God Forbid - Earthsblood

God Forbid are undoubtedly one of my favourite bands ever, and I truly believe they have some of the best metal around within the last 5-6 years. So this album was greatly anticipated, despite it having just about the hardest possible act to follow, with it coming after Constitution of Treason. So how did it turn out...

Well for starters, I'll be blunt by saying this not as good as Constitution of Treason. God Forbid's first albums were very thrashy, and focused more on being brutal than making tuneful, meaningful and unique music. Although this is not the same genre as those albums, I fear that the same habits are making their way back in as while the riffage is great and the drummer is still blasting out the constant rhythms which make verses very moshable, the melodic feel which made Earthsblood's predecessor so listen-able and each song so different and incredible in its own way is a lot less present. Songs such as Walk Alone and Empire of the Gun are the notable exceptions, and in my opinion are the best of the album, but listen to songs such as Shallow and you'll see that could be improved so much by some harmonic guitar solos and Dallas' clean vocals.

It's worth noting that the let-downs of this album mainly only apply to God Forbid's standards. They produce some outstanding stuff and this simply doesn't keep up, and I suppose it suffers the same fate as Wrath by Lamb of God; nothing could possibly top Sacrament just as nothing could top Constitution of Treason. As such, this album is still worth a listen as there is still an amazing sound, I would just say it's not the band fulfilling its potential. Would recommend more to modern thrash fans.

Hurt - Goodbye to the Machine

Ok so everyone (well, actually, pretty much just the people who do the reviews on this site) knows that Vol. I and II by Hurt were fucking amazing, like with some of the best non-metal songs ever, and a couple which are awesome even in the scale of all songs, EVER. This is the most recent album by Hurt and by the general nature of most bands it SHOULD theoretically be getting bad, it doesn't help that they're also starting to appeal to a more mainstream audience. So what's my verdict on it?

Well, to start there is a definite change. Anger, even if expressed in a quiet manner, is a lot less frequent and this can be annoying if it is the incredibly deep stuff you're after. General musical quality, however, is very much present and there is a great mix of acoustic riffs and heavier, bluesy sounds ('1331', 'Got Jealous'). The songs vary a lot so it's not really an album that fades into the background and makes it easy for your attention to wander, maybe except for the last songs. It's a definite move forward for the band, and although the darker songs from their first two records might be missed it's good that they're not an entirely doom-and-gloom band, and seeing as that type of sound can easily become monotonously dry after too many albums this is a refreshing change. 

The new stuff definitely sounds good, and although it's a great listen, the new style is more Alternative Rock than Alternative Metal, and not to be an elitist, but I think though Rock has a lot of potential and is undoubtedly fantastic stuff, it may not have as much of a re-listenable value, and songs are generally a lot less memorable than, say, Talking to God from Vol. II. It's noticeably more mainstream and without sounding too musical-snobbish and out-there, I think originality will almost always come from the personal sound of the artist, instead of being inspired by popular acts.

So Hurt have produced another great album, with a new great sound, but listeners might find themselves fairly tired, if not more than they would with Vol. I and II, after a good 10 or so listening sessions. Songs like 'Got Jealous' might prevail, but maybe Hurt should stick to the darker, emotional stuff they excel at.

Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death

First review in over a year! Exams are over, summer is in so expect more where this came from.

There really aren't many bands that can start out in the 80s, live the life, do the wild gigs, drugs and drink and keep going for over twenty years whilst staying consistently in the highest standard of Heavy Metal quality. Maiden really are rememberable for the brilliant albums they continue to release as if they'll never stop. They also don't seem to have lost 80% of their fans due to style changes and what come across as the appearance of a 'modern metal band', as many classic Heavy Metal bands have. This album, released in 2006 shows that even in the next century Maiden are still fully up to scratch.

