2012 - Djent II

Several of these are new, some of them are older, but I think that they're all at least worth talking about. Some of them are a bit more in the progressive/tech metal realm, but they all reference the djent sound at some point. EPs reviewed from 1-8 and full-lengths from 1-10.

2012 - Singles

I've had a couple of these singles lying around my files for a little while so I figured I'd just put them together and give whoever's reading this a nice dose of some cool metal in short doses. All reviewed from 1-8.

Double Review: Devil Sold His Soul & The Elijah

As it's probably become common knowledge at this point, I enjoy a good helping of post-rock in my music, and post-rock in general really. I've been a pretty big fan of Devil Sold His Soul for a couple years now and think that they are a really cool band but The Elijah is a new group to me, but I've heard and read reviews where the two bands are mentioned together in terms of style, so I figured I'd just post them together. Both reviewed from 1-10.

Double Review: The Ash Eaters

Since I first heard last year's stellar The Cruel Side EP (which wound up in my top 10 EPs of the year) I have been a fan of The Ash Eaters. Forming from the remains of Brown Jenkins and expanding upon the black metal side of that project and into the more raw and dissonant one expressed on that EP. I was sent this first EP a couple of months ago but found the album rather quickly after that, so I just figured I'd cover them both. As per usual, EP reviewed from 1-8, album from 1-10.

2012 - Land of Decay

I'm very bad at keeping up with release dates. I really try to put things out in a timely manner, but this year (what with me trying to actually give albums more time and attention) it's been harder to keep up with them. I got these a few months back and I just sat down recently and told myself that I was going to do a special review just for these albums. All reviewed from 1-10.

Between The Buried and Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence (2012)

Band: Between The Buried and Me
Country: Raleigh, North Carolina
Style: Progressive Metal
Label: Metal Blade

For as much as I love progressive and avant-garde groups, it took me quite a while to get into BTBAM. I don't think it was until I heard the second half of their 2008 album Colors that I really began to understand what they were going for (this was also about the same time I was really getting into groups like Opeth and Dream Theater as well). Now, several years later and we have the band expanding their sound even further into the realms of concept driven albums.
Personally, ever since I started listening to BTBAM, I've felt like they've been on a consistent upstroke. Both Colors and The Great Misdirect were great albums that really expanded the accessibility for progressive and experimental tendencies in the modern metal world (or at least that's how I see it). With the release of this album, we see the band streamlining their sound into a much more cohesive beast that is less frenetic and spastic and more melodic. Granted, anyone who says the band has abandoned their quirks obviously hasn't listened to the album because they're all over, they're just not quite as blatant. Also, while I never found them to be so, I am aware that there are some people out there who do find BTBAM's older material a bit too jarring and don't really get the whole genre shifting thing, and I do think that this album is more palatable despite still being quite experimental in the grand scheme of things.
Even though this album isn't quite as eccentric as either of the full-lengths that came before it, the band still manage to fit in those quirky melodies that remind me of why I love them. That Mr. Bungle influence is something that they just can't seem to get rid of, and I hope they never do, as exhibited on the short Bloom. In addition to that, the incorporation of extra instrumentation like a violin, tuba, and flute (just to name a few) really does add that flair of color that makes certain parts stick out. I can't recall the band actually going out on a symphonic kick before this album, but those parts do feel grandiose and powerful, which is far more than I can say for plenty of symphonic metal groups. There's also several more dissonant and crazy riffs, hear Silent Flight Parliament, which I've always been a fan of, and it's great to hear them still included in the equation.
I can't say that I was overly hyped on this album when it was first being announced, probably the thing that got me interested was guitarist Paul Waggoner's response to the question of how this album differed from their other material and he responded with, "It's our longest album." No, "It's our heaviest. It's our most melodic," or whatever, but that seriously make me laugh out loud and was enough to get me interested again. While I can't say I was overly impressed with the first track that was released, Telos, not that it was bad, but it wasn't ever going to be my favorite track the band has ever released, I have to say that it's placement in the album does work. This album definitely follows in the footsteps of Colors in the sense that the entire record is cohesive and fluidly transitions from one section, and song, to the next without any slippage. There really aren't that many bands that I can think of offhand that manage to make interludes so poignant and actually worth listening to on an album, and whenever I pressed play, whenever one of those one-minute, two-minute long tracks, I never felt the need to skip over them.
I know that BTBAM isn't everyone's cup of tea, but this album is, at least to me, their most accessible release to date. It's new territory for them but is also a good entrance for newer fans. Check it out if you have any interest in more progressive forms of metal, or if you're a long time fan - in which case you've probably already heard this.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: Lay Your Ghosts to Rest, Bloom, Silent Flight Parliament

Solace and Stable - The Systematic Erosion of Integrity (2012)

Band: Solace and Stable
Country: Kansas City, Missouri
Style: Progressive Metalcore
Label: Independent

There's a reason why metalcore is going/went out of style, it's dull. A majority of the bands that even I liked when I was first starting to get into heavier music have gone to crap and now sound like your generic radio metal band with some screaming. I've recently been looking into the genre to see if anything interesting was happening, and this was one of the results.
I've read a couple of reviews for this album and after listening to it a few times, can confirm that comparisons to Between The Buried and Me are not unfounded. While this is nowhere near as exciting or experimental as BTBAM is, this band is perhaps a much easier and accessible band to more modern -core fans who find BTBAM too over the top and progressive. I can't say I've heard Solace and Stable's debut album, so I'm not sure at how much they've improved since then, but it is clear that they are trying to push their ideas away from any form of -core sound and into more areas that are more technical and progressive. Each of these guys can play their asses off, without a doubt, but there's something holding them back, and unfortunately that problem happens to be the vocals. While they're perfectly fine and adequate for what they are, it is perhaps the biggest link the band has to any -core sound; and yes, there are a couple of breakdowns on here as well for those wondering. Personally, while they won't offend anyone, I did find myself tiring of them whenever I reached the half-way point on the album, maybe that's just me, but I really felt like there needed to be more variety in that department since the music was always moving in pretty cool and interesting directions.
These songs are all pretty short and in almost all of them, the instrumentalists always appear to be trying to pull the song into a million different dimensions, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I think it's great that one minute they're being all techy and progressive, the next they break into a more open melodic section before transitioning into a more standard rock build up and then into a short breakdown, for example in Alive In Brokenness. With that being said, the majority of these tracks are just not all that memorable. They sound great while I'm listening to them, but once one track ends and the next begins I couldn't really tell you anything specific about the track that just ended (with the exception of a few). I can appreciate good musicianship as much as the next guy, but that can only take you so far. The musicianship on every one of these tracks is enough to make some people want to stop playing, but very few tracks stick, and that's a real problem. I also felt like there was a real lack of variety on here as well. Because most of these tracks are around three or four minutes long and they're all pretty fast and technical songs, things do begin to feel a bit samey after a while. When the band introduce more melodic passages on tracks like the aforementioned Alive In Brokenness or The Hollow Present, it makes a difference. I just wish there were more of those moments or that there were some slower parts, if only to break up the monotony. Variety is always a welcome addition to an album in my book.
It's a solid album, not great, but not bad, just solid. Maybe I'm selling it just a bit short, since while it was on, it was entertaining and quite fun. It's not going to win any awards for originality but if you happen to be a fan of more modern technical and progressive metal but have a hard time getting into anything quirky or weird, this might be an interesting gateway band.
Overall Score: 7
Highlights: Alive In Brokenness, The Apparatus, Past of Persistence