Review: Bullet For My Valentine- Temper Temper

Hey guys! Sorry this review is late I really wanted to take my time with this album, but I found some time today and I figured I'd sit down and give my review for Bullet For My Valentine's latest release, Temper Temper.  

I will admit when I first heard Bullet For My Valentine's last release Fever, I did not have a favorable reaction to it, I thought that the songs that were good like "Your Betrayal" and "The Last Fight", but overall the album was not one of my favorites from the band.  But I gave the album some time and I found the more and more I returned to it the more and more my opinion on Fever changed and now I actually really enjoy the album.  I kept that experience in the back of my mind when I took my first dive into their newest release Temper Temper.  

The first time I heard anything about this album was when I saw a tweet from Loudwire that Bullet had released a new single for their upcoming album.  That single happened to be the title track to the album.  At first I had mixed feelings for it, the song started off good, but the version I heard had really annoying clean vocals on the chorus.  "What happened to Matt's voice?" I thought "This does not sound good for the rest of the album."  My opinion on that song quickly changed when I saw the video for it, they had replaced whatever clean vocals I heard on that first version with rougher vocals that fit the song more.  That version renewed my faith in this album.

The next single I heard was the simple and catchy song "Riot", my first thought when I saw the video was "Where did all of Matt Tuck's hair go?" Needless to say I am not a huge fan of his decision to cut it.  But I really did enjoy the song "Riot", it brought me back memories of the Bullet For My Valentine that we heard on The Poison that we all know and love, it even included a ripping solo by Padge.  With the strength of these two singles I was excited to go pick up this album to see what the the rest of Temper Temper had in store for me.

Without even listening to the album my first observation was "Kick ass album cover!" I love the outstretched bloody hands, it totally beats that weird crab girl they had on Fever and is probably my favorite next to the cover of The Poison.

After my first listen to Temper Temper I was left with the same feeling that Fever left me with, but I had a hunch this would happen so I gave the album more time.  On the subsequent listens that followed I did not feel my opinion on the album changing.  So I decided to do a comparison listen.  I listened to Fever immediately followed by Temper Temper, yet my feeling about this album did not change that much.

Temper Temper is by no means a bad album.  Songs like the title track, "Riot, "Breaking Point", "Saints & Sinners" and "Livin' Life (On the Edge of a Knife)" are catchy and pack that classic Bullet For My Valentine punch that fans have come to know and love.  Songs such as "Truth Hurts", "Leech" and "P.O.W." definitely took me some time to get used to and songs such as "Dead to the World" and "Tears Don't Fall (pt. 2)" in my opinion should not be on the album.  I think I understand where they were trying to go with "Tears Don't Fall (pt. 2)",  the song would bring back nostalgia from the first album and bring a smile to fan's faces, but in all honesty it made me upset, and if anything made me want to listen to the first (and really only) "Tears Don't Fall" to remind myself of how awesome that song is and pretend this "pt. 2" just never happened.

Is Temper Temper better than Fever? No, is it better than The Poison or Scream Aim Fire? No.  While it does have some misses on it, the hits are good enough to make up for the misses and keep fans of the band happy but are still not as good as the previous three albums.  And who knows? Maybe as I give this album more time, it will grow on me the same way Fever did.  Also if you can I recommend picking up the "deluxe version" the bonus track "Not Invincible" is awesome and their cover of "Whole Lotta Rosie" is fantastic as well.

Overall Rating 6.5/10

Thanks guys!
-Zach

PS if there is an album you want me to review, or an artist you want me to talk about tweet me @zachktheanimal or leave a comment below.

Review: Zombified-Carnage Slaughter and Death

Hey guys! I know I am late with this review, but I had a busy weekend and did not have time to sit down and write a review until now.  So without further ado here is my review of Zombified's Carnage Slaughter and Death. 

Are you a fan old school death metal that is struggling to find a band that brings back the raw power that was the death metal of the 80s and 90s? Well look no further than Zombified's latest effort Carnage Slaughter and Death. 

Sweden's Zombified started as a two man project back in 2006 and after quickly making a three song demo decided to recruit more players to fill out the band.  Shortly after that the band released their first album Zombified Slaughtermachine (love these names!) and after that was released the band began to work on the album that is now Carnage Slaughter and Death a 12 track offering of ripping old school death metal. 

Like the Gloria Morti release Lateral Constraint, Carnage Slaughter and Death was released in Europe by Cyclone Empire and through their partnership with Metal Blade records was released in the US this year. 

If there are two things Zombified is good at its 1) writing kick ass death metal and 2) coming up with some of the best names for albums.  The title Carnage Slaughter and Death embodies everything death metal fans love about that specific genre of music into a simple phrase, and then the band takes that one step further and incorporates that into a song with the same name. 

