Sadistic Metal Reviews – Loute Vire Edition (End of 2015 Series)

by Staff on January 3, 2016

zombies

Popularity contests are good for one thing only: determining the degree of decadence the mentality of a certain group. Given the state of sedation and apathy of the general public, it is no surprise that this list shows the contemptible character and inability for self-criticism and assessment the average man is aflicted with. Also, like anything mainstream, very little here is actually metal, even in spirit. Loute Vire especializes in democracy, bringing the average stupidity back to the average person, feeding them their own filth.

Iron Maiden - The Book Of Souls (2015)

1. Iron Maiden – The Book of Souls
Free us from Glam-rhythm Maiden. Character-wise, this nu mid-paced Iron Maiden is a combination of eighties hair metal, power-doom-epic metal in the vein of Candlemass but with the emphasis of catchy Murican posturing. Structurally, it manages to be both formulaic and pointless in its overextension, basically taking the worst from both worlds. Iron Maiden have become the kings of posturing, and even if butthurt fans complain, one must say that this downfall was evident ever since Somewhere in Time and was pretty evident with Seventh Son of the Seventh Son. Stick to 1985’s Live After Death as a synthesis of the band’s golden era and you’ll be fine. Stop feeding Steve Harris’ ego machine.

Ghost

2. Ghost – Meliora
Caricature music that disguises carnival thinking by providing a steady, unchanging background. Ghost know how to fool the enemy, the audience is hooked, distracted by fireworks to the right and to the left, without realizing they are paying for an empty but colorful cardboard box. Ghost, master deceivers, everything is so in your face, that the decadent masses love the fake but safe entertainment that ironic bullshit provides. Surely this would also be released in vinyl format, that’s what hipsters do. They need to keep piling up appearances and hip products. The best thing you can do with one of these is break it and use the shards to cut the throats of Ghost fans.

Tribulation

3. Tribulation – The Children of the Night
This hard rock-ish outfit is probably what Opeth would sound like if they focused on their weirdo rock side instead of jumping around genres without musical justifications or proper transitions, or if Ghost took itself seriously and had a little talent. Tribulation’s may be the best album on this list, as pop and hook-based as it is, it retains the basic decency of proper music in its continuity and coherence. The focus is completely on the guitar lines. Unfortunately, songs do lapse as they are overstretched for the false ‘complexity’ appearance that hipsters, high school nerds and college SJWs like. Worthy of from radio airtime, not more, no less.

(Editor’s note: You know a band is bad when it gets double-SMR‘ed.)

Amorphis-Under-the-Red-Cloud

4. Amorphis – Under the Red Cloud
I may not have been paying enough attention but, when did this originally Finnish death metal band turn into American high school rock balladers with queer Scandinavian leads? (Editor’s note: It began in 1994.) Amorphis seems to have abandoned all sense of pride for a couple of more greens. This is selling out clearly exemplified. Bands, this is what you should not do. Fans, you will only find plastic here.

Enslaved-In-Times

5. Enslaved – In Times
Progressive rock for those who lack the subtlety for progressive rock. Black metal for those too soft to brave the intellectual challenge of not being a sheep. This is long-winded pop and rock artificially styled to appear complex for insecure posers.

Coma_Ecliptic_cover_art_by_Between_the_Buried_and_Me

6. Between the Buried and Me – Coma Ecliptic
Dream Theater meets Avenged Sevenfold with a strong Pink Floyd influence. How do these guys manage to sound exactly the same again yet be so vague in content? All semblance of continuity here, apart from tonality, is only maintained at some cerebral level in the imagination of the band or of the fans who will like any catchy & ‘complex’ turd that distracts them from their monotonous lives. The music itself is a disparaged parade of funny moments.

high on fire - luminifierous

7. High on Fire – Luminiferous
Speed metal on the outside, borish NWOBHM on the inside. This gets old quick and leaves no mark. Like many others, it tries to be an updated, more tough version of Motorhead, and use the old excuse of just “wanting to play good ole rock”. Forgettably redneckish.

queensryche - condition human

8. Queensrÿche – Condition Hüman
It is difficult not to laugh when listening to this macho-man bullshit for young, white posers. However bombastically pop and girly these songs are, they flow well. On the downside, the band never develops or resolves songs, meaning they are only good as groove and hook inducing. Radio garbage.

