Tastelikedirt Rock Record Reviews: 2013

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Gorguts - Colored Sands

2013

Very dense technical death metal. They come close but never cross the line into the Avant garde.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Inquisition - Obscure Verses for the Multiverse

2013

Awesomeness.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Wooden Shjips - Back To Land

2013

Catchy danceable little psychedelic grooves. Somewhere in the neighborhood of Spaceman 3.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Crystal Antlers - Nothing is Real

2013

Sounds a lot like Pavement. You'll notice some other 90's indie influences. Dinosaur jr., Pixies,ect...

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Vista Chino - Peace

2013

Fits in perfectly with my collection of Kyuss records.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Windhand - Soma

2013

Slow and Heavy. Similar to Acid King. Windhand is one of the better Doom bands I've heard the last couple years.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Begrime Exemious - Visions Of The Scourge

2012

Primitive Black Metal. Snare sounds a lot like Lars' on St. Anger.

Orange Goblin - A Eulogy For The Damned

2012

Old School stoner metal rock band bringing it with a metallic crunch. Good Stuff!

Grand Magus - Monument

2003

Big rockin'. Goatsnake/Soundgarden heavy wailin'.

Fourteen years after this album came out I figured it was about time to give it a listen. It's unmistakably Van Halen and it unmistakably sucks. An album from Van Halen that sucks is still better than half the bands out there and if you liked Van Hagar you might like this, but you suck too. This guys voice has a lot of similarities with Sammy. Strike 3.

-and Van Halen, like Metallica is never going to please everybody again. And if this guys were trying to please me, they're headed in the wrong direction.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Jex Thoth - Blood Moon Rise

2013

Retro progressive doom.

Subrosa - More Constant Than The Gods

2013

Very similar to their previous album. Very awesome.

Black Sabbath - 13

2013

I haven't cared about Ozzy since around the time Bark At The Moon came out. This is a good Sabbath record.

Manilla Road - Mysterium

2013

Real deal old school metal.cool imagery and sincerity. Metal for life!

Moss - Horrible Night

2013

Doom. Similar to early Electric Wizard. Good stuff.

Havok - Unnatural Selection

2013

Retro Thrash with positive attitude. Vocals remind me of Death Angel

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Earthless - From The Ages

2013

If you like the parts of live Hendrix recordings where Jimi takes off and everybody is struggling/waving goodbye...you'll dig this. If you like the parts of Hendrix recording where the rhythm section lays it down and Jimi takes off. You'll dig this. Last couple songs are more space rock and a little less Hendrix

Pink Floyd - The Final Cut

1983

Pretty much a Roger Waters solo album with guest appearance from the other members of Pink Floyd. Sounds like the quiet parts of The Wall.

VHOL - VHOL

2013

Oh man. This smoke! Black Metal meets old school Hardcore with touches of psychedelia. If the first Voivod album met the first Discharge album and had a Black Metal baby.

Kadavar - Abra Kadavar

2013

Retro 70's hard rockin'. Reminds me a lot of Witchcraft. There's a Black Sabbath influence for sure, but this seems brighter and cheerier and more up tempo in general. Catchier. It's like Foo Fighters meets Pentagram.

Universe 217 - Never

2013

Female vocals over slow doom. The vocalist is REALLY going for it. It would have fine with me if they put down in the mix a bit. Killer tunes, but the vocalist is over bearing. She's letting it all hang out, I'll tell you that.

Omnium Gatherum - Beyond

2013

Soaring uplifting guitars witrh growly gruff vocals. Sounds really mis matched to my ears. Then they have breakdowns. Sometimes they have pretty backing vocals to go with the pretty guitars and keyboards. Modern metal with progressive vibe. The vocals make the whole thing seem pretty silly. I think if they had vocals that "matched" the music I probably wouldn't like this at all.

Pretty Maids - Motherland

2013

Bon Jovi rock. Christian pop metal should sound this nice. This just might be some kind of a concept album. No probably not.

Full Of Hell - Rudiments Of Mutilation

2013

Quiet ghostly vocals. Then they go slow then they go fast with scary Black Metal vocals. Then they go slow, and fast. Sort of Hardcore meets Black Metal.

Church Of Misery - Thy Kingdom Scum

2013

Over time Church Of Misery has become more and more streamlined. They're still the same Black Sabbath inspired huge riff monsters, in the early days they were more filthy. Now they groove. This is probably not even a conscious effort. Just a result of becoming more skilled, getting better equipment...better recordings...

Cathedral - The Last Spire

2013

80's traditional doom. Cathedral stays true to the path. No surprises here. Doom.

Kvelertak - Meir

2013

The first album from Kvelertak I loved and played to death. This is the second album from Kvelertak and it sounds exactly like the first. Funny thing is I have about zero interest in listening to this. Sounds monotonous because they're using the same tricks over and over.

Blockheads - This World Is Dead

2013

GRIND! Up there with Pig Destroyer and Cattle Decapitation. I have a hard time listening to any Grindcore album in one sitting. This has a few slower breakdowns towards the end and helps, but I'm usually too beat up before it gets there.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Howl - Bloodlines

2013

Just when it's about to get too abrasive, it gets catchy. Every time. These guys mix up a few styles. After the first album I hoped they would bust out, but this is more of the same. Production is too slick.

-Kitchen sink thing. Neurosis meets Black Metal/neighborhood.

White Fence - Cyclops Reap

2013

1967 pop rock psychedelia made in 2013. Lo-fi indie...I listened to this quite bit for a while. Not so sure if I liked it, but kept coming back to it to check and see if I liked it. It's alright.

Cancer Bats - Dead Set On Living

2013

Bunch of Metal riffs with Hardcore screaming. Rory said she doubts the sincerity of his anger. This album is a little confusing because first few songs are pretty good. Then it just gets blah. Funny thing is the later songs aren't really that much different than the first. Similar to bands like Kvelertak.

Scale The Summit - The Migration

2013

Joe Satriani metal. I've never been a fan of this style of progressive metal. Instrumental with guitar doing the singing. Yuck. This album just goes on and on forever. More punishing than Grindcore.

In Vain - Aenigma

2013

Black Metal with screeched vocals then melodic vocals. For fans of Enslaved.

Carnivore Diprosopus - Condemned By The Alliance

2013

Growl belch vocals. Tiny drums. Reminds me of Broken Hope and whatever genre of Metal that is, Death Metal I guess. I can't get past the vocals and the fact that every song sounds exactly the same. I don't hate it. I'm gonna go with "New Order Condemnation" as my favorite song off this album. It takes me three or four song to get into the proper mind set for listening to this.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Persefone - Spiritual Migration

2013

A lot of local metal bands play this style of music. It seems to be very popular with the kids now a days. Not so popular with me. Persefone add keyboards and has a guitar player that shreds. It's like Enslaved with "breakdowns". This is a talented band playing music that's pretty much generic at this point. Halfway through the album they take on a progressive vibe. It helps. Helps put me to sleep.