Nocturnus: Thresholds (1992) Review

Nocturnus is a somewhat obscure but highly influential death metal band from the late 80's and early 90's (they also did a reunion album released in 2000). I picked up their 1992 release, Thresholds.

They are from the Tampa, Florida scene, and they sound a lot like fellow Floridians Death. To be more accurate, they sound like each other, though it seems Nocturnus hit on the progressive approach to the music a little earlier.

Nocturnus is set apart by the use of keyboards in a straight death metal band, a setup which is almost unheard of even today (you'll find it in some melodic death, though). The keyboards are mostly limited to creating atmosphere, so they don't overwhelm the metal. The music is good, and very progressive.

Lyrically and visually, they are about science fiction instead of the blood and gore usually favored by early death metal groups. And why not? There's a lot of overlap between fantasy and science fiction, and fantasy is everywhere in metal.



The Verdict: This album is a little-known gem. If you like early Cynic or mid- to late Death, or if you're a technical death metal freak (like me) who wants to know the genre's roots, you should check out Thresholds. Or, you could check out 1990's The Key (which is easier to find in a physical format). I give this album 4 out of 5 stars.

The New Art of Metal

The Impact of John Dyer Baizley on the Look of Metal

The album cover -- once a crucial part of any band's identity -- has been dying a slow death for decades. For the most part, music fans put up with the shrinkage of album art from expansive vinyl records to hand-size plastic jewel cases. But with the music experience moving almost exclusively online, album art has suffered another compression -- this time all the way down to thumbnail images.

--source

That was three years ago, but I think it's safe to say things have changed. Despite the increased focus toward online music buying, more attention is being paid to album art in metal today than at any other time. Partly, this is due to a resurgence in vinyl, and the opportunity to make the art huge. Partly, it's because the record companies are trying to squeeze everything they can out of the CD format before it dies. But even online, the music sellers do everything they can to show off album art. At the iTunes Music Store, for example, you get an interactive virtual booklet with the album. And everywhere, they're still showing it off--just on a smaller scale.

I mentioned just the other day that I bought the debut from Kvelertak based almost solely on the album art. But the art was tiny. How did it get my attention?



Color.

New Feature: Lincoln's Picks

I've decided to start a new feature on the blog: Lincoln's Picks. I'll try to keep it updated with my son's latest choices. It's in the right sidebar.

Kvelertak: Kvelertak (2010) Review

Much has been said (by me and many others) about record labels trying to sign the next Mastodon. They find someone who sounds like Mastodon, package it up, and if possible they slap on some John Dyer Baizley cover art. The problem is, the "next Mastodon" isn't what they really want--they want the next band to make an impact. That band won't sound like anybody else; they'll be original.

Indie Recordings (1349/Enslaved/Satyricon/etc.) may have found that band.

I picked this one up completely blind. I never heard of them, but the Baizley cover art caught my eye and the song titles were all in Norwegian--a big plus. After I listened to it, I was blown away.

I don't know whether they don't sound like anyone else, or if they sound like everyone else. This is an eclectic mix, the kind you can usually only find in Finland or a few small corners of the US. It's got strong influence from the bluesy prog-sludge of Baroness (very southern-sounding, too), but there's also a lot of black metal, hard rock, stoner metal, and even a smattering of thrash. And all of these influences are turned into something fun by going through a filter of hardcore punk attitude. Maybe they're the next Mastodon, but then again they could be the next Motörhead. (Or, possibly, Faith No More, but heavier.)

Oh yeah, and all the lyrics are Norwegian.

This album should not exist. Music this punk-influenced shouldn't be progressive, but it is. Norsemen should not be able to play convincing melodies from the American South, but they do. And anything this eclectic should seem schizophrenic, but it doesn't. Everything blends seamlessly and beautifully together, held together by fantastic drumming and sheer force of will. It's catchy too, so album highlights like "Ulvetid", "Offernatt", and "Liktorn" go from tremolo picking to bluesy solos without any disconnect.

There are some gang vocals in here, but they actually don't detract from anything. I don't understand why they made their first video from "Mjød", though--it's a good enough song, but it's also the weakest (and punkest) one on the album. Instead, enjoy "Offernatt" to give you a taste of what Kvelertak is all about:



The Verdict: Kvelertak are easily the frontrunners for debut of the year with their self-titled album. Imagine a mohawk-sporting Odin astride a mastodon, waving a Confederate flag. I give it 5 out of 5 stars. I just have one suggestion: play it with the volume at 11.

One caveat: I wish these guys all the best and want them to make many, many more albums in the future. On the other hand, I don't want them to make such an impact that they spawn a legion of imitators. There are so many things that could have gone wrong (but didn't) that anyone else trying it would likely be an unbearable mess.

Norma Jean: Meridional (2010) Review

Norma Jean is perhaps the best-known Christian metal band in today's scene (if you don't count As I Lay Dying, since they don't want to be counted as a Christian band). They've released two albums peaking at number 1 on the Christian music charts and a third peaking at number 2. Their fifth album (and the first for new label Razor & Tie) Meridional came out this week.

