Top Albums of Q3/2017

Below - Upon a Pale Horse

In 2011, Below was formed in Sweden and in 2014 the critically acclaimed full-length, Across the Dark River, was released. Now they are back with Upon a Pale Horse. The album showcases an epic, heavy and dark style of doom. Think late Black Sabbath, Candlemass, King Diamond but with vocals that remind me of  Michael Kiske or Geoff Tate. After a short intro, the album features 7 songs in 47 minutes. The first being "Disappearing Into Nothing" which opens with an Iommi-like riff, several power metal moments and fantastic vocal performance from Mr. Zeb. "The Coven" is slower and beautiful, a King Diamond homage. The title track is the longest with 9:40, a slow tempo classic doom song. "Suffer In Silence" is the most traditional metal song of the album, it's here that the parallel to Queensryche can be argued. After the acoustic intro "Hours Of Darkness" enters a super slow riff followed by a very moody and melodic vocal line. "1000 Broken Bones" is the second rocker with its faster tempo and NWOBHM riff, it's a banger. The album closes with the epic doom "We Are All Slaves", the second longest track with 8:40. I really enjoyed this album, tight song writing, catchy songs, fantastic vocals, and awesome doom riffs. All packaged with a very good production and dynamic mix. A top traditional doom album (of the year?).

Tombs - The Grand Annihilation
It's black metal, sludge, death metal, post-punk...no, it's not messy or schizophrenic, this is actually Tombs new record, their 4th studio album. A concise and impressively executed genre mix resulting in one of the best extreme metal albums of the year.  The first 3 songs are mostly back metal and sludge, but "November wolves" slowly integrates post-punk vocals into it while still sounding like Enslaved, very interesting. Even more so because it leads perfectly into "Underneath" which is even more post-punk with a slow beat and clean deep dark vocals. But then the "Way of the storm" returns to pure black metal. The next 3 shorter tracks continue the same mix of genres leading to the final song, the sludge "Temple of Mars". Overall a fantastic album, the 49 min and 10 songs flow seamlessly. I do appreciate the very well written and executed genre mix and the variability of the sounds, making The Grand Annihilation one of my favorites of the year so far.

Leprous - Malina
With their fifth studio album, the Norwegian progressive metal band dives into a post rock sound (and dare I say more accessible) a path . While I haven't spent enough time with their previous releases, Malina caught my attention. I enjoyed the whole album but it does extend its welcome and gets a bit too soft at moments. The first 5 songs form a very strong sequence that got me sold on the album half way through it.

Temple Of Void - Lords of Death
Every now and then I find myself hypnotized by an extreme metal album while not being able to put my finger on exactly the reasons why. It's anyway, a fantastic feeling. That has been exactly the case with Lords of Death by Temple Of Void. The quintet from Detroit describe themselves as "ToV harkens back to the somber sound of early British doom, while channeling the energy and devastation of old school American death metal." I can't argue with that!

Cormorant - Diaspora
Cormorant is a progressive black/death metal band from the Bay Area formed in 2007. Diaspora is not an easy listen. With only 4 songs in one hour, the listener is challenged to pay full attention to this progressive and beyond genre boundaries work of art. The band is rooted in black metal, mainly due to the dominant vocals, but even there death vocals and clean singing are heard at points. The group however is much more than black metal, they have been known to incorporate jazz, progressive rock, death metal and folk elements to their music. Diaspora  requires a considerable investment from the listener to appreciate it fully, but it is worth it! A diverse and dynamic artistic masterpiece.

Dying Fetus - Wrong One To Fuck With
This is the eighth studio album by this American death metal band and it took 5 years since their last studio album. Wrong One To Fuck With is a very consistent album with no surprises for those who know the band. There's groove, technicality and brutality well mixed by one of the most brutal Death Metal bands out there. From the first second to the final 10th tittle track, we are hammered with crushing drums and super technical, fast and heavy riffs. Great extreme metal album, but a bit too long.

Orden Ogan - Gunmen
Gunmen is not a great album and it falls short compared to 2015's Ravenhead. But it's still a very capable and enjoyable album for Power Metal fans. It starts and finishes very well, but there are ups and downs in the mid sections. Orden Ogan continues to be consistent with their sound based on epic German melodic metal (think Blind Guardian) with folk, symphonic and elements of modern metal into their sound. If you are not into this genre or band, that's not the way to start, but for the lovers, it is worth checking it.

Accept - The Rise of Chaos
More of the same. There are no surprises with Accept. Already on the 4th album with Mark Tornillo, guitarist Wolf Hoffmann and band deliver another solid traditional metal album full of killer riffs, melodies and big choruses under a very polished production from Andy Sneap. While being its strength, the consistency is also its weakness. By the half of the album, it gets way too repetitive. Luckily it closes strongly with "Race to Extinction".

