ALBUM REVIEW: Soilwork - "The Ride Majestic"

There are some bands who you can reliably expect to sound a certain way with a new release. Lamb of God, Iron Maiden, Rammstein, Neaera... Each has a core sound rarely deviated from. So it is for Soilwork, as they release disc number ten.

So, the real question comes down to this: Is the ride majestic? The answer is yes, yes it is. Shiny and chrome, and majestic. Here is an album that grabs you by the throat, pausing only briefly to allow you a breath before the mauling resumes. We have here harmonised dual leads (that undeniable Goteborg Sound), alternating gruff and melodic vocals, occasional keyboard flourishes, and the ever-ridiculous drumming of Dirk Verbeuren, the Nicest Guy in Metal.

A lot of bands try and claim that their new album is 'our most melodic' (see: more autotune) whilst simultaneously being 'our most brutal' (see: more breakdowns). So, for Soilwork to actually deliver on such a promise (whilst never explicitly stating it, to my knowledge) is impressive. The disc takes what they started on The Living Infinite, focuses it into 11 (13 on the special edition) songs, adds a liberal dash of A Predator's Portrait and Natural Born Chaos, and then sucks you into the maelstrom.

The title track is a pretty succint summation of the album; it has an insanely catchy lead hook and massive chorus, whilst never feeling trite. Speed is on fire, his vocals sounding better than ever on all fronts. Sylvain Coudret and David Andersson's guitar work is as ever an excellent continuation of the Soilwork sound, occasionally delving into somewhat calmer waters (Death in General, All Along Ehcoing Paths). We also have some intense brutality (Alight in the Aftermath, The Phantom) the latter of which is hearkening back to their Chainheart era material. It's very easily the band's most complete release, with no filler tracks, no wasted moments.

The main criticism we have to level here is that Sven Karlsson's keys are buried in the mix, for the most part. They come to the fore here and there, but it's much less pronounced that on the last few releases. Overall, it's a minor quibble however, and it doesn't necessarily hurt the flow of the songs at all.

This is easily a 10/10 effort, and I can foresee major rotation through my playlists for the next few months. Now for them to announce a UK tour, eh?

ALBUM REVIEW: Voices From The Fuselage - "Odyssey: The Destroyer of Worlds"

First review in a goodly number of months. Time for something a little bit more relaxed this time...



We should note that whilst various media outlets would have you believe that VFTF are somehow 'metalcore', they only rarely venture into metal territory. It's more apt to liken them to post rock / post metal. Odyssey is a disc I would most liken to Exit Ten's second disc, 'Give Me Infinity', and it will appeal to people looking to fill that Reading-shaped void in their lives.

The most obvious thing people will know about this band is Ashe, and most of those from his time in TesseracT. It shouldn't come as a surprise that his vocal work here is more of the same, although that can never be a criticism due to his voice being sublime (rumour has it Ashe is also doing a collaboration with Ben from Enochian Theory; this should excite you very much). It melds very well with the often sparse instrumentation, which for the most part is content to stay in the background supporting the vocal melodies.

That's not to say that the band as a whole don't have their moment - second track and lead single 'Inner Child' and the lengthy 'Meteorites' are rooted quite firmly in crunchy, downtuned guitars and aggressive rhythms. But this style of song is definitely in the minority on this disc; tracks such as 'Ortus' and 'Epicinium' are more prevalent by far.

Each song is well constructed with enough hooks to warrant repeat listens. I should also add that this album has the potential to be AOTY 2015 from this chap's point of view.

10/10

ALBUM REVIEW: The Agonist - 'Eye of Providence'

An album released after a core member change is always going to seem a difficult one, especially when the member being changed is one of the core elements of a band's sound. And that's exactly what The Agonist have gone through before releasing their new disc, 'Eye of Providence'.

Thankfully, any perceived difficulty in this change has been neatly blown away. They couldn't have done it better if they'd given such conceptions until the count of ten to get their ugly, yellow, no-good keister off of their property, before they pumped their guts full of lead (all right Johhny, I'm sorry, I'm goin'!). The band achieves this via a suite of thirteen songs, most of which hearken back to their second album, 'Lullabies For The Dormant Mind' (which for the record, you should own, and if you don't shame on you). There are also nods to their more progressive third disc, 'Prisoners'.

From an instrumental and production standpoint, the album certainly has an edge over the last release. My main complaint with Prisoners was that the drums sounded like mud when they got fast. Not this time. Every hit is clear and defined. Every note on the guitars comes clearly through a haze of biting distortion, whilst the bass is very much audible, biting and snapping in the mix. It's perhaps the most aggressive work of the band to date, though not quite so busy sonically as Lullabies is (keyboards and samples are notable by their general absence).

The vocals will be what most people focus on, as this is where the member change has happened - Alissa White-Gluz is now out, and Vicky Psarakis is in (though this is pretty old news, to be honest). The most notable difference is that Vicky's growls and screams have a throatier bite to them, perhaps being more rooted in traditional death metal vocals, and being somewhat lower in pitch overall. Her melodic passages are well constructed and catchy without the songs having to rely on them (as some bands are wont to do). The most notable difference is that her lyrics are relatively straightforward, in comparison to AWG's. This isn't necessarily a negative point, though, being that AWG's lyrics had always been, in essence, very complex poetry.

My criticisms come primarily from the tracklisting. The first nine tracks rip and tear like an enraged honey badger, and then we have a cluster of more gentle songs, interspersed with the album's heaviest track. It would have perhaps been a more even pace if the gentler numbers had been spaced more evenly through the album's hour-long runtime, but it's a very minor quibble overall. We may have a contender for album of the year 2015 already...

9.5/10