Despite the fact the group has a very dedicated following, especially among Christians, I only had their debut before getting this one. It was good, but I wasn't so crazy about it to get their next two albums. So, you can be sure this review is neutral.

Norma Jean's sound is a progressive kind of metalcore, but usually not chaotic enough to be true mathcore. They seem to blend about two parts The Dillinger Escape Plan with one part Tool to create something uniquely their own. Tracks like "Blood Burner" really show off the Dillinger side of things, while "Deathbed Atheist" will show a little more of the Tool.

Vocally, Cory Brandan has a very compelling off-key voice, sort of like Chino Moreno in his heyday, and he can shift from pissed-off to vulnerable in a heartbeat. He gets to show his voice off a great deal: See obvious single pick "A Media Friendly Turn for the Worse" or the mellow "Falling from the Sky: Day Seven" to get a taste of that.

The formula works very well, and the band shows some very mature songwriting. This material manages to be catchy, complex, angry, and accessible all at once. The album flows extremely well and hangs together as a whole, helped along by two strange interludes (the church hymn-inflected "Septentrional" and the odd "Occidental").

The production is excellent as well. Many bands with this kind of broad appeal will crank up the vocals in the mix, but Norma Jean has shown restraint--a clear indication of their Trve Metal nature.

It does have a couple of slightly weaker moments, like "The People That Surround You on a Daily Basis" and "Bastardizer", but it's never off so far to derail the album for a moment.



The Verdict: I was pleasantly surprised by Norma Jean--this is really great stuff, and they've grown by leaps and bounds in eight years. This is quite likely the Christian metal album of the year, and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Soilwork: The Panic Broadcast (2010) Review

I've already mentioned how much I was looking forward to Soilwork's latest, The Panic Broadcast. It came out yesterday in the US after being out since the 2nd in Europe.

This is still the Soilwork we've had for about the last decade: a mix of Swedish melodic death metal and alternative metal, with some catchy choruses done in Björn Strid's unmistakable voice. They've still got great riffs, and they've incorporated a moderate amount of metalcore into their sound without letting it get too out of hand.

What makes Soilwork stand out so well is, of course, the amazing vocal talent of Strid. He has a great growl and powerful clean vocals. Tracks like opener "Late for the Kill, Early for the Slaughter" and "King of the Threshold" do away with the clean vocals for a bit more of an old-school Soilwork sound. On this album, the clean vocals seem to be more of a stumbling block than an advantage. Tracks like "The Thrill", "The Akuma Afterglow", and "Enter Dog of Pavlov" have some very wimpy clean vocals, and others have a mix of the wimpy and energetic modes. The problem is perhaps never more frustrating than it is on "Epitome"; it could have been the band's greatest track ever, but the chorus drags it down.

There are a couple vocal highlights, though. "Two Lives Worth of Reckoning" is the only cut with Strid's trademark style unsullied by weaker moments. "Let This River Flow" shows a different, morose side to his voice without coming off as underpowered or lazy.

Instrumentally, the album is excellent, the only major misstep being a boring riff in "Night Comes Clean" during some of the harsh vocals. That whole track ends up coming off as a mess as a result.



The Verdict: Soilwork join Nevermore as being a band who made a good album in 2010, but far less than what I expected of them--brought down by lazy performances from some of the greatest vocalists in metal. The Panic Broadcast has a lot of great moments, but a lot of the clean vocals are dull. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Korn: Korn III - Remember Who You Are (2010) Review

I've been a Korn fan since Life Is Peachy, well over a decade ago. Since that album, they've never been as aggressive, and have opted for multi-layered sound effects to enhance the atmospheric element of their music. That approach worked fairly well on their first three (largely underrated) albums of the millenium, but fell apart on 2007's untitled album.

So, I was glad to see their new album billed as Korn III - Remember Who You Are and the band's return to the producer from their first two records. It's a statement that they were going to ignore everything that happened from 1998's Follow the Leader on, and get back to their more metal-oriented roots.

Well, in some ways it delivers on that promise, and in others it doesn't. It is certainly stripped of all the artificial atmospherics and layered vocals, resulting in a more raw sound. But the music-writing is still definite new-millenium material. The only time they really hint at the sound of their debut is a few moments during the intro of "Lead the Parade".

It also becomes apparent early on that all the sound effects were an effective crutch, now that they're a guitar player short.

Despite those disappointments, this is still a vast improvement over their last release. After an intro, it starts out with some great grooves on "Oildale" (a highlight of the album) and the start to "Pop a Pill" before experimenting with some minimalist structures, a tactic which ends up relying too much on Jonathan Davis's unaided voice to work. "Fear Is a Place To Live" and "Move On" are uninteresting.

After "Lead the Parade" the album finally really gets going with "Let the Guilt Go", which sounds like a stripped-down version of an Untouchables track.

