Sinisterite - The Unclean Days (2011)

Band: Sinisterite
Country: UK
Style: Black Metal
Label: Bubonic Productions

Ah, Mr. Shatraug, what would dozens of black metal bands do without your generous guidance. Though maybe none of his projects are nearly as well known as Horna or Sargeist, to name a few, Sinisterite is probably one of his most underground, at the moment. Though I don't mean to exclude the other two members, Molestor and Nox Irnaed Azzur, I think that most people will know Shatraug than the other two, most likely.
If anyone has ever expected the guitar work and songwriting of Shatraug to ever attempt to explore the realms of progressive or experimental music, I'll just tell you right now that this album would not be where you would find that. This is pretty straightforward black metal with a lot of sounds that call back to early thrash, punk, and even death metal at times. I should also note that compared to the projects of Shatraug I mentioned above, the production on here is pretty minimal and raw sounding, no frills on here, just ugly and unpretentious. The riffs are simplistic, the drumming is primal, and the vocals are harsh and mean, not a good record to put on for your girlfriend at all, unless your girlfriend happens to like raw black metal.
The songwriting recalls the sounds of early Darkthrone and while using a concept more like modern Darkthrone. The punk nature is carried throughout the entire record, very much on tracks like Death & Magick or Piss Off!, but it's just so unflinching and uncaringly brutal to the point pedestrian or barbaric. I don't want to make this out to be the type of record where it's just blasting all the way, because there actually aren't that many songs on here that blast, and there are several which move into a much more doomy pace. The biggest flaw with this album however is, honestly, the performances on here, I can forgive a raw, rehearsal room sound, but there are just some songs that are plainly sloppy and there are clear mess-ups, hear the drum flub on Die When You Die. But I still have to give it to these guys for knowing when to hold back and when to just get in your face, as this thing is very well put together, as a whole, with the entire disc just flowing together very well.
Honestly, this thing is decent, it's not great, but it's still well worth a good listen. I personally prefer the likes of Sargeist and Horna to most other projects of Shatraug, but that's just me. This is certainly not the most original, nor best-written, black metal record of the year, but if you're in the mood for some raw and primitive black metal, this is certainly a good spot to look in.
Overall Score: 7
Highlights: The Unclean Days, Hate At First Sight, Don't Pray For My Soul

Potmos Hetoimos - Evelen (2011)

Band: Potmos Hetoimos
Country: Baltimore, Maryland
Style: Post-Metal/Sludge Metal
Label: Independent

Despite releasing something like eight records, there is still relatively little information about Pormos Hetoimos. I've seen this album on quite a few blogs and the cover stood out as being a bit more grimy and dark than some other sludge albums this year. I have not listened to any of the band's previous output simply to keep this as a very direct sort of review.
The brief description of the concept of this album, linking in with their last one, 2010's "Agatha," was really exciting and cool sounding. Concept albums are, however, dangerous undertakings, for any band or artist, due to the fact that writing music that lives up to the hefty weight of a given concept often doesn't happen. I find that a lot of, story-based, concepts don't work out and end up tripping over themselves a lot of the time, with the music becoming too out of sync with the lyrics or the other way around. Now, I'll just get my biggest complaint with this record out of the way before moving further and describing the sound, the vocals are not all that great on here. I like how sparsely they are used, but the tone of them just doesn't fit the music for me, the low-growl/talking thing just seemed totally out of place for me.
On here, the music is varied enough to really live up to the concept, moments of crushing doom, more post-metal atmospheric sections, experimental percussion, and more melodic parts, each track has enough variation within their ten-plus minute lengths to justify them. However, I feel like there are times on here where, actually, songs could have been a little bit longer, dragged some ideas out a little longer to really hammer a point in. The use of more ambient passages in Lucidity or the more ballad-esque take on post-metal on Obscurity all point to a band that is comfortable with writing music to explain a concept, and not to fit a concept. Even at it's most simplistic, Reunion, which is more of a traditional death/doom sort of song, the band find ways of meeting it with some nice acoustic moments. You'd imagine there to be moments of inconsistency within the album amongst all the diversity, but in terms of instrumentation, I thought that the only real flaw was that some of the guitar tones were a little muddy, but otherwise there isn't a real lack of consistency.
This is a pretty decent release, it's not great, but it's far better than I expected it to be. There's a lot of variety in here that I think more bands should really try experimenting with, and it makes the record much more enjoyable. Definitely look into this album if you're into experimental doom metal.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Artifact, Liberator

