album reviews

I could barely get through this.

I was prepared to not like "Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice," the new album from Finnish "Love Metal" experts HIM, as I was not a fan of their previous works. If nothing else, the band is always well produced and has the capacity to chameleon themselves into whatever shape they want. So, I wanted to give them a puncher's chance.

And they whiffed.

At this point, I had no idea what to expect from Rob Zombie. “Hellbilly Deluxe” and “Sinister Urge” were both modern masterpieces, and then “Educated Horses” was a confusing, muddled mess of an album. After a few years away directing movies, out comes “Hellbilly Deluxe 2,” finally debuting after two lengthy delays from the time of recording in 2008.

This new album is several magnitudes of order better than “Educated Horses.” I’m not exactly going out on a limb by saying that, but there it is.

First off, a confession. When Puddle of Mudd burst onto the scene in 2001, my first thought as a good nerd was that they were making a reference to the Star Trek character Harry Mudd. Turned out not to be the case. I immediately thought less of the band. They’ve done little to

The first and most important thing about Five Finger Death Punch's album "War is the Answer" is that it is steadfastly honest. There is no dense allegory, no convoluted metaphor, nothing that makes the listener strain to understand the album's intent. This is pure, unadulterated American heavy metal, with no sidebars, no apologies and no layers. This is the album's most redeemable quality and its strongest cornerstone.