Backstabber "Conspiracy Theorist" Review

For fans of aliens and death metal, a new band is making its way onto the scene. Backstabber, a new band out of Quebec, look to show off their style of death metal with new album Conspiracy Theorist. While this may be the debut full length release from Backstabber, the band has definitely already made waves having shared the stage with the likes of Cattle Decapitation, Depths of Hatred, and First Fragment. It makes sense that Backstabber shared the stage with Depths of Hatred, seeing as guitarist and vocalist Christian Mongrain-Thériault was with the band between 2012 and 2013.

Conspiracy Theorist kicks off with a, sort of, instrumental track. “Inaugural Address” features fairly basic and a very slow tempo instrumental part with John F. Kennedy's infamous secret society or conspiracy speech. What is a more perfect way to kick off an album about conspiracies than the original speech on them. This leads straight into the first actual track on the album, “Whistle Blower”. “Whistle Blower” is a straight to the gut death metal track, without too much to note really. It's a great way to start the album, it gives an idea of how hard Backstabber hit. It does exactly what an opening track should, grabs the listener's attention and lets them know what's going on without giving away all the tricks. “No Privacy”, a song that Backstabber has up for free download (right here) for anyone interested, is a little bit of a step up. “No Privacy” builds off what “Whistle Blower” started with straight up death metal, throwing in some heavy bridges and a guitar solo that's impressive but not over the top.

Backstabber also released a music video leading up to the release of Conspiracy Theorist for the track “Subterranean”. The video features the band in a room playing the song, nothing too special, but it is very, very well filmed. The song itself is very heavy, starting off with a soft guitar part and harsh vocals over top, it very quickly develops into something more intense. Watching the song played through in the video is easily the best way to enjoy this track, it's a song that alternates between fast blastbeat centered musicianship and a heavy breakdown topped with a guitar solo. This is the kind of song you want to hear when a band relates themselves back to some of best in the business, like Hypocrisy and Kataklysm.

It may be early in the year, but this is easily one of the best death metal releases of the year. Backstabber show off that bands can have that Hypocrisy style, without blatantly ripping off the band. The songs are incredibly well written, alongside the inclusion of different speeches and other famous public speaking that's mixed in before, after and even in the middle of some of the songs. The mixing is great and if you're a death metal fan of any caliber, this is an album that should definitely be included in your collection.

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Amon Amarth "Jomsviking" Album Review

                Swedish Melodic Death Metal legends, Amon Amarth are back with their tenth album “Jomsviking” and the first concept album written by the band. A total of ten songs (eleven if you get the bonus track, which is worth it as it pushes the story just a little more), it’s been a long wait for the fans since 2013 but the wait was probably worth it for most of you. While reading a bunch of hate about how their first couple songs basically sound too much like Amon Amarth, I’m gonna tell you to just leave if you’re one of those people.

                Side note: this is a concept album about a man who loves a woman who is being married off, he proceeds to kill the man she’s being married to. Banished, our character faces all sorts of hardship before returning a full-fledged Viking Man and trying to make her love him, all just to be shunned away in rejection. I, personally, cannot wait for the full release to read the lyrics and properly follow the story, but this is what I gathered.

                The album kicks off with the first released single and video “First Kill” which sounds like a throwback to “Surtur Rising” and “Twilight of the Thudergod” more than any other albums. Starting with a signature Amon Amarth opener the song instantly draws you in the way the band know how to. Once the main riff kicks in with the tapping over top of a consistent speed guitar and blastbeats you’re hooked, while the chorus does sound a bit more like something from “Deceiver of the Gods” the song is a constant hook, pulling you in and while its more along the lines of a standard Amon Amarth song, that’s all most people want from the album opener.

                A few tracks down you’ll find “Raise Your Horn,” a drinking song dedicated to the dead. This song takes a bit more of a page from “A Fate of Norns” and “With Odin On Our Side,” with a chorus like “raise your horns, raise them up to the sky, we will drink to glory tonight” not only will this song become a live staple, but just another reason for me to buy a drinking horn when the band come through on their tour. The song is a bit slower than average, but its heavy, catchy and harmonic in all the right places.

                “At Dawn’s First Light, run for your lives” is how you’re welcome to the second released single “At Dawn’s First Light,” this song reminds me a lot of “Where Is Your God” and a bunch of songs from “Twilight of the Thundergod” while still sounding completely new. The versus are straight speed, the chorus slows down a little for the intense harmonies Amon Amarth are known for and in between the chorus and verse is my favourite section, just a straight heavy instrumental with Johan Hegg screaming “slashing, killing, thrashing, spilling, blood for honour, death and glory” over top is just spectacular. Following the second chorus is a lower set of vocals from Hegg as the song gets heavier just before a short but sweet solo. It should also be noted the lower sound at the beginning and near the end, it’s neat to here Hegg almost doing a spoken word section during songs.

