Project: Failing Flesh - The Conjoined

by Cosmo Lee

Project: Failing Flesh's main selling point is probably vocalist Eric Forrest, formerly of Voivod. His time in Voivod is highly underrated; the band lost the nuance it had with original vocalist Snake, but it became heavy as hell. After Voivod, Forrest formed his own cyber-thrash outfit, E-Force. He also linked up with brothers Tim and Kevin Gutierrez, of Vienna, VA, to form Project: Failing Flesh. More accurately, the brothers emailed Forrest out of the blue, and he agreed to contribute vocals after hearing their material.

Through the Broken Lens
Regenerate

Forrest's yells and occasional singing are sturdy enough, but the brothers Gutierrez are the real stars of The Conjoined (Burning Star, 2007). They wrote all the music and played all the instruments, except for some keyboards, trumpets, and cello. The record is some of the freshest metal I've heard in ages. Meshuggah, Voivod, Godflesh, black metal, industrial electronics, and general weirdness intertwine seamlessly; a lot of neurons are firing here. One never knows what's around the corner, but it's usually a pleasant surprise. Such unpredictability reminds me of Mike Patton, but none of his projects have been this heavy or substantial.

I recently had a discussion with live4metal.com's Dave Schalek about the state of metal today, and we generally agreed that the major subgenres of metal (death, black, thrash, etc.) have run their course creatively. Metal hasn't had any major paradigm shifts since black metal in the '90s; trends since then have been more faddish than innovative. The concept of "hybrid vigor" greatly appeals to me (interracial marriages, mixed-breed animals, etc.), and I believe the way forward with metal is hybridization à la Project: Failing Flesh.

Buy:
The End
Burning Star
Amazon (MP3)

CYT / Hostis / Drastus - From the Womb of Ferocious

In late 2006 and early 2007, John Darnielle wrote "Thirty Short Poems About My Favorite Black Metal Band." Of his fans, I'd guess that 90% know him for his indie rock band The Mountain Goats, while 10% know him for his writing on metal, including his cryptically amusing "South Pole Dispatch" column which ends each issue of Decibel. Collectively, "Thirty Short Poems" is the greatest piece of band fan mail that I've ever read. I have included links to all 30 because I insist that you read them all. They are indeed short, taking about 10-30 seconds each to read. However, they are uproariously funny; nearly each one made me laugh out loud. They are also incredibly tender and profound. Ultimately, they are as obsessive and imaginative as the object of their affection, Drastus.

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Drastus is a French one-man black metal band; he also runs the label Flamme Noire. While I don't share Darnielle's fanatical devotion to Drastus (10 poems in, you'd think he was about to propose marriage), I do appreciate his work. In the poems, Darnielle touches upon how hard it is to find. This is sort of true; his three releases all have very limited pressings. However, I have seen them come and go in various distros, as well as on eBay. Drastus is just one of those names you have to keep an eye out for. Over time, I have found his 2006 EP Taphos and From the Womb of Ferocious, his 2005 split with Hostis (his girlfriend) and CYT (his black metal band with her). The latter comes in an A5 sleeve, and Darnielle's ninth poem addresses the difficulty of storing such an object. I agree; A5 sleeves are a pain in the ass. I have a few - they're all by black metal bands (the "artistic" aspect, etc.) - and I banish them to a box where I try to ignore them.

Drastus - Tumor Reptatus
CYT - Ar Brezel Santez

But the music on Womb is impossible to ignore. Drastus does the split's best tracks; one is straightforward, ass-kicking black metal, while the other features strange, almost gothic singing over an industrial soundscape. Hostis turns in two tracks of menacing dark ambient, while CYT proffers solid black metal with incredibly deft drumming. I am doing a terrible job of description; Darnielle's poems are really all you need. With fans like this, who needs music critics?

Buy:
Ashen
Goatowarex
God Is Myth

Monarch! - Dead Men Tell No Tales

This album must be played loud, very loud. Goosebumps should pierce surfaces after feeling Monarch’s 2007 release melt from blaring speakers. The French quartet return with their crushing Crucial Blast compilation Dead Men Tell No Tales. This album refurnishes and compiles Monarch’s two previous full-lengths, Speak of the Sea and Die Tonight. A comfortable chair and kind patience is required for the 1 hour and 34 minutes of Dead Men Tell No Tales. Although long, this release weeps a sedating flavor that leaves a thick aftertaste. Bleak sketches of a sailboat, cute ghosts, hearts, stars, and upside-down crosses splash the album cover. Although cheerless, these juvenile drawings illustrate Monarch with strange femininity. Emilie Bresson is the image of Monarch. Her long, blonde hair, petite figure, and quirky style belie her empowering scream.

