Metal Music Reviews from Sheavy

AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED Altered States of America

Album · 2003 · Grindcore
Cover art 4.80 | 3 ratings
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Sheavy
A pinnacle in the history of grindcore. Agoraphobic Nosebleeds second studio album sees the band taking their brand of cybergrind to an extreme that no grindcore band had done previously. With 99 songs and a running time of just under 20 minutes, this is not for the faint of heart.

What makes this release an absolute masterpiece is, that while this is extremely punishing and akin to being punched, it is short enough to not become annoying or cause a headache, and they're is enough breaks from the blasting grindcore that make this "easier" to listen to, which has been the downfall of some other hour long albums of nonstop blasts of grindcore. These mostly consist of strange short spoken word segments about things like the Aum Shinrikyo cult that gassed the subways of Tokyo and some disturbing sound clips of people talking about sodomy and rape of little children. Another thing about this album is that it follows the one gigantic song formula that some other grindcore bands use, which also makes this a lot easier on the ears as everything flows and segues perfectly into each other.

This an essential piece of music not just because of it's historical importance, but because it is towering achievement of musical genius from Scott Hull and Co.



AGATHOCLES If This Is Cruel What's Vivisection Then?

EP · 1990 · Grindcore
Cover art 2.50 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
One of many, many, many releases by Mincecore band Agathocles. I was expecting this E.P. to not be very good, but I was pleasantly (?) surprised to find that this is a very good offering by Agathocles.

While all the songs here have been released a ridiculous amount of times, and on much easier to find releases, this is very worthy of getting into any grindcore fans collection. The sound quality was probably the most surprising thing here. it is very good for such an early grindcore E.P., with all the instruments being clear and distinguishable, yet it also retains that somewhat of a raw quality that is employed by a ton of grindcore bands, intentional or not.

The songs themselves are some of Agathocles most loved songs, and some of their best, especially Consuming Endoderma Pus, and Mutilated Regurgitator, which are two of my favorite short blasting grindcore songs of theres. I also really like the longer song Trust? Not Me, which is more in the groovegrind vein, which features some of the best grindcore riffage ever put to release (for me anyway).

While this ranks higher personaly for me than the 2and a half stars I'm giving it here, it really isn't something you should go run out and try to find as these are on practically every compilation by the band. Great for the grindcore enthusiast though.

URIAH HEEP Salisbury

Album · 1971 · Proto-Metal
Cover art 3.91 | 21 ratings
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Sheavy
The Heeps second album is another great, early Heavy Guitar and Organ/Keyboard driven album. Uriah Heeps ability to come up with great heavy rocking songs is present with the especially epic Bird Of Prey, and the just as strong, Time To Live. They also created two of my favorite softer Heep songs with The Park and the especially epic, chilling and Lady In Black, which is firmly and easily in my top 3 fav Heep songs. The song High Priestess switches between a softer sound and a heavy-ern more rocking sound, which features some great guitar work by the severly underrated Mick Box. The closing sixteen minute song, Salisbury, is unlike any other Uriah Heep song ever, with it's stunningly beautiful, and at times very dark, backing brass ection. The song is a tour-de-force for all the members of the band, with some more great guitar work from Mick Box, and some really strong bass playing from Paul Newton.

All in all, this is a masterpiece from a band that never truly got as much recognition as similar bands in the Heavy Prog vein. Essential.

PIGTO Muddy Bodies of Semen and Blood

Album · 2006 · Grindcore
Cover art 0.50 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
Pigto strikes again.

This is so far, and hopefully, the last album from Mexican Gore/Porno grind band Pigto. I really can't think of anything nice to say about this album and this band. This just as terrible as the previous album, with the exception that the drums are actually able to keep the beat. This is because it is a drum machine, and it is a incredibly horrible sounding drum machine at that. Also the sound quality might have improved by a smidgen. The stupid horror B-movie sound clips are still here, and still as disgusting and bad.

Basically everything that applied to the previous album applies here, a horrible and insulting album to the grindcore genre, metal genre, and music as a whole.

THE BLACK CROWES Greatest Hits 1990-1999: A Tribute to a Work in Progress

Boxset / Compilation · 2000 · Hard Rock
Cover art 2.10 | 2 ratings
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Sheavy
This is a pretty good collection of songs from Led Zep worshippers The Black Crowes. It's got all of their best songs they had done up to when this was released, and some that aren't near as well known, but just as good as songs like Hard To Handle and She Talks To Angels.

This still doesn't mean you should get this if you aren't a collector of things by this band. It's a much better idea to get the original releases (unless you you don't want to have look at the cover to Amorica, then thats quite understandable). Good collection, but thats all it is.

AGATHOCLES Cliché?

EP · 1992 · Grindcore
Cover art 0.50 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
I'm going to be quite frank with this E.P. from the self proclaimed players of "mincecore". This is a terrible E.P. It's not really an E.P., but a live album recorded at a concert in Buggenhout, Belgium, yet the band decided to call this an E.P. for some reason.

Agathocles plays through a nice selection of some of they're better known songs such as Consuming Endoderme Pus, Theatric Symbolisation of Life, etc.. but the problem here is the horrible sound quality that is an endmic problem with these grindcore it seems. The vocals especially are way, way to high in the mix, and really drown out the drums and guitar. If the vocals were lower I might could give this a one and a half stars, but as this release is, it's not something worth having at all.

AHUMADO GRANUJO Chemical Holocaust

Album · 2004 · Grindcore
Cover art 4.00 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
Ahumado Granujo specializes in what they term as "Techno Grind". This isn't entirely accurate as the techno is used more like song openers and closers. They also use lots of samples from bands and movies, "We've been kicking other peoples asses for so long I figure it's time we got ours kicked", "Pete, can I hear your kick drum please".

The grindcore here is on the better side of the goregrind sound, with the pitch-shifted vocals present but not sounding completely stupid and dumb like some goregrind out there (Spermswamp). The muscianship is all good and the samples are also used very tastefully and never do they get in they way of the music. The songs tend to be on the slower groove grind for the most part, than the blistering blastbeat of some bands.

I really like the use of techno beats here as they make for a unique sound that works very well with the grooveyness and headbang ability of the riffs. The guitarist also goes into what sounds like a Steve Vai styled solo on the Schindler's Acquaintance Service, which works surprisingly well with the grindcore rhythm section and pitch-shifted gurgles.

