Coal Chamber: Rivals (2015)

Regression and Defense, Or: Nostalgia Is Big Business These Days

I've recently begun lifting weights with my neighbor on a regular basis. The stereotype these days is that dudes listen to Godsmack when they're lifting weights, and that's not far from the truth. You see, he likes a lot of the stuff I was listening to 12 or more years ago. We take turns in control of the music, but I'm conscious of what he wants to hear, so I only occasionally slip in some Amon Amarth or At the Gates. For the most part, it's like I'm listening to my music library as it existed in 2002. Would I rather be listening to Evoken while I lift? Yes, but revisiting Coal Chamber is fun, too.

Dez Fafara is the artist who grew up with me for a time, but he stopped growing a while ago. Now he's reunited with Coal Chamber (and put out the record on Napalm, no less), and it's like they haven't missed a step. You could mix the songs from Rivals together with the ones from Dark Days and you'd have a hard time figuring out which was which.

Slipknot: .5: The Gray Chapter (2014)

Slipknot, Ver .5

So by now I’ve revisited every studio album by Slipknot, a band who shaped my musical preferences long-term—and honestly had a big part in prepping me to be an extreme metal fan. What I’ve learned is that they released a handful of pretty good records with hard rock parts, some metal parts, extreme percussion, angry shout-along choruses and catchy sung melodies. They also released one very good record (Iowa) that was, on balance, a metal album. This revisiting of their catalog hasn’t really done anything to alter my current perception of the band.

Now, a look at .5: The Gray Chapter. This is the band’s first album in six years. It’s also the first since the death of bassist Paul Gray, who was largely credited as instrumental in bringing extreme metal influence to the band. So I expected to hear something different. Happily, I didn’t.

Slipknot: All Hope Is Gone (2008)

Or is it?

I’ve been going back over the discography of Slipknot, because they were an important gateway band for me. Finally I’ve come to the last of their previous studio albums. This one is a bit different to me personally. Whereas their first three albums got a whole lot of spins from me in an earlier time, and have a lot of nostalgia value, my view of All Hope Is Gone is not clouded by such feelings. By the time it came out in 2008, I was already hooked by Suffocation and fully into a death metal obsession. I listened to it, sure, but I was more interested in more extreme things by that point.

Without that familiarity, I’m really forming a first solid impression of the record here. And early on, I started to think it was better than its spotty, artsy predecessor. It doesn’t attempt anything pretentious, early on, but instead is Slipknot being Slipknot. “Sulfur” has a metal riff and a sing-along chorus plus a DJ part, and “Psychosocial” is more hard rock with a shout-along part. It doesn’t get much more Slipknot than that combination. I find myself liking the written-for-rock-radio “Dead Memories” (with metal parts but mostly a hard rock song with emotional chorus) despite myself. They follow that up by the absolutely-metal riff of “Vendetta,” which is a good way to keep it going.

Slipknot: Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses (2004)

Slipknot, Soured

This is part 3 of my continuing reexamination of a band that meant a great deal to a younger version of me.

After defying all expectations by going harsher and heavier with their sophomore album, Slipknot took a short hiatus. The members went off and pursued their own projects for a while, most notably Corey Taylor’s Stone Sour. And upon their return, they went to a much more predictable path.

Hard rock and metal bands that achieve any level of commercial success tend to get dogged with the accusation that their music is dumb or one-dimensional. Which results in the band members saying, “Yes, and it’s supposed to be.” Or, in the unfortunate case, “We’ll show you just how wrong you are.” Thus, we have Slipknot’s “artsy” album, Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses.

Slipknot: Iowa (2001)

Iowa Is Close to Home

For nostalgia’s sake, I’m going to go see Slipknot next month. In anticipation of that, I’m trying to figure out how 32-year-old me feels about the band that the 22-year-old me loved so much. I began that with a review of the debut, which left me with an understanding of why I loved them, but not really feeling it the same way I used to.

Iowa, on the other hand, holds up pretty damn well. Most other bands I was into at the time released their angriest albums first, then softened up after the fact. Korn, Static-X, Disturbed, and fucking Staind. (I can’t stand thinking about myself listening to Staind, easily the worst offender of that bunch.) Slipknot’s sophomore release, on the other hand, is their most ripping and violent.

