Between The Buried And Me - The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues [EP] (2011)

This is Between The Buried And Me's first EP, The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues, the first of two planned, related concept albums.

1. Spectacular Reflection [11:21]
2. Augment of Rebirth [10:19]
3. Lunar Wilderness [8:22]

First of all, I think it's a pretty damn good EP. At just over half an hour long, there's plenty of material to listen to, and some of it is brilliant. I feel that there's not enough diversity throughout this EP; the majority of the time, if you listen to a part of a track, it sounds too similar to almost any other part of the album.

Just because I find it repetitive doesn't mean the music itself isn't bad; this is how death metal should be done. Very technical stuff, as usual for BTBAM, with a focus on how the song flows and sounds, as opposed to, I don't know, Cavalera Conspiracy. God, that last of theirs album turned me off metal for two whole fucking weeks! But I digress.

Overall, I love the length of the EP, and the progressive, technical song structures. In short, it's perfect for head banging. It's a concept album, which I'm always a sucker for, but I couldn't tell what the hell this album was actually about. Like I mentioned above, it does consist of large portions I feel don't stand out for themselves, but honestly, it's a great listen overall.

Final Score:
81/100

Cavalera Conspiracy - Blunt Force Trauma (2011)

Blunt Force Trauma is Cavalera Conspiracy's second studio album, and is a complete letdown on virtually every level.

1. Warlord [3:05]
2. Torture [1:52]
3. Lynch Mob [2:32]
4. Killing Inside [3:28]
5. Thrasher [2:49]
6. I Speak Hate [3:10]
7. Target [2:37]
8. Genghis Khan [4:23]
9. Burn Waco [2:52]
10. Rasputin [3:22]
11. Blunt Force Trauma [3:58]
12. Psychosomatic (Special Edition Disk) [3:07]
13. Jihad Joe (Special Edition Disk) [3:29]
14. Electric Funeral (Special Edition Disk) [5:39]

Blunt Force Trauma is one of those albums you either love or you hate. Though to be honest, I can't understand how someone could love this album unless they were a die-hard fan. The lyrics (on the off chance you can understand them) lack any depth or significant meaning, the guitar riffs are what you would expect to hear in a typical (almost comically stereotypical) death metal album, and the tracks are all too short to elaborate on anything that actually has potential. Each track revolves around being as loud as possible, and as short as possible (If you picked up the standard album, it's just a little more than half an hour long!).

The only tracks on this album I can say I enjoyed at all were Lynch Mob, for it's vocals, and Electric Funeral, for the song structure and lyrics. Ironically, Lynch Mob features the guest vocals of Roger Miret (from Agnostic Front), while the latter is a Black Sabbath cover. Normally, I try to at mention most of the tracks on any given album I'm reviewing, but there's so little in here worth talking about I'm at a loss. The last 40 seconds of Target is melodeath, instead of just death metal, and the last half of the track Blunt Force Trauma cuts the vocals and actually sounds decent, so I guess that's something interesting. *shrug*

So in the end it turns out that there's next to nothing about Cavalera Conspiracy themselves that I actually like. On the other hand, I suppose Blunt Force Trauma is the perfect template on how to make a bland and unimaginative death metal album; solos that sound like they were made up on the spot, lyrics that were possibly made up even quicker, and the constant recycling of quick drumming and strumming. Unless you're the metal enthusiast who needs to listen to every metal album they can get their hands onto, I recommend you stay away from this one.

Overall Score:
39/100

Deadlock - Bizarro World (2011)

Bizarro World is Deadlock's fifth studio album. Clean and heavy sound, mix in some catchy riffs and a beautiful female lead vocals - I think I'm hooked.

1. Virus Jones [4:59]
2. State Of Decay [3:43]
3. Falling Skywards [4:21]
4. Earthlings [3:41]
5. You Left Me Dead [4:11]
6. Brutal Romance [4:08]
7. Alienation [1:42]
8. Renegade [3:25]
9. Htrae [4:48]
10. Bizarro World [2:11]
11. Paranoia Extravaganza [3:08]

Something I need to clarify right off the beginning about Bizarro World - there are two vocalists. Johannes Prem exclusively does the death growls/harsh vocals, while Sabine Scherer covers the clean vocals. If you're a shallow-minded individual who only likes male lead vocals, then prepare to be disappointed. The rest of us can be left to enjoy this musical treat-to-the-ears.

