Review: Hatebreed- The Divinity of Purpose

Two blog posts in one day? I must be going mad! No I'm just a little behind on my posts and had to do one I meant to do yesterday, this morning.  But that's just way the cards fell, so here is my second post for today, my review of Hatebreed's The Divinity of Purpose.

With the release of their 7th album, I think its fair to put Hatebreed into the category that includes bands like Slayer and Cannibal Corpse, and that category is that with each album the band releases fans of the band know what to expect.  For Slayer fans, they know that with each new record they will get amazing thrash metal with guitar solos played at break neck speeds.  For Cannibal Corpse fans, they know that with each new record they will get crushing death metal with the gory lyrics to back up the dark background the band creates.  For Hatebreed fans, they know that with each new album they will get Hatebreed's unique mix of metalcore and hardcore with positive lyrics sung over the top.

I'm not trying to say that not changing your sound is a bad thing, these three bands have a formula that has been working for them for years and as the old saying goes; "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."  Hatebreed certainly knows this and instead of trying to fix what isn't broken, they do the opposite, they build on what they already have to make the Hatebreed machine more brutal and intense than it has ever been.

On The Divinity of Purpose Hatebreed throws 12 tracks of hard hitting, mosh pit enducing, metal.  Like in albums past, the band keeps the songs short (no song on the album goes over 4 minutes), but straight to the point, and like on past Hatebreed albums are for the most part bettering yourself as a person and getting you motivated to do anything that you can set your mind to.  My favorite song on the album is "Own Your World."  When I first heard the song, it started to get me pumped up and felt the need to scream out "No One!" when frontman Jamey Jasta asks "Who's got more heart than you?" For the sake of not freaking out my room mate I refrained from the yelling, but it was a song I could see them playing live and having a crowd of over 1000 people screaming "No One!" back at the band would be a pretty cool effect. 

Like I said before, although Hatebreed's songs have a brutal and intense sound, the lyrics almost always have a positive message behind them.  I like the think that "Before the Fight Ends You" is about someone's battle with an addiction and that they have to end their fight with addiction before it ends them.  Or "Put it to the Torch" is about taking a something bad that has happened to you and completely just forgetting about it.  Put it behind you, put it to the torch as it were, and move on with your life because it's in your past and you should not let that bother you.  In fact the whole time I was listening to this album, I couldn't help but think about Hatebreed being in the role of a motivational speaker.  They certainly would make better motivational speakers than some of the other ones you see out there now.  That and seeing a video of them playing at like a giant motivational speaker conference would be cool to see.  Maybe your next music video guys?

In conclusion, The Divinity of Purpose is a fantastic album and it will definitely please fans of the band old and new.  Hatebreed has taken the formula that made them a great band on their previous 6 albums and taken it to a completely new level.  I know 2013 just began but Hatebreed has set the bar high with The Divinity of Purpose and all other CDs released this year will be playing catch up.

Overall Rating: 9.5/10

Thanks guys!
-Zach

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

Review: Diablo Swing Orchestra-Sing Along Songs For The Damned And Delirious

Hey guys! For this post I will be fulfilling a request given to me by my friend Rick to review a Diablo Swing Orchestra album.  Out of the three I had to choose from I decided to go with 2009's Sing Along Songs for the Damned and Delirious because A. he got it for Christmas, B. It was the first album from them that I listened to, and C. It's my blog and I can review any album I want no matter what year it came out.

Now when one first reads the name, "Diablo Swing Orchestra, one could venture to guess that these guys play some sort of swing music, or you could think that they have a name similar to the Tony Danza Tap Dance Experience, where maybe you go to a show thinking you're going to see Tony Danza tap dancing, but instead you get intense heavy metal.  Well if you were in the first boat you would be right, Diablo Swing Orchestra does in fact play swing music that you may find in your old timey dance hall, the only difference is, this isn't your grandmother's swing music.