Paradise-Lost-–-The-Plague-Within-01

9. Paradise Lost – The Plague Within
Boring as ever, or perhaps more than ever, Paradise Lost is still trying to make the album they almost achieve with their earliest music. Never rising above potential mediocrity, this band is a collection of dull moments peppered with pleasing leads. An unexpected heir to this hooky combination of candy and nutrition-less filler is Sylosis. Anyone looking for a casual hit may dig into some of the tracks here, otherwise, refer to classic underground so-called doom metal.

TDOLT_Cover

10. Intronaut – The Direction of Last Things
Alternating angsty with pretty boy vocals, the mark of immaturity. Groove-based music without a clear thematic line, the mark of an empty mind. So, this is basically unthinking, puerile nonsense for people who want to “feel” metal but do not actually like metal. Destroy not only any copies of this but the factories and corporate buildings in charge of producing this mindless heap of catchy garbage.

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Beorn – Time to Dare (2015)

by Brett Stevens on December 16, 2015

beorn_-_time_to_dare

Power metal, the post-2000 incarnation of speed metal that mixes radio rock and Hollywood-style theatrical music into a hybrid, gets a lot of flack for being cheesy. This is true. However, it is also one of the few areas where metal musicians can create epic music and still have a large audience, since the underground metal audience disconnected from quality with war metal and was replaced with post-hardcore at the hands of vegan SJWs riding fixies to their artisanal bagel shops.
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Primer: a deeper understanding of conservative thought

by Chris Pervelis on November 30, 2015

russel_kirk_-_american_conservative

Primer: A deeper understanding of conservative thought

Amongst the young and, particularly in the metal community, Conservatives and Conservative thought are seen as retrograde, fascistic and wholly in thrall to religious fanatics. There are numerous reasons why they have this perception — and even more reasons why this line of thinking is wrong.

Modern American Conservatism was formed in a caldron of four events: two horrible world wars, a concerted effort by those in power to import European socialism to America and a long march through American institutions of Marxists, progressives and secular humanists. These events created the nascent conservative movement, which was reactionary at first — but soon developed into a coherent philosophy by thinkers such as William F. Buckley, Russell Kirk, Whittaker Chambers, Phyllis Schlafly and many others. Though theyoften disagreed with each other on various issues, conservatism nonetheless coalesced around certain principles and beliefs:

The wisdom of the American founders: The founders limited the power of government to keep it from becoming an ideological tyranny, and set up a system of gradual change instead of sudden, impulsive and emotional crusades which they witnessed in the revolutions of Europe.

Belief in the individual: Conservatives believe that human individuals are each unique and cannot be lumped together like clay, treated like masses and molded by elites in government “for their best interests.” Individuals are capable of great things when allowed to define their own destinies.

Peace through strength: Conservatives believe that weakness (both real and perceived) invites aggression. Conservatives such as Winston Churchill understood that Europe’s weakness and indecision during the interwar period from 1919-1938 is a primary reason for the ascendancy of Hitler and the war that followed.

Market capitalism: Conservatives believe that the greatest engine for creating wealth, driving innovation and lifting people out of poverty is market capitalism. No other system developed has created a thriving middle class like market capitalism has, and it should be promoted instead of demonized. This does not mean unfettered, unregulated capitalism, but a lightly regulated system that insures a fair playing field for all participants.

Low taxes: Government raises taxes to pursue ideological goals, which signals its intent to become a tyranny. High taxes support this. Further, high taxes represent oppression and the limiting of individual potential.

Absolute truth, morality and rule of law: Centuries of human experience show us what works and what does not, and from this we derive an understanding of morality. It is not given to humanity by God, but by practicality. The rule of law is designed to help bolster those absolute truths, and more importantly it is meant to protect the individual through having his or her constitutional rights protected at all times. Deviation from the consistency of law allows people to impose their will on one another by abusing positions of authority. Hence the statement “we are a government of laws, not men” is of utmost importance to the Conservative.

