Oceans are a metal band from Germany/Austria, and this is their second album.
This is the follow up to 2020’s enjoyable The Sun and the Cold, and features 39 minutes of new material. Well, I say new, this album seems to have been already released as three EPs , making this a compilation of sorts. Continue reading “Oceans – Hell Is Where the Heart Is (Review)”
Borders are a modern metal band from the UK. This is their second album.
Borders impressed with their 2017 EP Diagnosed, which they followed up with the enjoyable Purify in 2019. Now the band are back with 31 minutes of new material on Bloom Season, and they sound bigger and more ambitious than ever. Continue reading “Borders – Bloom Season (Review)”
This is the third album from US metal band Orthodox.
Orthodox combine metallic hardcore and nu-metal into a 42-minute slab of angst and heaviness. Continue reading “Orthodox – Learning to Dissolve (Review)”
The Last Ten Seconds of Life are a US deathcore band, this is their fifth album.
I last heard The Last Ten Seconds of Life on their 2016 album The Violent Sound, which was an enjoyable excursion into rowdy metal waters. On their latest album the band have taken a slight step back with their their hybrid sound; it’s still part-deathcore, part nu-metal, part hardcore, and Continue reading “The Last Ten Seconds of Life – The Last Ten Seconds of Life (Review)”
This is the fourth album from US progressive metallers Rivers of Nihil.
The Work is a 64-minute journey into the increasingly ambitious world of Rivers of Nihil. 2018’s very well-regarded Where Only Owls Know My Name introduced more progressive elements then the previous album did, and the end result of this same evolution is showcased on The Work. Continue reading “Rivers of Nihil – The Work (Review)”
Betraying the Martyrs are a French metalcore band and this is their fourth album.
Betraying the Martyrs play keyboard-enriched metalcore that contains elements of both technical and nu-metal. The band’s sound makes for a dynamic listen that doesn’t pull punches, either musically or emotionally. Roughly a mix of Bleeding Through, American Headcharge, Carnifex, Korn, Born of Osiris, and Slipknot, Rapture is a rich and enjoyable album. Continue reading “Betraying the Martyrs – Rapture (Review)”
Aterra are from Poland and this is their début album. They play modern Metal.
This album is full of heavy guitars and enough beats to dance to. This is distinctly from the modern school of Metal that fuses Metalcore with elements of Thrash and even Nu-Metal.
This is quite a varied release, with plenty of different styles and flavours touched upon over the 37 minutes of music here. There are frequent small interludes between the main tracks and these take a wide variety of different forms, adding texture as the album unfolds.
How to describe the band…take a bit of Sepultura, (Chaos A.D./Roots-era, vocals and music), a pinch of Korn’s funkiness, some of the Metal stylings of Darkest Hour and Killswitch Engage, the added electronic parts of Rammstein…it’s quite a melting pot of influences that makes me quite nostalgic for this kind of music during the late 90s and early 00s in some ways.
This has the variety and pop-Metal foundation of Nu-Metal, hardened up by Metalcore’s grittier influence. And, unless you’re completely allergic to this kind of thing, it works well. This is helped greatly by the fact that the vocals, (for the most part), are mainly barked out at full volume throughout. Yes, there is the odd spoken-word and clean vocal, but for the most part they’re uncompromisingly un-radio friendly, which is always a bonus.
Very good. Loud, brash, unapologetic and shamelessly enjoyable. All Born in Pain works well.
Recommended.
Cold Snap are from Croatia and this is their third album. They play Modern Metal.
World War 3 is a surprisingly varied album for what it is. I was expecting a straight Metalcore band for some reason, and although they have this side to them there’s more to Cold Snap than just this.
Mix Metalcore with a bit of Nu-Metal and you’ll have an idea of what Cold Snap are attempting here. Elements of Korn, Disturbed, Slipknot and Machine Head can be heard.
After Nu-Metal effectively stopped existing, (as far as I am concerned), a very long time ago it’s actually quite refreshing to hear something like this again, especially when it’s actually done quite well and without the majority of the generic nonsense that plagued the style.
So as I was saying; Cold Snap have a fair degree of variety in their sound and don’t simply repeat the same formula every song. Similarities exist between tracks of course, as is the same for most bands who play one style, but within their chosen framework they do attempt to mix it up a bit.
The singer has a decent voice and doesn’t fall too foul of the various vocal pit-falls that this style can have. Overall he gives a good performance.
The band are at their best when they let the Euro-Metal influences come to the front. Sections of some of the songs have influences from bands like Nevermore, Darkane and Soilwork, and these are the most enjoyable parts for me.
It’s quite a nostalgic listen in some ways; it’s a familiar style but without being overly so, probably because I haven’t really listened to anything like this in a while. If World War 3 had come out about 15 years ago Cold Snap probably would have been quite big.
If Nu-Metal is a best-forgotten nightmare for you then this will probably not float your boat, but if you want to hear a modern take on it with a beefy, professional production then check out Cold Snap and see what you think.
For myself, this has definitely grown on me and I’ll be spinning this again in the future.
Black Aces are from Brazil and the secret to what they play is cunningly hidden in the album title…
The band know how to play their instruments and write short, bouncy songs with plenty of energy and flair. Their sound is somewhat akin to how Korn would sound if they were instrumental and had more leads. Black Aces have that same kind of bass sound and drum/bass interaction that Korn used so well on their first album.
The band show considerable talent and potential for a début, especially from such a young group.
Hopefully the future will bring bright things for them.
Wonderbox Metal 