Cave In - White Silence (2011)

Band: Cave In
Country: Methuen, Massachusetts
Style: Metalcore/Post-Hardcore
Label: Hydra Head Records

Despite all the good things I've heard about Cave In, how much they've influenced other bands I like, how they were one of the priogentors of metalcore, I've never really listened to them before I got this album. I have been aware of their progression from harsher metalcore, the real stuff, not the melodic metalcore stuff of the 2000s by the way, into more experimental and progressive territory, but that didn't really interest me before now. Despite all that, I'm hoping that maybe this album will get me into the band.
Even though I was well aware of Cave In's movement towards more mainstream sounds in previous album, I was still surprised by how poppy the opening riff of the title-track, White Silence, was, even though the rest of the track most certainly wasn't poppy in the least. That uplifting feeling in the riffs does continue throughout most of the record though. Big anthemic chords that just hammer their way into your head and stay there, think sludge style though, because the band certainly haven't forgotten how to bring the hefty grooves either. Those vicious and brutal, nearly grinding at times, in tracks like Vicious Circles that just make you want to bang your head, that's what I love about sludge metal riffs, that punk infused energy that just makes you want to move.
Personally though, despite the return to the heavy side of their sound, I still preferred when the band added in that more atmospheric and more textural quality to their songs. Tracks like Sing My Loves and Summit Fever just stood out to me because they were able to meld those big grooves with huge sounding atmospheres and nice choruses. Not only that, but I feel like the clean vocals, while they might not be the best out there, they are more than certainly fitting for this band and I feel like they add that little extra something that makes this band different, plus they don't sound like a little girl singing. The likes of Heartbreaks, Earthquakes really blends all of what I just mentioned together, riding itself of most heavy moments, favouring the more psychedelic and space rock sound they were using on their last few full-lengths, comparisons to Deftones have already been made.
This turned out to be a better record than I thought it would be, not that I thought it would be bad anyway, but better than expectations. Definitely some flaws, it's not perfect, but definitely very good. Definitely check this out if you're into more experimental sludge or that early metalcore sound doing something different.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Sing My Loves, Summit Fever, Heartbreaks, Earthquakes

Symphony X - Iconoclast (2011)

Band: Symphony X
Country: Middletown, New Jersey
Style: Progressive Metal
Label: Nuclear Blast

Symphony X is one of those bands that I grew up with, my dad really introduced me to the whole prog-metal genre, so these guys have been in my life for a while. In recent years it's been nice to see them getting not only more support and press, but also increase in heaviness. Upon seeing them get signed to Nuclear Blast, I was like, "Finally," maybe now more people will begin to appreciate these guys.
What I really get irked at is when people just lump Symphony X into the rest of the prog-metal scene, or discount them as just another band that likes to show off how technical they can play, because that's never been the case. Sure, they have long and adventurous songs and make use of long instrumental passages, but the focus has always been more on the song than the virtuosity of the players. The ability to write a memorable riff or hook is apparently more important than just soloing for several minutes at a time, Heretic or Electric Messiah. In addition to that, vocalist Russel Allen is one of the standout vocalists within the prog/power metal scene, and has been for at least the last decade. I feel that his vocal style, and tone, really just has more of that classic 70/80's hard rock quality to it that just brings a whole new dynamic to this band than their contemporaries.
I remember reading a comment that had said that "Paradise Lost" was much more of a groove based prog-metal album, where this one has a more technical thrash vibe to it, and I found that statement to be very true. The riffing on this album is certainly more frantic and fast paced, Bastards of The Machine, than on previous discs but still retains that same sort of melodic quality to it that can only be found with this band. It's certainly the band's most aggressive record yet, with most tracks showcasing the band's metal side. In a sense, one could see this record as less adventurous simply because it is a metal record, you don't have the variety or epic long songs that were on albums like "The Odyssey," but I think in exchange you're getting a much more catchy and hook-laden record that turns out to be more memorable and suitable for a live environment. Despite all that, there's always at least one ballad on their albums, and on here you have the epic When All Is Lost, featuring an almost uplifting vocal melody that really just stuck out. This album also retains those moments of pure fist-in-the-air, arena rock choruses as well, something that has been present on the last handful of releases, but tracks like Children of A Faceless God or The Lord of Chaos really exemplify this trait best.
Overall, this is another strong release from this quintet, though I've already seen plenty of people disagree. This is no doubt one of the band's heaviest and most song based, despite being a concept album, record yet and it just works out. Definitely look into these guys if you're into more progressive metal at all.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: Dehumanized, When All Is Lost, Reign In Madness