We Are the Musicmakers (excerpt)
Dead Men Tell No Tales (excerpt)

In “We Are the Musicmakers,” Bresson roars as if she’s tearing her hair out. A permeating fog grows thicker along with the slowly crawling chords, tamed feedback, and bellowing booms. After about eight minutes of subdued stupor, Bresson creeps out of her silky cocoon, shrieking furiously. The gloomy ambiance is similar to fellow doom enthusiasts Moss, but Monarch lack the thick, grimy undertones. They comprehend this approach, but their delivery is often too crispy clean. Playing Dead Men Tell No Tales loud makes up for the lost gloom. Sure Monarch have thunder, but they also have too much illumination. Striking that perfect, thunderous tone is what makes doom so effective. With her rugged elegance, Bresson frequently overpowers that murky necessity. On the last track, Bresson tells a ghostly bedtime story in a near-silent, eerie whisper on top of looped seaside sounds. The effect is chilling, but “Dead Men Tell No Tales” secretes Monarch’s thunderous instrumental potential. At this point, my butt is numb, but my ears aren’t quite seeping blood.

- Jess Blumensheid

Buy:
The End
Crucial Blast

Spektr - Mescalyne

Judging from their sound, Spektr refer to the drug and not the Mescalyne Islands in Vanuatu. On 2006's The Near Death Experience (which I wrote about here), this shadowy French duo rammed together dark ambient and black metal with jarring jump cuts. It was an intriguingly disruptive, Burroughsian take on an aesthetic that favors drones, trance states, and other continuums. The Mescalyne EP (Debemur Morti, 2007) is likewise cinematic and hallucinatory, but it isn't so disjointed. This is due to more cohesive drum programming that seems to have an electronic music influence, particularly drum 'n' bass. That's a strange influence to have these days, but Spektr are all about the strange. Mescalyne's four tracks feel like one, yielding a surprisingly cohesive, compact 23 minutes.

Mescalyne

Mescalyne is available from Moribund, Relapse, and The End.

Eibon - Promo '08

Paris' answer to Eyehategod, Eibon have a new promo CD out. Its two massive tracks total 22 and a half minutes in length. Eibon hammer riffs into the ground with the best of 'em, yet shape them into surprisingly graceful journeys. "Asleep and Threatening" is the more aggressive offering, and is audible on Eibon's MySpace. It drops from sludge into a hole of doom, then climbs back out with rough-and-tumble percussion before alighting on moody Tool-isms.

Staring at the Abyss

"Staring at the Abyss" is even more patient, settling into a hypnotic three-note theme. It then traverses a wide variety of feels, including candlelit pyschedelia, a lumbering shuffle, and luminous, tremolo-picked drones. Dig those runs at 7:40 that sprout up out of the dirt like small plants. The recording is perfectly earthy, highlighting tasty drumming by Jerome Lachaud. Last year, Eibon put out a solid split on Bones Brigade with fellow French sludge metallers Hangman's Chair. I reviewed it here; it's available at Bones Brigade, Hellride Music, and Relapse. Someone sign this band!

Blut aus Nord - Odinist

This week is French bands week at Invisible Oranges. There is no special occasion, other than a desire to celebrate the country that brought us Juliette Binoche, Daft Punk, and the finest metal scene currently outside of Sweden.

Blut aus Nord's sound has gotten grumpier over time, a fact reflected in gradually darkening album covers (see here). 2006's MoRT sounded like it looked, bleached of virtually all color. Last year's Odinist was billed as a return to old times, but all records so touted inevitably fail. Times change, as do people and production techniques. Despite efforts to convince the world otherwise, Metallica will never recapture the magic of Master of Puppets.

An Element of Flesh
The Cycle of the Cycles

Thus, Odinist only steps back so far. Its drum machine wakes up from its coma on MoRT, but its guitars remain in the dissonant soup that The Work Which Transforms God first stirred up. (Interestingly, compatriots Deathspell Omega went off the deep end around the same time.) The drum machine has long been a BaN trademark, but its value is variable. It has sounded best when submerged underneath guitars (Ultima Thulée) or when paired with guitars equally grotesque and unnatural (MoRT, Thematic Emanation Of Archetypal Multiplicity). Anywhere in the middle, though, where real drummers could do better, and it's annoying; Memoria Vetusta I would have been ferocious if not for its Sisters of Mercy-esque plastic poundings.