Slipknot: Slipknot (1999)

Diluted

The history of how I came to be the metalhead I am today has been thoroughly documented on this site. But I don't think I ever explained just how much I loved Slipknot around the turn of the millennium. There was a time when Slipknot was, if not my favorite band, at least in the top three. They're not even close to that now, but to a teenager who had never heard anything more extreme (with the exception of Meshuggah) they really resonated.

So now they're coming to Omaha with Korn, another band I loved at the time, and my neighbor asked me if I wanted to go. Because I want to hang out with him, and for the nostalgia factor, I said "yes." That's right: two fathers of three going to see Slipknot. It's now officially "dad rock."*

But I haven't really paid that much attention to the band for a long time, and they're not really in my regular listening rotation. Hell, I barely know the songs on All Hope Is Gone. What better time, then, to revisit this catalog, to understand why I liked it so much and see whether any of it holds up. Now, a 15-years-removed look at Slipknot.**

Powerman 5000: Builders of the Future (2014)

Nostalgiatrip 2000

I picked up Tonight the Stars Revolt from the $9.99 bargain rack when I was working at a Target in 1999, around the same time I bought Static-X's Wisconsin Death Trip and Staind's Dysfunction. I know, I know: I was cool. I remained a fan of Powerman 5000 for several years, picking up everything from their early nu metal/funk metal Mega!! Kung Fu Radio (1997) to their industrial/alt-metal/hard rock Transform (2003). (And, like everyone else, pirating Anyone for Doomsday?) But honestly I was only vaguely aware that they had released at least one album after that. I haven't followed them since, but I also haven't divested myself of my collection, as I have with so many others.

Imagine my shock to find a promo of their new album in my inbox. I'm still a little surprised to find out they never went away (although a glance at their Wikipedia page shows their glory days are long gone). So, for old time's sake, I thought I'd have a listen.

Fear of Domination: Distorted Delusions (2014)

Really?

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Seriously? There are still bands like this out there? Not to mention newish ones? Immediately when this album began I felt like it was 2000 all over again. I would have loved this early in college. Jaded, lawyer me is not nearly as impressed. That is to say, I found this barely listenable. I was even more annoyed with the band photos which portray a group looking like a cross between Mushroomhead and Hollywood Undead.

Musically this band sounds like a cross between Spineshank and mainstream-leaning In Flames. There is some melodic death metal present in there but the industrial tinges overwhelm them frequently to the point where the keyboards are about the only thing that can be heard. The music sounds incredibly juvenile, the kind of thing that 16-18 year olds would play loudly on their car stereos to freak out the neighbors. I know this, because I was once one of those kids. But now that my tastes have matured I find myself avoiding schlock like this.

Deftones: Koi No Yokan (2012)

Masterpiece 2.0

Since I’ve been listening to the Deftones for such a long time, I feel like I must begin with a small history lesson. If their seventh album is your first experience with the band, you could not make yourself believe the Deftones were--seventeen years ago--considered a lesser alternative to Korn. Korn has since lost all relevance (ironically while making conscious shifts to stay relevant), but the Deftones managed to be perhaps the only nu metal band to garner widespread critical acclaim as well as the acceptance of (at least a large part of) metal’s core audience.

There is a story arc here that has repeated itself. Around the Fur marked the band’s first experiments into carving out their own territory. It was followed by 2000’s White Pony, long considered the band’s masterpiece. They spent a decade struggling to repeat that level of success. 2010’s Diamond Eyes seemed to be a new Around the Fur, exploring industrial metal-cum-Neurosis. Koi No Yokan perfects that formula, becoming the Deftones’ new masterpiece. Yes, it’s at least as good as WP.

Korn: The Path of Totality (2011)

Review

I thought I'd start the new year off right, by addressing trve kvlt metal legends Korn. I've made fun of them lately. They seem to think their album title is so brilliant, deep, and God-damned clever, when they're not even the first band of 2011 to use it.

It's still no secret that I grew up as a fan of the band. Even their more recent work has been a guilty pleasure of mine--up until their last two albums. The untitled one simply left no impression on me, and I gave Remember Who You Are a better score than it deserved, a 3 out of 5, noting that with only one guitarist, they needed the electronic elements to prop up their sound. For The Path of Totality, they've taken the electronic elements to a new level.

The Top 5 Rejected Names for New Korn Album

Top 5 List

By now you've noticed Korn decided to give their new album the same title as a high profile metal release within underground metal, i.e., Tombs' Path of Totality. They changed it by adding "The" at the beginning. But that wasn't the only album title they considered.

