Monday, January 16, 2012

Horrendous - The Chills [2012]


Let's face it, people: this whole old school thing, whether it's called 'revitalist,' 'retro,' or whatever term that's being forced into the metal glossary as I type, isn't going away. Some have had hard time coping with this fact, but I must ask, why? After all, this nostalgia phenomenon has produced some of the better records of the last few years (including but not limited to Antichrist's Forbidden World, Ghost's Opus Eponymous, and Enforcer's Diamonds) and introduced younger metalheads to the classic bands that inspired them. Until now, I haven't felt that any death metal album of this nature has succeeded in quite the way those aforementioned releases have, not favoring the Incantation worship of bands like Disma. That, however, has changed with Horrendous and their debut.

The Chills instead opts for a sound forged from the glory of early Death and the melancholy vibes of early Swedish death metal. The guitar tone is thick and vibrant in the rhythms but positively dreary in the leads (reminding me of the balance Septic Flesh struck on their mid-90s releases). Songs wind their way between blistering, thrash-influenced passages and doom-laden, cavernous corridors (just see the nine minute "The Eye of Madness"). The vocals are just about as pure as the genre can offer, crushingly growling with zero mercy--or surprise from the listener. The production values couldn't possibly be any better, staying true to the original sound of albums like Leprosy and Severed Survival while utilizing the clarity that modern technology offers. The songwriting isn't as strictly structured as you might find in Schuldiner's old troupe, though, often sprawling beyond the constraints of a normal track and voyaging beyond their simplistic strategy.

The individual tracks are a tad less memorable by nature, but I think the great flow of the release more than makes up for it. It's altogether consistent, but a few notable highlights certainly reveal themselves as one voyages through its vile contents. For one, that intro to "The Womb" certainly won't fade from my memory anytime soon, slowly churning in desolation before exploding into a riff you might hear on Scream Bloody Gore. "The Somber (Desolate Winds)" turns that method on its head, systematically rabbit-punching the listener in the face with its initially punishing rhythm before slowing to an emotion crawl. Personally, I always perk up in the middle of "The Ritual" when song breaks out into a full on assault about midway through. In between those tracks lie more concise numbers like "Ripped to Shreds" and "Altars," which function well as brief asskickers alongside the more developed songs.

Horrendous loads the entire songlist up with winners, clocking in at forty-three minutes of near perfect death metal no fan of the genre should miss. I'm almost surprised it's from the US and not Sweden, a country accustomed to making tried and true efforts of this bloodstained breed. As it stands, though, The Chills is a monumental testament to the relevance of the revitalist movement and an eyebrow-raising debut in a world where so few have existed as of late. It's the kind of album I rarely tire of and the first great release of 2012. A safe buy for everybody who appreciates the form.

   Overall: 9/10 (Outstanding - The darkness beckons)

Friday, January 13, 2012

Alcest - Les Voyages de L'âme [2012]

One of the more controversial acts in the metal underground, Alcest has spun its fine thread of atmospheric wonder to an astounding degree of success and quality already in the band's short existence--paving the way for dozens of other 'blackgaze' projects in the process. Neige produced three bright-eyed, heterogeneous elixirs of black metal, shoegaze, and post-rock from 2005 to 2010, even the least successful of which (probably Le Secret) I would consider no less than outstanding. And the most successful? A beautiful masterpiece from start to finish (or, namely, Souvinirs D'un Autre Monde). For a while I could have sworn I'd never grow tired of the sound created in these works. However, Les Voyages de L'âme has sadly proven that a sound, no matter how great, can only take you so far. Yes, I'd say Neige finally dropped the ball.

Okay, so Alcest's latest isn't a total failure, or even 'bad' for that matter, but for an album titled something as introspective as The Voyage of the Soul, the music beneath its slick cover is surprisingly devoid of spirit or personality. Keeping with the tradition of utilizing fewer metallic elements with each subsequent release, Voyages is the cleanest, most streamlined Alcest album yet, with a production cleaner than a brand new whistle...Too clean, in fact, destroying the natural vibe of the personal dreamland Neige undoubtedly tried to evoke. There's just this overall sense of artifice that fails to hide itself in the midst of its surroundings; imagine catching someone who is attempting to pickpocket you while he or she is in the middle of the act and confronting the awkwardness to follow. That's the feeling I had listening to this. It's as if the emotions were openly robbed and halfheartedly replaced with a tedious stream lacking the harrowing the lows or the optimistic highs I've come to expect from Alcest.

Even though it stands as the longest release to date from this project at fifty minutes, Les Voyages de L'âme feels the least thought out and the most rushed of them all. Songs are either too structured (like the transparent "Nous Sommes l'Emeraude") or appear to have no point at all, voyaging everywhere while truly going nowhere. Just see the interminable "Là où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles," a song that feels as long as its title; throughout its nine minute journey it fails to achieve any sense of euphoric melody or plant itself in the memory for more than the time it takes to listen to it. "Summer's Glory" is a little more successful, but it still hangs too much on its 90s alternative rock influences, coming off as a Smashing Pumpkins track with Alcestian elements rather than the other way around. To my ears, only the title track even gets close to the same league as something off Souvinirs or its followup, briefly creating the essence of beauty I expected upon entry. The rest are comprised of a half-baked mess of ideas.

One might see my relatively fair score and wonder why I've lingered so much on the negative here, and I must admit that I might have been a tad harsh in this review. After all, this is a serviceable slab of post-metal that can entertain every once in a while if used under the right circumstances. However, based purely off my high expectations and the evidence that Neige can do much better readily available to us, Les Voyages de L'âme simply isn't the caliber of release I was hoping for. I hate to be that guy, but a band's music should progress. I know, I know, change is a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" action, but even a vial of nectar can go flat if opened and poured out time and time again. In the end, Voyages isn't the most crushing musical disappointment I've ever experienced, and I do hope that it was just a simple misstep, but it does provide an inauspicious start to a year that promises the apocalypse at it's end. Perhaps this is only the beginning.