What's different in AMOLAD from their older songs is mainly the length (most songs on the album are at least 6 minutes) and the concept-like style which brings the songs together. War is the main theme and different songs look at different ideas related to war: morals, atrocities, religion etc. It's all very philosophical stuff and very powerful for a bunch of beer-drinking long-haired maniacs, but there is a definite feeling of truth behind what is said. Of course it's not just the lyrics that are brilliant, and the recognisable sounds of Dave, Janick and Adrian still sound fantastic as ever, with - if I may use a horribly cliché term - face-melting solos and catchy, fast-paced riffs which just have that Maiden touch. Not much else to say, this is purely the brilliant Iron Maiden that everyone knows, just with particularly cutting lyrics, and heavier, heartstopping riffage.

Not many criticisms to make, only that a few songs are weighed down a bit with some long, repetitive parts which focus on getting a lot of lyrics said rather than the song developing. However in the context of a concept album this doesn't really distract from it being incredible. A musical masterpiece, at least in the top 3 Maiden albums, and I would say a significant symbol of the potential that modern metal has.

KISS - Destroyer

Now I am fully aware that these days, with cheesy charts songs completely eradicated, KISS are widely hated for their incredible corniness and Gene Simmons acting as if he is the sexiest person in the world despite him being old and Jewish (OOHHH RACISM shut up). And, despite me being a big KISS fan, I would really understand someone hating them if they only heard this album. It is a pile of monkey balls.

You could accuse me of hating things that were only normal for the time, and I suppose you would be right and people didn't really cringe at this stuff in the 70s, but to be honest I've heard SO many other things from the 70s that isn't such... shit. I don't mind the song 'God of Thunder', and I actually like 'Detroit Rock City'. But every other song just ends up being nauseatingly soppy and lame. I mean just listen to 'Great Expectations' and tell me you haven't heard such awful lyrics, painful lack of riffage and dreadful use of a tambourine. Yeah, they murder that tambourine. I don't know how 'Beth' ended up being a popular track, I can't describe it better than celebrated nihilism, and for those who don't know what that means, just don't bother listening. You're better off without.

The strange thing is, I actually love a majority of their stuff. The rest is still cheesy, but it rings off nicely with a good retro vibe and has great solos and riffs. They're known to be a great live band and I have 'ALIVE III' (strangely enough they only play ONE song from this album) and it's great. But this is just a letdown and only makes you embarassed to like the band.

I was drawn into buying this album by HMV calling it one of the 'Hundred Albums to Listen to Before You Die'. I would describe it better as an album to HELP you die.

Darkest Hour - Deliver Us

Darkest Hour are a melodic metalcore band (similar to “As I Lay Dying”) and to be quite honest, Henry couldn't of put it any better when he said “So basically, this is awesome”. I've come across a lot of albums, some of which I've found absolutely amazing, but in the end (If you just thought about Linkin Park, shoot yourself), they just bore me after about 3 days. This is such an exception it's unbelievable. I've had this album for almost 2 years now. And it never ceases to strike me as absolutely AMAZING.

Well why is it so amazing? Because the chorus' are fucking catchy and epic, beyond human belief, I mean, I guess I'll state all the songs on it that have awesome chorus'. “Doomsayer”; “Demon”, “A Paradox With Flies”, “An Ethereal Drain”, “Tunguska”, “Fire in the Skies”, “Deliver Us” and “Sanctuary” (although the 'chorus' in Sanctuary is sort of only played once). That leaves 3 songs on the album I haven't mentioned. One is an Interlude, so obviously doesn't have a chorus (but don't worry, the interlude is VERY epic), the other 2 are simply a bit more aggressive songs, and don't really have chorus', although still good songs, they do fall short of the rest of the album, very good instrumentals though (and that's coming from me, the guy who knows NOTHING about instrumentals). But if you don't think the epic chorus' are enough, the harsh vocals are also pretty insane, along with the...clean(er) vocals. Whole album is very dynamic the whole way through, and getting bored while listening to this is just...not possible.

There's really not much else to say really, coming across an album this good is a very rare thing, and I doubt it will happen again any time soon. I actually love this album so much, I feel like naming like naming it the best album of all time....but I'm not going to. Should you buy this album? FUCK YES. It's so worth the money, whether you're into death metal, nu metal, WHATEVER, you don't get much better than this. So buy it. NOW.