                Last track of significant mention is “A Dream That Cannot Be” featuring our main characters love, voiced by Doro Pesch and while not normally being a fan of her vocals the almost raspy womanly tone of her singing voice in contrast with Hegg’s growls is quite special. The band played with this idea on the last album “Deceiver of the Gods” having Messiah Marcolin on the track “Hel” and while it worked then, the way this song pushes the story makes it a significant song on the album. The song isn’t over the top in any way and is fairly consistent beginning to end not really changing pace or tone at all but if you like Pesch you’ll enjoy the song, and if you don’t, like myself, you may still just enjoy the song.

                In the end, “Jomsviking” is now my second favourite Amon Amarth album, just behind “Surtur Rising.” It’s heavy, it’s melodic and it’s surprisingly touching once you pick up some of the vocals. There is real emotion to all of the songs and you can understand how much the character must have gone through. Out through Metal Blade Records, any fan of Melodic Death Metal should pick up this spectacular concept album and you should definitely see them on tour in April/May with Entombed and Exmortus!

95/100

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Van Halst "World of Make Believe" Album Review

                It’s been a few months since the release of the single “Save Me” but Van Halst have finally released their Gothic-y debut album “World of Make Believe” and if you were a fan of the original single you won’t be surprised to like the rest of the album. The album surprised me a little more than I expected it to, which is great of course and who knows, you may really like it.

                Yes, Van Halst are fronted by a female and if you’re one of those “females don’t belong in metal” “female fronted bands suck” kind of people you can fuck off now, thanks. So to kick off the album we have “The End,” yup weird song to open with. Instrumentally this song is just straight up Heavy Metal just like “Save Me” was, the part that surprised me was the consistency in Kami Van Halst’s harsh vocals through the chorus in between the gang vocals. Even though they were included in “Save Me” a bit as well, they’re more prominent here for sure. The second part to shock me was the breakdown, considering the average breakdown like this are more prominent in the Metalcore/Deathcore scene and generally very predictable when they’re coming it was interesting for this one to just sort of pop up even if only for a few bars.

                “Save Me” was the first and only single released from the album, starting off with a hit at religion this song is very much about the lack of “need” for the supposed “higher power.” This song sounds like a really heavy Evanescence song, the riffs are fairly standard for the most part as is the presentation of the vocals except for in one section where the instrumentals are heavier and the vocals are presented in a more speedy fashion. “Save Me” is a fairly standard Heavy Metal song but kicks the shit out of what the “popular” standard Metal songs are these days.

                A bit later in the album you’ll find the groovier “Put Him Down,” this song starts off sounding like something you’d see a woman singing on a stage in a bar in a 50s era movie. Slower, groovier pacing than anything else on the album Kami Van Halst’s ability to sing like a show performer of the 50s era sort really puts your imagination on the run. With very obvious Blues inspiration into the lead guitar, even the guitar solo sounds like something straight out of an Eric Clapton album, the slower pace to the rhythm guitar underneath creates a nice contrast in styles.

                On top of all this you have ballad style songs, Heavy Metal and piano oriented songs, this is a band that wrote something to make everyone happy. “World of Make Believe” is a well rounded album that was worth the wait, even if it was months away. For an idea for anyone who isn’t close minded and instantly shuts out any band female fronted, the more Metal songs on the album Kami Van Halst kind of sound like Elena Seigman who is the woman that sings on the Call of Duty: Zombies songs in the first 2 Black Ops games, just so you know. Excellent release, excellent bands and I personally look forward to seeing them rock out at the Hard Rock Cafe in Toronto!

90/100

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SIG:AR:TYR "Northen" Album Review

                It may have only takes 6 years, but Canadian Blackened Folk Metallers SIG:AR:TYR are back with the mighty new release “Northen”. “Northen” marks the bands forth full length release and the first where vocalist Daemonskald isn’t performing all instrumentals, which leads to some new sounds in the music although still true to where the band came from originally.

