Album Review: ENSIFERUM Thalassic (7/10)

Ensiferum (Latin meaning "sword bearing") is a Finnish folk metal band from Helsinki. The band was founded in 1995 by Markus Toivonen (guitar), but the self -titled debut full-length only came out in 2001. From the beginning the band has been doing a very proficient mix of Folk metal, melodic death metal and power metal. The members of the band label themselves as "melodic folk metal." I only came in contact with the band with the release of 2015's One Man Army which I considered a good album, the follow-up 2017's Two Paths not so much. So I am curious to see if they will bring me back with their eighth studio album Thalassic. The line-up has been stable since 2007's Victory Songs. The only exception for Thalassic being the addition of the keyboard player/lead clean vocalist Pekka Montin.

"Seafarer's Dream" is a 3-min intro featuring a beautiful acoustic guitar and melody over some water sound samples. It alludes to the album's whole theme: "of or relating to seas" which in the title translating from ancient Greek. The intro quickly gets very symphonic as in a film score which is a nice touch. Other than the intro, the album features 8 songs in 41 minutes. This is a big plus for the album as it uses the efficient 80's format and most songs are short and engaging.

Musically, Pekka Montin brought a whole new dynamic to the band. If previously the power metal influence was rather on the background, Thalassic is folk power metal. It's still Ensiferum but it sounds a lot like their country mates Amorphis (e.g. "For Sirens") or Children of Bodom but also Stratovarius. This dynamic is clear from the first song "Rum, Women, Victory". The second verse is pure power metal. They are even using vocal harmonies and falsettos that would be suitable for Timo Kotipelto (e.g. "Run from the crushing tide"). Twin guitars licks and riffs are all over the album, usually using the high end of the fretboard. Those are sometimes being played continuously including during verses and choruses. But in some songs which are more keyboard oriented, Petri Lindroos and Markus Toivonen use chugging guitars and the licks are left for the keys. All of those different tools give the album a great dynamic. There are two songs that go a bit longer but thankfully without overstaying their welcome. "One with the Sea" is a power metal epic and anthemic semi-ballad that sounds really big and great. It's one of my favorites of the album. But there's also the epic 9-min closer, "Cold Northland (Väinämöinen, Pt. 3)"  featuring over 2 minutes of instrumental intro and serves as a call back to their debut album.

Thalassic was recorded and produced by Janne Joutsenniemi, who was involved on their albums Victory Songs (2007) and From Afar (2009) which are usually considered their best ones. Production is typical power metal, super modern with a pristine sound. The mix is good and you can hear everything on it. Mikko P. Mustonen once again presided over the orchestrations, and violin virtuoso Lassi Logren recorded folk instruments on a few tracks. The good thing is that the album is a bit more stripped down and not too symphonic. Certainly not bombastic. However, the orchestrations are used smartly and make an impact. For example, "The Defence of the Sampo" has some cool arrangements highly influenced by classical composers. It's very anthemic but while promising it never really gets to a fulfilling climax. Folk instruments also used effectively and not overdone (e.g. "Midsummer Magic"). Finally, I must say I love all of their album covers and artwork. It's not different with Thalassic. It features it all: warriors, eagles and the sea. All very well drawn and with vibrant colors.

This is an exciting new direction and a step-up in quality versus the Ensiferum's previous album. Their ideas were good and the album well thought and executed, but it still feels a bit disjointed. It is not a big surprise for a transitional album. It's hard to know if the power metal focus will bring new fans without alienating old schoolers. As a power metal fan, it is a welcomed change, and I am excited to see how they will take this new direction in the next album. For now Thalassic is a good album, but almost like an appetizer for what's hopefully to come.

SCORE: 81/100
Genre: Folk Metal
Released by Metal Blade Records on July 10th, 2020

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Rating System*
99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

* slightly adapted on May 24th, 2020 due to statistical review
wordcount = 733

Album Review: BURY TOMORROW Cannibal (7/3)

Bury Tomorrow are a British metalcore band formed in 2006. The band is composed of five members; lead vocalist Daniel Winter-Bates, rhythm guitarist and singer Jason Cameron, bassist Davyd Winter-Bates, drummer Adam Jackson and lead guitarist Kristan Dawson, who replaced founding guitarist Mehdi Vismara in 2013.

Full disclaimer, I have nothing against metalcore, I actually like quite a few bands and Killswitch Engage is a band that I listen to a lot. But I am very critical and many bands of the genre don't add anything to me. Bury Tomorrow is not a band I was familiar with, but honestly there was nothing else released this week that interested me even remotely. So I decided to give it a shot.