Diablo Swing Orchestra is a octet from Sweden consisting of two guitars, bass, drums, cello, trombone, trumpet, and a lead vocalist (although one of the guitar players shares lead vocals with the female lead and almost all the other instrumentalists sing back up vocals).  With this unique instrumentation DSO plays a unique blend of jazz/swing music mixed with elements of heavy metal to create a soundtrack that would be played in a dance hall in hell.

The first song "A Tap Dancer's Dilemma" starts with a drum beat very similar to that of Benny Goodman's classic "Sing, Sing Sing" only instead of a huge brass band to back up the drums, the listener is greeted with the sound of crunchy guitars to accompany a soaring brass line (only created by two players).  From their the song launches into a musical frenzy that makes the listener immediately want to get up out their chair and start dancing.  The sound definitely has a decidedly big band swing feel to it, but it is created by a new era of big band, one that substitutes a huge brass band for twin ripping guitars.  When I hear this song, I can picture some bizarre dance floor somewhere, where this band is playing this song, and a whole myriad of creatures is swing dancing along to the crazy tune (if you've ever seen Finntroll's video for Under Bergets Rot, that's what I have playing in my head).

On the next tune "A Rancid Romance" DSO says "ok you liked swing so much in the first song, how about we go to tango?"  This may be my favorite song on this album.  The crunchy guitar chords in the intro make the listener want to start tangoing just as much as they want to jump up in the air.  Once the vocals kick in, you really get a sense for the crazy tango DSO has crafted as the male and female lead vocalists provide operatic vocals that sound like "Rancid Romance" was a reject song from the opera Carmen.  I mean who can't see Carmen and Don Jose sharing a duet on this song? I sure can.

From there the rest of Sing Along Songs... is a crazy journey through a variety of styles and tempos.  After one song ends the listener is brought to the edge of their seat to see where DSO will take them next.  Like Kontrust, DSO takes many genres of music and blends them so effortlessly into a unique package.  Some of the songs may take a little getting used to, but overall Sing Along Songs for the Damned and Delirious is a non stop party, that once the listener arrives at they are immediately hooked and find themselves staying at the ball for a very long time.

Overall Rating: 9/10

Thanks guys!
-Zach

PS I highly recommend checking out their other two albums Pandora's Pinata and The Butcher's Ballroom.  They are just as crazy and just as fun as Sing Along Songs for the Damned and Delirious.

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

Infant Annihilator: A Band With A Sound As Brutal As Their Name

Continuing with posts about my favorite bands with crazy ass names (see my Lightning Swords of Death post), I present to you Infant Annihilator, a tech-deathcore group from the UK. 

I first heard about these guys from a YouTube comment on another music video.  Once commenter was saying that they were getting into melodic deathcore and wanted band suggestions.  Another commenter replied with "Look up Infant Annihilator!" (or something like that), having never heard of the band before I decided to look them up.  The first video I watched from them was their music video for the song "Decapitation Fornication". 

Let me just say that "melodic" is not the most appropriate word to describe Infant Annihilator, sure at first the listener is treated to a crazy fast guitar line, but that only lasts a few seconds before the band launches into a fury of crushing guitars and inhumanly fast blast beats.  And the break downs? They are as crushing as Wildly Coyote getting an ACME anvil dropped on his head (at least that's what I envision in my mind whenever Infant Annihilator decides do drop a break down bomb on the listener).

As for the video, it was the most ridiculous metal video I think I've ever seen.  I found my self laughing at what the band members were doing in the video, but at the same time headbanging along to the music the band was playing.  Now I don't normally like a video as crazy and wild as this one because most of the time it distracts me from the music, and I found my self focusing more on the video than the music.  But with this video I didn't mind it as much because I was enjoying the video.
Still the ridiculous name plus the ridiculous video made me think that these guys weren't taking themselves seriously so I did some more investigation into the band.

Here is the video for "Decapitation Fornication" 

The next place I ventured to was the band's page on totaldeathcore.com where I was able to listen to all the songs on their debut album The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution and then decide if I wanted to buy it or not.  I gave the song "Decapitation Fornication" a second listen as well as songs like "Cuntcrusher" and "I. Infant Annihilator" a first listen.  What I found was, when you don't have the band dry humping themselves in a forest to the beat of the song (you'll understand if you watched the video), what you have is good and insanely technical deathcore.  