The last two songs are both pure techno songs that don't really add anything, but don't take anything either.

Overall a good goregrind album, and band, that rises above the muck and disgustingness (musically and lyrically) of a lot of other bands with this sound.

SPINAL TAP This Is Spinal Tap

Movie · 1984 · Traditional heavy metal
Cover art 5.00 | 2 ratings
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Sheavy
I have to agree with everything Stooge said about this classic parody. It deserves five stars for the same reason that Frank Zappa's do. This movie might turn off some people but for me it's the best musical parody ever.

What makes this so great is it is believable and true. The acting is spot on and they act like any stoned rock stars. They aren't too bright and their songs are completely spot on lyrically and musically with the overt sexualness and over the top fantasy. They also poke fun at John Bonham and Keith Moon with their own drummer's strange deaths (their first was in a gardening accident, one spontaneously turned into a puff of smoke), They also parody quite well the tension and break-ups that a lot of rock bands go through.

Anyone who can laugh at something they like should highly enjoy this movie, or anyone who likes to laugh in general. Highly recommended.

AGATHOCLES Agarchy

EP · 1991 · Grindcore
Cover art 1.50 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
This E.P. by Agathocles is one of way too many by this band. The songs on this E.P. can all be gotten elsewhere, and with better sound quality than on this release. The sound quality is passable as a demo, with all the instruments being audible, but with the drums way too high up in the mix, as they drown out the guitar and bass.

The two long songs, The Truth Begins, Where Man Stops to Think, and Kill Your Fucking Idols, are two of my favorite Agathocles songs, but the versions from Theatric Symbolisation of Life are much better than here.

A passable record for anyone interested in grind, and doesn't mind low quality or for fans of Agathocles, other than that, stay away.

324 Soulwinter

EP · 1999 · Grindcore
Cover art 2.50 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
This second release by Japanese grindcore band 324 is a big improvement over their first demo, but not a big enough improvement. My main gripe about this E.P. is that, while the sound is better and things sound much, much clearer, but the mix is also really flat and does not have much of a punch, which is somewhat of a necessity for grind.

The four songs here are all great, and, aside from Broken Clock, aren't on any other release from 324, so this is a great find for fans from this standpoint.

If I had to choose personnal favorites from this EP, I would have to say the relatively long song, Waterdrop, which is a formidable piece of grindcore, with it's only drawback being the gutless production.

In conclusion, if you happen upon this EP somewhere, and you like grind, get it, as you probably won't be dissapointed, just slightly letdown, an enjoyable little record despite it's big flaw.

324 Demo '97

Demo · 1997 · Grindcore
Cover art 1.00 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
324 are one of, surprising, Japans relatively active and big metal scenes, grindcore. 324 play a more punk oriented type of grindcore than death metal, even though there is plenty of death metal sound.

This first release by 324 is really unnecessary for anyone interested in this band or grindcore, mainly because all the songs here are found on other, much better, releases than this, even though every song on here is one of their best, the production is obviously pretty bad, since it is a demo, but it is not near as bad as a lot of demos tend to be.

Overall this really is a waste of money for anyone interested in this band, as all songs on here are found elsewhere with much better production.

ABORT MASTICATION Orgs

Album · 2008 · Death Metal
Cover art 2.00 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
Abort Mastication are a brutal death metal band from Japan. They started life as a grindcore band, but have moved into brutal death metal territory, but keeping a lot of grindcore traits, especially the shortness of their songs, and the plentiful blast beats. The vocals are also a bit grindcore-ish in nature, with they're being a low death metal growler, and a Napalm Death like high pitched shrieker.

The songs themselves are not very interesting and tend to not really capture my imagination or attention. But what brings this album down a lot is the infuriating interjection of some spoken word parts that appear to be in a language from Russia or Czech. They appear at the end of Vzteklina and Affect Under Festered Skin, and Festered Skin also features some even more annoying sounds layered on top of this little girl speaking, noises such as random slurping or squeaks.

Overall this is a lackluster album brought down by some really dumb and pointless 9as far as I can tell) parts. Nothing here that I can recommend except to possibly hardcore brutal death fans.

VOMITOUS DISCHARGE Festering Carcass Covered With Rot

Album · 2007 · Grindcore
Cover art 2.00 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
Vomitous Discharge is a band that I have not been able to wrap my brain around at all. Sound wise they are your usual goregrind band, with pretty simplistic songwriting, horrid production, dumb soundbytes from probably even dumber movies and what not. But what I don't get is that this band claims to be christians.???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????. There seems to be a big oxymoron going on here. "Slashing Temptations to a Mass of Slithering Offal" "Purulent Faeces in your Brain" not quite what you expect from a christian band, even if they are metal. But then again, "Severe Head Trauma of Satan" "Rapist Gets What He Deserves". So, I guess Vomitous Dishcarge are christian, they're just extremely intense.

Now about the music....

There isn't much here that is really good. The production is extremely muddy, but at least it is louder than most bad productions, as you can actually discerne the individual instruments fairly well, but other than that it has nothing going for it. The vocals are the usual pitch shifted inhuman sounding gurgles, or "vomits" as they are affectionately known, and the only deviation from this is on the song "Divine Excretion of Malignant Proliferating Tumour in Your Soul", where, alongside the gurgles, there is what sounds EXACTLY like a Tasmanian Devil. Seriously, go find a video on youtube and listen. Thats exactly what it sounds like. The drums, I think, are done by human hands, even though it's really hard to tell because of the production, but the drummer is fairly competent, nothing special, but nothing to terrible.

Overall, this won't appeal to much of anyone, and the only song I like that might make this worthwhile is the song with the Tasmanian Devil, which is only semi-good because it's funny.

DARK ANGEL Darkness Descends

Album · 1986 · Thrash Metal
Cover art 4.43 | 7 ratings
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Sheavy
Dark Angel were one of the early thrash bands that got overshadowed and rather forgotten, which is unfortunate, because for me this album is up their with the likes of anything the big four has done.

Dark Angel play a extremely fast style thrash, quite similar to Slayer. I bought this album mainly because I am a Gene Hoglan fanboy, and I have never been dissapointed by anything (so far) with him, and his amazing drum skills, in it.

