2016 - WeMetalheads

Metallica – Hardwired…To Self-Destruct

November 18, 2016 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: USA
Style: Thrash metal / Heavy metal
Label: Blackened Recordings
Release date: 18 November 2016

After a long wait between studio records, the first thing Hardwired…To Self-Destruct does is refuse to waste any more time. The title track is over almost before you’ve braced for it, all clipped downpicking and Hetfield barking like it’s 1983 again. Then “Atlas, Rise!” kicks in with that galloping, Maiden-flavoured harmony lead, and for a few minutes you forget about everything the band put you through in the previous decade.

It’s a double album, and it plays like one. Disc one is the stronger half: “Moth Into Flame” has the best riff Metallica have written in years, a twisting thrash figure with a chorus that actually sticks, and “Halo On Fire” takes its time building toward a properly moving finale. Greg Fidelman’s production is dry and punchy, the drums finally sound like drums, and Hetfield’s voice carries real grit without the strained bark of the past.

Disc two sags. “ManUNkind” and “Murder One” are fine but forgettable, and too many songs ride a good riff for two minutes longer than they need to. Then “Spit Out the Bone” arrives and pays off all the patience, a flat-out thrash burner that would have sat comfortably on the old classics. Trim twenty minutes and this would be a stone-cold great record. As it is, it’s the most convincing Metallica album in a very long time.

Best tracks:

Atlas, Rise!
Moth Into Flame
Halo On Fire
Spit Out the Bone

Author’s rating: 8.2/10

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In Flames – Battles

November 11, 2016 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Sweden
Style: Alternative metal / Melodic death metal
Label: Nuclear Blast / Eleven Seven Music
Release date: 11 November 2016

Anyone still waiting for The Jester Race part two should look away now. Recorded in Los Angeles with Howard Benson, a producer better known for radio rock than Gothenburg riffing, Battles is In Flames at their most polished and most openly pop. Some of it works. A lot of it just sort of drifts past.

The good stuff is genuinely good. “Drained” opens with a punchy groove and one of Anders Fridén’s better choruses, “The End” has a gang-chant hook built for arenas, and “Here Until Forever” is a properly moving slow-burner. “Through My Eyes” has a bit of the old melodic bite in Björn Gelotte’s lead lines. Elsewhere, though, “Like Sand” and “Wallflower” lean so hard on processed vocals and gloss that they barely register, and the harsh vocals feel like an afterthought. It’s a well-made record with its edges sanded off, fine on the car stereo, but hard to love.

Best tracks:

Drained
The End
Through My Eyes
Here Until Forever

Author’s rating: 6.8/10

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Dark Tranquillity – Atoma

November 4, 2016 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Sweden
Style: Melodic death metal
Label: Century Media
Release date: 4 November 2016

Gothenburg’s most reliable band went through a quiet upheaval before this one, with Martin Henriksson stepping away, and you might have expected a cautious record as a result. Atoma is anything but timid. It’s melancholic, synth-heavy and full of choruses that stick for days, and Mikael Stanne sounds completely at home switching between his weathered growl and a clean voice that gets plenty of space here.

“Encircled” kicks off with tense, driving riffs, but it’s the title track that shows where the album’s heart is: mid-paced, moody, carried by a clean chorus that could almost pass for gothic rock. “Forward Momentum” is even better, a slow builder with a refrain that hits like a sucker punch. “Force of Hand” and “The Pitiless” remind everyone they can still play fast and mean.

The keyboards are everywhere, shimmering behind the guitars rather than fighting them, and the closing “Caves and Embers” ends on a bleak, beautiful note. If there’s a complaint, it’s that the middle stretch blurs a little. Even so, it’s their most emotionally direct album in a long while, wrapped in Niklas Sundin’s own cover art.

Best tracks:

Atoma
Forward Momentum
Force of Hand
Clearing Skies
Caves and Embers

Author’s rating: 8.6/10

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Ulcerate – Shrines of Paralysis

October 28, 2016 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: New Zealand
Style: Technical death metal
Label: Relapse Records
Release date: 28 October 2016

Ulcerate have never been an easy listen, and Shrines of Paralysis won’t change that. What it does change is the balance. The dissonant, smothering chords are still there, but there is more melody threaded through them this time, a sort of grim, ringing beauty that makes the onslaught feel less like a wall and more like weather.

