Reviews – Page 475 – Wonderbox Metal

Tenth Amendment – Conviction (Review)

This is the second album from this US Metal band.

Tenth Amendment play modern Metal with groove and aggression. Back in the 90s when this kind of thing was just called either Metal or Hardcore rather than groove Metal or Metalcore, (usually due to how the band looked more than anything else), bands like Pantera, Fear Factory, Machine Head, Merauder, Skinlab and Pro-Pain we all staples of my CD collection, and Tenth Amendment very much remind me of that time.

Coming across as a combination of the aforementioned bands, we get song-based aggression with an industrial undercurrent that leans towards the heavier end of the spectrum. The album is very riff-based and there’s a purity of intent inherent in this kind of approach.

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Zeit – The World Is Nothing (Review)

This is the début album from Italian Hardcore band Zeit.

With a good sound that has a fair trade-off between warmth and cold harshness, Zeit spend almost 24 minutes demonstrating their brand of dissonant, violent Hardcore.

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Circle of Reason – Faith or Theory (Review)

Circle of Reason are a rock band from the UK. This is their latest release.

Circle of Reason play an interesting brand of modern rock that combines elements of the progressive and alternative styles into their tasty recipe. The end result is instantly-gratifying songs that nonetheless have that vital ingredient of longevity to them, meaning you’ll come back and listen to them again.

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Death Lullaby – Wormz (Review)

Death Lullaby are a Canadian Metal band and this is their début album.

This is modern Metal/djent that takes no prisoners with its heavy assault.

Stylistically the band are somewhat of a crossbreed between djent and NWOAHM. This is to their benefit; djent by itself is a very easy sub-genre to do badly, but here the limitations of the style are made up for by the more Metal influences of the modern/NWOAHM elements. The end result is songs that still might be a bit too much for some naysayers of djent, but for me strikes the right balance.

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Fister/Teeth – Split (Review)

Fister and Teeth are both bands from the US, and they’ve teamed up for this split release.

Fister start us off with one track – We All Die Tonight. Although they’ve never graced this site before, Fister’s brand of Sludgy Doom is most enjoyable, and this song is no different.

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Enthean – Priests of Annihilation (Review)

Enthean are from the US and this is their début album. They play Black Metal.

This is progressive, technical and symphonic Black/Death Metal. It’s a bit of a mouthful, but then this is a band who have a lot of different influences. I hear bands like Zyklon, Dissection, Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Septic Flesh and Fleshgod Apocalypse in their sound.

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Surgical Meth Machine – Surgical Meth Machine (Review)

This is the début album from US industrial Metal band Surgical Meth Machine.

Headed up by none other than Ministry’s Al Jourgensen, this is 40 minutes of mostly speed and aggression, just the way we like it.

Kind of taking what Ministry did only ramping it up to the nth degree, this is the sound of an artist unburdened by expectations of past achievements and just plain going for it.

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Bog of the Infidel – Asleep in the Arms of Suicide (Review)

This is the second album from US Black Metallers Bog of the Infidel.

Bog of the Infidel play raw, orthodox Black Metal that sounds like it was recorded in an underground cavern by cultists. If you’re after the more sanitised, commercialised version of Black Metal then this won’t be for you. At all.

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Synthetic – Here Lies the Truth (Review)

Synthetic are a Metal band from the UK and this is their début album.

This is modern melodic Metal that features a EuroMetal style with aspects of Scandinavian melodeth. There’s a bit more depth involved to these songs than you might expect from the description, however, as the band also incorporate elements of classic and progressive Metal, allowing them to stand out from the pack a bit more than the average proponent of this type of music. Continue reading “Synthetic – Here Lies the Truth (Review)”

Phazm – Scornful of Icons (Review)

Phazm are from France and this is their fourth album. They play Black Metal.

Phazm’s brand of Black Metal is influenced by the Death ‘n’ Roll style as well as old-school Black Metal. These elements combine to produce a very likeable collection of songs that focus on being a catchy and enjoyable combination of blast beats, groove and inhuman vocals.

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