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Killswitch Engage – Killswitch Engage (Roadrunner Records)

David E. Gehlke
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Killswitch Engage – Killswitch Engage (Roadrunner Records)

This one really could have gone either way. Having always managed to stay a few steps ahead of the rest of the melodic, metalcore crowd, Killswitch Engage seemed to slip a little with 2006’s As Daylight Dies. While still a strong album that birthed a few big songs, probably the thing they’re most famous for from that period is their sinful cover of Dio’s “Holy Diver.” As an album it, just didn’t have the staying power of The End Of Heartache or Jesse Leach’s final album fronting KSE, Alive Or Just Breathing In the three years since …Daylight Dies the KSE sound has been continually raped and pillaged by lesser bands, nails have been driven into the coffin and the abominable core tag is now prefixed by death. In other words, it’s fair to question if the world is sick of this type of stuff and if KSE have any chance?

Well, on first impressions it certainly makes a positive impact, although on repeated listens it’s easy to hear how the generic tricks and sounds have seeped in. This is KSE’s third album with Howard Jones up front on vocals and it’s his voice that actually lends them most of their uniqueness. A lot of people mimic him but the passion and style he sings with shines right through. The slower paced and spacious “The Return” shows his voice off to the best effect, backed by slow moving, distorted guitars and simplistic drum patterns. “Save Me” is a pretty rocking tune where Adam Dutkiewicz throws in some nice lead lines among the chugging riffs.

The rampaging start of “A Light In A Darkened World” is interesting and should go down well live, but by the chorus it moves into familiar territory – ringing chords, squeals of leads and Jones reaching for the skies vocally. “I Would Do Anything” despite having a rocking beginning, is a very generic song that fails to impress – it’s been done countless times already. “Reckoning” falls back on tried and tested measures which means it could have been written by pretty much any band out there. That’s the general feeling – overall it’s a pretty good album, if far from essential.

If you’ve been crying out for new KSE material then you’ll be delighted. They’ve done what they do, with maybe a few heavier moments than previously, while Jones’ lyrics and vocals are as personal and meaningful/hopeful as always. This self-titled record could be a real grower, but it’s doubtful.

At this stage, it’s more a case of how many Killswitch Engage albums do you need to own? In a sense, they’re treading water and while it’s obvious they’ll survive the flood which will kill the copycats, what they really need to do is take a risk and mix things up a little. Even the artwork has lost its edge, so if you want to use that as an indicator, then work away.

www.myspace.com/killswitchengage

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Ektomorf – What Doesn’t Kill Me… (Regain Records)

David E. Gehlke
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Ektomorf – What Doesn’t Kill Me… (Regain Records)

These Hungarians usually take a beating from the metal press for obvious reasons. Seriously, who wants to hear a third (world)-rate version of latter-Max era Sepultura and Soulfly? Not very many, eh? Lampooning What Doesn’t Kill Me… would be just as easy, but it’s very difficult to dislike this album. It’s a guilty pleasure of sorts.

Singer/guitarist Zoltan Farkas does his best Max impersonation all over this 13-song affair, but how can you not resist the ultra-dumb groove of “Nothing Left?” It’s such a blatantly simple (like, nu metal simple) track that you’re practically thrust back to the stone age. And that’s how most of this album runs. You’ve got a handful of dingy, bouncy riffs that would have set the world afire in 1998 and yet they translate well in 2009. Maybe we’re so accustomed to over-the-top guitar antics that such bonehead approach to riff-writing can charm us.

The blissfully dumb songs we’re referencing? Those would be “Love and Live,” “I Got It All” (which might be the best song here), “New Life,” and “It’s Up To You.” All have one killer main riff that is lifted directly from the last three Soulfly albums and while there’s something inherently wrong with that statement, who cares?