   Overall: 6/10 (Fair)

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Antichrist - Forbidden World [2011]

Well, wouldn't you know, Sweden conquered again. Just when I was beginning to think thrash had completely lost all its relevance and vicious bite, components wearing painfully thin in this flock since its peak years in the late eighties, this upstart band Antichrist and their almost purposefully cliched moniker has unleashed this shocking abomination of evil known only as Forbidden World. One needs only to look at the (in my opinion) awesome cover art and the song titles to figure out what's in store for the listener here. No, don't call it revitalist thrash metal; this isn't the overly produced and formulaic material offered by Metallic/Exodus lite bands like Havok and Evile; this a forty-three minute torrent of utter musical chaos set to pulverize any poseurs who dare come too close and demolish any living thing foolish enough to get in its way--the greatest metal album of a great year that just kinda snuck in and took the crown while no one was looking.

As one might expect by the dark vibes of the lyrics, Antichrist is more firmly rooted in the scarier German side of all things thrash, and the violent, noisy nature of the actual music strongly reflects that. Hints of early Kreator are strong with this one, though the speed is often a tad less jarring and the album a great deal more melodic in turn. I would compare it to the controlled onslaught of Coma of Souls if Antichrist didn't sound so hostile here, as if they were wild, bloodthirsty hounds just a chain link away from breaking free and tearing their cruel human captors limb from limb. Just listen to the chilling vocals; are they the sound of a simple man's sinister screamed rasps, or the product of a demented soul tortured for all existence? I could hardly tell the difference, Steken presenting his panicked, frenzied phrasing like a speed demon freak from within the heart of Hades.

They don't screw around when it comes to delivering the riffs, either. There's admittedly little technically astounding about the guitar-playing, but I dare anyone to sit still when a full-on blitz like "Torment of Hell" engulfs your system. It's mostly delivered in a fast but intelligible manner, only slowing in truly epic numbers like eight minute tracks "Necropolis" and "Minotaur," the former bearing a verse rhythm to die for and latter being an instrumental anthem that never loses your attention even in its trying length. Every element of the sound is drenched in low-fi tones, mesmerizing in its commitment to being as 'pure' as possible in its relentless pursuit of capturing a bygone era without losing any of its own songwriting elegance. Oh, and these songs are about as memorable as they come. It'll only take a few listens before you start making yourself look like an idiot shouting along to its many unforgettable lines. Don't believe me? Try for yourself.

Yes, Antichrist is firmly rooted in the old school. There's no getting around that fact and it absolutely bleeds through into the music. They're not afraid to worship Kreator, Destruction, Assassin, of Morbid Saint any less than your next throwaway "retro" thrash band is. However, unlike most bands in this oversaturated genre today, this band's fearlessness doesn't stop at pummeling the listener into an insurmountable void of unconsciousness; and, although I respect what they do, that's not something I could say for similar groups like Vektor. This is an album that represents everything great about thrash in a nifty package suitable for the new century. Yep, Forbidden World really is that good. Doubters of grandiose statements better turn away now. It's the best thrash album of the millennium thusfar (by far) in this reviewer's not so humble opinion, and the most satisfying debut offering in years. You just don't know how much you need it.

P.S.: You might want to pick up some medications for the neck and back pain this album will inevitably cause. Phew, I'm dizzy; time for a break.

   Overall: 9.5/10 (Incredible - tormentor, torment me!)

Friday, January 6, 2012

The 20 Best Metal Releases of 2011

Metal pretty much dominated across the board in 2011, a year that continually left my jaw on the floor and little change in my pocket. Sure, not everything laid everything in its past to waste, and it didn't quite surpass the unbelievable year that was 2009, but I enjoyed the ride to the end. Some bands that I usually don't care for really knocked it out of the park this time. The lowest rated of the twenty is about an 8/10--not half bad. However, I must say that I didn't feel there was a '10' record released this year. Septicflesh's typically amazing release came close, but nothing really topped or even equaled Enslaved's 2010 masterpiece, Axioma Ethica Odini... but anyway, without further ado, here's my personal top 20 metal albums of the year:

01. Septicflesh - The Great Mass
02. Antichrist - Forbidden World
03. Thy Catafalque - Rengeteg
04. Anubis Gate - Anubis Gate
05. Riot - Immortal Soul
06. Oranssi Pazuzu - Kosmonument
07. Vader - Welcome to the Morbid Reich
08. Arch/Matheos - Sympathetic Resonance
09. Symphony X - Iconoclast
10. Eumeria - Rebel Mind
11. High Spirits - Another Night
12. Sabbat - Sabbatrinity
13. Enslaved - The Sleeping Gods EP
14. Portrait - Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae
15. Mastodon - The Hunter
16. Pagan's Mind - Heavenly Ecstasy
17. Myrath - Tales of the Sands
18. Heavenwood - Abyss Masterpiece
19. Cormorant - Dwellings 
20. Klabautamann - The Old Chamber


And I'm still digging up more 2011 treasure, so don't be surprised if this list is altered from time to time. I opened my mind to a lot more music recently and I'd say the first year of my blog's existence has been a decent one. I reviewed about sixty releases in 2011, from which there were approximately 32 albums from the past year. Of course, I would like to have written more reviews, but schoolwork and laziness were a constant deterrent. I hope to see an even more fruitful 2012! You can expect a more complete list after 2012 since I'll be attempting to listen to everything I possibly can. A special thanks goes to my (few) amount of readers out there. Good luck.