Converge - No Heroes

Like all of Converge's albums I've found this to be extremely under rated, however, this one in particular. It's gotten shit from a lot of people, typical emo fags, typical people fags, and strangely enough, a lot of metal heads. They consider it to merely be noise. That, however, is BULLSHIT. Although a few more songs are lot more hectic then even usual Converge, you do get calm moments, and very catchy bits. After all, that is the whole point of mathcore. A very good example of this would be the song “No Heroes”. Having been on Youtube and seen the comments I found on the music video, I can tell you it's depressing how many musically ignorant people there are in the world. But still the song, upon my first listening it was actually kind of boring...it was just kind of...mediocre. BUT, having listened to the whole thing through a couple more times, I can safely say, it's an AMAZING song.

Still taking an even more mathcore based approach to their music, their song lengths range from 58 seconds to 9 minutes and 34 seconds, just as mathcore should be. The short songs are usually the more chaotic songs, while the long songs are a bit repetitive (listen to “Plagues”) however amongst the repetitiveness there's usually some FUCKING EPIC bit. Some people also thought they would hear Jacob Bannon's (lead vocalist) clean vocals again, as they did in Jane Doe. Well. THEY WERE MOTHERFUCKING RIGHT. Personally I think that's a good thing, as it made some songs feel a bit daunting and weirder. However, there's a large chance you wouldn't like his clean vocals, they are a bit....unique after all. However, you may notice a difference in the song “Grim Heart/Black Rose” in the vocals...well that's because they got a guest singer, Jonah Jenkins (the vocalist from the band “Only Living Witness”). Still, the screaming is as good as ever, Jacob Bannon's impossibly monstrous voice has definitely managed to stand the test of that dick, time.

This album is a lot heavier, yet also a lot softer then previous albums (if that makes sense to you), so i'm really quite interested to see which direction they take with their next album. Whether you should buy this or not, is quite an easy question. Although yes, this is DEFINITLY A FUCKING AWESOME ALBUM, it is a very acquired taste, and the likes of mere mortals (people into softer metal, such as Metallica) shouldn't bother, however those who like mathcore, extreme hardcore, or someone who's simply looking for a crazy new album, are definitely in the right place.

Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast

Like it or not, Maiden MADE 80s metal. Yes, there was Black Sabbath and Judas Priest that were around and indeed they did inspire Maiden to make what they did/do, but it was Iron Maiden that really hit big and started 'heavy metal', rather than just heavier rock. The two albums preceding the Number of the Beast were both with former singer Paul Di'anno who was good, but didn't have any epic factor to his voice, and he was a druggy anyway. So when Bruce joined in '83 and made Number, things really started getting good.

Three Maiden classics are spawned on this album, the incredibly well-known 'Run to the Hills', the title track 'Number of the Beast' and one of Maiden's best live songs 'Hallowed Be Thy Name'. Not all that surprising that they were accused of being Satanists, really. There probably isn't a single metalhead who hasn't at least heard of Iron Maiden and for the most part, this is the reason. At this point in their career Dave and Adrian were the guitarists, and their harmonic solos and alternating riffs make every song catchy, rememberable and of course air guitar-able. Apart from the three classics, my favourite song would have to be 'The Prisoner', mainly for its awesome chorus, but the riff is pretty sweet as well, and I always find myself skipping straight to this track every time I listen to this album. 'Epic metal' is a term that is often used to describe Maiden's style, and if you listen to 'Children of the Damned', you will see why. I could go on and praise every song on the album in it's own way; each song is unique and is just so good.

One of the best albums ever? Yes. Well, in that case not much to criticise, but I think 'Gangland', which is only available on the remastered edition, could have been a little more fast-paced and exciting, but still is sufficiantly epic and doesn't realy weigh the album down. But that's about it, I just can't say anything bad about Number, it's too good I think.

If you're either a heavy metal maniac or just someone searching for classic albums and for some reason you don't have this album, you suck. It's the true roots of Heavy Metal and even today its greatness is recognisable. Buy it, buy it now.