                The album opens with “Helluland”, beginning with the sound of the ocean and acoustic guitar and distorted electric guitar harmonizing until the very early Black Metal riff begins. The song, and a lot of the album, is very much a call back to what Black Metal was in the 90s but kicked up a little by infusing the story element of Folk Metal. While very old school in its approach with sound, Daemonskald shows off his skills in a guitar solo that beats practically every Black Metal solo recorded between 1990 and 1995 since solos where “true Black Metal” enough back then. Thinking about it now, a lot of this song has a sound similar to recent Enslaved between the intriguing pace of the riffs and drums and the style in which the vocals are presented.

                Later on, you’ll find the song “Markland (The Hammer Fades)” which has a bit of a slow build up consisting of nothing more than the same slow riff with an acoustic riff underneath, but once the vocals begin and the riff turns into a chug you can tell what’s about to go down. Just kidding, you can’t, the common build up like that leads the mind to think it’s about to get insane and speed up tenfold and when it doesn’t and your mind can’t figure out what to do, well, those are the riffs that keep your mind focused on the song. This song is proof you don’t need to be faster and heavier than everyone else, the chorus is pleasing to the ears, played with a high tone than you generally expect but matching the tone and rasp of the vocals. Again, this is another song that shows off the prowess of the guitar solo and following the solo the song speeds up to blistering speeds for a short amount of time before jumping into another solo. Basically in the end what this song is saying is shut the fuck up and don’t try to guess what’s next because you’re probably wrong, which is a smart writing technique, when you can’t guess what will be next you’re constantly glued to the song.

                “Last Ship Sails” closes out the album in an epic Viking fashion, between the harmonizing intro that you can picture boats setting sail to, to the riff that follows that puts your mind on imagining the Vikings on those boats off at sea. Having a consistently epic sound to it, this song sets the mood for what it must have been like to lead families behind not only back then, but now, going off to fight anywhere, the soundtrack to the human mind.

                To close this out, I want to say my one issue with this release. While all the songs on this album are consistently great, written very well, show off the musicianship of all the instrumentalists, there’s one part of the album that was bothering me and still does now after quite a few listens all the way through. The vocals on this album are a bit low and generally in a lot of spots where the instrumentals do get a bit chaotic the vocals can be very hard to hear and as this is an album that tells stories it can be a bit frustrating when you want to hear the words. I say SIG:AR:TYR wrote a great album with “Northen” and it’s a great welcome back after 6 years, anyone who’s a fan of Extreme Metal infused with Folk Metal than pick this up ASAP.

80/100

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Artillery "Penalty by Perception" Album Review

                Heavy Metal label Metal Blade Records have a thing for finding bands that are up and coming and making them into internationally renowned bands and host some of the best older bands as well, so what surprise is there when I tell you 90s Thrashers Artillery. This is a band who has found a way to make every album sound modern while keeping true to what they’ve done from the beginning. While “Penalty By Perception” is only the bands eighth album over a 26 year career plagued with breakups it is an album that moves that band forward in sound.

                The album opens with “In Defiance of Conformity” and my first notice was the vocal prowess Michael Dahl brings to the table, after a brief nature intro (thunderstorms and crickets and what not) a riff reminiscent of something Volbeat would write kicks in keeping the guitars clean while a quite spoken word section plays out, but quickly the song kicks into the thrashy goodness everyone wants. The main riff is a fairly standard Speed Metal riff that has a gritty contrast to Dahl’s almost Power Metal style of vocals, the second time the chorus comes around you can tell this song could easily become an Arena Rock with the chant of “Fight! Fight!” in between lines. The section where Dahl is singing “In defiance of conformity” is rather unique as well, while matches the guitar’s tone before making the vocals soar higher but that’s not the truly unique part, if this section were instrumental you would still be able to hear the words as Michael and Morten Stutzer are able to make the guitars sing. The guitar solos in this song are also very misleading; the first solo is cool but lacklustre and makes you think “is that all?” before belting out a blistering, face melting solo with the main riff being cranked out in the background.

                Following the opening is “Live by the Scythe” which is one of the strongest songs although I have a very minor, kind of funny issue with the song. The song is thrashy in all the right ways and the speed chug riff in the chorus is a true neck breaker, my only stupid little issue (and maybe I’m a tad bit OCD because of it) is the fact that Dahl pronounces the “C” in “Scythe,” that’s all. Probably what I would consider the most technical and bordering fastest song on the album is “Rites of War” as soon as the guitar started I was hooked, but what I really liked in this is the consistent drumming that could somehow keep up with everything the guitars were doing and playing some of the weirdest bass patterns I’ve heard. The vocals reminded me a bit of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” as well, while being sung out over instrumentals unlike “War Pigs.” Dahl starts off low and gradually gets his vocals way up high, then start up high on the next line and make their way down, the solo comes flying out of nowhere, and I mean flying, until the end of the song with a almost cartoony/Donkey Kong riff being played under it.