All of the songs are really about equal as far as their being stand-outs goes, but this is not a bad thing, as they are all very good. This band is great at coming up with memorable riffs and really good instrumental passages. If anything the song Black Prophecies is my favorite off this album, just because it is long.

Outstanding album by a band that needs more recognition.

ARTILLERY By Inheritance

Album · 1990 · Thrash Metal
Cover art 4.48 | 13 ratings
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Sheavy
Artillery's third studio album is a new direction from what they had been playing previously, thanks mainly to the very prominent power metal nods during these songs.

I bought this album not having heard anything by Artillery at the time, or knowing anything about them, I saw Gene Hoglan was doing the drumming duties here, and that sealed the deal. I am much pleased by having got this album as it really isn't like much anything else out there. It has all the trademarks of a good thrash album, but with Helloween style power metal being infused with the thrash. This combination makes for an incredibly melodic and epic sounding (at times) thrash album. The vocals by Flemming Rønsdorf are also not as raw sounding as most thrash band out there.

All the songs are good and have top notch muscianship, with some standouts for me being the great intro song Tashkent, which has some Indian/ Raga-ish influence. The song Khomaniac is the best example of Artillery's fusion of power metal and thrash with great some really great passages (and guitar solo). Another standout for me is Back In The Trash, which is more thrashy than Khomaniac, but is in no way a let down, and shows that Artillery know how to thrash like the big four. I also have to comment on the the song Razamanaz which could have been tailor-made for thrash, with vocals that fight perfectly with the thrash sound. A very good cover by Artillery.

This album should by heard by any metalhead. You really won't be dissapointed.

BURZUM Hvis Lyset Tar Oss

Album · 1994 · Black Metal
Cover art 4.36 | 26 ratings
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Sheavy
Burzum is a rather infamous band in the black metal community thanks to Varg Vikernes killing of Mayhem founder Euronymous.

Infamy aside Burzum are a truly interesting Black Metal band with the unique (at the time) approach of fusing dark ambience with the blasting and raw sound of Black Metal. Now, I am not particularly into most Black metal bands, but they are some that really make an impresssion, and this album by Burzum most certaintly has.

Det Som En Gang Var, and Tomhet are five star songs here mainly because of the amazing songwriting here, which fuses beautiful ambience with a raw black metal sound which rather strangely works perfectly. The raw sound production (also rather strangely) makes the ambient, wandering, and beautiful synth parts absolutely brim with a dark brooding feeling. There is very, very few ambient bands that can really pull off such emotional, and affecting sounds into their songs, and I have to congratulate Varg at pulling this off. This feeling I get mostly in the song Tomhet than Det Som En Gang Var, as it never goes into Black Metal at all, but stays in its own dark brooding world of synths that bring shivers and gooseflesh to me.

The other songs, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, and Inn I Slottet Fra Drømmen are pure raw black metal songs that I don't really enjoy, but nonetheless, I find great joy (Hmmmm... that really doesnt sound, joy, in a black metal album?) in listening to Det Som En Gang Var and Tomhet.

Since there are two five star songs here and two two star songs I can't give this a five, but a four is well deserved here.

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME The Great Misdirect

Album · 2009 · Metalcore
Cover art 4.13 | 23 ratings
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Sheavy
"Everythings a novelty..."

This is the first whole album I have listened to from BTBAM, the only other contact I have had with this band is the song Alaska and More Of Myself To Kill.

With this being said I will know procede to blabber about this album like a good new fanboy would. This is very far from your average Metalcore band like As The Blood Runs Black or similar, BTBAM manage to pack an absolute ton of musical ideas into this release without it ever losing focus. All of the transitions into other styles of music are also done extremely expertly and smoothly. I still have no clue how BTBAM manages to make all the transitions so natural sounding, because they never ever sound out of place.

The muscianship is above top notch, everything from blast-beating to soft jazz is played with amazing precision and expertise.

I will refrain from saying anything much about the music specifically so as not to ruin your musical adventure contained within this album. Hopefully you will be as amazed with this album (and band) as I was.

ALICE COOPER Killer

Album · 1971 · Proto-Metal
Cover art 4.52 | 25 ratings
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Sheavy
Killer, in my humble opinion, is one of the 70's most essential albums, regardless of what kind of music you are into. Every song on here is top notch Cooper material, from the Proggy epic Halo of Flies where there is even a parody from The Sound of Music. The quick rockers, Under My Wheels and You Drive Me Nervous are wonderful, and out of the two I have to point out the great horn section from Under My Wheels which really adds another layer to an already great song. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah is almost a cross between Prog and blues with some complex-ish parts, and even a harmonica solo from Alice. Killer is the amazing ending song to this amazing album, which is another very Proggy song with what sounds like an organ near the end.

If you don't have this album then you truly are missing out on a amazing piece of the 70's.

SHEAVY Synchronized

Album · 2003 · Doom Metal
Cover art 3.99 | 3 ratings
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Sheavy
Yes, this is where my online name comes from. Not because i just absolutely adore the band, but because it is a cool name and worth stealing. Not saying that the music is not worth getting either, because it is very much worth getting, very Black Sabbath-y and lots of stoner rock like riffs with some occasional changes of pace, the songs Part Of The Machine, and the epic, Ultraglide.

The singer of Sheavy sounds uncannily like Ozzy Osbourne. The reason I actually bought this album and The Electric Sleep was because I thought that it was actually Ozzy on vocals, but the vocalist does an amazing job regardless of how much he sounds like Ozzy.

All the songs are great Stoner Rock hard rockers with my fav being the rather upbeatish Next Exit To Vertigo, and The Invasion Of The Micronauts.

Highly recommended

MELVINS Hostile Ambient Takeover

Album · 2002 · Sludge/Post-metal
Cover art 5.00 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
Melvins are one of the stranger bands out in the metal scene today, having been around for a couple of decades, and yet with every album they release, there is bound to be something different and surprising on it.

This album is the first full album I ever got by Melvins, having only heard various songs off other albums. In short, I was blown away by this. What I had previously heard of Melvins was there more 90's grunge-y sound. This album is not grunge. What it is, I'm not really sure, but whatever it is it's really, really amazing.

