Month November 2021

Lamb of God – Sacrament

Peter Jones Leave a comment

Over the years my tastes in music have changed, something that I think happens to most, if not all, people. In some cases, I can pin moments of that changing musical tastes to specific albums. Sacrament is one such album.

I first stumbled across an instrumental version of Sacrament, which was probably good. At the time, I was (for better or worse) a much more tender flower, who would have rejected the album outright due to the aggressive nature of the lyrics. However, time (and years spent as a surgeon – trust me, we can curse with the best of them) desensitized me to the point I not only didn’t reject the lyrics, I found solace in them.

Immediately, Sacrament grabs you with the groove of “Walk With Me in Hell”, a driving, pummeling track. It can be off putting. It can seem dark, negative, hateful. And yet, as with so much in music, there is much more to that. Instead, it actually is an invitation that builds to an anthemic crescendo, inviting us all to walk through Hell together, to lean on each other to get through the bullshit that life throws at us.

I find that incredibly inspiring.

Not all tracks have that same type of inspiration. “More Time to Kill” spews vitriol like few other songs. Take the opening lines, for example:

I just got the news today you were dying

Hot damn, we’re already partying

But please, before you have to leave

Let me tell you a few last things

But you know what? Talk about catharsis. Get done with that and you just feel better. It purges something out of you. Hell, you can’t look me in the eye and tell me we haven’t all felt that way about someone in our lives. Because we totally have, and we’ve wished we could say that. And so, Randy Blythe spews it out with gravel to boot.

Sacrament doesn’t ever really let up. Songs have massive, mosh-worthy, breakdowns. The vocals are relatively one note, harsh growls, but there is variability here and there, more than on previous albums. But you didn’t come to a Lamb of God album for sweet crooning. If you did, you done messed up, bro. One thing that Randy has always excelled in is the clarity of his delivery. It is too easy for harsh vocals to become unintelligible. That is avoided here, the lyrics are almost shockingly understandable. And that works in the music’s favor. Lamb of God works best for me as a vehicle for rage, frustration, and the need to process. Understanding the biting lyrics makes that so much more effective.

This certainly isn’t my favorite Lamb of God album (that would be Ashes of the Wake). But it was the first LoG album I listened to, start to finish. And it was a powerful introduction to a band I was aware of, but hadn’t really listened to up to that point. Live, this band is phenomenal (see the above banner picture), and they do an excellent job of translating their live energy to the record. Lamb of God is one of those bands that are just incredibly reliable. There isn’t ever any wondering what you are going to get. You know: aggressive, groove heavy music that will get you going, help purge some of the ugly out of you, and leave you feeling just a little bit better, no matter how bad the day was.

Mastodon – Hushed and Grim

Peter Jones Leave a comment

I have a bit of a troubled relationship with Mastodon. I fell in love with their 2006 release Blood Mountain and thoroughly enjoyed the albums that preceded that one. Crack the Skye was a progressive opus that blew me away.

But follow up, The Hunter, left me cold. It just didn’t click with me. Nor did follow up Once More ‘Round the Sun, both of them just feeling less aggressive, somewhat more straightforward sound that just didn’t excite me. Emperor of Sand started to win me over a bit more, and I did listen to it a fair amount when it first came out. Yet I just didn’t find myself going back to any of these albums with any sort of regularity.

When I then stumbled across their soon to be released album Hushed and Grim I was intrigued, but can’t say I was excited. Taking full advantage of my streaming music subscription, I added the album to my library and briefly checked out part of one of the tracks that had been released. Again, I felt nonplussed. I wasn’t immediately turned off, but I certainly wasn’t excited. Add to that the fact it was a double album, reaching almost 90 minutes in length, I didn’t know what to expect.

So I suppose it was beneficial that I had an upcoming trip, with an unusual amount of time to listen to music. Because, make no mistake, this album requires a significant investment from the listener.