5. The Sonic Mass

4. The Heritage

3. The Lulu

2. The Relentless Reckless Forever

1. The The Hunter

All 2011 List Week Posts:

- The 5 Worst Metal Albums
- Best Metal Album Cover
- The 3 Most Controversial Albums in Metal
- The Top 5 Ways Classic Bands Will Shit on Their Legacies in 2012
- The Top 3 Non-Metal Albums
- The Top 3 Metal EP's
- The Top 8 Blog Posts on Full Metal Attorney
- The Best Metal Song
- The 2 Biggest News Items in My Personal Life
- Promoter Exchange
- The Top 25 Metal Albums: 25-11
- The Top 10 Metal Albums

Korn: Korn (1994)

Motion for Reconsideration

Nu metal. The name itself is enough to gag any metalhead over the age of 35, and embarrass those between 25 and 35. As we all know, the genre started with Korn's self-titled debut in 1994, and it has been cause for revilement ever since.

But the album isn't all that bad. In fact, I have fond memories of loving it as a teenager. So I tried to listen to it with fresh ears.

The guitar tone is the first thing that jumps out at me. It's crunchy, and the 7-string guitars let them get heavier than most metal bands of the time. Same thing with the clicky 5-string bass. It sounds dirty. And the drums, truth be told, are quite interesting. The vocals, not so much, but most of the time they're not bad.

If you took someone who had never heard Korn before, and played "Predictable" for them, you could (possibly) convince them this is a new sludge metal band. That's how heavy and dirty this sounds. And that's how the riffs groove.

Obscure Bands: Still Breathing

While I was in college, my mom bought me the occasional CD from the local Christian bookstore. These tended to be more miss than hit, but on occasion there would be something good.

Still Breathing's 2002 album September is one of the good ones.



First, I have to talk about the obligatory obvious thing: a female vocalist in a metalcore band. But she's a good female vocalist. She has an excellent, pissed-off mountain lion kind of scream, with the occasional clean vocal thrown in here and there. Having formed in late 2000/early 2001, this must have been one of the first metalcore bands to go that direction.

While I'm not particularly a fan of metalcore, they are one of the better ones. "Scars for Tomorrow" is a perfect example of how breakdowns can actually be interesting, every now and then, though they do let the whole breakdown thing get a bit out of hand on "Only This". Their sound is thrashy (despite the lack of solos) and more aggressive than your average metalcore. It does have some slight nu metal influence (see "Forsaken"), but it's minimal.

Other songs of note on the album include the more melodic "One Kiss", the excellent "Sweet Wound Sour", and the Living Sacrifice cover "Threatened". Of course, being a Christian metalcore band, covering Living Sacrifice was not exactly a surprise, and they do a good job of it. The problem is that the track is more interesting than the rest of the album, so it makes the rest of it seem worse than it really is by comparison.

In all, it was a good album, and I give it 3 out of 5 stars. As I write this, Amazon's best price is a penny plus shipping (99 cents for a new copy), so if you have any interest it's not exactly a big commitment.

I had heard that the band broke up several years ago, but it seems they now have a web site and a new demo, and have recently played some shows. I'm not quite sure it's the same band, but I think it is--the vocalist now appears to go by "Dacia" instead of "Dacey", and none of the other members appear to be the same, but I think it's the same band.

Too bad they suck now:

Obscure Bands: D-Fe

D-Fe was a metal band that's unusual for at least two reasons: one, they're a black metal band (not the Mayhem kind of black metal--the Living Colour kind), and two, they had an odd sound.

Let's talk abou the first of those things. They're not 100% black, but from pictures I've seen it's about half-and-half. They are fronted by a black man, and there is also a black woman in the band (now that is unusual). I haven't been able to tell whether they're from Haiti, France, or somewhere else. Their lyrics are in French, and they tend to put French monologues at the beginning and end of songs.

On a side note, I'm not sure why it is that metal is seen as such a "white" genre. There's nothing about its values that makes it particularly white. I do see why it's considered masculine. I'm just glad to see people outside the metal stereotype embracing the genre.

On to the second factor: their unique sound. They have, thankfully, drawn on their ethnic and cultural background to come up with something new. It's been variously described as Afro-punk, hardcore, tribal death metal, extreme, roots, and urban. It combines primitive Afro-Caribbean rhythms with extreme guitars for a sound which sometimes seems like extreme nu metal, or other times like grindcore. To sum it up, I'll call it extreme avant-garde metal.