Human nature: To the Conservative, mankind is imperfect and will always be, and knowing this, the Conservative understands that no perfect social order or utopian society could ever be created. Attempts to create utopian societies, or to engineer man for perfection will end in civil unrest, chaos and ultimately totalitarianism. The best we can reasonably hope for is to try and improve mankind’s plight with prudent reform and gradual social change. Conservatives accept that there will always be some suffering, inequality and destitution amongst mankind and the challenge is to ease it without disrupting or constraining the rest of society.

Problems and tensions within Conservatism:

As with many movements, there is strife, disagreement and infighting. This is especially true within the Conservative movement, because Conservatives are individuals first, and members of a party or movement second. Even more, conservatism is an amorphous theory rather than an ideology, so it does not have simple universal principles and instead must be interpreted on a situational basis.

The political vessel through which a Conservative works is the Republican Party — which contrary to what many in the media will have you believe, is a coalition of diverse groups of individuals ranging from isolationists, religious fundamentalists, anarcho-capitalists and libertarians. These groups are in constant tension with each other, and holding a Republican coalition together is difficult at best. Some examples of tensions within the party will follow below.

One of the most divisive issues within the movement is the role of God and religion. Belief in certain principles such as absolute truth, the individual and rule of law can coexist with belief in a Supreme Being, but many Conservatives have no religious affiliation and treat God as a symbol of the sovereignty of the individual over their government. This line of thinking flows from the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”

Another tension within conservatism occurs within the realm of foreign policy. There are three differing viewpoints constantly battling each other for the movement’s heart and soul: Isolationists believe we should not interfere in foreign affairs; Neoconservatives (hawks) believe in a robust foreign policy to transform the world; and Traditionalists believe in interfering in foreign affairs only if it is vital to our economic or national interest.

The abortion debate poses many problems for conservatives as well, and falls along a few interesting fault lines. There is of course, the religious view of abortion, which is seen as a simple issue: abhorrent and sinful. However, more thoughtful Conservatives wrestle with the abortion issue from the standpoint of individual rights, and the tension between the rights of the mother and the rights of the unborn child – both of whom are considered individuals worthy of protection. Furthermore, many Conservatives fear that abortion will lead to eugenics, eventually destroying the variety and unique qualities found in each human being.

Finally there are numerous economic theories that divide conservatives. These range from unlimited free-marketers, protectionists and more moderate free marketers. Libertarians for example believe that free market capitalism alone will produce the best society; more protectionist-oriented Neoconservatives see the importance of high tariffs to keep our products low cost and imports expensive, where in the middle most conservatives like free markets to a point, but believe in varying degrees of regulation or other influence by our leaders on the markets.

In conclusion, the media portrays conservatives as a bloc of religious fanatics, racists and warmongers. As a result, most young people will never know of what conservatism is, nor the ideas that drive it or the diversity within it. Conservatism is a philosophy rich in tradition, rigorous thought and internal debate, and with a little exploration, most will find something in that history that appeals to them.

Groundbreaking Conservative writing, speeches and articles:

  • God and Man at Yale by William F. Buckley.
  • Witness by Whittaker Chambers
  • The Conservative Mind by Russell Kirk
  • Dictatorships and Double Standards (Essay) by Jeanne Kirkpatrick
  • The Road to Serfdom by FA Hayek
  • A Time for Choosing (Speech) by Ronald Reagan
  • Anarchy State & Utopia by Robert Nozick
  • Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
  • The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater
  • On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
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Annheiser-Busch – King Cobra (2015)

by Cory Van der Pol on November 16, 2015

annheiser-busch_-_king_cobra_premium_malt_liquor

Malt liquor receives the same media treatment as the gangsta culture with which it is associated, which is equal parts fear and awe. It is portrayed as a demonic drink that lures one into evil wickedness, but, sotto voce, that this can be a lot of fun.

The reality is far more mundane: Malt liquors occur when major beer companies double-brew their seconds, or the stuff that wasn’t quite up to snuff for the first round. Every company has seconds and the tendency to upcycle them is not just good business, but avoiding waste. Even wino wine is seconds — “Mad Dog” 20/20 is seconds from the Mogen David factories that make Jewish ceremonial wine. King Cobra is the strengthened seconds of the Annheiser-Busch brewing company, who bring you the infamous Budweiser, which is the Big Mac of beers because it is sweet and consistent.