However, after a number of listens, I found that the investment was rewarded. Hushed and Grim is full (perhaps a little too full) of surprisingly emotional music. Written as a tribute to the band’s former manager who passed away a few years ago, the album is replete with the emotions that go with losing someone close to you: loss, anger, sadness, hope.

There is also a heaviness to the album that draws me back in when compared to the previous albums. The trademark Mastodon sound is present, heavy, a little sludgy, and a very nice use of the multiple vocalists. Hushed and Grim is a journey, and one that I have found rewarding over repeated listens. It isn’t an easy listen, not something you drop in and out of. But if you have 90 minutes to really sit back and listen, I find this the most engaging Mastodon release in a decade.

Spiritbox – Eternal Blue

Peter Jones Leave a comment

I blame Kmac2021. An excellent musician who disguises himself as a YouTube meme, I first stumbled on his videos blending songs from the likes of the Beatles with death metal. Hi. Lar. I. Ous. No, but seriously, they are funny and totally worth checking out. One day, a number of years ago, he linked to a track from the self-titled EP by a band call Spiritbox.

I checked that album out, found a sound I enjoyed, and added it to my library. Some additional singles were released over the next few years, and I would be aware enough to add them to my library, but not aware enough I found myself going back with sufficient frequency to really have the band click with me.

Enter “Holy Roller”. Reaction videos started popping up on YouTube very shortly after the release of the video in July 2020. This time I think it was Nik Nocturnal’s video that popped up and I decided to give it a watch.

W. T. F.

It was heavy. Really heavy. The video was appropriately creepy. It grabbed me. I was fascinated. I started gobbling up the band’s previous work, in particular the singles “Blessed Be” and “Rule of Nines”. Here was a band with a powerful, versatile vocalist, super clean and punchy production, wicked guitars, and just an overall accessible, while still interestingly complex package. Add on to that, in all their social media and interactions with their Patreon supporters, the band just seemed like chill, super cool people.

I started following them in earnest and they continued to release a number of additional singles. Anticipation for the full album built for me. And then Eternal Blue dropped.

I’ve been asked what genre Spiritbox would fall into. I guess I would say metalcore. But I feel like that label sells them very short. Lead singer Courtney Laplante has a beautiful clean voice with an often ethereal quality to it. Her screams are things of legend, and her growls, while not the most guttural of female vocalists out there, are very powerful and dynamic. Husband Mike Stringer is an excellent guitarist, combining simple playing with often deceptive complexity, creating layers that help to build the atmosphere in their music.

It really is this atmospheric nature of their music that I think sets them apart from most metalcore bands. Songs have very heavy moments, consistent with the genre. Yet these are often more than balanced by atmosphere, electronic elements, and clean guitar playing.

And Eternal Blue embraces and embodies that diversity. There are songs that are just complete bangers (see “Holy Roller”), while others are tranquil tracks that really lust allow the atmosphere and the emotion of the tracks to wash over you (“We Live In A Strange World”, “Constance”). There are also tracks that are relatively straight forward metal songs, while others are soaked in electronica and layers of effects.

The album also flows fantastically from track to track. In the era of singles (interestingly, many were released prior to the release of Eternal Blue as a whole), this is one of those albums that really was written and recorded in a way to encourage listening from start to finish.

In a genre that can, at times, become boring and predictable, Spiritbox do an exceptional job on Eternal Blue of keeping things interesting. While it rarely feels out of place (with the exception, for me, of the chorus of “Yellowjacket”), the zigging when a zag is expected is done class and skill. Spiritbox seems to really be hitting their stride at the moment, and Eternal Blue is an excellent demonstration as to why that is happening. It is a fascinating release, and makes me that much more interested in what the band will bring next.

Archspire – Bleed The Future

Peter Jones Leave a comment

I don’t even remember how it happened. It was most likely on angrymetalguy.com, since that is how I tend to find most of my new music. But I recall seeing the cover for Relentless Mutation by Archspire, and thinking “that is some freaking crazy album artwork!”