Granted, Ektomorf may never be more than a first-rate imitation band, but one has to remember a great deal of metal is predicated on imitating things and imitating things well. May Ektomorf never come up with an idea of their own. Get this. Ye shall be surprised.

www.myspace.com/ektomorf

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Forest Stream – The Crown of Winter (Candlelight Records)

David E. Gehlke
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Forest Stream – The Crown of Winter (Candlelight Records)

Good enough to open for Katatonia during the Swedes 2007 run in Russia, Forest Stream could be the most visible Russian metal band since Mental Home, who came as fast as they went. While it’s unlikely the same fate will befall this long-running sextet (they’ve been active since 1995), they’ll need to conjure up a little more muster than what is shown on The Crown of Winter to catch the impatient ears of the international underground.

On paper, the band’s mix of symphonic and classic Goth is an appetizing one. Opener “The Crown of Winter” is a tell-tale sign of what the band is capable of, as it’s clearly the best number of this very much bloated 8-song offering. The melodies presented are of the sinewy variety, recalling mid-90’s Katatonia and early Paradise Lost, yet the keyboards play too heavy of a role, dominating “The Seventh Symphony of Satan” and “Autumn Dancers.”

With the exception of the very-Emperor “Bless You To Die,” Forest Stream’s laid-back, almost Tiamat-like approach starts to grate and that’s only because when there is a batch of goods (see the mournful melodies of “Mired”), the band decides to lay off the gas and drifts into more atmospheric nothingness. Sorta frustrating. And the volleying growled/clean vocals of Sonm the Darkest are an acquired taste, especially when the clean side takes prominence (see “The Beautiful Nature”).

The Crown of Winter, for all its awkward balance, would be a world-beater if not for the extraneous elements that bog it down to no end. We’ll stick with the album’s first three songs and ditch the rest.

www.myspace.com/foreststreamband

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Pantheon I – Worlds I Create (Candlelight Records)

David E. Gehlke
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Pantheon I – Worlds I Create (Candlelight Records)

More than just a step up from 2007’s formidable The Wanderer And His Shadow, Worlds I Create is a gigantic leap for Pantheon I, one that propels this Norwegian quintet into rarely-grazed pastures. It’s the brazen combination of melody and might, all done within the confines of modern black metal that makes Worlds I Create such a winner. To be thush, his thing just seethes and pulsates with rarefied energy of which we are treated to maybe three or four times a year.

Fronted and guided by former 1349 guitarist Andre Kvebek, Pantheon I use speed to its advantage throughout this 8-song platter, starting with “Myself Above All” which features the genius combo of hyper-black metal melodies and melancholic cellos. In fact, the use of the cello (courtesy of Live Christine) adds a new dimension of the spiritual black kind on Worlds I Create, as it’s often combined with a blast portion (see “Defile the Trinity” and “Written In Sand”) to eye-popping results.

The guitar tandem of Kvebek and John Espen lay out stellar, muscular BM riff after the next, culminating in album highlight “Ascending,” a swirling, ferocious concoction of latter-day Emperor, merged with some well-placed clean vocals. It’s easily the band’s best creation and lends to the notion that disparate elements like clean vocals or a cello can easily be integrated into Pantheon I’s sound.

Alongside the new Absu (which we’re still getting plenty of mileage out of),Worlds I Create has emerged as one of the upper-tier black metal releases of the year. There’s just a wealth of good ideas going on here, none of which seem forced. There’s just this foaming-at-the-mouth intensity to this album that appeals right off the bat. It’s in the riffs, the mournful melodies, the cellos…everything. Glorious.

www.myspace.com/pantheoni

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Delain – April Rain (Sensory/Roadrunner Records)

David E. Gehlke
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0
Delain – April Rain (Sensory/Roadrunner Records)

Quite the fuss around these Dutchmen (and woman), primarily because of Martjin Westerholt’s (ex Within Temptation) involvement and the fact singer Charlotte Wessels is another in a now very long line of beaming sirens to front a simarily-styled (read: Nightwish) metal band. April Rain does have some merit, though, as Westerholt flexes some serious songwriting muscle and Wessels turns in a admirable, if not rousing performance. How this will fall into the symphonic metal fray remains to be seen.