King Cobra not surprisingly takes a similar path. There is some flat bitterness in the taste, but generally this beer is simply sweet. It has a grainy taste with a slight influence of hops, but mostly like a rice beer, stays within the sugar spectrum with beer overtones. It goes down smoothly despite a slightly bracing initial taste and uninspiring mouthfeel and yet, at 6% ABV, this problem does not last for very long. Soon it tastes merely like Budweiser: a warm, sugary, slightly urea-tinged beer with a faint metallic taste in the background. This beer has a thicker taste, more toward oatmeal than flour if you take my metaphor, but it is not mystically different. The real problem is that it is a blast of sugar like most mass-culture products, which means that the hangover is brutal because your liver deals with the dual assault of beer-flavored Shasta and the alcohol they add to keep it real. If you pound down this stuff, you should do as we did when we were kids drinking Schlitz “The Blue Bull” (which, from memory, tasted more like beer than the King Cobra) and drink a full glass of water and then some PowerAde to reconstitute your body after the equivalent of eating a half-dozen donuts.

I once went on a brewery tour at Annheiser-Busch and when we came to the “free beer room” at the end, I noted to the guy asking for our beer orders that there was no King Cobra. He was a gentle fellow and went to a secret tap in back to get me some. Apparently, Annheiser-Busch isn’t exactly promoting this beer except by marking it $3.64 and slapping it on the shelves at the far end where winos, college students and Republican presidential candidates go. This is not bad beer. It is too sugary for me, and some of the awkward tastes — a bitterness, a flat metallic undertone, even a yeasty taste that seems like the yeast aged wrong — make it something I will probably never reach for again. But it needs demystifying; this is nothing but fortified Budweiser and it’s not bad at all.

Quality rating: 1/5
Purchase rating: 2/5

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Vox Day SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police (2015)

by Guest Contributor on November 3, 2015

Vox Day: SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police

Vox Day: SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police

Science fiction author and video game designer Vox Day has written a handbook for dealing with SJWs including who they are and how to identify them, how they think and act, and how to defend against them and counter-attack. His writing style is easily digestible, and the information he presents is conveniently organized into enumerated laws and steps, such as the three laws of SJWs (the first of which doubles as the book’s title), the stages in an SJW attack, and the points to keep in mind during an attack.

SJWs are bullies who wield social pressure as a weapon.

Since his intent is practical, he gives only a brief overview of the ideology and history of SJWs. In his words, “knowing everything there is to know about shark DNA or what fish grizzly bears prefer to eat doesn’t do you any good when you find yourself nose to nose with a hungry one.” This focus is a strong point, as the result is a succinct instruction manual.

In the universities, in the churches, in the corporations . . . free speech and free thought are under siege by a group of fanatics as self-righteous as Savonarola, as ruthless as Stalin, as ambitious as Napoleon, and as crazy as Caligula.

They are the Social Justice Warriors, the SJWs, the self-appointed thought police who have been running amok throughout the West since the dawn of the politically correct era in the 1990s. Their defining characteristics:

  • a philosophy of activism for activism’s sake
  • a dedication to rooting out behavior they deem problematic, offensive, or unacceptable in others
  • a custom of primarily identifying individuals by their sex, race, and sexual orientation
  • a hierarchy of intrinsic morality based on the identity politics of sex, race, and sexual orientation
  • a quasi religious belief in equality, diversity, and the inevitably of progress . . .

The information in this book will be useful to metal band members and concert organizers who are the targets of SJW attacks. Vox demonstrates, using numerous examples of attacks, that the worst thing these targets can do is apologise, as doing so simply hands the attackers “a confession to bolster their indictment.” In fact, if one learns only a single thing from this book, it should be that SJWs can’t be reasoned with at all: do not engage them in good faith, do not expect them to be honest in any way, and just plain do not take them seriously. This should come naturally to members of an artistic movement fascinated with aggression and violence. And yet, #metalgate has shown us that heavy metal is in the SJWs’ crosshairs.

The reason for this is that metal has been infiltrated by SJWs, whose primary allegiance is always the Narrative, which is the nebulous and frequently changing concept of social justice to which they all adhere, regardless of inherent contradictions and absurdities (see the First Law). To them, the goals of a movement or institution will always be secondary to this, though they mask this insincerity by wrapping themselves in its superficial trappings. When they look at a band like Disma, they ignore what would be most important to a metalhead — the musical, artistic and philosophical content — and instead search for anything about its members that violates their Narrative, then point and shriek hysterically until a crowd forms. Fundamentally, SJWs are bullies who wield social pressure as a weapon.