                All in all, incredibly impressed with this release, I was a bit iffy to start as I remember listening to the previous release “Legions” and not being too keen or impressed. Artillery took Thrash to a whole new level with “Penalty by Perception” incorporating Power, Speed and even a little bit of Death Metal into everything. If you’re a fan of what the Big 4 USE to be, pick up “Penalty by Perception” as soon as humanly possible, it’ll restore your faith in Thrash! Oh, and they’re a power ballad sort of song on it, so you know, you can even get your significant other hooked on it and still get badass guitar solos when they keep listening to it.

98/100

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Like Animals "Feral" Album Review

               Like Animals have a new EP called “Feral” and let me tell you right now, I have no idea what to tell you about it. To start, have no idea how to categorise them but if I had to take a shot in the dark Metalcore would sound about right. “Feral” is a 5 song, 20 minute EP full of “hmm..” and I mean that in the absolute nicest way possible and ill explain it don’t worry.

                So let’s begin by talking about the instrumentals, the guitars tend change from the absolute most boring standard riffs to almost Protest the Hero sounding sections rather randomly. Drums are impressive most the time, little had to follow, little chaotic here and there and rather boring sometimes just like the riffs. Bass, not even sure it’s there to be honest with you, I personally can’t give you any examples of where it stands out or you can really even hear it. Vocally, the cleans are lacklustre and a complete turn off to me, the harsh vocals are very standard Metalcore screams but at least the band isn’t constant breakdowns.

                What would make the album better, a vocalist who’s cleans can match the tone of the music, a bit of a speed up as the guitars are played at such a minimal speed that the riffs that could very well be impressive are boring. Bass needs a crank up, it needs to be heard! No complaints about the drums, they match everything the guitars are doing and it works nicely.

                Nothing special stands out to me on this release, this isn’t a hit at the band saying give up, this is a hint saying if I had a say here’s what would give these songs the kick in the ass they deserve! Don’t feel attacked, these things happen as Metallica so kindly showed us with “St. Anger” and hell no one has to listen to me, but these are the things that would make these songs listenable to me. Take Like Animals new EP “Feral” for a spin yourself, see if I know what the hell I’m even on about!

5/100

Rotting Christ "Rituals" Album Review

 

                In South Africa some bands are under fire from religious protesters, one of which being Rotting Christ, who now plan to tour the country under a different name. While this isn’t about their name, this is about their tour because today we are talking about their new release on the label known for its Extreme Metal, Season of Mist. Rotting Christ will be trekking down in South Africa to show off songs from “Rituals” and man, does the album title match the album.

                So let’s talk about why the title matches the album shall we? “Rituals,” rise of hand if you know what a ritual is.... Good, well a lot of this album sounds like it would be used in a ritual, the majority of the album is more of an Ambient “spoken word” Black Metal sound, while vocalist Sakis Tolis is using harsh vocals throughout the album instead of sounding like singing, most of it sounds more like a chant with the instrumentals being more of a backing soundtrack. The main song you can notice this in is “Apage Satana” where the vocals literally are a chant and the tribal sounding beat in the background is really just a soundtrack to the apocalypse for the entirety of the song.

                While most of the songs do sound more like “rituals” there are a few songs that stand out as true Black Metal epics, “Elthe Kyrie” has a strange vocal bit that sounds like a panicked woman but the song closes out with an epic tapping section that’ll instantly draw anyone in. “Tou Thanatou” is a song that shows off the instrumentals of the band, very consistent riffs and double bass from the drums make this a song the band will crank out on every tour from here on out, possibly even open or close with based on the sound. The real draw to me was “The Four Horsemen” which yes, is a cover, and no, it is not Metallica. The song is a cover of Aphrodite’s Child and is one of the only songs that actually sound like a song on the album, less ambient more old school Black Metal.

                So there you have it, with “Rituals” you know what you’re getting into. The idea is cool, assuming that was on purpose of course, the Ambient Black Metal thing was never something I, personally, was ever able to get behind though. The songs are a bit to drawn out for me and not understanding the lyrics as most are not English make it a bit hard to really get indulged in the album. If Ambient/Gothic Black Metal is your thing, this album will probably knock your socks off, if not it may be best to avoid.

