Napalm Death - Apex Predator - Easy Meat Review

Napalm Death - Apex Predator - Easy Meat [Grindcore / Death Metal]

That's an idiotic album title.

Napalm Death's last three albums have been remarkably relevant to metal, no easy feat when you consider the fact that Napalm Death is pretty much still one of the best bands of the genre it helped to create. This album continues in that route; well-crafted deathgrind from veterans who have mastered the art of songwriting.

The one unexpected thing about this album is just how much of a riff-fest it is. Napalm Death has never been that band with the best riffs, but guitarist Mitch Harris is on fire on this album. More than half the songs have memorable riffs that really stick in your head.

A track by track analysis, you may one to take a shot every time I mention how good the riff is:

1. Apex Predator - Easy Meat - It's an interesting way to start your album, with tribal drums and some really strange, layered vocals,... Could have been a little shorter.
2. Smash A Single Digit - The first minute's standard Napalm Death, but the riff in the last 26 seconds is so fucking good
3. Metaphorically Screw You - You see this is what I like about these guys, they really don't waste any part of the song for some filler verse. The song stays at a steady tempo and then goes on to this really groovy syncopated part; "Triple, triple, triple triple speak, triple triple triple triple triple triple speak!". I've been singing that in my head so many times these last few months.
4. How The Years Condemn - Again, the main riff here is really catchy, and the chorus tend to the more melodic side.
5. Stubborn Stains - Another riff fest. Every subsequent builds on the previous riff and the song progresses so nicely. Another thing to note; the riff on the breakdown.
6. Timeless Flogging - Lol, try getting the introductory riff out of your head for this one.
7. Dear Slum Landlord - Things get a little weird when Napalm Death slows down because Barney isn't the most gifted singer, but thankfully the song is pretty short.
8. Cesspits - This is another one with a fantastic riff. The song is relatively sludgy, but not as weird as the previous song. Mitch Harris' backing vocals are sparse but really complement Barney's low-pitched growls well, though this has been part of Napalm Death's sound for quite a while already. Newer bands, this is how often you should compliment your death growls with high pitched screams, not all the fucking time. Also: goddamit that riff at the breakdown!
9. Bloodless Coup - Ok, this one is an average song.
10. Beyond The Pale - Riffs in the middle and at the end. Yes.
11. Stunt Your Growth - Main riff is an absolute scorcher and the song itself is really enjoyable.
12. Hierarchies - Slower and strangely melodic at the chorus.
13. Caste The Waste - Another strange. slow. sludgy song.
14. One-Eyed - Wellllll, that riff in the breakdown.
15. What Is Past Is Prologue - Fantastic riffage again.
16. Oh So Pseudo - Song's pretty average but really good breakdown.
17. Adversarial / Copulating Snakes - This one is a really good song. The verse are in the question and answer format which make them kinda groovy, while the chorus is just Mitch Harris screaming "ADVERSARIAL!". The second half isn't as exciting, but seems to be focusing and ominous atmosphere.
18. Paracide - It's a cover and it's fun. Haven't heard of the original band, Gepøpel.

So it wouldn't be a surprise that I like this album a lot, though it could do with a few more tweaks.

The audio production is standard overcompressed shit at DR5, but the clarity of the instruments is still decipherable, though this might be because there's only one guitarist.

Rating: 4/5

Cradle Of Filth - Hammer Of The Witches; A Personal Review

Cradle Of Filth - Hammer Of The Witches [Goth Metal / Black Metal]

My feelings for Cradle of Filth are all over the place. My first exposure to the band was very early in my metal listening experience, coming in right after Slayer and Slipknot (do not judge my gateway to metal). I listened to Midian first, then Cruelty and finally Dusk and Vempires. Even though I had access to most of their Paul Allender era, I never cared much for the band's ex guitarist's contributions to the band. His best album with them was Midian. Hell, I even awarded their last album one out of five stars right here on this blog. Most of their albums in the last decade had at most one or two listenable songs, and even those couldn't hold a candle to their weakest tracks on their 90s albums.

Cradle Of Filth were once scheduled to perform right here in Singapore, and my friends Shiva and Ananth shared the price of one ticket for me as a birthday present (eh, thanks a lot guys!). I was still reluctant, as Dani Filth's vocals had declined tremendously over time, and the band would most probably stick to their newer songs. Imagine the shock when the gig was cancelled just days before they landed, as the suits at the venue (St. James Power Station) revoked their permission to play. The people who set up the gig could not find a suitable venue. In the end, all we were allowed to do was a small meet and greet with the band. I took a photo with the man who inspired my love for English poetry (I am not even kidding).