If you have any SJWs working under you, fire them.

For a work that deals with such bitter and unlikeable people, the tone of this book is surprisingly positive, and the message is hopeful. Referring to an organized campaign against SJW control of a Science Fiction award, Day says “the importance of Sad Puppies is that it shows how even in a field that has been dominated by SJWs for more than two decades, they are weaker and less numerous than most people believe.” If their weapon is social pressure then a successful resistance would consist of simply not bowing to it. Since they always lie, even to themselves, they operate with a false understanding of the world, which puts them at a disadvantage to those who are honest.

Target the enemy at every opportunity. Hit them wherever they show themselves vulnerable. Play as dirty as your conscience will permit. Undermine them, sabotage them, and discredit them. Be ruthless and show them absolutely no mercy. This is not the time for Christian forgiveness because these are people who have not repented, these are people who are trying to destroy you and are quite willing to harm your family and your children in the process. Take them down and take them out without hesitation. If you have any SJWs working under you, fire them.

The truth is that SJWs care so much about the institutions they control that they will destroy them rather than relinquish control over them. They will consume metal, video games anything else by using their crazy ideology in order to assert individual self-importance. When confronted by them, don’t apologise, but instead counterattack by ruthlessly pursuing and defending truth. In other words,

Forgive me not
This knowledge makes me strong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsAFNBrVI3Q

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Manilla Road – The Blessed Curse (2015)

by Staff on October 24, 2015

Manilla Road - The Blessed Curse (2015)

Article written by Daniel McCormick

In James Howell’s 1660 Lexicon Tetraglotton one finds the proverb, “When thou hast made a turd leave it.” – advice not heeded by Manilla Road on The Blessed Curse. The biggest issues are twofold: length, and creativity. Yet, had brevity been a predilection, there’s little saving grace, even considering the august bloodline. I must admit that within the first minute thirty I was well prepared to hit stop and attempt to return my album. This is not to say that the music is performed sloppily, or that it’s lacking in merits altogether, but the substance of the music rarely rises above the common or generic, and it comes across more as embryonic than as a well crafted communicative device. It is as if this double album were a construct built from a month of jamming in a rehearsal room.
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#Metalgate explodes: Maryland Deathfest denies, then confirms SJW censorship

by Brett Stevens on October 10, 2015

maryland_deathfest_-_carlifornia_deathfest_-_full_SJW

Maryland Deathfest went full SJW by announcing that it was severing ties with death metal band Disma for its California Deathfest event. This comes only a day after the MDF organizers denied any connection between their act and SJW beliefs, blaming it instead on the departure of guitarist Daryl Kahan from the band.

Disma was dropped because of the pressures and safety/security at stake, demand by the Oakland community – which let me remind you – is the most racially integrated city and progressive in the entire country. As one of the organizers behind this, our community has zero tolerance for any kind of bigotry or hatred. Period. Craig Pillard had the opportunity to repudiate his past ties to fascist promotion, but he clearly choose not to. That is entirely his choice. Thanks tot he growing pressures of the Movement in Ferguson and Baltimore, with Oakland battling racist police for three straight weeks, you best think twice before coming here championing any kind of oppression.

Disma fired back a response that was predictably irate, seeing how the band has lost time and money in preparing for its departure to this fest:

maryland_deathfest_-_california_deathfest_-_disma_response

ANGELA DANCEV is a liar! DISMA did not get kicked off the fest for any previous reason or accusation. We got kicked because of ANGELA DANCEV terrorizing the fest with her idiotic and selfish agenda. For her to lump this situation in with the past riots of Ferguson and Baltimore is absolutely ridiculous and utterly insane! Please show me ONE live show from us that caused any problems. Please source your accusations! She created this racist band myth based on her ignorance of Craig’s previous shock project that picked a different boogieman other than Satan. His past projects or whatever he does in his spare time has nothing at all to do with DISMA. All of us live within 10mins. of the most culturally diverse city on the planet! NYC So please spare us another ignorant statement. Our friends and fans know who we are! So stop hiding behind Oakland. All we were going to do was play a show for our fans. We do not promote violence or hatred of any kind. so again, please source your references to these false accusations. Sorry again to all the people who were looking forward to seeing DISMA.