45/100

Destroyer 666 "Wildfire" Album Review

The leading dominators in Blackened Thrash Metal are back with their new album on Season of Mist, Destroyer 666 and their new album “Wildfire” have been spreading like... well, a wildfire. Being the bands first full release since 2009 it’s a breath of fresh air to get something like this in the genre, taking over what Sodom stopped going for and doing it just as well if not better! 9 songs and 40 minutes of headbanging brutality, an incredible onslaught of destructive riffs and a consistent shock in vocal prowess the band brings their all on this album, but is their all enough?

                Destroyer 666 are back and in case you were unsure of that, right off the bat in “Traitor” you get introduced by an insanely high scream that could almost put modern Rob Halford to shame, mixed with the riffing harmony being Warslut and Felipe Kutzbach. If the speeds of these riffs weren’t enough and you have a problem headbanging to solos then just wait till the last 60 seconds, the song enters a riff that you have to headbang to that leads into a solo. “Live and Burn” follows up “Traitor” sounding like a cross between Destruction and Toxic Holocaust between having Destruction style tempo in the introduction blended with Black Metal-era Joel Grind (I know he never ACTUALLY did Black Metal, calm down there I see you typing to tell me how I’m wrong about Toxic Holocaust being Black Metal). The speed of this song is off the charts, between that and it being heavy this song would be excellent live as a pit song. With the next song “Artiglio Del Diavolo” being an instrumental how about we skip ahead a couple to “Wildfire” the title track of the album and see how it stands up being a bit later in the album. Warslut‘s vocals are less harsh on this song, taking more of a Speed Metal turn, which makes sense with the galloping style of riffing, featuring one of my favourite solos on this entire album which is followed by a heavy bridge into a straight speed solo before getting back to vocals. The song is sheer speed, the album is fast as fuck and unrelenting, and the contrast in the vocals between sounding like a Black Metal lunatic and Tom Araya at the beginning of “Angel of Death” makes a lot of these songs unpredictable which a lot of bands fail to do. The only real break you get in this album is right before the album resets with “Tamam Shud” being an incredible album closer and the song I see being played in the background as the band walks out on stage an bows goodbye to the crowd, it’s slower, mostly, it’s intriguing and the guitar patters are really cool even to someone who couldn’t play “Smoke on the Water” to save their life.

                7 years later Destroyer 666 release “Wildfire,” an album that will, more than likely, stand tall to every other album released this year. With this album it’s becoming apparent that this year will be the year of Mist, releasing plenty of excellent albums already this year Destroyer 666 are just another notch up for the global domination Season of Mist must be planning at this point.

95/100

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Rhine "An Outsider" Album Review

                Progressive Extreme Metal is nothing new anymore now that Opeth did it, made it famous and moved on and Enslaved are doing it a lot more instead of being straight Norwegian Black Metal. Now Rhine want to do it too and with their new album “An Outsider” coming we can discuss whether they take a step in the right direction or not.

                This is a 10 song, 72 minute long album. So needless to say, most the songs are longer than average length just like the aforementioned bands. In the style if their instrumentals I hear a lot of Opeth, specifically from “Ghost Reveries” with the fact that they’re fairly complex and pretty catchy. Vocally, this band is a mix of Enslaved and Opeth with their clean singing, generally used in slower sections much like Opeth do with their music. Take this with a sprinkle of Cradle of Filth in the Extreme vocal style,  Vocalist, Gabe Tachell, has a better way of pronunciation in his voice making his words easy to understand.

                “Dreaming of Death” opens the album entangling you with everything you could need to learn about this band. Both vocal styles, catchy and slightly complex tapping riffs and a mix of Extreme Metal and Prog Rock, but it’s more in the second track “The Spell of Dark Water” that catches my attention. The song starts off soft and clean before jumping into an Opeth style of Death Metal, after a minute or so the song enters an elevator type music portion to throw you off and jump back into the extreme. The final segments are a mix between Opeth with keyboards in the background and almost upbeat riffs and Enslaved in extremity and galloping riff styling before closing out.

                Every song has its own personality, emotion and destructive power. Every song mixes and most the time you don’t know when one song end and the next song starts. Portions of this album don’t exactly hold my attention as I am personally more of an Extreme Metal fan than I am a Progressive Metal fan, but in the end even not having the interest in Progressive Metal this is still an album I would recommend to any fan of Opeth specifically mixing their new Alt-Prog Rock sound with their old “Blackwater Park” and “Ghost Reveries” extremity, I believe if you’re anything like me and only really a fan of the Extreme Metal portions of this album, there is only a couple songs you would skip.

70/100

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