Virus Jones gives a very good indication for how half of the album sounds; harsh vocals incorporated throughout the track, clean vocals for the chorus and melody, and a very heavy sound overall. Other tracks that follow this scheme are Falling Skyward, You Left Me Dead, and Brutal Romance. Meanwhile, State of Decay represents the other half of the album; 'casual' metal, with a slow tempo, soaring clean vocals, and a near (or complete) absence of death growls. The other tracks similar in style to this are Htrae (ie. 'Earth' spelled backwords), and Paranoia Extravaganza (which isn't actually metal at all; it's Sabine singing with a piano backup). Renegade is an interesting track to say the least, in that it combines both styles mentioned above, with synthesizers mixed in to boot.

There's actually a third 'theme' at play within the album as well, which is a sort of "minimalist-style", as heard on the tracks Alienation and Bizarro World. Essentially, there's no vocals, no drums and only the slightly semblance of a melody at play with the guitar/piano/violins that are heard. They add absolutely nothing to the album, except to act as a bridge between songs.

Well, the album as a whole is actually quite good, despite my bickering above. Virus Jones and Falling Skyward are both album favorites of mine, as is You Left Me Dead. If you're still interested after listening to these tracks, I'd add State of Decay, Brutal Romance and Htrae to that list, but would in all honestly stop there. Paranoia Extravaganza shows off Sabine's vocal capabilities, but the track doesn't fit in at all with the rest of the album (which is presumably why they placed it at the end of the album).

Overall Score:
80/100

Serenity - Death & Legacy (2011)

Serenity's 3rd studio. Fucking incredible too; one of the best symphonic metal albums I've heard in a while, and that's not something I can say lightly. Death & Legacy is not without it's faults though, but it's still amazing.

1. Set Sail To [0:29]
2. New Horizons [6:50]
3. The Chevalier [5:32]
4. Far From Home [4:48]
5. Heavenly Mission [5:24]
6. Prayer [1:22]
7. State Of Siege [6:48]
8. Changing Fate [5:42]
9. When Canvas Starts To Burn [4:48]
10. Serenade Of Flames [4:55]
11. Youngest Of Widows [4:08]
12. Below Eastern Skies [1:35]
13. Beyond Desert Sands [4:55]
14. To India's Shores [4:34]
15. Lament [0:40]
16. My Legacy [4:45]

From the moment I started listening to this album, it blew me away. The riffs, the lyrics, the energy in every track, this album has it all. I always find people who enjoy more 'hardcore' metal easily dismiss symphonic metal, but I for one can't get enough of it. Serenity does an amazing job with this, I honestly can't get enough of this album.

Right off the bat, New Horizons, The Chevalier, and Far From Home gave me a high opinion of the album as a whole, and I still had 12 tracks to go! Thinking back, the only tracks I didn't really dig were the interludes    Prayer and Lament, but conversely I found at the same time they enriched the experience of the album (and although I couldn't find anywhere whether this was technically a concept album or not, make no mistake, it is). Below Eastern Skies is the most out of place track on the album, with is largely based on stereotypical Middle Eastern music, but is a very interesting to listen to (though a little short). Changing Fate is probably the track I liked the 'least' on this album, but in comparison, if it were on an average symphonic metal album I would probably rank it as one of my favorites on it. Death & Legacy is that great of an symphonic metal album that I can't find any particular track I would do without.

Death & Legacy isn't perfect though. I find singer Georg Neuhauser's voice to be only a bit better than your typical symph metal vocalist, but overall he does a fair job. Let me just say that the guitar, drums and female vocals are all perfect in most cases, while the lead vocals are a little lacking in some respects. In addition, I found there wasn't enough difference between certain songs for me to be able to instantly recognize them, like When Canvas Starts To Burn, Beyond Desert Sands, and My Legacy - there's not enough diversity between them to be able to hear a 5 second snippet and be able to determine which is which confidently. I'm being nit-picky though; I know I am. There's so much awesome in this album that it far outweighs anything that could be considered a fault.

Overall Score:
92/100