Odinist is another such annoying case, exacerbated by overly compressed mastering that artificially inflates the low end. So much thudding makes the record feel tired. But the feeling matches the guitars, which approximate Godflesh with a killer hangover. For BaN, this sound is getting familiar. Next to black metal's hordes of "old school" retreads, however, it's still thrillingly alien. "An Element of Flesh" flings aloft psychedelic warblings (backwards guitars?); "The Cycle of the Cycles" rises and falls hypnotically. BaN are already working on a new record, a sequel to Memoria Vetusta I, but they'll have to un-grotesque themselves for it, which seems unlikely.

Odinist is available from Candlelight, Relapse, and The End.

High on Fire, Glorior Belli, Inked in Blood, etc.

High on Fire

When I saw High on Fire recently, I was astounded by the number of females in the crowd. Only Enslaved in Berlin had more girls - go figure. Actually, I kind of get that. Europeans invented metal, so it's in their blood. There, black metallers actually have Norwegian names, and girls go to the local Saturn (the German equivalent of Best Buy) in full metal gear, spikes and all, and shop in the "Hard 'n' Heavy" section like it ain't a thang. I think I just gave myself a boner.

High on Fire - Rumors of War
Glorior Belli - Sinister Resonance
Inked in Blood - Somewhere Familiar
Sebastian Bach - Back in the Saddle (feat. Axl Rose)

In American record stores, though, the only long hair in the metal section is male (admit it, guys - you've checked out fit longhairs before, only to have them turn around and be male - oof). I'd basically resigned my American metal life to "bro'ing down" until I saw High on Fire. There were so many women, it felt almost wrong. It was seriously disconcerting. And they were totally getting down. The sight of a girl throwing the goat is a mighty aphrodisiac indeed.

Here's my theory: girls like 3-over-2 accents. You'd see them raise their fists, as one is wont to do at High on Fire. But Matt Pike's guitar playing is mostly strumming, so there's actually not much to pump your fist to. Drummer Des Kensel is a fucking force of nature, and he's cranking out thrash and d-beats like his singer's named Lindberg. So it's a tug-of-war, this percussive onslaught with mushy strumming and the molten river of distorted bass. Thus during the verses, fists are raised but not pumping. They're just drifting.

But when the 3-over-2 accents come, it's indeed like coming, a simultaneously orgasmic vice grip of synchronicity. Fists pump involuntarily - then go back to drifting. High on Fire probably know this, as they dish out 3-over-2 accents with much greater frequency than any other band. The 3-over-2 accent is normally reserved for punctuation at the end of phrases (e.g., "time for primal concrete sledge"). High on Fire practically write entire songs around 3-over-2 accents. And this is why girls love 'em.

At Metal Injection, I've reviewed High on Fire, as well as French black metallers Glorior Belli and Deathspell Omega, Dutch death metallers Severe Torture, hair metal pinup Sebastian Bach, and the mammoth new live DVD set from AC/DC. At Decibel, I've reviewed ancient thrashers Overkill and Christian metalcore outfit Inked in Blood. The latter surprised me - extremely clichéd good cop/bad cop elements, but arranged with creativity, skill, and passion. It's the most uplifting record I've heard this year, and I find myself returning to it often.

Amphitryon - Sumphokéras

Amphitryon are one of the fresher breaths of metallic air I've experienced in a while. This French band's music is hard to describe - a good sign. The melodic doom of My Dying Bride comes to mind at times. Other, more death metal-esque moments suggest the Egyptian parts of Nile slowed down and stretched out. The end result, though, is one of the more unique sounds I've heard in a while.

Theocracy
Omen

What sets Amphitryon are their bi-gendered choral vocals. Unlike the overbearing presentation typical for such vocals (Therion, I'm looking at you), they're tasteful and integral to the music. I'm not familiar with choral music, so I can't really pinpoint the band's sources. Sometimes the vocals sound "church-y," i.e., Gregorian chant-esque; sometimes they sound Middle Eastern, i.e., in Phrygian modes; at one point, they even evoke barbershop harmonies!

The songs on Sumphokéras (Thundering, 2006) wind through a rich array of feels and tones. This is one of the few metal albums where keyboards actually add to the music - lots of tasty flourishes, no obvious symphonic presets, etc. The production isn't as large as it could be, but then again, this is (rather incredibly) a first album. I'm happy with the crisp, dry sound, and am amazed that the band shaped so many elements into such an elegant whole.