Decapitated - Anticult
One of the most well known bands from Poland, Decapitated is releasing their 7th studio album. 3 years after Blood Mantra which I liked a lot. Decapitated is one of those bands that doesn't want to "release the same album again". Consequently their sound has been evolving from a pure technical death metal by incorporating elements from Pantera (already done in the last album) and now Anticult has Meshuggah and Gojira influences all over the place. As always, this evolution seems to be polarizing fans and critics. I think it works and I appreciate what they are trying here. The album has an addictive groove, and fantastic guitar work, "Kill the Cult" being the most prominent example. Besides the musicianship and songwriting, the album is very well produced and sounds great. I also love the art cover. So where the complains come from? I don't get it. If pure tech death metal is what you want, there is no lack of bands doing that sound.

Iced Earth - Incorruptible
This is such a difficult album for me to review because IE is one of my all time favorite bands. Hence I have high expectations and tend to be very critical. With that said, let's get to it. Incorruptible is the 12th album from Iced Earth and already the third with Stu Block on vocals and the first with the fantastic Jake Dreyer on lead guitars. This is pure IE as you would expect, no frills and no surprises. 8 straight forward tracks, one instrumental ("Ghost Dance") and an good epic closer. While I like the first half of the album, the second half sound a bit uninspired. One highlight is singer Mr. Block. He uses more his range and incorporates his personal style instead of mimicking his predecessor, "Seven Headed Whore" being a clear example. This song and "The Relic (Part 1)" also display Mr. Dreyer shredding capabilities, a very good addition to the line-up. I hope Dreyer can contribute with song writing and spice things up a little in the next album. While Incorruptible is a better album than the previous release, it sounds a bit "fabricated" and almost recycling ideas from IE classic albums. WIth that said, as a fan, there's a lot to enjoy here.

Top Albums of Q2/2017

Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
The seventh studio album from American progressive metallers is by far the album that I listened to the most this year so far. It was produced by Brendan O'Brien, who Mastodon collaborated with on their highly acclaimed 2009 album Crack the Skye. And that says something about Emperor of Sand. First, Mastodon returns to an album with a concept and story. Secondly, the album does sound like a fusion of latest efforts with the vibe of Crack the Skye. Emperor of Sand has 11 tracks in 51 minutes of outstanding modern prog metal. The musicianship is superb, the division of vocal duties among the 3 singers has been perfected, and the 3 are singing better than ever. The guitar riffs, duos and solos are just fantastic, Brent and Bill have found the perfect harmony. Troy maintains the trademark bass sound and Brann is, simply put, one of the best drummers in activity. I love all 11 tracks and have almost no complains. The album flows amazingly well and it's a serious candidate to album of the year.

Ayreon - The Source
The Source is the ninth concept studio album from Ayreon, a progressive metal/rock opera project by Dutch musician Arjen Lucassen. The concept is once again science fiction and a prequel to 01011001 (released in 2008). Each of the 12 characters is portrayed by one singer from a selection of some of the best prog/power metal singers in activity, including James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Simone Simons (Epica), Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian), Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia), Tommy Karevik (Kamelot), Russell Allen (Symphony X), and Tommy Rogers (Between the Buried and Me). If you love power progressive metal with lots of melodic vocals, this is the album for you. Another serious candidate for album of the year. The 12 min opening track "The Day That The World Breaks Down" says it all. Featuring 11 of the 12 singers, many tempo changes, a bass solo, and a binary cold singing interlude, this song is modern prog rock perfection. The album flows from there with shorter but equality amazing 16 songs. All singers deliver amazing performances. Without loosing his own sound, Arjen is able to get the best of each singer, they sound natural and relaying on their strong characteristics.  The other guests are also fantastic. Mark Kelly (Marillion) and Marcel Coenen (Sun Caged) deliver, respectively,  an amazing synthesizer and guitar solo on "The Dream Dissolves". Other two amazing guitar solos: Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X) on "Star of Sirrah" and Guthrie Govan (The Aristocrats, ex-Asia) on "Planet Y Is Alive!". On top of it all, the concept and story follows like an opera. The album's 1.5 hr fly by when enjoying this fantastic piece of music. If this is not the best Ayreon album ever, then I need to seriously check the other albums immediately.

