Yeah, I know lame title for this post. I'm too tired to think of something good. Yesterday my dog and I ran in a 3K and finished 2nd with a time of 11:16. I think that's pretty good, considering we won last year and knocked over a minute off of our time. Only problem is, some dude who's training to run a half marathon with his dog decided to show up this year and kick our asses. We still finished in 2nd well ahead of the rest of the pack. And it sufficiently tired out my dog so that she hasn't been that much of a nuisance the rest of the weekend. Hope yours was good.
God Forbid - Earthsblood (9/10): I have to confess that God Forbid is one of my favorite bands, and I've been eagerly awaiting the release of this album. Upon first listen, "Gone Forever" blew me away and I initially thought that "IV: Constitution of Treason" was one of the most complete metal albums I'd ever heard. Okay, so maybe I overrated it a little at the time, but it's still a kick ass album. How does the new record "Earthsblood" stand up? As I mentioned in my post the other night, this album is FULL of riffs. Not only riffs, but great guitar sounds, great production overall. There's a definite increase in the amount of singing and vocal melody on this album, continuing the trend from previous albums. This is both a benefit and hinderance to the band... Dallas Coyle's voice can alternately sound great and annoy with equal strength. The actual melodies the band are singing also suffer the same variability: some are extremely memorable (I've had the chorus to "Bat the Angels" stuck in my head for days) or immediately forgettable. The only other gripe I have is that a few of the songs seem to end abruptly; on "Shallow" the band seem almost bored of playing the song and decide to stop, and the orchestrated outro to "Gaia (The Vultures)" feels like it comes too soon, before the song can take its natural progression. Alternately, the title track stands at 9 minutes long and is superbly written. The songwriting inconsistencies are puzzling, really. Still, these are minor problems for an album that is overall a kickass offering by a band that has been overlooked in the American metal scene for too long. "Earthsblood" stands above anything God Forbid's contemporaries have released in recent years.
Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave (9.5/10): This review doesn't need to be long. This album kicks ass. The mix of hardcore (I mean REAL hardcore) and death metal with a touch of grind that is on display here puts Napalm Death firmly at the front of the genre. What genre is that? I have no idea, as this album isn't really hardcore, it isn't really death metal and it really isn't grind. It's Napalm Death. It's awesome and it deserves your attention. In short, this album freakin rips... just ask my girlfriend, b/c I've been reminding her of that fact almost daily for weeks. Definite early contender for album of the year.
Posted
Feb 22 2009, 07:32 PM
by
musicfiend