Shadows Fall -- 'The Art of Balance' [classic review]

Shadows Fall
"The Art of Balance"
(Century Media Records)


"We wanted to create a full on thrash metal album, especially the way they had variety back then. You had like the three-minute basher to open the record, an eight-minute metal epic somewhere in the middle, and the total power thrash ballad somewhere along the line. We wanted to do that instead of just making nine songs that all sounded very similar. We just wanted to mix it up."

-- lead singer Brian Fair

The core of Shadows Falls sound comes from the tag-team of guitarists Jonathan Donais and Matthew Bachand. The duo trade licks and riffs, crafting amazing solos which the metal scene had really been lacking for a good part of the late '90s. This, coupled with the dual vocals from Fair (everything from growling wails to melodic singing) and the complex back beats is what pushes Shadows Fall to the front of the line.

The song structures are never boring: a combination of the technical mastery and shifting tempos keep listeners on their toes and only add to the overall metal-effect of the band's music. Much like Metallica's "And Justice For All" (only with audible bass), "The Art of Balance" is an epic of a metal release. Each track is turgid with solos, bridges, anthemic choruses and elaborate verses.

From the explosive ("Destroyer of Senses," "Idle Hands" and "Thoughts Without Words") to the epic ("Stepping Outside the Circle" and "Idiot Box") to the haunting and almost beautiful (the instrumentals "Casting Shade" and "Prelude to Disaster" and "Fire in Babylon"), never is a song predictable and every one is a headbanger. The band sounds like a throwback to mid '80s power metal, but with that European edge of technical mastery; not quite thrash, not quite melodic hardcore ... but definitely a classic.

Like I already said, Shadows Fall's follow-up "The War Within" almost felt like a retread of "The Art of Balance," not that that is a bad thing. And really, that's simply this writer being a little too harsh in order to justify a pick. If anything, "The War Within" is a glimpse of where Shadows Fall is headed. The album is edgier, heavier, but still undoubtedly Shadows Fall.

Fusing metal and melody, the band has crafted a sound instantly recognizable and hard to duplicate. Each element of the band's sound -- the hard-hitting drumming and bass work; the dueling guitarists; the two-sided vocals -- is a perfect piece to the puzzle that is glued together with inspiration (the 80s metal scene) and emulation (the European metal scene).

If ever there was an album to retread over and over again, "The Art of Balance" isn't a bad choice.

Children of Bodom -- 'Are You Dead Yet?' [review]

Children of Bodom
"Are You Dead Yet"
(Century Media)


With every new outing, Finland's Children of Bodom continues to blow away its contemporaries in the metal scene. Building on the foundation laid with 2003's "Hate Crew Deathroll," CoB has managed to take its sound to an even more extreme peak. The guitar riffs are even more overblown, the synth solos are even more epic, the vocals are even more "nasty" (aggressive with a twist) and the bass and drum work is downright destructive.

Overall, Children of Bodom have almost become the quintessential European metal band. The group has molded an amazing sound pulling from the death and thrash corners of the genre, incorporating keyboards to perfection and infusing just the right amount of pop hooks to craft "Are You Dead Yet?" The group's sound is uniquely its own and instantly recognizable. The album explodes out of the gate with "Living Dead Beat" and never lets up. The title track settles into a groove and proves to be catchy as hell; "If You Want Peace ... Prepare for War" is an in-your-face metal anthem and probably as heavy as anything CoB has dared to put out; the band ends on a fun note with a sick cover of The Ramones "Somebody Put Something in My Drink." Indeed, CoB is known for its fantastic covers and this is no exception.

There has been complaints in the past that frontman Janne Warman's vocals are a little too garbled so that may make Children of Bodom an acquired taste. A couple of tracks in the middle (most notably "In your Face" and Bastards of Bodom") are almost an afterthought and pull down the overall "feel" of the album. With a forgettable mid-section, listeners may want to skip over some tracks to get to another good song. One of the best aspects of CoB's sound has been the keyboard solos, but those seemed toned-down on "Are You Dead Yet?"

(As an aside, and this has nothing to do with the band, but it was well-known that the group also put together a cover of Poison's "Talk Dirty To Me" and I was disappointed the label chose to leave it off the US release (though there is talk of a re-release later this year with extra tracks).)

Children of Bodom merge thrash riffs and death drumming into a metallic monolith. There's just the right edge of pop and industrial to make this more than just a run-of-the-mill metal release. If you want comparisons, think In Flames more recent outings or maybe a group like Skyfire or Lullacry (with a male vocalist).

Children of Bodom pulls from a variety of metal influences and is filled with enough hooks to keep you interested from the very first listen. While not as hard-hitting as "Hate Crew Deathroll," "Are You Dead Yet?" still blows away a good portion of what has been showing up on the metal scene as of late.

Fear Factory -- 'Obsolete' [classic review]

Fear Factory
"Obsolete"
(Roadrunner Records)


"The concept of this record is that man is obsolete. The idea is still man versus machine. Demanufacture told a story, Remanufacture was another chapter in the story and Obsolete is another part of the Fear Factory concept. We're up to the point in the story where man is obsolete. Man has created these machines to make his life easier but in the long run it made him obsolete. The machines he created are now destroying him. Man is not the primary citizen on Earth."