I love all the songs on this album, with personnal favorites being the Black Stooges song which startes out sounding like a "normal" Melvins song, before descending into something that sounds like Merzbow. The following song, Dr. Geek, has a country flair to it, with King Buzzo "chickin' pickin'" on his guitar. The Fool, The Meddling Idiot is one of my favorite doomy Melvins songs, with a very strange ending that is extremely out of place, yet adds just that much more to this already amazing song ( I refrain from telling you so hopefully you interest has been piqued enough to get this album). The Anti-Vermin Seed is this albums epic 15 minute ending song. It is a slow and plodding track that gets rather creepy at times.

This album is one of many masterpieces by Melvins, all of which you should have.

THE TOILET Bullshit Makes The Flowers Grow

Album · 2009 · Avant-garde Metal
Cover art 4.00 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
The Toilet is a very interesting one man grindcore/breakcore band from germany's rather big goregrind/grindcore scene.

The music here is all programmed, and while that bothers a lot of people, I don't mind that, because it allows for such crazyness as this to be made. The music is mostly just drum machines, and electronic blips and breakcore/speedcore dance music, and sounds that wouldn't be out of place on a mario game. The vocals are however pure grindcore, with the higher shouted vocals, that Napalm Death started, and the lower growlings. These however have been tampered with and are electronically messed with, similar almost to what Whourkr does with their vocals.

All the songs are short in grindcore fashion, and while not being the best songwriter ever, the man behind this project, Bulldozerman, makes up for with a interesting sense of humour, and very catchy songs that are quite infectous, and for me at least, not overly punishing if you aren't big one extreme music.

If you like adventerous avant garde metal, then you will find this record enjoyable. This cd is also free for downloading at his website, so you have nothing to lose by giving this a try.

SIGH Imaginary Sonicscape

Album · 2001 · Avant-garde Metal
Cover art 4.44 | 6 ratings
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Sheavy
Sigh are one of Japan's most wide known metal bands, and there is a very good reason why. This is unlike anything else you have ever heard before.

The base style here is black metal, but when one listens to this album, that reallly does not cover at all what music is contained within. The vocals tend to be black metal sounding, and there are guitar parts that sound definently black metal, but then you get something like the song Nietzschean Conspiracy, which starts off with some electronic washings, a saxophone, and some heavy drummachine bass beats, and then it gains some symphonic flourishes. There is nothing in this song at all that in any way reminds me black metal.

I prefer to let albums speak for themselves so I won't spoil this album by talkng on it too much. I will say one more thing though. You know no band that lists a Speak And Spell as a instrument is going to be anything but strange.

PIGTO Depravada Sexual

Album · 2005 · Grindcore
Cover art 0.50 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
I might as well get this review over with, so here goes. Well, I guess this is more of a warning, than a review. It does not take a rocket scientist to see that you don't need to bother getting this album.

I am not going to mention about anything here but the music, because you have eyes and can see for yourself.

The music here sounds like a bad demo. Some grindcore bands can pull off having bad sound quality by having the instruments really loud in the mix, but here there is just a muddle of sounds. The guitar and bass are undistinguishable, and they sound like static. The only time I can tell there is a guitar playing is when the guitarist makes a really bad attempt at playing a high whammy bar ladened sound like a lot of metalcore bands like to do, after a riff. Unfortunately, whereas most metalcore bands are good at playing instruments, this band isn't. While this is almost a trademark of grind bands, there isn't much excuse for releasing this as a full album, and it being so bad. The drums are very bad too, and almost constantly off the beat, or not being able to keep the beat. The vocals are the usual pitch shifted gurgles that are a defining part of most goregrind/pornogrind bands now.

this band also likes too use sound clips from pornos, which don't help the music at all, because for some reason all the sound clips are pretty crisp and clear, then they are followed by a muddy, static-y mess.

If you haven't figured it out, don't get this. I doubt most people would anyway, but for the curious out there, don't, there is much better (and tamer), goregrind/porngrind bands out there.

EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND Sing Brother Sing

Album · 1970 · Proto-Metal
Cover art 4.98 | 2 ratings
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Sheavy
Negative Negative Negative Negative Negative, Yes Negative.

Early British Proto metal band, Edgar Broughton Band, is a vastly underrated and unknown band, that really does not get the recognition it deserves.

The music here ranges from great 70's hard rock/heavy metal songs, to more extended Prog songs.

My favorite thing about this band is the vocals by Edgar broughton. It is very remincent of Captain Beefheart, and it works perfectly with the music here. This band also has a very Black Sabbath attitude, but with more humorous and political lyrics, than Sabbath. But they also have some very disturbing songs too.

The first song Vibrations is a very psychedelic song, with some funky sounding guitar. It is worth mentioning, that on my cd, there are two bleeped out words, which is highly annoying, but I cannot hold this against the band. The following song is a great Prog song, albeit very, very strange, which has some story about this talking moth and some boy named peter. This song has a interesting middle section where, following the moth telling the boy (peter) to grow, a bunch of voices come in making fun of peter, and calling him names and what not, then comes this great heavy groove, before this and the voices fade away and give into a very Black Sabbath sound, yet it is worth pointing out here, that technically, this band is not really influenced by Black Sabbath, since EBB had a full studio album out about a year before Black Sabbath. This is followed by a great heavy bluesy song, with more strange lyrics that this band likes.

I hope I have got you sufficiently interested into checking out this amazing lost band, so i will try not to spoil any more of the crazyness that follows in this album, suffice to say it gets weirder, creepier, and more humourous.

I also have the bonus cd, which adds there most known song, Out Demons Out, and six more amazing songs that did not make the cut for this album, yet they are just as good as the songs that did make it onto the album.

DEVIN TOWNSEND Ziltoid the Omniscient

Album · 2007 · Progressive Metal
Cover art 4.48 | 65 ratings
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Sheavy
Fetid, foul, how dare they hide there best beans from me.

Yet another masterpiece from the musical personnality Devin Townsend.

This is a completely unserious album about a alien named Ziltoid, who claims he is omniscient, but I have my doubts on that. He comes to earth wanting earth's best cup of coffee. Black. This chooice of coffee turns out to be bad for the humans, as Ziltoid is not pleased with the taste, and consequently decides to attack earth.