Like I said in the Lighting Swords of Death post, when a band makes quality music, then the crazy name is justifiable.  Like with Lightning Swords of Death, Infant Annihilator (even with the crazy music video) makes quality music that sounds just as brutal as there name, and therefore, in my opinion, justifies the name Infant Annihilator.  

To quickly sum up their sound, they sound like Rings of Saturn injected with as many steroids as Lance Armstrong and Barry Bonds took combined (too soon?) its fast and brutal and will leave your neck in agony if you headbang along.  Sure its obvious the drummer is using triggers, but the way I see it, I can't picture the songs with a different drum track than the insanely fast one that is already recorded. 

In short, if you like bands like Rings of Saturn, Thy Art is Murder, Abiotic, or Signal the Firing Squad and are looking for a band with a name and a sound that will scare your parents, grandparents, siblings, church officials, teachers, you name it,  you need to give Infant Annihilator a listen.  You can download their 16 track(!!!) debut from this link:  

http://totaldeathcore.bandcamp.com/album/the-palpable-leprosy-of-pollution

I highly recommend downloading it, its only $10 for 16 tracks of gut pounding, neck breaking, deathcore.  You won't be able to find a better deal anywhere else!

Thanks guys!
-Zach

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

  

 

   

Review: Lightning Swords of Death- Baphometic Chaosium

In my journey around the metal universe (or metalverse as I like to call it), I have encountered some great bands with some awesome names.  These names are either really brutal, really crazy sounding, or both.  On the short list, my favorite band names (in no particular order) are:

Lightning Swords of Death
Basement Torture Killings
Cattle Decapitation
Dying Fetus
Infant Annihilator
Signal the Firing Squad

These are names that, in my opinion, you see and they make you go "Hey that's a crazy name, I have to check those guys out!" I feel that if the music the band produces is good then the band can be named anything you want (all the bands on my list produce great music).  If the band sucks, then it appears that you are trying to hard to get noticed in the ever expanding metalverse.

Which brings me to the first name on the list, Lightning Swords of Death, who just released their second album, Baphometic Chaosium, on Metal Blade records. 

   
Now I know this review is coming almost a week after the album was released, but I had to wait to get the cd in the mail and was really busy this week and couldn't find time to review it until this weekend.  But anytime is really a good time for a review so here is mine. 

Now I don't know what kind of band people imagine when they hear the name Lightning Swords of Death, but I could venture to guess that they would not expect a black/death metal band. 

I will admit I am a new fan of Lightning Swords of Death, I saw an add for their first album The Extra Dimensional Wound in an issue of Revolver back in 2010 and the sound took a while for me to get used to.  But as I started to like more black/death metal bands like say Immortal and Goatwhore, I found my self re discovering this band and this time around really liking what I heard which led me to buying The Extra Dimensional Wound and pre ordering Baphometic Chaosium.  

Fans of the band will be glad to hear that Lightning Swords of Death's unique mixture of black and death metal still reigns supreme on Baphometic Chaosium (although to be perfectly honest I don't know if any fans were worried that the band's sound would change at all).

The album combines the ripping intensity of Immortal like black metal with the slow to mid tempo passages one may find in a Celtic Frost song.  The band transitions through these two mediums effortlessly as demonstrated in the title track.  The title track starts with a slow and haunting bass line, as if luring the listener into a darkened chamber lit only by candles.  Then all of the sudden the listener walks into a room where the band is playing and before the listener can say "Holy black metal batman!" the song launches into a fury of shredding guitars and lightning fast drums and the listener is quickly surrounded by characters in dark robes and taken on a journey that will change them forever.

From there the mood of the album rarely changes as Lightning Swords of Death bombard the listener with 7 more tracks just as evil and wicked as the one the came before it.  Leaving the listener with a massive bangover and weird marks on their back that weren't there before they started listening to the album.

