Review: The Empire Shall Fall - Volume One: Solar Plexus

Band: The Empire Shall Fall
Album: Volume One: Solar Plexus
Year: 2011
Genre: Progressive Metal/Core
Country: USA

As some may know I am a big fan of Alive or Just Breathing era Killswitch Engage. While the music is great my interest in KsE waned after Jesse Leach left the band. It waned even further as the band became what I can only describe as a satire of itself with its last few releases. But I continued to follow Mr. Leach into his new metal project The Empire Shall Fall. Their first album, Awaken, is easily one of my favorite metal/core albums. So I was pleased to find out the band was going to release 3 EPs to create a concept piece of sorts. Well the first of these EPs is here, Volume One: Solar Plexus easily rivals Awake.

Let me stop gushing over the vocalist to say how much I LOVE the guitar duo of Jake Davenport and Marcus de Lisle. You can tell they incorporate elements that range from bluesy to progressive metal to hardcore. It's almost like a less schizoid version of Between the Buried and Me in some ways, though I will admit a bit less technical. But still there are a lot of interesting song structures that aren't exactly the norm. I especially enjoy the solos, they aren't wanky or go into noodling territory but are very soulful. And the riffs are monstrous. The amount of melody in some of the riffs is incredible while still allowing for a heavy headbanging experience.

The drumming of Jeff Pitts fits the progressive and aggressive nature of the music. I don't know how they got that heavy thumping bassy sound for the bass drums in Awaken but its back and its one of my favorite features. Outside of that the other parts of the drumming are not your average boring metalcore drumming style and its a treat to listen to. To be honest I cant really hear the bass guitar through some of the EP. Dubrise specifically has a sort of reggae feeling which lends to the bass being more audible. It might be because I'm listening mostly from my computer speakers but the bass drum adds more bottom end it seems.

Jesse Leach continues with his good streak of good performances over the last few years. His harsh vox consistently stays at a higher pitch than what we had heard on AoJB. Its both very emotionally charged but not whiny and you can tell he is passionate about what he writes about. There is still a lot of clean singing as well. Usually too much clean singing can ruin an album for me but, and I hate to use the word again here, a very soulful voice. While Howard is (was) singing about how bad his relationship is Jesse is discussing the problems of society and how we could/should fix them. The message is very positive and something I enjoy.

There are 4 proper songs on Solar Plexus and each can stand on its own as a great song. But As the City Sleeps takes the cake for me. There is a great saxophone piece thrown into the bridge which is a standout on the album. I also enjoy the what is I guess you could call gang shouts during the chorus of the song. Every song here is good though, even the 3 tracks in between the full length ones that act as interludes are aurally pleasing. The Martyr's Song is short but I like the Post-Rock sound it conveys.

If you haven't listened to Awaken you HAVE to listen to Volume One. Especially those people inclined to listening to progressive metal, though I can see how hardcore fans would enjoy it just as much. While I liked Awaken this is a step more into the experimental side the band had explored a little on that album. Its safe to say TESF know exactly what they are doing and want to accomplish. For thought provoking, melodic ridden heavy music I can't think of anything better to listen to.

Score: 9/10
Standout Tracks: As the City Sleeps, The First Redemption, The Genesis of These Scars, Narrow, The Path I Walk Part II

Review: Mutiny Within - Mutiny Within

Band: Mutiny Within
Album: Mutiny Within
Year: 2010
Country: USA
Genre: Progressive Melodic Death Metal

This band (and album) seemed to not be received very well by some people in the metal community. I honestly cannot figure out why! Sure it isn't "brutal", but not all bands have to be. Mutiny Within play some blend of progressive melodic death metal but you wouldn't be far off calling them progressive/technical power metal with harsh vocals. Either way the melodic tag is what really fits the band best.

This album has a number of good things going for it and one of them is singer/growler Chris Clancey. Clancey has an incredibly strong singing voice that is sort of in the vein of power metal in that it is usually done in a higher register. This guy can really belt it out for sure. A lot of the songs are done in cleans only, the strongest probably being Undone. He also throws in growls as well and while they aren't as strong as his singing it doesn't really sound forced. He seems to pick and choose the right moment to let out a scream so they aren't just shoved into songs for the sake of having harsh vocals.

Next is the music itself. The guitar riffs bash your brains out with melody. I mean a number of these songs could easily be put on the radio and become popular. Don't get me wrong they are absolutely a metal band but listen to songs like Undone, or Forsaken and you can see that the band clearly had the ability to become something big in the metal scene. The guitar playing is sort of technical in that it can be complex at times while keeping a thrashy speed. But as for speed as a whole the album is all over the place, but they were composed so that they flow well.

The drumming is straight up melodeath style but a bit more inventive than the norm. There is a good bit of double bass but there is some variety as well so it doesn't become boring. The bass is mostly inaudible accept for a few parts of the album where it is given the center stage for a moment or two (like at the start of the second verse of Images). There are also some keys and they are put to good use never really being pushed over the rest of the band but making it known they are there.