The music that accompanies certain parts of the story are spot on, being very heavy to a much more calm sound. Ziltoidia Attaxxx!!! is something that would not be out of place on a SYL album, and songs like Hyperdrive are more Post metal sounding and much calmer, without pounding guitars, and hyper blasts off the drum machine.

This is a album not to be missed by metal and Prog fans.

DEVIN TOWNSEND Terria

Album · 2001 · Progressive Metal
Cover art 4.36 | 54 ratings
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Sheavy
Beauty expressed musically.

If you did not get a feeling of grandeur and beauty, or a spine tingling sensation while you listened to this album, something is very, very wrong with you. I cannot describe this album, to be honest. I really do not know how. It is the heaviest, mellowist, most awe-inspiring record ever made.

With this album, Hevy Devy proves that he is one of Prog's best songwriters ever. His quirky Zappa-esque sense of humor and his good songwriting combine to make one this century's greatest musical figures ever.

This album is a pinnacle of Prog, and Post metal. This is a concept album about preserving the beauty of this world we inhabit called earth, and the beauty and feeling that you get when you are standing by the grand canyon, or walking along the beaches of Maine, or the mountains of the Catskils. Hevy Devy absolutely nails this feeling spot on. This is simply a perfect album in every way.

Hearing is believing.

DEMON HUNTER The Triptych

Album · 2005 · Metalcore
Cover art 4.00 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
This album could almost pass as a straight up death metal album, because the riffs are much more doomy than most metalcore.

There are many good moments here on Demon Hunter's third album, my personnal favorite being the cover song Snap your Fingers, Snap your Neck. It has a absolutely amazing bass line, and is a pretty doomy and slow song, with no really virtuoso playing, nor is there any throughout the entire album actually. There are quite a few clean vocal moments, but vocalist Ryan Clark is a very good singer, and does not subtract in any way from the music here.

Also of not is the ballad-sy ending song The Tide began To Rise. This is a hauntingly beautiful song, with nice piano, acoustic guitar, and very good lyrics. this song metalheads probably won't like, but anyone with a love for music will definently like this song.

One of the better metalcore bands out there today, if this cd is anything to go by.

DEEP PURPLE Machine Head

Album · 1972 · Proto-Metal
Cover art 4.33 | 75 ratings
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Sheavy
Nobody gonna take my car. Let's go space truckin'. COME ON!

Another quintessential Proto-Metal album review here, and this time it's Machine Head by Deep Purple. Deep Purples best known line-up, as well as it's most fruitful, has solidified it's place in the anals of metal history with this album.

Featuring the immortalized song Smoke On The Water, which is about a venue that Frank Zappa was at burning down, and it's unforgetable opening riff, as well as featuring such overshadowed songs like Space Truckin' and Highway Star, which I actually think are the two best DP songs ever, along with the great bluesy feel of Lazy and Maybe I'm A Leo. Drummer Ian Paice really shows his muscle on songs such as Space Truckin' and Pictures Of Home. Ritchie Blackmore has great guitar playing on all the songs, Jon Lord has a great solo during Highway Star, Roger Glover's bass is a omnipresent driving force to all of the songs, and Ian Gillan's singing is in top form here.

This album is one that should be heard by music fans into any form of music.

BLACK SABBATH Paranoid

Album · 1970 · Proto-Metal
Cover art 4.46 | 104 ratings
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Sheavy
People think I'm insane....

Two masterpiece albums within a year? Yes, it is possible and Black sabbath are proof of this. The follow up to their self titled debut is just as much a masterpiece in every way to the debut, except the dumb cover, but that does not make this album bad at all.

This album is the one that really got everyones attention to this crazy new heavy blues band with a taste for the occult.

This album features probably the three most reckognized Sabbath songs ever, and they all deserve the recognition they get. From the almost radio friendly Paranoid, to the devasting beginning of Iron Man, to the rumbling behemoth crawl of Luke's Wall/War Pigs, this is, I dare say, the most influential metal album ever created. Almost every metal band in existence owes something to this band, and this album.

From the drum solo on Rat Salad to the rather creepy Electric Funeral, this album is indispensable for any music collection.

BLACK SABBATH Black Sabbath

Album · 1970 · Proto-Metal
Cover art 4.20 | 93 ratings
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Sheavy
This album is downright evil, in all the best ways possible. This little group from Birmingham, England are the undisputed Gods of the 70's metal bands, and this record and the following are prof of this. When one thinks of the word "metal" gritty and raw and dirty come to mind, not highly polished glossy or "glam". Blues is a very raw sounding type of music generally, and Black Sabbath took the that sound and absolutely dropped it into hell.

All the members play with a passion that is hard to get across in studio recordings. Tony's guitar playing is stellar, with A Bit of Finger / Sleeping Village / Warning featuring ome outstanding guitar soloing. Geezer Butler is also playing top notch, with even a little bass solo wedged in between The Wall Of Sleep and N.I.B..

This album is bassically a masterpiece of music, let alone metal. There was really only a little hint of what kind of sound was possible, Edgar Broughton Band' debut is a masterpiece with moments to rival this, and Led Zeppelin's Dazed And Confused being really the only two doom metal sounding songs before this was unleashed upon the world.

AS I LAY DYING Shadows Are Security

Album · 2005 · Metalcore
Cover art 2.30 | 5 ratings
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Third album from Metalcore band As I Lay Dying, and it is pretty much more of the same from this band, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

None of the songs really come near to being really memorable, the first song Meaning In Tragedy, being the most memorable (except Repeating Yesterday), and it is only really memorable because it is the first song. Good muscianship all around, even if I cannot really hear the bass, I assume it is on par with the rest of the talent this group has. The vocals are the run of the mill sound, with occasional clean parts.

Now, for the best song. That honor goes to Repeating Yesterday, which starts off really mellow with some nice drums and a spoken word segment from Stephen Hawking. This part builds up in intensity thanks to the drums, and when it breaks over with some growled vocals and guitar, it really shows the untapped potential this band has.

A good enough album that should appeal to fans of metalcoe, and possibly some metalheads.