-- Burton Bell on "Obsolete"

If you ever asked me to point out a killer concept album, my list would be pretty short. and I'm pretty sure this album would be right on top. A continuation of a theme that Fear Factory had been working on practically its whole career, "Obsolete" tells the story of a world of the future, where man has let machines take over the world and has, in turn, become obsolete. It's pretty much "Terminator 4" set to music.

From the opening bombast of "Shock," Fear Factory grabs you by the throat and rams the metal down your throat. The drumming is frantic, the bass is HUGE, the riffs are unforgiving and Bell's vocals are as attacking and haunting as ever. Think of Pantera's one-two punch opening on "Vulgar Display of Power" -- Fear Factory does the same thing here with "Shock" and "Edgecrusher," only, to be honest with you, I think it's done better here. The two tracks build into one another and almost act as a two part opener for the album, paving the way for what's to come, whereas, Pantera almost seemed to front-load "Vulgar" with two killer tracks. (Of course, the flip side there is that every song on "Vulgar" was an absolute killer.)

Throughout the album, Fear Factory melds its vision of metal mixed with industrial mixed with thrash and tempered with melody and ambience to perfection. For every gut-wrentching, balls-to-the-walls metal anthem, there's a break with melody or ambient transition that heightens the experience (like adding just the right amount of salt to a cooking recipe to intensify the flavor).

Given the direction the band was headed toward, it had honed the technological metal aspect of its sound to a T. But, on top of that, never before had Bell's melodies soared so high. These two aspects, along with the perfect production value (and here I'm talking the addition of a string section, the ambient effects and overall mood of the album) combine to form a nearly perfect album.

"Obsolete" is a perfect concept album, probably the best when you're pulling from the metal genre (edging out Queensryche's "Operation: Mindcrime"). When Roadrunner double-dipped to make some money, the "concept" was essentially ruined. While a huge hit for the band, I was never really impressed with Fear Factory's cover of "Cars" which was tacked on to the end. The other additions were solid tracks, especially "O-O," but these were songs perfectly fit for a "Hatefiles" collection of rarities or b-sides.

From the thunderous opening of "Shock," to the spine-tingling closer of "Timelessness" (with special mention to the final proper track, "Resurrection") Fear Factory really created a masterpiece. While "Demanufacture" is a metal classic, hands down, "Obsolete" is a true Fear Factory classic. The group has created a sound uniquely its own. The band has influenced countless emulators (most notably Spineshank which trashed an entire "sound" to follow in Fear Factory's footsteps), but none have come close to the originators.

Today, the band seems to be moving in a more melodic, experimental direction (a la Slipknot). However, even if the group called it a day (again) tomorrow, there's no denying it left one hell of a legacy in its wake.

Slipknot -- 'Iowa' [classic review]

Slipknot
"Iowa"
(Roadrunner Records)


Much like Pantera and Skid Row, when Slipknot prepared for its sophomore album the band decided to turn the metal up to the extreme. It could have spelled career suicide, but the group didn't care. It set out to release an unrelenting metal assault and that's exactly what resulted. The band was interested in touring with Deicide to promote the release, that's how heavy it was. Taylor opened the album with a guttural, death metal wail; the three-piece percussion unit performed like a fine-tuned machine; the guitars and bass traded riffs back and forth at a sometimes breakneck pace. The nine-piece outfit pulled together and unleashed a metal assault like a precision bomb.

The metal anthems ("Left Behind," "My Plague") just gives way to heavier tracks ("New Abortion," "Heretic Anthem") to even heavier fare ("I Am Hated," "Disasterpiece").

Much like a death metal album, apart from a handful of tracks (that ultimately became singles anyway), there wasn't anything that immediately jumped out at you. The beauty of the album is that it begs to be taken as a whole. It's as heavy as an album can get without shifting into a different realm of the genre (think Pantera's "Great Southern Trendkill"). Nothing feels overproduced but everything avoids sounding underdeveloped.

As it turns out, "Iowa" ended up being a completely misunderstood album. It was far too extreme for the masses that had embraced the aggression of "Slipknot." And fans from the heavier side of the tracks chose to shun the album with the impression Slipknot was nothing more than a "Hot Topic" band of the month (read: overly commercialized). But what I see is a classic.

"Iowa" captured a moment in time for Slipknot. The band wanted to make a statement and it did. The album and subsequent tour were so brutal it almost turned out to be the group's swan song. Instead, the members scattered and spent time working on other projects (The Murderdolls, DJ Starscream, Stone Sour, To My Surprise) and were able to regroup with a new appreciation for what Slipknot could become.

"Vol. 3" sees the band more in a different direction with the band exploring other dimensions of its sound and drawing inspiration from various extremes (metal and melody). I don't see the band ever reaching into the depths (of hell) to create "Iowa" part 2, let alone match or further the extreme nature (like I said, you can't get much more heavy without shifting into the death realm). Slipknot is capable of creating another classic, but will never outdo "Iowa."