Sumphokéras is available from Amphitryon and Thundering.

Aussitôt Mort - 6 Songs

France continues its domination of all things heavy with Aussitôt Mort, which is evidently French for "as soon as dead." This quintet from Caen plays post-hardcore, post-metal, post-whatever you want to call it. Some reference points might be the melodicism of Hot Cross with the rolling 6/8 grooves of Burst and the atmospherics of fellow countrymen Year of No Light. 6 Songs (Level Plane, 2007) adds two tracks to their phenomenal four-song demo, which Level Plane released last year on 12".

Aussitôt Dort, Aussitôt Mort
Percuté

This EP is an incredibly mature debut. The tracks are melodic, yet drop little bends and dissonance here and there. A nicely natural recording captures the fluid, organic drum work. The lyrics are in French, though the band's website provides some English translations. Despite the screamed vocals, the French very much comes through, and it's a delight to hear. You'll be yelling "Percuté" even if you have no idea what it means (Babelfish says "struck"?).

I usually don't use this word in reviews, but here it is: emotional. Even at their heaviest, Aussitôt Mort are full of subtle, poignant twists. Dig the downward spiraling notes and clashing sword sounds (or is that some sort of funky cymbal?) in "Aussitôt Dort, Aussitôt Mort" - these are the small moments that stick for days. The packaging is lovely, printing the lyrics inside an environmentally friendly recycled cardboard sleeve, with vegetable-based gold ink and no use of glue. Of course, six songs is short, and I have no doubt that when these guys put out a full-length, it'll be tout-puissant.

For whatever reason, Level Plane's distro, 29North Records, is "closed for the season." Interpunk carries both the 6 Songs CD and the 12" demo, though currently the CD is out of stock. Very and RevHQ carry the 12". In Europe, the CD is available for 6 euros from Paranoid.

The Red Chord, Darkest Hour, Halford, etc.

The Red Chord

I'm moving from Berlin to San Francisco at the end of this month. This, combined with excessive travel (five trans-Atlantic crossings in six weeks, with five destination airports and way too much sleeping while sitting), has severely hampered my recent productivity.

The Red Chord - Tread on the Necks of Kings
Halford - Made in Hell
Year of No Light - Traversée

However, I've published a bit since my last update - dual reviews of Azalea City Penis Club/Robin Allender and Caina/Godheadscope at Stylus, as well as a review of Immolation and an interview with Year of No Light. At Metal Injection, I've reviewed The Red Chord, Darkest Hour, Halford, Mortuus, and Ion Dissonance, as well as a DVD of the Metalmania 2006 festival and a fine book by Keith Kahn-Harris.

Spektr - The Near Death Experience

Since sleep is the theme this week, I thought I'd revisit one of my favorite bedtime lullabies, The Near Death Experience (Candlelight, 2006). People have already written on it, but it was such a soundtrack to my subconscious last year that I'd have nightmares not mentioning it. Basically, it's a dark ambient record with grimy, bloody black metal spliced in seemingly randomly.

Whatever the Case May Be

Dimhymn is the only other act I've heard do this, though others probably do it also. This post-production aesthetic fascinates me - record the band rocking the fuck out, then toss it into the computer and mutilate it some more. Throw in movie soundbites and white noise, slather scary whooshing noises on top, and serve on a platter of dripping font goodness.

The CD has an awesome 12-minute video that syncs hallucinogenic, grainy footage of alternately mundane and horrific images with utter precision to the audio - in glorious black and white (this is a French film, after all). It alone is worth the price of the disc. You can find it at Candlelight. Me, I'm going to have sweet dreams tonight.

Left Hand Path #009

Kronos

After what seemed like a slow start, metal in 2007 has shifted into high gear. Great releases flood in from the underground daily. In Left Hand Path #009, we've reviewed over 30 discs, including must-have splits from Baroness/Unpersons and Eibon/Hangman's Chair, Harvey Milk reissues, Marduk, Municipal Waste, Abigor, Glorior Belli, Irepress, dark ambient from the Cold Spring label, and much more.

The Angelic Process - We All Die Laughing
Kronos - Suffocate the Ignorant
A Second from the Surface - Scene I Don't Remember
Sleeping Giant - Whoremonger

My picks here are French death metallers Kronos, pulverizing grindcore from A Second from the Surface, and yet another strong Facedown release from Sleeping Giant. The Angelic Process has tattooed vivid memories in me - I heard it one night in headphones while falling asleep, and had the most amazing, fucked up dreams.