Lead single and title track “April Rain” is far and away the best song here. Buoyed by a sunshine-y (really, yes) verse and muscular guitars, “April Rain” is the type of single that always sucks people into symphonic metal; it’s almost too stickly-sweet to resist. “Invidia” follows suit, but since both of these jams are placed at the front of the album, there’s lots of time to be worn down and inevitably, it does happen.

When Delain stays within the more guitar/keyboard driven side of things, it all comes dangerously too close to Nightwish and ahem, early Within Temptation territory. Such is the case for “Stay Forever,” “Control the Storm” (Nightwish’s Marco Hieltala sings the chorus on this one) and “Go Away,” all of which fail to stir up any muster. It’s not that these songs are bad, they’re just a bit too familiar.

April Rain is one of those albums that would be better off to stay poppy. The title track is killer, so is “On the Other Side” and “Virtue and Vice,” all of which are bouncy, mildly saccharine numbers. For now, it appears Delain is enduring some very minor growing pains…nothing which a little chart success can’t iron out.

www.myspace.com/delainmusic

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

The Gathering – The West Pole (Season of Mist Records)

David E. Gehlke
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0
The Gathering – The West Pole (Season of Mist Records)

The majesty of Mandylion and Nighttime Birds seem so far off that The Gathering feels like a different band. Well, they are, obviously and that’s both with the departure of longtime singer Anneke van Giersbergen and their gradual move away from Goth metal in tow. Methinks that even with van Giersbergen, The West Pole will follow the same trajectory as 2003’s Home(read: not metal, not at all) and that’s necessarily a bad thing.

The first album with new singer Silje Wergeland (formerly of Octavia Seperati),The West Pole sees The Gathering continue to explore the shoe gaze and alt-rock terrain they started to fall in love with going back to 1999’s oft-overlookedHow To Measure A Planet. Outside of the all-instrumental opener “When Trust Becomes Sound,” there’s little muscle in the guitar department, yet this all comes together very nicely with Wergeland’s ethereal vocals, especially on “Treasure” (which sounds like the Cranberries, oddly enough) and the bouncy “All You Are.”

There’s a lot of restrain demonstrated here, not unlike recent Anathema where space and atmosphere is brandished heavily. Case in point, “The West Pole” and “No Bird Call,” the latter of which is sublimely charming tune that offsets the positive nature of most of the album. “Capital of Nowhere” is more akin to late 60’s pop rock than anything, while “You Promised Me A Symphony” and “Pale Traces” continue with the trend of alternating between the positive and upbeat to the mildly morose.

Getting one’s head around The West Pole is going to require some work. This thing is not as far removed from the bone-chilling excellence of the band’s mid-90’s period as one would initially think, but the dearth of distortion and guitars is going to make The Gathering circa 2009 a tougher sell than they should be. However, The West Pole is quite good. Not Nighttime Birds good, but a well-executed, occasionally mesmerizing effort that gets their post-Anneke era off to a good start.

www.gathering.nl

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Pelican – Ephemeral EP (Southern Lord Records)

David E. Gehlke
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Pelican – Ephemeral EP (Southern Lord Records)

A stop-gap EP before the next full-length (due sometime later this year or early 2010), Ephemeral is merely a snippet of what Pelican (far and away the best instrumental metal band of the last decade) can do. For those of us who know what the band are capable of, as in 2005’s earth-shattering The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw, the prospect of new Pelican material is always an exciting one, so there’s no letdown here – just more mounds of anticipation piled on.

Buoyed by their recent hook-up with Southern Lord, the Chicago/Los Angeles-based quartet continue to drive home their sonically dense template of post-metal riffage with shoe gaze sensibilities on Ephemeral…all without vocals, naturally. Purely for the sake of reference, Ephemeral picks up where the band left off on 2007’s City of Echoes. There appears to be more of a reliance on straight-ahead, less sideways riffing on “Embedding the Moss,” while “Ephemeral” opens things up a bit more with loose, jangly riffs and a steady, driving beat. A cover of Earth’s “Geometry of Murder” (with Dylan Carson) rounds out this 3-song affair.