ULVER Bergtatt: Et eeventyr i 5 capitler

Album · 1995 · Black Metal
Cover art 4.09 | 22 ratings
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Sheavy
(Original review from ProgArchives.com)

I am not a fan of black metal at all, and so I am kind of surprised at to how much i can apreciate this debut from Ulver. It is black metal with a huge twist, much, much more melodic than most black metal at the time, and much more clean singing here to, which certaintly alienated them from the Scandinavian Black Metal scene, which I consider a good thing. the music here is fairly pleasant with my favorite song here being the beautiful acoustic song, Een Stemme Locker, with its sad almost isolated feeling acoustic wanderings and some chantings in the background, which reminds me heavily of something Current 93 or Death In June would do. The other songs are all pretty okay with some nice flute and acoustic guitar at the beginning of Soelen Gaaer Bag Aase Need, which gives it a very folk sound, before exploding into the usual Black Metal cacophony.

A good offering from this band of many faces, and one that is surely appreciated by black metal lovers.

LYKATHEA AFLAME Elvenefris

Album · 2000 · Death Metal
Cover art 4.31 | 5 ratings
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Sheavy
(Original review from ProgArchives.com)

This album is much hailed in the underground Death Metal circles and rightfully so. It takes Brutal Death Metal and combines it with at times an almost Post Rock feel with the guitar harmonies and some almost Jazzy drumming during these parts. It is highly technical, but unfortunately, overall it grows tiresome and loses its appeal to me. The songs start to become almost unrecognisable and run together. Otherwise this is a great record that shows vast improvement over all other "Brutal Death Metal" out there, with some very good inclusion of sounds and instruments that I have never heard before in a setting as devastating as this genre can be. Their are snatches of Sitar here and there, and while Lykathea are normally just blasting away, they occasionally do let up, and there is talking parts, but they are unintellligible to me. The last song is a extremely nice way to end the album, I think, with some nice almost exotic sounds, with birds chirping, and it overall is very calming. Something that people with an interest in Prog Metal should really invest some time into.

AS I LAY DYING Frail Words Collapse

Album · 2003 · Metalcore
Cover art 3.09 | 4 ratings
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Sheavy
As I Lay Dying is a christian metalcore band that plays pretty generic, albeit good metalcore. I'm going to come out here and say that I like metalcore. I don't think it is the best thing since TV dinners (that would be grindcore), but there are some definately good and bad bands in the genre.

As I Lay Dying falls into the better of the bands. The music is not breakdown upon breakdown like some metalcore bands seem to love so much, though there is plenty of them. The muscians themselves are very competent, and can create some very good moments that stand out. The drummer is very good and can kill on the double bass, and the dual guitar approach this band takes can also lead to some very cool moments.

The opener 94 Hours is without a doubt the strongest of all the songs here, and features a very captivating double bass moment. Another song that I like here is the rather short, but good, Undefined.

This might appeal to some tr00 metalheads, because there is some death and thrash influence to their sound, but I can't gurantee you will like it, because it is a rather average offering, but still enjoyable.

ANTHRAX Madhouse: The Very Best of Anthrax

Boxset / Compilation · 2001 · Thrash Metal
Cover art 1.00 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
This collection of Anthrax songs is very schizophrenic, and features Anthrax at their best, and at their worst. I am not a fan of their style of rap mixed with metal, nor am I fan of their punkyier sounding songs. The humor seemed to take precedence and the music part was neglected. Their just wasn't anything there, unlike other big humor bands like Frank Zappa, Devin townsend, and 7000 Dying rats.

This collection happens to pick the worst humor song, I'm The Man. I cannot describe how much I dislike this song. I hate it. Bring The Noise is okay, but there is much better rap metal out there (RATM).

This is a very unnecessary album for fans, and if you want to get into this band, I suggest starting with Among The Living, because if you are here it is probably for the thrash.

ANTHRAX Among The Living

Album · 1987 · Thrash Metal
Cover art 4.17 | 35 ratings
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I won't lie, I think this album is up there with the likes of Master of Puppets and Reign In Blood. I love the muddy-ish production here, because it seems to find that sweet spot, where it distorts the sound of things, but it does not take away from the album, like Metallica's Justice.

I also like the vocals from Joey Belladonna. They are very different sounding from most thrash metal bands, and the only one I can think of that is remotely similar is the vocalist for Flotsam And Jetsam.

This album has Slayer's intensity and Metallica's slower thrash. Killer riffs and solos, insane drumming from Charlie Benante, who is up there with Dave Lombardo in my opinion, and some great bass work from Frank Bello.

I honestly can;t really pick out a favorite song, or a bad song, because I really love them all. This album contains such amazing thrash classics like I Am The Law, Caught In A Mosh, Among The Living, and Indians. Out of the big four, Anthrax has certaintly been overshadowed, which is rather unfortunate, because at there peak, they could thrash up there with Metallica and Slayer, and this album proves it.

AEROSMITH The Very Best of Aerosmith: Devil's Got a New Disguise

Boxset / Compilation · 2006 · Proto-Metal
Cover art 2.14 | 2 ratings
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Sheavy
This collection of Aerosmith songs does a good job of picking out Aerosmith's big hits. Aerosmith for me has always been a big hit and miss type band. it eems I either love or hate their songs. This love-hate extends to pretty much any song they have ever written and their big known songs are no exception.

I love songs like Dream On, Back In The Saddle, and Livin' On The Edge, but I can't stand Rag Doll and Love In A Elevator. Neither am I very big on most of Aerosmith's newer songs. There is just something missing.

This release is a good collection, but as with every compilation, if there is no unreleased or super rare stuff on it, I see no point in getting it. That goes for this compilatiion. Don't bother unless you are a super casual fan or just getting into Aerosmith.

AC/DC If You Want Blood You've Got It

Live album · 1978 · Hard Rock
Cover art 4.95 | 11 ratings
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Sheavy
For me, it always seems the way for 70's hard rock/metal to be heard is a raw, and dirty sound on there studio albums, or live. This live album from Scott and Co. is a absolutely stunning piece of AC/DC rocking. The production quality is top notch, and yet still retaining a very raw edge.

This is one of the quintessential live albums for any rock fan, with some great guitar performances on songs like Bad Boy Boogie, and Let There Be Rock, which have some extended improvised guitar soloing. The best of these two being Let There Be Rock, which is a explosive song with Angus Young letting fly with some stunning guitar work. All the other songs are great live renditions of great AC/DC songs. This live masterpiece is mandatory for every fan of Hard Rock and Metal.