Based on their 2008 album Rwanda, my impression is that it's a worthwhile experiment into a fusion genre. The vocals are annoying at times, especially on the opener, but the music behind it is interesting. Like grindcore, it sounds best on the shorter tracks but can get tedious on the longer ones. It's tough to listen to the album all the way through, but I must give credit for originality. I give it 2 out of 5 stars.

This track isn't from Rwanda, but it should give you the idea:



Now, if someone else could come up with a more refined version of this, I think they could make it really far.

Metal Briefs: Live Albums

Normally, I don't really go for live albums. The benefit of a raw performance is outweighed by the detriments: The sound quality isn't nearly as good and the performances are usually weaker, especially the vocals after a long tour. But they can serve two purposes. For some people, it's a viable substitute for a greatest hits album, if you go for that kind of thing. For me and many others, it's a way to hear some of your favorites in a new way.

I won't actually rate these albums. If you love the band, you may love the live album. If you don't, you'll pass up the chance. It's that simple.

Metallica: Live Shit: Binge & Purge (1993)

I bought this way back in high school, when it came in a really cool box. It had VHS tapes instead of DVDs, of course, and also came with a picture book, sticker, and stencil--for $70 or so. I unwisely used the sticker and stencil, so I no longer have a complete box set. In any case, this is the king of all live albums. On three discs (nearly three hours total), they play a couple dozen classics from Kill 'Em All through Metallica, putting a new spin on some of them and throwing in a couple covers and solos for good measure. The recording is one of the best live recordings I've ever heard, and James Hetfield is also one of the best vocalists live (both in terms of keeping his vocal integrity and in getting the crowd worked up). A must-have for any die-hard fan of the band's earlier work, but obviously a bit too expensive for anyone else.



Slipknot: 9.0: Live (2005)

The divisive Slipknot recorded this double-disc live album during the tour for Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses. They play all the fan favorites, plus a few rarities and odds and ends. The recording isn't the best, the crowd isn't all that audible, and Corey Taylor's voice is significantly deteriorated from a long touring cycle. It's worthwhile for fans, but the quality has suffered too much for it to serve as a greatest hits.



Meshuggah: Alive (2010)

Following Slipknot is another completely unique band: Meshuggah. At only one disc with 12 songs, this is the shortest one mentioned here (though it's also available with a DVD). The recording is very good for a live album, even though you can barely hear the fans, and Jens Kidman's voice holds up fairly well. They chose a lot of their top tracks, including "Bleed", "Rational Gaze", and "New Millenium Cyanide Christ", but inexplicably they didn't include anything (on CD or DVD) from their best album, Destroy Erase Improve. The performances are nearly flawless--a seemingly impossible feat given their complex material--so this is an excellent choice for any fan of the band.

M.A.N.: Peacenemy (2008) Review

I first heard of Sweden's M.A.N. in a Decibel review of their latest, Massive Audio Nerve. It piqued my curiosity because they said it was like a combination of Meshuggah and Static-X. They meant that to be half compliment and half insult, but I love both bands. I couldn't find the new album right away, but I picked up their last one, Peacenemy.

The sound is definitely a mix of Static-X, Mudvayne, and Drowning Pool, but with a technical side to it that draws comparisons to Meshuggah. I never thought I'd hear nu metal out of Sweden, but that's what we have here. I also never thought I'd be saying this, but they've started a new genre: technical nu metal. Bizarre.

Vocals are handled by Tony Jelencovich, a former touring vocalist for Danish industrial groove metallers Mnemic. He is quite skillful, and has the kind of charisma it takes to carry a nu metal band (it's usually all about the frontman in that genre). But even with an average vocalist, this music could hold up. They have the industrial backdrops to everything, sure, but they also have some really unusual rhythms, especially on album standout "Hacker Sapiens". It's very detuned stuff, too, as you might expect. The guitarist apparently uses homemade guitars--on this album, an 11-string, though I'm not sure you'd notice but for the fact it forces him to write the music a certain way. Then again, maybe that's where some of the heaviness comes from, too.



The Verdict: It's not a perfect album, by any means, but I'm going to keep my eyes out for the new one (the track I've heard is even more technical). Is nu metal coming back, and from the unlikely source that is Scandinavia? Probably not, but it wouldn't hurt to have a little bit now and then, if it sounds like this. I give Peacenemy 3.5 out of 5 stars.