Gigantic Brain - Invasion Discography

LO! BEHOLD! I HAVE RETURNED! (Temporarily). And what better album to make a ‘grand’ come-back than with the masterpiece known as The Invasion Discography.
Written by none other than the Brain himself, there’s so much back story between me and this album I’d literally have to write a review on the back story (I won’t obviously, but let’s just say I went through a RIDICULOUS amount of trouble to get the album in both physical AND digital form). Now if ya’ll sitting there figuring why all music is bat shit boring, then this is where you stop thinking that, get up, get yourself a copy of this album anyway you can, and shut the fuck up. Possibly the best Cybergrind EVER, next to The Berzerker (they sound nothing alike, to make that clear), the 64 tracks of pure brilliance are enough to keep any Grindcore fan going for some time, and even some not-so-Grindcore-fans might like it.

The pace in the album is forever changing, from the dam slow, to the brain-numbingly fast, courtesy of a drum machine put to good use, obviously accompanied by some weird-ass noises on some sort of synthesizer…thing, simple guitar for some more depth or something along those lines, and some good ol’ classic Grindcore vocals. While it’s not an album for the weak-hearted, (well it IS Grindcore) it’s advisory for people to merely give it a listen for the experience. Even if you HATE this kind of music, you ain’t finding anything else like this around sometime soon, and it would be a good life lesson to you…somehow.

But still, I’m deeming this one of the best albums ever, because of its pure genius and inventiveness, and because it sounds nothing short of fucking awesome. I would advise it to most Grindcore fans and give the album an official ‘kudos’ (If I have it in physical form, it NEEDS that kudos).

Lamb of God - Wrath

Once Lamb of God's career skyrocketed with the undoubtedly DIVINE Sacrament, only good things could be expected in the future career of the Groove Metal gods. However, as good as following records may be, you'll always get the feeling it's just never going to top Sacrament.

The most noticeable change in the new album is Randy's vocals, he apparently had some vocal training between the two albums to stop him tearing his vocal chords and it definitely shows. In some places they sound quite surprisingly out of place, such as the chorus to 'Set to Fail', which can give a certain edge to it at times but might make some listeners think he can't keep up the blistering screams and squeals he used to do. The guitars don't have a complete turnaround and keep the Drop-D groovy feel as Sacrament had (and thrived off) but as much as their technical skill with speed and complexity still blows many bands out of the water, the riffs simply aren't as memorable and catchy as, say, Redneck from Sacrament. There are some, such as Dead Seeds, which are downright repetitive and disappointing. Moshability is definitely still a strong factor, however, and these songs live are a great experience, some of them matching the likes of Walk With Me in Hell.

The album doesn't kill Lamb of God's career by any means and fans will on the whole find this to be a very enjoyable listen, but it seems that Sacrament's extremely high standard was a little too good to stick around. Nonetheless, a worthy buy and one of the best records of 2009, from one of the best bands around at the moment.

Cattle Decapitation - The Harvest Floor

It's true, Cattle Decapitation are another one of those grindcore bands who are getting out a message which you wouldn't usually expect from a bunch of metalheads. In the same way Napalm Death fight for freedom from racism, sexism etc, Cattle Decapitation are militant vegetarians, which at first sounds pretty stupid. Vegetarian grindcore? You won't be laughing by the end of this.

While I would describe most of Decapitation's earlier stuff fairly ordinary grind, albeit with an unusual message (wishing the acts of cruelty we perform to animals to be done on humans), this really brings a new sound to their music. The use of melodic, high pitched wailing, piano interludes and violin harmony brings a sense of sadness, irony and retribution to the obvious morbid themes, and it's incredible how this works with one of the heaviest genres out there.

This isn't overcooked so still expect the usual incredible vocal range from the gullet of Travis Ryan, backed up by guitarist Josh Elmore who now uses his skill with the axe to a greater, more noticeable level.

So if you liked Cattle Decapitation, you should like this unless you're an absolute 'no melody' purist, but I would recommend this even more for people trying to get into grindcore coming from a background of more melodic metal. Though don't expect to be meat-free for life after listening... mmm, bacon...