Cannibal is already Bury Tomorrow's sixth studio album and it features 11 songs in 43 minutes. It's a very straightforward metalcore album with short songs and no intros, instrumental tracks or songs hitting the 5 minute mark. The 3rd single "Choke" which opens the album is a bit deceiving as it is by far the best song on the album. The Bury Tomorrow metalcore formula is quite clear: a very balanced split between Daniel Winter-Bates' screaming vocals and Jason Cameron clean singing. But this track is quite aggressive and the clean vocals are limited. It's not the case furing most of the other songs. For example "The Grey (VIXI)" is 60% clean singing. The band uses the clean vocal sections to create a pleasant melody (almost pop/radio -like) with sudden bursts of chugging heaviness. The death metal guitar riffs are heavy but usually gives space to melodic and light guitar phrasing. Guitar solos are underused, despite their potential like the short but nice one in "Voice & Truth". And of course the band uses its breakdowns quite often. My first impression when listening to "Choke" was of a mix of Machine Head with clean vocals that remind me of Jesse Leach from KSE or Corey Taylor in Stone Sour. While I love KSE, in this album's case, it actually reminded me of my least favorite KSE's songs such as 2013's "Always". So, yes, it's very soft album as the clean vocal sections take away the great feeling that the heavy sections have. I mean, I love clean vocals but here they are not only clean but usually very lame. And then a ballad like "Quake" is not listenable. The songs are very catchy, I give you that but that's not enough, I mean, Britney Spears can be catchy, you know?

All in all, this is not the album for me, but I tried and songs like "Choke", title track and "Voice & Truth" are good. I can see myself enjoying those guys in a summer festival (if we ever have those again), but not my cup of tea to listen proactively. I metalcore fan or a someone discovering metal will probably dig this, but for those who are not into this genre, this is the kind of album that gives metalcore a bad name.

SCORE: 69/100
Genre: Metalcore
Released by Music For Nations on July 3rd, 2020

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Rating System*
99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

* slightly adapted on May 24th, 2020 due to statistical review
wordcount = 504

Quickies: Second Quarter 2020 Releases included ABYSMAL DAWN, SECRETS OF THE MOON and PROTEST THE HERO

Between April 3rd and June 26th, there were some very decent releases that didn't get a full review but deserved my attention anyway.

ABYSMAL DAWN Phylogenesis (04/17)

The death metal quartet from Los Angeles led by founding member Charles Elliott ( guitars/lead vocals) is back after 6 years with Phylogenesis, their fifth album. Abysmal Dawn plays an aggressive mix of technical modern and early death metal. Honestly, those more tech death bands sound a lot alike, but for some reason I was captivated by Phylogenesis. It could be that I haven't reviewed many death metal bands this year and was missing it. But the fact is that Abysmal Dawn displays skillful songwriting and technical delivery with memorable riffs. There are no frills on this album, it features 44 minutes in 9 songs of straight up death metal from start to finish. It all starts with the aggressive, drum intensive, fast tempo "Mundane Existence" and many songs follow the same feel, but  not all. The single "Hedonistic" is a bit slower and groovy. "The Lament Configuration" is more progressive and almost Meshuggah-like.  Not ground breaking by any means but an interesting (tech) death metal record for the genre enthusiasts.

SECRETS OF THE MOON Black House (5/8)

SotM are (were?) a black metal band from Germany, founded in 1995. Black House, which follows 2015's Sun, is their 7th studio album. It's my first experience listening to this band, so I have no expectations of how they should sound like. They've been to several line up changes and it's not difficult to notice that also they have been changing their style from album to album. With Black House it's clear from the first couple of songs that there's very little left from black metal here. The immediate references are The Cure, Alice In Chains and Fields Of The Nephilim with a touch of Faith No More (e.g. "He Is Here"). As you can imagine it's a Goth Rock/Post Metal album with no screams or anything like black metal blast beats. Every song has a guest appearance which bring a nice variety to the album. But unfortunately Black House doesn't always work, some songs in the middle of the album get boring and too indie rock for my taste. In sum, if you never heard SotM before, go ahead and check this out for something good and different: Dark, mellow, Goth and atmospheric. If you were expecting anything like the black metal albums before Sun and you are not open to a complete 180º turn from that, then don't even bother. 