In the Guise of Men - Demo

France's In the Guise of Men features vocalist Heitham Al-Sayed from English rap/metal outfit Senser. Its demo is an intriguing but bumpy ride. The songs are extremely choppy, often stringing riffs together seemingly randomly. Math-y grooves a la Meshuggah butt heads with prog bits and melodic, more traditional metal. The latter is the most successful, highlighting Al-Sayed's strong singing. At times, though, he breaks into a fast, System of a Down-esque bark that's grating and unnecessary.

Sewn Receptors

The guitar work is colorful and diverse, slightly reminiscent of Teppei Teranishi's work in Thrice. For a demo, the production is quite good, and the performances are tight and professional. Catchy riffs and good ideas abound here; they just need focus. You can hear all five songs of this demo at the band's website.

Hirax, Six Feet Under, Obscurus Advocam...

Obscurus Advocam

Some new writing up - at Metal Injection, I've reviewed robust efforts by old-school thrashers Hirax and 420 advocates Six Feet Under, as well as black metal from The Ruins of Beverast and Obscurus Advocam. The latter has been really doing it for me lately - black metal that's heavy for once! At Stylus, I have a dual review of Croatian math rockers Cog and Bosnian electronic/rock hybrid Vuneny, both on the always-inspiring Moonlee Records.

Hirax - Assassins of War
Obscurus Advocam - Verbia Daemonicus
Cog - Up Anchors, Down Sails

Blockheads - Shapes of Misery

Misery
Silent

Overcome
2006


20 tracks, 27 minutes, face-to-a-sander grindcore. You've heard these albums before (Nasum's Grind Finale contained about ten of them), so why should you hear this one? Because it kicks, that's why. It's raw, it's pissed off, and it's efficient in a way that somehow seems environmentally conscious. I picture these Frenchmen working in soup kitchens to the sounds of Phobia and Terrorizer.

All the classic grind ingredients are here - clattering blastbeats, piledriving guitars, papa bear/little bear vocals. The songs fly by quickly, but, really, this album is one long cathartic fit with nineteen pauses for breath. Yet melodic and rhythmic variation keeps things interesting, and the production sounds natural.

The lyrics take aim at Dubya, creationists, capitalism, materialism, and so on. Socially conscious grindcore is almost a redundant term, but I am glad for each and every such record done well. Not only is it a vote against the status quo, every dollar and euro that goes to it is one less that goes to a multinational corporation. You can find this in the US at Emetic and in Europe at Overcome.

Hacride, Means, Dying Fetus, Psyopus, Ludicra, and yet more hipster metal

Hacride

At Metal Injection, I've reviewed Hacride, whose Amoeba is the first metal album this year that drives me to evangelical fervor. It's like Gojira...but with acoustic guitar...and one song, "Zambra," with a Spanish flamenco group! Strange, thrilling, futuristic. Also up are my review of Facedown band Means and an interview with Dying Fetus.

Hacride - Fate
Hacride - Zambra

At Stylus, I have a review of crazy tech-spazzouts Psyopus and an interview with the world's most underrated band, Ludicra.

Andy at Clocked in - Punched Out has entered the hipster metal fray. He says that non-metalheads shouldn't be faulted for trying out metal, and that metalheads in turn shouldn't be close-minded and exclusionary. Good sentiments, for sure, though the issue is multifaceted. There's hipsters simply getting into metal. Then there's hipsters making metal, or metal that's not-so-metal and marketed towards hipsters. Then there's the global effect of all this, including certain media trends and public perceptions about metal.

There's a huge disconnect between what non-metalheads and metalheads think of metal. It reminds me of polls about the Iraq War, in which its supporters say that the US is in it for self-defense, and its critics say that the US is in it for oil or revenge. Like war, metal elicits visceral reactions, and what people say in public about it are probably rationalizations of those reactions.

In the end, I agree with Andy. I might raise an eyebrow if you're in heels at a Suffocation show. But if you're there at the next one, you're in. You've made the commitment, and you've supported the scene with your ticket purchase.

In his comments on Susie Horgan's photo book Punk Love (which looks fantastic, btw) about the early '80s DC punk scene, Henry Rollins quotes Bobby Bird (of James Brown fame): “I know you got soul, ’cause if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be in here.” Amen. Metal is so confrontational, anyway, that it'll select out the false among it.

Phazm, Marty Friedman, Hot Cross reviews

Phazm

New review is up at Stylus of French black 'n' death 'n' roll outfit Phazm. Up at Metal Injection are reviews of ex-Megadeth shredder Marty Friedman and Equal Vision artists Hot Cross.