Yesterday, Maryland Deathfest organizers reacted with denial and insults when confronted with their actions. Today, they confirm what was said here and then denied by MDF, and even more, double down on the vitriol and defensive posture. It seems that MDF does not like being recognized as SJW-run and pro-censorship, but they can’t find a way out of the corner they have painted themselves into. No sympathy here.

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Ore.fm launches underground heavy metal discovery platform

by Brett Stevens on September 18, 2015

orefm_promotional_banner

As the music industry adjusts to the rise of online music at a glacial pace, streaming services have taken over from the traditional model of radio. Into this field leaps a new competitor, Ore.fm, a “heavy metal only music discovery platform” that hopes to connect fans with bands — in the underground.

We were lucky to get a few minutes to chat with Vincent Minichiello, a founder of this new service.

Ore.fm claims it targets the underground. Why do you think this is a viable market, considering that most metal is rather “above ground” now?

All members of the ORE.FM team are either metal fans, musicians or music lovers in general. We feel that the underground scene is where we wanted to throw our support behind because there is such genuine, untapped, raw talent in a place that gets overshadowed by the bigger “above ground” bands and since no one else seems to want to showcase them, we took it upon ourselves to do so.

The metal community has proven itself time and time again to be the most supportive and tightly knit groups of any genre of music.

Are you a heavy metal fan? What do you (and/or your staff) listen to?

I am definitely a fan of heavy metal, as is most of the ORE.FM team. I grew up playing guitar and listening to bands like: Pantera, Slayer, Black Label Society and anything else that involved double bass, distorted guitars and bad-ass lyrics. Some of the music currently being listened to by the rest of the staff ranges from bands such as: The Sword, Havok, Mastodon, Jim Croce and YJY. ORE.FM has also exposed us to bands like: Ferium from Israel, Darwin’s Theory from LA, Strict Vincent from Australia and Archaeologist from San Jose.

How hard was it to get Ore.fm started? What did you have to do?

At this point, we have been working on ORE.FM for just shy of two years. We started where most bands start, in the basement of our parents’ house and it’s just been a steady climb up since then. There have been battles and obstacles along the way (as to be expected with anything) but overall I’d say the process has been not as difficult as we thought it would be. We lucked out and found a great developer who really understands our vision of what ORE.FM should do for the community. We all work very well together, bouncing thoughts off each other, working out kinks, evolving ideas, etc. It’s been a fantastic and exciting experience so far.

Why do you think heavy metal fans are a desirable audience? Most people think we’re dirty, smelly, uncouth and loud.

Having grown up with metal, going to shows and playing in bands, it was fairly easy and obvious to us that the metal scene is where we want to continue to be a part of. We are the people we are making this platform for. We are the fans looking for that new band to follow around and support. We have been called, “dirty, smelly, uncouth and loud” and frankly, we don’t care. The metal community has proven itself time and time again to be the most supportive and tightly knit groups of any genre of music. After having done so much for us and shaping who we are as individuals, we wanted to give something back to the metal community and ORE.FM is the perfect way of doing so.

We are the people we are making this platform for. We are the fans looking for that new band to follow around and support.

What music and experience can a user expect to find on Ore.fm? How does it compare to other services like Spotify and Last.fm?

There are so many sub-genres of metal that exist today and we want them all to feel welcome and included on ORE.FM. Listeners can expect to hear sounds that they’ve never heard before, from places they may never thought to look. Before starting ORE.FM, I would have never thought that the Middle East would have such brutal and technical metal bands. Now I find myself using ORE.FM’s Discover map to scan the globe to find new music daily from literally anywhere on Earth. This is what makes us stand out against competitors. Features such as this help bands get their music out to a world-wide audience, through a range of devices and platforms. Where they might be a drop in the vast ocean someplace else, on ORE.FM they stand out like gold.

