is a bit harsh. But I was bored to tears through all of it. If you have me checking the clock every 5 minutes while listening to this, then you aren’t peaking my interest. If you enjoyed this, then great! But I couldn’t even give a single strain of care for this.
Overkill - The Wings of War
14/15
Actually, this is the first instance in this article where the video summed up my full thoughts. Overkill is a good thrash band, and always has been. They know how to lay down some speed induced riffs, with drums on cocaine and a vocalist who can surprisingly keep up with all that. I don’t know what else to say about it though. Okay, actually, here’s one thing I can add… while it’s hard to say The Wings of War is Overkill’s best album, it’s an album worth checking out if you’re a fan of the band’s previous work. I recommend it, absolutely. For the uninitiated however, tread lightly. It’s not a bad record, and you’ll do fine, but this is PURE thrash metal, and I know some people might have a hard time with that.
In Flames - I, The Mask
7.5/15
In Flames haven’t been good in years. They just haven’t! It’s hard to care about a band that doesn’t care. I, The Mask was another attempt to not care and it worked. They didn’t care about this record. It was boring, it was lifeless, it was bland and forgettable. I’m writing this while listening to it and even I can’t tell you what this album is truly like, it’s forgettable in every sense of the word! Go to thesaurus.com and look up the word Forgettable and all those other words can describe this album in a nutshell. Seriously, In Flames hasn’t made a good album in a long time, and I think this is the album that finally proves that. This is the last straw for me. While the album isn’t bad in the vein of King 810, the fact that an In Flames record is boring is what MAKES it bad. This is the level of bland and forgettable I would’ve expected out of FFDP, and yet it’s become the normal for these guys to! I do hope that they can pull themselves together and try something different on the next record, but frankly I don’t think I’m gonna be there to experience it.
Mark Morton - Anesthetic
14/15
Mark Morton (Lamb of God) needs no real introduction if you’re a fan of LOG. The groove metal scene today can look back at the likes of his guitar riffs and thank him for being a part of it. In my opinion, he’s one of the main reasons Lamb of God is as interesting as they are. So given that, his solo outing should be more or less what we’d expect. AND IT IS! It’s funny, most of us know him for his work in groove metal, and punk, yet while the album doesn’t stray too far from those, we also hear quite a bit of alt-metal, also some folksy stuff, and a bit of melo-death for good measure. I didn’t think that Mark’s first solo album would be so eclectic, yet here we are! That’s Trivium’s Paolo Gregoletto and Alex Bent on the bass and drums respectively, and they do a good job here to. While it’s clear they’re performing what Mark wrote, Alex at least has his heat signature on those drums, as it does sound like an octopus was performing on this album. All this talk of the music, and I haven’t even gotten into the collabs! While I could talk for days about all these, the ones that stick out to me would have to be Myles Kennedy (Alter Bridge) showing us once again that he’s one of the best metal clean vocalists of this century, and the late Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) giving us one last show of brute force with the metal side of him that music lovers haven’t seen since (arguably) Meteora, or hell even The Hunting Party. I could talk for hours about how much of a spectacle this album is, but I still need to write the review for the next album here, so how about we save this for later.
Moon Tooth - Crux
13/15
Okay, so the comment of “It’s Pterodactyl Problems, but heavier” is a bit of a cop out. In a way, Moon Tooth does a lot more than what they’re doing. The reason I made the comment is because, A: it reminds me a lot of them for some reason, but B: because you can tell they share similar influences. They’re both very blues influenced, they both have that metal edge (with Moon Tooth taking a bit more from that) and their music sounds like it’s meant for a live show. But the huge difference with this album, is that the music doesn’t just work in a live setting, it still works amazing in a produced album. Not saying PP doesn’t work in the studio, it’s just I feel like Moon Tooth does a lot more. From “Trust” straight through to “Raise a Light”, I never once looked at the clock to see how much time is left. I felt invested with this album, probably more so than any other album on this list. I was taken by Crux, and when trying to sit down to write it for this review, I couldn’t for the life of me explain why that was. It just… does! It works for reasons I can’t explain. But I love it for that reason! Maybe you can do it better. Pick up Crux, and find out for yourself.
WANT YOUR MUSIC REVIEWED ON THE SHOW!?
Send your albums, EP’s, singles, EPK’s, etc. to my email:
tmckay@themetalrobot.com
-or-
tommckay.themetalrobot@gmail.com
Thrashers Paradise turns 5 years old, Gojira at the Olympics, Cannibal Corpse almost cancelled, Linkin Park’s fustercluck and more with Collin Sterling of Thrashers Paradise!