Lamb of God -- 'As the Palaces Burn' [classic review]

Lamb of God
"As the Palaces Burn"
(Prosthetic Records)


Picking up right where "New American Gospel" left off, Lamb of God pushes the limit and blurs the lines between thrash and straight-ahead heavy metal with mind bending guitar licks and head spinning double-bass work. Despite the heavy reliance on the fast-paced tempo, there's never a doubt this band would ever stray into the realm of thrash. I'm not sure if it's the gut-busting vocals, or the down-tuned chords reminiscent of Slayer, from the moment I was exposed to this album I could tell Lamb of God was something big ... like a new Pantera.

Opening with "Ruin," the band immediately displays its no-nonsense approach to the music. Nothing special, just straight-ahead metal. It's songs like the title track, "11th Hour" or "Blood Junkie" that really show off what LoG is about. The band seems to have the total package: blistering guitar work and intricate, yet deceivingly simple, song structures; the way the group's influences (Megadeth, Pantera, Slayer) seem to shine through in every way but in no way at all -- which is to say you can tell those influences exist, but at the same time it's as if LoG invented metal and you're hearing it for the first time.

The hits never let up: "Vigil," "Purified," "A Devil in God's Country" ... each song is as intense as the one before it ... and then, before you're ready for the metallic bliss to end, it does. "As the Palaces Burn" is one of those few metal releases that is instantly addictive and never gets old upon replay.

This album is already a classic. It's the equivalent of Pantera's "Vulgar Display of Power." Pantera exceeded expectations with the follow-up, "Far Beyond Driven." Lamb of God did the same thing. The group released its classic, "As the Palaces Burn," and then followed up with the equally impressive "Ashes..." only a year later. If the band were to follow the Pantera mold, the music will just continue to get louder, harder and faster. And that's what is so exciting: no one knows what's next, but we all know it will be amazing.

Ektomorf -- 'Instict' [review]

Ektomorf
"Instinct"
(Nuclear Blast)

***

Ektomorf, a power metal outfit from Hungary, has been gradually making its way through the underground metal scene since its inception in 1994. The band's sound has developed into a wall of sound, with thick, distorted guitars and groove-laiden backbeats. The mix of hardcore, thrash and punk along with a hint of traditional "old world" melody immediately leads listeners to draw comparisons to Soulfly or Sepultura.

***

It's not bad to pick a band like Soulfly to emulate to some extent. The band's sound seethes aggression and and fan of the metal genre would immediately feel at home listening to the band. To some degree, the group is a harder-hitting Il Nino stripped of the pop sensibilty. It has an old school feel with a new school sensibility and refuses to cut corners in order to appeal to a broader fanbase.

***

The band isn't really doing anything new, though what they do, they do well. For the most part the vocals are spot on and crystal clear (which is a good thing given that a lesser band may have chosen to go for an intentionally lesser produced sound to create an underground atmosphere), but there are times where the vocals get lost in the mix -- of course, that would be a problem from the production end of things, not the band.

***

As has already been said: If Soulfly was a 10, Ektomorf would be Soulfly on 7. "Instict" blows away anything Sepultura has put out since losing Max Cavalera in the early 90s. Or, if you prefer, Il Nino minus the pop and not quite as "ethnic."

***

This metal release really stands alone in the genre this year (apart from a killer Soulfly release). It's a grat opportunity to get int o a new band without knowing what you're getting into. The band's sound is instantly comfortable and each of the 12 tracks is a headbanging joyride.

The Project Hate MCMXCIX -- 'Armageddon March Eternal' [review]

The Project Hate MCMXCIX
"Armageddon March Eternal"
(Threeman Recordings)


The Project Hate MCMXCIX is a metal band out of Scandinavia. The group is a brutal mix of European death metal in the vein of Dimmu Borgir only much tighter and more advanced from a music (and talent) standpoint. All this brutality is tempered with delicate (albeit operatic) female vocals. The band is largely known only in the underground metal circuit and that's a real shame. The music is much more complex and the band deserves to break moreso than the similar-sounding Nightwish.

***

This album can appeal to so many metal genre fans. There's a hint of industrial grind; there's the epic feel permeating each track; the European groove oozes out of each minute of the disc; the death metal vocals are clean enough to actually mean something. In fact, I applaud the vocal work on both ends of the vocal spectrum as it all sounds clean and it's clear a lot of work went into the recording process.

***

The theatrics of the female vocals sometimes seem wedged into the tracks. There's a way to make the switches work (and when they do, the juxtaposition is amazing) ... Project Hate knows how to do it smoothly, but too often prefer to simply ram the breaks in with little rhyme or reason.

***

Take Nightwish (or Lacuna Coil if you're unfamiliar with the former) and mix it with symphonic European metal. Each track feels like an epic with plenty of operatic filler.

***

If you are a fan of metal/rock bands that trade female and male vocals but wished there was more of a death metal edge, this band is for you.