It was at this pivotal moment that I was compelled to go back to my roots in metal, to search the band's older songs and listen to them once more with better earphones, and to relive my youth with songs like "Funeral In Carpathia", "Bathory Aria" and "Queen Of Winter, Throned". These songs, are to this day, examples of how cathartic and majestic black metal can be when executed with passion and sharp songwriting. The twin guitar harmonics were glorious, the bass was tight and angular, the vocals were vehement and the lyrics are unrivaled even today.

The good news? Cradle Of Filth have definitely come one step back towards their prime. When guitarist Paul Allender left, Marek Šmerda and Rich Shaw stepped up to fill his position- yes, the twin guitar melodies are back. Together with new bassist Daniel Firth and Linday Schoolcraft, this is the debut for majority of the band as Cradle Of Filth. The drums are more or less serviceable, and Dani sounds a little more invigorated. Again, Dani Filth is Cradle of Filth. He shepherds the band with lyrical themes and songwriting approaches, as revealed by Schoolcraft in the band's behind the scenes video. If you never liked his vocals, you never will. His vocals are the litmus test on whether you will like this band or not.

Onto the album, sound production isn't particularly spectacular. I much prefer the band's spacey, lo-fi approach on their heyday. It isn't especially bad, it's the normal mastering and compression that is applied to most bands today. The songs are around DR6 or DR7, save for the instrumentals. The mix is standard Cradle of Filth, with vocals in the forefront. The balance between guitars, keyboards and synthetic orchestra (there are times where it works and times where it doesn't). Drums are pretty loud on this album.

As for the songs, oh boy. This is without a doubt Cradle's best album in a decade. No, it isn't better than Midian, the album that started their downfall, but it is very comparable. The songs are written in the style of Dusk... And Her Embrace, though not as perfect and with over-compressed production. The album's lowest moments are on tracks "Enshrined Crematoria" and "Blackest Magick In Practice", but even these songs aren't as bad as their last couple of albums. I usually do not bother with the segue instrumental songs like "Walpurgis Eve", "The Monstrous Sabbat (Summoning The Coven)" and "Blooding The Hounds Of Hell". As to why Cradle continues with these pointless instruments, only Dani knows.

The album's 'average' songs are the title track, "The Vampyre At My Side" and "Onward Christian Soldiers". These songs are have numerous enjoyable moments, but are marred by meandering song writing, and could be improved significantly with tighter structure, weeding out unnecessary verses. Dani tends to place his vocals on too many portions of the songs, and should practise a little more restraint.

The remaining songs are fantastic. "Your Immortality" is the first song and shows off the twin guitar harmony to maximum effect. Guitarists Marek Šmerda and Rich Shaw have excellent chemistry with one another. As mentioned, the guitars really hark back to the old days. "Right Wing Of The Garden Triptych" is the first single of the album and shows off the band's excellent use of atmosphere and tight song structures. Schoolcraft contributes a lot to this song, with memorable keyboard melodies and backing vocals that contrast nicely with Dani (though noone can replace Sarah Jezebel Deva). "Deflowering The Maidenhead, Displeasuring The Goddess" is one of the band's strongest tracks in their catalogue, which is really saying something. Tackling the unusual topic of environmental protection, the song shows Cradle in their finest, with great riffs, keyboards and a fantastic bridge. This is the Cradle of Filth I grew up with.

The two bonus songs.... why are they bonus again? "King Of The Woods" is one of my favourite songs off the record, starting off with some psychedelic effects and moving on to its main violin (or synth? Sounds off, but perfect) melody. It's very reminiscent of "Cradle To Enslave" and boasts one of the catchier choruses in the album."Misericord" is definitely a B-side though. Slower paced with sparse interesting moments (is that a sitar somewhere near the end?). This one sounds like one of the better songs off Nymphetamine. These two songs do exhibit some great basslines by Daniel Firth, who is no slouch on his instrument. Shame that the mix doesn't flesh him out as well as his fellow members.

All in all, I am very pleased with this record. This isn't going to replace any of the 90s records, but goddammit am I glad that Cradle of Filth is back from the grave.

Rating: 3.5/5

Arcturus - Arcturian Review

Arcturus - Arcturian [Avant-Garde Metal/ Progressive Rock]

Amazing artwork

This is the first full album I've heard from this guys. Arcturus has been in my consciousness for a long time due to its stellar roster of members (namely I.C.S Vortex and Hellhammer in this current line-up). I remember trying to listen to one of their albums when Garm was still on vocals and remember being turned off by how odd they sounded. So I walked into this album expecting an equally weird album and am pleasantly surprised by how much I love it, hell, it might even go on to become one of my favourite releases of the year.

