Korn - The Path Of Totality
Mixing their alternative metal with dubstep has made their fans react with mixed emotions. Some absolutely hate the new album but many seem to also love it. I am one of those who gladly welcome this development in their sound. For the last 10 years Korn has sounded more boring by each new album. Their attempt to return to the roots "Korn III: Remember who you are" was also an album that divided opinion and I personally disliked it a lot. It was plain boring. So inward turned effort without barely anything catchy. When I heard "Narcissistic Cannibal" it was confirmed to me they were doing the right thing and heading to a new direction.
I loved "Narcissistic Cannibal" so expectations were quite high for the upcoming album and in a sense it failed to deliver. The song writing could have been better and only few songs glimmer as diamonds. The highlights being pretty much the first two singles. Other tracks worth mentioning being the opening track "Chaos Lives In Everything" and "Way Too Far". What saves the album from mediocrity are the great electronics delivered by cream of the crop modern dubstep artists. The electro makes the album a delightful listening experience combined with the metal and vocals by Jonathan Davis. Although only few tracks manage to be hits, the album is enjoyable as a whole. The bonus tracks could have replaced some of the more boring album tracks as they are pretty good. I have few times in some polls voted Korn's album as the best album of the year, although I now realize the album is not worthy of that title. I was impressed that they manage to rise from complete mediocrity and dullness to become an interesting act once more. In my opinion "The Path Of Totality" is the best Korn album since 2002's Untouchables. I always liked when Korn were going towards industrial metal sound and this is as close to electro metal Korn as you are ever going to get. It's not a perfect album but it's sound is great and I was impressed by what they managed to do.
"Narcissistic Cannibal"
Aesthetic Perfection - All Beauty Destroyed
All Beauty Destroyed is melodic and poppy but also aggressive at the same time. From what I have heard of the bands previous work it was good but rather generic. With this album they head towards more poppy direction which in my opinion is a very good move for them. The album is danceable, filled with catchy melodies. The vocals are mostly clean but when necessary they are aggressive, giving good variety and a nice adrenaline boost. A great combination. The album doesn't include any best songs of the year but the first seven songs of the album are highly enjoyable. One of the catchiest ones is the single "Inhuman" which however took few listens for me to enjoy. The rest are not bad but not up to the same standard as the first seven tracks. The last song which is the title track is worthy of mentioning though as it's a beautiful slow song and a great outro for the album.
"Inhuman"
Dismantled - The War Inside Me
When I first heard "The War Inside Me" I had not heard many songs by Dismantled. I found out this album is very different from the previous ones. From more generic EBM, Future pop and dark electro Gary Zon has transformed his band into one completely evil, insane and aggressive creation. At it's best it gives me an adrenaline fueled aggression orgasm. I love it. Two songs which are among the best of the year are "Insecthead" and "Disease". The first song is more aggressive, the second song more mellow but the dark, nihilistic and evil mood remains through both. "Dead On Impact" is also so good it makes me tingle inside. Otherwise the album is a mixed bag. I don't feel the slower tracks so much from which "Scrape The Bullets" is probably the best one. My boyfriend bought this album from Germany and we blast it in our car often as we drive through the night.. Not a perfect album but it holds a very special place in my heart.
"Insecthead"
In Flames - Sounds Of A Playground Fading
The album before "Sounds Of A Playground Fading" was the worst In Flames album ever and after their main song writer left the band, the expectations weren't very high for this newest album. "Sounds Of A Playground Fading" didn't convince all the fans but it convinced me that the band could still write great songs and even great albums. "Deliver Us" is a great single and the whole album is a solid wholeness. A good listening experience. There are some weaker tracks but nothing I would have left out, though I don't personally enjoy interludes like "The Attic" and "Jester's Door". The last three proper tracks are all killer with "Liberation", the album finale, being maybe the most pop metal In Flames song ever. The albums title track is also good stuff. I'm impressed. Not the best In Flames album but a good entry in their discography.
"Deliver Us"
Iwrestledabearonce - Ruining It For Everybody
You could ignore Iwrestledabearonce as one of those bands that try to hide lack of talent by being weird, different and "funny" but doing that would be underestimating this band. Iwrestledabearonce is weird as hell but they have talent. They combine metalcore that goes all over the place with electro sounds and weird samples. It's a music purists nightmare but somehow they manage to make their songs quite enjoyable. This is more evident on their second album "Ruining It For Everybody". Their debut album "It's All Happening" was possibly more progressive and "epic" but on their second full length they head towards what is more important: Good songs. Better melodic parts and beautiful clean vocals define the songs much more this time around and increased amount of keyboards and electro samples is a clear plus point for me. I must say I fucking love Krysta Camerons vocals. I find myself spinning this album a lot more than their debut, although I still feel they could develop more as a band. I hope that on their next album they would include even more beautiful choruses next to the rampant metalcore, with more defined strong structures ..but I wouldn't count on them doing just that.