Hardly mandatory (that distinction would belong to the aforementioned The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw), Ephemeral is another winner in the band’s flawless catalog. They’ve yet to disappoint, so no major expectations for the next full-length, ok? Right, guys? Guys?

www.myspace.com/pelican

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Obituary – Darkest Day (Candlelight Records)

David E. Gehlke
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0
Obituary – Darkest Day (Candlelight Records)

Now three albums deep into their reformation (wow…already?), legendary Floridian death metallers Obituary have come through in the clutch yet again with Darkest Day. It’s more of the same, and since Obituary has made a career out of doing the same thing since 1989 (sans World Demise – which rules, by the way), they can get away with such maneuverings. It’s Obituary. Why tinker?

The second album without long-time lead guitarist Allen West, Darkest Daybenefits from the fluid, almost too-flashy-for-Obituary leadwork of Ralph Santolla (ex Death, Iced Earth). Santolla is given plenty of room in which to shred and does so right off the bat on “List of Dead,” where his unique scale runs adds a fresh dimension to the band’s sound. Elsewhere, Santolla is magnificent on “Fields of Pain” and “Outside My Head.”

Big riffs abound of the Celtic Frost variety on “Payback,” which could be Trevor Peres’ best riff-action since The End Complete. While the Slayer-esque opening of “Your Darkest Day,” rumbling rhythms of “This Life” and the wise inclusion of two songs from last year’s Left to Die EP (“Forces Realign” and “Left to Die”) only cement the notion that Darkest Day is another notch on Obituary’s headboard…or tombstone.

Outside of Cannibal Corpse, no Floridian death metal band has been as consistent and relevant. There’s lots of gas left in this tank…the possibilities for new, but not really new riffage must be coming out of the woodwork. Darkest Day most certainly has more variety and staying power than 2005’s Frozen In Time and 2007’s Xecutioner’s Return. Keep it coming, Obituary.

www.obituary.cc

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Glorior Belli – Meet Us At the Southern Sign (Candlelight Records)

David E. Gehlke
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0
Glorior Belli – Meet Us At the Southern Sign (Candlelight Records)

Anytime anyone deviates from the norm in black metal, you run the risk of it working or falling flat on its face. Black metal may forever be out of its fully-experimental phase that occurred earlier this decade, but we can take solace in knowing bands like France’s Glorior Belli are around to at least fuck with the template. With Meet Us At the Southern Sign, there’s a lot of off-putting rhythms, sideways melodies and the occasional nod to mid-90’s grunge. Yup – grunge.

Meet Us At the Southern Sign is the third full-length from the trio of Infestws, Alastor, and Morteaeus and it’s noticeable leap from 2007’s raw Manifesting the Raging Beast. Not to say Southern Sign isn’t raw in the traditional sense, but there’s this permeating uneasiness to the album, the sorta feeling one gets when listening to Shining or modern-day Mayhem.

It’s no surprise the band does trad BM quite well on “The Forbidden Words” and “Nox Illuminato Mea,” both of which utilize your basic BM elements (blasts, feisty tremolo picking, etc.), yet it’s starting to appear that particular approach is now out of Glorior Belli’s comfort zone. We’re turn to “Swamp That Shame,” which opens grand, spacious chords or “In Every-Grief Stricken Blues,” which is where we made the earlier nod to 90’s grunge. Actually, this tune reads more like a black metal “Planet Caravan,” if that could be fathomed.

Depth, depth, and more depth is probably the prevailing sentiment here. There’s lots to digest during this 11-song, 50-minute affair, but the bulk of these songs are palpable, but challenging, an odd counter-balance from one of the scene’s most unconventional bands. Meet Us At the Southern Sign is a total black metal darkhorse for 2009 if there ever was one. Get this.

www.myspace.com/gloriorbelli

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

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