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Cruciamentum – Charnel Passages (2015)

by Gabe Kagan on September 6, 2015

Cruciamentum - Charnel Passages (2015)
AKA Unholy Cult II. I suppose it would be unreasonable to ask Cruciamentum’s full length debut after several years of formative demos, EPs, and a brief period of disunion not to be instrumentally refined and polished as crystal clear as death metal allows; I reference Immolation’s 2002 effort not because Charnel Passages is a clear aesthetic match for it (although both are more melodic than the usual straight-ahead DM while not quite qualifying for the “melodic” buzzword), but the sense of rising formulas that could very well strangle any band.

What bugs me most about Charnel Passages is that Cruciamentum is competent. The members know how to construct lengthy, relatively varied death metal songs that avoid the worst excesses of the random and nonsensical. This puts them far ahead of most of the disorganized or simply flat acts out there. Presumably, their study of various greats in the genre has taught them how to construct riffs, drum patterns, song sections from their various influences and recombine them as desired. While they lean primarily on the percussive, rhythmically complex style of the old New York death metal scene, there are tinges of so many other contributors to death metal scattered throughout. These are minuscule at best and don’t draw much attention to their incongruities unless the listener is actively searching for them. Ultimately, it works in the band’s favor, and these incorporated influences showcase them as knowledgeable musicians passionate about their beloved death metal recordings and able to assemble new tracks with no major flaws in their construction.

However, Charnel Passages fails to rise beyond this level of stewardship. It is as if they are so devoted to imitating the great moments of the past that they are unable to build off them. In the process of listening to this album for review, I was constantly bombarded with moments where I found a transition slightly jarring, a breakdown slightly overblown, a blasting section more out of obligation than of narrative strength. Were I less attentive, I would probably not notice these, but they would still gradually push me away and towards proven classics. As a result, while it probably meets the average listener’s standards and will force its way onto many a best-of list of 2015, I expect it to be condemned to obscurity in the long run, popping up occasionally in internet discussions of “lost gems of the 2010s”. If it weren’t so close to being a good record, this wouldn’t be as much of a tragedy.

To be honest, it’s possible I may end up giving Cruciamentum the benefit of the doubt in the long run. Critics have been known to double back on their old opinions from time to time, and considering its level of quality, Charnel Souls seems like the sort of album I could change my position on very easily.

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Iron Maiden – The Book Of Souls (2015)

by Gabe Kagan on September 4, 2015

Iron Maiden - The Book Of Souls (2015)
Iron Maiden’s main strength in their 1980s heyday was their ability to incorporate progressive rock tropes (and therefore useful techniques for song variation and extension) into what was otherwise a fairly standard, if well executed poppy heavy metal sound. Not the rarest trick in the book, but more than enough to turn the band into a commercial juggernaut whose influence can sometimes be heard even in the deepest dregs of the underground.

On first impression, The Book of Souls ages gracefully, offering an aesthetic mostly similar to the band’s earliest recordings with Bruce Dickinson if understandably and obviously brought up to modern production standards. Like the rest of the band’s latter day material however, it leans ever closer towards its prog-isms, resulting in several enormous tracks and inflating the content into a full-fledged double album. The unfortunate weakness of these epics is that they are replete with filler of questionable value to a track, and as the length of these albums and tracks grow ever longer, so does the tedium, as Iron Maiden’s ability to extend a track beyond 7-8 minutes or so has not advanced along with them. Tracks end up overwhelmed by moments stunningly reminiscent of old hooks and hit singles (for instance, the intro of “Shadows of the Valley” seems to channel “Wasted Years” from Somewhere In Time), and the true nature of the band’s recent weakness reveals itself.

Iron Maiden has become a band split between two souls that they are unable to effectively reconcile. Their urge to extend their songwriting and write metal epics is held back by their need to continuously sound like Iron Maiden and the corresponding need to push hit singles. Paring down some of the worst excesses would probably be the most profitable option, since the band has demonstrated many times through their career that they can handle some degree of extension. Even then, Iron Maiden is competing with their own past; a past that is more virile (if not as slickly produced or musically experienced) and still easily experienced at their live concerts. I expect this album to jump off the shelves of record shores for still being recognizably Iron Maiden, for having some memorable and well-written moments and for being a valid way to financially support the band, but as a work of music, I don’t expect it to retain much listener interest after its marketing blitz subsides.

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