AC/DC Black Ice

Album · 2008 · Hard Rock
Cover art 3.77 | 25 ratings
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Sheavy
The Gods of Hard Rock are still on top.

A much, much, much, much better album than pretty much every album since We Salute You, with that super distinctive AC/DC riffs and overall sound.

Angus and Malcolm are in as good a form as ever, and it shows with the great selection of hrad rock songs here. Personnal favorites are the opener, Rock'N'Roll Train, which is a pure classic AC/DC sounding song from sound and lyrics. Another amazing song (probably my favorite from this album), is War machine. The beginning bass line from Cliff, is absolutely amazing. The bass throughout this song is possibly my favorite from any AC/DC album, it really is the driving machine to this song. Then, when the guitars kick in, you have one of the best songs in AC/DC history, plus good Call and Answer like vocals that AC/DC are so good at, and a great guitar solo from Angus.

Another standout song from this album for me is the hard bluesy song Stormy May Day, which has some absolutely mean sounding slide guitar in it.

In short, if you don't own this album, please do yourself a favor and get it. Not a single bad song here, just great hard rockin' AC/DC.

THREE MAN ARMY A Third of a Lifetime

Album · 1971 · Proto-Metal
Cover art 3.77 | 4 ratings
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Sheavy
(Original review from ProgArchives.com)

The Gurvitz Brothers first band, Three Man Army, is a sadly forgotten 70's band. this entire album absolutely screams 70's from start to finish, and the conformation comes at the start with a quick little drum solo, before heading off into a great 70's style hard rock song. For the most part the rest of the album follows in this style, with a overload of guitar solos, fast paced drums, thumping bass, and the occasional keyboard. The stand out for me though, is without a doubt the song A Third Of A Lifetime. It starts off with some nice classical guitar, and gradually some symphonic instruments join the mix. a stunning and beautiful song, that is kind of out of place from the rest of the album, with it's fast and flying guitar solos, but that can all be forgiven.

This album sounds like it should be in the Heavy Prog section. If you happen across this album do not hesitate to get it, and top notch muscians (special nod to guitarist Adrian Gurvitz).

ABORYM Live In Studio

Demo · 1993 · Black Metal
Cover art 0.50 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
(Original review from ProgArchives.com)

This early live demo from Black Metallers Aborym is something that should be avoided at all costs. I am not really surprised at all that this is a horrible release, mainly because it is a black metal demo, which always seem to consistently have absolutely horrible sound quality, and this demo delivers quite spectatcularly in this category. The other thing is that it is a live demo, from a black metal band. With those factors combined, it is best to avoid, and I am glad I did not spend money on this. The only thing that is mildly interesting is the opening bass line on Praise The Beast, other than, this is a muddled mess of bad black metal. I also notice that there are supposededly synths present, but if there are, I cannot here them.

Very, very poor album indeed.

RANDOM Todo.s los colores del

Album · 2011 · Progressive Metal
Cover art 4.14 | 10 ratings
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Sheavy
(Original review from ProgArchives.com)

This debut from Argentinian Prog band, Random, is quite possibly the best release (that I have heard) of 2011. The music here is a highly eclectic mix of what sounds to me like deathcore, math rock/post rock, and something else entirely. Fans of BTBAM should have no problem enjoying this outstanding debut. All of the music here is well written and interesting, and the musical performance from the band is top notch, with Marcos Crosa's drumwork standing out as exceptionally good. The vocal performance is also noteworthy as their is clean singing along with the hardcore shout/growled vocals, that should make this more appealing to people who are interested in trying some Tech metal but not a big fan of the vocals.

I personnally love all the songs on this release, but for me the defining moment of this album is during the epic, Tururú, where the band is playing what is nothing more than a interesting breakdown, before this electronic undulating synth comes in. The drums start to roll almost chaoticly beneath the synth. I had to rewind and listen to this part multiple times, it gave me shivers up my spine (in a holy sh*t kind of way). Another standout is the song, Cuando el blanco no es color, which I think says translated, When the white has no color or something to that effect ( my Spanish is not the greatest ). This song is a amazing acoustic song with clean singing, and an added touch of violin playing at the begining. This song strikes me as really melancholic.

This is an album that should not be missed, one that should be in your Prog collection.

COHEED AND CAMBRIA In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3

Album · 2003 · Alternative Metal
Cover art 3.74 | 11 ratings
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Sheavy
(Original review from ProgArchives.com)

I have never really understood the comparisons between this band and TMV. The vocals by Claudio Sanchez are just bad and cannot be compared to Cedric's. The music here also is nowhere near to anything TMV has done. That being said, this album is massive improvement of their first album, and, unlike their first album, I can find enough good things here to overlook the vocals ( kind of). There is a lot more Prog in the mix this time around, even if I still cannot get the thought out of my head that this is nothing more than a more Proggish version of Fall Out Boy.

The guitar is pretty good when he goes into a solo here and there, like in the closing song 21:13, which actually is probably my favorite song off this album. A lot of the songs are very boring and do not sound much more than the usual "scene" crowd song, but songs like the aforementioned 21:13 are true Prog songs, with a lot of interesting sections. Not to mention the songwriting has improved over the first album, even though about everything has improved from Coheed's first album.

Coheed and Cambria also proclaim themselves to be the first concept band ( which is wrong. Magma was the first). If they are, they must have one of the wierdest story lines ever, because I cannot tell any real relation from song to song here, let alone this album and their first.

If you are into this sort of music you will probably like this album, but for me, C&C play music that I do not have much interest in.

JIMI HENDRIX Electric Ladyland

Album · 1968 · Proto-Metal
Cover art 4.41 | 5 ratings
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Sheavy
(Original review from ProgArchives.com)

This last album shows Jimi all over the map stylistically, and also trying to put to rest about the accusations leveled at him about not being a good songwriter. This double album I think shows his songwriting skills in top form, with the only cover song being the excellent rendition of Bob Dylan's All Along The Watchtower. There is also a pretty impressive line up of muscians aside from the usual Experience players. For starters the is Steve Winwood, Al Kooper, Dave Mason, Buddy Miles, Brian Jones, and Jack Casady.