“Abrogation” starts the album in full churn, but “Yield to Naught” is where it clicks, Michael Hoggard’s guitar spiralling around long, sustained figures while Jamie Saint Merat’s drumming does things that shouldn’t be humanly possible, never just blasting but constantly shifting accents and textures. The title track is the centrepiece, slow and crushing, with Paul Kelland’s roar sitting right in the middle of the storm. “Extinguished Light” might be the most immediate thing they’ve written, if that word can ever apply to Ulcerate.

It’s long and dense and some will find the relentlessness wearing by the time “End the Hope” rolls around. Give it a few spins with headphones, though, and its architecture starts to make sense. The production gives it real depth without losing the grime.

Best tracks:

Yield to Naught
There Are No Saviours
Shrines of Paralysis
Extinguished Light

Author’s rating: 8.9/10

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Testament – Brotherhood of the Snake

October 28, 2016 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: USA
Style: Thrash metal
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release date: 28 October 2016

Faster, rawer and angrier than Dark Roots of Earth, this is the Testament record for people who wanted the veterans to stop being tasteful. The title track bursts out at full sprint, Chuck Billy roaring over a riff that never stops climbing, and the solos trade blows with real venom.

“The Pale King” is the obvious anthem, stomping and grim, while “Stronghold” and “Seven Seals” prove the guitar team still has a bottomless supply of serrated riffs. Andy Sneap’s mix is huge but not plastic, and the drums hit like a jackhammer. The lyrical theme of ancient secret societies is a bit of B-movie fun, but nobody is listening for the plot.

It does run a little samey in the second half, and “Canna-Business” is a goofy detour that won’t be on anyone’s mixtape. Still, for a band this far into its career, Brotherhood of the Snake is fierce and focused, and “The Number Game” closes the record on a high.

Best tracks:

Brotherhood of the Snake
The Pale King
Stronghold
Seven Seals

Author’s rating: 8.3/10

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Crowbar – The Serpent Only Lies

October 28, 2016 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: USA
Style: Sludge metal / Doom metal
Label: eOne
Release date: 28 October 2016

Crowbar have never been a band that needs reinventing, and The Serpent Only Lies doesn’t try. What it does is sound hungrier than they have in a while, with the heavy, slightly ragged swing that made their early records so crushing.

“Falling While Rising” kicks things off with one of those Kirk Windstein riffs that feels like being leaned on by a building, and “Plasmic and Pure” keeps the weight on. The title track is the best thing here, slow and sour with a chorus that sticks. A few mid-album songs blur together, which has always been the risk with Crowbar, but “As I Heal” closes on a genuinely moving note. Not a reinvention. Just a very good Crowbar album, which is plenty.

Best tracks:

Falling While Rising
The Serpent Only Lies
Plasmic and Pure
As I Heal

Author’s rating: 7.9/10

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Avenged Sevenfold – The Stage

October 28, 2016 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: USA
Style: Heavy metal / Progressive metal
Label: Capitol Records
Release date: 28 October 2016

Dropping a record with no warning was a bold move, but the real gamble on The Stage is what’s inside it. This is Avenged Sevenfold’s first concept album, built around artificial intelligence and humanity’s knack for wrecking itself, with Carl Sagan and Elon Musk named as inspirations. That sounds like a recipe for pomp, and sometimes it is, but most of the time the band sound hungrier than they have in years.

The title track sets the tone: a slow, ominous build-up, then eight-plus minutes of galloping riffs, Synyster Gates trading leads with Zacky Vengeance and M. Shadows sounding properly fired up. “Paradigm” and “Creating God” keep the prog flavour without losing the hooks, while “God Damn” is the short, nasty one, all stop-start riffing and new drummer Brooks Wackerman going berserk behind the kit. His playing changes the whole feel of the band. There’s a looseness and swing here that the last couple of records never had.