In conclusion if you are already a fan of Lightning Swords of Death than you will really enjoy Baphometic Chaosium, it is just as good as The Extra Dimensional Wound.  If you don't know this band, and like bands such as Goatwhore, Immortal, and Celtic Frost.  Pick up Baphometic Chaosium, you won't be sorry.

Overall Rating: 8/10

Thanks guys!
-Zach

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

Nightland: Epic Metal From Italy (Bands I Follow On Twitter 3)

Hey guys, for today's blog post I present the third installment of "bands I follow on twitter" with the band Nightland all the way from Italy. 

Nightland first followed me back in like November or December and did not have an EP out yet, but they did have stuff on their youtube channel so I clicked on one of the songs (I believe it was "Knights of the Dark Empire") at sat back waiting for what these Italians had in store for me.  When the song kicked in I was met with screeching keyboards, thundering guitars, and brutal vocals.  A smile was immediately brought to my face, I was hooked on these guys.  To my disappointment though at the time Nightland did not have an EP out, not yet at least.  Around the end of December I got a tweet from them that their EP In Solemn Rise had been released.  I saved the tweet and told my self I would download it later.  Well about two days ago I finally downloaded it and put in on my iPod and today I gave it my first listen and I instantly loved what I heard.

Here is a clip for "Knights of the Dark Empire"

The first track on In Solemn Rise is the title track and it is by far my favorite track.  As much as I love bands that put an intro to a song, I love songs (especially the first song of an album) that just immediately start with the band taring shit up (for lack of a better term).  That is what "In Solemn Rise" does, right away the listener is hit with their unique blend of Children of Bodom like keyboards and power metal influenced guitars.  Then about 30 seconds in the growl vocals come in and you are presented with the unique package that is Nightland. 

Here is the video clip for "In Solemn Rise" 

As the song thunders along, and the listener is head banging and chanting the last line of the chorus (In Solemn Rise!), one can't help but try to put a specific genre on this band.  I for one had trouble with this because they have keyboards like Bodom, guitars like a power metal band, vocals like a death metal band, and group vocals that sound like Ensiferum.  For the life of me I couldn't put a genre on these guys because they aren't quite folk metal, but they aren't quite power metal.  So I consulted the one source that I know I could trust, the band's facebook page.  I was curious to see what style they gave their sound.  The page just simply states that they play "Epic Death Metal".  As I read this, while eating my lunch, I thought that there is no better way to describe Nightland than those three words, "Epic Death Metal".  They take death metal style growls and have put that over a combination of power metal guitars and Bodomesque keyboards.  

I love it when just when I think I've heard everything that there is to be heard in heavy metal (I know there is still so much I have left to discover) a band like Nightland comes along with something unique and original.  They are an Epic Italian blend of bands like Ensiferum, Hammerfall, and Children of Bodom and I would recommend them to fans of those bands and anyone who is looking for something new and something epic. 

Their EP In Solemn Rise is available now on like every music downloading site on the internet (seriously go to their Facebook page they have like 20 sites listed on their cover photo).  I bought mine from iTunes for like $5 and I can safely say some of the best $5 I've ever spent.  In Solemn Rise  is guaranteed to get a new listener hooked on Nightland and leave them sitting, wishing, and waiting for what this epic band will do next. 

(Also the album cover looks sick!)

Thanks guys!
-Zach

PS if you want more check out their video for the song "Diamond Siren" its awesome!

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

Review: The Plot in You- Could You Watch Your Children Burn

Hey guys! I hope your new years was fun and that 2013 has started off well.  I am sorry I have not been blogging for a while.  I was busy over the break and in early January I was on choir tour, but now I am back and ready to take on my first blog post of the year, my review of The Plot In You's new album Could You Watch Your Children Burn.

I was excited to find this album while I was on choir tour.  We stopped at a mall for lunch and I decided to look around, even though I knew this album did not come out until today I looked in the CD section of that mall's Hot Topic just to see what was there.  To my surprise and delight they had a copy of the album.  I quickly bought the album and was excited to listen to it and get a review out the day the album was released, instead of a day or so after like most of my reviews.

