Post funny Metal Archives reviews
>>123696081There haven't been many actual metalheads here since like 2015 chap
>>123696357crabcore counts as metal
>>123696360dumb zoomer faggot
>>123696377i was born in 91, you absolute rape-meat
Starting off with what sounds like a pop-punk band covering a Catherine Wheel song while a spastic ADD drummer hits his kit randomly, it's safe to say the rest of this album is a pretend metal sham, and it is. This part then goes into a fast strummed indie chords part for a "bittersweet" effect. This is pretty much the extent of the emotional expression contained in this album, aside from some "reflective" clean guitar pieces that accomplish the same thing sans the pretending to be a metal band part of it. The worst thing is Deafheaven fail to even do that. This whole things feels like the byproduct of focus groups coming up with a way to repackage Orchid's Gatefold album in a way that would appeal to Slowdive and Emperor fans at the same time through the "post-black" gimmick.To start off, the lyrics are inappropriate for metal. They read like some whiny hot topic kids egocentric musings about how life has wronged him because of heartbreak and other mundane "high school" topics. I suppose they felt metal topics can be cliche and felt the need to drum up their indie "slam poets" card to show people how deep they are, but the whole thing comes across as something AFI would do than any metal band. These lyrics are appropriate enough, however, for the "emo" that they bury under black metal aesthetics to fool morons into believing that they are buying the next new thing. Bittersweet, mundane topics for a hoaky, whiny album. You can tell these whiners have made a bad album just by looking at them (indie haircuts and Aeropostale shirts in "black metal"...how IRONIC...). The whole thing reads off like some self-pitying, Kurt Cobain styled bored youth vapidity. Just moping and whining about first world problems.
>>123697800The hippies have won. Everything that's wrong with modern "metal" can be found on this album. For starters, it's not even a metal album, having more in line with the screamo with more minor chords and blastbeats variant that is referred to as "emo-violence", like their clone targets Massachusetts band Orchid. The only thing that makes this "black metal" is a couple rare moments where a "blackened" part akin to something maybe Strid would have done makes an appearance to break up some of the monotony (even then, it feels like a generic DSBM part that could have been borrowed from Shining or Xasthur). The rest sounds like Slowdive discovered trem picking and hired the wrong drummer, which is where people came up with the conclusion that they mix black metal with post-rock and shoegaze elements. The songs go nowhere, droning on incessantly in one fixed mood (bittersweet melancholy) underscoring "emotional" vocals that are more akin to what an "extreme" screamo vocalist (like the one in Orchid) would perform than any kind of black metal vocals. The end result is whine rock with nothing to offer, but since it's in a more "extreme" form, you can lie to people and tell them that this is a "nu" kind of black metal and they would buy it, even if it is cut from the same mold of things they supposedly hate. The fact that these guys have no problem riding the waves of this marketing gimmick for the sake of popularity reveals just how insincere their band is.
>>123697826 These guy don't understand metal and this album feels like it was written by a bunch of guys who should be known for playing LUSH covers to Starbucks aficionados than anything remotely related to metal. If you think ironically juxtaposing underground metal aesthetics (where only the fast drumming and fast chord strumming speed are utilized) with the music of a Sigur Ros LP is the next "nu" creative frontier, then do yourself a favor: stop listening to metal (or pretending to), and go search for early 90s 4AD records releases. At least that way you can listen to crap in it's original form instead of this insincere whine rock. Vapid.
McDonald's culture approved mall muzakThis void of passion in media product form represents a complete deterioration in composition and concept for this band: an obvious over-simplification to pander to the lowest common denominator. The "sell-out" album in a nutshell. The fact that the lead single "Blinded by Fear" was completely finished in a half hour during a rehearsal (according to the band) just goes to show how much effort was put into this recording, a far cry from their earlier Alf Svensson (ex-guitarist) spearheaded recordings. Gone are the progressive compositions that felt like reflections of scenes from a story in the form of sound, replaced by commercial metal techniques held in a radio song format. The fact that the promo pic used for this album shows the band sitting around a table drinking beer further shows this was nothing more than the byproduct of jaded alcoholics scheming to make quick cash on what was trendy at the time (the commercially successful routes Carcass and Entombed traveled with their vapidity might have influenced this decision).
>>123697965Despite what the artwork might suggest, there is no grand scheme here as lyrics have taken a turn for the worst - sounding like a meme reiterated multiple different ways than a story. Shouting incessantly in a raspy voice about social ills, religion, and depression delivered through an angsty "Life Sucks!" manner. It's not unlike the ones Machine Head would later popularize with the song title being shouted ad nauseum for the chorus. The cliff-notes version to most of this would read something like: "life sucks - suicide, religion is bad - suicide, it's like nothing is really real man - suicide, suicide suicide, suicide, suicide suicide". Whereas their old lyrics had a place in the narrative of that albums concept, here they read like they took one idea and regurgitated it 9 different ways to "get it over with". I suppose these lyrics serve the function of this album well considering the drive-thru fast food restaurant television commercial jingle like nature of the music.Everything has devolved. Nothing here isn't something that wasn't already done by more successful bands. The music has been reduced to bouncy and mechanical rhythm riffs with cheesy melodies. Warmed over "happy" rock harmony 101 generic heavy metal fodder is interrupted by staccato chugging patterns on the bottom end string as a tide over for the next recombination of notes from the same typical heavy metal scales. The only difference here from other bands that use similar techniques is the down tuning and guitar tone having a typical "Swedish" tone (which, despite having recorded a demo and album at Sunlight Studios, was something this band never had - another commercial move perhaps?). The way this music was written recalls Metallica's Blackened with added Iron Maiden inspiration appearing in the "catchy harmonies" and galloping riffs.
>>123698002Everything is done in a verse-chorus format to the point of nauseating repetition. Here, it's obvious how this album influenced metalcore. "Mad at the world" verses, "sad at things" choruses, and happy "raise your fists in the air! HEY! HEY!" bridges with bluesy heavy metal solos show the same ideas being assembled into the same structural format. It's a formula that gets tiresome by the 3rd track, which features a guest solo by Andy Laroque that adds nothing to the song that the band themselves weren't already doing on the previous tracks. The only variation comes in the form of a few Pantera-esque mall grooves like those in World of Lies, Suicide Nation, and the end of the title track (band claims it was a Trouble influence); a heavy metal-ized parody of an early Dismember riff (Under a Serpent Sun) and a clean guitar break (Unto Others), but these are quickly thrown out for the same mindlessly formulaic repetition. A couple instrumentals also appear, one sounding like a hippie camp fire song (I was half expecting a drunken voice to yell out "HEY-E-EE-YEAH! UNFORGIVE-E-IN!") and another which sounds like a castoff from the Duke Nukem 3D soundtrack with it's repeating drone of midi synthesizer chords.
>>123698020 I strongly recommend seeking out their first demo/ep Gardens of Grief and The Red in the Sky is Ours album and steering clear of this album. A depressing display of wasted talent that is analogous to the vacuity found in everyday modern life and culture (done before Iphones and Facebook no less). Avoid this Necrolord cover (made stupid with the awful re-imagined logo that looks stolen from a Sega Genesis box cover) adorned platter of sonic diarrhea like the garbage it is. Hopelessly vapid.
i'm still annoyed that this shit isn't featured on there cuz "not metal" but they have a ton of other actual non-metal bands, and bands influenced and inspired by TAP.
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