Little did I know, the artwork was just a shadow of what I would discover on the actual album itself. 

Firing that album up and hearing “Involuntary Doppelgänger” was one of those pivotal moments in my music life. No joke. I knew, going in, that Archspire was technical death metal. So I expected theatrics. My brain and ears were not ready for the level of theatrics. Insane drum fills, lightning fast guitar riffs, and harsh vocals that were so rapid fire and percussive, I still haven’t heard their like. 

But while it was immediate amazement, it wasn’t immediate love. The technical ability on display was untouchable. But so dense was the music that it took a bit to really get into it. However, once I did, I was secondarily amazed at how, despite the insanity of the music, there was still a focus on melody, on the musicality of the songs. It became one of my favorite albums of 2017.

Fast forward to 2021. The announcement of a new Archspire album was now met with immediate anticipation. Listening, over and over again, to the singles that were released prior to the full album dropping, my anticipation was only fed. And then the full album dropped.

Bleed the Future is an unapologetic, brutal, technical 32 minutes. It is also an absolute, unequivocal triumph.

On display is everything about Relentless Mutation that I loved, but better. More speed, more technicality, more vocal lines that are so fast you simply can’t follow them if you happen to watch the lyric video. No joke. But most impressive is this: these songs are catchy as hell. It is true. Despite the brutality, the speed, the insanity of the music, these songs are true earworms. Melodies get stuck in your head, passages embed themselves in a way that just won’t let go or let up.

Very welcome on this release is an improvement in the presence of the bass. Rush was my first love, the first band I went all in on, and I think that has had a huge influence on my lifelong love of bass in music. And so, it pains me when it is absent (And Justice For All I’m glaring in your direction). And while it wasn’t absent on previous releases, it just feels so much more present here. It rounds out each song, adding a depth that is so welcome.

Amongst the insanity there are also many moments to catch one’s breath. These moments of slow and peaceful brilliance are essential and so welcome. While just over 30 minutes long, Bleed The Future would be punishing to get through from start to finish, were it not for these well placed and thoughtful breaks. They are another example of just how tight and brilliant Archspire are. These guys know what they are doing, and understand music incredibly well.

Melodic guitar solos also act in a contrapuntal fashion to the brutal tech death riffing, giving moments of reprieve from the onslaught, injecting beauty in the overall all album. The efficiency of the album in communicating all of this is incredible.

If it wasn’t obvious yet, let me make this perfectly clear. Bleed the Future is a truly amazing album. It is rare that an album grabs me with such a choke hold, but this has done just that. Other very good albums have come out recently, and yet while I listen to them, all I can think is “but I could be listening to Bleed The Future instead!” If this isn’t my top album of 2021, it means something is coming out in the next two months that I am not aware of. I don’t see how any album tops this.

Archspire aren’t just bleeding the future, these guys are creating the future of tech death in a way no other band is. And this is a future I believe in and welcome.

30 Albums in 30 Days: Vol 2

Peter Jones Leave a comment

Two years ago, I decided to embark on a writing experiment where I did a write up for an album a day, over the course of the 30 days in November. It was a cheat way to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I’m not writing a novel (though I want to), but I do want to push myself to write more often, again. I have let that fall off a fair bit over the last year or so, and want to reignite that. What better way than to try to repeat something I have already done?

Okay, so there are probably better ways. But I didn’t really want an answer, because this is what I am going to do.

Unlike two years ago, I’m not thinking about this too much before hand. Back then, I had compiled a list of the albums I wanted to write about. I thought about doing that, but decided that, in another effort to push myself a little bit, I wanted to have to come up with what I was going to write about the day I was writing. May it lead to worse articles? Less thought? Maybe.

But this is, at least in part, an exercise in pushing myself. So I am trying to find more ways to push myself. Also, I am considering making some brief videos about these albums as well, as video is something I have been wanting to get into. So there will likely be an accompanying video for some of these articles.

Welcome to 30 Albums in 30 Days: Volume 2.