Phazm - Black 'n' Roll
Hot Cross - Silence Is Failure

Phaze 1 - Self-Titled

The Guide

Scarlet
2006



We started the week with one, so we'll end it with another - a metal band with keyboards and horrible artwork. I don't get why bands give themselves two strikes like this at the outset. Maybe they enjoy the challenge. Although ugly artwork is an occupational hazard one accepts as a metal writer, this cover is especially hideous; it's like a cheap video game from 10 years ago.

Brothers David and Franck Potvin (no relation, as far as I can tell, to NHL players Denis, Jean, Marc, or Felix "The Cat" Potvin) of French band Lyzanxia make up two-thirds of Phaze 1. Lyzanxia is a fine band and all its album covers are horrible, too, so we shouldn't write off Phaze 1 just yet. Truth be told, it isn't far off from Lyzanxia - Gothenburg-style melodic death metal with keyboards.

However, Phaze 1 is scruffier. That's really the first word that occurs to me. The difference is mainly the production, which is grittier, but it's also in the music. The vocals are distorted, and the songs are less baroque. Normally, these traits would be liabilities for this style of metal. But I've heard more than enough glistening, over-produced melodeath, so the human feel here is welcome.

On drums is Soilwork's Dirk Verbeuren, who has played in a slew of other bands (Lyzanxia, Scarve, No Return, Phazm, Yyrkoon). His style isn't very flashy or idiosyncratic, but his timekeeping does the job.

This album is sequenced quite strangely. It literally gets better as it goes along. This is a change from the frontloading albums often have; it begins rather unspectacularly, but overall it's enjoyable. While I can't help but feel that the Potvins save their A-game for Lyzanxia, this debut should appeal to fans of the more aggressive side of melodeath. You can find it at The End.

Brutal Truth, Blut Aus Nord reviews

My reviews of the latest Brutal Truth and Blut Aus Nord albums are up at Metal Injection.

Brutal Truth - Dementia
Blut Aus Nord - Chapter III

Antaeus, Botch reviews

My review of French black metallers Antaeus is up at Metal Injection. Norma Evangelium Diaboli have outdone themselves with the packaging this time, so be sure to pick up the real thing.

At Stylus, I've reviewed 061502, the DVD/CD of the final show by Botch. The gig is good, not great, but through sheer quality and quantity, the package is a must-have. With footage of an even better show, a hilarious commentary track, historical photos, and lovely artwork from Aaron Turner - run, don't walk, get it.

Year of No Light review

My review of Year of No Light's Nord is up at Stylus. An excerpt:

The proliferation of Isis-alikes has reached epidemic proportions. Every time you turn around, there's another band with atmospheric riffs, eight-minute songs, understated artwork, and a beard (or two). It's easy to see why this sound has caught on: Black Sabbath, Godflesh, and Neurosis sound much less scary with more melody. French outfit Year of No Light is as guilty of imitation as any, but with only one album, the band has leapt to the fore of atmospheric metal, giving Isis themselves a run for their money. When not only Isis but also Jesu, Godflesh, and The Cure come to mind, an album deserves attention.

Read more...

Gorod - Leading Vision

Gorod's debut, Neurotripsicks, was absolutely shredding, sounding like if Joe Satriani played lead guitar in Symbolic-era Death, with low death growls for the vocals. However, thin production hobbled the album somewhat. That's definitely not the case with Leading Vision (on Willowtip), which has a deeper and beefier sound while retaining the clarity typical of Willowtip releases.

The songwriting feels more assured now, with more space between riffs. The album has a strong Necrophagist vibe at times, with lots of diminished runs and odd-meter, pseudo-classical riffs. The soloing is very smooth and flowing, almost with a jazz fusion feel. Chris Poland comes to mind, which is great, as I'm a huge fan of his. The Symbolic vibe also remains strong, to the point that I often half-expect "Crystal Mountain" to kick in. However, these Frenchmen have a quirky side (think !T.O.O.H.!, but not so crazy) that sets them apart from other technical death metal bands.

Gorod - Thirst for Power
Gorod - Chronicle from the Stone Age

The midrange and low death growls here do the trick, but this is definitely a guitarists' album. The last song ends with some gypsy jazz acoustic guitar (think The Triplets of Belleville), which is probably done in jest. But, man, it would be sick if they explored that further. Add in tasteful artwork and layouts, and you have a thoroughly enjoyable package. Pick it up

@ Willowtip