This album is a great piece of melodic/death metal and if I were to describe it the best I could say is that it sounds like an American version of Scar Symmetry. Maybe Roadrunner fumbled the ball with this band but there is no reason why they didn't become much bigger than they did and unfortunately they are now on hiatus. With strong vocals and music with a massive amount of melody its really a shame Mutiny Within were looked over by most in the metal community.

Score: 9/10
Standout Tracks: Undone, Lethean, Forsaken, Year of Affliction

Review: Opeth - Heritage

Band: Opeth
Album: Heritage
Year: 2011
Country: Sweden
Genre: Progressive Rock/Metal

I thoroughly enjoy Opeth's first 3 albums, along with Watershed. But My Arms, Your Hearse is probably their zenith as far as what I have heard. So lets get this out of the way right now: if you are much more into Opeth's older albums, Heritage is probably not for you. Gone are the growled death vocals, and most traces of even the metal aspects of Opeth are gone, traded in for a retro 70s prog rock sound as hinted at by Akerfeldt prior to the album's release.

There are still elements of metal left here. Especially on The Devil's Orchard and Folklore. But they are mostly what you would expect out of a sort of 70s proto metal band. The guitar sound does have a sort of thick metal sound at times as well.

Now a lot of people are a little pissed that the death metal vocals are missing in action on Heritage. It bothers me to a degree but Mikael has always had an excellent singing voice and he lives up to the hype he gets here.

Heritage begins with a self titled instrumental track. It also ends with another instrumental called Marrow of the Earth. Both of these songs are really good and the piano in Heritage gives it a sort of dark, gothic, depressive sort of sound. It almost seems fitting of a dark dreary rainy October day. Marrow of the Earth is along those lines as well, except where Heritage uses a piano MotE is mainly an acoustic affair though near the end the drums softly enter the song. I really enjoy the soft darkness of these two songs and they do a lot to set the atmosphere at both ends of the album.

The keys evoke probably most strongly the feeling of 70s progressive rock. Look no further than the first proper song, The Devil's Orchard, to hear it. But the keyboards stick a little further in the background so as not to choke out the rest of the instruments. Well perhaps not to far back but the guitars don't have to compete with them anyways. They are present throughout most of the album but the two instrumentals so they are sort of an integral part to the sound of Heritage.

On some of the songs Opeth's influences are worn a little more on their sleeve than others. Like on Folklore, there is a part near the start where there is a flute playing and the whole section of music following that just screams of something like Jethro Tull. In fact Folklore while being the second longest song on Heritage at a little over 8 minutes long is probably my favorite song. Famine also gives off the same Jethro Tull vibe at around the 5 minute mark it could have been taken right out of one of that band's songs.

But there is something wrong with Heritage that I cant quite put my finger on. It's a good album but by Opeth standards, the good of Heritage doesn't really seem good enough. Certain songs like Nepenthe and Haxprocess seem to just drag on and go no where at all. Its missing the aggression that was in almost all those early songs in one way or another. The closest we probably get here is Slither with its more fast paced speed and undeniably metal guitar solo. Stylistically a lot of the music here has an almost happy upbeat sound to it which seems a little out of character for Opeth. An upbeat part will lead straight into a somber acoustic piece or something else and this makes the songs sound a tad disjointed because it doesn't seem to flow just right.

All in all Heritage is sort of a confusing ride. While a good portion of it is pretty good (Folklore, The Devil's Orchard, Heritage, Marrow of the Earth, Famine) there are also parts of the good songs or songs as a whole which are difficult to listen to (Nepenthe, Haxprocess and portions of I Feel the Dark). But like I said there is good, the songs I listed like TDO, Folklore, and the instrumentals are all really great listens. The drumming is jazzy and fun to listen to and Mikael's vocals are right on.

Heritage has many good qualities but it has it's flaws as well. I can see myself going back to listen to certain songs but probably not the album as a whole.

Score: 6.5/10
Standout Tracks: Folklore, Famine, Heritage, Marrow of the Earth

Mastodon you are kicking my ass!

Alright so I had heard of Mastodon before checking out Crack the Skye, but I had only heard about them. Not heard them directly. That is until I was listening to the Requiem Metal Podcast (if you haven't listened to Jason and Mark go download their shows off of iTunes NOW!) Best of 2009 show and they played The Czar. This 11 minute monstrosity peaked my interest so I got the album. I've given it a few listens and its all around a great album!

I know I'm late to the party since it came out in 2009 but oh well. The album has a lot of melody and a melancholy atmosphere throughout which at least to me really rubs off on the listener.

I'm not really a prog fan myself but this album is great fun to listen to and is accessible enough that you can have your little sister hear it and not look like someone just pulled a knife on her.