Sky Architect - A Dying Man's Hymn (2011)

Band: Sky Architect
Country: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Style: Progressive Rock
Label: Galileo Records/ProgRock Records

In terms of prog-rock bands, Sky Architect is still quite a young band. Having started in 2006, they released their debut, "Excavations of The Mind" last year and here is their follow-up. Though I never listened to the debut, I was aware of it and have become interested in looking more into it around the same time I got this new disc.
I wouldn't recommend this band to anyone that isn't into the more indulgent side of progressive music, because this band certainly makes use of lengthy tracks. Recalling influences from the likes of Yes and King Crimson to bands like Opeth and Dream Theater, these guys have lengthy track and make every second count. I feel like despite influences like this, this record is by no means a guitar heavy one, if anything focusing more on keyboards. This isn't to say that the guitars are way out of the mix or have no presence in the music, because they are certainly quite a big part of the band's sound, hear a track like Melody of The Air: Explicatio, with numerous guitar solos, but in terms of actual songwriting, they are certainly not as big a part of the sound as the keys are, at least that's how I interpreted it. I say this because I feel like, while the guitars are certainly important, and they do play a lead role, without the keyboards supporting the sound in the background, this just wouldn't have that same sort of 70's quality to it. In terms of vocals, there's really nothing all that great about them, when they're used they don't really bring forth any real catchy melodies, so I guess I kind of disregarded them, as I felt this band did a much better job at going down the instrumental route.
Honestly, despite being a big fan of progressive music, especially from the 60s and 70s, I didn't really find this record all that interesting. Sure, these guys are undoubtedly talented and great players, but these songs just didn't do anything for me, they felt so vanilla to me, not to say there weren't a decent amount of cool parts. Sure, there are plenty of different styles present, from regular prog-rock to elements of funk, fusion, and maybe even classic rock, but to me it didn't do anything for me at all. Being adventurous without any real sense of distinguishable qualities just makes it so frustrating to me, because these guys obviously are ambitious and want to go into new places, musically, but it's all been done before by so many other bands, who have also done this sort of prog-rock better. So of the melodies on here sound too forced and out of place, the ending of Hitodama's Return is just so out of place to me.
I'm sure a lot of people are going to disagree with my disapproval of this album, but it just didn't do anything for me. Like I said, this just sounded like another prog-rock band to me, not really anything distinguishable about it, on this album anyway. I think people that are into modern prog-rock should still check this band out, maybe you'll get something out of it that I couldn't.
Overall Score: 5.5
Highlights: Woodcutters Vile, The Breach, A Dying Man's Hymn

Sun Caged - The Lotus Effect (2011)

Band: Sun Caged
Country: Sittard, Netherlands
Style: Progressive Metal
Label: Lion Music