GRAVE DIGGER Fields of Blood (5/29)

Fields of Blood is the 20th studio album by the pioneers of German Power Metal. The essence of the band has not changed, despite the line-up changes, frontman and founding member Chris Boltendahl was able to keep an incredible consistency in their sound. The only difference from the first couple of albums and all recent releases is the modern and pristine production. I always find amusing why a bunch of Germans with heavy German accent sing about Scotland so much. The band even recorded parts of their new longplayer in the Scottish Highlands. On the other hand I love when the use Bagpipes. The intro "The Clansman's Journey" and the mid-tempo "The Heart of Scotland" being clear examples of that. For most of the album the band stay true to their no-frills traditional brand of metal. For example "All for the Kingdom" and "Freedom" are very welcomed new headbangers to their repertoire. The ballad "Thousand Tears" featuring Noora of Battle Beast is a surprise and the epic title track going over 10 minutes. It stood out to me the quality of the drumming and guitarwork, I found myself really enjoying about half of the songs. But as an overall album there are too many ups and downs. Overall, some fun Teutonic metal as expected by those veterans. Old time fans will enjoy it, for the others it won't change your previous view on the band.

PROTEST THE HERO Palimpsest (6/19)

Palimpsest is the fifth studio album and first full length since 2013's Volition. Those Canadians prog metallers have a neck for catchy melodies and complex and dynamic song structures. Protest The Hero is usually labeled as prog metal, but while it is true, it's a very unique sound. The singing is mostly clean and almost power metal despite some screaming here and there, most notably in "Soliloquy". Musically,  Protest The Hero is close to a mix of Periphery and Dillinger Escape Plan. But there are some Dream Theater-like moments, as in the instrumental passages from "From The Sky" or "Reverie".  Palimpsest is a good album, but it suffers from being a bit too long, I usually get distracted in the middle part and it takes an effort to get back into it. As the songs are complex, it also takes time to get into them, it does help that most of the sing is very clear and melodic.

Album Review: LONG DISTANCE CALLING How Do We Want To Live? (6/26)

Long Distance Calling or LDC is a post-rock band from Münster, Germany, formed in 2006 releasing their debut LP Satellite Bay the following year. The majority of their tracks are extended instrumentals. LDC are one of the most internationally successful instrumental rock bands from Germany. They have created unconventional and unique music that is progressive and versatile with just an occasional guest singer. I have mainly followed the band since they moved to InsideOut Music and released two good albums: TRIPS (2016) and Boundless (2018).

Now LDC's seventh studio album is entitled How Do We Want To Live?. The album contains ten new songs, which all contain classic LDC-Trademarks that create an atmosphere and a vibrant environment. The band dedicate a whole album to the subject of artificial intelligence. So it's no surprise that there's quite a few instances of electronic sounds. But interestingly, it still sounds organic and not robotic or forced. That characteristic is brought from the opening two-part track "Curiosity". Featuring a lot of voice samples and electronic music elements, part 1 reminds me of a mix of Vangelis' Blade Runner score mixed with Dream Theater's  "The Great Debate". Part 2 evolves to one of the recurrent themes of the album, 'a modern version of Pink Floyd', specially post-Waters era. That is obtained by the electronic elements, coupled with slide guitars generating this overall Floyd-ian vibe (think A Momentary Lapse of Reason). The 3rd single "Immunity" video includes footage shot by fans community during the Covid19 pandemic. And even if all songs were already done before the craziness we are living in, the album, and this song in particular, do reflect the mixed feelings of hope and optimism with angst and fear of today's world. It's a very powerful video.

The album also visits some of the traditions that were demonstrated on their first albums. That includes different tools and ideas, for example "Voices" goes from its electronic first half to melodic guitars arpeggios under choral-like female vocals. Or the strings used in "Fail / Opportunity". And in one track, “Beyond Your Limits”, vocals and lyrics were added. They are sung by Eric A. Pulverich of the band Kyles Tolone. It's a nice touch and reminded me of a Phil Collins song. On the more upbeat side of the album we have another single "Hazard" which brings us to an 80's sound, mainly driven by the drumbeat. It's a very nice song. So is "Sharing Thoughts" which is one of the best songs on the album. The fantastic drum and guitar work makes it a stand-out.

Overall despite being an instrumental band, LDC four members work for the music and not to show off themselves. By doing so they create this dynamic wall of sound that is very emotional and atmospheric. It's certainly unique. Despite lacking the powerful singing of TRIPS and concluding the album with a lack of a "wow factor", How Do We Want To Live? is another good album from LDC giving the past two albums a run for their money. For old timers and lovers of instrumental indie/post-Rock music, this album is sure to please you.

SCORE: 80/100
Genre: Post Rock
Released by InsideOut Music on June 26th, 2020

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Rating System*
99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

* slightly adapted on May 24th, 2020 due to statistical review
wordcount = 523

Album Review: LAMB OF GOD Lamb Of God (6/19)

Formed in 1994, Richmond, Virginia-based metallers Lamb of God is a significant member of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal movement. They released their first LP Burn the Priest (as Burn the Priest) in 1999. I've seen Lamb of God good a few times during summer festivals which led me to get into their music and to own most of their albums. I do appreciate their sound and lyrics, and of course Randy and the dudes make an awesome live show. But I can't say I am a longtime avid fan. The last two albums were quite good, but different from each other so I was curious to see where they are going now. The 2020 self titled album is their tenth studio album. Lamb of God will be the first studio album of all-new material by the band since 2015's VII: Sturm und Drang, making it the longest gap between their albums, and the first to feature Art Cruz as the replacement of original drummer Chris Adler, who left the band in 2019.

Lamb of God is a straightforward metal album, 10 songs in 45 minutes, no intros, interludes or instrumentals. It's a very groove metal oriented guitar album. It's full of thrash and southern metal guitar riffs. And while the album is very concise, it explores subtle changes and plays with the band's influences. Some of those explorations are heightened by a couple of guests. On "Poison Dream" Jamey Jasta helps bring the hardcore to the front with a song that ended up sounding just like Hatebreed. "Routes" feat. Chuck Billy displays Lamb of God thrash moments. The album closer "On The Hook" continues to explore the thrash side of the band. There's some sludgy songs such as "Resurrection Man" in which the lyrics reminded me immediately of Mercyful Fate's "Evil". "Checkmate" and "Memento Mori" which are the first two singles and first songs on the album are very powerful headbangers. They soon start to sound familiar and you can hear them live in summer festivals among their classic live tunes.

Randy Blythe can not only growl and scream in different ways creating therefore an interesting variety to the album, but he also explores again with clean singing in the track "Bloodshot Eyes". The good thing is it doesn't mean that the song is any less heavy than the rest of the album. The lyrics are as always very influenced by the current state of the world, specially in the USA. For some reason the guitar work, specially the riffage by Mark Morton and Willie Adler impressed me more than on previous albums. Unfortunately not enough solos, but when you find one, it works really well like the cool solo in "Gears".  The new comer Art Cruz did a good job not only holding the drums helm but also bringing new blood and fresh energy to the rest of the band. And John Campbell is a solid bass player with some good moments throughout the album. The production is modern and very clear, balanced and not too loud. Moreover, it's also organic and full of raw energy.

Not a lot to complain here, but in the spirit of being picky, I'd say that Lamb of God could've been a bit bolder with experimenting with styles or sounds, and probably more guitar solos.  The middle part of the album can get me disconnected and there's nothing really standing out to close the record with something different or an wow factor. But those are nuances to an overall very well crafted work.

I'm not a big fan of self titled albums late in one's career, those albums carry a lot of weight and more often than not they don't fulfill the expectations. In Lamb of God's case, it's not really an issue as it is a very good album. It also demarcates a new era for the band and for that the title fits. It's not their best but still a true headbanger of an album that stays true to their own sound and slightly explores a few of their influences. There are some instant classics here and the album is certain to please old and new fans alike.

SCORE: 82/100
Genre: Groove Metal
Released by Nuclear Blast Records on June 19th, 2020

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Rating System*
99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

* slightly adapted on May 24th, 2020 due to statistical review
wordcount = 699

Album Review: MAGNUS KARLSSON'S FREE FALL We Are the Night (6/12)

Magnus Karlsson is a Swedish heavy metal songwriter, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He is currently a session musician and songwriter of Primal Fear. Karlsson is well known as the mastermind behind several Frontiers productions, including the successful Allen/Lande trilogy as well as releases by Starbreaker (with Tony Harnell), Bob Catley, and Kiske/Somerville. Free Fall is his own project with the first full-length studio album being released in 2013. It was a very good album featuring an all star line-up with singers such as Russell Allen, Ralf Scheepers, Rick Altzi, David Readman and Mark Boals. The second album, Kingdom of Rock (2015) also had a great line-up, but I remember it fell flat for me.

Five years later Karlsson is back with the same concept. He writes the music, plays guitars, bass, keyboard and sings a couple of songs, he hires a good drummer, in this case Anders Köllerfors, and a roster of singers. For We Are the Night we have Dino Jelusick (Animal Drive), Renan Zonta (Electric Mob) and Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath) in 2 songs each. Noora Louhimo (Battle Beast), Mike Andersson (Cloudscape), and Ronnie Romero (Rainbow) in one song each. This is obviously a much less stellar line-up of singers compared to the previous two albums. However, the performances are actually at par or even better than previously. Here we have quite a few hungry young talents giving all they can on those songs. Additionally, this time around the mixing was done by Jacob Hansen (Volbeat, Primal Fear, Amaranthe, Pretty Maids, etc.). Spoiler alert, the result is the best Free Fall album to date.

The advantage of the Free Fall concept compared to, for example, Avantasia, is that Karlsson let each singer perform a full song by him/herself. That gives character to each song and moreover we don't have to listen to duets all the time. The album is of course full of cliches and it's very predictable but it's all done with high quality and it's super fun and catchy. The melodies immediately become sing-along anthems and the choruses are big and contagious. There are cool power metal riffs, twin guitars, great solos and needless to say outstanding vocal performances. Another positive point is that the one song more on the ballad side is not too mellow and Noora Louhimo delivers it with power. Very often an album like this features a super cheesy ballad with a female singer that completely ruins the album flow for me. But while track four "Queen Of Fire" starts that way, after one minute it becomes a mid-tempo hard rock song that is quite fun to listen to. There's also an instrumental song "On My Way Back To Earth" full of shredding intertwined with some beautiful acoustic guitar arpeggios. It's actually an homage to Steve Morse played on his signature guitar. No wonder I liked it so much.

Dino Jelusick and Renan Zonta performances and songs are the highlights of the album. The only veteran singer Tony Martin does a fine job with his two songs. There are no bad tracks in We Are the Night. That's very often a problem with power metal albums, they get too long and loose steam at the end. Not the case here, albeit a bit long with 12 songs in one hour, the disc sustains the quality till the end. My least favorite songs are "All The Way To The Stars". It's too bad and features a fantastic guitar solo, but maybe too close to being an AOR song and "Don't Walk Away".

I'm glad that We Are the Night release date was kept because with less competing releases, it got the deserved attention. Magnus Karlsson neck for writing catchy melodic metal combined with singers full of talent and energy and wrapped in an above average production is one of the good surprises of the year. The best Free Fall album to date is indeed a power metal blast which can’t be missed by all lovers of European melodic metal!

SCORE: 82/100
Genre: Power Metal
Released by Frontiers Music srl on June 12th, 2020

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Rating System*
99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

* slightly adapted on May 24th, 2020 due to statistical review
wordcount = 666

Album Review: THE GHOST INSIDE The Ghost Inside (6/5)

The Ghost Inside is an American metalcore band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2004 and releasing the first LP in 2008. The Ghost Inside is the self-titled and fifth studio album. It's the band's first album since 2015 drastic tour bus crash that killed their driver and inflicted life-threatening injuries to the band members. It is also their first album to feature rhythm guitarist Chris Davis. I remember when their previous album Dear Youth came out in 2014, not because of the music but because the artwork was an almost copy of The Dillinger Escape Plan's 2013 album cover One of Us Is the Killer. I also must say that Metalcore is not a sub-genre that I listen to a lot, but I do like quite a few bands within this area.

The first single is the final track on the album and it deals head on with their horrific experience. According to bassist Jim Riley "it's the final punctuation on that chapter of our lives". By watching the video it's great to see their positive and inspiring attitude. It won't be a surprise that the whole album is influenced by what they’ve been through. But like the video, the band channeled those emotions in the right way to create an an album with glowing reflection and newfound hope. As a result the songs are energetic and pissed-off . Musically, The Ghost Inside sound a lot like a mix of Killswitch Engage and Parkway Drive. Clean vocals are rarely used and guitar solos even less. There's a fair amount of gang vocals and breakdowns. There are some interesting and heavy songs that I'd love to see in a summer festival such as "Still Alive", "Pressure Point", "Overexposure" and "Phoenix Rise". But there are many less interesting songs with a lack of variability. I did like the few moments of  slightly progressiveness, such as the mid-tempo "Unseen". On the other hand, the clean-vocals-dominated-radio-friendly "One Choice" is not in harmony with the rest of the album and it's too pop-friendly for my taste.

All in all, The Ghost Inside is a remarkable return following horrific bus accident. Lyrically, energy and production-wise, this is a good album. Musically, it is nothing that I haven't heard before and it falls into repetition and lack of distinctiveness. For metalcore fans that don't mind getting more of the same, this is one of the best bets of the year so far in this sub-genre. Welcome back guys!

SCORE: 77/100
Genre: Metalcore
Released by Epitaph Records on June 5th, 2020

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Rating System*
99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

* slightly adapted on May 24th, 2020 due to statistical review
wordcount = 412