More grooves and some excellent bass-playing follow on "The Past" and "Never Around"; I never realized how important Fieldy is to the success of this band. "Are You Ready To Live?" reminds us why the judicious injection of hip hop into metal sometimes works (with stress on judicious), and "Holding All These Lies" is a classic emotional closer in their long tradition.

So, if you followed all that, it starts off with a good track, drags on for a few, and then picks up again halfway through to finish fairly strong.



The Verdict: While not what they seemed to promise, Korn III is a vast improvement over the untitled album and a step in the right direction. The next step is to get a second guitar player (or at least a session musician) so this approach will work better next time. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

No. 2288

Metal Briefs: 1995

A while ago, I did a metal briefs post on 1985 albums. So, I though, why not do 1995?

Popular wisdom has it that the mid-90's were a dark time for metal. Grunge had killed it, according to some, or Metallica's popularity killed it, according to others. Instead of the dark, thrash days of the 1980's, to many people metal was turning more mainstream with the advent of nu metal.

I strongly disagree with the popular wisdom. In fact, 1995 was one of the best years for metal ever. There are plenty of other great albums I could be discussing here--Slaughter of the Soul, Orchid, Symbolic, NOLA, The Angel and the Dark River, Pierced From Within, Astro-Creep: 2000, The Gallery, The Spider's Lullabye--but I've picked three other greats for you.

Morbid Angel: Domination

Death may be the best death metal band of the 1990's. But if you listen to fellow Floridians Morbid Angel, and then listen to death metal from the last decade, it's obvious MA has had more influence in recent years. Their instrumental prowess has probably had equal effect on the technical death metal subgenre, and their ultra-heavy sound is almost single-handedly responsible for spawning brutal death metal. If Death came out today, they might be labeled a death/thrash crossover and a throwback, but Morbid Angel sounds like contemporary death. Every cut on Domination is two inches thick, charred on the outside, and bloody on the inside. It's a thing of macabre beauty, and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.



Dissection: Storm of the Light's Bane

Metallattorney introduced me to this one, placing it at number 4 on his all-time top albums list. And yes, it did come out originally in 1995, not 1996. It's black metal, but not your typical Norwegian 90's fare, as you might expect (since Dissection was from Sweden). Instead, it's got a much more progressive bent, obviously influencing current-day black metal greats such as Watain or Nachtmystium. This is an excellent album. Though it doesn't sound as contemporary as the other two albums on this list, it's still excellent, and I give it 5 out of 5 stars.



Meshuggah: Destroy Erase Improve

I recently hinted at how important this album is to my own history with metal (more will be said). But it's had equally powerful impact in the world of metal as a whole. They combined elements of hardcore, death metal, progressive metal, thrash metal, and jazz, using different time signatures for each element of the music (the drummer often uses two time signatures simultaneously, a feat which defies comprehension).

While such bold, challenging arrangements could result in a wank-fest or, even worse, a chaotic mess, Meshuggah carefully synchronizes their bludgeoning instrumentation, embracing minimalism without excess and playing to the power of the song so the listener isn't neck-deep in over-composed indulgences. As a result, "Future Breed Machine," "Suffer in Truth," and "Soul Burn" are mind-bogglingly profound, integrating body, mind, and soul into a violently precise attack, the point being that change can be extraordinarily difficult — if not maddening — but the results are transcendent. . . . The album is a bona fide '90s classic, a record boasting ideas so well-balanced — natural yet clinical, guttural yet intelligent, twisted yet concise — it muscled simplistic subgenres out of the way and confidently pointed toward the future of metal.

I couldn't have said it better myself, John Serba. I give the album 5 out of 5 stars.

Anathema: We're Here Because We're Here (2010) Review

I'm just about ready to give up on finding any other worthwhile post-metal, besides Isis, Neurosis, and to a lesser extent, Cult of Luna and Intronaut.

I love Isis. I have earnestly sought another band that evokes the same response as they do. So, I have gotten many other albums billed as post-metal. They are packaged and sold to metalheads in metal magazines, like Decibel, who reviewed Anathema's We're Here Because We're Here very positively (8 out of 10).

The problem, though, is that most of these things are rarely post-metal, but instead post-rock. The problem is the same with Russian Circles, but this is much worse. Apparently Anathema's demos (20 years ago) were death metal, and they moved into gothic death/doom territory later on. But their latest has almost nothing at all to do with metal. To be fair, Decibel did warn me, but why is it even in the magazine in the first place?

To me, without that edge, this stuff gets really f**king boring when it goes for almost an hour. I turned it off and decided to get rid of it partway through track 8 (out of 10). Then I listened to some Behemoth.



The Verdict: It's not that this music is objectively bad stuff. I'm just really, really sick of post-rock being sold to metalheads in general, and to me in particular. I can't listen to it. I give We're Here Because We're Here 1 out of 5 stars.

I'm starting to get why so many metalheads stick to the reliable standards of thrash, death, and black metal. This is why Metal Blade rules--they are reliable. I like to expand my horizons, but if this is what I get, I may just stay in the comfort of good old-fashioned straight-forward sonic brutality.