"You Know That Ain't Them Dogs Real Voices"
Knorkator - Es Werde Nicht
Knorkator, The self proclaimed "Most Band in The World". Makes sense? This band doesn't and that's one of the main reasons which makes them awesome. They are a dadaistic parody of industrial metal bands like Rammstein but at the same time still a great metal/heavy rock band. How awesome is that? They don't have pyrotechnics like Rammstein but their live shows are atleast as impressive with all kinds of different helmets, breaking objects with axes, shredding vegetables and shooting pies at the audience (This is true). What's more, their lead singer is a big muscular bald gay man that has half of his body covered in tattoos and he sings in soprano.
During the years their albums have been getting progressively worse (from being totally awesome). They even went to a hiatus in 2008 but returned as there was nobody that could replace them and the fans demanded it. Still their newest album is surely worthy of a place in the honorable mentions of the years best albums. Besides high baritone vocals from Stumpen and growls from the composer Alf Ator, on the new album some songs are sung by some kid. Heavy metal being sung by a kid? Works surprisingly well and he is a good singer. Again something you have not heard before. It's comedy/fun metal but even I can sometimes get the joke though I don't speak deutsch. Knorkator make great cover songs. This album again has good efforts in that category. That "Ain't nobody, does it better" song is covered as a groovy majestic metal version and Scooter's "Faster, Harder, Scooter" gets a good sounding slow version treatment. (The band always covers fast songs as slow and soft versions and slow songs as fast and heavy versions). Many of the new songs are enjoyable but there are some quite clear fillers. Also the Scooter cover and the song "Kinderlied" were already released long before the album as singles. Like the previous album "" the special edition of the new album comes with a full length live DVD which makes it's purchase a must for fans.
Introducing: Knorkator
"Du Nich" feat. Till Lindemann
Scar Symmetry - The Unseen Empire
I remember when I first heard Scar Symmetry. I was really impressed by the bands skills. The song I heard was "The Illusionist" and especially the bands previous singer Christian Älvestam blew me away with his vocal delivery. The bands song writing was great too and I fell in love. Some medias praised "The Unseen Empire" as the bands greatest album yet. I tend to disagree but it's by no means a bad album. The albums theme which is conspiracies like The Illuminati and reptilian aliens is something which I find interesting. Sadly musically I don't find the bands new album in the same league as the bands first three albums. The two new vocalists however do a great job and I don't find myself missing Christian at all. The opener track "The Anomaly" is quite melodic and I find myself liking more the aggressive tracks like "Seers Of The Eschaton" and "Rise Of The Reptilian Regime". However there are several good songs here. The biggest problem is there is not a single true killer track on the album. I'm left longing for atleast one "Chaosweaver" or "Mind Machine" to blow me to the orbit but songs like that are not to be found. Still a good album. Looking forward to more!
"Seers Of Eschaton"
Unzyme - Brainforest
New up and coming electro pop band from Jyväskylä. They released their self published debut album "Brainforest" in 2011. The album includes slow and soft electro pop and faster tracks that appeal to me a lot more. Besides friends of electronic pop I would recommend fans of EBM and future pop to check them out. The opener track "Lose Your Place" is much better than the demo version and quite enjoyable electro pop piece with rap style vocals, but the true hits of the album for me are "Jesus In My Trunk", "Excuses Ran Dry" and "Anniversaries". The songs are catchy and don't apologize for it. "Jesus" is already a hit but "Excuses Ran Dry" improves upon it and is one of my fave tracks for 2011. "Anniversaries" in the beginning sounds almost like electro-industrial before blasting into one incredibly catchy chorus. "Another Crossing" seems to be a popular song from this album but I haven't found it's appeal.. Atleast yet. The biggest issue for me on this album is that it includes too many slow, soft and kind of boring songs. However the songs that Unzyme get right are highly enjoyable for me. They are now working on their second album which I hope will blow me away! Check them out..
"Excuses Ran Dry (Live)"
They also allowed ME to remix their song "Excuses Ran Dry"
"Excuses Ran Dry (Machine Animal Remix)"
In my next post I will go to the true top 10 albums of the year 2011..
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti