Album Review: Brides

Album Review: Brides
Album: Ocular.Unveil
Label: Visible Noise

Formed just 18 months ago and following in the footsteps of Architects and the gone-but-not-forgotten Johnny Truant, Brides are shaping up to be the latest band to emerge from the sunny seaside of Brighton with the potential to become The Next Big Thing™.

Album Review: Mastodon

Album Review: Mastodon Album: Crack the Skye Label: Reprise/Warner Bros.

Much has been made of the circumstances surrounding Mastodon during the writing and recording of their latest album, Crack the Skye.  While half the band led quiet lives away from the media spotlight, guitarists Bill Kelliher and Brent Hinds found themselves enduring lengthy stays in hospital thanks to alcohol-related illnesses and System of a Down-inflicted head injuries respectively.  As if that wasn’t enough, a recent Grammy nomination for the quartet has made them one of best-loved metal acts in the world, and that rarest of things: a band who have managed to make it big while retaining the adoration of the fans who have followed them since the beginning.  And that’s not to mention that with their last two albums, Leviathan and Blood Mountain, they’ve managed to complete the near-impossible task of making prog rock cool again.  Clearly, the hype surrounding Crack the Skye was always going to be massive; the million-dollar question is “Is it justified?”

Album Review: Manatees

Album Review: Manatees
Album: Icarus, the Sunclimber
Label: Eyesofsound

There’s a surreal contradiction at work on this album. Despite its themes being taken from the age old fable of Icarus flying towards the sun, the music backing the themes sounds as if it was created within the deepest, darkest bowels of the ocean. This is an album so heavy and compressed that it feels like the very walls are crushing in around you. A remarkable juxtaposition to how Icarus must have felt moments before going out in a blaze of foolishness.

Album Review: Lamb of God

Album Review: Lamb of God
Album: Wrath
Label: Roadrunner Records

I always breathe a little sigh of disappointment when I consider Lamb of God. I mean, here’s a band that were called Burn the Priest. Burn the fucking Priest! How metal is that? I don’t think you can get much more metal than that. But then there’s always that tinge of sadness when you realise that despite how metal their music might be, they’ve always been willing to sell themselves short for more popularity, changing their name to the much less offensive title they tour arenas with now, just because it scared some promoter. But at least they’ve stuck to their morals, signing sponsorship deals with the likes of DC Shoes and Vans clothing, those pinnacles of musical integrity.

Album Review: Architects

Album Review: Architects
Album: Hollow Crown
Label: Century Media

Brighton’s Architects have been toiling away at the hardcore scene for a long time now. It hasn’t been until the release of their third album, Hollow Crown, that people are really starting to take notice of their own take on the aggressive, riff heavy arena of metal. With its slick packaging and a stronger advertising campaign behind it, the band is certainly set to jump into the spotlight – but do they deserve it?

Album Review: …and You Will Know Us By the Trail of the Dead

Album Review: …and You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead
Album: Century of Self
Label: Richter Scale

Back in August last year, Trail of the Dead frontman Conrad Keely told one music website that the band’s last two albums ‘Worlds Apart‘ and ‘So Divided‘ were recorded meticulously, using click tracks and energy-sapping overdubs. It’s fairly well known how much of a negative effect this recording process took, as those two albums struggle to hold a faintly flickering flame to the epic magnificence of ‘Source Tags & Codes‘. Breathe a sigh of relief Trail fans, because ‘Century of Self‘ is an inspired return to form.