Not everything lands. “Angels” drags, and the middle of the album sags a bit before “Roman Sky” brings back some warmth with its strings. Then comes “Exist”, a closer of more than fifteen minutes that wanders through space-rock, thrash bursts and big melodic leads before Neil deGrasse Tyson delivers a spoken-word piece he wrote for the album. On paper it shouldn’t work. Somehow it does, and it ends the record on a note of genuine wonder.

It’s long and occasionally self-indulgent, but it’s also the most adventurous thing they’ve put out, and the moments that hit are huge.

Best tracks:

The Stage
Paradigm
God Damn
Roman Sky
Exist

Author’s rating: 8.3/10

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Anaal Nathrakh – The Whole of the Law

October 28, 2016 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: UK
Style: Black metal / Industrial metal
Label: Metal Blade Records
Release date: 28 October 2016

If you need a polite record, look elsewhere. The Whole of the Law is Dave Hunt and Mick Kenney doing what they do best: industrial-strength black metal and grind smashed together at absurd volume, with Hunt lurching between inhuman shrieks and huge, soaring clean hooks.

“Depravity Favours the Bold” and “Hold Your Children Close and Pray for Oblivion” come out swinging, but “We Will Fucking Kill You” is the one you’ll remember, a gleefully ridiculous title stuck onto a genuinely catchy chorus. “Extravaganza!” lives up to its name. The sheer density wears you down by the final third and the programming can feel cold, but as a blast of controlled chaos this is hard to beat.

Best tracks:

Depravity Favours the Bold
Hold Your Children Close and Pray for Oblivion
We Will Fucking Kill You
Extravaganza!

Author’s rating: 8.0/10

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Khemmis – Hunted

October 21, 2016 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: USA
Style: Doom metal
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Release date: 21 October 2016

Five songs, not a wasted minute. Denver’s Khemmis already turned heads with Absolution, but Hunted is the record where they stop sounding like a promising doom band and start sounding like a great heavy metal band that happens to play slow.

The secret is the guitars. “Above the Water” opens on a twin harmony lead that could have come off an early ’80s Maiden record, then drops into a riff so heavy it feels like the floor gives way. The clean vocals soar over the top with real conviction, and when the harsher roar arrives it hits twice as hard for the contrast. “Candlelight” is the most melodic track here and has a chorus you’ll be humming for days, while “Three Gates” picks up the pace with a galloping, almost Motörhead-ish swagger.

“Beyond the Door” is gloomier and more patient, but the closing title track is where it all comes together: the most dramatic song here, moving through mournful melody, crushing slow riffs and a final stretch of soaring leads that feels genuinely triumphant. Dave Otero’s production keeps everything warm and natural, letting the guitars ring out. Doom has rarely sounded this alive.

Best tracks:

Hunted
Above the Water
Candlelight
Three Gates

Author’s rating: 9.0/10

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Darkthrone – Arctic Thunder

October 14, 2016 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Norway
Style: Black metal / Heavy metal
Label: Peaceville Records
Release date: 14 October 2016

There’s something wonderfully stubborn about Arctic Thunder. Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have stripped everything back, with Nocturno handling all the vocals, and the result is cold, slow-burning heavy metal with a black metal heart. “Tundra Leech” sets the tone with a lumbering, almost doomy riff that circles round and round until it turns hypnotic.

“Boreal Fiends” and the title track are where the album really bites: grinding mid-tempo riffs and a damp, rehearsal-room sound that refuses to flatter anyone. “Inbred Vermin” has a rough Celtic Frost swagger, and “The Wyoming Distance” sends you out on a gloomy, rolling groove. Not every riff lands, and anyone hoping for the blasting of the early nineties will be bored stiff. Everyone else gets one of the most purposeful records this duo has made in years.

Best tracks:

Tundra Leech
Boreal Fiends
Arctic Thunder
Inbred Vermin

Author’s rating: 8.6/10

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Tag: 2016

Metallica – Hardwired…To Self-Destruct

In Flames – Battles

Dark Tranquillity – Atoma

Ulcerate – Shrines of Paralysis

Testament – Brotherhood of the Snake

Crowbar – The Serpent Only Lies

Avenged Sevenfold – The Stage

Anaal Nathrakh – The Whole of the Law

Khemmis – Hunted

Darkthrone – Arctic Thunder

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