M. Drew's blog

As a music reviewer, you begin to develop an intuitive sense of what to expect from an album. Either through past albums, band news reports or the paradigm of whatever metal splinter genre you are encountering, it’s easy to create a mindset for an album before you ever sit down and give it your full attention.

Generally, one of three things happens: Either you expect the album to be great and it is great, you expect it to be poor and it is poor, or in disappointing fashion, you expect greatness and are rewarded with mediocrity.

Wow. I can’t say this is what I expected from Soilwork. Forever titans of the melodic death/extreme/speed metal scene, the last twist I could have anticipated was for the band to release something, dare I say, “pop-y.”

I'm faced with another possibly ill-advised Ozzy album. Honestly, I'm not sure "Scream" should exist. In truth though, who am I, who are any of us, to tell the father of heavy metal as we know it that he should stop? So, "Scream."

When invoking the name “Danzig,” there are certain musical and idolatrous tropes that immediately spring to mind. First and foremost, the man himself, possessed of a larger-than-life attitude and a booming, rafter-shaking voice. More than that though, Danzig’s music has always conjured gothically romantic images of the single man standing in defiance of the universe, hand clenched and raised in prodigal fury.

The press release that accompanied my copy of "Too Many Humans," the upcoming album from Montreal's extreme metallers The Last Felony spends a great deal of column space talking about how the band is ahead of their time and will revolutionize the Montreal metal sound. While I hate to be blunt, I don't see it.

One of the things I love most about Southern-style heavy metal is that there's very little guesswork, and almost no head scratching. Nothing that comes detuned from Texas is a complicated affair. Musical creativity is, for better or worse, sacrificed in the name of high energy, beer-swilling, head-banging mayhem.

On their previous best day, Godsmack's best efforts sounded akin to James Hetfield singing for Alice in Chains. With the dawning of "The Oracle," we may have a new best day to talk about.

On this new album, we see Sevendust, but not quite the Sevendust we remember. They've matured as a band and grown into their sound. The band has learned over the years how to skillfully temper their anger and emotion into a more balanced and tangible whole.

Sometimes, the only recourse as a metal band is to throw absolutely everything into a pot and see how much of it coalesces. At least, that seems to be the driving idea behind Heaven Shall Burn’s “Invictus.” In its base roots, the album seems like it has a metal skeleton not altogether different from any number of anonymous metal albums. Yet, the album both benefits and suffers from the disease of more. More guitar, more distortion, more percussion, more sheer noise.

The set began tentatively, like it was the band’s very first time on stage all over again. Each note was practiced and perfectly placed, each band member was nervously dreading any mistake that might set the crowd against them.