My files were downscaled to 16/44.1 from a set of 24/96 flac files, so for some reason my copies of the songs are a hell lot more dynamic than the CD master going around. The latter averages at DR7 while mine registers at around DR11 per song. Could be an error on my part (and would warmly welcome anyone to correct me in our cbox if my procedure was wrong) but in any case, the mastering and mixing of the album is fantastic. I still do not enjoy Hellhammer's hollow, triggered drums, but his drumming is very well portrayed by the mix because his speed is not compromised. There is some reverb in the drumming so you hear the force of his drumming. The orchestral elements are very well mixed too, sharp and atmospheric but never overtaking the guitars and bass. The band combines elements of symphony, electronics, long heartfelt guitar solos and extremely fast drumming without half assing any of the components; no laughing matter at all.

In terms of songwriting, the album is all over the place. There are some very by-the-numbers rock songs. Not exactly straight forward, but immediately accessible nonetheless (stuff like 'Crashland'). For me however, the album excels immensely when it rides out to strange song structures and instruments. Opener 'The Arcturian Sign' is one such example, with the insane double pedal that accentuates the tense moments of an otherwise operatic song. Another example is the Eastern influences on the heartfelt 'The Journey', or the Krautrock inspired keyboards on 'Warp'. Strange and left field, but well integrated without being too jarring. The songs are inconsistent tho, and I didn't like a few tracks, but then again, judging by most reviews online, the songs I preferred aren't well-liked by the majority either. Yes, it's a weird album, and this is where its strength also becomes its weakness.

In terms of vocals, I.C.S Vortex is still going to be a hard act for many to swallow. He has his strengths, but he sounds very limitted and forced in many of the songs. As I have said before, I am not a fan of perfect, polished vocals, so this doesn't bother me one bit. He conveys emotions, be it deranged, unhinged or even in the meditative 'The Jouney' (my favourite takeaway from this album if you haven't realised). The other instruments are really good, hard to judge on a technical level because that isn't the point of this band.




I am leaning in very favourably on this album, and this surprises me too.


Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

The Raven Autarchy - The Obscene Deliverance Review

The Raven Autarchy - The Obscene Deliverance [Technical Deathcore]

Found this band while I was on Youtube looking for random death metal, for which I have developed an insatiable hunger for lately. The Raven Autarchy is a pleasant find even though I was initially put off by the deathcore tag. The music is equal parts technial, deathcore and neoclassical (especially those leads). Without delaying further:

Audio: Well, it's the same overcompressed overprocessed clean audio at DR4 or DR5. Sterile production is good when done right but overcompressed music has no excuses. I have never heard an album that was 'enchanced' by being more compressed. Drumming is serviceable but too clean, bass is very hard to hear.

Instruments: Oh man. The technicality is nothing special by technical death metal standards but the leads are a complete breath of fresh air, which is what attracted me to this album in the first place. It's really just classical music. Not in the dark sounding solos by Jeff Loomis kind of classical, it's pretty standard classical. It sounds positive and a bit out of place at first but they do work well in the context of the songs.

Songwriting: Here's the thing though, the songs might sound the same if you are not used to the classical sound. I like that none of the songs necessarily stand out and that the songs are tastefully short. The album is barely thirty minutes, so the songs fly by really quickly and have a large replay value. However, melodic or not, the album barely rises above the typical deathcore standard. Verse chorus verse chorus breakdown, it's in almost every song.


Overall: This isn't going to be an album of the year contender for me, but I had a lot of fun listening to this record, A lot. The leads are not typical metal, no pretentious 'progressive' indulgences (something many bands abuse today). Its not just great for working out, but even for casual listens when in commute. I do however wish there was a little bit more wankery with the guitar, most of the time the leads serve as a melodic backdrop behind the chugging deathcore riffs and there aren't many traditional long guitar solos. A bit more variety in songcraft would go a long way, too. I haven't heard this band's back catalog, but I am really intrigued to see where this band will take us in the future. A lot of potential.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Perdition Temple - The Tempter's Victorious Review

Perdition Temple - The Tempter's Victorious [Death Metal]

Audio: Most songs around DR6, which is poor mastering. However, the mix is excellent. Bass is clearly audible and guitar notes are crisp. Drums have high treble, a bit unusual for this genre.

Songs: Here's the thing, every song is the same. This makes it more of a 'whole album at a time' listening experience. The album is perfect for working out or if you just need an extra kick in the mornings. Music is heavily influenced by Morbid Angel (especially the guitar solos). Having said that, 'Extinction Synagogue' is an outstanding song.

Instruments: The album is a total riff fest. The riffs are highly technical and might be too fast for some people (NOT ME).Special mention to vocals by Impurath, they draw more from black metal but sound completely in place with the music. The drums are surprisingly intricate, matching the guitars note for note with cymbals, snares, insane high-hat combos. The treble helps to make the drum work livid and pulsating, on a microscopic level.


Overall: This isn't an album that necessarily pushes boundaries or even create something unique, most of what you hear here is not original, but there is an insane amount of energy. At 37 minutes, there is little room for fat an almost every second goes by unwasted on filler riffs or fills.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5