I first heard about The Plot In You when I saw an add for their debut album First Born in a issue of Revolver Magazine.  The add said that this band was for fans of The Devil Wears Prada and Whitechapel, when I saw that I thought "Hey I'm fans of both of those bands, I'll go check them out!"  I was pleasantly surprised by First Born, although it did not make my top 10 albums for that year I liked the unique guitar tone, vocal style, and breakdowns the band packed into 10 tracks (the drummer throws in ghost notes on one of their breakdowns, that was something I never heard before, not to mention the rhythms on the breakdowns were more complex and syncopated than what is commonly found in the metalcore genre ).  It really separated them from other bands in the metalcore genre.  I could see where the add got Prada and Whitechapel comparisons.  When vocalist Landon Tewers uses his growl vocals he sounds similar to Phil from Whitechapel and when he sings clean his vocals sound familiar to the bass player from Devil Wears Prada.  Even though First Born was released in 2011, it seemed like a long two years between that and this new album so I was anxious to see what The Plot In You had in store.

When I picked up a copy of Could You Watch Your Children Burn (still don't know why there isn't a question mark at the end of that statement), it said that it was for fans of Whitechapel and The Acacia Strain.  Well I knew about the Whitechapel comparisons but I was excited to hear how they drew on The Acacia Strain for influence.  To my disappointment I could barley hear any comparison to either bands.  At first listen I thought maybe the band switched vocalists, which would explain the different vocal styles.  Well my theory was incorrect, it was still Landon from First Born singing on this album.  Although on this album he seemed to rely more on his clean vocals instead of his Whitechapel influenced vocals.  Every once in a while those vocals would find their way to the spotlight, but that moment would not last long because then Landon would switch to his clean vocals or a more mid range to higher growl sound.

As I said above, Landon uses more clean vocals on this album than on First Born, this was something I did not like.  Now I am not trying to say that I don't like clean vocals, I like lots of metalcore bands and I understand that switching between clean and harsh vocals is a signature aspect of the genre.  But when your first album has a heavy use of harsh vocals and a light use of clean vocals, don't expect me to be surprised when you pull a 180 on me and start being light on the harsh vocals and heavy on the clean vocals.  Even more so, when Landon does use harsh vocals its almost like he is trying too hard, as if he needed the harsh vocals to please fans.  On First Born the harsh vocals seemed to flow more naturally.    

As for The Acacia Strain influence? Little to none, there are some influence in the breakdowns (take the break down in the song "Troll"for example).  In my opinion though I don't think this album has enough influence to merit a "For the fans of The Acacia Strain" label on the front.

There are some redeeming qualities to this album, every once in a while the sound from First Born peaks its head out for a brief moment in the spotlight (the song "Bible Butcher" is a good example of that), some of the break downs are particularly brutal (the one in "Fiction Religion" is crazy good!), and the lyrics on this album continue the brutal themes that the band had on First Born.  Although were the lyrics First Born was about a kid struggling in life while he is being abused, the lyrics on Could You Watch Your Children Burn are just plain mad, stretching a range of topics from rape, to religion, and relationships.

I guess my main beef with this album is that it seemed as if The Plot In You took everything that made them unique on First Born and decided to go in the complete opposite direction.  Now I'm not trying to say I hate when bands change their sound, most bands change their sound in a good way (look at Mastodon, they are still one of my favorite bands and their sound on The Hunter is really different from the sound on Leviathan) but when a band goes backwards with their sound, then I don't like it.  First Born allowed The Plot In You to separate themselves from the pack of cookie cutter metalcore bands these days, but Could You Watch Your Children trips them up and flings them back into the pack they once were separated from.

Overall Rating: 6/10

Thanks guys!
-Zach

Don't forget if you have an artist you want me to talk about or an album you want me to review tweet me @zachktheanimal or leave a comment below!