When I was first getting into the whole prog-metal scene a few years back, for some reason Sun Caged was one of the first bands that I got into. I remember first hearing about them through Ayreon and really enjoyed the keyboard playing. It's been four years since their last album and I'm hopeful that this manages to top it, because "Artemisia" was a really good prog-metal album.
Despite being one of the earliest prog-metal groups I enjoyed, listening to each album the band has released can be a different experience as every album, including this one, features a new vocalist, among other members. I really have to comment on it first, new vocalist Paul Adrian Villarreal has a style that is, personally, a bit too clean for me. While by no means a bad vocalist in any regard, I find that I enjoyed moments where he would be more aggressive in his approach, as to when he's trying to be more melodic. Instrumentally, the band haven't really changed their approach all that much, combining traditional prog-metal, ala Dream Theater, with more groovy riffs, think Meshuggah, sort of.
I'm not sure if people really get this band, because some tracks Shades of Hades, which actually sounds like something off of Dream Theater's "Train of Thought" album, like feature more of a groove style of riffing, not really prog-metal in the traditional sense, but on the other side, you have tracks like Ashes to Ear or Pareidolized (The Ocean In The Shell) which sound much more regular to the style. It's always been an interesting dynamic, and I have to point out that these guys were doing this thing before the surge of tech metal/djent bands were. In terms of songwriting, I feel like in terms of instrumentation, this is top-notch, as is most prog in general, but I honestly feel like there's a lack of memorable vocal hooks. It's actually a bit of a shame because I feel like this has been something that got better in the middle of the album, but is bookended by some rather forgettable pieces. The last handful of tracks also feel too disjointed, as if they were supposed to be a single piece, Parasol through Let It Wash Away (The Lotus Effect), which only served to annoy me.
I think this is a decent record, but unfortunately, I just didn't think this record tops their previous two. While still a great prog-metal outfit, this is just nowhere near as memorable as their past material. I still suggest you check them out if you're looking for a cool underground prog-metal group though.
Overall Score: 6
Highlights: Shades of Hades, Lotus, Pareidolized (The Ocean In The Shell)

Wolverine - Communication Lost (2011)

Band: Wolverine
Country: Söderhamn, Sweden
Style: Progressive Metal/Rock
Label: Candlelight Records

Wolverine has been working on this for several years, and I've been hearing rumors of it's release for the past three years, so here it finally is. I first heard these guys around the same time I was finding a band like Opeth and really got into their 2001 debut "The Window Purpose." I've been finding that there has actually been quite a wide acceptance of this album despite the time taken to release it.
Despite Wolverine's movement from more progressive death metal into much more atmospheric prog-rock, ala Porcupine Tree or Ananthema, it really seems as though a lot of fans are making the transition quite easily. The much more ambient and textured sound definitely suits the band, as vocalist Stefan Zäll does have a great voice. I'm sure some did feel that the abandonment from the harsher tones of death metal and the movement into more melodic and what I would actually call tranquil sound, I actually feel like the territory that they've moved into not only suits them better, but is more original as well. The more atmospheric side definitely allows for a much great emphasis on textures and different soundscapes, which is something that you rarely, if ever, get in a death metal band.
I don't want the above to really offset what actually happens on this record, because, yes it is much more ambient and melodic than than band's early material, but there are still some very metal bits in here, Into The Great Nothing. I think that it's also important to mention that the band have not rid themselves of their more proggy musical inclinations as there are plenty of instrumental and solo sections on here. There's also a wide range of emotions played out on here, which is something I always love hearing in an album, no will deny the darker nature of a track like Your Favourite War compared to the more emotional nature on Embrace. With all that said, each song maintains the great ability to capture, at least, my attention and draw me in with a good melody or hook. Due to all the different elements, emotions, and great songwriting, this album turns into one of the most consistent releases I've heard this year, as well as one of the most gripping.
This has to be one of my favorite prog album this year, it's really just so moving and unique. It's progressive without really going into the realms of self-indulgence, even if I do like bands that do that, skillful playing never takes precedence over a good song. Definitely check this out if you're into more melodic metal with a definite atmospheric side.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: Into The Great Nothing, In Memory of Me, Communication Lost