Which brings me to their music, Carnage Slaughter and Death should be on the top of every death metal fan's wishlist if its not already in their possession.  The band wastes no time in serving up some of the best old school death metal I've heard from a newer band in a while.  The band kicks things off with "Carnage Slaughter and Death" which was the single from the album (I feel weird to call it a single per say, but it was the song Metal Blade uploaded to their YouTube page and I didn't know a better name to call it).  The title track wastes no time assaulting the listener with ripping guitars, insanely fast blast beats, and no holds bar vocals that death metal fans know and love.  From there the band keeps their energy as they storm their way through 11 more brutal songs never stopping to catch their breath or to give the listener a break from the onslaught of metal.  

Like Gloria Morti, I have nothing to compare Carnage Slaughter and Death to because I don't have their first album (like I said in the last review if anyone knows where I can find Zombified Slaughtermachine please let me know!).  But something tells me that Zombified seems like a band that sticks to the phrase "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" so I think its safe to assume that Carnage Slaughter and Death only builds and improves off of what was Zombified Slaughtermachine.

Like I said before Carnage Slaughter and Death is a must for a fan of death metal.  If you like bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under , or Jungle Rot (a band who I think they sound very similar to) then this album is for you.  Also if you still are feeling bummed out from the extreme disappointment that was Morbid Angel's latest release, Carnage Slaughter and Death will make you forget that that album ever happened.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Thanks guys!
-Zach


     
Remember if there is an album you want me to review of a band you want me to talk about, tweet me @zachktheanimal or leave a comment below.

Review: Gloria Morti- Lateral Constraint

Hey guys! I hope your week was good, mine was, I was very excited to finally get my two Metal Blade preorders in the mail.  I got Carnage, Slaughter, and Death by Zombified and Lateral Constraint by Gloria Morti.  The second of which I will be reviewing today, the Zombified review will come tomorrow.

Before this year I did not know who or what Gloria Morit was, that was until I saw a video on my YouTube feed for the song "Sleep, Kill, Regress, Follow" and decided to click on it.  What I was met with at first was a mellow acoustic guitar that seems to hypnotize the unsuspecting listener in until about 30 seconds in when the band proceeds to punch you in the face with their brand of extreme Finnish death metal.  It did not take me long to get excited about this album and I could not wait to hear the rest of the album. 

Now some of you may know this but Lateral Constraint was actually released last year in Europe on the label Cyclone Empire, but if my memory serves me Metal Blade has a partnership with this label and they release some of their old releases in the US, this is one of those releases (another one being the new Zombified).  That did not change anything for me, in my mind it is still a 2013 release and a release that supports the argument that metal releases for 2013 are off to a great start.

After I preordered the album I could only really listen to the video for "Sleep, Kill, Regress, Follow" until a) the album got here or b) they released a new video, well before option (a) could be granted Metal Blade released the studio video for the song "Slaves".  "Slaves" only got me more excited for the album.  On this track, as with most of the tracks on Lateral Constraint, Gloria Morti wastes little to no time grabbing your attention with their music.  "Slaves" starts with an all out death metal attack, wickedly fast drums, thick guitars, thumping bass, and the brutal vocals are just the icing on the cake. 

Gloria Morti's vocalist, Psycho, does something that I really like to see from an extreme metal vocalist.  Sure Psycho's growls are just as brutal as some of the heavy hitters in today's extreme metal, but what sets Psycho's vocals apart from the others is that they are fairly easy to understand.  I like finding a vocalist that can produce growls that sound like they have been trained in the pits of hell, but I also want to be able to understand their lyrics without having constantly looking them up and that is what Psycho delivers on Lateral Constraint. 

Another thing that sets Lateral Constraint apart from other modern extreme metal is the sound the instrumentalists produce.  Gloria Morti's produces one of the fullest sounds I have ever heard in metal.  At first listen the sound reminded me a bit of Scar Symmetry, but without the clean vocals on top. 

Now this being the first Gloria Morti CD I have listened to, I don't have really anything to compare it to, but I will say this, it will make you want to dive deeper into this band and explore their previous works (if anyone knows where I can find their previous three CDs please let me know!). 

In conclusion, Lateral Constraint is a must for any fan of extreme metal.  From the catchy, and addictive rhythms of "Lex Parismoniae" to the hypnotic guitar on "Sleep, Kill, Regress, Follow", Gloria Morti has released an all out death metal assault, one that will leave you broken, beat, and scared (and probably with a bang over), but will make you want to listen over and over again.

Overall Rating: 9/10

Thanks guys!
-Zach

Ps if there is a band you want me to talk about or an album you want me to review, tweet me @zachktheanimal or leave a comment below!