Happy Metal Boy

I found XavlegbmaofffassssitimiwoamndutroabcwapwaeiippohfffX’s debut four-track EP ( Gore ) back in 2016 through an odd series of curiously entered links that eventually led me to them. According to their Bandcamp page, the band’s name is pronounced “Acidic Vaginal Liquid Explosion Generated By Mass Amounts Of Filthy Fecal Fisting And Sadistic Septic Syphilic Sodomy Inside The Infected Maggot Infested Womb Of A Molested Nun Dying Under The Roof Of A Burning Church While A Priest Watches And Ejaculates In Immense Perverse Pleasure Over His First Fresh Fetus”, obviously. And luckily, they tell us exactly how to pronounce their name in the first track of this album. So this band clearly parodies the absurd lengths bands in slam/goregrind scenes will go to in order to one-up their peers in their portrayal of gore and violence, but despite being an obviously light-hearted project,  Gore 2.0  actually has a lot going for it. In fact, it’s quite possibly the freeness the band ta...

With the year coming close to its close, we have quite a few bands squeezing their way onto the list of releases this year, and one of the most recent of those is Unearth, with their seventh full-length album here,  Extinction(s) . Unearth are a five-piece from Boston, Massachusetts who have been metalcore-ing away for twenty years now (yes, I made it into a verb, just go with it), but have never really ascended beyond C-list status in the genre. Your A-listers are your pillars of the genre like Converge, As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, and now Code Orange (they definitely shot themselves to the top by mopping the floor with 2017). Your B-listers are bands who have made some well-recognized albums like Underoath, Knocked Loose, Bullet for My Valentine, and Demon Hunter. I’d put Vein up there too with how well they’ve done for themselves this year. I know these are examples from distant realms within metalcore, but I wanted to provide more than just the melodic metalcore side of...

I’ll be honest, I’ve only ever really been a casual fan of The Smashing Pumpkins; I’ve enjoyed the big shoegazy alternative rock and grunge of albums like  Siamese Dream  and  Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness  for the open soulfulness the band brought to the table. However, the band have made it their mission to experiment with ideas that don’t always seem fully formed, leading to the perception that their success belongs with their one original style. And for personal gripes, I’ve only ever been able to tolerate Billy Corgan’s nasal-y voice in limited doses and in certain contexts. At their best, the band were able to wield a tremendous symphony of sounds with exquisite finesse to tap into unknown wells of emotions, but at their worst, combinations of lack of inspiration, lack of know-how, and clumsiness have led to more clunky albums like  Zeitgeist . Nevertheless, I was at least curious about what would manifest from the more fully reunited “class...

All That Remains’ album last year,  Madness , was one of the few big metal albums I intentionally ignored. I hadn’t really enjoyed the trajectory the band decided to take on  The Order of Things , and I had heard from numerous believable sources that  Madness  was a double-down on the bland radio metal formulas that have seduced so many of their contemporaries in metalcore for the past few years. And I didn’t feel like purposely subjecting myself to more music I was almost certain was going to be terrible (I have also listened to and discussed albums from bands like Hollywood Undead and Asking Alexandria that I was almost certain were going to be terrible too, but I did go into those with the benefit of the doubt).  Victim of the New Disease , though, was touted as a return to form, a little triumphant redemption I hope for for a lot of these aging bands getting sucked into the clutches of radio-friendliness, and from what I can tell, All That Remains’ fans hav...

In all fairness, this album probably would have fared just as well as any P.O.D. album in the early 2000’s. I’ve never been the biggest fan of the posturing rap rock that has defined P.O.D., but I do enjoy the crunchy instrumentals of a few highlights from their discography. And I can also appreciate when lead singer Sonny Sandoval does come through with some good verses and strong performances, while acknowledging that the lyrical style really might just not be my cup of tea quite a bit of the time. Even as nu metal waxed and waned, the band has been steadfastly married to the rap-oriented side of the genre, for better or for worse, and they are indeed a loving spouse.  Circles  is yet another musical love letter to their dear rap rock and nu metal, and one that doesn’t really differ all that much from most of their post- Satellite  material. Like any P.O.D. album, it has its highs and lows, its hometown adoration, its underdog attitude, its slightly spiritual vibe, and...

I was kind of debating talking about this one or not, but I figured it’s worth at least a few quick thoughts. It’s not a metal album, but whatever. Here it goes, just my quick thoughts on it. If there’s one thing I can commend Muse for, it’s that they have always been a go-big-or-go-home kind of band, and they pretty much always opt to go big. Even if they venture into something they should have stayed at home and away from, I can at least appreciate how much they commit to whatever they’ve mission they set out on. They started their career emulating the alternative rock made popular in the 90′s by bands like Radiohead (a comparison the band have still not been able to shake somehow) with albums like  Showbiz  and the more fully realized  Absolution , but they have made a name for themselves by way of their theatrical levels of musical orchestration, which they took to new heights on  Black Holes and Revelations  and the proggy symphonic rock epic of  Th...

I had never heard of Evoken before seeing Profound Lore’s evident excitement with getting to releasing the New Jersey group’s sixth record here (as well as releasing their preceding fifth record,  Atra Mors , back in 2012). Being that I was hardly into doom metal, if at all, in 2012, I’m not surprised this was the first I had heard of the apparently long-running cherry-breakers of the American death/doom scene, but  Hypnagogia  is definitely making me hit myself even more for not appreciating funeral doom until rather recently. The album is an expansive field of sorrow and desolation across its eight most-lengthy pieces, injecting not only a genuine sense of anguish into the genre, but making use of a variety of methods and musical elements to do so. The band embark on an hour-long funeral march across a landscape of mourning and melancholy just as can be expected for a project falling under the death/doom umbrella, but  Hypnagogia  is fortunately just anothe...

After the loss of founding guitarist/keyboardist Adam Christianson following their 2016 release, the bittersweet yet uplifting   All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us , it was uncertain what the future held for Architects without their intergral song-writer. But given the band’s ever life-affirming ethos, it’s no surprise the band responded to their tragedy by refusing to be struck down into despair, carrying on in honor of Christianson. The trail-blazers of the late-2000’s techy, melodic metalcore movement resume the anthemic, melodic brand of metalcore they helped carry into the 2010’s with unabashed conviction. And the band carry the torch in his honor well, coming through with a commemorative album that they can rest assured knowing he would certainly be proud of what his bandmates have made. I was honestly not super floored the first time I listened to   Holy Hell ; it came off kind of predictable and safe for Architects. And the massive production value was honestl...

Along my early journey through heavy metal, Daughters were one of those fringe-as-fuck bands I came across in my venture into The Dillinger Escape Plan’s territory, having heard a lot of great things about them. They were one of those bands I definitely didn’t understand the appeal of the first time I listened to them, but then a year passed and I revisited their material thinking I might have a mind more capable of understanding the hype. Nope, after a second chance and a greater confidence in my judgement, I determined that Daughters was an over-hyped ego project for snobs to point to in order to feel superior to other listeners, reinforced by the pretentious vibe the band somewhat intentionally cultivated. That was in high school though, and of course what grand sage of wisdom is at their most insightful at the all-knowing age of 16? Not me. After about 3 years or so, I gave Daughters another shot, and it didn’t click immediately, but it did eventually, and their weird, but deepl...