| Gigan The Order of the False Eye | 4.5 |
| Gorguts Obscura | 5.0 |
| Intronaut Valley of Smoke | 4.5 |
| Atheist Jupiter | 3.0 |
| Ion Dissonance Cursed | 2.5 |
| Cephalic Carnage Misled by Certainty | 4.5 |
| The Last Felony Too Many Humans | 3.5 |
| Trigger the Bloodshed Degenerate | 4.0 |
| Decrepit Birth Polarity | 3.5 |
| Fleshgod Apocalypse Mafia | 3.0 |
Not as good as Oracles. Not enough new material.
The production of this CD was completely butchered. I'm pissed I paid money for it. Seems it was made from poor quality, lossy masters and the tracks are highly clipped.
Shame this happened, but oh well it's only an EP (and not a great one). Hopefully they're working on a full-length and hopefully the production on that isn't butchered. |
| Keep of Kalessin Reptilian | 4.5 |
| Trauma (PL) DetermiNation | 4.5 |
| Killer Polish Death Metal. The way it should be done. Some awesome songwriting and dynamics on this album. |
| Trauma (PL) Imperfect Like A God | 4.0 |
| Trauma (PL) Neurotic Mass | 3.0 |
| Son of Aurelius The Farthest Reaches | 3.5 |
| Veil of Maya [id] | 1.0 |
| Trauma (PL) Archetype of Chaos | 3.0 |
While this album certainly isn't bad. Trauma have unfortunately (at least for me) kept moving in a more "industrial/modern" direction since they chose to change it up after the release of DetermiNation (their last good album imho).
This is a continuation of the direction they took with their EP Hamartia and resulting LP Neurotic Mass. I only really like 2 tracks on this album, "A Dying World" and "The Slime". The rest are pretty forgettable.
If you're hoping for the kick-ass sound these guys had during their peak (Imperfect Like A God, DetermiNation) I'm afraid to tell you you're not going to find it here!
They recently reformed a new line-up with a full-time bassist and have Chudy back on vocals (he was vocalist during their peak period) so hopefully if they decide to keep making music they return to the roots that caused people to start taking notice. |
| Hour of Penance Paradogma | 4.5 |
Just shy of perfection. Hour of Penance mature their sound and songwriting and the result is one of the most impressive death metal albums I've heard in recent memory.
With this album Hour of Penance have found a sound of their own. Much more dynamics in terms of structure and songwriting than their previous works. Plenty of groovy sections you can slam your head to. While there are VERY SLIGHT references to other bands (Behemoth, Nile).... what DM band doesn't sound at least slightly like another?
While the other fellow here mentions they barely miss the upper echelon, I find the complete opposite. Not only do they match the upper echelon but they smash it to pieces. If they weren't already... Hour of Penance are now one of the top bands in their sub-genre. This album easily competes with Behemoth's Evangelion, and to my ears, is superior.
Between this, Lost Soul's "Immerse In Infinity" and Fleshgod Apocalypse's "Oracles" (and upcoming Mafia EP), I'd say fans of the genre have plenty to look forward to!
Easily one of the best albums this year and I have a feeling it will make a lot of year-end lists. |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Option Paralysis | 2.5 |
| Miseration The Mirroring Shadow | 4.5 |
This album is fucking disgusting. In a good way.
Ever heard of that band called Bloodbath? Yeah? Ever heard of that album called A Fathomless Mastery? Yeah?
Well then you can imagine what this album sounds like(though not quite as good as TFM). This album has a faster overall pacing. Comparing this album to their debut is like comparing Bloodbath to Killswitch Engage. The death parts of their debut were good, but the rest (core-chugging, breakdowns, melodeath, clean vox) was real weak. It was basically a continuation of Scar Symmetry.
This album completely ditches any of the core sound and swaps the focus to a much more death metal sound with slight melodeath influences. Imagine Morbid Angel mixed with a slightly more technical Bloodbath, with a little melodeath influence. Even the production of this album sounds a lot like The Fathomless Mastery.... fucking massive and clear. Awesome album one of the best of 2009. Fuck the haters.
Hopefully Christian keeps the focus on death metal from now on! I'm eagerly awaiting their next LP for sure. |
| Kronos The Hellenic Terror | 4.5 |
Uhhhh what the fuck!?!
How is this band not signed to a major label? How is it that more people are unaware of this fucking devastating brutal tech-death band? GET WITH IT PEOPLE!!!!.
This shit is like Decapitated on steroids with some Necrophagist/Faceless style soloing thrown in to boot! Fucking amazing album from a fucking amazing band! We'll miss you Kristof!
Hopefully they can find a suitable replacement, and QUICK! They signed to Neurotic but haven't had any updates in AGES. |
| Ihsahn After | 4.5 |
| Enfold Darkness Our Cursed Rapture | 4.0 |
| The Black Dahlia Murder Deflorate | 4.0 |
| Augury Fragmentary Evidence | 5.0 |
| Nile Those Whom the Gods Detest | 4.5 |
| Absolutely crushing record. Technical as f**k. Only thing keeping this from perfection is a slightly better production. However, this is by no means poorly produced, it's the ONLY Nile album that is actually well produced. Part of the reason why it's my favorite Nile album. |
| Between the Buried and Me The Great Misdirect | 3.5 |
| The Red Chord Fed Through the Teeth Machine | 2.5 |
Ahhh.... what a shame. To think I was looking forward to this album all year, only to have TRC drop this pile of turd on me.
Definitely their worst effort, with some slightly muddy production to boot. I'll probably get flamed by the drones of 18yr old kids who drool over anything this band does, but I couldn't care less.
Fused sucked shit as a whole, but was a decent debut. Clients fucking absolutely ruled and is their best record. Prey For Eyes was good, but nothing special.... and this one continues the trend of slightly worsening output from this once highly regarded young band. Hopefully they pull their head out of their respective assholes for the next record otherwise they've lost a fan (of which I'm sure they don't care).
Oh well, at least Misery Index is still around, I know I can count on them to deliver on this style.
P.S. - LOL @ all the scores of 4+... give your heads a shake! This is a 3.5 at best!! |