Pallbearer - Heartless
Heartless is already the third full-length album by this progressive doom metal sensation band. Their 2014's "Foundations Of Burden", appeared on several year-end lists. The current effort runs for 1 hour with 7 tracks. Heartless is a very progressive and melodic album. Clean singing dominates, but in a good way and it's brilliantly executed. It's never too high and translates well the melancholic feel of most songs. The 12-min "Dancing in Madness" is a masterpiece and almost an homage to Pink Floyd. The guitar solo at the beginning reminds me of David Gilmor, fantastic. In addition to fantastic song writing and musicianship, Heartless also sound amazing and dynamic. And to conclude and artful and distinct cover. Over the last couple of years, doom bands have been making appearances in my year-end list. 2017 will most certainly continue this trend thanks to Pallbearer.

Full of Hell - Trumpeting Ecstasy
Imagine that Cattle Decapitation was more hardcore, that's how I'd describe Trumpeting Ecstasy. Their first LP (by themselves) in 4 years is 24 min of voracious headbanging metal madness. With that said, the album is dynamic with pauses, samples, tempo variation and two vocal styles. My two favorite songs are two of the "long" ones: "The Cosmic Vein" and "Crawling Back to God". And then after 9 brutal metal songs, we come to the title track that unexpectedly opens with a beautiful female vocal over some samples. And while for some this would sound like an album closer, no, Full of Hell returns to voracious grindcore to close the album with the 6 min "At the Cauldron's Bottom" featuring fantastic marching drums. One of the best extreme metal albums of the year so far.

John 5 & The Creatures - Season of the Witch

If you come to this album expecting anything related to Robbie Zombie's sound, you will be disappointed. This is a guitar hero album, on the lines of Satriani, Vai, etc. In fact, the title track is the only one that reminds us of Robbie Zombie. While not original and sounding a lot like Satriani, I'm not saturated with Satriani-like bands and I love Satriani. So I found myself really enjoying this instrumental journey. Despite this clear influence, there are two differences: First John 5 adds a  hint of Industrial influences and second, the "& The Creatures" makes a difference because while Satriani studio albums can have boring bass and drums, The Creatures band deliver a solid rhythm section with awesome bass lines and groove. "Guitars Tits and Monsters" is one of the best song titles of the year, but also a great guitar song, almost 6 min of shredding with class. "The Macabre" could've been in Satriani's Surfing with the Alien album. "Hell Haw I.G.R." sounds like an homage to Joe Pass. Great guitar album and highly recommend for fans of the genre, don't let John 5 association with industrial or alt rock mislead you.

Darkest Hour - Godless Prophets & The Migrant Flora

In this comeback album, Darkest Hour presents us with the perfect blend of hardcore and melodic death metal. The memorable songwriting showcases fantastic guitarwork and drumming throughout the record. John Henry delivers relentless visceral vocals from start to finish. And that's a great thing. because due to outstanding guitarwork, groves, and tempo changes, Darkest Hour is able to break the monotony and add enough variability to the songs without depending on two singers or clean singing to do so. My only problem with GP&tMF is that a chunk of middle part songs tend to blend together. But that's a minor problem to an otherwise fantastic metalcore record.

Sólstafir - Berdreyminn
Sólstafir's 6th album is a small departure from its predecessor. It follows the same path of progressive post-rock music but it flirts a bit more with rock and roll groove. That's mostly notable in the first two songs. Most of the other songs are very progressive and dark. "Naros" and "Hvit S?ng" are very heavy tracks while "Hula" and "Dyrafjor?ur" slow tempo and melancholic. A very diverse album showcasing that Sólstafir seems to have found the sound they were looking for.

The Doomsday Kingdom - S/T

The new solo project from Candlemass bassist and songwriter Leif Edling is another triumph. The Doomfather while having difficulties to perform live is unstoppable in the studio. The new addition The Doomsday Kingdom while full of Doom elements sounds much more like a traditional heavy metal record. Several moments remind me of the Sabbath Dio era which is always a good thing.

Avatarium - Hurricanes and Halos

And just like that Avatarium is already releasing their 3rd studio album. After two successful albums, we are please to welcomed the third effort with high expectations. Avatarium combines beauty and darkness, heavy guitars and fragile sounds, and unique female vocals. While the first two albums focused on the Doom Metal sound, Hurricanes and Halos displays more influence from vintage sound from the 60s and 70s (subtle influences from Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, etc), while still staying truthful to their signature sound. Six out of the eight tracks were written by Leif Edling, who also released a doom record already this year via his new outlet Doomsday Machine. But this album goes beyond traditional doom and Marcus Jidell (guitars) and Jennie-Ann Smith (vocals) not only contributed to the songwriting but bring a lot of character to this band. The first album is still my favorite, but the followers are not far behind. Fantastic band.

While She Sleeps - You Are We

I'm glad I gave this record several spins because I was very close to miss one of the best metalcore albums of the year. While I liked the previous effort, I didn't give it a lot of chance. Therefore leaving comparisons aside, You Are We is a jump forward for a band that was already being seen as the "next big thing".