This also shows Jimi showing that he can do some Prog epics in studio, those two songs being Voodoo Chile and 1983. I like both of these songs, especially Voodoo Chile, which has some very impressive soloing from Jimi, and some impressive drumwork from Mitch Mitchell.

Some other stand out songs include the song which gives the album it's name. A lot of people complain that Jimi Hendrix is a very bad singer, well, Electric Ladyland shows just how wrong those people are, and that if Jimi wanted to sing "clean", he could. The closing Voodoo Child is also another standout song with more great Jimi solos.

While this album is just a bit to sprawling and un-even for it to be a masterpiece, it still needs to be heard by all the Prog heads out there.

PSYOPUS Ideas of Reference

Album · 2004 · Avant-garde Metal
Cover art 5.00 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
(Original review from ProgArchives.com)

Wow. A crazy one this band is. Let me start by saying if you can barely get into bands like BTBAM or TDEP, then do not even try this album at all. This is one of the most agressive dissonant bands out there. Riffs do not exist in Psyopus's world, and neither do time signatures. This is hyper music that really does not stop to give you a brath of fresh air.

That being said, for me, this album is amazing and a masterpiece. Yes I said it. A masterpiece. This is about as far as I can go with extreme music before it gets to much, and this band is about at that line where the "music" crosses into pain, but I am not bothered by the harshness here. The only song where you get a small break is Imogen's Puzzle with some acoustic guitar and some girl screaming. The closing song Bones To Dust is one of those songswhere you think the band has decided to do some epic song, but then you find out there is mostly silence with a small "hidden song" towards the end of this long silence. Thankfully you can shorten that silence.

The muscians are without a doubt super-super skilled with crazy guitar, bass, and drum playing abounding. The singer screams his head off, which fits well with the crazy backdrop of insane noise. This is a band I highly enjoy, even though this is most certantly not for everyone, but something that I think as absolutely wonderful.

ABIGOR Opus IV

Album · 1996 · Black Metal
Cover art 3.28 | 3 ratings
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Sheavy
(Original rview from ProgArchives.com)

This was the first album I heard by Abigor, and I did not have high expectations upon getting this, for when it comes to metal, I like death metal a lot more than black, and there is only a handful of black metal bands I can really say I like to some extent, the main two being Burzum ( because of the ambientness in there music ) and Sigh ( I barely even consider this band a black metal band because of the truckload of different styles in their music.) Anyway I was actually surprised ( just a little ) on the good use of the flute in some of these songs. This is about the only thing that I can say I found very interesting about this album. The mix is pretty bad, with the guitars sounding very flat and very muddy sounding.

Nothing more than black metal here.

CAR BOMB Centralia

Album · 2007 · Metalcore
Cover art 3.50 | 2 ratings
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Sheavy
(Original review from ProgArchives.com)

Welcome to insanity. With a band name like Car Bomb, you already get the hint that you are about to have quite a listening experience. Well, what an experience this band is. The music here is very technical and precise, with lots of choppy, stuttering like playing. It is not a very easy listening, and if it were any longer it would start to turn into more of a muddle of noise than seperate songs, which is fine for me as long as it is done right. Thankfully ( for most of you out there ) this is not the case and this album is kept pretty short, coming in at about 30 minutes.

There is also some outside influences from other styles of music such as Jazz, and Electronic, but mainly, this is hyper-active, super technical grindcore like songs. The only other band I can realy say that really makes music that is relatively similar is Psyopus.

The songs themselves are not songs that really stand out by themselves ( they are not bad, just good by themselves ), but when taken as a whole they really are put to good use.

A excellent album for anyone looking for some Prog that is out in the abyss, and for Tech/Extreme metal lovers.

JIMI HENDRIX Experience Hendrix: The Best Of Jimi Hendrix

Boxset / Compilation · 1998 · Proto-Metal
Cover art 2.62 | 2 ratings
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Sheavy
(Original eview from ProgArchives.com)

I am one of those people that is of the opinion that Hendrix was,is,and forever will be the greatest guitarist ever to walk this planet. Even though I worship him, that still does not mean I want a bunch of songs on some anonymous compilation that is just trying to cash in on Jimi's name. A lot of his well known songs are contained within this comp, but it fails to deliver a essential thing. Unreleased/live material, okay, fine it does the amazing Star Spangled Banner, but that is only one song. It also has a lot of my favorites, especially Voodoo Child, and every song before that one.

The lack of any real new material means that this one is not a great one, but to me, this is better than a lot of comps, so I can't but help giving this one a three star rating.

DEVIN TOWNSEND Ocean Machine: Biomech

Album · 1997 · Progressive Metal
Cover art 4.09 | 26 ratings
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Sheavy
(Original review from ProgArchives.com)

Considered one of Devy's better works, Ocean Machine is heavy with lots of feeling and emotion put into it. This album is not my absoluite favorite album by DT, but it still is up there. For me, there is just a bit to many boring parts, especially with the atmospheric songs with samples, I do not particully care to much for, but that is my only gripe with this album. The songwriting here is excellent and Devy does a wonderful job of keeping thing interesting (except the aforementioned parts ), with a good balance between the heavy stuff and the light atmospheric stuff. I do not really have much more to add to this album than what has already been said, so, just get this album. It is worth your time.

MANTRIC The Descent

Album · 2010 · Metalcore
Cover art 4.00 | 1 rating
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Sheavy
(original review from ProgArchives.com)

A very good offering by Ex-Extol members. I actually prefer the songs here more than the last extol release as this is much, much more interesting, with some strings, here and there, and some electronic flourishes. This album also has a nice mix of hardcore screamed vocals, and pleasant clean vocals. The songwriting is much improved in my opinion than anything extol ever released, and a ton more immersing. The guitar work is very good, with many styles being incorporated, from some post rock influences on the guitar, like the opener, The Asylum, and some more traditional heavy approach. The drums are also very good and precise.

The standouts for me on here are without a doubt Spear Of Heaven, which has a beautiful, operatic middle portion of the track, with string arrangements and some heavy riffing over this. Thius then fades into some almost chaotic like noise, with some feedback, and some electronic synth washings going on around all the rumblings. This then starts to fade until the song ends.

Highly recommended for people who like many genres put into a nice package, and for fans of Extol.
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